"Do not disturb yourself about anything; we are preparing for you a charming surprise."
The young man was obliged to content himself with this inconclusive answer.
Tyro, in his capacity as an Indian, ferreted end listened everywhere, but the secret was well kept.
At last, one day after a council, at which all the chiefs had been present, and which lasted all the morning, the various detachments which had come to join that of Gueyma went away, one after the other, in different directions. That of Tarou Niom left the glade the last, divided into three corps of five hundred men each.
Tarou Niom and Arnal, however, remained at the camp, again reduced to its primitive proportions.
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
ZENO CABRAL.
Meanwhile the gauchos had left the woods, and had retaken, at a smart pace, the path which was to lead them to the Rio Dulce, until they heard the gallop of a horse.