A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



wished him to learn how to bear stoically any physical suffering, 

 I had no desire to quench in him the evidences of a feeling heart 

 — that potent source of our sweetest pleasure and our bitterest 

 sorrow. 



The gates of the town were still closed. On arriving in front 

 of the guard -house, I rapped at the window to awake the old man, 

 the guardian of the keys of the town. 



" Won't he open the gate for us % Shall we be obliged to go 

 home again? Can't we start to-day, M. Sumichrast?" eagerly 

 asked Lucien. 



" Keep quiet," replied Sumichrast ; " the porter is an old man, 

 and we are disturbing him earlier than we ought, which always 

 puts him a little out of temper. However active we may be, it 

 is a good thing to know ' how to wait.' " 



At last the doorkeeper made his appearance, the chains dropped 

 one by one, the heavy gate turned on its hinges, and Lucien was 

 the first to spring out into the open road. The sky was starless, 

 the morning dew chilled our blood, and we felt that uncomfort- 

 able feeling which, in the tropics, affects the traveller just at the 

 period when night gives place to day. I led Lucien by the 

 hand, lest, in the dim light, he might fall. He shivered with 

 cold, but was unwilling to complain. I stepped on quickly in 

 order that he might get warm. Perhaps, just at this moment, 

 he regretted his little bed, and thought of the cup of warm 

 chocolate which his mother often used to bring him as soon as 

 he awoke ; but, unmurmuring, he retained his place by my side. 



Beyond the village of Ingenio, a brisk south wind blew the 

 dust in our faces and retarded our speed. All round the trees 

 bent before the squall, and the large plantain leaves flew about, 

 torn into ribbons. We now turned to the right, and crossed a 

 prairie. L'Encuerado required breath, for his load weighed 

 at least eighty pounds, although, like uEsop's burden, it would 

 surely get lighter at every meal. An enormous rock, which had 

 tumbled down from one of the surrounding mountains centuries 

 past, offered us a retreat, sheltered from the wind. At this 

 moment, a line of purple, edging the eastern horizon, announced 

 the dawn of day. 



