Fully alive to all the duties of his situation, Ronald moved anxiously to the front, and beheld a dark group advancing furiously along the plain at full gallop, making straight for his post, with steel casques and tall lances glittering; but that they were only six armed horsemen he could see distinctly, and the cry of "_Amigos! amigos a la guerra de la Independencia! Viva España! Viva España!_" in pure Castilian, assured him that they were Spaniards; and he sprang forward just in time to arrest the arm of his advanced sentinel, who had levelled his musquet to fire, a circumstance which would have caused the whole encamped division to get under arms. Another moment, and the strangers came up, the hoofs of their panting steeds shaking the earth, and tearing the turf as they were suddenly reined in, while the white foam fell from their dilated nostrils. A glance showed Ronald that they were six lances of Don Alvaro’s troop, escorting a party of Spanish ladies, who to his no small surprise were all mounted like men, wearing wide trowsers and broad flapping sombreros, with veils and long waving plumes. Although this mode of riding surprised the Scot very much, it is one extremely common in some parts of Spain. Raising his hand to his bonnet, he inquired which way they had come? "Ah! Don Ronald,—have you quite forgotten me, and the sad night we spent in the diabolical cavern at La Nava?" exclaimed Pedro Gomez, dropping the point of his lance, and causing his mettlesome steed to curvet in a style more like unto a knight of chivalry than a serjeant of dragoons. "How! Pedro, my bon camarado, is this you? Why—how—which way are you riding?" "Commanding an escort, _senor officiale_; travelling with four ladies of our regiment from Segura de Leon to Idanda Nova, to keep them out of harm’s way." "And the _senoritas_—" "_Senoritas? Pho! Somos todos hombres_," said one contemptuously in Spanish. "All men?" reiterated Ronald in surprise. A burst of laughter from the fair speaker followed; and bending her face close to his,—so close that her soft curls fell upon it, she added, "Inesella de Truxillo. I knew not that my features were so easily forgotten, even by the admirers of my cousin." "Senora, how happy am I to see you here, and in safety! The ravages at Merida led me to expect the worst. And your cousin, Donna Catalina,—she is of course, with you?" said Ronald, looking anxiously at the faces of the other three ladies. "O most unfortunate Catalina!" exclaimed Inesella, beginning to weep, "I fear she is for ever lost to us." "How, Donna Inesella! Speak for Heaven’s sake!" said Ronald, while his heart fluttered with agitation. "_O Juan de Dios!_ be her protection. She was carried off by the enemy, while I escaped in consequence of the Count d’Erlon’s mandate. The house was destroyed by fire, and our miserable uncle, the poor dear old padre, perished in it."