nothing, the natives should fall on them and tie them, or shoot them,
and then turn the guns on the city. And he _has_ sent for the
niggars!" Aiken cried. "And there's not one of them that wouldn't sell
you out. They're there now!" he cried, shaking his hand at the
mountain. "I warned you! I warned you!"

Incredible as it seemed, difficult as it was to believe such baseness,
I felt convinced that Aiken spoke the truth. The thought sickened me,
but I stepped over to Laguerre and saluted.

"I can assemble the men in half an hour," I said. "We can reach the
base of the rock an hour later."

"But if it should not be true," Laguerre protested. "The insult to
Heinze--"

"Heinze!" Aiken shouted, and broke into a volley of curses. But the
oaths died in his throat. We heard a whirr of galloping hoofs; a man's
voice shrieking to his horse; the sounds of many people running, and
one of my scouts swept into the street, and raced toward us. He fell
off at our feet, and the pony rolled upon its head, its flanks heaving
horribly and the blood spurting from its nostrils.

"Garcia and Alvarez!" the man panted. "They're making for the city.
They tried to fool us. They left their tents up, and fires burning,
and started at night, but I smelt 'em the moment they struck the
trail. We fellows have been on their flanks since sun-up, picking 'em
off at long range, but we can't hold them. They'll be here in two
hours."