“Surely. Why not? The site is charming.”
I had my thoughts upon the subject, but I did not express them; so, too, had Tom, but he did express his as above.
“Say, Mas’r Harry, you won’t stop here, will you?”
“No,” I said; “we are going up the country.”
“Because this place ain’t safe—there’s a screw loose underground somewheres. Not that I mind. Earthquakes ain’t so much account after all, if they’d come in the day; but all the same, I wouldn’t stop here.”
I had had no intention of stopping, only just long enough to see the place and make arrangements for the prosecution of my journey; but this catastrophe hurried my departure, and at the end of three days we were both mounted on mules, travelling over hot, bare plains, with the sun pouring down until one’s brain seemed scorched; and when at last water was reached, it was thick and muddy-looking, so that, but for our horrible thirst we could not have touched it.
My ideas of South America had been undergoing a great change during the past few days, and, quite disappointed, in the midst of a long burning ride I made some remark to Tom about the heat.
“Hot, Mas’r Harry!” he said. “Pooh! this ain’t hot, ’Tis a little warmer than the other place, because there is no sea-breeze, but I could stand a deal more than this. These here—will you be quiet, then?—these here mules is the worst of it, though, sir. They won’t go like a horse, nor yet like a donkey; and as to kicking—”
Tom stopped short, for he wanted his breath for other purposes, his steed having once more turned refractory, kicking, rearing, shaking itself in an effort to dislodge its rider, spinning round and round, laying its long ears flat upon its neck, tucking its tail close in between its legs, and then squeaking and squealing in the most outrageous manner imaginable.
I have no doubt that it was most terribly unpleasant to the rider, painful, probably; but to a looker-on it was one of the most ludicrous of sights, and in spite of heat, weariness, and a tendency to low spirits, I laughed till the tears ran down my cheeks, while Tom grinned with pain and held on with both hands to the refractory beast.