in the amazon jungle adventures in remote parts of the upper amazon river, including a sojourn among cannibal indians by algot lange edited in part by j. odell hauser with an introduction by frederick s. dellenbaugh to the memory of my father introduction when mr. algot lange told me he was going to the headwaters of the amazon, i was particularly interested because once, years ago, i had turned my own mind in that direction with considerable longing. i knew he would encounter many set-backs, but i never would have predicted the adventures he actually passed through alive. he started in fine spirits: buoyant, strong, vigorous. when i saw him again in new york, a year or so later, on his return, he was an emaciated fever-wreck, placing one foot before the other only with much exertion and indeed barely able to hold himself erect. a few weeks in the hospital, followed by a daily diet of quinine, improved his condition, but after months he had scarcely arrived at his previous excellent physical state. many explorers have had experiences similar to those related in this volume, but, at least so far as the fever and the cannibals are concerned, they have seldom survived to tell of them. their interviews with cannibals have been generally too painfully confined to internal affairs to be available in this world for authorship, whereas mr. lange, happily, avoided not only a calamitous intimacy, but was even permitted to view the culinary preparations relating to the absorption of less favoured individuals, and himself could have joined the feast, had he possessed the stomach for it. these good friends of his, the mangeromas, conserved his life when they found him almost dying, not, strange as it may appear, for selfish banqueting purposes, but merely that he might return to his own people. it seems rather paradoxical that they should have loved one stranger so well as to spare him with suspicious kindness, and love others to the extent of making them into table delicacies. the explanation probably is that these mangeromas were the reverse of a certain foreign youth with only a small stock of english, who, on being offered in new york a fruit he had never seen before, replied, "thank you, i eat only my acquaintances"--the mangeromas eat only their enemies. mr. lange's account of his stay with these people, of their weapons, habits, form of battle, and method of cooking the human captives, etc., forms one of the specially interesting parts of the book, and is at the same time a valuable contribution to the ethnology of the western amazon (or marañon) region, where dwell numerous similar tribes little known to the white man. particularly notable is his description of the wonderful wourahli (urari) poison, its extraordinary effect, and the _modus operandi_ of its making; a poison used extensively by amazonian tribes but not made by all. he describes also the bows and arrows, the war-clubs, and the very scientific weapon, the blow-gun. he was fortunate in securing a photograph of a mangeroma in the act of shooting this gun. special skill, of course, is necessary for the effective use of this simple but terrible arm, and, like that required for the boomerang or lasso, practice begins with childhood. the region of mr. lange's almost fatal experiences, the region of the javary river (the boundary between brazil and peru), is one of the most formidable and least known portions of the south american continent. it abounds with obstacles to exploration of the most overwhelming kind. low, swampy, with a heavy rainfall, it is inundated annually, like most of the amazon basin, and at time of high water the rivers know no limits. lying, as it does, so near the equator, the heat is intense and constant, oppressive even to the native. the forest-growth--and it is forest wherever it is not river--is forced as in a huge hothouse, and is so dense as to render progress through it extremely difficult. not only are there obstructions in the way of tree trunks, underbrush, and trailing vines and creepers like ropes, but the footing is nothing more than a mat of interlaced roots. the forest is also sombre and gloomy. to take a photograph required an exposure of from three to five minutes. not a stone, not even a pebble, is anywhere to be found. disease is rampant, especially on the smaller branches of the rivers. the incurable _beri-beri_ and a large assortment of fevers claim first place as death dealers, smiting the traveller with fearful facility. next come a myriad of insects and reptiles--alligators, huge bird-eating spiders, and snakes of many varieties. snakes, both the poisonous and non-poisonous kinds, find here conditions precisely to their liking. the bush-master is met with in the more open places, and there are many that are venomous, but the most terrifying, though not a biting reptile is the water-boa, the sucurujú (_eunectes murinus_) or anaconda. it lives to a great age and reaches a size almost beyond belief. feeding, as generally it does at night, it escapes common observation, and white men, heretofore, have not seen the largest specimens reported, though more than thirty feet is an accepted length, and bates, the english naturalist, mentions one he heard of, forty-two feet long. it is not surprising that mr. lange should have met with one in the far wilderness he visited, of even greater proportions, a hideous monster, ranking in its huge bulk with the giant beasts of antediluvian times. the sucurujú is said to be able to swallow whole animals as large as a goat or a donkey, or even larger, and the naturalist referred to tells of a ten-year-old boy, son of his neighbour, who, left to mind a canoe while his father went into the forest, was, in broad day, playing in the shade of the trees, stealthily enwrapped by one of the monsters. his cries brought his father to the rescue just in time. as the javary heads near the eastern slopes and spurs of the great peruvian cordillera, where once lived the powerful and wealthy inca race with their great stores of pure gold obtained from prolific mines known to them, it is again not surprising that mr. lange should have stumbled upon a marvellously rich deposit of the precious metal in a singular form. the geology of the region is unknown and the origin of the gold mr. lange found cannot at present even be surmised. because of the immense value of the rubber product, gold attracts less attention than it would in some other country. the rubber industry is extensive and thousands of the wild rubber trees are located and tapped. the trees usually are found near streams and the search for them leads the rubber-hunter farther and farther into the unbroken wilderness. expeditions from time to time are sent out by rich owners of rubber "estates" to explore for fresh trees, and after his sojourn at remate de males and floresta, so full of interest, mr. lange accompanied one of these parties into the unknown, with the extraordinary results described so simply yet dramatically in the following pages, which i commend most cordially, both to the experienced explorer and to the stay-by-the-fire, as an unusual and exciting story of adventure. frederick s. dellenbaugh. new york, november , . preface it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a more hospitable and generous nation than the brazilian. the recollection of my trip through the wilds of amazonas lingers in all its details, and although my experiences were not always of a pleasant character, yet the good treatment and warm reception accorded me make me feel the deepest sense of gratitude to the brazilians, whose generosity will always abide in my memory. there is in the brazilian language a word that better than any other describes the feeling with which one remembers a sojourn in brazil. this word, _saudades_, is charged with an abundance of sentiment, and, though a literal translation of it is difficult to arrive at, its meaning approaches "sweet memories of bygone days." although a limitation of space forbids my expressing in full my obligation to all those who treated me kindly, i must not omit to state my special indebtedness to three persons, without whose invaluable assistance and co-operation i would not have been able to complete this book. first of all, my thanks are due to the worthy colonel rosendo da silva, owner of the rubber estate floresta on the itecoahy river. through his generosity and his interest, i was enabled to study the work and the life conditions of the rubber workers, the employees on his estate. the equally generous but slightly less civilised benjamin, high potentate of the tribe of mangeroma cannibals, is the second to whom i wish to express my extreme gratitude, although my obligations to him are of a slightly different character: in the first place, because he did not order me to be killed and served up, well or medium done, to suit his fancy (which he had a perfect right to do); and, in the second place, because he took a great deal of interest in my personal welfare and bestowed all the strange favours upon me that are recorded in this book. he opened my eyes to things which, at the time and under the circumstances, did not impress me much, but which, nevertheless, convinced me that, even at this late period of the world's history, our earth has not been reduced to a dead level of drab and commonplace existence, and that somewhere in the remote parts of the world are still to be found people who have never seen or heard of white men. last, but not least, i wish to express my deep obligation to my valued friend, frederick s. dellenbaugh, who, through his helpful suggestions, made prior to my departure, contributed essentially to the final success of this enterprise, and whose friendly assistance has been called into requisition and unstintingly given in the course of the preparation of this volume. a.l. new york, january, . contents chapter i remate de males, or "culmination of evils" ii the social and political life of remate de males iii other incidents during my stay in remate de males iv the journey up the itecoahy river v floresta: life among the rubber-workers vi the fatal march through the forest vii the fatal "tambo no. " viii what happened in the forest ix among the cannibal mangeromas x the fight between the mangeromas and the peruvians index illustrations a little village built on poles the javary river the mouth of the itecoahy river nazareth trader's store remate de males or "culmination of evils" the street in remate de males general view of remate de males sunset on the itecoahy river an ant nest in a tree the launch "carolina" the banks of the itecoahy the mouth of the ituhy river the toucan the banks of the itecoahy river clearing the jungle urubus "nova aurora" "defumador" or smoking hut matamata tree the urucu plant the author in the jungle the mouth of the branco branding rubber on the sand-bar the landing at floresta the banks at floresta a general view of floresta morning coronel rosendo da silva chief marques interior of a rubber-worker's hut joão the murumuru palm a "seringueiro" tapping a rubber tree smoking the rubber-milk forest interior a fig-tree completely overgrown with orchids chico, the monkey turtle eggs on the sand-bank the pirarucu the last resting-place of the rubber-workers "seringueiros" joão floresta creek lake innocence alligator from lake innocence another alligator from lake innocence rubber-workers' home near lake innocence harpooning a large sting-ray shooting fish on lake innocence the pirarucu amazonian game-fish the track of the anaconda--the sucuruju the paca rubber-worker perreira and wife in their sunday clothes a "new home" sewing-machine in an indian hut the remarkable pachiuba palm-tree kitchen interior the beginning of the fatal expedition a halt in the forest jungle scenery forest creek top of hill page marsh-deer and mutum-bird jungle darkness creek in the unknown eating our broiled monkey at tambo no. hunting the fatal tambo no. a photograph of the author the front view of tambo no. caoutchouc process no. caoutchouc process no. caoutchouc process no. creek near tambo no. the author's working table at tambo no. forest scenery near tambo no. our parting breakfast mangeroma vase chapter i remate de males, or "culmination of evils" my eyes rested long upon the graceful white-painted hull of the r.m.s. _manco_ as she disappeared behind a bend of the amazon river, more than miles from the atlantic ocean. after days of continuous travel aboard of her, i was at last standing on the brazilian frontier, watching the steamer's plume of smoke still hanging lazily over the immense, brooding forests. more than a plume of smoke it was to me then; it was the final link that bound me to the outside world of civilisation. at last it disappeared. i turned and waded through the mud up to a small wooden hut built on poles. it was the end of january, , that saw me approaching this house, built on brazilian terra firma--or rather terra aqua, for water was inundating the entire land. i had behind me the amazon itself, and to the right the javary river, while the little house that i was heading for was esperança, the official frontier station of brazil. the opposite shore was peru and presented an unbroken range of dense, swampy forest, grand but desolate to look upon. a middle-aged man in uniform came towards me and greeted me cordially, in fact embraced me, and, ordering a servant to pull my baggage out of the water, led me up a ladder into the house. i told him that i intended to go up the javary river, to a place called remate de males, where i would live with a medical friend of mine, whereupon he informed me that a launch was due this same night, which would immediately proceed to my proposed destination. later in the evening the launch came and i embarked after being once more embraced by the courteous cor. monteiro, the frontier official. the captain of this small trading launch was an equally hospitable and courteous man; he invited me into his cabin and tried to explain that this river, and the town in particular, where we were going, was a most unhealthy and forbidding place, especially for a foreigner, but he added cheerfully that he knew of one white man, an englishman, who had succeeded in living for several years on the javary without being killed by the fever, but incidentally had drank himself to death. the night was very dark and damp, and i did not see much of the passing scenery; a towering black wall of trees was my total impression during the journey. however, i managed at length to fall asleep on some coffee-bags near the engine and did not wake till the launch was exhausting its steam supply through its whistle. my next impression was that of a low river bank fringed with dirty houses lighted by candles. people were sitting in hammocks smoking cigarettes, dogs were barking incessantly, and frogs and crickets were making a deafening noise when i walked up the main and only street of this little town, which was to be my headquarters for many months to come. after some inquiry, i finally found my friend, dr. m----, sitting in a dark, dismal room in the so-called _hotel agosto_. with a graceful motion of his hand he pointed to a chair of ancient structure, indicating that having now travelled so many thousand miles to reach this glorious place, i was entitled to sit down and let repose overtake me. indeed, i was in remate de males. never shall i forget that first night's experience with mosquitoes and ants. besides this my debut in a hammock for a bed was a pronounced failure, until a merciful sleep temporarily took me from the sad realities. remate de males lies just where a step farther would plunge one into an unmapped country. it is a little village built on poles; the last "blaze" of civilisation on the trail of the upper river. when the rainy winter season drives out of the forests every living creature that can not take refuge in the trees, the rubber-workers abandon the crude stages of the manufacture that they carry on there and gather in the village to make the best of what life has to offer them in this region. at such times the population rises to the number of some souls, for the most part brazilians and domesticated indians or _caboclos_. nothing could better summarise the attractions (!) of the place than the name which has become fixed upon it. translated into english this means "culmination of evils," remate de males. some thirty years ago, a prospector with his family and servants, in all about a score, arrived at this spot near the junction of the javary and the itecoahy rivers, close to the equator. they came by the only possible highway, the river, and decided to settle. soon the infinite variety of destroyers of human life that abound on the upper amazon began their work on the little household, reducing its number to four and threatening to wipe it out altogether. but the prospector stuck to it and eventually succeeded in giving mankind a firm hold on this wilderness. in memory of what he and succeeding settlers went through, the village received its cynically descriptive name. remate de males, separated by weeks and weeks of journey by boat from the nearest spot of comparative civilisation down the river, has grown wonderfully since its pioneer days. dismal as one finds it to be, if i can give an adequate description in these pages, it will be pronounced a monument to man's nature-conquering instincts, and ability. surely no pioneers ever had a harder battle than these brazilians, standing with one foot in "the white man's grave," as the javary region is called in south america, while they faced innumerable dangers. the markets of the world need rubber, and the supplying of this gives them each year a few months' work in the forests at very high wages. i always try to remember these facts when i am tempted to harshly judge remate de males according to our standards; moreover, i can never look upon the place quite as an outsider. i formed pleasant friendships there and entered into the lives of many of its people, so i shall always think of it with affection. the village is placed where the itecoahy runs at right angles into the javary, the right-hand bank of the itecoahy forming at once its main and its only street. the houses stand facing this street, all very primitive and all elevated on palm-trunk poles as far as possible above the usual high-water mark of the river. everything, from the little sheet-iron church to the pig-sty, is built on poles. indeed, if there is anything in the theory of evolution, it will not be many generations before the inhabitants and domestic animals are born equipped with stilts. opposite remate de males, across the itecoahy, is a collection of some ten huts that form the village of são francisco, while across the javary is the somewhat larger village of nazareth. like every real metropolis, you see, remate de males has its suburbs. nazareth is in peruvian territory, the javary forming the boundary between brazil and peru throughout its length of some miles. this same boundary line is a source of amusing punctiliousness between the officials of each country. to cross it is an affair requiring the exercise of the limits of statesmanship. i well remember an incident that occurred during my stay in the village. a sojourner in our town, an indian rubber-worker from the ituhy river, had murdered a woman by strangling her. he escaped in a canoe to nazareth before the brazilian officials could capture him, and calmly took refuge on the porch of a house there, where he sat down in a hammock and commenced to smoke cigarettes, feeling confident that his pursuers would not invade peruvian soil. but local diplomacy was equal to the emergency. our officials went to the shore opposite nazareth, and, hiding behind the trees, endeavoured to pick off their man with their . winchesters, reasoning that though their crossing would be an international incident, no one could object to a bullet's crossing. their poor aim was the weak spot in the plan. after a few vain shots had rattled against the sheet-iron walls of the house where the fugitive was sitting, he got up from among his friends and lost himself in the jungle, never to be heard of again. about sixty-five houses, lining the bank of the itecoahy river over a distance of what would be perhaps six blocks in new york city, make up remate de males. they are close together and each has a ladder reaching from the street to the main and only floor. at the bottom of every ladder appears a rudimentary pavement, probably five square feet in area and consisting of fifty or sixty whiskey and gin bottles placed with their necks downwards. thus in the rainy season when the water covers the street to a height of seven feet, the ladders always have a solid foundation. the floors consist of split palm logs laid with the round side up. palm leaves form the roofs, and rusty corrugated sheet-iron, for the most part, the walls. each house has a sort of backyard and kitchen, also on stilts and reached by a bridge. through the roofs and rafters gambol all sorts of wretched pests. underneath the houses roam pigs, goats, and other domestic animals, which sometimes appear in closer proximity than might be wished, owing to the spaces between the logs of the floor. that is in the dry season. in the winter, or the wet season, these animals are moved into the houses with you, and their places underneath are occupied by river creatures, alligators, water-snakes, and malignant, repulsive fish, of which persons outside south america know nothing. near the centre of the village is the "sky-scraper," the _hotel de augusto_, which boasts a story and a quarter in height. farther along are the _intendencia_, or government building, painted blue, the post-office yellow, the _recreio popular_ pink; beyond, the residence of mons. danon, the plutocrat of the village, and farther "downtown" the church, unpainted. do not try to picture any of these places from familiar structures. they are all most unpretentious; their main point of difference architecturally from the rest of the village consists in more utterly neglected façades. the post-office and the meteorological observatory, in one dilapidated house, presided over by a single self-important official, deserve description here. the postmaster himself is a pajama-clad gentleman, whose appearance is calculated to strike terror to the souls of humble _seringueiros_, or rubber-workers, who apply for letters only at long intervals. on each of these occasions i would see this important gentleman, who had the word _coronel_ prefixed to his name, joão silva de costa cabral, throw up his hands, in utter despair at being disturbed, and slowly proceed to his desk from which he would produce the letters. with great pride this "pooh-bah" had a large sign painted over the door. the post-office over which he presides is by no means overworked, as only one steamer arrives every five weeks, or so, but still he has the appearance of being "driven." but when he fusses around his "_observatorio meteorologico_," which consists of a maximum and minimum thermometer and a pluviometer, in a tightly closed box, raised above the ground on a tall pole, then indeed, his air would impress even the most blasé town-sport. i was in the village when this observatory was installed, and after it had been running about a week, the mighty official called on me and asked me confidentially if i would not look the observatory over and see if it was all right. my examination showed that the thermometers were screwed on tight, which accounted for the amazingly uniform readings shown on his chart. the pluviometer was inside the box, and therefore it would have been difficult to convince scientists that the clouds had not entirely skipped remate de males during the rainy season, unless the postmaster were to put the whole observatory under water by main force. he also had a chart showing the distribution of clouds on each day of the year. i noticed that the letter "n" occupied a suspiciously large percentage of the space on the chart, and when i asked him for the meaning of this he said that "n"--which in meteorological abbreviation means nimbus--stood for "_none_" (in portuguese _não_). and he thought that he must be right because it was the rainy season. the hotel, in which i passed several months as a guest, until i finally decided to rent a hut for myself, had points about it which outdid anything that i have ever seen or heard of in comic papers about "summer boarding." the most noticeable feature was the quarter-of-a-story higher than any other house in the village. while this meant a lead as to quantity i could never see that it represented anything in actual quality. i would not have ventured up the ladder which gave access to the extra story without my winchester in hand, and during the time i was there i never saw anyone else do so. the place was nominally a store-house, but having gone undisturbed for long periods it was an ideal sanctuary for hordes of vermin--and these the vermin of the amazon, dangerous, poisonous, not merely the annoying species we know. rats were there in abundance, also deadly scolopendra and centipedes; and large bird-eating spiders were daily seen promenading up and down the sheet-iron walls. on the main floor the building had two large rooms across the centre, one on the front and one on the rear. at each side were four small rooms. the large front-room was used as a dining-room and had two broad tables of planed palm trunks. the side-rooms were bedrooms, generally speaking, though most of the time i was there some were used for stabling the pigs and goats, which had to be taken in owing to the rainy season. it is a simple matter to keep a hotel on the upper amazon. each room in the _hotel de augusto_ was neatly and chastely furnished with a pair of iron hooks from which to hang the hammock, an article one had to provide himself. there was nothing in the room besides the hooks. no complete privacy was possible because the corrugated sheet-iron partitions forming the walls did not extend to the roof. the floors were sections of palm trees, with the flat side down, making a succession of ridges with open spaces of about an inch between, through which the ground or the water, according to the season, was visible. the meals were of the usual monotonous fare typical of the region. food is imported at an enormous cost to this remote place, since there is absolutely no local agriculture. even sugar and rice, for instance, which are among the important products of brazil, can be had in new york for about one-tenth of what the natives pay for them in remate de males. a can of condensed milk, made to sell in america for eight or nine cents, brings sixty cents on the upper amazon, and preserved butter costs $ . a pound. the following prices which i have had to pay during the wet season in this town will, doubtless, be of interest: one box of sardines $ . one pound of unrefined sugar . one roll of tobacco ( pounds) . one basket of farinha retails in para for $ . . one bottle of ginger ale . one pound of potatoes . calico with stamped pattern, pr. yd. . one collins machete, n.y. price, $ . . one pair of men's shoes . one bottle of very plain port wine, , reis or . under such circumstances, of course, the food supply is very poor. except for a few dried cereals and staples, nothing is used but canned goods; the instances where small domestic animals are slaughtered are so few as to be negligible. furthermore, as a rule, these very animals are converted into jerked meat to be kept for months and months. some fish are taken from the river, but the amazon fish are none too palatable generally speaking, with a few exceptions; besides, the natives are not skilful enough to prepare them to suit a civilised palate. a typical, well provided table on the amazon would afford dry farinha in the first place. this is the granulated root of the macacheira plant, the _jatropha manihot_, which to our palates would seem like desiccated sawdust, although it appears to be a necessity for the brazilian. he pours it on his meat, into his soup, and even into his wine and jams. next you would have a black bean, which for us lacks flavour even as much as the farinha. with this there would probably be rice, and on special occasions jerked beef, a product as tender and succulent as the sole of a riding boot. great quantities of coffee are drunk, made very thick and prepared without milk or sugar. all these dishes are served at once, so that they promptly get cold and are even more tasteless before their turn comes to be devoured. for five months i experienced this torturing menu at the hotel with never-ceasing regularity. the only change i ever noticed was on sundays or days of feast when beans might occupy the other end of the table. but what can the brazilians do? the cost of living is about ten times as high as in new york. agriculture is impossible in the regions where the land is flooded annually, and the difficulties of shipping are enormous. when i left the hotel and started housekeeping on my own account, i found that i could not do a great deal better. by specialising on one thing at a time i avoided monotony to some extent, but then it was probably only because i was a "new broom" at the business. as illustrating the community life that we enjoyed at the hotel, i will relate a happening that i have set down in my notes as an instance of the great mortality of this region. one afternoon a woman's three-months-old child was suddenly taken ill. the child grew worse rapidly and the mother finally decided that it was going to die. her husband was up the river on the rubber estates and she did not want to be left alone. so she came to the hotel with the child and besought them to let her in. the infant was placed in a hammock where it lay crying pitifully. at last the wailings of the poor little creature became less frequent and the child died. before the body was quite cold the mother and the landlady commenced clearing a table in the dining-room. i looked at this performance in astonishment because it was now evident that they were going to prepare a "_lit de parade_" there, close to the tables where our meals were served. the body was then brought in, dressed in a white robe adorned with pink, yellow, and sky-blue silk ribbons. loose leaves and branches were scattered over the little emaciated body, care being taken not to conceal any of the fancy silk ribbons. empty whiskey and gin bottles were placed around the bier, a candle stuck in the mouth of each bottle, and then the whole thing was lighted up. it was now getting dark fast, and as the doors were wide open, a great crowd was soon attracted by the brilliant display. all the " " of the little rubber town seemed to pour in a steady stream into the dining-room. it was a new experience, even in this hotel where i had eaten with water up to my knees, to take a meal with a funeral going on three feet away. we had to partake of our food with the body close by and the candle smoke blowing in our faces, adding more local colour to our jerked beef and beans than was desirable. more and more people came in to pay their respects to the child that hardly any one had known while it was alive. through it all the mother sat on a trunk in a corner peacefully smoking her pipe, evidently proud of the celebration that was going on in honour of her deceased offspring. the kitchen boy brought in a large tray with cups of steaming coffee; biscuits also were carried around to the spectators who sat against the wall on wooden boxes. the women seemed to get the most enjoyment out of the mourning; drinking black coffee, smoking their pipes, and paying little attention to the cause of their being there, only too happy to have an official occasion to show off their finest skirts. the men had assembled around the other table, which had been cleared in the meantime, and they soon sent the boy out for whiskey and beer, passing away the time playing cards. i modestly inquired how long this feast was going to last, because my room adjoined the dining-room and was separated only by a thin sheet-iron partition open at the top. the landlady, with a happy smile, informed me that the mourning would continue till the early hours, when a launch would arrive to transport the deceased and the guests to the cemetery. this was about four miles down the javary river and was a lonely, half-submerged spot. there was nothing for me to do but submit and make the best of it. all night the mourners went on, the women drinking black coffee, while the men gambled and drank whiskey in great quantities, the empty bottles being employed immediately as additional candlesticks. towards morning, due to their heroic efforts, a multitude of bottles totally obliterated the "_lit de parade_" from view. i managed to fall asleep completely exhausted when the guests finally went off at nine o'clock. the doctor diagnosed the case of the dead child as chronic indigestion, the result of the mother's feeding a three-months-old infant on jerked beef and black beans. life in the hotel during the rainy season is variegated. i have spoken of having eaten a meal with water up to my knees. that happened often during the weeks when the river was at its highest level. once when we were having our noon-day meal during the extreme high-water period a man came paddling his canoe in at the open door, sailed past us, splashing a little water on the table as he did so, and navigated through to the back room where he delivered some supplies. during this feat everybody displayed the cheerful and courteous disposition usual to the brazilians. at this season you must wear wading boots to eat a meal or do anything else about the house. sleeping is somewhat easier as the hammocks are suspended about three feet above the level of the water, but an involuntary plunge is a thing not entirely unknown to an amateur sleeping in a hammock; i know this from personal experience. every morning the butcher comes to the village between five and six o'clock and sharpens his knife while he awaits calls for his ministrations. he is an undersized man with very broad shoulders and a face remarkable for its cunning, cruel expression. his olive-brown complexion, slanting eyes, high cheek-bones, and sharp-filed teeth are all signs of his coming from the great unknown interior. his business here is to slaughter the cattle of the town. he does this deftly by thrusting a long-bladed knife into the neck of the animal at the base of the brain, until it severs the medulla, whereupon the animal collapses without any visible sign of suffering. it is then skinned and the intestines thrown into the water where they are immediately devoured by a small but voracious fish called the _candiroo-escrivão_. this whole operation is carried on inside the house, in the back-room, as long as the land is flooded. it must be remembered that during the rainy season an area equal in size to about a third of the united states is entirely submerged. there is a network of rivers that eventually find their way into the amazon and the land between is completely inundated. in all this immense territory there are only a few spots of sufficient elevation to be left high and dry. remate de males, as i have explained, is at the junction of the itecoahy and the javary rivers, the latter miles in length, and thirty miles or so below the village the javary joins the amazon proper, or solimoés as it is called here. thus we are in the heart of the submerged region. when i first arrived in february, , i found the river still confined to its channel, with the water about ten feet below the level of the street. a few weeks later it was impossible to take a single step on dry land anywhere. the water that drives the rubber-workers out of the forests also drives all animal life to safety. some of the creatures seek refuge in the village. i remember that we once had a huge alligator take temporary lodgings in the backyard of the hotel after he had travelled no one knows how many miles through the inundated forest. at all hours we could hear him making excursions under the house to snatch refuse thrown from the kitchen, but we always knew he would have welcomed more eagerly a member of the household who might drop his way. and now a few words about the people who lived under the conditions i have described, and who keep up the struggle even though, as they themselves have put it, "each ton of rubber costs a human life." in the first place i must correct any erroneous impression as to neatness that may have been formed by my remarks about the animals being kept in the dwellings during the rainy season. the brazilians are scrupulous about their personal cleanliness, and in fact, go through difficulties to secure a bath which might well discourage more civilised folk. no one would dream, for an instant, of immersing himself in the rivers. in nine cases out of ten it would amount to suicide to do so, and the natives have bathhouses along the shores; more literally bathhouses than ours, for their baths are actually taken in them. they are just as careful about clothing being aired and clean. indeed, the main item of the brazilian woman's housekeeping is the washing. the cooking is rather happy-go-lucky; and there is no use cleaning and polishing iron walls; they get rusty anyhow. the people are all occupied with the rubber industry and the town owes its existence to the economic necessity of having here a shipping and trading point for the product. the rubber is gathered farther up along the shores of the javary and the itecoahy and is transported by launch and canoe to remate de males. here it is shipped directly or sold to travelling dealers who send it down to manaos or para via the boat of the amazon steam navigation co., which comes up during the rainy season. thence it goes to the ports of the world. the rubber-worker is a well paid labourer even though he belongs to the unskilled class. the tapping of the rubber trees and the smoking of the milk pays from eight to ten dollars a day in american gold. this, to him, of course, is riches and the men labour here in order that they may go back to their own province as wealthy men. nothing else will yield this return; the land is not used for other products. it is hard to see how agriculture or cattle-raising could be carried on in this region, and, if they could, they would certainly not return more than one fourth or one fifth of what the rubber industry does. the owners of the great rubber estates, or _seringales_, are enormously wealthy men. there are fewer women than men in remate de males, and none of the former is beautiful. they are for the most part indians or brazilians from the province of ceara, with very dark skin, hair, and eyes, and teeth filed like shark's teeth. they go barefooted, as a rule. here you will find all the incongruities typical of a race taking the first step in civilisation. the women show in their dress how the well-paid men lavish on them the extravagances that appeal to the lingering savage left in their simple natures. women, who have spent most of their isolated lives in utterly uncivilised surroundings, will suddenly be brought into a community where other women are found, and immediately the instinct of self-adornment is brought into full play. each of them falls under the sway of "dame fashion"--for there are the _latest things_, even on the upper amazon. screaming colours are favoured; a red skirt with green stars was considered at one time the height of fashion, until an inventive woman discovered that yellow dots could also be worked in. in addition to these dresses, the women will squander money on elegant patent-leather french slippers (with which they generally neglect to wear stockings), and use silk handkerchiefs perfumed with the finest parisian eau de cologne, bought at a cost of from fourteen to fifteen dollars a bottle. arrayed in all her glory on some gala occasion, the whole effect enhanced by the use of a short pipe from which she blows volumes of smoke, the woman of remate de males is a unique sight. chapter ii the social and political life of remate de males the social life of the town is in about the same stage of development as it must have been during the stone age. when darkness falls over the village, as it does at six o'clock all the year round, life practically stops, and a few hours afterwards everyone is in his hammock. there is one resort where the town-sports come to spend their evenings, the so-called _recreio popular_. its principal patrons are _seringueiros_, or rubber-workers, who have large rolls of money that they are anxious to spend with the least possible effort, and generally get their desire over the gaming boards. the place is furnished with a billiard table and a gramophone with three badly worn records. the billiard table is in constant use by a certain element up to midnight, and so are the three eternal records of the gramophone. it will take me years surrounded by the comforts of civilisation to get those three frightful tunes out of my head, and i do not see how they could fail to drive even the hardened _seringueiros_ to an early grave. another resort close by, where the native _cachassa_ is sold, is patronised principally by negroes and half-breeds. here they play the guitar, in combination with a home-made instrument resembling a mandolin, as accompaniment to a monotonous native song, which is kept up for hours. with the exception of these two places, the village does not furnish any life or local colour after nightfall, the natives spending their time around the mis-treated gramophones, which are found in almost every hut. the men of the village, unlike the women, are not picturesque in appearance. the officials are well paid, so is everyone else, yet they never think of spending money to improve the looks of the village or even their own. most of them are ragged. a few exhibit an inadequate elegance, dressed in white suits, derby hats, and very high collars. but in spite of the seeming poverty, there is not a _seringueiro_ who could not at a moment's notice produce a handful of bills that would strike envy to the heart of many prosperous business men of civilisation. the amount will often run into millions of reis; a sum that may take away the breath of a stranger who does not know that one thousand of these brazilian reis make but thirty cents in our money. the people of the amazon love to gamble. one night three merchants and a village official came to the hotel to play cards. they gathered around the dining-room table at eight o'clock, ordered a case of pabst beer, which sells, by the way, at four dollars and sixty cents a bottle in american gold, and several boxes of our national biscuit company's products, and then began on a game, which resembles our poker. they played till midnight, when they took a recess of half an hour, during which large quantities of the warm beer and many crackers were consumed. then, properly nourished, they resumed the game, which lasted until six o'clock the next morning. this was a fair example of the gambling that went on. the stakes were high enough to do honours to the fashionable gamblers of new york, but there was never the slightest sign of excitement. at first i used to expect that surely the card table would bring forth all sorts of flashes of tropic temperament--even a shooting or stabbing affair. but the composure was always perfect. i have seen a loser pay, without so much as a regretful remark, the sum of three million and a half reis, which, though only $ in our money, is still a considerable sum for a labourer to lose. once a month a launch comes down from iquitos in peru, about five days' journey up the amazon. this launch is sent out by iquitos merchants, to supply the wants of settlers of the rubber estates on the various affluents. it is hard to estimate what suffering would result if these launches should be prevented from reaching their destinations, for the people are absolutely dependent upon them, the region being non-producing, as i have said, and the supplies very closely calculated. in remate de males, the superintendent, or the mayor of the town, generally owns a few head of cattle brought by steamer, and when these are consumed no meat can be had in the region but swift's canned "corned beef." then there are the steamers from the outer world. during the rainy season, the _mauretania_ could get up to remate de males from the atlantic ocean without difficulty, though there is no heavy navigation on the upper javary river. but steamers go up the amazon proper several days' journey farther. you can at the present get a through steamer from iquitos in peru down the amazon to new york. these boats occasionally bring immigrants from the eastern portions of brazil, where they have heard of the fortunes to be made in working the rubber, and who have come, just as our prospectors came into the west, hoping to take gold and their lives back with them. besides passengers, these boats carry cattle and merchandise and transport the precious rubber back to para and manaos. they are welcomed enthusiastically. as soon as they are sighted, every man in town takes his winchester down from the wall and runs into the street to empty the magazine as many times as he feels that he can afford in his exuberance of feeling at the prospect of getting mail from home and fresh food supplies. on some occasions, marked with a red letter on the calendar, canoes may be seen coming down the itecoahy river, decorated with leaves and burning candles galore. they are filled with enthusiasts who are setting off fireworks and shouting with delight. they are devotees of some up-river saint, who are taking this conventional way of paying the headquarters a visit. the priest, who occupies himself with saving the hardened souls of the rubber-workers, is a worthy-looking man, who wears a dark-brown cassock, confined at the waist with a rope. he is considered the champion drinker of remate de males. the church is one of the neatest buildings in the town, though this may be because it is so small as to hold only about twenty-five people. it is devoid of any article of decoration, but outside is a white-washed wooden cross on whose foundation candles are burned, when there is illness in some family, or the local patron saint's influence is sought on such a problem as getting a job. the religion is, of course, catholic, but, as in every case where isolation from the source occurs, the natives have grafted local influences into their faith, until the result is a catholicism different from the one we know. the administration of the town is in the hands of the superintendent, who is a federal officer not elected by the villagers. his power is practically absolute as far as this community is concerned. under him are a number of government officials, all of whom are extremely well paid and whose duty seems to consist in being on hand promptly when the salaries are paid. the chief of police is a man of very prepossessing appearance, but with a slightly discoloured nose. his appointment reminded me of that of sir joseph porter, k.c.b., in _pinafore_, who was made "ruler of the queen's navee" in spite of a very slight acquaintance with things nautical. our chief of police had been _chef d' orchestre_ of the military band of manaos. they found there that his bibulous habits were causing his nose to blush more and more, so he was given the position of chief of police of remate de males. it must be admitted that in his new position he has gone on developing the virtue that secured it for him, so there is no telling how high he may rise. the police force consists of one man, and a very versatile one, as will be seen, for he is also the rank and file of the military force. i saw this remarkable official only once. at that time he was in a sad condition from over-indulgence in alcoholic beverages. there are exact statistics of comparison available for the police and military forces. the former is just two-thirds of the latter in number. expressed in the most easily understood terms, we can put it that our versatile friend has a chief to command him when a policeman, and a coronel and lieutenant when he is a soldier. whether there is any graft in it or not, i do not know, but money is saved by the police-military force being one man with interchangeable uniforms, and the money must go into somebody's pocket. it might be thought that when the versatile one had to appear in both capacities at once, he might be at a loss. but not a bit of it. the landing of one of the down-river steamers offers such an occasion. as soon as the gangplank is out, the policeman goes aboard with the official papers. he is welcomed, receives his fee, and disappears. not two minutes afterwards, the military force in full uniform is seen to emerge from the same hut into which the policeman went. he appears on the scene with entire unconcern, and the rough and ready diplomacy of remate de males has again triumphed. one of the reasons for the flattering (!) name of the town, "culmination of evils," is the great mortality of the community, which it has as a part of the great javary district. its inhabitants suffer from all the functional diseases found in other parts of the world, and, in addition, maladies which are typical of the region. among the most important of these are the paludismus, or malarial swamp-fever, the yellow-fever, popularly recognised as the black vomit, and last but not least the beri-beri, the mysterious disease which science does not yet fully understand. the paludismus is so common that it is looked upon as an unavoidable incident of the daily life. it is generally caused by the infectious bite of a mosquito, the _anopheles_, which is characterised by its attacking with its body almost perpendicular to the surface it has selected. it is only the female mosquito that bites. there are always fever patients on the amazon, and the _anopheles_, stinging indiscriminately, transfers the malarial microbes from a fever patient to the blood of well persons. the latter are sure to be laid up within ten days with the _sezoes_, as the fever is called here, unless a heavy dose of quinine is taken in time to check it. the yellow fever mosquito, the _stygoma faciata_, seems to prefer other down-river localities, but is frequent enough to cause anxiety. they call the yellow fever the black vomit, because of this unmistakable symptom of the disease, which, when once it sets in, always means a fatal termination. the beri-beri still remains a puzzling malady from which no recoveries have yet been reported, at least not on the amazon. on certain rivers, in the matto grosso province of brazil, or in bolivian territory, the beri-beri patients have some chance of recovery. by immediately leaving the infested district they can descend the rivers until they reach a more favourable climate near the sea-coast, or they can go to more elevated regions. but here on the amazon, where the only avenue of escape is the river itself, throughout its length a hot-bed of disease where no change of climate occurs, the time consumed in reaching the sea-coast is too long. the cause of this disease, and its cure, are unknown. it manifests itself through paralysis of the limbs, which begins at the finger-tips and gradually extends through the system until the heart-muscles become paralysed and death occurs. the only precautionary measures available are doses of quinine and the use of the mosquito-net, or _mosquitero_. the latter's value as a preventive is problematical, however, for during each night one is bound to be bitten frequently, yes, hundreds of times, by the ever-present insects in spite of all. but if we curse the mosquito, what are we to say of certain other pests that add to the miseries of life in that out-of-the-way corner of the globe, and are more persistent in their attentions than even the mosquito? in the first place, there are the ants. they are everywhere. they build their nests under the houses, in the tables, and in the cracks of the floors, and lie in ambush waiting the arrival of a victim, whom they attack from all sides. they fasten themselves on one and sometimes it takes hours of labour to extract them. many are the breakfasts i have delayed on awaking and finding myself to be the object of their attention. it proved necessary to tie wads of cotton covered with vaseline to the fastenings of the hammock, to keep the intruders off. but they even got around this plan. as soon as the bodies of the first arrivals covered the vaseline, the rest of the troops marched across them in safety and gained access to the hammock, causing a quick evacuation on my part. articles of food were completely destroyed by these carnivorous creatures, within a few minutes after i had placed them on the table. i present here a list of the various species of ants known to the natives, together with the peculiarities by which they distinguish them. i collected the information from indians on the seringal "floresta" on the itecoahy river. _aracara_--the dreaded fire-ant whose sting is felt for hours. _auhiqui_--lives in the houses where it devours everything edible. _chicitaya_--its bite gives a transient fever. _monyuarah_--clears a large space in the forest for its nest. _sauba_--carries a green leaf over its head. _tachee_--a black ant whose bite gives a transient fever. _tanajura_--one inch long and edible when fried in lard. _taxyrana_--enters the houses like the _auhiqui_. _termita_--builds a typical cone-shaped nest in the dry part of the forests. _tracoã_--its bite gives no fever, but the effect is of long duration. _tucandeira_--black and an inch and a half long, with a bite not only painful but absolutely dangerous. _tucushee_--gives a transient fever. _uça_--builds large nests in the trees. while convalescing from my first attack of swamp-fever, i had occasion to study a most remarkable species of spider which was a fellow lodger in the hut i then occupied. in size, the specimen was very respectable, being able to cover a circle of nearly six inches in diameter. this spider subsists on large insects and at times on the smaller varieties of birds, like finches, etc. its scientific name is _mygale avicularia_. the natives dread it for its poisonous bite and on account of its great size and hairy body. the first time i saw the one in my hut was when it was climbing the wall in close proximity to my hammock. i got up and tried to crush it with my fist, but the spider made a lightning-quick move and stopped about five or six inches from where i hit the wall. several times i repeated the attack without success, the spider always succeeding in moving before it could be touched. somewhat out of temper, i procured a hammer of large size and continued the chase until i was exhausted. when my hand grew steady again, i took my automatic pistol, used for big game, and, taking a steady aim on the fat body of the spider, i fired. but with another of the remarkably quick movements the spider landed the usual safe distance from destruction. then i gave it up. for all i know, that animal, i can scarcely call it an insect after using a big game pistol on it, is still occupying the hut. about nine months later i was telling captain barnett, of the r.m.s. _napo_ which picked me up on the amazon on my way home, about my ill success in hunting the spider. "lange," he asked, "why didn't you try for him with a frying-pan?" chapter iii other incidents during my stay in remate de males remate de males, with nazareth and são francisco, is set down in the midst of absolute wilderness. directly behind the village is the almost impenetrable maze of tropical jungle. if with the aid of a machete one gets a minute's walk into it, he cannot find his way out except by the cackling of the hens around the houses. a dense wall of vegetation shuts in the settlement on every side. tall palms stand above the rest of the trees; lower down is a mass of smaller but more luxuriant plants, while everywhere is the twining, tangled _lianas_, making the forest a dark labyrinth of devious ways. here and there are patches of tropical blossoms, towering ferns, fungoid growths, or some rare and beautiful orchid whose parasitical roots have attached themselves to a tree trunk. and there is always the subdued confusion that betokens the teeming animal life. looking up the itecoahy river, one can see nothing but endless forest and jungle. and the same scene continues for a distance of some eight or nine hundred miles until reaching the headwaters of the river somewhere far up in bolivian territory. no settlements are to be found up there; a few _seringales_ from seventy-five to a hundred miles apart constitute the only human habitations in this large area. so wild and desolate is this river that its length and course are only vaguely indicated even on the best brazilian maps. it is popularly supposed that the itecoahy takes its actual rise about two weeks' journey from its nominal head in an absolutely unexplored region. i found the life very monotonous in remate de males, especially when the river began to go down. this meant the almost complete ending of communication with the outer world; news from home reached me seldom and there was no relief from the isolation. in addition, the various torments of the region are worse at this season. sitting beside the muddy banks of the itecoahy at sunset, when the vapours arose from the immense swamps and the sky was coloured in fantastical designs across the western horizon, was the only relief from the sweltering heat of the day, for a brief time before the night and its tortures began. soon the chorus of a million frogs would start. at first is heard only the croaking of a few; then gradually more and more add their music until a loud penetrating throb makes the still, vapour-laden atmosphere vibrate. the sound reminded me strikingly of that which is heard when pneumatic hammers are driving home rivets through steel beams. there were other frogs whose louder and deeper-pitched tones could be distinguished through the main nocturnal song. these seemed always to be grumbling something about "_rubberboots--rubberboots_." by-and-bye one would get used to the sound and it would lose attention. the water in the river floated slowly on its long journey towards the ocean, almost miles away. large dolphins sometimes came to the surface, saluting the calm evening with a loud snort, and disappeared again with a slow, graceful movement. almost every evening i could hear issuing from the forest a horrible roar. it came from the farthest depths and seemed as if it might well represent the mingled cries of some huge bull and a prowling jaguar that had attacked him unawares. yet it all came, i found, from one throat, that of the howling monkey. he will sit alone for hours in a tree-top and pour forth these dreadful sounds which are well calculated to make the lonely wanderer stop and light a camp-fire for protection. on the other hand, is heard the noise of the domestic animals of the village. cows, calves, goats, and pigs seemed to make a habit of exercising their vocal organs thoroughly before retiring. dogs bark at the moon; cats chase rats through openings of the palm-leaf roofs, threatening every moment to fall, pursued and pursuers, down upon the hammocks. vampires flutter around from room to room, occasionally resting on the tops of the iron partitions, and when they halt, continuing to chirp for a while like hoarse sparrows. occasionally there will come out of the darkness of the river a disagreeable sound as if some huge animal were gasping for its last breath before suffocating in the mud. the sound has its effect, even upon animals, coming as it does out of the black mysterious night, warning them not to venture far for fear some uncanny force may drag them to death in the dismal waters. it is the night call of the alligator. the sweet plaintive note of a little partridge, called _inamboo_, would sometimes tremble through the air and compel me to forget the spell of unholy sounds arising from the beasts of the jungle and river. throughout the evening this amorous bird would call to its mate, and somewhere there would be an answering call back in the woods. many were the nights when, weak with fever, i awoke and listened to their calling and answering. yet never did they seem to achieve the bliss of meeting, for after a brief lull the calling and answering voices would again take up their pretty song. slowly the days went by and, with their passing, the river fell lower and lower until the waters receded from the land itself and were confined once more to their old course in the river-bed. as the ground began to dry, the time came when the mosquitoes were particularly vicious. they multiplied by the million. soon the village was filled with malaria, and the hypodermic needle was in full activity. a crowd of about fifty indians from the curuça river had been brought to remate de males by launch. they belonged to the territory owned by mons. danon and slept outside the store-rooms of this plutocrat. men, women, and children arranged their quarters in the soft mud until they could be taken to his rubber estate some hundred miles up the javary river. they were still waiting to be equipped with rubber-workers' outfits when the malaria began its work among them. the poor mistreated indians seemed to have been literally saturated with the germs, as they always slept without any protection whatever; consequently their systems offered less resistance to the disease than the ordinary brazilian's. in four days there were only twelve persons left out of fifty-two. during the last weeks of my stay in remate de males, i received an invitation to take lunch with the local department secretary, professor silveiro, an extremely hospitable and well educated brazilian. the importance of such an invitation meant for me a radical change in appearance--an extensive alteration that could not be wrought without considerable pains. i had to have a five-months' beard shaved off, and then get into my best new york shirt, not to forget a high collar. i also considered that the occasion necessitated the impressiveness of a frock-coat, which i produced at the end of a long search among my baggage and proceeded to don after extracting a tarantula and some stray scolopendra from the sleeves and pockets. the sensation of wearing a stiff collar was novel, and not altogether welcome, since the temperature was near the ° mark. the reward for my discomfort came, however, in the shape of the best meal i ever had in the amazon region. during these dull days i was made happy by finding a copy of mark twain's _a tramp abroad_ in a store over in nazareth on the peruvian side of the javary river. i took it with me to my hammock, hailing with joy the opportunity of receiving in the wilderness something that promised a word from "god's own country." but before i could begin the book i had an attack of swamp-fever that laid me up four days. during one of the intermissions, when i was barely able to move around, i commenced reading mark twain. it did not take more than two pages of the book to make me forget all about my fever. when i got to the ninth page, i laughed as i had not laughed for months, and page made me roar so athletically that i lost my balance and fell out of my hammock on the floor. i soon recovered and crept back into the hammock, but out i went when i reached page , and repeated the performance at pages , , and until the supplementary excitement became monotonous. whereupon i procured some rags and excelsior, made a bed underneath the hammock, and proceeded to enjoy our eminent humourist's experience in peace. chapter iv the journey up the itecoahy river with the subsiding of the waters came my long-desired opportunity to travel the course of the unmapped itecoahy. in the month of june a local trader issued a notice that he was to send a launch up the river for trading purposes and to take the workers who had been sojourning in remate de males back to their places of employment, to commence the annual extraction of rubber. the launch was scheduled to sail on a monday and would ascend the itecoahy to its headwaters, or nearly so, thus passing the mouths of the ituhy, the branco, and las pedras rivers, affluents of considerable size which are nevertheless unrecorded on maps. the total length of the branco river is over three hundred miles, and it has on its shores several large and productive _seringales_. when on my way up the amazon to the brazilian frontier, i had stopped at manaos, the capital of the state of amazonas. there i had occasion to consult an englishman about the javary region. in answer to one of my inquiries, i received the following letter, which speaks for itself: referring to our conversation of recent date, i should wish once more to impress upon your mind the perilous nature of your journey, and i am not basing this information upon hearsay, but upon personal experience, having traversed the region in question quite recently. owing to certain absolutely untrue articles written by one h----, claiming to be your countryman, i am convinced that you can not rely upon the protection of the employees of this company, as having been so badly libelled by one, they are apt to forget that such articles were not at your instigation, and as is often the case the innocent may suffer for the guilty. on the other hand, without this protection you will find yourself absolutely at the mercy of savage and cannibal indians. i have this day spoken to the consul here at manaos and explained to him that, although i have no wish to deter you from your voyage, you must be considered as the only one responsible in any way for any ill that may befall you. finally, i hope that before disregarding this advice (which i offer you in a perfectly friendly spirit) you will carefully consider the consequences which such a voyage might produce, and, frankly speaking, i consider that your chance of bringing it to a successful termination is nil. believe me to be, etc., j.a.m. during the time of my journey up the river and of my stay in remate de males, i had seen nothing of the particular dangers mentioned in this letter. the only indians i had seen were such as smoked long black cigars and wore pink or blue pajamas. the letter further developed an interest, started by the hints of life in the interior, which had come to me in the civilisation of remate de males. i was, of course, particularly desirous of finding out all i could about the wild people of the inland regions, since i could not recall that much had been written about them. henry w. bates, the famous explorer who ascended the amazon as far as teffé, came within miles of the mouth of the javary river in the year , and makes the following statement about the indigenous tribes of this region: the only other tribe of this neighbourhood concerning which i obtained any information was the mangeromas, whose territory embraces several hundred miles of the western banks of the river javary, an affluent of the solimoës, a hundred and twenty miles beyond são paolo da olivença. these are fierce and indomitable and hostile people, like the araras of the madeira river. they are also cannibals. the navigation of the javary river is rendered impossible on account of the mangeromas lying in wait on its banks to intercept and murder all travellers. now to return to the letter; i thought that perhaps my english friend had overdrawn things a little in a laudable endeavour to make me more cautious. in other words, it was for me the old story over again, of learning at the cost of experience--the story of disregarded advice, and so i went on in my confidence. when the announcement of the launch's sailing came, i went immediately for an interview with the owner, a brazilian named pedro smith, whose kindness i shall never forget. he offered me the chance of making the entire trip on his boat, but would accept no remuneration, saying that i would find conditions on the little overcrowded vessel very uncomfortable, and that the trip would not be free from actual bodily risk. when even he tried to dissuade me, i began to think more seriously of the englishman's letter, but i told him that i had fully made up my mind to penetrate the mystery of those little known regions. i use the term "little known" in the sense that while they are well enough known to the handful of indians and rubber-workers yet they are "terra incognita" to the outside world. the white man has not as yet traversed this itecoahy and its affluents, although it would be a system of no little importance if located in some other country--for instance, in the united states. my object was to study the rubber-worker at his labour, to find out the true length of the itecoahy river, and to photograph everything worth while. i had with me all the materials and instruments necessary--at least so i thought. the photographic outfit consisted of a graflex camera with a shutter of high speed, which would come handy when taking animals in motion, and a large-view camera with ten dozen photographic plates and a corresponding amount of prepared paper. in view of the difficulties of travel, i had decided to develop my plates as i went along and make prints in the field, rather than run the risk of ruining them by some unlucky accident. perhaps at the very end of the trip a quantity of undeveloped plates might be lost, and such a calamity would mean the failure of the whole journey in one of its most important particulars. such a disastrous result was foreshadowed when a porter, loaded with my effects, clambering down the sixty-foot incline extreme low water made at remate de males, lost his balance in the last few feet of the descent and dropped into the water, completely ruining a whole pack of photographic supplies whose arrival from new york i had been awaiting for months. luckily this was at the beginning of this trip and i could replace them from my general stock. a hypodermic outfit, quinine, and a few bistouries completed my primitive medical department. later on these proved of the greatest value. i would never think of omitting such supplies even in a case where a few pounds of extra weight are not rashly to be considered. it turned out that in the regions i penetrated, medical assistance was a thing unheard of within a radius of several hundred miles. a luger automatic pistol of a calibre of nine millimetres, and several hundred cartridges, were my armament, and for weeks this pistol became my only means of providing a scant food supply. thus equipped i was on hand early in the morning of the day of starting, anxious to see what sort of shipmates i was to have. they proved all to be _seringueiros_, bound for the upper river. our craft was a forty-foot launch called the _carolina_. there was a large crowd of the passengers assembled when i arrived, and they kept coming. to my amazement, it developed that one hundred and twenty souls were expected to find room on board, together with several tons of merchandise. the mystery of how the load was to be accommodated was somewhat solved, when i saw them attach a lighter to each side of the launch, and again, when some of the helpers brought up a fleet of dugouts which they proceeded to make fast by a stern hawser. but the mystery was again increased, when i was told that none of the passengers intended to occupy permanent quarters on the auxiliary fleet. as i was already taken care of, i resolved that if the problem was to worry anybody, it would be the _seringueiros_, though i realised that i would be travelling by "slow steamer" when the little old-fashioned _carolina_ should at length begin the task of fighting the five-mile current with this tagging fleet to challenge its claim to a twelve-horse-power engine. the _seringueiros_ and their families occupied every foot of space that was not reserved for merchandise. hammocks were strung over and under each other in every direction, secured to the posts which supported the roof. between them the rubber-coated knapsacks were suspended. on the roof was an indiscriminate mass of chicken-coops with feathered occupants; and humanity. about midships on each lighter was a store-room, one of which was occupied by the clerk who accompanied the launch. in this they generously offered me the opportunity of making my headquarters during the trip. the room was about six feet by eight and contained a multitude of luxuries and necessities for the rubber-workers. there were . winchester rifles in large numbers, the usual, indispensable collins machete, and tobacco in six-feet-long, spindle-shaped rolls. there was also the "***" hennessy cognac, selling at , reis ($ . gold) a bottle; and every variety of canned edible from california pears to horlick's malted milk, from armour's corned beef to heinz's sweet pickles. every one was anxious to get started; i, who had more to look forward to than months of monotonous labour in the forests, not the least. at last the owner of the boat arrived, it being then two o'clock in the afternoon. he came aboard to shake hands with everyone and after a long period of talking pulled the cord leading to the steam-whistle, giving the official signal for departure. it then developed that one of the firemen was missing. without him we could not start on our journey. the whistling was continued for fully forty minutes without any answer. finally, the longed-for gentleman was seen emerging unsteadily from the local gin-shop with no sign of haste. he managed to crawl on board and we were off, amid much noise and firing of guns. after a two-hours' run we stopped at a place consisting of two houses and a banana patch. evidently the owner of this property made a side-business of supplying palm-wood as fuel for the launch. a load was carried on board and stowed beside the boiler, and we went once more on our way. i cannot say that the immediate surroundings were comfortable. there were people everywhere. they were lounging in the hammocks, or lying on the deck itself; and some were even sprawling uncomfortably on their trunks or knapsacks. a cat would have had difficulty in squeezing itself through this compact mass of men, chattering women, and crying children. but i had no sooner begun to reflect adversely on the situation, than the old charm of the amazon asserted itself again and made me oblivious to anything so trivial as personal comfort surroundings. i became lost to myself in the enjoyment of the river. that old fig-tree on the bank is worth looking at. the mass of its branches, once so high-reaching and ornamental, now lie on the ground in a confused huddle, shattered and covered with parasites and orchids, while millions of ants are in full activity destroying the last clusters of foliage. it is only a question of weeks, perhaps days, before some blast of wind will throw this humbled forest-monarch over the steep bank of the river. when the water rises again, the trunk with a few skeleton branches will be carried away with the current to begin a slow but relentless drift to old father amazon. here and there will be a little pause, while the river gods decide, and then it will move on, to be caught somewhere along the course and contribute to the formation of some new island or complete its last long journey to the atlantic ocean. as the launch rounds bend after bend in the river, the same magnificent forest scenery is repeated over and over again. sometimes a tall matamatá tree stands in a little accidental clearing, entirely covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetation. but these are borrowed plumes. bushropes, climbers, and vines have clothed it from root to topmost branch, but they are only examples of the legion of beautiful parasites that seem to abound in the tropics. they will sap the vitality of this masterpiece of nature, until in its turn it will fall before some stormy night's blow. all along the shore there is a myriad life among the trees and beautifully coloured birds flash in and out of the branches. you can hear a nervous chattering and discern little brown bodies swinging from branch to branch, or hanging suspended for fractions of a second from the network of climbers and aerial roots. they are monkeys. they follow the launch along the trees on the banks for a while and then disappear. the sun is glaring down on the little craft and its human freight. the temperature is degrees (f.) in the shade and the only place for possible relief is on a box of cognac alongside the commandant's hammock. he has fastened this directly behind the wheel so that he can watch the steersman, an indian with filed teeth and a machete stuck in his belt. would anyone think that these trees, lining the shore for miles and miles and looking so beautiful and harmless by day, have a miasmatic breath or exhalation at night that produces a severe fever in one who is subjected for any length of time to their influence. it would be impossible for even the most fantastical scenic artist to exaggerate the picturesque combinations of colour and form ever changing like a kaleidoscope to exhibit new delights. a tall and slender palm can be seen in its simple beauty alongside the white trunk of the embauba tree, with umbrella-shaped crown, covered and gracefully draped with vines and hanging plants, whose roots drop down until they reach the water, or join and twist themselves until they form a leaf-portière. and for thousands of square miles this ever changing display of floral splendour is repeated and repeated. and it would be a treat for an ornithologist to pass up the river. a hundred times a day flocks of small paroquets fly screaming over our heads and settle behind the trees. large, green, blue, and scarlet parrots, the araras, fly in pairs, uttering penetrating, harsh cries, and sometimes an egret with her precious snow-white plumage would keep just ahead of us with graceful wing-motion, until she chose a spot to alight among the low bushes close to the water-front. the dark blue toucan, with its enormous scarlet and yellow beak, would suddenly appear and fly up with peculiar jerky swoops, at the same time uttering its yelping cry. several times i saw light green lizards of from three to four feet in length stretched out on branches of dead trees and staring at us as we passed. night came and drew its sombre curtain over the splendours. i was now shown a place of unpretentious dimensions where i could suspend my hammock, but, unluckily, things were so crowded that there was no room for a mosquito-net around me. under ordinary circumstances, neglect of this would have been an inexcusable lack of prudence, but i lay down trusting that the draft created by the passage of the boat would keep the insect pests away, as they told me it would. i found that experience had taught them rightly. to the post where i tied the foot-end of my hammock there were fastened six other hammocks. consequently seven pairs of feet were bound to come into pretty close contact with each other. while i was lucky enough to have the hammock closest to the rail, i was unlucky enough to have as my next neighbour a woman; she was part brazilian negro and part indian. she had her teeth filed sharp like shark's teeth, wore brass rings in her ears, large enough to suspend portières from, and smoked a pipe continually. i found later that it was a habit to take the pipe to bed with her, so that she could begin smoking the first thing in the morning. she used a very expensive parisian perfume, whether to mitigate the effects of the pipe or not, i do not know. under the conditions i have described i lay down in my hammock, but found that sleep was impossible. there was nothing to do but resign myself to fate and find amusement, with all the philosophy possible, by staring at the sky. i counted the stars over and over again and tried to identify old friends among the constellations. among them the southern cross was a stranger to me, but the great dipper, one end of which was almost hidden behind the trees, i recognised with all the freedom of years of acquaintance. my mind went back to the last time i had seen it; across the house-tops of old manhattan it was, and under what widely different conditions! at last a merciful providence closed my eyes and i was soon transported by the arms of morpheus to the little lake in central park that i had liked so well. i dreamed of gliding slowly over the waters of that placid lake, and awoke to find myself being energetically kicked in the shins by my female neighbour. there was nothing to do but indulge in a few appropriate thoughts on this community-sleeping-apartment life, and then i got up to wander forward, as best i could in the dark, across the sleeping forms and take refuge on top of my case of cognac. we seemed to be down in a pool of vast darkness, of whose walls no one could guess the limits. i listened to the gurgling of water at the bow and wondered how it was possible for the man at the wheel to guide our course without colliding with the many tree trunks that were scattered everywhere about us. the river wound back and forth, hardly ever running straight for more than half a mile, and the pilot continually had to steer the boat almost to the opposite bank to keep the trailing canoes from stranding on the sand-bars at the turns. now and then a lightning flash would illuminate the wild banks, proving that we were not on the bosom of some cimmerian lake, but following a continuous stream that stretched far ahead, and i could get a glimpse of the dark, doubly-mysterious forests on either hand; and now and then a huge tree-trunk would slip swiftly and silently past us. the only interruption of the perfect quiet that prevailed was the occasional outburst of roars from the throat of the howling monkey, which i had come to know as making the night hideous in remate de males. but the present environment added just the proper atmosphere to make one think for a second that he was participating in some phantasm of dante's. there was no particular incident to record on the trip, till june the th, in the night-time, when we arrived at porto alegre, the glad harbour, which consisted of one hut. this hut belonged to the proprietor of a _seringale_. i followed the captain and the clerk ashore and, with them, was warmly received by the owner, when we had clambered up the ladder in front of the hut. he had not heard from civilisation for seven months, and was very glad to see people from the outside world, especially as they were bringing a consignment of merchandise that would enable him to commence the annual tapping of the rubber trees. about a dozen _seringueiros_ and their families disembarked here and went without ceremony to their quarters, where they had a fire going in less than no time. it is the custom in this section of brazil to make visitors welcome in a rather complicated manner. you first place your arm around the other man's waist, resting the palm of your hand on his back. then with the other hand you pat him on the shoulder, or as near that point as you can reach. whether it recalled my wrestling practice or not, i do not know, but the first time i ever tried this, i nearly succeeded in throwing down the man i was seeking to honour. after the proprietor had greeted each of us in this cordial way, we sat down. a large negress made her appearance, smoking a pipe and carrying a tray full of tiny cups, filled with the usual unsweetened jet-black coffee. after a brief stay, during which business was discussed and an account given of the manner of death of all the friends who had departed this life during the season in remate de males, we took our leave and were off again, in the middle of the night, amid a general discharging of rifles and much blowing of the steam-whistle. the night was intensely dark, what moon there was being hidden behind clouds most of the time, and an occasional flash of lightning would show us that we were running very close to the shores. i decided to go on the roof of the right-hand lighter, where i thought i would get better air and feel more comfortable than in the close quarters below. on the roof i found some old rags and a rubber coated knapsack. taking these to the stern, i lay down upon them and went to sleep. i imagine that i must have been asleep about two hours, when i was aroused by a crashing sound that came from the forepart of the boat. luckily, i had fallen asleep with my eyeglasses on, otherwise, as i am near-sighted, i should not have been able to grasp the situation as quickly as proved necessary. we were so close to the shore that the branches of a low-hanging tree swept across the top of the lighter, and it was this branch that caused the turmoil as the craft passed through it, causing everything to be torn from the roof; trunks, bags, and chicken-coops, in a disordered mass. i had received no warning and hardly had collected my senses before this avalanche was upon me. seizing the branches as they came, i held on for dear life. i tried to scramble over them to the other part of the roof, but having fallen asleep on the stern there was no chance. i felt myself being lifted off the boat, and as i blindly held on i had time to wonder whether the tree would keep me out of the water, or lower me into the waiting jaws of some late alligator. but it did better than that for me. the branches sagged under my weight, and i soon saw that they were going to lower me upon the trailing canoes. i did not wait to choose any particular canoe, but, as the first one came beneath me, i dropped off, landing directly on top of a sleeping rubber-worker and giving him probably as bad a scare as i had had. for the remainder of the night i considered the case of cognac, previously referred to, a marvellously comfortable and safe place to stay. during the next day we made two stops, and at the second took on board eighteen more passengers. it seemed to me that they would have to sleep in a vertical position, since, as far as i could discover, the places where it could be done horizontally were all occupied. at five in the afternoon of this day, we arrived at a small rubber estate called boa vista, where the owner kept cut palm-wood to be used for the launch, besides bananas, pineapples and a small patch of cocoa-plants. the firemen of our launch were busily engaged in carrying the wood, when one of them suddenly threw off his load and came running down the bank. the others scattered like frightened sheep, and only with difficulty could be brought to explain that they had seen a snake of a poisonous variety. we crept slowly up to the place under the wood-pile which they had pointed out, and there about a foot of the tail of a beautifully decorated snake was projecting. i jammed my twenty-four-inch machete through it longitudinally, at the same time jumping back, since it was impossible to judge accurately where the head might come from. it emerged suddenly about where we expected, the thin tongue working in and out with lightning speed and the reptile evidently in a state of great rage, for which i could hardly blame it, as its tail was pinned down and perforated with a machete. we dispatched it with a blow on the head and on measuring it found the length to be nearly nine feet. the interrupted loading of wood continued without much additional excitement and we were soon on our way again. that night i passed very badly. my female neighbour insisted on using the edge of my hammock for a foot-rest, and, to add to my general discomfort, my hammock persisted in assuming a convex shape rather than a more conventional and convenient concave, which put me in constant danger of being thrown headlong into the river, only a few inches away. finally, i took my hammock down from its fastenings and went aft where i found a vacant canoe among those still trailing behind. i threw my hammock in the bottom and with this for a bed managed to fall asleep, now and then receiving a blow from some unusually low branch which threatened to upset my floating couch. the next morning it was found that we had lost two canoes, evidently torn loose during the night without anybody noticing the accident. luckily, i had not chosen either of these to sleep in, nor had anyone else. i cannot help thinking what my feelings would have been if i had found myself adrift far behind the launch. for several days more we continued going up the seemingly endless river. human habitations were far apart, the last ones we had seen as much as eighty-five miles below. we expected soon to be in the territory owned by coronel da silva, the richest rubber proprietor in the javary region. i found the level of this land we were passing through to be slightly higher than any i had traversed as yet, although even here we were passing through an entirely submerged stretch of forest. there were high inland spaces that had already begun to dry up, as we could see, and this was the main indication of higher altitude than had been found lower down the river. another indication was that big game was more in evidence. the animals find here a good feeding place without the necessity of migrating to distant locations when the water begins to come through the forest. at a place, with the name of nova aurora, again consisting of one hut, we found a quantity of skins stretched in the sunlight to dry. they were mostly the hides of yellow jaguars, or pumas, as we call them in the united states, and seven feet from the nose to the end of the tail was not an unusual length. although, as we learned, they had been taken from the animals only a few weeks previously, they had already been partly destroyed by the gnawing of rats. a tapir, weighing nearly seven hundred and fifty pounds, had been shot the day before and was being cut up for food when we arrived. we were invited to stay and take dinner here, and i had my first opportunity of tasting roast tapir. i found that it resembled roast beef very much, only sweeter, and the enjoyment of this food belongs among the very few pleasant memories i preserve of this trip. while they were getting dinner ready, i noticed what i took to be a stuffed parrot on a beam in the kitchen. but when i touched its tail i found that it was enough alive to come near snapping my finger off. it was a very large arara parrot with two tail feathers, each about thirty-six inches long, a magnificent specimen worthy of a place in a museum. parrots of this particular species are very difficult to handle, being as stupid and malicious as they are beautiful. they often made me think of dandies who go resplendent in fine clothes but are less conspicuous for mental excellences. after having indulged in black coffee, we were invited to give the house and the surroundings a general inspection. directly behind the structure was the smoking hut, or _defumador_, as it is called. inside this are a number of sticks inclined in pyramid form and covered with palm-leaves. in the floor a hole was dug for the fire that serves for coagulating the rubber-milk. over this pit is hung a sort of frame for guiding the heavy stick employed in the smoking of the rubber. at this time the process had not become for me the familiar story that it was destined to be. beneath the hut were several unfinished paddles and a canoe under construction. the latter are invariably of the "dugout" type. a shape is roughly cut from a tree-trunk and then a fire is built in the centre and kept burning in the selected places until the trunk is well hollowed out. it is then finished off by hand. paddles are formed from the buttresses which radiate from the base of the matamatá tree, forming thin but very strong spurs. they are easily cut into the desired shape by the men and receive decorations from the hands of the women who often produce striking colour effects. a beautiful scarlet tint is obtained from the fruit of the urueu plant, and the genipapa produces a deep rich-black colour. these dyes are remarkably glossy, and they are waterproof and very stable. after sunset the launch was off again. everything went quietly until midnight, when we were awakened with great suddenness. the launch had collided with a huge log that came floating down the stream. it wedged itself between the side of the boat and the lighter and it required much labour to get ourselves loose from it. after we got free, the log tore two of the canoes from their fastenings and they drifted off; but the loss was not discovered until the next morning, when we were about thirty-five miles from the scene of the accident. two more days passed without any incident of a more interesting nature than was afforded by occasional stops at lonely _barracãos_ where merchandise was unloaded and fuel for the engine taken in. we were always most cordially received by the people and invited to take coffee, while murmurs of "_esta casa e a suas ordenes_"--this house is at your disposal--followed our departure. unlike many conventional phrases of politeness, i do not know that the sentiment was entirely exaggerated, it is typical of the brazilian and is to be reckoned with his other good qualities. they always combine a respect for those things that are foreign, with their decided patriotism. the hospitality the stranger receives at their hands is nothing short of marvellous, and no greater insult can be inflicted than to offer to pay for accommodations. i find any retrospective glance over the days i spent among these people coloured with much pleasure when i review incidents connected with my contact with them. there is a word in the portuguese language which holds a world of meaning for anyone who has been in that land so richly bestowed with the blessings of nature, brazil. it is _saudades_, a word that arouses only the sweetest and tenderest of memories. there were seven more days of travel before we reached the headquarters of floresta, the largest rubber-estate in the javary region. it covers an area somewhat larger than long island. coronel da silva, the owner, lives in what would be called an unpretentious house in any other place but the amazon. here it represents the highest achievement of architecture and modern comfort. it is built on sixteen-foot poles and stands on the outskirts of a half-cleared space which contains also six smaller buildings scattered around. the house had seven medium-sized rooms, equipped with modern furniture of an inexpensive grade. there was also an office which, considering that it was located about miles from civilisation, could be almost called up-to-date. i remember, for instance, that a clock from new haven had found its way here. in charge of the office was a secretary, a mr. da marinha, who was a man of considerable education and who had graduated in the federal capital. several years of health-racking existence in the swamps had made him a nervous and indolent man, upon whose face a smile was never seen. the launch stopped here twenty-four hours, unloading several tons of merchandise, to replenish the store-house close to the river front. i took advantage of the wait to converse with coronel da silva. he invited me cordially to stop at his house and spend the summer watching the rubber-work and hunting the game that these forests contained. it was finally proposed that i go with the launch up to the branco river, only two days' journey distant, and that on its return i should disembark and stay as long as i wished. to this i gladly assented. we departed in the evening bound for the branco river. on this trip i had my first attack of fever. i had no warning of the approaching danger until a chill suddenly came over me on the first day out from floresta. i had felt a peculiar drowsiness for several days, but had paid little attention to it as one generally feels drowsy and tired in the oppressive heat and humidity. when to this was added a second chill that shook me from head to foot with such violence that i thought my last hour had come, i knew i was in for my first experience of the dreaded javary fever. there was nothing to do but to take copious doses of quinine and keep still in my hammock close to the rail of the boat. the fever soon got strong hold of me and i alternated between shivering with cold and burning with a temperature that reached and degrees. towards midnight it abated somewhat, but left me so nearly exhausted that i was hardly able to raise my head to see where we were going. our boat kept close to the bank so as to get all possible advantage of the eddying currents. i was at length aroused from a feverish slumber by being flung suddenly to the deck of the launch with a violent shock, while men and women shouted in excitement that the craft would surely turn over. we were careened at a dangerous angle when i awoke and in my reduced condition it was not difficult to imagine that a capsize was to be the result. but with a ripping, rending sound the launch suddenly righted itself. it developed that we had had a more serious encounter with a protruding branch than in any of the previous collisions. this one had caught on the very upright to which my hammock was secured. the stanchion in this case was iron and its failure to give way had caused the boat to tilt. finally the iron bent to an s shape and the branch slipped off after tearing the post from its upper fastenings. it was a narrow escape from a calamity, but the additional excitement aggravated my fever and i went from bad to worse. therefore it was found advisable, when we arrived, late the next day, at the mouth of the branco, to put me ashore to stay in the hut of the manager of the rubber estate, so that i might not cause the crew and the passengers of the launch inconvenience through my sickness and perhaps ultimate death. i was carried up to the hut and placed in a hammock where i was given a heavy dose of quinine. i dimly remember hearing the farewell-toot of the launch as she left for the down-river trip, and there i was alone in a strange place among people of whose language i understood very little. in the afternoon a young boy was placed in a hammock next to mine, and soon after they brought in a big, heavy brazilian negro, whom they put on the other side. like me they were suffering from javary fever and kept moaning all through the afternoon in their pain, but all three of us were too sick to pay any attention to each other. that night my fever abated a trifle and i could hear the big fellow raving in delirium about snakes and lizards, which he imagined he saw. when the sun rose at six the next morning he was dead. the boy expired during the afternoon. it was torture to lie under the mosquito-net with the fever pulsing through my veins and keeping my blood at a high temperature, but i dared not venture out, even if i had possessed the strength to do so, for fear of the mosquitoes and the sand-flies which buzzed outside in legions. for several days i remained thus and then began to mend a little. whether it was because of the greater vitality of the white race or because i had not absorbed a fatal dose, i do not know, but i improved. when i felt well enough, i got up and arranged with the rubber-estate manager to give me two indians to paddle me and my baggage down to floresta. i wanted to get down there where i could have better accommodations before i should become sick again. chapter v floresta: life among the rubber-workers it was half past five in the morning when we arrived at the landing of the floresta estate. since it was too early to go up to the house i placed my trunk on the bank and sat admiring the surrounding landscape, partly enveloped in the mist that always hangs over these damp forests until sunrise. the sun was just beginning to colour the eastern sky with faint warm tints. before me was the placid surface of the itecoahy, which seemed as though nothing but my indian's paddles had disturbed it for a century. just here the river made a wide turn and on the sand-bar that was formed a few large freshwater turtles could be seen moving slowly around. the banks were high and steep, and it appeared incredible that the flood could rise so high that it would inundate the surrounding country and stand ten or twelve feet above the roots of the trees--a rise that represented about sixty-seven feet in all. when i turned around i saw the half-cleared space in front of me stretching over a square mile of ground. to the right was coronel da silva's house, already described, and all about, the humbler _barracãos_ or huts of the rubber-workers. in the clearing, palm-trees and guava brush formed a fairly thick covering for the ground, but compared with the surrounding impenetrable jungle the little open space deserved its title of "clearing." a few cows formed a rare sight as they wandered around nibbling at the sparse and sickly growth of grass. by-and-bye the sun was fully up; but even then it could not fully disperse the mists that hung over the landscape. the birds were waking and their calls filled the air. the amorous notes of the inamboo were repeated and answered from far off by its mate, and the melancholy song of the wacurão piped musically out from the vastness of the forest. small green paroquets flew about and filled the air with their not altogether pleasant voices. these are the same birds that are well-known to the residents of new york and other large cities, where a dozen of them can often be seen in charge of an intrepid italian, who has them trained to pick cards out of a box for anyone desiring his fortune told for the sum of five cents. here they must provide by their own efforts for their own futures, however. even at this hour the howling monkey had not left off disturbing the peace with its hideous din. gradually the camp woke up to the day's work. a tall pajama-clad man spied me and was the first to come over. he was a very serious-looking gentleman and with his full-bearded face looked not unlike the artist's conception of the saviour. he bade me welcome in the usual generous terms of the brazilians and invited me into the house, where i again met coronel da silva. this first-mentioned grave-looking man was mr. da marinha. the kindness with which he welcomed me was most grateful; especially so in my present physical condition. i noticed what had not been so apparent on my first meeting with him, that recent and continuous ravages of fevers and spleen troubles had reduced him, though a fairly young man, to the usual nerve-worn type that the white man seems bound to become after any long stay in the upper amazon region. not knowing where i might stop when i left remate de males, i had brought with me a case of canned goods. i only succeeded in insulting the coronel when i mentioned this. he gave me his best room and sent for a new hammock for me. such attentions to a stranger, who came without even a letter of introduction, are typical of brazilian hospitality. after a plentiful meal, consisting of fried fish and roast loin of tapir, which tasted very good, we drank black coffee and conversed as well as my limited knowledge of the portuguese language permitted. after this, naturally, feeling very tired from my travels and the heat of the day, i arranged my future room, strung my hammock, and slept until a servant announced that supper was served. this meal consisted of jerked beef, farinha, rice, black beans, turtle soup, and the national goiabada marmalade. the cook, who was nothing but a sick rubber-worker, had spoiled the principal part of the meal by disregarding the juices of the meat, and cooking it without salt, besides mixing the inevitable farinha with everything. but it was a part of the custom of the country and could not be helped. _de gustibus non est disputandum._ when this meal was over, i was invited to go with the secretary, mr. da marinha, the man who had first greeted me in the morning, to see a sick person. at some distance from the house was a small barracão, where we were received by a _seringueiro_ named marques. this remarkable man was destined to figure prominently in experiences that i had to undergo later. he pulled aside a large mosquito-net which guarded the entrance of the inner room of this hut. in the hammock we found a middle-aged woman; a native of cearã. her face was not unattractive but terribly emaciated, and she was evidently very sick. she showed us an arm bound up in rags, and the part exposed was wasted and dark red. it was explained that three weeks before, an accident had forced a wooden splinter into her thumb and she had neglected the inflammation that followed. i asked her to undo the wrappings, a thing which i should never have done, and the sight we saw was most discouraging. the hand was swollen until it would not have been recognised as a hand, and there was an immense lesion extending from the palm to the middle of the forearm. the latter was in a terrible condition, the flesh having been eaten away to the bone. it was plainly a case of gangrene of a particularly vicious character. suddenly it dawned upon me that they all took me for a doctor; and the questions they asked as to what should be done, plainly indicated that they looked to me for assistance. i explained that i had no knowledge of surgery, but that in spite of this i was sure that if something were not done immediately the woman would have little time to live. i asked if there was not a doctor that could be reached within a few days' journey. we discussed sending the woman to remate de males by canoe, but this idea was abandoned, for the journey even undertaken by the most skilful paddlers could not be made in less than eighteen days, and by that time the gangrene would surely have killed the patient. coronel da silva was called in. he said that the woman was the wife of the chief of the _caucheros_ and that her life must be saved if possible. i explained my own incapacity in this field once more, but insisted that we would be justified in undertaking an amputation as the only chance of preventing her death. i now found myself in a terrible position. the operation is a very difficult one even in the hands of a skilful surgeon, and here i was called to perform it with hardly an elementary knowledge of the science and not even adequate instruments. at the same time, it seemed moral cowardice to avoid it, since evidently i was the one best qualified, and the woman would die in agony if not soon relieved. i trembled all over when i concluded that there was no escape. we went to the room and got the bistoury and the forceps given me by a medical friend before i left home. besides these, i took some corrosive sublimate, intended for the preparation of animal skins, and some photographic clips. the secretary, after a search produced an old and rusty hacksaw as the only instrument the estate could furnish. this we cleaned as carefully as possible with cloths and then immersed it in a solution of sublimate. before going to the patient's hut i asked the owner and the woman's husband if they were reconciled to my attempt and would not hold me responsible in case of her death. they answered that, as the woman was otherwise going to die, we were entirely right in doing whatever we could. i found the patient placidly smoking a pipe, her injured arm over the edge of the hammock. by this time she understood that she was to have her arm amputated by a surgical novice. she seemed not to be greatly concerned over the matter, and went on smoking her pipe while we made the arrangements. we placed her on the floor and told her to lie still. we adjusted some rubber cloth under the dead arm. her husband and three children stood watching with expressionless faces. two monkeys, tied to a board in a corner were playing and fighting together. a large parrot was making discursive comment on the whole affair, while a little lame dog seemed to be the most interested spectator. the secretary took the bistoury from the bowl containing the sublimate and handed it to me with a bow. with a piece of cotton i washed the intended spot of operation and traced a line with a pencil on the arm. imagine with what emotions i worked! after we had once started, however, we forgot everything except the success of our operation. i omit a description of the details, as they might prove too gruesome. the woman fainted from shock just before we touched the bone,--nature thus supplying an effective, if rude, anæsthetic. we had forgotten about sewing together the flesh, and when we came to this a boy was dispatched to the owner's house for a package of stout needles. these were held in the fire for a few seconds, and then immersed when cold in the sublimate before they were used to join the flesh. by the time it was done, i was, myself, feeling very sick. finally i could stand the little room of torture no longer, and left the secretary dressing the wound. would she recover from the barbaric operation? this question kept coursing through my head as i vainly tried for a long time to go to sleep. the next day, after an early observation of my patient, who seemed to have recovered from the shock and thus gave at least this hope of success, i spent my time going around to visit the homes of the _seringueiros_. they were all as polite as their chief, and after exchanging the salute of "boa dia," they would invite me to climb up the ladder and enter the hut. here they would invariably offer me a cup of strong coffee. there were always two or three hammocks, of which i was given the one i liked best. the huts generally consist of two rooms with a few biscuit-boxes as chairs, and winchester rifles and some fancy-painted paddles to complete the furniture. the following day i arose with the sun and, after some coffee, asked a huge small-pox-scarred fellow to accompany me on my first excursion into the real jungle. up to this time i had only seen it from my back porch in remate de males and from the deck of the launch _carolina_, but now i was in the heart of the forest and would indulge in jungle trips to my heart's content. we entered through a narrow pathway called an _estrada_, whose gateway was guarded by a splendid palm-tree, like a cerberus at the gates of dark hades. the _estrada_ led us past one hundred to one hundred and fifty rubber trees, as it wound its way over brooks and fallen trees. each of the producing trees had its rough bark gashed with cuts to a height of ten to twelve feet all around its circumference. these marks were about an inch and a half in length. alongside of the tree was always to be found a stick, on the end of which were a dozen or so of small tin-cups used in collecting the rubber-milk. every worker has two _estradas_ to manage, and by tapping along each one alternately he obtains the maximum of the product. this particular _estrada_ was now deserted as the _seringueiro_ happened to be at work on the other one under his jurisdiction. it was in a sense agreeable to work there as the sun could not penetrate the dense foliage and the air was therefore cool. after we had walked for about an hour, my big guide complained of being tired and of feeling unwell. i told him he could go back to the camp and leave me to find my way alone. accordingly he left me and i now had the task of carrying without assistance my large x view-camera, a shotgun, a revolver, and a machete. gradually my ear caught a terrible sound which to the uninitiated would have seemed like the roaring of a dozen lions in combat, but the dreadful notes that vibrated through the forest were only those of the howling monkey. i always had a great desire to see one of this species in the act of performing this uncanny forest-concert, therefore i left the rubber pathway after placing my camera on the ground, up against a rubber tree, and commenced following the noise, cutting my way through the underbrush. i walked and walked, but the sound seemed to remain the same distance away, and i stopped to reconnoitre. i hesitated whether to proceed or not, fearing i might lose the way and not be able to find my camera again. the monkey was not visible at all; it fact, it was not possible to see anything, unless it was very close by, so dense was the foliage. i laid my automatic pistol on a fallen tree-trunk, and was trying to figure out the chances of getting a look at my simian friend and at the same time not losing my valuable property on the pathway, when i heard another startling sound, this time near-by. i prepared myself for whatever species of animal was due, and could feel the excitement a hunter knows when he thinks he is about to get a sight of big game. suddenly the undergrowth parted in front of me and a herd of wild boars came trotting out. i drew a bead on the biggest of the lot and fired, letting five soft-nose bullets go through his head to make sure; the others fled, and i hastened to the spot to examine my prize more closely. it was a boar of medium size, weighing in the neighbourhood of one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and he had a fine set of tusks. he was rather vicious-looking and was doing considerable kicking before he gave up the ghost. it was impossible for me to carry him through the bush owing to the fact that i had the valuable camera and apparatus to take care of, so i made a mental note of the spot, and cut his ears off. it took four hours' search to find the camera, in spite of my belief that i had not gone far, and it was late in the afternoon when i arrived at headquarters. the very next morning there was a good opportunity to see the smoking of rubber-milk. a _seringueiro_ had collected his product and when i went to the smoking-hut i found him busy turning over and over a big stick, resting on two horizontal guides, built on both sides of a funnel from which a dense smoke was issuing. on the middle of the stick was a huge ball of rubber. over this he kept pouring the milk from a tin-basin. gradually the substance lost its liquidity and coagulated into a beautiful yellow-brown mass which was rubber in its first crude shipping state. the funnel from which the smoke issued was about three feet high and of a conical shape. at its base was a fire of small wooden chips, which when burning gave forth an acrid smoke containing a large percentage of creosote. it is this latter substance which has the coagulating effect upon the rubber-milk. when the supply of milk was exhausted, he lifted the ball and stick off the guides and rolled it on a smooth plank to drive the moisture out of the newly-smoked rubber. then he was through for the day. he placed the stick on two forked branches and put some green leaves over the funnel to smother the fire. on top of the leaves he put a tin-can and a chunk of clay, then filled the hole in the ground with ashes. under this arrangement the fire would keep smouldering for twenty-four hours, to be used anew for the next repetition of the smoking process. in the afternoon we again went out to hunt. this time i took only a -gauge shotgun. as we travelled through the forest i was impressed once more by the fascination of the grandly extravagant vegetation. but there is little charm about it, nothing of the tranquillity our idyllic catskills or even the sterner adirondacks, create. there is no invitation to repose, no stimulus to quiet enjoyment, for the myriad life of the amazon's jungle forest never rests. there is always some sound or some movement which is bound to stir in one the instinct of self-preservation. you have to be constantly alive to the danger of disagreeable annoyance from the pests that abound, or of actual bodily harm from animals of the reptilian order. were i in possession of adequate descriptive power i could picture the impression that this jungle creates upon the mind of one from the north, but now, as i once more sit in a large city with sky-scrapers towering about me, and hear the rattling noise of the elevated railway train as it rushes past, my pen fails me and i have to remove myself on the wings of thought to those remote forests, fully realising, "_beatus ille, qui procul negotiis, ut_" etc., etc. then i can feel again the silence and the gloom that pervade those immense and wonderful woods. the few sounds of birds and animals are, generally, of a pensive and mysterious character, and they intensify the feeling of solitude rather than impart to it a sense of life and cheerfulness. sometimes in the midst of the noon-day stillness, a sudden yell or scream will startle one, coming from some minor fruit-eating animal, set upon by a carnivorous beast or serpent. morning and evening, the forest resounds with the fearful roar of the howling monkeys, and it is hard, even for the stoutest heart, to maintain its buoyancy of spirit. the sense of inhospitable wilderness, which the jungle inspires, is increased tenfold by this monstrous uproar. often in the still hours of night, a sudden crash will be heard, as some great branch or a dead tree falls to the ground. there are, besides, many sounds which are impossible to account for and which the natives are as much at a loss to explain as myself. sometimes a strange sound is heard, like the clang of an iron bar against a hard, hollow tree; or a piercing cry rends the air. these are not repeated, and the succeeding stillness only tends to heighten the unpleasant impression which they produce on the mind. the first thing that claimed our attention, shortly after we started, was a sound of breaking branches and falling leaves, somewhere in the distance. through the trees i could perceive that it was a big dark-grey monkey, which we had alarmed. he was scrambling up a tall tree when i fired at him. i evidently missed, for i could see him prepare for a mighty jump to a lower tree where he would be out of sight. but in the jump he got another load of pellets, which struck him in the back. his leap fell short of the mark and he landed headlong among some bushes, kicking violently as i came up to him. as he seemed strongly built and had a rather savage expression, it did not seem wise to tackle him with bare hands, therefore, as i desired to get him alive, i ran back and procured my focussing cloth, which i tied around his head. thus i got him safely back to the camp, where he was tied to a board and the bullets extracted from his flesh. then his wounds, which were not serious, were bound up and he was put into a cage with a bunch of bananas and a saucer of goat's milk to cheer him up a bit. the suddenness with which these monkey delicacies disappeared, convinced me that his complete recovery was a matter of only a short time, unless perchance some hungry rubber-worker, surreptitiously, had removed these viands while nobody was looking, for bananas and milk are things which will tempt any amazonian from the narrow path of rectitude; but it was not so in this case. the conviction as to recovery proved right, and with the improvement of his health he displayed a cheerful and fond disposition that decided me to take him back with me to new york when i should go. i have since been informed that he belonged to the humboldt sika species. i watched him for several months and came to like him for the innocent tricks he never tired of playing. one night he managed to liberate himself from the tree near the hut where he was tied. he disappeared for two days, but on the third he returned, chains and all. he had doubtless found life in the jungle trees not altogether cheerful with a heavy chain secured to his waist, and he had returned reconciled to captivity and regular meals. there is at present one specimen of this kind of monkey at the bronx zoölogical gardens in charge of the head keeper. at the time of low water, the so-called _prayas_ appear at the bends of the river; they grow with the accumulation of sand and mud. they are wide and often of a considerable area, and on them the alligators like to bask in the sunshine of early morning and late afternoon, and the _tartarugas_, or fresh-water turtles, lay their eggs. these eggs are laid in the months of september and october on moon-lit nights and are somewhat smaller than the ordinary hen's egg, the yolk tasting very much the same, but they are covered with a tough parchment-like shell. here on the upper amazon the people prepare a favourite meal by collecting these eggs and storing them for two or three weeks, when they tear open the shell and squeeze out the yolks, mixing them all up into a mush with the inevitable farinha. few people, except native brazilians, ever acquire a relish for this remarkable dish. i spent a whole day waiting for the elusive alligators on one of these sand-bars, but evidently they were too wise, for they never came within camera-range. i did, however, see some tapir-tracks, leading down to the water's edge. after the long wait i grew discouraged, and chose a camping place farther up the river, where i prepared a meal consisting of turtle eggs and river water. the meal was not absolutely undisturbed, as the air was full of a species of fly that derives its principal sustenance from the bodies of various dead animals always to be found through the jungle, whose teeming life crowds out all but those fittest to survive. i had begun my vigil before sunrise, when there are two or three hours very cool and humid. in the dry season the dew which collects is of the greatest importance to animal and plant life. for the tired and thirsty wanderer, the calyx of the beautiful scarlet orchid, which grows abundantly in this region, contains the refreshment of two or three ounces of clear, cool water. but you must look carefully into this cup of nature to see that no insects lurk in its depths to spoil the draught. i have previously described the breakfast table of the millionaire coronel r. da silva, with its black beans, the dreadful farinha, the black coffee, and the handful of mutilated _bolachas_ or biscuits. the only variable factor was the meat, sometimes wild hog, occasionally tapir, and very often the common green parrot or the howling monkey. at most meals the _pirarucu_ fish appears, especially on mondays when the rubber-workers have had the whole of sunday in which to indulge in the sport of shooting this gamy two-hundred-pound fish. they carry their _pirarucu_ to headquarters and courteously offer the best cuts to the coronel, afterwards cutting the rest into long strips and leaving them to dry in the sun. jerked beef was always to be relied upon when other supplies ran low. there must have been some terrible mystery connected with the milk. there were twenty-one cows on the place, but never a drop of milk from them was to be had. i was always afraid to ask any questions about this deficiency for fear i might be treading on dangerous ground, but with the lack of any other explanation i ascribe it to continual sickness from which the cattle must probably suffer, in common with every other living thing here. during the month of september, the number of patients from fever, pleurisy, and accidents, at floresta headquarters, amounted to % of the population. a fever resembling typhoid resulted in several cases from drinking the river-water. the coronel claimed that mangeroma indians living in the interior about miles from floresta had poisoned the creeks and affluents of the itecoahy to take revenge upon the traders who brought the much dreaded peruvian rubber-workers up to the itecoahy river estates. these peruvians are hated because they abduct the women of the indigenous tribes, when on their expeditions far into the forests where these tribes live, and consequently they are hunted down and their entrance to the region as far as possible prevented. at this morning hour in new york (floresta is on the same meridian as new york), thousands of toilers are entering the hot subways and legions of workers are filing into their offices and stuffy shops to take their places at the huge machinery which keeps the world in motion. at the very same hour a handful of rubber-workers are passing my house, returning from their first trip in the _estradas_, where they have been tapping the trees, and on their way to the huts and a frugal breakfast. here in the wilds of brazil there are no subways, no worry about the "market," nor indeed any thought for the morrow. nature supplies the rubber trees, and the "boss" the tools to work them with; the philosophy of the rubber-worker goes no farther. a shirt, trousers, and a hat are all the dress that fashion requires, and often the worker even finds the shirt superfluous. he wears a pair of overalls, and carries slung over his shoulder his rifle and the little hatchet for tapping the trees, besides a small rubber bag in which he keeps a supply of farinha and jerked beef, should he be prevented from reaching his hut in regulation time. the _seringueiro_ is free in his movements and in his mind, he is a quick and keen observer of nature, and an expert in knowledge of the cries and calls of the animals of the forest. he knows their habits and hiding-places to perfection, and he could probably astonish the naturalist by informing him of many things he has observed that his brother scientist never has heard of. he knows the names of the trees and plants in the forest and what they can be used for, though his knowledge of them is often supplemented by superstitious imaginings. he knows the multitudinous fish of the amazon, whether they are to be caught with a net, speared, or shot with bow and arrows, or, if the hunter is of a progressive disposition, shot with rifle ball. there are varieties that have, as yet, not been seen, classified, or identified by the scientist of to-day--i am positive of having seen several such. the inhabitant of this region is clean in his habits and in his mind as soon as he gets away from the evil influence of civilisation--which for him is the town of remate de males or "culmination of evils." he takes a bath at least twice a day, and attends closely to the cleanliness of his wardrobe, which for that matter does not absorb any considerable amount of time. as a rule, he is industrious, but frequent attacks of fever, dysentery, liver and spleen complaints, or pneumonia make him in the end, like all living things here not native to the forests, sluggish in general, and irritable on occasion. a little distance from the headquarters lies a beautiful lake. it is not wider than the itecoahy itself, four hundred feet on an average, and is about five miles long. it runs parallel with the river, and has only one outlet. in the dry season this amounts to nothing more than a little rivulet across which a large fallen tree has formed a natural bridge, but in january, when the waters rise, the creek is so full that the servants of coronel da silva can wash the linen there. after some weeks of sojourn at floresta, i found my way to this lake, and it was here that i was able to observe some of the largest specimens of amazonian reptiles in their haunts, where the equatorial sun had full opportunity to develop an amazing growth of faunal and floral life. it was a most enchanting stretch of water. i had heard of the dangers lurking beneath its surface long before i saw it, so when i arrived there one morning i was surprised to find a placid lake, set in picturesque and romantic surroundings. my first impulse was to exclaim, partly to myself, and partly to the indian joão who accompanied me, "why, this is lake innocence," so peaceful did it appear. in fact, so much did it charm me that during the remainder of my stay at floresta there was hardly a day some part of which i did not spend in the immediate vicinity of this lake. but it was treacherous. it was the home of six or seven old alligators and of young ones--too numerous to count; the oldest reaching a length of about seventeen feet. they would lie perfectly still under the banks, among the dead branches and snags, which made the shores generally inaccessible to boat or canoe, but when a person approached they would make their presence known by violent splashing in the water and repeated loud grunts, very much resembling those of a walrus. then they would burrow under the soft mud and remain quiet for an hour or two. in the early forenoon, before the sun became too hot, they would sun themselves, but in the sweltering mid-day hours they remained buried in the mud, and were then very hard to rouse. i found, on the shores of the lake, two alligator nests, formed of many twigs and branches stuck together, half in the water and half in the soft slimy mud. there they deposited their eggs, oblong tough ones; and one could always count on finding the female in the neighbourhood, should one desire to visit her. i came near stepping on one of these female alligators during a morning hunt with my camera. i was intently examining a group of eggs i found under a cluster of branches, when i was startled by a splash in the water and a loud grunt. as fast as the muddy ground would let me, i scrambled up the bank, and when i reached the top i saw the alligator swimming away from the very spot where i had been standing, its small close-set eyes fastened on me. then it disappeared in the mud. my next encounter occurred one forenoon, when i was sitting close to the dried-up canal which formed the outlet of the lake. it was almost mid-day. i was sitting in the shade, safe from the blazing sun, enjoying a peaceful smoke. the air was fairly vibrating with heat, causing the blood to surge through my veins. not a sound was heard except the irritating buzz of the ever-present mosquitoes. for some time i had been aware of the slow, stealthy movement of a large body near-by, though only half consciously. the heat made me sluggish and sleepy, but suddenly i awoke to the fact that the moving thing, whatever it might be, was near me. mechanically, i released the "safety" of my automatic pistol, and then realised that out of the reeds near me was creeping a medium-sized alligator. he was making straight for the water, and i do not know whether he was cognisant of my presence or not. he was moving steadily, advancing a few inches, stopping for a minute, then resuming the journey. i believe i was not more than five feet from the head as it emerged from the fringe of reeds. i raised my camera, secured a focus, and snapped the shutter. the click of the apparatus and perhaps my movement drew his attention. he stopped abruptly. the long jaws opened toward me, displaying an enormous expanse of pink flesh and two rows of shining teeth. i lost not a second in throwing aside the camera and jumping back to a position of relative safety, whence i fired into the open mouth of the beast. i killed him. on examining the carcass, i noticed that he had unusually large eyes, indicating that he was a young specimen. a few days later i again went to this lake--which, from my remarks, had now come to be generally called "lago innocencia"--to catch fish with my indian friend joão. he carried a bow, four arrows with detachable heads, and a harpoon six feet long. the little boat which we found close to the outlet of the lake was pushed away from the shore, we each seized one of the peculiarly decorated paddles, and were off, looking for finny game. we paddled quietly along near the shore, now and then receiving a bump from some concealed snag which nearly upset us. it requires considerable skill to navigate one of these poorly-made dugouts, the slightest move causing a disproportionate amount of disturbance of equilibrium. suddenly joão jumped up, his black eyes glowing with excitement. he motioned me to keep quiet, but it was quiet superfluous for him to do this, as i was unable to talk, or even look around, for fear the canoe might upset. he seized the harpoon, and with a powerful swing sent it into the water ahead of us, at the same time grasping the line which was attached to the end. the spear sank deep into the water, and then by the vivacity with which it danced around i could tell there was something on the end of it. as he began to pull in the line, the struggle became so violent that i crept forward on my knees in the bottom of the canoe and helped him recover the spear. only after some strenuous balancing feats and a stiff fight by both of us, did we land our game. it was a large flat fish at least four feet square, with a long whip-shaped tail, at the base of which were two barbed bones each about three and a half inches in length. our first act was to sever this tail with a hatchet, as it was far too active to make the fish a pleasant neighbour in close quarters. when the sting-ray, or, as the brazilians call it, the _araya_, was dead, i cut out the two barbed bones and no longer wondered why these fish are so dreaded by those who know them. joão told me that they attack anyone who ventures into the water, and with their sharp, barbed bones inflict a wound that in most cases proves fatal, for the bones are brittle and break off in the flesh. superstition and carelessness are the main factors that make the wound dangerous; the people believe too much in an ever-present evil spirit which abides in all the vicious and fiendish animals of the forest and swamp. once wounded by any of these malignant creatures, they believe there is no hope of recovery and they hardly try to survive. besides, lack of proper care and treatment of a wound generally results in its terminating in a case of septicaemia and ultimately gangrene. i have mentioned the _pirarucu_ several times as being the largest edible fish of the amazon. when full grown, it attains a weight of two hundred and fifty pounds. in lake innocence we saw this remarkable fish feeding close to the shore in shallow water, surrounded by a school of young ones. the old one was about seven feet in length and the others but recently hatched, from nine to ten inches. the indian who pointed them out to me stood up in the bow of the canoe and, fitting one of his five-foot arrows to the bow-string, sent it through the air and into the head of the big fellow. the bow which he used was of his own manufacture. it was about seven and a half feet long, very tough and straight, and made of caripari wood. the shafts of the arrows were made of long straight reeds, the stalks of a certain species of wild cane. the detachable part of the arrow is a short but extremely hard piece of wood upon which is fitted an iron head with two barbs. when the point pierces the flesh this hard piece comes off, but remains attached to the shaft by a short stout cord. this allows the shaft free play so that it will not break during the struggles of the victim. then there is a line attached to the head itself so that the hunter can handle the struggling animal or fish by means of it and of the shaft of the arrow. the whole contrivance is a marvel of ingenuity in meeting the conditions the amazon hunter is called on to face. when the arrow struck this particular _pirarucu_, at close range, he made straight for the shore, hauling the canoe and its contents after him at considerable speed. we got tangled among the low branches and fought the fish in considerable danger of being overturned--and i should not at all care to be capsized on lake innocence. finally, we got our prize ashore. i sent the indian to headquarters, telling him to go, as fast as he could and bring assistance so that we could get the fish home. i myself mounted guard over the carcass to see that neither the turkey buzzards nor the carnivorous mammals should destroy it. if we had left it alone for even a short time, we would have found, on our return, little to remind us of its existence. the indian returned shortly with two men. they stuck a pole through the great gills of the _pirarucu_ and in this fashion carried it to the settlement. these waters contain great quantities of another and smaller fish known as the _piranha_, scientifically termed _serraselmus piraya_. this is quite as much dreaded by the natives as the alligator, or even as the shark along the coast. its ferocity seems to know no bounds. it will attack other fish and bite large pieces out of their fins and tails. although it is not much larger than the herring it can make fatal attacks on man when in large numbers. mr. c.b. brown in his work on guiana gives the following account of this fish: the _piranhas_ in the corentins were so abundant and were so ferocious that at times it was dangerous to go into the water to a greater depth than the knees. even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would swim in and make a dash close to our legs, and then retreat to a short distance. they actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn through the water astern of the boat. a tapir which i shot as it swam across the water had his nose bitten off by them whilst we were towing it to the shore. the men used to catch some of them for the sport of it, and in taking the hook from the mouth produced a wound from which the blood ran freely. on throwing them back into the water in this injured condition, they were immediately set upon and devoured by their companions. even as one was being hauled in on the line, its comrades, seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once. i heard about these fiends but had no opportunity to witness their ferocity until one day, in crossing the river in a dugout, we wounded a wild hog that had also decided to cross at the same time and at the same place. the man with the stern paddle seized his machete as he saw the hog swimming close by the port-side of the canoe and stabbed it in the shoulder, intending to tow it ashore and have a luxurious dinner of roast hog. but his dream was never realised, for the _piranhas_ which had tasted the blood, i suppose, came in large numbers and set upon the unfortunate hog. in a minute the water seemed to be boiling, so great was the activity of the little demons as they tore away pieces of the flesh until it was vanishing by inches. when we reached the other shore there was not enough left of the hog to furnish a single meal. later i learned that certain indian tribes leave their dead in the river for the _piranhas_ to strip the flesh from the bones. it is then customary to take the remaining skeleton and let it dry in the sun, after which it is rubbed with the juice of the _urucu_ plant (the _bixa orellana_), which produces a bright scarlet colour. then it is hung up in the hut and the indians consider that a token of great reverence has been thus bestowed on the deceased. before leaving the subject of fish, i will mention another species, smaller than the _piranha_, yet, although not as ferocious, the cause of much dread and annoyance to the natives living near the banks of the rivers. in fact, throughout the amazon this little worm-like creature, called the _kandiroo_, is so omnipresent that a bath-house of a particular construction is necessary. the kandiroo is usually three to four inches long and one sixteenth in thickness. it belongs to the lampreys, and its particular group is the myxinos or slime-fish. its body is coated with a peculiar mucus. it is dangerous to human beings, because when they are taking a bath in the river it will approach and with a swift powerful movement penetrate one of the natural openings of the body whence it can be removed only by a difficult and dangerous operation. a small but hard and pointed dorsal fin acts as a barb and prevents the fish from being drawn back. while i was in remate de males the local doctor was called upon to remove a _kandiroo_ from the urethra of a man. the man subsequently died from the hemorrhage following the operation. largely through the danger of the attack from this scourge, though perhaps not entirely, the natives have adopted the method of bathing in use. a plunge into the river is unheard of, and bath-houses are constructed so as to make this unnecessary. a hole about eighteen inches square is cut in the middle of the floor--built immediately above the water--through which the bather, provided with a calabash or gourd of the bread-fruit tree, dips water up and pours it over himself after he has first examined it carefully. the indigenous indians, living in the remote parts of the forest, do not use this mode of protection, but cover the vulnerable portions of the body carefully with strips of bark, which render complete immersion less dangerous. during my walks in the forest i often came across snakes of considerable length, but never found any difficulty in killing them, as they were sluggish in their movements and seemed to be inoffensive. the rubber-workers, who had no doubt had many encounters with reptiles, told me about large _sucurujus_ or boa-constrictors, which had their homes in the river not many miles from headquarters. they told me that these snakes were in possession of hypnotic powers, but this, like many other assertions, should be taken with a large grain of salt. however, i will relate an incident which occurred while i lived at floresta, and in which i have absolute faith, as i had the opportunity of talking to the persons involved in the affair. josé perreira. a rubber-worker, had left headquarters after having delivered his weekly report on the rubber extracted, and was paddling his canoe at a good rate down the stream, expecting to reach his hut before midnight. arriving at a recess in the banks formed by the confluence of a small creek called igarapé do inferno, or the creek of hell, he thought that he heard the noise of some game, probably a deer or tapir, drinking, and he silently ran his canoe to the shore, where he fastened it to a branch, at the same time holding his rifle in readiness. finally, as he saw nothing, he returned to the canoe and continued his way down-stream. hardly more than ten yards from the spot, he stopped again and listened. he heard only the distant howling of a monkey. this he was used to on his nightly trips. no! there was something else! he could not say it was a sound. it was a strange something that called him back to the bank that he had left but a few minutes before. he fastened his canoe again to the same branch and crept up to the same place, feeling very uneasy and uncomfortable, but seeing nothing that could alarm him--nothing that he could draw the bead of his rifle on. yet, something there was! for the second time he left, without being able to account for the mysterious force that lured him to this gloomy, moon-lit place on the dark, treacherous bank. in setting out in the stream again he decided to fight off the uncanny, unexplainable feeling that had called him back, but scarcely a stone's throw from the bank he had the same desire to return,--a desire that he had never before experienced. he went again, and looked, and meditated over the thing that he did not understand. he had not drunk _cachassa_ that day and was consequently quite sober; he had not had fever for two weeks and was in good health physically as well as mentally; he had never so much indulged in the dissipations of civilisation that his nerves had been affected; he had lived all his life in these surroundings and knew no fear of man or beast. and now, this splendid type of manhood, free and unbound in his thoughts and unprejudiced by superstition, broke down completely and hid his face in his hands, sobbing like a child in a dark room afraid of ghosts. he had been called to this spot three times without knowing the cause, and now, the mysterious force attracting him, as a magnet does a piece of iron, he was unable to move. helpless as a child he awaited his fate. luckily three workers from headquarters happened to pass on their way to their homes, which lay not far above the "creek of hell," and when they heard sobbing from the bank they called out. the hypnotised _seringueiro_ managed to state that he had three times been forced, by some strange power, to the spot where he now was, unable to get away, and that he was deadly frightened. the rubber-workers, with rifles cocked, approached in their canoe, fully prepared to meet a jaguar, but when only a few yards from their comrade they saw directly under the root where the man was sitting the head of a monstrous boa-constrictor, its eyes fastened on its prey. though it was only a few feet from him, he had been unable to see it. one of the men took good aim and fired, crushing the head of the snake, and breaking the spell, but the intended victim was completely played out and had to lie down in the bottom of the canoe, shivering as if with ague. the others took pains to measure the length of the snake before leaving. it was palmas or feet inches. in circumference it measured palmas, corresponding to a diameter of inches. its mouth, they said, was two palmas or sixteen inches, but how they mean this to be understood i do not know. this event happened while i was living at headquarters. i had a long talk with perreira, but could not shake his statement, nor that of the three others; nevertheless, i remained a sceptic as to this alleged charming or mesmeric power of the snakes, at least so far as man is concerned. at that time we were awaiting the arrival of the monthly launch from the town of remate de males, and had spent a day weighing rubber at the camp of one of the employees, half a day's journey from headquarters. the rubber-pellets were loaded into our large canoe to take up to floresta. we spent the evening drinking black coffee and eating some large, sweet pineapples, whereafter we all took a nap lasting until midnight, when we got up to start on our night trip. it had been considered best to travel at night, when it was nice and cool with none of the pestering insects to torture us, and we were soon paddling the heavy canoe at a merry rate, smoking our pipes and singing in the still, dark night. soon we rounded a point where the mighty trees, covered with orchids and other parasitic plants, sent their branches down to the very water which in its depths was hiding the dreaded water-snakes. the only sound we heard was the weird calling of the night-owl, the "mother of the moon" as the indians call it. except this and the lapping sound of water, as we sped along, nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the night. i was in the act of lighting another pipe when one of the men cried out: "what's this?" we all stopped paddling and stared ahead at a large dark object, resting on a moon-lit sand-bar not far from us. then someone said, "_sucuruju_." few people can comprehend the feeling that creeps into one's heart when this word is pronounced, under such circumstances, in the far-off forest, in the middle of the night. the word means boa-constrictor, but it meant a lot more at this moment. an indescribable feeling of awe seized me. i knew now that i was to face the awful master of the swamps, the great silent monster of the river, of which so much had been said, and which so few ever meet in its lair. running the canoe ashore we advanced in single file. i now had a chance to inspect the object. on a soft, muddy sand-bar, half hidden by dead branches, i beheld a somewhat cone-shaped mass about seven feet in height. from the base of this came the neck and head of the snake, flat on the ground, with beady eyes staring at us as we slowly advanced and stopped. the snake was coiled, forming an enormous pile of round, scaly monstrosity, large enough to crush us all to death at once. we had stopped at a distance of about fifteen feet from him, and looked at each other. i felt as if i were spellbound, unable to move a step farther or even to think or act on my own initiative. the snake still made no move, but in the clear moonlight i could see its body expand and contract in breathing; its yellow eyes seeming to radiate a phosphorescent light. i felt no fear, nor any inclination to retreat, yet i was now facing a beast that few men had ever succeeded in seeing. thus we stood looking at each other, scarcely moving an eyelid, while the great silent monster looked at us. i slid my right hand down to the holster of my automatic pistol, the mm. luger, and slowly removed the safety lock, at the same time staring into the faces of the men. in this manner i was less under the spell of the mesmerism of the snake, and could to some extent think and act. i wheeled around while i still held control of my faculties, and, perceiving a slight movement of the snake's coils, i fired point-blank at the head, letting go the entire chamber of soft-nose bullets. instantly the other men woke up from their trance and in their turn fired, emptying their winchesters into the huge head, which by this time was raised to a great height above us, loudly hissing in agony. our wild yelling echoed through the deep forest. the snake uncoiled itself and writhing with pain made for the water's edge. by this time we were relieved of the terrible suspense, but we took care to keep at a respectful distance from the struggling reptile and the powerful lashing of its tail, which would have killed a man with one blow. after half an hour the struggles grew weaker, yet we hesitated to approach even when it seemed quiet and had its head and a portion of its body submerged in the water. we decided to stay through the night and wait here a day, as i was very anxious to skin the snake and take the trophy home to the states as a souvenir of a night's adventure in this far-off jungle of the amazon. we went up in the bushes and lit a fire, suspended our hammocks to some tree-trunks, and slept soundly not more than ten yards from the dying leviathan. we all got up before sunrise, had our coffee in haste, and ran down to see the snake. it was dead, its head practically shot to pieces. we set to work, stretching the huge body out on the sand-bar, and by eight o'clock we had the entire snake flat on the ground, ready to measure and skin. it was a most astonishing sight, that giant snake lying there full length, while around it gathered six amazon indians and the one solitary new yorker, here in the woods about as far from civilisation as it is possible to get. i proceeded to take measurements and used the span between my thumb and little finger tips as a unit, knowing that this was exactly eight inches. beginning at the mouth of the snake, i continued to the end and found that this unit was contained eighty-four times. thus times divided by gives exactly feet as the total length. in circumference, the unit, the "palma," was contained times and a fraction, around the thickest part of the body. from this i derived the diameter feet inch. these measurements are the result of very careful work. i went from the tail to the nose over again so as to eliminate any error, and then asked the men with me also to take careful measurements in their own manner, which only confirmed the figures given above. then we proceeded to skin the snake, which was no easy task under the fierce sun now baking our backs. great flocks of _urubus_, or vultures, had smelled the carcass and were circling above our heads waiting for their share of the spoils. each man had his section to work on, using a wooden club and his machete. the snake had been laid on its belly and it was split open, following the spinal column throughout its length, the ventral part being far too hard and unyielding. about two o'clock in the afternoon we had the work finished and the carcass was thrown into the river, where it was instantly set upon by the vigilant _piranhas_ and alligators. standing in front of this immense skin i could not withhold my elation. "men," i said, "here am i on this the th day of july, , standing before a snake-skin the size of which is wonderful. when i return to my people in the united states of america, and tell them that i have seen and killed a boa-constrictor nearly eighteen metres in length, they will laugh and call me a man with a bad tongue." whereupon my friend, the chief, rose to his full height and exclaimed in a grieved tone: "sir, you say that your people in the north will not believe that we have snakes like this or even larger. that is an insult to brazilians, yet you tell us that in your town nova york there are _barracãos_ that have thirty-five or even forty stories on top of each other! how do you expect us to believe such an improbable tale as that?" i was in a sad plight between two realities of such mighty proportions that they could be disbelieved in localities far removed from each other. we brought the skin to headquarters, where i prepared it with arsenical soap and boxed it for later shipment to new york. the skin measured, when dried, feet inches, with a width of feet inch. kind reader, if you have grown weary of my accounts of the reptilian life of the amazon, forgive me, but such an important role does this life play in the every-day experience of the brave rubber-workers that the descriptions could not be omitted. a story of life in the amazon jungle without them would be a deficient one, indeed. there is a bird in the forests, before referred to, called by the indians "_a mae da lua_," or the "mother of the moon." it is an owl and makes its habitation in the large, dead, hollow trees in the depths of the jungle, far away from the river front, and it will fly out of its nest only on still, moonlit nights, to pour forth its desolate and melancholy song. this consists of four notes uttered in a major key, then a short pause lasting but a few seconds, followed by another four notes in the corresponding minor key. after a little while the last two notes in the minor key will be heard and then all is still. when the lonely wanderer on the river in a canoe, or sitting in his hammock, philosophises over the perplexing questions of life, he is assisted in his dreary analysis by the gloomy and hair-raising cry of the mother of the moon. when the first four notes strike his ear, he will listen, thinking that some human being in dire distress is somewhere out in the swamps, pitifully calling for help, but in so painful a manner that it seems as if all hope were abandoned. still listening, he will hear the four succeeding melancholy notes, sounding as if the desolate sufferer were giving up the ghost in a last desperate effort. the final two notes, following after a brief interval, tell him that he now hears the last despairing sobs of a condemned soul. so harrowing and depressing is this song that, once heard, the memory of it alone will cause one's hair to stand on end and he will be grateful when too far away to hear again this sob of the forest. a surprise was in store for me one day when i visited the domicile of a rubber-worker living at the extreme end of the estate. i expected to find a dwelling of the ordinary appearance, raised on poles above the ground, but instead this hut was built among the branches of a tree some twenty feet above the level of the earth. i commenced climbing the rickety ladder leading to the door of the hut. half-way up a familiar sound reached my ear. yes, i had surely heard that sound before, but far away from this place. when i finally entered the habitation and had exchanged greetings with the head of the family, i looked for the source of the sound. turning round i saw a woman sitting at a _sewing-machine_, working on a shirt evidently for her husband. i examined this machine with great curiosity and found it to be a "new home" sewing-machine from new york. what journeys and transfers had not this apparatus undergone before it finally settled here in a tree-top in this far-off wilderness! one afternoon while sitting in the office at headquarters discussing amazonian politics with coronel da silva, francisco, a rubber-worker, came up and talked for a while with the coronel, who then turned to me and said: "do you want to get the skin of a black jaguar? francisco has just killed one on his _estrada_ while collecting rubber-milk; he will take you down to his _barracão_, and from there he will lead you to the spot where the jaguar lies, and there you can skin him." i thanked francisco for his information and went for my machete, having my pistol already in my belt. i joined him at the foot of the river bank outside the main building, where he was waiting for me in his canoe, and we paddled down-stream to his hut. on our way (he lived about two miles below floresta) he told me that he was walking at a good rate on the narrow path of the _estrada_ when he was attracted by a growling and snarling in the thicket. he stopped and saw a black jaguar grappling with a full-grown buck in a small opening between the trees. the jaguar had felled the buck by jumping on its back from the branches of a tree, and, with claws deeply imbedded in the neck, broke its spine and opened its throat, when francisco drew the bead on the head or neck of the jaguar and fired. the jaguar fell, roaring with pain. francisco was too much in a hurry to leave the narrow path of the rubber-workers and go to the spot where the victim was writhing in its death agonies, but hastened on for his dinner. remembering later that the coronel had offered an attractive sum of money for any large game they would bag for my benefit, and having finished his dinner, he paddled up to headquarters and reminded the coronel of the promised reward. when we came to the hut of the rubber-worker a large dog greeted us. this dog looked like a cross between a great dane and a russian greyhound; it was rather powerfully built, although with a softness of movement that did not correspond with its great frame. francisco whistled for the dog to follow us. he carried his winchester and a machete, while i discovered that my pistol had been left unloaded when i hurried from headquarters, so i was armed with nothing but a machete. after walking for nearly half an hour, we slowed down a little and francisco looked around at the trees and said that he thought we were on the spot where he had heard the growlings of the jaguar. it was nearing half-past five and the sun was low so we launched ourselves into the thicket towards the spot where the jaguar had been killed. we advanced rapidly; then slower and slower. the great dog at first had been very brave, but the closer we came to the spot we were looking for, the more timid the dog became, until it uttered a fearful yell of fright, and with its tail between its legs slunk back. there was nothing to do but to leave the contemptible brute alone with its fear, so we pushed ahead. suddenly we came to the place, but there was no jaguar. there were plenty of evidences of the struggle. the mutilated body of a beautiful marsh-deer was lying on the moist ground, pieces of fur and flesh were scattered around, and the blood had even spurted on the surrounding leaves and branches. francisco had wounded the jaguar, no doubt--at least he said so, but plainly he had not killed it nor disabled it to such extent that it had remained on the spot. we commenced searching in the underbrush, for it was evident it could not be far off. the bloody track could be followed for some distance; in fact, in one place the thorny roots of the remarkable _pachiuba_ palm-tree, the roots that the women here use for kitchen graters, had torn off a bunch of long, beautiful hair from the sides of the jaguar, which very likely was weak and was dragging itself to some cluster of trees where it could be safe, or else to find a point of vantage to fall upon its pursuers. we searched for some time. the forest was growing dark, and the many noises of the night began. first came the yelping of the toucan, which sounded like the carefree yap-yap of some clumsy little pup. then came the chattering of the night monkeys and the croaking of the thousands of frogs that hide in the swamps. and still no traces of the jaguar. again we separated. the dog had run home utterly scared. now and then we would whistle so as not to lose track of each other. i regretted that i had been so careless as to leave my ammunition at home, as it might happen that the wounded and enraged cat would spring at us from some dark cluster of branches, and then a machete would hardly be an adequate weapon. we searched for over an hour until it was pitch dark, but, sad to relate, we never found that jaguar. we went home silently. francisco did not secure the reward. this incident is of no particular interest as the result of the excursion was nil and our humour consequently very bad. but it serves to show how the mind of man will be influenced by local surroundings, and how it adapts itself to strange customs, and how a novice may be so greatly enthused that he will, half-armed, enter upon a reckless hunt for a wounded jaguar. chapter vi the fatal march through the forest thus i lived among these kind and hospitable people for five months until one day my lust for further excitement broke out again, induced by a seemingly commonplace notice posted outside the door of the storeroom. it read: "the men--marques, freitas, anisette, magellaes, jerome, and brabo--are to make themselves ready to hunt caoutchouc in the eastern virgin forest." puzzled as to the meaning of this, i consulted the chief and was informed that coronel da silva was about to equip and send out a small expedition into the forests, far beyond the explored territory, to locate new caoutchouc trees, which were to be cut and the rubber or caoutchouc collected, whereupon the expedition was to return to headquarters with these samples and a report on the number of trees observed. this greatly interested me, and i asked the chief, marques, whose wife i had operated upon previously, if i could accompany him on this trip. he consented unwillingly, saying that it was very dangerous and that the same number of men that went out never came back. however, this was too rare a chance to let pass, and i made my preparations to accompany the expedition on this journey into regions where even the native _caucheros_ had never before been. on a monday morning we all assembled at the floresta headquarters, where coronel da silva bade us good-bye, and at the same time once more warned me against venturing on this trip, but i was determined and could not be persuaded to give it up. the expedition consisted of the six men, above mentioned, all, except the chief, marques, unmarried. after leaving the main building we went down to the store-room where we chose the necessary articles of food--enough to last us for three or four weeks. our staples were to be dried _pirarucu_, the largest fish of the amazon, some dried or "jerked" beef, and a large quantity of the farinha, the eternal woody and unpalatable meal that figures on every brazilian's table. besides these, we carried sugar, coffee, rice, and several bottles of "painkiller" from fulton street, n.y. hammocks and cooking utensils completed our outfit. i took with me a large plate camera, photographic plates and paper, chemicals, scales and weights; also a magnifying glass, a primitive surgical outfit, and a hypodermic needle with several dozen prepared "ampules." my men were armed with the usual . winchesters and some ancient muzzle-loaders, while i had my mm. automatic luger pistol. when we were fully packed, each man carried a load weighing eighty-five pounds, strapped by means of bark strips to the shoulders, with his rifle in his left hand and a machete to clear the path in his right. thus equipped, we left headquarters, not knowing how or when we would see it again, while the natives fired a farewell salute, wishing us god-speed. after a few hours by canoe, up the itecoahy, we left the river and turned our faces inland. our way now led through dense forest, but for four hours we travelled in a region familiar to the rubber-workers, and we were able to follow pathways used by them in their daily work. let no one think that a jungle trail is broad and easy. as i stumbled along the tortuous, uneven path, in the sweltering mid-day heat, pestered by legions of _piums_ or sand-flies and the omnipresent mosquitoes, climbing, fallen trees that impeded us at every turn, i thought that i had reached the climax of discomfort. little could i know that during the time to come i was to look back upon this day as one of easy, delightful promenading. the four hours' march brought us to an open place, apparently a clearing, where the _estrada_ suddenly seemed to stop. exhausted, i threw myself on the moist ground while the chief explained our position. he said that we were now at the end of the cut _estrada_ and that beyond this we would have no path to follow, though he had somewhat explored the region farther on the year previous, during a similar expedition. we found that the undergrowth had been renewed to such an extent that his old track was indistinguishable, and we had to hew our every step. when we resumed the march i received a more thorough understanding of what the word _jungle_ really means. ahead of us was one solid and apparently impenetrable wall of vegetation, but my men attacked it systematically with their heavy machetes. slowly we advanced, but i wondered that we made any progress at all. the skill of these sons of the forest in cutting a pathway with their long knives became a constant wonder to me. where an inexperienced person would have lost himself, looking for a round-about easy course, these men moved straight ahead, hewing and hacking right and left, the play of the swift blades seemingly dissolving all obstacles in their path. some idea of the density of the growth can be gathered from the fact that if a man moved off he became instantly invisible although he might be only a yard or two away. late in the afternoon we reached a small hut or _tambo_ built on the former trip by the chief. it was nothing but a roof on poles, but it was a welcome sight to us as it meant rest and food. we were tired and hungry and were glad to find a small creek close by where we could refresh ourselves, taking care to keep out of the reach of the alligators and water-snakes swimming close to the weeds by the shore. for our supper we gave the dried _pirarucu_ flesh a boil and soaked some farinha in water, eating this tasteless repast with as much gusto as we would if it had been roast beef. let me here recommend this diet for any gourmet whose appetite has been impaired, and he will soon be able to enjoy a stew of shoe-leather. one of the men, a good-natured athlete, jerome by name, was sent out after fresh meat, and brought back a weird little animal resembling a fox (_cuti_). we decided to test it as a stew, but, lacking salt, we found the dried _pirarucu_ preferable. the excitement of the night was furnished by ants, which had built a nest in the _tambo_ where we had swung our hammocks. the visitors swarmed up poles and down ropes and would not be denied entrance. wads of cotton smeared with vaseline and bandaged around the fastenings of the hammock proved no obstacle. it was impossible to sleep; mosquitoes came to the assistance of the ants and managed to find their way through the mosquito-net. to complete the general "cheerfulness," the tree-tops were full of little spider-monkeys whispering mournfully throughout the dark and showery night. the second day's march took us through the region which the chief had explored the year before, and we spent the night in another _tambo_ built on that occasion. our progress, however, was made with increasing difficulty, as the land had become more hilly and broken and the forest, if possible, more dense and wild. we were now at a considerable distance from the river-front and in a region where the yearly inundation could never reach. this stage of the journey remains among the few pleasant memories of that terrible expedition, through what i may call the gastronomic revel with which it ended. jerome had succeeded in bringing down with his muzzle-loader a _mutum_, a bird which in flavour and appearance reminds one of a turkey, while i was so lucky as to bag a nice fat deer (marsh-deer). this happened at _tambo_ no. . we called each successive hut by its respective number. here we had a great culinary feast, so great that during the following days i thought of this time with a sad "_ils sont passé, ces jours de fête_." now, guided by the position of the sun, we held a course due west, our ultimate destination being a far-off region where the chief expected to find large areas covered with fine caoutchouc trees. the ground was hilly and interspersed with deeply cut creeks where we could see the ugly heads of the _jararaca_ snakes pop up as if they were waiting for us. there was only one way of crossing these creeks; this was by felling a young tree across the stream for a bridge. a long slender stick was then cut and one end placed at the bottom of the creek, when each man seizing this in his right hand steadied himself over the tree to the other side of the deep treacherous water. it required steady nerve to walk this trunk, such as i did not possess, therefore i found it safer to hang from the levelled bole by my hands and travel across in that manner. _tambo_ no. we constructed ourselves, as we did every other for the rest of the journey. we always selected a site near a creek that we were following, and cleared away the underbrush so as to leave an open area of about twenty-five feet square, always allowing one tree to remain for a corner. a framework of saplings tied together with strips of _matamata_ bark was raised for a roof, and across this were laid gigantic leaves of the _murumuru_, twenty-five to thirty feet long. the hammocks were then strung beneath, and we managed to keep comparatively sheltered from the nightly rain that always occurs in these deep forests. after the frugal meal of _pirarucu_ and dried farinha, or of some game we had picked up during the march, we would creep into our hammocks and smoke, while the men told hunting stories, or sang their monotonous, unmelodious tribal songs. it must have been about two o'clock in the morning when i was awakened by a terrific roaring which fairly made the forest tremble. sitting up and staring fearfully into the darkness, i heard the crashing of underbrush and trees close upon us. my first thought was of a hurricane, but in the confusion of my senses, stunned by the impact of sound, i had few clear impressions. my companions were calling one another. the noise grew louder, more terrifying. suddenly the little world around me went to smash in one mad upheaval. the roof of the _tambo_ collapsed and fell upon us. at the same instant i felt some huge body brush past me, hurling me sprawling to the ground. the noise was deafening, mingled with the shrieks and excited yellings of my men, but the object passed swiftly in the direction of the creek. some one now thought of striking a light to discover the extent of the damage. the _tambo_ was a wreck; the hammocks were one tangled mass. jerome, who had jumped from his hammock when he first heard the noise, followed the "hurricane" to the creek and soon solved the mystery of the storm that swept our little camp. he told us, it was a jaguar, which had sprung upon the back of a large tapir while the animal was feeding in the woods behind our _tambo_. the tapir started for the creek in the hope of knocking the jaguar off its back by rushing through the underbrush; not succeeding in this, its next hope was the water in the creek. it had chosen a straight course through our _tambo_. the next day we were successful in killing two howling monkeys; these were greeted with loud yells of joy, as we had not been able to locate any game during the last twenty-four hours' march. this is easy to understand. we were much absorbed in cutting our way through the bushes and the game was scared away long before we could sight it. after the ninth day of wearisome journeying, the chief found signs of numerous caoutchouc trees, indicating a rich district, and it was accordingly decided that _tambo_ no. should be our last. we were now fully miles from the floresta headquarters and some miles back in the absolutely unknown. that night the temperature went down to ° fahrenheit, a remarkable drop so close to the equator and on such low ground, but it was undoubtedly due to the fact that the sun never penetrates the dark foliage of the surrounding dense forests where the swamps between the hills give off their damp exhalations. up to this point i had not feared the jungle more than i would have feared any other forest, but soon a dread commenced to take hold of me, now that i could see how a great danger crept closer and closer--danger of starvation and sickness. our supplies were growing scant when we reached _tambo_ no. , and yet we lingered, forgetful of the precarious position into which we had thrust ourselves, and the violated wilderness was preparing to take its revenge. i suppose our carelessness in remaining was due in part to the exhausted state to which we had been reduced, and which made us all rejoice in the comfort of effortless days rather than face new exertions. chapter vii the fatal "tambo no. " we were three weeks at _tambo_ no. before the sharp tooth of necessity began to rouse us to the precarious situation. occasionally a lucky shot would bring down a _mutum_ or a couple of monkeys and, on one occasion, a female tapir. thus feasting to repletion, we failed to notice that the lucky strikes came at longer intervals; that the animals were deserting our part of the forest. during these three weeks we were not wholly idle. the chief had the men out every day making excursions in the neighbourhood to locate the caoutchouc trees. as soon as a tree was found, they set to work bleeding the base of it to let the milky sap ooze out on the ground where it would collect in a small pool. then they would fell the tree and cut rings in the bark at regular intervals so that the milk could flow out. in a few days when the milk had coagulated, forming large patches of caoutchouc, they would return for it. the pieces were washed in the creek and then tied into large bundles ready for transporting. in all they located more than caoutchouc trees. at this time too i made my remarkable discovery of gold deposits in the creek. it seems to me now like the plot of some old morality play, for while we were searching eagerly for the thing that we considered the ultimate goal of human desires--wealth, the final master, death, was closing his net upon us day by day. our food supply was nearly gone. while strolling along the shores of the creek in search of game, i noticed irregular clumps or nodules of clay which had accumulated in large quantities in the bed of the stream, especially where branches and logs had caused whirlpools and eddies to form. they had the appearance of pebbles or stones, and were so heavy in proportion to their size that my curiosity was aroused, and throwing one of them on the bank i split it open with my machete. my weakened heart then commenced to beat violently, for what i saw looked like gold. i took the two pieces to my working table near our _tambo_, and examining the dirty-yellow heart with my magnifying glass, i found the following: a central mass about one cubic inch in size, containing a quantity of yellowish grains measuring, say, one thirty-second of an inch in diameter, slightly adhering to each other, but separating upon pressure of the finger, and around this a thick layer of hard clay or mud of somewhat irregular shape. it immediately struck me that the yellow substance might be gold, though i could not account for the presence of it in the centre of the clay-balls. i carefully scraped the granules out of the clay, and washing them clean, placed them on a sheet of paper to dry in the sun. by this time the attention of the other men had been attracted to what i was doing, and it seemed to amuse the brave fellows immensely to watch my painstaking efforts with the yellow stuff. i produced some fine scales i had for weighing chemicals for my photographic work, and suspended these above a gourd filled with water. then i went down to the creek and collected more of the clay-balls and scraped the mud of one away from the solid centre of what i took to be grains of gold. a fine thread i next wound around the gold ball and this was tied to one end of the balance. after an equilibrium had been established, i found that the weight of the gold was grains. next i raised the gourd until the water reached the suspended ball, causing the opposite pan of the scales to go down. to again establish equilibrium, i had to add grains. with this figure i divided the actual weight of the gold, which gave me . , and this i remembered was close to the specific gravity of pure gold. still a little in doubt, i broke the bulb of one of my clinical thermometers and, placing the small quantity of mercury thus obtained in the bottom of a tray, i threw a few of the grains into it, and found that they immediately united, forming a dirty-grey amalgam. i was now sure the substance was gold and in less than five hours i collected enough to fill five photographic × plate-boxes, the only empty receptacles i could lay my hands on. i could have filled a barrel, for the creek was thick with the clay-balls as far as i could see; but i had a continuous fever and this, with the exhaustion from semi-starvation, caused me to be indifferent to this great wealth. in fact, i would have gladly given all the gold in the creek for _one_ square meal. if the difficulties in reaching this infernal region were not so great, i have no doubt that a few men could soon make themselves millionaires. the deadly fever came among us after a few days. it struck a young man called brabo first; the next day i fell sick with another serious attack of swamp-fever, and we both took to our hammocks. for five days and nights i was delirious most of the time, listening to the mysterious noises of the forest and seeing in my dreams visions of juicy steaks, great loaves of bread, and cups of creamy coffee. in those five days the only food in the camp was howling monkey, the jerked beef and the dried farinha having given out much to my satisfaction, as i became so heartily disgusted with this unpalatable food that i preferred to starve rather than eat it again. at first i felt the lack of food keenly, but later the pain of hunger was dulled, and only a warm, drugged sensation pervaded my system. starvation has its small mercies. i became almost childishly interested in small things. there was a peculiar sound that came from the deep forest in the damp nights; i used to call it the "voice of the forest." to close one's eyes and listen was almost to imagine oneself near the murmuring crowd of a large city. it was the song of numerous frogs which inhabited a creek near our _tambo_. then i would hear four musical notes uttered in a major key from the tree-tops close by, soon answered by another four in a similar pitch, and this musical and cheerful(!) conversation was continued all night long. the men told me that this was the note of a species of frog that lived in the trees. one day the jungle took the first toll from us. young brabo was very low; i managed to stagger out of my hammock to give him a hypodermic injection, but he was too far gone for it to do him any good. he died in the early afternoon. we dug a grave with our machetes right behind our _tambo_. no stone marks this place; only a small wooden cross tied together with bark-strips shows where our comrade lies--a son of the forest whom the forest claimed again. the arrival of death in our camp showed us all how far we were in the grasp of actual, threatening danger. we stood about the grave in silence. these men, these indians of the amazon, were very human; somehow, i always considered them equals and not of an inferior race. we had worked together, eaten and slept and laughed together, and now together we faced the mystery of death. the tie between us became closer; the fraternity of common flesh and blood bound us. the next day i arose and was able to walk around, having injected my left arm with copious doses of quinine and arsenical acid. borrowing thus false strength from drugs, i was able, to some extent, to roam around with my camera and secure photographs that i wanted to take home with me to the states. i had constructed a table of stalks of the _murumuru_ palm-leaves, and i had made a sun-dial by the aid of a compass and a stick, much to the delight of the men, who were now able to tell the hour of the day with precision. the next day i had another attack of fever and bled my arm freely with the bistoury, relieving myself of about sixteen ounces of blood. shortly after nine o'clock in the morning i heard a shot which i recognised as being that of jerome's muzzle-loader; soon afterward he made his appearance with a splendid specimen of a jet-black jaguar, killed by a shot behind the ear. he skinned it after first asking me if i wanted to get up and take a photograph of it, but i was too weak to do it and had to decline. the chief one day brought into camp a fine deer and a _mutum_ bird, which relieved our hunger for a while. as we were preparing a luxurious meal, jerome returned with two red howling monkeys, but we had all the meat we could take care of, and these monkeys were rejected and thrown away. by this time the chief informed us that enough caoutchouc trees had been located to justify our return to the floresta headquarters with a satisfactory report--of course, excepting the death of poor brabo. furthermore it was decided that owing to the lack of provisions we should separate. he directed that the men freitas, magellaes, and anisette should take a course at a right angle to the itecoahy, so as to reach this river in a short time, where they were to procure a canoe and secure assistance for the rest of us. this, of course, was a chance, but under the circumstances every step was a chance. the chief himself, jerome, and i would retrace the route which we had lately travelled and reach floresta that way. the evening before our departure i did not think myself strong enough to carry my load a single step, but the hypodermic needle, with quinine, which had now become my constant stand-by, lent me an artificial strength, and when the packing was done the next morning, i stood up with the rest and strapped the load on my shoulders. we parted with the other three men before sunrise, with clasps of the hand that were never to be repeated, and so turned our faces toward the outer world. my only hope was to retain sufficient strength in my emaciated, fever-racked body to drag myself back to floresta, and from there, in the course of time, get canoe or launch connection to the frontier down the river, and then wait for the steamer that would take me back to "god's country," where i could eat proper food, and rest--rest. the jungle no longer seemed beautiful or wonderful to me, but horrible--a place of terror and death. in my drug-dazed sleep on that back-track, i started up in my hammock, bathed in a sweat of fear from a dream; i saw myself and my companions engulfed in a sea of poisonous green, caught by living creepers that dragged us down and held us in a deadly octopus embrace. the forest was something from which i fled; it was hideous, a trap, with its impenetrable wall of vegetation, its dark shadows, and moist, treacherous ground. i longed for the open; struggled for it, as the swimmer struggles up for air to escape from the insidious sucking of the undertow. starving, weak from fever, oppressed by the thought of death, but lashed on by stimulants and the tenacity of life, i headed with my two comrades out of the world of the unknown, toward the world of men--to _life_. chapter viii what happened in the forest on the second day of the return trip, we had a remarkable experience. probably not more than two hundred yards from the _tambo_ where we had spent the night, we heard the noise, as we thought, of a tapir, but nothing could surpass our astonishment when we saw a human being. who could it be that dared alone to disturb the solitude of the virgin forest, and who went along in these dreary woods humming a melody? it was a young indian who approached us cautiously when jerome spoke in a tongue i did not understand, and evidently told him that we were friends on the way back to our homes by the river. he was an unusually fine specimen of a savage, well built, beautifully proportioned, and with a flawless skin like polished bronze. his clothing was limited to a bark girdle, and a feather head-dress not unlike that worn by some north american indians. he was armed with bow and arrows and a blow-gun; and he had a small rubber pouch filled with a brownish substance, the remarkable wourahli poison. he explained to jerome that his tribe lived in their _maloca_, or tribal house, about hours' march from this place, and that he had been chasing a tapir all day, but had lost its track, and was now returning to his home. he pointed in a north-western direction with his blow-gun, signifying thereby the general route he was going to follow in order to reach his destination. we sat down on the ground and looked at each other for quite a while, and thus i had my first chance of studying a blow-gun and the poisoned arrows, outside a museum, and in a place where it was part of a man's life. at the time i did not know that i was to have a little later a more thorough opportunity of examining this weapon. i asked the indian, jerome acting as interpreter, to demonstrate the use of the gun, to which he consented with a grin. we soon heard the chattering of monkeys in the tree-tops, and deftly inserting one of the thin poisoned arrows in the ten-foot tube he pointed the weapon at a swiftly moving body among the branches, and filling his lungs with air, let go. with a slight noise, hardly perceptible, the arrow flew out and pierced the left thigh of a little monkey. quick as lightning he inserted another arrow and caught one of the other monkeys as it was taking a tremendous leap through the air to a lower branch. the arrow struck this one in the shoulder, but it was a glancing shot and the shaft dropped to the ground. in the meantime the indian ran after the first monkey and carried it up to me. it seemed fast asleep, suffering no agony whatever; and after five or six minutes its heart ceased beating. the other monkey landed on the branch it was aiming for in its leap, but after a short while it seemed uneasy and sniffed at everything. finally, its hold on the branch relaxed, it dropped to the ground and was dead in a few minutes. it was a marvellous thing to behold these animals wounded but slightly, the last one only scratched, and yet dying after a few minutes as if they were falling asleep. it was then explained to me that the meat was still good to eat and that the presence of poison would not affect the consumer's stomach in the least; in fact, most of the game these indians get is procured in this manner. i was lucky enough to secure a snap-shot of this man in the act of using his blow-gun. it proved to be the last photograph i took in the brazilian jungles. accidents and sickness subsequently set in, and the fight for life became too hard and all-absorbing even to think of photographing. he left us after an hour's conversation, and we resumed our journey homewards. we had a slight advantage in retracing our former path. although the reedy undergrowth had already choked it, we were travelling over ground that we knew, and it was also no longer necessary to delay for the building of _tambos_; we used the old ones again. jerome had complained for some time of a numbness in his fingers and toes, and also of an increasing weakness of the heart that made every step a torment. the chief and i tried our best to cheer him up, although i felt certain that the brave fellow himself knew what dreadful disease had laid its spell upon him. however, we kept on walking without any words that might tend to lower our already depressed spirits. but our march was no longer the animated travel it had been on the way out; we talked like automatons rather than like human, thinking beings. suffering, hunger, and drugs had dulled our senses. only the will to escape somehow, the instinct of self-preservation, was fully awake in us. a sweep of the machete to cut a barrier bushrope or climber, one foot placed before the other, meant that much nearer to home and safety. such was now the simple operation of our stupefied and tired brains, brains that could not hold one complex thought to its end; too tired--tired! at nightfall we stumbled into our old _tambo_ no. . there was no thought of securing food, no possibility of getting any; we had been too tired to even attempt to shoot game during the day. the two monkeys which the indian had killed with his blow-gun were the only food we had and these we now broiled over the camp-fire and devoured fiercely. after this meal, none too good, we slung our hammocks with difficulty and dropped in. jerome's numbness increased during the night. we were up and on the trail again with the dawn. in the afternoon we descended a hill to find ourselves confronted by a swamp of unusual extent. the chief was in the lead as we crossed the swamp and we lost him from our sight for a few minutes. while crossing this wide, slimy-bottomed place, i noticed a peculiar movement in the water near me, and soon made out the slender bodies of swamp-snakes as they whipped past among the branches and reeds. these snakes are called by the brazilians _jararacas_ and are very poisonous; however, i had no fear for myself as i wore heavy buffalo-hide boots, but the men walked barefooted, and were in great danger. i cried out a warning to jerome, who took care to thrash about him. we supposed that we had passed this snake-hole without mishap when we rejoined the chief on "terra firma." he was leaning over, as we approached him, and he turned a face to us that was stricken with fear. he pointed to the instep of his right foot and there on the skin were two tiny spots, marked by the fangs of the snake. without a word we sank to the ground beside him in despair. the unfortunate man, with dilated eyes fixed upon the ground, crouched waiting for the coming of the pain that would indicate that the poison was working its deadly course, and that the end was near if something was not done immediately. losing no more time, i cried to jerome to pour out some gunpowder while i sucked the wound. while doing this i fumbled in the spacious pockets of my khaki hunting-coat and secured the bistoury with which i made a deep incision in the flesh over the wound, causing the blood to flow freely. in the meantime, jerome had filled a measure with black powder and this was now emptied into the bleeding wound and a burning match applied at once. the object of this was to cauterise the wound, a method that has been used with success in the outskirts of the world where poisonous reptiles abound and where proper antidotes cannot be had. the chief stood the ordeal without a murmur, never flinching even at the explosion of the gunpowder. jerome and i made him as comfortable as possible, and sat sadly by his side watching him suffer and die by inches. it is no easy thing to see a man meet death, but under these circumstances it was particularly distressing. the chief had been a man of a strong constitution particularly adapted to the health-racking work of a rubber-hunter. he it was who with his forest-wisdom had planned all our moves, and had mapped our course through the blind forest, where a man could be lost as easily as on the open sea. he had proved himself a good leader, save for the fatal mistake in delaying our return, over-anxious as he was to render his employer, coronel da silva, full and faithful service. he was extremely capable, kind, and human, and a good friend to us all. we had looked to him for advice in all our needs. he knew the language of the wild beasts of the forest, he knew a way out of everything, and at home he was a most devoted father. now, this splendid fellow, the sole reliance, in this vast and intricate maze, of jerome and myself, succumbed before our eyes to one of the dangers of the merciless wilderness. he was beyond all hope. nothing in our power could to any extent add to the prolongation of his life which slowly ebbed away. about four o'clock in the afternoon his respirations grew difficult, and a few moments later he drew his last painful breath. he died three hours after being bitten by the _jararaca_. for the second time during that ill-fated journey i went to work digging a grave with my machete, jerome lending me whatever assistance he could in his enfeebled state. my own condition was such that i had to rest and recover my breath with every few stabs of the machete. we completed that day's journey late in the afternoon, arriving at _tambo_ no. after taking almost an hour for the last half mile. jerome could now scarcely stand without my assistance. there was no longer any attempt to disguise the nature of his sickness. he had _beri-beri_, and that meant in our situation not the slightest chance of recovery. even with the best of care and nursing his case would be hopeless, for in these regions the disease is absolutely fatal. we built a fire and managed to get our hammocks fastened in some fashion, but there was not a scrap of food to be had. the heart-leaves from a young palm were chewed in a mood of hopeless desperation. the next morning it was a task of several minutes for me to get out of the hammock and on my feet. jerome made several painful efforts and, finally, solved his problem by dropping to the ground. he could not rise until i came to his assistance. then we two tottering wrecks attempted to carry our heavy loads, but jerome could not make it; he cast from him everything he owned, even the smallest personal belongings so dear to his simple, pure soul. it was heartrending to see this young man, who in health would have been able to handle three or four of his own size, now reduced to such a pitiful state. and in my own case, the fever which i had fought off by constant use of the hypodermic needle, now swept over me with renewed violence. the drug did not have the same effect as when i was new to the ravages of the fever. at this point my recollections became almost inextricably confused. i know that at times i raved wildly as i staggered on, for occasionally i came to myself with strange phrases on my lips addressed to no one in particular. when these lucid moments brought coherent thought, it was the jungle, the endless, all-embracing, fearful jungle, that overwhelmed my mind. no shipwrecked mariner driven to madness by long tossing on a raft at sea ever conceived such hatred and horror of his surroundings as that which now came upon me for the fresh, perpetual, monotonous green of the interminable forest. about noon the weight on my back became unbearable and i resolved to sacrifice my precious cargo. i threw away my camera, my unexposed plates, all utensils, and four of the boxes of gold dust. this left me with one box of gold, a few boxes of exposed plates (which i eventually succeeded in carrying all the way back to new york), and fifty-six bullets, the automatic revolver, and the machete. last, but not least, i kept the hypodermic needle and a few more ampules. we had walked scarcely a quarter of a mile when jerome collapsed. the poor fellow declared that he was beaten; it was no use to fight any more; he begged me to hurry the inevitable and send a bullet through his brain. the prospect of another visitation of death aroused me from my stupor. i got him to a dry spot and found some dry leaves and branches with which i started a fire. jerome was beyond recognising me. he lay by the fire, drawing long, wheezing breaths, and his face was horribly distorted, like that of a man in a violent fit. he babbled incessantly to himself and occasionally stared at me and broke out into shrill, dreadful laughter, that made my flesh creep. all this overwhelmed me and sapped the little energy i had left. i threw myself on the ground some little distance from the fire, not caring if i ever rose again. how long it was before a penetrating, weird cry aroused me from this stupor, i do not know, but when i raised my head i saw that the forest was growing dark and the fire burning low. i saw too that jerome was trying to get on his feet, his eyes bulging from their sockets, his face crimson in colour. he was on one knee, when the thread of life snapped, and he fell headlong into the fire. i saw this as through a hazy veil and almost instantly my senses left me again. i have no clear knowledge of what happened after this. throughout the rest of the night, my madness mercifully left me insensible to the full appreciation of the situation and my future prospects. it was night again before i was able to arouse myself from my collapse. the fire was out, the forest dark and still, except for the weird cry of the owl, the uncanny "mother of the moon." poor jerome lay quiet among the embers. i did not have the courage, even if i had had the strength, to pull the body away, for there could be nothing left of his face by now. i looked at him once more, shuddering, and because i could not walk, i crept on all fours through the brush, without any object in mind,--just kept moving--just crept on like a sick, worthless dog. one definite incident of the night i remember quite distinctly. it occurred during one of those moments when my senses returned for a while; when i could realise where i was and how i got there. i was crawling through the thicket making small, miserable progress, my insensible face and hands torn and scratched by spines and thorns which i did not heed, when something bumped against my thigh; i clutched at it and my hand closed around the butt of my automatic pistol. the weapon came out of its holster unconsciously, but as i felt my finger rest in the curve of the trigger, i knew that some numbed and exhausted corner of my brain had prompted me to do this thing; indeed, as i weighed the matter with what coolness i could bring to bear, it did not seem particularly wicked. with the pistol in my hand and with the safety released, i believed that the rest would have been easy and even pleasant. what did i have in my favour? what prospect did i have of escaping the jungle? none whatever--none! there was no shadow of hope for me, and i had long ago given up believing in miracles. for eight days i had scarcely had a mouthful to eat, excepting the broiled monkey at _tambo_ no. , shot by the young indian. the fever had me completely in its grasp. i was left alone more than one hundred miles from human beings in absolute wilderness. i measured cynically the tenaciousness of life, measured the thread that yet held me among the number of the living, and i realised now what the fight between life and death meant to a man brought to bay. i had not the slightest doubt in my mind that this was the last of me. surely, no man could have been brought lower or to greater extremity and live; no man ever faced a more hopeless proposition. yet i could or would not yield, but put the pistol back where it belonged. all night long i crawled on and on and ever on, through the underbrush, with no sense of direction whatever, and still i am sure that i did not crawl in a circle but that i covered a considerable distance. for hours i moved along at the absolute mercy of any beast of the forest that might meet me. the damp chill of the approaching morning usual in these regions came to me with a cooling touch and restored once more to some extent my sanity. my clothes were almost stripped from my body, and smeared with mud, my hands and face were torn and my knees were a mass of bruises. chapter ix among the cannibal mangeromas i have a vague recollection of hearing the barking of dogs, of changing my crawling direction to head for the sound, and then, suddenly, seeing in front of me a sight which had the same effect as a rescuing steamer on the shipwrecked. to my confused vision it seemed that i saw many men and women and children, and a large, round house; i saw parrots fly across the open space in brilliant, flashing plumage and heard their shrill screaming. i cried aloud and fell forward when a little curly-haired dog jumped up and commenced licking my face, and then i knew no more. when i came to i was lying in a comfortable hammock in a large, dark room. i heard the murmur of many voices and presently a man came over and looked at me. i did not understand where i was, but thought that i, finally, had gone mad. i fell asleep again. the next time i woke up i saw an old woman leaning over me and holding in her hand a gourd containing some chicken-broth which i swallowed slowly, not feeling the cravings of hunger, in fact not knowing whether i was dead or alive. the old woman had a peculiar piece of wood through her lip and looked very unreal to me, and i soon fell asleep again. on the fifth day, so i learned later, i began to feel my senses return, my fever commenced to abate, and i was able to grasp the fact that i had crawled into the _maloca_, or communal village, of the mangeromas. i was as weak as a kitten, and, indeed, it has been a marvel to me ever since that i succeeded at all in coming out of the shadow. the savages, by tender care, with strengthening drinks prepared in their own primitive method, wrought the miracle, and returned to life a man who was as near death as any one could be, and not complete the transition. they fed me at regular intervals, thus checking my sickness, and when i could make out their meaning, i understood that i could stay with them as long as i desired. luckily i had kept my spectacles on my nose (they were the kind that fasten back of the ears) during the previous hardships, and i found these sticking in their position when i awoke. my khaki coat was on the ground under my hammock, and the first thing was to ascertain if the precious contents of its large pockets had been disturbed, but i found everything safe. the exposed plates were there in their closed boxes, the gold dust was also there and mocked me with its yellow glare, and my hypodermic outfit was intact and was used without delay, much to the astonishment of some of the men, standing around my hammock. when my head was clear and strong enough to raise, i turned and began my first visual exploration of my immediate surroundings. the big room i found to be a colossal house, forty feet high and one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, thatched with palm-leaves and with sides formed of the stems of the _pachiuba_ tree. it was the communal residence of this entire tribe, consisting, as i learned later, of two hundred and fifty-eight souls. a single door and a circular opening in the roof were the only apertures of this enormous structure. the door was very low, not more than four feet, so that it was necessary to creep on one's knees to enter the place, and this opening was closed at night, that is to say, about six o'clock, by a sliding door which fitted so snugly that i never noticed any mosquitoes or _piums_ in the dark, cool room. the next day i could get out of my hammock, though i could not stand or walk without the aid of two women, who took me over to a man i later found to be the chief of the tribe. he was well-fed, and by his elaborate dress was distinguished from the rest of the men. he had a very pleasant, good-natured smile, and almost constantly displayed a row of white, sharp-filed teeth. this smile gave me some confidence, but i very well knew that i was now living among cannibal indians, whose reputation in this part of the amazon is anything but flattering. i prepared for the new ordeal without any special fear--my feelings seemed by this time to have been pretty well exhausted and any appreciation of actual danger was considerably reduced as a result of the gamut of the terrors which i had run. i addressed the chief in the portuguese language, which i had learned during my stay at floresta headquarters, and also in spanish but he only shook his head; all my efforts were useless. he let me know in a friendly manner that my hammock was to be my resting-place and that i would not be molested. his tribe was one that occupied an almost unknown region and had no connection with white men or brazilians or people near the river. i tried in the course of the mimical conversation to make him understand that, with six companions from a big chief's _maloca_ (meaning coronel da silva and the floresta headquarters), i had penetrated into the woods near this mighty chief's _maloca_,--here i pointed at the chief--that the men had died from fever and i was left alone and that luckily, i had found my way to the free men of the forest (here i made a sweeping movement with my hands). he nodded and the audience was over. i was led back to my hammock to dream and eat, and dream again. although the chief and his men presented an appearance wholly unknown to me, yet it did not seem to distract me at the first glance, but as my faculties slowly returned to their former activity, i looked at them and found them very strange figures, indeed. every man had two feathers inserted in the cartilage of his nose; at some distance it appeared as if they wore moustaches. besides this, the chief had a sort of feather-dress reaching half way down to his knees; this was simply a quantity of _mutum_ feathers tied together as a girdle by means of plant-fibres. the women wore no clothing whatever, their only ornamentation being the oval wooden piece in the lower lip and fancifully arranged designs on face, arms, and body. the colours which they preferred were scarlet and black, and they procured these dyes from two plants that grew in the forest near by. they would squeeze the pulp of the fruits and apply the rich-coloured juice with their fingers, forming one scarlet ring around each eye, outside of this a black and larger ring, and, finally, two scarlet bands reaching from the temples to the chin. there were probably sixty-five families in this communal hut, all having their little households scattered throughout the place without any separating partitions whatever. the many poles which supported the roof formed the only way of distinguishing the individual households. the men strung their hammocks between the poles in such a way that they formed a triangle, and in the middle of this a fire was always going. here the women were doing the cooking of game that the men brought in at all times of the day. the men slept in the hammocks, while the women were treated less cavalierly; they slept with their children on the ground under the hammocks around the little family triangle. as a rule they had woven mats made of grass-fibre and coloured with the juices of the _urucu_ plant and the _genipapa_, but in many instances they had skins of jaguars, and, which was more frequent, the furs of the three-toed sloths. these were placed around the family fire, directly under the hammocks occupied by the men. in these hammocks the men did most of the repair work on their bows and arrows when necessary, here they fitted the arrow heads to the shafts, in fact, they spent all their time in them when not actually hunting in the forests. the hospitality of my friends proved unbounded. the chief appointed two young girls to care for me, and though they were not startling from any point of view, especially when remembering their labial ornaments and their early developed abdominal hypertrophies, they were as kind as any one could have been, watching me when i tried to walk and supporting me when i became too weak. there was a certain broth they prepared, which was delicious, but there were others which were nauseating and which i had to force myself to eat. i soon learned that it was impolite to refuse any dish that was put in front of me, no matter how repugnant. one day the chief ordered me to come over to his family triangle and have dinner with him. the meal consisted of some very tender fried fish which were really delicious; then followed three broiled parrots with fried bananas which were equally good; but then came a soup which i could not swallow. the first mouthful almost choked me,--the meat which was one of the ingredients tasted and smelled as if it had been kept for weeks, the herbs which were used were so bitter and gave out such a rank odour that my mouth puckered and the muscles of my throat refused to swallow. the chief looked at me and frowned, and then i remembered the forest from which i had lately arrived and the starvation and the terrors; i closed my eyes and swallowed the dish, seeking what mental relief i could find in the so-called auto-suggestion. but i had the greatest respect for the impulsive, unreasoning nature of these sons of the forest. easily insulted, they are well-nigh implacable. this incident shows upon what a slender thread my life hung. the friends of one moment might become vindictive foes of the next. besides the head-chief there were two sub-chiefs, so that in case of sickness or death there would be always one regent. they were plainly distinguished by their dress, which consisted mainly of fancifully arranged feather belts of _arara_, _mutum_, and trumpeter plumes covering the shoulders and abdomen. these articles of dress were made by young women of the tribe: women who wanted to become favourites of the chief and sub-chiefs. they often worked for months on a feather dress and when finished presented it to the particular chief whose favour they desired. the chiefs had several wives, but the tribesmen were never allowed to take more than one. whenever a particularly pretty girl desired to join the household of the great chief or of a sub-chief, she set to work and for months and months she made necklaces of alligator teeth, peccary teeth, and finely carved ivory nuts and coloured pieces of wood. she also would weave some elaborate hammock and fringe this with the bushy tails of the squirrels and the forest-cats, and when these articles were done, she would present them to the chief, who, in return for these favours, would bestow upon her the great honour of accepting her as a wife. there seemed to be few maladies among these people; in fact, during the five weeks i spent with them, i never saw a case of fever nor of anything else. when a person died the body was carried far into the woods, where a fire was built, and it was cremated. the party would then leave in a hurry and never return to the same spot; they were afraid of the spirit of the dead. they told me that they could hear the spirit far off in the forests at night when the moon was shining. the men were good hunters and were experts in the use of bow and arrow and also the blow-gun, and never failed to bring home a fresh supply of game for the village. this supply was always divided equally, so that no one should receive more than he needed for the day. at first glance the men might appear lazy, but why should they hurry and worry when they have no landlord, and no grocer's bills to pay; in fact, the value of money is entirely unknown to them. i was allowed to walk around as i pleased, everybody showing me a kindness for which i shall ever gratefully remember these "savages." i frequently spent my forenoons on a tree trunk outside the _maloca_ with the chief, who took a particular interest in my welfare. we would sit for hours and talk, he sometimes pointing at an object and giving its indian name, which i would repeat until i got the right pronunciation. thus, gradually instructed, and by watching the men and women as they came and went, day after day, i was able to understand some of their language and learned to answer questions fairly well. they never laughed at my mistakes, but repeated a word until i had it right. the word of the chief was law and no one dared appeal from the decisions of this man. in fact, there would have been nobody to appeal to, for the natives believed him vested with mysterious power which made him the ruler of men. i once had occasion to see him use the power which had been given him. i had accompanied two young indians, one of whom was the man we had met in the forest on our return trip not far from that fatal _tambo_ no. . his name, at least as it sounded to me, was reré. they carried bows and arrows and i my automatic pistol, although i had no great intention of using it. what little ammunition i had left i desired to keep for an emergency and, besides, i reasoned that i might, at some future time, be able to use the power and noise of the weapon to good advantage if i kept the indians ignorant of them for the present. we had scarcely gone a mile, when we discovered on the opposite side of a creek, about one hundred and fifty yards away, a wild hog rooting for food. we were on a slight elevation ourselves and under cover of the brush, while the hog was exposed to view on the next knoll. almost simultaneously my companions fitted arrows to their bow-strings. instead of shooting point blank, manipulating the bows with their hands and arms, they placed their great and second toes on the cords on the ground, and with their left arms gave the proper tension and inclination to the bows which were at least eight feet long. with a whirr the poisoned arrows shot forth and, while the cords still twanged, sailed gracefully through the air, describing a hyperbola, fell with a speed that made them almost invisible, and plunged into the animal on each side of his neck a little back from the base of the brain. the hog dropped in his tracks, and i doubt if he could have lived even though the arrows had not been poisoned. tying his feet together with plant-fibres we slung the body over a heavy pole and carried it to the _maloca_. all the way the two fellows disputed as to who was the owner of the hog, and from time to time they put the carcass on the ground to gesticulate and argue. i thought they would come to blows. when they appealed to me i declared that the arrows had sped so rapidly that my eyes could not follow them and therefore could not tell which arrow had found its mark first. a few yards from the house my friends fell to arguing again, and a crowd collected about them, cheering first the one then the other. my suggestion that the game be divided was rejected as showing very poor judgment. finally, the dispute grew to such proportions that the chief sent a messenger to learn the cause of the trouble and report it to him. the emissary retired and the crowd immediately began to disperse and the combatants quieted. the messenger soon returned saying that the great chief would judge the case and ordered the men to enter the _maloca_. with some difficulty the hog was dragged through the door opening and all the inhabitants crawled in after. the chief was decked out in a new and splendid feather dress, his face had received a fresh coat of paint (in fact, the shells of the _urucu_ plant with which he coloured his face and body scarlet were still lying under his hammock), and his nose was supplied with a new set of _mutum_ feathers. he was sitting in his hammock which was made of fine, braided, multi-coloured grass-fibres and was fringed with numerous squirrel tails. the whole picture was one which impressed me as being weirdly fantastic and extremely picturesque, the reddish, flickering light from the fires adding a mystic colour to the scene. on the opposite side of the fire from where the chief was sitting lay the body of the hog, and at each end of the carcass stood the two hunters, straight as saplings, gazing stolidly ahead. in a semi-circle, facing the chief and surrounding the disputants, was the tribe, squatting on the ground. the chief motioned to me to seat myself on the ground alongside of the hammock where he was sitting. the men told their story, now and then looking to me for an affirmative nod of the head. after having listened to the argument of the hunters for a considerable time without uttering a syllable, and regarding the crowd with a steady, unblinking expression, with a trace of a satirical smile around the corners of his mouth, which suited him admirably, the chief finally spoke. he said, "the hog is mine.--go!" the matter was ended with this wise judgment, and there seemed to be no disposition to grumble or re-appeal to the great authority. my life among the mangeromas was, for the greater part, free from adventure, at least as compared with former experiences, and yet i was more than once within an inch of meeting death. in fact, i think that i looked more squarely in the eyes of death in that peaceful little community than ever i did out in the wilds of the jungle or in my most perilous adventures. the creek that ran near the _maloca_ supplied the indians with what water they needed for drinking purposes. besides this the creek gave them an abundant supply of fish, a dish that made its appearance at every meal. whatever washing was to be done--the natives took a bath at least twice a day--was done at some distance down the creek so as not to spoil the water for drinking and culinary purposes. whenever i was thirsty i was in the habit of stooping down at the water's edge to scoop the fluid up in my curved hands. one morning i had been tramping through the jungle with two companions who were in search of game, and i was very tired and hot when we came to a little stream which i took to be the same that ran past the _maloca_. my friends were at a short distance from me, beating their way through the underbrush, when i stooped to quench my thirst. the cool water looked to me like the very elixir of life. at that moment, literally speaking, i was only two inches from death. hearing a sharp cry behind me i turned slightly to feel a rough hand upon my shoulders and found myself flung backwards on the ground. "poison," was the reply to my angry question. then my friend explained, and as he talked my knees wobbled and i turned pale. it seems that the mangeromas often poison the streams below the drinking places in order to get rid of their enemies. in the present case there had been a rumour that a party of peruvian rubber-workers might be coming up the creek, and this is always a signal of trouble among these indians. although you cannot induce a brazilian to go into the indian settlements or _malocas_, the peruvians are more than willing to go there, because of the chance of abducting girls. to accomplish this, a few peruvians sneak close to the _maloca_ at night, force the door, which is always bolted to keep out the evil spirit, but which without difficulty can be cut open, and fire a volley of shots into the hut. the indians sleep with the blow-guns and arrows suspended from the rafters, and before they can collect their sleepy senses and procure the weapons the peruvians, in the general confusion, have carried off some of the girls. the mangeromas, therefore, hate the peruvians and will go to any extreme to compass their death. the poisoning of the rivers is effected by the root of a plant that is found throughout the amazon valley; the plant belongs to the genus _lonchocarpus_ and bears a small cluster of bluish blossoms which produce a pod about two inches in length. it is only the yellow roots that are used for poisoning the water. this is done by crushing the roots and throwing the pulp into the stream, when all animal life will be killed or driven away. it seems strange that during my stay among the mangeromas, who were heathens and even cannibals, i saw no signs of idolatry. they believed implicitly in a good and an evil spirit. the good spirit was too good to do them any harm and consequently they did not bother with him; but the evil spirit was more active and could be heard in the dark nights, howling and wailing far off in the forest as he searched for lonely wanderers, whom he was said to devour. thinking to amuse some of my friends, i one day kindled a flame by means of my magnifying glass and a few dry twigs. a group of ten or twelve indians had gathered squatting in a circle about me, to see the wonder that i was to exhibit, but at the sight of smoke followed by flame they were badly scared and ran for the house, where they called the chief. he arrived on the scene with his usual smile. he asked me to show him what i had done. i applied the focussed rays of the sun to some more dry leaves and twigs and, finally, the flames broke out again. the chief was delighted and begged me to make him a present of the magnifier. as i did not dare to refuse, i showed him how to use it and then presented it with as good grace as i could. some time after this, i learned that two peruvians had been caught in a trap set for the purpose. the unfortunate men had spent a whole night in a pit, nine feet deep, and were discovered the next forenoon by a party of hunters, who immediately killed them with unpoisoned, big-game arrows. in contrast to the north-american indians they never torture captives, but kill them as quickly as possible. i had plenty of opportunity to investigate the different kinds of traps used by the mangeromas for catching peruvian _caboclos_ or half-breeds. first of all in importance is the pit-trap, into which the aforesaid men had fallen. it is simple but ingenious in its arrangement. a hole about nine feet deep and eight feet wide is dug in the ground at a place where the _caboclos_ are liable to come. a cover is laid across this and cleverly disguised with dead leaves and branches so as to exactly resemble the surrounding soil. this cover is constructed of branches placed parallel, and is slightly smaller than the diameter of the pit. it is balanced on a stick, tied across the middle in such a manner that the slightest weight on any part will cause it to turn over and precipitate the object into the pit whence egress is impossible. besides this, the walls of the pit are inclined, the widest part being at the bottom, and they gradually slope inward till the level of the ground is reached. when the victim is discovered he is quickly killed, as in the case noted above. the second trap, which i had an opportunity to investigate, is the so-called _araya_ trap. it is merely a small piece of ground thickly set with the barbed bones of the sting-ray. these bones are slightly touched with wourahli poison and, concealed as they are under dead leaves, they inflict severe wounds on the bare feet of the _caboclos_, and death follows within a short period. the third trap, and the most ingenious of all, is the blow-gun trap. one day the sub-chief, a tall, gloomy-looking fellow, took me to one of these traps and explained everything, till i had obtained a thorough knowledge of the complicated apparatus. the blow-gun of these indians is supplied with a wide mouth-piece and requires but slight air pressure to shoot the arrow at a considerable speed. in the trap one is placed horizontally so as to point at a right angle to the path leading to the _maloca_. at the "breech" of the gun is a young sapling, severed five feet above the ground. to this is tied a broad and straight bark-strip which, when the sapling is in its normal vertical position, completely covers the mouth-piece. the gun was not loaded on this occasion, as it had been accidentally discharged the day before. to set the trap, a long, thin, and pliable climber, which in these forests is so plentiful, is attached to the end of the severed sapling, when this is bent to its extreme position and is then led over branches, serving as pulleys, right across the path and directly in front of the mouth of the blow-gun and is tied to some small root covered with leaves. when the _caboclo_ passes along this path at night to raid the indian _maloca,_ he must sever this thin bushrope or climber, thereby releasing suddenly the tension of the sapling. the bark-flap is drawn quickly up against the mouth-piece with a slap that forces sufficient air into the gun to eject the arrow. all this takes place in a fraction of a second; a slight flapping sound is heard and the arrow lodges in the skin of the unfortunate _caboclo_. he can never walk more than twenty yards, for the poison rapidly paralyses his limbs. death follows in less than ten minutes. the bodies of these captured _caboclos_ are soon found by the "police warriors" of the tribe and carried to the _maloca_. on such occasions a day of feasting always follows and an obscure religious rite is performed. it is true that the mangeromas are cannibals, but at the same time their habits and morals are otherwise remarkably clean. without their good care and excellent treatment, i have no doubt i would now be with my brave companions out in that dark, green jungle. but to return to my story of the two peruvians caught in the pit-trap: the warriors cut off the hands and feet of both corpses, pulled the big game arrows out of the bodies, and had an audience with the chief. he seemed to be well satisfied, but spoke little, just nodding his head and smiling. shortly after the village prepared for a grand feast. the fires were rebuilt, the pots and jars were cleaned, and a scene followed which to me was frightful. had it not happened, i should always have believed this little world out in the wild forest an ideal, pure, and morally clean community. but now i could only hasten to my hammock and simulate sleep, for i well knew, from previous experience, that otherwise i would have to partake of the meal in preparation: a horrible meal of human flesh! it was enough for me to see them strip the flesh from the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet and fry these delicacies in the lard of tapir i hoped to see no more. an awful thought coursed through my brain when i beheld the men bend eagerly over the pans to see if the meat were done. how long would it be, i said to myself, before they would forget themselves and place my own extremities in the same pots and pans. such a possibility was not pleasant to contemplate, but as i had found the word of these indians to be always good, i believed i was safe. they were never false and they hated falsehood. true, they were cunning, but once their friend always their friend, through thick and thin. and the chief had promised that i should not be eaten, either fried or stewed! therefore i slept in peace. i had long desired to see the hunters prepare the mysterious wourahli poison, which acts so quickly and painlessly, and which allows the game killed by it to be eaten without interfering with the nutritive qualities. only three men in this village understood the proper mixing of the ingredients, although everybody knew the two plants from which the poisonous juices were obtained. one of these is a vine that grows close to the creeks. the stem is about two inches in diameter and covered with a rough greyish bark. it yields several round fruits, shaped like an apple, containing seeds imbedded in a very bitter pulp. the other is also a vine and bears small bluish flowers, but it is only the roots of this that are used. these are crushed and steeped in water for several days. the three men in our village who understood the concoction of this poison collected the plants themselves once a month. when they returned from their expedition they set to work at once scraping the first named vine into fine shavings and mixing these in an earthen jar with the crushed pulp of the roots of the second plant. the pot is then placed over a fire and kept simmering for several hours. at this stage the shavings are removed and thrown away as useless and several large black ants, the _tucandeiras_, are added. this is the ant whose bite is not only painful but absolutely dangerous to man. the concoction is kept boiling slowly until the next morning, when it has assumed a thick consistency of a brown colour and very bitter to the taste. the poison is then tried on some arrows and if it comes up to the standard it is placed in a small earthen jar which is covered with a piece of animal skin and it is ready for use. the arrows, which are from ten to twelve inches long, are made from the stalks of a certain palm-leaf, the jacy palm. they are absolutely straight and true; in fact, they resemble very much a lady's hat-pin. when the gun is to be used, a piece of cotton is wound around the end of an arrow and the other end or point inserted first in the barrel, the cotton acting as a piston by means of which the air forces the shaft through the tube. the men always carry a small rubber-pouch containing a few drams of the poison; the pouch was worn strapped to the waist on the left side, when on their hunting excursions, and they were extremely careful in handling it and the arrows. the slightest scratch with the poison would cause a quick and sure death. i was so far recuperated by this time that i thought of returning to civilisation, and i, accordingly, broached the subject to the chief, who answered me very kindly, promising that he would send me by the next full-moon, with some of the wourahli men, down to the branco river, and from there they would guide me within a safe distance of the rubber-estate, situated at the junction with the itecoahy. one day i was informed that a friendly call on a neighbouring tribe was being contemplated and that i could accompany the chief and his men. at last the time arrived and the expedition was organised. i was not absolutely sure how i would be treated by these up-stream indians, and i am almost ashamed to confess that, in spite of all the faithful, unswerving friendship which the mangeromas had shown me, i had it in my mind that these other indians might harm me, so black was the name that people down at the settlements had given them. until this time, as related above, i had thought best not to exhibit the character of my automatic pistol, and i had never used it here, but before i started on this journey i decided to give them an example of its power, and possibly awe them. inviting the chief and all the tribe to witness my experiment, i explained to them that this little weapon would make a great noise and bore a hole through a thick tree. the chief examined it gingerly after i had locked the trigger mechanism. he had heard of such arms, he said, but thought that they were much larger and heavier. this one, he thought, must be a baby and he was inclined to doubt its power. selecting an "assai" palm of about nine inches diameter, across the creek, i took steady aim and fired four bullets. three of the bullets went through the same hole and the fourth pierced the trunk of the palm about two inches higher. the chief and his men hurried across the creek and examined the holes which caused then to discuss the affair for more than an hour. the empty shells which had been ejected from the magazine were picked up by two young girls who fastened them in their ears with wire-like fibres, whereupon a dozen other women surrounded me, beseeching me to give them also cartridge-shells. i discharged more than a dozen bullets, to please these children of the forest, who were as completely the slaves of fashion as are their sisters of more civilised lands. early the next morning we started up the river. in one canoe the chief and i sat on jaguar skins, while two men paddled. in another canoe were four men armed with bows and arrows and blow-guns, and a fifth who acted in the capacity of "wireless operator." the system of signalling which he employed was by far the most ingenious device i saw while in brazil, and considering their resources and their low state of culture the affair was little short of marvellous. before the canoes were launched, a man fastened two upright forked sticks on each side of one, near the middle. about three and a half feet astern of these a cross-piece was laid on the bottom of the craft. to this was attached two shorter forked sticks. between each pair of upright forked sticks was placed another cross-piece, thus forming two horizontal bars, parallel to each other, one only a few inches from the bottom of the boat and the other about a foot and a half above the gunwales. next, four slabs of caripari wood of varying thickness, about three feet long and eight inches wide, were suspended from these horizontal bars, so as to hang length-wise of the canoe and at an angle of forty-five degrees. each pair of slabs was perforated by a longitudinal slit and they were joined firmly at their extremities by finely carved and richly painted end-pieces. the operator strikes the slabs with a wooden mallet or hammer, the head of which is wrapped with an inch layer of caoutchouc and then with a cover of thick tapir-skin. each section of the wooden slabs gives forth a different note when struck, a penetrating, xylophonic, tone but devoid of the disagreeably metallic, disharmonic bysounds of that instrument. the slabs of wood were suspended by means of thin fibre-cords from the crosspieces, and in this manner all absorption by the adjacent material was done away with. by means of many different combinations of the four notes obtained which, as far as i could ascertain, were _do--re--mi--fa_, the operator was able to send any message to a person who understood this code. the operator seized one mallet with each hand and gave the thickest section, the _do_ slat, a blow, followed by a blow with the left hand mallet on the _re_ slat; a blow on the _mi_ slat and on the _fa_ slat followed in quick succession. these four notes, given rapidly and repeated several times, represented the tuning up of the "wireless," calculated to catch the attention of the operator at the _maloca_ up-creek. the sound was very powerful, but rather pleasant, and made the still forest resound with a musical echo. he repeated this tuning process several times, but received no answer and we proceeded for a mile. then we stopped and signalled again. very faintly came a reply from some invisible source. i learned afterwards that at this time we were at least five miles from the answering station. as soon as communication was thus established the first message was sent through the air, and it was a moment of extreme suspense for me when the powerful notes vibrated through the depth of the forest. i shall never forget this message, not only because it was ethnographically interesting, but because so much of my happiness depended upon a favourable reply. i made the operator repeat it for my benefit when we later returned to our village, and i learned it by heart by whistling it. when printed it looks like this: after each message the operator explained its meaning. the purport of this first message was so important to me that i awaited the translation with much the same feelings that a prisoner listens for the verdict of the jury when it files back into the court-room. questions and answers now came in rapid succession. "a white man is coming with us; he seems to have a good heart, and to be of good character." whereupon the deciding answer was translated: "you are all welcome provided you place your arms in the bottom of the canoe." next message: "we ask you to place your arms in the _maloca_; we are friends." after the last message we paddled briskly ahead, and at the end of one hour's work we made a turn of the creek and saw a large open space where probably five hundred indians had assembled outside of two round _malocas_, constructed like ours. how much i now regretted leaving my precious camera out in the forest, but that was a thing of the past and the loss could not be repaired. the view that presented itself to my eyes was a splendid and rare one for a civilised man to see. the crowd standing on the banks had never seen a white man before; how would they greet me? little dogs barked, large scarlet _araras_ screamed in the tree-tops, and the little children hid themselves behind their equally fearful mothers. the tribal chief, a big fellow, decorated with squirrel tails and feathers of the _mutum_ bird around, his waist and with the tail feathers of the scarlet and blue _arara_-parrot adorning his handsome head, stood in front with his arms folded. we landed and the operator dismantled his musical apparatus and laid it carefully in the bottom of the canoe. the two chiefs embraced each other, at the same time uttering their welcome greeting "_he--he_." i was greeted in the same cordial manner and we all entered the chief's _maloca_ in a long procession. here in the village of the kindred tribe we stayed for two days, enjoying unlimited hospitality and kindness. most of the time was spent eating, walking around the _malocas_, looking at dugouts, and at the farinha plants. on the third day we went back to our _maloca_ where i prepared for my return trip to civilisation. it was now the beginning of october. i would, finally, have recorded many words of the mangeroma language had not my pencil given out after i had been there a month. the pencil was an "ink-pencil," that is, a pencil with a solid "lead" of bluish colour, very soft, sometimes called "indelible pencil." this lead became brittle from the moisture of the air and broke into fragments so that i could do nothing with it, and my recording was at an end. fortunately i had made memoranda covering the life and customs before this. chapter x the fight between the mangeromas and the peruvians i was sitting outside the _maloca_ writing my observations in the note-book which i always carried in my hunting-coat, when two young hunters hurried toward the chief, who was reclining in the shade of a banana-tree near the other end of the large house. it was early afternoon, when most of the men of the mangeromas were off hunting in the near-by forests, while the women and children attended to various duties around the village. probably not more than eight or ten men remained about the _maloca_. i had recovered from my sickness and was not entirely devoid of a desire for excitement--the best tonic of the explorer. the two young hunters with bows and arrows halted before the chief. they were gesticulating wildly; and although i could not understand what they were talking about, i judged from the frown of the chief that something serious was the matter. he arose with unusual agility for a man of his size, and shouted something toward the opening of the _maloca_, whence the men were soon seen coming with leaps and bounds. anticipating trouble, i also ran over to the chief, and, in my defective mangeroma lingo, inquired the cause of the excitement. he did not answer me, but, in a greater state of agitation than i had previously observed in him, he gave orders to his men. he called the "wireless" operator and commanded him to bring out his precious apparatus. this was soon fastened to the gunwales of the canoe where i had seen it used before, on my trip to the neighbouring tribe, and soon the same powerful, xylophonic sounds vibrated through the forest. it was his intention to summon the hunters that were still roaming around the vicinity, by this "c.q.d." message. the message i could not interpret nor repeat, although it was not nearly as complex as the one i had learned before. after a while, the men came streaming into the _maloca_ from all directions, with anxiety darkening their faces. i had now my first inkling of what was the cause of the commotion, and it did not take me long to understand that we were in danger from some peruvian _caboclos_. the two young men who had brought the news to the chief had spied a detachment of peruvian half-breeds as they were camping in our old _tambo_ no. , the one we had built on our sixth day out from floresta. there were about a score of them, all ugly _caboclos_, or half-breed _caucheros_, hunting rubber and no doubt out also for prey in the shape of young mangeroma girls, as was their custom. the traps set by the indians, as described in a previous chapter, would be of no avail in this case, as the number of peruvians was greater than in any previous experience. the enemy had been observed more than ten miles off, in an easterly direction, when our two hunters were on the trail of a large herd of peccaries, or wild boars, they had sighted in the early morning. the peruvians were believed to be heading for the _maloca_ of the mangeromas, as there were no other settlements in this region excepting the up-creek tribe, but this numbered at least five hundred souls, and would be no easy prey for them. i now had a remarkable opportunity to watch the war preparations of these savage, cannibal people, my friends, the mangeromas. their army consisted of twelve able-bodied men, all fine muscular fellows, about five feet ten in height, and bearing an array of vicious-looking weapons such as few white men have seen. first of all were three club-men, armed with strong, slender clubs, of hard and extremely tough caripari wood. the handle, which was very slim, was provided with a knob at the end to prevent the club from slipping out of the hand when in action. the heavy end was furnished with six bicuspid teeth of the black jaguar, embedded in the wood and projecting about two inches beyond the surface. the club had a total length of five feet and weighed about eight pounds. the second division of the wild-looking band consisted of three spear-men, each provided with the three-pronged spears, a horrible weapon which always proves fatal in the hands of these savages. it is a long straight shaft of caripari wood, about one inch in thickness, divided into three parts at the end, each division being tipped with a barbed bone of the sting-ray. these bones, about three and a half inches long, were smeared with wourahli poison, and thus rendered absolutely fatal even when inflicting only a superficial wound. each man carried two of these spears, the points being protected by grass-sheaths. the third division was composed of three bow-and-arrow men, the youngest men in the tribe, boys of sixteen and seventeen. they were armed with bows of great length, from six to seven feet, and each bore, at his left side, a quiver, containing a dozen big-game arrows fully five feet long. these arrows, as far as i could ascertain, were not poisoned, but their shock-giving and rending powers were extraordinary. the arrow-heads were all made of the bones of the sting-ray, in themselves formidable weapons, because of the many jagged barbs that prevent extraction from a wound except by the use of great force, resulting in ugly laceration. the fourth and last division consisted of three blow-gun men, the most effective and cunning of this deadly and imposing array. as so much depended upon the success of a first attack on the peruvians, who not only outnumbered us, but also were armed with winchesters, the blow-guns were in the hands of the older and more experienced men. all, except the club-men, wore, around the waist, girdles fringed with _mutum_ plumes, and the captains added, to their uniforms multi-coloured fringes of squirrel tails. their faces all had the usual scarlet and black stripes. the chief, and his principal aide, or sub-chief, had on their gayest feathers, including head ornaments of _arara_ plumes and egrets. the club-men were naked, except for their head-gear, which consisted simply of a band of _mutum_ plumes. when the warriors stood together in their costumes, ready for battle, they presented an awe-inspiring sight. the chief gave the order for the bow-and-arrow men to start in single file, the others to follow after, in close succession. the chief and i fell in at the rear. in the meantime i had examined my luger automatic pistol to make sure of the smooth action of the mechanism, and found besides that i had in all thirty-seven soft-nose bullets. this was my only weapon, but previous narrow escapes from death and many close contacts with danger had hardened me, so i was willing to depend entirely upon my pistol. the women and children of the _maloca_ stood around, as we disappeared in the jungle, and, while they showed some interest in the proceeding, they displayed little or no emotion. a couple of sweethearts exchanged kisses as composedly as if they had been bluecoats parting with the ladies of their choice before going to the annual parade. soon we were in the dark, dense jungle that i was now so well acquainted with, and, strange to say, the green and tangled mass of vegetation contained more terrors for me than the bloody combat that was to follow. for an hour we travelled in a straight line, pushing our way as noiselessly as possible through the thick mass of creepers and lianas. about three o'clock, one of the scouts sighted the peruvians, and our chief decided that an attack should be made as soon as possible, before darkness could set in. we stopped and sent out two bow-and-arrow men to reconnoitre. an anxious half hour passed before one of them returned with the report that the peruvians were now coming towards us and would probably reach our position in a few minutes. i could almost hear my heart thump; my knees grew weak, and for a moment i almost wished that i had stayed in the _maloca_. the chief immediately directed certain strategic movements which, in ingenuity and foresight, would have been worthy of a napoleon. we were between two low hills, covered with the usual dense vegetation, which made it impossible to see an advancing enemy at a distance of more than five yards. the three blow-gun men were now ordered to ascend the hills on each side of the valley and conceal themselves about half-way up the slopes, and towards the enemy. they were to insert the poisoned arrows in their guns and draw a bead on the peruvians as they came on cutting their way through the underbrush. the bow-and-arrow men posted themselves farther on about five yards behind the blow-gun men, with big-game arrows fitted to the bowstrings, ready to shoot when the first volley of the deadly and silent poisoned arrows had been fired. farther back were the spear-men with spears unsheathed, and finally came the three brave and ferocious club-men. of these last warriors, a tall athlete was visibly nervous, not from fear but from anticipation. the veins of his forehead stood out, pulsating with every throb of his heart. he clutched the heavy club and continually gritted his white, sharp-filed teeth in concentrated rage. it was wisely calculated that the peruvians would unconsciously wedge themselves into this trap, and by the time they could realise their danger their return would be cut off by our bow-and-arrow men in their rear. after a pause that seemed an eternity to most of us no doubt, for the savage heart beats as the white man's in time of danger and action, we heard the talking and shouting of the enemy as they advanced, following the natural and easiest route between the hills and cutting their way through the brush. i stood near the chief and the young club-man arara, who, on account of his bravery and great ability in handling his club, had been detailed to remain near us. before i could see any of the approaching foe, i heard great shouts of anger and pain from them. it was easy for me to understand their cries as they spoke spanish and their cursings sounded loud through the forest. the blow-gun men, perceiving the peruvians at the foot of the hill only some twenty feet away, had prudently waited until at least half a dozen were visible, before they fired a volley of poisoned arrows. the three arrows fired in this first volley all hit their mark. hardly had they gone forth, when other arrows were dexterously inserted in the tubes. the work of the blow-gun men was soon restricted to the picking out of any stray enemy, their long, delicate, and cumbersome blow-guns preventing them from taking an active part in the mêlée. now the conflict was at its height and it was a most remarkable one, on account of its swiftness and fierceness. the bow-and-arrow men charging with their sting-ray arrows poisoned with the wourahli took the place of the cautiously retreating blow-gun men. at the same instant the spear-men rushed down, dashing through the underbrush at the foot of the hill, like breakers on a stormy night. the rear-guard of the peruvians now came into action, having had a chance to view the situation. several of them filed to the right and managed to fire their large-calibre bullets into the backs of our charging bow-and-arrow men, but, in their turn, they were picked off by the blow-gun men, who kept firing their poisoned darts from a safe distance. the fearful yells of our men, mingled with the cursing of the peruvians, and the sharp reports of their heavy rifles, so plainly heard, proved that the centre of battle was not many yards from the spot where i was standing. the club-men now broke into action; they could not be kept back any longer. the tension had already been too painful for these brave fellows, and with fierce war-cries of "_yob--hee--hee_" they launched themselves into the fight, swinging their strong clubs above their heads and crashing skulls from left to right. by this time the peruvians had lost many men, but the slaughter went on. the huge black clubs of the mangeromas fell again and again, with sickening thuds, piercing the heads and brains of the enemy with the pointed jaguar teeth. suddenly two peruvians came into view not more than twelve feet from where the chief, arara the big club-man, and i were standing. one of these was a spaniard, evidently the captain of this band of marauders (or, to use their correct name, _caucheros_). his face was of a sickly, yellowish hue, and a big, black moustache hid the lower part of his cruel and narrow chin. he took a quick aim as he saw us in his path, but before he could pull the trigger, arara, with a mighty side-swing of his club literally tore the spaniard's head off. now, at last, the bonds of restraint were broken for this handsome devil arara, and yelling himself hoarse, and with his strong but cruel face contracted to a fiendish grin, he charged the enemy; i saw him crush the life out of three. the chief took no active part in the fight whatever, but added to the excitement by bellowing with all his might an encouraging "_aa--oo--ah_." no doubt, this had a highly beneficial effect upon the tribesmen, for they never for an instant ceased their furious fighting until the last peruvian was killed. during the final moments of the battle, several bullets whirred by me at close range, but during the whole affair i had had neither opportunity nor necessity for using my pistol. now, however, a _caboclo_, with a large, bloody machete in his hand, sprang from behind a tree and made straight for me. i dodged behind another tree and saw how the branches were swept aside as he rushed towards me. then i fired point-blank, sending three bullets into his head. he fell on his face at my feet. as i bent over him, i saw that he had a blow-gun arrow in his left thigh; he was therefore a doomed man before he attacked me. this was my first and only victim, during this brief but horrible slaughter. as i was already thoroughly sick from the noise of cracking rifles and the thumping of clubs smashing their way into the brains of the peruvians, i rushed toward the centre of the valley where the first attack on the advance guard of the enemy had taken place, but even more revolting was the sight that revealed itself. here and there bushes were shaking as some _caboclo_ crawled along on all fours in his death agony. those who were struck by the blow-gun arrows seemed simply to fall asleep without much pain or struggle, but the victims of the club-men and the bow-and-arrow men had a terrible death. they could not die by the merciful wourahli poison, like those shot by the blow-gun, but expired from hemorrhages caused by the injuries of the ruder weapons. one poor fellow was groaning most pitifully. he had received a well-directed big-game arrow in the upper part of the abdomen, the arrow having been shot with such terrible force that about a foot of the shaft projected from the man's back. the arrow-head had been broken off by striking a vertebra. the battle was over. soon the _urubus_, or vultures, were hanging over the tree-tops waiting for their share of the spoils. the men assembled in front of the chief for roll-call. four of our men were killed outright by rifle-bullets, and it was typical of these brave men that none were killed by machete stabs. the entire marauding expedition of twenty peruvians was completely wiped out, not a single one escaping the deadly aim of the mangeromas. thus was avoided the danger of being attacked in the near future by a greater force of peruvians, called to this place from the distant frontier by some returning survivor. it is true that the mangeromas lay in ambush for their enemy and killed them, for the greater part, with poisoned arrows and spears, but the odds were against the indians, not only because the _caboclos_ were attacking them in larger numbers, but because they came with modern, repeating fire-arms against the hand weapons of the mangeromas. these marauders, too, came with murder and girl-robbery in their black hearts, while the mangeromas were defending their homes and families. but it is true that after the battle, so bravely fought, the indians cut off the hands and feet of their enemies, dead or dying, and carried them home. the fight lasted only some twenty minutes, but it was after sunset when we reached the _maloca_. the women and children received us with great demonstrations of joy. soon the pots and pans were boiling inside the great house. i have previously observed how the mangeromas would partake of parts of the human body as a sort of religious rite, whenever they had been successful with their man-traps; now they feasted upon the hands and feet of the slain, these parts having been distributed among the different families. i crept into my hammock and lit my pipe, watching the great mass of naked humanity. all the men had laid aside their feather-dresses and squirrel tails, and were moving around among the many fires on the floor of the hut. some were sitting in groups discussing the battle, while women bent over the pots to examine the ghastly contents. here, a woman was engaged in stripping the flesh from the palm of a hand and the sole of a foot, which operation finished, she threw both into a large earthen pot to boil; there, another woman was applying an herb-poultice to her husband's wounds. over it all hung a thick, odoriferous smoke, gradually finding its way out through the central opening in the roof. this was a feast, indeed, such as few white men, i believe, have witnessed. that night and the next day, and the following four days, great quantities of _chicha_ were drunk and much meat was consumed to celebrate the great victory, the greatest in the annals of the mangeromas of rio branco. earthen vessels and jars were used in the cooking of food. the red clay (tabatinga clay) found abundantly in these regions formed a superior material for these utensils. they were always decorated symbolically with juices of the scarlet _urucu_ and the black _genipapa_. even when not burned into the clay, these were permanent colours. men and women wore their hair long and untrimmed as far as i could observe. the older and more experienced of the tribesmen would have quite elaborate head-gear, consisting of a band of _mutum_ plumes, interspersed with parrot-tail feathers, while the younger hunters wore nothing but a band of the _mutum_ plumes. the body was uncovered, save by a narrow strip of bark encircling the waist. a broad piece, woven of several bark-strips into a sort of mat, protected the lower anterior part of the abdomen. the women wore no clothing whatever. their colour was remarkably light. probably nothing can designate this better than the statement that if a mangeroma were placed alongside of an italian, no difference would be noticeable. their cheek-bones were not as high as is usual with tribes found on the amazon; they seemed to come from a different race. their eyes were set straight without any tendency to the mongolian slanting that characterises the peruvian _caboclos_ and the tribes of the northern affluents. the women had unusually large feet, while those of the men were small and well-shaped. the general appearance of a young mangeroma was that of a well-proportioned athlete, standing about five feet ten in his bare feet. no moccasins, nor any other protection for the feet, were worn. the supply of wourahli poison had run low and three wourahli men were to go out in the forest to collect poison plants, a journey which would require several days to complete. this occasion was set as the time of my departure. it was a rainy morning when i wrapped my few belongings in a leaf, tied some grass-fibres around them, and inserted them in the large pocket of my khaki-coat. the box with the gold dust was there, also the boxes with the exposed photographic plates. most of the gold had filtered out of the box, but a neat quantity still remained. one of my servants--a handsome girl--who, excepting for the labial ornaments, could have been transformed into an individual of quite a civilised appearance by opportunity, gave me a beautiful black necklace as a souvenir. it was composed of several hundred pieces, all carved out of ebony nuts. it had cost her three weeks of constant work. i embraced and was embraced by almost everybody in the _maloca_, after which ceremony we went in procession to the canoe that was to take me down to the branco river. the chief bade me a fond farewell, that forever shall be implanted in my heart. i had lived here weeks among these cannibal indians, had enjoyed their kindness and generosity without charge; i could give them nothing in return and they asked nothing. i could have stayed here for the rest of my natural life if i had so desired, but now i was to say good-bye forever. how wonderful was this farewell! it was my opportunity for acknowledging that the savage heart is by no means devoid of the feelings and sentiments that characterise more elevated, so-called civilised individuals. for the last time i heard the little dog bark, the same that had licked my face when i fainted in front of the _maloca_ upon my first arrival; and the large _arara_ screamed in the tree-tops as i turned once more towards the world of the white man. the journey was without incident. the wourahli men set me off near the mouth of the branco river, at a distance which i covered in less than five hours by following the banks. i was greeted by coronel maya of the _compagnie transatlantique de caoutchouc_, who sent me by canoe down the old itecoahy, until we reached the floresta headquarters. here i gave coronel da silva an account of the death of chief marques, and the brave jerome, which made a deep impression upon this noble man. the three men, magellaes, anisette, and freitas, had returned in safety after they separated from us. i met the wife of chief marques. she was the woman whose arm i had amputated. when i saw her she was carrying, with the arm left to her, a pail of water from the little creek behind headquarters. she was a different woman, and i was pleased to know that my desperate surgical operation had resulted so well. her cheeks were full and almost rosy. her health, i was told, excepting for occasional attacks of ague, was very good. soon after, the launch arrived from remate de males and i put my baggage on board. the coronel accompanied me down river for about forty-eight hours and then, reaching the northern extremity of his estate, he bade me a fond good-bye with the words: "_sempre, illustrissimo senhor, minha casa e a suas ordenes_," "my house, most illustrious sir, is always at your disposal." when i arrived at remate de males i had another attack of malaria, which almost severed the slender thread by which my life hung; my physical resistance was gone. but i managed to develop my plates before breaking down completely, and after having disposed of my small quantity of gold dust, for which i realised some three hundred and forty dollars, i was taken down to the mouth of the javary river, where i had landed almost a year previous, now a physical and, i might almost say, mental wreck. i stayed in the house of coronel monteiro, the frontier official at esperança, for five long days, fighting with death, until one afternoon i saw the white hull of the r.m.s. _napo_ appear at a bend of the amazon, only five hundred yards away. closer she came--this rescuing instrument of providence. she was none too soon, for i had now reached the last notch of human endurance. she dropped anchor; a small gasoline launch was lowered into the water; three white-coated officers stepped into it--they came ashore--they climbed the stairs. the captain, a stout, kind-looking englishman, approached my hammock and found therein a very sick white man. i was carried aboard and placed in the hands of the ship's physician. at last those black forests of the amazon were left behind. after twenty-two days' sail, sandy hook lighthouse loomed on our port side, and soon after, i could rest--rest, and _live_ again! harry escombe a tale of adventure in peru by harry collingwood ________________________________________________________________________ harry escombe is a young apprentice in a civil engineer's office. the firm has received a contract to survey and built a railway line in peru. harry is chosen to go, and is informed that if he does well in the work the future for him is pretty bright. but there is a fly in the ointment. the man in charge of the project is about as nasty as anyone can be: his character is beautifully depicted throughout the book. he makes harry do a piece of surveying in an unnecessarily dangerous manner, as a result of which he falls down a precipice from which he cannot be rescued, and is therefore written off as dead. but he was indeed rescued. he was taken to a house where he remained in a coma for some time. then he is thought to be a re-incarnation of the inca, and taken by indians to their own city, where he is worshipped as a god. this could be quite embarrassing if you found yourself in this situation, as you'd be unable to perform miracles, and do the things a deity might be expected to do. however, harry managed rather well. but eventually he manages to escape from the situation, and to return to his home in england. ________________________________________________________________________ harry escombe a tale of adventure in peru by harry collingwood chapter one. how the adventure originated. the hour was noon, the month chill october; and the occupants--a round dozen in number--of sir philip swinburne's drawing office were more or less busily pursuing their vocation of preparing drawings and tracings, taking out quantities, preparing estimates, and, in short, executing the several duties of a civil engineers' draughtsman as well as they could in a temperature of ° fahrenheit, and in an atmosphere surcharged with smoke from a flue that refused to draw--when the door communicating with the chief draughtsman's room opened and the head of mr richards, the occupant of that apartment, protruded through the aperture. at the sound of the opening door the draughtsmen, who were acquainted with mr richards's ways, glanced up with one accord from their work, and the eye of one of them was promptly caught by mr richards, who, raising a beckoning finger, remarked: "escombe, i want you," and immediately retired. thereupon escombe, the individual addressed, carefully wiped his drawing pen upon a duster, methodically laid the instrument in its proper place in the instrument case, closed the latter, and, descending from his high stool, made his way into the chief draughtsman's room, closing the door behind him. he did this with some little trepidation; for these private interviews with his chief were more often than not of a distinctly unpleasant character, having reference to some stupid blunder in a calculation, some oversight in the preparation of a drawing, or something of a similar nature calling for sharp rebuke; and as the lad-- he was but seventeen--accomplished the short journey from one room to the other he rapidly reviewed his most recent work, and endeavoured to decide in which job he was most likely to have made a mistake. but before he could arrive at a decision on this point he was in the presence of mr richards, and a single glance at the chief draughtsman's face--now that it could be seen clearly and unveiled by a pall of smoke--sufficed to assure harry escombe that in this case at least he had nothing in the nature of censure to fear. for mr richards's face was beaming with satisfaction, and a large atlas lay open upon the desk at which he stood. "sit down, escombe," remarked the dreaded potentate as he pointed to a chair. escombe seated himself; and then ensued a silence of a full minute's duration. the potentate seemed to be meditating how to begin. at length-- "how long have you been with us, escombe?" he enquired, hoisting himself onto a stool as he put the question. "a little over two years," answered escombe. "i signed my articles with sir philip on the first of september the year before last, and came on duty the next day." "two years!" ejaculated mr richards. "i did not think it had been so long as that. but time flies when one is busy, and we have done a lot of work during the last two years. then you have only another year of pupilage to serve, eh, escombe?" "only one year more, mr richards," answered the lad. "ah!" commented mr richards, and paused again, characteristically. "look here, escombe," he resumed; "you have done very well since you came here; sir philip is very pleased with you, and so am i. i have had my eye on you, and have seen that you have been studying hard and doing your best to perfect yourself in all the details of your profession. so far as theory goes you are pretty well advanced. what you need now is practical, out-of-door work, and," laying his hand upon the open atlas, "i have got a job here that i think will just suit you. it is in peru. do you happen to know anything of peru?" escombe confessed that his knowledge of peru was strictly confined to what he had learned about that interesting country at school. "it is the same with me," admitted mr richards. "all i know about peru is that it is a very mountainous country, which is the reason, i suppose, why there is considerably less than a thousand miles of railway throughout the length and breadth of it. and what there is is made up principally of short bits scattered about here and there. but there is some talk of altering all that now, and matters have gone so far that sir philip has been commissioned to prepare a scheme for constructing a railway from a place called palpa--which is already connected with lima and callao--to salinas, which is connected with huacho, and from huacho to cochamarca and thence to a place called cerro de pasco, which in its turn is connected with nanucaca; and from nanucaca along the shore of lake chinchaycocha to ayacucho, cuzco, and santa rosa, which last is connected by rail with mollendo, on the coast. there is also another scheme afoot which will involve the taking of a complete set of soundings over the length and breadth of lake titicaca. now, all this means a lot of very important and careful survey work which i reckon will take the best part of two years to accomplish. sir philip has decided to entrust the work to mr butler, who has already done a great deal of survey work for him, as of course you know; but mr butler will need an assistant, and sir philip, after consultation with me, has decided to offer that post to you. it will be a splendid opportunity for you to acquire experience in a branch of your profession that you know very little of, as yet; and if the scheme should be carried out, you, in consequence of the familiarity with the country which you will have acquired, will stand an excellent chance of obtaining a good post on the job. now, what do you say, escombe; are you willing to go? your pay during the survey will be a guinea a day--seven days a week-- beginning on the day you sail from england and ending on the day of your return; first-class passage out and home; all expenses paid; twenty-five pounds allowed for a special outfit; and everything in the shape of surveying instruments and other necessaries, found. after your return you will of course be retained in the office to work out the scheme, at a salary to be agreed upon, which will to a great extent depend upon the way in which you work upon the survey; while, in the event of the scheme being carried out, you will, as i say, doubtless get a good post on the engineering staff, at a salary that will certainly not be less than your pay during the survey, and may possibly be a good deal more." young escombe's heart leapt within him, for here was indeed a rosy prospect suddenly opening out before him, a prospect which promised to put an abrupt and permanent end to certain sordid embarrassments that of late had been causing his poor widowed mother a vast amount of anxiety and trouble, and sowing her beloved head with many premature white hairs. for harry's father had died about four months before this story opens, leaving his affairs in a condition of such hopeless disorder that the family lawyer had only just succeeded in disentangling them, with the result that the widow had found herself left almost penniless, with no apparent resource but to allow her daughter lucy to go out into a cold, unsympathetic world to earn her own living and face the many perils that lurk in the path of a young, lovely, innocent, and unprotected girl. but here was a way out of all their difficulties; for, as harry rapidly bethought himself, if all his expenses were to be paid while engaged upon the survey, he could arrange for at least three hundred pounds of his yearly salary to be paid to his mother at home, which, with economy and what little she had already, would suffice to enable her and lucy to live in their present modest home, free from actual want. there was but one fly in his ointment, one disturbing item in the alluring programme which mr richards had sketched out, and that was mr butler, the man who was to be escombe's superior during the execution of the survey. this man was well known to the occupants of sir philip swinburne's drawing office as a most tyrannical, overbearing man, with an arrogance of speech and offensiveness of manner and a faculty for finding fault that rendered it absolutely impossible to work amicably with him, and at the same time retain one's self respect. moreover, it was asserted that if there were two equally efficient methods of accomplishing a certain task, he would invariably insist upon the adoption of that method which involved the greatest amount of difficulty, discomfort, and danger, and then calmly sit down in safety and comfort to see it done. mr richards had said that escombe would, upon his return to england, be retained in the office to work out the scheme, at a salary the amount of which would "to a great extent depend upon the way in which he worked on the survey"; and it seemed to harry that sir philip's estimate of the way in which he worked on the survey would be almost entirely based upon mr butler's report. now it was known that, in addition to possessing the unenviable attributes already mentioned, butler was a most vindictive man, cherishing an undying enmity against all who had ever presumed to thwart or offend him, and he seemed to be one of those unfortunately constituted individuals whom it was impossible to avoid offending. it is therefore not to be wondered at if escombe hesitated a moment before accepting mr richards's offer. "well, escombe, what do you say?" enquired the chief draughtsman, after a somewhat lengthy pause. "you do not seem to be very keen upon availing yourself of the opportunity that i am offering you. is it the climate that you are afraid of? i am told that peru is a perfectly healthy country." "no, mr richards," answered escombe. "i am not thinking of the climate; it is mr butler that is troubling me. you must be fully aware of the reputation which he holds in the office as a man with whom it is absolutely impossible to work amicably. there is munro, who helped him in that scottish survey, declares that nothing would induce him to again put himself in mr butler's power; and you will remember what a shocking report mr butler gave of munro's behaviour during the survey. yet the rest of us have found munro to be invariably most good natured and obliging in every way. then there was fielding--and pierson--and marshall--" "yes, i know," interrupted mr richards rather impatiently. "i have never been able to rightly understand those affairs, or to make up my mind which was in the wrong. it may be that there were faults on both sides. but, be that as it may, mr butler is a first-rate surveyor; we have always found his work to be absolutely accurate and reliable; and sir philip has given him this survey to do; so it is too late for us to draw back now, even if sir philip would, which i do not think in the least likely. so, if you do not feel inclined to take on the job--" "no; please do not mistake my hesitation," interrupted escombe. "i will take the post, most gratefully, and do my best in it; only, if mr butler should give in an unfavourable report of me when all is over, i should like you to remember that he has done the same with everybody else who has gone out under him; and please do not take it for granted, without enquiry, that his report is perfectly just and unbiased." this was a rather bold thing for a youngster of escombe's years to say in relation to a man old enough to be his father; but mr richards passed it over--possibly he knew rather more about those past episodes than he cared to admit--merely saying: "very well, then; i dare say that will be all right. now you had better go to mitford and draw the money for your special outfit; also get from him a list of what you will require; and to-morrow you can take the necessary time to give your orders before coming to the office. but you must be careful to make sure that everything is supplied in good time, for you sail for callao this day three weeks." the enthusiasm which caused escombe's eyes to shine and his cheek to glow as he strode up the short garden path to the door of the trim little villa in west hill, sydenham, that night, was rather damped by the reception accorded by his mother and sister to the glorious news which he began to communicate before even he had stepped off the doormat. where the lad saw only an immediate increase of pay that would suffice to solve the problem of the family's domestic embarrassments, two years of assured employment, with a brilliant prospect beyond, a long spell of outdoor life in a perfect climate and in a most interesting and romantic country, during which he would be perfecting himself in a very important branch of his profession, and, lastly, the possibility of much exciting adventure, mrs escombe and lucy discerned a long sea voyage, with its countless possibilities of disaster, two years of separation from the being who was dearer to them than all else, the threat of strange and terrible attacks of sickness, and perils innumerable from wild beasts, venomous reptiles and insects, trackless forests, precipitous mountain paths, fathomless abysses, swift-rushing torrents, fierce tropical storms, earthquakes, and, worse than all else, ferocious and bloodthirsty savages! what was money and the freedom from care and anxiety which its possession ensured, compared with all the awful dangers which their darling must brave in order to win it? these two gently nurtured women felt that they would infinitely rather beg their bread in the streets than suffer their beloved harry to go forth, carrying his life in his hands, in order that they might be comfortably housed and clothed and sufficiently fed! and indeed the picture which they drew was sufficiently alarming to have daunted a lad of nervous and timid temperament, and perhaps have turned him from his purpose. but harry escombe was a youth of very different mould, and was built of much sterner stuff. there was nothing of the milksop about him, and the dangers of which his mother and sister spoke so eloquently had no terrors for him, but, on the contrary, constituted a positive and very powerful attraction; besides, as he pointed out to his companions, he would not always be clinging to the face of a precipice, or endeavouring to cross an impassable mountain torrent. storms did not rage incessantly in peru, any more than they did elsewhere; mr richards had assured him that the climate was healthy; ferocious animals and deadly reptiles did not usually attack a man unless they were interfered with; and reference to an encyclopaedia disclosed the fact that peru, so far from swarming with untamed savages, was a country enjoying a very fair measure of civilisation. talking thus, making light of such dangers as he would actually have to face, and dwelling very strongly upon the splendid opening which the offer afforded him, the lad gradually brought his mother and sister into a more reasonable frame of mind, until at length, by the time that the bedroom candles made their appearance, the two women, knowing how completely harry had set his heart upon going, and recognising also the strength of his contention as to the advantageous character of the opening afforded him by mr richards's proposal, had become so far reconciled to the prospect of the separation that they were able to speak of it calmly and to conceal the heartache from which both were suffering. so on the following morning mrs escombe and lucy were enabled to sally forth with cheerful countenance and more or less sprightly conversation as they accompanied the lad to town to assist him in the purchase of his special outfit, the larger portion of which was delivered at the limes that same evening, and at once unpacked for the purpose of being legibly marked and having all buttons securely sewn on by two pairs of loving hands. the following three weeks sped like a dream, so far as the individual chiefly interested was concerned; during the day he was kept continually busy by mr butler in the preparation of lists of the several instruments, articles, and things--from theodolites, levels, measuring chains, steel tapes, ranging rods, wire lines, sounding chains, drawing and tracing paper, cases of instruments, colour boxes, t-squares, steel straight-edges, and drawing pins, to tents, camp furniture, and saddlery--and procuring the same. the evenings were spent in packing and re-packing his kit as the several articles comprising it came to hand, diversified by little farewell parties given in his honour by the large circle of friends with whom the escombes had become acquainted since their arrival and settlement in sydenham. at length the preparations were all complete; the official impedimenta--so to speak-- had all been collected at sir philip swinburne's offices in victoria street, carefully packed in zinc-lined cases, and dispatched for shipment in the steamer which was to take the surveyors to south america. escombe had sent on all his baggage to the ship in advance, and the morning came when he must say good-bye to the two who were dearest to him in all the world. they would fain have accompanied him to the docks and remained on board with him until the moment arrived for the steamer to haul out into the river and proceed upon her voyage; but young escombe had once witnessed the departure of a liner from southampton and had then beheld the long-drawn-out agony of the protracted leave taking, the twitching features, the sudden turnings aside to hide and wipe away the unbidden tear, the heroic but futile attempts at cheerful, light-hearted conversation, the false alarms when timid people rushed ashore, under the unfounded apprehension that they were about to be carried off across the seas, and the return to the ship to say goodbye yet once again when they found that their fears were groundless. he had seen all this, and was quite determined that his dear ones should not undergo such torture of waiting, he therefore so contrived that his good-bye was almost as brief and matter of fact as though he had been merely going up to westminster for the day, instead of to peru for two years. taking the train for london bridge, he made his way thence to fenchurch street and so to blackwall, arriving on board the s.s. _rimac_ with a good hour to spare. but, early as he was, he found that not only had mr butler arrived on board before him, but also that that impatient individual had already worked himself into a perfect frenzy of irritation lest he--harry-- should allow the steamer to leave without him. "look here, escombe," he fumed, "this sort of thing won't do at all, you know. i most distinctly ordered you to be on board in good time this morning. i have been searching for you all over the ship; and now, at a quarter to eleven o'clock, you come sauntering on board with as much deliberation as though you had days to spare. what do you mean by being so late, eh?" "really, mr butler," answered harry, "i am awfully sorry if i have put you out at all, but i thought that so long as i was on board in time to start with the ship it would be sufficient. as it is i am more than an hour to the good; for, as you are aware, the ship does not haul out of dock until midday. have you been wanting me for anything in particular?" "no, i have not," snapped butler. "but i was naturally anxious when i arrived on board and found that you were not here. if you had happened to miss the ship i should have been in a pretty pickle; for this peruvian survey is far too big a job for me to tackle singlehanded." "of course," agreed escombe. "but you might have been quite certain that i would not have been so very foolish as to allow the ship to leave without me. i am far too anxious to avail myself of the opportunity which this survey will afford me, to risk the loss of it by being late. is there anything that you want me to do, mr butler? because, if not, i will go below and arrange matters in my cabin." "very well," assented butler ungraciously. "but, now that you are on board, don't you dare to leave the ship and go on shore again--upon any pretence whatever. do you hear?" "you really need not feel the slightest apprehension, mr butler," replied harry. "i have no intention or desire to go on shore again." and therewith he made his way to the saloon companion, and thence below to his sleeping cabin, his cheeks tingling with shame and anger at having been so hectored in public; for several passengers had been within earshot and had turned to look curiously at the pair upon hearing the sounds of butler's high-pitched voice raised in anger. "my word," thought the lad, "our friend butler is beginning early! if he is going to talk to me in that strain on the day of our departure, what will he be like when we are ready to return home? however, i am not going to allow him to exasperate me into forgetting myself, and so answering him as to give him an excuse for reporting me to sir philip for insolence or insubordination; there is too much depending upon this expedition for me to risk anything by losing my temper with him. i will be perfectly civil to him, and will do my duty to the very best of my ability, then nothing very serious can possibly happen." upon entering his cabin escombe was greatly gratified to learn from the steward that he was to be its sole occupant. he at once annexed the top berth, and proceeded to unpack the trunk containing the clothing and other matters that he would need during the voyage, arranged his books in the rack above the bunk, and then returned to the deck just in time to witness the operation of hauling out of dock. he found butler pacing the deck in a state of extreme agitation. "where have you been all this while?" demanded the man, halting abruptly, square in escombe's path. "what do you mean by keeping out of my sight so long? are you aware, sir, that i have spent nearly an hour at the gangway watching to see that you did not slink off ashore?" "have you, really?" retorted harry. "there was not the slightest need for you to do so, you know, mr butler, for i distinctly told you that i did not intend to go ashore again. didn't i?" "yes, you did," answered butler. "but how was i to know that you would keep your word?" "i always keep my word, sir; as you will learn when we become better acquainted," answered the lad. "i hope so, for your sake," returned butler. "but my experience of youngsters like yourself is that they are not to be trusted." then, glancing round him and perceiving that several passengers in his immediate neighbourhood were regarding him with unconcealed amusement, he hastily retreated below. as he did so, a man who had been lounging over the rail close at hand, smoking a cigar as he watched the traffic upon the river, turned, and regarding escombe with a good-natured smile, remarked: "your friend seems to be a rather cantankerous chap, isn't he? he will have to take care of himself, and keep his temper under rather better control, or he will go crazy when we get into the hot weather. is he often taken like that?" "i really don't know," answered harry. "the fact is that i only made his acquaintance about three weeks ago; but i fear that he suffers a great deal from nervous irritability. it must be a very great affliction." "it is, both to himself and to others," remarked the stranger dryly. "i have met his sort before, and i find that the only way to deal with such people is to leave them very severely alone. he seems to be a bit of a bully, so far as i can make out, but he will have to mind his p's and q's while he is on board this ship, or he will be getting himself into hot water and finding things generally made very unpleasant for him. you are in his service, i suppose?" "yes, in a way i am," answered escombe with circumspection; "that is to say, we are both in the same service, but he is my superior." "i see," answered the stranger. "how far are you going in the ship?" "we are going to callao," answered harry. "to peru, eh?" returned the stranger. "so am i. i know the country pretty well. i have lived in lima for the last nine years, and i can tell you that when your friend gets among the peruvians he will have to pull in his horns a good bit. they are rather a peppery lot, are the peruvians, and if he attempts to talk to them as he has talked to you to-day, he will stand a very good chance of waking up some fine morning with a long knife between his ribs." "oh, i hope it will not come to that!" exclaimed escombe. "but--to leave the subject of my friend and his temper for the present--since you have lived in peru so long, perhaps you can tell me something about the country, what it is like, what is the character of its climate, and so on. it is possible that i may have to spend a year or so in it. i should therefore be glad to learn something about it, and to get such tips as to the manner of living, and so on, as you can give me before we land." "certainly," answered the stranger; "i shall be very pleased indeed to give you all the information that i possibly can, and i fancy there are very few people on board this ship who know more about peru than i do." and therewith escombe's new acquaintance proceeded to hold forth upon the good and the bad points of the country to which they were both bound, describing in very graphic language the extraordinary varieties of climate to be met with on a journey inland from the coast, the grandeur of its mountain scenery, the astonishing variety of its products, its interesting historical remains; the character of the aboriginal indians, the beliefs they cherish, and the legends which have been preserved and handed down by them from father to son through many generations; the character and abundance of its mineral wealth, and a variety of other interesting information; so that by the time that harry went down below to luncheon, he had already become possessed of the feeling that to him peru was no longer a strange and unknown land. chapter two. the chief officer's yarn. upon entering the saloon and searching for his place, harry found that, much to his satisfaction, he had been stationed at the second table, presided over by the chief officer of the ship--a very genial individual named o'toole, hailing from the emerald isle--and between that important personage and his recently-made peruvian acquaintance, whose name he now discovered to be john firmin; while mr butler, it appeared, had contrived to get himself placed at the captain's table, which was understood to be occupied by the elite of the passengers. with the serving of the soup escombe was given a small printed form, which he examined rather curiously, not quite understanding for the moment what it meant. mr firmin volunteered enlightenment. "that," he explained, "is an order form, upon which you write the particular kind of liquid refreshment--apart from pure water--with which you wish to be served. you fill it in and hand it to your own particular table steward, who brings you what you have ordered, and at the end of each week he presents you with the orders which you have issued, and you are expected to settle up in spot cash. very simple, isn't it?" "perfectly," agreed harry. "but supposing that one does not wish to order anything, what then?" "you leave the order blank, that is all," answered firmin. then noticing that the lad pushed the form away, he asked: "are you a teetotaler?" "by no means," answered harry; "i sometimes take a glass of wine or beer, and very occasionally, when i happen to get wet through or am very cold, i take a little spirits; but plain or aerated water usually suffices for me." "i see," remarked firmin. he remained silent for a few seconds, then turning again to harry, he said: "i wonder if you would consider me very impertinent if, upon the strength of our extremely brief acquaintance, i were to offer you a piece of advice?" "certainly not," answered harry. "you are much older and more experienced than i, mr firmin, and have seen a great deal more of the world than i have; any advice, therefore, that you may be pleased to give me i shall be most grateful for, and will endeavour to profit by." "very well, then," said firmin, "i will risk it, for i have taken rather a fancy to you, and would willingly do you a good turn. the advice that i wish to give you is this. make a point of eschewing everything in the nature of alcohol. have absolutely nothing to do with it. you are young, strong, and evidently in the best of health; your system has therefore no need of anything having the character of a stimulant. nay, i will go farther than that, and say that you will be very much better, morally and physically, without it; and even upon the occasions which you mention of getting wet or cold, a cup of scalding hot coffee, swallowed as hot as you can take it, will do you far more good than spirits. i am moved to say this to you, my young friend, because i have seen so many lads like you insensibly led into the habit of taking alcohol, and when once that habit is contracted it is more difficult than you would believe to break it off. i have known many promising young fellows who have made shipwreck of their lives simply because they have not possessed the courage and strength of mind to say `no' when they have been invited to take wine or spirits." "by the powers, misther firmin, ye niver spoke a thruer word in your life than that same," cut in the chief officer, who had been listening to what was said. "whin i was a youngster of about misther escombe's age i nearly lost my life through the dhrink. i was an apprentice at the time aboard a fine, full-rigged iron clipper ship called the _joan of arc_. we were outward bound, from london to sydney, full up with general cargo, and carried twenty-six passengers in the cuddy, and nearly forty emigrants in the 'tween decks. we had just picked up the north-east trades, blowing fresh, and the `old man', who was a rare hand at carrying on, and was eager to break the record, was driving her along to the south'ard under every rag that we could show to it, including such fancy fakements as skysails, ringtails, water-sails, and all the rest of it. it was a fine, clear, starlit night, with just the trade- clouds driving along overhead, but there was no moon, and consequently, when an exceptionally big patch of cloud came sweeping up, it fell a bit dark. still, there was no danger--or ought to have been none--for we were well out of the regular track of the homeward-bounders, and in any case, with a proper look-out, it would have been possible to see another craft plenty early enough to give her a good wide berth. but after jack has got as far south as we then were he is apt to get a bit careless in the matter of keeping a look-out--trusts rather too much to the officer of the watch aft, you know, and is not above snatching a cat-nap in the most comfortable corner he can find, instead of posting himself on the heel of the bowsprit, with his eyes skinned and searching the sea ahead of him. "now, it happened--although none of us knew it until it was too late-- that our chief mate had rather too strong a liking for rum; not that he was exactly what you might call a drunkard, you know, but he kept a bottle in his cabin, and was in the habit of taking a nip just whenever he felt like it, especially at night time; and on this particular night that i'm talking about he must have taken a nip too many, for when he came on deck at midnight to keep the middle watch he hadn't been up above an hour before he coiled himself down in one of the passenger's deck-chairs and--went to sleep. of course, under such circumstances as those of which i am speaking--the weather being fine and the wind steady, with no necessity to touch tack or sheet--the watch on deck don't make any pretence of keeping awake; they're on deck and at hand all ready for a call if they're needed, and that's as much as is expected of 'em at night time, since there's no work to be done; and the consequence was that all hands of us were sound asleep long before the mate; and there is no doubt that the look-out--who lost his life, poor chap! through his carelessness--fell asleep too. as to the man at the wheel, well he is not expected to steer the ship and keep a look-out at the same time, and, if he was, he couldn't do it, for his eyes soon grow so dazzled by the light of the binnacle lamps that he can see little or nothing except the illuminated compass card. "that, gentlemen, was the state of affairs aboard the _joan of arc_ on the night about which i'm telling ye; the skipper, the passengers, the second mate, and the watch below all in their bunks; and the rest of us, those who were on deck and ought to have been broad awake, almost if not quite as sound asleep as those who were below. i was down on the main deck, sitting on the planks, with my back propping up the front of the poop, my arms crossed, and my chin on my chest, dhreaming that i was back at school in dear old dublin, when i was startled broad awake by a shock that sent me sprawling as far for'ard as the coaming of the after- hatch, to the accompaniment of the most awful crunching, ripping, and crashing sounds, as the _joan_ sawed her way steadily into the vitals of the craft that we had struck. then, amid the yelling of the awakened watch, accompanied by muffled shrieks and shouts from below, there arose a loud twang-twanging as the backstays and shrouds parted under the terrific strain suddenly thrown upon them, then an ear-splitting crash as the three masts went over the bows, and i found myself struggling and fighting to free myself from the raffle of the wrecked mizenmast. i felt very dazed and queer, and a bit sick, for i was dimly conscious of the fact that i had been struck on the head by something when the masts fell, and upon putting up my hand i found that my hair was wet with something warm that was soaking it and trickling down into my eyes and ears. then i heard the voice of the `old man' yelling for the mate and the carpenter; and as i fought myself clear of the raffle i became aware of many voices frantically demanding to know what had happened, husbands calling for their wives, mothers screaming for their children, the sound of axes being desperately used to clear away the wreck, a sudden awful wail from somewhere ahead, and a rushing and hissing of water as the craft that we had struck foundered under our forefoot, and the skipper's voice again, cracked and hoarse, ordering the boats to be cleared away." o'toole paused for a moment and gasped as if for breath; his soup lay neglected before him, his elbows were on the table, and his two hands locked together in a grip so tense that the knuckles shone white in the light that came streaming in through the scuttles in the ship's side, his eyes were glassy and staring into vacancy with an intensity of gaze which plainly showed that the whole dreadful scene was again unfolding itself before his mental vision, and the perspiration was streaming down his forehead and cheeks. then the table steward came up, and, removing his soup, asked him whether he would take cold beef, ham-and-tongue, or roast chicken. the sound of the man's voice seemed to bring the dazed chief officer to himself again; he sighed heavily, and as though relieved to find himself where he was, considered for a moment, and, deciding in favour of cold beef, resumed his narrative. "the next thing that i can remember, gentlemen," he continued, "was that i was on the poop with the skipper, second and third mates, the carpenter, and a few others, lighting for our lives as we strove to keep back the frantic passengers and prevent them from interfering with the hands who were cutting the gripes and working furiously to sling the boats outboard. we carried four boats at the davits, two on each quarter, and those were all that were available, for the others were buried under the raffle and wreckage of the fallen masts, and it would have taken hours to clear them, with the probability that, when got at, they would have been found smashed to smithereens, while a blind man could have told by the feel of the ship that she was settling fast, and might sink under us at any moment. at last one of the boats was cleared and ready for lowering, and as many of the women and children as she would carry were bundled into her, the third mate, two able seamen, and myself being sent along with them by the skipper to take care of them. i would willingly have stayed behind, for there were other women and children--to say nothing of men passengers--to be saved, but i knew that a certain number of us jacks must of necessity go in each boat to handle and navigate her, and there was no time to waste in arguing the matter; so in i tumbled, just as i was, and the next moment we were rising and falling in the water alongside, the tackle blocks were cleverly unhooked, and we out oars and shoved off, pulling to a safe distance and then lying on our oars to wait for the rest. "i shall never, to my dying day, forget the look of that ship as we pulled away from her. the _joan_ had been as handsome a craft as ever left the stocks when we hauled out of dock at london some three weeks earlier; but now--her bows were crumpled in until she was as flat for'ard as the end of a sea-chest; her decks were lumbered high with the wreckage of her masts and spars; the standing and running rigging was hanging down over her sides in bights; and she had settled so low in the water that her channels were already buried; while her poop was crowded with madly struggling figures, from which arose a confused babel of sound--shouting, screaming, and cursing--than which i have never heard anything more awful in all my life. "when we had pulled off about fifty fathoms the third mate, who was in charge of the boat, ordered us to lie upon our oars; and presently we saw that the second quarter-boat was being lowered. she reached the water all right, and then we heard the voice of the second mate yelling to the hands on deck to let run the after tackle. the next moment, as the sinking ship rolled heavily to starboard, we saw the stern of the lowered boat lifted high out of the water, the bow dipped under, and in a second, as it seemed, she had swamped, and the whole load of people, some twenty in number, were struggling and drowning alongside as they strove ineffectually to scramble back into the swamped boat, which had now by some chance become released from the tackle that had held her. "for a moment we, in the boat that had got safely away, sat staring, dumb and paralysed with horror at the dreadful scene that was enacting before our eyes. but the next moment those of us who were at the oars started madly backing and pulling to swing the boat round and pull in to the help of the poor wretches who were perishing only a few fathoms away from us. we had hardly got the boat round, however, when mr gibson, the third mate, gave the order for us to hold water. "`we mustn't do it,' he said. `the boat is already loaded as deep as she will swim, and the weight of even one more person would suffice to swamp her! as it is, it will take us all our time, and tax our seamanship to the utmost, to keep her afloat; you can see for yourselves that it would be impossible for us to squeeze more than one additional person in among us, and, even if we had the room, we could not get that one in over the gunnel without swamping the craft. to attempt such a thing would therefore only be to throw away uselessly the lives of all of us; we must therefore stay where we are, and endure the awful sight as best we can--ah, there you have a hint of what will happen if we are not careful!'--as the boat, lying broadside-on to the sea, rolled heavily and shipped three or four bucketfuls of water--`pull, starboard, and get her round stem-on to the sea; and you, o'toole, get hold of the baler and dish that water out of her.' "it was true, every word of it, as a child might have had sense to see. we could do absolutely nothing to help the poor wretches who were drowning there before our very eyes; and in a few minutes all was over, so far as they were concerned. two or three men, i believe, managed to get back aboard the sinking ship by climbing up the davit tackles; but the rest quickly drowned--as likely as not because they clung to each other and pulled each other down. "but the plight of those aboard the _joan_ was rapidly becoming desperate; and we could see that they knew it by observing the frantic efforts which they were making to get the other two boats into the water. we could distinctly hear the voice of the skipper rising from time to time above the clamour, urging the people to greater efforts, encouraging one, cautioning another, entreating the maddened passengers to keep back and give the crew room to work. then, in the very midst of it all there came a dull boom as the decks blew up. we heard the loud hissing of the compressed air as it rushed out between the gaping deck planks; there arose just one awful wail--the sound of which will haunt me to my dying day--and with a long, sliding plunge the _joan_ lurched forward and dived, bows first, to the bottom. "as for us, we could do nothing but just keep our boat head-on to the sea and let her drift, humouring and coaxing her as best we could when an extra heavy sea appeared bearing down upon us, and baling for dear life continuously to keep her free of the water that, in spite of us, persisted in slapping into her over the bows. the canaries were the nearest bits of dry land to us, but mr jellicoe, the third mate, reckoned that they were a good hundred and fifty miles away, and dead to wind'ard; so it was useless for us to think of reaching them in a boat with her gunnels awash, and not a scrap of food or a drop of fresh water in her. the only thing that we could do was to exert our utmost endeavours to keep the craft afloat, and trust that providence would send something along soon to pick us up. but--would you believe it?-- although we were right in the track of the outward-bound ships, and although we sighted nine sailing craft and three steamers, nothing came near enough to see us, lying low in the water as we were, until the ninth day, when we were picked up by a barque bound for cape town. but by that time, gentlemen, mr jellicoe, one seaman, and i were all that remained alive of the boatload that shoved off from the stricken _joan of arc_ on that fatal night. don't ask me by what means we contrived to keep the life in us for so long a time, for i won't tell you. thus you see that, of the complete complement of ninety-two persons who left london in the _joan of arc_, eighty-nine were drowned--to say nothing of those aboard the craft that we had run down--because the mate couldn't-- or wouldn't--control his love of drink. since that day, gentlemen, coffee is the strongest beverage that has ever passed my lips." "i am delighted to hear it," remarked firmin, "for observation has led me to the conviction that at least half the tragedies of human life have originated in the craving for intoxicants; and therefore,"--turning to escombe--"i say again, my young friend, have absolutely nothing to do with them. i have no doubt that, ere you have been long in peru, you will have made the discovery that it is a thirsty country; but, apart of course from pure water, there is nothing better for quenching one's thirst than fresh, sound, perfectly ripe fruit, failing which, tea, hot or cold--the latter for preference--without milk, and with but a small quantity of sugar, will be found hard to beat. now, if you are anxious for hints, there is one of absolutely priceless value for you; but i present it you free, gratis, and for nothing." "thanks very much!" returned harry. "i will bear it in mind and act upon it. no more intoxicants for me, thank you. mr o'toole, accept my thanks for telling us that terrible story of your shipwreck. it has brought home to me, as nothing else has ever done, the awful danger of tampering with so insidious an enemy as alcohol, which i now solemnly abjure for ever." meanwhile, at the captain's table, mr butler was expressing his opinion upon various subjects in loud, strident tones, and with a disputatiousness of manner that caused most of those about him mentally to dub him a blatant cad, and to resolve that they would have as little as possible to do with him. one afternoon, when the _rimac_ had reached the other side of the atlantic, butler called harry into the cabin of the former and said: "i understand that we shall be at montevideo the day after to-morrow. now i want you to understand that i shall expect you not to go on shore either at montevideo or either of the other places that the _rimac_ will be stopping at. she will only remain at anchor at any of these places for a few hours; and if you were to go on shore it would be the easiest thing in the world for you to get lost and to miss your passage; therefore in order to obviate any such possibility i have decided not to allow you to leave the ship. do you understand?" "yes," answered escombe, "i understand perfectly, mr butler, what you mean. but i certainly do not understand by what authority you attempt to interfere with my personal liberty to the extent of forbidding me to go on shore for a few hours when the opportunity presents itself. i agreed with sir philip swinburne to accompany you to peru as your assistant upon the survey which he has engaged you to make; and from the moment when that survey commences i will render you all the obedience and deference due to you as my superior, and will serve you to the best of my ability. but it was no part of my contract that i should surrender my liberty to you during the outward and homeward voyage; and when it comes to your forbidding me to leave the ship until our arrival at callao, you must permit me to say that i feel under no obligation to defer to your wishes. and, quite apart from that, i may as well tell you that i have already accepted an invitation to accompany mr and mrs westwood and a party ashore at montevideo, and i see no reason why i should withdraw my acceptance." "w-h-a-t!" screamed butler; "do i understand that you are daring to disobey and defy me?" "certainly not, sir," answered harry, "because, as i understand it, disobedience and defiance are impossible where no authority exists; and i beg to remind you that your authority over me begins only upon our arrival at callao. yet, purely as a matter of courtesy, i am of course not only prepared but perfectly willing to show all due deference to such reasonable wishes as you may choose to express. but i reserve to myself the right of determining where the line shall be drawn." "very well, sir," stuttered butler, "i am glad to learn thus early what sort of behaviour i may expect from you. i shall write home at once to sir philip, reporting to him what has passed between us, and requesting him to send me out someone to take your place--someone who can be depended upon to render me implicit obedience at all times." and therewith he whirled about and marched off to his own cabin, where, with the heat of his anger still upon him, he sat down and penned to sir philip swinburne a very strong letter of complaint of what he was pleased to term young escombe's "insolently insubordinate language and behaviour". as for harry, butler's threat to report him to sir philip furnished him with a very valuable hint as to the wisest thing to do under the circumstances, and he too lost no time in addressing an epistle to sir philip, giving his own version of the affair. thenceforward butler pointedly ignored young escombe's existence for the remainder of the voyage; but by doing so he only made matters still more unpleasant for himself, for his altercation with harry had been overheard by certain of the passengers, and by them repeated to the rest, with the final result that butler was promptly consigned to coventry, and left there by the whole of the saloon passengers. harry duly went ashore with his friends at montevideo and--having first posted his letter to sir philip and another to his mother and sister-- went out with them by train to bellavista, where they all enjoyed vastly the little change from the monotony of life at sea, returning in the nick of time to witness a violent altercation between butler and the boatman who brought him off from the shore. also harry went ashore for an hour or two at punta arenas, in the straits of magellan; and again at valparaiso and arica; finally arriving at callao something over a month from the day upon which he sailed from london. chapter three. butler the tyrant. at this point escombe acknowledged himself to be legitimately under butler's rule and dominion, to obey unquestioningly all the latter's orders, to go where bidden and to do whatever he might be told, even as did the soldiers of the roman centurion; and butler soon made him understand and feel that there was a heavy score to be wiped off--a big wound in the elder man's self esteem to be healed. there were a thousand ways now in which butler was able to make his power and authority over harry felt; he was careful not to miss a single opportunity, and he spared the lad in nothing. he would not even permit harry to land until the latter had personally supervised the disembarkation of every item of their somewhat extensive baggage; and when this was at length done he insisted that escombe should in like manner oversee the loading of them into a railway wagon for lima, make the journey thither in the same truck with them--ostensibly to ensure that nothing was stolen on the way--and finally, upon their arrival in lima, he compelled harry to remain by the truck and mount guard over it until it was coupled to the train for palpa, and then to proceed to that town in the same truck without seeing anything more of the capital city than could be seen from the station yard. then, again, at palpa he insisted that harry should remain by the truck and supervise the unloading of the baggage and its transference to a lock-up store, giving the lad to understand that he would be held responsible for any loss or damage that might occur during the operation; so that by the time that all this was done poor escombe was more dead than alive, so utterly exhausted was he from long exposure to the enervating heat, and lack of proper food. but harry breathed no word of expostulation or complaint. he regarded everything that he now did as in the way of duty and merely as somewhat unpleasant incidents in the execution of the great task that lay before him, and he was content, if not quite as happy and comfortable as he might have been under a more congenial and considerate leader. besides, he was learning something every minute of the day, learning how to do things and also how not to do them, for he very quickly recognised that although butler might possibly be an excellent surveyor, he was but a very poor hand at organisation. then, too, butler had characteristically neglected the acquisition of any foreign language, consequently they had no sooner arrived at palpa than he found himself absolutely dependent upon harry's knowledge of spanish; and this advantage on escombe's part served in a great measure to place the two upon a somewhat more equal footing, and gradually to suppress those acts of petty tyranny which butler had at first evinced a disposition to indulge in. palpa was the place at which their labours were to begin, and here it became necessary for them to engage a complete staff of assistants, comprising tent bearers, grooms, bush cutters, porters, cooks, and all the other attendants needed for their comfort and convenience during a long spell of camp life in a tropical climate, and in a country where civilisation is still elementary except in the more important centres. luckily for them, the first section of their work comprised only a stretch of a little more than thirty miles of tolerably flat country, where no serious natural difficulties presented themselves, and that part of their work was soon accomplished. yet escombe found even this trifling bit of the great task before him sufficiently arduous; for butler not only demanded that he should be up and at work in the open at daybreak, and that he should continue at work so long as daylight lasted, but that, when survey work was no longer possible because of the darkness, the lad should "plot" his day's work on paper before retiring to rest. thus it was generally close upon midnight before escombe was at liberty to retire to his camp bed and seek his hard-earned and much- needed rest. but it was when they got upon the second section of their work--between huacho, cochamarca, and cerro de pasco--that their real troubles and difficulties began, for here they had to find a practicable route up the face of the western cordillera in the first instance, and, having found it, to measure with the nicest accuracy not only the horizontal distances but the height of every rise and the depth of every declivity in the face of a country made up to a great extent of lofty precipices and fathomless ravines, the whole overgrown with dense vegetation through which survey lines had to be cut at enormous expense of time and labour. and here it was that butler's almost fiendish malice and ingenuity in the art of making things unpleasant for other people shone forth conspicuously. it was his habit to ride forth every morning accompanied by a strong band of attendants armed with axes and machetes, and well provided with ropes to assist in the scaling of precipitous slopes, for the purpose of selecting and marking out the day's route, a task which could usually be accomplished in a couple of hours; and then to return and supervise the work of his subordinate, which he made as difficult and arduous as possible by insisting upon the securing of a vast amount of superfluous and wholly unnecessary information, in the obtaining of which harry was obliged to risk his life at least a dozen times a day. yet the lad never complained; indeed he could not have done so even had he been so disposed, for it was for butler to determine what amount of information and of what nature was necessary for the proper execution of the survey; but escombe began to understand now the means by which his superior had acquired the reputation of an accomplished surveyor. it is easy for a man in authority to stand or sit in safety and command another to perform a difficult task at the peril of his life! and if butler was tyrannically exacting in his treatment of harry, he was still more so toward the unfortunate peons in his service, and especially those whom he detailed to accompany him daily to assist in the task of selecting and marking out the route of the survey line. these people knew no language but their own, and since harry was always engaged elsewhere with theodolite, level, and chain, and was, therefore, not available to play the part of interpreter, it became necessary for butler to secure the services of a man who understood enough english to translate his orders into the vernacular; and because this unfortunate fellow was necessarily always at butler's elbow, he became the scapegoat upon whose unhappy head the sins and shortcomings of the others were visited in the form of perpetual virulent abuse, until the man's life positively became a burden to him, to such an extent, indeed, that he would undoubtedly have deserted but for the fact that butler, suspecting his inclination perhaps, positively refused to pay him a farthing of wages until the conclusion of his engagement. it can easily be understood, therefore, that, under the circumstances described, an element of tragedy was steadily developing in the survey camp. but although the overbearing and exacting behaviour of the chief of the expedition was thus making matters particularly unpleasant for everybody concerned, nothing of a really serious character occurred until the second section of the survey had been in progress for a little over two months, by which time the party had penetrated well into the mountain fastnesses, and were beginning to encounter some of the more formidable difficulties of their task. butler was still limiting his share of the work to the mere marking out of the route, leaving harry to perform the whole of the actual labour of the survey under his watchful eye, and stirring neither hand nor foot to assist the young fellow, although the occasions were frequent when, had he chosen to give a few minutes' assistance at the theodolite or level, such help would have saved young escombe some hours of arduous labour, and thus expedited the survey. now, it happened that a certain day's work terminated at the edge of a _quebrada_, and butler informed harry that the first task of the latter, upon the following morning, would be to take a complete set of accurate measurements of this _quebrada_, before pushing on with the survey of the route. a _quebrada_, it may be explained, is a sort of rent or chasm in the mountain, usually with vertical, or at least precipitous sides, and very frequently of terrific depth, the impression suggested by its appearance being that at some period of the earth's history the solid rock of the mountain had been riven asunder by some titanic force. sometimes a _quebrada_ is several hundreds of feet in width, and of a depth so appalling as to unnerve the most hardy mountaineer. the _quebrada_ in question, however, was of comparatively insignificant dimensions, being only about forty feet wide at the point where the survey line crossed it, and some four hundred feet deep. now, although harry was only an articled pupil, he knew quite enough about railway engineering to be perfectly well aware that the elaborate measurements which butler had instructed him to take were absolutely unnecessary, the accurate determination of the width at the top--where a bridge would eventually have to be thrown across--being all that was really required. yet he made no demur, for he had already seen that it would be possible to take as many measurements as might be required, with absolute accuracy and ease, by the execution of about a quarter of an hour's preliminary surveying. but when, on the following morning, he commenced this bit of preliminary work, butler rushed out of his tent and interrupted him. "what are you doing?" he harshly demanded. "have you forgotten that i ordered you to measure very carefully the _quebrada_ this morning, before doing anything else?" "no, sir," answered harry, "i have not forgotten. i am doing it now, or, rather, doing the necessary preliminary work." "doing the necessary preliminary work?" echoed butler. "what do you mean? i don't understand you." "then permit me to explain," said harry suavely. "i have ascertained that, by placing the theodolite over that peg yonder,"--pointing to a newly driven peg some four hundred feet away to the left--"i shall be able to get an uninterrupted view of the _quebrada_ from top to bottom, and, by taking a series of vertical and horizontal angles from the top edge, can measure the contour of the two sides, at the point crossed by the survey line, with the nicest accuracy." "how do you mean?" demanded butler. harry proceeded to elaborate his explanation, patiently describing each step of the intended operation, and making it perfectly clear that the elaborate series of unnecessary measurements demanded could be secured with the most beautiful precision. "but," objected butler, "when you have taken all those angles you will have done only part of the work; you will still have to calculate the length of the vertical and horizontal lines subtended by them--" "a matter of about half an hour's work!" interjected harry. "possibly," agreed butler. "but," he continued, "i do not like your plan at all; i do not approve of it; it is amateurish and theoretical, and i won't have it. a much simpler and more practical way will be for you to go down the _quebrada_ at the end of a rope, measuring as you go." "that is one way certainly," assented harry; "but, with all submission, mr butler, i venture to think that it will not be nearly so accurate as mine. besides, consider the danger. if the rope should happen to be cut in its passage over the sharp edge of that rock--" "look here," interrupted butler, "if you are afraid, you had better say so, and i will do the work myself. but i should like you to understand that timid people are of no use to me." the taunt was unjust, for harry was not afraid; but he was convinced that his own plan was far and away the more expeditious and the more accurate, also it involved absolutely no danger at all; while it was patent to even the dullest comprehension that there was a distinct element of danger attaching to the other, inasmuch as that if anything should happen to the rope, the person suspended by it must inevitably be precipitated to the bottom, where a mountain stream roared as it leaped and boiled and foamed over a bed of enormous boulders. had escombe been ten years older than he actually was he would probably not have hesitated--while disclaiming anything in the nature of cowardice--to express very strongly the opinion that where there were two methods of executing a certain task, one of them perfectly safe, and the other seriously imperilling a human life, it was the imperative duty of the person with whom the decision rested to select the safer method of the two, particularly when that method offered equally satisfactory results with the other. but, being merely a lad, and as yet scarcely certain of himself, remembering also that his future prospects were absolutely at butler's mercy, to make or mar as he pleased, harry contented himself with a disclaimer of any such feeling as fear, and expressed his readiness to perform the task in any manner which butler might choose to approve. at the same time he confessed his inability to understand precisely how the required measurements were to be taken, and requested instructions. "why," explained butler impatiently, "the thing is surely simple enough for a baby to understand. you will be lowered over the cliff edge and let down the cliff face exactly five feet at a time. as it happens to be absolutely calm, the rope by which you are to be lowered will hang accurately plumb; all that you will have to do, therefore, will be to measure the distance from your rope to the face of the rock, at every five feet of drop, and you will then have the particulars necessary to plot a contour of the cliff face, from top to bottom. you will do this on both sides of the _quebrada_, and then measure the width across at the top, which will enable us to produce a perfectly correct section of the gorge." "but how am i to measure the distance from the rope to the cliff face?" demanded harry. "for, as you will have observed, sir, the rock overhangs at the top, and the gorge widens considerably as it descends." "you can do your measuring with a ranging-rod," answered butler tersely; "and if one is not long enough, tie two together." "even so," persisted harry, "i fear i shall not be able to manage--" "will you, or will you not, do as you are told?" snapped butler. "if you cannot manage with two rods, i will devise some other plan." "very well, sir," said harry. "if you are quite determined to send me over the cliff, i am ready to go. what rope is it your pleasure that i shall use?" "take the tent ropes," ordered butler. "you will have an ample quantity if you join them all together. make a seat for yourself in the end, and then mark off the rest of the rope into five-foot lengths, so that we may know exactly how much to pay out between the measurements. then lash two ranging-rods together, and you will find that you will manage splendidly." harry had his doubts, for to his own mind the tent ropes seemed none too strong for such a purpose. moreover, the clips upon them would render the paying out over the cliff edge exceedingly awkward; still, since it seemed that the choice lay between risking his life and ruining his professional prospects, he chose the former, and set about making his preparations for what he could not help regarding as a distinctly hazardous experiment. these did not occupy him very long, and in about twenty minutes he was standing at the cliff edge, with a padded bight of the rope about his body, and the two joined ranging-rods in his hand, quite ready to be lowered down the face. then two peons whom he had specially selected for the task, drew in the slack of the rope, passed a complete turn of it round an iron bar driven deep into a rock crevice, and waited for the command of a third who now laid himself prone on the ground, with his head projecting over the edge of the cliff, to watch and regulate the descent. then harry, fully realising, perhaps for the first time, the perilous nature of the enterprise, laid himself down and carefully lowered himself over the rocky edge. "lower gently, brothers!" ordered the man who was supervising the operation, and the rope was carefully eased away until the first five- foot mark reached the cliff edge, while butler, who now also began at last to recognise and appreciate the ghastly peril to which his obstinacy had consigned a fellow creature, moved off to a point about a hundred yards distant, from which he could watch the entire descent. and he no sooner reached it than he perceived that harry's objections to the plan were well grounded, and that, even with the two joined rods, it would be impossible for the lad to take the required measurements over more than the first quarter of the depth. this being the case, it was obviously his duty at once to put a stop to so dangerous an attempt, especially as he knew perfectly well that it was as unnecessary as it was dangerous; but to do this would have been tantamount to confessing that he had made a mistake, and this his nature was too mean and petty to permit, so he simply sat down and watched in an ever-growing fever of anxiety lest anything untoward should happen for which he could be blamed. meanwhile, at the very first stoppage, harry began to experience some of the difficulties that beset him in the task which he had undertaken. despite the utmost care in lowering, the rope would persist in oscillating, very gently, it is true, but still sufficient to render it necessary to pause until the oscillation had ceased before attempting to take the measurement; also the torsion of the rope set up a slow revolving movement, so that, even when at length the oscillation ceased, it was only with difficulty that the correct measurement was taken and recorded in the book. this difficulty recurred as every additional five-foot length of rope was paid out, so that each measurement cost fully five minutes of precious time. moreover, despite the padding of the rope, harry soon began to find it cutting into his flesh so unpleasantly that he had grave doubts whether he would be able to endure it and hold out until the bottom, far below, should be reached. at length, when about forty feet of rope had been very cautiously paid out, and some eight measurements taken, the peon who was superintending the operation of lowering was suddenly seen to stiffen his body, as though something out of the common had attracted his attention; he raised one hand as a sign to the other two to cease lowering, and gazed intently downward for several seconds. then he signed for the lowering to be continued, and, to the astonishment of the others, wriggled himself back from the edge of the cliff until he had room to stand upright, when, scrambling hastily to his feet, he sprang to the two men who were lowering, and hissed between his set teeth: "lower! lower away as quickly and as steadily as you can, my brothers; the life of the young _senor_ depends upon your speed and steadiness. the rope has stranded--cut by the edge of the rock, most probably--and unless you can lower the _muchacho_ to the bottom ere it parts altogether, he will be dashed to pieces!" meanwhile harry, hanging there swinging and revolving in the bight of the rope, was not a little astonished when he found himself being lowered without pause, save such momentary jerks as were occasioned by the passage of the clips round the bar and over the cliff edge, and he instinctively glanced upward to see if he could discover what was wrong--for that something had gone amiss he felt tolerably certain. for a few seconds his eye sought vainly for an explanation, then his gaze was arrested by the sight of two severed ends of one strand of the rope standing out at a distance of about thirty feet above his head, and he knew!