And now let us start; nothing irritates Griscelli so much as having to wait." So, girding on our swords (mine had been restored to me "by special favor," when I gave my parole), we mounted our horses, which were waiting at the door, and set out.
The savanna was a wide stretch of open ground outside the fortifications, where reviews were held and the troops performed their evolutions; it lay on the north side of the town.

Farther on in the same direction was a range of low hills, thickly wooded and ill provided with roads.

The country to the east and west was pretty much in the same condition.
Southward it was more open, and a score of miles away merged into the llanos.
"We are in good time; the moon is only just rising, and I don't think there is anybody before us," said Guzman, as we neared the old sugar-mill, a dilapidated wooden building, shaded by cebia-trees and sombrero palms.
"But there is somebody behind us," I said, looking back.

"A squadron of cavalry at the least." "Griscelli, I suppose, and Carmen.

But why is the general bringing so many people with him, I wonder?
And don't I see dogs ?" "Rather! A pack of hounds, I should say." "You are right; they are Griscelli's blood-hounds.