"At once, there is not a moment to lose." "Good! Give the necessary orders, I am ready." "I must warn you, however, that the men to whom I am sending you, are slightly of a scampish nature, and you must not assume any high moral tone with them." "What does it concern me? if they were even pirates of the prairies, believe me, I should attach no importance to the fact." "Bravo! I see that we understand each other, for I believe these worthy gentlemen dabble a little in all trades." "Good, good!" the Scalper gaily answered; "Do not trouble yourself about that." "In that case, get ready to start; I shall return in ten minutes at the latest." With these words, the monk left the room. The old man, who had not many preparations to make, was soon in a position to take the road. As he had stated, within ten minutes the monk returned, followed by four men. Among them was Ruperto, who, it will be remembered, offered the advice to bury the wounded man in the sand. The Scalper was still very weak, and incapable of either walking or sitting a horse. The monk had remedied this inconvenience, as far as possible, by having a clumsy litter prepared for the wounded man, carried by two mules, and in which he could recline. This mode of transport was very slow, and extremely inconvenient, especially for the guides, in a country such as they had to cross; but it was the only one practicable at the moment, and so they must put up with it. The wounded man was carried to the litter, and laid on it as comfortably as was possible. "And now," said the monk, "may Heaven direct you; do not feel at all alarmed, Ruperto has many instructions, and I know him well enough to be convinced that he will not depart from them, whatever may happen. So you can trust to him. Good bye!" And, after giving the wounded man his hand, Fray Antonio made a movement to retire. "One moment," said the old man, as he held the hand he had taken; "I wish to say but one word to you." "Speak, but be brief. I have the weightiest reasons for desiring your immediate departure; in a few minutes some wounded men will arrive here, who have hitherto been kept in the fort, and whom you would probably not be at all pleased to meet." "I fancy I can understand to whom you allude; but that is not the question. I wish, before parting with you, and not knowing whether I shall ever see you again, to express to you the gratitude I feel for your conduct toward me, a gratitude which is the greater because I am convinced you have recognised me." "And suppose I have?" "You needed only to say one word to surrender me to my most inveterate enemies; and yet you did not utter that word." "Certainly not; for even supposing, as you seem to believe, that I have recognised you, I was only discharging a debt I had incurred with you."