"Ay! yi!" he gasped. "Ay, Roldan! Holy Mary! But you are right. You
always are. And so clever! I will go. Sure, sure. Come now, or they will
think we conspire."
Roldan dismounted, and was warmly greeted by the family. The girls rose
and courtesied, blushing with the coquetry of their race. Roldan cared
little for girls at any time, and to-night was doubly abstracted, his
ear straining at every distant hoof-beat. He retired as early as he
politely could, but not to sleep. Indeed, he became so nervous that he
could not wait until the family slept.
"Better to brave them, Adan," he said to his more phlegmatic friend,
"than that sergeant, should he get here before we leave. Come, come, let
us go."
They dropped out of the window and stole to the corral where the riding
horses were kept. It was surrounded by a high wall, and the gate was
barred with iron; but they managed to remove the bars without noise,
saddled fresh horses and led them forth and onward for a half mile, then
mounted and were off like the wind.
They knew the country down the coast on the beaten road, but they dared
not follow this, and struck inland. The air was now of an agreeable
warmth; the full moon was so low and brilliant that Roldan called out he
could count the bristling hairs on a coyote's back.
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