:::;::::se THE MAGIC POOLS B:-:"": 



THE NOISY AND THE SHADOWY ONES 



The most noisy of all the creatures which visited us 

 by night were the armadillos. Skunk-like, they deemed 

 themselves well protected, albeit in another fashion, 

 and they scuttled through the bushes and vines with 

 no precautions for silence. A wild steer could make 

 his way through thick cover with less commotion than 

 could one of these armoured pigs — porcine in the taste 

 of their flesh and in their actions and their snout, if 

 not in nomenclature. 



Again and again, while coming to camj) at night or 

 in the dusk of early morning, a soiiiethuig would pass 

 and vanish from our path. At first it seemed like a 

 momentary flicker of an eye muscle or a trick of the 

 moonlio'ht. But before longf we realized that there 

 were wild creatures, — of large size, too, — which 

 moved like shadows, too swiftly, too silently, too 

 much the pale hue of the moonlight, for our senses 

 to follow and distinguish. " EUos son Jos animos de 

 los nmertos," and the Mexican shivered at the thought. 

 But we were incredulous. We determined to see more 

 of these " spirits of the arroyo's dead," if such things 

 were. 



So night after night we watched, and night after 

 night revealed nothing. Yet, if we dozed but a moment, 

 or if a clumsy armadillo drew away our attention, the 

 bait we had placed was gone — vanished. And next 

 day Ricardo shrugged his shoulders and his " Quien 



<4 223 ^ 



