The surprise was easily effected, for Colonel Cobo's men were accomplished¹ in this sort of work. Rosa, crouching² upon her bench, heard nothing, saw nothing, until out of the shadows beside her human forms materialized. Her white dress, like a dim phosphorescent glow in dark waters, betrayed her presence, and as she sprang to her feet rough hands seized her. She screamed once, twice; then a palm closed over her mouth and she began to struggle like a cat.  
Evangelina, who had waked at the first outcry, met the marauders as they rushed through the door. The hush³ of the sleeping Jungle was shattered now; there were shouts and curses, loudly bellowed⁴ orders, a great scuffling and pounding of feet upon the dirt floor of the hut, the rickety, bark-covered walls bulged⁵ and creaked. Over all sounded the shrieks⁶ of the negress battling in the pitch-black interior like an animal in its lair⁸. Then some one set fire to the thatch⁹; the flames licked up the dead palm-leaves to the ridge¹⁰-pole, and the surroundings leaped into view.
 
Rosa saw a swarthy, thick-set man in the uniform of a Colonel of Volunteers, and behind him Pancho Cueto. Tearing the hand from her lips for a moment, she cried Cueto's name, but he gave no heed¹¹. He was straining his gaze upon the door of the bohio in the immediate¹² expectation of seeing Esteban emerge. He clutched a revolver in his hand, but it was plain from the nerveless way in which he held the weapon that he had little stomach for the adventure. He was, in fact, more inclined to run than to stand his ground. Rosa shrieked¹³ his name again; then she heard the officer say:
 
"Where is the young fellow? I hear nothing but the squeals¹⁴ of that common wench."
 
Evangelina's cries of rage and defiance¹⁵ suddenly ceased, and with them the sounds of combat. From the blazing bohio ran two armed men, brushing sparks from their clothing. A third followed, dragging Evangelina by one naked arm. The black woman was inert¹⁶; her scanty¹⁷ garments were well-nigh ripped from her body: she lay huddled¹⁸ where the soldier flung her.
 
Rosa felt herself swooning, and she knew nothing of what immediately followed. After a time she felt herself shaken, and heard the colonel addressing her.
 
"Come, come!" he was saying. "Why don't you answer me?" He dragged her farther from what was now a roaring furnace. "Where is your precious brother and that black fellow?"
 
Rosa could only stare dully.
 
"It seems we missed them," said Cueto.
 
"More of your bungling," Cobo broke out at him, wrathfully. "God! I've a mind to toss you into that fire." He turned his attention once more to Rosa, and with a jerk that shook her into fuller consciousness repeated: "Where are they? Speak to me."
 
"Gone!" she gasped¹⁹. "Gone!" She struggled weakly toward Cueto, imploring²⁰ him, "Pancho, don't you know me?"
 
"Well, we've taught him a lesson," said Cueto, grinning apprehensively²¹ at Cobo. "We've accomplished something, anyhow, eh?" He nodded at Rosa. "She's all that I told you. Look at her!"
 
Colonel Cobo took time to scrutinize²² his prisoner. He turned her about in the light from the burning dwelling²³; then he agreed.
 
"Yes! She's a pretty little spy—quite a prize, truly. Now then!" His thick lips spread; he spoke²⁴ to her more gently. "I want you to tell me about that brother of yours, eh? Cueto said I would find him here. Ha! Still frightened, I see. Well, I have a way with women; I dare say you'll be glad to tell me everything by and by." Then, seeing that his men risked a scorching²⁵ in their search of the hut and were already quarreling over the scanty plunder²⁶ which it afforded, he turned from Rosa to call them away.
 
Profiting by his inattention, Rosa wriggled²⁷ out of his grasp and ran to
Evangelina, who lay face down in the dirt, her limbs sprawled²⁸ loosely.
She flung herself upon the prostrate²⁹ body and cried the black woman's
name, but she could awaken³⁰ no response.
The first pink of dawn was now deepening in the east, and as soon as it had grown light enough to see to travel Colonel Cobo prepared to return to his horses. The roof and walls of the bohio had fallen away to ashes, its skeleton of poles and its few pieces of crude furniture alone were smoldering³¹ when he called his men together and gave the word to go.
 
"Come, my sweetheart." He addressed himself to the girl. "Leave that carrion³² for the buzzards."
 
Rosa looked up to find him leering at her. She brushed the tears from her eyes, crying:
 
"Go away! In God's name haven't you done harm enough?"
 
