In a few seconds the burnt fagots were scattered about over the grass,
and the cinders quenched by a few buckets of water drawn from the
trough. This done the trapper uttered an imitation of the voice of the
coyote; and before its echoes had died away, his companion stepped
forward upon the ground.

Although the second trapper was by no means a man of low stature,
alongside his companion he appeared only a pigmy. He was not less
strangely accoutred, but in the absence of the firelight his costume was
not sufficiently visible for its style to be distinguished. Of him and
his dress we shall hereafter speak more particularly.

"At last your devilish fire is out," said he, as he came up, "for the
want of wood, no doubt, which none of you dared to go fetch."

"No, that is not the reason," hastily replied the first trapper; "I got
leave from these gentlemen to put it out--so that we may have an
opportunity to rid them of the presence of the tigers."

"Hum!" murmured the Senator; "I fear we have done wrong in letting the
fire be put out. Suppose you miss them?"

"Miss them! _Por Dios_! how?" cried the second trapper. "_Caspita_!
If I had not been afraid to frighten off one of the beasts, I could have
killed the other long ago. Several times I had him at the muzzle of my
carbine, when the signal of my comrade hindered me from firing. Miss
them indeed!"

"Never mind!" interrupted the great trapper; "we shall end the matter, I
have no doubt, by convincing this gentleman."

"You already knew, then, that we were here?" said Baraja.

"Of course. We have been two hours involuntarily playing the spy upon
you. Ah! I know a part of the country where travellers that take no
more precautions than you would soon find their heads stripped of the
skin. But come, Dormilon! to our work!"

"What if the jaguars come our way?" suggested the Senator,
apprehensively.

"No fear of that," replied the trapper. "Their first care will be to
satisfy their thirst, which your fire has hindered them from doing. You
will hear them howling with joy, as soon as they perceive that the fire
is gone out. It was the light shining upon the water that frightened
them more than the presence of men. All they want now is to get a
drink."

"But how do you intend to act?" inquired Don Estevan.

"How do we intend to act?" repeated the second trapper. "That is simple
enough. We shall place ourselves in the cistern--the jaguars will come