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Spur and whip had both to be employed to induce the poor animals to resume the route, and then they only crept along, for their strength was gone. Thaouka, indeed, could have galloped swiftly enough, and reached the RIO in a few hours, but Thalcave would not leave his companions behind, alone in the midst of a desert. It was hard work, however, to get the animal to consent to walk quietly.
And turning toward the Indian, he said, pointing to the frightened horses, "Let us go together." "No," replied Thalcave, catching his meaning. "Bad beasts; frightened; Thaouka, good horse." "Be it so then!" returned Glenarvan. "Thalcave will not leave you, Robert. He teaches me what I must do. It is for me to go, and for him to stay by you."
He seemed quite insensible now to the danger they had escaped through the departure of the wolves, and would have hastened immediately after Robert if the Indian had not kept him back by making him understand the impossibility of their horses overtaking Thaouka; and also that boy and horse had outdistanced the wolves long since, and that it would be useless going to look for them till daylight.
The foam from his mouth was tinged with blood from the action of the bit, pulled tightly by his master's strong hand, and yet the fiery animal would not be still. Had he been free, his master knew he would have fled away to the north as fast as his legs would have carried him. "What is the matter with Thaouka?" asked Paganel. "Is he bitten by the leeches?
Thaouka especially displayed a courage that neither fatigue nor hunger could damp. He bounded like a bird over the dried-up CANADAS and the bushes of CURRA-MAMMEL, his loud, joyous neighing seeming to bode success to the search. The horses of Glenarvan and Robert, though not so light-footed, felt the spur of his example, and followed him bravely.
However, it was not more than forty miles now that they had to go, and Thaouka would not refuse to give a lift occasionally to a tired pedestrian, or even to a couple at a pinch. In thirty-six hours they might reach the shores of the Atlantic. The low-lying tract of marshy ground, still under water, soon lay behind them, as Thalcave led them upward to the higher plains.
Still farther away, a black spot almost invisible, already caught Wilson's eye. It was Thalcave and his faithful Thaouka. "Thalcave, Thalcave!" shouted Robert, stretching out his hands toward the courageous Patagonian. "He will save himself, Mr. Robert," replied Wilson; "we must go down to his Lordship."
Instead of deserting them, the truth was that the Indian was going to try and save his friends by sacrificing himself. Thaouka was ready, and stood champing his bit. He reared up, and his splendid eyes flashed fire; he understood his master. But just as the Patagonian caught hold of the horse's mane, Glenarvan seized his arm with a convulsive grip, and said, pointing to the open prairie.
When it had rolled on, the men reappeared on the surface, and counted each other rapidly; but all the horses, except Thaouka, who still bore his master, had gone down forever. "Courage, courage," repeated Glenarvan, supporting Paganel with one arm, and swimming with the other. "I can manage, I can manage," said the worthy savant. "I am even not sorry "
The worn-out horses had stretched themselves full length on the ground, except Thaouka, who slept standing, true to his high blood, proud in repose as in action, and ready to start at his master's call. Absolute silence reigned within the inclosure, over which the dying embers of the fire shed a fitful light.
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