This new personage, much younger than the first,--for he did not appear to be more than twenty-two years old,--was a tall, thin, agile and powerfully-built man, with a slightly-rounded head, lighted by two grey eyes, sparkling with intelligence, and endowed with a physiognomy open and loyal, to which long light hair gave a somewhat childish appearance. He was clothed in the same costume as his companion, and on arriving, threw down by the fire a string of birds which he was carrying at his shoulder. The two hunters then, without exchanging a word, set about preparing one of those suppers which long exercise has always the privilege of causing to be considered excellent. The night had completely set in; the desert awoke by degrees; the howlings of wild beasts already resounded in the prairie. The hunters, after supping with a good appetite, lit their pipes, and placing their backs to the fire, in order that the flame should not prevent them from perceiving the approach of any suspicious visitor whom darkness might bring them, smoked with the enjoyment of people who, after a long and painful journey, taste an instant of repose which they may not meet with again for some time. "Well!" the first hunter said laconically between two puffs of tobacco. "You were right," the other replied. "Ah!" "Yes, we have kept too much to the right, it was that which made us lose the scent." "I was sure of it," the first speaker replied; "you see, Belhumeur, you trust too much to your Canadian habits: the Indians with whom we have to do here in no way resemble the Iroquois, who visit the hunting grounds of your country." Belhumeur nodded his head in sign of acquiescence. "After all," the other continued, "this is of very little importance at this moment; what is urgent is to know who are our thieves." "I know." "Good!" the other said, withdrawing his pipe quickly from his mouth; "and who are the Indians who have dared to steal the traps marked with my cipher?" "The Comanches." "I suspected as much. By heavens, ten of our best traps stolen during the night! I swear, Belhumeur, that they shall pay for them dearly! And where are the Comanches at this moment?" "Within three leagues of us at most. It is a party of plunderers composed of a dozen men; according to the direction they are following, they are turning to their mountains." "They shall not all arrive there," said the hunter, casting a glance at his rifle. "Parbleu!" said Belhumeur with a loud laugh, "they will only get what they deserve. I leave it to you, Loyal Heart, to punish them for their insult; but you will be still more determined to avenge yourself upon them when you know by whom they are commanded." "Ah! ah! I know their chief then?" Belhumeur said, slightly smiling, "it is _Nehu Nutah_."