THIRST.--L'ENCUERADO'S RETURN.--THE DESCRIPTION OF
HIS JOURNEY.--JANET, VERDET, AND
ROUGETTE.--HUNTING WILD HORSES.--OUR LAST
ADVENTURE.--THE RETURN.
The undertaking was beyond our strength. Panting and suffocated with
heat, and tormented by thirst, we were compelled to desist.
Lucien's feet pained him dreadfully, but the brave little fellow kept
constantly saying, "I should be all right if I could only have a good
drink."
My friend several times gave him his gourd to wet his tongue from, but
it was only temporary relief. Night came on, and we began to prepare for
our almost hopeless march. A mouthful of brandy gave us a little
artificial strength. So even before sunset, I mounted Lucien on my
shoulder, and we recommenced our journey.
Twenty times I was forced to take breath, and twenty times I struggled
on again; but happily the grass became shorter, which was a good omen,
and hope revived.
Sumichrast now lifted up Lucien, and walked on with a determined step. I
took up Master Job, and followed closely in his rear. We heard a dull
noise, and stopped to listen. It was the report of a gun, and by-and-by
we heard a horse galloping, and then a well-known bark.
"That's Gringalet," said Lucien.
"Hiou! hiou! hiou! Chanito!"
Our emotion scarcely allowed us to answer; the Indian sprang from his
horse, and, running towards the child, pressed him to his heart, and
then, stretching out his arms, fell senseless to the ground. I rushed
towards him and opened his gourd--it was full! With the help of
Sumichrast I poured a few drops of brandy between his teeth. He
gradually regained his senses, and looked at us in surprise. He was
exhausted from hunger and fatigue.
"If I had eaten or drunk," he said, simply, "I should have wanted to go
to sleep, and then what would have become of you? But my hunger and
thirst spurred me on, so that I have not lost a moment."
"My good fellow!" I answered, "you ought to have taken something to
restore your strength; for if it had failed, what would have become of
us?"
L'Encuerado did not hear me; he had just fallen into a deep sleep, and
we soon followed his example. When we awoke, l'Encuerado mounted the
steed he had brought, and, taking Lucien up in front, led us back to the
baggage.
"Why did you start without letting us know?" asked Sumichrast.
[Illustration: "We had to cross some muddy marshes."]
"Because you would have prevented me from following out my plan. I
was convinced there were woods and flocks not far ahead of us, and as I
feared not the sun for myself, I started as soon as you were all fast
asleep, having fortified myself for the journey with a drop of the
cognac. I often longed, as I proceeded, to lie down and rest, but then I
thought of Chanito, and ran on faster than ever. Without knowing why, I
stumbled, and I think I must have fallen asleep. When I opened my eyes
the sun was set, and Gringalet was licking me with his tongue. I got up,
stupefied as I was, and ran forward, without halting, to the verge of a
wood. I dashed in among the trees, and in less than a quarter of an hour
I came upon a great lake, and horses and buffaloes running wild. My
strength, however, began to fail, and it took me more than four hours to
catch this mustang," continued the Indian, looking down on his steed,
"but I soon made him know his master was on his back."
Having returned to our bivouac to recover our treasures, we resolved to
start immediately, as the sky was obscured by clouds.
Next day l'Encuerado set to work to provide us all with horses. Having
prepared a lasso, the agile Indian darted off at full gallop towards a
drove which were grazing some distance off; and by night had captured
five of their number. Two days, however, were spent in breaking our
mounts and rendering them docile; but as our stores were visibly
diminishing, and we were considerably freshened up, it became highly
necessary for us to start.
Next morning our little cavalcade crossed the plains and woods almost at
a gallop. The blue mountains in front looked higher and higher, and the
outlines of the volcano grew more defined.
The second day of our march we had to cross some muddy marshes, in which
our horses mired up to their bellies. On reaching firm ground again, we
hoped to perceive a human dwelling, but the trees restricted our view.
At last, in the afternoon of the third day, just as we were endeavoring
to go round two wild bulls engaged in a combat, a horseman came out in
front of us, halted for a moment as if in indecision, and then turned
short round and rode off, after having fired his gun at us.
We hurried on our horses, making sure of soon coming upon a _hacienda_,
when we heard another gunshot, and a bullet whistled by our ears. The
Indian rode swiftly towards the would-be murderer, but he went off at
full gallop. In spite of my cries, the Indian fired at him, and horse
and man rolled upon the ground.
[Illustration]
The fool had mistaken us for horse-stealers; and the Indian, after
soundly thrashing him, at my entreaty let him off.
When night came, we were at the foot of the mountains; so all we had to
do was to join the main road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. Our horses were
now set at liberty, after having been overwhelmed with compliments and
polite speeches by l'Encuerado. The brave animals at first appeared
undecided which way to go, and remained without moving, keeping their
noses to the wind. At last one of them neighed and darted off, when the
rest followed at the top of their speed.
