"If he die I shall die too--that is all I know," murmured Gertrudis, with a choking sigh. "Nay, do not fear, Gertrudis; God will protect him. He will send one of his messengers to save him," said the young girl, in the simplicity of her faith; and then returning, she mingled her prayers with those of her sister, now and then alternating them with words of consolation. "Go to the window!" said Gertrudis, after some time had passed. "See if there is yet any one upon the plain. I cannot, for my eyes are filled with tears. I shall remain here." And, saying these words, Gertrudis again knelt before the image of the Virgin. Marianita instantly obeyed the request, and, gliding across the floor, took her stand by the open window. The golden haze that had hitherto hung over the plain was darkening into a purple violet colour, but no horseman appeared in the distance. "The horse he will be riding," said Gertrudis, at the moment interrupting her devotions, "will be his bay-brown. He knows how much I admire that beautiful steed--his noble war-horse that carried him through all his campaigns against the Indians. I have often taken the flowers from my hair to place them upon the frontlet of the brave bay-brown. Oh! _Virgen Santissima_! O Jesus! sweet Lord! Don Rafael! my beautiful! my loved! who will bring you to me?" cried the young girl--her wild, passionate ejaculations mingling with the words of her prayer. The plain was every moment becoming less visible to the eye, as the twilight deepened into the shadows of night, when all at once it was re-illuminated by the pale rays of the moon. Still no horseman could be seen either near or afar off--nothing but the tall, dark palm-trees that stood motionless in the midst of the silent savanna. "He has been warned in time," suggested Marianita, in hopes of tranquillising her sister. "Most likely he will not have set out to-day." "Oh, no--no!" cried Gertrudis, wringing her hands in anguish; "you are wrong. I know Don Rafael too well. I judge his heart by my own. I am sure he would try to be here this very evening. Another day would be too long for him. He would brave every danger, if only to see me a few hours sooner--I know he would. I know he will be coming at this moment!" Just then a noise as of distant thunder was heard mingling with the metallic notes of the bell; and simultaneous with this ominous dialogue, between the hoarse muffled rumbling of the waters and the lugubrious clanging, a sheen of reddish light was seen to gleam suddenly over the moon-whitened plain, and, as it glared far into the distance, illuminating the dark forms of the palm-trees. It was proceeding from the beacon fires which Don Mariano had caused to be kindled both on the platform of the hacienda and on the higher ridge behind it--in hopes that their light might serve as a guide to those who might be still wandering upon the plain.