ROBERT had no sooner escaped one terrible danger than he ran the risk of another scarcely less formidable. He was almost torn to pieces by his friends, for the brave fellows were so overjoyed at the sight of him, that in spite of his weak state, none of them would be satisfied without
V. IV Verne giving him a hug. However, it seemed as if good rough hugging did not hurt sick people; at any rate it did not hurt Robert, but quite the contrary.
But the first joy of deliverance over, the next thought was who was the deliverer? Of course it was the Major who suggested looking for him, and he was not far off, for about fifty paces from the RIO a man of very tall stature1 was seen standing2 motionless on the lowest crags at the foot of the mountain. A long gun was lying at his feet.
He had broad shoulders, and long hair bound together with leather thongs3. He was over six feet in height. His bronzed face was red between the eyes and mouth, black by the lower eyelids4, and white on the forehead. He wore the costume of the Patagonians on the frontiers, consisting of a splendid cloak, ornamented5 with scarlet6 arabesques7, made of the skins of the guanaco, sewed together with ostrich8 tendons, and with the silky wool turned up on the edge. Under this mantle9 was a garment of fox-skin, fastened round the waist, and coming down to a point in front. A little bag hung from his belt, containing colors for painting his face. His boots were pieces of ox hide, fastened round the ankles by straps10, across.
This Patagonian had a splendid face, indicating real intelligence, notwithstanding the medley11 of colors by which it was disfigured. His waiting attitude was full of dignity; indeed, to see him standing grave and motionless on his pedestal of rocks, one might have taken him for a statue of sang-froid.
As soon as the Major perceived him, he pointed12 him out to Glenarvan, who ran toward him immediately. The Patagonian came two steps forward to meet him, and Glenarvan caught hold of his hand and pressed it in his own. It was impossible to mistake the meaning of the action, for the noble face of the Scotch13 lord so beamed with gratitude14 that no words were needed. The stranger bowed slightly in return, and said a few words that neither Glenarvan nor the Major could understand.
The Patagonian surveyed them attentively15 for a few minutes, and spoke16 again in another language. But this second idiom was no more intelligible17 than the first. Certain words, however, caught Glenarvan’s ear as sounding like Spanish, a few sentences of which he could speak.
ESPANOL?” he asked.
The Patagonian nodded in reply, a movement of the head which has an affirmative significance among all nations.
“That’s good!” said the Major. “Our friend Paganel will be the very man for him. It is lucky for us that he took it into his head to learn Spanish.”
Paganel was called forthwith. He came at once, and saluted18 the stranger with all the grace of a Frenchman. But his compliments were lost on the Patagonian, for he did not understand a single syllable19.
However, on being told how things stood, he began in Spanish, and opening his mouth as wide as he could, the better to articulate, said:
“Vos sois um homen de bem.” (You are a brave man.)
The native listened, but made no reply.
“He doesn’t understand,” said the geographer20.
“Perhaps you haven’t the right accent,” suggested the Major.
“That’s just it! Confound the accent!”
Once more Paganel repeated his compliment, but with no better success.
“I’ll change the phrase,” he said; and in slow, deliberate tones he went on, “Sam duvida um Patagao“ (A Patagonian, undoubtedly).
No response still.
“DIZEIME!” said Paganel (Answer me).
But no answer came.
“Vos compriendeis?“ (Do you understand?) shouted Paganel, at the very top of his voice, as if he would burst his throat.
Evidently the Indian did not understand, for he replied in Spanish,
“No comprendo“ (I do not understand).
It was Paganel’s turn now to be amazed. He pushed his spectacles right down over his nose, as if greatly irritated, and said,
“I’ll be hanged if I can make out one word of his infernal patois21. It is Araucanian, that’s certain!”
“Not a bit of it!” said Glenarvan. “It was Spanish he spoke.”
And addressing the Patagonian, he repeated the word, “ESPANOL?” (Spanish?).
“Si, si“ (yes, yes) replied the Indian.
Paganel’s surprise became absolute stupefaction. The Major and his cousin exchanged sly glances, and McNabbs said, mischievously22, with a look of fun on his face, “Ah, ah, my worthy23 friend; is this another of your misadventures? You seem to have quite a monopoly of them.”
