"I, my lord? My duty is to follow you; wherever you go I will follow. What is it to me to be killed?"
And after having respectfully saluted the young man, the captain withdrew with as tranquil and careless a step as though he were not certain beforehand that the order just given him was equivalent to a condemnation to death.
When he was alone the marquis remained an instant motionless; then, stamping his foot with rage, and darting to heaven a look of defiance—
"Oh!" cried he, with a stifled voice, "These cursed diamonds; I will have them, although it were necessary, in seizing them, to walk in blood up to the girdle."
[CHAPTER IX.]
THROUGH THE DESERT.
While, according to his orders, the captain of the soldados da conquista caused the camp to be raised and the mules to be laden, preparing everything for an immediate departure, the marquis—a prey to a terrible agitation—strode about his tent, cursing the fate which appeared to dog his steps, and obstinately to destroy his most skilful plans, constantly removing far from him at the moment when he thought to seize it, the rich treasure that he coveted—a treasure which, since he had laid himself out to seek it, had cost him so much fatigue and weariness of every kind, and for which he had during so long a time braved immense perils, and almost lost his honour.
Suddenly he stopped, striking his forehead. A new idea crossed his mind, giving a brightness to his eye; he tore a page from his pocketbook, wrote some words in haste, and gave it to a slave, ordering him to carry it, on his part, to doña Laura Antonia de Cabral.