ds to abandon the cave; in a short time
they left the place to camp that night at a considerable distance from
the mountain. But they were not satisfied: they had now recovered from
their fear, but not from the excitement of an evil passion; and finally,
after comparing notes, they came to the conclusion that they had missed
a great prize through Nuflo's cowardice; and when he reproved them they
blasphemed all the saints in the calendar and even threatened him with
violence. Fearing to remain longer in the company of such godless men,
he only waited until they slept, then rose up cautiously, helped himself
to most of the provisions, and made his escape, devoutly hoping that
after losing their guide they would all speedily perish.

Finding himself alone now and master of his own actions, Nuflo was in
terrible distress, for while his heart was in the utmost fear, it yet
urged him imperiously to go back to the mountain, to seek again for that
sacred being who had appeared to him and had been driven away by his
brutal companions. If he obeyed that inner voice, he would be saved;
if he resisted it, then there would be no hope for him, and along
with those who had cast the woman to the alligators he would be lost
eternally. Finally, on the following day, he went back, although not
without fear and trembling, and sat down on a stone just where he had
sat toasting his tapir meat on the previous day. But he waited in vain,
and at length that voice within him, which he had so far obeyed, began
urging him to descend into the valley-like chasm down which the woman
had escaped from his comrades, and to seek for her there. Accordingly
he rose and began cautiously and slowly climbing down over the broken
jagged rocks and through a dense mass of thorny bushes and creepers. At
the bottom of the chasm a clear, swift stream of water rushed with foam
and noise along its rocky bed; but before reaching it, and when it was
still twenty yards lower down, he was startled by hearing a low
moan among the bushes, and looking about for the cause, he found the
wonderful woman--his saviour, as he expressed it. She was not now
standing nor able to stand, but half reclining among the rough stones,
one foot, which she had sprained in that headlong flight down the ragged
slope, wedged immovably between the rocks; and in this painful position
she had remained a prisoner since noon on the previous day. She now
gazed on her visitor in silent consternation; w