“What!” said Paganel, pricking24 up his ear.
“Yes, it’s clear enough the man speaks Spanish.”
“He!”
“Yes, he certainly speaks Spanish. Perhaps it is some other language you have been studying all this time instead of —”
But Paganel would not allow him to proceed. He shrugged25 his shoulders, and said stiffly,
“You go a little too far, Major.”
“Well, how is it that you don’t understand him then?”
“Why, of course, because the man speaks badly,” replied the learned geographer, getting impatient.
“He speaks badly; that is to say, because you can’t understand him,” returned the Major coolly.
“Come, come, McNabbs,” put in Glenarvan, “your supposition is quite inadmissable. However DISTRAIT26 our friend Paganel is, it is hardly likely he would study one language for another.”
“Well, Edward — or rather you, my good Paganel — explain it then.”
“I explain nothing. I give proof. Here is the book I use daily, to practice myself in the difficulties of the Spanish language. Examine it for yourself, Major,” he said, handing him a volume in a very ragged27 condition, which he had brought up, after a long rummage28, from the depths of one of his numerous pockets. “Now you can see whether I am imposing29 on you,” he continued, indignantly.
“And what’s the name of this book?” asked the Major, as he took it from his hand.
“The LUSIADES, an admirable epic30, which —”
“The LUSIADES!” exclaimed Glenarvan.
“Yes, my friend, the LUSIADES of the great Camoens, neither more nor less.”
“Camoens!” repeated Glenarvan; “but Paganel, my unfortunate fellow, Camoens was a Portuguese31! It is Portuguese you have been learning for the last six weeks!”
“Camoens! LUISADES! Portuguese!” Paganel could not say more. He looked vexed32, while his companions, who had all gathered round, broke out in a furious burst of laughter.
The Indian never moved a muscle of his face. He quietly awaited the explanation of this incomprehensible mirth.
“Fool, idiot, that I am!” at last uttered Paganel. “Is it really a fact? You are not joking with me? It is what I have actually been doing? Why, it is a second confusion of tongues, like Babel. Ah me! alack-a-day! my friends, what is to become of me? To start for India and arrive at Chili33! To learn Spanish and talk Portuguese! Why, if I go on like this, some day I shall be throwing myself out of the window instead of my cigar!”
To hear Paganel bemoan34 his misadventures and see his comical discomfiture35, would have upset anyone’s gravity. Besides, he set the example himself, and said:
“Laugh away, my friends, laugh as loud as you like; you can’t laugh at me half as much as I laugh at myself!”
“But, I say,” said the Major, after a minute, “this doesn’t alter the fact that we have no interpreter.”
“Oh, don’t distress36 yourself about that,” replied Paganel, “Portuguese and Spanish are so much alike that I made a mistake; but this very resemblance will be a great help toward rectifying37 it. In a very short time I shall be able to thank the Patagonian in the language he speaks so well.”
Paganel was right. He soon managed to exchange a few words with the stranger, and found out even that his name was Thalcave, a word that signified in Araucanian, “The Thunderer.” This surname had, no doubt, come from his skill in handling fire-arms.
But what rejoiced Glenarvan most was to learn that he was a guide by occupation, and, moreover, a guide across the Pampas. To his mind, the meeting with him was so providential, that he could not doubt now of the success of their enterprise. The deliverance of Captain Grant seemed an accomplished38 fact.
When the party went back to Robert, the boy held out his arms to the Patagonian, who silently laid his hand on his head, and proceeded to examine him with the greatest care, gently feeling each of his aching limbs. Then he went down to the RIO, and gathered a few handfuls of wild celery, which grew on the banks, with which he rubbed the child’s body all over. He handled him with the most exquisite39 delicacy40, and his treatment so revived the lad’s strength, that it was soon evident that a few hours’ rest would set him all right.
It was accordingly decided41 that they should encamp for the rest of the day and the ensuing night. Two grave questions, moreover, had to be settled: where to get food, and means of transport. Provisions and mules42 were both lacking. Happily, they had Thalcave, however, a practised guide, and one of the most intelligent of his class. He undertook to find all that was needed, and offered to take him to a TOLDERIA of Indians, not further than four miles off at most, where he could get supplies of all he wanted. This proposition was partly made by gestures, and partly by a few Spanish words which Paganel managed to make out. His offer was accepted, and Glenarvan and his learned friend started off with him at once.
