152 THE ADVENTURES OF 



hurried to relieve the poor animal, which was rolling on the 

 ground; at last he succeeded in getting hold of him, hut 

 he had much difSculty in freeing him from his vindictive 

 assailants. One beetle, indeed, seized hold of the hand of the 

 mischievous wag, whose grimaces much amused us ; as fast 

 as he disengaged one of the insect's claws, the creature — which 

 possessed six — soon found a chance to cling on with others. 

 Annoyed at having to strive with such a paltry enemy, I'Encue- 

 rado at last tore the beetle roughly away, but the blood flowed 

 from his bronze-coloured skin. Always too ready for revenge, 

 he threatened to exterminate the whole colony of beetles ; but, 

 smiling at his ill-humour, I forbade his perpetrating such a use- 

 less massacre. 



"They are nice gentlemen!" he cried; "because they have 

 just heard themselves called Hercules, they think they are strong 

 enough to bite the hands of every person they meet ! Stupid 

 fools, with noses longer than their bodies, who fly away when 

 Gringalet barks at them ! Bite them ! Bite them ! " cried he, 

 setting the dog at them. 



But the latter, with his ears drooped and his tail between his 

 legs, refused to obey, and, from this day forward, I remarked 

 that the least buzzing from any insect was sufficient to render 

 him uneasy. 



Sumichrast, who had caught one of these large beetles, placed 

 a stone upon it which any one would have thought sufficient to 

 have crushed it; but, to Lucien's great admiration, the six- 

 legged Hercules walked ofi' with its burden, almost without an 

 effort. Ere long the beetles one by one resumed their flight, and 

 came buzzing around us, so it became really necessary to beat a 

 retreat, lest we should have our eyes put out by their immense 

 horns; Gringalet followed our example. Lucien sat down so 

 as to laugh at his ease, for I'Encuerado, instead of running 

 away, drew his bill-hook, assuming a threatening attitude to his 

 enemies, and, like one of Homer's heroes, defied them to come 

 near him. At last, the whole band of beetles united and sus- 

 pended themselves to the branch of a ceiba, a tree for which the 

 Hercules beetle shows a marked preference. 



