caught sight of every now and then beside the track, and
from which he had turned aside his eyes in disgust. In this state of
anxious illness, in the midst of that dark silence of nature, his
imagination grew excited, and looked on the dark side of things.

Was he quite sure, after all, that he should find his mother at Cordova?
And what if she had not gone there? What if that gentleman in the Via
del los Artes had made a mistake? And what if she were dead? Thus
meditating, he fell asleep again, and dreamed that he was in Cordova,
and it was night, and that he heard cries from all the doors and all the
windows: "She is not here! She is not here! She is not here!" This
roused him with a start, in terror, and he saw at the other end of the
car three bearded men enveloped in shawls of various colors who were
staring at him and talking together in a low tone; and the suspicion
flashed across him that they were assassins, and that they wanted to
kill him for the sake of stealing his bag. Fear was added to his
consciousness of illness and to the cold; his fancy, already perturbed,
became distorted: the three men kept on staring at him; one of them
moved towards him; then his reason wandered, and rushing towards him
with arms wide open, he shrieked, "I have nothing; I am a poor boy; I
have come from Italy; I am in quest of my mother; I am alone: do not do
me any harm!"

They instantly understood the situation; they took compassion on him,
caressed and soothed him, speaking to him many words which he did not
hear nor comprehend; and perceiving that his teeth were chattering with
cold, they wrapped one of their shawls around him, and made him sit down
again, so that he might go to sleep. And he did fall asleep once more,
when the twilight was descending. When they aroused him, he was at
Cordova.

Ah, what a deep breath he drew, and with what impetuosity he flew from
the car! He inquired of one of the station employees where the house of
the engineer Mequinez was situated; the latter mentioned the name of a
church; it stood beside the church: the boy hastened away.

It was night. He entered the city, and it seemed to him that he was
entering Rosario once more; that he again beheld those straight streets,
flanked with little white houses, and intersected by other very long and
straight streets. But there were very few people, and under the light of
the rare street lanterns, he encountered strange faces of a hue unknown
to him