A YOUNG NATURALIST. 75 



quite out of breath. Everything seemed right, but Lucien and 

 I'Encuerado had disappeared. I looked anxiously into my com- 

 panion's face. 



"No doubt," said Sumichrast, "I'Encuerado has gone to take 

 a stroll, and left the dog asleep." 



I raised a call-cry. What was my surprise at hearing it 

 answered from up above us. My son and the Indian were sitting 

 thirty feet from the ground, hidden in the foliage of a gigantic 

 tree. My first impulse was to address I'Encuerado rather angrily. 



"Don't flurry him," said Sumichrast; "he'll need all his pre- 

 sence of mind to get the boy down safely." 



With an anxiety which may be easily understood, I watched 

 all the movements of the lad, who was every now and then con- 

 cealed by the leaves. 



"Gently," cried TEncueradoj "put your foot there. AVell 

 done ! Now lay hold of this branch and slide down. Don't be 

 afraid ; I '11 not let you go. How pleased and proud your papa 

 will be when he knows how high you have climbed ! " 



The Indian was wrong ; I was neither pleased nor proud. The 

 trunk of the tree was five or six feet in circumference ; the first 

 branches sprang at a point no less than seven to ten feet from 

 the ground, and I could not make out how the boy managed to 

 reach them. As for I'Encuerado, or rather the «pe that went by 

 that name, I knew that no obstacle could stop Mm. 



I must, however, confess that I felt all my anger melting away 

 when I saw the skill and coolness of the young acrobat. Cer- 

 tainly, Sumichrast appealed to my own reminiscences, and offered 

 to lay me a wager that I had climbed many a poplar without the 

 advantage of such superintendence as I'Encuerado's. At last, the 

 two gymnasts reached the lowest branches, and I breathed more 

 freely. 



" Papa,'' cried the child, " we climbed right to the top, and 

 there found a nest and a scjuirrel's hiding-place." 



"Have you suddenly gone madT' said I, interrupting him and 

 addressing the Indian. 



" Mad ! " repeated he, with the most sublime simplicity, — 

 "Whyf 



