"Oh, with all my heart!" he said, as he held out his hand.
"The affair was a tough one, my friend," the Canadian went on; "that man is a lion."
"Yes, yes, he is a rude adversary; but you got the better of him at last?"
"Thanks to Heaven, yes; but I shall keep his mark all my life, if God permit me to rise again."
"Canarios! I trust that will soon happen."
The hunter shook his head.
"No, no," he answered, "I am a connoisseur in wounds, through having inflicted a good many, and received more than my proper share: these are serious."
"Have you no hopes of recovery, then?"
"I do not say so, I merely repeat that many days will pass ere I can return to the desert," the hunter replied, with a stifled sigh.
"Nonsense, who knows? Any wound that does not kill is soon cured, the Indians say, and they are right. And what has become of that man?"