"Two hundred horses await us."
"Two hundred horses! Mercy! Your master is very rich, then?"
"He?" said the Indian, laughing; "He is as poor as Job. But," added he, significantly, "his companions are rich, and I have been preparing this flight for twelve days, foreseeing what would happen today."
"Then," cried the Montonero, with feverish emotion, "ahead! Ahead! companions, though the horses be killed!"
The journey was continued with feverish rapidity.
A little before sunrise they reached the rancho. It was time they did so; the horses were only kept up by the bridle; they stumbled at each step, and several had already fallen never to rise again.
Their masters, with that careless philosophy which characterises the gauchos, after having relieved them of their saddles, and having charged themselves with them, had abandoned the horses and followed the cavalcade as well as they could by running.
The rancho of the Quemado was in some respects but a vast shed, to which was attached an immense inclosure filled with horses.
At three or four leagues behind, were extended, as a sombre barrier, the first chain of the Cordilleras, whose snowy tops masked the horizon.
On the order of Santiago, the fatigued horses were; abandoned after their saddles had been removed, and, each Montonero entered the enclosure, whirling his lago round him.