"There is good need of it. If the soldiers should get scent of it,
however, they won't let me pass," said Ramos, with a brutal laugh.

"Hold your tongue, man. We know already that you pass whenever you
please. Why, that would be a pretty thing! The soldiers are not
strait-laced gentry, and if they should become troublesome, with a
couple of dollars, eh? Come, I see that you are not badly armed. All you
want now is an eight-pounder. Pistols, eh? And a dagger too."

"For any thing that might happen," said Caballuco, taking the weapon
from his belt and displaying its horrible blade.

"In the name of God and of the Virgin!" exclaimed Maria Remedios,
closing her eyes and turning her face in terror, "put away that thing.
The very sight of it terrifies me."

"If you won't take it ill of me," said Ramos, shutting the weapon, "let
us have supper."

Maria Remedios prepared every thing quickly, in order that the hero
might not become impatient.

"Listen to me a moment, Senor Ramos," said Don Inocencio to his
guest, when they had sat down to supper. "Have you a great deal to do
to-night?"

"Something there is to be done," responded the bravo. "This is the last
night I shall come to Orbajosa--the last. I have to look up some
boys who remained in the town, and we are going to see how we can get
possession of the saltpetre and the sulphur that are in the house of