"Forward!" Jim whispered the word, and promptly proceeded along the edge of the channel. Bending low, so that he was altogether hidden, he halted every ten paces, to glance across at the motionless figures of the robbers; but there was not a movement from them till he was within some fifteen feet of his sister. Then, suddenly, one of the figures rolled over. A moment later the man was sitting up, still swathed in his blanket. He leaned his weight on one hand, and cast his eyes in a wide circle round the clearing. A horse stamped heavily, and coughed, and at the sound the man slowly shook the blanket from him. Jim watched as he dropped the covering and climbed sleepily to his feet. The fellow gazed at the moon, and then, as if the soft, silvery light had affected him peculiarly, stretched out his arms widely, rose on his toes, and yawned loudly. At that a second figure moved. The man rolled over; then, to Jim's relief, he snuggled down into his blanket, as anyone does who has been disturbed, and who desires to rest further. In a moment he was as motionless as formerly. "Gee! Jaime of all people," said Jim suddenly, beneath his breath. "That's bad for our business. I thought I recognized the rascal." His hand went to his revolver, for he was tempted to use it; then he sank still lower into the gully. For Jaime it was who had risen; the rascally leader of the band stretched himself and yawned again in the moonlight. He drew something from a pocket, and, to his disgust, Jim saw that he was rolling a cigarette. Indeed the Spaniard was never awake but he was smoking. The habit had grown upon him so that now once his fingers were idle they always slipped into his pocket. It was a marvel to watch how nimbly they plucked the shreds of leaf, how they rolled the whole to a correct length and thickness, and how rapidly a cigarette was completed. In less than a minute now there was one between his lips. Jaime stepped slowly across to the blackened ashes of the fire, stirred them with his foot, and selected a brand from the very centre. It did not even glow red, but he managed to obtain a light from it. Then a horse coughed suddenly, and once more Jaime swung round. "Flies at them," Jim heard him declare. "Nothing more; there's no one but ourselves hereabouts." He strolled to and fro for some ten minutes, while Jim's impatience grew almost unbearable; then he stood regarding the bundled blanket beneath which Sadie was sleeping. A moment later he stepped across to the two parcels which contained the stolen notes, and a gleam of triumph swept across his bearded features. "Riches!" he growled. "The finest haul we have ever made. If things go on like this America'll find it'll cost her a heap more to build that canal than she looked for. Helloo! That horse again. It's flies for sure."