nd are on the move. He fears that if you
were seen going toward the sea, instead of up into the mountains, some
of our `lambs' might begin to ask awkward questions, and insist upon
your accompanying them. Therefore, if you feel at all tired, you had
better avail yourself of the present opportunity to snatch a little
sleep."

As a matter of fact I did not feel in the least tired, but I wanted an
opportunity to think quietly over this change in my prospects; I,
therefore, gladly accepted the suggestion made by Carlos and, stretching
myself out beneath the shade of an adjacent clump of bush, closed my
eyes and, before I knew it, was fast asleep.

I was awakened by the sound of many voices and the stir of many feet,
and sat up to see that the whole band of marauders was in motion; and
ten minutes later there was nothing to betray their presence save a
cloud of dun-coloured dust rising into the air over the tops of the
bushes. It appeared to me, however, that instead of wending their way
toward the mountains they were bearing away in a westerly direction
toward a spot where, at a distance of some eight or ten miles, I knew a
group of extensive and prosperous plantations existed. As soon as the
last of the stragglers had vanished, Carlos rose to his feet and said:

"Now, Senor Englishman, if you are sufficiently rested we will be
moving; because, if it should be noticed that you are not among them,
some of our people might return to look for you; and it would be very
bad indeed for you if they should do that--and find you."

"I am quite ready," I answered, as I sprang to my feet; and in another
minute our little party also--consisting of Carlos, Jose, Miguel, and
myself--had disappeared from the scene.

Our way lay in precisely the opposite direction to that taken by the
raiders; that is to say, while they marched toward the west, we followed
a narrow, winding footpath that, if it could be said to have any
definite direction at all, trended toward the east. For three hours we
trudged steadily onward, Carlos, with one of my pistols in his belt, in
addition to his own weapons, walking on one side of me, with Jose,
similarly equipped, on the other, while Miguel, with my gun upon his
shoulder, brought up the rear. For several miles we traversed the lower
slopes of the range, winding hither and thither but steadily working our
way eastward, now passing over sterile, rocky ground, sparsely dotted
here and there with clum