9° THE ADVENTURES OF 



shaken by the wind, showered down upon us a perfect hail of 

 twigs and dead leaves. We were almost deafened by the noise 

 of the clashing boughs ; sad and silent we proceeded on our way, 

 perceiving no signs of any living creature, and in much trouble 

 how we should obtain our dinners. 



Towards mid-day, the wind fell ; puffs of heat, which seemed 

 to spring from the ground beneath, almost suffocated us. Lucieji 

 did not say a word, but, in spite of my advice, he was constantly 

 lifting his gourd to his lips, a proceeding which could only excite 

 his thirst. Gringalet, instead of frolicking about, as was his 

 custom, followed us closely, drooping his ears and tail. We 

 were, I believe, the only living beings moving under the shade, 

 which now seemed converted into a hot furnace. 



Meeting with some rocks, we made up our minds to hurry on, 

 thinking to come upon a stream ; a vain hope ! — the rocks soon 

 came to an end, and were succeeded by a perfect labyrinth of 

 trees. If there had only been a little grass, we should have set 

 to work to construct our hut ; for the dry heat, blown up by the 

 south wind, rendered exertion almost unbearable. 



A second time we found ourselves among rocks ; but they were 

 so enormous, and so close together, that it was evident we were 

 in the vicinity of a mountain. 



"Hiou! hiou ! Chanito," cried the Indian, joyously; "forward! 

 forward ! we are very nearly at the end of our troubles." 



The boy smiled and adopted the swift pace of his guide, while 

 Sumichrast lengthened his strides so as to get in front of me. 

 Following my companions, we soon came upon a dry barren spot, 

 in front of a steep ascent. After we had all taken breath, I gave 

 it as my opinion that we should overcome our fatigue and scale 

 the side of the mountain ; but no one showed any inclination to 

 move. 



My poor Lucien lay panting on the hard stones, with his 

 mouth dry, his lips bleeding, and his face purple with the heat ; 

 he had thought the day's work was over. Nevertheless, as soon 

 as he saw us starting again, up he got and followed us without 

 a word of complaint. I wished to lighten his burden ; but he 

 heroically refused, and proportioned his pace to that of I'Encue- 



