Part 38 (2/2)

She left the word unspoken, knowing it was not needed tounderstood

”Not dare!” echoed the Countess, recovering nerve and again rising to her feet ”As I've said, he'll dare anything--will Don Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna Besides, what has _he_ to fear? Nothing He can show good cause for our imprisonh to satisfy any clamour of the people And hoould any one ever knohat ht be done to us inside the Palacio? Ah, _Luisita querida_, if its walls could speak they els weep We wouldn't be the first who have been subjected to insult--ay, infaaher foot on the floor, while the flash of her eyes told of some fixed determination ”If it be so, that Palace prison will have another secret to keep, or a tale to tell, sad and tragic as any that has preceded I, Ysabel Almonte, shall die in it rather than come out dishonoured”

”I, too!” echoed Luisa Valverde, if in less excited manner, inspired by a like heroic resolve

While his fair prisoners were thus exchanging thought and speech, Santander, in the _sala grande_ outside, was doing his best to pass the ti hi hope of being beloved by Luisa Valverde was gone--coe--and henceforth his love for her could only be as that of Tarquin for Lucretia Nor would he have any Collatinus to fear--no rival,since given up his designs on Don Ignacio's daughter, exclusively bending hie--over the Condesa But though relieved in this regard, and likely to have his oay, Carlos Santander was anything but a happythat arrest; instead, almost as miserable as either of those he had arrested

Still keeping up a pretence of gallantry, he could not co-room where he had installed himself; nor, under the circumstances, would it have been desirable He was not alone, however; Major Ra there with hi thes of the ladies, they h with the house itself, its domestics, larder, and _cocina_, and, above all, the cellar Its binns were inquired into, the best wine ordered to be brought frouests of an hotel and Don Ignacio's drawing-roo saloon

Outside in the courtyard, and further off by the coach-house, si Never had that quiet _casa de ca them--it was the house of a _rebel_, and therefore devoted to ruin

CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

THE COCHERO DOGGED

Just after the ladies had been proclaimed under arrest, but before the sentinels were posted around the house, aall haste away fro also contemplated Jose it ho, from a place of concealment, had not only seen what passed, but heard the conversation between Santander and the Senoritas The words spoken by his young mistress, and the rejoinder received, were all he waited for Giving hi ered he kne--forfeited, indeed, should he fall into the hands of those who had invaded the place So, instead of returning to the stable-yard, fro the _fracas_ in front, he retreated rearwards, first through the ornarounds, then over the wall upon which the hunchback had perched hiht Jose, however, did not stay on it forto its su the lane in the direction of thethis, however, a reflection caused him to slacken pace, and then couard stationed by the front gate, sure to see hiround on the opposite side of the lane was a patch of rocky scrub--in short, a _chapparal_--into which in an instant after he plunged, and ell under cover againdown on his hands and knees The attitude gave hi; and listen he did--all ears

To hear voices all around the house, loudest in the direction of the stable-yard In tones not of triu of disappointment

For in truth it was so; the shouts of the soldiers searching for his very self, and swearing because he could not be found He had reason to congratulate hi quartered everywhere, gardens, grounds, and all

For the time he felt comparatively safe; but he dared not return to the lane And less show hi sent out after him There was no alternative, therefore, but stay where he was till the darkness ca to wait for it The sun had set, and twilight in the Mexican valley is but a brief interval between day and night In a few minutes after coave hih that required little consideration It had been already traced out for him, partly by the Condesa, in an interview he held with her but an hour before and partly by instructions he had received when up at the old convent direct from the lips of Don Ruperto Therefore, hurried as was his retreat, he was notit as one ent blindly and without definite aim He had this, with a point to be reached, which, could he only arrive at, not only ht his own safety be secured, but that of those he was equally anxious about, now more imperilled than hier, and the hope of being able to avert it, soon as the twilight deepened to darkness he forsook his telided noiselessly along it towards theout upon this, he turned to the left, and without looking behind, hurried up the hill as fast as his limbs could carry him

Perhaps better for hiht have been worse Whether or no, he was followed by a , not his own shadow A grotesque creature, see pace with hi hih it looked as if able to do so, but did not wish Just so it was--the stalker being Zorillo

The stalk had risen rather accidentally The hunchback--now in a manner attached to the party of Hussars--had been hi near the end of the lane, and saw the _cochero_ as he caht for, and by no one more zealously than hie The disappearance of his ill-gotten treasure was no longer a mystery to him

The abandoned halters, with the horses for which they had been intended, told his off

And now, seeing the latter as he stole away in retreat, his first impulse was to raise the hue and cry, and set the soldiers after But other reflections, quick succeeding, restrained hiht not be in time to secure a capture In the darkness there was every chance of the _ them A tract of forest was not far off, and he would be into it before they could come up Besides, the hunchback had also conjectured that the failure of their over-night expedition was due to Jose He must have overheard that conversation with the colonel of Hussars, and carried it direct to those who them from the surprise intended In all likelihood he was now on his way to another intervieith them

If so, and if he, Zorillo, could but spot the place, and bring back report of it to Santander, it would give him a new claim for services, and soh the now hated _cochero_

Soon as resolved he lost not ajust such distance between as to hinder Jose fro behind, as it was all uphill, and froht above, while himself in obscurity

But he also availed hirew alongside it, through which he now and then ave a wonderful power of speed, and he could have come up with the _mertizo_ at any moment He knew that, but knew also it would likely cost him his life For the _cochero_ h to deserve death at his hands He ht well dread an encounter, and was careful to avoid it Indeed, but for his belief that he was an overmatch for the other in speed, he would not have ventured after him

For nearly five miles up the mountain road the stalk was continued

Then he, whose footsteps were so persistently dogged, was seen to turn into a side path, which led along a ravine still upward But the change, of course, did not throw off the sleuth-hound skulking on his track, the latter also entering the gorge, and gliding on after