--knew that the strength of the slender rope had been decreased by one third, and that his life now depended upon the holding together of the two remaining strands! harry could see that those two remaining strands were stretched by his hanging weight to the utmost limit of their resistance, and he watched them with dull anxiety, as one in a dream, every moment expecting to see the yarns of which they were composed part one by one under the strain. and the worst of it was that that strain was not a steady one, otherwise there might be some hope that the strands would withstand it long enough to permit him to reach the bottom of the _quebrada_; but at frequent intervals there occurred a couple of jerks--one as a clip passed round the bar, and another as it slid over the cliff edge--and, of course, at every recurrence of the jerk the strain was momentarily increased to an enormous extent. and presently that which he feared happened, a more than usually severe jerk occurred, and one of the yarns in the remaining strands parted. escombe dully wondered how far he still was from the bottom--a fearful distance, he believed--for he seemed to be cruelly close to the overhanging edge of the cliff, although he had been hanging suspended for a length of time that seemed to him more like hours than minutes. he did not dare to look down, for he had the feeling that if he removed his gaze from those straining and quivering strands for a single instant they would snap, and he would go plunging downward to destruction. then, as he watched, another yarn parted, and another. a catastrophe was now inevitable, and the lad began to speculate curiously, and from a singularly impersonal point of view, what the sensation would be like when the last yarn had snapped. he had read somewhere that the sensation of falling from a great height was distinctly pleasurable; but what about the other, upon reaching the bottom? a quaint story came into his mind about an irishman who was said to have fallen off the roof of a house, and who, upon being picked up, was asked whether he had been hurt by his fall, to which the man replied: "no, the fall didn't hurt me a bit, it was stoppin' so quick that did all the mischief!" the humour of the story was not very brilliant, yet somehow it seemed to escombe at that moment to be ineffably amusing, and he laughed aloud at the quaintness of the conceit. and, as he did so, the remaining yarns of the second strand parted with a little jerk that thrilled him through and through, and he hung there suspended by a single strand, but still being lowered rapidly from above. his eyes were now fixed intently upon the unbroken strand, and he distinctly saw it stretching and straightening out under his weight, but, as it seemed to him, with inconceivable slowness. then--to such a preternatural state of acuteness had his senses been wrought by the imminence and certainty of ghastly disaster--he saw the last strand slowly parting, not yarn by yarn but fibre by fibre, until, after what seemed to be a veritable eternity of suspense, the last fibre snapped, he heard a loud twang, and found himself floating--as it seemed to him-- very gently downward, so gently, indeed, that, as he was swung round, facing the rocky wall, he was able to note clearly and distinctly every inequality, every projection, every crack, every indentation in the face of the rock; nay, he even felt that, were it worth while to do so, he would have had time enough to make sketches of every one of them as they drifted slowly upward. the next thing of which he was conscious was a loud swishing sound which rose even above the deafening brawl of water among rocks, that he now remembered with surprise had been thundering in his ears for--how many months--or years, was it? then he became aware that he was somehow among leaves and branches; and again memory reproduced the scene upon which he had looked when, standing upon the cliff edge at a point from which he could command a view of the whole depth of the gorge, he had idly noted that, at the very bottom of it, a few inconsiderable shrubs or small trees, nourished by eternal showers of spray, grew here and there from interstices of the rock, and he realised that he had fallen into the heart of one of them. he contrived to grasp a fairly stout branch with each hand, and was much astonished when they bent and snapped like twigs as his body ploughed through the thick growth; but he knew that the force of his fall had been broken, and, for the first time since he had made the discovery of the severed strand, the hope came that, after all, he might emerge from this adventure with his life. then he alighted--on his feet--on a great, moss-grown boulder, felt his legs double up and collapse under him, sank into a huddled heap upon the wet, slippery moss, shot off into the leaping, foaming water, and knew no more. chapter four. mama cachama. when young escombe regained his senses it was night, or so he supposed, for all was darkness about him, save for such imperfect illumination as came from a small wood fire which flickered and crackled cheerfully in one corner of the apartment in which he found himself. the apartment! nay, it was far too large, much too spacious in every dimension, to be a room in an ordinary house, and those walls--or as much as could be seen of them in the faint, ruddy glow of the firelight--were altogether too rough and rugged to have been fashioned by human hands, while the roof was so high that the flickering light of the flames was not strong enough to reach it. it was a cavern, without doubt, and harry began to wonder vaguely by what means he had come there. for, upon awakening, his mind had been in a state of the most utter confusion, and it was not until he had lain patiently waiting for his ideas to arrange themselves, and had thereby come to the consciousness that he was aching in every bone and fibre of his body, while the latter was almost entirely swathed in bandages, that the recollection of his adventure returned to him. even then the memory of it was but a dreamy one, and indeed he did not feel at all certain that the entire incident was not a dream from beginning to end, and that he should not presently awake to find himself on the cot in his tent, with the cold, clear dawn peering in past the unfolded flap, and another day's arduous work before him. but he finally concluded that the fire upon which his eyes rested was too real, and, more especially, that his pain was too acute and insistent for him to be dreaming. then he fell to wondering afresh how in the name of fortune he had found his unconscious way into that cave and upon the pallet which supported him. the fire was the only thing in the cavern that was distinctly visible; certain objects there were here and there, a vague suggestion of which came and went with the rise and fall of the flame, but what they were harry could not determine. there was, among other matters, an object on the far side of the fire, that looked not unlike a bundle of rags; but when escombe, in attempting to turn himself over into a more comfortable position, uttered an involuntary groan as a sharp twinge of pain shot through his anatomy, the bundle stirred, and instantly resolved itself into the quaintest figure of a little, old, bowed indian woman that it is possible to picture. but, notwithstanding her extreme age and apparent decrepitude, the extraordinary old creature displayed marvellous activity. in an instant she was on her feet and beside the pallet, peering eagerly and anxiously into harry's wide-open eyes. the result of her inspection appeared to be satisfactory, for presently she turned away and, muttering to herself in a tongue which was quite incomprehensible to her patient, disappeared in the all-enveloping darkness, only to reappear a moment later with a small cup in her hand containing a draught of very dark brown, almost black, liquid of an exceedingly pungent but rather agreeable bitter taste, which she placed to his lips, and which the lad at once swallowed without demur. the effect of the draught was instantaneous, as it was marvellously stimulating and exhilarating; and it must also have possessed very remarkable tonic properties, for scarcely had escombe swallowed it when a sensation of absolutely ravenous hunger assailed him. "ah!" he sighed, "that was good; i feel ever so much better now. mother," he continued in spanish, "i feel hungry: can you find me something to eat?" "aha! you feel hungry, do you?" responded the old woman in the same language. "good! i am prepared for that. wait but a moment, _caro mio_, until i can heat the broth, and your hunger shall soon be satisfied." and with the birdlike briskness which characterised all her actions she moved away into the shadows, presently returning with three iron rods in her hand, which she dexterously arranged in the form of a tripod over the fire, and from which she suspended a small iron pot. then, taking a few dry sticks from a bundle heaped up near the fire, she broke them into short lengths, which she carefully introduced, one by one, here and there, into the flame, coaxing it into a brisk blaze which soon caused a most savoury and appetising steam to rise from the pot. next, from some hidden receptacle she produced a bowl and spoon, emptied the smoking contents of the pot into the former, and then, carefully propping her patient into a sitting position, proceeded to feed him. the stew was delicious, to such an extent, indeed, that harry felt constrained to compliment his hostess upon its composition and to ask of what it was made. he was much astonished--and also, it must be confessed, a little disgusted--when the old lady simply answered, _lagarto_ (lizard). there was no doubt, however, that he had greatly enjoyed his meal, and felt distinctly the better for it; he therefore put his squeamishness on one side, and asked his companion to enlighten him as to the manner in which he came to be where he was. "it is very simple," answered the old woman. "while my son yupanqui was fishing in the river, two days ago, he caught sight of something unusual lying at the edge of a sandbank, and upon paddling his _balsa_ to the spot, he found your insensible body lying stranded there, bruised and bleeding; so, like a sensible boy, he took you up and brought you hither as quickly as possible, in order that i might exercise my skill in the attempt to restore you to life. we managed to do so at last, between us; but you were _caduco_ (crazy), and could tell us nothing of yourself, for you spoke persistently in a language that we did not understand; so, as soon as it was seen that you would live, i busied myself in dressing your wounds and bruises, after which i prepared for you a certain medicine which, as i expected, threw you into a deep sleep, from which you have at length awakened in your right mind. and now you have but to lie still and allow your wounds to heal. which reminds me that now is a very favourable time to dress them afresh." "two days ago--stranded on a sandbank!" repeated escombe in bewilderment. "i do not understand you, mother. surely i have not been lying insensible for two whole days! and how could i possibly have become stranded on a sandbank? i fell into the river in the _quebrada_, and i am prepared to avouch that there were no sandbanks there!" "in the _quebrada_! is it possible?" echoed the old woman. "why, the end of the _quebrada_ is more than a mile away from where yupanqui found you! but i think i begin to understand a little. you are not a spaniard--i can tell that by your accent--therefore you must be an ingles, one of the _ingenieros_ who are making the new railway among the mountains. is it not so?" "you have guessed it, mother," answered escombe. "yes, i was taking some measurements in the _quebrada_ when the rope by which i was hanging broke, and i fell into a tree, and thence on to the rocks beneath, after which i lost consciousness." "ah!" exclaimed the old woman, as she proceeded to remove deftly the bandages and re-dress harry's hurts; "yes, it is wonderful--very wonderful; for if you had not chanced to fall into the tree before striking the rocks, you must certainly have been killed. that i can quite understand. but i cannot understand how, after having fallen into the river, you escaped being dashed to pieces upon the many rocks among which it flows, nor how, having escaped that death, you afterwards escaped drowning in the deep water, for you must have been swept along quite a mile after issuing from the _quebrada_. it is true that when yupanqui found you, you were lying upon your back; so that, i suppose, is the reason why the river did not suffocate you. your hurts are doing famously, _senor ingles_, thanks to my knowledge of simples. there is only one--this in your head--which is likely to give trouble; but we will soon mend that, if you can prevail upon yourself to lie still and not disturb the bandage." "oh!" answered harry; "i will do that all right, now that my senses have come back to me, don't you fear; for i must get well quickly, and return to my work as soon as possible. meanwhile, mother, where is your son? i should like to send him with a message to the engineer's camp, if he will go, to let them know that i am alive." "assuredly, assuredly," assented the queer old creature, as she assiduously bathed the wound in harry's head with a hot fomentation which she had specially prepared. "he is out hunting, now, but the evening is drawing in and i expect him back ere long. when he returns we will hear what he has to say about it. doubtless he will willingly go; but if your camp is near the spot where i think you must have fallen, it will take him quite half a day to reach it." "half a day!" echoed harry, aghast. "how is that? i should have thought that half an hour would have been nearer the mark." "nay, my son," answered the old woman, "he will have to travel fast to do it in half a day. you do not know how difficult it is to travel from place to place among these mountains, even when one knows the way. he will have to go a long way round to reach the spot of which i am thinking, for there are many impassable precipices in his course, to say nothing of bogs in which, if one be not very careful, one can disappear, leaving no trace behind." harry could understand this, now that it had been explained to him, for he had already had experience of the impassable precipices and bottomless morasses spoken of by his companion. but it was disconcerting, to say the least of it, that it would occupy so long to send a message to camp; for, taking into consideration the fact that he had already been two days absent, and that it would require another half-day to send a message, the chances were that, when yupanqui reached the spot, he would find the survey party gone, and would be obliged to follow them up until he should overtake them. also he began to wonder how long it would be before his injuries would be sufficiently healed to allow him to travel over a road of so difficult a character as that hinted at in his companion's remarks. he had only to attempt to move on his pallet, and to feel the intolerable aching in every limb that resulted from the effort, to understand that some days--probably at least a week--must elapse ere he would be fit to attempt the journey; and meanwhile where would the survey party be, and how would they be faring without him? what would butler do? would he take harry's death for granted, and proceed singlehanded with the survey; or would he send out a search party to seek for traces of his lost assistant? he must of necessity do one or the other, and the comforting reflection came to harry that, even if the first course were adopted, the party could not get very far away without being overtaken. "how long do you think it will be, mother, before i shall be able to rise and move about again?" he enquired. "nay, my son, who can tell save the good god who holds our lives in his hands?" answered the old woman. "it may be two weeks, or it may be two months, according to whether or not the fever returns. much must depend upon yourself. if you keep quite quiet, and do not become impatient, you may be able to rise and go into the open for a short time in two weeks, possibly even in less. but you must do in all things exactly as i say, if you wish to get well quickly; and you may trust in me, for i have seen many years and have always been skilled in the art of healing." "i will trust you, of course," answered harry, reaching out at the cost of some pain and squeezing the old creature's clawlike hand. "get me well as quickly as you can, mother, and you will not find me ungrateful. i have the means of rewarding you liberally for all your trouble as soon as i can return to camp." "reward!" ejaculated the old woman, angrily snatching away her hand; "who spoke of reward? i require no reward, if by that you mean money payment. i have no need of money. this cave has provided me with dry and comfortable housing for many years, while the garden outside and my son's hunting and fishing furnish us with ample food. what need have we of money?" "pardon, mother," exclaimed harry penitently, "i did not mean to offend you. but if you do not need money, there are perhaps other things that you or your son may be glad to have, and you must let me show my gratitude to you in some way, for i cannot forget that to you and your son i owe my life." "ay, ay; ay, ay; that's as may be," muttered the old creature, as though speaking to herself. "there," she added, as, having completed the dressing of escombe's injuries, she secured the last bandage, "that is done. now, more medicine, and then more sleep." and therewith she bustled away into the shadows, returning, a few minutes later, with a generous draught that foamed and sparkled in the goblet like champagne, but left a taste of sickly sweetness upon the palate. as the invalid swallowed the dose a sensation of great ease and comfort permeated his entire system, and the next moment he was asleep. when harry next awoke, feeling very much better, he saw that his hostess, and a fine, stalwart, copper-coloured young indian whom he took to be her son, were seated at a roughly framed table, at some little distance from his cot, taking a meal by the light of an earthenware lamp, and conversing together in low tones in a language with which he was unfamiliar. from the manner in which the pair glanced in his direction from time to time he rather suspected that he was the subject of their conversation, which was being conducted with much earnestness, especially by the old woman. that she was maintaining a very keen watch upon her patient was perfectly evident, for at harry's first movement she sprang to her feet and, snatching up the lamp, rapidly approached his bedside, peering down into his eyes with the same intense eagerness that she had before exhibited, muttering and mumbling to herself excitedly the while. "ah, ah!" she exclaimed, in tones of much satisfaction, "so you are awake again at last! you have slept well and long, my friend--slept all through the night without a movement. and your skin is cool, too," she continued, laying her skinny hand on harry's forehead; "cool and moist; no fever. but what of the pain? is it still severe as ever?" "the pain!" exclaimed hal, moving himself slightly. "why, no, it seems almost gone. what magic is this?" "no magic at all," chuckled the quaint old creature, "but merely a poor old indian woman's skill in simples. you are doing excellently well, _senor ingles_--better, even, than i dared hope. and now you are hungry, is it not so? good! your breakfast is ready and shall be brought to you instantly; and when you have finished, there is my son yupanqui, who is ready to take any message that you may desire to send to your camp." an excellently roasted bird--which the patient subsequently learned was a parrot,--bread made of indian corn flour, and a cup of delicious chocolate were speedily dispatched. then harry having asked for his notebook, which had been found in his pocket and carefully dried, he pencilled a note to butler, briefly informing that individual of his escape, and of his hope that he would be sufficiently recovered from his injuries to rejoin the camp in about a fortnight's time, and dispatched yupanqui with it, describing to the indian the probable situation of the camp, as nearly as he could, and instructing the man to give it only into the hands of the englishman, and to ask for a reply, which he was to bring back with him. the next few days passed uneventfully, save that the invalid's progress toward recovery was so rapid and satisfactory that about midday of the third day harry--who began to find bed becoming very wearisome--was allowed by his nurse to rise and, clad in trousers and the remains of his shirt, go as far as the entrance of the cave and sit there for an hour or two, enjoying the magnificent prospect which greeted his astonished eyes. he found that the cave which had afforded him such perfect shelter during his helplessness formed a chamber, or rather a series of chambers, in an enormous mass of rock that rose sheer out of a little circular, basin-like valley through which flowed the stream from the _quebrada_, the water here spreading out in the form of a lake measuring about a mile across and evidently rather shallow, for here and there he could see small sandbanks showing clear of the water. it was upon one of these that he had been found stranded by yupanqui. the _quebrada_ died out in the valley about a mile from the mouth of the cave, as could be seen when the spot was indicated by the old indian woman, and escombe wondered more than ever by what chance his senseless body had been carried so far by the rushing water without destroying such life as remained in it. the ground sloped rather steeply from the cave down to the water's edge, and some eight or ten acres of it had been dug up at intervals and planted with maize, vegetables of various kinds, and fruit trees, among which harry recognised the peach, the orange, the mulberry, and the cacao. it was no wonder, he told himself, that his queer but kind-hearted old hostess indignantly disclaimed any need of money. for, with the produce of the garden, and what yupanqui could bring in from the forest and the river, it seemed to him that their every want, except perhaps in the matter of clothes, must be abundantly supplied. and, so far as clothes were concerned, doubtless the cultivated ground yielded a superabundance ample enough to afford them the means of bartering it for such simple clothing as they needed. the valley was of basin-like form, the sides of it growing ever steeper as they receded from the middle, until they eventually merged into the mountain slopes which hemmed in the valley on every side and went rolling away, ridge beyond ridge, in interminable perspective, until, in the extreme distance, they terminated in the snow-clad peaks of the andes. harry's hostess--who now mentioned that she bore the name of cachama-- appeared to be in a singularly communicative mood that day, for she beguiled the time by not only pointing out and naming the principal peaks in sight, but she also related several very interesting legends connected with certain of them and with the country generally, going back to the time before the conquest, and painting in dazzling colours the glories of the inca dynasty, and the incredible wealth of the ancient rulers of peru. she appeared to be pretty intimately acquainted with the history of the conquest of the country by pizarro, and had many bitter things to say of the strange pusillanimity of the inca, atahuallpa, on that fatal th of november, , when he went, open- eyed, into the trap prepared for him at caxamalca, and suffered himself to be seized, in the presence of his entire army, by a mere handful of spaniards. she gave a most emphatic denial to the suggestion that the country had benefited by the civilised conditions that had followed the conquest. "no, no," said she, "we are infinitely worse off in every way, to-day, than we were under the rule of the incas. poverty, misery, oppression, and suffering of every kind are to be met with on all hands and wherever one goes, while four hundred years ago we had a far higher state of civilisation than now exists, in which poverty and oppression, with their countless attendant evils, were unknown. but it will not last for ever, i tell you; brighter and happier days are in store for us of the ancient race, and perhaps even i, old as i am, may live to see it. yes, i, poor though i am, and compelled to lodge my worn-out body in a cave, have royal blood in my veins, as had my husband, yupanqui; we are both descended from huayna capac, and, but for atahuallpa's incredible folly, i might have been enjoying comfort and affluence to-day; ay, and possibly my husband might also have been living." escombe had read prescott's _conquest of peru_ during his schooldays, and the romantic story had implanted within his mind a keen interest in everything pertaining to the history of the country, which had never waned, and which had received a fresh stimulus when he learned that he was not only to visit and spend some time in peru but also to explore certain parts of it. and now, to find himself actually conversing with someone who claimed descent from those proud incas, who appeared to have lived in a regal splendour only to be equalled by that of the potentates of the _arabian nights_, seemed to him to be a rare slice of good luck; he was therefore careful to say nothing calculated to divert the conversation from the channel in which it was so satisfactorily flowing, but, on the contrary, did everything he could to keep it there. he was, however, very much surprised to find his hostess looking forward so confidently to brighter and happier times for the despised indian race; for if any one thing seemed absolutely certain, it was that the time was not very far distant when the few scattered survivors must perish, and the race vanish from the face of the earth. it was therefore in somewhat incredulous tones that he turned to cachama and said: "what grounds have you for the hope--or should i call it the certainty-- that better days are in store for your race? to me it seems that there are very few of you left." "ay," she answered, "it may so seem to you, for you have as yet seen but little of the country save the _terra caliente_, and very few of us are now to be found near the coast. but when you get farther up among the mountains, and especially when you get into the neighbourhood of lake titicaca, you will find that we have not all perished. furthermore, it is said--with what truth i know not--that when atahuallpa fell into the hands of the _conquistadors_, and was strangled by torchlight in the great _plaza_ of caxamalca, many of the nobles who had been with him fled with their families into the heart of the mountains, and, establishing themselves in a certain secret place, set to work, at the bidding of one titucocha, a priest of the sun, to build a new city of the sun--beside the glories of which those of cuzco were to be as nothing--against the time when our lord the sun should again send manco capac, the founder of the inca dynasty, back to earth to restore the dynasty in all its ancient splendour." "and do you really believe that such a restoration is possible?" asked escombe with a smile at the old woman's credulity. "ay," answered cachama with conviction, "i more than believe, i know! for i have the gift of foreknowledge, to a certain extent, and from my earliest childhood i have felt convinced that the prophecy is true--i cannot explain how, or why; i only know that it is so. and with the passage of the years i have ever felt that the time for its fulfilment was drawing nearer, until now i know that it is so close at hand that even i, old though i am, may live to see it. i would that i could feel as sure of the continuance of the dynasty as i am of its restoration; but i cannot; i can only see--dimly--up to a certain point, beyond which everything is misty and uncertain, with a vague suggestion of disaster which fills, me with foreboding." chapter five. what has become of butler? on the second day after the dispatch of yupanqui to the surveyors' camp, he had duly returned with a curt officially worded note from butler acknowledging the receipt of escombe's "report" of his accident and its result, and requesting the latter to rejoin the survey party with the least possible delay, "as his absence was the cause of much inconvenience and delay in the progress of the survey". not a word of regret at the occurrence of the accident, much less anything that could be construed into an admission that the writer's own unreasonable demands and orders were the cause of the mishap; and not even a word of congratulation at escombe's narrow escape from a terrible death; simply a formal request that he would rejoin, "with the least possible delay", for a certain good and sufficient reason. poor harry shrugged his shoulders with something very like contempt for the hidebound creature who was, to a great extent, the master of his fate, and who seemed to be absolutely destitute of the very smallest shred of good feeling. he felt that it would be quite hopeless to look for any praise or appreciation from such a man; he foresaw that the fellow would appropriate to himself whatever credit might result from the expedition, and lay upon his (harry's) shoulders the onus of any shortcomings of complete success. and he came to the conclusion that since such a chief was not worth putting oneself out for, he would remain where he was until it was quite certain that he could travel with perfect safety, and resume duty immediately upon his return to camp. but he was young, and possessed a thoroughly sound constitution; moreover, he had miraculously escaped with unbroken bones, his recovery therefore was rapid, and on the nineteenth day after the accident he rejoined the camp and formally reported himself as prepared to resume duty. it had been butler's custom, from the commencement of the survey, to flag out a certain length of route daily, and to insist--without very much regard to the difficulties of the task--that that amount of work should be done by nightfall. this length of route usually amounted to from two to three miles, and escombe had once or twice protested--when the natural difficulties of the work were excessive--that he could not undertake to guarantee the accuracy of his work if so much were demanded of him; to which butler had retorted that, in his opinion, the amount of work demanded was exceedingly moderate, that he should expect it to be done, and that he should hold escombe responsible for all inaccuracies. yet, upon escombe's return to camp he found that, during the nineteen days of his absence, butler had advanced the survey by a distance of less than four miles! the explanation which the elder man condescended to make being that, during the four days immediately following the accident, no survey work at all had been done, the whole body of peons having been scattered in various directions, seeking some clue to harry's fate. for a week or two after escombe's return to camp matters went very much more smoothly. whether it was that harry's accident had given butler a wholesome fright, or that the conviction had been forced upon the latter that he had been outrageously exacting, there was nothing to show, but certain it was that, for a while, escombe was allowed to take his own time over his work and do it his own way, with the result that while this state of affairs lasted the lad actually took pleasure in, nay, thoroughly enjoyed, his work. but on the third week after his return harry began to detect signs that these agreeable conditions were drawing to an end. thenceforth butler allowed himself to gradually drift back into his former exacting and autocratic ways, until at length life in the camp again became a veritable purgatory for everybody concerned, butler himself included, the natural result of his tyrannical conduct being that everybody--harry excepted--did everything in his power to thwart him, while even the lad himself ceased to attempt the apparently impossible task of pleasing his chief. in this unpleasant and unsatisfactory manner the railway survey proceeded for the two months following escombe's return to duty; by which time butler's behaviour had become so unendurable that nearly three-fourths of the peons originally engaged had deserted, notwithstanding the fact that their desertion involved them in the loss of a sum in wages that, to these humble toilers, represented quite a little fortune, and their places had been filled by others of a much less desirable type in every way. and this was all the more to be regretted since the surveyors were now in the very heart of the mountains, where the natural difficulties to be contended with were at their worst, while the newcomers, being of course utterly strange to such work, had to be taught their duties, down to the simplest detail, under the most adverse conditions possible. it can be readily understood that the attempt to instruct a set of ignorant, stupid, sullen, and lawless half-castes under such conditions was a task of surpassing difficulty, resulting in constant acute friction, and demanding the nicest judgment and the utmost diplomacy upon the part of the teachers. harry met this difficulty by bringing to his assistance an almost sublime patience, that in the course of time--and not a very long time either--completely wore down the opposition of his unwilling pupils and brought a change in their mental attitude which was as surprising as it was satisfactory. butler, however, knew not the meaning of the word "patience", nor did his character contain the smallest particle of that valuable quality; his method was what he termed "the rough-and-ready", and consisted in emphasising every order, and item of construction, with a kick! it was not surprising, therefore, that the relations between him and the peons daily grew more strained. it was when the tension between butler on the one hand and the peons on the other had developed to such an extent that the labourers had been goaded into a state of almost open mutiny, that the former set out as usual, on horseback, one morning, accompanied by a half-dozen of the new hands, to seek for and stake out a few miles farther of practicable route. such a duty as this he usually contrived to complete in time to return to the camp for lunch, after which he was wont to saunter out along the line until he encountered harry, when he would spend the remainder of the day in making the poor lad's life a burden to him by finding fault with everything he did, frequently insisting upon having some particularly awkward and difficult piece of work done over again. consequently the progress of the survey was abnormally and exasperatingly slow; and when, upon the day in question, butler failed to put in an appearance on the scene of operations, young escombe's first feeling was one of gratification, for he was just then engaged upon an exceptionally difficult task which he was most anxious to complete without being interfered with. so absorbed was the lad in his work that he had not much thought to spare for speculation as to the reason for so unusual a piece of good luck, although it is true that, as the afternoon wore on, he did once or twice permit himself to wonder whether "perchance" he had to thank a slight touch of indisposition, or possibly a sprained ankle, for this unexpected and most welcome freedom from interruption. but when at length, upon his arrival in camp at the conclusion of his day's survey work, he learned, to his astonishment, that neither butler nor his party of peons had returned, the impression forced itself upon him that something serious had happened, and mustering afresh his own gang of tired and hungry assistants, and providing them with lanterns, ropes, and other aids to a search, he led them forth along the survey line in quest of the absent ones. for a distance of nearly two miles from the camp the route of the missing party was easily followed, being marked by stakes at frequent intervals, indicating the line chosen by butler as that to be surveyed by escombe. it ended at the foot of a precipitous slope of bare rock towering aloft some seven or eight hundred feet, with further heights beyond it. here the searchers were brought to an abrupt halt, for harry was fully aware that no sane engineer would for a single moment dream of carrying an ordinary railway up that rocky acclivity, while it was well understood that the rack system of construction was to be avoided, if possible, upon the score of expense. the probability was that butler, upon reaching this point, and finding himself confronted by the necessity to make a wide detour, or, alternatively, to consider the question of a tunnel, had struck off, either to the right or to the left, on a tour of investigation; and there was the chance that, becoming involved in the maze-like intricacies of his surroundings, he had decided to camp out for the night rather than risk an accident by attempting to return in darkness over difficult ground. but this was a question which harry felt ought to be settled forthwith, and he accordingly issued instructions to his peons to search for the spoor of the party and follow it up. to find the spoor was a very easy matter, for the last stake had been driven in comparatively soft ground, and despite the fact that it was by this time almost pitch dark, a short search, aided by the light of the lanterns, disclosed the hoof prints of butlers horse, which led off to the left, and which were followed until the searchers found themselves on the borders of an extensive pine wood growing on hard, steeply rising ground over which it was impossible to trace further the trail in the darkness. this impossibility once realised, the search was abandoned for the night, and harry very reluctantly gave the word for a return to camp, which was reached about nine o'clock. at daybreak the next morning the camp was roused, breakfast prepared and eaten, and, taking with them rations to last until nightfall, the search party again set out upon their quest, making their way direct to the spot where the trail had been lost on the previous night, where it was again picked up without much trouble. it led in straight toward the heart of the wood, and was followed, with ever-increasing difficulty, for a distance of about three-quarters of a mile until it was lost on hard, shaley ground, nor were the utmost efforts of the party equal to finding it again. after carefully considering the situation, therefore, escombe detailed one man, an indian, to accompany him, and, placing the remainder of the peons in charge of a man whom he believed he could trust, with instructions to search the wood thoroughly, returned to the outskirts of the timber, and, beginning at the spot where the trail entered it, proceeded, with the assistance of the indian, to encircle the wood, carefully examining every foot of the ground as they went, in the hope that, if butler and his party had passed through the timber and emerged on its other side, the indian would succeed in picking up the spoor. but the hope was vain, for the wood was completely encircled-- the task occupying the entire day--without the discovery of the faintest trace or sign of the passage of the missing party, which was not at all surprising, for when the far side of the wood was reached the soil proved to be of so stony a character, thickly interspersed with great outcrops of rock, that even the most skilled and keen-eyed of trackers might have been excused for failing in the search for footprints on so unyielding a surface. it was a little puzzling to harry that not even the horse had left any trace behind him; but this was accounted for when, upon rejoining the party who had been detailed to search the interior of the wood, it was discovered that the animal had been found by them, still saddled and bridled, wandering aimlessly about in search of such scanty herbage as the soil there afforded. upon the horse being brought to him, the young englishman--mindful of the scarcely concealed hatred which butler had, almost wantonly, as it seemed, aroused in the breasts of the peons--immediately subjected the animal and his trappings to a most rigorous examination in search of any sign of possible violence, but nothing of the kind could be found, and the only result of the examination was the conclusion, to which everything pointed, that butler had, for some reason, voluntarily dismounted and at least temporarily abandoned the animal. butler and his party had now been missing for full twenty-four hours, and harry speedily arrived at two conclusions which inexorably led him to a third. the first conclusion at which he arrived was that the peons who had accompanied his chief, accustomed as they had been from their earliest childhood to make their way about the country, were so little likely to have lost their way that that theory might be unhesitatingly abandoned; the second was that butler would certainly not have absented himself purposely from the camp for a whole night and a day, and that therefore--this was the third conclusion--something had gone very seriously wrong. the next problem that presented itself for solution was: what was it that had gone wrong? had the entire party met with an accident? it was most unlikely. there were seven of them altogether, and in the event of an accident, surely at least one of the seven would have escaped and returned to the camp for help. had they been seized and carried off by brigands? when harry put this question to the peons who remained with him he was laughed at good-naturedly and assured that, in the first place, there were no brigands in peru, so far as they were aware; and, in the second place, that if perchance there were they would probably not have contented themselves with simply carrying off seven men, six of whom would be only an encumbrance to them, but would almost certainly have attacked and sacked the camp some time during the hours of daylight, when it was left comparatively unprotected. there was but one other probable alternative of which harry could think, and that was that butler's peons, exasperated at length beyond endurance by some fresh piece of petty tyranny on the white man's part, had deserted, carrying off their employer with them, either with the purpose of being revenged upon him, or in the hope that by holding him as a hostage they might be able to secure payment of the amount of wages due to them. but when escombe submitted this alternative to his peons for their consideration and opinion, they shook their heads and emphatically declared that they did not believe that any such thing had happened. and when further asked for their opinion as to what had happened, they simply answered that they did not know what to think. but to harry it seemed that there was a certain lack of spontaneity in this reply, which caused him to doubt whether the speakers were quite sincere in so saying. with a very heavy load of responsibility thus unexpectedly thrown upon his shoulders, the young englishman spent several anxious hours in camp that night pondering upon what was the proper course for him now to pursue, and he finally came to the conclusion that, having ascertained beyond much possibility of doubt that his chief had been abducted, the next thing to be done was to discover whither and under what circumstances he had been carried off, and then to take the necessary steps to effect his rescue. on the following morning, therefore, he mustered the peons who still remained with him, and briefly explaining to them his theory of an abduction, dispatched six of them in as many different directions to seek for traces of the missing party, offering a substantial reward to the one who should bring him such information as should lead to the recovery of the missing white man; and then, taking a couple of sure-footed mules, set off in company with an indian tracker to scour the entire neighbourhood, in the hope of obtaining some clue to the whereabouts of the missing party from some of the people by whom that particular part of the country was sparsely inhabited. and in order to avoid the loss of time which would be entailed by returning to camp at night, he took with him three days' provisions for himself and his guide, intending to carry out as exhaustive a search as possible in that space of time. thus far the search had been prosecuted entirely in a forward direction; but at the last moment, before setting out upon his three days' quest, it suddenly occurred to escombe that the missing ones might possibly have doubled back and be making their way toward the sea coast, so in order to test the value of this theory he determined to return a few miles along the line of the survey and see whether he could discover any traces of them in that direction. at this time the surveyors were in the heart of an exceptionally difficult tract of country, where the obstacles to rapid work were such that, since harry's return to duty after his adventures in the _quebrada_, they had not advanced very much more than twenty miles from that spot; thus it was still early in the afternoon of the first day when he found himself gazing down into the abyss, wherein he had so narrowly escaped a terrible death. by a natural association of ideas he no sooner beheld the scene so indelibly engraven upon his memory than his thoughts reverted to cachama, his kind-hearted old indian nurse, and her son yupanqui, and he vaguely wondered whether perhaps either of these might be able to afford him any information or suggestion that would assist him in his quest. the more he thought of it the more did the idea grow upon his mind, and at length he came to the decision that he might as well prosecute his search in the direction of their cave as in any other, and he forthwith communicated his decision to his guide, who, somewhat to escombe's surprise, at once admitted that he was well acquainted with cachama and her son, and offered to conduct the young englishman to the cave in which the two resided, by a short route, if harry would consent to be blindfolded during their passage of certain portions of the way. to this the lad readily agreed--for he was by this time becoming exceedingly anxious on butler's account--and thereupon the indian, having hobbled the mules, demanded harry's pocket--handkerchief and immediately proceeded to blindfold the owner therewith, after which, with joined hands, the pair resumed their way, travelling for two full hours or more over exceedingly broken and difficult ground. then the pocket-handkerchief was removed, and harry found himself standing in the midst of a number of enormous fallen boulders at the foot of a stupendous cliff, and facing an opening in the latter which had all the appearance of being the mouth of a cavern. but by what route he had arrived at the spot he could not tell, for he was so completely hemmed in on every side by the boulders in the midst of which he stood that the surrounding landscape was completely shut out, nothing being visible save the boulders and the face of the cliff with the opening in it. that he was correct in his surmise that this opening was a cavern was now demonstrated by his indian guide, who said: "be pleased to take my hand again, senor, and follow me without fear. this is one of several entrances to the cavern in which cachama dwells. you will find the ground smooth and even for almost the entire distance, and presently we shall find torches by which to light our way." and so, as a matter of fact, they did; for after traversing some ten or fifteen yards the indian halted and, releasing escombe's hand, was heard groping about in the darkness, and a moment later the rattling of dry branches reached the lad's ears. "now, senor," came the voice of the indian out of the darkness, "if you will graciously condescend to produce fire by means of those small sticks which you call `matches' we shall soon have light to guide our steps." so said, so done; and as the torch kindled and blazed up the pair found themselves standing in a rugged rock passage some five feet wide and about eight feet high, with a perfectly smooth floor which, in the flickering, uncertain light of the torch, presented the appearance of having been brought into this condition by human agency. it was not only smooth, but also level at the point where they stood. but even as they started to resume their journey--the indian bearing the torch and leading the way--harry saw that it almost immediately began to dip, and ere they had advanced many paces the dip became so pronounced that the smooth floor gave place to a long flight of roughly hewn steps, at first broad and shallow, but rapidly steepening, until they became so narrow and deep as to necessitate a considerable amount of care in the negotiation of them. to harry this flight seemed interminable; there must have been hundreds of steps, for--although the lad did not time himself--the descent appeared to have occupied considerably more than half an hour; but at length they once more reached level ground and, leaving the steps behind them, proceeded to traverse a narrow and winding passage, the air in which smelt stale and musty, while here and there they were obliged to squeeze their painful way between long, spiky stalactites and stalagmites until they came to more steps--this time leading upward. harry counted these; there were only one hundred and twenty-three of them, and they were not nearly so steep as the others; and then they ceased, and the pair came to a gently rising floor, along which they passed for about half a mile, finally entering a spacious chamber or cavern, where, very much to the young englishman's surprise, they found cachama awaiting them with a torch in her hand. it was perfectly evident that the old lady was intensely angry, for upon the appearance of her visitors she darted toward them and, shaking her fist furiously in the face of the indian--whom, by the way, she addressed as arima--she poured out upon him a torrent of strange words, the virulence of which could be pretty accurately estimated by the effect which they produced upon their recipient, for poor arima writhed under them as though they had been the lash of a whip. for fully ten minutes the old woman stormed relentlessly before she was reduced to silence through want of breath, and then the indian got his chance to reply, and apparently vindicate himself, for, as he proceeded with what appeared to escombe to be his explanation, cachama's wrath gradually subsided until she became sufficiently mistress of herself to greet the young white man, which she did with more cordiality than her previous outburst had led him to expect. "welcome back to my poor home, senor!" she exclaimed. "i knew that you were coming, and am glad to see you; but that dolt arima enraged me, for he brought you by the secret way, although he knew that it is forbidden to reveal that way, or even the fact of its existence, to strangers. he tells me, however, that the matter is urgent, and that he adopted the precaution of blindfolding you so that you might not learn the secret of the approach, therefore i will let the matter pass, especially as i feel certain that i have but to express the wish and you will forget that such a way exists." "certainly i will, mama cachama," answered harry cheerfully. "you saved my life not long ago, and i should be an ingrate indeed if i refused to conform to your wishes in so simple a matter as that. but i understood you to say that you knew i was coming to you! how on earth could you possibly know that? i didn't know it myself until a few hours ago!" "did not i tell you that i possess the gift of foreknowledge?" remarked cachama somewhat impatiently. "you had no sooner conceived the idea of coming to me than i became aware of it; nay, i even knew the way by which you were coming, and it was that knowledge which angered me, for i knew that you could not visit the cave by the secret approach except with the help of one of us! but let that pass. follow me to my living room, where i have provided a meal for you; and while you are partaking of it you may tell me in what manner you think i can assist you." ten minutes later escombe once more found himself in the cavern which he knew so well, partaking of a most excellent stew, and detailing to his hostess between mouthfuls all the particulars relating to the disappearance of butler and his party of peons. he brought his recital to a close by enquiring whether cachama or yupanqui had chanced to see any of the missing ones. "no," said cachama. "they have not passed near here, or yupanqui would certainly have seen something of them and mentioned the fact to me. but you have done well to come to me, for it will be strange indeed if i cannot help you. you wish to know what has become of the senor whom you call butler; is not that so? very well. seat yourself there before me, hold my two hands in yours, and recall to your mind as vividly as possible all the circumstances, be they ever so trivial, that you can remember relating to the doings of the day upon which the senor disappeared, beginning with the moment of your awakening. now begin, for i am ready." while the old creature spoke she was arranging matters in such a way that she and escombe could sit facing each other, knee to knee and with their hands clasped, she leaning slightly back in a reclining posture, with her eyes upturned toward the invisible roof of the cavern. as she finished speaking the young englishman directed his thoughts backward to the morning of two days ago, mentally reproducing every incident of the day, beginning with the moment when he arose from his camp bed, and intending to continue, if need were, to that other moment when, after the long fruitless search in the pine wood, he cast himself on that same bed at the end of the day and, completely exhausted, sank to sleep. but when he had reached this latter point of retrospection mama cachama's eyes were closed and, to harry's chagrin, she appeared to have fallen into a deep sleep. before, however, his disappointment had found time to express itself in words the old indian woman began to speak in a low tone, as though soliloquising. "yes," she murmured, "i see it all quite distinctly, the white tents gleaming in the brilliant sunshine of early morning, with their ropes strained tight by the dew that has fallen heavily during the night; the peons moving hither and thither, shivering in the keen air as they make their preparations for the day's work; the horses and mules feeding eagerly; the fires blazing cheerily and the blue smoke streaming straight up in the still air. yes, and i see the two englishmen, the old and the young one, sitting at breakfast in their tents. the elder man is tall and thin, with black hair touched here and there with grey, and a close-clipped moustache. he is dressed in dark-grey woollen clothing, and wears brown boots reaching to the knee. he is glancing through a little book as he eats, writing in it from time to time. now he rises and, taking a whip in his hand, puts on a soft cloth cap and goes to the tent door. he calls to one named jose to bring him his horse, and then gives the young _ingles_ certain instructions, speaking sharply as though in anger. "now the horse is brought, and the elder _ingles_ mounts him somewhat awkwardly, as though he were not accustomed to life in the saddle, and rides off, accompanied by six peons who carry long poles with small flags on them, also heavy hammers, axes, machetes, ropes, and bundles of wooden stakes. the young _ingles_ also prepares to leave the camp, and busies himself in examining certain strange instruments that are packed in boxes of polished wood. but it is the elder _ingles_ that i must follow. he leads the way over rising ground, riding toward a snow-clad peak that gleams like silver in the far distance, pausing occasionally while his peons drive a stake into the ground where directed by him. they proceed thus until they find themselves facing a bare rocky slope so steep that scarcely might a llama climb it; and here they pause for a time while the _ingles_ looks about him. then they move off to the left, skirting the precipice until they come to a great wood growing on a steep spur of the mountain. they enter this wood and penetrate it for a considerable distance, the ground ever rising more steeply and becoming looser and more difficult as they go. here the horse finds it so hard to keep his feet, and is in such constant danger of falling, that at length the rider dismounts and, leaving the horse standing, presses forward as though anxious to get to the other side of the wood, his peons following and whispering eagerly together. they are encumbered with the various articles which they carry, and consequently cannot travel over that steep, loose ground so rapidly as the englishman, who carries nothing but his riding whip and one of the poles with a flag on it, which he uses to help him over the rough ground, and he turns upon them from time to time with angry words, urging them to greater exertion. at first they answer nothing; but at length the strictures of the _ingles_ goad them to retort, humbly in the beginning, but soon with such heat that he lifts his whip and strikes one of them savagely with it across the face. and at that, as though the blow were a signal, every peon flings from him his burden, and the whole of them hurl themselves upon the white man and bear him to the ground, the one who was struck raising his machete as though to split the skull of his enemy." chapter six. found! at this point mama cachama became greatly agitated, and struggled violently in an endeavour to wrench her hands out of escombe's grasp, crying that they were going to murder the englishman, and that she would not remain to see it. but the vision which she had thus far described was of so extraordinary a character, and impressed the young man so strongly with a sense of its reality and truth, that he was determined to follow up the clue as far as possible; he therefore resolutely retained his grip upon the old woman's hands, under the impression that, if he released them, the vision would pass, possibly beyond recall. but suddenly cachama's struggles ceased, and she sighed as though relieved of some great fear. "ah!" she exclaimed, "they will not kill him after all; one of the peons intervenes, pointing out that if the englishman is killed, none of them may dare to again show their faces in the towns, for information of the murder will be given, and the peruvian corporation--who have employed the englishman to do this work for them--will never rest until every one of the murderers is brought to justice. the others understand this at once, and agree that there shall be no murder; but they are binding the englishman's hands and feet, so that he cannot escape; and now they are asking each other what will be best to do with him. there is much talk--some urge one thing, some another--now jose, the man who prevented the murder, speaks--he proposes that the prisoner shall be carried to a certain place and there detained until the whole of their wages be paid them, after which they are to release their prisoner, and each man will go his way, working no more for the englishman. now they are pondering on the proposal--yes, they have all agreed to it; and now they are releasing the englishman's feet, in order that he may walk with them, but his hands remain tied behind him, and one of the peons holds the end of the rope, to make sure that their prisoner shall not escape. two others grasp him, one by either arm, to help him, for the ground is rough and steep, and the going bad. they move forward again, following an easterly direction--their progress is slow, for the englishman stumbles at almost every step, his hands being tied. he declares that walking, under such circumstances, is impossible, and angrily demands to be released--but they laugh and jeer at him. he struggles on, falling frequently despite the assistance of the two men who are holding him, and at length the party emerge from the wood on its far side and find themselves on the spur of the mountain, on barren, rocky, open ground. now they reach the crest of the spur, and, passing over it, still travelling in an easterly direction, descend into the valley beyond until they reach the margin of a small stream flowing northward. here they pause in the shadow of an enormous granite rock of very remarkable appearance, for it bears a most extraordinary resemblance to the head and neck of an indian--i know it well; and among us it is called `the inca's head'. they sit down beneath this rock and proceed to eat and drink--for it is now two hours past midday--binding the englishman's feet and releasing his hands to enable him to feed himself. now the meal is over, and the party resume their march, going northward along the western bank of the stream and plunging ever deeper into the valley. the soil here is once more rich and fertile, being overgrown with long, rank grass--through which they leave a trail easy to follow--and dense masses of mimosa and other bush. now it is evening, the valley grows dark, and the party prepare to camp for the night; they have found a suitable spot, quite close to the river bank, and are lighting a large fire. they eat and drink again. now they have finished, and are disposing themselves to rest, one man of the party undertaking to remain awake for a certain time to watch the prisoner, until relieved by another who will perform the same service. "the night passes; the light of dawn sweeps down the steep mountain slopes into the valley, and the peon who is watching the prisoner awakes his fellows. again they eat and drink. now they have finished their meal and resume their march, still following the western bank of the stream. i go with them as they plod on, hour after hour, until they reach a point where the stream turns westward, and here they take advantage of a shallow spot which enables them to cross to the other side. they are now marching eastward up the slope of the valley, and at length they emerge upon a great plateau, thickly dotted with extensive clumps of bush, interspersed here and there with wide belts of timber through which they pass. for many miles they plod onward, winding hither and thither among the clumps of bush and through the belts of forest trees, but all the while holding steadily toward the east. night comes again; a fire is lighted, as on the preceding night, they eat and drink, and once more dispose themselves to sleep, one man again undertaking to watch the prisoner. for a time--how long i know not, but it appears to be about an hour--this man remains faithful to his duty; but, as the moments pass and the prisoner appears to be sleeping heavily, the watcher's vigilance relaxes, he grows drowsy, his eyelids close, he dozes, awakes, dozes again, once more awakes, and finally succumbs to sleep. "meanwhile the prisoner, who has to all appearance been sleeping heavily, has remained very wide awake, and, observing that his guard is not over watchful, proceeds to strain stealthily upon his bonds, which, he has noticed, are not drawn quite so tight as usual. gradually he succeeds in loosening them to such an extent that eventually he is able to free one hand. to free the other at once becomes easy, and, this done, the prisoner very cautiously raises himself sufficiently to assure himself that his captors are all soundly sleeping. satisfied of this, he rolls himself gently over and over, a few inches at a time, until he is outside the circle of his captors, when he rises to his feet and with infinite caution withdraws into the darkness, making for the nearest clump of bush, which, upon reaching, he places between himself and the faint glow of the dying camp fire. hidden thus from his late captors, should any of them chance to awake and miss him, he now walks rapidly forward, constantly glancing over his shoulder in fear lest he should be pursued; and in this manner he soon places a couple of miles between himself and the sleeping peons. he believes that he is now returning toward the camp over the ground which he has already traversed, and he hastens onward as fast as the uneven nature of the ground will permit. but the night is dark, the stars are obscured by heavy masses of threatening rain-cloud; there is therefore no beacon by which he can guide his footsteps, and, unsuspected by himself, he has gradually swung round until he is heading south-east. and now the gathering storm breaks, the rain falls heavily, and in a few minutes the unhappy fugitive is drenched to the skin, and chilled to the marrow by the fierce and bitter wind which comes swooping down from the snowfields and glaciers of the higher andes; yet he dares not take shelter from the storm, even in the recesses of a clump of scrub, for he fears that by dawn at the latest, his enemies will be on his track, and--forgetful or ignorant of the fact that the storm will obliterate his trail from all but dogs or experienced trackers--of which the peons have none--the fugitive is madly anxious to put as many miles as possible between himself and his pursuers. on he staggers, blindly and breathlessly, whipped by the pelting rain, buffeted by the furious wind, half-fainting already from exhaustion, yet spurred on by unreasoning terror--i think that unless he is quickly rescued the englishman will die." escombe shuddered and went white to the lips. this man, whose every wandering footstep had been faithfully traced through mama cachama's marvellous clairvoyant gift, was a remorseless tyrant in his petty way, so curiously constituted that his one idea of pleasure appeared to be the making miserable the lives of all about him, even to going out of his way to do so, to such extent, indeed, that men had been heard to say bitterly that, as in the case of some noxious animal or reptile, the world would be the better for his death. the young englishman could recall without effort many an occasion when he had been so harassed and worried, and his existence so embittered by the impish spite of this same butler that even he, gentle and kindly as was his disposition in general, believed he could have contemplated the demise of the other with a feeling not far removed from equanimity. yet, now that the man was in actual peril, all that was forgotten, every generous instinct in the lad sprang at once to the surface, his one idea was to hurry to the rescue, and he cried eagerly: "tell me exactly where to find him and i will go at once and bring him in." "wait, _muchacho_, wait!" exclaimed cachama impatiently. "let me follow him first as far as i may, lest i lose him, for now his way is growing erratic, his mind and body are becoming numb with the misery of his plight, and he no longer has any clear knowledge of anything, the one conviction which haunts him being that he must press onward anywhere--no matter where--otherwise his pursuers will overtake him and put him to a terrible death. ah! now the dawn breaks, and the storm is subsiding; but the englishman takes no note of this. he seems quite incapable of noticing anything now, but runs on aimlessly, panting and gasping, his breath bursting from his labouring lungs in great sobs, his eyes staring unseeingly before him, his limbs quivering and staggering beneath him, his thin clothing clinging in saturated tatters to his body, which is streaked here and there with blood where the thorns have torn him, as he burst through them in his headlong flight. aha! the end must surely now be drawing near, for see, the foam upon his lips is tinged with blood, and rapidly grows a deeper crimson; he reels and stumbles as he runs--he is down--no--yes--he is up again--and staggers onwards for a few yards-- now he is down again, falling with a crash--and, rolling over on his back with outstretched arms, lies motionless, his eyes closed, and the blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth." "is he dead, mama cachama? is he dead?" gasped escombe, his grievances all forgotten now, and his sense of pity stirred to its uttermost depths by the shocking plight of his chief, so graphically painted by the words of the old indian woman. "nay," answered cachama, "he still lives, for his chest heaves and he now and then gasps for breath; but his flight is ended, for the present at least, and if you would find him with the life still in his body you must surely hasten." "but how shall i find him?" demanded harry. "you must direct me how to go straight to where he lies; for should it be necessary for us to pick up his trail and follow that, he would be dead long ere we could reach him." "where is arima?" demanded cachama. "let him come to me." "i am here," answered the indian, drawing near to the old woman. "then listen attentively, arima, and mark well what i say," commanded the mama. she spoke to him for a full minute or more in the indian tongue, of which escombe comprehended enough to understand that she was describing what might be termed the bearings of the spot where butler lay exhausted and senseless, arima nodding his head understanding and murmuring here and there a word of comprehension as she went on. her description ended, she paused for a few seconds, then murmured: "it is enough. now let me awake, for i am old. i have wandered afar, and the journey has wearied me." whereupon, after an interval of a minute or two, she slowly opened her eyes, stared about her vacantly for a little, and finally said: "ah, yes, i remember! i was to tell you something, senor. have you learned what you desired to know?" "yes, thanks," answered harry, "always provided, of course, that-- that,"--he was about to say--"that your information is reliable"; but substituted for those somewhat ungracious words--"that arima can find the spot which you have described to him." "think you that you can find it, arima?" demanded the old woman. "yes, mama cachama," answered arima, "i shall find it without doubt; for i have listened attentively to all that you have said, and already know the direction generally, in which to seek it, while the particulars which you have given me are so explicit that i can scarcely miss the exact spot." "that is well," approved cachama. then, turning to escombe, she said: "and now, senor, if you will remain with me for the rest of the day and the coming night it will give me pleasure, and i will do my best for your comfort; the afternoon is wellnigh spent, and if, as i understood you to say, you started from your camp shortly after daybreak this morning, you can scarcely return to it ere nightfall, and the way is a rough and dangerous one to travel in the darkness." "nevertheless, with many thanks for your hospitable offer, i must go," answered harry, "for the matter is urgent, as you must know, for your last words to me were that if i would find my--friend with the life still in him i must hasten." "nay, _amigo_, i know nothing of what i told you while in my state of trance," answered the old woman; "but, whatever it may have been, you may depend that it was true; therefore if i bade you hasten, it is certain that hasten you must, and in that case it would be no kindness in me to urge you to stay. yet you will not go until you have again eaten and drank." "thanks again, mama," answered harry, "but i fear we must. as you have said, the afternoon is far advanced, and there is therefore all the more reason why we should make the best possible use of every remaining moment of daylight. if you will excuse us, therefore, we will bid you adios and go forthwith. you have rendered me an inestimable service, mama, for which mere words of thanks seem a very inadequate recompense, yet i will not offend you by offering any other reward. still, if there is a way--" "there is none--at present--_amigo mio_" interrupted the old woman; "nor do i wish any recompense beyond your thanks. if, as you say, i have been able to help you i am glad, and shall be glad to help you again whenever and as often as you may need my assistance. nevertheless,"-- looking with sudden intentness into the young englishman's eyes--"i think--nay, i am certain--that a time is coming when, if you care to remember them, mama cachama and yupanqui will be glad that they befriended you." "rest assured, then, mama, that when that time arrives, you will not be forgotten," answered harry. "and now, _adios_, until we meet again. remember me to yupanqui, and say that i am sorry i could not stay to see him. are you ready, arima? then march!" it was close upon midnight when escombe and his indian guide rode into camp, after a fatiguing and somewhat adventurous journey; for as mama cachama had said, the way was rough and by no means devoid of danger even in the daytime, while at night those dangers were multiplied a hundredfold. enquiry revealed that none of the six peons whom harry had that morning despatched to seek for traces of the missing party had returned, and the young man therefore gave arima instructions to make all necessary preparations to start with him at daybreak, in search of the spot at which cachama had described butler as falling exhausted after his terrible flight through the night and storm. of course harry scarcely expected to find butler there, and still less did he hope it, for in that event it would only too probably mean that the missing man was dead, whereas harry hoped that, after lying exhausted for perhaps some hours, his chief would recover strength enough to make a further effort to return to camp; but he knew that in any case the search must necessarily start from the spot indicated by cachama, and for that spot, therefore, he must make in the first instance. it was broad daylight, but the sun had not yet risen above the snow- capped andes when escombe, accompanied by arima, each of them mounted upon a sturdy mule, and the indian leading butler's saddled and bridled horse, rode out of camp the next morning on their quest for the missing man, taking with them a week's rations for each, and a similar quantity for butler's use--should they be fortunate enough to find him--as well as a small supply of medical comforts, the whole contained in a pack securely strapped upon the saddle of the led horse. for the first hour the route followed by arima was identical with that described by mama cachama while in her clairvoyant state; but when they reached the wood wherein butler's horse had been found straying, the indian bore away to the right, and, skirting the belt of timber for some distance, cut through it near its southern extremity, emerging upon the mountain spur some three miles from, and much higher than, the spot where the first search party had come out. the crest of the spur now lay about half a mile in front of them, and upon reaching it the travellers beheld a magnificent prospect before them. the mountain spur sloped away steeply from their feet, plunging down until it was lost in a wide, densely wooded ravine about a mile in width, beyond which the ground again rose somewhat irregularly in a wide sweep of upland, gradually merging into foothills which, viewed from that distance, appeared to be the advance guard of the towering andes. the atmosphere was exquisitely clear, revealing every object in the landscape with photographic sharpness, and arima paused for a few minutes, with the double object of breathing the animals and taking a good, long, comprehensive view of the scene before him. for some minutes he gazed intently at the many landmarks, that stretched away before him and on either hand, and at length turned to escombe and said, pointing: "you see those twin peaks yonder, senor?" "assuredly," assented harry. "and you also see that hill between them and us--the one, i mean, with the cloud shadow resting upon it which causes it to tell up dark against the sunlit mountain slopes beyond?" "certainly," again assented harry. "it is a few miles on the other side of that hill that we shall find the spot of which mama cachama spoke," explained arima. "then you recognise the various marks which she described for your guidance, do you, and believe that she actually saw them in her trance?" "without doubt, senor," answered the indian in a tone of surprise, as though he wondered at the slight hint of incredulity suggested by the question. "and do you think that, when we arrive, we shall find the chief there?" asked harry. "nay, senor, that i cannot say," answered arima. "but this i know, that if he is still there when we reach the spot he will be dead." "yes," assented escombe, "i fear you are right. and how long will it take us to reach the spot?" "we shall do well if we get there before the sun sinks half-way down the heavens to-morrow," was the answer. "to-morrow!" ejaculated harry incredulously. "how far, then, is it from where we now stand?" "if we could ride straight to it we might reach it to-day some two hours before sunset," answered arima. "but that is impossible, senor; our road lies off yonder to the right, along the slope of the mountain, to the nearest point at which it will be possible for us to cross the ravine; and when we have accomplished that, there will still be a toilsome ride of some three hours before us, ere we can hope to emerge from the ravine on the other side. we shall be fortunate if we accomplish so much before we are overtaken by the darkness." "is that so?" questioned harry. "then in that case we had better press forward without further delay." and, digging his heels into the ribs of his mule, the young englishman resumed his march. it was shortly after three o'clock on the following afternoon when arima, who for the previous half-hour had been riding slowly and studying the ground intently, suddenly reined up his mule, and, leaping lightly to the ground, knelt down and carefully examined the long, coarse grass that thickly carpeted the soil. for a full minute he remained thus, delicately fingering the blades and gently pushing them aside, then he rose to his feet, and, with a sigh of satisfaction, pointed with his finger, saying: "here is the trail of the chief, senor; he came from yonder and went in that direction." "are you sure, arima?" demanded harry. "i can see no sign of the passage of a man through this grass." "very possibly not, senor," answered arima dryly, "because, you see, you are not accustomed to tracking; moreover, this trail is some days old, and was made while the grass was wet and beaten down by the rain. but it is there, nevertheless, for practised eyes to read, and, being found, can now be easily followed. when the chief passed here he was in a terribly exhausted state, and staggered as he ran, exactly as mama cachama described, for just here he stumbled--if your honour will take the trouble to dismount you can see the mark where the toe of his boot dug into the soil--and i think the spot where he fell finally cannot be very far from here." "in that case," said harry, "let us press on as quickly as possible, for even minutes may be of inestimable value now. as to dismounting and examining the marks for myself, we have no time for that at present, arima, and i am quite content to take your word for it that matters are as you say. can you follow the trail mounted, or must you proceed on foot?" "i can follow it mounted, senor, seeing that i was mounted when i found it," answered arima. "but it will be well that you should ride a few yards behind me, lest the trail should swerve suddenly to right or left and be crossed by your mule." so saying, the indian sprang into his saddle and, turning the head of his animal, rode forward at a foot pace, his eyes intently searching the sea of waving grass before him. for a quarter of an hour he rode on thus, with harry, leading butler's horse, following a yard or two in his rear; then he suddenly reined his mule aside and, pointing to a barely perceptible depression in the grass, said: "see, senor, there is where the chief first fell, as described by mama cachama--yes--and,"--as his keen eyes roved hither and thither--"yonder is the spot where he fell and lay." a few paces brought them to the spot indicated, and here the signs were clear enough for even escombe's untrained eyes to read, the grass being still depressed sufficiently to show that a human form had lain there motionless and stretched at length for several hours; moreover, at that part of the depression where the man's head had rested, the grass blades were still flecked here and there with dried, ruddy froth, beneath which lay a little patch of coagulated blood, from which a swarm of flies arose as arima bent over it and pointed it out to harry. but the fugitive had disappeared, and the indian gave it as his opinion that the chief had revived after lying insensible for about six hours, and had immediately resumed his interrupted flight. as to the direction in which he had gone, there was no difficulty in determining that, for, leading away toward the eastward there were two wavering lines, close together, traced through the long grass by the feet of the wanderer, and still distinct enough to be followed by even so inexperienced a tracker as the young englishman. "now, arima," exclaimed harry, "is there anything worth knowing to be gained by a prolonged examination of this `form'? because, if not, we will press on at once, since time is precious. the chief went in that direction, of course--even i can see that--and the trail is so clear that we ought to be able to follow it at a canter." "yes, quite easily, senor," acquiesced arima. "there is nothing to be learned here beyond the fact that the senor butler fell at this spot, and lay absolutely motionless for so long a time that he must have been in a swoon. then he revived, sat up, rose to his knees--see, there are the impressions of his two knees, and of the toes of his boots behind them--then he stood for several minutes, as though uncertain whither he would go, and finally struck off to the eastward. but see how the trail wavers this way and that way, even in the short length of it that we can trace from here. he moved quite aimlessly, not knowing whither he would go; and i think that, if he is still alive when we find him, senor, he will be quite crazy." "so much the greater reason for finding him as quickly as possible. mount and ride, arima," exclaimed harry, pressing his heels into his mule's sides, and urging the animal into a canter along the plainly marked trail until he was taught better by the indian. "never ride immediately over a trail which you are following, senor, but close beside it, on one side or the other of it, so that the trail itself is left quite undisturbed. one never can tell when it may be necessary to study the trail carefully in search of some bit of information which might easily be obliterated if it were ridden or walked over." harry at once pulled his mule to one side of the trail, arima following it on the opposite side, and the pair pushed on, winding hither and thither as the track of the fugitive swerved this way and that, until they had travelled a further distance of some nine or ten miles, when they came upon another "form", where butler had laid himself down to rest for--as arima estimated--a space of about two hours. there was nothing of importance to be learned here; they therefore pushed forward again with all possible speed, for the sun was now rapidly declining toward the western horizon, and escombe was anxious to find the wanderer before nightfall, if possible, since another night's exposure in the keen air of that elevated plain might very well prove fatal to a man in butler's terribly exhausted condition. for the last hour of the pursuit the track had led over rising ground, and it soon became pretty evident that the fugitive had been making his uncertain way toward a gorge between two mountains, which had gradually been opening out ahead of the pursuers. meanwhile the spoor had been growing fresher with every stride of the cantering mules, showing that the trackers were rapidly gaining upon the chase, and that the latter was now in the very last stage of exhaustion, for the "forms" where he had paused to rest were ever becoming more frequent and closer together. the indian, therefore, after attentively studying the last form which was encountered, gave it as his opinion that the hunted man could not now be more than a mile or two ahead, and suggested that harry should push straight on for the entrance of the gorge, in the hope of sighting the fugitive and running him down, while he (arima), with the led horse, should continue to follow the trail, for if butler should gain the gorge before being overtaken, his pursuit over the rocky ground might be slow and difficult. accordingly, harry turned his mule slightly aside from the trail, and made straight for a landmark indicated by the indian, pressing his beast forward at its best pace. he had ridden thus about a quarter of an hour, and was rapidly approaching the entrance of the gorge, when he suddenly caught sight of a moving object ahead, winding its way among a number of masses of granite outcrop; and urging his exhausted mule to a final effort, escombe presently had the satisfaction of identifying the moving object as a man--a white man--attired in a few tattered remnants of what had once been civilised clothing. that the man was butler there could be no shadow of doubt, and a few strides farther enabled harry to recognise him. as he did so, the stumbling, staggering figure paused for a moment, glanced behind him, and saw that he was pursued; whereupon he flung his arms above his head, emitted a most horrible, eldritch scream, started to run forward again, staggered a few paces, and fell forward prone upon the ground, where he lay motionless. chapter seven. the jewel. reining up his mule, escombe at once glanced behind him to ascertain whether arima happened to be within sight. yes, there he was, about a mile distant, pushing along at a trot and winding hither and thither, as he persistently followed the erratic twistings and turnings of the pursued man's spoor. harry therefore drew his revolver from his belt, and, pointing the muzzle of the weapon upward, discharged two shots in rapid succession to attract the indian's attention, and then waved his white pocket handkerchief in the air as a sign that the lost man had been found, and that the pursuit was at an end. the indian immediately uttered a peculiar shrill whoop by way of reply, and turned his beast's head directly toward the spot where the young englishman could be seen sitting motionless in his saddle; whereupon harry at once sprang to the ground and, throwing his mule's bridle upon the grass--a sign which the animal had been trained to obey by standing perfectly still--rushed toward the prostrate figure, and, turning it gently over, raised it to a sitting posture, passing his arm round the neck as a support to the drooping head. yes, the man was butler, there could be no doubt about that; but oh! what a dreadful change had been wrought by those few days of flight and exposure! butler had always been a man of somewhat spare build, but now he was emaciated to an extent almost past belief--his cheeks were so hollow that it seemed as though an incautiously rough touch would cause the protruding cheek-bones to burst through the skin; his closed eyes were sunk so deep in their sockets that the eyeballs appeared to have dwindled to the size of small marbles; while the lips had contracted to such an extent as to leave the tightly clenched teeth clearly visible, the general effect being that of a grinning, fleshless skull with a covering of shrivelled skin drawn tightly over it. the once immaculate suit of white clothing was now deeply soiled and stained by contact with the earth and grass, and was a mere wrapping of scarcely recognisable rags, the coat being missing altogether, while great rents in the remaining garments revealed the protruding ribs and the shrunken limbs, the colour of the yellowish-brown skin being almost completely obscured by the latticing of long and deep blood-smeared scratches that mutely told how desperately the man had fought his way through all obstacles in his headlong, panic-stricken flight; his finger nails were broken and ragged; his boots were cut and torn to pieces to such an extent that they afforded scarcely any protection to his feet; and his once iron- grey hair and moustache, as well as his short growth of stubbly beard, were almost perfectly white. with a quick slash of his knife escombe severed the filthy wisp of silk that had once been a smart necktie, as it had somehow become tightly knotted round the unconscious man's throat, and then impatiently awaited the coming of arima, who was leading the horse on the saddle of which were strapped the small supply of medical comforts which had been brought along to meet just such a contingency as this; and a few minutes later the indian cantered up and, flinging himself from the back of his mule, came forward to render assistance. bidding the man kneel down and support the unconscious butler's head, harry sprang to the saddle bags and drew forth a flask of brandy, which he held to the sick man's lips, allowing a few drops of the liquid to find their way between the clenched teeth. for fully ten minutes he strove to coax a small quantity of the spirit down his chiefs throat, and at length had the satisfaction of seeing that some at least had been swallowed. the almost immediate result of this was a groan and a slight, spasmodic movement of the emaciated limbs; and presently, after a few minutes of further persistent effort, butler opened his eyes. "ah, that's better!" ejaculated the amateur physician with a sigh of extreme satisfaction. "you will soon be all right now, sir. let me give you just another spoonful and you will feel like a new man. no, no, please don't keep your teeth clenched like that; open your mouth, mr butler, and let me pour a little more down your throat. do please,"--in a most insinuating tone of voice--"it will do you no end of good. arima, take hold of his chin and see if you can force his lower jaw open, but be as gentle as you can. there, that's right! now then!" with a deft touch and no apparent violence the indian succeeded in getting the locked jaws apart, and escombe promptly availed himself of the opportunity to pour about a tablespoonful of spirits into the partially open mouth. for a moment there was no result, then a cough and a splutter on the part of the sick man showed that the potent elixir was making its way down his throat, and, with another groan, the patient made a feeble effort to struggle to his feet. but the attempt was a failure, the last particle of strength had already been spent, and, sighing heavily, butler subsided back upon the supporting arm of the indian, and lay staring vacantly at the rich sapphire sky that arched above him. then harry took him by the hand, and, calling him by name, endeavoured to win some sign of recognition from him, but all in vain. the utmost that he could accomplish was to extract from his patient a few meaningless, incoherent mumblings, which conveyed nothing save the fact that the speaker's mind was, at least for the moment, a perfect blank. at length, convinced that he could do no more until he had got his patient settled in camp, he called upon arima to help him, and between the two they soon had the unfortunate man comfortably stretched upon a blanket under the lee of an enormous granite rock, which would at least partially shield him from the keen wind of the fast approaching night. then, with the help of a few stout saplings cut from a clump of bush close at hand, they contrived to rig a small, makeshift kind of tent over the upper half of his body, as a further protection from the cold, and lighted their camp fire close to his feet. then, while the indian, with gentle touch, cut away the soiled rags of clothing from the wasted body and limbs, and swathed them in a waterproof rug, escombe unsaddled and hobbled the horse and mules, and turned them loose to graze. next he unpacked the saddle bags and camp equipage, and proceeded to prepare a small quantity of hot, nourishing soup, which, with infinite difficulty, he at length induced his patient to swallow, a few drops at a time; and finally, with a makeshift pillow beneath his head, the invalid was gently laid down in a comfortable posture, when he soon sank into a refreshing sleep. the weary pair seized the opportunity thus afforded them to attend to their own most pressing needs; but neither of them closed their eyes in sleep that night, for they had scarcely finished their supper when butler awoke and again demanded their most unremitting care and attention, as he evinced great uneasiness and perturbation of mind which speedily developed into a state of such violent delirium, that it was only with the utmost difficulty the combined efforts of the pair were able to restrain him from doing either himself or them some serious injury. for more than forty hours did that dreadful delirium continue, the patient being extraordinarily violent during almost the entire period; then his unnatural strength suddenly collapsed, leaving him weak as an infant and in an almost continuous state of lethargy, so profound that it was with great difficulty that his two nurses were able to arouse him sufficiently to administer small quantities of liquid nourishment. it was by this time evident, even to harry's inexperienced eye, that butler's condition was desperate, even if not altogether hopeless, and he consulted arima as to the possibility of procuring the services of a qualified physician; but the indian had no encouragement to offer. cerro de pasco, the nearest town in which one might hope to find a doctor, was some fifty miles distant, as the crow flies, but the difficulties of the way were such that, using the utmost expedition, it would take a messenger at least four days to reach the place, and as many to return--assuming that the messenger were fortunate enough to find a doctor who could be persuaded to set out forthwith--by which time, harry knew instinctively, the patient would be long past all human aid. besides, there was no messenger to send, save arima; and, in view of the possible recurrence of delirium, the lad felt that he would not be justified in sending the indian away. while the two were still engaged in debating the question of what was best to be done under the distressing circumstances, butler ended the difficulty by quietly breathing his last, crossing the borderland between life and death without a struggle, and without recovering consciousness. indeed so perfectly quiet and peaceful was the end that it was some time before young escombe could convince himself that his chief was really dead; but when at length there could no longer be any question as to the fact, the body was at once wrapped in the waterproof sheet which had formed a makeshift tent for the shelter of the sick man, and packed, with as much reverence as the circumstances would allow, upon the deceased man's horse, for conveyance back to camp for interment, the pair having with them no implements wherewith to dig a grave. moreover, harry considered that, taking the somewhat peculiar circumstances of the case into consideration, it was very desirable that the body should be seen and identified by the other members of the survey party before burial took place. this event occurred on the evening of the third day after death, escombe himself reading the burial service; and he afterwards fashioned with his own hands, and placed at the head of the grave, a wooden cross, upon which he roughly but deeply cut with his pocket knife the name of the dead man and the date of his death. he also, as a matter of precaution, took a very careful set of astronomical observations for the determination of the exact position of the grave, recording the result in his diary at the end of the long entry detailing all the circumstances connected with the sad event. escombe now suddenly found his young shoulders burdened with a heavy load of responsibility, for not only did butler's death leave the lad in sole charge of the survey party, with the task of carrying on unaided the exceedingly important work upon which that party was engaged, until assistance could be sent out to him from england; but it also became his immediate duty to report all the circumstances of the death of his leader to the british consul at lima--who would doubtless put in motion the necessary machinery for the capture and punishment of the men who were responsible for the events which had brought about butler's death-- and also to sir philip swinburne, who would, of course, in turn, communicate the sad intelligence to the deceased man's family. and there were also all butler's private effects to be packed up and sent home forthwith. yet, taking everything into consideration, the death of his chief was a relief rather than otherwise to the lad, unfeeling though the statement may appear at the first blush. butler was a man for whom it was quite impossible for anyone to acquire a friendly feeling; harry therefore felt that when he had committed his chief's body to the earth with as much respectful observance as the circumstances permitted, had carefully and scrupulously collected together and dispatched to england all the dead man's personal belongings, and had taken such steps as were possible for the capture and punishment of the men who were primarily responsible for butler's death, he had done everything that a strict sense of duty claimed from him, and was not called upon to feign and outwardly manifest a sorrow which had no place in his heart. besides, he was now the responsible head of the survey party; upon him depended-- for at least the next three months--the conduct of an important and highly scientific operation; and upon the manner in which he conducted it depended very serious issues involving the expenditure of exceedingly large sums of money. this was his opportunity to demonstrate to all concerned the stuff of which he was made; it was an opportunity so splendid that many a young fellow of his age would cheerfully give half a dozen years of his life to obtain such another; for harry fully realised that if he could carry his task to a successful conclusion his fortune, from the professional point of view, was made. and he felt that he could--ay, and would--do this. the experience which he had already gained since his arrival in peru had been of inestimable value to him, and he had made the very utmost of it; he therefore felt confident of his ability to carry through his task to the satisfaction of his employers and with credit to himself, and he entered upon it with avidity and keen enjoyment. moreover, he was tactful, and possessed the happy knack of managing those under him in such a way that he was able to extract the very last ounce of work from them without offending their susceptibilities, or causing them to feel that he was making undue demands upon them. under these circumstances, and with the perpetual galling irritation of butler's presence and influence removed, the survey made rapid and very satisfactory progress, the party arriving at cerro de pasco in a trifle under six weeks from the date of butler's death, thus completing the second section of the survey. the third section was very much longer and more difficult in every respect than either of the two completed, since it extended from nanucaca--already connected by rail with cerro de pasco--along the shore of lake chinchaycocha to ayacucho and cuzco, and thence on to santa rosa, the distance being some four hundred and seventy miles as the crow flies, while the difficulties of the route might possibly increase that distance by nearly one-third. but escombe was by no means dismayed by the formidable character of the obstacles that lay before him; he had come to realise that, to the man who would achieve success, obstacles exist only that they may be overcome, and he was gaining experience daily in the overcoming of obstacles. he therefore attacked this third and very formidable section, not only without any anxiety or fear, but with a keen zest that instantly communicated itself to his little band of followers, welding them together into a perfectly harmonious, smooth-working whole. it must not be thought, however, that escombe allowed himself to become so completely absorbed in his work that he could think of nothing else. on the contrary, he understood perfectly the meaning of the word "recreation" and the value of the thing itself. he knew that no man can work for ever without wearing himself out, and he looked upon recreation as--what its name implied--a re-creation or rebuilding of those forces, mental and physical, which labour wears away, and valued it accordingly, taking it whenever he felt that he really needed it, even as he took food or medicine. now it chanced that fishing was one of escombe's favourite recreations; and no sooner had he started the third section of the survey--which began by skirting the eastern shore of lake chinchaycocha--than he made a practice of indulging in an hour or two's fishing whenever the opportunity offered. it was this practice that led to an occurrence which was destined to culminate in an adventure so startling and extraordinary as to be scarcely credible in these prosaic twentieth- century days. it happened on a saturday afternoon. on the day in question, the survey party being then encamped on the shore of lake chinchaycocha, as soon as he had squared up his week's work, and snatched a hasty luncheon, the young englishman brought forth his fishing tackle, and, getting aboard a balsa, or light raft, which arima had constructed for him, proceeded to paddle some distance out from the shore to a spot which he had already ascertained afforded him a fair prospect of sport. arrived there he dropped his keeleg--a large stone serving the purpose of an anchor--overboard and settled down comfortably to enjoy his favourite pastime, and also provide an exceedingly welcome addition to the somewhat monotonous fare of camp life. the sport that afternoon was not so good as harry had expected, and it was drawing well on toward evening before the fish began to bite at all freely--he was trying especially for a certain particularly delicious kind of fish, something between a trout and a mullet, which was only to be captured by allowing the hook to rest at the very bottom of the lake. suddenly he felt a smart tug at his line and at once began to haul it in, but he had scarcely got it fairly taut when the tremulous jerk which denoted the presence of a fish at the other end was exchanged for a steady strain, and it soon became perfectly evident that the hook had become entangled in something at the bottom. now escombe's stock of fishing tackle was of exceedingly modest proportions, so much so, indeed, that the loss of even a solitary hook was a matter not to be contemplated with indifference, therefore he brought all his skill to bear upon the delicate task of releasing the hook from its entanglement. but at the end of half an hour he was no nearer to success than at the beginning of his endeavours, while the sun was within a hand's breadth of the horizon, and he had no fancy for being caught by the darkness while on the lake, therefore he adopted other tactics, and strove to bring the object, whatever it might be, to the surface by means of a steady yet not dangerously powerful strain. ah, that was better! at the very first tug escombe felt the resistance yield by the merest hairs-breadth, and presently a faint jerk told him that he had gained another fraction of an inch, which success was repeated every few seconds until he was able to lift and drop the line a clear foot. then the sun's lower limb touched and rested for an instant upon the ridge of the western cordilleras before it began to sink behind them, and harry realised that the moment for energetic measures had arrived; for he was a good two miles from the shore, and it would take him the best part of an hour to paddle his clumsy craft that distance. therefore he steadily increased the strain upon his line, determined to release himself one way or another, even though at the cost of a hook. but it proved unnecessary for him to make so great a sacrifice, it was the unknown object that yielded, with little momentary jerks and an ever decreasing resistance until it finally let go its hold of the bottom altogether and came to the surface securely entangled with the hook. upon its emergence from the water harry gazed at his catch in astonishment; he had expected to see the water-logged branch of a tree, a bunch of weed, or something of that sort, but as it dangled, dripping with sandy ooze in the last rays of the setting sun, certain ruddy-yellow gleams that flashed from it told its finder that he had fished up something metallic from the bottom of the lake. the next moment escombe was busily engaged in disentangling his find from the fish hook, but long ere he had succeeded in doing so the young man had made the interesting discovery that he had been fortunate enough to retrieve a most remarkable jewel, in the form of a gold and emerald collar, from the depths of the lake. methodical even in the midst of his excitement at having made so valuable a find, the young englishman carefully disentangled his hook and line from the jewel, neatly wound up the former, and then proceeded patiently to wash away from the latter the ooze with which it was thickly coated, having done which he found himself in possession of an ornament so massive in material and so elaborate and unique in workmanship that he felt certain it must be worth quite a little fortune to any curio collector. it was, or appeared to be, a collar or necklace, a trifle over two feet in length, the ends united by a massive ring supporting a medallion. the links, so to speak, of the necklace consisted of twelve magnificent emeralds, each engraved upon one side with certain cabalistic characters, the meaning of which escombe could not guess at, and upon the other with a symbol which was easily identifiable as that of the sun; these emeralds were massively set-- framed would be almost the more appropriate word--in most elaborately sculptured gold, and joined together by heavy gold links also very elaborately cut. the pendant was likewise composed of a superb emerald of fully three inches diameter set in a gold frame, chiselled to represent the rays of the sun, the emerald itself being engraved with the representation of a human face, which, oddly enough, harry recognised, even at the first glance, to be extraordinarily, astoundingly like his own. this was a find worth having, the young man told himself, and might prove worth several hundreds of pounds if judiciously advertised and offered for sale at christie's upon his return home; for safety's sake, therefore, he put it round his neck, tucking it inside his shirt, snugly out of sight, and, heaving up his keeleg, proceeded to paddle thoughtfully back to the shore. it was some three months after this occurrence--and in the interim young escombe had pushed forward the survey so rapidly, despite all difficulties, that he had covered more than half the distance between nanucaca and ayacucho--when, as he returned to camp at the end of his day's work, he observed two strange mules tethered near his tent; and presently a stranger emerged from the tent and advanced toward him. the stranger, although deeply tanned by the sun, was unmistakably an englishman, some twenty-eight years of age, rather above middle height, and with a pleasant though resolute expression stamped upon his good-- looking features. approaching harry, he held out his hand and smilingly remarked: "mr escombe, i presume. my name is bannister--john bannister--and i come from sir philip swinburne to act as your colleague in the completion of the survey upon which you are engaged. these,"--producing a packet of papers--"are my credentials. grand country this,"--casting an admiring glance at the magnificent scenery amid which the camp was pitched--"but, my word, you must have had some tough bits of work, even before reaching this spot." "you are right, we have," answered harry as he cordially returned bannister's grasp. "i am right glad to see you, and to bid you welcome to our camp, for i have been pretty badly in want of intelligent help lately. these fellows,"--indicating the native helpers who were now scattered about the camp busily preparing for the evening meal--"are all well enough in their way, and since poor butler's death i have managed to drill them into something like decent, useful shape; but i have often been badly hampered for the want of another surveyor who could work with me in surmounting some of the especially bad places. now that you have come we shall be able to get ahead nearly twice as fast. i suppose you came out by the last mail, eh? and how are things going in the dear old country?" harry led the new arrival into his tent, and proceeded forthwith to discard his working clothes and divest himself of the stains of his day's toil as he chatted animatedly, asking questions for the most part, as is the wont of the old hand--and escombe had by this time grown to quite regard himself as such--when he foregathers with somebody fresh from "home". bannister, having arrived at the camp pretty early in the afternoon, had already bathed and changed; he therefore had nothing to do but to sit still and answer harry's questions, jerking in one or two himself occasionally, until the younger man's toilet was completed, when they sat down to dinner together. by the time that the meal was over each felt perfectly satisfied that he would be able to get on well with the other, and was looking forward to a quite pleasant time up there among the stupendous mountains. upon first seeing bannister, and learning that he had come out from sir philip, harry naturally thought that the new arrival had been dispatched to fill the position of chief of the survey party, rendered vacant by the death of the unfortunate butler; but upon opening the credentials which bannister had presented, he found that it was actually as the bearer had stated, that he and harry were to act as colleagues, not as chief and subordinate, in the completion of the survey, thus making the pair jointly responsible for the work, while they would share equally the credit upon its completion. they spent an exceedingly pleasant evening together, chatting mostly over the work that still lay before them, harry producing his plans and explaining what had already been done, while bannister sat listening gravely to the recital of sundry hairbreadth escapes from death in the execution of duty, and of the manner in which a few of the more than ordinarily difficult bits of work had been accomplished; and when the pair again sat chatting together, twenty-four hours later, at the end of their first day together, each felt absolutely satisfied with the comrade with which fortune had brought him into touch. under these agreeable circumstances the survey progressed with greater rapidity than ever, the two englishmen conquering obstacle after obstacle, and meeting with plenty of thrilling adventures in the process, until in the fullness of time they reached first ayacucho and then cuzco, when the worst of their troubles were over. for there was a road--of sorts--between the ancient capital and santa rosa, and the two englishmen, after riding over it in company, agreed that, for a considerable part of the way at least, the best route for a railway would be found contiguous to the highroad, by following which the surveyors would derive many substantial advantages, in addition to finding a comparatively easy route to survey. chapter eight. the abduction. the survey party had traversed about half the distance between cuzco and santa rosa when the two englishmen, following their invariable custom of indulging in a swim as often as opportunity afforded, made their way, at the end of a hard day's work, to a most romantic spot which they had encountered. here a small stream, flowing through a rocky gorge, fell over a granite ledge on to a large flat slab of rock some nine feet below, from which in turn it poured into a noble basin almost perfectly circular in shape, about twenty feet deep, and nearly or quite a hundred feet in diameter, ere it continued its course down the ravine. to stand on the slab of rock beneath the fall was to enjoy an ideal shower bath; and to dive from that same slab into the deep, pellucid pool and thereafter swim across the pool and back three or four times was a luxury worth riding several miles to enjoy; small wonder, therefore, was it that the two englishmen resolved to make the most of their opportunity, and continue to use this perfect natural swimming bath so long as their work kept them within reach of it. the camp was situated some two miles back from the pool, the bathers therefore, fatigued with a long day's work, decided to ride to and from the spot, instead of walking, and arima, the indian--who had by this time constituted himself escombe's especial henchman--was directed to accompany them to look after the horses while the riders were enjoying their dip. arrived at the pool, the two friends dismounted and proceeded to undress on a small space of rich, lush grass in close proximity to the basin, the indian meanwhile squatting upon his heels and holding the horses' bridles while the animals eagerly grazed. now, arima's devotion to harry, originating at the time when the two had made their memorable journey together to mama cachama's cave, and very greatly strengthened during the adventurous hunt for the missing butler, had steadily developed until it had become almost if not quite as strong as that of a parent for an idolised child. the indian could not bear his young master to be out of his sight for a moment, and was always most unhappy whenever the exigencies of work necessitated a separation of the two. he had been known to resort to the most extraordinary devices to prevent such an occurrence, and when the two were together arima never allowed his gaze to wander for a moment from his master's form if he could help it. yet, singularly enough, it was not until this particular evening that the indian had become aware of escombe's possession of the jewel so strangely fished up from the depths of lake chinchaycocha, or had ever caught sight of it. but he saw it now, as escombe undressed at a few yards' distance, the light falling strongly upon the dull red gold and the emeralds, as the lad carefully removed it from his neck and laid it upon the top of his clothes ere he rushed, with a joyous shout, and placed himself immediately beneath the foaming water of the fall. the sight appeared to arouse a feeling of very powerful curiosity in the breast of the indian, for it was only with the utmost difficulty that he contrived to retain his attitude of passivity until the more deliberately moving bannister had joined his friend upon the slab beneath the fall; but no sooner had this happened than, abandoning the horses to their own devices, arima crept cautiously forward until he reached escombe's heap of clothing, and, availing himself of the preoccupation of the bathers, took the jewel in his hand and examined it with the most rapt attention and care. for a space of nearly five minutes he continued his examination, after which he slowly and thoughtfully made his way back to the horses, which were too busily feeding upon the luscious grass to stray far. for the remainder of the evening the indian seemed to be plunged in a state of meditation so profound as to be quite oblivious of all outward things save his young master, his conduct toward whom was marked by a new and yet subtle attitude of almost worshipping reverence. but when the hands were mustered for work on the following morning, arima was nowhere to be found; he had vanished some time during the night, saying nothing to anyone, and leaving no trace behind. harry was very much upset at this sudden and inexplicable disappearance of the servant who, in a thousand little unobtrusive ways, had ministered so effectually to his comfort that his loss was at once felt as a serious misfortune, and he devoted two whole days to a search for the missing man, fearing that the fellow had strayed away from the camp and that something untoward had befallen him. but the search was quite unavailing, and on the third day it was abandoned, the only conclusion at which escombe could arrive being that the indian had deserted under the influence of pique at some unintentional affront and gone back to his own people. it was some two months later--by which time the party was drawing near to santa rosa, and the great railway survey was approaching completion-- that in the dead of a dark and starless night three indians stealthily approached the surveyors' camp and, having first reconnoitred the ground as carefully as the pitch darkness would permit, made their way, noiseless as shadows, to the tent occupied by young escombe. the leading indian was arima, the two who followed were very old men, their scanty locks, white as snow, hanging to their shoulders, their ascetic, clean-cut features sharp and shrunken, yet they carried themselves as upright as though they had been in the heyday of youth, and their sunken eyes glowed and sparkled with undiminished fire. they wore sleeveless shirts of pure white, finely woven of vicuna wool, reaching to the knee, the opening at the throat and arms, and also the hem of the garment, being richly ornamented with embroidery in heavy gold thread. this garment was confined at the waist by a massive belt of solid gold composed of square placques hinged together, and each elaborately sculptured with conventional representations of the sun. over this was worn a long cloak, dyed blue, also woven of vicuna wool, but without ornament of any description. their heads were bare, and the lobe of each ear was pierced and distended to receive a gold medallion nearly four inches in diameter, also heavily sculptured with a representation of the sun. their legs were bare, but each wore sandals bound to the feet and ankles by thongs of leather. to judge from the travel-stained appearance of their garments they must have come a considerable distance, and have been exposed to many vicissitudes of weather. entering escombe's tent, which was dimly lighted by a hanging lamp turned low, arima noiselessly moved aside and silently, with outstretched hand, indicated to his two companions the form of the sleeping lad, who lay stretched at length upon his camp bed, breathing the long, deep breath of profound slumber. nodding silently, one of the two withdrew from a pouch which hung suspended from his belt a soft cloth and a small phial. extracting the stopper from the latter, he emptied the contents of the phial upon the cloth, which he then very gradually approached to the nostrils of the sleeper until it was within an inch of them. he held the cloth thus for about five minutes, allowing the fumes of the liquid to enter the sleeper's nostrils, while his companion very gently laid his fingers upon the pulse of escombe's right hand, which happened to be lying outside the coverlet. at length the second indian--he who held harry's wrist--nodded to the first, saying, in a low voice, in the ancient quichua language: "it is enough; nothing will now awaken him,"--whereupon the holder of the cloth returned it and the phial to his pouch and stepped back from the side of the bed. then, turning to arima, he said, in the same language: "say you, arima, that this youth always wears the collar upon his person, night and day?" "even so, lord," answered arima. "at least," he modified his statement, "so i surmise; for i have never seen the jewel save the once whereof i told you, and again on that same night when i stole into his tent while he slept, and found that he was wearing it then. whereupon i hastened to you with my momentous news." "you have done well, friend," answered the first speaker. "should all prove to be as you say, you shall be richly rewarded. and now,"--he caught his breath with sudden excitement--"to settle the question." then, turning to his companion, he said: "approach, brother, and look with me. it is meet that we should both gaze upon the sacred emblem--if so it should prove--at the self-same moment." he signed to arima, who turned up the flame of the lamp, whereupon the two inca priests--for such the strangers actually were-- bent over escombe's sleeping figure, one on each side of the bed, and while one drew down the coverlet the other unbuttoned the lad's sleeping jacket, exposing to view the jewel which he had fished up from lake chinchaycocha, and which, for safety, he always wore round his neck. eagerly the two priests bent down and scrutinised the magnificent ornament as it lay upon the gently heaving breast of the sleeper; and as their eyes hungrily took in the several peculiarities of the jewel a thrill of excitement visibly swept over them. finally, he who appeared to be the elder of the two said to the other: "there can scarcely be a doubt that arima's surmise is correct; nevertheless, brother, pass your hand beneath the young man's shoulder and raise him slightly that i may remove the collar and examine it." the priest addressed at once obeyed the request of the other, who thereupon gently passed the ornament over the sleeper's head and, taking it immediately beneath the lamp, proceeded to examine every part of it with the closest scrutiny, his companion allowing escombe's limp body to subside back on the pillow before he, too, joined in the inspection. every link, almost every mark of the chisel, was subjected to the most careful examination, and apparently certain of the engraved marks were recognised as bearing a definite meaning; for on more than one occasion the elder of the two priests pointed to such a mark, saying, "behold, motahuana, here is, unmistakably, the secret sign," while the other would nod his head solemnly and respond, "even so, tiahuana; i see it." finally he who had been addressed by the other as tiahuana turned the jewel over in his hand and examined the back of it. his gaze instantly fell upon the cabalistic characters engraved upon the backs of the emeralds, which had puzzled escombe, and, laying the jewel gently down upon the bed, he prostrated himself before it, motahuana immediately following his example, as also did arima. for a space of some three or four minutes the trio appeared to be absorbed in some act of silent devotion, then tiahuana rose to his feet and fixed his gaze on the jewel which lay upon the coverlet of escombe's bed. meditatively his eyes rested upon the great emerald pendant with its engraved representation of a human face, and from thence they wandered to the calm features of the sleeping lad. suddenly he started, and his gaze became alert, almost startled. he bent down and scrutinised the engraved features intently, then quickly diverted his gaze to those on the pillow. was it some trick of light, he asked himself, or were the two sets of features identical? "look, motahuana, look!" he whispered in tense accents; "see you the resemblance? i have but observed it this instant. nay, man, you can scarcely see it from where you stand, for that side of his face is in shadow. come to this side of the couch--or, stay, i will move the lamp." he did so, holding the lamp so that its light fell full upon the sleeper's face, while with the other hand he rearranged the collar so that the pendant lay upright upon escombe's breast. in this position, and in the stronger light, the likeness was even more startlingly striking than before, and for two long minutes the aged pair bent intently over the object of their scrutiny with an ever-growing expression of wonder and awe upon their attenuated features. "well, brother," at length demanded tiahuana, somewhat sharply, "see you what i mean, or is it merely my fancy--a figment of my over-heated imagination?" "nay, lord," answered motahuana in an awestruck whisper, "it is no figment, no fancy; the likeness is wonderful, marvellous, perfect; the features are identical, curve for curve and line for line, save that those engraved on the emerald bear the impress of a few more years of life. that, however, is immaterial, and in no wise affects the fact that in this sleeping youth we behold the reincarnation of him who first wore the sacred jewel, the lord and father of our people, manco capac!" "even so; you say truly, motahuana," agreed tiahuana in tones of exultation. "the revelation is complete and indisputable past all doubt; the mighty manco capac has returned to earth from his home among the stars, and soon now shall peru resume its former glorious position as the greatest and most powerful nation in the world. it is true that the great manco returns to us in the guise of a young englishman, for which circumstance i was scarcely prepared; but what of that? it is better so; for england is to-day the wisest and most mighty nation on the face of the earth, and doubtless the inca brings with with him a rich store of the knowledge of england. come, there is no occasion for further delay; let us be going, for we must be far hence and beyond the reach of pursuit ere our father the sun awakens his children and discloses the fact of our lord's disappearance. go thou, arima, and summon hither the litter bearers and the others." in a perfect ecstasy of pride and delight that it should have fallen to his lot to become the humble instrument whereby had been made known to his people the glorious fact of the great inca's reincarnation in the person of escombe--as he never for a moment doubted was the case--arima hurried out to where the remainder of the party lay patiently in ambush, briefly announced to them that all was well, and bade them follow him in perfect silence to the tent in which harry still lay plunged in a deathlike yet quite harmless sleep. the litter--a light but strong structure, framed of bamboos and covered with vicuna cloth, so arranged that it could be completely closed--was carried right into the tent, the covering thrown back, and escombe was lifted, on his mattress and still covered with the bedclothes, off the little iron camp bedstead and carefully placed in the litter, the jewel was replaced about his neck, the pillow under his head was comfortably arranged by arima, the litter was closed, and then a little procession, consisting of the litter and its four bearers, with the eight other men who acted as reliefs, headed by the two priests, filed silently out into the darkness, leaving arima, with six men, armed to the teeth with bows and arrows--the latter tipped with copper--lances of hardwood sharpened by fire, and short swords, the copper blades of which were hardened and tempered almost to the consistency of steel by a process known only to the peruvians themselves. the duty of these men was to collect together and pack, under arima's supervision, the whole of escombe's private and personal belongings; and this they did with such expedition that, in less than half an hour from the involuntary departure of its owner, the tent was almost entirely stripped of its contents and left deserted. under the anaesthetic influence of the vapour which he had unconsciously inhaled, escombe continued to sleep soundly until close upon midday, by which time the effect had almost entirely passed off, and he began to awake very gradually to the consciousness that something very much out of the ordinary course of things was happening. the first thing to impress itself upon his slowly awakening senses was the fact that the bed upon which he was lying was in motion, a gentle, easy, rhythmic, swaying motion, unlike any movement that he had ever before experienced. yet the bed seemed to be the same as that upon which he had retired to rest upon the preceding night, so far as he could judge; the mattress had the old familiar feel, and--yes, certainly, he was still under the shelter of the bedclothes, and his head still rested upon the familiar pillow--he could feel the lumps in it where the flock filling had become matted together. but why the mysterious motion? could it be that he was experiencing for the first time the effects of a peruvian earthquake? slowly and reluctantly he opened his eyes, and saw that his bed was indeed the same, yet with a certain difference, the precise nature of which he was at first unable to define. but presently he saw that the bed or couch upon which he was lying was closely encompassed by a soft blanket-like cloth, tightly strained over a light bamboo framework, forming a sort of canopy. and the motion? he was by this time sufficiently awake to understand that it was real; nor was it due to earthquake, as he had at first been inclined to think it might be; no, it was the regular, rhythmic movement of men marching and keeping step; he was being carried! with a rush his senses came fully back to him, and he started up into a sitting posture. it was high time for him to get to the bottom of this mystery, he told himself. he saw that midway in their length the side curtains which enclosed him were divided and overlapped, and, stretching out his hand, he wrenched them apart, at the same time, in his forgetfulness, calling loudly for arima. in an instant the indian was by the side of the litter and peering in through the opening between the parted curtains, to his masters intense astonishment. "you called, senor--my lord, i mean?" exclaimed the man submissively. "i did!" answered escombe incisively. "what has happened, arima? where have you been? where am i? why am i being carried off in this outrageous manner? answer me quickly." "my lord," answered the indian deprecatingly, "i implore you not to be disturbed or alarmed in the least. we are all your slaves, and are prepared to lay down our lives in your service. no harm is intended you; but it is necessary that you accompany us to the place whither we are going. here is my lord tiahuana. he will perhaps explain further." meanwhile, during this brief colloquy, the cortege had come to a halt, and now the elder of the two priests presented himself as arima retired, and, with a profound obeisance, said: "let my lord pardon his servants, and let not his anger be kindled against them. what we have done has been done of necessity and because there seemed to be no other way. but my lord need have no fear that evil is meditated against him; on the contrary, a position of great power and glory will be his at the end of his journey; and meanwhile every possible provision has been made for the comfort and wellbeing of my lord during his passage through the mountains." "but--but--i don't understand," stammered harry. "who are you, why do you address me as lord, and what do you mean by talking about a passage through the mountains? there is a ridiculous mistake." "nay, lord, be assured that there is no mistake," answered tiahuana impressively. "the matter has been most carefully investigated, and the fact has been conclusively established that my lord is he whom we want. the jewel which my lord even now wears about his neck proves it. further than that--" "the jewel that i am wearing about my neck--this thing?" exclaimed harry, drawing it forth. "why, man, i fished this up from the bottom of lake chinchaycocha, and am simply wearing it because it appeared valuable and i did not wish to lose it." "even so, lord," answered tiahuana soothingly, and with even increased reverence, if that were possible. "the circumstance that my lord drew the collar of the great manco capac from the depths of chinchaycocha is but an added proof--if such were needed--that my lord is he whom we have believed him to be, and that no mistake has been made." "but, my good man, i tell you that a mistake _has_ been made--a very stupid mistake--which i must insist that you rectify at once," exclaimed escombe, who was beginning to grow a trifle exasperated at what he inwardly termed the fellow's stupid persistence. "look here," he continued, "i don't in the least know whom you suppose me to be, but i will tell you who i am. my name is escombe--henry escombe. i am an englishman, and i only came to peru--" "my lord," interposed tiahuana with deep humility, yet with a certain inflection of firmness in his voice, "all that you would say is perfectly well known to us your servants; it has been told to us by the man arima. but nothing can alter the fact that my lord is the man referred to in the prophecy pronounced by the great high priest titucocha on the awful night when the inca atahuallpa was strangled by the spaniards in the great square of caxamalca. from that moment the ancient peruvian people have looked for the coming of my lord to free them from the yoke of the foreign oppressor, to give them back their country, and to restore them to the proud position which they occupied ere the coming of the cruel spaniard; and now that my lord has deigned to appear we should be foolish indeed to permit anything--anything, lord--to stand in the way of the realisation of our long-deferred hopes." harry began to realise that the misunderstanding was more serious than he had at first thought. it must be put right without any further delay. but he could not sit there in that ridiculous palankeen affair and argue with a man who stood with his head thrust between the curtains; he must get up and dress. moreover, he was ravenously hungry, and felt certain that the breakfast hour must have long gone past. so, instead of replying to tiahuana's last remarks, he simply said: "send arima to me." the old priest instantly withdrew, and in his place appeared arima again, who had been standing within earshot, quite expecting a summons at any moment. "behold, i am here, lord," remarked the indian with a deep obeisance. "what is my lord's will with the least of his servants?" "my will," answered harry, "is to dress and have breakfast at once. when you and your friends kidnapped me last night, did you by any chance have the sense to bring my clothes along?" "we have brought everything with us, lord," answered arima. "nothing that i know to be my lord's property has been left behind." "um!" thought harry, "the beggar has been altogether too faithful for my liking. he has brought everything of mine, has he? that means that if i cannot persuade these idiots to take me back to the camp, and it becomes necessary for me to make my escape, i shall have to go off with just what i stand up in, leaving the rest of my belongings in their hands!" aloud he said: "very well, then please bring me the clothes that i wore while at work yesterday." with breathless haste the clothes required were brought forth from a bundle into which they had been hastily thrust, and presented to their owner; the litter was gently deposited upon the ground, and harry, lightly clad in his pyjama suit, scrambled out, to find himself in the midst of an extensive pine wood, with his escort, consisting of twenty- one persons all told, prostrate on their faces around him! evidently, he told himself, he was a personage of such dignity and consequence that he must not be looked at by profane eyes while dressing. smiling to himself at the absurdity of the whole adventure, he quickly proceeded with his toilet, obsequiously assisted by the faithful arima; and when at length he was dressed, a word from arima caused the escort to rise to their feet. then, while some of them proceeded to gather branches and light a fire, others set to work to open certain bundles from which they rapidly extracted bread, chocolate, sugar, and, in short, all the ingredients required to furnish forth an appetising and satisfying breakfast. finally, about half an hour later, the young englishman, in a frame of mind about equally divided between annoyance at his abduction and amazement at the unaccountable behaviour of his abductors, found himself partaking of the said breakfast, presented to him in a service of solid gold of curious but most elaborate design and workmanship, and waited upon by his entire suite with as much ceremony and obsequiousness as though he were a king. chapter nine. tiahuana tells a strange story. escombe's appetite was good, the food delicious, the cooking perfection, the service irreproachable, if somewhat elaborate. it is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the young man made an excellent meal, and that at its conclusion he should feel himself in admirable form for tackling his captors upon the subject of their outrageous abduction of him. therefore, after performing his post-prandial ablutions in a basin of solid gold, held before him by a kneeling man, and drying himself upon an immaculate towel woven of cotton which was a perfect miracle of absorbent softness, tendered to him by another kneeling man, he resolutely seated himself upon a moss-grown rock which happened to conveniently protrude itself from the soil close at hand, and proceeded to deal with the matter. he had no difficulty in recognising that tiahuana and motahuana were the two wielders of authority in his escort--which, by the way, he noticed had a persistent trick of arranging itself about him in a tolerably close circle of which he was the centre--he therefore opened the proceedings by remarking: "now, before i go another step i insist upon having a full and explicit explanation of your unwarrantable behaviour in entering my camp last night and abducting me, to the serious detriment of the exceedingly important work upon which i am engaged. you have assured me that i have nothing to fear at your hands, and you appear to be quite satisfied that in abducting me you have got the man you want; but i am as far as ever from understanding what your motive can be. which of you two men is responsible for the outrage?" "i am the responsible one, lord," answered tiahuana. "i, the high priest of the remnant of the ancient peruvian race, now and for many long years established in the city of the sun which, unknown to any but ourselves, lies hidden far away among the mountains. you demand an explanation of what you have termed my unwarrantable action in taking possession of your august person. it is a just and reasonable demand, lord; moreover, it is necessary that you should have it. therefore, let my lord deign to listen to what to him may seem a wild and incredible story, but which is strictly true in every particular. "when in the dim and remote past our lord and father the sun took compassion upon us his people, he sent two of his children--manco capac and mama oello huaco--to earth in order that they might form us into a united and consolidated nation. these two established themselves in a certain spot, the locality of which had been divinely revealed to them by a certain sign--even as your identity, lord, has been revealed to us; and our forefathers gathering about them, the ancient and royal city of cuzco was built, wherein manco capac took up his abode as our first inca. now, manco capac, being of divine origin, was endowed with marvellous wisdom and knowledge, even to the foreseeing of future events; and among the events which he foretold was that of the conquest of our country by the spaniard. he also formulated many wise and righteous laws for the government of the people, which laws were further added to by his successors. "now, with the building of the city of cuzco and his establishment therein as inca, manco assumed royal dignity, and inaugurated a code of stately ceremonial for all those who formed his court and might have occasion to come to it. he also arrayed himself in regal garments and adorned his person with certain regal ornaments, of which the collar now worn by you, lord, was the most important next to the imperial borla, or tasselled fringe of scarlet, adorned with coraquenque feathers, which was the distinguishing insignia of royalty. "when in the fullness of time manco was called home to the mansions of his father the sun, he gave minute instructions, before his departure, as to the disposal of everything belonging to him, including his royal jewels. some of these he ordained were to be deposited with his body in the great temple of the sun at cuzco. but the jewel which you are now wearing, lord, he decreed was to be handed down from inca to inca, even unto the last of the race; and it was so. atahuallpa wore it as he entered the city of caxamalca at the head of his vassals and retinue on the afternoon of that fatal day when he fell into the hands of the treacherous spaniards and, helpless to prevent it, beheld thousands of his unarmed followers slaughtered like sheep in the great square. but he did not wear it on the night when, at the command of the false and treacherous pizarro, he was haled forth himself to die in the great square where so many of his followers had previously perished. nor did it fall into the hands of his captors, thus much was ascertained beyond all possibility of doubt. what became of it nobody could--or would-- say; but on the night of atahuallpa's murder the high priest titucocha suddenly emerged from the great temple of the sun in cuzco and, standing before the entrance, summoned the inhabitants of the city to assemble before him. then he told them that atahuallpa was dead, that the inca dynasty was at an end, and that the great peruvian nation was doomed to pass under the rule of the _conquistadors_, and be swallowed up by them and their descendants. `but not for all time, my children,' he cried. `we have sinned in that we have permitted the spaniards to overrun our country without opposition, instead of utterly destroying them as we might have done; and this is our punishment for not defending the land which our father the sun gave us for our sustenance and enjoyment. but be not dismayed; a remnant of you shall survive, and under my leadership shall retire to a certain place the locality of which has been revealed to me, and there will we build a new city of the sun, the glory of which shall exceed that of cuzco, even as the glory of our lord and father the sun exceeds that of his consort the moon. and in the fullness of time it shall come to pass that manco capac, the founder of our nation, shall be reincarnated and shall appear among us, and he will become our inca, to reign over us as aforetime, and restore the peruvian nation to its pristine power and glory by virtue of his own wisdom and the power of the wealth which we will accumulate for his use. and when he appears ye shall know him from the fact that he will wear about his neck the great emerald collar worn first by himself and afterward by all the incas.' "and behold, lord, as titucocha spake, so hath it all happened. a remnant of the ancient peruvian race survives to this day, untainted by any admixture with the blood of aliens; and while many of them are scattered abroad over the face of the country watching ever for the reappearance of manco capac, the lesser part are gathered together in the city of the sun, founded by titucocha, and now in the very zenith of its magnificence, awaiting the coming of my lord." "so that is the yarn, is it?" exclaimed harry, as tiahuana came to a halt in his narrative. "and a very extraordinary story it is; never heard anything like it in all my life! and i suppose, friend tiahuana, that because i happen to have fished up this collar out of lake chinchaycocha, and am wearing it round my neck because i do not wish to lose it, you identify me as the reincarnated manco capac, eh?" "assuredly, lord," answered tiahuana. "he would indeed be a sceptic who should venture to entertain the shadow of a doubt in the face of proof so complete in all respects as that which has been vouchsafed to us." "ah!" ejaculated harry, bracing himself to demolish this absurd fable, and secure his release at a stroke. "now, i don't understand very much about the doctrine of reincarnation, but i suppose, if i were really manco capac come to earth again, i should have some recollection of my former state of existence, shouldn't i? well, will it surprise you to learn that i have nothing of the sort--not the feeblest glimmer?" "nay, lord," answered tiahuana, "that is not in the least surprising. it often happens that the reincarnated one has no recollection of his former existence until he finds himself amid surroundings similar to those with which he was familiar in his past state; and even then remembrance often comes but slowly. your lack of recollection does not in the least alter facts; and of those facts we have all the proof that can possibly be required. and now, lord, will it please you that we resume our journey? there are many difficulties to be surmounted before we reach the spot at which we must encamp to-night, and it is high time that our march should be resumed." "no," answered harry, "it does not please me that we resume our journey. on the contrary, i refuse to accompany you another step unless you will undertake to convey me back to the camp whence you brought me. if you will do this i am willing to overlook the outrage which you have perpetrated in abducting me, and promise that you shall hear nothing more about it. but if you persist in keeping me a prisoner, i warn you that the british consul will be speedily made acquainted with the facts, and he will never rest until i have been released and every one of you severely punished; and that punishment, let me tell you, will be no joke; for he will take care that it is adequate to the offence. you will be made to understand that even a solitary young englishman like myself cannot be kidnapped with impunity!" "pardon, lord," answered tiahuana with a deprecatory gesture. "i am overwhelmed with distress at having incurred my lord's displeasure; but i must not permit even that to interfere with the discharge of my duty. it is imperative that my lord should accompany us. were we to fail to convey him to the hidden city of the sun we should all be justly put to death; my lord will therefore see that we have no choice in the matter. the only one who has a choice is my lord himself, who can choose whether he will accompany us willingly, or whether we must resort to something in the nature of coercion." as tiahuana spoke the last words he made a sign with his hand, upon which the little band of attendants contracted themselves into a circle of considerably smaller diameter than before, yet still preserving an attitude of the most profound respect. escombe saw at once that the moment was by no means favourable for an attempt to escape; he therefore quickly decided to make the best of things and to submit _pro tem_, with a good grace to what was unavoidable. he accordingly said: "very well; since you are absolutely determined to carry me off, i prefer to accompany you voluntarily. but i warn you that you will all suffer severely for this outrage." it is most regrettable to be obliged to record it, but escombe's threatened invocation of britain's might and majesty seemed to discompose those obstinate indians not at all; to use his own expression when talking of it afterwards, his threats glanced off them as harmlessly as water off a duck's back, and all that they seemed in the least concerned about was his welfare and comfort during the journey. with much solicitude tiahuana enquired whether it would please him to walk or to be carried in the litter. "we would have brought your horse with us for your use, lord," the high priest explained apologetically, "but much of the road before us is impassable for horses or mules--nay, even a llama might scarcely pass it." "oh, that's all right!" answered harry cheerily; "i dare say i can walk as fast and as far as you people can." nevertheless he deeply regretted that they had not thought fit to bring his horse, for he felt that, mounted, he would have had a much better chance of escape than on foot; and this conviction was greatly strengthened when, as the day wore on toward evening and the stiff ascents which they were frequently obliged to negotiate began to tell upon him, he observed how the indians, with their short, quick step, covered mile after mile of the uneven, rocky road, without the slightest apparent effort or any visible sign of distress. then it began to dawn upon him gradually that, even should he find a suitable opportunity to give his custodians the slip, they could easily run him down and recapture him. besides, he was by no means certain that he could now find his way back to the camp. he had not the remotest notion of the direction in which the camp lay, for during many hours of his journey he had been asleep, and the indians were not only continually changing the direction of their travel, but were apparently taking a constant succession of short cuts across country, now winding their way for a mile or two along the face of some dizzy precipice by means of a ledge only a foot or two in width, anon clambering some hundreds of feet up or down an almost vertical rock face, where a slip or a false step meant instant death; now crossing some ghastly chasm by means of a frail and dilapidated suspension bridge constructed of cables of maguey fibres and floored with rotten planking, which swung to the tread until the oscillation threatened to precipitate the entire party into the terrible abyss that yawned beneath them, and perhaps half an hour later forcing their way, slowly and with infinite labour and difficulty, up the boulder-strewn bed of some half-dry mountain stream that was liable at any moment--if there happened to be rain higher up among the hills--to become swollen into a raging, foaming, irresistible torrent, against the impetuous fury of which no man could stand for an instant. to do the indians no more than the barest justice, they were to the last degree solicitous to spare their prisoner the least fatigue, and repeatedly assured him that there was not the slightest necessity for him to walk a single step of the way, while whenever there was the barest possibility of danger there was always a sufficient number of them within arm's reach to render him every required assistance, and to ensure that no harm should possibly befall him. but although continuous travelling hour after hour over such very difficult ground became at last most horribly fatiguing. harry set his teeth and plodded grimly on. he was not going to let "those copper-coloured chaps" suppose that they could tire an englishman out, not he! besides, he wished to become accustomed to the work against the time when the opportunity should come for him to break away successfully and effect his escape. for that he would escape he was resolutely determined. the prospect of being an inca--an absolute monarch whose lightest word was law--had, at that precise moment, no attraction for him. he had not a particle of ambition to become the regenerator of a nation; or, if a scarce-heard whisper reached his mental ear that to become such would be an exceedingly grand thing, he promptly replied that his genius did not lie in that direction, and that any attempt on his part to regenerate anybody must inevitably result in dismal and utter failure. no, he had been sent out to peru by sir philip swinburne to execute certain work, and he would carry out his contract with sir philip in spite of all the indians in the south american continent. as to that story about his being the reincarnated inca, manco capac, harry escombe was one of those estimable persons whose most valued asset is their sound, sterling common sense. he flattered himself that he had not an ounce of romance in his entire composition; and it did not take him a moment to make up his mind that the yarn, from end to end, was the veriest nonsense imaginable. he laughed aloud--a laugh of mingled scorn and pity for the stupendous ignorance of these poor savages, isolated from all the rest of the world, and evidently priding themselves, as such isolated communities are apt to do, upon their immeasurable superiority to everybody else. then he happened to think of the exquisitely wrought service of gold plate off which he had fed that day, and the wonderfully fine quality of the material of the priests' clothing; and he began to modify his opinion somewhat. a people with the taste and skill needed to produce such superb goldsmith's work and such beautiful cloth--soft and smooth as silk, yet as warm as and very much finer than any woollen material that he had ever seen--could scarcely be classed as mere savages; they must certainly possess some at least of the elements of civilisation. and then those "second thoughts", which are proverbially best, or more just, gradually usurped in young escombe's mind his first crude ideas relative to the ignorance and benighted condition generally of the inhabitants of the unknown city of the sun. and as they did so, a feeling of curiosity to see for himself that wonderful city gradually took root, and began to spring up and strengthen within him. why should he not? he asked himself. the only obstacle which stood in the way was his duty to sir philip swinburne to complete the work which he had been sent out to do. but after all, when he came to consider the matter dispassionately, his absence--his enforced absence--was not likely to prejudice appreciably sir philip's interests; for the railway survey was very nearly completed, and what remained to be done was simple in the extreme compared with what had already been accomplished, and there was bannister--a thoroughly capable man--to do it. and as to the soundings on lake titicaca, they were simply child's play--anybody could take them! no, it was only his own conceit that had caused him to think that his absence, especially at the existing state of the survey, would be in the least inimical to sir philip's interests; it would be nothing of the kind. bannister could finish the work as satisfactorily as he-- escombe--could, probably much more so! it will be seen, from these arguments--which were in the main perfectly sound--that mr henry escombe, having conceived the idea that he would like to have a peep at the mysterious city of the sun, was now endeavouring to reconcile himself as thoroughly as might be to what was rapidly assuming to him the appearance of the inevitable; for with every step that the party took, it was being borne with increasing clearness upon his inner consciousness that to escape was already impossible. for, first of all, their route had been over such trackless wastes that, despite the keenness with which he had noted the appearance of every conspicuous object passed, they were all so very much alike that he had the gravest doubts as to his ability to find his way back to the camp without a guide. and if he were to attempt it and should lose his way, there could be very little doubt that he would perish miserably of exposure and starvation in that wilderness, where not even so much as a solitary hut had been sighted throughout the day. but, apart from this, and granting for the moment that his memory might be trusted to guided him aright, there were places to be passed and obstacles to be overcome which he admitted to himself he would not care to attempt unaided unless he were in actual peril of his life, and the assurances of tiahuana had completely set his mind at rest on that score. the thought of invoking arima's assistance came to him for a moment, only to be dismissed the next, however; for, faithful and devoted as the indian had proved himself in the past, harry remembered that it was through his instrumentality and direct intervention that all the pother had arisen. arima seemed to be as completely convinced as any of the others that harry was the person foreordained to restore the ancient peruvian nation to its former power and splendour, and escombe knew enough of the fellow's character to feel certain that he would not permit personal feeling to interfere with so glorious a consummation. it seemed, then, as though fate, or destiny, or whatever one pleased to call it, willed that he--harry escombe--should see the mysterious city; and he finally concluded that, taking everything into consideration, perhaps the wisest thing would be to go quietly and with as much semblance of goodwill as possible, since it appeared that no other course was open to him. this thought naturally suggested others, each more wild and extravagant than the last, until by the time that the party at length reached the camping ground that had been their objective all through the day, the young englishman discovered, to his unqualified amazement, that not only did there exist within him a strong vein of hitherto entirely unsuspected romance--awakened and brought to light by the extraordinary nature of the adventure of which he was the hero--but also that, quite unconsciously to himself, his views relative to the exigency and binding character of his engagement to sir philip swinburne had become so far modified that it no longer appeared imperatively necessary for him to jeopardise his life in a practically hopeless endeavour to escape. the journey had been an up-and-down one all day, that is to say, the party had been either climbing or descending almost the whole of the time; the general tendency, however, had been distinctly upward, and when at length a bare, rocky plateau was reached about sunset, affording ample space upon which to camp, the greatly increased keenness of the atmosphere indicated a net rise of probably some two or three thousand feet. the scene was one of almost indescribable but dreary grandeur, titanic peaks crowned with snow and ice towering high on every hand, divided by gorges of immeasurable depth, their sides for the most part shaggy with pine forests, and never a sign of human habitation to be seen, nor indeed any sign of life in any form, save where, here and there, a small moving blotch on the distant landscape indicated the presence of a flock of huanacos or vicunas; but even these were but few, for the travellers had not yet reached the lofty frozen wastes where alone the ychu grass is found, which is therefore the favoured habitat of those animals. escombe now had fresh evidence of the foresight exercised by his escort in providing for his comfort and welfare; for no sooner had the precise spot been selected upon which to camp than from among the baggage borne by the attendants a small tent made of cloth woven from vicuna wool was produced and erected upon jointed bamboo poles; and in a few minutes, with his litter placed inside it to serve as a bed, and a lighted talc lantern suspended from the ridge pole, the young man was able to enter and make himself quite at home. nor was he at all sorry; for although he had now been accustomed for several months to be on his feet all day long, day after day, and up to that moment had regarded himself as in the very pink of condition as to toughness and wiriness, the past day's journey had been a revelation to him in the matter of endurance. he had never before in his life experienced anything like the intense fatigue which now racked every joint in his body; and, ravenously hungry as he was, he felt that it would scarcely be possible for him to remain awake long enough to get a meal. but those wonderful indians appeared to have foreseen everything. loaded as most of them were with heavy burdens in addition, to their weapons, they had each gradually accumulated a very respectable bundle of firewood during the progress of their march; and while one party had been erecting the tent and arranging its interior for harry's occupation, a second had been busily engaged in lighting a roaring fire, while a third had been still more busily occupied in preparing the wherewithal to furnish forth a most appetising and acceptable evening meal, which, when placed before the prospective inca, was found to consist of broiled vicuna chops, delicious bread, mountain honey, fruit, and chocolate. by the time that the meal was ready night had completely fallen, a bitterly keen and piercing wind from the eastward had arisen and came swooping down from the frozen wastes above in savage gusts that momentarily threatened to whirl the frail tent and its occupant into space, and hurl them into one of the many unfathomable abysses that yawned around the party, while, to add to the general discomfort, the wind brought with it a dank, chilling fog, thick as a blanket, that penetrated everywhere and left on everything great beads of icy moisture like copious dew. but escombe was too unutterably weary to let any of these things trouble him. sleep was what every fibre of his body was crying aloud for; and he had no sooner finished his meal than, leaving all responsibility for the safety and welfare of the party in the hands of the two priests, he hurriedly divested himself of his clothing, and snuggling into his warm and comfortable bed-litter, instantly sank into absolute unconsciousness, his last coherent thought being a vague wonder how he would fare in such a place and on such a night if, instead of being under the care and protection of the indians, he had chanced to be a lonely and houseless fugitive from them. chapter ten. the valley of mystery. when young escombe next morning awoke from the soundest sleep that he had ever enjoyed in his life he at once became aware, from the motion of the litter, that his indian friends were already on the move; and when, in obedience to his command, they halted to enable him to dress and partake of breakfast, a single glance, as he stepped forth from the litter into the keen air, sufficed to assure him that they must have been in motion for at least three or four hours, for the sun had already topped the peaks of the andes, and the aspect of the landscape surrounding him was entirely unfamiliar. not a trace of the spot where they had camped during the preceding night was to be seen, and there was no indication of the direction in which it lay; which fact tended still further to drive home to the young man a conviction of the folly of attempting to find his way back to the survey party alone and unaided. the journey that day was in all essential respects a counterpart of that of the day before. tiahuana, who was evidently the leader of the expedition in a double sense, chose his own route, making use of the regular roads only at very infrequent intervals, and then for comparatively short distances, soon abandoning them again for long stretches across country where no semblance of a path of any description was to be found. as on the preceding day, he skirted, climbed, or descended precipices without hesitation, crossing ravines, ascending gorges, and, in fact, he took the country pretty much as it came, guiding the party apparently by means of landmarks known only to himself, but, on the whole, steadily ascending and steadily forcing his way ever deeper into the heart of the stupendous mountain labyrinth that lay to the eastward. and ever as they went the air grew keener and more biting, the aspect of the country wilder and more desolate, the _quebradas_ more appalling in their fathomless depth. the precipices became more lofty and difficult to scale, the mountain torrents more impetuous and dangerous to cross, the primitive suspension bridges more dilapidated and precarious, the patches of timber and vegetation more tenuous, the flocks of huanaco and vicuna larger and more frequent, the way more savage and forbidding, the storms more frequent and terrible, until at length it began to appear to escombe as though the party had become entangled in a wilderness from which escape in any direction was impossible, and wherein they must all quickly perish in consequence of the unendurable rigours of the climate. yet tiahuana still pushed indomitably forward, overcoming obstacle after obstacle that, to anyone less experienced than himself in the peculiarities of the country and the mode of travel in it, must have seemed unconquerable. for ten more days--which to the indians must have seemed endless by reason of the awful toil, the frightful suffering, and the intense misery that were concentrated in them, although, thanks to the sublime self sacrifice of his escort, escombe was permitted to feel very little of them--the priest led the way over vast glaciers, across unfathomable crevasses, and up apparently unscalable heights, battling all the time with whirling snow storms that darkened the air, blinded the eyes, and obliterated every landmark, and buffeted by furious winds that came roaring and shrieking along the mountain side and momentarily threatened to snatch the party from their precarious hold and hurl them to destruction on the great gaunt rocks far below, while the cold was at times so terrible that to continue to live in it seemed impossible. about the middle of the afternoon of the twelfth day after leaving the survey camp, the party topped a ridge and saw before them a long, steep, smooth slope of snow, frozen hard by a night of almost deadly frost; and a sigh of intense relief and thankfulness broke from the breasts of the utterly exhausted indians. without wasting a moment, they proceeded to open and unpack a certain bale which formed part of the baggage which they had brought with them, and drew from it a number of llama skins. these they spread out flat on the crest of the snow slope, with the hair side upward, and then the entire party carefully seated themselves upon them--two men to each skin, one behind the other--when, with a little assistance from the hands of the occupants, the skins started to glide smoothly over the surface of the snow, slowly at first, but with swiftly increasing velocity, until the descent of the party became a sweeping, breathless, exhilarating flight, speedy as that of a falcon swooping upon its prey. the riders sat cross-legged upon the skins, and to escombe--who was piloted by tiahuana--it seemed that the slightest inclination, right or left as the case might be, throwing a trifle more weight on one knee than the other, and thus causing one part of the skin to press more hardly than another upon the snow, was all that was needed for steering purposes; for the toboggan-like skins swept downward straight as the flight of an arrow, save when some black fang of rock protruded through the snow fair in the track, when a slight slope of the body sufficed to cause a swerve that carried the adventurous riders safely clear of the obstacle. to escombe this headlong, breathless swoop down the slope seemed to last but a few seconds, yet during those few seconds the party had travelled nearly three miles and descended some three thousand feet. the slide terminated at last upon the very edge of the snow-line, where it met a mile-wide meadow thickly clothed with lush grass and bountifully spangled with lovely flowers, many of which were quite new to the young englishman. for some minutes the entire party, as with one consent, remained sitting motionless just where their impromptu toboggans had come to a halt; for they felt that they needed a certain amount of time in which to become accustomed to the glorious change that had been wrought by that three- mile glissade. above and behind them were furious tempest, deadly cold, and never-ceasing danger; while here was perfect safety, cloudless sunshine, grateful warmth, and surroundings of surpassing beauty. the meadow upon which they rested sloped gently away before them for about a mile, where it appeared to plunge abruptly down into a thickly wooded ravine, beyond which shot up a long, rocky ridge, the slopes of which appeared to be absolutely inaccessible; for, search as escombe might with the aid of his telescope, nowhere could he detect so much as a single speck of snow to indicate the presence of even the smallest ledge or inequality in the face of the rock. this ridge, or range, stretched away to right and left of the spot where the party had come to a halt, retiring to the eastward, as it went, in a tolerably regular curve, until the cusps, if such there were, swept out of sight behind the nearer ridge. at length escombe rose from his llama skin and, with an ejaculation of inexpressible relief, began to slap his still benumbed hands together, and vigorously rub his stiffened limbs, in order to restore feeling and warmth to them; whereupon tiahuana also rose and gave the order to re- pack the skins prior to resuming the journey. a few minutes later the entire party were once more on the march, moving rapidly athwart the meadow toward the ravine, and within a quarter of an hour they were in the ravine itself, clambering down the steep slope of its hither side toward where the sound of rushing water began to make itself heard with increasing distinctness. another ten minutes, after a wild and breathless downward scramble among the trunks of thick-growing pine trees, brought them to the margin of a wide and turbulent mountain torrent that in the course of ages had scored a deep channel for itself right down the centre of the ravine. the bed of the stream was thickly strewed with enormous boulders, moss-grown upon their upper surfaces where drenched with the everlasting spray, and between these the turbid waters from the melting snow on the heights above leapt and foamed with a clamour and fury that rendered conversation impossible, and threatened instant death to the foolhardy adventurer who should attempt to cross them. yet those indomitable indians somehow contrived to win a passage across; and half an hour later the entire party stood safely on the opposite side. then followed a long and toilsome scramble up the other side of the ravine, the top of which was not reached until the sun had set and darkness had fallen upon the scene. but, at the top of the ravine and clear of the trees, they found themselves on a grassy slope very similar in character to that which they had encountered on the other side of the stream, and there, fatigued to the point of exhaustion by their long and arduous day's travel, they went into camp, prepared and partook of their evening meal, and at once resigned themselves to a long night of repose under conditions of infinitely greater comfort than they had enjoyed for many days past. escombe's sleep that night was unusually sound, even after making every allowance for the excessive fatigue of the past day; in fact he had not slept so soundly and so long since the night of his abduction from the survey camp. when at length he awoke he found himself labouring under the same feeling of puzzlement that had oppressed him on that eventful morning; for when consciousness again returned to him and, opening his eyes, he looked about him, he at once became aware that his surroundings were very different from what he had expected. it is true that he still occupied the litter in which he had retired to rest on the previous evening, but a single glance was sufficient to show him that the litter was no longer in the little tent which had then sheltered it; the tent was gone, and the litter, or couch, upon which he lay comfortably stretched now stood in a room lighted by a single window in the wall, facing the foot of the couch. the window was unglazed, and apparently had no window frame; it seemed in fact to be no more than a mere rectangular aperture in a thick stone wall through which the sun, already some hours high in the sky, was pouring his genial rays into the room. the couch stood so low on the floor that from it nothing could be seen of the landscape outside save a glimpse of a range of serrated peaks, touched here and there with snow that gleamed dazzlingly white in the brilliant sunshine. urged therefore by surprise at the mysterious change that had been wrought in his surroundings while he slept, and curious to ascertain where he now was, harry sprang from his couch and went to the open window, out of which he gazed in an ecstasy of astonishment and admiration. for his eyes rested upon the most glorious landscape that he had ever beheld. he discovered that the building in which he so strangely found himself stood at one extremity of an enormous, basin-like valley, roughly oval in shape, some thirty miles long by twenty miles in width, completely hemmed in on every side by a range of lofty hills averaging, according to his estimate, from three to four thousand feet in height. the centre of the valley was occupied by a most lovely lake about fifteen miles long by perhaps ten miles wide, dotted here and there with fairy-like islets, some of which were crowned by little clumps of trees, while others appeared to be covered with handsome buildings. but that was only a part of the wonder! at the far end of the lake he could distinctly see--so exquisitely clear and transparent was that crystalline atmosphere--the general outline and formation of a large and doubtless populous town built on the margin of the lake, his attention being at once attracted to it by the strong flash and gleam of the sun upon several of the roofs of the buildings, which had all the appearance of being covered with sheets of gold! from this city broad white roads shaded by handsome trees ran right round the margin of the lake, and for a mile or two on either side of the city, glimpses could be had of detached buildings embosomed in spacious gardens, forming a kind of suburb of the city; while the entire remainder of the valley, and the sides of the hills for a distance of about one-third of their height, were entirely laid out as orchards, pasture, and cultivated land, the appearance of the whole strongly suggesting that the utmost had been made of every inch of available space. as escombe stood gazing, enraptured at the surpassing beauty of the panorama thus spread out before him, the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ear, and, turning round, he beheld arima entering the room. the indian made the profound obeisance usual with him upon entering harry's presence, and enquired: "is it the will of my lord that he now bathe, dress, and partake of breakfast?" "yes, by all means," answered harry, "for i have somehow managed to oversleep myself again, and am ravenously hungry. but, arima, what means this? how do i come to be here? and what town is that which i see yonder at the far end of the lake?" "as my lord has truly said, he slept long this morning, being doubtless greatly fatigued with the toilsome journey of yesterday," answered arima smoothly, with another profound bow. "therefore, when the hour arrived to break camp and resume our march it was tiahuana's order that my lord should not be disturbed, but should be allowed to sleep on and take a full measure of rest; and therefore was my lord brought hither to this house, there to sojourn and recruit himself after the fatigues and hardships of his long journey, while tiahuana went forward to the city of the sun--which my lord sees yonder at the head of the valley--to acquaint the council with the success of our expedition, and to make the necessary arrangements for my lord's reception by the inhabitants of the city. if it be my lord's will, i will now conduct him to the bath, which i have made ready for him." "so that is the city of the sun, is it?" remarked harry, still gazing admiringly at the enchanting view from the window. "i guessed as much; and it appears to be fully worthy of its name. all right, arima," he continued, tearing himself reluctantly away; "yes, i will have my bath now. where is it?" "if my lord will be pleased to follow i will show it him," answered the indian, with the inevitable bow, as he led the way out of the room. they passed into a long stone corridor, lighted at each end by an unglazed window, and, traversing the length of it, entered another room, much larger than the first, stone paved, and having a large plunge-bath full of crystal-clear water, sunk into the floor at one end. the room was unfurnished, save for a plain wooden bench, or seat, a soft woollen mat for the bather to stand on when emerging from the bath, and a few pegs along the wall, from which harry's own clothes and three or four very large bath towels depended. this room also was illuminated by a large, unglazed window through which the sun-rays streamed, warming the atmosphere of the apartment to a most delightful temperature. harry therefore made no delay, but forthwith discarded his pyjama suit and at once plunged headlong into the cool, refreshing water. to dress and take breakfast were the next things in order; and half an hour later escombe rose from the table like a giant refreshed, amid the obsequious bows of his attendants. then motahuana stepped forward and, prefacing his speech with another bow, said: "lord, i have been commanded by tiahuana to say that, knowing well how anxious the inhabitants of the city of the sun will be to learn the issue of this expedition, he has presumed to hasten forward to apprise them that all is well, without waiting until my lord awoke to mention his intention and crave my lord's permission to absent himself; for the way is long, and my lord slept late this morning. the high priest also bade me say that he will probably be absent at least four days, for there are many preparations to be made in connection with my lord's triumphal entrance into his city, and his reception by his rejoicing people. my lord will therefore have time to rest and recover his strength after the fatigue of his arduous journey; and it is the prayer of tiahuana that he will do so, since there will be much to fatigue my lord in the various ceremonies attendant upon his ascent of the throne of the ancient incas." "thanks, motahuana," answered harry; "but i am not in the least fatigued by what i have gone through during the last twelve days. if anyone were suffering from fatigue it should be yourself and tiahuana, for you are both well advanced in years, while i am young and strong, and, so far from being fatigued, i feel quite fresh after my long and refreshing night's sleep; so much so, indeed, that i was just thinking how much i should enjoy a walk down into that lovely valley. i suppose there is no objection to my doing so?" "my lord is monarch of the valley and all within it," answered motahuana with another bow and an expressive throwing apart of the hands. "all is his; his will is absolute in all things; he has but to express a wish, and we his slaves will gladly do our best to gratify it. if my lord desires to go forth into the open, either on foot or in his litter, he has but to say so, and we his slaves will make the path smooth for him or bear him upon our shoulders, as may seem best to him. but it will be well that my lord should not venture too far into the valley, for he is a stranger; and it is undesirable, on many accounts, that he should be seen by the inhabitants of the valley until all preparations have been made for his public reception." "oh, very well!" returned escombe. "i have no desire to go very far; a walk of a mile or two from the house, and back, with arima as my only attendant, to show me the way and answer questions, will satisfy me." whereupon motahuana, with another bow, turned away and addressed a few quick words to arima in a tongue which was strange to escombe, after which the indian fetched the young englishman's hat and signified his readiness to attend the latter whithersoever he might be pleased to go. harry's first act, upon getting outside the house, was to walk away from it some fifty feet, and then turn round and stare at the building to which he had been so mysteriously conveyed while asleep. he saw before him simply a solid, rectangular, stone--built structure, plain almost to the point of ugliness, for it had not a single projection of any kind to mitigate the severity of its simplicity, not even so much as a window sill; and it was thatched!--not with the trim neatness characteristic of some of our charmingly picturesque country cottages in england, but in a slovenly, happy-go-lucky style, that seemed to convey the idea that, so long as a roof was weather-proof, it did not in the least matter what it looked like. the windows were simply rectangular holes in the thick stone walls, unglazed, and without even a frame; but now that escombe was outside he was able to see that each window was provided with a shutter, something like the jalousies fitted to the houses in most tropical and sub-tropical countries, to keep out the rain. the only thing remarkable about the house, apart from its extreme plainness, was the fact that it appeared to be cut out of a single enormous block of stone; and it was not until he went close up to it, and examined it minutely, that he discovered it to be built of blocks of stone dressed to fit each other with such marvellous precision that the joints were practically invisible. having satisfied his curiosity thus far, escombe looked about him at his surroundings generally. he found that the house to which he had been brought stood at the extreme end of the extraordinary basin-like valley, immediately opposite to the city of the sun, which occupied the other end, and he naturally concluded that the entrance to the valley must be somewhere not very far distant from the spot on which he stood. but, look as he would, he could see nothing in the remotest degree resembling a pass through those encircling sierras, the upper portion of the sides of which appeared to be everywhere practically vertical, without even as much projection or ledge anywhere as would afford foothold to a goat. nor was there the least semblance of a road or path of any description leading to the house, save a narrow and scarcely perceptible footpath leading down to the great road which encompassed the lake. harry turned to the indian. "those hills appear to be everywhere quite impassable, arima," he said. "where is the road by which we came over them?" "it is not permitted to me to say, lord," answered arima with a deprecatory bow. "there is but one known way of passing to and from the outside world, and that way is a jealously guarded secret, communicated to but few, who are solemnly sworn to secrecy. it is regarded by the council as of the first importance that the secret should be preserved intact, as it is known that rumours of the existence of the city of the sun have reached the outer world, and more than one attempt has been made to find it. but we are all pure-blooded peruvians of the ancient race here, and it is a tradition with us to keep ourselves uncontaminated by any admixture of alien blood, therefore every possible precaution is taken to maintain the most absolute secrecy as to the way by which the valley of the sun is entered and left." "but if that is so, why has tiahuana brought me here?" demanded harry. "i am an alien, you know; yet, as i understand it, i have been brought here to rule over you all!" "yes, it is even so, lord," answered arima. "but my lord is an alien only by an accident of birth, which must not be allowed to interfere with the fact that my lord is in very truth the reincarnation of manco capac, our first inca and the founder of the peruvian nation." "in that case," said harry, "it is but meet and right that i should know the secret way into the outer world. surely what is known to several of my subjects should also be known to me?" "undoubtedly, lord," answered the indian; "and the information will certainly be imparted to my lord in due time, when he has been accepted and proclaimed inca by the council of seven. but i have no authority to impart that information, and i implore my lord that he will not urge me to do so and thus break the solemn oath of secrecy which i have sworn." "very well, arima, let it be so," answered harry. "doubtless, as you say, i shall be informed in due time; and meanwhile you are perfectly right to remain true to the oath which you have sworn. now, let us get down into the valley. after scrambling up and down mountain sides for so many days, i have a longing to walk on a smooth and level road once more." the footpath from the house to the main road sloped obliquely along the face of the hill, descending by a tolerably easy gradient for a distance of about a mile before it joined the road at a depth of some three hundred feet below the level of the house. upon reaching the road, which, be it remembered, completely encircled the lake, escombe had yet another opportunity to note the thoroughness with which the peruvians did their work, and the inexhaustible patience which they brought to bear upon it. for this road, approximating to one hundred miles in length, was constructed of a uniform width of about one hundred feet, apparently also of uniform gradient--for in some parts it was raised on a low embankment, while in others it passed through more or less shallow cuttings--and with just the right amount of camber to quickly throw off the rainwater into the broad gutters or watercourses that were built on either side of it. the most remarkable feature of the road, however, was that it was paved throughout with broad flags of stone, which, like the blocks of which the house was built, were so accurately fitted together that the joints could only be found with difficulty. the young englishman spent some three hours sauntering along that magnificent road, enjoying the pure air, the genial temperature, and the sight of the superb panorama that hemmed him in on every side, pausing often to note the clever system of irrigation adopted by the inhabitants, whereby every square inch of cultivable soil could at any moment receive precisely the right quantity of water to satisfy its requirements; admiring, with the eye of an engineer, the workmanship displayed in the construction of the ample culverts whereby all excess of water was promptly discharged into the lake; and marvelling at the varied nature of the agricultural products of the valley; for it seemed to him that, in the comparatively circumscribed space between the margin of the lake and the highest point on the mountain slope to which the barest handful of soil could be induced to cling, there were to be found examples of every vegetable product known to the sub-tropical and temperate zones, while it was a never-ceasing source of astonishment to him that such enormous numbers of cattle and sheep were apparently able to find ample sustenance on the proportionately small quantity of land allotted to pasture. what seemed to him somewhat remarkable was that, while cattle, sheep, and even horses were apparently plentiful in the valley, he saw no llamas; but it was afterwards explained to him that the climate there was altogether too mild for them, and that the enormous herds owned by the inhabitants were kept in the highlands on the other side of the encircling mountains. chapter eleven. the city of the sun. on the afternoon of the fourth day following tiahuana's departure, about an hour before sunset, as escombe was about to enter the house after a somewhat longer walk than usual in the valley, he paused for a moment at the head of the footpath to take a last, long look at the lovely landscape, with the leading features of which he was now becoming tolerably familiar, when his wandering gaze was arrested by the glint of the sunlight upon what had the appearance of a number of rapidly moving objects indistinctly seen about a mile distant among the low spreading branches of the trees which lined the great road leading from the city of the sun. "hillo, arima," he said to the indian who was his sole attendant, "who comes here? are they soldiers? do you see that flash and glitter yonder among the trees? to me it has the appearance of sun-glint upon spear points and military accoutrements." arima looked for a moment, and then replied: "without question it is so, lord. doubtless it is tiahuana returning with the bodyguard which is to escort my lord the inca on the occasion of his triumphal entry into the city of the sun." "but those fellows are surely mounted, arima!" said escombe. "the movement is that of cavalry; and--listen!--unless i am greatly mistaken, i can hear the clatter of hoofs on the stone pavement of the road." "it is even so, lord," answered the indian. "the bodyguard of my lord the inca consists of a thousand picked men, mounted on the finest horses that it is possible to breed in the valley." "but i have always understood," said harry, "that you peruvians did not believe in mounted men, and that it was, in fact, as much due to your terror of the mounted spaniards as anything else that you were vanquished in the old days. but i am forgetting; you knew nothing of horses then, did you?" "my lord says truth," answered arima. "we had no horses in peru until the spaniards brought them. but since then we have learned the value of horses, and i understand that the inhabitants of the valley have devoted especial attention to the breeding of them, even from the date of the foundation of the city." "and with a marvellous success, i should say, if one may judge from the appearance of the animals yonder," remarked harry enthusiastically, as he watched the approaching horsemen. the cavalcade had by this time reached the junction of the footpath with the road, and, debouching on to the former, or rather on to the hillside which it traversed, breasted the slope at a gallop, presenting as it did so a superb and inspiriting picture of eager, prancing, satin-skinned, gaily caparisoned, foam-flecked horses, bestridden by lithe, sinewy forms gorgeous in their blue and gold uniforms, and a-glitter with their burnished copper shields, swords, maces, and lance-heads. at their head rode tiahuana in his long, white, gold-embroidered robe and mitre-like head--dress as chief priest, gallantly holding his own with the magnificently attired commander of the regiment; and in the centre of the cortege there appeared an open litter--somewhat similar to a sedan chair with the top part removed--entirely covered with burnished plates of gold and silver, hammered into a bold but very intricate pattern, while the interior was lined with richly coloured feathers also arranged in a very elaborate design. this structure was supported before and behind by a pair of long, springy poles or shafts, to which were harnessed six white horses, three abreast, the harness and trappings of the animals being blue, elaborately embroidered with gold, while the headstall of each horse was decorated with a plume of half a dozen long blue feathers. the middle horse of each trio--that which ran between the shafts--was ridden by a postilion, who guided and controlled all three of the horses under his charge. while the gorgeous cavalcade was still some distance away, motahuana came running out of the house, babbling the most earnest and urgent entreaties that harry would be graciously pleased to enter the house forthwith, as it was not meet that the members of the inca's bodyguard should set eyes upon their sovereign lord until the latter should be attired in the robes of his regal rank; and harry, already painfully aware of the dilapidated condition of the jacket and knickers in which he had accomplished the march from the survey camp, fully agreeing with him, hastily retreated to the interior of the building and, standing well back from the window, where he was concealed in the deep shadow, interestedly watched the movements of his regiment as it went into camp on a little plateau at the rear of the house. but the troopers had scarcely begun to unsaddle before tiahuana, still hot and dusty from his long ride, entered the house, followed by a servant bearing a large bundle. and a few minutes later the old fellow entered the room where harry was standing and, having first made his obeisances, respectfully invited the young englishman to retire to his sleeping room, there to don certain garments more suitable to his rank and state than those which he was wearing, in order that he might be ready to receive the lord umu, commander of the royal bodyguard, who was represented to be dying of impatience to do homage to his sovereign lord. with another glance at his ragged and disreputable garments, harry smilingly admitted the desirability of the change, and followed tiahuana into the chamber where arima, now formally confirmed in his rank and position of chief valet and body servant of the new inca, awaited his master. ten minutes later, attired in white skin-tight pantaloons which were also stockings; a shirt of white wool, of so marvellously fine a texture that it was thin, soft, and light as silk; a fine white wool sleeveless tunic, the material of which was stiff and almost completely hidden by an elaborately embroidered pattern in heavy gold thread, and which was confined to the waist by a broad white leather belt, also heavily embroidered in gold and fastened by a massive and exquisitely chased gold clasp; with soft, white, gold-embroidered boots on his feet, reaching halfway up to the knee; with the royal borla, or tasselled fringe of scarlet adorned with two feathers from the coraquenque bound round his temples, and the emerald collar of manco capac--which he had fished up from the mud of lake chinchaycocha--round his neck and hanging down over the breast of his tunic, young escombe was led by tiahuana into the largest room in the house. here, seated upon an extemporised throne, and with his feet resting upon a footstool of solid gold, massively chiselled in an elaborate and particularly graceful scroll-work pattern, hastily brought in from the imperial litter, he presently received not only umu, the captain of the royal bodyguard, but also some half-dozen other nobles who had come from the city of the sun to pay their homage to their re-incarnated lord and sovereign, manco capac. these individuals were introduced, one by one, by tiahuana, who, as each person presented himself in the doorway, loudly proclaimed the rank and titles of the visitor, who then, barefooted, and carrying a light burden upon his shoulders as an act of humility in the presence of his sovereign, slowly advanced, with head and body humbly bent, until he reached the footstool, when he knelt down on the bare stone floor and kissed, first the hands and then the feet of the young inca; after which, still kneeling, he murmured a few words expressive of joy, gratitude, and devotion at the condescension of the great manco in deigning to return to earth for the purpose of regenerating the ancient peruvian nation. then he rose to his feet and, with more bows, retired to make way for the next. the whole ceremony was exceedingly brief, not occupying much more than a quarter of an hour altogether; but, brief as it was, it constituted in itself an education for harry, who, as he witnessed the almost slavish humility of the demeanour of these proud and haughty nobles toward him, now began to realise, for the first time, the tremendous power to which he had been raised by a most unique and extravagant freak of fortune. and it did him good; for it set him to think seriously of the enormous responsibility which he had almost unwittingly incurred when he so light-heartedly allowed himself to become enmeshed in the toils of the adventure, and caused him to make many very excellent resolutions as to the manner in which he would discharge that responsibility. with the coming of dawn on the following morning the camp of the royal bodyguard suddenly awoke to strenuous life and activity. the troopers, attired only in thin shirts, riding their barebacked horses down to the lake, where the animals were watered and bathed in preparation for the return journey to the city of the sun. then, having returned to the camp, the horses were carefully groomed and fed, after which the troopers spent a busy hour in examining and burnishing their arms and accoutrements. for this was the great day upon which the re-incarnated inca was to make his triumphal entry into his capital, the new holy and royal city which, during a period of over three hundred and fifty years, his people had been patiently building and extending and decorating and enriching in order that it might be worthy the reception of the monarch when it should please him to return to earth. it was to be the day of days, the first day in the history of a great, glorious, regenerated nation, in which much was to be done, and that in a manner which would becomingly adorn the first page of that history. then everybody, including harry--who, meanwhile had bathed and dressed--partook of breakfast; after which the final preparations for the journey were completed. then tiahuana and umu, having first craved audience of their lord, presented themselves before harry to intimate respectfully that there were two alternative methods of travel open to him, namely by horse litter or on horseback, and to crave humbly that he would be pleased to indicate which of the two he would choose. to which harry, who was by this time beginning to enter thoroughly into the spirit of the adventure, replied that, since the task had been laid upon him of restoring the ancient peruvian race to its former power and splendour, and that, before this could be accomplished it would be necessary for him to lead his troops many times to battle, it was his will to make his first appearance among his subjects on horseback, as a warrior, at the head of his own bodyguard; a reply which created a perfect furore of enthusiasm among the other nobles, and the troopers of the royal bodyguard, when it was communicated to them by tiahuana and umu. that the possibility of such a choice on the part of their new inca had not been altogether unanticipated was soon apparent; for umu presently returned to the house, bearing on a cushion of azure blue--which it appeared was the royal colour--trimmed with a heavy cord of bullion and with a bullion tassel at each corner, a sword of hardened and burnished copper, with a hilt of solid gold elaborately chased, and encased in a scabbard of solid gold, also most magnificently chased. this he presented on bended knees to tiahuana, who, in his capacity of high priest, then knelt before harry and girded the weapon to his side, after which arima came forward with a long roll of extraordinarily fine silk- like cloth woven in bands of many different colours in which, however, scarlet and azure predominated. this was the llautu, or turban, which the indian at once proceeded with deft fingers to bind about his royal master's head in such a manner as to afford complete protection from the ardent rays of the sun while leaving the borla, or tasselled fringe of scarlet, which was really the royal diadem, fully exposed to view. a woollen mantle of almost silken texture, azure blue in colour, with a very broad border of gold embroidery, and with more gold embroidery on the shoulders and halfway down the back, was next laid upon his shoulders and secured at the throat by a pair of massive gold clasps and chain, and escombe was fully equipped for the road. and a very handsome and gallant figure he looked as, tall, lithe, and slim, and clad in all his barbaric finery, he stepped out of the house into the dazzling sunshine, to be greeted with a deafening shout of welcome from the officers and troopers of his bodyguard, who were already mounted and drawn up in a double line for his inspection. so obviously was this expected of him that harry needed no hint to that effect, but, vaulting lightly into the saddle of the magnificent white stallion that, gorgeously caparisoned, chafed and fretted under the restraint of his bridle, held by two of the nobles, while two more held the heavy gold stirrups for the royal rider's feet, wheeled his steed and cantered gaily off to where umu, sitting bolt upright in his saddle with drawn sword, waited in the centre, and some few paces in front of the regiment, to receive him. that the military usages of the more civilised nations had not been permitted to pass altogether unnoticed now became apparent; for as harry approached umu uttered a loud shout of command, and at the word every sword flashed up in salute in the most approved fashion, while a band of mounted musicians blared forth certain weird strains which, the young inca subsequently learned, was the national anthem of the ancient peruvians. accompanied by umu, harry now rode to the right flank of the regiment, from whence he proceeded slowly along the front rank and finally the rear, noting critically the appearance and bearing of the men, and gauging the breed and quality of the horses as he went. the horses were, without exception, splendid animals, while the men were, for the most part, fine, stalwart fellows, well set up; but, accustomed as escombe had been to the sight of the life guards and other crack cavalry regiments in london, he could not avoid seeing that there was plenty of room for improvement in the appearance and discipline generally of his own bodyguard. yet it was glaringly apparent to him that umu, their captain, was inordinately proud of his regiment; and the new inca was by no means untactful. wherefore, having completed his inspection, harry spoke a few well-considered words of praise that rang sufficiently true to make umu his devoted slave henceforward, while the faint suggestion conveyed that the praise was not quite unqualified impressed the indian noble with a sense of the high standard of perfection that must exist in the young monarch's mind, and caused him there and then to register a silent vow that the regiment should be brought up to that standard, even though he should be obliged to kill every man of it in the process. by the time that the inspection was completed the priests and nobles had climbed into their saddles, and everything was ready for the commencement of the march. harry therefore gave the word to umu, who in turn uttered a few sharp orders to the men, whereupon the ranks closed up. the horses pranced and tossed their heads as they wheeled into line, and the cavalcade proceeded, the band leading the way, followed by a solitary horseman in gorgeous array who bore proudly aloft the inca's banner--a blue silk flag embroidered in gold and coloured thread with an image of the rainbow, which was the symbol sacred to the inca, and trimmed with heavy gold fringe round the three free edges. harry rode immediately behind, surrounded by a little group consisting of the two priests and the nobles who had come out to meet him, and followed by umu, who led his glittering and imposing regiment. it was rather a trying ride in some respects for the young inca, at least at the outset, for escombe's knowledge of the quichua, or ancient peruvian, language was extremely restricted, while the nobles, with the exception of tiahuana and umu, were apparently ignorant of spanish. anything in the nature of conversation was therefore extremely difficult, quite apart from the fact that everybody excepting tiahuana seemed altogether too shy to address the inca, unless first spoken to by him. harry very quickly realised that his ignorance of the quichua was likely to handicap him most seriously, and he there and then ordered tiahuana to make the necessary arrangements to have himself taught without delay. but although for the first few miles of the journey the young inca suffered from a certain feeling of constraint, he did not allow it to trouble him long, for if conversation lagged there was plenty apart from it to interest and delight him. there was his horse, for instance. harry had alway been particularly fond of horses, and was an excellent rider; as a boy, indeed, he had often followed the staghounds over dartmoor. he therefore had a very fair idea of what a horse ought to be; but he had not been in the saddle more than five minutes, on this particular morning, before he realised that at length he had come into possession of that rarest of all good things, a perfect horse; perfect in temper, shape, and action, full of fire and courage, yet with a mouth so sensitive that it would be quite possible to control him with a thread for a bridle, while one had but to glance at the great; hard muscles sliding so smoothly beneath the satin skin to be assured of his indomitable endurance and insensibility to fatigue. then there was plenty to interest and occupy his attention as they swept along the great, smooth road at a hand gallop. first of all, there was the road itself, which was, in its way, a masterpiece of engineering; but, apart from that, harry could not but marvel at the perfect cleanliness of it, until he learned that it had been traversed throughout the entire length of the route by a whole army of sweepers during the early hours of the morning, since when no living thing had been allowed upon it. then there was the noble and endless avenue of shade trees which bordered the road on either hand, dividing it from the wide footpaths, which in their turn were shaded by less lofty trees, fruit-bearing for the most part, the fruit being intended for the refreshment of the wayfarer. then there were neat, orderly, and perfectly cultivated fields of sugar cane, maize, tobacco, indigo, cotton, rice, coca trees, cacao, and other tropical products on the flats immediately adjoining the road, while farther back, toward the hills, were grain of all sorts, interspersed with vast orchards and, at intervals, a stretch of pasture land, with low, squat farmhouses and outbuildings dotted about in the midst. the farmers and their helpers were all busily engaged upon various kinds of labour in their fields, but those who were near enough to the roads to do so no sooner heard the distant hoof-beats of the approaching cavalcade, and beheld the royal banner flaunting its blue and gold in the wind, than they flung down their implements and rushed helter- skelter to the roadside to watch the inca go by, and acclaim him as he passed. but with every mile of that exhilarating ride towards the city of the sun the aspect of the landscape became subtly modified; the farms became more extensive, the farmhouses larger and more elaborate in their style of architecture, ornamental and decorative features became increasingly conspicuous in every building encountered, until finally the aspect became distinctly suburban, the farmhouses gave place to country residences, the farms gradually merged into pleasure gardens, gay with flowers and rich in carefully-cultivated fruit trees; the houses drew closer together, and little groups of people in gala attire were encountered, gradually increasing in numbers until the footpaths on either hand were lined with joyous crowds of cheering people. then the white buildings of the city itself swung into view, gleaming like alabaster between the boles of the bordering trees, with here and there a flash of sunlight from the golden roofs of the principal buildings; and finally a great archway, pierced through the lofty and massive wall that enclosed the city, came into view, spanning the road, and at the same moment a great blare of horns stifled the sound of trampling hoof-beats, the jingle of accoutrements, and the frantic shouts of the cheering multitude. then umu flung his flashing sword- blade aloft and shouted a word of command, whereupon the panting, sweating horses were pulled into a walking pace, the riders straightened themselves in their saddles, the band of musicians which led the way struck up a weird, barbaric air, the great bronze gates, which had been closed, were flung open, and the cavalcade passed through into the principal street of the city of the sun. if escombe had been questioned ten minutes earlier he would, in reply, have expressed the confident opinion that every man, woman, and child had left the city in order to line the road outside the gates by which it was known that he must pass; but he had no sooner traversed the echoing archway in the immensely thick city wall than he saw how greatly mistaken such an opinion would have been. for, starting from the very wall itself, the pavement on either hand, all along the line of route, was simply packed with people--the children in front, the women next, and the men in the rear-- frantic with enthusiasm, and shouting themselves hoarse in their eagerness to afford an adequate welcome to the inca whose coming had been looked forward to by them and their ancestors for more than three hundred years. but they did not confine their demonstrations of welcome to mere acclamations. at frequent intervals triumphal arches of an elaborate character and of great beauty, decorated with banners and flags, and profusely wreathed with flowers, were thrown across the roadway, each being connected with the next by a line of poles, painted blue, surmounted by a banner or flag, twined with flowers, and supporting a heavy festoon of flowers which formed an unbroken floral chain from one triumphal arch to the next. the houses on either hand were also decorated with flowers, banners, and long streamers of many- tinted cloths hung from the eaves and windows, the whole scene strongly reminding the young englishman of the aspect of london's streets on the occasion of our own gracious king's coronation. but what impressed escombe more than anything else was the fact that all along the line of route children and young girls, provided with large baskets of flowers, were stationed, and, as the procession approached, these young people stepped forward and strewed the road with the contents of their baskets, thus carpeting the hard pavement with freshly gathered flowers, which exhaled a delightful fragrance as they were trampled under foot by the horses. the young monarch, bowing right and left in response to the enthusiastic greetings of his subjects, now had an opportunity to observe a few of the more striking characteristics of the people among whom he had been thrown in so extraordinary a fashion, and he was considerably surprised to see how widely the different types varied. the lower orders--or what he deemed to be such, from the fact that they were compelled to take as their viewpoint the pavement of the open street--were, as a rule, of merely medium stature, sturdily built, and not particularly intellectual in expression, while the colour of their skin was something very nearly approaching to ruddy copper, very few even of their womenkind having any pretentions to comeliness, to say nothing of beauty. the occupants of the buildings, however, who viewed the procession from their windows or the flat roofs of their houses, and who might be taken to represent a somewhat better class, were not only lighter in colour and more intelligent in expression, but some of them were distinctly good- looking. and, as a general rule, the larger and more important the building--and presumably, therefore, the higher the rank of the owner-- the more strongly marked was the difference, which at length, in the case of the nobles, became so accentuated that they might very easily have been taken to be members of a distinct race, the men being much fairer of complexion, of greater stature, and more finely proportioned, as well as much more intellectual in appearance than their humbler brethren; while the women of the higher classes and nobility were in many cases as fair and as lovely as, say, spanish or italian women. winding its way slowly through some two miles of wide and handsome streets, the buildings in which became ever more imposing as it advanced, the cavalcade at length arrived before a very large building of two stories in height--as against the single story which appeared to be the vogue in the city of the sun--planned to form three sides of a square, and standing in the midst of a magnificent garden of some thirty acres in extent, which escombe rightly judged to be the royal palace. it was not a particularly handsome structure--indeed, the builders of the city seemed to be singularly devoid of architectural taste as it is understood elsewhere--but it was imposing on account of its size and solidity, and the bold and massive character of such ornamentation as it displayed. contrary to the usual custom, which appeared to favour white marble as a building material, the palace was built throughout of massive blocks of greyish-green granite, so accurately joined together that the joints were almost indistinguishable. it stood upon a solid base of much darker granite, some six feet high, and access to its interior was gained by means of a very wide flight of eighteen steps, each about four inches high and some eighteen inches wide from back to front. the door and window openings were surrounded by broad bands or frames of granite projecting some six inches beyond the general face of the walls, and in these bands were set several large, elaborately sculptured medallions, which had all the appearance of--and, as a matter of fact, actually were--solid gold. and all round the building, between the upper and lower tier of windows, ran a flat band, or string course, of solid gold, about two feet in depth, upon which a graceful pattern of scroll-work was boldly chased. finally, above the upper row of windows, in the place usually occupied by a cornice in european buildings, there was a massive bull-nose moulding, quite three feet deep, also of solid gold, surmounted by the parapet which guarded the flat roof of the building. the facade of the building was the middle of the three sides, and faced toward the road, while the two wings ran from it at right angles back toward the lake. so much escombe was able to note with regard to his new home, as the cavalcade swung in through the magnificent gates of wrought copper which gave access to the grounds, and made its way up a wide path or drive to the main entrance, before which it halted. in an instant the two nobles who had held his horse for him while he mounted some hours earlier were again at the animal's head, and harry swung himself somewhat stiffly out of the saddle; for the ride had been a long and hot one, and it was now a full fortnight since he had last been on horseback. as his foot touched the ground the band of his bodyguard again struck up the national anthem, and every officer and man raised his sword in salute, after which, as harry ascended the steps and passed through the wide doorway of the palace, umu shouted a command, the swords flashed in the glaring afternoon sunshine as they were returned to their scabbards, and the weary horses and their riders trotted soberly off to the cavalry stables. the nobles who had accompanied harry on his ride, and also tiahuana, entered the palace with the young inca, doing the honours of the building, and indicating the character of the various apartments which they passed as they conducted him to a superb bathroom, where they assisted him to disrobe, and where he enjoyed a most welcome "tub" in tepid water, made additionally refreshing by the mingling with it of a certain liquid which imparted to it a most exquisite fragrance. then, attired in a fresh costume, they conducted him to a small but very handsome room, the chairs and tables in which were made of solid silver, where, waited on by a small army of servants in the royal livery, he partook of a light meal. tiahuana, who, at harry's special invitation, joined him at the repast, explaining that there was still much to be done that day, since in little more than an hour a solemn service of thanksgiving was to be held in the great temple of the sun to commemorate the return of the great manco to his long-expectant people, and to inaugurate suitably the commencement of a new and glorious era in that people's history. chapter twelve. huanacocha is unconvinced. the meal over, it became necessary for escombe to effect another change of attire, the simple garb that he had assumed upon emerging from the bath being discarded in favour of certain gorgeous garments that had been especially prepared for the solemn service in the great temple of the sun. there was only one item in this costume which harry had worn before, and that was the borla or tasselled fringe of scarlet round the temples, which proclaimed his royal rank. on this occasion also, the ceremony in which he was about to take part being a strictly religious one, he wore no weapons. the great temple of the sun being the most important building in the city, not even excepting the royal palace, was built on the crest of a hill which dominated the entire city, and was situated about a mile from the palace; the journey thither, therefore, afforded opportunity for another royal procession, in which harry was to figure in a sort of litter borne aloft on the shoulders of eight men. this litter consisted of a platform covered with a magnificent carpet woven in a pattern composed of many rich colours, and supported by two pairs of shafts made of some tough, springy wood, the end of each shaft being attached to a kind of yoke which rested upon the shoulders of two of the bearers. upon the platform, which was carried shoulder-high, was mounted a throne, the woodwork of which was entirely enclosed in gold plates, richly wrought and thickly studded with emeralds; and, seated on this throne and surrounded by an escort of some five hundred foot soldiers gorgeously attired and armed with bows, spears, and maces with heavy spiked heads, the young inca presently found himself being borne at a rapid trot through another wide and handsome street, which, judging from the character of the buildings bordering it, evidently formed the aristocratic quarter of the town. this street, like those which he had already passed through, was lined on both sides by gaily attired people of both sexes and all ages, who rent the air with their enthusiastic acclamations as the cortege swept past them, the only difference being that the majority at least of these folk were, like himself, hurrying in the direction of the temple. it was with a somewhat abstracted air that harry acknowledged the salutations of these people, for, truth to tell, his mind and his conscience were being rather severely exercised upon the subject of the function in which he was about to take part. the one great outstanding fact in relation to it was that it was a pagan rite; and he felt that, regarded from an abstract point of view, it was distinctly wrong for him, a professed christian, to countenance or abet idolatry in any form. yet he had not been all those months in peru without having acquired a certain elementary knowledge of the early history of the country, much of which, by the way, had been gained through his conversations with arima long before that individual had so much as dreamed of the brilliant destiny that awaited his pleasant-mannered young english master. thus, for instance, he knew that the peruvian indians recognised the existence of a supreme being, the creator and ruler of the universe, whom they sometimes named pachacamac, and at others viracocha; and he also knew that the attributes of this being were believed to be of so superlatively divine a character that the simple indians had never dared to rear more than one temple in his honour, which had long since been destroyed. he was aware also that the inca was not only an absolute monarch, an autocrat invested with greater powers than any other earthly monarch, but that he was implicitly believed to be of divine origin, and that some of the attributes of divinity still clung to him; he was therefore not only a monarch who wielded absolute power, and whose will was law, but he was also the head of the priesthood. taking these two facts in conjunction, escombe, with the extreme assurance of youth, and perhaps not attaching quite enough importance to the fact that the sun was the deity whose worship had been especially inculcated and carefully handed down from generation to generation, thought, as he considered the matter, that he could see his way first to divert the adoration of his subjects from the sun to pachacamac, and afterwards to explain that pachacamac and the god of the christians were one and the same, thus insensibly leading them from the paths of paganism into those of christianity. and he resolved to do it. it was a grand ambition, and it spoke well for him that this should be the first definite resolution that he had taken in connection with the tremendous powers with which he had become so strangely invested; for, singularly enough, it had never occurred to him until within the last hour that he would be called upon to take any part in the functions and ceremonies of pagan worship. moreover, it swept away every one of the scruples that had been worrying him as to whether or not he was justified in being present at the impending function; for he felt that, having come to the above resolution, he was justified in being present, otherwise how could he offer any suggestions as to a change in the ceremonial? by the time that he had thought the matter out thus far, and had arrived at the conclusion that he believed he could see his way pretty clearly before him, he had reached the great open space, in the centre of which stood the temple, and he had time only to run his eye hastily over the enormous building and gather in a general idea of its aspect before his litter was deposited at the foot of the magnificent flight of forty-five broad, shallow steps which ran all round the building, and which gave access to the spacious platform upon which the edifice was raised. as harry leisurely dismounted from the litter his escort ran nimbly up the steps and arranged itself--four deep on each step, and the remainder on the platform above--into a wide avenue of spearmen to keep back the crowds that thronged the steps, and thus afford the young inca a clear space in which to accomplish the ascent to the great main doorway of the building. at the same moment tiahuana, gorgeously attired in a long flowing robe of white that was stiff with the heavy gold embroidery which almost covered it, with a mitre-like headdress, similarly embroidered, on his head, and a gold wand surmounted by a golden image of the sun in his right hand, emerged from the doorway, followed by apparently the entire staff of the priesthood, and stood at the head of the long flight of steps to receive the inca. contrary to his expectation, instead of being conducted directly into the main body of the building, escombe, surrounded by fully a hundred priests, was led by tiahuana into an anteroom, where he found assembled the council of seven, under the leadership of one huanacocha--who, tiahuana whisperingly mentioned, was the chief and most powerful noble of the entire nation--and some five hundred other nobles, to whom he was now to be presented, and who were thus to be afforded an opportunity of thoroughly satisfying themselves before matters were allowed to proceed any further, that the young man was indeed the re-incarnated manco, for whose return to earth the nation had been looking forward for over three hundred years. upon entering this anteroom escombe found himself upon a dais occupying one end of, and reaching across the entire width of the apartment. in the centre of the dais, but close up to the front of it, was a throne of solid silver, with a footstool before it, and upon this throne harry was directed by tiahuana to seat himself, the body of priests immediately arranging themselves behind and on either side of it. before him, and on the main floor of the room, which was some eighteen inches below the level of the dais, were arranged several rows of benches upon which the nobles were seated, the council of seven, which had governed in the absence of an inca, with huanacocha occupying the middle place, being seated on the front bench, or that nearest the dais. the little stir which had been occasioned by the entrance of harry and the priests having subsided, arima--to escombe's amazement--was mysteriously produced by tiahuana and led forward to the front of the dais, from which standpoint he was ordered to relate the circumstances under which he first came into contact with the young englishman; how his suspicions as to the identity of his employer with the expected inca were first aroused; what steps he took to verify those suspicions, and how he proceeded after those suspicions were confirmed; all of which he told in the quichua language, not only with a total absence of embarrassment, but with a certain undertone of pride and exultation running through his narrative; for he felt that, as the first discoverer of the returned manco, he was a person of very great consequence. then harry was requested to state where and in what manner he came into possession of the long-lost emerald collar of manco capac, which he did in spanish, tiahuana afterwards interpreting his brief statement into quichua. then came tiahuana's own turn. he began by reminding his hearers of the terrible happenings of that dreadful day when atahuallpa, deceived by the treacherous spaniards, unsuspectingly entered the city of caxamalca, only to see his followers ruthlessly slaughtered, and to find himself a captive in the hands of the _conquistadors_. then he drew a graphic word picture of that still more awful night when atahuallpa, chained hand and foot, was led out into the great square of the city and ignominiously strangled by his unscrupulous and bloodthirsty betrayers. warming to his subject, he next very briefly sketched the untoward fate of the inca manco, son of huayna capac, whom the spaniards had installed, as their tool and puppet, on the throne vacated by the murder of atahuallpa; and he concluded this portion of his address by briefly reminding his hearers of the sudden and dramatic appearance of the prophet-priest titucocha on the night of atahuallpa's murder, and of the prophecy then uttered by him, which tiahuana repeated word for word. then, gathering fresh energy and fire as he proceeded, the high priest told how, after waiting impatiently all his life long for the reappearance of the great manco, foretold by titucocha, until he had begun to despair of living to see that happy day, he had been suddenly startled into new life and hope by the arrival of arima in the city with the glad news that the divine manco had actually returned to earth and was even then among the mountains of his beloved peru. he reminded them of how he, tiahuana, had conducted arima into the presence of the council of seven and caused him to relate his story to them; of the scepticism with which that story had been received, of the difficulty which he had encountered in persuading the council that it was their duty to permit him, as high priest, to sift the story and ascertain how far it was true; and how, having at length secured their somewhat reluctant consent, he had triumphantly accomplished his mission and now had the duty and pleasure to present them to the divine manco, promised of heaven as the deliverer and restorer of the peruvian nation. "but how are we to be assured beyond all possibility of doubt that this young man is in very deed the reincarnated manco, whose return was foretold by the prophet titucocha, and for whom the nation has looked these three hundred years and more?" demanded huanacocha, the head of the council of seven. "he is a white man to begin with; and for my part it has always been in my mind that when the divine manco should deign to return to us, he would come in the form of a full-blooded peruvian indian, even as we are." a low murmur of concurrence and approval filled the room at these bold words of huanacocha, and every eye was at once turned upon tiahuana to see what reply he would give to this apparently unanswerable objection. "why should you suppose any such thing?" demanded tiahuana in a cold, level voice. "there is no word in titucocha's prophecy, as handed down to us in our records, to justify any such belief. i am prepared to admit, if you like, that such an expectation was natural, but further than that i cannot go. nay, rather let me say that, taking into consideration the careful minuteness with which titucocha particularised the several means of identification--every one of which has been literally fulfilled in him whom you now see before you--i am convinced that if our lord the sun had intended that his child should return to us as an indian, born of us and among us, titucocha would have specifically said so. but, as i have already reminded you, he did not. what he said was that the re-incarnated manco was to be the deliverer and restorer of the ancient peruvian nation; and who so fit to undertake and successfully carry through this stupendous task as one born, and who has lived all his life in england, that great nation of which we have all heard, whose empire extends north and south, east and west, to the uttermost parts of the earth, so that it has been said of her that she is the empire upon which the sun never sets. my lords, i, who am full of years and of the wisdom that comes with many years, tell you that if ever we are to free ourselves from the yoke of the oppressor, and to restore peru to its ancient position of power and glory, we must be helped and guided in that great, that almost impossible task, by one who unites within himself superlative wisdom and superlative courage; and the crowning proof, to my mind, that heaven has now at last fulfilled its glorious promise is to be found in the fact that it has ordained our new inca to be born an englishman, possessed of all that courage, that wisdom, and that knowledge for which englishmen are famed throughout the world. i have spoken! and now, i pray you, come forward every one of you, from the first unto the last, and see with your own eyes the final proof that the great manco has indeed returned to us. thus far you have merely been called upon to believe the testimony of arima and myself; but now it is for you to look with your own eyes upon the collar which this young man wears, and to say whether in very truth it is or is not the emerald collar of the divine manco, of which we have so perfect and complete a description, and by the wearing of which he was to be recognised in his re-incarnated form." as tiahuana ceased speaking, another low murmur ran round the assembly, but whether of approval or of dissent it was not easy to judge. then huanacocha, as chief of the council of seven, arose, and, stepping forward to the dais, took in his hand the emerald collar that tiahuana handed to him--having removed it from harry's neck for the purposes of inspection--and examined it with the most scrupulous care. he was about to return it to tiahuana when the latter said: "has my lord huanacocha compared the features delineated on the pendant with those of him whom i am offering to the nation as its long-looked- for deliverer?" huanacocha had not, it seemed, for, taking the pendant in his hand, he studied it intently, and then gazed long and steadily at harry's features. "i admit that there certainly is some resemblance," he said coldly, as he handed back the jewel. then, one after the other, the remaining members of the assembly came forward one by one, scrutinised the jewel with more or less deliberation, and returned to their seats, until every one in the room had obeyed tiahuana's summons. then the high priest stepped forward to the edge of the dais, and said: "nobles of the ancient peruvian blood-royal, i have now submitted to you the last piece of evidence upon which i base my contention that the young man whom i have brought into your midst--and of whose existence we became aware through a sequence of events that can only be described as miraculous--is in very truth he for whose appearance we and our forefathers have been anxiously looking during a period of more than three hundred years. you are all perfectly acquainted with the words of the prophecy which foretold his appearance; for so important, so vital to the interests of the nation, were those words regarded that it has been our rule throughout the ages to teach them to every child until that child can repeat them by heart. you are therefore perfectly cognisant of all the signs and tokens of identification by which the re- incarnated manco was to be recognised when in the fulness of time he should again come to us, to execute his great mission of our regeneration. it now rests with you to decide whether those signs and tokens have been fulfilled in the case of this young man so clearly and unmistakably as to justify our acceptance of him as the being whom i claim him to be. although it is perhaps hardly necessary for me to do so, it is my duty to remind you that never in the history of our nation have the peruvian nobility been called upon to decide a more momentous question. i now ask you to rise in your places, one by one, beginning with my lord huanacocha, and say whether or not you are satisfied that this young man is in very truth the divine manco returned to earth." a very perceptible pause followed this appeal, and then huanacocha rose to his feet. "before replying to your question, my lord tiahuana," said he, "i should like the young man to tell us what he can remember of his former existence. the history of manco capac, our first inca and the founder of our nation, is well known to all of us, and if your claim be indeed justified there must be many incidents in his career, well known to us but quite unknown to the outer world, which the claimant can recall. let him mention a few of those incidents, and the most doubting among us will be satisfied." this speech was delivered in the quichua language, and it was necessary for tiahuana to translate to harry, who at once replied: "i have already told you, i believe, that i have no recollection whatever of any former state of existence." "my lords," said tiahuana, "the young man asserts, with perfect candour, that he has no recollection whatever of any former state of existence; therefore he is unable to furnish those further proofs demanded by the lord huanacocha. but what of that? does this absence of recollection invalidate all the other proofs that have been given? how many of us remember any of our former states of existence distinctly enough to recall any of their happenings? i confess that i do not. does my lord huanacocha, or do any of you?" a long and profound silence followed this pointed question. so prolonged, indeed, was it that it at length became evident that no one in that assembly had a reply to it; whereupon tiahuana, his eyes gleaming with triumph, once more stepped forward and said: "my lords, your silence is a complete and sufficient answer to my question, and proves that the objection raised by my lord huanacocha was an unreasonable one. i must therefore again call upon him to say whether he is or is not satisfied with the other proofs advanced." there was no pause or hesitation this time; huanacocha at once rose and said: "i have no fault to find with the other proofs; but i contend that they do not go far enough. i am still strongly of opinion that when the divine manco returns to us he will come in the guise of one of ourselves, an indian of the blood-royal; and therefore i must refuse to accept the dictum of my lord tiahuana that the young white man is the re-incarnation of the first manco, the founder of our nation." and he resumed his seat. this bold and defiant speech created, as might be expected, a most tremendous sensation among the other occupants of the hall; but tiahuana, with a slight gesture of impatience, at once threw up his hand to demand silence, and said: "you have all heard the objections raised by my lord huanacocha, and are as well able as i am to weigh and judge their value. let now the other lords arise, each in his turn, and express his opinion." the man on huanacocha's right at once arose, and said: "i am quite satisfied with the proofs adduced by the high priest. to me they are complete and perfectly convincing." the man on the left of huanacocha then sprang to his feet and said: "i find it quite impossible to come to a definite decision, one way or the other. on the one hand, i regard the proofs adduced by my lord tiahuana as perfectly satisfactory; but on the other i think there is reason in the objection raised by my lord huanacocha that the aspirant is a white man. notwithstanding what has been said by the high priest, my conviction is that the true manco, when he appears, will be born among us and be one of ourselves. i am unconvinced." thus the expression of opinion went on until all had given one, when it appeared that huanacocha had four adherents to his views, the remainder of the nobles being quite unanimous in their conviction that harry was in very deed the re-incarnation of the first manco. he was therefore accepted by an overwhelming majority, as tiahuana had confidently anticipated; and the discomfited huanacocha and his friends were compelled to waive their objections, which, after recording them, they did with a somewhat better grace than might have been expected. then came the ceremony of swearing allegiance to the new sovereign, which was done by every individual present, beginning with tiahuana, who was followed by motahuana and the entire body of the priests, who, in their turn, were succeeded by the nobles, beginning with huanacocha. by the time that this ceremony was concluded the afternoon was well advanced and it was time to repair to the main body of the temple, where the service of thanksgiving was to be held; and in consideration of the fact that harry was a stranger, and of course completely ignorant of the religious ritual followed by the worshippers of the sun, motahuana was told off to accompany and prompt him. accordingly, led by the deputy high priest, the young monarch, followed by the nobles, passed down a long corridor and, wheeling to the left, passed through an enormous archway veiled by great gold-embroidered curtains which, upon being drawn aside at their approach, revealed the whole of the vast interior of the temple proper in which the ceremony was to be held. when, an hour or two earlier, the young inca--whose official name was now manco capac--had approached the enormous building in which he now found himself, he had promptly come to the conclusion that the edifice owed little or nothing of its imposing character to the skill of the architect; for, so far as architectural beauty was concerned, it was almost as plain and unpretentious as his own palace: it was imposing merely because of its immense dimensions. it consisted of a huge rectangular block of pure white marble, the walls of which were from eight to ten feet thick, without columns, or pediment, or even so much as a few pilasters to break up the monotonous smoothness and regularity of its exterior surface, the only aids in this direction being the great east doorway, or main entrance, which was some thirty feet wide by about sixty feet high, with an immense window opening on either side of it, through which and the doorway entered all the light which illuminated the interior. true, the doorway and window openings were each surrounded by heavy marble borders, or frames, encrusted with great plates of gold elaborately ornamented with a boldly sculptured design. there was also a heavy gold string course and bull-nose moulding similar to that on the palace; but, apart from that and the gold-tiled roof, there was no attempt at exterior decorative effect. whatever might have been deemed lacking in this direction, however, was more than compensated for by the barbaric splendour and profusion of the interior decorations. the entire west wall of the building was covered with a solid plate of burnished gold emblazoned with a gigantic face from which emanated rays innumerable, representing the sun, the great eyes being reproduced in a perfect blaze of gems; precious stones of all kinds being thickly powdered also all over the plate, which was primarily intended to receive the rays of the rising sun through the great east door in the early morning--at which hour the most impressive ceremony of the day was celebrated--and reflect the light back upon the people. the two side walls were also decorated with great gold plates, about two feet square, richly engraved, and arranged in a chequer pattern, a square of gold alternating with a square of the white marble wall of the building from top to bottom and from end to end, each of the white marble squares having in its centre a gold ornament about the size of one's hand which formed a mount for a precious stone, rubies and emeralds being the most numerous, although diamonds of considerable size gleamed here and there. had the stones been cut and polished, instead of being set in the rough, the effect would have been gorgeous beyond description. perhaps the most wonderful part of the whole building, however, was the ceiling. this was composed entirely of white marble slabs supported and divided into panels by great beams of solid marble made up of enormous blocks of the stone the ends of which were so cunningly "scarphed", or fitted together, that the joints were invisible and gripped each other so tightly that neither cement nor bolts were needed to complete the union. and in the centre of each panel of the ceiling, and at each crossing of the beams, was a great golden ornament bearing some resemblance to a full-blown rose. the western wall of the building was decorated like the two side walls, save that in place of the bare marble a silver square alternated with a gold one. and, finally, the great doors in the western wall were of solid silver wrought to represent timber, the grain and knots of the wood being imitated with marvellous fidelity, while the nails were represented in gold. chapter thirteen. the daughter of umu. piloted by motahuana, harry presently found himself installed in a marble throne raised on a dais at the western extremity of the building, behind the altars--of which there were three--and facing them and the vast assembly. immediately on the other side of the altars, and facing them, were the nobles, also occupying marble seats; and a brave show they made in their gala attire, umu, the captain of the royal bodyguard, in his gorgeous uniform, being a very conspicuous figure among them. and behind the nobles, seated on wooden benches, was the people ranged row after row, until, so vast was the building, the features of those seated near the eastern wall were quite indistinguishable to the young inca. the slight stir in that immense assemblage caused by the entrance of the monarch and his train of nobles had scarcely subsided when the strains of distant music were heard, rapidly increasing in power and volume as the musicians drew near; and presently, through an archway immediately opposite that by which escombe had entered, there filed a small army of priests led by tiahuana, still in his robes and bearing his wand. some sixty of these were performing on a variety of wind and string instruments more or less remotely suggestive of those known to civilised nations, while the remainder chanted to their accompaniment a quaint but by no means unpleasing melody, the air of which was quite distinctly suggestive of rejoicing. the words of the song--or hymn, rather--were quichua, and escombe was therefore unable to gather the sense of them. in the midst of the priests walked a band of some twenty youths attired in richly embroidered white tunics of soft woollen material, girt about the waist with a gold-embroidered belt; and each youth bore in his arms a mass of beautiful flowers, the delicate perfume of which quickly diffused itself throughout the building. priests and youths were alike barefooted; and a more careful scrutiny soon revealed to harry the fact that he was the only individual in the building--so far as he could see--who remained shod. led by the instrumentalists, the procession wheeled to the right and passed slowly down the first aisle of the building to its eastern extremity, then right across it, past the great eastern door, up the fourth aisle, down the third, and up the second, which brought them finally to the altar which stood on the right of the main or high altar, as looked at from escombe's point of view. then, while the priests continued their chanting, the flower-laden youths piled their fragrant burdens upon the right-hand altar and twined them about it until it was completely hidden from view by the vari-coloured blooms and their delicate foliage. this done, the youths retired, and the high priest-- or villac vmu, as he was called--standing before the flower-draped altar, with his back to the people, uttered what appeared to be a short invocation or prayer, during which the worshippers all knelt upon the beautifully tessellated marble pavement. this prayer lasted three or four minutes, and upon its conclusion the people rose and resumed their seats; while tiahuana, turning and facing them, delivered an address of some twenty minutes' length, after which another hymn was sung by both priests and people, the former slowly filing out of the building during the singing, and so timing their movements that as the last note was sung the last priest disappeared through the arch, and the curtain fell behind him. harry not unnaturally concluded that this ended the ceremonial; but he was quickly undeceived by motahuana, who informed him that one, if not two, burnt sacrifices yet remained to be offered. and indeed, scarcely had this piece of information been conveyed when the music and singing again made themselves heard, and the priests filed into the building once more. but, instead of the band of flower-bearing youths, there appeared a llama, decked with garlands and wreaths of flowers, and led by two young priests. this time the order of procedure was reversed, the procession crossing over to the fourth aisle, passing down it and up the first, down the second, and up the third, which finally brought them opposite the second subsidiary altar, to a golden ring in which the llama was now tethered, the processional hymn lasting long enough to allow this operation to be completed. then followed another prayer, succeeded by another address, during which the unfortunate llama was bound and trussed up so ingeniously that the unhappy creature was rendered incapable of making the least struggle. then a number of priests seized the helpless animal and laid it upon the top of the altar, upon which meanwhile a great pile of cedar boughs and other scented wood had been carefully piled. this done, two priests strode forward, one bearing a very formidable-looking copper knife, while the other carried a large and most beautifully wrought basin of solid gold. seizing the llama by the ears and dragging its head back, the first of these two priests raised his knife on high. there was a yellow flash as the keen and heavy blade descended upon the animal's throat, and the next instant the llama's lifeblood was pouring and smoking into the basin which the second priest held to receive it. and so dexterously was the whole thing done that not a single drop of blood stained the white garment of either priest; had it been otherwise, it would have been regarded as an unfavourable omen. the moment that the blood ceased to flow, the thongs which confined the poor beast's limbs to its body were released, the carcass was turned upon its back, the belly was ripped open, and the villac vmu stepped forward and carefully examined the entrails, during which the people appeared to be held in a state of the most painfully breathless suspense. this, however, was happily not prolonged, for it lasted only a few seconds when tiahuana, stepping forward and facing the assembly, threw up his hands and shouted: "blessed be our father the sun, the omens are all exceptionally, marvellously, favourable, and our sovereign lord the inca is assured of a long and prosperous reign, during which he will be permitted to accomplish all that was prophesied concerning him." instantly the priests burst into a loud paean of praise, which was promptly taken up by the entire people, standing, during the singing of which a priest appeared, bearing a torch kindled at the sacred fire, which was kept alight throughout the year. this torch he presented to harry, who, at motahuana's prompting, and with several qualms of conscience, rose to his feet and thrust it in among the pile of wood on the top of the altar, beneath the body of the llama. the crackling of the dry twigs that formed the substructure of the cunningly arranged pile, and the curling wreaths of fragrant smoke, soon showed that the wood was fairly alight; and as the little tongues of yellow flame leapt from twig to twig and gathered power, and the smoke shot upward from the altar in a thin perfectly straight column to the ceiling, the great building fairly resounded with the shouts of jubilation of the enormous congregation, for this was the last and most important omen of all. if the smoke column had bent or wavered in the least it would have foretold trouble--ay, or even disaster, had the wavering been sufficiently pronounced. but, on the contrary, every omen, from first to last, had been of so exceptionally favourable a character that the special sacrifice of thank-offering that was always tentatively arranged for upon such occasions as the present became a foregone conclusion, and the assembly, instead of dispersing, as they would have done had the omens been less eminently favourable, settled again into their seats with a great sigh and shudder of tense expectancy; for this would be the first time that many of them had ever been present at a ceremony of the kind that was now pending. escombe, who was by this time beginning to feel very tired, as well as distinctly dissatisfied with himself for taking part in all this mummery, noticed vaguely that something out of the common was evidently toward, but he was too thoroughly distrait to even seek an explanation from motahuana, and he watched, as in a dream, the long procession of priests file out of the building to the accompaniment of an unmistakable song of triumph. presently, with more singing and music, they came filing back again; but in the comparatively brief interval of their absence they had contrived to effect a complete change in their appearance, for, instead of the white garments which they had previously worn, they were now robed in crimson, heavily bordered with gold embroidery, while tiahuana's robe was so completely covered with gold embroidery, encrusted with gems, that it was as stiff as a board, the crimson colour of the material scarcely showing through it. he still bore his wand in his hands, and the mitre which he now wore blazed with gold and precious stones. on this occasion, instead of leading the procession, he was preceded by a priest, scarcely less gorgeously robed than himself, who held aloft a beautiful banner of crimson cloth emblazoned with the figure of the sun. other banners, equally rich and beautiful, about twenty in all, were borne by the main body of the priests. but no sooner was the procession--singing a peculiarly sweet and plaintive air--fairly inside the body of the temple than escombe aroused himself with a violent start, for walking in the midst of the priests, attired in a simple white robe, from the hem of which her little bare feet peeped as she walked with downcast eyes, and wreathed and garlanded about with a long chain of magnificent crimson roses, and with her hands bound behind her, there walked the most lovely maiden that the young man had ever seen. although there was little doubt that she was of pure indian blood, she was as fair as a spaniard, but without a vestige of colour--as might well be expected under the circumstances. her long, dark hair, unbound, clustered in wavy ringlets upon her shoulders and far enough below her waist to completely veil her tied hands. every eye in the building was instantly turned upon this fair vision as the congregation rose _en masse_, and a loud gasp of what sounded very much like dismay drew escombe's attention to umu, who distinctly staggered as he rose to his feet, while his face went a sickly, yellowish-white, and the perspiration poured from his forehead like rain. the poor fellow stared at the girl as though he could scarcely believe his eyes; yet that he did believe them was perfectly evident, while the anguished expression of his countenance made it equally evident that he was very deeply interested in the young lady and her fate. as to what that fate was to be there could be no shadow of doubt, even in the mind of one so ignorant of the details of the religious ceremonial of the peruvians as was its new monarch. the girl's awful pallor, her very presence in the procession, and the fact of her being garlanded with flowers, each had its own significance, and pointed indubitably to the fact that she was the destined victim in a human sacrifice! turning to motahuana, harry demanded, in a fierce whisper: "who is that girl, and why is she taking part in the procession?" to which motahuana replied: "she is maia, the daughter of umu, captain of my lord's bodyguard; and, as the most beautiful maiden in the city, she has been chosen by the villac vmu as worthy the great honour of being offered in sacrifice upon the altar of thanksgiving on this most memorable and auspicious occasion. it is a great surprise to umu, of course, to see his only daughter occupying her present proud position, for by the order of tiahuana she was taken from her father's house within an hour of his departure to meet my lord and escort him to the city; and his duties have probably not permitted him to visit his home since his return, hence the sight of his daughter in the procession is the first intimation which he has received of the honour conferred upon her--and him." the utter indifference to the anguish of those chiefly concerned which motahuana betrayed in this speech made escombe fairly writhe with disgust and abhorrence, which feelings were increased a hundredfold by the knowledge that this young maiden was to be forced to lay down her life, and her parent's home was to be made desolate, in order that his-- harry escombe's--accession to the throne of the incas might be fitly celebrated! he ground his teeth in impotent fury, and unrestrainedly execrated the stupendous folly which had induced him to enter so light- heartedly into an adventure fraught with elements of such unimaginable horror. true, he had done so with the very best intentions; yes, but how often, even in his comparatively brief experience of life, had he known of actions instigated by "the very best intentions" that had culminated in grim disaster! and now he was adding yet another to the long list! but stay; was this thing inevitable? he suddenly remembered that many of the good intentions that had determined him to acquiesce passively in the events that had placed him where he now was were based upon the fact that, as inca, he would be the possessor of absolute power, and would be able to mould events to his will; that, as inca, he would be superior to everybody, even the priesthood, for the inca was not only the head of the priesthood but was actually credited with the possession of a certain measure of divinity in his own person. if all this were really true, now was the time to assert his authority and test his power. he would forbid the sacrifice, and see what came of it. as he arrived at this determination he glanced up, to find umu's gaze fixed fully upon him, and there was such intensity of unmistakable anguish and entreaty in the gaze that harry unhesitatingly answered it with a nod and an encouraging smile, which evoked a gasp of almost incredulous joy and relief from its recipient. the procession had by this time passed down the first aisle and was coming up the second, the paean of triumph and thanksgiving pealing louder and more thrillingly on the ear with every step of its progress. at length it reached the head of the aisle and wheeled to the right with the evident intention of turning into the third aisle, which would have caused it to brush close past the row of benches by which umu was standing. but a moment before the banner bearer who was leading the procession arrived at the wheeling point, harry rose from his throne and, standing on his footstool, so that every person in that vast building might see and hear him, flung up his right hand and imperiously called a halt in the proceedings, in response to which the procession came to an abrupt standstill, and the singers and musicians almost as abruptly became silent. then harry beckoned tiahuana to his side, and said: "interpret for me; i have a message for the people." then, as tiahuana gazed aghast and speechless at the young man who had resorted to so unheard of a proceeding as to interrupt a ceremony of thanksgiving at its most intensely interesting and dramatic moment, harry proceeded: "children of the ancient peruvian nation, hearken unto me; for pachacamac, the supreme, the creator and ruler of the universe, who made all things, yea even unto the sun, moon, and stars which you adore, each in their several seasons, has this moment put a message into my mouth and bid me deliver it unto you. "thus saith pachacamac, the great and only one. `in the days of old, when the peruvians were but a few scattered tribes plunged in the depths of ignorance and barbarism, i took pity upon them and sent to them manco capac and mama oello huaco, two of my children, to gather together those scattered tribes and form them into communities, to instruct them in the mysteries of my worship, and to teach them the arts whereby they might become a great and civilised nation. and for a time all things went well with the peruvians, for they listened to the voice of my messengers, and obeyed it, worshipping me and acting in accordance with my commands. therefore i blessed and prospered them exceedingly, and made of them a glorious and powerful nation, wise in the art of government, and invincible in the field of battle, so that as the years rolled on they conquered all the surrounding tribes and nations and absorbed them into themselves. "`but with the progress of time my people fell into error. they ceased to worship and honour me, and transferred their adoration to the sun, which i had made and given unto them as the beneficent source of all their material benefits, from which they derived light and warmth, which caused their streams to flow and their soil to bring forth abundant crops for the sustenance of man and beast, which caused their flocks to increase and multiply greatly, and which is the source of all life, health, and beauty. they gave their gratitude and devotion to that which i had created, and forgot me, the creator of all things; they built hundreds of temples in honour of the sun--and one only did they dedicate to me! therefore was i displeased with them and withdrew from them the light of my countenance. i permitted the _conquistadors_ to land upon their shores and gave them power to triumph over the peruvians in battle, to destroy atahuallpa, and to wrest their land from them until, behold, all that is left of that once great nation is this valley and the city that ye have built in it. "`but my anger burns not for ever, nor will i hide my face from you for all time. behold, i have given you another inca, who shall guide your straying feet back into the right path, who shall point out to you the mistakes which you have made and teach you how to correct them. and if ye will obey him it may be that in process of time i will again make you a great and powerful nation, even as you were in the old days ere i hid my face from you and permitted calamity to overtake you. "`and now, listen, my people, unto this. i have no pleasure in sorrow or suffering; the shedding of blood in sacrifice is an abomination unto me. therefore do i forbid now and henceforth the sacrifice in burnt offering of any creature that doth breathe the breath of life; for death is a curse that i have sent upon the earth, and not a blessing, as ye shall be taught in due time. ye may deck my altars with flowers, and make beautiful the houses in which ye worship me, if ye will; but obedience to my laws and precepts is more precious to me than any other thing, and if ye render that unto me ye shall do well.'" as harry uttered the last words, and sank back into his seat, it is safe to say that no individual in that great building was more astonished at his behaviour than himself; for he had sprung to his feet without the ghost of a notion of what he meant to say, animated only by the one great and overmastering impulse to save the life of umu's daughter and rescue a household from a great and terrible grief. but the words had leapt to his lips, and he had spoken as one under the influence of inspiration, without thought, or pause, or hesitation. in the very building devoted to the worship of that object which, ever since peru became a nation, had been the especial veneration of its inhabitants, he had stood up and boldly denounced the worship of the sun as idolatry; had told them that their religious beliefs were all wrong, and had unceremoniously broken in upon and put a stop to the most impressive ceremony in their ritual, and had forbidden certain practices hallowed by ages of religious teaching! and now, what was to be the result? would the priests and the congregation rise up as one man and tear the audacious young innovator limb from limb, or offer him up as a sacrifice on the altar from which he had essayed to snatch its destined victim, to propitiate their outraged deity? the sensation produced on all sides as tiahuana had translated escombe's denunciation, sentence by sentence, was tremendous, and grew in intensity as the denunciation proceeded. but whether the emotion excited was that of anger, or of blank astonishment, the young man could not determine; nor, to speak the truth, did he very greatly care, for he felt that he was doing his duty regardless of the possibility of the most ghastly peril to himself. indeed there are few possibilities more dreadful than those attendant upon the bearding of a multitude of fanatical idolators and the denouncing of the objects of their idolatry. everything, or almost everything, would depend entirely upon the view which tiahuana and the priests took of harry's conduct. if, after that uncompromisingly outspoken attack upon the worship of the sun--the fundamental principle of their religion--tiahuana's belief in the theory that escombe was indeed the re-incarnation of the first manco, foretold by the prophet titucocha, remained unshaken, all might yet be well; but if not--! for some minutes excitement and consternation reigned supreme over that vast assembly, yet there was nothing approaching tumult or disorder in the behaviour of the people; the points raised by the young inca's message were evidently of such tremendous import that they felt themselves quite unable to deal with them. they recognised, almost from the first moment, that these were matters which must be left in the hands of the priests, and presently the excitement began to die down, and everybody waited to see what would next happen. as for tiahuana, the denunciation had fallen upon him with such paralysing effect that he had simply translated escombe's message as nearly word for word as the quichua language would permit, with the air and aspect of a man speaking under the influence of some fantastically horrible dream. but by the time that the excitement had subsided, and silence again reigned in the great building, he had pulled himself together and, turning to harry, said: "is my lord quite certain, beyond all possibility of doubt, that the message which he has just delivered has been put into his mouth by pachacamac, and not by some evil and malignant spirit?" "yes," answered escombe with conviction; "i am. what evil spirit would instruct the peruvians to worship and adore the great pachacamac himself instead of one of the works of his hands? the very import of the message ought to be convincing testimony of the source from which it comes." "it may be; it may be; i cannot tell," answered tiahuana wearily. "if the message comes in very truth from pachacamac, then have we indeed strayed far from the right path, and much that has troubled and puzzled the wisest heads among us can be accounted for. it would also explain why our forefathers were so blind as to permit the _conquistadors_ to enter their country, and so weak as to be conquered by them! yes, methinks there are matters of vast moment contained in that message; but they cannot be discussed here and now. is it my lord's will that the people be dismissed?" "yes," answered harry, almost breathless with astonishment at the complete success of his intervention. "tell the people that my appearance among them is the signal for many great and momentous changes decreed by pachacamac for their advantage, one of the most important of which will be that, henceforth, pachacamac himself--the supreme, the creator of the heavens and earth, and all that are therein, and only he, is to be worshipped in this building. ye have wandered far astray; but be of good comfort, i--and, later on, others whom pachacamac will send to you--will point the way of return, and all shall be well with you." "and the maiden, lord, who was to have been offered as a thank- offering--what is to be done with her?" demanded tiahuana. "let her be returned with all honour to her home and parent," answered harry. "henceforth there are to be no burnt sacrifices, whether human or otherwise." then tiahuana, standing before the central altar, where he could be seen by all, and heard by perhaps about half of the congregation, raising his hand to command the attention of his audience, interpreted escombe's second message to them, adding the words "go in peace!" and raising both hands in a gesture of blessing, which he maintained until the last person had passed out through the great eastern door. meanwhile maia, the daughter of umu and the destined victim of the thank-offering, having not only heard but also understood everything that had transpired, had fainted from excess of emotion produced by the revulsion of feeling from that of lofty exaltation to relief and joy at her reprieve from death--even though that death had come, through long usage, to be regarded as more honourable and glorious than anything that this life had to offer--and had been delivered to her father, who had lost not a moment in conveying her back to the shelter of his roof. "and now, lord," said tiahuana, "tell me, i pray you, what is to be done in the matter of conducting the ceremonies in the temple, henceforth; for pachacamac's message seems to strike at the very root of our religion, and until i am more fully instructed i know not what to do, or how to proceed." "nay," said harry reassuringly, for he saw that the old man was intensely worried and distressed, "the matter is surely very simple. all that you have to do is to transfer your adoration from the sun to pachacamac, offering to him your prayers and praises instead of addressing them to the sun. surely it is wiser and more reasonable to worship him who made all things, than it is to worship one of the things that he has made? do this, and ye shall do well. and if any doubts should arise in your minds, come to me and i will resolve them. also i will instruct you from time to time in the truth concerning pachacamac, until his messengers shall arrive. and now, go in peace; for ye have but to be obedient, and to instruct the people in the truth, even as you yourselves shall be instructed, and all will be well." then harry rose, and, escorted by the nobles, made his way out of the building to the place where his litter and his guard awaited him, whence, mounting into his seat, he was rapidly borne back to the palace amid the enthusiastic acclamations of the populace which lined the streets. but as the bearers trotted smoothly and evenly along the road escombe detected--or thought that he did--a new note in those acclamations; a note which he could not for the life of him interpret. it was not that the acclamations were less hearty than before. on the contrary, they seemed to be more enthusiastic than ever; yet, mingled with their enthusiasm and joy there seemed to be a certain subtle undertone that thrilled him curiously and caused him to vaguely wonder whether that "message" of his, delivered without forethought on the spur of the moment, would prove to have been a master-stroke of genius--or an irreparable mistake. anyhow, he had delivered it, and that was the main thing. he had quite determined that he would deliver it at the first fitting and convenient opportunity; he had, therefore, no regrets on that score, and the only thing that worried him was the question whether it had been delivered prematurely; whether, in fact, it would have been more powerful and effective if he had deferred its deliverance until he had taken time to prepare the minds of the people for its reception. but, be the issue what it might, he had accomplished at least one good deed; he had saved a life and given joy to one household in the city, and that was certainly a matter upon which he might unreservedly congratulate himself. meditating thus, harry found himself, he scarcely knew how, back at the palace, where his chamberlain informed him, first, that a grand banquet had been arranged for that same evening, to be given by him to the nobles to celebrate his accession to the throne; and, secondly, that the lord umu was in waiting, and craved an audience. whereupon the young man requested to be conducted to some room in which he could suitably receive the captain of his bodyguard, and directed that functionary to be brought to him. flinging himself wearily into the only chair in the room to which he had been conducted, escombe awaited the arrival of umu, who was presently ushered into the apartment barefooted, and carrying upon his shoulders a small burden as a badge of his immeasurable inferiority--great and powerful noble though he was--to the inca. so intense was his emotion upon finding himself in his lord's presence that, for the moment, he seemed quite incapable of speech; and, to help him out of his difficulty, whatever it might be, harry extended his hand to him and said: "well, umu, my friend, what is it? are you in trouble, and can i help you?" whereupon umu, the great and powerful noble, and captain of a thousand picked warriors, flung himself upon his knees before the young inca, and, clasping the outstretched hand in both of his, pressed it convulsively to his lips, while the tears streamed like rain from his eyes. but he quickly pulled himself together, and, gazing up into harry's face, answered: "gracious lord, pardon this unseemly emotion, i pray you, and attribute it to the awful ordeal through which i have this day passed. i have presumed to hasten hither, lord, to express, as well as may be, the heartfelt gratitude of myself and my daughter for your gracious intervention to-day in the temple, but for which my maia would now be dead and my home desolate. lord, you are as yet strange among us, and may therefore not know that for a maiden to be chosen to be offered as a thank-offering on the altar of the temple upon such an occasion as that of to-day is regarded by the peruvian indians as the highest honour that can be conferred upon her and all who are connected with her; and doubtless it would be so regarded by many. but, lord, natural affection is not always to be so easily stifled. i am a widower, and maia my daughter is my only child; the love that exists between us is therefore perhaps unusually strong, and the honour of having given my daughter as a thank-offering would never have compensated me for, or reconciled me to, her loss. the shock which i experienced to-day when i recognised her, bound and decked with flowers for the sacrifice, in the midst of the priests, i shall never forget, for i had not then been to my house, and knew not that she had been chosen. and though, having been chosen, she had wrought herself up to the point of passive submission, she had no wish to die, for she is young, and the best part of her life is still before her; moreover she loves me, and knows that without her my heart and my house would be empty and desolate. therefore, lord, i pray you to accept our heartfelt thanks for her deliverance, and to believe my assurance that henceforth, let what will betide, we two are your faithful and devoted slaves unto our lives' end." "thanks, umu, for your assurance of devotion, which, i am convinced, comes from your heart," said harry, raising the soldier to his feet. "but, umu, i wish to regard you henceforth not as my `slave', but as a faithful and devoted friend. servants who will unhesitatingly do my will i shall doubtless be able to command in plenty; but sincere friends are less easily won, especially by a monarch, and a wise, faithful, devoted friend who will help and advise me in the difficult task that lies before me will be of greater value than many slaves. i shall always remember with especial pleasure that my first official act was to save an innocent life, and that the life of your daughter, whom heaven long spare to be a joy and comfort to you. go in peace, umu, and serve me faithfully." "i will, lord; i swear it by the great pachacamac himself!" answered umu, raising his right hand as though to register his oath. then, turning, he went forth from the palace the proudest, and probably the happiest, man in the valley of the sun that day. chapter fourteen. the inca's treasure chambers. the fatigue and excitement of the momentous day were by this time beginning to tell upon escombe. if he could have followed his own inclination he would certainly have called for a light meal, and, having partaken of it, retired forthwith to rest; but he was already beginning to learn the lesson that even an absolute monarch has sometimes to put aside his own inclinations and do that which is politic rather than that which is most pleasing in his own eyes. here was this banquet, for instance. he would much rather not have been present at it; but it was an official affair, and to absent himself from it would simply be to inflict a gratuitous slight upon every guest present, and sow a seed of unpopularity that might quite possibly, like the fabled dragon's teeth, spring up into a harvest of armed men to hurl him from his throne. with a sigh of resignation, therefore, he summoned arima, and, resigning himself into that functionary's hands, submitted to be conducted to the bath, and afterwards attired in the festal garments prepared for the occasion. the bath of warm, delicately perfumed water he found to be so wonderfully refreshing that upon emerging from it all sensation of fatigue had vanished; and by the time that he was completely arrayed for the banquet he felt perfectly prepared to do both himself and the occasion full justice. he was only just ready in the nick of time, for as arima was completing the adjustment of the imperial borla upon the young monarch's temples, the lord high chamberlain appeared with the intimation that the guests were all assembled, and that nothing now was needed, save the inca's presence, to enable the banquet to be begun. whereupon harry arose, and, preceded by the chamberlain and his satellites, made his way to the banqueting hall, which was an enormous chamber on the upstairs floor of the palace, occupying the entire length and width of that part of the building in which was situated the main entrance. one row of windows overlooked that part of the garden which gave upon the main road, while the windows on the opposite side of the apartment commanded a view of the piece of garden which lay between the two wings and extended down to the shore of the lake. the decorations of this room, if they could not be accurately described as "artistic", from a european's point of view, were at least impressive on account of the wanton lavishness with which gems and the precious metals were used; for, look where one would, the eye encountered nothing but gold, silver, and precious stones; indeed the impression conveyed was that the architect had exhausted his ingenuity in devices for the employment of the greatest possible quantity of these costly minerals. the huge beams which supported the ceiling were encased in thick plates of gold, the ceiling itself, or at least those portions of it which showed between the beams, consisted of plates of silver, thickly studded with precious stones arranged--as tiahuana explained--to represent the stars in the night sky over the city. the walls, of enormous thickness, with deep niches or recesses alternating with the windows, were covered with thick gold plates heavily chased into a variety of curious patterns; and each niche contained either a life-size image of an animal--the llama figuring most frequently--in solid gold, wrought with the most marvellous patience and skill, or was a miniature garden in which various native trees and plants, wrought with the same lifelike skill, and of the same precious materials, seemed to flourish luxuriantly. the floor was the only portion of the apartment that had escaped this barbarously magnificent system of treatment, but even that was composed of thick planks of costly, richly tinted native timber of beautiful grain, polished to the brilliancy of a mirror; and, as though this were not sufficient to meet the insatiable craving for extravagance everywhere displayed, the beauties of the highly polished wood were almost completely concealed by thick, richly coloured, woollen rugs of marvellously fine texture, made of the wool of the vicuna. nor was the furniture of the apartment permitted to fall short of its surroundings in point of extravagance. for the tables and chairs occupied by the guests were of solid silver, while that occupied by the inca and such of his guests as he chose to especially honour by an invitation to sit with him were of solid gold; and all the table utensils throughout the room were of the same precious metal, most exquisitely and elaborately wrought. as for the guests, as might be expected, they had taken especial care that their personal appearance should be in keeping with the general scheme of wantonly lavish display that characterised the adornment of the banqueting room. every one of them, men and women alike, were apparelled in the richest and most brilliantly coloured stuffs procurable, stiffened with great masses of embroidery in heavy gold thread, while they were literally loaded with ornaments of massive gold, encrusted with gems, upon the hair, neck, and arms. and now, for the first time, harry had leisure to note--and to strongly disapprove of-- the characteristic ornament which was adopted to distinguish the peruvian noble from his plebeian brother. this consisted of a massive circular disc of gold, wrought into the semblance of a wheel, and measuring in some cases three or four inches in diameter, which was inserted into the cartilage of each ear, which, of course, had previously been pierced and gradually distended to receive it. to harry's unsophisticated eye these so-called ornaments constituted a hideous disfigurement, and he was glad to see that they were worn by men only, the ears of the women being for the most part innocent of artificial adornment, although a few of the ladies wore ear-rings of somewhat similar character to those of their more civilised sisters. the inca's table was placed at one end of the room, and raised upon a dais some three feet high, from which elevation he could of course be seen of all, and also command a view of the entire apartment, easily distinguishing the whereabouts of any particular guest whom he desired to honour especially with a summons to his own table; and to this he was conducted by the chamberlain and ushers, the guests rising upon his entrance and remaining standing until he had seated himself. there was at this moment but one guest at the royal table, and that was tiahuana, whom harry had commanded to sit beside him to act as a sort of "coach", and generally explain things. and the first communication which the villac vmu made to his young monarch was not precisely of a reassuring character. it was to the effect that huanacocha, and the four friends who had sided with him that afternoon in the expression of a doubt as to the genuine character of harry's claims to be accepted as inca, had absented themselves from the feast. "yes," said tiahuana, again casting his eyes carefully over the room, "they are all five absent, lord; and i like it not. they are men of great power and influence, and they can easily stir up very serious trouble in the city if they choose to do so. we must keep a wary eye upon them; and upon the first sign of a disposition to be troublesome they must be summarily dealt with." "yes," said harry; "i have been raised to the position of inca by a very remarkable combination of circumstances, in the bringing about of which i have had no part; but, being where i am, i intend to govern firmly and justly, to the best of my ability; and i will certainly not tolerate the presence in the city of turbulent spirits bent upon the stirring up of discord and strife. i have already seen, elsewhere, too much of the evil results of mistaken leniency to permit anything of the kind here. but this is not the moment to discuss politics: you hinted, a short time ago, tiahuana, that at functions of this kind it is usual for the inca to show honour to certain individuals by inviting them to his table. now, of course i know none of those present--except umu, the captain of my bodyguard, whom i see yonder--so i must look to you for guidance in the matter of making a judicious choice. there is room for ten at this table, beside ourselves; therefore, if it be the proper thing for me to do, choose ten persons, and i will summon them to come to us." whereupon tiahuana, who to the sanctity of the villac vmu added the shrewdness and sagacity of a prime minister, named those members of the late council of seven who had accepted escombe as inca, and certain other powerful nobles, completing the list by naming umu, whom, he rather satirically suggested, was perhaps entitled to some especial consideration in recompense for the distinction which he had that day missed in consequence of the rescue of his daughter from the sacrificial altar. "and, remember, lord," concluded tiahuana, "that it is not necessary to keep any of those people at your table during the entire progress of the banquet; let them stay here long enough to taste a single dish, or to drink with you out of your cup, and then dispatch them with instructions to send up someone else in their stead." upon this principle, accordingly, harry acted, arranging matters so judiciously that, under tiahuana's able guidance, he was able, during the course of the evening, to compliment every guest whom that astute old diplomatist considered it desirable especially to honour, and thus avoid all occasion for jealousy. it is not necessary to describe the banquet in detail; let it suffice to say that for fully three hours there was placed before the inca and his guests a constant succession of dishes representing all that was esteemed most choice and dainty in peruvian culinary art, washed down by copious libations of the wine of the country, prepared from the fermented juice of the maguey, for which, it is deplorable to add, the peruvians exhibited an inordinate fondness. by the exercise of extreme circumspection, taking merely a taste here and there of such food as especially appealed to him, and merely suffering the wine to moisten his lips when pledging his nobles, the young inca contrived to emerge from the ordeal of the banquet not a penny the worse. the next morning escombe spent in the company of a sort of committee of the chief _amautas_ or "wise men", who represented the concentrated essence--so to speak--of all peruvian wisdom and learning, and who had been embodied for the express purpose of instructing the young inca in the intricacies--such as they were--of the code of tavantinsuyu--or "four quarters of the world"--as it then stood. this code was simple, but exceedingly severe, the laws, properly so called, relating almost exclusively to criminal matters and their punishment. the regulations governing the daily life of the peruvian indian--where he should live, what should be the character of his work, what should be the distinctive character of his clothing, when and whom he should marry, how much land he should hold and cultivate, and so on, were the result of ages of tentative experiment, and were so numerous and intricate that probably none but the _amautas_ themselves thoroughly understood them. the committee, however, which had for nearly a month been preparing itself for the task of initiating the young inca into the secrets of good government, had arranged a procedure of such a character that even in the course of that one morning's instruction they contrived to give escombe a sufficiently clear general insight of the subject to enable him to see that, taken altogether, the system of government was admirably designed to secure the prosperity of the nation. then, in the afternoon, at the instigation of the council of seven, who had now become a sort of cabinet, to control the machinery of government, under the supervision of the inca, harry was conducted, by an official who performed the functions of chief of the treasury, through the enormous vaults beneath the palace, in order that he might view the treasure, industriously accumulated during more than three hundred years, to form the sinews of war for the regeneration of the race which was escombe's great predestined task. if, before visiting these vaults, harry had been invited to express an opinion upon the subject, he would have confidently asserted the conviction that such treasure as the inhabitants of the valley of the sun had been able to accumulate must all, or very nearly all, have been expended in the adornment of the great temple and the royal palace. but that such a conviction would have been absolutely erroneous was speedily demonstrated when the great bronze doors guarding the entrance of the vaults were thrown open. for the first room into which he was conducted--an apartment measuring some twenty feet wide by thirty feet long, and about fourteen feet high--was full of great stacks of silver bars, each bar being about twenty pounds in weight; the stacks, of varying height, being arranged in tiers of three running lengthwise along the room, with two narrow longitudinal passages between them. escombe, after staring in dumb amazement at this enormous accumulation of dull white metal, drew from his pocket a small memorandum book and pencil which he had found in one of the pockets of his old clothes, and, with the instinct of the engineer rising for a moment to the surface, made a rapid calculation by which he arrived at the astounding result that there must be very nearly eight hundred tons of bar silver in the stacks before him! from this room he was conducted into another of about the same size, and similarly arranged; but in this case the metal in the stacks was virgin gold, instead of silver, while the bulk of the stacks was, if anything, rather greater than those in the outer rooms. but, for the purposes of a rough estimate, escombe assumed them to be of only equal bulk, upon the strength of which assumption his figures informed him that the gold in this vault amounted to the not altogether insignificant weight of close upon fourteen hundred tons. the sight of such incredible quantities of the precious metals had so paralysing an effect upon the young englishman that he could scarcely stammer an enquiry as to where it all came from. the custodian of this fabulous wealth replied, with a smile, that the mountains which hemmed the valley about were enormously rich in both gold and silver, and that some hundreds of men had been kept industriously employed in working the mines almost from the moment when the city had been first founded. "but, lord," he continued, flinging open a third door, "what you have already seen is by no means all our wealth; the most valuable part of it is to be found in this small room." passing through the doorway, which, like the other two, was fitted with massive doors of solid bronze secured by an enormously strong lock of the same metal, the young inca--who, as one of the results of his having been placed upon the throne, had become the absolute owner of all this wealth, with power to use it in such manner as might seem to him good-- found himself in a much smaller room, its dimensions being about ten feet long by the same width, and some twelve feet high. to the sides of the room were fitted large chests of very heavy wood, three chests on each side occupying the entire length of the room, with a passage way about six feet wide between the two rows of chests. each chest was fitted with a massive wooden cover secured to it by strong bronze hinges, and fastened by a ponderous bronze lock. the custodian unlocked these chests one at a time, and, raising the heavy cover with difficulty, held the lamp which he carried over the yawning interior, disclosing its contents. the first chest opened was nearly full of what to escombe appeared to be dull black stones, most of them with at least one smooth surface, ranging in size from that of a walnut to lumps as large as a man's two fists. one of these lumps harry's conductor took out and handed to the young man for his inspection. "well, what do you call this?" demanded harry, turning the stone about in his hands, and inspecting it curiously. "that, lord, is an amethyst," answered the other; "and, as you see, the chest is nearly full of them. but, unless we should happen to discover a new mine, i am afraid we shall get no more of them, for the mine from which those were extracted appears to be exhausted; and it was never very productive even at its best. we did not know what the stones were when they were first discovered, but, as it was suspected that they might possess a certain value, steps were taken to determine the question, with the result that we were told they are amethysts. they are not especially valuable, i believe, but we make a point of never wasting anything, so it was decided to store these until wanted. now here,"--opening the next chest--"we have another mineral about which we were a bit puzzled at first; but we were in less doubt in this case than we were with regard to the amethysts, as the appearance of the stone seemed to indicate that it possessed a value. we dealt with this as we did with the amethysts, and found that we had chanced upon a particularly rich opal deposit." the chest of opals was, like the one previously opened, almost full, and harry took admiringly into his hand the great piece of rock representing the half of a mass of stone that had been accidentally broken in two, and found to contain a considerable quantity of iridescent, many-hued crystal. the next chest contained some very fine specimens of sapphire; but it was little more than half-full, the mine having only been discovered within the last decade, and even then not very industriously worked; but there were in the chest a few specimens that escombe shrewdly suspected to be practically priceless. having completed the inspection of the contents of the coffers on one side of the room, the custodian crossed over to the other side, and threw up the lid of a chest, the interior of which at once began to glow as though each of the stones--looking very much like lumps of ordinary washing soda--contained within it a morsel of phosphorus. "aha!" exclaimed escombe, plunging his hand delightedly into the chest and fishing up two or three of the stones; "no need to ask what these are; there's no possibility of mistaking them. yes, there's the genuine soapy feel about them all right," as he ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the crystals. "but i didn't know that you had diamonds in peru." "there is at all events one mine in the country, lord, namely that from which these stones came," answered the indian. "but the existence and locality are known only to the few who work it and who guard the approach to it; for we believe it to be the richest mine in the whole world, and we are naturally anxious to retain possession of it for ourselves exclusively. it is not in this valley; it lies a long three- days' journey from here, in a particularly wild and desolate part of the country which is practically inaccessible, save to the boldest and hardiest mountaineers among us. it has only been known for about twenty years, and the contents of this coffer represent the labour of only six men during that time. but the mine is enormously rich, and, as you may see, the size and quality of the stones improve as the miners penetrate deeper, the largest and finest stones, which are those most recently extracted, being at the top of the others in the chest." harry stooped over and picked up a particularly fine specimen, larger than one of his clenched fists, which glowed and scintillated in the light of the lamp as though it were on fire. "why," he said, gazing admiringly at the stone as he turned it about in his hand, "the contents of this chest must be of absolutely incalculable value! this stone alone would constitute a very handsome fortune to its lucky possessor, if i am any judge of diamonds." "true, lord," answered his companion. "but there are several finer stones than that--this one, and this, for example," as he fished up a couple of superb specimens. "there are probably no diamonds in the world equal to these two in size and purity of colour. and all belong to my lord." "ay," said harry; "with such enormous and inexhaustible wealth as this at one's command it should not be very difficult to provide the means of reconquering the country and restoring it to its former state of power and glory. what have you in the other two chests?" "my lord shall see," answered the indian, as he unlocked and threw back the lid of the next chest, which proved to be three parts full of rubies, every one of which constituted a little fortune in itself, while many were of such exceptional size and superb colour that the young englishman could only gasp in speechless amazement and admiration. "why, huatama," he exclaimed at length, "i am at a loss to express my astonishment. aladdin's cave was nothing to this, nothing at all!" "aladdin, did my lord say?" murmured the indian, looking enquiringly at harry. "i do not seem to remember him. surely he was not a peruvian? the name does not--" "no," answered harry with a laugh. "aladdin knew nothing of peru; he was an eastern--a chinese fellow, or something like that, if i remember rightly." "ah, yes!" remarked huatama reflectively; "i have seen a few chinese, down at lima and callao, when i had occasion to go there a year ago on business for the council of seven. i do not like them; and i hope that when my lord has subjugated the country he will drive them all out of it." "well, we shall see," rejoined escombe with a laugh. "but it is early days as yet to talk of driving out the chinese; there is a great deal to be done before we shall find ourselves face to face with that question. and now, what does your last chest contain?" it contained emeralds, and was more than half-full of stones of surpassing size and purity of colour, every one of them being a picked stone especially selected for its exceptional quality. but escombe's powers of admiration were by this time completely exhausted, and after having rather perfunctorily examined and expressed his approval of a few of the finest specimens, and commended the treasure as a whole to the unflagging care of huatama, he returned to his apartments in the palace and flung himself into a chair to endeavour to convince himself that what he had seen in those rock-hewn chambers below was all prosaically real and not the fantasy of a disordered imagination. as he pictured to himself the great chambers with their heaped-up stacks of silver and gold bars, and the smaller room with its six coffers of uncut gems, his thoughts insensibly floated away across the ocean to the modest little sydenham home, and he tried to imagine the raptures of his mother and sister, could they but behold the incredible accumulation of priceless gems that his eyes had rested upon that day. then he remembered that in consequence of this extraordinary adventure of his a mail boat had been permitted to leave for england with no letter on board from him to his mother, and he began to wonder anxiously what would happen at the limes when its occupants fully realised that the peruvian mail had arrived, and that there was no letter for them. it was the first time that such a thing had ever been permitted to occur; and, although he had been quite helpless to prevent the accident, escombe somehow felt that it ought not to have been allowed to happen; that he ought to have remembered in time, and taken steps to ensure that a letter had been despatched by some means or other. what was the use of being an inca if he could not manage a simple little thing like that? to summon arima and enquire of that trusty henchman whether, in the hurry of departure from the survey camp, he had remembered to pack up and bring away his master's writing desk was naturally the next thing in order. upon learning that the desk had not been forgotten, escombe at once had it brought to him, and sat down and wrote a long letter, addressed jointly to his mother and sister. this letter contained a full account of his abduction and all that had followed thereupon, together with an assurance that not only would he contrive henceforward to communicate with them regularly, but also that if, after the lapse of a certain length of time to allow the process of "settling down" to become complete, it should appear that his scheme of government was likely to prove a success, he would send for them to come out to him. he added that, meanwhile, the enormous wealth represented by the accumulations of more than three hundred years was at his absolute disposal, and that he felt quite justified in awarding himself a salary of one gold bar per calendar month for his services to the state; also, that since under present circumstances he had no use for a private purse, he should dispatch to them the monthly bar of gold for their own personal use and enjoyment, and that he should expect them to employ it for the purpose named. this somewhat lengthy epistle concluded by giving instructions for the conversion of the gold bar into coin of the realm. harry also wrote to sir philip swinburne, stating that he had fallen into the hands of the indians, but was being well-treated by them, and believed he was in no immediate danger, also that at the moment he saw no prospect of being permitted to return to civilisation; he was therefore writing for the purpose of allaying any apprehension that might be experienced on his account. finally, he wrote to bannister in somewhat similar terms. then he sent for huatama, and gave that functionary instructions to withdraw one gold bar from the treasury vaults and have it securely packed in a suitable box for transmission to europe. chapter fifteen. the monsters that haunted the lake. these matters attended to, escombe summoned the council of seven to the palace, and held what might be considered his first official conference. he began by laying before them his views as to the steps necessary to be taken in order to carry out successfully the desire of the people to become a regenerated nation, instructing them to cause several different kinds of information to be obtained for him, and finally pointing out to them the necessity for free communication with the outside world, and the consequent establishment of something in the nature of a regular postal and transport service between the valley and two or three points on the railway system. long before he had finished all that he had to say it was perfectly evident to the young inca that the members of the council--or at least some of them--were entirely out of sympathy with many of his views and ideas, and that he would have to contend with a vast amount of ignorance and prejudice. to indicate a few out of many points where this lack of sympathy most strongly manifested itself, harry had commented upon the necessity for establishing an army and providing it with the most modern and efficient weapons and equipment. to this huanacocha and his supporters strongly objected, arguing that the state already possessed an army in the shape of the inca's bodyguard, horse and foot, which, in their opinion, ought to be amply sufficient to reconquer the country in view of the fact that pizarro's army numbered less than two hundred men when he captured atahuallpa and thus achieved the conquest of peru. and, as to the importation of modern weapons, they were altogether opposed to the proposal for many reasons, the chief of which were the difficulty and delay attendant upon the procuring of them and of their introduction into the country, and the further delay involved in training the troops to use them. moreover, the weapons with which the existing troops were armed were such as they had always been accustomed to, and in the use of which they were already thoroughly skilled. such a radical change as was proposed must of necessity involve an enormous delay, and for their part they were unable to see any advantage in the proposal. they looked with equal disfavour upon the proposal to establish a postal and transport service, arguing that there was no need for anything of the kind, the fundamental idea governing the settlement of their forefathers in the valley and the founding of the city of the sun being that its inhabitants and the resources of the valley itself would be amply sufficient to achieve the reconquest of the country. it was not until harry had very nearly lost his temper in arguing with these men that he learned that not one of them had ever been outside the valley, and that their very meagre knowledge of the outside world had been derived from the few individuals who at rare intervals had been obliged to make short and hasty journeys outside the confines of the encircling mountains upon state business. as soon as harry had thoroughly grasped this fact he gave them to understand, as politely as possible, that none of them knew in the least what they were talking about, and for that reason he would feel himself compelled to dispense with their advice for the future, forming his own plans in accordance with the knowledge which he had acquired during a residence of several years in the biggest, busiest, and best-informed city in the world; and that henceforth he would ask of them nothing more than loyal wholehearted obedience to his commands. he finally dismissed them with instructions to establish immediately a service of postal runners between the valley and the town of juliaca on the santa rosa, puno, arequipa, and mollendo railway; with further instructions to arrange for the establishment of a thoroughly trustworthy agent at juliaca, whose sole business it should be to see that all letters for europe and other parts of the world were duly stamped and posted upon receipt by him; and to the care of whom all letters for the valley might be addressed. this done, escombe summoned arima to his presence and, handing him all the coin that he happened to have in his possession, delivered to him the letters which he had written, together with the gold bar--by this time securely packed and ready for posting--and directed him to proceed with all possible speed to islay--using the railway as far as possible in order to save time--and there post the letters and the box containing the bar. then he suddenly bethought himself and, before dismissing arima upon his journey, sat down and wrote a long letter to mr john firmin, of lima, he who had been a fellow-passenger from england with harry on board the _rimac_, in this letter he told firmin as much of his story as he thought it necessary for him to know, and made certain arrangements whereby firmin was to undertake certain business transactions from time to time, and to supply immediately certain necessaries, for the due delivery of which harry gave his friend the most minute instructions. this completed what the inca was pleased to regard as a very excellent and satisfactory day's work. and now the young englishman began to find his time very fully occupied, so much so, indeed, that the days seemed not nearly long enough to enable him to accomplish the half of what he wished to do. there was, for instance, the learning of the quichua language. harry had not been domiciled in his palace twenty-four hours before it had become patent to him that this was the first task which he must undertake; for very few of the nobles had any knowledge whatever of spanish, and the inconvenience and loss of time involved in conversing through an interpreter were far too great to be passively endured. and, since he could do very little else as satisfactorily as he would wish until he had mastered this rich and expressive language, he devoted four hours of every day--two in the morning and two in the evening--to its study. then he soon learned that, exclusive of the inhabitants of the valley of the sun, there were some three hundred and fifty thousand indians scattered up and down the country, at least one in every ten of whom might be counted as a fighting man. these people had to be brought into the valley, housed, fed, disciplined, in preparation for the time when arms should be put into their hands; also--what was more difficult still--matters had to be so arranged that the families of these men, and all dependent upon them, should suffer neither loss nor inconvenience from the drafting of the able-bodied into the valley. then the arrangements and preparations for the importation of arms and ammunition into the country--everything connected with which had, of course, to be done entirely without the knowledge of the authorities--involved a tremendous amount of hard and intricate work. it is therefore not to be wondered at that during the first six months of his reign the young inca was unable to spare a single hour for amusement. but the moment was at hand when harry was to enjoy some sport of a quite unique character; and the way in which it came about was thus. as he stood one morning in the palace garden, gazing out over the lake, with his faithful henchman arima close at hand, an idea suddenly occurred to him, and, turning, he remarked: "the lake looks particularly enticing this morning, arima. are there any balsas near at hand? because, if so, you shall fetch me one, and we will go out together to deep water and indulge in a glorious swim." "a swim, lord, in the deep water of the lake?" ejaculated arima in horror-stricken accents. "nay, that is impossible." "impossible!" repeated harry. "and why, pray?" "because of the monsters, lord," answered arima. "were we to venture to plunge into the lake we should almost certainly be devoured." "indeed!" answered harry. "so there are monsters in the lake, are there? i was not aware of that. and what are those `monsters'? are they alligators, or voracious fish, or what are they? i should hardly have supposed that the water of the lake was warm enough for alligators to flourish in it." "nay, lord," answered arima, "they are not alligators. i have seen alligators in some of the northern rivers, and know them well enough to be able to distinguish between them and the monsters which haunt our lake. nor are they fish; or if they be, they are quite unlike any other fish that these eyes of mine have ever beheld. we call them `monsters' because our forefathers did so, and because we have no other name for them; also because of their exceeding size and malevolence." "ah!" commented harry. "well, what are these creatures--these monsters--like, and how big are they? have you ever seen them?" "yes, lord," was the answer. "i have seen them no less than three times at close quarters, and always with the same disastrous results. the first time was when, during my passage of the lake on a balsa, one of my companions had the misfortune to fall into the water. ere the balsa could be stopped and paddled back to where the man was struggling, two of the monsters appeared and tore him limb from limb. the resemblance to an alligator lies chiefly in the shape of the head, which, however, is longer in proportion and more pointed than that of the alligator. also, our monsters have smooth skins, nearly black in colour, and instead of feet and legs they have fins. the tail also is differently shaped from that of an alligator, being wide and flat at the end." "by jove!" exclaimed harry in astonishment, "they must be queer and formidable-looking creatures indeed; and fins in place of legs and feet! i'll be shot if i can place them at all. are there many of them?" "we do not generally see more than two, or three at most, although it is on record that on one occasion, many years ago, four were seen, two of them being obviously young ones," answered arima. "upon my word, this all sounds exceedingly interesting," commented harry. "i should dearly like to see the creatures myself. do they often show themselves?" "very rarely, lord, save in the case of such accidents as those of which i have told you," answered arima. "yet," he continued, "if my lord desires to see the monsters it could doubtless be managed. if the carcass of an animal were deposited upon yonder rock,"--the indian pointed to a rock showing slightly above the water's surface about a mile from the shore--"and another were cast into the water quite near it, the monsters would doubtless be attracted to the place; and if my lord were close at hand at the time, upon a large and safe balsa, he would see them when they crawl up on the rock to reach the carcass exposed there." "ah!" ejaculated harry; "you think so? then let the matter be arranged for to-morrow, arima. i confess that your description of the creatures has powerfully excited my curiosity, and made me very anxious to see them." and on the morrow the young inca's curiosity was fully gratified, and with something to spare. oh, those monsters! harry believed he possessed a passably fair general knowledge of natural history, but these creatures--monsters truly--were entirely new to him. in no natural history had he ever seen a representation of anything like them. and yet, when he came to think of it again, singular and terrifying as was their appearance, it was not altogether unfamiliar. he believed he had seen them portrayed somewhere, although he could not for the moment remember where. fully forty feet long from the snout to the tip of the tail, with a head shaped midway between that of a pike and a crocodile, with enormous protruding eyes, with a smooth somewhat fish-shaped body almost black above and shading off to a dirty whitish-grey beneath, with a long tail broad and flat at its extremity, and with four seal-like flippers instead of legs and feet, the monsters looked more like nightmare creatures, evolved by reading a book on antediluvian animals after a--. of course, that was it, escombe decided, as his thoughts took some such turn as above. he now distinctly remembered having read some years ago a most interesting illustrated magazine article upon extinct animals, and one of the pictures portrayed these identical monsters, labelling them "plesiosaurus"! yes, the more harry thought about it the less room did he find for doubt that these so-called monsters haunting the lake in the valley of the sun were actually survivors--most probably the only ones--of the antediluvian plesiosaurus. how they got there was a most interesting problem, yet it seemed by no means a difficult one to solve. the conclusion at which escombe speedily arrived--rightly or wrongly-- was that upon the subsidence of the waters of the deluge a pair of plesiosauri had found themselves imprisoned in the great basin of the valley, where, the conditions presumably being exceptionally favourable, they had not only survived but had actually contrived to perpetuate their species to a very limited extent. and the reason why the lake was not swarming with them, instead of containing probably only three or four specimens at the utmost, was doubtless that the waters were too circumscribed in extent, and too unproductive in the matter of fish, to support more than that number. the problem of how they came to be where they were was, however, not one of very great importance; the thing that really mattered was, in escombe's opinion, that their presence in the lake constituted a horrible danger to those who were obliged to traffic upon its waters, and they must be destroyed. they must not be permitted to exist another day longer than was absolutely necessary. why, when one came to think of it, how many hundreds of lives might not already have fallen victims to the savage voracity of those creatures? what hope for his life would a man have if he chanced to fall off his balsa at a moment when one of those monsters happened to be close at hand? positively none. escombe shuddered as he reflected that, ignorant as he had hitherto been of the presence of the plesiosauri in the lake, it had only been by a series of fortuitous circumstances--or was it the intervention of a merciful providence?--that he had been from time to time prevented from bathing in the lake, ay, and actually swimming out to the distant rock, as he had several times been strongly tempted to do. yes, those implacably ferocious monsters must be destroyed forthwith; and the only point remaining to be settled was, how was the work of destruction to be accomplished? the plan which first suggested itself to the young inca was the very obvious one of fishing for them with a baited hook and line, even as sharks were fished for. true, it would need a very big hook and a very strong line to capture a creature of the size and strength of a plesiosaurus; but to manufacture them was surely not beyond the resources of the inhabitants of the valley. yes; but there was another matter to be considered. what about a craft from which to do the fishing? the largest balsa that harry had ever seen upon the lake was not nearly big enough for the purpose; a hooked plesiosaurus would drag it under water without an effort, and then what would become of its occupants? the probabilities were too awful for contemplation, and the idea was not to be entertained for a moment. besides, a balsa was not at all the kind of craft on which to engage in so dangerous a form of sport, even though it were possible to build one big enough; what was needed was a good stanch sturdy boat of, say, twenty tons or so. and, having arrived at this point in his meditations, escombe was naturally reminded that he had often wished that he possessed a small yacht wherein to disport himself on the lake. why should he not have one? his will was law; he had but to speak the word and the best and most skilled workers in the valley would be at his disposal for the construction of the vessel. and as to her design, why, he had always been an enthusiastic yacht sailor, and knew, as well as most amateurs, what the shape of such a craft should be, and was quite capable of putting that shape on paper in a form that could be worked from. escombe's mind was made up: he would destroy those plesiosauri, and to destroy them a suitable boat was necessary. that boat might be so designed and built as to also afford him a great deal of pleasure, and he would have her. and thereupon he set to work and devoted every minute he could spare to the preparation of her design, which, a week later, was in the hands of a small army of carpenters, eager to show what they could do in a line of work that was entirely new to them. chapter sixteen. the slaying of the monsters. "many hands make light work"; and in just two months from the day of starting work upon the cutter she was complete, rigged, and ready for launching. she was of the most up-to-date type with which escombe was acquainted; that is to say, beamy, rather shallow of body, with spoon bow, and a fin keel, and her designer felt particularly proud of her as he walked round her and critically surveyed her lines and general shape the last thing before giving the word to put her into the water. needless to say she was also the object of great and ever-increasing curiosity to the inhabitants of the valley generally, not more than perhaps a dozen of whom had ever seen anything more handy and shipshape than the unwieldy balsa, or raft constructed of reeds, a not very manageable craft at the best of times, and of course quite incapable of being navigated under sail except before the wind. the cutter was got into the water without accident, and after some slight readjustment of her inside ballast, to bring her accurately to her correct water line, her young owner got on board and, a nice sailing breeze happening to be blowing right down the lake, took her for a trial spin from one end of the lake to the other, running down and beating back. the result was eminently satisfactory in every respect, the little vessel developing a fine turn of speed, not only before the wind but also close-hauled, while she was of course, like all craft of similar form, remarkably weatherly; indeed the smartness with which she worked back against the wind, from the lower end of the lake, was regarded by the unsophisticated inhabitants of the valley as nothing short of miraculous. meanwhile, escombe having given instructions for the manufacture of a hardened copper hook, with two fathoms of chain attached, and a stout rope of plaited raw hide, at the same time that he had put the yacht in hand, these articles were now ready. therefore, after exercising his crew for a week, to get them thoroughly accustomed to the working of the new craft, he made arrangements for a grand plesiosaurus hunt, to which he invited his stanch friend umu, and three or four other nobles who had manifested a capacity for development into kindred spirits. on a certain glorious morning this novel fishing party embarked on board the yacht, taking with them, of course, their fishing line and the carcasses of two llamas, cut in half, for bait, together with a formidable battery of bows and arrows, spears, heavy maces, and other weapons for the killing of their quarry when captured; to which armament escombe added his magazine rifle and two packets of cartridges, which the faithful arima had been careful to bring away from the survey camp, together with everything else belonging to his young master, on the memorable occasion of that individual's abduction. starting under easy sail, and heading for the bottom of the lake, the great fishing line-- made fast by its inner end to the windlass bitts, and the remainder of it led aft outside and clear of all rigging--was baited and paid out astern as soon as the cutter had run into deep water. it was not very long before the party, intently on the watch for the approach of the plesiosauri, detected a strong, swirling ripple mingling with that of the yacht's wake, which indicated that at least one of the monsters was at hand, and presently the ripple broke, revealing some six feet of smooth, black, glistening back keeping pace with the little vessel, while occasionally, when the light favoured, an indistinct and momentary glimpse might be caught, through the swirling water, of two enormous, glaring eyes. but the beast, in its eagerness to reach its supposed prey, had apparently passed the baited hook as unworthy of its notice, for the bait was a long way astern of the creature, which seemed intent only on overtaking the yacht, for it now made frequent rushes forward until it was within a few fathoms of the little vessel's counter, and then sank out of sight and dropped astern again, as though it knew not what to make of the moving object ahead of it. but, provokingly enough, from the sportsmen's point of view, it never dropped far enough astern to bring it level with the bait, while, on the other hand, when it approached the yacht it was careful to keep far enough below the surface to render anything like an accurate aim impossible; indeed it behaved as though it instinctively knew that danger threatened it. although escombe's companions were eager enough to waste their arrows in obviously futile attempts to hit it, the young leader of the expedition rigorously forbade everything of the nature of chance shooting, lest the creature should happen to receive a more or less slight wound, and thus be driven to flight. and, for the same reason, escombe himself declined to attempt a shot with his rifle. but while they were all intently watching the movements of the creature, and standing with weapons in hand, ready to discharge an effective shot at the first favourable opportunity, a sudden, startled yell from arima, who was tending the fishing line, caused the whole party to wheel round to see what was the matter, and harry had only bare time to drop his rifle and grip his faithful henchman by the belt, to thus prevent him from being dragged overboard, as the line suddenly tautened out like a bar, flinging up a great shower of spray as it did so, while a terrific plunge in the water far astern revealed the fact that a second monster, whose presence had hitherto been undetected, had taken the bait and become hooked. "let go the line, you idiot, let go!" hissed escombe through his clenched teeth, as he braced his feet against a stanchion and flung himself back, clinging with both hands to arima's belt, while that individual vainly strove to hold the now frantically struggling reptile--"let go, man, if you don't want to be dragged overboard and eaten alive! haul down the foresail, there, for'ard!" the stout raw-hide line twanged like a harp-string as the terrified arima relaxed his convulsive grip on it and was hauled back inboard to safety by his master, and the yacht's forward progress was checked with an abruptness that threatened to drag the bitts out of her as the strain of the line, with the plunging, struggling monster at the end of it, was suddenly thrown upon them, while the shock sent every individual, fore and aft, sprawling upon the deck, to the uproarious and most undignified amusement of the young inca, and the mortal terror of his faithful subjects. then, as all hands scrambled to their feet again and instinctively regained possession of their weapons, the hooked saurian started to "run", in the vain hope, possibly, of breaking away from the restraining influence which had so suddenly and unaccountably seized upon it. the yacht was whirled violently round--almost capsizing in the process--and dragged, with her bows nearly buried in the hissing and curling water, back toward the head of the lake, at a steadily increasing pace, as the now thoroughly terrified plesiosaurus surged forward at headlong speed in its frenzied endeavour to escape, with its companion keeping pace by its side. the yacht had only travelled a distance of some three miles down the lake when the monster had taken the bait, and on the backward journey this distance was covered in about a quarter of an hour--a fact which bore eloquent testimony to the tremendous strength of the creature. harry was beginning to feel exceedingly uneasy lest his vessel should be towed into such shallow water that he would be compelled to cut the line in order to save her from being dragged ashore, when the quarry, which probably also objected to shallow water, wheeled suddenly right round and, rushing close past the cutter, in a perfect maelstrom of foam and spray, headed back for the lower end of the lake, with its companion still bearing it company. to thrust the helm hard over, and to shout to everybody to lie down and hang on for their lives, was, with harry, the work of but a moment; yet the yacht, handy as she was on her helm, had scarcely swept halfway round when the stout line again jerked itself taut, the terrific strain again came upon the bitts, causing them to ominously creak and groan, and once more the little vessel heeled gunwale under as she was whirled violently round, until she righted again and ploughed up a glassy sheet of foam-laced water on either bow as she tore along in the wake of the monster reptiles. "this cannot possibly last very much longer," remarked escombe reassuringly to his companions, who had by this time turned a sickly, greenish-yellow with terror at so unaccustomed an adventure--and that, too, on an element to which they were practically strangers--"the brute will soon become exhausted at this rate, and when he does we will haul him alongside and finish him off with our spears and arrows. i don't care how far he runs, so long as he heads as he is now going; it is those sudden twists and turns that are dangerous. if he were to break away we should probably never have a chance to hook him again." nevertheless, despite harry's confident prognostication, they had traversed quite half the length of the lake ere there was the slightest perceptible sign of the creature weakening; and they accomplished another quarter of the distance ere the reptile slackened speed sufficiently to admit of their attempting to haul the yacht up alongside it. then, when they at length proceeded to make the attempt, the additional strain thrown on the rope, as it was hauled in and coiled down, seemed to exhaust the last remnant of the brute's strength, and, stopping suddenly, it rose to the surface and, throwing its head out of the water, shook it savagely from side to side in a futile endeavour to shake itself free of the hook, emitting a curious grunting kind of roar as it did so. yet, even now, the creature was not conquered; for when it found itself being hauled alongside the yacht it suddenly sank, and nearly the whole of the length of rope that had been hauled in was allowed to run out again ere harry, by taking a quick turn round the bitts, was able to stay its downward progress. and then it became a matter of sheer, downright drag by all hands ere the huge bulk could be brought near enough to the surface to permit of the use of their weapons on it, when it was found that its companion still clung faithfully to its side. at length, after some fifteen minutes of exhausting labour on the one hand, opposed to stolid dogged resistance on the other, the monster reptile was dragged so close to the surface that the point of its snout was actually raised above the level or the water, and the whole of the gigantic body, right down to the extremity of the broad-ended tail, could be clearly seen hanging suspended vertically in the pellucid depths beneath the yacht, while swimming agitatedly round and round the suspended body could occasionally be seen the creature's mate, now plunging deep, as though, thoroughly terrified, it had at length determined to abandon so dangerous a neighbourhood, and anon returning with a swift rush to the surface, and furious dartings to and fro, as though meditating an attempt at the rescue of its companion. and now, for the first time, the hunters were able to obtain a thoroughly clear and satisfactory view, at close quarters, of the gruesome-looking brutes, and a truly hideous and nightmare-inspiring sight it was; a sight which, as escombe gazed at the ponderous, powerful, thick-skinned bodies, the enormous, protruding, balefully glaring eyes, and the long, cavernous, gaping jaws, armed with great serrated teeth--those of the upper jaw fitting in between those of the lower--caused him to feel, more strongly than ever, the conviction that in destroying the creatures he was a public benefactor. the captured brute now hung so nearly motionless, with the point of the great barbed hook protruding through its upper jaw, that it was evident its strength must be practically exhausted; and escombe, standing by to open fire with his magazine rifle in case of an emergency, gave the word to his companions to deal the death stroke, advising some to endeavour to reach the creature's brain by means of a spear-thrust through the eye, while others were to attempt to pierce the heart. but, with the arrival of the crucial moment, the nerves of the natives seemed to suddenly fail them; they became flurried and frightened in the very act of raising their weapons to strike, and every man of them missed his mark, inflicting many serious and doubtless painful wounds, but not one that seemed in the least degree likely to prove mortal. the result was the immediate resumption of a struggle so violent that for a breathless minute or two it really seemed as though the cutter, stout little craft as she was, would be dragged under water and sunk. and in the very height of the confusion one of the hunters must needs fall overboard into the midst of the boiling flurry of bloodstained foam raised by the struggles of the frantic brute, and was only dragged aboard again by harry in the very nick of time to save him from the terrific rush of the second plesiosaurus. then the young leader of the party, seeing that his companions were too completely unnerved to be of any use, and that the violent struggles of the wounded brute threatened to seriously injure, if they did not actually destroy, the cutter, stepped forward, and, raising his rifle, seized the opportunity afforded by a pause of a fraction of a second in the violent movements of the creature, and sent a bullet crashing through its right eye into its brain. that settled the matter. the struggles ceased for a moment or two with startling suddenness; a convulsive, writhing movement followed; then came a terrible shudder, and with a final gasping groan the monster yielded up its life and hung motionless, its body supported, still in an upright position, by the great hook through its jaw. with the crack of escombe's rifle the second monster had suddenly vanished. the question now was, what was to be done with the carcass of the dead plesiosaurus. as harry stood there, contemplatively regarding it, it was perfectly obvious to him that if the great fish hook were cut out of the creature's jaw with an axe, the body would at once sink to the bottom of the lake, and there would be an end of it, so far as he was concerned, and the party would at once be free to resume their fishing, although he had his doubts as to whether, after what had already happened, another of the monsters could be tempted to take the baited hook. but it suddenly occurred to him that, the plesiosaurus being to all intents and purposes an extinct and antediluvian animal, the only remains of it in existence must necessarily consist of such fossilised fragments as had been accidentally discovered in the course of excavation, and that the complete skeleton of such a gigantic specimen as that before him would be regarded as a priceless acquisition by the curator of the natural history museum at south kensington; so he at once resolved to take the necessary steps for its preservation. he gave orders for the line to which the hook was bent to be led aft, for convenience of towage, and then commanded his crew to set the cutter's sails, his purpose being to tow the carcass to a lonely part of the shore, and there have the body hauled up out of water, the flesh carefully removed from the bones, and the skeleton as carefully disarticulated, prior to packing it for dispatch to england. but the cutter was scarcely under way, and heading for the spot that had been selected as suitable for the above operations, when a disturbance of the water near at hand indicated the presence of some bulky moving body, most probably the companion of the dead creature, which had been terrified into temporary flight by the report of harry's rifle. the animal, however, or whatever it might be, remained invisible, the little swirling eddies and ripples on the surface of the water alone betraying its whereabouts. but while harry and his friends were discussing this appearance, and wondering what it might portend, one of them happened to glance around him in another direction, and his startled exclamation caused the rest of the party to look in the direction toward which he pointed. and there, somewhat to their consternation, the party saw, not half a dozen yards away, on the cutter's weather beam, the indications that two more of the monsters were present, keeping way with the cutter, and, as was presently pretty evident, edging in toward her; indeed, so close were they to her that an occasional momentary flicker of the black back of the nearer of the two could already be caught through the gleaming water. two or three of the nobles who had by this time succeeded in pulling themselves together and getting a grip upon their courage, proposed an instant attack upon the monsters; but escombe felt that, for the moment, he had as much upon his hands as he could manage. for with that huge dead bulk in tow the cutter was scarcely under command, and he had no desire to scare the creatures away by commencing an attack upon them which he could not follow up. the choice, however, was not left to him for long; for within five minutes of the discovery of the last arrivals all three of the plesiosauri, as with one consent and at a signal, closed in upon the carcass of their comrade, and, flinging themselves upon it with the utmost fury, gave themselves up to the task of tearing it to pieces, the work being accomplished in the midst of a foaming, splashing turmoil of water that was absolutely terrifying to witness, which caused the little cutter to pitch and roll to such an extent that it was almost impossible to retain a footing upon her heaving deck. whether the creatures made any attempt to devour the great lumps of flesh that they tore from the violently swaying carcass it was quite impossible to determine, but in any case the process of disintegration was a speedy one, for in less than ten minutes from the moment of attack all that was left attached to the hook was the head of the defunct saurian. justly vexed at this malicious interference with his plans, and determined to save at least this last relic as a trophy of his prowess, the young inca gave orders for the head to be hauled inboard; but upon the first attempt to do this, one of the monsters made a savage rush and seized the head in its great jaws, worrying it as a dog worries a rat, giving utterance as it did so to a succession of horrid grunting kind of growls that caused most of the hearers to break into a cold perspiration. so tenaciously did the brute retain its grip that for a few minutes the onlookers were almost persuaded that it was hooked; but ultimately it released the mangled fragment--which its powerful jaws had by this time crushed and splintered almost out of recognition--and, retreating some thirty yards, suddenly wheeled and came foaming back to the yacht, at which it made a furious dash, with the apparent determination to climb on board and sweep her deck clear of its human freight. so resolute, indeed, was it in driving home its attack that it actually succeeded in getting its two fore flippers in on the boat's deck, scattering its occupants right and left, and almost driving two or three over the side, while so heavily was the boat listed by the weight of the monster, that harry, sliding upon the steeply inclined deck, had the narrowest possible escape of being precipitated headlong into the creature's gaping jaws, and indeed only saved himself by stretching out his hand and thrusting the snout violently aside, the violence of the thrust luckily enabling him to recover his equilibrium. then umu--who appeared to be the only native of the party blessed with any real courage or presence of mind--seeing his beloved master in imminent danger, as he believed, of being seized and devoured before their eyes, raised his bow, and hastily fitting an arrow to the string, drew the shaft to its very head and let it fly into the reptile's throat, where it stuck fast, inflicting so much pain that the beast at once flung itself back into the water, roaring and choking, coughing up blood, and throwing itself into the most indescribable contortions. then a very extraordinary thing happened. no sooner did the wounded plesiosaurus begin to vomit blood than the other two, which had meanwhile been swimming excitedly to and fro, hurled themselves upon it in what seemed to be a perfect frenzy of fury, and a most ferocious and sanguinary battle ensued, the swirling, flying, foam-flecked water being almost instantly deeply dyed with blood, while the air fairly vibrated with the terrifying sounds emitted by the combatants. the cutter, meanwhile, relieved of the heavy drag upon her of the carcass of the dead plesiosaurus, began to slide rapidly away from the vicinity of the fighting monsters, and would soon have left them far behind. but this did not at all suit harry, who, having undertaken to destroy the ferocious reptiles, was by no means inclined to leave his task less than half done. he therefore put the cutter about and, to the mingled astonishment and dismay of his companions, headed her back toward the scene of the combat, steering in such a manner as to pass just to leeward of the spot where the violent commotion in the water showed that the battle was still raging with unabated fury. then, as the boat ranged up alongside, with her foresheet hauled to windward, the great bodies of the monsters could be seen rushing and plunging and leaping hither and thither, whereupon the whole party of sportsmen opened a vigorous and well-directed fire of arrows and javelins upon them, harry chiming in with his deadly rifle whenever a good chance for a shot offered itself. the result of this determined attack was that the young leader was lucky enough to get in a splendid shot close behind the left shoulder of one of the struggling brutes, which must have reached its heart, for upon receiving the bullet the great reptile flung itself more than half out of the water, uttering a dreadful cry as it did so, and then, falling back, turned slowly over, and with one last writhing, convulsive shudder, sank slowly to the bottom of the lake. meanwhile the remaining two, both severely wounded, flung themselves upon each other with such a maniacal intensity of fury as was truly awful to see. finally, one of the monsters succeeded in getting a firm grip upon the throat of the other, and hung on, despite the frantic struggles of the other to get clear. for perhaps two full minutes the commotion in the water was positively terrific; then it rapidly decreased until, probably quite exhausted by the intensity of their prolonged efforts, they lay practically still upon the surface of the water, their only signs of life being an occasional slight twist of the body on the part of one or the other of them. such an opportunity was much too good to be missed, and, raising his rifle, escombe was lucky enough to shoot both the monsters dead by a couple of rapid, well-directed shots through the head. the two carcasses immediately began to sink; but before they vanished completely out of sight, one of the cutter's crew, by means of a lucky cast, succeeded in hooking one of the defunct saurians with the great fish hook; and by this means the monster was eventually landed, with some difficulty, at the spot originally chosen for the purpose. thus terminated the great plesiosaurus hunt, after nearly three hours of the most exciting work that escombe had ever enjoyed. chapter seventeen. huanacocha the plotter. about a fortnight after escombe's destruction of the plesiosauri, it pleased huanacocha, the late chief of the council of seven, to entertain a small but select party of his especial friends at a banquet, which he gave in his house, situate on the borders of the lake, the grounds of which adjoined those of the virgins of the sun, which, in turn, were contiguous to those of the royal palace. huanacocha was probably the most wealthy man in the city of the sun, next to the inca himself; for he had held the position of chief of the council of seven for nearly a quarter of a century, and previous to the appearance of escombe upon the scene the portion of the national revenue that would otherwise have gone into the coffers of the sovereign had always been awarded to the council of seven; while, huanacocha being not only an astute but also an utterly unscrupulous man, of exceptionally strong and overbearing character, the larger portion of this award had regularly found its way, by various devious channels, into his own private treasure chest. he was consequently well able to offer his guests an entertainment of almost regal magnificence. it is not to be wondered at, therefore, that when the lord huanacocha issued invitations to a banquet--which was not very often--the full number of the invited generally made a point of accepting, and being present at the function. upon the occasion in question the guests consisted of our old friends tiahuana, the villac vmu, and motahuana, together with the lords licuchima and chalihuama, late of the council of seven, and the lords chinchacocheta and lehuava--six in all. it is not necessary to describe the banquet in detail; let it suffice to say that, for reasons of his own, the host had given special instructions that neither trouble nor expense was to be spared to make the function a complete success; and that therefore, so well had his instructions been carried out, the entertainment as a whole fell not very far short of that which had marked the occasion of escombe's accession to the throne of the incas. there is no need to record in detail the conversation that followed upon the dismissal of the servants. it is sufficient to say that huanacocha had arranged this banquet with the express object of eliciting the views of his guests upon a certain project that had been gradually taking shape in his mind, which he believed was now ripe for execution. but, to his astonishment and consternation, he now discovered that he had to a very important extent entirely misapprehended the situation; and after a long and somewhat heated discussion the meeting had broken up without result, save that the guests had departed from his house in a mutually distrustful and uneasy frame of mind. when huanacocha at length retired to rest that night not only did he feel somewhat uneasy, but he was also distinctly angry with himself; for although he had achieved the purpose with which the banquet had been given--which was to elicit a frank expression of opinion from certain individuals relative to the inca and his schemes of reformation--he felt that he had blundered badly. he had used neither tact nor discretion in his manner of conducting the conversation; he had been reckless even to the point of suggesting opposition to the decrees of the sovereign; and when it was too late, when he had fatally committed himself, he had seen, to his discomfiture, that two of his companions--and those two the most powerful persons in the community, next to the inca himself, namely the villac vmu and his deputy, motahuana--were distinctly out of sympathy with him. true, the villac vmu had expressed himself as puzzled, disturbed, anxious at the attitude of the inca towards the religious question; but it was perfectly clear that the frame of mind of the high priest was not nearly acute enough to induce him to regard with favour, or even with patience, any suggestion at all savouring of sedition. and he, huanacocha, in his heat and impatience, had been foolish enough to throw out such a suggestion. the question that now disturbed him was: what would be tiahuana's attitude toward him henceforward in view of what he had said; nay more, what would be the attitude of the high priest toward his friends in view of what they had said? would the villac vmu and his deputy accept a suggestion which he had thrown out, that this momentous and imprudent conversation should be regarded as private and confidential, and treat it as such, or would they consider it their duty to report the affair to the inca? if they did, then huanacocha knew that he and his friends would have good cause to regret their imprudence; for, despite all his cavilling, the late chief of the council of seven had already seen enough of escombe's methods to feel certain that the young monarch would stand no nonsense, particularly of the seditious kind, and that, at the first hint of anything of that sort, if the culprits did not lose their heads, they would at least find themselves bestowed where their seditious views could work no mischief. as these reflections passed through the mind of huanacocha, that somewhat impulsive and overbearing individual grew increasingly uneasy, and he now began to fear that he had been altogether too outspoken. for, be it known, this man huanacocha had conceived nothing less than the audacious idea of overthrowing the inca, and securing his own election in his stead. in his capacity of chief of the council of seven he had for a long term of years enjoyed a measure of power scarcely less than that invested in the inca himself; for, being by nature of an unusually arrogant and domineering disposition, while the other members of the council had been exceedingly pliant and easy-going, he had never experienced any difficulty in browbeating them into tolerably quick compliance with his wishes, however extravagant they might happen to have been. as for the people, they had rendered the same implicit, unquestioning obedience to the council that they would have rendered to the inca, had there been one on the throne. having enjoyed this power, together with all the privileges and emoluments attaching thereto, for so long a time, huanacocha had found it particularly hard and unpleasant to be called upon to resign them all, practically at a moment's notice, when young escombe made his appearance upon the scene. possibly, had harry chanced to conform to this man's preconceived opinion of what the inca would be like whenever it should please him to revisit the earth, he might have accepted the situation with a reasonably good grace; but to be ousted by "a mere boy"--for as such he always thought of the young inca--was altogether too much to be submitted to tamely. at the first his mental revolt had been vague, indefinite, and formless; perhaps he had thought that in course of time it would pass away and he would grow reconciled to the new order of things, particularly if the young inca should show himself properly willing to submit to the guiding hand of the council of seven, as represented by its late chief. but escombe lost no time in making it perfectly clear to everybody that he had his own ideas upon the subject of government, and meant to act upon them. upon more than one occasion--upon several, in fact--the young inca had turned a deaf ear to the counsels of huanacocha, and had carried out his own ideas because he had honestly believed them to be better and more advantageous to the community. he had put his foot down heavily upon many abuses of power on the part of certain of the highest nobles, and in this way huanacocha had suffered perhaps more severely than anyone else. for this reason his condition of mental revolt, instead of passing away, gathered new force and gradually began to assume a definite form which ultimately resolved itself into the determination to cause harry's "removal" by some means--he did not particularly care what they were--and procure his own election to the vacant throne, if that might be; or, if not that, at least the re- instatement of the council of seven, with himself, of course, as its chief. with this object in view he had commenced operations by proceeding to manufacture sedulously a number of imaginary grievances from which he asserted that the people were suffering, and these he industriously spread abroad among his own friends, hoping that in course of time they would filter through to the people themselves, and be eagerly adopted by them; which delectable plan certainly met with some measure of success. but as he lay tossing sleeplessly upon his bed he realised that he had that evening been both foolish and precipitate: he had seriously mistaken the nature of the views held by the two priests, and had betrayed himself and his friends in their presence. how would the villac vmu and his deputy act, or would they act at all, was the question which he now repeatedly asked himself? could he by any means ascertain their intentions? he must, by fair means or foul: it would never do for him to remain in ignorance upon such a vital point after the reckless manner in which he and his friends had spoken. ay, and more than that, he must make quite sure that they maintained silence upon the subject of that most imprudent conversation, otherwise--! he flung himself over restlessly upon his bed: the longer he thought upon the matter the more glaring did his folly appear. he must guard himself and his friends from the consequences of that folly at all costs. but how? who was there to advise him? suddenly he bethought himself of xaxaguana, the priest who ranked next below motahuana. of course, he was the very man of all others; for, first of all, he was huanacocha's very particular friend, and a man, moreover, who was deeply indebted to him for many past favours of a somewhat exceptional kind; also he was young, comparatively speaking, very ambitious, and not over scrupulous. yes, xaxaguana was undoubtedly the man for his purpose, and huanacocha told himself, with a smile of relief, that he had been a fool for not thinking of the priest before. but although huanacocha believed that he saw in xaxaguana the "friend in need" for whom he had been so anxiously casting about, he was still much too uneasy to sleep, and he was up and about with the appearance of the first faint suggestion of dawn, too anxious to remain inactive any longer, yet fully conscious of the fact that the hour was altogether too early for him to seek his friend without running a very grave risk of attracting unwelcome attention by so unusual a proceeding. he therefore decided to take a long walk, and think the whole affair over again while his brain and his pulses were being steadied by the cool, fresh air of the morning. was it fate or was it mere chance that caused him to select a route which led him past that part of the temple which constituted the quarters of the priests? huanacocha told himself that it was his lucky star that was in the ascendant; for as he was passing the building the door gently opened and the very man that he was so anxious to see stepped into the roadway and quietly closed the door behind him. then he looked round and beheld huanacocha, and a little ejaculation of astonishment escaped him. "this is a fortunate meeting indeed," he exclaimed as he stepped forward to greet his friend; "most fortunate; for perhaps you will be astonished to hear that i am thus early astir with the express object of seeking you." "ah!" thought huanacocha; "unless i am greatly mistaken that means that i must prepare for the worst." but, having by this time shaken off his panic to a considerable extent, and once more pulled himself together, he decided to allow his friend to speak first, as by so doing he would probably be better able to judge what he should himself say. he therefore responded to xaxaguana's greeting by remarking: "then it is lucky that i chose this direction for my morning ramble, otherwise we should have missed each other. you look somewhat astonished at seeing me astir so early; but the fact is, my friend, that i was sleepless; i have therefore left my bed early, to take a walk in the early morning air. but i understood you to say that you wished to see me. which way shall we go?" "let us go up the road toward the hills," answered xaxaguana. "there will be the less chance of our being seen; and it may be well for me to mention, at the outset, that there may be several good reasons why you and i should not be seen together at this juncture, my lord huanacocha." "ah! and wherefore so, my good friend?" demanded huanacocha. "because," answered xaxaguana, "last night you betrayed yourself into the committal of a serious imprudence, namely that of presuming to criticise unfavourably certain acts of our lord the inca, which, as you are surely aware, is a crime punishable with death. do you ask how i happen to know this? i will tell you. it chanced that i was kept late from my bed last night by certain business connected with the approaching feast of raymi, and i was therefore astir when the villac vmu and motahuana returned from your banquet. you may possibly be aware that it is a rule among us that nothing which transpires within the precincts of the temple is ever to be referred to, or even so much as hinted at, outside the temple walls. it is therefore our habit, when within those walls, to speak before each other with the most perfect freedom; and, friend huanacocha, i am breaking one of our most stringent vows in telling you even this much. i hope, therefore, that should the time ever arrive when you can do me a service, you will remember this fact, and allow it to weigh in my favour." "rest assured that i will do so, my good friend," answered huanacocha; "although methinks that there are one or two services rendered to you for which i have as yet received no adequate return. but let that pass; i am interrupting you; pray proceed with your story." "i will," returned xaxaguana. "as i have already mentioned, i was astir when tiahuana and motahuana returned from your house last night. they entered the common room, in which i was at work--possibly because it was the only room in which any lights were burning--and, flinging themselves upon a couch quite near to me, began to talk. it was easy to see that they were much agitated and excited; but, being busy, i paid little heed to their conversation at the outset, and only pricked up my ears when i heard your name mentioned. then i confess that i listened, and soon heard sufficient to convince me that you, huanacocha, and your friends lehuava, chinchacocheta, licuchima, and chilihuama were, last night, guilty of such imprudence as may well cost you all your lives, unless you have the wit and readiness of action to prevent it!" "but," ejaculated huanacocha, all his former alarms returning to him with tenfold force, "how mean you, friend? surely, neither the villac vmu nor motahuana will dream of reporting what was said within the privacy of my house, will they?" "what was said in the privacy of your house, last night, amounted to blasphemy," remarked xaxaguana dryly; "and it is the bounden duty of every loyal subject of the inca to report blasphemy, wherever it may be spoken. from what was said last night i gathered the impression that neither of the persons mentioned are likely to shrink from the performance of their duty, however unpleasant it may be; so for this reason i set out to warn you this morning. and it was for reasons connected with this that i ventured to indicate the exceeding undesirability of our being seen together just now." "but--but--" stammered huanacocha, completely thrown off his balance by what he had just learned--"if i understand you aright, my good xaxaguana, all this means that the lives of my friends and myself have been put into the utmost jeopardy by my crass folly of last night, i knew--yes, i knew, when it was too late, that i had been a fool," he concluded bitterly. "to be absolutely candid with you, friend huanacocha, i think you were," rejoined xaxaguana somewhat cynically. "why did you do it?" huanacocha stopped short in the middle of the road and looked his friend square in the eye. "xaxaguana," said he, "when i was chief of the council of seven it was in my power to do you several good turns--and i did them. under certain conceivable circumstances it might be in my power to do you several others; and if you can indicate to me a way by which i can extricate myself from my present peril, rest assured that i will not prove ungrateful. i believe you are my friend; and i believe also that you are astute enough to recognise that i can serve you better living than dead. i will therefore be perfectly frank with you and will tell you all that has been in my mind of late. but see, there is the sun, and the good folk of the town will soon be astir, and we may be seen together; let us go over yonder and sit in the shadow of that pile of rocks; we can talk freely there without risk of being seen, or interrupted." without another word xaxaguana turned and led the way across the upland meadow to a somewhat remarkable pile of rocks that cropped out of the soil about a hundred yards from the road, and, passing round to the shady side, which was also the side hidden from the road, seated himself on a bed of soft moss, signing to his companion to do the same. for nearly an hour the pair conversed most earnestly together; then xaxaguana rose to his feet and, reconnoitring the road carefully to see that there was no likelihood of his being observed, stepped forth from his place of concealment. then he hurried across the intervening stretch of grass, and on reaching the road, once more glanced keenly about him, and briskly turned his steps homeward. half an hour later huanacocha did pretty much the same thing; and it was noticeable--or would have been, had there been anyone there to see--that his countenance had lost much of the expression of anxiety that it had worn when he set out for his walk early that morning. he had scarcely bathed and finished his morning meal after his unwonted exertions when his favourite servant rushed into his presence and in agitated accents informed him that one of the underlings of the temple, on his passage into the town, had given forth the startling intelligence that the villac vmu and motahuana, both of whom had been his lord's honoured guests at the banquet of the previous night, had just been found dead upon their beds! chapter eighteen. trapped! the emotion of huanacocha at this surprising piece of news was almost painful to see. as he listened to the hurriedly told story, poured forth by his man, his features took on a sickly yellow tinge, his eyes seemed to be on the point of starting out of his head, and his breath came in labouring gasps from his wide-open mouth; finally, when at length he seemed to have fully grasped the purport of the story, he hid his face in his hands, rested his elbows upon his knees, and sat there quivering like an aspen leaf. in the course of a few minutes, however, he regained his self-control, and with a sigh of such depth that anyone unaware of its melancholy cause might have almost mistaken it for one of relief, he rose to his feet and, muttering to himself something about the difficulty of believing so incredible a story, and the necessity for personally ascertaining the truth, he gave orders for his litter to be brought to the door, and presently sallied forth on his way to the temple, with this intention. the distance to be covered was not great, and by the time that huanacocha reached the temple he had almost completely recovered his composure. alighting from his litter, and bidding his bearers to wait, he climbed the long flight of steps leading up to the building and, accosting the first person he met, demanded, in an authoritative tone of voice to see xaxaguana. it was perfectly evident, even to one less experienced than huanacocha in matters pertaining to the temple routine and its discipline, that some very unusual occurrence had happened, for everybody about the place seemed excited, agitated, distraught; but huanacocha was, of course, well known to every inhabitant of the city of the sun, and presently someone was found possessing enough authority to deal with the great man's request, or command, rather, and in the course of a few minutes he was conducted along a passage and shown into an empty room, there to await the arrival of the man he sought. apparently xaxaguana was busy at the moment, for it was nearly a quarter of an hour ere he appeared, and when he did so his countenance was heavy with concern. "pardon me for having kept you so long waiting, my lord," he said in a loud voice, "but this terrible occurrence, of which i presume you have heard, has thrown us all into a shocking state of confusion, and when your message reached me i was, in my capacity of senior priest, with the physicians whom we summoned, and who have been endeavouring to discover the cause of the death of our lamented friends the villac vmu and motahuana." and, as he spoke, he closed the door carefully behind him. "and have they succeeded?" demanded huanacocha. "oh yes!" answered xaxaguana. "they are in complete agreement that the cause of death in each case was senile decay. they were both very old men, you know." "senile decay!" exclaimed huanacocha, in astonishment. "surely you are not serious, xaxaguana. why, they were at my house last night, as you know, and nobody who then saw them will ever believe that they died of old age. they were almost as active and vigorous as the youngest of us, and neither of them exhibited the slightest symptoms of senile decay." "possibly not," assented xaxaguana; "nevertheless that is the verdict of the physicians. and, after all, you know, these exceedingly old men often pass away with the suddenness of a burnt-out lamp; a single flicker and they are gone. i must confess that, personally, i am not altogether surprised; for when they returned from your house last night it occurred to me that they seemed to have suddenly grown very old and feeble; indeed i said as much when the news of their death was brought to me." "you did, did you?" retorted huanacocha. "by our lord the sun, you are a wonder, xaxaguana; nothing less! how did you manage it, man, and so promptly too? why it must all have happened within half an hour of your return home this morning." "it did," said xaxaguana. "i was still in my bath--for you must know that, being somewhat fatigued with my protracted labours of yesterday, i overslept myself this morning--when the intelligence was brought to me that our two friends had been discovered lying dead in their beds. and they could only have died very recently, for they were neither stiff nor cold." "and--i suppose there were no signs--no marks of violence on the bodies; nothing to suggest the possibility of--of--foul play?" stammered huanacocha. "no," answered xaxaguana; "the physicians found nothing whatever of that kind. how should they? it is certain that both men died in their beds, within the precincts of the temple. and who is there within these precincts who would dare to commit an act of sacrilege, to say nothing of the fact that, so far as is known, there is no one who would be in the slightest degree benefited by their death, or could possibly desire it." huanacocha looked at his friend admiringly. "as i said just now, you are a wonder, xaxaguana," he remarked. "but you have not yet told me how you managed it, and i am anxious to know. so set aside all further pretence, my friend; be frank with me, and satisfy my curiosity." "no," said xaxaguana firmly. "the man who has a secret and fails to keep it to himself is a fool, friend huanacocha, and i am not a fool; therefore if i happen to have a secret i prefer to retain it within my own breast. but the matter stands thus. you told me certain things this morning, and among them was this. you said that if perchance anything were to happen to tiahuana and motahuana, that they died before it was possible for them to take certain action which you had reason to fear, you would use your powerful influence with our lord the inca to see that i obtained promotion to the position of villac vmu, as is, indeed, my right, together with certain other advantages. is not that so? very well. singularly enough, that which you desired has happened--most fortunately for you; and now it seems to me that all that remains is for you to fulfil your promise. do not you agree with me?" "yes," answered huanacocha frankly, "i do; and i will proceed hence to the palace and officially inform the inca of the sudden and lamented death of the villac vmu and his deputy, and will urge the immediate appointment of yourself to the vacant post of high priest. there is no doubt that you will get the appointment, for in the first place you are entitled to it as senior priest; in the next, you will get the full advantage of my recommendation; and, in the third, the inca has no personal friend to whom he would wish to give the appointment in preference to yourself. that matter may therefore be regarded as settled. "but there is another, and an equally important, matter which i now wish to discuss with you, xaxaguana, and in which i desire your advice and help. tiahuana and motahuana being dead, there is nobody, so far as i know, who has any particular interest in retaining the present inca upon the throne. to that remark you may of course object that he is the re- incarnated manco whose coming, as the regenerator of the ancient peruvian nation, was prophesied by titucocha, and that, in the event of anything happening to him, the regenerating process would be deferred indefinitely. but, i ask you, my dear friend, what if it were? in what way should we suffer? it is true that we have accustomed ourselves to look forward to our regeneration as the one thing to be desired above and before all others; but is it? we are perfectly happy here in this valley as we are. do we in very truth desire to exchange our present happy and peaceful existence for an indefinite and doubtless long period of toil, and warfare, and suffering? and in what respects should we be the better at the end, even if we should be successful--of which, permit me to say, i have my doubts? and do we really desire that change in the character of our religion, and the so-called amendment of our morals upon which this young man insists? i doubt it, my friend, not only as regards you and myself, but also as regards the people generally. now, i have spoken to you quite frankly; be equally frank with me, and give your view of the matter." "i will, my friend, and in a very few words," answered xaxaguana. "my view of the matter is identical with your own. and it is possibly identical also with that of many others. but how is that going to help us? also, with all your frankness you have not yet given utterance to the idea that i see you have in your mind. you are far too cautious, friend huanacocha, ever to become a successful conspirator." "one must needs be cautious in broaching such a conspiracy as i have in my mind," answered huanacocha. "nevertheless," he continued, "boldness and caution are sometimes the same thing, therefore will i be bold with you, xaxaguana, since i think it will not be difficult for me to prove to you that not only our views, but also our interests, are identical. in a word, then, i believe that it would be advantageous to you and to me--and possibly also to the rest of the inhabitants of this valley--if the present inca were deposed, and i were made inca in his place. the question is, how is the matter to be accomplished? if he were to die now, even as the villac--" "it would be the most unfortunate thing that could possibly happen," cut in xaxaguana. "the villac vmu and motahuana were both old men, and therefore that they should die is not at all remarkable. but that they should both die at the same moment is, to say the least of it, somewhat singular, and, despite all our precautions, is not unlikely to arouse more or less suspicion in many minds. now, if the inca also were to die, that suspicion would undoubtedly be converted into certainty and an investigation would assuredly be set on foot which could not fail to end disastrously for those found responsible for the three deaths, and especially for that of the inca; for, as of course you are fully aware, practically the whole of the inhabitants of the valley are still old- fashioned enough to cling to the superstition that to murder the inca is the blackest of black sacrilege. "but on the day when the inca was presented to us in the temple, you spoke certain words which, if they were now repeated, might find an echo in the mind of many an inhabitant of this city. you boldly expressed your doubts as to the identity of the youth with him whose appearance was foretold by the prophet titucocha, and whom we of the ancient peruvian nation have been expecting for the last three hundred years and more. now, we know that many of the inca's ordinances are regarded with disfavour by the people generally; and i believe that, as a consequence of this, it would not be very difficult to implant in the minds of the discontented a suggestion that the late villac vmu made a very serious mistake--if, indeed, he did not commit an unpardonable crime--in introducing this young man to us as the re-incarnated manco capac. that suspicion once instilled into them, it should be a comparatively easy matter to incite them to demand that the inca shall establish his identity by submitting to the ordeal by fire, after which your election to the vacant throne should be a foregone conclusion; for, of course, neither you nor i believe for a moment that the young englishman can possibly survive the fire ordeal." huanacocha gazed at his companion for several moments in silent admiration; then he exclaimed enthusiastically: "i have already told you twice this morning that you are a wonder, and i now say it for the third time--you are a wonder, xaxaguana, the possessor of the most astute and clever brain in the valley; and i foresee that, working together, you and i may achieve such dazzling results as we have scarcely yet dared to dream of. but how do you propose to bring about the result of which you have just spoken? it will be a slow and tedious process at best, and while it is being achieved many things may happen." "nay," answered xaxaguana, "it will not be nearly so lengthy a process as you seem to think. this is my plan." and, placing his mouth to his companion's ear, xaxaguana proceeded to whisper a few sentences which appeared to fill huanacocha with wonder and admiration. "do you think it will succeed?" xaxaguana demanded, as he concluded his communication. "it cannot possibly fail, if carried out with promptitude and discretion," answered huanacocha in tones of conviction. "and its perfect simplicity is its greatest recommendation. when do you propose to commence operations?" "at once," answered xaxaguana, "now, this very day. nothing will be talked of during the next few days save the sudden death of the villac vmu and motahuana, and such a topic of conversation will afford me the precise opportunity which i require. and now, friend huanacocha, you and i have been together quite as long as is either prudent or desirable. go, therefore, hence to the palace, acquaint the inca with the sad news of which you are the official bearer; inform him, if you will, that in the zealous discharge of your duty you have visited me for the purpose of obtaining the fullest information relative to the deplored event, and direct his attention to the extreme desirability of creating me villac vmu at once." "fear not, friend," answered huanacocha, as he rose to take his leave, "you shall receive the notification of your appointment in the course of the day." and, followed by xaxaguana, who accompanied him as far as the outer door, he left the apartment and proceeded on his way to the palace. huanacocha was as good as his word; for he not only secured from harry the appointment of xaxaguana to the dignity of villac vmu, but actually took the trouble to hurry back from the palace to the temple with the information of his success, and the royal warrant duly signed. as xaxaguana had anticipated, almost the sole topic of conversation during the ensuing fortnight was the death of the late villac vmu, and that of his deputy, at practically the same instant of time, as was determined by the physicians. for the first few days this circumstance was spoken of simply as a somewhat remarkable coincidence, but not very long after the obsequies--which were celebrated with unprecedented pomp in the temple--were over, it began to be noticed that, when the subject happened to be referred to, people were acquiring a trick of putting their heads together and whispering mysteriously to each other. the trick rapidly developed into something nearly approaching a habit; and as it did so, the whispers as rapidly changed into plain, open speech, and the words which were interchanged lost their original air of confidential mysteriousness, until, finally, people told each other without very much circumlocution that there was, in their opinion, more in the strange deaths of tiahuana and motahuana than met the eye. and if they were asked to express themselves more plainly they reminded each other that the two priests, who had died under such really remarkable circumstances, were the men who were responsible for the finding of the white inca, and the introduction of him into the community, and this reminder was quite frequently followed by a somewhat pointed question as to whether, after all, they--the priests--could by any chance have made a mistake in their method of identifying the inca, some people even going to the length of expressing the opinion that it was no question of mistake, but rather a case of deliberate deception of the people, with some mysterious purpose which would probably now be never brought to light, inasmuch as that our lord the sun, angry at the change in the form of the national religion, has cut off the offenders in the midst of their sins, as a sign of his displeasure. the transition from such talk as this to openly expressed doubts concerning the genuineness of the inca's claim to be the re-incarnation of the divine manco capac was an easy one, made all the more easy by the unpopular character of many--one might indeed almost say all--of escombe's decrees. yet so consummate was the cunning and subtlety with which the campaign was conducted that scarcely a whisper of it was allowed to reach the ears of those who were suspected of being favourably inclined toward the inca, and not the faintest inkling of it ever penetrated to escombe himself. such extreme care indeed was exercised by those who were pulling the strings that no sign whatever of the inca's fast-waning popularity was for a moment permitted to manifest itself. the process of corrupting the palace officials and staff generally was found to be exceptionally tedious and difficult, for escombe's genial disposition and straightforward character enabled him to endear himself without effort to everybody with whom he was brought into intimate contact. but it was accomplished at length by the exercise of almost superhuman ingenuity, with a solitary exception in the case of arima, who, it was at once recognised, was so faithfully and devotedly attached to his royal master that it would be worse than folly to attempt to corrupt him; he was therefore left severely alone; the most stringent precautions being taken to keep the whole thing secret from him. matters had reached the stage above indicated when escombe, having grappled with an exceptionally arduous day's work, retired to rest close upon midnight, and soon afterward sank into a heavy sleep, only to be, as it seemed, almost instantly awakened by the light of torches flashing upon his closed eyelids, and the scuffle of sandalled feet about his couch. springing up into a sitting posture in his bed, he opened his eyes, still heavy with sleep, to find his chamber full of men--many of whom were armed--conspicuous among whom were huanacocha and