"Well, what is going on?" Valentine asked. "What makes you have such a joyful countenance?"
"Curumilla," Joan replied, "has burnt the forest behind the rocks."
"What good advantage can that conflagration procure us?"
"An immense one. The warriors of Antinahuel were concealed among the bushes and beneath the trees; they have been forced to retire."
"Come on, then," cried Valentine.
"Let us be gone," said Valentine, "it will be hard if, with the assistance of these three resolute men, I cannot save my poor Louis."
Followed by his dog Cæsar, who looked at him, wagging his tail, he followed Trangoil-Lanec, who trod in the steps of Joan. In twenty minutes they found themselves at the foot of the rocks, from which Don Tadeo and Curumilla made them joyous signals of welcome.