"You are welcome," the Canadian said, so soon as he caught sight of him. "How do you like our camp? Charming, is it not? Eagle-head discovered it. Those devils of Indians have a peculiar talent for forming an ambuscade. We are as safe here as in Québec Cathedral."
During this flood of words, to which he only responded by a hearty pressure of the hand, Louis had comfortably seated himself by the side of his companions, and began to do honour, with excellent appetite, to the provisions they had put aside for him.
"Here, two paces from us; not to be found by anyone save ourselves."
"Very good. Shall we be able to get them so soon as we want them?"
"The fact is we shall probably need them soon."
"Ah, ah! But," he added, checking himself, "I am chattering, and not noticing that you must be probably savagely hungry. Finish your meal, and we will talk afterwards."
"Oh! I can answer very well while eating."
"Wo! No, everything has its proper time. Finish your breakfast: we will listen to you afterwards."
When Louis had finished eating he described fully the way in which he had carried out his mission.
"All that is very good," Belhumeur said when he had ended his report. "I believe that we can henceforth feel assured about the safety of our countrymen, especially with the help of the forty peons, who will take the enemy between two fires."
"Yes, but where shall they be concealed?"
"Leave that to Eagle-head. The chief knows the country thoroughly, he has hunted in it for a long time. I am certain he will find a suitable place for the Mexicans. What do you say, chief?"
"It is easy to hide one's self in the prairie," the chief answered laconically.
"Yes," Don Martial remarked, "but there is one thing you forget."
"I live on the frontier, and have long been accustomed to Indian tactics. The Apaches will arrive, preceded by a curtain of smoke; the plain will be only one vast sheet of flame, in the midst of which we shall struggle in vain, and which will end by swallowing us up, if we do not take the proper precautions."
"That is true: it is a serious matter. Unfortunately, I only see one way of escaping from the danger, and that we cannot employ."
"You, chief? Then you will tell us of it."
"Let the palefaces listen. The Rio Gila, like all other large rivers, brings down with it dead trees, at times in such quantities that at certain spots they completely block up the passage, in time these trees press against each other, and their branches become entwined; then grass grows, to cement them more firmly together; the sand and earth are piled up gradually on these immense rafts, which at a distance resemble islands, until a storm comes as a flood, which breaks up the raft, and bears it away."