day, the wind fell; puffs of heat, which seemed to spring
from the ground beneath, almost suffocated us. Lucien did not say a
word, but, in spite of my advice, he was constantly lifting his gourd to
his lips, a proceeding which could only excite his thirst. Gringalet,
instead of frolicking about, as was his custom, followed us closely,
drooping his ears and tail. We were, I believe, the only living beings
moving under the shade, which now seemed converted into a hot furnace.

Meeting with some rocks, we made up our minds to hurry on, thinking to
come upon a stream; a vain hope!--the rocks soon came to an end, and
were succeeded by a perfect labyrinth of trees. If there had only been a
little grass, we should have set to work to construct our hut; for the
dry heat, blown up by the south wind, rendered exertion almost
unbearable.

A second time we found ourselves among rocks; but they were so enormous,
and so close together, that it was evident we were in the vicinity of a
mountain.

"Hiou! hiou! Chanito," cried the Indian, joyously; "forward! forward! we
are very nearly at the end of our troubles."

The boy smiled and adopted the swift pace of his guide, while Sumichrast
lengthened his strides so as to get in front of me. Following my
companions, we soon came upon a dry, barren spot in front of a steep
ascent. After we had all taken breath, I gave it as my opinion that we
should overcome our fatigue and scale the side of the mountain; but no
one showed any inclination to move.

My poor Lucien lay panting on the hard stones, with his mouth dry, his
lips bleeding, and his face purple with the heat; he had thought the
day's work was over. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw us starting again,
up he got and followed us without a word of complaint. I wished to
lighten his burden; but he heroically refused, and proportioned his pace
to that of l'Encuerado. Gringalet was continually sitting down, and
hanging out his tongue to a most enormous length; it was, doubtless, his
way of testifying that he moved an amendment against the length of the
journey.

"We were quite wrong in finding fault with the shade," said Sumichrast;
"for in this unsheltered spot the heat is more insupportable than under
the trees. 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-ren