to meet his friend.

It was equally evident that the old man was as much pleased to meet
Pedro, for they grasped each other's hands with hearty good-will.

"What news?" asked the old man, eagerly, as he held up a hand to check
the dogs, which were leaping round him.

Pedro shook his head sadly, and the expression of the old man became
grave. The question referred to Pedro's search for his lost child. It
had long been the first inquiry when these two met after a separation.
The old man seemed never to lose hope, but he had become so accustomed
to the reply that his despondency was now of short duration. He had
known and loved the child in days gone by--had helped the mother in
cultivating her garden-plot, and had gone out hunting with the father
many a time. He was a fine-looking man, above seventy years of age,
with iron-grey hair, turning in some places to pure white. The hunter's
spare though still upright figure showed that he must have been a
powerful man in his youth, and the deeply-marked wrinkles about his
mouth and eyes told eloquently that he was a kind one. Round his
shoulders were twined the cords of the heavy "bolas," or balls, with
which he sometimes felled, at other times entangled, his prey. These
balls were covered with clotted blood. He carried a short gun in his
hand, and a large knife was stuck in his belt.

The dogs that leaped around him were a strange pack--some being very
large, some very small, and all of different breeds. A few of them had
been lamed, and all were more or less marked by the wounds received from
jaguars and pumas.

"You expected me, Ignacio?" said Pedro, after the first greetings were
over.

"No--not quite so soon, but I chanced to be wandering about in the
mountains, and came down to take a look at the old place, to see that
all was right. You know I am fond of our old haunts, and never stay
long away from them, but I did not expect to find you here."

The hunter spoke in Spanish, and Lawrence found to his satisfaction
that, although he by no means understood all that was said, he had
already improved so much in that tongue through his frequent efforts to
converse with Manuela, that he could follow the drift at least of the
hunter's remarks.

"I have come back sooner than I intended," returned Pedro, "for war is a
wonderful hastener, as well as dictator, of events; but I have to thank
war for having given me a new friend. Let me introduce Senhor Lawrence
Ar