face betraying not so much as the suggestion of a smile.
Captain Forest could have laughed at Dick's irresistible humor were it
not for the terrible tragedy which rested heavily upon him.

"Well," continued Jose, "while you and the Senorita stood beside the
beautiful _Americana_, I bethought me that it was about time we were
leaving this place. You did not know that the two women, Manuela and
Juana, and the Padre's gardener, Sebastiano, also witnessed the
shooting. I told Sebastiano to get the Senorita's horse out of the
stable at once and wait outside in the shadow of the wall on the far
side of the garden until I returned. I then hurried back here and got
away unobserved with our horses, picking up the Senorita's and
Sebastiano on the way to the canon where I left them in the latter's
charge. They will hardly be missed to-day, I think," he added; "the
excitement is too great. Go now quietly to Padre Antonio's and wait
there until Manuela gives you the word to depart." Jose paused. Then
casting a quick glance about him, he took a fresh puff at his
_cigarillo_ and said: "Until then, _a Dios_, Senor _Capitan_!" and
assuming an indifferent air, as though nothing unusual had occurred, he
sauntered quietly away.

"That man's a genius!" said Dick, looking after him until he disappeared
around the corner of the house.

"It was a lucky day for you when you picked him up. If you get away at
all to-night, you'll owe your lives to him. Nothing but his wits could
have saved you. You had better be going now," he added. "Go directly to
the Padre's and attract as little attention as possible on the way.

"_Este noche, amigo mio_--to-night, my friend," he concluded in Spanish,
and turning, lounged carelessly through the doorway into the house.

XXXVII

"I hear nothing," said Jose, rising from the ground where he had been
lying flat with his ear close to the earth.

"They have given us up!" exclaimed the Captain, turning in the saddle
and addressing Chiquita who also had been scanning their back trail in
the effort to discover a sign of their lost pursuers.

"We have tired them out," she answered, lowering her hand from her eyes.

They had escaped--they were free. Padre Antonio had married them on the
afternoon of the previous day.

"If I am still alive, and God grant that it may be so," he said on
parting, "I shall see you next spring when I visit the Missions in the
North."

The flight had been a swift and perilo