"You can sleep if you like, but as I am not at all fatigued, I shall watch over our common safety."
"I accept your proposal as frankly as you make it. Yet, with your permission, I will not close my eyes till I have become better acquainted with you."
"How so? Are we not friends already?"
"Certainly, I am your friend, at least; but we do not know one another."
"That is to say—"
"We do not know one another—I mean who we are."
"Oh, when travelling, what value can such formalities possess?"
"A greater value than you suppose; in a few hours we shall part, it is true, perhaps never to meet again; but perhaps, at some distant period, we may require each other's assistance; now, how could I summon you, if I did not know your name?"
"You're right, comrade; as for me, I am only a poor devil of a hunter, wood ranger, or trapper—whichever you please, and my companions call me Stronghand, because, as they say, when I hold out my hand to a friend he can trust to it in perfect confidence."
"¡Viva Dios, caballero! you are well named, as I can declare; your reputation has already reached me, and I am delighted at the chance that has brought us together, as I had already desired to form your personal acquaintance."