"That is true," she remarked despondently. "What is to be done?"
"I do not know. For the last two days we have only been moving round the colony, from which we are scarce three leagues distant, and yet I cannot resolve to enter it."
"Alas!" the girl murmured.
"Ah!" he continued, with a degree of animation in his glance, "Why is this man your father, Doña Anita?"
"Speak not so, my friend," she said hurriedly, laying her little hand on his mouth as if to prevent him saying more. "Why despair? God is good; He will not fail us. We know not what He has in reserve for us: let us place our trust in Him!"
"Still," he replied, shaking his head, "our position is not tenable. It is impossible to go on at haphazard. Your father, in spite of his ignorance of the country, will at length perceive I am deceiving him, and I shall be hopelessly ruined in his opinion. On the other hand, by proceeding to the colony, I place you in the hands once more of the man you are forced to marry. I cannot resolve on doing this odious deed. Oh! I would joyfully give ten years of my life to know how I ought to act."
At this moment, as if Heaven had heard his words, and hastened to reply immediately, the Tigrero, whose eyes were mechanically fixed on the prairie, which at this moment was buried in obscurity, saw a short distance off, in the midst of the tall grass, a luminous point arise in the air twice, tracing in its passage quaint parabolas. At the same moment Don Martial's practised ear heard, or fancied it heard, the suppressed snorting of a horse.
"It is extraordinary," he muttered, as if speaking to himself. "What can it mean? Is it a signal? Still we are alone here. Through the whole of the past day I have not caught sight of a single trail; but that light—"
"What is the matter, my friend?" Doña Anita asked anxiously. "You seem restless. Can any danger menace us? Speak! You know I am brave; and by your side, what can I fear? Hide nothing from me. Something extraordinary is taking place, is it not?"
"Well, yes," he replied, resolutely making up his mind, "something extraordinary is really happening; but calm yourself, I do not believe there is anything for you to fear."