xaxaguana, the new villac vmu. "why, my lord huanacocha," he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes to assure himself that he was awake, "what does this mean? how did you get in here? and what is the matter?" "the matter, lord," answered huanacocha, "is one of the utmost gravity and importance, as the villac vmu, here, will inform you. it is nothing less than a revolt among the priests generally, most of whom have declared against the modifications in the form of the worship and service in the temple, instituted by my lord, and have risen against the villac vmu and those others who have pronounced themselves in favour of my lord's modifications. some of those who were in favour of the modifications have been slain; but the larger number, amounting to between twenty and thirty, are even now being subjected to the fire ordeal, as would have been the villac vmu, had he not happily escaped and made his way to my house for shelter and help. that, in brief, is how the matter stands; is it not, villac vmu?" "'tis even so, lord," answered xaxaguana. "and when i had stated the facts to my lord huanacocha, he regarded them as of import serious enough to justify us even to the extent of disturbing the rest of my lord the inca, and--" "by jove, yes, i should think so," exclaimed harry, interrupting the high priest unceremoniously, and springing from his couch to the floor. "where is arima? pass the word for arima, somebody, please--or, stay, hand me my clothes; i'll get into them myself without waiting for arima. how many of these revolting priests are there, do you say?" "they number about a thousand, lord," answered xaxaguana. "we have already taken it upon ourselves to send to umu, asking him to come to our assistance; but it will be some time ere our messenger can reach him, and he in turn can reach and order out the guard. we therefore thought it well to come to my lord and ask him to hasten with us to the temple, there to use his authority to save the lives of those who must otherwise undergo the fire ordeal." "of course," assented harry, as he scrambled into his clothes. "but what will happen if those mutinous beggars refuse to obey me, eh?" "refuse to obey you, lord?" repeated the villac vmu in shocked tones. "nay, they will certainly not do that. they have revolted now merely because they cannot be brought to believe that the innovations against which they rebel are in accordance with the orders of our lord the inca. you have but to personally assure them that such is the case, and they will instantly return to their allegiance." "very well," answered harry, as he threw a heavy cloak over his shoulders to protect himself from the keen night air. "now i am ready. lead the way, somebody, and let us be going." emerging from the palace, and hurrying along the almost pitch--dark garden paths, the party swept through the palace gates into the main road, and made a dash for the temple by the nearest possible route, which happened to be through several dark, narrow, deserted side streets, in which not a soul was stirring; the little crowd of hurrying figures consequently passed on its way and soon reached the temple without having been observed by so much as a single person. somewhat to escombe's surprise the temple proved to be in absolute darkness, when the party arrived before the walls; but xaxaguana explained this by informing the young monarch that the revolted priests were all assembled in the opposite wing of the building, and that he had deemed it a wise precaution not to attempt to enter on that side, lest they should meet with resistance before the inca could find an opportunity to make his presence known. as they drew in under the temple walls xaxaguana called a halt, expressing some anxiety as to the possibility of the door being closed by means of which he proposed to effect an entrance, and he sent forward a scout to reconnoitre. his anxiety, however, proved to be unfounded, for the scout presently returned with the information that the door was unfastened and everything quiet on that side of the building. the party therefore moved forward once more, and presently escombe found himself being conducted along a corridor, unlighted save by the smoky flare of the torches carried by his escort. contrary to the young ruler's expectations, the building, even now that he was inside it, remained dark and silent as the grave; but this was explained by the statement of xaxaguana that the revolting priests were all gathered together in the rock-hewn basement of the building, where they were at that moment engaged in putting their more faithful brethren to the dreadful "ordeal by fire". accordingly, when xaxaguana unlocked a massive bronze gate let into a wall, and invited harry to descend with him to the chamber where the horrid rite was in progress, the young man followed unhesitatingly, as he also did through a door which the priest unlocked when they had reached the foot of the flight of stone steps and traversed some yards of corridor apparently hewn out of the living rock. the room was comfortably enough furnished, and looked almost as though it might have been prepared for his reception, for it was lighted by a handsome lamp suspended from the roof. "if my lord will condescend to wait here a moment and rest, i, his servant, will go and see exactly what is happening, and return to report," remarked xaxaguana as he stood aside to allow harry to pass him. "but why wait?" demanded harry, facing round to the high priest. "surely we have not a moment of time to waste. would it not be--" but, even as he was speaking, the villac vmu slid rapidly back into the passage, closing the door behind him with a slam, through the thunderous reverberation of which in the hollow vault harry thought he caught the sound of a sharp click. with a muttered ejaculation, expressive of annoyance, he sprang to the door and endeavoured to open it; but it was fast, and, as he listened, he heard the sounds of hastily retreating footsteps in the passage outside. and in that same moment the truth flashed upon him that, for some inscrutable reason, he was trapped and a prisoner! chapter nineteen. umu takes a hand in the game. the first rays of the next morning's sun had scarcely flashed over the ridge of the sierra which hemmed in the eastern side of the valley, when arima, awaking with a most atrocious headache, and the feeling generally of a man who has just passed through an unusually prolonged bout of dissipation--or, alternatively, has been drugged--arose from his bed and, staggering across the room, plunged his throbbing and buzzing head into a large basin of cold water, preparatory to dressing. once, twice, thrice did he plunge head, neck, and hands into the cooling liquid, with but little satisfactory result, for the relief which he sought, and confidently expected to derive, from the process, refused to come; and he groaned as he sank upon a seat and tightly gripped his throbbing temples in his hands. never before in his life had he felt so ill, so utterly cheap and used-up, as he did at that moment. in addition to the violent headache from which he was suffering, his blood felt like fire in his veins, his skin was dry and rough; he was so giddy that he could scarcely stand. the truth was that he had been drugged with such brutal severity on the preceding night, by xaxaguana's emissaries, to make sure of his being out of the way at the moment of his master's seizure, that it had been due more to chance than anything else that he had ever again awakened. after a few minutes' rest he felt so much better that he was able to dress, and afterwards make his way to his master's room. for, ever since the slaying of the monsters in the lake, it had been escombe's habit to rise early in the morning, and, making his way to the bottom of the garden, embark on a balsa, from which, after arima had paddled it a few hundred yards from the shore, master and man had been wont to bathe together. and now, according to custom, the faithful indian hurried away to awaken his master, as usual, for indulgence in the regular morning dip. but upon entering the sleeping chamber he of course found it untenanted, and for a moment the thought occurred to him that possibly he was late, and that his master, having awakened at his usual hour, had risen and gone down into the garden alone. a single glance out of the window, however, at the length of the shadows cast by the various objects lighted by the sun outside, sufficed to satisfy him that habit had triumphed over even the influence of the narcotic which had been administered to him, and that he was certainly not more than a few minutes late. then, with the instinct of the semi-savage, he flung his glances quickly about the room, and instantly detected signs that it had been invaded during the night by a number of people, and that his master had arisen and dressed in haste. quick to take the alarm where escombe was concerned, he at once hurried out, and, without waiting to find any of the palace officials to whom to report his discovery, proceeded forthwith to question as many of the servants as he met. but here again he only found matter for further alarm and apprehension; for not only did the whole service of the building appear to be in a state of complete disorganisation, but it at once became evident to him that every man he met was confused, agitated, and more or less anxious of manner; and, although each and all professed themselves unable to throw any light upon the mystery of the inca's inexplicable disappearance, he felt instinctively that they were all lying to him. realising at length that no information was to be obtained from these people, arima passed from the palace into the grounds, making his way, in the first instance, down to the shore of the lake, for the purpose of satisfying himself beyond all possibility of question whether or not there was any foundation for his first surmise, that escombe had risen early and left the palace without waiting for him. but no; there was no sign of his young master in that direction; moreover, the balsa was lying moored in its proper place; also the cutter was at her usual moorings. there was therefore no possibility that the inca had taken it into his head to go for a solitary early morning sail. satisfied upon this point, the indian next made his way round to the front of the palace, and here at once the evidences of a visit of a large party of people to the palace, some time during the preceding night, once more presented themselves, the latest--that is to say the topmost--set of footprints showing that quite a crowd of people had hurried from the main entrance of the building down the broad path leading to the entrance gates of the garden and thence into the main road. moreover, the "spoor" remained undisturbed in the road for a distance sufficient to indicate the general direction in which the party had gone, although it was lost in the ordinary signs of traffic within a few yards of the gates. having ascertained thus much, arima returned to the spot where the footprints first showed outside the palace doors, and, going down upon his hands and knees, patiently set himself to the task of endeavouring to discover his young master's among them. but before he had had time to achieve any result in this direction one of the palace officials appeared and, angrily demanding to know what he was doing there, ordered him back into the palace to attend to his duty; explaining, by way of reply to arima's agitated representations, that the inca had left the palace during the early hours of the morning, with a party of companions, to hunt the vicuna. the indian at once knew this to be a falsehood, for the hunting grounds lay many miles down the valley, and hunting parties never dreamed of proceeding thither otherwise than on horseback, and arima was prepared to swear that none of the party had been mounted. moreover he was convinced that his master would never have dreamed of leaving his favourite servant behind had he been bound upon a hunting expedition. the official, however, was curt and peremptory in his manner, and arima soon understood that he must obey his orders or suffer arrest. he therefore returned to the inca's rooms and proceeded to put them in order, as was his duty. but the very curtness and peremptoriness of the official's manner to him, as well as the improbable story which he had told, only had the effect of strengthening and confirming the suspicions in the faithful fellow's mind; for the attachment of the young inca to this man was well known, and even the highest officials of the palace had thus far not disdained to be extremely civil to him. but the question in arima's mind now was: what precisely was it that had happened to his young master, and whither and why had he gone? for even thus far no glimmering of the hideous truth had reached the indian's mind. his suspicions and apprehensions were all as yet chaotic and formless, and he was very far from fearing that escombe's life was in danger. but as he proceeded with his business, seeking from time to time to get some relief from his splitting headache and the other extremely disagreeable symptoms from which he was still suffering acutely, it gradually began to dawn upon him, as his mental faculties slowly shook off their stupor, that every one of those symptoms were synonymous with those following upon the administration of an overdose of a decoction made from a certain poisonous plant growing here and there in the valley, and which was sometimes used as an anaesthetic by the local physicians. he was fully aware of the tremendous potency of the extracted juices of this plant, as also of its tastelessness, and the consequent ease with which it could be administered, and he recognised clearly that if anyone had wished to administer such a draught to him on the previous night it could easily have been done. the question which next arose in his mind naturally was: why should anyone desire to administer such a draught to him? but his mental powers had by this time sufficiently recovered from the effects of the drug to enable him quickly to trace a connection--however obscure as yet--between this act and the extraordinary fact of his master being missing. when once the faithful fellow had reached the length of connecting the two circumstances together he was not long in realising the terrible possibilities that lurked in such a sinister combination of circumstances. and with this realisation he suddenly took fright, for at the same moment the significance of certain apparently trivial remarks and occurrences that had lately come to his knowledge suddenly dawned upon him. could it be that these matters, scarcely noticed at the moment, really bore the significance which he now attached to them, or was it all the result of some bodily disorder reacting upon his mental processes and causing him to take a distorted and unnatural view of things that were actually of no moment whatever? he could not tell; his brain was still in too muddled a condition for him to feel that he could trust it. but there was one sensible thing that he could do, he told himself. he could go to umu and lay the whole matter before him. umu was a shrewd sensible man, who would soon say whether or not there was anything in those mad fantasies that were now beginning to chase each other through his bewildered brain. besides, umu was the inca's most devoted friend--next to himself, perhaps. so, slipping out of the palace by the garden entrance--lest perchance he should be seen and stopped if he attempted to pass out by way of the other--he plunged at once into the most unfrequented paths, and so betook himself, by a circuitous route, to the lake shore, where he at once got aboard the balsa, and, paddling the primitive craft some half a mile beyond the royal demesne, beached her in a secluded spot, and thence made the best of his way to umu's house. the morning was by this time so well advanced that the hour for the first meal of the day was past, and it became a moot point with arima whether to seek umu at his house or at the barracks of the inca's bodyguard. he decided, however, upon trying the house first, and it was well that he did; for, although umu was not at home, neither, it seemed, was he at the barracks. but maia, his daughter, had an impression that she knew where he might be found, and arima had not poured into the girl's ear half a dozen sentences of his somewhat disjointed tale before she cut him short by explaining that she was about to seek her father, and that he (arima) must on no account whatever attempt to stir from the house until her return, unless, of course, her father should make his appearance in the interim. having bestowed that injunction, maia, wild- eyed and white-lipped, rushed into the street and hurried on her way; for she, too, had heard words said, to which at the moment she had given scant heed, but which in the light of what was hinted at by arima now bore to the quick-witted girl an awful significance. as it happened, she had not to go very far, for she had not left the house more than five minutes at the utmost when she caught sight of her father, mounted, on his way to the barracks, a good mile distant. fortunately for her he reined up to exchange a few passing words with an acquaintance, and that afforded her the opportunity to overtake and stop him. she did not dare, however, to mention the errand which had brought her out in search of her father until the two friends had parted, when she briefly explained that arima was seeking him, and urged him to hasten back to the house without delay, at the same time telling him sufficient of what had passed between herself and the inca's henchman to cause umu to realise something of the gravity of the situation; for he dug his heels into his charger's ribs and dashed off at a gallop. when maia arrived back at the house, she found arima in the midst of the relation of his story to her father, and, quite as a matter of course, sat down to listen. the indian had, in the interim between her departure and umu's arrival, found time to pull himself together and properly arrange his thoughts, and he related his narrative with due regard to sequence of events, beginning with such apparently casual words and trivial occurrences as had come under his notice, and had only assumed a significance in the light of more recent happenings. then going on to describe his sensations upon awaking that morning, he completed his story by relating in detail everything he had done, and the thoughts and suspicions that had occurred to him subsequent to his discovery of his master's absence. "yes," agreed umu, when arima had brought his story to a conclusion, "the whole thing seems reasonably clear, up to a certain point. i have not a shadow of doubt that certain disaffected persons have adopted the extreme, and altogether unprecedented, step of seizing the person of our lord the inca; and they caused you, my friend, to be drugged in order that you might not interfere with their plans. the question which we now have to decide is: who are those persons, and what is their object in seizing the inca? they must be individuals of very great power and influence, otherwise they would never dare--" at this point maia, who had been betraying rapidly increasing signs of anxiety and impatience, cut in with: "my father, to me it seems of the utmost importance that not a moment should be lost in discovering what has become of the inca, whose life may at this moment be in the utmost jeopardy; for those who were desperate enough to carry him off would probably not hesitate to kill him, if need were: indeed that may be their purpose. your task, therefore, must be to rescue him without an instant's unnecessary delay, which you should be easily able to do with the aid of your troops. probably if the officials of the palace were carefully questioned they could be persuaded to tell you what has become of the inca, for doubtless they know, since he could not have been carried off without their knowledge and acquiescence." "yes, you are right, maia. i see exactly what you mean, and i have no doubt that i can devise a method of making the palace people tell what they know," answered umu. "i will ride to the barracks at once, and order the guard to turn out in readiness to proceed wherever required; after which i will proceed to the palace with a squadron, and it will be strange if i do not find means to make somebody tell me what i require to know. you, arima, had better go to the barracks and await my return there from the palace, when you can ride with us. and now i will go; for, as maia has said, even moments may now be of importance." some twenty minutes later a troop of the inca's mounted bodyguard, led by umu, dashed at a gallop in through the gates of the palace gardens, and, at a word from their commander, surrounded the building, a party of a dozen of them following their leader into the palace, to the consternation of all who encountered them. this dozen constituted a search party, which, with drawn swords, systematically swept the building from basement to roof-tree, gathering together every official and individual of the palace staff that could be found, until the whole, with the exception of some dozen or so underlings, had been captured. then all were marched out into the vast palace garden and surrounded by the now dismounted troopers, who meanwhile had made prisoners of four of the chief officials as they were endeavouring to slink out of the palace and make good their escape. marching the whole of the captives off to a secluded part of the gardens, where nothing which might happen could be seen save by those immediately concerned, umu ordered the chamberlain and his three immediate subordinates to be brought to him, and said to them: "now, sirs, my business here is to ascertain from you what has become of our lord the inca. i have not the slightest doubt that you can tell me; but whether you will tell me the truth or not is quite another matter. i intend to arrive at the truth, however, either by persuasion or force, and i will try the former first: let me very earnestly advise you not to compel me to resort to the latter. and to make as certain as i can that the information with which you are about to furnish me is true, you will each withdraw from your comrades to a distance at which it will be impossible for you to communicate with each other, and where you will each inform the officer--who, with a file of men, will accompany you--of everything that you know concerning the mysterious disappearance of the inca--where he has been taken, by whom, and for what purpose. if your stories, when compared with each other, are found to agree at all points, i shall consider that i am justified in believing them to be true; if they do not--" he turned to the other captives and said: "go to work at once, collect timber, and build a large fire in this open space." then, turning to the officers who had been deputed to examine the four prisoners, umu concluded: "take them away; hear their story; and then bring them back to me, that each man's tale may be compared with those of the others." umu knew his fellow countrymen well. he was fully aware that while the south american indian, like his brother of the northern continent, will endure the most frightfully excruciating tortures with stoical fortitude if the occasion happens to demand it, he will not willingly subject himself to even a very minor degree of suffering for the sake of shielding those whom he has no particular object in serving. he felt pretty well convinced that these craven wretches who had allowed themselves to be corrupted into betraying their monarch would have very little hesitation in also betraying their corrupters, especially as they might feel assured that, umu having taken the matter in hand, those corrupters would henceforth have scant power or opportunity either to reward or to punish. the hint conveyed by the building of a large fire therefore proved quite sufficiently persuasive. in little more than ten minutes the commander of the bodyguard found himself in possession of all the information which the palace officials had it in their power to communicate. this information, in brief, was to the effect that they had, one and all, from the highest to the lowest, been heavily bribed by the emissaries of huanacocha and xaxaguana to allow those two powerful nobles, with a strong party of followers, to enter the palace in the dead of night and abduct the person of the inca, and to hold their peace upon the matter until either huanacocha or xaxaguana should personally give them leave to speak and tell them what to say. as the stories of all four of the officials happened to agree, even down to the smallest detail, umu decided that he might venture to accept them as true; whereupon the whole of the prisoners were hustled back into the palace by way of the back entrance, driven down into one of the basement chambers, and there securely locked up, with a corporal's guard in the passage outside. the palace then being locked up, the troop mounted and departed at a gallop for the house of huanacocha. this house, or palace as it might be more appropriately termed, was, like most of the residences of the great peruvian lords, a large and sumptuous edifice, standing in its own spacious grounds. umu's tactics upon approaching it were similar to those which he had employed upon approaching the palace; that is to say, upon entering the grounds he caused his men to dismount and surround the building, which he then entered, accompanied by a sergeant in charge of a squad of troopers. as he unceremoniously made his way into the great entrance hall he found himself confronted by the chief steward of the establishment, who, followed by the entire staff of terrified servants, was hurrying to the garden, anxious to ascertain the meaning of this unwonted invasion of his master's privacy. "where is your lord, sirrah?" thundered umu, as a file of soldiers promptly arrested the quaking functionary. "i know not, lord umu," answered the unfortunate man, as well as his chattering teeth would allow; "indeed i was about to send out the servants to seek news of him, for i am beginning to fear that evil has befallen him. he left the house alone last night, less than an hour before midnight, saying that he knew not when he should return; and he has not since been seen." "then, if he told you that he knew not when he would return, why do you fear that evil has befallen him?" demanded umu. "because, lord--nay, i know not, except that--that--well, it is a most unusual--for my lord huanacocha to absent himself for so many hours without saying whither he intended to go," stammered the steward. "say you so?" sneered umu. "that seems to me strange indeed; for it is not the usual custom of a noble to acquaint his steward with his business. nay, friend, i cannot believe your story: you must have some better reason than the one which you have given me for your anxiety as to your lord's safety, and it will be to your great advantage to acquaint me with it forthwith." "lord, i have told you the truth; indeed i have," protested the unfortunate man, making as though he would throw himself upon his knees before umu. "so much the worse for you," growled umu savagely, for the delay was beginning to tell upon his patience. "is there any man here," he continued, "who can tell me where my lord huanacocha is to be found?" he glared round upon the assembled servants, the whole of whom had by this time been quietly herded together by the soldiers. there was no answer. "very well," continued umu, addressing his men. "take these people down to the cellars below; lock them in securely; and then set fire to the house and burn it over their heads! i can waste no more time here." as the troopers, in obedience to this order, closed round the prisoners, and with coarse jests began to hustle them unceremoniously toward the head of the flight of steps leading down to the basement of the building, the steward, suddenly realising the desperate nature of his own and his fellow servants' predicament, turned to umu and cried: "stay, lord, i pray you, and visit not upon us the misdeeds of our lord. when i said just now that i knew not the whereabouts of my lord huanacocha, i spoke only the truth, for indeed i cannot tell for certain where he is--nay, lord, have patience, and hear what i have to say ere you condemn me to a frightful death for a fault which is not mine. it is indeed true that i know not where my lord huanacocha is to be found, for he did not deign to tell me his business when he went out last night; but i believe i can form a very good guess as to where he now is." "you can?" ejaculated umu. "then say on, and that right quickly. for within the next five minutes this house will be ablaze, and you within it, if you have not by then told me what i want to know." then, turning to a sergeant, he said: "take with you a dozen men; bring everything in the house that will burn, pile it in this hall, and pour on it all the oil you can find. now, sirrah, proceed with your tale." "then, lord, in brief, it is this," answered the wretched steward, speaking as well as his chattering teeth would allow. "from words which i have overheard from time to time of late passing between my lord huanacocha and others, especially the new villac vmu, i believe that when my master left this house last night he did so with the purpose of accompanying the high priest and an armed party to the palace in order to seize the person of our lord the inca and convey him to the temple, that he might be subjected to the fire ordeal, to prove whether or no--" "the fire ordeal, say you?" roared umu in a paroxysm of fury, as the full horror of the situation at last dawned upon him. "even so, lord," answered the quaking steward. "i heard my--" "you had reason to believe that your master had conspired with the villac vmu to seize the inca and subject him to the fire ordeal, yet you never took the trouble to come and report the matter to me?" roared umu. "i--i--lord, i knew not that--it was no part of my duty to--" stammered the wretched steward, as too late he began to realise the terrible nature of the predicament in which he had placed himself by his too great fidelity to his master. "it is enough," interrupted umu. "bind him hand and foot; lay him upon that pile yonder; and set fire to it. sergeant huarima, you will remain here with six men to ensure the utter destruction of this house, after which you will follow the rest of the corps to the temple. as for you," he continued, turning to the staff of servants, who were huddling together, paralysed with terror at the tragic turn which affairs were taking, "you would only be receiving your just deserts if i were to order you to be consumed, with your chief, upon that pile. i am merciful, however; you are therefore at liberty to go. but let the fate of the steward be a lesson to you all henceforth, that fidelity to the inca comes before fidelity to your master. and now, men, pass out and mount. our next place of call is the temple." chapter twenty. in the nick of time! "well," soliloquised harry, as he glanced about him upon realising that he was indeed a prisoner, "what does this mean? is it mutiny, or treason, or what is it? and as to there being a revolt of the priests, i don't believe a word of it. had there been any such thing it would not have been possible for me to have entered this building without encountering some sign--either sight or sound--of it. no; that was just a yarn, a ruse to get me to come here willingly. now, i wonder what the dickens they want with me, and what they intend to do with me now that they have me. nothing very serious, i expect; for i am the inca, and they would never dare to lay violent hands upon the inca; that amounts to sacrilege of the very worst kind. yes; no doubt. and yet i am by no means certain that that fact would exercise any very powerful restraining influence upon our friends huanacocha and xaxaguana. they are both ambitious men, and i am very much inclined to question whether the religious convictions of either man are powerful enough to hold him back from sacrilege, if his ambition urged him in that direction. ah, well! time will show, i have no doubt; meanwhile i have not had half my night's rest, so i will do what i can to recover arrears." and, thus thinking, he quietly stretched himself upon a couch which stood against one wall of the room, and composed himself to sleep. with the light-hearted carelessness of extreme youth he actually did sleep--slept so soundly that he was not even disturbed when, some hours later, the door was quietly opened and two attendants entered bearing food and drink, which, seeing that the prisoner still slumbered, they placed upon the table and departed, securing the door again as they passed out. it was past ten o'clock in the forenoon when the young man, having completely rested, opened his eyes and looked about him in wonderment at finding himself in strange quarters. the next moment, however, memory returned to him: he recalled the proceedings of the past night, and once more began to speculate upon the purpose which could have been powerful enough to induce huanacocha and xaxaguana to resort to so extreme a measure as that of his abduction from the palace. and now, with the more sober reflections following upon a sound night's rest, he began to take a somewhat more serious view of the situation. he began to realise that what these two powerful nobles had done was no hasty, ill-considered act, undertaken upon the spur of the moment, without thought of the probable consequences, but was doubtless the result of long and anxious premeditation; and, if so, they would surely have taken every possible precaution to guard themselves against evil consequences. and--a slight shudder thrilled through him as the thought obtruded itself upon his mind--for aught that he could tell to the contrary one of those precautions might take the form of providing that he should never return to the light of day, and that no one should ever know what had become of him! but here again the optimism of youth came to support him, and he dismissed the grim reflection with a smile; the matter, of course, could not be anything like so serious as that, he told himself, and without doubt in an hour or two hence he would be back in the palace, heartily laughing at the whole adventure. he drew forth his watch and looked at it. to his astonishment he found that it was a quarter after ten o'clock--for, his place of confinement being below the ground level, and hewn out of the heart of the rock, there were no windows to it, and the only source of light was the lamp suspended from the roof, which still burned brightly. for an instant he was under the impression that his watch had stopped overnight at the hour indicated, but upon putting it to his ear he found that it was still running. then his eye felt upon the viands on the table, and he suddenly discovered that he was hungry. without further ado, therefore, he seated himself at the table, and, dismissing for the moment all further considerations of the future, fell to and made a most excellent breakfast. escombe had finished his meal a full hour and more, and had found time once more to become distinctly apprehensive as to the intentions of huanacocha and xaxaguana toward him, when the sound of footsteps approaching along the passage outside his door warned him that the crisis was at hand, and the next moment the door was flung open and a priest entered. "my lord," he said, "it is the command of the villac vmu that you accompany me into his presence." "the command, did you say?" retorted harry. "surely the villac vmu strangely forgets himself and his position when he presumes to send commands to the inca. however," seeing that the passage outside was full of armed men who were evidently quite prepared to enforce obedience to the orders of the high priest, he continued, "i will not stand upon ceremony, or carp at a mere form of words, but will obey the summons of the villac vmu. yet, let him and all who hear me remember that i am the inca, and that my power to reward obedience is as great as it is to punish presumption. now, lead on." the priest led the way into the passage, harry following, and the moment that the latter emerged from the room in which he had been confined an armed guard of a dozen men closed in around him, rendering escape on his part impossible. in this order the procession passed along the passage, up the steps which harry had descended upon his arrival, and thence along a corridor into a room crowded with priests and civilians, where, raised upon a dais, sat the villac vmu enthroned. still surrounded by the guard, harry was halted in front of this dais, and directed to seat himself in a handsome chair that had been placed there for his reception. this done, the proceedings at once commenced, and harry immediately perceived that he was about to be subjected to some sort of a trial, for no sooner was he seated than the villac vmu cried: "let my lord huanacocha stand forth." there was a moment's bustle and confusion, and then from the midst of the assembled crowd huanacocha shouldered his way through, and placed himself near harry, but outside the encircling guards. "my lord huanacocha," said the villac vmu, "at your instigation, and because of certain representations made by you, i have taken the unprecedented course of causing our lord the inca to be brought hither, that he may answer, before those here assembled, to the charges which i understand you desire to bring against him. state, therefore, those charges; but before doing so ye shall swear by the light of our lord the sun that your motive in instigating these proceedings is free from all bias or personal ill will; that you are animated therein solely by anxiety for the public welfare, and that you will say no word save what you, personally, know to be the truth." "all this i swear!" answered huanacocha, raising his right hand aloft. "it is well," commented the high priest. "proceed now with your charges." "my lord," answered huanacocha, "my first and most serious charge against the young man who sits there, and whom we have for these many months past honoured and served as the re-incarnated manco capac, the father and founder of our nation, is that he is an impostor, with no right or title whatsoever to the service and reverence which we have given him. "my second charge," continued huanacocha, "which, however, should be preferred by you rather than by me, o villac vmu, is that this youth has blasphemously forbidden us any longer to worship our lord the sun, our father and benefactor, and the giver of all good gifts, and has commanded that we shall worship instead pachacamac, whom he calls god, of whom we know little or nothing, and whom we have never until now been bidden to worship. i am strongly opposed to this change of religion-- for it amounts to nothing less--as is everybody else with whom i have spoken on the subject. we all fear that such change will certainly bring disaster and ruin upon the nation. there are other charges which could be preferred against the prisoner," concluded huanacocha; "but i am content that the case against him shall rest upon those which i have already enumerated." "it is well," commented xaxaguana. "my lord huanacocha, the gratitude of the community is due to you for the public spirit which has prompted you to come forward and perform what we all recognise to be an exceedingly disagreeable task, and doubtless the public generally will be careful to see that your disinterestedness is suitably rewarded. is there anyone present who desires to support the charges preferred against the prisoner by my lord?" there was. the ball of high treason once set rolling, everybody seemed anxious to add to its momentum, and man after man came forward, either to support the charges made by huanacocha, or to ventilate some petty grievance, real or imaginary, of his own, until at length so much time had been consumed that xaxaguana, growing impatient, refused to listen to any further evidence. he then turned to escombe and said: "prisoner, you have heard the charges that have been brought against you. what answer have you to them?" "i might well answer," said escombe, "that i am the inca, and that no one has the right to question my actions, and no one--not even the villac vmu--has the right to bring me to trial, as you have dared to do; for i am supreme and infinitely above and beyond you all. but i have no desire to take refuge behind my dignity. if anyone considers that he has a grievance against me, as appears to be the case, i prefer to answer it. "and first as to the charge which huanacocha brings against me of being an impostor. let me remind you who were present of what took place in the temple upon the memorable occasion when i was first brought here by tiahuana and motahuana. tiahuana was the man responsible for my presence in this valley, and my elevation to the position of inca. it was he who, having heard certain particulars concerning me, sought me out, satisfied himself and his colleague that i fulfilled in my person all the conditions referred to in a certain prophecy, and brought me hither without even going through the preliminary formality of asking my consent. it was he who, when he presented me before you all here in the temple, convinced you all, with two or three exceptions, of whom huanacocha was one, that i was the re-incarnated manco capac, the inca destined to restore the ancient peruvian nation to its former power and grandeur; and it was you who, convinced by his arguments, placed me on the throne. i had nothing whatever to do with that; i made no claims or pretensions of any kind; i was simply passive throughout. but when, convinced by tiahuana's arguments and proofs, you had placed me on the throne, and i learned what was expected of me, i devoted all my energies to the performance of the task which i felt had been laid upon me; and you know how far i have succeeded. you know that those of pure peruvian blood are being daily gathered into this valley from every part of the kingdom; you know that they are being trained to play their part as fighting men; and you know also--at least huanacocha does--that i am even now engaged in making plans and arrangements for the secret introduction into the country of an adequate supply of the most modern weapons, in order that, when the proper moment comes, you may be able to fight upon equal terms with your enemies. "as to my having decreed an alteration in your religion, i did so because when i came among you i found you to be idolaters, worshippers of the sun, which is but one of the many beneficent gifts which pachacamac--whom i call god--has given to his children. the sun can only give you his light and heat according to god's will and pleasure; and therefore it is god, and not the sun, whom you should worship. and i tell you that until you transfer your adoration from the sun to him who made it, you will never be a prosperous and happy people; nor will i consent to rule over you, or help to restore you as a nation to your ancient power and glory. choose, therefore, now, whether you will worship god, or continue in idolatry; whether you will achieve the great destiny which titucocha, your prophet, foretold for you, or whether you will remain the mere remnant of a once powerful and splendid nation, lurking here in obscurity in this valley from which you dare not venture forth lest those who now hold the land that once was yours fall upon and destroy you. if you choose the latter fate, as you seem inclined to do, then must i go forth from this valley, and leave you to your own devices; for, as i have said, i will not rule a nation of idolaters. but if you choose to obey me, and submit unquestioningly to such ordinances as i shall promulgate from time to time for your advantage, then will i undertake to make you all that titucocha foretold you should become." it was evident that harry's address had produced an exceedingly powerful impression upon the bulk of his audience, for the moment that he ceased to speak there arose a great hubbub among those who composed it, the assembly almost instantly breaking up into little knots and groups, the members of which at once proceeded to discuss eagerly the several points of the speech. it was a result as unwelcome as unlooked for by the prime movers of the conspiracy, and the glance which huanacocha shot at the villac vmu was full of dismay and apprehension. the latter, however, who had noted something of the effect which harry was producing, saw also how to avail himself of that effect and at the same time achieve his own and his friend's purpose. he therefore allowed the commotion to continue unchecked for full ten minutes, before he rose and held up his hand for silence. then, when the disturbance had subsided sufficiently to allow his voice to be heard, he said: "my friends, i perceive that, like myself, you are in a difficulty, and know not what to believe. you feel, as i do, that if this youth is in very truth the re-incarnated manco whose return to earth was promised by the prophet titucocha, it would not only be rankest folly but absolute sacrilege to reject him. but how are we to know; how is this most important, this vital point to be determined? there is but one way--a way which i have already provided for: we must subject him to the ordeal by fire! if he survives that ordeal, well and good; we shall then know for certain who he is, and we will serve and obey him in all things. but, if not--" he got no further; for at the mention of the ordeal by fire harry saw at once, as in a lightning flash, the villainous trap into which he had been betrayed, and the hideous fate to which it was intended to consign him. leaping to his feet, he snatched the drawn sword from the hand of one of the astonished guards who surrounded him and, before any of them could interpose to prevent him, had leapt upon the dais and seized the terrified xaxaguana by the throat with one hand, while with the sword which he held in the other he threatened to run the quaking wretch through the heart. "oh no, you don't," he cried, as he tightened his grip upon the struggling priest's throat; "no fire ordeal for me, thank you! sit still and give over struggling, you villain, or i'll pin you to the back of the chair you sit in. do you hear me? ah, that's better; put your hands down by your sides and keep them there. and you other fellows stand still where you are, and don't attempt to lift so much as a hand against me, unless you wish to see me slay this man before your eyes! now, villac vmu, grasp the seat of your chair with both hands--just to keep them out of mischief, you know--and do as i tell you. first order those men of yours to lay down their arms and march out of the building--see, i release your throat that you may draw breath to give the order--ah! would you, you treacherous scoundrel? then take that!" for as harry released his grip upon the priest's throat the latter sprang to his feet and endeavoured to clasp the young englishman round the arms and body, at the same time shouting to the others to come to his help. but harry was too quick for his would-be captor; he sprang back a single pace, thus just eluding the grip of the priest, and at the same time lunged at him with the copper sword which he held, driving it straight through the man's scheming, treacherous heart. then, as a great roar of dismay and execration arose from the assemblage, he quickly withdrew his reeking weapon from the quivering body and, hastily wrapping his cloak about his left arm, leaped to the wall, placed his back to it, and prepared to sell his life as dearly as might be. he gave himself about half a minute more to live; for what could he single-handed do against the swordsmen, to say nothing of the rest of that howling, bloodthirsty crowd who now came surging toward him. they could overwhelm him in a moment, by sheer force of numbers! but as the swordsmen sprang upon the dais, with gleaming eyes and threatening points, the voice of huanacocha rang through the chamber as he shouted: "take the young fool alive, and harm him not, as you value your lives! he has slain the villac vmu; and for that reason, if for no other, he must pass through the fire. hem him in, take his weapon from him, and then bind him hand and foot!" it was, however, very much easier to give that order than to obey it; for escombe had always been passionately fond of sword-play--to such an extent, indeed, that he had placed himself in the hands of a certain well-known _maitre d'armes_ in westminster, and had been pronounced by that gentleman to be his most promising pupil--so now, with a tolerably good weapon in his hand, and his back to a solid, substantial wall, he felt quite in the mood and form to put up an excellent fight. the swordsmen closed in round him and, as by tacit consent, flung themselves upon him in a huddled mob, with the evident intention of bearing him to the ground by sheer preponderance of numbers. but the next instant three of them recoiled, shrieking, with their faces slashed open, as harry met their charge with a sweeping circular cut from left to right. then a fourth man staggered and fell with a ghastly wound in his throat, while the rest drew back in dismay and wonder at a feat of swordsmanship that to their comparatively untrained minds seemed to savour strongly of either magic or the supernatural. as to escombe, he took a long breath, and told himself that perhaps, with luck, he might be able to hold out for as much as five minutes; for that first encounter, brief though it was, showed him that these men had not the remotest idea of how to handle a sword, while as for himself, he had no sooner gripped the hilt of his weapon than he felt all the keen delight of the practised fencer thrill through him at the prospect of an encounter. oh yes! he would put up a good fight, such a fight as these people should remember to their dying day; though of course one of them would get him, sooner or later, when his weapon happened to be plunged in the body of an enemy. these thoughts flashed through the young englishman's mind in the drawing of a breath. then he braced himself afresh against the wall to meet a second and much more wary attack--his enemies had learned caution already, for instead of flinging themselves upon him pell-mell, as at the first rush, they attacked him three at a time, one in front, and one on either hand, thus allowing plenty of room for the play of their blades. also they strove, by every stratagem they could think of, to entice him away from the wall, so that they might be able to slip round and take him in the rear; but to keep one's back to the wall was one of the fundamental rules of self defence that had been dinned into him until it had become impossible to forget it, and harry was not to be tempted. close to the wall he kept, allowing himself only just sufficient room for the free play of his blade; and when at length the attacking trio, losing patience, attempted to rush in upon him, his point seemed to threaten all three at once, and the next moment two of the three were _hors de combat_, one with his sword hand half severed at the wrist, and the other with his right arm laid open from wrist to elbow. the ineffectiveness of the attack proved too much for huanacocha, who had thus far been looking on at the fray with a sardonic grin upon his countenance. now, as he saw the swordsmen hanging back, obviously afraid to approach that charmed semicircle, the whole of which escombe's blade seemed to cover at the same moment, he lost patience, and, with an angry roar, dashed forward, snatched a weapon from one of the disabled fighters, and called upon all present to help him to capture the audacious young foreigner who seemed determined to make fools of them all. then, as the others sprang at his call, an idea suddenly seized him. tearing the cloak off his shoulders, he flung the heavy garment straight at harry, whose blade became entangled in the folds for just the fraction of a second. but it was enough; the others, seeing in an instant what had happened, tossed away their weapons and, flinging themselves upon escombe before he could clear his sword, tore his weapon from his grasp and bore him, still fighting savagely with his fists, to the ground. in another minute it was all over; with men grasping each of his limbs, and two or three more piled upon his prostrate body, poor harry was soon overcome and reduced to a condition of comparative quiescence, after which it was not a very difficult matter to enwrap his body with so many turns of a thin, tough, raw-hide rope that further movement became an impossibility. immediately the whole place rang with howls and shouts of fiendish rejoicing at the brilliance of the feat which had culminated in the capture of this pestilent young foreigner, whose gallant resistance, so far from exciting admiration in the breasts of his captors, seemed to have filled them with the ferocity of wild beasts. as he was raised to his feet preparatory to bearing him away to the place where a fiery death even now awaited him, first one and then another fought and struggled through the yelling crowd to glare into his face with ferocious glee, and to hiss into his ear bloodcurdling hints of the doom prepared for him. the uproar was at its height when escombe's preternaturally sharpened ear detected a new note in it, a note of astonishment, consternation, and terror that quickly overbore and drowned the tones of savage exultation. the next instant the air was vibrant with shrieks and cries for mercy as the crowd, scattering right and left, made way before the levelled spears and whirling blades of the inca's bodyguard; while the voice of umu, harsh and tense with concentrated fury, was heard high above the din, exhorting his followers to let not one of those present escape. within a moment umu himself, whirling a heavy battle mace about him with savage freedom, had forced his way to harry's side, and had either beaten down or driven off those who had constituted themselves his custodians. "are you hurt, lord; have these sacrilegious beasts dared to harm a hair of your head?" he panted, as he flung a supporting arm about escombe's bound and helpless body. "no," answered harry, smiling rather wanly upon him; "i am as sound as ever i was, thank god! but you have only arrived in the very nick of time, umu. in another five minutes you would have been too late, my good and trusty friend. how did you know where i was, and what was happening?" "the tale is too long to tell just now, lord," answered umu, as he busied himself in freeing harry from his bonds; "it shall be told later, when i have disposed of these vile wretches. it was arima who brought me the first hint of what was afoot. pachacamac be praised that i was able to get here in time! what were they about to do with you, lord?" "they talked of putting me to the fire ordeal," answered harry; "but i had a word to say against that, as you may see. xaxaguana, one of the chief conspirators, has already paid the penalty of his perfidy, and lies there dead." "truly, lord, you fought well," exclaimed umu admiringly, as he glanced about him at the dead and wounded. "and huanacocha--is he among this rabble?" "he is--unless he has escaped," answered harry. "if he has, every tenth man of your bodyguard shall lose his hands and feet," snarled umu savagely. and then his brow cleared as, glancing at the mob of prisoners which the troopers were now forming up, he detected huanacocha alive, and apparently unhurt, among them. "ah, no! he is there, i see," he continued. "very well; this plot was of his hatching. he shall undergo the fire ordeal himself." "nay, not that, good umu; not that," protested harry. "such a fate is too horrible to be thought of. punish him by all means, if you will, for indeed he deserves punishment; but not in that way." "very well, lord," answered umu; "it shall be as you wish. meanwhile, i pray you to return to the palace, escorted by your bodyguard; while i, with a few men, attend to the safe disposal of these fellows." five minutes later, escombe found himself, he scarcely knew how, mounted on a trooper's horse, wending his way back to the palace, surrounded by his devoted bodyguard, while the populace, quick to detect how matters were going, rent the air with their acclamations. an hour later umu bowed himself into escombe's presence to report progress. "the prisoners, lord," he said, "are, with the exception of huanacocha, safely confined, and now await such punishment as you may be pleased to inflict upon them. in the presence of a great multitude i have caused the head of huanacocha to be struck from his body in the grounds of his own palace, and have thrown head and body together upon the smoking ruins of the place. i have likewise posted a notice upon the entrance gates forbidding anyone to interfere with the body or give it burial. it is to be left where it lies, for the dogs of the city to devour, as a warning and example to others of the fate of those who conspire sacrilegiously against the authority or person of the sovereign. and i have left two armed troopers to mount sentry at the gates, to ensure that my orders are obeyed." "two only," ejaculated harry in horrified tones. "my dear umu, if i may judge of the temper of the people at large by those with whom i had to deal in the temple to-day, those two unfortunate men have been torn to pieces before now. you must send supports at once to them. i want no more bloodshed over this unfortunate business." "there will be no more, lord," answered umu grimly. "the sentries are as safe as if they were in barracks. the people know me. they know that at the first sign of disorder i would sack the city from end to end, and put every one of its inhabitants to the sword; and there will be no more crime of any sort for many a day to come, after what has befallen huanacocha, who was the most powerful noble in all the land." "i am sure i hope not," answered harry. "and if you should prove to be right in your estimate of the salutary influence exercised by the example which you have made of that turbulent fellow, his death will not have been in vain. and now, umu, what about the palace servants? i see that an entirely new staff has been installed here, by your orders, arima tells me; and he also tells me that the others are safely lodged in prison. surely they had nothing to do with the conspiracy?" whereupon umu, by way of reply, proceeded to recount to his royal master the whole history of the affair, so far as he had learned it. and that included pretty nearly everything that was worth repeating; for in the course of his investigations during that eventful morning the soldier had come upon thread after thread, until, taking into account what he then learned, and adding to it such stray hints as had previously reached him, and to which he had, up to that morning, attached no significance, there was very little left to be learned relative to the conspiracy. the result of it all was that, after thinking the matter over very carefully, escombe was driven to the conclusion that this curious people, into whose midst he had been so strangely brought, were not ripe for those reforms which he, as their ruler, would have felt it his duty to introduce; that they did not want them, and would never willingly accept them; and that, consequently, he must either govern them as they desired to be governed, at the expense of his own conscience, or else abandon the idea of ruling them at all: having come to this conclusion, he summoned all the nobles to a conference, at which he put the case frankly before them, inviting them as frankly to express their opinion upon it, with the result that he was fully confirmed in the opinion which he had formed. the day after the close of the conference he definitely announced to umu his intention to abdicate and quit the valley; at the same time asking that officer's advice as to the best and most desirable mode of procedure in so exceedingly delicate a business. "the affair can be arranged quite easily, lord," answered umu. "there is not the slightest need for you to abandon us. after what has happened to the villac vmu and huanacocha, who were the two chief conspirators, and the example which i shall make of all those who were foolish enough to listen to them, you will be troubled by no more conspiracies; and i will see that whatever laws you may choose to make are obeyed, whether they happen to be to the taste of the people or not. there are a few, who, like myself, are able to recognise that such laws as you have thus far made are for our advantage, and you will always be able to reckon upon their support; while, for the others, who have not sense enough to understand what is good for them, they must be compelled to bow to the decrees of those who are wiser than themselves. "but if, as you have intimated, you are quite resolved not to enforce your wishes upon the people against their will, i will issue a proclamation declaring that, since the inhabitants of the valley have rejected the enormous benefits and advantages which you had desired to bestow upon them, you have decided to leave the valley and abandon them to their fate, and that i have assumed the reins of government and will henceforth rule them in your stead. it is for you, lord, to say which of these two alternatives shall be adopted." "very well, umu," said escombe, "i have already quite made up my mind. i will not remain here to force upon the people laws and ordinances which are unacceptable to them; therefore issue your proclamation as soon as you please, and i will make arrangements to leave forthwith. i presume i may depend upon you to furnish me with guides and an escort as far as santa rosa, from which i will take the train to islay. also, as i shall require money to defray my expenses back to england, i shall take the liberty of withdrawing one bar of gold from the palace treasure chamber for that purpose." "assuredly, lord," answered umu. "you shall be furnished with a reliable guide--you can have none better than arima--and also such an escort as will enable you to perform your journey in perfect safety and comfort. as to the gold, it must of course be for you to determine how much you will need to defray your expenses back to your own country; but what of the remainder of the treasure? you will scarcely be able to take the whole of it with you; for to transport it across the mountains would need the services of every man in the valley, and so large a following as that would be apt to attract undue and unwelcome attention." "ay, that it would," laughed harry. "but i have no intention of robbing you of all your treasure, umu; very far from it. a single bar of gold will suffice for all my needs, thanks!" "but the whole of the treasure is yours, lord, to do what you will with it," answered umu. "it was given to you on the day when you were proclaimed inca; and--" "oh, yes, i know!" interrupted harry; "it was given me for a certain purpose, to wit, the reconquest of the country and its restoration to its former owners. but since the people are too indolent and too self- indulgent to allow me to do this for them, of course i have no claim upon the treasure, and could not possibly dream of appropriating it to my own uses." "so let it be then, lord," answered umu. "take what you require; and, for the rest, i will deal with the matter." a week later witnessed escombe's departure from the valley of the sun, with arima as his guide, and a troop of the inca's bodyguard as his escort. as umu had promised, every possible arrangement had been made for his safety and comfort on the journey; and that portion of it which lay between the valley and santa rosa was accomplished far more agreeably than was that which lay between santa rosa and the sea. the bodyguard escorted him to within twenty miles of santa rosa, which was as close to the city as it was prudent for them to approach, and then left him to complete the journey in the company of arima and the porters who bore his baggage for him. there was not very much of the latter now remaining; nevertheless his following amounted to some twenty-five men; for in addition to escombe's personal belongings, tent, etcetera, there were three stout wooden cases measuring about eighteen inches each way, containing, as umu, at parting, informed harry, the smallest possible share of the treasure which he could be permitted to leave with. when these were ultimately opened, they proved to contain gems--diamonds, rubies, and emeralds--of such enormous value as to constitute their owner a multi-millionaire. it is not to be supposed that escombe succeeded in conveying all this treasure down to the coast and getting it safely embarked upon the mail boat for england without tremendous difficulty and trouble. but by the exercise of immense ingenuity and tact, and the expenditure of a very considerable amount of time, he ultimately managed it. harry is now safe at home, and settled down very comfortably, with his mother and sister, in the most lovely part of devonshire, where he divides his time pretty evenly between enjoying himself, converting his store of gems into coin of the realm, and seeking opportunities to employ his enormous wealth for the benefit and advantage of his less- fortunate fellow men. let it not be thought, however, that harry's adventures in the city of the sun had banished from his mind the fact that he still owed a very important duty to sir philip swinburne. on the contrary, it was the subject which became the most important one in his thoughts after he had finally completed his arrangements for the safe transport of his treasure to england. indeed it claimed his attention immediately upon his arrival at the coast, and one of his first acts was to write to sir philip, acquainting that gentleman with the fact of his escape from the indians--for so he put it--and his impending departure for england, adding that he would afford himself the pleasure of calling at the office in westminster at the earliest possible moment after his arrival home. he had already ascertained that the survey party had completed its operations, and that bannister had left for england some two months prior to the date of his own arrival upon the coast. he knew that there were many points in connection with that portion of the survey which had been executed prior to bannister's arrival upon the scene which nobody but himself could make clear, and accordingly he had no sooner started upon the long homeward voyage than he betook himself to the task of preparing voluminous explanatory notes on those points, so far as his memory served him, in order that he might have all his information cut and dried for submission upon his arrival home. in conformity with his promise, he duly presented himself in westminster within twenty-four hours of his return to english soil, receiving an enthusiastic welcome from his former confreres, and especially from bannister, whom he found busily engaged in plotting the result of the soundings taken at lake titicaca. he was also effusively welcomed by mr richards, who had already wrought himself into a state of distraction in his futile endeavours to clear up those very obscurities which formed the subject of harry's notes. but with the return of escombe to the office the troubles of the chief draughtsman on that account ceased, and he found himself once more able to sleep at night; for harry promptly made it clear that he held himself absolutely at sir philip's disposal until the whole of the plans relating to the survey should be completed. he presented himself at the office punctually at ten o'clock every morning, and worked diligently throughout the day for the succeeding two months until the entire work had been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and sir philip had written his report and dispatched it with his proposals to the chairman of the peruvian corporation. whether those proposals will be carried into effect the future only can tell, for they involve the expenditure of a formidable number of millions. but it is safe to say that, if they are, harry will take no part in the work, his view being that, since he has no need to earn his living, it would be wrong of him to accept a post and thus shut out someone who has that need. still, he has the satisfaction of knowing that, although his future is independent of the goodwill of any man, he so conducted himself during the trying time of his service under butler, and afterwards, while working singlehanded, as to win the warmest approval and esteem of sir philip swinburne and the worthy richards, the latter of whom is now wont to quote harry escombe as the pattern and model of all engineering pupils. it is also due to harry to mention that he made an early opportunity to call upon butler's widow for the purpose of personally acquainting her with the details of the surveyor's unhappy end. but in doing this he contrived so to modify the particulars of the story that, by judicious omissions here and there, without any sacrifice of truth, he succeeded in conveying an impression that was very comforting and consoling to the unfortunate lady in the midst of her grief. as he found that the poor soul had been left in very straitened circumstances, he made it his business promptly to arrange with his lawyers that she should be paid anonymously a sufficient sum quarterly to place her beyond the reach of want. manco, the peruvian chief, an englishman's adventures in the country of the incas, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ here is another kingston novel about south america. as usual he makes the point that the spaniards were very cruel, especially in the way they oppressed the indian tribes. the family in the story are english, and they get pulled into helping an inca chieftain, manco, in his flight from the spaniards. this seems to mirror several other books by kingston. there is always a long trek overland, the point of which usually eludes me, but which gives rise to all sorts of difficult situations, with spaniards, with serpents, with dangerous bridges, with rafts on rivers and so forth. dated this must be one of kingston's earliest books, and certainly one of the earliest with this theme: the style is impeccable. this edition is probably some years later, since there is an inscription in the version i used dated , and it might have been tidied up if it needed it. it makes a good audiobook, though not a very long one, at hours minutes. enjoy reading the book or listening to it. ________________________________________________________________________ manco, the peruvian chief, an englishman's adventures in the country of the incas, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. my family and home--we conceal a fugitive indian. it was evening. the sun had just set beneath the waters of the pacific, which could be distinguished in the far distance; and the whole western sky, undimmed by a cloud, was burning with a radiant glow of splendour such as to the eyes of the untutored peruvians might well appear an emanation from the deity they worshipped. i was looking out, with others of my family, from the windows of the country house we inhabited, on the glorious spectacle. we were residing in peru, that romantic region with which the name of the conqueror pizarro must be for ever associated--the kingdom of the once powerful and enlightened incas, on the western shore of south america. at the time of which i speak, however, its greatness, its prosperity and happiness, had passed away; it was a mere province of old spain, and governed by a viceroy sent from that country, while the race of its ancient sovereigns, though still existing, was humbled and disregarded, and almost unknown. my parents were english, and england was my native land. my father, mr henry rexton, had been a soldier in his youth; but when he married my mother, who was the daughter of an eminent british merchant, he quitted the army; and my grandfather induced him, by advantageous offers, to take a share in his house of business. the firm traded with peru; and certain mercantile transactions of importance requiring for a time the superintendence of a partner, my father and mother went out there, taking with them me and a younger sister, their only children then born. year after year unexpected circumstances occurred which compelled them, much against their wish, to remain in the country; and well do i remember how frequently in our family circle the subject of conversation was the happiness we expected to enjoy on returning home. on first going to peru, we resided in lima, the modern capital; but at length the heat of the climate affecting my mother's health, in the hopes of it being restored by a cooler atmosphere, my father engaged a house in the country, at a considerable distance from the city. it was situated among the lower ranges of the lofty cordilleras, one of those mighty ranges of mountains which stretches from one end to the other of the south american continent, the eastern portion of them being more properly known by the name of the andes. our house stood on a level spot on the summit of a spur of the main chain. to the east behind it rose range above range of mountains, the more distant towering to the sky, and covered with eternal snows. on either side other spurs stretched out far towards the west, forming deep gorges below us; while along the side of the ridge on which the house was situated ran a narrow road, one of the few paths in that neighbourhood, penetrating among the mountains into the regions on the eastern side. from our windows westward, over a wide extent of broken ground among the mounds, many of which might in other countries be called mountains, would be seen the fertile plains of peru stretching away to the ocean, distinguished on clear days by a silvery line in the horizon. the house was of one floor only, and built of brick and tiled. the rooms were large and numerous, and it was surrounded by a court-yard. it was of ancient construction, indeed it appeared to have been built originally for a fortification to command the pass through the mountains; but the outer walls had fallen into decay or been pulled down, though it still retained enough of its former character to enable it to be speedily prepared to resist any sudden attack by undisciplined forces destitute of artillery. around it were plantations of olive and orange trees, on the slopes near it were vineyards, and on the level spaces fields of maize or indian corn, and many trees and plants of a temperate clime. at the bottom of the ravine rushed a broad and powerful stream, fed by the snows of the neighbouring mountains; and on its banks, in a wider part, some little way to the west, was a large village inhabited chiefly by indians, the descendants of the hapless race conquered by the spaniards. in the neighbourhood, on the other side of the river, was a silver mine, in working which many of the inhabitants of the village were employed. my father's house had, i believe, advanced money to the owners; and this was one of the reasons which made him select the locality for his temporary residence, besides its peculiar healthiness and beauty. he was a firm friend to the indians, for he pitied their hard fate; and he endeavoured by every means in his power to mitigate their sufferings under the cruel tyranny to which, even at that time, they were subjected. as he did not own the mine, he could not prevent their strength from being often overtaxed; but having some knowledge of medicine, he used to prescribe for them when they were sick, and he to the best of his means relieved them when overtaken by poverty, so that they all learned to love and reverence the english stranger who had come among them. his conduct was uninfluenced by any expectation of a return, but he afterwards had reason to know that the despised indians were not ungrateful for his kindness. my father was a true christian, who looked upon all men helpless or suffering, whatever their hue, or race, or religion, as brothers, whom it was his duty to aid and protect. he received his reward; and my belief is, that no person ever performs a good disinterested action without being rewarded for it even in this world. i, at all events, have met with numerous instances which tend to show that such is the case. the means of crossing the river to the mines was by a large hanging bridge, called by the spaniards "_puente de soga_," which could be seen from the windows of our house. on either side of the river, some fifty feet above the water, stout posts were driven into the steep bank, to which four ropes, formed of twisted cow-hides the thickness of a man's arm, were fastened. these ropes were laid parallel to each other, a few feet apart; and were again fastened by thinner ropes laid transversely, and forming a sort of network. on this foundation were spread roots of the agave tree, branches of trees, straw, and earth, so that even beasts of burden could walk across. on either side of the bridge, and about three feet above it, two other ropes were carried across to serve as a balustrade; but as it had sunk in the middle, and the ropes were very slack, it frequently swung from side to side as passengers went across, in a most terrific way. it formed a very picturesque object in the landscape. i have now given a sufficiently full description of our house and the scenery surrounding it, to enable my readers to form a tolerably correct idea of the picture i wish to present to them. at the time when the adventures i have resolved to narrate commenced, i had just attained my fifteenth year. i looked older, for i had grown rapidly in that warm climate; and, accustomed to exercise and athletic sports, i was of a well-knit strong frame, and had a very manly appearance, though possessed of the light hair and complexion of the saxon race, somewhat tanned, however, by constant exposure to the sun. my brothers and sisters, for i had several, all bore the same marked characteristics of our northern ancestors, contrasting strongly with the swarthy hue on the countenances of the people among whom we lived. they used to call us the fair-haired children of the north; and from the love and respect with which they regarded us, i believe they associated us in their minds with the revered race whom their traditions told them once ruled the country with paternal sway--the family of the fallen incas. i shall have to tell more fully, in the course of my narrative, the beautiful legend, for so i may call it, regarding the origin of the incas; how they appeared suddenly among the ignorant inhabitants of peru, claiming to be the children of the sun, and, gathering their scattered tribes together, formed them into one people, and gave them laws and institutions, and brought peace and prosperity to the land, which continued till the spaniards arrived, and, with unexampled treachery and cruelty, overthrew their monarchy and reduced the people to abject slavery and misery. the indians around us were nominally roman catholics; but though they conformed openly to the ordinances of that church, and partly believed in the power assumed by its priests, they pertinaciously retained many of the superstitions of their ancestors, and practised their rites in secret. having given a brief account of my family, and their position in the country, i must begin to unwind the thread of my tale. we were seated, as i have said, in our sitting-room, gazing on one of the most magnificent of nature's spectacles--the setting sun. the younger children were playing about the room, while my sister lilly and i, with our father and mother, were seated near the open window. we were talking, i well remember, about our distant home, when our conversation was interrupted by seeing a man leap over the wall of the court-yard, and rapidly approach the house. "who can he be? what brings him here?" exclaimed my mother, while my father rose to make inquiries on the subject. scarcely had she spoken, when the door was thrown open, and the person we had seen rushed into the room. he was a tall man, of well-knit, active frame, and though he looked travel-stained and weary, there was something in his appearance and manner which betokened that he was not an ordinary being. his complexion was dark, though scarcely darker than that of a spaniard; but the contour of his features and the expression of his countenance showed that he belonged to the indian race. his dress was simple, consisting of a pair of trowsers, and a shirt of the cotton cloth of the country, of a dark blue colour; a poncho of alpaca wool covered his shoulders, while a sash was fastened round his waist, and his feet were protected by sandals, fastened on by leather thongs. he threw himself on the ground before my father, who went to meet him, and taking his hand, he looked up imploringly in his face. "save me, senor!" he exclaimed in spanish, "you have the power if you will venture to do it. i am flying from what they call justice--the tyranny of our cruel task-masters. if i am captured, my death is certain. you are noble and generous, and i throw myself on your mercy." the appeal thus made, with all the energy of despair, was difficult to resist. my father's feelings were enlisted on the side of the fugitive; but he looked round at my mother and us, who now stood grouped about him, and remembered the difficulties to which we might be exposed, should he yield to the promptings of his heart, from the anger of the spanish authorities. the indian divined his thoughts. "you run no danger," he continued. "far be it from me to cause you to suffer for your charity. no one saw me approach your house; neither did your servants observe me enter it. i was on my way through the mountains to the far interior, but not daring to enter any house for food and rest, i felt that my strength was forsaking me, and that i could not hope to combat with the difficulties of the road. if you cannot shelter me, noble senor, either i must die from fatigue, or be captured by my enemies." "of what crime have you been guilty, that you thus seek to fly from justice?" asked my father. "of no crime, senor, believe me," replied the indian in a proud tone, rising to his feet as he spoke. "of no crime in the sight of heaven, or even of men, if they had regard to justice. i was selected for the hated _meta_, i, a descendant of the great incas, was ordered to work as a slave--a _pongo_ in the house of a sub-delegado, a man noted for his crimes and cruelty. i refused to perform the disgraceful office--i was dragged there by force--with a thong he endeavoured to frighten me into performing the work he ordered. his rage surpassed all bounds; he struck me again and again. was i tamely to submit? my dormant spirit was aroused. i at length struck him again; and when he rushed at me in his fury, i felled him to the ground. i attempted to fly, but i was captured ere i could do so, and was borne off to prison, there to await my doom, which would have been death. my name was unknown. they thought i was an humble indian; but some of my race were at hand, and, aided by them, i effected my escape from prison. my friends could not conceal me, and my only course was instant flight into the mountains." "let us shelter him, henry," exclaimed my mother, in english; "heaven surely will not allow us to suffer injury from doing what is right." the indian at once comprehended by her looks that she was pleading his cause. "may the blessing of the god of my fathers light on you and yours!" he cried, kneeling at her feet. my father thought as she did; but he had learned not to give way on a sudden to the impulse of his feelings, and he wished to ascertain that the indian was not deceiving him before he promised his protection. "who are you?" he asked; "though your tale, alas! is too probable to be doubted." "i am one who would not be guilty of a falsehood to save my life," answered the indian proudly; "i am the cousin of the cacique tupac amaru, the rightful heir of the last inca of peru. you see in me one of the children of the sun; and though the blood of the conquerors of my country is mixed in my veins, i feel that of my fathers still burning strongly within me. i had heard of your charity and kindness to my people; and for long i have known you, hoping some day to repay you; but i see that you fear my presence might risk the safety of your family, and i will not trespass on you. give me but some food to sustain my wearied body, and i will depart." my father took the stranger's hand. "you shall not go," he said. "i will trust you, and at all hazards i will endeavour to conceal you till your strength is recruited. david," he continued, speaking to me, "see that the servants do not come into this part of the house till i have concealed this poor fellow; and remember, children, do none of you on any account speak of what has occurred. now, my friend," he added, turning to the indian, "follow me; i trust in the truth of your story, and will endeavour to preserve you from injury." while i went out to the end of the passage to send any of the domestics back who might by chance have been coming to that part of the house, my father led the indian to a large unfurnished room, which the children used as a play-room in rainy weather. at one end was a deep recess in the wall, with a door to it, and from the recess a narrow flight of steps led to a vault of considerable depth, from whence there was a passage to the side of the mountains. in the roof of the chamber there was a small trap-door, through which a thin ladder conducted to the roof of the house. it had evidently been constructed when the building was used as a fortification, and was probably intended to enable the garrison to make a sudden sortie on the enemy at an unexpected point. the outside entrance was blocked up by rubbish overgrown with vegetation; and my father had caused a strong door to be placed to the vault, to prevent any intruder, who might by chance have found his way through it, from entering the house. he always kept the keys himself; and as no one ever thought of wishing to enter the recess, a securer place for the concealment of the fugitive could not have been found. our evening meal was, fortunately, spread in the parlour, so that we were able to supply our guest with the refreshment he so much required, without exciting the suspicion of the servants. i must remark that several of them, of the higher class, were spanish, though the rest were indians; and though we believed them to be honest and faithful, my father did not consider it right to trust them with a secret which might compromise them as well as himself and all his family. he was very sensible, even as it was, of the risk that he was running; but he had resolved, at all hazards, to preserve the unfortunate man who had thrown himself on his protection. while i kept watch, my mother collected some bedding, and took it into the closet; so that in a few minutes our guest was made as comfortable as circumstances could allow. he ate sparingly of the food placed before him, and then, expressing his deep gratitude for the protection afforded him, he threw himself on his couch, and sought the repose he so much needed. my father having secured the door, called me to him, and we all again assembled in the sitting-room as if nothing had occurred, till summoned by the servant to our evening meal. the arrival of the stranger had, however, an influence on my future fortunes. while our servant jose, who was a spanish creole, was waiting at table, i could not help looking into his face to try and discover if he suspected anything; but the look of perfect unconsciousness which his countenance bore reassured me. i was afraid also that the children might betray it to their nurses; but our mother had kept them carefully shut up in the sitting-room while our father was concealing the stranger, so that they were under the impression that he had gone away. lilly and i were therefore the only ones in the secret. chapter two. unwelcome visitors. when we retired to rest, all night long i dreamed of the unhappy descendant of the inca who was beneath our roof. some of the incidents of which i had read in peruvian history were strongly mixed up in my mind with the reality, with the indistinctness which generally occurs in dreams. i thought our guest was the mild and unfortunate huascar, the rightful inca of peru, who was a prisoner in the hands of his fierce brother atahualpa when the spaniards attacked peru with their small but determined band of robber-warriors. i thought i was aiding huascar to escape from among his brother's army. we had passed the guards, who were fast asleep, when we came to a broad river. we attempted to swim across, when i felt my strength failing me. huascar was bravely buffeting the stream by my side. suddenly the bank was lined with troops. they shouted to us, and let fly a cloud of arrows at the inca. he stopped swimming. i endeavoured to drag him on; but as i grasped at him he sank below the water. the shouts grew louder. i awoke. the noise was real, for i heard the voices of some men calling in spanish at the court-yard gate, and desiring to be let in. i trembled with alarm; for i at once suspected that the strangers must be the emissaries of government come in search of our guest. i jumped up and began to dress myself, intending to go out to inquire who they were; but before i had left my room i heard jose, the servant, hold a parley with them at the gate. "who are you," he asked, "who come at this unreasonable hour to disturb a quiet family?" "open in the king's name, and we will let you know," was the answer he received. "i must get my master's leave first, and he is fast asleep," he replied. "we are government officers in search of a fugitive malefactor, and are benighted on our road; so you must awake your master whoever he is, and he will not refuse to give us shelter," they exclaimed. i now went out to join jose. he was afraid they were robbers; and i suspected that they by some means knew that the fugitive was harboured in the house, and only made this a pretext to gain an entrance. fortunately my father was not awakened by the noise, or he might have had more difficulty than had the servant in answering the questions put by the officers of justice. opening a slide in the gate through which he could look out, jose let the light of the lantern fall on the strangers, and the inspection convinced him that they were what they represented themselves to be. "be quick there," said the strangers, "for we have but a short time to rest, and we must speedily be again on our road." "what shall i do, master david?" said jose. "if we do not let them in they will batter down the door; but still i do not like to disturb the senor rexton. they do not look like robbers, so it is all right." with the knowledge that the indian concealed in the house was in all probability the fugitive the officers were seeking, i felt that it was all wrong, and would have given much to have kept them out; but still i saw that it would be equally dangerous to attempt to do so. my heart all the time was beating audibly with agitation; and i was afraid that even jose would suspect the secret. however, i replied, "let them in, jose, by all means, and do you attend to what they require." he accordingly withdrew the bolts and bars of the gate, and two chief officers--alguazils they are called--and four subordinates made their appearance. two of them remained without to take care of their horses. they were all fierce, rough-looking fellows, armed with muskets, pistols in their belts, and swords by their sides. the officers of justice (though i do not think the name is a proper one) were often pardoned banditti, cut-throats and robbers of the blackest dye, who were glad to accept the office as an alternative for the garotte; and i believe our visitors were of that description. the inferiors were mestizos, half indian and half spaniards by descent, with dark brown complexions and savage countenances--altogether gentlemen of a very unprepossessing appearance. they were accompanied by a dog, a huge, savage-looking hound, whom they called by the very ugly name of demonio. if he was a bloodhound, as at first i thought he was, i felt that the detection of the indian would be certain. "you were a long time opening the gate, friend," observed, one of them as they strode into the house. "you took us for robbers, i suppose?" "o no, senor, not at all," said jose; "but a servant should not let strangers into the house without his master's leave." "is that young senor your master then?" inquired the alguazil. "he is my master's son; my master is senor rexton, an englishman, and he is fast asleep," said jose. "well, you need not disturb him then; all we want is food and shelter for the night," replied the alguazil. "be quick with the former, some straw and blankets will serve us for beds. while, hark you, do you send some one to show the way to the stables, that our beasts may be looked after; they require food as much as we do." "all shall be done you request, senores; in the mean time, follow me," said jose; and what was my dismay to see him lead the way to the large empty room i have spoken of, close to which the indian was concealed! i dared not interfere, lest i might excite their suspicions; so i thought it best to let jose follow his own course. having dragged in a table from one of the other rooms, he placed a lighted candle on it, and then hurried off to call up some of the other servants to help him, leaving me alone with the officers. i was afraid of speaking to them, lest they should ask me questions; so i made signs that the servant would quickly return with what they required. i dared not even look towards the door of the secret passage, to which every instant i expected to see some of them go for the purpose of examining it. however, somewhat to my relief, they seemed not to notice the door, but throwing themselves on the ground, stretched out their limbs to rest themselves, while their hound demonio crouched down at their feet with his head between his fore-paws, ready to spring up in a moment. i saw by the glare of his half-closed eyes that he was all the time wide awake, and eager to spring upon any one who might molest him or his masters. my anxiety made me fancy that jose was a long time absent, but he had really been away only a few minutes, when he returned with another servant, bringing a supply of bread and meat, and wine. some chairs were carried into the room; and the officers being joined by their companions, they attacked the viands with a good will. had jose been in the secret, he might have betrayed it, but his perfectly collected manner gave no cause for suspicion. "you do not chance to have seen or heard anything of an indian, an atrocious villain who has escaped from justice, and is supposed to have taken the path by this up the mountains?" asked one of the officers. o how my heart did beat as i heard this! jose assured them with an air of perfect disembarrassment that he knew nothing of any indian fugitive. his answers seemed to satisfy them. he next brought in some bundles of straw and blankets to serve as bedding. "there, senores, i hope that you will make yourselves at home, and sleep soundly after your supper," he observed, as he deposited them in different parts of the room. "no fear of it, friend; we will not forget your hospitality," said the chief alguazil, as he helped himself to a large tumbler of wine. i was glad to see them apparently so well satisfied; but at the same time i thought i detected a sinister expression in the eye of the speaker, with which i was not altogether satisfied. the hound demonio, too, gave me some uneasiness; for though he came back to catch the pieces of meat thrown to him by the officers, he employed himself meanwhile in snuffing round the room in a very suspicious manner. jose stood quietly by to attend to their wants. "can i do anything more for you, senores!" he asked. "another flask of this wine will not be objectionable, and a bundle of cigars would be welcome," answered the chief alguazil, laughing at the thought of the comfortable quarters into which he had fallen, and determined to make the most of them. "certainly, senores; i am sure my master would not object to afford all you require," said jose, going out to fetch what was asked for. while he was absent, what was my horror to see the dog, who had now finished his meal, begin to snuff vehemently under the door of the secret passage, and then to work away with his paws, as if to try and open it! i turned pale with alarm, for i knew that all must be discovered; but still i thought it best to take no notice of the circumstance. "what does the dog want there?" said one of the men. "rats are there, i suppose," remarked another, whose wits the wine had somewhat dulled. "demonio has a strange fancy for rats," said a third. "rats or not, i should like to have a look behind the door," observed the chief alguazil, as the dog's excitement increased. i said nothing, and the officers seemed to fancy that i could not understand spanish, so they did not trouble me with questions. just then jose returned. "what is inside that door?" asked the chief alguazil abruptly. "nothing that i know of but an empty cupboard," he answered quietly. "the room is little used, so that i never saw it opened." "bring the key, and let us see," said the alguazil. "i have not the key; and if there is one, my master must have it, and i cannot disturb him for such a fancy," replied jose. "the dog smells a rat; there are many in the house, and he will soon be quiet." but the dog would not be quiet, neither was the alguazil satisfied; and at last jose was obliged to say that he would go and ask my father for the key. i followed him out of the room. "jose, i will go to my father and get the key, while you stay with the strangers," i said to him. "give them plenty of wine, and amuse them as long as you can." i hurried to my father's room to consult what was to be done; though i intended not to mention that the key had been asked for till he had come into the passage, as of course my mother would be very much alarmed at hearing of it. i had got him out into the passage, and was mentioning the unwelcome arrival of the spaniards in as calm a tone as i could command, when it struck me that i might prevent his being implicated in the secretion of the fugitive if i took the whole blame upon myself. i at last told him of the suspicions the behaviour of the horrid dog had aroused in the minds of the officers; and entreated him, by every argument i could think of, to let me manage the affair as best i could. "they can scarcely inflict any severe punishment on me," i observed, "while they might drag you off to prison, and leave my mother and brother and sisters without a protector." "i must take the consequences of what i have done," he returned. "at the same time i do not repent having endeavoured to save the poor fellow. the act was right, and that must be my consolation." but i was not so easily to be turned aside from my purpose; and at last he consented to let me take the key, and to use it if driven so to do, while he remained in his room. i returned, as may be supposed, in no great hurry to the hall; and as i got close to it i heard, amid the loud talking of the spaniards and jose, who was doing his best to amuse them, the scratching and snarling of the savage brute at the door. "my master is incapable of breaking the laws; that i can assure your excellencies," i heard jose say. "if the man you seek is inside there, he did not put him in, you may depend on it. if you find anything, it will be a rat or a little mouse, perhaps, for which all this fuss is to be made." "what you say may be true, friend; but if the key is not brought we must break open the door," observed one of the spaniards. "the dog is not a pure bloodhound; but he has enough of the race in him to know the difference between an indian and a rat." at last i thought it better to go in with the key. when i reached the door of the passage, the brute snarled at me savagely, and i fully believe would have sprung upon me and torn me limb from limb, had not his masters called him off. i trembled so with agitation that i could scarcely apply the key to the keyhole. luckily the light did not fall on me, or it would have been perceived. "come, young senor, be quick about it; somebody is in there--of that i can be sworn," exclaimed the alguazil. "there, take the key yourself, and try and open it," i answered, hoping that as he did so the indian would rush out and make his escape, though his chance was a forlorn one. the officer took the key; some of his men approached with lights, while others held their swords and pistols ready for use. jose looked very much astonished, though in no way alarmed at the proceedings; but i knew too well what was about to be revealed. the door flew open, and the men and their hateful dog rushed in. the fate of the poor indian was sealed, i thought. i followed, expecting to see them tearing him to pieces. what, then, was my astonishment and satisfaction to find not a trace of him remaining! the bedding, and even the dishes in which his food had been carried to him, were nowhere to be seen. "there, i told you so," exclaimed jose triumphantly, "there were nothing but rats." but the dog was not so easily satisfied; and to my horror he rushed down the narrow flight of steps leading to the secret outlet. the door at the bottom i knew was locked, and i too justly feared that the indian would be found there. the officers hesitated about descending; for as only one could go at a time, they saw that a determined man might kill them in detail, if so inclined; so they sent their inferiors forward to make the experiment. i stood by, waiting the result with increased anxiety; for i felt that if the indian should kill some of the officers, the difficulties of our position would be still more increased. the dog led the way, and i hoped would be the only victim; the others followed very reluctantly. some time passed; but still there was no sign of their having discovered the fugitive. "have you found the rat?" shouted jose, laughingly, from above. "bring the key of the other door," thundered the alguazil in return from below. i had got it, but i did not say so. "of what door do you speak?" asked jose, in real ignorance of the fact that there was a door. i was anxious to gain all the time possible, believing that the indian must have made his escape through the passage; so i let them talk on till the alguazil peremptorily ordered me to open the door, threatening me with all sorts of pains and penalties if i refused to obey. "i have heard that there is a long passage leading no one knows where," exclaimed jose; "so, senores, if you are going to explore it, you had better take some torches, or you may chance lose your way." "bring them here instantly," shouted the alguazil. "if you are wise men you will amuse yourselves with the wine flasks while i go to prepare them," said jose. the advice was too agreeable to be neglected, and i was very glad to see the men return and again seat themselves at the table. while they were drinking and jose was absent, the dog however continued running up and down the steps, and smelling in every direction. the officers seemed to enjoy their wine so much that i was in hopes that their suspicions were lulled, and at all events i rejoiced that the indian would have more time afforded him for making his escape. jose at last returned with the torches, which were composed of twisted straw dipped in pitch; and the chief officer descending with less caution than before, led the way, the rest following. at the bottom of the steps was a tolerably broad space, which enabled me to pass the men so as to reach the door, where the hound, snarling at me as i approached, stood ready to rush through at his prey as i supposed. how the indian could have escaped, still, however, remained a mystery to me. after several attempts i succeeded in turning the rusty lock, and a dark passage cut through the solid rock opened before us. the wet dropped from the roof as we proceeded, and, combined with the noxious exhalations which proceeded from the farther end, almost extinguished the torches. "it is folly in me accompanying these men," i thought to myself; and just then a recess appearing in the rock, i stepped into it and let the rest pass me. jose was the last; i touched him as he reached me, and whispered to him to return. he either did not hear me, or wished to watch the proceedings of the alguazil and his subordinates. as i had no torch, i groped my way with no little difficulty to the foot of the stairs, thinking jose was following me. to my horror, just as i was about to ascend, i heard the low-muttered growl of the savage hound, and the next instant i found my leg seized in his jaws. "help, jose, help!" i cried out, but not loud, lest the officers should hear me; "the brute will kill me else." but jose was not, as i supposed, at hand. i felt the dog moving his jaws higher up my leg, as if he evidently was about to pull me to the ground, while the pain he inflicted almost paralysed me. i certainly was no coward, but i shrieked in my agony. in another moment he would have mastered me, when, by the faint light which came through the door of the room above, i saw a dark figure spring down the steps. the dog let go his hold of me to fly at the new-comer but was met by the point of a sharp dagger, which pierced his breast, and uttering a low yell of pain and rage, the brute fell dead at my feet. the indian--for my preserver was the fugitive--without speaking, assisted me in dragging the dog out of sight under the steps, and then whispering, "say not a word about the dog, he will not be discovered," again sprung up the steps. i followed him, fearing that the men in the room above would discover him. i caught sight of him as he ascended to the roof of the alcove, by means of a single rope which hung to the ground. in the roof was a trap-door, through which he disappeared, and closed it silently after him, having first drawn up the rope. again going below, i met jose, and told him that the dog was dead, charging him to ask no questions, and to say nothing about it. i was much afraid lest the men should discover the dog; for the fact of his remaining near the stairs might make them suspect that the indian was concealed near at hand. my trousers were fortunately only a little torn, though, as the brute's teeth had met in the calf of my leg, i felt a considerable amount of pain; but i did my best to conceal it, lest the men should accuse me of killing the dog. i might with truth have replied that i had not killed him, but they would then have asked who did, to which question i could not have replied. as the life of a fellow-being was at stake, i felt the importance of being very circumspect in everything i did. when we returned to the room, the two men who had been left there inquired what had become of their comrades. "hunting rats or spirits, for they will find nothing else down there i am sure," answered jose, unconcernedly. "they will be back soon, i warrant, after their fool's chase, begging your pardon, senores." his words were verified more speedily than he expected, for at that moment cries and shouts were heard, and the officers came tumbling up the steps as fast as their legs could carry them, with their hair almost standing on end, and their eye-balls starting from their heads. one had lost his cap, another his sword, and all their torches; they were also wet and dirty from scraping against the sides of the cavern. they declared that they had been set upon by a whole legion of demons, who had blown out their torches and attacked them with teeth and claws, so that they were glad to escape with their lives. "for the love of heaven shut the door, or they will be up here after us!" shouted the last of the men, as he rushed into the room. i, as may be supposed, hurried down with joyful alacrity to obey the order, and coming back without encountering any of the demons, closed the upper door after me. "i said you were going on a fool's errand," said jose; "your pardon for the remark, senores. but let me fill up your glasses, the wine will soon make you forget your mishaps." the men were easily induced to apply the proposed remedy. "but what has become of the dog?" asked the chief. "carried off by the demons," observed jose. "let him go," growled one who was the most bruised and dirty. "he led us into the scrape, and deserves his fate; if it had not been for him, we should not have known of that horrid vault." the chief, notwithstanding these remarks, ordered his men to go and look for the dog; but as he showed no readiness to set the example, none of the others would obey him, declaring that they would rather be shot at once than venture again among such horrors. i felt very much relieved at the turn events had taken. the indian had escaped, the means of the bloodhound's death was not suspected, and the officers would probably at early dawn continue their search after the fugitive. "ask them if they wish to return to the vault; for if not, i will take the keys up to my father," i whispered to jose. "no, no," answered the men. "we have had enough of the vault, and demons, and monsters, and spirits it contains. tell your master all we want is plenty of this good wine to keep them away." telling jose to give them as much as they required and to keep a careful watch over them, i hurried back to my father to inform him that the danger was over. "i never fear the consequence of having performed a good action, my boy," he replied; "yet we should be grateful to providence for having preserved us from much suffering, both of mind and body. the poor indian is for the present safe. i can guess the way he escaped; but we will talk on the matter more to-morrow. now, david, go to your room and rest, for you look pale and fatigued." i did not tell my father that the dog had bit me, though i should have been wiser had i done so, as he would have had proper remedies applied, had the wounds required them. jose, however, soon after came into my room and fomented my leg with a mixture which he said was very efficacious in preventing inflammation from the bite of an animal. it at all events relieved me from the pain i was suffering; and when jose left me to keep watch with the other servants on the officers, i threw myself on my bed in the hopes of obtaining some sleep. whenever i dropped off, my mind recurred to the unfortunate descendant of the incas, and the scenes i had just witnessed; and every instant i was jumping up, fancying i heard the shout of the officers as they discovered his place of concealment. chapter three. a journey and the adventures we met with. i awoke to perfect consciousness (for i could scarcely be said to have been asleep all night) just as the first faint streaks of dawn were appearing in the sky; and hearing the voices of men, and the stamping of horses in the court-yard, i looked out of the window to learn what was occurring. at first my mind misgave me that the alguazil and his myrmidons had by some means seized the indian; but as i scrutinised the dark forms which appeared in the cold grey light of the morning, i could not distinguish his among them. the men mounted one after the other apparently in good humour, for jose was there among the other servants with a huge flagon of wine to serve out to them the stirrup-cup at parting, a custom observed in most countries. it was a great relief to my mind when the gates were opened and i saw them fairly outside the walls. as the light increased, i watched them slowly winding along the steep path which led up the mountain, till they disappeared in a dark gorge which opened before them. "you will have a long ride if you do not intend to halt till you have caught the fugitive in that direction," said i to myself, just as jose entered. "i have sent the rogues off in good humour," he observed. "wine is a fine thing to raise the spirits, though to my mind last night they took enough to raise more than they expected--ha, ha, ha! they thought they were attacked by ghosts and goblins, when in reality only a number of bats flew out against them after the foul air had already damped their ardour. the place swarms with the vermin. by the by, if the senor, my master, will give me the key of the vault, i will get up that beast of a dog, and bury him or hang him up to feed the condors." i thought jose suspected something, and said this to learn the truth. i was inclined to confide the secret to him, but i felt that i ought not to do so without my father's permission; so i answered that my father would give him the keys when he required them. when i met my father, he told me that i was right in not telling jose, both for our sake as well as his own, though he was doubtless trustworthy. i then asked him what had become of the indian. "he is safe on the roof," he replied. "i have just seen him; he tells me that he heard the alguazils arrive, and that at first he thought he was betrayed, especially when the dog began to snuff under the door. he soon, however, learned from their conversation that his presence was not suspected; but still, to make sure, he descended the stairs in the hopes of discovering a means of escape,--finding none, he ascended the ladder, and forcing open the trap-door, he got through to the roof. he then returned, when hearing the key asked for, he knew that his bedding would betray his having been there, so he carried everything up to the roof, lifting the ladder up after him. his doing so puzzled the dog, and saved him his life probably, and us from very considerable annoyance." we afterwards met at breakfast, when jose gave my father and mother a full account of all that occurred. my father having given the indian notice to retire to the roof, the body of the hound was removed and buried, and the family resumed their usual routine of life. either i or lilly twice a day, when no one was observing us, carried food to the indian. upwards of a week had passed since his arrival, when he expressed a strong desire to resume his journey, saying that he thought by this time the search for him must be over. my father was very unwilling to let him go; but he assured us, that now his health and strength were completely restored, he had not the slightest fear of again falling into the hands of the spaniards. all the provision he would accept was a little maize, and sufficient cacao to replenish his pouch. the cacao has been in use among the peruvians from the earliest times. its peculiar qualities enable those who take it to undergo great and continuous exertion, without any other food. it is a plant somewhat like the vine, and grows to about seven or eight feet in height. the leaves have a bitter flavour, and are aromatic. among other qualities, they act as a sudorific, preserve the teeth, and prevent sleep. on first awaking in the morning, an indian will put a quid of his favourite leaf into his mouth, and he performs the same operation three or four times in the day. to give it a relish he mixes a little pulverised unslacked lime, which he carries in a gourd for that purpose. he takes the lime out the gourd with a thin slip of damped wood, and conveys what adheres to it to his mouth. the operation of chewing is called _chakchar_. many even of the whites indulge in it in secret, though it would be considered derogatory to chew in public, because the despised indian does so. the peruvians, in their love and admiration for this plant, used to pay it a religious respect, and considered it the most grateful offering to the spirits they might wish to propitiate. it has certainly a most wonderful effect in sustaining nature; and i have known people undergoing great fatigue, exist four or five days, without tasting any other food, or suffering the slightest inconvenience. the ignorant conquerors, from observing the reverence paid by the indians to cacao, fancied that it must possess some demoniacal properties, and not only refused to use it themselves, but endeavoured to prevent it being used by the natives; and a royal decree was actually issued, declaring that the idea entertained by the indians that cacao gave them strength, is an "illusion of the devil." the mine-owners, however, perceived its importance in enabling the slaves to undergo fatigue; and its use, therefore, rather increased than diminished. it, however, excites the brain, somewhat as does opium, and thus its intemperate use for any length of time would probably wear out mental vigour and activity. having procured a supply of this valuable leaf for the indian, he filled his pouch with it, while the maize he fastened up in a corner of his poncho. "i am ready to depart," he said, "though my heart yet lingers with you; and believe, o children of a northern land, that, though fallen and despised his race, manco tupac amaru is truly grateful for your generous hospitality, and more for preserving his life. the time may come, and shortly too, when he may have the opportunity of proving his gratitude-- till then, farewell!" taking my father's hand and mine, he pressed his lips to them, and burst into tears. his words made an impression on me, though at the time i did not comprehend their meaning. i afterwards had good reason to do so. it was again evening, the hour at which he had arrived; and when it was perfectly dark, i went out to see that none of the servants were near. he then let himself drop from the window, and crossing the court-yard, scaled the wall, and took his way up the mountain. i had reason to believe that none of the servants suspected that he had been with us. this was the first of the many adventures in which, at that period of my life, i was engaged. we often talked of the indian manco, and were anxious to know his fate; but for long heard no more of him. some time after this, my father invited me to attend him on a journey, which business required him to perform, to cuzco, lima, and other parts of the country; and, as may be supposed, with no little alacrity i set to work to make the necessary preparations. we are fond of boasting of the civilisation of europeans of the present day; but, however humiliating to our pride, it must be owned that in many important respects peru has retrograded since the time that the christian spaniard took possession of the country, and superseded the mild though despotic sway of the glorious incas. under her ancient sovereigns, magnificent roads traversed the kingdom from north to south, and from the sea-coast into the distant interior, across the mighty andes. inns for the accommodation of travellers were built at convenient distances on the roads, and stored abundantly with provisions, while at each relays of couriers were stationed, who with wonderful celerity could carry messages or small parcels through the country. it is said that the tables of the incas, when at cuzco, or still farther in the interior, were supplied regularly with fish fresh caught from the sea, and other quickly perishable luxuries, in a mode which has only been accomplished in england since the introduction of railroads, or perhaps in the latter days of quick coach travelling. i mention this to show the contrast to the means we possessed for performing our journey. at last the day arrived for our departure. my father rode a steady mule, but i preferred a horse, though not so safe an animal for the narrow tracks, up and down steep mountains, on the summit of terrific precipices, and across rickety bridges which we were about to traverse. they were caparisoned much in the same way. our saddles were huge and deep, covered with red woolly rugs; our stirrups were of moorish shape, large wooden boxes strapped with iron; the girths were broad; and belts fastened to the saddle, passed round the breast and haunches of the animals, prevented it from slipping off when going up or down the almost precipitous declivities in our way. our luggage was carried in huge trunks, made of untanned bullocks' hides, fastened with thongs of the same material, each mule carrying two slung on either side of his back. in some our clothes were packed, in others our mattresses and bedding, and in others our mess utensils and provisions; for as there were no inns, it was necessary to take everything which would be required. we rode ahead, our peons or muleteers following the beasts of burden. before the introduction of horses and mules, the indians employed the delicate llama to carry goods through the country. we had heavy spurs, and sharp bits to our bridles, and wore broad-brimmed hats and ponchos. the last named garment may be described as a large piece of cloth of wool or cotton, of a round form, with a hole in the centre. through this hole the head is put, while the cloth falls over the shoulders, and forms a very effectual protection from the weather. it was used by the indians before the conquest. my mother and lilly assisted in preparing and packing our provisions and clothes; and with prayers for our safety, at an early hour one morning they saw us mount and commence our journey. "good-bye, mother; good-bye, lilly," i exclaimed, as i seated myself in my saddle. "i will bring you back, like the princes in the arabian nights, all the most wonderful things i can collect." their hearts were too full to answer, and their eyes were moist with tears; for they could not conceal from themselves that there were many very considerable dangers which we must encounter on the road. they stood watching us while we wound our way down the steep path, and crossed the bridge which spanned the river at the bottom of the ravine. i propose giving a very brief sketch of our journey, and shall dwell only on the more interesting incidents; or i might otherwise fill my book with an account of what we saw in the course of a few weeks. we arrived one evening at a _tambo_, or post-house, which, from its appearance and position on a portion of the great high road of the incas, we judged had been erected before the conquest. the walls were very thick, and composed of large blocks of stone. it was divided into two compartments; one had formerly been the storehouse and granary, the other the common hall and kitchen. the roof was thatched, as it had been originally. at a little distance off was a village of indian huts, mostly small; but some were of larger size, in which the cacique and some of the chief men resided. the _tambo_ stood in a beautiful valley, through which ran a clear and rapid stream among meadows of ever verdant tints. the mountains which rose on either side were to their very summit cut into terraces. these terraces, or hanging gardens, as they are sometimes called, were of no great width, but the walls which faced them were built of large blocks of stone; and though in some places they were crumbling into decay, in general they were in a perfect state, bearing witness to the industry and intelligence of the ancient inhabitants of the soil. these terraces are called _andenes_, and from thence the conquerors derived the name andes, which they bestowed on the whole vast range of mountains. our peons having taken charge of our mules and horses, and led them to a shed adjoining the grey and moss-grown _tambo_, we entered the building. the interior was sombre in the extreme; everybody and everything wore a subdued look; and even the dogs slunk about as if their spirits were depressed. the smoke of ages was on the walls and roof, and the tables and benches at one side had a sadly dilapidated appearance. the master was an indian of lightish hue, his long, lank hair already turning grey with age, and perhaps with care. several indian women were moving about round a fire at the farther end of the room, preparing a meal for a somewhat numerous company assembled there. the women about the house were all dressed in loose garments of dark coarse woollen cloth, which extended from the neck to the ankles, and were secured round the waist by a broad belt of some gay colour. they wore, folded up on the crown of the head, a small cloth mantle, a part of which drooped down to the shoulders behind. each woman wore over her right shoulder a black scarf, which i understood was a sign of mourning, not for any relation lately dead, but for their inca, long ago murdered by their conquerors. the dress of most of the men was a dark woollen jacket, with breeches open at the knees, a gaily embroidered woollen cap, a broad cotton belt, woollen stockings without feet, and sandals of goatskin. a broad-brimmed hat, and a small poncho thrown over the shoulders, completed their attire. our host soon placed before us a large deep silver dish, containing some delicious mountain mutton, and a fat fowl, cooked in the ashes, and garnished with small but very good potatoes. there were neither knives nor forks in the dish, but one large wooden spoon, with which it was intended all guests should help themselves. we had _chicha_, the beverage of the country, offered us in silver goblets; but for a good reason neither my father nor i felt inclined to partake of it, though our servants did most willingly. to the taste of englishmen nothing can be more disagreeable than the mode in which _chicha_ is prepared. a quantity of indian corn is pounded into a fine powder, round which a number of old men and women sit and masticate it into a paste. they then roll it into balls, which are dried; and afterwards water being thrown on them, they are allowed to ferment. a number of indians were sitting apart in a corner of the room. one of them was a tall, thin, emaciated man, of a yellowish copper hue. his only garment was a pair of dark trousers; and his long, lank, black hair hung down over his bare shoulders, giving him a very wild and haggard appearance. i saw him swallow a large cupful of a mixture which i thought was _chicha_; but soon afterwards he seemed to fall into a deep stupor, and i fancied he was going into a fit. his eyes were fixed on the ground, his mouth closed convulsively, and his nostrils dilated. as i watched him, his eyes began to roll most horribly, foam issued from his half-opened lips, and every limb and his whole body became distorted in the most frightful manner. "the man will die!" i exclaimed, springing forward to assist him, and disgusted with the apathy of his companions. "no fear, my son," answered an old indian, making a sign which checked me; "our brother has but drunk the tonga; his spirit has departed for a season to hold communication with the spirits of our ancestors, and when it returns he will be able to tell us things of wonder, and perchance they may show him the treasures which lie hid in their _huacas_--their graves." i afterwards found that the indian had been drinking a powerful narcotic, prepared from the thorn-apple, and which is called _huacacachu_, or grave-plant, from the power it is supposed to possess of enabling those who drink it to see the inhabitants of the graves. after the indian had been some time convulsed he fell into a profound slumber, when his friends covered him up carefully with their mantles and left him. our meal was scarcely over when the clattering of horses' feet was heard on the road, and by the sound i judged that a band of horsemen had ridden up to the _tambo_. our indian host rushed out with dismay on his countenance. i followed him to learn what was the matter; and by the light of the moon, just then risen over the mountains, i saw about as ugly a set of fellows as i ever encountered. their countenances were of every hue--black, yellow, and olive, disfigured by scars and savage passions. their garments, i cannot call them uniforms, of many a shape and colour, were in rags and tatters. the horses were weary, ill-conditioned and ill-groomed, and as miserably accoutred as their riders, with a look in the eye full of vicious meaning. they were armed with short carbines and long swords, and some had pistols and daggers in their belts. "los montoneros, los montoneros!" exclaimed several of the people behind me, and rushed back into the _tambo_, the women trying to hide themselves from the new-comers. the horsemen threw themselves from their jaded hacks, and calling to the indians to take charge of them, with scant ceremony entered the building. they regarded, as they did so, my father and me, and our servants, with no favourable eye; but after a moment's hesitation, they threw themselves on the benches before the table at which we were seated, crying loudly for food and liquor. it was speedily placed before them by the trembling hands of the host; and in silence they addressed themselves to the tearing the meat with their fingers, as if they had not eaten anything for a week. after imbibing quantities of _chicha_, they lighted their cigars; and then their tongues broke loose in a style which made us anxious to escape their neighbourhood. some were spaniards, or spanish creoles, and others were negroes; but most of them were of a variety of mixed races. the montoneros are notoriously robbers in time of peace, and soldiers in war; but from the expressions they let fall, we judged that these fellows were employed exclusively in plundering all they met not likely to offer resistance. my father told the servant to keep a sharp look-out on our horses and mules, which the gentlemen would with little ceremony have appropriated. to avoid them we walked over to where the group of indians were collected round the tonga-drinker, who was now awaking from his sleep, and sitting up, though apparently very much exhausted. his companions were listening attentively to the mysterious revelations which fell from his mouth, the result of his spiritual communications with his ancestors. he spoke of a day of regeneration for the indians; of liberty and happiness not far distant, when the yoke of the spaniard would be thrown off their necks, and the race of their inca should again wear the crimson _borla_ of their monarchy. there was an air of earnestness and sincerity in his manner which convinced me that he at all events was deceiving himself as well as his hearers. in his dreams he had truly seen what he hoped would come to pass. i afterwards had good reason to know that he had strong foundation for his prophecies. he was still uttering his awful communications to his wondering and credulous hearers; the montoneros were still drinking, smoking, and feasting; and some other travellers (spanish, negro, and native, among whom was a spanish priest, a landowner near cuzco, and a shopkeeper) were either taking their suppers or seeking repose, when we retired to the deserted granary. we were actually provided with bedsteads of a rude construction, on which we spread our bedding. the noise made by the montoneros prevented me from sleeping for some time; till they themselves sought for rest, on and under the table and benches where they had been sitting. i was awakened in the middle of the night by a scratching and hissing and struggling noise under my bed, as if two animals were fighting. i sprung to my feet, and by the light of the full moon, which streamed in through a hole in the wall, i saw a large tabby cat engaged in a fierce combat with a glittering snake. at first i thought it would prove a hopeless one for poor pussy; but i soon saw by her manoeuvres, that she had at all events an equal chance of victory. now the venomous monster would dart out its forked tongue and try to spring at her; when she, with equal agility, would leap aside and would sit watching her antagonist with careful eye, endeavouring to find an opportunity of catching it by the neck, while she avoided its deadly fangs. the snake seemed aware of its danger, and was not the less cautious. indeed puss had already given it an ugly bite on the neck, which had somewhat crippled its movements--probably catching it asleep. the snake kept turning round and round its baneful head, the cat always keeping beyond the distance she knew it could spring. at last she saw her opportunity, and rushing in upon it, she seized it by the neck, so that it could not bite her. the snake wriggled violently, but all in vain; after a few convulsive struggles even the tail ceased to move, and i left the eat crunching the bones of her defeated antagonist. i was glad to find that i had so good a guardian as puss had proved. i turned into bed again and went to sleep. in the morning i discovered that the snake was a very venomous adder, but that the cat was not a bit the worse for eating it. i afterwards learned that there are certain sorts of poison which may be swallowed without danger, yet if it should touch the slightest scratch or excoriation of the skin, would prove fatal. at daybreak the montoneros were on foot; and to the satisfaction of all the occupants of the _tambo_, they took their departure up the valley. it was the direction in which we were going, but we hoped not again to fall in with them. as we were mounting to proceed on our journey, the indian soothsayer (for so i may call him) approached my father, and whispered earnestly in his ear for some minutes. my father looked surprised and somewhat anxious, and told him he thanked him for his advice. the indian retired into the _tambo_ apparently satisfied. we had begun to move on, when we were called back; and, turning our heads, we saw the padre and the other spaniards mounting their mules. "stay, senors, for the love of charity," cried the padre; "we are going your way, and if we go alone and meet with those villains, the montoneros, we shall all be robbed and murdered to a certainty. now you englishmen are known to fight bravely, so the rogues may not think it worth while to attack us." "we shall be happy to have your company, senor padre," said my father, smiling; "but i hope our valour may not be put to the proof." "i am sure i hope not either," ejaculated the padre, crossing himself. "may the holy saints protect us; for those fellows care not for the anathemas of the church, the laws of the realm, or the bullets of the soldiers." the other spaniards seemed to partake of the alarm of the padre; and as we rode along, i saw them casting anxious glances around, as if they expected every moment to see the robbers start out from behind the rocks which skirted the road. after we had proceeded some distance, my father called a halt, and summoning the guides, he inquired whether they were acquainted with a road to the right, which he described. they replied that they were, but that it was longer and more difficult. "never mind," he replied; "it is the road i intend to pursue. i shall be glad of the company of those who wish to journey with me." though he did not give his reasons, the spaniards saw that he had good cause for his change of route, and agreed to accompany us. they probably, however, attributed it to the montoneros; as i observed that the expression of apprehension on their countenances gradually wore off, and they no longer cast the same furtive glances at every bush and rock as before. we travelled along the valley for many miles, sometimes passing over a high ridge, and then again descending to follow up the course of some stream which had its birth among the snowy ranges above us. my father had formed the party into military order. four armed men took the lead, then came the baggage mules, while the main body of those on horseback brought up the rear. for three or four days we travelled on, each night sleeping at one of the wretched _tambos_ kept by indians, similar to that i have before described. every day we mounted higher and higher, the scenery becoming more wild, barren, and desolate. we were now traversing that part of the cordilleras called the puna, a region of level heights, some fourteen thousand feet above the sea; nearly the only vegetation being a short, dark yellow grass, scarcely a tree or a shrub to be seen, except cacti, gentiana, and a few other flowering plants. there were animals, however, in abundance--vicunas, huanacus, stags, and rock-rabbits; while condors and other birds of prey hovered aloft, ready to pounce down on any carcase they might scent from afar. we next entered the region of the sierra, the name given to the extensive valleys which either intersect the puna, or lie between the cordilleras and the andes. these valleys are generally some thousand feet below the puna, and the climate is very pure and healthy. the soil is also very fertile, so that they were in the days of the incas, and still are, more densely inhabited by indians than any other portion of peru. these valleys contain many towns, villages, and hamlets; but as they are surrounded on all sides by mountains, only to be crossed by dangerous and circuitous routes, their trade is but limited, and they are seldom visited by the inhabitants of other parts of peru. among them are a few white people, but a considerable number of mestizos live in the towns. there is very little money in circulation among them, and in some parts hens' eggs are used instead of small coin, about fifty being counted for a dollar. the indians are the sole cultivators of the soil, which produces wheat, maize, and barley in abundance, as well as potatoes and other tuberous plants, and most of the vegetables and fruits of europe. it must be understood that many of the scenes i have to describe took place in this favoured region; while others, again, were among the mountains and valleys to the east of the vast range of the andes. people when reading of mountains are so apt to picture to themselves the molehills of europe, which can mostly be crossed on foot in a day or so, that i must remind them that the cordilleras and andes which i am describing are an extensive region, the passage over which requires not only days, but in some places even weeks to accomplish. we had traversed several of these valleys, and were now about to cross over the highest ridge of the andes. having travelled so far without encountering the montoneros, even the most timid of our party had lost all apprehension on that score. one afternoon we found ourselves ascending through a narrow and wild gorge in the mountains. for three hours we had been mounting higher and higher, till our beasts began to show great signs of weariness. at last we saw before us a huge rock which, projecting from the side of the mountain, completely overhung the road, and looked as if it would overwhelm all who attempted to pass under it; while on the other side was a precipice three or four hundred feet in perpendicular height, at the bottom of which appeared a dark chasm with a wild roaring torrent running through it. the road, if so the mountain track could be called, was barely wide enough to allow a loaded mule to proceed along it; and it was next to impossible for two animals to pass one another, or for a person to dismount without great risk of falling over the precipice. we had been scrambling up for a long way over places which it appeared scarcely possible even goats would surmount, when one of the baggage mules stopped short and refused to proceed. several others followed his example, and the whole cavalcade in the rear was brought to a stand-still. blows could not be administered, for the muleteers could not get up to the beasts; and entreaties, coaxings, and persuasions were all in vain. i could not help laughing at the variety of expressions the men made use of to induce the animals to move. first they addressed them by every endearing epithet they could think of, then they appealed to their courage, their magnanimity, their perseverance--the deeds of their ancestors. "have not i always treated you well?" exclaimed our muleteer juan to his beast. "have not i always seen you housed and fed before i thought of caring for myself? have not i slept by your side and watched over you as a father his son? ungrateful as you are thus to behave at this pinch! if we meet another party, we shall be all hurled headlong over the rocks, or we shall have to fight desperately and have to hurl them over, and all for your obstinacy, sons of donkeys that you are!"--and he broke forth in a torrent of vituperation and abuse which it is not necessary for me here to repeat. "if the montoneros should meet us now, what will become of us?" cried the padre. "it is the last place they would think of attacking us in," observed my father. "their object is to get possession of our purses and our beasts; now if they attacked us here, the greater number of us would be tumbled over into the torrent below, so they would lose their booty." "that's a satisfaction truly," observed the padre; "but i wish the beasts would move." the beasts, however, seemed not a bit inclined to stir, and we had no remedy for it but to wait patiently, or throw them and our luggage over the precipice. as i looked up and saw the huge boulders of rock which hung above our heads, appearing as if the touch of a vicuna's hoof would send them rushing down to overwhelm us in their fall, i certainly did feel anxious to get out of their way. at last the leading mule, somewhat rested, began to move, the others followed him for a few minutes, and they all stopped again. the same process of entreating, coaxing, and abusing was gone over again; when the refractory cavalcade moved on once more for a few paces, but only in like manner to try our patience and our nerves by stopping at a worse spot than before. after resting a few minutes, the leading mule, which kept the others back, appeared to gain strength, and his stoppages each time being of shorter duration, he at length began to climb up the steep ascent before him, the rest readily following. the cold, at this great height we had now attained, was excessive to our feelings, accustomed to the warmth of the lower country. great, however, as was the elevation, the peaks which rose above us on every side appeared not to have lessened in the least in height. snow of brilliant whiteness was around us, some of which in the more lofty spots had perhaps not melted since the days of the flood. mists were floating about, and below our feet was collected a dense mass, which obscured the view beyond. a few flakes of snow began to fall, which every instant increased in number. "forward, forward, senores!" shouted our chief peon, who acted as guide. "if a cordillera storm catches us before we get under shelter, the days of some of us may be numbered." we did not neglect the warning. the animals even seemed to perceive the necessity of pushing on; and away we all went, tumbling, sliding, and leaping over the rough track which led down the mountain. the snow increased in density, so that we could scarcely see the person immediately preceding us; and the chilling wind blew stronger and stronger from off the icy peaks above. not a moment was to be lost--the guides shouted, "on, on, on!" and we whipped and spurred, and urged on our weary beasts by word and bridle. still the ground was far too rough to enable us to get them into a trot, far less to gallop; and besides, a tumble would in many places have proved fatal both to horse and rider. the descent was very rapid, for we were scarcely ever on a level. "i'll will it fare with any unfortunate fellow in the rear who falls," said my father. "remain close to me, david; i am afraid of your horse stumbling." "no fear," i answered, "i keep a tight rein on him, and he knows well that he must not be careless." there was little time to contemplate the scene as we rode along, but still i could not help being struck by the solemn stillness, and the wildness of the desolation around. the voices of the men, as they shouted out, appeared strange and unnatural from their very distinctness, as did the tramp of the animals; while not another sound was heard from any direction. "on, on, senores!" were the only words we could hear. the snow had ceased; but dark clouds seemed gathering around us, when, without warning, a flash of forked lightning darted across our path, ploughing up the ground before us, and followed by a peal of thunder which seemed to rend the mountain tops. flash succeeded flash in every direction, the very atmosphere quivering with the uninterrupted peals repeated a thousand-fold by the mountain echoes; while cataracts of fire appeared to be rushing down the rocks on either side. our trembling animals refused to move; the spaniards crossed themselves, and shrieking, as they slid off the backs of the animals they rode, they called on their saints for protection. we dismounted and endeavoured to lead our horses under an overhanging rock. at last we succeeded in obtaining some shelter; and there we stood, every instant expecting to be struck by the electric fluid, which rushed zigzagging before us. feelings such i had never before experienced came over me. i was at the same time inspired rather with awe than with terror. it was as if the heavens were pouring out their full wrath on man--as if the foundations of the world were about to be uprooted, and the mighty mountains hurled over on the plains below. rocks and earth came hurtling down from the lofty peaks above us; crash succeeded crash, and flashes of the most intensely vivid lightning dashed before us without intermission, till the air itself seemed on fire, and the faculties of sight and hearing both failed from over-exhaustion of their energies. it appeared as if the dreadful strife of the elements would never end; but as we were despairing of reaching a resting-place before night should set in, the thunder rolled away, the lightning ceased, and our party emerging from the caves and crevices where they had taken shelter, we found that providentially all had escaped injury. we mounted once more. as we proceeded, the rays of the setting sun came streaming along a beautiful valley which opened on our right. descending rapidly, in little more than an hour we found ourselves before a _tambo_. it was wretched enough in appearance, and neither food nor beds did it afford. as, however, we had with us a supply of provisions, and our cloaks and saddle-cloths spread on the floor, with our saddles for pillows, served us for couches, we were not worse off than we frequently had been; and i know that i slept soundly till morning. chapter four. attacked by robbers--a merciful deed returned with interest. the scenery we passed the next day was very similar to what i have already described; but the valley, which, on being contrasted with the snowy region we had just left, appeared so attractive, was, i found, when seen by the morning light, owing to its high elevation, a very barren and desolate place. we rode on for some hours through scenery such as i have before described, when in the afternoon, as we were beginning to fancy that we were near the termination of our day's journey, we entered a deep gorge, with the dark rocks towering up, wild and rugged, on either side of us. it was just such a place as one might have expected an ambush to have been placed in; as a few resolute men might have held the road, aided by others sheltered by the rocks, against a whole army attempting to pass. an oppressive gloom invaded the spot, and the air seemed damp and heavy, as if the warming rays of the sun had never penetrated below the tops of the cliffs. i was riding on in advance of the main body, when, on reaching the spot where the gorge opened somewhat, i saw at a considerable distance before me what i took to be a mark on the cliff in the shape of a horse with a rider. as i advanced, however, i perceived that it was a lonely man on horseback. he was too far off, standing as he was in shade, for me to distinguish his dress or appearance. he seemed to be stationary, as if watching our approach. a sharp turn in the road shut out the view beyond him. had i been an old soldier, i should have fallen back on my companions and reported what i had seen; but i fancied that the horseman was a traveller like ourselves, and so i continued to ride carelessly on. i was very nearly falling a victim to my neglect. i had advanced some two hundred yards farther, when my friends reached the spot from which i had first caught sight of the horseman. he was still there, but no sooner did he see them than he wheeled round his horse and disappeared behind the cliffs. this i thought suspicious. my first impulse was to gallop on to overtake the man; but fortunately the chief guide had just then come up with me, and urged me not to go on. i therefore shouted out to my friends to let them know what i had seen, and reined in my steed till they came up. the information did not hasten the advance of any of the party; indeed some of them were evidently anxious to cede the post of honour in the van to their friends. the cry of "the montoneros, the montoneros!" arose from every mouth. some tumbled off their horses, as if to shelter themselves behind them from the expected volleys of the dreaded banditti; others sat still and began to count their beads; and not a few turned their horses' heads preparatory to running away. i must do the padre the justice to say that he looked as brave as any of them, except a few who advanced to the front. "where are the enemy, david?" asked my father, who led them on. "i only saw one man, whom our friends here have multiplied into a band of montoneros," i replied. "come on, my friends, then!" exclaimed my father. "if the man my boy saw is a robber, he and his companions are more likely to run away than to attack us, if we show a bold front." his words and tone of confidence restored the fast evaporating courage of the party; and having halted to get them into something like order, with the armed men in front and the baggage mules and their drivers in the rear, we again moved forward. we had not, however, advanced far, when the man i had before seen again appeared; and directly afterwards a troop of horsemen wheeled round the sharp angle of the rock, and with loud cries galloped rapidly towards us. "steady, steady, for your lives!" shouted my father, as he saw in many of our companions strong evidence of a disposition to turn round and fly. "if we break our ranks, we are lost." that the horsemen now approaching were banditti, i had no doubt, from their varied and fantastic dresses, the different hues of their faces, and their wild appearance. we could not escape them, even had we been better mounted than they were, as the baggage mules in the rear would have prevented us. this they probably calculated on, or perhaps they would rather we had escaped and left them our baggage, which was what they most wanted, with the exception, perhaps, of our horses. they invariably appropriate the best horses they can find, as it is important for them to be well mounted. my father and i, two spaniards, a mestizo, and our chief indian guide, formed the first rank. when we saw the montoneros, and could no longer doubt their intentions, we halted and presented our firearms. these were of various lengths and calibres, and some were better fitted to frighten an enemy than to do harm. when the montoneros saw the determined front we presented, they checked their speed, but it was only for an instant. "do not fire until they get close to us," cried my father. on came the banditti, their horses' hoofs clattering over the hard road, while uttering loud and discordant yells, they waved their swords above their heads. they made their intentions very manifest of cutting us to pieces if they could; so we felt perfectly justified in trying to knock them out of their saddles. many of our party gave themselves up for lost; and certainly the appearance of the banditti was enough to make a stout heart uncomfortable, to say the least of it. their untrimmed moustaches and long hair escaping from under their broad-brimmed hats, their fierce countenances and dark flashing eyes, the many hues of their skins, and their motley costume, gave them altogether a very savage look, which was increased by the fiery bloodshot eyes of their horses, whose shaggy manes and the fringe of their housing streamed in the wind, while their riders shook their weapons, and shrieked out threats of destruction on our heads. "steady, my men, and fire when i do," cried my father, levelling his rifle; in which i, jose, and the rest, followed his example. the montoneros had got within a dozen paces of us, when we gave the word. we fired together, our friends behind handing us their still loaded weapons. two of the robbers rolled in the dust, and the horse of a third was shot dead, and fell across the road, so as somewhat to impede the progress of those behind. on they came, however, and were up to us as we fired our second round, and received a discharge of their carbines in return. some of the shot took effect on our companions in the rear, who, instead of reloading the firearms, threw them down and endeavoured to escape. in an instant the banditti were upon us. my father's horse was shot under him. i saw jose knocked over; and then i recollect nothing that happened for some minutes, except a confusion of sounds, shouts, and shrieks and groans. when i returned to consciousness, my first thought was for my father. he was not near me, but i saw jose at no great distance, leaning on his arm, as if unable to move, and looking along the road the way we had come. i turned my eyes in the same direction, towards which the tide of the fight had gone. a few of our companions were still contending against a greatly superior number of the banditti, most of whom, however, were engaged in a work more congenial to their taste, that of plundering our baggage. i could not doubt that my father was among the combatants; for without his example i did not think the others would have fought, and i trembled for his fate. i tried to rise, to rush to his assistance, or to die with him; but i found i was too weak to stand, much less to use a weapon. i gave up all for lost, for i perceived that the resistance of the gallant little band of my friends was every instant growing weaker; while the robbers were quitting their plunder to join their assailants. meantime some of the baggage mules were trotting off in the direction where jose and i lay; seeing which, some of the banditti came in pursuit of them. on seeing that i was alive, a savage-looking fellow lifted his carbine, and was about to give me a quietus on my head with the butt of it, while another threatened to perform the same office for jose, when a shout, different from any i had before heard, reached my ears. "los indios, los indios!--the indians, the indians!" cried the brigands; "fly, fly, or we are lost!" i looked up; for when i thought my brains were about to be dashed out, i had instinctively shut my eyes. what was my surprise to see the cliffs on either side of the road, and which i had thought inaccessible, swarming with indians, mostly dressed in their ancient costume, and armed with bows and slings, with which they sent a shower of arrows and stones among our enemies! several of them were wounded; and the suddenness of the attack threw them into confusion. before they could recover from it, the indians came leaping down the cliffs, and threw themselves between the three parties of the robbers, while others advanced along either end of the road, so as completely to hem them in. with the wildest fury, animated apparently by the most deadly hatred, the indians rushed on our assailants, who, though they fought for their lives, could not withstand the onset. i mentioned that at some distance from me i had observed a few of my friends, among whom i had no doubt was my father, hard pressed by a number of the robbers, who seemed intent on their destruction. the latter had now to defend themselves from the indians; and my father and his party attacking them in return, they were either cut down at once, or attempted to escape by flight. a few of the more determined had fought their way back to where i lay, and i fully expected to receive my death-wound from some of them, as the fight passed over me, when i felt myself lifted in the arms of an indian who i saw was dressed in the costume of a peruvian chief; and just as the combatants reached me, he carried me out of the _melee_, and bore me up the cliff to a spot which none were likely to reach. as he placed me on the ground, i caught a sight of his countenance, and recognised the fugitive whom we had protected, the indian, manco tupac amaru. before i had time to utter a word of thanks, he had again leaped down the cliff and joined in the combat. some ten or a dozen of the robbers, who were still on horseback, and had kept together, were attempting to cut their way along the road among the mass of indians who opposed them. being well mounted, and with superior weapons, they had a great advantage; but the indians were inspired with a courage i little expected to witness. they rushed in upon them, cut their bridles, and dashed their spears in their faces; and seizing them by their clothes, hung on them, in spite of the cuts and thrusts of their swords, till they dragged them from their saddles. no quarter was given; the instant a robber was unhorsed he was speared; and before the tide of the fight had rolled on many yards, not one was left alive. many of our party had fallen. indeed i was surprised to observe, nor could i account for it, that the indians took no pains to preserve the lives of the spanish travellers, though they did their utmost to protect the indian guides. the padre and two or three others alone escaped. the road below me indeed presented a sad spectacle; for, as far as i could see, it appeared strewed with the corpses of my late companions--of robbers and indians, many of whom had fallen in the last desperate struggle. i looked anxiously for my father, and my heart beat with joy as i saw him coming along the road, and evidently looking for me. my preserver, manco, had observed him; the recognition was mutual, and they soon approached the spot where i lay. i need not describe my father's feelings at finding that i was alive. i endeavoured at first to conceal the pain i suffered, and which made me fancy that my thigh must have been broken. at length, however, i could not help giving expression to the anguish i experienced. "wait a few minutes," said the indian chief, "and when i have performed some duties which are urgently required, i will cause my people to form a litter to transport you to a place of safety. what has occurred must remain secret for a time. i can trust you; but some of the people in your company who have escaped, might betray our proceedings to the authorities. their lives are safe, but we must keep them prisoners till they can no longer injure us by being at liberty." neither my father nor i could understand what he meant, and before we could ask an explanation, he had left us. we watched his movements, and saw him place each of the survivors of our party between a guard of four armed indians. some of his followers took charge of the baggage mules; others lifted up the dead bodies of their friends; while the rest were busily employed in collecting the arrows and the other indian missiles and weapons; and they then again formed in marching order. a few had constructed a litter, and brought it to the foot of the cliff, down which manco, with my father's aid, now conveyed me. "i wish to have no sign of our having taken share in the fray," observed the indian. "the lions and condors will take good care that none shall discover how those men died." as he spoke, i looked up, and observed several of those mighty monsters of the air hovering above our heads, ready to pounce down on their prey as soon as we should have left them to enjoy their banquet undisturbed. at a sign from manco, whom the indians seemed to obey with the greatest zeal and respect, they lifted up my litter, and bore it along at a rapid rate. my father mounted a horse which was brought him, manco rode another, and the priest was accommodated with a mule; but the rest of the spaniards were compelled to walk, except poor jose, who was carried, as was i, on the shoulders of some indians; but they did not seem at all to like the office, nor to regard the rest of their prisoners with any feeling of good-will. every arrangement was made with great promptitude; and as i watched from my litter the indian warriors filing before me, i could scarcely help thinking that i saw a portion of the very army which the great incas were accustomed to lead to victory. we proceeded along what might be called the high road for some miles, when we struck off across the mountains to the left, the latter part of the time being guided by torches, for it had become too dark otherwise to see our way. at last we arrived at a small hut, built on the side of a rugged mountain. it afforded shelter from the cold night-wind; and as many as it could hold took up their quarters within it, while the remainder bivouacked without. fortunately for me, the padre was something of a surgeon, and on examining my leg, he assured me that my leg was not broken, but only severely bruised, and that perfect rest with fomentations would recover it. it was impossible, however, to obtain that rest, as we journeyed on without stopping, except for our meals and a few hours' rest at night, for several days; and though i was carried all the time, the jolting of my litter, as we ascended or descended the steep hills, was very inconvenient. but the indians collected a variety of herbs, and making a decoction of them, fomented my leg whenever we stopped, so that the swelling gradually subsided, and the pain diminished. at length we reached a collection of deserted huts, among rugged and inaccessible crags, with the snowy peaks of the andes towering high above us. the lower parts of the mountains were clothed with pine trees; and long grass grew on the borders of several streams which run through the neighbouring valley. with the pine trees the indians formed rafters to the cottages, and thatches with the long grass and reeds. in a short time they thus rendered them in some degree habitable. i observed that though my father was allowed to go where he liked, the rest of the party were narrowly watched, so that they could not attempt to make their escape. when he spoke to manco on the subject, and expostulated with him on detaining the rest of the travellers, the indian chiefs reply was short but firm. "it is necessary for the sake of peru that they should be kept prisoners," he observed; "had it not been for you and the padre, they would probably have lost their lives. i can trust you if you will give me your oath not to betray what has occurred or what you suspect, but i cannot trust them. when your son is able to move, you shall proceed on your journey; but they must remain here till it is safe to set them at liberty." "i do not seek to pry into your secrets, and should be guilty of the greatest ingratitude by saying a word even to injure you or your people," said my father. "i am doubly anxious to reach cuzco, lest my family not hearing of me from thence, should become alarmed." "write a few lines to assure your family of your safety, and it shall reach them long before they could hear from you were you to write from our ancient capital. trust that to me," answered manco, and he was afterwards found as good as his word. the observations which the indian chief let fall made me suspect that some plan was forming among the indians to emancipate themselves from the spanish yoke; and when i mentioned my surmises to my father, i found that he was of the same opinion, but he warned me not to mention my thoughts to any one. "the less we know on the subject the better for us," he observed. "living under the protection of the spanish government, it might be our duty to warn them of danger, while it is equally our duty not to betray those who have trusted us." "a curious sort of protection they afford us, when they allow bands of robbers, who were near cutting our throats, to scour the country unmolested," i answered. "for my part, i think the indians would be perfectly right to emancipate themselves from the galling chains which enthral them." "but were they to make the attempt, they could not do so," said my father. "the discipline and gold of a civilised people will always in the end prevail over a half savage one, in spite of their bravery and resolution." our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of manco. no longer a hunted fugitive, he now walked with the air of a chieftain, his costume also being that of an inca noble of old. although the dress had long been disused, except on festive occasions, he had now assumed it to give him greater authority among his countrymen. we found at the huts a considerable number of women and children, some of them belonging to the indians who were with us, and some, i concluded, related to others who were absent. they were evidently collected here to be beyond the reach of the spaniards, and to avoid the flagitious repartimiento and meta, the more rigid imposition of which was about that time, i knew, causing great discontent among the people. the spaniards, long accustomed to treat the peruvians as inferior beings, destitute alike of feeling and courage, forgot that even a worm will at times turn and attempt to bite the foot that presses it. i had observed at times a larger number of persons than had accompanied us to the village; and i remarked several strangers, dressed in skins and feathers, who came and went, and again speedily returned, as if they had gone only to a short distance. i told our host that i had observed this, and inquired where the people came from. "from a place where the foot of a white man has never trod," he replied. "if you were strong and well. i might take you to it, and might show you wonders you little expect to behold, so fully do i trust; but the time may come when, free of danger, i may gratify your curiosity." i expected that he alluded to one of those ancient villages which i had heard of as existing in the heart of the mountains, and never discovered by the spaniards; where the inhabitants had continued in the enjoyment of liberty, and the laws and customs of their ancestors. i had often wished to visit one of those remnants of antiquity, and i became doubly eager to do so, on finding myself in the proximity of one of them; but manco assured me that it would be utterly impossible to conduct me there for a long time to come. we had now spent a week at the huts, and i was so far recovered as to be able to mount a horse and move about on foot with the aid of a stick; and as my father was very anxious to proceed on his journey, we agreed to start the following day. on hearing that we were about to depart, the other travellers wished to accompany us; but the indians would not hear of it, and, i observed, kept a stricter watch than usual over them. manco showed great unwillingness to part with us. "go as you desire it, my friends," he said. "you are at liberty to do as you judge best; but for your own sake, as well as mine, i would have had you remain. however, as go you must, i will send some of my people to escort you on your way; and one of them shall follow you as your servant till you return home. he will obey you in all things, but you must not blame him if he is absent during a few hours at times from you. you must pay him no wages, but you must not send him from you; and if you are asked where you found him, say in a mountain village, and that he wished to come with you to see the world." the next morning our new attendant made his appearance. he was a small, active-looking man, of a lightish rusty-red colour. his dress was much as is usually worn at the present day, consisting of loose trousers of coarse brown cloth, fastened round the waist by a girdle, and a woollen shirt of a dark blue colour. his poncho, which served as his outer garment, was of alpaca wool of the same hue as his shirt; and on his head he wore a broad-brimmed hat, while his sandals were of untanned leather, just covering his toes, and secured by a thong round the ankle. he took charge of a mule laden with our clothes and a supply of provisions. manco took an affectionate farewell of us as we were mounting our horses at the door of the hut. he pressed our hands as he said-- "we may meet again, dear friends, at some future time, when the children of the sun may dare to lift up their heads in the land where their fathers ruled. till then, farewell." we found, a little farther on, a band of a hundred men, well armed with muskets and rifles, ready to escort us; and a young man of the inca family, their leader, told us that they were to accompany us to help us to cross the difficult barriers which surrounded the spot we were in, and to watch us till we reached the neighbourhood of cuzco. accustomed as i was to mountain scenery, i should not before have thought it possible for any four-footed animals to climb up the rugged precipices, over which the indians led and pushed our horses and mules. in some places they were literally hauled up with ropes, and let down again on the other side. my kind guides assisted me up and down also, though i had nearly recovered my usual strength. a number of streams crossed our path, adding not a little to its difficulties. our animals were generally driven into the water and compelled to swim across, being then hauled up on the other side. we passed by means of a curious kind of bridge called a huano. it was formed of a thick rope, which is carried by means of a lighter line across the chasm. the lighter line was carried across by some powerful swimmer, or by a man holding on to the mane of one of the horses or mules. on the rope ran a roller, to which was fastened a piece of wood, and to the wood the passenger was secured; the transit was made more easy by two light lines, by which the piece of wood was drawn from side to side. several of the indians went first across. i watched them in their dizzy transit, and i thought, if the rope breaks, what will become of them? when it came to my turn to cross, i held my head as high as i could, and crossed my legs over the thick rope, which i grasped with my hands. i did not dare to turn to look into the deep gulf below; for strong as my nerves were, i felt that if i did, i should have let go my hold. i was not sorry to find my head knocking against the shrubs and rocks on the opposite side. my father followed me; and then the whole body, one by one, passed over. having got into rather less intricate country, the captain of our escort told us that from this place forward we must no longer remain in company, though he had orders from his chief to watch us till all probability of danger was past. accordingly, my father and i, and our new indian servant, prepared to proceed alone. we were still several days' journey from cuzco. we slept as before at those most wretched of all inns the indian tambos, though wherever we stopped we could not help remarking that we were treated with more than usual kindness and respect, which we suspected was owing to our being under the special protection of their chief. that also we were not deserted by our guardians, we had reason to know. on more than one occasion i had observed one or two figures hovering on the brow of some hill, or appearing from behind trees, bushes, or rocks. i perceived once one of them started up close to us. i pointed him out to our attendant, who had likewise seen him. with a significant look he answered, "fear not them--they will not injure us." we encountered but few travellers, and i do not recollect any other occurrence worthy of being narrated daring our journey. chapter five. cuzco described--we are made prisoners--anxiety for those at home. "behold cuzco!" exclaimed our indian guide, as, throwing himself from his horse, he knelt in adoration of the glorious luminary, whose rays were just then throwing a mantle of gold over the crumbling walls of a mighty fortress, which protected the holy city of his ancestors, the capital of the incas. we had just reached the brow of an elevated ridge which forms one side of the fertile and extensive valley in which cuzco stands, built, like ancient rome, on a number of hills or slight rises. to the north of the city, on the summit of a lofty eminence, appeared the still dark and frowning fortress of cyclopean architecture, composed of stones of vast magnitude. when i afterwards visited it, i was surprised to find the extraordinary nicety with which, without any cement, they were joined together; and i cannot tell with what machinery the peruvians could have raised blocks so enormous to such heights, or how they could have fitted them, shaped as they are in so many various forms, with exactness so remarkable. had i believed in the existence of giants, i should have supposed that they alone could have lifted such vast masses into the positions they hold. many of the modern residences of the conquerors stand on the foundations of the ancient buildings of the peruvians, and from among them we saw towering upwards the spires and towers of the magnificent cathedral, of the convents of saint augustine and la merced, and of a number of other fine churches. we had not long to contemplate this scene of the ruins of the past and of modern splendour, as it was necessary to reach the city before dark; and the setting sun warned us that we had not much time to lose. we were questioned, when we entered, whence we had come; but before we could speak, our indian attendant stepped forward and gave an answer that satisfied the guard, and we passed on. the inn we went to was the best in the city, but it could boast of affording us little comfort, though, as we were accustomed to rough fare, that mattered little. at daybreak i was on foot, as i was anxious to see the city; and with our indian attendant as my guide, i wandered through the larger portion of it before breakfast. we reached a collection of ruined walls, composed of huge masses of rock. "on this spot," said the indian, bending reverentially towards the sun, just then rising over the walls of the city, "stood the great temple where our fathers worshipped the god in whom they trusted; away to the right, where now those convent walls appear, were the residences of the beautiful virgins of the sun; and in these fields of corn and lucerne which surround us were once laid out the magnificent gardens of the temple, filled with menageries of all the animals of our country, with aviaries of birds of many-coloured plumage, with fountains, and trees, and flowers, and ornaments of vast size, of gold and silver and precious stones, many in the form of the shrubs and plants among which they stood, and of workmanship so admirable that they seemed to vie with them in elegance and beauty. but the greedy spoiler came, and behold, stranger, what he made it! alas! this garden is but an example of the condition to which our unhappy country has been reduced." the indian was silent, and seemed lost in gloomy reflection. i, too, thought of the past; and as i did so, the magnificent temple of the sun appeared before me, with its walls resplendent with the golden ornaments which surrounded them, and its wide courts crowded with votaries in their many-coloured costumes and head-dresses and robes of feathers, eagerly watching for the rising of the luminary they worshipped. i fancied i could hear their voices, and could see the mighty mass below me, their plumes waving in the breeze as they joined the joyous shout raised by their friends above them. "yes, a day of bitter retribution will ere long arrive," exclaimed my companion. the deep, low, and concentrated tone of his voice roused me from my reveries, he appeared unconscious that he had spoken. "come, sir," he said, "we will proceed." as i walked through the streets of cuzco. i was struck with the air of antiquity which many of the buildings wore; and i could not help regretting the worse than gothic cruelty and ignorance of the spaniards, which had destroyed the numberless magnificent edifices of its former inhabitants. we spent three days in the city, and on the fourth took our departure, accompanied by ithulpo. i learned that twenty leagues only from the city commence the territories of the unsubdued indians, who will allow no stranger to enter their country. as i looked towards the distant mountains which form their bulwarks, i fancied that it must be a land full of romance and interest, and i longed to penetrate into it. i was before long to have my wish gratified, through means i little contemplated. our course was, however, now in a contrary direction, north and west, towards the sea. we had proceeded two days' journey, when, at the urgent request of ithulpo, we turned aside to rest at a town among the mountains. "it is inhabited chiefly by my people," he observed. "to-morrow they perform a ceremony, at which i wish to assist, and which you will like to behold." we ascended by a narrow and winding path among the mountains to the town, where we were lodged in the best house it possessed, and where the inhabitants vied with each other in paying us attention. the next morning, when i went out, i was surprised to see the place crowded with indians dressed in the ancient costume of the country, of which certainly the pictures i have since seen in england and france do not give at all a correct idea. they wore feather head-dresses, and their cloaks and trains were likewise trimmed with feathers; and if not quite so picturesque, were more suited to their convenience than the scanty feather kilts in which they are made to appear. having breakfasted, my father and i followed the crowd at a little distance to see what was going to occur. among them we observed, raised above their heads, a gaily ornamented litter or covered palanquin, in which sat a person richly dressed with the regal border or red fringe of the incas on his head. we learnt that he was intended to represent atahualpa. on pressed the crowd with shouts and songs towards a large square before us; there they halted, when from some buildings in which they had been concealed, appeared another party dressed in armour with guns in their hands, and one or two small pieces of cannon following them. they all wore masks, and were intended to represent spaniards. one more hideous than the rest was evidently pizarro, and by his side stood the priest vicente de yalverde. they approached the litter, and the monk addressed the inca in a long harangue. atahualpa replied, when a terrific shriek was heard; the litter was overthrown, and the inca was dragged among the spaniards. a mock combat took place, but the indians were driven back; and then arose the most melancholy cries and groans ever heard. it was no imitated grief, for to such a pitch had they worked up their imaginations, that they really fancied that their inca was again torn from them. at last they retired, and a new scene in the drama commenced. a number of spaniards came forth from the building to which they had carried off the inca, and seated themselves as if holding a council. atahualpa was next brought out. he stood, with downcast looks and hands bound, before his judges, waiting his doom. one man only pleaded his cause, the others brought forth numberless arguments for his condemnation--a good satire on those by which the real inca was judged to be worthy of death. at length one standing up, pronounced the representative atahualpa guilty, ordering him to immediate execution. no sooner were the words uttered, than there arose from the crowd such shrieks and cries, that i could scarcely believe them to be feigned. amid them the inca was led to the place of execution, already prepared, where stood a man with ferocious aspect with an axe uplifted in his hands. the axe fell, and while the cries and groans increased, as i saw a bloody head lifted up before me, i thought for an instant that the man had really been killed. i soon, however, saw that the bloody head was merely a block of wood, while a piece of cloth was thrown over the person who had represented the inca to conceal him from view. the indians, however, appeared to be as deeply affected with grief as if they had really just seen their beloved monarch slaughtered before their eyes, to such a pitch were their imaginations worked up by the scene which had been acted. had i not witnessed what i describe, i could scarcely have believed it possible; and as the cholas sang their songs of mourning, the tears streamed down their cheeks, the groans seemed to come from the hearts of the men, and every countenance wore an expression of the most profound sorrow. just at that moment i saw a man hurrying up the path which led into the village from the valley below. almost breathless with exertion, he uttered a few words to the first he met. his communication flew like lightning among the crowd. they scattered in every direction, as if a thunderbolt had fallen among them. masks were torn off and hastily concealed, dresses were changed, and the block and axe, and all the things connected with the representation, were carried away, while the people ran along the streets, and shut themselves up in their houses in evident fright. we were not long in ascertaining the cause of the commotion. as i watched the approach to the town, i caught sight of the bayonet and shako of a soldier rising above the brow of a hill. another and another followed, till about twenty men and two spanish officers formed in the square of the town. that they had come for no good purpose, was soon made manifest by their charging a small party of the indians who had neglected to escape from the square. so unexpected was the attack, that some were captured, while others were cruelly wounded before they could conceal themselves. the soldiers having thus whetted their thirst for blood, hurried from cottage to cottage, breaking open the doors and dragging out the terrified inmates. those who were found with a mask, or any portion of the ancient indian costume about them, proving that they had taken part in the forbidden representation, were without mercy shot, in spite of the entreaties and cries of their wives and children. a considerable number were also dragged from their huts and bound together with ropes, preparatory to being carried off as prisoners. we had hitherto remained concealed in the house where we had rested for the night, and which had been unvisited by the soldiers. had we been able to leave the village unobserved, we would gladly have done so to avoid contact with the troops, though we had no reason to apprehend ill-treatment from them. my father had desired ithulpo to have our horses and baggage ready to start at a moment's notice. while we remained shut up in the house, we could only judge of what was going on by the sounds we heard. the shots and cries had grown fainter, and thinking that the soldiers must have got to a distance, we considered this a good opportunity to set out. ithulpo had been watching them through a hole in the wall of an enclosure, at a little distance from the cottage within which our animals were to be kept ready. i looked cautiously out of the door of the cottage, and seeing no one near, i ran round to where ithulpo was posted. i told him that we were ready to start. "i was coming to tell you that now is our time to start," he replied. "i wish that i was certain that all the soldiers are together, for i am afraid that some may be left to guard the outlet to the village; but we must run the risk." we accordingly brought the horses round. our baggage was soon strapped on, and mounting immediately, we set off at a brisk pace, followed by the well-wishes of our host, towards the only outlet to the village. several houses were in flames, and more than one apparently dead indian met our view. a short hour had made a sad change in the peaceful village, which now looked as if it had been stormed and sacked by a cruel enemy. we had no time to stop to examine whether any of the prostrate forms we saw were still alive, so we pushed on. just, however, as we reached the top of the pathway down the mountain, a party of soldiers, with an officer at their head, appeared suddenly before us. it was impossible to escape notice, so we attempted to pass them. "stop!" cried the officer, presenting a pistol. "who are you?" "english travellers, on the road to lima," answered my father. "say rather english abettors of rebels," exclaimed the officer fiercely. "we find you in a village encouraging the ignorant people by your presence to break the law. you are our prisoners." my father pleaded in vain that we had no intention of breaking the law, or encouraging others to do so. "you may make your excuse to the government of lima," answered the officer; and he ordered us to remain where we were on pain of being shot. a number of prisoners were collected together, and we had no doubt that he had heard from one of them of our being present at the forbidden ceremony we had witnessed. the bugle now sounded the recall, and soon afterwards the rest of the soldiers returned, dragging after them a number more of wretched prisoners. they appeared to be the principal people in the village; and whether guilty or not of the crimes charged against them, they were dragged away from their homes, to undergo more suffering on their road to their place of trial than they would deserve even if proved guilty. the unhappy men were lashed together by the wrists two and two, all being likewise joined by a single stout rope; while blows and curses urged them on if they did not move fast enough to please their tyrants. had the inhabitants of the village united bravely, they might have overpowered the soldiers and rescued their friends; but terror-stricken, they were afraid to show themselves. neither my father nor i were in any way molested, but a soldier was placed on each side of us and our indian attendant, with orders to shoot us if we attempted to escape, a command they seemed very ready to obey. the word was then given to move on, and we commenced our descent of the mountain, a body of eight soldiers bringing up the rear. we addressed the officers several times to learn why we were thus treated, but the only answer the one in command deigned to make was-- "you are found in communication with rebel indians, and there are suspicions against you." i thought of our having aided the escape of the indian chief manco, and feared that by some means the circumstance might have become known. if such were the case, i trembled for the safety of my dear mother and brothers and sisters. i thought of all the insults and annoyance to which they must have been subjected while our house was being searched, and my father's papers and books being examined, which i knew they would be, by the officers of justice. i did not, however, communicate my thoughts to my father, as i felt that if it suggested the same idea to him, it would cause him much pain and anxiety. i endeavoured therefore, as we rode on, to amuse him by conversation; but i am afraid i succeeded very ill. ithulpo was very gloomy and silent, evidently brooding over the wrongs his countrymen had so long endured, and were still receiving, from their oppressors. at the foot of the mountain we found another party of soldiers concealed in a wood, and guarding the horses of our escort. the whole then mounted; and as we proceeded at a more rapid rate, the captive indians were goaded on more cruelly to keep up with us. ithulpo still said not a word; but as his eyes were now and then turned towards his countrymen, i observed that looks of intelligence were exchanged between them. some shrieked with pain; others returned glances of rage at their tormentors; a few almost fainted, till stirred up again to proceed; and two, who had been wounded, actually dropped down, and as they were left in the rear, the report of musketry told what had been their fate. the fear of a similar catastrophe deterred others from giving in while they had any strength remaining to drag onwards their weary limbs. my father's kind heart was bursting with indignation and grief; but from the surly answers he received, he saw that it would be hopeless to plead for the unhappy beings. "a day of bitter retribution will come, ere long, for this tyranny," he observed. "such conduct must arouse even the most long-enduring from their apathy. even as it is, how entirely has spain failed to reap any benefit from her apparently glorious conquest of this new world! or rather, i may say, from the mode in which that conquest was conducted, it has brought on her a heavy curse instead of a blessing. since she gained america, she has gradually declined in wealth, intelligence, and power; and if i mistake not the signs of the times, these beautiful provinces will soon be wrested from her, though, alas, the seeds of misgovernment and bigotry which she planted, will take ages more to eradicate." subsequent events, as my readers know, proved the correctness of my father's observations. spain no longer holds sway over any part of the american continent; and the colonies she has planted, ever since constantly plunged in civil war and anarchy, have been far outstripped in civilisation by those peopled by the anglo-saxon race. chapter six. attempt to cross a desert--the disasters we encountered. our journey was irksome and disagreeable in the extreme. we marched on each day as long as the horses and men could move; and we rested at night, sometimes in farm-houses, or in the public _tambos_; but frequently we took shelter within the ruins of forts or other buildings, and often we were obliged to sleep on the hard ground, with our saddles for our pillows and the starlit sky above our heads. as it was the height of summer, this mattered little. we suffered, however, much from the heat in the day-time, and we were compelled frequently to dismount to lead our horses over the rugged places we had to pass. day after day the poor captives dropped through fatigue, till their numbers were much thinned; but still we pushed on. we passed through a number of indian villages, the inhabitants of which looked out from their mat doors with sad eyes on their unhappy countrymen; and we now discovered that the object of the spaniards in carrying them on was to strike terror into the hearts of the people. when governors cannot manage a people so as to gain their love, they attempt to rule them through their fears; but such a government is never of long duration, and must ultimately bring destruction on itself. we had marched for three days without finding any habitations, when i saw the officers holding consultation together, and evidently much perplexed. a halt was ordered, and inquiries made if anybody knew the road. we had lost our way. the indians had no knowledge of that part of the country, nor had any of the soldiers. i detected a gleam of intelligence in the countenance of ithulpo, which made me suspect that he could give the desired information if he chose; but when asked, he denied all knowledge of the way. we took shelter that night within the walls of a ruined village, which, from its appearance, i judged had not been inhabited since the time of the conquest, except as a temporary abode in the same manner as we used it. it must have been a place of some extent, but the greater part was concealed by trees and shrubs, and creeping plants, which had grown up among the walls. most of the buildings were of sun-dried bricks; but others, within one of which we were placed, were of masses of stone, like the fortress of cuzco. it had probably been the residence of a chief or noble. it seemed strange that the spaniards should not have known so remarkable a spot; but though they did not, i was certain that the indians were well acquainted with it. the prisoners were all driven together like a flock of sheep within one of the enclosures, and a sentry was placed over them, with orders to shoot any who might attempt to escape. after the horses had been picketed in a grassy spot close to the ruins, the soldiers lighted their fires to dress their evening meal, while the two officers sat themselves down on a fragment of stone and smoked their cigars, taking no notice of us. our horses and luggage mule had been placed with the others under a guard; so they thought, i suppose, that we should not attempt to escape. meantime my father and i sat at a little distance, watching the proceedings of our very unwelcome companions, while ithulpo stood near, casting every now and then towards them glances expressive of the most intense hatred, and a desire of vengeance. the sun was still low, but his rays yet tinged the topmost branches of the trees and the lofty ranges of mountains in the distance. the soldiers had brought skins of wine and plenty of good cheer with them; and when they had eaten, they passed the wine-skins round right merrily, the officers joining in the carouse. instead of pouring the wine into cups, they lifted the skins high above their heads, and without touching the vessel to their lips, allowed the wine to run down their throat in a gentle stream. as we were close enough to them to be easily watched, the officers, i suppose, thought that we should not attempt to move away. ithulpo had stowed a sort of knapsack he carried with some dried meat and bread, which he now produced, and it served to satisfy our appetites; but we had no wine, and our surly guards did not deign to offer us any. "do not repine, sirs, at the want," he observed. "i will show you a pure stream, the water of which, ere to-morrow's sun has set, those soldiers will value more than the finest wine their country can produce." the sun went down, and the shades of night came rapidly on, but still the spaniards continued their debauch. they had apparently forgotten us and their other prisoners; for though by the light of their fires we could clearly see them, sitting as we were under the shadow of a wall, we were no longer visible to them. ithulpo came and sat himself down beside me. "could we not manage to get away from these people?" i asked in a whisper. "not now," he answered. "the sentries would give the alarm if we attempted to take the horses, and without them we cannot move. to-morrow we shall have a better opportunity, and we may help some of my poor countrymen to escape at the same time." "why do you expect that a good opportunity to escape will occur?" i inquired. "i cannot at present reply to your question," he said. "those who now guard us will no longer be able to do so. trust to me. you will enter lima as free men, and no one will appear as a witness against you, to support the false accusation these people have made." i forbore to question him further, but there was something very mysterious in his look and manner; and at first the horrid idea occurred to me that he had by some means contrived to poison the spaniards, for otherwise i could not account for the confidence with which he pronounced his prediction. however, i endeavoured to banish the suspicion as too dreadful to be entertained. at length the commanding officer seemed to recollect that he had duties to attend to. fresh guards were set over the prisoners and the horses, wood was collected and the fires were made up, and a sentinel was posted near the spot, under shelter of a wall, which we had selected for our place of rest. ithulpo got leave to bring us our saddles and horse-trappings to serve us for beds, and he likewise brought us our portmanteaus and saddle-bags, which he placed near us. the soldiers threw themselves on the ground, and were very soon fast asleep. our sentry also, from the manner his head every now and then gave a sharp nod, was evidently very drowsy. the heat of the weather, the exertion he had undergone, and the wine he had drunk, were quite enough to account for this. i also at last fell asleep. my eyes had been closed for about a couple of hours, when i was awakened by ithulpo touching my shoulder. i sat up, and observed that he had the wine-skins emptied by the soldiers hanging on his arm. "follow me," he whispered. "we are not going to escape; but you are thirsty, and i will show you a pure spring, where you may drink your fill, and you will be better able to endure the heat of to-morrow's sun." silently following him, as he led the way among the ruins, i found that we had reached a thick and apparently impenetrable wood. without stopping, however, he went direct to a spot where the branches yielded easily to his hand. a winding path appeared before us, proceeding along which, we arrived in an open forest glade. on one side rose a high rock, which seemed part of a range of cliffs forming the side of a mountain. the murmuring sound of water met my ear, and by the faint starlight i discovered a stream gushing forth from the rock, and finding its way in a narrow rivulet through the glade. "the white man thinks that the discovery of a gold mine will bring him all the wealth he can desire; but the time has come when he would gladly exchange all the gold and silver hidden within yon mountains for one draught of that pure stream," muttered ithulpo, as i stooped my head to drink at the fountain. "drink--drink while you can," he continued in the same low tone. "it is more than wealth, it is life itself; it fertilises, it invigorates, it cleanses, it blesses. without it the world would be but a sterile desert, unfit for the habitation of man; while gold, which the white men value so much, has ever proved the curse of our country. they value it because they think it scarce, while we, who know the deep mines where in vast heaps it lies hid from their sight, place it at its true worth, below iron and copper, or even silver or tin." while ithulpo was thus speaking, he was employed in washing out and filling the skins he had brought with water. i also filled a couple of flasks with the pure fluid. we then retraced our steps by the way we had come, i assisting him in carrying the somewhat heavy burden. we reached the camp unobserved by the drowsy sentries. i was wondering what the indian intended doing with the skins, when, begging me to lie down and rest, he took up two of the skins, and crept cautiously away towards the enclosure where his countrymen were confined. after a little time he returned, and again took the path to the fountain to replenish the skins. i was afraid he would have been discovered, but he went about the work so cautiously and silently, that he altogether escaped the observation of the sentries. after he had given the prisoners all the water they required, he came back to where we were lying, and threw himself on the ground near us. the rest of the night passed quietly away; and notwithstanding the painful position in which we were placed, i slept soundly. i was aroused by the sound of a bugle, and found the soldiers getting under arms and preparing to march. our baggage was replaced by ithulpo, who i saw watched it carefully. the men mounted, the prisoners were dragged out from their resting-place, and we commenced our day's journey. an extensive plain was before us, with a few rugged and barren heights scattered over it. as we proceeded vegetation grew more and more scanty, till after we had marched scarcely half a mile, it ceased altogether. we had slept, we found, on the borders of a desert. the ground was at first composed of a mixture of rock and clay, over which the sea had evidently rolled in former ages; but as we proceeded it became more loose and broken, till it changed into a soft shifting sand, into which our horses' feet sank deep at every step they made. the poor prisoners, already worn out with their long journey, appeared scarcely able to drag on their weary limbs through it. of its extent we were unable to judge, but the commander seemed to fancy that in a short time we should reach firmer and more fertile ground, where we should find water and halt to breakfast. the sun, which rose in a cloudless sky on our right, showed that we were proceeding in the direction we wished to follow--towards the north. "forward, my men," shouted the officer. "in an hour or two we shall be out of this ill-conditioned spot, and find rest and refreshment." the soldiers lighted their cigars and urged on their horses, while they dealt their blows freely on the backs of the indians to quicken their speed. i observed a peculiar smile on the countenance of ithulpo, as the officer spoke of soon reaching a place of rest. our attendant had, i found, managed to distribute a supply of the highly prized cacao among his countrymen; and while their features wore a look of sullen indifference as they received the ill-merited blows, i remarked that they seemed to bear up against the fatigue better than they had before done. as the sun rose higher the heat increased, till it became almost insupportable. the officers spoke earnestly together for some time, and were evidently growing anxious as to the road we were taking. at length their voices grew louder and louder, as if disputing on the point, for there was very little semblance of discipline among them. then they called up several of their men one after the other, but could not gain the information they required. some of the prisoners were next brought up, but they either could not or would not say whether we were pursuing the proper course, their countenances assuming an expression of the most perfect ignorance and apathy. still we pushed on, the spaniards trying to urge their horses still faster through the heavy sand. before us rose a bright glittering haze, through which objects every now and then appeared seemingly in the far distance--hills, and trees, and rocks, and lakes, and streams of pure water; but as we advanced they vanished, and a few barren mounds and loose stones alone were found, while the supposed water was altogether a mocking deception. to the right hand and to the left, the same inhospitable desert seemed to stretch out far away; and we had already advanced so deeply into it, that the officers probably supposed that there would be as much risk in returning as in going on. on therefore we went, the soldiers having no mercy on the prisoners, whom they urged forward, whenever they attempted to slacken their pace, with the points of their swords, till the blood trickled in streams down the backs of these miserable beings. we were riding just behind the main body of the soldiers, followed by ithulpo and the baggage mules. the generous, kind heart of my father was almost bursting with indignation, as he saw this piece of cruelty. at last, as an indian more weary than the rest sunk to the ground, and a soldier was about to plunge his sword into his body, he could restrain himself no longer. "hold, wretch!" he exclaimed. "add not murder to your cruelty." the soldier, taken by surprise, did not strike the fatal blow till his horse had carried him past the fainting indian; but, balked of his prey, his anger was kindled against my father, and turning round, he made a cut at him with his sword. fortunately i carried a heavy riding-whip, with which i was able to parry the blow. the man did not attempt to repeat it, for the junior officer turning round, observed the act, and called him to order; but it showed us what we were to expect if we excited the anger of our captors. i could not withstand the despairing look the poor wretch cast on us as he thought we were about to pass him and to leave him to his fate; so throwing myself from my horse, i lifted his head from the ground. my father stopped also, and so did ithulpo. "on, on!" shouted the rear-guard of the spaniards. "on, or we will fire at you." "we will follow immediately," replied my father. "on my word of honour--on the word of an englishman." the spaniards had never known that word broken, so they allowed us to stop to help the indian. one of our baggage mules was lightly laden, and in spite of the threats of the soldiers we lifted him upon it. i had, as i mentioned, filled a small spirit-flask with water, and unseen i poured a few drops down his parched throat. this much revived him, and by urging on our animals, we were soon able to overtake the already weary horses of the spaniards. the time for breakfast had long since passed, but still no signs of a resting-place appeared. on the contrary, the sand became finer and deeper, and the dreary expanse before us seemed to lengthen out to the horizon. as the sun also rose higher in the sky, his unobstructed rays darted down with greater force upon our heads. there had been a slight breeze in the morning, blowing fresh from over the snowy summits of the cordilleras; but that had now died entirely away, and not a breath of air stirred the stagnant atmosphere. the heat at length became almost insupportable, while our eyes could scarcely bear the glare of the sun on the white glittering sand. to do the spaniards credit, they bore up bravely for a long time against the heat and thirst and fatigue which assailed them. the horses, however, which had only been scantily supplied with water the night before, began to knock up--their ears dropped, their heads hung down, and their respiration became thick and fast. ithulpo had supplied my father and me with cacao, by chewing a piece of which occasionally, we avoided any feeling of hunger; and as we also wetted our lips, when they became parched, with the water from our flasks, we did not suffer much from thirst. still the sensation of oppression and fatigue was very painful. we received too, ere long, a warning of what might be our fate, in the spectacle which met our sight. the sun had reached his meridian height, and was descending towards the waters of the pacific, and still it appeared that we had made no more progress than in the morning, when we came upon the bleached bones of several mules and horses, and by their side appeared, just rising above the sand, the skeletons of three human beings. it appeared as if they had all been struck down together by the same fiery blast. the soldiers, as we passed, turned their looks aside, without uttering a word, each one feeling that he might shortly become like those ghastly remnants of mortality. i observed that the heads of the animals were all turned towards the south, by which i judged that thus they had probably travelled over a greater distance of the burning desert than we had yet passed, so that we were yet not half over our difficulties. "those skeletons show that we are on the high road across the desert," i remarked to my father. "i am afraid not, david," he answered. "they may have lost their way, and we have stumbled on them by chance." such, i at once saw, was too likely to be the case. the gauze-like mist of which i had before spoken, now appeared to grow more dense, and to lose its transparent appearance; at the same time that the rays of the sun struck down with fiercer heat, and the atmosphere grew more stagnant and oppressive. some of the soldiers had lighted their cigars, in the hope that the fumes of tobacco would alleviate their thirst; and as the tiny jets of smoke left their mouths, they went straight up towards the sky, not a breath existing to blow them aside. suddenly, as i turned my head to the left, i saw what appeared to be a dark cloud rising from the earth. i pointed it out to my father. ithulpo had at the same time observed it. "muffle up your heads in your ponchos, and push on for the love of life," he exclaimed. "it is the sand-drift swept before a whirlwind. on! on! or it will overwhelm us!" it was indeed an object to appal the stoutest heart. on it came, like a black wall, rising higher and higher, and curling over our heads, till the sky and the sun himself were obscured. the soldiers saw it and trembled, for they knew its deadly power; whole regiments had before been buried beneath that heavy canopy. their only chance of safety, they fancied, was to gallop through it. with frantic energy they dug their spurs into the sides of their panting steeds. they no longer thought of their miserable prisoners. without a sensation of commiseration, they left them to the dreadful fate they themselves strove to escape. neither could we do anything for them: if we stopped, we also should lose our lives. as we followed the soldiers, we found the indians all huddled together, with looks of despair on their countenances, watching the approach of the sand-drift. they had no prospect of extricating themselves either; for the spaniards had not even cut the cords which bound them all together. i glanced at the black wall of sand; it was still some way off. could i leave my fellow-creatures thus to perish horribly, without an attempt to save them? no burning thirst, thanks to ithulpo's precautions, had yet dried up the sympathies of my heart. "what are you going to do, david?" asked my father, as he saw me throw myself from my horse. "to give these poor fellows a chance of life," i answered, drawing out my knife, and cutting away at their cords. "your mother and sisters, my lad, must not be forgotten," he muttered; "but stay, i will help you." as he said this he set to work to release the indians, in which we were directly joined by ithulpo; the rear-guard, as they passed by, bestowing many curses and threats of vengeance on our heads for our interference; but they were too anxious to save their own lives to prevent us. scarcely a minute was lost. "mount! mount! and ride on!" cried ithulpo. throwing our knives to the indians, we leaped on our horses, and again followed the direction we supposed the soldiers had taken. we had not proceeded many yards when the wall of sand seemed to wheel round like an extended line of infantry, and then to advance at double speed. to escape it by galloping from it was now hopeless; so we turned our horses' heads to face it. as we did so, a clear break appeared in one part. "let us make for yonder lighter spot," shouted my father. we did so. on came the dark wall; the sand swept by us, whirling round and round our heads, blinding our eyes, and filling our ears and nostrils. it was with difficulty even that we could breathe, as with each respiration our mouths became choked with the sand. i endeavoured, as well as i was able, to keep close to my father, though for a time it was only by our voices, as we shouted to each other, that we were aware of each other's position. we did our utmost to keep our horses' heads in the direction the sand-storm came from, that we might the more speedily pass through it. they breasted it bravely, though their thick-drawn breath showed the pain they suffered; but they seemed to be as well aware as ourselves of the necessity of exertion. it was with difficulty, however, that we could even keep our seats, as, with our hats pressed over our eyes, our ponchos drawn tight around us, and our bodies bent down over their necks, we encouraged them to proceed with bit and rein. we were making all the time, in reality, but little real progress, as i soon discovered; their utmost exertion being required to lift their legs out of the sand, which was rapidly collecting round us. on a sudden, a dark mass swept towards us. i know not how it was,--i believe i must have turned to my right,--i kept calling to my father as before; but oh, what horror--what agony seized my soul when he did not answer! and as i endeavoured to pierce the thick mass of sand which surrounded me, i could nowhere see him. i could not tell which way to turn. i felt lost and bewildered, and i believed that my last moment had arrived--a dreadful death was to be my lot. i did not regard myself; it was for my noble father i felt. "o that i could have died with him!" i thought. my brave horse, however, still exerted himself to save his own life and mine, when i had ceased to care what became of me, by continuing to lift his feet above the overwhelming sand-drifts. my only wish was to find my father; but so completely was i bewildered that i knew not whether to turn to the right hand or to the left. his horse might have sunk down, i thought, and then in a few moments he would for ever have been covered up from mortal sight; or, overcome with fatigue and the suffocating atmosphere, he might have fallen, and been unable to regain his steed. or happily he might have passed through the sand-drift in safety, and have been all the time suffering with anxiety for my sake. but this hope was very transient; the predominant feeling was that my father was lost, and that i was about to share his fate. i was thus giving way to despair, when i was aware of a considerable decrease in the density of the sand-laden atmosphere; the last breath of the fierce whirlwind passed by; the sun shone forth bright and clear, and i stood alone amid a sea of glittering sand. oh, with what an aching anxious heart i looked around, to see if the one object i sought was visible on that dreary white expanse! before me, there was nothing; a few mounds and rocks alone were to be seen between me and the horizon; but as i turned round just as the column of sand swept on, not thirty paces behind me, with joy such as i cannot describe, i saw my father stooping down and endeavouring to extricate his horse from the sand, which had partially covered him. i hurried towards him, and leaping to the ground, threw myself into his arms. for the moment all sensations of fatigue or thirst were forgotten in the joy of recovering him. knowing that my horse was strong, he had felt less anxiety on my account than i had on his. with some exertion we cleared away the sand, and once more got his horse upon his feet, though the poor animal appeared scarcely able to move, much less to bear a man of my father's weight. we had still one flask of water untouched. we drank a little, and with a portion of the remainder washed the mouths and nostrils of our horses, and poured a few drops down their throats, still keeping a little for any further emergency. this very much revived them; and once more mounting, we endeavoured to find our way across the desert. since the sand-drift first overtook us, scarcely as much time had elapsed as it has occupied to read the account i have given; but so dreadful were the sensations i experienced, and so intense my anxiety, that to me it appeared an age. the heat soon became almost as great as before the storm, and the atmosphere as oppressive, warning us that, though thus far preserved, we were still placed in a position of great peril. it was now that i felt the benefit of the firm reliance in the goodness of providence, which my father had ever inculcated, and which at this juncture supported him. "courage, my dear boy," he exclaimed. "god has thus far preserved us. he will still find the means of rescuing us." as he spoke, the dark wall of sand, which had been receding from us, after whirling in various directions, seemed to settle down in a line of undulating mounds in the distance; and on every side the horizon once more became entirely clear. we naturally first tried to discover any traces of the spanish cavalry; and after straining my eyes for some time, i perceived a few dark objects which seemed to be moving on towards the point which, from the position of the sun, we judged to be the north. some other objects beyond them afforded us a fair hope of being able to find our way out of this dreadful desert. i could not doubt that what i saw were the tops of some tall trees, though at such a distance that their base was not visible; indeed my father, who agreed with me that they were trees, was of opinion that they grew on ground somewhat elevated above the sandy plain. towards them, therefore, we steered our course, as the spaniards were also probably doing. our horses, we fancied, must have seen them likewise, or their instinct told them that water was to be found in the neighbourhood. we looked round in vain for ithulpo and the indians. not a sign of them could we perceive, and it would have been madness to have attempted to search for them. indeed, had we found them, we could have rendered them no assistance. i was in hopes, indeed, that ithulpo, whose horse was strong, and who i suspected knew the country better than he pretended to the spaniards, would have found some means of escaping, and of aiding his countrymen. we had, in truth, still too much to do in attempting to preserve our own lives, to allow us to think much of others. it would be assuming to be above humanity, did i not confess this. the sun was already sinking low; and should we be unable to reach the trees before dark, and be compelled to rest on the plain or wander about it all night, we could scarcely hope to survive. the ground we passed over was as smooth as if the receding tide had just left it. not the sign of a footstep of man or beast was to be seen, though here and there a slight rise showed that some harder substance had offered an impediment to the drifting sand. after toiling onwards for half an hour at a very slow pace, we came upon a horse's head just rising from the sand. he had died probably in attempting to extricate himself. several heaps showed that others--human beings, too probably--also lay beneath. they, at all events, were beyond all help. the horse i recognised, from the head-trappings, as belonging to the officer commanding the party. we were passing on, when we observed, a little on the right, a man extended on his back. a movement of his arm showed me that he was not dead, and that probably he was endeavouring to call our attention to himself. "though he is one of those who showed no pity to the poor indians, we must try what we can do for him," said my father; and we turned our horses towards him. as he saw us approach, he mustered all his strength and tried to rise. "water, water!" he muttered. "in mercy give me a drop of water!" it was the cruel officer himself. still he was a fellow-creature. we had a small portion of water in the flask. we might want it ourselves, but still we could not leave him thus to die. so i dismounted, and approached him with the flask, while my father held my horse, who showed signs of an eagerness to rush on to the oasis we had discovered. the officer, when he saw the flask, would have seized it, and drained off the whole of its contents; but i held it back, and pouring out a few drops in the cover, let them trickle down his throat. i thought of what ithulpo had said of water being of more value often than gold. truly those drops were more precious to the dying man; they had the effect of instantly reviving him. brightness came back to his glazed eyes, his voice returned, and he was able to sit up, and even to make an attempt to rise on his feet; but to do so was more than his strength would allow. "give me more water or i shall die," he said as he saw me replacing the flask in my pocket. "my rascally troopers have deserted me, to try and save their own worthless lives, and i have only you foreigners to depend on." "i cannot give you more water," i answered. "i have but a few drops left to moisten my father's and my own lips." "o leave them for me. i will give you your liberty, i will give you all i possess in the world, for that small flask of water," he exclaimed. "you will not require it, for beneath yonder trees, in the distance, you will find a fountain where you may drink your fill. have mercy, stranger, have mercy!" it was difficult to withstand the poor wretch's earnest appeal. i poured out a little more water, which he drank off at once. i then gave him a small lump of cocoa; and scraping up a heap of sand, i placed him leaning against it, so that he might feel any breath of air which might blow; promising faithfully to return to bring him to the oasis, if we were fortunate enough to reach it in safety. "but the voracious condors and the lions will come and destroy me, if i remain here during the night alone," he shrieked out. "o take me with you, generous englishman, take me with you!" to do this was utterly impossible. my horse could scarcely carry me, much less another person in addition. "come, david," said my father; "you have done your utmost for this miserable man. we risk our own lives by further delay." in spite, therefore, of the entreaties of the spaniard, i again mounted my horse. it just then occurred to me that if he had his pistols, he might defend himself against any wild beasts. on my offering to load them for him, he told me that he had thrown them away. so i gave him one of my own, with a little ammunition, that he might reload it, if required. he seized the weapon eagerly as i presented it. "then you will not stay to help me, or carry me with you!" he exclaimed fiercely as i rode off. "you will not!--then take that;" and levelling at me the pistol which i had just given, he fired. the ball just grazed my side, but did no further mischief. "the poor wretch is delirious with fear," observed my father, when he found that i was uninjured. "let us ride on." on we rode, but though we made some progress, the oasis was still in appearance as far off as when first seen. the sun was sinking rapidly-- it reached the horizon--it disappeared; the short twilight changed into the obscurity of night; and the beacon by which we had hitherto directed our course was no longer to be seen. the stars, however, shone brightly forth; and i had marked one which appeared just above the clump of trees. by that we now steered, though, i had too soon strong proof, the instinct of our horses would have led them towards the oasis without our guidance. although it was night, the heat was intense; our throats were dry, our lips were parched, and we were experiencing all the terrible sensations of intolerable thirst. we had kept the remnant of the water for a last resource, in case we should not reach the fountain. i think that for nearly another hour we had ridden on, my father not having spoken a word all that time, when to my horror, without any warning, he fell heavily from his horse. his hands had let go the reins, and the animal, relieved of his burden, set off towards the oasis. i threw myself from my horse. to lift him up and to pour some water down his throat was the work of a moment. it instantly restored him to consciousness. he appeared to have suffered no injury from his fall. while i was thus engaged, my horse escaped from me and set off after his companion. so engrossed, however, was i in tending my father, that i scarcely noticed the occurrence. it was, of course, utterly hopeless to attempt to recover the animals, and thus were we two left in the middle of the desert without a prospect of escaping. o the horrors of that night! they can never be obliterated from my memory. at first i thought of attempting to reach the oasis by walking; but my father, though having sufficient strength to sit up, and, had he not lost his horse, to ride, felt himself utterly unable to accomplish the distance on foot. i had bitterly, indeed, to regret my momentary carelessness in allowing my horse to escape from me. it might have been the cause of my father's and my destruction. i have often since thought, from being for one instant only off our guard, how much misery and ruin may occur--how much wickedness and suffering may be the result! the air was still very sultry, and even the sand, on which we rested, was very hot. our last drop of water was consumed. my father did not know it, but i had given it to him. i had begun to suffer dreadfully from thirst. my throat seemed lined with a coating like the face of a file, and my lips were hard and cracked; while the skin, from the drying effects of the sun, the wind, and the sand, was peeling off my face. my father did not feel so much pain as i did; but my strength, i fancied, had in no way failed me, and i thought that, if i had kept my horse, i could easily have walked by his side till we reached the fountain we expected to find. we sat for some time without speaking. the stars were shining in undimmed brilliancy above our heads from the dark blue sky; not a breath of air was stirring, not a sound was heard. i never endured a silence so profound, so solemn, and so painful. for a time i almost fancied that i had become deaf. at length my father's voice, which sounded deep and hollow, convinced me of the contrary. "david," he said, "i must not let you, my boy, remain here to die. you may still be able during the night to reach the oasis, and the cool of the morning will bring you renewed strength. if you reach it in safety, you are certain to find our horses there, and you can return with them and the flasks full of water to me. i feel quite certain that i can hold out till then." i scarcely knew what to answer my father. though i thought that i might possibly reach the oasis, i saw the great difficulty there would be in again finding him, without any means in that vast plain of marking his position; and i felt far from confident that his strength would endure till my return. "no, father," i answered; "i cannot leave you now. i should not find you again, so that my going would not preserve you; and i will therefore stay and share your fate." i need not mention all the arguments my father used to persuade me to leave him, and how i entreated him to allow me to remain. at last he consented that i should stay with him till just before daybreak, which is in that, as in most climates, the coolest time generally of the twenty-four hours. he then proposed that i should plant my whip, with a piece of handkerchief tied to the end of it, on the top of the highest rock or piece of ground i should find near, to serve as a mark for his position, should he not by that time have sufficiently recovered his strength to set out with me. "perhaps i may be able to accompany you part of the way, and then you will have a less distance to return to look for me," he observed. as he spoke, however, i could not help remarking, with grief, that there was a hollow tone in his voice which betokened failing strength, while his words were uttered with pain and difficulty. i could too well judge of his sensations by my own; and gladly would i have given the room full of gold which the unfortunate inca, atahualpa, promised to the greedy spaniards, for a flask of water to quench the burning thirst which was consuming us. hour after hour passed away, as we sat side by side on the sand. we spoke but little; indeed i soon fell into a state of dreamy unconsciousness, which was not sleep, though at the same time i could not be said to be awake. all sorts of strange sights passed before me, and strange noises sounded in my ears, though i was sensible that they were not realities. i saw horses galloping before me, some with riders, and others wild steeds with flowing manes. troops of indians came by in their feathers and gay dresses, and soldiers marched past with colours flying and bands playing; and hunters, and dogs, and animals of every description. indeed there appeared no end to the phantom shapes which met my sight. in vain i endeavoured to arouse myself. a weight i could not throw off pressed me to the ground. i cannot more particularly describe my sensations; i only know that they were very dreadful. i was aware that my father was near me, and that i wished to preserve him from some danger; but i thought sometimes that we were at sea on a raft; at others, that we were sliding down a snowy mountain, and that, though i tried to catch some of the snow in my hand to cool my tongue, it vanished before it reached my mouth; and then i felt that we were sinking into the earth, which, as we sunk, grew hotter and hotter, till it scorched my skin, and i shrieked out with the pain. i started and lifted up my head; a pair of fierce glowing eyes met my view--a huge jaguar or tiger stood before me! we eyed each other for a moment with a fixed gaze. i was more astonished than alarmed; for owing to the state of stupor from which i had been aroused, i had not time to be aware of the peril in which we were placed. fortunately, when i lay down, i had taken my pistol from my belt, and placed it by my side, ready to grasp it at a moment's warning. my first impulse was to seize it; and while the jaguar still stood apparently considering whether he should spring upon me and carry me off to the mountains to serve him as a banquet, i lifted the weapon and fired it directly in his face. startled by so unexpected a reception, instead of springing forward, he turned round with a roar of rage and pain, and galloped off across the desert. the report of the pistol aroused my father, who could scarcely believe what had occurred. i regretted not having been able to kill the brute; for, driven to extremity as we were, we should eagerly have drunk his blood to attempt to quench our thirst. i reloaded my pistol in the expectation of his return; and grown desperate as i was, i almost hoped that he would do so, that i might have another chance of shooting him. the possibility of this served effectually to prevent me from again falling into a drowsy state, and i believe it was of essential service to me. another risk now occurred to me. though at present perfectly calm, the wind might suddenly arise, and should we fall asleep, the sand might be drifted over us, and we should certainly be suffocated. no mariner, whose ship is drifting on an unknown lee-shore, ever more earnestly wished-for daylight than i did for the appearance of dawn, though i was afraid it could but little avail my poor father. at length a faint streak appeared in the sky. it was a sign that we must attempt to proceed on our way or abandon all hope of escape. i called to my father, whose eyes were closed. "yes, my boy," he answered, "i will come;" but when he attempted to rise, i saw that his strength was not equal to the exertion. i felt also, when i tried, but little able to walk even by myself, much less to help him onward. still the effort must be made. i got myself on my feet, and raised him also. we staggered onward in the direction, i supposed, of the oasis. with a melancholy foreboding, however, i felt that at the pace we were going we should never be able to reach it. still i resolved not to give in. onward we went like two drunken men. every instant i thought we should fall to rise no more. i was certain that if i quitted my father, it would only be to die apart from him, when death would be doubly bitter. i could no longer see the star which had before guided us. either clouds had obscured it, or a mist had arisen, or my eyes were growing dim. my father was pressing more heavily on my arm. i tried to support him, but my strength was insufficient. in the attempt we both fell together. all hope abandoned me. "o god, protect my wife and children!" murmured my father. i also tried to pray, but with difficulty i could collect my thoughts for a few moments together. i lifted myself on my knees by my father's side, and raised his head from the sand. daylight was now coming on, and with anguish i saw by the expression of his features that if aid was not speedily afforded, it would be too late to preserve his life. chapter seven. hope revives--lima and its scenes and characters. as a shipwrecked seaman, on the wild rock in the middle of the ocean, anxiously scans the horizon to search for a sail in sight, so did i cast my eager gaze over the barren sandy waste, to discover if providentially any succour was at hand. the shades of night melting away before the rays of the sun, the wished-for oasis appeared in the distance; and by the marks on the sand, i could not doubt that we had been wandering away instead of approaching it. how eagerly i looked towards the spot where i believed the means of reviving our fast-failing strength could be found! as i gazed at it, it seemed to approach nearer, and tantalised me the more that i knew that i could not reach it. the sun rose slowly and majestically in the sky, and his burning rays began again to strike down upon our heads. still i kept my senses; but i felt that death must soon terminate my dear father's sufferings, and mine as well. once more i cast my glance round the horizon. i gazed steadily--i saw a dark object moving in the distance. o how earnestly i watched it! i could not be mistaken--it was approaching us. as it came on, i discerned the figure of a man on horseback. he was leading another animal with a load on his back. now he seemed to be verging off to the right hand. he might pass and not observe us. i shouted; but it was folly to fancy that my feeble voice could reach him. again he turned. i saw him dismount and stoop down on the sand. he stopped, however, but a minute, perhaps not so much, though to me it seemed an age, and he again mounted and came on. he was directing his course, i judged, for the oasis. as he came still nearer, i recognised ithulpo, and he was leading our baggage mule. i could not doubt, also, but that he was searching for us. again i tried to shout, but my voice failed me. i lifted up my hand and waved it above my head; but i could no longer stand upright, or i should have attracted his attention. he rode on. he had already passed, when he turned his head and caught sight of the handkerchief i was waving in my hand. he spurred on towards us. to spring from his horse, and to take one of the saddle-bags from the back of the mule, was the work of a moment. from the saddlebag he produced a skin of water. without speaking, he poured out a cup, from which he allowed a few drops to fall into my father's mouth. when once i felt it to my lips, i could not withdraw it till i had drained it to the bottom. the pure draught so much revived me that i could sit up and help ithulpo to tend my father. this he did with the greatest care; but human care, alas! seemed to be of little avail. he loosened his dress to admit of perfectly free circulation; he then washed his mouth, and after bathing his temples, he allowed a few more drops to trickle down his throat. this judicious treatment had, after a time, the most beneficial effect. my father languidly opened his eyes, and attempted to sit up; and i saw that his first act of consciousness was to turn them towards me with an inquiring glance. finding that i was alive, his countenance brightened; and after slowly drinking some more water, in the course of three or four minutes he revived sufficiently to propose proceeding on our way. "wait a little longer, senor," said ithulpo. "water has restored you to life, but you require food to give you strength; see, i have brought some." as he spoke, he opened a basket full of bread and dried meat, and several sorts of the most delicious and cooling fruit. there were figs and grapes and pomegranates, fragrant chirimoyas, yellow bananas, and several pine-apples; indeed many others too numerous to name. never shall i forget the exquisite delight with which i ate the first fig ithulpo handed to me. it cooled my burning thirst more than all the water i had swallowed, and served both for meat and drink. it was a large soft fig with a white pulp. i instantly put out my hand for another, and he gave me a black fig with a red pulp, which vied with the first in excellence. then he handed me a bunch of juicy grapes, but i still asked for more figs; and when i had finished as many as he thought were good for me, he tore open a chirimoya, and let me eat its snow-white juicy fruit. outside it did not look tempting, for the skin, though green, was tough and hard, and covered with black spots. the platanos or bananas were cooked; and though i could not have swallowed a piece of dry bread, i was enabled to eat some of them with much relish. altogether, never was a repast eaten with greater appetite, or, i may add, with more gratitude; for it certainly was the means of preserving my father's life as well as mine. ithulpo had taken the precaution to tether the animals, so that they could not escape; and as he sat by us, distributing the food, he informed us of what he had done after we had lost sight of him in the sand-storm. "you must know, senores," he began, "i was so busy in liberating my poor countrymen from the ropes which bound them, that i did not observe which way you were taking. i shouted after you to turn back, but you did not hear me; and then the dreadful sand-cloud came on, and it was too late. i am well acquainted with this dreadful desert, and i was aware that we were out of the right path; but i also knew where that path was; so, as soon as all the poor fellows were free, we set off towards it. they were all well able to run without the ropes, and out of sight of our tyrants. fortunately the sand-cloud wheeled round before it reached us, and we were safe. "you must know that on the previous night i had stowed away the wine-skins full of water in your portmanteaus, and i thus had enough to give a good draught to each of the men, and to my beasts also. our first care was then to get out of the desert. i knew where the ground was hard, so i led them to it, and we then could travel at a fast rate. about a league beyond where we were, there is a fountain of pure water gushing up out of a hard black rock. here we were all able to refresh ourselves; and still a little farther on, marks are to be seen, by which i could direct my companions how to escape from the desert. they quickly availed themselves of my advice, and are now on their way to hide themselves among the mountains, where there is no fear of the spaniards searching for them." "but what did you do, my friend?" i asked, stretching out my hand for another bunch of tempting grapes. "just as i was parting from them i saw a party of fruit-sellers crossing the desert, with several mules laden with fruit. i purchased some, as also some bread and baked platanos, and then set off to search for you. i knew, by the feel of the atmosphere, that there would be no more sand-storms; and hoped, it you had escaped that of yesterday, to find you. i know my way across any part of the desert blindfold, for i can tell by the smell of the sand alone where animals have before passed. as soon as it was daylight i returned to where i last had seen you. i saw where the sand-cloud had settled down, forming huge mounds, beneath which many of the spaniards, i found, lay overwhelmed. at last i fell in with the tracks of your two horses. i guessed they were yours, for i thought the spaniards would have kept together. i followed them up steadily. i came to where you had found the spanish officer, and given him a pistol with which to defend himself." "what, did he tell you so?" i asked, interrupting ithulpo. "oh no; his voice has ceased for ever," he replied, with a dark smile. "he had been dead some time, and the fowls of the air were feeding on him; but i knew him by his dress, and i recognised your pistol, which he had fired. here it is. i next reached the spot where you dismounted, and your horses had run away. i began to fear that i was too late to save you; and when following up the track of your footsteps, i saw that a number of the spanish cavalry had escaped, and had gone towards yonder clump of trees. several have fallen in the way, as the wings of the condors i could see flapping above the ground, one beyond the other, told me plainly. and now, senores, it is time to mount and proceed. two hours' riding beyond those trees will carry us free of the desert; and may you never again enter it without a proper guide." my father rode ithulpo's horse; and while i clambered upon the back of the baggage mule, he walked. it was almost as hot as on the previous day; but i kept my mouth cool by occasionally eating a grape, and sometimes one of my favourite figs; and with little suffering we drew near the oasis. "are you not afraid of falling into the hands of the spaniards, and of being accused of liberating their prisoners?" i asked. he looked up, and, smiling significantly, answered. "i tell you, senor, not one of our enemies live to bear false witness against us. i have marked among yonder trees signs not to be mistaken of their fate." i asked no further questions. we passed, as we rode along, several bodies of horses and men; and as we approached the trees, ithulpo shouting with all his might, several condors rose slowly on the wing, and a huge tiger stalked slowly away, looking round every now and then at us with an angry glance, for having disturbed him at his repast. i thought i recognised him as the monster who had paid us a visit during the night; and i have no doubt that he was the same. i can scarcely describe the dreadful scene which met our sight as we at length reached the longed-for oasis. in the centre existed a small shallow pool, filled by a stream which bubbled up through the earth. it would allow scarcely more than a dozen horses to drink therein at a time. we at once perceived what had occurred. the survivors of the cavalry had reached it in a body. some of the front ranks, both horses and men, overcome by weakness, had, in their attempt to drink, fallen in, and prevented the others from getting their mouths to it. the first lay trampled on and drowned, making the once clear pool a mass of mud and filth. the rear ranks, rushing over them, had died of raging thirst, in sight of the water which might have saved them. both men and horses were mingled in a dreadful heap, torn and mangled by the birds and beasts of prey. we crossed as rapidly as we could to the other side of the oasis, where ithulpo produced a skin full of clear water from one of the saddle-bags. "we must not disappoint our poor beasts," he observed, as he gave them to drink. just then the horse my father rode gave a neigh. it was answered from a distance; and to our no little satisfaction and astonishment, our two horses were seen trotting up towards the oasis. they had evidently been prevented taking shelter in the oasis by the presence of the tiger, but had kept in the neighbourhood, in the hopes of his taking his departure. ithulpo at once enticed them to him by the offer of water, which they drank eagerly; and having secured them, after allowing them to crop a little of the grass which grew beneath the shade of the trees, we mounted, and prepared to recommence our journey. as we left the now polluted oasis, ithulpo looked carefully round to examine the traces on the sand, and declared that of all those who had reached the spot, not one had left it. "a just vengeance has overtaken the tyrants who yesterday so cruelly ill-treated us, senores," he remarked. "i knew it would be so. we may now, without fear, proceed to lima." in two hours we reached the confines of the desert, and once more got among streams, and trees, and cultivated fields. we slept that night at an indian village, where ithulpo's influence procured us a warm reception; and after a rest of two days, we proceeded on our journey to lima. as we rode along a fine straight road, shaded by an avenue of lofty willows, peculiarly grateful in a hot climate, we at length came in sight of the steeples and domes of the far-famed city of lima, with the blue ocean on one side of us, and the interminable ranges of the snowy cordilleras reaching to the sky on the other. "what a magnificent city!" i exclaimed. "well worthy, indeed, does it appear of its great founder, the conqueror pizarro." "wait till we get within the walls before you pronounce an opinion," remarked my father. "like the deeds of the founder, it gains more admiration when observed at a distance than when examined closely. we admire pizarro when we regard alone the wonderful conquest he achieved; but when we learn the wrongs, the injustice, the misery he inflicted, the blood he spilled, and the ruin he caused, he and his companions appear monsters of iniquity, worthy of detestation rather than admiration." we entered the city by a handsome gateway, and immediately found ourselves in a long street, with low, mean, ruinous houses on either side. the houses had porches in front, and _patios_ or court-yards. the shops were small, with their goods placed on tables at the doors; there was no glass to the windows, and no display of articles of commerce. the street was badly paved, though there was a rough footway on each side. the walls of many of the houses were composed of double rows of bamboo, but some were of brick; the roofs were flat, and very few of the houses had two stories. as we rode on, however, the appearance of the place improved; and in and near the principal square i observed some fine buildings, with handsomely ornamented _facades_, and many fine churches and convents; but altogether i had to own that the outside beauty was sadly deceptive. the streets were crowded with persons of every variety of costume, and every hue of skin; from the people of northern europe, and the bright-complexioned native of biscay, to the red indian and the jet-black african. some were on horseback, and others in carriages of very clumsy and antique construction; and of the lower order, some were riding on mules and donkeys, and others were driving animals laden with ice from the mountains, skins of brandy, and fruits and provisions of every description. among this motley crowd we forced our way, till we reached the house of my father's agent, a spanish merchant, don jose torres de santillan by name, a very honest and good man. as the plan of his house was similar to that of most of the larger dwellings in lima, i will describe it. in what may be called the front of the house were two doors; one, the _azaguan_, was the chief entrance, and the other led to the coach-house. by the side of the _azaguan_ was a small room with a grated window, where the ladies of the family were fond of sitting to observe the passers-by. this building formed the street side of a spacious court-yard or _patio_, on either side of which were a number of small rooms, and on the farther side was the dwelling-house, round which ran a balcony. in it were numerous doors; the largest opened into the _sala_ or hall, which was furnished with several net hammocks, a row of chairs, and two sofas; while straw-matting covered the floor. inside of it was a smaller well-furnished room, called the _quadro_, which was the usual reception-room; and beyond it were the dining and sleeping rooms, and the nursery. they all opened into an inner court-yard, the walls of which were ornamented with fresco paintings; and part of it was laid out as a flower-garden, with a fountain in the centre. from it one door led to the kitchen, and another to the stable. the windows were mostly in the roof, as were those in pompeii and many ancient cities; indeed it was very similar to the plan of building followed in the south of spain. on hearing of our arrival, don jose hurried out and received us with the greatest attention. our animals were led off to the stables by a number of servants, and we were conducted to the _quadro_, where he instantly ordered refreshments to be brought. we begged leave in the mean time to be allowed to change our dusty dresses. on our return we found hammocks slung, in which our host invited us to rest ourselves. in a hot climate there cannot be a more luxurious couch than a net hammock, as it allows the air to circulate freely round the body in the coolest part of the room. the softly-stuffed sofa of an english or french drawing-room would be insufferable. a young negress slave then brought in a tray with cups, into which she poured out some chocolate, making it froth up till they overflowed, and then handed them round to us. cigars were next offered to us, and we smoked them till suppertime. for this meal we adjourned to the dining-room, where our host insisted on waiting on us. it was a repetition of dinner, which the family had taken according to custom at two o'clock. the wife of don jose, and her maiden sister and three daughters, pretty, palefaced, black-eyed girls, with hair like the raven's wing, were present, as were the family priest and two gentlemen, cousins of our host. we first had an insipid kind of soup, and then their principal dish, called _puchero_. it contained all sorts of meats and vegetables mixed up together--beef, pork, ham, bacon, sausage, poultry, cabbage, _yuccas camotes_ (a sort of potato), potatoes, rice, peas, _chochitas_ (grains of maize), quince, and banana. the meat was brought in on one dish and the vegetables on another, and they were afterwards mixed to suit our individual tastes. at the same time a dish of _picante_ was served. it was composed of dried meat and some pounded roots, highly seasoned with cayenne pepper, and coloured with grains of the _achote_, which gave it a brilliant vermilion tint. after the meat, a sort of pudding was brought in, consisting of a great variety of fruits stewed in water,--a dish i cannot praise; and then followed a dessert of delicious fresh fruits and sweet cakes, which were washed down by a tumbler of fresh water. such is the usual dinner of a gentleman's family in lima. a little light sweet wine was the only liquor drunk, though in compliment to the supposed taste of our countrymen, strong wine, brandy, and other spirits were placed before us. after dinner the servant brought in a piece of lighted charcoal and a tray of cigars, which the men and the elder ladies smoked with much apparent relish; but my three fair friends declined using them. i soon became perfectly intimate with these young ladies. they were troubled with no tiresome bashfulness to keep them silent, and they were full of life and spirits; so we rattled away in conversation in the most agreeable manner, till it was announced that some guests had arrived, and were waiting in the _sala_ to commence dancing. musicians appeared, and, with much spirit, boleros, fandangos, and cachuchas, and other dances, well-known in old spain, were commenced and kept up for some hours. as we were in the height of the amusement, the cathedral bell struck three slow measured sounds, the signal of the _oration_. it was repeated by the belfries of all the churches in the city. instantly, as if by magic, every movement was suspended. each one said the evening prayer in a low whisper, and then made the sign of the cross; those of most consequence turning to the persons near them, uttering the words _buenas noches_ (good night), which was repeated by all present. it is a simple but beautiful custom, and is intended to remind people of their duty to god in whatever occupation they may be engaged. it may often do good; but unless people are possessed of the true spirit of piety, custom will make them callous, and it will fail to have any beneficial effect. i have observed this custom in many other roman catholic countries. in a public place full of people of different ranks, the effect is still more curious. the lively conversation of the smart lady and the gallant cavalier is cut short, the donkey-driver with uplifted arm ceases to belabour his beast, the oath dies on the lips of the rough seaman or uncouth black, the workman drops his tool, the shopman lays down his measure, children refrain from their play, men quarrelling suspend their dispute, lazy monks engaged in their constant game of draughts neglect to make the intended move, vendors of fruit no longer utter their cries, and one and all engage in silent prayer till the bell has ceased to toll, and then in a moment the noise and bustle of active life once more goes on. when i retired to my room for the night, not a little tired with my exertion, ithulpo made his appearance. "how long, senor, may i ask, does your father purpose remaining here?" "some short time; a week or two perhaps," i replied, rather surprised at his question. he went to the door and looked cautiously out, and then, speaking almost in a whisper, as if he were afraid the walls might convey the intelligence, he said-- "you have a mother and sisters and young brothers at your home in the mountains. as you love them, press your father not to remain here longer than you can help. two or three days at furthest is all you should take, and then by travelling fast we may arrive in time. my orders are to accompany you to your home; but i tell you that it shortly will no longer be a place of safety for you or those you love. more i may not say." "you have already been of infinite service to us, ithulpo; and i know that you would not, without good reason, alarm us; but cannot you tell me more particularly what sort of danger we have to apprehend?" i asked. he shook his head as he answered-- "indeed, senor, i cannot; and you must caution your father not to give a hint to any one of what i have said, or the worst consequences may follow. i rely on your discretion." i promised to be cautious, and ithulpo, saying that he would call me at an early hour as i desired, left me. tired as i was, i could not for a long time go to sleep, but continued thinking of what ithulpo had told me, and trying to discover to what he alluded. i heard my father enter his room, which was next to mine, but i would not run the risk of depriving him of his night's rest by telling him of what i had heard. as my object is not only to describe my own personal adventures, but to present my readers with a picture of peru as it was at the time i speak of, i will now give a short description of lima, the capital. lima stands on the river _rimac_, from a corruption of which word its name is derived. the valley through which the river runs is called by the indians _rimac malca_, or the place of witches; from the custom they had formerly of banishing there persons accused of witchcraft. the city was founded by pizarro soon after the conquest. he there built a palace for himself, in which he was assassinated by almagro. he called his beloved lima, la ciudad de los reyes, from its being founded on the day of the epiphany. i always think of pizarro with much more satisfaction when i contemplate him engaged in the peaceful occupation of laying out the city, and superintending the labours of the workmen, than when i regard him as the blood-stained conqueror of a race who had given him no cause of offence. he laid the foundation of the city on the th of january , and was murdered on the th of june . besides the river rimac, which runs through the city, there are a number of small streams, which add much to the cleanliness of the streets, and serve to irrigate the gardens, and to feed the fountains and canals which adorn them. the ground on which it stands slopes towards the sea; the great square, or _plaza mayor_, near the centre, being about four hundred and eighty feet above its level. the climate is agreeable, as the heat is seldom very excessive; but as there are several marshes and swampy places in the vicinity, fevers and agues are common. in summer a canopy of clouds hangs over it, which mitigates the heat of the sun; but rain very seldom falls throughout the year. earthquakes occur nearly every year, and some have caused most devastating effects. lima is about two miles long from east to west, and a mile and a quarter broad. the streets are all straight, and about twenty-five feet wide, and there are no less than one hundred and fifty-seven _quadras_ or open spaces. it is enclosed by walls built of _adobes_, sun-dried bricks made of clay and chopped straw. these bricks are considered better calculated than stone to resist the shocks of earthquakes. the walls are about twelve feet high and ten thick at the bottom, narrowing to eight at the top, with a parapet of three feet on the outer edge. it is flanked by thirty-four bastions, and has seven gates and three posterns. on the south-east is the citadel of santa catalina, with small guns mounted on it. across the rimac is a bridge of stone with fine arches, leading to the suburb of san lazaro. this bridge is the favourite evening resort of the citizens. there are a number of churches, with handsome fronts of stone, and lofty steeples, which must be strongly built not to be overthrown by the earthquakes. lima contained about , inhabitants, of whom , were whites, and the rest negroes, indians, and various half-castes. there were sixty-three noblemen who enjoyed the title of count or marquis, and about forty who were noble without titles. the spaniards considered themselves belonging to a race of beings far above the native indians, or even the creoles; and would much more readily give their daughters in marriage to a poor countryman of their own than to a rich american-born person. the people of lima are much addicted to gambling, especially the higher orders; but public gambling-houses are not allowed. the white inhabitants have sallow complexions, with little or no colour on their cheeks. the ladies have generally interesting countenances, with good eyes and teeth, and a profusion of black hair. the walking-dress of females of all ranks is the _saya y manto_. the _saya_ consists of a petticoat of velvet, satin, or stuff, generally black or of a cinnamon tint, plaited in very small folds. it sits close to the body, and shows the shape to advantage. at the bottom it is so narrow that the wearer can only make very short steps. the skirt is ornamented with lace, fringe, spangles, or artificial flowers. the ladies of higher rank wear it of various colours, purple, pale blue, lead colour, or striped. the _manto_ is a hood of thin black silk, drawn round the waist and then carried over the head. by closing it before, they can hide the face, one eye alone being visible, or sometimes they show only half the face. a gay shawl thrown over the shoulders and appearing in front, a rosary in the hand, silk stockings, and satin shoes, complete the costume. it seems intended to serve the purpose of a domino, as the wearer can thus completely conceal her features. at the present day, however, the european costume has been generally adopted. they delight in possessing a quantity of jewellery; but they appear to be still fonder of perfumes and sweet-scented flowers, and spare no expense in procuring them. the indians who reside in lima endeavour to imitate the spanish creoles in dress and manners. they are chiefly engaged in making gold and silver lace, and other delicate gold work; while some are tailors and vendors of fruit, flowers, and vegetables. the african negroes are numerous, and, though slaves, are well treated by their masters. those of the same tribe or nation find each other out, and form a sort of club or association, called a _confradia_. they generally hold their meetings in the suburbs on a sunday afternoon. at the time i speak of, there was an old slave-woman who had lived in a family for nearly fifty years, and who was the acknowledged queen of the mandingoes. she was called mama rosa; and i remember seeing her seated at the porch of her master's house, when a number of her black subjects who were passing knelt before her, and kissing her hand in a true loyal fashion, asked her blessing. her mistress had given her a silver sceptre, and the young ladies of the family would lend her jewels, artificial flowers, and other ornaments; bedecked in which, on certain days, she would be carried off by her subjects in great state, her sceptre borne before her, to the house of the confradia, where a throne was prepared to receive her. here she held a regular court, when as much respect was shown her as to any sovereign in europe. i shall have to speak of her again. the next morning at an early hour ithulpo called me, and accompanied me through the city. on my return i took an opportunity of telling my father what i had heard. he treated the subject lightly, observing that the indians were very fanciful; at the same time, that he was anxious to return home as soon as he could arrange the affairs for which he had visited lima. however i observed the following day, either from some information he had received, or from something ithulpo had said to him, that he had begun to think more seriously of the matter, and he desired me to make preparations for our departure. while strolling out in the afternoon, i happened to pass the abode of mama rosa, the black queen of the mandingoes. a large crowd of negroes were assembled before the door, decked in all the finery they could command. they wore garments of all fashions and of every gay-coloured hue imaginable--the women with wreaths of flowers round their heads, and necklaces of coral and beads on their necks and arms. there were silk coats a century old, and round jackets, and shirts, blue, red, yellow, and white; and naval and military uniforms curiously altered to suit the taste of the wearer--not an uncommon mode of wearing trousers being round the neck instead of on the legs, with the upper part hanging down the back, and the lower on either side in front like a shawl. some acted the part of guards of honour, and others appeared as ministers of state. a select body bore a sort of _palanquin_ or litter, which they placed before the door till mama rosa descended into the street, when she was conducted with great ceremony to her seat in it. she was very old and ugly; but her subjects did not love her the less for that. her dress was resplendent with flowers and jewels, and all the ornaments she could hang about herself. a band was in attendance, the instruments of which were somewhat curious. the most important was a drum, made of a section of the trunk of a tree, with the skin of a kid drawn over one end. another was a bow, the string being of catgut, which was struck with a small cane. a third was the jaw-bone of an ass with the teeth loose in the socket, and which, when struck by the hand, made a capital rattle. if there was not much harmony in the music, there was plenty of noise, which was not a little increased by the voices of a party of singers, who frisked about before the sovereign's state carriage as she advanced. the sceptre-bearer stepped out with her majesty's insignia of office in his arms, looking back as he did so to ascertain that the queen was following. her people shouted, the palanquin-bearers moved on, the band struck up a negro sort of "god save the queen," and away they all went towards the quarters of the confradia. i followed to see the end of the ceremony. after passing through a number of narrow and somewhat dirty streets, with the houses built of bamboo and mud, we reached the palace, for so i may call it. the hall was of good size, and the walls were ornamented with what i suppose were intended for likenesses of other sable monarchs. if they were correct, i am compelled to own that the royal rosa's predecessors, both ladies and gentlemen, were a very ugly set of personages. the band played louder, and the people shouted more vehemently, as her majesty ascended the throne at the end of the hall. she seemed perfectly at home, and sat down with right royal dignity. the sceptre-bearer presented the sceptre. she seized--it in her right hand and waved it around to command silence. her ministers of state formed on either side of the throne, and doffed their cocked hats, or straw hats, or hats with three corners, or their red caps, or whatever covering adorned their heads. she then made them a speech, which i have no doubt was much more original than the queen's speech in england, but as i did not know a word of the mandingo language, i was not much the wiser for it. when it was concluded, her chancellor of the exchequer made a report of the financial condition of her kingdom, while her home secretary described the good behaviour of her subjects, and her minister for foreign affairs assured her that she was on good terms with all her neighbours. this part of the business being concluded, they squatted down about the throne, and filling their pipes with tobacco, began to smoke; while her other subjects, one by one, stepped forward, and dropping on both knees, each one gave her hand a kiss, not bashfully as if they were afraid of it, but with a hearty smack, which sounded through the hall. her ancient majesty in return bestowed a blessing on them, and told them all to behave well; and especially to be contented with their lot, if their masters and mistresses treated them kindly. after the speech, all the people shouted, and the musicians struck up a magnificent flourish with the drums, and the bows, and the jaw-bones of the asses; and if there was not much harmony, there was a great deal of enthusiasm. several slaves then stepped forward, and preferred complaints against their masters for ill-treatment. the queen listened to them attentively, and i thought seemed to judge their cases very judiciously. to some she replied, that it was through their own neglect of their duty that they had been punished. others she advised to bear their ill-treatment patiently, and to endeavour, by zeal and attention to the wishes of their masters, to soften their tempers, and to gain their good-will; but there were two or three who had been treated so barbarously and unjustly, that she promised them that the _confradia_ should make every effort to purchase their freedom. "you shall be freed," she observed; "but remember you will have to work as hard as you have ever before done, to repay the _confradia_ the money they have advanced for your emancipation." these were not exactly her words, but what she said was to this effect. the serious business of the day being over, the negroes and negresses set to work to dance; and though i cannot speak much of the grace they exhibited, i never saw any human beings frisk and jump about with so much agility. who would have thought they were for the most part slaves, groaning under their chains? never did dancers enter more thoroughly into the spirit of dancing. the black beaus did not waste their time in talking or doing the amiable to their sable partners; nor did the latter seem to expect any such attention--they came to dance, and their great aim seemed to be to get through as much of it as the time would allow. as i looked on i could scarcely refrain from rushing into the sable throng, and joining them in their frisks and jumps; though i dare say, had i done so they would have considered me a very contemptible performer. at length the queen's chamberlain clapped his hands, and gave notice that the court must break up, as her majesty was desirous of retiring to attend to her duties in putting to bed the children of her mistress to whom she was nurse. the bearers of her palanquin came forward, the queen stepped into it, the sceptre-bearer marched before it, the band struck up their loudest tune, the people shouted till they were hoarse, and the procession returned in due state to old mama rosa's abode; where, like cinderella when the clock had struck twelve, she was again converted into the old negro nurse. i give but a very brief account of our return journey, which commenced the next day, just in time to avoid the ill effects of an earthquake which gave lima a fearful shaking, we being, when it took place, in the open country. for the latter part of our journey we rode on in perfect silence. ithulpo seemed as well acquainted with the road as i was. by degrees the valley opened out, and the white walls of our house became visible. with beating hearts we ascended the mountain. we reached the court-yard and leaped from our horses. well-known voices greeted us. my mother rushed out, my brothers and sisters followed. all, though becoming very anxious for our return, were well and in safety. jose had returned just before, but nothing would induce him to say what had occurred to him. he asserted that he had been left behind by us from his own wish, through illness, and that he was only just sufficiently recovered to perform the journey home. ithulpo declared his intention of remaining three or four days, till he could hear from his chief what he was to do; and of course, after the service he had rendered us, my father allowed him to act as he thought fit. i have now to describe some of the more eventful portions of my narrative. chapter eight. our house attacked and defended. my readers must endeavour to remember the description i gave of the situation of our house, at the commencement of my work. we were all seated in the same room in which the fugitive manco first appeared to us. our early dinner was just over; and though we did not indulge in the spanish custom of the _siesta_, it was a time that we generally refrained from active exertion, and employed it in reading or some sedentary occupation. i had just laid down my book, and was looking out of the window down the valley, when on the lower country beyond, an unusual glitter of something which seemed to be moving along the road attracted my eye. i watched it attentively. now the glittering object, which appeared in a long thin line, rose, and now it fell, as it wound its way over the uneven ground. at length i called my father's attention to it. as soon as he saw it, his more practised eye knew what it was. "a body of troops!" he exclaimed. "they are marching in this direction, and are probably bound across the mountain." we all now engaged in watching the advance of the soldiers, on whose bayonets the sun shining had first drawn my attention; and many were the surmises as to the reason of their coming to our remote locality. on they came, growing more and more distinct. first a dark mass appeared below the shining steel; then we perceived that it was composed of human beings, though still mingled together in a dense body. next their banners and several officers on horseback were seen; and soon we could distinguish the hats and cross belts, and the colour of the uniform of the advanced guard. they were marching as rapidly as the nature of the ground would allow. my father's military ardour was aroused at the sight. he seized his hat and rushed out to a spot beyond the walls, whence he could command a clear view both up and down the valley. i followed him, and we stood together on the knoll watching the advancing troops. what was our surprise, however, to find, that instead of proceeding along the road over the mountains, the advanced guard began to mount the path leading to the height on which our house stood! at the same instant, happening to turn my head towards the mountain, i saw descending it, at a rapid pace, a person whom i recognised as ithulpo. he rushed on, leaping from rock to rock at the risk of instant destruction. nothing served to impede his course. life and death depended on him. he had discovered the soldiers. for an instant he stopped, as if to consider whether he could reach us before they did. then on again he came as fast as before. he was almost breathless when he arrived. "call in all the people, and shut the gates and doors!" he exclaimed, panting as he spoke. "the soldiers will destroy you all without mercy if they once gain an entrance. hold out but a short hour or less, and a force will be here which will drive back our enemies to the sea." my father, astounded at what he heard, considered what was best to be done. the advanced guard was already nearly half way up the hill. if we attempted to block out the spaniards, it would at once be acknowledging ourselves guilty of some crime; but if we let them in, unless ithulpo deceived us, we might be subjected to ill-treatment. at the utmost, with the few servants and some indians who happened to be in the house, we could not hope to hold out many minutes against the formidable force now approaching. "do you hesitate?" exclaimed ithulpo vehemently. "i tell you, senor, i speak the truth. ah, there comes the army of the inca! death to the tyrants of peru." as he spoke, he pointed up the mountain, when i saw, winding among the rocks, a large body of indians. every instant others appeared, till the surrounding heights and the whole gorge, through which the road wound, was covered with them. they rushed impetuously down the mountain side, a strong body making evidently for our house. the spaniards, who had also discovered them, redoubled their efforts to climb the mountain, for the purpose, it was also very clear, of occupying the house before the indians could reach it. the indians were armed with firelocks of every sort and size, and of curious antique forms, hoarded up with jealous care by father and son for many a long year, to be ready for the days of retribution, which they hoped had now arrived. a large proportion, however, had only clubs and spears, and bows and arrows, and slings of the same description as those used by their ancestors when they first encountered the spaniards. to counterbalance in a degree their deficiency, they had a few light mountain guns, carried on the backs of mules, engines of warfare which their enemies did not suspect them of possessing. their costume also was equally a mixture of the ancient and modern. some were dressed in skins, with their hair long, and the upper part of their bodies painted in many colours. these were some of the wild tribes from a distance, who had never been subdued. others wore a sort of armour of leather or cotton, thickly padded, with shields of hides, and a profusion of feather ornaments; while most of those who carried firearms, and were from the more civilised districts, were clothed in garments of various coloured cottons, or had retained the ordinary dress of the present day. it must be understood that i learned most of these particulars afterwards, for they were still too far off for me to observe either their arms or dress. on they came with the most terrific shouts, such as i did not think them capable of uttering. it appeared as if they were giving vent to their feelings of hatred and revenge, pent up for centuries. my father stood for an instant watching the two advancing forces, and considering what course to pursue to preserve his family from the dangers of the conflict which it was evident would soon be raging around us. "into the house, david," he exclaimed; "ithulpo's advice must be followed. we will keep both parties out as long as we can." we were quickly inside the gates, and lost not a moment in calling the servants together, and in bolting and barring all the doors, and in putting up shutters to the windows. we found ithulpo in the house. he said he had been ordered by his chief to remain with as till we were in safety. my mother, whom he had warned of what was about to occur, though alarmed for the safety of her children, did not lose her presence of mind, but went round encouraging the servants to remain firm and obey their orders. ithulpo hurried here and there, directing and aiding the other men in preparing for a defence should the house be attacked. in a few minutes all the arrangements which with the means at our disposal we could hope to make, were concluded; and i had time to look out from a loophole in the side of the roof, to see how near the two parties had approached. i first turned my eyes to the eastward towards the mountains, where, to my surprise, i found that the indians, instead of rushing on at once to meet their enemies, had drawn up in battle array, quietly watching their advance. had they come on at once, their numbers alone, it appeared to me, would have overwhelmed the spaniards. they held a position, however, from which it would, i saw, be impossible to dislodge them, and effectually blocked up the passage across the mountain. their appearance was very picturesque, from the variety of their costumes, and the numberless banners under which each cacique had mustered his followers. conspicuous among them was one which i recognised as that of the incas, once more raised to meet the hereditary foes of their race. i next looked down the valley. the advanced guard of the spaniards had just reached the brow of the hill, and would, i calculated, in three or four minutes be close to our gates. under these circumstances, an attempt to prevent them from entering the house would, of course, be considered an act of open defiance of the authority of the spanish government, which it would, i felt, be next to madness to make; and i therefore hurried down from my post to tell my father how matters stood. "we have but one course to pursue," he replied, when i told him what i had observed. "i will trust to your courage and judgment, david; i will stay to open our gates to the spaniards, while you take charge of your mother and the children, and conduct them down by the secret passage which leads out at the side of the mountain. she has already packed up her jewels and the most portable valuables we possess. go and prepare her to set out the moment the soldiers reach the gate. collect some torches. tell ithulpo. he will accompany you, and protect you should you fall in with any straggling parties of indians. i will endeavour to join you as soon as i can escape without being observed, which i very soon, i doubt not, shall have an opportunity of doing." "no, no, father, i will obey you in everything but that," i replied. "let me remain to receive the soldiers, while you escort my mother and brothers and sisters to a place of safety." i so earnestly argued the point, that at length my father saw that i was right; besides, as i observed, if the spaniards accused us of siding with the rebels, i was much less likely, on account of my youth, to be ill-treated by them than he would be. scarcely had he agreed to my wishes, than a loud knocking was heard at the gates. "heaven protect you, my boy!" he exclaimed, as he hurried off to conduct my mother with the children and the females of the family down the secret passage. so unexpectedly had the events i have described occurred, and so occupied had we been, that there was no time for leave-taking, scarcely even to comprehend the full extent of the danger to which we were exposed. there had been no weeping or lamentation, or any other sign of alarm; for the women, all looking up to my mother, and seeing her so fearless, seemed only anxious to follow her directions. i watched them crowding after her to the door of the passage. some carried the children, and others baskets of provisions, and light articles of value which she wished to preserve. my father led the way, and ithulpo and jose brought up the rear with a bundle of torches. as soon as they had disappeared, i ran towards the gates, calling on some of the remaining servants to assist me in opening them. before, however, i had reached the gateway, the most terrific shouts and shrieks i had ever heard assailed my ears. i at once divined the cause. the indians had at length understood the purpose of the spaniards, and had made an advance to intercept them. the soldiers were now thundering at the gates, in an attempt to force them open, with the butt-ends of their muskets. on finding this, i naturally became alarmed, lest, as i withdrew the bars while they rushed in, they would trample me down, and perhaps kill me; yet i felt that it would be cowardly to expose others to a danger i was ready to avoid if i could. i therefore called on the servants to aid me in removing some of the stout bars and withdrawing the bolts, knowing that the people outside would quickly force open the rest. "we are opening the gates, my friends," i shouted. "quick, quick!" scarcely had the bars been removed than the gates began to give way. we leaped aside into a recess of the hall, and the soldiers rushed in, uttering loud imprecations on us for having so long delayed them. had they seen us, i believe they would have knocked us on the head; but fortunately they were in too great a hurry to take possession of the house to look for us. there were in all not more than a hundred men; a small garrison for so extensive a range of buildings. the rest of the troops had, i found, advanced up the mountain, in an attempt to force the passage across it. from the strong array of indians i had seen posted there, i considered that in this they would be disappointed. the first thing the soldiers did on entering the house, was to find their way to that side facing the mountains. some stationed themselves at the windows, through the shutters of which they forced holes to admit the muzzles of their muskets; while others took up a strong position in the court-yard, whence they could annoy the advancing enemy. their hurried arrangements had scarcely been concluded, when the indians in strong force rushed to the walls, uttering the most dreadful shouts of defiance and hatred. the spaniards reserved their fire till they came close upon them. the word was given by the officer in command, and a volley was poured in upon them which proved fatal to many; yet the rest came on undauntedly to the attack. i had intended to have followed my family into the vaults, and i should have been wiser had i done so; but a strong desire to see the fight, not unnatural to one of my age and temper, kept me back; and having escaped the observation of the soldiers, i had clambered up to the roof, where, through a small window, i could see all that was going forward. it was a post i very soon found of considerable danger, for, when the indians began to fire, the bullets came rattling about my head very thick. what had become of the indian servants i could not tell; but i concluded that they had wisely betaken themselves to the vaults, or to some other place of safety. i must observe that on either side the walls of the outbuildings and gardens extended across the hill to the summit of precipitous cliffs, so that the indians could not get round to attack the house in the rear without clambering over these impediments. as, however, the line was very extended, it required great activity and vigilance on the part of the spaniards to defend it. several parties, of ten or fifteen men each, were employed in continually moving about from place to place whenever any of the enemy showed a disposition to scale the walls. the main attack of the indians was, however, directed against the house itself; indeed it was only subsequently that any attempts were made at other points. the indian chiefs showed the most undaunted bravery; and, though singled out by the spaniards for destruction, they were always in the thickest of the fight, and exposed to the hottest fire. i looked in vain for my friend manco; and at first i was afraid that he might have been killed, till it occurred to me that he was probably with the main body of the army defending the mountain pass. i must now more particularly describe the scene as i beheld it from my lofty post. i could tolerably well tell what was going on inside, from the sounds which reached my ears. there was a gate in the east wall about the centre of the house, to force which the indians in the first place directed their efforts, undaunted by the fire of the spaniards, they brought up a sort of battering-ram, composed of the roughly-shaped trunk of a newly-felled tree, slung by ropes to men's shoulders. they were led by a chief in the full war costume of the time of the incas. notwithstanding the showers of bullets flying round him, he remained unharmed, encouraging his followers by word and action to the assault. if one fell, his place was instantly supplied by another, till the battering-ram reached the gate. several thundering blows were heard above the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the assailants, and the cries of the wounded, as the engine was set to work. the gate yielded to the blows, for it was old and decayed; and the indians rushed in. several fell pierced by the pikes of the spaniards who guarded it, but many others pressed on, and the soldiers were driven back. the court-yard was soon filled, and at length the peruvians met the hereditary enemies of their race, face to face, in a struggle for life and death. the spaniards who had been left to guard the walls of the garden rallied, and attempted in a compact body to enter the house by one of the side doors; but the indians threw themselves in their way, and attacked them with a courage i scarcely expected to see exercised. they rushed in upon them, some seizing the muzzles of their muskets, while others cut at them with their axes, or pierced them with their spears. the spaniards endeavoured to preserve their discipline; but they were at length broken and separated into parties of twos and threes, surrounded by indians, who filled the entire court-yard, so that the combatants were now engaged in hand-to-hand fights, when it was evident that numbers would gain the day. i had a strange longing, as i witnessed the dreadful scene, to rush down and join the fight. my sympathies were, i own, with the indians; but still i felt if i had thrown myself among them, i might have sided with the weaker party. i did not, however, attempt to move. the very action would have called me to my senses, and reminded me of the folly of interference. a number of the spaniards had fallen, and were instantly despatched and trampled on by the infuriated indians. at last a few, by desperate efforts, again united, and fought their way up to the house; when some of the garrison, who had been anxiously watching them, made a sortie by a side door, and succeeded in keeping the enemy at bay, while the greater number, desperately wounded, retired inside. for a minute, from the rush the indians made towards the door, i thought that they had succeeded in entering at the same time, and i expected to hear the sounds of strife below me; but the soldiers drove them back, and once more shut themselves in. meantime the assault on the front of the house was going on vigorously. an attempt was made to bring the battering-ram into play; but so many of the people working it were shot, that it was allowed to drop close to the wall. it served, however, as a sort of platform, from whence some of the indians could throw their spears into the crevices of the windows, while others attempted to force them open with their clubs, and those armed with muskets continued a hot fire from the walls, and from every spot where they could find shelter. from the groans i heard from below, it was evident that many of the shots had pierced the shutters and wounded the defenders of the house. while the scenes i have described were going on in my immediate vicinity, i observed that in the distance the main body of the indians were engaged in a hot engagement with the troops who had marched towards the pass. the light artillery of the former, though of no use for distant firing, had been judiciously placed in commanding positions, and masked with breastworks of stone and earth hastily thrown up. their fire was reserved till the spaniards got close to them; then from each battery the iron shower went forth, sweeping through the ranks of the spanish troops. i could see them waver and attempt to turn back; but urged on by their officers, they again advanced. a portion attempted to storm the heights on which the cannon were posted; but thousands of indians were behind the batteries, and they were driven back with great slaughter. still the rest marched on. sometimes they were concealed from my sight, and i could only judge by the movements of the indians on the higher ground that the fight was continuing; then again a turn of the path brought them once more in view. their numbers were fast diminishing; but pride, and contempt for a race they had for so long been taught to despise, urged them forward. they fancied probably that they must prove victorious as soon as they could come into actual contact with their foes. they were now also fighting for life as well as honour; for if driven back, few would expect to escape after the reception they had already met with. every instant, however, fresh bodies of indians sprung up above and around them. on every height warriors were posted, every rock concealed an enemy. my attention was now drawn off from the more distant scene by what was going on below me. the indians having penetrated through the gardens, now entirely surrounded the house; and it required all the vigilance of those within to repel them. i could hear those below rushing about to each assailable point as their presence was most required; the officers shouted their orders, bullets rattled through the house, and the heavy blows of clubs and axes sounded on every side, while the whole house was filled with the smoke of the firearms. when, however, after some time, the indian? found that they could not gain an entrance in this manner without great loss, they retired behind the outer walls of the garden, and a comparative silence succeeded to the previous din of warfare. it was but preparatory to another more desperate attempt. from the mountain side i saw a fresh body of men advancing, who bore among them ladders roughly formed out of young fir-trees. it was evident that they intended to climb to the roof for the purpose of making an entrance through it, and dropping down upon the garrison. i foresaw that if they did so, the sacrifice of life must be very great, though they would ultimately succeed; for the spaniards could scarcely defend themselves if attacked from above as well as on every side. i now began to repent of my folly in having remained behind; but as i had hitherto been unhurt by the bullets, which were striking the roof and walls on every side of me, i fancied that i should yet escape. i tried to consider what i had best do, and came to the conclusion that it would be wiser to remain where i was. if i should be recognised by any of the indians, i had no fear of their injuring me; but in the confusion and heat of the fight i could scarcely expect to be so, and i felt that i must run all the risks of the assault if they should succeed in their object. i almost hoped that they would give up the attempt, and allow the spaniards to escape. the success, however, of the main body of their army encouraged them to persevere. as far as i could judge at that distance, the troops were completely hemmed in, and were fighting for their lives, not to advance, but to return down the mountain. should the house be taken, all hopes of their so doing would be lost, as it would leave the besiegers at liberty to descend by the path leading to it, and to cut off all those who might escape. i was not left long in doubt. by making a circuit to the left, the ladders were brought to a gable end of the house where there were no windows. the spaniards must have seen the ladders, but they had no means of attacking those destined to mount them unless by making a _sortie_; and this, with their diminished numbers, they were probably afraid of attempting. the tramp of some men on the steps leading to the roof, showed me that they were aware of what was about to take place, but they were too late. the indians had already begun to tear off the tiles, and the soldiers who appeared were received with the discharge of a dozen muskets close to their faces. many fell; the rest attempted to retreat, and were precipitated to the floor below. the indians swarmed up in numbers, and filled the whole upper story. i stood concealed in a small closet which had not been entered. just then i perceived, besides the smoke of gunpowder, a cloud of greater density ascending through the floor, and a strong smell of burning wood. "merciful heaven!" i exclaimed, "the house is on fire!" the indians discovered what was the case at the same time, and rushed down the steps. i followed the last of them. i thought if i attempted to escape by the ladders, i might be mistaken for a spaniard, and shot. the scene of fighting, bloodshed, and confusion, which met my sight below, passes all description. the combat was carried on by both sides with desperation, the chief aim of the indians being to open the gates to their friends without, and that of the spaniards to prevent them. in the confined space of the passages, the indians had somewhat the advantage with their daggers or short swords, and their axes; and they continued fighting for a minute or more, but had, notwithstanding, made little progress, when, from the secret passage i have so often described, a band of half-naked warriors burst into the house, and uttering loud yells, set upon the spaniards with the utmost fury. several of the officers had been killed or severely wounded. terror-stricken at these new opponents, the men gave way; some attempted to gain the roof, others to burst their way through the doors, though they must then have fallen into the hands of their enemies; but they had a new foe to contend with, as relentless as the former. the fire, which had been smouldering in one of the rooms, burst forth as the doors were thrown open, and, fanned by the breeze, the fierce flames crept across the walls and along the rafters and ceiling. as the impending danger was perceived, many of the combatants ceased their strife, and victors and vanquished endeavoured to preserve their lives by flight; but some, worked up to fury, fought desperately on till the flames actually caught them in their toils, and claimed them for their victims. others, with their clothes on fire, spaniards and indians mingled together, were seen rushing forth and calling on their friends for aid--on their foes for mercy. mercy the indians had never received, nor were they in a temper to grant it. as each spaniard appeared he was cut down, or was else driven back into the flames, till, as i afterwards heard, not one remained alive of all those who had lately garrisoned the house. in the meantime i had been watching an opportunity to escape. the fighting was still continuing with the greatest fury, the combatants passing before me, as alternately the spaniards forced their way forward, or were again driven back by the indians who poured into the building, while the raging flames gained possession of it; when, as the heat became so intense that i could no longer hold my post, and a space for an instant appearing clear before me, i darted forward amid the fire, the whistling bullets and the weapons of the combatants. i ran on in the hopes of reaching one of the doors at the west side of the house; but i was so blinded and stifled by the smoke, that i could scarcely see my way, or know what i was about. i fancied that i perceived before me a number of indians. they were driving at the point of their spears several soldiers back into the fire that had reached that part of the house. with fierce gestures some of them advanced towards me. i tried to cry out and explain who i was, when, before the words were spoken, i was sensible of a sharp blow, it seemed on my side. the next instant i saw axes and swords glittering above my head. i sunk to the ground, and all consciousness passed from me. chapter nine. the indian's hut--alarming news. when consciousness at length returned, a very different scene met my sight. i had an idea that something dreadful had occurred, but what it was i could not tell. my belief was, that i had been dreaming that i had witnessed a battle, that i had fallen from my horse and hurt myself, and that i had been lifted up and carried along on men's shoulders to some distant place. i had an indistinct recollection of a face full of tenderness often bending over me; but whether it were white or red i could not tell, the expression only had made any impression on me. there was, however, so great a want of clearness and reality in what i have described, that when i once more began to collect my thoughts, i was unable to determine whether or not i had been dreaming all the time, and was still half asleep. at length i opened my eyes, and discovered that i was lying under the shade of a small hut or wigwam, composed of the boughs of trees, and thatched carefully over with straw. my couch was on the ground; but it was a very soft one, for the bed was stuffed with a quantity of the fine wool of the vicunas, and covered with a delicately woven woollen stuff. the hut stood in an open space amid a forest of gigantic trees, such as a tropical clime can alone produce. beyond were dark and frowning rocks, above which rose ridges of lofty mountains, one overtopping the other, till the more distant, covered with a mantle of everlasting snow, seemed lost in the clouds. the sky overhead was of intense blue; and through it sailed, with outstretched wings, a mighty condor, carrying in his talons a kid he had snatched from the valley below to his eyrie on the summit of the rugged cliffs in the distance. i watched the majestic bird as it sailed along, forgetful of my own condition, and wondering whether any one would be able to rescue the poor animal from its impending fate. on it went, growing smaller and smaller, till it became a mere speck in the sky, and then disappeared altogether. this trifling circumstance served to arouse me, and i began to look about me with some attention. i discovered, at length, that the forest glade was not tenantless, for the part farthest removed from me was crowded with dense masses of indians, who were collected round one who, by his height, his rich dress, and noble bearing, i conjectured to be a chief, though i never recollected to have seen him before. other indians kept arriving from all sides through the forest. he stood elevated above the rest on a mound of earth under a canopy of cloth of many colours; and i observed that the _borla_, the red fringe worn only in ancient days by the proud incas, bound his brow. from this sign i could have no doubt that he was the well-known chieftain, tupac amaru, the lineal descendant of the incas, and the elder uncle of my friend manco. by the indians he had been known usually by the name of condorcanqui, and by the spanish as don jose gabriel, marquis de alcalises, a title which had been given to one of his ancestors by the king of spain. he was addressing the multitude in a harangue which, from the distance he was from me, i could not hear. the people listened with deep earnestness and silence, till some expression aroused their passions, when brandishing their weapons, their bows, their clubs and spears, they uttered shouts of approval, or wild cries of defiance and hatred to their foe. i had no doubt that i was in one of the strongholds of the indians, among the mountains on the eastern side of the andes. the inca, for so i may call him, continued speaking for an hour or more, when i again fell off into a sleep or stupor. i had discovered that i was wounded both in the head and side; and i felt dreadfully weak and ill. the sun was just gliding behind the mountains when i again opened my eyes. by my side sat a young and very beautiful woman, her large black eyes and the tinge of copper in her complexion showing that she was of indian birth. in front of the hut stood a man whose figure i thought i knew. an exclamation of surprise escaped my lips. he turned his head at the sound of my voice, and i recognised, to my joy, the chief manco. he knelt down by my side. "ah! my young friend, i rejoice to hear you speak once again," he said. "my wife and i have watched over you anxiously, for we thought with sorrow that you would never recover." i did not before know that manco had a wife. "you have been very good to me; and had it not been for her care, i must have died," i replied. "i dare say i shall now soon get well; but can you tell me anything of my parents and my brothers and sisters? is ithulpo with you?" "i can give you no tidings of them," he replied, turning away his head. "ithulpo has not come back to us, and i know not where he is." "my poor father and mother! they will think i have been killed," i ejaculated. "it will make them grieve very much." "they will trust in god and hope for the best, as you must, my friend," he observed. "but i must not let you talk, or it will bring back the fever which has been on you. nita will watch over you, for i have matters which call me away." as he spoke, his young wife handed me a cup filled with a cooling draught distilled from herbs, which i drank eagerly off. "that will do you good," he remarked. "to-morrow, if you are stronger, i will answer the questions i see you are eager to put. now, farewell!" he shook his head when he saw that i was about again to speak, and went off across the glade. i next tried to interrogate nita, speaking in the quichua language, supposing she did not understand spanish; but with a smile she signed to me not to talk. "sleep, stranger, sleep," she said in a sweet musical voice in her native tongue; "it will strengthen you to undergo the toils which are in store for you. my husband has promised to tell you more to-morrow. i must quit you if you persist in talking." seeing that she was determined not to answer any of the questions i longed to ask, i felt that it would be ungrateful not to do as she desired me, and i once more resigned myself to sleep. the next day i felt better and stronger, and my wounds were healing rapidly; but manco did not return, and nita told me that he was engaged in mustering and arming his followers. she would, however, give me no other information. i felt very sad and solitary, notwithstanding her kindness; for, whenever i could collect my thoughts, i could not help fearing that some misfortune had befallen those i best loved on earth. fortunately i slept or dozed away the greater part of the day, and this, i suspect, contributed to the rapidity of my recovery, aided by my good constitution and the pure air i breathed. at night nita sent an old woman to sit by me, who was relieved by a young lad of my own age. i expected to gain some information from the latter, for he looked very intelligent; but when i spoke to him he shook his head, and i afterwards discovered that the poor fellow was deaf and dumb. there were several huts near mine, one of which i found was occupied by nita and her husband. three days passed away, and at last, to my great joy, manco came back. he seemed in high spirits when he spoke of the prospects of his people. he told me that the indians throughout the whole of the mountain districts of peru were up in arms, and that whenever they had encountered the spaniards the latter had been defeated; though he confessed, with regret, that many atrocities had been committed by the enraged natives, and that the white inhabitants of whole villages and districts, including women and children, had been cruelly massacred, as had also the negroes and those with any white blood in their veins. i may as well here pause in my personal narrative to give a short account of the cause of the disastrous revolt of the indians of peru, from which so many thousand lives were sacrificed. i have already spoken of the systematic cruelty practised by the spaniards from their first occupation of the country, and of the dreadful effects of the _mita_ (as the parcelling out of the people among the conquerors as slaves was called, under the pretence of enabling them to learn trades and to become domestic servants, as also to make them work in the mines); but another injustice was the immediate cause of the outbreak. this was the _repartimiento_. it was a law originally made by the spanish government, authorising the _corregidores_ to distribute among the natives goods imported from europe at fixed prices, and which they were compelled to purchase whether they required them or not. consequently, all sorts of things damaged and useless were sent out from spain to peru, where they were certain of realising a profit to be obtained nowhere else. among them might be found silk stockings, satins, and velvets--razors for men who never shaved, and spectacles for those whose eyesight was excellent. i remember especially a consignment of spectacles arriving to a merchant at lima. he could nowhere dispose of them, till he bethought himself of applying to a _corregidor_ of a neighbouring district, who was his friend, to help him. the latter threw no difficulty in the way. "your goods shall be sold immediately, my friend," he replied; and forthwith he issued an order that no indian should appear at church or at festivals unless adorned with a pair of spectacles, intimating the place where they were to be sold. the poor people had to come and buy the spectacles, and to pay a very high price for them into the bargain. the spanish government, when they framed the law, had doubtless no idea that it would be thus abused; their intention being to civilise the people by the introduction of european clothing and luxuries, and in that manner to create a good market for the product of the industry of the mother country. it is one of the many examples of the folly of attempting to force the interests of commerce by unjust laws. for a time a few merchants sold their goods; but the ultimate result, independent of the bloodshed which it caused, was that the indians took a dislike to spanish manufactures, and the peruvian market was ultimately lost for ever to spain. the _repartimiento_ had lately been put in force by the _corregidores_ with even more than the usual injustice. the _corregidores_ were, i must explain, spanish municipal officers, who had very great authority in the districts they governed; and as they were the receivers of all taxes, tributes, and customs, they were able to ensure it with unsparing rapacity, which they did not fail to do in most instances. at length, after years of suffering, the indian population were thoroughly aroused, and determined to throw off the hated yoke of the tyrants. condorcanqui placed himself at their head; and before the spaniards were aware of the storm which was gathering, he had collected a large but undisciplined army. he had two sons, called andres and mariano, and a brother named diogo, all of whom assumed the title of tupac amaru, which means in the quichua language, _the highly endowed_. several others of his relations also assumed the same title, and took command of the patriots' forces in other parts of the country. the spaniards, despising the indians, and regardless of any warnings they might have received, were completely taken by surprise, and defeated in all directions. the villages in whole districts were totally destroyed, and several large towns were besieged, many of which were captured and the inhabitants put to the sword. of their first victory i had been a witness. condorcanqui had been _cacique_ of the province of tungasuca, the _corregidor_ of which was among the most exacting and rapacious of his class. for a long time the indian chief had brooded over the sufferings of his countrymen, till he resolved to avenge them. he confided his plans to a few other _caciques_ only, and to his own relatives. they prepared the people by means of faithful emissaries throughout the country; and arms and munitions of war were collected with the greatest secrecy and expedition. at an appointed day the signal of revolt was given; and the _corregidores_ in many of the provinces, whom they looked upon as their principal oppressors, were seized and executed. the _corregidor_ of tungasuca had been entertaining a party of friends and some travellers at his house. the feast was over; they had taken their _siesta_; and other guests had assembled to pass the evening with music and dancing. his wife and daughters were there, and several ladies young and lovely. the gay guitar was sounding in the hall, and happy hearts and light feet were keeping time to the music. the _corregidor_ was standing apart from the rest in earnest conversation with a stranger. "this is my farewell assembly," he observed. "i have now, thank providence, amassed a fortune sufficient for my wants; and in a few weeks' time i shall sail for my beloved spain. this country is a good one for making money, but for nothing else." "it is a fine country, though; and history tells us was once a perfect paradise," remarked the stranger. "a paradise it might have been when the fields were better cultivated and more mines were worked; but the people have chosen to die off, and those who remain are idle and lazy, and will not work," answered the _corregidor_, with a scornful laugh. "they have lately taken to care very little for religion either," observed padre diogo, the family chaplain, who now joined the speakers. "when we go among them with the saints to collect offerings, our boxes come back not a quarter full." just then a servant, pale with terror, rushed up to his master. "what is the matter?" asked the _corregidor_. "speak, fool, speak!" for the man could only utter some unintelligible sounds. "the indians! the indians!" cried the man, at length finding his voice. "the house is surrounded by thousands of them!" "impossible!" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "the slaves would not dare--" just then an unearthly cry rent the air. the music ceased, and the strangers hurried to go--the ladies clasping their partners' arms, and the children clinging to their mothers. some of the men went to the windows. what the servant had reported was too true. on each side were seen, by the beams of the pale moon, dense masses of armed savages, forming an impenetrable barrier round the house; while others kept arriving from every direction. "what means all this?" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "i will go out and order the slaves to disperse." "o stay, stay!" cried his wife, clinging to him with an air of despair, which showed her too true forebodings of evil. "they are exasperated against you, and may do you harm. let padre diogo go; he has influence with the people, and may persuade them to depart." the _corregidor_ was easily persuaded to follow his wife's counsel, for his conscience told him that the indians had just cause to hate him. one of the strangers suggested that efforts should instantly be made to barricade the house, and prepare for defending it, should the indians be assembled with any hostile intention. the _corregidor_ was about to give orders to that effect, when another loud unearthly shriek paralysed the nerves of all the inmates. "oh, go, senor padre, go! save my husband and children!" cried the terrified wife. "save us! save us!" cried the guests, now fully aware of the horrible danger that threatened them. thus urged, padre diogo prepared, with many misgivings, to go forth and appeal to the people. he looked round with a sad countenance on those he had lately seen so full of life and gaiety. "may heaven and the saints protect you, my children," he said solemnly. then taking in his hand a crucifix which hung in a little oratory near the hall, he opened the front door of the house and stepped out among the crowd. he held the sacred symbol of his faith aloft in his hand. it served as his safeguard. no one attempted to injure him; but before he could utter a word, he was surrounded and hurried away from the house. no one would listen to his prayers and entreaties. "mercy, mercy, for the unfortunates in yonder mansion!" he cried. "mercy, mercy, senor padre! did they ever show mercy to us?" exclaimed a voice from the crowd. he looked back; the indians were pouring into the house. loud agonised shrieks of women and children reached his ears. a few shots were heard, followed by the triumphant shouts of the indians. flames were seen bursting forth from the house. they burned up bright and clear in the night air. by their light he observed a man dragged along among a crowd of indians. they stopped and appeared to be busily at work. in a short time a gibbet was erected near the burning building. "you are required to shrive a dying man, senor padre," said an indian who approached him. he was led towards the engine of death. there, beneath it, he found, pale with terror, and trembling in every limb, the _corregidor_, his patron. "they tell me, my son, that i am to perform the last offices of religion for the dying," said padre diogo. "for me, padre, for me!" exclaimed the _corregidor_ in a voice of agony. "alas! it is cruel mockery. they have murdered my wife and children, my guests and servants--all, all are dead! and now they will murder me." "i will plead for you; i will try to save your life," said the padre. "but they cannot have been so cruel--they cannot have murdered those innocents!" "alas! i speak true. before my eyes they slew all i love on earth, and they only preserved me to make me endure longer suffering," said the wretched man. "you are delaying to perform your duty," cried a voice from among the crowd of indians. "mercy, mercy, for him, my children!" ejaculated the padre. "he showed us none," answered a hundred voices in return. "proceed, proceed, or he must die without shrift." the padre felt there was no hope; but he attempted to make another appeal. he was answered in the same strain. "my son, you must prepare your soul for another world," he whispered into the ear of the _corregidor_. the unhappy man saw that indeed there was no hope for him, but still he clung to life. he dared not die. at that moment all his deeds of cruelty, all his tyranny, came crowding to his memory in a light they had never before worn. of what use now was to him the wealth he had thus unjustly acquired? oh! if men would at all times and seasons remember that they must one day die, and give an account of their deeds on earth, would it not restrain them from committing acts of injustice and wrong? the _corregidor_ attempted to enumerate his misdeeds. they were too many for him to recollect. "i have offended--i have miserably offended!" he exclaimed in his agony. "god is full of mercy. he rejoices in pardoning the repentant sinner," answered the padre. but his words brought no hope to a doubting mind. he felt that his crimes were too great for pardon; though till that moment he had not considered them as crimes. the priest then proceeded to administer to him the last sacrament of the roman catholic church. he had scarcely concluded, when the indians, who had stood around in reverential silence, raised a loud clamour for the instant execution of the culprit; but padre diogo was a brave man. "my children," he cried, "you have already committed a great sin in murdering the innocents who this night have fallen by your hands. their blood will cry to heaven for vengeance. preserve this man's life, repent, and pray for mercy." a _cacique_ now stepped forward from among the crowd. "senor padre," he said, "we listen to your words with reverence, for you are a priest, and have ever proved our friend; but this man was placed in authority over us, and most cruelly did he abuse that authority. he has been tried and found guilty. as his ancestors murdered our last inca, the great atahualpa, so he must die. he has but one minute more to live. we have already shown him more mercy than he deserves." the tone, as much as the words of the speaker, convinced the padre that his penitent must die. to the last he stood by his side, whispering such words of consolation as he could offer. several indians, appointed as executioners, advanced; and in an instant the miserable man was hurried into eternity. "for this man's death, the vengeance of his countrymen will fall terribly on your heads, my children," exclaimed the padre; for the proud spirit of the spaniard was aroused within his bosom, and he did not fear what they might do to him. too truly were his words afterwards verified. no one seemed to heed what he said; and he was led away from the spot by a party of indians, in whose charge he was given by the chief tupac amaru. to his horror, he found that every man, woman, and child among the white inhabitants of the village had fallen victims to the exasperated fury of the indians. this account was given me some time afterwards by padre diogo himself; though i thought the present a proper opportunity of introducing it. i will now return to my own narrative. i rapidly recovered my strength, and in a few more days was able to leave the hut and walk about without assistance; but my anxiety for the fate of my family was in no way relieved; and though manco made all the inquiries in his power, he could afford me no consolation. i was sitting one evening in front of the hut, meditating what course to pursue, when manco came and threw himself on the ground by my side. he took my hand and looked kindly in my face; but i saw that his countenance wore an expression of deep melancholy. with a trembling voice i asked him what news he had to communicate. "bad news, bad news, my young friend," he said; and then stopped, as if afraid of proceeding. "of my parents?" i inquired, for i could not bear the agony of suspense. "speak, manco; has ithulpo not arrived?" "alas! no," he answered, sorrowfully shaking his head. "i have too certain evidence of ithulpo's death; and, faithful as he was, he would never have deserted your parents. his body has been discovered near a village which has been attacked and burned by my countrymen. there can be no doubt that they had taken refuge within it. alas that i should say it, who have received such benefits from them! the indians put to the sword every inhabitant they found there, and among them your parents must have perished." at first i was stunned with what he said, though i could not bring myself to believe the horrid tale. "i will go in search of them," i at length exclaimed. "i will find them if they are alive; or i must see their bodies, if, as you say, they have been murdered, before i can believe you. the indians, whom they always loved and pitied, could not have been guilty of such barbarity. if your countrymen have murdered their benefactors, i tell you that they are miserable worthless wretches; and the spaniards will be justified in sweeping them from the face of the earth." as i gave utterance to these exclamations, i felt my spirit maddening within me. i cared not what i said; i felt no fear for the consequences. at first, after i had spoken, a cloud came over manco's brow; but it quickly cleared away, and he regarded me with looks of deep commiseration. "should i not feel as he does, if all those i loved best on earth had been slaughtered?" he muttered to himself. "i feel for you, my friend, and most deeply grieve," he said aloud, taking my hand, which i had withdrawn, and watering it with his tears. "yet you are unjust in thus speaking of my people. they did not kill your parents knowingly. the sin rests with the spaniards, whom they desired to punish; and the innocent have perished with the guilty. sure i am that not an indian would have injured them; and had they been able to come into our camp, they would have been received with honour and reverence." i hung down my head, and my bursting heart at length found relief in tears. i was still very weak, or i believe that my feelings would have assumed a fiercer character. "i have been unjust to you, manco," i said, when i could once more give utterance to my thoughts. "i will try not to blame your countrymen for your sake; but i must leave you, to discover whether your dreadful report is true or false." he took my hand again, and pressed it within his own. it was night before i was tolerably composed; and as i threw myself on my couch within the hut, i wept bitterly as a child, till sleep came to relieve my misery. i must not dwell on the anguish i felt on waking--the utter wretchedness of the next day. i was too ill to move, though i prayed for strength to enable me to prosecute my search. strength and health came again at last; and in four days after i had heard the account given by manco, i insisted that i was able to undergo the fatigue to which i must be exposed. nothing that manco or his wife could say had power to deter me. "you will be taken by the cruel spaniards, and executed as a spy," said nita, the tears dropping from her eyes as she spoke. "no indian on whom you can rely will be able to accompany you, and you cannot find your way alone," observed manco. "besides, in these unhappy times robbers and desperadoes of every sort are ranging through the country; and if you escape other dangers, they will murder you." "my kind friends," i answered, taking both their hands, "i feel your regard for me; but i fear neither spaniards nor indians, nor robbers nor wild beasts, nor deserts nor storms, nor heat nor cold, nor hunger nor thirst. i have a holy duty to perform, and i should be unworthy of the name i bear if i shrunk from encountering the danger which may be before me." "if go you must, and i see that there is no use in attempting to dissuade you, i will give you every assistance in my power," said manco. and thus it was arranged that i was to set out on my perilous undertaking the next day but one, by which time he would be able to accompany me to the foot of the mountains, though he would not be absent long from his important duty in the patriots' army. chapter ten. my wanderings with manco--how a padre told his beads, but his beads told him nothing. the morning i was to set out arrived at last, and i bid farewell to nita and her little infant, which i kissed over and over again for its mother's sake; for my heart was full of gratitude for her kindness and compassion. manco had procured a mule for me--a small but strong animal, with great sagacity. it was very sure-footed, and could climb up the most rugged rocks, and slip down mountain precipices like a goat. it was of the greatest value to me; for, weak as i was, i could not possibly have walked a mile of my journey. we had to descend some way, and then to travel along the side of the mountain range, in order to gain the road which led across the cordilleras. i speak of the path as a road; but in many spots it was so narrow and difficult that i thought it would be impossible for any mule to get along. here and there large blocks of stone had been placed, with the intention of facilitating the ascent. my mule sprung up them with such violent jerks that i was at first almost thrown over his head; but when we had to descend, he picked his way with great caution. manco went before me with a long pole in his hand, ready to assist me if i required it. after proceeding some way, i observed a large valley spread out at our feet. it was full of people and numerous tents and huts. manco pointed to it with an expression of pride in his countenance. "there," said he, "you see the headquarters of the army which is to liberate our country from the power of the conqueror. the inca tupac amaru himself, and his two young and noble sons, are there. in a few days the whole army will be assembled, when we march upon cuzco, once more to reinstate our sovereign in the capital of his ancestors." manco's dark eyes flashed proudly as he spoke; for after the recent success of the indian arms he had no doubt of victory. i thought differently. hitherto the indians had fought among mountains, where discipline was of little avail, and their bows and slings could send their missiles with effect; or they had attacked unfortified and unprepared villages; but in the neighbourhood of cuzco they would be in an open valley, where the cavalry and artillery of the spaniards could be brought into play, and i trembled for the consequences. i was unwilling to damp manco's ardour; but i endeavoured to point out the dangers i foresaw, and urged him to persuade the chiefs not to be over-confident. we kept along the ridge of the height forming the side of the valley without descending, and i was thus able to obtain a full view of the indian army. i was surprised not only at the vast number of people collected, but at the apparent order which prevailed, and at the great state which the inca and his chief officers maintained. in the centre of the camp, amid a number of banners fluttering in the breeze, was erected a large canopy of gay-coloured cloth, beneath which was a throne, richly ornamented with gold and silver. a flight of steps led to it, along which were ranged a body of guards armed with battle-axes and spears. the inca sat on his throne, dressed in the ancient costume of his ancestors, which i have before described; and officers of various ranks kept continually coming up to receive orders. as they approached, they bowed reverentially before him, and knelt at his feet while he addressed them. i could scarcely believe that what i saw was a reality, and that i was not dreaming of the accounts i had read of the early history of the country. it did not then occur to me that much valuable time was thus lost to the indian cause in idle ceremony; and that tupac amaru would have had a better chance of success had he at once swept the country from north to south with his forces, before the spaniards had recovered from their terror and dismay at their first defeat. after stopping for a few minutes to gaze at the novel and interesting scene, we turned up a path through a ravine, and were quickly again in the solitude of the mountains. we travelled upwards for three days, sleeping at nights at the huts of indians, where we received a warm welcome from their wives, but the men were in all cases absent. we were now crossing the puna heights, as the table-lands on the upper part of the cordilleras are called. we were some fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. on either side arose the lofty summits of the cordilleras, covered with the ice of centuries. before us stretched out to a great extent the level heights, covered with the dull yellow puna grass, blending its tint with the greenish hue of the glaciers. it was truly a wild and desolate scene. herds of vicunas approached to gaze with wonder at us, and then turning affrighted, fled away with the swiftness of the wind. the puna stag, with stately step, advanced from his lair in the recesses of the mountains, and gazed on us with his large wondering eyes. farther off were groups of huancas, looking cautiously at us as we passed, while the rock-rabbits disported nimbly around us. i begged manco not to shoot them, for we did not require food, and i never liked killing an animal for sport. the mountain air and exercise had completely restored my strength, when on a sudden an indescribable oppression overcame me. my heart throbbed audibly, and my breathing became short and interrupted, while a weight as if of lead lay on my chest. my lips swelled and burst, blood flowed from my eyelids, and i began to lose my senses. i should have fallen from my mule had not manco lifted me off. a grey mist floated before my eyes, and i could neither see, hear, nor feel distinctly. manco sat down, and took my head in his lap; when after a time i began to recover, and i saw that he was anxiously looking at a dense mass of clouds gathering above us. "up, up, my friend, and mount if you value your life!" he said. "you are better now. a storm is about to burst, and we must face it boldly." scarcely had he spoken, when, loud peals of thunder were heard, and lightning darted from the skies. down, too, came the snow in flakes, so heavy that it was impossible to see many yards before us. "we must push on," observed manco. "we have lost much time already, and night will overtake us before we can reach the nearest village." the snow, however, fell faster, and completely concealed all signs of the path. "when the snow-storm has ceased, i shall easily find the way by the flight of the birds we are certain to see," he continued. "so, fear not. you are suffering from the keen air of the mountains, and you will quickly recover when we begin to descend to lower ground." even his sagacity was at fault, and we soon found that we had wandered from the right path. as i did not grow worse, i kept up my spirits. two or three hours passed away, and the snow ceased. it had scarcely done so, when the clouds opened, and the bright glance of the burning sun burst forth dazzlingly on the white expanse of snow before me. in a moment i felt my eyes stricken with almost total blindness. a cry of horror escaped me. i fancied that i should not recover. manco tried to console me, assuring me that i was merely suffering from the _surumpe_, a common complaint in those regions. "i ought to have guarded you against it," he said. "strangers unaccustomed to the sight of the glittering snow constantly suffer from it; but it will soon pass away." i, however, thought differently, though i was unwilling to complain to him. we went on as fast as we could; but the sun set when we were still a long way from the edge of the plain. we had with difficulty avoided several swamps, in which he had told me animals and men were sometimes lost. they are the chief dangers of that region. fortunately, he recognised a range of lofty rocks near us. "there is a cavern within them not far off, where we must rest for the night," he said. "we might have a worse lodging, for we shall there, at all events, be sheltered from the snow and wind." it was now perfectly dark; but after searching for some time, we succeeded in discovering the cavern. while he tethered my male outside, i staggered in, and, overcome with fatigue and the pain i was suffering, sunk upon the ground, a stone which lay near me serving for a pillow. i begged him to let me remain where i was, while he refreshed himself with some of the provisions we had brought with us. we had no means of striking a light: and as he could afford me no assistance beyond throwing a poncho over me, he did not interfere; but soon afterwards, stretching himself out near me, he fell asleep. having been on foot all day, he required rest as much as i did. as soon as i fell into a slumber, the smarting pain of the _surumpe_ awoke me, and i was obliged to give up all hope of sleep. how long the night seemed! my thoughts all the time were active, and i need scarcely say that they were fixed on my expedition, and means of accomplishing my object. it was towards the morning, when a dreadful turn was given to them. happening to stretch out my hand, it came in contact with a cold clammy substance. i drew it back, and an indescribable horror crept over me; but influenced by an impulse i could not control, i again put it out towards the object. it rested on the face of a human being. i was certain that i could not be mistaken. i felt the mouth, and nose, and hair; but the features were rigid and immoveable. it was that of a corpse. constitutionally fearless, under other circumstances i should have got up and removed myself from the disagreeable neighbourhood, supposing that some unfortunate traveller had like us taken shelter there, and died from cold or hunger; but weak with mental and bodily suffering, i had now no power over myself, and lay trembling with horror, not even venturing to call out to manco to break the dreadful spell which was upon me. it is impossible to describe my feelings, or the ideas which took possession of my mind. whose corpse could it be? might there not be others in the cave? i thought, if i could be said to be thinking. at last, i believe i swooned away, for most certainly i did not sleep. an exclamation from manco aroused me. daylight was streaming into the cavern, and he was sitting up and gazing towards me. in another instant he was by my side, and, with careful forethought, was endeavouring to keep my attention fixed on himself, so as to prevent me from seeing the dreadful objects in the inner part of the cavern. "manco," i said, "i have had a horrid dream. i fancied that the cavern was full of corpses." as i spoke i really thought i had been dreaming. without answering me, he lifted me up, and led me towards the open air. an impulse i could not restrain made me turn my head; and on the ground, close to where i had rested, i saw the corpse of a man. trembling in every limb, i stopped to look at it. it was that of a white man. several ghastly wounds were seen on the broad chest, and another on the head. the dress and the full black beard and moustache showed me that he was a spaniard. there were no other corpses to be seen; and as i looked at the object in the broad daylight, with the fresh breeze blowing in my face, the undefined horror i had before felt completely vanished. i felt ashamed of my previous fears, and releasing myself from his support, assured him that i had recovered my strength. the effort itself assisted to restore my nerves to their usual tension; and i was able to turn back and examine the corpse. "who can have murdered the man and placed him here?" i asked. manco shook his head. "it is a bad thing--a very bad thing!" he replied, as he examined the wounds of the man. "i fear my countrymen have done it. he must have been taken prisoner, for i find the marks of cords round his wrists, and he attempted to escape, and thus was killed; but ask no further questions. come, it is time to proceed." the little mule was safe outside, so i mounted and hastened from the spot. as i rode on, my spirits returned with the air and exercise, and my mind no longer dwelt on the events of the previous night; and the effects of the _surumpe_ also began to wear off. several rock-rabbits crossed our path, two of which manco shot; and when we came to a height which sheltered us from the wind, we halted for breakfast. having tethered the mule, we set to work to collect the dry grass and the stems of creepers growing from the clefts of the rocks for fuel. manco had with him the means of striking a light, and a fire was soon kindled, over which we cooked the rabbits and boiled some cocoa in a tin pannikin, by the aid of which, with some indian corn bread, we made a very fair meal. in an hour more we reached the edge of the _alto_, or high plain, over which we had been travelling. before us lay, deep and deeper, the dark valleys of the lower mountain regions, among which, scarcely discernible, were scattered numerous indian villages. far beyond a more level country stretched out, till it was lost in the distant line of the horizon. for several hours we descended, till we began to experience a very great change of temperature. we rested that night at a village inhabited entirely by indians. it was situated among such inaccessible rocks that they had no fear of being surprised by the spaniards. to my great grief, manco told me that he must quit me by dawn on the morrow. i of course could not be so selfish as to wish to detain him. "i have been, fortunately, able to find a trustworthy guide for you," he said. "he is a lad a year or so younger than you are, but very quick and intelligent. he is of a white complexion, though he has an indian heart, for he has been among us from his childhood. when an infant he was discovered by some of our people in a wood near a spanish village, and was brought hither by them. their idea is, that either he had been deserted by his mother, or that his parents had been murdered by robbers, who, for some reason or other, saved his life. he is called pedro. he speaks spanish well; and should you fall among the spaniards, he will be supposed to belong to their people. should you discover your parents, of which i have no hopes, give him his liberty, and he will return to us; and if you abandon the attempt, he will lead you back to us. but i will bring him to you, and he will speak for himself." on this manco left the hut where we were lodging, and soon returned, accompanied by a youth, whose clear complexion and full black eyes showed that he was descended from the race who had conquered peru. "are you willing to accompany me, pedro?" i asked in spanish. "you will probably have many dangers to encounter." he looked at me attentively for some time, as if examining my countenance to judge if he could trust me, before he answered. "yes," he at length said. "i will aid you gladly in the work you are about. i care not for dangers. god will protect me, as he has before done." i was much struck with his words and manner, and gladly accepted his services. "but i have no means of rewarding you, pedro," i remarked. "some day i may have, but the time is probably far distant." "a good action is its own reward," he answered, in an unaffected tone. "i require no reward. my chief and benefactor wishes me to go; and i desire to obey him." pedro was an unusual character. he possessed all the genius and fire of his spanish fathers, with the simple education of an indian uncontaminated by mixing with the world. the next morning he appeared habited in the dress of a spanish farmer's son, which was the character he was to assume should he be interrogated. he rode a mule similar to mine. he and i set forward together towards the west at the same time that manco started to return to the indian camp. i found that manco had supplied him amply with money to pay our expenses, when we should reach the territory inhabited by spaniards; but he told me that we should require none while we wandered among the indian villages. "i thought that all the indians were poor, and that even a chief like manco would have little or no money," i remarked. he smiled as he answered, "when men are slaves, if they are wise they conceal their wealth, lest their masters should take it from them. these mountains are full of rich mines of gold and silver, with which none but the indians are acquainted. many such exist, known only to particular families, to whom the knowledge has been handed down from father to son. perhaps manco has such a mine; but he is too wise to speak of it." i did not think it right to inquire further about the source of manco's wealth; but i was satisfied that he could spare what he had provided for me. my young guide, however, was inclined to be communicative, and he beguiled the way by a number of interesting anecdotes. "o yes," he continued; "the indians are wise to conceal their riches; for if the spaniards discovered them, they would no longer be theirs. not far from this, there lives a good padre, the curate of the parish. he is very much liked by all the indians, though he has his faults like other men. he is very kind-hearted and generous, and is ready to administer to the sick in body as well as in mind; but he is sadly addicted to gambling. he will play all day and night with anybody who will play with him, till he has lost his last real, and has often, i know, to go supperless to bed. when the indians know by his looks and his staying at home that he is in poverty, they will send him fowls and eggs, and bread and provisions of all sorts. one day he had just received his yearly stipend, when the evil spirit came upon him, and he went away to the nearest town and lost it all. he came home very miserable, and could scarcely attend to his duties. fortunately for him, an indian, whose sick child he had attended, had compassion on his grief, and told him to be comforted. the next day, as soon as it was dark, the indian came to his house, bringing a bag full of rich silver ore. the padre was very grateful; but instead of spending it wisely to supply his wants, he took it into the town, and it went the way of his stipend--into the pockets of his gambling companions. again he returned home as full of grief as before. the indian soon heard of what had happened, for he loved the padre very much; so he brought him another bag of silver. the padre's propensity was incurable, and he lost that as he had done the first. the indian's generosity was not yet worn out, and he brought him a third bag full of ore. when the padre saw it, he could scarcely believe his own senses. "`i fear that i am robbing you, my kind friend,' he said. `i shall bring you into the poverty to which i have foolishly reduced myself.' "`o no, senor padre; there is plenty more where this comes from,' returned the indian. `what i have given you is but like a drop of water in the ocean to the abundance of rich ore which there lies concealed.' "`if that be the case, my kind friend, why not show it to me?' exclaimed the padre. `i shall soon become a rich man, and will no longer think of gambling.' "after much persuasion, the indian agreed to lead the padre to the mine, on condition that he would consent to be blindfolded both going and returning. the next night they accordingly set out, the indian leading the padre by the hand. after walking for some hours, the bandage was taken from the padre's eyes, and he found himself in a spot he had never before visited. the indian set to work, and clearing away a quantity of earth and bushes, exposed to the delighted eyes of the padre a cave full of glittering masses of pure silver. "`there, senor padre, is the mine i spoke of. take as much as you can carry, and we will return speedily home,' said the indian. "the padre filled a number of bags he had brought with him under his cloak, till he could scarcely stagger onwards with the weight. while also he was collecting the treasure, avarice seized his soul, and he forgot the dictates of honour. he was then again blindfolded; and he set forward on his return in the same manner as he had come. but though he had got as much silver as would have supplied him with food and clothing for many years, he wanted more. he contrived, therefore, as he thought unperceived, to break the string of his rosary, and as he returned he dropped one bead, then another, hoping thus to trace his way by means of them back to the mine. at last he reached home, congratulating himself on his cleverness. of what use, he thought, is all that silver to the indians? they are not the better for it, but i shall know how to spend it. he was eager to set out the next morning, when just as he was leaving his house, the indian stepped in at his door. "`ah, senor padre, i am come to see how you are after your long walk,' said the indian, smiling. "`very well, my son--very well, thank the saints,' answered the padre. `i am just going out to take another.' "`i hope it may be a pleasant one, senor padre,' observed the indian. `but i forgot--i came to return you your rosary, which you dropped last night.' "and to the dismay of the padre, the indian gave him all the beads which he had carefully collected. the padre had nothing to say for himself; but the indian did not utter any other rebuke, though he never again offered to bring him any more silver ore." "i think the indian behaved very well; but i can find no excuse for the padre," i remarked. with similar stories, which he told with far more spirit than i have at this distance of time been able to give to them, pedro endeavoured to divert my mind from dwelling on the thoughts which he saw oppressed it. he certainly succeeded better than i could have expected. our road led us over a lofty height, at the summit of which we halted to rest ourselves and our mules. as we were sitting on the ground, and employed in eating our dinner, we observed a large condor high above us in the air. he approached us with outstretched wings, and at first i thought that he had been attracted by the provisions we carried, and that he was about to attack us. i cocked a gun manco had given me, and prepared to shoot him should he come near us; but he passed beyond us, and presently he pounced down on the ground at some distance off. instead, however, of his rising again with his prey in his talons as we expected, we saw him violently flapping his wings; and, to our great surprise, directly afterwards he was surrounded by a number of indians, who began to strike him about the head with sticks to keep him quiet. our curiosity induced us to run as fast as we could towards the spot, when we found that the condor had been caught in a trap laid on purpose for him. a hole had been dug in the ground, over which had been spread a fresh cowhide, with parts of the flesh still adhering to it. underneath this an indian had concealed himself with a rope in his hand. the condor, attracted by the smell of the flesh, had darted down on the hide, when the indian below had firmly bound his claws together, and held on with all his might, the cowhide protecting him from the attacks of the bird's beak. the other indians had been concealed near the spot to help their companion. they quickly secured the monster bird, and prepared to carry him off in triumph to their village. at first when we appeared, they looked suspiciously at us; but after pedro had spoken to them, their looks brightened up, and they invited us to accompany them to their dwellings, which were on the other side of the height. we gladly accepted their invitations, for they lived near the road we wished to pursue. i have so often spoken of the wretchedness of indian huts, and of the coarseness of the food, that i need not describe them. they were no exceptions to the general rule. the scene before them was wild and dreary. at some distance off appeared a mass of long rushes, beyond which extended a sheet of water, the opposite shore of which was scarcely visible. numerous flocks of waterfowl were hovering over the marshy banks of this lake, which i found was of very considerable extent, though inferior to that of titicaca, the largest in south america. pedro and i were sitting round a fire in the hut with our indian hosts, before retiring to rest, when a loud moaning noise was heard in the distance. the indians regarded each other with terrified looks. "what can cause that noise?" i inquired of pedro. he shook his head, and turned to one of the indians. "it forebodes evil to the herdsmen," answered the man. "in yonder lake, which is so profound that no plummet has ever reached the bottom, there dwell huge monsters, neither beasts nor fish. no man has ever seen one near; but at night, when the moon is shining, they have been descried at a distance, prowling about in search of prey. when that noise is heard, which has just sounded in our ears, it is a sign that they have attacked some of the cattle feeding in the surrounding pastures; and to-morrow morning there is no doubt several will be found missing." "but cannot the monsters be caught or killed?" i asked. "surely it is foolish in the herdsmen to allow the cattle to be killed with impunity." "who would venture to do it?" exclaimed the indian with a look of horror. "besides, i told you, senor, that no one has seen them near enough to observe their form; and sure i am that neither stones cast from slings, nor arrows shot from bows, nor bullets from guns, would pierce their hides." "i should like to encounter one of these monsters," i replied. "a ball from a good rifle would soon enable me to judge what they are like." "may heaven protect you from such an adventure!" answered the indian. "if i ever return here, we will see." i said this because i very much doubted the existence of the monsters he spoke of, and suspected that the moanings we heard arose most probably from some of the cattle which had sunk into the marshes near the lake, and were unable to extricate themselves. in every part of the world where i have since been, i have heard similar legends, and have in most instances been able to discover a very probable explanation of the mystery. the rays of the sun were shining on the waters of the lake as we passed one end of it the next morning, and it now wore a far more cheerful aspect than it had done on the previous evening. the two next days of our journey were one continual descent, and we were now approaching the ruined village, near which the body of the faithful ithulpo was said to have been discovered, and in which i supposed my parents had taken refuge. i could no longer attend to any of pedro's remarks, but rode on sadly and moodily, dreading to find the truth of the dreadful report i had heard, confirmed, yet not daring to believe in its possibility. it was now necessary to proceed with great caution, for we were in a part of the country which had been inhabited chiefly by spaniards; but we found that they had all fled or been destroyed, and the blackened ruins of farm-houses and hamlets met our sight every league we proceeded. here and there we encountered an indian, of whom pedro made inquiries; but from no one could we obtain information to guide us. chapter eleven. dreadful surmises--taken prisoners by indians. we were passing over a somewhat level country, when pedro pointed to a line of blackened walls and charred timbers in the distance. "yonder is the place you seek, senor," he said, in a tone of commiseration which touched my heart. "you are seeking for parents whom you have known, and their memory is dear to you. i, alas! have never known any parents to love, and my heart is vacant." i knew he wished to utter words of consolation, but i have no recollection of what more he said. my mind was too full of the work before me. i urged on my mule, for i felt an eager desire to search through the village; yet what information could i expect to find in those deserted ruins? as we approached, we saw a wretched half-starved dog skulking among the walls. he looked at us to see if we were friends whom he knew, and then fled away. not a human being was to be seen. we passed through the desolate streets. some of the walls had been cast down, and the roofs of all the houses had been burned and fallen in. the church only was standing; but the doors were open, and the interior presented a scene of horror which baffles description. numbers of the unfortunate inhabitants had fled there as their last place of refuge, but it had proved no sanctuary to them. in every part of the building, on the steps of the altar, and by the altar itself, were seen heaped together the mangled remnants of the forms of human beings. their dresses showed that they were those of men, women, and children; but weeks had now passed since they were slain, and their bones alone remained. the beasts and even the birds of prey had been there, or it would have been impossible to enter into that charnel-house. pale and trembling i wandered through it, scarcely able to draw breath from the foul air which filled the place; but no sign of those i sought could i find. at length i staggered out again into the open air, where pedro, who was holding our mules, waited for me. i determined next to search each of the houses separately. as we were wandering through one of them, an object met my sight which riveted my attention. it was a silk handkerchief. with a trembling hand i picked it up. it was exactly such a one as i remembered to have seen my sister lilly wear round her neck. it was of an ordinary sort; a little three-cornered handkerchief with a pink fringe. there might be many such in the country. this might have been the property of some spanish girl or young chola, for there was no mark on it to distinguish it; but still, as i looked at it, i felt almost confident that it had been my sister's. how it had escaped being burned or trampled on i could not tell. perhaps it had been dropped near one of the outside walls, which the fire did not reach, and had been blown by the wind into the corner of the room, where i found it. pedro was of the same opinion. i placed it carefully in my bosom, though how it could prove of use i could not tell. we searched and searched in vain through every other house in the village; but no other trace or sign which i could recognise could we find. the whole day was thus spent, and night almost surprised us while we were still in the ruins. near the village was a meadow, where pedro had led our mules to feed; and we had, besides, found some indian corn, which we had given them; so they were in good condition to proceed. but after the example of the state of the country we had seen, it was impossible to say where we could hope to find shelter for ourselves. i asked pedro if he would object to remain in the ruins all night. "oh, may the good saints defend us from such a thing!" he answered with a look of dismay. "after the sights we have seen, how can you think of doing so, senor?" "the dead cannot hurt us, you know; and we can easily fortify ourselves against any attack of wild beasts," i answered. "we will shut our mules up in a room of one of the houses where no people have been killed; and we can sleep in a room next to them. we shall find plenty of timber to barricade ourselves in, and they will give us good warning if any wild beast comes near to attempt an entrance." for a long time pedro was not convinced of the wisdom of my proposal; or rather, his dislike to the idea of remaining prevented him from being so. his objections were very natural; and i own that had i not been desirous of making a further search in the neighbourhood the following morning, i would myself have much rather proceeded, if there had been sufficient daylight to enable us to find another resting-place. this was, however, now totally out of the question; so pedro was obliged to accede to my wishes. i fixed upon a house on the outskirts of the village, which had, it appeared, been the residence of a person of superior wealth and rank. some of the rooms had been but little injured. one of them i selected as our abode for the night, and an adjoining one as a stable for our mules. having collected some food for our trusty little animals, we brought them inside the house. we first cleared away the rubbish out of the rooms, and then placed against the doorway some timbers and planks, which we tore up from the floors, so as effectually to prevent the ingress of any wild beasts. by the time we had thus fortified ourselves it had become perfectly dark; and i must own that a feeling such as i had never before experienced, crept over me, as i thus found myself shut up with my young companion in that abode of the dead. i knew that i must arouse myself, or it would master me completely. "come, pedro," said i, "we must now light a fire. it will serve to cheer our spirits, and to keep us warm, for i feel the evening chilly." the floor of the room we were in was composed of bricks, so that we could make our fire in the middle of it; and as there was no roof, we had no fear of being incommoded by the smoke. from among the rubbish i managed to pick out several smaller bits of timber, which had escaped being totally consumed, and some of the dry grass we had collected for our mules served as lighter fuel to kindle a flame. having thus collected sufficient materials, we piled some of them up in the middle of the room, and kept the rest in a corner, to feed our fire as it required. a flame was soon kindled; and as it burned up brightly, it contributed very much to banish the feelings which had before oppressed me, aided, i suspect, by the exertions which it had been necessary to make to collect the fuel. i have always found that exertion both of mind and body is the best, i may say the only, remedy for melancholy and foreboding thoughts. the light enabled us to find more fuel, which we agreed it would be requisite to husband with care, so as to make it last till sunrise. we had no wish to be again left in darkness. the light, however, served to show us more clearly the desolation of the place. the walls were bare, and not a particle of furniture had been left; for the indians had carried off from the village everything that had escaped the flames. above our heads a few charred timbers only remained of the roof, beyond which the stars were seen shining from out of the dark sky. "we might have been very much worse off," i observed to pedro, as we sat by the fire eating the provisions which we had brought with us. after supper we lay down in the cleanest spot we could find, and tried to recruit our strength by sleep. i was awoke by pedro's hand touching my shoulder. i looked up, at first scarcely able to remember where i was. he had just before thrown some chips on the fire, which made it blaze brightly. i saw that he had his fingers on his lips to enforce silence, so i did not speak; but his looks showed that something had alarmed him. i soon discovered the cause, from hearing the footsteps of several persons in the neighbourhood. i was about to inquire, in a whisper, who they could be, when i observed him glance up at the top of the wall above us. i turned my eyes in the same direction, and then i saw, by the light of the fire, the elf-like locks and red-coloured countenance of a wild indian, who was gazing down upon us. he looked as much surprised to find us there as we were to see him. "pray, friend, who are you, and what do you seek here?" asked pedro, in the quichua language. the stranger made no answer, and presently afterwards a dozen other indians sprung up to the top of the wall. they were dressed and painted as the warriors of a distant tribe, dwelling in the northern part of the country. after looking at us for an instant, they fixed their arrows in their bows, and were drawing the strings when pedro shouted out to them:-- "stay your hands. we are friends of the indians, and under the protection of the inca tupac amaru." at the same time he held up a gold ring with which manco had provided him. the indians evidently supposed we were spaniards, and were accordingly about to put us to death. they did not seem inclined to alter their purpose, for they drew their arrows to the heads; and i believed that our last moments had arrived, when the name of the inca restrained them. "we will hear what account you have to give of yourselves," said the man who had at first appeared, letting himself down from the top of the wall. he was followed by the rest, and others who had climbed up; and we were soon surrounded by a large body of indians. i endeavoured to look as unconcerned and as little alarmed as possible, so i re-seated myself on the block of wood which i had before occupied. one who seemed to have authority over the rest, took a seat opposite to me, while they stood round the room pedro forthwith began to give a history of our proceedings, and the cause of our present wanderings. the chief, after some time, appeared satisfied. "we have vowed to destroy all the white men we meet," he exclaimed; "but though your skins are white, your hearts are with the indians, and we will not injure you." on hearing these words, i breathed more freely; for i had my misgivings that the indians would not believe pedro, and would torture us before they put us to death, as they had lately too often treated their white captives. we soon became on very friendly terms. the chief told pedro that he and his followers belonged to the very war party which had destroyed the village; that they had swept the country for some way farther to the north, burning all the houses, and murdering all the white inhabitants they encountered; and that now, laden with booty, they were returning to their own homes in the far distant interior. the army now lay encamped at a little distance from the village, in a strong position, where they could not be surprised by any spanish force which might be near them. he and his band had, he said, come to the place for the purpose of carrying off some of the spoil which they had concealed when last there. they had found it undisturbed, and were consequently in a very good humour. i told pedro to endeavour to learn from them, whether they had heard of any english people being in the village when they attacked it. pedro put the questions i desired. "if any english people were there, or other strangers, they shared the fate of the rest," answered the chief with a look of fierceness. i shuddered as he spoke. "it was not a time for us to distinguish people. we had years and years of bitter cruelty and wrong to revenge on the heads of the spaniards. no one escaped. we came upon them in the night, suddenly and without warning. we surrounded the village, and then burst in upon them while they slept in fancied security, despising the poor indians whom they so long had trampled on. as they rose from their beds and attempted to fly, we cut them down at the doors of their houses. we threw burning brands upon the roofs, and closed them in till the fire had destroyed them. we drove them shrieking through the streets, and shot them down with our arrows. some took refuge in the church; but it did not save them. when the morning broke, not a soul remained alive. but we were not content. we had begun to taste the sweets of vengeance, and we rushed on through the country, burning and destroying in our course. we have still more work to perform. our swords must not be sheathed till the inca sits once more on the throne of his ancestors, and till not a spaniard remains alive to boast that his people once held sway in the land." as i watched the countenance of the speaker, it wore an almost terrific expression, full of an intense hatred, and a desire for vengeance; yet, before the outbreak, he had probably been like most other indians, a mild, peaceable, and patiently suffering man. the account he had given of the destruction of the place almost banished the hope which still existed within my breast. yet i resolved to persevere in my search. my dismay was very great, when i learned from pedro that the old chief intended to remain in the village with his followers till the morning, and then to carry us along with him as prisoners. "he believes our story," said pedro; "but still he thinks that if we continue our journey, we may give information to the spaniards of the road the army is taking. he will, i dare say, treat us well, and release us when he fancies we can run no chance of injuring his people." the news caused me great vexation, for, though i had no fear that the indians would injure us, i was afraid that we should be led a long way out of the road in which we could hope to make any effectual inquiries, if, indeed, further search was of any avail. i was anxious also to examine the country surrounding the place where the body of ithulpo was said to have been discovered; and i told pedro to entreat the chief, before he commenced his march, to allow us to go out for a few hours as soon as it was light, promising faithfully to return. pedro made the request, but the old chief, when he understood the object, said it would be useless to grant it. "your friends were all killed," he said, "you search for those who are not to be found." "then we must appeal to the head chief commanding the army," i said to pedro in spanish. "try and learn who he is." after making inquiries, pedro told me that he was a powerful _cacique_, who had assumed the title of tupac catari; and though he was, as most of the _caciques_ were, descended from an inca noble, he was only in a remote degree connected with tupac amain. he did not consider himself in any way under the orders of the inca, and was inclined, it appeared, to set up as the inca himself. it argued ill for the indian cause, that there should be this division in their forces. from what i heard of him, i was afraid that there was very little probability of his granting the request which had been denied by his inferior, the old chief. "if, then, we are to be treated as prisoners, we must endeavour to make our escape should any opportunity present itself," i whispered to pedro, whom i had drawn aside. not to excite the suspicions of our captors, i pretended to be contented with the arrangement, when i found that there was no chance of altering the old chief's determination; and returning to the fire, i sat down, desiring pedro to say that i was very tired, and wished to be allowed to sleep till daylight. the indians apparently finding themselves in tolerably comfortable quarters, wrapped their ponchos round them, and lay down on the ground round the fire, to follow my example. i was, however, too much excited to sleep, and had lost myself in forgetfulness but a very short time when daylight appeared, and the whole party sprung to their feet. pedro and i were allowed to mount our mules, and accompanied by the indians, who bore the spoils they had collected, set out to join the main body, which was already on its march to the northward. we came in sight of them about three miles to the west of the village, as they were passing over a wide sandy plain, bordered by a range of thickly wooded hills. there appeared to be about thirty thousand of them,--a body, as far as numbers were concerned, fully able to compete with any spanish force which could be sent against them; but they were in a very undisciplined and disorganised state, and were, from what i heard, more intent on obtaining plunder, and on destroying the defenceless whites, than on pushing their first successes with vigour against the common enemy. there were some four or five hundred horsemen among them armed with spears; the rest were infantry, who carried slings, and bows, and axes, and heavy wooden clubs. the cavalry guarded the flanks, and the footmen marched in separate bodies under their respective chiefs, with banners at their head; but there were a great number of stragglers, and, as far as my eye could reach, i observed small bodies who appeared to be scouring the country in search of plunder or provisions. the booty was distributed among the soldiers, each of whom bore a load on his back, consisting of woollen and other goods, household utensils, furniture, and clothing of every description. the chief, tupac catari, rode at the head of his forces, surrounded with banner-bearers. he was a fierce, wild-looking indian, with a forbidding expression of countenance; and his dignity was not increased by his having dressed himself in the uniform of a spanish officer, whose cocked hat he wore with the points resting on his shoulders. the lower parts of his legs were bare, except that he had sandals on the soles of his feet, fastened with leather thongs, and a huge pair of silver spurs to his heels. his wife came behind him in a sort of litter, covered with coloured cotton, and supported on men's shoulders. his followers were habited in every variety of costume, which they had picked up in their expedition; a few of the better organised bodies only retaining their national costume. is this, i thought, the sort of character who is to aid in the liberation of his native land? a force like his may, as it has proved, have the power to lay desolate a country, and to murder the defenceless inhabitants; but will they be able to sustain an attack from disciplined troops, when such are sent against them? the general--for so i may call him--halted when we appeared, and made inquiries of the old chief about us. a long conversation then ensued, the result of which was that we were ordered to accompany him. he wanted a secretary, we were told, to write despatches to the other chiefs, and to communicate with the spaniards; and he thought that either pedro or i should be able to answer his purpose. in vain we pleaded the necessity of proceeding as we had intended. he refused to listen to any appeal we could make. "you may consider yourselves fortunate in not losing your lives," he at last answered. "we have sworn to kill every white man we meet; and you have to thank your friend manco, on account of the love all the indians bear him, that we have not killed you; so be content and say no more." the old chief who had first taken us prisoners, finding himself thus unceremoniously deprived of our company, left us to our fate, and for some time we rode on in silence among the general's body-guard. every man in the army seemed to be talking at the same time. they were, i found, boasting to each other of the deeds of valour they had performed, of the enemies they had slain, and of the booty they had collected. the general after some time called us to his side, and asked us if we could inform him what the spaniards were about, and whether they were likely to attack the indian armies. "tell him," i said to pedro, "that the spaniards will never consent to yield up the country to the natives. they are only waiting to assemble their forces, to endeavour to regain the places they have lost. if they have not men enough here, they will send to spain for more, and for guns and artillery, and all the munitions of war. they will soon appear, well armed and disciplined; and a hundred of their troops will be a match for a thousand or even two thousand indians. the only chance of success the indians have is to be united, to act under one chief, and to follow up each advantage, till they have driven the spaniards from their shores." "very good," said the general. "i will be that chief, and will follow the advice of the english stranger." and he drew himself up proudly in his saddle, as if he was about to become inca of peru. i saw after this, that any advice i could offer to him would be thrown away; besides, i doubted much whether i was justified in offering encouragement to the indians. i felt that they had been most unjustly and cruelly treated, and certainly desired to see them obtain their emancipation; but at the same time, i saw that there was little or no hope of their ever regaining their country, or restoring the ancient dynasty of the incas; and that the attempt would only cause a vast amount of bloodshed, and too probably end in their total destruction. as an englishman, too. i regretted that i had no business to interfere in a cause which, just as it certainly was, if maintained properly, was not my own; and i resolved, therefore, to be silent for the future. the dreadful cruelties committed by the indians had horrified me; and the romance with which i had at first invested their brave attempt at emancipation, had vanished on a nearer inspection of the means by which they were carrying it out. i never did and never can believe that the end justifies the means. god's righteous laws must be implicitly obeyed; and no reasons which we may offer can excuse us for neglecting them. yet we may be allowed to believe that he weighs our actions of good or evil by the knowledge we possess through the light of his word; and acts which, committed by us, might be unpardonable, may, when perpetrated by ignorant savages, be overlooked through his mercy in the day of judgment. from the time that the christian and the civilised europeans first landed in peru, they treated the ignorant and heathen natives with the greatest cruelty; and thus taught by their task-masters, they, on the first opportunity, showed that they had not forgotten the lessons they had received, but treated them as they themselves had been treated. had the spaniards taught the peruvians mercy, justice, and piety, by their own example, this terrible outbreak would never have occurred, and the weaker race would have become willing servants to the stronger. we ought always to bear in mind that it is by the just administration of good laws, and by the conduct of the rich, the educated, and the powerful, that the lower orders are educated, as much, or even more, than by the lessons given them by their nominal instructors. ministers of religion will preach in vain from the pulpit, and schoolmasters will find their efforts useless, unless the upper orders set a good example. i entreat my young friends to recollect that they belong to the educated classes, whose behaviour is sure to be imitated by those below them. if their conduct is unchristian, irreligious, or immoral, they will not only have their own sins to answer for at the day of judgment, but the sins of those whom they by their example have led astray. the dreadful excesses committed by the lower orders during the french revolution were the results of the irreligious and immoral conduct and teaching of the upper classes in france. the peruvian indians, who were guilty of the terrible atrocities i have mentioned, were mostly, in name at least, christians, and had christian priests ministering to them; but their teaching appears to have had no effect in restraining them from acts totally at variance with all the principles of christianity. how could they, indeed, have faith in a creed professed by men who, from the time of their first appearance in their country, had not scrupled to murder, to plunder, to ill-treat, and to enslave them? it is worthy of remark, that when the indians destroyed every other human being in the places they attacked, they in many instances saved the lives of the priests. i suspect, however, that they did so, not so much that they respected their sacred character, but because in their superstition they fancied they were possessed of supernatural powers, which might be exercised for their punishment if they ventured to injure them. there were many enlightened and patriotic men among the indians; and from all i heard of tupac amaru and his family, they were worthy of a happier fate than befell them. i shall have to describe their subsequent history as i proceed in my narrative. chapter twelve. another battle--we are captured by spaniards. it must be remembered that the war party whom pedro and i were now so unwillingly compelled to accompany, was but an irregular portion of the indian army, and that the chief commanding it was in every respect inferior to tupac amaru, and his brave sons andres and mariano, or his brother diogo. i mention this, because otherwise i might give my reader a very unjust and incorrect history of the principal men engaged in the attempt i am describing to regain the long-lost liberties of the peruvian nation. the forces of tupac catari had crossed the sandy plain, and ascended the woody height i have mentioned, when we reached a rocky defile, through which lay the road we were to pursue. instead of sending on an advanced guard to feel the way, as a more experienced general would have done, the chief rode carelessly on at the head of his followers. pedro and i were allowed to keep together, and to converse in spanish; for i suppose that catari thought that we should not dream of attempting to escape from among his numerous army. he was wrong, however; for the idea of doing so was never absent from my mind. "pedro," said i, "you have been so true and faithful, and have shown so much regard for me, that i know you would not willingly desert me, and yet i do not like to lead you into danger unnecessarily; but tell me, do you think we could manage to get away from these people?" "o senor, do not suppose i would hesitate a moment to serve you on account of the danger," he answered, in a tone of much feeling. "what have i, without kindred or friends, to live for, that i should be afraid of risking my life? yet at present i do not see what chance we have of escaping; though an opportunity may occur when we least expect it." "thanks, pedro, thanks, my friend," i replied. "i was certain that you would be ready to aid me; and i hope some day to show my gratitude to you, little as i am now able to do so. but do not say that you have no friends. surely manco is your friend, and the indians among whom you have lived, and the good priest who educated you." "the good priest is dead. manco is my friend, and so are the kind indians; but i am the child of another race, and though i love the indians, my heart yearns for the sympathy and affection of the people from whom i am sprung. when i was a child i cared not for it; but since i learned to read the history of my father's country, and more than all, since i met you, senor, new feelings and aspirations have sprung up within my bosom. i cannot be content unless i am in the company of those who can converse, like you, on things beyond the narrow circle of the life i have hitherto led." "i understand you, pedro; and i think that i should feel as you do," i said. "if we can make our escape, you shall accompany me to other lands--we will go forth together to see the great world which lies beyond these lofty mountains." "o senor, your words have given me a new life," he exclaimed enthusiastically. "i will follow you anywhere you may lead, and serve you faithfully. and yet," he added in a tone of feeling, "i must not leave the generous manco without again seeing him; i must bid farewell to my foster father and mother, and the indians who protected me in my youth; i must return to them once more before i go." "i would on no account induce you to be ungrateful, and i should myself be very unwilling to leave the country, even should i discover my family, without returning to bid farewell to manco," i said in return. "then we will go back to manco as soon as we can escape from these people; and we may thus with more speed be able to begin our travels," exclaimed pedro. we were both very young, and ignorant of the great world we talked of exploring; and we little knew all the difficulties we might be destined to encounter. the subject, once commenced, was a continual source of interest to us, and we were never tired of talking about it. it served also to prevent my mind from dwelling on my loss, the probability of which i could scarcely conceal from myself. i have mentioned but a few of pedro's observations, for the sake of showing his character. he had benefited to the utmost from the little education which had been given him by the priest of whom he spoke. his disposition was ardent and romantic, and full of generous sympathies; and possessing a clear perception of right and wrong, he was always anxious to do right. he had been made acquainted at an early age with his own history; and though he loved the indians, he was proud of belonging to a superior race, among whom his great desire was to mix as an equal. he was tall and well formed, with very handsome features, to which his amiable disposition had given a most pleasing expression; so that, whether or not his parents were of good birth, he looked, at all events, in every respect the gentleman. in early youth, when people are thrown together under difficult circumstances, friendships calculated to endure to the end of life are quickly formed; and thus, during the short time we had been together, we had become mutually much attached; indeed, i fancied that no one could have been many days in the society of pedro without feeling a sincere regard for him. so much were we absorbed in conversation, that we scarcely noticed how the time flew by. the leading parties of the indians had now passed through a considerable portion of the defile, and the rear were about to enter it when we reached a spot more difficult and narrow than any we had yet arrived at. "if any of the spanish troops were on the watch to intercept the indian forces, this is the very spot they should select," i observed to pedro. "may the saints forbid!" he answered. "the poor people would be cut to pieces, and we should suffer with them." "i certainly do not wish it," i said; "though i think we might manage to escape in the confusion; but i thought of it, as it was exactly in such a spot as this that some months ago we were attacked by the montoneros, when we were rescued by manco and his followers." "oh, the spaniards are too much disheartened and terrified by their late disasters to think of attacking the indians," said pedro. "but suppose they were to attack our captors, do not you think that we could manage to climb up the cliffs, and hide ourselves among the rocks till the fighting is over?" i asked, without at all expecting that such a thing was likely to happen. i had scarcely made the observation, when our ears were assailed by the loud rattle of musketry, and a shower of bullets flew about our heads, killing and wounding many of the indians near us. in an instant they were thrown into the most terrible confusion, and the shouts and cries of fear rent the air. catari, and some of the chiefs about him, in vain endeavoured to lead them on to meet their concealed enemies. so completely were they taken by surprise, that all their courage deserted them. they gave way to their first impulse, which was to fly from the danger. the rear ranks turned, and the rest followed, and fled as fast as they could, with the intention of getting into the more open country they had left. the spaniards, a strong body of whose troops had been lying in ambush, on this showed themselves, and, with their swords in their hands, rushed down upon the confused bands of the indians. catari, and those immediately about him, fought bravely, for they had not a hope of escaping. his people threw themselves before him, and allowed the spaniards to cut them to pieces in their attempt to preserve the life of their chief. pedro and i were fortunately at the time a little in the rear of the advanced guard; and we had escaped the bullets which had laid low many of those near us. the indians, however, were so completely blocking up the narrow defile in their eagerness to escape, that we saw it would be impossible to fly in that direction. our only chance of saving our lives was to put in execution the plan i had just before been proposing. "let us throw ourselves from our mules, and try to climb up the cliffs," i exclaimed to pedro. just then a bullet struck catari. i saw him reel in his saddle, when one of his companions seized his horse's bridle, and attempted to lead him out of the fray towards the rear. but he was mortally wounded; and before he could be got from among the combatants, he fell to the ground. his death was the signal for the rest to fly; but they attempted to do so in vain. the spanish soldiers pressed in upon them, and cutting them down without mercy, forced them back in confusion. a few of the indians, driven to despair, still fought fiercely, and for a time impeded their progress, thus leaving a clear space near where pedro and i stood. "now, now!" i exclaimed to pedro. "we have not a moment to lose. if the spaniards reach us before we have time for explanation, they will kill us. jump from your mule and follow me." i had observed that on one side the cliff was considerably broken, and that a number of jutting rocks would enable us to climb up to the summit, and afford us some sort of shelter in the meantime. i threw myself out of my saddle as i spoke, and pedro following my example, we ran as fast as we could towards the rocks. it was the work of a moment to spring up them; there was an abundance of shrubs and creeping plants to help us. by laying hold of them, we drew ourselves from rock to rock. our lives we felt depended on our activity; and under ordinary circumstances i do not think we could have accomplished the task. we had thus climbed up some forty feet or so in a shorter time than i have taken to describe it, when we reached a platform, above which, as we looked upwards, it seemed impossible that we could ascend. there was, however, the branch of a tree, which grew in a cleft of the rock. "take me on your shoulders, and i think i can reach it," i cried to pedro. he stooped down, and, as i sprung on his shoulders, he lifted me up till i caught hold of the branch. i drew myself up, and succeeded in throwing my body over the bough. i then, holding on tight with one hand, gave him the other, and lifted him up till he could catch hold of it also. the branch cracked and bent with our united weight; but we were anxious enough had it not done so, for we were now fully exposed to the sight of the combatants below. they were, however, too much engaged to observe us. when pedro no longer required my assistance, i lifted myself till i could reach the branch of another tree still higher up, and from thence sprung on to the rock we wished to gain. pedro kept close behind me, and imitating my example, we in a short time found ourselves behind a rock overshadowed by trees, where, from among the branches which hung down close to it, we could command a view of the greater part of the ravine without being seen, though we were not high enough to escape any stray shots fired in our direction. by the time we got there, the last of the indians who had stood their ground, were either killed or wounded; and the spanish troops swept along the defile like a mountain torrent, overthrowing all they encountered in their course. their shouts of triumph, and the shrieks of the indians, reached our ears with terrible distinctness where we stood. during our ascent we had heard nothing; even the rattle of the musketry was unheeded. now and then the spaniards halted to load, and they again sent forth a volley, which in that narrow space took terrible effect; and once more they advanced to the charge. the indians did not once attempt to rally, but fled like a flock of sheep chased by dogs; those in the rear falling the first victims, and the conquerors passing over their prostrate bodies. the rout was most complete; and over the distance which we could see from where we stood, it appeared that many thousands had been killed. every foot of the ground was covered with them, and the conquerors had literally to wade through their blood as they rushed to the work of destruction. it was a dreadful sight; but still we could not withdraw our eyes from it. we were considering what we should next do; and in order to obtain a better view of the country beyond the defile, to judge whether we should proceed in that direction, i climbed up to a higher part of the rock, supposing that all the spaniards had passed by; when, to my dismay, i saw some fifty men or so drawn up across the road. they were posted there evidently to guard the entrance of the defile, and to prevent their companions from being attacked in the rear by any fresh body of indians. though i was only exposed for a moment, they saw me; and as i jumped down several shots rattled against the rock. their voices shouting to us, and ordering us to come to them, warned us that we could hope no longer to remain concealed. we, however, were in a very secure position; and we judged, from the difficulty we had in getting there, that they were not at all likely to be able to climb up to us. "what is to be done now, pedro?" i asked. "do you think we could manage to scramble up among the trees, and so escape over the top of the cliffs?" "perhaps we might," he answered, looking up to examine the trees above us. "but what should we do when we got there? we should be without our mules or provisions or arms, and a long way from any habitation where we might obtain shelter. we should also very likely fall into the power of some of the broken parties of catari's army, dispersed by the spaniards; and they, enraged by the disaster which has befallen them, would, seeing that we were whites, kill us without asking us any questions." pedro's arguments were very strong; but still i thought we should be only falling from the frying-pan into the fire, if we put ourselves into the power of the spaniards. while we were still discussing what we should do, we heard them again calling to us. "come down, you indian thieves, come down and be shot, or we must climb up after you," they shouted. "more easily said than done," observed pedro; "but do not let us show ourselves, or they are very likely to shoot us without further questioning. if we could make them hear us from where we are, we might tell them that we are whites, who had been taken prisoners by the indians." "stay then," said i, going to the side of the rock nearest to where the spaniards stood, keeping my body carefully sheltered behind it, i put my head among the leaves, so that they could not see me, and shouted out-- "we are friends! we are friends!