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"I fancied he was advising us to separate." "Yes, into two parties. Those of us whose horses are so done out with fatigue and thirst that they can scarcely drag one leg after the other, are to continue the route as they best can, while the others, whose steeds are fresher, are to push on in advance toward the river Guamini, which throws itself into Lake San Lucas about thirty-one miles off.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Thalcave, who was considerably in advance of the rest, descried in the distance the much-desired lake, and in less than a quarter of an hour they reached its banks; but a grievous disappointment awaited them the lake was dried up. LAKE SALINAS ends the string of lagoons connected with the Sierras Ventana and Guamini.
Unfortunately, to reach them would necessitate a march of one hundred and thirty miles south; and this was why Thalcave thought it best to go first to Guamini, as it was not only much nearer, but also on the direct line of route. The three horses went forward might and main, as if instinctively knowing whither they were bound.
Eighty miles south, on the contrary, the Sierra Ventana, toward which the travelers might possibly have to betake themselves should the Guamini disappoint their hopes, the landscape was totally different. There the fertility is splendid; the pasturage is incomparable.
Tokens of sterility were not the least on the decrease, and the want of water might involve serious calamities. Thalcave said nothing, thinking probably, that it would be time enough to despair if the Guamini should be dried up if, indeed, the heart of an Indian can ever despair.
NIGHT came, but the orb of night was invisible to the inhabitants of the earth, for she was just in her first quarter. The dim light of the stars was all that illumined the plain. The waters of the Guamini ran silently, like a sheet of oil over a surface of marble.
The NANDOU fillets were pronounced first-rate, and the armadillo was delicious. "To eat moderately," said Paganel, "would be positive ingratitude to Providence. We must eat immoderately." And so they did, but were none the worse for it. The water of the Guamini greatly aided digestion apparently.
It strikes me that an hour's shooting won't be lost time. Are you ready, Robert?" "Yes, my Lord," replied the boy, standing up, gun in hand. Why Glenarvan proposed this was, that the banks of the Guamini seemed to be the general rendezvous of all the game in the surrounding plains.
"You are too well acquainted with the 37th parallel and the river Guamini and the whole Pampas for us to let you go. Neither Mulrady, nor Wilson, nor myself would be able to rejoin Thalcave at the given rendezvous, but we will put ourselves under the banner of the brave Jacques Paganel with perfect confidence." "I resign myself," said the geographer, much flattered at having supreme command.
Thalcave has saved my life already, and you you are going to save my father." AFTER the first joy of the meeting was over, Paganel and his party, except perhaps the Major, were only conscious of one feeling they were dying of thirst. Most fortunately for them, the Guamini ran not far off, and about seven in the morning the little troop reached the inclosure on its banks.
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