"Oh!" the general cried, falling on his knees, and with his face bathed in tears, "pardon, pardon, my son!" "My father!" Loyal Heart cried, springing towards him, and endeavouring to raise him up; "what are you doing?" "My son," said the old man, almost wild with grief and joy, "I will not quit this posture till I have obtained your pardon." "Arise, arise, Don Ramón!" said Doña Jesuita, in an affectionate tone; "it is long since the hearts of the mother and the son have felt anything for you but love and respect." "Oh!" cried the old man, embracing them closely by turns; "this is too much happiness--I do not deserve to be so happy after my cruel conduct." "Father," the young man replied, nobly, "it is owing to the merited chastisement you inflicted upon me that I have become an honest man; forget the past, then, which is now nothing but a dream, think only of the future, which smiles upon you." At this moment Doña Luz appeared, blushing and timid. As soon as he perceived her, the general sprang towards her, took her by the hand, and led her to Doña Jesuita, whose arms were opened to receive her. "My niece!" he said, with a face radiant with joy, "you may love Loyal Heart without fear, for he is really my son. God, in his infinite goodness has permitted that I should find him again at the moment when I despaired of such happiness!" The young girl uttered a cry of joy, and concealed her blushing face in the bosom of Doña Jesuita, abandoning her hand to Rafaël, who covered it with kisses, while he fell at her feet. EPILOGUE. It was a few months after the expedition of the Count de Raousset Boulbon. At that period the name of Frenchmen stood high in Sonora. All travellers of that nation whom chance brought into that part of America were certain, no matter where they stopped, to meet with a most kind and sympathetic welcome. Urged on by my vagabond humour, without any other object but that of seeing fresh countries, I had quitted Mexico. Mounted upon an excellent mustang, which a friend of mine, wood ranger, had lassoed and made me a present of I had traversed the whole American continent; that is to say, I had made, by short journeys and always alone, according to my custom, a ramble of some hundreds of leagues, crossing mountains covered with snow, immense deserts, rapid rivers, and impetuous torrents, simply as an amateur, in order to visit the Spanish cities which rise along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. I had been travelling for fifty-seven days as a mere wanderer, stopping wherever caprice invited me to pitch my tent.