the Mitras showed where the young moon had sunk away behind the
mountains--and walked along the path that she and Pepe had trod
together but five days before. This time she did not pass beneath the
arch of the causeway. Where the path forked she turned to the right
and climbed the bank of the _arroyo_ and so came out upon the causeway
itself. In the darkness she tripped and nearly fell, and, looking
closely, she saw at her feet the body of a man. Resolutely, yet
shudderingly, she stooped still closer to see by the faint starlight
the dead face, and knew it for the face of one of Pepe's companions.
Beside the dead _contrabandista_ lay another dead body, clad in the
uniform of the _contraresguardo_; and the two lay facing each other as
they had fallen in the fight. Beyond were yet others, and a dead horse
or two, and a dead _burro_--from which the lading of precious stuffs
had been hastily removed--and carbines, and swords and pistols were
lying as they fell from dead hands; for, in the joy of their victory
and capture, the _contraresguardo_ had wasted no time in bearing away
their fallen comrades or in clearing off the field. And Pancha,
wofully seeking for Pepe, passed back and forth among the dead.

While she searched thus, she saw slowly coming from the far end of the
causeway a little point of light, and presently the old _sereno_
wrapped in his long cloak, stood beside her. In a broken sentence or
two he told her that, with Tobalito and Catalina, he had followed the
_contraresguardo_ to the barracks, and that Pepe was not among the
prisoners, and so he had come back to look for him here. Pancha made
him no answer in words, but she took his hand and kissed it; and,
still holding it, they searched together for the dead one who had been
all in all to them in the world. Along the whole length of the
causeway they searched, but found him not.

"Yet he is here," said Manuel. "My boy is not a prisoner, and if not a
prisoner, he surely was struck down in the fight."

And Pancha knew that Manuel spoke truth: Pepe could not be safe and
free from harm while his men were captured or slain.

While they paused midway upon the causeway, standing upon the arch
that spans the stream, a low, faint moan sounded through the still
night air. The sound came up from the darkness below--from the space
beside the pool. Bending together over the edge of the unguarded
footway, Manuel held down his lantern so that its light fell into the
d