"Yes." said the count, pressing his hand, "if we perish in the attempt!"
Don Gregorio was not willing to pass the night in the camp. Every horseman took a foot soldier behind him, and set off, as fast as their horses could bear their double load, on their way to Valdivia.
The troop of Chilians soon disappeared, and there remained in the camp only Valentine, the count, Curumilla, Joan, and Trangoil-Lanec.
The five adventurers wrapped themselves in their ponchos, lay down with their feet to the fire, and went to sleep under the guardianship of Cæsar.
[CHAPTER XX.]
THE COUNCIL.
About midnight the storm broke out, but towards morning the hurricane became a little calmer, and the sun on rising, quite dispersed it. It was then that the five adventurers were able to discover the disasters produced by the tempest; some trees were broken and twisted like straws, while others, uprooted by the blast, lay with their roots in the air. The prairie was one vast marsh. The river, generally so calm, so limpid, so inoffensive, had invaded everything, rolling muddy waters, laying flat grass and plants, and digging deep ravines. Valentine congratulated himself on having in the evening established his camp upon the declivity of the mountain instead of descending into the plain, swallowed up by the furious waters.
The first care of the travellers was to rekindle their fire. Trangoil-Lanec looked about for a large flat stone. Upon this stone he laid a bed of leaves, with which the fire was at length lighted. Upon the damp earth it would have been impossible to obtain any. Soon a column of clear flame ascended towards the heavens, and revived the courage of the travellers. When breakfast was ended, gaiety returned, the sufferings or the night were forgotten, and the five men only thought of past miseries as an encouragement to support patiently those which still awaited them. Valentine began—
"We were wrong last night," he said, "to let Don Tadeo leave us."