"Bring back assistance quickly," Valentine replied.
"I will, or die in the attempt," replied the other.
And, clapping spurs to their horses, the two men were soon lost in a cloud of dust. Valentine looked after his foster brother as long as he was to be seen, then turning toward Trangoil-Lanec, said;
"And we must start directly?"
"Everything is ready," the chief replied.
"Now," Valentine said to Don Tadeo, "our fate is in the hands of God: we have done everything it was humanly possible to do to escape capture or death; upon His will now depends our safety."
"Valentine! Valentine!" Don Tadeo cried, warmly, "you are as devout as you are intelligent. God will not abandon us."
"I trust He will hear you!" the young man said, in a melancholy tone.
"Courage, my daughter!" said the Linda, with an expression of infinite tenderness.
"Oh! I fear nothing now," Rosario replied, with a cheerful smile; "have I not my father near me, and—my mother, too," she added, kindly.