THE TWO CAPTAINS.
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for her name is now Antonia; she is a Christian, and waits to be your
bride." Fadrique stood fixed with surprise, but Heimbert's true-
hearted words and Antonia's lovely blushes soon revealed the happy
enigma to him. He sank down before the longed-for form with a sense
of exquisite delight, and in the midst of the inhospitable desert the
flowers of love and gratitude and confidence sent their sweetness
heavenward.

The excitement of this happy surprise at last gave way to bodily
fatigue. Antonia, like some drooping blossom, stretched her fair
form on the again burning sand, and slumbered under the protection of
her lover and her chosen brother. "Sleep also," said Heimbert softly
to Fadrique; "you must have wandered about wildly and wearily, for
exhaustion is pressing down your eyelids with leaden weight. I am
quite fresh, and I will watch meanwhile." "Ah, Heimbert," sighed the
noble Castilian, "my sister is thine, thou messenger from Heaven;
that is an understood thing. But now for our affair of honor!"
"Certainly," said Heimbert, very gravely, "as soon as we are again in
Spain, you must give me satisfaction for that over-hasty expression.
Till then, however, I beg you not to mention it. An unfinished
quarrel is no good subject for conversation."

Fadrique laid himself sadly down to rest, overcome by long-resisted
sleep, and Heimbert knelt down with a glad heart, thanking the good
God for having given him success, and for blessing, him with a future
full of joyful assurance.




CHAPTER XVI.



The next day the three travellers reached the edge of the desert, and
refreshed themselves for a week in an adjacent village, which, with
its shady trees and green pastures, seemed like a little paradise in
contrast to the joyless Sahara. Fadrique's condition especially made
this rest necessary. He had never left the desert during the whole
time, gaining his subsistence by fighting with wandering Arabs, and
often almost exhausted by the utter want of all food and drink. At
length he had become so thoroughly confused that the stars could no
longer guide him, and he had been driven about, sadly and objectless,