“No!  That would be murder.  Let them go.  They can do no harm.  It is impossible for them to overtake the, others on foot.”

Meanwhile the soldiers, having the fear of being shot before them, had dismounted and laid down their weapons.

“Go!” said Carmen, pointing northward, and they went.

“Your name?” (to the prisoner whose bonds I was cutting with my sword).

“Here they call me Jose.  In my own country I was called Gahra—­”

“Let it be Gahra, then.  It is less common than Jose.  Every other peon in the country is called Jose.  You are a native of Africa?”

“Si, senor.”

“How came you hither?”

“I was taken to Cuba in a slave-ship, brought to this country by General Salazar, and sold by him to Colonel Canimo.”

“You have no great love for the Spaniards, I suppose?”

Gahra pointed to his arms which had been chafed by the rope till they were raw, and showed us his back which bore the marks of recent stripes.

“Can you fight?”

“Against the Spaniards?  Only give me the chance, and you shall see,” answered the negro in a voice of intense hate.

“Come with us, and you shall have many chances.  Mount one of those horses and lead the other.”

Gahra mounted, and we moved on.

We were now at the beginning of a stiff ascent.  The road, which though undulating had risen almost continuously since we left Caracas, was bordered with richly colored flowers and shrubs, and bounded on either side by deep forests.  Night was made glorious by the great tropical moon, which shone resplendent under a purple sky gilding the tree-tops and lighting us on our way.  Owing to the nature of the ground we could not see far before us, but the backward view, with its wood-crowned heights, deep ravines, and sombre mountains looming in the distance, was fairy-like and fantastic, and the higher we rose the more extensive it became.

“Is this a long hill?” I asked Carmen.

“Very.  An affair of half an hour, at least, at this speed; and we cannot go faster,” he answered, as he turned half round in his saddle.

“Why are you looking backward?”

“To see whether we are followed.  We lost much time in the quebrado, and we have lost more since.  Have you good eyes, Gahara?  Born Africans generally have.”

“Yes, sir.  My name, Gahra Dahra, signifies Dahra, the keen sighted!”

“I am glad to hear it.  Be good enough to look round occasionally, and if you see anything let us know.”

We had nearly reached the summit of the rise when the negro uttered an exclamation and turned his horse completely round.

“What is it?” asked Carmen and myself, following his example.

“I see figures on the brow of yonder hill.”

“You see more than I can, and I have not bad eyes,” said Carmen, looking intently.  “What are they like, those figures?”