ot leave me enough
for my own support.

"Neither Mary nor the boys, however, would consent to share with us,
although I assured them, what was positively the fact, that what I was
eating was equal in delicacy of flavour to the finest roast pig--a dish,
by the way, to which the armadillo bears a very great resemblance.

"The sun was now setting, and we began to think how we were to pass the
night. We had left all our blankets in the wagon, and the air was fast
becoming cold, which is always the case in the neighbourhood of snowy
mountains. This is easily explained. The atmosphere getting cool upon
the peak, where it envelopes the snow, of course becomes heavier, and
keeps constantly descending around the base of the mountain, and pushing
up and out that air which is warmer and lighter. In fact, there was a
sensible breeze blowing down the sides of the mountain--caused by these
natural laws--and it had already made us chilly, after the burning heat
through which we had been travelling. Should we sleep in this cold
atmosphere--even though we should keep up a fire during the whole
night--I knew that we must suffer much.

"The thought now entered my mind, that I might go back to the wagon--
which was only five miles off--and bring up our blankets. Should I go
myself, or send Cudjo, or should both of us go? All at once the idea
came into my head that one of us might ride there, and bring back a load
of other articles, as well as the blankets. Our horse, who had been
filling himself for the last hour and a half with good grass and water,
already began to show symptoms of life and vigour. Animals of this kind
soon recover from fatigue, when their food and drink are restored to
them. I saw that he would be quite able to do the journey, so I gave
Cudjo directions to catch him. There happened to be a piece of rope
around his neck, and this would serve for a bridle. I hesitated for
some time, whether both Cudjo and I should leave Mary and the children;
but my wife urged us to go, telling us she would have no fear, as long
as Harry and Frank with their rifles remained with her. The dogs, too,
would stay. Indeed, there was not much danger of their leaving her,
while she held in her arms the little Luisa, whom both these animals
seemed to watch over.

"Influenced by her advice, I consented to leave her alone with the
children; and, giving directions that they should fire off one of the
rifles, in case of any alarm, I