you as a comrade, devoted to the
service of Don Rafael Tres-Villas, and who offers to assist in
delivering the Colonel from danger."

"Precisely so, that is, if the Colonel be still alive."

"_Quien viva_!" came the sonorous hail of a sentinel from the crenelled
parapet.

"_Gente de paz_!" replied Gaspar, advancing alone, while Zapote,
notwithstanding the obscurity of the night, instinctively placed himself
behind the trunk of a tree.

"What is your wish?" demanded the guard.

"I am the bearer of important news from the Colonel Tres-Villas,"
answered Gaspar.

"And we wish to communicate them to Lieutenant Veraegui," added Zapote,
from behind, but without leaving the shelter of the tree.

"How many of you are there?" asked the sentinel.

"Two."

"You may advance, then," said the soldier, dropping his carbine to the
"order arms."

The gate was soon opened; and Gaspar and Zapote, entering within the
fortress, were conducted by the corporal of the guard towards the
quarters of his commander.

The Lieutenant Veraegui was, at the moment, within one of the chambers
of the mansion, engaged over a game of cards with a young _alferez_. On
the table before them stood a bottle of Catalan brandy--the product of
his own native province--clear and strong as alcohol. A couple of
glasses flanked the bottle, and beside them lay a pile of Havana cigars.

Zapote, on entering, could not help a slight tremor; which was increased
as the Catalan Lieutenant bent upon him an inquisitorial look of his
grey eyes, that glanced keenly under eyebrows long and grizzled like his
moustaches.

Veraegui was a soldier of fortune, of rude unpolished speech, and with
manners not very different from those which he had practised while
wearing the chevrons of a Sergeant.

From the examination of Zapote, he passed unceremoniously to that of
Gaspar, whose features he instantly recognised.

"Ah! it is you?" he said, addressing the messenger. "Well, you have
seen the Colonel, and bring news from him? He has, I trust, escaped
from the disaster of Huajapam."

"Senor Lieutenant," replied Gaspar, "I know not of what affair you are
speaking. All I know is, that this morning the Colonel Tres-Villas was
in the woods between here and the Ostuta--where the bandits of Arroyo
were tracking him like a wild beast."

"Ho!" cried the Lieutenant, angrily, as he started up from his chair;
"and it is only now you tell me of this, when you might have brou