Counting the servants, to whom Don Felix had distributed arms, the garrison amounted to nearly four hundred men, a sufficient force to resist a coup de main, especially in so good a position as this; there was plenty of ammunition and food; the Mexicans were animated by the best spirit, and the Colonel, therefore, felt certain of being able to hold out for a fortnight against troops more numerous and experienced than those the insurgents had at their disposal. The works of fortification were carried on with such great activity, that they were completed within twenty-four hours of the Colonel's arrival at the hacienda. The scouts, sent out in all directions, came back without any fresh news of the insurgents, whose movements were so cleverly veiled, that, since the affair of the conducta, they seemed to have disappeared without leaving a trace, and buried themselves in the bowels of the earth. This complete want of news, far from reassuring the Colonel, on the contrary, augmented his anxiety. This factitious tranquillity, this gloomy silence of the landscape, seemed to him more menacing than if he had heard of the approach of the enemy, whose masses, however, he felt, by a species of secret intuition, were gradually drawing in round the post he had been selected to defend. It was the second day after the arrival of the Mexicans at the Larch-tree; the sun was disappearing behind the mountains in masses of gold; night would soon set in. Colonel Melendez and the Major-domo, leaning on one of the battlements of the platform, were absently gazing out on the immense landscape unrolled at their feet, while conversing together. Don Juan had in a few minutes appreciated the loyalty and intelligence of the Major-domo; hence these two men, who thoroughly understood each other, had become friends. "Another day past," said the Colonel, "and it has been impossible for us yet to learn the movements of the insurgents. Does not that appear extraordinary to you, Don Felix?" The Major-domo sent forth a cloud of smoke from his mouth and nostril, took his husk cigarette from his mouth, and quietly flipped away the ash. "Very extraordinary," he said, without turning his head, and continuing to look fixedly at the sky. "What a singular man you are! Nothing disturbs you," Don Juan went on half angrily, "Have all our scouts returned?" "All." "And still brought no news?" "None." "By Heaven! Your coolness would make a saint swear! What are you looking at so fixedly in the sky? Do you fancy you can find the information we require there?" "Perhaps so," the Major-domo replied seriously. Then extending his hand in a north-east direction, he said-- "Look there." "Well?" the Colonel said looking in the direction indicated. "Do you see nothing?" "On my honour, no." "Not even those flocks of herons and flamingos flying in large circles, and uttering shrill cries which you can hear from here?" "Certainly I see birds; but what have they in common----?"