The Stolen Boy

ed aloud, though Diego called on him to desist, as he expected every moment to see him murdered in consequence. The poor boy knew that there were plenty of fire-arms in the house, and many hands that would rush to his assistance, and the dear home which he then beheld with his eyes, he hoped could be reached with his tongue; and in the frantic agony of the moment, it is certain that his shrieks could have reached the ears of the family, they were so loud and piercing, had they not been exhausted by the fatigues of the preceding day.

All this was but the work of a few moments, and Manuel soon found himself riding at a prodigious rate, in a direction he had never gone before; and being sensible that he might scream himself to death to no purpose, he ceased, and tried to comfort himself with the hope that they would shortly be pursued by his father and the servants. As his enslaver kept at the head of the troop, he was many times deceived with false hopes, when he heard the trampling of horses near him; a