The engagé called several dogs by their name, and went off without replying, followed by a portion of the pack.
"There," Lepoletais continued, pointing to the engagé, who seemed to be running, as he went at such a pace, "just look at that fellow, he is a fine chap, eh? And how he behaves, though he has not been more than two months in America; in three years from this time I predict to you that he will be one of our most celebrated adventurers."
"Did you buy him?" Don Sancho asked, though but little interested in details which had no importance for him.
"Unluckily, no, he has only been lent to me for a few days; he is the engagé of Montbarts the Exterminator: I offered him two hundred piastres for him, but he refused to sell him."
"What?" the young man exclaimed—"Montbarts, the celebrated filibuster?"
"The very man; he is a friend of mine."
"In that case he is close at hand?"
"That, Señor, is one of the things which you will learn shortly."
As the buccaneer had foreseen, the fire went out almost as quickly as it blazed up, for want of aliment on this savannah, where only grass and a few insignificant shrubs grew.
The Spaniards had sought shelter on the banks of the stream, whose barren sand preserved them from contact with the fire. The forests, too remote from the scene of the fire, had not caught, although a few tongues of flame had played round their edge.