"I followed the path for a long time without seeing anything suspicious; I was even preparing to retrace my steps to rejoin and reassure you; but I did not like to do so without taking a last precaution. I alighted, and with my ear to the ground, I listened. I then heard a distant sound, indistinct, but resembling that produced by a numerous troop of horsemen. I remounted and started ahead. A quarter of an hour afterwards all my doubts were removed; I was right; at about two gun shots before me I saw, coming at a moderate pace, the advance guard of this troop."
"The advance guard!" cried Emile; "They are soldiers then." "Partisans; but listen attentively, my friend; for now the question becomes more interesting."
"Speak! Speak!"
"You have heard, have you not," he resumed, "that the Portuguese have taken as auxiliaries several Indian tribes."
"Just so; but what has this to do with the matter?"
"Wait, wait, my friend. The troop that I have met is composed of warriors of these tribes—the most warlike of all, perhaps, the Guaycurus."
"What do you infer from this?"
"A very simple thing; according to the route that they travel, these warriors are proceeding towards Brazil."
"Brazil!" cried the young man.
"Yes, Brazil, the country that we wish to reach."