er their voices before the supernatural
charm of this austere landscape. Those hills, enveloped in mist--even
when the plains shone with the blazing rays of the sun--seemed to hide
some impenetrable mystery. It might be fancied that the invisible
guardians of the treasures, the lords of the mountains according to
Indian superstition, were hidden under this veil of eternal vapour.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.

THE FINGER OF GOD.

After a short journey, fatigue and suffering overcame the wounded man;
and as it was imperative that he should not become acquainted with the
situation of the Golden Valley, or even be made aware of its existence,
Bois-Rose and Pepe resolved, now that he was in safety, to leave him for
some hours and employ the time in reconnoitring the places described to
Fabian by his adopted mother.

"Listen, my lad!" said Bois-Rose to Gayferos, "we have given you quite
sufficient proofs of devotion, and now we must leave you for half or
perhaps a whole day. We have some business in hand which requires three
determined men; if this evening or to-morrow morning we are still alive,
you shall see us return; if not, you know it will not be our fault.
Here is water and dried meat, and twenty-four hours will soon pass."

It was not without regret that Gayferos consented to this separation;
however, reassured by a new promise from the generous hunters, to whom
he owed so much, he resigned himself to being left behind.

"I have one last word to say to you," said Bois-Rose. "If chance bring
here any of the companions from whom you so unluckily separated, I exact
from you, as the sole return for the service which we have rendered to
you, that you will reveal to none of them our presence here. As for
your own, you can account for it in any way you like."

Gayferos made the required promise, and they then took leave of him.

On the point of accomplishing one of his most ardent desires, that of
enriching the child of his affection and adding immense treasures to his
future fortune, Bois-Rose seemed to forget that it would raise an
additional barrier between Fabian and himself.

Pepe, anxious to repair as far as possible the involuntary injury that
he had caused to the Mediana family, walked along with an elastic step.
Fabian alone did not seem happy, and after a quarter of an hour he
stopped, saying that he needed rest. All three sat down on a little
hillock, and Pepe, pointing to the mountains, cried, in a ton