ng upon incidents that had transpired twenty years before
in the Bay of Biscay.

It should here be stated that up to this hour Bois-Rose and Pepe had not
the slightest suspicion that they had ever met, before their chance
encounter upon the prairies of America. In reality they had never met--
farther than that they had been within musket-range of each other. But
up to this hour Pepe knew not that his trapping comrade was the gigantic
smuggler he had fired at from the beach of Ensenada; and Bois-Rose was
equally ignorant that Pepe was the coast-guard whose "obstinacy and
clumsiness" he had spoken of to his lieutenant.

The cause of this mutual ignorance of each other's past was that neither
of them had ever mentioned the word Elanchovi in the hearing of the
other. The Canadian had never thought of communicating the incidents of
that night to his prairie comrade; and Pepe, on his side, would have
given much to have blotted them altogether from the pages of his memory.

The night became more chilly as the hours passed on, and a damp dew now
fell upon the grass and the foliage of the trees. It did not wake the
sleepers, however, both of whom required a long rest.

All at once the silence was broken by the horse of Pepe, that neighed
loudly and galloped in a circle at the end of his lazo: evidently
something had affrighted him. Bois-Rose suddenly started from his
reverie, and crept silently forward, both ear and eye set keenly to
reconnoitre. But nothing could be heard or seen that was unusual; and
after a while he glided back to his seat.

The noise had awakened Tiburcio, who, raising himself into a sitting
posture, inquired its cause.

"Nothing," answered the trapper, whose denial, however, was scarce
sincere. "Something indeed," continued he, "has frightened the horse.
A jaguar, I fancy, that scents the skins of his companions, or, more
likely, the remains of our roast mutton. By the way, you can eat a bit
now; I have kept a couple of pieces for you."

And as he said this he handed two goodly-sized pieces of mutton to
Tiburcio.

This time the young man accepted the invitation to eat. Rest had given
him an appetite; and after swallowing a few mouthfuls of the cold
mutton, warmed up by a glass of the brandy already mentioned, he felt
both his strength and spirits restored at the same time. His features,
too, seemed to have suddenly changed their hue, and now appeared more
bright and smiling.

The presen