rance and determination. Behind him, his gun
slung to his cross-belt, came Lucien, slightly stooping, although his
step was firm and determined; his face was seamed with scratches, his
hands bruised and brown from exposure. As he passed in front of me, he
smiled and gave a joyous hurrah, and lifted his cap, beneath which his
hair flowed down in golden curls. Gringalet, now reconciled to the
squirrels' skins, walked close by his master; truly he looked like
standing more work. Lastly, l'Encuerado, his arms and legs bare, and
laden with guavas, brought up the rear. The brave Indian tried to raise
his straw-hat as he passed by me, his bony visage expanded, and his
smile showed a row of white teeth which were worthy of competing with
Gringalet's. Well satisfied with my inspection, I shouldered my gun, and
resumed the head of the column.

The cliffs of the ravine became gradually more wooded, and the descent
was effected without accident. I kept along the bank looking out for a
ford. At last a bend of the stream, where the water flowed calmly and
silently, enabled us to do so without difficulty. I then proposed a
halt. Close by us rose some enormous rocks covered with moss, which, in
flood-time, must have been reached by the water; in front of us was a
gentle slope covered with turf.

We were descending the slope when an object, indistinct at first,
emerged from the edge of the wood, and, appearing to roll more than run
over the grass, advanced toward us. It was an enormous tortoise; but a
tortoise which might successfully have raced with the hare. L'Encuerado
tried to stop it, but fell in his effort. Sumichrast, quite forgetting
his bad hand, dealt the animal a blow with the butt-end of his gun, the
effect of which was slightly to slacken the pace of the enemy. The
Indian, furious at his failure, threw down his load, and came running
up. Our united efforts succeeded, about twenty feet from the stream, in
throwing the animal on its back.

Lucien, rather startled at this scene, and at the size of the tortoise,
then came nearer to examine it. I kept him at some distance from the
reptile, who was viciously agitating its enormous feet, armed with
formidable claws; while its mouth, which was like a horny beak, opened
and shut menacingly.

"It is a _galapago_," said l'Encuerado; "it is of no use for food."

This creature, which is called by the _savants_ the
_alligator-tortoise_, measured more than a yard from its head to its