ore Gaspar Mendez will need that for service done to either friend or
relative of his dear dead master--ay, to the laying down of my life.
_Carramba_! are we not all embarked in the same boat, to swim or sink
together? But we sha'n't sink yet; not one of us. No; we shall swim
out of this sea of troubles, and triumphantly. Cease despairing, then;
for after all there mayn't be so much danger. Though Naraguana be dead,
there's one above him, above all, up there in Heaven, who will not
forsake us in this our extremity. Let us kneel and pray to Him."

And they do kneel; Ludwig, as called upon by Gaspar repeating the Lord's
prayer, with a solemnity befitting the occasion.

CHAPTER FIFTY.

A MIDNIGHT PROMENADER.

Rising from their knees, and resuming their seats upon the ledge, they
return to the subject of discourse, interrupted by their devotional
interlude; Caspar declaring it his fixed intention to disguise himself
as an Indian, and so seek entrance into the town. No matter what the
danger, he is ready to risk it.

The others consenting, the next question that comes before them is, how
the disguise is to be got up. About this there seems a difficulty to
Ludwig, and also to Cypriano; though recalling the transformation of the
latter into a soldier-crane, so quickly done by the deft hands of the
gaucho, they doubt not that he will also find the ways and means for
transforming himself into a redskin.

"If we only had a Tovas Indian here," he says, "as I had that sleepy
Guaycuru, I'd not be long in changing clothes with him. Well, as we
can't borrow a dress, I must see what can be done to make one. Good
luck, there's no great quantity of cloth in a Tovas suit, and the
stitching isn't much. All that's needed is a bit of breech-clout, which
I can make out of the tail of my shirt; then the poncho over my
shoulders, that will cover everything."

"But the colour of your skin, Gaspar! Wouldn't that betray you?"

Ludwig thus interrogates, not thinking how easily the dexterous gaucho
can alter his complexion, nor recalling what he has said about his
having done so to disguise himself as a Guaycuru.

"It might," returns Gaspar; "and no doubt would, if I left it as it is;
which I don't intend doing. True, my face is not so fair as to need
much darkening, beyond what the sun has done for it. I've seen some
Tovas Indians with cheeks nigh as white as my own, and so have you,
senoritos. As for my arms, legs, and