"No," he said, "it is not that, but something else; what I feel is not natural: my chest is oppressed, I am choking, what can be happening?"
His friends anxiously collected round him.
"Let me go on," he said, resolutely; "if I have bad news to hear, it is better to do so at once."
And, in spite of the exhortations of his friends, who were alarmed at seeing him in this state, he began running up the mountain side. He soon reached the platform, when he stopped to take breath.
"Come on!" he said.
He boldly entered the cavern, followed by his friends, but at the moment he went in, he heard his name called; at the sound of this voice the hunter started; he turned pale and trembled, and a cold perspiration covered his face.
"Oh," he murmured, "who calls me thus?"
"Valentine! Valentine!" the soft voice repeated.
The hunter hesitated and bent his body forward, his face assumed an indescribable look of joy and alarm.
"Again! Again!" he said, in an indistinct voice, as he laid his hand on his heart to check its beating.