Curumilla lifted her up in his arms, and carried her with as much facility as if she had been a child.
"Why do you carry me thus?" she asked.
"We must leave no sign," he replied shortly.
He placed her on the ground with great precaution at the foot of a tree.
"This tree is hollow, my sister will conceal herself in it; she will not stir till I return."
"Oh! you will not abandon me," she said.
"I am going to make a false track, I shall soon return."
The poor girl hesitated, she was frightened. Curumilla divined what she felt. "It is our only chance of safety," he said, mournfully, "if my sister is not willing, I can remain."
Rosario was not one of the weak, puling daughters of our great European cities, who wither before they bloom. Her resolution was formed with the rapidity of lightning; she bore up against the fear which had taken possession of her mind, and replied in a firm voice—
"I will do what my brother desires."