"Do not attempt to rise; the soldiers are searching for you among the bushes near by, and might discover you. You will be informed when all danger is past."
After thus enlightening him, she went leisurely back to the house, to await her father's return from the mountains, where he had gone in quest of game.
The hunter returned early, and Mitla told him of her adventure. He decided at once that the man could not be relieved with safety before dark. In coming to this conclusion he felt, in his kindness of heart, that it was hard on the poor fellow to be left in such a trying position for so long a time, but, with the soldiers in the vicinity and liable to appear at any time, he must bear it if he would escape.
The hunter suspected the fugitive's identity, and, while waiting for night to come, when he could go to his relief, occupied the time in ruminating as to how he might best serve him. He haply hit upon an idea which appeared so plausible to him that, with an emphatic slap of the knee, he exclaimed:
"Just the thing! I'll save him, or my name's not Tezcot."
"What is 'just the thing,' father; and who are you going to save?" asked Mitla, who was present, and somewhat startled by the hunter's sudden outburst.
"The prince, child. Who else could I save just now?" he answered, absently.
"The prince! what prince?"
At this moment a revelation came to Mitla's mind, which was quite a surprise to her, and she said, expressing it:
"What a simpleton I have been, father, not to have thought of it before—the man under the pile of chia-stalks is Hualcoyotl, the Tezcucan prince! Is that what you mean?"