steel--and on the causeway, dimly seen in
the faint light, a confused mass of men and horses and laden _burros_
were hurrying away before an orderly mass of horsemen riding in upon
them from the east. And, before the full meaning of all this was clear
to Pancha's mind, came another rush of horsemen charging down along
the causeway from the west. Right under Pancha's eyes Pepe, surrounded
by his foes, was fighting for his life; and Pancha knew that the fight
was hopeless, and that Pepe's life was lost! Up at the end of the
causeway she saw quivering for an instant the light of the _sereno's_
lantern; and a vast sorrow for the old man standing there, full of
years, yet henceforth to be childless, for the moment overcame the
bitter agony in her own heart. But only for a moment. Then, with a cry
keen and woful, that echoed along the _arroyo_, and even for an
instant made the men pause in their deadly fight, with every drop of
her sluggish but fierce Indian blood aroused and burning in her veins,
she sprang to her feet, and but for Tobalito's strong, restraining
grasp, she would have gone to Pepe's aid and died wildly striking by
Pepe's side--as the Aztec women, her brave ancestors, fought and died
on the causeways of Anahuac when the cruel Spaniards first came into
the land. But Tobalito held her fast--and then a merciful
unconsciousness came to give her breaking heart relief.

* * * * *

When life came back to Pancha, she was alone in the _jacal_, save that
in one corner lay the twins, Antonio and Antonia, still asleep; and
beside them, having fled thither for refuge during the noise and
confusion of the fight, was huddled the yellow cat. Within the _jacal_
a little candle feebly burned, casting a faint gleam of light through
the open doorway out upon the broad, smooth leaves of the banana-tree.
There was no sound to break the serene stillness of the night, and,
for a little, Pancha half fancied, and tried hard to make herself
believe, that she was but awaking from a woful dream. But the
searching agony that wrenched her heart was too bitterly real to give
a chance for this fond fancy to have play. And then, slowly but
strongly, the thought came into her mind that she must go to Pepe;
that, if living, she must bear to him words of comfort and of hope;
that, if dead, she must cast one last loving look upon his face.

So she passed out into the darkness--for only a faint, hazy light
beyond