The speaker, a man of ferocious and brutal aspect, here made a gesture of fearful meaning, as an appropriate finish to his speech.

"Don Mariano would not have permitted it," rejoined the other, by way of excusing himself for having been the cause of the dragoon officer's escape. "Once under his roof, he would never have consented to our molesting him."

"Bah!" exclaimed the first speaker. "It's past the time when we require to ask Don Mariano's permission. We are no longer his servants. The time is come when the servants shall be the masters, and the masters the servants, _Carajo_! What care I for the emanc.i.p.ation of the country?

What I care for is blood and plunder."

The fierce joy that blazed in the eyes of the speaker as he p.r.o.nounced the last words, told too plainly that these were his veritable sentiments.

The second of the two brigands who, though smaller in size and of a more astute expression of countenance, was equally characterised by an aspect of brutal ferocity--for a moment appeared to quail before the indignation of his companion.

"_Carajo_!" continued the first, "we have got to shift our quarters. If that furious captain finds out that _we_ are here, he will set fire to the four corners of the hacienda, and roast us alive in it. Fool that I was to listen to you!"

"Who could have foreseen that he would get off so?" said the lesser man, still endeavouring to excuse himself.

"You, _Carrai_!" thundered the bandit; and overcome by rage and chagrin at the escape of his mortal enemy, he drew his poignard, and struck a left-handed blow at the bosom of his a.s.sociate. The latter severely wounded, uttering a cry of pain, fell heavily from his horse.

Without staying to see whether or not he had killed his comrade, the guerillero dashed through the gate of the hacienda; and, dismounting in the courtyard, ran, carbine in hand, up the stone stairway that led to the _azotea_.

Meanwhile Don Rafael and his five hors.e.m.e.n were ascending the hill that sloped up from the rear of the building.

"_Santos Dios_! it is very strange!" remarked one of the troopers to a companion. "It's the general belief that Arroyo and Bocardo have quitted the province, but if I'm not mistaken--"

"It was they, to a certainty," interrupted the second trooper. "I know them well, only I didn't wish to tell our captain. He is so furious against these two fellows, that if he had only known it was they who attacked us, we should not have had much chance of being permitted to retreat as we have done."

The man had scarce finished speaking when the report of a carbine, fired from the roof of the hacienda, reverberated along the ridge, and the trooper fell mortally wounded from his saddle.

A bitter smile curled upon the lips of Don Rafael, and a sharp pang shot through his heart, as he compared the adieu he was now receiving from the inhabitants of the hacienda, with that which had accompanied his departure but two months before.

The fatal bullet had struck that very trooper who had judged it prudent to conceal from his officer the names of his a.s.sailants.

"'Tis Arroyo who has fired the shot!" involuntarily exclaimed the other, who also believed that he had recognised the insurgent.

"Arroyo!" exclaimed the captain, in a tone of angry surprise; "Arroyo within that hacienda, and you have not told me!" added he, in a furious voice, while his moustachios appeared to crisp with rage.

The trooper was for the moment in great danger of almost as rude treatment as Arroyo had just given his a.s.sociate. Don Rafael restrained himself, however; and, without waiting to reflect on consequences, he ordered one of his followers--the best mounted of them--to proceed at once to the hacienda Del Valle, and bring fifty men well armed, with a piece of cannon by which the gate of Las Palmas might be broken open.

The messenger departed at a gallop, while Don Rafael and his three remaining troopers, screening themselves behind the crest of the ridge, sat in their saddles silently awaiting his return.

It was long before Don Rafael's blood began to cool; and in proportion as it did so, he experienced a degree of sorrow for the act of hostility he was about to undertake against the father of Gertrudis.

A violent contest commenced within his breast, between two opposing sentiments of nearly equal strength. Whether he persisted in his resolution, or retreated from it, both courses seemed equally criminal.

The voice of duty, and that of pa.s.sion, spoke equally loud. To which should he listen?

The struggle, long and violent, between these antagonistic sentiments, had not yet terminated, when the detachment arrived upon the ground.

This decided him. It was too late to retire from his first determination. On towards the hacienda! Don Rafael drew his sword, and, placing himself at the head of his troop, rode down the hill. The bugle sounding the "advance," warned the inhabitants of the hacienda that a detachment of cavalry was crossing the ridge.

A few minutes after, the squadron halted before the great gate, at a little distance from the walls. A horseman advanced in front of the line, and once more having sounded the bugle, in the name of Don Rafael Tres-Villas, Captain of the Royalist army, summoned Don Mariano de Silva to deliver up, dead or alive, the insurgents, Arroyo and Bocardo.

The demand having been made, Don Rafael, with pale face, and heart audibly beating, sat motionless in his saddle to await the response.

Silence--profound silence alone made reply to the summons of the horseman and the sound of his trumpet.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

BEARDING A BRIGAND.

In addition to the consequences that would arise from his resolve-- already foreseen by Don Rafael Tres-Villas--there was one other of which he could not have had any foresight.

A glance into the interior of the hacienda will proclaim this consequence.

Within that chamber, already known to the reader, were Don Mariano de Silva, with his two daughters; and their situation was enough to justify the silence which succeeded to the summons of the dragoon. Inside the closed door, and by the side of the two young girls, stood Arroyo and Bocardo. Poignard in hand, the brigands were tracing out to Don Mariano the line of conduct he should pursue.

"Listen to me, Don Mariano de Silva," said the former, with an air of brutal mockery that was habitual to him, "I rather think you are too loyal a gentleman to dishonour the laws of hospitality by delivering up your guests."

"It is true," replied the haciendado, "you may rest a.s.sured--"

"I know it," continued Arroyo, interrupting him; "you would not betray us of your own accord. But this demon of a dragoon captain will break open the gate, and take us in spite of your intreaties. Now, listen!

and hear what I wish you to do."

"Can you suggest any means of preventing him from acting thus?"

"Nothing more simple, good Senor de Silva. This _coyote_ of the devil is your personal friend. If in the quality of your serving-man--that is, in times past--I chanced to apprehend a little of what was going on, you cannot blame me. If I am not mistaken, the dragoon captain has a little weakness for the pretty Dona Gertrudis. For that reason he will pay some regard to the danger that now hangs over the young lady's head."

"Danger! I do not comprehend you."

"You will, presently. You may say to the captain outside there, that if he persists in breaking open your gates, he may capture _us_ alive.

That he may do, beyond doubt; but as to yourself, and your two daughters, he will find nothing more of you than your dead bodies. You understand me now?"

Arroyo need not have been so explicit. Half the speech would have been enough to explain his fearful meaning. The air of ferocity that characterised his features was sufficiently indicative of his thoughts.

The daughters of Don Mariano, terrified at his looks, flung themselves simultaneously into the arms of their father.

At that moment the notes of the bugle resounded through the building; and the voice of the dragoon was heard for the second time p.r.o.nouncing his summons.

The haciendado, troubled about the fate of his children--thus completely in the power of his unfaithful vaqueros, whose companions crowded the corridor--permitted the second summons to pa.s.s without response.

"_Mil Devionios_!" cried the bandit, "why do you hesitate? Come! show yourself at the window, and make known to this furious captain what I have told you. _Carrai_! if you do not--"

The bugle sounding for the third summons drowned the remainder of the brigand's speech. As soon as the trumpet notes had ceased to echo from the walls, a voice was heard from without, the tones of which produced within the heart of Gertrudis at the same moment both fear and joy.

It was the voice of Rafael.

Quickly following it were heard the cries of the troopers as they called aloud--

"Death to the enemies of Spain!"