t; but, owing to the
mountains, the travellers could hardly expect to reach the end of their
journey much before daybreak. Paco, who viewed this hasty departure with
any thing but a well-pleased countenance, urged Rita to postpone setting
off till the following morning, alleging the difficult nature of the
roads they must traverse, and which led for a considerable part of the
way over a steep and almost trackless sierra. But Rita's anxiety would
brook no delay, and the little cavalcade set out. It consisted of Rita
and her waiting-maid, mounted upon mules, and of the gipsy and Paco upon
their horses; Paco leading a third mule, upon which, by the care of
Micaela, a hastily packed portmanteau had been strapped. The gipsy rode
in front; thirty paces behind him came the women, and the muleteer
brought up the rear. Jaime had betrayed some surprise, and even
discomposure, when he found that Paco was to accompany them; but he did
not venture to make any objection to so natural an arrangement.

Taking advantage of the goodness of the road, which for the first league
or two was tolerably smooth and level, the travellers pushed on for
nearly two hours at a steady amble, which, had the nature of the ground
allowed them to sustain it, would have brought them to their journey's
end much sooner than was really to be the case. The sun had set, the
moon had not yet risen, and the night was very dark. Jaime, who
continued to maintain a short interval between his horse and the mules
of Rita and her attendant, kept shifting his restless glances from one
side of the road to the other, as though he would fain have penetrated
the surrounding gloom. He was passing a thicket that skirted the road,
when a cautious "Hist!" inaudible to his companions, arrested his
attention. He immediately pulled up his horse, and, dismounting,
unstrapped the surcingle of his saddle. On perceiving this, Rita stopped
to enquire the cause of the delay, but the gipsy requested her to
proceed.

"My horse's girths are loose, Senora," said he in explanation. "Be good
enough to ride on, and I will overtake you immediately."

Rita rode on, and Paco followed, without paying any attention to so
common an occurrence as the slackening of a girth. Scarcely, however,
had he passed the gipsy some fifty paces, when the latter left his
horse, who remained standing motionless in the middle of the road, and
approached the thicket. Just within the shadow of the foremost trees, a