of
the house, when she set off running as fleetly as a deer pursued by the
hounds--jumping over the frequent obstacles in her path with wonderful
agility, never stumbling, and flying along, with her black hair
streaming out behind her, like some wild creature of the desolate pine
barrens through which she was skilfully threading her way.

She reached at last a little knoll, crowned by a group of pine
trees crowded closely together, and dashing up the steep bank with
undiminished speed came to a sudden stop in the very middle of the
grove. Here she stood still for a moment, peering anxiously about her,
and then, putting two fingers in her mouth, gave three shrill whistles,
such as no traveller in those desolate regions can hear without a
shudder. In an instant what seemed to be a heap of pine twigs stirred,
and a man emerging from beneath them rose slowly to his feet at a little
distance from the child.

"Is it you, Chiquita?" he asked. "What news do you bring? You are late.
I had given over expecting you to-night, and gone to sleep."

The speaker was a dark, fierce-looking fellow of about five and
twenty, with a spare, wiry frame, brilliant black eyes, and very white
teeth--which were long and pointed like the fangs of a young wolf.
He looked as if he might be a brigand, poacher, smuggler, thief, or
assassin--all of which he had been indeed by turns. He was dressed like
a Spanish peasant, and in the red woollen girdle wound several times
around his waist was stuck a formidable knife, called in Spain a navaja.
The desperadoes who make use of these terrible weapons usually display
as many red stripes, cut in the steel, upon their long pointed blades
as they have committed murders, and are esteemed by their companions in
proportion to the number indicated by this horrible record. We do
not know exactly how many of these scarlet grooves adorned Agostino's
navaja, but judging by the savage expression of his countenance, and
the fierce glitter of his eye, we may safely suppose them to have been
creditably numerous.

"Well, Chiquita," said he, laying his hand caressingly on the child's
head, "and what did you see at Maitre Chirriguirri's inn?"

"A great chariot full of people came there this afternoon," she
answered. "I saw them carry five large chests into the barn, and they
must have been very heavy, for it took two men to lift them."

"Hum!" said Agostino, "sometimes travellers put stones into their
boxes to make the