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Updated: June 8, 2025
"Courage!" replied Sumichrast, who had seated himself by us. "The birds which are flying round us can not live without drinking, and their large number shows that there is plenty of water near." "Hiou! hiou! Chanito." "Ohé! ohé!" replied Lucien, darting to the place whence he heard the familiar cry. The two friends went down the hill together, l'Encuerado carrying his enormous gourd.
"You must not complain yet, Chanito; you'll see what it will be when we reach the stream." "How will it be then?" "We shall not be able to open our mouths without swallowing some of these blood-suckers. But, Chanito, do you know what these mosquitoes are?" "Yes, papa told me yesterday that they were diptera, and relations of the gadflys.
They are beasts which can live without eating; they are sometimes kept for two months with their feet tied and their mouth sewn up." "The mouth sewn up?" "Yes, Chanito, so as to prevent them getting lean. When I was your age, during the time of Lent, I used to go iguana hunting with my brothers. We sought them in the shallow marshes which are inundated by water during flood-time.
"Papa," cried the child, "we climbed right to the top, and there found a nest and a squirrel's hiding-place." "Have you suddenly gone mad?" said I, interrupting him and addressing the Indian. "Mad!" repeated he, with the most sublime simplicity. "Why?" "Couldn't you have chosen a tree that was not so tall?" "Don't you wish Chanito to learn to climb? At all events, the señora intrusted him to me."
"Well, if it comes near us again, I give you leave to shoot it." "You do? it's a bargain!" cried L'Encuerado. "Stop a minute, Tata Sumichrast; cock your gun, Chanito; you shall have the first shot." We stood together in a group, and I looked in vain for the cougar. "The rascal has got in front of us," added the Indian. "We'll astonish him in a moment.
We heard a noise like a scuffle, and then the jaguar again came in sight; it ran round and round, roaring with rage. A final bound brought it to within twenty paces of our camp fire, when it fell never to rise again. "Hiou! hiou! Chanito." This sound took a weight off my mind, for I could not but feel alarmed for the safety of l'Encuerado. "Ohé! ohé!" was responded.
The sun seems to dart into us as if its rays were needles' points." "Don't drink, Chanito! don't drink!" cried l'Encuerado to Lucien. The poor little fellow replaced the gourd at his side, and bent on me such a heart-rending look that I caught him up in my arms. "Let us make a halt," said my friend, who was sheltering himself under a gigantic rock; "I confess that I am dead-beat."
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!"
"Do you think any one will hurt us?" "The mere sight of our weapons might inspire the Indians with a desire of obtaining them; in a spot where every one can do as he likes, there is nothing to prevent them stripping us and sending us away naked." "They are not Christians, then?" "Ah, Chanito, they ought to be," muttered the Indian.
"Do your legs feel like mine?" he asked of l'Encuerado. "No, Chanito; we did not walk far enough yesterday for that." "You can't mean that we haven't walked far? Papa says that we are now seven leagues from Orizava." "Yes; that may seem a great deal to you, and perhaps too much; that is why I wanted to put you up on the top of my pack. Now, come, let me see where you suffer."
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