*& YOUNG NATURALIST. 



289 



suddenly bite the hand of any one who feeds it. The flesh 

 of this animal is white, tender, and savory. 



L'Encuerado had dug up some dahlia roots, which he 

 baked under the ashes ; but either this food was not exact- 

 ly to our taste, or our still irritated palates could not ap- 

 preciate its delicacy. 



Night came on, and the sky was full of gray clouds vio- 

 lently driven by the wind, although just round us the trees 

 remained quite motionless. It was now too late to con- 

 struct a hut, and we all stretched ourselves, without other 

 covering than the canopy of heaven, on beds of dry moss. 



I woke up perished with cold ; not a star appeared in the 

 sky. Of the uneasiness produced by the euphorbia plants, 

 nothing now remained but a sense of weight in the head 

 and a slight inflammation in the throat. I tried to go to 

 sleep again, and fell at length into a kind of painful torpor. 

 I fancied I heard birds of prey crying, and a roaring noise 

 in the recesses of the forest. I got up with a view of driv- 

 ing away this nightmare ; but it was not a dream ; the day 

 was just breaking, and the birds were welcoming its advent 

 with many a clamorous note. A dull roar, like that of a 

 gale of wind rattling through a forest, resounded louder 

 and louder. I called Sumichrast and PEncuerado ; the lat- 

 ter at once shouted out in horror — 



"The torrent !" 



Seizing Lucien, I carried him in my arms, while the In- 

 dian hastily gathered together all our travelling gear that lay 

 scattered around. With powerful efforts I soon reached 

 the- top of the steep bank, followed by my companions and 

 Gringalet. Lucien, suddenly disturbed in his sleep, scarcely 

 had time to know what had happened. A furious uproar 

 perfectly deafened us, and a flood of yellowish water came 

 rushing by ; I saw one of our coverings float off on its sur- 

 face, and almost immediately, as if impelled by some super- 



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