"At our next meeting, brother," then said the young chief, "we will exchange our horses, for we cannot do so now. Meanwhile, here is my gun, my sabre, my knife, my powder horn, my shot pouch, my laco, and my bolas. Accept them, and may the Great Spirit grant that they may do you as good service as they have done me."
"I receive them, brother, in exchange for my arms—which take."
Then the two men embraced, and the ceremony was over.
"Now," said the Cougar, "the moment for separation has come; we must rejoin our warriors; where shall we see one another again, and when will the meeting take place?"
"The second sun after this," answered the partisan, "I shall expect my brothers three hours before the setting of the sun at the Cañon de Yerbas Verdes. The captives will be with me. The cry of the eagle of the Cordilleras, three times repeated, will warn my brothers of my presence; they will answer me by that of the maukawis, repeated the same number of times."
"Good! My warriors will be exact."
The three men heartily shook hands, and the Guaycurus chiefs withdrew, again taking the almost impracticable way by which they had come, but which could not offer any serious difficulties to men inured like them to every bodily exercise, and endowed with an unequalled suppleness and agility.
Zeno Cabral remained alone in the cavern.
The partisan threw himself on a seat, leant his head on his breast, and thus remained for a considerable lapse of time plunged in profound reflection.
When the first shadows of evening began to invade the entrance of the cavern, the young man stood up.