"Very well!" said Curumilla, "my brother is prudent, he will succeed. But let him carefully calculate his actions and his words whilst he is amongst them."
Valentine looked at his foster brother with astonishment.
"What does all this mean?" he asked. "Is Antinahuels track found again?"
"Yes, brother," Louis replied, in a melancholy tone, "Doña Rosario and her father are within half a league of us, and in danger of death!"
"Vive Dieu!" the young man cried, "and we are here prating."
"Alas!" Louis murmured, "what can four men do against fifty?"
"That is too true," he replied, returning dejectedly to his place. "As Trangoil-Lanec says, fighting will not avail us, we must manoeuvre."
"Chief," Louis observed, "your plan is good, but I think of two material ameliorations."
"My brother can speak, he is wise," Trangoil-Lanec replied, bowing courteously.
"We must provide against all that may happen. Go to the camp, we will follow your steps; but if you cannot rejoin us as quickly as we may wish, agree upon a signal which may inform us why, and agree also upon another signal in case your life may be in danger."