least fifteen leagues from them. We long
looked down on the tree-tops of the forest we had just crossed, and the
uniformity of the dark-green foliage had a most gloomy aspect; and,
while close round us there were a number of birds fluttering about the
trees, none of the feathered tribe ventured into the solitudes we had so
lately traversed.

"I can not catch a sight of either rivulet or stream," said Lucien.

"Courage!" replied Sumichrast, who had seated himself by us. "The birds
which are flying round us can not live without drinking, and their large
number shows that there is plenty of water near."

"Hiou! hiou! Chanito."

"Ohe! ohe!" replied Lucien, darting to the place whence he heard the
familiar cry.

The two friends went down the hill together, l'Encuerado carrying his
enormous gourd.

"Can he have discovered water?" said I to my companion, and I approached
the fire where the game was roasting under the inspection of Gringalet.
Sumichrast remained to look after the cooking of the birds, and I
overtook Lucien and the Indian just at the moment when they were bending
over a plant with scarlet-red leaves, which grew encircling the stem of
a magnolia. About a glassful of limpid fluid flowed from it into the
calabash.

"Can we get water from this shrub by merely pressing it?" asked Lucien,
with surprise.

"All that is needed is to bend it," I replied. "It treasures up the
precious dew between its leaves, and l'Encuerado and I should have died
of thirst in one of our expeditions if it had not been for this plant."

"Why doesn't it grow in every forest?" asked Lucien.

"Certainly, if it grew everywhere, one of the greatest obstacles to
travelling in the wilderness would be removed."

"And what's the name of this plant?"

"The Creoles call it the 'Easter flower;' it is one of the
_bromelaceae_."

"Does it produce any fruit good to eat?"

"No, but in case of extreme necessity its large red leaves would appease
hunger."

We reascended the hill, when an uproar proceeding from the edge of the
forest reached our ears. L'Encuerado smiled, showing us the double range
of his white teeth.

"See down there," he said to Lucien, pointing to a corner of the wood,
away from which all the birds seemed to be flying.

There was a whole tribe of monkeys frolicking about among the creepers.

"Let us go and look at them more closely," said Lucien.

[Illustration: "There was a whole tribe of monkeys frolicking about."