‘How are you coming back, by land or by water?’
‘I do not know yet—that depends.’
‘Well, all right; if you come this way, I should like you to tackle a horse that we have here, which no one seems able to ride, and which I dare not tackle myself.’
‘Never you mind,’ answered Leal; ‘I will see to it when I return.’
Here was a revelation. Leal’s prowess grew in our estimation. This guide of ours was called upon to break in a horse which Secundino, the tiger-hunter, whose title to the name, if devoid of diplomas or academic signatures, was vouched for by the ten tiger-skulls which we had seen, would not dare to ride himself!
On we went towards the Meta River, leaving our friends on the shore shouting to us messages of good speed. We soon noticed that our canoe, being lighter in draft, had left the other far behind it.
It darkened much earlier than we expected, and to our great regret we saw that the second canoe could not catch us up, which was annoying, as supper, beds, and everything else, with the exception of a demijohn of aniseed aguardiente, were in it. We landed at the first beach that we struck, hoping against hope that the stragglers might overtake us.
Time had passed so agreeably at Santa Barbara, listening to Secundino’s tales, that we had not noticed how late it was. It seemed to us, furthermore, that darkness had set in earlier than usual. On hearing some remark to that effect, Fermin observed that the sun had set for us that day earlier than usual. He laid stress upon the words ‘for us,’ and, on being asked what he meant thereby, said that the darkness had been caused by a cloud which had interposed itself between us and the setting sun, thus bringing night earlier than usual.
‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ said Raoul. ‘There is no cloud in the matter; we went on talking and talking, and forgot the time.’
‘No, sir,’ Fermin said, without moving a muscle; ‘I know what I am talking about. The cloud was formed by the feathers of that bird which we tried to pluck yesterday; they are so many that they darken the light of the sun!’