, between black and greenish; and raising his head from time to
time, he beheld churches of bizarre architecture which were outlined
black and vast against the sky. The city was dark and silent, but after
having traversed that immense desert, it appeared lively to him. He
inquired his way of a priest, speedily found the church and the house,
pulled the bell with one trembling hand, and pressed the other on his
breast to repress the beating of his heart, which was leaping into his
throat.

An old woman, with a light in her hand, opened the door.

The boy could not speak at once.

"Whom do you want?" demanded the dame in Spanish.

"The engineer Mequinez," replied Marco.

The old woman made a motion to cross her arms on her breast, and
replied, with a shake of the head: "So you, too, have dealings with the
engineer Mequinez! It strikes me that it is time to stop this. We have
been worried for the last three months. It is not enough that the
newspapers have said it. We shall have to have it printed on the corner
of the street, that Signor Mequinez has gone to live at Tucuman!"

The boy gave way to a gesture of despair. Then he gave way to an
outburst of passion.

"So there is a curse upon me! I am doomed to die on the road, without
having found my mother! I shall go mad! I shall kill myself! My God!
what is the name of that country? Where is it? At what distance is it
situated?"

"Eh, poor boy," replied the old woman, moved to pity; "a mere trifle! We
are four or five hundred miles from there, at least."

The boy covered his face with his hands; then he asked with a sob, "And
now what am I to do!"

"What am I to say to you, my poor child?" responded the dame: "I don't
know."

But suddenly an idea struck her, and she added hastily: "Listen, now
that I think of it. There is one thing that you can do. Go down this
street, to the right, and at the third house you will find a courtyard;
there there is a _capataz_, a trader, who is setting out to-morrow for
Tucuman, with his wagons and his oxen. Go and see if he will take you,
and offer him your services; perhaps he will give you a place on his
wagons: go at once."

The lad grasped his bag, thanked her as he ran, and two minutes later
found himself in a vast courtyard, lighted by lanterns, where a number
of men were engaged in loading sacks of grain on certain enormous carts
which resembled the movable houses of mountebanks, with rounded tops,
and very tall wheels