ding look that I caught him up in my arms.

"Let us make a halt," said my friend, who was sheltering himself under a
gigantic rock; "I confess that I am dead-beat."

It was a great relief when we were seated down and deprived of our
burdens; but, instead of setting to work, according to our usual custom,
to collect wood for our fire and to construct our hut, we remained idle,
looking at the horizon, without exchanging a single word. At our feet
extended, as far as we could see, the tree-tops of an immense forest. We
had turned our backs upon the volcano of Orizava; on our right the black
summits of the Cordillera stood out against the red sky; the _urubu_
vultures were whirling round and round high up above us--the only
living creatures we had set eyes on since the evening before.

It was now four o'clock; a kind of hot blast beat into our faces,
producing the same sensation as that experienced in front of a furnace
when the door is suddenly opened. The south wind sprung up again, and
squall succeeded squall--the forest undulating like a liquid surface.

I in vain endeavored to overcome the state of nervous prostration which
had come over me; the terrible wind which parched and burned us took
away all power of will. Our eyes were inflamed, our lips cracked, and
our heads heavy, and no one cared about eating; all we longed for was
water, and we were obliged to watch Lucien, to prevent him emptying his
gourd. He was nibbling a morsel of _totopo_, which he, like us, could
hardly swallow. Sheltered behind the rock, we contemplated with dread
the colossal trees round us, which swayed and bent, sprinkling the
ground with their scattered boughs.

The sun set, pale and rayless, as if drowned in the ill-omened yellow
clouds. The wind kept puffing and blowing at intervals. A few minutes'
lull enabled us to collect a little grass, and then, seated side by
side, we watched the approach of night, dark, desolate, and starless;
but the comparative coolness of the atmosphere gave some little relief
to our exhausted lungs. Lucien went off to sleep; Sumichrast and
l'Encuerado tried to follow his example; Gringalet seemed afraid to go
far away, and crouched down at our feet. Ere long, I was the only one of
the party who was awake.

What an awful night! About nine o'clock the squalls ran riot with
unexampled violence; if it had not been for our shelter behind the rock,
we should surely have been swept away. From the forest beneath cam