They picked up the iguana in passing; and, on reaching the spot where the armadillo had burrowed, the hermit paused and kindled a small fire over the hole, by means of his flint, steel, and tinder-box. He thus contrived to render the creature's habitation so uncomfortable that it rushed hurriedly out; then, observing that its enemies were waiting, it doubled its head and tail together, and became the image of a rough stone.
"Poor thing," said Martin, as the hermit killed it, "that reminds me of the ostrich of the desert, which, I'm told, when it is chased over the plains by men on horseback, and finds that it cannot escape, thrusts its head into a bush, and fancies, no doubt, that it cannot be seen, although its great body is visible a mile off!"
"Martin," said Barney, "this arth is full o' quare craturs intirely."
"That's true, Barney; and not the least 'quare' among them is an
Irishman, a particular friend of mine."
"Hould yer tongue, ye spalpeen, or I'll put yer head in the wather!"
"I wish ye would, Barney, for it is terribly hot and mosquito-bitten, and you couldn't have suggested anything more delightful. But here we are once more at our forest home; and now for a magnificent cup of coffee and a mandioca-cake."
"Not to mintion," added Barney, "a juicy steak of Igu Anny, an' a tender chop o' Army Dillo."
CHAPTER XIII
MARTIN AND BARNEY CONTINUE THEIR TRAVELS, AND SEE STRANGE THINGS—AMONG OTHERS, THEY SEE LIVING JEWELS—THEY GO TO SEE A FESTA—THEY FIGHT AND RUN AWAY
Martin Rattler and Barney O'Flannagan soon after this began to entertain a desire to travel further into the interior of Brazil, and behold with their own eyes the wonders of which they had heard so much from their kind and hospitable friend the hermit. Martin was especially anxious to see the great river Amazon, about which he entertained the most romantic ideas,—as well he might, for there is not such another river in the world for size, and for the many curious things connected with its waters and its banks. Barney, too, was smitten with an intense desire to visit the diamond mines, which he fancied must be the most brilliant and beautiful sight in the whole world; and when Martin asked him what sort of place he expected to see, he used to say that he "pictur'd in his mind a great many deep and lofty caverns, windin' in an' out an' round about, with the sides and the floors and the ceilin's all of a blaze with glittering di'monds, an' top'zes, an' purls, an' what not; with Naiggurs be the dozen picking them up in handfuls. An' sure," he would add, "if we was wance there, we could fill our pockets in no time, an' then, hooray for ould Ireland! an' live like Imperors for ivermore."