roop have
got through; but there are two or three of them down. Come along, lads,
we must ride back, and there is no time to lose. Keep well together, and
in readiness to charge if I give the word. It is likely enough our turn
may come next."

They rode on without interruption at full gallop till they neared the
lower end of the valley. Then Jack drew up his horse. Across the road
and the ground on each side extended a dozen carts, the oxen being taken
out, and the carts placed end to end so as to form a barricade. A number
of men were standing behind them.

"I expected something of this sort," muttered Jack. He looked at the
hills on either side, but they were too steep to ride up on horseback;
and as to abandoning the animals and taking to the hills on foot, it
was not to be thought of, for the active peasants would easily overtake
them.

"We must ride straight forward," he said; "there is no other way out of
it. There is level ground enough for a horse to pass round the left of
the wagons. Ride for that point as hard as you can, and when you are
through keep straight forward for a quarter of a mile till we are
together again. Now!"

Giving his horse the spur, Jack dashed off at full speed, followed
closely by the troopers. As they approached the line guns flashed out
from the wagons, and the bullets sang thickly round them; but they were
going too fast to be an easy mark, and the peasants, after firing their
guns, seeing the point for which they were making, ran in a body to
oppose them, armed with pitch forks and ox goads; few of them had,
however, reached the spot when Jack and his troopers dashed up. There
was a short sharp struggle, and then, leaving five or six of the
peasants dead on the ground, the troopers burst through and rode
forward. One man only had been lost in the passage, shot through the
head as he approached the gap.

"So far we are safe," Jack said, "and as I expect every man in the
country round was engaged in that ambush, we need not hurry for the
present. The question is, Which way to go?"

This was indeed a difficult point to settle, for Jack was wholly
ignorant of the country. He had made inquiries as to the way to
Estrella, but knew nothing of any other roads leading from that village,
and indeed, for aught he knew, the road by which he had come might be
the only one leading to the south through the range of hills.

"We will turn west," he said, after a moment's thought, "and keep al