"Now that the meal is ended, Chief," Ruperto said, "put out the fire; it is unnecessary for us to reveal our presence to the vagabonds who are doubtless prowling about the prairie."
Eglantine, at a sign from Flying Eagle, put out the fire.
"It was, indeed, your smoke which betrayed you," Don Mariano remarked.
"Oh!" Ruperto said, with a laugh, "because we wished it; had we not, we should have made our fire so as to remain unseen."
"You wish, then, to be discovered?"
"Yes; it was a throw of the dice."
"I do not understand you."
"What I say to you seems an enigma, but you will soon be able to understand it. Look," the hunter added, stretching out his arm in the direction of the gorge, "do you see that horseman going at full speed? In a quarter of an hour, at the most, he will be up with us; owing to the precaution I have taken, he will pass without noticing us."
"Do you fear anything from that horseman?"
"Nothing; on the contrary, the Chief and myself are here to help him."