The next moment he rose, with an exclamation of terror, and his hat
dropped from his trembling hand. Directly before him, a small, gray,
wolfish-looking animal had stopped half-way down the mound on
encountering his motionless figure. Frightened by his outcry, and
unable to retreat, the shadowy depredator had fallen back on his
slinking haunches with a snarl, and bared teeth that glittered in the
moonlight.

In an instant the expression of terror on the old man's ashen face
turned into a fixed look of insane exaltation. His white lips moved;
he advanced a step further, and held out both hands towards the
crouching animal.

"So! It is thou--at last! And comest thou here thy tardy Pereo to
chide? Comest THOU, too, to tell the poor old man his heart is cold,
his limbs are feeble, his brain weak and dizzy? that he is no longer
fit to do thy master's work? Ay, gnash thy teeth at him! Curse
him!--curse him in thy throat! But listen!--listen, good friend--I
will tell thee a secret--ay, good gray friar, a secret--such a secret!
A plan, all mine--fresh from this old gray head; ha! ha!--all mine! To
be wrought by these poor old arms; ha! ha! All mine! Listen!"

He stealthily made a step nearer the affrighted animal. With a sudden
sidelong snap, it swiftly bounded by his side, and vanished in the
thicket; and Pereo, turning wildly, with a moan sank down helplessly on
the grave of his forefathers.

CHAPTER VI

To the open chagrin of most of the gentlemen and the unexpected relief
of some of her own sex, Maruja, after an evening of more than usual
caprice and willfulness, retired early to her chamber. Here she
beguiled Enriquita, a younger sister, to share her solitude for an
hour, and with a new and charming melancholy presented her with mature
counsel and some younger trinkets and adornments.

"Thou wilt find them but folly, 'Riquita; but thou art young, and wilt
outgrow them as I have. I am sick of the Indian beads, everybody wears
them; but they seem to suit thy complexion. Thou art not yet quite old
enough for jewelry; but take thy choice of these." "'Ruja," replied
Enriquita, eagerly, "surely thou wilt not give up this necklace of
carved amber, that was brought thee from Manilla--it becomes thee so!
Everybody says it. All the caballeros, Raymond and Victor, swear that
it sets off thy beauty like nothing else." "When thou knowest men
better," responded Maruja, in a deep voice, "thou wilt care less