"His name? My friend, tell me his name."
"Colonel Melendez."
"Oh! I could have sworn it," the young man said impetuously; "why cannot I thank him?"
"You will soon see him."
"How so?"
"At this moment he is busy seeking a safe retreat for the old hunter and his daughter. For the present we shall remain at this rancho, from which he will be able to keep the Mexican soldiers off; and so soon as he has found another shelter, he will himself come to tell us."
"Always kind and devoted! I shall never be able to pay my debt to him."
"Who knows?" the American said philosophically; "luck will, perhaps, turn for us, and then it will be our turn to protect our protectors of today."
"You are right, my friend; may Heaven grant that it is so; but how did it all happen?"
"The Colonel, who seemed, from what he said to me, to have foreboded the danger that Doña Carmela ran, arrived just at the moment, when attacked on all sides at once, and too weak to resist the enemies who overwhelmed us, we were preparing, as we had promised, to die at our post; you can guess the rest. By threats and entreaties, he drove back the soldiers who were attacking us: then, not satisfied with having freed us from our enemies, he desired to secure us against all danger, and accompanied us thus far, recommending us to wait for him here, which I believe we shall be wise in doing."