[CHAPTER III.]
THE PURSUIT.
We will return to Curumilla. The night was gloomy—the darkness profound. Urging their horses on with voice and gesture, the fugitives made the best of their way towards a forest which, if they could but reach, they would be safe.
A leaden silence brooded over the desert. They galloped on without uttering a word—without looking behind them. All at once the neighing of a horse fell upon their ears like the gloomy alarm call of a clarion.
"We are lost!" Curumilla exclaimed.
"What is to be done?" Rosario asked anxiously.
"Stop," he at length cried.
The young girl left everything to her guide. The Indian requested her to dismount.
"Have confidence in me," he said; "whatever a man can do I will undertake, to save you."
"I know you will!" she replied gratefully.