r and want of
sleep, and giving the victims the appearance of having just recovered
from small-pox."

Again we walked on without talking, for the heat dried up our throats.
Suddenly some singular cries reached our ears.

"The clucking of an oscillated turkey!" cried Sumichrast.

L'Encuerado laid down his burden, and my two companions started off in
search of the birds. They joined us again in about a quarter of an hour,
each carrying a fowl with metallic-colored plumage dotted over with
spots, almost as large as a common turkey. It belongs to the
gallinaceous order, and is only found amidst the forests of the New
World, particularly in Honduras.

"Well!" cried Sumichrast, "we have plenty to eat now; but this is a bird
which is found at a long distance from streams, and warns us to
economize the contents of our gourds."

Five hundred paces farther on we saw some stones covered with moss, and
an enormous upright rock like a tower. We saluted the colossus without
stopping to examine it, and lengthened our strides, although the ups and
downs in our path gradually became more numerous. Gringalet every
instant raised his nose to sniff the air, and the hope of at last
emerging from the forest drew us forward with increased ardor, impelled,
as we were, by the desire of at last finding the longed-for stream.
Lucien actually mustered up a run, while his cheeks flushed and his eyes
glistened with anticipation.

"Here are grass and flowers! Forward! forward!" cried Sumichrast.

"Forward!" Lucien re-echoed.

The great trees, which were now farther apart, allowed the rays of the
sun to penetrate the foliage, and the creepers drooped down in flowery
festoons. The convolvuluses, the ferns, and the parasites, all entangled
together, compelled us to use our knives. A somewhat steep ascent,
anxiously scaled, led us up to a plateau. In front of us stretched a
prairie dotted over with thickets, and bordered with forests of
palm-trees, laurels, magnolias, and mahogany-trees, from which sounded
the songs of various birds, mingled with the harsh cry of parrots.

Panting, weary, and perfectly soaked with perspiration, I proposed to
bivouac on the plateau. Indeed, the sun was setting, and we had only
just time to collect the wood we required for the fire. This task
finished, I went and sat down with Lucien on the highest point we could
find. The mountains of the _Terre-Temperee_ showed against the horizon,
although we were already at