--

"It's sister's necklet!"

Gaspar, too, remembers it; for pearls are precious things in the eyes of
a gaucho, whose hat often carries a band of such, termed the _toquilla_.

Cypriano, flinging himself from his saddle, picks the necklace up, and
holds it out for examination. It is in no way injured, the string still
unbroken, and has no doubt dropped to the ground by the clasp coming
undone. But there are no traces of a struggle having taken place, nor
sign that any halt had been made on that spot. Instead, the pony's
tracks, there distinctly visible, tell of the animal having passed
straight on without stop or stay. In all likelihood, the catch had got
loosened at the last halting-place in that conflict with the storm, but
had held on till here.

Thus concluding, and Cypriano remounting, they continue onward along the
trail, the finding of the pearls having a pleasant effect upon their
spirits. For it seems a good omen, as if promising that they may yet
find the one who had worn them, as also be able to deliver her from
captivity.

Exhilarated by the hope, they canter briskly on; and for several leagues
meet nothing more to interrupt them; since that which next fixes their
attention, instead of staying, but lures them onward--the tops of tall
trees, whose rounded crowns and radiating fronds tell that they are
palms.

It still lacks an hour of sunset, when these begin to show over the
brown waste, and from this the trackers know they are nearing the end of
the _travesia_. Cheered by the sight, they spur their horses to
increased speed, and are soon on the edge of the _salitral_; beyond,
seeing a plain where the herbage is green, as though no dust-storm had
flown over it. Nor had there, for the _tormenta_, like cyclones and
hurricanes, is often local, its blast having a well-defined border.

Riding out upon this tract--more pleasant for a traveller--they make a
momentary halt, but still remaining in their saddles, as they gaze
inquiringly over it.

And here Cypriano, recalling a remark which Gaspar had made at their
last camping-place, asks an explanation of it. The gaucho had expressed
a belief, that from something he remembered, they would not have much
further to go before arriving at their journey's end.

"Why did you say that?" now questions the young Paraguayan.

"Because I've heard the old _cacique_, Naraguana, speak of a place where
they buried their dead. Strange my not thinking of that so