64 Travels and Adventures 



the journey was to engage the services of two natives 

 — real forest rangers as they afterwards proved. 

 These were called by the outlandish names of Don 

 Isidoro Hermenaldo and Don Anastasio Montpulano, 

 but, to somewhat simplify these extravagant and 

 troublesome titles, I christened them, for the time 

 being, the one Bob and the other Tom. Bob, the 

 elder of the two, appeared to be about twenty-three 

 years of age, tall and lithe. His coppery.skin and hair 

 of the deepest raven showed that since his Indian fore- 

 fathers held undisputed sway as Lords of the Forest 

 he had not lost caste. His black eyes possessed a 

 fathomless cunning, no doubt intensified by his 

 profession of the chase, a characteristic which gave 

 a foreigner some misgivings as to his safety in 

 such wily society. His companion, Tom, was still 

 a lad, seeming to be not more than fifteen years 

 of age, of much lighter colour, and, if possible, of 

 a constitution more slim and elegant. In his rolling 

 frolicsome eyes it was easy to read that mirthfulness of 

 character which is peculiar to the free sons of the 

 forest, unfettered by the bonds of education. Each 

 of my companions was eager to inform me that he 

 was well acquainted with every turn of the path, 

 having been many times that way before, and also 

 was apt in the mysteries of tracking deer and wild 

 pigs, turkey and grouse, as well as the jaguar and 



