“Whatever may be the result,” said he, in hopes of inducing Don Mariano and his party to move away from the place, “the path is now clear for you, Señor Don Mariano. If it is to the hacienda of Las Palmas you are going, you will find the road both open and safe.”
“We are not going to Las Palmas,” answered Don Mariano, with an air of abstraction, at the same time advancing a few paces in order to have a better view of what was passing.
“If I were in your place,” persisted Costal, in a significant tone, “I should go there. It is the safest route you can take, and let me assure you the moments are precious—Carrambo!” continued he, in an angry tone, and suddenly facing round, as the crackling of branches announced that some one was passing near through the thicket. “By all the serpents in the hair of Tlaloc, there are some more people in the woods. In the name of—”
The invoked deity was not mentioned, as just at that moment voices were heard where the bushes were in motion, and Costal interrupted his speech to listen. The words were—
“This way, compadre—this way! I hear over yonder the voice of the man we are in search of. Listen! that’s the Colonel’s voice to a certainty. Quick, by all the devils! Let us run at full speed, or we shall miss him, again.”
The voice of this speaker was not known to any of those who had heard it, and he who was addressed as “compadre” appeared not to have made any reply. But the sound of their footsteps, and the swish of the recoiling branches, each moment became more indistinct, till at length the noises were lost in the distance.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the two men, who had thus passed so near, were the messengers so often disappointed, Gaspar and Juan el Zapote. As already known, they had been to the hacienda San Carlos, where they had learnt the direction taken by Don Rafael on leaving it. They had followed his tracks, which to Juan el Zapote, a skilled rastreador, was easy enough—especially in such a moonlight. They had even recognised Don Mariano and his party, on coming near the spot where the haciendado had halted; and for a moment Gaspar hesitated about going up to the group and reporting himself to his master, as he ought to have done.
From the performance of his duty he was dissuaded by his astute associate, who represented to him, that, in case of his reporting himself, Don Mariano might countermand the message he had sent to the Colonel, now that the latter was known to be on the ground. He might prefer delivering the precious talisman in propria personâ, and then where would be the bounty they had long expected, and for which they had more than once risked their necks?
These arguments prevailed even with the honest Gaspar; and to such an extent, that from this very motive he had declined to answer the speeches of Zapote, lest his voice might be recognised by Don Mariano, or some of his fellow-servants! Cautiously did the two make a détour through the trees, and so rapidly, that no one was likely to be able to intercept them, before they could reach the place to which the voice of the Colonel was guiding them.
As soon as the men had passed out of hearing, Costal and Clara, who saw that Don Mariano showed no sign of following their advice, exchanged glances of vexatious disappointment. The haciendado still kept his ground; and with his ear catching every sound, was vainly endeavouring to obtain a solution to the painful uncertainty that surrounded him.