etter half for a like provocation!

It was just at this crisis Roblado pulled up in front of the hovel.

Both got to their feet to receive him, and both saluted him with a
gesture of respect. They knew who he was. The mulatto, as the
principal man, took the principal part in the conversation, while the
zambo hung in the background.

The dialogue was carried on in a low tone on account of the woman and
the boy Esteban. It resulted, however, in the hunters being engaged, as
the padre had suggested, to track and follow the cibolero Carlos to
death or capture. If the former, a large sum was to be their reward--if
the latter, a sum still larger--nearly double!

With regard to assistance from the troops, neither mulatto nor zambo
wished for any. Quite the contrary. They had no desire that the
magnificent bounty should be diminished by subdivision. As it stood, it
would be a small fortune to both of them, and the brilliant prospect
whetted their appetite for the success of the job.

His errand having been thus accomplished, the officer rode back to the
Presidio; while the man-hunters immediately set about making
preparations for expedition.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

The mulatto and zambo--Manuel and Pepe were their respective names--in
half-an-hour after were ready for the road. Their preparations did not
cost them half that time; but a quarter of an hour was spent on the
_guisado_, and each smoked a husk cigarrito, while their horses were
grinding up the half-dozen heads of green maize that had been thrown
them.

Having finished their cigars, the hunters leaped into their saddles, and
rode off.

The mulatto was armed with a long rifle, of the kind used by American
hunters, and a knife of the sort since known as a "Bowie," with a strong
thick blade keenly pointed and double-edged for some inches from the
point--a terrible weapon in close combat. These arms he had brought
with him from the Mississippi valley, where he had learnt how to use
them.

The zambo carried an escopeta strapped in a slanting direction along the
flap of his saddle, a machete upon his thigh, and a bow with a quiver of
arrows hung over his back. The last of these weapons--for certain
purposes, such as killing game, or when a silent shot may be desirable--
is preferred to any sort of fire-arms. Arrows can be delivered more
rapidly than bullets, and, should the first shot fail, the intended
victim is less likely to be made aware of the