Tonio got up. He was stiff and sore all over. Moreover, his hands were all skinned inside, where the rope had pulled through.
“Were you alone?” asked Señor Fernandez.
“Not—very—” stammered Tonio.
[p 79]
“Where are the other boys?” demanded the Señor Fernandez.
“I d—don’t know,” gasped poor Tonio. “I—I don’t see them anywhere.” (Tonio was looking right up into the top of the cactus hedge when he said this, so I am quite sure he spoke the truth.)
“Humph,” grunted Señor Fernandez. “Go look for them.”
Tonio began to hunt around stones and bushes in the pasture with Señor Fernandez following right behind on his horse. It wasn’t long before he caught a glimpse of red. It was the pieces of the serape, which Ignacio had picked up. Tonio pointed it out, and Señor Fernandez galloped to it and brought out the two culprits. Then he marched the three boys back to the village in front of his horse, Tonio with his blistered hands and torn clothes, Juan with bumps that were already much swollen, and Ignacio wet as a drowned rat and carrying the rags of the serape.
