and Lucien was the first to
spring out into the open road. The sky was starless, the morning dew
chilled our blood, and we felt that uncomfortable feeling which, in the
tropics, affects the traveller just at the period when night gives place
to day. I led Lucien by the hand, lest, in the dim light, he might fall.
He shivered with cold, but was unwilling to complain; I stepped on
quickly in order that he might get warm. Perhaps, just at this moment,
he regretted his little bed, and thought of the cup of warm chocolate
which his mother often used to bring him as soon as he awoke; but,
unmurmuring, he retained his place by my side.

Beyond the village of Ingenio, a brisk south wind blew the dust in our
faces and retarded our speed. All round the trees bent before the
squall, and the large plantain leaves flew about, torn into ribbons. We
now turned to the right, and crossed a prairie. L'Encuerado required
breath, for his load weighed at least eighty pounds, although, like
AEsop's burden, it would surely get lighter at every meal. An enormous
rock, which had tumbled down from one of the surrounding mountains
centuries past, offered us a retreat sheltered from the wind. At this
moment a line of purple edging the eastern horizon announced the dawn of
day.

"Come here," I called to Lucien.

And taking the lad between my knees, I said,

"You see that bright band of light which looks almost as if the horizon
was on fire? Well, from the middle of it the sun is just going to rise.
At this very moment, in Europe, it is almost noonday; but, as
recompense, they will have dark night when it is three o'clock in the
afternoon here, and we shall be pushing along, overwhelmed with the heat
of an almost vertical sun. The red line is now getting wider and paler;
it is more like a golden mist. But turn round and look at the mountain
tops."

The child uttered a half-surprised cry; although we were in comparative
obscurity, the ridges of the Cordilleras seemed all on fire.

"Do you understand that phenomenon?" asked Sumichrast.

"Yes; for I know the earth is round, and these mountains, which are
higher than we are, of course first catch the rays of the sun."

The day broke, and a burning glow suffused the horizon; in a few minutes
the sun rose and inundated us with light. The birds began to chant their
morning song, and the eagles, careering from every mountain top, soared
above our heads. The sunbeams twinkled through the dew-drops,