That's how we
were detected. Pablo's horse struck a rail, and they fired at the
sound. He fell at the first volley, riddled. Oh, I know that
trocha!"
"Damn the trocha!" O'Reilly exclaimed. "At last I've got a chance
to DO something. GOD! How long I've waited."
Esteban drew O'Reilly's tense form down and embraced his friend,
after the fashion of his people. "She has been waiting, too," he
said, huskily. "We Varonas are good waiters, O'Reilly. Rosa will
never cease waiting until you come. Tell her, for me--"
Norine withdrew softly out of earshot. There were a lump in her
throat and a pain in her breast. She had acquired a peculiar and
affectionate interest in this unhappy girl whom she had never
seen, and she had learned to respect O'Reilly's love. The yearning
that had pulsed in his voice a moment before had stirred her
deeply; it awoke a throb in her own bosom, for O'Reilly was dear
to her. She wanted him to go, yet she knew the hazards that lay in
his way. If, indeed, the girl were in Matanzas, how, Norine asked
herself, was it possible for him to reach her? That O'Reilly had
some mad design was evident; that he would utterly disregard his
own safety she felt sure. But that he would meet with failure,
perhaps worse, seemed equally certain. Matanzas was a beleagured
city, and strangers could not enter or leave it at will.
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