"Not to-day, Menke; it would spoil Mit's sport. Some other day I'll go with you."
"All right, Tez; ye know yer own business. The mornin's goin' right fast, an' I'll have to be goin' with it, ef I'd get roun' 'fore night. Good mornin', Princess."
"Good morning, and success attend you, Menke," she returned.
With a parting word to his friend Tezcot the hunter left them, moving rapidly up the mountain, and was soon lost to view among the timber.
Tezcot and Mitla, at a later hour, awoke to the fact that they were farther from home than they had intended to go at starting out. They were more than a league and a half away, and the hunter thought it time to call a halt. Their hunt had proven fairly successful, quite a bunch of game having been secured, rendering the excursion very satisfactory.
"Father," said Mitla, when a return had been decided on, "let us visit the hermit's cave, on our way, going home. I have not been there for a long time."
"If a visit to the hermit would please ye, Mit, we'll go that way."
"Thank you, father; it would, indeed, please me very much to visit the hermitage again."
So it was settled the hermitage should receive a visit from them.
The hermit's cave was the abode of a recluse, whose identity and previous life were a profound mystery. By accompanying the hunter and Mitla to it, we will at least get an insight into the character of the man.