"Oh, but you're going with me."
 
The girl rose; her face was colorless; she was aquiver with indignation. "Leave me!" she stormed. "What have I done to you? Don't—"
 
"Caramba! A temper. And you have strength, too, as I discovered. Must I bind³³ those pretty hands or—"
 
Colonel Cobo reached forth³⁴, laughing, and encircled her in his powerful arms. Rosa fought him as she had fought at the first moment of desperation, but he lifted her easily and went striding across the field behind his men.
 
Esteban's party made good time over the hills and into the San Juan, for Asensio knew the country well. Mid-afternoon found them in sight of La Joya. Cueto's cane³⁵ was thick and high; it was ready for the knife or for the torch. Making a detour³⁶, the incendiaries approached it from the east in order to have the trade-winds at their backs. They dismounted in the shelter of a wood and removed the bags which they had carried on their saddles. Inside these bags were several snakes, the largest perhaps eight feet in length. To the tail of each the negroes fastened a leather thong³⁷, and then to each thong a length of telegraph-wire, the end of which had been bent³⁸ into a loop to hold a bundle of oil-soaked waste. These preliminaries accomplished, they bore the reptiles³⁹ into the cane-fields at widely separated places and lighted the waste.
 
Esteban, from his saddle, saw the first wisps of smoke arise and grow and unwind into long ribbons, reaching deep into the standing⁴⁰ crop. Soon tongues of flame appeared and the green tops of the cane began to shrivel and to wave as the steady east wind took effect. From the nearest conflagration⁴¹ a great snapping and crackling of juicy stalks arose. The thin, dry strippings with which the earth was carpeted formed a vast tinder bed, and once the fire was started there was no checking it. Smoke billowed upward and was hurried westward⁴² before the breeze; in a dozen places the fields burst into flame. From somewhere came a faint shouting, then a shot or two, and finally the ringing of a bell.
 
Esteban waited only until he saw that his work of devastation⁴³ was well under way, then he led his followers⁴⁴ back toward the hills. At sunset he reined⁴⁵ in upon the crest⁴⁶ of a ridge and looked behind him into the valley. The whole sky was black with smoke, as if a city were in flames.
 
Removing his wide jipi-japa hat, the young man swept a mocking salutation to the east.
 
"So now, good Pancho Cueto," he cried, "I leave you the compliments of those twins you love so well."
 
In the shelter of a ravine the party took time to eat supper, their first meal since leaving home, and it was after dark when they finished. The negroes, who were thoroughly⁴⁷ tired, were for spending the night here, but Esteban, more cautious than they, would not have it so. Accordingly, the men remounted their weary horses, though not without some grumbling⁴⁸, and set out. It was slow traveling, for the woods were dark and the trails were blind; the men were fairly obliged to feel their way. At length they crossed the summit and worked down toward the Yumuri, but it seemed as if daylight would never come.
 
"A weary ride," Esteban yawned. "I shall sleep for a week."
 
Asensio agreed. "That Cueto will be furious," said he. "Some day, perhaps, he and I will meet face to face. Then I shall kill him."
 
Esteban reined in his horse. "Look!" said he. "Yonder is a light."
 
The other horsemen crowded close, staring through the darkness. It was very still in the woods; dawn was less than half an hour away.
 
"What is Evangelina thinking about?" Asensio muttered.
 
"But, see! It grows brighter." There followed a moment or two during which there was no sound except the breathing of the horses and the creak of saddle leathers as the riders craned their necks to see over the low tree-tops below them. Then Esteban cried:
 
"Come! I'm—afraid it's our house." Fear gripped him, but he managed to say, calmly, "Perhaps there has been an—accident."
 
Asensio, muttering excitedly, was trying to crowd past him; for a few yards the two horses brushed along side by side. The distant point of light had become a glare now; it winked⁴⁹ balefully through the openings as the party hurried toward it. But it was still a long way off, and the eastern sky had grown rosy⁵⁰ before the dense⁵¹ woods of the hillside gave way to the sparser⁵² growth of the low ground.
 
Esteban turned a sick, white face over his shoulder and jerked out his orders; then he kicked his tired mount into a swifter gallop⁵³. It was he who first broke out into the clearing. One glance, and the story was told.
 
The hut was but a crumbling⁵⁴ skeleton of charred⁵⁵ poles. Strung out across the little field of ma............