After a last shake of the hands the two leaders separated, to place themselves at the head of their respective troops, which were advancing rapidly into the plain.
[CHAPTER XXV.]
THE KITE AND THE DOVE.
General Bustamente had taken advantage of the sudden good-will that Antinahuel had shown towards him; so that two days after the events we have related the Araucanian army was strongly entrenched upon the Bio Bio. Antinahuel, like an experienced chief, had established his camp at the summit of a wooded hill. A screen of trees had been left to conceal the presence of the army. The various contingents had arrived in great haste at the rendezvous, and more came in every minute. The total force of the army was, at that moment, about nine thousand men. Black Stag, with a troop of chosen warriors, beat the country in all directions, in order to surprise the enemy's scouts.
Antinahuel had retired under his toldo with the Linda and Doña Rosario. She bore upon her pale countenance traces of the fatigues she had undergone. She stood, with downcast eyes, before the Toqui.
"My brother sees that I have kept my promise," said the Linda.
"Yes," the Toqui replied; "I thank my sister."
"My brother is a great warrior, he has but one word; before entering the territories of the Huincas, it will be as well to determine the fate of his prisoner."
"This young maiden is not my prisoner," Antinahuel remarked; "she shall be my wife."