otsteps had never
strayed along its shores.

And yet this desertion was only apparent. Upon the edge of the lake at
that point where the chase of the bandits had terminated, two human
bodies might, be seen lying along the ground. One was dead; and the
other, though still living, was equally motionless. The former was the
corpse of Bocardo, who in the _melee_ had been despatched by the
troopers of Don Rafael. The living body was that of Arroyo, who, still
bound hand and foot with the lazo, was unable to stir from the spot.
There lay he with no one to pity--no one to lend a helping hand;
destined at no distant time to make a meal for the vultures, to perish
by the poignard of some royalist, or to excite the compassion of an
insurgent.

The moon had disappeared below the horizon, and the vitreous
transparence which her light had lent to the enchanted hill, giving it a
semblance of life, was no more to be observed. The lake no longer
glittered under the silvery beam. Both Ostuta and Monopostiac had
resumed the sombre aspect that usually distinguished them, with that
mournful tranquillity that habitually reigned over the spot--interrupted
only by the cry of the coyote, or the shrill maniac scream of the eagle
preparing to descend to the banquet of human flesh!

THE END.

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