The maiden gave the half-breed, who was standing in front of her, a long and searching glance, leant her elbow gracefully on the table, and said, quietly-- "I am anxious, Lanzi." "Anxious? What about?" "At my father's long absence." "Why, he was here hardly four days back." "He never left me alone so long before." "Still," the half-breed remarked, scratching his head with an embarrassed air-- "In a word," she interrupted him, resolutely, "I am anxious about my father, and wish to see him. You will close the venta, saddle the horses, and we will go to the Larch-tree hacienda; it is not far, and we shall be back in four or five hours." "That will make it very late." "The greater reason to start at once." "Still--" "No remarks; do as I order you--I insist on it." The half-breed bowed without replying, for he knew that when his young mistress spoke thus he must obey. The maiden walked forward a step, laid her white and delicate hand on the half-breed's shoulder, and putting her lovely face close to his, she added, with a gentle smile which made the poor fellow start with joy-- "Do not be vexed at my whim, my kind Lanzi, but I am suffering." "Be vexed with you, Niña!" the half-breed answered with a significant shrug of his shoulders; "Why, do you not know that I would go into the fire for you? Much more, then, would I satisfy your slightest wish." He then began carefully barricading the doors and windows of the venta, after which he proceeded to the corral to saddle the horses, while Carmela, suffering from nervous impatience, changed her attire for other clothes more convenient for the journey she designed, for she had deceived the old servant. It was not Tranquil she wished to find. But Heaven had decreed that the plan she revolved in her pretty head should not succeed. At the moment when she re-entered the sitting-room, fully dressed and ready to start, Lanzi appeared in the doorway of the corral with extreme agitation displayed in his face. Carmela ran up to him eagerly, fancying that he had hurt himself. "What is the matter with you?" she asked him, kindly. "We are lost!" he replied, in a hollow voice, as he looked about him in terror. "Lost!" she exclaimed, turning pallid as a corpse; "What do you mean?" The half-breed laid a finger on his lip to command silence, made her a sign to follow him, and glided noiselessly into the corral. Carmela followed him. The corral was enclosed with a plank wall about six feet high; Lanzi went up to a spot where a wide cleft allowed a prospect of the plain. "Look," he said to his mistress. The girl obeyed, and laid her face against the plank. Night was beginning to fall, and a denser shadow was each moment invading the plain. Still, the obscurity was not great enough to prevent Carmela distinguishing, about two hundred yards away, a numerous party of horsemen coming at full speed in the direction of the venta.