Les naufragés du Jonathan

The story opens on a windswept plain in a little‑known part of South America, where a lone guanaco grazes among rustling reeds and scattered thickets. A nearly naked indigenous hunter stalks the animal, his skin‑of‑beast garment barely shielding him from the elements. The quiet is shattered when his lasso misses and a massive jaguar lunges from the shadows, turning a simple hunt into a fight for survival.

The tension is cut short by a crisp gunshot; a stranger on a rocky outcrop steps forward, his aged yet vigorous face marked by thoughtful lines. He fires a single shot that drops the predator, then calmly disarms the fallen hunter, cradling his rifle as if it were an old companion. With a terse call in a guttural tongue, he looks toward the sea below, hinting at a larger expedition that has already set its course.