hose men who repose only
when they have nothing better to do. The ambitious are such," added Don
Estevan, with a smile.

"I am not ambitious, Senor," replied the adventurer quietly.

"You are so without knowing it, Diaz; and I will prove it to you,
presently. But first tell me what you think of this distant firing?"

"Men meet on the sea whose surface is incomparably more extensive than
that of this desert; it is not astonishing that they should meet here.
Travellers and Indians have encountered one another, and are fighting."

"That is what I think. One more question and then we will return to the
first subject which I have at heart. Has Cuchillo returned?"

"No, Senor, and I much fear that we have lost the guide who has
conducted us till now."

"And to what do you attribute this strange absence?" asked Don Estevan,
with an anxious look.

"Probably he has gone too far upon the track of the Apaches, and has
been surprised by them. In that ease his absence may prove eternal, in
spite of the fires which we have lighted for two days to show him our
encampment."

"Is that really your idea?" said the chief, looking fixedly at Diaz.

"It is; although, to say the truth, Cuchillo is one of those people whom
one is rarely wrong in accusing of perfidy; but I do not see what object
he could have in betraying us."

Don Estevan pointed to the fog which hid the tops of the mountains in
the horizon. "The neighbourhood of those mountains," said he, "might
explain the absence of Cuchillo." Then, with a changed tone, "Are our
men still of the same mind."

"Yes, Senor, and have more confidence than ever, in the chief who
watches while they sleep, and fights like the humblest of them."

"I have battled in many parts of the world," said Don Estevan, sensible
to praise, the sincerity of which he believed in, "and I have rarely
commanded men more determined than these. Would they were five hundred
instead of sixty, for then on the return of this expedition my projects
would be easy of accomplishment."

"I am ignorant what these projects are, of which you now speak to me for
the first time," said Diaz in a reserved tone. "But perhaps Don Estevan
thinks me ambitious, only because he does me the honour to judge me by
himself."

"It is possible, friend Diaz," replied Don Estevan, smiling; "the first
time that I saw you I thought that your mind was of the same stamp as my
own. We are made to understand each other, I am s