In spite of himself, the marquis remained an instant in the place which he occupied; his eyes firmly fixed on the curtain, the folds of which still preserved a scarcely perceptible vibration. All of a sudden he recovered himself, passed his hand across his forehead, moist with perspiration, and darting a look of hatred towards the spot where doña Laura had disappeared-- "Oh!" cried he, with a voice stifled by fury, "What tortures will I pay for so many insults!" He left the tent, staggering like a drunken man. The cold air of the night, fanning his face, brought him wonderful relief; little by little his features regained their serenity; calmness returned to his mind; an ironical smile played upon his slender lips, and he murmured in a low voice, as he strode towards his tent: "Fool that I am to allow myself to be carried away thus by a foolish child! What in reality are her insults and contempt to me? Am I not master to subdue her pride? Patience, patience! Nay, vengeance, if it be long in coming, will only strike her the more cruelly, and will be only the more terrible." The marquis re-entered his tent. After having regulated the wick of a lamp the flickering light of which feebly illumined the surrounding objects, Don Roque approached a round stool, which served him for a table, and drawing from his breast a yellow and stained paper, on which was rudely drawn, by an unskilful hand, a kind of rough plan, he proceeded to study it with the greatest care, and was not long in becoming completely absorbed. The entire night was passed away without the marquis quitting the position he had taken, and without his eyes closing for a single instant. The plan, rough and incomplete as it appeared to be, was that of the diamond country, which concealed those incalculable riches so ardently coveted by the young man. But this plan--made from memory a long time after having seen the country, and that in superficial manner, by an ignorant man--could unluckily only be a feeble aid to the marquis. He felt it in spite of himself, and this certainty redoubled his fury. But what could be done with a woman more than he had done with doña Laura? How was he to vanquish her resistance, and constrain her to speak? For more than three hours the sun had already risen; the marquis, still plunged in his thoughts, had not appeared to perceive the return of the light, when the gallop of a horse which approached rapidly, caused him suddenly to raise his head. At the same instant the curtain of the tent was withdrawn, and the captain entered. The Indian was covered with dust; his flushed features, and his forehead covered with perspiration, showed the velocity of his journey. "Ah, it is you, Diogo!" cried the marquis on perceiving him. "Welcome, what news?" "Nothing, my lord," answered the captain. "How nothing? Have you not been able to succeed in discovering the track of that Malco?"