"More than I can tell you. A man must, as I have done, begin it almost as a boy, undergo all the trials, endure all the sufferings, partake all its hazards, in order to understand all the intoxicating charms it procures, the celestial joys it gives, and the unknown pleasures into which it plunges us! Oh! caballero, the most beautiful and largest city of old Europe is very little, very dirty, very mean compared with the desert. Your cramped, regulated, compassed life is miserable compared to ours! It is here only that man feels the air penetrate easily into his lungs, that he lives, that he thinks. Civilization brings him down almost to the level of the brute, leaving him no instinct but that which enables him to pursue sordid interests. Whereas, in the desert, in the prairie, face to face with God, his ideas enlarge, his spirit grows, and he becomes really what the Supreme Being meant to make him; that is to say, the king of the creation." Whilst pronouncing these words the trapper was, in a manner, transfigured; his countenance assumed an inspired expression, his eyes flashed fire, and his gestures were impressed with that nobleness which passion alone gives. The general sighed deeply, a furtive tear trickled over his grey moustache. "That's true," he said, sadly; "this life has strange charms for the man who has tasted it, and they attach him by bonds nothing can break. When you arrived in the prairies, whence did you come?" "I came from Quebec, sir; I am a Canadian." "Ah!" A silence of a few minutes ensued, but it was, at length, broken by the general. "Have you many Mexicans among your companions?" "Many." "I should like to obtain some information respecting them." "There is only one man who could give you any, sir; and, unfortunately, that man is not at this moment here." "And he is called?" "Loyal Heart." "Loyal Heart!" the general replied, warmly; "surely I know that man." "Yes, you do." "Good heavens! what a fatality!" "Perhaps it will be more easy than you suppose to meet with him again, if you really wish to see him." "I have an immense interest in wishing it." "Then make your mind easy; you will soon see him." "How so?" "Oh! very simply. Loyal Heart lays his traps near me; at the present time I am watching them; but it cannot be long before he returns." "God grant it may be so!" said the general, with great agitation. "As soon as he comes I will send you word, if between this and then you have not quitted your camp." "Do you know where my troop is encamped?" "We know everything in the desert," the trapper said, with a smile. "I accept your promise." "You have my word, sir." "Thank you." At that moment Doña Luz came out of the hut; after having made Black Elk a sign to recommend silence, the general hastened to join her. The travellers remounted their horses, and after thanking the trappers for their cordial hospitality, they again took the road to the camp. CHAPTER XVI. TREACHERY.