The Linda raised her eyes, humid with gratitude, towards Heaven.
Within ten minutes they were all mounted, and quitting the wood, they followed at a sharp trot the road which the count and Curumilla had taken at full speed.
[CHAPTER XLIII.]
THE ROCK.
But when setting forward so hastily, Valentine had considered the peril of the situation more than the possibility of travelling far at a quick pace. At the end of a very few miles the horses, overridden for two days together, and exceedingly weakened by the hurricane, could scarcely be kept going; whip and spur were obliged to be constantly applied to keep them on their legs. At length, after an hour spent in fruitless efforts. Don Tadeo, whose horse, a noble, well-bred animal had just stumbled twice from sheer weakness, was the first to call Valentines attention to the impossibility of going farther at present.
"I know it—I feel it!" the young man replied; "the poor animals are foundered; but what can we do? We must kill them, if it be necessary!"
"Let us proceed, then, whatever may happen!" said Don Tadeo.
"Besides," the young man continued, "a minute gained is an age for us; by break of day Louis may be back. If our horses had been rested, we might have reached the hacienda tonight; only the farther we get the better the chance of escaping those who are pursuing us. But, your pardon, Don Tadeo, the Indian chief is making me a sign."
After leaving Don Tadeo, he drew nearer to the Ulmen.