We were now scarcely twelve leagues from Orizava, and almost painfully
impatient to reach it. Woods, mountains, valleys were crossed with a
kind of feverish haste, and the approach of night alone forced us to
bivouac.
At about three o'clock in the morning, Lucien began to reproach us for
our laziness.
Wood-cutters now passed, who saluted me by name, and one guided us for
more than a league, astonished at l'Encuerado's tales. He left us at the
foot of a mountain, the last we had to cross, the steep acclivity of
which somewhat damped our ardor.
Lucien was the first to arrive on the plateau. A few steps farther, and
the town of Orizava lay stretched in peaceful repose at our feet.
As the young traveller contemplated the town in which was his home,
involuntary tears moistened his cheeks; he stretched out his arms
towards it and sobbed.
All of us, however, shared his emotion to some extent. Now that we were
safe, we rejoiced that I had undertaken this expedition. I thanked God
for His manifest protection, and, for the last time, gave the word to
start.
As we descended the mountain, the town became more distinctly visible.
L'Encuerado could name the churches and streets; at last Lucien
discovered his home, which was easily recognizable by the magnificent
orange-tree. In order to satisfy the boy's impatience, we made our way
through a steep ravine. Our little party reached the valley just as the
bells were ringing for vesper prayers.
The sun was setting, and we were wrapped in obscurity; Indians kept
crossing our path at every step, and the lamps were here and there
shining out through the dark. The Rio Bianco barred our passage; but
large stones, placed at intervals in the river, enabled us to cross it
almost dry-shod. Then Gringalet suddenly barked, and darted off like an
arrow.
Twenty minutes after, we entered Orizava by some of the side streets, to
prevent a crowd following at our heels. When we were about fifty paces
from our house, Lucien and l'Encuerado darted off at a racing pace; they
found all the inmates of our home assembled on the threshold. Gringalet
had announced our arrival.
When I entered the court-yard, Lucien and his mother were sobbing in one
another's arms; Emile, Hortense, and Amelie were grouped round the
basket, on which Janet and Verdet were sitting. I noticed, standing in a
corner, the cases which had been intrusted to Torribio.
L'Encuerado came and leaned against the door of the room, twisting the
broad brim of his hat quite out of shape.
"If it had not been for him," I said to my wife, "we should have died!"
The brave Indian stooped and kissed the hands of his mistress.
My children, who had gone out for a few minutes, now burst into the
room; they had ransacked the basket, and were disputing for poor
Rougette, who was placed in the fountain in the garden. Janet and
Verdet, perched on the back of a chair, stammered the names of Hortense
and Emile, as well as could be hoped. The two children became pale with
pleasure and surprise.
Just at this moment, Master Job, introduced by Gringalet, came and sat
down on the carpet, and allowed the children to caress him.
It was delightful to sit down to table surrounded by all the beings
dearest to my heart. L'Encuerado kept praising Lucien, who continued
exciting his mother's emotion by relating to her the principal incidents
of our journey.
"I am sure, mamma, that you will let me go with papa another time," said
Lucien. "Our collection is not finished yet, and it must be completed
sooner or later."
The young naturalist might be recognized in this question, for the
collector is ever insatiable.
His poor mother shook her head, and embraced her boy without replying.
But her silence seemed to show that she would not willingly expose her
son to the perils of a fresh journey.
[Illustration: Finis]
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
In this text macrons are represented by brackets and the equal sign before
the letter [=a]. The oe-ligature is represented by brackets [oe].
Page 6, "off" changed to "of" (proud of their)
Page 52, "Ohe! ohe!" changed to "Ohe! ohe!" ("Ohe! ohe!" replied
Lucien.)
Page 89, word "wood" added to text (sufficient wood to)
Page 140, "Clingling" changed to "Clinging" (Clinging tightly to)
Page 206, "Ohanito" changed to "Chanito" (Ah! Chanito," cried)
Page 282, "ANHINGA" changed to "ANHINGA" (THE ANHINGA.)
Page 285, "companion" changed to "companions" (and companions such)
Page 305, "Chema" changed to "Chema" (Oh Chema!)
Page 306, "belief" changed to "relief" (in bold relief)
Page 311, "an" changed to "a" (nice a one)
Page 319, "savants" italicized to match rest of text (cereus_ of
_savants_)
Page 334, "Terribio" changed to "Torribio" (Torribio also seemed)
Page 371, "when" changed to "then" (burden, then he)
Page 431, ink blots obscured word. "a[ink]came" changed to "and came"
(and came upon)
Both "daybreak" and "day-break" were used in this text. It also uses
"coyote" and "cayote".
End of Project Gutenberg's Adventures of a Young Naturalist, by Lucien Biart