"We shall soon be at the spot where we have decided to camp till the hottest part of the day passes. Have you nothing more to say to me?"
"Nothing at present, my friend. We shall soon resume this conversation; now we must instal our warriors in a secure position, for, perhaps, we shall remain in this encampment longer than you suppose."
"What! Shall we not set out again in a few hours?"
"It is scarcely probable, but for that matter you will decide for yourself when the time has come."
And as if he wished to prevent the young chief asking him a question that he probably would not have cared to answer, the Cougar checked his bridle, and stopping his horse, allowed his companion to pass him.
Meanwhile, the pathway broadened more and more, the forest became less dense, and, after having turned a corner, the Indians came out on to a kind of rather large esplanade, entirely denuded of trees, although covered with a tall and coarse grass. This esplanade formed what in Mexico they call a voladero, that is to say, that from this side the base of the mountain—which the Guaycurus had traversed almost without perceiving it, by a gentle declivity, worn away by the streams, or by an inundation produced by one of those convulsions so frequent in this country—formed beneath the esplanade an enormous cavity, which gave it the appearance of a gigantic balcony, and rendered it on this side almost impossible to attack.
On the opposite side, the flanks of the mountain were escarped in abrupt blocks of rock, on the edge of which the vicuñas and the lamas alone would have been able to place their delicate feet without fear of falling.
The only accessible points were those by which the esplanade was reached—that is to say, the path itself—a point most easy to defend by means of some trunks of trees thrown across it.
Gueyma could not retain a smile of satisfaction at the sight of this natural fortress.
"What a misfortune that we must in a few hours abandon so advantageous a position!" murmured he.