--whites, escaped from the indians. we were afraid you would mistake us for enemies, so we hid ourselves." "if that is the case," said an officer, stepping forward, "come down, we will not hurt you." "what shall we do?" said i to pedro. "we are safe where we are for the present, for their bullets cannot reach us; and i am certain no spanish soldier will be able to climb up in the way we did to this spot." "we shall get very hungry though, if they try to starve us out," he answered; "besides, it will look as if we were guilty of some crime if we appear afraid of coming down." "there is no help for it, i see," was my reply. "we must put a good face upon the matter. senor officer," i shouted, "your men have already shown that they can aim very correctly, and we would rather not run the risk of another peppering; may i beg that you will take care that they do not fire at us by mistake. if we have your word for it, we will descend, as you desire." "i pledge you the word of a castilian that they shall not fire at you," answered the officer. "that satisfies us; we will descend," i shouted back. "come, pedro, we must take care not to break our necks though, which we shall do if we slip," i said, as i swung myself on to a bough of the nearest tree below the rock. it is nearly always more difficult to descend a cliff than to climb up; as in the former case one cannot see where one's feet are to rest; and one may chance to find one's self on a jutting ledge, from whence the height is too great to leap off to the next standing-place below, and one has to climb up again to search for another way down. we had the advantage of knowing the rocks on which we were to rest; yet our descent took much more time than had our ascent. at one place pedro had to hold fast by a tree while he let me down; and i, in return, had to grasp firmly a jutting rock, and to catch him as he dropped down to me. at length, with no slight exertion and risk, we reached the bottom, where we found the spanish officer and several of his men, who had been watching us with some admiration, and wondering, as they told us, how we had contrived not to break our necks. they would scarcely believe that we had got up by the same way. "i thought none but monkeys could climb such a place," observed the officer. "we english have a way of doing extraordinary things when we try," i replied, trying to look as unconcerned as possible. "english, are you indeed? i thought you must be so." "yes, senor, i am an englishman at your service," i said; for i had agreed with pedro that it would be better to give a correct account of ourselves, than to attempt any deception. there is an old saying--"tell the truth and shame the devil." now, although there can be no doubt that there are occasions when concealment is excusable, yet these are very rare exceptions, which occur but seldom in most men's lives; and as a general rule a strict adherence to the truth is the only just and safe course, even though it may apparently lead one into a difficulty. there is something degrading in a falsehood or prevarication, which must injure the self-respect of a man of proper feeling. it is a sin! there is no disguising it. people often tell falsehoods to conceal what they have done wrong, but that does not make the sin less; it is only adding one sin to another. i say--and i know that am right--tell truth, and stand the consequences. i therefore told the officer my true history. how my father's house had been taken possession of by the spanish troops; how the indians had attacked and burned it; and how they had carried me off desperately wounded. then i described how i had been nursed by an indian and his wife among the mountains till i had recovered, when the dreadful report reached me of the destruction of my family; and how the indian had allowed me to set out for the purpose of discovering what had really been their fate, when, in the course of my search, we had been captured by catari and his followers. the officer seemed much interested by the account i gave him, and to feel real compassion for my loss. "and the youth with you, who is he?" he asked. i told him, a spaniard, who in his childhood had been carried off by the indians, and educated by the good priest of their village. "it is a very strange story you tell me," he remarked. "however, i believe you, for your face assures me that you speak the truth. you both must now accompany me to the place where i am ordered to wait with my men for the return of the rest of the troops. i hear the bugles sounding the recall, and they probably have by this time completely dispersed all the indians who remained together; but their orders were not to venture beyond the defile, lest the brigands should reassemble and cut them off. we must march at once, for the colonel commanding our force will soon be there." i was very well satisfied with his manner of speaking, and felt certain that we should be kindly treated. fortunately for us, our mules had managed to get out of the way of the troops as they passed by. with much sagacity they had, when we jumped off their backs, crept into a wide crevice in the cliffs, and we found them close to the spot feeding on the leaves of some shrubs which grew among the rocks. on our claiming them as our property, the officer allowed us to mount them; and he invited us to ride by his side at the head of his men. his questions were sometimes very puzzling, for i resolved not to give him any information which might prove injurious to the indians. i could not, however, deny that i had seen a large indian force collected very different to that of catari; and i warned him, that should the spaniards ever meet it, they would find a victory far more difficult than the one they had just achieved. "do you think you could lead us to the place where this army you speak of is encamped?" he asked suddenly, after a considerable silence. "senor," i replied, with a look of indignation, "has anything i have said induced you to believe that i could be capable of so dishonourable and ungrateful an action! the indians treated me with mercy and kindness. is such the return you would expect an honest man to make?" he shrugged his shoulders. "why, no," he replied; "to confess the truth, i should not expect you to do so willingly, and i would myself rather not be asked to do such a thing; but i am sorry to tell you that there are others, my superiors, who are not so likely to pay respect to your scruples; and i am afraid that they will insist on your acting as our guide if it is thought expedient to march against the new made inca." "but surely i have the power to refuse to do any such thing," i exclaimed indignantly. "but you might be compelled to do it," he urged. "it would be dangerous for you to refuse. our generals are not in a mood to be trifled with." "i trust that no power could compel me to act so treacherous a part," i replied calmly. "you, senor, i am sure, would not so advise me." he seemed to be a man imbued with the old chivalrous spirit of the castilians; and my appeal to his honourable sentiments pleased him. "you are a brave youth, and i will do my best to serve you," he replied. "i am in duty bound to tell my colonel what i know, but you can assure him that you could not find your way back, which i think you probably would not be able to do." this conversation caused me much anxiety, though i resolved at all hazards not to betray my friends. i could not also but regret that i had been so incautious as to have allowed myself to confess that i had seen the army of the inca. i should have been more on my guard; and, without departing from the truth, i might have declined answering any questions which could draw the information from me. the frankness and kind manner of the officer threw me off it, however; and i found myself placed in a position i had not at all contemplated. i received a lesson which i hope may be useful to any of my readers who may be placed in similar circumstances. the officer, whose name i found was don eduardo da vila, and a captain of the regiment with which he was serving, was only doing his duty in cross-questioning me; and i believe that he was very sorry that the information he had obtained was likely to prove injurious to me. we soon reached the spot he had spoken of, where we were to wait for his colonel. it was a rocky height with precipitous sides, of which a portion of only one was accessible, so that it was a complete natural fortress. it commanded the entrance to the ravine; and had the indians possessed any knowledge of warfare, they would have taken another route, however circuitous, rather than have attempted to pass so formidable a position without first ascertaining that it was not occupied by an enemy. it was nearly dusk, and the chief body of the spanish troops had not yet returned from their work of bloodshed. don eduardo began to be uneasy. "can the rebels have rallied and attacked them?" i heard him say to one of his inferiors. "i thought i heard the bugles sounding as we left the ravine." "there can be no doubt about it. if they had been attacked, the sound of the firing would have reached us," was the answer. "they have probably pursued the enemy further than they intended," said don eduardo, walking a short distance off from where we stood. he was evidently becoming anxious on the subject. "what do you think about it?" i asked pedro, who had overheard what had been said. "it is possible that the indians may have rallied and cut off the spaniards," he answered. "yet i do not think that they will have had the courage to do so. at first i was almost hoping it, as i thought we might have a better chance of escaping, but then i remembered that though many of the indians might have been my friends, the spaniards are my countrymen. i trust no disaster has befallen them." don eduardo and his lieutenant returned after the consultation; and the latter, with a sergeant's party, was ordered to proceed along the ravine, to ascertain what had become of the main body. we watched the lieutenant and his men enter the ravine and advance, till they were hid by a turn of the cliffs. don eduardo then called us to him, and asked us our opinion as to what was likely to have occurred. we both assured him that we did not think the indians would have rallied. what we said appeared somewhat to relieve his mind, and sitting down on a rock, he lighted a cigar, and offered some to us, which we declined, as neither pedro nor i smoked. the men meantime had piled their arms, and lighted fires to boil their cocoa and to cook their provisions. some were thus employed, others were smoking, and others had thrown themselves on the ground to rest after the fatigues of the day. we learned that they had received notice of the march of catari's army from an indian spy, many of whom were in the pay of the spaniards. they had watched for them for several days, and at last the colonel commanding the force had resolved to occupy the post where he attacked them, till they should attempt to pass. the view around the spot we occupied was very picturesque. it was also a very strong natural position, while its picturesqueness was increased by the horses and baggage mules picqueted under the trees, the gay costumes of their drivers, the camp-fires, the piles of arms, and the groups of soldiers, in varied attitudes, scattered here and there. the sun had set and the short twilight had come to an end, when the tramp of men's feet at a distance reached our ears. we listened anxiously. it was that of trained soldiers; and in a short time we saw them looming through the gloom of the evening. as they drew near, the advanced guard uttered a shout to warn us of their approach, which was responded to by the party on the hill. soon afterwards they appeared on the summit, and as they marched into the centre of the space, they piled their arms, and joined their comrades round the fires. each man came laden with the spoils they had retaken from the indians. after a portion of the troops had filed by, there came, with two soldiers guarding each of them, some fifty indians who had been taken prisoners, and preserved to grace their triumph. poor wretches, we found that though their lives were for the present spared, their fate was sealed, and that it was intended by a public execution to strike terror into the hearts of their countrymen. those who could not move fast enough were dragged forward by ropes fastened to their wrists, or urged on at the point of the sword. when they halted, they were all huddled together like sheep in a pen, and a strong guard placed over them to prevent their escape. from the words we overheard, the soldiers appeared to be recounting eagerly, to those who had been left as a reserve, the adventures of the day. pedro and i were shortly summoned by don eduardo to attend the colonel; but fortunately he was too tired and hungry to interrogate us closely, and after a few questions he dismissed us, with permission to join several of his officers round their watch-fires. we were surprised at seeing only three or four wounded men; and we learned that, with the exception of one killed, they were the only sufferers among the troops. they were in high spirits, as this was the first success the spanish forces had met with since the commencement of the outbreak. they boasted that they had killed several thousands of the indians, though their own loss had been so small. they had followed them beyond the defile, where the remainder, entirely broken and dispersed, had saved themselves in the recesses of the forest. the officers civilly invited us to partake of their supper, don eduardo having recommended us to their notice; and afterwards, the picquets having been placed, we all wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and lay down to sleep. chapter thirteen. a battlefield at night--our experiences of a peruvian prison. i am not fond of dwelling on horrors; but i should fail to give a true picture of warfare and its effects, were i to neglect to describe those scenes which are its never-failing accompaniments. i tried to sleep; but at first the blaze of the fire, the voices of those around me, and the din of the camp, kept me awake; and when that had ceased, all the soldiers except the sentries, and even the indian prisoners, having dropped off asleep, there came up from the depths of the mountain gorge a sound which, as i suspected its cause, effectually banished repose. though rendered faint by distance, it came through the quiet night air with a distinctness which was truly terrible. i listened with painful attention. there were the shrieks and groans of human beings in their mortal agony, and the suppressed roar and hissing snarl of the fierce puma and the sanguinary ounce, as they disputed over their prey. many indians, i guessed too surely, had crawled, desperately wounded, into the crevices of the rocks, where they lay concealed as the spanish troops passed by, and escaped instant death to suffer a lingering and more terrible fate at the last. all night long those melancholy sounds continued, and though they might have been heard by my companions, they did not appear to disturb their repose. i scarcely knew whether to envy or commiserate their apathy. the night at last passed away. the soldiers started to their feet at the sound of the bugle's call, a hasty meal was taken, baggage mules were laden, the men fell into their ranks, and the order to march was given. pedro and i mounted our faithful little beasts, and rode by the side of don eduardo, who, after he had got the troops into order, called us to him. we descended the side of the hill, and took a direction towards the west, very much to my satisfaction, for i was afraid that we should have again to pass through the gorge; and my heart sickened at the thought of the sad spectacle we should there have to witness. there was no road, and the ground was very uneven; but the men and animals seemed accustomed to it, and managed to scramble along at the rate of about two miles-an-hour. we marched for about five hours, when we reached the bank of a river, where a halt was called, and the men were ordered to pile arms and cook their dinners, scouts being sent out to give notice of the approach of any indians. the river ran through a broad valley, having on either side high cliffs, and below them grassy land sprinkled with trees. on the top of the cliffs was a wide belt of forest, beyond which, stretched out to the south, a vast extent of sandy desert. as we passed over it, i observed the remains of numerous small canals, which pedro informed me served in the days of the incas to irrigate it, when what was now a barren plain was covered with fertile fields. the spot where we had approached the river was at the mouth of a narrow stream, which wound its way down from the mountains, its course marked by a line of trees, which it served to nourish. while the troops were resting, the colonel summoned pedro and me into his presence, to make more inquiries about us. i mentioned that he was a very different sort of person to don eduardo. he was a stern, morose man, none of the kindlier sympathies of human nature finding a place in his bosom. he was sitting on a rock, under the shade of a tree, with his secretary, with paper and a pen in his hand, kneeling by his side, and making a table of the rock, ready to take notes of what we might say. he questioned us narrowly, and all we said was put down. i gave him the same account that i had to don eduardo. "and so you have been living among the indians, and encouraging them in their rebellion against their rightful sovereign, i doubt not," he observed, fixing his piercing eyes on us. "young man, your name is not unfamiliar to me." i felt no little alarm on hearing these words, which was increased when he desired his secretary to turn to some notes he had in his portfolio. "i thought so," he exclaimed. "you are the son of an englishman who is accused of conspiring with the indians to overthrow the government of the country. your father has met with his deserts, for i see that he and all his family were murdered by the wretched people he had encouraged to revolt; but you, let me assure you, will not escape the punishment which is your due. you have been treated with too much leniency by us; you and your companion are now prisoners. guard lead them off, and take care that they do not escape." the information so brutally given me, confirmatory of my worst fears, almost overcame me, and i believe that i should have sunk to the ground, had not the soldiers who were ordered to take charge of us supported me as they led me away. i was far too much absorbed by the dreadful news, the truth of which i could not doubt, to be able to contemplate the very dangerous position in which i was placed. i did not attempt to answer the colonel, nor to exculpate myself; indeed, any appeal to him would have been of no avail. pedro and i were marched off, and placed by ourselves under the shade of a rock, where several men were stationed as sentries over us. the officers with whom we had before been associating on friendly terms seemed to regard us with looks of pity, but they dared not speak to us. when the troops again marched we were guarded by two soldiers, who rode by our sides with drawn swords, while we were not allowed to address each other. the time occupied by that journey was the most miserable portion of my life. hope had almost deserted me. all those i loved best on earth were gone; and at the end of it i had nothing to expect but a long imprisonment in a loathsome dungeon, or perhaps death. the next evening, when the soldiers halted to bivouac for the night, as pedro and i were sitting disconsolately on the ground at a short distance from each other, with our guards between us, i saw don eduardo approaching. he told the soldiers to withdraw, and sat down by my side. i saw by his manner that he had undertaken a task which was not altogether to his taste. "i have got permission from the colonel to speak to you," he began. "he considers himself authorised not to act very rigorously with you if you will accede to his proposals." "what are they, don eduardo?" i asked, at once guessing their tenor. "why, he understands you have seen the army of the rebel chief, tupac amaru, and are acquainted with their intentions," he answered. "i own that i have seen large numbers of indians collected together, but i am entirely ignorant of what they were about to do," i said. "but pray go on, don eduardo." "the proposal is similar to what i made you when we first met," he replied, the colour rising to his cheeks. "if you can conduct a spanish force to where they are to be found, or can contrive to put some of their chiefs into our power, you and your friend shall forthwith be set at liberty." "you, i am sure, don eduardo, can expect but one reply from me to such a question, and you know that it is the only one which, while i remain an honourable man, i can give." "i am afraid so," he answered, looking down much grieved. "i am to add, that if you refuse, as soon as we arrive at the town of san pablo, you will be tried and shot as a rebel." "before i have been found guilty?" i asked. "i fear your guilt in our eyes has been too well established by your own confession," he observed. "let me advise you to think over the subject well. it is hard for a youth like you to die." "tell me, don eduardo, do you believe me guilty?" i asked. "you have been in communication with the indians and you wish them well," he said, avoiding an answer to my question. "i wish the spaniards well, and have never instigated the indians to rebel by word or deed," said i. "but you have not told me if you think me guilty." "i do not. from what i have seen of you i think you incapable of doing so wrong a thing," he replied, kindly taking my hand. "i wish to save your life." "i warmly thank you for what you say, don eduardo," i exclaimed; "but i cannot do what is proposed. if i am not guilty it will be more easy to die; but i trust that, as an englishman, the government will not venture to put me to death unless my guilt is clearly proved." "in these times no respect is paid to persons," he said. "you must not trust to such a hope; yet i would take a more satisfactory answer back to my colonel." "i can send no other answer than what i have given," i replied; "you would from your heart despise me if i did." at this he looked very melancholy. "well, i fear it must be so, yet i will do all i can for you," he said, as again pressing my hand in token of his good-will, he rose to leave me. having ordered the sentries to return to their posts, he went to where my companion in misfortune was sitting. he conversed with him for some time; and though i had great confidence in pedro, i was afraid that he might ultimately be tempted or threatened into compliance with the colonel's demands. i wronged him; for i afterwards learned that he remained firm to his honour. the night passed away without any adventure; and wearied out by bodily fatigue and mental anxiety, though the hard ground was my couch, i slept till daylight. my conscience was, at all events, clear of wrong, and i never recollect to have slept so soundly. i awoke more refreshed than i had been for some time, and with a lighter heart in my bosom. even hope revived, though i had little enough to ground it on. the air was pure and bracing, my nerves felt well strung, and the face of nature itself wore to my eyes a more cheerful aspect than it had done for many days. the troops advanced more rapidly than they had before done, and towards evening the spires of several churches rising from the plain, the rays of the sun lighting them brilliantly up, came in sight. they were in the town of san pablo, the houses in which soon after appeared. as we approached, a number of the spanish inhabitants came out to hear the news, and seemed highly gratified at the result of the expedition. the unfortunate indians who were brought in as prisoners, chiefly attracted their attention; and i was shocked to hear the abuse they heaped on them. the miserable beings walked on with sullen and downcast looks, without deigning to reply. they had no hope--they had lost the day, and they knew the fate which awaited them. as we marched through the unpaved, dirty streets, the inhabitants came out of their houses to look at us, and to offer the troops refreshments and congratulations. we found the town full of people of all colours, of whom a large number were indians who had refused to join the revolt. in the centre of the town was the usual large plaza or square; and on one side of it was a building which we were told was the prison. towards it we were at once conducted. one side of the square was without buildings, a broad stream running past it, beyond which were cultivated fields, and gardens divided by walls. in the centre was a fountain, continually throwing up a jet of crystal water--a refreshing sight in that climate. the prison fronted the river. on one side was a church, and on the other the residence of the governor of the town, or of some other civil functionary. on either side of the buildings i have mentioned, were long rows of houses of various heights, though mostly of one story, very similar to those i have already described. three streets, running at right angles to each other, led into the square. i have not without reason been thus particular in my description. the soldiers who had us in charge, led us across the square, amid the shouts and jeers of the people. even the blacks, the half-castes, and the indians, came to stare at us with stupid wonder, calling us rebels, traitors, and robbers. the unfortunate indians who had been made prisoners, went before us. the massive gates of the prison were thrown open, and they were forced within. we came last. my heart sunk within me as we entered those gloomy walls. the interior was already crowded with human beings, many of them indians, found with arms in their hands, or suspected of an intention of joining the rebels. we advanced along a low, arched gallery, intersected by several gates; and having passed two of them, we turned to the left, along a narrower passage, at the end of which we reached a small door. the gaoler, who showed the way with a torch, opened it; and, to my dismay, i saw that a steep flight of steps led down from it to some chambers below the ground. "we are to be shut up in a dungeon, i fear," i whispered to pedro. "so that i am with you, i care not where i am," he answered. four of the soldiers followed us, to prevent our running away, i suppose; though we should have had but a poor chance of escaping even had we tried. the rest faced about, and marched back through the passage. i hesitated on the top of the steps, so narrow and broken and dark did they look. "come along, senores, come along!" said the gaoler; "but take care how you tread, for the steps are somewhat worn, and you may chance to break your necks some days before their time." though inclined to make merry at our expense, he held his torch so as to afford sufficient light for us to see our way. the soldiers laughed gruffly at his joke, bad as it was; and this made him attempt one or two others of a similar character. "the gentlemen have not perhaps been accustomed to live in a palace, but they will find one here, with plenty of servants to attend on them; so i must beg to congratulate them," he said, chuckling as he spoke. "they will have plenty of playmates, though some of them will not remain very long, i suspect. they have a way here of making a speedy clearance at times." we had now reached the bottom of the steps, and another small door, plated with iron and secured with two stout iron bars, appeared before us. the gaoler removed the bars, and taking a key from his girdle, opened the door. "go in there, senores," he said. "it is somewhat dark at present, but you will get accustomed to it by-and-by." saying this, he forced us into the dungeon. i went in first, and stumbled down a couple of steps, nearly falling on my face. while i was holding out my hand to save pedro from doing the same, the door was shut behind us, and barred and bolted as before. we found ourselves in almost total darkness, a small aperture near the ceiling alone affording a dim gleam of light, which served to show us the gloomy horrors of the place. two massive pillars supported the low arched roof, which seemed covered with moisture. the size of the place we could not tell, as the darkness prevented our seeing the walls at either side. the floor was unpaved, and composed of damp earth strewed with filth. we stood for some minutes holding each other's hands, without speaking, and without moving. we felt bewildered and stupified with the calamity which had befallen us. pedro was the first to recover himself. "they cannot keep us here for ever," he said, breaking the long silence. "others have been in worse places, and have escaped. let us hope, senor, for the best." he spoke in a cheerful tone, which had a reviving effect upon me. "we will hope for the best, pedro," i exclaimed. "something may occur to deliver us. we must consider, however, what we have to do. i propose that we first make a tour of inspection round our dominions. it will give us some occupation, though idleness seems rather encouraged here." "i would rather find the way out of our dominions, as you call them, than become better acquainted with them," said pedro. "however, i am ready to set out whenever you please." "we may possibly find the way out during our inspection," i remarked, as we began slowly and cautiously to move round the walls of the cell. it was narrow but long, and extended, as i concluded, along part of one side of the inner court. we found two other pillars towards the further end, and we felt several rings secured in the walls, with heavy chains attached to them. of their use there could be no doubt; and we congratulated ourselves that we were still allowed to have our limbs at liberty. in our walk we stumbled over an iron bar, and our feet knocked against some other rings attached to stones sunk in the floor. "so some of the inmates of the mansion have been chained down like maniacs to the ground," pedro observed. "we are indeed fortunate in escaping such treatment." though we searched most minutely, we could discover nothing which might suggest any means of escaping. we had just concluded an examination, and had returned to our seats, when the door of the dungeon was opened, and the gaoler appeared, bringing a jar of water and two loaves of brown bread. pedro examined his countenance. "stop," he exclaimed, as the man was going away; "sancho lopez, i do believe you are an old friend of mine." "in truth yes, and you saved my life," answered the gaoler. "but i must not stop--but i must not stop. be at rest, i do not forget the matter." pedro afterwards told me how he had saved the spanish gaoler's life in a snow-storm in the mountains, and we agreed that it was a great thing to have him as our friend. we had been in the dungeon about a fortnight, and though it was damp and unwholesome in the extreme, we did not appear to have suffered in health. one morning sancho entered our cell with a cheerful countenance. "i bring you good news, senores," he said. "i have just received a visit from a young officer, who has, it appears, been making interest in your favour; and he has gained permission for your removal to a more airy abode. he seemed very anxious about you, and said he pitied you very much, though he was unable to obtain your liberty, which he wished to do. i hurried here to tell you this, as i thought it would give you pleasure. i must now go back to get the chambers ready for you, and will return with two of the under gaolers to conduct you to it. one caution i have to give you. do not mind what i say to you before others, and never answer any of my remarks." without waiting for our reply and thanks, sancho closed the prison door, and left us to ourselves. "we have to thank don eduardo for this. i am sure he is the officer sancho spoke of," i remarked. "i think so also," answered pedro. "i am glad that he has not asked us to pass our word not to escape." "so am i," i observed. "while we were on our road here, i often contemplated the possibility of getting out of prison; but then i did not expect to be put into a dungeon like this." for some time we could talk of nothing else but the prospect of making our escape. two hours or more had passed away, and sancho had not returned. we knew that he would not willingly have deceived us, but we began to be afraid that the governor had rescinded his permission for our occupying a room open to the air, and that we might be doomed to remain in our dungeon for weeks or months longer. at last we heard footsteps approaching the cell; the door was opened, and sancho and his two assistants appeared. "you are to accompany me, senores," he said, in the gruff tone he had used at our entrance. "you are fortunate in coming out of that place alive; though some i have known would rather have had to remain there than be obliged to march out into the square yonder." the assistants laughed as he said this, and we soon had too great a reason to know to what he alluded. sancho led the way with a torch in his hand; and his assistants followed, holding us tightly by the arms, as if we would have tried to escape from them. i certainly could not have done so had i tried, for when i came to mount the steps, i found my knees trembling under me from weakness, arising from being shut up so long in the damp dungeon, though i had till then thought myself as strong as ever. we traversed a number of passages, and mounted a second flight of steps, when we reached a small door plated with iron. sancho opened it, and exhibited a room about six feet broad and eight feet long, with a window strongly barred at the further end. there were two chairs and a bedstead, with a straw mattress on it. "put the youngsters in there," he said gruffly to his assistants. "it is a room fit for an hidalgo of the first order. they may see and be seen if they choose to put their noses through the gratings." on this the gaolers very unceremoniously thrust us in, and sancho, without saying a word more, closed the door upon us. it appeared such an age since we had beheld the blue sky and the smiling face of nature, that we eagerly rushed to the window to discover what view could be obtained from it. we found, to our no small satisfaction, that it was not more than twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and that it looked out on the great square i have before described. i have never forgotten the sensations of delight with which i inhaled the fresh air as it came through the open bars, and gazed once more on the bright sky, and the clear water of the river, the fields, and the trees beyond, and the human beings who were thronging the open space below us. they all appeared so full of life and activity, and the murmur of their voices seemed like music to my ears, so long accustomed to the silence of the dungeon. the bars of the window were very strong, and placed very close together, so that, as sancho had observed, we could only just get our noses through them. we were, however, glad to get them out as far as we could, and every moment i found the breeze restoring to my limbs their accustomed strength. my first impulse was to shake the bars to try and find whether any of them could be moved; but i restrained myself, lest some one from below should observe us and suspect that we were thinking of escaping. as we stood there, we heard several voices in piteous tones asking for alms; and by pressing our faces close to the bars, we discovered that some of the prisoners in the neighbouring rooms were letting down hats and baskets by lines at the ends of poles, like fishing rods, to collect food and money from the passers-by. we were still eagerly watching the scene, when i felt a hand laid on my shoulder. i started back, and saw sancho. we had been so interested that we had not heard him enter. he placed his finger on his lips to impose silence. "i have been so occupied that i could not come before," he whispered. "i have brought you some white bread, and some meat, and fruit, and fresh water, and a little brandy to mix with it, which have been ordered by the friend who has obtained for you the indulgence of this room. here are the provisions." he put down in the chair a basket covered with a cloth. "i cannot remain, for a fresh set of prisoners have lately arrived, and i am employed in looking after them." "who are they?" i asked. "more indians, i fear." "yes, senor; there are a hundred of them. poor fellows, i pity them, for they will certainly be shot in the great square out there before many days are over. there is a young chief among them. i grieve for him most, for he is a very fine fellow. he walked along as he came to prison like a prince, and heeded not the shouts and revilings of the mob who followed him and his companions. their misery will soon be over, for they are to be tried to-morrow, and they have not a chance of escape." "can you tell me his name!" i asked anxiously; for i instantly thought of manco. "no, i cannot," he answered. "i only know that he was taken a few clays ago in a skirmish with the enemy, who are not many leagues off. it is feared even that they may attack the town, though we have too many soldiers here to give them much chance of success." "i trust they will not," i exclaimed, thinking of the dreadful scenes which had before occurred. "but can you learn the name of this young chief? i fear he is a friend of ours." "oh, do not acknowledge him, then," said the gaoler, "as you value your lives. you cannot benefit him, and may run the risk of sharing his fate." i saw the mistake i had committed; but still i pressed sancho to learn who he was, and he undertook to comply with my wish, provided i followed his advice. i again asked him to inform us who was the friend who had interested himself in our favour; but he replied that he was not at liberty to say, and he then hurried from the room. the news he had brought made us very sad, for we could not help contemplating the scene of bloodshed which was about to occur, which was of itself sufficiently horrible, even should my suspicions that manco was a prisoner not prove correct. we were doomed not to have our anxiety relieved, for sancho did not again make his appearance during the day. he was probably afraid of being observed if he visited us too frequently. we ate the food sancho had brought us most thankfully, and it much contributed to restore our strength; but we had lost all pleasure in looking out of the window on the square, which was so soon to be the scene of the slaughter of so many of our fellow-creatures. we found a bundle of blankets and some clean linen hid away under the bedding; for the latter, which to us was a great luxury, we had no doubt we were indebted to don eduardo. at night we threw ourselves on the bed, and tried to sleep; but my rest was very disturbed, and i constantly dreamed that i heard firing, and saw the unhappy indians being shot down before the windows. towards morning, however, i fell into a deep slumber; and, probably owing to the change of air and the improvement in our food, we both slept to a much later hour than usual. we were awakened by the confused sound of the voices of a concourse of people, and jumping up, we hurried to the window. from thence we saw a large crowd collected in the square, who seemed to be eagerly watching the doors of the prison. we could distinguish the tones of those nearest to us; and from the words which reached us, we learned that a sort of trial had taken place the previous evening of the prisoners lately captured, as well as of those in tupac catari's army, and that they were all condemned to be shot. no one seemed to pity them; but, on the contrary, all appeared to exult at the prospect of the slaughter which was about to commence. "the pretended inca, tupac amaru, has been taken," said one man. "no; that is a mistake," was the answer. "but another chief has, though he fought like a lion, it is said." "who is he?" asked another. "a relation of the inca's: one of the viper's brood," replied the first. "they say two strangers were made prisoners leading on the rebels," observed a third. "they are to be shot also, i hope." "no doubt of it; but the viceroy has thought it necessary to send to explain the matter to the english consul at lima; and his answer has not arrived," remarked a fourth. "it is known that it cannot arrive for three or four more days; and care will be taken to shoot them before that time," said the former speaker. "can they allude to us?" i asked of pedro, feeling my heart sink within me. "there is no doubt about it," he replied. "we must be prepared for the worst; but i do not think they will dare to kill one of your great nation. they will shoot me though, as i have no friends to help me." "nor have i, pedro; but i would rather say, let us hope for the best," i answered. "they would gain nothing by killing either of us, and it would be very unjust to kill you and let me escape." "it would be very unjust to kill either of us; but they care little for justice, and they wish to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies," he remarked calmly. "such cruelty as they are about to perpetrate will only exasperate the indians the more," said i. "if they were to treat them well, and let them go, they would be more likely to put down the rebellion." the crowd was every moment increasing, as people were coming in from all directions. among them were a large number of indians, mestizos, and other half-castes, who seemed to look on with the same unconcern as the spaniards. my eye had been attracted by a man whose florid complexion and dress showed that he was a seaman of some northern nation, and i hoped an englishman. he shouldered his way through the crowd with a confident, independent air, as if he felt himself superior to any about him. at length he came close under our window, and caught my eye watching him. he stared at me fixedly for some time, and i thought recognised me to be a countryman by my light hair and fair complexion. once he put his hand up to his mouth, as if he was going to hail me, as he would a man at the masthead; but he again let it drop, having apparently changed his mind, and, returning his hands to his trousers pockets, he rolled away with the unmistakeable air of a british seaman. i longed to call after him to tell who i was; but, afraid of being heard by others, i restrained myself. "is that man a friend of yours?" asked pedro. "i never saw him that i know of before," i answered. "well, i thought that he recognised you," he observed. "i marked the expression of his eye, and i should say that he knew you, or mistook you for some one else." i eagerly watched the sailor, afraid that he would go away, and that we should see him no more. i observed, however, that though he dodged about among the crowd with a careless air, he never got to any great distance from our window. this circumstance kept alive my hope that he had come for the purpose of bringing us information, or of helping us to escape. the crowd had now begun to grow as impatient at the non-appearance of the prisoners as they would at a bull-fight, had there been a delay in turning the bull into the circus, when three bodies of troops were seen marching up from the several streets leading into the square. they formed on either side of it, making a lane from the prison gates to the river; while the crowd fell back behind them. i had observed a number of indians collecting on the opposite bank of the river, who now came down close to its edge, watching anxiously the proceedings of the soldiers. they appeared, however, not to be remarked by the people in the town. as they were partly concealed by the trees and the walls dividing the fields, their numbers might not have been perceived by the people in the square. the bell of the nearest church began to toll; the crowd looked eagerly towards the prison; the massive gates were thrown open, and we saw issuing forth a posse of priests and monks, bearing crucifixes and lighted tapers, who were followed by the unhappy indians intended for execution, chained two and two, and each couple guarded by a soldier with his musket presented at their heads. i watched them file out with aching eyes, for every moment i expected to see manco led forth. i had a painful presentiment that he was among the victims. the last of the indians had passed on, and i began to breathe more freely; but still the crowd began to look towards the gates of the prison. alas! i was not mistaken. the mob raised a shout of exultation, and i saw a man i could too clearly recognise, between two soldiers, with a priest advancing before him, and reciting the prayers for the dead. it was the kind, the brave manco himself. he walked on with a proud and dignified air, undaunted by the revengeful shouts of his enemies, thirsting for his blood. his step was firm, and his brow was unclouded, and his lips were firmly set; but i observed that his bright dark eyes were every now and then ranging anxiously among the crowd, as if in search of a friendly glance. his fellow-beings who formed the mob, looked at him with eager and savage curiosity; but no one appeared to offer him any sign of recognition. he was closely followed by a company of soldiers, with arms presented. they formed, i discovered, the fatal firing party. as they advanced, the other soldiers formed in the rear, and the mob followed close behind. the sailor, i observed, went with the rest for a short distance, but when he found that their attention was entirely occupied with the prisoners, he disengaged himself from among them, and rolled back with his unconcerned air towards our window. "shipmate, ahoy," he exclaimed in a suppressed tone as he passed. "who are you?" i asked eagerly. "a friend in need," he answered, in the same low tone. "keep a stout heart in your body, and if you can manage to rig a line of some sort, let it down out of your window soon after dark. if it's just strong enough to haul up another it will do. i'll bring a stout one with me." "we'll do as you say, friend, and many thanks," i answered. "that's all right then," said the seaman. "when you hear a cat mew under your window, let down the line. i shan't be far off. i must now go along with the crowd to see what's going on. i wish that i could lend a helping hand to some of those poor fellows; but it won't do, i must look after you, you know. a countryman in distress has the first right to my services." i longed to learn who he was; but before i could ask him, he had sauntered away among the crowd. meantime the soldiers had formed three sides of a hollow square, the river forming the fourth. close to the bank there stood a large group of human beings--the victims destined for execution. their arms and legs were secured with cords, so that they could not escape. they uttered no cries or lamentations, but appeared ready to meet their fate with stoical indifference. the priests, with their crucifixes and candles, collected round them, exhorting them to repentance, and uttering prayers which none of them could understand. i looked anxiously for manco, but he was not among them, and at last i discovered him standing apart, under charge of a file of soldiers. with a refinement of cruelty, it was intended that he should witness the execution of his friends and countrymen, before he himself was led forth to be shot. a priest stood by his side, endeavouring to make him listen to the words of exhortation he was pouring into his ears; but, i judged, with no effect. his arms were folded, and his eyes were turned towards the group in the centre. several officers were riding about the square. at a signal from one of them (the colonel who had sent us to prison), the priests retired; and the firing party, consisting of a hundred men, fell back to the distance of about twenty paces. there was a death-like silence; even the savage crowd were awed. i could scarcely breathe, and a mist came before my eyes. there was a pause of a minute. perhaps, i thought, the commanding officer himself hesitates to give the word which must send so many of his fellow-creatures to eternity. i was mistaken. "fire," he shouted, in a sharp loud voice. a rapid discharge of musketry was heard, and as the smoke cleared off, a number of the prisoners were seen struggling and writhing in agony on the ground. some of them lay still enough, for they, more fortunate, were shot dead; while the wounded uttered the most fearful shrieks and cries for mercy. more than two-thirds stood erect, unharmed by the bullets. the soldiers, loaded as fast as they could, and again sent forth a deadly fire from their muskets. the number of prisoners was fearfully thinned. the soldiers fired again and again, and each time fewer remained alive. at last but two indians continued standing side by side, unscathed by the fire. i was in hopes that they might have been pardoned; but no, the soldiers advancing, presented their pieces at their breasts and shot them dead, while those who lay wounded on the ground were likewise put out of their misery. all eyes were now turned towards the chief manco. i know not on what account his limbs were allowed to remain unfettered. perhaps they thought that among such a crowd a single man could do no one an injury. he walked along towards the spot where his murdered countrymen lay in heaps, with his head erect, and a firm, unfaltering step. the priest followed him; but he waved him off, as if his services were of no further avail. even the officers seemed to feel some respect for him; and i saw one of them give him a handkerchief, with which to give the signal for the soldiers to fire. he stood boldly facing them, with his eye firmly fixed on his executioners, a little way on one side of the heap of dead men. my heart felt ready to burst; yet painful as it was, i could not withdraw my sight from him. i anxiously watched for the fatal moment. he gave a leap upwards it appeared, and threw the handkerchief in the air. the soldiers fired; but when the smoke cleared we could not distinguish his body on the ground. the head and shoulders of a man were, however, seen in the waters of the river, and he was striking out with powerful strokes towards the opposite shore, where at the same instant a number of indians were observed plunging in to meet him. "see, pedro, he has escaped--he has escaped!" i exclaimed. "it is manco i am certain; how bravely he swims. they will not be so cruel as to kill him now. he will reach the opposite shore. ah! alas, he sinks. no, he has only dived; see, he comes up some way down the stream." the firing party advanced to the banks; but they had expended all their cartridges, i suppose, for they stood watching him in stupid astonishment; and no one, for a minute or more, thought of ordering any of the other soldiers to advance and fire. this gave the swimmer a great advantage; and as the current was strong, he had soon glided some way down below the square. at last some hundred men advanced to the edge of the river, and opened a rapid fire on him; but still he continued his course undaunted. the indians on the banks set up loud shouts, as did those who had swam out to meet him. he was quickly among them, when it became impossible to distinguish him from the rest. many, i suspected, lost their lives in their attempt to save their chief. a number of soldiers jumped into the canoes on the banks of the river, and attempted to pursue the fugitive; but long before they could have reached him, the swimmers had landed, and were seen rushing up among the trees. whether or not he was among them i could not tell; for the bodies of those who were killed floated down the stream out of sight. a rapid fire was kept up at the opposite bank, which the indians, as they landed, had to pass through; but they were soon sheltered from its effects by the trees, and in a few moments not one of them was to be seen. carts came to convey the dead away; sand was strewed over the spot; the crowd, murmuring at the escape of the principal victim, dispersed; and the square in a short time resumed its usual appearance. chapter fourteen. a friend in need--our escape. pedro and i turned from the window, and sitting down, with our hands before our faces, endeavoured to shut out the dreadful sights we had witnessed. it was satisfactory, however, to believe that manco had escaped; and i trusted that he would not fall again into the power of his enemies. when sancho entered with a supply of provisions, he found us so employed. i do not know whether he suspected that we had some hopes of making our escape, and wished to warn us of the danger. his manner, i remarked, was more cordial than usual; and perhaps he did not expect to see us again. as soon as he had left us, we consulted how we should form a line to let down out of the window, as our sailor friend had advised. we hunted about, but could not find even the smallest piece of rope. at last i suggested that we might tear up one of our shirts, and by twisting the bits and tying them together, we might make a line long enough to reach the ground, and strong enough to haul up a thick rope. we forthwith, therefore, set to work; and having tried each bit as we fastened it on, we were satisfied that our line would answer our purpose. it was nearly dusk by the time we had finished it; and lest some one should by chance come in and see what we had been about, we hid it away under the mattress. it was fortunate that we took this precaution, for just as we had done so the door opened, and a gaoler, accompanied by our kind friend, don eduardo, and another person, entered the room. don eduardo bowed to us, and as he took a seat which sancho offered him, he looked at us rather sternly, as much as to signify that we must not appear on familiar terms. "i have brought this gentleman to prepare your defence for you, senores, as i hear that you are to be tried to-morrow," he said, in a kind tone. "i am sorry to tell you that it will go hard with you if you cannot establish your innocence." "i have to thank you very much, don eduardo," i answered; "but all we can do is to protest our innocence--we have no witnesses. the indians, who might have proved that we were ourselves taken prisoners by their chief, have this morning been shot." "it is indeed a difficult case," remarked the advocate. "i will do my best, don eduardo; and we must hope that something will appear in their favour." i need not repeat all that took place. the advocate asked us a variety of questions, and made a number of notes; and then rising, followed don eduardo, who stiffly bowed to us as before, out of the room. sancho, who went last, turned his head over his shoulder, and shook his head, with a grave expression on his face, which showed us that he thought our case was desperate. this circumstance made us more anxious than ever to effect our escape; and we waited anxiously for the signal the english sailor had promised us. by degrees the noises inside and outside the prison died away. people, fatigued with the excitement of the morning, had retired earlier than usual to their homes, and the square was totally deserted. it was very dark, for there was no moon, and a thick mist rising from the river, hung over the town; and what was of more use to us, there was a strong wind, which howled and moaned among the buildings, and rattled about the tiles. the time seemed to pass very slowly; and we began to fancy that the seaman might have been prevented from fulfilling his intention. "perhaps he was watched speaking to us, and has been taken up by the officers of justice," i remarked. "perhaps he was found coming here with a rope in his possession," said pedro; "or perhaps he was deceiving us." "no, i will not believe that," i answered indignantly. "i am sure he is honest. he is an englishman and a sailor, there is no mistaking that; and he did not look or speak like a rogue. let us hope for the best." just as i made this observation, we heard what sounded like the mew of a kitten, just under the window. we instantly jumped up, and i let down our line. i felt it gently tugged. "haul up," said a voice; and as we got to the end, we found a rope sufficiently strong to bear a man's weight attached to the end. "fasten that to a strong bar; and look out not to make a lubber's knot," added the voice. we did as we were bid; and soon after a strong tug had been given to the rope, a man's head and shoulders appeared at the window. he looked in to discover who was in the room. "all friends here?" he asked. "yes, to a friend in need," i replied. "all right then," he said; and, apparently satisfied, he climbed up farther, and sat himself down securely on the window-ledge. "now my lads, you'd like to get out of this, i suppose," he said, in a careless tone, which showed that he was in no way agitated by the risk he was running. "well, there isn't a moment to be lost; and so i've brought three files, that we may all work away at the bars together." pedro and i took the files he offered us, and waited till he had examined the bars. "here are two together, which seem loosened in their sockets," he observed. "now it seems to me, mates, if we were to file away at the upper part, just below the lowest cross bar, and could wrench out those two bars, as you are not very stout, there would be room for you two to slip through." "i feel sure that we could easily get through," i answered; "but what are we to do, friend, when we are outside?" "never you trouble your head about that, youngster," he replied. "i've planned it all, and it can't fail; so do you just take the file and work away." thus admonished, pedro and i began to file away at one bar, while the sailor attacked the other. "don't stop," he whispered; "the noise is much less likely to be noticed if you go on regularly with it, than it breaks off every now and then." we filed away accordingly with all our might; but i could not help trembling at times with alarm lest we should be heard; for though the wind howled and whistled in a most satisfactory manner, yet there is something so peculiar in the sound of filing, that i was afraid the sharp ears of the gaoler or guards might hear it. pedro and i had got through more than two-thirds of our bar, and we agreed that we might easily wrench it out of its place, when our arms began to ache, and as we rested for a minute, we heard a footstep approaching the room. in great alarm, we told the sailor. "never mind," he answered, quite calmly. "stow the files away, and lie down on the bed, and pretend to be fast asleep. i've got a lump of pitch in my pocket, and i'll just fill up the grooves we've made in the bars, so that they'll not be observed. there, that will do. now i'll just wait down below till your visitor has gone." we threw ourselves on the bed, as he advised, and listened with intense anxiety. the footsteps passed by, and we heard doors opening near us. all was again silent for some time; and we had just sprung up, and were about to call the sailor, when we heard the footsteps returning. we threw ourselves down once more on the bed. just as we had done so, the door opened, and sancho, holding a lantern in his hand, put his head into the room. his two assistants appeared behind him. as the light flashed on my eyes, i closed them fast. "all right here, the lads are fast asleep," he said, turning to the men. "hillo! senores, wake up, will you. the governor has received notice that some stranger was seen this morning, wandering about outside the prison; and he has sent us round to see that all our inmates were safe. just remember, then, that we paid you a visit, that's all. now go to sleep again, for you won't have many more nights to rest here. ha! ha! ha!" the men laughed as he said this, as if they thought it a very good joke; and pedro and i sat up and rubbed our eyes. "_buenos noches_, good night, senores," he repeated; and to our infinite satisfaction, without approaching the window, he and his assistants retired, and closed the door behind them. we listened till their footsteps had died away in the distance; and then jumping up, we went to the window, where i gave a low mew, which was answered by the sailor, who quickly climbed back again to his former post. i told him in hurried accents what had occurred. "never mind," he answered coolly. "more reason for haste. another half-hour's work will set you free. bear a hand about it, then." his calmness reassured us; and having carefully cleared away the pitch, we went on filing at the bar as fast as we could. my heart certainly did beat more rapidly than it had ever done before; for i expected every moment to be interrupted by the entrance of the gaolers. fortunately the wind blew, and the tiles rattled more loudly than ever. at last, to our great satisfaction, both the bars were almost filed through. the sailor seized the one he had been working at, and with a powerful wrench, tore it from the stone window-frame. "there," he said, giving me the piece of bar. "put it carefully down. we will leave it as a legacy behind us." pedro and i grasped the other, and with all our strength tore it away. "hurra! all right now, mates," said the the sailor, scarcely refraining from giving a cheer. "bear a hand, and squeeze through. i'll help you." "you go first," said pedro. "i'll follow you." i could just manage to squeeze my head and shoulders between the bars; and with the assistance of the sailor, who hauled away by my collar, i found myself standing outside them on the window-ledge. "there won't be room for all of us outside, so do you, mate, just get hold of the rope and slide down to the ground," observed the sailor. "where is it?" i asked, for i could neither see nor feel it. "get hold of the bars with your hands, and lower yourself till you get your feet round the rope. don't let go with one hand till you've a firm hold with the other. i'll guide you." following his instructions, i lowered my body over the window-sill till i could grasp the rope with my hands, when without much difficulty i slid down to the ground. for an instant my satisfaction at being once more outside the prison walls made me forget the risk we ran of being recaptured, and the difficulties we had still to undergo. i stood anxiously watching for the appearance of my companions; for it was so dark that i could not distinguish them even at the short distance between the ground and the window. in moments such as those, each one appears an age, and i trembled for our safety. at last i saw a figure gliding down the rope. it was pedro. scarcely had he reached the ground when the sailor was by my side. "now, mates," he whispered, "let's hold on to each other, and put our best legs foremost. i've a canoe ready on the banks of the river, and we may be far away before our flight is discovered." we lost no time in words, but taking each other's hands that we might not be separated, we ran as fast as we could across the square, guided by the sailor, who had taken the bearings of some lights he told us to steer by. owing to the stormy weather and the late hour, no one was crossing the square; indeed, even the most callous were probably inclined to avoid the spot where the indians had been executed in the morning. we must have passed close to it. at last we reached the side of the river, but had not hit the place where the sailor had left the canoe. here was another difficulty. could any one have removed it? we groped about for some time in vain. "can you both swim?" asked the sailor. "yes; but it's a long way across, and there are perhaps crocodiles in the water," i answered. "better be drowned or swallowed up by a crocodile, my lads, than retaken by those land-sharks," he observed. "it must come to that if we cannot find the canoe." pedro and i agreed to this; and, though we had not our full strength, we prepared to take the swim, trusting to the brave fellow's assistance. "well, i see there's some risk, so we'll have another hunt for the canoe first," he observed. "stay, i think it's lower down the stream." he was right. directly afterwards, to our great satisfaction, we stumbled upon the canoe. to launch it was the work of a moment; but though we hunted in every direction, we could only find one paddle. "one must do," said the sailor. "i can manage. no time to be lost, though." saying this, he stepped in first, and seated himself in the stern, with the paddle in his hand. he then turned the head of the canoe to the bank, and told pedro and me to creep in carefully over the bow. we did so, and placed ourselves by his direction along the bottom. a stroke of his paddle then turned the canoe round, and we floated rapidly down the stream. i listened for any sound to indicate that we were followed, but nothing could be heard above the howling of the wind in the trees. neither of us uttered a word, not that there was much chance of being heard by any one on shore. the water bubbled and hissed round us, and the wind threw it in sheets of spray over our heads. at times it came rippling over the sides of the canoe, and there seemed a prospect of its being filled; but the seaman held on his course without hesitation. we had shot quickly by the few lights which here and there twinkled from the houses, and were beginning to breathe more freely, thinking that we had altogether got clear of the town, when i fancied i heard the splash of oars behind us. i could not tell if the sailor had heard the sound, but he seemed to ply his paddle with even greater vigour than before. once or twice he turned his head for an instant, which confirmed me in the idea that we were followed; but even his practised eye could not pierce the darkness which shrouded us. at last i saw that he had relaxed in his efforts, and that he kept his paddle moving sufficiently only to guide the canoe as it dropped down with the current. we had been a couple of hours in the canoe, or perhaps not quite so long, though the anxiety we felt made the time pass slowly. "well, i believe it was only a cayman or an alligator, or one of those sort of brutes, after all," he exclaimed, drawing a deep breath, like a man relieved from a heavy care. "i have not been able yet to thank you, friend, for what you have already done for us; but i should like to know what you propose doing next," said i, as soon as i found we might venture to speak. "well, that's just what i was thinking of, mate, myself," he answered. "but you needn't thank me, for to my mind, i haven't done much for you yet. all i have had time for was to get you out of limbo, and afloat on this here river. we must now hold a council of war, to know what's to be done." as he said this, he made the canoe glide in towards the nearest bank. we quickly found ourselves in a quiet bay, overhung with trees, into which we had by chance entered. the sailor held on by the bough of a tree, which served to keep the canoe from floating out again. the wind had much abated, and the sky had become much clearer, so that there was sufficient light to enable us to steer free of any dangers in the middle of the stream; though where we now were we should have been completely concealed from the sight of persons on board any boat which might have been passing, or even of one sent in search of us. "well," said the sailor, "what do you propose, mate?" "i must first ask you whereabouts we are," i answered. "i promised an indian who preserved my life, to return to him before i left the country, but i cannot tell where he is now to be found. our wisest plan would be to try and reach the sea, so as to get on board some english ship. i do not think we shall be safe till then." "what has your friend, then, to say to the matter?" said the sailor. "he does not understand english, but i will ask him." pedro replied that he thought we should be guided by the sailor, who had already helped us so much. the sailor seemed pleased with the answer. "why, then, i'll try and do my best for you, mates," he said. "you see we are about ten miles away from your prison, and somewhere close upon two hundred miles from the nearest port where we are likely to fall in with any english ship. the spaniards don't encourage them to come openly into their ports with the high duties they clap on, though there's a good deal of smuggling on the coast; and more than half the british manufactures used in the country are landed without paying a farthing of duty. i would rather stick to the river as long as we could; but then, you see, it's the very place the spaniards are likely to send to look for us. so i propose that we pull down some five or six miles further, where there are some rapids which we cannot pass, and then we will land on the south bank, and make our way over towards the country they call chili, though it's hot enough, to my mind, at times. we might manage, to be sure, to get across the mountains, and launch a canoe upon one of the streams which run into the river of the amazons. it's a long way, to be sure, but others have gone down the river; and i don't see, if we can keep stout hearts in our bodies, why we shouldn't. when one man has done a thing, i always think another may, if he set the right way about it." "a voyage down the river of the amazons!" i exclaimed. "the very thing i should be delighted to accomplish. i do not care for the dangers or hardships we shall have to encounter. i say, let us try it by all means. i am sure pedro will agree. we must first try and find my friend manco, the indian chief, if he should have escaped from his enemies." i then explained to the sailor who manco was. "that's the spirit i like to see," he answered. "we shall do, depend upon it. i've no great fancy for being caught by the spaniards and clapped into prison; and they are certain to be looking for us all along the western coast. we shall have to go rather a roundabout way, but that can't be helped. now, from what i hear, the indians have pretty well cleared the country of the white men to the south of this, so we shall have little to fear from the spaniards; and as you say the indians are your friends, if we fall in with them, it is to be hoped they will treat us well. we can't expect, you know, to get through the world without running through a little danger now and then." i told the sailor i agreed with him. "and now, my friend," i said, "i have some more questions to ask you. i do not know your name, and i cannot guess how you came to find us out." "what does that matter, mate? i do not know yours; and to say the truth, i never heard of you till a few days ago, when i heard the people talking--for i know something of their lingo--of a young englishman who was to be shot for siding with the indians. now, thinks i to myself, that is a very bad thing for the lad, and if i can lend him a hand, we'll disappoint the dons. it's my belief, a seaman--as far as that matters, anybody--ought always to help a countryman in distress, or he's not worth his salt." "then i ought first to tell you who i am," i replied; and i gave him a short account of myself, and my late adventures, and how i came to meet with pedro. "that's very strange," he muttered; "very strange. i'm more than ever glad to be of use to you. now for my name. it's not a long one. i'm called ned gale. i was born at sea and bred at sea; and it isn't often i set foot on shore, so that what good there is in me i picked up afloat." "then how comes it, ned gale, that you got so far inland as this?" i asked. "why, you see the ship i sailed in was seized by the spanish authorities, in the port of callao, where we had been driven by stress of weather. it was alleged that we had been smuggling on the coast, which was neither here nor there, as there was no one to prove it. at last the master was advised to appeal to the viceroy, and so he set off to lima to see him, taking me in his company. when we got to lima, we found that the viceroy had gone up the country; so away we went after him. we travelled over mountains, and across sandy plains, and rivers and torrents, day after day, but he always kept ahead of us. you see that he had gone out to fight the indians; and when at last we came up with him, we found him in a very bad humour, for his troops had been beaten in every direction. so he would not listen to a word my captain had to say. the fact was, the bribe captain hindson had been advised to offer him was not large enough. my poor captain had before been very ill, and as the ship was, his own property, and all he possessed in the world, his loss ruined him. from the day he got the viceroy's answer, he never again lifted up his head; and in a week he died in my arms. it was of a broken heart, i suppose; for there was nothing the matter with him that i could see. poor fellow, i have seen many a shipmate struck down by the shot of the enemy, or sinking under the foaming waves, when there was no help at hand; but i never mourned for one as i did for him, for he was a right honest and kind man. the dons did not show much christian charity towards him after he was dead either, for they said he was a heretic; so they would not bury him in the churchyard, but carried him away to a field, where they dug a hole and covered him up like a dog. i didn't think that mattered at all, however; so i owed them no grudge for it. i never could see the use of praying for a man after he was dead. he did not mind where he lay, and god will know where to look for him at the last day, when he has to stand his trial like all of us. at first i felt a wish to die too; but i soon got over that, and taking the money and the few things the captain had given me (i've got his note about that matter--his will he called it), i started off for the coast to look out for another ship. as i have been often in the country, i have picked up some of their lingo, so got on well enough among the dons; but i found i couldn't very well travel alone, and often had to wait till i found some one going my road. it was in this way, while i was looking out for companions, that i happened to fall in with you. and now you know something of my history, are you willing to trust me?" "had i known nothing about it, after the essential service you have rendered us, i would confidently have trusted you," i answered. "avast now then, mate," exclaimed ned gale; "don't give me any soft sawder; i'm not fond of it. i like the cut of your jib, and you like the cut of mine; so we shall sail very well in company. by-and-by we shall know more of each other. and the young don there, i like his looks too, though i'm not over partial to the natives. howsomdever, we've had talking enough, and as my arms are rested, and there don't appear to be any enemy abroad looking for us, we may as well get under weigh again." i agreed with him; and pedro and i sinking down into our former position, we again glided out into the stream. the river was in places very shallow, and more than once we touched the bottom, and the water began to foam over the stern; but gale lifted her clear with his paddle, without our being obliged to jump out, and away we went again as rapidly as before. pedro was very silent--he felt confused and astonished at all that had occurred; neither did ned gale nor i exchange many words, for we could not tell at what moment we might come upon any of the villages which are to be found on the banks of the river. now and then we heard a dog bark, and the crowing of some cocks in the distance gave signs of the approach of morning; but no habitations were visible, and no human voices gave us cause for alarm. several of the villages on the south bank, ned gale had learned, had been destroyed by the indians; but they had not attempted to cross to the north side. after about an hour's paddling, we reached a spot similar to the one where we had before taken shelter. we paddled along the shore of the little bay for some way, trying to find a place hard enough to bear our feet, for the bank was generally soft and muddy fringed by a broad belt of reeds, which the alligators must have found convenient for tickling their snouts with. "step out," said gale, "and learn if we are likely to make our way inland from this. i will wait for you and look after the canoe." doing as he desired, pedro and i felt our way along with cautious steps, for under the trees it was so dark that we could scarcely see our hands held up before us. we found that the ground rose a little way beyond, and appeared quite hard. satisfied with our discovery, after about a quarter of an hour's absence, we commenced our return to the boat. we walked on slowly, every instant expecting to fall into some hole; and at last we agreed that we ought to have reached the canoe. we hunted about to the right and to the left, but we could not even see the river. we called out as loud as we dared, but gale did not answer. "there is the river; i see it shining through the trees," said pedro. very soon we got up to it; and pedro, who was a little in advance, was very nearly falling in. i dragged him back, and we began to hunt for the canoe. it was nowhere to be seen. again we shouted louder than before, but ned gale did not answer. could he have deserted us? such a thing seemed impossible, yet we began almost to despair. "could an alligator have picked him off?" i asked pedro, shuddering as i thought of our friend's probable fate. we had kept along the bank of the river for some way. just then gale's voice sounded close to us. we were soon up with him, and had told him of the result of our expedition, and of our alarm. "it was my fault, i suppose," he answered, laughing. "i found a tree to which i could make the canoe fast, so i thought i might as well take a little sleep while you were away. i heard you call, and dreamed that i answered you. the honest truth is, i spent all last night looking about the prison to find you out, so i haven't closed my eyes for many an hour. you'll pardon me, mates, i hope; nature's nature, and will have its way." i assured him, now that we had found him, we did not mind the fright; and asked him what he proposed doing next. "why, the first thing, you see, is to send the canoe out into the stream, so that our enemies may not discover where we have landed," he answered. "it will float away over the falls; so they may be looking for us miles below them perhaps." according to ned gale's suggestion, we towed the canoe to the end of the point which formed one side of the bay, and he then throwing the paddle into it, we gave it a shove, which sent it out into the middle of the stream, down which we could distinguish it gliding rapidly away, till it was lost to sight. "we must lose no more time now, mates," said ned gale, as we climbed up the bank. "we must get some way inland before daylight, and then stow ourselves away in a wood till we have time to look about us. we must keep clear of all cottages, for the white-brown fellows hereabouts would make no bones of selling us to the dons, if they thought they could get anything for us. you see i've brought prog enough to last all hands for three days or more, on somewhat short commons; and mayhap we may snare some game to eke it out much longer." this was good news, for, by taking proper precautions, i thought we might at all events avoid falling into the hands of the spaniards; and of the indians i had no fear. the ground over which we were passing, was very rough and uncultivated, and we could discover no beaten path. after some time we came to a mud wall; and on the other side we found a field full of maize, just fit for cutting. this gave us a very welcome supply of food, and we filled our pockets and caps, and a bag ned gale had brought with him, for that very purpose. it was necessary, however, to get away from the farm before daylight; so we skirted along the wall, and once more found ourselves on wild ground. the whole eastern sky was covered with a mass of flame, a sign that the sun himself was about to appear, when we caught sight of a forest spreading out before us. we pushed on much faster than we had been able to do during the darkness, and had just concealed ourselves among the trees, as the sun, rushing from among the mountains, cast a bright glow of light over the plains we had just passed. the first thing ned gale did, was to climb up one of the tallest trees on the outskirts of the forest, to take a look round and see what was in sight, as, he observed, a good seaman always does the first thing in the morning. when he came down, he reported that he had observed in the far distance some smoke, which he supposed arose from the farmhouse we had passed in the night; but that he had discovered no other human habitation while as far as the eye could discern there appeared to be only an uncultivated plain. having eaten nothing since our last meal in the prison, pedro and i were very glad when ned gale opened his wallet, and produced some dried meat and bread and cheese, and what was almost of greater value, a good supply of cocoa. he had a flint and steel with him, and a tin cup for boiling water; so we collected some sticks and lighted a small fire, sufficient to cook our cocoa and to parch some peas. on looking over our provisions, we found that we had already ample to last us a week, so that we might venture to push across the mountains towards cuzco, where, manco had told me, he expected about this time the indians would be collected in great force. we had, however, more than a day's journey before we could reach the foot of the mountains, which were upwards of thirty miles off. on hunting about, we discovered a spring of bright water bubbling up close to the roots of an enormous tree, which it evidently very much assisted to nourish. we ate a good meal, and then gale insisted that pedro and i should lie down and rest, while he watched. as we both of us very much required sleep, we were not sorry to follow his advice; and in about two hours we awoke much refreshed. i have not yet described ned gale. he was about five feet six in height, and very strongly built, with rather a large head, covered with a profusion of light hair. he wore a full bushy beard and large whiskers. his eyes were full and round, and of the brightest blue i have ever seen in those of a man. his month was large, and filled with strong white teeth, and his nose, though rather thick and prominent, was otherwise well cut. indeed he came up fully to the description of a fine-looking fellow without being handsome. his dress was that of an ordinary seaman of those days. he wore a belt with a brace of pistols stuck in it, which were partly concealed by his loose cloth jacket. his head was covered by a small low-crowned straw hat; and the puzzle seemed to be how he could manage to keep it on. altogether he presented a figure very seldom seen so far inland as we then were. "come, mates," he exclaimed, "it's time to be making headway again." we jumped up, and having divided our stores into three equal parts, and cut some thick walking-sticks, we shouldered our bundles, and recommenced our journey. chapter fifteen. our flight with ned gale, and the adventures we met with. we travelled all day through the forest, the glimpses we every now and then obtained of the mountains serving to guide our steps. on emerging from the forest we arrived at a rapid stream. "how are we to cross this?" i exclaimed. "we shall spoil all our provisions, and have our clothes wet for the night, if we are obliged to swim across." "oh, i think we may be able to ford it," said ned gale. "here, mates, let's catch hold of each other's hands, that if one falls the rest can pick him up. i'll lead across, and sound with my stick. to my mind, that's the way people should help each other through the world." after hunting about for some time, we found a broad place, where, from the appearance of the bank on either side, we fancied there might be a ford. so we took off our lower garments, and fastening our loads high up on our shoulders, we commenced the passage. for some way the water was shallow, and rose but little above our knees; but we went on slowly, ned carefully sounding with his stick in advance. it was fortunate that we did so, for on a sudden ned sung out that he could find no bottom; and scarcely had he spoken, when he sunk up to his armpits, and had not we not hauled him back with all our might, the current would have carried him down the stream. we tried several other places, but everywhere found the water too deep to ford. "it won't do," observed ned. "we must stand back to the shore, and try to find another way of crossing. here, mates, let's set to work and collect as many dry rushes as we can pull. i've seen the indians cross much broader and more rapid rivers than this on a few bundles of rushes." i told him, so had i; and i did not know how it was that i did not think of it before. ned had a large clasp knife, with which he cut away the rushes at a great rate, while, as pedro and i had had ours taken from us in the prison, we were obliged to tear them up by the roots, or to break off the dry ones. when we had made a large heap of them, ned gave me his knife. "there," he said, "you go on cutting, while i begin to build our craft." there were some young trees growing near, one of which about ten feet long he had cut down. this he said was to serve as a keel, to make the craft somewhat ship-shape. he first fastened the rushes together in small bundles, and these he secured along the pole on either side, one outside the other. he placed smaller bundles at the ends, and fastened them together; thus forming in a few minutes a very respectable-looking canoe, which, though not water-tight, would have enabled us to perform a much longer voyage than we had to undertake. by placing some bundles at intervals across the canoe, we hoped to be able to keep ourselves dry, having our feet only in the water. our next care was to cut some long poles, by which we proposed to pole ourselves across. ned gale said a couple would be sufficient, one for him and another for me. having cut them, we launched our canoe into shallow water, so that we could step easily into it; and then, seizing our poles, we shoved out into the stream. our canoe kept us well out of the water, though it had a tendency to turn over, which we were well able to counteract with our poles as long as we could reach the bottom. we had got more than half way across, when the water deepened so much that we were obliged to use them as oars, or rather paddles, to get across; and we had floated some way down the stream before we again could find the bottom. at last we landed, and drew up our canoe. i proposed leaving it, to make the natives wonder at the strange contrivance. "no, no," said gale. "never mind what the natives may think about it. i say, let us stop and pull it to pieces, or some of the spaniards may chance to see it, and it will show them which way we are gone. it is a foolish notion people have of caring what those they may never see or hear of again, think of something they have made or done. nothing good or useful, i mean, but some folly or other. it's what makes people carve their names on the top of a rock, or some out-of-the-way place, that somebody else, about as wise as themselves, may know that they have been there." it was the work of two or three minutes only to pull the raft to pieces, and to send the bundles of reeds which composed it floating down the stream. before leaving the river, we sat down and took the meal which we called our dinner; and having drunk as much water as we required, we filled up the skin ned had provided, as we could not tell when we might again meet with water. very fortunate it was that we did so. having packed up our traps, we trudged onwards. we had walked about a couple of miles over a country thinly sprinkled with trees, and naturally fertile, though now without a human habitation, when, on looking ahead, instead of the green colour of the grass, and the varied foliage of the trees, we observed, as far as the eye could reach, one unvaried mass of reddish brown. "that's a wild heath ahead of us, which we shall have to pass," observed ned. "i never saw the like of it." "see, see," exclaimed pedro, pointing rather more to the right than we had been looking. "what is that?" at first we could not guess what was happening. it appeared as if at a little distance off there was a heavy snow-storm falling, the whole air being full of large white flakes, so dense as almost to conceal the fierce rays of the sun. "no, it can't be snow--that's certain," said ned. "but what it is, i can't say." the seeming snow-drift swept on as we advanced towards the brown heath. pedro ran on a little ahead, and stooping down, soon returned with a large insect in his hand, which i recognised as a locust. it was fully three inches in length, of a reddish brown colour, and with very long and powerful hind-legs, with which, when pedro opened his hand, it sprung off to a great distance. the appearance we had seen was that of a flight of locusts, or rather a small division of their army, which was about to settle directly in our course. we were soon among their outposts, where they lay pretty thick; but beyond, as far as we could see, the ground was completely covered with them. pedro, who had often seen them before, declared that, like ants and bees, they have peculiar laws and regulations; and that those we first came upon were, like the sentinels of an army, placed to give warning of coming danger. if such is the case at times, they gave no notice of our approach, but merely skipped and jumped about, and knocked against our legs as we walked by. "it's a good job these beasts have no fancy for eating meat as well as vegetables," observed ned. "if they once began upon us, there wouldn't be much of us left in the course of an hour." as, however, they neither sting nor bite, they did us no harm, though they skipped about us in millions as we advanced, while numbers were crushed every time we put our feet to the ground. we proceeded for upwards of an hour through this moving mass of life, till we stood literally in the centre of a sea of locusts. it was necessary to push on to get from among them before dark, as we had no fancy to attempt to rest among such unquiet companions. it took us more than another half-hour to get clear of them; and we calculated that they covered a space four to five miles broad at the place we found them. we then came upon the ground which they had occupied, and the most ruthless of invaders could not have destroyed a country more completely than they had done. not a blade of grass remained; every tree and shrub was leafless, and their branches were stripped of their bark. we could not help looking with painful amazement on the scene of desolation which those small animals had caused. not only would they, as ned gale said, have eaten us up had they been carnivorous, but they might have devoured pizarro and the army with which he conquered peru in the course of a night. for miles in advance they had left traces of their visit. we congratulated ourselves on having brought water with us, as we could find none in the neighbourhood. what became of this vast flight of locusts i could not tell. i only hope they flew into the sea, or died from repletion; for had they gone on consuming as much daily as we saw them destroy, they might lay a whole province desolate in the course of a few weeks. we walked on till it was quite dark before we could find a sheltered spot in which to bivouac. at last we reached a deep hollow, which at one period of the world's history had been probably part of a watercourse, but owing to some convulsion of nature, it was now perfectly dry. trees grew on the upper edges, and the sides were covered with brushwood. it appeared, as far as we could judge in the uncertain light of the evening, to be a place well suited for our purpose; and we accordingly hunted about till we found a spot where we could light a fire and lie down to rest. this was not very easy, but at length we discovered a small open space covered with grass. gale cut away the bushes round it, and piling up some in the centre, we lighted a fire. the flames, as they burned up, showed us the wild character of the place we were in. dark rocks appeared here and there among the brushwood, and tall trees towered above our heads, effectually screening the light of our fire from any persons who might by chance have been in our neighbourhood. we boiled our cocoa, and parched our heads of indian corn, and then prepared to rest. "we might be worse off; and so, mates, i don't think we've any cause to complain," observed ned gale as he surveyed our abode. this was a favourite expression of his; and he was always contented, whatever happened. i felt grateful; for though our prospects for the future were uncertain, we were at all events at liberty, with a fair chance of escaping our enemies. ned gale had a little black pipe which he prized much, and a small supply of tobacco, which he husbanded with the greatest care. he lighted his pipe, and sat over the fire enjoying his smoke in silence. as usual, we took it by turns to watch and to keep our fire alight. pedro and ned gale had been sleeping for some time, when, finding that the fire required feeding, i rose to put some more sticks upon it. as the flames burst forth more brightly than before, their light shone on the high branches of the trees, when, happening to look up, i saw just above as a face peering down from among the foliage. it seemed to be watching us very attentively; the owner fancying, probably, from his position, that he was unobserved. as he put his head more forward to get a better sight of us, i saw that he was an old black man with a white head; and immediately it struck me that he was employed as a scout to watch us by the spaniards. my first impulse was to rouse my companions. "ned gale, ned gale," i sung out, "the spaniards are after us i am afraid." he sprung to his feet, and looking anxiously around, grasped one of his pistols, like a man ever ready to encounter danger. "where are they?" he asked. "i don't see them." "there, there," i answered, pointing at the trees. he and pedro turned their eyes in the direction i indicated. there was now not only one negro looking at us, but several black faces, encircled with white hair, appeared among the branches. instead of flying from our supposed enemies, they both burst into fits of laughter. "those spaniards? why, they are monkeys," exclaimed ned. "ha, ha, ha! now, if i could bring one of them down, he might serve us for dinner to-morrow." i could not help joining in his laughter, though i had no fancy for eating a monkey. he threw up a piece of stick with all his force. it missed its aim, and served to send the whole troop scampering away, uttering mournful howls, to a distance, where they for some time kept up a concert, which effectually banished sleep. when the monkeys had ceased howling, pedro began his watch, and i tried to obtain some rest. ned gale, with his sailor habits, very quickly was lost in the land of dreams; but i was not so fortunate. i saw that pedro was reading, and i did not wish to interrupt him. he every now and then shut his book and looked about him. he appeared to me to be on the watch in expectation of some threatened danger. at last i gave up the attempt to sleep as hopeless. there was something in the air of the place, i believe, which affected me. my young companion had been sitting for some minutes lost in meditation. "what are you thinking about, pedro?" i asked. "of my father and mother," he answered, with a sigh. "why, i thought you never knew them," i observed. "i have often dreamed of them though," he said. "do you know, senor david, that i sometimes fancy i may some day discover them. had i the means of becoming educated as you are, and of obtaining a fortune, i would employ it in searching for them." "if we succeed in getting to england, i am sure my friends, in gratitude to you, will put you in the way of making your fortune," i replied. "but i own i cannot see how this will enable you to find your parents, without any clue to guide you." "god, if he thinks fit, will point out the way," he answered. "i put my trust in him." i could say no more. this idea had, i found, become the absorbing one of his mind. "if my parents live, he too will show me the means through which i may discover them," i thought. i had never yet been thoroughly convinced of their loss. i was perfectly helpless i knew, and i felt forcibly that on him alone could i place my trust. the feeling brought comfort and consolation; and lying down again, a soothing sleep soon stole over me. i was aroused by a shout from ned gale, who had taken pedro's place. i started up, and found the sailor with his pistol in one hand and his long stick in the other, about to spring into the thicket beyond us. the fire was almost extinguished, and daylight was appearing. i looked round for pedro. to my horror he was nowhere to be seen. "where is the young spaniard?" i exclaimed. "follow me," answered ned, rushing forward. i seized a lighted branch, and with my stick in the other hand, i leaped after him. a shriek of terror and agony, which i could not doubt proceeded from pedro, served to guide us. it was followed by a savage roar. "save me! save me!" he shrieked. a movement in the bushes showed us more certainly where he was. "a wild beast has got hold of the poor fellow!" shouted ned, bending the bushes before him as he hurried on. the branch i held in my hand was of a resinous nature, and burned brightly. it light showed us in a clear space, under a wide spreading shrub, poor pedro on the ground, with a large jaguar standing over him. the attention of the savage animal had been attracted by our approach, and he stood glaring fiercely, uncertain whether to carry off his prey or spring at us. ned was afraid of firing, lest we should miss the jaguar and hit pedro. my torch was of more service than his pistol. i saw in a moment that the only chance of saving my friend was to frighten the beast, so, thoughtless of the clanger to myself, i sprung towards him, and dashed the burning brand in his face. i believe i almost blinded him. with a roar, denoting pain and terror, he sprang on one side, when ned rushed in, and dragged pedro away from him. "fire--now fire," i shouted to ned, thinking the jaguar was about to close with us. he lifted his pistol and fired. he was so close that the ball entered the beast's head, and, giving a bound forward, he fell to the ground struggling in mortal agonies. once again he rose to his feet and attempted to seize me; but my torch turned him aside, and before he could reach me he rolled over, and in another instant he was dead. i looked anxiously to see if pedro was much hurt, or rather i scarcely expected to find him alive. at that moment a bright light burst forth, and i saw to my dismay that the bushes round us were in a fierce blaze. ned was carrying pedro in his arms, and dashing through the bushes towards the place where we had rested. "after me, mate, after me," he cried. i did require to be told to hurry, for the flames were leaping up from all the surrounding shrubs, and climbing many of the higher trees. i overtook him before we reached our encampment. "pick up our traps and come along," shouted ned, as he made his way towards the path by which we entered the glen. i stopped at our bivouac and collected our packages of provisions, and our other property. just as i was coming away, my eye fell on ned's knife. i put it in my pocket, and was looking to see if i could find any other article, when the flames caught hold of the surrounding bushes, and warned me to beat a retreat. they crackled and hissed and roared in my rear as i ran on. a light breeze had sprung up, and blew them towards us. fortunately the bright light they caused enabled us to see our way, or we should have had great difficulty in escaping from the glen. heavy as pedro was, ned bore him like a child up the rough ascent. the fire flew from shrub to shrub, and extended in every direction; the smoke, too, increased in denseness, and almost stifled us. i could scarcely breathe, and expected every moment to sink from exhaustion; but the brave sailor was not to be daunted. crying out to me to follow, he pushed on over all impediments. i kept close to him, and in a few minutes, which seemed an age, we reached the more level ground above the dell. ned stopped for an instant to gather breath, but before i had time to discover more than that pedro still breathed, we were compelled to continue our flight, not only by the approach of the smoke and flames, but by a new danger. the jaguar we had killed was not the only inhabitant of the glen of his species, and as the path we had taken was the chief outlet in that direction, a number of animals of all descriptions came rushing out close to us. i had turned my head to look at the blazing furnace below us, when, to my dismay, i saw close behind me a huge animal, which i at once guessed was a female jaguar, followed by several cubs. i cried out to ned to hurry on with his burden, and swinging my stick about me, i dealt her a heavy blow on the head, which appeared somewhat to astonish her. at any other time she would probably quickly have avenged the insult; but, frightened by the flames, she merely uttered a growl of anger and turned on one side, followed by her hopeful progeny. we did not halt again till we reached a rocky mound, free from grass or shrubs, to which we had hopes the fire would not approach. it was now almost daylight, though the blazing dell afforded us ample light to see our way. ned laid pedro down, and we anxiously examined his wounds. his side and one of his arms, by which the jaguar had lifted him, were dreadfully torn, but we could discover no marks of the brute's teeth. he was senseless, but this we hoped was caused more by terror and pain than from any mortal injury. we neither of us possessed any knowledge of surgery, so we had only our own sense to point out what was best to be done; and in truth we had but little time for consideration, for the flames were already spreading beyond the glen, and might soon approach our retreat. "we must wash the poor fellow's hurts, and bind them up to stop the bleeding," said ned. "where's the water, mate?" we had a little left in our skin bottle, and pouring out some of it on my handkerchief, i wiped away the blood. my shirt, i remembered, was fortunately of linen. "here," i exclaimed to gale, "just tear off the sleeves for me; they will serve for bandages." with a seaman's promptness he did as i proposed, and we bound up the places where he was hurt, in a fashion which perhaps might not quite have satisfied a surgeon, though we performed the operation as well as time would allow. our patient had now began to recover, and after drinking a little water, he sat up and looked around with a gaze of amazement on the strange scene below us. the fire in the glen was raging furiously, and sending up dark columns of smoke to the sky. animals of all descriptions were rushing forth from the conflagration, too terrified to take any notice of us. three or four fierce jaguars, with terrible howlings, dashed by, followed by several huge serpents, who crawled, hissing, along over the ground, disturbed from their abodes among the roots of the trees. a troop of monkeys ran chattering away; and parrots and birds innumerable flew over our heads, driven from their long accustomed homes. "it won't do for us to remain here much longer," observed ned. "ask the young spaniard how he feels, and whether he thinks he can get along." in reply pedro answered me that he was able to walk, though it was not without difficulty that he lifted himself from the ground. however, as it was absolutely necessary for us to proceed on our journey, ned and i, supporting him between us, began to descend the rock. there was, fortunately, a sandy track, free from grass, of considerable extent, on one side, across which we proposed to proceed. ned had loaded his pistols, and we each of us kept our sticks in our hands, ready to defend ourselves from any of the wild beasts which might venture to attack us. the fire continued raging fiercely on our right as we hurried on, and we watched it with intense anxiety, to see whether it was advancing towards us. had it taken place on the open prairies, which cover many portions of the continent, our escape would have been impossible. as it was, our chance was at times doubtful. by ourselves we might have run for our lives; but our wounded companion impeded us, and i would have sacrificed myself sooner than have quitted him. the ground which we were then traversing was composed chiefly of rock and sand, but there was enough dry grass growing on it, should it catch fire, to scorch us very much, if not to destroy us; and ahead, for some distance, it grew much thicker; while beyond again there appeared a wide extent of sandy soil, which, if we could once reach, we should probably be in safety. as the sun rose, the wind shifted to a quarter which blew the flames more rapidly than heretofore towards us. ned and i exerted ourselves to the utmost to drag on poor pedro, who was not so well aware of our danger. onward, in the shape of a wedge, advanced the devouring flames with the sharp point first. this gradually thickened, spreading out on either side. now a rock or a sandy patch intervened, but they leaped over all impediments, the long dry grass catching fire from the sparks which, like a vast courier of destruction, were borne forward by the breeze. i looked at ned to learn from his looks what chance he thought we had of escaping, but his countenance did not betray the slightest sign of fear or doubt. the fire, it must be understood, had, in consequence of the direction the wind had before blown in our rear, been driven in a straight line on our right a considerable distance in advance of us; and now, from the wind blowing from our right, it was taking a course directly across the path we were anxious to pursue. on our left the ground was covered with dry grass and underwood, so that we dared not to venture across it. the only course left us was, therefore, directly ahead. "i am sorry we left the rock," said i, as we hurried on. "we should have been fried brown by this time, if we had remained on it," answered ned, giving a glance over his shoulder. "why, mate, the flames are dancing round it as merrily as waves in a storm. cheer up: we shall do well yet." taking courage from him, i pushed on with renewed hope. but this did not last long. every moment the fire got nearer and nearer; and already it seemed to me that the path before us was cut off. by running very fast we might perhaps get across; but with pedro to help along, i thought we could not do it. i felt that i could not leave the poor fellow, and resolved to remain by him, and perish with him if so it must be; but i saw no reason why the brave seaman should share our fate, when he might easily save himself. "ned," i cried, when we had reached a spot somewhat more free from grass than the surrounding ground, "run for it, my good fellow, and save yourself. i cannot leave my friend, for i owe him much; but he has no claim whatever upon you. fly! fly!" "what, mate? i should be a pretty sort of a seaman if i was to do as you say," he exclaimed, stopping for a moment to address me. "he's a fellow-creature in distress, and that's enough for ned gale, i hope. run--ha! ha! here, just lift him up on my back, and we'll see what can be done." it was the work of a moment to do as he bid me; and throwing me his knapsack, ned, with pedro on his shoulders, set off running, and i after him, as fast as our legs would carry us. i had before remarked the great strength ned possessed when he chose to exert it. he now bore pedro along as if he had been a child. away we dashed right into the belt of tall grass, one end of which, not many hundred yards' distant, was already burning. the fire came hissing along towards us like a fiery serpent. ned glanced at it over his shoulder, and increased his exertions. he saw that not a moment could be spared. as i saw it coming on, i almost shrieked with a terror i had never before felt; and had i been alone i think i should have fallen. the fire was close upon us. there was a slight rise in the ground. we rushed up it. i thought that our doom was sealed, when, to my joy, i discovered that i had been deceived by the rise as to the width of the belt of grass. a few yards only of grass had to be passed, when beyond appeared the sandy plain, without a particle of herbage on it. we felt the heat of the fire--the flames were upon us. we dashed through the intervening space of grass, and ran on for a hundred yards before ned thought of stopping. "here, mate!" he said at last. "help the poor fellow down, and hand me a drop of water. it's hot work, but we have escaped a frying this time at all events." we put pedro on the ground, and then, as he insisted on walking, we moved on a little further, and sat down by him to watch the progress of the conflagration. it quickly worked its way across the belt we had passed across; and then the scrub beyond towards the mountain caught fire and blazed up furiously, extending far away to the east, till the whole country before us seemed one mass of flame. had it been night it would have been magnificent, but we were truly glad that it was day, that we might more easily see our road. "well, i hope there are no poor people's farms in that direction, or any indians hiding away, for the fire doesn't seem inclined to spare them," said ned. "and now, mates, let's have some prog; we've a long day's journey before us, and have had a sharp morning's work." we took our frugal meal, and then seeing that pedro required some rest, we made him lie down for half an hour before we recommenced our journey. "i'm thinking, mate, that this fire will be bringing some indians down to look at it," observed ned, as we walked on. "if they are friends they will be welcome, as they will help to carry our poor friend here. howsomdever, `it's an ill wind that blows no one good,' and, to my mind, if any spaniards are on our track they won't much like crossing that little bit of blaze astern, till we are pretty well out of their reach." i agreed with him that i should much like to meet any friendly indians. we had another reason for being anxious to do so, as our provisions were running short, and, at the slower rate we were now compelled to travel, would scarcely last us till we could reach that part of the country where i expected to find some of manco's followers. with regard to the spaniards harming us, i did not think they would venture so far; but should they have done so, the fire would afford us a better chance of escape, and prevent their dreadful bloodhounds from scenting out our track. pedro bore up manfully in spite of the pain he suffered from his hurts. from the very temperate life he had led, his blood was cool and healthy, and no inflammation set in; which i was afraid would have been the case. if people would but remember the great importance of temperance, and would avoid strong drinks, and take only a moderate portion of meat, they would escape much suffering from wounds and injuries to which all are liable, and which in so many cases prove fatal, although no vital part has been touched. i have seen the strongest men die from a slight scratch; and the weakest apparently recover from the most terrible hurts. the strong men have eaten and drunk to gratify their palates; the weak have eaten food to live. chapter sixteen. fall in with the army of the inca--manco again. we had for two days been travelling through a wild and mountainous country, skirting the base of the cordilleras, which served as our guide, and looking out for a pass known to pedro, by which we might cross them. our provisions were expended, though we had frequent opportunities of replenishing our water-skins, which enabled us the better to support our fatigue. for some distance we passed over a portion of the great high road of the incas, which led from cuzco to quito; and as it was no longer used by the spaniards, we had no fear of encountering them. it was far superior to any of the modern roads, and showed the high state of civilisation to which the peruvians had arrived in those days. it was from about twenty-five to thirty feet broad, and paved with large flat stones. at intervals of about twelve paces i observed rows of smaller stones, laid horizontally and slightly elevated thus making the road ascend gradually by a succession of terraces or steps. on each side of the road there was a low parapet wall of small stones. when i remembered that this gigantic and finished piece of work extended for many hundred miles, from one end of the dominions of the incas to the other, i felt greater regret than ever that the country had been wrested from them by a people who had so cruelly neglected its many advantages. by the side of the road, situated on hillocks within sight of each other, were small edifices, where the messengers who promulgated the commands of the incas throughout the country were stationed. a signal was made whenever a messenger left one of the stations, and one from the next met him half way and received the despatch, which was then forwarded from successive stations till it reached its destination. we arrived towards the evening at one of these station-houses (many of which still remain in tolerable repair); and, as a storm was threatening, we resolved to make it our abode for the night. it was a small, low, round tower, but the roof was wanting, which was our first care to supply. for this purpose ned and i tore off and cut down a number of branches from the trees which grew near; and finding, in a hollow some way down the hill, a pool with rushes growing round it, we collected a sufficient supply to aid materially in forming a thatch. we left pedro meantime to clean the floor, and to light a fire, though we only had some cocoa and a little indian corn to cook by it. returning with our materials, we placed the boughs across the top of the walls, with the rushes in the form of a rude cone verging from the centre above them. i then collected a number of stones, with which the road supplied us, and handing them up to ned, he put them on the thatch to prevent its being blown away. our work being speedily concluded, for ned had a very systematic way of doing everything, i bethought me of collecting some more rushes to form a bed for pedro. i was hurrying down for the purpose, when on my way i observed between the trees the walls of a building, standing on a level plot of ground. i called to ned, and we set off together to examine it, for it struck me it was a small farm belonging to _mestizos_ or indians. we soon reached it, and i found i was not mistaken. the inhabitants had lately fled, the roof was off the hut, and the maize crop had been reaped. we were at first without hopes of benefiting by our discovery; but as i was looking about, i observed a fig-tree with some ripe figs on it, which i at once collected; and on further search, ned espied a herd of guinea-pigs nestling under the walls. to knock some of the little animals on the head, was the work of a minute. we would gladly have exchanged some of them for corn, but just as we were about to return to our tower, i discovered a few ears of maize still standing close to a wall. with much satisfaction i gathered all i could find. we had still more good fortune in store. close to the front i caught sight of a she-goat with a young kid by her side. she had been a pet of the family, i suppose, for she did not run away from us. ned at once caught the kid, and carrying it in his arms, the mother came after it to our hut. "i haven't the heart to kill the little animal," he observed; "but i'll tell you what, mate, the mother shall give the young don a bowl of milk. it will do him more good than all the doctor's stuff in the world." pedro could scarcely believe his senses when he saw us returning with our valuable prizes. we had now a supply of food to last us for many days, and we might, if we thought fit, remain and rest till pedro was better able to proceed. we soon had a guinea-pig skinned and roasting before the fire; and then ned caught the goat, and, acting the part of a milk-maid, filled a tin jug with milk, which he insisted on pedro swallowing. the figs were very fine, and after the coarse food on which we had so long lived, we found them most grateful to our palates. as we sat round our fire, in spite of the smoke, we felt ourselves in the enjoyment of abundance of luxury. our fire-place was composed of a few stones; some others served us for seats. our meat was somewhat tough, and we were without salt. parched maize served us for bread, and our beverage was cold water, while our beds were composed of rushes and leaves sprinkled on the bare ground; but this was more than we had enjoyed for some time, and we had walls to protect us from the night breeze, and a roof to keep out the rain. pedro and i were not merry, for we had too much cause for painful reflection. but we were contented, and ned gale declared that he was as happy as a prince--that he had weathered on the dons, and had the prospect of a long cruise on shore. he fastened the kid up within our tower, but the old she-goat was turned out, as we knew that she would not stray far from her young one. it had not long been dark when the storm we had observed broke over our heads. the thunder rattled, the lightning flashed, and the rain came down in torrents; but though a good deal found its way through the roof, we were able to pick out dry spots for our beds, and we had cause to be thankful that we were under shelter of any sort. as our abode also had stood for so many centuries, we had no fear of being washed away. we had collected a supply of stones to block up the lower part of the entrance; and with some boughs in addition we constructed a door, which was sufficient, we thought, to keep out any wild beasts or other intruders. before turning in, we cut the flesh off the other guinea-pigs, and smoked it over the fire; and we also parched a supply of maize, in case we should be unable to prepare it on any future occasion. notwithstanding the tempest which was raging outside, we slept very soundly, ned and i keeping alternate watches, for we were anxious to give pedro as much rest as possible. ned insisted on taking the first watch; and when he awoke me, i found that the greater part of the night had passed away. i expostulated with him on making me take less than my share of watching. "never mind, mate," he replied; "you are young, and want sleep. i'm accustomed to do with very little, do you see. often's the time, for a month on a stretch, i've not had more than three or four hours out of the four-and-twenty, and have been roused up to shorten sail two or three times between them." the storm had passed away, and when i put my head out through the branches which formed the door of our abode, i saw that the stars were shining brightly in the deep blue sky. as i stood there inhaling the fresh breeze, that i might the more easily keep myself awake, i saw a dark object emerge from among the trees, and stop, as if looking cautiously around. it was standing in the shade, and at first i thought it was an indian, though what his intention could be i could not divine. presently he came more into the road, and advanced towards the tower, when i saw, to my no little dismay, that he was an enormous black bear. he had probably, i thought, scented us out; and i fully expected a visit from him. i did not like to arouse ned; but i took up one of his pistols which lay on his knapsack, and held it in my hand ready to give the gentleman a warm reception, should he venture to put his snout into the tower. on he came, waddling at a great rate down the road. "he is certainly coming," i thought. "now, if i miss him, he will give me a hug i shall not like." i cocked my pistol, and kept my stick ready to give him a poke in the eye, which would keep him at bay till ned could jump up to my assistance. he stopped for an instant, and gave a low growl: his instinct probably told him that some enemies were near. i drew back a little, lest he should catch the glimmer of my eye. then he again advanced quicker than before. he soon came so close to me that i felt almost certain that i could hit him; but still as i thought i might only wound him and make him savage, i did not like to fire. i scarcely dared to breathe or move. he passed on down the hill, and i again breathed freely. presently i heard him give another growl, and directly afterwards i saw him waddling back again at a leisurely pace with something in his paws. as he went by the tower, i perceived that it was the unfortunate she-goat, whose kid we had fastened within. i was determined, if i could not save the poor goat's life, at all events to deprive master bruin of his supper, and calling out to ned, i dashed through the boughs in pursuit of him. it was hazardous work i own, but i had not a moment for thought. had i, probably i should have acted more wisely. ned was on his feet in a moment, and with his pistol in his hand in pursuit of the bear. bruin saw us coming, but showed no inclination to relinquish his prey. he ran on at a great rate, and it was some time before we overtook him. even when we were close to him, he continued his flight, apparently taking no notice of us. "whatever you do, don't fire, mate, before he shows his face!" exclaimed ned. "give him a poke in the neck; it will make him turn perhaps." i accordingly gave him a plunge with my stick, keeping, however, beyond the reach of his paws should he turn suddenly round. even this did not make him stop, so i gave him another dig, which at last brought him to bay, though he still kept hold of the goat. immediately he faced about. ned fired his pistol, aiming at his eye. the ball took effect, and, with a growl of fury, the beast rushed at us, at the same time dropping the goat. on this we retreated down the road, repenting not a little of our folly in having attacked him. seeing that the bear had received no mortal injury, ned snatched the other pistol from my hand, and waited steadily till the bear got within arm's length of him. i trembled for his safety, but resolved not to let him stand the brunt of the combat alone. i made a desperate charge with my stick. this distracted the attention of bruin, who seized hold of my stick, and at the same moment ned fired. the ball hit him, i saw, but was afraid had not mortally wounded him, for, with a loud growl, he sprung upon my companion. ned, however, was on the alert, and leaped nimbly on one side, as i did on the other, and the brute fell headlong over on his snout. we could not help giving a shout of triumph at our victory, which made pedro, who had been awakened by the shots, hurry up to us, wondering what was the matter. we were not quite certain that our foe was really dead; but a few pokes with our sticks at length convinced us that he was so, and we therefore ventured to examine him. the ball from the last shot had hit him in the eye, and entered his brain. "some bear steaks won't be bad things," observed ned. "now mates, let's look after the goat. i had made sure of a cup of milk for pedro this morning." we found the goat a little way off, but bruin had hugged the breath out of its body, and it was dead. pedro and i thereon dragged the goat close to the hut, while ned was employed in cutting the proposed steaks out of the bear. "you see, mates, it won't do to leave the work for the morning, for before that time the condors, the jaguars, and the pumas will be down upon him, and tear every scrap of meat from his bones," he remarked. "i wish he had been rather farther off, for the beasts will keep up such a concert that we shan't be able to sleep much more to-night." when he had finished operating on the bear, he began on his victim, observing that though goats' flesh was somewhat strong, it would serve to make a variety in our provisions. we had now more meat than we could well carry, in addition to which, as the kid could not live without its mother, we were obliged to sacrifice that also. on re-entering our abode, pedro and i employed ourselves in cutting the meat into slips and drying it before the fire, while ned again laid down to obtain his share of rest. pedro told me that the species of hear we had killed lived chiefly on fruits and vegetables, and that he often commits great ravages in the maize-fields of the indians, by breaking off the green tops and carrying them away to his hole in the mountains; but when he cannot obtain that sort of food, he will catch deer and wild boars, and will even attack the oxen employed in the sugar-mills on the plantations. he has also been known, when pressed by hunger, to assail solitary travellers in the mountains. in the morning, when we went out of our tower, we saw that several condors had been attracted by the carcase of the bear, and were tearing it to pieces. they flapped their huge wings, and glared fiercely at us with their red eyes as we watched them; but did not quit their banquet, from which we had no wish to disturb them. after a hearty breakfast, with renewed spirits and confidence we proceeded on our way. i have not space to recount all our adventures, and must for the future describe only those which were the most interesting. we climbed mountains, and traversed glens, and crossed torrents by the bridges i have often mentioned; and yet, day after day, not a human being did we meet. of course we kept as much as possible at a distance from their habitations; but the few farms we passed were deserted, and we had no doubt that the women and children had been removed to more secluded spots, while the men had gone to join the army of tupac amaru. a week had passed, and we were resting to take our midday meal, in a sheltered glen, under the shade of some lofty trees. pedro, notwithstanding the exertions he had undergone, had almost recovered from his hurts; and i never felt myself in better health and strength, while ned scarcely knew what fatigue or illness meant. our provisions had again run short, though we had collected a little indian corn at some of the deserted farms we had passed. "well," said ned, who had lighted his pipe and stretched himself out on his back, "i shan't be sorry when we get to the big river you speak of. walking is very pleasant exercise, especially when one hasn't half a hundredweight of traps and provisions to carry; but it's very slow work you'll allow. i like to spank along with a ten-knot breeze across the open ocean, with studden-sails alow and aloft; or to glide down a river with a strong current and fair breeze. ah, mate, if you ever come to sea with me in a smart craft, you'll know what moving fast means." i told him that i should like nothing better, and that i longed to begin our voyage down the amazon; but that i must first communicate with my indian friends, to learn if they had gained any tidings of my parents; for still i clung to the hope that they might have escaped destruction. pedro also was unwilling to leave the country without again seeing his friends. we were all talking very eagerly about our proposed plans, when a loud yell made us start to our feet, and, looking up, we saw a number of indians posted on the heights above us. some had bows, with their arrows ready drawn to shoot us; and others had slings in their hands, which they were whirling round with heavy stones, prepared to hurl at our heads. in another moment we should have had a shower of deadly missiles rattling about us, when pedro, rushing towards them, shouted out, in the quichua language, that we were friends of the inca. in an instant the arrows were withdrawn and the slings ceased to whirl, and the indians came hurrying down the sides of the mountain. in another minute we found ourselves surrounded by a large band of warriors. they examined us attentively, not being able to make out who we could be, though the words spoken by pedro proved that we were not enemies. ned gale, especially, caused them much surprise, for they certainly had never seen a human being like him before. when their chief arrived, he listened to the account pedro gave him, and replied that though he had no doubt it was correct, we must accompany him to the presence of the inca and his chiefs, who were encamped at the distance of some days' journey. "i suppose it's all right, mates," observed ned, when i told him what had been said. "for my part, i'm ready to go and see this new king of the injuns, as they call him; and if he's an honest chap, and wants a helping hand, why i'm ready to give it him. just you tell them that." i did not exactly translate ned's message; but i told the indians that we were anxious to see the inca, and would be happy to be of any service to him in our power. the indians were, i found, on their way to join the army; and as they wished to continue their march, they desired us to pack up our traps and accompany them. they looked upon us, i found, somewhat in the light of prisoners; though of this we had no reason to complain, as they were naturally suspicious of strangers, who might act as spies on their movements. we were treated kindly, but were narrowly watched whenever the party halted to rest. though not better equipped, they were far more civilised than most of the tribes who composed the army of tupac catari; and they marched with some regularity, and took all necessary precautions to guard against surprise. we learned from them that the spaniards, having recovered from the alarm into which they had been thrown at the commencement of the outbreak, were collecting in considerable force in the neighbourhood of cuzco, to defend that city from an attack which tupac amaru was threatening to make on it. "it matters not," observed the cacique, who was my informant. "the more who collect, the greater number of our foes shall we overwhelm with one blow." i ventured to doubt this; but he replied-- "stay till you see the army of the inca, and try to number our standards; then tell me if you think the white faces can withstand them." i thought it better not to dwell on the subject, for fear of irritating the chief; but i recalled to my memory the handful of spaniards who conquered the well-trained armies of the inca atahualpa, and had little hope for the success of his descendant, tupac amaru, with his host of undisciplined levies; though doubtlessly their opponents had greatly degenerated from the hardy warriors who fought under pizarro. as it was necessary to supply food for the army, and we were passing through a part of the country where the vicunas abounded, the party halted to engage in a grand hunt, which is termed a _chacu_. about two hundred men were told off for this purpose; some remaining encamped, and others being sent as scouts, to the rear, to ascertain that no spaniards were following us. pedro, ned, and i were invited by the cacique to accompany him. half the party were supplied with weapons called _bolas_. these _bolas_ were composed of three balls of lead or stone, at one end of as many long lines, formed of the twisted sinews of the vicuna, the opposite ends being fastened together. one ball is rather lighter than the others, and when used, this is held in the hand, while the heavier ones are swung in a circle round the head. when the indian is about twenty paces from the object he wishes to strike, he lets go the lighter ball, and the weapon flies off, and the strings encircle in many folds the neck or legs of the animal. besides the _bolas_, the party had procured from the neighbouring villages a quantity of rope and a number of stakes, and with them we repaired to an extensive, elevated plain, where many herds of vicunas were observed feeding. having selected a spacious level spot, the stakes were planted in the ground, at a distance of fifteen feet apart, and were connected together by the ropes about two feet and a half from the ground. a circular space was thus formed, of perhaps a mile and a half in circumference, an opening of about two hundred paces being left to serve as an entrance. along the rope were fastened bits of coloured rags, which blew about in the breeze, and were intended to frighten the animals, and prevent them from leaping over the barrier. this enclosure is properly called a _chacu_. it being arranged, we withdrew, and breaking into a number of small parties, we formed a circle at a little distance apart from each other, and several miles across. we then began to close, driving before us, with loud shouts, all the herds of vicunas we met with. the men opposite the entrance advanced more slowly than the rest; and the timid animals, seeing the fluttering bits of cloth, ran before us with affright, till they reached the open space, when they darted into the _chacu_. some fifty vicunas were thus in a very short time collected, when the indians, running among them, began throwing their _bolas_ with the greatest dexterity, never failing to entangle the legs of the game, which they speedily killed with their clubs or knives. sometimes the indians use the _bola_ on horseback; and i must remark that it requires great dexterity to do so with effect, as a clumsy person is very likely to twist the cords round his own neck or that of his steed, instead of the animal he is hunting. as soon as the vicunas were killed, they were carried off to the camp to be skinned and cut up; and we then moved to a distance, to form a new _chacu_. during three days, which we passed in the neighbourhood, we killed two hundred vicunas; and then, laden with their flesh, we continued our journey. the vicuna is a more beautiful animal than either the llama or the alpaca. it is between them in size, measuring four feet from the ground to the top of the head, and two and a half feet from the ground to the shoulders. the neck is longer and more slender; and the wool is finer, short, and curly. the top of the head, neck, and back, and the thighs, are of a peculiar reddish hue; and the inner part of the limbs and the lower part of the neck are of a bright ochre colour; and the breast and lower part of the body is white. each herd consists of from six to fifteen females and one male, who, standing at a distance, acts the part of guardian, while the rest are grazing, and when danger approaches, gives a peculiar whistle and stamp of the foot. the herd look, with outstretched necks, in the direction of the danger, and then take to flight, the male stopping every now and then to cover their retreat, and watch the movements of the enemy. should he be killed or wounded, the indians declare that the females will gather round him in a circle, and uttering shrill cries of lamentation, will suffer themselves to be destroyed rather than desert him. as we proceeded on our march, we fell in with many other parties of indians, advancing in the same direction; some of whom were of the savage tribes from the far interior, summoned to swell the host of the inca. many of them were accompanied by troops of llamas, carrying provisions. some of these had bells hung round their necks, and were adorned with bows of ribbons at their ears. they proceeded at a slow pace, carrying their long, graceful necks something like the camel, and gazing anxiously around on either side with their wild prominent eyes, to watch the movements of their guides, or to observe the appearance of the country. they were of a variety of colours; brown, black, white, and pie-bald. i may here remark that the extreme height of the animal, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, is not more than four feet and from six to eight inches; and from the sole of the foot to the shoulder, rather under three feet. their frames are so slight that they will not carry a load of more than about seventy pounds weight; but they have the valuable qualification of being able to live many days, find even months, without drinking, owing to their power of generating saliva in their mouths. other parties had mules for the same purpose. some were on horseback, and formed an irregular and very scythian-like looking cavalry. several bands of those on foot were followed by their wives and children; showing that they felt confident of victory, and came prepared to take possession of the territories they hoped to conquer. at length, after passing through a dark gorge, and climbing a steep acclivity, we once more began to descend; when, from the height on which we stood, we looked down upon the vast army of the inca, collected on a plain, or rather wide valley, between ranges of lofty mountains. "what say you now?" exclaimed the cacique, with a look of triumph. "do the white faces dream of the mighty host collected to liberate for ever the kingdom of the incas from their cruel hands?" "i have heard that it was prophesied that the kingdom of the incas should be restored by the people of my country. there are none of them there," i replied. "it is true," said the cacique. "but if you and your bold friend were to fight by the side of the inca, might not the prophecy be thus fulfilled?" i at once saw the mistake i had made in thus speaking; for i felt that i might be compelled, contrary to the advice my father had given me, to engage actively in a contest in which i had no personal interest. before i had time to reply, the signal of advance was given, and the party hurried down the steep to join their comrades in the valley. far as the eye could reach in either direction, and even up the mountains sides, were extended the vast host of the inca, drawn up in battle array. from among their dusky lines arose a forest of waving banners, long lances, and battle-axes, tossing to and fro, and glittering in the rays of the noonday sun which shone down upon their heads. at intervals might be seen rich panoplies of feather work and lofty plumes, marking the post of some leading cacique, or inca noble. some way to the right, on a rising ground, rose the magnificent canopy under which the inca tupac amaru was to be found, surrounded by his generals and nobles. as the march was about to commence, our conductors hurried us down the hill past the crowded ranks of the army, towards the spot where the inca was stationed. when a little distance off, he went forward alone, and prostrating himself before the monarch, announced the arrival of some captives. the inca immediately ordered us to be brought before him. he was seated under the canopy on a cushioned throne, richly ornamented with gold; and on either side of him were ranged a dense mass of his chiefs and councillors, all dressed in garments similar to those worn by their ancestors. tupac amaru himself was habited as tradition has described atahualpa; and he wore as a crown the crimson _borla_, or fringe, which hung down as low as the eye-brow, and gave a very peculiar expression to his grave and handsome countenance. i have before mentioned that he was a tall and dignified person; and he looked well worthy in every respect to be the sovereign of the assembled multitude. when he saw us he beckoned us to approach, and made inquiries of our conductor respecting us, not knowing that pedro and i understood the quichua language. the cacique simply stated where he had found us, and replied that we could answer for ourselves. i begged pedro to act as spokesman, and he gave a short account of our adventures, as well as of my history. the inca seemed much interested, and assured us of his protection; at the same time inviting us to accompany him in his march to lay siege to cuzco. pedro in reply, having expressed our gratitude to the inca, entreated to be allowed to remain behind, assuring the inca that he was ready to lay down his life for the benefit of the indians, but that the spaniards were his countrymen and he could not fight against them. the nobles who stood round seemed very much offended at this; but the inca observing that he should consider the subject, turned to ned and asked him what he would do. i put the question to him in english. "tell his majesty, if it's to fight the dons, i'll help him with all my heart," he at once replied. "it comes natural like, and it won't be the first time i've been at blows with them. i owe them a grudge, too, for killing as honest a fellow as ever stepped, and that was my late skipper. tell him all that, mate, and say i'm his man whenever he wants me." the inca appeared much pleased at ned's reply, which i interpreted; but he seemed less inclined to treat pedro and me with favour. my turn came next. i own that i felt great reluctance to refuse fighting, and having no sufficient excuse to offer, was about to answer that i was ready to serve in any capacity the inca might desire, when a loud shout was raised, and a fresh body of indians was seen hurrying down the mountain's side. a chief came at their head, and i looked towards him as the loud shouts of those around me gave him welcome. i could scarcely believe my eyes. it was my friend manco! i was certain of it; and forgetting the presence of the inca and his nobles, i rushed forward to meet him. it was manco in reality. we clasped each other's hands, and for a time could scarcely speak. he had thought me dead, or lingering in a spanish prison, while i till now had been uncertain of his fate. he told me that when he was led out to be shot, it had occurred to him that by keeping his eye on the soldiers he might drop as they fired, and allow the balls to fly over him; and that as he knew a number of indians were collected on the other side of the river, by swimming across, they might assist him to escape. he never lost his presence of mind, and watching for the moment the soldiers drew their triggers, he fell to the ground, instantly again springing up and flying to the river. before the smoke from the muskets had cleared away, he had plunged in and was swimming across. several bullets struck the water close to him, but landing uninjured, he and his friends set off towards the mountains as rapidly as they could proceed. they were pursued by a strong body of spanish soldiers, who followed them to their retreat. it was several days before they could elude their enemies, and they had then marched through a number of indian villages to collect recruits, before joining the army. after he had paid his respects to the inca, he introduced pedro and me as his friends, and we at once perceived that we were regarded in a more favourable light than before. we accordingly obtained permission to remain with him; but as the inca was desirous of having ned to assist in working his artillery, several pieces of which were with their army, we very unwillingly were compelled to part from him. manco having performed his public duties, now set out in search of his wife and child, whom he heard were with the women in the camp. notice had been given to nita of his escape from death and safe return, and she with her infant was ready to receive him. this meeting was very affecting; and as the brave warrior once more took his child in his arms, he wept over it for joy. he could not, however, remain with her long, for his duties called him back to the army. "pedro, my friend," he said, "i know you would not fight against your countrymen; to your charge, therefore, i commit my wife; watch over her, and guard her from danger. if i fall, carry her and my child to a place of safety, and restore her, when times of peace again return, to her father and her people." pedro with tears promised to obey his wishes. "and you, david, what will you do?" he asked. "i will accompany you," i replied, forgetting my former resolutions, and inspired with admiration for the gallant chieftain. "i will fight by your side, and help to restore peace and prosperity to peru." chapter seventeen. siege of sarata--capture of tupac amaru. we found the head quarters of the inca established in an ancient castle, built of large hewn stones on the side of a mountain, and which, from its size and mode of construction, is still one of the wonders of peru. here he held his court, and was treated with all the honours due to a sovereign prince. i was particularly struck with the amount of etiquette which was maintained, when i recollected that the inca himself had, but a few months before, been living the life of a simple farmer, as had his chiefs and councillors, and that many of them had indeed been little better than slaves to the spaniards. manco informed me that it had been resolved to despatch him with a force of ten thousand men to join a body of the same number under the command of andres tupac amaru, the young son of the inca, who was laying siege to sarata, a large town not far from the lake of titicaca; and he begged me to accompany him. i was sorry to be separated from ned gale, but he said that the inca had put the guns under his charge, and as they were not to go, he would stick by them. i was furnished with a very good horse, and took my place by the side of manco. the men being amply supplied with cacao every day, without apparent fatigue performed forced marches which would have completely knocked up any european troops. as we advanced, we found that all the white inhabitants had fled and taken refuge in the town, where it was said twenty thousand people were collected. my readers may be assured that my great object was, if possible, to mitigate the horrors which i dreaded would take place should my indian friends prove successful. on our arrival we found the young andres closely investing the town, the inhabitants of which were already suffering from famine, though they had sternly refused to listen to a summons which had been sent in to them to surrender. they had just before made a sortie, when the indians had lost a number of men; but they were, after much desperate fighting, again compelled to retire within their trenches. the indians had taken several prisoners, among whom was a priest; and as soon as we arrived he was sent in with a second summons, containing offers of peace on such conditions as might be agreed on between commissioners to be appointed on both sides. the young general, with manco and other chiefs, were standing on a hill overlooking the town when the priest proceeded on his mission. "what is proposed to be done if the inhabitants refuse your terms?" i asked. "look there," he replied. "you see that from the river which passes at a short distance from us, there is a deep ravine leading to the town, and somewhat lower than its banks. by blocking up the course of the river, we propose to turn its waters into the ravine, when they will rush down and speedily flood the ramparts, and wash them away." i doubted the power of the indians to perform this. "think you not the descendants of those men who formed these great roads, and built the castles and palaces which still endure, can perform so small a task as that?" he replied. "wait, my friend, till you see." after a considerable delay the priest returned, and acknowledging that the inhabitants were reduced to feed upon mules, dogs, cats, and rats, said that they agreed to the proposed terms, with a truce of two days. during this time numbers of half-famished wretches were allowed freely to wander out and collect all the food they could from the indians. at the end of the time two officers of the garrison came out, and sent a message by the priest, stating that they were deputed to act as commissioners, and proposed that the enemy should retire to a distance, while the chiefs should meet them midway between the troops and the town. no objection was made, and young andres, manco, and other chiefs, with about twenty followers, repaired to the proposed spot. scarcely had they arrived there than some of their sentinels, posted on a neighbouring hill overlooking the town, gave notice that the spaniards were collecting in great force at the gates, and were evidently meditating a sortie to capture the chiefs. on this the two spaniards who were approaching the place of meeting, attempted to escape into the town; but the indians intercepting them, cut them down as a strong party of the garrison rushed from the gates. the chiefs, vowing vengeance for the meditated treachery, had barely time to retreat; their forces came hurrying up for their protection; and the siege once more commenced with greater activity than before. the indians mustered nearly a thousand muskets, with which they kept up a hot fire on the trenches: besides which, they assailed the town with flights of arrows, showers of stones and burning darts, which set fire to many of the houses where they fell. still the town held out, and the leaders, anxious to proceed to other conquests, sent in a third summons to the garrison to surrender. another priest was the bearer. i waited with much anxiety for his return, as the indians had vowed to destroy all the inhabitants, should the town be taken after their offer had a third time been refused. i was not, indeed, quite certain that, in case of a surrender, some of the chiefs and their followers did not meditate treachery. they were, it must be remembered, ignorant savages, and on too many occasions the spaniards had set them an example they were likely to imitate. i took my food each day with manco on a hill overlooking the town, from whence a perfect view could be obtained of the whole scene of operations. during the absence of the envoy hostilities had ceased, and the indians had withdrawn to a distance from the trenches. they now formed a circle round the town, their cavalry occupying every level space, and the infantry covering the surrounding hills with dense masses. the river flowed calmly by; the valleys looked bright and smiling; and the town itself seemed wrapped in perfect repose. alas! it was the repose which precedes dissolution. at length the priest was seen issuing from the gates, and taking his way with a sorrowful countenance towards the quarters of the young indian general. we immediately repaired there. the inhabitants, mistrusting the indians, as i concluded, refused to surrender. "then their doom is sealed," said andres; and forthwith gave orders to block up the course of the river, so as to direct it into the ravine communicating with the town. several thousand men were employed day and night at this work, while the rest kept the besieged in play. after two weeks' incessant labour, the works were declared complete, and the whole army prepared for a general assault. i took up my usual post to watch the result, hoping for the sake of humanity that it might fail, but induce the inhabitants to submit. at a given signal the embankments were knocked down, and the water in a vast torrent rushed towards the town, flooding the entrenchments and shaking the walls. they, however, withstood the shock, and the brave defenders again returned to the shattered works from which they had been driven. once more the sluices were shut, and the inhabitants were left to fancy that the threatened danger had passed by. the next morning, however, the indians again surrounded the devoted town; in an increased volume the water was made to pass through the ravine, and sweeping onward in a terrific torrent, it rushed down upon the trenches and ramparts, carrying all before it. the defenders fled in dismay from their posts; the signal for advance was given, and the indians, led on by their fiercest chiefs, dashed through the newly-formed breach and entered the town. i would willingly draw a veil over the scene of horror which ensued. little or no opposition was offered; but the spirit of vengeance was aroused, and not a man they encountered escaped. prayers and entreaties were disregarded--death was dealt on every side. those who attempted to fly were driven back; and of the twenty thousand persons who in the morning walked alive through the streets, women only and a few priests, and one or two laymen, who had taken refuge within the church, were spared. i had earnestly entreated manco to do his utmost to save the lives of those who offered no resistance, pointing out to him the policy of so doing; and through his means chiefly those few persons were preserved from destruction. he had claimed some of them as his own property; and for their better protection they were brought to the hut he and i inhabited, on a hill a short distance from the town. among them was a man whose deep dejection, and countenance and manners, deeply interested me. though his dress was soiled and bloody, i at once perceived that he was a gentleman. "alas!" he said, "i have been the child of misfortune from my earliest clays. whenever any bright prospect has appeared before me, it has vanished ere i could enjoy it. i married a wife; she was young and beautiful; but poverty oppressed us, and she had been accustomed to wealth and luxury. a child was born to us, and i trusted it would reconcile her to our lot; but as we were travelling through the country, we were attacked by the montoneros, and the infant, and the nurse who had charge of him, were carried away to the mountains and slain, for we could never again hear tidings of either of them. for years i toiled on till i amassed a handsome fortune; but scarcely was it obtained, when death deprived me of my wife. i had laid out my money in the purchase of an estate, in the cultivation of which i had resolved to employ myself till heaven should allow me to join my wife and child in another world, when this dreadful outbreak commenced, and reduced me to beggary. by a strange fate, though all my companions have been destroyed, i still am bound to life, which i would gladly have quitted." don gomez de castro, i learned, was the prisoner's name. our conversation, which had been prolonged till a late hour, for it was now night, was interrupted by a blaze of light, which illuminated the whole sky. hurrying to the door of the hut, the cause became apparent. the unfortunate town of sarata was on fire. in every direction the flames were bursting furiously forth, till the entire place became one burning mass. don gomez, as he looked at the scene, wrung his hands, and wept bitterly. the fire raged all night; and next morning nothing remained of sarata but a heap of smouldering ashes. the indians triumphed, as savages alone may be excused in triumphing, over their fallen enemies. the priests who had been rescued, were, however, treated with respect; which showed the extraordinary influence they had obtained over the minds of the people. had it been more beneficially exerted, by teaching them the simple truths of pure christianity, it would assuredly have prevented the horrors of the outbreak; but i fear their aim had rather been to establish their power, for their own selfish advantage, than for the sake of religion. "by their fruits ye shall know them." a council of war was now held; when the young general andres resolved to advance upon the town of la paz; while manco, with five thousand men, was to keep the communication open with the north, where he was to rejoin tupac amaru. i rejoiced at this, for i was anxious to see pedro and ned gale again; and i own, from the scenes i had witnessed, i longed to quit the indian army, and to commence our proposed journey towards europe. we marched as rapidly as before; the cavalry scouring the country in every direction, and now and then reporting that they had met and destroyed a few of the enemy; but no prisoners were brought in. i had often expostulated with manco in vain, on the wanton destruction of human life. his answer was, "we treat the spaniards as they treated us. i cannot prevent my people from taking vengeance." yet, strange to say, every chief made a point of attaching to himself, as a christian chaplain, one of the priests who had been saved from the captured towns and villages. as we approached the neighbourhood of cuzco, intelligence was brought us that the spaniards had collected in great force in that city; and that having been joined by a number of indian tribes from chili, and further to the south, they were well prepared to give battle to tupac amaru. on hearing this, we redoubled our efforts to join the main army. we found them drawn up in the neighbourhood of tungasuca, in an extensive flat, with a hill on one side, and a river in their rear, prepared to receive the enemy, who were advancing along a valley in their front. a strong body was posted on the hill, where the artillery was likewise stationed. i at once repaired there, in the hopes of finding ned; but the cacique who had command of it received me very coldly, and informed me that the services of my countryman were no longer required, and that he could not tell where he was. this chief went by the name of quizquiz, after a famous general of the inca atahualpa. i had met him before. i did not like either his countenance or his manners; but the inca had confidence in him, and listened to his advice. he had become, i suspected, jealous of ned, and did not like his interference. after wandering about for some time among the motley assemblage of dusky warriors, i found my old friend in the rear, sitting on the ground, and quietly smoking his pipe. as soon as he saw me, he jumped up and wrung my hand heartily. "i'm glad to see you, mate, that i am," he exclaimed. "i've been waiting for you, to be off; for the sooner we are out of this, the better, i'm thinking. a set of lubbers there have got hold of the guns, which they don't know how to work; and they'll do themselves no good, and the enemy no harm, when they begin to fight, i warrant. the inca is as fine a fellow as ever stepped; but for that senor quizquiz, or whatever they call him, he'll play him some trick, or my name's not ned gale; mark that, mate." ned having thus vented his spleen, as many another man would have done at having been deprived of his command, told me that pedro was at a village among the hills in the neighbourhood, anxiously waiting my return. he informed me also that the wife of the inca, nita, and a large number of other women were collected there. accompanied by ned, i returned to where manco with his men was encamped; and obtaining permission from him to carry off don gomez, we set out to look for pedro. i was mounted, and i had likewise obtained horses for my companions. beyond the river i have spoken of there was a succession of lofty hills, among which was situated the village now inhabited by the wives of the chiefs and other women. we were obliged to ride along the banks of the river some way, till we found a ford, which we crossed. as we ascended the first eminence, and looked back upon the scene we had left, it presented a very beautiful appearance. the long lines of warriors, their shining arms, the innumerable banners, and the variety of costumes, from the half-naked savages of the interior, with their skin mantles and feather crowns, to the well-clothed inhabitants of the mountains and western plains, and the rich dresses of the chiefs embroidered with gold and ornamented with precious stones. then the extraordinary mixture of weapons--the artillery and muskets of modern warfare, with the bows, the slings, the clubs, and darts of ancient times. each man had come provided with such arms as he could procure; and for years before every indian who could obtain a musket had carefully concealed it for the moment when he hoped to use it for the liberation of his country. tupac amaru had acted the part of a good general, by providing an ample commissariat, and several mills for the manufacture of gunpowder. had he at once followed up the successes with which the outbreak commenced, instead of wasting his time in preparing the pageants of mock royalty, i see no reason to doubt that he might really have re-established the dynasty of the incas in peru. if we look at the way in which the circassians, a mere handful of men, have for so many years defended against the arms of the russians, a country more difficult to protect, we cannot but believe that the peruvians might have successfully held the passes of the andes against any force spain could have sent against them. in the case of the circassians, however, it is the superior race, few in number, and unaccustomed to what is called civilisation, but defending their mountains against the inferior, though armed and disciplined by service; whereas the peruvians were decidedly far lower in the scale of human beings than the spaniards, and for long ages had been unacquainted with war, and had yielded submission to those against whom they had now risen. there were many noble spirits among them; but others had the faults which years of slavery will ever leave behind, and treachery and deceit were among them. such reflections as these passed through my mind as i watched the embattled host. just as we gained the brow of the hill, the loud roar of cannon sounded in our ears, and turning our horses' heads, we saw a large body of spanish cavalry galloping towards the peruvian army. the artillery of the latter had opened on them at too great a distance to harm them. they halted for a time to allow the infantry to advance with several light field pieces, which at once commenced a very effectual fire on the crowded ranks of the indians. several large bodies of the peruvians rushed gallantly on to meet them; when the spanish cavalry charged in among their somewhat disordered ranks, and drove them back with great loss. quizquiz finding, it appeared, that his guns did little execution from whence he was posted, dragged them on more in advance. ned watched him anxiously. "there," he exclaimed, "i thought it would be so. does the lubber think the dons will let him stay there quietly to fire at them?" quizquiz, however, seemed to think differently, and began firing away with great animation, his shot telling with some effect on the spanish ranks. no sooner was this perceived, than a strong body was despatched to attack him. some peruvian troops were also marching to his support; but his danger had not been seen in time, and the spaniards charging them with great spirit, the general took to flight, and left his guns in the possession of the enemy. i had before suspected him of intending treachery, and i was now certain of it. he, with a number of his men on horseback, rode off, and did not stop till he had crossed the river below us. the action now became general. the whole indian line advanced, led on by tupac amaru and his bravest chiefs. both sides fought with the greatest bravery; but the spanish infantry, trusting in the superiority of their firearms, kept at a distance from the indians, the cavalry only charging every now and then as the broken ranks of their opponents offered them an opportunity of success. so vastly superior, however, were the indians in numbers, that the wings being moved forward were on the point of completely encircling the spaniards, when the whole force of the latter, advancing at a quick march, made a desperate attack on the peruvian centre, the cavalry meantime charging the wings. the indians, already shaken, could not withstand the shock. the chiefs urged them on. many fought with the most desperate bravery. it had now become a hand-to-hand combat, the spaniards like a wedge forcing their way onward. the great aim seemed to be to seize the inca. several of his chiefs perceiving this, seized his horse's bridle, and endeavoured to drag him out of the fight. his followers, believing that it was the signal of defeat, gave way, and fled in all directions. the chiefs in vain attempted to stop them. some fled across the plain, others climbed up the neighbouring heights, and many attempted to cross the river. among the latter was the inca, with the chiefs who had surrounded him for his protection. the spanish cavalry followed close upon their heels. the inca plunged in with his horse, which boldly stemmed the torrent; while his gallant followers turned and bravely attempted to oppose the passage of the spaniards, till he had crossed safely over. the latter, flushed with victory, charged them fiercely, and cutting at them with their swords, scarcely a man remained alive. the inca, with his son and brother, and other relatives, had reached the opposite bank, and was galloping towards the mountains, where he might have found a safe retreat; when the traitor quizquiz, who, with his followers, had been lying in ambush, rushed out and surrounded him. so completely taken by surprise was he, that neither he nor any of his companions attempted to defend themselves. of those who did, one man only escaped from among them, and we saw them galloping with desperate speed towards us. meantime the spanish cavalry had crossed the stream, and the traitor advancing to meet them, in a few minutes the unfortunate inca was in their power. we had been so intently watching these events, that we had not observed what was taking place in another direction. when the chief who had made his escape was perceived by the spaniards, several horsemen were sent in pursuit of him. he urged on his horse with desperate speed over the rocky and broken ground, at the foot of the sierra on which we stood, the soldiers every now and then discharging their pieces at him. my interest increased as he approached, for i fancied that i recognised my friend manco. his pursuers got nearer to him, and fired more frequently. i dreaded lest their shot should take effect. they were close upon his heels; for his horse, wearied with his long journey and constant exertion during the day, could scarcely bear him on. just at that moment a shout reached my ears, and looking up in the direction whence it came, i saw pedro running along the ridge of the hill towards us. i waved to him as a signal that i had recognised him, and then once more turned to watch manco's progress. tired as was his steed, it was more accustomed to the rough ground than were those of the spaniards, with their heavy arms and accoutrements. the noble animal exerted all its energies, well aware, it seemed, that a life depended on its speed. chapter eighteen. pedro finds his father--murder of the inca. i have said that don gomez was at my side. as he saw the spaniards drawing near, he turned to me. "senor david," he said, "these are my countrymen. the indians have lost the day." "you would wish to join them. is it so?" i asked. "i would. have i your permission?" he said. "you were committed to my charge by yonder chief, who, i trust, will be with us soon. if he gives you your liberty, your word will not be broken, though i shall be sorry to part from you," i replied. "but the indians are defeated," urged don gomez. "am i to remain a prisoner for ever?" "till he who received your word restores it to you," i again answered; and while i was speaking, pedro reached us. for a moment he was too breathless to speak; and during this interval i observed that manco had so far got ahead of his pursuers, that their shot began to fall short. they halted; for just then they perceived us on the hills, probably supposing us enemies; and at the same moment a party of indians, who lay concealed in some brushwood below us, sprang upon them. had the indians waited till the soldiers had advanced a little further, every man of the latter might have been killed or captured. as it was, they had time to turn their horses, and gallop off the way they had come, followed by a shower of arrows, which killed one and wounded another of them. manco, without stopping, made his horse breast the hill. he had got up some way, when we saw the noble animal stagger and fall, and both horse and rider lay motionless on the ground. ned and i galloped down the hill towards him; for don gomez had, in the moment before, thrown himself from his horse, and was standing grasping pedro's hand, and looking earnestly in his face. we reached manco. we found that his horse was dead, and that he had received a severe wound in his side. while we were stooping over him, the indians came up, and, not knowing who we were, were on the point of knocking us on the head with their clubs, when he recovered his senses, and exclaimed that we were friends. we were once more aroused to action by pedro's voice; and lifting manco on my horse, which was fresh and strong, i rode up the hill, accompanied by ned, and followed by the indians. "fly, fly!" exclaimed pedro. "i came to warn you of the danger you are in. look there, look there!" we looked in the direction he pointed; and i now perceived that while we had been watching the flight and capture of the inca, and manco's subsequent escape, which had occupied a considerable time, a strong body of troops had crossed the ford higher up the river, and were advancing rapidly along the path which led to the village where the wives of the chiefs had been left. in a few hurried words, pedro told me that on hearing the firing, he had come out to see what was taking place, and that, like ourselves, he had been watching the battle from another height. to my deep regret, i found that, from the character of the ground, the troops were already much nearer the village than we were, and already occupied the only approach to it, so that the indian women must inevitably fall into their power. i endeavoured to conceal this information from manco; for, heart-broken and wounded as he was, i thought it would kill him outright. those only, however, for whom i felt a personal interest, were nita and her child; and i would have run every risk to save them. we were at the time posted in a dip in the hill, and while ned and i bound up manco's wound, i sent pedro to a height above us, to report the movements of the troops. in a short time he gave notice that a party of them had been detached from the main body, and were advancing in our direction. i concluded that as we climbed the hill, followed by the indians, we had been perceived, and that, unless we were prepared to run the risk of falling into the hands of the spaniards, we must make our escape. manco was sufficiently recovered to sit on horseback, and i proposed giving him my horse and following on foot. as we were about to move off, i recollected don gomez's request. "he is at liberty to go," answered manco. "perhaps he may recollect how he has been treated, and intercede for some of the unfortunate indians who have fallen into the hands of his countrymen." to my surprise, don gomez refused the offer. "i will remain some time longer with you, unless that, youth (pointing to pedro) may accompany me. i would ask him some further questions; for his countenance has strangely agitated my mind." i had no opportunity of inquiring what he meant, when pedro exclaimed that he saw an indian woman, with a child in her arms, on the ridge of the hill, at some distance; and that the party of soldiers he had seen detached from the main body, were evidently in pursuit of her. manco hearing these words, seemed to surmise what had occurred, and, in spite of his wound, throwing himself on my horse and calling on the indians to follow, he galloped along the rocky height. the eye of love at once recognised the person of the fugitive. it was his own nita. we all hurried after him, and even don gomez seemed anxious for his success. ned, who was the only other person on horseback, and who, though he rode like a seaman, always managed to make his steed cross places few people would have ventured over, was soon by his side, and together the two galloped on towards the indian woman. "hurra," shouted ned, "hurra! mr indian, hurra! we'll manage to diddle the dons." the spanish soldiers had begun firing; but as they had at the same time to climb the hill, and were at a considerable distance, their aim was not good. their bullets, notwithstanding, as we got nearer, came whizzing by our heads; but still we pushed on. they were evidently, however, gaining on the poor girl; and should she fall, or her strength fail her, they would be up to her before her husband could arrive to her rescue. i have often had to undergo moments of great excitement, but never have i felt such intense anxiety as i did for nita's rescue. on galloped manco and ned. the soldiers saw them coming, and fired a volley. i saw manco reel for an instant, but still he sat his horse. in another minute ned had lifted nita on his horse, and placed her before him, and handing the child to manco, the two returned at the same rapid rate towards us. the spaniards, disappointed of their prey, halted, and fired again; and then seeing only a small body of indians, continued their advance. as we had nothing to gain by fighting, i called out to manco, as he came up, to order the indians to retreat. we managed to do so in very good order, and at so rapid a rate that we soon distanced the spaniards. they were, however, continuing the pursuit, when the sound of a bugle from the main body called them back. halting as they heard it, they fired a parting volley after us. it was well aimed; several of the indians were struck, as was also the unfortunate don gomez. i ran to his assistance; but he still sat his horse. "it is nothing," he said; "a mere flesh wound, which i shall soon recover from." i beckoned pedro, who went up to him and walked by his side. i was afraid lest a sudden faintness should make him fall from his horse. "what do you propose doing?" i asked of manco as soon as, having got beyond range of the spaniards' muskets, we came to a halt. "proscribed and hunted, we must henceforth, like beasts of prey, seek for safety in the caves and recesses of the mountains," he answered gloomily. "you say well we must settle what is to be done. there is a cavern high up the mountains some way from this, where some hundred men may take shelter. few know of it, and if any traitors were to lead the spaniards to it, they would find it cost them dear to attack us there. i will show the way. on, on, my friends, on!" i saw that the chief was in no mood for conversation. that day all his brightest hopes had faded away for ever. the liberty of peru was lost; his friends had been slaughtered round him; and his inca was a prisoner in the hands of his bitterest foes. we pushed on as fast as the rugged nature of the country would allow us to move; crossing valleys and streams, and climbing mountains, till we arrived at the foot of a lofty and perfectly perpendicular precipice, along the foot of which we moved for some distance. as i looked up, i saw that stones hurled from the summit would completely have annihilated us. almost at right angles from the cliff arose another hill, up which we now began to climb. on reaching the summit, we turned once more in the direction of the cliffs, which we found were connected with the hill by a natural bridge of rock thrown across a dark and frightful gorge. ordering the horses to be turned adrift on the hill, manco, with his child in his arms, led the way across the bridge, and along a narrow ledge, which now appeared as if cut by natural labour in the side of the cliff. i kept close to him to assist him if required; ned followed, supporting nita; pedro, leading don gomez, went next; and the indians in single file after us. a couple of hundred yards along a ledge, where a single false step would have proved certain death, brought us to a hollow in the face of the rock, entering which, we found ourselves in a cavern of very extensive dimensions. the ground was perfectly level, and the roof dry; and from the appearance i judged that art had been employed to render it habitable. near the mouth were several pieces of wood which served for torches; and fire being produced by some of the indians, the cavern was soon sufficiently lit up to show us its extent. on one side, a fountain of pure water spouted from the rock; on the other, a quantity of wood was piled up; and in some oven-shaped buildings, i found was stored a quantity of corn. it is impossible to conceive a place more impregnable by nature. the summit of the cliffs, i afterwards found, was perfectly inaccessible; while below they extended in a perpendicular wall to a depth of four hundred feet at least. in front the valley widened out to a considerable extent, the opposite cliff being also almost inaccessible, so that the only possible approach was by the narrow ledge along which we had come. indeed it seemed capable of holding out against any besiegers, as long as the provisions within might last. as soon as we entered, ned placed nita on the ground, and manco, faint with loss of blood, as well as with fatigue and agitation, sunk down by her side. taking the infant from him, she handed it to ned, whose honest countenance had won her confidence. she then placed her husband's head in her lap, and bent over him in silence, expressing her grief neither in tears nor cries. "come, don't be cast down, missus," said ned, his kind heart moved by her sorrow. "better times may come, and your good man isn't going to slip his cable, i hope. i say, mate, she don't understand my lingo," he continued, turning to me; "just you tell her what i say. it'll cheer her up a bit." i saw that words could bring no comfort to the poor creature, but that our attention might be more effectually employed in binding up manco's wounds. telling ned this, we set to work in as scientific a way as we were able. some of the indians brought us water, and nita, when she saw what we were about, aroused herself to help us. we had scarcely finished the operation, when a cry from pedro called us to the assistance of don gomez, who had likewise fainted from the pain of his wound and loss of blood. my attention had, indeed, been so completely occupied with my indian friend, that i had forgotten that the spaniard had been hurt. pedro was kneeling by his side, and supporting him with a look of interest and anxiety, which i at first was at a loss to understand. "o come, my friend, come and help him, or he will die!" he exclaimed. ned, who had seen many a gun-shot wound, and had often assisted the surgeons to doctor his shipmates, examined the spaniard's hurts. "it's a bad job, mate, i'm afraid," he observed, pointing to his side. "the ball is in him somewhere, for there's the place it entered, and i can find no hole where it could have got out again. i've been feeling for it all round his back, but there's no sign of it. how he came on so far as this without dropping, i don't know. it was his spirit kept him up, i suppose." finding that we could do nothing else to relieve the unfortunate don gomez, we washed and bound up his wound, and then laid him on a bed of some straw and skins, which we found in the cavern. the same care had been taken of manco. the indians, meantime, had lighted a fire in the mouth of the cavern, and were seated round it in moody silence, brooding over their defeat and the death of many of their comrades and friends. we found some brandy among the stores, and after don gomez had swallowed a little of it, which we gave him with some water, he revived, and beckoned pedro to him. "you were telling me, as we came along, a strange tale of your life, young man," he said, in a feeble voice. "it served to sustain me, when otherwise i should have sunk with pain. can i believe you?" "indeed, senor, i have only told the truth," replied pedro. "i was found by the indians, when an infant, alone in a wood. my complexion shows that i am spanish; and see, the crucifix and chain which were around my neck when i was discovered, i have ever since worn." "merciful providence, what do i behold?" exclaimed the wounded man, starting up and gazing eagerly at the ornament pedro exhibited. "it is--it is! come to my arms, my son, my son! i have found you, alas! but to quit you too soon again." pedro had thrown himself upon his father's neck, for such there could be no doubt don gomez was. "oh, do not say so, my father, whom i have so long sought. do not say that you must quit me!" he cried, in an agony of tears. "alas! it is the climax of my destiny," answered the spaniard. "i have longed to discover you, and now that my wishes are fulfilled, death claims me as his own. such has been my fate through life. i cannot even leave you the wealth i have amassed, for of that also i have been deprived." "o do not think of that!" exclaimed pedro. "it is sufficient for me to know that you are my father; and do but recover and i will learn to work for you and support you. say that you will not die, and i shall be happy." i need not further describe the scene. pedro sat by his father's side, and deep and earnest was their conversation. ned and i left them alone and joined the indians at their fire, for we saw that we could render no further assistance to our patients. the indians had brought food with them, and as there was a supply of maize and dried meat and cocoa in the cavern, we had no reason to complain of hunger. manco had given orders that one of the indians should at all times be stationed at the bridge i spoke of, leading to the ledge, to give notice of danger; and they regularly relieved each other at the post, though few would have ventured to cross that rocky ledge even in broad daylight, much less at night, uncertain what reception they might meet with at its termination. the night passed slowly, though i managed at intervals, as did ned, to obtain some sleep. i after a time got up and stood at the mouth of the cave, looking up at the dark sky studded with thousands of stars, and then glancing down into the obscure depths below my feet. the air was perfectly still, and i fancied that i could hear the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry echoing among the mountains. at length i perceived a ruddy glare extending over the sky. i thought at first that it must be a sign of the rising sun, but, as i watched, it grew brighter and brighter, but did not increase in extent, and then by degrees it faded away before the genial glow of the coming day appeared. i guessed, too truly, that it arose from the burning of the village, which the spaniards had attacked. i did not, however, inform my companions, for i felt that i should only add to their grief by so doing. the indians continued sleeping till a late hour. they seemed to have the power of thus steeping their misery in oblivion. a night's rest had somewhat restored manco, but he was evidently fretting at the thought of the inactivity to which his wound would consign him. "but what would you do if you were able to move about," i asked. "the inca is a prisoner, and will, i fear, suffer death, for you cannot hope to rescue him." "the inca never dies," he answered, lifting himself up on his arm, and looking me earnestly in the face. "the young andres is still in arms in the south, and may yet be victorious. should the spaniards add a deeper dye to the crimes they have committed, by the destruction of the inca, he will succeed; and should he too be cut off, i and that infant sleeping by my side must succeed to the title. little did the spanish soldiers dream whom they were yesterday pursuing, when nita fled from them with our babe in her arms." hope still i saw supported my friend, and i would not deprive him of it, little as i entertained it myself. don gomez had not improved. he was feverish and weak, and i fancied that i saw death on his countenance; but he was happy at having his son by his side, and i was unwilling to warn pedro of his danger. several days passed away without the appearance of an enemy in the neighbourhood; and at length the indians began to grow uneasy at confinement. we also were anxious to obtain information as to the state of affairs. it was just possible that, as manco hoped, the spaniards might have been driven back. and that we were shutting ourselves up for no object. the difficulty was to decide who was the most proper person to go in search of information. an indian would, to a certainty, have been kept prisoner and publicly executed; pedro could not leave his father; and when i proposed going, ned declared that i should be either recognised as having escaped from prison, or treated as a spy. "for my part i don't mind going myself," he observed. "i've no fancy for being cooped up here any longer; and if i'm asked any questions, all i shall say is, that i've got away from the injuns, and want to get back to my own country." very unwillingly i at last yielded to all the arguments he used to let him go instead of me. i was also afraid that it might have been suspected that he had assisted us to escape from prison; but he overruled that objection by saying that it was a very long time ago, and that it was not likely any of those who had seen him should be at cuzco, or remember the circumstance. to prevent the risk of his falling into the hands of any indians, manco ordered one of those with us to accompany him to the neighbourhood of the capital, where he was to be hid till his return, and then to bring him back safe. it was with a heavy heart that i saw ned set out. still i was very anxious to commence our journey eastward, and without knowing the state of affairs, i could not quit my friend manco, nor could we venture to move don gomez into the city. i watched ned as he passed under the cliff, and saw him wave his hat as a sign that he, at all events, feared none of the dangers of his expedition. meantime the indians ventured out a short distance across the mountains to hunt for game. several of them were always stationed on the surrounding pinnacles of rocks, whence they could watch for the approach of danger. now and then they killed with their arrows a _tarush_, an active and timid little roe which frequents the higher forests which skirt the andes. at night they used to set snares made of horse hair, at the mouths of holes inhabited by little animals like rabbits. these were called _viscachas_ and _chinchillas_. the skin of the latter supplies the beautiful fur so much prized in europe. their colour and form resembles the rabbit, but they have shorter ears and long, rough tails. as, however, we had an abundant supply of _charqui_, which is the name given to dried beef in the andes, we were not dependent on the success of our huntsmen for food. pedro employed all his time in reading to and conversing with his father; and i observed that a very satisfactory change had taken place with regard to his state of mind. he had now learned to bow to the decrees of providence without repining, and to acknowledge that whatever the great ruler of the universe orders, is for the good of his creatures. the event i had foreseen was fast approaching. every day don gomez had grown weaker and weaker, and he could no longer raise himself on his bed of straw. one evening he called manco and me to his side after he had made pedro aware that his speedy death was inevitable. "you have both been friends of my son," he said. "most deeply do i thank you, though i have no means of showing my gratitude; indeed, i must call on you still further to befriend him. i found him poor, and may leave him so, unless the power of spain is re-established in peru. in either case, you can serve him. in the one, still support and protect him; and in the other, witness that i have acknowledged him as my son, and enable him to regain the property which was mine. there is a certain father manuel in cuzco, who knows my signature, and is cognisant of all the particulars of my history. let him see the papers i have left, should he have escaped the death which has overtaken so many of my countrymen, and he will assist him to the utmost of his means in his object. may heaven help him to obtain what by right is his!" we promised the dying man to obey his wishes to the best of our ability, though, as we could not venture to present ourselves in any city of peru as witnesses, i had very little expectation that pedro would ever recover his property. that night don gomez breathed his last. i will not speak of the bitter anguish poor pedro suffered, at the death of a parent so lately found and so soon lost. the indians made a grave in a green mound on the neighbouring mountain; and there we buried the unfortunate man. several days more passed away; and at last one of our scouts came hurrying in, to give notice that he had seen some persons approaching along the valley, in the far distance. on the edge of the ledge, and at the mouth of the cavern, stones had been piled up, to hurl down on the heads of any who might appear in the guise of enemies. i looked eagerly out, for i hoped they might prove to be ned and his guide; for i had begun to be very anxious for my friend's safety. as the persons drew near, to my great satisfaction, i recognised ned and his guide. they appeared footsore and weary, and came on very slowly. i went out to meet him at the bridge. "i can't say a word, mate, till i've had some food and rest," he answered. "and this poor fellow here, he's worse off than i am." after ned and the indian had eaten, they lay down to sleep, and it was four hours before the former awoke and gave me an account of his adventures, which i translated to manco and pedro. "well, mates," he began, "i'm glad to get back with a whole skin on my body; and never may i have to see again the sights i've witnessed since i've left this place. the sooner, for my part, we get out of the country, the better. it was all very well when we had to climb up and down the mountains; i didn't mind that; but as soon as we got down into the plains, we couldn't go a hundred yards without meeting with the dead bodies of our fellow-creatures--red-skin or white-skin, it's all the same to me. i can't bear to see men, women, and young children murdered like sheep and lambs. the spaniards had cleared out and burnt every indian village on the road. we had to pass near the place where the battle was fought, and there were thousands and thousands of bodies of indians. the birds and beasts of prey could scarcely consume them. at last we got near the city, and my red-skin mate there stowed himself away under a rock in a thick wood; and taking the bearings of the place, i went on by myself. i met no one till i got to the walls, for the dons still kept inside, afraid of the injuns, though they'd killed so many of them. when the guards at the gates asked me what i wanted, i said i'd come from the mountains, where i'd been hiding away during the row, and that i was looking out for a night's rest in a civilised place, before i set out back to my own country; which was true enough, you know. they then took me to the governor of the city, and he questioned me right and left; but i stuck to my story. so when he found he could get nothing out of me, he let me go, telling me to come and see him in a couple of days or so. i found there were to be great doings the next day, and what do you think they were? why, these christians were going to burn the inca and his whole family, because they tried to get back their rights. it wasn't a sight i wished to see, you may depend on it; but i couldn't help myself. well, in the morning there was a large crowd in the great square; and in the middle there was a quantity of stakes and wood piled up, and near them a high platform. presently a number of indian people were brought out of the prison--men, women, and children-- and were marched up to the stakes, and bound to them with cords. last of all came a man, whom i soon saw was the inca, for he was dressed as he was on the day of the battle, and looked a real king, every inch of him. they made him stand up on the platform, and look down on what was going on below. "they first shot all the children, and then they set fire to the wood, and burnt the women, and then the men; and, would you believe it, among them was the wife of the inca, and his children, and his brothers, and nephews and nieces. he didn't utter a cry or a groan, but kept looking on as if his eyes would start out of his head; but they, poor creatures, shrieked out for mercy from men who hadn't got any in their natures. "when the rest were dead, they put some faggots under the platform, and burnt the brave fellow where he stood. the people shouted and rejoiced as if they had done something to be proud of. i couldn't stand it any longer, so i hurried away from the place; for i heard that all the indian prisoners in the city were next to be shot, and that there were some hundreds of them. i got into talk with a number of people. from some i heard one thing, and from some another; but what i made out was, that young andres, the inca's son, with several other chiefs, were still in arms in the south; but that the spaniards had sent for troops from all parts of america; and that, by fair means or foul, they were resolved to destroy every indian, till the war was finished. when i found that i could learn nothing more, i waited till night, and climbed over the walls. i then ran on as fast as my legs could carry me, till i got back to the wood, where i found my guide. thinking i might be pursued, as i have no doubt i was, we made a very roundabout course, and kept a bright look-out for enemies on every side. we managed to keep clear of them, however, but were very hard up for food; and i'm not sorry, let me tell you, mate, to find myself safe back again here." such was the substance of ned's account. prepared, as in a great degree manco had been, he was dreadfully affected by it, and for some time could come to no resolution what course to take. had he been alone, he would at once have decided to join andres, and endeavour still to make head against the spaniards; but nita and his child were in the other scale. at last he announced his resolution of quitting that part of peru, and taking refuge far beyond the borders of civilisation among some of the wild tribes of the interior, in regions where the foot of the white man had not yet penetrated. "there i will remain," he said, "till a more favourable opportunity occurs for rescuing my country from the oppression of the stranger. be assured that time will come. my boy may have grown to manhood, and my hair may have turned grey, or we may both have passed away; but spain cannot for ever keep her iron yoke on the necks of our people. in the meantime we shall have collected arms, and have learned the art of war from our conquerors; and avoiding the errors which have now overcome us, we shall be able to cope with them successfully." he promised, moreover, to accompany us till we should be fairly embarked on the great river of the south. i then asked pedro what he proposed doing. "i will go with you, my friend," he answered at once. "i have no hopes of obtaining my father's property, and i cannot quit you; i will share your dangers, and accompany you to your native land." i rather doubted whether it would not be wiser for him to try and reach cuzco, and put himself in communication with the father manuel, to whom his father had referred him; but he adhered to his resolution of accompanying me. "i have no friends among my countrymen; i care not for wealth; and i long to obtain that knowledge which here i cannot hope to find. i wish also to see the world, and more than all, david, i would not be parted from you." so it was arranged; and manco having sent out the indians as scouts in all directions to ascertain whether any spaniards were in the neighbourhood, we made instant preparations for our departure. chapter nineteen. our wonderful adventures and escapes. during our long stay in the cave, my mind often turned to the future, and i was sorely puzzled to know by what means, without funds of any sort, we should find our way to england. ned, as a sailor, would have no difficulty; but pedro and i, from our ignorance of nautical affairs, would be totally unable to work our way. one day manco asked me what i was thinking about. i told him. "let not that distress you, my friend," he answered. "if gold could restore happiness to our country, i could fill this cavern with it. i will show you where you may supply yourself with all you can require; you will spend it well, and therefore i do not hesitate to confide to you the secret of our hidden wealth." two nights after this, as i was about to throw myself on my bed of leaves to sleep, manco came to me. "we will at once set forth to obtain the gold i promised," he said. "pedro and your countryman may accompany us to carry what we find. we must return before the morning, lest we encounter any of the spanish forces, who are ravaging the country on every side." a few words served to let pedro and ned understand what was to be done, and providing themselves with two bags, they instantly declared themselves ready to proceed. manco had provided torches, one of which we each of us bore; but he told us not to light them till we should reach the spot to which he was about to conduct us. as we were setting out, he also distributed among us two spades and crowbars, and a pickaxe. he led the way along the ledge and across the bridge; we following in silence. he then descended the mountain, and proceeded down the valley for some distance, when he once more began to ascend. the ground was rugged and difficult in the extreme, and path there was none, so that, had we desired it, we could not again have found our way. for two hours we toiled on, up and down hill, following close upon the heels of manco, who seemed to know the road by instinct. at length we reached a valley, the hill on one side of which was covered completely with buildings, one rising above the other, and some apparently hewn out of the solid rock. the moon, which had lately risen, lighted up the scene, and increased its wild and mysterious appearance. not a sound was heard, not a human being appeared from this city of the dead. manco stopped and gazed up at the city. "two centuries ago, thousands of human beings, full of life and activity, thronged those walls," he remarked. "all are gone, and of descendants they have left none. all, all have been victims to spanish cruelty. follow me." he moved on, and led us into several. some had two and even three stories, and the floors of slabs of stone or slate still remained. we at last reached a house larger than the rest, with a number of windows. manco stopped in the centre of the chief hall, and said, stamping his foot, "dig there." lighting our torches, we stuck them in the ground, and set to work. after digging about two feet, we came to a mass which proved to be the body of a human being, swaddled up in bandages of cloth, and in good preservation. it was in a sitting posture, with the knees drawn up to the chin. placing it on one side, we dug on. clearing away another stratum of earth, we reached a collection of household utensils, which at first i thought were of copper and clay; but as ned was examining them, he exclaimed-- "they are gold, every one of them!" "dig, dig," said manco; "you have more to find." a third layer of earth was now removed, and we came upon a number of idols, all of gold or silver, and surrounding them a quantity of bars of pure gold. none of us had ever seen so much wealth in one mass. "there, take what you can carry, and cover up the rest," exclaimed manco. "you call that wealth," he continued, as if divining our thoughts; "yet of what use is it to mankind thus locked up from sight? now hasten, or daylight will surprise us before we can reach the cave." following his direction, we loaded ourselves with as much of the pure gold as we could carry; and then replacing the body as we found it, we again covered up the grave. then extinguishing our torches, we set out to return to our cavern, which we reached in safety. it was with very great satisfaction that i bade adieu to the cavern which had for so long a time been our home. we had three horses, on one of which nita was mounted, and the other two were loaded with a supply of provisions; each of the indians, besides, carrying enough for his own wants, till a part of the country should be reached where more could be procured. manco took every precaution for our safety which prudence could suggest. he sent the indians on ahead as scouts to inspect the country before we advanced, and to bring us timely notice of the approach of an enemy. at that time it was difficult to know who were friends and who were not, for many of the indians had gone over to the spaniards, in the hopes of saving their lives and property; and others, still worse, we had too good reason to know, were ready to act the part of traitors, and to deliver up their countrymen for the sake of the reward they expected to receive. we proceeded for some way along a series of wooded ridges, called by the spaniards _ceja de la montana_ (the mists of the mountains), on account of the thick mists which, rising from the rivers in the valleys below, are attracted by the trees, and hang over them in dense clouds. in summer these mists are absorbed by the sun's rays; but in winter they discharge themselves in endless torrents of rain. at night we took up our abode in some deserted hut; but never, if we could avoid it, did we rest in the abode of man, and whenever we did, manco kept three or four of our allies watching at a distance outside; and we always again started at early dawn. as we reached the extreme eastern edge of the _ceja_, we looked down on an interminable extent of forest, composed of trees of a height with which few in other parts of the world can vie. these wooded plains are called montanas, which is the name given to the whole of the country eastward of the andes. as we advanced, our ears were saluted by the cries of numerous birds and animals. sometimes i thought i heard the roaring of a bull at a distance, when i found it to proceed from the black ox-bird; and at others the grunting of a hog sounded close to us; and a beautiful bird called the _tunqui_, like a cock with a tuft of red feathers, and an orange bill, started up and astonished us with the contrast between his gruff note and gay plumage. in the evenings, groups of the pheasant-like _hachahuallpa_ summoned their distant companions with the cry of _ven aca, ven aca_--come here, come here; and owls and bats flew out with noiseless wings to pounce on their unwary prey. bears and ounces, pumas and tiger-cats crossed our path; and stags started from their thickets, where they had sought shelter from some of those above-named enemies. monkeys chattered at us, and squirrels leaped among the trees; rats and mice were found in the huts, and _argutis_ in the maize-fields; snakes crawled along the ground, and birds of prey circled high above our heads. but in truth it would be impossible to describe one-tenth of the beasts, the birds, and reptiles we encountered in our journey; though i shall mention those i had opportunities of examining. we approached one evening the farm of a cacique, who, with most of the men of his village, had marched to join the army of tupac amaru. the women only, and some of the old men and children, remained. it was on the extreme borders of the country inhabited by christian indians. beyond all was totally unknown to the white men, and but seldom visited by the civilised natives. manco sent on a messenger to give notice of our approach, and to crave the hospitality of the cacique and his family. he returned shortly, saying that the females only were at home, and that as yet they had received no account of the result of the expedition; but that they bade the strangers welcome. "alas!" said manco, "we are, i fear, the bearers of evil tidings. had the cacique escaped, he would have returned ere this." we proceeded on, and in a space cleared of trees, we found a collection of low buildings. the walls were constructed of reeds, the interstices being filled up with loam; and the roofs were covered with palm leaves. on one side of the house was a coffee plantation, and on the other some fields of maize, with fruit-trees growing round them. at a little distance, on some marshy ground, was a field of sugar-canes; and by the side of a brook a row of the useful banana. the poor woman came out to receive us as we approached. her first inquiries were for her husband. manco had seen him and all his people cut to pieces. she did not faint or shriek out, but retired into an inner room, sat herself down on the ground, surrounded by her women, and groaned bitterly all the night long. we did not see her again; but after a time one of her females came out and set food before us. our indian companions found shelter in some of the huts of the village; and one belonging to the farm was given up to ned, pedro, and me. we had indian corn bread, and cakes made of the juice of the sugar-cane, called _chancacas_; potatoes, bananas, oranges, and pine-apples, and several varieties of dried meat; with a liquor also made from the sugar-cane, called _guarapo_: indeed we had no cause to complain of any want of provisions. as we were safe here from all risk of pursuit, manco proposed to remain for some days, that we might recruit our strength before prosecuting our journey. the cacique had been accustomed to increase his wealth by buying from the wilder tribes the celebrated peruvian bark. in the month of may, a number of indians set out together, some of whom, of greatest experience, who are called _cateadores_, or searchers, climb the highest trees to spy out the _manchas_, or spots where the _chinchona_ groups are growing, distinguishing them merely by a slight difference in the tints from the dark-green of the surrounding foliage. when the _cateador_ has discovered a group, he leads his companions to it with wonderful precision through the almost impenetrable forest; a hut is built, the trees are felled, and incisions are made in the bark, and after a few days, as it dries, it is stripped off and placed in the huts to dry still more. it is then packed in bundles, and sent to market. a party of indians came one day to the village, on their way across the andes, from the more distant forests to the east, laden with balsams and odoriferous gums, which they had collected from a variety of resinous plants. they were ignorant that the war had broken out, and when they heard of it, they were unwilling to venture further, and returned, to their own country. the men who carried the loads had on merely a piece of cloth round the waist; but the women who accompanied them wore a loose tunic without sleeves. their legs were bare, but painted with the juice of the huito, which made it appear that they had on half-boots. the object was to protect their legs from the stings of insects. i found that they professed christianity. they were regular medical pedlars; for they had powders, salves, plasters, seeds, and roots of every description; claws of the tapir, as a remedy against the falling-sickness; and the teeth of poisonous snakes, carefully stuck into rushes, as specifics against head-ache and blindness. manco had purchased a sufficient number of horses to mount all our party, and to carry such provisions as we required; though, from the abundance of game to be procured in the forests, we had no fear of being in want of fresh meat. still, however, as there was no notice of the approach of the spaniards, he thought it better to remain a few clays longer, to recruit our strength, before we recommenced our journey. three of the indians only had remained with us, the rest having departed to their homes in the south. pedro, ned, and i employed our time in wandering about the neighbouring country, under the guidance of one of the indians; but we were charged by manco not to go far from the village. i can scarcely venture to describe the magnificence of the vegetation of that region. there were numerous ferns and nettles growing in the form of large shrubs; wonderful bignonias and gigantic orchids drawing their nourishment from the air; with every variety of climbing plants, throwing their thousand tendrils round the trees which gave them support. i could not but admire the various forms of the stately palm, the thickly-leaved balsam-yielding leguminosae, the luxuriant laurels, and the solaneae, with their numberless flowers of vast size. further on, again, on the flat lands towards the east, the mighty trees rise to an immense height from the humid soil, without a flowering plant or shrub below their branches, forming a canopy almost impervious to the light of day. one day we had gone farther than usual from home, when we reached a narrow lagune, overspread by the boughs of the gigantic trees which grew on either side of it. the air and earth were teeming with animal life. birds of beautiful plumage, and every variety of note, were perched on the branches, or flying above our heads; butterflies of many hues were flitting about in all directions; and reptiles and insects innumerable were crawling along the ground. more beautiful than all were the humming-birds, which, like flashes of coloured light, appeared and disappeared as they flew by us; and surpassing his brethren in gorgeousness of hues, was the golden-tailed humming or fly bird, numbers of which haunted every glade we passed. from many of the shady branches hung nests built by the pouched starlings, four or five feet long, and swinging to and fro with every breath of wind. flocks of green parrots were chattering on the higher boughs, and preparing to seek their night--quarters in the higher parts. our guide called them _jornaleros_ (day-labourers), and told me that the name was given them because, on the return of every day, they come back at the same hour from the mountains, where they sleep, to gather their food in the lower forests. i had shot several birds, and was aiming at one, when he seized my arm, and implored me not to fire. "do you not hear its note, senor?" he exclaimed. "if you were to kill that bird, heaven would afflict you with some dreadful disaster. listen: does it not say, _dios te de_ (may god give it thee)?" the bird, as he rested on a branch before me, threw back his head and rocked his body, and certainly uttered a note which might easily be thus translated. i had got close to the lagune, and was watching a bird which, with fluttering wings, was hovering in the air a short distance from me, when our guide forcibly drew me back, whispering, with a look of terror, "did you not see the _yacumaman_? would you venture within the mighty coils of the mother of waters?" at first i did not know what he could mean, till, creeping back, i saw what i had at first taken for the root of a tree, but which i now perceived to be an enormous serpent. its body was wound in several huge coils round the stem of a decayed tree, while it bathed its tail in the waters of the lagune. its head was now thrust forward, as with glittering eyes it watched an opening in the forest. presently a slight rustling was heard, and a beautiful stag came to quench its thirst after the heat of the day. it came up fearlessly, and dipped its head to drink. again it lifted it up, and looked around. on a sudden it caught sight of those beautiful eyes. instantly its limbs began to tremble. it seemed to have no power to fly, but stood looking with mute wonder at the object which fascinated it. the monster uncoiled itself, and glided from the tree. still the stag did not attempt to fly, yet in fleetness it could have outstripped the wind. there it stood, a willing victim. in another moment the serpent had sprung upon it, and encircled it in its monstrous folds. as we could not rescue the stag, and had no wish to interfere with the serpent, we hurried from the spot. we were already later than it was wise to remain from the village, but we could not help stopping to listen to the delicious notes of a cinnamon-brown bird, with head and neck of dark olive, which was perched on a bough overhanging our path. never from a feathered songster had i heard notes more sweet or harmonious. "it is the _organista_," said our guide. "hurry on, senores, hurry on, his note forebodes a coming storm; and, from the glimpses i have caught of the sky between the trees, i fear that we shall have one before we reach the village." we took the indian's advice, for a storm in that wooded region was an event to be avoided, and walked as fast as we could over the soft ground towards home. we had not got far, when a cry from pedro, who was a little in our rear, made us stop. as we hurried back to him, we saw that he was limping along as if in great pain, and trying to overtake us; and at the same time i observed a snake winding its way along among the trees at a rapid rate from us. it was about two feet long, and covered with the most brilliant stripes of deep red, yellow, and black. the indian caught sight of the reptile at the same time. "ah! mercy, heaven, mercy!" cried poor pedro. "i have been bitten by that deadly snake, and in a few minutes must die. farewell, my friends, farewell!" "courage, senor, courage!" exclaimed the indian; "i have some huaco cake with me. eat, eat, and you may yet live." saying this, he produced from his pocket some cake of the huaco leaves, a piece of which he put into pedro's mouth, and spreading some more on the wound, pressed it with all his force.--a litter was soon formed, on which we placed him and carried him along, for the pain was too great to allow him to walk. after a time, however, he declared that the pain was gone, but that he felt as if his leg was made of lead. we hurried on, for we had no time to lose. thunder was heard rolling through the sky; and distant flashes, seen through the trees, showed that the storm was approaching. suddenly a tremendous crash was heard close to us; and, looking back, a tall tree, one of the giants of the forest, appeared riven from the crown to its roots, and a vast branch lay across the path we had just passed. nothing now was required to expedite our steps. the wind roared, the mighty trees rocked to and fro as if they had been reeds, the thunder rattled in deafening peals, and the lightning, in zigzag form, rushed down the stems of the trees, running like serpents along the ground, and flashed vividly in every direction. the storm i had witnessed in the cordilleras was grander, but it was scarcely so terrific in its effects. we got under shelter in the cottage before the tempest had reached its height. pedro was instantly placed in bed, when, after a time, a profuse perspiration came on. some cooling drink was given to her, and a pumpkin poultice was applied to the wound. the huaco plant grows in the woods. the leaves am half an inch long and half an inch broad, of a solid texture, the upper surface being of a dark-green, with purple veins running through it. the stem is slender, hard, ribbed, and of a bluish colour; and the leaves grow singly, two being placed opposite to each other. it is said that the natives discovered its qualities by observing that a bird called the huaco, which feeds on snakes, whenever it was bitten flew off and ate some of this plant. i have heard that the harmless snakes are great enemies to the poisonous ones, and will attack those much larger than themselves. it took two or three days before pedro had completely recovered from the effects of the bite. chapter twenty. spaniards pursue us--attacked by wild indians. "up, up, my friends!" exclaimed manco, rushing into our hut one morning, just before daybreak. "the spaniards are traversing the mountains with fire and sword, and we must haste away from this." we all instantly sprung to our feet, and without exchanging many words, packed up our goods. by the time we were ready, the horses were caught and saddled, and we were soon mounted and ready to proceed. our party consisted of ned, pedro, and i; manco, nita, and their child; and three indians, of a tribe with whom the latter were going to take up their residence. we had, besides, two other horses laden with clothing and provisions. bidding adieu to our unhappy hostess and the villagers, our cavalcade was put in motion, and we plunged into the interminable forest. without the assistance of our indian guides, we could not possibly have found our way among the gigantic trees which shot up like tall masts from the level soil, often branchless till near the summit, where their boughs intertwined, and formed a canopy which the rays of the sun could scarcely penetrate. "on, on, my friends!" cried manco; "the enemy may be on us before we are aware of their approach. they have traitors with them, and will certainly despatch a force to search us out." this was sufficient to make us urge our horses to their utmost speed; and all day we rode on, halting only now and then for a very short time, to rest our animals or to take food. at night we encamped in the forest. for our shelter we cut a number of canes which grew near a stream, and with them formed some huts, which we thatched with palm leaves. we had supplied ourselves with grass hammocks and indian mosquito curtains, and by hanging them up in our huts we obtained very comfortable quarters. we frequently had streams to pass, which feed the great arteries running into the amazon. they were in most instances too deep to be forded, so we had to wait till we could construct rafts to convey ourselves and our luggage, our horses swimming alongside. we took care to make a great noise to keep the caymans at a distance, lest any of them should think fit to grab at our animals' legs. we had the satisfaction of feeling sure that, should we be pursued, our enemies would take much longer time to cross than we did. still, however, we pushed on as fast as the nature of the ground would allow. we were now approaching the river ucayali, at a spot not far from the banks of which manco intended to make his abode. he might, of course, have found numberless places among the andes, where the spaniards could not have discovered him; but so many of his brother chieftains had already been betrayed by their own countrymen, that he had resolved to remove himself far beyond the reach of treachery, among savages who, if they had not the virtues, were free from the vices of civilisation, and were too independent to be tempted by a bribe to deliver him into the hands of his enemies. though in general the country was level, here and there mountains and rocky ledges crossed our path, the far-stretching spurs of the andes. we found the country very thinly populated, though we occasionally fell in with small parties on their hunting expeditions. the first infidel indians we met somewhat raised our curiosity. they were short in stature, and had swarthy complexions and long black hair, without any beard on their chins. they wore a long frock without sleeves, and when we first saw them we took them for women. they were armed with bows and arrows. they had never seen any white men before, and were at first very much frightened and inclined to run away; but our indians, who spoke their language, that of the panos, assured them that we would not injure them, and they became very communicative. when they heard where we were going, they entreated us not to proceed, assuring us that we should encounter numbers of cannibal cashibos, who would to a certainty kill and eat us. "tell them that we fear not the cashibos nor any other wild men," said manco. "if they molest us, we will treat them as the beasts of the forest, though we would willingly pass them peaceably." as we rode along after we had parted from our little friends, i asked manco who were the dreaded cashibos; and he told me that they were the most savage and warlike of all the wild tribes in the pampa del sacramento, between the rivers ucayali and hualtaga. "we must be on our guard against them, for they are equally cunning as fierce, and i truly believe that they really do eat those they can take prisoners." our own indians were evidently very much afraid of these cashibos, and kept a much more watchful guard than heretofore, both as we rode along and after we encamped for the night. several days after this we were approaching that part of the ucayali, where we proposed to embark. i longed to reach it almost as much as did ned. "ah, mate," he exclaimed, when i told him that we had little more than one day's journey more on horseback to perform; "let us once get our craft built and afloat, and we may snap our fingers at the cashibos, and any other enemies to boot." it was necessary, before embarking, to lay in a supply of provision, that we might not be impeded in our passage down the river; and as our indians observed signs of an abundance of game, we halted much earlier than usual to hunt. ned remained with pedro and nita to build the huts and look after the horses; while manco and i, with our three indians, set out for the chase. at some distance off, between us and the river, was a lofty, rocky hill, which served as our land-mark; and by taking the bearings of it with two other heights still farther off, i hoped to be able easily to find my way back to the camp. manco and i had the rifles, the indians their bows and arrows. while wandering among the trees, which were here more than usually interspersed with shrubs and creepers, i very soon got separated from my companions. this did not alarm me, as i was certain that i could without difficulty find my way back to the encampment. i soon fell in with a pathway, which i recognised as one formed by the peccary or wild hog, which traverses the forests in droves consisting of two or three hundred. i stopped and listened, for i thought i heard a grunting sound, which showed that some were not far off. i was not mistaken, for the noise increased in loudness, and i satisfied myself of the direction from which it was coming. hiding behind a tree, i stood ready to fire, in the hopes of killing one of the leaders, and having time to load and take a second shot before the herd passed by. as soon as they appeared along the path, i singled out one and let fly; but my aim was not steady, and i only wounded the beast. at the same time i had, i suppose, exposed myself to view; for the whole herd, led by their wounded companion, came rushing towards me with furious grunts of rage, evidently with the intention of destroying me. to hope to escape by flight was out of the question, for they would soon have overtaken me. fortunately i had observed a tree, with branches which i could reach; and retreating to it, i had climbed up a few feet from the ground before the furious herd reached me. when they found themselves disappointed of their prey, they dashed their snouts into the ground round the tree as if they would tear it up by the roots, and thus get at me. they worked so perseveringly, that at first i had some little apprehension that they would succeed, and i began to consider how, if the tree fell, i should manage to escape my assailants. on climbing higher, i saw that the boughs of the tree i was on interlaced with another, and that i might, by catching hold of the latter, save myself, should the peccaries succeed in their attempts. the peccaries grunted and dug away below, and i climbed up higher and higher. at last i reached a branch on which i could conveniently sit and load my gun. "stop," i thought to myself; "before i take more trouble, i may as well shoot some of these gentlemen. they cannot carry off their dead, and when they go away, as i suppose they will do some time or other, they will leave them behind for me." the execution followed the thought. i tumbled one of my enemies over, and his companions finding that he was dead, set off to escape from a similar fate. i had, however, time to load and fire again, and killed another hog. as the one i had at the first wounded was by this time dead, to my great satisfaction, the herd scampered off, leaving three of their number behind. i fired a fourth time, but missed, and then descended from the tree. how to get the peccaries to the camp was now my puzzle, for one of them was rather too heavy a load for me to carry, and i had no knife with me to cut them up. if i left them where they were, in all probability they would be eaten up by some beasts or birds of prey before i could return to them. to save them from the former, it occurred to me that i might hang them up on the branches of the tree which had enabled me to escape from becoming their food, instead of their becoming mine. there were a variety of creepers, out of which i could form ropes; and selecting some of the toughest and most pliant, i secured them to the peccaries, which i dragged under the tree. having, with no little satisfaction, hoisted up my spoils, i set out to return to the camp. on my way i stopped to look at a tree which seemed to bear a great variety of leaves. on examination, i discovered it to be a _mora_, round the stem of which climbed a number of creepers. on the summit grew a fig-tree, fully as large as a common english apple-tree; and from its branches again hung pendant a number of vines, both fig-tree and vines bearing a quantity of fruit; but the parent _mora_, from the undue exhaustion of its sap, was already giving signs of decay, and in a short time both fig-tree and vine, i saw, would inevitably follow its fate. a little farther on, a couple of sloths were making their progress through the woods. i watched them passing from one tree to the other, as the branches met, stirred by the breeze; and having hitherto seen them hanging lazily by their claws to boughs, i was surprised at the rapidity of their movements. i have often heard people assert that the sloth spends his torpid existence in a perpetual state of pain, from the peculiar sighing noise he makes, and the slowness of his movements when placed on the ground. in the first place, i cannot believe that god has created any animal to pass an existence of pain. the fact is, that the sloth is formed to live in trees, to climb, and to feed on leaves, and not to walk on the ground. though he cannot be called a frisky animal, he certainly does not deserve the name given to him, as, when he chooses, he can move, as i now had proof, at a great rate. dogs bark, donkeys bray, and cocks crow, and the sloth sighs, when he wishes to speak; while, from his long arms and short legs, with his sharp claws, he by nature is intended either to be climbing, or, if asleep, hanging, with his back perpendicular to the ground. i shot one of my friends, and hanging him over my shoulder, carried him towards the camp. scarcely had i resumed my walk, when i saw a large grasshopper, as i thought, playing about a bush, and on the point of settling. as i was passing near it, i was about to put out my hand to catch it, to examine it more minutely, when, just in time, i sprang back; for there i beheld, to my horror, the head and crest of an enormous rattlesnake. in another instant i should have been his victim. i did not stop to see what way he went, but hurried on as fast as my legs would carry me. i listened, as i advanced, to the notes of the various birds which filled the forest, and sometimes to the cries of beasts; and i fancied that i heard others answering them from a distance. by some means or other i missed the path i intended to follow, and found myself in a thick mass of trees. in trying to get out of it, i entirely lost the line i was pursuing; and at length finding a tree i could climb, i mounted to the top of it, to look out for my land-mark. while i sat on a bough, concealed by the thick foliage, i found that i had a view of an open space at some little distance off, a mass of low trees only intervening. i was about to descend, when my eye caught sight of a figure moving through the glade. presently another, and then another, followed. the stopped and listened attentively, as if they had heard something to interest them. they were tall men, dressed in long tunics, and had beards and lank black hair. each man carried a club by his side, and a long spear in one hand, and a bow, with an arrow ready for use, in the other. as one of them turned his face, i saw that he was a red indian; and by the peculiar expression of his countenance, i felt certain that they must belong to the dreaded _cashibos_. i trembled for the safety of nita and my two friends, for i could not doubt that many others were in the neighbourhood; and i could scarcely dare to hope that they could fail to discover our camp, or to fall in with manco and the indians. they were evidently intent on taking game, for they sounded the notes of several birds in succession, to try if any were in the neighbourhood. two or three answered, and shortly making their appearance, fell, pierced by the indians' unerring arrows. again they sounded their notes, which were answered from a distance, but no game appeared. i must own that i was far from comfortable all the time, and afraid to move or almost to breathe. every moment i expected to see them turn their heads, and to be discovered by their sharp eyes; and from the account i had heard of them, i could hope for nothing better than to be shot, and cooked forthwith for their suppers. after waiting, however, a short time, i saw them dart among the trees, and, to my great relief, in an opposite direction to the camp. instantly i hurried down from my lofty perch, and made the best of my way towards the camp, keeping a bright look-out, lest any of their friends should catch me unawares. i ran in breathless haste, anxious to warn my friends in the camp. twice, in my hurry, i missed my way, and found myself going in the very direction the cashibos had taken. at length i saw a column of smoke curling up among the trees. i felt certain that it must proceed from the camp; yet, as i got nearer, a horrid idea seized me, and i fancied that i must be mistaken, and that i might find instead, the cannibals seated round one of their dreadful banquets. still i went on, advancing as cautiously as i could, and taking care to leave as little trace of my course behind me as possible. after going on in this way for some time, my ear caught the sound of singing; and looking between the bushes, i saw a fire burning with a spit before it, and on the spit there was roasting what i might have mistaken for a small baby, had not my friend ned been officiating as cook; and i guessed that it was a monkey which had been prying too near the camp, and had been shot either by him or pedro. the scene i looked on was one of perfect quiet and repose. the three huts were finished; nita was concluding some arrangements in the interior of hers, and her infant lay in a basket at the entrance. ned, as i said, was acting as cook, and pedro was attending to the horses which were picqueted around. i was very unwilling to be the bearer of bad news to my friends; but there was no time to be lost, so i walked in among them. "ned," i said, "we must be on our guard, there are indians in the neighbourhood; they are fellows who would eat us if they could." "they must catch us first," said ned coolly. "if they do, they'll find some of us tough morsels, i calculate." on seeing me, nita rushed out and inquired for her husband, being alarmed at my having returned alone. i somewhat tranquillised her by explaining that i had been separated from the rest; but still she saw that all was not right. though i was anxious to bring in the peccaries, ned agreed with me that it would be imprudent to leave the camp, for we could not escape being discovered before long by the cashibos. after a time i told nita quietly that i had seen some strange indians, and that i thought it wise to be on our guard against them; indeed, as we might possibly find a large party of them, and be obliged to retreat in a hurry, it would be better to pack up and be prepared for a start, as we were not in a spot where we could well defend ourselves if attacked. nita agreed with me in the wisdom of this proceeding, and accordingly we packed up our goods, and saddled and loaded our horses. i loaded my rifle, and ned his pistols and musket; and pedro and nita got the bows and arrows and spears ready. i expressed a hope that all this preparation would not be required. "so do i," answered ned; "but you see, mate, a good seaman always gets his ship snug at night if he thinks a storm is brewing, because he can't see exactly the time when it may come. so i think we are right to get ready, for the savages, who may pay us a visit when we least expect them; and as just now, you see, if the rest don't come back, and we've only got you and i, and the young don and the woman and the child, who won't be much help, the odds will be rather against us. looking at these things, i think if we were to build up a bit of a fortification like, it would be some aid to us in case of need." ned's advice was too good to be neglected, and accordingly we set to work and cut down some young trees and branches; and taking the huts as a centre, we threw up a sort of breast-work, sufficient to assist in protecting us while we knelt down to fire. we had by this time become very anxious at the prolonged absence of manco and the indians; and i greatly feared that they might have been surprised by the cashibos, and murdered. the sun was casting the tall shadows of the trees across the forest glades, and still they did not come. at length i determined to mount one of the horses and go in quest of them. just, however, as i was putting my foot in the stirrup, a shot was heard close to us, and then another, and several arrows came glancing between the trees, but falling short of the camp. directly afterwards one of our indians burst through the brushwood, an arrow sticking in his side. with a look of terror, he pointed towards the point from which he had come, uttering the words "cashibos--cashibos." having broken off the head of the arrow, and drawn out the shaft, i told the poor fellow to run into the camp; i sprung on my horse, and dashing forward with my rifle in my hand, i saw manco and the two other indians contending with a dozen or more cashibos. manco had shot two of them; but the rest, undaunted by the unexpected effect of the new instrument of death he held in his hand, were on the point of rushing in upon him with their clubs. i saw there was not a moment to be lost, and forcing my way through the tangled mass of creepers and shrubs which lay between us, i reined up for an instant, and took a steady aim at the leading savage. he fell to the ground with a yell of rage, and i then, without stopping to load again, dashed on towards the next. "well done, mate, well done," i heard ned shouting behind me. "knock the rascals on the head; that's the way to settle them." so astonished were the savages with the sudden apparition of me and my horse, that i had struck one fellow to the ground before he had time to defend himself. ned took aim at a third, and wounded him; but the savages, rendered more furious, still came on with menacing gestures. manco had during the interval reloaded his rifle, and singling out another savage, brought him to the ground. this made the rest once more halt, and seeing me loading, they were on the point of taking flight, when some loud cries resounded through the woods, and gave them notice of the approach of some more of their companions. "to the camp, to the camp, my friends!" exclaimed manco, when he was aware of this; and obeying his order, we all retreated at once towards the huts. the cashibos had received too strong a taste of our quality to follow at that instant, and allowed us to reach the camp unmolested. we instantly held a council of war, and at first manco, when he saw the fortification we had thrown up, proposed waiting where we were to receive the attack of our enemies; but he soon agreed with me and ned, that it would be wiser to escape while we could, on horseback. we could not tell how many cashibos there might be, and they would probably collect ultimately in such numbers as to overwhelm us, even should we at first succeed in beating them off. our indians, i found, were fully expecting to see their companion drop down dead, from the effects of the poison they supposed to have been on the arrow; but either it had not been poisoned at all, or the poison had dried and peeled off, for the man did not seem to suffer more than from an ordinary wound. the advantage of our having made our preparations for moving beforehand was now apparent, and to it we probably owed our safety; for, without the loss of a moment, as soon as our plan of proceeding was settled, we mounted and rode off at a rapid rate through the woods. the cashibos caught sight of us, and saluted us with loud shouts and war-whoops, and a flight of arrows came whistling after us; but we were already beyond their reach, and it only made us gallop the faster. "sing away, old fellows!" shouted ned; "though you've lost your supper, we've saved ours," and he held out the monkey at the end of the spit which he had snatched from the fire as we were mounting, and brought along with him. fortunately the country before us was tolerably free of trees, and the rock i have mentioned served to guide us; but the sun soon sunk below the horizon, and left as for a time in darkness. the sky was clear, and a bright star soon came out, by which we steered our course towards the river. the chief danger now to be apprehended, was from the fallen trunks of trees, or any soft bogs into which our horses might sink. after a time the moon got up, and showed us more clearly our way. on we pushed, therefore, for though the indians might not follow us in the dark, we were very certain that they would directly it was day; and our great aim was to get to some rocky spot by the bank of the river, where we might, by having the stream on our side, the more easily defend ourselves. vampire bats and owls, and other night-birds flew by; and snakes and noxious reptiles crossed our path as we rode on; but nothing stopped us. we pulled up when we reached the rock which had at first guided our course, and consulted whether we should take up our position there for the night, and prepare to defend it against the savages; but it was finally agreed that we would travel on till we reached the river. the journey would knock up our horses, but as we should have no further need of them, that could not be taken into consideration. nita bore up very well; indeed she seemed to suffer from fatigue as little us any of us. sometimes her husband carried her child, and sometimes ned took charge of it. about midnight a halt was called, on an elevated spot, whence we could command a tolerably clear view on all sides. we required to rest and feed our horses as well as ourselves, though we could not venture to light a fire, which would have betrayed our position to our pursuers. while we rested and ate, we kept a vigilant watch; for though it was not probable that the indians would have followed close to our heels, it was just possible that they might have done so, as in consequence of the numerous impediments in our way, a quick-footed man might have gone almost as fast as we did. while i was gnawing away at the leg of the monkey, and looking out at the same time into the darkness below, i saw something move across an open glade. it came nearer, and stopped at a spot where the moonbeams streamed full upon it, when i saw that it was a large jaguar. he sat upon his hind-legs and looked at us very wistfully, as if he should like to secure one of us for supper. presently he moved again and came a little nearer, when he sat down to look at us as before. i was going to have a shot at him, but manco restrained me, observed that it might be heard by the cashibos, and lead them to us. still the jaguar crept nearer, and once more stopped to watch us. if he was hungry, we must have been very tempting to him. our indians at last thought it was no joke, for in another moment the jaguar might have picked one of us off; so they set up so loud a scream that they made him turn about in a fright, and scamper off into the forest. as this would to a certainty have led the cashibos to us, if they were in the neighbourhood, we once more mounted and continued our journey. sometimes i thought i heard the savages behind us; but the sound proved to be the cry of some bird or beast of prey. no other adventure occurred, and, as day dawned, the calm waters of the river appeared shining brightly through the trees. a little further on rose close to the stream a high rock, the river face of which was almost a perpendicular precipice, while that inland was steep and rugged in the extreme. the top was of sufficient extent, it appeared, to enable us to pitch our huts on it, and to keep our horses there, it necessary. having surveyed it, we discovered a path by which we could hope to lead up our horses, every other side being too difficult for men, even unencumbered with burdens, to climb up. after some trouble, we reached the top, whence we found a fine view up and down the river, and over a wide extent of forest on either side. "the sooner we turn this place into a castle, the better for us, mate," observed ned. "what say you? we must get some trees down first, though." i told manco what the sailor said, and he instantly agreeing, we set to work forthwith to cut down all the trees which grew around, and which might serve as a covert to the enemy, and would form palisades for us. we set to work with a will with hatchets and knives, and in an hour had cut stakes enough to fence in the whole rock. where the soil was of sufficient depth we drove them into it; and at the other places we piled up stones, which we brought up from the margin of the river. we gave ourselves not a moment's rest; even while we were eating we were sharpening the stakes. ned set the example, and we all imitated him. in more important points, as a leader. manco showed himself fit to be a chief; but the british seaman, where manual work was concerned, was his superior. by noon we had a very respectable stockade run up, such as might withstand an attack for a short time from any ordinary enemy not possessed of firearms. all the trees and shrubs on the sides of the rock had been cut away, and stones had been piled up near all the more accessible points, to serve as a rampart, or to be used as weapons of defence. "now, mates," exclaimed ned, after he had walked with an air of satisfaction round our fortifications, "the work is done, so let's pipe to dinner." to dinner, accordingly, we went; and one of our dishes was the sloth i had shot, and we had some more monkeys, and several birds, which we had brought hung on to our saddles. we were obliged to light a fire, and we did not fear to do so, as we knew that in daylight the indians would just as easily track us without its guidance as with it. after dinner we began to construct our huts in a more substantial way than usual, as we should be compelled, we knew, to live here some time to build our canoe. everything depended on the rapidity with which we could work, so as to be in perfect readiness to receive an attack from the cannibals, should they have ventured to follow us. it was night before all our arrangements were concluded; and as during the whole time we had not given ourselves a moment's rest, we were well nigh worn out. it was necessary, however, to keep a watchful guard during the night, for which purpose we divided ourselves into three watches. we slept with our weapons by our sides, ready for instant use. when it came to my turn to watch, i walked round the ramparts to keep myself awake, for i was well aware of the cunning of the cashibos, and that they always make their attacks at night. as i stopped for a moment, a long, shrill plaintive cry came through the night air, followed by three others of the same length, gradually deepening in tone, and which had a peculiarly melancholy expression. at first i thought the cry must have arisen from some human being in distress. i remarked it to the indian who was watching with me. "ah, that sound comes from a little bird," he answered. "we call it the _alma perdida_. it is bewailing the dead, and good cause has it now to sound its notes--_aye de me_!" the night passed on, and though on several occasions i fancied that i could distinguish the forms of the savage cashibos skulking round us, none appeared, and daylight once more returned. chapter twenty one. conclusion. voyage on the amazon--para--sail for rio de janeiro--all's well that ends well. our first care in the morning was to search for a tree which might serve us to scoop into a canoe, till lower down the amazon we might fall in with one large enough to convey us to para. fortunately we discovered one to suit our purpose close to the rock, and we instantly set to work to bring it to the ground. thanks to manco's forethought in providing us with good hatchets, in the course of three hours it lay prostrate on the ground, a piece of about thirty-five feet long being marked off to form the canoe. all day we worked at it, one man at a time being stationed on the highest point of the rock to give notice of the approach of an enemy. before night we had made some progress in fashioning the bow, and in scooping out the inside. the night passed off as before, and we began to hope that the cashibos had had a sufficient taste of our quality, and did not intend to attack us. ned expressed his opinion that it would be necessary to build up some sides to our canoe; and as we had no means of sawing planks, we looked out for some tough smooth bark to answer the purpose. the indians sewed the pieces we stripped from the trees neatly together; and afterwards they collected a quantity of black bees' wax, with which to cover the seams. an indian occupies the greater part of a year in making his canoe: we calculated that we could do the work, with the aid of our iron tools, in ten days or a fortnight. three days had passed away, and still no cashibos had appeared. "they will, i suspect, not come at all," i remarked to manco. "do not be sure of that," he answered. "you do not know their savage and revengeful natures. they will lie in wait often for weeks or months together, to destroy an enemy. i'm afraid that they have only gone to collect their friends, and will be down on us in greater numbers." the fifth night passed away, and the sixth night came. our canoe, though far from complete, was sufficiently hollowed out to form a boat, and ned had that day shaped some paddles; but we had still to build up the sides, and to pay over the whole with wax, to make it water-tight; also to put in seats, and half-decks to the bow and stern, as well as to provision her, to make her fit for our voyage down the river. it was my watch, and pedro and one of the indians were with me. "hist, senor!" said the latter. "i hear an enemy's footsteps on the ground. the sound comes down upon the wind. they think we are asleep, or they would be more cautious. lie down, and we will not undeceive them till they are close to us." "you are right," i answered; and i crept silently to where pedro was standing, and told him what the indian had said, desiring him also to rouse up the rest to be ready for action. in another minute all hands were at their posts. we were only just in time; for presently we could distinguish through the stockades a number of tall savage-looking figures collected among the trees; and an arrow, with a burning head, was sent flying into the centre of our fort. it stuck in the ground, and did no damage. instantly it was followed by a whole flight, and the most terrific yells and cries rent the air, as some hundreds of the fiercest-looking savages were now rushing on towards the fort. "now, be steady, and fire," cried manco. we did, and each of us hit his man; our indians at the same time sending their arrows from their bows as fast as they could draw the string, returning those which the _cashibos_ had sent. several of our enemies had fallen by the time they had reached the foot of the hill. still they came on, and began to climb the rocks. if they succeeded in getting up, and climbing over the stockades, we saw we should to a certainty be overwhelmed. on they came with terrific cries and yells. again and again we fired, and rarely missed; but their numbers were so great, that little impression was made on them. they found, however, as they got higher up, their difficulties increased. our indians plied them rapidly with arrows, and at intervals tumbled down the stones on their heads, and we continued loading and firing without cessation. we could almost reach them with our spears; and so crowded together were they, that they impeded each other's movements. this gave us a great advantage, of which we did not fail to profit; and seizing the largest stones at hand, we dashed them down on their faces, and knocked them off the cliff. their places were, however, speedily supplied by others, and at length some of them succeeded in reaching the stockades. now came the tug of war; for the fighting was hand to hand, where numbers would have the advantage. just then i recollected the effect our horses had had on them before; and calling manco, we mounted two which stood behind the hill, ready saddled, and dashed forward at the enemy with our spears in our hands, uttering loud shouts. the apparition so startled the foremost ranks, that they turned round to fly, hurrying those behind them back also. seeing the success of our manoeuvre, we told the rest to follow our example. nita, who had been by the side of manco, leaped on a horse. ned took hold of her baby; and the indians, leading the baggage-horses, we prepared to gallop down the rock, and to charge the main body of the _cashibos_. it seemed an act of desperation, but it was our only chance. our arrows and stones were exhausted, and our ammunition would not have held out much longer. our enemies, seeing us coming on with so bold a front, were seized with a panic; and, with loud cries, they all turned round and fled into the woods, leaving some dozen or more of their number dead on the field. "we may now rest where we are, i suppose," i observed to manco. "no, no!" he answered. "they will go away, and hold a war council, and return again before long. we must get away from hence, and put the river between us before daylight, or we shall suffer from it." accordingly we descended from our rock, and security the horses to the trees, we united our strength, and launched our unfinished canoe into the water. the wood of which she was composed was so light that she floated high; but to give her greater buoyancy, we secured a quantity of dry rushes round the gunnel; and we found that when our stores were in her, there was room for all the party. "come, mates, it's time to be under weigh, if we are not to wait till the injuns are back upon us," shouted ned. but one of our indians was missing. while i was looking round for him, a bright light shone from the top of the rock, and soon afterwards he made his appearance. i found that he had gone back to light a fire, to make the _cashibos_ suppose we were still on the rock. ned's voice again summoning is, we embarked in the canoe; and the horses being fastened to their halters, plunged into the water after us, encouraged by the voices of the indians. ned, manco, pedro, and i seized the paddles, and away we went down the stream, gradually edging over to the opposite side. the horses, having been accustomed to cross rivers, swam well; and for half an hour we continued our course, till we reached a convenient landing place. our poor horses were very much exhausted; but we reflected that had we left them on the other side, they would have fallen into the hands of the _cashibos_. our intention had been to have sent them back with the indians; but the men had petitioned so hard to be allowed to accompany manco, that he could not refuse them; and we, therefore, were compelled to turn our animals loose, with a hope that they might escape being devoured by jaguars or shot by indians. we had landed in a little bay, the entrance of which was concealed, from the opposite shore. by aid of our horses, we dragged up our canoe, which already had begun to leak from want of caulking. close to us was a rock, very similar to the one we had left, and to this we resolved to fly if we were again attacked; but manco and the indians expressed an opinion that the _cashibos_ would not attempt to follow us across the stream. as soon as daylight returned, all hands set to work to finish the canoe. some went to collect more bees' wax and bark, others fastened the bark to the part scooped out, and others put in the seats and decks, ned acting the part of master-shipwright, and directing the whole, being actively employed with his own fingers at the same time. three more days were occupied in finishing the canoe. at night we were afraid of lighting a fire, lest we should show the cashibos our position, or we should have worked even then. we slept as before, with our arms ready for instant action. our indians shot some monkeys and three peccaries, with some birds, which served us for provision for some days; but we had no fear of being in want of food, as we were certain of finding an abundance of turtle on the banks of the river, and further down, of being able to purchase from friendly indians, plantains, bananas, guavas, granadillas, pine-apples, water-melons, and many other fruits and vegetables. we waited till morning, and having bade farewell to our poor horses, we launched our canoe, and stepping into her, pushed off into the stream. we were but just in time to escape our enemies, for as we passed down we saw the shore lined with the cashibos, who were launching a number of balsas and rafts with the evident intention of crossing to destroy us. they sent a flight of arrows after us, but as the river was here though somewhat shallow, yet very broad, by keeping over to the opposite bank, we escaped them. we had now paddles for all hands, and we plied them vigorously. pedro and i found it at first very tiring work; but manco, ned, and the indians were accustomed to it. the scenery we passed was often very fine, when the river ran between high rocks and ranges of hills. from the character of the country we felt sure that we should far outstrip any pursuers. to make certain, however, we paddled on the greater part of the night, the sharpest-eyed of the indians being stationed at the bow to warn us of any danger we were approaching. towards the morning we pulled into a little sandy bay, where we landed, and threw ourselves down wrapped in our cloaks, to obtain some rest. scarcely was i asleep when i felt something pitch down upon my nose. i looked up, but no one was near me. i went to sleep again, when my head got a disagreeable thump, and so it went on. at last i shifted my position, but still the knocks continued, though i was too sleepy to heed them. awaking at daylight i looked up, and in the trees overhead i discovered a large family of monkeys, who had, i doubt not, thus been amusing themselves at my expense. we were speedily again under weigh, and the stream running rapidly, we made, i dare say, from forty to fifty miles a day. we passed two or three rapids, down which we had to lower our canoe, and to carry her cargo by land. one was so dangerous that we judged it safer to haul her on shore, and to drag her over the ground to the lower side. this we did by means of rollers placed under her bottom, but the operation occupied us a whole day, and so weary were we, that we were very thankful the indians did not think of attacking us that night. after this, the river became deep and free from obstructions of all kinds, so that we were able to allow the canoe to drop down the stream at night, two at a time only paddling, while the others slept. in this manner we made rapid progress. sometimes, when there were no signs of natives, we landed, and built huts to rest in at night. we generally took these occasions to catch turtle, while our indians went to hunt in the neighbourhood, and never failed to bring us back a supply of game. in about ten days after our escape from the cashibos, we sighted a village built close to the banks of the river. it consisted of only eight or ten houses, but then each house was of great extent, with many divisions, and was the habitation of a considerable number of families. the sides were of cane, without any cement between the interstices, and the roofs were neatly formed of palm leaves. a turn of the river brought us upon it before we had time to pull to the opposite side, when a number of the inhabitants came forth with _pacunas_, their deadly blow-pipes, in their hands, prepared to shoot at us. our indians instantly hailed them, and informed them that a great chief was in the canoe, and entreated their hospitality. after a short consultation a friendly reply was given, and we pulled to the shore. as soon as we landed they came down and led us up to their houses. there was something agreeable in their countenances, though their flowing hair and painted faces and legs and bodies gave them an extravagantly savage appearance, increased by their teeth being blackened, and by the bead ornaments which they wore round their necks, ankles, and wrists. the men wore a long loose robe, and the women one of shorter dimensions. there was little neatness in the internal economy of their dwellings. at the end farthest from the door was the fire-place, surrounded with pots and jars of many sizes. on each side were raised platforms for bed-places, and pieces of beaten bark for bedding, covered with musquito curtains. bows, arrows, lances, _pacunas_ or blow-pipes, were hung to the posts or rafters, an axe and a knife in some cases: bowls made from calabashes, earthen jars to hold chica, water and young turtles; a few blocks of wood for seats, a few baskets, a ladder to reach to the roof, a wooden trough in which _masata_ is made, and a rude sort of loom, complete the furniture; from which list must not be omitted the lady's dressing box which contains her paints and brushes, as well as her trinkets. the centre of the house is always left unoccupied, as beneath it are buried the members of the family who die, the living thus becoming the guardians of the dead. they gave us an abundant repast off _vaca marina_ or _manatee_, called in english a sea-cow (a curious fish which i must describe), turtle, monkeys, and a variety of vegetables and fruits. our friends were great fishermen as well as sportsmen. the next morning i accompanied some of them in their canoes to catch a _vaca marina_. they watched for the animal till his snout appeared above water, when they killed it with their spears. in appearance it was something like a huge seal; but it has no power to leave the water. it was about twelve feet long, with a large muzzle armed with short bristles, and small eyes and ears. it had two thick fins and a longish thick tail; was very fat, and of a dark blue colour. to bring it home a canoe was sunk under its body; and when bailed out, it floated it up with perfect ease. the meat was in taste something between pork and beef. a large quantity of oil was extracted from the blubber. turtle flesh forms one of the principal articles of food of the people living on the banks of the rivers; and a very valuable oil is also extracted from the eggs, of which one female lays a hundred and fifty in a season. it is used instead of butter. the fiercest inhabitants of the amazon, and of its large and numerous tributaries, are the _lagartos, caimanes_, or alligators. in some parts they are seen basking in the sun, like logs of wood thrown up by the tide, with their enormous mouths kept open ready to catch the flies which settle on their lower jaw. alligators lay eggs, and it is said that as soon as they are hatched the young ones try to run on to their mother's back, and that the male alligator, who has come for no other purpose, eats all which fail to take refuge there, aided by the gallinasos and other birds of prey. their natural food appears to be fish; and the indians say that they will make a party of twelve or more, and that while one division blockades the entrance of a creek, the other will swim down, flapping their tails, and drive the fish into the jaws of their devourers. when they cannot procure fish, they will land and destroy calves and young foals, dragging them to the water's edge to eat them. when once they have tasted human flesh, it is asserted that they will take great pains to obtain it, upsetting canoes, and seizing people asleep near the banks, or floating on their balsas. i have seen an indian attack and kill an alligator in the water with a sharp knife. the indian in one hand took a a fowl, and in the other his knife. he swam till it got opposite the alligator, when it made a spring at the fowl. on this he left the fowl floating, and diving below the surface, cut the belly of the monster open with his knife. i have seen one twenty feet long; and what with his enormous head, and horrid eyes almost projecting out of his head, the impenetrable armour which covers his body, the red colour of his jaws, his sharp teeth, and his huge paws and tail, make him certainly a very hideous monster. the most deadly weapon the indian of the pampas uses is his _pacuna_ or blow-pipe, out of which he sends his arrows, dipped in the fatal _wourali_ poison. the poison takes its name from the wourali vine, the scraped wood of which, and some bitter roots, form the chief ingredients, boiled together. the rites and incantations employed, and the numerous other articles added to the poisonous cauldron, may remind one of the weird sisters' concoction in macbeth. the _pacuna_ is composed of a very delicate thin reed, perfectly smooth inside and out, which is encased in a stouter one. the arrows are from nine to ten inches long, formed of the leaf of a species of palm, hard and brittle, and pointed as sharp as a needle. at the butt-end some wild cotton is twisted round, to fit the tube. about an inch of the pointed end is poisoned. quivers are made to hold five or six hundred of these darts. the slightest wound causes certain death within a few minutes, as the poison mixes with the blood, and completely paralyses the system, causing, probably, little or no pain. the _pacuna_ is very similar to the _sumpitan_, used by the inhabitants of borneo and other people in the eastern archipelago, though the latter are not acquainted with the wourali poison. i must hurry on, i find, with my adventures. for several days we proceeded down the ucayali, till we arrived at a point where a small river, called the shaunga, falls into it. the stream was broad and tranquil, and vast trees grew down to the water's edge; while in the far distance, to the south and east, rose ranges of lofty mountains, reminding us of the distant andes in miniature. manco pointed them out to nita. "there," he said, "is our future home, till the spaniards have learned not to despise the indian race. then we will return, and once more endeavour to regain liberty for peru, and to restore the dominion of the incas." we here landed, and built some huts to last us a few days, while manco sent one of our indians as an ambassador to the chiefs of the villages, to crave the hospitality of the tribe. we employed the time till the return of the messenger in fishing and shooting, and in preparing the canoe for a longer voyage; for which purpose we fitted her with a mast and sail, a very patch-work affair, made out of our saddle-cloths and some bits of cotton stuff, which manco had brought with him. one day about noon, the sound of an indian trumpet was heard; and soon afterwards, a dozen warriors appeared, their faces and bodies highly painted, and adorned with a profusion of beads. they were clothed in the usual loose tunics, and armed with shields and clubs, ornamented with the antlers of a stag and richly tinted feathers, one end being sharp, to use as a spear; as also with bows and arrows, and lances. they were, i found, of the sencis tribe. these people live in good houses, cultivate the ground, and use canoes, and are a very intelligent and warlike people. the present party came to welcome manco to their country, and to express their willingness to afford him an asylum as long as he chose to remain among them, it was with deep regret that we parted from him and nita and their child. he was too sensible to ask me to remain with him, feeling that, as a civilised man, i had my vocation elsewhere. "i hope to be of some use to these poor people in improving their condition," he observed with a sigh. "the employment will serve to soothe my weary exile." manco, and nita with her child in her arms, stood on the shore, as, hoisting our sail, we steered our course down the river. i watched them with aching eyes and a sad heart, till they faded from my sight. many years since then have passed away, but i have never received any account of my brave and noble friend. he may have returned to peru, when the war of independence broke out, and the creoles threw off the yoke of spain. at that time a large number of indians joined the liberal party, under the idea that if the spaniards were driven out, their freedom and ancient institutions would be restored; but they found that under the new republic their condition was but little if at all improved. many, i am told, however, still look forward to the time when manco or his son shall appear, and the inca and his race shall rule the land. i wish that i had space to describe our very interesting voyage down the amazon. i saw enough to convince me of the fertility of the soil, and the vast number of productions to be found in its neighbourhood, and on the banks of the many rivers which run into it. after some weeks we reached the station of a portuguese missionary priest, who received us most hospitably; and finding that he was about to despatch a vessel to para, we were glad to abandon our canoe, and to embark in her. she was about thirty feet long and eight broad, the after part being decked with a house thatched with palm leaves, which served as the cabin for the passengers. in the fore part was a frame-work, covered also with palm leaves, under which the crew stood to paddle. in the centre was a mast, with a large square sail set on it. we had received as gifts several monkeys and parrots, and other birds and beasts, which now served to amuse us, as our own toils were over. some parts of the amazon, down which we sailed, were three miles wide, and appeared like large lakes. for many hundreds of miles steamboats might penetrate into the interior of that magnificent region; and i hope that the enterprise which is every day making new fields for its employment, may be directed ere long to that direction, to carry the advantages of civilisation among the numerous interesting tribes who inhabit its shores. it was with much satisfaction that we reached the portuguese city of para, situated on the river of that name. from the sandy nature of the soil, and the steady trade-winds which blow from the east, the city, though but little above the level of the sea at high water, is perfectly healthy. there are a good many public buildings, and several largos or open spaces in the city; but the private residences have little pretension to beauty, though they are constructed with a due regard to afford as much shade and coolness as possible. we remained here but two days; for, finding a schooner sailing for rio de janeiro, and there being no chance of a vessel direct to england for many months, we resolved to go in her. i shall never forget the intense delight with which ned walked the deck as he once more found himself afloat on the open ocean. "this is what i call life, mate--true life," he exclaimed; "and it will be a long time before you find me out of sight of blue water again." our schooner, the "felicidade," had a rapid passage to rio de janeiro. i cannot stop to describe that city, which has now become the capital of an empire. indeed i saw very little of it. nor can i picture its magnificent harbour, large enough to hold all the navies in the world. my first care, on going on shore, was to learn what ships were about to start for europe. i found that one was sailing the very next morning. ned, on hearing this, said he would go on board and look at the craft, while pedro and i waited for him on the quay. he soon came back, and said that the "susan" was a fine large brig; that he liked her appearance, and as she was short of hands he had engaged for the passage home at good wages. there was, he understood, an english family going home in her; but as she would have room for two more passengers, he advised me to return with him to secure berths for pedro and myself. we, accordingly, forthwith went on board. "your name, sir," said the master, when i told him my object. "david rexton," i replied. "rexton! that is very extraordinary," he replied. "why, that is the name of my other passengers." oh! how my heart beat with strange, wild, fearful, yet hopeful emotions at these words. i should have fallen on the deck, had not the kind-hearted man supported me. "where are they?" i at length found words to say. "in the cabin at this moment," he replied. "but stay, i have heard much about them, and suspect who you are. do you go forward with my mate there, and stay quiet for a little time; while i go and prepare them for your appearance. by-and-by we will introduce your friend here, and he can tell them he has seen you alive and well." i put myself under the good master's directions; and i need scarcely say that heaven had mercifully preserved my beloved parents, and thought fit to re-unite me to them. the very night the village, where they had taken refuge, was attacked, the faithful ithulpo had warned them in time to enable them to fly to the mountains, where they had concealed themselves in the hut of an aged indian. ithulpo had, unfortunately, quitted them, to look for some of their horses; and they had seen no more of him. from the hut of the indian, after a detention of some weeks, they succeeded in reaching the coast, and getting on board a merchantman, engaged in smuggling. she directly afterwards sailed; and rounding cape horn, they put into the magnificent harbour of rio de janeiro, for water and provisions. here my father found that the affairs of a branch of their house would much benefit by his presence. he accordingly had remained, till i so fortunately arrived. we finally reached england in safety. ned refused to touch any of the gold given to us by manco; and i, feeling that i could do no less than follow the noble fellow's generous example, devoted it to the service of pedro, who was thus enabled to obtain the best education england could afford. some years afterwards he went to peru, and succeeded in recovering the larger portion of his father's property. he fought in the war of independence, when his native country threw off the yoke of spain; but deeply disappointed in the result of that struggle, he lived in retirement on his estate, devoting himself to doing good to the surrounding population. he wrote me word that he had made every inquiry for manco, but could hear nothing of him. the inca noble probably perceived that the war of independence could do little to ameliorate the condition of his people, and refused to leave his retreat. my tale is ended. since the period of my adventures in peru i have visited many countries, and witnessed many strange scenes; and this i can assert, that every event of my life has tended to confirm the lessons given me by my father, to increase my reliance on god, and to convince me more and more that he orders all things for the best; and that when he thinks fit to afflict his creatures, he has some wise object in view, even though we may not be able to discover it. therefore, i say to my young friends, learn what is right to be done, and do it, fearless of consequences, and trusting in heaven. seek not for the reward of man, and be assured that god will care for you here, and more than amply repay you hereafter. gaspar the gaucho, by captain mayne reid. ________________________________________________________________________ this is another excellent book by the inventor of the wild west genre. set in south america, in paraguay, the hero and his band of friends have many an adventure, just in the course of one voyage, or undertaking. they frequently get themselves into dangerous and risky situations, but always by their superior bush-craft manage to get themselves out of them after having practically died, or at least having seen their horses die. this is a good book, a vintage one from the victorian era. the author learnt his bushcraft during the american-mexican war, and has given us several books whose subject and manner arose from what he learnt in that war. ________________________________________________________________________ gaspar the gaucho, by captain mayne reid. chapter one. the gran chaco. spread before you a map of south america. fix your eye on the point of confluence between two of its great rivers--the salado, which runs south-easterly from the andes mountains, and the parana coming from the north; carry your glance up the former to the town of salta, in the ancient province of tucuman; do likewise with the latter to the point where it espouses the paraguay; then up this to the brazilian frontier fort of coimbra; finally draw a line from the fort to the aforementioned town--a line slightly curved with its convexity towards the cordillera of the andes--and you will thus have traced a boundary embracing one of the least known, yet most interesting, tracts of territory in either continent of america, or, for that matter, in the world. within the limits detailed lies a region romantic in its past as mysterious in its present; at this hour almost as much a _terra incognita_ as when the boats of mendoza vainly endeavoured to reach it from the atlantic side, and the gold-seekers of pizarro's following alike unsuccessfully attempted its exploration from the pacific. young reader, you will be longing to know the name of this remarkable region; know it, then, as the "gran chaco." no doubt you may have heard of it before, and, if a diligent student of geography, made some acquaintance with its character. but your knowledge of it must needs be limited, even though it were as extensive as that possessed by the people who dwell upon its borders; for to them the gran chaco is a thing of fear, and their intercourse with it one which has brought them, and still brings, only suffering and sorrow. it has been generally supposed that the spaniards of columbus's time subdued the entire territory of america, and held sway over its red-skinned aborigines. this is a historical misconception. although lured by a love of gold, conjoined with a spirit of religious propagandism, the so-called _conquistadores_ overran a large portion of both divisions of the continent, there were yet extensive tracts of each never entered, much less colonised, by them--territories many times larger than england, in which they never dared set foot. of such were navajoa in the north, the country of the gallant goajiros in the centre, the lands of patagonia and arauco in the south, and notably the territory lying between the cordilleras of the peruvian andes and the rivers parana and paraguay, designated "el gran chaco." this vast expanse of champaign, large enough for an empire, remains to the present time not only uncolonised, but absolutely unexplored. for the half-dozen expeditions that have attempted its exploration, timidly entering and as hastily abandoning it, scarce merit consideration. and equally unsuccessful have been all efforts at religious propagandism within its borders. the labours of the _padres_, both jesuit and franciscan, have alike signally failed; the savages of the chaco refusing obedience to the cross as submission to the sword. three large rivers--the salado, vermejo, and pilcomayo--course through the territory of the chaco; the first forming its southern boundary, the others intersecting it. they all take their rise in the andes mountains, and after running for over a thousand miles in a south-easterly direction and nearly parallel courses, mingle their waters with those of the parana and paraguay. very little is known of these three great streams, though of late years the salado has received some exploration. there is a better acquaintance with its upper portion, where it passes through the settled districts of santiago and tucuman. below, even to the point where it enters the parana, only a strong military expedition may with safety approach its banks, by reason of their being also traversed by predatory bands of the savages. geographical knowledge of the vermejo is still less, and of the pilcomayo least of all; this confined to the territory of their upper waters, long since colonised by the argentine states and the republic of bolivia, and now having many towns in it. but below, as with the salado, where these rivers enter the region of the chaco, they become as if they were lost to the geographer; even the mouth of the pilcomayo not being known for certain, though one branch of it debouches into the paraguay, opposite the town of assuncion, the capital of paraguay itself! it enters the river of this name by a forked or _deltoid_ channel, its waters making their way through a marshy tract of country in numerous slow flowing _riachos_, whose banks, thickly overgrown with a lush sedgy vegetation, are almost concealed from the eye of the explorer. although the known mouth of the pilcomayo is almost within gun-shot of assuncion--the oldest spanish settlement in this part of south america-- no paraguayan ever thinks of attempting its ascent, and the people of the town are as ignorant of the land lying along that river's shores as on the day when the old naturalist, azara, paddles his _periagua_ some forty miles against its obstructing current. no scheme of colonisation has ever been designed or thought of by them; for it is only near its source, as we have seen, that settlements exist. in the chaco no white man's town ever stood upon its banks, nor church spire flung shadow athwart its unfurrowed waves. it may be asked why this neglect of a territory, which would seem so tempting to the colonist? for the gran chaco is no sterile tract, like most parts of the navajo country in the north, or the plains of patagonia and the sierras of arauco in the south. nor is it a humid, impervious forest, at seasons inundated, as with some portions of the amazon valley and the deltas of the orinoco. instead, what we do certainly know of the chaco shows it the very country to invite colonisation; having every quality and feature to attract the settler in search of a new home. vast verdant savannas-- natural clearings--rich in nutritious grasses, and groves of tropical trees, with the palm predominating; a climate of unquestionable salubrity, and a soil capable of yielding every requisite for man's sustenance as the luxury of life. in very truth, the chaco may be likened to a vast park or grand landscape garden, still under the culture of the creator! but why not also submitted to the tillage of man? the answer is easy: because the men who now hold it will not permit intrusion on their domain--to them hereditary--and they are hunters, not _agriculturists_. it is still in the possession of its red-skinned owners, the original lords of its soil, these warlike indians, who have hitherto defied all attempts to enslave or subdue them, whether made by soldier, miner, or missionary. these independent savages, mounted upon fleet steeds, which they manage with the skill of centaurs, scour the plains of the chaco, swift as birds upon the wing. disdaining fixed residence, they roam over its verdant pastures and through its perfumed groves, as bees from flower to flower, pitching their _toldos_, and making camp in whatever pleasant spot may tempt them. savages though called, who would not envy them such a charming _insouciant_ existence? do not you, young reader? i anticipate your answer, "yes." come with me, then! let us enter the "gran chaco," and for a time partake of it! chapter two. paraguay's despot. notwithstanding what i have said of the chaco remaining uncolonised and unexplored, i can tell of an exception. in the year , one ascending the pilcomayo to a point about a hundred miles from its mouth, would there see a house, which could have been built only by a white man, or one versed in the ways of civilisation. not that there was anything very imposing in its architecture; for it was but a wooden structure, the walls of bamboo, and the roof a thatch of the palm called _cuberta_--so named from the use made of its fronds in covering sheds and houses. but the superior size of this dwelling, far exceeding that of the simple _toldos_ of the chaco indians; its ample verandah pillared and shaded by a protecting roof of the same palm leaves; and, above all, several well-fenced enclosures around it, one of them containing a number of tame cattle, others under tillage--with maize, manioc, the plantain, and similar tropical products--all these insignia evinced the care and cultivating hand of some one else than an aboriginal. entering the house, still further evidence of the white man's presence would be observed. furniture, apparently home-made, yet neat, pretty, and suitable; chairs and settees of the _cana brava_, or south american bamboo; bedsteads of the same, with beds of the elastic spanish moss, and _ponchos_ for coverlets; mats woven from fibres of another species of palm, with here and there a swung hammock. in addition, some books and pictures that appeared to have been painted on the spot; a bound volume of music, with a violin and guitar--all speaking of a domestic economy unknown to the american indian. in some of the rooms, as also in the outside verandah, could be noticed objects equally unlike the belongings of the aboriginal: stuffed skins of wild beasts and birds; insects impaled on strips of palm bark; moths, butterflies, and brilliant scarabaei; reptiles preserved in all their repulsive ugliness, with specimens of ornamental woods, plants, and minerals; a singular paraphernalia, evidently the product of the region around. such a collection could only belong to a _naturalist_, and that naturalist could be no other than a white man. he was; his name ludwig halberger. the name plainly speaks his nationality--a german. and such was he; a native of the then kingdom of prussia, born in the city of berlin. though not strange his being a naturalist--since the taste for and study of nature are notably peculiar to the german people--it was strange to find prussian or other european having his home in such an out-of-the-way place. there was no civilised settlement, no other white man's dwelling, nearer than the town of assuncion; this quite a hundred miles off, to the eastward. and north, south, and west the same for more than five times the distance. all the territory around and between, a wilderness, unsettled, unexplored, traversed only by the original lords of the soil, the chaco indians, who, as said, have preserved a deadly hostility to the paleface, ever since the keels of the latter first cleft the waters of the parana. to explain, then, how ludwig halberger came to be domiciled there, so far from civilisation, and so high up the pilcomayo--river of mysterious note--it is necessary to give some details of his life antecedent to the time of his having established this solitary _estancia_. to do so a name of evil augury and ill repute must needs be introduced--that of dr francia, dictator of paraguay, who for more than a quarter of a century ruled that fair land verily with a rod of iron. with this same demon-like tyrant, and the same almost heavenly country, is associated another name, and a reputation as unlike that of jose francia as hyperion to the satyr, and which justice to a godlike humanity forbids me to pass over in silence. i speak of amade, or, as he is better known, _aime_ bonpland--cognomen appropriate to this most estimable man--known to all the world as the friend and fellow-traveller of humboldt; more still, his assistant and collaborates in those scientific researches, as yet unequalled for truthfulness and extent--the originator and discoverer of much of that learned lore, which, with modesty unparalleled, he has allowed his more energetic and more ambitious _compagnon de voyage_ to have credit for. though no name sounds more agreeably to my ears than that of aime bonpland, i cannot here dwell upon it, nor write his biography, however congenial the theme. some one who reads this may find the task both pleasant and profitable; for though his bones slumber obscurely on the banks of the parana, amidst the scenes so loved by him, his name will one day have a higher niche in fame's temple than it has hitherto held-- perhaps not much lower than that of humboldt himself. i here introduce it, with some incidents of his life, as affecting the first character who figures in this my tale. but for aime bonpland, ludwig halberger might never have sought a south american home. it was in following the example of the french philosopher, of whom he had admiringly read, that the prussian naturalist made his way to the la plata and up to paraguay, where bonpland had preceded him. but first to give the adventures of the latter in that picturesque land, of which a short account will suffice; then afterwards to the incidents of my story. retiring from the busy world, of which he seems to have been somewhat weary, bonpland took up his residence on the banks of the rio parana; not in paraguayan territory, but that of the argentine republic, on the opposite side of the river. there settled down, he did not give his hours to idleness; nor yet altogether to his favourite pursuit, the pleasant though somewhat profitless one of natural history. instead, he devoted himself to cultivation, the chief object of his culture being the "yerba de paraguay," which yields the well-known _mate_, or paraguayan tea. in this industry he was eminently successful. his amiable manners and inoffensive character attracted the notice of his neighbours, the guarani indians--a peaceful tribe of proletarian habits--and soon a colony of these collected around him, entering his employ, and assisting him in the establishment of an extensive "yerbale," or tea-plantation, which bid fair to become profitable. the frenchman was on the high-road to fortune, when a cloud appeared, coming from an unexpected quarter of the sky--the north. the report of his prosperity had reached the ears of francia, paraguay's then despot and dictator, who, with other strange theories of government, held the doctrine that the cultivation of "yerba" was a right exclusively paraguayan--in other words, belonging solely to himself. true, the french colonist, his rival cultivator, was not within his jurisdiction, but in the state of corrientes, and the territory of the argentine confederation. not much, that, to dr francia, accustomed to make light of international law, unless it were supported by national strength and backed by hostile bayonets. at the time corrientes had neither of these to deter him, and in the dead hour of a certain night, four hundred of his myrmidons--the noted _quarteleros_--crossed the parana, attacked the tea-plantation of bonpland, and after making massacre of a half-score of his guarani _peons_, carried himself a prisoner to the capital of paraguay. the argentine government, weak with its own intestine strife, submitted to the insult almost unprotestingly. bonpland was but a frenchman and foreigner; and for nine long years was he held captive in paraguay. even the english _charge d'affaires_, and a commission sent thither by the institute of france, failed to get him free! had he been a lordling, or some little _viscomte_, his forced residence in paraguay would have been of shorter duration. an army would have been despatched to "extradite" him. but aime bonpland was only a student of nature--one of those unpretending men who give the world all the knowledge it has, worth having--and so was he left to languish in captivity. true, his imprisonment was not a very harsh one, and rather partook of the character of _parole d'honneur_. francia was aware of his wonderful knowledge, and availed himself of it, allowing his captive to live unmolested. but again the amiable character of the frenchman had an influence on his life, this time adversely. winning for him universal respect among the simple paraguayans, it excited the envy of their vile ruler; who once again, and at night, had his involuntary guest seized upon, carried beyond the confines of his territory, and landed upon argentine soil--but stripped of everything save the clothes on his back! soon after, bonpland settled near the town of corrientes, where, safe from further persecution, he once more entered upon agricultural pursuits. and there, in the companionship of a south american lady--his wife--with a family of happy children, he ended a life that had lasted for fourscore years, innocent and unblemished, is it had been useful, heroic, and glorious. chapter three. the hunter-naturalist. in some respects similar to the experience of aime bonpland was that of ludwig halberger. like the former, an ardent lover of nature, as also an accomplished naturalist, he too had selected south america as the scene of his favourite pursuits. on the great river parana--better, though erroneously, known to europeans as the la plata--he would find an almost untrodden field. for although the spanish naturalist, azara, had there preceded him, the researches of the latter were of the olden time, and crude imperfect kind, before either zoology or botany had developed themselves into a science. besides, the prussian was moderately fond of the chase, and to such a man the great _pampas_ region, with its pumas and jaguars, its ostriches, wild horses, and grand _guazuti_ stags, offered an irresistible attraction. there he could not only indulge his natural taste, but luxuriate in them. he, too, had resided nine years in paraguay, and something more. but, unlike bonpland, his residence there was voluntary. nor did he live alone. lover of nature though he was, and addicted to the chase, another kind of love found its way to his heart, making himself a captive. the dark eyes of a paraguayan girl penetrated his breast, seeming brighter to him than the plumage of the gaudiest birds, or the wings of the most beautiful butterflies. "_el gilero_" the blonde--as these swarthy complexioned people were wont to call the teutonic stranger--found favour in the eyes of the young paraguayense, who reciprocating his honest love, consented to become his wife; and became it. she was married at the age of fourteen, he being over twenty. "so young for a bride!" many of my readers will exclaim. but that is rather a question of race and climate. in spanish america, land of feminine precocity, there is many a wife and mother not yet entered on her teens! for nigh ten years halberger lived happily with his youthful _esposa_; all the happier that in due time a son and daughter--the former resembling himself, the latter a very image of her mother--enlivened their home with sweet infantine prattle. and as the years rolled by, a third youngster came to form part of the family circle--this neither son nor daughter, but an orphan child of the senora's sister deceased. a boy he was, by name cypriano. the home of the hunter-naturalist was not in assuncion, but some twenty miles out in the "_campo_." he rarely visited the capital, except on matters of business. for a business he had; this of somewhat unusual character. it consisted chiefly in the produce of his gun and insect-net. many a rare specimen of bird and quadruped, butterfly and beetle, captured and preserved by ludwig halberger, at this day adorns the public museums of prussia and other european countries. but for the dispatch and shipment of these he would never have cared to show himself in the streets of assuncion; for, like all true naturalists, he had no affection for city life. assuncion, however, being the only shipping port in paraguay, he had no choice but repair thither whenever his collections became large enough to call for exportation. beginning life in south america with moderate means, the prussian naturalist had prospered: so much, as to have a handsome house, with a tract of land attached, and a fair retinue of servants; these last, all "guanos," a tribe of indians long since tamed and domesticated. he had been fortunate, also, in securing the services of a _gaucho_, named gaspar, a faithful fellow, skilled in many callings, who acted as his _mayor-domo_ and man of confidence. in truth, was ludwig halberger in the enjoyment of a happy existence, and eminently prosperous. like aime bonpland, he was fairly on the road to fortune; when, just as with the latter, a cloud overshadowed his life, coming from the self-same quarter. his wife, lovely at fourteen, was still beautiful at twenty-four, so much as to attract the notice of paraguay's dictator. and with dr francia to covet was to possess, where the thing coveted belonged to any of his own subjects. aware of this, warned also of francia's partiality by frequent visits with which the latter now deigned to honour him, ludwig halberger saw there was no chance to escape domestic ruin, but by getting clear out of the country. it was not that he doubted the fidelity of his wife; on the contrary, he knew her to be true as she was beautiful. how could he doubt it, since it was from her own lips he first learnt of the impending danger? away from paraguay, then--away anywhere--was his first and quickly-formed resolution, backed by the counsels of his loyal partner in life. but the design was easier than its execution; the last not only difficult, but to all appearance impossible. for it so chanced that one of the laws of that exclusive land--an edict of the dictator himself--was to the point prohibitive; forbidding any foreigner who married a native woman to take her out of the country, without having a written permission from the executive head of the state. ludwig halberger was a foreigner, his wife native born, and the head of the state executive, as in every other sense, was jose gaspar francia! the case was conclusive. for the prussian to have sought permission to depart, taking his wife along with him, would have been more than folly--madness--hastening the very danger he dreaded. flight, then? but whither, and in what direction? to flee into the paraguayan forests could not avail him, or only for a short respite. these, traversed by the _cascarilleros_ and gatherers of yerba, all in the dictator's employ and pay, would be no safer than the streets of assuncion itself. a party of fugitives, such as the naturalist and his family, could not long escape observation; and seen, they would as surely be captured and carried back. the more surely from the fact that the whole system of paraguayan polity under dr francia's regime was one of treachery and espionage, every individual in the land finding it to his profit to do dirty service for "el supremo"--as they styled their despotic chief. on the other side there was the river, but still more difficult would it be to make escape in that direction. all along its bank, to the point where it enters the argentine territory, had francia established his military stations, styled _guardias_, where sentinels kept watch at all hours, by night as in the day. for a boat to pass down, even the smallest skiff, without being observed by some of these argus-eyed videttes, would have been absolutely impossible; and if seen as surely brought to a stop, and taken back to assuncion. revolving all these difficulties in his mind, ludwig halberger was filled with dismay, and for a long time kept in a state of doubt and chilling despair. at length, however, a thought came to relieve him--a plan of flight, which promised to have a successful issue. he would flee into the chaco! to the mind of any other man in paraguay the idea would have appeared preposterous. if francia resembled the frying-pan, the chaco to a paraguayan seemed the fire itself. a citizen of assuncion would no more dare to set foot on the further side of that stream which swept the very walls of his town, than would a besieging soldier on the _glacis_ of the fortress he besieged. the life of a white man caught straying in the territory of "el gran chaco" would not have been worth a withey. if not at once impaled on an indian spear held in the hand of "tova" or "guaycuru," he would be carried into a captivity little preferable to death. for all this, ludwig halberger had no fear of crossing over to the chaco side, nor penetrating into its interior. he had often gone thither on botanising and hunting expeditions. but for this apparent recklessness he had a reason, which must needs here be given. between the chaco savages and the paraguayan people there had been intervals of peace--_tiempos de paz_--during which occurred amicable intercourse; the indians rowing over the river and entering the town to traffic off their skins, ostrich feathers, and other commodities. on one of these occasions the head chief of the tovas tribe, by name naraguana, having imbibed too freely of _guarape_, and in some way got separated from his people, became the butt of some paraguayan boys, who were behaving towards him just as the idle lads of london or the _gamins_ of paris would to one appearing intoxicated in the streets. the prussian naturalist chanced to be passing at the time; and seeing the indian, an aged man, thus insulted, took pity upon and rescued him from his tormentors. recovering from his debauch, and conscious of the service the stranger had done him, the tovas chief swore eternal friendship to his generous protector, at the same time proffering him the "freedom of the chaco." the incident, however, caused a rupture between the tovas tribe and the paraguayan government, terminating the _tiempo de paz_, which had not since been renewed. more unsafe than ever would it have been for a paraguayan to set foot on the western side of the river. but ludwig halberger knew that the prohibition did not extend to him; and relying on naraguana's proffered friendship, he now determined upon retreating into the chaco, and claiming the protection of the tovas chief. luckily, his house was not a great way from the river's bank, and in the dead hour of a dark night, accompanied by wife and children--taking along also his guano servants, with such of his household effects as could be conveniently carried, the faithful caspar guiding and managing all--he was rowed across the paraguay and up the pilcomayo. he had been told that at some thirty leagues from the mouth of the latter stream, was the _tolderia_ of the tovas indians. and truly told; since before sunset of the second day he succeeded in reaching it, there to be received amicably, as he had anticipated. not only did naraguana give him a warm welcome but assistance in the erection of his dwelling; afterwards stocking his _estancia_ with horses and cattle caught on the surrounding plains. these tamed and domesticated, with their progeny, are what anyone would have seen in his _corrals_ in the year , at the time the action of our tale commences. chapter four. his nearest neighbours. the house of the hunter-naturalist was placed at some distance from the river's bank, its site chosen with an eye to the picturesque; and no lovelier landscape ever lay before the windows of a dwelling. from its front ones--or, better still, the verandah outside them--the eye commands a view alone limited by the power of vision: verdant savannas, mottled with copses of acacia and groves of palm, with here and there single trees of the latter standing solitary, their smooth stems and gracefully-curving fronds cut clear as cameos against the azure sky. nor is it a dead level plain, as _pampas_ and prairies are erroneously supposed always to be. instead, its surface is varied with undulations; not abrupt as the ordinary hill and dale scenery, but gently swelling like the ocean's waves when these have become crestless after the subsidence of a storm. looking across this champaign from halberger's house at almost any hour of the day, one would rarely fail to observe living creatures moving upon it. it may be a herd of the great _guazuti_ deer, or the smaller _pampas_ roe, or, perchance, a flock of _rheas_--the south american ostrich--stalking along tranquilly or in flight, with their long necks extended far before, and their plumed tails streaming train-like behind them. possibly they may have been affrighted by the tawny puma, or spotted jaguar, seen skulking through the long pampas grass like gigantic cats. a drove of wild horses, too, may go careering past, with manes and tails showing a wealth of hair which shears have never touched; now galloping up the acclivity of a ridge; anon disappearing over its crest to re-appear on one farther off and of greater elevation. verily, a scene of nature in its wildest and most interesting aspect! upon that same plain, ludwig halberger and his people are accustomed to see others than wild horses--some with men upon their backs, who sit them as firmly as riders in the ring; that is, when they do _sit_ them, which is not always. often may they be seen standing erect upon their steeds, these going in full gallop! true, your ring-rider can do the same; but then his horse gallops in a circle, which makes it a mere feat of centrifugal and centripetal balancing. let him try it in a straight line, and he would drop off like a ripe pear from the tree. no curving course needs the chaco indian, no saddle nor padded platform on the back of his horse, which he can ride standing almost as well as seated. no wonder, then, these savages--if savages they may be called--have obtained the fanciful designation of centaurs--the "red centaurs of the chaco." those seen by ludwig halberger and his family are the "tovas," already introduced. their village, termed _tolderia_, is about ten miles off, up the river. naraguana wished the white man to have fixed his residence nearer to him, but the naturalist knew that would not answer. less than two leagues from an indian encampment, and still more if a permanent dwelling-place, which this _tolderia_ is, would make the pursuit of his calling something more than precarious. the wild birds and beasts--in short, all the animated creation--dislike the proximity of the indian, and flee his presence afar. it may seem strange that the naturalist still continues to form collections, so far from any place where he might hope to dispose of them. down the pilcomayo he dares not take them, as that would only bring him back to the paraguay river, interdict to navigation, as ever jealously guarded, and, above all, tabooed to himself. but he has no thought, or intention, to attempt communicating with the civilised world in that way; while a design of doing so in quite another direction has occurred to him, and, in truth, been already all arranged. this, to carry his commodities overland to the rio vermejo, and down that stream till near its mouth; then again overland, and across the parana to corrientes. there he will find a shipping port in direct commerce with buenos ayres, and so beyond the jurisdiction of paraguay's dictator. naraguana has promised him not only an escort of his best braves, but a band of _cargadores_ (carriers) for the transport of his freight; these last the slaves of his tribe. for the aristocratic tovas indians have their bondsmen, just as the caffres, or arab merchants of africa. nearly three years have elapsed since the naturalist became established in his new quarters, and his collection has grown to be a large one. safely landed in any european port, it would be worth many thousands of dollars; and thither he wishes to have it shipped as soon as possible. he has already warned naraguana of his wish, and that the freight is ready; the chief, on his part, promising to make immediate preparations for its transport overland. but a week has passed over, and no naraguana, nor any messenger from him, has made appearance at the _estancia_. no indian of the tovas tribe has been seen about the place, nor anywhere near it; in short, no redskin has been seen at all, save the _guanos_, halberger's own male and female domestics. strange all this! scarce ever has a whole week gone by without his receiving a visit from the tovas chief, or some one of his tribe; and rarely half this time without naraguana's own son, by name aguara, favouring the family with a call, and making himself as agreeable as savage may in the company of civilised people. for all, there is one of that family to whom his visits are anything but agreeable; in truth, the very reverse. this cypriano, who has conceived the fancy, or rather feels conviction, that the eyes of the young tovas chief rest too often, and too covetously, on his pretty cousin, francesca. perhaps, except himself, no one has noticed this, and he alone is glad to count the completion of a week without any indian having presented himself at his uncle's establishment. though there is something odd in their prolonged non-appearance, still it is nothing to be alarmed about. on other occasions there had been intervals of absence as long, and even longer, when the men of the tribe were away from their _tolderia_, on some foraging or hunting expedition. nor would halberger have thought anything of it; but for the understanding between him and the tovas chief, in regard to the transport of his collections. naraguana had never before failed in any promise made to him. why should he in this? a sense of delicacy hinders the naturalist from riding over to the tovas town, and asking explanation why the chief delays keeping his word. in all such matters, the american indian, savage though styled, is sensitive as the most refined son of civilisation; and, knowing this, ludwig halberger waits for naraguana to come to him. but when a second week has passed, and a third, without the tovas chief reporting himself, or sending either message or messenger, the prussian becomes really apprehensive, not so much for himself, as the safety of his red-skinned protector. can it be that some hostile band has attacked the tovas tribe, massacred all the men, and carried off the women? for in the chaco are various communities of indians, often at deadly feud with one another. though such conjecture seems improbable, the thing is yet possible; and to assure himself, halberger at length resolves upon going over to the _tolderia_ of the tovas. ordering his horse saddled, he mounts, and is about to ride off alone, when a sweet voice salutes him, saying:-- "papa! won't you take me with you?" it is his daughter who speaks, a girl not yet entered upon her teens. "in welcome, francesca. come along!" is his answer to her query. "then stay till i get my pony. i sha'n't be a minute." she runs back towards the corrals, calling to one of the servants to saddle her diminutive steed. which, soon brought round to the front of the house, receives her upon its back. but now another, also a soft, sweet voice, is heard in exhortation. it is that of francesca's mother, entering protest against her husband either going alone, or with a companion so incapable of protecting him. she says:-- "dear ludwig, take caspar with you. there may be danger--who knows?" "let me go, _tio_?" puts in cypriano, with impressive eagerness, his eyes turned towards his cousin as though he did not at all relish the thought of her visiting the tovas village without his being along with her. "and me, too?" also requests ludwig, the son, who is two years older than his sister. "no, neither of you," rejoins the father. "ludwig, you would not leave your mother alone? besides, remember i have set both you and cypriano a lesson, which you must learn off to-day. there is nothing to fear, _querida_!" he adds, addressing himself to his wife. "we are not now in paraguay, but a country where our old friend francia and his satellites dare not intrude on us. besides, i cannot spare the good caspar from some work i have given him to do. bah! 