Then Carlos saw him suddenly stop and look steadily down the almost vertical side of the mountain, then at the ground at his feet. It took the two lads nearly a quarter of an hour to reach the spot where Juan stood, now surrounded by the other four negroes, to whom he was talking animatedly; and, as they approached, the Fantee pointed to some scars on the hillside which looked as though they had been quite recently made by the passage of some heavy body. "Look, Senores," he cried; "that is where the Spaniard has gone! A loose boulder caught him just here and swept him down into the gorge below. We shall never see him again!" Carlos and Jack looked. Yes; the marks were precisely such as a falling boulder would make, and they were apparently quite fresh, possibly less than half an hour old. But how did Juan know that Alvaros had gone down the hillside with the boulder? Jack asked the question. "Because," answered the black triumphantly, "he came as far as this--as we have seen by his footprints--but went no farther; there are no more footprints to be found. And see, the boulder struck the ground just here"--pointing to a big, raw dint in the soil--"and bounded off, striking again down there where you see that mark. It must have struck here just as the Spaniard reached the spot, and hurled him down to the bottom of the gorge before it. He is doubtless down there at the bottom of the stream, at this moment, pinned down by the boulder that killed him!" And the other negroes emphatically corroborated the statements and suggestions. To Jack and Carlos the theory enunciated by Juan appeared quite possible. Of course they had to accept Juan's word for it that the fugitive's footsteps had been followed thus far, and had utterly disappeared at the precise spot where the boulder--or whatever it was-- had struck. But, this much granted, the remainder of the story seemed quite plausible, seemed indeed the only possible explanation; and since it was quite impossible to test its truth or falsehood without descending to the river below--which was also an impossibility--they were disposed to accept it as true. And thus, very materially assisted by the fortuitous fall of a boulder down a hillside, did the negroes on Senor Montijo's estate successfully hoodwink their white masters, and effectually and for ever put a stop to any further enquiries as to what had become of Major Alvaros, of His Spanish Majesty's light infantry, and erstwhile Governor of La Jacoba. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. THE WAR-CLOUD OVERSHADOWS THE HACIENDA MONTIJO.