The conversation was interrupted. Don Martial had suddenly become pensive. The Apache's menaces gave him a good deal to think about. The camp was reached, and Eagle-head immediately set to work rekindling the fire.
"What are you about?" Belhumeur observed to him. "You will reveal our presence."
"No," the Indian said, shaking his head. "The Black Bear has retired with his warriors: they are far away at present; so we need not take useless precautions."
The fire soon cracked again. The five men crouched round it joyfully, lit their pipes and began smoking.
"I don't care," the Canadian presently said. "Had it not been for the extraordinary coolness you displayed I do not know how you would have escaped."
"Let us now see how best to foil the plans of those red devils," said the Mexican.
"It is very simple," Louis interposed. "One of us will proceed tomorrow to the hacienda, to warn the owner of what has passed this night. He will be on his guard and all will be right."
"Yes, I believe those are the best means, and we will employ them."
"Five men are as nothing against five hundred," observed Eagle-head; "we must warn the palefaces."
"That is assuredly the plan we must follow," the Tigrero remarked; "but which of us will consent to go to the hacienda? Neither my comrade nor myself can do so."