"Let my brother listen to me," he said. "Perhaps Antinahuel is already on our track; if he is not, it will not be long before he is. If he comes up with us we shall be killed. What can three men do against sixty? But not far distant from hence I know a place where we can easily defend ourselves. Many moons ago, ten warriors of my tribe and myself stood our ground at that place for fourteen whole days against two hundred palefaces. Does my brother understand?"
"Perfectly, perfectly, chief! Guide us to this place; and if it please God that we reach it, I swear that Antinahuel and his mosotones shall find somebody to answer them."
Trangoil-Lanec then took the guidance of the little troop, and led them slightly aside from the road. In the interior of South America what we in Europe agree to call roads do not exist; but there are instead an infinite number of paths traced by wild animals, which all finish, after numberless meanderings, by leading to rivulets or rivers, which for ages have served as drinking places to the beasts of the desert.
The Indians alone possess the secret of directing their course with certainty in these apparently inextricable labyrinths; so after a march of twenty minutes our travellers found themselves, without knowing how, on the banks of a charming river. In the centre of which arose an enormous block of granite.
Valentine uttered a cry of joy at sight of this natural fortress. The horses, as if they understood that they had at length arrived at a place of safety, entered the water willingly. This block of granite was hollow. By a gentle ascent it was easy to mount to the summit, which formed a platform of more than forty square feet. The horses were concealed in a corner of the grotto, where they seemed glad to lie down. Valentine did his best to barricade the entrance to the fortress. This being done, a fire was lighted.
Cæsar had of his own accord posted himself on the platform—a vigilant sentinel. The Frenchman kept awake, whilst his companions, yielding to fatigue, slept soundly.
"I will go and take a little rest," Valentine said to Trangoil-Lanec, who awoke, casting an anxious look around him; "the night is over."
"Silence!" the chief murmured.
The two men listened: a stifled growl fell upon their ears.
"That is my dog!—it is Cæsar warning us!" the young man cried.