ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST. 169 



The sun was beginning to sink, and hunger dictated to us that 

 we should hasten our steps. I tlierefore led my companions 

 towards the bivouac. We had but just started again, when five 

 or six hares came giddily running almost between our legs. 

 Lucien was skilful enough to shoot one, and Sumichrast knocked 

 down another. L'Encuerado loaded with the game, we proceeded 

 to our hut. 



Being now reassured as to our bill-of-fare for dinner by this 

 unexpected windfall, I kept on walking towards the entrance of 

 a glade, the soil of which, being quite burrowed, betrayed the 

 presence of the moles. Each of us lay down under the shade of 

 a tree. Chance led me under a robinia or iron-wood tree, the 

 trunk of which will defy the best-tempered axe. In front of me 

 stood a tepehuage, a kind of mahogany tree, with dark-coloured 

 foliage, whicTi will become, some day, the object of considerable 

 trade between Europe and Mexico ; the beauty of this red wood, 

 veined with black, renders it highly fitted for the manufacture of 

 furniture. 



G-ringalet had followed the Indian. I advised Lucien to keep 

 silence, so as to observe the operations of the moles, who would 

 be certain to come out of their burrows as soon as the sun set. 

 In fact, first one, then two, and at last twenty made their appear- 

 ance, and in less than a quarter of an hour, I counted more than 

 a hundred engaged in throwing up the ground, playing about, 

 and fighting, all the time uttering shrill cries. Lucien was much 

 amused, as he watched them squatting down on their hinder parts, 

 making grimaces, and gnawing the roots and bark. 



A single gunshot would have enabled us to double our store of 

 grease, but it would have been a waste of our powder and shot. 

 In fear of yielding to the temptation, I was thinking of giving 

 the signal for departure, when it became evident that the animals 

 whose games were enlivening us were actuated by a sudden 

 panic. All the moles, which were solemnly seated, nodded 

 to and fro their enormous heads, showing their long yellow 

 incisors, and seemed to sniff the air. Suddenly, they all rushed 

 towards their burrows. A jaquarete had scattered them by 

 springing in among them. The new-comer, a species of wild cat. 



