Now let us set spur." For the next four or five hours they proceeded, at a steady gallop, towards the south.

The country was flat; the road sandy, but even; and the cool night air was exhilarating, indeed, after the confinement in the dark and noisome dungeon at Lima.

So rejoiced were the boys, with their newly-recovered freedom, that it was with difficulty they restrained themselves from bursting into shouts of joy.

But they were anxious that no sounds should be heard, by the villagers of the little hamlets lying along the road.

The sound of the horses' hoofs on the sandy track would scarcely arouse a sleeping man; and the fact that their tracks would be plainly visible in the sand, when daylight came, caused them no concern; as, so far, they had made no effort to deceive their pursuers.
Soon after daylight arrived they found themselves upon a stream, which ran down from the mountains and crossed the road.
"Now," Don Estevan said, "it is time to begin to throw them off our track.