ed the pilot's abode. We required his services no farther, and therefore bade him adieu. Before parting, he tried to induce Calros to stay with him.
"I was looking out for a brave and resolute fellow to make a man of him like myself. I have found one in you. The sea-shore is preferable to the woods. It is to enrich the dweller on the coast that the norther blows three months every year. Remain with me; you will be rich in that time."
But a complete dejection now possessed the mind of the Jarocho; he shook his head moodily in token of refusal.
"Well, I am sorry for it," said the pilot." I shall always miss a comrade who can handle an oar as well as a machete. We two could have done a good stroke of business together. Good-by, then; every one must follow his destiny."
We parted, and I accompanied Calros to the hut where he had left his horse. Some wood-cutters, during my absence, had found my hack a short way off in the woods.
"I must bid you farewell here," said Calros. "You will soon see your native land, and I—"
He left the sentence unfinished; I finished it in thought, and pressed him to return to Manantial. I attempted also, but in vain, to prove to Calros that his despair was at least premature.
"The words of the pilot," he replied, "agree but too well with a voice that has been incessantly calling to me, 'Sacramenta never loved you.'"
"But," I answered, "if you intend to bid an eternal farewell to your mother and the village in which Sacramenta lives, why did you refuse the offer of the pilot? Your life would then have some definite aim."
