St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-09-10
set out, he before, I behind. We passed

the street recognized my guide. ooh,
| Noiraud; Bon jour, NoiraudF' They
| wished to play with the dog, but he
turned his head disdainfully with the au
of dog who has no time for play, who
is on duty and must earn his thirty sous.
| One of the children cried:
"Let him alone He is taking the gen
tleman to the Caldron Bon jour, M'sieu!'
| And then they all laughed, repeating the
| salutation I smiled, but awkwardly,
am sure 1 felt embarrassed, a little
Inundated even The animal dominated
me; he was my master; he knew where
he was going and did not was in
haste to get out of the village, to get
alone with Noiraud before the beauties
OF nature, which it was his mission to
| make me admire.
The first Of these was a frightfully
| dusty road, burning under leaden sun.
The dog went with light step, which it
tired me to follow. l tried to moderate
him.
"Noiraud! Here, Noiraud, my boy
Not so fast.''
But Noiraud turned deaf ear, pushed
along his steady little gait and was seized
with a genuine fit of anger when wanted
to sit down at the corner of field under
a tree that afforded scant shade. He
set to barking in little irritated voice,
casting impatient chances at me. Plainly
what | was doing was against the rule.
1t wasn't the custom to stop there. And
his yelps were so sharp and exasperating
that arose to resume my walk. Noir-
aud instantly quieted down and went
trotting gayly in advance. had COM
pretended him. lie was satisfied
Some minutes later we entered on a
delicious road, all flowers, perfume,
shade, all full of GOODNESS and the muir
muir of springs Noiraud suddenly slipped
among the trees, took to a gallop and
vanished down little path. followed
him out of breath. l had not gone a
hundred steps when found my Noiraud
awaiting me, his head high, his eye
shining in sort of hall of verdure made
gay with the song of dainty waterfall.
There was an old rustic bench, and Noir-
aud's glance turned impatiently from
my eyes to the bench, from the bench to
my eyes. l was beginning to understand
the language of Noiraud. Now. it
said to me, there's place to rest. It's
nice here-its cool. You are stupid.
You wanted to stop in the hot sun.
Come, sit down; you may sit down; |
allow you that"
And l stopped and sat down, and l
lighted cigar. l was just on the point
of offering one to Noiraud. Perhaps he
smoked. But it occurred to me that he
would prefer bit of sugar. He caught
it very adroitly on the fly, crunched it
with zest, lay down and settled himself
at my feet. Evidently here he was used
to little halt and little nap.
He scarcely dozed over ten minutes. |
was now completely at ease. Noiraud
began to inspire me with absolute conf
dence had made up my mind to obey
him blindly. He rose, stretched, gave
me little side-long glance which signi
fed, "Let's start, my friend, let's
start" And away we went, like two old
friends, through the wood at a gentler
pace; Noiraud was enjoying the charm,
the silence, the sweetness of the place.
On the road, while back, in haste to
escape the heat and dust, he had gone on
with little firm, quick gait. And now
refreshed, relaxed, Noiraud was walking
for the pleasure of walking in one of the
prettiest little paths of the Canton Of
Vaud.
A road opens to the left A slight
hesitation on Noiraud's part Then he
passes by and keeps on his route straig light
ahead, but not without some uncertainty,
some trouble in his manner. Now he
stops. He must have made mistake.
Yes, for he retraces his steps, and we
take the road to the left, which, at the
end Of a hundred PAGES, brings us to a
sort of amphitheatre, and Noiraud, nose
in air, invites me to contemplate the very
respectable height of the impossible wall
of rocks that forms this amphitheatre.
When Noiraud and l have contemplated
sufficiently, about face! and we resume
the little path through the wood. MOI
raud had forgotten to show me the rocky
phitheatre-a slight error quickly re-
paired.
The route soon becomes very steep,
broken, difficult. can only advance
slowly with infinite preeaution. Noiraud
leaps lightly from rock to rock, but does
not desert me- He waits for me, fixing
upon me a look of the most touching
solicitude. Finally begin to hear sort
of boiling; Noiraud yelps joyously.
Courage" he said to me. Courage
We are nearing it. You shall see the
Caldron." A stream, modest enough and
from a modest height, falls with back
ward jets and rebounds into a great rock
slightly followed out l should hardly
be paid for this laborious ascent by see
ing this mediocre marvel if I had not
had for companion this brave Noiraud,
who is much more interesting and very
much more remarkable than the Cal
dron.
On each side of the stream, in little
Swiss chalets, are placed two milk stands
kept by two little Swiss girls, one blonde,
one brunette, both in the national cos
tune, eagerly watching my arrival from
the threshold of their houselets, veritable
little boxes cut out by machinery.
1t seems to me that the little blonde
has very pretty eyes, and had already
made three or four steps towards her,
when Noiraud, breaking into furious
barks, resolutely barred my passage. Can
he have preference for the little brunette?
I change my direction. Yes, that was
it. Noiraud's friend enters her little
playhouse and Noiraud follows at her
heels. Through half opened window I
followed Noraud with my eyes. The
wretch. He is being served before me.
1t is he who first has his big bowl of
milk. He is venal.
After which, with little drops of milk
on his mustaehes, Noiraud comes to keep
me company and watch me drink my
milk. I give him bit of sugar, and