"By Jove!" Tranquil exclaimed joyously, "As it is so, we shall have some fun; hang it all, if five resolute and well-armed men cannot get the best of a hundred Apaches. Listen to me, comrades: while I go ostensibly to the meeting I have granted Blue-fox, follow me in Indian file, and be ready to appear directly I give you the signal by imitating the cry of the mockingbird." "All right." "You, Lanzi and Quoniam, will watch over Carmela." "We will all watch over her, friend, trust to us," said Loyal Heart. Tranquil gave his comrades a parting farewell, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and left the encampment. He had hardly disappeared ere the hunters lay down on the ground, and crawled on his trail, Carmela guided by Singing-bird forming the rearguard. The maiden felt an involuntary shudder run over her limbs as she entered the forest. This night march, whose issue might prove so fatal, terrified her, and suggested gloomy forebodings, which she feared to see realised at every step. In the meanwhile Fray Antonio continued his journey, and soon emerged from the forest. Far from his resolution being shaken, the nearer he drew to the Apaches he felt it, on the contrary, become firmer. The monk was eager to prove to the hunters that he was worthy the confidence they placed in him; and if at times the thought of the dangers to which he exposed himself crossed his mind, he drove it off, being determined to risk his life, if needed, in saving Doña Carmela, and preventing her falling into the hands of the cruel enemies who were preparing to seize her. Fray Antonio had gone hardly five hundred yards from the forest, when a man suddenly emerged from a thicket and barred his passage. The monk suppressed with difficulty a cry of terror at this unexpected apparition, and started back. But immediately regaining his coolness, he prepared to sustain the terrible contest that doubtless menaced him, for he had recognised Blue-fox at the first glance. The Chief examined him in silence, fixing on him his deep black eye with an expression of suspicion which did not escape the monk. "My father has been a long time," he at length said, harshly. "I could not be any quicker," the monk answered. "Wah! My father returns alone; the great Pale warrior was afraid; he did not accompany my father." "You are mistaken, Chief; the man you call the great Pale hunter, and whom I call Tranquil, was not afraid, and did not refuse to accompany me." "Och! Blue-fox is a Sachem; his eye pierces the thickest darkness; though he may look he sees nothing." "That is probably because you do not look in the right direction, that's all." "My father will explain. Blue-fox desires to know how his Pale friend carried out the mission the Sachem confided to him." "I took the best advantage possible of my meeting with the hunter, in order to carry out the orders I had received."