"An opossum or a skunk, or some such beast," said Belgrano.
"I'll have a look," said Beruti, starting to his feet.
Round the rancho he walked but could see nothing, while the dogs became more furious in their clamour. He tried the door but it was fast shut, and he could find no means of opening it.
"That door was open," said Marcelino, "when we came, for I went in and looked through the rancho, and it was empty."
"Let us go," said Dr Vieytes. "It is late already and I think we have decided that we can do nothing until we have secured the troops."
"I will first see what is in that rancho," said Evaña, taking up his gun.
Walking up to the door of the rancho he tried it, as Beruti had done before him. He could not open it, it was evidently fastened on the inside. He raised his gun in both hands and struck a furious blow with the butt upon the side-panel of the door. The stock of the gun broke short off, leaving a useless iron tube in his hands, but the door remained uninjured.
Perhaps it was as well for you, Don Carlos Evaña, that you did not succeed in bursting open that door. Behind it, in darkness, stood a man who held a cocked pistol in each hand. Had you crossed the threshold of that door, you would never have recrossed it alive.
"What are you doing, Carlos?" said Marcelino, seizing him by the arm. "Come, we have belayed here too long already."