"You flatter me, fair lady," he replied, with a smile, as he dismounted from his good horse; "and flattery from such lips as yours were perilous, indeed, to a younger man than I, and to one alienated from the hopes, the wishes, the delights of civilized society. But let us go in to your tent," he continued, "and you shall bestow upon me your hospitality to-day, in requital of the poor meal I set before you on the other side of the Bravo."
When the repast was ended, and coffee set before them, he produced his pipe, and filling it with his favourite mixture of tobacco, applied himself for a few minutes to smoking silently, Gordon following his example, and Julia awaiting patiently the relation, which, with the true woman's instinct, she foresaw to be close at hand.
"Now then, lieutenant, since we are about to start, it were, perhaps, as well that we should determine whither."
"Whither," exclaimed Gordon, starting, and looking very anxiously in the old soldier's face. "I thought that had been determined long ago. I thought we were in full route for Taylor's camp before Monterey."
"It is impossible," replied the Partisan. "I did hope at first to effect it, but the hope was delusive—the thing is a sheer impossibility. We are in the midst of out-laying parties of regulars and, what is worse yet, of guerrillas; and, worst of all, of these accursed Comanches."
"And to return?" asked Gordon.
"Is equally impossible."
"What then? For the love of Heaven, speak," cried the young husband, actually trembling with the violence of his anxiety and apprehension.
"It is impossible for a party, at once too strong to avoid discovery, and too weak to resist an enemy, to push on to Monterey, even if we had not a lady with us. I could, myself, run the gauntlet thither, and arrive in safety, though even that is doubtful. You, or she, at least, must remain in concealment until I can bring you such succour as will suffice to her safety."