The man crouched down in his place of concealment and watched George’s movements. He saw him when he mounted the steps and placed his hand on the door leading into the hall. He heard almost every word of the conversation between him and the herdsman who met him there, and the ejaculations he uttered under his breath indicated that he was both astonished and enraged by it. When the conversation ceased, and he heard Jake moving along the hall, Philip softly opened the door near which he was concealed, and slipped into the kitchen. When the herdsman entered, he was filling his pipe, preparatory to indulging in a smoke. Knowing that the herdsman had been sent in there to watch him, he remained in the kitchen until Jake went out to catch and saddle the horses; then he threw down his pipe, and running swiftly but noiselessly along the hall, stopped in front of the office door. Placing his ear close to the key-hole, he listened intently, hoping to overhear the conversation that was carried on by those inside; but George, as we know, spoke in a low tone of voice, and Philip had little more than his trouble for his pains. When he heard Jake coming with the horses he ran back to the kitchen, the door of which he left ajar. He saw the boys when they came out, and heard George tell his uncle that they were going straight to Brownsville, and should expect to see him there in a few days. When George and his companions had ridden away out of sight, and Uncle John and the herdsman had gone back into the hall, Philip softly opened the kitchen door and stepped upon the porch. Almost at the same instant the door which gave entrance into the hall, was cautiously opened and Uncle John came in. He looked all around the room as if he was searching for somebody, and went out upon the porch. He pronounced the Mexican’s name two or three times, in a low tone of voice, and walked around the building, looking everywhere for him; but he could neither hear nor see anything of him, and finally he gave up the search, and went back to the office again. Philip, in the meantime, having caught up a saddle and bridle, belonging to one of the herdsmen, ran to the corral, opened the gate with the key which he had taken from its nail in the kitchen, and hurried in. When he came out, he was leading a horse, which was soon saddled and bridled, and carrying the Mexican at a full gallop away from the rancho. The rider directed his course down the trail, and had gone about half a mile, when he heard the sound of voices away off to his right. It was so dark that he could not see anybody, but Philip, being confident that he knew whom the voices belonged to, checked his horse and rode just fast enough to intercept the horsemen, who were coming along one of the side-trails. In a few minutes a hail came through the darkness, telling him that he had been discovered. “Hallo, there!” cried a voice.