They lay for a few moments in silence, save for the sound of their own hard breathing, and then Ned suddenly noticed something.

They were only three! "Why, where is Urrea ?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, where in thunder is Don Francisco ?" said the Ring Tailed Panther in startled tones.
Urrea was certainly missing, and no one could tell when they had lost him.

Their flight had been too hurried to take any count of numbers.
There could be only one conclusion.

Urrea had been taken in the patio.
The Ring Tailed Panther roared between his teeth, low but savagely.
"I don't like many Mexicans," he said, "but I got to like Don Francisco.
The Mexicans have shorely got him, an' it will go 'specially hard with him, he bein' of their own race." Ned sighed.

He did not like to think of Don Francisco at the mercy of Cos.