294 THE ADVENTURES OF 



" It is the genius of the cave !*' he cried. " Ah ! the 

 scoundrel, after all he owes me, and the precautions I took !" 



" What precautions ?" asked Lucien, surprised. 



" I picked up seven white pebbles, and drew out a beau- 

 tiful cross." 



" What did the cross matter to him ?" 



" Matter to him ! why, Chanito, he knows well that we 

 are Christians, and yet he bewitches us. Wait a bit, I'll 

 match him." 



And rearing himself up against the trunk of a tree, stand- 

 ing on his head, with his legs in the air, 1'Encuerado kicked 

 about with all the frenzy of one possessed. He fell some- 

 times to the right, and sometimes to the left, but raised 

 himself after every fall, and resumed his clown-like attitude. 

 Not one of us could keep a serious countenance while look- 

 ing at his contortions. Lucien laughed till he cried, espe- 

 cially because the Indian, as if on purpose to render the 

 scene more comical, accompanied his gestures with invec- 

 tives against the genius of the cave and invocations to St. 

 Joseph. 



At last I told him to resume his natural position, and to 

 keep quiet. 



" Do you really think that I have done it enough ?" he 

 asked, addressing me with imperturbable gravity. 



" Yes," I replied ; " from the way in which you have 

 shaken him, I should say he must have come out either 

 through your mouth or ears." 



" Then it's your turn now, Chanito !" 



Lucien, delighted at having to execute this feat of skill, 

 tried several times to keep his balance while standing on his 

 head ; but overcome by laughter, he was not able, so he fell, 

 to rear himself up again. The more FEncuerado cried out 

 to him, urging him to persevere, the louder the boy laughed. 

 The brave Indian, who was under the full belief that an 



