"Fortune turns," grumbled he between his teeth, at the same time urging
forward his horse, which appeared to annihilate space.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CHASE.
The unforeseen encounter with the mameluco had suddenly upset don
Diogo's course of ideas.
The inquisitive look which the ex-guide had cast at him as he passed,
the cry that he himself had, in the suddenness of his surprise, allowed
to escape--all these circumstances gave him much to think of.
The eye of hatred is piercing. The Indian did not conceal from himself
that the half-caste had in the depth of his heart a bitter hatred for
him, not only for the manner in which he had pursued him after his
departure from the camp, but because Diogo had in some respects taken
his place near the marquis.
What gave a little hope to the Indian was, that the meeting had
been so fortuitous, and at the same time so rapid, that, thanks to
his disguise, the completeness of which had deceived Emavidi Chaime
himself, it was almost impossible to recognise him without examination.
Diogo made a mistake, and he soon had a proof of it.
His very disguise had caused his enemy, if not to recognise, at least
to suspect him.
Now, the very morning of the day on which we again meet with him, two
hours before sunrise, Malco Diaz had had a rather long conversation
with Tarou Niom relative to the last arrangements agreed upon between
them.
During the course of this conversation, as Malco Diaz insisted that
the chief should attack the whites without more delay, the latter had
answered that he could not commence the assault before the arrival of
his allies, the Payagoas; that he did not wish by precipitation, which
nothing could justify, to compromise the success of an enterprise
so well managed up to that time; that for that matter the delay was
insignificant, and would not extend beyond a few hours, since he had
dispatched to Emavidi Chaime one of his most faithful warriors, the
Grand Sarigue, in order to urge him to make haste in joining them.
Malco took leave of the Guaycurus captain, and mounting immediately on
horseback, he proceeded towards the village, hoping every moment to
discover the Payagoas flotilla.
He was not likely to see the canoes--the reason we already know; only,
arrived at a certain spot, it seemed to him that he could distinguish
something, the appearance of which he thought very suspicious,
partially concealed in the reeds.
Malco Diaz was curious; he dearly liked to ascertain the cause of
things, and to find out the explanation of what he could not understand.
He approached the river with the design of assuring himself as to what
this doubtful object might be, in which he soon recognised a corpse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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