vity. She detailed the manner in which she had
been decoyed from Segura, described what she conjectured to be the
position of the convent, and implored Zumalacarregui to protect a
defenceless orphan, and rescue her from the prison in which she was
unjustifiably detained. After twice reading the letter, the handwriting
of which recalled a thousand tender recollections, although the
information it contained filled him with alarm and anxiety, Herrera
again addressed Paco.

"How did you get this letter?" he asked.

In few words, Paco, who saw, by the stern and hurried manner of his
interrogator, that it was no time to indulge in a lengthened narrative
of his adventures, gave a concise outline of what had occurred, from the
time of his leaving Segura with Rita, up to his desertion from the
Carlists in front of Bilboa. Upon finding himself in safety from Don
Baltasar, and released from the obligations of military service, he
deliberated on the best means to employ for the release of Dona Rita.
Amongst the Christinos the only person who occurred to him as proper to
consult, or likely to aid him, was Herrera, and him he resolved to seek.
After waiting a week at Bilboa, he procured a passage in a small vessel
sailing for Santander, and thence set out for the Ebro, in the
neighbourhood of which he had ascertained that he should find Herrera's
regiment. The money he had found in the gipsy's sash enabled him to
supply all his wants and purchase a horse, and without further delay he
started for the interior. But on reaching Miranda on the Ebro, he
learned that Herrera's squadron had marched into Biscay. Thither he
pursued it. Meanwhile the siege of Bilboa had been raised, and, whilst
he followed one road, Herrera returned towards Navarre by another. Paco
lost much time; but, though often disappointed, the faithful fellow was
never discouraged, nor did he for a moment think of desisting from the
pilgrimage he had voluntarily undertaken for the deliverance of his dead
master's daughter. He pressed onwards, sparing neither himself nor his
newly-acquired steed; but, in spite of his exertions, so rapid and
continuous were the movements of the army, it was not till the evening
now referred to that he at last caught it up.

Of all this, however, and of whatever merely concerned himself, Paco
made little mention, limiting himself to what it was absolutely
necessary that Herrera should know, clearly to understand Rita's
position. In spite