he return and approbation of the chief,
who was the man already known to us as the "Blackbird." He had
continued his researches, and having reached the place where they had
left the sand to enter the river, no longer doubted that the report
brought to them had been correct; and having his own private objects, he
determined to follow it. Once assured of the presence of the three
whites, he returned to his men, listened gravely to the result of their
deliberations, answered in a few words, and then advanced slowly towards
the river--after having given an order to five of his men who set off at
full gallop to execute it.

The aquatic plants were open in the sunshine; the breeze agitated the
leaves of the osiers on the banks of the island, which was to all
appearance as uninhabited as when the stream flowed only for the birds
of heaven, and the buffaloes and wild horses of the plains. But an
Indian could not be deceived by this apparent calm. The "Blackbird"
made a speaking-trumpet of his hand, and cried in a language half
Indian, half-Spanish--

"The white warriors of the north may show themselves; the `Blackbird' is
their friend. So, too, are the warriors he commands."

At these words, borne to them distinctly by the wind, the Canadian
pressed the arm of Pepe; both understood the mixed dialect of the
Indian.

"What shall we reply?" said he.

"Nothing," answered Pepe.

The breeze which murmured through the reeds was the only answer the
Indian could hear.

He went on--

"The eagle may hide his track in the air from the eye of an Apache; the
salmon in the stream leaves no trace behind him; but a white man who
crosses the desert is neither a salmon nor an eagle."

"Nor a gosling," murmured Pepe; "and a gosling only betrays himself by
trying to sing."

The Indian listened again, but hearing no sound, continued, without
showing any signs of being discouraged, "The white warriors of the north
are but three against twenty, and the red warriors engage their word to
be friends and allies to them."

"Wagh!" said Bois-Rose, "for what perfidy has he need of us?"

"Let him go on, and we shall hear; he has not yet finished, or I am much
mistaken!"

"When the white warriors know the intentions of the Blackbird, they will
leave their hiding-place," continued he, "but they shall hear them. The
white men of the north are the enemies of those of the south--their
language, their religion is different. The Apaches hold