a! look, there's a bleeding tree!"

"It is a _pterocarpus_; that is, a vegetable with membranes resembling
the wing of a bird. The red sap which is trickling down from its bark is
called _dragon's blood_, thus named by the Greeks, who ascribed to it a
fabulous origin. The _blood-tree_, for so the Indians designate it, is
allied to the asparagus and lily genera, and the gum which exudes from
it is a good remedy for dysentery."

L'Encuerado picked off a few dry flakes of this invaluable production;
and then, dipping his finger into some of the drops which were still
liquid, he rubbed it all over Gringalet's legs and paws, who was thus
provided with red top-boots. As a matter of fact, this operation must
have had a good effect upon the animal; for this gum, being very rich in
tannin, was certain to brace the tissues and muscles; but the first
sensation of it seemed to distress the poor beast, who ran along lifting
up his legs in a very comical fashion.

"Gringalet walks very much in the same way that l'Encuerado did the
time he put on his beautiful blue slippers," remarked Lucien, in great
glee.

"You don't mean to say," said Sumichrast, "that l'Encuerado ever wore
blue slippers?"

"Yes; the other day there was a dinner-party, and mamma told him to
dress himself as well as he could. He at once ran off to buy a pair of
pumps he had seen in a shop, and, just at the moment they were all
sitting down to dinner, he made his appearance in his new
foot-coverings, and--a cravat!"

"A cravat!" repeated Sumichrast, more surprised than ever.

"Yes, a real cravat; but as he had never before worn any thing on his
feet but sandals, he lifted them up when he walked just as Gringalet
does now. Mamma advised him to put on his sandals again; but he would
not obey her, so he was well punished, for he tripped up and broke a
whole pile of plates. It was not until after this misfortune that he
could be persuaded to take off his blue pumps; and even then he could
not bear to part with them altogether, so he hung them round his neck,
and kept on waiting at table, as proud as possible with his grand
decoration."

This adventure was only too true, and Sumichrast listened to it with
shouts of laughter.

"Why did you hang the shoes round your neck instead of putting them away
in a corner?" asked Sumichrast of the Indian.

"I did it to let all the world know that I had bought them, and that
they belonged to me," replied l'Encuerado.

[I