190 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



riot more than fifty paces from it, when a tiger-cat, with a 

 black coat, bounded forward, and, seizing it, disappeared be- 

 fore I had time to recover from my surprise. The maraud- 

 er was abused as a thief and a rogue by PEncuerado, who 

 had been a witness of this misfortune. Lucien examined 

 the pheasant, which was almost as big as a turkey ; but its 

 sombre plumage did not at all answer to the magnificent 

 idea which the boy had formed of this bird. He thought 

 that the head was much too small for the body, and its 

 naked and warty cheeks led him to observe that the pheas- 

 ant had the appearance of having put on two plasters of 

 tortoise-skin, a remark which was certainly well founded. 

 With regard to the beautiful and many-colored pheasant- 

 species peculiar to Asia and Africa, Mexico possesses none 

 of them, so far, at least, as I know. 



About two o'clock in the afternoon, Eucien remarked 

 that the trees grew farther apart, which was a sign that 

 we were approaching an open glade or the foot of a mount- 

 ain. Sumichrast made the boy walk in front as leader — a 

 reward for the sharpness of his eyes. Proud of this duty, 

 our little guide led us to an opening edged with a rampart 

 of wood at a short distance off. 



"Halt!" cried I. 



The butts of the guns were dropped upon the ground at 

 this order ; our hut was soon constructed, and PEncuerado 

 immediately afterwards busied himself preparing our meal. 



Sumichrast, who, from the state of his hand, was con- * 

 demned to idleness, remained with the Indian, while I pro- 

 ceeded, in company with Gringalet and Lucien, to recon- 

 noitre the vicinity of our bivouac. Almost immediately, a 

 yoloxochitl, a species of magnolia, met our eyes. I called 

 PEncuerado, who climbed the tree in order to throw us 

 down some of its beautiful sweet-smelling flowers ; they 

 are externally of a pinkish- white color, yellow on the inside, 



