h keen glance every gesture of the
bandits, he had anticipated this movement on their parts; and, even
before they had obliqued to the left, he had himself forged farther out
into the plain, with a view of cutting them off from the woods. On
perceiving them change the direction of their flight, he had also
swerved to the left; and was now riding in a parallel line, almost head
for head with Arroyo and Bocardo; while the shadow of himself and his
horse, far projected by the declining moon, fell ominously across their
track.

In a few seconds more the snorting steed was in the advance, and his
shadow fell in front of Arroyo. A sudden turn to the right brought
Roncador within a spear's length of the bandit's horse, and the pursuit
was at an end.

"_Carajo_!" cried Arroyo, with a fierce emphasis, at the same time
discharging his pistol at the approaching pursuer.

But the bullet, ill-aimed, passed the head of Don Rafael without
hitting; and the instant after, his horse, going at full speed, was
projected impetuously against the flanks of that of the bandit, bringing
both horse and rider to the ground.

Bocardo, unable to restrain his animal, was carried forward against his
will; and now became between Don Rafael and his prostrate foe.

"Out of the way, vile wretch!" exclaimed Don Rafael, while with one blow
of his sabre hilt, he knocked Bocardo from his saddle.

Arroyo, chilled with terror, and rendered almost senseless by the fall,
his spurs holding him fast to the saddle, vainly struggled to regain his
feet. Before he could free himself from his struggling horse, the
troopers of Don Rafael had ridden up, and with drawn sabres halted over
him; while his four followers, no longer regarded, continued their wild
flight towards the chapparal.

Don Rafael now dismounted, and with his dagger held between his teeth,
seized in both his hands the wrists of the bandit. In vain Arroyo
struggled to free himself from that iron grasp; and in another moment he
lay upon his back, the knee of Don Rafael pressing upon his breast--
heavy as a rock that might have fallen from Monopostiac. The bandit,
with his arms drawn crosswise, saw that resistance was vain; and
yielding himself to despair he lay motionless--rage and fear strangely
mingling in the expression of his features.

"Here!" cried Don Rafael, "some one tie this wretch!"

In the twinkling of an eye, one of the troopers wound his lazo eight or
ten times around the arm