"Thanks," he replied despondingly; "but all is useless. I am lost."
"Caramba!" said Valentine, biting his moustache with rage; "I will save him, or perish with him."
And he redoubled his efforts. In vain the Aucas warriors opposed his passage, every stroke of his sabre cut down a man. At length the impetuosity of the two Frenchmen prevailed over the courage of the Indians, and they penetrated into the circle—Don Tadeo had disappeared.
All at once, the Indian army, feeling, no doubt, the impossibility of maintaining a longer contest with superior forces which threatened to annihilate them, dispersed.
The victory of the Chilians was brilliant, and, probably, for a long time the Araucanos would have no inclination to recommence a war. Of ten thousand warriors who had formed their line of battle, the Indians had left seven thousand on the field. General Bustamente, the instigator of this war, was killed; his body was found with the dagger still sticking in his breast; and, strange coincidence! The pommel of the dagger bore the distinctive sign of the Dark Hearts.
The results obtained by the winning of this battle were immense. Unfortunately, these results were lessened, if not compromised, by a public disaster of immense consequence, which was the disappearance, and perhaps the death, of Don Tadeo de León, the only man whose energy and severity of principles could save the country. The Chilian army in the midst of its triumph was plunged in grief.
The army encamped upon the field of battle; Valentine, the count, and Don Gregorio, passed the whole night in searching amongst this immense charnel house, upon which the vultures had already fallen with hideous cries of joy. The three men had the courage to lift and examine heaps of carcases; but all without success, they could not find the body of their friend.
The next morning at daybreak the army set forward on its march towards the Bio Bio, to re-enter Chili. It took with it, as hostages, thirty Ulmens.
"Come with us," said Don Gregorio; "now our friend is dead, you can have nothing more to do."
"I am not of your opinion," Valentine replied; "I do not think Don Tadeo is dead."