Castizo marvelled much at this.
“I did not know,” he said, “there were deer so far south.”
“Strayed out of some gentleman’s park,” said Peter, quizzingly.
“And as for boas, if that was a boa, how on earth did it come there!” continued Castizo.
“Oh, I know,” said Peter.
“Do you?” said Ritchie; “tell us.”
“Why it has escaped from Wombell’s Menagerie, of course.”
The idea of gentleman’s parks or Wombell’s Menagerie being in this wilderness was ridiculous enough; but Peter was in one of his funny moods.
We did not stop anywhere for sport, only when any wild creature crossed our hawse, as Ritchie phrased it, we brought it down for sake of its flesh or skin.
Hawks and vultures we found very numerous in these regions, and many strange animals we had never seen before, some of the ant-eating fraternity, others like ermines, but brilliantly coloured, and others again that seemed partly rat and partly nondescript. There were otters in the mountain streams, and fish in such marvellous abundance that, in one hour, Jill and I caught nearly one hundred and fifty.