ike stars spangling the
deep robe of nature till it glistened with their glorious sheen. Around
us on every side was the forest, in a greater or less depth, and from it
came the many nocturnal sounds--sounds with which I was pretty familiar,
but which, upon this occasion, had a more strange and oppressive effect
than usual. Boom, whizz, croak, shriek, yell, and moan, mingled with
the distant rush of the great river, ever speeding onward towards the
sea. At times I could just distinguish the edge of the forest; then
there would be the dark plantation spread around, and nothing more.

It was weary work that, watching--stationed at one of the windows--
watching till my eyes ached, as I tried to distinguish the many familiar
objects by which I was surrounded, and then to make sure that some low
bush was not a crouching or crawling enemy, approaching by stealth
nearer and nearer, ready for a deadly spring.

It was just the time for anxious troubled thought, and the gold lay like
a dead weight upon my conscience. At that moment I could have gladly
given it all wherewith to purchase safety for those beneath this roof.

I was startled from anxious reverie by a whisper at my side, and turning
I found that it was Lilla, the bearer of a message from my uncle that he
would like me to come to him for a few minutes.

I had scarcely mastered the message, standing there close to the open
window, when the words upon my lips were arrested, and my heart beat
fast, as now, unmistakably no chimera of the brain, I could see six or
seven figures glide out of the darkness towards the house, straight to
where I stood with Lilla.

Nearer they came, stooping down and apparently making for the shade of
the verandah, till they stopped within a couple of yards of us, and
began whispering in what seemed to be broken Spanish, or the _patois_ of
the Indians. Then I felt my hands clutched more tightly than ever, as a
voice that I recognised in an instant uttered a few words that sounded
like an order, given as it was in a tongue very little of which I could
comprehend, catching only a word or two, while my imagination supplied
the rest.

It was plain enough that, perhaps ignorant of his loss, perhaps
condoning it, Garcia had made common cause with the Indians, and Lilla
was to be saved before fire was applied to the hacienda.

For a few moments there was a dead silence, and then the party glided
along under the verandah.

"What was that Ga