"Good!" said Zeno Cabral, smiling; "Let them come, Don Juan, let them come. Anything else?"
"Nothing, general, unless it is to ask you if your expedition has succeeded, and if you are satisfied."
"Enchanted, Don Juan, enchanted! I hope that, in a few days, we shall have attained the end that I have for so long contemplated."
"God grant it, general."
"Thank you, Don Juan," said he. "I hope God will not destroy my hopes. Good night."
The officer bowed and immediately retired, and Zeno Cabral regained his tent with slow steps.
"Ah!" murmured he, falling on a seat; "Would that fortune may at last favour me, and that I may be allowed to capture them all by a throw of the net!"
He remained a short time pensive; then, having trimmed his lamp, he again bent over his map.
The most profound silence reigned without; except the sentinels, everyone in the camp was asleep.
Till the morning, the general's lamp burned in his tent.