"Men friends, I suppose. What about women? I count on you, you have promised me—"
Agueda threw herself face downward on her bed and stopped her ears with deep buried fingers.
XVII
Silencio passed the night in wakeful watching and planning. Raquel slept the innocent sleep of a careless child. Gil had promised that all would come out well. She trusted him.
Very early in the morning the scouts whom Silencio had placed along the boundaries of his estate were called in, and collected within the patio of the casa. The outer shutters of the windows were closed and bolted; the two or three glass windows, which spoke of the innovation which civilization brings in its train, were protected by their heavy squares of plank. The doors were locked, and the casa at Palmacristi was made ready for a siege.
Silencio awakened Raquel as the first streak of dawn crept up from the horizon. Over there to the eastward trembled and paled that opalescent harbinger which told her that day was breaking. She looked up with a child's questioning eyes.
"It is time, sweetheart. Now listen, Raquel. Pack a little bag, and be ready for a journey."
Raquel pouted.