'tis only a bit of a morning's trot there and back; and if i find there's nothing wrong, we'll be home again in little ever a couple of hours. so _adios! vamos_, francesca!" with a wave of his hand he moves off, francesca giving her tiny roadster a gentle touch of the whip, and trotting by his side. the other three, left standing in the verandah, with their eyes follow the departing equestrians, the countenance of each exhibiting an expression that betrays different emotions in their minds, these differing both as to the matter of thought and the degree of intensity. ludwig simply looks a little annoyed at having to stay at home when he wanted to go abroad, but without any great feeling of disappointment; whereas cypriano evidently suffers chagrin, so much that he is not likely to profit by the appointed lesson. with the senora herself it is neither disappointment nor chagrin, but a positive and keen apprehension. a daughter of paraguay, brought up to believe its ruler all powerful over the earth, she can hardly realise the idea of there being a spot where the hand of "el supremo" cannot reach and punish those who have thwarted his wishes or caprices. many the tale has she heard whispered in her ear, from the cradle upwards, telling of the weird power of this wicked despot, and the remorseless manner in which he has often wielded it. even after their escape into the chaco, where, under the protection of the tovas chief, they might laugh his enmity to scorn, she has never felt the confidence of complete security. and now, that an uncertainty has arisen as to what has befallen naraguana and his people, her fears became redoubled and intensified. standing in the trellissed verandah, her eyes fixed upon the departing forms of her husband and daughter, she has a heaviness at the heart, a presentiment of some impending danger, which seems so near and dreadful as to cause shivering throughout her frame. the two youths, observing this, essay to reassure her--one in filial duty, the other with affection almost as warm. alas! in vain. as the crown of the tall hat worn by her husband, goes down behind the crest of a distant ridge, francesca's having sooner disappeared, her heart sinks at the same time; and, making a sign of the cross, she exclaims in desponding accents:-- "_madre de dios_! we may ne'er see them more!" chapter five. a deserted village. riding at a gentle amble, so that his daughter on her small palfrey may easily keep up with him, halberger in due time arrives at the indian village; to his surprise seeing it is no more a village, or only a deserted one! the toldos of bamboo and palm thatch are still standing, but untenanted--every one of them! dismounting, he steps inside them, one after the other, but finds each and all unoccupied--neither man, woman, nor child within; nor without, either in the alleys between, or on the large open space around which the frail tenements are set, that has served as a loitering-place for the older members of the tribe, and a play-ground for the younger. the grand council room, called _malocca_, he also enters with like result; no one is inside it--not a soul to be seen anywhere, either in the streets of the village or on the plain stretching around! he is alarmed as much as surprised; indeed more, since he has been anticipating something amiss. but by degrees, as he continues to make an examination of the place, his apprehensions became calmed down, these having been for the fate of the indians themselves. his first thought he had entertained while conjecturing the cause of their long absence from the _estancia_, was that some hostile tribe had attacked them, massacred the men, and carried captive the women and children. such tragical occurrences are far from uncommon among the red aborigines of america, southern or northern. soon, however, his fears on this score are set at rest. moving around, he detects no traces of a struggle, neither dead bodies nor blood. if there had been a fight the corpses of the fallen would surely still be there, strewing the plain; and not a _toldo_ would be standing or seen--instead, only their ashes. as it is, he finds the houses all stripped of their furniture and domestic utensils; these evidently borne off not as by marauders, but taken away in a systematic manner, as when a regular move is made by these nomadic people. he sees fragments of cut _sipos_ and bits of raw-hide thong--the overplus left after packing. though no longer alarmed for the safety of the indians, he is, nevertheless, still surprised and perplexed. what could have taken them away from the _tolderia_, and whither can they have gone? strange, too, naraguana should have left the place in such unceremonious fashion, without giving him, halberger, notice of his intention! their absence on this occasion cannot be accounted for by any hunting or foraging expedition, nor can it be a foray of war. in any of these cases the women and children would have been left behind. beyond doubt, it is an absolute abandonment of the place; perhaps with no intention of returning to it; or not for a very long time. revolving these thoughts through his mind, halberger climbs back into his saddle, and sits further reflecting. his daughter, who has not dismounted, trots up to his side, she, too, in as much wonderment as himself; for, although but a very young creature, almost a child in age, she has passed through experiences that impart the sageness of years. she knows of all the relationships which exist between them and the tovas tribe, and knows something of why her father fled from his old home; that is, she believes it to have been through fear of el supremo, the "bogie" of every paraguayan child, boy or girl. aware of the friendship of the tovas chief, and the protection he has extended to them, she now shares her father's surprise, as she had his apprehensions. they exchange thoughts on the subject--the child equally perplexed with the parent; and after an interval passed in conjecturing, all to no purpose, halberger is about to turn and ride home again, when it occurs to him he had better find out in what direction the indians went away from their village. there is no difficulty in discovering this; the trail of their ridden horses, still more that of their pack animals, is easily found and followed. it leads out from the village at the opposite end from that by which they themselves entered; and after following it for a mile or so along the river's bank, they see that it takes an abrupt turn across the _pampa_. up to this point it has been quite conspicuous, and is also beyond; for although it is anything but recent, no rain has since fallen, and the hoof-prints of the horses can be here and there distinguished clean cut on the smooth sward, over which the mounted men had gone at a gallop. besides, there is the broad belt of trodden grass where the pack animals toiled more slowly along; and upon this bits of broken utensils, with other useless articles, have been dropped and abandoned, plainly proclaiming the character of the cavalcade. here halberger would halt, and turn back, but for a remembrance coming into his mind which hinders, at the same time urging him to continue on. in one of his hunting excursions he had been over this ground before, and remembers that some ten miles further on a tributary stream flows into the pilcomayo. curious to know whether the departing tovas have turned up this tributary, or followed the course of the main river, he determines to proceed. for glancing skyward, he sees that the sun is just crossing the meridian, and knows he will have no lack of time before darkness can overtake him. the circumstances and events, so strange and startling, cause him to forget that promise made to his wife--soon to be back at the _estancia_. spurring his horse, and calling on francesca to follow, he starts off again at a brisk gallop; which is kept up till they draw bridle on the bank of the influent stream. this, though broad, is but shallow, with a selvedge of soft ooze on either side; and on that where they have arrived the mud shows the track of several hundred horses. without crossing over, halberger can see that the indian trail leads on along the main river, and not up the branch stream. again he is on the balance, to go back--with the intention of returning next day, accompanied by caspar, and making further search for the missing indians--when an object comes under his eye, causing him to give a start of surprise. it is only the track of a horse; and strange that this should surprise him, among hundreds. but the one on which he has fixed his attention differs from all the rest in being the hoof-print of a _shod_ horse, while the others are as nature made them. still even this difference would not make so much impression upon him were the tracks of the same _age_. himself skilled as any indian in the reading of _pampas_ sign, at a glance he sees they are not. the hoof-marks of the tovas horses in their travelling train are all quite three weeks old; while the animal having the iron on its heels, must have crossed over that stream within the week. its rider, whoever he was, could not have been in the company of the departing tovas; and to him now regarding the tracks, it is only a question as to whether he were a _white_ man, or indian. everything is against his having been the former, travelling in a district tabooed to the palefaces, other than halberger and his--everything, save the fact of his being on the back of a _shod_ horse; while this alone hinders the supposition of the animal being bestridden by an indian. for a long while the hunter-naturalist, with francesca by his side, sits in his saddle contemplating the shod hoof-prints in a reverie of reflection. he at length thinks of crossing the tributary stream, to see if these continue on with the indian trail, and has given his horse the spur, with a word to his daughter to do likewise, when voices reach his ear from the opposite side, warning him to pull in again. along with loud words and ejaculations there is laughter; as of boys at play, only not stationary in one place, but apparently moving onward, and drawing nearer to him. on both sides of the branch stream, as also along the banks of the river, is a dense growth of tropical vegetation--mostly underwood, with here and there a tall _moriche_ palm towering above the humbler shrubs. through this they who travel so gleefully are making their way; but cannot yet be seen from the spot where halberger has halted. but just on the opposite bank, where the trail goes up from the ford, is a bit of treeless sward, several acres in extent, in all likelihood, kept clear of undergrowth by the wild horses and other animals on their way to the water to drink. it runs back like an embayment into the close-growing scrub, and as the trail can be distinguished debouching at its upper end, the naturalist has no doubt that these joyous gentry are approaching in that direction. and so are they--a singular cavalcade, consisting of some thirty individuals on horseback; for all are mounted. two are riding side by side, some little way ahead of the others, who follow also in twos--the trail being sufficiently wide to admit of the double formation. for the indians of _pampa_ and prairie--unlike their brethren of the forest, do not always travel "single file." on horseback it would string them out too far for either convenience or safety. indeed, these horse indians not unfrequently march in column, and in line. with the exception of the pair spoken of as being in the advance, all the others are costumed, and their horses caparisoned, nearly alike. their dress is of the simplest and scantiest kind--a hip-cloth swathing their bodies from waist to mid-thigh, closely akin to the "breech-clout" of the northern indian, only of a different material. instead of dressed buckskin, the loin covering of the chaco savage is a strip of white cotton cloth, some of wool in bands of bright colour having a very pretty effect. but, unlike their red brethren of the north, they know nought of either leggings or moccasin. their mild climate calls not for such covering; and for foot protection against stone, thorn, or thistle, the chaco indian rarely ever sets sole to the ground--his horse's back being his home habitually. those now making way through the wood show limbs naked from thigh to toe, smooth as moulded bronze, and proportioned as if cut by the chisel of praxiteles. their bodies above also nude; but here again differing from the red men of the prairies. no daub and disfigurement of chalk, charcoal, vermilion, or other garish pigment; but clear skins showing the lustrous hue of health, of bronze or brown amber tint, adorned only with some stringlets of shell beads, or the seeds of a plant peculiar to their country. all are mounted on steeds of small size, but sinewy and perfect in shape, having long tails and flowing manes; for the barbarism of the clipping shears has not yet reached these barbarians of the chaco. nor yet know they, or knowing, they use not saddle. a piece of ox-hide, or scrap of deer-skin serves them for its substitute; and for bridle a raw-hide rope looped around the under jaw, without head-strap, bittless, and single reined, enabling them to check or guide their horses, as if these were controlled by the cruellest of curbs, or the jaw-breaking mameluke bitt. as they file forth two by two into the open ground, it is seen that there is some quality and fashion common to all; to wit, that they are all youths--not any of them over twenty--and that they wear their hair cropped in front, showing a square line across the forehead, but left untouched on the crown and back of the head. there it falls in full profuseness, reaching to the hips, and in the case of some mingling with the tails, of their horses. two, however, are notably different from the rest; they riding in the advance, with a horse's length or so of interval between them and their following. one of the two differs only in the style of his dress; being an indian as the others, and, like them, quite a youth, to all appearance the youngest of the party. yet also their chief, by reason of his richer and grander dress; his attire being of the most picturesque and costly kind worn by the chaco savages. covering his body, from the breast to half-way down his thighs, is a sort of loosely-fitting tunic of white cotton stuff. sleeveless, it leaves his arm bare from nigh the shoulder to the wrist, around which glistens a bracelet with the sheen of solid gold. his limbs also are bare, save a sort of gartering below the knee, of shell and bead embroidery. on his head is a fillet band ornamented in like manner, with bright plumes, set vertically around it--the tail-feathers of the _guacamaya_, one of the most superb of south american parrots. but the most distinctive article of his apparel is his _manta_, a sort of cloak of the _poncho_ kind, hanging loosely behind his back, but altogether different from the well-known garment of the gauchos, which is usually woven from wool. that on the shoulders of the young indian is of no textile fabric, but the skin of a fawn, tanned and bleached to the softness and whiteness of a dress kid glove, the outward side being elaborately feather-worked in flowers and patterns, the feathers obtained from many a bird of gay plumage. of form perfectly symmetrical, the young indian, save for his complexion, would seem a sort of apollo, or hyperion on horseback; while he who rides alongside him, withal that his skin is white, or once was, might well be likened to the satyr. a man over thirty years of age, tall, and of tough, sinewy frame, with a countenance of the most sinister cast, dressed gaucho fashion, with the wide petticoat breeches lying loose about his limbs, a striped _poncho_ over his shoulders, and a gaudy silken kerchief tied turban-like around his temples. but no gaucho he, nor individual of any honest calling: instead, a criminal of deepest dye, experienced in every sort of villainy. for this man is rufino valdez, well-known in assuncion as one of francia's familiars, and more than suspected of being one of his most dexterous _assassins_. chapter six. an old enemy in a new place. could the hunter-naturalist but know what has really occurred in the tovas tribe, and the nature of the party now approaching, he would not stay an instant longer on the banks of that branch stream; instead, hasten back home with his child fast as their animals could carry them, and once at the estancia, make all haste to get away from it, taking every member of his family along with him. but he has no idea that anything has happened hostile to him or his, nor does he as yet see the troop of travellers, whose merry voices are making the woods ring around them: for, on the moment of his first hearing them, they were at a good distance, and are some considerable time before coming in sight. at first, he had no thought of retreating, nor making any effort to place himself and his child in concealment. and for two reasons: one, because ever since taking up his abode in the chaco, under the protection of naraguana, he has enjoyed perfect security, as also the consciousness of it. therefore, why should he be alarmed now? as a second reason for his not feeling so, an encounter with men, in the mood of those to whom he is listening, could hardly be deemed dangerous. it may be but the tovas chief and his people, on return to the town they had abandoned; and, in all likelihood, it is they. so, for a time, thinks he. but, again, it may not be; and if any other indians--if a band of anguite, or guaycurus, both at enmity with the tovas--then would they be also enemies to him, and his position one of great peril. and now once more reflecting on the sudden, as unexplained, disappearance of the latter from their old place of residence--to say the least, a matter of much mystery--bethinking himself, also, that he is quite _twenty_ miles from his estancia, and for any chances of retreat, or shifts for safety, worse off than if he were alone, he at length, and very naturally, feels an apprehension stealing over him. indeed, not stealing, nor coming upon him slowly, but fast gathering, and in full force. at all events, as he knows nothing of who or what the people approaching may be, it is an encounter that should, if possible, be avoided. prudence so counsels, and it is but a question how this can best be done. will they turn heads round, and go galloping back? or ride in among the bushes, and there remain under cover till the indians have passed? if these should prove to be tovas, they could discover themselves and join them; if not, then take the chances of travelling behind them, and getting back home unobserved. the former course he is most inclined to; but glancing up the bank, for he is still on the water's edge, he sees that the sloping path he had descended, and by which he must return, is exposed to view from the opposite side of the stream, to a distance of some two hundred yards. to reach the summit of the slope, and get under cover of the trees crowning it, would take some time. true, only a minute or two; but that may be more than he can spare, since the voices seem now very near, and those he would shun must show themselves almost immediately. and to be seen retreating would serve no good purpose; instead, do him a damage, by challenging the hostility of the indians, if they be not tovas. even so, were he alone, well-horsed as he believes himself to be--and in reality is--he would risk the attempt, and, like enough, reach his estancia in safety. but encumbered with francesca on her diminutive steed, he knows they would have no chance in a chase across the _pampa_, with the red centaurs pursuing. therefore, not for an instant, or only one, entertains he thought of flight. in a second he sees it would not avail them, and decides on the other alternative--concealment. he has already made a hasty inspection of the ground near by, and sees, commencing at no great distance off, and running along the water's edge, a grove of _sumac_ trees which, with their parasites and other plants twining around their stems and branches, form a complete labyrinth of leaves. the very shelter he is in search of; and heading his horse towards it, at the same time telling francesca to follow, he rides in by the first opening that offers. fortunately he has struck upon a _tapir_ path, which makes it easier for them to pass through the underwood, and they are soon, with their horses, well screened from view. perhaps, better would it have been for them had they continued on, without making any stop, though not certain this, for it might have been all one in the end. as it is, still in doubt, half under the belief that he may be retreating from an imaginary danger--running away from friends instead of foes--as soon as well within the thicket, halberger reins up again, at a point where he commands a view of the ford as it enters on the opposite side of the stream. a little glade gives room for the two animals to stand side by side, and drawing francesca's pony close up to his saddle-flap, he cautions her to keep it there steadily, as also to be silent herself. the girl needs not such admonition. no simple child she, accustomed only to the safe ways of cities and civilised life; but one knowing a great deal of that which is savage; and young though she is, having experienced trials, vicissitudes and dangers. that there is danger impending over them now, or the possibility of it, she is quite as conscious as her father, and equally observant of caution; therefore, she holds her pony well in hand, patting it on the neck to keep it quiet. they have not long to stay before seeing what they half expected to see--a party of indians. just as they have got well fixed in place, with some leafy branches in front forming a screen over their faces, at the same time giving them an aperture to peep through, the dusky cavalcade shows its foremost files issuing out from the bushes on the opposite side of the stream. though still distant--at least, a quarter of a mile--both father and daughter can perceive that they are indians; mounted, as a matter of course, for they could not and did not, expect so see such afoot in the chaco. but francesca's eyes are sharper sighted than those of her father, and at the first glance she makes out more--not only that it is a party of indians, but these of the tovas tribe. the feathered _manta_ of the young chief, with its bright gaudy sheen, has caught her eye, and she knows whose shoulders it should be covering. "yes, father," she says, in whisper, as soon as sighting it. "they are the tovas! see yonder! one of the two leading--that's aguara." "oh! then, we've nothing to fear," rejoins her father, with a feeling of relief. "so, francesca, we may as well ride back out and meet them. i suppose it is, as i've been conjecturing; the tribe is returning to its old quarters. i wonder where they've been, and why so long away. but we shall now learn all about it. and we'll have their company with us, as far as their _talderia_; possibly all the way home, as, like enough, naraguana will come on with us to the estancia. in either case--ha! what's that. as i live, a white man riding alongside aguara! who can _he_ be?" up to this, halberger has neither touched his horse nor stirred a step; no more she, both keeping to the spot they had chosen for observation. and both now alike eagerly scan the face of the man, supposed to be white. again the eyes of the child, or her instincts, are keener and quicker than those of the parent; or, at all events, she is the first to speak, announcing a recognition. "oh, papa!" she exclaims, still in whispers, "it's that horrid man who used to come to our house at assuncion--him mamma so much disliked--the senor rufino." "hish!" mutters the father, interrupting both with speech and gesture; then adds, "keep tight hold of the reins; don't let the pony budge an inch!" well may he thus caution, for what he now sees is that he has good reason to fear; a man he knows to be his bitter enemy--one who, during the years of his residence in paraguay, had repeatedly been the cause of trouble to him, and done many acts of injury and insult--the last and latest offered to his young wife. for it was rufino valdez who had been employed by the dictator previously to approach her on his behalf. and now ludwig halberger beholds the base villain in company with the tovas indians--his own friends, as he had every reason to suppose them-- riding side by side with the son of their chief! what can it mean? halberger's first thought is that valdez may be their prisoner; for he, of course, knows of the hostility existing between them and the paraguayans, and remembers that, in his last interview with naraguana, the aged cacique was bitter as ever against the paraguayan people. but no; there is not the slightest sign of the white man being guarded, bound, or escorted. instead, he is riding unconstrained, side by side with the young tovas chief, evidently in amicable relations--the two engaged in a conversation to all appearance of the most confidential kind! again halberger asks, speaking within himself, what it can mean? and again reflecting endeavours to fathom the mystery: for so that strange juxtaposition appears to him. can it be that the interrupted treaty of peace has been renewed, and friendship re-established between naraguana and the paraguayan dictator? even now, valdez may be on a visit to the tovas tribe on that very errand--a commissioner to arrange new terms of intercourse and amity? it certainly appears as if something of the kind had occurred. and what the prussian now sees, taken in connection with the abandonment of the village alike matter of mystery--leads him to more than half-suspect there has. for again comes up the question, why should the tovas chief have gone off without giving him warning? so suddenly, and not a word! surely does it seem as if there has been friendship betrayed, and naraguana's protection withdrawn. if so, it will go hard with him, halberger; for well knows he, that in such a treaty there would be little chance of his being made an object of special amnesty. instead, one of its essential claims would sure be, the surrendering up himself and his family. but would naraguana be so base? no; he cannot believe it, and this is why he is as much surprised as puzzled at seeing valdez when he now sees him. in any case things have a forbidding look, and the man's presence there bodes no good to him. more like the greatest evil; for it may be death itself. even while sitting upon his horse, with these reflections running through his mind--which they do, not as related, but with the rapidity of thought itself--he feels a presentiment of that very thing. nay, something more than a presentiment, something worse--almost the certainty that his life is near its end! for as the complete indian cohort files forth from among the bushes, and he takes note of how it is composed--above all observing the very friendly relations between valdez and the young chief--he knows it must affect himself to the full danger of his life. vividly remembers he the enmity of francia's _familiar_, too deep and dire to have been given up or forgotten. he remembers, too, of valdez being noted as a skilled _rastrero_, or guide--his reputed profession. against such a one the step he has taken to conceal himself is little likely to serve him. are not the tracks of his horse, with those of the pony, imprinted in the soft mud by the water's edge where they had halted? these will not be passed over by the indians, or valdez, without being seen and considered. quite recent too! they must be observed, and as sure will they be followed up to where he and his child are in hiding. a pity he has not continued along the _tapir_ path, still further and far away! alas! too late now; the delay may be fatal. in a very agony of apprehension thus reflecting, ludwig halberger with shoulders stooped over his saddle-bow and head bent in among the branches, watches the indian cavalcade approaching the stream's bank; the nearer it comes, the more certain he that himself and his child are in deadliest danger. chapter seven. valdez the "vaqueano." to solve the seeming enigma of rufino valdez travelling in the company of the tovas indians, and on friendly terms with their young chief--for he is so--it will be necessary to turn back upon time, and give some further account of the _vaqueano_ himself, and his villainous master; as also to tell why naraguana and his people abandoned their old place of abode, with other events and circumstances succeeding. of these the most serious has been the death of naraguana himself. for the aged cacique is no more; having died only a few days after his latest visit paid to his palefaced protege. nor were his last moments spent at the _tolderia_, now abandoned. his death took place at another town of his people some two hundred miles from this, and farther into the interior of the chaco; a more ancient residence of the tovas tribe--in short, their "sacred city" and burying-place. for it is the custom of these indians when any one of them dies--no matter when, where, and how, whether by the fate of war, accident in the chase, disease, or natural decay--to have the body borne to the sacred town, and there deposited in a cemetery containing the graves of their fathers. not graves, as is usual, underground; but scaffolds standing high above it--such being the mode of tovas interment. naraguana's journey to this hallowed spot--his last in life--had been made not on horseback, but in a _litera_, borne by his faithful braves. seized with a sudden illness, and the presentiment that his end was approaching, with a desire to die in the same place where he had been born, he gave commands for immediate removal thither--not only of himself, but everything and even body belonging to his tribe. it was but the work of a day; and on the next the old settlement was left forsaken, just as the hunter-naturalist has found it. had the latter been upon the banks of that branch stream just three weeks before, he would there have witnessed one of those spectacles peculiar to the south american pampas; as the prairies of the north. that is the crossing of a river by an entire indian tribe, on the move from one encampment, or place of residence, to another. the men on horseback swimming or wading their horses; the women and children ferried over in skin boats--those of the chaco termed _pelotas_--with troops of dogs intermingled in the passage; all amidst a _fracas_ of shouts, the barking of dogs, neighing of horses, and shrill screaming of the youngsters, with now and then a peal of merry laughter, as some ludicrous mishap befalls one or other of the party. no laugh, however, was heard at the latest crossing of that stream by the tovas. the serious illness of their chief forbade all thought of merriment; so serious, that on the second day after reaching the sacred town he breathed his last; his body being carried up and deposited upon that aerial tomb where reposed the bleaching bones of many other caciques-- his predecessors. his sudden seizure, with the abrupt departure following, accounts for halberger having had no notice of all this--naraguana having been delirious in his dying moments, and indeed for some time before. and his death has caused changes in the internal affairs of the tovas tribe, attended with much excitement. for the form of government among these chaco savages is more republican than monarchical; each new cacique having to receive his authority not from hereditary right, but by election. his son, aguara, however, popular with the younger warriors of the tribe, carried the day, and has become naraguana's successor. even had the hunter-naturalist been aware of these events, he might not have seen in them any danger to himself. for surely the death of naraguana would not affect his relations with the tovas tribe; at least so far as to losing their friendship, or bringing about an estrangement. not likely would such have arisen, but for certain other events of more sinister bearing, transpiring at the same period; to recount which it is necessary for us to return still further upon time, and again go back to paraguay and its dictator. foiled in his wicked intent, and failing to discover whither his intended victims had fled, francia employed for the finding of them one of his minions--this man of most ill repute, rufino valdez. it did not need the reward offered to secure the latter's zeal; for, as stated, he too had his own old grudge against the german, brought about by a still older and more bitter hostility to halberger's right hand man--gaspar, the gaucho. with this double stimulus to action, valdez entered upon the prosecution of his search, after that of the soldiers had failed. at first with confident expectation of a speedy success; for it had not yet occurred to either him or his employer that the fugitives could have escaped clear out of the country; a thing seemingly impossible with its frontiers so guarded. it was only after valdez had explored every nook and corner of paraguayan territory in search of them, all to no purpose, that francia was forced to the conclusion, they were no longer within his dominions. but, confiding in his own interpretation of international law, and the rights of extradition, he commissioned his emissary to visit the adjacent states, and there continue inquiry for the missing ones. that law of his own making, already referred to, led him to think he could demand the prussian's wife to be returned to paraguay, whatever claim he might have upon the prussian himself. for over two years has rufino valdez been occupied in this bootless quest, without finding the slightest trace of the fugitives, or word as to their whereabouts. he has travelled down the river to corrientes, and beyond to buenos ayres, and monte video at the la plata's mouth. also up northward to the brazilian frontier fort of coimbra; all the while without ever a thought of turning his steps towards the chaco! not so strange, though, his so neglecting this noted ground; since he had two sufficient reasons. the first, his fear of the chaco savages, instinctive to every paraguayan; the second, his want of faith, shared by francia himself, that halberger had fled thither. neither could for a moment think of a white man seeking asylum in the gran chaco; for neither knew of the friendship existing between the hunter-naturalist and the tovas chief. it was only after a long period spent in fruitless inquiries, and while sojourning at coimbra that the _vaqueano_ first found traces of those searched for; there learning from some chaco indians on a visit to the fort--that a white man with his wife, children, and servants, had settled near a _tolderia_ of the tovas, on the banks of the pilcomayo river. their description, as given by these indians--who were not tovas, but of a kindred tribe--so exactly answered to the hunter-naturalist and his family, that valdez had no doubt of its being they. and hastily returning to paraguay, he communicated what he had been told to the man for whom he was acting. "el supremo," overjoyed at the intelligence, promised to double the reward for securing the long-lost runaways. a delicate and difficult matter still; for there was yet the hostility of the tovas to contend against. but just at this crisis, as if satan had stepped in to assist his own sort, a rumour reaches assuncion of naraguana's death; and as the rancour had arisen from a personal affront offered to the chief himself, francia saw it would be a fine opportunity for effecting reconciliation, as did also his emissary. armed with this confidence, his old enmity to halberger and gaucho, ripe and keen as ever, valdez declared himself willing to risk his life by paying a visit to the tovas town, and, if possible, induce these indians to enter into a new treaty--one of its terms to be their surrendering up the white man, who had been so long the guest of their deceased cacique. fully commissioned and furnished with sufficient funds--gold coin which passes current among the savages of the chaco, as with civilised people--the plenipotentiary had started off, and made his way up the pilcomayo, till reaching the old town of the tovas. had halberger's estancia stood on the river's bank, the result might have been different. but situated at some distance back, valdez saw it not in passing, and arrived at the indian village to find it, as did the hunter-naturalist himself, deserted. an experienced traveller and skilled tracker, however, he had no difficulty in following the trail of the departed people, on to their other town; and it was the track of his horse on the way thither, halberger has observed on the edge of the influent stream--as too well he now knows. chapter eight. a compact between scoundrels. what the upshot of valdez's errand as commissioner to the tovas tribe may be told in a few words. that he has been successful, in some way, can be guessed from his being seen in close fellowship with him who is now their chief. for, otherwise, he would not be there with them or only as a prisoner. instead, he is, as he appears, the accepted friend of aguara, however false the friendship. and the tie which has knit them together is in keeping with the character of one, if not both. all this brought about without any great difficulty, or only such as was easily overcome by the paraguayan plenipotentiary. having reached the tovas town--that where the tribe is now in permanent residence--only a day or two after naraguana's death, he found the indians in the midst of their lamentations; and, through their hearts rendered gentle by grief, received friendly reception. this, and the changed _regime_, offered a fine opportunity for effecting his purpose, of which the astute commissioner soon availed himself. the result, a promise of renewal of the old peace treaty; which he has succeeded in obtaining, partly by fair words, but as much by a profuse expenditure of the coin with which francia had furnished him. this agreed to by the elders of the tribe; since they had to be consulted. but without a word said about their late chiefs protege--the hunter-naturalist--or aught done affecting him. for the paraguayan soon perceived, that the _sagamores_ would be true to the trust naraguana had left; in his last coherent words enjoining them to continue protection to the stranger, and hold him, as his, unharmed. so far the elders in council; and the astute commissioner, recognising the difficulty, not to say danger, of touching on this delicate subject, said nothing to them about it. for all, he has not left the matter in abeyance, instead, has spoken of it to other ears, where he knew he would be listened to with more safety to himself--the ears of aguara. for he had not been long in the tovas town without making himself acquainted with the character of the new cacique, as also his inclinings--especially those relating to francesca halberger. and that some private understanding has been established between him and the young tovas chief is evident from the conversation they are now carrying on. "you can keep the _muchachita_ at your pleasure," says valdez, having, to all appearance, settled certain preliminaries. "all my master wants is, to vindicate the laws of our country, which this man halberger has outraged. as you know yourself, senor aguara, one of our statutes is that no foreigner who marries a paraguayan woman may take her out of the country without permission of the president--our executive chief. now this man is not one of our people, but a stranger--_a gringo_--from far away over the big waters; while the senora, his wife, is paraguayan, bred and born. besides, he stole her away in the night, like a thief, as he is." naraguana would not tamely have listened to such discourse. instead, the old chief, loyal to his friendship, would have indignantly repelled the allegations against his friend and protege. as it is, they fall upon the ear of naraguana's son without his offering either rebuke or protest. still, he seems in doubt as to what answer he should make, or what course he ought to pursue in the business between them. "what would you have me do, senor rufino?" he asks in a patois of spanish, which many chaco indians can speak; himself better than common, from his long and frequent intercourse with halberger's family. "what want you?" "i don't want you to do anything," rejoins the _vaqueano_. "if you're so squeamish about giving offence to him you call your father's friend, you needn't take any part in the matter, or at all compromise yourself. only stand aside, and allow the law i've just spoken of to have fulfilment." "but how?" "let our president send a party of his soldiers to arrest those runaways, and carry them back whence they came. now that you've proposed to renew the treaty with us, and are hereafter to be our allies--and, i hope, fast friends--it is only just and right you should surrender up those who are our enemies. if you do, i can say, as his trusted representative, that el supremo will heap favours, and bestow rich presents on the tovas tribe; above all, on its young cacique--of whom i've heard him speak in terms of the highest praise." aguara, a vain young fellow, eagerly drinks in the fulsome flattery, his eyes sparkling with delight at the prospect of the gifts thus promised. for he is as covetous of wealth as he is conceited about his personal appearance. "but," he says, thinking of a reservation, "would you want us to surrender them all? father, mother--" "no, not all," rejoins the ruffian, interrupting. "there is one," he continues, looking askant at the indian, with the leer of a demon, "one, i take it, whom the young tovas chief would wish to retain as an ornament to his court. pretty creature the _nina_ was, when i last saw her; and i have no doubt still is, unless your chaco sun has made havoc with her charms. she had a cousin about her own age, by name cypriano, who was said to be very fond of her; and rumour had it around assuncion, that they were being brought up for one another." aguara's brow blackens, and his dark indian eyes seem to emit sparks of fire. "cypriano shall never have her!" he exclaims in a tone of angry determination. "how can you help it, amigo?" interrogates his tempter. "that is, supposing the two are inclined for one another. as you know, her father is not only a paleface, but _a gringo_, with prejudices of blood far beyond us paraguayans, who are half-indian ourselves. ah! and proud of it too. being such, he would never consent to give his daughter in marriage to a red man--make a _squaw_ of her, as he would scornfully call it. no, not even though it were the grandest cacique in the chaco. he would see her dead first." "indeed!" exclaims the indian, with a disdainful toss of the head. "indeed, yes," asseverates valdez. "and whether they remain under your protection, or be taken back to paraguay, 'twill be all the same as regards the senorita. there's but one way i know of to hinder her from becoming the wife of her cousin cypriano, and that is--" "what?" impatiently asks aguara. "to separate them. let father, mother, son, and nephew be taken back to where they belong; the _nina_ to stay behind." "but how can that be done?" "you mean without your showing your hand in it?" asks valdez, in a confidential whisper. "i do. for know, senor rufino, that, though i'm now chief of our tribe, and those we have with us here will do as i bid them--obey me in anything--still the elders have control, and might make trouble if i did aught to injure the friend of my late father. i am not free, and dare not act as you propose." "_carramba_! you needn't act at all, as i've already told you. only stand aside, and let others do the acting. 'twill be easy enough. but give your consent to my bringing a pack of our paraguayan wolves to this fold your father has so carefully shepherded, and i'll answer for sorting out the sheep we want to take, and leaving the lamb you wish left. then you and yours can come opportunely up, too late for protecting the old ram and dam, but in time to rescue the bleating lambkin, and bear her away to a place of safety. your own toldo, senor aguara; where, take my word for't, no one will ever come to inquire after, much less reclaim her. you consent?" "speak low!" cautions the wily indian, casting a glance over his shoulders as one willing to do a wicked deed, but without desiring it known. "don't let them hear us. _you have my consent_." chapter nine. a red-handed ruffian. just as the young cacique has yielded to the tempter, surrendering his last scruple of conscience, his horse dips hoof in the stream, that of the paraguayan plunging into it at the same time. knowing the ford well, and that it is shallow, with a firm bottom, they ride boldly on; their followers straggled out behind, these innocent of the foul conspiracy being hatched so near; still keeping up their rollicky mirth, and flinging about _jeux d'esprit_ as the spray drops are tossed from the fetlocks of their wading horses. it is a popular though erroneous belief, that the red men of america are of austere and taciturn habit. the older ones may be at times, but even these not always. instead, as a rule they are given to jocularity and fun; the youth brimful of it as the street boys of any european city. at least one half of their diurnal hours is spent by them in play and pastimes; for from those of the north we have borrowed both polo and la crosse; while horse-racing is as much their sport as ours; and archery more. not strange, then, that the _jeunesse doree_ of the tovas, escorting their youthful cacique, and seeing him occupied with the paleface who has been on a visit to their town, take no heed of what passes between these two, but abandon themselves to merriment along the march. no more is it strange that aguara, engrossed with the subject of conversation between him and the _vaqueano_, leaves them free to their frollicking. nothing occurs to change the behaviour either of the two who are in front, or those following, until the horses of the former have forded the stream, and stepped out on the bank beyond. then the paraguayan, as said, a skilled tracker and cunning as a fox, chancing to lower his eyes to the ground, observes upon it several hoof-marks of a horse. these at once fix his attention; for not only are they fresh--to all appearance made but the moment before--but the horse that made them must have been _shod_. while in the act of verifying this observation, other hoof-prints come under his eye, also shod, but much smaller, being the tracks of a pony. recent too, evidently made at the same time as the horse's. he has no need to point them out to the young indian, who, trained to such craft from infancy upward, has noted them soon as he, and with equally quick intuitiveness is endeavouring to interpret their significance. succeeding in this: for both the horse's track and that of the pony are known to, and almost instantly recognised by him. he has not lived two years in proximity to the estancia of ludwig halberger, all the while in friendly intercourse with the naturalist and his family, without taking note of everything; and can tell the particular track of every horse in its stables. above all is he familiar with the diminutive hoof-marks of francesca's pretty pony, which he has more than once trailed across the _campo_, in the hope of having a word with its rider. perceiving them now, and so recently made, he gives out an ejaculation of pleased surprise; then looks around, as though expecting to see the pony itself, with its young mistress upon its back. there is no one in sight, however, save the _vaqueano_ and his own followers; the latter behind, halted by command, some of them still in the water, so that they may not ride over the shod-tracks, and obliterate them. all this while halberger and his child are within twenty paces of the spot, and seated in their saddles, as when they first drew up side by side. screened by the trees, they see the indians, themselves unobserved, while they can distinctly hear every word said. only two of the party speak aloud, the young cacique and his paleface companion; their speech, of course, relating to the newly-discovered "sign." after dismounting, and for a few seconds examining it, valdez leaps back into his saddle with a show of haste, as if he would at once start off upon the trail of horse and pony. "there have been only the two here--that's plain," he says. "father and daughter, you think? what a pity we didn't get up in time to bid `good-day' to them! 'twould have simplified matters much. you'd then have had your young chick to carry to the cage you intend for it, without the mother bird to make any bother or fluttering in your face; while i might have executed my commission sooner than expected." "_carramba_!" he continues after a short while spent in considering. "they can't have gone very far as yet. you say it's quite twenty miles to the place where the _gringo_ has his headquarters. if so, and they've not been in a great hurry to get home--which like enough the girl would, since her dear cypriano don't appear to be along--we may come up with them by putting on speed. let us after them at once! what say you?" the young indian, passive in the hands of the older and more hardened sinner, makes neither objection nor protest. instead, stung by the allusion to "dear cypriano," he is anxious as the other to come up with the pony and its rider. so, without another word, he springs back upon his horse, declaring his readiness to ride on. with eyes directed downward, they keep along the return tracks; having already observed that these come no farther than the ford, and turn back by the water's edge-- "aha!" exclaims the _vaqueano_, pulling up again ere he has proceeded three lengths of his horse; "they've left the trail here, and turned off up stream! that wouldn't be their route home, would it?" "no," answers aguara. "their nearest way's along the river, down as far as our old _tolderia_. after that--" "sh!" interrupts the paraguayan, leaning over, and speaking in a cautious whisper, "did you not hear something? like the chinking of a bitt curb? i shouldn't wonder if they're in among those bushes. suppose you stay here and keep watch along the bank, while i go and beat up that bit of cover?" "just as it please you," assents the young cacique, unresistingly. "give me two or three of your fellows along. not that i have any fear to encounter the _gringo_ alone--poor weak creature, still wearing his green spectacles, i suppose. far from it. but still there's no harm in having help, should he attempt to give trouble. besides, i'll want some one to look after the _muchachita_!" "take as many as you wish." "oh! two will be sufficient; that pair nearest us." he points to the foremost file of the troop, two who are a little older than their friends, as also of more hardened and sinister aspect. for, short as has been his stay among them, the subtle emissary has taken the measure of many members of the tribe; and knows something of the two he thus designates. his gold has made them his friends and allies; in short, gained them over to him as good for anything he may call upon them to do. aguara having signified assent, a gesture brings them up; and, at a whispered word from the _vaqueano_ himself, they fall in behind him. heading his horse for the _sumac_ thicket he is soon at its edge, there seeing what rejoices him--the tracks of both horse and pony passing into it. he has reached the spot where halberger turned in along the _tapir_ path. parting the leaves with a long spear--for he is so armed--he rides in also, the two indians after. and just as the tails of their horses disappear among the leaves, aguara, who has kept his place, hears another horse neighing within the thicket at a point farther off. then there is a quick trampling of hooves, followed by a hurried rush, and the swishing of bent branches, as the _vaqueano_ and his two aides dash on through the _sumacs_. the young cacique and his followers continuing to listen, soon after hear shouts--the voices of men in angry exclamation--mingling with them the shriller treble of a girl's. then a shot, quick followed by a second, and a third; after which only the girl's voice is heard, but now in lamentation. soon, however, it is hushed, and all over--everything silent as before. the young tovas chief sits upon his horse with heart audibly beating. he has no doubt--cannot have--as to who were the pursued ones; no more, that they have been overtaken. but with what result? has the _vaqueano_ killed both father and daughter? or were the shots fired by halberger, killing valdez himself and the two who went with him? no; that cannot be; else why should the girl's lamenting cries be heard afterwards? but then again, why have they ceased so suddenly? while thus anxiously conjecturing, he again hears the trampling of horses among the trees; this time evidently in return towards him. and soon after sees the horses themselves, with their riders--four of them. three are the same as late left him, but looking differently. the paraguayan has one arm hanging down by his side, to all appearance broken, with blood dripping from the tips of his fingers; while the steel blade of his spear, borne in the other, is alike reddened. and there is blood elsewhere--streaming down the breast of one of the young indians who seems to have difficulty in keeping upon his horse's back. the fourth individual in the returning cavalcade is a young girl, with a cloth tied over her head, as if to hinder her from crying out; seated upon the back of a pony, this led by the indian who is still unhurt. at a glance, aguara sees it is francesca halberger, though he needs not seeing her to know that. for he had already recognised her voice--well knew it, even in its wailing. "her father--what of him?" he asks, addressing valdez, soon as the latter is up to him, and speaking in undertone. "no matter what," rejoins the ruffian, with a demoniac leer. "the father is my affair, and he has come very near making it an ugly one for me. look at this!" he continues, indicating the left arm which hangs loose by his side. "and at that!" he adds, glancing up to the point of his spear. "blood on both, as you see. so, senor aguara, you may draw your deductions. your affair is yonder," he nods towards the muffled figure on the pony's back; "and you can now choose between taking her home to her mother--her handsome cousin as well--or carrying her to _your_ home, as the queen that is to be of the tovas." the young cacique is not slow in deciding which course to pursue. the allusion to the "handsome cousin" again excites his jealousy and his ire. its influence is irresistible, as sinister; and when he and his followers take departure from that spot--which they do almost on the instant--it is to recross the stream, and head their horses homeward-- francesca halberger carried captive along with them. chapter ten. gaspar, the gaucho. over the broad undulating plain which extends between halberger's house and the deserted _tolderia_ of the tovas, a horseman is seen proceeding in the direction of the latter. he is a man about middle age, of hale, active appearance, in no way past his prime. of medium size, or rather above it, his figure though robust is well proportioned, with strong sinewy arms and limbs lithe as a panther's, while his countenance, notwithstanding the somewhat embrowned skin, has a pleasant, honest expression, evincing good nature as a habitually amiable temper, at the same time that his features show firmness and decision. a keenly glancing eye, coal-black, bespeaks for him both courage and intelligence; while the way in which he sits his horse, tells that he is not new to the saddle; instead, seeming part of it. his garb is peculiar, though not to the country which claims him as a native. draping down from his shoulders and spreading over the hips of his horse is a garment of woollen fabric, woven in stripes of gaudy colours, alternating white, yellow, and red, of no fit or fashion, but simply kept on by having his head thrust through a slit in its centre. it is a _poncho_--the universal wrap or cloak of every one who dwells upon the banks of the la plata or parana. under is another garment, of white cotton stuff, somewhat resembling zouave breeches, and called _calzoneras_, these reaching a little below his knees; while his feet and ankles are encased in boots of his own manufacture, seamless, since each was originally the skin of a horse's leg, the hoof serving as heel, with the shank shortened and gathered into a pucker for the toe. tanned and bleached to the whiteness of a wedding glove, with some ornamental stitching and broidery, it furnishes a foot gear, alike comfortable and becoming. spurs, with grand rowels, several inches in diameter, attached to the heels of these horse-hide boots, give them some resemblance to the greaves and ankle armour of mediaeval times. all this has he whose dress we are describing; while surmounting his head is a broad-brimmed hat with high-peaked crown and plume of _rheas_ feathers--underneath all a kerchief of gaudy colour, which draping down over the nape of his neck protects it from the fervid rays of the chaco sun. it is a costume imposing and picturesque; while the caparison of his horse is in keeping with it. the saddle, called _recado_, is furnished with several coverings, one upon another, the topmost, _coronilla_, being of bright-coloured cloth elaborately quilted; while the bridle of plaited horse-hair is studded with silver joints, from which depend rings and tassels, the same ornamenting the breast-piece and neck straps attaching the martingale, in short, the complete equipment of a _gaucho_. and a gaucho he is--gaspar, the hero of our tale. it has been already said, that he is in the service of ludwig halberger. so is he, and has been ever since the hunter-naturalist settled in paraguay; in the capacity of steward, or as there called _mayor-domo_; a term of very different signification from the _major-domo_ or house-steward of european countries, with dress and duties differing as well. no black coat, or white cravat, wears he of spanish america, no spotless stockings, or soft slipper shoes. instead, a costume more resembling that of a cavalier, or freebooter; while the services he is called upon to perform require him to be not only a first-class horseman, but able to throw the lazo, catch a wild cow or colt, and tame the latter--in short, take a hand at anything. and at almost anything gaspar can; for he is man-of-all-work to the hunter-naturalist, as well as his man of confidence. why he is riding away from the estancia at such an hour--for it is afternoon--may be guessed from what has gone before. for it is on that same day, when halberger and his daughter started off to visit the indian village; and as these had not returned soon as promised, the anxiety of the wife, rendered keen by the presentiment which had oppressed her at their parting, became at length unbearable; and to relieve it gaspar has been despatched in quest of them. no better man in all the pampas region, or south america itself, could have been sent on such an errand. his skill as a tracker is not excelled by any other gaucho in the argentine states, from which he originally came; while in general intelligence, combined with courage, no one there, or elsewhere, could well be his superior. as the senora said her last words to him at parting, and listened to his in return, she felt reassured. gaspar was not the man to make delay, or come back without the missing one. on this day, however, he deviates from his usual habit, at the same time from the route he ought to take--that leading direct to the indian village, whither he knows his master and young mistress to have gone. for while riding along going at a gentle canter, a cock "ostrich" starts up before his horse, and soon after the hen, the two trotting away over the plain to one side. it so chances that but the day before his master had given him instructions to catch a male ostrich for some purpose of natural history--the first he should come across. and here was one, a splendid bird, in full flowing plumage. this, with an observation made, that the ostriches seem less shy than is usual with these wary creatures, and are moving away but slowly, decides him to take after and have a try at capturing the cock. unloosing his _bolas_ from the saddle-bow, where he habitually carries this weapon, and spurring his horse to a gallop, off after them he goes. magnificently mounted, for a gaucho would not be otherwise, he succeeds in his intent, after a run of a mile or so, getting close enough to the birds to operate upon them with his _bolas_. winding these around his head and launching them, he has the satisfaction of seeing the cock ostrich go down upon the grass, its legs lapped together tight as if he had hard spliced them. riding on up to the great bird, now hoppled and without any chance to get away from him, he makes things more sure by drawing out his knife and cutting the creature's throat. then releasing the _bolas_, he returns them to the place from which he had taken them--on the horn of his _recado_. this done, he stands over the dead _rhea_, thus reflecting:-- "i wonder what particular part of this beauty--it is a beauty, by the way, and i don't remember ever having met with a finer bird of the breed--but if i only knew which one with identical parts the master wants, it would save me some trouble in the way of packing, and my horse no little of a load. just possible the _dueno_ only cares for the tail-feathers, or the head and beak, or it may be but the legs. well, as i can't tell which, there's but one way to make sure about it--that is, to take the entire carcase along with me. so, go it must." saying this, he lays hold of a leg, and drags the ostrich nearer to his horse, which all the time stands tranquilly by: for a gaucho's steed is trained to keep its place, without need of any one having care of it. "_carramba_!" he exclaims, raising the bird from the ground, "what a weight the thing is! heavy as a quarter of beef! now i think on't, it might have been better if i'd let the beast alone, and kept on without getting myself into all this bother. nay, i'm sure it would have been wiser. what will the senora say, when she knows of my thus dallying-- trifling with the commands she gave me? bah! she won't know anything about it--and needn't. she will, though, if i stand dallying here. i mustn't a minute longer. so up, senor avertruz, and lie there." at which, he hoists the ostrich--by the gauchos called "_avertruz_"--to the croup of his _recado_; where, after a rapid manipulation of cords, the bird is made fast, beyond all danger of dropping off. this done, he springs upon his horse's back, and then looks out to see which direction he should now take. a thing not so easily determined; for in the chase after it, the ostrich had made more than one double; and, although tolerably familiar with the topography of that plain, the gaucho is for the time no little confused as to his whereabouts. nor strange he should be; since the palm-groves scattered over it are all so much alike, and there is no high hill, nor any great eminence, to guide him. ridges there are, running this way and that; but all only gentle undulations, with no bold projection, or other land-mark that he can remember. he begins to think he is really strayed, lost; and, believing so, is angry with himself for having turned out of his path--as the path of his duty. angry at the ostrich, too, that tempted him. "_avertruz, maldito_!" he exclaims, terms in the gaucho vernacular synonymous with "ostrich, be hanged!" adding, as he continues to gaze hopelessly around, "i wish i'd let the long-legged brute go its way. like as not, it'll hinder me going mine, till too late. and if so, there'll be a pretty tale to tell! _santissima_! whatever am i to do? i don't even know the way back to the house; though that wouldn't be any good if i did. i daren't go there without taking some news with me. well; there's only one thing i can do; ride about, and quarter the pampa, till i see something that'll set me back upon my road." in conformity with this intention, he once more puts his horse in motion, and strikes off over the plain; but he does not go altogether without a guide, the sun somewhat helping him. he knows that his way to the indian village is westward, and as the bright luminary is now beginning to descend, it points out that direction, so taking his bearings by it, he rides on. not far, however, before catching sight of another object, which enables him to steer his course with greater precision. this a tree, a grand vegetable giant of the species called _ombu_, known to every gaucho--beloved, almost held sacred by him, as affording shade to his sun-exposed and solitary dwelling. the one gaspar now sees has no house under its wide-spreading branches; but he has himself been under them more than once while out on a hunt, and smoked his _cigarrito_ in their shade. as his eye lights upon it, a satisfied expression comes over his features, for he knows that the tree is on the top of a little _loma_, or hill, about half-way between the estancia and the indian town, and nearly in the direct route. he needs nothing more to guide him now; but instead of riding towards the tree, he rather turns his back upon it, and starts off in a different direction. this because he had already passed the _ombu_ before coming across the ostrich. soon again he is back upon the path from which he had strayed, and proceeds along it without further interruption, riding at a rapid pace to make up for the lost time. still, he is far from being satisfied with himself. although he may have done that which will be gratifying to his master, there is a possibility of its displeasing his mistress. most certainly will it do this, should he not find the missing ones, and have to go home without them. but he has no great fear of that; indeed, is not even uneasy. why should he be? he knows his master's proclivities, and believes that he has come across some curious and rare specimens, which take time to collect or examine, and this it is which has been retarding his return. thus reflecting, he continues on, every moment expecting to meet them. but as there is neither road nor any regular path between the two places, he needs to keep scanning the plain, lest on their return he may pass them unobserved. but he sees nothing of them till reaching the _tolderia_, and there only the hoof-marks of his master's horse, with those of his young mistress's pony, both conspicuous in the dust-covered ground by the doors of the _toldos_. but on neither does he dwell, for he, too, as were the others, is greatly surprised to find the place deserted--indeed alarmed, and for a time sits in his saddle as one half-dazed. only a short while, for he is not the man to give way to long irresolution, and recovering himself, he rides rapidly about, from _toldo_ to _toldo_, all over the town, at the same time shouting and calling out his master's name. for answer, he only has the echoes of his own voice, now and then varied with the howl of a wolf, which, prowling around like himself no doubt wonders, as he, at the place being abandoned. after a hurried examination of the houses, and seeing there is no one within them, just as halberger had done, he strikes off on the trail of the departed inhabitants; and with the sun still high enough to light up every track on it, he perceives those made by the _dueno's_ horse, and the more diminutive hoof-prints alongside them. on he goes following them up, and in a gallop, for they are so fresh and clear he has no need to ride slowly. on in the same gait for a stretch of ten miles, which brings him to the tributary stream at the crossing-place. he rides down to the water's edge, there to be sorely puzzled at what he sees--some scores of other horse-tracks recently made, but turning hither and thither in crowded confusion. it calls for all his skill as a _rastrero_, with some considerable time, to unwind the tangled skein. but he at length succeeds, so far as to discover that the whole horse troop, to whomsoever belonging, have recrossed the ford; and crossing it himself, he sees they have gone back up the pilcomayo river. among them is one showing a shod hoof; but he knows that has not been made by his master's horse, the bar being larger and broader, with the claw more deeply indented. besides, he sees not the pony's tracks--though they are or were there--and have been trodden out by the ruck of the other animals trampling after. the gaucho here turns back; though he intends following the trail further, when he has made a more careful examination of the sign on the other side of the stream; and recrossing, he again sets to scrutinising it. this soon leading him to the place where halberger entered the _sumac_ grove. now the gaucho, entering it also, and following the _slot_ along the _tapir_ path, at a distance of some three hundred yards from the crossing, comes out into an open glade, lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, which fall slantingly through the trees standing around. there a sight meets his eye, causing the blood at one moment to run cold through his veins, in the next hot as boiling lava; while from his lips issue exclamations of mingled astonishment and indignation. what he sees is a horse, saddled and with the bridle also on, standing with neck bent down, and head drooped till the nostrils almost touch the earth. but between them and the ground is a figure extended at full stretch; the body of a man to all appearance dead; which at a glance the gaucho knows to be that of his master! chapter eleven. a silent fellow-traveller. another sun is rising over the chaco, and its rays, red as the reflection from a fire, begin to glitter through the stems of the palm-trees that grow in scattered topes upon the plains bordering the pilcomayo. but ere the bright orb has mounted above their crowns, two horsemen are seen to ride out of the _sumac_ grove, in which ludwig halberger vainly endeavoured to conceal himself from the assassin valdez and his savage confederates. it is not where any of these entered the thicket that the horsemen are coming out, but at a point some half-mile further up the branch stream, and on its higher bank, where it reaches the general level of the upper plain. here the _sumac_ trees cover the whole slope from the water's edge to the crest of the bordering ridge, on this ending abruptly. though they stand thinly, and there is room enough for two horsemen to ride abreast, these are not doing so, but one ahead, and leading the other's horse by a raw-hide rope attached to the bitt ring. in this manner they have ascended the slope, and have now the great plain before them; treeless, save here and there a tope of palms or a scattering of willows around some spot where there is water; but the taller timber is behind them, and soon as they arrive at its edge, he riding ahead reins up his horse, the other stopping at the same time. there is still a belt of bushes between them and the open ground, of stunted growth, but high enough to hinder their view. to see over them, the leading horseman stands up in his stirrups, and looks out upon the plain, his glances directed all around it. these, earnestly interrogative, tell of apprehension, as of an enemy he might expect to be there, in short, making a reconnaissance to see if the "coast be clear." that he judges it so is evinced by his settling back into his saddle, and moving on across the belt of bushes; but again, on the skirt of this and before issuing out of it, he draws bridle, and once more makes a survey of the plain. by this time, the sun having mounted higher in the heavens, shines full upon his face, showing it of dark complexion, darker from the apprehension now clouding it; but of honest cast, and one which would otherwise be cheerful, since it is the face of caspar, the gaucho. who the other is cannot be easily told, even with the bright sun beaming upon him; for his hat, broad-brimmed, is slouched over his forehead, concealing most part of his countenance. the head itself, oddly, almost comically, inclined to one side, droops down till the chin nigh touches his breast. moreover, an ample cloak, which covers him from neck to ankles, renders his figure as unrecognisable as his face. with his horse following that of the gaucho, who leads him at long halter's reach, he, too, has halted in the outer selvedge of the scrub; still maintaining the same relative position to the other as when they rode out from the _sumacs_, and without speaking word or making gesture. in fact, he stirs not at all, except such motion as is due to the movement of his horse; but beyond that he neither raises head nor hand, not even to guide the animal, leaving it to be lead unresistingly. were the gaucho of warlike habits, and accustomed to making predatory expeditions, he might be taken as returning from one with a captive, whom he is conducting to some safe place of imprisonment. for just like this his silent companion appears, either fast strapped to his own saddle, or who, conquered and completely subdued, has resigned all thoughts of resistance and hopes of escape. but caspar is essentially a man of peace, which makes it improbable that he, behind, is his prisoner. whatever the relationship between them, the gaucho for the present pays no attention to the other horseman, neither speaks to nor turns his eye toward him; for these are now all upon the plain, scanning it from side to side, and all round as far as he can command view of it. he is not himself silent, however, though the words to which he gives utterance are spoken in a low tone, and by way of soliloquy, thus:-- "'twill never do to go back by the river's bank. whoever the devils that have done this dastardly thing, they may be still prowling about, and to meet them would be for me to get served the same as they've served him, that's sure; so i'd best take another route, though it be a bit round the corner. let me see. i think i know a way that should lead tolerably straight to the estancia without touching the river or going anywheres near it. i mustn't even travel within sight of it. if the tovas have had any hand in this ugly business--and, by the virgin, i believe they have, however hard it is to think so--some of them may still be near, and possibly a party gone back to their old _tolderia_. i'll have to give that a wide berth anyhow; so to get across this open stretch without being seen, if there be anyone on it to see me, will need manoeuvring. as it is, there don't appear to be a soul, that's so far satisfactory." again he sweeps the grassy expanse with searching glance, his face brightening up as he observes a flock of ostriches on one side, on the other a herd of deer--the birds stalking leisurely along, the beasts tranquilly browsing. were there indians upon the plain, it would not be so. instead, either one or the other would show excitement. the behaviour of the dumb creatures imparting to him a certain feeling of confidence, he says, continuing the soliloquy:-- "i think i may venture it. nay, i must; and there's no help for't. we have to get home somehow--and soon. ah! the senora! poor lady! what will she be thinking by this time? and what when we get back? _valga me dios_! i don't know how i shall ever be able to break it to her, or in what way! it will sure drive her out of her senses, and not much wonder, either. to lose one of them were enough, but both, and--well, no use dwelling on it now; besides, there's no time to be lost. i must start off at once; and, maybe, as i'm riding on, i'll think of some plan to communicate the sad news to the senora, without giving her too sudden a shock. _pobrecita_!" at the pitying exclamation he gives a last interrogative glance over the plain; then, with a word to his horse, and a touch of the spur, he moves out into the open, and on; the other animal following, as before, its rider maintaining the same distance and preserving the self-same attitude, silent and gestureless as ever! chapter twelve. skulking back. while the gaucho and his silent companion were still in halt by the edge of the _sumac_ wood, another horseman could be seen approaching the place, but on the opposite side of the stream, riding direct down to the ford. descried at any distance, his garb, with the caparison of his horse--the full gaucho panoply of bitted bridle, breast-plate, _recado_, and _caronilla_--would tell he is not an indian. nor is he; since this third traveller, so early on the road, is rufino valdez. as commissioner to the tovas tribe, he has executed the commission with which he was entrusted, with something besides; and is now on return to make report to his master, el supremo, leaving the latter to take such other steps as may deem desirable. the _vaqueano_ has passed the preceding night with the indians at their camp, leaving it long before daybreak, though aguara, for certain reasons, very much wished him to return with them to their town, and proposed it. a proposal, for reasons of his own, the cunning paraguayan declined, giving excuses that but ill satisfied the young cacique, and which he rather reluctantly accepted. he could not, however, well refuse to let valdez go his way. the man was not a prisoner moreover, his promise to be soon back, as the bearer of rich presents, was an argument irresistible; and influenced by this, more than aught else, aguara gave him permission to depart. the young chief's reasons for wishing to detain him were of a kind altogether personal. much as he likes the captive he is carrying with him, he would rather she had been made captive by other means, and in a less violent manner. and he is now returning to his tribe, not so triumphantly, but with some apprehension as to how he will be received by the elders. what will they say when the truth is told them,--all the details of the red tragedy just enacted? he would lay the blame, where most part of it properly belongs, on the shoulders of the paraguayan, and, indeed, intends doing so. but he would rather have the latter with him to meet the storm, should there be such, by explaining in his own way, why he killed the other white man. for valdez had already said something to them of an old hostility between himself and the hunter-naturalist, knowing that the tovas, as well as other chaco indians, acknowledge the rights of the _vendetta_. but just for the reason aguara desires to have him along with him, is the _vaqueano_ inclined to die opposite course; in truth, determined upon it. not for the world would he now return to the tovas town. he has too much intelligence for that, or too great regard for his safety-- his very life, which he believes, and with good cause, would be more than risked, were he again to show himself among a people whose hospitality he has so outraged. for he knows he as done this, and that there will surely be that storm of which the young cacique is apprehensive--a very tempest of indignation among the elders and friends of the deceased naraguana, when they hear of the fate which has befallen the harmless stranger, so long living under their late chiefs protection. therefore, notwithstanding the many promises he has made, not the slightest thought of performing any of them, or even going back on that trail, has rufino valdez. instead, as he rides down the ford of the stream he is thinking to himself, it will be the last time he will have to wade across it, gleeful at the thought of having so well succeeded in what brought him over it at all. pondering on something besides, another deed of infamy yet to be done, but for which he will not have to come so far up the pilcomayo. in spite of his self-gratulation, and the gleams of a joy almost satanic, which now and then light up his dark sinister countenance, he is not without some apprehensions; this is made manifest by his behaviour as he rides along. although making what haste he can, he does not rush on in a reckless or careless manner. on the contrary, with due caution, at every turn of the path, stopping and making survey of each new reach before entering upon it. this he did, as the ford opened to his view, keeping under cover of the bushes, till assured there was no one there; then, striking out into the open ground, and riding rapidly for it. and while wading across the stream, his eyes are not upon the water, but sweeping the bank up and down with glances of keen scrutiny. as he sees no one there, nor the sign of anyone having been--for it is not yet daylight, and too dark for him to note the tracks of gaspar's horse--he says with a satisfied air, "they're not likely to be coming after the missing pair at so early an hour. besides, it's too soon. they'll hardly be setting them down as lost till late last night, and so couldn't have tracked them on here yet." riding up out of the water, he once more draws rein by its edge, and sits regarding the _sumac_ grove with an expression in his eyes strangely repulsive. "i've half a mind to go up in there," he mutters, "and see how things stand. i wasn't altogether satisfied with the way we left them, and there's just a possibility he may be still alive. the girl gave so much trouble in getting them parted, i couldn't be quite sure of having killed him outright. if not, he might manage to crawl away, or they coming after in search of him--_carrai_! i'll make sure now. it can only delay me a matter of ten minutes, and," he adds glancing up at the blade of his spear, "if need be, another thrust of this." soon as forming his devilish resolve, the assassin gives his horse a prick of the spur, and passes on towards the _sumac_ grove, entering at the same place as before, like a tiger skulking back to the quarry it has killed, and been chased away from. once inside the thicket, he proceeds along the _tapir_ path, groping his way in the darkness. but he remembers it well, as well he may; and without going astray arrives at a spot he has still better reason to recall; that where, but a little more than twelve hours before, he supposes himself to have committed murder! delayed along the narrow tortuous track, some time has elapsed since his entering among the _sumacs_. only a short while, but long enough to give him a clearer light, for the day has meanwhile dawned, and the place is less shadowed, for it is an open spot where the sanguinary struggle took place. it is sufficiently clear for him, without dismounting, to distinguish objects on the ground, and note, which at a glance he does, that one he expected to see is not to be seen. no murdered man there; no body, living or dead! chapter thirteen. a party not to be pursued. for some seconds, rufino valdez is in a state of semi-bewilderment, from his lips proceeding exclamations that tell of surprise, but more chagrin. something of weird terror, too, in the expression upon his sallow, cadaverous face, as the grey dawn dimly lights it up. "_mil demonios_!" he mutters, gazing distractedly on the ground. "what does this mean? is it possible the _gringo's_ got away? possible? ay, certain. and his animal, too! yes, i remember we left that, fools as we were, in our furious haste. it's all clear, and, as i half anticipated, he's been able to climb on the horse, and's off home! there by this time, like enough." with this double adjuration, he resolves upon dismounting, to make better inspection of the place, and, if possible, assure himself whether his victim has really survived the murderous attack. but just as he has drawn one foot out of the stirrup and is balancing on the other, a sound reaches his ear, causing him to reseat himself in the saddle, and sit listening. only a slight noise it was, but one in that place of peculiar significance, being the hoof-stroke of a horse. "good!" he ejaculates in a whisper, "it must be his." hearkening a little longer, he hears the sound again, apparently further off, and as his practised ear tells him, the distance increasing. "it must be his horse," he reiterates, still continuing to listen. "and who but he on the animal's back? going off? yes; slowly enough. no wonder at that. ha! he's come to a halt. what's the best thing for me to do?" he sits silently considering, but only for a few seconds; then glancing around the glade, in which yester eve he had shed innocent blood, at the same time losing some of his own, he sees another break among the bushes, where the _tapir_ path goes out again. faint as the light still is, it shows him some horse-tracks, apparently quite fresh, leading off that way. he stays not for more, but again plying the spur, re-enters the thicket, not to go back to the ford, but on in the opposite direction. the _tapir_ path takes him up an acclivity, from the stream's edge to the level of the higher plain, and against it he urges his horse to as much speed as the nature of the ground will permit. he has thrown away caution now, and presses forward without fear, expecting soon to see a man on horseback, but so badly crippled as to be easily overtaken, and as easily overcome. what he does see, on reaching the summit of the slope, is something very different--two horses instead of one, with a man upon the back of each! and though one may be wounded and disabled, as he knows him to be, the other is not so, as he can well see. instead, a man in full health, strength, and vigour, one rufino valdez fears as much as hates, though hating him with his whole heart. for it is gaspar, the gaucho, once his rival in the affections of a paraguayan girl, and successful in gaining them. that the _vaqueano's_ fear now predominates over his antipathy is evident from his behaviour. instead of dashing on after to overtake the horsemen, who, with backs towards him, are slowly retiring, he shows only a desire to shun them. true, there would be two to one, and he has himself but a single arm available--his left, broken and bandaged, being now in a sling. but then only one of the two would be likely to stand against him, the other being too far gone for light. indeed, halberger--for valdez naturally supposes it to be he--sits drooped in his saddle, as though he had difficulty in keeping to it. not that he has any idea of attacking them does the _vaqueano_ take note of this, nor has he the slightest thought of attempting to overtake them. even knew he that the wounded man were about to drop dead, he knows the other would be more than his match, with both his own arms sound and at their best, for they have been already locked in deadly strife with those of the gaucho, who could have taken his life, but generously forebore. not for the world would rufino valdez again engage in single combat with caspar mendez, and soon as setting eyes on the latter he draws bridle so abruptly that his horse starts back as if he had trodden upon a rattlesnake. quieting the animal with some whispered words, he places himself behind a thick bush, and there stays all of a tremble, the only thing stedfast about him being his gaze, fixed upon the forms of the departing travellers. so carefully does he screen himself, that from the front nothing is visible to indicate the presence of anyone there, save the point of a spear, with dry blood upon the blade, projecting above the bushes, and just touching the fronds of a palm-tree, its ensanguined hue in vivid contrast with the green of the leaves, as guilt and death in the midst of innocence and life! not till they have passed almost out of his sight, their heads gradually going down behind the culms of the tall pampas grass, does rufino valdez breathe freely. then his nerves becoming braced by the anger which burns within--a fierce rage, from the old hatred of jealousy, interrupted by this new and bitter disappointment, the thwarting of a scheme, so far successful, but still only half accomplished--he gives utterance to a string of blasphemous anathemas, with threats, in correspondence. "_carajo_!" he cries, winding up with the mildest of his profane exclamations. "ride on, senores, and get soon home! while there, be happy as you best may. ha, ha! there won't be much merriment in that nest now, with the young chick out of it--pet bird of the flock; nor long before the whole brood be called upon to forsake it. soon as i can get to assuncion and back with a dozen of our _quarteleros_, ah! won't there be a wiping out of old scores then? if that young fool, naraguana's son, hadn't shown so chicken-hearted, i might have settled them now; gone home with captives, too, instead of empty-handed. well, it won't be so long to wait. let me see. three days will take me to assuncion--less if this animal under me wasn't so near worn out; three more to return with the troop. say a week in all; at the end of which, if there be a man named caspar mendez in the land of the living, it won't be he whose head i see out yonder. that will be off his shoulders, or if on them only to help hold in its place the loop-end of my _lazo_. but i must make haste. for what if halberger have recognised me? i don't think he did or could; 'twas too dark. if he have, what--ay, what? of course they'll know that wasn't likely to be the last of it, and that there's something more to come. they'd be simpletons not to think so; and thinking it, still greater fools if they don't take some steps to flee away from this new roost they've been perching upon. but whither can they? the young tovas chief is compromised with them--dead declared as their enemy so long as he keeps that pretty creature captive in his toldo; and there are others of the tribe will stand by me, i know. the glass beads and other glistening baubles will secure the young, while a few golden onzas skilfully distributed will do the same for the _sagamores_. no fear then, no failure yet! with the tovas on my side, there isn't a spot in the chaco to shelter them. so, _caballeros_! you can keep on. in a week from this time, i hope to hold an interview with you, less distant and more satisfactory to myself." after delivering this quaint rigmarole, he sits watching them till their heads finally sink below the sea of grass, the rheas feathers in caspar's high crowned hat being the last to disappear, as it were waving back defiance and to the death! soon as they are out of sight, and he no longer fears an encounter with his old enemy, valdez turns to the consideration of some other things which have appeared strange to him. at first, why they are riding so slowly, for as long as seen they were proceeding in a walking-gait rarely witnessed upon the pampas, and never where the horseman is a gaucho; for he gallops if it were but to the stream, within a stone's throw of his solitary cabin, to fetch a jar of water! "nothing in that," he mutters, "now i come to think of it. only natural they should be going at snail's pace. _carrai_! the wonder is the _gringo_ being able for even that, or go at all. i thought i'd given him his _quietus_, for surely i sent my spear right through his ribs! it must have struck button, or buckle, or something, and glinted off. mad fool of me, when i had him down, not to make sure of my work! well, it's no use blubbering about it now. next time i'll take better care how the thing's done." after a short pause, he resumes his strain of interrogative conjecture now on another matter, which has also struck him as being strange. "why are they going off that way, i wonder? it isn't their direct route homeward, surely? i don't know the exact spot where the _gringo_ has established himself; but didn't aguara say the nearest way to it is along the river's bank, down to their old _tolderia_? if so, certainly they're making a round about. ha! i fancy i know the reason; natural, too, as the other. the senor ludwig must have known they were tovas who attacked him, and under the belief that they've gone on to their former place of abode, dreads a second encounter with them. no wonder he should, having found them such treacherous allies--enemies instead of friends. ha, ha, ha! won't that puzzle him? of course, he hasn't yet heard of naraguana's death--couldn't--they all said so. well, it's a bit of good luck for me their going that round. my road lies direct down the river, and now i may proceed upon it without fear of being spied by them. that would never do just yet. they shall have sight of me soon enough--sooner than they'll like it. and this reminds me i mustn't waste any more time here; it's too precious. now off, and home to el supremo, who'll jump with very joy at the news i have for him." giving his horse a touch of the spur, he heads him along the high bank, still keeping within the skirt of timber, and riding slowly through the tangle of obstructing bushes; but at length getting out upon the old trail, where it goes down to the ford, he turns along it, in the opposite direction, towards the deserted _tolderia_. and now, with nothing further to obstruct him, he plies the spur vigorously, and keeps on at full gallop, not looking ahead, however, but with eyes all the while scanning the plain to his left, apprehensively, as fearing there to see a tall black hat, with a bunch of ostrich feathers floating above it. chapter fourteen. why come they not? a night of dread suspense has been passed at the estancia of ludwig halberger. no one there has thought of sleep. even the dark-skinned domestics--faithful guano indians--touched with sympathy for the senora, their mistress, do not retire to rest. instead, retainers all, outside the house as within, sit up throughout the night, taking part with her in the anxious vigil. as the hours drag wearily along, the keener become her apprehensions; that presentiment of the morning, which during all the day has never left her, now pressing upon her spirit with the weight of woe itself. she could scarce be sadder, or surer that some terrible mischance had happened to her husband and daughter, had she seen it with her own eyes. and were both to be brought back dead, 'twould be almost what she is anticipating. in vain her son ludwig, an affectionate lad, essays to cheer her. do his best to assign or invent reasons for their prolonged absence, he cannot chase the dark shadow from her brow, nor lift the load off her heart. and cypriano, who dearly loves his aunt, has no more success. indeed, less, since almost as much does he need cheering himself. for although francesca's fate is a thing of keen inquietude to the brother, it is yet of keener to the cousin. love is the strongest of the affections. but youth, ever hopeful, hinders them from despairing; and despite their solicitude, they find words of comfort for her who hears them without being comforted. "keep up heart, mother!" says ludwig, feigning a cheerfulness he far from feels. "'twill be all right yet, and we'll see them home to-morrow morning--if not before. you know that father has often stayed out all night." "never alone," she despondingly answers. "never with francesca. only when gaspar was along with him." "well, gaspar's with him now, no doubt; and that'll make all safe. he's sure to have found them. don't you think so, cypriano?" "oh! yes," mechanically rejoins the cousin, in his heart far from thinking it so, but the reverse. "wherever they've gone he'll get upon their tracks; and as gaspar can follow tracks, be they ever so slight, he'll have no difficulty with those of uncle's horse." "he may follow them," says the senora, heaving a sigh, "but whither will they lead him to. alas, i fear--" "have no fear, _tia_!" interrupts the nephew, with alacrity, an idea occurring to him. "i think i know what's detaining them--at least, it's very likely." "what?" she asks, a spark of hopefulness for an instant lighting up her saddened eyes; ludwig, at the same time, putting the question. "well," replies cypriano, proceeding to explain, "you know how uncle takes it, when he comes across a new object of natural history, or anything in the way of a curiosity. it makes him forget everything else, and everybody too. suppose while riding over the campo he chanced upon something of that sort, and stayed to secure it? it may have been too big to be easily brought home." "no, no!" murmurs the senora, the gleam of hope departing suddenly as it had sprung up. "it cannot be that." "but it can, and may," persists the youth, "for there's something i haven't yet told you, _tia_--a thing which makes it more probable." again she looks to him inquiringly, as does ludwig, both listening with all ears for the answer. "the thing i'm speaking of is an ostrich." "why an ostrich? your uncle could have no curiosity about that. he sees them every day." "true, but it's not every day he can catch them. and it was only yesterday i heard him tell caspar he wanted one, a cock bird, for some purpose or other, though what, he didn't say. now, it's likely, almost certain, that while on their way to the _tolderia_, or coming back, he has seen one, given chase to it, leaving francesca somewhere to wait for him. well, _tia_, you know what an ostrich is to chase? now lagging along as if you could easily throw the noose round its neck, then putting on a fresh spurt--'twould tempt any one to keep on after it. uncle may have got tantalised in that very way, and galloped leagues upon leagues without thinking of it. to get back to francesca, and then home, would take all the time that's passed yet. so don't let us despair." the words well meant, and not without some show of reason, fail, however, to bring conviction to the senora. her heart is too sad, the presentiment too heavy on it, to be affected by any such sophistry. in return, she says despairingly-- "no, _sobrino_! that's not it. it your uncle had gone after an ostrich, you forget that caspar has gone after him. if he had found them, they'd all have been back before this. _ay de mi_! i know they'll never be back--never more!" "nay, mamma! don't say that," breaks in ludwig, flinging his arms around her neck, and kissing the tears from her cheek. "what cypriano says appears to me probable enough, and likely to be true. but if it isn't, i think i can tell what is." again the sorrowing mother looks inquiringly up; cypriano, in turn, becoming listener. "my idea," pursues ludwig, "is that they went straight on to the _tolderia_, and are there still--detained against their will." cypriano starts, saying. "what makes you think that, cousin?" "because of naraguana. you know how the old indian's given to drinking _guarape_. every now and then he gets upon a carousal, and keeps it up for days, sometimes weeks. and he may be at that now, which would account for none of them having been to see us lately. if that's the reason, the silly old fellow might just take it into his head to detain father and francesca. not from any ill will, but only some crazy notion of his own. now, isn't that likely enough?" "but gaspar? they wouldn't detain him. nor would he dare stay, after what i said to him at parting." it is the senora who speaks, for cypriano is now all absorbed in thoughts which fearfully afflict him. "gaspar couldn't help himself, mamma, any more than father or sister. if the chief be as i've said--intoxicated--all the other indians will be the same, sure enough; and gaspar would have to stay with them, if they wished it. now, it's my opinion they have wished it, and are keeping all of them there for the night. no doubt, kindly entertaining them, in their own rough way, however much father and francesca may dislike it, and gaspar growl at it. but it'll be all right. so cheer up, _madre mia_! we'll see them home in the morning--by breakfast time, or before it." alas! ludwig's forecast proves a failure; as his mother too surely expected it would. morning comes, but with it no word of the missing ones. nor is any sign seen of them by anxious eyes, that from earliest daybreak have been scanning the plain, which stretches away in front of the estancia. nothing moves over it but the wild creatures, its denizens; while above it, on widely extended wings, soars a flock of black vultures--ill omen in that moment of doubt and fear. and so passes the hour of breakfast, with other hours, on till it is mid-day, but still no human being appears upon the plain. 'tis only later, when the sun began to throw elongated shadows, that one is seen there, upon horseback, and going in a gallop; but he is heading _from_ the house, and not _toward_ it. for the rider is cypriano himself, who, no longer able to bear the torturing suspense, has torn himself away from aunt and cousin, to go in search of his uncle and another cousin-- the last dearer than all. chapter fifteen. a tedious journey. it yet wants full two hours of sunset, as the gaucho and his companion come within sight of the estancia. still, so distant, however, that the house appears not bigger than a dove-cot--a mere fleck of yellow, the colour of the _cana brava_, of which its walls are constructed--half hidden by the green foliage of the trees standing around it. the point from which it is viewed is on the summit of a low hill, at least a league off, and in a direct line between the house itself and the deserted indian village. for although the returning travellers have not passed through the latter place, but, for reasons already given, intentionally avoided it, the route they had taken, now nearer home, has brought them back into that, between it and the estancia. a slow journey they have made. it is all of eight hours since, at earliest sunrise, they rode out from among the _sumac_ trees on the bank of the branch stream; and the distance gone over cannot be much more than twenty miles. under ordinary circumstances the gaucho would have done it in two hours, or less. as it is, he has had reasons for delaying, more than one. first, his desire to make the journey without being observed; and to guard against this, he has been zig-zagging a good deal, to take advantage of such cover as was offered by the palm-groves and scattered copses of _quebracho_. a second cause retarding him has been the strange behaviour of his travelling companion, whose horse he has had to look after all along the way. nothing has this rider done for himself, nor is yet doing; neither guides the horse, nor lays hand upon the bridle-rein, which, caught over the saddle-bow, swings loosely about. he does not even urge the animal on by whip or spur. and as for word, he has not spoken one all day, neither to the gaucho, nor in soliloquy to himself! silent he is, as when halted by the edge of the _sumac_ wood, and in exactly the same attitude; the only change observable being his hat, which is a little more slouched over his face, now quite concealing it. but the two causes assigned are not the only ones why they have been so long in reaching the spot where they now are. there is a third influencing the gaucho. he has not wished to make better speed. nor does he yet desire it, as is evident by his actions. for now arrived on the hill's top, within sight of home, instead of hastening on towards it he brings his horse to a dead halt, the other, as if mechanically, stopping too. it is not that the animals are tired, and need rest. the pause is for a different purpose; of which some words spoken by the gaucho to himself, give indication. still in the saddle, his face turned towards the distant dwelling, with eyes intently regarding it, he says:-- "under that roof are three hearts beating anxiously now, i know. soon to be sadder, though; possibly, one of them to break outright. _pobere senora_! what will she say when she hears--when she sees this? _santissima_! 'twill go wellnigh killing her, if it don't quite!" while speaking, he has glanced over his shoulder at the other horseman, who is half a length behind. but again facing to the house, and fixing his gaze upon it, he continues:-- "and cypriano--poor lad! he'll have his little heart sorely tried, too. so fond of his cousin, and no wonder, such a sweet _chiquitita_. that will be a house of mourning, when i get home to it!" once more he pauses in his muttered speech, as if to consider something. then, looking up at the sun, proceeds: "it'll be full two hours yet before that sets. withal i must wait for its setting. 'twill never do to take him home in broad daylight. no; she mustn't see him thus, and sha'n't--if i can help it. i'll stop here till it's dark, and, meanwhile, think about the best way of breaking it to her. _carramba_! that will be a scene! i could almost wish myself without eyes, rather than witness it. ah! me! it'll be enough painful to listen to their lamentations." in conformity with, the intention just declared, he turns his horse's head towards a grand _ombu_--growing not far off--the same which, the day before, guided him back to his lost way--and riding on to it pulls up beneath its spreading branches. the other horse, following, stops too. but the man upon his back stays there, while the gaucho acts differently; dismounting, and attaching the bridles of both horses to a branch of the tree. then he stretches himself along the earth, not to seek sleep or rest, but the better to give his thoughts to reflection, on that about which he has been speaking. he has not been many minutes in his recumbent attitude before being aroused from it. with his ears so close to the ground, sounds are carried to him from afar, and one now reaching them causes him first to start into a sitting posture, and then stand upon his feet. it is but the trample of a horse, and looking in the direction whence it comes sees the animal itself, and its rider soon is seen, recognising both. "cypriano!" he mechanically exclaims, adding, "_pobrecito_! he's been impatient; anxious; too much to stay for my return, and now's coming after." it is cypriano, approaching from the direction of the house whence he has but lately started, and at great speed, urged on by the anxiety which oppresses him. but he is not heading for the _ombu_, instead, along the more direct path to the indian town, which would take him past the tree at some three hundred yards' distance. he does not pass it, nevertheless. before he has got half-way up the hill, caspar, taking the bridle of his own horse from the branch, leaps into the saddle, and gallops down to meet him. the gaucho has a reason for not hailing him at a distance, or calling him to come under the _ombu_, till he first held speech with him. "caspar!" shouts the youth excitedly, soon as he catches sight of the other coming towards him. "what news? oh? you've not found them! i see you haven't!" "calm yourself, young master!" rejoins the gaucho, now close up to him; "i have found them--that is, one of them." "only one--which?" half distractedly interrogates the youth. "your uncle--but, alas--" "dead--dead! i know it by the way you speak. but my cousin! where is she? still living? say so, caspar! oh, say but that!" "come senorito, be brave; as i know you are. it may not be so bad for the _nina_, your cousin. i've no doubt she's still alive, though i've not been successful in finding her. as for your uncle, you must prepare yourself to see something that'll pain you. now, promise me you'll bear it bravely--say you will, and come along with me!" at this gaspar turns his horse, and heads him back for the _ombu_, the other silently following, stunned almost beyond the power of speech. but once under the tree, and seeing what he there sees, it returns to him. then the gaucho is witness to an exhibition of grief and rage, both wild as ever agitated the breast of a boy. chapter sixteen. dead! once more the sun is going down over the pampa, but still nothing seen upon it to cheer the eyes of the senora halberger, neither those first missing, nor they who went after. one after another she has seen them depart, but in vain looks for their return. and now, as she stands with eyes wandering over that grassy wilderness, she can almost imagine it a maelstrom or some voracious monster, that swallows up all who venture upon it. as the purple of twilight assumes the darker shade of night, it seems to her as though some unearthly and invisible hand were spreading a pall over the plain to cover her dear ones, somewhere lying dead upon it. she is in the verandah with her son, and side by side they stand gazing outward, as long as there is light for them to see. even after darkness has descended they continue to strain their eyes mechanically, but despairingly, she more hopeless and feeling more forlorn than ever. all gone but ludwig! for even her nephew may not return. where caspar, a strong man and experienced in the ways of the wilderness, has failed to find the lost ones, what chance will there be for cypriano? more like some cruel enemy has made captives of them all, killing all, one after the other, and he, falling into the same snare, has been sacrificed as the rest! dark as is this hour of her apprehension, there is yet a darker one in store for her; but before it there is to be light, with joy--alas! short-lived as that bright, garish gleam of sun which often precedes the wildest burst of a storm. just as the last ray of hope has forsaken her, a house-dog, lying outstretched by the verandah starts to its feet with a growl, and bounding off into the darkness, sets up a sonorous baying. both mother and son step hastily forward to the baluster rail, and resting hands on it, again strain their eyes outward, now as never before, at the same time listening as for some signal sound, on the hearing of which hung their very lives. soon they both hear and see what gives them gladness unspeakable, their ears first imparting it by a sound sweeter to them than any music, for it is the tread of horses' hoofs upon the firm turf of the plain; and almost in the same instant they see the horses themselves, each with a rider upon its back. the exclamation that leaps from the mother's lips is the cry of a heart long held in torture suddenly released, and without staying to repeat it, she rushes out of the verandah and on across the patch of enclosed ground--not stopping till outside the palings which enclose it. ludwig following, comes again by her side, and the two stand with eyes fixed on the approaching forms, there now so near that they are able to make out their number. but this gives them surprise, somewhat alarming them afresh. for there are but _three_ where there should be _four_. "it must be your father and francesca, with caspar," says the senora, speaking in doubt. "cypriano has missed them all, i suppose. but he'll come too--" "no, mother," interrupts ludwig, "cypriano is there. i can see a white horse, that must be his." "gaspar then; he it is that's behind." she says this with a secret hope it may be so. "it don't look like as if gaspar was behind," returns ludwig, hesitating in his speech, for his eyes, as his heart, tell him there is still something amiss. "two of them," he continues, "are men, full grown, and the third is surely cypriano." they have no time for further discussion or conjecture--no occasion for it. the three shadowy figures are now very near, and just as the foremost pulls up in front of the palings, the moon bursting forth from behind a cloud flashes her full light upon his face, and they see it is gaspar. the figures farther off are lit up at the same time, and the senora recognises them as her husband and nephew. a quick searching glance carried behind to the croups of their horses shows her there is no one save those seated in the saddle. "where is francesca?" she cries out in agonised accents. "where is my daughter?" no one makes answer; not any of them speaks. gaspar, who is nearest, but hangs his head, as does his master behind him. "what means all this?" is her next question, as she dashes past the gaucho's horse, and on to her husband, as she goes crying out, "where is francesca? what have you done with my child?" he makes no reply, nor any gesture--not even a word to acknowledge her presence! drawing closer she clutches him by the knee, continuing her distracted interrogatories. "husband! why are you thus silent? ludwig, dear ludwig, why don't you answer me? ah! now i know. she is dead--dead!" "not _she_, but _he_," says a voice close to her ear--that of gaspar, who has dismounted and stepped up to her. "he! who?" "alas! senora, my master, your husband." "o heavens! can this be true?" as she speaks, stretching her arms up to the inanimate form, still in the saddle--for it is fast tied there--and throwing them around it; then with one hand lifting off the hat, which falls from her trembling fingers, she gazes on a ghastly face, and into eyes that return not her gaze. but for an instant, when, with a wild cry, she sinks back upon the earth, and lies silent, motionless, the moonbeams shimmering upon her cheeks, showing them white and bloodless, as if her last spark of life had departed! chapter seventeen. on the trail. it is the day succeeding that on which the hunter-naturalist was carried home a corpse, sitting upright in his saddle. the sun has gone down over the gran chaco, and its vast grassy plains and green palm-groves are again under the purple of twilight. herds of stately _quazutis_ and troops of the _pampas_ roebuck--beautiful creatures, spotted like fawns of the fallow-deer--move leisurely towards their watering-places, having already browsed to satiety on pastures where they are but rarely disturbed by the hunter, for here no sound of horse nor baying of molossian ever breaks the stillness of the early morn, and the only enemies they have habitually to dread are the red puma and yellow jaguar, throughout spanish america respectively, but erroneously, named lion (_leon_) and tiger (_tigre)_, from a resemblance, though a very slight one, which these, the largest of the new world's _felidae_, bear to their still grander congeners of the old. the scene we are about to depict is upon the pilcomayo's bank, some twenty miles above the old _tomeria_ of the tovas indians, and therefore thirty from the house of ludwig halberger--now his no more, but a house of mourning. the mourners, however, are not all in it, for by a camp-fire freshly kindled at the place we speak of; two of them are seen seated. one is the son of the murdered man, the other his nephew; while not far off is a third individual, who mourns almost as much as either. need i say it is caspar, the gaucho? or is it necessary to give explanation of their being thus far from home so soon after that sad event, the cause of their sorrow? no. the circumstances speak for themselves; telling than to be there on an errand connected with that same crime; in short, in pursuit of the criminals. who these may be they have as yet no definite knowledge. all is but blind conjectures, the only thing certain being that the double crime has been committed by indians; for the trail which has conducted to the spot they are now on, first coming down the river's bank to the branch stream, then over its ford and back again, could have been made only by a mounted party of red men. but of what tribe? that is the question which puzzles them. not the only one, however. something besides causes them surprise, equally perplexing them. among the other hoof-marks, they have observed some that must have been made by a horse with shoes on; and as they know the chaco indians never ride such, the thing strikes them as very strange. it would not so much, were the shod-tracks only traceable twice along the trail; that is, coming down the river and returning up again, for they might suppose that one of the savages was in possession of a white man's horse, stolen from some of the settlements, a thing of no uncommon occurrence. but then they have here likewise observed a third set of these tracks, of older date, also going up, and a fourth, freshest of all, returning down again; the last on top of everything else, continuing on to the old _tolderia_, as they have noticed all the way since leaving it. and in their examination of the many hoof-marks by the force of the tributary stream, up to the _sumac_ thicket--and along the _tapir_ path to that blood-stained spot which they have just visited--the same tracks are conspicuous amid all the others, telling that he who rode the shod horse has had a hand in the murder, and likely a leading one. it is the gaucho who has made most of these observations, but about the deductions to be drawn from them, he is, for the time, as much at fault as either of his younger companions. they have just arrived at their present halting-place, their first camp since leaving the _estancia_; from which they parted a little before mid-day: soon as the sad, funeral rites were over, and the body of the murdered man laid in its grave. this done at an early hour of the morning, for the hot climate of the chaco calls for quick interment. the sorrowing wife did nought to forbid their departure. she had her sorrows as a mother, too; and, instead of trying to restrain, she but urged them to take immediate action in searching for her lost child. that francesca is still living they all believe, and so long as there seemed a hope--even the slightest--of recovering her, the bereaved mother was willing to be left alone. her faithful guanos would be with her. it needed no persuasive argument to send the searchers off. in their own minds they have enough motive for haste; and, though in each it might be different in kind, as in degree, with all it is sufficiently strong. not one of them but is willing to risk his life in the pursuit they have entered upon; and at least one would lay it down rather than fail in finding francesca, and restoring her to her mother. they have followed thus far on the track of the abductors, but without any fixed or definite plan as to continuing. indeed, there has been no time to think of one, or anything else; all hitherto acting under that impulse of anxiety for the girl's fate which they so keenly feel. but now that the first hurried step has been taken, and they can go no further till another sun lights up the trail, calmer reflection comes, admonishing them to greater caution in their movements. for they who have so ruthlessly killed one man would as readily take other lives-- their own. what they have undertaken is no mere question of skill in taking up a trail, but an enterprise full of peril; and they have need to be cautious how they proceed upon it. they are so acting now. their camp-fire is but a small one, just sufficient to boil a kettle of water for making the _mate_, and the spot where they have placed it is in a hollow, so that it may not be seen from afar. besides, a clump of palms screens it on the western side, the direction in which the trail leads, and therefore the likeliest for them to apprehend danger. soon as coming to a stop, and before kindling the fire gaspar has gone all around, and made a thorough survey of the situation. then, satisfied it is a safe one, he undertakes the picketing of their horses, directing the others to set light to the faggots; which they have done, and seated themselves beside. chapter eighteen. who rode the shod horse? while waiting for the gaucho to rejoin them by the fire the two youths are not silent, but converse upon the event which saddens and still mystifies them. for up till this moment they have not seen anything, nor can they think of aught to account for the calamity which has befallen them--the double crime that has been committed. no more can they conceive who have been the perpetrators; though cypriano all along has had his suspicions. and now for the first time he communicates them to his cousin, saying-- "it's been the work of tovas indians." "impossible, cypriano!" exclaims ludwig in surprise. "why should they murder my poor father? what motive could they have had for it?" "motive enough; at least one of them had." "one! who mean you?" "aguara." "aguara! but why he of all the others? and for what?" "for what? simply to get possession of your sister." ludwig starts, showing greater astonishment than ever. "cypriano!" he exclaims; "what do you mean?" "just what i've said, cousin. you're perhaps not aware of what i've myself known for long; that the chief's son has been fixing his eyes on francesca." "the scoundrel!" cries ludwig, with increasing indignation, for the first time apprised of the fact thus made known to him. unobservant of such things generally, it had never occurred to him to reflect on what had long been patent to the jealous eyes of cypriano. besides, the thing seemed so absurd, even preposterous--a red-skinned savage presuming to look upon his sister in the light of a sweetheart, daring to love her--that the son of the prussian naturalist, with all the prejudices of race, could not be otherwise than incredulous of it. "are you sure of that?" he questions, still doubting. "sure of what you've said, cypriano?" "quite sure," is the confident rejoinder; "more than once i've observed aguara's free behaviour towards my cousin; and once would have thrashed the impudent redskin, but for uncle interfering. he was afraid it might get us into trouble with naraguana." "but did father himself know of it? i mean about aguara and francesca?" "no. i rather think not. and i disliked telling him." all this is new light to ludwig, and turns his thoughts into the same channel of suspicion where those of cypriano have been already running. still, whatever he may think of naraguana's son, he cannot bring himself to believe that naraguana has been guilty. his father's friend, and hitherto their protector! "it cannot be!" he exclaims; "surely it cannot be!" "it may be for all that, and in my opinion is. ah! cousin, there's no telling how an indian will act. i never knew one who didn't turn treacherous when it served his purpose. whether the old chief has been so or not, i'm quite sure his son has. take my word for it, ludwig, it's the tovas indians who've done this deed, and it will be with them we'll have to deal." "but whither can they have gone? and why went they off so suddenly and secretly, without letting father or any of us know. all that certainly seems strange." "not so strange when we think of what's happened since. my idea is, it's been all a planned thing. aguara got his father to agree to his carrying off francesca; and the old chief, controlled by the young one, let him take his way. fearing to face uncle he first went off, taking the whole tribe along; and they're now, no doubt, residing in some distant part of the chaco, where they suppose we'll never go after them. but francesca will be there too; and we must follow and find her--ay, if we have to lay down our lives when she's found. shall we not, cousin?" "yes; shall and will!" is ludwig's rejoinder in a tone of determination; their dialogue getting interrupted by gaspar coming back to the camp-fire, and saying-- "now, _senoritos_! it's high time we had some supper." on making this announcement the gaucho himself sets about preparing their evening repast. it requires no great effort of culinary skill; since the more substantial portion of it has been already cooked, and is now presented in the shape of a cold shoulder of mutton, with a cake of corn bread, extracted from a pair of _alparejas_, or saddle-bags. in the chaco there are sheep--the indians themselves breeding them--while since settling there the hunter-naturalist had not neglected either pastoral or agricultural pursuits. hence the meal from which came that cake of maize-bread. with these two _pieces de resistance_ nothing remains but to make a cup of "paraguay tea," for which gaspar has provided all the materials, viz., an iron kettle for boiling water, cups of cocoa-nut shell termed _mates_--for this is the name of the vessel, not the beverage--and certain tubes, the _bombillas_, to serve as spoons; the paraguayan tea being imbibed, not in the ordinary way, but sucked up through these _bombillas_. all the above implements, with a little sugar for sweetening; and, lastly, the _yerba_ itself, has the thoughtful gaucho brought along. no milk, however; the lacteal fluid not being deemed a necessary ingredient in the cup which cheers the paraguayan people, without intoxicating them. gaspar--as all gauchos, skilled in the concoction of it--in a short time has the three _mates_ brimful of the brew. then the _bombillas_ are inserted, and the process of sucking commences; suspended only at intervals while the more substantial mutton and maize-bread are being masticated. meanwhile, as a measure of security, the camp-fire has been extinguished, though they still keep their places around its embers. and while eating, converse; cypriano imparting to gaspar the suspicions he has already communicated to his cousin. it is no new idea to the gaucho; instead, the very one his own thoughts have been dwelling upon. for he, too, had long observed the behaviour of the young tovas chief towards the daughter of his _dueno_. and what has now occurred seems to coincide with that--all except the supposed treachery of naraguana. a good judge of character, as most gauchos are, gaspar cannot think of the aged cacique having turned traitor. still, as ludwig, he is at a loss what to think. for why should the tovas chief have made that abrupt departure from his late abiding place? the reason assigned by cypriano is not, to his view, satisfactory; though he cannot imagine any other. so, they finish their suppers and retire to rest, without having arrived at any certain conclusion, one way or the other. with heads rested upon their saddles, and their ponchos wrapped around them, they seek sleep, ludwig first finding it; next cypriano, though he lies long awake--kept so by torturing thoughts. but tired nature at length overpowers him, and he too sinks into slumber. the gaucho alone surrenders not to the drowsy god; but, repelling his attacks, still lies reflecting. thus run his reflections--as will be seen, touching near the truth: "_carramba_! i can think of but one man in all the world who had an interest in the death of my dear master. one there was who'd have given a good deal to see him dead--that's el supremo. no doubt he searched high and low for us, after we gave him the slip. but then, two years gone by since! one would think it enough to have made him almost forget us. forgive, no! that wouldn't be senor jose francia. he never forgives. nor is it likely he has forgotten, either, what the _dueno_ did. crossing him in his vile purpose, was just the sort of thing to stick in his crop for the remainder of his life; and i shouldn't wonder if it's his hand has been here. odd, those tracks of a shod horse; four times back and forward! and the last of them, by their look, must have been made as late as yesterday--some time in the early morning, i should say. beyond the old _tolderia_, downward, they've gone. i wish i'd turned a bit that way as we came up, so as to be sure of it. well, i'll find that out, when we get back from this pursuit; which i very much fear will prove a wild goose chase." for a time he lies without stirring, or moving a muscle, on his back, with eyes seemingly fixed upon the stars, like an ancient astrologer in the act of consulting them for the solution of some deep mystery hidden from mortal ken. then, as if having just solved it, he gives a sudden start, exclaiming: "_sangre de crista_! that's the explanation of all, the whole affair; murder, abduction, everything." his words, though only muttered, awaken cypriano, still only half-asleep. "what is it, gaspar?" questions the youth. "oh, nothing, _senorito_; only a mosquito that took a fancy to stick its bill into the bridge of my nose. but i've given master _zancudo_ his quietus; and he won't trouble me again." though the gaucho thinks he has at last got the clue to what has been mystifying them, like all skilled tacticians he intends for a time keeping it to himself. so, saying no more, he leaves his young companion to return to his slumbers: which the latter soon does. himself now more widely awake than ever, he follows up the train of thought cypriano had interrupted. "it's clear that francia has at length found out our whereabouts. i wonder he didn't do so long ago; and have often warned the _dueno_ of the danger we were in. of course, naraguana kept him constantly assured; and with war to the knife between the tovas and paraguayans, no wonder my poor master was too careless and confident. but something has happened lately to affect their relations. the indians moving so mysteriously away from their old place shows it. and these shod-tracks tell, almost for sure, that some white man has been on a visit to them, wherever they are now. just as sure about this white man being an emissary from el supremo. and who would his emissary be? who sent on such an errand so likely as _him_?" the emphasis on the "him" points to some one not yet mentioned, but whom the gaucho has in his mind. soon, however, he gives the name, saying: "the scoundrel who bestrode that horse--and a thorough scoundrel too--is rufino valdez. assassin, besides! it's he who has murdered my master. i'd lay my life on it." after arriving at this conclusion, he adds: "what a pity i didn't think of this before! if but yesterday morning! he must have passed along the trail going back, and alone? ah! the chance i've let escape me! such an opportunity for settling old scores with senor rufino! well, he and i may meet yet; and if we do, one of us will have to stay on the spot where that encounter takes place, or be carried from it feet foremost. i think i know which would go that way, and which the other." thus predicating, the gaucho pulls his poncho around his shoulders, and composes himself for sleep; though it is some time before he succeeds in procuring it. but morpheus coming to his aid, proves too many for the passions which agitate him; and he at length sinks into a profound slumber, not broken till the curassows send up their shrill cries--as the crowing of chanticleer--to tell that another day is dawning upon the chaco. chapter nineteen. the "lost ball." travellers on such an errand as that which is carrying the gaucho and his youthful companions across the chaco, do not lie abed late; and they are up and stirring as the first streak of blue-grey light shows itself above the horizon. again a tiny fire is kindled; the kettle hung over it; and the _mates_, with the _bombillas_, called into requisition. the breakfast is just as was their supper--cold mutton, corn bread, and _yerba_ tea. by the time they have despatched it, which they do in all haste, it is clear enough to permit of their taking up the trail they have been following. so, saddling their horses, they return to, and proceed along it. as hitherto, it continues up the bank of the pilcomayo, and at intervals they observe the tracks of francesca's pony, where they have not been trampled out by the other horses behind. and, as on the preceding day, they see the hoof-marks of the shod animal, both going and returning-- the return track evidently the more recently made. they notice them, however, only up to a certain point--about twenty miles beyond the crossing-place of that tributary stream, now so full of sad interest to them. here, in a grove of _algarobias_, they come upon the spot where those they are in pursuit of must have made their night bivouac; this told by some fragments of food lying scattered around, and the grass burnt in two places--large circular discs where their camp-fires had been kindled. the fires are out, and the ashes cold now; for that must have been two nights before. dismounting, they too make halt by the _algarobia_ grove--partly to breathe their horses, which have been all the morning kept at top speed, through their anxiety to overtake the indians--but more for the sake of giving examination to the abandoned camp, in the hope that something left there may lead to further elucidation of the crime and its causes; possibly enable them to determine, beyond doubt, who have been its perpetrators. at first nothing is found to give them the slightest clue; only the ashes and half-burned faggots of the fires, with some bits of _sipos_-- which have been cut from creeping plants entwining the trees overhead-- the corresponding pieces, in all likelihood, having been used as rope tackle for some purpose the gaucho cannot guess. these, and the fragments of food already referred to, with some bones of birds clean picked, and the shells of a half-score ostrich eggs, are all the _debris_ they can discover. but none of these items give any indication as to who made bivouac there; beyond the fact, already understood and unquestioned, that they were indians, with the further certainty of their having stayed on the spot over-night; this shown by the grass pressed down where their bodies had lain astretch; as also the circular patches browsed bare by their horses, around the picket pins which had held them. indians certainly; but of what tribe there is nothing on that spot to tell--neither sign nor token. so concluding, cypriano and ludwig have climbed back into their saddles--the former terribly impatient to proceed--but gaspar still stays afoot, holding his horse by the bridle at long reach, and leading the animal about from place to place, as if not yet satisfied with the search they have made. for there are spots where the grass is long, and the ground rough, overgrown also with weeds and bushes. possibly among these he may yet discover something. and something he does discover--a globe-shaped object lying half-hid among the weeds, about the size and colour of a cricket ball. this to you, young reader; for gaspar knows nothing of your national game. but he knows everything about balls of another kind--the _bolas_--that weapon, without which a south american gaucho would feel as a crusader of the olden time lacking half his armour. and it is a _bola_ that lies before him; though one of a peculiar kind, as he sees after stooping and taking it up. a round stone covered with cow's skin; this stretched and sewed over it tight as that on a tennis ball. but to the _bola_ there is no cord attached, nor mark of where one has ever been. for there never has been such, as gaspar at a glance perceives. well knows the gaucho that the ball he holds in his hand has not been one of a pair strung together--as with the ordinary _bolas_-- nor of three in like manner united, as is sometimes the case; but a _bola_, for still it is a _bola_, of a sort different from either, both in its make and the mode of using it, as also the effect it is designed to produce. "what is it, gaspar?" simultaneously interrogate the two, as they see him so closely examining the thing he has picked up. at the same time they turn their horses' heads towards him. "_una bola perdida_." "ah! a ball the indians have left behind--lost, you mean." "no, _senoritos_; i don't mean that, exactly. of course, the redskins have left it behind, and so lost it. but that isn't the reason of my calling it a _bola perdida_." "why, then, caspar?" asks ludwig, with the hereditary instincts of the _savant_, like his father, curious about all such things. "why do you call it a lost ball?" "because that's the name we gauchos give it, and the name by which it is known among those who make use of it--these chaco indians." "and pray, what do they use it for? i never heard of the thing. what is its purpose?" "one for which, i hope, neither it nor any of its sort will ever be employed upon us. the virgin forbid! for it is no child's toy, i can assure you, _senoritos_; but a most murderous weapon. i've witnessed its effects more than once--seen it flung full thirty yards, and hit a spot not bigger than the breadth of my hand; the head of a horse, crushing in the animal's skull as if done by a club of _quebracha_. heaven protect me, and you too, _muchachos_, from ever getting struck by a _bola perdida_!" "but why a _lost_ ball?" asks ludwig, with curiosity still unsatisfied. "oh! that's plain enough," answers the gaucho. "as you see, when once launched there's no knowing where it may roll to; and often gets lost in the long grass or among bushes; unlike the ordinary _bolas_, which stick to the thing aimed at--that is, if thrown as they should be." "what do you make of its being found here?" interrogates cypriano, more interested about the ball in a sense different from the curiosity felt by his cousin. "much," answers caspar, looking grave, but without offering explanation; for he seems busied with some calculation, or conjecture. "indeed!" simultaneously exclaim the others, with interest rekindled, cypriano regarding him with earnest glance. "yes, indeed, young masters," proceeds the gaucho. "the thing i now hold in my hand has once, and not very long ago, been in the hands of a tovas indian!" "a tovas!" exclaims cypriano, excitedly. "what reason have you for thinking so?" "the best of all reasons. because, so far as is known to me, no other chaco indians but they use the _bola perdida_. that ball has been handled, mislaid, and left here behind by a tovas traitor. you are right, _senorito_," he adds, speaking to cypriano. "whoever may have murdered my poor master, your uncle, aguara is he who has carried off your cousin." "let us on!" cries cypriano, without another word. "o, ludwig!" he adds, "we mustn't lose a moment, nor make the least delay. think of dear francesca in the power of that savage beast. what may he not do with her?" ludwig needs no such urging to lead him on. his heart of brother is boiling with rage, as that of son almost broken by grief; and away ride they along the trail, with more haste and greater earnestness than ever. chapter twenty. obstructed by a "biscachera." in their fresh "spurt," the trackers had not proceeded very far when compelled to slacken speed, and finally come to a dead stop. this from something seen before them upon the plain which threatens to bar their further progress--at least in the course they are pursuing. the thing thus obstructing causes them neither surprise nor alarm, only annoyance; for it is one with which they all are familiar--a _biscachera_, or warren of _biscachas_. it is scarce possible to travel twenty miles across the plains bordering the la plata or parana, without coming upon the burrows of this singular rodent; a prominent and ever-recurring feature in the scenery. there the _biscacha_, or _viscacha_--as it is indifferently spelt--plays pretty much the same part as the rabbit in our northern lands. it is, however, a much larger animal, and of a quite different species or genus--the _lagostoinus trichodactylus_. in shape of head, body, and other respects, it more resembles a gigantic rat; and, like the latter, it has a long tapering tail, which strengthens the resemblance. but, unlike either rabbit or rat, its hind feet are furnished with but three toes; hence its specific name, _trichodactylus_. the same scarcity of toes is a characteristic of the _agoutis, capivaras_, and so called "guinea pigs," all of which are cousins-german of the _biscacha_. the latter makes its burrows very much in the same manner as the north-american marmot (_arctomys ludoviciana)_, better known by the name of "prairie dog;" only that the subterranean dwellings of the _biscacha_ are larger, from the needs of a bigger-bodied animal. but, strange to say, in these of the pampa there exists the same queer companionship as in those of the prairie--a bird associating with the quadruped--a species of owl, the _athene cunicularia_. this shares occupation with the _biscacha_, as does the other, an allied species, with the prairie dog. whether the bird be a welcome recipient of the beast's hospitality, or an intruder upon it, is a question still undetermined; but the latter seems the more probable, since, in the stomachs of owls of the northern species, are frequently found prairie dog "pups;" a fact which seems to show anything but amicable relations between these creatures so oddly consorting. there is yet another member of these communities, apparently quite as much out of place--a reptile; for snakes also make their home in the holes both of _biscacha_ and prairie dog. and in both cases the reptile intruder is a rattlesnake, though the species is different. in these, no doubt, the owls find their staple of food. perhaps the most singular habit of the _biscacha_ is its collecting every loose article which chances to be lying near, and dragging all up to its burrow; by the mouth of which it forms a heap, often as large as the half of a cart-load dumped carelessly down. no matter what the thing be--stick, stone, root of thistle, lump of indurated clay, bone, ball of dry dung--all seem equally suitable for these miscellaneous accumulations. nothing can be dropped in the neighbourhood of a _biscacha_ hole but is soon borne off, and added to its collection of _bric-a-brac_. even a watch which had slipped from the fob of a traveller--as recorded by the naturalist. darwin--was found forming part of one; the owner, acquainted with the habits of the animal, on missing the watch, having returned upon his route, and searched every _biscacha_ mound along it, confident that in some one of them he would find the missing article--as he did. the districts frequented by these three-toed creatures, and which seem most suitable to their habits, are those tracts of _campo_ where the soil is a heavy loam or clay, and the vegetation luxuriant. its congener, the _agouti_, affects the arid sterile plains of patagonia, while the _biscacha_ is most met with on the fertile pampas further north; more especially along the borders of those far-famed thickets of tall thistles--forests they might almost be called--upon the roots of which it is said to feed. they also make their burrows near the _cardonales_, tracts overgrown by the cardoon; also a species of large malvaceous plant, though quite different from the pampas thistles. another singular fact bearing upon the habits of the _biscacha_ may here deserve mention. these animals are not found in the banda oriental, as the country lying east of the uruguay river is called; and yet in this district exist conditions of soil, climate, and vegetation precisely similar to those on its western side. the uruguay river seems to have formed a bar to their migration eastward; a circumstance all the more remarkable, since they have passed over the parana, a much broader stream, and are common throughout the province of entre rios, as it name imports, lying between the two. nothing of all this occupies the thoughts of the three trackers, as they approach the particular _biscachera_ which has presented itself to their view, athwart their path. of such things they neither think, speak, nor care. instead, they are but dissatisfied to see it there; knowing it will give them some trouble to get to the other side of it, besides greatly retarding their progress. if they ride right across it at all, they must needs go at a snail's pace, and with the utmost circumspection. a single false step made by any of their horses might be the dislocation of a joint, or the breaking of a leg. on the pampa such incidents are far from rare; for the burrows of the _biscachas_ are carried like galleries underground, and therefore dangerous to any heavy quadruped so unfortunate as to sink through the surface turf. in short, to ride across a _biscachera_ would be on a par with passing on horseback through a rabbit warren. "_caspita_!" is the vexed exclamation of the gaucho, as he reins up in front of the obstruction, with other angry words appended, on seeing that it extends right and left far as the verge of vision, while forward it appears to have a breadth of at least half a league. "we can't gallop across that," he adds, "nor yet go at even a decent walk. we must crawl for it, _muchachos_, or ride all the way round. and there's no knowing how far round the thing might force us; leagues likely. it looks the biggest _biscachera_ i ever set eyes on. _carra-i-i_!" the final ejaculation is drawled out with a prolonged and bitter emphasis, as he again glances right and left, but sees no end either way. "ill luck it is," he continues, after completing his reconnaissance. "satan's own luck our coming upon this. a whole country covered with traps! well, it won't help us any making a mouth about it; and i think our best way will be to strike straight across." "i think so too," says cypriano, impatient to proceed. "let us on into it, then. but, _hijos mios_; have a care how you go. look well to the ground before you, and keep your horses as far from the holes as you can. where there's two near together steer midways between, giving both the widest berth possible. every one of them's a dangerous pitfall. _caspita_! what am i prattling about? let me give you the lead, and you ride after, track for track." so saying, he heads his horse in among the rubbish heaps, each with its hole yawning adjacent: the others, as admonished, close following, and keeping in his tracks. they move onward at a creeping pace, every now and then forced to advance circuitously, but taking no heed of the creatures upon whose domain they have so unceremoniously intruded. in truth, they have no thought about these, nor eyes for them. enough if they can avoid intrusion into their dwellings by a short cut downwards. nor do the _biscachas_ seem at all alarmed at the sight of such formidable invaders. they are anything but shy creatures; instead, far more given to curiosity; so much that they will sit squatted on their hams, in an upright attitude, watching the traveller as he passes within less than a score yards of them, the expression on their faces being that of grave contemplation. only, if he draw too familiarly near, and they imagine him an enemy, there is a scamper off, their short fore-legs giving them a gait also heightening their resemblance to rats. as a matter of course, such confidence makes them an easy prey to the _biscacha_ catcher; for there are men who follow taking them as a profession. their flesh is sweet and good to eat, while their skins are a marketable commodity; of late years forming an article of export to england, and other european countries. heeding neither the quadrupeds, nor the birds, their fellow-tenants of the burrow--the latter perched upon the summits of the mounds, and one after another flying off with a defiant screech as the horsemen drew near--these, after an hour spent in a slow but diligent advance, at length, and without accident, ride clear of the _biscachera_, and out upon the smooth open plain beyond it. soon as feeling themselves on firm ground, every spur of the party is plied; and they go off at a tearing pace, to make up for the lost time. chapter twenty one. a shoulder out of joint. when gaspar, on first sighting the _biscachera_, poured forth vials of wrath upon it, he little dreamt that another burrow of similar kind, and almost at the very same hour, was doing him a service by causing not only obstruction, but serious damage to the man he regards as his greatest enemy. this second warren lay at least a hundred miles from the one they have succeeded in crossing, in a direction due east from the latter, and on the straight route for the city of assuncion. let us throw aside circumlocution, and at once give account of the incident. on this same day, and, as already said, almost the same hour, when the trackers are brought up by the _biscachera_, a single horseman is seen with head turned towards the paraguay, and making as if to reach this river; from which he is distant some eighteen or twenty miles. he rides at a rapid rate; and that he has been doing so for a long continuance of time, can be told by the lagging gait of his horse, and the sweat saturating the animal's coat from neck to croup. for all, he slackens not the pace; instead, seems anxious to increase it, every now and then digging his spurs deep, and by strokes of a spear shaft he carries in his hands, urging his roadster onward. anyone witness to his acting in this apparently frantic fashion, would suppose him either demented, or fleeing from pursuers who seek nothing less than his life. but as the plain over which he rides is smooth, level, and treeless for long leagues to his rear as also to right and left, and no pursuer nor aught of living thing visible upon it, the latter, at least, cannot be the case. and for the former, a glance at the man's face tells that neither is insanity the cause of his cruel behaviour to his horse. rufino valdez--for he is the hastening horseman--if bad, is by no means mad. superfluous to say, what the errand pressing him to such speed. in soliloquy he has himself declared it: hastening to communicate news which he knows will be welcome to the paraguayan tyrant, and afterwards return to halberger's _estancia_ with a party of those hireling soldiers--quaintly termed _cuarteleros_ from their living in barracks, or _cuartels_. with this sinister purpose in view, and the expectation of a rich reward, the _vaqueano_ has given his roadster but little rest since parting from the tovas' camp; and the animal is now nigh broken down. little recks its rider. unlike a true gaucho, he cares not what mischance may befall his steed, so long as it serves his present necessity. if it but carry him to the paraguay, it may drop down dead on the river's bank, for aught he will want, or think of it afterwards. thus free from solicitude about his dumb companion, he spurs and flogs the poor creature to the best speed it is able to make. not much this; for every now and then it totters in its steps, and threatens going to grass, in a way different from what it might wish. "about twenty miles," the _vaqueano_ mutters to himself, with a glance, cast inquiringly ahead. "it can't be more than that to the river itself. question is, whether i can make it anywheres near assuncion. i'm not sure about this trail; evidently only a cattle run. it may lead me too much above or below. in any case," he adds, "i must bring out near one of the _guardias_, so thick along the bank, and the soldiers of the post will ferry me across. from there i'll have a good road to the town." so consoling himself, he keeps on; no longer paying much attention to the doubtful cattle track, but rather taking guidance from the sun. this going down is directly behind his back, and so tells him the due course east, as well as west; for it is eastward he wishes to go. now, near the horizon, it casts an elongated shadow of himself and his animal, far to the front; and after this he rides, as though following in the footsteps of some giant on horseback! the sun soon after setting, the shadow changes, veering round to his rear. but it is now made by the moon, which is also low in the sky; only before his face, instead of behind his back. for it would be the season of harvest--were such known in the chaco--and the moon is at her full, lighting up the _campo_ with a clearness unknown to northern lands. were it otherwise, rufino valdez might have halted here, and been forced to stay in the chaco for another night. but tempted by the bright moonlight, and the thought of his journey so near an end, he resolves differently; and once more pricking his tired, steed with spurs long since blood-clotted, he again forces it into a gallop. but the pace is only for a short while sustained. before going much further he feels his horse floundering between his legs; while a glance to the ground shows him he is riding through a _biscachera_! absorbed in thought--perhaps perfecting some wicked scheme--he had not noticed the burrow till now. now he sees it--holes and heaps all around him--at the same time hearing the screeches of the owls, as the frightened birds fly up out of his path. he is about to draw bridle, when the reins are suddenly jerked from his grasp--by his horse, which has gone headlong to the ground! at the same instant he hears a sound, like the cracking of a dead stick snapped crosswise. it is not that, but the shank of his horse, broken above the pastern joint! it is the last sound he hears then, or for some time after; he himself sustaining damage, though of a different kind--the dislocation of a shoulder-blade--that of the arm already injured--with a shock which deprives him of his senses. long lies he upon that moonlit plain, neither hearing the cries of the night birds nor seeing the great ratlike quadrupeds that, in their curiosity, come crowding close to, and go running around him! and though consciousness at length returns, he remains in that same place till morning's light--and for the whole of another day and night-- leaving the spot, and upon it his broken-legged horse, himself to limp slowly away, leaning upon his guilty spear, as one wounded on a battle-field, but one who has been fighting for a bad cause. he reaches assuncion--though not till the third day after--and there gets his broken bones set. but for gaspar mendez, there may have been luck in that shoulder-blade being put out of joint. chapter twenty two. the barometer-tree. after passing the _biscachera_, the trackers have not proceeded far, when caspar again reins up with eyes lowered to the ground. the others seeing this, also bring their horses to a stand; then watch the gaucho, who is apparently engaged with a fresh inspection of the trail. "have you found anything else?" asks cypriano. "no, _senorito_. instead, i've lost something." "what?" inquire both, in a breath. "i don't any longer see the tracks of that shod horse. i mean the big one we know nothing about. the pony's are here, but as for the other, they're missing." all three now join in a search for them, riding slowly along the trail, and in different directions backward and forward. but after some minutes thus passed, their search proves fruitless; no shod hoof-print, save that of the pony, to be seen. "this accounts for it," mutters caspar, giving up the quest, and speaking as to himself. "accounts for what?" demands cypriano, who has overheard him. "the return tracks we saw on the other side of the camp ground. i mean the freshest of them, that went over the ford of the stream. whoever rode that horse, whether red or white man, has parted from the indians at their camping-place, no doubt after staying all night with them. ha! there's something at the back of all this; somebody behind aguara and his indians--that very somebody i've been guessing at. he--to a dead certainty." the last sentences are not spoken aloud; for as yet he has not confided his suspicions about francia and valdez to his youthful comrades. "no matter about this shod horse and his back-track," he continues, once more heading his own animal to the trail. "we've now only to do with those that have gone forward, and forward let us haste." while speaking he strikes his ponderous spurs against his horse's ribs, setting him into a canter, the others starting off at the same pace. for nearly an hour they continue this rate of speed, the conspicuous trail enabling them to travel rapidly and without interruption. it still carries them up the pilcomayo, though not always along the river's immediate bank. at intervals it touches the water's edge, at others parting from it; the deflections due to "bluffs" which here and there impinge upon the stream, leaving no room for path between it and their bases. when nearing one of these, of greater elevation than common, gaspar again draws his horse to a halt; though it cannot be the cliff which has caused him to do so. his eyes are not on it, but turned on a tree, which stands at some distance from the path they are pursuing, out upon the open plain. it is one of large size, and light green foliage, the leaves pinnate, bespeaking it of the order _leguminosae_. it is in fact one of the numerous species of _mimosas_, or sensitive plants, common on the plains and mountains of south america, and nowhere in greater number, or variety, than in the region of the gran chaco. ludwig and cypriano have, in the meantime, also drawn up; and turning towards the tree at which caspar is gazing, they see its long slender branches covered with clusters of bright yellow flowers, these evidently the object of his attention. there is something about them that calls for his closer scrutiny; since after a glance or two, he turns his horse's head towards the tree, and rides on to it. arrived under its branches, he raises his hand aloft, plucks off a spray of the flowers, and dismounting, proceeds to examine it with curious minuteness, as if a botanist endeavouring to determine its genus or species! but he has no thought of this; for he knows the tree well, knows it to possess certain strange properties, one of which has been his reason for riding up to it, and acting as he now does. the other two have also drawn near; and dismounting, hold their horses in hand while they watch him with wondering eyes. one of them cries out-- "what now, caspar? why are you gathering those flowers?" it is cypriano who speaks, impatiently adding, "remember, our time is precious." "true, master," gravely responds the gaucho; "but however precious it is, we may soon have to employ it otherwise than in taking up a trail. if this tree tells truth, we'll have enough on our hands to take care of ourselves, without thinking of indians." "what mean you?" both interrogated together. "come hither, _senoritos_, and set your eyes on these flowers!" thus requested they comply, leading their horses nearer to the tree. "well?" exclaims cypriano, "i see nothing in them; that is, nothing that strikes me as being strange." "but i do," says ludwig, whose father had given him some instruction in the science of botany. "i observe that the corollas are well nigh closed, which they should not be at this hour of the day, if the tree is in a healthy condition. it's the _uinay_; i know it well. we have passed several on the way as we started this morning, but i noticed none with the flowers thus shrivelled up." "stand still a while," counsels gaspar, "and watch them." they do as desired, and see what greatly surprises them. at least cypriano is surprised; for the young paraguayan, unlike his half-german cousin, unobservant of nature generally, has never given a thought to any of its particular phenomena; and that now presented to his gaze is one of the strangest. for while they stand watching the _uinay_, its flowers continue to close their corollas, the petals assuming a shrunk, withered appearance. the gaucho's countenance seems to take its cue from them, growing graver as he stands contemplating the change. "_por dios_!" he at length exclaims, "if that tree be speaking truth, and i never knew of the _uinay_ telling lies, we'll have a storm upon us within twenty minutes' time; such a one as will sweep us out of our saddles, if we can't get under shelter. ay, sure it's going to be either a _temporal_ or _tormenta_! and this is not the where to meet it. here we'd be smothered in a minute, if not blown up into the sky. stay! i think i know of a place near by, where we may take refuge before it's down upon us. quick, _muchachos_! mount, and let us away from here. a moment lost, and it may be too late; _vamonos_!" leaping back into their saddles, all three again go off in a gallop; no longer upon the indian trail, but in a somewhat different direction, the gaucho guiding and leading. chapter twenty three. the captive train. just about the same time that the party of trackers had turned to take departure from the barometer-tree, a cavalcade of a very different kind, and composed of a greater number of individuals, is moving over the plain, some forty or fifty miles distant. it is the party being tracked; aguara and his band of young braves on return to the _tolderia_ of their tribe; the one now become their permanent place of abode. more than one change has taken place in the indian cohort since it passed over the same ground going downward. in number it is still the same; but one of them does not sit erect upon his horse; instead, lies bent across the animal's back, like a sack of corn. there he is fast tied to keep him from tailing off, for he could do nothing to prevent this--being dead! he it was who came forth from the _sumac_ grove wounded by halberger's bullet, and the wound has proved fatal; this accounting for the pieces of _sipos_ seen at their camping-place. another change in the composition of the party is, that the white man, valdez, is no longer with it. just as gaspar had conjectured, from seeing the return tracks of his horse, he had parted company with the indians at their first encampment, on the night after the murder. another and very different individual, has taken his place at the head of the troop. the daughter of the murdered man who now rides by the side of the young tovas chief! though a captive, she is not bound. they have no fear of her attempting to escape; nor does she even think of it. though ever so well mounted, she knows such an attempt would be idle, and on her diminutive roadster, which she still rides, utterly hopeless. therefore, since the moment of being made captive, no thought of escaping by flight had even entered her mind. with her long yellow hair hanging dishevelled over her shoulders, her cheeks white as lilies, and an expression of utter woe in her eyes, she sits her saddle seemingly regardless of where she is going, or whether she fall off and get trampled under the hoofs of the horses coming behind. it alone, her pony might wander at will; but alongside aguara's horse it keeps pace with the latter, its meek, submissive look, seeming to tell of its being as much a prisoner as its mistress. beyond the bereavement she has suffered by her father's death--for she saw him struck down, and believes him to be dead--no ill-treatment has been offered her: not even insult. instead, the young cacique has been making efforts to gain her good will! he pretends innocence of any intent to take her father's life, laying it all on the shoulders of valdez. giving reasons too, not without some significance, and an air of probability. for was not the _vaqueano_ an old enemy of her father, while they were resident in paraguay? the young tovas chief has learnt this from valdez himself, and does not fail to speak of it to his prisoner. further, he pretends it was on account of this very crime the _vaqueano_ has committed, that he parted company with them--in short, fled, fearing punishment had he accompanied them back to their town. in this manner the wily indian does all he can to mislead his captive, as they journey along together. captive, he does not call her; in this also feigning pretence. he tells her that the reason for their not taking her direct to the _estancia_ is, because of a party of guaycurus, their enemies, being out on the war path, and it was to discover the whereabouts of these he and his followers were out scouting, when the sad mischance, as he flippantly terms it, arose. that having learnt where the hostile indians were, he had needs return at once and report to the warriors of his tribe; thus the excuse for his not seeing her to her home. they could not leave her alone in the wilderness, and therefore of necessity she was going with them to their town; afterwards to be taken back to the _estancia_--to her mother. with such false tales, cunningly conceived, does he endeavour to beguile the ears of his captive. for all that they are not believed; scarcely listened to. she, to whom they are told, has reasons for discrediting them. though but a child in years, francesca halberger is not childish in understanding. the strange experiences and perils through which she, and all related to her, had passed, have given her the discernment of a more mature age; and well comprehends she her present situation, with other misfortunes that have led to it. she is not ignorant of the young chief's partiality for herself; more than once made manifest to her in signs unmistakable--by acts as well as words. besides, what he is not aware of, she had overheard part of the speech which passed between him and the _vaqueano_, as the latter was entering the _sumac_ grove, to do that deed which has left her without a father. instead, therefore, of aguara's words deceiving her into a false confidence, they but strengthen the feeling of repulsion she has all along had for him. whether listening or not, she makes no reply to what he says, nor even deigns to look at him. sitting listless, dejected, with her eyes habitually bent upon the ground, she rides on as one who has utterly abandoned herself to despair. too sad, too terribly afflicted with what is past, she appears to have no thoughts about the future, no hopes. or, if at intervals one arises in her mind, it rests not on him now by her side, but her father. for as yet she knows not that naraguana is dead. if somewhat changed the _personnel_ of the indian troop, much more is it altered in the general aspect and behaviour of those who compose it--a very contrast to what was exhibited on their way downward. no longer mirthful, making the welkin ring with their jests and loud laughter; instead, there is silence upon their lips, sadness in their hearts, and gloom--even fear--on their faces. for they are carrying home one of their number a corpse, and dread telling the tale of it. what will the elders say, when they hear what has occurred? what do? the feeling among aguara's followers may be learnt from a dialogue, carried on between two of them who ride in the rear of the troop. they have been speaking of their paleface captive, and extolling her charms, one of them saying how much their young cacique is to be envied his good luck, in possession of such a charming creature. "after all, it may bring him into trouble," suggests the more sage of the speakers, adding, "ay, and ourselves as well--every one of us." "how that," inquires the other. "well; you know, if naraguana had been living, he would never have allowed this." "but naraguana is not living, and who is to gainsay the will of aguara? he's now our chief, and can do as he likes with this captive girl, or any other. can't he?" "no; that he can't. you forget the elders. besides, you don't seem to remember the strong friendship that existed between our old cacique and him the _vaqueano_ has killed. i've heard say that naraguana, just before his death, in his last words, left a command we should all stand by the palefaced stranger, her father, and protect him and his against every enemy, as long as they remained in the chaco. strange protection we've given him! instead, help to the man who has been his murderer! and now returning home, with his daughter a captive! what will our people think of all this? some of them, i know, were as much the white man's friend almost as naraguana himself. besides, they won't like the old cacique's dying injunction having been thus disregarded. i tell you, there'll be trouble when we get back." "no fear. our young chief is too popular and powerful. he'll not find any one to oppose his will; which, as i take it, is to make this little paleface his wife, and our queen. well, i can't help envying him; she's such a sweet thing. but won't the tovas maidens go mad with jealousy! i know one--that's nacena--" the dialogue is interrupted by a shout heard from one who rides near the front of the troop. it is a cry as of alarm, and is so understood by all; at the same time all comprehending that the cause is something seen afar off. in an instant every individual of the party springs up from his sitting posture, and stands erect upon the back of his horse, gazing out over the plain. the corpse alone lies still; the captive girl also keeping her seat, to all seeming heedless of what has startled them, and caring not what new misfortune may be in store for her. her cup of sorrow is already full, and she recks not if it run over. chapter twenty four. caught in a dust-storm. at the crisis described, the indian party is no longer travelling upon the pilcomayo's bank, nor near it. they have parted from it at a point where the river makes one of its grand curves, and are now crossing the neck of the peninsula embraced within its windings. this isthmus is in width at least twenty miles, and of a character altogether different from the land lying along the river's edge. in short, a sterile, treeless expanse, or "travesia"--for such there are in the chaco--not barren because of infertility in the soil, but from the want of water to fertilise it. withal, it is inundated at certain periods of the year by the river's overflow, but in the dry season parched by the rays of a tropical sun. its surface is then covered with a white efflorescence, which resembles a heavy hoar frost; this, called _salitre_, being a sort of impure saltpetre, left after the evaporation and subsidence of the floods. they have entered this cheerless waste, and are about midway across it, when the cry of alarm is heard; he who gave utterance to it being older than the others, and credited with greater knowledge of things. that which had caught his attention, eliciting the cry, is but a phenomenon of nature, though not one of an ordinary kind; still, not so rare in the region of the chaco; since all of them have more than once witnessed it. but the thing itself is not yet apparent save to him who has shouted, and this only by the slightest sign giving portent of its approach. for it is, in truth, a storm. even after the alarmist has given out his warning note, and stands on his horse's hips, gazing off in a certain direction, the others, looking the same way, can perceive nothing to account for his strange behaviour. neither upon the earth, nor in the heavens, does there appear anything that should not be there. the sun is coursing through a cloudless sky, and the plain, far as eye can reach, is without animate object upon it; neither bird nor beast having its home in the _salitre_. nothing observable on that wide, cheerless waste, save the shadows of themselves and their horses, cast in dark _silhouette_ across the hoary expanse, and greatly elongated; for it is late in the afternoon, and the sun almost down to the horizon. "what is it?" asks aguara, the first to speak, addressing himself to the indian who gave out the cry. "you appear to apprehend danger?" "and danger there is, chief," returns the other. "look yonder!" he points to the level line between earth and sky, in the direction towards which they are travelling. "do you not see something?" "no, nothing." "not that brown-coloured stripe just showing along the sky's edge, low, as if it rested on the ground?" "ah, yes; i see that. only a little mist over the river, i should say." "not that, chief. it's a cloud, and one of a sort to be dreaded. see! it's rising higher, and, it i'm not mistaken, will ere long cover the whole sky." "but what do you make of it? to me it looks like smoke." "no; it isn't that either. there's nothing out that way to make fire-- neither grass nor trees; therefore, it can't be smoke." "what, then? you appear to know!" "i do. 'tis _dust_." "dust! a drove of wild horses? or may they be mounted? ah! you think it's a party of guaycurus?" "no, indeed. but something we may dread as much--ay, more--than them. if my eyes don't deceive me, that's a _tormenta_." "ha!" exclaims the young cacique, at length comprehending. "a _tormenta_, you think it is?" the others of the band mechanically mutter the same word, in like tones of apprehension. for although slow to perceive the sign, even yet but slightly perceptible, all of them have had experience of the danger. "i do, chief," answers he interrogated. "am now sure of it." while they are still speaking it--the cloud--mounts higher against the blue background of sky, as also becomes more extended along the line of the horizon. its colour, too, has sensibly changed, now presenting a dun yellowish appearance, like that mixture of smoke and mist known as a "london fog." but it is somewhat brighter, as though it hung over, half-concealing and smothering, the flames of some grand conflagration. and as they continue regarding it, red corruscations begin to shoot through its opaque mass, which they can tell to be flashes of lightning. yet all this while, upon the spot where they have pulled up the sun is shining serenely, and the air still and tranquil as if gale or breeze had never disturbed it! but it is a stillness abnormal, unnatural, accompanied by a scorching heat, with an atmosphere so close as to threaten suffocation. this, however, lasts but a short while. for in less than ten minutes after the cloud was first descried, a wind reaches them blowing directly from it at first, in puffs and gusts, but cold as though laden with sleet, and so strong as to sweep several of them from the backs of their horses. soon after all is darkness above and around them. darkness as of night; for the dust has drifted over the sun, and its disc is no longer visible--having disappeared as in a total eclipse, but far more suddenly. it is too late for them to retreat to any place of shelter, were one ever so near, which there is not. and well know they the danger of being caught in that exposed spot; so well that the scene now exhibited in their ranks is one of fright and confusion. terrified exclamations are sent up on all sides, but only one voice of warning, this from him who had first descried the cloud. "from your horses!" he calls out, "take shelter behind them, and cover your faces with your _jergas_! if you don't you'll be blinded outright." his counsel acts as a command; though it is not needed, all of them, as himself, sensible of the approaching peril. in a trice they have dropped to the ground, and plucking the pieces of skins which serve them as saddles, from the backs of their horses, muffle up their faces as admonished. then each clutching the halter of his own, and holding it so as to prevent the animal changing position, they await the onslaught of the storm. meanwhile, aguara has not been inactive. instead of having seized the pony's bridle-rein, he has passed round to the rear of the troop, leading his captive along with him; for the wind strikes them in front. there in the lee of all, better sheltered, he dismounts, flings his arms around the unresisting girl, and sets her afoot upon the ground. he does all this gently, as though he were a friend or brother! for he has not lost hope he may yet win her heart. "star of my life," he says to her, speaking in the tovas tongue, which she slightly understands. "as you see we're in some danger, but it will soon pass. meanwhile, we must take steps to guard against it. so, please to lie down, and this will protect you." while speaking, he takes the plumed cloak from his shoulders and spreads it over those of the captive, at the same time covering her head with it, as if it were a hood. then he gently urges her to lie on the ground. to all she submits mechanically, and without offering opposition; though she little cares about the dust-storm--whether it blind or altogether destroy her. soon after it is on and over them in all its fury, causing their horses to cower and kick, many screaming in affright or from the pain they have to endure. for not only does the _tormenta_ carry dust with it, but sand, sticks, and stones, some of the latter so large and sharp as often to inflict severe wounds. something besides in that now assailing them; which sweeping across the _salitral_ has lifted the sulphureous efflorescence, that beats into their eyes bitter and blinding as the smoke of tobacco. but for having muffled up their faces, more than one of the party would leave that spot sightless, if not smothered outright. for nearly an hour the tempest continues, the wind roaring in their ears, and the dust and gravel clouting against their naked skins, now and then a sharp angled pebble lacerating them. at times the blast is so strong they have difficulty in keeping their places; still more in holding their horses to windward. and all the while there is lightning and thunder, the last loud and rolling continuously. at length the wind, still keenly cold, is accompanied by a sleety rain, which pours upon them in torrents, chill as if coming direct from the snowy slopes of the cordilleras--as in all likelihood it does. they know that this is a sign of the _tormenta_ approaching its end, which soon after arrives; terminating almost as abruptly as it had begun. the dust disappears from the sky, that which has settled on the ground now covering its surface with a thick coating of mud--converted into this by the rain--while the sun again shines forth in all its glory, in a sky bright and serene as if cloud had never crossed it! the _tormenta_ is over, or has passed on to another part of the great chaco plain. and now the tovas youths, their naked skins well washed by the shower, and glistening like bronze fresh from the furnace--some of them, however, bleeding from the scratches they have received--spring upon their feet, re-adjust the _jergas_ on the backs of their horses, and once more remount. then their young chief, by the side of the captive girl, having returned to his place at their head, they forsake that spot of painful experience, and continue their journey so unexpectedly interrupted. chapter twenty five. a rush for shelter. it is scarce necessary to say, that the storm that over took the indian party was the same of which the barometer-tree had given warning to gaspar and his young companions. but although many a long league separated the indians from those following upon their trail, and it would take the latter at least another day to reach the spot where the former had met the _tormenta_, both were beset by it within less than half-an-hour of the same time. the indians first, of course, since it came from the quarter towards which all were travelling, and therefore in the teeth of pursuers as pursued. but the trackers were not called upon to sustain its shock, as those they were tracking up. instead of its coming upon them in an exposed situation, before its first puffs became felt they were safe out of harm's way, having found shelter within the interior of a cavern. it was this gaspar alluded to when saying, he knew of a place that would give them an asylum. for the gaucho had been twice over this ground before--once on a hunting excursion in the company of his late master; and once at an earlier period of his life on an expedition of less pleasant remembrance, when, as a captive himself, he was carried up the pilcomayo by a party of guaycuru indians, from whom he was fortunate in making escape. his knowledge of the cave's locality, however, was not obtained during his former and forced visit to the district they are now traversing; but in that made along with the hunter-naturalist; who, partly out of curiosity, but more for geological investigation, had entered and explored it. "it's by the bank of a little _arroyo_ that runs into the pilcomayo, some three or four miles above the big river. and, as i take it, not much further from where we are now. but we must make a cross-cut to reach it in the quickest time." this gaspar says as they part from the barometer-tree. following out his intention he heads his horse towards the open plain, and forsakes the indian trail, the others following his lead. they now go in full gallop, fast as their horses can carry them; for they have no longer any doubts about the coming on of a _tormenta_. the forecast given them by the flowers of the _uinay_ is gradually being made good by what they see--a dun yellowish cloud rising against the horizon ahead. the gaucho well understands the sign, soon as he sees this recognising it as the dreaded dust-storm. it approaches them just as it had done the indians. first the atmosphere becoming close and hot as the interior of an oven; then suddenly changing to cold, with gusts of wind, and the sky darkening as though the sun were eclipsed. but, unlike the others, they are not exposed to the full fury of the blast; neither are they in danger of being blinded by the sulphureous dust, nor pelted with sticks and stones. before the storm has thus developed itself they reach the crest of the cliff overhanging the _arroyo_; and urging their horses down a sloping path remembered by gaspar, they get upon the edge of the stream itself. then, turning up it, and pressing on for another hundred yards, they arrive at the cavern's mouth, just as the first puff of the chilly wind sweeps down the deep rut-like valley through which the _arroyo_ runs. "in time!" exclaims the gaucho. "thanks to the virgin, we're in time! with not a second to spare," he adds, dismounting, and leading his horse into the arching entrance, the others doing the same. once inside, however, they do not give way to inaction; for gaspar well knows they are not yet out of danger. "come, _muchachos_," he cries to them, soon as they have disposed of their animals, "there's something more to be done before we can call ourselves safe. a _tormenta's_ not a thing to be trifled with. there isn't corner or cranny in this cave the dust wouldn't reach to. it could find its way into a corked bottle, i believe. _carramba_! there it comes!" the last words are spoken as a whiff of icy wind, now blowing furiously down the ravine, turns into the cavern's mouth, bringing with it both dust and dry leaves. for a moment the gaucho stands in the entrance gazing out; the others doing likewise. little can they see; for the darkness is now almost opaque, save at intervals, when the ravine is lit up by jets of forked and sheet lightning. but much do they hear; the loud bellowing of wind, the roaring of thunder, and the almost continuous crashing of trees, whose branches break off as though they were but brittle glass. and the stream which courses past close to the cave's mouth, now a tiny mulct, will soon be a raging, foaming torrent, as gaspar well knows. they stay not to see that, nor aught else. they have other work before them--the something of which the gaucho spoke, and to which he now hastily turns, crying out-- "your ponchos, my lads! get them, quick! we must close up the entrance with them, otherwise we'll stand a good chance of being smothered. _vaya_!" neither needs urging to haste. young as they are, they too have had experience of a _tormenta_. more than once they have witnessed it, remembering how in their house, near assuncion, it drove the dust through the keyholes of me doors, finding its way into every crack and crevice, making ridges across the floor, just as snow in northern lands--of which, however, they know nothing, save from what they have read, or been told by one who will tell them of such things no more. in a few seconds' time, three ponchos--for each possesses one--are snatched from the cantles of their saddles, and as speedily spread across the entrance of the cave--just covering it, with not an inch to spare. with like speed and dexterity, they join them together, in a rough but firm stitching done by the nimble fingers of the gaucho--his thread a strip of thong, and for needle the sharp terminal spine of the _pita_ plant--one of which he finds growing near by. they attach them at top by their knife blades stuck into seams of the stratified rock, and at bottom by stones laid along the border; these heavy enough to keep them in place against the strongest gust of wind. all this done, they breathe freely, now feeling secure; and after a last look at the screen to assure himself of its being reliable, the gaucho turns to his companions, quietly remarking, "now, _muchachos_, i fancy we need have no more fear of mr tormenta." chapter twenty six. an unwelcome intruder. as they are now in the midst of amorphous darkness, it might be imagined nothing could be done but keep their place, or go groping idly about. not so, however. gaspar has no intention of letting the time pass in such an unprofitable manner; instead, he at once resumes speech, and along with it action. "now, young masters," he says, making a movement towards the place where they had left their horses, "since we are shut up here, i don't see why we shouldn't make ourselves as comfortable as we can under the circumstances; and the best way to begin will be with what's usually the winding up of a day's work--that's supper. our bit of rough riding has given me the appetite of a wolf, and i feel as if i could eat one red-raw. suppose we have another set-to at the shoulder of mutton? what say you, _senoritos_?" they answer in the affirmative, both being as hungry as himself. "we sha'n't have to eat in darkness either," he proceeds. "luckily, i've brought with me a bit of candle--best wax at that. a costly affair it was when whole; being one of a pair i had to pay for when my poor mother died, to be used at her funeral, and for which the rascally _padres_ charged me five _pesos_ a-piece--because consecrated, as they called out. as they stood me so much, i thought i might as well save the stumps; which i did, and have got one of them here. starting out, it occurred to me we might some time need it, as you see we do now; so i slipped it into my saddle-bags." while speaking, he has moved on to his horse, and got beside him without much straying; for his former visit to the cavern has made him familiar with its topography, and he could go anywhere through it without a glimmer of light to guide him. plunging his hand into his ample _alparejas_, and rummaging about for a short while, he gets hold of the bit of unburnt candle--souvenir of a melancholy ceremony, which, however, he had long ceased to mourn over, since his mother has been dead for many years. he has drawn it out; removed the scrap of buckskin in which it was wrapped; and with flint and steel is proceeding to strike a light, when a sound reaches his ears that causes him to suspend operations, and stand intently listening for its repetition. simultaneously has it been heard by the other two, as also by the three horses; these last, on hearing it, showing their affright by a series of snorts, while they dance about over the floor of the cavern. for it is a sound which, heard in any part of tropical america, whether on sunlit plain or in shady forest, strikes terror to the heart of all who hear it, be it man, bird, or beast. no living creature in that land but dreads the cry of the jaguar. "_el tigre_!" exclaims gaspar in a subdued tone, his voice half-drowned by a second roar from the great feline, this time louder and more prolonged. "where is it?" they ask one another hurriedly, and in whispers, fearing to speak out. for loud as is the creature's voice as it reverberates through the hollow cavity, what with the bellowing of the wind and the trampling of their horses' hoofs on the hard rock, it is impossible to tell whence it came, and whether the jaguar be outside the cavern or within. about this there is a difference of opinion among them, but only for an instant--all three agreeing, as for the third time the terrifying note is sounded. then they believe it to have come from outside. but again they as quickly differ, at hearing a fourth repetition of it; this as certainly seeming to have been uttered inside the cavern. once more changing their minds, when, for the fifth time, the beast gives out its grand roar; since along with it they hear another sound as of some heavy body hurling itself against the screen of spread ponchos, too solid to be mistaken for a puff of wind. beyond doubt, it is the tiger seeking admittance to the cave! though but a few minutes have elapsed since its first fierce note fell upon their ears, they have not stood idly listening. instead, all three have groped the way to their horses, got hold of their guns, and returned to take stand near the entrance. gaspar, moreover, has lit the stump of candle, and stuck it upon a projecting point of rock; for he knows the _tigre_, like other cats, can see in the darkness, and would thus have the advantage of them. soon again it treats them to another bit of trumpeting, this time more angrily intoned, as if demanding shelter from the storm, and no doubt as much surprised as puzzled at the strange obstruction debarring entrance to the cave--in all likelihood its lair. they have stationed themselves in a line facing the screen, and with guns cocked stand ready to fire at the beast, should it persist in its intention to enter. but now, with the light shining upon the ponchos, they see what appears to be its body pressing against these from the outside, though quickly withdrawn, as if the creature recoiled from a thing that awes while perplexing it. "hadn't we better fire at it through the ponchos? some one of us may hit it." cypriano makes the suggestion. "no," dissents gaspar, "we might all miss that way; and if we did, 'twould drive the _tigre_ mad, and then--" he is interrupted by another cry from the jaguar; this a fierce scream, showing the animal already maddened enough, or, at all events, madly impatient, and determined no longer to endure exclusion from the cave. for while still continuing that cry, it bounds up against the screen, plucking the knives from their places, tossing off the stones, and laying the entrance open. a gust of wind entering blows out the candle, and all is again darkness. but not silence; for there are noises close to where they stand, which they know must proceed from the jaguar, though different from its former utterances, and to them quite incomprehensible--a succession of growls, snorts, and coughs, as if the beast were being suffocated; while at the same time a heavy body seems to be tumbling and struggling over the floor of the cavern! "by saint jago!" cries gaspar, first to comprehend what it means, "the brute's caught in our ponchos! he's bagged--smothered up! fire into him! aim where you hear the noise. _tira_!" at the word, their three guns go off together; and then, to make sure, another shot additional from the double barrelled piece of cypriano; ludwig's gun being the rifle that belonged to his father, found where the latter had fallen. and sure work have their shots made of it. for as they stand in the darkness listening, they hear neither growl, nor snort, nor coughing; but, instead, only the wailing of wind and the rumbling of thunder. "dead as a door-nail!" pronounces gaspar, feeling his way to where he had stuck the bit of bees'-wax, and once more setting it alight. then returning towards the entrance, he sees that he has in everything rightly conjectured. for there, enveloped in the ponchos, with its claws stuck fast into the close-woven fabric of wool, lies the great spotted cat--not at full stretch, but doubled up into a shapeless lump, as it had worked itself in its efforts to get free! though all their shots had hit it, some of the bullets passing through its body, a quivering throughout its frame tells that life is not yet extinct. but it is extinguished instantly after, by gaspar laying hold of one of the knives, and giving _el tigre_ the _coup de grace_ by a cut across its throat; as he does so, saying-- "that's for your impudence--intruding yourself on three hungry travellers about sitting down to supper!" chapter twenty seven. between torrent and tiger. having dragged the dead beast out of their ponchos, they are about to re-adjust these as before, when it strikes them there is no longer any need for closing the cave's mouth. the first blast of the _tormenta_ having blown over, the dust borne upon it is now in less volume; while the wind, rushing direct down the ravine, carries everything along with it--only an occasional whiff seeking entrance into the cave. "for the matter of our being blinded," remarks the gaucho in perceiving this, "we needn't trouble about shutting the door again. though if i'm not greatly out in my reckoning, there's something else may need keeping out--a thing more dangerous than dust." "what thing?" he is asked. "another _tigre_. i never knew one of these spotted beauties to be about alone. they always hunt in couples; and where there's a female, the male is sure to be with her. as you see, it's the lady we've closed accounts with, and for certain the gentleman isn't far-off. out in that storm, he'll be in the same way making for this snug shelter. so we may look for his worship to present himself at any moment." ludwig and cypriano turn their eyes towards the entrance, as though they expected even then to behold the dreaded intruder. "to keep him out," pursues gaspar in a more serious vein, "'twill be no use putting up the ponchos. we can't trust to the old tom entangling himself, as did his _esposa_. that was all an accident. and yet we're not safe if we leave the entrance open. as we've got to stay here all night, and sleep here, we daren't close an eye so long as he's ranging about. instead, we'd have to lie awake, and on the alert." "why can't we wall it up with those stones?" cypriano thus interrogates, pointing to some scattered boulders lying about the cave-- large blocks that have broken off from its roof, and fallen upon the floor. "not a bad idea," rejoins gaspar, "and one quite practicable," he adds, with his eye taking in the dimensions of the cavern's mouth, but little larger than an ordinary stable door. "you're right, senor cypriano; we can do that." without further speech, they set about the work; first rolling the larger masses of stalactite towards the entrance to form the foundation of the wall. but before having got half-a-dozen of them fixed in their places, a sound reaches their ears which causes them suddenly to desist; for all three recognise it as coming from the throat of a jaguar! not a loud roar, or scream, such as they heard when that lying dead first made its presence known, but a sort of sniff or snort, as when it was struggling, half-choked by the ponchos. soon, however, as they stand listening, the snorting changes into a long low growl, ending in a gruff bark; as of a watch-dog awakened by some slight noise, for which he is not sure of its being worth his while to forsake his kennel, or spring upon his feet. not thus doubtful are they. instead, the sounds now heard excite and terrify them as much as any that preceded; for they can tell that tiger number is, as themselves, _within the cave_! "_por dios_!" exclaims gaspar, in a low tone of voice, "it's the old tom sure, and inside too! ha! that accounts for our not being certain about the she. both were yelling at the same time, answering one another. where can the brute be?" they turn their eyes toward the back of the cavern, but in the dim glimmer can see nothing like a tiger. they only hear noises of different kinds, made by their horses, then freshly affrighted, once more sniffing the air and moving uneasily about. "your guns!" cries gaspar in hurried accents; "get them loaded again! if the _tigre_ attack us, as it's almost sure to do, our knives will be of little use. _viva, muschachos_!" all together again lay hold of their guns; but where is the ammunition? stowed in a pair of holsters on the pommel of cypriano's saddle, as they well know--powder, balls, percussion-caps, everything. and where is the horse himself; for, left loose, he has moved off to another part of the cavern? cypriano taking the candle in hand, they go in search of him. soon to see that the frightened animal has taken refuge in an angular embayment between two projecting buttresses of rock, where he stands cowering and trembling. they are about to approach him, going cautiously and with timid steps, when, lo! on a ledge between, they perceive a long yellow body with black spots lying astretch at one end of it, a pair of eyes giving back the light of their candle, with a light almost as brilliant, and at intervals flashing like fire. it is the jaguar. the sight brings them suddenly to a stand, even causing them to retreat a step or two. for the ledge on which the _tigre_ crouches is directly between them and cypriano's horse, and to approach the latter they must pass right under the former; since it is upon a sort of shelf, several feet above the level of the ground. they at once see there is no hope of reaching the needed ammunition without tempting the attack of the tiger; which, by their movements, is becoming at every moment more infuriated, and already seems about to spring upon them. instinctively, almost mechanically, they move further away, having abandoned the idea of defending themselves with the guns, and fallen back on their only other weapons, the knives. ludwig counsels retreating altogether out of the cave, and leaving their horses behind. outside, the wind no longer rages, and the dust seems to have blown past. they but hear the pattering of rain, with peals of thunder, and the swish of the stream, now swollen. but nothing of these need they fear. to the course counselled cypriano objects, as also caspar; fearing for their horses, almost sure to be sacrificed to the fury of the enraged jaguar. and where would they be then? afoot in the midst of the chaco, helpless as shipwrecked sailors on a raft in mid-ocean! for a while they remain undecided; only a short while, when they are made aware of that which speedily brings them to a decision, and without any will of their own. in putting space between themselves and the dangerous beast, they have retreated quite up to the cavern's entrance. there, looking out, they see that egress is debarred them. the stream, swollen by the rain, still pouring down as in a deluge, has lipped up to the level of the cave's mouth, and rushes past in an impetuous torrent, crested, and carrying huge rocks, with the trunks and broken branches of trees upon its seething current. neither man nor horse might dare ford it now. they are caught between a torrent and a tiger! chapter twenty eight. saved by a spitting-devil. to be shut up in a room with a royal bengal tiger, or what amounts to the same a cave of small dimensions, is a situation which no one will covet. nor would it be much improved were the tyrant of the asiatic jungles transformed into a jaguar--the despot of the american tropical forests. for, although the latter be smaller, and less powerful than the former, in an encounter with man it is equally fierce and dangerous. as regards size, the male jaguar often reaches the measurement of an indian tigress; while its strength is beyond all proportion to its bulk. humboldt has made mention of one that dragged the carcase of a horse it had killed across a deep, difficult ravine, and up to the top of a hill; while similar feats have been recorded by von tschudi, darwin, and d'orbigny. familiar with its character and capabilities, no wonder, then, that our gaucho and his companions should feel fear, as they take in the perils besetting them. for there is no knowing how long the jaguar will keep its patience, or its place; and when it shifts they may "look out for squalls." they can still see it on the ledge; for although the light is feeble, with some dust floating about, through this its glaring eyeballs, as twin stars through a thin stratum of cloud, gleam coal-like and clear. they can see its jaws, too, at intervals open to emit that cry of menace, exposing its blood-red palate, and white serrature of teeth--a sight horrifying to behold! all the while its sinewy tail oscillates from side to side, now and then striking the rock, and breaking off bits of stalactites, that fall in sparkling fragments on the floor. at each repetition of its growl the horses show fresh affright, and dance madly about. for the instinct of the dumb animals seems to admonish them, they are caged with a dangerous companion--they and it alike unable to part company. their masters know this, and knowing it, are all the more alarmed. a fight is before them; and there appears no chance of shunning it--a hand-to-hand fight, their short-bladed knives against the sharp teeth and claws of a jaguar! for a time they stand irresolute, even gaspar himself not knowing what to do. not for long, however. it would not be the gaucho to surrender to despair. instead, a thought seems suddenly to have occurred to him-- a way of escape from their dilemma--as evinced by his behaviour, to the others yet incomprehensible. parting from them, he glides off in the direction of his horse; which happens to be nearest, like cypriano's cowering in a crevice of the rock. soon beside it, he is again seen to plunge his hand into the _alparejas_, and grope about, just as when searching for the stump of candle. and now he draws forth something very similar--a packet with a skin covering, tied with a bit of string. returning to them, and removing the wrapper, he exposes to view a half-dozen little rolls, in shape somewhat like regalia cigars, sharp-pointed at one end, and barbed as arrows. at a glance, both boys see what they are. they have not been brought up in a country where bull-fighting, as in all spanish america, is the principal pastime, without having become acquainted with most matters relating to it. and what gaspar has brought before their eyes are some _torterillas_, or spitting-devils, used, along with the _banderillas_ for rousing the fury of the bull while being goaded by the _picadores_ round the arena, before the _matador_ makes his final assault. gaspar, who in early life has played _picador_ himself in the bull-fights of san rosario, knows how to manufacture all the implements pertaining to the _funcion de toros_, and has usually kept a stock of _torterillas_ on hand, chiefly for the amusement of the tovas youths, who were accustomed to visit the _estancia_. often, while dwelling at assuncion, had he witnessed the wonder and delight with which the savages who came there regarded all sorts of fireworks; and it had occurred to him that, in the event of their encountering strange indians, some "spitting-devils" might prove of service. so, at starting out on their present expedition, just as with the bit of wax candle, he had tossed a packet of them into his saddle-bags. he does not give this explanation till afterwards. now there is no time for talking; he must act, and instantly. but how he intends acting, or what he means to do with the _torterillas_, neither of his youthful comrades can tell or guess. they are not kept long in ignorance. snatching the candle from cypriano, who has been carrying it--with this in one hand and a _torterilla_ in the other--he moves off in the direction of the ledge, where luckily the jaguar still lies astretch. possibly the reports of the guns have cowed it to keeping its place. whether or no, it has kept it without change of attitude or position; though at intervals giving utterance to long low growls, with an occasional bark between. advancing cautiously, and in silence, the gaucho gets within six paces of it. this he deems near enough for his purpose; which, by this time, the others comprehend. it is to cast the _torterilla_ at the tiger, and, if possible, get the barbed point to penetrate the creature's skin, and there stick. he makes the attempt, and succeeds. first having put the primed end into the candle's flame, and set the fuse on fire, he launches the "devil" with such sure aim, that it is seen to fix itself in the jaguar's back, just over the right shoulder. the brute, feeling the sting, starts to its feet with an angry scream; this instantly changing to a cry of affright, as the caked powder catches fire, and fizzing up, envelopes it in a shower of sparks. not a second longer stays it on the ledge, but bounding off makes for the cave's mouth, as if satan himself had taken hold of its tail. so sudden and unexpected is its retreat, that ludwig and cypriano, to get out of the way, go tumbling over the stones; while gaspar comes nigh doing the same; in the scramble dropping the candle, and of course extinguishing it. but the light goes out only with the jaguar itself; the brute bounding on with the sparks like the tail of a comet streaming behind, illumining the whole cavern, and causing the stalactites to glitter and sparkle, as if its roof were frosted with real diamonds! in an instant after, all is darkness; simultaneously with the light going out, a sound reaching their ears, as of some solid body, falling heavily upon water--which they know to be the tiger plunging into the stream. that puts out the "spitting-devil," and no doubt along with it, or soon after, the life of the animal it had so affrighted; for even the king of american beasts could not escape being drowned in that foaming, seething flood. soon as satisfied that the enemy is _hors de combat_, and the coast clear, gaspar gropes about for the candle, and finding, once more lights it. then in his usual fashion, winding up with some quaint remark, he says:-- "no more caterwauling to-night, i fancy, unless the kittens be about too. if they be, it'll give us a bit of sport, drowning them. now, _senoritos_! i think we may sit down to supper, without fear of being again baulked of our _mate_ and mutton." chapter twenty nine. a rock-bound sleeping room. as the darkness, due to the storm, has now been succeeded by the more natural darkness of night, the trackers, for this day, cannot proceed further, were they ever so eager. besides, there is another bar to their continuing; one still more directly obstructive, even forbidding their exit from the cave. this, the _arroyo_, which now in full flood fills the ravine up to the cliff's base, there leaving no path for either man or horse. that by which they approached is covered beyond fording depth, with a current so swift as to sweep the strongest animal from its feet, even were it an elephant. and to attempt reaching the opposite side by swimming, would only result in their getting carried down to be drowned to a certainty, or have the life crushed out of them on the rocks below. gaspar knowing all this, does not dream of making any such rash experiment. on the contrary, as he has signified, he designs them to remain all night in the cavern. indeed, there is no alternative, as he observes, explaining how egress is forbidden, and assuring them that they are, in point of fact, as much prisoners as though the doors of a jail were shut and locked upon them. their imprisonment, however, need not last till the morning; so far as the flood is concerned. and this he also makes known to them, himself aware that the waters in the _arroyo_, will subside as rapidly as they had risen. it is one of those short rivulets, whose floods are over almost as soon as the rain which causes them. looking out again near the hour of midnight, they see his prediction verified. the late swollen and fast-rushing stream has become reduced to nearly its normal dimensions, and runs past in gentle ripple, while the moon shining full upon it, shows not a flake of foam. they could even now pass out of the cave, and on up the cliff where they came down, if they desired to do so. more, they might with such a clear moon, return to the river's bank and continue on along the trail they had forsaken. a trail so plain as it, could be followed in a light far more faint; at least, so think they. so believing, cypriano, as ever impatient to get on, is greatly inclined to this course, and chafes at the irksomeness of delay. but gaspar objects, giving his reasons. "if we were to go on now," he says, "it wouldn't better us a bit. all we'd gain by it would be the league or so from this to the river. once there, and attempting to travel up its bank, we'd find scores of little creeks that run into it, in full freshet, and have to swim our horses across them. that would only lose time, instead of gaining it. now, by daybreak, they'll all be down again, when we can travel straight on without being delayed by so many stoppages. i tell you, senor cypriano, if we start now, it'll be only to find the old saying true, `more haste, worse speed.'" he to whom this speech is addressed perceives the application of the adage, and admitting it, yields the point. "besides," adds the gaucho, by way of clinching his argument, "we've got to spend part of the night somewhere, and have some sleep. if we keep on without that, it may end in our breaking dead down, which would be worse than being a little behind time. we all stand in need of rest now. speaking for myself, i want it badly; and i'm sure so does master ludwig and you too, _senorito_! if we were to leave the cave, and seek for it anywhere outside, we'd find the ground soaking wet, and, like enough, every one of us get laid up with a spell of rheumatics. here we'll be as snug as a _biscacha_ in its hole; and, i take it, will sleep undisturbed by the squalling of any more cats." as cypriano makes no further opposition, it is decided that they remain in the cave till morning. the little incident as above, with the conversation which accompanies it, does not take place immediately after the tiger had been disposed of; for they have eaten supper since. by good luck, some sticks were found in the cave, half-burnt faggots, the remains of a fire no doubt left by a party of indian hunters, who had also spent a night there. with these they were enabled to boil their kettle, and make a _mate_ of their favourite _yerba_ tea; while the "knuckle" of mutton and some cakes of corn bread still left, needed no cooking. it is after all this was over, and they had been some time conversing on the many strange incidents which occurred to them throughout the day, that they became aware of the flood having fallen, and escape from their rock-bound prison possible. then succeeded the discussion recorded. at its termination, as nothing more can be done, and all feeling fatigued, to go to rest is naturally the next move. their horses have already been attended to by the removal of the riding gear, while some rough grass found growing against the cliff, near the cave's entrance outside, has been cut and carried in to them. a slight grooming given to the animals, and it but remains to make their own beds. this done, by simply spreading their _jergas_ and _caronillas_ along the flinty stalagmites, each having his own _recado_ for a pillow. their ponchos, long since pulled apart, and the dust cuffed out of them, are to serve for what they really are--blankets; a purpose to which at night they are put by all gauchos and most argentinos--as much as they are used during day time for cloak or greatcoat. each wrapping himself up in his own, all conversation ceases, and sleep is sought with closed eyes. this night it is found by them in a succession somewhat changed. as on that preceding, ludwig is first asleep; but almost instantly after it is gaspar, not cypriano, who surrenders to the drowsy god; filling the hollow cavity with his snoring, loud as that often heard to proceed from the nostrils of a tapir. he well knows they are safe within that rock-bound chamber; besides that he is tired dead down with the day's exertion; hence his so soon becoming oblivious. cypriano is the last to yield. but he, too, at length gives way, and all is silent within the cavern, save the "crump-crump" of the horses munching their coarse provender, with now and then a hoof striking the hard rock. but louder than all is that raucous reverberation sent up by the slumbering gaucho. chapter thirty. the "sacred town." while the pursuing party is peacefully reposing upon the stalagmites of the cavern, that pursued reaches its destination--the "sacred town" of the tovas. the _tolderia_, so named, stands upon a level plain, near the shore of a large and beautiful lake, whose numerous low-lying islets, covered with a thick growth of the _moriche_, have the appearance of palm-groves growing direct out of the water itself. a belt of the same stately trees borders the lake all around, broken here and there by projecting headlands; while away over the adjacent _campo_, on the higher and drier ground, are seen palms of other and different species, both fan-leaved and pinnate, growing in copses or larger "montes," with evergreen shrubs and trees of deciduous foliage interspersed. at some three or four hundred yards from the lake's edge, a high hill rises abruptly above the plain--the only elevation within many miles. thus isolated, it is visible from afar, and forms a conspicuous feature of the landscape; all the more remarkable on account of its singular shape, which is the frustrum of a cone. though its sides are of steep pitch, they are thickly wooded to the summit; trees of large size standing upon its table-like top. but something more than trees stand there; the scaffolds upon which are laid the bodies of the tovas dead; hundreds of which may be seen in all stages of decay, or shrivelled and desiccated by the dry winds and sun of the chaco till they resemble egyptian mummies. for it is the "cemetery hill," a spot hallowed in the hearts of these indians, and so giving the title of "sacred" to this particular place, as the town adjacent to it. the latter is situated just under the hill, between its base and the shore of the lake. no grand city, as might be supposed from such a high-sounding name, but simply a collection of palm and bamboo _toldos_, or huts, scattered about without any design or order; each owner having been left free to select the site of his frail tenement, since among the tovas municipal regulations are of the simplest and most primitive character. true, some dwellings, grander and more pretentious than the common, are grouped around an open space; in the centre of which is one much larger than any of the others, its dimensions equalling a dozen of them. this is not a dwelling, however, but the _malocca_, or house of parliament. perhaps, with greater propriety, it might be called "congress chamber," since, as already hinted at, the polity of the tovas tribe is rather republican than monarchical. strange, as sad, that in this republic of redskins, and so-called savages, should exist the same political contradiction as among some other republican communities, having the name of civilised. for although themselves individually free, the tovas indians do not believe in the doctrine that all men should be so; or, at all events, they do not act up to it. instead, their practice is the very opposite, as shown by their keeping numbers of slaves. of these they have hundreds, most of them being indians of other tribes, their enemies, whom they have made captive in battle. but to the tovas master it signifies little what be the colour of his bondman's skin, whether white or red; and many of the former, women as well as men, may be seen doing drudgery in this same sacred town--its hewers of wood and drawers of water. these are also captives, the spoil of predatory incursions across the salado into the settlements of santiago, salto, and tucuman. most of these slaves, employed in the care of cattle, live apart from their masters, in a sort of suburb, where the dwellings are of a less permanent character than the ordinary _toldos_, besides being differently constructed. they more resemble the tents, or wigwams, of the north-american indians; being simply a number of poles set in a circle, and tied together at the tops; the hides of horses covering them, instead of the buffalo skins which serve a similar purpose on the northern prairies. it may seem strange that captives with white skins, thus left unguarded, do not make their escape. but no; those so kept do not even seek or desire it. long in captivity, they have become "indianised," lost all aspirations for liberty, and grown contented with their lot; for the tovas are not hard taskmasters. on the night of that same day, when the _tormenta_ overtook them, aguara and his party approach the sacred town, which is about twenty miles from the edge of the _salitral_, where the trail parts from the latter, going westward. the plain between is no more of saline or sterile character; but, as on the other side, showing a luxuriant vegetation, with the same picturesque disposal of palm-groves and other tropical trees. the hour is late--nigh to midnight--as the captive train passes under the shadow of the cemetery hill, making round to where the _tolderia_ stands; for both lake and town are on the west side of the hill. well may the young cacique feel something of fear, his face showing it, as he glances up to that elevated spot where he so late laid the corpse of his father. were that father living, he, the son, would not be passing there with the daughter of ludwig halberger as his captive. even as it is, he can fancy the spirit of the deceased cacique hovering over the hill, and looking frowningly, reproachfully, down upon him! as if to escape from such imaginary frowns, he gives the lash to his horse; and setting the animal into a gallop, rides on alone--having first placed the captive under the charge of one of his followers. on reaching the _tolderia_, however, he does not go direct to his own dwelling, which is the largest of those adjacent to the _malocca_. nor yet enters he among the _toldos_; but, instead, makes a wide circuit around them, taking care not to awake those sleeping within. the place for which he is making is a sort of half hut, half cave, close in to the base of the hill, with trees overshadowing, and a rocky background of cliff. arrived in front of this solitary dwelling, he dismounts, and, drawing aside the horse's skin which serves as a swing door, calls out:-- "shebotha!" presently a woman appears in the opening--if woman she could be called. for it is a hag of most repulsive appearance; her face half hidden by a tangle of long hair, black, despite old age indicated by a skin shrivelled and wrinkled as that of a chameleon. add to this a pair of dark grey eyes, deep sunken in their sockets, for all gleaming brilliantly, and you have the countenance of shebotha--sorceress of the tovas tribe--one of cast as sinister as ever presented itself in a doorway. she speaks not a word in answer to the friendly salutation of the cacique; but stands silent in bent, obeisant attitude, with her skinny arms crossed over her breast, as it waiting to hear what he would further say. his words are by way of command: "shebotha! i've brought back with me a captive--a young girl of the palefaces. you must take charge of her, and keep her here in your hut. she's not yet come up, but will presently. so get things ready to receive her." shebotha but bends lower, with an inclination of the head, to imply that his instructions will be attended to. then he adds-- "no one must see, or converse with her; at least, not for a time. and you mustn't admit any one inside your _toldo_, except the witless white creature, your slave. about him it don't signify. but keep out all others, as i know you can. you understand me, shebotha?" she makes answer in the affirmative, but, as before, only by a nod. "enough!" is the young chief's satisfied rejoinder, as he vaults back upon his horse, and rides off to meet the captive train, which he knows must be now near. that night, as for other nights and days succeeding, francesca halberger has this horrid hag for a hostess, or rather the keeper of her prison; since the unhappy girl is in reality kept and guarded as a prisoner. chapter thirty one. taste after powder. long before daylight penetrates the interior of the cavern, or shows its first streak on the sky outside, the trackers are up and active. a hasty breakfast is prepared; but, as the mutton bone is now quite bare, they have to fall back on another kind of flesh-meat, which the provident caspar has brought along. this is _charqui_, or as it is called by english-speaking people "jerked beef;" in all likelihood a sailor's pseudonym, due to some slight resemblance, between the english word "jerked," and the guarani indian one _charqui_, as pronounced by south american people. _charqui_ is simply beef cut into long, thin strips, then hung over a rope or rail, and exposed to a hot sun--in the absence of this, to a fire--till the juices are thoroughly dried out of it. thus prepared, it will keep for weeks, indeed months. the reason for so preserving it, is the scarcity of salt, which in the districts where _charqui_ prevails, is difficult to be got at, and, in consequence, dear. most of the beef imported from the la plata, under the name of "jerked beef," is not _charqui_, but simply meat cured with salt. beef is preserved by a similar process throughout most parts of spanish america, as in mexico, and california, and for the same reason; but in these countries it is termed _tasajo_, and sometimes _cecina_. _charqui_ is by no means a dainty viand; not nice either to the nose or palate. those portions of it which have not had sufficient sun in the drying process, become tainted, and the odour is anything but agreeable. for all, it serves a purpose in those countries where salt is a scarce commodity; and cooked--as all spanish americans cook it--with a plentiful seasoning of onions, garlic, and chili, the "gamey" flavour ceases to be perceptible. above all, it is a boon to the traveller who has a long journey to make through the uninhabited wilderness, with no inns nor post-houses at which he may replenish his spent stock of provisions. being dry, firm, and light, it can be conveniently carried in haversack, or saddle-bags. by caspar's foresight, there is a packet of it in ludwig's _alparejas_, where all the other provisions are stowed; and a piece cut from one of the strips, about the length of a bologna sausage, makes breakfast for all three. of the paraguay tea they have a good store, the _yerba_ being a commodity which packs in small space. their morning meal is dismissed with slight ceremony; and soon as eaten, they recaparison their horses; then leading them out of the cavern, mount, and are off. as the _arroyo_ has long since shrunk to its ordinary level, and the path along the base of the bluff is dry as when trodden by them in their rush for shelter from the storm, they have no difficulty in getting out. so on they ride up the steep acclivity to the cliff's crest; which last is on a level with the pampa itself. but on reaching it, a sight meets their eyes--it is now daylight-- causing a surprise to ludwig and cypriano; but to gaspar something more--something akin to dismay. for the sage gaucho mentally sees further than either of his less experienced companions; and that now observed by him gives token of a new trouble in store for them. the plain is no longer a green grassy savanna, as when they galloped across it on the afternoon preceding, but a smooth expanse, dark brown in colour, its surface glittering under the red rays of the rising sun, whose disc is as yet but half visible above the horizon! "_santos dios_!" exclaims the gaucho, as he sits in his saddle, contemplating the transformation, to him no mystery. "i thought it would be so." "how very strange!" remarks ludwig. "not at all strange, _senorito_; but just as it should be, and as we might have expected." "but what has caused it?" "oh, cousin," answered cypriano, who now comprehends all. "can't you see? i do." "see what?" "why, that the dust has settled down over the plain; and the rain coming after, has converted it into mud." "quite right, senor cypriano," interposes gaspar; "but that isn't the worst of it." both turn their eyes upon him, wondering what worse he can allude to. cypriano interrogates:-- "is it some new danger, gaspar?" "not exactly a danger, but almost as bad; a likelihood of our being again delayed." "but how?" "we'll no longer have track or trace to guide us, if this abominable sludge extend to the river; as i daresay it does. there we'll find the trail blind as an owl at noontide. as you see, the thing's nearly an inch thick all over the ground. 'twould smother up the wheel-ruts of a loaded _carreta_." his words, clearly understood by both his young companions, cause them renewed uneasiness. for they can reason, that if the trail be obliterated, their chances of being able to follow the route taken by the abductors will be reduced to simple guessing; and what hope would there be searching that way over the limitless wilderness of the chaco? "well?" says gaspar, after they had remained for some moments gazing over the cheerless expanse which extends to the very verge of their vision, "it won't serve any good purpose, our loitering here. we may as well push on to the river, and there learn the worst--if worst it's to be. _vamonos_!" with this, the spanish synonym for "come along!" the gaucho gives his horse a dig in the ribs, with spur rowels of six inches diameter, and starts off at a swinging pace, the others after. and now side by side go all three, splashing and spattering through the mortar-like mud, which, flung up in flakes by their horses' hoofs, is scattered afar in every direction. half an hour of quick cantering brings them back upon the pilcomayo's bank; not where they had parted from it, but higher up, near the mouth of the _arroyo_. for gaspar did not deem it necessary to return to that prophetic tree, whose forecast has proved so unfailing. to have gone back thither would have been a roundabout of several miles, since they had made a cross-cut to reach the cavern; and as on the way they had seen nothing of the indian trail, it must needs have continued up the river. but now, having reached this, they cannot tell; for here, as on all the plain over which they have passed, is spread the same coating of half-dried dirt, fast becoming drier and firmer as the ascending tropical sun, with strengthened intensity, pours his hot beams upon it. it has smothered up the indian's trail as completely as it snow several inches deep lay upon it. no track there, no sign to show, that either horses or men ever passed up the pilcomayo's bank. "_caspita_!" exclaims the gaucho, in spiteful tone. "it is as i anticipated; blind as an old mule with a _tapojo_ over its eyes. may the fiends take that _tormenta_!" chapter thirty two. stopped by a "riacho." for a time the trackers remain at halt, but without forsaking their saddles, pondering upon what course they should pursue, or rather, what direction they ought to take. only a short while are they undecided. it seems good as certain that the indians have kept to the river, for some distance further on, at all events. therefore, it will be time enough to enter upon a more prolonged deliberation, when they come to a point where this certainty ceases. thus reflecting, they start off afresh, with their horses' heads as before. going at good speed as ever, in a few minutes they arrive at the confluence of the _arroyo_ with the greater river; the former here running between banks less "bluffy" than above, where it passes the cavern. still they are of sufficient elevation to make a sharp descent towards the channel of the stream, and a corresponding ascent on its opposite side. but instead of an impediment, the trackers find this an advantage; giving them evidence that the indians have gone across the _arroyo_. for their horses' tracks are distinctly traceable on the steep faces of both banks; the dust either not having settled there, or been washed off by the rain which fell after. without difficulty they themselves ride across; for the rapid-running stream has returned to its ordinary dimensions, and is now quite shallow, with a firm gravelly bed. once on its western side, however, and up to the level of the _campo_ beyond, they are again at fault; in fact, have reached the point spoken of where all certainty is at an end. far as they can see before them, the surface is smeared with mud, just as behind, and no sign of a trail visible anywhere. like enough the indians have still continued on along the river, but that is by no means sure. they may have turned up the _arroyo_, or struck off across the pampa, on some route known to them, and perhaps leading more direct to whatever may be their destination. it is all conjecture now; and upon this they must rely. but the weight of probability is in favour of the pursued party having kept to the river, and gaspar is of this opinion. after riding some distance up the western bank of the _arroyo_, and seeing no trail or track there, he again returns to where they had crossed, saying:-- "i think we may safely stick to the river. i'm acquainted with its course for at least thirty leagues further up. at about half that distance from here it makes a big elbow, and just there, i remember, an old indian path strikes off from it, to cross a _traveria_. ha! that's good as sure to be the route these redskins have taken. for now, i think of it, the path was a big, broad road, and must have been much-travelled by indians of some kind or other. so, _muchachos_; we can't do better than keep on to where it parts from the water's edge. possibly on the _traveria_, which chances to be a _salitral_ as well, we may find the ground clear of this detestable stuff, and once more hit off the _rastro_ of these murderous robbers." his young companions, altogether guided by his counsels, of course offer no objection; and off they again go up the bank of the broad deep river. nor less swiftly do they speed, but fast as ever. for they are not impeded by the necessity of constantly keeping their eyes upon the earth, to see if there be hoof-marks on it. there are none; or if any, they are not distinguishable through the thick stratum of slime spread over all the surface. but although going at a gallop, they do not get over much ground; being every now and then compelled to pull up--meeting obstructions they had not reckoned upon. these in the shape of numerous little streamlets, flowing into the river, most of them still in freshet from the late rain. one after another they ford them, none being so deep as to call for swimming. but they at length come upon one of greater depth and breadth than any yet passed, and with banks of such a character as to bring them to a dead stop, with the necessity of considering whether it can be crossed at all. for it is a watercourse of the special kind called _riachos_, resembling the _bayous_ of louisiana, whose sluggish currents run in either direction, according to the season of the year, whether it be flood-time or during the intervals of drought. at a glance, gaspar perceives that the one now barring their onward progress is too deep to be waded; and if it be possible to pass over it, this must be by swimming. little would they regard that, nor any more would their animals; since the pampas horse can swim like an otter, or _capivara_. but, unfortunately, this particular _riacho_ is of a kind which forbids even their swimming it; as almost at the same glance, the gaucho observes, with a grunt expressing his discontent. on the stream's further shore, the bank, instead of being on a level with the water surface, or gently shelving away from it, rises abruptly to a height of nigh six feet, with no break, far as can be seen, either upward or downward. any attempt to swim a horse to the other side, would result in his being penned up, as within the lock-gates of a canal! it is plainly impossible for them to cross over there; and, without waiting to reflect further, the gaucho so pronounces it; saying to the others, who have remained silently watching him:-- "well, we've got over a good many streams in our morning's ride, but this one beats us. we can't set foot on the other side--not here, at all events." "why?" demands cypriano. "because, as you can see, _senorito_, that water's too deep for wading." "but what of that? we can swim it, can't we?" "true, we could; all that and more, so far as the swimming goes. but once in there, how are we to get out again? look at yonder bank. straight up as a wall, and so smooth a cat couldn't climb it, much less our horses; and no more ourselves. if 'twere a matter of wading we might; but, as i can see, all along yonder edge it's just as deep as in mid-stream; and failing to get out, we'd have to keep on plunging about, possibly in the end to go under. _carramba_! we mustn't attempt to make a crossing here." "where then?" demands cypriano, in torture at this fresh delay, which may last he knows not how long. "well," rejoins the gaucho, reflectingly, "i think i know of a place where we may manage it. there's a ford which can't be very far from this; but whether it's above or below, for the life of me i can't tell, everything's so changed by that detestable _tormenta_, and the ugly coat of plaster it has laid over the plain! let me see," he adds, alternately turning his eyes up stream and down, "i fancy it must be above; and now i recollect there was a tall tree, a _quebracha_, not far from the ford. ha!" he exclaims, suddenly catching sight of it, "there's the bit of timber itself! i can tell it by that broken branch on the left side. you see that, don't you, _hijos mios_?" they do see the top of a solitary tree with one branch broken off, rising above the plain at about two miles' distance; and they can tell it to be the well-known species called _quebracha_--an abbreviation of _quebrahacha_, or "axe-breaker," so named from the hardness of its wood. "whether it be by wading or swimming," gaspar remarks in continuance, "we'll get over the _riacho_ up yonder, not far from that tree. so, let's on to it, _senoritos_!" without another word, they all wheel their horses about, and move off in the direction of the _quebracha_. chapter thirty three. a fish dinner at second-hand. as they make towards the tree, which has erst served others than themselves as a guide to the crossing-place, the nature of the ground hinders their going at great speed. being soft and somewhat boggy, they are compelled to creep slowly and cautiously over it. but at length they get upon a sort of ridge slightly elevated above the general level, though still unsafe for fast travelling. along this, however, they can ride abreast, and without fear of breaking through. as they proceed onward, gaspar gives them some further information about the ford they are making for. "we can easily wade it," he says, "if this awkward and ill-timed dust-storm hasn't changed it, as everything else. when poor dear master and i went across--that would be about six months ago--the water wasn't quite up to our stirrups; but, like as not, last night's downpour has raised it too, and we'll have a swim for it. well, that won't matter much. there, at all events, we can get the horses out; as the bank slopes off gently. so there'll be no fear of our being stuck or sent floundering in the stream. a regular indian road, crosses the _riacho_ there, and has worn a rut running down to the channel on both sides." his hearers are pleased at this intelligence; cypriano signifying so by the laconic rejoinder-- "_esta bueno_." then follows an interval of silence; after which gaspar, as if some new thought had occurred to him, suddenly exclaims-- "_santos dios_! i'd forgotten that." "forgotten what?" both inquire, with a surprised, but not apprehensive look; for the gaucho's words were not in this tone. "something," he answers, "which we ought to find at this very crossing-place. a bit of good luck it's being here." "and what do you expect from it?" questions cypriano. "i expect to learn whether we're still on the right track, or have strayed away from it. we've been going by guesswork long enough; but, if i don't greatly mistake we'll there see something to tell us whether our guesses have been good or bad. if the redskins have come up the river at all, it's pretty sure they also have crossed the _riacho_ at this very ford, and we should there see some traces of them. sure to find them on the sloping banks, as we did by the _arroyo_. that will count a score in our favour." by the time he has ceased speaking, they have reached the _quebracha_; and, soon as under its shadow, gaspar again reins up, telling the others to do the same. it is not that he has any business with the beacon tree, as with that which served them for a barometer; but simply, because they are once more within sight of the stream--out of view since they left its bank below. the ford is also before their eyes, visible over the tops of some low bordering bushes. but what has now brought the gaucho to a stop is neither the stream, nor its crossing-place; but a flock of large birds wading about in the water, at the point where he knows the ford to be. long-legged creatures they are, standing as on stilts, and full five feet high, snow-white in colour, all but their huge beaks, which are jet black, with a band of naked skin around their necks, and a sort of pouch like a pelican's, this being of a bright scarlet. for they are _garzones soldados_, or "soldier-cranes," so-called from their red throats bearing a fancied resemblance to the facings on the collar of a soldier's coat, in the uniform of the argentine states. "_bueno_!" is the pleased exclamation which proceeds from the gaucho's lips, as he sits contemplating the cranes. "we sha'n't have any swimming to do here; the rain don't seem to have deepened the ford so much as a single inch. you see those long-legged gentry; it barely wets their feet. so much the better, since it ensures us against getting our own wetted, with our baggage to the boot. stay!" he adds, speaking as if from some sudden resolve, "let's watch the birds a bit. i've a reason." thus cautioned, the others hold their horses at rest, all with their eyes fixed upon the soldier-cranes; which still unconscious of intruders in such close proximity, continue the occupation in which they were engaged when first seen--that of fishing. every now and then one darts its long bayonet-like beak into the water, invariably drawing it out with a fish between the mandibles; this, after a short convulsive struggle, and a flutter or two of its tail fins, disappearing down the crane's capacious throat. "having their breakfast," observes the gaucho, "or, i should rather call it dinner," he adds, with a glance upward to the sky. "and the height of that sun reminds me of its being high time for us to do something in the same line, if i hadn't been already reminded of it by a hollow i feel here." he places his spread palm over the pit of his stomach, and then continues, "so we may as well dine now; though, sad to say, we haven't a morsel to make a meal upon but that juiceless _charqui. santissima_! what am i thinking about? i verily believe my brains have got bemuddled, like everything else. nothing but _charqui_, indeed! ha! we'll dine more daintily, if i know what's what. here, _senoritos_! back your horses behind those bushes. quick, gently." while speaking, he turns his own out of the path, and rides crouchingly to the rear of the bushes indicated, thus putting a screen between himself and the soldier-cranes. following his example, the others do likewise, but without the slightest idea of what he is going to be after next. cypriano inquiring, receives the very unsatisfactory answer-- "you'll see." and they do see; first himself dismounting and tying his bridle to a branch; then detaching his lazo from its ring in the saddle-tree, and carefully adjusting its coils over his left arm. this done, he separates from them, as he walks away, speaking back in a whisper:-- "keep your ground, young masters, till i return to you, and if you can help it, don't let the horses make any noise, or budge an inch. for yourselves, _silencio_!" as they promise all this, he parts from them, and is soon out of sight; their last glance showing him to be making for the ford, going with bent body and crouched gait, as cat or cougar stealing upon its prey. for some ten minutes or so, they neither see nor hear more of him; and can only conjecture that the design he has so suddenly conceived, has something to do with the _garzones_. so believing, curiosity prompts them to have another peep at these piscatory birds; which by standing up in their stirrups--for they are still seated in the saddle--they can. looking over the tops of the bushes, they see that the cranes continue fishing undisturbed, and seemingly unaware of an enemy being near, or that danger threatens them. but not much longer are they left to enjoy this feeling of security. while the two youths are still regarding them, first one, then another, is observed to elevate its head to the full height of its long slender neck; while here and there throughout the flock are heard cries of warning or alarm; the frightened ones letting fall the fish already in their beaks, while those not quite so much scared, suddenly swallow them. but in another instant, all, as if by one impulse, give out a simultaneous scream; then, rising together, spread their broad, sail-like wings, and go flapping away. no, not all. one stays in the _riacho_; no longer to look after fish, but with both wings outspread over the surface of the stream, beating the water into froth--as it does so, all the while drawing nearer and nearer to the nether bank! but its movements are convulsive and involuntary, as can be told by something seen around its neck resembling a rope. and a rope it is; the youths knowing it to be the _lazo_ they late saw coiled over caspar's arm, knowing also that he is at the other end of it. he is hauling it in, hand over hand, till the captured bird, passing under the high bank, disappears from their view. soon, however, to re-appear; but now carried under the gaucho's arm. he cries out as he approaches them:-- "_viva! muchachitos_! give me congratulation, as i intend giving you a good dinner. if we can call _charqui_ flesh, as i suppose we must, then we shall have fish, flesh, and fowl, all the three courses. so we'll dine sumptuously, after all." saying which, he draws out his knife, and cuts open the crane's crop, exposing to view several goodly-sized fish, fresh as if just cleared from a draw-net! they are of various sorts; the riverine waters of south america being noted for their wonderful multiplicity of both genera and species. the amazon and its tributaries, are supposed to contain at least three thousand distinct species; a fact upon which the american naturalist, agassiz--somewhat of an empiric, by the way--has founded a portion of his spurious fame, on the pretence of being its discoverer. it was pointed out by a real naturalist, alfred wallace, ten years before agassiz ever set eyes on the amazon; and its record will be found in the appendix to wallace's most interesting work relating to this, the grandest of rivers. in the la plata, and its confluent streams, are also many genera and species; a question that gives gaspar not the slightest concern, while contemplating those he has just made the _garzon_ disgorge. instead, he but thinks of putting them to the broil. so, in ten minutes after they are frizzling over a fire; in twenty more, to be stowed away in other stomachs than that of the soldier-crane. chapter thirty four. attacked by gymnoti. gaspar's promise to give them a dinner of the three orthodox courses-- fish, flesh, and fowl--was only meant in a jocular sense. for the flesh, their stock of _charqui_ is not drawn upon; and as to fowl, the soldier-crane would be a still more unpalatable morsel. so it results in their dining simply upon fish; this not only without sauce, but swallowed at second-hand! while they are occupied in the eating it, the gaucho, seeming more cheerful than usual, says:-- "i've a bit of good news for you, _hijos mios_." "indeed! what?" is their eager inquiry. "that we are still upon the right road. the redskins have gone past here, as i supposed they would." "you've discovered fresh traces of them, then?" "i have ever so many scratches of their horses' feet, where they slipped in stepping down to the stream. quite plain they are; i could distinguish them some way off, and with half an eye, as i was hauling in the _soldado_. good news, i call it; since we won't have to take the back-track anyhow. what's before us remains to be seen. possibly, on the other side we may light on something else, to tell the direction they've taken. so, we'd better lose no time, but cross over." hurriedly finishing their primitive repast, they spring back upon their _recados_, and ride down to the ford. once in the water, they find it not quite so shallow, as they had supposed from seeing the _garzones_ wading about with but the slightest portion of their shanks below the surface. for at the bottom is a substratum of mud; a soft slimy ooze, firm enough to support the light birds, but through which the heavier quadrupeds, further weighted with themselves and their baggage, sink to their bellies. gaspar is surprised at finding the ford in this condition. it was not so when he passed over it before, and he can only account for the change by the dust from the _tormenta_ having been blown in large quantities into the stream, then carried down by the current, and settling over the shallow crossing-place. whatever the cause, they find it awkward work to wade through the sticky slime. still, they might have accomplished the crossing without accident, and doubtless would have done so, but for an impediment of another kind--one not only altogether unexpected, but far more to be dreaded than any danger of their going head and ears over into the ooze. for just as they have reached mid-stream, and are splashing and floundering on, gaspar, who is riding ahead, and shouting back directions to the others, all at once finds his attention fully occupied in looking to himself, or rather to his horse. for the animal has come to a stop, suddenly and without any restraint of the rein, and stands uttering strange snorts, while quivering throughout every fibre of its frame! glancing over his shoulder, the gaucho sees that the other horses have also halted, and are behaving in a precisely similar manner, their riders giving utterance to excited exclamations. ludwig looks a picture of astonishment; while, strange to say, on cypriano's countenance the expression is more one of alarm! and the same on the face of the gaucho himself; for he, as the young paraguayan comprehends the situation, and well knows what has brought their horses so abruptly to a halt. "what is it, gaspar?" questions ludwig, now also alarmed at seeing the others so. "eels!" ejaculates the gaucho. "eels! surely you're jesting?" queries the incredulous youth. "no, indeed," is the hurried rejoinder. "i only wish it were a jest. it's not, but a dire, dangerous earnest. _santissima_!" he cries out, in addition, as a shock like that of a galvanic battery causes him to shake in his saddle, "that's a _lightning eel_, for sure! they're all round us, in scores, hundreds, thousands! spur your horses! force them forward, anyway! on out of the water! a moment wasted, and we're lost!" while speaking, he digs the spurs into his own animal, with his voice also urging it onward; they doing the same. but spur and shout as they may, the terrified quadrupeds can scarce be got to stir from the spot where first attacked by the electric eels. for it is by these they are assailed, though gaspar has given them a slightly different name. and just as he has said, the slippery creatures seem to be all around them, coiling about the horses' legs, brushing against their bellies, at intervals using the powerful, though invisible, weapon with which nature has provided them; while the scared quadrupeds, instead of dashing onward to get clear of the danger, only pitch and plunge about, at intervals standing at rest, as if benumbed, or shaking as though struck by palsy--all three of them, breathing hard and loud, the smoke issuing from their nostrils, with froth which falls in flakes, whitening the water below. their riders are not much less alarmed: they too sensibly feeling themselves affected by the magnetic influence. for the subtle current passing through the bodies of their horses, in like manner, and almost simultaneously enters their own. all now aware that they are in real danger, are using their utmost efforts to get out of it by spurring, shouting to their animals, and beating them with whatever they can lay their hands on. it is a desperate strife, a contest between them and the quadrupeds, as they strive to force the latter forward, and from out of the perilous place. fortunately, it does not last long, or the end would be fatal. after a short time, two of the three succeeded in reaching the bank: these gaspar and cypriano; the gaucho, as he feels himself on firm ground, crying out:-- "thank the lord for our deliverance!" but scarce has the thanksgiving passed his lips, when, turning face towards the stream, he sees what brings the pallor back into his cheeks, and a trembling throughout his frame, as if he were still under the battery of the electric eels. ludwig, lagging behind, from being less able to manage his mount, is yet several yards from the shore, and what is worse, not drawing any nearer to it. instead, his horse seems stuck fast in the mud, and is making no effort to advance; but totters on his limbs as though about to lose them! and the youth appears to have lost all control not only of the animal but himself; all energy to act, sitting lollingly in his saddle, as if torpid, or half-asleep! at a glance gaspar perceives his danger, knowing it of no common kind. both horse and rider are as powerless to leave that spot, as if held upon it in the loop of a _lazo_, with its other end clutched in the hands of a giant. but a _lazo_ may also release them; and at this thought occurring to him opportunely, the gaucho plucks his own from the horn of his _recado_, and with a wind or two around his head, casts its running noose over that of the imperilled youth. it drops down over his shoulders, settling around both his arms, and tightening upon them, as gaspar, with a half wheel of his horse, starts off up the sloping acclivity. in another instant, ludwig is jerked clean out of his saddle, and falls with a splash upon the water. not to sink below its surface, however; but be drawn lightly along it, till he is hoisted high, though not dry, upon the bank. but the gaucho's work is still unfinished; the horse has yet to be rescued from his dangerous situation; a task, even more difficult than releasing his rider. for all, it is not beyond the skill of gaspar, nor the strength of his own animal. hastily unloosing his long, plaited rope from the body of the boy, and readjusting the loop, he again flings it forth; this time aiming to take in, not the head of ludwig horse, but the pommel and cantle of his high-back saddle. and just as aimed, so the noose is seen to fall, embracing both. for gaspar knows how to cast a lasso, and his horse how to act when it is cast; the well-trained animal, soon as he sees the uplifted arm go down again, sheering round without any guidance of rein, and galloping off in the opposite direction. in the present case, his strength proves sufficient for the demand made upon it, though this is great; and the debilitated animal in the water, which can do nought to help itself, is dragged to the dry land nearly as much dead as alive. but all are saved, horses as well as riders. the unseen, but dangerous, monsters are deprived of the prey they had come so near making capture of; and gaspar again, even more fervently than before, cries out in gratitude-- "thank the lord for our deliverance!" chapter thirty five. under the carob trees. an attack by electric eels, however ludicrous the thing may seem, is not so looked upon by those whose ill luck it has been to experience it. that these slippery creatures possess a most dangerous power, and know how to exert it, there is ample evidence in the accounts given of them by many a truthful traveller. more than enough of it have had our heroes; for while escaping with their lives, they have not got off altogether scatheless--neither themselves, nor their horses. for, though now beyond reach of their mysterious assailants, the latter stand cowering and quivering, evidently disabled for that day, at least. to continue the journey upon them, while they are in this condition, is plainly impossible. but their riders do not think of it; they, too, feeling enfeebled--ludwig actually ill. for the electricity still affects them all, and it may be some time before their veins will be freed from its influence. _nolens volens_, for a time they must stay where they are, however they may chafe at this fresh halt--as before, a forced one. but the gaucho, with spirits ever buoyant, puts the best face upon it, saying, "after all, we won't lose so much time. by this, our horses would have been pretty well done up, anyhow, after such a hard day's work, floundering through so much mud and crossing so many streams. even without this little bit of a bother, we'd have had to stop soon somewhere to rest them. and what better place than here? besides, as you see, the sun's wearing well down, and it's only a question of three or four hours at most. we can make that up by an earlier start, and a big day's journey, to-morrow; when it's to be hoped we'll meet with no such obstructions as have beset us to-day." gaspar is not using arguments; for no one wishes to dispute with him. only speaking words of comfort; more especially addressing them to cypriano, who is, as ever, the impatient one. but he, as the gaucho himself, sees the impossibility of proceeding further, till they and their animals have had a spell of rest. for the purpose of obtaining this, they go in search of a suitable camping-place; which they soon find within a grove of _algarobias_, at some three or four hundred yards' distance from the ford. the trees cover the sides of a little mound, or hillock; none growing upon its summit, which is a grassy glade. and as the dust has either not settled on it, or been washed off by the rain, the herbage is clean and green, so too the foliage of the trees overshadowing it. "the very place for a comfortable camp," says gaspar, after inspecting it--the others agreeing with him to the echo. having returned to the ford for their horses, and led them up to the chosen ground, they are proceeding to strip the animals of their respective caparisons, when, lo! the _alparejas_, and other things, which were attached to the croup of ludwig's saddle, and should still be on it, are not there! all are gone--shaken off, no doubt, while the animal was plunging about in the stream--and with as little uncertainty now lying amidst the mud at its bottom. as in these very saddle-bags was carried their commissariat--_yerba, charqui_, maize-bread, onions, and everything, and as over the cantle-peak hung their kettle, skillet, _mates_ and _bombillas_, the loss is a lamentable one; in short, leaving them without a morsel to eat, or a vessel to cook with, had they comestibles ever so abundant! at first they talk of going back to the ford, and making search for the lost chattels. but it ends only in talk; they have had enough of that crossing-place, so dangerously beset by those _demonios_, as gaspar in his anger dubs the electric eels. for though his courage is as that of a lion, he does not desire to make further acquaintance with the mysterious monsters. besides, there is no knowing in what particular spot the things were dropped; this also deterring them from any attempt to enter upon a search. the stream at its crossing-place is quite a hundred yards in width, and by this time the articles of metal, as the heavily-weighted saddle-bags, will have settled down below the surface, perhaps trampled into its slimy bed by the horse himself in his convulsive struggles. to seek them now would be like looking for a needle in a stack of straw. so the idea is abandoned; and for this night they must resign themselves to going supperless. fortunately, none of the three feels a-hungered; their dinner being as yet undigested. besides, gaspar is not without hope that something may turn up to reprovision them, ere the sun goes down. just possible, the soldier-cranes may come back to the ford, and their fishing, so that another, with full crop, may fall within the loop of his _lazo_. having kindled a fire--not for cooking purposes, but to dry their ponchos, and other apparel saturated in the crossing of the stream--they first spread everything out; hanging them on improvised clothes-horses, constructed of _cana brava_--a brake of which skirts the adjacent stream. then, overcome with fatigue, and still suffering from the effects of the animal electricity, they stretch themselves alongside the fire, trusting to time for their recovery. nor trust they in vain. for, sooner than expected, the volatile fluid-- or whatever it may be--passes out of their veins, and their nervous strength returns; even ludwig saying he is himself again, though he is not quite so yet. and their animals also undergo a like rapid recovery, from browsing on the leaves and bean-pods of the _algarobias_; a provender relished by all pampas horses, as horned cattle, and nourishing to both. more than this, the fruit of this valuable tree when ripe, is fit food for man himself, and so used in several of the argentine states. this fact suggesting itself to gaspar--as he lies watching the horses plucking off the long siliques, and greedily devouring them--he says:-- "we can make a meal on the _algarobia_ beans, if nothing better's to be had. and for me, it wouldn't be the first time by scores. in some parts where i've travelled, they grind them like maize, and bake a very fair sort of bread out of their meal." "why, gaspar!" exclaims ludwig, recalling some facts of which he had heard his father speak, "you talk as if you had travelled in the holy land, and in new testament times! these very trees, or others of a similar genus, are the ones whose fruit was eaten by saint john the baptist. you remember that passage, where it is said: `his meat was locusts and wild honey.' some think the locusts he ate were the insects of that name; and it may be so, since they are also eaten by arabs, and certain other tribes of asiatic and african people. but, for my part, i believe the beans of the `locust tree' are meant; which, like this, is a species of acacia that the arabs call _carob_; evidently the root from which we take our word _algarobia_." gaspar listens, both patiently and pleased, to this learned dissertation. for he is rejoiced to perceive, that the thoughts of his young companion are beginning to find some abstraction and forgetfulness, of that upon which they have been so long sadly dwelling. cypriano, too, appears to take an interest in the subject of discourse; and to encourage it the gaucho rejoins, in gleeful tones: "well, senor ludwig; i don't know much about those far-away countries you speak of, for i've not had any great deal of schooling. but i do know, that _algarobia_ beans are not such bad eating; that is if properly prepared for it. in the states of santiago and tucuman, which are the places i spoke of having travelled through, the people almost live on them; rich and poor, man as well as beast. and we may be glad to make breakfast on them, if not supper; though i still trust something more dainty may drop upon us. i'm not so hopeful as to expect manna, like that which rained down upon moses; but there's many an eatable thing to be had in this chaco wilderness, too--for those who know how to look for it. _ay dios_!" he adds, after a pause, with his eyes turned towards the ford, "those long-legged gentry don't seem to care about coming back there. no doubt, the screams of that fellow i throttled have frightened them off for good. so i suppose we must give the birds up, for this night anyhow. just possible, in the morning they'll be as hungry as ourselves, and pay their fishing-ground a very early visit." saying this, the gaucho relapses into silence, the others also ceasing to converse. they all feel a certain lethargy, which calls for repose; and for a while all three lie without speaking a word, their heads resting on their _recados_--the only sound heard being the "crump-crump" of their horses' teeth grinding the _algarobia_ pods into pulp. chapter thirty six. a chat about electric eels. the silence of the camp is not of long continuance; gaspar being the first to break it. for the gaucho, having a stronger stomach, and consequently a quicker digestion than the others, feels some incipient sensations of hunger. "i only wish," he says, "we could get hold of one of the brutes that battered us so in the stream. if we could, it would furnish us with a supper fit for a king." "what!" exclaims ludwig, raising his head in surprise, "one of the electric eels? is it that you're speaking of, gaspar?" "ay, _senorito_; just that." "surely you wouldn't eat _it_, would you?" "wouldn't i? if i had one here now, you'd soon see." "but are they really good to eat?" "good to eat! i should think they are; and if you could but taste them yourself, _senorito_, you'd say so. a lightning eel's about the daintiest morsel i ever stuck teeth into; though they do have their dwelling-place in mud, and as some say, feed upon it. before cooking them, however, something needs being done. you must cut away a portion of their flesh; the spongy part, which it's said gives them power to make their lightning play. in that lies the dangerous stuff, whatever sort of thing it is." "but what are they like, gaspar? i've never seen one." it is ludwig who still interrogates; but to his last question cypriano, not gaspar, gives the answer, saying: "oh, cousin! do you mean to say you've never seen an electric eel?" "indeed do i. i've heard father speak of them often, and i know them by their scientific name, _gymnotus_. i believe there are plenty of them in the rivers of paraguay; but, as it chances, i never came across one, either dead or alive." "i have," says cypriano, "come across more than one, and many times. but once i well remember; for an awkward circumstance it was to myself." "how so, _sobrino_?" "ah! that's a tale i never told you, ludwig; but i'll tell it now, if you wish." "oh i do wish it." "well, near the little village where, as you know, i was born, and went to school before coming to live with uncle at assuncion, there was a pond full of these fish. we boys used to amuse ourselves with them; sending in dogs and pigs, whenever we had the chance, to see the scare they would get, and how they scampered out soon as they found what queer company they'd got into. cruel sport it was, i admit. but one day we did what was even worse than frightening either dogs or pigs; we drove an old cow in, with a long rope round her horns, the two ends of which we fastened to trees on the opposite sides of the pond, so that she had only a little bit of slack to dance about upon. and dance about she did, as the eels electrified her on every side; till at last she dropped down exhausted, and, i suppose, dead; since she went right under the water, and didn't come up again. i shall never forget her pitiful, ay, reproachful look, as she stood up to the neck, with her head craned out, as if making an appeal to us to save her, while we only laughed the louder. poor thing! i can now better understand the torture she must have endured." "but is that the awkward circumstance you've spoken of?" "oh, no. _it_ was altogether another affair; and for me, as all the others, a more serious one. i hadn't come to the end of the adventure-- the unpleasant part of it--which was the chastisement we all got, by way of reward for our wickedness." "chastisement! who gave it to you?" "our worthy schoolmaster. it so chanced the old cow was his; the only one he had at the time giving milk. and he gave us such a thrashing! ah! i may well say, i've a lively recollection of it; so lively, i might truly think the punishment then received was enough, without the additional retribution the eels have this day inflicted on me." cypriano's narration ended, his cousin, after a pause, again appeals to gaspar to give him a description of the creatures forming the topic of their conversation. to which the gaucho responds, saying:-- "well, senor ludwig, if you want to know what a lightning eel is like, take one of the common kind--which of course you've seen--a full-sized one; make that about ten times as thick as it is, without adding much to its length, and you'll have the thing, near as i can think it. so much for the reptile's bulk; though there are some both bigger round, and longer from head to tail. as for its colour, over the back it's a sort of olive green--just like _yerba_ leaves when they've been let stand a day or two after plucking. on the throat, and under the belly, it's paler, with here and there some blotches of red. i may tell you, however, that the lightning-eels change colour same as some of the lizards; partly according to their age, but as much from the sort of water they're found in--whether it be a clear running stream, or a muddy stagnant pond, such as the one senor cypriano has spoken of. besides, there are several kinds of them, as we gauchos know; though, i believe, the _naturalutas_ are not aware of the fact. the most dangerous sort, and no doubt the same that's just attacked us, have broad heads, and wide gaping mouths full of sharp teeth, with flat tails and a pair of fins close to the nape of the neck. _carramba_! they're ugly devils to look at, and still uglier to have dealings with; that is, when one's in the water alongside them--as we ourselves know. still they don't always behave so bad, as these did to-day. when i crossed this stream before, with the _dueno_, neither he nor i felt the slightest shock to tell of eels being in it. i suppose it's the _tormenta_ that's set them a stirring. like enough, there's some connection between their lightning and that of the sky. if so, that's what has quickened the brutes, and made them so mad. well," he adds, as if drawing his account to a conclusion, "mad as they are, i'd like to have one frizzling over this fire." "but who eats them, gaspar?" interrogates ludwig, still incredulous on the question of their being a fit article of diet. "i've never heard of their being eaten, nor brought to market like other fish." "hundreds, thousands of people eat them, _hijo mio_. they're in great request in some places; ay, all over the country. both whites and indians relish them; but more especially the redskins. some tribes prefer them to any other food, be it fish, flesh, or fowl; and make a regular business of catching them." "ah! how are they caught?" "there are various ways; but the usual one is by spearing them. sometimes the slippery fellows glide out of their mud beds and come to the surface of the water, as it were to amuse themselves by having a look round. then the fisherman gets a chance at them, without any searching, or trouble. he is armed with a long pole of _cana brava_, one end having an iron point barbed like a spear. this, he launches at them, just as i've heard say whalers do their harpoons. for, if he kept the shaft in his hands, he'd catch it from their lightning, and get strokes that would stagger him. still, he doesn't let go altogether; as there's a cord attached to the spear, and with that he can haul in the fish, if he has struck it. but he must have a care to keep his cord out of the water; if it gets wetted he'll have a fit of the trembles upon him, sure. for it's a fact--and a curious one you'll say, _senoritos_-- that a dry cord won't conduct the eel's lightning, while a wet one will." "it _is_ a fact," says ludwig, endorsing the statement. "i've heard father speak of it." "very singular," observes cypriano. "and i can tell you of another fact," pursues the gaucho, "that you'll say is still more singular. would you believe, that from one of these fish a man may strike sparks, just as by a flint and steel--ay, and kindle a fire with them? i know it's an old story, about fish having what's called phosphorus in them; but it isn't everybody who knows that real fire can be got out of the lightning-eels." "but can that be done, gaspar?" asks ludwig. "certainly it can. i've seen it done. and he who did it was your own dear father, senor ludwig. it was one day when we were out on a ramble, and caught one of the eels in a pool, where it had got penned up by the water having dried around it. the _dueno_ took out a piece of wire, and with one end tickled the eel; the other end being stuck into some gunpowder, which was wrapped loosely in a piece of paper. the powder flashed and set the paper ablaze, as also some leaves and dry sticks we'd laid around it. soon we had a fire; and on that same fire we broiled the eel itself, and ate it. _por dios_! i only wish we had one broiling over this fire. i'd want no better thing for supper." so ended the chat about electric eels, the subject seeming exhausted. then the conversation changing to other and less interesting topics, was soon after brought to a close. for the darkness was now down, and as their ponchos, and other softer goods had become thoroughly dry, there was no reason why they should not go to rest for the night. but since the soldier-cranes had declined coming back--by this time no doubt roosted in some far-off "cranery"--and no other source of food supply offering, they must needs go to bed supperless, as they did. their appetites were not yet sufficiently sharp, to have an inordinate craving for meat. chapter thirty seven. nothing for breakfast. under the shadow of the _algarobias_ the trackers sleep undisturbed. ludwig, however, has troubled dreams, in which gymnoti play a conspicuous part. he imagines himself still floundering amidst these monsters, assailed from all sides by their galvanic batteries, and that they have dragged him down into the mud, where he is fast getting asphyxiated. when in his last gasp, as it were, he is relieved, by awaking from his uneasy slumbers; which he does suddenly, and with a terrified cry. finding it has been all a dream, and glad to think it so, he says nothing; and the others not having heard his half-stifled cry, soon again falls asleep. this time his slumber is lighter, as also more profound; and, on the whole, he has a tolerable night's rest; in the morning feeling fairly refreshed, as likewise do cypriano and gaspar. all three are astir a good half-hour before there is any sign of day; and their camp-fire is rekindled. this not for culinary purposes--since they have nothing to be cooked--but rather because the air is chilly cold, as it often is in the tropics, and they need to warm themselves before setting about aught else. when warmed, however, they begin to think of breakfast, as also to talk about it. what is it to be, or of what consist, are the questions which interest them without being easily answered. there are the _algarobia_ beans; but their skillet has been lost along with the kettle, and there is left them no utensil in which these legumes might be boiled. true, they can roast them in the ashes; but gaspar still clings to the hope that something more toothful may turn up. as the early dawn is the best time to find wild animals abroad, both birds and quadrupeds--the best also for approaching them--the gaucho feels pretty confident either one or other will stray within reach of their guns, bolas, or lazos. in the end it proves that his confidence has not been misplaced. just as the first red rays of the aurora are reflected from the tops of the trees around their camp, more faintly lighting up the lower level of the pampa beyond, gaspar, peering through a break between the branches of the _algarobias_, sees a brace of large birds moving about over the plain. not soldier-cranes, though creatures with necks and legs quite as long; for they are _rheas_. "_gracios a dios_!" is the gaucho's gratified exclamation at sight of them; continuing in low tone and speaking over his shoulder, "a couple of _avestruz_!" the others, gliding up to him, and looking through the leaves, also behold the birds, seeing them from head to foot. for they are out upon the open ground, striding to and fro, now and then pausing to pick up some morsel of food, or it may be but a pebble to aid in the digestion of what they have already eaten. while thus engaged, they are gradually drawing nearer to the bank of the _riacho_, as also the edge of the _algarobia_ grove in which the trackers are encamped. their proximity to the latter most interests those in the camp, and all three instantly lay hold of their guns, which luckily have been reloaded, two of them with ball. gaspar, foremost of the trio, has got his barrel through the branches, and, seeing that the _rheas_ are now within bullet-range, is about to blaze away at the one nearest, which chances to be the cock bird, when the latter, suddenly elevating its head, and uttering a loud hiss succeeded by a snort, as from a badly-blown trumpet, turns tail and makes off over the plain; its mate turning simultaneously, and legging it alongside. all this to the surprise of the gaucho; who knows that he has not exposed his person and sees that neither have the others, nor yet made any noise to account for the behaviour of the birds. "what can have frightened them?" is the question he would ask, when casting his eyes upward he perceives what has done it--their smoke of their camp-fire! the blue stream ascending over the tops of the trees, as if out of a chimney, had just then, for the first time, been caught sight of by the ostriches, sending them off in quick scare. nor strange it should, being a spectacle to which the wild denizens of the chaco are not accustomed, or only familiar with as denoting an enemy near--their greatest enemy, man. "_maldita sea_!" exclaims the gaucho, as the birds show their backs to him, an exclamation morally the reverse of that he uttered on seeing them with heads turned the opposite way. "that confounded fire! what a pity we kindled it! the thing's done us out of our breakfast. stay! no." the negative ejaculation comes from his perceiving that the ostriches, instead of rushing onwards in long rapid strides, as they had started, are gradually shortening step and slackening the pace. and while he continues looking after them, they again come to a stop, and stand gazing back at the dark blue pillar of smoke rising spirally against the lighter blue background of sky. but now they appear to regard it less with alarm than curiosity; and even this after a time wearing off, they once more lower their beaks, and return to browsing, just as a couple of common geese, or rather a goose and gander. for all, they do not yet seem quite tranquillised, every now and then their heads going up with a suddenness, which tells that their former feeling of security is not restored; instead, replaced by uneasy suspicions that things are not as they ought to be. "our guns will be of no use now," says gaspar, laying his own aside. "i know the nature of _avestruz_ well enough to say for certain, that, after the scare they've had they'll stay shy for several hours, and 'twill be impossible to approach them; that is, near enough for the longest-range gun we've got. and to run them down with our horses would be to lose a day's journey at least. we can't afford that, for the sake of a bit of breakfast. no, 'twould never do. we'll have to go without, or else, after all, break our fast upon these beans." saying which, he glances up to the _algarobias_, from which the long siliques droop down in profusion, more plentiful than tempting to him. "_caspita_!" he resumes, after a pause, once more bending his eyes covetously upon the birds, and as if an idea had suddenly occurred to him, "i think i know of a way by which we may circumvent these two tall stalkers." "how?" eagerly asks cypriano. "by going at them--_garzoneando_." "_garzoneando_!" exclaims ludwig in echo. "good gaspar, whatever do you mean by that?" "you'll see, young master, soon as i've made things ready for it. and your cousin here, he's the fittest for the part to be played. i'd undertake it myself, but i'm a bit too bulky to counterfeit a creature of such slender proportions as the _garzon soldado_; while senor cypriano's figure will just suit to a nicety." neither of the two youths has the slightest idea of what the gaucho designs doing; but, accustomed to his quaint, queer ways, and knowing that whatever he intends is pretty sure to be something of service to them--as likely to have a successful issue--they await his action with patience and in silence. chapter thirty eight. a counterfeit crane. gaspar allows no time to be lost, but instantly commences taking measures for the _garzoneando_--whatever that may be. as yet neither of his young companions has been told what it is, though they soon begin to have a guess. while they stand watching, they see him once more plunge his hand into those capacious saddle-bags, where for a time it rummages about. when drawn out again, it is seen to grasp a folded bundle of soft goods, which, on being shaken open, shows to be a shirt. no common cotton thing, however, but an affair of the finest linen, snow-white, with an embroidered bosom and ruffles; in short, his gala shirt, such as are worn by gauchos when they appear at _fiestas_ and _fandangoes_. "a pity to use my best _camisa_ for such a purpose," he observes, while in the act of unfolding it. "still it won't likely get much damage; and a wash, with a bit of starch, will set it all right again." then turning to cypriano, he adds, "now, senorito; be good enough to strip off everything, and draw this over your shoulders." without a word of protest, or objection, the young paraguayan does as requested, and is soon inside the holiday shirt; his own having been laid aside, as also his _jaqueta, calzoneras_, and every other article of dress worn by him. meanwhile, gaspar has been engaged getting ready several other things for the change of costume intended; one of these being a silk handkerchief of a bright scarlet colour, also taken out of the inexhaustible _alparejas_. this he ties about cypriano's neck, not as an ordinary cravat, but loosely folded, so as to expose a breadth of several inches all round. the gaucho's next move is to snatch from off the fire one of the faggots still only half consumed; from which with his knife he scrapes the red coal, leaving the surface black, at the same time paring the stick to a sharp point. with some wet gunpowder he further blackens it; then placing the thick end against cypriano's forehead, he binds it fast with a piece of raw-hide thong, the last carried around and firmly knotted at the back of the neck. a few more touches and the toilet is complete; transforming cypriano into what, at a distance, might be supposed a soldier-crane! at all events, the ostriches will so suppose him, as gaspar knows; for he is but copying a scheme often practised by south american indians for the capture of these shy birds. "_muy bien_!" he exclaims, as he stands contemplating his finished task. "by my word, _muchacho mio_, you look the character to perfection. and if you act it cleverly, as i know you can and will, we'll make breakfast on something better than beans. now, senorito; you're in costume to go _garzoneando_." long ere this, cypriano has come to comprehend what is required of him, and is quite eager to have a try at the ruse so cunningly contrived. declaring himself ready to start out, it but remains to be decided what weapon he ought to take with him. for they have the three kinds--gun, _bolas_, and _lazo_; and in the use of the two last he is almost as skilled as the gaucho himself. "the gun might be the readiest and surest," remarks gaspar; "and it will be as well to have one with you, in case of your not getting a good chance to cast either of the others. but just now the less noise that's made the better. who knows, but that some of these traitorous redskins may be still straggling about? hearing shots they'd be sure to come up to us; which we don't want, though ever so much wishing to come up with them. therefore, i say, use either the balls or the rope." "all the same to me," observes the young paraguayan. "which do you think the better?" "the _bolas_, decidedly. i've known the _lazo_ slip over an ostrich's head, after the noose had been round its neck. but once the cord of the _bolas_ gets a turn round the creature's shanks, it'll go to grass without making another stride. take this set of mine. as you see, they're best _boliadores_, and you can throw them with surer aim." the weapon which the gaucho hands to him differs from the ordinary _bolas_, in having a longer stretch of cord between the balls; but cypriano is himself as well acquainted with this kind as with the other, and can cast them as skilfully. taking hold of the weapon, along with his double-barrelled gun, and concealing both as he best can under the gaucho's shirt, he starts off upon the stalk; for he now knows what he has to do, without any further instruction from gaspar. it is simply a question of getting near enough to one of the birds to make capture of it with the _boliadores_; or, failing this, bring it down with a bullet--one barrel of his gun being loaded with ball. as he goes off, caspar and ludwig looking after him can see that his chances of success are good. for by this the _rheas_ have pretty well recovered from their scare, and are again tranquilly striding about. moreover, they have moved somewhat nearer to the bank of the _riacho_, where a bordering of leafy evergreens offers to the stalker cover of the best kind. taking advantage of it, he, in the guise of a _garzon_, steps briskly on, and steals in among the bushes. there he is for a time unseen, either by those watching him from the summit of the knoll, or the creatures being stalked. the latter have already noticed the counterfeit, but without showing any signs of fear; no doubt supposing it to be what it pretends--a bird as themselves, with neck and legs as long as their own. but no enemy; for often have they passed over that same plain, and fed in a friendly way alongside soldier-cranes--scores of them. even when this solitary specimen again appears by the skirting of the scrub within less than twenty paces of them, they do not seem at all alarmed, though possibly a little surprised at its being there all alone. nor do they make any attempt to stir from the spot, till a movement on the part of the _garzon_, with some gestures that seem odd to them, excite their suspicions afresh; then raising their heads, and craning out their long necks, they regard it with wondering glances. only for an instant; when seeming at last to apprehend danger, the birds utter a hiss, as if about to beat a retreat. for one of them it is too late, the cock, which chances to be nearest the bushes, and who before he can lift a leg feels both embraced by something which lashes them tightly together; while at the same time something else hits him a hard heavy blow, bowling him over upon the grass, where he lies stunned and senseless. "_bueno! bravo_!" simultaneously shout gaspar and ludwig, the two together rushing down from the hillock, and on for the prostrate _rhea_; while the counterfeit crane comes forth from the bushes to meet them, as he draws near, saying:-- "i could have shot the hen, but for what you said, gaspar, about making a noise." "no matter for the hen," rejoins the gaucho. "we don't want her just now. this beauty will not only give us enough meat for breakfast, but provide dinners and suppers for at least a couple of days to come." so saying, he draws his knife across the _rhea's_ throat, to make sure before releasing its legs from the thong. after which the _boliadores_ are detached; and the huge carcase, almost as heavy as that of a fatted calf, is carried in triumph to the camp. chapter thirty nine. the avestruz. soon after the trio of trackers have re-entered the _algarobia_ grove, a frizzling, sputtering noise is heard therein; while an appetising odour spreads all around, borne afar on the balmy breeze of the morning. both the sound and the smell proceed from some choice tit-bits which gaspar has taken from the body of the great bird--chiefly slices from the thigh bone and breast. by the time cypriano has doffed the masquerading dress, and resumed his proper travelling costume, the cooking is done, and breakfast declared ready. while eating it, by way of accompaniment they naturally converse about the bird. not the particular one which exclusively forms their repast, but of ostriches in general, and more especially those of south america commonly called _rheas_; though to the gauchos better known by the name _avestruz_. both the boys are pretty well acquainted with these birds and their habits; cypriano having several times taken part in their chase; while ludwig best knows them in a scientific sense. still there are many of their ways, and strange ones, of which neither one nor the other has ever heard, but that gaspar has been witness to with his own eyes. it is the gaucho, therefore, who imparts most of the information, the others being little more than listeners. "though the thing isn't generally known," he says, "there are several distinct kinds of _avestruz_ in different parts of the country. of myself i've seen three. first, a very small sort, not much bigger than a turkey cock. it's darker coloured than the kind we're eating, with shorter legs and feathered further down. it don't lay so many eggs either; but, strange to say, they are almost as big as those of the other sort, only differently shaped, and with a tinge of blue on the shell. it i saw when i once went on an expedition with the buenos ayres army down south to the plains of patagonia. there the climate is much colder than up here, and the _avestruz petise_, as the bird's called, seems to like that best; since it's never seen on the warm pampas farther north. on the other hand, the sort we have here, which is the biggest of all, never strays down to these very cold districts, but goes all over the _chaco_ country, where it's hottest. the third kind i've seen is in bulk about midways between the two; but it's a very rare bird, and i believe not known to the learned _naturalistas_. isn't that so, senor ludwig?" "indeed, yes. i never heard of a third species, though father has told me of the _avestruz petise_; which, as you say, is only found far south, ranging from the rio negro to the straits of magellan." "well," continues gaspar, resuming his account, "i'm sure of there being there sorts; though i don't know much about the other two, only this we've met here. of them i ought to know a good deal, having hunted them as often as there are days in the year. one thing there's been no end of disputation about; and that is whether several hens lay their eggs in the same nest. now, i can say for certain they do. i've seen several go to the same nest, one after the other, and on the same day too. what should take them there if not to lay their eggs? true, they drop them about everywhere, in a very loose, careless way; as can be told by their being seen scattered all over the _campo_, and far from any nest. what this is for i cannot myself tell; though i've heard some gauchos say that these stray eggs--_huachos_ we call them--are laid here and there for the young birds to feed upon. but that can't be so, since the _huachos_ are never found pecked or broken, but always whole, whether they be fresh or addled. i think it's more likely that the hens drop these stray eggs because they have no nest in which to put them; that where they have laid their others being already full. besides, there is the cock sitting upon it; who won't let any of them come near, once he has taken to hatching?" "is it true, then, that the cock does the hatching?" interrogates ludwig. "quite true--all of it; and he's got a good many eggs to cover. i've counted over fifty in one nest. that of itself shows no single hen could have laid them; for, as it would take her a long time, the first ones would be rotten before the last came. as for the cock when sitting, he's as cross as an old duck doing the same, but _ten_ times more dangerous to go near. i've known of a gaucho getting a kick from one he'd started from off the nest, almost as hard as if it had been given by a mule. and to hear them hiss then! ah! that was nothing we've just heard from this fellow." "is it true they can swim, gaspar?" again questions ludwig. "like swans. no, i'm wrong there, for nothing can be more unlike. so far as the swimming goes, the _avestruz_ can do it, but in quite a different way from swans. they swim with their bodies under water, and only their shoulders, with the head and neck, above. it's a funny sight to see a flock of them crossing one of the big rivers; and scores of times i've been eye-witness to that bit of comicality. _carramba_! a curious bird, the _avestruz_ is altogether, and a useful one, as we've now good reason to know. so, _senoritos_, let us be thankful to providence that there's such a plenty of them on these _pampas_, and above all, for guiding the steps of this fine specimen, as to place it so directly and opportunely in our way." the discourse about ostriches is brought to a close with the breakfast upon that which had led to it; both, along with the incident of the bird's capture, having occupied little more time than is here taken in telling of them. so little, indeed, that the sun's disc is not yet all above the horizon, when, having completed the repast, the trackers start up from their seats around the fire, and proceed to caparisoning their animals. nor do they spend many moments at this. ever mindful of what has brought them thither--no mere excursion for pleasure's sake, but an expedition forced upon them through sad, painful necessity--they waste not a second that can be saved. quickly, therefore, their horses are got under saddle, and bridled, with every article of their _impedimenta_ fixed and fastened in its respective place, besides, something on the croup of ludwig _recado_, which was not hitherto there. where the lost traps had been carried, are now seen the two thigh-bones of the cock ostrich, with most of the flesh still adhering, each as large as a leg of mutton. there is a heart, liver, and gizzard also stowed away in a wrap of a _vihao_, or wild plantain leaves, which, tied in a secure packet, dangles alongside; the whole, as gaspar declared, enough to keep them provisioned for at least a couple of days. but although everything seems in readiness, they are not yet prepared to take a final departure from the place. a matter remains to be determined, and one of the utmost importance--being no less than the direction in which they should go. they have thought of it the night before, but not till darkness had come down upon them. still unrecovered from the excitement consequent on the attack of the _gymnoti_, and afterwards occupied in drying their wet garments, with other cares of the occasion, even gaspar had failed during daylight to examine the nether side of the ford at its outcoming, where he supposed he might hit upon the trail they were in search of. it was not because he had forgotten it, but that, knowing they would stay there all night, he also knew the tracks, if any, would keep till the morning. morning having arrived, from earliest daybreak and before, as is known, they have been otherwise occupied; and only now, at the moment of moving off, do they find time to look for that which must decide their future course and the route they are to take. with a parting glance at the place of bivouac, and each leading his own horse, they move out of the _algarobia_ grove, and on down to the edge of the _riacho_, stopping at the spot where they came across. but not a moment spend they there, in the search for hoof-marks other than those of their own horses. they see others soon as arrived at the stream's edge; scores of them, and made by the same animals they have been all along tracking. not much in this it might appear; since unfortunately, these hoof-marks can be distinguished no farther than to the summit of the sloping bank. beyond they are covered up, as elsewhere, by the mud. but gaspar's keen eye is not to be thus baffled; and a joyful ejaculation escaping his lips tells he has discovered something which gives him gladness. on cypriano asking what it is, he makes answer-- "just what we're wanting to find out; the route the redskins have taken after parting from this place. thanks to the virgin, i know the way they went now, as well as if i'd been along with them." "how do you know that?" questions cypriano, who with ludwig has been examining the indian trail down by the water's edge--apart from the gaucho, who had followed it up to the summit of the slope. "come hither!" he calls out. "look there!" he adds as they get beside him, "you see that these tracks have the toes all turned down stream; which tells me the horses did the same, and, i should say, also their riders. yes! soon as out of the water they turned down; proof good as positive that they've gone along the _riacho_ this side, and back again to the big river. so it's no use our delaying longer here; there's nothing farther to be learnt, or gained by it." so says gaspar; but cypriano, and also ludwig, think otherwise. both have a wish--indeed, an earnest desire--once more to look upon the tracks of the pony on which they know francesca to have been mounted. and communicating this to the gaucho, he holds their horses while they return to search for them. to their satisfaction they again beheld the diminutive hoof-marks; two or three of which have escaped being trampled out by the horses that came behind. and after regarding them for a time with sad glances, ludwig turns away sighing, while his cousin gives utterance to what more resembles a curse, accompanied by words breathing vengeance against the abductors. rejoining the gaucho, all three mount into their saddles; and, without further dallying, ride off down the _riacho_, to make back for the main river. but, again upon the latter's bank, they find the trail blind as before, with nothing to guide them, save the stream itself. to the gaucho, however, this seems sufficient, and turning his horses's head upward, he cries out-- "now, _muchachos mios_! we must on to the _salitral_!" and on for this they ride; to reach the point where it commences, just as the sun's lower limb touches, seeming to rest on the level line of the horizon. and now, having arrived on the edge of the _salitral_, they make halt, still keeping to their saddles, with eyes bent over the waste which stretches far beyond and before them. greater than ever is the gloom in their looks as they behold the sterile tract, which should have shown snow-white, all black and forbidding. for the _salitral_, as all the rest of the campo, is covered with a stratum of mud, and the _travesia_ across it has been altogether obliterated. gaspar only knows the place where it begins; this by the bank of the river which there also commences its curve, turning abruptly off to the south. he thinks the route across the _salitral_ is due westward, but he is not sure. and there is no sign of road now, not a trace to indicate the direction. looking west, with the sun's disc right before their faces, they see nothing but the brown bald expanse, treeless as cheerless, with neither break nor bush, stick nor stone, to relieve the monotony of its surface, or serve as a land-mark for the traveller. and the same thing both to the right and left, far as their eyes can reach; for here the river, after turning off, has no longer a skirting of trees; its banks beyond being a low-lying saline marsh--in short, a part of the _salitral_. to ride out upon that wilderness waste, to all appearance endless, with any chance or hope of finding the way across it, would be like embarking in an open boat, and steering straight for the open ocean. not on that night, anyhow, do they intend making the attempt, as the darkness will soon be down upon them. so dismounting from their horses, they set about establishing a camp. but when established they take little delight in its occupation. now more than ever are they doubtful and dejected; thinking of that terrible _travesia_, of which all traces are lost, and none may be found beyond. to cypriano no night since their starting out seemed so long as this. little dream they, while seated around their camp-fire, or lying sleepless alongside it, that the tract of country they so much dread entering upon, will, in a few hours' time, prove their best friend. instead of sending them further astray it will put them once more on the lost trail, with no longer a likelihood of their again losing it. unaware of this good fortune before them, they seek rest with feelings of the utmost despondency, and find sleep only in short snatches. chapter forty. on the salitral. next morning the trackers are up at an early hour--the earlier because of their increased anxiety--and after break fasting on broiled ostrich leg, make ready to recommence their journey. _nolens volens_, they must embark upon that brown, limitless expanse, which looks unattractive in the light of the rising sun as it did under that of the setting. in their saddles, and gazing over it before setting out, gaspar says-- "_hijos mios_; we can't do better than head due westward. that will bring us out of the _salitral_, somewhere. luckily there's a sun in the sky to hold us to a straight course. if we hadn't that for a guide, we might go zig-zagging all about, and be obliged to spend a night amidst the saltpetre; perhaps three or four of them. to do so would be to risk our lives; possibly lose them. the thirst of itself would kill us, for there's never drinkable water in a _salitral_. however, with the sun behind our backs, and we'll take care to keep it so, there won't be much danger of our getting bewildered. we must make haste, though. once it mounts above our heads, i defy old nick himself to tell east from west. so let's put on the best speed we can take out of the legs of our animals." with this admonition, and a word to his horse, the gaucho goes off at a gallop; the others starting simultaneously at the same pace, and all three riding side by side. for on the smooth, open surface of the _salitral_ there is no need for travelling single file. over it a thousand horsemen--or ten thousand for that matter--might march abreast, with wide spaces between. proceeding onward, they leave behind them three distinct traces of a somewhat rare and original kind--the reverse of what would be made by travellers passing over ground thinly covered with snow, where the trail would be darker than the surrounding surface. theirs, on the contrary, is lighter coloured--in point of fact, quite white, from the saltpetre tossed to the top by the hooves of their galloping horses. the gaucho every now and then casts a glance over his shoulder, to assure himself of the sun's disc being true behind their backs; and in this manner they press on, still keeping up the pace at which they had started. they have made something more than ten miles from the point where they entered upon the _salitral_; and gaspar begins to look inquiringly ahead, in the hope of sighting a tree, ridge, rock, or other land-mark to tell where the _travesia_ terminates. his attention thus occupied, he for awhile forgets what has hitherto been engaging it--the position of the sun. and when next he turns to observe the great luminary, it is only to see that it is no longer there--at least no longer visible. a mass of dark cloud has drifted across its disc, completely obscuring it. in fact, it was the sudden darkening of the sky, and, as a consequence, the shadow coming over the plain before his face, which prompted him to turn round--recalling the necessity of caution as to their course. "_santos dios_!" he cries out, his own brow becoming shadowed as the sky; "our luck has left us, and--" "and what?" asks cypriano, seeing that the gaucho hesitates, as if reluctant to say why fortune has so suddenly forsaken them. "there's a cloud come over the sun; has that anything to do with it?" "everything, senorito. if that cloud don't pass off again, we're as good as lost. and," he adds, with eyes still turned to the east, his glance showing him to feel the gravest apprehension, "i am pretty sure it won't pass off--for the rest of this day at all events. _mira_! it's moving along the horizon--still rising up and spreading out!" the others also perceive this, they too, having halted, and faced to eastward. "_santissima_!" continues the gaucho in the same serious tone, "_we're lost as it is now_!" "but how lost?" inquires ludwig, who, with his more limited experience of pampas life, is puzzled to understand what the gaucho means. "in what way?" "just because there's _no may_. that's the very thing we've lost, senorito. look around! now, can you tell east from west, or north from south? no, not a single point of the compass. if we only knew one, that would be enough. but we don't, and, therefore, as i've said, we're lost--dead, downright lost; and, for anything beyond this, we'll have to go a groping. at a crawl, too, like three blind cats." "nothing of the sort!" breaks in cypriano, who, a little apart from the other two, has been for the last few seconds to all appearance holding communion with himself. "nothing of the sort," he repeats riding towards them with a cheerful expression. "we'll neither need to go groping, gaspar, nor yet at a crawl. possibly, we may have to slacken the pace a bit; but that's all." both ludwig and the gaucho, but especially the latter, sit regarding him with puzzled looks. for what can he mean? certainly something which promises to release them from their dilemma, as can be told by his smiling countenance and confident bearing. in fine, he is asked to explain himself, and answering, says:-- "look back along our trail. don't you see that it runs straight?" "we do," replies gaspar, speaking for both. "in a dead right line, thank the sun for that; and i only wish we could have had it to direct us a little longer, instead of leaving us in the lurch as it has done. but go on, senorito! i oughtn't to have interrupted you." "well," proceeds the young paraguayan, "there's no reason why we shouldn't still travel in that same right line--since we can." "ha!" ejaculates the gaucho, who has now caught the other's meaning, "i see the whole thing. bravo, senor cypriano! you've beaten me in the craft of the pampas. but i'm not jealous--no. only proud to think my own pupil has shown himself worthy of his teacher. _gracias a dios_!" during all this dialogue, ludwig is silent, seated in his saddle, a very picture of astonishment, alike wondering at what his cousin can mean, and the burst of joyous enthusiasm it has elicited from the gaucho's lips. his wonder is brought to an end, however, by cypriano turning round to him, and giving the explanation in detail. "don't you see, _sobrino mio_, that one of us can stay by the end of the trail we've already made, or two for that matter, while the third rides forward. the others can call after to keep him in a straight line and to the course. the three of us following one another, and the last giving the directions from our trail behind, we can't possibly go astray. thanks to that white stuff, our back-tracks can be seen without difficulty, and to a sufficient distance for our purpose." long before cypriano has reached the end of his explanatory discourse, ludwig, of quick wit too, catches his meaning, and with an enthusiasm equalling that of the gaucho, cries out:-- "_viva, sobrino mio_! you're a genius!" not a moment more is lost or spent upon that spot; ludwig being the one chosen to lead off, the gaucho following, with a long space between them, while the rear is brought up by cypriano himself; who for this go, and not gaspar, acts as guide and director. chapter forty one. travelling tandem. an odd spectacle the trio of trackers would afford to anyone seeing them on the _salitral_ now, without knowing what they are at; one riding directly in the wake and on the track of the other, with over a hundred yards between each pair. and, as all are going at full gallop, it might be supposed that the foremost is fleeing from the other two--one of the pursuers having a blown horse and fallen hopelessly behind! nor do they proceed in silence. instead, the hindmost is heard to utter loud shouts which the one midway repeats, as if in echo; while he ahead alone says nothing. even this would strengthen the supposition of its being a chase; the pursued party speechless from the intensity of his fears, and the effort he is making to escape his pursuers. one near enough, however, to note the expression upon the faces of all three, and hear the words spoken, would know that the three galloping horsemen, though oddly apart, are in friendly communication with one another. since in their shouts, though loud, is nothing to tell of hostility or anger. nor yet any great variety of speech--only the two words, "right" and "left;" these uttered at short but irregular intervals, first by the hindmost, then taken up by the one riding midway, and passed on to him who leads; the last, as he hears them, shaping his course in accordance. in this quaint fashion they have proceeded several leagues, when the leader, ludwig, is seen to swerve suddenly to the left, without any direction having reached him from behind; this, too, at an angle of full fifty degrees. "right!" calls cypriano from the rear, the tone of his voice telling of surprise, while the same is visible on his face. gaspar repeats the word in like accent of astonishment. cypriano once more vociferating, "right! to the right!" but, although ludwig must have heard them both, to neither gives he ear, nor pays the slightest attention to the directions called out to him. instead, he still holds on in the new course, which he seems to have chosen for himself. has his horse shied, and escaped from his control? that is the first thought of the other two, who by this time have both reined up, and sit looking after him. then a more painful apprehension forces itself upon them; he may have gone astray in another sense, than from the track he should have taken. is he still under the influence of the animal electricity, which might account for his seemingly eccentric behaviour? for eccentric it certainly appears, if not something worse--as indeed they half-suspect it to be. while they continue watching him, they see, as well as hear, what goes far towards confirming their suspicions. for after galloping some two or three hundred yards, and without once looking back, he suddenly pulls up, raises the hat from his head, and holding it aloft, waves it round and round, all the while uttering cries as of one in a frenzy! "_pobrecito_!" mutters gaspar to himself, "the excitement has been too much for him. so long on the strain--no wonder. _ay de mi_? another of that poor family doomed--and to worse than death!" at the same time cypriano is reflecting in a somewhat similar fashion, though he makes no remark. the strange exhibition saddens him beyond the power of speech. his cousin has gone crazed! they had headed their horses, and were about to ride rapidly after, when they saw him stop; and now moving gently forward with their eyes on him, they see him replace the cap upon his head, and bend downward, with gaze given to the ground. some new fancy dictated by a disordered brain, think they. what will he do next? what will they see? and what _do_ they see on drawing nearer to him? that which makes both of them feel foolish enough; at the same time that it rejoices them to think they have been the victims of a self-deception. for before they are quite up to the spot where he has halted, they perceive a large space of whitish colour, where the surface mud has been tossed and mixed up with the substratum of saltpetre--all done by the hoofs of horses, as even at a distance they can tell. "come along here, you laggards!" cries ludwig in a tone of triumph; "i've something to show you. feast your eyes upon this!" while speaking he nods to the ground by his horse's head, indicating the disturbed tract; then, adding as he raises his hand, and points outward-- "and on that!" the "that" he refers to is a white list leading away westward as far as they can see--evidently the trail taken by those they are in pursuit of. long ere this, both gaspar and cypriano have full comprehension of what perplexed while alarming them. but neither says a word of the suspicions they had entertained concerning him. each in his own mind has resolved never to speak of them, the gaucho, as he comes up again, crying out-- "bravo!" then adding with an air of gracious humility, "so, senor ludwig, you, too, have beaten me! beaten us all! you've set us on the right trail now; one which, if i mistake not, will conduct us to the end of our journey, without need of sunshine, or any other contrivance." "and that end," interposes cypriano, "will be in a town or camp of tovas indians, at the tent of the scoundrel aguara;" then, adding excitedly, "oh! that i were there now!" "have patience, _hijo mio_," counsels gaspar; "you'll be there in good time, and that very soon. for, from something i remember, i don't think we've much more journey to make. but before proceeding further, let us take a look at this curious thing here, and see what we can make of it. besides, our animals need breathing a bit." so saying, he dismounts, as do the others; and leaving their horses to stand at rest, all three commence examination of the tract which shows stirred and trampled. they see hoof-marks of horses--scores of them--all over the ground for the space of several perches, and pointed in every direction; among them also the foot-prints of men, with here and there smooth spots as if where human bodies had reclined. that both men and horses had been there is evident, and that they had gone off by the trace running westward, equally so. but how they came thither is a question not so easily answered; since the same halting-place shows no track of either horse or man leading towards it! odd all this might appear, indeed inexplicable, to one unacquainted with the nature of a dust-storm, or unaware of the incidents which have preceded. but to gaspar, the gaucho, everything is as clear as daylight; and, after a short inspection of the "sign," he thus truthfully interprets it:-- "the redskins had just got thus far, when the _tormenta_ came on. it caught them here, and that's why we see these smooth patches; they lay down to let it blow by. well; there's one good turn it's done us: we now know the exact time they passed this spot; or, at all events, when they were on it. that must have been just after we entered the cave, and were engaged with the _tigre_--i mean it number . no doubt by the time we tackled the old tom, they were off again. as, you see, _muchachos_, some little rain has sprinkled that trail since they passed over it, which shows they went away in the tail of that terrific shower. so," he adds, turning round, and stepping back towards his horse, "there's nothing more to be done but ride off after them; which we may now do as rapidly as our animals can carry us." at this they all remount, and setting their horses' heads to the indian trail, proceed upon it at a brisk pace; no longer travelling tandem, but broadly abreast. chapter forty two. picking up pearls. from their new point of departure, the trackers have no difficulty about the direction; this traced out for them, as plain as if a row of finger-posts, twenty yards apart, were set across the _salitral_. for at least a league ahead they can distinguish the white list, where the saline efflorescence has been turned up, and scattered about by the hoofs of the indian horses. they can tell by the trail that over this portion of their route the party they are in pursuit of has not ridden in any compact or regular order, but straggled over a wide space; so that, here and there, the tracks of single horses show separate and apart. in the neighbourhood of an enemy the indians of the chaco usually march under some sort of formation; and gaspar, knowing this, draws the deduction that those who have latest passed over the _salitral_ must have been confident that no enemy was near--either in front or following them. possibly, also, their experience of the _tormenta_, which must have been something terrible on that exposed plain, had rendered them careless as to their mode of marching. whatever the cause, they now, taking up their trail, do not pause to speculate upon it, nor make any delay. on the contrary, as hounds that have several times lost the scent, hitherto faint, but once more recovered, and now fresher and stronger than ever, they press on with ardour not only renewed, but heightened. all at once, however, a shout from cypriano interrupts the rapidity of their progress--in short, bringing them to a halt--he himself suddenly reigning up as he gives utterance to it. gaspar and ludwig turn simultaneously towards him for an explanation. while their glances hitherto have been straying far forward, he has been giving his habitually to the ground more immediately under his horse's head, and to both sides of the broad trail; his object being to ascertain if among the many tracks of the indians' horses, those of francesca's pony are still to be seen. and sure enough he sees the diminutive hoof-marks plainly imprinted--not at one particular place, but every here and there as they go galloping along. it is not this, however, which elicited his cry, and caused him to come so abruptly to a stop. instead, something which equally interests, while more surely proclaiming the late presence of the girl, in that place, with the certainty of her being carried along a captive. he has caught sight of an object which lies glistening among the white powder of the _salitre_--whitish itself, but of a more lustrous sheen. pearls--a string of them, as it proves upon closer inspection! at a glance he recognises an ornament well-known to him, as worn by his girlish cousin; ludwig also, soon as he sees it, crying out:-- "it's sister's necklet!" gaspar, too, remembers it; for pearls are precious things in the eyes of a gaucho, whose hat often carries a band of such, termed the _toquilla_. cypriano, flinging himself from his saddle, picks the necklace up, and holds it out for examination. it is in no way injured, the string still unbroken, and has no doubt dropped to the ground by the clasp coming undone. but there are no traces of a struggle having taken place, nor sign that any halt had been made on that spot. instead, the pony's tracks, there distinctly visible, tell of the animal having passed straight on without stop or stay. in all likelihood, the catch had got loosened at the last halting-place in that conflict with the storm, but had held on till here. thus concluding, and cypriano remounting, they continue onward along the trail, the finding of the pearls having a pleasant effect upon their spirits. for it seems a good omen, as if promising that they may yet find the one who had worn them, as also be able to deliver her from captivity. exhilarated by the hope, they canter briskly on; and for several leagues meet nothing more to interrupt them; since that which next fixes their attention, instead of staying, but lures them onward--the tops of tall trees, whose rounded crowns and radiating fronds tell that they are palms. it still lacks an hour of sunset, when these begin to show over the brown waste, and from this the trackers know they are nearing the end of the _travesia_. cheered by the sight, they spur their horses to increased speed, and are soon on the edge of the _salitral_; beyond, seeing a plain where the herbage is green, as though no dust-storm had flown over it. nor had there, for the _tormenta_, like cyclones and hurricanes, is often local, its blast having a well-defined border. riding out upon this tract--more pleasant for a traveller--they make a momentary halt, but still remaining in their saddles, as they gaze inquiringly over it. and here cypriano, recalling a remark which gaspar had made at their last camping-place, asks an explanation of it. the gaucho had expressed a belief, that from something he remembered, they would not have much further to go before arriving at their journey's end. "why did you say that?" now questions the young paraguayan. "because i've heard the old _cacique_, naraguana, speak of a place where they buried their dead. strange my not thinking of that sooner; but my brains have been so muddled with what's happened, and the hurry we've been in all along, i've forgotten a good many things. he said they had a town there too, where they sometimes went to live, but oftener to die. i warrant me that's the very place they're in now; and, from what i understood him to say, it can't be very far t'other side this _salitral_. he spoke of a hill rising above the town, which could be seen a long way off: a curious hill, shaped something like a wash-basin turned bottom upwards. now, if we could only sight that hill." at this he ceases speaking, and elevates his eyes, with an interrogative glance which takes in all the plain ahead, up to the horizon's verge. only for a few seconds is he silent, when his voice is again heard, this time in grave, but gleeful, exclamation:-- "_por todos santos_! there's the hill itself!" the others looking out behold a dome-shaped eminence, with a flat, table-like top recognisable from the quaint description gaspar has just given of it, though little more than its summit is visible above the plain--for they are still several miles distant from it. "we must go no nearer to it now," observes the gaucho, adding, in a tone of apprehension, "we may be too near already. _caspita_! just look at that!" the last observation refers to the sun, which, suddenly shooting out from the clouds hitherto obscuring it, again shows itself in the sky. not now, however, as in the early morning hours, behind their backs, but right in front of them, and low down, threatening soon to set. "_vayate_!" he continues to ejaculate in a tone of mock scorn, apostrophising the great luminary, "no thanks to you now, showing yourself when you're not needed. instead, i'd thank you more if you'd kept your face hid a bit longer. better for us if you had." "why better?" asks cypriano, who, as well as ludwig, has been listening with some surprise to the singular monologue. "what harm can the sun do us now more than ever?" "because now, more than ever, he's shining inopportunely, both as to time and place." "in what way?" "in a way to show us to eyes we don't want to see us just yet. look at that hill yonder. supposing now, just by chance, any of the indians should be idling upon it, or they have a vidette up there. bah! what am i babbling about? he couldn't see us if they had; not here, unless through a telescope, and i don't think the tovas are so far civilised as to have that implement among their chattels. for all, we're not safe on this exposed spot, and the sooner we're off it the better. some of them may be out scouting in this direction. come, let us get under cover, and keep so till night's darkness gives us a still safer screen against prying eyes. thanks to the virgin! yonder's the very place for our purpose." he points to a clump of trees, around the stems of which appears a dense underwood; and, soon as signalling this, he rides toward and into it, the others after him. once inside the copse, and for the time feeling secure against observation, they hold a hasty counsel as to which step they ought next to take. from the sight of that oddly-shaped hill, and what caspar remembers naraguana to have said, they have no doubt of its being the same referred to by the old chief, and that the sacred town of the tovas is somewhere beside it. so much they feel sure of, their doubts being about the best way for them to approach the place and enter the town, as also the most proper time. and with these doubts are, of course, mingled many fears; though with these, strange to say, ludwig, the youngest and least experienced of the three, is the least troubled. under the belief, as they all are, that naraguana is still living, his confidence in the friendship of the aged _cacique_ has throughout remained unshaken. when the latter shall be told of all that has transpired; how his palefaced friend and protege met his death by the assassin's hand--how the daughter of that friend has been carried off-- surely he will not refuse restitution, even though it be his own people who have perpetrated the double crime? reasoning thus, ludwig counsels their riding straight on to the indian town, and trusting to the good heart of naraguana--throwing themselves upon his generosity, cypriano is equally eager to reach the place, where he supposes his dear cousin francesca to be pining as a prisoner; but holds a very different opinion about the prudence of the step, and less believes in the goodness of naraguana. to him all indians seem treacherous--tovas indians more than any--for before his mental vision he has ever the image of aguara, and can think of none other. as for the gaucho, though formerly one of naraguana's truest friends, from what has happened, his faith in the integrity of the old tovas chief is greatly shaken. besides, the caution, habitual to men of his calling and kind, admonishes him against acting rashly now, and he but restates his opinion: that they will do best to remain under cover of the trees, at least till night's darkness comes down. of course this is conclusive, and it is determined that they stay. dismounting, they make fast their horses to some branches, and sit down beside them--_en bivouac_. but in this camp they kindle no fire, nor make any noise, conversing only in whispers. one passing the copse could hear no sound inside it, save the chattering of a flock of macaws, who have their roosting-place amid the tops of its tallest trees. chapter forty three. in the sacred town. that same sun which became so suddenly obscured over the _salitral_, to shine again in the later hours of the afternoon, is once more about to withdraw its light from the chaco--this time for setting. already appears its disc almost down upon the horizon; and the strangely-shaped hill, which towers above the tovas town, casts a dark shadow over the plain eastward, to the distance of many miles. the palms skirting the lake reflect their graceful forms far over the water, whose surface, undisturbed by the slightest breath of air, shows smooth and shining as a mirror; broken, however, here and there, where water-fowl disport themselves upon it. among these may be observed the great musk duck, misnamed "muscovy," and the black-necked swan; both indigenous to the chaco; while in the shallower places along shore, and by the edges of the islets, appear various species of long-legged waders, standing still, or stalking about as if on stilts; the most conspicuous of all being the scarlet flamingo, side by side with the yet taller _garzon_, already known to us as "soldier-crane." a scene of tranquil yet picturesque beauty--perhaps no fairer on earth-- is the landscape lying around the sacred town of the tovas. and on this same day and hour, a stranger entering within the precincts of the place itself might not observe anything to contrast with the tranquillity of the scene outside. among the _toldos_ he would see children at play, and, here and there, seated by their doors young girls engaged in various occupations; some at basket work, others weaving mats from the fibres of split palm leaves, still others knitting _redes_, or hammocks. women of more mature age are busied with culinary cares, preparing the evening repast over fires kindled in the open air; while several are straining out the honey of the wild bee, called _tosimi_, which a party of bee-hunters, just returned to the _tolderia_, has brought home. a few of the men may also be observed moving about, or standing in groups on the open ground adjoining the _malocca_; but at this hour most of them are on horseback out upon the adjacent plain, there galloping to and fro, gathering their flocks and herds, and driving them towards the _corrals_; these flocks and herds composed of horned cattle, sheep, and goats--the tovas indians being somewhat of a pastoral people. no savages they, in the usual sense of the term, nor yet is hunting their chief occupation. this they follow now and then, diversifying the chase by a warlike raid into the territory of some hostile tribe, or as often some settlement of the palefaces. for all civilisation of a certain kind has made progress among them; having its origin in an early immigration from peru, when the "children of the sun" were conquered by pizarro and his _conquistadores_. at that time many peruvians, fleeing from the barbarous cruelty of their spanish invaders, sought asylum in the chaco, there finding it; and from these the tovas and other tribes have long ago learnt many of the arts of civilised life; can spin their own thread, and sew skilfully as any sempstress of the palefaces; weave their own cloth, dress and dye it in fast colours of becoming patterns; in short, can do many kinds of mechanical work, which no white artisan need feel ashamed to acknowledge as his own. above all, are they famed for the "feather-work," or plume embroidery--an art peculiarly indian-- which, on their first becoming acquainted with it, astonished the rough soldiers of cortez and pizarro, as much as it delighted them. to this day is it practised among several of the south american tribes, notably those of the gran chaco, while the tovas particularly excel in it. but perhaps the highest evidence of these indians having some civilisation, is their form of government, which is in reality republican. for their _cacique_, or chief, although sometimes allowed to rule by hereditary succession, is more often chosen by the sub-chiefs and warriors; in short, elected just as the president of a republic. this gives the key to aguara's doubts and fears on returning to the sacred town with francesca halberger as his captive. nor are the latter yet allayed, despite three days having elapsed since his return. though he has done all in his power to conceal from his people the true facts in relation to her father's death, still certain details of the tragedy have leaked out; and it has become known to most, that the hunter-naturalist is not only dead, but died by the hand of an assassin. this last, however, they suppose to have been the other white man late on a visit to them--valdez the _vaqueano_. for the same tale which aguara had told to his captive on the way, he has repeated, with some variations, to the elders of the tribe assembled in council within the _malocca_. so far not much of a fiction; only that part accounting for the death of the young brave who fell to halberger's bullet--a stray shot, while the latter was defending himself against valdez. and the daughter of the murdered man has been brought back with them, not as a prisoner, but because it was inconvenient to take her direct to her own home. she can and will be sent thither at the first opportunity which offers. so promises the deceitful son of naraguana to those of the tribe who would call him to account. meanwhile, the girl has been entrusted to the charge and safe keeping of shebotha, a sort of "mystery woman," or sorceress, of much power in the community; though, as all know, under the influence of aguara himself. but he has not dared to take the youthful captive to his own _toldo_, or even hint at so doing; instead, he still keeps his wicked purpose to himself, trusting to time and shebotha for its accomplishment. according to his own way of thinking, he can well afford to wait. he has no thought that anyone will ever come after the captive girl; much less one with power to release her. it is not probable, and from a knowledge possessed only by himself, scarcely possible. her father is dead, her mother doomed to worse than death, as also her brother and that other relative--his own rival. for before parting with him, rufino valdez had said what amounted to so much; and possibly by this time the senora halberger, with what remained of her family, would be on the way back to paraguay; not returning voluntarily, but taken back by the _vaqueano_. with this belief--a false one, as we know--the young tovas chief feels secure of his victim, and therefore refrains from any act of open violence, as likely to call down upon him the censure of his people. though popular with the younger members of the tribe, he is not so much in favour with the elders as to fly in the face of public opinion; for were these aware of what has really taken place, it would go ill with him. but as yet they are not; silence having been enjoined on the youths who accompanied him in that ill-starred expedition, which they, for their own sakes, have hitherto been careful to keep. for all, certain facts have come to light in disjointed, fragmentary form, with deductions drawn from them, which go hard against the character of the young _cacique_; and as the hours pass others are added, until discontent begins to show itself among the older and more prominent men of the tribe, chiefly those who were the friends of his father. for these were also friends of her father, now alike fatherless, though made so by a more cruel fate. low murmurings are here and there heard, which speak of an intent to prosecute inquiry on the subject of halberger's assassination--even to the carrying it into paraguay. now that they have re-entered into amity with paraguay's dictator, they may go thither, though the purpose be a strange one; to arraign the commissioner who acted in restoring the treaty! with much whispering and murmurs around, it is not strange that the young _cacique_, while dreaming of future pleasures, should also have fears for that future. his own passion, wild as wicked, has brought him into danger, and a storm seems brewing that, sooner or later, may deprive him of his chieftainship. chapter forty four. an indian belle. if the tovas chief be in danger of receiving punishment from his people for carrying into captivity the daughter of his father's friend, there is also danger to the captive herself from another and very different source. just as the passion of love has been the cause of her being brought to the sacred town of the tovas, that of jealousy is like to be the means of her there finding an early grave. the jealous one is an indian girl, named nacena, the daughter of a sub-chief, who, like naraguana himself, was an aged man held in high regard; and, as the deceased _cacique_, now also sleeping his last sleep in one of their scaffold tombs. despite her bronzed skin, nacena is a beautiful creature; for the brown is not so deep as to hinder the crimson blush showing its tint upon her cheeks; and many a south american maiden, boasting the blue blood of andalusia, has a complexion less fair than she. as on this same evening she sits by the shore of the lake, on the trunk of a fallen palm-tree, her fine form clad in the picturesque indian garb, with her lovely face mirrored in the tranquil water, a picture is presented on which no eye could look, nor thought dwell, without a feeling of delight; and, regarding her thus, no one would believe her to be other than what she is--the belle of the tovas tribe. her beauty had not failed to make impression upon the heart of aguara, long before his having become _cacique_. he has loved her too, in days gone by, ere he looked upon the golden-haired paleface. both children then, and little more yet; for the indian girl is only a year or two older than the other. but in this southern clime, the precocity already spoken of is not confined to those whose skins are called white, but equally shared by the red. nacena has been beloved by the son of naraguana, and knew, or at least believed it. but she better knows, that she has been deceived by him, and is now slighted, about to be cast aside for another. that other will, ere long, be chieftainess of the tovas tribe, while she-- she has reflected thus far, when the bitter thought overpowering causes her to start to her feet, a cry escaping her lips as if it came from a heart cleft in twain. nothing of this, however, shows in her face. the expression upon it is rather that of anger, as a _jaguarete_ of her native plains, whose rage has been aroused by the arrow of the indian hunter suddenly piercing its side. hitherto silent, she is now heard to speak; but, though alone, the words to which she gives utterance are not in soliloquy: instead, as if spoken to some one who is near, though unseen. it is an apostrophe meant for no mortal ears, but addressed to the divinity of the lake! "spirit of the waters!" she cries, with arms outstretched and head aloft, "hear my prayer! tell me if it be true! will he make her his wife?" she is silent for a second or two, as though expecting a reply, and listening for it. it comes, but not from the deity addressed. out of her own heart she has the answer. "he will; yes, surely will! else, why has he brought her hither? a false tale he has told in the council of the elders; false as himself! where are his words, his vows, made to me with lips that gave kisses? perjured--broken--gone as his love, given to another! and i am soon to see her his queen, salute her as mine, and attend upon her as one of her waiting maids! never! no, spirit of the waters! rather than do that, i shall go to you; be one of your attendants, not hers. rather than that, thou shalt take me to thy bosom!" high-sounding speeches from an indian girl, scarce fifteen years of age? but love's eloquence is not confined to age, race, or rank, no more than that of jealousy. both passions may burn in the breast of the savage maiden, as in the heart of the high-born lady--perhaps tearing it more. not strange they should find like expression on the lips. "why not now?" continues nacena in a tone that tells of despair, while the cloud upon her brow is seen to grow darker. "ah! why not? no need waiting longer; i know all. a leap from yonder rock, and all would be over, my suspense, as my sufferings." for a moment she stands with eyes fixed upon a rocky promontory, which juts out into the lake near by. its head overhangs the water, three fathoms deep, as she knows. many the time has she sprung from that projecting point to swim, naiad-like, underneath it. but the plunge she now meditates is not for swimming, but to sink! "no!" she exclaims, after a pause, as she withdraws her gaze from the rock, the expression upon her face changing back to that of the _jaguarete_! "no, spirit of the waters! not yet. nacena fears not to die, but that is not the death for the daughter of a tovas chief. if wronged, she must resent it, and will. revenge first, and the deceiver shall first die. after that, o spirit, thou canst take me; nacena will no longer care to live." as she says this, the sad look returns to her countenance, replacing that of anger; and for a time she stands with head drooped down to her bosom, and arms hanging listlessly by her side--a very picture of despair. at length, she is about to leave the spot, when a footstep warns her of one making approach; and, turning, she sees who it is. a youth, but to manhood grown, and wearing the insignia of a sub-chief. though many years older than herself, he is her brother. "sister!" he says, coming up to her, and closely scanning her face, "you have thoughts that trouble you. i would know what they are." "oh, nothing," she rejoins, with an effort to appear calm. "i've only been looking over the lake, at the birds out yonder. how they enjoy themselves this fine evening!" "but you're not enjoying yourself, nacena; nor haven't been for some time past. i've noticed that; and more, i know the reason." she starts at his words; not to turn pale, but with the blood mantling into her brown cheeks. still she is silent. "you need neither deny, nor declare it," he continues. "'tis all known to me, save one thing. that alone i wish to ask you about. i must have an answer, and a truthful one. as your brother i demand it, nacena." she fixes her eyes upon him, in a look half-frightened, then timidly asks: "what thing, kaolin?" "has he deceived you?" "deceived!" she echoes, the blush upon her cheeks mounting up to her brow, and becoming deeper red. "brother! had any one but you asked that question, i would--deceived! no; your sister would die before that could have been. as you seem to know all, i will no longer conceal the truth from you. you speak of aguara. i loved him; ah! love him still. and he told me my love was returned; spoke it solemnly; vowed it. now i know his words were false, and he was but beguiling me." "then he has trifled with you," exclaims the brother, his indignation now beyond bounds. "you, my sister, the daughter of a tovas chief, of birth and blood equal to his own! but he shall repent it, and soon. the time has not come; it will ere long. enough now, nacena. not a word to anyone of what has passed between us. be patient and wait. for your wrongs, i promise, you snail have revenge." and with this threat, he turns away; leaving her on the lake's edge, as he found her. soon as he is out of sight, and his footfall beyond hearing, she reseats herself on the trunk of the palm; and, supporting her head upon her hands, gives way to weeping--a very cataract of tears. it seems to relieve her from the tumult of emotions late harassing her heart, and after a time she looks up with an expression in her eyes different from all that have preceded. it is of hope; as can be told by the words which fall in low murmuring from her lips: "after all i may be mistaken. can i? if so, and he is still true, then i am wronging him, and kaolin may commit a crime that will bring both punishment and repentance. oh, that i knew the truth! but surely, shebotha knows, and can tell it me. she will, for the reward i shall offer her. this night she has promised to meet me on the hill, and then, then--" she breaks off abruptly, and with countenance again clouding over. for the words "i shall learn the worst" are on her lips, and the thought in her mind. it is hope's last spark, love-lighted from embers nearly extinguished, still flickering, faint, and vainly struggling to burn on. chapter forty five. an elevated graveyard. just as the last glimmer of twilight is taking departure from the plain, the three who had sought concealment under the roosting-place of macaws, slip quietly out of the copse, and ride away from it, leaving the noisy birds, now silent, behind them. there is yet light enough to enable them to take bearings by the hill, which, as they have rightly conjectured, rises over the tovas town; and, heading direct towards it, after a couple of hours spent in riding at a brisk pace, they arrive at the rocky steep forming a periphery to its base. as there is now a clear moonlight, caution dictates their again getting under cover; which they do by drawing their horses close in to the adjacent cliff, whose shadow sufficiently conceals them. but it is not intended to stay long there. at their last halting-place they had considered everything, and decided upon the steps to be taken; so far as they can, from what is known to them. if the circumstances change, or turn out different from what they are expecting, they must be guided in their action accordingly. still in the belief of naraguana being alive, ludwig is again of the opinion that they should push on to the town without further delay. the place cannot now be far-off; for at the hill's base they have struck a broad and much-travelled trail denoting the proximity of a settlement. cypriano is undecided, but gaspar, as before, goes strongly against proceeding directly onward. "you speak of delay, senor ludwig," he says; "but in this case, the old adage, `more haste less speed,' might be true, as it often is. besides, what would we gain by entering their town now? it isn't likely we should accomplish anything to-night. you forget the hour it is--nigh unto midnight. and as the custom of most chaco indians is early to bed and early to rise, we'd no doubt find every redskin of them asleep, with only their dogs to receive us. _carrai_! a nice reception that would be! like as not some scores of half-famished curs to fall upon us-- perhaps drag us out of our saddles. whereas, in the morning all would be different, with the people up to protect us from such an assault. but whether we enter at night, or by day, i still stick to the belief, that it will be better to do so by stealth; at least, one of us should first slip in that way, and learn how the land lies. in any case, we ought to have a squint at this sacred town, before trusting ourselves within its walls--if walls it have. from the look of things here, i fancy it lies on the other side of this hill. by climbing the hill now, and staying on its top till daybreak, we'll get a god view of the town, which will, no doubt, be right under us. we can see all through the streets, and what's going on in them. that will give us a hint of how to act afterwards, and if things look favourable, we might then ride boldly in; which, after all, may be the best way of introducing ourselves--only it should be done in the daylight." cypriano sees that the gaucho's reasoning is correct; and ludwig also acknowledging it to be so, it is finally decided that they ascend the hill, and remain upon its summit for the rest of that night. but now comes a question not hitherto asked, or thought of. how is the ascent to be made, and where is there a path practicable for making it? not only is it steep, but its sides are thickly overgrown with trees, and between their trunks a dense tangle of underwood. "it must be on its summit, they have their burying-ground," observes gaspar, gazing upward. "yes; naraguana spoke of its being on the top of a hill, and there's no other hill near. if that be the case, and they carry their dead up, there'll sure be some sort of a road for their funeral processions. that would likely be on the other side, straight up from the town. but i warrant there's a trail starts from this side too, and runs right over the hill. let's ride along a bit, and see if there be." the gaucho's conjecture is correct, as they soon discover. before they have ridden three score lengths of their horses, keeping close along the base of the hill, they perceive an opening in the timber which skirts it, marked by certain insignia denoting the entrance to a much-frequented path. for though narrow, it shows well trampled and trodden. diverging abruptly from the broad road running on round the hill, it strikes in under a tall cotton tree, a _ceiba_, this conspicuous from being bent over, as if half-blown down. the path enters between its trunk and a gigantic _pita_ plant (_agave_), whose stiff spinous leaves almost bar up the entrance as with an iron gate. "that's the way we've got to go," says gaspar, pointing to it, at the same time setting his horse's head in the direction of the _ceiba_; then adding, as he nods towards the _pita_ plant; "have a care of your heads, _hijos mios_! look out for this queer customer on the left, or you may get your soft cheeks scratched a bit." on delivering the admonition he ducks his own head, and passing under the thorny leaves of the _agave_, commences the ascent of the hill. cypriano and ludwig do likewise; and all three are soon climbing the steep, one behind the other, now in silence, the only sounds heard being the hoof-strokes of the horses, with their hard breathing as they strain up the acclivity. a quarter of an hour's tough climbing carries them up the wooded slope, and out upon the open summit, where they have a spectacle before their eyes peculiar, as it is original. as already said, the hill is table-topped, and being also dome-shaped the level surface is circular, having a diameter of some three or four hundred yards. nothing strange in this, however, since hills of the kind, termed _mesas_, are common throughout most parts of spanish america, and not rare in the gran chaco. all three are familiar with such eminences. but what they are not familiar with--and indeed none of them have ever seen before--are some scores of queer-looking structures standing all over the summit, with alley-like spaces between! scaffolds they appear, each having two stages, one above the other, such as might be used in the erection of a two-storey house! and scaffolds they are, though not employed in any building purposes; instead, for that of burial. they are the tombs on which are deposited the bodies of the tovas dead; or those of them that during life were dignitaries in the tribe. on this elevated cemetery the moon is shining brightly, though obliquely, throwing the shadows of the scaffolds aslant, so that each has its counterpart on the smooth turf by its side, dark as itself, but magnified in the moonlight. gaspar and his companions can see that these singular mausoleums are altogether constructed of timber, the supporting posts being trunks of the _cocoyol_ palm, the lower staging of strong canes, the _cana brava_, laid side by side, while the upper one, or roof, is a thatch of the leaves of another species of palm--the _cuberta_. after contemplating them for an instant, gaspar says: "this is the burying-ground naraguana spoke to me about, beyond a doubt. and not such a bad sort of place either to take one's final rest in, after life's worries are over. i shouldn't much object to being laid out in that style myself. only i'd need friends to live after me, and keep the structure in repair; otherwise the frail thing might some day come tumbling down, and my poor bones along with it." at the conclusion of this quaint speech, he gives the rein to his horse, and moves on among the tombs, making for the opposite side of the cemetery, the others following in silence. for from the brow of the hill on its westward side, they expect to look down upon the indian town. "it must be on t'other side," observes the gaucho, as they proceed. "i remember the old chief saying the _tolderia_ was west of the hill." when half-way across he again reins up, halting his horse alongside one of the scaffolds, conspicuous among the rest by its larger size, as also a certain freshness about the timbers of which it is constructed; some chips scattered around the supports, where these have been chopped and barked, telling of recent erection. it is not this, however, has prompted gaspar to make stop beside it; but simply that he there sees a place suitable for the stalling of their horses. there is no need to take the animals on to the other side, but better leave them there, and themselves go forward afoot. thus reflecting, all three dismount, and attach their horses to the corner posts of the scaffold, each choosing one for his own. then, with cautious steps, they continue to the outer edge of the circle, and pushing through some trees that skirt it, look to the plain below. sure enough, there is the thing they expected to see--an indian town or _tolderia_. a large lake lies beyond, on whose tranquil surface the moon makes a mirror, as if it were glass. but their eyes rest only upon the town, their ears bent to catch any sound that may come up from it. it is not long till sounds do ascend, the barking of dogs, with now and then the lowing of cattle, and neighing of horses; but no human voice, nothing to tell that the place is inhabited by man. for there is no smoke from the houses, no lights anywhere, everybody seeming to be asleep. nothing strange in all this; nor do they looking down from the hill think it so. instead, things are just as they should be and as caspar anticipated they would. for it is now the midnight hour, and since red men must have rest as well as white ones, the tovas have all retired to their beds or hammocks. so concluding, and satisfied with what they see--reflecting further that nothing more can be done till morning--the gaucho and his companions go back to their horses, with the intention of taking off the saddles, and otherwise disposing of them for the night. it was at first proposed to keep them tied to the scaffold-posts, but on a second inspection of the place, gaspar sees it is not the best one either for their animals or themselves to pass the night in. should they go to rest under the scaffold, while asleep, their horses turning restive might pull down the posts, and bring rattling about their ears the bones of some dead _cacique_! besides, the ground underneath is not nice to repose upon; being without herbage and trampled all over, some parts seeming freshly turned up. the gaucho would prefer a patch of soft grass to lay his limbs along, and this very thing he has noticed while they were out on the brow of the eminence overlooking the town. here a grand fig-tree had attracted his attention, under its branches seeming the most proper place for them to encamp. its far-spreading and umbrageous boughs drooping back to the ground and there taking root--as the indian _banyan_ of which it is the new world representative-- enclosed a large space underneath. it would not only give them a shelter from the dews of the night, but concealment from the eyes of anyone who might chance to be passing that way. with these manifest advantages in favour of the ground under the fig-tree as a camping-place, and the disadvantages of that beneath the scaffold, the latter is without further ado forsaken, and the former taken possession of. as no camp-fire can be safely kindled, nor food cooked, they must go to sleep supperless. fortunately none of them is a-hungered, all having made a hearty meal while within the _macaw's_ grove. there they had polished off the grand "drumsticks" of the ostrich, by good luck already roasted. so caring not for supper, after having disposed of their horses by tying them to branches of the fig-tree, they stretch themselves along the ground, and seek repose, which on this night they all need, as much as on any other since starting upon their long-protracted expedition. still, they do not intend to be all asleep at the same time. in such a place, with the danger of being found in it, that would never do. one of the three must remain awake and on watch; so it is arranged that they take the duty of sentinel in turns. as the present hour appears to be the one calling for keenest vigilance, caspar volunteers for the first turn of guard; and the other two wrapping their ponchos around them, and resting their heads upon their _recados_, with a mutual _buenas noches_! become silent, if not asleep. chapter forty six. a dead man identified. whether his young companions be sleeping or awake, the gaucho does not stay by their side; but, almost as soon as seeing them disposed along the earth, slips out from under the fig-tree, and facing towards the central part of the cemetery, walks off in that direction. his object is to revisit the scaffold lately left by them, and make a more detailed examination of it. not that he cares aught about the structure itself. it is not the first time for him to have seen similar burying-places of the chaco indians, and he knows as much about them as he cares to know. nor is his object, in returning to this particular one, of a very definite character; but rather because a vague idea or instinct has come into his mind which prompts him to the act--a sort of presentiment that he may there see something to throw light on much of what has been all along mystifying him. to go thither will in no way interfere with his duties as a sentinel, since he can perform these equally well or better by moving about. besides, it will help to beguile the time, as also make him familiar with the ground they have got upon--a familiarity that may hereafter prove of service to them. as already stated, he had observed that the scaffold is of recent erection, telling that the man or woman laid upon it cannot have been very long dead. he had, moreover, noticed, while attaching his bridle to one of the uprights, that a series of notches was cut in the post, evidently to facilitate ascent. in all likelihood, the surviving relatives of the deceased are in the habit of coming thither at periodical intervals, to adorn the tomb with flowers or other tokens of affectionate memory; perhaps bring votive offerings to the spirit which presides over that consecrated spot. but whatever the purpose of the notches, the gaucho knows they will enable him to climb up with ease, and see what rests upon the platform. approaching the catafalque with silent tread, he stands for a time gazing at it without making any movement to mount up. not from curiosity does he so regard it; but something akin to awe has stolen over his spirit, and he almost fears further to intrude on the sacredness of the place. besides, the act requires caution. what if some of the indians given to nocturnal straying should chance to come that way, and see him up those stairs, desecrating the abode of the dead? even were there no other reason for his fearing to be found in that place, the act itself would make him liable to punishment--possibly no less than death! for among the tovas, as many other tribes of south american indians--infidels though they are called--the tombs of their dead are held as sacred as those of the spanish christians who so designate them. notwithstanding all this, gaspar the gaucho is not to be baulked in his design. he has not come to the bottom of that curious catafalque, to go away again without seeing what is above. and though he stands hesitating, it is only for a short while, finally making up his mind to ascend. ascend he does; laying hold of one of the notched corner posts, and climbing the primitive ladder, as it were, set ready and awaiting him. as the moon is by this far down in the sky, its beams are not obstructed by the roof thatch, but fall obliquely upon the floor of the platform beneath. there, lying at full length, the gaucho perceives a form, easily recognisable as that of a human being, though swathed in various kinds of cloths, which cover it from head to foot. the body of a man, moreover, as can be told by its size and shape; while beside, and arranged around it, are certain insignia proclaiming it to be that of some distinguished chieftain of the tovas. there are spears, shields, _macanas_, lazoes, bolas--among them the _bola perdida_, some of these weapons placed upon the platform alongside the corpse, others suspended from the beams and poles supporting the thatch of the roof. there is horse-gear as well--the multifarious trappings which appertain to the caparison of a gaucho's steed--recado, carona, caronilla, jerga, with mameluke bitts and spurs of immensely large rowels; for all these are possessed by the higher order of pampas indians, and notably their chiefs--property they have picked up in some plundering expedition, where gauchos themselves have been their victims. just such a thought passes through the mind of gaucho gaspar, as his eyes rest on the grand array displayed on the _cacique's_ tomb. for that it is the tomb of a _cacique_, and one of grand note, he has not a doubt, seeing such a selection of trophies. in addition to the war weapons and implements of the chase, there are articles of dress and adornment; bracelets of gold, bead necklets and belts, with coronets of bright-coloured plumes; while most conspicuous of all is a large feather-embroidered _manta_, covering the corpse from head to foot, even concealing the face. still there is nothing in all this to astonish gaspar mendez, or in any way give him a surprise. he has seen the like before, and often among the auracanian indians, who are kindred with the tribes of the chaco. he but makes the reflection, how silly it is in these savages thus to expose such fine commodities to the weather, and let them go to loss and decay--all to satisfy a heathen instinct of superstition! and thus reflecting, he would in all probability have lowered himself back to the ground, but for that presentiment still upon him. it influences him to remain a moment longer balancing himself upon the notched upright, and gazing over the platform. just then the moon getting clear of some cirrhus clouds, and shining brighter than ever, lights up an object hitherto unnoticed by him, but one he recognises as an old acquaintance. he starts on beholding a felt hat of the tyrolese pattern, which he well remembers to have seen worn by his master, the hunter-naturalist, and by him given to the aged _cacique_ of the tovas as a token of friendship. and now he feels the presentiment which has been upon him all explained and fulfilled. springing up on the platform, and uncovering the face of the corpse, he beholds--naraguana! chapter forty seven. gaspar despondent. "naraguana dead!" exclaims the gaucho, as standing upon the scaffold he gazes upon the form at his feet. "_santissima_! this is strange!" "but is it certainly the old _cacique_?" he adds, again stooping down and raising the selvedge of feather cloth, which had fallen back over the face. once more exposed to view, the features deeply-furrowed with age--for naraguana was a very old man--and now further shrivelled by the dry winds of the chaco, with the skin drawn tight over high-cheek bones, and hollow, sightless sockets, where once shone pair of eyes coal-black and keen--all this under the pale moonlight, presents a spectacle at once weird-like and ghastly, as if of a death's head itself! still it is the face of naraguana, as at a glance the gaucho perceives, muttering, "yes; it's the old chief, sure enough. dead, and dried up like a mummy! died of old age, no doubt. well," he continues, in graver tone, "by whatever way he may have come to his end, no greater misfortune could have befallen us. _carrai_! it's satan's own luck!" having thus delivered himself, he stands for a while on the platform, but no longer looking at the corpse, nor any of the relics around it. instead, his eyes are turned towards the tree, under whose shadow his youthful comrades are reclining, and as he supposes asleep. on that side is the moon, and as her light falls over his face, there can be seen upon it an expression of great anxiety and pain--greater than any that has marked it since that moment, when in the _sumac_ grove he bent over the dead body of his murdered master. but the troubled look now overspreading his features springs not from grief, nor has anger aught to do with it. instead, it is all apprehension. for now, as though a curtain had been suddenly lifted before his eyes, he sees beyond it, there perceiving for himself and his companions danger such as they had not yet been called upon to encounter. all along the route their thoughts were turned to naraguana, and on him rested their hopes. naraguana can do nothing for them now. "no!" reflects the gaucho, despairingly; "we can expect no help from him. and who else is there to give it? who, besides, would have the power to serve us, even if the will be not wanting? no one, i fear. _mil diablos_! it's a black look-out, now--the very blackest!" again facing round to the corpse, and fixing his eyes upon the still uncovered face, he seems to examine it as though it were a trail upon the pampas, in order to discover what tale it may tell. and just for a like purpose does he now scrutinise the features of the dead _cacique_, as appears by his soliloquy succeeding. "yes; i understand it all now--everything. he's been dead some time--at least two or three weeks. that explains their leaving the other town in such haste, and coming on here. dead, or deadly sick, before he left it, the old chief would have himself to think of, and so sent no word to us at the _estancia_. no blame to him for not doing so. and now that the young one's in power, with a fool's head and a wolf's heart, what may we expect from him? ah, what? in a matter like this, neither grace nor mercy. i know he loves the _muchachita_, with such love as a savage may--passionately, madly. all the worse for her, poor thing! and all the poorer chance for us to get her away from him. _por dios_! it does look dark." after a pause, he continues: "his making her a captive and bringing her on here, i can quite understand; that's all natural enough, since his father being dead, there's no longer any one to hinder him doing as he likes. it's only odd his chancing to meet master out that day, so far from home. one would suppose he'd been watching the _estancia_, and saw them as they went away from it. but then, there were no strange tracks about the place, nor anywhere near it. and i could discover none by the old _tolderia_ that seemed at all fresh, excepting those of the shod horse. but whoever rode him didn't seem to have come anywhere near the house; certainly not on this side. for all that, he might have approached it from the other, and then ridden round, to meet the indians afterwards at the crossing of the stream. well, i shall give the whole ground a better examination once we get back." "get back!" he exclaims, repeating his words after a pause, and in changed tone. "shall we ever get back? that's the question now, and a very doubtful one it is. but," he adds, turning to descend from the scaffold, "it won't help us any on the road my remaining up here. if the old _cacique's_ body still had the breath in it, may be it might. but as it hasn't the sooner i bid good-bye to it the better. _adios_, naraguana! _pasa v. buena noche_!" were death itself staring him in the face, instead of seeing it as he does in the face of another man, gaspar the gaucho, could not forego a jest, so much delights he to indulge in his ludicrous humour. after unburdening himself as above, he once more closes his arms around the notched post, and lowers himself from the platform. but again upon the ground, and standing with face toward the fig-tree, the gravity of its expression is resumed, and he seems to hesitate about returning to the place of bivouac, where his youthful companions are now no doubt enjoying the sweets of a profound slumber. "a pity to disturb them!" he mutters to himself; "and with such a tale as i have now to tell. but it must be told, and at once. now that everything's changed, new plans must be thought of, and new steps taken. if we're to enter the indian town at all, it will have to be in a different way from what we intended. _caspita_! how the luck's turned against us!" and with this desponding reflection, he moves off from the scaffold; and, making his way among the mausoleums, once more approaches the spot where the south american banyan casts its sombre shadow over them. chapter forty eight. breaking bad news. caspar has been mistaken in supposing the other two asleep. one of them is--ludwig, who sleeps soundly, and to all appearance peacefully. not that he is indifferent to the seriousness of the situation, or less anxious about the upshot, than cypriano. he but slumbers, because he is naturally of a more somnolent habit than his cousin, as also, being the weaker of the two, from the effects of a journey so long sustained, and travelling at such a pace. moreover, he is not even yet quite recovered from the damage done him by the gymnoti; their electricity still acting on his nervous system, and producing a certain lassitude. there is yet another reason why ludwig has let himself go to sleep--one of a moral nature. as is known, he still adheres to his belief in the fidelity of naraguana, and, so believing, is least of them all apprehensive about the result. at this moment he may be dreaming of the old _cacique_, though little dreams he that his dead body is so near! altogether different is it with cypriano. this night there is no sleep for him, nor does he think of taking any. though he lay down alongside his cousin, wrapping himself in his poncho, he did not long remain recumbent. instead, soon starting to his feet again, he has been pacing to and fro under the fig-tree, wondering where gaspar has gone. for, as known, the gaucho had slipped off without making noise, or saying word. missing him, the young paraguayan would call out his name. but he fears to raise his voice, lest it reach other ears than those for which it was intended. reflecting, moreover, that gaspar is pretty sure to have some good reason for absenting himself, and that his absence will not likely be for long, he awaits his return in silence. therefore, when the gaucho in coming back draws nigh to the fig-tree, he sees a form within the periphery of its shadow, that of cypriano, standing ready to receive him. the latter first speaks, asking: "where have you been, gaspar?" "oh! only taking a turn among the tombs." "and you've seen something among them to make you uneasy?" "why do you say that, senorito?" "because i can see it in your countenance." the gaucho, as he approaches, has the moon full upon his face, and by her light the other has observed the troubled look. "what is it?" the youth goes on to ask, in a tone of eager anxiety, all the more from seeing that the other hesitates to give the explanation. "you've discovered something--a new danger threatens us? come, gaspar, you may as well tell me of it at once." "i intend telling you, _hijo mio_. i was only waiting till we were all three together. for now, i think, we'll have to rouse master ludwig. you've conjectured aright, as i'm sorry to say. i _have_ seen something that's not as we would wish it. still, it may not be so bad as i've been making it." notwithstanding this hopeful proviso, cypriano is himself now really alarmed; and, impatient to learn what the new danger is, he stoops down over his cousin, takes hold of his arm, and shakes him out of his slumbers. ludwig, starting to his feet, confusedly inquires why he has been disturbed. then gaspar, coming close to them, so that he need not speak in a loud voice, gives an account of what he has discovered, with his own views relating to it. as he himself did, both the boys at once comprehend the changed situation, with a like keen sense of the heightened danger to result from it. naraguana's death has extinguished all hope of help from him. it may be both the cause and forecast of their own! their prospects are now gloomy indeed; but they do not idly dwell on them, or give way to utter despondency. that would be unavailing; besides, there is no time for it. something must be done to meet the altered circumstances. but what? a question to which none of them makes an immediate answer, since none can. for awhile all three stand silent, considering. only a short while, when gaspar is again stirred to activity, by reflecting that even now they are not safe. one of their horses, frightened by an owl that has flapped its wings close to its face, has snorted, striking the hard ground with his hoof, and making a noise that reverberates throughout the cemetery, echoing among the scaffolds. what if he should set to neighing, in answer to that which now and then comes up from the town below? the thing is too probable, and the result manifest. a single neigh might betray them; for what would horses be doing up there upon the sacred hill? so would any indian ask who should chance to hear it. "we must muffle our animals," says caspar. "and what's more, take them back to the other side, where we came up. there we can better conceal them among the bushes. besides, if it should come to our being under the necessity of a speedy retreat, we'll be nearer to the back-track, and have a fairer chance of getting off. senoritos! get your jergas, and wrap them round your horses' heads." he sets the example by so disposing of his own; and, accustomed to quick action in matters of the kind, all three soon have their animals "tapado." then, leading them across to where the path ascends on the opposite side, they place them under cover of some thick bushes growing near by, caspar saying: "they'll be safe enough here, i take it; at all events till the morning. then we may move them elsewhere, and if we're to have a run for it, remember, _hijos mios_, 'twill be a race for our lives. there's no naraguana now to stand between us and that young wolf, who i fear has got the dear little lamb in his clutches, so fast we'll have great--" the effect of his words are such, upon those listening to them, that he suddenly interrupts himself in what he was about to say, and in changed tone continues: "_carramba_! we'll rescue her yet, naraguana, or no naraguana. it can be done without him, and i think i know the way." in saying so, caspar is practising a slight deception, his object being to cheer his young companions, over whom his last speech seemed to cast the gloom of despair. for he has as yet thought of no way, nor conceived any definite plan of action. when asked by cypriano to explain himself, he is silent; and appealed to, he answers by evasion. the truth is, that up to the instant of his finding naraguana's body upon the scaffold, he too had been trusting all to what the latter would do for them; and no more than ludwig could he believe the good old chief to have turned traitor to the palefaced friend so long under his protection, much less connived at his assassination. now, the gaucho knows he has had no hand either in the murder of his master, or the abduction of that master's daughter. these events must have occurred subsequent to his death, and, while they were in the act of occurrence, naraguana was sleeping his last sleep under his plumed _manta_ upon that elevated platform. his son and successor--for gaspar doubts not that aguara has succeeded him in the chieftainship--is answerable for the deed of double crime, whoever may have been his aiders and abettors. of course, this makes the case all the more difficult to deal with, since the new _cacique_, by this time established in full plenitude of power, will have it all his own way, and can carry things with a high hand, as he most surely will. to make appeal to him for the restitution of the captive would be manifestly idle, like asking a tiger to surrender the prey it holds between its teeth or in its claws. the gaucho has no thought of so appealing, any more than either of the others. and no more than they has he formed a plan of future action. only now, after their disposal of the horses, is his brain busy in the conception of some scheme suited to the changed circumstances; and hence, on cypriano asking him to tell the way he knew of, he but replies evasively, saying: "be patient, senorito! wait till we've got things a little snug, then i'll take pleasure in telling you. but we mustn't remain here. on the other side of this queer cemetery, where the road runs down to the _tolderia_--as i've no doubt there is such--that will be the place for us to spend the night in. there we can see and hear what passes on the plain, and should any one stray up we'll be warned of it, either by our eyes or ears, in good time to get out of their way. so let us cross over. and we must step silently," he adds, pointing to the _cacique's_ scaffold tomb, "lest we disturb the sleep of old naraguana, up yonder." with this facetious remark, made partly in the indulgence of his usual humour, but as much to raise the spirits of his young companions, he strides off among the odd structures, making direct for the other side of the cemetery, ludwig and cypriano following in single file. chapter forty nine. gaspar means masquerading. as they might truly anticipate, the gaucho's conjecture proves to be correct. a road runs up to the summit of the hill on its western side; not direct, but somewhat zigzagged, in consequence of the slope on that face being steeper, and the ground more rocky and uneven. withal, it is much wider than that by which they ascended, the latter being only a path leading out to the uninhabited pampa: while the former is the main thoroughfare between town and cemetery. it debouches on the level summit through a slight hollow, or defile, possibly due to the wear and tear of travel, continued through the long ages. many a funeral procession, and from the most remote time, may have wound its way up that steep slope, passing between two cliffs, which, like the posterns of some grand gateway, mark the entrance to this elevated burial-place. they do not go direct to the point where the town road enters the cemetery ground, but first back to the fig-tree to get their guns, ponchos, and some other articles left under it in their haste to put the horses in a better place of security. having recovered the weapons and chattels, they proceed in search of the road. it is easily found, as all the paths between the separate scaffolds run into it. the point where it comes up out of the defile is but a short distance from the fig-tree; and on reaching this point they take their stand under the cliff; the one on the right hand side: for the moon being behind this, its shadow is projected more than half across the causeway of the road, so giving them a safe spot to stand in. but they do not remain long upon their feet. gaspar, observing a low bench of rock at the cliff's base behind them, repeats a spanish synonym of the old saw, "it's as cheap sitting as standing;" and with this drops down upon the ledge, the others doing likewise. the spot thus chosen is in every way answerable for the object they have in view. they are right over the indian town, and can see into its streets, so far as is permitted by the moon's declining light. it commands, moreover, a view of the road, for a good reach below, to the first angle of the zigzag, and no one could ascend beyond that point without being seen by them so long as there is light; while there is no danger of being themselves seen. one passing up, even when opposite the place where they are seated, would not perceive them; since, in addition to the shadowing cliff, there is a thick scrub between them and the travelled track, effectually screening them. the advantages of the position are apparent to all; and, soon as settled in it, cypriano once more calls upon gaspar to make known the plan he has hinted at. thus again challenged, the gaucho, who has meanwhile been doing his best to trace out some course of action, responds, speaking in a slow, meditative way. for as yet he has but a vague idea of what ought to be done. "well," he says, "there's but one plan i can think of as at all likely to be successful. it may be, if dexterously managed; and i dare say we can so manage it." he pauses, seeming to deliberate within himself; which the two youths perceiving, refrain to ask further questions, leaving him to continue at his own time. which at length he does, with the odd observation:-- "one of us must become an indian." "become an indian!" exclaims ludwig. "what mean you by that, gaspar?" "i mean counterfeit a redskin; get disguised as one, and so steal into their town." "ah! now, i understand. but that will be a dangerous thing to do, gaspar. if caught--" "of course it will be dangerous," interrupts the gaucho. "if caught, whoever of us it be, would no doubt get his skull crushed in by a _macana_, or maybe his body burnt over a slow fire. but as you see everything's dangerous for us now, one may as well risk that danger as any other. as to counterfeiting an indian, i propose taking the part myself; and i should be able to play it pretty well, having, as you both know, had some experience in that line. it was by a trick of the same sort i got off from the guaycurus when i was their prisoner up the pilcomayo; and if i hadn't done it neatly, you shouldn't now see me here." "how did you manage it?" queries ludwig mechanically, or rather, to know how he intended doing it now. "well, i borrowed the costume of an ugly savage, who was set to keep guard over me, having first taken a loan of his hardwood club. the club i returned to him, in a way he wouldn't have wished had he been awake. but he was silly enough to go to sleep, and was sleeping when i took it--ah! and slept on after i returned it--ever after. his dress i kept, and wore for more than a week--in short, till i got back to paraguay, for i was over a week on the road. it fitted me well; so well, that with some colouring stuff i found in the fellow's pouch, i was able to paint indian, pass among the tents of the guaycurus, and through a crowd of the savages themselves, without one of them suspecting the trick. in that way i slipped out of their camp and off. so, by something of the same i may be able to get the dear little _nina_ out of this town of the tovas." "oh! do it, gaspar!" exclaims cypriano; "do that, and all i have will be yours." "yes! all we both have," adds ludwig; "all there is at the _estancia_. but rescue sister, and i'm sure my mother will make you welcome to everything." "_ta-ta_!" returns the gaucho, in a tone of reproach at being thus bargained with; gentle, however, as he knows it is from their anxiety about francesca. "why, _hijos mios_, what are you speaking of? promises to me,--a bribe for but doing my duty! 