If some Spanish war-ship were to sight the oasis and send a boat ashore, either out of idle curiosity or for other reasons, a report would be made to the captain-general, or to whomsoever is now in authority at Lima, and there would come a horde of government functionaries, who would take possession of everything, and you would have to go.

But take your pen and note down the particulars that will enable you to find the diamond mine." Though Angela and I listened to the abbe's warnings with all respect, they made little impression on our minds.

We regarded them as the vagaries of an old man, whose mind was affected by the feebleness of his body, and a few weeks later he breathed his last.

His death came in the natural order of things, and, as he had outlived his strength, it was for him a happy release; yet, as we had loved him much, we sorrowed for him deeply, and I still honor his memory.

Take him all in all, Abbe Balthazar was the best man I have ever known.
Shortly after we laid him in the ground I made a visit to the diamond ground, the situation of which the abbe had so fully described that I found it without difficulty.