"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage through the corpses of the gachupinos."
But Valentine shook his head mournfully.
"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."
"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free; but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."
Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to Unicorn.
"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."
"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old woman, that warriors place him on one side?"
"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he cannot enter the camp with us."
The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will enter."