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"You may taste the dark pulp which surrounds the seeds it is slightly sweet; but don't eat too much, for it is used in Europe as a medicine." L'Encuerado dropped at our feet the great bird which Sumichrast had killed. It was larger in size than a fowl, with a crest upon its head.
We were crossing another glade, when Gringalet suddenly rushed between our legs. On looking back, I saw the puma slyly following us. "Well, upon my word!" said Sumichrast; "does this fellow want to prove that a cougar will attack a man?" L'Encuerado, who had put down his load, was already aiming at the animal. "Don't shoot!" I cried, authoritatively.
I then shook the lasso, and at once succeeded in disengaging it. I saw below me Sumichrast and Lucien, seated on a narrow projection, which led by a rocky declivity down to the foot of the mountain. Soon I joined them, followed by the Indian. We had fixed the cross-bar between two stout branches, and for a long time, without loosening the stick, I shook the cord.
The coyote uttered a shrill cry, and almost immediately a sixth came and stood by her. "Don't fire till I tell you," said I to Lucien, who seemed as bold as possible. "You take the dog-wolf," cried Sumichrast to me; "but we won't provoke the contest." Seeing us evince no fear, the brutes suddenly made off. Sumichrast descended to the bottom of the ravine, and then called me.
The boy, both angry and distressed, was astonished at the cruelty of his dog, and was going to beat him. "He has only yielded to instinct," said Sumichrast. "A fine instinct, truly," replied Lucien, in tears, "to kill a poor beast that never did him any harm!" "He has saved us the trouble of killing it.
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.
The reptile was nearly two feet long, and of a grayish color, and gaped with formidable jaws, more than usually dilated by the blows, I suppose, which l'Encuerado had given it. Sumichrast, with infinite precaution, showed to his pupil the tubular fangs, by means of which serpents inoculate the terrible venom with which some of them have been endowed by nature.
Lucien soon went into the hut, and I noticed that Sumichrast carefully arranged the leaves which were to form our bed, although he himself lay down anywhere.
L'Encuerado having positively refused to touch the tapir, Sumichrast undertook to cut it up, as we much wished to taste its flesh. All our efforts to induce the Indian to do likewise were fruitless, and his ingenious mind found a retort to all our arguments. The flesh of the animal reminded us a little of that of the peccary, although it was less highly flavored.
But be off to bed, for you must be ready to start by four o'clock in the morning." I had given notice of my intended tour to my friend François Sumichrast, a Swiss savant, well known for his discoveries in natural history, in whose company I had undertaken several journeys.
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