Thurstane tried to retrace his steps, but starless night had already fallen thick around him, and before long he had to come to a halt.

He was opposite the mouth of the ravine; he was within five hundred yards of Clara, and raging because he could not find her.

Suddenly Coronado's cooking fires flickered through the gloom; in five minutes the two parties were together.
It was a joyous meeting to Thurstane and a disgusting one to Coronado.
Nevertheless the latter rushed at the officer, grasped him by both hands, and shouted, "All hail, Lieutenant! So, there you are at last! My dear fellow, what a pleasure!" "Yes, indeed, by Jove!" returned the young fellow, unusually boisterous in his joy, and shaking hands with everybody, not rejecting even muleteers.
And then what throbbing, what adoration, what supernal delight, in the moment when he faced Clara.
In the morning the journey recommenced.

As neither Thurstane nor Coronado had now any cause for hurry, the pace was moderate.

The soldiers marched on foot, in order to leave the government mules no other load than the rations and ammunition, and so enable them to recover from their sharp push of over eighty miles.