"No. Return to your post; and may Heaven be gracious to us!"
The majordomo bowed, and galloped up to the small troop, in the centre of whom were don Andrés and his daughter. Almost at the same moment Dominique reappeared on the side of the track: he fetched his horse, and then stationed himself on the count's right.
"Well," the latter asked him, "have you discovered anything?"
"Yes, and no," he replied, in a low voice.
His face was gloomy, his eyebrows contracted till they joined. The count examined him attentively for a moment, and felt his alarm redoubled.
"Explain yourself," he at length said to him.
"What is the use? You will not understand me."
"Perhaps not; but speak all the same."
"This is the fact. The plain is completely deserted on our right, left, and rear; I am certain of that. If the danger really exists, it is not to be feared in those quarters. If a trap is laid for us—if ambushed enemies are prepared to rush upon us, this trap is ahead; these enemies are concealed between the town and us."
"What makes you suppose this?"