"Well," rejoined Costal, "your best way will be to go with us to the Hacienda las Palmas. There you will get a steed that will carry you to the house of your uncle. But first," added he, turning his eyes towards the tamarinds, "I must look after my carbine, which has been spilled out of the canoe. It's too good a gun to be thrown away; and I can say that it don't miss fire once in ten times. It should be yonder, where the brute capsized us; and with your permission, Senor student, I'll just go in search of it. Ho, Clara! paddle us back under the hammock!" Clara obeyed, though evidently with some reluctance. The hissing of the serpents still sounded ominously in his ears. On arriving near the spot where the canoe had turned over, Costal stood up in the bow; and then raising his hands, and joining them above his head, he plunged once more under the water. For a long time the spectators saw nothing of him; but the bubbles here and there rising to the surface, showed where he was engaged in searching for his incomparable carbine. At length his head appeared above water, then his whole body. He held the gun tightly grasped in one of his hands, and making a few strokes towards the canoe he once more climbed aboard. Costal now took hold of the paddle; and turning the head of the canoe in a westerly direction commenced making way across the turbid waters towards the Hacienda las Palmas. Although the fury of the inundation had by this time partially subsided, still the flood ran onward with a swift current; and what with the danger from floating trees, and other objects that swelled the surface of the water, it was necessary to manage the canoe with caution. Thus retarded, it was near mid-day before the voyageurs arrived within sight of the hacienda. Along the way Don Cornelio had inquired from his new companions, what strange accident had conducted them to the spot where they had found him. "Not an accident," said Costal; "but a horseman, who appeared to be in a terrible hurry himself, as _Por Dios_! he had need to be. He was on his way to the house of Don Mariano, for what purpose I can't say. It remains to be known, Senor student, whether he has been as fortunate as you, in escaping the flood. God grant that he has! for it would be a sad pity if such a brave young fellow was to die by drowning. Brave men are not so plentiful." "Happy for them who are brave!" sighed Don Cornelio. "Here is my friend, Clara," continued Costal, without noticing the rejoinder of the student, "who has no fear of man; and yet he is as much afraid of tigers as if he were a child. Well, I hope we shall find that the gallant young officer has escaped the danger, and is now safe within the walls of the hacienda."