"Where are you going?" Don Aurelio shouted to him.
"To scout," the hunter answered; "let me alone. We must not fall into a wasps' nest."
"Go on, my friend," said the Mexican.
The hunter went off; but a quarter of an hour had scarce elapsed ere his comrades saw him returning at full gallop, and making them signs to halt, which they obeyed.
"Oh, oh!" Moonshine exclaimed, so soon as he had rejoined them, "the warning was good: whether angel or demon, the person who gave it was well informed."
"Explain, explain," his hearers shouted.
"Silence," the hunter replied. "Listen!"
All did so; and then the distant detonation of firearms could be distinctly heard.
"What is happening?" Don Aurelio asked, a prey to the liveliest anxiety.
"A very simple thing," the hunter answered; "two or three hundred Indians, or at least men dressed in their garb, are furiously attacking the hacienda, the inhabitants of which are offering the most vigorous resistance."