She's asking for her child," said Donald.

Billie carried the little one over and stood it beside her.

With a glad cry she snatched it in her arms and burst into tears.

"She's all right," laughed Donald. "Now let's have a look at that
animal."

They walked over to where Adrian was watching the inanimate
carcass.

"Where did we hit him?" asked Billie.

"I can see three places and one is big enough to throw a baseball
through it."

"That's from the shotgun," said Donald. "It's what did the
business. Must have been buckshot and we were so close it didn't
have a chance to scatter."

"I'd sure like that hide," said Adrian.

"We'll be in luck if we save our own," remarked Billie. "Unless
we can do something for the woman, we'd better be jogging along."

By this time the woman had risen to her feet and the boys could
see that she was not a peon as they had supposed, but of the
better class.

"Where could she have come from?" queried Donald under his
breath.

"Suppose you ask her," laughed Adrian.

Donald did so. At first she was too dazed to answer, but after
Donald spoke a few words quietly and in his very best Spanish,
she was able to answer his questions.

"Is this your house?" he asked.

"No, Senor; my house is down the mountain."

"What are you doing here alone?"

She gave him a startled glance and then hugged the child closer
to her breast.

"You need not fear us," were the reassuring words.

"The soldiers came," she said slowly. "They had already killed
the others. They would have killed me."

"The soldiers?"

"Yes. They were looking for my husband. They said he was hidden
in the house; but he was not. He is with Gen. Carranza."

"When was this?"

"Yesterday. I have been in the mountains all night. There was a
fight a few minutes ago and I saw them pass. Then I came here,
when the awful beast sprang out," and again she drew the child to
her.

"Are you hungry?"

"Si, senor!"

It was the child that answered.

In an instant Billie's hand was in his pack and he held out the
_tortillas_, which both mother and child took and ate ravenously.

After their hunger had been appeased, they questioned the woman
further, telling her they were going to Vera Cruz.

"If you will come with me down the mountain, you can hide in my
house," she said.

"We don't want to hide," laughed Billie. "We want to get to Vera
Cruz. However, we'll see you home, if you don't mind."

Without more words the