Overcome by the powerful influence of the sun, I fell fast asleep without any thought about my horse. The pettiest thief, indeed, would have been ashamed of such booty; and I was, besides, in a district where no stain of dishonesty rested on the character of the inhabitants. The sun was yet high in the horizon when I awoke, but a refreshing breeze was beginning to temper the sultry heat. High up amid the branches of the trees which sheltered me, the paroquets had begun their discordant noises, and their infernal melody was of such a kind as to annoy even the strongest nerves. I got impatient; and, hastily bestriding the wretched animal which supplied the place of my excellent Storm, set out on the beaten path that led to Manantial.
After riding slowly and painfully along for about half an hour, the shrill croaking of the paroquets always paining my ears, I perceived a horseman a little way in advance. This cavalier, attired exactly like one of those who had interrupted Cecilio and me at our game, seemed, like myself, to be quite out of humor. He rode, as all the Jarochos do, with his body inclined more to one side of the saddle than the other. His horse shuffled slowly along, and every now and then he held up his fist to the skies in all the fury of passion. Delighted that chance had sent me a companion in misfortune, I wished to offer him my hearty condolence, and succeeded in that design beyond my expectation. Scarcely had I managed, by dint of hard spurring, to make up to him, than a loud ringing laugh replaced the mental irritation in which I thought he had been indulging a minute before.
"May I ask if you are laughing at me?" I said, abruptly; for, in the bad humor I was in, this hilarity seemed quite out of place.
"At you? No, Señor Cavalier," answered the Jarocho. "But you will excuse me if, at sight of your horse, I bid adieu for a time to all customary politeness."
"My horse is in no worse condition than the andante[53] you are on," I replied, almost choking.
"You may think so; but that hack of yours is a mere bag of bones, and it is no small satisfaction to me to find one worse mounted than myself."
The horseman then began to laugh in such a merry, unconstrained fashion, that, tickled with the very absurdity of the thing, I could not help joining him, and we had a good hearty laugh together. The squabbling of the paroquets, struck with the unusual noise, ceased all of a sudden. They recommenced their ear-splitting cries, till at last I discharged a pistol at random among the foliage. To my great surprise, a bird fell at my feet.
"Did you take aim at it?" asked the astonished Jarocho.
"Of course," I replied, sharply; "and this will serve to show you that it is not altogether safe to jest with people you don't know."