CHAPTER XXXIV THE BLOOD OF THE PULIDOS
The two troopers came back into the room. They had searched the house well, they reported, invading every corner of it, and no trace had been found of any person other than Fray Felipe's native servants, all of whom were too terrified to utter a falsehood, and had said they had seen nobody around the place who did not belong there.
"Ha! Hidden away well, no doubt," Gonzales said. "Fray, what is that in the corner of the room?"
"Bales of hides," Fray Felipe replied.
"I have been noticing it from time to time. The dealer from San Gabriel must have been right when he said the hides he purchased of you were not properly cured. Are those?"
"I think you will find them so."
"Then why did they move?" Sergeant Gonzales asked. "Three times I saw the corner of a bale move. Soldiers, search there!"
Fray Felipe sprang to his feet.