'twill be a far day before gaspar mendez will need that for service done to either friend or relative of his dear dead master--ay, to the laying down of my life. _carramba_! are we not all embarked in the same boat, to swim or sink together? but we sha'n't sink yet; not one of us. no; we shall swim out of this sea of troubles, and triumphantly. cease despairing, then; for after all there mayn't be so much danger. though naraguana be dead, there's one above him, above all, up there in heaven, who will not forsake us in this our extremity. let us kneel and pray to him." and they do kneel; ludwig, as called upon by gaspar repeating the lord's prayer, with a solemnity befitting the occasion. chapter fifty. a midnight promenader. rising from their knees, and resuming their seats upon the ledge, they return to the subject of discourse, interrupted by their devotional interlude; caspar declaring it his fixed intention to disguise himself as an indian, and so seek entrance into the town. no matter what the danger, he is ready to risk it. the others consenting, the next question that comes before them is, how the disguise is to be got up. about this there seems a difficulty to ludwig, and also to cypriano; though recalling the transformation of the latter into a soldier-crane, so quickly done by the deft hands of the gaucho, they doubt not that he will also find the ways and means for transforming himself into a redskin. "if we only had a tovas indian here," he says, "as i had that sleepy guaycuru, i'd not be long in changing clothes with him. well, as we can't borrow a dress, i must see what can be done to make one. good luck, there's no great quantity of cloth in a tovas suit, and the stitching isn't much. all that's needed is a bit of breech-clout, which i can make out of the tail of my shirt; then the poncho over my shoulders, that will cover everything." "but the colour of your skin, gaspar! wouldn't that betray you?" ludwig thus interrogates, not thinking how easily the dexterous gaucho can alter his complexion, nor recalling what he has said about his having done so to disguise himself as a guaycuru. "it might," returns gaspar; "and no doubt would, if i left it as it is; which i don't intend doing. true, my face is not so fair as to need much darkening, beyond what the sun has done for it. i've seen some tovas indians with cheeks nigh as white as my own, and so have you, senoritos. as for my arms, legs, and body, they'll require a little browning, but as it so happens i've got the stuff to give it them. after the service rendered me by a coat of that colour, you may trust this gaucho never to go on any expedition over the pampas without a cake of brown paint stowed away in some corner of his _alparejas_. for the poncho, it won't be out of place. as you know, there are many of the common kind among the tovas indians, worn and woven by them; with some of better sort, snatched, no doubt, from the shoulders of some poor gaucho, found straying too far from the settlements." "but, gaspar," says ludwig, still doubting the possibility of the scheme; "surely such a disguise as you speak of will never do? in the daylight they'd see through it." "ah! in the daylight, yes, they might. but i don't intend giving them that chance. if i enter their town at all, and i see no other way for it, that entry must be made in the darkness. i propose making it to-morrow evening, after the sun's gone down, and when it's got to be late twilight. then they'll all be off guard, engaged in driving their animals into the _corrales_, and less likely to notice any one strolling about the streets." "but supposing you get safe into the place, and can go about without attracting attention, what will you do?" questions ludwig. "what can you?" is the form in which cypriano puts it. "well, senoritos, that will depend on circumstances, and a good deal on the sort of luck in store for us. still you mustn't suppose i'm trusting all to chance. gaspar mendez isn't the man to thrust his hand into a hornet's nest, without a likelihood--nay, a certainty, of drawing some honey out of it." "then you have such certainty now?" interrogates cypriano, a gleam of hope irradiating his countenance. for the figurative words lead him to believe that the gaucho has not yet revealed the whole of his scheme. "of course i have," is gaspar's rejoinder. "if i hadn't we might as well give everything up, and take the back-track home again. we won't do that, while there's a chance left for taking the _muchachita_ along with us." "never!" exclaims cypriano, with determined emphasis. "if i have to go into their town myself, and die in it, i'll do that rather than return without my cousin." "be calm, _hijo mio_!" counsels gaspar in a soothing tone, intended to curb the excitement of the fiery youth; "i don't think there will be any need for you either to enter the town, or lay down your life in it. certainly neither, unless my plan get spoiled by the ill luck that's been so long hanging about us. it isn't much of a plan after all; only to find one of the indians, to whom i did a service when they were living at their old place. i cured the man of a complaint, which, but for the medicine i administered, would have carried him off to the happy hunting grounds--where just then he didn't wish to go. that medicine wasn't mine either. i had it from the _dueno_. but the sick man gave me credit for it all the same, and swore if i ever stood in need of his services, i could count upon receiving them, sure. from what i saw of him afterwards, and we came to know one another pretty well, i think i can. if ever there was a redskin to be trusted it's he. besides, he's one of some authority in the tribe--a sort of sub-chief." "i know another," breaks in ludwig, as if suddenly recollecting; "one who'd help us too--if we could only have a word with him. that's nacena's brother, kaolin." cypriano casts at his cousin a glance of peculiar meaning--something like surprise. not because the latter has made mention of an indian girl and her brother, both known to himself; but his giving the girl's name first, as though she were uppermost in his thoughts. and she is; though that is a secret the young naturalist has hitherto kept close locked within his own breast. without noticing the glance of scrutiny bent upon him, he proceeds to explain himself. "you may remember, kaolin and i were the best of friends. he often went fishing with me, or rather i went with him. and i'm sure he'd stand by me now, in spite of aguara." "so much the better," rejoins caspar. "if my man fail me, we can fall back upon yours. what i propose doing, then, is this. we must keep quiet, and of course concealed, all day to-morrow till after sunset. we can employ ourselves in the preparation of my masquerading costume. when it comes on twilight, or a little later, i can slip down among those _toldos_, and go sauntering about, like any other redskin, till i find my old patient. he being a big fellow, there shouldn't be much difficulty in doing that. when found i'll make appeal to him, to help us in getting the _nina_ out of--" he has it on his tongue to say "aguara's clutches," but thinking of the effect of such a phrase falling upon cypriano's ears, he concludes with the words, "whatever place they're keeping her in." caspar's scheme thus at length declared, seeming feasible enough--and indeed the only one which any of them can think of as at all practicable--the other two signify assent to it; and its execution, or the attempt, is finally determined upon. going on to discuss the steps next best to be taken, they are interrupted by the sound of footsteps--some one ascending from below! the footfall is a light one, but distinct enough for them to tell, that whoever makes it is continuing on towards them, though yet unseen. as already said, the causeway is in part overshadowed by the cliff, and within this shadow keeps the person approaching. for all, on the footsteps drawing near, there is light enough for them to make out a figure; the better from its being clad in a drapery of white, loose and flowing, as though the wearer were a woman. and so is she, or, to speak more correctly, a girl; her sex and age revealed to them, as at a certain point she steps to the off side of the path, and the moonlight falling upon her, exposes to their view a face beautiful as youthful. gaspar and cypriano both recognise the face, but say nothing. different ludwig, who at the first glance got of it, unable to restrain himself, mechanically mutters the name-- "nacena!" chapter fifty one. a dispenser of spells. fortunately ludwig's exclamation has been uttered in a subdued tone of voice; but lest in his agitation he may speak louder, the gaucho grasps him by the arm, and cautions silence, enjoining the same on cypriano. for several seconds not another word passes between them, all three remaining motionless, and silent as sphinxes. meanwhile the indian girl having come opposite the place where they are seated, passes onward with cautious step and eyes that interrogate the ground in front, as if she anticipated seeing some one; like a young hind that has stolen timidly out of the covert, on hearing the call-bleat of the stag. soon she is far enough beyond to give them an opportunity of exchanging speech without her overhearing it; and of this the gaucho avails himself, whispering-- "she's keeping an appointment with her lover, i suppose." he little thinks of the painful effect his words have produced upon ludwig, as he adds-- "we'll do best to let her go on to their place of meeting, which is no doubt somewhere near. she must return this way, and then we can have _our_ interview with her. but where's the _amante_! a laggard, to let the girl be on the ground before him! that wasn't my way, when--see! she's coming to a stop." and to a stop she comes, just where the sloping path passes out at the upper end of the defile, entering among the scaffolds. there standing erect, she glances inquiringly around, her gaze ranging along the open spaces between the structures and the shadows underneath them. for a minute or two she remains in this attitude, without changing it, or making the slightest noise--evidently looking for a form or listening for a footstep. but neither seeing the one, nor hearing the other, she at length calls out a name; at first timidly, but after an interval in bolder tone, "shebotha!" "not her lover after all!" mutters gaspar, who remembers the name thus pronounced, while ludwig is relieved at hearing it, he also knowing something of the sorceress. "only that old hag!" the gaucho goes on; "i wonder now what the young sprout can be wanting with her, up here and at this hour of the night! some mischief between them, i haven't a doubt." his conjectures are suddenly brought to a close by a new noise now reaching their ears; a sort of scraping or shuffling, diversified by grunts and coughs--all coming up from below. turning their eyes that way, they see ascending what appears to be a human figure, but stooped forward so as more to resemble a creature crawling on all fours. at the same instant the indian girl has caught sight of it; and standing poised on the platform's edge, she silently awaits its approach, knowing the bent form to be shebotha's. scrambling on up the steep, at intervals stopping to take breath, while she intermittently gives out hoarse grunts, the hag passes by them, at length reaching the spot where the girl stands awaiting her. stopping by the side of the latter, both are now seen face to face in the full moonlight; and never did moon shine upon faces or figures more contrasting. on the one side age indicated by a spare body, thin skinny arms, features furrowed with wrinkles, of most repulsive aspect, and eyes sparkling with a sinister light; on the other, youth, with all its witching charms, a figure lithe and graceful as any palm growing on the plain below, features of classic type, and a face exquisitely beautiful, despite its tint of bronze, the eyes bright with the glow of a burning passion. for it is this last that has brought the girl thither. only a second or two do they remain silent, till the sorceress recovers breath; for it is she who breaks the silence, saying:-- "nacena wants to speak with shebotha? on what subject?" "need i tell you, shebotha; you know!" "i know that the sister of kaolin is in love with our young _cacique_. that is no secret to others, any more than to me." "oh! do not say that! i thought no one knew of it but--" "but everybody," interrupts the unfeeling hag. "and what if they do? nacena is beautiful, the belle of our tribe, and need fear no rival; not even her with the eyes of blue, and the tresses of gold, who sleeps under shebotha's roof. nacena is jealous of the paleface captive; she has no cause." "o, good shebotha!" cries the young girl, in passionate tone, her heart heaving with rekindled hope, "can you assure me of that? if so, you shall have all i can give you; my armlets, neck ornaments, _mantas, hamacas_, everything. fear not my rewarding you well!" "nacena is generous," rejoins the sorceress, her eyes sparkling with pleasure at such a wholesale proffer of chattels. "she shall have that assurance; for shebotha can give it without fail. see this!" while speaking, she has drawn out, from under the skin robe that covers her bony breast, what appears to be a small horn, converted into a phial with bottom and stopper. "in this," she says, holding it up to the light, "is a fluid, one drop of which, given to aguara will turn his heart whichever way shebotha wishes it turned; make him love whomsoever she wants him to love; and that will be as nacena wants it." "oh! it is good of you, mam shebotha so good! how shall i ever enough thank or reward you?" "no matter about thanks," responds the hag with a knowing leer; "shebotha likes better the reward. and what you've promised will content her. but promises, as nacena herself knows, are sometimes badly kept, and should have something to secure them, by way of earnest. what can you give me now?" the girl glances down to her breast, upon which lie several pendants, sustained by a massive chain of gold passing around her neck. then she holds out her arms to show bracelets upon the wrists, beset with pearls and precious stones, that no doubt once clasped other wrists than hers-- those of palefaced _doncellas_ dwelling in santiago or salta. unclasping the armlets, one after another, she delivers them to shebotha. but the avaricious beldame is not yet satisfied. with her eyes upon the chain necklet and its glittering attachments, she nods towards it, as much as to say, "that too." and it, also, is detached; and handed over to her. then her greedy eyes go to the fillet around the girl's temples, and an embroidered belt which encircles her waist. but these, though pretty ornaments, are not of great intrinsic value; and as shebotha has in view a further levy of blackmail at a future time, she can then take them too. for the present she appears content, all the more as she gloats over the treasure, which for a while she feasts her eyes upon without speaking. then slipping the various articles, one after another, into the bosom of her dress, she resumes speech, saying-- "shebotha has other spells besides that spoken of; one powerful above all, which puts to sleep--ah! a sleep from which the sleeper never awakes. if the other should fail to act, and aguara--" "but you said it could not fail," breaks in the girl, her countenance again clouding over. "is there a doubt, mam shebotha?" "there's always uncertainty in these things," rejoins the sorceress; "and in the _love-spell_ more than any other. as you know, love is the strongest passion, and therefore the most difficult to control." all this, by way of making safe her bargain, for well knows she her spell will not bring back aguara's love, lost to nacena; and as the bulk of the reward promised will depend upon this, she has yet another proposal to make that may ensure its payment. she acts as one who would hedge a bet, and drawing closer to the victim of her delusion, she says-- "if nacena should ever want the paleface put to sleep by that other spell, shebotha will administer it." as the fiendish suggestion is spoken in a whisper, the three listeners do not hear what it is. they can only guess by the behaviour of the young girl that some offer has been made which she indignantly rejects. this can be told by her rejoinder, and the air in which she delivers it. "no!" she exclaims, starting back with an expression of horror upon her countenance. "never, never! if aguara be untrue to me, it is no fault of the paleface. i know that; and have no vengeance for her. but for him--ah! if he have deceived me, it is not she, but he should suffer punishment. and punished he shall be--by my brother." "oh! your brother!" returns the sorceress with a sneer, evidently in anger at having her offer so rejected. "if kaolin can right your wrongs, let him." and she adds, making to move off, "i suppose you haven't any more need for me, or my services." "if she haven't i have," cries gaspar, springing out from the place of concealment and seizing hold of the hag, while at the same instant cypriano flings his arms around the indian girl. "come, mam shebotha!" continues the gaucho, "it's my turn to have a talk with you." she makes an effort to escape, and would cry out; but cannot, with his sinewy fingers around her throat. "stop your struggling!" he commands, giving her a shake till her old bones crackle at every joint. "a cry, a word from you above a whisper, and i'll close your windpipe so that you'll never grunt through it again. come, _muchachos_! let's to the other side! one of you bring on the girl. _vamos_!" raising the hag in his arms he bears her off, with no more care for her comfort than if she were a trapped wolf. nacena is borne more tenderly in ludwig's arms, into which she has been transferred, by a sort of tacit understanding between him and his cousin--the latter walking alongside. no threat hears the girl, nor needs it to enforce silence. for she is no more apprehensive of injury, now knowing him who carries her as her brother's old playfellow. above all, does she feel reassured, on hearing whispered in her ear-- "have no fear, nacena! am not i the bosom friend of your brother? _i will not deceive you_." does she note the earnestness of his words, and the significant emphasis given to those last pronounced? whether or not, she refrains making rejoinder: but suffers herself to be borne on through the scaffold tombs without resistance, and silent as the forms reposing upon them. chapter fifty two. a friend unexpected. straight across the cemetery goes gaspar, with shebotha in his arms, nor stops he till back on the spot where the path leads down to the outer plain. arriving there, he deposits his living burden upon the earth; not gently, but dumping her down with a rude violence, as though it were a bunch of faggots. still he does not let her out of his arms altogether; but with a threat, once more warning her to be silent, retains fast hold of her, till cypriano has brought him a _lazo_ from the saddle of one of the horses near by. looping this round the body of the sorceress, and taking a few turns of it about her arms and ankles, he spreads his poncho over her head, then knots the rope around her neck, and so muffles her beyond the chance of either hearing or making herself heard. all this done, he again raises her from the ground, and carrying her some distance back among the scaffolds, he binds her to a corner post of one with the end of the _lazo_ yet unused. his purpose in thus disposing of her is not clear to his companions, both of whom he has left in charge of the indian girl; who, on her part, makes no attempt to escape. instead, released from ludwig's arms, she stands silently by his side, neither trembling nor showing sign of fear. why should she, with those words of friendly assurance which have been once more whispered in her ear? and now gaspar getting back to where they stand, and speaking in the tovas tongue sufficiently well to be understood by her, says to nacena-- "_muchacha mia_! you see who we are, and know all three of us. we know you, nacena--even to your tenderest secret; which has been revealed to us in the dialogue just held between yourself and mam shebotha. every word of that we've heard, with the lies she's been telling you. and let me tell you, that of all the wicked impostor's promises, there's but one she could have kept--that to rid you of her you deem a rival. and she could only have done that by doing murder; which was what she meant by her sleeping draught." the young girl shudders listening to what she knows is but the truth. "'twas good of you to reject the foul proposal," goes on the gaucho, "and indignantly, as we know you did. we saw and heard it all. and now, i have a proposal to offer, which you won't reject; i'm sure you won't, nacena." she makes no rejoinder, but stands waiting to receive it. "it is," he continues, "that you can still rid yourself of that rival, not by doing wrong, but right and justice. with your help we shall take her away to a place where aguara will never more set eyes upon her. but as i've said, we stand in need of your assistance, and you must give it." "you will, you will!" interposes cypriano, in tones of earnest appeal. "yes, dear nacena," follows ludwig, in tenderer tones; "i'm sure you will. remember, she is my sister, and that you yourself have a brother!" had they but known it, there was no need for all this petitioning. even while gaspar was speaking, and long before he had finished, the indian girl, with the quick, subtle instinct of her race, divined what they were aiming at--the very end she herself desires, and might have proposed to them. the same instinct, however, prompts her to feign ignorance of it, as evinced by her interrogative rejoinder:-- "how can nacena assist you? in what way?" "by helping us to get the paleface out of her prison." it is gaspar who speaks. "she is imprisoned, is she not?" "she is." "and where is she kept?" further questions the gaucho. cypriano trembles as he listens for the answer. he fears, half expecting it to be, "in the _toldo_ of the _cacique_." it is a relief to him, when nacena, pointing towards the dark object bound to the scaffold-post, says: "she has charge of the paleface captive." "_bueno_!" ejaculates gaspar with delight in his eyes, as in those of cypriano. "nothing could be better than that. and now that we have shebotha here, no one will be guarding the prisoner--will there?" "alas, yes!" responds the indian girl, her words with their tone telling that she has entered into the spirit of their enterprise. "who?" interrogates gaspar. "what is he--if it be a man?" "yes, a man. a white man, like yourselves; one who has been long with our tribe--a captive taken many years ago from some of the countries south. he is shebotha's own slave, and watches over the paleface when she is out of the _toldo_." again the gaucho ejaculates, "_bueno_!" adding, in _sotto voce_, to his two companions, "it seems better still; a bit of rare good luck; that is, if this white man, whoever he be, isn't grown indianised, as i've known some to be." then to the girl. "shebotha's slave, you say? in that case, he should be wanting to regain his liberty, and we may give him the chance. if need be, we can take him along, too. you understand, nacena?" "i do." "then you agree to assist us?" "say yes!" urges cypriano. "_my_ sister, nacena!" adds ludwig. in response to their united appeals, she points to the sorceress, saying-- "her vengeance is to be dreaded. if i do as you wish me, shebotha--" "won't hurt a hair of your head," says gaspar, interrupting. "nor can't. she'll not be near enough to do you any injury. that worthy woman is on the eve of a long journey, to be made in our company, if you agree to assist us in getting the paleface away. you do agree to it, _amiga mia_?" the girl fully comprehending, and relieved at the thought of the dreaded sorceress being taken out of the way, at length not only signifies assent to their scheme, but embraces it with alacrity. its success will be to her advantage as theirs, ridding her of that rival feared, and it may be, restoring to her the affections of him on whom she has fixed her own. and now that confidence is established between her and her captors, she gives them a full account of how things stand in the _tolderia_, and the place where the captive is confined. having heard which, gaspar counsels her how to act, as a last word, saying-- "tell this white man, who has charge of the _nina_, he need no longer be a prisoner himself, nor shebotha's slave. say to him, that men of his own race and colour are near, ready to rescue and take him back to his people, wherever they may be. surely that will be enough to gain him to our side, and get his help also." nacena hesitates for a time; then answering, says-- "no, not enough, i fear." "but why?" "the white man is not in his senses. he has lost them long ago. the little left him is given to shebotha. he fears her, as all our people do; but he more than any. she has surely left him with commands to keep a close watch. he does not disobey her; and it may be impossible for me to speak with the paleface, much more get her away from him." "_caspita_!" exclaims gaspar, his countenance again turning grave. "there will be a difficulty there, i see it; if the man's crazed, as you say he is, nacena. you think he won't let you speak with the prisoner, unless you have permission from shebotha?" "he will not--i am sure he will not." "in that case all may be idle, and our scheme go for nought. _por dios_! what's to be done?" pressing his head between his hands, the gaucho stands considering, while the other three in silence await the result. his deliberation is not for long; a bright idea has flashed across his brain, and with his countenance also recovering brightness, he exclaims-- "_gracios a dios_! i know how it can be managed; i think i know." ludwig and cypriano have it on their tongues to inquire what he means. but before either can say a word, he is off and away in a rush toward the scaffold-post to which shebotha is tied. reaching it, he is seen with arms outstretched and in rapid play, as though he were setting her free. far from that, however, is his intention. he but undoes the knot around her neck, and raising the poncho, clutches at something which encircles her throat. he had noticed this something while throttling her when first caught; it had rattled between his fingers as the beads of a rosary, and he knew it to be such, with a slight difference--the beads being human teeth! a remembrance, moreover, admonishes him that this ghastly necklace was worn by the sorceress, not for adornment, but to inspire dread. it is, in fact, one of her weapons of weird mystery and power, and an idea has occurred to him that it may now be used as an instrument against herself. having detached it from her neck, and replaced the poncho upon her head, he returns to where he had left the others, and holding out the string of teeth, says to nacena-- "take this. present it to the crazy paleface; tell him shebotha sent it as a token authorising you to act for her; and, if he be not altogether out of his wits, i warrant it'll get you admission to the presence of the paleface. for anything beyond, you will best know how to act of yourself." the girl grasps the hideous symbol, a gleam of intelligence lighting up her swarth but beautiful face. for she, too, anticipates the effect it will have on shebotha's slave, from actual knowledge--not by guessing, as with gaspar. knowing herself now at liberty and free to depart, without saying another word, she turns her back upon them; and gliding away with the agile, stealthy step peculiar to her race, soon passes beyond their sight. they stand looking after her, till her dark figure disappears amid the shadows of the scaffolds. but they have no doubt of her fidelity--no fear that she will fail to do what she can for the fulfilment of her promise. the keeping it is secured by her own interested motives: for the passion impelling her to act on their behalf, though purely selfish, can be trusted as truth itself. chapter fifty three. a deluded jailer. midnight's hour is past, the moon has gone down, and in the indian town there is darkness and silence. every one is asleep, or seems to be; since no light shines either in _toldo_ or tent, neither can a human figure be seen in the streets, or anywhere around. at some distance from the houses, however, among thickly-standing trees, and close into the base of the hill, is the quaint dwelling-place of shebotha--half cave, half hut--and inside this flickers a faint light, from a dip candle of crude beeswax, with a wick of the fibre of the _pita_ plant. by its red flame, mingled with much smoke, a collection of curious objects is dimly discernible; not articles of furniture, for these are few, but things appertaining to the craft in which shebotha is supposed to have skill--demonology. there are the bones and skins of monkeys, with those of snakes, lizards, and other reptiles; teeth of the alligator and jaguar; the proboscis-like snouts of the _tapir_ and _tamanoir_, or great ant-bear, with a variety of other like oddities, furnished by the indigenous creatures of the chaco in every department of the zoological world--birds, quadrupeds, insects, reptiles, and fishes. this motley conglomeration is for the most part arranged against the inner wall of the hut, and opposite the entrance, so as to be observable by any one looking in at the door, or even passing by it. for its purpose is to impress the superstitious victims of shebotha's craft with a belief in her witching ways. and to give this a more terrifying and supernatural character, a human skull, representing a death's head, with a pair of tibia for crossbones underneath, is fixed centrally and prominently against the wall. the same light that so faintly illuminates this paraphernalia of repulsive objects, also shines upon one that is pleasing--this the figure of a young girl, with a face wonderfully fair. for she is francesca halberger. at the hour spoken of she is the sole occupant of the hut; its owner, shebotha, being abroad. for it is the self-same hour and instant when the sorceress has the rosary of teeth snatched so rudely from her neck. she is seated on the edge of a _catre_, or cane bedstead, of the pallet kind, her head buried in her hands, through the white fingers of which her long golden tresses fall in rich profusion, scattered over and mingling with the fur of the great pampas wolf which serves as a sort of mattress for the bed. the candle has burnt down into the socket of its rude stick, but at intervals flares up, with a crackling, sputtering noise; as it it does so, showing upon her features that same sad look as when she was being carried hither, a captive; only that her face is now paler, and the expression upon it telling of a despair deeper and more settled. she has slept but little from the day of her entrance under shebotha's roof, and no great deal since she last lay on her own bed at home. what sleep she now gets is only in short snatches; when tired nature can no longer continue the struggle with thoughts all the while torturing her. no wonder at sweet slumber being thus long denied her, with such memories to keep her awake! in fancy, ever before her seems the face of her father with that look of agony she last saw upon it, as he lay upon the ground, weltering in his gore. and in fancy also, she beholds the ruffian, valdez, standing above the prostrate form, waving over it his blood-stained spear, a very demon exultant! but her painful thoughts are not all of the past. she has doubts and fears also for the future, dark as she reflects on her own situation, and what will be done to her; but still darker when she thinks of those left behind and far away. what will become of her dear mother and brother? what of him--dear, ah! perhaps dearer than either--her handsome cousin? for cypriano's affection for her is fully reciprocated. not strange then the sadness overspreading her features, nor the weight of woe in her heart; as she dwells on the fate that may be his and theirs. for she knows they are all in danger--great and certain danger; has known it ever since seeing valdez, the _vaqueano_, consorting with the tovas indians, and on friendly terms with their chief. oft had she asked herself the question whither he went afterwards! did he return to paraguay, or go direct to the _estancia_, there to complete his diabolical work--begun by murder, to end in the same with other crimes? in any case he would not likely leave them unharmed, as the captive girl too truly apprehends. with such terrible thoughts to agitate her breast, no wonder she should be awake while everyone around seems slumbering. but on this night, and at this hour, something besides hinders her from seeking repose; that being the absence of shebotha, which, for certain reasons, makes her more than ordinarily apprehensive. in truth, she is greatly alarmed by it. never before has the sorceress been out of her _toldo_ to stay for any continued time; above all, never during the hours of night. why should she be absent now, and so long? while asking herself these questions, the captive has not the slightest intention to take advantage of shebotha's absence, and make trial to escape. well knows she that would be idle, and she could not get away if she tried. for though the owner of the hut is off watch, there is one on it--a man sitting, or squatted, just outside the door. no red man, but one with a white skin; himself a prisoner, and who possibly once, as she, felt distressed by his captivity. it may have been this very feeling which has made him what he now is--a witless idiot, resigned to his fate. in any case, he seems to be contented as shebotha's slave; and, perhaps ignorant of there being any better, serves her with a fidelity worthy of a better mistress. no watch-dog at that _toldo's_ door were more to be trusted than he. she inside has no intention, nor ever had, of tempting him to be untrue to his trust. even could he be induced to let her pass out, what purpose would it serve? she could not make her way home; and he is not the sort of man to see her safe through more than two hundred miles of wilderness. the idea is too hopeless to be entertained, and she does not for an instant entertain it. the thoughts that now occupy her mind are not of how she may escape from her captivity, but dwelling upon a theme altogether different. she is thinking who will be the next one to darken the door of the hut; fearing it may be neither shebotha herself, nor yet her slave, but the man who is master of both--aguara! true, the young _cacique_ has not as yet offered her either outrage or insult; instead still approaches her with courtesy, and a pretence of friendship. for all, something--it may be instinct--admonishes her that he is acting under a mask, which he may at any moment cast aside, revealing the monster, as she believes him to be. and with sufficient reason, recalling that tragedy which deprived her of a father; and sure, despite all his protestations, that aguara played a willing part in it. while thus apprehensively reflecting, she hears footsteps, as of some one approaching the place. the sound causes her to start to her feet, and stand listening, with a heightened expression of fear upon her face. for, although the footfall is distant, and only distinguishable as such by the rustle it makes among the dead leaves, she can tell it is not that of shebotha, with whose halting gait and shuffling step her ear has grown familiar. whose, then? who would be coming to the hut at that time of night--now morning--save shebotha herself? none but she, and those of her belonging, dare do so either by night or by day? for the _toldo_ of the sorceress is a sort of sanctuary, tabooed to the people of the tribe, and no one may enter or approach its sacred precincts, without having her permission, or being bidden by her. yes; one may, and can--aguara. still darker shows the fear upon the face of the captive girl, as she thinks of this special privilege accorded to the _cacique_, of which she has been made aware. it must be he who is drawing near, and with him a danger she has long vaguely apprehended. for some seconds she remains intently listening, her young heart pulsing audibly within her breast. it beats easier as the footfall draws nigher, and she can tell it is not that of a man. the tread is too light and elastic. it cannot be aguara who approaches. she is still surer of its not being he, as the footsteps, having come close up to the hut, cease to be heard, and in their place a different sound enters through the open door--a feminine voice speaking in soft, dulcet tones. the speech is not addressed to the captive herself, but to him who watches outside. after an interchange of ordinary salutation, and an inquiry by the watcher as to what is wanted--this evidently in tone of surprise--the soft voice responds, "i want to speak with the little pale free." "you cannot. shebotha forbids it. no one may enter here without her permission." "but i have more than her permission--her commands. she has sent me with a message to the paleface. at this moment mam shebotha has a matter elsewhere, and could not come herself." "you may be speaking the truth, but how am i to know?" questions the man, as he regards the intruder with an incredulous stare. "i don't go so far as to say you are telling a lie. all i say is, that the thing isn't at all likely. mam shebotha's not the sort to trust her affairs to such a _chiquitita_ as you." "you know me, don't you?" "oh, yes; you are kaolin's sister--her they call the belle of the tribe; your name's nacena." "it is so; and surely you'll believe me? the sister of kaolin would not speak false. you cannot suppose i am deceiving you?" "ah!" he rejoins, with his words heaving a sigh, "it is often those who are most beautiful who most deceive." possibly the memory of some such deception, an experience of times long past, has been awakened within him. it embitters his speech as he continues-- "i can't--i won't believe you--though you are kaolin's sister, and ever so fair to look upon." "but you will, when you look upon this." she draws out the string of teeth snatched from the neck of the sorceress, and holds it up to his eyes, adding-- "that i bring from shebotha herself. she gave it me to show you as a sign that i have her permission to speak with the paleface--nay, her command, as i've said. now!" at sight of the hideous symbol, which he instantly recognises, his incredulity is at an end. for he knows how jealously the sorceress guards this token, and that no one could have obtained it from her without some special purpose, or to do a service to herself. what it may be he questions not, nor longer forbids entrance to the hut, but nods towards the door, as much as to say-- "you can go in." chapter fifty four. an unlooked-for deliverer. though the dialogue between nacena and shebotha's slave was in the tovas tongue, she who has overheard them inside the hut has sufficient acquaintance with it to make out that the indian girl is seeking an interview with herself. but for what purpose, she has not the most distant idea, and cannot conceive why it should specially be sought at that strange hour, when everybody else is abed. she knows nacena by name, as by sight; having on many occasions seen her at the old _tolderia_. but the two have never had acquaintance, nor held conversation; the sister of kaolin always seeming shy with her, and never visiting the _estancia_, as did the other girls of the tribe. more than this, she remembers that whenever of late she by chance met the savage maiden, she had observed a scowl upon the latter's face, which she could not help fancying was meant for herself. nor had her fancy been astray; since in reality for her was that black look. though for what reason francesca could not tell, having never that she could think of done aught that should give offence to kaolin's sister. besides, was not kaolin himself the bosom friend of her brother ludwig? still, recalling that scowl so often seen upon nacena's countenance-- with a suspicion, purely intuitive, of what may have caused it--not strange she should deem the visit of the indian girl boding no good to her, but instead something of ill. as the latter steps inside the _toldo_, however, and the light falls upon her face, the captive can there see no sign of malice, nor token of hostility. instead, it is lit up by a smile which seems rather to speak of friendship and protection. and, in truth, such are among the sentiments now moving the indian girl to action. at the prospect of being for ever rid of a rival she sees so helpless, the feeling of jealousy has passed away out of her heart, as its frown from her face, and she approaches the captive with the air of one who has both the wish and the power to give liberty. she is the first to speak, asking abruptly-- "do you wish to be free?" "why do you ask that?" is the interrogative rejoinder, in a tone distrustful. for that smile may be but to deceive. "because nacena has it in her power to give you freedom if you desire it." "desire it!" exclaims the captive. "nacena is but mocking me," she adds, involuntarily falling into the figurative mode of speech peculiar to the american indian. "indeed, i do desire it. but how could nacena set me at liberty?" "by taking the paleface to her people." "they are far away--hundreds of miles. would nacena herself take me to them?" "no. that is not needed. the paleface is mistaken. her friends are not far away, but near. they wait for her to come out to them." the captive gives a start of surprise, the light of hope and joy, long absent from her eyes, rekindling in them, as another light breaks upon her. "of whom does nacena speak?" "of your brother the fair-haired youth, your cousin the dark paraguayan, and the gaucho who has guided them hither. all three are close to the _tolderia_, on the other side of the hill--as i've said, expecting you. nacena has spoken with them, and promised she will conduct you to where they are. white sister!" she adds, in a tone of unmistakeable sincerity, at the same time drawing closer to the captive, and tenderly taking her by the hand, "do not show distrust, but let nacena keep her word. she will restore you to your friends, your brother; ah! to one who waits for you with anxiety keener than all!" at the last words the captive bends upon her would-be deliverer a bewildered, wondering look. is it possible nacena has knowledge of her tenderest secret? it must be so; but how can she have learnt it? surely cypriano--whom she says she has seen outside and spoken with-- surely, he could not have revealed it; would not! francesca forgets that the indian girl was for years a near neighbour to her father's _estancia_; and though never visiting there, with the keen intuition of her race was like enough to have learnt, that the relationship between her cousin and herself had something in it beyond mere cousinly affection. while she is still cogitating as to how nacena could have come to this knowledge, and wondering the while, the latter bleaks in upon her wonderment, and once more urges her to flight, again speaking of him who is near and dear, so anxiously expecting her. it needs not such pressing appeal. for the captive girl, her surprise once past, is but too willing to embrace the opportunity so unexpectedly offered, and by one so unlikely to offer it. therefore, without further hesitation, she signifies acceptance, saying, "i will trust you, nacena. you have called me your white sister, and i believe you sincere. you would not speak so if you meant me harm. take me where you will; i am ready to go with you." saying which, she holds out her hand, as if offering to be led. the indian girl taking it, turns her face for the door, and is about to step towards it, when she remembers the watcher without; and obstruction she had for the time forgotten. will he bar their exit? a cloud comes over her brow, as she asks herself the question; for, mentally answering it, she thinks he most probably will. the other observing her hesitation, and quite comprehending it, makes no inquiry about the cause. that is already declared in the dialogue lately overheard by her; and as he outside is likely to be listening, the two now take counsel together, speaking in whispers. nacena, from a better knowledge of the situation, is of course the chief adviser, and it ends in her determining to show a bold front, and pass out as if already armed with shebotha's permission. if interrupted, they can then make a rush for it. in short, after a hurried consultation, they can think of no other way, much less a better one. for by the shuffling of footsteps, and a wheezing noise--shebotha's slave being afflicted with asthma--they can tell that he is close by the entrance. soon as resolved how to act, the indian girl, still holding the captive by the hand, leads her on to the door; and, passing over the threshold side by side, they present themselves to the sentry, nacena saying: "in going in i forgot to tell you my errand from mam shebotha. she bade me bring the paleface to where she is herself. you see, i am taking her." "you cannot take her out of the _toldo_," rejoins the man in a tone of dogged denial. "you must not; shebotha would kill me if i permitted it." "but i have shebotha's command to do so." "how am i to know that?" "you forget what i have said, and what i've given you." she points to the strange rosary, which he had taken from her, and still retains--possibly as a voucher against any mistake that may arise. "no, i don't," he rejoins, holding the string up before her eyes, and shaking it till the teeth rattle. "there it is; but withal, i can't allow her, the paleface, to go with you. it might be as much as my life is worth." "but what is your life worth without liberty?" it is not nacena who puts this question, but the paleface herself; speaking to him in her native tongue, as his. he gives a sudden start on hearing it, and regards the young girl with a stare of astonishment, rubbing his eyes as though just awakened from a long-continued sleep. "ah--eh!" he exclaims, excitedly. "what's that? liberty, did you say? liberty? mine's gone long ago. i'm but a poor slave--shebotha's slave. i can never be free again; no, _never_!" "you may be free now--this very moment--if you wish it." "if i wish it! ha, ha, ha! that's a good joke! if i wish it! only show me the way, and let mam shebotha go to--" "never mind mam shebotha. listen to me, who am of the same race and people as yourself. there are some of them now near, who have come to take me home to my friends. you must have friends too, whom you left long ago. why should you not go back to them?" "_carramba_!" he cries out, as if the sound of his native tongue had brought back to remembrance one of its most common exclamations, and along with it a desire to return to the place where he last heard it spoken. "why should i not? if you say you'll take me, i will." "ah! i'll not only take you, but be glad of your company. _nos vamos_!" it is still francesca who speaks, and at the last words, pronounced in a tone of half encouragement, half command, she stretches out her hand, and taking hold of that of her late jailer, leads him off, as a rough pampas colt just tamed and gentled. nacena, astonished at the spirit shown by the little paleface, and delighted with a success which may prove advantageous to herself, says not a word; but steps off forward in front of the other two--making mute pantomimic signs to guide them in the direction they are to go. chapter fifty five. an unlucky tumble. soon as nacena had started on return to the town, the gaucho and his companions commence making preparations to descend from the hill. not by the road leading down to the _tolderia_, but the path by which they came up. for before her parting with them the indian girl and gaspar had held further speech; she imparting to him additional information of how things stood in the tribe; he, in turn, giving her more detailed instructions how to act, in the event of her being able to obtain an interview with the paleface captive, and to get her off from the place where confined. in the programme arranged between them, the final part to be played by nacena would be her conducting her charge round to the other side of the hill, where the rescuers would be in waiting to receive her. delivered to them, the action of the indian girl would be at end, so far as that affair was concerned, while theirs had yet to be considered. the place where they were to await her was, of course, mutually understood--by the entrance to the uphill path, under the great _ceiba_ tree. nacena knew it well, having oft traversed that path, reclined in the shadow of the tree, and played under it from the earliest days of childhood. for it was a pretty spot, much-frequented by the younger members of the community when out for promenade on the plain, or nutting among the palm-groves that studded it. a sort of rendezvous, or stopping place, from the two routes to the town here diverging; the shorter, though by far the more difficult, being that over the cemetery hill. of the roundabout one, gaspar, of course, had no knowledge. but he knew the _ceiba_, and the way back to it, all that they needed. the girl had trodden both, hundreds of times, and was acquainted with their every reach and turning. she would come anyhow, and no fear of her not finding the way; their only fear was of her coming unaccompanied. least of all has ludwig this apprehension; instead, full confidence that the indian will will bring francesca back with her. strange this; but stranger still, that, while overjoyed with the thought of his sister being delivered from captivity, his joy should have a tinge of sadness in it, like a mingling of shadow and sun. this due to his suspicion of the motives actuating her who has promised to be his sister's deliverer. nacena is not their friend for mere friendship's sake; nor his, because of the former fellowship between him and her own brother. instead, jealousy is her incentive, and what she is doing, though it be to their benefit, is but done for the thwarting of aguara. though ludwig has expressed his opinion that they will soon see francesca, he is silent about these suspicions. there is no time to speak of them if he would. for in a few seconds after nacena's separating from them, gaspar gives the signal for action, and all three become engaged in getting ready their horses for a return to the plain. "_por dios_!" mutters the gaucho, while slipping on his bridle. "i don't much fancy remaining longer in this melancholy place. though high and airy, it mayn't be wholesome. if, after all, that brown beauty should change her mind, and play us false, we'd be in a bad predicament up here--a regular trap, with no chance of retreating from it. so the sooner we're back to the bottom of the hill, the safer 'twill be. there we'll at least have some help from the speed of our horses, if in the end we have to run for it. let us get below at once!" having by this finished adjusting his bridle, he hands the rein to cypriano, adding-- "you hold this, senorito, while i go after shebotha. botheration take that old hag! she'll be a bother to us, to say nothing of the extra weight for our poor horses. after all, she's not very heavy--only a bag of bones." "but, gaspar; are you in earnest about our taking her along with us?" asks cypriano. "how are we to help it, _hijo mio_! if we leave her here, she'd be back in the town before we could get started; that is, if we have the good luck to get started at all. i needn't point out what would be the upshot of that. pursuit, as a matter of course, pell mell, and immediate. true, we might leave her tied to the post, and muffled as she is. but then she'd be missed by to-morrow morning, if not sooner, and they'd be sure to look for her up here. no likelier place for such as she, among these scaffolds; except tied to a scaffold of another sort, and in a somewhat different style." the gaucho pauses, partly to enjoy his own jest, at which he is grinning, and partly to consider whether shebotha can be disposed of in any other way. cypriano suggests another, asking-- "why couldn't we take her in among these trees, and tie her to one of them? there's underwood thick enough to conceal her from the eyes of anyone passing by, and with the muffle over her head, as now, she couldn't cry out that they'd hear her." "'twould never do," rejoins gaspar, after an instant of reflection. "hide her as we might, they'd find her all the same. these redskins, half-naked though they are, can glide about among bushes, even thorny ones, like slippery snakes. so many of them, they'd beat every bit of thicket within leagues, in less than no time. besides, you forget their dogs. scores they have--ay, hundreds, some of them keen-scented as beagles. _carrai_! they'd smell the nasty witch half-a-mile off, and so discover her whereabouts to their masters." "true," returns cypriano, seeing the plan he has proposed would not do. "in that way they would find her, no doubt." "and if they didn't," interposed ludwig, speaking from a sentiment of humanity, "it would be dreadful." "dreadful! what do you mean?" asks cypriano, looking puzzled. "for them _not_ to find her is just what we want." "ah, cousin! how would it be for _her_? tied to a tree, with no hope-- no chance of getting loosed from it--she'd die of hunger or thirst-- miserably perish. wicked as shebotha is, we'd be worse than she if we left her to such a fate as that, to say nothing of our bringing it upon her. ay, and for doing so we'd deserve the same ourselves, or something as bad." "well, senor ludwig," rejoins the gaucho, with an air of submission rather than conviction, "you may be right in what you say, and i'm not the man to deny it. but there need be no difference of opinion on that point. leaving shebotha tied to a tree wouldn't do on any account, for the reasons i've stated. it might--most likely would, and, as you say, it ought--end in ourselves getting tied to trees or stakes, with a bundle of faggots between our legs set to the tune of a slow fire. but," he adds, after a second or two spent considering, "there's only one other way i can think of to deal with the witch, if we're not to take her with us." "what's the other?" asks cypriano, seeing that the gaucho hesitates to declare it. "why, knock her on the head, or draw the blade of a _cuchilla_ across her throat, and so stop her grunting at once and for ever. the old wretch deserves no better fate and hanging's too good for her. but they'd find her dead body all the same; though not with a tongue in it to tell who stopped her wind, or, what's of more consequence, how and which way we went off. besides, i dare say, the senor ludwig wouldn't agree to our getting disembarrassed of her in that fashion." "oh! no, no!" ejaculates the humane youth, horrified at the thought of such cruelty, "anything but that, caspar." "well, there isn't anything but what i propose doing--that is, taking her along. i'm willing to accommodate her on the croup of my _recado_, and will show her all the gallantry she deserves. if you're jealous, senor ludwig, you may have her behind you; and as your horse is the lightest laden, that might be best. when we're crossing back over that _riacho_ where you left your saddle-bags, if you're tired of riding double, you can drop her down among the lightning-eels, and let them play their batteries upon her old bones till every joint of them cracks asunder." were it not for the gravity of the situation, gaspar's young companions would be greatly amused at his quaint rhodomontade. but as both are too anxious about the future, and in no humour for a jest, ludwig only answers with a faint smile; while cypriano, alone thinking of francesca, has somewhat impatiently listened to it. having hold of the bridle-rein which the gaucho has handed to him, on the latter ceasing to speak, he says in urgent tone-- "bring her along, then, good gaspar; and be quick about it! as you've said, we should get down to the plain as soon as possible." the admonition is not needed, for gaspar does not waste time over his jokes, nor allow them to interfere with his action. and while delivering the last sally, he has been looking to his horse-gear, to see that his _recade_ is in a proper condition to receive her who is to be his double. satisfied it will do, he strides off to where shebotha is tied; and in a few seconds returns bearing the sorceress in his arms, as though she were but a bundle of rags. hoisting her up to his horse's withers, and with a stern threat and a shake, telling her to stay there, he springs upon the saddle behind her. it would not be their relative positions, then riding double, were they starting out on a long journey. but it will do for the half-mile or so, to the bottom of the hill, and for that short distance it seems idle either to bind her to his own body or to the saddle. so thinks gaspar; but in this the gaucho, with all his prudent sagacity, is for once incautious to a fault. as they are groping their way down the steep slope, zig-zagging among the tree trunks that stand thickly on both sides of the path, a troop of ring-tailed monkeys asleep in their tops, having their slumbers disturbed by the clink-clink of the hoofs against stones, set up a lugubrious howling. all the three horses are affrighted by the unearthly noise, but gaspar's more than any; so much, that rearing erect upon its hind legs, with the ground so uneven, the animal loses balance, and stumbles over on its side. as the gaucho gathers himself, stunned and somewhat dazed by the fall, 'tis to learn that for that night his riding double is at an end, with shebotha sharing the saddle; for the sorceress is no longer to be seen! chapter fifty six. an infuriated female. there is no mystery about shebotha's disappearance nor aught out of the way save in the adroitness with which the aged crone contrived to effect her escape. soon as touching the ground, and feeling herself free from the arms hitherto holding her on horseback, she has darted into the underwood, and off; not even rising erect to her feet, but on all fours, and silently as a snake. for although the hillside is so thickly overgrown with thorny scrub that a pointer would with difficulty quarter it, the supple old savage worms her way through, without making any more noise than would a badger just got out of the barrel, and away from the dogs that have been baiting it. in her retreat, she does not proceed for any great distance in a direct line, nor long continue crawling through the tangle of bushes. she is acquainted with every inch of that wooded slope, and all the paths traversing it, even to the tiniest trace of bird or quadruped; and soon coming into one of these, she at length stands upright. but not to stay there for any time, only long enough to give a glance to the right and left, in order that she may assure herself as to which of the two she had best take. deciding in an instant, she is off again in crouched attitude, but with the agility of youth itself. up the hill she goes, back towards the cemetery. and one who saw her ascending before seeing her now, would with difficulty believe it to be the same person. then, however, she was taking it leisurely, with no particular call for haste nor the taxing of her strength; now there is a motive for her making speed, with every exertion in her power. indeed, more than one; for she is urged by two of the strongest passions that can agitate the human breast--cupidity and vengeance. while depriving her of her ghastly necklace, gaspar had taken the occasion to possess himself of the more elegant and valuable ornaments stripped from the person of nacena; not with any thought to appropriate them to himself, but the intention of restoring them to their rightful owner, when the latter should re-appear to claim them. coming back, and bringing with her the captive, the indian girl would well deserve restitution of her trinkets. thwarted in her infernal schemes, stung to fury by their failure, shebotha goes panting up the hill; but, despite her hard breathing, without stopping to take breath. nor rests she on reaching the summit, but glides on across the cemetery, finding her way through the wooden structures as one who knows every scaffold there, and whose bones are mouldering upon it. it is not from fear of being followed that she is now so hastening her steps. she knows that they from whom she has escaped will not return thither. for although hindered from hearing their conversation with nacena, and so becoming acquainted with their plans, if not fully comprehending, she at least surmises them. for, having recognised the gaucho and his companions--all three of them--what purpose could they have there other than to release the paleface girl she has in her charge? and from the fact of their having themselves released nacena-- let her go without further detention than would be required to come to an understanding--she concludes that this has been come to, and the indian girl consented to aid them in their intended rescue. but it will not be successful if she, shebotha, can prevent it; and desperately bent on doing so, she rushes on through the scaffolds, and down the road to the _tolderia_, as if some danger threatened her from behind. arriving by the door of her own hut, she utters an exclamation of surprise at not there seeing her slave. still another, after having called out his name, and received no answer. her astonishment is complete and her rage at full height, when, having stepped up to the threshold of the _toldo_, she sees there is no one inside. the beeswax dip, burnt low and flickering in the socket, faintly lights up the hideous objects of her craft and calling; but shows no form of human being! it is only a mechanical act her entering within the hut, and proceeding on to its inner apartment; for she is quite as sure it, too, will be found empty--as she finds it. almost instantly returning to the door, she stands gazing out into the darkness. were there a light in front, her eyes would be seen to glare in their sunken sockets with the brightness of fire-balls; while in her breast is burning the fury of a concentrated vengeance. once again she calls out the name of her slave, but as before getting no answer; and now sure that he, too, has either betrayed her, or been himself betrayed, she glides silently out of the _toldo_, and off towards that in which sleeps aguara. soon she reaches its door, which she finds wide open; for it is within the tropics, and the night is a warm one. craning her head inside, and listening for a second or two, she can tell by his breathing that the _cacique_ is asleep. a slumber abruptly broken by her calling out-- "son of naraguana, awake!" "shebotha!" he exclaims, recognising her shrill treble. "what is it?" he adds, raising his head over the edge of his _hamaca_. "arise, aguara! and make all haste. know that there are enemies near, and treason in your tribe. you've been betrayed, and so has shebotha!" "betrayed! how?" he asks in wonderment, but without leaving the hammock. "who are these enemies you speak of? who the traitors?" "you'll learn that in time, chief. it may be enough for you now to know, that your paleface captive has escaped." "escaped!" he cries out, bounding down upon the floor, and coming forward to the entrance. "the paleface escaped, you say? are you speaking truth, mam shebotha?" "come to my _toldo_, and see for yourself." "no, that's not needed, if you say she's gone. tell me how, when, and whither. be quick!" in hurried phrase she recounts the incidents which have occurred to her and nacena on the cemetery hill, adding her conjectures as to what may have transpired since, and may still be in the act of occurrence. among these last are her suspicions, well founded as we know, that kaolin's sister has aided the paleface to escape; and that her own slave, who should have hindered, has not only connived at it, but taken himself away as well. in short, the cage is empty, and the bird with its keeper both flown! what direction the fugitives have taken, is a question to which the sorceress can give answer without the need of any doubtful surmise or conjecture. she knows it as well as if she herself had appointed the place of rendezvous, given by gaspar to the indian girl. for while riding double with the gaucho, she had heard him speak of it to his companions; heard, despite the poncho spread over her ears, the word _ceiba_, with others, which told of their intention to stay by that tree. the _cacique_ knows the noted spot, as well as nacena herself, he too having oft played beneath its shade, or climbed up its grand trunk and disported himself among its branches, when more of a boy than he is now. but he reflects not on these past times, so full of innocence and happiness. instead, wild with rage, and wretched as he is angry, he stays not to reflect at all; but hastily, and little better than half-dressed, he rushes forth from his _toldo_, calling loudly for his horse. meanwhile, the sorceress has aroused others of the tribe; several of whom, in obedience to their chief's command, start off for the _corrals_ to procure the horses necessary for a pursuit of the fugitives. aguara's is on the ground first; and, without waiting for companion or attendant of any kind, he vaults upon the animal's back, and goes off at a gallop along the path, which, after turning around close to the hill, at about a mile's distance, farther on passes the _ceiba_ tree. chapter fifty seven. the captive recaptured. impossible to describe the feelings of caspar, when having recovered his feet after the tumble out of his _recado_, he finds that shebotha has got away from him. it is some consolation to know that neither himself nor his horse has received serious injury. still not sufficient to satisfy him, nor allay the wild exasperation burning within his breast, which seeks to vent itself in a string of maledictions poured plenteously from his lips. as the hag, however, has surely succeeded in getting off, and it would be idle to attempt pursuing through the thick scrub, his anathemas hurled after her are all in vain: and, at thought of this, he soon ceases to pronounce them. for the reflection quick follows, that he and his companions have now something else to think about--their own safety, doubly endangered by shebotha's escape. "_mil demonios_!" is his last exclaim of the kind, after getting his horse upright again and himself back into the saddle, "who'd have believed the old beldame had so much suppleness in her joints? but it's no joking matter. only to think of it! everything looking so bright, and now satan's luck once more back upon us--bad, if not worse, than ever! well, we mustn't dilly-dally here. if there's still a chance left us, we'll have to look for it down below, by that big cotton tree." saying which, he again gives the rein to his horse, and continues the descent of the hill, the others head and tail close after. on reaching the said cotton tree, however, gaspar changes his mind about that spot being the best for their temporary abiding place. since its being arranged as a rendezvous with nacena, the circumstances have sadly altered, and, on reflection, he deems it better, as do the others, to keep on along the road towards the _tolderia_--at least for some little distance. there can be no harm in that, nor danger of their going astray. the path is a plain one, much trampled by horses and cattle, and, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, easily discernible. if fortune so far favour them, that the captive will be coming that way, under the guidance of the indian girl, the sooner these be met the more chance for all eventually getting safe off, rescuers as rescued. so concluding, they make scarce a moment's halt by the _ceiba_; but, passing under its umbrageous branches, head their horses along the trail leading to the town. at this moment were it daylight, or even a clear moonlight, one placed upon the brow of the hill fronting south-eastward, and looking down to the level plain by its base, would behold two separate parties moving upon it, but in opposite directions, so that, if they continue to advance, they must meet. one party is mounted, the other afoot; the former being gaspar and his two companions, while the latter is also composed of three individuals--nacena, francesca, and shebotha's slave. the two girls, going in a half-run, are side by side, and ahead of the man; who, less free of foot, has fallen behind them to a distance of some twenty or thirty paces. nacena, who knows the way, guides the escaping captive, and has hold of her by the hand. they are now not more than half-a-mile from the mounted party, coming the opposite way, and in a few minutes should meet it, if nothing prevent. already within hailing distance, they might hear one another's voices; but neither being aware of this mutual proximity, all advance in silence--the trio on horseback proceeding at a slow pace for caution's sake, lest the tread of their animals should betray them. but if their own be not heard afar, there are other hoofs making a noise to disturb the stillness of the night. just as the indian girl has whispered to her paleface _protegee_ some words of cheer, saying that her friends are now no great way off, she is startled by the hoof-stroke of a horse, which her practised ear tells her to be ridden; while the rapid repetition of the sound denotes the animal going in a gallop. suddenly she stops, and listens. clearer rings the "tramp--tramp," as nearer the horseman approaches. coming up behind, from the direction of the town, who can it be but one in pursuit of them? and if a pursuer, what other than aguara? still nacena is in doubt, and deems it strange. as they stole away from shebotha's hut, and through the straggling suburb of the _tolderia_, all was darkness and silence, everybody seeming asleep. who or what could have awakened the _cacique_, and apprised him of the flight of his captive? in asking herself these questions, kaolin's sister is under the belief, that the sorceress is herself still a prisoner, in the keeping of that stalwart and redoubtable gaucho. hence her surprise at their being pursued, with the uncertainty that they are so, and the further doubt of the pursuer being aguara. he it is, notwithstanding; and as yet pursuing alone. for although soon can be heard the hoof-strokes of other horses than his also following, these are faint and far-off. he himself hears them; knows it is a party of his young braves pressing on after, but will not wait for them to come up. for he hopes to overtake the fugitives, ere they can reach the place of rendezvous shebotha has spoken of, and recover his captive before she can fling herself into the arms of protecting friends. in this hope, alas! he is not disappointed. dashing on through the darkness along a road with every foot of which both he and his horse are familiar, he first comes up with the half-witted creature lagging behind, soon as beside him putting the question-- "where is the paleface, your prisoner?" the man, frightened at seeing it is the _cacique_, in his confusion hesitates to make reply. but aguara does not wait for it. he hears voices ahead--soft and sweet, though raised in tones of alarm--and knows she must be there. giving his horse's head a wrench, so as to shave close past the delinquent jailer, he raises his _macana_, and dealing a downward blow, strikes the latter to the earth: then hastens on after the others. nacena now knows for certain that they are pursued, as also who is the pursuer. she has heard the question asked by aguara, recognising his voice; heard also the dull thud of his club as it descended on the skull of the unfortunate man; and now again hears the trampling of hoofs renewed and drawing nearer. she has still hold of francesca's hand, and for a moment debates within herself what is best to be done, and whether she should not release it, and turning show front to the pursuer. too late for that, or aught else likely to be of service either to herself or _protegee_. before any resolve reaches her the _cacique_, is by their side; and flinging himself from his horse, grasps both by the wrists, wrenching asunder their joined hands. then turning upon the indian girl with a cry of rage--a curse in the tovas tongue--he strikes her with his shut fist, inflicting a blow which sends her reeling to the earth. before she can regain her feet he is once more upon his horse, and heading back for the _tolderia_--his recovered captive in his arms! chapter fifty eight. va con dios. in a rush aguara goes, fast as his animal can be urged by heel and voice. for, while so roughly separating the two girls, these had shouted in alarm, and his ear had caught other cries raised at a distance, and as if responsive. now he hears them again; men's voices, and mingling with them the trampling of hoofs--clearly several horses coming on in a gallop. she, he has in his arms, hears them too, but listens not in silence or unresisting. instead, she struggles and shrieks, calling "help, help!" with the names "ludwig, cypriano, gaspar!" she is heard by all three; for it is they who responded to the cries of herself and nacena, knowing who gave utterance to them. near they are now, and riding as in a race; they, too, pressing their horses to utmost speed. but the darkness is against them, as their ignorance of the ground, with which the man pursued is familiar. by this, at every step, they are obstructed; and but for the screams of francesca, still continued, might as well abandon the chase for any chance they have of overtaking him. and overtake him they never would, nor could, were fortune not in their favour. an accident it may appear; at the same time seeming a divine retribution for wrong--a very nemesis in the path of the wicked aguara. on returning past the spot where he had struck down shebotha's slave, he sees the unfortunate man stretched along the ground, and, to all appearance, still insensible. nought cares he for that, but his horse does; and, at sight of the prostrate form, the animal, with a snort of affright, shies to one side, and strikes off in a new direction. going at so swift a pace, and in such a dim light, in a few bounds it enters among some bushes, where it is brought up standing. before its rider can extricate it, a strong hand has hold of it by the head, with a thumb inserted into its nostrils, while the fingers of another are clutching at his own throat. the hand on the horse's muzzle is that of caspar the gaucho, the fingers that grope to get a gripe on the rider's neck being those of cypriano. it is a crisis in the life of the young tovas _cacique_, threatening either death or captivity. but subtle as all indians are, and base as any common fellow of his tribe, instead of showing a bold front, he eludes both, by letting go the captive girl, himself slipping to the ground, and, snake like, gliding off among the bushes. on the other side of his horse, which he has also abandoned, francesca falls into the arms of her brother, who embraces her with wild delight. though not wilder, nor half so thrilling, as that which enraptures the ear of cypriano--to whose arms she is on the instant after transferred. but it is not a time for embraces, however affectionate, nor words to be wasted in congratulation. so gaspar tells them, while urging instant departure from that perilous spot. "our lucky star's gone up again," he says, with a significant nod to aguara's horse, which he has still hold of. "there is now four of us; and as i take it this brisk little _musteno_ is fairly our property, there'll be no need for any of us riding double--to say nothing of one having a witch behind his back. without such incumbrance, it'll be so much the better for the saving of time; which at this present moment presses, with not the hundredth part of a second to spare. so _hijos mios_, and you, _hija mia querida_, let us mount and be off!" while the gaucho is yet thus jocularly delivering himself, cypriano has lifted his cousin, francesca, to the back of the _cacique's_ abandoned steed; on which he well knows she can keep her seat, were it the wildest that ever careered across _campo_. then he remounts his own, the other two taking to their saddles at the same time. a word about the route, and all four start together; not to go back along the trail towards the _ceiba_ tree, but striking straight out for the open plain, in a direction which gaspar conjectures to be the right one. they would willingly diverge from it to ascertain whether the poor creature clubbed by aguara be dead or still living; and, if the latter, take him along. but gaspar urges the danger of delay; above all, being burdened with a man not only witless, but now in all likelihood disabled by a wound which would make the transporting him an absolute impossibility. ludwig and his sister are more desirous to turn aside, and learn how it is with nacena. but again the gaucho, no: greatly given to sentiment, objects. luckily, as if to relieve them from all anxiety, just then they hear a voice, which all recognise as that of the tovas belle, calling out in tolerably pure castilian:-- "_va con dios_!" standing up in his stirrups, with a shout and counter salute, the gaucho returns the valediction; then, spurring forward and placing himself at the head of the retreating party, they ride on, with no thought of again halting so long as their horses can keep their feet. chapter fifty nine. friends or foes? the solitary _estancia_ which for two years had been the happy home of ludwig halberger and his family, but late the abode of deepest sorrow, is once more revisited by a gleam of joy. for the rescuing party has returned to it, bringing francesca back safe and still unharmed. in the tumult of gratified emotions at recovering her lost child,--or rather children, for she had begun to think them all for ever gone from her-- the widow almost forgets that she is widowed. only for a brief moment, however. the other great bereavement has been too recent to remain long out of her thoughts, and soon returns to them in its full afflicting bitterness. but she has no time to dwell upon it now. the tale of actual experience which the rescuers have brought back, with caspar's surmises added, has given her a full and clear comprehension of everything; not only explaining the tragic event already past, but foreshadowing other and further dangers yet to come, and which may, at any moment, descend upon herself and the dear ones still left to her. she has no longer any doubts as to the hand that has dealt her such a terrible blow; neither of the man who actually committed the murder, nor of him who instigated it. for francesca's recognition of valdez has confirmed all the gaucho's conjectures. and the dictator of paraguay is not the man to leave unfinished either his cruel deeds or designs. surely will he further prosecute them, either by hastening himself to the _estancia_, or sending thither his myrmidons. yes, at any hour, any minute, a party of these may appear approaching it from the east, while in like short time the pursuing tovas, headed by their enraged _cacique_, may show themselves coming from the west. no wonder that the moments of mutual congratulation between the senora halberger and those just returned to her are brief, and but little joyful. the fugitives have reached home, but not to find it a refuge. for them it is no more a place of safety; instead, the most perilous in which they could now or ever after sojourn. but where are they to go-- whither further flee? in all the chaco there is not a spot that can shelter them from such pursuers as they are expecting! it is now near noon of the fourth day since they left the sacred town of the tovas, and in the interval they had been riding hard and fast, day and night, scarce allowing themselves either sleep or rest. but, fast as they have travelled, they know that aguara, with his braves, will not be far behind; and although less than an hour has elapsed since their arrival at the _estancia_, gaspar has already made preparations for their departure from it. assisted by the faithful guano indians, who of course are to accompany them in their flight, he has caught up and caparisoned fresh horses, with the mules belonging to the establishment. still the question remains unanswered--whither are they to go? throughout all the vicissitudes of his eventful life, never had the gaucho one so perplexing him, or fraught with such fears. in the hope of finding an answer, and the better to reflect upon it, he has drawn a little apart from the house, with the hurry and bustle going on around it. a slight eminence, not far off in front, gives a commanding view of the _campo_; and, taking stand upon its top, he first casts a sweeping glance around the horizon, then fixes it only in one direction--that southwards, towards the old _tolderia_. for, although expecting enemies both from east and west, he knows that, coming from either side, they will most likely approach by the pilcomayo's bank; the former by the trail leading up the river, the latter by the same going down. it is not the first time for him to be standing on that elevated spot. every ten minutes since their return to the _estancia_, he has been upon it, gazing out in the same way, and for the self-same purpose. still, as yet, he observes nothing to add to his apprehensions, already keen enough. no living thing--much less human being--stirs over the wide expanse of green grassy plain. for it is near the meridian hour, and the tropical sun, pouring its fervid rays vertically down, has forced both birds and quadrupeds inside the cooler shadow of their coverts. only two of the former are seen--a brace of _urubus_, or "king vultures," soaring in circles aloft--beautiful birds, but less emblematic of life than death. a bad omen he might deem their presence; and worse, if he but saw what they see. for, from their more elevated position, they command a view of the plain to a much greater distance, and see mounted men upon it; not a single party, but three distinct groups of them, leagues distant from each other, though all round for the _estancia_. they are approaching it by separate routes, and from different quarters of the compass; one party coming up the pilcomayo's bank, and making straight for the old _tolderia_, a second moving towards the same place on the down-river trail; while the third, away from the river, and out upon the open plain, is heading more direct for the _estancia_ itself. the first cohort, which is the smallest, is composed of some forty or fifty horsemen, riding "by twos;" their regular formation on the march, but more the uniformity in their dress, arms, and accoutrements, telling them to be soldiers. for such they really are--the _cuarteleros_ of paraguay, with rufino valdez riding at their head; not as their commanding officer, but in the exercise of his more proper and special calling of _vaqueano_, or guide. ghastly and pallid, with his arm supported in a sling, he is on the way back to halberger's _estancia_, to complete the ruffian's task assigned to him by the dictator of paraguay, and make more desolate the home he had already enough ruined. but for his mischance in the _biscachera_, the rescuers would have found it empty on their return, and instead of a lost daughter, it would have been the mother missing. the second band of horsemen, coming from the opposite quarter and down the river, is no other than the pursuing party of tovas, with aguara at their head. they are mostly young men, the _cacique's_ particular friends and partisans, nearly a hundred in number, all armed with _bolas_ and long spears. hastily summoned together, they had started in pursuit soon as they could catch up their horses; but with all their speed the rescuing party had so far kept ahead, as to have arrived at the _estancia_ some time before them. but they are pressing on for it now, fast as their horses can carry them, urged forward by their leader, who, in his rage, is not only determined to retake the escaped captive, but kill cousin, brother, all who aided in her escape. the third party, also approaching from the west, but by a route leading direct to the house, with the river far southward on their right, is, as the second, composed entirely of tovas indians. but, instead of them being the youths of the tribe, they are, for the most part, men of mature age, though a young man is at their head, and acting as their commander. there is a girl riding by his side, a beautiful girl, at a glance recognisable as nacena--he himself being her brother, kaolin. they and their party are also pursuing. though not to retake, the paleface captive; instead, to protect her--the object of their pursuit being aguara himself. for soon as the latter had started off on his reckless chase--braving public opinion, and defying the opposition of the elders--a revolution had arisen in the tribe; while a council meeting, hastily called in the _malocca_, had, with almost unanimous vote, deposed him from the chieftainship, and chosen kaolin _cacique_ in his stead. needless to say, that to all this nacena was a consenting party. and something more--since she gave the cue to her brother, who was chief instigator in the revolt. that blow which laid her along the earth, with the cause for which it was given, had severed the last link of love that bound her to aguara, and for him her heart is now full of hate and burning with vengeance. while pressing on in pursuit of his escaped captive, little dreams the deposed _cacique_ of the tovas, either that he has been deposed of his chieftainship or that others are pursuing him. but his pursuers are not now behind him; instead, in front, or, at all events, nearer to the _estancia_ than he. for kaolin's followers, availing themselves of a route known to one of their number--a shorter cut across the _pampas_--have passed the party led by aguara, and will be the first to arrive at the objective point aimed at by both. and they are first sighted by gaspar, though the gaucho has not been looking in their direction, little expectant of pursuers to come from that quarter. the _urubus_ have guided him, or rather their shadows gliding over the grassy sward; these, as the birds making them, having suddenly passed away towards the west. following them with his eyes, he sees what causes him to exclaim-- "_santos dios_! we are lost. too late--too late; 'tis all over with us now!" his cry, sent up in accent of deepest despair, brings ludwig and cypriano to his side: and the three stand watching the dark cohort advancing towards them. none of them speaks or thinks of retreat. that would be idle, and any attempt at escape must surely result in failure; while to resist would but hasten the disaster impending over them. convinced of this, they no longer contemplate either flight or resistance, but stand in sullen silence to await the approach of the pursuers, for such they suppose them to be. deeming them avengers also, as well they may, recalling their last encounter with the young tovas chief. never did mistaken men more rejoice at their mistake than do they, when, on the band of indian braves galloping up to the ground, they behold at its head, and evidently in command of it, not the _cacique_ aguara, but the sub-chief, kaolin, and beside him his sister nacena! she who aided them in effecting the escape of the captive, and, as a last word, bade them "god speed," would not be with pursuers who are hostile. nor is she, as they soon learn; instead, along with friends who come but to give comfort and protection! chapter sixty. speedy retribution. short time stays kaolin and his party by the _estancia_: for the newly-elected chief of the tovas is a man of ready resolves and quick action, and soon as his story is told, with that of the others heard in return, he again mounts, and makes ready for the march--this time to be directed towards the old _tolderia_. he knows that his rival _cacique_ must come that way, as also the other enemy of whom caspar has given him information, and who may be expected as soon, if not sooner, than aguara himself. the gaucho goes along with him, as so would cypriano and ludwig, but that caspar forbids it; urging them to remain at the _estancia_ as company, and, if need be, protection, for the _senora_ and _nina_. thus influenced, they both stay. straight off over the _pampa_ rides kaolin, at the head of his hundred stalwart warriors, his sister still by his side. she also had been counselled to remain behind, an advice she disdainfully rejected. the revenge burning in her breast will not let her rest, till she has seen her false lover, her insulter, laid low. her brother, too, and all his band of braves, are alike eager for the conflict to come. it was not so before their arrival at the _estancia_. then they only thought of dealing with their deposed _cacique_ and his youthful followers, foolish as himself; nor dreamt they aught of danger. but now, with the prospect of meeting another and very different enemy, more dangerous and more hated, their savage nature is roused within them to an ire uncontrollable. by chance, kaolin himself has a special dislike for the _vaqueano_ valdez; while as to the others, despite the restored treaty forced upon them by aguara, their friendship has not been restored with it; and they urge their horses forward, burning for an encounter with the _cuarteleros_ of paraguay. though the gaucho rides at the head of the quick marching party, and alongside their leader, it is not to guide them. they know the ground as well, and better than he; for oft and many a time have they quartered that same _campo_, in pursuit of _gama, guazuti_, and ostrich. kaolin directs his march in a straight course for the old _tolderia_, though not now designing to go so far. his objective point for the present is a high bluff which hems in the valley of the pilcomayo, and from which a view may be obtained of the river for long leagues upward and downward, as of the deserted village, at no great distance off upon its bank. through a ravine that cuts this bluff transversely, the latter can alone be reached from the elevated plain over which they are advancing. arrived at the upper end of the gorge, they do not go down it. instead, commanding his warriors to make halt, kaolin himself dismounts; and signing the gaucho to keep him company, the two step crouchingly forward and upward to the outer edge of the cliff. soon as reaching it they get sight of what they had more than half expected to see: two bands of men mounted and upon the march, one with the horses' heads directed down the stream, the other up it. the first, as can be seen at a glance, is the pursuing party of tovas youths led by aguara; while the sun shining upon gilt buttons, with the glittering of lance blades and barrels of guns, tells the other to be a troop of soldiers, beyond doubt the looked for _cuarteleros_! both are at about a like distance from the abandoned town, heading straight for it; and while kaolin and the gaucho continue watching them they ride in among the _toldos_ from opposite sides, meeting face to face on the open space by the _malocca_. at sight of one another the two sets come to a sudden halt; and, for a second or two, seem engaged in a mutual and suspicious reconnaissance. but their distrust is of short continuance; for there is a rogue at the head of each, and these, as if instinctively recognising one another, are seen to advance and shake hands, while their followers mutually mingle and fraternise. amicable relations being thus established between them, the men on both sides are observed to dismount, as if they intended to make stay in the _tolderia_. a movement, which puzzles kaolin and the gaucho, who were about going back to the gorge with the design of taking steps for defending it. instead, they remain upon the cliff's crest to watch the enemy below. and they continue watching there till the sun goes down, and the purple of twilight spreads itself over the plain bordering the pilcomayo; this succeeded by a mist rising from the river, and shrouding the deserted village in its murky embrace. but before night's darkness is altogether on they see a mounted troop, filing by twos, out from among the _toldos_, with lances carried aloft, and pennons floating over their heads--surely the _cuarteleros_. there is just light enough left to show two men in the lead, dressed differently from these following. one of these resplendent in a feather-embroidered _manta_, kaolin recognises as his rival aguara; while the gaucho identifies the other as his oldest, deadliest, and most dangerous enemy, valdez, the _vaqueano_. they remain not a moment longer on the cliff; for, eager as gaspar mendez may be to rid himself of that enemy, he is not more so than the indian to send to his long account the man who insulted his sister. now more than ever determined upon avenging her wrongs, he rushes back to his braves, and hurriedly puts them in ambush near the head of the gorge, at a point where the defile is narrowest; himself taking stand on a ledge, which commands the pass, in such manner, that with his long spear he can reach across it from side to side. at length has the opportunity arrived for the angry brother to take the retribution he has resolved upon--nacena herself being a witness to it. for she is near by, standing on a higher bench behind, in posed attitude, with her features hard set and lips compressed, as one about to be spectator to a sad and painful scene. but if she feel sadness, it is not for the death now threatening aguara. that blow had changed her fond love to bitterest resentment; and instead of doing aught, or saying word, to stay her brother's hand, she but by her presence and silence incites him to the deed of vengeance. it is soon and quickly done. scarce has the ambuscade been set, when the trampling of horses heard down the defile tells of a cavalcade coming up, and presently the foremost files appear rounding an angle of rock. dim as is the light, the horseman leading can be told to be the young tovas _cacique_, while the one immediately in his rear is recognisable as rufino valdez. at sight of the latter the gaucho, who is close to kaolin, feeling all his old hatred revived, and recalling, too, the murder of his beloved master, with difficulty restrains himself from springing down and commencing the conflict. he is prevented by a sign from kaolin; who, on the instant, after leaning forward lounges out with his spear. a wild cry tells that it has pierced the body of aguara; then drawn instantly back and given a second thrust, it passes through that of the _vaqueano_--both dropping from their horses dead, as if by a bullet through the brain! the soldiers coming on behind are brought to a sudden stop; scarce comprehending why, till they hear the wild tovas war-cry raised above their heads, at the same time being saluted with a shower of _bolas peridas_ rained down from the rocks, these terrible missiles crushing in every skull with which they came into contact. the scared _cuarteleros_ stay for no more; but, with a cry of treason, turn their horses' heads, and hurry back down the ravine. nor stop they at the _tolderia_; but still under the belief of having been betrayed, continue their retreat down the river, and on toward paraguay, leaving over a dozen of them dead in that dark defile. as for the followers of aguara, they make no show of fight. now that their leader is no more, there is no cause of quarrel between them and the warriors of the tribe, and not a hand is raised to avenge their young _cacique_. for on learning the full character of his designs, and his complicity with the cruel _vaqueano_, all acknowledge that both men have but met the death they deserved. chapter sixty one. conclusion. after a day's rest at their old _tolderia_, the two parties of tovas, now united in amity, set out on return to their sacred town. and along with them goes the senora halberger, with all the members of her family--including the guano indian domestics, and, needless to say, not leaving gaspar mendez behind. and, alike idle to declare, that they go not as captives; but guests, to be honoured and better cared for than ever before. better protected, too; for, as ever do they need protection; now more than ever likely to be under the ban of the paraguayan despot. that solitary _estancia_ would no longer be a safe place of residence for them, and they well know it. perfect safety they find at the sacred town, and hospitality too, great as when naraguana himself dispensed it. for is not kaolin now _cacique_--he who saved them from death and destruction? kindly he extends his protection, and generously bestows his hospitality. but they do not for long need the former, nor are they called upon to abuse the latter by a too protracted stay. shortly after their arrival at the sacred town, they get news which, though of death, gives them joy, as it only could and should; since it is the death of that man who has been the cause of all their miseries. jose francia, feared far and wide throughout paraguay, and even beyond its borders, has at length paid the debt due by all men, whether bad or good. but although dead, strange to say, in the land he so long ruled with hard ruthless hand, still dreaded almost as much as when living; his cowed and craven subjects speaking of him with trembling lips and bated breath, no more as "el supremo," but "el defunto!" the senora halberger believes she may now return to her native country, without fear of further persecution from him. but caspar thinks otherwise; deeming it still unsafe, and pointing out the danger of their being called to account for what they were not guilty of--the slaughter of the _cuarteleros_ in the defile. in fine, he urges her to make her future home in the argentine states; a pleasanter land to live in, besides being a land of liberty, and, above all, the orthodox country of his own class and kind, the _gauchos_. observing the justness of his arguments, she consents to follow his advice; and to the argentine states they all go, journeying across many great rivers and through hundreds of miles of wilderness. but they are not permitted to travel either unprotected or alone; for kaolin accompanies them, with a band of his best braves--nacena also forming one of the escort. the tovas _cacique_ sees them over the salado river, and within safe distance of the outlying settlements of san rosario, there leaving them. but when he parts company, to return to the sacred town, his sister returns not with him. though as a brother he be dear to her, she has found one dearer, with whom she prefers to stay. and does stay, kaolin himself consenting; since the dearer one is his own friend and former playmate. the gentle ludwig has at length succeeded in winning the heart of the savage maiden--still whole, despite the tearing of a misplaced passion, long since passed away. our tale could be prolonged, and the characters who have figured in it followed further; but not through scenes of the same exciting character as those already detailed. instead, the record of their after life, though not devoid of stirring incident, is more signalised by scenes of peace and prosperity. the reader will be satisfied with a peep at it, obtained some ten years later than the date of their settling down in the argentine states. a traveller at this time passing from san rosario to the german colonies recently established on the salado river, near the old but abandoned missionary settlement of santa fe, could not fail to observe a grand _estancia_; a handsome dwelling-house with outbuildings, _corrals_ for the enclosure of cattle, and all the appurtenances of a first-class _ganaderia_, or grazing establishment. should he ask to whom it belongs, he would have for answer, "the senora halberger;" and if curiosity led him to inquire further, he might be told that this lady, who is _una viuda_, is but the nominal head of the concern, which is rather owned conjointly by her son and nephew, living along with her. both married though; the latter, senor cypriano, to her daughter and his own cousin; while the former, senor ludwig, has for his wife an indian woman; with possibly the remark added, that this indian woman is as beautiful and accomplished as though she were a white. were the traveller to deviate a little from his route, and approach near enough to the house, he might see the members of this double though united family, surrounded by several pretty children of both sexes, strolling about in happy harmony, and with that freedom from care which speaks of wealth, at the same time telling of its having been honestly acquired. whether or not such a tableau be presented to the traveller's eye, one man who should figure in it would sure be seen moving about the place. for he is the _mayor-domo_ of the estate, and if not actual master, the manager of all. as in that old _estancia_ near the northern bank of the pilcomayo, so in this new and grander one on the southern side of the salado, everything is entrusted, as safely it may be, to gaspar, the gaucho. the rover of the andes, a tale of adventure in south america, by r.m. ballantyne. ________________________________________________________________________ this book is well-written and carries the reader right up to the last chapter, always panting to know what ever will happen next. it describes a journey across central south america, at about the latitude of buenos aires in argentina. lots of different sorts of nasty happenings, and nasty people are encountered, and the problems are overcome one by one. it seems quite realistic, but at anyrate it is a good product of the writer's imagination and research. i enjoyed transcribing it very much. robert michael ballantyne was born in and died in . he was educated at the edinburgh academy, and in he became a clerk with the hudson bay company, working at the red river settlement in northen canada until , arriving back in edinburgh in . the letters he had written home were very amusing in their description of backwoods life, and his family publishing connections suggested that he should construct a book based on these letters. three of his most enduring books were written over the next decade, "the young fur traders", "ungava", "the hudson bay company", and were based on his experiences with the hbc. in this period he also wrote "the coral island" and "martin rattler", both of these taking place in places never visited by ballantyne. having been chided for small mistakes he made in these books, he resolved always to visit the places he wrote about. with these books he became known as a great master of literature intended for teenagers. he researched the cornish mines, the london fire brigade, the postal service, the railways, the laying down of submarine telegraph cables, the construction of light-houses, the light-ship service, the life-boat service, south africa, norway, the north sea fishing fleet, ballooning, deep-sea diving, algiers, and many more, experiencing the lives of the men and women in these settings by living with them for weeks and months at a time, and he lived as they lived. he was a very true-to-life author, depicting the often squalid scenes he encountered with great care and attention to detail. his young readers looked forward eagerly to his next books, and through the s and s there was a flow of books from his pen, sometimes four in a year, all very good reading. the rate of production diminished in the last ten or fifteen years of his life, but the quality never failed. he published over ninety books under his own name, and a few books for very young children under the pseudonym "comus". for today's taste his books are perhaps a little too religious, and what we would nowadays call "pi". in part that was the way people wrote in those days, but more important was the fact that in his days at the red river settlement, in the wilds of canada, he had been a little dissolute, and he did not want his young readers to be unmindful of how they ought to behave, as he felt he had been. some of his books were quite short, little over pages. these books formed a series intended for the children of poorer parents, having less pocket-money. these books are particularly well-written and researched, because he wanted that readership to get the very best possible for their money. they were published as six series, three books in each series. typical of these series is "on the coast". ________________________________________________________________________ the rover of the andes, a tale of adventure in south america, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. a tale of adventure in south america. at the foot of the mountain range. towards the close of a bright and warm day, between fifty and sixty years ago, a solitary man might have been seen, mounted on a mule, wending his way slowly up the western slopes of the andes. although decidedly inelegant and unhandsome, this specimen of the human family was by no means uninteresting. he was so large, and his legs were so long, that the contrast between him and the little mule which he bestrode was ridiculous. he was what is sometimes styled "loosely put together;" nevertheless, the various parts of him were so massive and muscular that, however loosely he might have been built up, most men would have found it rather difficult to take him down. although wanting in grace, he was by no means repulsive, for his face, which was ornamented with a soft flaxen beard and moustache of juvenile texture, expressed wonderful depths of the milk of human kindness. he wore boots with the trousers tucked into them, a grey tunic, or hunting coat, belted at the waist, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, or sombrero. evidently the times in which he travelled were troublous, for, besides having a brace of large pistols in his belt, he wore a cavalry sabre at his side. as if to increase the eccentricity of his appearance, he carried a heavy cudgel, by way of riding-whip; but it might have been observed that, however much he flourished this whip about, he never actually applied it to his steed. on reaching a turn of the road at the brow of an eminence the mule stopped, and, letting its head droop till almost as pendent as its tail, silently expressed a desire for repose. the cavalier stepped off. it would convey a false impression to say that he dismounted. the mule heaved a sigh. "poor little thing!" murmured the traveller in a soft, low voice, and in a language which even a mule might have recognised as english; "you may well sigh. i really feel ashamed of myself for asking you to carry such a mass of flesh and bone. but it's your own fault--you know it is--for you _won't_ be led. i'm quite willing to walk if you will only follow. come--let us try!" gently, insinuatingly, persuasively, the traveller touched the reins, and sought to lead the way. he might as well have tried to lead one of the snow-clad peaks of the mighty cordillera which towered into the sky before him. with ears inclining to the neck, a resolute expression in the eyes, his fore-legs thrown forward and a lean slightly backward, the mule refused to move. "come now, _do_ be amiable; there's a good little thing! come on," said the strong youth, applying more force. peruvian mules are not open to flattery. the advance of the fore-legs became more decided, the lean backward more pronounced, the ears went flat down, and incipient passion gleamed in the eyes. "well, well, have it your own way," exclaimed the youth, with a laugh, "but don't blame me for riding you so much." he once more re-m-; no, we forgot--he once more lifted his right leg over the saddle and sat down. fired, no doubt, with the glow of conscious victory the mule moved on and up at a more lively pace than before. thus the pair advanced until they gained a rocky eminence, whence the rich peruvian plains could be seen stretching far-away toward the glowing horizon, where the sun was about to dip into the pacific. here again the mule stopped, and the rider getting off sat down on a rock to take a look at the level horizon of the west--for he had reached a spot where the next turn in the road would partially shut out the plains and enclose him among the giant mountains. as he sat there meditating, while the mule cropped the herbage at his side, he observed two riders a considerable way down the circuitous road by which he had ascended--a man and a boy, apparently. whether it was the fine stalwart figure of the man that influenced him, or the mere presence of wayfarers in such a solitary place, our traveller could not tell, but he certainly felt unusual interest, and not only watched the pair as they approached, but sat still until they came up. as they drew near he perceived that the smaller of the two, whom at a distance he had taken for a boy, was an indian girl, who, according to custom, bestrode her mule like a man. her companion was a handsome spanish-looking man--a peruvian or it might be a chilian--with fine masculine features and magnificent black eyes. he was well-armed, and, to judge from his looks, seemed a little suspicious of the tall englishman. the hearty salutation of the latter, however, in bad spanish, at once dissipated his suspicions. replying in the same tongue, he then added, in good english:-- "you are a stranger in this land, i perceive." "in truth i am," replied the other, while the peruvian dismounted, "nevertheless, i ought scarcely to admit the fact, for i was born in peru. this perhaps may seem contradictory, but it is not more so than your being apparently a native of the soil yet speaking english like an englishman." "from which it follows," returned the peruvian, "that men ought not to judge altogether by appearances. but you are wrong in supposing me a native of the soil, and yet--i am not an englishman. i have got a gift of language, however--at least i feel myself equally at home in english, indian, spanish, and portuguese, which is not to be wondered at, seeing that i have been forced to talk in all four languages for nigh a quarter of a century." "then you must have been but a boy when you came here," returned the englishman, "for you seem to be not yet middle-aged." "right, i was indeed a mere boy when i came to this land." "and i was a boy of seven when i left it to be educated in europe," returned the englishman. "it is sixteen years since then, and i had feared that my memory might have failed to recognise the old landmarks, but i am rejoiced to find that i remember every turn of the road as if i had left home but yesterday." we have said that the tall youth's face was not handsome, but the glow of animation which rested on it when he spoke of home, seemed for a moment to transform it. "your home, then, cannot be far distant?" remarked the peruvian, with a peculiar look that might have attracted the attention of the younger man if his gaze had not at the moment been directed to the indian girl, who, during the foregoing conversation, had remained motionless on her mule with her eyes looking pensively at the ground, like a beautiful statue in bronze. "my home is close at hand," said the englishman, when the question had been repeated; "unless memory plays me false, two more turns in the road will reveal it." the earnest look of the peruvian deepened as he asked if the estate of passamanka was his home. "yes, you know it, then?" exclaimed the youth eagerly; "and perhaps you knew my father too?" "yes, indeed; there are few people within a hundred miles of the place who did not know the famous sugar-mill and its hospitable owner, senhor armstrong. but excuse me," added the peruvian, with some hesitation, "you are aware, i suppose, that your father is dead?" "ay, well do i know that," returned the other in a deeper tone. "it is to take my father's place at the mills that i have been hastily summoned from england. alas! i know nothing of the work, and it will be sorely against the grain to attempt the carrying on of the old business in the desolate old home." "of course you also know," continued the peruvian, "that the country is disturbed just now--that the old smouldering enmity between chili and peru has broken forth again in open war." "i could not have passed through the low country without finding that out. indeed," said the youth, glancing at his belt with a half-apologetic smile, "these weapons, which are so unfamiliar to my hand, and so distasteful to my spirit, are proof that i, at least, do not look for a time of peace. i accoutred myself thus on landing, at the urgent advice of a friend, though my good cudgel--which has sufficed for all my needs hitherto--is more to my mind, besides being useful as a mountain staff. but why do you ask? is there much probability of the belligerents coming so far among the hills?" "wherever carrion is to be found, there you may be sure the vultures will congregate. there is booty to be got here among the hills; and whether the soldiers belong to the well-trained battalions of chili, or the wretched levies of peru, they are always prepared, for plunder-- ready to make hay while the sun shines. i only hope, senhor armstrong, that--but come, let us advance and see before the sun sets." turning abruptly as he spoke, the man mounted his mule and rode briskly up the winding road, followed by the indian girl and our englishman. at the second turning of the road they reached a spot where an opening in the hills revealed the level country below, stretching away into illimitable distance. as had been anticipated, they here came upon the mills they were in quest of. the peruvian reined up abruptly and looked back. "i feared as much," he said in a low tone as the englishman rode forward. rendered anxious by the man's manner, lawrence armstrong sprang from his mule and pushed forward, but suddenly stopped and stood with clasped hands and a gaze of agony. for there stood the ruins of his early home--where his mother had died while he was yet a child, where his father had made a fortune, which, in his desolation, he had failed to enjoy, and where he finally died, leaving his possessions to his only child. the troops had visited the spot, fired no doubt with patriotic fervour and knowing its owner to be wealthy. they had sacked the place, feasted on the provisions, drunk the wines, smashed up, by way of pleasantry, all the valuables that were too heavy to carry away, and, finally, setting fire to the place, had marched off to other fields of "glory." it was a tremendous blow to poor lawrence, coming as he did fresh from college in a peaceful land, and full of the reminiscences of childhood. sitting down on a broken wall, he bowed his head and wept bitterly-- though silently--while the peruvian, quietly retiring with the indian girl, left him alone. the first paroxysm of grief over, young armstrong rose, and began sadly to wander about the ruins. it had been an extensive structure, fitted with all the most approved appliances of mechanism which wealth could purchase. these now helped to enhance the wild aspect of the wreck, for iron girders had been twisted by the action of fire into snake-like convolutions in some places, while, in others, their ends stuck out fantastically from the blackened walls. beautiful furniture had been smashed up to furnish firewood for the cooking of the meal with which the heroic troops had refreshed themselves before leaving, while a number of broken wine-bottles at the side of a rosewood writing-desk with an empty bottle on the top of it and heaps of stones and pebbles around, suggested the idea that the warriors had mingled light amusement with sterner business. the roofs of most of the buildings had fallen in; the window-frames, where spared by the fire, had been torn out; and a pianoforte, which lay on its back on the grass, showed evidence of having undergone an examination of its internal arrangements, with the aid of the butt-ends of muskets. "and this is the result of war!" muttered the young man, at last breaking silence. "only one phase of it," replied a voice at his side, in tones of exceeding bitterness; "you must imagine a few corpses of slaughtered men and women and children, if you would have a perfect picture of war." the speaker was the peruvian, who had quietly approached to say that if they wished to reach the next resting-place before dark it was necessary to proceed without delay. "but perhaps," he added, "you do not intend to go further. no doubt this was to have been the end of your journey had all been well. it can scarcely, i fear, be the end of it now. i do not wish to intrude upon your sorrows, mr armstrong, but my business will not admit of delay. i must push on, yet i would not do so without expressing my profound sympathy, and offering to aid you if it lies in my power." there was a tone and look about the man which awoke a feeling of gratitude and confidence in the forlorn youth's heart. "you are very kind," he said, "but it is not in the power of man to help me. as your business is urgent you had better go and leave me. i thank you for the sympathy you express--yet stay. you cannot advance much further to-night, why not encamp here? there used to be a small hut or out-house not far-off, in which my father spent much of his leisure. perhaps the--the--" "patriots!" suggested the peruvian. "the scoundrels," said lawrence, "may have spared or overlooked it. the hut would furnish shelter enough, and we have provisions with us." after a moment's reflection the peruvian assented to this proposal, and, leaving the ruins together, they returned to the road, where they found the indian girl holding the youth's mule as well as that of her companion. hastening forward, lawrence apologised for having in the agitation of the moment allowed his mule to run loose. "but i forgot," he added, "of course you do not understand english." "try spanish," suggested the peruvian, "she knows a little of that." "unfortunately i have forgotten the little that i had picked up here when a boy," returned lawrence, as he mounted, "if i can manage to ask for food and lodging in that tongue, it is all that i can do." they soon reached an opening in the bushes at the roadside, and, at the further end of a natural glade or track, observed a small wooden hut thatched with rushes. towards this young armstrong led the way. he was evidently much affected, for his lips were compressed, and he gave no heed to a remark made by his companion. entering the hut, he stood for some time looking silently round. it was but a poor place with bare walls; a carpenter's bench in one corner, near to it a smith's forge, one or two chairs, and a few tools;--not much to interest a stranger but to lawrence full of tender associations. "it was here," he said in tones of deepest pathos, "that my father showed me how to handle tools, and my mother taught me to read from the word of god." looking at his companions he observed that the large dark eyes of the indian girl were fixed on him with an expression of unmistakable sympathy. he felt grateful at the moment, for to most men sympathy is sweet when unobtrusively offered whether it come from rich or poor-- civilised or savage. "come, this will do," said the peruvian, looking round, "if you will kindle a fire on the forge, senhor armstrong, manuela will arrange a sleeping chamber for herself in the closet i see there, while i look after the beasts." he spoke in cheering tones, which had the effect of rousing the poor youth somewhat from his despondency. "well, then," he replied, "let us to work, and it is but just, as we are to sup together, and you know my name, that i should be put on an equal footing with yourself--" "impossible!" interrupted the other, with a slight curl of his moustache, "for as i am only six feet one, and you are at least six feet four, we can never be on an equal footing." "nay, but i referred to names, not to inches. pray, by what name shall i call you?" "pedro," returned the spaniard. "i am known by several names in these parts--some of them complimentary, others the reverse, according as i am referred to by friends or foes. men often speak of me as a confirmed rover because of my wandering tendencies, but i'm not particular and will answer to any name you choose, so long as it is politely uttered. the one i prefer is pedro." he went out as he spoke to look after the mules, while lawrence set about kindling a small fire and otherwise making preparations for supper. the indian girl, manuela, with that prompt and humble obedience characteristic of the race to which she belonged, had gone at once into the little closet which her companion had pointed out, and was by that time busily arranging it as a sleeping chamber for the night. chapter two. compact with the new friend and discovery of an old one. keeping the fire low in order to prevent its being seen by any of the wandering bands of patriots--_alias_ soldiers, _alias_ banditti--who might chance to be in the neighbourhood, the three travellers thus thrown unexpectedly together ate their supper in comparative silence, lawrence and pedro exchanging a comment on the viands now and then, and the handsome indian girl sitting opposite to them with her eyes for the most part fixed on the ground, though now and then she raised them to take a quick stealthy glance at the huge youth whose appetite did not seem to be greatly affected by his misfortunes. perhaps she was wondering whether all englishmen, possessed such innocent kindly faces and such ungainly though powerful frames. it may be that she was contrasting him with the handsome well-knit pedro at his side. whatever her thoughts might have been, the short glances of her lustrous eyes gave no clue to them, and her tongue was silent, save when she replied by some brief monosyllable to a remark or query put in the indian language occasionally by pedro. sometimes a gleam of the firelight threw her fine brown features into bold relief, but on these occasions, when lawrence armstrong chanced to observe them, they conveyed no expression whatever save that of profound gravity, with a touch, perhaps, of sadness. the bench being awkwardly situated for a table, they had arranged a small box, bottom up, instead. lawrence and his new acquaintance seated themselves on the ground, and manuela used her saddle as a chair. towards the end of their meal the two men became more communicative, and when pedro had lighted a cigarette, they began to talk of their immediate future. "you don't smoke?" remarked pedro in passing. "no," replied lawrence. "not like the most of your countrymen," said the other. "so much the worse," rejoined the youth. "the worse for them or for you--which?" asked pedro, with a significant glance. "no matter," returned lawrence with a laugh. "well, now," resumed pedro, after a few puffs, during the emission of which his countenance assumed the expression of seriousness, which seemed most natural to it, "what do you intend to do? it is well to have that point fairly settled to-night, so that there may be no uncertainty or delay in the morning. i would not urge the question were it not that in the morning we must either go on together as travelling companions, or say our final adieux and part. i am not in the habit of prying into men's private affairs, but, to speak the bare truth, i am naturally interested in one whose father has on more than one occasion done me good service. you need not answer me unless you please, senhor," added the man with the air of one who is prepared to retire upon his dignity at a moment's notice. "thanks, thanks, pedro," said the englishman, heartily, "i appreciate your kindness, and accept your sympathy with gratitude. moreover, i am glad to find that i have been thrown at such a crisis in my fortunes into the company of one who had regard for my dear father. but i scarce know what to do. i will give you my confidence unreservedly. perhaps you may be able to advise--" "stay," interrupted the other, on whose countenance a slightly stern expression hovered. "before you give me unreserved confidence, it is but fair that i should tell you candidly that i cannot pay you back in kind. as to private matters, i have none that would be likely to interest any one under the sun. in regard to other things--my business is not my own. why i am here and what i mean to do i have no right to reveal. whither i am bound, however, is not necessarily a secret, and if you choose to travel with me you undoubtedly have a right to know." young armstrong expressed himself satisfied. he might have wished to know more, but, like pedro, he had no desire to pry into other men's affairs, and, being of an open confiding nature, was quite ready to take his companion on trust, even though he had been less candid and engaging in manner than he was. after explaining that he had been educated in edinburgh, and trained to the medical profession, he went on to say that he had been hastily summoned to take charge of the sugar-mill at his father's death, and that he had expected to find an old overseer, who would have instructed him in all that he had to do in a business with which he was totally unacquainted. "you see," he continued, "my father always said that he meant to retire on his fortune, and did not wish me to carry on the business, but, being naturally an uncommunicative man on business matters, he never gave me any information as to details. of course, i had expected that his manager here, and his books, would reveal all that i required to know, but the soldiers have settled that question. mill and books have gone together, and as to manager, clerks, and servants, i know not where they are." "scattered, no doubt," said pedro, "here, there, and everywhere--only too glad to escape from a neighbourhood which has been given up to fire and sword by way of improving its political condition!" "i know not," returned lawrence, sadly. "but it would be useless, i fear, to try to ferret them out." "quite useless," said pedro. "besides, what would it avail to talk with any of them about the affairs of a place that is now in ashes? but if your father spoke of his fortune, he must have had at least some of it in a bank somewhere." "true, but i don't know where. all i know is that he once mentioned casually in one of his letters that he was going to buenos ayres, where he had some property." "indeed!" exclaimed pedro. "come, that may help you to decide, for i am myself going to buenos ayres, and can guide you there if disposed to go. only, you will have to make up your mind to a pretty long and hard journey, for duty requires me to go by a devious route. you must know," he continued, lighting another cigarette, "that i am pledged to take that girl to her father, who lives not far from buenos ayres." he pointed as he spoke to manuela, who, having laid her head on her saddle, appeared to have fallen asleep. "her father must be a chief, i should think, to judge from her dignified, graceful carriage, as well as her fine features," said lawrence in a low tone. "yes, he is a chief--a great chief," returned pedro, gazing at his cigarette in a meditative mood--"a very great chief. you see, she happened to be living with friends on the western side of the mountains when this war between chili and peru broke out, and her father naturally wants to get her out of danger. the old chief once saved my life, so, you see, i am bound both by duty and gratitude to rescue his daughter." "indeed you are, and a pleasant duty it must be," returned lawrence with an approving nod; "but don't you think it might have been wise to have rescued some other female, a domestic for instance, to keep her company? the poor girl will feel very lonely on such a long journey as you speak of." pedro again looked musingly at his cigarette, and flipped off the ash with his little finger. "you have not had much experience of war, young man," he said, "if you think that in cases of rescue men can always arrange things comfortably, and according to the rules of propriety. when towns and villages are in flames, when plunder and rapine run riot everywhere, and little children are spitted on the bayonets of patriots, as is often the case even in what men have agreed to term civilised warfare, one is glad to escape with the skin of one's teeth. yet i was not as regardless of manuela's comfort as you seem to think. a poor woman who had nursed her when a child volunteered to accompany us, and continued with us on the first part of our journey; but the exertion, as i had feared, was too much for her. she caught a fever and died, so that we were forced to come on alone. if you join us, however, i shall be greatly pleased, for two can always make a better fight than one, and in these unsettled times there is no saying what we may fall in with in crossing the mountains." "but why expose the poor girl to such risks?" asked lawrence. "surely there must be some place of safety nearer than buenos ayres, to which you might conduct her?" "senhor armstrong," replied the man, with a return of his stern expression, "i have told you that my business is urgent. not even the rescue of my old friend's daughter can turn me aside from it. when manuela begged me to take her with me, i pointed out the difficulties and dangers of the route, and the necessity for my pursuing a long and devious course, but she said she feared to remain where she was; that, being young, strong, and accustomed to an active life, she felt sure she was equal to the journey; that she could trust me, and that she knew her father would approve of her taking the step. i agreed, with some hesitation. it turned out that the girl was right in her fears, for before we left the town it was attacked by the troops of chili. the peruvians made but a poor resistance, and it was carried by assault. when i saw that all hope of saving the place was gone, i managed to bring manuela and her nurse away in safety. as i have told you, the nurse died, and now--here we are alone. manuela chooses to run the risk. i will not turn aside from my duty. if you choose to join us, the girl will be safer--at least until we cross the mountains. on the other side i shall be joined by friends, if need be." pedro ceased, and rekindled his cigarette, which had gone out during the explanation. "i will go with you," said lawrence, with decision, as he extended his hand. "good," replied pedro, grasping it with a hearty squeeze; "now i shall have no fears for our little indian, for robbers are cowards as a rule." "have we, then, much chance of meeting with robbers?" "well, i should say we have little chance of altogether escaping them, for in times of war there are always plenty of deserters and other white-livered scoundrels who seize the opportunity to work their will. besides, there are some noted outlaws in the neighbourhood of the pass we are going to cross. there's conrad of the mountains, for instance. you've heard of him?" "no, never." "ah, senhor, that proves you to be a stranger here, for his name is known from the atlantic to the pacific--chiefly, however, on the east side of the cordillera, and on the pampas. he is an outlaw--at least he is said to be so; but one cannot believe all one hears. some say that he is cruel, others that he is ferocious among men, but never hurts women or children." "well, it is to be hoped we may not fall in with him, or any of his band," said lawrence; "for it is better to hear of his qualities than to put them to the test." "yet, methinks," resumed pedro, "if you fell in with him alone you should have no cause to fear him, for you must be more than his match." "i don't think i should fear him," returned lawrence, with a simple look. "as to being more than his match, i know not, for my spirit does not prompt me to light, and i cannot boast of much capacity in the use of arms--unless you count my good oak-cudgel a weapon. i have acquired some facility in the use of that, having practised singlestick as an amusement at school." as he spoke, the youth was surprised and somewhat startled by his companion suddenly drawing a pistol from his belt, and pointing it steadily at the open doorway of the hut. turning his eyes quickly in that direction, he beheld, with increased astonishment, a pair of glaring eyes, two rows of glittering teeth, and a pair of thick red lips! the flesh which united these striking objects was all but invisible, by reason of its being nearly as black as its background. most eyes, if human, would have got away from a pistol's line of fire with precipitancy, but the eyes referred to did not disappear. on the contrary, they paid no regard whatever to the owner of the pistol, but continued to glare steadily at lawrence armstrong. seeing this, pedro hesitated to pull the trigger. he was quick to defend himself, but not prompt to kill. when he saw that the eyes slowly advanced out of the gloom, that they with the lips and teeth belonged to a negro who advanced into the room unarmed and with outspread hands, he quietly lowered his weapon, and glanced at lawrence. no doubt pedro felt, as he certainly looked, perplexed, when he observed that lawrence returned the intruder's gaze with almost equal intensity. suddenly the negro sprang towards the englishman. he was a short, thick-set, and exceedingly powerful man; yet lawrence made no move to defend himself. "quashy!" he exclaimed, as the black fell on his knees, seized one of his hands, and covered it with kisses, at the same time bursting into tears. "oh! massa lawrie--oh! massa lawrie, why you no come sooner? why you so long? de sodger brutes nebber dar to touch de ole house if you was dere. oh! massa lawrie, you's too late--too late!--my! how you's growed!" in the midst of his sobs the young negro, for he was little more than a youth, drew back his head to obtain a better view of his old companion and playmate. need we say that lawrence reciprocated the affection of the man? "he was a boy like myself when i was here," said lawrence in explanation to the amused peruvian. "his father was one of my father's most attached servants, whom he brought from kentucky on his way to this land, and to whom he gave his freedom. quashy himself used to be my playmate.--but tell me about the attack on the mill, quash. were you present?" "prisint! you bery sure i was, an' i poke some holes in de varmints 'fore dey hoed away." "and how did you escape, quash? come, sit down and tell me all about it." the negro willingly complied. meanwhile the indian girl, who had been roused by his sudden entrance, resumed her seat on the saddle, and, looking intently into his black face, seemed to try to gather from the expression of his features something of what he said. we need not repeat the story. it was a detailed account of murder and destruction; the burning of the place and the scattering of the old servants. fortunately lawrence had no relatives to deplore. "but don't you know where any of the household have gone?" he asked, when the excited negro paused to recover breath. "don't know nuffin'. arter i poke de holes in de scoundrils, i was 'bleeged to bolt. when i come back, de ole house was in flames, an' eberybody gone--what wasn't dead. i hollered--ay, till i was a'most busted--but nobody reply. den i bury de dead ones, an' i've hoed about eber since slobberin' an' wringin' my hands." "was our old clerk among the slain?" asked lawrence. "no, massa, but i tinks he's a dead one now, for he too ole to run far." "and i suppose you can't even guess where any of those who escaped went to?" "couldn't guess more nor a red injin's noo-born babby." "quashy," said lawrence in a low voice, "be careful how you speak of indians." he glanced, as he spoke, at manuela, who now sat with grave face and downcast eyes, having apparently found that the human countenance, however expressive, failed to make up for the want of language. and, truly, quashy's countenance was unwontedly mobile and expressive. every feature seemed to possess the power of independently betraying the thoughts and feelings of the man, so that when they all united for that end the effect was marvellous. emotional, and full of quick sympathy, quashy's visage changed from grave to gay, pitiful to fierce, humorous to savage, at a moment's notice. when, therefore, he received the gentle rebuke above referred to, his animated countenance assumed a sudden aspect of utter woe and self-condemnation that may be conceived but cannot be described, and when lawrence gave vent to a short laugh at the unexpected change, quashy's eyes glistened with an arch look, and his mouth expanded from ear to ear. and what an expansion that was, to be sure! when you take into account the display of white teeth and red gums by which it was accompanied. "well, now, quash," resumed lawrence, "what did you do after that?" "arter what, massa?" "after finding that slobbering and wringing your hands did no good." "oh! arter dat, i not know what to do, an' den i tried to die--i _was_ so mis'rable. but i couldn't. you've no notion how hard it is to die when you wants to. anyhow i couldn't manage it, so i gib up tryin'." at this point manuela rose, and, bidding pedro good-night in the indian tongue, passed into her little chamber and shut the door. "and what do you intend to do now, quash?" asked lawrence. "stick to you, massa, troo t'ick an' t'in," returned the negro with emphatic promptitude, which caused even pedro to laugh. "my poor fellow, that is impossible," said lawrence, who then explained his position and circumstances, showing how it was that he had little money and no immediate prospect of obtaining any,--that, in short, he was about to start out in the wide world friendless and almost penniless to seek his fortune. to all of which the negro listened with a face so utterly devoid of expression of any kind that his old master and playmate could not tell how he took it. "and now," he asked in conclusion, "what say you to all that?" "stick to you troo t'ick and t'in," repeated quashy, in a tone of what might be styled sulky firmness. "but," said lawrence, "i can't pay you any wages." "don' want no wages," said quashy. "besides," resumed lawrence, "even if i were willing to take you, senhor pedro might object." "i no care for senhor pedro one brass buttin," retorted the negro. the peruvian smiled rather approvingly at this candid expression of opinion. "where you gwine?" asked quashy, abruptly. "to buenos ayres." "i's gwine to bens airies too. i's a free nigger, an' no mortial man kin stop me." as quashy remained obdurate, and, upon consultation, lawrence and pedro came to the conclusion that such a sturdy, resolute fellow might be rather useful in the circumstances, it was finally arranged, to the poor fellow's inexpressible delight, that he should accompany them in their long journey to the far east. chapter three. lingual difficulties accompanied by physical dangers and followed by the advent of banditti. after several days had passed away, our travellers found themselves among the higher passes of the great mountain range of the andes. before reaching that region, however, they had, in one of the villages through which they passed, supplied themselves each with a fresh stout mule, besides two serviceable animals to carry their provisions and camp equipage. pedro, who of course rode ahead in the capacity of guide, seemed to possess an unlimited supply of cash, and lawrence armstrong had at least sufficient to enable him to bear his fair share of the expenses of the journey. as for quashy, being a servant he had no expenses to bear. of course the finest, as well as the best-looking, mule had been given to the pretty manuela, and, despite the masculine attitude of her position, she sat and managed her steed with a grace of motion that might have rendered many a white dame envious. although filled with admiration, lawrence was by no means surprised, for he knew well that in the pampas, or plains, to which region her father belonged, the indians are celebrated for their splendid horsemanship. indeed, their little children almost live on horseback, commencing their training long before they can mount, and overcoming the difficulty of smallness in early youth, by climbing to the backs of their steeds by means of a fore-leg, and not unfrequently by the tail. the costume of the girl was well suited to her present mode of life, being a sort of light tunic reaching a little below the knees, with loose leggings, which were richly ornamented with needlework. a straw hat with a simple feather, covered her head, beneath which her curling black hair flowed in unconfined luxuriance. she wore no ornament of any kind, and the slight shoes that covered her small feet were perfectly plain. in short, there was a modest simplicity about the girl's whole aspect and demeanour which greatly interested the englishman, inducing him to murmur to himself, "what an uncommonly pretty girl she would be if she were only white!" the colour of her skin was, indeed, unusually dark, but that fact did not interfere with the classic delicacy of her features, or the natural sweetness of her expression. the order of progress in narrow places was such that manuela rode behind pedro and in front of lawrence, quashy bringing up the rear. in more open places the young englishman used occasionally to ride up abreast of manuela and endeavour to engage her in conversation. he was, to say truth, very much the reverse of what is styled a lady's man, and had all his life felt rather shy and awkward in female society, but being a sociable, kindly fellow, he felt it incumbent on him to do what in him lay to lighten the tedium of the long journey to one who, he thought, must naturally feel very lonely with no companions but men. "besides," he whispered to himself, "she is only an indian, and of course cannot construe my attentions to mean anything so ridiculous as love-making-- so, i will speak to her in a fatherly sort of way." filled with this idea, as the party came out upon a wide and beautiful table-land, which seemed like a giant emerald set in a circlet of grand blue mountains, lawrence pushed up alongside, and said-- "poor girl, i fear that such prolonged riding over these rugged passes must fatigue you." manuela raised her dark eyes to the youth's face, and, with a smile that was very slight--though not so slight but that it revealed a double row of bright little teeth--she replied softly-- "w'at you say?" "oh! i forgot, you don't speak english. how stupid i am!" said lawrence with a blush, for he was too young to act the "fatherly" part well. he felt exceedingly awkward, but, observing that the girl's eyes were again fixed pensively on the ground, he hoped that she had not noticed the blush, and attempted to repeat the phrase in spanish. what he said it is not possible to set down in that tongue, nor can we gratify the reader with a translation. whatever it was, manuela replied by again raising her dark eyes for a moment--this time without a smile--and shaking her head. poor lawrence felt more awkward than ever. in despair he half thought of making trial of latin or greek, when pedro came opportunely to the rescue. looking back he began-- "senhor armstrong--" "i think," interrupted the youth, "that you may dispense with `senhor.'" "nay, i like to use it," returned the guide. "it reminds me so forcibly of the time when i addressed your good old father thus." "well, senhor pedro, call me what you please. what were you about to say?" "only that we are now approaching one of the dangerous passes of the mountains, where baggage-mules sometimes touch the cliffs with their packs, and so get tilted over the precipices. but our mules are quiet, and with ordinary care we have nothing to fear." the gorge in the mountains, which the travellers soon afterwards entered, fully justified the guide's expression "dangerous." it was a wild, rugged glen, high up on one side of which the narrow pathway wound--in some places rounding a cliff or projecting boulder, which rendered the passage of the baggage-mules extremely difficult. indeed, one of the mules did slightly graze a rock with its burden; and, although naturally sure-footed, was so far thrown off its balance as to be within a hair's-breadth of tumbling over the edge and being dashed to pieces on the rocks below, where a turbulent river rushed tumultuously at the bottom of the glen. one of the snow-clad peaks of the higher andes lay right before them. one or two guanacos--animals of the lama species--gazed at them from the other side of the gorge, and several ill-omened vultures wheeled in the sky above, as if anticipating a catastrophe which would furnish them with a glorious meal. "a most suitable place for the depredations of banditti, or fellows like conrad of the mountains, i should think," said lawrence. "bandits are sometimes met with here," returned pedro, quietly. "and what if we should meet with such in a place where there is scarcely room to fight?" "why then," returned the guide, with a slight curl of his moustache, "we should have to try who could fight best in the smallest space." "not a pleasant prospect in the circumstances," said lawrence, thinking of manuela. for some time they rode together in silence; but quashy, who had overheard, the conversation, and was of a remarkably combative disposition, though the reverse of bad-tempered or quarrelsome, could not refrain from asking-- "w'y de guv'mint not hab lots ob sojers an' pleece in de mountains to squash de raskils?" "because government has enough to do to squash the rascals nearer home, quashy," answered pedro. "have a care, the track gets rather steep here." he glanced over his shoulder at the indian girl as he spoke. she was riding behind with an air of perfect ease and self-possession. "fall to the rear, quashy," said pedro. the black obeyed at once, and a minute later they turned the corner of a jutting rock, which had hitherto shut out from view the lower part of the gorge and the track they were following. the sight that met their view was calculated to try the strongest nerves, for there, not a hundred paces in advance, and coming towards them, were ten of the most villainous-looking cut-throats that could be imagined, all mounted, and heavily armed with carbine, sword, and pistol. taken completely by surprise, the bandits--for such pedro knew them to be--pulled up. not so our guide. it was one of the peculiarities and strong points of pedro's character that he was never taken by surprise, or uncertain what to do. instantly he drew his sword with one hand, a pistol with the other, and, driving his spurs deep into his mule, dashed down the steep road at the banditti. in the very act he looked back, and, in a voice that caused the echoes of the gorge to ring, shouted in spanish-- "come on, comrades! here they are at last! close up!" a yell of the most fiendish excitement and surprise from quashy--who was only just coming into view--assisted the deception. if anything was wanting to complete the effect, it was the galvanic upheaval of lawrence's long arms and the tremendous flourish of his longer legs, as he vaulted over his mule's head, left it scornfully behind, uttered a roar worthy of an african lion, and rushed forward on foot. he grasped his great cudgel, for sword and pistol had been utterly forgotten! like a human avalanche they descended on the foe. that foe did not await the onset. panic-stricken they turned and went helter-skelter down the pass--all except two, who seemed made of sterner stuff than their fellows, and hesitated. one of these pedro rode fairly down, and sent, horse and all, over the precipice. lawrence's cudgel beat down the guard of the other, flattened his sombrero, and stopping only at his skull, stretched him on the ground. as for those who had fled, the appalling yells of quashy, as he pursued them, scattered to the winds any fag-ends of courage they might have possessed, and effectually prevented their return. so tremendous and sudden was the result, that manuela felt more inclined to laugh than cry, though naturally a good deal frightened. lawrence and pedro were standing in consultation over the fallen bandit when the negro came back panting from the chase. "da's wan good job dooed, anyhow," he said. "what's you be do wid _him_?" "what would you recommend?" asked pedro. the negro pointed significantly to the precipice, but the guide shook his head. "no, i cannot kill in cold blood, though i have no doubt he richly deserves it. we'll bind his hands and leave him. it may be weakness on my part, but we can't take him on, you know." while pedro was in the act of binding the robber, a wild shriek, as of some one in terrible agony, startled them. looking cautiously over the precipice, where the sound seemed to come from, they saw that the man whom pedro had ridden down was hanging over the abyss by the boughs of a small shrub. his steed lay mangled on the rocks of the river bank at the bottom. there was an agonised expression in the man's countenance which would have touched a heart much less soft than that of lawrence armstrong. evidently the man's power of holding on was nearly exhausted, and he could not repress a shriek at the prospect of the terrible death which seemed so imminent. being a practised mountaineer, lawrence at once, without thought of personal danger, and moved only by pity, slipped over the crags, and, descending on one or two slight projections, the stability of which even a swiss goat might have questioned, reached the bush. a look of fierce and deadly hate was on the robber's face, for, judging of others by himself, he thought, no doubt, that his enemy meant to hasten his destruction. "here, catch hold--i'll save you!" cried lawrence, extending his strong right hand. a glance of surprise told that he was understood. the bandit let go the hold of one of his hands and made a convulsive grasp at his rescuer. their fingers touched, but at the same moment the branch gave way, and, with a cry of wild despair, the wretched man went headlong down. not, however, to destruction. the effort he had made threw him slightly to one side of the line which his horse had taken in its fall. the difference was very slight indeed, yet it sufficed to send him towards another bush lower down the cliff. still, the height he had to fall would have ensured the breaking of all his bones if the bush had not hurled him off with a violent rebound. lawrence almost felt giddy with horror. next moment a heavy plunge was heard. the man had fallen into a deep dark pool in the river, which was scarce distinguishable from the cliffs above. being fringed with bushes, it was impossible to note whether he rose again. lawrence was still gazing anxiously at the pool, when something touched his cheek. it was a lasso which pedro had quietly dropped over his shoulders. "hold fast to it, senhor, you'll never get up without it," he said, in tones so earnest that the youth became suddenly alive to the great danger of his position. in the haste and anxiety of his descent he had failed to note that one or two of the slight projections on which he had placed his feet had broken away, and that therefore a return to the top of the almost perpendicular precipice by the same route was impracticable. even the slight ledge on which he stood, and from which the little shrub grew, seemed to be crumbling away beneath his great weight. with that feeling of alarm which the sudden and unexpected prospect of instant death brings, we presume, even to the stoutest hearts, lawrence clutched the line convulsively. he was ignorant at that time of the great strength of the south american lasso, and hesitated to trust his life entirely to it. pedro guessed his feelings. "don't fear to trust it," he said, "many a wild bull it has held, four times your size; but wait till quashy and i get our feet well fixed-- we'll haul you up easily." "have you made the end fast?" cried lawrence, looking up and encountering the anxious gaze of the indian maiden. "yes, massa, all fast," answered quashy, whose look of horror can be more easily imagined than described. "hold on, then, and _don't_ haul." the two men obeyed, and the active youth pulled himself up hand over hand, making good use in passing of any hollow or projection that afforded the slightest hold for his toes. at the top he was roughly grasped by his rescuers and dragged into safety. "poor fellow!" he exclaimed, on reaching the top. "well, massa," said quashy, with a broad grin, "das jist w'at i's agwine to say, but you's too quick for me." "i meant the bandit, not myself," said lawrence, looking over the cliff at the pool with an expression of great pity. "ha! don't be uneasy about him," said pedro, with a short laugh, as he resumed the binding of the stunned robber. "if he's killed or drowned he's well out o' the way. if he has escaped he'll be sure to recover and make himself a pest to the neighbourhood for many a day to come.-- no, no, my good man, it's of no use, you needn't try it." the latter part of this speech was in spanish, and addressed to the robber, who, having recovered consciousness, had made a sudden struggle to shake off his captor. as suddenly he ceased the effort on finding that the strength of the guide was greatly superior to his own. in another minute pedro stood up, having bound the bandit's hands in front of him in a manner that rendered any effort at self-liberation impossible--at least in a short space of time. "there," said pedro to lawrence, "i'll warrant him to lead a harmless life until to-morrow at any rate." as he spoke he drew the man's pistols, knife, and carbine, and handed them to quashy. "there," he said, "you may find these useful." meanwhile the robber lay quietly on his back, glancing from one to another of the party with looks of hatred that told clearly enough how he would have acted had he been free. turning to him as he was about to remount and quit the scene, pedro said very sternly in spanish-- "you and i have met before, friend, and you know my powers with the rifle at long-range. if you offer to rise from the spot where you now lie until we have disappeared round that rocky point half a mile along the road, you are a dead man. after we have turned the point, you may go where you will and do what you please. i might point out that in refraining from cutting your throat i am showing mercy which you don't deserve--but it is useless to throw pearls to swine." the man spoke no word of reply, though he did look a little surprised as the party left him and rode away. "would it not have been safer to have bound his hands behind his back?" asked lawrence. "no doubt it would, but he is secure enough for our purpose as he is. if i had bound him as you suggest, he would have been almost certain to perish, being quite unable to help himself. as it is, he can use his tied hands to some extent, and, by perseverance in sawing the lines against sharp rocks, he will set himself free at last. by that time, however, we shall be beyond his reach." from time to time they all glanced over their shoulders as they rode along, but the bound man did not stir. after they had passed beyond the point of rock before referred to, lawrence's curiosity prompted him to turn back and peep round. the bandit had already risen from the ground, and could be seen walking, as quickly as circumstances permitted, up the track by which they had just descended. in a few minutes his tall figure was seen to pause for a brief space at the summit of the pass. then it disappeared on the other side into the gloomy recesses of the mountains. chapter four. in which quashy is communicative and an enemy is turned into a friend. the pass which our travellers had just crossed merely led them over a mountain chain which may be described as the peruvian cordillera. beyond it lay a fruitful valley of considerable extent, which terminated at the base of the great range, or backbone, of the andes. beyond this again lay another valley of greater extent than the first, which was bounded by a third range or cordillera of inferior height, the eastern slopes of which descended on one hand in varying undulations to the dense forests of equatorial brazil, on the other, by easy gradations to the level pampas or plains which extend for hundreds of miles through the lands of the argentine confederation to the atlantic. two mountain passes, therefore, were still to be crossed, and lawrence armstrong began to think that if things went on as they had begun a pretty lively experience probably lay before them. but in this he was mistaken, at least as regarded banditti, though in some other respects the journey was not quite devoid of stirring incidents--as we shall see. we have said that the good-nature of the young englishman induced him to attempt conversation with the indian girl, and at first manuela appeared to be amused, if not interested, by his unsuccessful efforts; but after one of these futile attempts pedro made some remarks to the girl in the indian tongue, and in a tone of remonstrance, which had the effect of rendering her more silent and grave than before. lawrence, therefore, finally ceased to address her, though his natural gallantry prompted him to offer assistance when it seemed necessary, and to accost her with a hearty good-night and good-morning each day. as pedro, in his capacity of guide, usually rode a few paces in advance, and was frequently in a silent, abstracted mood, lawrence was thus thrown almost entirely on the negro for companionship. although the young englishman may not have estimated his company very highly, nothing could have been more satisfactory to quashy, who, with delight expressed in every wrinkle and lineament of his black visage, fully availed himself of his opportunities. "o massa lawrie!" he exclaimed, at the close of one of their conversations, "how i does lub to talk ob de ole times when me an' you was play togidder!" "yes, it's very nice to recall old times," answered lawrence, with a half-suppressed yawn, for they had by that time gone over the old times so often that the novelty had rather worn off. "yes, bery nice," repeated quashy, with gleaming eyes, "when i tink ob de ole fadder an' de ole mill an' de ole fun what me an' you carried on--oh! my heart goes like to bu'st." "don't let it bu'st here, whatever you do, quashy, for you'll need all the heart you possess to carry you safely over these mountain passes." quashy opened his huge mouth, shut his eyes, and went off in a high falsetto--his usual mode of laughing. he always laughed at lawrence's little jokes, whether good or bad, insomuch that the youth finally abstained from jesting as much as possible. "i did not know," continued lawrence, "that there were so many robbers about. pedro tells me that the mountains are swarming with them just now." "ho yis, massa, plenty ob rubbers eberywhar," said quashy, with a nod, "more nor 'nuff ob dem. you see, massa, chili an' proo's a-fightin' wid each oder jus' now. what dey's fightin' about no mortial knows; an', what's more, nobody cares. i s'pose one say de oder's wrong an' de oder say de one's say not right. bof say das a big lie so at it dey goes hammer an' tongs to prove--ha! ha! to prove dey's bof right. oh my!" here the negro opened his cavernous jaws and gave vent to another explosion of shrill laughter. "what fools dey is!" "then you think it is only fools who fight, quashy?" "ob coorse, massa. don' you see, if dey wasn't fools dey wouldn't fight; 'cause fightin' can't prove nuffin', an' it can't do nuffin', 'cep' waste life an' money. no doubt," added the negro, with a meditative gaze at the ground, "when rubbers come at a feller he's boun' to fight, for why? he can't help it; or when red injin savages--" "have a care, quashy, what you say about indians. i've warned you once already." "o massa!" said the poor black, with a look of almost superhuman penitence, "i beg your pard'n. i's quite forgit to remimber. i was just agwine to say that there _is_ times when you _mus'_ fight. but isn't chili christ'n, an' isn't p'roo christ'n? i don' bleeve in christ'ns what cut each oder's t'roats to prove dey's right. howsever, das noting. what i's agwine to say is--dars a lot o' white livers on bof sides, an' dese dey runs away, takes to de mountains and becomes rubbers. but dey's not all bad alike, dough none of em's good. you's heer'd ob conrad ob de mountains, massa?" "yes, pedro mentioned his name. he seems to be a celebrated bandit." "well, i's not sure. some peepil say he's not a rubber at all, but a good sort o' feller as goes mad sometimes. he's bery kind to women an' child'n, but he's bery awrful." "that's a strange character. how do you know he's so very awful, quashy?" "because i seed 'im, massa." "indeed, where?" "on de plains ob proo, massa," replied the negro, with that self-satisfied clearing of the throat which was usually the prelude to a long story. "come now, quashy," said lawrence, with a laugh, "don't be too long-winded, and don't exaggerate." "don't ex-what-gerate, massa?" "exaggerate." "what's dat, massa?" "never mind, quashy--go on." with a genial and highly exaggerated smile, the negro proceeded:-- "well, as i was agwine to say, i see dis man, conrad ob de mountains, on de plains ob proo. i's in de proo camp at de time, attendin' on you's fadder, an' de army ob chili was in front ob us on de slopes ob de hills, agwine to go in for a fight wid us. de sojers of proo wasn't bery keen for fightin'. i could see dat, but their gin'ral screwed 'em up to de pint, an' dey was all ready, when all of a sudden, we sees a pris'ner brought in by four sojers. dey seem so 'fraid ob him dey darn't touch him, tho' he was unarmed. two walked behind him, an' two walked in front ob 'im, all wid dere baynets pintin' at 'im, ready to skewer 'im all round if he was try to run. but, poor chap, he walk wid his head down, bery sad-like--nebber t'inkin' ob runnin'. so dey druv' 'im up to our gin'ral. i was in a crowd o' tall fellers, an' de pris'ner had his back to me, so i not seed his face well. `das conrad ob de mountains dey've cotched,' says a feller near me. `listen!' we all listen'd so quiet you could hear a 'skito sneeze. `what's you' name?' asks de gin'ral, ridin' close up to conrad on his splendid war-hoss--a child ob one ob de war-hosses as come ober wid pizarro from spain. `my name's pumpkin,' answers de pris'ner. `das a lie!' says de gin'ral. `no's not,' says conrad, lookin' up, as i could see by de back ob his head. `what side you b'longs to, raskil?' `to no side, gin'ral.' `whar you come fro'?' `fro' de mountains, gin'r'l.' `whar you go to?' `ober de mountains, gin'ral.' i could see by de way de fedders in de gin'ral's hat shake dat he's gittin' in a wax at de cool imprence ob de pris'ner, but he 'strain hisself, an' spoke sarkmustic. `senhor pumpkin,' says he, `you are conrad ob de mountains,'--('cause he guess who he was by dat time); `how you prepose to go ober de mountains?' `dis way!' says conrad, an', nixt momint, up goes de gin'ral's leg, down goes his head an' fedders on de ground, and conrad sits in de saddle afore you can wink. all round de baynets was charge, but dey haul up jist in time not to skewer one anoder, for de horse shotted out fro' between dem all, an' away straight to de chili lines, whar dere was a great cheerin', for dey t'ought it was a deserter. when conrad came up, he trotted quietly troo de ranks, till he got near to whar de chili commander stood wid his hofficers, wonderin' who he was. as he couldn't 'spec' to git no furder, he rides quietly up to a hofficer, takes de sword out ob his hand afore he understand what he wants, den, diggin' de spurs into de big war-hoss, off he goes wid a yell like a red inj--oh! i's mean like a--a buff'lo bull. out comes de swords. dey close all round 'im. i no see him by dat time. he too fur off; but a friend ob mine was near, an' he say dat conrad swing de long sword so quick, an' de sun was shinin' so clar, dat it look like a circle ob fire all round him. down dey hoed on ebery side. off goed a head here, an arm dere. one trooper cut troo at de waist, an' fall'd off, but de legs stick on. anoder splitted right down fro' de helmet, so as one half fall on one side, an' de odour half fall--" "come now, quashy," interrupted lawrence, with a laugh, "you exaggerate." "what! you call _dat_ exaggerate, massa? den conrad exaggerate about ten more afore he cut his way troo an' 'scaped to de hills. oh, he's an awrful man!" "truly he must be very awful, if all you relate of him be true," said lawrence; "and i sincerely trust that if we fall in with him we may find him friendly. now, i shall ride forward, and ask pedro if we are far from our halting-place." this abrupt change of subject was usually understood by the amiable negro to mean that our hero--whom he persisted in regarding as his master--had had enough of his conversation at that time, so he reined back his mule, while lawrence pushed forward. to his question pedro replied that he expected to reach the next sleeping-place very soon. "it will not be as luxurious as the last," he said; "but, doubtless, one who has traversed the mountains of scotland is prepared to rough it in south america." "you speak as if you were yourself somewhat acquainted with the scottish mountains." "so i am, senhor," replied the guide. "i had clambered up ben nevis while i was yet a little boy." "surely you are not a scot?" said lawrence, with a quick glance. "no, i am not a scot, senhor. to have travelled in a country does not render one a native, else might i claim england, ireland, and switzerland as my native lands. see, yonder lies the little farm where i hope to put up for the night." he pointed as he spoke to the head of the glen or valley, which was somewhat narrower and more gloomy than the vales through which they had ridden in the earlier part of the day. since crossing the first cordillera on the pacific side of the andes they had, indeed, traversed a great variety of country. in some places the land was rocky and comparatively barren. in others, where the peculiar form of the mountains sheltered the table-lands, the country was fertile, and numerous farms dotted the landscape, but as they ascended higher on the main chain the farms became fewer, until they finally disappeared, and an occasional hut, with a mere patch of cultivated ground, was all that remained in the vast solitudes to tell of the presence of man. it was to one of these huts that pedro now directed his companion's attention. "a most suitable place for the abode of banditti," remarked lawrence, as they advanced up the winding path. "and many a time do the bandits lodge there," returned pedro. "of course, robbers of the andes do not go about with placards on their backs announcing their profession to all the world, and, as long as they behave themselves, farmers are bound to regard them as honest men." "you said, if i heard rightly," observed lawrence, "that you had formerly met with the rascal whom we let off the other day." "yes, i know him well. one of the worst men in the land. i'm almost sorry we did not shoot him, but i never could take human life in cold blood, even when that life had been forfeited over and over again. however, he's sure to get his deserts sooner or later." "then he is not conrad of the mountains whom you mentioned to me lately?" "no, conrad is a very different stamp of man--though he has not too much to boast of in the way of character if all that's said of him be true. the man we let go is a gaucho of the pampas named cruz. he delights in war, and has fought in the armies of chili, peru, and the argentine confederation without much regard to the cause of quarrel. in fact, wherever fighting is going on cruz is sure to be there. lately he has taken to the mountains, and now fights for his own hand." "and the other poor fellow who went over the precipice," asked lawrence, "did you know him?" "i knew him slightly. antonio is his name, i think, but he is a villain of no note--an inferior bandit, though quite equal to his captain, no doubt, in selfishness and cruelty." on arriving at the hut or small farm at the head of the valley, they found its owner, a burly, good-humoured creole, alone with his mother, an old woman whose shrivelled-up appearance suggested the idea of a mummy partially thawed into life. she was busy cooking over a small fire, the smoke of which seemed congenial to her--judging from the frequency with which she thrust her old head into it while inspecting the contents of an iron pot. there was plenty of room for them, the host said, with an air of profound respect for pedro, whom he saluted as an old acquaintance. the house had been full two days before, but the travellers had gone on, and the only one who remained was a poor man who lay in an out-house very sick. "who is he?" asked pedro, as he assisted manuela to alight. "i know not, senhor," replied the host. "he is a stranger, who tells me he has been robbed. i can well believe it, for he has been roughly handled, and there are some well-known bandits in the neighbourhood. his injuries would not have been so serious, however, if he had not caught a fever from exposure." "indeed," returned the guide, who, however, seemed more interested in unsaddling his mules than in listening to the account of the unfortunate man, "was it near this that he fell in with the bandits?" "no, senhor, it was far to the west. the travellers who brought him on said they found him almost insensible on the banks of a stream into which he appeared to have fallen or been thrown." pedro glanced at lawrence. "hear you that, senhor?" "my spanish only suffices to inform me that some one has been robbed and injured." explaining fully what their host had said, pedro advised lawrence to visit the stranger in his medical character. "my friend is a doctor," he said, turning to the host, "take him to the sick man; for myself, i will put up the mules and then assist the old mother, for mountain air sharpens appetite." in a rude, tumble-down hut close to the main building lawrence found his patient. he lay stretched in a corner on a heap of straw in a state of great exhaustion--apparently dying--and with several bandages about his cut and bruised head and face. the first glance told lawrence that it was antonio, the robber whom he had tried to rescue, but he carefully concealed his knowledge, and, bending over the man, addressed him as if he were a stranger. the start and look of surprise mingled with alarm on the robber's face told that he had recognised lawrence, but he also laid restraint on himself, and drew one of the bandages lower down on his eyes. feeling his pulse, lawrence asked him about his food. he got little, he said, and that little was not good; the people of the farm seemed to grudge it. "my poor man," said lawrence in his bad spanish, "they are starving you to death. but i'll see to that." he rose and went out quickly. returning with a basin of soup, he presented it to the invalid, who ate it with relish. then the man began to relate how he had been attacked a few days before by a party of robbers in one of the mountain passes, who had cut the throats of all his party in cold blood, and had almost killed himself, when he was rescued by the opportune arrival of some travellers. lawrence was much disgusted at first by the man's falsehood. observing the poor fellow's extreme weakness, however, and his evident anxiety lest he should be recognised, the feeling changed to pity. laying his hand gently on the man's shoulder, he said, with a look of solemnity which perchance made, up to some extent for the baldness of the phraseology-- "antonio, tell not lies; you are dying!" the startled man looked at his visitor earnestly. "am i dying?" he asked, in a low tone. "you are, perhaps; i know not. i will save you if possible." these words were accompanied by a kind look and a comforting pat on the shoulder, which, it may be, did more for the sick man than the best of physic. at all events the result was a sudden grasp of the hand and a look of gratitude which spoke volumes. the robber was about to give vent to his feelings in speech when the door opened, and the burly host, putting his head in, announced that supper was ready. giving his patient another reassuring pat, the young doctor left him and returned to the banqueting-hall of the mountain farm, where he found that manuela, pedro, and quashy were more or less earnestly engaged with the contents of the iron pot. chapter five. lawrence and quashy become "flosuffical," and they camp out beside the "giant's castle." while the party were at supper the first gusts of a storm, which had for some time been brewing, shook the little hut, and before they had all fallen into the profound slumber which usually followed their day's journey, a heavy gale was howling among the mountain gorges with a noise like the roaring of a thousand lions. for two days the gale raged so furiously that travelling--especially in the higher regions of the andes--became impossible. the indian girl, pedro, and the negro, bore their detention with that stoicism which is not an infrequent characteristic of mountaineers, guides, and savages. as for our hero, he devoted himself and all his skill to his patient--to which duty he was the more reconciled that it afforded him a good opportunity at once for improving his spanish and pointing out to the bandit the error of his ways. to do the man justice, he seemed to be fully sensible of the young doctor's kindness, and thanked him, with tears in his eyes, not only for his previous intention to save him from the tremendous fall over the cliff, but for his subsequent efforts to alleviate the evil consequences thereof. it mattered nothing to the great warm-hearted, loose-jointed englishman that when he mentioned these hopeful signs in his patient to pedro, that worthy shook his head and smiled sarcastically, or that quashy received the same information with a closing of the eyes and an expansion of the jaws which revealed the red recesses of his throat to their darkest deeps! lawrence, being a man of strong opinions, was not to be shaken out of them either by sarcasm or good-humoured contempt. turning to the indian girl for sympathy, he related the matter to her at a time when the other inhabitants of the hut had gone out and left them alone. "you see,--manuela," he said, with the frown of meditation on his brow, and his eyes fixed on the ceiling, "i have no belief in the very common idea that there is a soft spot in the heart of every man, however bad; but i do believe that the heart of the very worst of men may be made soft by the spirit of god, and that he employs us, who call ourselves christians, as his agents in bringing about the result. it is quite possible that i may have been thrown in the way of this robber for the very purpose of touching his heart through kindness--god's own motive-power--and that the spirit will soften his heart to receive the touch." he paused, and, withdrawing his gaze from the ceiling, observed that the girl's eyes were fixed on his face with an expression of perplexity and earnestness. it then suddenly occurred to him that, having spoken in english, she could not have understood him. "but you _do_ look as if you had some idea of what i have been saying, manuela. have you?" "si, senhor, some," was the reply, as she dropped her eyes with an embarrassed look and blushed so as to make her pretty brown face look alarmingly red. endeavouring to convey the same ideas through the medium of spanish, lawrence made such a bungle of it that manuela, instead of expressing sympathy, began to struggle so obviously with her feelings that the poor englishman gave up the attempt, and good-naturedly joined his companion in a little burst of laughter. they were in the midst of this when the door opened and quashy entered. "you 'pears to be jolly," observed the genial negro, with every wrinkle of his black visage ready to join in sympathetically, "was de jok a desprit good un?" "not very desperate, quashy," said lawrence, "it was only my bad spanish which made manuela laugh. if you had been here to interpret we might have got on better with our philosophical discourse." "o massa!" returned the black--solemn remonstrance, both in manner and tone, putting to sudden flight the beaming look of sympathy--"don't speak of me 'terpretin' spinich. nebber could take kindly to dat stuff. ob course i kin talk wid de peons an' de gauchos, whose conv'sation am mostly 'bout grub, an' hosses, an' cattle, an' dollars, an' murder, but when i tries to go in for flosuffy, an' sitch like, i breaks down altogidder." at this point the indian girl's tendency to laugh increased, but whether because of fresh views of the absurdity of what had passed, or because of some faint perception of the negro's meaning, lawrence had no power to decide. "i should have thought, quashy," he said, with a return of his wonted gravity, "that a man of a thoughtful and contemplative turn of mind like you would have acquired the power of expressing almost any idea in spanish by this time." "t'ank you for de compl'ment, massa," replied quashy, "but i not so clebber as you t'ink. der am some tings in flosuffy dat beats me. when i tries to putt 'em afore oder peepil in spinich, i somehow gits de brain-pan into sitch a conglomeration ob fumbustication dat i not able to see quite clar what i mean myself--dough, ob course, i knows dat i'm right." "indeed!" "yis; but de great consolation i has is dat de peepil i'm talkin' to don't onderstand me a mossel better nor myself; an', ob course, as noting in de wurl could show dem dey was wrong, it don't much matter." "that is good philosophy, at all events. isn't it, manuela?" asked lawrence in spanish. "si, senhor," replied the girl, with sparkling eyes and a dazzling display of little teeth which seemed to indicate that she fully appreciated what was said. "strange," thought lawrence--"so grave and pensive, yet at times so sprightly; so intelligent, yet, of course, so ignorant; so very brown, and yet so pretty. what a pity she is not white!" he only said, however, with a sigh, "is the gale abating, quashy?" to which the negro replied, with a responsive sigh, "yis, massa,--it am." after two days' delay our travellers were enabled to proceed. while their host was busy saddling the mules lawrence took pedro aside. "i am anxious about that bandit," he said. "it is not his power of recovering i am afraid of, but our host's willingness to take care of him." "have you not spoken to him about it, senhor, and paid him in advance, like the good samaritan?" "truly i have, but that does not secure fidelity in our host, and the man's life may depend on his treatment during the next few days. i almost wish that we might delay our journey a little." "that cannot be," returned pedro, with decision. "besides, it is unnecessary, for i have spoken to our host, and told him to take good care of the fellow." lawrence could scarcely forbear smiling at the quiet assurance with which pedro spoke. "surely," he said, "you cannot count on his being influenced by your commands after you are gone?" "yes, senhor, i can count on that, for he knows me, and i occasionally pass this way." pedro turned away as he spoke and went towards the mules, the fastenings of whose loads he carefully inspected. lawrence went to look after his own animal with his mind much relieved, for the manner of pedro was such as to inspire irresistible, almost blind, confidence. during the first mile or two, as they rode along, our hero puzzled himself in a vain attempt to analyse the cause of this confidence. was it the result of that imperturbable self-possession and invariable readiness of resource which marked the guide; or was it the stern truthfulness of his dark eyes, coupled with the retiring modesty and gravity of his demeanour? perhaps it was the union of these characteristics. he could not tell. while thus engaged in profound thought he was roused by manuela riding alongside of him, and pointing upwards with animated looks while she exclaimed-- "see--look--senhor!" much surprised, for this was the first time during the journey that the girl had ventured to attract his attention, the youth looked in the direction indicated, and certainly the view that met his eyes was calculated to banish not only the surprise, but all other feelings save those of admiration of nature and reverence for nature's god. they had just rounded one of those rocky bluffs which so frequently interrupted their view during their upward journey, and had come upon a scene which they could not find words adequately to describe. as interjectional phrases alone could indicate something of their emotions to each other, so fragmentary sentences alone will convey a faint semblance of the truth to the intelligence of the reader. mountains, glens, and mighty cliffs; hideous precipices and yawning gulfs; snow-clad summits high above them, and rock-riven gorges far below. distance upon distance ranging backward and upward to infinity, where all was mingled with cloudland; sunlit here, darkest shadowed there--wildness, weirdness, grandeur, and magnificence everywhere! in the immediate foreground the serpentine path wound upward among rugged rocks, and the riders, picking their steps, as it were, midway up the face of a stupendous precipice, looked upward on the left at an apparently summitless wall, and downward on the right into an almost bottomless valley, through which a river roared as if mad with joy at having escaped its glacier-prison; though its roaring was softened well-nigh to silence by distance, while in appearance it seemed little larger than a silver thread. "i could almost believe that to be a giant's castle," remarked lawrence, pointing to the opposite side of the ravine, where a huge perpendicular mountain of porphyry was so broken into turrets, towers, and battlements, that it was difficult, except for its size, to believe it other than the work of man. there were even holes and formations about it that had the appearance of antique windows, gates, and drawbridges! "yes, it is a strange place," said the guide, checking his mule; "moreover, we must spend the night under its shadow, for it is impossible to reach a better place of shelter to-night; and, by good fortune, yonder is something fresh for supper." pedro pointed to a spot about seven or eight hundred yards distant, where a group of guanacos stood gazing at the intruders with profound attention. "how will you get near enough for a shot?" asked lawrence; "they will be gone before you can get across the ravine, and there is little or no cover." "you shall see," said pedro, cocking his rifle. "but--but no weapon short of a cannon will carry so far--at least with accuracy," exclaimed lawrence in surprise, for at the time of which we write breech-loaders and the long-range weapons of precision had not been introduced in those regions. indeed, the armies of south america, and of europe also, still slew each other with the familiar brown bess and the clumsy flint-lock at that time. pedro paid no attention to the remark, but, dismounting, slowly raised the rifle to his shoulder. the guide was one of those men who seem to live in advance of their age. he had thought out, and carried out in a rough-and-ready manner, ideas which have since been scientifically reduced to practice. being well aware that any projectile is drawn downward in its flight by the law of gravitation, and that if you want to hit a distant point you must aim considerably above it, he had, by careful experiment, found out how high above an object at a given distance one must aim in order to hit, and, by constant practice in judging distance, as well as in taking aim above his mark, he had attained to such skill as a long-range marksman that his friends almost believed it impossible for game to get beyond the range of his deadly weapon, and foes never felt easy till they were entirely out of his sight. the comparative slowness, too, of the flint-lock in discharging a rifle, had necessitated in him a degree of steadiness, not only while taking aim, but even after pulling the trigger, which rendered him what we might term statuesque in his action as he levelled his piece. for a few seconds the rock beside him was not more steady. then the cliffs burst into a fusillade of echoes, and the guanacos leaped wildly up the mountain-side, leaving one of their number on the rocks behind them. it was some time before the young englishman could get over his astonishment at this feat, for pedro had pointed his weapon so high that he did not appear to be aiming at the animal at all, and he maintained an animated discussion with the mountaineer until they reached a part of the pass which proved to be somewhat dangerous. and here they met with a party of muleteers crossing the mountains in the opposite direction. they were still far above them when first observed descending the same steep and narrow road. "we will wait here till they pass," said the guide, pulling up at a point where the width of the track was considerable. "i see by the escort that they carry something of value--probably bars of silver from one of the mines. they have reached the worst part of the pass. i shouldn't wonder to see one of the mules go over--they often do." "and always get killed, i suppose," said lawrence. "not always. now and then they have wonderful escapes, but many hundreds have been lost here. see!" as he spoke one of the baggage-mules of the party touched the cliff with its load. this caused the animal to stagger; his hind-legs actually went over the precipice, and the loose stones began to roll away from under his hoofs. with his fore-feet, however, still on the narrow track, he held on bravely, even sticking his nose on the ground, so that he had the appearance of holding on by his teeth! two of the peons rushed to render assistance, but before they reached him he had slipped, and rolled down the awful slope which ended in a sheer perpendicular precipice. here he bounded off into space, and next moment fell, baggage and all, with a tremendous splash into the river. it seemed impossible that the poor animal could have escaped with life, but in another moment his head reappeared above water, and he made a brave struggle to gain the bank. the current, however, was too strong for him. down he went below the foaming water, his scraggy tail making a farewell flourish as he disappeared. but again his head appeared, and once again he struggled for the bank. this time with success, for he had been swept into a shallow in which he was able to maintain his foothold and slowly drag himself out of the river. when in safety, he stood with drooping head and tail, as if in a state of the most thorough dejection at having made such an exhibition of himself. "clebber beast!" shouted quashy, who had stood with his ten fingers expanded, his great mouth open, and his whole emotional soul glaring out of his monstrous eyes. "well done!" echoed lawrence, who was scarcely less pleased than his servant. the party now drew near, and very striking was their appearance--the variously coloured mules, following the bell-mare which went in advance as a leader, winding slowly down the crooked path, and the peons in their picturesque costumes shouting, laughing, or singing wild snatches of song as they were moved by fury, fun, or fancy. the men, who numbered a dozen or so, and were well-armed, were apparently relieved to find that our travellers were not bandits, in regard to whom their questions showed that they felt some anxiety. they had witnessed pedro's shot from the heights above, and looked upon him with no little surprise and much respect as they commented on his power with the rifle. a few questions were asked, a few compliments paid, and then the two parties, passing each other, proceeded on their respective ways. crossing the mountain torrent at a rather dangerous ford, towards evening pedro led his companions to a spot not far from the ramparts of what lawrence styled the giant's castle. it was not an inviting spot at first. there was little pasture for the wearied mules on the almost naked rocks, and the stunted trees and gnarled roots told eloquently of the severity of winter in those high regions. there was, however, a good spring of water and an over-arching rock, which promised some degree of refreshment and shelter, and when firewood was collected, a ruddy blaze sent up, the kettle put on to boil, and several fine cuts of the guanaco set up to roast, the feelings of sadness which had at first influenced lawrence were put to flight, and he felt more satisfaction in his lodging than he could have experienced if it had been a palatial hotel with its confined air and feather beds and cloying luxuries. there was a species of natural recess in the cliff which pedro screened off as a chamber for manuela, while she assisted quashy to prepare the supper. "there's nothing like fresh mountain air," exclaimed lawrence, with a glow of enthusiasm, after the first attack on the guanaco steaks had subsided. "specially when the said air happens to be quiet and warm, and the night fine and the stars bright and the company pleasant," added the guide. quashy had a habit, when his risible faculties were only gently tickled, of shutting his eyes, throwing back his head, opening his great mouth wide, and indulging in a silent laugh. having done so on the present occasion, he shut his mouth with a snap and opened his eyes. "ho yis," he said in a low tone, "bery nice when it all plisent like now, but it am anoder t'ing when de fresh mountain air goes howlerin' an' bowlerin' about like a wild beast, an' when it snowses an frozes fit to cut off your noses an' shribel up de bery marrow in your bones! oh! you got no notion what--" "hold your tongue, quashy," interrupted lawrence, "why, your description of such things makes one shiver. let us hope we may have no experience of them and enjoy our comforts while we may." "dat's true flosuffy, massa," returned the negro, helping himself to more guanaco, and offering some on the end of his fork to manuela, who accepted the same with her usual ready smile, which, however, on this occasion, expanded into an uncontrollable little laugh. lawrence was perplexed, and so was quashy, for the quiet little indian was not given to giggling at trifles, much less to laughing at nothing. lawrence observed, however, that the girl did not reach out her hand with her usual graceful action, but on the contrary gave her arm an awkward twist which obliged the negro to stretch needlessly far over towards her in handing the meat. the result was that a pannikin of coffee which quashy had placed on his plate--the plate being in his lap--began to tilt over. before any one could warn him it overturned, causing the poor man to spring up with a yell as the hot liquid drenched his legs. of course every one laughed. people always do at such mild mishaps. as the coffee was not too hot, and there was more in the kettle, quashy joined in the laugh while he wiped his garments, and afterwards replenished his pannikin. but a new light began to force itself upon lawrence. "can it be," he thought, "that she did that on purpose?--that she saw the pannikin was tilting, and--no, that's impossible!" he looked earnestly at the girl. she had recovered her gravity by that time, and was quietly eating her supper with downcast eyes. "impossible," he repeated in thought, "so unlike her, and so very unlike the indian character." nevertheless his perplexity remained, and when he went to sleep that night, after gazing long and earnestly up at the bright stars and at the white summits of the andes which rose in awful grandeur above him, he dreamed that while quashy was sitting sound asleep with his head on his knees in front of the fire, manuela availed herself of the opportunity to pour an ocean of hot coffee down his back! starting up wide awake at this, he found that quashy lay beside him, sleeping quietly on his back, that pedro was similarly engaged, that the indian girl had disappeared into her dormitory, that the giant's castle looked more splendidly real than ever in the rising moonlight, and that no sound was to be heard save the brawling of the escaped river, as it fled from its glacier-prison to its home in the mighty sea. chapter six. a storm in the mountains--refuge found--converse round the fire. the summit of the pass was at last gained, and not a moment too soon, for the storm which they had experienced a few days before was but the prelude to a gale such as is rarely experienced save in the winter months of the year, when most of the mountain passes are closed. it began by mutterings of distant thunder, which caused the guide to look round the horizon and up at the sky somewhat anxiously. "do you think we shall reach our next shelter before it breaks?" asked lawrence. "i hope so," said pedro, pausing on a ridge from which an almost illimitable view was had of mountain range and valley in all directions. "far over in that direction," he continued, pointing with his hand, "lies the land of the incas. you have heard of the incas, senhor?" "yes, i have heard of them, but cannot say that i am intimately acquainted with their history." "it is a strange history--a very sad one," returned pedro. "i will tell you something about it at another time; at present it behoves us to push on." there was no question as to that point, for just as he spoke a sudden and powerful gust of wind swept quashy's straw hat off and sent it spinning gaily along the path. vaulting from his mule with a wild shout, the negro gave chase on foot, with an amount of anxiety that seemed not justified by the occasion. but as the poet truly puts it, "things are not what they seem," and quashy's head-piece, which presented much the appearance of a battered old straw hat, was in truth an article of very considerable value. it was one of those hats made by the people of south america, with a delicate fibre so finely plaited that in texture it resembles fine canvas, though in appearance it is like straw. it is exceedingly tough, takes a very long time to manufacture, and costs many dollars--so many, indeed, that a hat of the kind is thought worthy of being preserved and left as an heirloom from father to son as long as it lasts. no wonder then that the negro made frantic efforts to regain his property--all the more frantic that he was well aware if it should pass over one of the neighbouring precipices it would be lost to him for ever. at last a friendly gust sent it into a snowdrift, through which quashy plunged and captured it. snow in considerable quantities lay here and there around them in the form of old patches or drifts, and this began to be swept up by the fierce wind in spite of its solidity. soon new snow began to fall, and, mingling with the old drifts, rendered the air so thick that it was sometimes difficult to see more than a few yards in advance. lawrence, being unused to such scenes, began to fear they should get lost in these awful solitudes, and felt specially anxious for manuela, who, despite the vigour of a frame trained, as it no doubt had been, in all the hardihood incidental to indian camp life, seemed to shrink from the fierce blast and to droop before the bitter cold. "here, put on my poncho," said the youth, riding suddenly up to the girl's side and unceremoniously flinging his ample garment over the slight poncho she already wore. she drew it round her at once, and silently accepted the offering with a smile and an inclination of her small head which, even in these uncomfortable circumstances, were full of grace. "why _was_ she born a savage?" thought the youth, with almost petulant exasperation. "if she had only been white and civilised, i would have wooed and won--at least," he added, modestly, "i would have _tried_ to win and wed her in spite of all the opposing world. as it is, the-- the--gulf is impassable!" "you have anticipated me, senhor," said the guide, who had reined in until the rest of the party overtook him. "i had halted with the intention of offering my poncho to manuela. poor girl, she is a daughter of the warm pampas, and unused to the cold of the mountains." he turned to her, and said something in the indian tongue which seemed to comfort her greatly, for she replied with a look and tone of satisfaction. "i have just told her," he said to lawrence, as they resumed the journey, "that in half an hour we shall reach a hut of shelter. it is at the foot of a steep descent close ahead; and as the wind is fortunately on our backs, we shall be partially protected by the hill." "surely the place cannot be a farm," said lawrence; "it must be too high up for that." "no, as you say, it is too high for human habitation. the hut is one of those places of refuge which have been built at every two or three leagues to afford protection to travellers when assailed by such snow-storms as that which is about to break on us now." he stopped, for the party came at the moment to a slope so steep that it seemed impossible for man or mule to descend. being partly sheltered from the fitful gusts of wind, it was pretty clear of snow, and they could see that a zigzag track led to the bottom. what made the descent all the more difficult was a loose layer of small stones, on which they slipped continually. before they had quite completed the descent the storm burst forth. suddenly dense clouds of snow were seen rushing down from the neighbouring peaks before a hurricane of wind, compared with which previous gusts were trifles. "come on--fast--fast!" shouted the guide, looking back and waving his hand. the first deafening roar of the blast drowned the shout; but before the snowdrift blinded him, lawrence had observed the wave of the hand and the anxious look. dashing the cruel spanish spurs for the first time into the side of his no doubt astonished steed, he sprang alongside of manuela's mule, seized the bridle, and dragged it forward by main force. of course the creature objected, but the steep road and slipping gravel favoured them, so that they reached the bottom in safety. here they found the first of the refuge-huts, and in a few moments were all safe within its sheltering walls. having been erected for a special purpose, the hut was well adapted to resist the wildest storm. it was built of brick and mortar, the foundation being very solid, and about twelve feet high, with a brick staircase outside leading to the doorway. thus the habitable part of the edifice was raised well above the snow. the room was about twelve feet square, the floor of brick, and the roof arched. it was a dungeon-like place, dimly lighted by three loop-holes about six inches square, and without furniture of any kind. a mark in the wall indicated the place where a small table had originally been fixed; but it had been torn down long before, as pedro explained, by imprisoned and starving travellers to serve for firewood. the remains of some pieces of charred wood lay on the floor where the fire was usually kindled, and, to pedro's great satisfaction, they found a small pile of firewood which had been left there by the last travellers. "a dismal enough place," remarked lawrence, looking round after shaking and stamping the snow out of his garments. "you have reason to thank god, senhor, that we have reached it." "true, senhor pedro, and i am not thankless; yet do i feel free to repeat that it is a most dismal place." "mos' horriboble," said quashy, looking up at the vaulted roof. "ay, and it could tell many a dismal story if it had a tongue," said the guide, as he busied himself arranging the saddles and baggage, and making other preparations to spend the night as comfortably as circumstances should permit. "luckily there's a door this time." "is it sometimes without a door, then?" asked lawrence, as he assisted in the arrangements, while quashy set about kindling a fire. "ay, the poor fellows who are sometimes stormstaid and starved here have a tendency to use all they can find about the place for firewood. some one has replaced the door, however, since i was here last. you'll find two big nails in the wall, manuela," he added in indian; "if you tie one of the baggage cords to them, i'll give you a rug directly, which will make a good screen to cut off your sleeping berth from ours." in a short time quashy had a bright little fire burning, with the kettle on it stuffed full of fresh snow; the saddles and their furniture made comfortable seats and lounges around it; and soon a savoury smell of cooked meat rendered the cold air fragrant, while the cheery blaze dispelled the gloom and made a wonderful change in the spirits of all. perhaps we should except the guide, whose calm, grave, stern yet kindly aspect rarely underwent much change, either in the way of elation or depression, whatever the surrounding circumstances might be. his prevailing character reminded one of a rock, whether in the midst of a calm or raging sea--or of a strong tower, whether surrounded by warring elements or by profound calm. need we say that pedro's imperturbability was by no means the result of apathy? "blow away till you bust your buzzum," said quashy, apostrophising the gale as he sat down with a beaming display of teeth and spread out his hands before the blaze, after having advanced supper to a point which admitted of a pause; "i don' care a butt'n how hard you blow now." "ah! quashy," said the guide, shaking his head slowly, as, seated on his saddle, he rolled up a neat cigarette, "don't be too confident. you little know what sights these four walls have witnessed. true, this is not quite the season when one runs much risk of being starved to death, but the thing is not impossible." "surely," said lawrence, stretching himself on his saddle-cloths and glancing at manuela, who was by that time seated on the opposite side of the fire arranging some hard biscuits on a plate, "surely people have not been starved to death here, have they?" "indeed they have--only too often, senhor. i myself came once to this hut to rescue a party, but was nearly too late, for most of them were dead." he paused to light his cigarette. the negro, after making the door more secure, sat down again and gazed at the guide with the glaring aspect of a man who fears, but delights in, the horrible. manuela, letting her clasped hands fall in her lap, also gazed at pedro with the intense earnestness that was habitual to her. she seemed to listen. perhaps, being unusually intelligent, she picked up some information from the guide's expressive face. she could hardly have learned much from his speech, as her knowledge of english seemed to be little more than "yes," "no," and "t'ank you!" "it was during a change of government, senhor," said pedro, "that i chanced to be crossing the mountains. there is usually a considerable row in south america when a change of government takes place. sometimes they cause a change of government to take place in order to get up a considerable row, for they're a lively people--almost as fond of fighting as the irish, though scarcely so sound in judgment. i had some business on hand on the western side of the cordillera, but turned back to give a helping hand to my friends, for of course i try never to shirk duty, though i'm not fond of fighting. well, when i got to the farm nearest to this hut where we now sit, they told me that a tremendous gale had been blowing in the mountains, that ten travellers had been snowed up, and that they feared they must all have perished, since travelling in such weather was impossible." "`have you made no effort to rescue them?' i asked of the farmer. "`no,' says he, `i couldn't get any o' my fellows to move, because they've been terrified about a ghost that's been seen up there.' "`what was the ghost like?' i asked; so he told me that it was a fearful creature--a mulish-looking sort of man, who was in the habit of terrifying the arrieros and peons who passed that way, but he said they were going to get a priest to put a cross up there, and so lay the ghost. "`meanwhile,' i said, `the ten travellers are to be left to starve?' "`it's my belief they're starved already,' answered the farmer." at this point pedro paused to relight his cigarette, and quashy breathed a little more freely. he was a firm believer in ghosts, and feared them more than he would have feared an army of redskins or jaguars. indeed it is a question whether quashy could ever have been brought to realise the sensation of fear if it had not been for the existence, in his imagination, of ghosts! the mere mention of the word in present circumstances had converted him into a sort of human sensitive-plant. he gave a little start and glance over his shoulder at every gust of unusual power that rattled the door, and had become visibly paler-- perhaps we should say less black. manuela was evidently troubled by no such fears, perhaps because she did not understand the meaning of the word ghost, yet she gazed at the speaker in apparently rapt attention. "you may believe," continued the guide, "that i was disgusted at their cowardice; so, to shame them, as well as to do what i could for the travellers, i loaded a couple of my mules with meat, and said i would set off alone. this had the desired effect, for three men volunteered to go with me. when we reached the hut we found that six of the ten poor fellows were dead. the bodies of two who had died just before our arrival were lying in the corner over there behind quashy. they were more like skeletons covered with skin than corpses. the four who still lived were in the corner here beside me, huddled together for warmth, and so worn out by hunger and despair that they did not seem to care at first that we had come to save them. we warmed and fed them, however, brought them gradually round, and at last took them back to the farm. they all recovered. during the time they were snowed up the poor fellows had eaten their mules and dogs. i have no doubt that if the ground were clear of snow you would find the bones of these animals scattered about still." this was not a very pleasant anecdote, lawrence thought, on which to retire to rest, so he changed the subject by asking pedro if there were many of the incas still remaining. before he could reply manuela rose, and, bidding them good-night in spanish, retired to her screened-off corner. "a good many of the incas are still left," replied the guide to his companion's question; "and if you were to visit their capital city you would be surprised to see the remains of temples and other evidences of a very advanced civilisation in a people who existed long before the conquest of peru." "massa pedro," said quashy, who would have been glad to have the recollection of ghosts totally banished from his mind, "i's oftin hear ob de incas, but i knows not'ing about dem. who is dey? whar dey come fro?" "it would take a long time, quashy, to answer these two questions fully; nevertheless, i think i could give you a roughish outline of a notion in about five minutes, if you'll promise not to stare so hard, and keep your mouth shut." the negro shut his eyes, expanded his mouth to its utmost in a silent laugh, and nodded his head acquiescently. "well, then, you must know," said pedro, "that in days of old--about the time that william the conqueror invaded england--a certain manco capac founded the dynasty of the incas. according to an old legend this manco was the son of a white man who was shipwrecked on the coast of peru. he married the daughter of an indian chief, and taught the people agriculture, architecture, and other arts. he must have been a man of great power, from the influence he exerted over the natives, who styled him the `blooming stranger.' his hair was of a golden colour, and this gave rise to the story that he was a child of the sun, who had been sent to rule over the indians and found an empire. another tradition says that manco capac was accompanied by a wife named mama oello huaco, who taught the indian women the mysteries of spinning and weaving, while her husband taught the arts of civilisation to the men. "whatever truth there may be in these legends, certain it is that manco capac did become the first of a race of incas--or kings or chiefs--and, it is said, laid the foundations of the city of cuzco, the remains of which at the present day show the power, splendour, and wealth to which manco capac and his successors attained. the government of the incas was despotic, but of a benignant and patriarchal type, which gained the affections of those over whom they ruled, and enabled them to extend their sway far and wide over the land, so that, at the time of the invasion by the spaniards under pizarro, the peruvians were found to have reached a high degree of civilisation, as was seen by their public works--roads, bridges, terrace-gardens, fortifications, and magnificent buildings, and so forth. it is said by those who have studied the matter, that this civilisation existed long before the coming of the incas. on this point i can say nothing, but no doubt or uncertainty rests on the later history of this race. cuzco, on lake titicaca, became the capital city of a great and flourishing monarchy, and possessed many splendid buildings in spacious squares and streets. it also became the holy city and great temple of the sun, to which pilgrims came from all parts of the country. it was defended by a fortress and walls built of stone, some blocks of which were above thirty feet long by eighteen broad and six thick. many towns sprang up in the land. under good government the people flourished and became rich. they had plenty of gold and silver, which they used extensively in the adornment of their temples and palaces. but evil followed in the train of wealth. by degrees their simplicity departed from them. their prosperity led to the desire for conquest. then two sons of one of the incas disputed with each other for supremacy, and fought. one was conquered and taken prisoner by the other, who is reported to have been guilty of excessive cruelties to his relations, and caused his brother to be put to death. finally, in , the spaniards came and accomplished the conquest of peru--from which date not much of peace or prosperity has fallen to the lot of this unhappy land. "yes," said the guide in conclusion, "the incas were, and some of their descendants still are, a very fine race. many of the men are what i call nature's gentlemen, having thoughts--ay, and manners too, that would grace any society. some of their women, also, are worthy to--" "pedro!" interrupted lawrence eagerly, laying his hand on the guide's arm, for a sudden idea had flashed into his mind. (he was rather subject to the flashing of sudden ideas!) "pedro! _she_ is a daughter of a chief of the incas--is she not? a princess of the incas! have i not guessed rightly?" he said this in a half whisper, and pointed as he spoke to the screen behind which manuela lay. pedro smiled slightly and tipped the ash from the end of his cigarette, but made no answer. "nay, i will not pry into other people's affairs," said lawrence, in his usual tone, "but you once told me she is the daughter of a chief, and assuredly no lady in this land could equal her in grace or dignity of carriage and manner, to say nothing of modesty, which is the invariable evidence." "not of high rank?" interrupted the guide, with a quick and slightly sarcastic glance. "no, but of nobility of mind and heart," replied the youth, with much enthusiasm. in which feeling he was earnestly backed up by quashy, who, with eyes that absolutely glowed, said-- "you's right, massa--sure an' sartin! modesty am de grandest t'ing i knows. once i knowed a young nigger gal what libbed near your fadder's mill--sooz'n dey calls 'er--an' she's _so_ modest, so--oh! i not kin 'splain rightly--but i say to 'er one day, when i'd got my courage screwed up, `sooz'n,' ses i. `well,' ses she. `i--i lub you,' ses i, `more nor myself, 'cause i t'ink so well ob you. eberybody t'inks well ob you, sooz'n. what--what--' (i was gitten out o' bref by dis time from 'citement, and not knowin' what more to say, so i ses) `what--what you t'ink ob _you'self_ sooz'n?' "`nuffin',' ses she! now, _wasn't_ dat modest?" "it certainly was, quashy. couldn't have been more so," said pedro. "and after that we couldn't, i think, do better than turn in." the fire had by that time burned low, and the gale was still raging around them, driving the snowdrift wildly against the hut, and sometimes giving the door so violent a shake as to startle poor quashy out of sweet memories of sooz'n into awful thoughts of the ghost that had not yet been laid. each man appropriated a vacant corner of the hut in which to spread his simple couch, the negro taking care to secure that furthest from the door. lawrence armstrong thought much over his supposed discovery before falling asleep that night, and the more he thought the more he felt convinced that the indian girl was indeed a princess, and owed her good looks, sweet disposition, graceful form and noble carriage to her descent from a race which had at one period been highly civilised when all around them were savage. it was a curious subject of contemplation. the colour of his waking thoughts naturally projected itself into the young man's dreams. he was engaged in an interesting anthropological study. he found himself in the ancient capital of the incas. he beheld a princess of great beauty surrounded by courtiers, but she was _brown_! he thought what an overwhelming pity it was that she was not _white_! then he experienced a feeling of intense disappointment that he himself had not been born brown. by degrees his thoughts became more confused and less decided in colour--whitey-brown, in fact,--and presented a series of complicated regrets and perplexing impossibilities, in a vain effort to disentangle which he dropped asleep. chapter seven. things begin to look brighter--the guide's story. it was bright day when our travellers awoke, but only a dim light penetrated into their dungeon-like dormitory, for, besides being very small, the three windows, or loop-holes, had been so filled up with snow as to shut out much of the light that would naturally have entered. that the gale still raged outside was evident enough to the sense of hearing, and sometimes the gusts were so sudden and strong that the little building trembled, stout though it was. indeed, lawrence at first thought they must be experiencing the shocks of an earthquake, a mistake not unnatural in one who, besides having had but little experience in regard to such catastrophes, knew well that he was at the time almost in the centre of a region celebrated for earthquakes. it was with mingled feelings of interest, anxiety, and solemnity that he surveyed the scene outside through a hole in the door. it seemed as if an arctic winter had suddenly descended on them. snow completely covered hill and gorge as far as the vision could range but they could not see far, for at every fresh burst of the furious wind the restless wreaths were gathered up and whirled madly to the sky, or swept wildly down the valleys, or dashed with fury against black precipices and beetling cliffs, to which they would sometimes cling for a few seconds, then, falling away, would be caught up again by the tormenting gale, and driven along in some new direction with intensified violence. "no prospect of quitting the hut to-day," observed lawrence, turning away from the bewildering scene. "none," said pedro, stretching himself, and rising sleepily on one elbow, as men are wont to do when unwilling to get up. "nebber mind, massa; lots o' grub!" cried quashy, awaking at that moment, leaping up like an acrobat, and instantly setting about the kindling of the fire. having, as quashy truly said, lots of grub, possessing a superabundance of animal vigour, and being gifted with untried as well as unknown depths of intellectual power, also with inexhaustible stores of youthful hope, our travellers had no difficulty in passing that day in considerable enjoyment, despite adverse circumstances; but when they awoke on the second morning and found the gale still howling, and the snow still madly whirling, all except pedro began to express in word and countenance feelings of despondency. manuela did not speak much, it is true, but she naturally looked somewhat anxious. lawrence began to recall the fate of previous travellers in that very hut, and his countenance became unusually grave, whereupon quashy--whose nature it was to conform to the lead of those whom he loved, and, in conforming, outrageously to overdo his part--looked in his young master's face and assumed such an aspect of woeful depression that his visage became distinctly oval, though naturally round. observing this, lawrence could not restrain a short laugh, whereupon, true as the compass to the pole, the facile quashy went right round; his chin came up, his cheeks went out, his eyes opened with hopeful sheen, and his thick lips expanded into a placid grin. "there is no cause for alarm," observed pedro, who had risen to assist in preparing breakfast. "no doubt it is the worst storm i ever met with, or even heard of, at this season of the year, but it cannot last much longer; and whatever happens, it can't run into winter just now." as if to justify the guide's words, the hurricane began to diminish in violence, and the pauses between blasts were more frequent and prolonged. when breakfast was over, appearances became much more hopeful, and before noon the storm had ceased to rage. taking advantage of the change, without delay they loaded the pack-mules, saddled, mounted, and set forth. to many travellers it would have been death to have ventured out on such a trackless waste, but pedro knew the road and the landmarks so thoroughly that he advanced with his wonted confidence. at first the snow was very deep, and, despite their utmost care, they once or twice strayed from the road, and were not far from destruction. as they descended, however, the intense cold abated; and when they came out upon occasional table-lands, they found that the snow-fall there had been much less than in the higher regions, also that it had drifted off the road so much that travelling became more easy. that night they came to a second hut-of-refuge, and next day had descended into a distinctly warmer region on the eastern slopes of the great range, over which they travelled from day to day with ever increasing comfort. sometimes they put up at outlying mountain farms, and were always hospitably received; sometimes at small hamlets or villages, where they could exchange or purchase mules, and, not unfrequently, they encamped on the wild mountain slopes, with the green trees or an overhanging cliff, or the open sky to curtain them, and the voices of the puma and the jaguar for their lullaby. strange to say, in crossing the higher parts of the andes not one of the party suffered from the rarity of the air. many travellers experience sickness, giddiness, and extreme exhaustion from this cause in those regions. some have even died of the effects experienced at the greater heights, yet neither manuela, nor lawrence, nor quashy was affected in the slightest degree. we can assign no reason for their exemption--can only state the fact. as for the guide, he was in this matter--as, indeed, he seemed to be in everything--invulnerable. one afternoon, as they rode along a mountain track enjoying the sunshine, which at that hour was not too warm, lawrence pushed up alongside of the guide. "it seems to me," he said, "that we are wandering wonderfully far out of our way just now. we have been going due north for several days; at least so my pocket compass tells me, and if my geography is not greatly at fault, our backs instead of our faces are turned at present towards buenos ayres. i do not wish to pry into your secrets, senhor pedro, but if it is not presuming too much i should like to know when we shall begin to move in the direction of our journey's end." "there is neither presumption nor impropriety in your wish," returned the guide. "i told you at starting that we should pursue a devious route, for reasons which are immaterial to you, but there is no reason why i should not explain that at present i am diverging for only a few miles from our track to visit a locality--a cottage--which is sacred to me. after that we will turn eastward until we reach the head-waters of streams that will conduct us towards our journey's end." with this explanation he was obliged to rest content, for pedro spoke like one who did not care to be questioned. indeed there was an unusually absent air about him, seeing which lawrence drew rein and fell back until he found himself alongside of quashy. always ready--nay, eager--for sympathetic discourse, the negro received his young master with a bland, expansive, we might almost say effusive, smile. "well, massa, how's you gittin' along now?" "pretty well, quashy. how do you?" "oh! fuss-rate, massa--only consid'rable obercome wid surprise." "what surprises you?" "de way we's agwine, to be sure. look dar." he pointed towards the towering mountain peaks and wild precipices that closed in the narrow glen or gorge up which they were slowly proceeding. "in all our trabels we's nebber come to a place like dat. it looks like de fag end ob creation. you couldn't git ober de mountain-tops 'cept you had wings, an' you couldn't climb ober de pres'pisses 'cep you was a monkey or a skirl--though it _am_ bery lubly, no doubt." the negro's comments were strictly correct, though somewhat uncouthly expressed. the valley was apparently surrounded in all directions by inaccessible precipices, and the white peaks of the andes towered into the skies at its head. within rugged setting lay a fine stretch of undulating land, diversified by crag and hillock, lake and rivulet, with clustering shrubs and trees clinging to the cliffs, and clothing the mountain slopes in rich, and, in many places, soft luxuriance. it was one of those scenes of grandeur and loveliness in profound solitude which tend to raise in the thoughtful mind the perplexing but not irreverent question, "why did the good and bountiful creator form such places of surpassing beauty to remain for thousands of years almost, if not quite, unknown to man?" for, as far as could be seen, no human habitation graced the mountain-sides, no sign of cultivation appeared in the valley, though myriads of the lower animals sported on and in the waters, among the trees and on the ground. perchance man over-estimates his own importance--at least underrates that of the animal kingdom below him--and is too apt to deem everything in nature wasted that cannot be directly or indirectly connected with himself! is all that glows in beauty in the wilderness doomed to "blush unseen"? is all the sweetness expended on the desert air "wasted?" as the guide rode slowly forward, he glanced from side to side with thoughtful yet mournful looks, as if his mind were engaged in meditating on some such insoluble problems. as he neared the head of the valley, however, he seemed to awake from a trance, suddenly put spurs to his mule, and went off at a canter. the rest of the party followed at some distance behind, but at so slow a pace, compared with that of the guide, that the latter was soon lost to sight among the trees. somewhat surprised at his unusual state of mind lawrence pushed on and soon reached an open glade which showed some signs of having been cultivated. at the end of it stood a pretty little cottage, in front of which pedro was standing motionless, with clasped hands and drooping head. lawrence hesitated to disturb him, but as quashy had no such hesitations, and rode smartly forward, his companions followed. pedro turned with a grave look as they came up, and said-- "my home. i bid you welcome." "your home!" echoed lawrence, in surprise. "ay, a happy home it once was--but--desolate enough now. come, we will sleep here to-night. unload the mules, quashy, and kindle a fire. go into the room on the right, manuela. you will find a couch and other civilised comforts there. senhor armstrong, will you come with me?" without even awaiting a reply, the guide walked smartly into the bushes in rear of his lonely dwelling, followed by our hero. in a few minutes they reached a mound or hillock, which had been cleared of trees and underwood, and from the summit of which one could see over the tree-tops and the cottage roof away down the valley to the horizon of the table-lands beyond. it was a lovely spot, and, as lawrence saw it that quiet sunny afternoon, was suggestive only of peace and happiness. there was a rustic bower on the mound, in which a roughly-constructed seat was fixed firmly to the ground. in front of the bower was a grave with a headstone, on which was carved the single word "mariquita." lawrence looked at his companion, but refrained from speech on observing that he seemed to be struggling with strong emotion. in a few seconds pedro, having mastered his feelings, turned and said, in a tone that betrayed nothing save profound sadness-- "the body of my wife lies there. her pure spirit, thank god, is with its maker." lawrence's power of sympathy was so great that he hesitated to reply, fearing to hurt the feelings of one for whom, by that time, he had come to entertain sincere regard. he was about to speak, when pedro raised his head gently, as if to check him. "sit beside me, senhor," he said, seating himself on the rustic seat already referred to. "you have from our first meeting given me your confidence so frankly and freely that the least i can do is to give you mine in return--as far, at least, as that is possible. you are the first human being i have invited to sit _there_ since mariquita left me. shall i tell you something of my history, senhor armstrong?" of course lawrence assented, with a look of deep interest. "well, then," said pedro, "it may perhaps surprise you to learn that i am an irishman." to this lawrence replied, with a slight smile, that he was not very greatly surprised, seeing that the perplexing character of that race was such as to justify him in expecting almost anything of them. "i'm not sure whether to take that remark as complimentary or otherwise," returned pedro; "however, the fighting tendency with which my countrymen are credited has departed from me. i won't quarrel with you on the point. at the age of sixteen i was sent to america to seek my fortune. my mother i never knew. she died when i was a child. my father died the year after i left home. how i came to drift here it would be difficult, as well as tedious, to explain. many of the men with whom i have chummed in years gone by would have said that it was chance which led me to south america. i never could agree with them on this point. the word `chance' fitly describes the conditions sometimes existing between man and man, and is used in scripture in the parable of the good samaritan, but there can be no such thing as chance with the almighty. i must have been led or guided here. "at all events, hither i came, and wandered about for some years, with that aimless indifference to the future which is but too characteristic of youth--content to eat and sleep and toil, so that i might enjoy life, and get plenty of excitement! i went to peru first, and of course i joined in the fights that were so frequently stirred up between that country and its neighbour, chili. a very little of that, however, sufficed. the brutal ferocity of the soldiery with whom i was mixed up, and their fearful disregard of age, sex, infirmity, or helpless childhood during war disgusted me so much that i finally cut the army, and took to hunting and doing a little trade between the countries lying on the east and west sides of the andes. it was while thus engaged that i became acquainted with your good father, senhor armstrong, who has more than once helped me over financial difficulties and set me on my legs. "at last came the grand crisis of my life. one evening when travelling over the pampas of la plata, i, with a dozen gauchos, arrived at a post-house where we meant to put up for the night. on coming in sight of it we saw that something was wrong, for there were a number of indians fighting about the door. on seeing us they made off; but one, who was in the house struggling with the postmaster, did not observe the flight of his comrades, or could not get clear of his enemy. we all went madly after the savages. as i was about to pass the door of the house, i heard a woman shriek. the gauchos paid no attention, but passed on. i glanced inside, and saw the indian in the act of cutting a man's throat, while a girl strove wildly to prevent him. you may be sure i was inside in a moment, and i brained the savage with the butt of a pistol. but it was too late. the knife had already done its work, and the poor man only lived long enough to bless his daughter, who, covered with her father's blood, sank fainting on the floor. it was my first meeting with mariquita! "around her," continued pedro, in deepening tones, "lay her mother and two brothers--all slaughtered. i will not describe the harrowing scene. i tried to comfort the poor girl, and we took her on with us to the next post, where the postmaster's wife attended to her. "on seeing her next morning i felt that my life's happiness or sorrow lay in her hands. she was innocence, simplicity, beauty, combined. with artless gratitude she grasped and kissed my hand, regarding me, she said, as her deliverer, and one who would have saved her father if he had been in time. "often before had my comrades twitted me with my indifference to the female sex. to say truth, i had myself become impressed with the feeling that i was born to be one of the old bachelors of the world--and i cannot say that the doom gave me much concern. but now--well, if you understand me, senhor, i need not explain, and if you don't understand, explanation is useless! mariquita was left alone in the wide world. i would not, for all the gold and silver of peru, have spoken of love to her at that time; but i made arrangements with the postmaster and his wife to take care of the poor girl till i should return. in time i did return. she accepted me. we were married, and i brought her up here, for i wanted no society but hers. i was content to live in absolute solitude with her. she was much of the same mind, dear girl, but god had touched her heart, and in her sweet talk--without intending it, or dreaming of it--she showed me how selfish i was in thinking only of our own happiness, and caring nothing for the woes or the joys of our fellow-men. "my conscience reproached me, and i began to think how i could manage to live a less selfish life, but before i could make up my mind what course to follow an event occurred which caused delay. a little girl was sent to us. i called her mariquita, of course, and thought no more of leaving our happy home in the mountains. for five years we remained here, and the little mariquita grew to be an angel of light and beauty-- like her mother in all respects, except that she was very fair, with curly golden hair. "about that time war broke out--doubly accursed war! one night a band of deserters came and attacked my cottage. it had always been well prepared for anything of the sort with bolts, and bars and shutters, and even flanking loop-holes, as well as plenty of fire-arms and ammunition. but the party was too numerous. the villains forced the door in spite of me, and fired a volley before making a rush. from that moment i remembered nothing more until i recovered and found my head supported on the knee of an old man. i knew him at once to be a poor lonely old hunter who ranged about in the mountains here, and had paid us occasional visits. when he saw i was able to understand him, he told me that he had come suddenly on the villains and shot two of them, and that the others, perhaps thinking him the advance-guard of a larger party, had taken fright and made off. `but,' he said, in a low, hesitating tone, `mariquita is dead!' "i sprang up as if i had been shot, but instantly fell again, for my leg had been broken. i had seen enough, however. my beloved one lay dead on the floor, not far from me, with a bullet through her brain. and now," added pedro, pointing in deep despondency to the little mound at their feet--"she lies there!" "not so, my friend," said lawrence, in a low but earnest tone, as he grasped the man's hand, "it is only her dust that lies there, and even _that_ is precious in the sight of her lord." "thank you, senhor, for reminding me," returned pedro; "but when the memory of that awful night is strong upon me, my faith almost fails." "no wonder," rejoined lawrence, "but what of the child?" "ah! that is what i asked the old hunter," returned pedro. "he started up, and searched high and low, but could not find her. then he went out, calling her by name loudly, and searched the bushes. then he returned with a wild look and said the robbers must have taken her away--he would pursue! i knew it would be useless, for the scoundrels were mounted and the old hunter was on foot; but i let him go, and was not surprised when, two hours later, he returned quite exhausted. `it is in vain,' he said. `yet if i could have come up with them, i would have died for her.' "i was long ill after that. a good while, they say, i was out of my mind, but old ignacio nursed me through. he also buried mariquita where she now lies." the guide paused. "and the child?" asked lawrence, anxiously. "i have sought her far and wide, year after year, over mountain and plain. she may be dead--she may be alive--but i have never seen her nor heard of her from that day to this." "your story is a very, very sad one," said lawrence, his face expressing the genuine sympathy which he felt. "may i ask--are your wanderings mere haphazard? have you no idea who they were that stole your little one, or where they went to?" "none whatever. the broken leg, you know, prevented my commencing the search at once, and when i was able to go about i found that all trace of the band was gone. no wonder, for the country was at war at the time, and many marauding parties had traversed the land since then." "i--i shrink," said lawrence, with some hesitation, "from even the appearance of unkindness, but i cannot help expressing the fear that this vague, undirected wandering will be useless." "it would be so," returned pedro, "if god did not direct all human affairs. if it be his will, i shall yet find my child on earth. if not, i shall find her above--with her mother. in our intercourse, senhor, i have observed in you a respect for god's word. is it not written, `commit thy way unto the lord; trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass?'" "most true," replied lawrence, feeling the reproof, "yet god works by means. if we do not take the right means, we cannot expect to attain our end, however much we may trust." "right, senhor, and i have taken the _only_ means open to me. since i cannot give direction to my search, i search _everywhere_. fortunately my business permits of this, and also of doing a little service to my fellow-men as i go on my way. periodically i return here to rest,"--(he pointed to the little mound,)--"and when my powers begin to wane, either through disease or age, it is my purpose, if god permit, to return and die beside mariquita's grave." chapter eight. a new acquaintance and a change of scene. on their way back to the cottage they heard dogs barking, and a man talking to them. next moment these came in sight. "the old hunter!" exclaimed pedro, hastening forward with evident pleasure to meet his friend. it was equally evident that the old man was as much pleased to meet pedro, for they grasped each other's hands with hearty good-will. "what news?" asked the old man, eagerly, as he held up a hand to check the dogs, which were leaping round him. pedro shook his head sadly, and the expression of the old man became grave. the question referred to pedro's search for his lost child. it had long been the first inquiry when these two met after a separation. the old man seemed never to lose hope, but he had become so accustomed to the reply that his despondency was now of short duration. he had known and loved the child in days gone by--had helped the mother in cultivating her garden-plot, and had gone out hunting with the father many a time. he was a fine-looking man, above seventy years of age, with iron-grey hair, turning in some places to pure white. the hunter's spare though still upright figure showed that he must have been a powerful man in his youth, and the deeply-marked wrinkles about his mouth and eyes told eloquently that he was a kind one. round his shoulders were twined the cords of the heavy "bolas," or balls, with which he sometimes felled, at other times entangled, his prey. these balls were covered with clotted blood. he carried a short gun in his hand, and a large knife was stuck in his belt. the dogs that leaped around him were a strange pack--some being very large, some very small, and all of different breeds. a few of them had been lamed, and all were more or less marked by the wounds received from jaguars and pumas. "you expected me, ignacio?" said pedro, after the first greetings were over. "no--not quite so soon, but i chanced to be wandering about in the mountains, and came down to take a look at the old place, to see that all was right. you know i am fond of our old haunts, and never stay long away from them, but i did not expect to find you here." the hunter spoke in spanish, and lawrence found to his satisfaction that, although he by no means understood all that was said, he had already improved so much in that tongue through his frequent efforts to converse with manuela, that he could follow the drift at least of the hunter's remarks. "i have come back sooner than i intended," returned pedro, "for war is a wonderful hastener, as well as dictator, of events; but i have to thank war for having given me a new friend. let me introduce senhor lawrence armstrong to you; senhor, my old comrade ignacio, who, as i have told you, nursed me back to life many years ago." the old man held out a hard bony hand, and gave lawrence a hearty squeeze of friendship that had something vice-like in its vigour. he then turned to pedro, and began to make anxious inquiries about the war. as the two men spoke in undertones, lawrence drew back a few paces, and followed them towards the cottage. he observed that ignacio shook his head very often, and also that he laughed once or twice silently, but with apparent heartiness. as he overheard the name of manuela just before one of these laughs, he experienced some disagreeable feelings, which it was not easy to understand or get rid of, so he took to fondling the hunter's dogs by way of diversion to his mind. the animals testified indirectly to the character of their master by receiving his advances with effusive demonstrations of joy. at the cottage they found ignacio's horse--a very fine one--with a lasso hanging from the saddle. beside it stood a loose horse with the carcass of a guanaco flung over it, and a gaucho lad who was the hunter's only attendant. quashy was engaged in animated conversation with this youth, and manuela stood beside him listening. "i cannot understand," said lawrence to pedro, as they approached, "how men ever acquire dexterity in the use of these bolas." "practice makes perfect, you know," said the guide, "and it doesn't matter much what sort of weapons you use, if you only learn to use them well. of course it's not easy to a beginner. when ignacio's dogs turn out a jaguar or a puma, they follow him hotly till he stops to defend himself. if the dogs fly upon the brute, the hunter usually jumps off his horse, whirls the three balls about till they get up tremendous momentum, and then brings them down on the jaguar's skull with a whack that generally drops him. but if the dogs are afraid to go at him, ignacio throws the lasso over him, gallops away, and drags him over the ground, while the dogs rush in and tear him. what between bumping and hounds, the jaguar's career is soon finished." "i'm glad i've met you," said pedro to ignacio, as they turned aside into the bushes together, "for i've got news to tell, and i'll want your help. there's mischief brewing in the air, and i am commissioned--" thus much did lawrence and quashy overhear before the voice died away in the distance. it was a tantalising point to stop at! lawrence looked at quashy and at manuela, who stood near. "does manuela know anything of the mischief that is brewing?" asked lawrence in amazing spanish. "not'ing," replied the girl in english, "but she _trust_ pedro." "so do i, with all my heart," returned lawrence; "my question was prompted by curiosity, not by doubt." "i's not so sure," said quashy, with a frown, and a tone of self-assertion which was rare in him. "nice-lookin' men like him's not allers as nice as dey looks." "fie, quashy! i thought you were of a more trustful spirit." "so i is, massa--awrful trus'ful! kin trus' _you_ wid a'most anyt'ing. trus' dis yer injin gal wid untol' gol'. trus' sooz'n wid de whole world, an' eberyt'ing else besides, but i's not quite so sure about dis yer pedro. di'n't he say dar's noos to tell, an' he wants help, an' der's mischif a-brewin'? an' ain't i sure 'nuff dat he's got suffin to do wid de mischif, or he wouldn't be so secret?" "well, quashy, you'd better not tell pedro your doubts of him," said lawrence; "for if he knocks you down, i won't feel bound to stand up for you--seeing that i have perfect confidence in him." further conversation on this point was cut abruptly short by a tremendous hissing inside the cottage, followed by clouds of steam. it was caused by one of quashy's pots having boiled over. the negro sprang to the rescue. soon afterwards, the host and the old hunter returning, they all entered the place together, and sat down to supper. it was but a simple cottage, suitable to the simple tastes of a mountaineer in such a region, with only two rooms and a kitchen, besides a small attic divided into two chambers, which could be reached only by a ladder through a trap-door. little furniture graced it, yet what little there was bore evidence of having felt the touch of a tasteful female hand. numerous nails and pegs were stuck in the walls for the purpose of supporting fire-arms, etcetera, but the weapons had been secreted in a place of safety, for, during the owner's frequent and long absences from home, the cottage was locked up and left pretty much to take care of itself, being deemed safe enough, owing to its remote and lonely position. the key was always left in charge of old ignacio who was understood to have his eye on the place, and privileged to inhabit it whenever he chose. all this, and a great deal more, pedro told to lawrence as they sat round the table at supper in what used to be the parlour of the establishment. "but i'm going to lock it up, and hide the key this time," he continued; "because i have to send ignacio on urgent matters into the eastern parts of bolivia, to--" "to git help, an' tell de noos about de mischif what's a-brewin'," said the negro abruptly, with a pointed stare at the guide, and an arrested potato on the end of his fork. "you've learnt your lesson well, quashy," returned pedro, with a good-humoured smile, as he helped himself to a fresh supply of meat; "these are the very words--to obtain help and spread the news about the mischief that's brewing. pass the salt, like a good fellow, and help manuela to some more maize. you're forgetting your manners, boy." the negro heaved a sigh of discomfiture, and did as he was bid. next morning at daybreak they left the cottage, and descended the intricate valley which led to it. pedro seemed to have quite subdued his feelings--at least all outward manifestation of them--for he was sterner and more silent than usual as they resumed their journey. for some distance their route and that of ignacio lay in the same direction, but towards the afternoon of the same day on which they left mariquita cottage the old hunter bade the party adieu, and, accompanied by his gaucho lad and his dogs, entered a north-easterly defile of the hills, and disappeared. "we shall soon get to more cultivated lands, manuela," said pedro, in the indian tongue, glancing back at lawrence, who rode a few paces behind. "i doubt not you will be glad to see female faces again." to the surprise of the guide, manuela said that she did not care! "indeed!" he rejoined; "i thought you would be getting tired by this time of such rough travelling, and frequent hard lodging and fare, as well as of the conversation of us men." "no, i am not tired. i delight in this wild, free life." "surely not because it is _new_ to you," said pedro, with a glance of amusement; "when you dwell with your kindred, your life must be wild enough--unless indeed the great chief, your father, deems it beneath the dignity of his daughter to join in the sports of her fellows." manuela made no reply, but for a moment or two gave vent to that clear, short, merry laugh in which she sometimes indulged. lawrence armstrong, irresistibly charmed by the sound, rode up alongside. "manuela is merry," he said to the guide; "will you not translate, that i may enjoy the joke?" "it is not easy to translate," replied pedro. "in fact, i doubt if you will see the joke at all. it requires a little knowledge of manuela's past career to make understanding possible. she only said that she delighted in this wild, free life." "not much jest in that, truly," returned lawrence, "being, i fear, dull of comprehension; nevertheless, i see an unintentional compliment to _us_ in the remark, for it implies that we have not made manuela's journey tedious to her." "it may be so," said pedro, simply. "i was just telling her that we shall soon get to more inhabited parts of the land, where she will have a little female society now and then, and i was about to add that afterwards we shall descend into the lower grounds of bolivia, where she will have wild life enough to her heart's content--perchance too much of it." soon afterwards the guide's prophecy came true, for they passed from the rugged mountains into a wide and richly clothed table-land, where there were a few scattered farms, at which they were made heartily welcome whenever they chose to stop for the night or for a meal. passing thence into another range of comparatively low hills, they reached the town of san ambrosio, where they found comfortable quarters in a new and commodious inn--at least it seemed commodious, after the recent experiences of our travellers. here pedro said he would have to spend a day or two, as he had business to transact in the town, and that he would search out an old acquaintance with whose family he would place manuela till their departure. while pedro was gone in quest of his friend, the indian girl, probably feeling shy in the midst of such unwonted crowds, retired to the room provided for her, and lawrence and quashy found themselves left in the unusual condition of having nothing to do. of course, in these circumstances, they resolved to go out and see the town. while lawrence was questioning the landlord, an american, as to how he should proceed, a very decided tremor passed through his frame. quashy seemed to experience a similar sensation, for he said abruptly-- "eart'quak'!" "that's nothing new here, sir," said the landlord to lawrence, as he lighted a cigarette; "we're used to it, though some of the natives ain't quite easy in their minds, for the shocks have been both frequent as well as violent lately." "have they done any damage?" asked lawrence. "nothin' to speak of. only shook down a house or two that was built to sell, i suppose, not to stand. you'll find the market-place second turn to your left." somewhat impressed by the landlord's free-and-easy manner, as well as by his apparent contempt for earthquakes, the master and man went out together. with characteristic modesty the negro attempted to walk behind, but lawrence would by no means permit this. he insisted on his walking beside him. "bery good, massa," said quashy, at last giving in, "if you _will_ walk 'longside ob a nigger, 's'not _my_ fault. don't blame _me_." with this protest, solemnly uttered, the faithful negro accompanied our hero in his inspection of the town. chapter nine. tells of a tremendous catastrophe. san ambrosio was, at the period of which we write, a small and thriving place--though what may be styled a mushroom town, which owed its prosperity to recently discovered silver-mines. all things considered, it was a town of unusual magnificence on a small scale. being built with straight streets, cutting each other at right angles, lawrence and his man had no difficulty in finding the principal square, or market-place, which was crowded with people selling and buying vegetables, milk, eggs, fruit, etcetera, brought in from the surrounding districts. the people presented all the picturesque characteristics of the land in profusion--peons, with huge spanish spurs, mounted on gaily caparisoned mules; gauchos, on active horses of the pampas; market-women, in varied costumes more or less becoming, and dark-eyed senhoras on balconies and verandas sporting the graceful mantilla and the indispensable fan. the carts and donkeys, and dogs and fowls, and boys had the curious effect of reducing the babel of voices and discordant sounds to something like a grand harmony. besides these, there was a sprinkling of men of free-and-easy swagger, in long boots, with more or less of villainy in their faces--adventurers these, attracted by the hope of "something turning up" to their advantage, though afflicted, most of them, with an intense objection to take the trouble of turning up anything for themselves. dangerous fellows, too, who would not scruple to appropriate the turnings up of other people when safe opportunity offered. a clear fountain played in the centre of the square--its cool, refreshing splash sounding very sweet in the ears of lawrence, whose recent sojourn in the cold regions of the higher andes had rendered him sensitive to the oppressive heat of the town. besides this, a clear rivulet ran along one side of the square, near to which was the governor's house. a line of trees threw a grateful shade over the footpath here. on the opposite side stood the barracks, where a few ill-clad unsoldierly men lounged about with muskets in their hands. all the houses and church walls and spires, not only in the square, but in the town, bore evidence, in the form of cracked walls and twisted windows and doorways, of the prevalence of earthquakes; and there was a general appearance of dilapidation and dirt around, which was anything but agreeable to men who had just come from the free, grand, sweet-scented scenery of the mountains. "they seem to have had some severe shakings here," said lawrence, pointing with his stick to a crack in the side of one of the houses which extended from the roof to the ground. we may remark here that, on entering the town, our travellers had laid aside their arms as being useless encumbrances, though lawrence still carried his oaken cudgel, not as a weapon but a walking-stick. "yes, massa," replied quashy, "got lots ob eart' quaks in dem diggins. ebery day, more or less, dey hab a few. jest afore you come down dis mornin' i hab some conv'sashin' wid de landlord, an' he say he don' like de look ob t'ings." "indeed, quashy. why not?" "'cause it's gittin' too hot, he say, for de time ob year--sulfry, he called it." "sultry, you mean?" "well, i's not 'zactly sure what i means, but _he_ said sulfry. an' dey've bin shook more dan ornar ob late. an' dere's a scienskrific gen'leman in our inn what's bin a-profisyin' as there'll be a grand bust-up afore long." "i hope he'll turn out to be a false prophet," said lawrence. "what is his name?" "dun' know, massa. look dar!" exclaimed quashy, with a grin, pointing to a fat priest with a broad-brimmed white hat on a sleek mule, "he do look comf'rable." "more comfortable than the poor beast behind him," returned lawrence, with a laugh, as he observed three little children cantering along on one horse. there was no lack of entertainment and variety in that town, for people generally seemed to a great extent to have cast off the trammels of social etiquette, both in habits and costume. many of the horses that passed were made to carry double. here would ride past a man with a woman behind him; there a couple of girls, or two elderly females. elsewhere appeared a priest of tremendous length and thinness, with feet much too near the ground, and further on a boy, so small as to resemble a monkey, with behind him a woman so old as to suggest the idea he had taken his great-grandmother out for a ride, or--_vice versa_! for some hours master and man wandered about enjoying themselves thoroughly in spite of the heat, commenting freely on all they saw and heard, until hunger reminded them of the flight of time. returning to their hotel, lawrence, to his surprise, found a note awaiting him. it was from pedro, saying that he had found his friend in a village about three miles from san ambrosio, describing the route to the place, and asking him to send quashy out immediately, as he wanted his assistance that night for a few hours. "i wonder what he wants with you?" said lawrence. "to help him wid de mischif!" replied the negro, in a half-sulky tone. "well, you'll have to go, but you'd better eat something first." "no, massa; wid you's leave i'll go off at once. a hunk ob bread in de pocket an' lots o' fruit by de way--das 'nuff for dis nigger." "off with you, then, and tell pedro that you left manuela and me quite comfortable." "o massa lawrie!--'scuse me usin' de ole name--it _am_ so nice to hear you speak jolly like dat. 'minds me ob de ole times!" "get along with you," said lawrence, with a laugh, as the warm-hearted black left the hotel. thus these two parted. little did they imagine what singular experiences they should encounter before meeting again. soon after quashy's departure lawrence went to the door of manuela's room, and, tapping gently, said-- "dinner is ready, manuela." "i kom queek," replied the girl, with a hearty laugh. it had by that time become an established little touch of pleasantry between these two that lawrence should teach the indian girl english--at least to the extent of familiar phrases--while she should do the same for him with spanish. there was one thing that the youth liked much in this, and it also surprised him a little, namely, that it seemed to draw the girl out of her indian reticence and gravity, for she laughed with childlike delight at the amazing blunders she made in attempting english. indeed, she laughed far more at herself than at him, although his attempts at spanish were even more ridiculous. a few minutes later manuela entered the room, and, with a modest yet gracious smile, took a seat opposite her pupil-teacher. "dignity," thought the latter--"native dignity and grace! being the daughter of a great chief of the incas--a princess, i suppose--she cannot help it. an ordinary indian female, now, would have come into the room clumsily, looked sheepish, and sat down on the edge of her chair--perhaps on the floor!" but as he gazed at her short, black, curly hair, her splendid black eyebrows, her pretty little high-bred mouth, beautiful white teeth, and horribly brown skin, he sighed, and only said-- "ay, ay! well, well! _what_ a pity!" "what ees dat?" inquired the girl, with a look of grave simplicity. "did i speak?" returned lawrence, a little confused. "yes--you say, `ay, ay. well, well. _what_ a pittie!'" "oh!--ah!--yes--i was only _thinking_, manuela. what will you have?" "som muttin," replied the girl, with a pursing of the little mouth that indicated a tendency to laugh. "it is not mutton. it's beef, i think." "well, bee-eef very naice--an' som' gravvie too, plee-ese." she went off at this point into a rippling laugh, which, being infectious in its nature, also set her companion off, but the entrance of the landlord checked them both. he sat down at a small table near to them, and, being joined by a friend, called for a bottle of wine. "hotter than ever," he remarked to lawrence. "yes, very sultry indeed." "shouldn't wonder if we was to have a sharpish touch or two to-night." to which his friend, who was also an american if not an englishman, and appeared to be sceptical in his nature, replied, "gammon!" this led to a conversation between the two which is not worthy of record, as it was chiefly speculative in regard to earthquakes in general, and tailed off into guesses as to social convulsions present, past or pending. one remark they made, however, which attracted the attention of our hero, and made him wish to hear more. it had reference to some desperate character whose name he failed to catch, but who was said to be in the neighbourhood again, "trying to raise men to join his band of robbers," the landlord supposed, to which the landlord's friend replied with emphasis that he had come to the right place, for, as far as his experience went, san ambrosio was swarming with men that seemed fit for anything--from "pitch-and-toss to manslaughter." not wishing, apparently, to hear anything more about such disagreeable characters and subjects, manuela rose at the conclusion of the meal and retired to her apartment, while lawrence continued to sip his coffee in a balcony which overlooked the vineyard behind the hotel. it was evening, and, although unusually warm, the weather was very enjoyable, for a profound calm reigned around, and the hum of the multitudes in the distant square seemed hushed as the church bells rang the hour for evening prayers. as the twilight deepened, and the stars came faintly into sight in the dark-blue vault above, the thoughts of lawrence became strangely saddened, and, gradually quitting the scene of peaceful beauty on which he gazed, sped over the cordillera of the andes to that home of his boyhood which now lay in ashes. the frame of mind thus induced naturally led him to dwell on past scenes in which his mother had taken a part, and he was still meditating, more than half asleep, on the joys which were never to return, when he was roused into sudden and thorough consciousness by something--he could not tell what-- a sort of sensation--which caused him to leap from his chair. at the same moment there arose from the streets a cry, or wail. suddenly a rumbling noise was heard. lawrence bounded towards the nearest door. full well he knew what it meant. before he could escape there was a tremendous upheaval of the solid earth, and in one instant, without further warning, the entire town fell with one mighty crash! lawrence just saw the walls and roof collapsing--then all was dark, and consciousness forsook him. chapter ten. recounts some terrible and some vigorous deeds. how long our hero lay in this state he could not tell, but on recovering his faculties he became conscious of the fact that he was in total darkness, lying on his back, with a tremendous weight pressing on his chest. for a few moments he remained still, quite unable to recollect what had occurred, or where he was. suddenly memory resumed its office--the earthquake! the fall of the hotel!--and, with a gush of horror, he realised the terrible truth that he was buried alive. the reader must have been in the position we describe to understand fully the feelings of the poor youth at that moment. his first impulse was to make a violent effort to shake off the intolerable weight that almost suffocated him; but his efforts, strong though he was, proved in vain. it felt as if a mountain held him down. then the thought of manuela rushed in upon him, and he uttered a loud cry. the sound of his voice in the confined space was terrible. it seemed to rush in upon his brain with awful din. in his agony, a feeling of frantic despair came over him, and, with the strength of a giant, he struggled to be free, but still without success. exhausted as much by his horror as by his efforts, he lay for some minutes quite still, his brain keenly alive and thirsting, as it were, for some sound that might convey hope. no sound was to be heard, save the intense beating of his own pulsations which seemed to throb into his ears, and down into his very extremities. as he lay listening, it came strangely into his thoughts, with something like a feeling of regret, that it would be very hard for him to die! so much strong life as he possessed must, he thought, take long to destroy! but again, the memory of poor manuela, perhaps in a similar condition, and certainly not far from him, banished the thoughts of self, and he listened once more intently. all was still as the grave. the effort at self-control, however, calmed him a little, and, in a gentler mood, he tried to move his arms. the left arm was fixed as in a vice, and gave him so much pain, that he feared it had been broken. the right arm was also fast, but he felt that he could move his hand. it was a feeble straw for the buried man to clutch at, yet it was strong enough to buoy up hope in a stout heart. his courage returned, and with calm, resolute patience he set to work, uttering the fervent prayer, "help me, o god!" where there was space for a hand to move freely, he knew there must be space to remove rubbish, though it might be ever so little. in a few minutes some handful of earth were thrust aside. then, by drawing his arm upwards and pushing it downwards, he loosened the rubbish around it, and by slow degrees set it partially free. if he had been entombed in solid earth, this, he was well aware, could not have been possible; but, rightly judging that in a mass of mingled bricks, mortar, and beams there must be spaces more or less open, he worked away, with patience and in hope. the result was that he was able at last to touch with his right hand the object which lay so crushingly on his chest. it was an enormous beam. the utter impossibility of even moving it filled him for a moment with despair, but again he cried to god for help. the cry was answered, truly and effectively, yet without a miracle, for the very act of trust in the almighty calmed his mind and set it free to consider intelligently. he could not hope to lift the beam. it was far too heavy. being so heavy, he knew it would have killed him outright if it had not been checked in its descent, and partially supported somehow. might he not, then, scrape away the rubbish on which he lay until he should, as it were, sink away from the beam? he tried at once, and managed to get his right hand slightly under him. he could reach his haunch. it was a terribly slow process, but by degrees the busy hand reached the waist, drawing the rubbish out by small portions at a time. it seemed to him as if hours were spent in these painful efforts. still no appreciable difference was made in his position, and he had by that time pushed his hand as far up under his back towards his neck as it was possible to turn it. finding that he could scrape away no more in that direction, he now sought to deepen the hollows already made. in doing so he got hold of a brick, which he wrenched out with a desperate effort. the result was instantaneous relief, for he seemed to subside, not much, indeed, but sufficiently to permit of his breathing freely. with a fervent exclamation of thankfulness he turned slightly round, and drew his left arm out from the rubbish. he felt it anxiously. it was bruised a good deal, but not broken. although so greatly relieved that he felt for a few moments almost as if he had been delivered from death, the poor youth was still in a terrible case. the space in which he was confined did not admit of his sitting up, much less standing. what seemed to be a solid mass of the fallen wall was above him, prevented from crushing him by the beam before mentioned, while around him were masses of brick and mortar densely packed. again exerting his lungs, the youth shouted with all his might, and then paused to listen; but there was no reply. then he shouted the name of manuela, in the hope that she might hear, and answer, if still alive. but no answering voice replied. believing now that nothing could save him but a fixed purpose and a prolonged desperate effort on an intelligent plan, he prayed again for help, and then proceeded to enlarge his tomb by scraping the rubbish back under the beam, from beneath which he had drawn himself, and packing it tightly down. this enlarged the space, enabling him to get upon his knees. to work upward through the fallen wall would, he knew, be an impossibility. he therefore worked horizontally for some time, throwing the rubbish between his legs behind him, as, we presume, the moles are accustomed to do. then he passed his hand along over his head, and found that the solid wall was no longer above him,--only disjointed bricks and beams. with renewed hope and redoubled effort he now worked his way upwards, although well-nigh suffocated by dust, as well as by smoke arising from fires which had broken out in many places all over the ruined town. suddenly, while thus engaged, he heard voices faintly. he shouted with all his might, and listened. yes, he was not mistaken; he heard voices distinctly, and they appeared to be speaking in spanish. with something like a bounding of the heart he repeated his shout, and renewed his labours. if he had known the character of the persons who had thus encouraged him, his hopes would not have been so strong. we have said that the entire town had been levelled by one tremendous convulsion, and that in many places fires had broken out among the ruins. these fires sent up dense volumes of smoke, which naturally attracted people from all quarters of the surrounding country. among them came bands of desperate and lawless characters, who fastened on the ruins as vultures seize on carrion. they resembled the unclean birds in more respects than one, for they went about as long as there was anything of value to be seized, long after other people had been forced to quit the place owing to the horrible stench of the hundreds of corpses decaying, and in many cases burning, among the ruins. (see note .) it was the voices of some of these lawless ruffians that lawrence had heard. he soon became aware of their character by the terrible oaths which they used, and the fiendish laughter in which they indulged whenever he called for help. knowing that he had nothing to hope from such miscreants, he ceased to call out, but toiled none the less vigorously to effect his deliverance. at last he managed to scrape through to the upper world; and a feeling of inexpressible relief filled his breast as a bright ray of sunshine shot into his prison. that it was daylight did not surprise him, for the many hours which he had spent under ground seemed to him like weeks. but he soon found that he was not yet free. the hole which he had scraped was much too small to admit of the passage of even a little boy. in trying to enlarge it, he found, to his dismay, that on one side of it was an enormous beam, on the other a mass of solid masonry, which could not be moved without aid. looking out, he saw nothing but confused heaps of smoking ruins, save in one direction, where, in the far distance, (for the hotel had stood on a mound), he could see a group of men engaged as if searching for something. to these he shouted again, but did not attract their attention. either they did not hear him, or did not care. turning then to the beam, he tried with all his might to raise it, but failed, though it moved slightly. encouraged by hope, and afterwards influenced by despair, he tried again and again, until his strength broke down. at this juncture he heard footsteps, and saw a man passing near. "senhor! senhor!" he cried, in the best spanish he could muster, "aid me to get out, for the love of god!" a coarse insult was the only reply as the man passed on. a group of other men who passed soon after behaved as badly, for they only laughed at his entreaties. it is difficult to say whether rage or indignation was more powerful in lawrence's heart, but both passions were equally unavailing in the circumstances. he felt this, and soon calmed down; so that when, half an hour later, another man passed that way, he addressed him in tones of respect and earnest entreaty. the bandit, for such he was, seemed to be utterly unaffected; for although he must certainly have heard the appeal, he, like the others, passed on without taking the slightest notice. "senhor! senhor!" cried lawrence, "i have a gold watch and chain, to which you--" the man stopped, for the bait took at once. turning, and walking towards the place from which the sound came, he soon found the hole through which our hero looked. "hand out the watch, senhor," he said. "no, no," answered lawrence; "aid me first to lift the beam." whether the man understood the bad spanish or not we cannot say, but instead of helping to lift the beam, he drew a pistol from his belt, and said-- "hand out the watch, or i shoot!" "shoot away, then," cried lawrence, savagely, as he drew quickly back into his hole. the report of the pistol followed the words, and the ball caused a cloud of dust and rubbish to mingle with the smoke. a wild laugh of defiance from within told that our englishman was not hurt. "ha--ha! shoot again," he cried, fiercely. "no, senhor, no. you are brave. i will help you," replied the miscreant. lawrence doubted the honesty of the man's assurance, but of course thanked him, and expressed readiness to avail himself of his assistance. he kept carefully at the extreme end of the hole, however, while his murderous deliverer removed some of the rubbish from the beam, and so made it possible to raise it. remaining quite still, lawrence waited till he saw that the beam had been so far moved as to enlarge the space sufficiently for him to get through. then, with a sudden spring _a la_ jack-in-the-box, he leaped out, and stood before the astonished bandit. lawrence, whose sense of honour taught him to hold his promise as sacred to a thief as to an honest man, had fully intended to give up his watch and chain to the man if he should remain peaceably disposed; but the bandit was not so disposed. recovering from his surprise, he drew a second pistol from his belt and levelled it at lawrence. thought is quick; quicker even than triggers. his length of limb happily flashed into the youth's mind. up went his foot with a sudden kick, and away went the pistol into the air, where it exploded after the manner of a sky-rocket! the bandit did not wait for more. he turned and fled, much to the satisfaction of the victor, who, overcome by prolonged exhaustive toil and excitement, sank down on a heap of rubbish, and lay there in a semi-conscious state. it seemed as if both mind and body had resolved to find rest at all hazards, for he lay perfectly motionless for nearly an hour,--not exactly asleep, but without being fully conscious of connected thought. from this state of repose, if it may be so called, he was partially aroused by the voices of men near him, talking in coarse, violent language. raising his head languidly, he observed a band of about eight or ten villainous-looking fellows busy round a hole, out of which they appeared to be drawing some sort of booty. "a prize!" exclaimed one of the men; "be gentle; she's worth taking alive." a loud laugh from the others roused lawrence again, but a feeling of unwonted exhaustion oppressed him, so that he scarce knew what it was he heard. suddenly there arose a female voice, in a cry of pain. lawrence started up on one elbow, and beheld manuela struggling in the grasp of one of the band. if electric fire had taken the place of blood in his veins, he could not have bounded up more quickly. the shock seemed to renew and double his wonted strength. like the english bull-dog, with terrible purpose, but in absolute silence, he rushed over the rubbish towards the man who held the struggling girl. the man seemed to be a leader, being the only one of the band who carried a cavalry sabre. the others were armed, some with short swords, some with carbines and pistols. swift though lawrence was, the chief saw him coming. he let go the girl, and made a wild cut at him with the sabre. lawrence received the cut on his left arm. at the same moment he struck the villain such a blow with his clenched fist, that it seemed to crush in his skull, and sent him headlong into the hole out of which they had just dragged the indian girl. fortunately he dropped his sabre as he fell. with a shout of defiance our hero caught it up, just in time to arrest the descent of a carbine butt on his head. next moment the man who aimed the blow was cleft to the chin, and a united rush of the robbers was for the moment arrested. manuela, helpless and horror-struck, had stood motionless on the spot where the chief had released her. lawrence caught her in his left arm, swung her into an angle of the broken wall, placed himself in front, and faced his foes. the villains, though taken by surprise, were no cravens. apparently they had already discharged their fire-arms, for only one fired at our hero with a pistol, and missed his aim. flinging the weapon at his adversary with a yell of disappointment, he missed his aim a second time. at the same moment another of the band--one of the tallest and most ferocious-looking--sprang upon the youth with terrible fury. he knew well, apparently, how to use his weapon; and lawrence felt that his experience at school now stood him in good stead. as the weapons of these giants flew around with rapid whirl and clash, the others stood aside to see the end. doubtless they would have taken unfair advantage of their foe if they could, but lawrence, turning his back to the wall, where manuela crouched, prevented that. at last one dastardly wretch, seeing that his comrade was getting the worst of it, bethought him of his carbine, and began hurriedly to load. our hero noted the act, and understood its fatal significance. with a bound like that of a tiger he sprang at the man, and cut him down with a back-handed blow, turning, even in the act, just in time to guard a sweeping cut dealt at his head. with a straight point he thrust his sword through teeth, gullet, and skull of his tall adversary, until it stood six inches out behind his head. then, without a moment's pause, he leaped upon the nearest of the other bandits. awe-stricken, they all gave back, and it seemed as if the youth would yet win the day single-handed against them all, when a shout was heard, and half a dozen men of the same stamp, if not the same band, came running to the rescue. lawrence drew hastily back to his protecting wall. "pray, manuela, pray," he gasped; "we are in god's hands." at that moment two shots were heard away on their right, and two of the advancing bandits fell. an instant later, and quashy bounded upon the scene with a high trumpet-shriek like a wild elephant. pedro followed, brandishing the rifle which he had just discharged with such fatal effect. lawrence joined them with a genuine british cheer, but their adversaries did not await the onset. they turned, fled, and speedily scattered themselves among the ruins. "t'ank god, massa, we's in time," said quashy, wiping with his sleeve the perspiration that streamed from his face, as they returned quickly to manuela. "we must not wait a moment here," said pedro, hurriedly. "there may be more of the villains about. but you are wounded, senhor armstrong." "not badly," said lawrence. "it might have been worse, but the fellow was in such a hurry that the edge of his sabre turned, and i got only a blow with the side of it. if i had only had my good cudgel--by the way, it must be in the hole. it was in my hand when--stay, i'll return in a few seconds." he ran back to his late tomb, and quickly returned in triumph with his favourite weapon. "come, we must get away from this at once," said pedro, turning to manuela. "no time for explanations. are you hurt?" "no; thank god. let us go," replied the girl, who was pale and haggard, as she staggered towards them. "take my arm," said lawrence, presenting his wounded limb. the girl pointed with trembling hand to the blood. "it is nothing--a mere scratch," said lawrence. in his anxiety he forgot to speak in spanish. manuela appeared as if about to sink with fear. he caught her, lifted her in his arms as if she had been a little child, and, following pedro's lead, left the place which had been the scene of so many terrible events. in the outskirts of the town there was a large low building of mud or sun-dried bricks, which had not been overthrown by the earthquake. to this pedro conducted his companions. they found room in the place, though it was nearly full of survivors in all conditions of injury,-- from those who had got mere scratches and bruises, to those who had been so crushed and mangled that life was gradually ebbing away. there seemed to be about fifty people in the room, and every minute more were being brought in. here lawrence set down his burden, who had by that time quite recovered, and turned quickly to the guide. "come, pedro," he said, "i can be of use here; but we must have my own wound dressed first. you can do it, i doubt not." pedro professed to be not only able but willing. before he did it, however, he whispered in a low tone, yet with much emphasis, to manuela-- "don't forget yourself! remember!" as he whispered pretty loud, and in spanish, lawrence overheard and understood him, and puzzled himself, not only that day, but for many days and nights after, as to how it was possible that manuela _could_ forget herself, and what it was she had to remember. but the more and the longer he puzzled over it, the less did he clear up his mind on the subject. when it became known that lawrence was a doctor, there was a visible increase of hope in the expression and bearing of the poor wounded people. and the youth soon justified their trustful feelings, for, with pedro and quashy as assistant-surgeons, and manuela as head-nurse, he went about setting broken bones, bandaging limbs, sewing up wounds, and otherwise relieving the sufferers around him. while this was going on the poor people were recounting many marvellous tales of terrible risks run, escapes made, and dangers evaded. during all this time, too, frequent shocks of earthquake were felt, of greater or less violence, and these afterwards continued daily for a month, so that the few buildings which had partially survived the first awful shock were finally levelled like the rest. when lawrence with his assistants had gone the rounds of the extemporised hospital, he was so completely worn out that he could scarcely keep his eyes open. swallowing a cup of hot coffee hastily, he flung himself on a heap of straw beside one of his patients, and almost instantly fell into a profound lethargic slumber. there was an unoccupied arm-chair in the room. placing this beside the youth's couch, the indian girl sat down with a fan, purposing, in her gratitude, to protect her preserver from the mosquitoes, which were having an unusual bout of revelry over the sufferers that night. quashy, observing this as he lay down in a corner, shook his head sadly, and whispered to himself: "ah! you brown gal, you's in lub wid massa. but it's useless. de ole story ob unrekited affection; for you know, pretty though you is, massa kin nebber marry a squaw!" thus thinking, quashy went sweetly to sleep. so did most of the others in that crowded place. but manuela stuck to her colours nobly. she kept awake until her pretty black eyes became lustreless, until her pretty brown face became expressionless, until the effort to continue awake became hopeless. then her little head fell back on the cushion of the chair, the little mouth opened, and the large eyes closed. the little hand which held the fan dropped by her side. the fan itself dropped on the floor, and, like the others, poor manuela at length found rest and solace in slumber. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note . a similar disaster, accompanied by dreadful scenes of lawlessness and horror, occurred in , when the city of mendoza was totally destroyed by an earthquake, and nine-tenths of the inhabitants perished. chapter eleven. outwitted by a bandit. early next morning pedro went round and quietly roused his friends. "we must start at once," he said in a low voice to lawrence, when the wearied youth was sufficiently awake to understand. "your wounded arm is better, i hope?" "it is only stiff and painful; happily, no bones are injured. but why such haste? i don't like to leave my poor patients in this fashion." "will any of them die if you don't stay to nurse them?" asked the guide, with a grave, almost stern, expression. "why, no; not exactly," returned lawrence; "but many of them will want their wounds dressed, and all of them will be the better for a little more skilled attendance." "will they not survive under ordinary attendance?" asked pedro, with increasing severity of expression. "doubtless they will, but--" "would you like," interrupted the inflexible guide, "to have them all roused up at this early hour to hear a little farewell speech from you, explaining the absolute necessity for your going away, and your extreme regret at leaving them?" "not if there is such necessity," returned lawrence, yawning, and raising himself on one elbow. "there _is_ such necessity, senhor. i have been down to the village where my friend lives, and have got fresh horses. manuela and quashy are already mounted. i let you sleep to the last moment, seeing you were so tired. don't forget your pistols; you may need them." without waiting for a reply, he rose and left the room. the young doctor hesitated no longer. regret at quitting the poor people around him was overborne by the fear of being left behind, for he had by that time begun to entertain a vague suspicion that the stern and peculiar man by whom he was led would not permit any object whatever to stand in the way of what he believed to be his duty. in a few seconds he issued from the hut, armed with his pair of double-barrelled pistols and the faithful cudgel. the cavalry sabre, however, had been lost, not much to his regret. the grey light of dawn was just sufficient to give a ghostly appearance to what may be truly termed the ghastly ruins around them, and to reveal in undefined solemnity the neighbouring mountains. smoke still issued from the half-smothered fires, and here and there a spectral figure might be seen flitting silently to and fro. but all was profoundly still and quiet, even the occasional tremors of the earth had ceased for a time, when they issued from the enclosure of the hut. without speaking, lawrence mounted the horse which stood ready for him, and they all rode silently away, picking their steps with great care through the upheaved and obstructed streets. it was a scene of absolute and utter ruin, which lawrence felt could never be effaced from his memory, but must remain there burned in deeply, in its minutest details, to the end of time. when they had passed the suburbs, however, and reached the country beyond, the depressing influences passed away, and, a certain degree of cheerfulness returning with the sun, they began to chat and to explain to each other their various experiences. "of course, when i felt the earthquake," said pedro to lawrence, "i knew that, although little damage was done to the village to which i had gone in search of my friends, it must have been very severe on the town with its spires and public buildings; so i saddled up at once, and set off on my return. i met quashy just as i left the village, and we both spurred back as fast as we could. when we came in sight of it, we saw at once that the place was destroyed, but, until we reached it, had no idea of the completeness of the destruction. we could not even find the road that led to the inn where we had left you and manuela; and it was not till the following morning that we found the inn itself, and came up, as you know, just in time to help you, though we had sought diligently all night." "das so, massa," broke in quashy, who had listened with glittering eyes to pedro's narrative, which of course was much more extended and full, "an' you's got no notion how we's banged about our poor shins among dese ruins afore we founded you. s'my b'lief but for de fires we'd nebber hab founded you at all. and dem scoundrils--oh! dem scoundrils--" quashy's feelings at this point failed to find vent in words sufficiently expressive, so he relieved them to some extent by shaking his fist at scoundreldom in general, and grinding his teeth. no words could have expressed his feelings half so well. by way of changing a subject that appeared to be almost too much for him, he turned abruptly to the indian girl; and said, in spanish quite as bad as that of lawrence-- "but where were _you_, senhorina, all the time?" "ay, manuela, let's hear how it was that you escaped," said pedro quickly, in indian. "i escaped through the mercy of god," replied the girl, in a low voice. "true, manuela, true," replied the guide, "you never said a truer word than that; but by what means was his mercy displayed?" "i can scarcely tell," returned the girl; "when the earthquake came i was sitting on my bed. then the wall of the room seemed to fall on me, and my senses were gone. how long i lay so, i cannot tell. when i recovered my mind i felt as if buried alive, but i could breathe, and although unable to rise, i could move. then i heard cries, and i replied; but my strength was gone, and i think no one heard me. then i prayed, and then, i think, i slept, but am not sure. at last i heard a spade striking the earth above me. soon an opening was made, and i was dragged rudely out. the rest you know." on this being interpreted to her companions, quashy gave it as his decided opinion that a miracle had been performed for her special deliverance; but lawrence thought that, without miraculous interference, god had caused a mass of wall to fall over and protect her in much the same way that he himself had been protected. while they were talking thus, and slowly descending one of the numerous richly-wooded, though rugged, paths which traverse the lower slopes of the andes, they encountered a party of horsemen from the pampas. they were well-armed, and from their looks might have been another troop of banditti, coming like human vultures from afar to swoop down on the carcass of the unfortunate town. to have shown the slightest hesitancy or fear--supposing them to have been what they looked--would have been to invite attack, but, as the reader knows, our travellers were not the men to betray themselves thus. before starting, they had carefully examined their weapons, and had bestowed them about their persons somewhat ostentatiously. pedro had even caused manuela to stick a brace of small pistols and a large knife in her belt; and, as indian women are sometimes known to be capable of defending themselves as vigorously as men, she was by no means a cipher in the effective strength of the party. with a dignified yet free-and-easy air that would have done credit to a spanish don of the olden time, pedro saluted the party as he rode past. his aspect, and the quiet, self-possessed air of the huge englishman, with the singularity of his cudgel, coupled with the look of graceful decision about the indian maiden, and the blunt bull-doggedness of the square negro, were sufficient to ensure a polite response, not only from that party, but from several other bands of the same stamp that were met with during the day. diverging from the main road in order to avoid these bands, they followed a track well-known to the guide. towards the afternoon, from the top of a rising ground, they descried a solitary foot traveller wending his way wearily up the hill. he was a man of middle age, and powerfully-built, but walked with such evident difficulty that it seemed as if he were either ill or exhausted. pedro eyed him with considerable suspicion as he approached. in passing, he begged for assistance. as he spoke in french, lawrence, whose sympathies, like those of quashy, were easily roused, asked in that tongue what was the matter with him. he had been robbed, he said, by that villainous bandit, conrad of the mountains, or some one extremely like him, and had been nearly killed by him. he was on his way to san ambrosio, where his wife and family dwelt, having heard that it had been greatly damaged, if not destroyed, by an earthquake. "it has been utterly destroyed, my poor fellow," said lawrence, in a tone of pity; "but it may be that your family has escaped. a good number of people have escaped. here are a few dollars for you. you will need them, i fear. you can owe them to me, and pay them when next we meet." the gift was accompanied with a look of pleasantry, for lawrence well knew there was little chance of their ever meeting again. pedro sat regarding them with a grim smile. "you are a stout fellow," he said, in a tone that was not conciliatory, after the beggar had accepted the dollars with many expressions of gratitude; "from all i have heard of conrad of the mountains, you are quite a match for him, if he were alone." "he was not alone, senhor," replied the beggar, with a look that told of a temper easily disturbed. to this pedro replied contemptuously, "oh, indeed!" and, turning abruptly away, rode on. "you doubt that man?" said lawrence, following him. "i do." "he looked honest." "men are not always to be judged by their looks." "das a fact!" interposed quashy; "what would peepil judge ob _me_, now, if dey hoed by looks?" "they'd say you were a fine, genial, hearty, good-natured blockhead," said lawrence, laughing. "true, massa, you's right. i'm all dat an' wuss, but not _always_ dat. sometimes i'm roused; an' i'm _awrful_ w'en i'm roused! you should see me w'en my back's riz. oh _my_!" the negro opened his eyes and mouth so awfully at the mere idea of such a rising that his companions were fain to seek relief in laughter. even the grave manuela gave way to unrestrained merriment, for if she failed to thoroughly understand quashy's meaning, she quite understood his face. that night they found welcome shelter in a small farm. "did you fall in with the notorious bandit, conrad of the mountains?" asked their host, after the ceremonious reception of his guests was over. "no, senhor," answered pedro. "is that fellow in this neighbourhood just now?" "so it is said, senhor. i have not seen him myself, and should not know him if i saw him, but from descriptions i should think it must be he. i have a poor fellow--a peon--lying here just now, who has been robbed and nearly murdered by him. come, he is in the next room; you can speak to him." saying this, the host introduced pedro and lawrence into an inner chamber, where the wounded man lay, groaning horribly. he was very ready, indeed eager, to give all the information in his power. fear had evidently given the poor fellow an exaggerated idea of the appearance of the man who had waylaid him; nevertheless, from his description our travellers had no difficulty in recognising the poor bereaved beggar whom they had met and assisted. "was he a large man?" asked pedro. "yes, yes, senhor; tremendous!--seven feet or more, and _so_"-- indicating about three feet--"across the shoulders. rough black head, huge black beard and moustache, hawk nose, with such awful eyes, and the strength of a tiger! i could never have been so easily overcome by one man if he had not been a giant." "you see," said pedro in english, turning to lawrence with a smile, "the description tallies exactly, making due allowance for this poor fellow's alarm. he must be a clever fellow this conrad of the mountains, for he has not only frightened a peon out of his wits, but roused the pity of an englishman by asserting that he had been robbed by _himself_! your charity, you see, was ill bestowed." "so, it seems we might have made this noted bandit prisoner if we had only known!" exclaimed lawrence, who seemed more distressed at missing the chance of becoming an amateur thief-catcher than at misdirected charity. "but do you really think the fellow was conrad of the mountains?" "i am certain he was not," said pedro. "how do you know?" "i have several grounds for my belief, but, even if i had not, i might easily judge from appearances. conrad is said to be kind to women and children. the scoundrel we met with could not be kind to any one. moreover, there is no clear proof that conrad _is_ a bandit, while this man certainly is one." "i'm sorry you seem so sure, because i should like much to be able to say i had seen this notorious fellow about whom every one appears to hear so much and to know so little." although the bandit of whom we have just made mention was not conrad of the mountains, it may interest the reader to know that he was in truth a sufficiently notorious villain, named fan, the captain of a band of twenty assassins, most of whom were escaped criminals from the prisons of chili and peru. among other exploits, fan once attacked the armed escort of a troop of mules conveying silver in bars from the mines to chili. fan and his men attacked them in a ravine so suddenly, and with such a deadly fire of musketry, that the few who survived laid down their arms at once, on the promise being made that their lives should be spared. banditti do not usually regard promises as binding. it would be surprising if they did. fan made the survivors lie down on their faces, and was about to plunder the mules, when he changed his mind, and shot all the rest of the convoy in cold blood, except the last, who, seeing the fate that awaited him, leaped over a precipice, rolled down a steep slope many hundred feet deep, and, strange to say, escaped with his life. he then procured a dozen or two well-armed men, and returned to the scene of the robbery, but found that the robbers had flown with as much silver as they could carry, the remainder being scattered about on the road. these miscreants were afterwards captured, but, owing to disputes between the peruvian and the chilian governments, the former of whom had hold of, while the latter claimed, the robbers, they all escaped their merited punishment, and were set at large. chapter twelve. thick woods, heat, change of scene, and savages. we must change the scene now, and transport our reader to one of those numerous streams which convey the surplus waters of the andes to the warmer regions of bolivia, and thence, through many a wild, luxuriant wilderness and jungle, to the parana river, by which they ultimately find their way to the sea. it was approaching the afternoon of a very sultry day when lawrence awoke from his midday siesta under an algaroba-tree, and slowly opened his eyes. the first object they rested upon was the brown little face of manuela, reposing on a pillow formed of leopard skin. in those regions it was the practice, when convenient, to sling a network hammock between two trees, and enjoy one's siesta in that. the indian girl lay in her hammock, with her eyes shut, and her little mouth open,--not undignifiedly open, but just sufficiently so to permit of one seeing something of the teeth and tongue inside. fascinated apparently by the sight, a mite of a blue-bird with a golden head sat on the edge of the hammock close to the little mouth, and looked in. evidently it was a bird of an inquiring disposition, for, having gazed for a considerable time with one eye, it turned its head, and gazed a longer time with the other. quashy lay close to lawrence, with his back towards him. the latter, observing that the cheek of the former was more lumpy and prominent than usual, raised himself on one elbow to look at him, and found that the lump was the result of an expansion of the mouth from ear to ear. he was wide awake, gloating over the proceedings of that little blue-bird, but he heard lawrence move, and turning his head slightly round, whispered-- "dat am berry funny--i'n't it?" the whisper slightly roused manuela. she drew a long breath, vented a deep sigh, and effectually blew the blue-bird away. at the same moment the whole party was roused by a wild and indescribable scream, followed by a magnificent flash of what seemed to be coloured fire. in his half-sleeping condition, lawrence, believing it to be the war-whoop of wild indians, leaped up and grasped his cudgel, but nothing was to be seen save the grinning face of quashy and the amused looks of manuela and pedro. "purrits," remarked the negro, by way of explanation. "what do you mean by purrits?" demanded lawrence, half ashamed of his alarm. "i mean what i says, massa,--purrits." "he means parrots," said pedro, with a grave smile, as he rose, and proceeded to fold up the poncho on which he had lain. "we've had many a song from these screamers, but i don't remember ever seeing such a big flock come so near us, or scream so loud, before. they must have been attracted by your pretty face, manuela, and could not help shouting with surprise at finding you asleep." manuela laughed lightly as she stepped out of her hammock. "they've just roused us in good time," continued pedro, looking up between the tree-tops at the sky, "for the hut of the tiger-hunter is a long way off, and i'm anxious to reach it before dark." in a few minutes the hammock and other camp equipage was conveyed to one of the native canoes, which lay close to the river's bank, our travellers embarked, and ere long were far from the spot where the siesta had been taken. in the afternoon they stopped for a little to refresh themselves with roasted parrot, chocolate, and biscuit. parrots are found everywhere and in great numbers in those regions between the atlantic and pacific. they live and travel in large flocks, and, as every one knows, they are remarkably fond of using their discordant voices, much to the annoyance of sensitive travellers. fortunately such travellers do not often go to the wild regions of south america,--when they do, they soon become un-sensitive. when parrots assemble in a flock on the trees, they keep fluttering their wings with a tremulous motion, bending down their heads and chattering, young and old, without regard to each other or to harmony. each seems bent on giving his own opinion in the loudest key, and pays no regard whatever to the opinions of others. there is something almost human in this! it is a curious fact that, while the plumage of the parrots' breasts is always gaudy and brilliant in the extreme, that of their backs is usually the colour of the general tone of the region they inhabit. in woods, where the bark of trees is chiefly bright yellow and green, their backs are of these colours. in the plains they are a mixture of green and brown, so that when skimming over a country they are not easily distinguished, but if they chance to come unexpectedly on travellers, they sheer off with a shriek, and expose their gaudy breasts to view. the large flock that had so suddenly come on our friends while taking their siesta had turned off thus with a horrible scream, and revealed their gay breasts, on which the sun chanced to shine at the moment with great power, thus producing, as we have said, a splendid flash of colour. "massa," inquired quashy, as they sat in the canoe enjoying the cold meal and floating slowly with the stream, "which you likes best,--ros' purrit or ros' monkey?" "really, i'm not quite sure," replied lawrence; "it depends very much on appetite. if i'm very hungry, i prefer the one that comes first to hand. which do _you_ like best?" "well, i's not kite sure needer. i t'ink sometimes dat monkey is best, but i can't easy git ober de face." "how so, quashy?" "'cause it am so like eatin' a bit o' my great-gran'moder." "indeed!" "yes. you's no notion how like dey all is to dat ole lady. you see, she was uncommon old. she come ob a long-lib race. das whar' it is. my moder was eighty-two, an' my gran'moder was ninety-siven, an' my great-gran'moder was a hun'r'd an' sixteen, an' dey was all alive togidder, an' at fuss you couldn' tell which was de oldest. dey run neck an' neck for a long time, but arter de great-gran' one pass de hunr' milestone--oh! she hoed ahead like a rattlesnake. de wrinkles an' de crows' foots, an' de--de colour--jes' like bu'nt leather! she lef' de oders far behind, an' looked like nuffin so much as dat poor little blear-eyed monkey you shot de oder day, what senhorina manuela say was _so_ nice to eat. what! you un'erstan' ingliss?" added the negro, looking at the indian girl, who had given vent to a half-suppressed giggle. "yes--leetil," replied manuela, without attempting further to restrain her mirth. quite pleased that his remarks should afford amusement, quashy was about to launch out extensively on the "great-gran'moder" theme, when an exclamation from the guide checked him. "look, senhor armstrong," he said, arresting the progress of the canoe by a slight turn of his paddle. "yonder is a mode of fishing which no doubt is new to you." pedro pointed as he spoke to a canoe which a sharp bend of the stream had just revealed to them. its occupants were indians. they were almost naked, and so intent on their occupation that the arrival of our travellers had not been observed. one of the indians, a splendid specimen of muscular strength, stood up in the canoe with a bow and arrow in his hands and one foot on the gunwale, quite motionless. suddenly he drew the bow, the arrow pierced the water without causing a ripple, and next moment a transfixed fish was struggling on the surface. the fish was barely secured when the presence of strangers was discovered. an exclamation followed. instantly the dark savage bent his bow, with the arrow pointed this time full at the breast of pedro. that worthy did not, however, seem much alarmed. he at once pushed out into the stream, and gave a shout which induced the savage not only to lower his bow, but to fling it into his canoe and throw up his arms with exclamations of surprise and joy. "he knows you?" said lawrence, looking back at pedro, who sat in the stern of their canoe. "yes, he knows me. i am pretty well-known to most people in these regions. this is the tiger-hunter of whom i have spoken. his dwelling is not far-off." the meeting of the two friends was remarkably cordial, and it was evident to both lawrence and quashy that the white man and the brown were not only old friends, but more than usually fond of each other. after the first salutations, both canoes were run to the bank of the stream, and when they had all landed, pedro presented his friend to lawrence, who shook hands with him in the english fashion. "you have not mentioned your friend's name," said lawrence. "his name!" replied pedro, with a laugh, "well, it is almost unpronounceable. perhaps you had better call him by the name he goes by among his friends--spotted tiger, or, more briefly--tiger." "tell spotted tiger, then," said lawrence, "that i am happy to make his acquaintance." when the guide had translated this, and the indian had returned a complimentary rejoinder, they continued to converse in the indian tongue with much animation, and, on the part of spotted tiger, with some excitement. of course lawrence understood nothing, but he continued to watch the expressive features of the savage with interest, and observed, when their glances showed they were talking of manuela, that tiger first raised his eyebrows in surprise, and then smiled peculiarly. "strange," thought lawrence, "what can he mean by that? perhaps he knows the chief, her father, but why look surprised and smile on that account? i wish pedro was not so secretive. however, it's his business, not mine!" consoling himself with this philosophic thought, lawrence re-embarked with his friends, and, accompanied by tiger, proceeded down stream till they came to a beautiful spot where the banks widened out into a small lake or pond. on its shores, under the cool shade of many trees, stood the hut of the savage. the scenery here was more than usually beautiful, being diversified not only in form, but in its wealth and variety of trees, and twining parasites and graceful ferns, with, in one place, groves of tall trees covered with balls of wild cotton, as large as an orange, and, elsewhere, inextricable entanglements of gorgeously flowering creepers, such as the most vivid imagination would fail to invent or conceive. behind one part of the scene the setting sun shone with intense light, turning all into dark forms, while in other parts the slanting rays fell upon masses of rich foliage, and intensified its colour. in front of the hut a handsome indian woman stood awaiting the arrival of her husband. she held in her arms a naked little ball of whitey-brown fat, which represented the youngest tiger-cub of the family. other cubs, less whitey, and more brown, romped around, while up in the trees several remembrancers of quashy's great-great-grandmother sat grinning with delight, if not indignation, at the human beings below. after being hospitably entertained by the indian with fish, alligator soup, roast parrot, and young monkey, the party assembled round a fire, kindled outside the hut more for the purpose of scaring away wild beasts than cooking, though the little tiger-cubs used it for the latter purpose. then pedro said to lawrence-- "now, senhor armstrong, i am going to ask you to exercise a little patience at this point in our journey. the business i have in hand requires that i should leave you for two or three days. i fully expect to be back by the end of that time, and meanwhile i leave you and quashy and manuela in good company, for my friend spotted tiger is true as steel, though he _is_ an indian, and will perhaps show you a little sport to prevent your wearying." "very good, pedro. i am quite willing to wait," said lawrence. "you know i am not pressed for time at present. i shall be very glad to remain and see what is to be seen here, and learn spanish from manuela." "or teach her angleesh," suggested the girl, bashfully. "certainly. whichever pleases you best, manuela," returned lawrence. "but s'pose," said quashy, with a look of awful solemnity at pedro--"s'pose you nebber comes back at all! s'pose you gits drownded, or killed by a tiger, or shot by a injin. what den?" "suppose," retorted the guide, "that an earthquake should swallow up south america, or that the world should catch fire--what then?" "why den, we no care a buttin for not'ing arter _dat_," replied the negro, promptly, "but if you don' return, we nebber reach buenos ayres." "never fear, quashy. if i don't return, spotted tiger will guide you safely there." that night pedro and his friend left the hut in a canoe, lighted by a brilliant moon. before morning the latter returned alone. meanwhile lawrence had slung manuela's hammock between two trees, with a fire on either side, yet screened from the chief camp-fire by a thick bush, so that though close at hand, and under his protection, she occupied, as it were, a separate chamber of her own. his own hammock and that of quashy--for they all used hammocks--were hung side by side a little nearer to the large fire. mr and mrs tiger, with all the little tigers, finding their hut rather warm, came outside, and also made their beds beside their visitors. chapter thirteen. deals with spotted tiger's home, and a hunting expedition. in spite of howling jaguars, and snarling pumas, and buzzing mosquitoes, and the whole host of nocturnal abominations peculiar to those regions, our weary travellers lay peacefully in their hammocks, and slept like humming-tops. in regard to quashy, we might more appropriately say like a buzzing-top. once or twice during the night quashy rose to replenish the fires, for the jaguars kept up a concert that rendered attention to this protection advisable; but he did it with half-closed eyes, and a sort of semi-wakefulness which changed into profound repose the instant he tumbled back into his hammock. lawrence, not being so well accustomed to the situation, lay awake a short time at first, having his loaded pistols under his pillow; but, as we have said, he soon slumbered, and it is probable that all the jaguars, pumas, peccaries, tapirs, alligators, and wild cats in that district might have walked in procession under his hammock without disturbing him in the least, had they been so minded. as for manuela, with that quiet indifference to mere prospective danger that usually characterises her race, she laid her head on her tiger-skin pillow, and slept the sleep of innocence-- having absolute faith, no doubt, in the vigilance and care of her protectors. it might have been observed, however, that before lying down the indian maiden knelt beside her hammock and hid her face in her hands. indeed from the first it had been seen by her fellow-travellers that manuela thus communed with her god, and on one occasion lawrence, remarking on the fact, had asked pedro if she were a christian. "she is a christian," was pedro's reply, but as he manifested an evident intention not to be communicative on the subject, lawrence forbore to put further questions, although he felt his interest in the girl as well as his curiosity increasing, and he longed to know how and when she had been turned from heathen worship to the knowledge of christ. when daylight began to glimmer in the east, the bird, beast, and insect worlds began to stir. and a wonderful stir do these worlds make at that hour in the grand regions of central south america; for although nocturnal birds and beasts retire and, at least partially, hide their diminished heads at daylight, the myriad denizens of the forests bound forth with renewed life and vigour to sing a morning hymn of praise to their maker--involuntarily or voluntarily, who can tell which, and what right has man to say dogmatically that it cannot be the latter? thousands of cooing doves, legions of chattering parrots, made the air vocal; millions of little birds of every size and hue twittered an accompaniment, and myriads of mosquitoes and other insects filled up the orchestra with a high pitched drone, while alligators and other aquatic monsters beat time with flipper, fin, and tail. breakfast, consisting of excellent fish, eggs, maize, jaguar-steak, roast duck, alligator-ragout, and chocolate, was prepared outside the indian hut. the hut itself was unusually clean, tiger being a peculiar and eccentric savage, who seemed to have been born, as the saying is, in advance of his generation. he was a noted man among his brethren, not only for strength and prowess, but for strange ideas and practices, especially for his total disregard of public opinion. in respect of cleanliness, his hut differed from the huts of all other men of his tribe. it was built of sun-dried mud. the furniture consisted of two beds, or heaps of leaves and skins, and several rude vessels of clay. the walls were decorated with bows, arrows, blow-pipes, lances, game-bags, fishing-lines, and other articles of the chase, as well as with miniature weapons and appliances of a similar kind, varying its size according to the ages of the little tigers. besides these, there hung from the rafters--if we may so name the sticks that stretched overhead--several network hammocks and unfinished garments, the handiwork of mrs tiger. that lady herself was a fat and by no means uncomely young woman, simply clothed in a white tunic, fastened at the waist with a belt--the arms and neck being bare. her black hair was cut straight across the forehead, an extremely ugly but simple mode of freeing the face from interference, which we might say is peculiar to all savage nations had not the highly civilised english of the present day adopted it, thus proving the truth of the proverb that "extremes meet"! the rest of her hair was gathered into one long heavy plait, which hung down behind. altogether, madame tiger was clean and pleasant looking--for a savage. this is more than could be said of her progeny, which swarmed about the place in undisguised contempt of cleanliness or propriety. stepping into the hut after kindling the fire outside, quashy proceeded to make himself at home by sitting down on a bundle. the bundle spurted out a yell, wriggled violently, and proved itself to be a boy! jumping up in haste, quashy discommoded a tame parrot on the rafters, which, with a horrible shriek in the indian tongue, descended on his head and grasped his hair, while a tame monkey made faces at him and a tame turtle waddled out of his way. having thus as it were established his footing in the family, the negro removed the parrot to his perch, receiving a powerful bite of gratitude in the act, and invited the wife of spotted tiger to join the breakfast-party. this he did by the express order of lawrence, for he would not himself have originated such a piece of condescension. not knowing the dialect of that region, however, he failed to convey his meaning by words and resorted to pantomime. rubbing his stomach gently with one hand, he opened his mouth wide, pointed down his throat with the forefinger of the other hand, and made a jerky reference with his thumb to the scene of preparations outside. madame tiger declined, however, and pointed to a dark corner, where a sick child claimed her attention. "o poor t'ing! what's de matter wid it?" asked quashy, going forward and taking one of the child's thin hands in his enormous paw. the little girl must have been rather pretty when in health, but there was not much of good looks left at that time, save the splendid black eyes, the lustre of which seemed rather to have improved with sickness. the poor thing appeared to know that she had found in the negro a sympathetic soul, for she not only suffered her hand to remain in his, but gave vent to a little squeak of contentment. "stop! you hold on a bit, poppity," said quashy, whose inventive capacity in the way of endearing terms was great, "i'll fetch de doctor." he ran out and presently returned with lawrence, who shook his head the moment he set eyes on the child. "no hope?" inquired quashy, with solemnity unspeakable on his countenance. "well, i won't say that. while there is life there is hope, but it would have been more hopeful if i had seen the child a week or two sooner." after a careful examination, during which the father, who had come in, and the mother looked on with quiet patience, and manuela with some anxiety, he found that there was still room for hope, but, he said, turning to quashy, "she will require the most careful and constant nursing, and as neither tiger nor his wife understands what we say, and pedro may not be back for some days, it will be difficult to explain to them what should be done. can you not speak their dialect even a little?" he added in spanish to manuela. she shook her head, but said quietly-- "me will nurse." "that's very kind of you, and it will really be a charity, for the child is seriously ill. she is a strangely attractive little thing," he continued, bending over her couch and stroking her hair gently. "i feel quite as if i had known her a long time. now, i will give you instructions as well as i can as to what you have to do. shall i give them in spanish or english?" quite gravely the indian girl replied, "angleesh." "very well," said he, and proceeded to tell manuela how to act as sick-nurse. when he had finished, the girl at once stepped up to tiger's wife with a winning smile, patted her shoulder, kissed her forehead, and then, pointing to the little invalid with a look of profound intelligence, went out of the hut. presently she returned with some of the gravy of the alligator-ragout, sat down beside the little one, and began to administer it in small quantities. evidently the child was pleased both with the food and the angel of mercy who had found her, for she nestled in a comfortable way close to manuela's side. lawrence observed, when the latter looked round for something she wanted, that her eyes were full of tears. "i knew i was right," he muttered to himself as he returned to the fire, where quashy had already spread out the breakfast, "she certainly _must_ be a princess of the incas. they were notoriously celebrated for their gentle and amiable qualities, even at the time of pizarro's conquest." what more passed in his mind we cannot tell, for he ceased to mutter, and never revealed his subsequent thoughts to any one. "now, quashy," said lawrence, when breakfast was over, "we are left here in what we may style difficulties. the indians don't understand spanish or english, so until pedro returns we shall have to get along as best we can by signs." "bery well, massa, i hope you knows how to talk by signs, for its more dan dis nigger do." as he spoke he threw an ear of maize at a monkey which sat on a branch overhead gazing at the party with an expression of the most woebegone resignation. he missed his aim, but none the less did that monkey change its look into a glare of intense indignation, after which it fled shrieking, with hurt feelings, into the woods. "i'm not much up in the language of signs," said lawrence, "but we must try our best." saying which he arose, and, touching tiger on the shoulder, beckoned him to follow. with the lithe, easy motions of the animal after which he was named, the indian rose. lawrence led him a few paces from the fire, and then, putting himself in the attitude of a man discharging an arrow from a bow, suddenly let the imaginary arrow fly, looked at the savage, touched his own breast, and smiled. so did quashy, with compound interest. spotted tiger looked puzzled, shook his head, and also smiled. "he t'ink you wants him to shoot you," said quashy. "no, no, that's not it," said lawrence, with a somewhat abashed look at the indian. "i want you to take us out shooting--hunting, you know--_hunting_." as tiger did _not_ know the word "hunting" he continued to shake his head with a puzzled air. every one who has tried it knows what a silly, almost imbecile, feeling comes over one when one attempts the communication of ideas in dumb show. feelings of this sort affected our hero very keenly. he therefore, while continuing the pantomime, kept up a running or interjectional accompaniment in the english language. "look here, tiger," he said, impressively, taking up two sticks which he made to represent a bow and arrow, and placing them in position, "i want to go hunting with you--hunting--shooting the jaguar." "yes, de jaguar--tiger, you know," said quashy, who, in his anxiety to get the savage to understand, imitated his master's actions, and could not refrain from occasionally supplementing his speech. as a tiger-skin chanced to be hanging on a bush near to the fire, lawrence completed his pantomime by throwing his mimic arrow against that. a gleam of intelligence suffused the face of the savage. stalking into his hut, he returned with a bow considerably longer than himself, and an arrow, also of great length. retiring to a distance from the jaguar-skin above referred to, he bent his bow quickly, and sent an arrow straight through the middle of it, thereafter raising himself with a look of pride. "why, the fellow thinks i want him to show off his powers of shooting," said lawrence. "so he do--de idjit!" said quashy. with much anxiety of expression, great demonstration of vigorous action, and many painful efforts of inventive genius, the two men tried to convey their wishes to that son of the soil, but all in vain. at last in desperation quashy suddenly seized the jaguar-skin, threw it over his own shoulders, placed a long pole in lawrence's hands, and said-- "now, massa, you look out, i's agwine to spring at you, and you stick me." he uttered a mighty roar as he spoke, and bounded towards his master, who, entering at once into the spirit of the play, received him on the point of his spear, whereupon the human jaguar instantly fell and revelled for a few seconds in the agonies of death. then he calmly rose. "now," said he, with a look of contempt, "if he no understan' dat, it's 'cause he hain't got no brains." at first the indian had gazed at this little scene with a look of intense astonishment. when it was finished he burst into a fit of hearty laughter. evidently it was the best piece of acting he had seen since he was born, and if he had been other than a savage, he must certainly have shouted "bravo!" perhaps "encore!" and clapped his hands. "boh! he's a born idjit!" cried quashy, turning away in disgust, but a new idea seemed to flash into his fertile brain. "stop a bit!" he suddenly exclaimed, seizing a piece of flat bark that lay at his feet. on this, with the point of a charred stick, he drew a triangular form, with three dots in it for two eyes and a nose. an oval attached to this represented a body; at the other end a long waving line served for a tail; four short lines below indicated legs. this creature he covered all over with spots. "there," he cried, sticking it into a bush, and glaring at the indian, "jaguar!--jaguar!" catching up the pole which lawrence had thrown down, he rushed at this jaguar, and pierced it through the heart. thereafter, in hot haste, he picked up tiger's bow and arrows, ran down to the river, put them into a small canoe, and thrust it into the water. holding on with one hand, he waved with the other. "ho! hi! come along, you stuppid idjit!" the "stuppid idjit" was enlightened at last. with a dignified smile, which would probably have been a frown if he had understood quashy's words, he went up to his hut, and selected a lance and a bow, with which, and a quiver of arrows, he returned to the little hunting canoe. seeing that they were now understood, lawrence took his shot-gun and pistols; the negro also armed himself, and in a few minutes more they found themselves paddling gently down the sluggish current of the river. the scenery through which those curiously assorted hunters passed that day in their light canoe was singularly beautiful; and when, turning up one of the narrow streams that fed the main river, they came into a region of sweet, mellow twilight, caused by the over-arching trees, where the very aspect of nature suggested, though it could not create, coolness, lawrence felt as if he had been at last transported into those famous regions of fairyland which, if they really existed, and we were in very deed to get into them, would, perchance, not equal, and certainly could not excel, our own actual world! gigantic trees towered upwards till their heads were lost in the umbrageous canopy, while their stems were clasped by powerful snake-like creepers, or adorned with flowering parasites. the bushes grew so thick and tangled that it seemed as if neither man nor beast could penetrate them--which indeed was the case, as regards man, in many places; yet here and there unexpected openings permitted the charmed eyes to rest upon romantic vistas where creepers, convolvuli, and other flowers, of every shape, hue, and size, hung in festoons and clusters, or carpeted the ground. fruit, too, was there in abundance. everything seemed to bear fruit. the refreshing and not too luscious prickly pear; the oukli, an enormous cactus, not unlike the prickly pear but with larger fruit, whose delightful pulp was of a blood-red colour; the ancoche, with sweet-tasted pearl-like drops, and many others. there was plenty of animal life, also, in and around this stream, to interest the hunters, who were now obliged to exert themselves a little to make head against the sluggish current. water-hens were innumerable, and other wild-fowl flew or paddled about, enjoying, apparently, a most luxuriant existence, while brown ant-hills were suggestive of exceedingly busy life below as well as above ground. there are many kinds of ants out there, some of them very large, others not quite so large, which, however, make up in vicious wickedness what they lack in size. at one bend in the stream they came suddenly on a boa-constrictor which was swimming across; at another turn they discovered a sight which caused lawrence to exclaim-- "there's a breakfast for you, quashy. what would you say to that?" "i'd like to hab 'im cooked, massa." the reference was to an alligator which was crossing the stream a few yards ahead of them, with a live boa in his jaws. the huge serpent was about twelve feet long, and wriggled horribly to escape, but the monster had it fast by the middle. evidently its doom was fixed. several tapirs and a band of grunting peccaries were also seen, but all these were passed without molestation, for the ambitions of our hunters that day soared to nothing less than the tiger of the american jungles-- the sneaking, lithe, strong, and much-dreaded jaguar. spotted tiger seemed to have at last become fully aware of the spirit of his companions, for he took no apparent note of the various animals seen as they passed along, and evidently was on the outlook for the monarch of the jungle. having been told by pedro that he was a celebrated hunter, lawrence felt sure that he would lead them to success. "why you no shoot de deer an' pepper de alligators, massa?" asked quashy at last, after several of the creatures mentioned had been seen and passed. "because i don't want them," returned lawrence, "and i have no pleasure in useless destruction of life. besides, i am anxious to shoot a jaguar, having a strong wish to take home the claws and skull of one-- the first for my friends, the last for a museum. when we want food i will shoot deer, or anything else that's eatable." quashy remained silent. he seemed to be revolving his master's reply in a philosophical way, when something between a snarl and a growl turned his thoughts sharply into another channel. tiger quietly prepared his bow and arrows and laid his spears so that they should be handy. lawrence and the negro also got ready their weapons, and then they advanced with caution, dipping their paddles lightly, and gazing earnestly into the jungle on the right bank of the stream. chapter fourteen. the hunt continued; one of the hunters almost concluded. explorations indulged in, and a capture effected. "dar, massa, dar he is," exclaimed quashy, in a hoarse whisper, pointing into the bushes. "nonsense, man," replied lawrence, in a low voice, "it's only an ant-hill." even in that moment of excitement, lawrence could scarce refrain from laughter at the face of his humble follower, for quashy's business in life had not accustomed him to much sport at any time; and the prospect of actually assisting at the slaughter of a jaguar or a puma had stirred every nerve and fibre of his black being into intense excitation, so that his eyes and nostrils were dilated to the utmost, and he panted vehemently--with hope, of course, not fear! tiger, on the contrary, was cool and calm, though watchful. he paid no attention whatever to his companions, being too well acquainted with his work to stand in need of either advice or assistance from them. as guide, the savage occupied the bow of the canoe; lawrence sat in the middle, and quashy in the stern, for he understood how to steer. having been admonished to hold his tongue, he crouched so as, if possible, to diminish his size. he also pursed his lips,--and what a tight rounding and projecting of superfluous flesh that pursing was no tongue can adequately tell. he also glared, and this "talking with the eyes" was a mute sermon in itself. yet no jaguar could be seen. silently, with dip of paddle that made no sound, and glide of craft through the water that produced only an oily ripple, they slowly ascended the stream. at first lawrence had seized his fowling-piece, which was charged with ball for the occasion; but as time passed, and the indian showed no intention of landing, he laid the gun down, and again took up his paddle. after a time, through some inadvertence of quashy, the canoe was sent rather close in among the reeds and giant leaves of the bank. "that was stupid of you, quash," said lawrence, as he stood up to assist tiger in backing out. "das true, massa," said the negro, in profoundest humility of self-condemnation, "i's a black idjit." as the fore part of the canoe had touched on a mudbank, lawrence seized one of the indian's lances, and used the butt end as a pole with which to push off. under this impulse the canoe was gradually sliding into deep water, when a rustling of the leaves was heard, and next instant a full-sized jaguar sprang upon the indian with cat-like agility. whether the brute had slipped on the muddy bank we cannot say, but it missed its aim, and, instead of alighting on the shoulders of the man, it merely struck him on the head with one of its paws in passing, and went with a tremendous splash into the water. tiger fell forward insensible from the severe scalp-wound inflicted. next instant the jaguar rose, grasped the edge of the canoe, and almost overturned it as it strove to climb in; and there is no doubt that in another moment it would have succeeded, for the attack was so sudden that quashy sat paralysed, while lawrence forgot his pistols, and his gun lay in the bottom of the canoe! happily, however, he recovered enough of presence of mind to use the lance in his hands. turning the point of the weapon to the jaguar's mouth, he thrust it in with such tremendous force that it passed right down its throat and into its very vitals. with a gasping snarl the monster fell back into the stream, and was quickly drowned as well as impaled. "help me to haul him on board," cried lawrence. thus awakened, the negro, relieving his feelings by giving vent to a roar which partook somewhat of a cheer, seized the jaguar's tail. his master grasped its ears, and in another moment it lay in the bottom of the canoe. "now, help to lay the poor fellow beside it," said lawrence. "o massa!--he not dead, eh?" groaned the negro, as he assisted in the work. "no; nor likely to die yet a while," replied lawrence, with much satisfaction, as he examined and bound up the scalp-wound. "it is not deep; he'll soon come round; but we must get him home without delay. out with your paddle, quashy, and use it well. i'll take the bow." the canoe, which, during these proceedings, had been floating slowly down stream, was now turned in the right direction, and in a short time was out upon the larger river. here, however, they had to labour with energy against the stream, and it was far on in the afternoon before they came in sight of the indian's hut. by that time spotted tiger had partially recovered, as lawrence observed during a pause made for rest. on reaching an eddy, which carried the canoe in the right direction, they rested again. the cessation of paddling appeared to rouse the wounded man, for he sat up, and, with a half-dazed look, stared at the head of the dead jaguar, on the haunch of which his elbow leaned. then he cast an inquiring look at lawrence, who replied to him with a nod and a smile, and went on to indicate, by means of pantomime, what had occurred. he pointed to the animal's claws, and to tiger's head; then to the bloody spear which lay at his side, and to the jaguar's blood-stained throat, after which he pointed to his own breast and nodded again. the indian evidently understood him, for an expression of gratitude overspread his countenance as he extended his right hand--english fashion--for a shake. our hero was not slow to grasp it, and the two exchanged a squeeze which told of lasting friendship and good-will. a few minutes later, and the canoe was run upon the bank in front of the hut, where all the children were assembled to receive them. it did not seem as if any of the family were deeply affected by the shaky appearance of the father as he stepped on shore, but the younger members evinced feelings of intense delight when the jaguar was lifted out; and two of them, seizing the tail as a tow-rope, passed it over their shoulders, and dragged the carcass up to the hut to show it to their mother. o mothers! loving repositories of childhood's joys and woes, ye are unquestionably the same in substance and in spirit all the world over! tiger's wife was more affected than lawrence expected she would have been by her husband's accident, and tended him with anxious care. by taking hold of him, and laying him gently down in a corner opposite to that of his sick child, lawrence gave him to understand that it was his duty to take rest. to say truth, he did not require much persuasion, but at once laid his head on his pillow, and quietly went to sleep. "the hospital is filling rather quickly, manuela," said lawrence, when he had finished tending his new patient, "and your duties are increasing, i fear." "no fear. me likes to nuss," replied the girl, with a look that puzzled the young doctor. it was manuela's fascinating smile that came hardest on our poor hero. when she looked grave or sad, he could regard her as a mere statue, an unusually classical-looking bronze savage; but when she smiled, there was something so bewitchingly sweet in the lines of her little face that he felt constrained to shut his eyes, turn away, and groan in spirit, to think that she was brown, and a savage! "was there _ever_ a case," he thought, "so mysteriously miserable, so singularly sad, as mine! if she were only white, i would marry her at once, (if she would have me), for the sake of her gentle spirit alone,-- ay, even though she were the child of a costermonger; but i cannot, i _do_ not, love a savage, the daughter of a savage chief, with a skin the colour of shoe leather! no, it is impossible! and yet, i am in love with her spirit. i know it. i feel it. i never heard of such a strange thing before,--a man in love with a portion of a woman, and that the immaterial portion!" the last word changed the current of his thoughts, for it suggested the idea of another "portion" belonging to some girls with which men are too apt to fall in love! "massa, de grub's ready," said quashy, entering the hut at that moment. "go to work then, quash. don't wait. i'll be with you directly." but quashy did wait. he was much too unselfish a son of ebony to think of beginning before his master. when they had seated themselves on the grass outside the hut, along with manuela, who left her post of duty in order to dine, and had made a considerable impression on the alligator-ragout and tiger-steaks and other delicacies, quashy heaved a deep sigh of partial satisfaction, and asked if tiger would be well enough to go out hunting next day. "i think not," said lawrence; "no doubt he may _feel_ able for it, but if he shows any disposition to do so, i shall forbid him." "how you forbid him, when you not can speak hims tongue?" asked manuela, in a mild little voice, but with an arch look to which her arched black eyebrows gave intense expression. "well," replied lawrence, laughing, "i must try signs, i suppose, as usual." "no use, massa," said quashy; "nebber make him understan'. i gib you a plan. see here. you tie him up hand an' foot; den we go off huntin' by our lone, an' let him lie till we comes back." lawrence shook his head. "i fear he would kill us on our return. no, we must just go off early in the morning before he wakes, and get manuela to try her hand at sign-language. she can prevail on him, no doubt, to remain at home." "i vill try," said manuela, with a laugh. in pursuance of this plan, lawrence and quashy rose before broad daylight the following morning, launched the little canoe they had used the day before, put gun, spears, etcetera, on board, and were about to push off, when one of the boys of the family ran down, and seemed to wish to accompany them. "we'd better take him," said lawrence; "he's not very big or old, but he seems intelligent enough, and no doubt knows something of his father's haunts and sporting customs." "you's right, massa," assented the negro. lawrence made a sign to the lad to embark, and quashy backed the invitation with-- "jump aboord, leetle cub." instead of obeying, leetle cub ran up into the bush, but presently returned with a long stick like a headless lance, a bow and arrows, and an instrument resembling a large grappling anchor, made of wood. placing these softly in the canoe, the little fellow, who seemed to be about ten years of age, stepped in, and they all pushed off into the river--getting out of sight of the hut without having roused any one. turning into the same stream which they had visited the day before, they pushed past the place where the jaguar had been killed, and entered on an exploration, as lawrence called it. "i'm very fond of an exploration, quashy," he said, dipping his paddle softly, and working gently, for there was so little current that it seemed more like the narrows of a lake than a stream. "yes, i's bery fond ob 'sploration too, massa," replied the negro, with a self-satisfied nod. "it am so nice not to know whar you's gwine to, or whar you's comin' to, or who's dar, or who's not dar, or what fish'll turn up, or what beast'll turn down, or what nixt--oh! it _am_ so jolly! what you sniggerin' at, you dirty leetle cub?" the question was put to the indian boy, who seemed much amused by something he saw up among the trees. looking up they saw at least a dozen red monkeys grinning at them, and one of these--a small one--was hanging on by its father's tail. "oh! shoot! shoot!" cried quashy to lawrence, opening his great eyes eagerly. "dey's _so_ good to eat!" "no, quash, i won't shoot. we have shot enough of fat ducks to feed us all for one or two days at least. besides, i can't bear to kill monkeys. it feels so like committing murder." while he was yet speaking, leetle cub had taken up the long lance-like stick before mentioned and pointed it at the monkeys. it was a blow-pipe. before lawrence could interfere, the short arrow with which it was charged had sped on its mission with deadly aim, and the smallest monkey, relaxing its hold of the paternal tail, fell without even a cry into the water--shot through the heart. lawrence said nothing, but, resolving that if the boy should attempt such another shot, he would disturb his aim, he dipped his paddle vigorously, and pushed up the river. coming at last to an open space where the stream widened into something like a little pond, they observed an erection of timber on the bank which aroused their curiosity. it also seemed to arouse the cub's interest, for he made somewhat excited signs that he wished to land there. willing to humour him, they ran the canoe on the beach. leetle cub jumped out at once, and, taking up the anchor-like piece of wood before mentioned, went with it towards the timber erection. "i do believe it is an alligator-hook," said lawrence. "das a fact," said quashy, "we'll washum," (by which he meant, "we'll watch him!") it was indeed interesting to watch that little fellow--who was evidently in all respects a thorough chip of the old block--as he went about his work, quietly, yet with an undercurrent of excitement which he was not entirely able to conceal. he took his bow and arrows, as well as the blow-pipe, on shore, and laid them at his side, so as to be ready at hand in case of emergency, while he baited the alligator-hook with the dead monkey. the hook was simple. it consisted of four pieces of tough hard wood, about a foot long, and the thickness of a man's thumb. these were tied to the end of a stout rope made of raw hide, and so arranged that their points were directed backwards, and curved somewhat outwards--thus forming as it were four huge barbs. the dead monkey was placed on and around this horrible hook--if we may so term it. the delicate morsel was then attached to the end of a pole which stretched over the stream, so that the bait, when fixed, remained suspended just above the water. the slack of the rope was then made fast to a tree. thus the arrangement was such as to compel the alligator to raise himself well out of the water to obtain his mouthful. while leetle cub was engaged in erecting this cumbrous machine, a young alligator, about a foot long, crawled out from under some leaves on the bank close to him. the urchin saw it instantly, seized his bow, and in a moment transfixed it with an arrow. the fury of the little creature, infant though it was, seemed tremendous. it turned round, snapping viciously at the arrow, and would probably have escaped with it into the water if another shot from the same unerring hand had not terminated its career. after setting his line, the cub carried the little alligator to the canoe, and put it carefully therein. "das what dey make de soup ob," said quashy. "the ragout, you mean." "dun' know what's a ragoo, massa. we calls it soup. anyhow, it's bery good." "yes, quash, it's not bad. but look there, our daring and expert young hunter evidently wants us to land, for he is pointing to the bush. shall we go?" "p'r'aps it's as well, massa. ob course no alligator's sitch a fool as swaller dat little mout'ful when we's a-lookin' at it. i s'pose leetle cub wants us to go away, an' gib 'em a chance." having made up their minds to gratify the little fellow, they landed and accompanied him into the woods. he seemed quite to expect that they would do so and follow his lead. he set off at a smart pace in advance of them, carrying his bow on his shoulder. lawrence was well repaid by this walk, because it led him into and through scenery of a more striking and beautiful character than he had yet seen of its kind. in many places the trees formed long aisles and vaulted colonnades and arches so regular that it seemed as though they had been planted by the hand of man. elsewhere the chaos of tree and shrub, flower and fern and twining root was so indescribable, that it seemed as if chance and haphazard had originated it all; but the mind of our hero was cast, if we may say so, in too logical a mould to accept such an absurd origin for anything. "my father made it all," he said, mentally, with a glow of enthusiasm; "and although, like a little child gazing at an intricate machine, i see not the order or arrangement, certain am i that both _must_ be there." between the tree-stems they saw ant-hills fully five or six feet high. from the trees hung thousands of orchids of various colours, and so attractive was the aspect of things overhead, that lawrence was more than once tripped up by the long tangled grasses through which, in some parts, they had to push their way. of course, there were plenty of parrots and monkeys and other creatures to make the forest lively. indeed, in some parts there seemed a prospect of its becoming still more lively, for their little guide pointed out in soft places the footprints of tapirs and jaguars, which seemed to be quite fresh. lizards innumerable crossed their path at every point; snakes were seen gliding out of their way--a fortunate tendency on the part of most snakes!