Mendez and Montoro exchanged glances. There was no longer, then, much doubt of the fate intended them, and ere many minutes had passed they had learnt that the disconcerted warriors of last night were only waiting for the next day, before making a fresh descent upon the white intruders, shooting them, and burning the new settlement. "Even so," said Diego Mendez at last. "We have but learnt afresh what we were well assured of before. But we will not wait for the doom intended us. It better beseems Spaniards to be the first aggressors." As to the general humanity or morality of that sentiment young Montoro might have taken exception at a quieter moment; but just now he was infinitely too excited for tranquil thought, and eagerly seconded his older companion in so urging to be taken up the river, that at length the kind, simple-hearted fishermen consented, although with great reluctance. The poor people's astonishment was still greater when, on reaching the village, picturesquely situated on the banks of the river, and now in all the bustle of warlike preparations, their two passengers insisted on landing, and putting themselves into the power of their enemies. Still Diego Mendez preserved his cool presence of mind. Having learnt that Quibian had been wounded by an arrow, he gave out that he was a surgeon come to heal the injured leg; and demanding immediate admission to the Cacique, he mounted the hill to the very walls of the royal residence. Arrived at the summit of the eminence, he and his companion paused a moment to take breath, and Montoro, for all his courage, could not wholly suppress a shudder at the hideous ornamentation of the royal domain. Three hundred human heads, recently torn from their trunks, were arranged in circles, in all their grim horribleness, before the Cacique's abode, the trophies of his valour, and significant warnings to his adversaries. Mendez also glanced at these heads, and from them to the handsome lad beside him, so rich with the blessings of vigorous youth and health, and a shade of regret passed over his face. But it was too late for such reflections now. The die was cast, and they must advance, and resolutely. The slightest token of hesitation or fear would most assuredly be fatal. But however brave they might be, others were cowardly enough. They had scarcely moved forward a dozen steps on the plateau of the hill when a crowd of women and children caught sight of the strange new beings, and throwing their arms wildly above their heads in a very abandonment of terror, they fled in all directions, startling the echoes with their shrieks. It soon became evident that they had startled more than the echoes, for a son of the Cacique, a tall, powerfully-built man, rushed out to ascertain the cause of the commotion, and looked ready enough to add the Spaniards' heads to his father's collection when he perceived them thus braving him, as it were, on his own ground.