The old man's sleeping-place was a wooden cot or stand on the
opposite side of the room, but he was in no hurry to sleep, and
after Rima had left us, put a fresh log on the blaze and lit
another cigarette. Heaven knows how many he had smoked by this
time. He became very talkative and called to his side his two
dogs, which I had not noticed in the room before, for me to see.
It amused me to hear their names--Susio and Goloso: Dirty and
Greedy. They were surly-looking brutes, with rough yellow hair,
and did not win my heart, but according to his account they
possessed all the usual canine virtues; and he was still holding
forth on the subject when I fell asleep.
CHAPTER VIII
When morning came I was too stiff and sore to move, and not until
the following day was I able to creep out to sit in the shade of
the trees. My old host, whose name was Nuflo, went off with his
dogs, leaving the girl to attend to my wants. Two or three times
during the day she appeared to serve me with food and drink, but
she continued silent and constrained in manner as on the first
evening of seeing her in the hut.
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