78 THE ADVENTURES OF 



ing to his own fancy, and to give a sharp rejoinder to the 

 imaginary provocations which, as he considered, were offer- 

 ed to him. Sometimes, even, he laid the blame on inani- 

 mate things, and then his conversations with them were 

 most amusing. The old hunter had no doubt contracted 

 this habit at a time when, living alone in the woods and 

 feeling the need of talking, he conversed with himself, hav- 

 ing no one else to address. However this might be, he 

 kept up conversation with either a leaf or a bird in perfect- 

 ly artless sincerity. 



For four hours we proceeded through the forest, feeling 

 almost overcome with the heat. Pines and oaks appeared, 

 one after another, in almost monotonous regularity. Grad- 

 ually the ground began to slope, and the altered pace we 

 had to adopt both rested us and also increased the speed 

 of our march. At length we emerged into a valley. The 

 vegetation was now of an altered character, the ceibas, lig- 

 mim-vitas trees, and creepers were here and there to be 

 seen. 



" Halt !" I cried out. 



I soon got rid of my travelling gear, an example my 

 companions were not slow in following. L'Encuerado and 

 Lucien immediately- set to work to find some dry branches, 

 while Sumichrast and I began to cut down the grass over a 

 space of several square yards. 



" Have we finished our day's journey, then ?" asked Lu- 

 cien. 



" Yes," I replied ; " don't you feel tired ?" 



" Not very ; I could easily go farther. Have we walked 

 very far ?" 



" About four leagues." 



" And are we really going to rest after a trifle like that ? 

 I always thought travellers went on walking until night." 



" Nonsense !" said I, taking hold of his ear. " "What an 



