"Was it not? But I was in a hurry to join you again, and most anxious not to lose any time on the road. When I reached the Larch-tree, there was a great confusion at the hacienda. The peons and vaqueros collected in the patio were talking and shouting all together, while the Capataz, the Major-domo, and even the Signor Haciendero himself, pale and alarmed, were distributing arms, raising barricades before the gates, placing cannon on their carriages--in short, taking all the precautions of men who expect an attack at any moment. It was impossible for me to make myself heard at first, for everybody was speaking at once--women crying, children screaming, and men swearing. I might have fancied myself in a madhouse, so noisy and terrified did I find everybody; at length, however, by going from one to the other, questioning this man, and bullying that one, I learned the following, which enabled me to comprehend the general terror; the affair, I swear to you, was worth the trouble." "Out with it, friend," Loyal Heart exclaimed, with ill-restrained impatience. Quoniam had never during life raised any pretensions to be an orator. The worthy Negro, who was naturally very modest, even experienced a certain difficulty in speaking at all. The hunter's unexpected interruption troubled him so that he stopped short, and was unable to find a single word. Tranquil, who had so long known his comrade, hastily interposed. "Let him tell his story in his own way," he said to Loyal Heart; "if not, it will be impossible for him to reach the end. Quoniam has a way of telling things peculiar to himself; if interrupted, he loses the thread of his ideas, and then he grows confused." "That is true," said the Negro; "I do not know whence it comes, but it is stronger than I: when I am stopped, it is all up with me, and I get in such a tangle that I cannot find my way out." "That arises from your modesty, my friend." "Do you think so?" "I am sure of it, so do not alarm yourself any more, but go on in the full confidence that you will meet with no further interruption." "I am most ready to go on, but I have forgotten where I left off." "At the information you had succeeded in obtaining," Tranquil said, giving Loyal Heart a look which the latter understood. "That is true: this, then, is what I learned:--The conducta de plata, escorted by Captain Melendez, was attacked by the Border Rifles, or the Freebooters as they are now called, and after a desperate fight, all the Mexicans were killed." "Ah!" Tranquil exclaimed, in stupor. "All," Quoniam repeated; "not one escaped; it must have been a frightful butchery." "Speak lower, my friend," the hunter remarked, as he looked in the direction of the jacal, "Carmela might hear you." The Negro gave a nod of assent.