"Oh, brother, brother!" Louis exclaimed, in great emotion, "so much devotion, while I was accusing you."
"You did not know what I was doing; you were right."
"Oh! I shall never forgive myself."
"Nonsense! Did we not swear once for all, to be entirely devoted to each other?"
"That is true. Oh! You have nobly kept your oath everywhere and ever, brother."
"And have you not done the same? Besides, this time the idea does not belong to me; I only followed the chief's advice."
"Oh, he is like you; you dare not say anything to him, or he would be vexed."
Curumilla laid down his calumet for an instant; and, approaching the count, laid his hand on his shoulder, and looking at him with an expression impossible to describe, while touching the Frenchman's chest and his own in turn,—
"Koutenepi," he said, in a quivering voice, "Louis, Curumilla—three brothers, one heart."
And he sat down again.