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You may remain here, where you will have an easy part to play, in making yourself agreeable to the fair Rosarita, while I am braving the perils of this unknown frontier. As for Cuchillo, if he attempt to play the traitor with me a second time, I shall take care to be a little more prompt in punishing him.
For some minutes Cuchillo remained motionless; then, little by little, he raised his head and cast around him a glance which seemed undimmed by the approach of death.
But Cuchillo did not desire to have a partner in the deed who could claim a share in the promised reward, he was determined to have the twenty onzas to himself; and this it was that induced him to leave Baraja and Oroche behind him. His design was well conceived, and might have been executed to his satisfaction.
Soon, however, a spectacle, that Cuchillo was far from expecting to witness, drew from him another cry, but this time of rage. He had seen a man, possessor like himself of the secret of the valley, treading with profane foot on the treasure that he had believed wholly his.
Since his arrival at the hacienda, Don Estevan, in presence of the other guests, had scarce found an opportunity to speak with the haciendado on business that concerned both of them. Only for one moment had they been alone; and then the Spaniard had briefly related to Don Augustin the contract he had entered into with Cuchillo.
Cuchillo was more than ever determined to execute his hellish purpose since a crime less or more would be nothing to him while Tiburcio, keenly remembering the oath which he had made to his adopted mother, was resolved on keeping it, and only awaited the time when he should be sure of the assassin.
In the American solitude people fear the living more than the dead, and Cuchillo had too much to fear from men to waste many thoughts upon the ghost of Arellanos, and he had soon quite banished the thought from his mind. Although he felt nearly certain that no one had seen him leave the camp, or had followed him, he resolved to climb the rock and look out over the desert.
"As God lives," cried Oroche, "I should be happy to find some occasion of sacrificing private interests to the common good." "But is there such a man?" inquired Diaz, "and who may he be?" "It's a long story," replied Cuchillo, "and its details concern only myself but there is such a man." "Carajo!" exclaimed Oroche, "that is enough; he should be got rid of as speedily as possible."
It was, therefore, without repugnance that the attendants of Don Estevan heard this news from Cuchillo since, although their route of march would be extended in making the detour by the Hacienda del Venado, they knew they would enjoy several days of pleasant repose at this hospitable mansion.
All at once it appeared for an instant to flash more brightly, as if offering a welcome to him who had no longer a home! Don Estevan and Cuchillo, on leaving the ground of the combat, returned to the alley of granadines; but for some time not a word passed between them. Don Estevan was buried in a profound meditation.
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