Alas! she could not doubt it; and as
the thought came across her, What would they say at home when they
heard it? she burst into an agony of silent tears. Toward daybreak
she was often startled to hear the words, "Hope, Ethel, hope!" in
Spanish distinctly spoken close to her. She turned hastily, but
there rode the dark forms as usual. Still she felt sure that she
was not mistaken. Her own name she had distinctly heard; and
although she could not form a conjecture who this unknown friend
could be, still it was a great consolation to her to feel that she
had at any rate one well-wisher among her enemies. He had told her
to hope, too; and Ethel's spirits, with the elasticity of youth,
rose at the word.
Why should she not hope? she thought. They were sure to hear it at
home next morning, even if no one escaped and took them the news
earlier; and she was certain that within a few hours of hearing it
her father and friends Would be on their trail. Before the night
fell, at latest, they would be assembled. Twenty-four hours' start
would be the utmost that the Indians could possibly obtain, and her
friends would travel as fast or faster than they could, for they
would be free from all encumbrances. How far she was to be taken
she could not say, but she felt sure that in a week's traveling her
friends would make up for the day lost at starting.
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