"Cristo! She will accept."
"I am certain of it. Still, we must lay it before her."
"Of course. Stay, comrade, I prefer you should undertake it: while you are doing it, I will go and kill some game for breakfast. Does that suit you?"
"Very well."
"Good-bye for the present, then."
Red Cedar threw his rifle over his shoulder and left the grotto, whistling to his dog.
Sandoval, when left alone, prepared to discharge his commission, while saying to himself in an aside—
"That devil of a Red Cedar is always the same, as timid as he used to be: that results from not having been used to the society of ladies.
"Good morning, Sandoval," a gentle and melodious voice breathed in his ear.
And the White Gazelle tapped the shoulder of the old bandit, while smiling kindly on him. The girl was really a ravishing creature. She wore the costume we just now described; but she held in her hand a rifle, damascened with silver. Sandoval gazed on her for a moment with profound admiration, and then answered in a trembling voice—