Adventures of a Young Naturalist
"Papa, papa!" he cried, all out of breath, "my gun killed one of the
squirrels. Oh! M. Sumichrast, you shall see it; it is gray, with a tail
like a plume."
"But was it really you that shot?" I asked.
"Oh yes! I shot, but l'Encuerado held my gun; we aimed into the middle
of them, for there were a great many. If you could only have seen how
they jumped! The one I hit climbed up on the tree close by; but it soon
fell as dead as a stone. L'Encuerado says that it hadn't time to suffer
much pain."
The poor child was making his _debut_ as a sportsman, and his heart
seemed rather full, although he was very proud of this first proof of
his skill. Sumichrast was the first to congratulate him. As for me,
although I was well aware of the Indian's prudence, I made up my mind,
if only for the sake of economizing our powder, both to blame him and
also to caution him against his desire of letting the boy shoot.
"Come," said I to Lucien, who was hugging his gun against his chest,
"you must be our leader in finding our way back to our encampment. You
marked out the road, so mind you don't mislead us."
Our young guide led us back to our starting-point with far more
self-possession than I expected.
"A child's attention is always being drawn away," observed Sumichrast to
me. "How do you explain Lucien's having followed the trail so readily?"
"Perhaps because it was partly his own work," I replied.
"It is, too, because I am so short," replied the child, with an arch
smile; "I am much closer to the ground than you are, almost as close as
Gringalet, who is so very clever in finding a trail. You see, papa, that
it's some benefit in being little, and that I have some chance of being
useful."
I need hardly say how much we were diverted at this novel argument
against a lofty stature.
"At this rate," I replied, "I ought to have brought your brother Emile;
for he is so short that he would have followed a trail even better than
you."
"Of course you ought. Don't you recollect that when we were walking over
the mountain of Borrego, he often spied out insects that you had missed
seeing?"
I was evidently regularly beaten.
We sat down in front of the fire, before which the two squirrels were
roasting. L'Encuerado caught in a dish the fat which trickled down from
the animals, and every now and then basted the meat with it.
The flesh of the squirrel, both in flavor and color, much resembles that
of the hare; so our little mess-mate ate it with evident enjoyment.
Dried maize-cakes, called _totopo_, took the place of bread, and each
one had his allowance of it.
We couldn't help feeling uneasy about Gringalet: we had given him about
half a squirrel, but instead of eating it, he thought fit to roll
himself upon it frantically. The poor beast had consequently only some
scraps of _totopo_. It was, however, highly necessary to accustom him to
feed on game, as our maize-cakes were far too valuable to be doled out
thus. Each of us poured a little water from his gourd into a calabash,
which served for a drinking-vessel. The poor dog, thus allowanced, must
have been sorry that he ever joined us.
The sun was perceptibly sinking.
"Well, Lucien," asked Sumichrast, "what do you think now of rat's
flesh?"
"I'll tell you when I have eaten some of it."
"What! don't you know that the squirrel and the rat are very near
relations, and that they both belong to the Rodent family?"
"They certainly are a little alike," said the child, making a comical
face.
"Especially the species which we had for our dinner; which, by-the-by,
is not yet classed by naturalists. Look! its coat is black on the back,
gray on the flanks, and white under the belly. The ears, too, are bare,
instead of having those long points of hair which give such a knowing
look to the European squirrels."
"Do squirrels feed on flesh?"
"No; acorns, buds, nuts, grain, and sometimes grasses, constitute their
principal food."
"Then," replied Lucien, triumphantly, "the flesh of the squirrel can
not resemble that of the rat, for I know that the rat will eat flesh."
The assured and self-satisfied tone of the little _savant_ made us
smile; but I almost immediately desired him to be silent, for a noise of
branches rustling, which had excited our attention, became every moment
more distinct. Gringalet was about to bark, but l'Encuerado caught him
by the muzzle, and covered him with his _sarape_. A whole troop of
squirrels, no doubt those we had hunted two hours before, made their
appearance, uttering sharp cries. They sprang from branch to branch with
the most extraordinary disregard to distance. We noticed them running
after one another, sometimes along the top, and sometimes along the
bottom of the most flexible boughs. They moved forward as if in jerks,
sometimes stopping suddenly and climbing a tree, only to descend it
again. When on the ground, they sat up on their hind legs, using their
front paws like hands, and rubbed their noses with such a comical air
that Lucien could not help speaking loud to express his admiration of
them.
Hearing so strange a sound as the human voice, the graceful animals took
flight, but not quick enough to prevent Sumichrast's gun from wounding
one of them. The squirrel remained at first clinging to the tree on
which it was when the shot struck it; but, after a pause, it relaxed its
hold and rolled over and fell to the ground. Nevertheless, it had
strength enough left to turn round and bite the sportsman, who
carelessly laid hold of him. L'Encuerado skinned it immediately, keeping
the meat for our breakfast next morning.
The sun went down; the cries of the birds resounded, and night at last
shut us in, bringing with it the solemn silence of the wilderness.
