i 



A YOUNG NATURALIST. 4! 



" When you don't want to walk any more, Chanito, you 

 must tell me, and you shall ride on the top of my pack." 



"No," said I 5 turning round; "if you do any thing of 

 the kind, I will send both of you home." 



" My shoulders are my own," replied the Indian, earnest- 

 ly; "surely I have a right to employ them as I choose." 



Sumichrast burst out laughing at this logic, and I was 

 obliged to go on in front, or I should have done the same. 

 Nevertheless, I feared lest Lucien should learn, on the very 

 first day of his journey, to depend too much on l'Encuera- 

 do's kindness. I was, therefore, pleased to hear him refuse 

 several times the Indian's offer of putting him up on his 

 pack, an idea which the faithful fellow persisted in with 

 an obstinacy which I had long known him to possess. A 

 little time after — thinking, doubtless, that his dignity com- 

 pelled him to prove that he was easily able to increase the 

 weight of his load — he seized Gringalet, who was walking; 

 close behind lolling out his tongue, and throwing the dog 

 up on his back, and commencing an Indian trot, ran by us 

 with a triumphant look. Gringalet was at first taken by 

 surprise, and, raising a cry of distress, wanted to jump 

 down; but he soon sat quiet enough, without displaying 

 any uneasiness, to the great joy of my son, who was much 

 amused at the incident. 



The plain which we were crossing seemed absolutely in- 

 terminable. 



" It's no use our walking," said Lucien ; " we don't ap- 

 pear to make any advance." 



"Fortunately, you are mistaken," replied Sumichrast. 

 "Look in front of you, and you will see that the trees on 

 ahead, which a short time ago looked like one uninterrupt- 

 ed mass of foliage, can now be discerned separately." 



" You mean the forest which we can see from here ?" 



" What you take for a forest is nothing but a few trees 

 scattered about the plain." 



