"I do not deny it."
"Oh, the unhappy men!"
"They are lost!"
"The fact is, that if they escape, Heaven will perform a miracle in their favour."
"I think with you; but it is now an accomplished fact, which no recriminations of ours can alter; so, Don Sylva, I believe that the wisest thing is to trouble ourselves no more about them, but let them get out of it as they best can."
"Is that your notion?"
"It is," the Tigrero replied carelessly. "I propose to remain here two or three days, and see if anything turns up. After that time, if we have seen or heard nothing, we will remount, and return to Guetzalli by the road we came, without stopping to look back, that we may arrive more speedily, and the sooner quit these horrible regions."
The hacendero shook his head like a man who has just formed an irrevocable determination.
"Then you will go alone, Don Martial," he said dryly.
"What!" the latter exclaimed, looking him firmly in the face. "What is your meaning?"