L'Encuerado struck up a prolonged chant, and Lucien's fresh young voice
blended with that of the hunter. The tune was simple and monotonous in
its character; but there was something touching in hearing the Indian
and the child, both equally artless in mind, uniting together to sing
the praises of God. The chant was ended by a prayer, which Sumichrast
and I listened to, standing up, with our heads bared; and it was with
earnestness that my friend repeated l'Encuerado's solemn "Amen,"
expressed in the words, "God is great."
Having fed the fire with sufficient wood to keep it up all night, we lay
down, side by side, under the hut. The wind moaned softly through the
foliage, and, under the influence of the gentle breeze, the pine-trees
produced that melancholy sound which so exactly calls to mind the noise
of the surf breaking on the shore. By means of thinking of it, I felt it
even in my sleep, for I dreamt that I was at sea, and that the vessel
that bore me was sailing over silvery waters.
CHAPTER VI.
COFFEE.--TURPENTINE.--COUROUCOUS.--PINE-NEEDLES.--THREE VOLCANOES IN
SIGHT AT ONCE.--THE CARABUS FAMILY.--SCORPIONS.--SALAMANDERS.--A
MIDNIGHT DISTURBANCE.
The first thing I saw on opening my eyes was l'Encuerado, who was
getting ready our coffee, and Lucien crouching close to the fire, piling
up a quantity of dry branches round the kettle, at some risk, however,
of upsetting it.
"Why, Lucien," I cried, "it is not light yet, and you are up already!
Didn't you sleep well?"
"Oh yes, papa," he answered, kissing me; "but l'Encuerado disturbed
Gringalet, so he thought proper to come and lie down on _me_, and that
woke me, for Gringalet is very heavy. So, as I couldn't go to sleep
again, I got up to look after the fire."
"And you are doing your work capitally. The kettle is singing loudly,
and l'Encuerado will find it difficult to take it off without burning
his fingers."
But the Indian had provided himself with two green branches, which he
used to lift off the make-shift coffee-pot, into which he emptied both
the sugar and the coffee.
"Where is the filter?" asked Lucien.
"Do you think you are still in the town?" I replied. "Why don't you ask
for a cup and saucer as well?"
"But we can never drink this black muddy stuff!" cried Lucien.
"Never mind, Chanito," said the Indian; "I'll soon make it all right."
Then, taking his gourd, he poured from it some cold water into the
mixture, and it immediately became cleared.
I told Lucien to go and wake up Sumichrast.
The child approached our companion, who was scarcely visible under the
leaves, which served him both for coverlet and pillow.
"Hallo! hallo! M. Sumichrast; the soup is on the table."
"Soup!" repeated Sumichrast, rubbing his eyes. "Ah! you little monkey,
you have disturbed me in such a pleasant dream. I fancied that I was no
older than you, and that I was once more wandering over the mountains of
my native land."
It is considered wholesome to take a cup of Mocha after a hearty meal;
but, with all due deference to Grimod de la Reyniere and Brillat
Savarin, coffee seems still sweeter to the taste when taken at five
o'clock in the morning, after passing the night in the open air.
The day broke; it was a magnificent sight to see the forest gradually
lighted up, and the trunks of the trees gilded by slanting sunbeams.
Before starting again, one of our party carefully examined the ground on
which we had camped, so as not to forget any of our effects, which, if
lost, would have been irreparable. I also noticed that l'Encuerado's
basket was decked with the three squirrels' skins, which would thus
gradually dry.
We had walked on for nearly an hour, the only incident being our meeting
with various kinds of birds, when the melancholy cry of the _couroucou_
struck on our ears. The call of this bird is very much like that uttered
by the Mexican ox-drivers when they herd together the animals under
their care; hence its Spanish name of _vaquero_. We gave chase to them,
and in less than half an hour we had obtained a male and female. Lucien
was never tired of admiring these beautiful creatures, with their yellow
beaks, hooked like those of birds of prey. The male bird, in particular,
was magnificent; the feathers on the head and back seemed to be "shot"
with a golden green, while the edges of the wings and the belly were
tinted with the purest crimson, shaded off into two black lines, which
extended as far as the tail.
"Shall we find many of these birds in the forest, M. Sumichrast?" asked
Lucien.
"No, Master 'Sunbeam;' they are rather rare; so we must take great care
of the skins of these we have shot."
"Is their flesh good to eat?" he asked.
"Excellent; and many a gourmand would be glad to make a meal of it.
However, at dinner-time, you shall try for yourself; and you will meet
with very few people who, like you, have partaken of the _trogon
massena_."
"At all events, it isn't another relation of the rat--is it?" asked the
boy, archly.
"No; it belongs to the family of climbers--that is to say, to that
order of birds which have two toes in front of their claws and two
behind, like your great friends the parrots."
After we had dressed the skins of the couroucous, and carefully wrapped
up the game, we again moved on. The ground became stony, and the descent
steeper. At one time I had hoped to find a spring at the bottom of the
ravine; but we very soon discovered, to our great disappointment, that
we should have to begin climbing again, leaving behind us the oaks and
the _ceibas_, and meeting with nothing but gigantic pine-trees. The
_pine-needles_,[H] which literally carpeted the ground, made it so
slippery, that for every step forward we frequently took two backward.
We fell time after time, but our falls were not in the least degree
dangerous. Sometimes, as if at a signal, we all four rolled down
together, and each laughed at his neighbor's misfortune, thus cheering