142 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



" His lordship, the wind, is very good to take so much 

 trouble to show us his power," exclaimed the Indian, ad- 

 dressing the wind, in order to hide his emotion; "a grand 

 miracle, indeed ! to uproot a pine that was going to die of 

 old age, and to roll it down a mountain-side ! Why, I 

 could do the same if I chose, with the help of my machete. 

 Oh yes ! blow away ! and knock down another tree on us, 

 and then you'll thoroughly convince us that the devil is your 

 patron !" 



In spite of the serious nature of the occurrence, Grin- 

 galet was the only one among us who could hear this 

 speech without a smile ; and even the dog rubbed up 

 against the orator's legs, as if to show his approval of all 

 he had said. 



The hurricane now subsided ; but it was likely enough to 

 redouble its intensity at night, and reason dictated that we 

 should take advantage of the calm for moving onward. 

 L'Encuerado resumed his load, and with a watchful eye led 

 the way up the mountain. I took Lucien by the hand ; for 

 there was a danger that some tree which had been shaken 

 by the storm might suddenly fall across our path. 



The heat, which continued to inconvenience us, rendered 

 walking a very laborious effort. The lips of our young 

 companion were all cracked, and he spoke with difficulty. 

 We suffered dreadfully from thirst ; but it was necessary 

 to bear it patiently, and to be very saving with the small 

 stock of water which still remained in our gourds. Soon 

 we came upon the spot where, an hour before, the tree had 

 stood, the fall of which had so nearly crushed us. A wide- 

 ly gaping hole exposed to our view the broken roots of the 

 colossus, and the earth round them was already dry. We 

 pushed on with much difficulty, exhausted, out of breath, 

 and half famished ; for, since the night before, we had eat- 

 en nothing but some morsels of maize-cake. Moreover, our 



