He was certain,
however, that Rosa knew, as well as he, what motive lay behind the
fellow's tireless persecutions of the valley dwellers; for in
spite of their isolation stories of Cobo had reached the refugees-
-stories that had rendered both the boy and the girl sick with
apprehension. The colonel, it seemed, had nearly died of his
machete wound, and on recovering he had sworn to exterminate the
wasps that had stung him. He had sworn other oaths, too, oaths
that robbed Esteban of his sleep.
Esteban idolized his sister; her loyalty to him was the most
precious thing of his life, Therefore, the thought of that swarthy
ruffian hunting her down as a hound hangs to the trail of a doe
awoke in him a terrible anger. Second only to his hatred for the
guerrilla chief was his bitterness against the traitor, Pancho
Cueto, who had capped his villainy by setting this new peril upon
them; and since Rosa's safety and his own honor called for the
death of both men, he had sworn that somehow he would effect it.
It was, of course, a difficult matter to get at the Colonel of
Volunteers, but Cueto still lived in the midst of his blackened
fields, and it was against him that the boy was now planning to
launch his first blow.
The mention of Cobo's name had momentarily distracted Esteban's
thoughts. Now he collected them and said:
"Wait! I am forgetting something.
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