Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his aid.
They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount.
"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?"
"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead."
"_¡Caray!_" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold fellow. Where is he?"
"Can you let him down with the _verado's_ help?"
"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log."
"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!"
Carlocho and the _verado_ lifted Don Torribio by the feet and shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four _vaqueros_ were, by a strange chance, reunited in this spot.
"_¡Canarios!_" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help."
"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest.
"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital organs are uninjured. Let us look at him."
He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put the blade to his lips.
"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head.
"Are his wounds serious?" asked the _verado_.
"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement."
"But in that case he may come round again?"
"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or less violence of the shock to his nervous system."
"Ha!" exclaimed the _verado_ joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. _¡Vive Dios!_ He has tried to open his eyes!"
"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his wounds."
The _vaqueros_, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and application of the herbs in use among the Indians.