"Thanks, Senor!" he stammered. "Your shot--it came just in time!"
The apparition spoke, but only a few words.
"We are your friends, not your enemies, don't forget," it said, and the
startled Luiz rubbed his eyes. The figure of the great youth was gone. It
had been there and then it was not there, and only some bushes, waving
slightly, told where it had been. He regained his musket, and, still
bewildered, rejoined his comrades to tell them a story that they did not
more than half believe.
Henry, laughing a little, returned to Paul. It had been a simple trick. He
had merely darted away among the bushes, while Luiz was still in a daze.
"I did not want to see the man killed," he said, "and maybe we have sowed
a good seed, that will grow up in time, and produce something."
"It may be," added Paul.
They went a little farther into the forest and watched the Spaniards
finish their hunt, gather up as much of their game as they could carry,
and depart. When they were well out of sight, Henry and Paul went to a
slain cow that the soldiers had neglected, cut out some of the choicest
portions, and took the way to their own camp.
"I think the Spaniards are likely to be disturbed over what has happened,"
said Henry.
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