--and the woods resounded with the singing of the yapu, a bird something like a blackbird, with yellow tips to its wings, and somewhat like the mocking-bird in that it imitated every other bird in the forest. whether there is jealousy between the yapu and the parrot we have not been able to ascertain, but if birds are like men in their sentiments, we fear it is more than probable. unlike man, however, the yapu prefers to sing upside-down, swinging the while from the branch of a tree, and ruffling its plumage. "hallo! massa. look dar!" said quashy, pointing with intense surprise at a neighbouring tree-stem. "did you ebber see a crab climbin' up a tree?" "i certainly never did," replied lawrence, as he looked in the direction indicated, where he saw, not a crab indeed, but a monstrous hairy spider as large as a goodly-sized crab. stepping forward to examine the creature, he was surprised to have his hat twitched off his head, and found that it was the web of the said spider which had done it! afterwards he learned that the spider in question subsists by catching little birds, and that its bite is not so venomous as that of a smaller kind which abounds in the woods there. not being desirous of testing the creature's power in that way at the time, he contented himself with inspecting it, and listening to a learned dissertation on spiders in general from quashy, as he afterwards walked on. good fortune seemed to smile on them that day, for they had not advanced a hundred yards further when two large jaguars crossed their path. it is probable that they did not see the hunters, for they did not look up, but, gliding cat-like into the jungle, quickly disappeared. perhaps it was fortunate that lawrence and his man recovered their presence of mind when too late, for if they had fired hastily and only wounded the creatures, it might have brought to an abrupt end their terrestrial career. as it was. quashy recovered with a gasp, drew his two double-barrelled pistols, which in his eagerness he neglected to cock, and, with one in each hand, rushed yelling after the jaguars. lawrence cocked his gun and followed at a smart, though more sedate, pace. leetle cub, who probably thought them both fools, ran after them with a broad grin on his dingy countenance. we need scarcely say that the pursuit was useless. quashy returned in a few minutes with labouring breath, and streaming at every pore. lawrence, scarcely less blown, sat down on a fallen tree and laughed when his lungs permitted. of course he was joined by the sympathetic black, echoed by the small boy, and imitated--not badly--by a number of parrots which wisely availed themselves of the rare opportunity to learn a lesson from man! as they advanced the path became more encumbered and difficult to traverse, so they determined to return. their little guide, however, seemed to object very strongly, and made wonderful gesticulations in his efforts to induce them to go on. lawrence, however, remained firm. seeing at last that his followers had determined to rebel, the cub gave up trying to influence them, scooped a quantity of wild honey out of a hole in a tree, and, sitting down in a half-sulky mood, sought to console himself by eating the same. "come, we'll follow you in that, at all events," said lawrence, seating himself beside the child and regaling himself with the sweet food. quashy followed his example with right good-will. when their modest meal was over they returned to the river. the little boy, on nearing it, ran anxiously forward in advance, and soon they perceived by his frantic gesticulations and shouts that something of interest awaited them there. "he's cotched!" cried quashy, and darted off as if shot from a catapult. lawrence followed, using his long legs to such advantage that he was not far behind his man; for although gifted with greater powers of self-restraint than quashy, our hero was not a whit behind him in strong enthusiasm. they found that an alligator--not, indeed, of the largest size, but nevertheless about six or seven feet long--had swallowed the monkey, and was tugging at the rope like a mad thing--turning round and round in its rage, and smacking the water with its resounding tail. instantly they all laid hold of the rope, and began to drag it towards the bank. "how shall we manage to kill it?" said lawrence, as the monster came close in. "stick 'im! shot 'im! hang 'im. nebber mind dat. git 'im fust,--kill 'im arter," gasped the negro, as he strained at the rope, ably seconded by his comrades. it was a hard tussle, and might have been unsuccessful if lawrence and quashy had not possessed more than average physical strength. as it was, they pulled the monstrous animal just near enough to get his head clear of the water, and then, putting several balls into him, killed him outright. "plenty ragoo now, massa!" exclaimed the negro, with a broad grin, after they had stowed the carcass in the canoe. "yes, quash, more than enough." leetle cub seemed to have his mind running in the same direction, for he eyed the alligator with longing looks, and licked his lips expressively as they re-entered the canoe, shoved off, and directed the bow homeward. chapter fifteen. an unexpected attack and an unlooked-for arrival. thus excitingly, and, we presume, pleasantly, passed the time at tiger's hut during three days. in that period the indian hunter quite recovered from his wounds, and his little girl, manca by name, began to show decided signs of amendment under manuela's careful nursing. during that period, also, spotted tiger conducted his visitors to many scenes of beauty, where the young doctor not only shot a variety of game, large and small, feathered and furred, but made acquaintance with many quite new species of plants. he collected and preserved a few of the rarest of these, but owing to the style of travelling, both past and prospective, he had to deny himself much in that respect. likewise, during those three days, he made acquaintance with the numerous pets of tiger's household--not the human pets, (although he became a great favourite with these also), but the lower-animal pets-- the turtle, and the noisy parrot already mentioned, a fat little guinea-pig, a most melancholy red monkey, a young jaguar, a very juvenile tapir, a flamingo, and other creatures. the tapir was about the size of a six months' old pig. instead of the blackish brown hair peculiar to the adult tapir, its coat was striped longitudinally with black, grey, and yellow, and was so brilliant in colour that the animal was quite a dazzling pet! besides which, it was an affectionate little thing, and particularly susceptible to the pleasure of being tickled. the tame jaguar, however, was a very different style of animal. it did indeed like to be caressed, but it had gradually grown too large to be a safe plaything, and there was an occasional gleam in its eye which rendered lawrence uneasy when he saw the indian children playing with it. it was about the size of a small newfoundland dog, but had grown up so gradually with the family that they appeared not to realise the danger attending its great strength. spotted tiger himself had indeed perceived something of it, for at the time we write of he had tied the animal to a stake with a stout rope, which was long enough to permit of his ranging in a wide circle. little did lawrence dream of the part that peculiar pet was to play before the period of three days closed. it was on the evening of the third day. they were all seated round a fire at supper, in front of the hut. lawrence sat beside manuela, as usual, and was taking much pains to teach her the correct pronunciation of an english word, of which she made a wonderful bungle, and seemed to derive much amusement from the fact, to judge from her occasional peals of silvery laughter. we use the word advisedly, in deference to the feelings of our hero, who thought and called the laughter silvery! tiger sat on the girl's other side, and quashy was seated opposite, with little cub and several of the lesser cubs beside him. the pet jaguar crouched close to its stake, glaring at them. there was nothing unusual either in the attitude or the glare to cause anxiety, yet lawrence did not like it, and while engaged in imparting the difficult lesson referred to, kept his eye on the brute. suddenly, without warning or roar, the dangerous pet sprang at manuela! why it selected her we cannot imagine, unless it was that, being a brute of good taste, it chose her as the tenderest of the party. the strong cord by which it was fastened snapped like a piece of thread, but lawrence threw himself in front of the girl, caught the animal by the throat, and held him with both hands, as if in a vice. instantly every claw of the four paws was buried in the flesh of his legs and arms, and he would certainly have been fearfully rent by his powerful antagonist if tiger had not, with lightning stroke, buried his long keen knife in the animal's heart. so swiftly and effectually was the deed done, that the jaguar next moment hung limp and dead in our hero's grasp. dropping it on the ground, he turned up his sleeves to examine the wounds. "deep enough, but not lacerated, thank god," he said. "they won't give me much trouble. come, quash, into the bush, and help me to look at the other scratches and dress them. i must appoint you assistant-surgeon for the occasion!" manuela murmured her thanks in a deep, tremulous voice that said much for her power of gratitude, and, timidly taking the youth's hand as he passed, humbly touched it with her lips. the wounds were soon dressed, and, thanks to tiger's promptitude, they did not afterwards give much trouble. that night, as they were about to retire to their several hammocks, lawrence went up to the indian girl, and, for the first time, held out his hand for a shake in the white man's fashion. "i'm glad, manuela," he said, as she frankly grasped it, "that it has pleased god to make me the instrument of--of--protecting you." "twice," replied the girl quickly, and then paused, with a confused look,--"how you say, twice--or two times?" "say which you like," replied lawrence, with a hearty laugh; "the words will sound equally well from _your_ lips, but `twice' is the right way." "well, twice you have save me. i am gratitude. my father will be gratitude." "tell me, manuela," returned lawrence, earnestly, "is your father a chief?" "yes,--a great chief." there was a peculiar smile on the girl's lips as she said this that disconcerted him. we have said that he was naturally shy. he had intended to follow up his first question by asking if her father was descended from the incas, but the peculiar smile checked him. he bade her good-night, and turned abruptly away. while he was sitting by the fire meditating on this matter, he heard a step in the bushes. tiger, who had already retired to his hammock, also heard it, and bounded to his feet. next instant pedro glided into the circle of light and saluted them. he appeared to be worn out with exhaustion, for, flinging himself on the ground beside the fire, he rested his head in silence for a few minutes on a poncho. then, observing a piece of manioca cake that had been dropped by some one at supper, he took it up and ate it almost ravenously. "why, you seem to be starving, pedro," said lawrence, earnestly "not so bad as that," returned pedro with a faint smile. "a man can scarcely be said to starve with so many of the fruits of the earth around him. but i've been hard pressed since early morning, and--" "stay," interrupted lawrence, "before you say another word, i will go and fetch you some food." "no need, senhor. my old friend spotted tiger has forestalled you." this was true. the indian, having seen at a glance how matters stood, had gone up to the hut without speaking. he now returned with a bowl of boiled maize, a bunch of bananas, and a jar of water. while his friend was busy with these, he asked a few questions, which pedro answered briefly. from the expression of the indian's face, lawrence gathered that these replies caused him some anxiety. as the guide's appetite became gradually appeased his loquacity increased, but he made few remarks to lawrence until the meal was finished. then, turning to him with a sigh of contentment, he said-- "i've been slightly wounded, senhor, but i doubt not that you can soon put me all right." taking off his poncho as he spoke, and pushing aside his light cotton shirt, he revealed the fact that his left breast was bound with a piece of blood-stained calico. lawrence at once examined the wound. "a slight wound, indeed," he said, "but vigorously dealt. i can see that,--and you've had a narrow escape, too. half an inch higher up would have been fatal." "yes, it was meant to kill," was pedro's quiet rejoinder; "but, thank god, i had a friend near who meant to save, and he turned the knife aside in time. sit down now, i'll tell you how it happened. "my business required me to visit a certain tribe of indians at a considerable distance from here, where the country is somewhat disturbed, and the white inhabitants are threatening to cut each other's throats by way of mending political affairs. they took me for a spy. it is not the first time that i have been taken for a spy, and i suppose it won't be the last," continued pedro, with a grave smile. "of course i protested my innocence, explained my object, and showed that my visit was one of peace. they would have let me go if an enemy had not been in the camp. you see, senhor armstrong, i have many enemies as well as friends everywhere." "that is always the case with men who hold decided principles, and try to act up to them with vigour," returned lawrence. "so i have found it," rejoined pedro, looking earnestly at his young friend. "you have had a more varied experience of life than i. has that been your experience too?" "it has. but i suspect that my experience of life has not been so much varied as yours, pedro, for it has been chiefly among civilised communities until now. still, i have observed that it is only those who swim with the current of public opinion, and jostle nobody, who manage to keep friends with everybody. when a man ventures to think for himself,--as he ought to do,--and take action, he is sure to have enemies as well as friends,--supposing, of course, that he is a man of any power or influence." "well, i suppose it is because i _try_ to have influence," rejoined pedro, "that i manage to have plenty of friends and foes,--the last being sometimes unreasonably bitter." "that proves your influence to be powerful," said lawrence. "h'm! it may be so. i know not. time will show. at all events, this enemy of mine stirred up a number of men like himself in the camp to such an extent that they seized me, and carried me to the banks of their river, with the purpose of throwing me to the alligators. some of those who were in my favour ran along with them, and among them i observed one man who i knew would be willing to risk his life for me. this gave me hope; but my enemy did not approve of the mode of my execution; he thought--rightly--that a chance of escape was involved in it; so, to make sure, i suppose, he came close up, and when they were on the point of throwing me into the river, he drew his knife and made a plunge at my heart. my friend must have suspected something of the sort, for he had also pushed close to me, and i saw him give the would-be murderer the jostle that turned his knife aside. "next moment i was in the river. i knew that it swarmed with alligators, and felt an uncomfortable thrill as i went in head foremost; but i knew also that i was a strong and swift swimmer, so i struck out for my life to the opposite bank, which was not more than forty yards off. i splashed as much as i could, for you know, senhor, that splashing tends to keep alligators off, though it is not always successful. before i had made half a dozen strokes, however, i felt my flesh creep. do you know what it feels like to have your flesh creep?" "no, not exactly," replied lawrence; "but i have a pretty good guess as to what you mean." "well," resumed the guide, "i felt my flesh creep, for i heard a most awful puffing and splashing close behind me. at the same time i heard a wild cheer on the bank, as if my foes were rejoicing at the prospect of my being eaten up! i looked back quickly, expecting to see the terrible jaws and the long rows of teeth; but, to my great surprise, i saw only my friend pursuing me with his knife in his teeth, as if he wanted to finish me. i understood the thing at once. the good fellow knew that two could make a better splashing than one, and he also hoped, no doubt, that his comrades would give him credit for extreme bravery in thus jumping into such danger for the sake--as they would suppose--of killing an enemy! the cheer they gave him showed what they thought on that point. "we both gained the opposite bank--i a few yards in advance. you may be sure i was not slow in bounding up the bank. i could hear the howl of rage with which the villains saw the failure of their plan. what is more, i could both hear and see the arrows that were sent after me, but, through god's blessing, none of them touched me, and i was soon in the shelter of the woods. i could also hear my friend panting at my heels. "i'm a pretty fair runner," continued pedro, "but my friend is a better. he passed me like a deer. `come on,' he cried, `you've no time to lose.' from which i knew he meant that the blackguards would cross the river in canoes and pursue me. he led me across a spit of jungle-land where the river took a sudden bend, and came out on the bank at the head of a long rapid. on reaching the bank he pulled out a small canoe which had been concealed there, and told me to jump in. `you'll have to run the rapid. it's not much of a chance, but it's your only one.' i squeezed his hand, thanked him hastily, and was soon paddling quickly with the current. in a few moments i heard my friend shouting with rage and brandishing his knife. he was acting, i knew. looking back i saw that a number of men had joined him, and again the arrows began to drop around me, but i was soon beyond their reach and battling with the rapid. "well was it for me that i have been much used to canoeing, for the words of my friend, `it's not much of a chance,' were literally true. for some minutes i was whirled about by eddies and shoots in such a way that it seems to me now a miracle that i escaped being dashed to pieces several times. i forgot all about my pursuers, so great was the danger; but when at last i ran out of the lowest shoot into the water below the rapids, i saw, on looking back, that they were still following me along the banks. i was going faster, however, than they were, so i felt easier in my mind, till i saw them jump into several canoes and push off in chase. by that time i had more than a mile of start, and the sun was setting. `now, pedro,' said i to myself, `it's a fair race for your life; so bend your back to it, my boy.' i went on till it grew so dark that i could hardly see twenty yards ahead of me. then i put ashore, hauled the canoe up among the reeds, climbed into a tree and went to sleep, for well i knew that it would be death both to them and me if we continued descending a stream like that in the dark. "well, i slept like a top, for i was dead beat; but two or three times i awoke with a tremendous start under the impression that i was falling. i've always found it so when obliged to spend the night in the branches of a tree. did you ever sleep so, senhor armstrong?" lawrence confessed that he had never yet indulged in such bird-like repose. "well, it's not so difficult as you might think," continued pedro, with a meditative gaze at the fire, "especially if you're very tired, hard pressed for time, and in some danger. under these circumstances it's wonderful what a fellow can do to make the best of his opportunities. you find out, somehow, the securest way to twine your legs and arms in among the branches, and twist your feet and fingers into the forks and twigs--don't you know?" yes, lawrence knew well; at least, if he did not know exactly, he had a powerful imagination! "well, then, long before daylight i was up and off, feeling my way as best i could in the first grey glimpses of dawn, so that i got a good start--at least i thought so; but soon i found my pursuers had also started early and were overhauling me; and no wonder, seeing that their canoes were large and well manned. i now felt that i had no chance of escaping by water, but i had by that time got into a part of the country with which i was well acquainted, and knew that if i could only reach a certain point before being caught, i might take to the bush and cross overland to my friend's hut here. that was early this morning. the only trouble i had was that my wound was beginning to give me considerable pain, and i felt losing strength for want of food. i had scarce time to cat, much less to search for food, they pressed me so hard. however, a man makes a hard struggle for life, so i tightened my belt, and set to work with such good will, that i was soon a long way ahead of them, and got out of sight at a place where the river takes a number of bends and is full of small islands. at last, about noon, i reached the desired point, paddled carefully in among the reeds, so as to prevent the savages seeing where i had landed, jumped ashore, hid the canoe, stepped out as hard as i could, and--here i am." "but," exclaimed lawrence, with some excitement, "if you left the indians so recently, won't they be close on your heels?" "no fear. i came here in a straight line overland. by the windings of the river they cannot be here, even at the soonest, before the afternoon of to-morrow. but they will probably give up the chase long before getting this length. besides, if they did arrive, they would find a warm reception from four well-armed men, instead of catching one poor unarmed fugitive. but we won't give them the chance. we will be up and away by daybreak. tiger here has agreed to join us in our trip to buenos ayres. he will take his wife and family down stream to his father-in-law's tribe, where they will be safe till his return. are you all well, and ready for a start?" "yes, all well--and shall be ready as soon as you please." "that's right. where's quashy?" "close alongside. don't you hear him?" lawrence referred to a sound like the drone of a giant mosquito, which proceeded from the negro's nose, for that worthy was a heavy sleeper-- when not in danger--and had not been disturbed by the arrival of the guide. giving vent to a prolonged yawn, pedro rose and stretched himself. then he went up to the sleeping quashy and took him by the nose, at the same time putting his hand on his mouth to smother the inevitable yell in its birth. when sufficiently awake to be released with safety, the amiable negro was permitted to raise himself, and when aware of who had grasped him, he beamed with good-will, and gleamed with surprise. "get up, quashy, and help them to pack," said pedro, curtly, "we start at daybreak." quashy was on his feet in a moment. "don't rouse me till it's time to start," added pedro, who thereupon rolled into the vacant hammock, and was asleep--perchance in the land of dreams--almost as soon as his wearied head reposed on the negro's pillow. chapter sixteen. tells of absurd, as well as evil, doings, and winds up with a horrid surprise. whether pedro's pursuers continued the chase as far as the indian hunter's hut we cannot tell, for long before noon of the following day our travellers were far from the hunting-grounds of the gallant savage. soon after the usual midday siesta, the canoe, which contained the whole of the hunter's worldly wealth, was run on the beach near to the spot where dwelt his father-in-law with many members of his tribe. that worthy old man, in a light evening costume consisting of a cotton shirt and straw hat, came down to receive his children, who landed amid much noise with their boys and girls and household gods, including the red monkey, the parrot, the flamingo, the fat guinea-pig, the turtle, and the infant tapir. the old chief was quite willing to take care of the family during the absence of his son-in-law, and was very pressing in his offers of hospitality to the white travellers, but pedro refused to delay more than an hour at the village. the old man also evinced a considerable amount of curiosity in regard to manuela, and made one or two attempts to engage her in conversation, but on being informed by pedro that she belonged to a tribe living half-way between his hunting-grounds and the regions of patagonia, and that she did not understand his dialect at all, he forbore to question her, and satisfied himself with simply gazing. after a farewell which was wonderfully affectionate for savages, spotted tiger embarked in pedro's canoe, and, pushing off into the river, bade the indians adieu. the canoe in which the party now travelled belonged to tiger, and was larger as well as more commodious than that in which they had hitherto journeyed, having a gondola-like cabin constructed of grasses and palm-leaves, underneath which manuela found shelter from the sun. in the evenings pedro could lie at full length on the top of it and smoke his cigarette. they were floating with the current, you see, and did not require to labour much at the paddles at that time. it would weary the reader were we to continue our description of the daily proceedings of our adventurers in journalistic form. to get on with our tale requires that we should advance by bounds, and even flights--not exactly of fancy, but over stretches of space and time, though now and then we may find it desirable to creep or even to stand still. we request the reader to creep with us at present, and quietly listen while pedro and tiger talk. pedro lies extended on his back on the roof of the gondola-like cabin, his hands under his head, his knees elevated, and a cigarette in his mouth. lawrence and quashy are leaning in more or less lazy attitudes on the gunwale of the canoe, indulging now and then in a few remarks, which do not merit attention. manuela, also in a reclining attitude, rests under the shade of the erection on which pedro lies, listening to their discourse. tiger is the only one on duty, but his labour is light: it consists merely of holding the steering oar, and guiding the light craft along the smooth current of the river. pedro lies with his head to the stern, so that his talk with the indian is conducted, so to speak, upside-down. but that does not seem to incommode them, for the ideas probably turn right end foremost in passing to and fro. of course their language is in the indian tongue. we translate. "tiger," said pedro, sending a long whiff of smoke straight up towards the bright blue sky, where the sun was beginning to descend towards his western couch, "we shan't make much, i fear, of the men of this part of the country." "i did not expect that you would," replied the indian, giving a gentle turn to his oar in order to clear a mudbank, on which a number of alligators were basking comfortably. "why so, tiger? surely peace and good government are as desirable to them as to others." "no doubt, but many of them do not love peace. they are young. their blood is hot, and they have nothing to do. when that is so, war is pleasant to them. it is natural. man must work, or play, or fight. he cannot lie still. those who are killed cannot return to tell their comrades what fools they have been, so those that remain are greater fools than ever." "i agree with you, tiger; but you see it is not the young men who have the making of war, though they generally get all the doing of it, and the poor women and children take the consequences; it is the governors, whom one would expect to show some sort of wisdom, and recognise the fact that union is strength, and that respect for law is the only hope of the land." "governors," returned tiger, in a deep voice, "are not only fools, but villains--tyrants!" the indian spoke with such evidence of suppressed indignation that pedro tried to look at him. the aspect of his frowning countenance upside-down was not conducive to gravity. "come, tiger," said pedro, with a tendency to laugh, "they are not all tyrants; i know one or two who are not bad fellows." "_i_ know one who is a fool and a robber." "indeed. what has he done to make you so bitter?" asked pedro. "made us wear spectacles!" replied the indian, sternly. "what do you mean?" "have you not heard about it?" "no; you know i have been away in chili for some time, and am ignorant of much that has been going on in these parts." "there is in spain a white man, i know not who," said tiger, with an expression of ineffable contempt, "but he must be the chief of the fools among the white men, who seem to me to be all fools together." "thank you for the compliment," said pedro, with a laugh. "this white fool," continued tiger, paying no regard to his friend's interruption, "thought that he would send out here for sale some spectacles--glass things, you know, that old white men look through when they cannot see. we indians, as you know, never need such things. we can see well as long as we live. it is supposed that a mistake was made by some one, for something like a canoe-load of spectacles was sent out--so many that in a hundred years the white men could not have used them up. the trader knew not what to do. there was no sale for them. he applied to the governor--that robber of whom i have spoken. he said to the trader, with a wink of his eye--that sort of wink which the white fool gives when he means to pass from folly to knavery--`wait,' he said, `and you shall see.' then he issued an order that no indian should dare to appear in his district, or in church during festival-days, _without spectacles_! the consequence was that the spectacles were all sold. i know not the price of these foolish things, but some white men told me they were sold at an enormous profit." although pedro sympathised heartily with his brown friend in his indignation, he could not quite repress a smile at the ridiculous ideas called up. fortunately the indian failed to interpret an upside-down smile, particularly with the moustache, as it were, below instead of above the mouth, and a cigarette in the lips. it was too complicated. "and were _you_ obliged to buy and wear a pair of these spectacles, tiger?" asked pedro, after a few silent puffs. "yes--look! here they are," he replied, with inconceivable bitterness, drawing forth the implements of vision from his pouch and fixing them on his nose with intense disgust. then, suddenly plucking them off; he hurled them into the river, and said savagely--"i was a christian once, but i am not a christian _now_." "how? what do you mean?" asked pedro, raising himself on his elbow at this, so as to look straightly as well as gravely at his friend. "i mean that the religion of such men must be false," growled the indian, somewhat defiantly. "now, tiger," returned his friend in a remonstrative tone, "that is not spoken with your usual wisdom. the religion which a man professes may be true, though his profession of it may be false. however, i am not unwilling to admit that the view of our religion which is presented in this land is false--very false. nevertheless, christianity is true. i will have some talk with you at another time on this subject, my friend. meanwhile, let us return to the point from which we broke off--the disturbed state of this unhappy country." let us pause here, reader, to assure you that this incident of the spectacles is no fiction. well would it be for the south american republics at this day, as well as for the good name of spain, if the poor aborigines of south america had nothing more serious to complain of than the arbitrary act of the dishonest governor referred to; but it is a melancholy fact that, ever since the conquest of peru by pizarro, the spaniards have treated the indians with brutal severity, and it is no wonder that revenge of the fiercest nature still lingers in the breasts of the descendants of those unfortunate savages. probably our reader knows that the peruvian region of the andes is rich in gold and silver-mines. these the spanish conquerors worked by means of indian slave labour. not long after the conquest a compulsory system of personal toil was established, whereby a certain proportion of the natives of each district were appointed by lot to work in the mines. every individual who obtained a grant of a mine became entitled to a certain number of indians to work it, and every mine which remained unwrought for a year and a day became the property of any one who chose to claim and work it. as there were many hundreds of mines registered in peru alone, it may be imagined what a host of indians were consequently condemned to a degraded state of slavery. the labour of the mines was so dreadful that each unfortunate on whom the lot fell considered it equivalent to his death-warrant. and that there was ground for this belief is proved by the fact that not more than one in six of the indians condemned to the mines survived the treatment there inflicted. each mitayo, or conscript, received nominally two shillings a day. but he never actually received it. on his fate being fixed by lot, the poor fellow carried his wife and children to the mines with him, and made arrangements for never again returning home. his food and lodging, being supplied by his employers, (owners?) were furnished at such an extravagant rate that he always found himself in debt at the end of his first year--if he outlived it. in that case he was not allowed to leave until his debt was paid, which, of course, it never was. usually, however, the bad air and heavy labour of the mines, coupled with grief, told so much on men accustomed to the fresh air and free life of the wilderness, that death closed the scene before the first year of servitude was out. it is said that above eight millions of natives have perished thus in the mines of peru. we have shown briefly one of the many phases of tyrannical cruelty practised by the conquerors of the land. here is another specimen. at first there were few merchants in peru, therefore privilege was granted to the spanish corregidors, or governors of districts, to import goods suitable for indians, and barter them at a fair price. of course this permission was abused, and trade became a compulsory and disgraceful traffic. useless and worthless articles and damaged goods--razors, for instance, silk stockings, velvets, etcetera--were forced on indians who preferred naked feet and had no beards. the deeds of the soldiers, miners, and governors were but too readily copied by the priests, many of whom were rapacious villains who had chosen the crucifix as their weapon instead of the sword. one priest, for instance, besides his regular dues and fees, received during the year as _presents_, which he _exacted_ at certain festivals, sheep, head of poultry, guinea-pigs, and , eggs, and he would not say mass on those festival-days until a due proportion of the presents was delivered. and this case of extortion is not told of one of the priests of old. it occurred in the second quarter of the present century. another priest summoned a widow to make declaration of the property left her by her husband, so that he might fix the scale of his burial fees! he made a high demand. she implored his mercy, reminding him of her large family. he was inexorable, but offered to give up his claim if she would give him her eldest son--a boy of eight--to be sold as a slave or given away as a present. (it seems that the senhoras of those lands want such boys to carry their kneeling carpets.) the civil authorities could not be appealed to in this case. there was no redress, so the widow had to agree to give up her son! doubtless both in camp and in church there may have been good men, but if so, they form an almost invisible minority on the page of peruvian history. in short, tyranny in every form was, and for centuries has been, practised by the white men on the savages; and it is not a matter of wonder that the memory of these things rankles in the indian's bosom even at the present time, and that in recent books of travel we read of deeds of diabolical cruelty and revenge which we, in peaceful england, are too apt to think of as belonging exclusively to the days of old. but let us return to our friends in the little canoe. "to tell you the truth," said pedro to the indian, "i am deeply disappointed with the result of my mission. it is not so much that men do not see the advantages and necessity for union, as that they are heartless and indifferent--caring nothing, apparently, for the welfare of the land, so long as the wants and pleasures of the present hour are supplied." "has it ever been otherwise?" asked tiger, with grave severity of expression. "well, i confess that my reading of history does not warrant me to say that it has; but my reading of the good creator's word entitles me to hope for and strive after better times." "i know not," returned the indian, with a far-off, pensive look, "what your histories say. i cannot read. there are no books in my tongue, but my memory is strong. the stories, true stories, of my fathers reach very far back--to the time before the white man came to curse the land,--and i remember no time in which men did not desire each other's property, and slay each other for revenge. it is man's nature, as it is the river's nature to flow down hill." "it is man's fallen, not his first, nature," said pedro. "things were as bad in england once. they are not quite so bad now. god's law has made the difference. however, we must take things here as we find them, and i'm sorry to think that up to this point my mission has been a failure. indeed, the last effort, as you know, nearly cost me my life." "and what will you now do?" asked tiger. "i will visit a few more places in the hope that some of the people may support us. after that, i'll mount and away over the pampas to buenos ayres; see the colonel, and deliver manuela to her father." "the white-haired chief?" asked tiger. "even so," replied pedro. during the foregoing conversation quashy had thrust his fat nose down on a plank and gone to sleep, while lawrence and manuela, having nothing better to do, taught each other spanish and english respectively! and, strange though it may appear, it is a fact that manuela, with all her quick-witted intelligence, was wonderfully slow at learning english. to lawrence's intense astonishment and, it must be confessed, to his no small disappointment, the indian maiden not only made the same blunders over and over again, and seemed to be incapable of making progress, but even laughed at her own stupidity. this somewhat cooled his admiration of her character, which coolness afforded him satisfaction rather than the reverse, as going far to prove that he was not really, (as how could he be?) _in love_ with the brown-skinned, uneducated, half-savage girl, but only much impressed with her amiable qualities. poor fellow, he was much comforted by these thoughts, because, had it been otherwise, how terrible would have been his fate!--either, on the one hand, to marry her and go and dwell with her savage relations--perhaps be compelled to paint his visage scarlet with arabesque devices in charcoal, and go on the war-path against the white man; or, on the other hand, to introduce his indian bride into the _salons_ of civilisation, with the certainty of beholding the sneer of contempt on the face of outraged society; with the probability of innumerable violations of the rules of etiquette, and the possibility of manuela exhibiting the squaw's preference for the floor to a chair, fingers to knives and forks, and--pooh! the thing was absurd, _utterly_ out of the question! towards sunset they came to a part of the river where there were a good many sandbanks, as well as extensive reaches of sand along shore. on one of these low-lying spits they drew up the canoe, and encamped for that night in the bushes, close enough to the edge to be able to see the river, where a wide-spreading tree canopied them from the dews of night. solemn and inexpressibly sad were the views of life taken by lawrence that night as he stood by the river's brink in the moonlight, while his companions were preparing the evening meal, and gave himself up to the contemplation of things past, present, and to come,--which is very much like saying that he thought about nothing in particular. what he felt quite sure of was that he was horribly depressed--dissatisfied with himself, his companions and his surroundings, and ashamed in no small degree of his dissatisfaction. as well he might be; for were not his companions particularly agreeable, and were not his surroundings exquisitely beautiful and intensely romantic? the moon in a cloudless sky glittered in the broad stream, and threw its rippling silver treasures at his very feet. a gentle balmy air fanned his cheek, on which mantled the hue of redundant health, and the tremendous puffs and long-drawn sighs of the alligators, with the growl of jaguars, croak and whistle of frogs, and the voice of the howling monkey, combined to fill his ear with the music of thrilling romance, if not of sweetness. "what more could i wish?" he murmured, self-reproachfully. a tremendous slap on the face--dealt by his own hand, as a giant mosquito found and probed some tenderer spot than usual--reminded him that some few things, which he did not wish for, were left to mingle in his cup of too great felicity, and reduce it, like water in overproof whisky, to the level of human capacity. still dissatisfied, despite his reflections, he returned to the fire under the spreading tree, and sat down to enjoy a splendid basin of turtle soup,--soup prepared by tiger the day before from the flesh of a turtle slain by his own hand, and warmed up for the supper of that evening. a large tin dish or tureen full of the same was placed at his elbow to tempt his appetite, which, to say truth, required no tempting. manuela, having already supped, sat with her little hands clasped in her lap, and her lustrous eyes gazing pensively into the fire. perhaps she was attempting to read her fortune in the blazing embers. perchance engaged in thinking of that very common subject--nothing! if pedro had smoked the same thing, it would have been better for his health and pocket; but pedro, thinking otherwise, fumigated his fine moustache, and disconcerted the mosquitoes in the region of his nose. quashy, having just replenished the fire until the logs rose two feet or more from the ground, turned his back on the same, warmed his hands behind him, and gazed up through the over-arching boughs at the starry sky with that wistfully philosophical expression which negroes are apt to assume when their thoughts are "too deep," or too complex, "for utterance." spotted tiger continued to dally with the turtle soup, and seemed loath to give in as he slowly, with many a pause between, raised the huge iron spoon to his lips. no one seemed inclined to break the silence into which they had sunk, for all were more or less fatigued; and it seemed as if the very brutes around sympathised with them, for there was a perceptible lull in the whistling of the frogs, the howling monkeys appeared to have gone to rest, and the sighing alligators to have subsided and sunk, so that the breaking of a twig or the falling of a leaf was perceptible to the listening ear. things were in this state of profound and peaceful calm when a slight rustling was heard among the branches of the tree above them. the instant glare of quashy's eyes; the gaze of manuela's; the cock of pedro's ear, and the sudden pause of our hero's spoon on its way to his lips, were sights to behold! the indian alone seemed comparatively indifferent to the sound, though he looked up inquiringly. at that moment there burst forth an ear-splitting, marrow-shrivelling blood-curdling yell, that seemed to rouse the entire universe into a state of wild insanity. there could be no mistaking it--the peculiar, horrid, shrieking, only too familiar war-whoop of the painted savage! quashy staggered back. he could not recover himself, for a log had caught his heel. to sit down on the fire he knew would be death, therefore he bounded over it backwards and fell into lawrence's lap, crushing that youth's plate almost into the region where the soup had already gone, and dashing his feet into the tureen! lawrence roared; manuela shrieked; pedro sprang up and seized his weapons. so did lawrence and his man, regardless of the soup. tiger alone sat still, conveying the iron spoon slowly to his lips, but with a peculiar motion of his broad shoulders which suggested that the usually grave savage was convulsed with internal laughter. "ghosts and crokidiles!--what's dat?" gasped quashy, staring up into the tree, and ready to fire at the first visible object. tiger also looked up, made a peculiar sound with his mouth, and held out his hand. immediately a huge bird, responding to the call, descended from the tree and settled on his wrist. quashy's brief commentary explained it all. "purrit!" it was indeed the indian's faithful pet-parrot, which he had taught thus to raise the war-cry of his tribe, and which, having bestowed its entire affections on its master, was in the habit of taking occasional flights after him when he went away from home. chapter seventeen. in which ingenuity, comicality, ferocity, eccentricity, fecundity, and some other "ities" in man and beast are mentioned. plain sailing, fair weather, perpetual calm and sunshine are not the lot of any man or woman here. the weather, that fertile source of human intercourse, is occasionally boisterous as well as serene in the regions of peru and bolivia. a day or two after the events recounted in the last chapter our travellers experienced a sudden change. we have said that they had come to a part of the river where there were occasional stretches of sand, and here they had evidence of the improvident nature of indians, in the number of turtle-shells found lying on the sands with parts of the animals still adhering to them. on one particular spot they found a space, of about seventy yards in diameter completely covered with the upper and under shells of turtles. these had evidently been cut asunder violently with hatchets, and reddish-brown furrows in the sands told where streams of blood had flowed during the massacre. "what wanton slaughter!" exclaimed lawrence, as he and his friends stood looking at the scene. "and it is not long since it was done," said pedro, "for the flesh--at least what's left of it--is still fresh." "ugh, you brutes!" exclaimed quashy, referring to a number of urubu vultures which stood on the shells, all more or less gorged, some still tearing sleepily at the meat, others standing in apoplectic apathy, quite unable to fly. they counted upwards of three hundred dead turtles, and this carnage, it was afterwards ascertained, had been the work of only a dozen or so of indians--not for food, but for the sake of the fine yellow fat covering the intestines, which formed an article of commerce at the time between the red men and the white. that night after supper time the party busied themselves in making mosquito-curtains out of a small quantity of green muslin obtained from spotted tiger's father-in-law, who had received it from the missionaries. the supply being quite insufficient to make curtains for them all, quashy had set his fertile brain to work and devised a species of net which, having never been seen in that country before, deserves special notice. it may serve as a hint to other mortals similarly situated and tormented. "you mus' know," remarked quashy to his friends, who watched him while he fabricated the first of these curtains, "dat my gran'fadder was a injineer, an' some ob his geenus comed down to me. dat's why i's so clebber wid my hands. has you got dem hoops tied, massa?" "all right, quashy, i'm just finishing the last one. there--are these the right sizes?" "das right, massa. biggest two one futt six in dameter; oder two leetle ones, one futt. now, you looks here, ladies an' gen'lemen. see, i's made a bag ob dis muzzlin 'bout two futt six long an' 'bout two futt wide. well, one end ob de bag is close up--as you see. 'tother end am open--as you b'hold. vwalla! as de frenchman says. now, i puts into de closed end one small hoop--so. den de two large hoops--so--'bout six inches apart. den de leetle hoop--so. which makes my bag into what you may call a gauze-barrel, wid de hoops inside 'stead ob outside. nixt, i puts it ober my head, lets de bottom hoop rest on my shoulders, shoves de slack ob de veil--i calls it a veil, not a curtin,--down my neck under my poncho, so's nuffin can git inside, an' dere you are. no skeeters git at me now!" "but, quash," said lawrence, who had watched the making of this ingenious device, as well as lent assistance, "there are mosquitoes inside it even now; and with such swarms as are about us, how will you keep them out while putting the thing on." "don' call it a `t'ing,' massa," said quashy, with a dignified look, "call it a `veil.' dere's nuflin easier. see here." he rose, took off the veil, and flattened the hoops down on each other, so as to drive out all that might be inside. then he stepped to leeward of the fire, held his breath for a few seconds while in the smoke, quickly adjusted his novel head-piece, and stood up fully armed against the "skeeters." "but," still objected lawrence, "how can you lay your head on your pillow with such a thing--beg pardon, such a veil on?" "nuffin easier, massa." he illustrated his point by rolling over into one of the nearest hammocks--which had already been hung--and laying his head down, when, of course, the machine bulged away from his black face, and the discomfited millions kept thrusting their probosces--and, doubtless, making faces at him--ineffectually. "but how if you should want to roll about in your sleep?" asked pedro. "_don't_ want to roll about in your sleep!" replied the negro, curtly. it is right to say that, in spite of the advice thus firmly given, quashy _did_ roll in his sleep that night, with the result that his nose at last got close to the veil and pressed against it. no malignant foe ever took advantage of an enemy's weak point more promptly than did the "skeeters" of quashy's nocturnal trumpet. they settled on its point with a species of triumphant hum. they warred with each other in their bloodthirsty desire to seize on the delicate but limited morsel. it was "cut and come again"--at least it was "cut away and let others come on"--as long as the chance lasted. and the consequence was that quashy rose next morning with two noses! his natural nose being a mere lump of fat and the lump raised on it being much the same in form and size with the original, we feel justified in saying that he had two noses--nearly. notwithstanding, it is but fair to add that the veils were afterwards pronounced a great success. but to return. that night, after the veils in question had been made and put on by all except tiger, who was skeeto-proof, and the happy wearers were steeped in blissful repose, a tremendous hurricane burst upon them, with thunder, lightning, and rain. the wind came in furious gusts which tore away some of the veils, overturned the hammocks, scattered the bedding, extinguished the fire, drenched them to the skin, and otherwise rendered them supremely miserable. retiring to a thicker part of the jungle, they cut down branches and made a temporary erection which they covered with ponchos and blankets; but as everything had to be done in the dark, it was a wretched affair, and, at the best, only a partial protection. into the furthest extremity of this hut poor manuela crept. the others followed, and there they all sat or reclined, shivering, till morning. about daybreak lawrence heard pedro and the indian girl conversing in the indian language and in unusually earnest tones, which were interrupted once or twice by slight laughter. he wondered much what they found to laugh at, but having become by that time accustomed to the guide's little touches of mystery, and being very sleepy, he did not trouble himself about it long. the storm happily was short-lived, and when the sun appeared, enabling them to dry their garments, and a good breakfast had been eaten, the discomforts of the past night were forgotten, and quashy even ceased to growl at the "skeeters" and lament his double nose. hitherto they had met with few indians, and these few were friendly, being acquainted either personally or by report with spotted tiger, for the man's reputation as a jaguar and puma slayer had extended far beyond his own tribe. that day, however, several native canoes were passed, and in the evening they found that the place on which tiger had made up his mind to encamp was in possession of indians. "friendly?" asked pedro, as they approached the shore. "yes, friendly," replied tiger. "would it not be better to go a little further and encamp away from them?" asked lawrence, who retained unpleasant memories of the dirtiness of indian encampments. "tiger wishes to speak to them," said pedro, as the canoe was run on shore. it was found that the party consisted of several families of indians who were out on a turtle-hunting expedition, for the season had arrived when turtles lay their eggs. this laying season of the turtle sets the whole population of those regions, civilised and savage, in motion, searching in the sands for eggs, and capturing or killing the animals. the indians now met with were on the latter business. upon the weather depends the commencement of this season of unwonted activity among the turtles and wild excitement among the river-side indians, for the snows must cease to fall on the summits of the andes, and the rivers must decrease in volume so as to lay bare vast spaces of sand, before the eggs can be laid. no alderman in london city ever equalled--much less excelled--a south american savage of that region in his love of turtle, or in his capacity for devouring it. but the savage goes immeasurably further than the alderman! he occupies altogether a higher and more noble position in regard to the turtle, for he not only studies, with prolonged care and deep interest, its habits and manners, but follows it, watches it, catches it, kills it, and, finally, cooks it with his own hands, before arriving at the alderman's comparatively simple and undignified act of eating it. so exact are these indians in their observations and knowledge of the turtle question, that they can tell almost to a day when and where their unsuspecting victims will land and lay. there was an extensive stretch of flat sand close to the spot where our voyageurs put ashore, on which the indians had observed numerous claw-marked furrows, which had been traced by the turtles. here, therefore, they had called a halt, built a number of ajoupas, or leafy sheds, about two hundred yards from the edge of the river, under the shelter of which to sit at night and watch for their prey. the turtles, it was found, were expected to land that night. meanwhile, the savages were regaling themselves with a splendid dish, or rather jar, containing hundreds of turtles' eggs, mixed with bananas. these they hospitably shared with their visitors. the mess was very palatable, though "heavy," and our travellers did justice to it-- especially the negro, whose gastronomic powers were equal to all emergencies. "how do they know," asked lawrence, as he and pedro busied themselves in tying up the hammocks in a suitable part of the jungle, "when to expect the turtles?" "who can tell?" said pedro. "instinct, i suppose." "but dey not stink at all," objected quashy, "anyhow, not till arter dey's dead, so't can't be dat." "it's not that kind of stink i mean, quashy; quite another sort," said pedro, who felt unequal to the task of explanation. "but look sharp; we must lend the indians a helping hand to-night." "but i don't know nuffin about it," said quashy, "an' a man what don't know what to do is on'y in de way ob oder peepil." "you take a just view of things, boy," returned pedro, "but you won't find it difficult to learn. five minutes looking at what the indians do will suffice, for they only turn the turtles." "how you mean? turn 'im upside-down, or outside in--w'ich?" "you'd find it hard to do the last, quashy. no, you've only to turn them over on their backs, and let them lie; that's all." while the negro was thus gathering useful knowledge, the indians amused themselves in various ways until darkness should call them forth to the business of the hour. some, with that amazing tendency to improve their personal appearance, which is common alike to civilised and savage, plucked out the little beard with which nature had endowed them by means of tweezers, deeming it no doubt wiser on the whole to pluck up the beard by the roots than to cut it off close thereto, as indeed it was, seeing that the former process did not need regular repetition. others were still busy with the turtle-egg ragout, unable, apparently to decide whether or not appetite was satisfied. two somewhat elderly but deeply interested savages whiled away the time with a game of cup-and-ball, turn and turn about, with imperturbable gravity. this game was different from that of europe to the extent of being played on precisely opposite principles. it was not he who caught the ball on the point of the sharp stick that won, but he who failed to catch it, for failure was more difficult to achieve than success! the explanation is simple. the handle was a piece of pointed wood, about the thickness of a ramrod, and a yard or so in length. to this, by a piece of string made from fibres of the palm, was attached the ball, which was formed of the skull of a turtle, carefully scraped. there was no "cup" in the game. it was all point, and the great point was to touch the ball a certain number of times without catching it, a somewhat difficult feat to accomplish owing to the dozen or more natural cavities with which the skull-ball was pierced, and into one of which the point was almost always pretty sure to enter. at last the shades of night descended on the scene, and the indians, laying aside ragout, tweezers, cup-and-ball, etcetera, went down to the sand-flats, and crouched, kneeled, or squatted under the leafy ajoupas. of course their visitors accompanied them. it was a profoundly dark night, for during the first part of it there was no moon, and the stars, although they lent beauty and lustre to the heavens, did not shed much light upon the sands. there is a weird solemnity about such a scene which induces contemplative thought even in the most frivolous, while it moves the religious mind to think more definitely, somehow, of the near presence of the creator. for some time lawrence, who crouched in profound silence beside pedro, almost forgot the object for which he was waiting there. the guide seemed to be in a similarly absent mood, for he remarked at last in a low voice-- "how striking would be the contrasts presented to us constantly by nature, if we were not so thoroughly accustomed to them! storm, and noise, and war of elements last night,--to-night, silence, calm, and peace! at present, darkness profound,--in half an hour or so the moon will rise, and the sands will be like a sheet of silver. this moment, quiet repose,--a few moments hence, it may be, all will be turmoil and wildest action--that is, if the turtles come." "true," assented lawrence, "and we may add yet another illustration: at one moment, subjects of contemplation most sublime,--next moment, objects the most ridiculous." he pointed as he spoke to quashy, whose grinning teeth and glaring eyes alone were distinctly visible in the background of ebony. he was creeping on his hands and knees, by way of rendering himself, if possible, less obtrusive. "massa," he said, in a hoarse yet apologetic whisper, "i's come to ax if you t'ink de turtles am comin' at all dis night." "how can i tell, quash, you stupid fellow? get away to your own ajoupa, and keep quiet. i wonder the indians haven't let fly a poisoned arrow at you. go,--and have patience." poor quashy shut his mouth and his eyes--it was as if three little lights had gone out--while his dusky frame melted into its native gloom. no sound was to be heard on the sand-flats after that until about midnight, when the moon appeared on the horizon. just then a sound was heard on the river. "here they come," whispered pedro. the sound increased. it was like a swirling, hissing noise. soon they could see by the increasing light that the water of the river seemed actually to boil. immediately afterwards, thousands of turtles came tumbling clumsily out of the water, and spread themselves over the flats. evidently egg-laying was no joke with them. the well-known sluggishness of the creatures was laid aside for this great occasion, and wonderful activity marked their every movement from first to last. you see, they had to manage the business in a wholesale sort of fashion, each turtle having from thirty to forty eggs, or more, to deposit in the sand,--on which sand, in conjunction with the sun, devolved the duty of subsequent maternal care. that the creatures acted on pre-arranged principles was evident from the fact that they worked in separate detachments, each working-party devoting its energies to the digging of a trench two feet deep, four feet broad, and sometimes yards long. their zeal was amazing; as well it might be, for they allowed themselves less than an hour in which to do it all. each animal dug like a hero with its fore-feet, and sent the sand flying about it to such an extent that the whole flat appeared to be enveloped in a thick fog! when satisfied that their trench was deep enough they stopped work, deposited their soft-shelled eggs, and, with their hind feet, soon filled up the trench. so great was their eagerness and hurry, that during the operation more than one turtle, tumbling over her companions, rolled into the trench and was buried alive. no sooner was the stupendous work accomplished than they made a disorderly rush for the river, as if aware of the fate which threatened them. and now at last came the opportunity of the savage. the iron duke's "up, guards, and at 'em!" could not have been more promptly or gladly obeyed than was the signal of the red-skinned chief. like statues they had awaited it. like catapults they responded to it, with yells of mingled madness and joy. but there was method in their madness. to have run between the shelly host and the river, so as to cut off its retreat, would have been sheer lunacy, at which luna herself--by that time shining superbly--would have paled with horror, for the men would have certainly been overthrown and trampled under foot by the charging squadrons. what the indians did was to rush upon the flanks of the host, seize the animals' tail, and hurl them over on their backs, in which position they lay flapping helplessly. before the retreating "miserables" reached the river, hundreds of captives were thus obtained. you may be sure that lawrence and pedro and spotted tiger acted their part well that night, and that quashy was not long in learning his lesson! the first tail the negro grasped slipped through his hands, so mighty was his effort, and, as a consequence, he sat down with that sudden involuntary flop which one associates irresistibly with nurseries. jumping up, and rendered wise, he took a better grip next time, turned the turtle over, and fell on the top of it, receiving a tremendous whack on the cheek from its right flipper as a reward for his clumsiness. but practice makes perfect. even in the brief space of time at his disposal, quashy managed to turn ten turtles with his own hands, besides turning himself over six times, if not more. rendered wild by success, and desperate with anxiety, as the fugitives neared the river, the negro fixed his glittering eyes on a particularly huge turtle, which was scuttling along in almost drunken haste. with an impromptu war-howl, quashy charged down on it, and caught it by the tail. with a heave worthy of hercules he lifted his foe some inches off the sand, but failed to turn it. making a second effort, he grasped the edge of the creature's shell with his left hand, and the tail more firmly with the right. "huyp!" he shouted, and made a herculean heave. a second time he would have failed, if it had not been that he was on the edge of a part of the trench which the turtles had not had time to fill up. the weight of the creature caused a fore-leg to break off part of the edge, and over it went, slowly, on its side,--almost balancing thus, and flapping as it went. to expedite the process quashy seized it by the neck and gave another heave and howl. unfortunately, the edge of the trench again gave way under one of his own feet, and he fell into it with a cry of distress, for the turtle fell on the top of him, crushing him down into the soft watery sand! well was it for quashy that night that lawrence armstrong had good ears, and was prompt to respond to the cry of distress, else had he come to an untimely and inglorious end! hearing the cry, lawrence looked quickly round, guessed the cause, shouted to pedro, who was not far-off, and was soon on the spot,--yet not a moment too soon, for poor quashy was almost squashy by that time. they dragged the turtle off, dug the negro out, and found that he had become insensible. raising him gently in their arms, they bore him up to the camp, where they found manuela ready to minister to him. "dead!" exclaimed the horrified girl when she saw the negro laid down, and beheld the awful dirty-green colour of his countenance. "i hope not," replied lawrence, earnestly. "i's sh---squeesh!--_sure_ not!" exclaimed quashy himself, with a sneeze, as he opened his eyes. and quashy, we need scarcely add, was right. he was not dead. he did not die for many years afterwards. for aught that we know, indeed, he may be living still, for he came of a very long-lived race. his accident, however, had the useful effect of preventing his giving way to too exuberant felicity, and rendered him a little more careful as to the quantity of turtle-egg ragout which he consumed that night for supper. it would be pleasant to end our chapter here, but a regard for facts compels us to refer to the slaughter of the unfortunate turtles next morning. there is in the interior of the turtle a quantity of yellow fat, which is said to be superior in delicacy to the fat of the goose, and from which is obtained a fine oil, highly prized as an article of commerce. to secure this fat, the animals which had been "turned" were killed at daylight the following morning. the axes of the indians caused the shells to fly in splinters; the intestines were then torn out and handed to the indian women, whose duty it was to remove from them the precious fat, after which the carcasses were left to the vultures and fisher-eagles, which flocked from afar to the scene of carnage with that unerring instinct which has so often been commented on by travellers, but which no one can understand. chapter eighteen. pedro becomes communicative; manuela vocal; lawrence preposterous; quashy and tiger violent--the whole ending in a grand catastrophe. "senhor armstrong," said pedro, the evening after that on which the capture of turtles took place, "i have received some bad news--at least unsatisfactory news--which will necessitate a change in our style of travelling, and a more rapid progress towards our journey's end." "i'm sorry for that," lawrence answered, "for, to my mind, our style of travelling is very agreeable, and the rate quite fast enough, especially for one who has no definite purpose in view." "that may be so, senhor," returned pedro, with a grim smile, "but as _i_ have something of a definite purpose in view, the case is different." "true, pedro,--true. i do not object to any change in your plans; i merely comment on the very pleasant time we are having, and shall be ready to act as you desire; so, you see, i am as i promised to be--an obedient follower. but where got you this news from? i have seen no one arrive in the camp since we came. what may the nature of the news be, if i may venture to ask of one who is so--so very reticent?" the guide pondered some time before replying to these questions. then, with the air of one who has made up his mind on an uncertain point, said-- "i had no intention of rousing your curiosity by needless secrecy. i have not very many or very profound secrets. only, in a disturbed country it behoves a man to hold his tongue in regard to his affairs. but i feel that you are a friend, senhor armstrong, who may be trusted; not that i have much to trust to you,--and yet, my doings are so mixed up with the affairs of other people that to some extent i am tongue-tied. i may tell you, however, that i am a secret agent of the government, to which i have volunteered my services solely because i love peace and hate war, and am desirous of doing all i can to promote the first and abate the last. the idea may appear to you quixotic, but--" "pardon me, senhor pedro," interrupted lawrence, promptly. "i think you the reverse of quixotic. i honour you for your sentiments, and sympathise with you most heartily. do i not remember that it is written, `blessed are the peacemakers,' and also, `scatter thou the people that delight in war?'" "yes, i have gathered from your conversation that such are your sentiments, but do not misunderstand me. i am not of those who would have peace at any price. i believe in the right of self-defence. i recognise the right of oppressed nations to rise up and draw the sword in order to free themselves from tyrants; in short, i believe that there are some things that are worse even than war; but while i concede so much, i hold that most of the wars recorded in history have been undertaken without just cause, many of them without any real or obvious cause at all, too many of them with a distinctly bad cause. even in the present day, and among christian nations, there is far too little tendency to appeal to arbitration, which is the only legitimate way for _reasonable_ men to settle any dispute or quarrel. does your sympathy go with me thus far?" lawrence, with a glow of enthusiasm on his face, extended his hand, and, grasping that of his companion, shook it warmly. "i go with you in every word, pedro. you are a man after my own heart; and i say, god prosper you in your good work wherever you go!" manuela, who was standing near at the time, looked up at the enthusiastic youth quickly. her knowledge of english must have been improving, despite the badness of her pronunciation, for she seemed to understand the conversation, and to regard lawrence with profound interest. the youth was so carried away with his feelings, however, that he did not observe the girl's look or expression. "that is well," pedro said, with a pleased look, as he returned his friend's grasp; "but i fear you won't find many of our way of thinking in this unhappy country. you are aware, no doubt, that it is frequently--i might almost say every three or four years--disturbed by factious quarrels which too often end in riot and bloodshed, though these are not often on so large a scale as to be styled civil war. well, there is a party of peace-lovers even here, who do their best to bring about a better state of things, and a more settled and powerful government. some of the men of influence at buenos ayres, and some even of the military men, are of this party. i am, as i have said, their secret agent--secret, because if i were to attempt the thing openly, or as a government agent, i should be treated with ridicule by some, or be murdered perhaps by others, in either of which cases my influence would be gone. of course, as you have seen, i run considerable risk in travelling through the land on my mission, for i have been several times taken for a spy, but i don't object to run risk, the cause being a good one. "as to the news, which i have received by mere chance from a passing indian, it is another outbreak in the san juan district which makes a change in the disposition of troops necessary; and as i have particular business with one of the officers, i must change my route and make for buenos ayres as straight as possible. that is all the mystery about it; so you see, as i said, it is not very profound." "it is very interesting, however," returned lawrence, "and you may depend on my falling in with your plans, whatever they are." "well, then," returned the guide, "the first part of my plan is simple enough--merely to start off to-morrow by the first peep of day. will you go, therefore, and tell quashy to get ready, while i have a talk with manuela?" we do not intend to inflict on the reader the whole of the conversation that took place in the indian tongue between the little brown maiden and the guide. a small portion of it will suffice. "i repeat, manuela," said the latter, in a remonstrative tone, "that you are not wise." "my kind protector forgets," replied the girl, with a modest look, "that i have never set up any claim to wisdom." "but what will your father say?" "i really cannot guess what he will say," she answered, with one of her prettiest little smiles. "but you may be quite sure that the thing is impossible. consider the immense difference between you, and, forgive me, manuela, but i think it is not fair." "now my protector forgets _himself_," returned the maiden, drawing herself up and bestowing a look on the guide which was quite worthy of an inca princess--supposing lawrence to have been right in his conjecture on that point! "well, well, please yourself, manuela," returned pedro, with a laugh, in which exasperation slightly mingled, "but do me the justice to tell your father when you meet that i fairly remonstrated with and warned you. after all, nothing would please me better,--if it should ever come about." he turned on his heel and went off, with a mingling of expressions on his handsome face, to look after the canoe and make preparations for an early start in the morning. canoe travelling appears to be rather slow work while it is going on, even when descending the current of a river. each point of land seems to be reached and passed so gradually; every vista of the river seems so extensive, and the trees on shore drop so leisurely astern, that when you think of the hundreds of miles which lie in advance, you are apt to feel as if the journey or voyage would never come to an end. but when you forget the present and reflect on the past, when you think how many hundreds of miles now lie behind, although it seems but yesterday that you set out on the journey, then you realise the fact that the "power of littles," of steady, daily unremitting perseverance, has had too little weight with you in your estimates, and that, just as fast as your starting-point recedes from you, exactly so fast does your goal approach, although those misleading factors, your feelings, may have induced you to think otherwise. five days after the occurrence of the events on what we may style turtle-beach, lawrence found himself wondering at what appeared to be the far-off-ness of the spot, considering the slowness of the hourly progress, yet at the same time wondering if they should _ever_ traverse the nine hundred or a thousand miles that yet intervened between him and buenos ayres. to do lawrence armstrong justice, however, he was by no means impatient. he was quite satisfied that things should go as slowly as they pleased, for was he not travelling through the most interesting of countries, in which the flora and the fauna and the geological features furnished abundant--ay, superabundant--food for the satisfaction of his scientific appetite, while his companions were of the pleasantest character? pedro, since the opening up of his heart to him, had laid aside much-- though not all--of his reserve, and shown himself to be a man of extensive information and profound thought. spotted tiger was a splendid specimen, physically and mentally, of the sons of the soil, in the contemplation of whom he could expend whatever smattering he possessed of ethnological science. then quashy--was not that negro the very soul and embodiment of courage, fidelity, and good-humour, the changes of whose april face alone might have furnished rich material for the study of a physiognomist or a rembrandt. and as for manuela--we cannot analyse his thoughts about her. it is probable that he could not have expounded them himself. take the following sample of them, as overheard by us one day when he had strayed into the wild woods alone, and was seated on the roots of a mighty tree, pencil in hand, attempting unsuccessfully to make a sketch. "i do believe," he murmured, with a gesture of impatience--for he had drawn a small convolvulus, hanging from a tree, with such disregard for the rules of linear perspective that it was the proportionate size of an omnibus--"i do believe that that girl has come between me and my wits. of course it is not love. that is quite out of the question. a white man _could_ not fall in love with a black woman." yes, he did the poor girl the injustice, in his perplexed indignation with himself, to call her black, although it must have been obvious to the most careless observer that she was only reddish-brown, or, to speak more correctly, brownish-red. "i can't understand it," he continued to murmur in that low, slow, absent far-away tone and manner characteristic of artists when at work. "no doubt her nose is grecian, and her mouth small, as well as exquisitely formed, her chin full and rounded, her teeth faultless, her eyes gorgeous, and her whole contour perfect, but--but--she's black--at least," (correcting himself with a touch of compunction), "she's brown. no; i see what it is--it's--(well that's more like a balloon than a water-lily)--yes, it _must_ be that i am in love with her spirit. that's it! i've said so before, and--and--i say it again." he drew back his head at this point, and looked critically--even sternly--at the sketch. there was room both for criticism and indignation, for the display, in so small a compass, of bad drawing, vile composition, ridiculous chiaro-oscuro, and impossible perspective, could only have been justified by the supposition that his intellect had been warped through the heart, in consequence of an unheard of perplexity connected therewith. "yes," he continued, resuming his work with the air of an invincible man, "there is something distinctly and exasperatingly wrong here. i am in love with her spirit, and not with her person! is it possible that the human race, descending from adam and eve, should have reached the nineteenth century without such a case ever having been heard of before, and that i--i should be the first wretched example--or--or victim! it is like loving the jewel without caring for the cas--no, that's a bad simile, for one could throw away a casket and keep the jewel, which could not conveniently be done in this case. i wonder what it is that makes the rules of perspective so difficult, and the practice so im--" his meditations were checked at this point by a sound so sweet that his heart almost stood still, his pencil remained suspended over the sketch, and the half-formed word remained in the half-opened mouth. it was as if an angel had come to earth, and were warbling the airs of paradise. peeping through the bushes, lawrence saw that it was manuela! she was sauntering along pensively, humming as she went. he sat still, amazed and silent. from what cause we know not, but the indian girl had not until that day opened her mouth in song. the youth's surprise was increased when she came near enough to let him hear that the words were spanish; but suddenly remembering that english girls sometimes learned italian songs by rote, like parrots, his surprise partly abated--why should not an indian girl learn spanish songs by rote? manuela passed close to the tree behind which our hero sat. on observing him she stopped, and blushed intensely red. evidently she had thought herself quite alone, and experienced the usual dislike of humanity to being caught in the act of singing to itself! in a burst of great enthusiasm lawrence sprang up, overturned his drawing materials, seized the girl's hand, and dropped it again as if it had burnt him, as he exclaimed-- "i wish--oh! i _wish_, manuela, that i were your _brother_!" the lightning flash is said to be quick, and we suppose, relatively speaking, it is so, but we are quite sure that lightning cannot hold a candle to thought in this respect. lawrence, as the reader has doubtless observed, was not a man of much more than average intelligence, or action of mind, yet between the first "wish" and the word "brother," he had perceived and condemned the impropriety of exhibiting strong feeling in thus grasping manuela's hand; the unmanliness of doing or saying anything to her that had the remotest approach to love-making while in circumstances where the poor girl could not get out of his way, however much she might wish to do so, and the meanness, not to say absurdity, of showing anything like a lover's affection for a spirit which could only make itself known through the medium of a brown visage. hence lawrence, who was the soul of honour and gallantry, got out of the dilemma by suddenly conceiving and expressing the above intense wish to be manuela's brother! it did not occur to him that the gratification of his wish might have involved war-paint and feathers, a semi-nude body, a wild unlettered life, and a predilection for raw meat and murder. no, rapid though thought is, it did not convey these ideas to his mind. his one desire-- after the first unguarded "exclamation" and impulsive grasp of the hand, was to escape from his false position without committing himself, and without giving pain or annoyance to the unprotected girl. and his success was in proportion to his boldness, for manuela burst into a hearty laugh, and said-- "why you wants be my brudder?" "brother, manuela, not brudder," replied lawrence, joining in the laugh, and much relieved in mind. "the word is spelt with t-h, not with two d's. the reason is that i should then have the right to order you to sit at my feet and sing me these pretty songs whenever i liked. and i fear i should be a very tyrannical brother to you, for i would make you sing all day." "what--is--t'rannical?" asked the girl, whose tendency to laugh was evidently not yet quite subdued. "hallo! hi! quashy!" came the guide's strong voice at that moment, ringing through the arches of the forest, and preventing the explanation, that might have been, of "t'rannical." but quashy replied not. it was the end of the noontide siesta. while lawrence, as we have seen, had taken to sketching and manuela to singing, the negro had gone off on his own account, and pedro was now anxious to have his assistance in getting ready to start. as lawrence hurriedly collected his pencils the indian girl stood admiring his work--poor ignorant thing! just then there arose in the forest a sound which filled them both with mingled surprise and alarm. it was a peculiar, dull sound, almost indescribable, but something like what one might expect to hear from a hundred spades or pickaxes working together in the depths of the forest. after a minute or two it ceased, and profound silence reigned. dead silence in critical circumstances is even more alarming than definite noise, for then the imagination is allowed full play, and only those who have got the imagination powerfully developed know of what wild and terrifying vagaries it is capable! lawrence and manuela looked at each other. the former had often before admired the gorgeous black orbs of the latter, but he had not till then thought them to be so very large. suddenly the earth trembled under their feet; it seemed as if a volcano were heaving underground. the memory of san ambrosio rushed upon them, and they too trembled--at least the girl did. at the same time a shout arose which seemed to them not unfamiliar. the noise increased to something like the galloping of a distant squadron of cavalry. "let me lift you into this tree," said lawrence, quickly. manuela did not object. he lifted her by the waist with his two large hands as if she had been a little child, and placed her on a branch that happened to be just within his reach. scarcely had he done so when a host, a very army, of american wild-hogs, or peccaries, burst from the bushes like a tornado and bore down on them. they were so near that there was no time for lawrence to climb up beside manuela. he could only seize the branch with both hands and draw up his long legs. the living torrent passed under him in a few seconds, and thus--thanks to his gymnastic training at school--he escaped being ripped up in all directions by the creatures' tusks. it was these same tusks digging round trees for the purpose of grubbing up roots that had produced the strange sounds, and it was the shouts of quashy and tiger in pursuit that had awakened the echoes of the forest. on the heels of the large animals came galloping and squealing a herd of little ones, and close upon these followed the two hunters just named-- panting, war-whooping, and cheering. several of the little pigs were speared; some were even caught by the tail, and a goodly supply of meat was obtained for at least that day and the next. but before noon of that next day an event of a very different and much more serious nature occurred. it was early morning at the time. they were traversing a wide sheet of water, both banks of which were high, richly-wooded, and all aglow with convolvuli and other flowers, and innumerable rope-like creepers, the graceful festoons and hanging tendrils of which gave inexpressible softness to the scene. in the middle of the lake-like expanse were numerous mud-flats, partly covered with tropical reeds and rushes of gigantic size. the course our voyagers had to pursue made it necessary to keep close under the right bank, which was unusually steep and high. they were all silent, for the hour and the slumbering elements induced quiescence. a severe thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rains had broken over that district two days before, and lawrence observed that deep watercourses had been ploughed among the trees and bushes in several places, but every other trace of the elemental war had vanished, and the quiet of early morning seemed to him sweet beyond expression, inducing his earnest spirit to wish that the mystery of sin had never been permitted, and that it were still possible for man to walk humbly with his god in a world of peacefulness as real as that of inanimate nature around him. when the sun arose, a legion of living creatures came out from wood and swamp and reedy isle to welcome him. flamingoes, otters, herons white and grey, and even jaguars, then began to set about their daily work of fishing for breakfast. rugged alligators, like animated trunks of fallen trees, crawled in slimy beds or ploughed up the sands of the shore in deep furrows, while birds of gorgeous plumage and graceful-- sometimes clumsy--form audibly, if not always visibly, united to chant their morning hymn. such were the sights on which our travellers' eyes rested, with a sort of quiet delight, when pedro broke the silence in a low voice. "you'd better keep a little farther out into the stream," he said to tiger. the indian silently obeyed. it was well that he did so promptly, for, in less than a minute, and without the slightest premonition, the immense bank above them slid with a terrific rumbling noise into the river. the enormous mass of sand and vegetable detritus thus detached could not have been much, if at all, less than half a mile in extent. it came surging and hurling down-- trees and roots and rocks and mud intermingling in a chaos of grand confusion, the great cable-like creepers twining like snakes in agony, and snapping as if they were mere strands of packthread; timber crashing; rock grinding, sometimes bursting like cannon shots, and the whole plunging into the water and raising a great wave that swept the alligators from the mud-flats, and swallowed up the reeds and rushes, sending herons, kingfishers, and flamingoes screaming into the air, and dashing high into the jungle on the opposite shore. as we have said, the canoe got out of reach of the terrible avalanche just in time, but it could not escape the wave. the indian, however, was prepared for that. it was not the first time he had seen such a catastrophe. turning the bow of the canoe instantly towards the falling bank, he thus met the wave, as it were, in the teeth, and rode safely over it. if he had been less alive to the danger, or less prompt to meet it, or if he had under-estimated it, and allowed the wave to catch them on the side of the canoe, the adventures of our five friends had that day come to an abrupt close, and, what is probably of greater consequence to the reader, this faithful record would never have been written! chapter nineteen. in which, among other things, lawrence refuses an invitation, and bids a final farewell to manuela. a jump of several hundreds of miles at one mighty bound may seem difficult, perhaps impossible, but if the reader will kindly put on the grasshopper legs of imagination which we now provide, such a jump will be found not only possible, but, perchance, agreeable. we pass at one fell spring, then, from the thick forests of bolivia to the wide rolling pampas, or plains, of south america. you are still within sight of the andes, good reader. you may travel from north to south if you will--from the equatorial regions of the mexican gulf to the cold and stormy cape at tierra del fuego--without losing sight of that magnificent backbone of the grand continent. we have reached a frontier town which lies among the undulating hills at the base of the mountains, yet within sight of the outskirts of the grassy pampas. a small town it is, with little white houses and a church glittering in the sunshine. a busy town, too, with a mixed population fluttering in the streets in the variegated trappings and plumage of merchants, and priests, and muleteers, and adventurers, and dark-eyed senhoras, enveloped in all the mysterious witchery that seems inseparable from spanish mantillas and fans. it was evening when our travellers arrived at the town. they were on horseback now, having, a considerable time previously, forsaken the rivers for the roads--if we may call by such a name those unmade highways which are merely marked out through the wilderness by the passage of men. bells were ringing in the steeple as they entered the town, for some fete or holiday was in process of celebration, and the presence of a considerable number of men in uniform gave to the place the appearance of a garrison town. there were so many odd-looking and striking characters in the streets that the arrival of our party made no particular impression on the people, save that manuela's elegant little figure and pretty brown face drew some attention--admiration on the part of the men, scorn on that of a few--a very few--of the senhoras. you see, in all parts of the world some people are found who seem to hold, (though they would find it difficult to say why), that god's creatures with brown and black skins ought to be looked down upon and held in contempt by his creatures who chance to have white skins! you will generally find that the people who think thus also hold the almost miraculous opinion that those who wear superfine clothing, and possess much money, have a sort of indefinable, but unquestionable, right to look down upon and lord it over those who own little money and wear coarse garments! you will carefully observe, unprejudiced reader, that we use the word "some" in speaking of those people. we are very far from pitting the poor against the rich. we are bound to recognise the fact that amongst both classes there are gems of brightest lustre, irradiated by rays from the celestial sun, while in both there are also found qualities worthy of condemnation. but when we record the fact that some of the white senhoras looked with jealousy and scorn upon our sweet little indian heroine, we ought to recognise the undeniable truth that they themselves, (so long as actuated by such a spirit), were beneath contempt--fit subjects only for pity. as they passed along, much interested and somewhat excited by the comparatively novel sights around them, pedro rode up to a mounted soldier and accosted him in spanish. he returned to his party with a gleam of stronger excitement in his eyes than lawrence had observed since they became acquainted. riding alongside of manuela, who was in advance, he entered into earnest and animated conversation with her. then, reining back until he was abreast of lawrence, he said-- "part of the object of my journey has been accomplished sooner than i had expected, senhor armstrong." "indeed? i hope it has been satisfactorily accomplished." "well, yes, as far as it goes. the fact is, i find that there has been a raid of the indians into this part of the country, and a body of troops has been sent to quell them under colonel marchbanks. now this colonel, as his name will suggest, is an englishman, in the service of the argentine army, under whose orders i have been serving, and to communicate with whom was one of my chief reasons for undertaking this journey." "will that, then, render your journey to buenos ayres unnecessary?" asked lawrence, a slight feeling of anxiety creeping over him. "no, it won't do that, but it will greatly modify my plans. among other things, it will oblige me to leave manuela behind and push on alone as fast as possible. i suppose you will have no objection to a tearing gallop of several hundred miles over the pampas?" said pedro, while a smile of peculiar meaning played for an instant on his handsome face. "objections!" exclaimed our hero, with great energy, "of course not. a tearing gallop over the pampas is--a--most--" he stopped, for a strange, unaccountable feeling of dissatisfaction which he could not understand began to overwhelm him. was it that he was really in love after all with this indian girl, and that the thought of final separation from her--impossible! no, he could not credit such an idea for a moment. but he loved her spirit--her soul, as it were-- and he could not be blamed for being so sorry, so very sorry, to part with _that_ thus suddenly--thus unexpectedly. yes, he was _not_ in love. it was a fraternal or paternal--a platonic feeling of a strong type. he would just see her once more, alone, before starting, say good-bye, and give her a little, as it were, paternal, or fraternal, or platonic advice. "senhor armstrong is in a meditative mood," said pedro, breaking the thread of his meditations. "yes, i was thinking--was wondering--that is--by the way, with whom will you leave manuela?" "with a friend who lives in a villa in the suburbs." "you seem to have friends wherever you go," said lawrence. "ay, and enemies too," returned pedro with a slight frown. "however, with god's blessing, i shall circumvent the latter." "when do you start?" asked lawrence, with an air of assumed indifference. "to-morrow or next day, perhaps, but i cannot tell until i meet colonel marchbanks. i am not, indeed, under his command--being what you may call a sort of freelance--but i work with him chiefly, that is, under his directions, for he and i hold much the same ideas in regard to most things, and have a common desire to see something like solid peace in the land. look, do you see that villa with the rustic porch on the cliff; just beyond the town?" "yes--it is so conspicuous and so beautifully situated that one cannot help seeing and admiring it." "that is where the friend lives with whom i shall leave manuela." "indeed," said lawrence, whose interest in the villa with the rustic porch was suddenly intensified, "and shall we find her there on our return?" "i was not aware that senhor armstrong intended to return!" said pedro, with a look of surprise. lawrence felt somewhat confused and taken aback, but his countenance was not prone to betray him. "of course i mean, will _you_ find her there when you return? though, as to my returning, the thing is not impossible, when one considers that the wreck of part of my father's property lies on the western side of the andes." "ah! true. i forgot that for a moment. well, i suppose she will remain here till my return," said pedro, "unless the indians make a successful raid and carry her off in the meantime!" he added, with a quick glance at his companion. "and are we to stay to-night at the same villa?" "no, we shall stay at the inn to which we are now drawing near. i am told that the colonel has his headquarters there." the conversation closed abruptly at this point, for they had reached the inn referred to. at the door stood a tall, good-looking young man, whose shaven chin, cut of whisker, and tweed shooting costume, betokened him an englishman of the sporting class. addressing himself to this gentleman with a polite bow, pedro asked whether colonel marchbanks was staying there. "well--aw--i'm not quite sure, but there is--aw--i believe, a military man of--aw--some sort staying in the place." without meaning to be idiotic, this sporting character was one of those rich, plucky, languid, drawly-wauly men, who regard the world as their special hunting-field, affect free-and-easy nonchalance, and interlard their ideas with "aw" to an extent that is absolutely awful. the same question, put to a waiter who immediately appeared, elicited the fact that the colonel did reside there, but was absent at the moment. "well, then," said pedro, turning quickly to lawrence, "you had better look after rooms and order supper, while i take manuela to the villa." for the first time since they met, lawrence felt inclined to disobey his friend. a gush of indignation seemed to surge through his bosom for a moment, but before he could reply, pedro, who did not expect a reply, had turned away. he remounted his steed and rode off, meekly followed by the indian girl. quashy took the bridles of his own and his master's horse, and stood awaiting orders; while spotted tiger, who was not altogether inexperienced in the ways of towns, led his animal and the baggage-mules round to the stables. "so," thought lawrence, bitterly, "i am ordered to look after things here, and manuela goes quietly away without offering to say good-bye-- without even a friendly nod, although she probably knows i may have to start by daybreak to-morrow, and shall never see her again. bah! what else could i expect from a squaw--a black girl! but no matter. it's all over! it was _only_ her spirit i admired, and i don't care even for that now." it will be observed that our poor hero did not speak like himself here, so grievous was the effect of his disappointment. fortunately he did not speak at all, but only muttered and looked savage, to the amusement of the sportsman, who stood leaning against the door-post of the inn, regarding him with much interest. "will you sup, senhor?" asked a waiter, coming up just then. "eh! no--that is--yes," replied lawrence, savagely. "how many, senhor?" "how many? eh! how should i know? as many as you like. come here." he thundered off along a passage, clanking his heels and spurs like a whole regiment of dragoons, and without an idea as to whither the passage led or what he meant to do. "aw--quite a wemarkable cweature. a sort of--aw--long-legged curiosity of the andes. mad, i suppose, or drunk." these remarks were partly a soliloquy, partly addressed to a friend who had joined the sportsman, but they were overheard by quashy, who, with the fire of a free negro and the enthusiasm of a faithful servant, said-- "no more mad or drunk dan you'self--you whitefaced racoon!" being unable conveniently to commit an assault at the moment, our free negro contented himself with making a stupendous face at the englishman, and glaring defiance as he led the cattle away. as the reader knows, that must have been a powerful glare, but its only effect on the sportsman was to produce a beaming smile of anglo-saxon good-will. that night lawrence armstrong slept little. next morning he found that pedro had to delay a day in order to have some further intercourse with colonel marchbanks. having nothing particular to do, and being still very unhappy--though his temper had quite recovered--he resolved to take a stroll alone. just as he left the inn, a tall, powerfully-built, soldierly man entered, and bestowed on him a quick, stern glance in passing. he seemed to be between fifty and sixty, straight as a poplar, and without any sign of abated strength, though his moustache and whiskers were nearly white. lawrence would have at once recognised a countryman in this old officer, even if the waiter had not addressed him by name as he presented him with a note. at any other time the sociable instincts of our hero would have led him to seek the acquaintance both of the colonel and the awful sportsman; but he felt misanthropical just then, and passed on in silence. before he had been gone five minutes, quashy came running after him. "you no want _me_, massa?" "no, quash, i don't." "p'r'aps," suggested the faithful man, with an excess of modesty and some hesitation,--"p'r'aps you'd like me to go wid you for--for-- company?" "you're very kind, quash, and i should like to have you very much indeed; but at present i'm very much out of sorts, and--" "o massa!" interrupted the negro, assuming the sympathetic gaze instantly, and speaking with intense feeling, "it's not in de stummik, am it?" he placed his hand gently on the region referred to. "no, quash," lawrence replied, with a laugh, "it is not the body at all that affects me; it is the mind." "oh! is dat all?" said the negro, quite relieved. "den you not need to boder you'self. nobody ebber troubled long wid dat complaint. do you know, massa, dat de bery best t'ing for dat is a little cheerful s'iety. i t'ink you'll be de better ob me." he said this with such self-satisfied gravity, and withal seemed to have made up his mind so thoroughly to accompany his young master, that lawrence gave in, and they had not gone far when he began really to feel the benefit of quashy's light talk. we do not mean to inflict it all on the reader, but a few sentences may, perhaps, be advantageous to the development of our tale. "splendid place dis, massa," observed the negro, after they had walked and chatted some distance beyond the town. "yes, quash,--very beautiful." "lots ob nice shady trees an' bushes, and flowers, an' fruits, an' sweet smells ob oranges, an'--" he waved his arms around, as if to indicate a profusion of delights which his tongue could not adequately describe. "quite true, quash," replied lawrence, who was content to play second violin in the duet. "is you gwine," inquired quashy, after a brief pause, "to de gubner's ball to-night?" "no. i did not know there was a governor, or that he intended to give a ball." the negro opened his eyes in astonishment. "you not know ob it!" he exclaimed; "why eberybody knows ob it, an' a'most eberybody's agwine--all de 'spectable peepil, i mean, an' some ob dem what's not zactly as 'spectable as dey should be. but dey's all agwine. he's a liberal gubner, you see, an' he's gwine to gib de ball in de inn at de lan'lord's expense." "indeed; that's a curiously liberal arrangement." "yes, an' a bery clebber 'rangement for de lan'lord. he's a cute man de lan'lord. i s'pose you's agwine?" "_no_, i am not going. i have received no invitation; besides, i have no evening dress." "bless you, massa, you don't need no invitation, nor evenin' dress needer! you just go as you are, an' it's all right." "but i have no wish to go. i would rather prepare for an early start to-morrow." "das a prutty house we's a-comin' to, massa," said quashy, not hearing, or ignoring, the last remark. lawrence looked up with a start. unwittingly, quite unwittingly, he had rambled in the direction of the villa with the rustic porch! "an' dere's de missis ob de villa, i suppose," said quashy. "no, she's on'y a redskin. why, massa!" he continued, opening his eyes to their widest, "it's manuela--or her ghost!" it was indeed our little indian heroine, walking alone in the shrubbery. she had not observed her late companions, who were partly concealed by bushes. "quashy," said lawrence, impressively, laying his hand on the negro's shoulder, "get out of the way. i want to speak to her alone,--to say good-bye, you know, for we start early to-morrow." the negro promptly threw himself on the ground and nodded his head. "you go ahead, massa. all right. when you comes dis way agin, you'll find dis nigger am vanisht like a wreaf ob smoke." a few seconds more, and lawrence suddenly appeared before manuela. she met him without surprise, but with an embarrassed look. instantly a dark chilling cloud seemed to settle down on the poor youth's spirit. mingled with a host of other indescribable feelings, there was one, very strong, of indignation; but with a violent effort he controlled his features, so as to indicate no feeling at all. "this is an unexpected meeting, manuela. i had hardly hoped for it, as we set off very early to-morrow; but i'm glad we have met, for i should never have got over the feeling that i had been unkind in going off without saying good-bye. do you make out what i mean? i think you understand english better than my bad spanish." "yes--i understan'. i very sorry we part. very, _very_ sorry. good-bye." she put out her hand, and lawrence mechanically took it. there was something so ridiculous in this prompt and cool way of parting, after having been so long together, that the youth could scarcely believe he was awake. had this pretty little inca princess, then, no feeling whatever--no touch of common tenderness, like other girls? did the well-known stoicism of her race require that she should part for the last time from the man who had twice saved her life, with a simple "i'm very sorry. good-bye?" he felt cured now, completely. such a _spirit_, he thought, could not command esteem, much less affection. as neither body nor spirit was now left to him, he began to feel quite easy in his mind--almost desperately easy--and that paternal, fraternal platonic interest in the child which we have before mentioned began to revive. "well, manuela," he said at last, with a stupendous sigh, as though he were heaving the entire andes off his rugged old shoulders, yet with a brotherly smile as he patted the little brown hand, "you and i have had pleasant times together. i could have wished--oh! how i--well, hem! but no matter. you will soon, no doubt be among your own people again. all i would ask of you is sometimes, when far-away, to think of me; to think of me as perhaps, the presumptuous young fellow who did his best to make a long and rather trying journey agreeable to you. think of me, manuela, as a father, and i will think of you as my little indian girl!" "i will fink," she said, dropping her grave eyes on the ground, and the stoicism of all the incas seemed to be concentrated in her look and bearing at that moment, "t'ink of you as a fadder." "good-bye," he said again. "good-bye," she replied. he had intended to print a fatherly kiss on the little brown hand, but this parting was too much. he dropped her hand, and, turning abruptly away with a final "farewell--god bless you," quickly left the spot, in a sort of bewildered amazement that a heartless indian girl should ever have been able to obtain, even for a time, so powerful an influence over him. chapter twenty. is cumulatively astonishing. there are, we suppose, in the lives of all men, critical periods-- testing-points, as it were--when their faith in everything true is shaken almost, if not quite, to the foundation, and when they are tempted to ask with more or less of bitterness, "who will show us any good?" well is it for such when, in the hour of trial, they can look up to the fountain of all good and, in the face of doubt, darkness, difficulty, ay, and seeming contradiction, simply "believe" and "trust." when lawrence armstrong slowly sauntered back to the inn after his final interview with manuela, it surprised even himself to find how strong had been his feelings, how profound his faith in the girl's goodness of heart, and how intensely bitter was his disappointment. "but it's all over now," he muttered, thrusting his hands deep into the pockets of his coat, and frowning ferociously at some imaginary wrong, though he would have been puzzled, if required, to state exactly what the wrong was. "all over," he repeated, and then continued with an affected air of indifference, "and what of that? what matters it to me that i have been mistaken? i never was in love with the girl. how could i be with a black--well, a brown squaw. impossible! it was only admiration--strong admiration i admit--of what i had fancied were rarely fine qualities, especially in a sav--an indian; and i've been mistaken; that's all. that's all. but," (after a pause), "_have_ i been mistaken? does this unaccountably callous indifference at saying good-bye to one who is nothing to her--who never can be anything to her--argue that all the good qualities i have admired so much are non-existent, or _bad_ qualities? surely not! let me consider. let me look this perplexing matter straight in the face, and see what is to be made of it. what _are_ the good qualities that i seem to have been so mistaken about?" frowning still more ferociously, as if with a view to constrain himself to the performance of a deed of impartial justice, our hero continued to mutter-- "earnest simplicity--that's the first--no, that's two qualities. be just, lawrence, whatever you are, be just. earnestness, then, that's the first point. whatever else i may have been wrong about, there can be no mistake about that. she is intensely earnest. how often have i noticed her rapt attention and the eager flash of her dark eyes when pedro or i chanced to tell any anecdote in which injustice or cruelty was laid bare. she is so earnest that i think sometimes she has difficulty in perceiving when one is in jest. she does not understand a practical joke--well, to be sure there was that upsetting of the coffee on quashy's leg! but after all i _must_ have been mistaken in that. so much, then, for her earnestness. next, simplicity. no child could be more simple. utterly ignorant of the ways of the world--the nauseous conventionalities of civilised life! brought up in a wigwam, no doubt, among the simple aborigines of the pampas, or the mountains--yes, it must have been the mountains, for the incas of peru dwelt in the andes." he paused here for a few minutes and sauntered on in silence, while a tinge of perplexity mingled with the frown. no doubt he was thinking of the tendency exhibited now and then by the aborigines of the pampas and mountains to raid on the white man now and then, and appropriate his herds as well as scalp himself! "however, _she_ had nothing to do with that," he muttered, apologetically, "and cannot help the peculiarities of her kindred. gentleness; that is the next quality. a man may mistake motives, but he cannot mistake facts. her gentleness and sweetness are patent facts, and her modesty is also obvious. then, she is a christian. pedro told me so. she never omits to pray, night and morning. of course, _that_ does not constitute a christian, but--well, then the sabbath-day she has all along respected; and i am almost sure that our regular halts on that day, although ordered by pedro, were suggested by manuela. of course, praying and sabbath-keeping may be done by hypocrites, and for a bad end; but who, save a consummately blind idiot, would charge that girl with hypocrisy? besides, what could she gain by it all? pshaw! the idea is ridiculous. of course there are many more good qualities which i might enumerate, but these are the most important and clearly pronounced--very clearly." he said this very decidedly, for somehow a counteracting suggestion came from somewhere, reminding him that he had twice saved the indian girl's life; that he had tried with earnest devotion to help and amuse her in all their journeyings together, and that to be totally indifferent about final separation in these circumstances argued the absence of even ordinary gratitude, which is clearly one of the christian virtues! "but, after all," he muttered, indignantly, "would not any young fellow have done the same for any woman in the circumstances? and why should she care about parting from _me_? i wouldn't care much about parting from myself just now, if i could. there, now, that's an end o' the matter. she'll go back to the wigwam of her father, and i'll go and have a jolly good splitting gallop across the pampas with pedro and quashy." "dat's just de bery best t'ing what you can do, massa." lawrence turned round abruptly, and found that his faithful servant was hurrying after him, and grinning tremendously. "why, you're always laughing, quash," said the youth, a little sharply. "o massa!" exclaimed the negro, turning his mouth the other way. "i's nebber laugh no more if you don' like it." "like it, my good fellow!" exclaimed lawrence, himself giving way to a short laugh to conceal his feelings, "of course i like it, only you came on me unexpectedly, and, to say truth, i am--" "still out ob sorts, massa?" "yes, that's it--exactly." "well, for a man out ob sorts, you walk most awrful irriglar--one time slow, noder time so quick. i was 'bleeged to run to obertake you." further converse was checked by their arrival in the town. on reaching the hotel they found the place in considerable confusion and bustle owing to preparations for the governor's ball, about to take place that evening. they met pedro at the door. "you'll go, i suppose?" he said to lawrence, referring to the ball. "indeed i will not. i've had no invitation, and have no evening dress." "why, senhor armstrong forgets he is not now in england," said pedro. "we require neither invitation nor evening dress in an out-o'-the-way place like this. you'll find all sorts of people there. indeed, a few are likely to be of the class who prefer to dance with their coats off." "no matter, i'll not go. nothing will induce me to go," returned lawrence, firmly--almost testily. "don't say that," rejoined pedro, regarding his companion with a peculiar smile. "you may perhaps meet friends there." "you know that i have no friends here," returned our hero, who thereupon went off to his own room to meditate over his uncomfortable feelings. but when he had reached his room and shut his door, pedro's reference to meeting with friends, coupled with his peculiar look, recurred to him. what could the fellow mean? what friends had he in the country except pedro himself and quashy and spotted tiger and--and--manuela, but of course he could not refer to the last, for who ever heard of a governor inviting an unknown indian girl to a ball! no; pedro must have been jesting. he would _not_ go! but the longer he thought over the matter, the more were his perplexity and curiosity increased, until at last he wavered in his firm determination not to go, and when the ball was about to begin, of which the sounds of hurrying steps and musical instruments apprised him, he changed his mind. combing his hair slightly, he tried to brush his rough garments with his hands, arranged his necktie and flannel collar a little, dusted his long boots with a towel, washed his hands, laid aside his weapons, and went off to the hall with the intention of at least looking in at the door to see what was going on. he met pedro in the corridor. "ha! senhor armstrong has changed his mind?" "yes, i have." lawrence said this in the slightly defiant tone of a man who gives in with a bad grace. he was altogether "out of sorts" and unlike himself, but pedro, like a true friend, took no notice of that. "i'm glad you have given in, senhor," said pedro, "for it saves me the trouble of dragging you there by force, in order that i may have the pleasure of seeing how you will look under the influence of a surprise." "a surprise, pedro?" "yes. but come; the ball is about to begin." at the end of the corridor they encountered the english sportsman, who at the same moment chanced to meet his friend, to whom he said-- "i say, just come and--aw--have a look at the company. all free and easy, no tickets required, no dress, no--aw--there goes the governor--" the remainder was lost in distance as the two sporting characters sauntered to the ballroom, where they stood near the door, looking on with condescending benignity, as men might for whose amusement the whole affair had been arranged. and truly there was much to be amused at, as lawrence and his companion, standing just within the doorway, soon found. owing to the situation of the little town near the base of the mountains, there were men there of many nations and tongues on their way to various mines, or on business of some sort in or on the other side of the mountains--germans, french, italians, english, spanish, and portuguese. all strangers were welcomed by the hospitable governor and landlord--the latter of whom felt, no doubt, that his loss on food was more than counterbalanced by his gain on drink. among the guests there were gauchos of the pampas, and the head men of a band of peons, who had just arrived with a herd of cattle. as these danced variously, in camp-dresses, top-boots, silver spurs, ponchos, and shirt sleeves, and as the ladies of the town appeared in picturesque and varied costumes with mantillas and fans, lawrence felt as if he were witnessing a fancy dress gathering, and soon became so absorbed as to forget himself and his companion entirely. he was aroused from his reverie by the drawling exclamation-- "aw! indeed?" "yes," replied the landlord to the sportsman, "the colonel's coming. he's a jolly old man, and likes to see other people enjoyin' a bit o' fun. an' what's more, he's goin' to bring his daughter with him, and another girl--a niece, i suppose. they say they're both splendid creatures." "aw! indeed," languidly replied the sportsman, twisting his moustache. it was evident that the landlord had failed to arouse his interest. at that moment the first dance came to an end, and there was a stir at the upper end of the room, where was another door of entrance. "it's the colonel," exclaimed the landlord, hurrying forward. colonel marchbanks entered with a lady on either arm. he was a splendid old man--so tall that lawrence could distinguish his fine bald head, with its fringe of white hair, rising high above the intervening guests. people became silent and fell away from him, as if to have a better look at him. "come," said pedro, suddenly, "i will introduce you." there was a strange gleam in pedro's eyes, and unwonted excitement in his manner, as he pushed his way through the crowd. lawrence followed in some surprise. suddenly he heard a sharp, strange, indescribable shout. it was the voice of pedro, who was only a few yards in advance of him. our hero sprang forward and beheld a sight which filled him with surprise. one of the girls who leaned on the colonel's arm was a beautiful blonde of about fifteen, with flowing golden hair and rich brown eyes. she stood as if petrified, with the brown eyes gazing intensely at pedro, who also stood transfixed returning the gaze with compound interest. "mariquita!" he murmured, holding out both hands. "yes," said the delighted colonel, "i felt quite sure she was your child, but said nothing about--" "father!" burst from the girl, as, with a cry of joy, she bounded into pedro's arms. "just so," continued the colonel, "i didn't like to mention my suspicions for fear of raising false hopes, and thought the surest way would be to bring them face to face. wasn't it so, manuela?" lawrence turned as if he had received an electric shock. he had been so absorbed in the scene we have just described, that he had not looked at the girl who leaned on the colonel's other arm. he now turned and beheld--not the indian girl of his travels, but a fair-skinned, dark-eyed senhorina. yet as he gazed, the blood seemed to rush to his brain, for these were the eyes of manuela, and the slightly open little mouth was hers--the straight grecian nose, and the graceful figure. it seemed as if his wildest dream were realised, and that manuela had become white! he clasped his hands and gazed, as pedro had just done, with such intensity that the sportsman, observing the rudeness, said to his friend-- "aw--don't you think it would be as well to--aw--kick the fellow out of the room?" "hallo! what's this?" exclaimed the old colonel, turning sharply on lawrence with a magnificent frown. it was quite evident that _he_, as well as pedro and our hero, had also received a most unexpected surprise, for, not only did the youth continue to stand gazing, with clasped hands, but the young lady did not seem in the least offended. on the contrary, she looked up at the colonel with an incomprehensible expression and a bewitching smile, as she said, in excellent english-- "he is not rude, father, only astonished. let me introduce my friend and preserver, mr lawrence armstrong." but lawrence heard not, and cared nothing for the introduction. "it _is_ manuela!" he exclaimed, with a hesitating step forward, and a look of unbelief still lingering in his eyes. she held out her little _white_ hand! he grasped it. the _same_ hand certainly! there could be no doubt about that. "'pon my honour--aw--the most interesting _tableau vivant_ i ever--aw-- saw!" "come, come," cried the colonel, whose pleased smile had given place to unimaginable astonishment. "you--you should have prepared me for this, manuela. i--i'm obliged to you, senhor, of course, for--for saving my daughter; but--come, follow me!" he turned and left the room with rapid strides, and would have dragged manuela after him, if that young lady had not been endued with a pace-- neat, active, and what is sometimes called "tripping,"--which kept her easily alongside of the ancient man of war. lawrence followed mechanically. pedro, with an arm round mariquita's waist, brought up the rear. as they vanished through the doorway the people gave them a hearty cheer, and resumed dancing. the sportsman found himself so much overcome that he could only ejaculate, "aw!" but presently he recovered so far as to say, "let's go an' have a ciga'," and he also melted from the scene. chapter twenty one. hopes, fears, perplexities, joys, and explanations. two conversations took place shortly after the scene in the ballroom, and to these we now draw attention. the first was in the hotel--in the private apartment of colonel marchbanks. having got rid of the ladies, the fiery man of war led his victim--if we may so style him--into the apartment referred to, and shut the door. without asking lawrence to be seated, he stalked into the middle of the room. "now, senhor," he said, wheeling round suddenly, and confronting lawrence with a tremendous frown, "what do you mean by this?" the look and the tone were such as the youth would in ordinary circumstances have resented, but he was far removed from ordinary circumstances just then. he was a victim! as such he looked at his questioner with perplexity in his countenance, and said-- "i beg pardon?" "what do you mean by your conduct, i say?" repeated the colonel, fiercely; for he mistook and was rendered more irritable by the youth's apparent stupidity. "you have insulted my daughter in the ballroom--" "your daughter?" said lawrence, with the air of a man whose eyes are dazzled by some sudden burst of strong light which he does not quite understand. "yes, sir. you know quite well what i mean," cried the colonel, waxing angrier. "it may be true, for all i know or care, that you have saved her life more than once, as pedro tells me, but--" "i saved the life of an indian girl," interrupted lawrence, gently, and gazing wistfully in the colonel's angry face, as if he saw a distant landscape of marvellous beauty through it, "the daughter of a great chief, and a descendant of the incas." "a descendant of the hottentots, sir!" exclaimed the colonel, becoming furious, for he now thought the young man was attempting to jest; "the fact that my daughter--my daughter, sir, was persuaded to assume that useless and ridiculous disguise, and the fact that you rendered her assistance when so disguised, gives you no right to--to insult her in public, and--and--i have heard, sir, from manuela herself, that--" "manuela!" interrupted the victim, in a soft, unbelieving voice, and with an eager, wistful look at the exquisite landscape again,--"is it possible?" "sir, you're a fool!" shouted the old soldier, unable to contain himself. "pedro told me much about you, but he did not say you were a fool!" "impossible! i knew it must be a dream," murmured lawrence, as if to himself, "i was never called a fool before. no gentleman would have done it--least of all an english gentleman." this shot, although not aimed, hit the mark fairly. "forgive me, senhor," said the colonel, modifying his tone, though evidently still much annoyed, "but your manners and language are so strange that, really--" he stopped, as a new light broke upon him. "surely," he said, "you cannot have been in ignorance all this time that manuela _is_ my daughter?" "tell me," cried lawrence, suddenly shaking off the dream of unbelief, advancing a step, and gazing so intensely into the colonel's eyes that the man of war made a quick, involuntary, motion with his right hand towards his sword,--"tell me, colonel marchbanks--is manuela, who, i thought, was an inca princess, _really_ your daughter!" "i know nothing about the inca princesses, senhor," replied the old man, sternly, but with a perplexed air; "all i know is that the disguised girl with whom you have been unfortunately travelling of late is _my_ daughter, and, although your ignorance of the fact accounts in some degree--" he got no further, for lawrence gave a full, free, shout of joy, such as he had not vented since he was a schoolboy, raised himself to his full height, and threw up his arms, clearing off a very constellation of crystal gimcracks from a chandelier in the mighty stretch, and exclaimed-- "i'll have her: i'll have her! yes, in spite of all--" the door opened at that moment and he stood transfixed, for there was spotted tiger--glaring horribly, and obviously charged with important tidings. "come in," cried the colonel in spanish. "come out," cried the savage in some other language, which lawrence did not understand, but which the colonel evidently did, for he clapped on his hat, and, without a word of explanation, hurried with tiger out of the room, leaving lawrence to solitary meditation. the other conversation that we have referred to was held in the garden of the hotel, under a thick overhanging tree, between pedro and the lovely lady who had been the cause of lawrence's little affair with the colonel. "what have you done with her, pedro?" asked the lovely lady. "taken her to the villa, where she will be well cared for." "but why so quickly? why not wait for me?" the voice was in very truth that of manuela, though the countenance was that of a spanish senhorina! "because time is precious. we have received news which calls for speedy action, and i must be in close attendance on your father, manuela. as i am likely to have quarter of an hour to spare while he holds a palaver with tiger, i have sought you out to ask an explanation, for i'm eager to know how and where my darling was found. i can wait as well as most men, but--" "yes, yes, _i_ know," said manuela, drawing her mantilla a little more closely over her now fair face. "you shall hear. listen. you know that my father loves you?" pedro smiled assent, and nodded. "his is a loving and loveable nature," resumed our heroine. ("so is his daughter's," thought pedro, but he did not say so.) "and he never forgets a friend," continued manuela. "he has often, often spoken to me about you, and your dear ones, and many a time in his military wanderings has he made inquiries about the dear child who was stolen so long ago--ten years now, is it not?" "ay, not far short of eleven. she was just turned five when last i beheld her angel face--no, not _last_, thank god." "well, pedro, you may easily believe that we had many raisings of our hopes, like yourself, and many, many disappointments, but these last arose from our looking chiefly in wrong directions. it somehow never occurred to us that her lot might have fallen among people of rank and wealth. yet so it was. one day when out on the pampas not far from buenos ayres, visiting a friend, and never thinking of dear mariquita, we saw a young girl coming towards us down the garden walk. "as she came near, my father stopped short, and laid his hand on my shoulder with such a grasp that i nearly cried out. i looked up in surprise, and never before saw such an expression of eager inquiry on his face. "`manuela!' he said, in a low, tremulous voice, `if mariquita is alive i see her now. i see our friend pedro in every line of her pretty face.' "i looked, but could not see the likeness. you know how differently people seem to be affected by the same face. i failed to see in the sweet countenance framed in curling fair hair, and in the slight girlish figure of surpassing grace, my swarthy friend pedro. she seemed startled at first by my father's abrupt manner. he questioned her. what was her name--`mariquita,' she said. `i was sure of it,' rejoined my father. `your surname, my girl?' "`arnold, senhor,' she replied, with surprise. "my dear father is very impulsive. his hopes sank as fast as they had risen. `of course,' he said afterwards, `mariquita is a common name, and should not have raised my expectations so quickly, but the likeness, you see, staggered me.' "dear father!" continued manuela, casting down her eyes, and speaking in a pensive tone, "i _do_ love him so, because of his little imperfections. they set off his good points to so much greater advantage. i should not like to have a perfect father. would you, pedro?" she raised her eyes to the guide's face with an arch look--and those eyes had become wonderfully lustrous since the skin had lost its brown hue. "really, manuela," returned the impatient guide, "i have not yet considered what degree of perfection i should like in my father--but how about--" "forgive me, yes--mariquita. well, finding that we were going to the house where she dwelt, mariquita walked with us, and told us that she had lived with our english friends, mr and mrs daulton, since she was a little child. did she remember her parents? we asked. yes, she remembered them perfectly, and tried to describe them, but we could make nothing of that for evidently she thought them handsomer, grander, and more beautiful than any other people in the world. she did not remember where they dwelt--except that it was in the woods and among mountains. "`that corresponds exactly,' cried my father, becoming excited. `forgive me, child; i am an eccentric old fellow, but--did you quit your home amid fire and smoke and yells--' "my father was stopped at this point by our arrival at the house, and the appearance of our friends. but he was too much roused by that time to let the matter drop, so he carried mrs daulton off to the library, and learned from her that the child had been lent to her by a priest! "`lent, my dear madam?' said my father. "`yes, lent. the priest laughed when he presented her, but said the child was the orphan daughter of a distant relation of his who had left her to his care. he did not want her, or know what to do with her, and offered to _give_ her to us. my husband said he could not accept such a gift, but he would gladly accept her as a loan! we both disbelieved the priest, for he was a bad man; but, as we were much in want of a companion for our own little girl at the time, we accepted her, and brought her here. the priest died suddenly, and as there was no one else to claim her, we have kept her ever since, and right glad we are to have her.' "`you won't have her long,' said my sweet father, in his usual blunt and pleasant way. `i am convinced that i know her father. of course arnold is a name you gave her?' `no; when she came to us she said her name was mariquita, but she knew of no other name. it was the priest who told, us her surname was arnold.' "well, pedro, to bring my story to an end, my father told the daultons all about you, and got them to lend mariquita to us. that was two years ago. since then she has dwelt with us as my very dear sister. my father knew you were in peru at the time, and his purpose was to wait till you should return, and present mariquita unexpectedly to you to see if you would recognise each other. therefore he did not mention her when he wrote asking you so urgently to return here. neither did he mention his suspicions to mariquita herself. we just led her to understand that we found her company so pleasant that we wished her to remain with us for a long visit. then came news of the illness of a dear relation of mine in chili. i was sent by my father to see and nurse her. at parting he told me if i should by any chance meet with you, i was on no account to speak or even hint at this matter. little did either of us think at the time that i was destined to make so long a journey under your care. and you know, senhor pedro, that i am not bad at keeping secrets. i not only obeyed my father in this matter, but i faithfully obeyed yourself when you imposed on me the necessity of keeping my disguise secret from senhor armstrong." "you did, manuela, faithfully." "and it was very hard to do, let me assure you, as well as needless," returned manuela, in a slightly hurt tone. "over and over again i have been on the point of betraying myself. why did you require me to maintain such secrecy, and afflict myself with such constant care and watchfulness?" "because i knew full well," replied pedro, with a twinkle in his eye, "that if poor senhor armstrong knew your true character, he would infallibly fall in love with you in spite of your brown skin." "and pray, senhor, why should you object to senhor armstrong, or any one else, falling in love with me in spite of my brown skin?" "you know very well, manuela, that, your father being my friend, it is my duty in all circumstances to be faithful to him. you are also aware that your father entertains a strong objection to very young men, who have no money or prospects, presuming to think of marriage with his daughter, and that he would never consent to your being engaged to senhor armstrong in present circumstances. it was my simple duty, therefore, when i saw the danger, to warn and protect you. indeed i saw, almost the first day after we met the youth, that i had made a great mistake in asking him to join us; but it was too late then to change, so i imposed secrecy on you, and admit that you have acted your part well; but my well-meant efforts have been utterly in vain." "how so!" "why, because the poor wretch has fallen hopelessly in love with you in spite of your disguise--ay, and in spite of his own efforts to the contrary, for i have watched him carefully, and regard him as an uncommonly fine specimen of an amiable, self-denying, and honourable man. and now, as i had feared, your father is furious at his presuming even to think of you, though i have done my best to show him that he has acted nobly all through our journey; that, after all, he may not really care for you at all, and that at all events you have given him no encouragement whatever, and do not care a straw for _him_." manuela flushed deeply at the last words, and there was the slightest possible contraction of her fine eyebrows as she replied, somewhat loftily-- "senhor pedro, you are a kind friend and a faithful guide, but you pretend to a greater knowledge of these matters than you possess. you do not understand my beloved father as well as i do, and you are totally ignorant of the state of my feelings. however, i believe you have done all for the best, and my earnest request now is that, having discharged what you conceive to be your duty on this point, you will say and do nothing more." "your will would be law in this matter, even if i were not under such a deep debt of gratitude to you," returned pedro, "and it is all the more easy to obey you now that i have handed you over to your father and am no longer responsible. are you aware that we start immediately in pursuit of the indians who have attacked and murdered the poor people of rolland's ranch?" "yes, my father has told me all about it." "has he told you that you and mariquita are to accompany the force so far on the road, and that when we get beyond the disturbed district i am to carry you on with a small party to buenos ayres, while the main body pursues the savages?" "yes, he told me that too," replied manuela; "but," she added, with a little hesitation, "he did not say who was to go with our small detachment." the slightest possible twinkle in pedro's eye indicated suppressed feeling as he replied that he also was ignorant on that point--the only things which he was quite sure of being, that senhor armstrong and quashy were to go with the main body. "indeed!" exclaimed the maiden in surprise. "i had thought senhor armstrong objected to fighting." pedro laughed. "so he does, senhorina; but when the rescue of captive women and children is in the case, he holds fighting to be a duty, as you are aware. but i must go now," continued pedro, becoming grave and earnest as he took the girl's hand. "words can never express my feelings towards you and your father, dear manuela. indeed i have never been in the habit of saying much--least of all when i have felt much. mariquita and i will bless you both to the latest hour of our lives. adieu. we meet in the morning at the house in which you are staying-- lawrence has named it the house with the rustic porch--and we start from there. you are all ready, i suppose?" "yes. you know i have little luggage to look after," said manuela, with a laugh, "and i shall continue to travel as an indian girl--as an inca princess!" "indeed. why so?" "that, senhor pedro, is a matter with which you have nothing whatever to do!" chapter twenty two. colonel marchbanks proves to be not so good a general as he gets credit for, and lawrence stands self-convicted. it has been stated that our hero had agreed to join colonel marchbanks in the pursuit of the indians, not because the troops sought to avenge the murders which had been committed, but because several women and children had been carried off, and the rescue of these formed the main object of the expedition. there can be no doubt, however, that the desire of lawrence to join in such a praiseworthy adventure was not a little stimulated by the fact that manuela was to accompany her father, at least a part of the way, and he naturally hoped to have some opportunities of speaking to her-- perhaps of riding beside her, as he had so often done when he imagined her to be a daughter of the incas. but alas! the course of his love being true and deep--remarkably deep-- was doomed to run in its proverbially rugged course. colonel marchbanks, when leading his men to "glory"--or otherwise--like a true soldier, as he was, invariably moved with an advance and rear-guard. like a cautious father, he placed lawrence in the rear-guard, and arranged that there should be a considerable distance between it and the main body. we may remark in passing that when the first burst of the old gentleman's anger with lawrence was over he had generously resolved, in consideration of what the young man had done for his daughter, to make no further allusion to the ballroom scene, but merely to hold the presumptuous youth politely at arm's-length, and take especial care that the two young people should not again have an opportunity of meeting alone. he laid no command on either of them, but simply trusted to his own wisdom and watchfulness. being as it were a freelance, lawrence, he knew, would naturally ride in the force very much where he pleased. he had therefore cleverly provided against the evil consequences that might flow from such freedom by making a little arrangement at a brief and final interview the evening before they set out. "now, young senhor," he said, in his usual abrupt way, "although a volunteer in this expedition, and not versed in military matters, you must of course put yourself under my orders, and consider yourself one of my troopers." oh! of course, of course, lawrence had not the slightest objection to do so. he was quite ready to do whatever was required of him, if only he might assist in the rescue of hapless captives; and although he knew nothing of military matters, still, in the event of an engagement, he might prove himself useful as a surgeon. "humph! we don't deal much in surgeons in this country. it is usually do or die with us," replied the colonel, with a grim smile. "however, we shall see. meanwhile, i have appointed you to the charge of some of the baggage-mules. your late experience must have made you somewhat expert in such matters, and your duty will be with the rear-guard. one of my officers will show you your position in the morning. good-night." lawrence left with a quiet "good-night, colonel," and with a very unquiet feeling that somehow things might not turn out precisely as he had hoped. later that night manuela appeared before her stern father dressed in the old familiar costume of an indian girl, and with her fair skin stained dark brown. usually the old soldier met his child with a beaming smile, that lit up his rugged visage with tenderness, as a gleam of sunshine sometimes illumines the rugged peaks of the andes, but on this occasion he received her with a frown compounded of love and annoyance. "how now, child? this is an unseasonable time for such foolery." "i want to travel in my old dress, father," she replied, with a winning smile that almost tore the old man's heart in twain;--and there are such smiles, reader, let us assure you, though you may not have had the good fortune to see them yet! "you certainly shall do nothing of the sort, my dear," returned the stern old man, as if he were laying down one of the medo-persic laws-- for he was very tough, you know, and had great power of control over his feelings, especially the softer ones. "oh, i'm _so_ sorry you don't like it!" said the inca princess, with a little look of humble disappointment which was infinitely more heartrending than the smile; "but do you know, father, i have ridden so long in this costume, and in the gentleman fashion, that i feel quite sure--at least, i think--i should be utterly knocked up the first day if i were to begin a long hard journey in the ladies' position. then, you know, i could not dare to ride so in ordinary female dress and with a white face; the thing would look ridiculous--wouldn't it? and, of course, everybody knows that pedro arrived here with an indian girl in his band, so the thing will seem quite natural, and nobody will notice me, especially if i keep near to pedro; and the soldiers will just think--if they think at all--that you have left your daughter behind." "ah, well, that alters the case, manuela," said the colonel, with most un-medo-persic hesitancy, and still frowning a little at his ink-bottle--not at his daughter. "of course, if it had been merely one of your whims, _nothing_ would have induced me to let you go in such guise, but there is truth in what you say, and--yes--a good thought, you shall travel near pedro. good-night. go to bed, love. you will need all the rest you can obtain between now and morning." "good-night, darling father. i would kiss you if i had not just put on the stain." she retired, and soon after laid her pretty brown cheek on her pillow in placid contentment, while her grim father arranged his war plans so that pedro should travel with the _advance-guard_. there was a soft, fresh, exhilarating breeze blowing from the pampas as the troop issued from the little town at a gallop, when the first streak of dawn became visible. there was order, doubtless, in all the arrangements, but all seemed utter confusion to lawrence as he assisted the young officer under whose special command he was placed to look after the mules. some faint evidence of order, however, began to reveal itself to his uneducated mind when he observed that the confusion abated on the main body moving off and leaving him with a small band behind. his perception of order might have been still further though unpleasantly increased had he known that the advance-guard, with manuela in its train, had started a considerable time previously. but he had not much time to think, for the command was almost immediately given to mount and ride. quashy was beside him, for, being his servant, colonel marchbanks had said he might do with him as he pleased. but quashy was silent, for his spirit was chafed. his master observed the fact after the first half-hour's gallop. "what ails you, quash?" "i can't abide peepil," growled the negro, "what says `aw!'" "what do you mean?" "i mean that aw's agwine wid us." "what--the sportsman--eh?" "yes, massa. on'y i don't b'lieve he ever sported nuffin but a swagger, and--and--`aw!' w'en i git up dis mornin' i heerd 'im say to his friend: `i say, jack, wouldn't it--aw--be dooced good fun to go and-- aw--hab a slap at de injins?' if de injins send a spear troo his libber--aw--he'll not t'ink it sitch fun!" "that's true, quash, but the same may be said of ourselves." "not so, massa, 'cause we nebber said it would be `dooced good fun.'" "there's something in that, quash, but you shouldn't let feelings of ill-will to any one get the mastery of you. men of his stamp are often very good fellows at bottom, though they do `aw' in a most ridiculous and unaccountable manner. besides, he has done you no harm." "done me no harm!" repeated the negro, indignantly, "didn't he say you was mad or drunk?" "well, well," said lawrence, laughing, "that was a very innocent remark. it did no harm to either of us." "you's wrong, massa," returned quashy in a magnificently hurt tone. "it dood no harm to you, but it hurt my _feelin's_, an' dat's wuss dan hurtin' my body." at this point in the conversation the troop passed over the brow of an eminence, and beheld the wide rolling sea of the illimitable south american pampas, or plains, stretching away on all sides to the horizon. during the whole morning they had been galloping through the region of the _monte_, or bush, that border-land which connects the treeless plains with the tropical forests of the north, where thorny shrubs covered the ground in more or less dense patches, where groves of the algaroba--a noble tree of the mimosa species,--and trees laden with a peach-like but poisonous fruit, as well as other trees and shrubs, diversified the landscape, and where the ground was carpeted with beautiful flowering plants, among which were the variegated blossoms of verbena, polyanthus, and others. but now, all was changed. it seemed as if the party had reached the shores of a great, level, grassy sea, with only here and there a seeming islet, where a thicket grew, to break the sky-line of the horizon. for a few minutes the rear-guard drew up to collect the straggling baggage-mules, and then away they went with a wild shout, as if they were moved by the same glad feeling of freedom that affects the petrel when it swoops over the billows of the mighty ocean. the scene and the sensations were absolutely new to lawrence and quashy. both were mounted on very good horses, which seemed to sympathise with their riders, for they required no spur to urge them over the grassy plain. the sun was bright, and lawrence had been too long accustomed to the leaden skies of old england to quarrel with the sunshine, however hot it might be; besides, he rather enjoyed heat, and as for quashy, heat was his native element. a pleasant air was blowing, too. in short, everything looked beautiful, especially to our hero, who knew--at least supposed--that a certain princess of the incas was in the band immediately in front of him. he was not aware, you see, that she was with the advance-guard! "das am mug-nifercent!" exclaimed quashy, as his horse put his foot into a biscacho-hole, and only escaped a fall by making a splendid bound, where by its haunch, striking the negro's back, sent him plunging on to its neck. "oh! i _does_ like to be shook like dat, massa." "if you get shook much worse than that," cried lawrence, "i'll have to stop to pick you up." "no fear, massa. howebber much i wobbles i nebber comes off." an islet of bushes at this point necessitated a slight detour. on the other side of it they found that the main body of the troop had halted for rest and food. right glad was lawrence to find that colonel marchbanks's humour was entirely changed, that the asperity of the previous night had passed away, and that the natural urbanity of his nature had returned. "a pleasant gallop, was it not, senhor armstrong?" he said, as our hero joined the group of officers around him. "delightful, and quite new to me," said lawrence. "i have often read of but never seen the pampas till now." he looked furtively about as he spoke. the colonel marked the look, and with a somewhat grim smile observed that they should see more than enough of the pampas for some days to come. "the sea of long yellow-brown grass and thistles," he added, "gets to be rather monotonous at last; but i never weary of the feeling of immensity and freedom which it inspires. come, dine with us, senhor." lawrence gladly accepted the invitation. "we make but a brief halt," said the colonel, "for time presses and distances are great. our next shall be at the estancia algaroba, where we shall spend the night. your friend pedro will make arrangements for us. he is with the advance-guard." "oh, indeed," said lawrence; then, feeling that he ought to say something more, "i suppose his newly-found daughter is with him?" "yes," replied the colonel, curtly, as he shot a suspicious glance at the youth from under his shaggy brows. after dining, lawrence returned to the baggage-mules with an unaccountable depression of spirits upon him, and deeply absorbed with the question whether rear-guards ever overtook advance-guards, and what, if they did, usually became of intervening main bodies. with such puzzling military questions on his mind, the remainder of that day's journey was not equal to the first part, and even quashy, the sympathetic, failed to interest him! the estancia, previously referred to by the colonel, stood on a slight eminence surrounded by the grove of algaroba-trees from which it derived its name. the fruit of this tree forms excellent food for cattle, and lawrence found himself busily engaged during the first hour after arrival in procuring it for his mules, and otherwise looking after his charge. when this duty was done, feeling no disposition to join his comrades at supper, he sauntered into a garden in rear of the estancia, where he found a rustic seat under an algaroba-tree, and sat down to meditate. it was a calm, peaceful, moonlight night, with an air, so he felt, of sadness about it which harmonised with his melancholy thoughts. he now believed he saw through colonel marchbanks's plan, and had given up all hope of seeing manuela again. in these circumstances, being a man of submissive spirit yet powerful will, he set himself resolutely to think of the important object in which he was engaged. somewhat thus his meditations ran-- "i am no soldier, but i am a man, and i should be less than a man-- unworthy to live--if i were not ready to help in the rescue of women and children. some of the girls, poor things, may be like manu--that is--. now, although i hate war, and do not approve of settling disputes by the sword, i feel that self-defence, or the defence of the helpless, justifies war,--ay, to the knife. of course it does. was i not thoroughly justified in fighting the robbers when manu--. well, then, let me think it out. a thing is not properly thought at all until it is thought out, and _found_ out. talking of that, how fortunate that pedro's little daughter was found out. it is most interesting! i delight to think of her. and she's so pretty, too--quite beautiful, though, of course, not so beautiful as man--" "bother manuela!" he exclaimed aloud, starting up. as he spoke, manuela herself--the princess of the incas--stood before him! in order to account for this sudden miscarriage of the colonel's plans, we must turn aside to state that the princess, being of an active disposition, and not easily tired, had said to pedro that evening, when his detachment was encamping under a group of trees not far from the estancia, that she would ride back to the main body to see her father. "but my strict orders are," said pedro, "that i am to keep you with the advance-guard, and you know that your father is not a man to be disobeyed." "quite true," returned the princess, looking with a solemn expression down at pedro--for she was still on horseback, while he and his men were dismounted, preparing the camp. "you must on no account disobey my father, pedro." "well then, you see," returned the guide, with an amused look, "i cannot give you permission to leave us." "of course not. that would be insubordination, pedro, would it not? which, in time of war, is punishable, i think, with death. i would never think of asking permission, or tempting you to disobey. i will be sure to tell my father that you positively refused to let me go. adieu, senhor pedro. a good appetite and sweet repose!" she touched her splendid horse with a switch, and next moment was flying over the pampas at a pace that rendered pursuit useless. dismounting and fastening her steed to a tree, she passed through the garden towards the house, and naturally, as we have seen, came upon lawrence. "manuela!" he exclaimed. "si, senhor," she replied. he advanced a step with outstretched arms, and then, checking himself, clasped his hands. "is it--can it be--a dream?" "what doos you dream, senhor?" asked the girl, in the old familiar broken english. "manuela, dear girl, do not trifle with me. it seems like magic. did i not see you--in the ballroom--white--the daughter of colonel marchbanks?" "well, senhor armstrong," said manuela, earnestly, and in good english, "i admit that i am the daughter of colonel marchbanks, but i did not-- indeed i did not _wish_ to deceive--" "deceive!" interrupted lawrence, quickly, "as well might you tell me that one of the unfallen angels did not mean to deceive. o dear one, forgive me! i know not how to tell it--but--but--_can_ you believe that a great stupid fellow like myself loves you so that--that--i--well--it's of no use. i'll never act wisely if i try to--to--" he seized her hand. she did not withdraw it. he drew her to him. she did not resist; and there followed a sound--a very slight sound; yet it was not so slight but that it sent a shock of alarm and anger to the soul of colonel marchbanks, who came up at that awkward moment. "sir! sirrah! senhor,--rascal!" spluttered the old man, as manuela ran away from the scene, "what--why--what do you mean?" drawing himself up, lawrence said, with a look of dignity-- "colonel marchbanks, i can look you honestly in the face, and say that neither in word nor deed have i done you or your daughter wrong." "no--have you _not_?" shouted the colonel. "sir! rascal!--there is a looking-glass over the mantelpiece in the estancia. go there, look _yourself_ in the face, and say, if you dare, that you have done me no wrong!" he wheeled about violently and strode away, fuming. lawrence went to his chamber, wondering at such a display of wrath in one so genial. he glanced at the looking-glass in passing through the chief room of the estancia. the glance revealed to him the fact that there was a large rich brown patch in the region of his mouth and nose! chapter twenty three. treats of savages, captives, chases, accidents, incidents, and perplexities. not unfrequently, in human affairs, evil consequences are happily averted by unforeseen circumstances. it was so on the present occasion. what colonel marchbanks's wrath might have led to no one can tell, for, a little before dawn on the following morning, there came a messenger in hot haste from pedro stating that one of the scouts had come in with the news that the indians were encamped with their captives and booty not half a day's ride in advance of them. the result was an immediate order to advance and to close up. it is interesting to consider how small a matter will cheer the spirits of some men. the order to mount and ride naturally produced some excitement in the breast of lawrence armstrong, being unaccustomed to the dash and whirl of troops eager to meet the foe; but the succeeding order to "close up" did more, it filled his heart with joy, for did it not imply that the advance and rear-guards must come nearer to each other? at least to his unmilitary mind it seemed so. in a brief space of time, and with marvellously little noise, the troops were in motion, and at dawn, sure enough, he saw the figures of the ladies galloping with the advance party, with pedro leading the way--for he had been appointed to the responsible duty of guide. venturing to push a little ahead of his special charge, lawrence soon found himself with the main body, and heard the colonel order one of his officers to ride forward and tell the ladies to fall to the rear of the force. hearing this, lawrence, almost imperceptibly to himself, tightened his reins, but, before he had dropped many strides behind, the colonel turned his head slightly and summoned him by name. with something like a guilty feeling lawrence rode forward. "we have heard of the whereabouts of the savages, senhor armstrong. you are a civilian, and as surgeon to the force it is your duty, of course, to keep as much out of danger as possible, but as brave men usually prefer the front, i absolve you from this duty. you are at liberty to go there if you choose." the blood rushed to our hero's face. he knew well what the old soldier meant. with a simple "thank you, colonel," he put spurs to his steed, and was in a few seconds galloping alongside of pedro. "you ride furiously, senhor," said the guide, with a twinkle in his eye which was characteristic of him when amused. lawrence made no reply. just then they overtopped a slight ridge or rising ground, and beheld a few mounted men on the horizon. these were evidently the scouts of the indian band, for on seeing the soldiers they drew hastily together and stood in a group as if to consult for a few seconds. then, turning, they galloped over the next rising ground and disappeared. the soldiers of course increased their speed. on gaining the top of the ridge, they beheld a large band of indians mounting and galloping off in hot haste. evidently they did not intend to give battle--at least at that time. with a mighty shout the soldiers bore down on them at their utmost speed--lawrence, pedro, the colonel, and quashy leading, for they were the best mounted of the party. it was soon perceived that captives were with the indians, for women in civilised dress were seen on horseback, and some of the savages had children in front of them. at this sight every thought of self fled from the warm heart of lawrence armstrong, and he was impressed with but one idea--"rescue the helpless!" urging his steed to its utmost, he was soon far ahead of the troop, closely followed by quashy, whose eyes and teeth seemed to blaze with excitement. there was a savage straight ahead of them who carried something in his arms. it seemed to be a child. fixing his eye on this man, lawrence spurred on, and grasped his sword with deadly intent. quashy, ever observant, did the same. the man, perceiving their intentions, diverged a little to the right of his comrades, probably thinking that his pursuers would be unwilling to quit the main band, and might thus be thrown off. he was mistaken, for lawrence possessed, with immense power of will, a strong spice of recklessness. the more, therefore, that the savage diverged, the more did his pursuers diverge in their determination to have him. finding himself hard pressed, he dropped his load. it proved to be only a sack, which, bursting, revealed, not a child, but a quantity of miscellaneous property! enraged as well as disappointed by the discovery, our hero, being fallible, permitted evil feelings to enter his bosom, and spurred on with a tighter grasp of the sword under the influence of revenge, but the savage being now lightened held on with still greater speed, diverging more and more until, in a short time, he raced almost at right angles from his companions towards a part of the plain which was somewhat elevated above the surrounding level. it was a wise move on his part, for the place, he knew, was riddled with biscacho-holes. among these he steered his course with consummate skill. of course lawrence's steed ere long put its foot into a hole and rolled over, sending its rider headlong to the ground, where he lay on his back insensible, alike to pity for captives and impulses of revenge. after lying thus for a considerable time he slowly opened his eyes, and, looking up, met the solemn gaze of quashy. his head rested on the knee of his sable follower. "what's wrong, quash?" was his first inquiry. "nuffin's wrong, massa, now you talk. i was begin to t'ink your mout' was shut up for ebber." "have they caught the rascals?" asked lawrence, suddenly recollecting what had passed, and raising himself on one elbow. "i not know, massa. nobody here to tell." "how--what--where are the troops?" "dun know, massa; gone arter de injins, i s'pose, an' de injins gone arter deir own business, an' bof gone off de face ob de art' altogidder--so far as i can see." lawrence started up in great anxiety, and although still giddy from the effects of his fall, could see plainly enough that neither troops nor indians were to be seen--only a mighty sea of waving grass with a clear horizon all round, and nothing to break the monotony of the vast solitude save their two horses browsing quietly a few yards off. "quashy, it strikes me that we shall be lost," said lawrence, with anxious look. "'smy opinion, massa, dat we's lost a'ready." "come," returned lawrence, rising with some difficulty, "let's mount and be off after them. which way did they go--that is, at what point of the compass did they disappear?" quashy's face assumed the countless wrinkles of perplexity. he turned north, south, east, and west, with inquiring glances at the blank horizon, and of course gave a blank reply. "you see, massa," he said, apologetically, "you hoed a-rollin' ober an' ober in sitch a way, dat it rader confused me, an' i forgits to look whar we was, an' den i was so awrful cut up for fear you's gone dead, dat i t'ink ob nuffin else--an' now, it's too late!" "too late indeed," rejoined lawrence, with a feeling of bitterness, "nevertheless, we must ride somewhere. catch our horses, quashy, and i will wait for you and think." having applied himself to that most difficult process--thinking out a plan with insufficient material for thought--our hero resolved to ride in what he supposed--judging by the position of the sun--was an easterly direction, hoping to strike the trail of the pursuers and fugitives before night. "you see, quashy," he remarked, as they galloped swiftly over the flowering plains, "we are almost sure to find the trail in a short time; for although neither you nor i have had much experience in following trails in the wilderness, we have got some sort of idea--at least i have, from books--of how the thing should be done, and even the most stupid white man could scarcely ride across the track of several hundred horsemen without observing it." "das true, massa. eben the stoopidist black man am equal to dat. but what if you's mistook de d'rection, an' we's ridin' west instead ob east?" "why then, quashy, we'd discover our mistake sooner or later by arriving at the andes," returned lawrence, with a bland smile. "hi! i don' mean west," returned the negro, with a reciprocal grin; "you couldn't be so mistook as dat--but s'pose you'se go souf by mistake?" "why, then the straits of magellan would bring us up." "ah--well, massa, i dun know whar de straits ob majillum is, but it would be a comfort to be brought up anywhar, for den you couldn't go no farder. an' if we's on de right track, we're sure to come to de atlantic at last, eben if we miss de injins an' de sodjers altogidder. das pleasant to t'ink on--i'n't it?" apparently lawrence did not think it remarkably pleasant, for he paid no further attention to the remarks of his companion, but proceeded along with a profound, almost stern, gravity, and with his eyes glancing keenly right and left after the most approved manner of the indian brave or the backwoods scout. no track or trail, however, of any kind was to be seen. for more than an hour they sped along, down in the flowering hollows, over the grassy waves steering carefully past the riddled townships of the biscachos, now and then diverging a little to avoid some larger shrubs or tangled masses of herbage, sometimes uttering a word of comment on passing objects, and occasionally craning their necks on observing some buzzard or other bird on the horizon, but never drawing rein until they came to a rising ground, from the highest point of which they could have a commanding view of the region all round. here they pulled up. "quashy," said lawrence, in a deep, solemn tone, "we are indeed lost." "it 'pears to me you's right, massa." "and yet we _must_ be on the right track," continued lawrence, as if communing with himself, "unless, indeed, the indians may have changed their direction and turned off to the south." "or de nort'," suggested quashy, in the same self-communing tone. "come, there's nothing for it but to push on," cried lawrence, galloping away. "das so. nuffin else," said quashy, following. and so they continued on for another hour or more in grim silence, after which they rode, as it were, in grim despair--at least lawrence did so, for he felt bitterly that he was now separated, perhaps for ever, from manuela, and that he could render no further aid in rescuing the captives from the savages. as for the negro, despair was not compatible with his free and easy, not to say reckless, happy-go-lucky temperament. he felt deeply indeed for his young master, and sympathised profoundly; but for himself he cared little, and thought of nothing beyond the interests of the passing hour. possibly if both horses had broken their legs and lawrence had broken his neck, quashy might have given way to despair, but it is probable that nothing less severe could have overcome his buoyant spirit. at last the sun began to descend behind the andes, which were by that time turned into a misty range of tender blue in the far, far distance. the steeds also showed signs of declining power, for, in his anxiety to overtake the troops, lawrence had pressed them rather harder than he would otherwise have done. opportunely at that time they came in sight of a small clump of bushes, like a low islet in the sea of grass. "we will camp here," said lawrence, brusquely, as he pulled up and dismounted. "the game is up. we are fairly lost, that's quite clear, and it is equally clear that we and our horses must rest." he spoke in a tone of cynical joviality, as if defying his misfortunes. the simple-minded quashy, accepting it as genuine, said, "all right, massa," in a tone of cheerful satisfaction, as he slid off his steed and set about preparing the encampment. if our hero's mind had been more at ease, it is probable that he would have enjoyed his surroundings greatly, for, although lost on the wide pampas, they had not begun yet to suffer physically from that misfortune. their wallets were still supplied with food sufficient for at least three full meals, the weather was serene, and the situation, viewed in one aspect, was exceedingly romantic. from the top of the rising ground where the fire was burning and the steaks of mare's flesh roasting, the complete circle of the horizon could be seen, and the yellow-brown grass of the pampas, at that time about a foot high, rolled with a motion that strangely resembled the waves of the liquid ocean itself. but poor lawrence was incapable of enjoying the beauties of nature just then. after one long, anxious look round to see if any object should present itself which might raise the faintest echo of hope, he returned to the camp, and sat down on a mound with a profound sigh. "chee' up, massa," said quashy, raising his face, which glittered with his efforts to blow the fire into a glow. "you's git her in de long run." "get who?" demanded lawrence, in surprise, not unmingled with a touch of severity, for this was the first time that his humble follower had dared to touch on the theme that was uppermost in his mind. with a strange compound of what is well named "cheek" and humility, quashy replied, "_her_, you know, de inca princess--manuela. it's all right!" "and pray, quashy, how do _you_ know that it's all right, or that i want anything to be all right. in short, what business have you to presume to--to--" "oh, it's all right, massa," replied the negro, with a wink--and _what_ a wink that was!--"i knows all about it, bein' _zactly_ in de same state wid sooz'n." lawrence sought refuge from conflicting feelings in a loud laugh, and asked what hope quashy could by any possibility entertain of ever seeing susan again--she having, as it were, vanished from off the earth. "oh, nebber fear," was quashy's comfortable reply. "i's sure to find sooz'n, for she no can git along widout me, no more nor i can git along widout her. we's sure to find one anoder in de long run." envying his man's unwavering faith, lawrence sat for some time silently contemplating the gorgeous sunset, when an exclamation drew his attention to the opposite side of the landscape. "look, massa. suffin movin' dar." there was indeed a moving speck--or rather two specks--on the horizon. as they drew nearer it was soon seen to be a gaucho of the pampas in full chase of an ostrich. they did not come straight towards our wanderers, but passed within half a mile of them. the picturesque hunter, bending over his steed's neck, with his scarlet poncho streaming behind him, and the bolas whirling round his head, was so eager in the pursuit that he either did not observe, or did not mind, the thin smoke of the camp-fire. the giant bird, stretching its long legs to the utmost and using its wings as additional propellers, seemed quite able to hold its own and test the powers of the horse. gradually pursuer and pursued passed out of the range of vision, and were seen no more. "just as well," remarked lawrence, as he afterwards sat eating his mare-steak by the star-and-fire light, "that fellow might be one of the many robbers who are said to infest the plains; and although we could no doubt have protected ourselves from him, he might have brought a swarm of his comrades about our ears." "yes, massa," was quashy's brief reply, for he was engaged at that moment with a large and tough mouthful. a long ride, and a hearty though frugal supper, disposed both master and man for rest that night. when the last gleam of sunset had faded from the western sky, and the last scraps of mare's flesh had vanished from their respective bones; when the stars were twinkling with nocturnal splendour, and all nature was sinking to repose, lawrence and quashy lay down on the grass, spread their ponchos above them, pillowed their weary heads upon their saddles, and slept profoundly. chapter twenty four. lawrence and his man fall in with strangers, hear good news, and experience rough usage. "lost on the pampas!" thought lawrence, on awaking next morning. it was romantic, no doubt, but--well, he did not follow up the "but" with very definite conceptions. as he lifted his eyes towards the horizon, where the rays of the rising sun were suffusing the sky with a tinge of rosy light, his first feelings partook of gratitude for a night of unbroken rest, which had restored a bounding sensation of physical life and strength and energy. awaking in such a condition of mind and body leads one, contradictory though it may seem, to spend the first few minutes of reviving consciousness in restful contemplation and enjoyment of one's surroundings. raising himself on one elbow, our hero let his eyes wander dreamily over the vast plain. there was much monotony about it, no doubt, but the majesty of illimitable space neutralised that impression. on the horizon the intensifying tone of the rapidly increasing light harmonised with the varying greens and yellows of the herbage. here and there one or two uplands in the far distance caught the sheen of day and relieved the prospect with streaks of varied hue. still nearer a few clumps of low shrubbery increased this diversity a little. in the middle-distance the varied colours and forms of the grasses became distinct enough to invest the scene with character, while in the immediate foreground additional force and interest were given to the landscape by the person of quashy lying flat on his back, with his great eyes closed and his huge mouth open. the state of dreamy contemplation did not last long. the stern realities of the situation seemed to rush in upon his mind with sudden power. lost! lost! the captives perhaps still unrescued from the savages! manuela in danger! it was a dreadful state of things. "come, quashy!" cried lawrence, leaping up and giving the negro a rough shake that brought him instantly to a sitting and blinking condition. "get up. we must be off. saddle the horses--the hor--why, where _are_ the horses?" he finished the sentence in tones of anxiety, for no horses were visible. bounding into the patch of bushes, on the edge of which they had passed the night, lawrence ran through it hastily, followed by his man, who had shaken off lethargy in a moment. the patch was small. moreover, the shrubs were barely tall enough to conceal a horse. in five minutes it became quite certain that the horses were not there. from the highest point of the rising ground they had a clear view of the plains all round, but after the keenest scrutiny not a speck resembling a horse was to be seen. the searchers looked at each other in dismay. "lost! and our horses gone!" said lawrence, in a voice which excess of alarm had reduced to a sort of low, hoarse whisper. "most awrful!" murmured quashy. lawrence cleared his throat and paused, while his sympathetic servant gazed. "now, quashy," he said, "it seems to me quite impossible that our animals could have strayed in a few hours quite out of such an enormous circle of vision. they _must_ be somewhere about, though we can't see them." "yes, massa, dey _must_ be somewhar, as you say." "well, then, it follows that they must be concealed in one of the few clumps of bushes that lie around us. so we must search these instantly, for our only hope lies in finding the horses." "das so, massa." even our negro's elastic spirit seemed to be subdued to some extent by the prospect before them; for, apart from the fact that the bushy islets in the grassy sea were scarcely high enough to entirely conceal so large an object as a horse, they were scattered about at such immense distances from each other that a complete search of them implied toilsome labour for at least the whole of that day. lawrence felt, however, that it had to be done, and arranged that his man should search towards the east, while he should take the west. to prevent the risk of their losing the mound on which they stood, one of their ponchos was thrown over the top of the highest bush and fixed there as a signal. so eager were they to begin, that both started off without a thought of breakfast. it is not necessary to follow the steps of each. in regard to lawrence, it may suffice to say that he wandered during the whole of that sultry day over the boundless plain, wearily but persistently examining the few bush-islets that lay to the west of their bivouac without finding a trace of the lost steeds. as the sun began to decline towards the east he gave up in despair, and, with weary limbs and something like wolfish hunger, returned towards the rendezvous. very different had been the experience of his sable servant. starting off, as we have said, at the same time with his master, quashy found the two horses, after a two hours' search, quietly grazing in a grassy hollow. a low shrub-covered mound lying close to this hollow intervened between it and the spot where our adventurers had spent the night, thus effectually concealing the lost steeds from view. the instant quashy made the discovery he ran to the nearest elevation on the plain with the intention of shouting the news to his master, but by that time lawrence was two or three miles away on the other side of the bivouac, quite beyond the range of sight and hearing. quashy, therefore, ran back to the hollow with the intention of catching the horses, mounting his own, and driving the other before him to the camp. and now began that interesting but somewhat exhausting and heart-breaking process which may be styled coquetting with a free horse. full of glad enthusiasm, the negro ran towards his own steed, holding out his right hand, and exclaiming, "come along, ole scrubby." he had named the horse ole scrubby owing to some sort of facetious perversity of his own temperament, for the horse, instead of being "ole," was quite young, and, far from being scrubby, it was a remarkably fine animal. "come now, ole scrubby," repeated the man, "we's got no time to waste. d'ee hear?" evidently it heard, for, after allowing its master to advance within three feet of it, and even putting out its nose to smell his black hand, it gave a snort, turned round, tossed up its heels, and trotted away. stopping short suddenly it turned again and looked at its master with a high head, as if to say, "there! what think you of that?" "you ole scoundril," growled the negro, with an injured look, "di'n't i say we's got no time to waste? eh! come, now. das enuff o' your fun." he had again approached to within three feet or so, and again the playful steed had protruded its nose and even touched his hand, but before that hand could grasp the halter, tail and heels were in the air, and away it went a second time. indignation, intensified to the uttermost, sat on quashy's countenance. "scrubs," he said, solemnly--modifying the name a little, as he became more serious--"you nebber doo'd dat before! come, sar, you 'bey orders, an' stan' still." but the horse refused to obey orders, and declined to stand still. his master began to lose temper--if we may so speak of one who only became a little less amiable than usual. under the influence of the condition, however, whatever it was, he became unjust, and began to call his horse names. "what! you _not_ 'bey orders? you ole screw--you unnat'ral villin--you obs'nit lump o' hoss-flesh! stan' still, i say!" need we say that the horse refused to stand still? again, and again, and over again, the negro tried to lay hands on the animal, and as often did he fail. quashy, however, was not to be easily beaten. his was a resolute and persevering nature; but the misfortune on that occasion was that he had to do with a creature possessed of greater resolution and perseverance than himself. he spent hours over the effort. he coaxed the horse. he wheedled it. he remonstrated with and reproved it. he tried the effect of the most endearing entreaties, and assurances of personal esteem. losing--no, becoming less amiable, he flew round to the other extreme, and accused it of ingratitude, indefensible even in an ass. then he sought to bribe it with offers of free forgiveness. after that he tried to frighten it with threats of the most painful and every way horrible consequences; but whatever effect all these varied influences might have had upon the horse's mind, the one unvarying effect on its body was to send its tail and heels towards the sky, while it neighed joyously and trotted around. poor quashy went up to it smilingly--after that, frowningly; he cringed towards it; he advanced straightforwardly; he sidled slily; he ran at it; he rushed at it; he bounced at it; he yelled at it; he groaned at it; he perspired after it; he went nearly mad over it, and, finally, he sat down before it, and glared in deadly silence in its innocent face! then the unfortunate man, having spent a very considerable part of the day thus, bethought him of trying to catch the other horse, but with it he was also unsuccessful--indeed, the failure was even more emphatic, for lawrence's steed refused to let him come within even hopeful distance of it. at last, in the profoundest state of despair to which he was ever known to have sunk, he returned to camp. lawrence had got there before him, saw him coming, and advanced to meet him. "well, quashy, i have failed," he said, with a sigh. "so's i," returned quashy, with a growl. "this losing of our horses," remarked lawrence, "is the worst that could have befallen us." "no, massa," said the negro, with more of sulkiness--or less of amiability--than he had exhibited since they first met on the western side of the andes, "breakin' our legs would be wuss--smashin' our necks would be wusser still. but de hosses is _not_ lost. dey's on'y spunkerblued." "how? what d'you mean?" "dey's down dar," returned the negro, pointing with his finger, "down in dat holler--spunkerblued." "not killed, i hope," asked lawrence, anxiously. "oh no, massa, on'y spunkerblued--stuffed to de muzzle wid deir own self-will." lawrence received this explanation with a light laugh. "come," he said, quickly, "lead the way, quash, and i'll show you how to get them out of the spunkerblues." comforted and reassured by his master's hearty tone and manner, the negro led the way to the spot where he had spent such a busy day. now, we do not know whether we have made it obvious to the reader that lawrence armstrong's kindliness of nature embraced not only the human race but the whole animal kingdom. at all events it is true that wherever he came in contact with the lower animals he managed by some species of fascination to gain their affections. the mode of fascination began, no doubt, with their stomachs, but this does not alter the fact. among other creatures lawrence had gained the affections of quashy's steed, and also of manuela's and pedro's horses, as well as his own, by means of sugar. with this simple appliance he went into the hollow, and held out his hand. "come, ole scrubby," he cried, using quashy's words. with a cheerful neigh the rebellious one trotted up, received the sugar, and suffered himself to be led once more into servitude. "even among the brutes, quash," he remarked, as he patted the nose of his own steed, "we are meant to `overcome evil with good.' come, we must spend another night here, for it is too late to start off now; besides, i am tired out, and starving." "massa," returned quashy, as they mounted, "i's done up to dat extent, an' _so_ hungry, i could sleep on prickly pears, an' heat my wittles raw." in this condition of body and mind they galloped back to camp, and took particular care that the horses should not again stray. next morning, after breakfasting on the remains of their food, they mounted, and, taking the sun as their guide, headed away eastward at full gallop. silently and steadily for two hours or more they swept along over the pampas waves, turning aside only a little once or twice to avoid ground that had been riddled and rendered unsafe by the biscachos. as noon approached quashy gave a shout, and pointed to the horizon ahead of them, where living objects of some kind were seen moving along. "ostriches," said lawrence. "dey's a noo kind ob ostriches wid four legs," returned the negro, "an' wid peepil on deir backs." "i believe you are right. a party of mounted men, apparently. come, this is well. whoever they are we shall at least be able to gather some information from them, and, at the worst, we can follow them to some inhabited spot." "true, massa, an' if dey's rubbers we kin fight dem." on drawing near they found that the riders belonged to a family of gauchos. there were six of them--all fine-looking fellows, clad in the graceful, though ragged costume of the pampas. one of their number was a little boy of about five years of age, who rode his horse with all the elegance and ease of a spanish grandee, though only about the size of a large monkey. they turned out to be honest and friendly men, who said that they were returning home after assisting in a successful chase after indians. had they been assisted by troops in the chase, lawrence asked, eagerly. yes, they had--troops under a tall, white-haired colonel, and the captives had been rescued, the savages scattered, and the soldiers had gone off in the direction of buenos ayres. "so, quashy, they've managed the job without our assistance," said lawrence, on hearing this. "now we must spur after the troops as hard as our steeds can go." on this being stated to the leading gaucho he shook his head, and advised the senhor to go to their hut for the night. it was only a little way out of the line of march; there the travellers could feed and rest well, and start refreshed in the morning. besides, a storm was coming on which would prevent all travelling for some hours. as he spoke he pointed to a part of the sky which had become dark with clouds, and, without further remark, galloped away, followed by his companions. lawrence deemed it wise in the circumstances to accept the invitation. the day had been very sultry, and if our travellers had not been ignorant of the signs of the pampas they might have known that the day was heavy with the presage of storm. before the gaucho home, to which they were hastening, appeared on the horizon, the whole sky had become overclouded and vivid forked lightning began to play. from the way in which the gauchos spurred and the horses trembled it was clear that they feared being caught in the storm; and little wonder, for both men and beasts are filled with alarm when overtaken on the unsheltered pampas by one of these terrific tempests. the blast, sweeping unchecked over hundreds of miles of wilderness, often acquires a force that drives all before it. sometimes great herds of cattle have been driven bellowing before the gale, tumbling over each other in wild confusion till some swollen river has checked their flight and ended their career. race, and spur, and shout as they might, however, the storm was too quick for them on this occasion. the wind seemed to rush down upon them with evil intent and fury, changing the temperature from sultry heat to sudden and bitter cold. dust, too, was stirred up, and swept along so thickly that the day became as dark as night. then the rain burst upon them like a waterspout, and, mingling with the flying dust overhead, came down in the form of mud, mixed with flying sticks and stones, and grass, and prickly thistle-heads. so fierce was the hurly-burly that it seemed as if man and horse must perish under it. thunder also cracked and roared in terrific peals, while ever and anon the lightning flashed like gleaming steel through the darkness. in the midst of this elemental war the party reached the gaucho huts. what they were like lawrence could not tell. he had galloped like the rest wildly along, with his face buried in his poncho, and saw nothing-- save once or twice, when, raising his head slightly and opening one eye, he saw, or fancied he saw, the gauchos, like dark phantoms, flying before him, and quashy at his side, bending flat on his horse's neck. the stout negro seemed to care nothing for his body so long as his face was safe, for he had let his poncho go, and as it was fastened only at the neck, it flapped wildly above his head. presently they passed through an opening in what seemed a mud wall. then they stopped so suddenly that lawrence almost went over his steed's head, while his man effectually did so, and, throwing a complete somersault, alighted by good fortune on his feet. they all tumbled promiscuously into a mud hut, and then, clearing their eyes, found that the gaucho-leader and a woman, apparently his wife, were smiling welcome beside them; that the short-lived storm was already passing away, after having done its worst, and that they were drenched to the skin as well as covered with mud and thistle-heads from top to toe. chapter twenty five. begins with gaucho homes and domestic concerns; continues with two fights, and ends with a friend and a "puzzler." that a hard ride and a thorough soaking do not interfere much with the comfort of the young and healthy was proved that night in the gaucho camp by the intense devotion paid by lawrence and quashy to the ample supper set before them, and by the profundity of their slumbers thereafter. true, the supper was not luxurious. it consisted of only one dish,-- roasted mare's flesh--and one beverage,--water; but, happily, the tastes of our adventurers were simple. the gaucho hut in which they had found shelter was a very humble dwelling built of mud. it contained only one room, in which the whole family resided. like other gaucho huts--which are nearly all alike--it was covered with long yellow grass, and bore so strong a resemblance to the surrounding country, that, at a little distance, it might easily have been mistaken for a hillock. the kitchen of the establishment was a detached shed a few yards off. after sunset the hut was lighted by a feeble lamp, made of bullock's tallow, which brought into strong relief the bridles, spurs, bolas, and lassos which hung from bone pegs on the walls. other objects of interest were revealed by the primitive lamp. in one corner a large dog lay sleeping. a naked negro child--a sort of ebony cupid--lay asleep beside it, with its little head pillowed on the dog's haunch. in another corner a hen was sitting on eggs, while its companions, guarded by a noble cock, roosted on one of the rafters, and several children, of ages ranging from four to sixteen, were seated or standing about awaiting supper. last, but not least in importance, a gaucho infant hung suspended from the rafters in a primitive cradle of bullock's skin, the corners of which were drawn together by four strips of hide. the place would have been insufferably close but for the fortunate circumstance that a number of holes in the dilapidated roof allowed free ventilation. they also allowed free entrance of rain in bad weather, but--gauchos are not particular! although indifferent as to appearances, those gauchos of the pampas-- many of whom are descendants of the "best" old families in spain--retain much of the manners of their forefathers, being hospitable and polite not only to strangers but to each other. when supper was ready the great iron spit on which the beef had been roasted was brought in, and the point of it stuck into the dried mud floor. the master of the hut then stepped forward with the air of a hidalgo and offered lawrence the skeleton of a horse's head to sit upon. quashy having been provided with a similar seat, the whole household drew in their horse-heads, circled round the spit, and, drawing their long knives, began supper. they meant business. hunger was the sauce. water washed the viands down. there was little conversation, for large mouthfuls were the order of the evening. lawrence and his man acquitted themselves creditably, and supper did not terminate till the roast was gone. then they all spread their beds on the floor and retired for the night. each covered his or her head with a poncho, or other garment-- nothing of the sleepers being left visible save their bare feet--after which silence reigned around. in summer, abodes of this kind are so animated with insect life that the inhabitants usually prefer to sleep on the ground in front of their dwellings, but in the present case the recent storm had rendered this luxury for the time impossible. little cared lawrence and his man for that. where they lay down to repose, there they remained without motion till daylight. then the magnificent cock overhead raised his voice, and proclaimed the advent of a new day. quashy sat up, split his face across, displayed his internal throat, and rubbed his eyes. immediately the cock descended on his woolly head, flapped its wings, and crowed again. the people began to stir, and lawrence went out with quashy to saddle their horses, being anxious to follow in the trail of the troops without delay. a prolonged search convinced them that their horses had either strayed or been stolen, for they were nowhere to be found. returning to the hut, they observed that the gauchos were exceedingly busy round their corral, or enclosure for cattle. "what can they be about?" said lawrence, as they drew near. "killin' pigs, i t'ink." "i think not; there seems too much excitement for that." there certainly was a considerable noise of piggish voices, and the gauchos were galloping about in an unaccountable manner, but, as is usually the case, a little investigation explained the seemingly unaccountable. the men were engaged in driving some cattle into the enclosure, and as these were more than half wild and self-willed, the process entailed much energy of limb and noise. as to the porcine yells, the whole of the almost superhuman skirling arose from one little pig, which the ebony cupid before mentioned had lassoed by the hind leg. gaucho children--after being delivered from the cradle before described, and after passing through the crawling period of infancy and attaining to the dignity of the stagger--begin to copy their seniors. with lassos and bolas made of twine, they practise on little birds, or on the dogs and fowls of home. our ebony cupid, though not indeed a gaucho, but a negro infant, partook of the gaucho spirit, and, although little more than four years of age, had succeeded in catching his first pig. violence seemed to have reached a white heat in the heart of that little pig! besides giving vent to intensified shrieking, it dragged its captor along, in a state of blazing triumph, until it overturned him, snapped the twine, and got away. but cupid was not to be balked of his prey. with a staggering rush to where several horses were standing ready bridled, he caught hold of the tail of a meek-looking animal, and scrambled by means of that appendage on to its back. seizing the bridle, he uttered a wild though tiny shout, and dashed away after the fugitive. whether he recaptured it or not lawrence never found out, for at that moment a subject of greater interest claimed his attention. besides the hut in which they had spent the night, there were several other huts near the corral, and lawrence now perceived that the place was a sort of hamlet, surrounded by a small ditch by way of defence. while our hero was glancing round him he observed that quashy stopped suddenly, and gazed at something in front of him as if transfixed with a surprise which threw quite into the shade all his previous expressions of astonishment, and convinced his master that he had not yet fathomed half the depth of meaning that could be thrown into that sable countenance. quashy bent slightly forward, extended his arms, spread out his ten fingers, opened his mouth, and tried to speak. "s-s-soo--!" he began, and gasped. "s-soo--sooz'n!" he shouted. yes, there she stood, in the doorway of a hut, as black as life, and with a glare of joyful surprise that was only surpassed by that of her admirer. a moment later they recovered. they rushed into each other's arms, and their lips met. pistols and carbines! what a smack it was! in his joy quashy lifted susan fairly off her feet and danced with her until he was exhausted, then he set her down and danced round her. susan had recovered her composure by that time. whether quashy's mode of treatment is characteristic of negroes of the pampas we do not pretend to say, but the girl stood there with a modestly pleased expression of face, while quashy continued to dance round her. susan's modesty and blackness were alike set off by her costume, which consisted of a short white frock, while her simple adornments were a pair of gold ear-rings and a necklace of red coral. alas for the fleeting nature of human joys! while quashy was thus evincing his delight at the unexpected recovery of his betrothed, a wild shouting was heard, and several horsemen were seen flying over the plains towards the huts at a speed and with an action that betokened them the bearers of important news. they proved to be men of the village who had encountered a large band of indians on their way to attack the place. instantly all the men of the hamlet, amounting perhaps to about fifty, prepared for defence, placing the women and children in the huts for safety. of course lawrence and his man would have volunteered their services even if self-defence had not required that line of conduct. we have said that the hamlet was surrounded by a shallow ditch. this was backed by a hedge of prickly pears. behind the hedge the men dispersed themselves, armed with several rusty flint-lock guns, some old swords, a few indian spears, and other less warlike weapons. lawrence and quashy took up a position at the entrance to the little fortress, the opening of which was blocked by cactus-bushes. their host of the previous night stood beside them. light though such defences seemed, they were more effective than might have been supposed, for indian horses as a rule will not leap even a shallow ditch, and cannot be made to burst through prickly pears, though, doubtless, there may be some exceptions. the defenders had not long to wait. their preparations were barely completed when horsemen were descried on the horizon, and in a very brief space of time a band of above a hundred naked savages came thundering down on them, uttering terrific screams or yells, and brandishing long spears. they rode straight towards the opening in the defences. the chief gaucho was evidently a man of courage, for although he knew well that capture meant death--perhaps with torture--he stood firm without blanching, his eyes fixed sternly on the approaching foe, and his strong hands grasping the stock of a rusty old musket, the very look of which might have caused anxiety to its handler. "now quash," whispered lawrence, "don't fire till i do--and keep cool." "yes, massa. i's cool as a lump o' hice." the savage who led the assailants was a tall, powerful fellow on a splendid horse. when within about sixty yards of the defences he levelled his spear and made a tremendous rush as if resolved to bear down all obstacles. the gaucho chief--if we may so style him--presented his musket and pulled the trigger. it missed fire! "i'll try him with shot first," remarked lawrence to quashy, presenting his double-barrelled gun. at the distance of fifty yards or so the shot, when it entered the savage leader, was well scattered, so that horse and man were peppered all over. the latter dropped his lance and almost fell off, while the former, getting on its hind-legs, executed a pirouette which brought its tail to the rear and sent it charging wildly back upon its friends. the second in command, receiving the other barrel, at even shorter range, went through the same performance with greater impetuosity. at the same moment the old musket was prevailed on to go off, and quashy delivered four pistol-shots in quick succession, with the result that several men and horses were wounded, and the entire body of indians turned and fled in a state of frenzied surprise. they soon pulled up, however, and held a momentary consultation out of range. then, being bold fellows, they charged again, but this time in two bands, one of which attacked the place in rear. as before, the band which attacked the front was vigorously repelled, but in rear the defenders were less successful. how it was managed lawrence never found out, but he had barely succeeded in driving off the foe in front, and was congratulating quashy on his coolness, when he found himself suddenly surrounded by yelling savages. the gaucho chief made a desperate fight towards his own hut, which he gained and entered in safety. lawrence and quashy tried to follow, but were too much pressed by numbers. back to back they fought, and quashy used his sword with such agility and vigour that in a few seconds he sent several indians bleeding to the rear. lawrence, despising the weapons of civilised warfare, held his now empty gun in his left hand, using it as a sort of shield, and brandished his favourite cudgel with such effect that he quickly strewed the ground around him with crown-cracked men. unfortunately a stone struck him on the temple, and he fell. thus left unsupported, quashy, after slicing the nose half off a too ardent savage, was struck from behind, and also fell. when our hero recovered consciousness, he found himself lying on the ground, afflicted with a strange inability to move hand or foot, and conscious, chiefly, of a splitting headache. presently a voice beside him whispered-- "is you bery bad, massa?" lawrence turned his head with great difficulty and beheld his faithful follower lying like himself on the ground, firmly bound to a stout spar or pole. his own inability to move was at once explained, for he soon perceived that he was in the same bound condition. "d'you know what has happened, quashy?" "ho yes, massa. de reptiles has took de place, an' tied you an' me to sticks. what for i don' know, but i s'pose dey means to skin us alive, or roast us, p'r'aps, to 'muse deir women an' child'n." "more likely that they hope to have us ransomed," returned lawrence, with a shudder. "what's ramsumd, massa?" "try to get our friends to give them money for us. have they killed many of the men--or got hold of the women and children?" asked lawrence, anxiously. "yes, dey's kill a few ob de men, but not many, for some hab got into de huts, an' some into de corral, an' dey'll fight to de last. de savages am holdin' a palaver jist now--see, dey's agwine to begin again. screw your head roun' to de right an' you see." lawrence obeyed, and saw the savages assembled on a knoll. after driving the defenders into the huts, they had held a brief consultation, and seemed on the eve of renewing the attack. filled with deep anxiety for the fate of the poor women and children, our hero made a desperate struggle to snap his bonds. "no use, massa," remarked quashy. "i's tried dat till i nearly bu'sted. better lie still. p'r'aps dey forgit us." lawrence groaned. he felt so helpless, and consequently hopeless, that he almost gave way to despair. the spot where they had been flung down after their capture was so covered with rank grass that they could not see far in any direction. what they did see, however, aroused curiosity, if it did not inspire hope, for the savages seemed suddenly to have changed their plans. they were talking excitedly together on the knoll, and pointing eagerly towards the horizon. "das funny, massa," remarked the negro. "it is indeed. perhaps they see some of their friends coming." "or inimies," suggested quashy. the latter was right. in a few minutes the indians were seen to run down to the defences of the place. our unfortunates lost sight of them in a few seconds, but they could hear the sound of horsemen approaching at full gallop. in a few minutes they heard shouting; then the yells, fearful cries, and imprecations of men in mortal combat. soon after that a savage passed the place where they lay, at full speed. then another and another. it became quickly evident that the defenders of the place were getting the worst of it. at last there was a general flight, and as the savages passed by, the new assailants appeared. it was easy to see that they were composed of all classes, a band of runaway soldiers and escaped convicts. "banditti!" exclaimed lawrence, bitterly. "dey've got pris'ners. look, massa." our poor hero looked, and his hearts nearly stood still with horror, for he saw a horseman pass whose figure was strangely like to that of colonel marchbanks. his arms were bound, and a villainous-looking man led his horse. immediately after another bandit-like fellow rode past with a female form seated in front of him. of course it could be no other than manuela, and in the agony of the moment lawrence was about to renew his frantic effort to burst his bonds, when a man on foot ran close past him. recognising him at once, lawrence shouted-- "ignacio!" the old hunter, for it was he, stopped abruptly, and listened. another shout brought him to the side of our hero. "good luck!" exclaimed ignacio, heartily. "we have been bound by the scoundrels you are chasing," cried lawrence, quickly; "cut us free, good ignacio." the hunter drew his long knife and knelt with the apparent intention of releasing them, but suddenly paused. "no--better as you are," he muttered, hurriedly, "your friends are in danger--" "i know it," interrupted lawrence, almost wild with anxiety and surprise; "why not, then, release us?" "there is no time to explain," said ignacio, quickly, almost fiercely. "listen. i and others are secret enemies in this band of outlaws. when you are free be silent, be wise. you will need all your manhood. you must not know me--be silent--wise, but--" the old hunter leaped up hastily, sheathed his knife and ran on, for at the moment he saw a group of the bandits running towards him. diverging a little and hailing them, he drew them away from the spot where lawrence and his man still lay bound. "das a puzzler, massa," gasped quashy, who had been rendered almost speechless by surprise, "if de bu'stin'-power what's in my heart just now would on'y go into my muscles, i'd snap dem ropes like samson." as the bursting-power referred to declined to go into the muscles of either master or man, they were fain to lie still with as much patience as they could assume, and await the course of events. chapter twenty six. in which old friends and enemies turn up in quite a surprising manner, and quashy's joy overflows. they had not to wait long. a few minutes later and old ignacio returned with several men, one of whom, from his manner and bearing, appeared to be a chief among the outlaws. "who are you, and who bound you?" asked this chief, with a stern look. answering in his best spanish, lawrence explained how he fell into the hands of the savages. the chief did not speak for a few seconds, but looked inquiringly at ignacio. "it won't do to make more prisoners, you know," said the old hunter, replying to the look; "we have too many on our hands as it is. the troops are already on our track, and you may be sure they won't lose time. besides, these men are unknown, and won't fetch a ransom." "what would you advise, then?" "cut their throats," suggested ignacio, coolly. "you old fool!" returned the outlaw, "what good would that do? isn't it clear that these men are the enemies of the savages, and we want such to join us." "ay," returned ignacio, "but they may be friends of the troops, and you don't want _such_ to join _us_." "there's truth in that, old man. well, we'll just let them lie. they're safe enough, as they are, not to do either good or evil. as you say, it is of no use burdening ourselves with prisoners who won't fetch a ransom. the colonel and his women will fetch a good price, but these--nothing. i suppose that is why cruz has ordered conrad to be shot before we leave the place." "why, i thought," said ignacio, with a look of surprise, "that conrad of the mountains was an outlaw like yourselves." "not he. he's a spy, and he'll meet a spy's doom, if he has not met it already." "come--i'll go and see this conrad," said ignacio, "i should like to see a spy get his deserts." he turned quickly and hurried away, followed by the outlaw. "most awrful!" groaned quashy, when they were gone. "awful indeed, to think that manuela and her father are in the hands of such villains!" returned lawrence. "an' sooz'n," said quashy, with a deeper groan. "but, massa, what's come ober de ole hunter? he not in arnest, ob course." "of course not," replied lawrence, "that is our one ray of hope now. he is only acting a part. he will assuredly help us, and means us to help _him_, but he takes a strange way to do it." he ceased to speak, for at that moment a man was seen approaching. he moved about like one who was searching for something. at last he caught sight of the bound men, and ran towards them, drawing his knife as he did so. for one instant a feeling of horror shot through the hearts of lawrence and quashy, but next moment they were relieved, for they recognised in the approaching man the features of their old acquaintance of the andes, the robber antonio. "i come to pay my debt," he said, going down on one knee, and severing the cords which bound lawrence, who heartily showered on him all the spanish terms for thanks and gratitude that he could recall. of course quashy was also set free, and was equally profuse in his grateful expressions, but antonio cut them both short. "come, we must be quick," he said, and hurried away. as they crossed the spot where the recent fight with the indians had taken place, quashy picked up one of the spears which lay on the ground, and lawrence, to his great satisfaction, discovered his favourite cudgel lying where he had been knocked down. he picked it up, almost affectionately, and hurried on. antonio was in evident haste. leading them through the hamlet, he went towards the corral, where, it could be seen, a party of the bandits were standing as if in wait. suddenly they heard a noise behind them, and observed a party of men with muskets on their shoulders surrounding a prisoner. antonio drew his companions into the shelter of a bush till they should pass. "it is conrad of the mountains," he whispered, while a fierce expression lighted up his eyes. "they go to shoot him. he _must_ not die!" as what seemed to be the firing-party advanced, followed by a straggling group of ruffians, lawrence looked with profound interest and pity towards one of whom he had heard so much. the prisoner's head hung down as he approached the bush, but on passing it he looked up. the sight of his face sent a shock of surprise and consternation to the hearts of lawrence and quashy, for the doomed man was no other than their friend pedro! lawrence turned quickly to antonio. "conrad?" he asked, pointing to pedro. "si, senhor," replied the outlaw. when the procession had passed, lawrence stepped from behind the bush, and quietly joined it without being recognised by pedro. he had not at that moment the most remote idea of what he intended to do; but one feeling was powerfully dominant in his breast--namely, that pedro must be saved at all hazards. of course quashy and antonio followed him. the sudden appearance of the two strangers did not cause much surprise among the band who followed the prisoner, for, besides their being in the company of one whom they knew, the men who had been gathered together by cruz on this occasion were not all known to each other. what they knew for certain was, that the country was up in arms because of some political convulsion, and that cruz was a great leader, who knew how to make the most of such circumstances for the benefit of himself and his followers. in a state of feverish anxiety, but with a calm outward appearance, lawrence marched on, quite incapable of forming any plan of rescue, but not incapable of prayer, or of forming a resolve to do _something_, though he should die in the attempt. on reaching the corral, he saw cruz, and recognised him at once. the bandit chief was obviously in haste, for he at once ordered conrad--or, as we still prefer to call him, pedro--to be placed with his back against the corral, and the firing-party to draw up in front of him at about twenty yards distance. pedro offered no resistance while being led towards the mud wall of the corral. there was neither bravado nor fear in his bearing. evidently he had made up his mind to die like a christian, and had given up all hope of deliverance from the foes by whom he was surrounded. but friends were near whom he little dreamed of. having up to that point kept his eyes on the ground, he had not observed lawrence; and the first intimation he had of his presence was on hearing his voice as he stepped forward, placed his tall and stalwart frame in front of him, and said sternly to the firing-party-- "villains! you will have to send your bullets through _my_ breast before they harm conrad!" "yes, an' troo dis buzzum too," cried quashy, planting himself in front of lawrence, and glaring defiance in his own peculiar and powerful manner. "what! two more enemies?" exclaimed cruz, with a look of pleased surprise and triumph; "seize them, men; but no,--stay, we can as easily kill the three birds at one shot. ready!" the firing-party cocked and raised their guns, but were suddenly arrested by seeing the wall of the enclosure behind pedro lined, as if by magic, with human heads, all of which carefully levelled an equal number of muskets. at the same moment antonio, ignacio, spotted tiger, colonel marchbanks, and the sporting englishman sprang to the front, and the old hunter, cutting pedro's bonds, put a musket into his hands. "traitor!" exclaimed cruz, grinding his teeth with passion, as he scowled at antonio. "fool! do you not know," retorted antonio, contemptuously, "that traitors are the offspring of tyrants? i acknowledge you as father in this respect. but i am not here to bandy words. colonel marchbanks will speak." "yes, cruz," said the old colonel, stepping a pace to the front, "i will speak, and that to the purpose. you see those men?" (pointing to the heads looking over the corral wall)--"ten of the best shots among them have their weapons pointed at your heart. if a single musket is fired by your blackguards, you know what the result will be." bold as cruz undoubtedly was, this speech of the colonel had an obviously quieting effect on him, as well as on his followers, who, however, being numerous, and not wanting in courage, stood ready to obey orders. "now, i will tell you in few words what i have got to say," continued the colonel, addressing cruz. "when you locked the villagers here in their own huts, you forgot, or did not know, that, being a tyrant as well as a scoundrel, you had enemies among your own followers. these have not only set us, your prisoners, free, but have done the same good turn to the villagers, who have been persuaded to join us against you. and now, as our numbers are pretty equal, we give you the option of going away quietly wherever you please, or, if you prefer it, having a fair fight. i may add that if i were backed by my troops, instead of these villagers, i would not give you this option; but as i have no official right to command these men, i now make you the proposal either to retire quietly or fight." "aw--just so," said the sporting englishman. "and let me add, as a sort of--aw--freelance that i and my friend here hope sincerely that you will choose to fight." "you's a brick!" exclaimed quashy, with emphasis, regarding the sportsman for the first time with favour. cruz hesitated. he was swayed by a burning thirst for vengeance and a prudent regard for his personal safety. by way of hastening his decision, colonel marchbanks added-- "it may be well to remind you that when you unfortunately succeeded in decoying me and my friends into your snares, and captured us, you did not leave my troops without officers. the gentleman now in command will not lose time in following us up, and he is aided by gauchos who could trace you out though you were to hide your rascally head in the darkest retreats of the andes. so, you'd better be off at once, or come on." "aw--yes. if i might advise--come on!" suggested the sportsman. "das so. come on!" urged quashy. but cruz refused their well-meant advice. regarding discretion as the better part of valour, and resolving, no doubt, to "fight another day," he elected to "be off." collecting his men in sulky silence, he speedily rode away. "sorry he's so chicken-hearted," said the sportsman, forgetting even to "aw" in his disappointment. "you ought rather to be glad of it," remarked lawrence; "you forget that there are women and children behind us, and that our defeat would have ensured their destruction." "oh no!" replied the englishman, who had recovered his quiet nonchalance, "i did not forget the women and children--dear creatures!-- but i confess that the idea of our defeat had not occurred to me." colonel marchbanks did not give his opinion at the time, but his air and expression suggested that, fire-eater though he was, he by no means regretted the turn events had taken. holding out his hand to lawrence, in a condescending manner, he thanked him for the service he had just rendered. "you have quite a talent for turning up unexpectedly in the nick of time," he added, with a peculiar smile, as he turned and walked off towards the huts, around which the men who had sided with antonio were by that time assembling. among them lawrence, to his ineffable joy, found manuela and mariquita. he was too wise, however, in the presence of the colonel to take any demonstrative notice of her. he merely shook hands with both ladies, and congratulated them on their escape from the banditti. "you have rendered us good service, senhor," said mariquita, with a brilliant smile--a smile that was indeed more brilliant than there seemed any occasion for. "i--i have been very fortunate," stammered lawrence, glancing at manuela. but that princess of the incas, with an aspect of imperturbable gravity, kept her pretty eyes on the ground, though the brown of her little cheeks seemed to deepen a trifle in colour. "now, antonio," cried the colonel, coming forward at the moment, "what do you intend to do? if my men were here, you know, i should be under the necessity of making you and your fellows prisoners, notwithstanding your good services to-day. as it is, those of us who stick together must be off without delay eastward. i suppose you will rather take to the mountains." "indeed no, colonel marchbanks. i am willing to give myself up and to take service under you if that may be allowed. and if you will take my advice, comrades," added antonio, turning to his companions, "you'll do the same, for depend on it no good can come of our late style of life." antonio's comrades did not feel disposed to take his advice. indeed they had only rebelled against their late captain because of his tyrannical nature, but were by no means desirous of changing their mode of life. seeing this, the colonel accepted antonio's offer and gave his comrades a few words of serious warning and advice, mingled with thanks for the service they had rendered him, after which the two parties separated and went on their respective ways, leaving the gauchos to fortify their village more carefully, and get into a better state of readiness to resist the attacks alike of outlaws and indians. before leaving, however, quashy had a noteworthy interview with susan. it occurred at the time that antonio and his men were holding the above conversation with the colonel. the negro lovers were affectionately seated on a horse-skull in one of the huts, regardless of all the world but themselves. "sooz'n, my lub," said quashy, "i's agwine to carry you off wid me." "quashy, my b'lubbed, i expecs you is," replied susan, simply, passing her black fingers through her lover's very curly locks. "o sooz'n, _how_ i lubs you! i know'd i'd find you. i always said it. i always t'ought it, an' now i's dood it." "das so," returned susan, with a bashfully pleased look. "i always know'd it too. i says, if it's poss'ble for me to be found in _dis_ worl', quashy's de man to found me." "'zactly so!" said the gratified negro. "now, sooz'n, tell me. is you free to go 'way wid me?" "yes. i's kite free. i's bin kotched by rubbers an' rescued by gauchos, an' stole by injins, an' i's runned away an' found myself here, an' dey's bin good to me here, but dey don't seem to want me much--so i's kite free--but i's awrful heaby!" "what's dat got to do wid it?" inquired the lover, tying a knot of perplexity on his eyebrows. "why, you an' me's too heaby for one hoss, you know, an' you said you hab on'y one." "das true," returned quashy, entangling the knot with another. "well, nebber mind," said susan, with a little nod of assurance. "i's put it all right. i'll stole one." "sooz'n!" exclaimed her lover, with inexpressible solemnity, "you'll do nuffin ob de sort. i b'longs to a good man now, so i knows better dan dat. you mus' nebber steal no more--_nebber_. but i'll get massa to buy you a hoss. das what i'll do." quashy had scarcely given utterance to his intentions, when a shout from lawrence summoned him. the party under colonel marchbanks was about to start on their journey eastward. the negro soon informed his master of his difficulty. as he had anticipated, it was removed at once. horse-flesh is cheap on the pampas. a lady's wardrobe--especially a black lady's--does not take long to pack in those regions. in less than half an hour a passable steed was purchased from the gauchos, and susan mounted thereon. her little all, in a bundle, was strapped to her true-lover's saddle, and she fell into the cavalcade, which soon afterwards left the village and rode out upon the illimitable plains. it was not a large band, but it was composed of rare and strong materials. our friend pedro--alias conrad of the mountains--alias the rover of the andes--of course took the lead. colonel marchbanks, manuela, and the fair mariquita followed. antonio, spotted tiger, the sportsman and his friend came next, and lawrence with quashy and sooz'n brought up the rear. in this order they set off at full gallop over the roadless plains, diverging a little here and there as the nature of the ground required, but otherwise steering a straight line in the direction of the rising sun. chapter twenty seven. describes several interesting and somewhat violent proceedings. over the flowering plains! oh, there is something soul-stirring in a free, furious, prolonged gallop, where obstructions are few, where the land is almost level, and nature reigns unfettered by the influence of man! no fences, no ditches, no ploughed lands, no enclosed estates, nothing to check even for a moment the grand onward sweep through illimitable space save the capacity of endurance in steed and rider. of course it has its drawbacks, but we will not pause to meditate on these. life has its drawbacks everywhere, and if we were to attempt an enumeration of them our tale would become unreasonably long, and also somewhat unprofitable. perhaps it adds to the zest of life the fact that many of its incidents are of such a nature that we find it difficult to say whether they are drawbacks or advantages. for instance, the jovial garrulity of quashy was a drawback at times. at other times it was a decided advantage, and his friends and companions held such interchangeable opinions on the point that they could not readily have expressed them if called on to do so at a moment's notice. a runaway tendency in a horse is considered by most people a disadvantage. yet there are some people whose nerves and spirits are so constituted that they have a sneaking fondness for a horse of this disposition. strange though it may seem, manuela belonged to this class. it is said that men whose characters form a contrast are more likely to draw towards each other than those whose characters are similar. may the same principle not operate between man and the lower animals? was it not the gentleness, tenderness, womanliness, softness of manuela which caused her to dote upon and delight in her steed, though it was a huge, high stepping, arch-necked, rearing, plunging animal--something between an irish hunter and a mexican warhorse? the steed in question had been purchased for her by her father from the gauchos, who assured him that the animal was a remarkably good one to go. they told the simple truth, but not the whole truth, for sometimes it would "go" with its hind-legs doing double service in the way of kicking, and, at other times, it balanced that feat by giving its fore-legs a prodigious flourish while in the act of rearing. to do the creature justice, however, it could and did go ahead of its companions on the journey, and retained that position without fatigue, as was evinced by the flashing eye, distended nostril, pawing and snorting with which it received every proposal to halt. being a splendid rider, manuela managed this spanking charger with infinite grace and ease, all the more that it happened to have a tender mouth, and only succeeded in getting beyond her control when it chanced to get the bit between its teeth. at first her father and the others were alarmed, and offered to change her steed for another; but she refused to change, and when they saw how fearlessly she rode, they became reconciled--all except lawrence. "it is the fearlessness of innocence combined with ignorance," he muttered to himself one afternoon, as manuela's horse, without apparent provocation, presented first its tail and then its nose to the sky. the inca princess patted the playful creature approvingly, and induced it to adopt a bounding, indiarubber-like pace. in a few minutes this was reduced to a springy walk. lawrence could not resist the temptation to ride forward and offer his own horse, although colonel marchbanks rode alongside of his daughter like an inflexible guardian. "you will find my horse much easier to manage, miss marchbanks," he said, "and quite as strong and fleet as your own." the colonel frowned, and his daughter said, "no, t'ank you, senhor," with a little bow and a brilliant smile. it was one of manuela's little fancies to revert sometimes to the broken english peculiar to her colour and costume. this was not at all relished by lawrence. it seemed to argue a want of earnestness, which was not at all in harmony with the tremendous depth of his love for her! he drew rein immediately and fell behind, but at that moment manuela's horse put its foot in a biscacho-hole and stumbled. evidently it had received a violent surprise, for, after having a second time presented its tail and nose alternately to the skies, it gave vent to an indignant snort, performed what seemed to be a pirouette on one leg, took the bit in its teeth, and bolted. of course the colonel put spurs to his steed, and gave chase. instantly lawrence did the same. as a consequence quashy followed, and, not wishing to be left behind, the whole cavalcade went after them at full speed. the thunder of numerous hoofs acted as a sharp spur to the wild runaway. at once it became a fair race, in which each gradually took his place according to ability. the course was clear--from the andes to the atlantic, almost, and horses and riders were fresh! in a remarkably short time the party straggled, and the line extended. soon it became evident that the colonel, lawrence, pedro, and quashy were the best mounted of the troop, for these four drew far ahead of all the others; yet the runaway kept its advantage, despite the utmost efforts of manuela's fair little arms to check it. gradually pedro and the colonel were left behind. despite the utmost application of voice and spur, quashy also dropped to the rear, and the race lay at last between our hero and the inca princess! mile after mile was passed as they flew like the wind over the rolling plains, scarcely impeded at all by the pampas grass, which was not long at that season, but at last they came to a ridge on which there was a line of low bushes. by that time, by dint of hard spurring, lawrence had managed to get up almost alongside of the girl, whose look of gleeful excitement was now changed to one of wild anxiety. "try to pull just a little harder!" cried lawrence, "your horse won't be able to jump it." manuela tried, but she had already put forth all her strength, and if that had been twice what it was, the effect on the powerful creature would probably have been just the same. as the danger drew nearer, lawrence made desperate efforts to increase his speed. he was so far successful that when they finally came to the line of bushes, the horses were almost abreast of each other. horses of the pampas are not usually jumpers, but manuela's horse must have had a touch of the hunter in him, for he rose to the leap, and went up like a rocket. lawrence, on the other hand, went crashing through the obstruction like the shot of an eighty-ton gun! the leap evidently took more time than the crash, which was fortunate, for it enabled lawrence to get well alongside at the moment the fore-feet of manuela's horse touched the ground, and just as the poor girl herself, unused to leaping, fairly lost her balance as well as her presence of mind and fell backward half fainting. she would have fallen to the ground if lawrence had not caught her round the waist, and dragged her to the pommel of his own saddle. it was one of those cases of rescue which men are apt--perhaps justifiably so--to style providential, for no planning or judgment or energy on the part of lawrence could have arranged that manuela should have been at the apex of her leap when her powers failed, so that she should fall from that height, as it were, almost into his arms! a few bounds more and they were safe. as if it had understood this, and felt that further effort was needless, the runaway steed stopped abruptly, and, after looking round in unreasonable surprise, began quietly to crop the herbage at its feet. one by one the rest of the party came up, full of congratulations. "you dood dat well, massa," said quashy, who was the first to arrive, grinning all over; "and dat _was_ a bu'ster," he added, surveying the gap in the bush through which lawrence had crashed. "please set me down before the others come up!" whispered manuela, who, having, as we have said, half fainted, had allowed her head to fall on her rescuer's shoulder. lawrence wished that circumstances might have admitted of his continuing the journey as they were then situated, but propriety required him to say-- "here, quash,--lend a hand." the negro vaulted to the ground, and received manuela into his arms just as pedro and the colonel galloped up. "thank you, senhor armstrong, thank you heartily," said the latter, as he dismounted, and, sitting down on a mound, drew his child to his side. "i'm not hurt, not a bit," sighed manuela, with a slight attempt at a smile. "thank god for that, but you are shaken a little," returned the old soldier with an anxious look. "here pedro, quashy, fetch me the flask from my saddle." by the time a cup of the flask's contents was administered to manuela, mariquita and susan were kneeling beside her, and the rest were standing round. "a splendid leap!--aw--couldn't have been much better done if--aw--it had been an english hunter," remarked the sportsman in an undertone to his friend. "but, i say, don't it strike you that the colonel is uncommonly--aw--sweet on that little indian girl." "she's no more an indian girl than you are," replied his friend, with a laugh. "aw--you don't say so?" returned the sportsman, with a slight elevation of his eyebrows. "let us go," said manuela, rising; "i am much better, only a little shaken by such a leap. but--but i should like another--" "yes, to be sure, another horse," interrupted the colonel; "who will exchange?--a quiet one, of course." "here you is, kurnel," said quashy, with a beaming countenance, as he led forward his horse. "quiet as a lamb, 'cept when you aggrawates him. nebber goes no faster dan you wants him to,--sometimes not so fast! an' wouldn't run away even if you was to ax him on your knees." "after such recommendation," said the colonel, turning to manuela, "i suppose you will accept of this steed." the inca princess accepted it with a beam of gratitude to quashy, who thereupon mounted the runaway horse, and in a few minutes the whole cavalcade was sweeping over the plain as swiftly as ever. afternoon brought them to a solitary gaucho hut. they came first upon the corral rather suddenly, for it was concealed in a hollow. it was an enclosure of strong rough posts stuck into the ground, on many of which were perched a number of gorged vultures and hawks. the ground around it was covered with bones, bullocks' horns, wool, carcasses of horses, and other refuse, which induced the travellers to keep carefully to windward of it. on a slight rising ground, close at hand, stood the mud hut of the family to which it belonged. although living in a state little short of savagery, this family, being descended from one of the best old families of spain--at least, so they believed--maintained much of the dignity, good manners, and ceremony that characterised the old spaniards. it comprised several generations, of whom a great-great-grandfather, blind, deaf, and benignant, formed the head, and a baby, fat, wide awake, and uproarious, formed the tail. between these there was a band of men, women, girls, and boys, whom we will not even attempt to describe, further than to say that they were all black-eyed, sunburnt, and more or less pretty and handsome. the travellers rode up to the door of the mud mansion, and, according to pampas etiquette, awaited permission to dismount. this was quickly given with much urbanity by a handsome middle-aged man, who was the active head of the household. the intention of colonel marchbanks was to take a hasty meal here, and push on as far as possible before night. finding that the gauchos were engaged at that time in breaking in some young horses, he ordered his party to off-saddle, and went with pedro, lawrence, and some others towards the corral while food was being prepared. quashy--ever mindful of the welfare of others, and ever thoughtful in regard to what he esteemed the most important things of life--hung behind to advise a daughter of the house to prepare a specially tender fowl for susan, manuela, and mariquita. he even remained a few minutes to receive from the damsel a lesson in cookery. this daughter of the pampas whispered something to a very small brother beside her, who was remarkable chiefly for the size of his gorgeous eyes and the scantiness of his costume. with ready obedience the urchin unhooked a miniature lasso from the wall, and lassoed a large hen. how the brother and sister executed that hen was not obvious. it was, however, quickly and effectively done between them. then the sister took the bird to a pot of water, which chanced to be boiling at the time, and put it therein, feathers and all. to civilised people this might have seemed rather a savage process, but it was not so. the object was merely to simplify the plucking. after scalding, the feathers came off with wonderful facility, and also stuck to the girl's wet hands with equally wonderful tenacity. washing her hands, she next cut off the wings and legs of the fowl, and then separated the breast from the back. these portions she put into a small pot with some suet and water, and threw the rest away. "das bery good," remarked quashy, nodding his head in approval, after which he advised the girl to treat another fowl or two in a similar manner, and then followed his master to the corral. here a very animated scene was being enacted. half a dozen young horses were about to be mounted for the first time and broken in. what modern horse-trainers of the tender school would have said to the process we cannot tell. having had no experience in such matters, one way or another, we hazard no opinion. we merely state the facts of the case. the father of the family, mounted on a strong and steady horse, commenced the business by riding into the corral, and throwing his lasso over the head of a young horse, which he dragged forcibly to the gate. every step of the process was forcible. there was nothing equivalent to solicitation or inducement from beginning to end. opposition, dogged and dire, was assumed as a matter of course, and was met by compulsion more dogged and more dire! at the gate of the corral the end of the lasso was received by the eldest son of the family, a tall, strapping, and exceedingly handsome youth, of about twenty-three, who had been named pizarro,--no doubt after the conqueror of peru. he certainly resembled his namesake in courage, vigour, and perseverance, if in nothing else. the young horse displayed great unwillingness at first to quit its companions,--shaking its magnificent mane, and flourishing its voluminous tail in wild disdain as it was dragged out. but the moment it found itself outside the corral, its first idea was to gallop away. a jerk of the lasso checked him effectually. another member of the household then deftly threw his lasso in such a manner that the prancing steed put its feet in it, and was caught just above the fetlocks. with a powerful twitch of this second lasso its legs were pulled from under it, and it fell with tremendous violence on its side. before it could rise the young gaucho forced its head to the ground and held it there, then drew his long knife, and therewith, in a few seconds, cut off its mane. another gaucho performed the same operation on the hair of its tail--both acts being done, as they explained, to indicate that the horse had been once mounted. meanwhile pizarro quickly put a strong hide halter on the animal's head, and a piece of hide in his mouth to serve as a bit. he also girthed a saddle on him, and, when all was ready, ordered the men who held him to let go. at the same moment he sprang into the saddle and held on. holding on was the point on which pizarro had to concentrate all his attention and power during the next few minutes, for the way in which that outraged and intensely fierce creature strove to unseat him is alike beyond the power of description and conception. jumping, plunging, kicking, rearing, bounding, and pirouetting are all sufficiently expressive terms in their way, but they are mild words with which to describe the proceedings of that creature of the pampas while under the influence of temporary insanity. with ears flat on its neck, nostrils distended, and eyes emitting something almost like flames, the young horse absolutely screamed in its fury; but all was in vain. as well might it have tried to shake off its own tail as pizarro! suddenly it changed its plan, and stretched out its sinewy length to its longest stride. pizarro fell in with the idea, encouraged it with his long sharp spurs and heavy lash, and away they went over the mighty plain like a streak of personified lightning. it is useful sometimes to let wilful people not only have their way, but compel them to continue it. john gilpin's spirit, when he said-- "'twas for your pleasure you came here; you shall go back for mine." is not unknown on the pampas and the prairie: after sailing away over the plain, like a ship going out to sea, until it was a mere speck on the horizon, pizarro's horse thought it time to reduce its pace; but here pizarro did not agree with it. he applied whip and spur until his steed was quite exhausted. then he turned homewards, and galloped back to the corral, into which he turned the animal in a very broken and humble state of mind. there it found several young friends who had just been subdued in a similar manner, and it is not altogether improbable that they spent the remainder of that evening in comparing notes! "a roughish method, but--aw--effective," remarked the sportsman to his friend. this was true. perhaps quashy's remark to lawrence was equally true:-- "dat dood it pritty slick, massa; but i've seed it as well dood, p'r'aps better, by kindness." there is this, at all events, to be said in regard to the rough system, that no man but an athlete could endure the fatigue of the process, while any man--or even woman--has physical strength sufficient to conquer by love, if only he, or she, possess the requisite patience and milk of human kindness. chapter twenty eight. treats of a gaucho youth. from these gauchos colonel marchbanks learned that his troops had been seen searching for him by the eldest son, pizarro, and that handsome youth professed himself willing to guide the party to the place where the soldiers were likely to be found. without delay, therefore, they resumed their journey after supper, and that night encamped on the open plain. while the party was busy making arrangements for the night, pedro sauntered to the top of a neighbouring knoll to have what he styled a look round. it was a clear moonlight night, and lawrence, recognising the figure of the guide, followed him. "pedro," he said, on overtaking him, "how is it possible that pizarro can guide us to where the troops are, seeing that it is some time since he saw them, and he did not know in what direction they meant to travel? besides, they may have changed their intentions and their route several times." "you forget, senhor, that troops leave a broad trail, and you do not yet, i see, fully appreciate the wonderful powers of some gauchos in tracking out men. this pizarro, although so young, is already celebrated in that way." "you know him, then? why, you seem to know everybody!" "i know every one of note," replied the guide, "for my travels have been extensive, and my memory is pretty strong. let me give you one or two instances of pizarro's powers. i was in this part of the country two years ago. having occasion to pass this way, i fell in with pizarro, and we travelled together a short time. one forenoon we were riding over the plains, when he stopped suddenly, pointed to a footprint, and said, `that is the little grey horse that was stolen from my father three years ago!' `are you sure?' said i, almost laughing at him. `sure!' said he, `of course i am; moreover, i'm certain that the horse passed here not more than half an hour ago.' `let's follow it up, then,' said i, more in jest than earnest. but we did follow it up, and recovered the little grey horse that same evening." "a wonderful power of observation indeed, as well as memory," said lawrence, looking with increased interest at the young gaucho, who could be seen, by the light of the neighbouring camp-fire, moving about in a graceful, free and easy manner, assisting in the preparation of supper. "it was pretty well in its way," returned pedro, "but he did a sharper thing than that last year. a gold escort was attacked somewhere in the west, and the robbers, after killing most of the men, escaped with the bags of gold. the authorities being very anxious to trace out and punish the robbers, offered a high reward for any useful information as to their whereabouts. now it chanced that pizarro was moving about the country at that time, and, hearing of the adventure and the reward, kept his eyes open and his wits about him a little more sharply than usual-- though he does that pretty well at all times by nature. one day he saw a little child leading a mule laden with raw hides along a narrow path. this is a common enough sight, in no way calculated to attract particular attention; nevertheless it did attract the attention of pizarro. i don't pretend to understand the workings of a gaucho's mind. perhaps it was the extreme smallness of the child that struck him, causing him to think that as no father or mother would risk such a little thing with the charge of a loaded mule without a special reason, it would be as well to find out what that special reason might be. perhaps it was something else. anyhow, suspicion being awakened, he followed the mule for a short distance, and soon observed that it stepped as if it carried a much heavier weight than a mere pack of hides. at once the stolen gold flashed into pizarro's mind. he stopped the mule, cut the bandages off the hides, and there, concealed among them, found the stolen bags!" "after that," said lawrence, "i have no doubt whatever that he will soon find the troops." "neither have i," returned pedro; "but pizarro, and men like him, can do much more than i have told you. by a flight of birds they can tell of an approaching band of men before they are in sight, and by the cloud of dust they make when they appear they can form a close estimate of their numbers. when the indian hordes are about to make a raid, gauchos are warned of it by the ostriches and llamas and other timid beasts of the pampas all travelling in one direction, and in many other ways that seem little short of miraculous they act the part of wilderness-detectives." while continuing their journey next day, lawrence resolved to have a chat with the gaucho youth. riding up alongside, he saluted him, and received a reply and a graceful bow that would have done credit to a spanish grandee. he discovered ere long that the young man's mind, like his body, had been cast in a noble mould, and that, although ignorant of almost everything beyond his own wild plains, he was deeply imbued with reverence for truth and justice in all the relations of life. indeed, his sense of these attributes of god was so strong that the constant violation of them by those around him roused in him occasional bursts of hot indignation, as lawrence very soon found when he touched on a recent revolution which had taken place in the province of san juan. "are the troops we search for sent out to aid the government of mendoza?" demanded pizarro, turning an earnest and frowning glance on his companion. "i believe not," answered lawrence; "at least i have not heard the colonel talk of such an object; but i am not in his confidence, and know nothing of his plans." pizarro made no rejoinder, and lawrence, seeing by the continued frown that the youth's spirit was somewhat stirred, sought for further information by asking about mendoza. "do you not know," said the gaucho, with increased vehemence, and a good deal of fine action, "that the people of san juan have deposed their governor, because he is a bad man?" "i had not heard of it," said lawrence, "but what has that to do with mendoza?" "you shall hear, senhor. the governor of san juan is dishonest. he is bad in every way, and in league with the priests to rob the people. his insolence became so great lately that, as i have said, the people arose, asserted their rights, and deposed him. then the government of mendoza sent troops to reinstate the governor of san juan; but they have not yet succeeded! what right," continued the youth, with grand indignation,--"what right has the government of mendoza to interfere? is not the province of san juan as free to elect its own governor as the province of mendoza? have its men not brains enough to work out their own affairs?--ay, and they have arms strong enough to defend their rights, as the troops shall find when they try to force on the people a governor of whom they do not approve." lawrence felt at once that he was in the presence of one of those strong, untameable spirits, of which the world has all too few, whose love of truth and fair-play becomes, as it were, a master-passion, and around whom cluster not only many of the world's good men, but-- unfortunately for the success of the good cause--also multitudes of the lower dregs of the world's wickedness, not because these dregs sympathise with truth and justice, but simply because truth-lovers are sometimes unavoidably arrayed against "the powers that be." "i don't know the merits of the case to which you refer," said lawrence, "but i have the strongest sympathy with those who fight or suffer in the cause of fair-play--for those who wish to `do to others as they would have others do to them.' do the people of san luis sympathise with those of san juan?" "i know not, senhor, i have never been to san luis." as the town referred to lay at a comparatively short distance from the other, lawrence was much surprised by this reply, but his surprise was still further increased when he found that the handsome gaucho had never seen any of the towns in regard to which his sense of justice had been so strongly stirred! "where were you born, pizarro?" he asked. "in the hut where you found me, senhor." "and you have never been to mendoza or san juan?" "no, senhor, i have never seen a town or a village--never gone beyond the plains where we now ride." "how old are you, pizarro?" "i do not know, senhor." as the youth said this with a slightly confused look, lawrence forbore to put any more personal questions, and confined his conversation to general topics; but he could not help wondering at this specimen of grand and apparently noble manhood, who could neither read nor write, who knew next to nothing of the great world beyond his own pampas, and who had not even seen a collection of huts sufficiently large to merit the name of village. he could, however, admirably discern the signs of the wilderness around him, as he showed by suddenly pointing to the sky and exclaiming-- "see! there is a lion!" "lions have not wings, pizarro," said lawrence, with a smile, as he looked upward; "but i see, very high in the air, a flock of vultures." "just so, senhor, and you observe that they do not move, but are hovering over one spot?" "yes, i see that; what then?" "a lion is there, senhor, devouring the carcass from which he has driven the vultures away." in a short time the correctness of the youth's observation was proved by the party coming upon, and driving away, a puma which had previously disturbed the vultures at their banquet on the carcass of an unfortunate ox. the next morning pizarro's capacity for tracking the wilderness was proved by the party coming on the broad trail of the troops. soon afterwards they discovered the men themselves taking their midday siesta. not long after that the united party came within scent of the atlantic, and on the afternoon of the same day galloped into the town of buenos ayres. chapter twenty nine. describes several mysterious meetings and conversations. descriptions, however graphic or faithful, are for the most part misleading and ineffective. who ever went to a town or a region, and found it to resemble the picture of it which had been previously painted on his imagination by description? for an account of buenos ayres we refer the inquiring reader to other books. our business at present is with quashy and "sooz'n." that sable and now united couple stand under the shade of a marble colonnade watching with open-mouthed interest the bustle of the street in which men and women of many nations--french, italian, spanish, english, and other--are passing to and fro on business or pleasure. this huge, populous town was not only a new sight, but an almost new idea to the negroes, and they were lost alike in amusement and amazement. "hi!" exclaimed quashy in his falsetto, "look, look dar, sooz'n--das funny." he pointed to a little boy who, squatted like a toad on a horse's back, was galloping to market with several skins of milk slung on either side of the saddle, so that there was no room for his legs. "o quash!" exclaimed the bride, "dar's pumpkins for you. look!" they were indeed notable pumpkins--so large that five of them completely filled a wagon drawn by two oxen. "but come, sooz'n, da'ling," said quashy, starting as if he had just recollected something, "you said you was gwine to tell me suffin as would make my hair stan' on end. it'll be awrful strong if it doos dat, for my wool am stiff, an' de curls pritty tight." "yes, i comed here wid you a-purpose to tell you," replied the bride, "an' to ax your 'pinion. but let's go ober to dat seat in de sun. i not like de shade." "come along, den, sooz'n. it's all one to me where we goes, for your eyes dey make sunshine in de shade, an' suffin as good as shade in de sunshine, ole gurl." "git along wid your rubbish!" retorted susan as they crossed the street. it was evident, however, that she was much pleased with her gallant spouse. "now, den dis is what i calls hebben upon art'," said quashy, sitting down with a contented sigh. "to be here a-frizzlin' in de sunshine wid sooz'n a-smilin' at me like a black angel. d'you know, sooz'n," he added, with a serious look, "it gibs me a good deal o' trouble to beliebe it." "yes, it _am_ awrful nice," responded susan, gravely, "but we's not come here to make lub, quashy, so hol' your tongue, an' i'll tell you what i heared." she cleared her throat here, and looked earnest. having thus reduced her husband to a state of the most solemn expectancy, she began in a low voice-- "you know, quashy, dat poor massa lawrie hab found nuffin ob his fadder's fortin." "yes, i knows dat, sooz'n," replied her husband, with an expression of the deepest woe. "well, den--" "no, sooz'n, it's _ill_ den." "quashy!" (remonstratively.) "yes?" (interrogatively.) "hol' your tongue." "yes, da'ling." "well, den," began susan again, with serious emphasis, "don' 'trupt me agin, or i'll git angry. well, massa, you know, is so honoribic dat he wouldn't deceive nobody--not even a skeeter." "i knows _dat_, sooz'n, not even a nigger." "ob course not," continued susan; "so what does massa do, but goes off straight to kurnel muchbunks, an' he says, says he, `kurnel, you's a beggar.'" "no, sooz'n, he di'n't say dat. dough you says it wid your own sweet lips, i don' beliebe it." "right, quashy. you's allers right," returned the bride, with a beaming smile. "i made a 'stake--das all. i should hab said dat massa he said, says he, `kurnel muchbunks,' says he, `i's a beggar.'" "dat was a lie, sooz'n," said quashy, in some surprise. "i's afeard it was," assented susan, gravely. "well, an' what says de kurnel to dat?" asked the saddened negro, with a sigh. "oh! he beliebed it, an' he says, says he, `i's griebed to hear it, mis'r amstrung, an' ob course you cannot 'spect me to gib my consent to my darter marryin' a beggar!' o quash, w'en i hears dat--i--bu'sted a'most! i do beliebe if i'd bin 'longside o' dat kurnel at dat momint i hab gib him a most horrible smack in de face." "de skownril!" muttered quashy between his clenched teeth. "but what happen arter dat, sooz'n?" "nuffin happen. only poor massa he look bery sad, an' says, says he, `kurnel, i's come to say farewell. i would not t'ink ob asking your consent to such a marriage, but i do ask you to hold out de hope dat if i ebber comes back agin wid a kumpitincy, (don' know 'zactly what dat is, but dat's what he called it)--wid a kumpitincy, you'll not forbid me payin' my 'dresses to your darter.' what he wants to pay her dresses for, an' why he calls dem _his_ dresses, is more nor i can guess, but das what he say, an' de kurnel he says, says he, `no, mis'r amstrung, i'll not hold out no sich hope. it's time enough to speak ob dat when you comes back. it's bery kind ob you to sabe my darter's life, but--' an' den he says a heap more, but i cou'n't make it rightly out, i _was_ so mad." "when dey was partin', he says, says he, `mis'r amstrung, you mus' promise me not to 'tempt to meet my darter before leaving.' i know'd, by de long silence and den by de way he speak dat massa lawrence no like dat, but at last he says, says he, `well, kurnel, i do promise dat i'll make no 'tempt to meet wid her,' an' den he hoed away. now, quashy, what you t'ink ob all dat?" "i t'ink it am a puzzler," replied the negro, his face twisted up into wrinkles of perplexity. "i's puzzled to hear dat massa tell a big lie by sayin' he's a beggar, an' den _show_ dat it's a lie by offerin' to pay for de kurnel's darter's dresses. it's koorious, but white folk _has_ sitch koorious ways dat it's not easy to understan' dem. let's be t'ankful, sooz'n, you an' me, that we're bof black." "so i is, quash, bery t'ankful, but what's to be dooed? is massa to go away widout sayin' good-bye to miss manuela?" "cer'nly not," cried the negro, with sudden energy, seizing his wife's face between his hands, and giving her lips a smack that resounded over the place--to the immense delight of several little gaucho boys, who, clothed in nothing but ponchos and pugnacity, stood gazing at the couple. quashy jumped up with such violence that the boys in ponchos fled as he hurried along the street with his bride, earnestly explaining to her as he went, his new-born plans. at the same moment that this conversation was taking place, lawrence armstrong and pedro--_alias_ conrad of the mountains--were holding equally interesting and perhaps more earnest converse over two pots of coffee in a restaurant. "i have already told you, senhor," said pedro, "that old ignacio followed us thus hotly, and overtook us as it happened so opportunely, for the purpose of telling me of a piece of good fortune that has just been sent to me." "true," returned lawrence, "and in the bustle of the moment when you told me i forgot to congratulate you, whatever the good fortune may be. what was it?" "good old ignacio little knew," continued pedro, sipping his coffee with an air of supreme contentment, "what glad news i had in store for himself about my little mariquita--the light of my eyes, the very echo of her mother! the good fortune he had to tell me of was but as a candle to the sun compared with what i had to reveal to _him_, for what is wealth compared with love? however, the other piece of good news is not to be sneezed at." "but what _is_ this good news, pedro?" asked lawrence, with a touch of impatience, for his curiosity was aroused, and pedro's mode of communicating glad tidings was not rapid. before he could reply their attention was attracted by the noisy and self-assertive entrance of two jovial british sailors, who, although not quite drunk, were in that condition which is styled by some people "elevated"--by others, debased. whatever view may be taken of their condition, there could be only one opinion as to their effusive good-humour and universal good-will--a good-will which would probably have expanded at once into pugnacity, if any one had ventured to suggest that the couple had had more than enough of strong drink. "now then, bill," cried one, smiting the other with facetious violence on the back, "what'll you have?" then, without waiting for a reply, he added, to the waiter, "let's have some brary-an'-warer!" the brandy and water having been supplied, bill nodded his head, cried, "here's luck, jim," and drained his first glass. jim responded with the briefer toast, "luck!" and followed the other's draining example. "now, i'll tell you wot it is, jim," said bill, setting down his glass and gazing at the brandy bottle with a solemnly virtuous look, "i wouldn't go for to see another bull-fight like that one we saw just before we left monte video, no, not if you was to give me a thousan' pound down." "no more would i," responded jim, regarding the water-jug with a virtuously indignant air. "such dis-_gusting_ cruelty," continued bill. "to see two strong men stand up o' their own accord an' hammer their two noses into somethin' like plum duff, an' their two daylights into one, ain't more nor a or'nary seaman can stand; but to see a plucky little bull set to gore an' rip up a lot o' poor blinded horses, with a lot o' cowardly beggars eggin' it on, an' stickin' darts all over it, an' the place reekin' wi' blood, an' the people cheerin' like mad--why--it--it made me a'most sea-sick, which i never was in my life yet. bah! pass the bottle, jim." "you're right, bill," assented jim, passing the bottle, "an' it made poor young ansty sick altogether. leastwise, i saw his good-lookin' face turn a'most green as he got up in a hurry like an' left the place, for you know, big an' well made as he is, an' able to hold his own wi' the best, dick ansty has the heart of a woman for tenderness. his only fault is that he's a tee-totaller." "ay, a g-great fault that," said bill, pouring out and spilling most of another glass. "i wouldn't give much for him." "you couldn't help likin' him, though, if you'd sailed with him as i've done," returned jim. "he's a reg'lar brick, though he don't smoke neither." "don't smoke?" exclaimed bill, aghast. "then he ain't fit for _this_ world! why, what does he think 'baccy was made for?" "i dun know as to that, bill, but i do know that he's goin' to leave us. you see, he's only a sort of half-hand--worked his passage out, you know, an' well he did it too, though he is only a land-lubber, bein' a cornishman, who's bin lookin' arter mines o' some sort ever since he was a boy. he says he's in great luck, havin' fallen in wi' a party as is just agoin' to start for the west under a feller they call conrad o' the mountains." lawrence and pedro, who had been trying to ignore the presence of the sailors, and to converse in spite of their noise, became suddenly interested at this point, and the former glanced inquiringly at the latter. "listen," said pedro, in a low voice, and with a nod of intelligence. "it's a queer story," continued jim. "i heard all about it this very mornin' from himself. he'd bin givin' some on us a lot o' good advice. you see, he's a sort of edicated chap, an' got a tremendjous gift o' the gab, but none of us could take offence at 'im, for he's such a quiet, modest feller--although he _is_ big! well, you must know that--that-- what was i sayin'?" "p-pash th' bottle," said bill. "no, that's not what i was--oh yes, i was goin' to say he'd bin givin' us good advice, `because you must know, shipmates,' says he, `that i've bin in good luck on shore, havin' fallen in with a most interestin' man, whose right name i don't know yet, because everybody speaks of him as conrad of the mountains, though some calls him pedro, and others the rover of the andes, and a good lot say he's a robber. but i don't care twopence what they say, for i've seen him, and believe him to be a first-rate feller. anyhow, he's a rich one, and has bin hirin' a few men to help him to work his silver-mine, and as i know somethin' about mining, he has engaged me to superintend the underground work.' "you may be sure we was surprised as well as pleased to hear all this, an' we pumped him, in course, a good deal, an' he told us that the mine was in the andes somewheres, at a place called murrykeety valley, or some such name. this conrad had discovered the mine a good while ago, and had got an old trapper an' a boy to work it, but never made much of it till a few months back, when the old man an' the boy came suddenly on some rich ground, where the silver was shovelled up in buckets. in course i don't rightly know what like silver is when first got hold on. it ain't in ready-made dollars, i dare say, but anyhow, they say this conrad'll be as rich as a nabob; an' he's got a pretty darter too, as has bin lost the most of her life, and just turned up at the same time wi' the silver. i don't rightly know if they dug her up in the mine, but there she is, an' she's goin' up to the mountains too, so young ansty will be in good company." "jim," said bill at this point, looking with unsteady solemnity at his comrade, and speaking slowly, "i d-don' b-b'lieve a single word on't. here, give us a light, an'--an'--pash th' borle." rising at this point, lawrence and pedro left those jovial british tars to their elevating occupations. "well, senhor," said the latter as they walked away, "you have heard it all, though not just in the way i had intended!" "but tell me, pedro, is this all true?" "substantially it is as you have heard it described, only i have had more people than old ignacio and his boy to work my silver-mine. i have had several men at it for a long time, and hitherto it has paid sufficiently well to induce me to continue the works; but when ignacio visited it a few weeks ago, in passing on his way here to meet me, he found that a very rich lode had been found--so rich, indeed, and extensive, that there is every reason to expect what men call `a fortune' out of it. there is a grave, as you know, which dims for me the lustre of any fortune, but now that it has pleased the almighty to give me back my child, i will gladly, for her sake, try to extract a little more than the mere necessaries of life out of my silver-mine. now, my friend," added pedro, suddenly stopping and confronting our hero with a decided air, and an earnest look, "will you join me in this venture? i would not give up my life's work here for all the mines in peru. in order to raise the people and improve the condition of this land, i must continue to be a rover of the andes to the end of my days. so, as i cannot superintend extensive mining operations at the same time, i must have a manager, and i know of no one whom i should like to have associated with me half so well as senhor lawrence armstrong. will you go with me to the mariquita valley?" lawrence paused a minute, with his eyes on the ground, before answering. "i am flattered by your good opinion, pedro," he said at length, "and will give you an answer to-morrow, if that will do. i never take any important step in haste. this afternoon i have an appointment with quashy, and as the hour is near, and i promised to be _very_ punctual, you will excuse my leaving you now." "certainly--to-morrow will do," said pedro, "i hope to take quashy also with me. he is a queer fellow." "he is particularly queer just now," returned lawrence. "i think his marriage with susan has turned his brain. so, good-bye, pedro--till to-morrow." they shook hands heartily, and parted. that same afternoon quashy paid a formal visit to manuela at her father's residence in the suburbs of buenos ayres, and told her, with a visage elongated to the uttermost, and eyes in which solemnity sat enthroned, that a very sick man in the country wanted to see her immediately before he died. "dear me, quashy," said manuela, an expression of sympathy appearing at once on her fine eyebrows, "who is it? what is his name? and why does he send for me?" "i can't tell you his name, miss. i's not allowed. but it's a bad case, an' it will be awrful if he should die widout seein' you. you'd better be quick, miss, an' i'll promise to guide _you_ safe, an' take great care ob you." "that i know you will, quashy. i can trust you. i'll order my horse im--" "de hoss am at de door a'ready, miss. i order 'im afore i come here." manuela could not restrain a little laugh at the cool presumption of her sable friend, as she ran out of the room to get ready. a few minutes more and the pair were cantering through the streets in the direction of the western suburbs of the town. chapter thirty. the last. we regret to have to record the fact that quashy's deep-laid schemes in behalf of manuela and the "sick man" miscarried. that same night, by the light of the full moon, he revealed to susan his account of the affair, with a visage in which the solemnity of the wondering eyes seemed to absorb the expression of all the other features. "sooz'n," he said, "de white folk is past my compre'nshin altogidder, an' i ha'n't got words to tell you how t'ankful i am dat you an' me was born black." "das true, quash. we's got reasin to rejoice. but what went wrong?" "what went wrong? why, my lub, eberyt'ing went wrong. look here, dis was de way ob it. when me an' miss manuela got to de place whar i had fix on, dar was de lub-sick man sure 'nuff, an' you may b'liebe he look 'stonished to see manuela, but he wasn't half so 'stonished as me at de way dey hoed on. what d'ee t'ink dey dooed, sooz'n?" "dun know. s'pose dey run into each oder's arms, an' hab a dance round--like me an' you." "nuffin ob de sort. i wouldn't hab bin suprised at dat at all. no, arter de fust look o' suprise, massa lawrence looked orkerd, an' miss manuela looked orkerder!" "it had bin in my mind," continued quashy, "arter i had bring 'em togidder, to turn about, an' enter into conbersation wid my hoss--what's pritty well used to my talk by dis time--but when i see how t'ings went, i forgot to turn about, so ob course i heard an' saw'd." "you wasn't innercent _dat_ time, quashy." "i di'n't say i was, sooz'n, but i cou'n't help it. well, massa lawrence, who's too much of a man to remain orkerd long, goes up to miss manuela wid a leetle smile, an' holds out his hand. she shakes it quite gently-like, zif dey was on'y noo acquaintances jest interdooced. ob course i di'n't hear rightly all dey said--" "ha! wantin' to keep up a _leetle_ innercence?" "jest so, sooz'n, but i couldn't help hearin' a good deal--somet'ing like dis:-- "says massa lawrence, says he, `arternoon, miss muchbunks.' `ditto to you, sir,' says manuela--" "no, she didn't say dat," interrupted susan, with decision. "well, no, p'r'aps not 'zactly dat, sooz'n, but suffin wid de same meanin'. you know it i'n't possible for me to speak like dem. an' dey bof seemed to hab got deir go-to-meetin' langwidge on--all stiff an' stuck up grammar, same zif dey was at school. well, arter de speech about de wedder, dey bof blushed--i could see dat, dough i was tryin' hard not to look,--and dey was so long silent dat i begin to t'ink ob offerin' to help, when massa lawrence he plucked up heart all ob a suddent, an' went in like a good un. "`manuela,' says he, quite bold-like, `i promised your fadder dat i would not make any 'tempt to meet you before leabing for de mountains, an' i hab fait'fully striben to keep dat promise. it is by mere chance, i assure you, dat i hab meet you here now, and i would not, for all de wurl' break my word to your fadder. but as chance _hab_ t'rown you in my way, it cannot be wrong to tell you--what you knows a'ready--dat i lub you, and dat, god permittin', i will return ere long to buenos ayres. farewell.' "wid dat he wheel round, zif he was afraid to trust hisself to say more, an' went off at full gallop." "an' what did miss manuela say?" asked susan. "she say not'ing--not one word--on'y she smile a leetle, an' kiss her hand to him when he hoed away. it passes my compre'nshin, kite. an' as we rode home she says to me, says she, `quashy, you's a good boy!' i bery near say to her, `manuela, you's a bad gurl,' but i di'n't feel kite up to dat." "quashy, you're a fool," said susan, abruptly. "das no news," returned the amiable man, "i's said dat ob myself ober an' ober again since i's growed up. de on'y time i feel kite sure i wasn't a fool was de time i falled in lub wid you, sooz'n." as the negro's account of this inflecting and parting was substantially correct, we feel indisposed to add more to it, except to say that our hero stuck manfully to his resolve, and finally went off to the distant valley in the andes without again meeting the inca princess. he was accompanied by pedro and his daughter, quashy and susan, ignacio, the old hunter, and his boy, as well as spotted tiger. in addition to these there was a pretty large following--some engaged in the service of pedro, others taking advantage of the escort. among them were dick ansty, the cornish youth, antonio, the ex-bandit, and the english sportsman with--aw--his friend. it is not our purpose to drag the patient reader a second time over the rolling pampas, or to introduce him to the mysteries of silver-mining in the andes. our end shall be sufficiently explained by stating the fact that as lawrence was faithful to his promise to colonel marchbanks, he was not less faithful to his promise to the daughter. a year had barely elapsed when he found himself once again in buenos ayres, with the faithful quashy at his side, and presented himself before the old colonel, not now as a beggar, but as part owner of one of the richest silver-mines in peru. colonel marchbanks, although a prudent man, was by no means avaricious. "the chief bar which prevented my listening to your proposal," he said to lawrence at their first interview, "is now removed, but i have yet to learn from my daughter's own lips that she will have you. i have carefully avoided the subject from the very first, because i have no faith whatever in forcing, or even leading, the affections of a young girl. and let me tell you flatly, young senhor, that your being the richest man in peru, and the greatest man as well, would not influence me so much as the weight of a feather, if manuela does not care for you. so, you will prepare yourself to abide as well as you can by her final decision." "i am prepared to abide by manuela's decision," replied lawrence, with what may be termed a modest smile. "'pon my word, young man, you seem to be unwarrantably sure of your position," said the colonel, somewhat sternly. "however, you have heard all i mean to say on the subject just now. leave me, and return here in the evening." when lawrence was gone, the old soldier found his daughter in a tastefully arranged closet which she called her boudoir, the miniature glass-door of which opened on a luxuriant garden, where wood, water, sunshine, and herbage, wild and tame, seemed to revel for the mastery. "that young fellow armstrong has come back," said the old man, abruptly. "i know it," was manuela's brief reply. she did not look up, being too busily engaged at the moment in the hideously commonplace act of darning the smallest possible hole in one of her dear little stockings. "you know it, child?" "yes, father." "do you also know that he has just been here, and formally asked your hand in marriage?" "yes, father, i know it." "why, child, how could you know that? you surely have not been tempted to--to condescend to eavesdropping?" "no, father, i have not condescended to that, but i have heard it on the best authority. have you not yourself just told me?" "oh--ah--well," exclaimed the stern man, relaxing into a smile in spite of himself, as he observed the calm, quiet, earnest way in which that princess of the incas applied herself to the reparation of that little hole. "now manuela, my darling," continued the colonel, changing his tone and manner suddenly as he sat down beside her and put a hand lovingly on her shoulder, "you know that i would not for all the world permit, or induce you to do anything that would risk your happiness. i now come to ask you seriously if you--if you are in--in short, if you admire this young fellow." instead of answering, manuela, while searching carefully for any other little hole that might have been made, or that was on the eve of being made, by any other little toe, asked the astounding question-- "is he rich, father?" a mixture of surprise and annoyance marked the old man's tone and look as he replied-- "why, what has _that_ got to do with it?" "have you not over and over again warned me, father, to beware of those gay young fellows who haven't got two sixpences to rub against each other, but have presumption enough to trifle with the affections of all the silly girls in the world. and are you sorry that i should have laid your lessons to heart?" "tut, child, don't talk nonsense. whether he is rich or poor is a mere matter of moonshine. the question i have to settle just now is--are you fond of him?" "well, no, father, i can't exactly say that i--" "i knew it! i was _sure_ of it! the presumptuous puppy!" shouted the old man of war, jumping up, overturning a work-table with its innumerable contents, and striding towards the door. "stay, father!" said manuela, in a tone that military discipline forbade him to disobey, and holding out both her hands with an air and grace that love forbade him to resist. "i _don't_ admire him, and i'm _not_ fond of him," continued the inca princess, vehemently, as she grasped her parent's hands; "these terms are ridiculously inadequate. i love him, father--i _adore_ him--i--" she stopped abruptly, for a noise at the glass-door caused her to turn her eyes in that direction. it was quashy, who stood there staring at them with all his eyes, and grinning at them with more than all his mouth--to say nothing of his ears! "you black baboon!" shouted the colonel, when able to speak. "oh, nebber mind me, kurnel," said quashy, with a deprecatory air, "'skuse me. i's on'y habin' a stroll in de gardin an' come here kite by haxidint. go on wid your leetle game, an' nebber mind me. i's on'y a nigger." colonel marchbanks could not decide whether to laugh or storm. manuela decided the question for him by inviting the negro to enter, which he did with humble urbanity. "shake hands with him, father. he's only a nigger, as he says, but he's one of the very best and bravest and most faithful niggers that _i_ ever had to do with." "you's bery good, miss--a'most as good as sooz'n." "oh, well, have it all your own way," cried the colonel, becoming reckless, and shaking the negro's hand heartily; "i surrender. lawrence will dine with us this evening, manuela, so you'd better see to having covers laid for three--or, perhaps, for four. it may be that senhor quashy will honour us with--" "t'ankee, kurnel, you's bery kind, but i's got a prebious engagement." "a previous engagement, eh?" repeated the colonel, much tickled with the excuse. "yes, kurnel; got to 'tend upon massa lawrence; but if you'll allow me to stan' behind his chair an' _wait_, i'll be much pleased to listen to all you says, an' put in a word now an' den if you chooses." and so, good reader, all things came about as the little princess of the incas had arranged, long before, in her own self-willed little mind. shall we trouble you with the details? certainly not. that would be almost an insult to your understanding. but we will trouble you to mount one of the fleetest steeds of the pampas and fly with us over the mighty plains into the wildest regions of the andes. though wild, we need not tell you that it is a lovely region, for you have been there already. it is the mariquita valley. no longer a silent wilderness, however, as when we saw it last, for, not very long after the events which we have just described, lawrence armstrong and his blooming bride, accompanied by the white-haired colonel and the irrepressible quashy, and another band of miners and selected emigrants, entered that valley in a sort of triumphal procession, and were met and escorted to the head of it by another triumphal procession, which was under the command of conrad of the mountains, whose pretty daughter was the first to welcome manuela to her new home. but now dismount. put on these wings and soar with us to the brow of yonder cliff, from which we can have a grand bird's-eye view of the vale almost from its entrance to the point where it is lost and absorbed in the majestic recesses of the higher andes. see you yon cottage-like edifice, close to pedro's old home, with the rustic porch in front, and the well-stocked garden around? that is the residence of the overseer of the silver-mine, lawrence armstrong, esquire. the residence as well as the garden is well-stocked; for we have ventured to gallop with you over time as well as space--one result being that there are at least three descendants of the incas, (by the mother's side), romping in the garden. on that mound a little way on the other side of pedro's cottage stands another building. it resembles the home of lawrence, but with enough of difference to afford the charm of variety. it is the home of the fine young cornish youth who worked his way across the sea as a sailor, and accompanied pedro to the mountains. that trip effectually settled _his_ business, and resulted in the conversion of mariquita into mrs ansty. the change may not strike ordinary readers as being very romantic, but it was attended with much felicity. in the small clump of wood just behind pedro's cottage--where you see the lakelet or tarn glittering in the sunlight, and sending its infant waters to brawl over the neighbouring precipices and scamper down the valley--stands a group of huts. these form the homes of ignacio, the old hunter, and spotted tiger with his family. ignacio, you see,--still tough and straight, as though he had made up his mind to live and hunt for ever--has a strange power of attracting men to him, and has induced his indian friend to forsake his old home in the low grounds and dwell with him in the mountains. of course spotted tiger has brought his wife with him, and leetle cub, (no longer little), and all the other cubs, including poor manca, the sick girl, who--thanks to dr armstrong's skill, and change of scene, and god's blessing on all--is no longer sick, but, on the contrary, robust and grateful. strange to say, our english sportsman is living with ignacio just now, with several sporting friends. he has been back to england and out again since we last saw him, and goes aw-ing all over the settlement with as much nonchalance and latent vigour as ever--when not better engaged with ignacio and spotted tiger, and leetle cub, in the mountains. in lawrence's garden, among the romping descendants of the incas, (by the mother's side), may be seen four whitey-brown creatures. these are the children of quashy and susan. two of them are little quashys and two are little "sooz'ns." they are not, of course, all named so, but quashy says if he had "fifty little bustin' gurls he'd regard 'em all as little sooz'ns," and susan retorts that if she had "five hundred little bad boys she'd call 'em all quashys." they dwell in a small hut in rear of the cottage of massa lawrence, for quashy is his gardener and "_sooz'n_" his washerwoman, and the little quashys and "sooz'ns" are playmates of the little incas, (by the mother's side). antonio, the ex-bandit, is assistant gardener to the armstrongs, and it is said that that once ferocious man has become so changed under the influence of christian treatment, that he not only serves his master faithfully, but has even made more than one attempt to rescue an old enemy named cruz from his evil ways. he has not yet been successful, but he is strong in faith and hope. colonel marchbanks, who has finally retired from the army, dwells with the armstrongs, and has organised the miners and settlers into a local force of which he is the chief. for the place has grown much of late in importance as well as in numbers, and in such a wild region there is need for defensive arrangements. it has other arrangements, also, of a much more important kind in which the word of god plays the chief part, and conrad of the mountains lends a helping hand. that earnest rover has built a church and a schoolhouse, and, when at home, does what in him lies to advance the cause of true religion and education. but he has not ceased to wander in the mountains. true to his instincts as a reformer and lover of mankind, he visits with ceaseless activity the great and widely separated centres of population in south america, never losing sight of the great object he has set before him in the amelioration of the condition of the people. most people think him a mysterious madman. some, who know him well, think him an over-sanguine enthusiast, but all agree in regarding him as a calm, gentle, amiable man, with a determination of purpose that nothing can turn aside, and with an intense desire for the welfare and advancement of the country which mariquita the elder called her native land. indeed it is thought by some that pedro must have made to his wife some pledge or promise with reference to that subject, but no one can ascertain the truth of that now. there is ground for this belief, however, for, as we sit on our perch, overlooking the valley, we see this pedro, this conrad of the mountains, seated in the bower on the mound behind his dwelling, resting contemplatively at the well-loved spot, after one of his periodical returns. mariquita the younger is beside him. they are both looking earnestly at the grave, and conversing about the time when they shall once again meet the lost one by the side of jesus in the better land. till that day came, pedro continued unflinchingly to prosecute his self-imposed task, whatever it might be. whether or what success attended his efforts we cannot tell; yet have we reason to hope that his labour was not in vain. but of this much we are certainly sure, that, to the end of his days on earth he continued to be known as the rover of the andes; and when death--at last--overtook him and arrested his benignant course, it found him advancing with trembling steps towards the old place, and closed with him, finally, as he pillowed his head on mariquita's grave. the end. through forest and stream, or, the quest of the quetzal, by george manville fenn. ________________________________________________________________________ the book is apparently quite genuinely by george manville fenn, judging by its style and content. yet it does not appear on any list of his books, and copies of it seem to be very rare. for that reason we have not been able to put a verified publication date on the book. it does not even appear in the british library's catalogue, indicating that it was possibly not registered for copyright. it is fairly short, taking but three hours to read aloud. it was published in the same cover as "the new forest spy," which is approximately of the same length, so that they can both be regarded as longish short stories. the book can be regarded as a sequel to "nat the naturalist", except that the action takes place somewhere in the jungles of south america. the quetzal is a beautiful bird with a long tail, and beautifully coloured. the object of the expedition is to shoot, skin, and mount specimens. there is a passing reference to ebo, who appears in "nat the naturalist" between chapters to , so that gives us some kind of a date, for that book was first published in . let us say or . possibly fenn was asked by members of his young readership for more about nat, and this is the result. the co-hero is pete, whom we first meet on board ship being maltreated by the captain. when nat and his uncle are dropped off with their own small boat, and are camping ashore for their first night, they discharge their fire-arms at sounds they take to be enemy locals. the noises turn out to be pete and cross, the ship's carpenter, who had jumped ship. pete had been a dirty-looking frightened boy on the ship, but with a quick wash of the face he turns out to be quite a useful lad, and plays a full part in the expedition. there is the usual fenn style of apparently mortal perils, overcome by cunning or luck, and it is quite a good read or listen. ________________________________________________________________________ through forest and stream; or, the quest of the quetzal, by george manville fenn. chapter one. why we were there. the captain of the steamer stopped by where i was watching the flying fish fizz out of the blue-ink-like water, skim along for some distance, and drop in again, often, i believe, to be snapped up by some bigger fish; and he gave me a poke in the shoulder with one finger, so hard, that it hurt. "yes?" i said, for he stood looking hard in my face, while i looked back harder in his, for it seemed such a peculiar way of addressing one, and his manner was more curious still. he was naturally a smooth-faced man with a very browny-yellow skin, and he kept on passing the finger with which he had poked me over first one cheek and then over the other, just as if he were shaving himself without soap. then his speech seemed more peculiar than his manner, for he repeated my one word, only instead of pronouncing it _yes_, he turned it into _yuss_. he looked so comic and puzzled that i smiled, and the smile became a laugh. i was sorry directly after, because it seemed rude to one who had been very civil to me ever since we left kingston harbour. "'tain't nothing to laugh at, young feller," he said, frowning. "i've been talking to him yonder, and i can't make nothing of him. he's a _re-lay-tive_ of yours, isn't he?" "yes; my uncle," i replied. "well, i'm afraid he don't know what he's cut out for himself, and i think i ought to tell you, so as you may talk to him and bring him to his senses." "there's no need," i said, quickly. "oh, yes, there is, my lad. he don't know what he's got before him, and it's right that you should. he's going shooting, isn't he?" "yes." "nattralist?" "yes." "well, he don't know what the parts are like where he's going. do you know what fevers is?" "oh, yes," i replied; "i've heard of them often." "well, the coast yonder's where they're made, my lad. natur's got a big workshop all along there, and she makes yaller ones, and black ones; scarlet, too, i dessay, though i never see none there that colour." "uncle's a doctor," i said, "and he'll know all about that." "but he's going, he tells me, to shoot birds in the forests and up the rivers, and means to skin 'em, and he won't do it." "why not?" i said. "why not? because if the fevers don't stop you both, the injuns will; and if they don't, you'll get your boat capsized in the rivers or along the coast, or you'll get lost in the woods and never be heerd of again." "uncle's an old, experienced traveller," i said, "and has been a great deal in south america." "you warn't with him there, was you?" "no," i said; "but i was with him in the east indian islands." "then you tell him to stop about the west indy islands. he may get some birds there, but he won't if he goes to the coast yonder. you tell him i say so." "what's the use?" i said. "uncle has made his plans." "oh, yes, and he thinks he's going to do wonders with that cranky cockboat." he turned and nodded his head contemptuously at our good-sized boat lashed on the deck amidships. "it was the best he could get in port royal harbour," i said, "and all the better for being rather small." "why?" said the captain. "easier to manage. we can go up the rivers in her, or sail along the coast." "you'll get snagged in the rivers, and pitched into the sea if you try to coast along. oh, here he is!" for at that moment uncle dick, looking particularly eager and inquiring, came up to where we stood. "well, captain," he said, "having a word with my nephew about our boat?" "that's so, sir," was the reply, "and about that venture of yours. you take my advice, now, and just go from port to port with me, and you can buy all you want for a few dollars; and that'll be better than going up country and catching fevers. there's lots o' bird-skins to be bought." uncle dick laughed good-humouredly. "why, captain," he said, "i might just as well have stopped in london and bought a few bird-skins down by the docks." "a deal better, doctor. you don't know what you're cutting out for yourself." "we should come off badly for natural history specimens, captain, if people followed your advice." "quite well enough, doctor. i don't see much good in stuffed birds." "ah, well, captain," said my uncle, "we will not argue about that. you land us and our boat where i said." "do you know what sort of a place it is, sir?" "pretty well," replied my uncle. "i shall know better when we reach it." "all right, sir. you're my passenger, and i'll keep to my bargain. but don't you blame me if anything goes wrong." "i never shall, believe me," said my uncle. "you won't," said the captain, and he walked aft, shaking his head as if our case was hopeless. "our friend is not very encouraging, nat," said my uncle. "he believes that he knows better than we do, but i think we shall manage all the same. at any rate, we'll try." "how far are we from the coast?" i asked. "not above a day's run," said my uncle; "so have all your traps ready for putting in the boat at any moment." "everything is ready, uncle," i said. "that's right. i shall be glad to get ashore and to work." "not more glad than i shall be, uncle," i said. "i'm sick of being cooped up on board ship with this skipper--there, he's at it again." the voice of the captain in a furious passion abusing someone, followed by the sound of a blow and a yelp such as a dog would give when kicked, made uncle dick frown. "the brute!" he muttered. "how he does knock that poor lad about." "it's shameful, uncle," i said, passionately, "if we stop on board much longer i shall tell him he's what you said." "no, hold your tongue, nat," said my uncle. "we have no right to interfere. he has often made my blood boil. ah! don't laugh. i mean feel hot, sir." "i wasn't going to laugh, uncle," i said. "it makes me wonder, though, how boys can want to come to sea." "all captains are not like our friend yonder," said uncle dick. "but it seems to me that he's a tyrant to everyone on board. who's being bullied now?" for just then sharp words were being exchanged, and a gruff voice cried: "do. you hit me, and skipper or no skipper, i'll give it you back with interest!" "what! you mutinous dog!" shouted the captain. "here, boy, go down and fetch my revolver from the cabin." "bah!" came in a loud voice. "you daren't use it. if you did, the crew would put you in irons." the ship's carpenter came by where we were stood, scowling fiercely at us both, walked to the forecastle hatch, and went below. "yes, nat," said my uncle, "i think we shall be happier out in the woods. don't you wish we had ebo here?" "i've often wished it, uncle," i said. "but perhaps we may pick up just such a fellow out yonder." "such pieces of luck don't happen twice to the same people. hullo, here's poor doldrums. well, my lad, in trouble again?" the ship's boy, a sallow, dirty-looking lad of about eighteen, but stunted and, dwarfed for his age, came shuffling by us, to follow the carpenter, and he held one hand to his eye and spoke in answer with his face half averted. "trouble again, sir?" said the poor fellow, half piteously, half in anger; "i aren't never been out of it since we sailed." "what have you been doing? here, let me look at your face." "oh, never mind that, sir," said the lad, shrinking. "but i do mind," said my uncle. "let me see." uncle dick did not wait for the boy to take down his hand, but drew it away, to show that the eye was red and swollen up. "did the captain do that?" i said. the lad nodded, and his forehead filled with lines. "what had you been about?" "nothing, sir," said the lad bitterly. "then what had you left undone?" "i dunno, sir. i try all day long to do what the skipper wants, but it's always kicks when it arn't blows; and when it's neither he's always swearing at me. i wish i was dead!" he cried passionately. "stop here," cried uncle dick, sharply, for the lad was moving off, with his eye covered up again. regularly cowed, the lad stopped short, flinching the while. "don't do that," said uncle dick. "i was not going to strike you." "no, sir, but everybody else does, 'cept the carpenter. but i don't care now; i shall go overboard and end it." "why?" said uncle dick. "why, sir? what's the good o' living such a life as this?" "this ship is not the whole world, my lad, and all the people are not like the captain." the lad looked half wonderingly at my uncle, and then turned to me with so pitiful a look that i felt ready to take the poor fellow's part the next time he was in trouble. "everyone nearly seems the same to me," he said drearily. "i don't know why i come to sea. thought it was all going to be adventures and pleasure, and it's all kicks and blows, just because i'm a boy." the poor fellow looked enviously at me, and sniffing loudly, walked on. "it ought to be stopped, uncle," i said. "the poor fellow's life is made miserable." "yes, nat. it is terrible to see how one man can make other people's lives a burden to them. i'm a regular tyrant to you sometimes." i laughed. "why, aunt sophy says you spoil me," i cried. "well, we will not argue about that, my boy," said my uncle; "we've too much to think about. in twenty-four hours we shall be afloat with our boat to ourselves; and the sooner the better, for if she's out of the water much longer we shall have her leaky." he walked to where our half-decked boat lay in its chocks, with all her tackle carefully lashed in place, and i could not help feeling proud of our possession, as i thought of the delights of our river trips to come, and the days when we should be busy drying and storing skins on board, for it was planned out that we were to make the rivers our highways as far as possible, and live on board, there being a snug cabin under the half-deck, while well-oiled sail-cloth was arranged to draw over the boom, which could be turned into the ridge pole of a roof, and shut in the after part of the boat, making all snug at night, or during a tropical downpour. "she's rather too big for us, nat," said my uncle, "and i hope they will have no accident when they lower her down." "oh, i hope not, uncle," i said. "so do i, my boy, but they were clumsy enough in getting her on board. however, we shall have troubles in plenty without inventing any." we stood together, leaning over the side and talking about our plans, which were to collect any new and striking birds that we could find, while specially devoting ourselves to shooting the quetzals, as they were called by the natives, the splendid trogons whose plumes were worn by the emperors of the past. "and i'm not without hope, nat," said my uncle, "that in course of our journeys up in the mountains, in the parts which have not yet been explored, we may find the cock of the rocks. i see no reason whatever why those birds should not inhabit suitable regions as far north as this. it is hot enough in central america, as hot as brazil, and far hotter than peru." "what about humming-birds, uncle," i said. "we shall find plenty, and perhaps several that have never before been collected; but we must not want ordinary specimens. we must not overload ourselves, but get only what is choice." our conversation was interrupted by the coming of the captain, who looked at us searchingly. "well, doctor," he said; "been thinking it all over?" "yes," said uncle dick, quietly. "and you're going to let me take you in to belize?" "indeed i'm not," said my uncle quietly. "i made all my plans before i started, and explained to you before we sailed from port royal what i wished you to do." "well, yes, you did say something about it." "the something was that you should drop me where i wished--somewhere in yucatan or on mosquito coast." "that's right, doctor; you did." "very well, then; according to your calculations at noon to-day, we shall be within sight of land about mid-day to-morrow." "dessay we shall, among the cays and reefs and little bits of islands yonder." "then you will fulfil your part of the agreement at mid-day." "drop you and your boat out at sea?" "yes," said uncle dick. "i say; doctor, air you mad?" "i hope not." "well, i begin to think you must be, for this is about the most unheard-of thing a man could do. you and this boy of yours have got to live." "of course," said my uncle. "well, what are you going to live on?" "if i must explain, the stores contained in the cases you have of mine below." "hah!" cried the captain; "well, that's right, i suppose. but what about fresh water?" "there is the cask, and a little tank belonging to the boat. they are both full, and we shall never be out of sight of land while on the coast. afterwards we shall be journeying up the different rivers." "but when you've eaten all your stores, what then, doctor?" "i hope we shall never be in that condition," said my uncle, "for we shall husband our stores as reserves, and live as much as we can upon the fish we catch and the birds we shoot." "ha, ha, ha!" laughed the captain. "going up the rivers, air you?" "yes." "then you'd better try and ketch the sea cows. they're big as elephants, and one o' them'll last you two, six months if she don't go bad." "thank you," said my uncle, smiling; "but we shall be content with smaller deer than that." "well, i guess i don't like letting you go doctor," said the captain. "so it seems," said my uncle quietly. "pray why?" "don't seem fair to young squire here, for one thing." "have you any other reason?" said my uncle. "you two can't manage a boat like that." "we have managed a bigger one before. any other reason?" "well, yes; you two'll come to grief, and i don't want to be brought to book for setting you adrift on about the maddest scheme i ever heerd tell of." "ah, now we understand one another," said my uncle, quietly. "well, you may set you mind at rest, sir. i am the best judge of the risks to be run, and you will never be called to account for my actions." "well, don't blame me if you both find yourselves on your backs with fever." "never fear, captain," said my uncle. "if it is calm in the morning, as soon as we are within sight of land--" "what land?" "any land on or off the coast, i shall be obliged by your getting my boat over the side, and the stores and chests out of the hold and cabin, so that we can get everything stowed away, then you can take us in tow, and i can cast off as soon as i like." "all right," said the captain, and he went forward once more, while we two stayed on deck watching the wonderful sunset, till the great golden orange ball dipped down out of sight behind the clouds, which looked like ranges of mountains rising from some glorious shore. we were not long afterwards made aware of the captain's reason for going forward, his voice rising in angry bullying tones, and we soon found that he and the fierce carpenter were engaged in a furious quarrel, which ended as quickly as it began, the captain making his reappearance, driving the ship's boy before him, and hastening the poor fellow's sluggish, unwilling movements by now and then giving him a kick. chapter two. our start. my sleep was disturbed that night by dreams of sea cows as big as elephants, orange-coloured birds in huge flocks, and golden-green quetzals flying round my head, with their yard-long tails spread out, and their scarlet breasts gleaming in the sunshine which flashed through my cabin window. i was puzzling myself as to how the beautiful birds could be out there at sea, and why it was that uncle dick and i could be walking about at the same time among golden mountains, which were, i felt sure, only last evening's sunset clouds, when all at once it was quite clear, for uncle dick cried: "now then, nat, my boy, tumble out, tumble out. the sun's up, and we've no end to do. the men are at work already." i was awake then, and after hurriedly dressing, i went on deck, to find out that the noises i had been hearing were caused by the men making fast some tackle to our boat, ropes being passed through a pulley block at the end of a swinging boom, and when they were ready the mate gave orders. then the men began to haul, and as the ropes tightened the heavy boat was lifted out of the chocks in which she lay, and with a good deal of creaking was swung out over the bulwarks quite clear of the steamer's side, and then lowered down with her bows much lower than the stern, so that it looked as if the boat we had trusted to for taking us many a long journey was about to dive down under the sea. but she was too well built, and as she kissed the flashing waters she began to float, the stern part dipping lower till she was level, and the ropes grew slack, when all the men gave a cheer as she glided along beside the steamer, tugging at the rope which was made fast to her bows. next uncle dick went down into her with the carpenter, and i was left on deck to superintend the getting up of our chests and boxes of stores, which were lowered down into the boat, the carpenter; who looked quiet and civil enough now, working well at packing in the chests so that they fitted snugly together and took up little room. then our two small portmanteaus of clothes were swung down, followed by the cartridge-boxes and the long case which held our guns and rifles. lastly the tank in the stern was filled with fresh water, and the little cask swung down and lashed under the middle thwart. "how much more is there to come, nat?" asked my uncle, as i stood on deck, looking down. "that's all, uncle," i said. "bravo! for we're packed pretty close. hardly room to move, eh, carpenter?" "i don't see much the matter, sir," said the man. "everything's nice and snug, and these boxes make like a deck. bimeby when you've used your stores you can get rid of a chest or two." "no," said uncle dick; "we shall want them to hold the specimens we shoot. but you've packed all in splendidly, my lad." "thankye, sir," said the man gruffly, and just then i heared a low weary sigh from somewhere close by, and turning sharply, i saw the ship's boy standing there with his left hand up to his face, looking at me piteously. "hallo!" i said, smiling; "how's the eye this morning?" "horrid bad, sir," he answered. "let me look." he took away his hand slowly and unwillingly, showing that the eye was a good deal swollen and terribly blackened. "you wouldn't like an eye like that, sir?" he said, with a faint smile. "no," i said angrily; "and it's a great shame." i hardly know how it was that i had it there, where money was not likely to be of use, but i had a two-shilling piece in my pocket, and i gave it to the poor fellow, as it seemed to me like showing more solid sympathy than empty words. his face lit up so full of sunshine that i did not notice how dirty it was as he clapped the piece of silver to the swollen eye. "that will not do any good," i said, laughing. "done a lot, sir," he answered--"that and what you said." he made a curious sound as if he were half choking then, and turned sharply to run forward to the cook's galley. by the time breakfast was over, land could be seen from the deck to starboard, port, and right forward--misty-looking land, like clouds settled here and there upon the surface of the sea. this grew clearer and clearer, till about noon it was plain to see that some of the patches were islands, while farther to the west the mainland spread right and left with dim bluish-looking mountains in the distance. it was early in the afternoon that the captain suddenly gave his orders, the engine was stopped, and the boat towing far astern began to grind up against the side, as it rose and fell on the heaving sea. "still of the same mind, doctor?" said the captain. "certainly, sir." "then now's your time. over you go." "i thought you would run in a few miles nearer," said uncle dick. "did you, sir?" said the captain roughly; "then you made a great mistake. this sea swarms with reefs and shoals nigher in, and i'm not going to be mad enough to risk my vessel, if you're mad enough to risk your life. now, sir, please, i want to get ahead and claw off here before it falls calm. if i don't, some of these currents 'll be landing me where i don't want to go." "we are ready," said uncle dick. "haul that boat abreast the starboard gangway!" shouted the captain, and a couple of men ran to obey the order. "well, good-bye, captain," said uncle dick, "and thank you for what you've done." "good-bye, sir, and good luck to you. you too, youngster; but it isn't too late yet." "much," said my uncle, and it seemed quite strange to me that what followed took so short a time. for one minute we were on the deck of the large vessel, the next we were standing up in our little boat, waving our hats to the crew, who had crowded to the side to give us a cheer; and the last faces i noted as they glided away were those of the carpenter and the boy, who gazed after us in a wistful way, the latter looking miserable in the extreme as he held his left hand over his eye. chapter three. night ashore. i was brought back to the present by my uncle giving me a hearty slap on the shoulder. "ready to begin again, nat?" he cried. "yes, uncle," i said eagerly. "it seems like the old days come back." "ship the rudder, then, while i hoist the sail. the skipper may be right, so let's make use of this soft breeze to get to the mainland before the calm leaves us at the mercy of the currents." a few minutes later the boat careened over gently, and glided fast through the water, while i steered, making for an opening which uncle dick made out with his glass to be the mouth of a valley running up the country. "it's too far off to see all i want, nat," he said, as he closed his glass; "but i fancy we shall find a river there, and we'll run in and try our luck. if there's nothing attractive about the place, we'll make a fresh start after a night's rest, and go on coasting along south till we find the sort of place we want. how well the boat sails with her load!" on we glided, with the vessel we had left gradually getting hull down as the afternoon wore on, while we passed no less than three tempting-looking wooded islets where we might have landed to pass the night; but uncle dick shook his head. "no, my boy," he said; "we'll keep to our course. there are more of these cays about, and we could land upon one if the wind dropped. as it holds fair, we'll run on to the mainland, for if it only keeps on till sunset, we shall reach the shore before dark." uncle dick was right, and as it drew near sunset i was feasting my eyes on a wild-looking region whose beauty increased as we drew closer. there was dense mangrove jungle, then cliff covered with verdure, and this was broken up by patches of yellow sand backed by fringes of cocoanut grove, which again gave place to open park-like forest with big trees--this last where the great rocky bluff towered up with another eminence on the other side of the opening--but there was no river, nothing but a fine sandy cove, with a tiny stream running down from a patch of beautiful forest. as we ran in we had our last sight of the distant vessel which had brought us so far on our journey, and uncle dick, who was standing up forward to direct me in my steering, cried-- "nothing could be better, nat. it's like landing on one of our old islands. neither hut nor inhabitant to be seen. this is genuine wild country, and we shall find a river to-morrow. i was half afraid that we should be coming upon sugar or coffee plantations, or perhaps men cutting down the great mahogany trees." i was as delighted as he was, for my mind was full of the gloriously-plumaged bird we meant to shoot, and there in imagination i peopled the flower-decked bushes with flashing humming-birds whose throats and crests glowed with scale-like feathers, brilliant as the precious stones--emerald, topaz, ruby, and sapphire--after which they were named. the great forest trees would be, i felt sure, full of the screaming parrot tribe, in their uniforms of leafy green, faced with orange, blue, and crimson; while, farther up the country, there would be the splendid quetzals, all metallic golden-green and scarlet. but i had little time for thought. in a short time, in obedience to my uncle's orders, i had steered the boat right into the mouth of the little stream beyond where the salt waves broke; the sail was lowered and furled and the anchor carried ashore and fixed between two masses of rock, so that it could not be dragged out by the tugging of the craft. "wouldn't do to wake up and find our boat gone, nat," said uncle dick, "if we set up our tent on shore. the sand looks very tempting, and we are not likely to be disturbed. but now then, start a fire, while i unpack some stores, and--yes--we will. we'll set up the tent to sleep under. more room to stretch our legs." i was not long in getting a fire burning, with the kettle full of the beautiful rivulet water heating; while uncle dick stuck in the two pointed and forked sticks with which we were provided, laid the pole from fork to fork, and spread the oiled canvas sheet over it, so that there was a shelter from the night dews. but before our coffee was ready and the bacon for our supper fried, night was upon us, and the bushes near scintillating in the most wondrous way, every twig seeming to be alive with fire-flies. for a short space of time, as we sat there on the sands, partaking of our meal--than which nothing more delicious had ever passed my lips--all was still but the lapping of the tiny waves and the musical trickling of the rivulet amongst the rocks and stones. then i jumped, for a peculiar cry arose from the forest behind us, and this seemed to be the signal for an outburst of sounds new to me, piping, thrumming, drumming, shrieking, howling, grunting in every variety, and i turned to look in uncle dick's face, which was lit up by the glow from our little wood fire. "brings back old times in the south american forests, nat," he said coolly. "i could put a name to nearly every musician at work in nature's orchestra yonder." "what was that horrible cry?" i whispered. "jaguar or puma?" "neither, my boy; only a heron or crane somewhere up the stream." "that snorting croak, then?" "only frogs or toads, nat; and that chirruping whirring is something in the cricket or cicada way. if we heard a jaguar or puma, it would most likely be a magnified tom-cat-like sort of sound." "but that mournful howl, uncle?" i whispered. "a poor, melancholy spider-monkey saying good-night to his friends in the big trees. most of the other cries are made by night-birds out on the hunt for their suppers. that cry was made by a goat-sucker, one of those `chuck-will's-widow' sort of fellows. they're very peculiar, these night-hawks. even ours at home keeps up that whirring, spinning-wheel-like sound in the surrey and sussex fir-woods. ah, that's a dangerous creature, if you like!" he said, in a whisper. "which?" i said, below my breath. "that piping _ping-wing-wing_." "why, that's a mosquito, uncle," i cried contemptuously. "the only thing likely to attack us to-night, nat," he said, laughing; "but we'll have the guns and everything ready all the same." "to shoot the mosquitoes, uncle?" "no, but anything that might--mind, i say _might_--come snuffing about us." uncle dick was so calm and cool over it that he made me the same, and the little nervous sensation caused by the novelty of my position soon passed away. the guns were loaded and laid ready, a couple of blankets spread, and utterly wearied out, after making up the fire, we crept into our tent and lay down to get a good night's sleep. "we'll rest on shore wherever it's safe, nat," were uncle dick's last words. "it's nicer to have the solid ground under you. this is a treat; the sand's like a feather bed; but we shan't often have such a luxurious place. good-night." "one moment, uncle," i whispered, as i heard a rustling sound somewhere in the bushes. "what do you think is making that?" i waited for him to answer, under the impression that he was listening to make sure before he replied; but as he took no heed, i spoke again, but only to hear his hard breathing, for he was fast asleep, and i started up in horror, for the strange rustling sound, as of a huge snake or alligator creeping through the dry grass and bushes, began again much nearer than before. chapter four. the dangers of the night. it is not pleasant to hear a noise as of something forcing its way through bushes close by your bedside, when instead of the strong walls of a house in a thickly inhabited place, with police to protect you, there is nothing but a thin piece of canvas between you and a forest swarming, for aught you can tell, with hosts of dangerous creatures seeking their prey. i felt that in my first night where i lay by the outskirts of one of the central american forests, and i should have seized uncle dick by the arm and shaken him into wakefulness but for the dread of being considered cowardly. for he seemed so calm and confident that i dared not wake him up, to be told that the noise i heard was only made by some innocent animal that would flee for its life if i slipped outside. "i wonder whether that would," i said to myself. "i'll try." i made up my mind that i would take my double gun from where it lay beside me and go out; but it was a long time before i could make up my body to act; and when at last, in anger with myself for being so cowardly, i did creep out softly and make a dash in the direction of the sound, i was bathed in perspiration, and my legs shook beneath me, for i felt certain that the next minute i should be seized by some monstrous creature ready to spring at me out of the darkness. but nothing did seize me. for there was a thud and a faint crash repeated again and again, and though i could not see, i felt certain that the fire had attracted some deer-like creature, which had gone bounding off, till all was silent again, when i crept back, letting the canvas fall behind me, feeling horribly conceited, and thinking what a brave fellow i must be. i must have gone off to sleep directly i lay down then, for one moment i was looking at the dull-reddish patch in the canvas behind which the fire was burning, and the next everything was blank, till all at once i was wide awake, with a hand laid across my mouth, and the interior of our scrap of a tent so dark that i could see nothing; but i could hear someone breathing, and directly after uncle dick whispered: "lie still--don't speak." he removed his hand then, and seemed to be listening. "hear anything, nat?" he said. "not now, uncle. i did a little while ago, and took my gun and went out." "ah! what was it?" "some kind of deer, and it bounded away." "it was no deer that i heard, my boy," he whispered, "but something big and heavy. whatever it was trod upon a stick or a shell, and it snapped loudly and woke me up. there it is again." i heard the sound quite plainly in the darkness, and it was exactly as uncle dick described, but i leaned towards its being a fragile shell trodden on by some big animal or a man. "couldn't be one of the great cats?" i whispered. "oh, no! they tread like velvet." "could it be a tapir?" "not a likely place for one. hist!" i was silent, and lay listening, so to speak, with all my might, till a low swishing sound reached us, just as if someone had brushed against a bush. uncle dick laid his hand upon my shoulder, and he pressed it hard, as if silently saying, "did you hear that?" i answered him in a similar way, and then he whispered: "someone is prowling round the tent, and we shall have to go out and challenge them." "suppose they are savages with bows and arrows?" i whispered back. "too dark for them to take aim," he said. "a bold dash out will scare them, and i'll fire over their heads." i felt as if it would be safer to stay where we were; but it seemed cowardly, so i was silent. "i'll go out at once," said uncle dick, and i was silent for a moment, and then rose with my gun ready. "i'll come with you, uncle," i whispered. he pressed my hand before creeping softly out; and i followed, to find that the darkness was as black as inside the tent; that the fire-flies had ceased to shimmer and flash about the low trees, and that the fire was so nearly out that there was nothing visible but a faint glow. "stand fast," whispered uncle dick, "while i throw on some of the light twigs we put ready." i did not remember putting any light twigs ready, nor anything else just then, for my head was full of wild thoughts, and i was straining my eyesight in all directions, with my gun cocked and ready to fire at the first attack. all at once there was a rustle as the twigs were thrown on the glowing embers; a sharp crackling followed, and a bright flame sprang up. at almost the same moment there came from the trees beyond the sound of a rush being made through the bushes, and then the report of uncle dick's gun as he fired twice. someone uttered an ejaculation, the rushing sound increased, and directly after there came a loud crashing noise as if someone had fallen; but he--or it--was up again directly, and our enemies, by the splashing and crackling sounds, seemed to be retreating up the bed of the rivulet. i stood ready to fire, but reserved my shot, as there seemed to be no need; and as i listened intently i could hear uncle dick slipping fresh cartridges into his gun, and the click it gave as he closed the breech. "hadn't we better get into shelter?" i whispered. "we offer such a good mark for an arrow." "no, my boy," said my uncle; "the fire is between us and the enemy, and we are quite safe." for the twigs were blazing merrily now, and sending out a bright light, which spread around and made the nearest trees stand out and the little tent look bright and clear. but the next moment something else caught my eye, and the startled sensation seemed to cause a catching of my breath as i stood pointing down at the smooth patch of sand beside the trickling water of the stream--a patch over which a wave must have lately passed, it was so smooth, while close up towards the fire, and where the full blaze of light played, were the objects which had struck my eye. "what is it, nat?" said my uncle sharply, and then as he caught sight of the marks too, he answered his own question aloud: "footprints--men's--yes, more than one. hah! look-out, nat; i can hear them coming back." uncle dick's ears seemed to be sharper than mine, for though i listened intently and stood prepared to fire, some minutes elapsed before i heard a sound, and then it was not from up the stream, but from overhead--a sharp whistling cry--which was repeated again and again, and i caught the flash of wings as a large bird circled round, evidently attracted by the fire, which was kept blazing. "throw on some more, nat," said my uncle; "it will serve to keep them at a distance. perhaps we've scared the savages off for good." "i hope so," i said; "but we mustn't go to sleep again." "you're a queer chap, nat, if you could go to sleep after this; i couldn't." "but they may not be savages, uncle," i said. "perhaps not, but the place seemed so wild that i don't think they could be anything else. we must take turn and turn to watch till daylight. you go and lie down." "no, uncle," i said; "i'd rather stay and watch. what time is it?" "about midnight, i should think," he said, pulling out the big old silver hunting-watch that accompanied him on all his travels, and holding it down in the full light from the fire. "humph!" he ejaculated. "what time do you say?" "not much more than ten," i said decisively. "i had only just dropped asleep." "it took you a long time to drop, then," he said drily. "ah! look at that bird. it will singe its wings directly." "what time is it, then?" i said, for i was more interested in knowing how long i should have to watch in the darkness than in the flight of a bird. "like to know exactly, nat?" said my uncle. "of course," i said, wonderingly. "you shall, then, my boy. it's ten minutes, thirty seconds, past six." "nonsense, uncle!" i cried. "the old watch must have stopped. did you forget to wind it up?" for answer he held it to my ear, and it was ticking loudly, while as he lowered it and i glanced at the face, i could see that the second hand had moved some distance on. "do you think it is right?" i said. "yes; we were fagged out last night and slept very soundly. you'll soon know, for it will be daylight directly." both the watch and my uncle were right--for the scream of a parrot reached my ears soon after, followed by whistlings and pipings from the forest; while soon after a horribly harsh grating screech came from overhead, and i caught a glimpse of the bird which uttered it--one of the great long-tailed aras, on its way with three or four more to a favourite part of the forest. "going figging, nat," said my uncle, putting some more wood on the fire, not for the sake of the light--for away across the sea the dawn was brightening fast, after the way of sunrise and sunset in tropic lands; and even as i looked there, far on high, was a faint fleck of orange light on a tiny cloud. a few minutes later there were scores, and the birds were singing and chirping in all directions, even the sea furnishing the screams and peculiar cries of the various ducks and gulls. "how glorious!" i said softly, for the beauty of the scene around in the glow of the morning light made me forget the darkness of the night and the terrors that it brought. "yes, nat; we've hit upon birdland the first try," said my uncle. "but it seems as if we shall have to leave it unless we can be sure that the indians are friendly." as he spoke, we both examined the footprints again. "savage marks for certain, nat," said my uncle. "do you see? these fellows have not been in the habit of wearing shoes." "yes, i see," i replied. "the big toe so wide away from the others." "you see that at a glance. i suppose it would be unwise to follow them; they would hear us coming, and might send a couple of arrows into us-- perhaps poisoned. it's a pity nat; for there are plenty of birds about, and we could get some good specimens.--yes; what is it?" "they've been all along here, right down to the sea, uncle. see their tracks?" "yes; and i can see something else," he said, shading his eyes, and looking to right and left anxiously in the now broad daylight. "what can you see?" i asked. he pointed now, and i saw what he meant. "the marks made by a boat," i said. "why, uncle, they must have come in a canoe, and been attracted by our fire. can you see their canoe?" "no," said my uncle, after a long look round and away over the glittering waters. "but it's bad, nat. they will not have gone far away, and will be coming back here in search of it." "then we shall have to take to the boat again and sail farther down the coast." "we'd better get on board, my lad, certainly," said my uncle; "so let's roll up the tent, and--ah! look-out! quick, lad--your gun!" i was ready directly, cocked both barrels of my piece, my heart beating fast in the emergency--for the danger we dreaded seemed to be at hand. chapter five. a surprise. "ahoy! don't shoot," came from out of the dense jungle up the stream. "why, uncle," i cried, "that doesn't sound like a savage." "it's worse, nat," said my uncle. "there's a terribly english sound about it." "ahoy, i say!" came again. "don't shoot!" "ahoy! who are you?" shouted my uncle. "don't shoot, and we'll come out," came in tones half smothered by the thick growth. "we're not going to fire. who are you, and what are you doing here?" there was a sharp brushing sound of leafage being forced aside, the splashing of feet in water, and the soft rattle of pebbles being moved in the stream bed by feet, and the next minute two figures came from under the pendent bough, which nearly touched the water and stood in the bright glow of the rising sun, while astonishment brought the words to our lips: "the carpenter!" cried my uncle. and i burst out laughing as i said: "that boy!" "why, we took you for savages," said my uncle. "was it you two who came to the fire last night?" "and you shot at us," said the boy, in a doleful voice. "shot at you?" cried my uncle angrily. "of course i did. how dare you come prowling about our tent in the dead of night!" "didn't prowl, sir," said the boy humbly. "we could see your fire burning like a light as we come along, and we came straight to it, landed--and landed--and you came out, sir--came out, sir--and fired at us." "then you should have shouted." "yes, sir," said the boy, "but we was afraid to--feared you'd fire at us." "but you see now, you came the wrong way." "yes, sir," said the boy, glancing at the carpenter; "we did come the wrong way." "well, what is it? did we leave anything behind? very good of the captain to send you." "didn't send us, sir," said the boy, looking down. "not send you?" cried uncle dick, staring. "how is it you came, then?" the boy shifted his weight from one foot to the other, scooping up the dry sand with his toes, and turned to his companion, who gave me a peculiar look and stood frowning. "why don't you speak out and tell the gentleman, bill cross?" "i left it to you, boy. you've got a tongue in your head." "yes; but you're bigger and older than me. but i don't mind telling. you see, mr nat, sir," he said, suddenly turning to me, "i couldn't stand it any longer. they was killing of me, and as soon as you was gone, sir, it seemed so much worse that i went and shook hands with bill cross, who was the only one who ever said a kind word to me, and i telled him what i was going to do." "told him you were going to run away?" said my uncle. "no, sir," said the boy promptly. "i telled him i'd come to say good-bye, for as soon as it was too dark for them to see to save me i was going to--" "run away?" said my uncle sternly, for the boy had stopped short. "no, sir," he resumed; "i was going to jump overboard." "why, you miserable, wicked young rascal, how dare you tell me such a thing as that?" cried my uncle. the boy gave a loud sniff. "that's just what bill cross said, sir: and that he'd knock my blessed young head off if i dared to do such a thing." "did you say that?" asked my uncle. "yes, sir, i did, sir," said the man gruffly; "and a very stupid thing too." "how stupid?" said my uncle. "if he drowned himself and went to the bottom, how was i ever to get the chance to hit him, sir?" "humph! i see," said my uncle; "but you meant right. and what then?" he continued, turning back to the boy. "bill cross said, sir, that if i'd got the spirit of a cockroach i wouldn't do that. `cut and run,' he says." "quite right," said my uncle. "i mean, get to another ship." "`where am i to run to?' i says. `i can't run atop of the water.' "`no,' he says; `but you could get in a boat when it was dark and row away.' `i dursen't,' i says; `it would be stealing the boat.' `you could borrow it,' he says; `that's what i'm going to do.' `you are?' i says. `i am,' he says; `for i'd sooner die o' thirst on the roaring main,' he says, `than put up with any more.' you did, didn't you, mate?" he cried, appealingly. "i did," growled the carpenter; "and i stick to it." "he said that as soon as it was dark he should manage to lower one of the boats and follow yours, and ask you to take him as crew; and if you wouldn't, he should go ashore and turn robinson crusoe." "that's right, boy," said the carpenter; "and i would." "and i says to him, sir, `bill cross,' i says, `if i tars myself black, will you let me come with you and be your man friday?'" "and what did he say to that?" asked my uncle, frowning. "said i was black enough already, sir, without my having a black eye; and if i come with him, he'd promise me never to behave half so bad as the skipper did, so of course i come." "took one of the ship's boats and stole away with it?" said my uncle. the boy nodded, and my uncle turned to the carpenter. "is this all true?" he asked. "yes, sir, every word of it. you know how bad it was." "and you followed our boat?" "followed the way we last saw your sail, sir, for long before it was dark the boat went out of sight. but just as i'd give up all hope of seeing it again, we saw your fire like a spark on shore, and we come after that." "rowed?" i said. "no, sir; sailed. there's a little lug-sail to the boat. we didn't lose sight of the fire again, and at last we ran our boat ashore." "and you've come to offer your services?" said my uncle. "yes, sir," said the man gruffly. "but even if i could take you under the circumstances, i don't want the services of any man." "your's is a big boat, sir, and hard to manage, particular at sea," said the carpenter. "i know the boat's capabilities better than you can tell me," said my uncle shortly, "and i do not require help." "then we've made a bad job of it, boy," said the carpenter. "the gentleman don't know what we can do, bill, and how useful we should be." "i daresay," said my uncle, frowning, "but i do not want a man, nor another lad." "if you'll only let me stop, sir," said the boy piteously. "i don't want no wages, and i won't eat much, only what you've done with, and there arn't nothing i won't do. i'll carry anything, and work--oh, how i will work! i'll be like your dog, i will, and you can both knock me about and kick me, and i won't say a word. you won't hit me half so hard as the skipper and the men did; and even if you did, you're only two, and there's twenty of them; so if you're allus doing it i shall be ten times better off." "it's my duty to send you and your mate, here, back to the ship," said uncle dick. "oh, don't say that, sir," cried the boy; "but if you did, we shouldn't go, for bill cross said if you wouldn't take us along with you we'd go and live in the woods, and if we starved to death there, we should be better off than aboard ship." "but you signed for the voyage, my man," said uncle dick, "and if i consented to take you with me i should be helping you to defraud the owners." "serve the owners right, sir, for having their people treated like dogs, or worse," growled the carpenter. "'sides, i don't see what fraud there is in it. i've worked hard these two months, and drawn no pay. they'll get that, and they may have it and welcome." "that's all very well," said uncle dick, "but a bargain's a bargain. the want of two hands in an emergency may mean the loss of the ship, and you and this lad have deserted. no; i can't agree to it; you must take your boat and go back." "can't, sir, now," said the carpenter bitterly; "and i thought we was coming to english gentlemen who would behave to a couple of poor wretches like christians." "it is no part of a christian's duty to be unjust. you know you have done wrong and have helped this poor lad to do the same," said my uncle. "i should have fought it out, sir, if it hadn't been for the poor boy. dog's life's nothing to what he went through." "where is your boat?" said uncle dick, suddenly. the carpenter laughed. "i dunno, sir," he said; "we sent her adrift when we landed, and you know what the currents are along here better, p'raps, than i do." "what! you've sent your boat adrift?" "yes, sir; we made up our minds to cut and run, and we can't go back now. we didn't want to steal the boat. they'll get it again." uncle dick frowned and turned to me. "this is a pretty state of affairs, nat; and it's like forcing us to take them on board and sail after the steamer. what's to be done?" "cannot we keep them, uncle?" "keep them? i don't want a boy to kick and knock about and jump on, sir. do you?" "well, no, uncle," i said; "but--" "but! yes, it's all very well to say `but,' my lad. you don't see how serious it is." "i'd serve you faithful, sir," said the carpenter. "i'm not going to brag, but i'm a handy man, sir. you might get a hole in the boat, and i didn't bring no clothes, but i brought my tools, and i'm at home over a job like that. you might want a hut knocked up, or your guns mended. i'd do anything, sir, and i don't ask for pay. it might come to your wanting help with the blacks. if you did, i'd fight for you all i could." "well, i don't know what to do, nat. what do you say?" the boy darted forward wildly and threw himself upon his knees. "say _yes_, mr nat; say _yes_!" he cried imploringly. "don't send us off, sir, and you shan't never repent it. you know what made us run away. say yes, sir; oh, say yes!" "i can't say anything else, uncle," i said, in a husky voice. "hooray!" yelled the boy, throwing his cap in the air. "do you hear, bill cross? the gentleman says `yes'!" the loud shout and the flying up of the cap had the effect of starting a little flock of birds from the nearest trees, and, obeying the instinct of the moment, uncle dick raised his gun and fired--two barrels, each of which laid low one of the birds, which dropped in different directions. i was off after one of them directly, and, in utter disregard of uncle dick's warning shout, the boy was off after the other, but took some time to find it in the dense growth amongst which it had fallen. "a beautiful little finch, uncle," i said, as i brought back my prize. "lovely!" he cried. "i never saw one like this before. it's a pity i did not stop that fellow. he will have spoiled the other." but he was wrong, for the boy was just then coming from among the low bushes, carefully bearing the second bird upon the top of his cap, which he held between his hands like a tray. "is he all right, sir?" said the bearer excitedly. "i picked him up by his neb and never touched his feathers." "yes, in capital order," said uncle dick. "come, you've begun well!" the boy's eyes flashed with pleasure, and taking advantage of uncle dick being busy over the birds, he turned to me. "then we may stop with you, master nat?" he whispered. "i suppose so, but you must wait and see what my uncle says. i say, though," i cried, "will you keep your face clean if you're allowed to stay?" "face? clean?" he said, passing his dirty hand over his dingy countenance. "ain't it clean now?" i burst into a roar of laughter, for the poor fellow's face was not only thoroughly grubby, but decorated with two good-sized smudges of tar. "you mean it's dirty, mr nat," he said seriously. "all right; i'll go and scrub it." the next minute he was down on his knee at the water's edge scooping up a handful of muddy sand and, as he termed it, scrubbing away as if he would take off all the skin, and puffing and blowing the while like a grampus, while the carpenter looked on as much amused as i. but he turned serious directly, and with an earnest look in his eyes he said: "thank you for what you said, mr nat, sir. you shan't find me ungrateful." i nodded, and walked away to join my uncle, for i always hated to be talked to like that. uncle dick had his small case open, with its knife; cotton-wire, thread, and bottle of preserving cream, and when i joined him where he was seated he had already stripped the skin off one of the birds, and was painting the inside cover with the softened paste; while a few minutes later he had turned the skin back over a pad of cotton-wool, so deftly that, as the feathers fell naturally into their places and he tied the legs together, it was hard to believe that there was nothing but plumage, the skin, and a few bones. "open the case," he said, and as i did so he laid his new specimen upon a bed of cotton-wool, leaving room for the other bird, and went on skinning in the quick clever way due to long practice. "it doesn't take those two fellows long to settle down, nat," he said, as he went on. "no, uncle," i replied, as i turned my eyes to where the boy had given himself a final sluice and was now drying his face and head pounce-powder fashion. that is to say, after the manner in which people dried up freshly-written letters before the days of blotting-paper. for the boy had moved to a heap of dry sand and with his eyes closely shut was throwing that on his face and over his short hair. "there's no question of right or wrong," said my uncle quietly. "if we do not take these fellows with us it means leaving them to starve to death in the forest, for they have neither gun, boat, nor fishing tackle." "but it would be wrong not to take them," i said. "yes," replied my uncle drily. then he was silent for a few minutes while he turned back the skin from the bird's wing joints, and all at once made me look at him wonderingly, for he said "bill!" with the handle of the knife in his teeth. "what about bill?" i said. "bill--cross," continued my uncle. "what's the other's name?" "boy," i said, laughing. "i never heard him called anything else. hadn't we better call the carpenter man?" "it would be just as reasonable," said my uncle. "ask the boy his name." by this time our new acquisition was dry, and i stared at him, for he seemed to be someone else as he dusted off the last of the sand. it was not merely that he had got rid of the dirt and reduced the tar smudges, but that something within was lighting up his whole face in a pleasant, hearty grin as he looked up at me brightly in a way i had never seen before. "is my face better, mr nat?" he said. "yes," i said, "ever so much; and you must keep it so." "oh, yes," he said seriously; "i will now. it was no good before." "what's your name?" i said. he showed his white teeth. "name? they always called me boy on board," he replied. "yes, but you've got a name like anyone else," i said. "oh, yes, sir," he replied, wrinkling up his forehead as if thinking deeply; "i've got a name somewheres, but i've never seemed to want it. got most knocked out of me. it's peter, i know; but--i say, bill cross," he cried sharply, "what's my name?" the carpenter smiled grimly, and gave me a sharp look as much as to say, "wait a minute and you shall see me draw him out." "name, my lad," he said. "here, i say, you haven't gone and knocked your direction off your knowledge box, have you?" "i dunno," said the boy, staring. "i can't 'member it." "where was it stuck on--your back?" "nay, it was in my head if it was anywhere. gahn! you're laughing at me. here! i know, mr nat; it's horn--peter horn. that's it." "well, you are a thick-skulled one, pete, not to know your own name." "yes," replied the boy thoughtfully; "it's being knocked about the head so did it, i s'pose. what shall i do now, sir? light a fire?" "yes, at once," i said, for the thought made me know that i was hungry. "make it now between those pieces of rock yonder by the boat." the boy went off eagerly; cross followed; and i went back, to find my uncle finishing the second skin. "that's a good beginning, nat," he said. "now, then, the next thing is to see about breakfast." "and after that, uncle?" "then we'll be guided by circumstances, nat," he replied. "what we have to do is to get into the wildest places we can find where its river, forest, or mountain." "isn't this wild enough?" i said. "yes, my boy; but i want to get up into the interior, and we must find a road." "a road means civilisation," i said. "ah! but i mean one of nature's roads--a river. sooner or later we shall find one up which we can sail, and when that is no longer possible we must row or pole." "then we shall find the advantage, uncle, of having a little crew, and-- what's the matter now?" i stared in astonishment, for the minute before pete and the carpenter were busy feeding the fire and trying to get the kettle they had swung, gypsy fashion, on three bamboos, to boil. now they were both crawling towards us on all-fours, pete getting over the ground like a dog. "it's all over, master nat, and good-bye if yer never sees us again. it's robinson crusoe out in the woods now." "why, bill," i said, "has he gone mad?" "pretty nigh, sir. look." "look at what?" "steamer, sir, found the boat, i s'pose, and they're coming round the point to pick us up. good luck to you, gentlemen, and good-bye." he plunged after pete into the bed of the stream, and they disappeared in the jungle, just as the steamer in full sail and close in came gliding into our sight, towing a boat astern. chapter six. a false alarm. "it looks bad for them, poor fellows!" said my uncle, shading his eyes to gaze seaward. "the captain means to have them back." "nonsense! uncle," i said; "it's a false alarm. that's not our ship." "not our ship?" he cried, springing up. "of course it's not. and whatever she is those on board don't see us." we stood watching for a few minutes before i ran to the boat and got the glass out of the locker to have a good look. "well, what do you make of her?" said my uncle. "i don't know what she is," i said; "but there are only two people on deck--one forward and the other leaning half asleep over the wheel. here, i'll go and call those two back." "you'd call in vain," said my uncle, as i replaced the glass in the case. "they're beyond earshot, and you could not find them." "what are we to do then, uncle?" i said. "have breakfast, my boy. i want mine." "but those two poor fellows?" "well, they took fright, nat. a guilty conscience needs no accuser. they had run from their ship, and the sight of one was enough to make them feel that they were being sought." "but we ought to do something, uncle," i said. "we can't do anything but wait, my lad," he replied. "there, don't be uneasy; they'll come back as soon as they've got over the scaring. i daresay we shall see or hear of them before night." my uncle's words brought back the hungry feeling which had been swept away, and i saw to the breakfast, making the coffee and frizzling some slices of bacon, the meal being thoroughly enjoyable, eaten there in the shade of a great tree, while everything around looked beautiful in the extreme; and it was not until my morning hunger was nearly appeased that the flies and the flying thoughts of our late companions tormented me much. then they began to get worse; and in a fit of sympathy i felt ashamed of enjoying my meal so well while those two poor fellows were suffering from hunger and fear. "what's the matter, nat?" said my uncle; and then, "look! who'd have thought of seeing humming-birds so near the sea?" i did not reply, for i did not know which part of my uncle's remark to answer first; so i stared at the lovely little birds flitting about some flowers. "steamer's getting a good way along," said my uncle, after a few minutes' silence. "here, i must have two or three of those little beauties." "they're not quetzals, uncle," i said, smiling. "no; but i'm not going to miss getting rare specimens, nat. we may not find the quetzals, and we must not go back empty-handed. is the anchor quite fast?" "yes, uncle, perfectly," i said. "then let's get what good birds we can while we're waiting. the sound of our guns may bring those fellows back." he was right, for about mid-day, when we were busily preparing some skins of the lovely little humming-birds we had shot, i caught up the gun by my side, for their was a peculiar piping cry. "what bird's that?" i said, in a sharp whisper. "_pee-wew_!" came softly. "some kind of sea bird," said my uncle. "it sounds like a gull." i laughed, and laid down my gun. "why are you doing that?" said my uncle. "_pee-wee_!" came the cry again. "_pee-wee_!" i whistled, and then i shouted aloud, "all right! steamer's gone." there was the cracking of twigs and a loud rustling sound, followed by the sight of pete, who crept out from among the bushes, hot, panting, and with face and hands terribly scratched. "sure she's gone, master nat?" he said dolefully. "sure? yes," i cried. "it wasn't our ship at all." "there, i knowed it warn't all the time, only bill cross said he was sure it were. here, come out! way he! it's all right." the carpenter forced his way out of the jungle soon after, glaring at pete. "here," he cried gruffly, "what d'ye mean by scaring a fellow like that?" "it warn't me," cried pete. "you said it was our ship coming after us." "never mind, now," said my uncle. "set the fire going again, and get yourselves some breakfast; but don't be in such a hurry to take fright next time. we'd better have our dinner at the same time, nat; and if there's any wind this evening we'll sail southward." there was plenty of wind, and so quite early in the afternoon the anchor was placed on board, pete tucked up his trousers and ran the boat out, and then scrambled in to help with the sail. then, as the boat careened over and glided away, he and his companion gave a hearty cheer. we sailed along the coast southward for days and days, always finding plenty to interest and a few specimens worth shooting, both bill and pete looking on with the most intense interest at the skinning and preserving, till one day the latter said confidently: "i could do that, mr nat." "very well," i said; "you shall try with one of the next birds i shoot." "at last," cried my uncle a day or two later, and, seizing the tiller, he steered the boat straight for a wide opening and into what seemed to be a lake, so surrounded were we by tropical trees. but the current we met soon showed that we were at the mouth of a good-sized river, and the wind being in our favour, we ran up it a dozen miles or so before evening. for a long time the shores right and left had been closing in, and our progress growing slower, for the forest, which had been at some distance, now came down to the water's edge, the trees were bigger, and for the last two miles we had sailed very slowly, shut in as we were by the great walls of verdure which towered far above the top of our mast and completely shut out the wind. fortunately, the river was deep and sluggish so that progression was comparatively easy, and every hundred yards displayed something tempting to so ardent a naturalist as my uncle. not always pleasant, though, for the sluggish waters swarmed with huge alligators, and every now and then one plunged in from the bank with a mighty splash. some of the first we saw were approached innocently enough--for to unaccustomed eyes they looked like muddy logs floating down stream, and pete laughed at me when i told him to lift his oar as we passed one so drowsy that it paid no heed. "raise your oar-blade," i said, as we glided along, "or that brute may turn angry and upset us." i was sitting holding the tiller, steering, and bill cross held the other oar, while my uncle, tired out by a tramp ashore, was lying down forward, fast asleep, in the shadow cast by the sail, which kept on filling and flapping--for in the reach we had now entered the wind was hardly felt. "i never saw a tree run at a boat, master nat," said pete, as he raised his oar-blade. but before we had half passed the sleeping reptile the boy gave it a sudden chop on the back, and then, horrified by the consequence of his act, he started up in his place, plunged overboard into the deep, muddy water on the other side, and disappeared. for a moment or two i thought that we were all going to follow, for the reptile struck the boat a tremendous blow with its tail as it plunged down, raising the river in waves and eddies, and making our craft dance so that the water nearly came over the side, and we all clung to the nearest object to our hands. "what's that?" cried my uncle. "alligator," i said, in a startled tone. "where's the boy?" "gone overboard." "not seized by one of the loathsome monsters?" "oh, no, sir," said bill, who looked rather startled. "he chopped it, and it scared him over the side." "well, where is he?" cried my uncle, appealing to me, while i looked vainly over the surface, which was now settling down. "i--i don't know," i stammered. "he went over somewhere here." "but where did he come up?" cried my uncle. "haven't you seen him?" i was silent, for a terrible feeling of dread kept me from speaking, and my uncle turned to the carpenter. "no, sir, i haven't seen him," was the reply. "let the boat drift down. don't pull, man, you're sending us over to the other side. stop a moment." my uncle hurriedly took pete's place, seized the oar that was swinging from the rowlock, and began to pull so as to keep the boat from drifting, while i steered. "hadn't you better let her go down a bit, sir?" said the carpenter. "he may be drifting, and will come up lower." "but the lad could swim," said my uncle, as i began to feel a horrible chill which made my hands grow clammy. "swim? yes, sir--like a seal. i'm getting skeart. one of they great lizardy things must have got him." "cease rowing!" cried my uncle, and he followed my example of standing up in the boat and scanning the surface, including the nearest shore-- that on our left, where the trees came right down to the water. they stopped together, and let the boat drift slowly with the current downward and backward, till all at once there was a light puff of hot wind which filled the sail, and we mastered the current, once more gliding slowly up stream, with the water pattering against the sides and bows. but there was no sign of pete, and having failed to take any bearings, or to remember by marks on the shore whereabouts he had gone down, we were quite at fault, so that when the wind failed again and the boat drifted back, it was impossible to say where we had seen the last of the poor lad. i felt choking. something seemed to rise in my throat, and i could only sit there dumb and motionless, till all at once, as the wind sprang up again, filled the sail, and the boat heeled over, the necessity of doing something to steer her and keep her in the right direction sent a thrill through me, and i did what i ought to have done before. for, as the water rattled again under the bows and we glided on, i shouted aloud-- "pete, lad, where are you?" "ahoy!" came from a distance higher up, farther than we could have deemed possible after so much sailing. "hooray!" shouted the carpenter. "why he's got ashore yonder." "where did the hail come from, nat?" said my uncle, with a sigh of relief. "seemed to be from among the trees a hundred yards forward there to the left." "run her close in, then, and hail, my lad," he cried. he had hardly spoken before the wind failed again, and they bent to their oars. "where are you, pete?" i shouted. "here, among the trees," came back, and i steered the boat in the direction, eagerly searching the great green wall of verdure, but seeing nothing save a bird or two. "are you ashore?" i shouted. "nay! it's all water underneath me. come on, sir. here i am." a few more strokes of the oars ran us close in beneath the pendent boughs, and the next minute the carpenter caught hold of one of the overhanging branches and kept the boat there, while pete descended from where he had climbed, to lower himself into the boat and sit down shivering and dripping. "thought he'd got me, sir," he said, looking white. "i dived down, though, and only come up once, but dove again so as to come up under the trees; and then i found a place where i could pull myself up. it was precious hard, though. i kep' 'specting one of 'em would pull me back, till i was up yonder; and it arn't safe there." "why not?" i said. "there's great monkeys yonder, and the biggest snake i ever see, master nat." "but did you not see the boat? didn't you see us hunting for you?" said my uncle angrily. "no, sir; i had all i could do to swim to one of the trees, diving down so as the 'gators shouldn't see me; and when i did get up into the tree, you'd gone back down the river, so that i couldn't see nothing of you." "but why didn't you shout, pete?" said the carpenter. "everyone's been afraid you was drowned." "who was going to shout when there was a great snake curled up in knots like a ship's fender right over your head? think i wanted to wake him up? then there was two great monkeys." "great monkeys!" said my uncle. "pray, how big were they?" "dunno, sir, but they looked a tidy size, and whenever i moved they begun to make faces and call me names." "what did they call you, pete?" i said. "i dunno, master nat. you see, it was all furren, and i couldn't understand it; but one of 'em was horrid howdacious: he ran along a bough till he was right over my head, and then he took hold with his tail and swung himself to and fro and chattered, and said he'd drop on my head if i dared to move." "are you sure he said that, pete?" said my uncle drily. "well, sir, i can't be quite sure, because i couldn't understand him; but it seemed something like that." "yes, but i'm afraid there was a good deal of imagination in it, pete, and that you have bad eyes." "oh, no, sir," said pete; "my eyes are all right." "they cannot be," said my uncle; "they must magnify terribly. now then, take off your wet clothes, wring them out, and hang them up in the sun, while we look after this huge serpent and the gigantic monkeys. draw the boat along by the boughs, cross, till we can look through that opening. be ready with your gun, nat. put in a couple of those swanshot cartridges. you shall do the shooting." i hurriedly changed the charges in my double gun and sat in my place, looking up eagerly, trying to pierce the green twilight and tangle of crossing boughs, while pete slowly slipped off his dripping shirt and trousers, watching me the while. "see anything yet?" said my uncle, as he helped cross to push the boat along, pulling the boughs aside, which forced him to lower the sail and unship the mast. "no, uncle; the boughs are too thick--yes--yes, i can see a monkey hanging by his tail." "a six-footer? bring him down, then. we must have his skin." "six-footer? no!" i said. "it's about as big as a fat baby." "i thought so," said my uncle. "never mind the poor little thing; look-out for the monstrous snake. i daresay it's one of the anacondas crept up out of the river. see it?" "no, uncle; but there might be a dozen up there." "keep on looking. you must see it if it's as big as pete here says. was it close to the trunk, my lad?" "not very, sir; it was just out a little way, where the boughs spread out." "i see it!" i cried. "keep the boat quite still. it's curled up all in a knot." "a hundred feet long?" said my uncle, laughing. "not quite, uncle." "well, fifty?" "i don't think so, uncle." "five-and-twenty, then?" "oh, no," i said; "it's rather hard to tell, because of the way she folds double about; but i should think it's twelve feet long." "i thought so," said my uncle. "pete, you'll have to wear diminishing glasses." "that aren't the one, sir," said pete gruffly. "shall i shoot, uncle?" "no; we don't want the skin, and it would be a very unpleasant task to take it off. push off, cross, and let's go up the stream. i want to get to clearer parts, where we can land and make some excursions." pete hung his head when i looked at him, but he said no more, and a couple of hours after, with his clothes thoroughly dry, he was helping to navigate the boat, rowing, poling, and managing the sail till night fell, when we once more moored to a great tree trunk, as we had made a practice all the way up, and slept in safety on board, with the strange noises of the forest all around. chapter seven. snakes and pumas. it was a relief at last, after many days of hard work, sailing and rowing and poling over the shallows by means of the light bamboos we cut upon the banks, to find that we were well above the dense, jungle-like forest where, save in places, landing was impossible. instead of creeping along between the two high walls of verdure, the river ran clear, shallow, and sparkling, among gravelly beds and rocks; while, though the growth was abundant on banks, there were plenty of open places full of sunshine and shadow, where flowers bloomed and birds far brighter in colour flitted from shrub to shrub, or darted in flocks among the trees. mountains rose up in the distance, and every now and then we had glorious peeps of the valleys, which near at hand were of the richest golden-green, but in the distance gradually grew from amethyst into the purest blue. "at last!" cried uncle dick, for we had reached the outskirts of the land he sought--one with the natural roads necessary; for by careful management we contrived to penetrate some distance up the various streams which came down from the mountains to join the main river, and when we had forced the boat up a little stream till it was aground, we there camped and made expeditions on foot in all directions, coming back to the boat with our treasures. it was difficult to decide which stream to try, and one in particular whose mouth we passed several times in our journeys to and fro attracted me--i could not tell why--and i suggested more than once that we should go up it; but uncle dick shook his head. "it is the least likely, nat," he said on one occasion, and when, after several expeditions, i proposed it again, because most of those we tried evidently bore to the north, while this had a southward tendency, he refused tetchily. "can't you see how covered it is with water-weed and tangled growth? it would be impossible to go up there without a small canoe." so i said no more, but contented myself with his choice. for of treasures we had plenty, the wild mountain valleys swarming with beautifully plumaged birds, especially with those tiny little objects which were actually less than some of the butterflies and moths. these humming-birds we generally shot with sand, sometimes merely with the wad of the cartridge, and even at times brought them down by the concussion caused by firing with powder only, when very near. i was never tired of examining these little gems of the bird world, and wondering at their excessive beauty in their dazzling hues, exactly like those of the precious stones from which they are named--ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, amethyst, and the like. "it caps me," pete used to say, as he stared with open mouth when i carefully skinned the tiny creatures to preserve them. then came the day when, after a long tramp along with pete, we found ourselves at the end of a narrow valley, with apparently no farther progress to be made. we had started, after an early breakfast in the boat, and left my uncle there to finish off the drying of some skins ready for packing in a light case of split bamboo which the carpenter had made; and with one gun over my shoulder, a botanist's collecting-box for choice birds, and pete following with another gun and a net for large birds slung over his shoulder, we had tramped on for hours, thinking nothing of the heat and the sun-rays which flashed off the surface of the clear shallow stream we were following, for the air came down fresh and invigorating from the mountains. we had been fairly successful, for i had shot four rare humming-birds; but so far we had seen no specimens of the gorgeous quetzal, and it was for these that our eyes wandered whenever we reached a patch of woodland, but only to startle macaws, parroquets, or the clumsy-looking--but really light and active--big-billed toucans, which made pete shake his head. "they're all very well, with their orange and red throats, or their pale primrose or white, master nat; but i don't see no good in birds having great bills like that." we had a bit of an adventure, too, that was rather startling, as we slowly climbed higher in tracking the course of the little stream towards its source in the mountain. as we toiled on where the rocks rose like walls on either side, and the ground was stony and bare, the rugged glittering in the sunshine, pete had got on a few yards ahead through my having paused to transfer a gorgeous golden-green beetle to our collecting-box. i was just thinking that the absence of grass or flowers was probably due to the fact that the flooded stream must at times run all over where we were walking, the narrow valley looking quite like the bed of a river right up to the rocks on either side, when pete shouted to me-- "come and look, master nat. what's this here? want to take it?" i looked, and then fired the quickest shot i ever discharged in my life. i hardly know how i managed it; but one moment i was carrying my gun over my shoulder, the next i had let the barrels fall into my left hand and fired. pete leapt off the ground, uttering a yell which would have made anyone who could have looked on imagine that i had shot him. he dropped the gun he carried and turned round to face me. "what did you do that for, master nat?" he cried. "for that," i said, pointing, and then raising my piece to my shoulder, i fired again at something writhing and twining among the loose stones. "thought you meant to shoot me, sir," said pete, picking up the gun and covering a dint he had made in the stock, as he stared down at the object that was now dying fast. "well, it's of no good now. you've reg'larly spoiled it." "do you know what that is?" i said, with my heart beating fast. "course i do," he said with a laugh. "snake." "yes, the most deadly snake out here. if i had waited till you touched it you would have been stung; and that generally means death." "my word!" said pete, shrinking away. "think of it, sir! shouldn't have liked that, master nat. what snake is it?" "a rattlesnake." "i didn't hear him rattle. but i was just going to lay hold of him behind his ears and pick him up." "and yet uncle told you to beware of poisonous snakes." "ah! so he did, sir; but i wasn't thinking about what he said then. so that's his rattle at the end of his tail, with a sting in it." "nonsense!" i cried. "rattlesnakes do not sting." "hark at him!" cried pete, addressing nobody. then to me-- "why, you said just now they did." "i meant bite." "but wapses have their stings in their tails." "but rattlesnakes do not," i said. "look here." i drew the hunting knife i carried, and with one chop took off the dangerous reptile's head. then picking it up i opened the jaws and showed him the two keen, hollow, poisonous fangs which rose erect when the jaws gaped. "seem too little to do any harm, master nat," said pete, rubbing his head. "well, i shall know one of them gentlemen another time.