Leaning against a tree, with his eye fixed upon the entrance to the grotto, and his chest heaving, he recalled the smallest incidents of his meeting with the young lady, their journey through the forest, the words she addressed to him and smiled delightedly at the remembrance of those delicious moments, without suspecting the danger of these remembrances of the new feeling which had been just born in his soul.
Two hours had thus glided away, and Valentine had taken no heed of their passage, so absorbed was he in his fantastic contemplation, when the two Indians came up to him—
"Is our brother asleep that he does not see us?"
"No," Valentine replied, passing his hand over his burning brow, "I was thinking."
"My brother was with the genius of dreams; he was happy," Trangoil-Lanec remarked, with a smile.
"Do you want me?"
"Whilst my brother has been reflecting, we have returned to the camp of the Black Serpents. We have taken their horses, and after leading them to a considerable distance have let them loose on the plain."
"If that is the case we may be at our ease for a few hours?" Valentine suggested.
"I hope so," said Trangoil-Lanec, "but we must not be too confident, the Black Serpents are cunning fellows."
"What had we better do, then?"