forward with all the speed in their power.

On the 17th they set out in the usual line of march, a line which it
was hard work for Robert to keep, his ardor constantly compelled
him to get ahead of the MADRINA, to the great despair of his mule.
Nothing but a sharp recall from Glenarvan kept the boy in proper order.

The country now became more diversified, and the rising
ground indicated their approach to a mountainous district.
Rivers were more numerous, and came rushing noisily down the slopes.
Paganel consulted his maps, and when he found any of those streams
not marked, which often happened, all the fire of a geographer
burned in his veins, and he would exclaim, with a charming
air of vexation:

"A river which hasn't a name is like having no civil standing.
It has no existence in the eye of geographical law."

He christened them forthwith, without the least hesitation,
and marked them down on the map, qualifying them with the most
high-sounding adjectives he could find in the Spanish language.

"What a language!" he said. "How full and sonorous it is!
It is like the metal church bells are made of--composed of
seventy-eight parts of copper and twenty-two of tin."

"But, I say, do you make any progress in it?" asked Glenarvan.

"Most certainly, my dear Lord. Ah, if it wasn't the accent,
that wretched accent!"