"You may imagine," the doctor continued, quietly, "that if science absorbs me so completely as to make me often forget to eat and drink, I am likely sometimes not to remember the commissions I am charged with." "To the point! to the point!" said the hunter impatiently. "Oh! good Lord, it's very simple. I left the camp at daybreak to come to your hatto; but when I arrived here, I was so charmed with the innumerable rare plants that my horse trod under foot, that without thinking of pursuing my route, I stopped at first to pull up one plant, then I perceived another that was not in my herbal, and another after that, and so on.--In short, I thought no more of coming to you, and was, indeed, so absorbed by my researches, that even your unexpected presence, just now, did not recall to my mind the commission I had to you." "And did you leave the camp at daybreak?" "Good Heavens, yes!" "And do you know what o'clock it is now?" The savant looked at the sun. "Almost three!" he said, "but I repeat that it is of little consequence. You being here, I can report to you what Doña Luz charged me to tell you, and all will be right, no doubt." "God grant that your negligence may not prove the cause of a great misfortune," said the hunter, with a sigh. "What do you mean by that?" "You will soon know. I hope I may be deceived. Speak, I am listening to you." "This is what Doña Luz begged me to repeat to you----" "Was it Doña Luz that sent you to me?" "Herself!" "Has anything serious taken place at the camp, then?" "Ah! why, yes; and that, perhaps, may make it more important than I at first imagined. This is what has happened: Last night one of our guides----" "The Babbler?" "The same. Do you know him?" "Yes. Go on." "Well! It appears that the man was plotting with another bandit of his own sort, to deliver up the camp to the Indians. Doña Luz, most probably by chance, overheard the conversation of these fellows, and, at the moment they were passing her, she fired two pistols at them, quite close." "Did she kill them?" "Unfortunately, no. One of them, although no doubt grievously wounded, was able to escape." "Which of them?" "The Babbler." "Well, and then?" "Why, then Doña Luz made me swear to come to you, and say stop a bit," said the savant, trying to recollect the words. "Black Elk, the hour is come!" the hunter, impetuously interrupted. "That's it! that's it!" said the savant, rubbing his hands for joy, "I had it at the tip of my tongue. I must confess it appeared rather obscure to me, I could not fancy what it meant; but you will explain it, will you not?" The hunter seized him vigorously by the arm, and drawing his face close to his own, he said, with an inflamed look and features contracted by anger,-- "Wretched madman! why do you not come to me as quickly as possible, instead of wasting your time like an idiot? Your delay will, perhaps, cause the death of all your friends!"