"What, excellency! Has the usurper taken the field at last?"
"It seems so, señor general." (Tim grinned as these complimentary titles passed.) "We were surprised at dawn by large numbers of the enemy who had advanced along the route by which you came to my camp. My sentries were, I fear, overcome by somnolence. The attack was so sudden that I had no time to form my ranks; but in the half light some of us were able to make our escape--some on horseback, others on foot. We are scattered to the four winds; all our stores are lost; it is a sad inauguration of our new alliance."
"Courage, excellency!" said Mr. O'Hagan. "We must consider how to retrieve this mishap. Are you pursued?"
"Not for the last five miles, señor."
"Then we will halt here, and wait for our men to rejoin us. No doubt some of them will come dropping in by and by. Let us ride forward, excellency, and choose a position."
Meanwhile Tim, seeing Romaña among the score of men who accompanied Mollendo, rode up to him with an eager question.
"Where is my cycle?"
"There was not time to bring it, señorito; but I managed to hide it under a heap of brushwood collected for the fires."
"They'll find it!" said Tim, his face falling.
"Perhaps we shall recapture the camp first. It was all I could do."