ardens, grounds, and all.

For the time he felt comparatively safe; but he dared not return to the
lane. And less show himself on the open road; as scouting parties were
sure of being sent out after him. There was no alternative, therefore,
but stay where he was till the darkness came down. Luckily, he would
not have long to wait for it. The sun had set, and twilight in the
Mexican valley is but a brief interval between day and night. In a few
minutes after commencement it is over.

Short as it was, it gave him time to consider his future course of
action, though that required little consideration. It had been already
traced out for him, partly by the Condesa, in an interview he held with
her but an hour before and partly by instructions he had received when
up at the old convent direct from the lips of Don Ruperto. Therefore,
hurried as was his retreat, he was not making it as one who went blindly
and without definite aim. He had this, with a point to be reached,
which, could he only arrive at, not only might his own safety be
secured, but that of those he was equally anxious about, now more
imperilled than himself.

With a full comprehension of their danger, and the hope of being able to
avert it, soon as the twilight deepened to darkness he forsook his
temporary place of concealment, and, returning to the lane, glided
noiselessly along it towards the main road. Coming out upon this, he
turned to the left, and without looking behind, hurried up the hill as
fast as his limbs could carry him.

Perhaps better for him had he looked behind; and yet in the end it might
have been worse. Whether or no, he was followed by a man--if it were a
man--and, if a thing, not his own shadow. A grotesque creature,
seemingly all arms and legs, moved after, keeping pace with him, no
matter how rapidly he progressed. Not overtaking him; though it looked
as if able to do so, but did not wish. Just so it was--the stalker
being Zorillo.

The stalk had risen rather accidentally. The hunchback--now in a manner
attached to the party of Hussars--had been himself loitering near the
end of the lane, and saw the _cochero_ as he came out on the road. He
knew the latter was being sought for, and by no one more zealously than
himself. Besides cupidity, he was prompted by burning revenge. The
disappearance of his ill-gotten treasure was no longer a mystery to him.
The abandoned halters, with the horses for which they had been
inte