"It is true. Do you think they have long left it?"
"I cannot tell you yet; but while supper is being prepared, and you are making yourselves comfortable, I will take a look round outside. On my return I trust to be more fortunate, and be able to satisfy your curiosity."
And placing the torch he held in his hand in an iron bracket fastened to the wall, the Tigrero quitted the house. Doña Anita fell pensively back on a species of clumsy sofa, accidentally left by the side of the table. Aided by the peons, the hacendero began making preparations for the night. The horses were unsaddled, driven into a species of enclosure, and had an ample stock of alfalfa placed before them. The trunks were unloaded, the bales carried into the hall, where they were piled up, after one had been opened to take out the requisite provisions; and then an enormous brazier was kindled, over which a quarter of deer-meat was hung.
When these various preparations were ended the hacendero sat down on a buffalo's skull, lighted a husk cigarette, and began smoking, while every now and then turning a sad glance on his daughter, who was still plunged in melancholy thought. Don Martial's absence was rather long, for it lasted two hours. At the end of that time his horse's hoofs could be heard echoing on the stone flooring of the ruins, and he reappeared.
"Well?" Don Sylva asked him.
"Let us sup first," the Tigrero answered, pointing to the girl in a way her father comprehended.
The meal was short, as might be expected from persons preoccupied and wearied with a long day's march. Indeed, with the exception of the roast venison, it only consisted of cainc, maize tortillas, and frijoles con aji. Doña Anita ate a few spoonfuls of tamarind preserve; then, after bowing to her friends, she rose and walked into a small room adjoining the hall, where a bed had been made up for her with her father's wraps, and the entrance to which was closed by hanging up, in place of the absent door, a horse blanket attached to nails driven in the wall.
"You fellows," the Tigrero said, addressing the peons, "had better keep good watch, if you wish to save your scalps. I warn you that we are in an enemy's country, and if you go to sleep you will probably pay dearly for it."
The peons assured the Tigrero that they would redouble their vigilance, and went out to execute the orders they had received. The two men remained seated opposite each other.
"Well," Don Sylva began, again asking his companion the question he had already begun, "have you learned anything?"