brute was very ill, and scarcely able to crawl
towards her. Maldonata soon discovered what was the cause of the
animal's illness, and kindly ministered to it. It soon recovered, and
was all gratitude and attention to its kind benefactress, never
returning from searching after its daily subsistence without laying a
portion of it at the feet of Maldonata.

"Some time after, Maldonata fell into the hands of the Spaniards; and,
being brought back to Buenos Ayres, was conducted before Don Francis
Ruez de Galen, who then commanded there. She was charged with having
left the city contrary to orders. Galen was a man of a cruel and
tyrannical disposition, and condemned the unfortunate woman to a death
which none but the most cruel tyrant could have devised. He ordered some
soldiers to take her into the country, and leave her tied to a tree,
either to perish with hunger, or to be torn to pieces by wild beasts.
Two days after, he sent the same soldiers to see what had been her fate,
when, to their great surprise, they found her alive and unhurt, though
surrounded by pumas and jaguars, while a female puma at her feet kept
them at bay. As soon as the puma saw the soldiers, she retired to some
distance and they unbound Maldonata, who related to them the history of
this puma, whom she knew to be the same she had formerly relieved in the
cavern. On the soldiers taking Maldonata away, the animal approached,
and fawned upon her, as if unwilling to part. The soldiers reported what
they had seen to their commander, who could not but pardon a woman who
had been so singularly protected, without the danger of appearing more
inhuman than pumas themselves.

CHAPTER VII.

Uncle Thomas tells about the Migrating Instinct of Animals.--Of the
House Swallow of England; and the Esculent Swallow, whose Nest is
eaten by the Chinese.--He tells also about the Passenger Pigeon of
America; of the Myriads which are found in various parts of the
United States; of the Land-Crab and its Migrations, and of those of
the Salmon and the Common Herring.

"Uncle Thomas, I heard to-day of a swallow which for many years returned
to the same window, and built its nest in the same corner. Now as I
believe swallows are birds of passage, and leave this country to spend
the winter in warmer climates, I wish you to explain to me how it is
that they can return from such distances to the same spot."

"That is a question, Frank, which