oking sadly at the gold, as he thought that all
these riches were not worth to him a smile or look from her who had
disdained him, "I understand how these two rivers, in their annual rise,
and by their torrents that descend from the Misty Mountains, covering
this narrow valley, bring down gold with them; the position of this
valley is perhaps unique in all the world."

But the Spaniard heard him not. Riches--which the rough lesson he had
received, and the life of independence and the savage happiness he had
enjoyed, had taught him during the last ten years to disdain--suddenly
resumed their terrible influence over his soul.

"You could not have imagined, could you, Pepe?" continued Fabian, "that
so much gold could be collected in one place? I, who have been so long
a gold-seeker, could not have imagined it, even after all I had heard."

Pepe did not reply; his eye wandered eagerly over the blocks of gold,
and cast a strange glance on Fabian and on Bois-Rose. The hitter,
standing in his favourite attitude, his arm resting on his rifle, amidst
all these treasures, looked only at what was dearest to him--the young
man restored to him by heaven. Pepe had before him, on one side, his
old companion in danger--in a hundred different battles they had uttered
their war-cry together, like those brothers in arms in ancient chivalric
times, who fought always under the same banner--who shared cold, hunger,
and thirst together.

On the other side, the young man, partly orphaned by his crime--a crime
which had occasioned him remorse through so many years--the love and
sole thought of his only friend in the world; and the demon of cupidity
at his heart effaced all these souvenirs, and he already began to
think--

A shudder passed through his frame as strange thoughts crossed his mind.
A struggle took place within him, a struggle of the feelings of youth
with the more noble ones developed by the life of nature, where man
seems brought near to God; but this struggle was short: the old outlaw
disappeared, and there remained only the man purified by repentance and
solitude. Still kneeling on the ground, Pepe had closed his eyes, and a
furtive tear, unperceived by his companions, stole from his eyes, and
rolled down his bronzed cheeks.

"Senor Don Fabian de Mediana!" cried he, starting up, "you are now a
rich and powerful lord, for all this gold belongs to you alone."

So saying, he advanced and bowed respectfully to Fabian, who