In Search of the Castaways / A Romantic Narrative of the Loss of Captain Grant of the Brig Britannia and of the Adventures of His Children and Friends in His Discovery and Rescue

by Jules Verne

"Come, friend Paganel, Thalcave and I can scarcely succeed in understanding each other."

Paganel conversed a few moments with the Indian, and, turning to Glenarvan, said,—

"Thalcave is astonished at a circumstance that is really strange."

"What?"

"At meeting neither Indians, nor any traces of them, on these plains, which are usually furrowed with their trails, whether they are driving home the cattle stolen from the ranchos, or going to the Andes to sell their zorillo carpets and whips of braided leather."

"And to what does Thalcave attribute this abandonment?"

"He cannot tell; he is astonished. That is all."

"But what Indians did he expect to find in this part of the Pampas?"

"The very ones who have had foreign prisoners; those natives who are commanded by the caziques Calfoucoura, Catriel, and Yanchetruz."

"Who are these caziques?"