Roldan danced up and down with sudden excitement. "I have a plan," he
cried. "You can trust me. I don't want to go back."

Anastacio bent his keen malevolent eyes close above the young
Spaniard's, then loosened his hold.

"Bueno," he said. "I trust you."

"The straw," said Roldan. "Bring it all here."

Anastacio gave the order, and an immense carreta of straw was trundled
up.

"Now," said Roldan, "gather it into bunches the size of a man's head and
tie each firmly. The tide is running toward the enemy, and it is too
dark to see clearly. Do you understand, senor?"

Anastacio made a loud exclamation, caught Roldan in his arms and kissed.
him, much to that haughty young gentleman's disgust, then tied the first
bunch himself. Roldan, Adan, and some forty of the quicker Indians
rapidly manipulated the straw, and in little more than ten minutes had
cast a hundred round compact bundles into the hurrying tide. As they
sailed away they certainly looked, under the heavy shadow of the banks
and the black-blue of the sky, like an army of men swimming with the
desperate haste of terror, their heads alone above water.

"Now!" cried Anastacio, "to the mountains."

They had brought only pack-horses. There was nothing to do but run, and
Anastacio, driving his entire following ahead of him, sped to cover. It