reassured, we shall not leave this plateau, the greatest elevations of
which do not exceed fifteen hundred feet. Ah! if it had been necessary
to cross the Cordilleras with only the means of transport at our
disposal, I should never have drawn you into such an undertaking."

"In fact," replied Dick Sand, "it would be better to ascend or descend
the coast."

"Oh! a hundred times!" replied Harris. "But the Farm of San Felice is
situated on this side of the Cordilleras. So, then, our journey,
neither in its first nor in its second part, will offer any real
difficulty."

"And you do not fear going astray in these forests, which you cross for
the first time?" asked Dick Sand.

"No, my young friend, no," replied Harris. "I know indeed that this
forest is like an immense sea, or rather like the bottom of a sea,
where a sailor himself could not take the latitude nor recognize his
position. But accustomed to traveling in the woods, I know how to find
my route only by the inclination of certain trees, by the direction of
their leaves, by the movement or the composition of the soil, by a
thousand details which escape you! Be sure of it, I will lead you, you
and yours, where you ought to go!"

All these things were said very clearly by Harris. Dick Sand and he, at
the head of the troop, often talked without any one mingling in their
conversation. If the novice felt some doubts that the American did not
always succeed in scattering, he preferred to keep them to himself.