At first, all was silent along the bank of the stream; but shortly after three horsemen were seen riding past, and not far behind them two other men followed, also on horseback. The first party were Don Cornelio and his companions, making for the ford of the river. The other horsemen were two of Arroyo's _guerilla_-- who, by his orders, had remained near the hacienda Del Valle, for the purpose of taking down the heads of his three followers nailed over the gate--should an opportunity offer for their so doing. They had found the opportunity--as already known--and it was they who had passed Don Cornelio at the ford, and whose ambiguous speech had caused a difference of opinion, as to its meaning, between the Captain and Clara. The first care of Don Rafael, as soon as he believed the road to be clear, was to recover his horse--which he had left tied in a thicket in the woods. Like his master, Roncador had escaped the researches of the bandits; but so weak was he with thirst and hunger, that Don Rafael had doubts whether the poor animal would be able to carry him. It was necessary that he should take the horse to the river, in order to water him. This required to be done by stealth; for, although Don Rafael had witnessed the departure of the guerilleros from the ford, he did not know whether those who blockaded the hacienda had also gone away. After giving Roncador his drink, just as he was leading the horse up the bank again, he perceived a man coming from the direction of the ford. As this man was on foot and alone, Don Rafael resolved to stop and question him. Sabre in hand, therefore, he placed himself in front of the pedestrian. The latter, thus assailed by a man with a naked sword--and who was covered from head to foot with a coating of mud--was almost frightened out of his senses. "Oh, Lord!" he cried, "help a poor servant who is seeking assistance for his master!" "Who is your master?" demanded Don Rafael. "Don Fernando Lacarra," answered the man. "Of the hacienda San Carlos?" "_Si, Senor_. You know him?" "Yes: is he in any danger?" "Alas!" replied this servant, "the hacienda is pillaged by guerilleros; and, just as I was leaving it, I heard the groans of my poor master under the lash of their Captain Arroyo--" "Again this villain!" muttered Don Rafael, interrupting the narrator with his angry soliloquy. "Ah! he is always committing some crime," rejoined the servant. "And your mistress--the Dona Marianita--what of her?" "It was to make him tell where she was concealed that Arroyo was flogging my master," replied the man. "Fortunately I was able to get her out of the way, by assisting her to descend from the window of the chamber where they had hidden her. Afterwards I got off myself, and am now on my way to the hacienda Del Valle, in hopes of getting assistance from its brave defenders, who themselves never violate the laws of war."