They walked at a good pace for an hour and a half, and had to make great strides to keep up with the giant Thalcave. The road lay through a beautiful fertile region, abounding43 in rich pasturages; where a hundred thousand cattle might have fed comfortably. Large ponds, connected by an inextricable labyrinth44 of RIOS, amply watered these plains and produced their greenness. Swans with black heads were disporting45 in the water, disputing possession with the numerous intruders which gamboled over the LLANOS. The feathered tribes were of most brilliant plumage, and of marvelous variety and deafening46 noise. The isacus, a graceful47 sort of dove with gray feathers streaked48 with white, and the yellow cardinals49, were flitting about in the trees like moving flowers; while overhead pigeons, sparrows, chingolos, bulgueros, and mongitas, were flying swiftly along, rending50 the air with their piercing cries.
Paganel’s admiration51 increased with every step, and he had nearly exhausted52 his vocabulary of adjectives by his loud exclamations53, to the astonishment54 of the Patagonian, to whom the birds, and the swans, and the prairies were every day things. The learned geographer was so lost in delight, that he seemed hardly to have started before they came in sight of the Indian camp, or TOLDERIA, situated55 in the heart of a valley.
About thirty nomadic56 Indians were living there in rude cabins made of branches, pasturing immense herds57 of milch cows, sheep, oxen, and horses. They went from one prairie to another, always finding a well-spread table for their four-footed guests.
These nomads58 were a hybrid59 type of Araucans, Pehu-enches, and Aucas. They were Ando-Peruvians, of an olive tint60, of medium stature and massive form, with a low forehead, almost circular face, thin lips, high cheekbones, effeminate features, and cold expression. As a whole, they are about the least interesting of the Indians. However, it was their herds Glenarvan wanted, not themselves. As long as he could get beef and horses, he cared for nothing else.
Thalcave did the bargaining. It did not take long. In exchange for seven ready saddled horses of the Argentine breed, 100 pounds of CHARQUI, or dried meat, several measures of rice, and leather bottles for water, the Indians agreed to take twenty ounces of gold as they could not get wine or rum, which they would have preferred, though they were perfectly61 acquainted with the value of gold. Glenarvan wished to purchase an eighth horse for the Patagonian, but he gave him to understand that it would be useless.
They got back to the camp in less than half an hour, and were hailed with acclamations by the whole party or rather the provisions and horses were. They were all hungry, and ate heartily62 of the welcome viands63. Robert took a little food with the rest. He was fast recovering strength. The close of the day was spent in complete repose64 and pleasant talk about the dear absent ones.
Paganel never quitted the Indian’s side. It was not that he was so glad to see a real Patagonian, by whom he looked a perfect pigmy — a Patagonian who might have almost rivaled the Emperor Maximii, and that Congo negro seen by the learned Van der Brock, both eight feet high; but he caught up Spanish phrases from the Indian and studied the language without a book this time, gesticulating at a great rate all the grand sonorous65 words that fell on his ear.
“If I don’t catch the accent,” he said to the Major, “it won’t be my fault; but who would have said to me that it was a Patagonian who would teach me Spanish one day?”
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1
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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arabesques
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| n.阿拉伯式花饰( arabesque的名词复数 )；错综图饰；阿拉伯图案；阿拉贝斯克芭蕾舞姿（独脚站立，手前伸，另一脚一手向后伸） | |
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ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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medley
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| n.混合 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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geographer
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| n.地理学者 | |
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patois
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| n.方言；混合语 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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distrait
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| adj.心不在焉的 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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rummage
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| v./n.翻寻，仔细检查 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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chili
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| n.辣椒 | |
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bemoan
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| v.悲叹，哀泣，痛哭；惋惜，不满于 | |
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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rectifying
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| 改正，矫正( rectify的现在分词 )； 精馏； 蒸流； 整流 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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disporting
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的现在分词 ) | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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49
cardinals
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| 红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数 | |
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50
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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nomadic
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| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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nomads
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| n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活 | |
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hybrid
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| n.(动，植）杂种，混合物 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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