The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend, Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.
Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had formerly known.
"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.
"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.
"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a renowned warrior in his tribe."
A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos, established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure; and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange incidents.
[CHAPTER XXVII.]
EL VADO DEL TORO.
Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that Doña Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.