They proceeded toward the mound. The adventurer entered the vault, and the young man went up to the rancho. Loïck and the two women were awaiting him on the platform considerably perplexed by the long conversation he had held with Oliver; but Dominique was impenetrable—he had lived too long in the desert to let the truth be drawn from his heart when he thought proper to conceal it. Under these circumstances, all the questions they showered on him were thrown away; he only answered by clever evasions, and at last his father and the two women, despairing of making him speak, resolved to leave him at peace. His breakfast was all ready on the table. As he was hungry, he took advantage of this pretext to change the conversation, and while eating, announced his departure. Loïck made no remark, for he was accustomed to these sudden absences.
At the end of about half an hour Oliver reappeared. Dominique rose and took leave of his family.
"You are taking him with you," said Loïck.
"Yes," Oliver replied, "for a few days; we are going into the Tierra Caliente."
"Take care," said Louise anxiously; "you know that Juárez' guerillas are scouring the country."
"Fear nothing, little sister," the young man said as he embraced her; "we shall be prudent. I will bring you back a handkerchief. You know that I have promised you one for a long time."
"I should prefer your not leaving us, Dominique," she replied sadly.
"Come, come," the adventurer remarked gaily; "do not be alarmed, I will bring him back safe and sound."
It appears that the occupants of the rancho had great confidence in Oliver's word, for on this assurance their anxiety became calmed, and they took leave of the two men in tolerably good spirits. The latter then left the rancho, descended the mound, and found their horses, ready to be mounted, awaiting them, tied up to a liquidambar tree. After giving a last parting signal to the inhabitants of the rancho, who were assembled on the platform, they leapt into their saddles, and went off at a gallop across country to strike the Veracruz road.
"Are we really going to the hot lands?" Dominique asked, while galloping by his comrade's side.