At these words a buzz of assent ran along his hearers, and John Davis continued, "Who knows whether our unhappy Chief is not lying crushed, but still breathing, at the foot of this accursed abyss, and reproaching us for our cowardly desertion of him?" The Border Rifles declared, with the most energetic oaths, that they would find their Chief again, dead or alive. "Good, my friends," the American exclaimed; "if he be unhappily dead, we will place his body in the ground and protect his remains, so dear to us on many accounts, from the insults of wild beasts: but, I repeat to you, one of those presentiments which never deceive, because they come from God, tells me that he is still alive." "May Heaven hear you, John Davis," the Borderers shouted, "and restore us our Chief." "I am going to descend the precipice," the American said; "I will inspect its most secret recesses, and before sunrise we shall know what we have to hope or fear." This proposal of John Davis' was greeted as it deserved, by enthusiastic shouts. When the excitement of the hearers had slightly calmed, the American prepared to carry out his design. "Permit me a remark," said an old wood ranger. "Speak, Ruperto, what is it?" Davis answered. "I have known the spot where we now are for a long time, and have often hunted deer and antelopes here." "Come to facts, my friend." "You can act as you please, John Davis, on the information I am about to give you; by turning to the right, after marching for about three miles, you get round the hills, and what appears to us from here a precipice, is, in fact, only a plain, very enclosed, I allow, but easy to traverse on horseback." "Ah, ah," John said thoughtfully, "and what do you conclude from that, Ruperto?" "That it would be, perhaps, better to mount and skirt the hills." "Yes, yes, that is a good idea, and we will take advantage of it; take twenty men with you, Ruperto, and proceed at full speed to the plain you allude to, for we must not throw away any chance; the rest of the band will remain here to watch the environs, while I effect the descent of the barranca." "You still adhere to your idea, then?" "More than ever." "As you please, John Davis, as you please, though you risk your bones on such a black night as this." "I trust in Heaven, and I hope it will protect me." "I hope so too for your sake; but I must be off--here's luck." "Thanks, the same to you."