THE ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST 431 



" That is quite true ; but it is an incident to which you 

 will soon be accustomed, for the first storm will probably 

 overthrow many of these formidable giants. The tiger is 

 frightened too, for he has made off, you see. Try and go 

 to sleep, my dear boy, for to-morrow we may perhaps have 

 to walk a long way." 



I leaned my head against that of the child, who soon 

 dropped asleep. The forest had resumed its majestic si- 

 lence, which was only disturbed by the distant fall of an- 

 other and another colossus. 



My anxiety was extreme, and though I knew our friends 

 would range every way in quest of us, we might so readily 

 wander in opposite directions, as we had no ammunition to 

 signal with should they come near. 



Towards morning, exhausted with fatigue, I fell asleep, 

 and dreamt, in my feverishness, that we were nearly at the 

 end of our journey, and close to Orizava, in sight of home. 

 A slender thread of light announcing the dawn of day 

 awoke us, and we arose. 



The clearness of day now broke upon us. For a quarter 

 of an hour I kept my ear to the earth, listening in the hopes 

 of hearing some signal. 



Again and again I cocked my gun with the intention of 

 firing, and as regularly I laid it down, when I reflected I 

 might only be throwing away my ammunition. 



At length I took observations of the bearings of the 

 ground, and followed, as far as possible, our trail of the day 

 before. 



In this operation we fortunately came upon a pool of 

 water, at which we quenched our thirst ; but though our 

 hunger was excessive, and game plentiful we dared not dis- 

 charge at it a single shot. 



We hastened forward, and came upon some creeping 

 plants, indications that we were approaching a glade. 



