"You will soon understand. The Apaches have the greatest interest in driving the French from their hunting grounds. Desperate at seeing them out of the desert, they have probably lit this fire to deceive them, and compel their return."
The hacendero was thoughtful. The reasons Don Martial offered him seemed correct: he knew not what determination to form.
"Well," he said presently, "and what conclusion do you arrive at from all this?"
"That we should do wrong," Don Martial said resolutely, "in losing more time here in search of people who are no longer in the desert, and running the risk of being caught by a tempest, which every passing hour renders more imminent in a country like this, which is continually exposed to hurricanes."
"Then you would return!"
"By no means. I would push on, and enter Apacheria as quickly as possible, for I am convinced I should then be speedily on the trail of our friends."
"Yes, that appears to me correct enough; but we are long way yet from the prairies."
"Not so far as you suppose; but let us break off our conversation at this point. I wish to go out and examine that fire more closely, for it troubles me greatly."
"Be prudent."
"Is not your safety concerned?" the Tigrero said, as he bent a gentle and mournful glance on Doña Anita. He rose, saddled his horse in a second, and started at a gallop.