"You ought to be pleased with your journey," said the general, "for it offers you such an opportunity for indulging in your passion for plants of all sorts." "Not too great, general, I must confess; the prairie is not so rich as I thought it was; and if it were not for the hope I entertain of discovering one plant, whose qualities may advance science, I should almost regret my little house at Guadeloupe, where my life glided away in such uniform tranquillity." "Bah!" the captain interrupted, "we are as yet only on the frontiers of the prairies. You will find, when we have penetrated further into the interior, that you will not be able to gather the riches which will spring from under your feet." "God grant it may be so, captain;" said the doctor, with a sigh; "provided I find the plant I seek I shall be satisfied." "Is it then such a very valuable plant?" asked Doña Luz. "What, señorita!" cried the doctor, warming with the question. "A plant which Linnaeus has described and classified, and which no one has since found! a plant that would make my reputation! And you ask me if it is valuable?" "Of what use is it, then?" the young lady asked, in a tone of curiosity. "Of what use is it?" "Yes." "None at all, that I am aware of," the doctor replied, ingeniously. Doña Luz broke into a silvery laugh, whose pearly notes might have made a nightingale jealous. "And you call it a valuable plant?" "Yes--if only for its rarity." "Ah! that's all." "Let us hope you will find it, doctor," said the general in a conciliatory tone. "Jupiter, call the chief of the guides hither." The Negro left the tent, and almost immediately returned, followed by a Gambusino. The latter was a man of about forty, tall in stature, square-built, and muscular. His countenance, though not exactly ugly, had something repulsive in it for which the spectator was at a loss to account; his wild, sinister-looking eyes, buried under their orbits, cast a savage light, which with his low brow, his curly hair, and his coppery complexion, made altogether a not very agreeable whole. He wore the costume of a wood ranger; he was cold, impassible, of a nature essentially taciturn, and answered to the name of _the Babbler_, which, no doubt, the Indians or his companions had given him by antiphrasis. "Here, my good fellow," said the general, holding out to him a glass filled to the brim with a sort of brandy, called mescal, from the name of the place where it is distilled, "drink this." The hunter bowed, emptied the glass, which contained about a pint, at a draught; then, passing his cuff across his moustache, waited. "I wish," said the general, "to halt for a few days in some safe position, in order to make, without fear of being disturbed, certain researches; shall we be secure here?" The eye of the guide sparkled: he fixed a burning glance upon the general. "No," he replied, laconically. "Why not?" "Too many Indians and wild beasts." "Do you know one more suitable?"