gatory, quickly put, is to
get satisfied on this head.

"You reached the Tenawa town?"

"We did, _senor coronel_."

"Pedrillo carried a message to the Horned Lizard, with a letter for
Barbato. You know that, I suppose?"

"He told me so."

"Well, you saw him deliver the letter to Barbato?"

"He did not deliver it to Barbato."

"To the chief, then?"

"To neither, your Excellency. He could not."

"Could not! Why?"

"They ere not there to receive it. They are no longer in this world--
neither the Horned Lizard nor Barbato. Senor Coronel, the Tenawas have
met with a great misfortune. They've had a fight with a party of
Tejanos. The chief is killed, Barbato is killed, and nearly half of
their braves. When Pedrillo and I reached the town we found the tribe
in mourning, the women all painted black, with their hair cut off; the
men who had escaped the slaughter cowed, and keeping concealed within
their lodges."

A wild exclamation leaps from the lips of Uraga as he listens to these
disclosures, his brow becoming blacker than ever.

"But, Pedrillo," he inquires, after a pause; "what did he say to them?
You know the import of his message. Did he communicate it to the
survivors?"

"He did, your Excellency. They could not read your letter, but he told
them what it was about. They were to meet you here, he said. But they
refused to come. They were in too great distress about the death of
their chief, and the chastisement they had received. They were in fear
that the Tejanos would pursue them to their town; and were making
preparations to flee from it when Pedrillo and myself came away. _Pobre
Pedrillito_!"

Uraga no longer stays listening to the mock humanity of his whining
messenger. No more does he think of the drowned Pedrillo. His thoughts
are now given to a new design. Murder by proxy has failed. For all
that, it must still be done. To take counsel with his adjutant about
the best mode of proceeding, he hastens back to the camp; plunges into
his tent; and there becomes closeted--the lieutenant along with him.

CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO.

A MOCK COURT-MARTIAL.

For the disaster that was overtaken the Tenawa chief and his warriors,
Gil Uraga does not care a jot. True, by the death of Horned Lizard he
has lost an ally who, on some future scheme of murder, might have been
used to advantage; while Barbato, whose life he believes also taken, can
no more do him service as agent in his intercou