we have done."

The man had scarce finished speaking when the report of a carbine, fired
from the roof of the hacienda, reverberated along the ridge, and the
trooper fell mortally wounded from his saddle.

A bitter smile curled upon the lips of Don Rafael, and a sharp pang shot
through his heart, as he compared the adieu he was now receiving from
the inhabitants of the hacienda, with that which had accompanied his
departure but two months before.

The fatal bullet had struck that very trooper who had judged it prudent
to conceal from his officer the names of his assailants.

"'Tis Arroyo who has fired the shot!" involuntarily exclaimed the other,
who also believed that he had recognised the insurgent.

"Arroyo!" exclaimed the captain, in a tone of angry surprise; "Arroyo
within that hacienda, and you have not told me!" added he, in a furious
voice, while his moustachios appeared to crisp with rage.

The trooper was for the moment in great danger of almost as rude
treatment as Arroyo had just given his associate. Don Rafael restrained
himself, however; and, without waiting to reflect on consequences, he
ordered one of his followers--the best mounted of them--to proceed at
once to the hacienda Del Valle, and bring fifty men well armed, with a
piece of cannon by which the gate of Las Palmas might be broken open.

The messenger departed at a gallop, while Don Rafael and his three
remaining troopers, screening themselves behind the crest of the ridge,
sat in their saddles silently awaiting his return.

It was long before Don Rafael's blood began to cool; and in proportion
as it did so, he experienced a degree of sorrow for the act of hostility
he was about to undertake against the father of Gertrudis.

A violent contest commenced within his breast, between two opposing
sentiments of nearly equal strength. Whether he persisted in his
resolution, or retreated from it, both courses seemed equally criminal.
The voice of duty, and that of passion, spoke equally loud. To which
should he listen?

The struggle, long and violent, between these antagonistic sentiments,
had not yet terminated, when the detachment arrived upon the ground.
This decided him. It was too late to retire from his first
determination. On towards the hacienda! Don Rafael drew his sword,
and, placing himself at the head of his troop, rode down the hill. The
bugle sounding the "advance," warned the inhabitants of the hacienda
that a detachment