We must return to the hunters in the plain, where we left them looking round in every direction in search of the vanished Topsie. Most of them had been so intent on their own business, that the episode in which Topsie figured had not been noticed by them. Calificura, however, had observed it, and had, moreover, seen the wild horse and his pursuer pass through the gorge which he and his companion had but lately quitted.
“Poor Topsie! I am afraid she has set herself to a task almost beyond her even,” exclaimed Sir Francis, when the situation was explained to him. “I think, Harry, my lad, I and you and Freddy will proceed to her assistance, and Mary and Willie can remain with our friends here. But first ask the Queen.”
No sooner did Aniwee learn how it was situated with her dear friend Topsie, than she at once singled out three of her most expert horse-catchers, and bade them follow her, instructing the remainder to watch the captured horses, seven in all, and return with them to camp as soon as the troupiglia of tame horses arrived; and then, without further delay, she started off to the assistance of her friend.
“Mary, Willie,” commanded Sir Francis, “you will return with the Indians to the camp, and in case we are late, explain to your mother the cause of the delay. I expect the stallion will give a good deal of trouble.”
And before the two children could reply he had followed in the wake of Aniwee, accompanied by his son Freddy and his nephew Harry. When these three reached the gorge through which Aniwee and her hunters had already ridden, they found all but one seated motionless on their horses, scanning the horizon on all sides. Not a sign of either Topsie, Shag, or the stallion could be seen in any direction, and the situation was mysterious in the extreme.
“What can have happened to her?” broke from Harry in a trembling, anxious voice. “Oh, Uncle Francis! what can have happened?”
But of course Sir Francis could say nothing, for he knew as little as any of the rest. Suddenly, however, Lenketrou, whom Aniwee had despatched to the top of a hill on the right to make observations, came galloping back with the information that far away on the verge of the distant forest he had distinguished a troop of wild horses, which had suddenly disappeared, and a few seconds afterwards, following in their tracks, he had made out the figures of two other horses and a small black object moving by their side. These latter he had little doubt were Topsie mounted on her own horse, the wild horse, and Shag.
Harry felt inclined to shout for joy, but checked himself on observing Aniwee’s grave face.
“It is the haunted forest,” he heard her exclaim, “the home of the Trauco people. Evil is the Gualichu which has lured her there.”