A HUNDRED MILES IN TWO DAYS.

Generally, travelers or ramblers in the woods, who have slept in the forests under the lovely stars, are awakened by howlings as fantastic as disagreeable.  There is everything in this morning concert:  clucking, grunting, croaking, sneering, barking, and almost “speaking,” if one may make use of this word, which completes the series of different noises.

There are the monkeys who thus salute the daybreak.  There we meet the little “marikina,” the marmoset with a speckled mask; the “mono gris,” the skin of which the Indians use to recover the batteries of their guns; the “sagous,” recognizable from their long bunches of hair, and many others, specimens of this numerous family.

Of these various four-handed animals, the most remarkable are decidedly the “gueribas,” with curling tails and a face like Beelzebub.  When the sun rises, the oldest of the band, with an imposing and mysterious voice, sings a monotonous psalm.  It is the baritone of the troop.  The young tenors repeat after him the morning symphony.  The Indians say then that the “gueribas” recite their pater-nosters.

But, on this day, it seemed that the monkeys did not offer their prayer, for no one heard them; and, meanwhile, their voice is loud, for it is produced by the rapid vibration of a kind of bony drum, formed by a swelling of the hyoides bone in the neck.

In short, for one reason or for another, neither the “gueribas,” nor the “sagous,” nor any other four-handed animals of this immense forest, sang, on this morning, their usual concert.

This would not have satisfied the wandering Indians.  Not that these natives appreciate this kind of strange choral music, but they willingly give chase to the monkeys, and if they do, it is because the flesh of this animal is excellent, above all, when it is smoke-dried.

Dick Sand, of course, could not be familiar with the habits of the “gueribas,” neither were his companions, or this not hearing them would have undoubtedly been a subject of surprise.  They awoke then, one after the other, much refreshed by these few hours of repose, which no alarm had come to disturb.

Little Jack was not the last to stretch his arms.  His first question was, to ask if Hercules had eaten a wolf during the night.  No wolf had shown himself, and consequently Hercules had not yet breakfasted.

All, besides, were fasting like him, and after the morning prayer, Nan occupied herself preparing the repast.

The bill of fare was that of the supper of the night before, but with appetites sharpened by the morning air of the forest, no one dreamed of being difficult to please.  It was necessary, above all, to gather strength for a good day’s march, and they did it.  For the first time, perhaps, Cousin Benedict comprehended that to eat was not an action indifferent or useless to life; only, he declared that he had not come to “visit” this country to walk with his hands in his pockets, and that, if Hercules prevented him from chasing the “cocuyos,” and other luminous flies, Hercules would have some trouble with him.