"Perhaps so. I can only form conjectures, for the persons directly interested in that woman's actions insist on maintaining the deepest silence." "Why, wait a minute," the Canadian said, hitting his forehead like a man who suddenly remembers something he had quite forgotten, "I believe now that Don Aurelio Gutiérrez told us at the Hacienda del Barrio certain facts connected with this person." "To what are you alluding, señor?" "Good gracious! I attached but slight importance to the narrative at the time, so that what I heard is very confused in my head. Still I think it referred to the extermination of an Indian tribe encamped on Don Aníbal de Saldibar's estates, and atrocious revenge on the part of the redskins, in consequence of which the hacendero's wife became insane." "Yes, all that you say is true. When Doña Emilia regained her reason she vowed an implacable hatred against the Indians, and since that period, if what is said be true, she has constantly pursued them without truce or mercy, hunting them down, and massacring them like wild beasts." "That is indeed extraordinary." "The redskins, tracked by this lady, whom they believe to be protected by a charm, as she has constantly foiled their snares and escaped unwounded from all their attacks, have conceived such a superstitious fear for her that her name alone, as you saw last night, is sufficient to cause them a wild terror and set them to flight, and as if rendering homage to the terror with which she has continued to inspire them, they have given her the name you heard repeated during the fight." "The Queen of the Savannah?" "Yes." "I have often heard the Indians speak of this strange creature, whom they imagine to be a species of malevolent genius, and about whom they recount the most fantastic and improbable stories; but I confess I was far from suspecting that the Queen of the Savannah and Doña Emilia de Saldibar were one and the same person." "I do not say that they are, and I affirm nothing; I merely repeat to you what is said." "How is it that you, a friend of Don Aníbal, are not better informed about the affair?" "Because, I repeat once again, Don Aníbal maintains an obstinate silence on the subject; and if by any chance this mysterious being is alluded to in his presence he at once turns the conversation, so that no one exactly knows what to believe, and is forced to make conjectures more or less probable." "Very good," the hunter answered, "I thank you for your information, caballero. But, _¡viva Dios!_ I swear to you that I will force Don Aníbal to tell me how matters really are; or, if he will not, I shall not hesitate to question his wife." "I doubt greatly whether you will be able to obtain even the shortest interview with her. She is constantly shut up in her apartments with her daughter. No one sees her, and several of her domestics even do not know her." "You excite my curiosity the more, señor."