y. You may conceive
my rage and despair, whilst all my efforts to disengage myself were
paralyzed by the excruciating pain in my thigh. Powerless and disarmed,
I witnessed for some moments this unequal struggle.

"Djalma was losing blood rapidly; his strength of arm began to fail him;
already one of the irregulars, inciting his comrades with his voice,
drew from his belt a huge, heavy kind of bill-hook, when a dozen of
our mountaineers made their appearance, borne towards the spot by the
irresistible current of the battle. Djalma was rescued in his turn, I
was released, and, in a quarter of an hour, I was able to mount a horse.
The fortune of the day is ours, though with severe loss; but the fires
of the English camp are still visible, and to-morrow the conflict will
be decisive. Thus, my beloved Eva, I owe my life to this youth. Happily,
his wound occasions us no uneasiness; the ball only glanced along the
ribs in a slanting direction."

"The brave boy might have said: 'A blank wound,' like the general,"
observed Dagobert.

"Now, my dear Eva," continued Rose, "you must become acquainted, by
means of this narrative at least, with the intrepid Djalma. He is but
just eighteen. With one word, I will paint for you his noble and valiant
nature; it is a custom of this country to give surnames, and, when only
fifteen, he was called 'The Generous'--by which was, of course, meant
generous in heart and mind. By another custom, no less touching than
whimsical, this name was reverted to his parent, who is called 'The
Father of the Generous,' and who might, with equal propriety, be called
'The Just,' for this old Indian is a rare example of chivalrous honor
and proud independence. He might, like so many other poor princes of
this country, have humbled himself before the execrable despotism of
the English, bargained for the relinquishment of sovereign power,
and submitted to brute force--but it was not in his nature. 'My whole
rights, or a grave in my native mountains!'--such is his motto. And this
is no empty boast; it springs from the conviction of what is right and
just. 'But you will be crushed in the struggle,' I have said to him--'My
friend,' he answered, 'what if, to force you to a disgraceful act, you
were told to yield or die?'--From that day I understood him, and have
devoted myself, mind and body, to the ever sacred cause of the weak
against the strong. You see, my Eva, that Djalma shows himself worthy of
such a father.