Quoniam seized the rifle the hunter had left him, passed the knife through his girdle, to which he also fastened the horns of powder and bullets, and then, after a final glance to see he had forgotten nothing, he followed the hunter, who had already gained a considerable start on him. He caught Tranquil up at the moment he reached his canoe, and was about to thrust it into the water; at the sound of footsteps, the hunter turned round. "Halloh," he said, "is that you again, Quoniam?" "Yes," he answered. "What brings you here?" "Why," the Negro said, as he buried his fingers in his woolly hair, and scratched his head furiously, "you forgot something." "What was it?" "To take me with you." "That is true," the hunter said, as he offered him his hand; "forgive me, brother." "Then you consent?" he asked, with ill-restrained joy. "Yes." "We shall not part again?" "It will depend on your will." "Oh, then," he exclaimed, with a joyous outburst of laughter, "we shall be together a long time." "Well, be it so," the Canadian went on. "Come; two men, when they have faith in each other, are very strong in the desert. Heaven, doubtless, willed that we should meet. Henceforth we shall be brothers." Quoniam leaped into the canoe, and gaily caught up the paddles. The poor slave had never been so happy; never had the air seemed to him purer, or nature more lovely--everything smiled on him, and made holiday for him, for that moment he was about to begin really living the life of other men, without any bitter afterthought; the past was no more than a dream. He had found in his defender what so many men seek in vain, throughout a lengthened existence--a friend, a brother, to whom he could trust entirely, and from whom he would have no secrets. In a few minutes they reached the spot which the Canadian had noticed on his arrival; this spot, clearly indicated by the two oaks which had fallen in a cross, formed a species of small sandy promontory, favourable to the establishment of a night bivouac; for thence not only could the river be surveyed a long distance up and down, but it was also easy to watch both banks, and prevent a surprise. "We will pass the night here," Tranquil said; "let us carry up the canoe, so as to shelter our fire." Quoniam seized the light skiff, raised it, and placing it on his muscular shoulders, carried it to the spot his comrade had pointed out. In the meanwhile, a considerable period had elapsed since the Canadian and the Negro met so miraculously. The sun, which had been low when the hunter doubled the promontory and chased the herons, was now on the point of disappearing; night was falling rapidly, and the background of the landscape was beginning to be confused in the shades of night, which grew momentarily denser. The desert was awakening, the hoarse roar of the wild beasts was heard at intervals, mingled with the miawling of the carcajou, and the sharp snapping bark of the prairie wolves.