"I am convinced of that already, my lad. Do you accept this companion, Omopoua? He will help you to pass without being insulted through the filibusters you may meet on your route."
"Good! The pale Chief really loves Omopoua. What is the Indian to do on arriving in his country?"
"Omopoua's brothers have sought shelter, I think, in the neighbourhood of the Artibonite?"
"Yes, in the great savannahs to which the French have given the name of Mirebalais."
"Good! Omopoua will go and join his friends; he will tell them in what way the filibusters treat the Caribs: he will present his companion to them, and wait."
"I will wait: the pale Chief, then, is coming to Haiti?"
"Probably," said Montbarts, with a smile of indefinable meaning; "and the proof is, that my engagé will remain with your tribe till my arrival."
"Good! I will await the coming of the pale Chief. When am I start?"
"This very night. Go down to the beach; go in my name to the owner of the canoe which brought us ashore—here is money," and he gave him several piastres; "tell him that I buy his boat exactly as it stands. You will lay in provisions at the same time, and then wait for your comrade, to whom I have a few words to say—but he will rejoin you soon."
"I will go, then; gratitude is in my heart, and not on my lips. On the day when you ask for my life I will give it you, because it is yours, as well as that of all those who love me. Farewell!"