et alive!"

Nerved by the sight, Carlos dropped down from the wall, and reached the
ground without injury. A shrill whistle brought his steed to his side,
and the next moment the cibolero had sprung into the saddle, and was
galloping out into the open plain!

Bullets hissed after, and men mounted in hot pursuit; but before they
could spur their horses out of the gateway, Carlos had reached the edge
of the chapparal, and disappeared under the leafy screen of its thick
foliage.

A body of lancers, with Roblado and Gomez at their head, rode after. As
they approached the edge of the chapparal, to their astonishment a score
of heads appeared above the bushes, and a wild yell hailed their
advance!

"Indios bravos! los barbaros!" cried the lancers, halting, while some of
them wheeled back in alarm.

A general halt was made, and the pursuers waited until reinforcements
should come up. The whole garrison turned out, and the chapparal was
surrounded, and at length entered. But no Indians could be found,
though the tracks of their animals led through the thicket in every
direction.

After beating about for several hours, Roblado and his troopers returned
to the Presidio.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

Garcia was dead. Vizcarra was not, though, when taken up from where he
had fallen, he looked like one who had not long to live, and behaved
like one who was afraid to die. His face was covered with blood, and
his cheek showed the scar of a shot. He was alive however,--moaning and
mumbling. Fine talking was out of the question, for several of his
teeth had been carried away by the bullet.

His wound was a mere face wound. There was not the slightest danger;
but the "medico" of the place, a young practitioner, was not
sufficiently master of his art to give him that assurance, and for some
hours Vizcarra remained in anything but blissful ignorance of his fate.

The garrison doctor had died but a short time before, and his place was
not yet supplied.

A scene of excitement for the rest of that day was the Presidio--not
less so the town. The whole settlement was roused by the astounding
news, which spread like a prairie fire throughout the length and breadth
of the valley.

It travelled in two different shapes. One was, that the settlement was
surrounded by "los barbaros," headed by Carlos the cibolero; that they
must be in great numbers, since they had made an open attack upon the
military stronghold itself; but t