Then they breathed again, and Don Sancho put back in his holster the pistol which he had held in his hand up to this moment. "Hum!" he muttered; "Only the thickness of a bush saved us from being discovered." "Heaven be thanked!" Doña Clara said; "We are saved!" "That is to say, my little sister, we are not caught," the young man replied, incapable of maintaining his seriousness for five minutes, however grave circumstances might be. "They are going at a tremendous pace," the Major-domo now remarked; "we have nothing more to fear from them." "In that case, let us be off," Don Sancho replied. "Yes, yes, let us go," Doña Clara murmured. They dashed out of the thicket which had offered them so sure a protection, and entered the plain. The sky became lighter every moment; and although the sun was still beneath the horizon, its influence was beginning to be felt. Nature appeared to shake off her nocturnal sleep; some birds were already awake under the soft leaves, and preluding, by soft twittering, their matin chant; the dark outlines of savage animals bounded through the tall dew-laden grass; and the birds of prey, expanding their mighty wings, rose high in æther, as if they wished to go and meet the sun, and salute its advent: in a word, it was no longer night, without being fully day. "Ah! What I do see at the foot of that mound?" Don Sancho suddenly said. "Where?" Birbomono asked. "There, straight in front of us." The Major-domo placed his hands over his eyes, and looked attentively. "_¡Viva Dios!_" he exclaimed, at the end of a moment, "It is a man!" "A man?" "On my word, yes, Excellency; and, as far as I can distinguish at this distance, a Carib savage." "Zounds! What is he doing on that mound?" "We shall be able to assure ourselves of that more easily directly, unless he thinks proper to keep out of our way." "Well, let us go to him, in Heaven's name." "Brother," Doña Clara objected, "what is the use of lengthening our journey, when we are so hurried?" "That is true," the young man said. "Reassure yourself, señora," the Major-domo observed; "that hillock is exactly on the road we must follow, and we cannot help passing it." Doña Clara said no more, and the trio set out again. They soon reached the mound, which they ascended at a gallop. The Carib had not quitted the spot, but the riders stopped in stupor on perceiving that he was not alone. The Indian, kneeling on the ground, appearing to be attending to a man stretched out before him, and who was beginning to regain his senses. "Fray Arsenio!" Doña Clara exclaimed at the sight of this man. "Great Heavens! He is dead!" "No," the Indian answered in a gentle voice, as he turned to her, "but he has been most horribly tortured." "He! Tortured?" his hearers exclaimed, unanimously. "Look at his hands," the Carib continued. The Spaniards uttered a cry of horror and pity at the sight of the poor monk's bleeding and swollen thumbs.