ave left behind--lost, you mean."

"No, _senoritos_; I don't mean that, exactly. Of course, the redskins
have left it behind, and so lost it. But that isn't the reason of my
calling it a _bola perdida_."

"Why, then, Caspar?" asks Ludwig, with the hereditary instincts of the
_savant_, like his father, curious about all such things. "Why do you
call it a lost ball?"

"Because that's the name we gauchos give it, and the name by which it is
known among those who make use of it--these Chaco Indians."

"And pray, what do they use it for? I never heard of the thing. What
is its purpose?"

"One for which, I hope, neither it nor any of its sort will ever be
employed upon us. The Virgin forbid! For it is no child's toy, I can
assure you, _senoritos_; but a most murderous weapon. I've witnessed
its effects more than once--seen it flung full thirty yards, and hit a
spot not bigger than the breadth of my hand; the head of a horse,
crushing in the animal's skull as if done by a club of _quebracha_.
Heaven protect me, and you too, _muchachos_, from ever getting struck by
a _bola perdida_!"

"But why a _lost_ ball?" asks Ludwig, with curiosity still unsatisfied.

"Oh! that's plain enough," answers the gaucho. "As you see, when once
launched there's no knowing where it may roll to; and often gets lost in
the long grass or among bushes; unlike the ordinary _bolas_, which stick
to the thing aimed at--that is, if thrown as they should be."

"What do you make of its being found here?" interrogates Cypriano, more
interested about the ball in a sense different from the curiosity felt
by his cousin.

"Much," answers Caspar, looking grave, but without offering explanation;
for he seems busied with some calculation, or conjecture.

"Indeed!" simultaneously exclaim the others, with interest rekindled,
Cypriano regarding him with earnest glance.

"Yes, indeed, young masters," proceeds the gaucho. "The thing I now
hold in my hand has once, and not very long ago, been in the hands of a
Tovas Indian!"

"A Tovas!" exclaims Cypriano, excitedly. "What reason have you for
thinking so?"

"The best of all reasons. Because, so far as is known to me, no other
Chaco Indians but they use the _bola perdida_. That ball has been
handled, mislaid, and left here behind by a Tovas traitor. You are
right, _senorito_," he adds, speaking to Cypriano. "Whoever may have
murdered my poor master, your uncle, Aguara is he who has carried off