, with offers of a handsome present, if
she would give a guide to the boys, to the mountains. David was
instructed, especially, to tell her that they were English, and the
natural enemies of the Spaniards; that they had done them much harm
at sea; and that, if caught by the Spaniards, they would be killed.

He returned an hour later, with news that the old Indian woman had,
at once upon hearing these facts, promised to get them passed up to
the hiding places of the natives.

"You think," Don Sagasta said, "that there is no fear of her
mentioning the fact that she has seen my friends, to any of the
searchers?"

"Oh, no," David said. "She is as close as wax. Over and over again,
when she has been suspected of assisting in the evasion of a slave,
she has been beaten and put to torture; but nothing was ever
extracted from her lips, and it is certain that she would die,
rather than reveal a secret."

Donna Anna was much moved, when she said adieu to the lads. She
regarded Ned as the preserver of her life; and both had, during the
two months of daily intercourse, much endeared themselves to her.
Don Sagasta brought to them a handsome pair of pistols, each, and a
sword; and then, giving them a basket of provisions and a purse
containing money, which he thought might be useful even among
runaway slaves, he and his daughter bade adieu to them, with many
expressions of kindness and gratitude, on both sides.

"Do not hesitate," Don Sagasta said, "to let me know if I can, at
any time, do or send anything for you. Should it be possible, I
will send a message to you, by the old woman, if any expedition on
a grand scale is being got up against the runaways; and this may
make your position more comfortable among them."

Under the guidance of David, they then started for the Indian
woman's hut; while Flora set to work to carry away and obliterate
all signs, from the hut, of its late residents. After a few
minutes' walking, the boys arrived at the Indian hut. It was
constructed simply, of boughs of trees thickly worked together.

On hearing their footsteps an old woman--the boys thought they had
never seen anyone so old--with long white hair, and a face wrinkled
till it hardly seemed like the face of a human being, came to the
door, with a torch made of resinous wood held aloft. She peered
under her hand at the boys, and said a few words to David, which he
translated to the boys to be:

"And these are English, the people of wh