One seemed to get a start of the other two. These were
cut off by the black mass, and I did not see anything more of them.
Lopez got away; and though some of the others rode after him for
about a mile, they could not overtake him. Directly I saw what it
was, I caught up the gun and fired, and Ethel ran up the flag.
That's all I saw."
Ethel confirmed her sister's account, merely adding that, seeing
the two bodies in the distance, one going very fast toward the
other, she suspected that something was wrong, and so called at
once to Maud.
The animals were now quite out of sight, and the whole party went
down to meet Lopez, who was just riding up to the enclosure. He was
very pale, and his horse was covered with foam.
"Are the peons killed, Lopez?" was Mrs. Hardy's first question.
"I do not know, signora; but I should think so. The Indians caught
them; I heard a scream," and the man shuddered. "Santa Virgine"
--and he crossed himself piously--"what an escape! I will burn
twenty pounds of candles upon your altar."
"How was it that you were surprised, Lopez?" Charley asked. "You
were so particularly ordered to keep a good lookout."
"Well, Signor Charles, I was keeping a good lookout, and it is
lucky that I was. I was further away than I ought to have been--I
know that, for the signor told me not to go far; but I knew that
the rise that I took them to was the highest in that direction, and
that I could see for miles away into the Indian country.
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