--oh, don't chuck it away!" he cried. "i should like to put that head in a box and save it." "too late, pete," i said, for i had just sent the head flying into the rippling stream; and after reloading we went on again till it seemed as if we were quite shut in. for right in front was a towering rock, quite perpendicular above a low archway, at whose foot the stream rushed gurgling out, while the sides of the narrow ravine in which we were rose up like a wall. "we shall have to go back, pete, i suppose," i said, as i looked upon either side. "i wouldn't, sir," he replied; "it's early yet." "but we couldn't climb up there." "oh, yes, we could, sir, if we took it a bit at a time." pete was right. i had looked at the task all at once, but by taking it a bit at a time we slowly climbed up and up till we reached to where there was a gentle slope dotted with patches of woodland, and looking more beautiful than the part we had travelled over that day. it was just as we had drawn ourselves up on to the gentle slope which spread away evidently for miles, that pete laid his hand upon my arm and pointed away to the left. "look!" he whispered; "thing like a great cat. there she goes." but i did not look, for i had caught sight of a couple of birds gliding through the air as if they were finishing their flight and about to alight. "look there!" i panted excitedly, as i watched for the place where the birds would pitch, which proved to be out of sight, beyond a clump of trees. "this way, master nat," whispered pete. "no, no; this way," i said hoarsely. and i hurried forward, having to get over about a hundred yards before i could reach the patch behind which the birds had disappeared. my heart beat faster with excitement as well as exertion as i checked my pace on reaching the trees and began to creep softly along in their shelter, till all at once there was a harsh scream, followed by a dozen more, as a little flock of lovely green parroquets took flight, and pete stopped short for me to fire. but i did not; i only kept on, wondering whether the objects of my search would take fright. they did the next moment, and i fired at what seemed like a couple of whirring patches of orange, one of which to my great joy fell, while the other went right away in a straight line, showing that it had not been touched. "that's got him!" cried pete excitedly. and he ran forward to pick up the bird, while i began to reload, but stopped in astonishment, for from some bushes away to the left, in a series of bounds, a magnificent puma sprang into sight, and seemed to be racing pete so as to get first to the fallen bird. pete was nearest, and would have been there first, but he suddenly caught sight of the great active cat and stopped short. this had the effect of making the puma stop short too, and stand lashing its tail and staring at pete as if undecided what to do. i ought to have behaved differently, but i was as much taken by surprise as pete, and i, too, stood staring instead of reloading my gun, while it never once occurred to the lad that he had one already charged in his hand. suddenly, to my astonishment, he snatched off his straw hat. "shoo!" he cried, and sent it skimming through the air at the puma. the effect was all he desired, for the beautiful animal sprang round and bounded away towards the nearest patch of forest, pete after him till he reached his hat, which he picked up in triumph and stuck on his head again, grinning as he returned. "that's the way to scare that sort, master nat," he cried. and he reached me again just as i stooped to pick up the fallen bird. "cock of the rocks, pete," i cried triumphantly, too much excited to think about the puma. "is he, sir?" said pete. "well, he ran away like a hen." "no, no! i mean this bird. isn't it a beauty?" "he just is, sir. lives on oranges, i s'pose, to make him that colour." "i don't know what it lived on," i said as i regularly gloated over the lovely bird with its orange plumage and soft wheel-like crest of feathers from beak to nape. "this must go in your net, pete; but you must carry it very carefully." "i will, master nat. going back now?" "back? no," i cried. "we must follow up that other one. i saw which way it flew. uncle will be in ecstasies at our having found a place where they come." "will he, sir? thought it was golden-green birds with long tails. quizzals. that one's got hardly any tail at all." "he wants these too," i said, closing the breech of my gun. "come along." "but how about that there big cat, sir? he's gone down that way." "we must fire at it if it comes near again, or you must throw your hat," i said, laughing. "all right, sir, you know. only if he or she do turn savage, it might be awkward." "i don't think they're dangerous animals, pete," i said; "and we must have that other bird, and we may put up more. here, i'll go first." "nay, play fair, master nat," said pete; "let's go side by side." "yes, but a little way apart. open out about thirty feet, and then let's go forward slowly. i think we shall find it among those trees yonder." "the big cat, sir?" said pete. "no, no!" i cried; "the other bird, the cock of the rocks. now then, forward." a little flock of brightly-coloured finches flew up before we had gone a hundred yards, but i was so excited by the prospect of getting my prize's mate that these seemed of no account, and we went on, my intention being to fire at the cock of the rocks, and nothing else, unless the golden plumage of a quetzal flashed into sight. in another five minutes we had forgotten all about the puma, for we were leaving the trees where it had disappeared away to our left, and we went on and on, starting birds again and again, till we had passed over a quarter of a mile and were pushing on amongst open clumps of bushes with patches of woodland here and there. pete was abreast of me with the other gun, and i was sweeping the ground before me in search of the orange plumage of the bird i sought, which might spring up at any time, when i had to pass round a pile of rugged stones half covered with herbage. "sort of place for snakes to bask," i said to myself, as i gave it a little wider berth, when all at once, to my surprise, up rose with a whirr not the bird i sought, but a little flock of seven or eight, and as i raised my gun to fire at the group of whizzing orange--_thud_! something heavy had bounded from the pile of stone i had passed, to alight full upon my shoulders. _bang, bang_! went both barrels of my gun, and the next moment i was down, spread-eagle fashion, on my face, conscious of the fact that what was probably the puma's mate had bounded right upon me as i stooped forward to fire, and as i heard pete utter a yell of horror, the beast's muzzle was pressed down on the back of my neck, and its hot breath stirred the roots of my hair. chapter eight. a lucky escape. for a few minutes, or a few moments, i cannot tell which, i lay there half stunned. then i began to think that i should be torn to pieces and devoured, and my next vivid thought took the form of a question--will it hurt much? this set me wondering whether i was already badly injured, and as i had read that people who are seriously hurt do not feel pain at the time, i took it for granted that i was in a very sad state. but all the same i did not feel torn by the creature's claws, nor yet as if its teeth had been driven into the back of my neck, though i supposed that they had been. what i did feel was that the puma was heavy, soft, and very hot. "then i can't be hurt," i reasoned with myself at last, "or i should feel the pain now," and with this i began to think it was time to do something; but i hesitated about beginning, for i could make no use of my discharged gun. there was my knife, though, if i could get it out from its sheath in my belt, and feeling that, if it were to come to a struggle, my empty hands would be no match for the puma's teeth and claws, i began to steal my fingers towards my belt. i stopped directly, though, for at the first movement there was a deep shuddering growl at the nape of my neck, and it seemed to run down my spine and out at the tips of my fingers and toes. it was just as if the puma were saying-- "you just lie still, or i'll bite." that must have been the meaning, for i lay quite still with the great heat drops tickling my face and running in the roots of my hair, while the puma crouched upon my back so that i could feel its shape exactly. "what can i do?" i said to myself, and then i remembered the old story about the traveller and the bear--how he shammed death, and the bear left him. that was what i felt that i must do, and i lay perfectly still in the hope that the puma would leave me, though it seemed quite to approve of its couch, and lay close, breathing steadily, so that i felt the rise and fall of its breast against my back. just when i was beginning to feel faint with the heat and excitement, a thrill ran through me, for from somewhere close at hand, but invisible to me in the position i occupied, i heard pete's voice-- "oh, master nat, master nat! are you killed?" "no," i cried; but i said no more, for there was a savage growl, a snap, and i felt myself seized at the back of the neck and shaken, but the puma had only seized the collar of my loose jacket, so that i was unhurt still. "what shall i do, master nat?" cried pete. the puma loosed its hold of the collar of my jacket, and i felt it raise its head as if looking in the direction of pete, and it growled fiercely again. "shoot, pete, shoot!" i cried, feeling that at all risks i must speak. the puma's teeth gripped my collar again, and i could fell its claws glide out of their sheaths like a cat's and press upon my shoulders, giving me a warning of what the beast could do. but its attention was taken off directly by pete's voice, and it raised its head again and growled at him as if daring him to approach and rob it of its prey. for pete cried in a despairing tone-- "i dursn't shoot, master nat, i dursn't shoot. i aren't clever with a gun, and i should hit you." i knew this was quite true, and that under the circumstances i dared not have fired, so i lay perfectly still, trying to think out what to do, for the animal seemed determined not to leave me, and i began to grow giddy as well as faint. then i started, for there was a rustling of the grass and a sharp crack, as if pete had trodden upon a dead twig. the puma growled again furiously, and then as i started, seized my collar tight in its teeth and shook me, for the sharp report of the gun pete carried rang out, followed by that of a second barrel, when i heard the loud whirr of wings, and felt sure that three or four more specimens of the lovely orange-tinted birds i sought had been scared into flight. but the firing in the air had not scared the puma, which lowered its head again and seized my collar, clinging tightly, and working its claws in and out of their sheaths. "it's no good, master nat," cried pete; "it don't frighten him a bit. shall i run back and tell the doctor?" "no," i said softly, so as not to irritate the puma; "you could not get back till after dark, and i should be dead before then." "what shall i do then, master nat? what shall i do? i want to save you, but i'm such a coward. i don't care, though; he shall have my knife into him if i die for it! ah, i know!" he cried exultingly, "whoo--hoo--oo--oo--oo!" to my astonishment and delight, just as i was nearly fainting, the puma gave a furious growl and a tremendous bound, leaving me free, and as i struggled to my feet, panting and exhausted, i caught sight of pete twenty yards away in the act of picking up his straw hat, with which he returned to me, grinning with delight. "that done it," he cried. "he couldn't understand it a bit, i sent my old hat skimming at him, and i say, he did cut away. i say, you aren't much hurt, are you, sir?" "n-no," i said hesitatingly, "i think not. look at my neck and shoulder. see if they bleed." "yes," cried pete excitedly, "he's got hold of you at the back o' the neck and ragged you. where's your hankychy?" i turned deathly sick with horror as i drew out my handkerchief and gave it to him; and then i felt ashamed of myself, for pete burst out laughing. "he aren't touched your neck, master nat," he cried, "on'y got hold of the collar of your jacket and chawed it a bit. i say, who'd ha' thought an old straw hat was better than a gun!" "can we get some water?" i said hoarsely. "yes, there's some trickles down into a bit of a pool yonder, where i found my hat. come on." a few minutes later i was bathing my hands and face, after we had lain down and drunk heartily of the sweet, cool, clear water, to rise up refreshed, and as the puma had disappeared, feeling as if the danger through which we had passed was very far away. "how d'yer feel now, master nat?" asked pete. "oh, better; much better," i said quickly. "good job he didn't begin eating of you, ain't it, sir?" "yes, pete, a very good job," i said heartily. "then let's go on and shoot some more of them yaller birds." i shook my head as i held out one hand, which was trembling. "i don't think i could hit a bird now, pete, after that upset." "oh, yes, you could, sir," he cried. "let's go on; and i say, if you see my gentleman again, you pepper him, and he won't come near us any more." "i don't know, pete," i said thoughtfully; "the pain might make it more vicious. let's get back to the boat. i feel as if i've done quite enough for one day." i finished reloading my gun as i spoke, so as to be ready for emergencies, and turned to retrace our steps to the rocky descent to the stream, when pete touched my arm. "coming back here to drink," he whispered. i forgot all about the shock and nervousness the next moment, as i saw the flutter of approaching wings, and directly after my gun rang out with two reports, while as the smoke floated away, pete triumphantly ran to where a couple of the orange birds had fallen. "i say, master nat," he said, "you can shoot. wish i could do that. you seem just to hold the gun up and it's done. i knew you could. they are beauties. something better worth taking back than we had before." the birds' plumage was carefully smoothed, and without further adventure we reached the top of the vast rocky wall and descended to the stream, where we had another refreshing draught close to the mouth of the natural arch through which the water flowed, and then tramped back to the boat, reaching it at sundown, where my uncle was, as i had said, in ecstasies with the beautiful birds we had brought. i was as pleased, but just then i thought more of the pleasant roast-bird supper and the coffee that awaited us, and paid more attention to these than anything else. over the supper, though, i related our experience with the pumas, and my uncle looked serious. "you got off well, nat," he said. "they are not dangerous beasts, though, unless attacked and hurt. i'd give them as wide a berth in future as i could. i'm thankful that you had such an escape." chapter nine. through the cavern. my uncle accompanied me in my next and several other visits to the upper valley, with the result that we obtained as many specimens of the beautiful orange birds as we required, and in addition several rare kinds of humming-birds; but strangely enough, anxious as i was that my uncle should see one of the pumas they were never encountered once. the whole of the upper valley was very lovely, and the air, from its being so high up among the mountains, deliciously cool. "it seems a pity," my uncle said, "that nobody lives here." for as far as we could make out in our many journeys, human beings had never penetrated its solitudes. "yes," i said, on one of these occasions, "it is a glorious place, uncle, and anyone might make it a lovely garden with hardly any trouble; but i shouldn't like to live here after all." "why?" he said. "you seem very hard to please." "the place isn't perfect, uncle," i said. "no place is, but i don't see much to find fault with. oh, you mean that we can find no quetzals." "no, i did not," i said. "i meant we find too many rattlesnakes." "ah, yes, they are a nuisance, nat; but they always get out of our way if they can, and so long as they don't bite us we need not complain. well, we have pretty well explored this valley, and it is time we tried another. we must get farther to the south." "why not strike off, then, from the top of the great cliff above the arch, and try and find where the stream dives down?" "what!" he said; "you don't think, then, that the stream rises entirely there?" "no," i said; "i fancy it dives underground when it reaches a mountain, and comes out where we saw." "quite likely," he said, jumping at the idea. "we'll try, for we have had some beautiful specimens from the woodlands on the banks of that stream. perhaps we may find my golden-green trogons up there after all, for i feel sure that there are some to be found up among the head-waters of the river." the next day preparations were made for our expedition, and as the country we were in seemed to be so completely uninhabited from its unsuitability for agricultural purposes, and the little attraction it had for hunters other than such as we, there was no occasion to mind leaving the boat. the carpenter and pete were in high glee at the news that they were to accompany us, and in the intervals of packing up, their delight was expressed by furtive punches and slaps delivered when one or the other was not looking. "i am glad, mr nat," bill cross said to me when we were alone for a few minutes overnight. "i'm not grumbling, sir, and i like making cases and cooking and washing, but i do feel sometimes as if i'd give anything to be able to shoulder a gun and come along with you gents, shooting and hunting for curiosities." "well, you'll have a fine chance now, bill," i said. "yes, sir, and it'll just be a treat; for i haven't had much of the fun so far, have i?" "fun?" i said. "yes, sir; it's fun to a chap like me who when he goes to sleep of a night it's with the feeling that there's a day's work done." "so it is with all of us," i said. "i work very hard; so does my uncle." "yes, sir; but don't you see that what's work to you as can go and do is seems like play to me as is obliged to stay in camp--i mean with the boat. but as i was going to say, after a night's rest when one wakes up it's always to begin another day's work! but there, don't you think i'm grumbling, sir, because i arn't; for i've never been so happy in my life before as since i've been out here with you and the doctor. what time do we start to-morrow?" "breakfast before daylight, and start as soon as we can see," i replied. "right, sir; i'll be ready." there was so little novelty in a fresh trip to me then, that i dropped asleep as soon as i lay down in the tent under a big tree ashore, and it seemed like the next minute when the carpenter in his gruff voice called to us that breakfast was nigh ready. i looked up, to see his face by the lanthorn he had brought alight, as he hung it from a hook on the tent-pole; and then after making sure that my uncle was awake, i hurried out into the darkness, where pete was busy frizzling bacon over the glowing embers, ran down into the fresh, cool water for my bath, and came out with my blood seeming to dance through my veins. our breakfast was soon dispatched, and before the sun rose the tent had been fastened up, our guns and satchels shouldered and swung, and in addition cross carried a coil of rope and the lanthorn, now out and freshly trimmed. "be useful," he said, with a sage nod of the head. "s'pose we shall be out all night." the next minute he and pete shouldered the extra guns and the packs they were to carry in case our trip lasted over more than a couple of days; and we set off in single file steadily up the side of the stream between the walls of rock, and sometimes wading across it to find better ground. twice over we waded in the middle of the water, where it was sandy, and found it nowhere over our knees. in due time we reached the spot where the walls of the gorge had drawn together and the end was closed by the perpendicular mountain at whose foot was the little natural arch out of which the water came gurgling swiftly. here my uncle stopped for the load-bearers to have a short rest before we began to climb upward to puma vale, as i had dubbed it. pete and cross used their loads as seats, and the latter, who had not seen the place before, sat looking about attentively, while my uncle took out his little double-glass and examined the towering mountain for signs of birds upon the ledges or trees which clung to the sides. the carpenter turned to me and nodded. "strange pretty place, mr nat," he cried, "and it's just like pete said it was. going up yonder to try and find the river again farther on, aren't we?" "yes, and i think we shall find it." "wouldn't it be better to keep on up it? should be sure of it then." "but don't you see that we can go no farther?" i said wonderingly. "no, sir, i don't. water's not above eighteen inches deep, and it's nice sandy bottom." "but it nearly touches the top of the arch," i said. "just there it do, sir, but that's only the doorway; it may be ever so high inside. p'raps i'm wrong, though. you've tried it, then?" "what, tried to get under that horrible dark arch? oh, no!" "why not?" said the man coolly. "i don't see nothing horrid. dessay it'll be dark, but we've a lanthorn." "but we should have to wade, and in the darkness we might go down some horrible hole." cross shook his head. "nay," he said; "you might do that if the water was running the other way downward, but we should have to go up stream with the water coming to us. we shouldn't find any holes; what we should find more likely would be waterfalls, and have to climb up 'em." "what's that?" cried my uncle, who had caught part of what was said, and he was told the rest. "let's have a look, nat," he said, and slipping off our boots and stockings we waded on over the soft sand to where the water came rushing out through the arch, stooping down and peering in as we listened to the gurgling and whispering of the water. "shall we have the lanthorn, and i'll stoop down and see if the roof gets higher farther in?" i said. "would you mind doing it?" said my uncle. "i don't think i should like it much," i said; "but i'll try." "let me go, master nat, sir," said pete eagerly; "i won't mind." "sounds as if there's plenty of room inside, sir," said cross, who had followed our example and waded in. "let's see," said my uncle, stooping down, after cocking his gun. then holding it as if it were a pistol, he reached in as far as he could and fired both barrels. the reports sounded dull and smothered, and as we listened my uncle said: "it is only a narrow passage, i think." then he was silent, for the reports were repeated ten times as loudly, and went on reverberating again and again, from farther and farther away, till they gradually grew indistinct and strange, for there was a strange dull roar growing louder and louder till the echoes were drowned, while the roar seemed to come on and on, till without hesitation on anyone's part we turned and ran splashing out of the stream to the shore, to escape from a dark rushing cloud which came streaming out of the mouth of the cave with screams, hisses, and whisperings, out and away down the narrow ravine till it seemed to be filled with birds and bats, while a strange black-beetly odour assailed our nostrils. "no doubt about there being plenty of room, lads," said my uncle, as he laughed at our scared faces, for the sudden rush out was startling. "is them owls, sir?" said the carpenter, staring. "no, no," replied my uncle; "they are something of the goat-sucker tribe--night-birds which build in caves; but a good half of what we see are bats." "yes, i can see they're bats, sir, and the biggest i ever did see. well, they won't hurt us, sir?" "no, but they're terribly afraid we shall hurt them," said my uncle. "well, nat, what do you say? shall we explore the underground river?" i felt as if i should like to say, "no, i would rather not," but the pride within me made me take the other view of the matter. "yes," i said, "of course," and the sense of unwillingness was forgotten in the desire to laugh at the look of horror in pete's face as he stared appealingly from one to the other. "you won't mind, cross?" said my uncle. "no, sir; i should like it," replied the man. "light the lanthorn." "shall we take our loads with us, uncle?" i said. "certainly. if the way through is short we shall want them at the other side. if it is long we shall want some refreshments on the way." "but suppose--" i began, and then i stopped. "suppose what?" said my uncle. "suppose the river does not pass through the mountain, but comes from deep down somewhere." "the more interesting the discovery of its hidden source, my lad. but that is not likely. look at the rock. what is it--granite or gneiss?" "no," i said; "limestone." "well, you ought to know how limestone ridges are honeycombed with water-formed caverns. we have several examples at home. if this subterranean river came bubbling up from somewhere in the interior and the rock were granite, i should expect it to be hot." "and it's quite cold, sir," said cross. "oh, no, just pleasantly cool. i don't think there's a doubt about its having its source higher up in the mountains; but whether it has dived down for a few hundred yards or a few miles we can only know by exploring." "well, cross," i said to the carpenter, "will this be fun enough for you?" "splendid, sir," said the man enthusiastically. "i never had a treat like this." "master nat," whispered pete, "am i to come too?" "of course," i said. "tuck up your trousers as high as you can." "but suppose we have to swim, sir?" "look here, pete," i said, "you don't want to come." "no, sir. can't help it, sir, but i never could a-bear the dark." "then i'll ask my uncle to let you stop behind." "what!" cried the poor fellow fiercely, "leave me behind, and you go? that you just won't, sir. i'd go if it was twice as dark." i saw him set his teeth, and then, as my uncle gave the word, he climbed up to a verdant cleft with cross to cut four stout bamboos about six feet long to act as walking-staves. "we must always be ready to feel our way and try the depth," said uncle dick; "and avoid any holes. if it grows deeper as we go on and there is no bare rock at the sides, of course we must return." a few minutes later our guns were slung across our backs, the loads taken up, and, each armed with a staff, we made our start--cross, as he held the lanthorn, asking leave to lead the way. "we shan't be able to do it, master nat," whispered pete, as we followed in turn, pete last, for it was very hard work, the barrels of our guns scraping again and again against the roof during the first twenty yards or so; but pete had hardly uttered the above words before i saw cross raise the lanthorn higher. then my uncle began to walk erect, and directly after i found on raising my staff that i could not touch the roof, while a sharp whistle uttered by our lanthorn-bearer was echoed from far on high. "plenty of room upwards, sir," cried cross. "yes," said my uncle. "ugh! what a horrid place, master nat!" whispered pete, who kept as close to me as he could. "do mind, sir." "mind what?" i said. "the holes. if you step into one of them there's no knowing how deep they are. they must be just like wells." "how do you know?" i said gruffly; and he was silent, giving me time to look to right and left and forward, as far as the light of the lanthorn would allow. there was not much to see--only a faint halo of light, with reflections sometimes from dripping rocks; but it seemed that there was no shore to the river on either side such as would afford footing, while as far as i could make out the stream was about the same width as it was outside. there was the dancing light on ahead, playing strangely on the surface of the gliding waters, and all around black darkness, while the vast cavern in which we were, seemed to be filled with strange sounds, splashings, ripplings, whisperings, and their echoes. "hear that, master nat?" said pete, getting close beside me and grasping my arm. "of course i can," i said pettishly, for it was bad enough to suffer from one's own feelings, without being troubled at such a time by others. "but--oh, there it goes again," he whispered. "what goes again?" i said. "that, sir. i dunno what it is, but there seems to be lots of 'em. bill cross stirs 'em up with the stick and the light, and they swims off both sides, and then you can hear 'em splashing with their tails as they come back again." "nonsense!" i said. "that's all imagination." "oh, no, it aren't, sir," he whispered. "i say, what did you say was the name of them big snakes that lives part of their time in the water?" "anacondas." "that's them, sir. we've got all amongst 'em here, and they'll be having one of us directly." "pooh! there's nothing alive in this dark place," i said scornfully. "what! why, wasn't it alive with birds and bats?" "oh, yes, but i don't believe there's a fish in these dark waters." "fish! oh, i don't mind fish, sir, as long as they aren't sharks. it's them conders i can't bear. it wouldn't so much matter if we were in the dark, but we've brought a light to show 'em where we are." "there are no snakes here," i said angrily. "it's all very well for you to say so, master nat," he replied; "but you just listen. there! hear that?" "yes, the splash against the side of the wave we make in wading." pete was about to say something more, but just then my uncle turned his head. "use your bamboo well, nat," he said, "in case of there being any cracks; but the bottom seems very level, and the depth keeps about the same. nice and cool here. keep close up. what's that, cross?" "only a stone standing right up, sir; water washes round it. it's best to keep right in the middle, i think." "you must judge about that," said my uncle. "go on." "how far do you think we've come, sir, now?" "about a quarter of a mile, i should say." "that's what i thought, sir," said the carpenter, and he waded steadily on, with us following. after a time it grew very monotonous, but we persevered, finding the underground river sometimes a little deeper, then shallower, so that the water rippled just above our ankles, while we knew at times that the cavern was wide and high, at others that it closed in on either side, and twice over the roof was so close that i could touch it with my stick. the times when it opened out were plain enough, for our splashings or voices echoed and went whispering far away. but otherwise the journey was very tame, and as the feeling of awe died away, the journey seemed uncommonly free from danger, for i felt it was absurd to imagine the waters to be peopled with strange creatures. we had been wading on for quite a couple of hours, when the water began to grow more sluggish, and to flow very quietly, rising, too, higher and higher, till it was above our waists, and the light reflected from the surface showed that it was very smooth. "keep on, sir?" said cross. "yes," said my uncle. "keep on till it nearly touches your chin. then we'll turn back." pete uttered a low groan, but followed in a despairing way, while we went on for another quarter of an hour, with the water deeper and deeper, and at last, to our great delight, my uncle said: "there, the water is rippling up in my beard, so it is time to go back." "hah!" ejaculated pete, and then he groaned, for cross said: "not so deep now as it was ten minutes ago, sir." "are you sure?" "yes, sir. i know by my stick. i keep my hand so that it touches the water, and i've had to move it twice in the last five minutes. it's not so deep now by three inches." "go on, then," said my uncle, and we followed, to find the water getting shallower rapidly now. ten minutes later it was below my waist, and in another ten minutes not above mid-thigh; but it had evidently widened out, for our voices seemed to go off far away into the distance, and my uncle suddenly said: "why, nat, the river must have widened out into a regular lake. how shall we find the place where it narrows again?" "foller that there sound, sir, i think," said cross. "what sound?" i said. "that, sir; listen. i can hear where it seems to be rushing in ever so far away." "yes, i can hear it now," i said. "forward, then," said my uncle, and with the water once more but little above our knees we waded steadily on after the light which cross bore breast-high. "cheer up, pete," i said; "we must be getting on now. why, if it came to the worst we could turn back." "never find the way, sir," he said bitterly, and then he uttered a yell, closely following upon a sharp ejaculation from the carpenter, who suddenly placed his foot in some cavity of the smooth floor, fell forward with an echoing splash, and the next moment the lanthorn disappeared beneath the gleaming surface, leaving us in utter darkness. _wash, wash, ripple, ripple_ went the water, and the cries whispered away as fading echoes, and then pete's voice rose in a piteous wail. "i knowed it, i knowed it," he said. "we shall never see the light again. oh, help, master nat, help! here's one of them water-conders got me by the leg to pull me down." a cry that went to my heart and sent a shudder through every nerve, for the darkness seemed so thick that it might be felt. chapter ten. into the sunlight again. there was a loud splashing noise, another cry, and the gurgling made by someone being dragged under water; and then, just as i felt that the horror was greater than i could bear, the carpenter cried: "what's the matter with you? don't make a row like that." "i--i felt something ketch hold of me and pulling me down." "something! do you call me something?" growled the carpenter. "of course i catched hold of you. you'd catch hold if you tumbled as i did. bad job about the light, master." "yes, a very bad job," said my uncle's voice out of the darkness. "how was it?" "stepped down into some hole, sir. felt myself going right into a crack-like sort o' place." "all stand still, then," cried my uncle, "while i strike a match. where's the lanthorn?" "oh, i've got that fast, sir; but you won't get the wick to light, i'm afraid, now." "here, stop!" i cried, as a sudden feeling of delight shot through me. "i can see daylight yonder." "bravo! well done, nat!" cried my uncle. "it's a long way off, but there's a faint gleam yonder in the direction from which that sound of falling water comes. let me lead now, cross. i think i can manage without a light." "better feel about well, sir, with your stick," said the carpenter. "that hole i trod in was rather awkward." "i'll mind," said my uncle; "follow me close," and he began to wade in the direction of the faint gleam of light. "did you get wet, pete?" i said. "wet, sir? he pulled me right under water. it's buzzing in my ears now." "better than being pulled under by a water-snake, pete," i said, and he gave a shivering shudder as we followed on without either coming across the hole, and at the end of a quarter of an hour the light ahead was rapidly growing plainer, while the roar of falling water became louder and echoed through the vast cavern over whose watery floor we progressed. in another half-hour's slow wading, we were able to make out our position, one which now became more striking minute by minute, for we could see that we were in a vast chasm whose bottom was the rushing foaming river along which we were wading. it was some fifty feet wide, and the roof overhead nearly as much, while right in front, at the distance of a couple of hundred yards, and facing us as it now sent ever-changing flashes and reflections of light into the cavern, was the great fall whose waters thundered as they dived from somewhere out of sight into a huge basin whose overflowings formed the underground river along which we journeyed. the scene became more beautiful minute by minute, the noise more deafening; and at last we stopped short, warned by the increasing depth of the water, and the sight of the great pool into which the cascade thundered down. we were standing in the beautiful green twilight water to the middle, but no one for a time wished to stir, the scene was so grand, made more beautiful as it was from time to time by a gleam of sunshine shooting down across the faint mist of spray which floated upwards, and wherever this bright light fell we had glimpses of what seemed like fragments of a broken rainbow. "very beautiful, nat," said my uncle at last, "but the floor here is rather damp; i am tired and hungry; and we have to get out. which way shall we try?" "not go back, uncle," i said quickly. "let's get into the sunshine again." "certainly; but how? we can't wade any farther without risk of drowning. what do you say, cross?" "yonder's an awful pit, sir," said the carpenter. "i could climb over the stones at the side there," said pete suddenly. "well, i think it possible," said my uncle. "but where's that rope?" "i've got it here, sir, round me," said pete. "well, we'll make one end fast round you, and pay out the line as you climb, so that we can haul you in if you fall into the deep water. will you try?" "oh, yes, sir; i'll try," cried pete. we made for the side, to find it slightly shallower, and after knotting the rope round his waist, pete was started up the rocks, which proved, in spite of their threatening appearance much less difficult than we had anticipated, so that in a few minutes the lad had climbed to the level of the top of the falls, where he stood on a broad shelf, and by the help of the rope hauled up our baskets and satchels. this done, pete threw the rope down to us, then it was made fast to my waist and i began to climb, pete hauling in the slack as i advanced, finding the way giddy but easy to climb. the danger was a slip upon the mossy rocks, wet with the fine spray which rose from the awful watery pit below. but the touch of the rope gave confidence, and in a few minutes i was by pete's side, ready to throw down the rope to cross, who came up with the sure-footedness of a sailor. then the packs were hauled up, and my uncle followed. our task was not yet done, for we had to take to the river again, just beyond the edge of the fall, a hundred feet above where we had waded before, and found ourselves in a narrow gorge with almost perpendicular sides covered with tree, bush, creeper, and wonderful ferns, all made glorious by the sunshine and blue sky. the water was shallow, and we made fair progress, always looking the while for some way out of the gorge, whose beauties tempted us to linger, for we were once more among flowers, insects, and birds, one of the first of which sailed slowly overhead and across the gorge--an eagle with widespread pinions. "out of shot," said my uncle, as we stood knee-deep watching the large bird till it floated right out of sight. "and not the sort of specimen we want, if it were in, uncle," i said. "quite right, nat. look yonder at the finches and those lovely blue creepers; but they're not what we want." "no, uncle," i said; "i'm looking for what we do want. ought not the quetzals to be found in a place like this?" "we are in their region, nat," he replied, "and that is all i can say. we know so little about them, the skins having been mostly supplied by the indians. but these rocks and patches of timber ought to be their home." "there's a place, sir, where we might climb up out of this hollow," said cross just then, and he pointed to a mere gash in the rocks, down which a tiny rivulet trickled. it proved to be passable, and at the end of another quarter of an hour we were upon fairly level ground, open, and in the full sunshine, ready to rest, bask, dry our clothes, and sit down to what seemed to me the most delicious meal i had ever eaten. in spite of the length of time which we had apparently spent in the darkness, it was still early in the day, and it was not long, after a good rest upon a hot rock in the sunny glow, before the two sufferers from their plunge were able once more to go about in quite dry clothes. by this time we had made use of pocket compass and glass, taking bearings, so to speak, and pretty well made out our position to be only a few miles to the south and west of puma valley, while my uncle was in ecstasies with the promising appearance of the district, for as a collecting ground we had mountain, forest, plain, valley, and the lovely river-gorge waiting to be farther explored. "if the quetzals are to be found, nat," said my uncle, "we ought to see them here." "what about going back, uncle?" i said, interrupting him. "back!" he cried. "what, are you tired already?" "no, i was thinking about the possibility of getting up the tent and some more stores so as to be able to thoroughly explore these higher grounds." "yes," he said; "that's what we must do. i fancy we can make our way back without going through that hole again; but it was well worth the trouble, since it led us to this lovely ravine." "pst!" i whispered; "pete sees something. he is making signs. look, he is signing to those trees." we seized our guns and advanced cautiously in the direction pointed out, separating so as to cover all the ground, in the full expectation of seeing some rare bird or another take flight. but we met on the other side of the cluster of trees indicated, after having passed right through without a sign. "gone on to the next patch, uncle," i whispered; and we went on again, carrying out the same plans; and a finch or two took flight, but nothing more. again we went on, and tried a third little clump, but with no better fortune, and we stopped and looked at each other. "whatever it was, it is too cunning for us, nat," said my uncle, "so we may as well give it up, for we could go on like this till dark." "yes," i said, with a sigh, "and it's hot and tiring work." "never mind; let's go back now," he said. "we don't even know what it was the lad saw." we began to retrace our steps, keeping a sharp look-out, but seeing nothing but some active lizards sunning themselves among the rocks, and a rattlesnake, which we carefully left at rest; but before we were half-way back to where we had left our companions we came upon them with the spare guns. "haven't you shot it, sir?" asked pete, staring hard at my uncle. "no, we have not even seen it, whatever it is," said my uncle, smiling. "wonderful handsome bird, sir, with long blue and green and red and yellow feathers in its tail." "macaw--ara," said my uncle; "flying across from tree to tree?" "yes, sir, i daresay it was," said pete; "but it wasn't flying; it was on the ground, and when we saw it, in it went among the bushes quite slowly, didn't it, bill?" "you said it did, my lad," replied cross. "i didn't see it." "long green, blue, red, and yellow feathers in its tail?" said my uncle. "yes, sir; that's it," looking up. "and on the ground?" "yes, sir." "running?" "oh, no, sir, it was just creeping quietly along when i beckoned you." "i don't know any bird answering your description but a macaw," said my uncle. "how big was it?" "as big as a barn-door cock, sir, i think." "look here, pete; you've seen macaws, or aras, as they call them. mr nat here shot one days ago." "them big poll parrots, sir? oh no, it warn't one of them, sir. i know that sort well enough." "i hope we shall come upon it another day then," said my uncle. we had a short rest, and then turned in the direction of the river-gorge again, its presence simplifying our position, for we had only to steer south at any time to come upon the steep, well-wooded ravine, along whose sides we had constant peeps of the clear flowing water, finding several places where we could descend, while here the variety of birds, insects, and reptiles was wonderful, and had we wanted them we could soon have killed more than we should have been able to preserve. but with most of them my uncle was familiar, and unless the specimen seen was something rare, he let it go in peace. "fortune may favour us, nat," he said, "and we may come upon the home of the beautiful trogons, especially the splendid trogon, or quetzal. then we must make the best of our opportunities." i had expected that we should make our way back to the boat-camp that night, but we spent so much time exploring the wonders and beauties of the gorge, that evening was coming on when we stopped about a mile higher along the stream than the spot where we first climbed up, and as we were well supplied with provisions, and were pretty well fagged, my uncle decided to camp in the shelter of the rocky side of the ravine for the night. so pete was set to collect dead wood for a fire, cross descended with our kettle to fill it below, and before long we were partaking of a capital meat-tea by the light of the fire; while we strolled a little way from our camp to listen to the various sounds of the night, it seemed as if a fresh world of inhabitants had awakened, and for hours we listened to the strange notes of bird and insect, and watched with wonder the beauty of the fire-flies, which never seemed to grow common. the fire was burning low when we turned back to camp, and pete was stretched out on the sandy shelf beneath the great tree he had selected for our resting-place, and snoring as if he meant to make up for the hard day's work. but cross was wakeful and ready to throw a few more dry twigs upon the fire to light us as soon as he heard our steps. "seen or heard anything, cross?" i said. "crickets, and toads, and frogs, and chuckling birds who seem to think we must be foolish to come right out here into no-man's-land, sir. that's about all. how have you got on?" "had a lovely walk," i said, as i settled down in my place beneath the sheltering boughs. "good-night, uncle; good-night, everybody," and i believe that in ten minutes' time i was sleeping as soundly as if secure and well housed in a civilised land. chapter eleven. we lose the axe. "well, you can't help liking the place, master nat," said pete the next morning, as we prepared the breakfast, "even if you do have to sleep on the sand with a nubbly stone under your back. look at it; makes me feel as if i should like to be a savage indian chief, and always live here shooting and fishing." "it is lovely," i said, as i gazed around at the glorious scene. "why, you could get more birds here than you'll ever want. i think we ought to stay here instead of going away." "we're only going to fetch up more stores and the tent, pete. we must bring an axe, too, and make a shed." "then we're coming back?" "yes." "oh, that's all right, then, master nat. i did think it a pity to run away again as soon as we'd found this place." the sun was only just up when after a good breakfast we started to find our way back to the entrance of the cave where we had set off upon our dark journey; and, taking a course which he had marked out from the high ground, my uncle led the way so well that by afternoon we struck the stream again, not by the mouth of the cavern, but miles below it, so that as soon as we could find a way down to its bank we retraced our way, and reached the anchored and well-moored boat long before dark. our task now was simple. the loads we were to take up the mountain-gorge were prepared, and next morning, heavily laden, we started with the intention of staying in the neighbourhood of the upper river for a week certain. it was a hard task, laden as we were, but we managed to reach the camping-place with our heavy loads just at nightfall, one and all completely done up, and content to eat a morsel of food before lying down to sleep at once. "it's very fortunate for us that the country is quite uninhabited," i remember thinking, as i lay down and revelled in the restful sensation afforded by the soft dry sand, part of a heap which had crumbled from the side of the ravine in the course of ages. i remember no more till i was awakened by pete, who announced breakfast, and i stared confusedly in the light of the early dawn at the bright fire, and wondered where i was. that morning the tent was set up, and a rough shed was cleverly made by cross, who seemed to glory in showing us how easily he could contrive a good shelter in case we should be overtaken by a tropical storm. he selected a spot where the rock was out of the perpendicular, hanging over to some extent, and here he soon had four young straight trees set up, held in place by cross-pieces. then rafters of bamboo were bound in position with the strong creepers which abounded, and this done, he began thatching, first with green boughs, then with a layer of palm-like leaves, which he made to overlap, and a strong reedy grass, that grew abundantly in a low moist place by the river, was bound on in bundles for a finish. "capital," said my uncle; "but too much like stopping for months, when it is hardly likely we shall stay two weeks." "may as well be comfortable, sir, while we are here," said cross, smiling. "keep the sun off, if we don't have rain." that night we had everything shipshape, and retired early to rest, to enjoy a delicious sleep, which only seemed to last ten minutes before i opened my eyes to find it was morning once more, and i lay wondering what it was that cross had lost, for it seemed to me in my half-wakeful state that i heard him say: "well, no more bones about it; you had it last, and you must find it." i could not speak till i had made an effort and sat up, and then i was wakeful enough for the words to come. "what have you lost?" i asked. "my axe, sir, and i can't get along without that. it's a whole bag of tools to me. pete had it last thing to chop some wood, and he says he laid it down inside the hut; but it aren't here now, and he's got to find it." "i can't find it, master nat," said pete dolefully; "he must have took it away and laid it somewhere else himself. seems such a pity, it do." "what, to take the axe?" i said. "nay--i meant to have a bother about that, and spoiling the holiday. i know the best way to find a thing like that," he added triumphantly. "how?" i asked. "don't look for it, and then you're sure to find it when you least expect." but the axe was not found then, and it was soon forgotten, for we were too busy searching the sides of the wonderful gorge, going day after day for miles on one side exploring the nooks and crannies, and another day wading across the river to explore the other side. but though we discovered and shot numbers of the most beautiful birds, many of them quite new to both, we saw no sign of those we sought, and at last my uncle had decided that we must move a few miles higher, when a discovery was made which sent a thrill of hopefulness through us, and we began exploring and shooting more eagerly than ever, devoting each morning to the task and the evenings to skinning and preserving, till our selection of beautiful skins began to grow to an extent far greater than we had intended. meanwhile we had been living a gloriously free and happy life; expeditions had been made twice to the boat for more necessaries, which were supplemented by an abundant supply of birds and fishes, the upper waters being so full of the latter that it was an easy task of a morning for pete and me to catch enough for a meal. but we had a few unpleasant experiences. twice over we found that rattlesnakes had been attracted by the fire and had taken possession of quarters in our tent, for which, as they viciously showed fight, they were condemned to death and executed. one morning, too, on waking, i caught sight of peculiar marks on the loose dry sand, a smooth deep furrow having been made, to which i drew my uncle's attention. "we ought to hunt out the creature which made that, nat," said my uncle. "rather an unpleasant neighbour to have. why, the fellow that marked that trail must be a good eighteen feet long." it, too, suffered for its temerity, for it came again, and was seen by pete on awaking in the morning, when he cautiously drew my attention to the monster's presence near the fire. the next minute a couple of shots from my double gun rang out, and the huge serpent was writhing and twining among the bushes, and beating them flat by blows from its powerful tail. cross skinned it when it was dead, saying that he must have it for a curiosity if we did not, and probably it stretched a little in the process, for it proved to be a python, twenty feet in length and enormously thick. it was the very next day when we were about to move, the visit of the python and the possibility of one from its mate having decided our immediate change, after a final tramp round in search of the birds we wanted. but we had no more luck than usual. we could have shot plenty of specimens, but not those we sought, and we were nearing our camp when all at once what i took to be a pigeon dashed out of a tree, and meaning it for a roast, my gun flew to my shoulder, i fired hastily, and the bird fell. "uncle!" i cried, as i picked it out dead from among a clump of ferns. "a quetzal!" shouted my uncle excitedly, for it was a scarlet-breasted bird, with back and wing, coverts of a glorious golden-green. "but you said that they had tails three or four feet long." "yes," said my uncle; "the kind i want to find have, while this is only short; but here is proof that we are working in the right direction." "then we must stop here, uncle," i cried. "yes, nat, it would be madness to leave. we must wait till the right ones come." that bird's wonderfully oily and tender skin was carefully stripped off in the evening, and it had a drying box all to itself, one made expressly by cross, who confided to me that it was the finest bird he had ever seen. "some of they humming-birds is handsome enough," he said, "but there's nothing of 'em. this one's grand. now, if i could only find that there chopper as pete lost--" "didn't lose it," growled pete. "--i should be," continued the carpenter, severely, "a happy man. aren't you, sir?" "no," i said; "nor shall be till i shoot some with tails three feet long." the finding of this specimen completely, as i have said, changed our plans. "it would be folly to go away now, nat," repeated my uncle, "for at any moment we may find quite a flock." this was one afternoon, when we had returned after an unsuccessful hunt, to take out our treasure and gloat over its wonderful plumage. "yes," i said; "but it's very tiresome, all this failure. perhaps this is the only one for hundreds of miles." "nonsense!" cried my uncle. "i daresay, if the truth were known, we pass scores of them every day, sitting after the fashion of these trogons, perfectly still like a ball of feathers, watching us, and with their green plumage so like that of the leaves that we might go by hundreds of times and not see them." "oh!" i cried, "we could not pass one of them. the sun would make those beautiful golden-green wing coverts flash again." "in the sunshine, my boy, but they rest in the deep shade. we shall come upon them yet, and find out their habits. then all will be easy. anyone searching for birds of paradise in new guinea might go scores of times without success, and come away and say there are none. just as it is in australia: at one time of year flocks of the great white and sulphur cockatoos can be found; at another time you may search the same district for months and not see one." "yes, uncle," i said wearily, for i was tired after a long walk in the hot sun pestered by flies; "and i suppose there are plenty of birds about here that we have not seen. why, of course, we haven't seen pete's wonderful specimen yet." "no," said my uncle drily, "and i shall be very much surprised if we ever do." "do you think there is nothing of the kind, then?" i said. "i don't like to be positive, but i should say that he made that bird out of his own head." "oh, i don't think so, uncle," i replied; "pete's very honest and straightforward." "yes, but he lets his brain run riot, nat. he saw some bird, i do not doubt, but not clothed and ornamented as he says." "there are birds with brightly-coloured tails such as he said?" "are there?" said my uncle drily. "i think not. if there be i should like a specimen; it would be an exciting display for the learned bird-lovers in london to gaze at. don't you see, my boy, he furnished the specimen he saw with the tail plumage of three different varieties of the macaw--the green the blue, and the red. pete's eyes played tricks with him that time. i wish he would see the long floating feathers of a quetzal flashing its green and gold and purple in the sunshine." "so do i, uncle," i replied. "i wish we could find and shoot dozens of them, but i don't long for the task of skinning them; they are so delicate and likely to tear." "like all the birds related to the cuckoos," said my uncle; "but we were very successful over this. by the way, pete is getting very handy in that way. we must trust him with some of the commoner things, for it seems as if after all we shall have to fill up with the best of the less-known birds." "oh, no," i said, as i carefully smoothed down the loose silky plumage of our solitary specimen. "we're tired now. when we have had a good wash and our tea-dinner we shall feel different." i carefully put away the trogon, and crossed to where pete was busy getting the kettle to boil, and making other preparations for our evening meal. no light task, for his fire troubled him a good deal, and he began about it at once. "what i want, master nat," he said, "is some regular good stiff clay to make up into bricks. they'd bake hard. as for these stones i build up a fireplace and oven with, some go bang and fly off in splinters, and the other sort moulders all away into dust--regular lime, you know, that fizzles and cisses when it's cold and you pour water over it, and then comes hot again." "try some of those pieces out of the river bed." "i have, sir, and they're worst of all. i say, master nat, stop and see that the pot don't boil over. i want to go down and get some fresh, clean water." "don't be long, then," i cried. "i say, what's in the pot?" "dicky bird stoo!" said pete, grinning. "no touching while i'm gone." he caught up the bucket and started off down the cliff-side towards the river, while i idly watched him till he was out of sight, and sat back away from the glow of the fire, for i was hot enough without that. then i naturally began thinking about the splendid trogons, and whether there was any likely place near that we had not well hunted through. "lots," i said to myself. "they're here to-day and gone to-morrow. that's the way with birds, except when they have nests. they go about according to where they can find food. hullo! he can't have got to the water in this short time." for i had caught sight of pete hurrying back, and as soon as he saw me watching him climbing up from below he begun to make signs to me not to speak. "what has he found?" i said to myself, for he was creeping up nearly bent double and moving with the greatest caution. i rose to go down to him, but at the slightest movement he waved his hand to me to keep back; so i waited till he came up, panting, his face covered with the great drops of perspiration. "seen a big snake?" i said, laughing. "no," he whispered; "don't make a noise. i've seen the troghums." "what!" i cried excitedly. "don't," he whispered, "or you may frighten 'em again." "but do you mean to say you've seen some of the beautiful trogons?" "no," he panted, "not them; i've seen two or three of them other birds with the green and yellow and blue cocked-up tails, same as i saw before and you couldn't find." "where are they?" i cried eagerly, for it was evident that he had seen something new in the way of birds. "down below in the path we cut away to get to the water. they're behind the low bushes, three or four of 'em, and i could see their tails cocking up over the top. guns, quick, 'fore they're gone and you say i was dreaming again." i uttered a low chirruping signal which brought my uncle and cross to hear the news, and the next minute we had seized our guns. none too soon, for we were hardly ready before pete pointed triumphantly downward towards a clump of ferns some twenty yards away, where i distinctly saw something move. "now, aren't there no birds with tails like that?" he whispered, and i saw plainly in three places just such feathers as he had described rise into sight; but they were not the tails of birds, being the fantastic feather tiaras of indians, whose dark faces rose now full in our view. the next moment we saw that they were armed with bows, and i had hardly realised this when there was a twanging sound, the whizz of arrows, and i uttered a cry of pain. it was as if a red-hot iron had passed through my shoulder, and my cry was echoed by an indian yell. chapter twelve. attacked by indians. my pang of agony was accompanied by a feeling of rage against the cause of it, and in blind fury i fired both barrels of my gun in the direction of the indians, almost at the same moment as my uncle and the carpenter discharged theirs. the reports were followed by another yell, the crashing of bushes and ferns, and the sound as of men tearing away. "take care, cross," cried my uncle. "load again, and keep under cover. hah! there goes one of the treacherous hounds. gone, and i'm not loaded. now i am. not hurt, are you, nat?" "i'm afraid i am," i said, drawing in my breath with pain. "here, let's look," cried my uncle. "keep under cover, pete. i don't want anyone else to be hurt. you, cross, look out, and fire at the first sign. now, nat, what is it? tut, tut, tut! there, keep a good heart, my lad. it has gone clean through your shoulder." "poisoned, uncle?" i cried anxiously. "pooh! nonsense, boy! hold still. it will not be a long operation." i saw him take out his keen knife. "are you going to cut out the arrow head?" i said huskily. "there is no need; the indian did that for you. look here." i could not help shuddering, but i was firm, and watched him take hold of the slender arrow close to my shoulder, and with one stroke cut cleanly through it close to the wing-feathers. then, going behind me, he seized the other part and made me wince once more with pain, as with one quick, steady movement, he drew the missile right through. "hurt?" he said cheerfully. "horribly, uncle." "never mind that. it's only through flesh. no bone-touch, and there are only a couple of little holes to heal up. pan of water here, pete." "aren't none, sir. i was going to fetch a bucket when i see what i thought was birds." "tut, tut, tut!" ejaculated my uncle. "i must have some water to bathe the wounds." "all right, sir; i'll run down for some. bucket's down there." "no, no! the indians--they may attack you." "what!" cried pete in a whimpering voice; "touch me when i'm going for some water for master nat? they'd better! i'd smash 'em." before he could be stopped he was bounding down the precipitous place, and my uncle turned anxiously to cross. "see any sign of them?" he said. "yes, sir, twice over; but they were too quick for me to get a shot. they've waded the river down yonder, and i got a glimpse of two of 'em climbing up." "hah! then he may escape them. cross, one of us ought to follow and cover him." "right, sir. i'm off," cried the carpenter, and he hurried down our way to the river, just as we heard two sharp cracks from somewhere below. "make you feel sick, nat?" said my uncle. "no, i forgot it just then. i was thinking what a trump pete is. poor fellow! he has risked his life to get me that water." "yes," said my uncle through his teeth: "he's a brave fellow, and he likes you, nat." no more was said, and in a few minutes we heard the rustling of bushes and saw bill cross coming backwards with his gun at the ready, covering pete, who was panting up with his bucket of water. the next minute my smarting wounds were being bathed and the bleeding encouraged till it stopped naturally, when my uncle brought out his pocket-book, applied some lint from it, and bandaged the places firmly, afterwards turning a handkerchief into a sling. "there," he said, "you need not fidget about poison, my lad. the place will soon heal. now then, any sign of the enemy?" "no, sir," cried pete; "they cut away across the river, all but that chap that was hit." "was one hit?" said my uncle eagerly. "yes, sir; he's lying down yonder by the water, and he's got our chopper." "what?" "i come upon him lying bleeding, and as soon as he saw me he began to put an arrow on his bow-string; but i hit him on the nose, broke his bow in two, and chucked his arrows in the river. he must have come before, and sneaked our old axe." "then he's there now?" "yes, sir; he can't run. you winged him--i mean legged. but i've got our chopper again." "sit still, nat," said my uncle. "here, pete, carry my gun, and you, cross, come and cover me. i can't leave the poor wretch like that." i saw cross frown as he followed my uncle, and pete stopped for a moment behind with me. "i mustn't stop, master nat," he said. "i am sorry, sir, but don't you be a downhearted 'un. i shan't be long. i say: who was right about the axe?" i nodded my thanks to him, and then sat back, in acute pain, thinking about the sudden change in the state of our affairs, and of how necessary it would be for us to retreat into a safer part of the country. it was all so unexpected and so vexatious, just as in all probability we might be on the point of discovering the birds we sought. i was musing in a half-faint way, the pain and shock having made me feel very sick, when i heard the sounds of the returning party, and to my surprise they brought in the wounded indian on cross's back, the poor fellow being in a half-fainting condition from a frightful wound in the right thigh. as he was laid down on his back he began to come-to, and looked wildly round, while when he saw my uncle approach him knife in hand, he set his teeth and made a fierce attempt to rise. but cross was holding him from behind, and the poor fellow was helpless. he evidently believed that his enemy was about to put him to death, and on finding that he could not help himself he seemed ready to calmly accept his fate, for he fixed his eyes upon my uncle with a bitter, contemptuous smile, and then folded his arms and lay there like an image cast in bronze. it was not a fierce countenance, being smooth, large-eyed, and disposed to be effeminate and plump, while when my uncle busied himself over the terrible wound with the knife, and must have given the man excruciating pain, he did not even wince, but kept gazing hard at his surgeon who tortured him, as if proud and defiant to the last. his expression only began to change when he saw the knife laid aside and pete bring some water in the tin for my uncle to bathe the wound; and now it was full of wonder as the place was covered with lint from the pocket-book, and then carefully bandaged from the supply ready against accidents. "there, my fine fellow," said my uncle at last; "now if you keep quiet, you being a healthy fellow, young and strong, that bad wound will soon heal. if you had left us alone you would not have got it. you don't understand, of course; but you must lie still." the indian's countenance changed more than ever. he had fully grasped the fact that he was not to be slain, and also that his wound had been carefully dressed, and with his fierce aspect completely gone, he took hold of the hand with which my uncle was pressing him back to lie still, and held it against his forehead, smiling up at him the while; and then he sank back and closed his eyes. "it's a bad wound, nat, but he'll get over it. that must have been your shot." "why not yours?" i said. "i couldn't shoot with that arrow through me." "but you did, for it was done with the big swan pellets, and i had nothing but dust shot in my gun, for the little birds." "oh!" i cried wonderingly. "ah, that's why you made that poor fellow cry." as i lay and thought afterwards i was to my dissatisfaction convinced that mine had been the hand which fired the shot, and the knowledge of this somehow made me feel a kind of sympathy for the savage who lay there far more badly wounded than i, while the carpenter and my uncle, with pete's help, built up a kind of semi-circular hedge as a defence around us. "we can't begin our retreat with you in that condition, nat," my uncle said, "and i don't like to be driven away by a little party of ruffians like these." "i could walk," i said. "i know that," he replied curtly; "walk yourself into a state, of fever, and make your wound go bad. look at that fellow; nature teaches him what to do--lie still--curl up like an animal, till his injury heals. what are you thinking about?" "that poor fellow's wound." "poor fellow! possibly the savage who sent that arrow through your shoulder. you're a rum fellow, nat." "well, you were just as sympathetic, uncle," i said. "see how you dressed his wound, just as if he were a friend." "no, i did not, nat," he said, smiling. "i dressed him just as a surgeon should a wounded patient. by the way, he did not seem to bear any malice." "perhaps he will, uncle, when he knows i shot him." "don't tell him, then. we'll all share the blame." "so you mean to stop here, then?" i said. "yes, certainly, for the present. why, if we were to begin to pack up, i daresay the next thing we should see would be a flock of quetzals flying about." "but suppose a whole tribe of indians attack us?" "not likely, nat. these people are few and greatly scattered; but if we are attacked we shall have to give the poor wretches a scaring with a few charges of shot--i mean distant charges, scattered, not fired at close quarters like yours." the day passed slowly by, with my three companions working away to strengthen our little camp, and the wounded indian sleeping. i, too, dropped off for an hour during the great heat of the late afternoon, and awoke feeling feverish and strange. but pete was set to bathe my forehead with water, and the rapid evaporation made my head comparatively cool and pleasant, so much so that my uncle smiled. "you're going on all right, nat," he said, "and the wound will soon grow easier." the sun had passed over to the west, and was behind the cliff, leaving us well in shelter; the sound of the rushing water below sounded cool and pleasant, and i was lying back watching the wounded indian--carib, my uncle called him--when all at once there came a low howl from the thicket on the other side of the river. "what's that! one of the howling monkeys?" i said to uncle. "no," he said softly, and i saw him reach out his hand slowly for his gun. "watch my patient." i turned my eyes to where the man lay, and saw that he had raised his head, and was gazing keenly in the direction whence the cry had come. the next minute the howl was repeated, and it had hardly died out when it arose again, but this time from our prisoner, who placed his hands to his lips and sent forth a mournful cry. then it was answered from the other side, and the carib turned excitedly to us, talking rapidly, but without our being able to comprehend a word. one thing, though, was evident--the poor fellow was highly excited, and he smiled and chattered at us, before repeating the cry, which was again answered, and then a kind of duet was kept up, with the distance and time between the calls growing shorter minute by minute. "this is all very well," said cross softly, "but he's bringing on his injun mates. you'll tell us when to fire, sir?" "yes, if there is any need," said my uncle. "be ready; that is all." our prisoner watched us excitedly, and evidently grasped what was meant, for he began to talk to us eagerly, and then pointed downward again and again. he was in the midst of an eager explanation to us when there was a rustling in the bushes below, and a dusky figure came up, caught sight of us behind the barricade, and stopped short. but our prisoner uttered a call, and the dark, pleasant-faced figure came on fearlessly, found the opening we had left, and the next moment was down upon her knees wailing softly and passing her hands over the bandages, ending by laying her face against our prisoner's breast, and beginning to sob. "nothing to fear from her," said my uncle. "it's the poor fellow's wife." meanwhile the carib was evidently explaining his position to the woman, and she turned to us, smiling, evidently ready to be the best of friends, while her manners showed that she meant to stay and nurse her wounded husband, whom she had traced to where he lay. "better be friends than enemies, nat," said my uncle. "but one of us must keep watch to-night." chapter thirteen. success at last. watch was kept that night and several more, while the days were passed suspiciously and uneasily. but we saw no sign of more indians, those who shared our camp seeming quite at home, and proving to be gentle, inoffensive creatures, now that they were satisfied that we intended to do them no harm. the woman began at once to see to the fire, and fetch water from the river, and only once showed any sign of resentment. that was on the morning following her coming, when my uncle began to unfasten his patient's bandages after dressing my arm. this she tried to stop by seizing my uncle's hand, but at a word from her husband she sat down and watched the whole process. after that the morning performance of the surgical duties was looked for with the greatest interest, the woman fetching water and waiting upon my uncle during his attention to both his patients. the days passed on, with my wound troubling me but very little. the prisoner's was far worse, but he did not seem to suffer, settling down quite happily in a dreamy way, and as no danger came near, the shooting and collecting went on, my uncle going alone, and leaving pete and cross to protect me and the camp. fortunately we had a sufficiency of stores, my uncle shot for provisions as well as science; i helped by sitting down in one particular spot by the rushing stream and catching fish almost as fast as i could throw in, and mapah, as the woman's name seemed to be, went off every morning and returned loaded with wild fruit and certain roots, which she and her husband ate eagerly. some very good specimens were brought in by my uncle, and the two indians sat watching us curiously as we busily skinned them, filled them out, and laid them to dry, mapah eagerly taking possession of the tail-feathers of some parrots intended to be cooked for the evening's meal, and weaving them into a band of plaited grass so as to form tiaras of the bright-hued plumes for herself and her husband, both wearing them with no little show of pride. "and only to think of it, master nat," said pete. "reg'larly cheated me when i see 'em first over the bushes; i made sure they was birds." they expressed a good deal of pleasure, too, over some of the brighter birds brought in, and our prisoner talked and made signs to me and pointed in one direction as he tried hard to make me understand something one day; but i was alone with him, and very dense for a time, as in a crippled way i put the finishing touches to the skin of a brilliant kingfisher. then all at once i grasped his meaning. "why, of course!" i cried. "how thick-headed of me!" i went to the bamboo half-box, half-basket cross had made, and brought it back to where the indian was sitting nursing his wounded leg, took off the lid, and carefully withdrew the trogon. "is that the sort of bird you mean?" i said. "hah!" he said, in a long-drawn cry, full of the satisfaction he felt, and both he and his wife chattered to me eagerly, mapah shaking her head, though, and pointing at the bird's tail with one dusky hand, before holding both out before me a yard apart. "you've seen them with tails as long as that?" i said, placing my hand by the caudal feathers of our one specimen, and then slowly drawing it away till it was some distance off. "hah!" cried the indian again, and he laughed and chatted, and pointed across the river to the south, while his wife took off her feather crown, held it before me, and drew each long feather through her hand as if stretching it to three feet in length, and then touched the golden-green plumage of our solitary specimen. the trogon was carefully put away, the kingfisher laid to dry, and then i could hardly contain myself till my uncle's return, well laden with ducks and a dusky bird that was evidently a half-grown turkey. "tired out, nat," he said, throwing down the birds, for mapah and her husband to seize and begin to pluck for our evening meal. "we must make a fresh start." "why?" i said quietly. "because we have shot the only trogon in the district, and we are wasting time here." "nonsense," i said; "there are plenty more." "if we could find them," he replied wearily. i had intended to keep him waiting longer, but i could not hold back what i felt certain i had discovered, and hurrying to the case i brought out the precious specimen and made mapah and her husband go through the whole pantomime again. "why, nat," cried my uncle excitedly, while pete and cross looked on, "it's as plain as a pikestaff: these people are quite familiar with the long-tailed species--_resplendens_--and they could take us to places where they could be found." "that's it, uncle," i cried, and pete and cross joined in a hearty cheer. "oh, but to think of it--the misery and disappointment," cried my uncle: "that poor fellow will not be able to walk and act as guide for a month, and it may be a hundred miles away." "that don't matter, sir," cried pete; "he's only a little chap. me and bill cross'll take it in turns pig-a-backing him; won't we mate?" "we will that, pete, lad," cried the carpenter, and somehow that seemed to be the brightest evening of our expedition, even the two indians seeming to share our satisfaction, for they readily grasped the idea that they had afforded us pleasure by promising in their fashion to show us the objects of our weary search. as we lay down to sleep that night i felt more wakeful than ever i had been before, and i could hear my uncle turning restlessly about. all at once he broke the silence by whispering,-- "asleep, nat?" "asleep? no; i've got quetzal on the brain, and the birds seem to be pecking at my shoulder on both sides with red-hot beaks. how do you feel?" "in agony, my boy. i'm afraid we have been jumping at conclusions. perhaps the indians do not understand, after all." sleep came at last, though, and the next day nothing else could be thought of or talked of. the indians were questioned in dumb show, with the skin of the trogon for a text, and we got on more, uncle dick's spirits rising as it grew more plainly that the indian fully understood about the birds we wanted. in fact, in dumb show he at last began to teach us the bird's habits. he showed us how it sat upon the branch of a tree, taking a parroquet as an example, pointing out that the bird we meant had toes like it, two before and two behind, setting it on a piece of wood, and then ruffling its plumage all up till it looked like a ball of feathers. "that's right, nat," cried my uncle. "exactly how trogons sit. the fellow's a born observer. i am glad you shot him. go on, dusky." the man understood, as he sat holding the piece of branch in one hand, the bird in the other. he glanced at us to see if we were watching him, and then smoothing the feathers quickly, he began to buzz and whirr like a beetle, as cleverly as a ventriloquist. next he made the dead bird he held dart from its perch, and imitated the quick flight of one chasing a large beetle through the air, catching it, and returning to its perch, where with wonderful accuracy he went through the movements of it swallowing its prey, and then ruffling itself up again into a ball of feathers. "splendid!" cried my uncle. "exact. he knows the right birds, nat. now then, cuvier, where is the happy spot? over yonder?" and my uncle pointed up the river; but the indian shook his head, and pointed across and away to the south, after which he laid his head upon his hand and imitated going to sleep eight times. "eight days' journey to the south, nat," said uncle dick. "a long way to carry him. i understand," he said, turning to the indian again, shouldering his gun, bending down, and making believe to walk; but his patient shook his head violently, took hold of his piece of wood, and went through the motion of paddling. "hah!" i cried, imitating him. "he means we should have to go in a canoe, uncle." "that's it," he cried, and he pointed down at the river; but the man shook his head again, and pointed right across into the distance. "nat," said my uncle, "we shall do it yet. it must be on that river we passed before we turned up this. we shall have to get him down to the boat." i wish i could write--_no sooner said than done_; but it was not so; for our future guide was not yet fit to start on such a journey. he was getting better fast, but not fast enough, and in spite of my assertions, i was not recovered from a very bad wound. in short, it seemed that the only thing to do, as we appeared to have nothing more to fear from indians with two such guards in camp, was to send down to the boat for more of the stores, that is, enough for another fortnight's stay, when the difficulty was solved by cross one morning. "i've been turning it over in my mind, master nat, about carrying that chap down to the boat, but the doctor says it would open his wound again and throw him back, so that won't do." "no; certainly not," i said. "then i got a notion that i could knock up a sort of chair he could sit in, and me and pete and mrs mapah could carry it strapped on our backs in turn." "nonsense! that little woman could not carry her husband." "what, sir!" cried cross laughing. "don't you make a mistake, sir; she's as strong as a pony. but the doctor says it would shake him too much, so what do you say to this? s'pose i build a raft, and we go back the same as we come?" "through the dark cavern?" "i don't know no laws again' our burning a good light, sir." "but how are you going to get it down the falls?" "in bits, sir," he said, laughing. "i should build it down yonder on the side at the bottom of the falls. then we could swing old dusky down with the rope, and all we should want would be a couple of bamboo poles, and there we are." the notion seemed wild at first, but cross soon showed uncle dick and me that it was quite possible; and in the course of the next fortnight he proved it by means of his axe, making the raft out of the bamboos that he cut and which we sent down to him over the falls, some to be broken in the descent, but the most part to reach him safe and sound. as the work went on mapah helped, being wonderfully active and sure-footed on the rocks; and through her our prisoner grasped the meaning of what was going on, nodding and smiling when the time came for our start, and to my great satisfaction showing not the slightest shrinking from venturing into the cavern after being carefully lowered down. for at last all was ready, and with a good supply of resinous boughs cut into lengths for torches, we lit up and embarked upon our return journey, to find that what had looked so terrible through the darkness of ignorance was a perfectly trivial affair. it was through resounding cavern and winding tunnel, shrouded in gloom, but utterly wanting in terrors and difficulties, being merely the gliding down a subterranean stream out into broad daylight at the other end. here our raft served to carry us over the shallows right down to our boat, at which our prisoner gazed in wonder--wonder which was increased when we set sail and glided towards the mouth of the little river we had passed on our way up. it soon became evident that in his wanderings our indian had been over the ground before. this was proved by his manner towards his wife, to whom he talked eagerly, pointing out different objects, rocky cliff, forest and mountain, as if they were familiar objects. but the great proof of all was his behaviour a couple of days later, when we felt that the mouth of the southern river must be near, for he was all excitement till it was in sight, when he began shouting to us and pointing, indicating that we should steer the boat into the mouth of the very river as i suggested weeks before, and take a fresh course. "hah!" exclaimed my uncle; "you were right, nat, after all. i fancied he meant this." fortunately for us, the narrowness and the way in which the side stream was encumbered with overhanging growth, fallen log and tangle proved to be only at the very beginning; for at the end of a mile or two of difficulties which were very discouraging, while the stream narrowed so that it promised to close in overhead, its course became clearer and its waters deep and sluggish, so that we were able to camp at night some miles from the mouth. the next day our guide showed us by signs that our oars were not proper implements for use in such a river, with the result that cross set to work roughing out a paddle which our companions seized upon to finish off while another was made. boards from the bottom and thwarts were cut up for the purpose, and before many hours had passed we were furnished with half-a-dozen fairly useful paddles, by whose aid, and all working together, the boat could be directed through the narrowest channels of verdure. for the next six days we steadily advanced, through a wonderfully beautiful region, a very paradise for a naturalist, and where we might have collected gorgeously plumaged birds by the thousand and insects galore. but we had our one aim in view, and though we seemed as far off as ever, and there were moments when uncle dick and i began to doubt, our guide seemed so confident, pointing always onward, that we grew hopeful again, and went on and on. "do you know what bill cross says, master nat?" said pete, when we were camping one evening. "how should i?" i replied pettishly, for i was weary of the continuous paddling. "then, i'll tell you, sir," said pete solemnly, "he says he feels cock-sure that them two brown 'uns is taking us to where their tribe lives, so that they may grab the boat and guns and things, and then light a fire and have a feast." "eat us?" i said. "that's it, sir; the doctor says they must be caribs, and caribs is cannibals, and we ought to go back." "so we will, pete," i said, "when we have found the quetzals." it was the very next day that, after struggling a few more miles over shallows, the roar of water fell upon our ears, and the current gradually grew more swift, while that night with a good deal of pantomime our guide indicated that the boat could go no farther. "as if we didn't know that, master nat," said cross. the consequence was that our craft was securely moored, the tent once more set up on shore, and after a good night's rest we started off to explore the open wooded country around the beautiful falls close at hand. we left cross in camp with the indian, and his wife eagerly started with us as guide, leading us through lovely patches of forest and open glade till we were well above the falls, and where the little stream now glided slowly along. "it looks as if we're to find the quetzal at last," said my uncle softly; "the woman seems so confident." "i hope so," i said; "for if ever there was a beautiful home for a bird it ought to be here." we had hardly spoken before mapah, who was some distance ahead, stopped, held up her hand, and stole back, signing for us to take her place and go forward. we cocked our guns and stepped cautiously on, to find ourselves at the edge of an opening where no less than five of the lovely birds we sought were perched, each on a dead bough, with plumage absolutely glittering in the sun-rays, which shot through, just as the flashing scale of the humming-bird sends forth its gleams of broken light. every now and then one darted out into the full sunshine in chase of butterfly or beetle, its loose tail-feathers spreading out comet-like and waving in the clear air. the scene was so striking that for some time we stood bending forward watching the birds and their actions, every movement showing their glorious plumage in a fresh light, and but one feeling was upon us--that it was like sacrilege to destroy creatures so exquisitely perfect. at last, though, the naturalist and collector prevailed. we had come thousands of miles to secure specimens of these birds for english museums, and have them we must. i started as from a dream on seeing my uncle move. "going to fire, uncle?" i said. "yes, nat," he replied, with something like a sigh; "we must have a few to take back." he raised his gun, but lowered it again, and looked at me, while i looked at him. "was it all a dream?" he said hoarsely. "surely not, uncle," i cried, as i stared about the opening, where not a bird was to be seen. but we had proof directly that it was no dream, for pete, who was holding the spare guns, cried excitedly: "oh, i say! you've let 'em go!" in the days which followed we were less sentimental, getting, in the neighbourhood of where we had seen them first, specimen after specimen in the most perfect plumage, till we felt that it would be like a crime to shoot down more. "let's get away from the temptation, nat," said my uncle, and the very next day we started back, intent now on the one thought of getting our treasures safely home. we parted from our indian companions a fortnight later, sending them ashore with our guide's wound so nearly cured that he could limp about easily. they were laden with presents--uncle dick's patient proud of the grandest prize he evidently thought a man could possess, to wit, the carpenter's axe; and his wife rejoicing in a leather housewife of needles and thread, a pair of good useful scissors, and my old silver watch, hung by its chain round her tawny neck--her great joy being in a child-like way to hold it to her ear after winding up to listen to its ticking. bill cross made a set of new cases when he reached port royal for the careful packing of the skins in our glorious collection, and he and pete parted from us with every sign of regret. "i thought my tools might come in useful, gentlemen," he said, smiling. "i don't know what we should have done without you, cross," said my uncle. pete's forehead wrinkled up, and he looked at me wistfully. "i don't know which was the more useful, cross," i said, "you or pete." "wish you a safe journey home to the old country, gentlemen," said pete, smiling; "and, if ever you're going collecting again and'll take me, why, i'd come from anywheres the wide world round." but they did not say good-bye when the vessel in which we had taken our passage sailed, for the captain was short of hands and gladly took them on, so that it was at liverpool we finally parted, for we had what they wished us, a safe journey home. "you will take me if you go again, master nat?" cried pete, when we shook hands. "yes, pete," i said; "i promise you i will." the end. http://www.freeliterature.org (images generously made available by the bodleian libraries at oxford.) the last of the incas: a romance of the pampas. by gustave aimard "author of adventurers," "indian chief," "trail hunter," "pirates of the prairies," "trapper's daughter," "tiger slayer," "gold seekers," "red track," etc. london: charles henry clarke, paternoster row. contents. i. the bomberos ii. el carmen iii. don torribio carvajal iv. the tree of gualichu v. the council of the ulmens vi. nocobotha vii. the cougars viii. the estancia of san julian ix. don sylvio d'arenal x. the virgin forest xi. the chase of Ñandus xii. the tolderÍa xiii. the pampero xiv. preparations for a siege xv. a brave resolve xvi. the invasion xvii. the attack on poblaciÓn del sur xviii. the cave of the cougars xix. don torribio's house xx. the indian camp xxi. the toldo of the great toqui xxii. delilah xxiii. the agony of a town xxiv. the last of the incas chapter i. the bomberos. patagonia is as little known at the present day as it was when juan diaz de solis and vicente yanez pinzon landed there in , sixteen years after the discovery of the new world. the earliest navigators, whether involuntarily or not, threw over this country a mysterious veil, which science and frequent relations have not yet entirely removed. the celebrated magalaës (magellan) and his historian, the chevalier pigafetta, who touched at these coasts in , were the first to invent these patagonian giants so tall that europeans scarce reached their girdle, who were upwards of nine feet high, and resembled cyclops. these fables, like all fables, have been accepted as truths, and in the last century became the theme of a very lively dispute among learned men. hence the name of patagonians (great feet) was given to the inhabitants of this country, which extends from the western watershed of the andes to the atlantic ocean. patagonia is watered, through its entire length, by the rio colorado in the north, and the rio negro in the east-south-east. these two rivers, through the windings of their course, agreeably break the uniformity of an arid, dry, sandy soil, on which prickly shrubs alone grow, or dispense life to the uninterrupted vegetation of their banks. they wind round a fertile valley overshadowed by willow trees, and trace two deep furrows through the midst of an almost level country. the rio negro runs through a valley surrounded by precipitous cliffs, which the waters still wash at places; wherever they have retired, they have left alluvial soil covered with an eternal vegetation, and formed numerous islets covered with willows, and contrasting with the mournful aspect of the naked cliffs. monkeys, wild asses, foxes, and red wolves constantly traverse the desert in every direction, together with the cougar, or american lion, and the imbaracayas--those ferocious and formidable wild cats. the coasts are thronged with amphibious carnivora, such as sea lions and elephant seals. the _guya_, concealed in the marshes, utters its melancholy cry; the _guacuti_, or stag of the pampas, runs lightly over the sand; while the _guanaco_, or american camel, sits pensively on the summit of the cliffs. the majestic condor soars amid the clouds, in the company of the disgusting cathartes. urubús and auras which, like it, hover round the cliffs on the seaboard to dispute the remains of corpses with the voracious caracaras. such are the plains of patagonia, a monotonous solitude empty, horrible, and desolate! one evening in the month of november, which the aucas indians call the "moon of the pruning," a traveller, mounted on a powerful horse of the pampas of buenos aires, was following at a sharp trot one of the thousand paths traced by the indians, in that inextricable labyrinth found on the banks of all american rivers. this traveller was a man of thirty years of age at the most, clothed in a semi-indian, semi-european garb peculiar to the gauchos. a poncho of indian manufacture hung from his shoulders to his horse's flanks, and only left visible the long chilian polenas that came above his knees. a lasso and _bolas_ hung from either side of his saddle, and he carried a rifle in front of him. his face, half concealed by the broad brim of his straw hat, had an expression of brute courage and spitefulness; his features were, so to say, modelled by hatred. his long hooked nose, surmounted by two quick threatening eyes, rather close together, gave him a distant resemblance to a bird of prey; his thin lips were contracted with an ironical air, and his prominent cheekbones suggested cunning. the spaniard could be recognized by his olive tint. the effect of this face, surrounded as it was by long tangled black hair and a large beard, was to inspire fear and repulsion. his wide shoulders and well-knit limbs denoted far from common strength and agility in this man, who seemed above the average height. on reaching a spot where several tracks crossed each other to form an inextricable network, the stranger stopped to look about him, and, after a moment's hesitation, turned to the right and struck a trail. going further and further away from the banks of the rio colorado, which he had hitherto been following, he entered a plain, the soil of which, burned by the sun and covered with small pebbles or gravel, only offered a few stunted shrubs to the eye. the further the stranger advanced in this desert, the further solitude extended in its gloomy majesty, and the footfall of his horse alone disturbed the silence of the desert. the horseman, but slightly affected by this savage beauty of nature, contented himself with carefully reconnoitering and counting the _pozos_, for in these countries utterly void of water, travellers have dug reservoirs in which the water collects during the rainy season. after passing two of these pozos, the traveller saw in the distance horses hobbled in front of a wretched _toldo_. at once a shout was raised, and in less than a minute the horses were unfastened; three men leapt into the saddle, and dashed forward at full gallop to reconnoitre this man, who, careless of their movements, continued his journey without making the slightest attempt to put himself on his defence. "eh, _compadre_, whither are you bound?" one of them asked, as he barred the way for the stranger. "_canario_, pepe," the latter answered; "have you been emptying a skin of aguardiente this evening? do you not recognize me?" "why, 'tis the voice of pedrito, if i am not mistaken." "unless someone has stolen my voice, my good fellow, it is i, the real pedrito." "caray! you are welcome," the three men shouted. "deuce take me if i did not fancy you killed by one of those dogs of aucas; ten minutes ago i was talking about it to lopez." "yes," lopez added in confirmation, "for you have disappeared for eight days." "eight days--yes; but i have not lost my time." "you will tell us your exploits?" "i should think so; but i and my horse are hungry after a two days' fast." "that will be soon remedied," said pepe, "for here we are." the four friends, while conversing, had ridden on, and at this moment dismounted in front of the _toldo_, which they entered, after hobbling their horses and placing food before that of the newcomer. this toldo, as they are called in the country, was a cabin thirty feet long and the same in depth, covered with reeds, and formed of stakes driven into the ground, and fastened together with thongs. in one corner, four wooden and leather benches served as beds for the dwellers in this house, where it was difficult to shelter themselves against the wind and rain. in the centre of the toldo each sat down on a large stone, in front of a fire whose dense smoke almost concealed objects. lopez took up a piece of guanaco that was roasting, and planted the spit in the ground. the four comrades drew their long knives from their polenas, and began eating with good appetites. these men were _bomberos_. ever since the foundation of the spanish colonial fort of carmen, it had been found necessary, in consequence of the vicinity of the indians, to have scouts to watch over their movements, and give the alarm at the slightest danger. these scouts form a species of corps of the bravest men, thoroughly habituated to the privations of the pampas. although their services are voluntary and their profession perilous, bomberos are never wanting, for they are handsomely paid. they often go twenty or five and twenty leagues from the fort, as extreme outposts, ambushing on spots where the enemy--that is to say, the indians--must necessarily pass. day and night they ride across the plains, watching, listening, and hiding. scattered during the day, they reassemble at sunset, though they rarely venture to light a fire, which would betray their presence; and they never all sleep together. their bivouac is a flying camp, and they live on the produce of the chase. they have long been accustomed to this strange and nomadic life, and hence they acquire a fineness of perception almost equal to that of the indians, and their practised eyes recognize the slightest trace on the lightly trodden grass or sand. solitude has developed in them a marvellous sagacity, and a rare talent for observation. the four bomberos collected in the toldo were the most renowned in patagonia. these poor fellows were supping gaily while warming themselves at a good fire, a rare pleasure for men surrounded by dangers, and who hate a surprise to fear at any hour. but the bomberos did not appear to trouble themselves about anything, although aware that the indians never give them any quarter. the character of these men is singular: courageous to cruelty, they care not for the life of other persons or their own. if one of their comrades die, victim of an indian or a wild beast, they content themselves with saying he has a _mala suerte_ (ill luck). true savages, living without any affection or faith, they are a peculiar type in humanity. these scouts were brothers, and their names were lopez, pepe, juan, and pedrito. their home, twice plundered by the aucas indians, had been utterly destroyed by fire in the last invasion. their father and mother had succumbed under atrocious torture; two of their sisters had been outraged and killed by the chiefs, and the youngest, mercedes, a child scarce seven years of age, was carried off into slavery, and since then they had received no news of her, and were ignorant were she dead or alive. the four brothers from this moment became bomberos, through hatred of the indians and desire of vengeance, and had only one head and one heart. their prodigies of courage, intelligence, and craft during the last seven years would take us too long to record, and, moreover, we shall find specimens in the course of this narrative. so soon as pedrito, who was the eldest, had finished his meal, lopez put out the fire, and juan mounted his horse to go the rounds; then the two brothers, curious about the news pedrito brought them, drew closer to him. "what news, brother?" pepe asked. "before anything else," the eldest asked, "what have you been doing during the last week?" "that will not take long," lopez answered; "nothing." "nonsense." "on my word it is true. the aucas and pehuenches are becoming absurdly timid; if this goes on, we shall have to send them petticoats like squaws." "oh! set your minds at rest," pedrito said, "they have not come to that yet." "what do you know?" lopez asked. "what next?" pedrito asked, instead of answering. "that is all; we have seen nothing, heard nothing suspicious." "are you sure?" "hang it! do you take us for asses?" "no, but you are mistaken." "what?" "search your memory carefully." "no one has passed, i tell you," pepe remarked confidently. "no one." "unless you count as somebody the old pehuenche squaw who crossed the plain this evening on a sorry horse, and asked us the road to el carmen." "that old squaw," pedrito said, with a smile, "knows the road as well as i do. canarios, your innocence amuses me." "our innocence!" lopez exclaimed with a frown; "we are asses, then." "you look very like it to me." "explain yourself." "you shall understand." "we shall be only too glad." "may be so. the old pehuenche squaw who crossed the plain this evening on a sorry horse, and asked you the road to el carmen," pedrito said, repeating pepe's words, maliciously, "do you know who she was?" "hang it all! a frightful old witch, whose face would terrify the fiend." "ah, you think so. well, you are altogether wrong." "speak out, and do not play with us like a congonas with a mouse." "my boy, this pehuenche witch was--" "who?" "nocobotha!" nocobotha (the hurricane) was the principal ulmen of the aucas. pedrito might have gone on talking for a long time without his brothers noticing it, so greatly had the news startled them. "malediction!" pepe at length shouted. "but how do you know it?" lopez asked. "do you suppose i have been amusing myself with sleeping away the last eight days, brothers? the indians, to whom you want to send petticoats, are preparing, with the greatest secrecy, to deal you a furious blow. we must distrust silent waters and the calm that conceals a tempest. all the nations of upper and lower patagonia, and even araucania, have leagued together to attempt an invasion--massacre the whites, and destroy el carmen. two men have done it all--two men with whom you and i have been long acquainted--nocobotha, and pincheira, the chief of the araucanos. this evening there will be a grand meeting of the delegates of the free nations, at which the day and hour for the attack will be definitely settled, and the final measures taken to insure the success of the expedition." "¡caray!" pepe exclaimed, "there is not a moment to lose. one of us must go at full gallop to el carmen to inform the governor of the danger menacing the colony." "no, not yet; we must not be in such a hurry, but try to discover the intentions of the chiefs. the _quipu_ has been sent round, and the chiefs who will be present at the meeting are twenty in number. you see that i am well informed." "where will they meet?" "at the tree of gualichu." "_¡demonio!_ it will not be an easy thing to surprise them at such a place." "hang it, it is impossible," lopez said. "where force fails, try cunning. here is juan returned. well, have you any news?" "all is quiet," he said, as he dismounted. "all the better. in that case we can act," pedrito continued. "listen to me, brothers. i believe that you have confidence in me--" "oh!" the three men exclaimed. "in that case you will follow me?" "anywhere." "quick to horse, for i too wish to be present at this indian gathering." "and you are going to take us--" "to the tree of gualichu." the four bold comrades mounted their horses, and started at a gallop. pedrito possessed a superiority over his brothers, which the latter recognized; nothing he did astonished them, so accustomed were they to see him perform marvels. "do you intend to mingle with the chiefs also?" pepe asked. "yes, pepe; instead of twenty there will be twenty-one, that is all," pedrito added, with a careless smile. the bomberos spurred their horses, and disappeared in the darkness. chapter ii. el carmen. in , long after the discovery of the new world, the spaniards founded in patagonia a factory, situated on the left bank of the rio negro, about seven leagues from its mouth, and called nuestra señora del carmen, and also patagonia. the ulmen negro, chief of the puelches, encamped in the vicinity of the rio negro, favourably greeted the spaniards, and in consideration of a distribution made to the indians of a large quantity of clothing and other useful articles, sold them the course of that river from its mouth up to san xavier. in addition to this, by the wish of the ulmen, the natives aided the spaniards in building the citadel, which was to serve them as a shelter, and thus assisted with their arms in producing their own serfdom. at the period of the foundation of el carmen the post merely consisted of a fort, built on the northern bank, at the summit of a scarped cliff, which commands the river, the southern plains and the surrounding country. it is of a square shape; it is built with strong walls of dressed stone, and flanked by three bastions, two on the river to the east and west, and the third on the plain. the interior contains the chapel, the priest's house, and the powder magazine; on the other side run spacious quarters for the commandant, treasurer, officers, garrison, and a small hospital. all these buildings, only one storey in height, are covered with tiles. the government also possesses outside vast granaries, a baking house, a mill, two blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops, and two _estancias_, or farms, stocked with horses and cattle. at the present day, the fort is nearly in ruins; the walls, for want of repairs, are everywhere decaying, but the dwelling houses are still in good condition. el carmen is divided into three groups, two on the north, and one on the south side of the river. of the two former, one, the old carmen, is situated between the fort and the rio negro, on the slope of the cliff, and consists of some forty houses of varying height and style, and forming an irregular line which follows the course of the river. around them are scattered wretched huts, and this is the staple of the trade with the indians. the other group on the same bank, called población, is a few hundred paces to the east of the fort, and is separated from it by shifting sand dunes, which entirely stop the range of the guns. población forms a vast quadrilateral, round which are about one hundred houses, mostly new, only one storey high, tile-covered, and serving as a residence for farmers, agriculturists, and _pulqueros_, or dealers in spirits and grocery. between the two groups there are several houses scattered along the river bank. the village on the south bank, which is called población del sur, is composed of twenty houses, standing in a line on a low soil, subject to inundations. these houses, which are poorer than those of the north side, serve as a shelter for gauchos and estancieros. a few pulqueros, attracted by the vicinity of the indians, have also opened their stores there. the general aspect is sad; only a few isolated trees grow on the river bank, and the streets are full of a pulverized sand, which obeys the direction of the wind. this description of a country hitherto perfectly unknown, was indispensable for a due comprehension of the incidents that are about to follow. the day on which this story begins, at about two in the afternoon, five or six gauchos, seated in a pulquero's shop, were holding a sharp discussion while swallowing long draughts of _chicha_ from the half-gourds which went the round. the scene is laid in población del sur. "canario," said a tall, thin fellow, who had all the appearance of a desperate ruffian, "are we not free men? if our governor, the señor don antonio valverde, insists in plundering us in this way, pincheira is not so far off but that we may manage to come to an understanding with him. although an indian chief now, he is of the white race, without any mixture, and a caballero to the end of his fingers." "hold your tongue, panchito," another said, "you would do better if you swallowed your words with your chicha, instead of talking such nonsense." "i have a right to speak," said panchito, who was moistening his throat more than the rest. "don't you know that invisible eyes are prowling about us, and that ears are open to pick up our words and profit by them?" "nonsense," said the first speaker, with a shrug of the shoulders, "you are always frightened, corrocho. i care as much for spies as i do for an old bridle." "panchito!" "what, am i not right? why does don antonio wish us so much harm?" "you are mistaken," a third gaucho interrupted with a laugh, "the governor, on the contrary, desires your comfort, and the proof is that he takes as much as he possibly can from you." "that confounded patito has the cleverness of the scamp he is," panchito exclaimed, bursting into a noisy laugh. "well, after us the end of the world!" "in the meanwhile let us drink," said patito. "yes," panchito replied, "let us drink and drown our cares. besides, have we not don torribio carvajal to help us if necessary?" "that's another name that ought to stick in your throat, especially here," corrocho exclaimed, striking the table angrily with his fist, "can't you hold your tongue, accursed dog?" panchito frowned, and looked askant at his comrade. "are you trying to bully me? canario, you are beginning to stir my blood." "bully you? why not, if you deserved it?" the other answered without the slightest excitement. "caray, for the last two hours you have been drinking like a sponge; you are as full as a butt, and you chatter like a foolish old woman. hold your tongue, do you hear, or go to sleep." "¡sangre de cristo!" panchito yelled, as he dug his knife vigorously into the bar, "you will give me satisfaction." "on my word, bloodletting will do you good, and my hand itches to give you a navajada on your ugly chops." "ugly chops, did you say?" and panchito rushed upon corrocho, who waited for him with a firm foot. the other gauchos rushed between to prevent them striking. "peace, peace, caballeros, in heaven's name or the fiend's," the pulquero said, "no quarrelling in my house; if you wish to have it out, the street is free." "the pulquero is right," said panchito; "come on, then, if you are a man." "willingly." the two gauchos, followed by their comrades, dashed out into the street. as for the pulquero, standing in his doorway with his hands in his pockets, he whistled a dance tune while awaiting the combat. panchito and corrocho, who had already taken off their hats, and bowed with affected politeness to each other, after rolling their poncho round the left arm, in guise of a buckler, drew their long knives from their polenas, and without exchanging a syllable, stood on guard with remarkable coolness. in this species of duel the honour consists in touching the adversary in the face; a blow dealt below the waist passes for an act of treachery unworthy a true caballero. the two adversaries, solidly planted on their straddled legs, with bodies bent, and head thrown back, looked at each other attentively to divine movements, parry strokes, and scar each other. the other gauchos, with husk cigarettes in their mouths, followed the duel with unconcerned eye, and applauded the more skilful. the fight continued on both sides with equal success for some minutes, when panchito, whose sight was doubtless obstructed by copious libations, parried a second too late, and felt the point of corrocho's knife cut the skin of his face its whole length. "bravo, bravo!" all the gauchos exclaimed simultaneously, "well hit." the combatants fell back a step, bowed to the spectators, sheathed their knives again, bowed to each other, with a species of courtesy, and, after shaking hands, re-entered the pulquería arm in arm. the gauchos form a species of men apart, whose manners are completely unknown in europe. those of el carmen, the great majority exiled for crimes, have retained their sanguinary habits and their contempt of life. indefatigable gamblers, they have cards incessantly in their hands; and gambling is a fertile source of quarrelling, in which the knife plays the greatest part. careless of the future and of present suffering, hardened to physical pain, they disdain death as much as life, and recoil before no danger. well, these men, who frequently abandon their families to go and live in greater liberty amid savage hordes; who gladly and without emotion shed the blood of their fellow men; who are implacable in their hatred; are yet capable of ardent friendship, and extraordinary self-denial and devotion. their character offers a strange medley of good and evil, of unbridled vices and of real qualities. they are, in turn, and simultaneously, quarrelsome, indolent, drunken, cruel, proud, brave to rashness, and devoted to a friend, or patron of their choice. from childhood blood flows beneath their hands in the estancias at the period of _mantaza del ganado_ (cattle slaughtering), and they thus habituate themselves to the colour of the human purple. lastly, their jests are as coarse as their manners; and the most delicate and frequent of them is to threaten with a knife under the most frivolous pretexts. while the gauchos, on returning to the pulquería after the quarrel, were bedewing their reconciliation, and drowning in floods of chicha the remembrance of this little incident, a man, wrapped in a large cloak, and with his hat pulled over his eyes, entered the shop, without saying a word, went up to the bar, took an apparently indifferent glance around him, lit a cigarette at the brasero, and with a piastre he held in his hand, hit the table three sharp blows. at this unexpected sound, which resembled a signal, the gauchos, who were talking eagerly together, were silent as if they had received an electric shock. panchito and corrocho started, and tried to see through the cloak that covered the stranger, while patito turned his head away slightly to conceal a crafty smile. the stranger threw away his half-consumed cigarette, and went out of the door as silently as he had entered it. a moment after, panchito, who was wiping his cheek, and corrocho, both pretending to remember some important business, quitted the pulquería. patito glided along the wall to the door, and followed close at their heels. "hum!" the pulquero growled, "there are three scamps, who seem to be arranging some dog's trick, in which every man's head will not remain on his shoulders. well, it is their business after all." the other gauchos, completely absorbed in their game of monte, and bent over the cards, had not, so to speak, noticed the departure of their comrades. the stranger, when at some distance from the pulquería, turned round. the two gauchos were walking almost close behind him, and carelessly talking, like two loungers who were taking a walk. where was patito? he had disappeared. after making an almost imperceptible sign to the two gauchos, the stranger set out again, and followed a road which, by an insensible curve, left the waterside and gradually entered the plain. this road, after leaving población, took a rather sharp turn, and suddenly contracted into a path, which, like the rest, appeared to be lost in the plain. at the corner of the path a horseman, proceeding to the village, at a smart trot, passed the three men; but neither the gauchos nor the stranger, being, doubtless, busy with serious thought, remarked him. as for the rider, he gave them a rapid and piercing glance, and checked the pace of his horse, which stopped a few yards further on. "heaven pardon me!" he said to himself "'tis don torribio, or the fiend, in flesh and bone. what can he be doing there in the company of those two bandits, who look to me exactly like imps of satan? may i lose my name of blas salazar, if i won't find out, and set myself at their heels." and he quickly dismounted. señor blas salazar was a man of five-and-thirty at the most, rather above the average height, and somewhat corpulent; but, on the other hand, the squareness of his wide shoulders and his sturdy limbs indicated his muscular strength. a small gray eye, quick and sparkling with intelligence and boldness, lit up his open and frank countenance. his dress, with the exception of being a little more elegant, was that of the gauchos. so soon as he dismounted he looked round, but there was no one to whom he could give his horse to hold; for at carmen, especially in the población del sur, it is almost a miracle for two persons to meet. he stamped his foot angrily, passed the bridle over his arm, led his horse to the pulquería the gauchos had just left, and entrusted it to the landlord. this duty performed, for the best friend of an hispano-american is his horse, blas retraced his footsteps with the most minute precautions, like a man who wishes to surprise and himself remain unseen. the gauchos were ahead of him, and disappeared behind a shifting sand ridge, at the moment he turned the corner in the road. still he soon saw them again, climbing up a steep path, that led to a thick clump of trees. a few trees had grown in these dry sands by accident, or a caprice of nature. sure now of finding them, blas walked on more slowly, and in order to remove any suspicion about his object, he lit a cigarette. the gauchos, fortunately for him, did not look round once, but entered the wood after the man whom blas had recognized as don torribio carvajal. when blas, in his turn, reached the skirt of the wood, instead of entering the wood immediately, he took a slight bend to his right, and then stooping down, began crawling on his hands and knees with the greatest caution, in order not to arouse the attention of the gauchos by any noise. in a few minutes voices reached his ear. he then raised his head softly, and saw the three men standing together and talking eagerly in a clearing about ten paces from him. he rose, concealed himself behind a maple tree and began listening. don torribio had let his cloak fall, and with his shoulder leant against a tree and with his legs crossed, he was listening with visible impatience to what panchito was saying at this moment. don torribio was a man of eight-and-twenty, handsome, tall, and well-built, possessing elegance and nobility in his every movement, and the haughty attitude which is produced by a habit of commanding. two large quick eyes lit up the oval of his face; two eyes charged, apparently, with lightning, and whose strange fascination it was almost impossible to endure. his flexible nostrils seem to expand through quick passions; a cold mockery was imbedded in the corners of his mouth, which was filled with splendid teeth and surmounted by a black moustache. his forehead was spacious, his skin bronzed by the heat of the sun, and his hair long and silky. still, in spite of all this prodigality of nature, his haughty and disdainful expression produced, in the end, a sort of repulsion. don torribio's hands were small and encased in splendid-fitting gloves, and his high-ankled feet were covered by patent leather boots. as for his dress, which was extremely costly, it was in appearance much like that of the gauchos. his shirt collar was fastened with a diamond of enormous value, and his fine-tissued poncho was worth more than five hundred piastres. two years before this story, don torribio carvajal arrived at carmen a stranger to everybody, and all asked themselves, where does he come from? whence does he get his princely fortune? where are his estates? don torribio had purchased an estancia in the colony, situated some two or three leagues from carmen, and under pretext of defending it against the indians, had fortified it, surrounded it with moats and palisades, and mounted six guns. he had thus walled in his existence and routed curiosity. though the gates of his estancia were never opened to any guest, he was welcomed by the first families at carmen, whom he visited assiduously, and then to the great surprise of all, he disappeared for several months. the ladies had wasted their smiles and glances, the men their adroit questions to make don torribio speak. don antonio valverde, to whom his post of being governor gave the right of being curious, had not failed to feel some alarm about the handsome stranger, but weary of losing his leisure in inquiries, he left the matter to time, which sooner or later rends asunder the densest veils. such was the man who was listening to panchito in the brake, and all that was known about him. "enough!" he said passionately, interrupting the gaucho; "you are a dog, and the son of a dog." "señor!" said panchito, drawing himself up. "i am inclined to crush you, like the wretch you are." "threats to me!" the gaucho shouted, pale with rage, and drawing his knife. don torribio clutched the fellow's wrist with his gloved hand, and twisted it so rudely, that he let the weapon fall with a cry of pain. "on your knees, and ask pardon," the gentleman said, as he twisted panchito to the ground. "no; kill me sooner." "begone, villain; you are only a brute beast." the gaucho rose tottering, his eyes were filled with blood, his lips were livid, and his whole body trembled. he picked up his knife, and approached don torribio, who waited for him with folded arms. "well, yes," he said; "i am a brute beast, but i love you, after all. forgive me or kill me, but do not send me away." "begone!" "is that your last word?" "yes." "to the demon, then." and the gaucho, with a movement rapid as thought, raised his knife to stab himself. "i forgive you," don torribio said, after checking panchito's arm; "but if you wish to serve me, be dumb as a corpse." the gaucho fell at his feet, and covered his hand with kisses, like a dog licking his master, who has chastised it. corrocho had remained a motionless observer of the scene. "what power does this strange man possess to be thus beloved?" muttered blas salazar, who was still concealed behind his tree. chapter iii. don torribio carvajal. after a short silence, don torribio continued-- "i know that you are devoted to me, and i have perfect confidence in you; but you are a drunkard, panchito, and drink is a bad counsellor." "i will drink no more," the gaucho answered. don torribio smiled. "drink, but without destroying reason. in drunkenness people utter words, as you did just now, which cannot be recalled, and are more deadly than a dagger. it is not your master who is now speaking, but the friend. can i count on both of you?" "yes," the gaucho said. "i am going away; but you must not leave the colony, but be ready for anything. before all, carefully watch the house of don valentine cardoso, both inside and out. if anything extraordinary happens to him or his daughter doña concha, you will immediately light two fires, one on the cliff of the urubús, the other on that of san xavier, and within a few hours you will hear from me. do you promise to execute promptly and devotedly any order of mine, however extraordinary it may appear to you?" "we swear it." "that is well. one word in conclusion. connect yourselves with as many gauchos as you can; try, without exciting suspicion, which always sleeps with one eye open, to collect a band of determined fellows. by the by, distrust patito: he is a traitor." "must he be killed?" corrocho asked. "perhaps it would be prudent, but you would have to get rid of him cleverly." the two gauchos exchanged a side glance, but don torribio pretended not to see it. "do you want money?" "no, master." "no matter; take this." he threw to corrocho a long silk purse, through the meshes of which a great number of gold ounces glittered. "my horse, panchito." the gaucho entered the wood, and almost immediately re-appeared, holding the bridle of a magnificent charger, upon whose back don torribio leaped. "farewell," he said to them; "prudence and fidelity; any indiscretion would cost your life." and, after giving the gauchos a friendly nod, he dug his spurs into the horse's sides, and went off in the direction of carmen, while corrocho and panchito went back toward población del sur. as soon as they had gone some distance, the bushes in a corner of the brake were shaken, and a face pale with fear peeped out. this head belonged to patito, who, with a pistol in one hand, and a knife in the other, drew himself up, and looked around with great agitation, while muttering in a low voice-- "¡canario! kill me cleverly. we shall see, we shall see. ¡santa virgen del pilar! what demons! well, listening is a good thing." "it is the only way to hear," someone replied a mocking voice. "who's there?" patito shouted, as he leaped on one side. "a friend!" blas salazar answered, as he came from behind the maple and joined the gaucho, whose hand he shook. "ah, ah, capataz, you are welcome. you were listening too, then?" "i should think so. i took advantage of the opportunity to instruct myself about don torribio." "well?" "this caballero appears to me a precious scoundrel, but, with the aid of heaven, we will ruin his dark schemes." "so be it!" "and, in the first place, what do you intend to do?" "on my word i do not know. there's a buzzing in my ears, 'kill me cleverly.' corrocho and panchito are certainly the most hideous villains of the pampa." "¡caramba! i have known them a long time, and at present they alarm me but slightly." "but me?" "nonsense; you are not dead yet." "i am not much better." "what, are you afraid? you, the boldest panther hunter of my acquaintance?" "a panther is, after all, only a panther, and you can get the better of it with a bullet; but the two fellows don torribio has let loose on me are demons." "that is true; so let us proceed to the most important point. don valentine cardoso, whose capataz i am, is my foster brother, that is to say, i am devoted to him body and soul. don torribio is forming some infernal plot against my master's family, which i wish to foil. are you decided to lend me a hand? two men who have only one will between them can do a great deal." "frankness for frankness, don blas," patito answered, after a moment's reflection. "this morning i should have refused, this evening i accept, because i no longer run a risk of betraying the gauchos, my comrades. the position is changed. kill me cleverly! by heaven i will avenge myself. i belong to you, capataz, as my knife blade does to its hilt--yours, body and soul, on the word of a gaucho." "excellent," said don blas, "we shall be able to understand each other. get on your horse and go and wait for me at the estancia. i shall return there after sunset, and we will draw up the plan of the countermine." "agreed. where are you going?" "to don valentine cardoso." "this evening, then?" "this evening." they then separated. patito, whose horse was hidden a short distance off, galloped toward the estancia of san julian, of which don blas was the capataz, while the latter proceeded in great haste toward the población. don valentine cardoso was one of the richest landed proprietors in carmen, where his family had been established since the foundation of the colony. he was a man of about five and forty. as his family originally came from old castile, he had retained the handsome type of that race, a type which was recognized in his face by the vigorously marked lines, with which was combined a certain air of proud majesty, to which the rather sad eyes imparted an expression of gentleness and kindness. left a widower after two too short years of marriage, don valentine had kept the memory of his wife locked up in his heart like a sacred relic, and he believed that it was still loving her to devote himself entirely to the education of their daughter concepción, called more familiarly concha or conchita. don valentine lived in the población of old carmen, near the fort, in one of the handsomest and largest houses of the colony. a few hours after the events we have recorded, two persons were seated near a brasero in a drawing room of this mansion. in this drawing room, elegantly furnished in the french style, a stranger on opening the door might have believed himself transported to the faubourg st. germain; there was the same luxury in the paper hangings, the same taste in the choice and arrangement of the furniture. nothing was wanting; not even an erard pianoforte, covered with the scores of operas sung at paris, and, as if better to prove that glory travels a great distance, that genius has wings, the fashionable romance writers and poets filled a buhl cheffonier. here everything recalled france and paris, excepting the silver brasero in which the smouldering olive stones indicated spain. chandeliers holding pink wax candles lit up this magnificent withdrawing room. don valentine cardoso and his daughter conchita were seated near the brasero. doña concha, who was scarcely fifteen years of age, was exquisitely beautiful. the raven arch of eyebrows, traced as with a pencil, heightened the grace of her rather low and pale forehead; her large blue and thoughtful eyes, fringed with long brown lashes, contrasted harmoniously with her ebony black hair which curled round her delicate neck, and in which odoriferous jessamine flowers were expiring in delight. short, like all true-blooded spanish women, her waist was exquisitely small. never had smaller feet trodden in the dance the castilian grass plots, and never had a more dainty hand nestled in that of a lover. her movements, careless as those of all the creoles, were undulating and full of _salero_ as the spaniards say. her dress, which was charmingly simple, consisted of a dressing gown of white cashmere, embroidered with large silk flowers in bright colours, and fastened round the hips by a cord and tassels. a mechlin lace veil was carelessly thrown over her shoulders, while her feet were thrust into pink slippers, lined with swan's-down. doña conchita was smoking a tiny husk cigarette, while talking to her father. "yes, father," she said, "a ship has arrived to day from buenos aires, with the prettiest birds in the world." "well, little one?" "i fancy that my dear little father," she remarked, with an adorable pout, "is not at all gallant this evening." "what do you know about it, young lady?" don valentine replied with a smile. "no, have you really," she said, bounding with delight in her chair, and clapping her hands, "thought of--" "buying you some birds? you will tomorrow see your aviary stocked with parrots, bengalis, macaws, hummingbirds, in short, about four hundred specimens, you ungrateful little chit." "oh, how good you are, father, and how i love you," the girl replied, throwing her arms round don valentine's neck, and embracing him several times. "enough, enough, madcap. do you want to stifle me with your caresses?" "what can i do to requite your kindness?" "poor dear, i have only you to love now." "say adore, my darling father; for it is adoration you feel for me. hence, i love you with all the strength god has placed in my heart." "and yet," don valentine said, with a gentle accent of reproach, "you do not fear, naughty girl, to cause me anxiety." "i?" concha asked, with an internal tremor. "yes, you, you," he said, threatening her tenderly with his finger, "you hide something from me." "father!" "come, child, a father's eyes can read the heart of a girl of fifteen, and for some days past, if i am not mistaken, i have not been the sole object of your thoughts." "that is true," the girl replied, with a certain amount of resolution. "and whom are you dreaming of, little maid?" don valentine asked, hiding his anxiety behind a smile. "of don torribio carvajal." "ah," the father cried, in a choking voice "and do you love him?" "no," she answered; "listen, father, i will conceal nothing from you. no," she continued, laying her hand on her heart, "i do not love don torribio, still he occupies my thoughts; why, i cannot say, but his look troubles and fascinates me, his voice causes me a feeling of undefinable pain; he is handsome, his manners are elegant and noble, he has everything belonging to a gentleman of high caste, and yet something in him, something fatal, checks me, and inspires me with invincible repugnance." "you romantic girl." "laugh at me, ridicule me," she said with a tremor in her voice. "shall i confess all to you, father?" "speak with confidence." "well, i have a presentiment that this man will be dangerous to me." "child," don valentine replied, as he kissed her forehead, "what can he do to you?" "i do not know; but i am afraid." "do you wish not to remain here any longer?" "heaven forbid! that would be hastening on the misfortune that threatens me." "you are losing your head, and taking pleasure in creating chimeras." at the same moment a man servant announced don torribio carvajal, who entered the room. the young man was dressed in the latest parisian fashion, and the candles lit up his splendid face. father and daughter started. don torribio walked up to doña concha, bowed to her gracefully, and offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. she thanked him with a smile, took the bouquet, and almost without looking at it, laid it on a table. in succession were announced the governor, don antonio valverde, accompanied by his whole staff, and two or three other families, or altogether some fifteen persons. by degrees the conversation grew animated. "well, colonel," don valentine asked the governor, "what news from buenos aires?" "our great rosas," the colonel answered, who was stifling in his uniform, "has again defeated oribe's unitarian savages." "heaven be praised! perhaps that victory will procure us a little of that tranquillity which commerce requires." "yes," a colonist remarked, "the communications are becoming so difficult that nothing can be sent by land." "can the indians be stirring?" a merchant asked anxiously, on hearing the observation. "oh!" the stout commandant interrupted, "there is no danger; the last lesson they received was rude, they will remember it a long time, and not dream of invading our frontiers for many a day to come." an almost invisible smile played round don torribio's lips. "in case of an invasion, do you consider them capable of seriously troubling the colony?" "hum!" don antonio answered, "take them altogether they are poor scrubs." the young man smiled again in a bitter and sinister manner. "excellency," he said, "i am of your opinion; i believe the indians will do well in remaining at home." "i should think so," the commandant exclaimed. "señorita," don torribio said, turning to doña concha, "would it be too great a favour to ask you to sing that delicious air from the black domino which you sang so exquisitely the other evening?" the young lady, without farther pressing, sat down to the pianoforte, and sang the romance from the third act in a pure voice. "i heard that sung in paris by madame damoreau, a nightingale who has flown away, and i cannot say which of you displays more grace or simplicity." "don torribio," doña concha answered, "you lived too long in france." "why so, señorita." "because you have come back a detestable flatterer." "bravo!" the governor said with a hearty laugh. "you see, don torribio, that our creoles are equal to the parisian ladies in quickness of repartee." "incontestably, colonel," the young man replied; "but leave me alone," he added with an undefinable accent, "i shall soon take my revenge." and he gave doña concha a look that made her shudder. "i trust, don torribio," the governor said, "that you will be present tomorrow at the _te deum_ chanted in honour of our glorious rosas?" "impossible, colonel; this very evening i start on a compulsory journey." "what, another of your mysterious excursions?" "yes, but this one will not be long, and i shall be back soon?" "all the better." "_¿quién sabe?_" the young man murmured in a sinister voice. doña concha, who had heard the last words, was not mistress of her terror. the visitors took leave one after the other, and don torribio carvajal was at length left alone with his hosts. "señorita," he said on taking leave, "i am setting out on a journey in which i shall doubtless incur great dangers. may i hope that you will deign to remember the traveller in your prayers." concha looked at him for a moment in the face, and replied with a frankness which was natural to her:-- "señor caballero, i cannot pray for the success of an expedition whose object i do not know." "thanks for your frankness, mademoiselle," don torribio answered without the slightest emotion, "i shall not forget your words." and after the customary compliments he retired. "the capataz of san julian, don blas salazar wishes to speak with señor don valentine cardoso on important business." "let him come in," don valentine said to the servant who had announced the capataz in so lengthy a fashion. "conchita, come and sit by my side on this sofa." don torribio was extremely agitated when he left the house; he turned round and darted a viper glance at the windows of the drawing room, across which doña concha's light shadow flitted. "proud girl," he said in a hollow and terrible voice, "i shall punish you for your disdain." then, wrapping himself in his cloak, he went at a rapid pace to a house situated a short distance off, where he generally lived when at carmen. he knocked twice; the gate opened and closed after him. twenty minutes later the gate opened again to let two horsemen pass out. "master, where are we going?" one asked. "to the tree of gualichu," the other replied; and added in a whisper, "to seek vengeance." the two horsemen entered the darkness, and the furious gallop of their horses was soon lost in the silence of night. chapter iv. the tree of gualichu. as a general rule, the southern natives have a divinity, or to speak more correctly, a genius, sometimes benevolent, but more frequently maleficent, and their worship is less veneration than fear. this genius is called achellenat kanet by the patagonians, quecuba by the aucas, and gualichu by the puelches. and, as the latter have more especially traversed the country in which the sacred, tree stands, they have perpetuated the name of their evil genius by giving it to the tree, to which they attribute the same power. the belief in gualichu dates back to the most remote antiquity on the pampas. this wicked god is simply a stunted tree, which, if mingled with other trees, would not have attracted attention; but which alone, and as it were lost in the immensity of the plains, serves as a beacon to the traveller wearied by a long journey across these oceans of sand. it rises to a height of thirty-five or forty feet, all twisted and prickly, and its withered trunk is rounded into a large cavity, in which men and women lay their presents in tobacco, beads, and corn. it is several centuries old, and belongs to that species of the acacia family which the hispano-americans designate by the name of _algarobo_. the wandering hordes of indians, doubtless struck by the solitude of this tree in the midst of the deserts, constituted it the object of their worship. in fact, its branches are covered with various offerings, many of some value: here a poncho, there a manta; farther on woollen or cotton ribbons; while on all sides garments, more or less injured and torn by the wind, are affixed to the thorns, which gives this sacred tree the appearance of an old clothes' shop. no indian, whether aucas, patagonian, puelche, or tehuetche, would venture to pass it without leaving something; and the man who has nothing else cuts off his horse's mane and fastens it to the tree. the most precious offering in the sight of the indians is that of their horse; and hence the great number of slaughtered horses round the tree attests the vitality of their faith. the religion of the southern natives, thoroughly primitive and spared by the conquest, does not take the moral being into account, and is only arrested by accidents of nature, of which it makes gods. these people strive to make the deserts, where fatigue and thirst produce death, and the rivers that may swallow them up, favourable to them. at the foot of the tree of gualichu, a few hours after the events already narrated, a strange scene was taking place, rendered still more striking by the density of the darkness, and by the storm which was approaching. heavy black clouds rolled athwart the sky; the wind blew in gusts with a shrill whistle, and large drops of rain fell on the sand. around the sacred tree the indians had improvised a village composed of some forty toldos raised hastily and without regularity. before each toldo crackled a bright fire, round which two or three indian squaws were crouching to warm themselves, without taking their eye off the hobbled horses which were devouring their stock of _alfalfa_. an immense fire, resembling a funereal pyre, flamed a few paces from the tree of gualichu, and was surrounded by twenty indians, who stood apathetic and contemplative, and whose grand war paint led to the supposition that they were preparing for an important ceremony of their worship. suddenly a shrill whistle cleft the air, and announced the arrival of two horsemen; one of them dismounted, and threw his horse's bridle to his comrade, and walked into the circle formed by the warriors. this man wore the uniform of an officer of the chilian army. "i salute my brothers," he said, looking round him, "may gualichu protect them." "salutation to pincheira," the indians responded; "are all the chiefs assembled?" he continued. "all," a voice replied, "with the exception of nocobotha, the grand toqui of the aucas." "he will not be long; let us wait." the silence had been scarce established, ere a second whistle was heard, and two fresh horsemen entered the circle of light projected by the fires. only one man dismounted. he was tall and fierce-looking, and dressed in the costume of the aucas warriors, the most civilized and intelligent indian nation in the whole of south america. these were the men who, almost unarmed, repulsed almagro and his cuirassed soldiers in , who triumphed over the unhappy valdivia, and who, though constantly fought by the spaniards, were never vanquished. the aucas offered an asylum to the incas whom pizarro hunted like wild beasts, and who, as a reward for their hospitality, introduced among these indians their own advanced civilization. by degrees the two nations became fused, and their hatred of the spaniards has been perpetuated up to our day. the warrior who had first entered the circle of indian chiefs, was one of the most perfect types of this indomitable race; all his features bore the distinctive character of the haughty incas, who were so long masters of peru. his costume, differing from that of the patagonians, who employ the skins of beasts, was composed of woollen cloth striped with silver. a blue _chaman_ covered his body from the waist, where it was fastened with a woollen girdle down to the knee; in this way exactly resembling the _chilipa_ of the gauchos, who borrowed from the indians this garment and the short blue and red striped poncho; his boots armed with silver spurs, and cleverly sewn with the tendons of animals, were made of the tanned hide of the _guemul_, a species of llama; his hair was divided at the back of the head into three tails, fastened together at the end with a tuft of wool, while in front the rest of his hair was raised and fastened with a blue ribbon, which, after three turns, fell on one side, and terminated in small pieces of rolled up silver. his brow was girt by a circle of massive gold, a species of diadem, three inches in width, and in the centre of which sparkled a sun composed of precious stones; a diamond of enormous value hung from each of his ears; his cloak of guanaco skins which fell down to the ground, was held on his shoulders by a silk cord, and was fastened with a diamond. two six-chambered revolvers glistened in his waist belt; on his right hip hung a machete, or short sabre with a very wide blade, and he held in his hand a double-barrelled rifle. this warrior, on his arrival, created a lively sensation among the chiefs; all bowed before him respectfully, while murmuring with delight-- "nocobotha! nocobotha!" the warrior smiled proudly, and took his place in the first rank of the chiefs. "the nacurulu (_bubo magellanicus_) has sung twice," he said; "the osprey of the rio negro has raised its melancholy cry; the night is drawing to a close; what have the chiefs of the great nations resolved?" "it would be useful, i think," one of the indians answered, "to implore the protection of gualichu for the council." "the advice of my brother, metipan, is wise. let the _matchi_ be warned." while a chief went off to fetch the matchi, or sorcerer, another chief quitted the circle, went up to nocobotha, whispered something to him, and then returned to his place. the toqui of the aucas laid his hand on his machete, and shouted in a loud and menacing voice-- "a traitor is among us! attention, brothers." a shudder of passion ran through the ranks, and each indian looked at his neighbour. "he must die!" they shouted unanimously. "it is well," nocobotha answered. these words, spoken in indian, must reach the traitor's ear as a vain sound, for the aucas dialect is not generally understood by the spaniards. still, a man, clothed like the other chiefs, and protected by the darkness, suddenly bounded far out of the circle, and uttered three different times the hoarse croak of the urubús. he leant against the trunk of the tree of gualichu, and with his legs far apart, and a pistol in each hand, waited. this man was pedrito, the bombero. a living wall, formed of hundreds of indians, rose in arms before him, and menaced him from all sides. pedrito, to whom flight was impossible, frowned, gnashed his teeth, and foamed with rage. "i am waiting for you, dogs," he yelled. "forward! forward!" the indians shouted. "silence!" nocobotha ordered in a rough voice. "i wish to question him." "what good is it?" pincheira remarked, with a hateful expression. "he is one of those rats of the pampa, whom the spaniards call bomberos. i recognize him. let us kill him at once." "a bombero," the indians yelled anew. "death to him, death." "silence," said nocobotha, "who dares to interrupt?" at the command of the master silence was reestablished. "who are you?" the toqui asked the bombero; "who are you?" pedrito replied with a grin, and crossing his arms, though he did not let go his pistols. "answer, if you would not die; you are in my power." "a brave man only belongs to himself. he has always the resource of letting himself be killed." "perhaps so." "try to take me." "surrender, and no harm will be done you." "a bombero never surrenders." "why did you introduce yourself among us." "¡canario! i came to witness your indian jugglery, and learn the object of this nocturnal meeting." "you are frank, at any rate, and i will take that into consideration. come! resistance would be useless, so surrender." "are you mad, my master?" "forward!" nocobotha, who was boiling with rage, shouted to the indians. the latter rushed on. two pistol shots were fired, and two indians writhed on the sand. while the others hesitated, pedrito returned his pistols to his belt, and drew his machete. "make way," he shouted. "death!" the warriors repeated. "way, way!" and pedrito dashed at the indians, hitting right and left, cutting and pointing. nocobotha threw himself in his path, with the roar of a wounded lion. "ah, ah," said the bombero, "my worthy chief, with the diamond sun, it is our turn." all at once three shots were fired behind the indians, and three horsemen dashed upon them, scattering terror and death around. the indians, not knowing how many enemies they had to contend with, believed, owing to the darkness and the number of dead, that a considerable reinforcement had arrived, and began dispersing in all directions, with the exception of the more resolute, who held their ground and continued to resist the assailants. among these were nocobotha, pincheira, and a few renowned chiefs. the three bomberos, summoned by the hoarse croaking of pedrito, had hastened up to their brother; they helped him to get onto the saddle of the horse they had brought up for him. "ah!" they shouted, "down with the indian dogs!" nocobotha dealt the spaniard a blow with the machete, to which he responded by a cut that scarred his adversary's face. the toqui uttered a cry, not of pain but of rage. "eh," the bombero said to him, "i shall recognize you, if ever we meet again, for you bear my marks." "villain!" the chief said, as he fired a pistol at him. "ah!" pedrito muttered in his turn, as he sank in his saddle. he would have fallen had not his sword prevented him. "he has killed me," the wounded man said, in a faint voice. "courage, brothers, do not leave my corpse to them." the three bomberos, supporting their brother, redoubled their ardour to get him away from inevitable destruction; but how were they to fly? the indians, when the first moment of panic had passed, being able to count their enemies, returned to the charge and threatened to overwhelm them by their numbers. the position was horrible, and pedrito, who had retained his coolness, understood that his brothers were about to ruin themselves for him, so, sacrificing his life to save them, he shouted-- "fly! leave me alone here; in a few minutes i shall be dead." "no!" they replied, making their horses prance to ward off the blows, "we will all get away or perish together." pedrito, who knew his brothers, was not ignorant that their resolution was unbending. the fight was going on at this moment, two yards at the most from the tree of gualichu, pedrito, while his brothers were defending themselves on all sides at once, slipped down to the ground, and when the bomberos turned round, they found his horse without its rider. pedrito had disappeared. "he is dead, what is to be done?" "obey him, as we were unable to save him," juan answered. "forward, then!" and all three, tearing up their horses' sides with their spurs, bounded into the thick of the indians. the collision was terrible; still, a few seconds later, the bomberos, saved from danger by their incredible audacity, were flying, like the wind, in three different directions, while uttering cries of triumph. the indians recognized the inutility of a pursuit across the sand; so they contented themselves with picking up their dead and counting the wounded, altogether some thirty victims. "these spaniards are perfect demons, when they are obstinate," pincheira said, remembering his own origin. "yes," nocobotha answered him, mad with fury, "if ever i place my foot on their chest, they will expiate the wrongs they have done my race for centuries." "i am entirely devoted to you," pincheira continued. "thanks, my friend. when the hour arrives, i shall remind you of your promise." "i shall be ready; but at present what are your designs?" "the scar that madman has made on my head compels me to fire the train as soon as possible." "do so, i pray; and let us finish with these accursed spaniards so soon as we can." "then you really hate your countrymen?" "i have an indian heart, and that is saying enough." "i will soon procure you the opportunity to slake your vengeance." "may heaven hear you!" "but the chiefs have again assembled round the council fire; come, brother." nocobotha and pincheira approached the tree of gualichu, where the indians were grouped, motionless, silent, and calm, as if nothing had disturbed their gathering. chapter v. the council of the ulmens. the indians, while collecting their dead, sought in vain the corpse of the white man, and persuaded themselves that his comrades had carried it off. the latter, on the other hand, reproached themselves bitterly for having left their brother's body in the hands of the pagans. now, what had become of pedrito? the bombero was one of those iron men, whom a powerful will leads to their object, and whom death alone can conquer. he wished, therefore, to be present at the council of the chiefs, the high import of which he suspected; and instead of throwing his life away in an unequal struggle, he found in nocobotha's shot the pretext he was seeking. as time pressed, he pretended, to be mortally wounded, and both friends and enemies had been duped by his stratagem. so soon as he had slipped down off his horse, by favour of the darkness and combat, he was able, either by crawling like a lizard, or leaping like a cougar, to hide himself in the hollow trunk of the tree of gualichu. there he buried himself beneath a pile of objects offered by the devotion of the indians, and was as safe as in the fortress of carmen. however, like a bold hunter, who has always time to be killed, he had not thrown his weapons away. his first care was, without respect for gualichu, to wrap up his arm in a piece of cloth, in order to prevent the flow of blood from his wound; then he arranged himself as well as he could, with his head thrust slightly forward, to see the scene that was about to take place. all the chiefs were already assembled, and lucaney, ulmen of the puelches, was the first to speak. "the spaniard who dared to introduce himself among us, in order to violate the secret of our deliberations, is dead; we are alone; let us begin the ceremony." "it shall be done, according to the desire of my brother, the ulmen of the puelches," nocobotha answered; "where is the wise matchi?" "here," said a tall, thin man, whose face was striped in different colours, and who was dressed like a woman. "let the wise matchi approach and accomplish the rites." "a matchitun is necessary," the sorcerer said, in a solemn voice. the usual preparations for this conjuration were immediately made. two lances were planted, one on the right, one on the left of the sacred tree; on the left hand one were hung a drum, and a vessel filled with fermented liquor; twelve other vessels, containing the same liquor, were ranged in a circle from one lance to the other. a sheep and a colt were brought in, and deposited near the vessels, and two old squaws placed themselves by the side of the drum. the preparations terminated, the matchi turned to nocobotha. "why does the ulmen of the aucas ask for the matchitun?" he asked. metipan stepped out of the circle. "an hereditary hatred has for a long time separated the aucas and the pehuenches," he said; "the interest of all the great nations desires the end of this hatred. kelzulepan, my ancestor, ulmen of the pehuenches, carried off a white slave belonging to medzeliputzi, toqui of the aucas, and great grandfather of nocobotha." "before the assembled chiefs, in the face of heaven, i have come to tell nocobotha, the descendant of yupanqui, the son of the sun, that my ancestor behaved badly to his, and i am ready, in order to extinguish all discord, past, present, and future, to give him here a white, young, lovely, and virgin slave." "i give up, before gualichu," nocobotha answered, "the hatred which my nation and i had sworn against you and yours." "does gualichu approve our conduct?" metipan asked. the matchi seemed to reflect profoundly. "yes," he replied, "you have gained the protection of gualichu; let the white slave be brought up; perhaps he will demand that she should be surrendered to him, instead of belonging to a man." "his will be done," both ulmens said. two warriors led up a girl of about seventeen, and placed her between the lances, with her face turned to the tree of gualichu. on seeing her, pedrito felt a cold perspiration break out all over him, and a mist covered his eyes. "whence comes this strange emotion?" the bombero muttered to himself. the girl's large black eyes had an expression of gentle melancholy. she was dressed after the fashion of the pehuenche women; the woollen _quedito_ was rolled round her body, fastened on the shoulders by two silver pins, and on her limbs by a _kepike_, or silken girdle, six inches in width, and secured by a buckle. the two ends of a square _pilken_, like a cloak, was fastened on her chest by a topu, adorned with a magnificent head in gold. she had on her neck two collars of beads, and on each of her arms four bracelets of glass, pearls, and silver balls. her long black hair was parted down the centre into two tresses, tied up with blue ribbons, which floated on her shoulders, and terminated in bells; on her head was a conical cap of blue and red beads. at this graceful apparition the indians, who are very fond of white women, could not, despite their natural stoicism, restrain a murmur of admiration. at a signal from the matchi the ceremony began. the two old squaws beat the drum, while the spectators, guided by the sorcerer, struck up a symbolical song while dancing round the captive. the drum ceased with the song; then the matchi lit a cigar, inhaled the smoke, and thrice perfumed the tree, the animals, and the maiden, whose bosom he at the same time laid bare. he put his mouth to it and began sucking till he drew blood, and the poor child made superhuman efforts not to shriek. the dancing, accompanied by song, began again, and the old women beat the drum with all the strength of their arms. pedrito, full of compassion for the innocent victim of indian superstition, longed to fly to her help. in the meanwhile, the matchi, with his swollen cheeks, gradually became more excited; his eyes grew bloodshot, he seemed possessed by the demon, and all at once became furious; he writhed and behaved like an epileptic. then the dance ceased, and metipan, with a stroke of his machete, cut open the flank of the colt, tore out its still palpitating heart, and gave it to the sorcerer, who sucked the blood, and employed it to make a cross on the maiden's brow. the latter, suffering from inexpressible terror, began to tremble violently. the storm, which had been gathering in the clouds, at length broke out. a blue flash shot athwart the sky, the thunder rolled with a terrible din, and a blast of wind dashed over the plain, sweeping away the toldos, the fragments of which it dispersed far and wide. the indians stopped, terrified by the storm. all at once a formidable voice, that appeared to issue from the tree of gualichu, uttered the ill-omened words. "retire, indians! my wrath is let loose upon you. leave here this miserable white slave as an expiation of your crimes! fly, and woe to those who look back. woe! woe!" a livid flash and a violent peal of thunder served as peroration to this harangue. "let us fly!" said the matchi, who in his terror was ready to believe in his god. but, profiting by this unexpected intervention to enforce his own power, he continued-- "fly, brothers! gualichu has spoken to his servant. woe to those who resist his orders." the indians had no need of this recommendation from their sorcerer; a superstitious terror lent them wings. they rushed tumultuously toward the horses, and soon the desert echoed again with their wild flight. the tree of gualichu was deserted, and the maiden alone lay fainting on the ground, with her bosom still bare. when all was quiet on the pampa, and the sound of the horses' gallop was lost in the distance, pedrito gently thrust his head out of the tree, examined the black depths of the night, and reassured by the silence, ran up to the girl. pale as a beauteous lily laid low by the storm, the poor girl had her eyes closed, and did not breathe. the bombero raised her in his muscular arms, and transported her close to the tree, laying her on a pile of skins belonging to a destroyed toldo. he placed her cautiously on this softer couch, and her head hung insensibly on his chest. it was a strange group, in the midst of this devastated plain, only illumined by the lightning flashes. this young and lovely girl, and this rude wood ranger, offered a touching picture. pain and sorrow were delineated on pedrito's face. he, whose whole life had been but one long drama, who had no faith in his heart, who was ignorant of gentle feelings and sweet sympathies, he, the bombero, the slayer of indians, was moved and felt something new stir within him. two heavy tears ran down his bronzed cheeks. "can she be dead? oh heaven!" this name, which he had hitherto only used in blasphemy, he uttered almost with respect. it was a sort of prayer and cry from his heart. this man believed. "how to help her?" he asked himself. the rain that fell in torrents eventually restored the maiden, who, half opening her eyes, murmured in a faint voice; "where am i? what has happened?" "she speaks, she lives, she is saved," pedrito exclaimed. "who is there?" she asked, raising herself with difficulty. at the sight of the bombero's gloomy face, she had a fresh outburst of terror, closed her eyes again, and fell back exhausted. "reassure yourself, my girl. i am your friend." "my friend! what means that word? have slaves any friends? ah, yes," she continued, speaking as if in a dream, "i have suffered terribly. still i can remember long, long ago, being happy, but alas! the worst misfortune is the recollection of past happiness in misery." she was silent. the bombero gazed at her, and listened to her as if suspended on her lips. that voice, those features! a vague suspicion entered pedrito's head. "oh, speak, speak again," he said, softening down the harshness of his voice, "what do you remember of your youthful years?" "why think of past joys in misfortune? what does it avail?" she added, shaking her head with discouragement. "my history is that of all unfortunate persons. there was a time when, like other children, i had the song of birds to lull me to sleep, flowers that smiled on me when i awoke, and a mother who loved and embraced me--all that has fled forever." pedrito had raised two poles covered with skins to shelter her from the storm, which was gradually subsiding. "you are kind, for you have saved me; still, your kindness was cruel, for why did you not let me die? people who are dead no longer suffer. the pehuenches will return, and then--" she did not conclude, and buried her face in her hands, with choking sobs. "fear nothing, señorita; i will defend you." "poor man; alone against all! but before my last hour arrives, listen to me, for i wish to relieve my heart. one day i was playing in my mother's arms, my father was near us, with my two sisters and my four brothers, resolute men who would not have feared twenty. well! the pehuenches came up, they burned our estancia, for my father was a farmer, they killed my mother, and--" "mercedes, mercedes!" the bombero exclaimed, "is it really you? do i find you again?" "that was the name my mother gave me." "it is i, pedro, pedrito, your brother," the bombero said, almost shouting with joy, and clasping her to his bosom. "pedrito! my brother! yes, yes, i remember. pedrito, i am--" she fell senseless into her brother's arms. "wretch that i am, i have killed her! mercedes, my beloved sister, come to yourself again, or i shall die." the maiden opened her eyes again, and threw herself on the bombero's neck, weeping with joy. "pedrito! my kind brother, do not leave me, defend me; they would kill me." "poor girl, they will pass over my body before reaching you." "they will do so," a sarcastic voice exclaimed behind the tent. two men appeared, nocobotha and pincheira. pedrito, holding his sister, who was half-dead with terror, with his left hand, leant against one of the posts, drew his machete, and prepared for a vigorous defence. nocobotha and pincheira, too enlightened to be the dupes of the mysterious voice of gualichu, and yield to the general panic, had, however, fled with their comrades; but they had turned back unnoticed. curious to know the meaning of this enigma, and the author of the mystification, they had listened to the entire conversation between brother and sister. "well," pincheira said, with a laugh, "you seem tolerably lively for a dead man. it seems, canario, that you must be killed twice, in order to make sure that you will not recover. but, be easy, if my friend missed you, i shall not do so." "what do you want with me?" pedrito said. "let us pass." "not at all," pincheira replied, "that would be rather too dangerous an example. and stay," he added, after listening, "do you hear that galloping? your affair is as good as settled, there are our _mosotones_ coming back." in fact, the sound of a cavalcade momentarily drew nearer, and in the pale gleam of dawn the dim outlines of numerous horsemen could be distinguished in the distance. pedrito saw that he was lost; he kissed for the last time the pale brow of his unconscious sister, laid her behind him, crossed himself, and prepared to die as a brave man should. "come," said nocobotha, "let us have an end of this; it looks as if this scoundrel were afraid of death." "make haste," pincheira answered, "i hear our men, and if we do not make haste, our prey will be torn from us." "you did not fancy you were speaking so truly, señor pincheira," pepe exclaimed, suddenly appearing with his two brothers; "now, let us see who is to be killed." "thanks, my brave brothers," pedrito said joyously. "malediction!" pincheira said with an oath, "are these scoundrels everywhere?" "i will not have him escape me," nocobotha muttered, as he bit his lips till the blood came. "fie on you, caballeros," pepe exclaimed ironically. "on guard, defend yourselves like men, or i shall kill you like dogs." the blades crossed, and the fight began with equal fury on both sides. chapter vi. nocobotha. a struggle to the death was preparing between these irreconcilable enemies, the bomberos and the indians; and on this occasion it seemed as if the advantage would be on the side of the brothers. mercedes, who had recovered from her fainting fit, felt so terrified that she regretted that she had awoken again. after the first collision, nocobotha fell back a step, lowered his weapon, made pincheira a sign to imitate him, and with folded arms walked towards the brothers. "stay," he cried, "this fight will not take place; it is not proper for men to risk their lives in disputing for the possession of a woman." an ironical smile contracted the bronzed faces of pedrito's brothers, while pincheira stamped his foot impatiently. the indian chief continued, without heeding these marks of disapproval-- "a man's blood is precious. take away your sister, my good fellow. i give her to you; may she be happy with you." "our sister!" the three young men exclaimed with amazement. "yes," pedrito said; "but what conditions do you exact?" "none," the chief answered nobly. nocobotha's generosity was the more disinterested because the bomberos perceived by the first rays of the rising sun a band of nearly one thousand indians, well equipped, and painted and armed for war, who had silently advanced and formed a a circle round them. "can we," pedrito asked, "trust to your word, and have we no cause to fear a trap?" "my word," the ulmen answered haughtily, "is more sacred than that of a white man. we have, like you, noble feelings, more so, perhaps, than others," he added, pointing to a red line that traversed his face; "we know how to forgive. you are free, and no one will disturb your retreat." nocobotha followed the thoughts of the bomberos on their faces. the latter felt themselves conquered by the magnanimity of the chief, who smiled triumphantly on divining their astonishment and confusion. "my friend," he said to pincheira, "let fresh horses be given to these men." pincheira hesitated. "at once," he said, with a gesture full of supreme grace. the chilian, who was a semi-savage, yielding involuntarily to nocobotha's superiority, obeyed, and five horses of great value, and ready saddled and bridled, were led up by two indians. "chief," pedrito said, in a slightly shaking voice, "i am not grateful for my life, as i do not fear death; but, in my brothers' names and my own, i thank you for our sister. we never forget an insult or a kindness. farewell! perhaps i shall someday have the opportunity to prove to you that we are not ungrateful." the chief bowed without answering. the bomberos grouped round mercedes, returned his salute, and went off slowly. "well, it was your wish," pincheira said, shrugging his shoulders in vexation. "patience!" nocobotha answered, in a deep voice. during this time an immense fire had been kindled at the foot of the tree of gualichu, where the indians, whose superstitious fears had been dissipated with the darkness, had again assembled in council. a few paces behind the chiefs, the aucas and puelche horsemen formed a formidable cordon round the council fire, while patagonian scouts dashed about the desert to scare away intruders, and insure the secrecy of the deliberations. in the east the sun was darting forth its flames, the dry and naked desert was blended with the illimitable horizon; in the distance the cordilleras displayed the eternal snow of their peaks. such was the landscape, if we may call it so, in which these barbarous warriors stood, dressed in strange costumes near the symbolic tree. this majestic scene involuntarily recalled other times and other climates, when, by the light of burning towns, the ferocious companions of attila rushed to the conquest, and rejuvenescence of the roman world. nocobotha took up his speech at the point where it had been interrupted by the unexpected interference of the bombero. "i thank my brother metipan," he said, "for the gift of the white slave. from this day our disagreement ceases; his nation and mine will form one and the same family, whose herds will peacefully graze on the same pasturage, and whose warriors will sleep side by side on the war track." the matchi then lit a pipe, drew a few puffs, and handed it to the two chiefs, who smoked in turn, passing the pipe to each other till the tobacco was entirely consumed. then the pipe was thrown on the fire by the matchi. "gualichu," he said, solemnly, "has heard your words. swear that your alliance will not be broken until you can again smoke this pipe which is already reduced to ashes." "we swear it." the two ulmens laid the left hand on the other's right shoulder, stretched out the right hand to the sacred tree, and kissed each other on the lips, saying-- "brother, receive this kiss. may my lips wither and my tongue be torn out if i betray my oath." all the indians came, one after the other, to give the kiss of peace to the two ulmens with marks of joy that were the more lively because they knew what great misfortunes this feud had already cost them, and how many times it had compromised the independence of the indian tribes. when the chiefs had returned to their places at the council fire, lucaney bowed to nocobotha. "what communications did my brother wish to make to the ulmens? we are ready to hear him." nocobotha seemed to reflect for a moment, and then looked confidently round the assembly. "ulmens of the puelches, araucanos, pehuenches, huileches, and patagonians," he said, "for many moons past my mind has been sad. i see with grief our hunting grounds invaded by the white men, and daily growing more and more contracted. we whose countless tribes only a few centuries ago covered the vast tract of land contained between the two seas, are now reduced to a small band of warriors, who, timid as llamas, fly before our despoilers. our sacred cities, the last refuges of the civilization of our fathers the incas, are about to become the prey of these human-faced monsters who have no other god but gold. our dispersed race will soon disappear from this world which it so long possessed and governed alone." "tracked like wild animals, brutalized by the firewater, and decimated by the sword and spanish disease, our wandering hordes are but the shadow of a people. our conquerors despise our religion, and they wish to bow us beneath the tree of the crucified man. they outrage our wives, kill our children, and burn our villages. has the blood of your fathers become impoverished in the veins of all you indians who are listening to me? answer, will you die slaves, or live as free men?" at these words, uttered in a masculine and penetrating voice, and whose effect was heightened by the most majestic gestures, a quiver ran along the assembly; they raised their heads haughtily and every eye flashed. "speak, speak again!" the electrified ulmens shouted simultaneously. the great ulmen smiled proudly, and continued-- "the hour has at length arrived, after so much humiliation and wretchedness, to shake off the disgraceful yoke that presses on us. within a few days, if you are willing, we will drive the whites far from our borders, and requite them all the evil they have done us. i have long been watching the spaniards, and i know their tactics and resources; and in order to annihilate them we only need skill and courage." the indians interrupted him, with shouts of joy. "you shall be free," nocobotha continued. "i will restore you the rich valleys of your ancestors. this project has, ever since i have become a man, been fermenting in my head, and it has grown the life of my life. far from you and me be the thought that i have any intention to force myself on you as chief and grand toqui of the army! no; you must choose your leader freely, and after having elected him, obey him blindly, follow him everywhere, and pass through the most formidable perils. do not deceive yourselves, warriors; our enemy is strong, numerous, and well disciplined, and, before all, is habituated to conquer us. appoint a supreme chief--select the most worthy, and i will joyfully march under his orders. i have spoken: have i spoken well, powerful men?" and, after bowing to the assembly, nocobotha mingled with the crowd of chiefs, with a serene brow, but with his heart devoured by anxiety and hatred. this eloquence, which was novel to the indians, seduced, carried them away, and cast them into a species of frenzy. they almost regarded nocobotha as a genius of a superior essence to their own, and bowed the knee to worship him, so straight had he gone to their hearts. for a long time the council was affected by a species of delirium, all speaking at once. when tranquillity was restored, the wisest among the ulmens discussed the opportunity of taking up arms and the chances of success, and in the end the opinion was unanimous in favour of a general insurrection. the ranks, momentarily broken, were restored, and lucaney, who was invited by the chiefs to make known the decision of the council, spoke as follows;-- "ulmens, listen, listen, listen! this seventeenth day of the moon of kekil-kiven it has been resolved by all the chiefs, each representing a nation or a tribe, assembled round the council fire in front of the sacred tree of gualichu, and after the performance of the sacred rites to render the spirit favourable to us, that war is declared against the spaniards, our despoilers. as the war is holy, and has liberty for its object, all will be expected to take part in it--men, women, and children; all to the extent of their strength. this very day the _quipus_ will be sent to all the indian nations." a long cry of enthusiasm cheered lucaney, but he continued after a while-- "the chiefs, after careful consideration, have chosen as supreme toqui of all the nations, with uncontrolled and unlimited power, the wisest, the most prudent, and the man most worthy to command us. this warrior is the chief of the aucas whose race is so ancient, nocobotha is the descendant of the incas, the son of the sun." a thunder of applause greeted these last words nocobotha walked into the centre of the circle, bowed to the ulmens, and said, in a proud accent, "i accept. ulmens, my brothers, in a year you shall be free, or myself dead." "long live the great toqui!" the crowd shouted. "war to the spaniards!" nocobotha continued; "a war without respite or mercy--a true wild beast hunt, such as they are accustomed to make on us. remember the law of the pampas: 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' each chief will send the quipus to his nation, for at the end of this moon we will arouse our enemies by a thunderclap. go, and lose no time. this night at the fourth hour we will meet again at the pass of the guanaco, to elect the secondary chiefs, count our warriors, and fix the day and hour of attack." the ulmens bowed without replying, rejoined the escort, and soon disappeared in a cloud of dust. nocobotha and pincheira remained alone, a detachment guarding them a little distance away. nocobotha, with his arms folded, drooping head, and frowning brow, seemed plunged in profound thoughts. "well," pincheira said, "we have succeeded." "yes," he answered; "war is declared, and i am the supreme chief; but i tremble at such a heavy task. do those primitive men thoroughly understand? are they ripe for liberty? perhaps they have not as yet suffered enough. oh! if i succeed!" "you startle me, friend. what, then, are your plans?" "it is true, you know nothing, but you are worthy of such an enterprise. i wish, understand me thoroughly; i wish--" at this moment an indian, whose horse, reeking with perspiration, seemed to breathe fire through its nostrils, came up to the two ulmens, before whom he shopped dead, by a prodigy of horsemanship, as if converted into a granite statue. he bent down to nocobotha's ear. "already!" the latter exclaimed; "oh, there is not a moment to lose. quick, my horse." "what is the matter?" pincheira asked him. "nothing that can interest you. tonight at the pass of the guanaco you shall know all." "are you going alone?" "i must. tonight we meet again." nocobotha's horse snorted, and dashed off like an arrow from a bow. ten minutes later all the indians had disappeared, and solitude and silence reigned round the tree of gualichu. chapter vii. the cougars. don valentine cardoso's conversation with don blas salazar was prolonged far into the night. doña concha had retired to her apartments. "thanks, blas, my friend," don valentine said in conclusion; "that don torribio carvajal never pleased either my daughter or myself. his mysterious ways and his look repulse affection and inspire distrust." "what do you intend doing?" the capataz asked. "i am greatly embarrassed; how can i close my doors against him; what pretext should i have?" "good gracious!" blas said; "perhaps we are alarming ourselves too soon. this gentleman is doubtless no more or less than a lover. doña concha is of the age to be beloved, and her beauty attracts don torribio. you do not like him as son-in-law, so all right; but love, they say, is a strange thing, and some day or other--" "i have designs for my daughter." "that is different. by the way, may not this mysterious caballero be a secret agent of general oribe, who is watching carmen?" "that is the truth, i believe. his hints to the gauchos, his unexpected absences, whose purpose is unknown, are simply of a political nature, and don torribio is a conspirator." "nothing else. be on your guard against him." "in the expectation of general oribe making an attack, let us make ourselves secure. the estancia of san julian is close to port san josé and the sea; we will await the issue of these machinations there in greater security, because a vessel, anchored opposite the estancia, will be at my disposal, and on the slightest alarm convey us to buenos aires." "that arrangement removes all difficulties; in the country you will not be annoyed by don torribio's visits." "¡caramba! you are right; and i will proceed to give orders for departure. do not go away, for i want your assistance, and you will accompany us." don valentine hastened to wake the servants and peons who were fast asleep; and the valuables were at once packed up. at the first gleam of dawn doña concha was greatly surprised, when her lady's maid, a young mulatto girl, informed her of her father's sudden resolution. doña concha, without making the slightest remark, dressed herself, and began packing. at about eight in the morning, blas salazar, whom his foster brother had sent with a letter to the captain of his schooner moored off carmen, and loaded with brazilian merchandise, returned to the house, and stated that the captain would sail at once, and be anchored by nightfall before san julian. the courtyard of the house resembled a hostelry. fifteen mules, bending beneath their bales, stamped in their impatience to be off, while the travelling litter was being prepared for doña concha. forty saddle horses, intended for the servants, were fastened to iron rings in the wall; four or five mules were prepared to carry the young lady's female attendants, while two negro slaves held two splendid chargers, which stamped and champed their silver bits, while awaiting their riders, don valentine and his capataz. there was a deafening confusion of shouts, laughter, and kicking. in the street, a crowd, among whom were corrocho and panchito, curiously watched their departure, while making their comments on the strange fact of don cardoso choosing so late a season for a residence in the country. panchito and corrocho slipped away. at last, at about half past eight o'clock, the _arrieros_ placed themselves at the head of their mules; the servants, armed to the teeth, mounted, and doña concha, dressed in a charming travelling costume, walked down the steps, and with a merry laugh, bounded into the litter, where she nestled like a hummingbird among rose leaves. at a sign from the capataz, the mules, already fastened to each other in a file, started. don valentine then turned to an old negro, who was standing respectfully near him, hat in hand. "good-bye, _tío_ peralta," he said to him; "i give you charge of the house, and leave you cyrillo and nanez." "your excellency can reckon on my vigilance," the old man answered; "may god bless your excellency, and the niña too. i will take great care of her birds." "thank you, _tío_ peralta," the young lady said, leaning out of the litter. the courtyard was already empty, when the negro bowed, delighted at the thanks. the night storm had completely swept the sky, which was of a pale blue; the sun, already high on the horizon, spread profusely its warm beams, which were filtered through the fragrant vapours that rose from the ground. the atmosphere was wondrously transparent, a slight breeze refreshed the air, and swarms of birds, glistening with a thousand hues, dashed about. the mules, which followed the bell of the _yegua madrina_, trotted to the songs of the arrieros. the caravan marched gaily across the sandy desert, raising the dust around it, and undulating like a long serpent, in the endless windings of the road. don blas, with ten servants, who explored the country, and examined the bushes, formed the vanguard. don valentine, with a cigar in his mouth, was conversing with his daughter, while twenty resolute men closed the march, and protected the travellers. in the plains of patagonia, a journey of four hours, like that to the estancia of san julian, requires as many precautions as one of two hundred among us; enemies are ambuscaded everywhere, and ready for pillage and murder; and travellers are compelled to be on their guard against gauchos, indians, and wild beasts. the white houses of carmen had disappeared long ago, when the capataz, leaving the head of the party, galloped up to the side of the litter. "what is the matter?" don valentine asked. "nothing," blas replied; "still, excellency, look," he added, stretching out his arm in a southwesterly direction. "it is a fire." "now turn your eyes to the east-south-east." "that is another fire. who the deuce has lighted fires on those scarped points, and for what object?" "i will tell you. that point is the cliff of urubús." "it is." "that is the cliff of san xavier." "well?" "as a fire does not light itself, as we have some ° of heat, and as--" "you conclude--" "i conclude that these fires have been lit by don torribio's gauchos; and that they are signals." "stay, stay, that is logical, my friend, and you may be right perhaps; but what do we care?" "those signals tell that don valentine cardoso and his daughter have left carmen." "you spoke to me about that, i think? well, i do not care about don torribio knowing of my departure." a sudden cry was heard, and the mules stopped with trembling limbs. "what is going on down there?" blas asked. "a cougar, a cougar!" the arrieros shouted in horror. "canario, it is true," the capataz said, "but instead of one there are two." about two hundred yards ahead of the caravan two cougars (the _felis discolor_ or linnaeus, or american lion), were drawn up ready for a spring, with their eyes fixed on the mules. these animals, still young, were about the size of a calf; the head bore a great likeness to that of a cat, and their skins, smooth and soft, of a silvery tawny, were spotted with black. "come on," don valentine exclaimed, "uncouple the dogs, and let us have a hunt." "a hunt!" the capataz repeated. a dozen mastiffs were unloosed which, on approaching the lions, barked simultaneously. the mules were collected and formed into a large circle, in the centre of which the litter was placed. ten servants were told off to guard doña concha, and don valentine remained by her side to keep up her courage. horses, riders, and dogs rushed in rivalry on the ferocious animals with yells, shouts, and barking sufficient to start lions that were novices. the noble beasts, lashed their flanks with their powerful tails, and after a deep inspiration they fled away with lengthened bounds. a part of the hunters rode off in a straight line to cut off their retreat, while, others bending over the saddle and guiding their horses with their knees, brandished their terrible bolas, and hunted them with all their strength, though without checking the cougars which turned furiously on the dogs, and hurled them a dozen yards off yelling with pain. the mastiffs, however, long accustomed to this style of hunting, watched for a favourable opportunity, threw themselves on the lions' backs and dug their teeth into their flesh, but the cougars, with one blow of their murderous paw, swept them off like flies, and resumed their hurried course. one of them, hobbled by the bolas, and surrounded by dogs, rolled on the ground, digging up the sand with its contracted claws, and uttering a fearful yell. don valentine finished it by putting a bullet in its eye. the second cougar remained, which was still unwounded, and by its bounds, foiled the attack and skill of the hunters. the dogs, worn out, did not dare approach it. its flight had brought it within a few paces of the caravan; all at once it turned to the right, bounded over the mules, and crouched right in front of the litter. doña concha, pale as death, with closed eyes, instinctively clasped her hands, recommended her soul to heaven, and fainted. at the moment when the lion was about to dart on the girl, two shots struck it right in the middle of the chest. it turned round on its new adversary, no other than the worthy capataz, who, with extended legs, and eye fixed on the lion, awaited the monster. the cougar hesitated, took a parting glance at its prey still lying in the litter, and rushed with a roar on blas, who pulled the trigger again. the animal writhed on the ground, and the capataz ran up to it, machete in hand. the man and the lion rolled together, but only one of them rose again--it was the man. doña concha was saved. her father pressed her joyously to his breast; she opened her eyes again at last, and aware to whose devotion she owed her life, held out her hand to don blas. "i can no longer count the number of times you have saved the lives of my father and myself." "oh, señorita!" the worthy man said, as he kissed the tips of her fingers. "you are my foster brother, and i can only discharge my debt to you by eternal gratitude," don valentine said. "strip the lions of their skins, my men," he said, turning to the servants. "i suppose they will not frighten you, when they are converted into carpets, conchita." no one equals the hispano-americans in the art of flaying animals; in a minute, the two lions, above which the urubús and vultures of the andes were already hovering, were stripped of their skins. order was restored in the caravan, which started again, and within an hour arrived at the estancia of san julian, where it was received by patito and all the farm peons. chapter viii. the estancia of san julian. the bomberos, accompanied by mercedes, buried themselves in the desert. their journey lasted four hours, and brought them to the banks of the rio negro, to one of the charming oases created by the river mud, and covered with clumps of willows, nopals, palms, chirimoyas, lemon trees, and flowering jessamines, in whose branches thousands of birds of the most varying colour and note gaily warbled. pedrito seized mercedes in his robust arms, lifted her from the front of his saddle and laid her gently on the turf. the horses began quietly nibbling the young tree shoots. "tell us, how did you find our sister?" juan said. the elder brother, as if he had not heard, made no reply, and with his eyes fixed on the girl, he listened to a voice that spoke within him; he fancied he saw again the living portrait of his mother, and said to himself, "the same look, at once gentle and tender! the smile full of kindness! poor mother, poor sister! mercedes," he added in a louder voice, "do you remember your grown-up brothers, who loved you so dearly?" "come, come," pepe exclaimed, stamping his foot angrily, "that is not fair, brother! you keep our bills in the water like a lot of ducks, and confiscate the girl's kind looks. if she is really our deeply-regretted mercedes, speak; ¡caray! we have as much right to embrace her as you have, and are all longing to do so." "you are right," pedrito answered; "forgive me, brothers, but joy rendered me egotistic. yes, it is our dear little sister, so embrace her." the bomberos did not wait for the invitation to be repeated, and without asking the slightest explanation from pedrito, disputed with each other as to who should devour her with caresses. the maiden, who was deeply affected, and whom the indians had not accustomed to such happiness, yielded to the intoxication of joy. while they were indulging in these transports, pedrito had lit a fire and prepared a substantial meal, composed of fruit and a leg of guanaco. they sat down and ate with good appetites. pedrito recounted his adventures at the tree of gualichu, without omitting a single detail. his story occupied a long time, for it was at times interrupted by the young men, who laughed most heartily at the tragi-comical incidents of the scene between the matchi and gualichu. "do you know," lopez said to him, "that you have been a god?" "a god who ran a greater risk of becoming immortal than he cared for," pedrito replied; "for i feel that i love life since i have found the child again. well, here she is, and he will be a clever fellow who takes her from us again. still, we cannot keep her with us and let her share our precarious existence." "that is true," the other brothers said. "what is to be done?" pepe muttered sadly. "our poor sister would die," said pedrito; "we cannot make a female bombero of her, drag her after us into danger, or leave her alone." "i shall never be alone when with you, my kind brothers." "our life is at the mercy of an indian bullet. the fear that you may fall again into the hands of the aucas or the puelches troubles me; and if you remained with us and shared our dangers, i should turn a coward, and not have the courage to perform my duties as bombero." "during the ten years we have been prowling about the pampas," pepe remarked, "we have broken with all our old acquaintances." "suppose, though," lopez observed, "we find her a safe shelter? i have an idea." "out with it." "you remember the capataz of the estancia de san julian, what is his name?" "don blas salazar." "the very man," lopez continued; "i fancy we have saved his life and his master's ere now, and that both owe us a candle as thick as my arm in gratitude." "don valentine and his capataz," juan said, "would have yielded their skins to that demon of a pincheira, who wished to flay them alive, had it not been for our rifles." "that is our affair. lopez is right." "don valentino passes for a good-hearted man." "he has, i think, a daughter whom he tenderly loves, and will understand the difficulty we are in." "yes," said pepe, "but we cannot go to carmen." "let us ride to the estancia, then; it will only take us a couple of hours." "we will be off," said pedrito; "juan and lopez will remain here, while pepe and i escort the chica. kiss your brothers, mercedes. now then, pepe; you two keep good watch and expect us at sunset." mercedes waved a parting farewell to her brothers, and, escorted by pepe and pedro, started at a gallop for san julian. at about three o'clock they perceived, fifty yards from them, the estancia, which don valentine and his daughter had reached hardly two hours before. the estancia of san julian, undoubtedly the richest and strongest position on the entire patagonian coast, stood on a peninsula six miles in circumference, covered with wood and pastures, on which upwards of two thousand head of cattle grazed at liberty. surrounded by the sea, which forms a natural fortification, the strip of land, twenty feet in width at the most, was guarded by a battery of five heavy guns. the house, which was surrounded by lofty parapeted and bastioned walls, was a species of fortress, capable of sustaining a regular siege, thanks to eight guns, which, planted on the four bastions, defended the approaches. it was composed of a large main building with a terraced roof, having ten windows on the frontage, and with two wings. a large flight of steps, protected by a double curiously-worked balustrade, protected by a verandah, gave access to the rooms, which were furnished with the simple and picturesque luxury peculiar to the spanish farms of america. between the house and the wall, in which there was, opposite the steps, a cedar gate five inches thick, and lined with strong iron plates, extended a large english garden, well wooded and beautifully laid out. the space left free behind the farm was occupied by the corrals in which the cattle were shut up at night, and an immense courtyard in which the annual slaughtering took place. this white house was gay and pleasant, and could be seen for some distance off, half-hidden by the branches which crowned it with foliage. from the first floor windows there was a view on one side of the sea, on the other of the rio negro, which ran capriciously through the plain like a silver thread, and was lost in the azure distance of the horizon. ever since the last war with the indians, ten years back, and during which the estancia was all but surprised by the aucas, a _mirador_ had been built on the roof of the main building, where a sentry stood day and night, ordered to watch and announce the approach of strangers upon a buffalo horn. in addition, the isthmus battery was guarded by six men, ready to discharge the guns at the slightest alarm. hence, when the bomberos were still some distance from the estancia, their coming had been signalled, and don blas salazar, accompanied by patito, was standing behind the battery in order to challenge them when they came within hail. the bomberos were aware of the orders, which are common to all the spanish establishments, especially on the borders, where people are exposed to the continual depredations of the indians. on coming within twenty paces of the battery, the two men stopped and waited. "who goes there?" a voice shouted. "friends?" pedrito answered. "who are you?" "bomberos." "good; what do you want?" "to speak to the señor capataz, don blas salazar." "why," blas himself exclaimed, "it is pedrito." "yes, yes, don blas," pedrito said, "and i recognized you at once, but duty is duty. this is my brother pepe, at your service." "as he has been before, don blas, by your leave," pepe said, insinuatingly. "that is true, lower the drawbridge." the bomberos entered, and the bridge was immediately pulled up after them. "¡caray! what a pleasant surprise, my friends," the capataz said, "we see you most remarkably seldom. come to my house, and while we drain a cup, you will tell me what brings you here, and it must be a serious matter, if i know you." "very serious indeed," pedrito answered. "patito," said blas, "you stay here; i am going to the estancia." the capataz mounted his horse, and drew up alongside pedrito. "may i ask, caballero, without indiscretion, who that girl dressed in the indian fashion is? she is white, is she not?" "she is our sister, capataz." "your sister, don pedro! are you joking?" "heaven forbid?" "i was not aware you had a sister, so forgive me, for i am not a sorcerer." the horsemen had arrived at their destination. the capataz dismounted, the bomberos followed his example, and followed him into a spacious ground floor room, where an elderly, healthy-looking woman was busy peeling indian corn. it was don blas's mother, and don valentine's nurse. she greeted the newcomers with a good-humoured smile, offered them seats, and went to fetch a jug of chicha, which she placed before them. "to your health, señores," said the capataz, after filling the pewter cups to the brim. "the sun is confoundedly hot, and travellers will find this refreshing." "thanks," said pedrito, who had emptied his glass. "come, what have you to tell me? speak freely; unless," blas added, "my mother is in your way. if so, the worthy woman would go into the next room." "no," pedro said, eagerly; "no! the señora, on the contrary, must remain, for what we have to say everybody may hear, and especially your mother; we have come here on the subject of our sister." "i do not wish to offend you, don pedro," the capataz interrupted him, "but you did wrong in keeping the young lady with you, for she cannot share all the perils of your diabolical life, can she, mother?" the old lady gave a nod of assent, and the brothers exchanged a hopeful glance. "you can do what you please, of course," don blas continued; "everybody is at liberty to arrange his life as he pleases, provided that it be honestly. but now to business." "your remark, don blas," pedrito said, "overwhelms us with joy. you are a man of good counsel and good heart." and without farther delay, he told mercedes' singular story. toward its close doña salazar left the room, unnoticed by her son or the bomberos. "you are a worthy man, don pedro," don blas exclaimed. "yes, deuce take me if you are not, though the bomberos generally are considered sorry fellows. you have judged me rightly, and i thank you for thinking of me." "then you consent?" pepe asked. "one moment, sapristi! let me conclude," the capataz said, as he filled the glasses again, "here's to your health, and that of the señorita. i am only a poor fellow, and a bachelor in the bargain, hence my protection would compromise a young lady's reputation, for tongues are wicked here as elsewhere, and though i live with my mother, an excellent woman, a wicked word is soon uttered. señores, a girl's reputation is like an egg; once cracked it cannot be mended. you understand?" "what is to be done?" pedrito muttered with discouragement. "patience, compadre! i am nothing myself, but, canario, don valentine cardoso, my master, is kind, he is fond of me, and has a charming daughter; i will plead your sister's cause to him." "the cause is already gained, my friend," said don valentine, whom doña salazar had informed of the bomberos' wishes. doña concha, who accompanied her father, had been greatly affected by the story of mercedes' misfortunes; a good action had tempted her heart, and she begged her father to take charge of the bomberos' sister, who would be a companion for her. pepe and pedrito knew not how to express their gratitude to señor cardoso. "my friends," the latter said, "i am only too happy to discharge my debt to you. we have an old account outstanding between us. eh, blas! and if my daughter still has a father, she owes it to you." "oh, señor!" the two young men protested. "my daughter, conchita, will have a sister, and i two daughters instead of one. do you wish it so, conchita?" "i thank you, father," as she repeatedly kissed mercedes. "my dear girl," she added, "kiss your brothers and follow me to my apartments; i will myself give you the articles of clothing you most require, and enable you to get rid of this heathen costume at once." mercedes threw herself into her brother's arms with tears. "come, come, little maid," doña concha said, as she drew her away, "do not cry thus, you will see them again, wipe your eyes, for i mean you to be happy, do you understand? come, smile at once, my darling, and follow me." the sentinel's horn at this moment announced that a stranger was asking admission to the estancia. "thanks, once again, don valentine," pedrito said, "we go away with minds at rest." "good-bye, till we meet again, my friends." pedrito and pepe, light both in body and mind, left the estancia, and crossed on their passage a horseman, who was coming up to the steps at a sharp trot. "that is strange," said pedrito, "where have i seen that man? i do not know, but i feel certain i have met him before." "do you know don torribio carvajal?" the capataz asked. "i am not aware if that is the caballero's name, who he is, or where i have seen him; still, i am certain that we met a very little while ago." "ah!" "good-bye, don blas, and thank you," the bomberos said, as they shook his hand. chapter ix. don sylvio d'arenal. an hour before the bomberos' arrival at the estancia, a visitor had presented himself, who was eagerly greeted by don valentine and his daughter. this visitor, about eight-and-twenty years of age, and elegantly built, possessed the manners of a man of distinction, and a clever, noble face. his name was don sylvio d'arenal, and he belonged to one of the richest and most respected families in buenos aires. the death of a relative had endowed him with a fortune of , piastres a year; that is to say, about one hundred thousand a year--a fortune large even for this country, where gold is so common. the family of don sylvio and of don valentine, both originally from spain, and connected by ancient ties, had ever lived on a footing of the greatest intimacy. the young man and the young lady were educated together, and hence, when her handsome cousin came to say good-bye to her, and told her of his departure for europe, where he was to travel for some years to complete his education, and assume elegant manners, doña concha, who was at that time twelve years of age, felt a great vexation. since their childhood, unconsciously, they loved each other with the simple gentle affection of youth, which only thinks of happiness. don sylvio went away, bearing his love with him, and conchita retained him in her heart. only a few days previously the young man had returned to buenos aires, and after making a tour through the most renowned cities of the civilized world, hastened to arrange his affairs. then he freighted a schooner, and set sail for carmen, burning with desire to see again the woman he loved, and whom he had not seen for three years--his conchita, the pretty child who, he thought, had, doubtless, become a lovely and accomplished maiden. at carmen he found don valentine's house empty, and from the information he received from _tío_ peralta, the old negro, he rode at a gallop to the estancia of san julian. the surprise and joy of don valentine and his daughter were extreme. conchita was especially happy, for she thought daily of sylvio, and saw him through her recollections, but at the same time she felt in her heart an emotion of mingled pleasure and sorrow. sylvio perceived it, understood that he was still loved, and his happiness equalled that of doña concha. "come, come, children," the father said with a smile, "kiss each other; i permit it." doña concha offered don sylvia her blushing forehead, which he respectfully touched with his lips. "what sort of kiss do you call that?" don valentine continued, "come, come, no hypocrisy! kiss one another openly; hang it all! do not play the coquette, conchita, because you are a pretty girl, and he is a handsome fellow; and you, sylvio, who fall here like a bombshell without notice, do you suppose, if you please, that i had not guessed for what reason you made a sea voyage of several hundred leagues? is it for my sake you have hastened here from buenos aires? you love each other, so kiss like lovers and betrothed people, and if you behave yourselves you will be married in a few days." the young folks, affected by these kind words and this merry humour, fell into the arms of the worthy man, in order to conceal their emotion. "children," he said, "the rubicon is past; indulge your joy at meeting after so lengthened a separation. it is the last, for you have met again forever." "oh, forever," the young people repeated. "let us kill the fatted calf, as the prodigal child has come back. don sylvio, you will remain here, and not return to carmen, except to be married. does that suit you?" "yes," said sylvio, looking amorously at conchita, "on condition that it is soon, father." "that's the way with lovers; they are always eager and impatient. everyone in his turn; i was like that and as happy, then our children take our places, and the happiness of old men is produced by their happiness." one of those sweet and intimate conversations then began, in which the recollections of the past and the certainty of speedy happiness were blended. they were interrupted by doña salazar entering the room. don sylvio proceeded to his apartment, while concha and her father followed the old lady to the bomberos. don valentine, surprised and irritated by the unexpected arrival of don torribio carvajal, resolved to get rid of him, and come to an end with this mysterious man. "you did not expect me so soon?" don torribio said, as he leapt from his horse, and bowed to the master of the house. "i did not expect you at all; the less so because you spoke only yesterday, if i have a good memory, of a journey." "that is true," he said with a smile, "but who knows yesterday what will take place tomorrow? then you, too," don torribio continued, as he followed don valentine to the drawing room, "did not even dream yesterday of leaving el carmen." "well, as you know, we estancieros are often compelled to go to our estates suddenly, from one moment to another." "the same thing happens to me. i am, like you, compelled to live as a country gentleman for some time." "then you are living at your estancia?" "yes, we are neighbours, and you will be condemned to my presence, unless--" "you will always be welcome." "you are most polite," said don torribio, seating himself in an easy chair. "i am afraid, though, that i shall not long enjoy the pleasure of being your neighbour." "why so?" "it is possible that i may return to carmen within a week." "then you have only paid a passing visit here?" "not exactly. i had intended to remain here some months, but, as you said just now, who knows what the morrow will bring forth?" the two speakers, like practised duellists, before crossing weapons and dealing a decisive blow, were feeling each other's strength by quickly parried feints. "may i be allowed to pay my respects to doña concha?" don torribio asked. "she will soon be here. just imagine, my dear neighbour, that through a concourse of extraordinary circumstances we have just taken charge of a girl of rare beauty, who has been two years a slave of the indians, and whom her brothers brought to me scarce an hour ago, after having miraculously saved her from the hands of the pagans." "ah!" torribio said, in a choking voice. "yes," don valentine continued, without noticing the young man's emotion; "her name is mercedes, i believe; she appears very gentle; you know my daughter, she is wild about her already, and at this moment she is taking off her indian clothes, and clothing her in a decent fashion." "very good; but are you sure that this woman is what she seems to be? the indians are villains, as you are aware, and this--" "mercedes." "mercedes is perhaps an indian spy." "for what object?" "what do i know? can we trust anybody?" "you are mistaken, don torribio. i can trust the men who brought her to me." "watch her; take my advice." "but she is a spaniard." "that proves nothing. look at pincheira; is he not an ex-officer of the chilian army? he is now a chief of one of the principal patagonian nations, and the most cruel adversary of the spaniards." "pincheira, that is different." "as you please," said don torribio, "i trust that you may be right." as don torribio uttered these words, doña concha appeared, accompanied by don sylvio. "don torribio," said the estanciero, "i have the honour to present to you don sylvio d'arenal." "i believe," said torribio, "that i have already had the honour of meeting this gentleman." "nonsense! it cannot have been in america, most certainly, for don sylvio has been away for three years." "no, don valentine; it was in paris." "your memory is faithful, sir," don sylvio replied, "we met at the house of the marchioness de lucenay." "i was not aware of your return to america." "i only reached buenos aires a few days ago; this morning i was at carmen, and now i am here." "already here!" don torribio could not refrain from saying. "oh!" concha's father said, with a marked accent, "this rather hasty visit was so natural, that my daughter and i heartily pardoned don sylvio." "ah!" don torribio muttered, to say something, for he understood that he had a rival before him. doña concha, carelessly reclining on a sofa, anxiously followed the conversation, while playing with a fan that trembled in her hand. "i hope, sir," don torribio said courteously, "that we shall renew here the imperfect friendship commenced in madame de lucenay's _salons_." "unluckily," don valentine interrupted, in order to prevent don sylvio answering, "señor d'arenal will be unable to accept your kind invitation, for immediately after his marriage he intends to travel with his wife, since that is the fashion nowadays." "his marriage!" don torribio said, with perfectly well-played astonishment. "were you ignorant of it?" "yes." "what a careless fellow i am! my happiness makes me lose my head. i am like these two children, but pray excuse me." "sir!" "certainly; for are you not one of our best friends? we have no secrets from you. don sylvio d'arenal is about to marry my daughter; the match has been arranged for a very long time." don torribio turned pale; a mist passed before his eyes, he felt a deadly agony in his heart, and thought he was going to die. doña concha curiously followed his secret thoughts upon his face; but, feeling that all eyes were fixed upon him, the young man made a superhuman effort, and said to the young lady in a soft voice, and without any apparent emotion-- "may you be as happy, señorita, as i wish you. the first wish, people say, is efficacious, so accept mine." "i thank you, sir," doña concha answered, deceived by don torribio's accent. "as for you, señor d'arenal, your happiness will make many men jealous; for you are taking away the most precious pearl in the rich casket of the argentine republic." "i will strive, señor, to be worthy of her; for i love her so dearly." "they love one another so dearly," the father said with cruel simplicity. the young lovers exchanged a glance full of hope and happiness. neither don valentine's last remark, nor the look of the betrothed couple, was left unnoticed by don torribio, who though not letting anything be seen, received this double dagger thrust, and concealed his grief beneath a smile. "by jove, neighbour," the father continued, "you will be present at the festival of betrothal, and give up your evening to us." "impossible, señor; important business calls me to my estancia, and, to my great regret, i must leave you." "still, if my daughter joined with me--" "if i," don sylvio said, "dared--" "you quite confound me; but, on my honour, i must be gone. the sacrifice i make at this moment is the more painful to me," he added, with a sardonic smile, "because happiness generally flies so fast that it is impossible to catch it up, and it is folly to neglect the opportunity." "i fear no misfortune now," said doña concha, looking at don sylvio. carvajal gave her a look full of indefinable meaning, and replied with a shake of the head. "i trust you are saying the truth, señorita, but there is a french proverb." "what is it?" "'twixt cup and the lip there's many a slip.'" "oh, the ugly proverb!" conchita exclaimed, in some embarrassment, "but i am not a french woman, and hence have nothing to fear." "that is true." and don torribio, without adding a word, bowed, and left the room. "well, my friend," the estanciero said, "what do you think of that man?" "he has a look deep as an abyss, and his words are bitter; i know not why, but i feel sure he hates me." "i hate him too," said concha, with a shudder. "perhaps he loved you, conchita, for is it possible to see and not love you?" "who assures you that he is not meditating a crime?" "this time, señorita, you are going too far; he is a gentleman." "_¿quién sabe?_" she replied, remembering don torribio's words, which had already caused her a shudder. chapter x. the virgin forest. on leaving the estancia of san julian, don torribio carvajal was a prey to one of those cold, concentrated passions, which slowly collect in the mind, and at length burst out with terrible force. his spurs lacerated the sides of his horse, which snorted with pain, and doubled its furious speed. where was don torribio carvajal going in this way? he did not know himself. he saw nothing, heard nothing. he revolved sinister plans in his brain, and leaped torrents and ravines without troubling himself about his horse. the feeling of hatred was alone at work within him. nothing refreshed his burning forehead, his temples beat as if about to burst, and a nervous tremor agitated his whole body. this state of over-excitement lasted some hours, during which his horse devoured space. at length the noble steed, utterly exhausted, stopped on its trembling knees, and fell on the sand. don torribio rose and looked wildly around him. he had required this rude shock to restore a little order to his ideas, and recall him to reality. an hour more of such agony and he would have become a raving lunatic, or have died of an apoplectic fit. night had set in, thick darkness covered the landscape, and a mournful silence prevailed in the desert where chance had carried him. "where am i?" he said, as he tried to discover his whereabouts. but the moon, concealed by clouds, shed no light; the wind blew violently; the branches of the trees clashed together, and in the depths of the desert the howling of the wild beasts began to mingle the deep notes of their voices with the hoarse mewlings of the wild cats. don torribio's eyes sought in vain to pierce the obscurity. he went up to his horse, which was lying on the ground and panting heavily; moved with pity for the companion of his adventurous journeys, he bent over it, placed in his waist belt the pistols that were in the holsters, and unfastening a gourd of rum hanging from his saddlebow, began washing the eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth of the poor beast, whose sides quivered, and which this seemed to restore to life. half an hour passed in this way; the horse, somewhat refreshed, had got on its legs, and with the instinct that distinguishes the race had discovered a spring close by where it quenched its thirst. "all is not lost yet," don torribio muttered, "and perhaps i shall soon succeed in getting out of this place, for my friends are waiting for me, and i must join them." but a deep roar broke forth a short distance away, repeated almost immediately from four different quarters. the horse's hair stood on end with terror. even don torribio trembled. "malediction!" he exclaimed, "i am at a watering place of the cougars." at this moment he saw, about ten paces from him, two eyes that shone like live coals, and looked at him with strange fixedness. don torribio was a man of tried courage, audacious, and even rash on occasions; but alone in the gloomy solitude in the midst of the black night, surrounded by ferocious beasts, he felt fear assail himself against his will; he breathed with difficulty; his teeth were clenched, an icy perspiration poured down his whole person, and he was on the point of abandoning himself to his fate. this sudden discouragement disappeared before a powerful will, and don torribio, sustained by the instinct of self-preservation, and that hope which springs eternal in the human breast, prepared for an unequal struggle. the horse burst into a snort of terror, and ran off. "all the better," its rider thought, "perhaps it will escape." a frightful concert of howls and roars broke out on all sides at the sound of the horse's flight and huge shadows bounded along past don torribio. a violent blast swept the sky, and the moon lit up the desert with its mournful, sickly rays. not far off the rio negro ran between two scarped banks, and don torribio saw all round him the compact masses of a virgin forest, an inextricable chaos of rocks piled up pell-mell, and of fissures out of which clumps of trees grew. here and there creepers were intertwined describing the wildest curves, and only stopped their ramifications at the river. the soil, composed of sand and that detritus which abounds in american forests, gave way beneath the foot. don torribio now discovered where he was he was more than fifteen leagues from any habitation, on the outskirts of an immense forest, the only one in patagonia which no ranger had as yet been bold enough to explore, such horror and mystery did its gloomy depths appear to reveal. near the forest a limpid stream burst through the rocks, whose banks were trampled by numerous traces of the claws of wild beasts. this stream served them, in fact, as a watering place, when they left their dens after sunset, and went in search of food and drink. as a living testimony of this supposition, two magnificent cougars, male and female, were standing on the bank, and watching with anxious eyes the sporting of their cubs. "hum," said don torribio, "these are dangerous neighbours." and he mechanically turned his eyes away. a panther, stretched out on a rock in the position of a watchful cat, fixed its inflamed eyes upon him. torribio, who was well armed according to the american fashion, had a rifle of wondrous accuracy, which he had leant against a rock close to him. "good," he said, "it will be a tough fight at any rate." he raised his gun, but at the moment when he was about to fire, a plaintive mewling made him raise his head. a dozen _pajiros_ and _subaracayas_ (wild cats of great size), perched on branches of trees, were looking down at him, while several red wolves were crouching in front of him. a number of vultures, urubús, and caracaras, with half-closed eyes, were seated on the surrounding rocks, and apparently awaiting the hour for their meal. don torribio jumped up on a rock, and then, by the help of his hands and knees, gained, after extraordinary difficulties, a sort of natural terrace situated about twenty feet above the ground. the frightful concert formed by the denizens of the forest, whom the subtlety of their scent attracted one after the other, increased more and more, and overpowered the very sound of the wind which raged in the ravines and forest clearings. the moon was once more hidden behind clouds, and don torribio found himself again in darkness; but if he could not distinguish the wild beasts near him, he guessed and almost smelt their presence; he saw their eyeballs flashing in the gloom, and heard their roars constantly coming nearer. he set his feet firmly on the ground, and cocked his revolver. four shots were followed by four howls of pain, and the noise produced by branch after branch in the fall of the wounded wild cats. this attack aroused a sinister uproar. the red wolves rushed with yells on the victims, for which they contended with the urubús and vultures. a rustling in the leaves reached the ear of the brave hunter, and a mass it was impossible clearly to distinguish cleft the space, and lodged with a roar on the platform. with the butt of his rifle he struck out in the darkness, and the panther, with a broken skull, rolled to the base of the rock. he heard a monstrous battle, which the cougars and wild cats waged with the wounded panther, and intoxicated by his triumph, and even by his danger, he fired two shots into the crowd of obstinate enemies snarling below him. suddenly all these animals, ceasing their contest as if by common consent, united against the man, their common foe, and their rage was turned against the rock, from the top of which don torribio appeared to defy them all. they climbed up the projections. the wild cats were the first to arrive, and fast as torribio felled them others leaped upon him. he felt his strength and energy gradually diminishing. this struggle of a single man against a multitude of ferocious brutes had something grand and poignant about it. don torribio, as if suffering from a nightmare, struggled in vain against the swarms of assailants that were constantly reinforced. he felt on his face the warm, fetid breath of the wild cats and red wolves, while the roars of the cougars and the mocking miauling of the panthers filled his ears with a frightful melody that gave him a vertigo. hundreds of eyes sparkled in the shade, and at times the heavy wings of the vultures and urubús lashed his forehead, which was bathed in a cold perspiration. in him every feeling of self had died out: he no longer thought; his life, so to speak, had become entirely physical; his movements were mechanical, and his arms rose and fell to strike with the rigid regularity of a pendulum. already several claws had been buried deep in his flesh. wild cats had seized him by the throat, and he had been compelled to struggle with them to make them loose their hold; his blood was flowing from twenty wounds, not mortal it is true, but the hour was approaching beyond which human strength cannot go; don torribio would have fallen from his rock and perished under the teeth of the wild beasts. at this solemn moment, when all seemed to desert him, a loud cry burst from his bosom--a cry of agony and despair of undefinable expression, which was echoed far and wide by the rocks. it was the last protest of the strong man who confesses himself vanquished, and who, before falling, calls his fellow man to his aid, or implores the help of heaven. he cried, and a cry responded to his! don torribio amazed, and not daring to count on a miracle in a desert which no human being had ever yet penetrated, believed himself under the impression of a dream or an hallucination; still, collecting all his strength, and feeling hope rekindled in his soul, he uttered a second cry, louder and more ear-piercing than the first. "courage!" this time it was not echo that answered him. courage! that one word reached him on the wings of the wind, though faint as a sigh. like the giant antaeus, don torribio, drawing himself up, seemed to regain his strength and recover that life which was already slipping from him. he redoubled his blows at his innumerable enemies. several horses were galloping in the distance; shots lit up the darkness with their transient gleams, and men, or rather demons, dashed suddenly into the thick of the wild beasts, and produced a fearful carnage. suddenly don torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled on the platform, struggling with them. the wild beasts had fled before the newcomers, who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay during the rest of the night. two of these men, holding lighted torches, began seeking the hunter, whose cries of distress had besought their help. he was lying senseless on the platform, surrounded by ten or a dozen dead wild cats, and holding in his stiffened fingers the neck of a strangled pajiro. "well, pepe," a voice said, "have you found him?" "yes," was the reply; "but he appears to be dead." "caray! that would be a pity," pedrito continued, "for he is a fine fellow. where is he? "on this rock." "can you bring him down with the help of lopez?" "nothing easier." "make haste, in heaven's name!" pedrito said. "each minute's delay is, perhaps, a year's life slipping from him." lopez and pepe raised don torribio by the head and feet, and with infinite precautions transported him from the improvised fortress where he had so long fought, and laid him on a bed of leaves juan had got ready near one of the fires. "canario!" pedrito exclaimed, on seeing the gory man's miserable appearance; "poor devil! how they have served him out! it was high time to help him." "do you think he will recover?" lopez asked eagerly. "there is always hope," pedrito answered sententiously, "where life is not extinct. let us have a look at him." he bent over don torribio's body, drew his glistening knife, and placed the blade between his lips. "not the slightest breath," pedrito said, shaking his head. "are his wounds serious?" lopez asked. "i do not think so. he has been worn out by fatigue and emotion, but he will soon open his eyes again, and in a quarter of an hour, if he think proper, he can get into the saddle again. it is surely he," pedrito added, in a low voice. "whence comes your thoughtful air, brother?" "it is because this man, in spite of his european dress and thorough appearance of a white, resembles--" "whom?" "the indian chief, with whom we fought at the tree of gualichu, and to whom we owe mercedes' safety." "you must be mistaken." "not the least in the world, brothers," the eldest replied authoritatively. "when hidden in the trunk of the sacred tree, i had leisure to study his features, which have remained graven on my mind. besides, i recognize him by this gash which i made on his face with my sabre." "that is true," the others said in surprise. "what is to be done?" "what is the meaning of this disguise?" "heaven alone knows," pedrito answered, "but he must be saved." the bomberos, like all wood rangers living far from the colony, are obliged to cure their own wounds, and hence acquire a certain practical knowledge of medicine through employing the remedies and simples in use among the indians. pedrito, assisted by pepe and juan, washed don torribio's wounds with rum and water, moistened his temples, and puffed tobacco smoke up his nostrils. the young man gave an almost insensible sigh, stirred slightly, and opened his eyes, which wandered round vacantly. "he is saved!" said pedrito; "now leave nature to act, for she is the best physician i know." don torribio raised himself on an elbow, passed his hand over his forehead, as if to regain his memory and thought, and said, in a weak voice-- "who are you?" "friends, sir--fear nothing." "i feel as if every bone in my body were broken." "there is no danger, sir; with the exception of the fatigue, you are well as we are." "i hope so, my worthy friends; but by what miracle did you arrive in time to save me?" "your horse performed this miracle; had it not, you were lost." "how so?" torribio asked, his voice growing gradually stronger, and already able to rise. "this is how it was--we are bomberos--" the young man gave a sort of nervous start, which he suddenly checked. "we are bomberos, and watch the indians, especially at night. accident brought us to these parts. your horse was flying with a pack of red wolves at its heels; we freed it from these brutes; then, as it seemed to us probable that a ready saddled horse could not be without an owner in this forest, where no one ventures, we set out in search of the rider. your cry guided us." "how can i pay my debt to you?" torribio asked, offering his hand to pedrito. "you owe us nothing, sir." "why?" "here is your horse, caballero." "but i should like to see you again," he said, before starting. "it is unnecessary; you owe us nothing, i tell you," said pedrito, who held the horse by the bridle. "what do you mean?" don torribio insisted. "the bombero," pedrito replied, "has paid today the debt contracted yesterday with nocobotha the ulmen of the aucas." don torribio's face was covered with a deadly pallor. "we are quits, chief," pedrito continued, as he let go the bridle. when the rider had disappeared in the darkness, pedrito turned to his brothers-- "i know not why it is," he said, with a sigh of relief, "but i feel happy at owing nothing to that man." chapter xi. the chase of the Ñandus. at the estancia of san julian, the hours passed away pleasantly, in talking and dreams of happiness, and don valentine shared the joy of his two children. don torribio, since the official announcement of doña concha's marriage, had not been seen again either at san julian or carmen, to the great amazement of everybody. mercedes, gentle and simple, had become the friend, almost the sister of concha. the frank and pealing laugh of the girls cheered the echoes of the house, and caused the capataz to grow pensive, for, at the sight of the bomberos' sister, he had felt his heart turn towards her, like the heliotrope to the sun. don blas, resembling a soul in purgatory, prowled round mercedes at a distance, to look at her unperceived. everybody at the estancia had observed the worthy man's distress, and he alone, in spite of his heavy sighs, did not know what it all meant. they ventured to ridicule him, though without wounding his feelings, and laugh at his singular ways. one fresh november morning, shortly after sunrise, there was a great commotion at the estancia of san julian. several horses, held by black slaves, were stamping impatiently at the foot of the steps; servants were running backwards and forwards; and don blas, dressed in his best clothes, was awaiting his master's arrival. at length don valentine and don sylvio appeared, accompanied by the two ladies. at the sight of mercedes, the capataz felt fire rise from his heart to his face; he drew himself up, curled his moustache cordially, and gave his well-beloved a tender and respectful glance. "good day, blas, my friend," don valentine said to him cordially. "i fancy we shall have a fine day's sport." "i think so too, excellency; the weather is superb." "have you chosen quiet horses for my daughter and her companion?" "oh, excellency," the capataz answered; "i lassoed them myself on the corral. i answer for them, or my head. they are real ladies' horses--lambs." "we are easy in mind," said doña concha, "for we know that don blas spoils us." "come, to horse, and let us start." "yes, it is a long ride from here to the plain of the Ñandus (a species of the ostrich)," said blas, with an affectionate glance at mercedes. the little party, composed of twenty well-armed men, proceeded to the battery, where patito lowered the drawbridge. "you must double your vigilance," the capataz said to the gaucho. "don't be alarmed, señor blas. good luck to you and the honourable company," patito added, waving his hat in the air. "raise the drawbridge, patito." "anyone who gets into the estancia, capataz, will be sharper than you and i." in patagonia, at a short distance from the rivers, all the plains are alike; sand, ever sand, and here and there some stunted bushes. such was the road to the plain of the Ñandus. don valentine had invited his future son-in-law to an ostrich hunt, and, as may be supposed, conchita wished to be of the party. ostrich hunting is one of the great amusements of the spaniards in patagonia and the argentine republic, where those birds are found in great numbers. the ostriches usually live in small families of eight or ten, scattered along the edges of marches, pools, and lakes; and they feed on fresh grass. faithful to the native nook, they never leave the vicinity of the water, and, in the month of november, they lay their eggs, which are frequently fifty to sixty in number, in the wildest part of the desert, and only sit on them at night. when incubation is over, the bird breaks with its beak the addled eggs, which are at once covered with flies and insects, that serve as food for the young. a characteristic feature of the manners of the ostriches is their extreme curiosity. at the estancias, where they live in a domestic state, it is not uncommon to see them stalking about among the groups and looking at people who are conversing together. on the plains their curiosity is often fatal to them, for they come up without hesitation to investigate everything that appears to them strange. here is a rather good indian story referring to this. the cougars lie down on the ground, raise their tail in the air, and wave it in all directions. the ostriches, attracted by the sight of this strange object, come up in their simplicity; the rest can be guessed--they become victims to the tricks of the cougars. the hunters, after a rather quick ride for nearly two hours, reached the plain of the Ñandus. the ladies dismounted on the bank of a stream and four men, with their rifles on their hips, remained with them. the hunters exchanged their horses for others black slaves had led by the bridle for them, and then divided into two equal bands. the first, commanded by don valentine, entered the plain, forming a semicircle, so as to drive the game into a ravine, situated between two sand ridges. the second band, having at its head the hero of the day, don sylvio, formed a long line, which constituted the other moiety of the circle. this circle was gradually contracted by the advance of the horsemen, when a dozen ostriches showed themselves; but the male bird, that stood as sentry, warned the family of its danger, by a cry sharp as a boatswain's whistle. the ostriches fled rapidly, in a straight line, and without looking back. all the hunters started after them at a gallop, and the hitherto silent plain became very animated. the horsemen pursued the luckless birds at the full speed of their steeds, and raised clouds of fine dust as they passed. about fifteen yards behind the game, still galloping and digging their spurs into their horses' flanks, they bent forward, whirling round their heads the terrible bolas and hurling them with all their strength at the animals. if they missed their throw they stooped down on one side, without stopping, and picked up the bolas, which they threw again. several families of ostriches had got up, and the chase soon grew most exciting. yells and shouts were heard all around; the bolas whistled through the air, and twined round the necks, wings, and legs of the ostriches, which, wild with terror, made a thousand feints and turns to escape their enemies, and tried, by flapping their wings, to wound the horses with the species of nail with which the extremity of their wings is armed. several startled horses reared, and embarrassed by three or four ostriches that got between their legs, fell, bearing their riders to the ground with them. the birds, taking advantage of the confusion, escaped to the side where other hunters were waiting for them, where they fell under a shower of bolas. each hunter dismounted, killed his victim, cut off its wings as a trophy, and then resumed the chase with fresh ardour. ostriches and hunters fled and galloped rapidly as the pampero. some fifteen ostriches strewed the plain, and don valentine gave the signal to retreat. the birds which had not fallen hurried with wings and feet to a place of safety. the dead were carefully picked up, for the ostrich is excellent eating, and the americans prepare from the meat off the breast, a dish renowned for its delicacy and exquisite flavour, which they call _picanilla_. the slaves went to look for the eggs, which are also highly esteemed, and obtained a large quantity of them. although the hunt had only lasted an hour the horses were panting; hence the return to the estancia took place but slowly. the hunters did not return till a little before sunset. "well, don valentine," asked patito, "has anything of importance happened during my absence?" "nothing, excellency!" patito replied, "a gaucho, who said he had come from carmen on important business, insisted on being let in to speak with don sylvio d'arenal." this gaucho, for whom patito had been very careful not to lower the drawbridge, was his dear and honest friend corrocho, who, it may be remembered, wanted to kill him cleverly. corrocho had gone off in a very bad temper, without leaving any message. "what do you think about this gaucho's arrival, don sylvio?" don valentine asked, when they were comfortably seated in the drawing room. "it does not surprise me," sylvio answered. "my own house is being got ready at carmen, and, no doubt, my orders are wanted." "that is possible." "i am hurrying on the workmen, father. i am so eager to be married that i fear lest my happiness should slip from my grasp," said don sylvio. "and i too," said doña concha, her face becoming purple. "there is a little article for you," said don valentine. "the hearts of girls are at work when you least expect it. patience, miss, for three days longer." "my good father!" conchita cried, as she hid her face in don valentine's bosom, that the tears of joy might not be seen. "oh! in that case i will start tomorrow for carmen, especially as i am awaiting from buenos aires papers indispensable for our marriage--our happiness," don sylvio added, looking at his well beloved. "i hope," she said, "you will start very early, so as to return in the morning of the next day." "i shall be here tomorrow evening. can i remain long away from you, my dear conchita?" "no, don sylvio, no. i implore you. i do not wish you to return at night." "why not?" the young man asked, slightly piqued at this remark. "i really cannot tell you; but i feel frightened at the thought of your crossing the pampa alone and by night." "oh!" she continued, seeing don sylvio about to speak, "i know that you are brave, almost too brave; but gaucho bandits abound in the plain. do not expose a life which is so dear to me, which is no longer your own, sylvio; and listen to the warnings of a heart which is no longer mine." "thanks, conchita. still i have no one to fear in this country, where i am a stranger. moreover, i never leave the estancia without looking like a theatrical bandit, so covered am i with weapons." "no matter," doña concha continued; "if you love me--" "if i love you!" he interrupted passionately. "if you love me, you must take pity on my anxiety, and--obey me." "come, come!" said don valentine, with a laugh. "on my soul you are mad, conchita, and your romances have turned your head. you only dream of brigands, ambuscades, and treachery." "what would you have, father? is it my fault? the foreboding of a coming misfortune agitates me, and i wish to leave nothing to chance." "do not cry, my darling child," the father said to concha, as she burst into tears. "kiss me. i was wrong. your betrothed and myself will do all you please. does that satisfy you?" "do you really mean it?" doña concha asked, smiling through her tears. "oh, señorita!" sylvio exclaimed in a tone of tender reproach. "you render me perfectly happy. i only ask one thing. let blas salazar accompany you." "as you please." "do you promise it?" "on my honour." "then," don valentine said, gaily, "all is for the best, little maid. i suspect, conchita, that you are somewhat jealous, and afraid of losing sylvio." "perhaps so," she said, maliciously. "such things have happened," her father said, teasingly. "so, don sylvio, you intend starting tomorrow morning?" "at sunrise, in order to avoid the great heat; and, as i do not hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again before i go, i will take leave of you at once." "kiss one another, children! when persons part, especially if they love, they ought to embrace as if they were never going to meet again in this world." "really, father," said conchita, "you have such ideas--" "i was only in fun, my dear child." "pleasant journey, don sylvio; and we shall see you again the day after tomorrow." "you may be sure of that." the next morning at sunrise, don sylvio d'arenal left the estancia. at the bottom of the steps the capataz and two slaves were waiting for him. involuntarily the young man, before starting, turned his head towards the window of his beloved which suddenly opened. "farewell," said doña concha, with some emotion in her voice. "farewell," sylvio replied, wafting her a kiss, "till we meet again." "that is true," she said. "we shall soon meet again." the capataz gave a heavy sigh; he was, doubtless thinking of mercedes, and saying to himself that don sylvio was a very lucky man. don sylvio, whose heart was contracted, though he knew not the cause, gave a last signal to his betrothed, and soon disappeared among the trees. doña concha followed him for a long time with her eyes, for a longer time with her heart; and soon as she was alone, she felt sadness assail her, and she wept and sobbed bitterly. "o heaven!" she exclaimed, "protect him." chapter xii. the tolderÍa. on the banks of the rio negro, about five and twenty leagues from carmen, stood the toldería, or village of the pass of the guanacos. this toldería, a simple temporary encampment, like all the indian villages, whose nomadic manners do not agree with fixed settlements, was composed of about one hundred _chozas_, or cabins irregularly grouped one after the other. each choza was formed of ten stakes fixed in the ground, four or five feet high at the sides, and six to seven in the centre, with an opening to the east, so that the owner of the choza might in the morning throw water in the face of the rising sun, a ceremony by which the indians implore gualichu not to injure their families during the course of the day. these chozas were covered with horses' hides sewn together, and always open at the top to leave a free escape for the smoke of the fires in the interior, which fires equal in number the wives of the occupant, as each squaw must have a fire of her own. the leather that served as the exterior wall was carefully dressed and painted of different colours, and these paintings--rendered the general appearance of the toldería more cheerful. in front of the entrance of the chozas, the lances of the warriors were fixed in the ground. these lances, light and made of flexible bamboos, sixteen to eighteen feet in length, and armed at their extremity with a spear a foot long forged by the indians themselves, grow in the mountains of chili, near valdivia. the liveliest joy appeared to prevail in the toldería. in some chozas indian women, provided with spindles handed down from the incas, were winding the wool of their flocks; in others, women were weaving their ponchos, so renowned for their delicacy and perfection of work, at looms of primitive simplicity which are another inheritance from the incas. the young men of the tribe, assembled at the centre of the toldería in a large square, were playing at _pilma_, a singular game of which the aucas are very fond. the players trace a large circle on the ground, which they enter and range themselves in two rows facing each other. the champions of each party holding a ball full of air in their hands, one side on the right, the other on the left hand, throw these balls before them. they raise the left leg, catch the projectile in their hand and throw it at the adversary, whom they must hit on the body under penalty of losing one point. this produces a thousand strange contortions on the part of the opponent, who stoops down or gives a spring to avoid being hit. if the ball leaves the circle, the first player loses two points, and runs after it. if, on the contrary, the second player is hit, he must catch the ball and throw it at his adversary, whom he is bound to hit or lose a point. the next player on the opposite side begins the game again, and so on to the end. we can understand what bursts of laughter greet the grotesque postures of the players. other indians of a riper age were gravely playing a sort of game at cards, with squares of leather clumsily illumined with figures of different animals. in a choza, larger and better painted than the rest, which was the abode of the _carasken_ or first chief, whose lances, covered at the end with red stained leather, were the distinctive mark of power, three men were sitting over a decaying fire, and talking regardless of the noises outside. these men were nocobotha, pincheira, and churlakin, one of the principal ulmens of the hills, whose squaw had given birth that same morning to a son, which was the cause of the great rejoicings among the indians. churlakin received the orders of the great chief for the ceremonies usual on such occasions, bowed respectfully and left the choza, which he soon re-entered, followed by his wives and all his friends, one of whom held the infant in his arms. nocobotha placed himself between pincheira and churlakin, at the head of the party, and proceeded toward the rio negro. the newborn babe, wrapped in woollen swaddling clothes, was plunged into the water, and then they returned in the same order to churlakin's choza, in front of which lay a plump filly, thrown down and with its four feet secured. a poncho was spread under the animal's belly, and the relations and friends deposited on it, one after the other, the presents intended for the child, consisting of spurs, weapons, and clothes. nocobotha, who had consented to act as godfather, placed the infant in the midst of the presents; and churlakin laid open the filly's flanks, tore out its heart and handed it while still warm to nocobotha, who employed it to make a cross on the infant's forehead, while saying, "your name will be churlakinkco." the father took the child back, and the chief, raising the bleeding heart, said thrice in a loud voice, "let him live! let him live! let him live!" then he recommended the child to gualichu, the genius of evil, praying him to render him brave and eloquent, and terminated the enunciation of his vows with the words, "above all, let him never become a slave." when the ceremony was ended, the filly was cut into pieces, large fires were kindled, and all the relations and friends began a feast which would last until the immolated filly had entirely disappeared. churlakin prepared to sit down and eat like his guests, but at a sign from nocobotha, he followed the great chief into his choza, where they resumed their seats at the fire, pincheira joining them. upon a signal from nocobotha the squaws went out, and after a short reflection he began to say-- "brothers, you are my confidants, and my heart is laid open before you like _chirimoya_, to enable you to see my most secret thoughts. you were perhaps surprised tonight at finding that i did not count you among the chiefs selected to act under my orders." the two chiefs gave a nod of denial. "you neither doubted my friendship nor supposed that i had withdrawn my confidence from you? far from it. i reserve you two for more important enterprises, which require sure and well-tried men. you, churlakin, will mount without delay, here is the quipu." and he handed the ulmen a small piece of willow wood, ten inches long and four wide, split down the centre and holding a human finger. this piece of wood, covered with thread, was fringed with red, blue, black, and white wool. churlakin received the quipu respectfully. "churlakin," nocobotha continued, "you will serve me as _casqui_ (herald), not to the patagonian natives of the pampas, whose caraskens, ulmens and apo-ulmens were present at the solemn meeting at the tree of gualichu, although you may communicate with them on your road; but i send you specially to the nations and tribes scattered far away, and living in the woods, such as the ranqueles, the guerandis, the moluches, and the pecunches, to whom you will present the quipu. turning back thence to the desert, you will visit the charruas, bocobis, tebas, and guaramis, who can place about twenty-five thousand warriors under arms. the task is difficult and delicate, and that is why i entrust it to you, whom i regard as my second self." "my brother's mind can be at rest," churlakin said, "i shall succeed." "good," nocobotha continued, "i have made nineteen knots on the black wool to indicate that my brother left my side on the nineteenth day of the moon; on the white wool twenty-seven knots, to signify that in twenty-seven days the warriors will assemble under arms on the island of ghole-isechel, at the fork of the rio negro. the chiefs who consent to join us will make a knot on the blood red wool, and those who refuse will knot the red and blue wool together. has my brother understood?" "yes," churlakin answered. "when must i start?" "at once, for time presses." "in ten minutes i shall be far from the village," said churlakin, as he bowed to the two chiefs and left the choza. "and now it is our turn," nocobotha said with a friendly accent, when he found himself alone with pincheira. "i am listening." the superior chief, then putting off the composed manner and language of an ulmen, employed the european style with surprising readiness, and laying aside the indian dialect, addressed the chilian officer in the purest castilian, spoken from cape horn to magellan. "my dear pincheira," he said to him, "during the two years since my return from europe, i have attached to myself most of the carmen gauchos--utter scoundrels, i allow--and bandits exiled from buenos aires; but i can count on them, and they are devoted to me. these men only know me by the name of don torribio carvajal." "i was aware of the fact," pincheira said. "ah!" nocobotha remarked, darting a glance of suspicion at the chilian. "everything is known on the pampa." "in a word," nocobotha continued, "the hour has arrived when i must reap what i have sown among these bandits, who will be useful to us against their countrymen, through their knowledge of the spanish tactics, and their skill in the use of firearms. reasons, which would take me too long to explain, prevent me from turning my attention to these gauchos, so you will introduce yourself to them in my name. this diamond," he added, drawing a ring from his finger, "will be your passport; they are warned, and if you show it to them they will obey you as myself. they assemble at a low pulquería in the población del sur, at carmen." "i know it well. what am i to do with the fellows?" "a very simple matter. every day, a devoted man, panchito by name, will transmit you my orders, and inform you of what is going on among us. your duty will be to hold these bandits in readiness, and on a day i shall indicate to you, you will stir up a revolt in carmen. this revolt will give us time to act outside, while a part of your people are scouring the pampas, and freeing us, if possible, from those infernal bomberos, who watch our manoeuvres, and are almost as crafty as our indians." "confound it," said pincheira, "that is a tough job!" "you will succeed, if not through friendship for me, at least through hatred of the spaniards." "not to deceive your expectations, i will do more than man can do." "i know it, and thank you, my dear pincheira. but you must be prudent and skilful! our plans are suspected, and we are watched. to employ an indian metaphor, i entrust to you a mole's job. you must dig a mine under carmen, which will blow them all up when it explodes." "caray," said pincheira, as he warmly pressed nocobotha's hand, "you are one of the men i like. trust to me, to my friendship, and, above all, to my hatred." "we shall all be avenged," nocobotha added. "may satan hear you!" "to work, then! but, in the first place, lay aside your uniform as a chilian officer. disguise yourself as well as you can, for your face is familiar at carmen." "yes," pincheira replied, "and in an hour you will not recognize me yourself. i will dress myself as a gaucho, for that will not be noticed. farewell." "one word yet." "say it." "the man i send to you will arrange a fresh meeting place for every night in order to foil the spies." "all right." "good-bye." pincheira left the choza; and the indian chief looked after him for a moment. "go," he said, "ferocious brute, to whom i throw a people as prey. go! miserable instrument of projects whose greatness you do not understand," he added, as he looked at the indians, "they are making holiday, playing like children, and unsuspicious that i am about, to make them free. but it is time for me to think of my own vengeance." and he quitted the choza, leapt on a horse, which an indian held by the bridle, and started at a gallop on the road to carmen. at the end of an hour he stopped on the banks of the rio negro, dismounted, assured himself by a glance that he was alone, took off a leathern valise fastened to his saddle, and entered a natural grotto a few paces distant. there he quickly doffed his indian garb, dressed in handsome european attire, and set out again. it was no longer nocobotha, the supreme chief of the indian nations, but don torribio carvajal, the mysterious spaniard. his pace was also prudently altered, and his horse carried him at a gentle trot toward carmen. on coming near the spot where, on the previous evening, the bomberos had halted with their sister to hold a consultation, he dismounted again, sat down on the grass, and took from a splendid cigar case made of plaited panama straw, a cigar, which he lit with the apparent tranquillity of a tourist who is resting in the shade, and is admiring the beauty of the scenery. during this time the footfall of several horses disturbed the solitude of the pampa, and a hoarse voice struck up an indian song well known on this border:-- "i have lost my neculantey in the country of tilqui. oh! ye damp plains, which have changed him into shadows and flies." "oh, oh! the song of the maukawis already!" don torribio said in a loud voice. "does not the note of the maukawis announce sunrise?" the voice asked. "you are right, panchito," don torribio replied, "we are alone, so you can come, as well as your comrade, who, i suppose, is your friend corrocho." "you have guessed right, excellency," said corrocho, as he came from behind a sandhill. "faithful to our word," said panchito, "we have arrived at the spot and hour appointed." "that is well, my good fellows, and thanks. come here, but remain on horseback. are you both devoted to me?" "to the last drop of our blood, excellency," the two gauchos said. "and you do not despise money?" "money can only injure those who have none," the sententious panchito remarked. "when it is honourably gained," corrocho added, with an ape-like grimace. "of course, of course," the young man said, "it is a matter of fifty ounces." the two bandits had a shudder of joy, and their tiger cat eyeballs flashed. "caray," they said. "does that suit you?" "fifty ounces? of course it is a tough job." "perhaps so." "no odds." "there will be a man to kill." "all the worse for him," said panchito. "does it suit you still?" "more than ever," corrocho grunted. "in that case listen to me attentively," don torribio carvajal said. chapter xiii. the pampero. during the whole course of their journey, which lasted two hours, don sylvio and don blas did not exchange a single word, to the great surprise of the capataz. don sylvio was thinking of his approaching happiness, which was slightly over-clouded, through the sadness of the leave-taking, and doña concha's presentiments. but these vague alarms were dissipated like the morning mist by the sun, so soon as he arrived at el carmen. don sylvio's first care was to visit the house to which he would lead doña concha, after the nuptial ceremony was performed. though comfort does not exist in south america, it was a fairy palace, thronged with all the splendours of luxury. a band of english, french, and italian workmen, collected with extraordinary difficulty, were toiling without relaxation, under the orders of a skilful architect, in putting the final touch to this creation out of the arabian nights, which had already swallowed up large sums, and which would be in a condition to receive its new hosts within eight and forty hours. at carmen nothing was talked of but the splendours of don sylvio d'arenal's palace; the curious crowd that collected in front of the gates related marvels about this princely residence. don sylvio, satisfied at seeing his dream accomplished, smiled as he thought of his betrothed, and after complimenting the architect and the workmen, proceeded to pay a visit to the governor, where important business summoned him. the commandant gave the young man, with whose father he had been intimate, a gracious reception. still, in spite of the courteous manner of don antonio valverde, sylvio fancied he could notice traces of secret annoyance in his face. the governor was a brave and honourable soldier, who had rendered good service in the war of independence, and the government had placed him on honourable half pay, by entrusting to him the command of carmen, a post he had held for fifteen years. courageous, strict, and just, the commandant kept the gauchos in order by the punishment of the _garrota_, and foiled the repeated attempts of the indians, who came even under the guns of the fortress, to harry cattle, and carry off prisoners, especially women. gifted with but a poor intellect, but supported by his own experience, and the esteem of all the honest people in the colony, he was not deficient in a certain energy of character. physically, he was a tall, stout man, with a rubicund, pimpled face, full of self-satisfaction, who listened to people speaking, and carefully weighed his words, as if they were made of gold. don sylvio was surprised at the anxiety which disturbed the usual placidity of the colonel's face. "it is a miracle," the latter said, as he cordially pressed the young man's hand, "for which i thank nuestra señora del carmen, to see you here." "in a few days you will not be able to reproach me thus," don sylvio replied. "then, it is coming off soon?" don antonio said, rubbing his hands. "yes, i hope to be married within four days. i have come to carmen today to give the master's look at the final arrangements of my house." "all the better," the commandant replied; "i am enchanted that you are about to settle among us, don sylvio; your betrothed is the prettiest girl in the colony." "i thank you in her name, colonel." "do you spend the day at carmen?" "yes, and i intend returning to the estancia at an early hour tomorrow." "in that case you will breakfast with me, without ceremony?" "willingly." "that is famous," said the commandant, as he rang a bell. a negro slave appeared. "this gentleman is going to breakfast with me. by the bye, don sylvio, i have a large packet of papers addressed to you, which arrived last night from buenos aires by express." "heaven be praised! i feared some delay. these papers are indispensable for my marriage." "all is for the best," don antonio remarked. the young man placed the packet in his coat pocket, and the slave opened the door again. "your excellency is served," he said. a third guest was waiting for them in the dining room. it was major bloomfield, a tall, dry, punctilious englishman, who had been second in command at carmen for twenty years past. don antonio and the major had fought side by side in their youth, and had a fraternal attachment. they sat down, after the usual ceremony, to an abundantly and delicately covered table, and at the dessert the conversation, which had suffered through the appetite of the guests, became thoroughly friendly. "by the way," don sylvio asked, "what is the matter with you, don antonio? you do not seem in your usual good spirits." "that is true," the commandant said, as he sipped a glass of jerez de la frontera; "i am sad." "you sad? hang it, you alarm me; if i had not seen you breakfast with such a good appetite, i should fancy you ill." "yes," the old soldier answered with a sigh; "my appetite is all right." "what else can annoy you?" "a foreboding," the commandant said seriously, "a foreboding," don sylvio repeated, remembering doña concha's parting words. "i, too, feel anxious, in spite of myself," the major added; "there is something, i know not what, in the air. a danger is suspended over our heads, but whence it will come, the lord alone knows." "yes," don antonio remarked, "he knows; and, believe me, don sylvio, he gives warnings to men when they are in danger." "major bloomfield and you, both old soldiers, brave as their swords, cannot be frightened at a shadow; so what are your reasons?" "i have none," said the colonel; "still-- "come, come, don antonio," sylvio remarked gaily, "you are suffering from what the major would call blue devils. it is a species of spleen produced by the english fogs, and not at all at home in this country, which is full of sunshine. take my advice, colonel; have yourself bled, and in two days the fog over your imagination will be dissipated; do you not agree with me, major?" "i wish it may be so," the old officer answered, with a shake of his head. "nonsense!" sylvio remarked, "life is too short as it is, then why sadden it by chimeras?" "on the frontier men can be sure of nothing." "the indians have become lambs." "excellency," a slave said, opening the door, "a bombero, who has arrived at full speed, requests an interview." the three gentlemen looked at one another. "let him come in," the colonel said. heavy footsteps echoed in the passage, and the bombero appeared; it was pedrito. he certainly had at this moment the look of a bearer of ill tidings, and seemed to have just come out of a fight. his ragged clothes were stained with blood and mud, an unusual pallor covered his face, and he leant on his rifle, for he was exhausted by his hurried ride. "take this glass of wine," said don sylvio, "it will restore you." "no," pedrito answered, thrusting the glass away, "it is not wine i thirst for, but blood." the bombero wiped his dank forehead with the back of his hand, and said in a sharp, quick voice, which conveyed terror to the hearts of the three hearers-- "the indians are coming down." "have you seen them?" the major asked. "yes," he replied hoarsely. "when?" "this morning." "far from here?" "twenty leagues." "how many are they?" "count the grains of the sand on the pampa, and you will have their number." "oh," the colonel exclaimed, "that is impossible, the indians cannot thus organize an army at a day's notice. terror must have made you see double." "terror, nonsense!" the bombero answered disdainfully, "in the desert we have not time to know it." "but, tell me, how are they coming?" "like a hurricane, burning and plundering everything on their passage. they form a vast semicircle, whose two extremities are gradually drawing nearer to carmen. they act with a certain method, under the orders of a chief who is, doubtless, practised and skilful." "that is serious," the commandant said. the major shook his head. "why did you warn us so late?" he said to the bombero. "this morning at sunrise my three brothers and i were surrounded by two or three hundred indians, who seemed to emerge suddenly from the ground. what a fight it was! we defended ourselves like lions; juan is dead, pepe and lopez are wounded, but we escaped at last, and here i am." "return to your post as speedily as possible; a fresh horse will be given you." "i am off." "well," said don antonio, after pedrito had retired, "what do you think of our presentiments, don sylvio? but where are you going?" he asked the young man, who had risen from his chair. "i shall return to the estancia of san julian, which the indians have, perhaps, attacked. oh, doña conchita!" "san julian is fortified, and safe against surprise. still, try and induce don valentine and his daughter to return to carmen, where they will be in greater security." "thanks, colonel, i will try, and do you offer a bold front to the enemy. as you are aware, the indians only attempt surprise, and so soon as they see that their plans are discovered, they are off again." "may heaven hear you." "good-bye for the present, gentlemen, and i wish you success," said the young man, as he pressed the hand of the two old soldiers. don blas salazar, who was waiting for don sylvio in the courtyard, ran up to him so soon as he perceived him. "well," the capataz said, "you know the news. the indians are making a descent." "i have just been told so." "what are we going to do?" "return to the estancia." "hum, don sylvio, that is not at all prudent; the indians will, doubtless, bar our way." "we will pass over their bodies." "of course, of course, but suppose they kill you?" "nonsense! doña concha is expecting me." "as you please," the capataz answered, "all is ready for our departure; the horses are here, saddled and all. let us be off." "thank you, blas, you are a good fellow," sylvio said, as he held out his hand to him. "i am aware of it." "off we go." don sylvio and blas, escorted by the two slaves, walked their horses through the crowd of idlers who had assembled in front of the fortress to hear the news; then they went at a sharp trot down the rather steep hill that leads from the citadel to old carmen, and at length galloped towards san julian. they had not noticed the behaviour of sundry suspicious looking fellows who had followed them at a distance ever since they started, and were talking eagerly together. the weather was stormy, and the clouds were gray and low. the air seemed motionless, a deep silence brooded over the solitude; a white cloud, light as a sand drift, collected in the southwest, which advanced, and each moment grew larger. all announced the approach of the pampero, that simoom of the prairies. the clouds collected, the dust rose and ran along in dense columns, suspended between earth and sky. the clouds enveloped the plain as in a mantle, whose comers the gusts lifted at every moment, and which lightning flashes rent here and there. puffs of hot air traversed the space, and suddenly the tempest rushed up furiously from the horizon, sweeping the pampa with irresistible violence. the light was obscured by masses of sand; a thick gloom covered the earth, and the thunder mingled its terrible artillery with the howling of the hurricane. enormous masses were detached from the lofty cliffs, and fell with a frightful din into the sea. the travellers got off their horses, and sheltered themselves behind rocks on the seashore. when the worst of the storm had passed, they set out again, don sylvio and blas riding silently side by side, while the two slaves, twenty yards ahead, trembled at the thought of seeing the indians appear. the storm had slightly diminished in intensity, the pampero had carried its fury further, but the rain fell in torrents, and thunder and lightning followed each other uninterruptedly. the travellers could not continue their journey, for they ran the risk of being thrown at every moment by their horses, which reared in affright. the ground and the sand, moistened by the rain, did not offer a single spot where the brutes could set their feet in safety; they stumbled, slipped, and threatened to fall. "whatever we may do," said the capataz, "it is impossible to go any further, so we had better halt again, and seek refuge under that clump of trees." "very good," don sylvio said, with a sigh of resignation. the little party proceeded toward a wood that bordered the road. they were only some fifteen paces from it, when four men, whose faces were concealed by black masks, dashed out of the wood at a gallop, and silently attacked the travellers. the slaves rolled off their horses, struck by two bullets the strangers had fired, and writhed on the ground in convulsions of agony. don sylvio and blas salazar, astonished at this sudden attack on the part of men who could not be indians, for they wore the dress of gauchos, and their hands were white, immediately dismounted, and making a rampart of their horses, awaited the attack of their adversaries, with levelled rifles. bullets were exchanged on both sides, and a fierce combat, silent and unequal, began; one of the assailants fell with his skull cleft to the teeth; and don sylvio passed his sword through the chest of another. "well, my masters," he shouted to them, "have you had enough? or does another of you wish to form the acquaintance of my blade? you are fools, ten of you should have come to assassinate us." "what!" the capataz added, "are you going to give in already? you are clumsy fellows for cut-throats, and the man who pays you ought to have made a better choice." in fact, the two masked men had fallen back; but immediately four other men, also masked, appeared, and all six rushed at the spaniards, who firmly awaited their attack. "hang it! pardon our having calumniated you; you know your trade," said don blas, as he fired a pistol into the thick of his adversaries. the latter, still silent, returned the fire, and the fight began again with fresh fury. but the two brave spaniards, whose strength was exhausted, and whose blood was flowing, fell in their turn on the corpses of two other assailants, whom they sacrificed to their rage before succumbing. so soon as the strangers saw don sylvio and blas were motionless, they uttered a cry of triumph. paying no heed to the capataz, they raised don sylvio d'arenal's body, laid it across one of their horses, and fled away at full speed along the devious path. seven corpses strewed the ground. after the assailants the vultures arrived, which hovered and circled above the victims, and mingled their hoarse croaks of triumph with the sound of the hurricane. chapter xiv. preparations for a siege. "it is a heavy blow," the governor said, after don sylvio had left the room; "but, ¡viva dios! the pagans shall find someone to talk to. major, warn the officers to assemble at one, for a council of war, so that we may arrange the defensive operations." "that is the plan," the major answered; "i am satisfied with you. you draw yourself up haughtily, and i find you again, at last, my dear fellow." "ah! my dear bloomfield, the presentiment of an unknown misfortune depresses one's courage, while danger, however great it may be, once we have it face to face, ceases to cause us terror." "you are right," said the major, who left the room to carry out his chiefs orders. the officers of the garrison, six in number, without counting the colonel and the major, were soon assembled in the governor's rooms. "sit down, caballeros," he said to them, "you are doubtless aware of the motive of this meeting. the indians are threatening the colony, and a powerful league has been formed among the patagonians. what forces have we at our disposal?" "we are not deficient in arms and ammunition," the major replied. "we have more than two hundred thousand cartridges, and abundance of muskets, pistols, sabres, and lances; and our guns are amply supplied with round shot and canister." "very good." "unfortunately," the major continued, "our troops--" "how many have we?" "our effective strength should be one hundred and twenty, but death, illness, and desertions, have reduced it to scarce eighty." "eighty!" the colonel said, with a shake of his head. "in the presence of a formidable invasion, as the common safety is at stake, can we not compel the inhabitants to get under arms?" "it is their duty," one of the officers said. "an imposing force must crown our walls," don antonio continued; "and this is what i propose. all the negro slaves will be enlisted, and formed into a company; the merchants will form a separate corps; the gauchos, well armed and mounted, will defend the approaches to the town, and act as patrols outside. we shall thus muster seven hundred men, a sufficient force to repulse the indians." "you know, colonel," an officer objected, "that the gauchos are utter scoundrels, and that the least disturbance is to them an excuse for plundering." "on that account they will be employed for the external defence. they will be encamped outside the colony, and, to diminish the chances of revolt among them, they will be divided into two squadrons, one of which will scout, while the other is resting. in this way we shall have nothing to fear from them." "as for the creoles, and strangers residing in the colony," the major remarked, "i think it will be as well to give them orders to come to the fortress every night, to be armed in case of necessity." "excellent. the number of bomberos will be doubled to prevent a surprise, and barricades raised at each entrance to the town, to protect us from the terrible charges of the indians." "if that is your opinion, colonel," the major interrupted, "a sure man ought to be sent off to the estancias, to tell them to seek refuge in carmen, when they are warned of the approach of the enemy by their cannon shots." "do so, major, for the poor people would be piteously massacred by the savages. the inhabitants of the town must also be warned that all their females must withdraw into the fort, when the pagans come in sight, unless they wish them to fall into the hands of the indians. in the last invasion, if you remember, they carried off upwards of two hundred. and now, gentlemen, all that is left to us is to do our duty truly, and confide in the will of heaven." the officers rose, and were about to take leave of their chief, when a slave announced another bombero. "show him in, and pray be seated again, caballeros." the scout was pepe, pedrito's brother. although he had started five hours after his brother from their place of ambush, he was scarce an hour behind him. his great pace indicated the gravity of the news he brought. he had retained his cunning look, although his face was pale, blood-stained, and black with gunpowder. his torn clothes, the handkerchief fastened round his head, his arm in a sling, but above all, four scalps hanging from his girdle, showed that he had ridden through the indians in order to reach carmen. "pepe," the governor said to him, "your brother has just left me." "i know it," colonel. "is your news worse than his?" "that depends on the way in which you take it." "what do you mean by that?" "why," the bombero said carelessly, "if you are fond of your ease, i have not come to reassure you; if you feel a desire to mount your horse and to see the patagonians, you will have no occasion to indulge your fancy, as what i have to tell will cause you immense pleasure." in spite of the gravity of the circumstances, and the anxiety of his hearers, they smiled at pepe's singular arguments. "explain yourself, pepe," the governor said to him. "ten minutes after my brother's departure," the bombero went on, "i examined some bushes which i had seen moving in an unusual manner. i discovered a negro, who was pale in spite of his black hide, and whose tongue terror appeared to have tied. at length he made up his mind to speak. he belonged to a poor old gentleman of the name of ignacio bayal, one of the two men who alone escaped from the massacre on the peninsula of san josé, during the last invasion of the patagonians. the slave and his master were gathering wood, when the indians appeared a short distance off; the slave had time to conceal himself behind a pile of _biscacha_, but the old man fell beneath the blows of the savages, who attacked him with lances and _bolas perdidas_. i began reassuring the negro, but at the same moment perceived a multitude of indians driving prisoners and cattle before them, burning and destroying everything as they passed in full march on carmen. the estancia of punta rosa and that of san blas are at this moment a pile of ashes, and serve as tombs to the owners. that is my news, excellency, and you can do what you like with it." "and those bleeding scalps?" the major asked, pointing to the human trophies that hung from the bombero's belt. "that is a personal matter," pepe replied with a smile. "through friendship for the indians, i preferred to lift their hair rather than leave them my head." "perhaps it is only a band of plunderers of the pampas, who have come to steal cattle, and will retire with their booty." "hum," said pepe, with a shake of his head, "they are too numerous, too well equipped, and are advancing with too much regularity. no, colonel, it is not a skirmish, but an invasion." "thanks, pepe," the colonel said, "i am satisfied with you. return to your post, and redouble your vigilance." "juan is dead, colonel, and that will tell you how fond my brothers and i are of the indians." the bombero retired. "you see, gentlemen," said don antonio, "that time presses. go all of you to your duties." "one moment," said major bloomfield, "i have one more suggestion to make." "speak, my friend." "we are, so to speak, lost in this corner of the earth, and remote from any help; we may be besieged in carmen, and forced into surrender by starvation. under these imperious circumstances, i ask that a ship should be sent to buenos aires to describe our situation, and request reinforcements." "what do you think, gentlemen, of the major's suggestion?" the colonel asked, looking inquiringly at the officers. "it is excellent, colonel, excellent," one of them answered. "the suggestion will be carried out at once," don antonio continued, "and now, gentlemen, you can withdraw." the defence of the fort and town was organized with a rapidity inconceivable to anyone acquainted with spanish sloth; danger gave courage to the timid and doubled the ardour of the others. two hours later the cattle had been driven in and corraled, the streets barricaded, the guns sponged out, and the women and children shut up in buildings adjoining the fort, a vessel was sailing for buenos aires, and one hundred and fifty resolute men were intrenched at población del sur, the houses of which they had loop-holed. the governor and major bloomfield seemed to be everywhere at once; encouraging the troops, ordering the workmen, and imparting energy to all. about three in the afternoon, a violent breeze sprang up, which bore from the southwest the smoke occasioned by firing the country, and hiding distant objects. the inhabitants of carmen were devoured with anxiety. such is the simple and ingenious plan the southern nations employ to favour their invasion of the territory of the whites, to hide their manoeuvres, and conceal their numbers from the piercing eyes of the bomberos. the smoke like a floating wall, separated the indians from carmen, and in consequence of the brightness of the nights they had selected the period of the full moon. the scouts, in spite of the dense smoke that protected the enemy, arrived at a gallop one after the other, and announced that they would be before carmen during the night. in fact, the indian hordes, whose numbers incessantly increased, covered the whole extent of the plain, and advanced on the town with startling rapidity. by the governor's orders, the three alarm shots were fired. the estancieros could then be seen flocking up, driving their cattle before them, and on seeing their houses fired, and their rich crops destroyed, they shed tears of despair. these poor people encamped where they could, in the open places of the town, and after leading their wives and daughters to the fort, those who were of manly age took up arms, and rushed to the barriers and barricades, resolved to take vengeance for their ruin. the consternation and terror were general; on all sides could be heard lamentation and stifled sobs; the night arrived to add its horrors to the situation, and enfold the town in its mourning. numerous patrols traversed the streets, and, at intervals, daring bomberos slipped furtively out of the city to watch the approach of the coming peril. about two in the morning, in the midst of an impressive silence, a slight sound was audible, at first almost imperceptible, but which was every moment augmented, and, as if by enchantment, the aucas crowned the top of the barricades in población del sur, and waving lighted torches, uttered their war yell. for a moment the inhabitants fancied the town captured; but major bloomfield, who commanded this post, was on his guard against the tricks of the indians. at the moment when the aucas prepared to escalade the barricades, a sharp fusillade broke out, which hurled them to the foot of the entrenchments. the argentines dashed forward at the bayonet point, and there was a frightful medley, from which issued groans of agony, imprecations, and the harsh clang of steel against steel. this was all; the spaniards regained their position, the indians disappeared, and the town, so lately illumined by the light of the torches, fell back into shadow and silence. as the indian surprise had failed, they would either withdraw or invest the town. at daybreak, however, all the illusions of the inhabitants were dissipated--the enemy had not thought of retreating. it was a heart-rending sight! the country was devastated, and the expiring flames could still be seen in the distance. here, a band of aucas were driving horses off; there, warriors, with lances erect, were watching the movements of the townspeople; behind them squaws and children were driving cattle, which uttered long lowings; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, forced along by blows with lance staves, were holding up their suppliant arms to the town walls. patagonians were planting poles and erecting toldos; and, lastly, far as eye could reach, fresh bands of indians descended into the plain from all sides. the oldest soldiers in the fort, who had been witnesses of previous wars, were amazed at the regularity of the enemy's march. the toldos were skilfully grouped; the infantry executed, with great precision, movements which they had hitherto been ignorant of, and it was an extraordinary thing, which stupefied the colonel and the major, to see the aucas form a parallel round the town, and almost instantaneously throw up earthworks, which protected them from the artillery. "_¡sangre de dios_!" the colonel exclaimed, "there is a traitor among the villains; never before have they waged war in this way." "hum!" the major muttered, biting his moustache; "if buenos aires does not send succour, we are lost." "yes, my friend, we shall leave our skins here." "how many are they, colonel?--twenty thousand; thirty thousand?" "and those who are still coming up, and who blacken the distant plains?--but what means the sound of that bugle?" four ulmens, preceded by an indian, who carried a white flag, had halted within half gunshot of the first barriers of población del sur. "they seem," the colonel said, "to be desiring a parley. do they fancy me fool enough to venture into that trap? major, just fire a round of canister into that group to teach them not to treat us as fools." "we should be wrong, colonel; let us learn what they want." "but where shall we find a man fool enough to risk his carcase among those pagans, who have neither faith nor law?" "i will go, with your permission," the major said simply. "you?" don antonio exclaimed in amazement. "yes, i. unfortunate persons have been confided to our guard and our honour. i am but a man; my life is of but little consequence for the defence of the town. i am old, colonel, and will try to save the inhabitants of carmen." the governor suppressed a sigh, and affectionately shook his old friend's hand. "go," he said with considerable emotion, "and may heaven protect you!" "thanks," major bloomfield answered. chapter xv. a brave resolve. on leaving carmen, pedrito felt a recollection of his sister aroused in his mind, and in order to warn don valentine cardoso of the invasion of the indians, he started at a gallop for the estancia, which, thanks to the speed of the fresh horse the governor had given him, he reached without a check. all was quiet at san julian, and the sentry watching in the mirador had perceived nothing alarming in the distance. patito, in the capitaz' absence, was on guard at the battery, like a faithful watchdog. "where is don blas?" the bombero asked. "at carmen, with don sylvio d'arenal," the gaucho answered. "what, have they not returned yet?" "no." "lead me to don valentine." the estanciero heartily welcomed the bombero, and sent for his sister, who arrived with doña concha. "what brings you here in such a hurry, pedrito?" "a very serious matter, don valentine," he answered, after embracing mercedes several times; "but only look, excellency, how pretty she is in her new dress! kiss me again, little sister." "have you only come to devour the girl with caresses?" don valentine asked with a smile; "if so, go on to your heart's content." "that is almost enough," pedrito replied, his eyes filled with tears. "alas! our family is diminishing daily. still," he added, changing his accent, "however great the love i bear my sister, it is not for her sake alone that i am here. but stay, excellency, that is not true; it is for her sake, her sake alone, though apparently for yours. i have just come from carmen." "from carmen?" doña concha said, involuntarily. "yes, señorita," the bombero answered, as if reading the young lady's secret thoughts, "and i saw don sylvio d'arenal there." doña concha turned red as a cherry, and was silent. "and what have you been doing in carmen?" don valentine asked. "i went to warn his excellency colonel don antonio valverde, that the indians have entered the country of the republic, plundering and burning everything on their road." "an invasion!" don valentine said, with an internal tremor. "o heavens!" the two girls exclaimed, clasping their hands with a movement of terror. "yes, excellency, an inconceivable and terrible invasion. when i had warned the governor, i remembered my sister, and came here." "you are a worthy fellow, pedrito," the estanciero said, as he offered him his hand. "you are not a brother to mercedes, but a father. but do not be frightened! the estancia is safer than carmen." "i saw that so soon as i arrived, excellency, and that removed a heavy weight which oppressed my heart. i shall now go, with almost gladness, to join my two brothers. juan died on the field--the same fate awaits us. but mercedes is happy, and i can die in peace." "oh, my kind pedrito," mercedes exclaimed, as she burst into tears, and threw herself into his arms; "must you not live for one who loves you?" "come, do not cry, little girl, but say good-bye; i must return to the plain." he tenderly embraced his sister who was still weeping, left the room, mounted his horse again, and started at a gallop. "father," doña concha said eagerly, "are we going to remain at the estancia during the invasion of the indians?" "my child, it is the safest plan." "but, don sylvio?" she added, with a delicious pout. "he will come and join us." "oh, no," she said hurriedly; "you forget, father, that the roads are impracticable, and infested with indians; i do not wish him to fall into an ambuscade of the pagans." "what is to be done?" "send him a messenger ordering him, from me, to remain at carmen, or, if he absolutely insists on returning, to take a boat; the indians will not dare attack him on the river. write to him, father; i will add a few lines to your letter, and he will not like to displease his wife." "his wife?" her father repeated with a smile. "or nearly so, as i am going to marry him in two days. you will write at once, will you not, dear father?" "i have no will but your caprices," he added, with an air of resignation. he sat down at a mahogany desk and wrote; concha, leaning smilingly over his chair, read over his shoulder. so soon as don valentine had concluded, he turned to his beloved daughter. "well, are you satisfied, little mrs. bluebeard?" he asked her. "oh, my kind father," she replied, taking his head in both her hands, and kissing him on the forehead. then, with a movement full of loving grace, she took the pen from her father's fingers, and was writing a few lines at the foot of the letter, when a great noise, mingled with shrieks, was heard outside. "o heavens!" she exclaimed, as if struck to the heart, and turning deadly pale. she rushed to the steps, and perceived patito and pedrito, carrying a man wrapped up in a cloak; other persons were collected round doña salazar, who seemed on the point of fainting. "whose is that body?" doña concha asked in a sharp, imperative voice. "it is my son's!" the heart-broken mother cried. "don blas salazar," pedrito answered. "and don sylvio?" the maiden continued, "has disappeared," pedrito said. she fell back, half dead; her father caught her in his arms, and carried her back to the drawing room. this is what had happened. pedrito, when he had got a short distance from the estancia, was all but unsaddled, by his horse suddenly shying. aroused from his reverie by the animal's terror, the horseman looked around, to discover the cause of it. judge of his surprise! at a spot which appeared to have been the scene of a desperate struggle, the damp earth retained the marks of several horses' hoofs; weapons had been thrown away there, and seven corpses lay pell-mell in pools of blood and muddy water. "what!" pedrito thought, "have the indians come this way already?" and he added, "why is it they have not stripped their victims?" he dismounted, and walked to the bodies, which he examined attentively, and felt and raised one after the other. "something that is not natural has taken place here," the bombero said; "two negroes! oh! he said, on coming to the gauchos, who are these men wearing masks? oh! oh! has it been a crime instead of an ambuscade, and a bit of spanish vengeance, instead of an indian attack? i will have a look at them." he tore from the faces of the four gauchos the strips of wool they had employed to conceal themselves. "on my word, i do not know them; who can these scoundrels be?" at the same moment, his eyes rested on another corpse, hidden by a thickly growing bush, beneath which it lay stretched out. "this man is not dressed in the same manner, so he must be one of the caballeros attacked by these villains; i will have a look at him, and perhaps he will give me the clue to this adventure." he uttered a cry on recognizing don blas salazar, the capataz of the estancia de san julian. he bent over him, raised him softly in his arms, and deposited him gently in the road, with his back leaning against a rock. "poor capataz! so brave and kind! but if i am not mistaken, i can feel a little warmth. _¡viva dios_! i should be glad if he was not dead." the bombero then opened his clothes, and saw three insignificant wounds on his chest; he hastened to bandage them carefully, and found that the flesh was scarcely cut. pedrito rubbed his hands with a satisfied air, until he discovered on the skull a fourth wound, on which the hair had clotted and stopped the flow of blood. he washed the wound, cut away the hair round it with his knife, saturated a handkerchief with water, and bound it tightly over the wound. the capataz gave a faint sigh, and moved slightly. "¡caray!" pedrito exclaimed in delight, "he is saved; wounds on the skull, when they do not kill at once, are cured in a week." by degrees the wounded man seemed to return to life, and at length opened his eyes, which gazed absently around. "ah, my good fellow, do you feel better? _caray_, do you know that you have had a narrow escape?" the capataz gave a gentle nod. "wait a minute," pedrito continued; and he thrust into his mouth the neck of the _bota_ of aguardiente, which the bomberos always carry on their saddlebow. don blas made a grimace, but soon resigning himself, he drank the liquor his physician forced down his throat; in a few minutes, his eyes sparkled with their accustomed brilliancy, and a slight flush tinged his cheeks. "thanks," he said, thrusting away the bota with his hand. "you speak, therefore you are alive, capataz. can you talk?" "yes." "without danger to yourself, señor?" "yes." "in the first place, do you recognize me?" "you are pedrito, the bombero," the wounded man said, with a smile. "i am a friend." "yes." "who put you in this charming condition?" "i do not know." "hum! how many were they?" "i am ignorant." "eh! and why did they serve you out in this way?" "i do not know." "i do not know; i am ignorant; all that is not very clear; and if you never say any more, i doubt whether the assassins will be detected. where have you come from? from carmen?" "we left carmen this morning, to--" "one moment, if you please. you said _we_, i think?" "yes, we." "who are we?" "don sylvio d'arenal, myself, and two negroes." "good. where did you separate from don sylvio?" "i did not leave don sylvio at all." "oh, nonsense!" "we were together, when masked bandits suddenly came out of this wood, and attacked us. our negroes were killed at the first discharge, but don sylvio and i got our backs against a tree behind our horses; i fought--and i can tell you no more." "this blow on the head settled you; it was, by heaven, enough to fell an ox; but you have a hard head, and lucky for you, for you will recover. so you were unable to recognize your assassins?" "yes." "just come and have a look at them with me. can you walk?" "i think so." "try." and don blas salazar got up, and tottered a few steps with extreme difficulty. "take my arm," pedrito said. the capataz, supported by the bombero, examined the faces of the gauchos. "i recognize this man," he said, pointing to a corpse; "it is corrocho. now i know the originator of the snare." "¡caray! all the better; but don sylvio's body is not here." "heaven be praised!" the capataz exclaimed, "he will have escaped, and we shall find him at the estancia." "no!" pedrito said. "what do you mean by no?" "i have just come from there, and should have seen him." "where is he?" "that's the very point; i may say, like you, i do not know, or, if you prefer it, i am ignorant." "don pedro, let us go to san julian." "i will carry you, then, at a walking pace; your head has not closed again yet, and a rapid ride would envenom the wound." "no matter; i must go there with the speed of the wind." "then you want to kill yourself?" "i do not care. i think you love don valentine cardoso and his daughter." "caray! if i love them! i would lay down my life for them." "the happiness, perhaps the life, of doña concha is at stake; you can see that mine is of no consequence." "that is true," the bombero said, with an air of conviction. "then you consent?" "i do." "thank you! one word more. if i die on the road, you will tell doña concha that the assassin--" "that the assassin--" pedrito repeated, finding the other hesitate. "but, no," the capataz continued, "it is unnecessary. god will not permit me to die before i have seen her." "as you please. let us be off." "at full speed; you promise that?" "like lightning." he remounted, placed before him the capataz, who had no horse, and who, besides, was too weak to sit one, then relaxing the bridle, and digging in his spurs, he flew along with the velocity of the phantom horse in the german ballad. pedrito's horse, when it reached the gates of the estancia, slipped with all four feet at once, and fell dead. but the bombero, who had foreseen this accident, came down on his feet, and holding in his arms his friend the capataz, whom the shocks of this infernal ride had caused to faint for the second time. patito helped the bombero to carry poor don blas as far as the house. doña concha, who had regained her senses, insisted, in spite of her father's entreaties, on remaining by the side of the wounded man. she lavished attentions on him, poured into his month a few drops of a powerful cordial, and awaited his return to life. "forgive me, señorita, forgive me," he said, as soon as he opened his eyes again and perceived her, "i could not save him; my strength deserted me." "i have nothing to forgive you, don blas," the young lady answered, who had learnt the facts from pedrito; "on the contrary, my friend, i thank you for your devotion. one word, however, when you fell was don sylvio still fighting by your side?" "yes, señorita." "then it was only after your fall that he succumbed to the numbers?" "no; don sylvio is not dead." "what makes you suppose that?" "a very simple thing: had he been killed, his body would have been found lying by my side. what interest could the assassins have in concealing a corpse, when they left seven lying in the middle of the road? if they wished to hide their crimes, a hole is soon dug in the sand." "that is true," doña concha murmured, "he still lives; but do you know the author of the crime?" "yes, señorita." "and--" the capataz looked at the persons who crowded the room. doña concha understood him, and dismissed them. pedrito was about to follow with the rest. "remain," she said to him, "you can speak before don pedro, his sister, and my father. who is the man that attacked you?" "permit me, señorita, i do not positively say that he was among the assassins, for i did not see him; but it is certainly he who let the cowards loose upon us, and directed them from a distance." "yes, don blas; he was the head, and these ten or twelve bandits were only the arms." "the very thing. among the dead i found the corpse of one of his confidants, the gaucho corrocho, whom i surprised the other day conspiring with him against you." a bitter smile for a moment curled the young lady's blanched lips. "will you tell me his name or no?" she exclaimed, stamping her foot passionately. "don torribio carvajal!" "i knew it!" she said, with an accent of superb disdain. "oh, don torribio, don torribio! where is the man to be found at this hour; where is he? oh, i would give my fortune, my life, to be face to face with him. is it in order to assassinate his rivals with impunity that this mysterious man--" she could not complete the sentence; she burst into tears, and fell into don valentine's arms, exclaiming with broken sobs-- "father, father! who will avenge me?" "señorita," said pedrito, "the man you refer to is difficult to reach." "do you know him, don pedro?" she asked with a start. "yes, señorita," he replied. "but do you know who he is?" "he is said to be a rich spaniard." "it is a mistake." "have you penetrated the mystery that surrounds him?" "yes." all drew close to pedrito. "well, don pedro?" "the name of the man you call don torribio carvajal is really nocobotha, and he is one of the principal chiefs of the aucas indians." "an indian!" the young lady exclaimed in stupor. "yes; but one of those white-skinned indians, who are descended from the incas, and call themselves children of the sun." "take care, conchita," mercedes said, "nocobotha is a terrible man." "then, all that is left me is to die," said the poor affianced, girl, as she fell into a chair. mercedes regarded her for a moment with a blended look of sorrow, compassion, and tenderness, then walked up to her and gently laid her hand on her shoulder. at this unexpected touch, doña concha started and turned round. "what do you want of me, poor child?" she asked sadly. "to save don sylvio, if he is alive," mercedes answered in a calm, firm voice. "you?" "yes, i! when i was shelterless, did you not open to me your home and your heart? you are suffering, and, in my turn, i have come to say 'here i am!'" "but what can you do, my friend?" "that is my secret. i know the indians and the way of behaving with them, and speak their language. the only condition i make is, that you promise not to leave the estancia for three days, and not make any attempt to discover what has become of your betrothed." doña concha gazed at mercedes, whose eye sparkled with a clear and bright fire, her features breathed a species of masculine grace, and so soft and calm a smile played round her rosy lips, that conchita felt herself subjugated, and, in spite of herself, hope re-entered her heart. "i swear it to you," she said, as she embraced the girl warmly. "thanks," mercedes replied. "good-bye, conchita! in three days you will have news of your betrothed, or i shall be dead." chapter xvi. the invasion. let us now give some explanations about the indian expedition, and the preparations and arrangements made by nocobotha, at the moment of attempting the siege of carmen. "if you succeed in this affair," don torribio had said to the two gauchos, after giving them orders to carry off don sylvio d'arenal, "you will receive fifty ounces more. but forget nothing, and be careful." panchito and corrocho, when left alone, shared the ounces between them with transports of joy. don torribio mounted his horse again and proceeded to carmen, where he spent several days in his house, though no one was aware of the fact. during his stay he had two interviews, under different disguises, with pincheira, at the pulquería del sur, the usual meeting place of the gauchos. each night, three or four mules, laden with bales, left the city, under the escort of indians, and proceeded in the direction of the andes. at length, one night, after a long conference with pincheira, don torribio left el carmen in his turn, his presence in the town having not even been suspected. at six leagues from carmen he found panchito and corrocho, whom he sharply upbraided for their sloth in executing his orders, and he recommended them to act as promptly as possible. on the morrow, the day of the ñandu hunt, corrocho presented himself at the gate of the estancia, which patito had refused to open. on leaving the two bandits, don torribio proceeded to the natural grotto, where we have seen him change his clothes once before. there he put on his indian trappings, and following the banks of the rio negro, galloped towards the island of ghole-isechel, where he had appointed to meet all the war detachments of the combined patagonian and araucano tribes. the night was one of the most delicious ever enjoyed in america. the fresh air, odorous with the penetrating perfumes of the flowers that grew in masses on the river banks, disposed the mind to reverie. the sky, of a dark black blue, was embroidered with stars, in the midst of which sparkled the dazzling southern cross, which the indians call _paron-chayke_. the moon poured its soft light on the sand, played on the foliage of the trees and designed fantastic forms on the sandbanks. the wind blew softly through the branches, in which the blue jay at intervals uttered the melodious notes of its plaintive song. here and there, in the distance, could be heard the hoarse roar of the cougars, the sharp whine of the panther, and the snapping bark of the red wolf. nocobotha, intoxicated by this lovely autumn night, checked his horse's speed, and allowed his thoughts to wander. the descendant of manco-capai and manco-oello, the first incas of peru, saw pass and repass before his mind the splendours of his race, which had been extinct since the death of athahualpa, the last peruvian emperor, whom pizarro's soldiers assassinated. his heart swelled with pride and joy when he thought that he was about to reconstitute the empire of his ancestors. the soil he trod was his; the air he breathed was the air of his country! he went on thus for a long time, travelling in the land of dreams. the stars began to grow pale in the sky; the dawn was already tracing a white line, which gradually became tinged with yellow and red streaks, and, at the approach of day, the breeze freshened. nocobotha, suddenly roused by the icy dew of the pampa, threw his cloak across his shoulder, with a shudder, and started again at a gallop, after looking up to heaven and muttering-- "either death or a life of liberty!" a sublime remark in the mouth of this man! young, rich, and handsome, he might have remained in paris, where he had studied, lived there like a nobleman, and enjoyed abundantly all the pleasures of this world. but, no! free from all ambitious thoughts, and without calculating on human gratitude, he resolved to deliver his country. at about eight in the morning, nocobotha halted before an immense toldería, facing the island of ghole-isechel. at this spot the rio negro attains its greatest width, and each of the arms formed by the island is about two miles and a half across. the island, that rises in the middle of the water, four leagues long and two wide, is one vast bouquet, whence the most delicious fragrance is exhaled, and in which innumerable birds sing. illumined on this day by the beams of a splendid sun, the island seemed to have been laid on the river like a basket of flowers for the pleasure of the eyes and the delight of the fancy. as far as the eye reached along the banks of the river, thousands of toldos and chozas could be seen erected close together, and their strange colours flashing in the sun. numerous canoes, made of horse hides sown together, and generally round, or hollowed out of the trunks of trees, crossed the river in every direction. nocobotha entrusted his horse to an indian woman, and walked among the toldos. in front of their openings the ostrich-plumed pennons of the chiefs floated in the breeze. he was recognized so soon as he arrived. the warriors drew up in line as he passed, or bowed respectfully before him. the veneration the southern nations have ever felt for the descendants of the incas seemed changed into a species of adoration. the bejewelled coronet that adorned his brow appeared to arouse the most lively joy in all hearts. when he reached the riverbank, a fishing canoe conveyed him across to the island, where a toldo had been prepared for him. lucaney, warned by the sentries who watched for his arrival, presented himself before nocobotha the moment he landed. "the great chief," he said, with a bow, "is returned among his sons. has my father made a good journey?" "i have made a good journey, i thank my brother." "if my father permits, i will conduct him to his toldo." "go on," the chief said. lucaney bowed a second time, and guided the great chief along a track formed through the bushes. they soon reached a toldo of brilliant colours, large and clean, the handsomest on the island, in a word. "my father is at home," lucaney said, lifting the poncho that covered the opening. nocobotha went in. "my brother will follow me," he said. the woollen curtain fell again behind the two ulmens. this abode, like the others, contained a fire, by the side of which nocobotha and lucaney seated themselves. they smoked in silence for some moments, when the great chief addressed lucaney. "have the ulmens, apo-ulmens and caraskens of all the nations and tribes assembled on the island of ghole-isechel, as i gave orders?" "they are all assembled," lucaney answered. "when will they come to my toldo?" "the chiefs are awaiting my father's good pleasure." "time is precious. before twilight we must have ridden twenty leagues. lucaney will warn the chiefs." the ulmen rose without replying and went, out. "come!" nocobotha said, so soon as he was alone, "the die is cast. i am in caesar's position, but, by heavens, like him, i will cross the rubicon." he rose and walked for more than hour up and down the toldo, immersed in deep thought. a noise of footsteps was heard; the curtain was raised, and lucaney appeared. "well?" nocobotha asked him. "the chiefs are here." "let them come in!" the ulmens, sixty at least, dressed in their richest clothes, and painted and armed for war, passed silently one after the other in front of the great chief, saluted him, kissed the hem of his robe, and ranged themselves round the fire. a troop of warriors, outside, kept listeners aloof. nocobotha, in spite of his self-command, could not restrain a movement of pride. "my brothers are welcome," he said, "i was impatiently expecting them. lucaney, how many warriors have you assembled?" "two thousand five hundred." "chamata?" "three thousand." "metipan?" "two thousand." "vera?" "three thousand seven hundred." "killapan?" "one thousand nine hundred." nocobotha wrote down on his tablets the numbers stated by the ulmens, who, after answering, ranged themselves on his right hand. "lucaney," he continued, "is pincheira's war party here?" "yes, father." "how many warriors has he?" "four thousand eight hundred." "mulato, how many have you?" "four thousand." "guaykilof?" "three thousand five hundred." "killamel?" "six thousand two hundred." "churlakin?" "five thousand six hundred." "which are the nations that accepted the quipu, and sent their warriors to the gathering place?" "all!" churlakin answered proudly. "my heart is satisfied with the wisdom of my son. what is the effective strength of these eight nations?" "twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and sixty men, commanded by the bravest ulmens." "good," said nocobotha. "the aucas and araucano chiefs here present have brought twenty-three thousand seven hundred and fifty warriors. we can also reckon on a reinforcement of five hundred and fifty gauchos, or white deserters, whose assistance will be very useful to us. the total strength of the army is ninety-four thousand nine hundred and fifty men, with whom, if my brothers place confidence in me, we shall expel the spaniards, and regain our territory within three months." "our father will command, and we obey." "never has a larger and more powerful army menaced the spanish authority since tahi mahi's attempt upon chili. the whites are ignorant of our projects, as i convinced myself at carmen. hence our sudden invasion will be to them a thunderbolt, and render them motionless with terror. on our approach they will be already half conquered. lucaney, have you distributed all the weapons i sent you from carmen to the warriors, who understand their use?" "a corps of three thousand two hundred men is armed with muskets and bayonets, and abundantly provided with powder and ball." "it is well. lucaney, churlakin, and metipan will remain with me, and aid me in communicating with the other chiefs. and now, ulmens, apo-ulmens, and caraskens of the united nations, listen to my orders, and engrave them deeply on your minds, for any disobedience or cowardice will immediately be punished by death." there was a solemn silence. nocobotha took a calm and haughty look round the assembly. "in an hour," he continued, "the army will start in close columns. a cavalry corps will protect each infantry detachment. the army will extend along a line of twenty leagues, which will be concentrated on carmen. all the chiefs will fire the country as they pass, in order that the smoke, impelled by the wind, may hide our movements and cover us like a thick curtain. the crops, estancias, and all property belonging to the whites, will be burned and levelled with the ground. the cattle will be sent to the rearguard to swell our booty. show no mercy to the bomberos, but kill them on the spot. killipan, with twelve thousand horsemen and ten thousand infantry, will command the rearguard, to which will be attached all the women of an age to fight, and it will set out six hours after the main body. bear in mind that the warriors must advance in compact bodies, and not as stragglers. be off, and make haste, for we must be in front of carmen by daybreak tomorrow." the chief bowed and silently defiled out of the toldo. a few minutes later an extraordinary animation prevailed in the immense camp of the indians. the squaws pulled down the toldos and loaded the mules; the warriors assembled to the sound of musical instruments; the children lassoed and saddled the horses; in short, hurried preparations were made for a start. gradually the disorder ceased. the ranks were formed, and several detachments started in different directions. nocobotha, standing on the top of a mound, and accompanied by his three aides-de-camp, lucaney, churlakin, and metipan, followed with a glass the movements of the army, which, within a quarter of an hour, was no longer visible. already the plain was on fire and veiled the horizon with a black smoke. nocobotha descended the hill and went to the riverbank, where the four ulmens got into a canoe, which they pulled themselves. they soon reached land, where twenty-five aucas horsemen were waiting for them. the party set out on the trail of the army--a too visible trail, alas! the country so green and beautiful that very morning was gloomy, desolated and covered with ashes and ruins. from a distance pedrito and his brothers perceived the indians, and although surrounded by a swarm of warriors, they succeeded, through their courage, in escaping from their enemies, with the exception of poor juan, who was killed by an indian lance. pepe and lopez, both wounded, went on in front to watch the movements of the invaders, while pedrito, covered with dust and blood, galloped to give the alarm at carmen. this escape singularly annoyed nocobotha and disarranged his combinations. nevertheless, the army continued its march, and at nightfall the town could be seen through the growing obscurity. at the head of one hundred picked warriors, nocobotha made a circuit and advanced on población del sur. all was silent, and the barricades seemed abandoned. the indians succeeded in scaling them, and would have carried the town, had it not been for the vigilance of major bloomfield. the great chief, not wishing to shake the confidence of his men by vain attempts, fell back and ordered a camp to be formed in front of the town. pursuing tactics hitherto strange to the indians, he made a parallel and ordered a wide ditch to be dug in the sand, the earth from which served to throw up a breastwork that defended them from the cannon. pincheira, as we know, was in carmen for the purpose of arranging a revolt among the gauchos. as nocobotha desired to come to an understanding with him as to the decisive attack, he sent towards the town a chilian deserter who knew how to play the bugle, an instrument quite unused among the aucas. this bugler bore a white flag in sign of peace, and asked for a parley. he was followed by churlakin, lucaney, metipan, and chaukata, who were ordered by the great ulmen to make proposals to the governor of carmen. the four ambassadors, standing within half gunshot from the town, with their long lances planted before them, with the ostrich plume, the symbol of their dignity, flying out, were waiting motionless on their horses. their leather armour was covered with coats of mail made of small rings, which had doubtless belonged to the soldiers of almagro or valdivia. the bugler, haughtily standing a few paces in front of them, waved his flag. the chiefs' steeds were armed with rich harness, embroidered with silver plates that sparkled in the sun's beams. the spanish pride suffered at the thought of treating on equal terms with these pagans, to whom they even refused a soul, and whom they did not recognize as men. but it was necessary to gain time; perhaps the reinforcements from buenos aires were already under weigh. the indian bugler, wearied at receiving no answer to his two first summons, blew a third peal by churlakin's order. a spanish bugler at length replied from the interior of the town, and the barrier was opened, leaving a passage for a soldier, who carried a white flag, and was followed by an officer on horseback. this officer, it will be remembered, was major bloomfield, who, as an old soldier, was unwilling to appear before the indians except in his full dress uniform. he proceeded without hesitation towards the ulmens, who, through their silver ornaments and their immobility, resembled at a distance equestrian statues. chapter xvii. the attack on poblaciÓn del sur. major bloomfield, who had made up his mind to lose his life, had no weapons, not even a sword. he halted within hearing distance, and as he spoke decently the aucas language, which he had learnt in previous campaigns, he had no need of an interpreter. "what do you want, chiefs?" he asked in a loud, firm voice, with a ceremonious bow. "are you the man whom the whites call don antonio valverde, and to whom they give the title of governor?" churlakin asked in his turn. "no; our laws prohibit a governor leaving his post; but i am second in command, and he has sent me to you." the indians seemed to consult for a moment; then, leaving their long lances planted in the ground, they advanced towards the old officer, who did not evince the slightest surprise at this movement. churlakin spoke in the name of all. "my brother is brave," he said, astonished at the major's coolness. "at my age," the old man replied, "death is a favour." "my father bears on his forehead the snow of many winters; he must be one of the wisest chiefs of his nation, and the young men round the council fire listen to him respectfully." "say no more about me," the major said; "why have you asked for this interview?" "will not my father conduct us to the council fire of his nation?" churlakin said, in an insinuating tone. "is it honourable for great warriors, formidable chiefs, thus to discuss serious affairs on horseback between two armies?" "no chief of the enemy can enter an invested town." "does my father fear that our force may take his city?" churlakin continued with a laugh, though vexed in the highest degree at losing the hope of coming to an understanding with pincheira. "i am not accustomed to fear; i only tell you a rule you are ignorant of, that is all. if this pretext is sufficient to break off the interview, you are at liberty to do so, and i will withdraw." "oh, oh! my father is quick for his age. tell me what brings you here." the ulmens exchanged a glance, and a few whispered words. at length churlakin continued-- "has my father seen the great army of the aucas?" he said. "yes," the major replied carelessly. "and has my father, who is a white man and has great learning, counted the warriors?" "yes." "ah! and how many are they, according to his calculation?" "their number is but of slight consequence to us." "still," the indian pressed, "does my father know how many they may be?" "two hundred thousand at the most." the chiefs were struck by the negligent way in which the major doubled the strength of their army. "my father," churlakin continued, "is not terrified at the number of these warriors who obey a single chief." "why should i be so?" the major said, whose attention the surprise of the ulmens had not escaped, "has not my nation vanquished more numerous armies? but we are losing our time in useless words, chief." "my father must have patience." "finish your indian circumlocutions then." "the army of the great nations is encamped in front of carmen, in order to obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have made us endure since their invasion of america." "explain yourself clearly. why do you invade our frontiers? have we failed in our engagements? of what do you complain?" "my father pretends to be ignorant of the just motives for war we have against the whites. his nation has made a treaty with the white men who dwell on the other side of the mountains, and who are our enemies; hence, his nation has no friendship for us." "chief, this quarrel is ridiculous. confess that you desire to plunder our farms, steal our cattle and horses, and i can understand you; but if we were at war with chili, you would act in the same way. the jest has lasted too long; let us come to facts. what do you want?" "my father is clever," churlakin said, with a laugh. "listen! this is what the chiefs say--'the negro ulmen, against our rights and his own, sold to my father's ancestors a land which did not belong to him, without the consent of the other ulmens of the country.'" "what next?" said the major. "the chiefs assembled round the tree of gualichu have resolved to give back to the great white chief all the objects from the first to the last formerly given to the negro ulmen, and take back the country which belongs to them." "is that all?" "all." "how long do the chiefs give the governor of carmen to discuss these propositions?" "from sunrise to sunset." "very good," the old officer said, ironically; "and supposing that the governor refuses, what will my sons do?" "the colony of the white men will be destroyed by fire, their warriors massacred, and their wives and children carried off into slavery." "i will transmit your demands to the governor, and tomorrow at sunset, you will have his answer. you will, however, suspend hostilities till then?" "keep on your guard." "thanks for your frankness, chief; i am delighted to meet an indian who is not an utter scoundrel. good-bye till tomorrow." "tomorrow!" the chief repeated, courteously, and involuntarily affected by the old gentleman's noble bearing. the major withdrew slowly to the barricades, where the colonel, alarmed by the long interview, had made all preparations to avenge the death of his old friend. "well?" he said, as he pressed his hand. "they are trying to gain time," the major answered, "in order to play us one of their demon's tricks." "what do they demand, though?" "impossibilities, colonel, and they are well aware of it, for they appeared to be laughing at us, when they submitted their absurd demands to me. the negro cacique, they say, had no right to sell his territory, which they also say we must return to them in twenty-four hours, and then came the bede-roll of their usual threats. ah! that is not all; they are ready to repay us all that the negro cacique received for the sale of his lands." "why," don antonio interrupted, "the fellows must be mad." "no, colonel, they are robbers." at this moment, tremendous shouts were heard at the barriers, and the two officers hurried up in all haste. four or five thousand horses, apparently free but whose invisible riders were concealed, according to the indian fashion, along their flanks, were coming at a frightful pace against the barricades. two rounds of canister produced disorder in their ranks, without checking their speed, and they fell like lightning on the defenders of población del sur. then began one of those terrific fights of the indian frontier, a cruel and indescribable contest, in which no prisoners were made, the _bolas perdidas_, the _laquis_, the bayonet, and the lance, were their sole weapons. the indians were immediately reinforced, but the spaniards did not give way an inch. this desperate struggle lasted for about two hours; the patagonians seemed to give ground, and the argentines redoubled their efforts to drive them back to their camp, when, suddenly, the cry was heard behind them-- "treachery! treachery!" the major and the colonel, who were fighting in the front rank of the soldiers and volunteers, turned round; they were caught between two fires. pincheira, dressed in the uniform of a chilian officer, was prancing at the head of a hundred gauchos, more or less intoxicated, who followed him, yelling-- "pillage! pillage!" the two veteran officers exchanged a long, sad glance, and their determination was formed in a second. the colonel hurled among the indians a barrel of gunpowder, with a lighted fuse, which swept them off, as the wind sweeps the dust, and put them to flight. the argentines, at the major's command, wheeled round and charged the gauchos, commanded by pincheira. these bandits, with their sabres and bolas in their hands, dashed at the argentines, who slipped into the open doors of the abandoned houses, in a narrow street, where the gauchos could not manoeuvre their horses. the argentines, who were skilful marksmen, did not throw away a shot; they fell back on the river bank, and kept up a well-sustained fire on the gauchos, who had turned back, and on the aucas, who had again escaladed the barricades, while the guns of the fort scattered canister and death among them. the white men crossed the river without any risk, and their enemies installed themselves in the población del sur, filling the air with triumphant hurrahs. the colonel ordered considerable works to be thrown up on the river bank, and placed in them two batteries, of six guns each whose fire crossed. through the treachery of the gauchos the indians had seized población del sur, which, however, was not the key of the place; but this negative success entailed an enormous loss upon them. the colonists, through this, saw their communications interrupted with the estancias on the opposite bank, but luckily the farmers had come into upper carmen beforehand with their horses and cattle, and the boats were all moored under the batteries of the fort which protected them. the suburb captured by the assailants was, consequently, entirely empty. on one side, the argentines congratulated themselves at having no longer to defend a dangerous and useless post; on the other, the aucas asked themselves of what good this dearly acquired suburb would prove to them. three gauchos, during the fight, were dragged from their horses by the argentines and made prisoners. one of them was pincheira, the second panchito, and the third a man of the name of diego. a council of war, assembled in the open air, sentenced them to the gallows. "well, diego," asked panchito, "where is pincheira?" "the scoundrel has escaped," honest panchito replied; "deserter from the army, deserter from the gallows! that is the way in which he breaks all his engagements. he will come to a very bad end." "our affair seems clear enough," diego said with a sigh. "nonsense! a little sooner or a little later, what's the odds?" "the gallows seems to tickle your fancy, panchito." "not exactly," the other answered; "but for four generations my family have been hanged, from father to son; we quite expect it. what will the fiend do with my soul?" "i do not know." "nor do i." during this edifying conversation two lofty gallows had been erected a little outside the intrenchments on the river bank, in the sight of the whole population and of the gauchos, who, grouped in the población del sur, yelled with rage. panchito and diego were hung as a warning example; a _bando_, affixed at the foot of the ladder, threatened every insurgent gaucho with the same fate. while this was going on, night set in, illumined by the burning faubourg conquered by the indians. the flames tinged the hapless town with fantastic gleams, and the inhabitants, plunged in a gloomy stupor, said to themselves that the flames would soon cross the road and reduce carmen to ashes. the governor seemed made of iron; he did not take a moment's rest, he visited the forts, heightened drooping spirits, and tried to imbue all with hopes which were far from his heart. as for the indians, they made two attempts to surprise the town, and, just before dawn, retired to their camp. "major," the colonel said, "it is not possible to deceive ourselves. tomorrow, the day after, or in a week, all will be over with us." "hum! at the last moment we will blow up the fort." "we are deprived of even that resource." "why so?" "old soldiers, such as we are, cannot thus dispose of the lives of others." "you are right," the major continued, precisely; "we will blow out our brains." "nor can we do that either, my friend; for we must be the last on the breach." "but," the major said, after a short silence, for the undeniable reasoning of his superior had crushed him, "how is it that we have received no news yet from buenos aires?" "they have something else to do there than think about us." "oh! i cannot believe that." a slave announced don torribio carvajal. don torribio came in, dressed in the splendid uniform of a colonel in the argentine army, with an aide-de-camp's badge on his left arm. the two officers, on his entrance, felt an inward tremor don torribio bowed to them. "is it really you, don torribio?" the colonel asked. "well, i suppose so," he answered, with a smile. "and your long journey?" "i have just arrived." "and this uniform?" "well, gentlemen, as i was tired of being regarded in the colony as a mysterious being, a sorcerer, a vampire, or something of the sort, i resolved to become a man, like the rest of you." "then you are--?" "an officer, like yourself, colonel, and, in addition, aide-de-camp to general rosas." "it is prodigious," don antonio remarked. "why so? nothing is more simple, on the contrary." a strange suspicion had entered the major's mind at don torribio's unexpected arrival, a suspicion which only disappeared after he made the following remark:-- "yes," he continued, "i am a colonel. in addition, the president of the republic has intrusted me with a message, which i feel sure will please you." and he took from the breast of his uniform a large despatch, sealed with the argentine arms. the colonel, with the permission of the two officers, opened and perused the mission, and unbounded delight was depicted on his face. "oh, oh!" he exclaimed, "two hundred and fifty men! i did not expect such a reinforcement." "the president is very anxious about the colony," don torribio said, "and will spare no sacrifice to preserve it." "_¡viva dios!_ thanks to that succour. don torribio, i care no more for the indians than a wisp of straw." "it seems that the troops will not arrive too soon." "it was only just in time, canario," the governor replied imprudently. "where are your men?" "they will arrive within an hour." "what are they?" "gauchos." "hum!" said the colonel, "i should have preferred any other troops. however, it is of no consequence. with your permission, i will go to meet them." "i am at your orders." "shall i go with you?" the major asked. "that would be better still," torribio observed quickly. "no, major," said don antonio. "stay here, for who knows what may happen during my absence. come, don torribio." the latter smiled; and it would have been difficult to say what the smile meant. he went out, accompanied by the colonel, and they mounted their horses. as they left the fort a man passed them, walking at a quick pace. "pedrito!" don torribio muttered to himself; "providing that he has not recognized me! all is well." chapter xviii. the cave of the cougars. pedrito followed his sister without saying a word, and almost as much astonished as don valentine and her daughter at mercedes' devotion. she led him to her bedroom, a charming retreat, full of shade and fresh air. while the bombero eagerly surveyed all the objects, mercedes, sighing and ready to weep, took a parting glance at her well-beloved room; but she had the courage to repress her tears. "sit down, brother. i have a great service to ask of you." "hang it! a service, little sister? why assume so solemn an air for such a simple thing?" "because it is difficult." "nothing is impossible to please you. what is the matter?" "swear to me, first, to grant what i am about to ask of you." "go on, child, and do not trouble yourself about the rest," pedrito said, with a hearty laugh. "no. i must have your oath." "i have taken it; that is understood, i have all the gravity of an indian idol." "you are laughing at me," she said, with tears in her eyes. "confound the women!" pedrito remarked; "they can always twirl men round their fingers. come, silly child, do not cry any more. i swear to obey your whims. tell me what it is all about." "i have promised doña concha, my dear brother, to give her within three days news about don sylvio." "what next?" "i wish to perform my promise." "the deuce." "and for that i have counted on you." "on me?" "yes." "how can i help you?" "without you the affair is impracticable." "in that case, little sister, i am greatly afraid that--" "remember your oath." "go on. i am listening." "i have lived a long time among the indians, whose manners and language i am acquainted with. i intend to get into their camp unnoticed, in order to learn where don sylvio is." "good-bye, mercedes." "and your oath, brother?" she said, placing herself before the door. "i shall not keep it; and if heaven thinks that i ought, we will argue the point together." she looked at her brother for a moment in silence. "you are quite resolved?" she continued. "quite." "then, i shall go alone." "what," pedrito exclaimed, as he rushed towards her, "do you wish to be the death of me, then?" mercedes made no reply. "go away, brother. i will do without you." "come on! i will follow you. oh, these women!" the bombero muttered. "we shall succeed," she exclaimed, joyfully. "yes, in getting ourselves killed." "let us be off, brother," she said, placing under her arm a small bundle of clothing. mercedes, fearing the emotion of a farewell scene, avoided doña concha. patito had got two horses in readiness, which speedily carried brother and sister far from the estancia. at the battery the capataz was waiting for them. "señorita," he said to mercedes, "you are a noble girl, heaven will aid and bless you." "don blas," mercedes answered, with a smile, as she drew from her bosom a small gold cross doña concha had given her, and broke the velvet neck ribbon, "take this cross, and keep it in remembrance of me." the two travellers had been galloping a long time ere the capataz left off kissing the cross, while thinking that its usual resting place was on the maiden's heart. pedrito and his sister rode side by side without exchanging a word, for both were plunged in deep thought. "how far have we to go?" mercedes asked all at once. "two leagues." after a while they heard the footfall of a horse behind them; they turned, and perceived patito, who was making signals to them, and the gaucho soon joined them. "my mistress is following me," he said. doña concha, dressed in male clothing, came up at the full speed of her horse. "ah," she said, on joining them, "i trembled lest i should miss you." "are we to turn back pedrito asked, with a fugitive gleam of hope." "no, no; on the contrary; push on," concha replied. "where are you going, señorita?" "i am following you." "what?" he said, fancying he misunderstood her. "i guessed your plan, mercedes, and mean to share its perils." "that is fine, señorita!" pedrito exclaimed. "she is right," mercedes said simply; "that will be better." "you, patito," concha said, "can go back; i have no need of your services." "forgive me, but with your permission i will remain; i am not wanted at the estancia, and, though i do not know where you are going, two strong arms are worth keeping." "remain, my friend." "but your father, don valentine, señorita?" pedrito attempted to say. "he approves of it," she answered drily. they started again: two hours later they reached the foot of a hill, halfway up which was a natural grotto, known in the country by the name of the cave of the cougars. "my brothers are there," pedrito said. the little party ascended the gentle slope of the hill, and entered the cave on horseback, without leaving any trace of their passage. there were several entrances to this cave; it was divided into several compartments that had no visible communication, and formed a species of labyrinth that meandered under the hill. the bomberos, who knew all its turnings, often employed it as a refuge. pepe and lopez were seated before a heather fire, silently smoking their pipes, and watching a leg of guanaco that was roasting. they saluted the newcomers, and remained dumb as the indians, whose manner they had to some extent assumed in their nomadic life on the pampa. pedrito conducted the two ladies to a separate compartment. "while here," he said to them in a low whisper, "say but little, for you can never tell what neighbours you may have. if you want us, you know where we are; i now leave you." his sister caught his arm and put her lips to his ear, and he went away without making any answer. the two girls, when alone, threw themselves into each other's arms. when this outburst was over, they disguised themselves as indian women. at the moment when their spanish dresses were about to fall, they heard footsteps close to them, and turned like startled fawns. "i was afraid," doña concha said, "lest it was don pedro; let us listen." "caray, don torribio, you are welcome," a man's voice said, hardly three yards from the girls; "i have been waiting for you for more than two hours." "always that man!" concha murmured. "my good fellow," don torribio replied, "it was impossible for me to come sooner." "well, here you are, that is the main point," the first speaker remarked. at this moment pedrito entered; mercedes made him a sign to listen, and he came to her side. "are you satisfied with your position at carmen?" torribio continued. "not very greatly, i confess." "i am going to liberate you, my dear pincheira; i shall order the attack on población del sur tomorrow, and then you will act, i suppose." "that is settled. by the by, i just now came across a poor devil of an argentine officer, entrusted with a despatch for the governor of el carmen; it announces help, i suppose." "_¡caramba!_ they must make haste. what did you do with the despatch?" "here it is." "did you kill the argentine messenger?" "well, i fancy so." "that is right." "when is the assault to take place?" "in two days. how is my prisoner, by the way?" "oh, he is furious." "he will grow calm. this is what i intend to do, soon as the town--" but while these words were being spoken, the two men had retired, and the sound of their voices died out in the windings of the cave. when the maidens turned round again pedrito had disappeared. "well," mercedes said, "what do you think of that singular accident?" "it is a miracle of heaven." "shall we still disguise ourselves?" "more so than ever." "for what purpose?" pedrito said, who had returned, "i now know where don sylvio is, and i undertake to restore him to you." "but our vengeance?" doña concha interrupted. "let us save him first. return to the estancia, señorita, and leave me to act." "no, don pedro, i shall not leave you." "wait for me here, then, both of you." several hours passed, and pedrito did not return. alarmed by this inexplicable delay, the two girls joined the other two bomberos in the front cave. night had set in when pedrito returned; he bought an enormous bale on the neck of his horse, which was panting with fatigue. "put on these gauchos' dresses," he said to the two ladies; "we are going to get inside carmen. the journey will be a rough one, but make haste, for every moment lost is an hour of danger for us." they ran off to dress themselves, and were ready in a moment. "take your indian robes," pedrito said, "for they may be useful to you. good! now follow me, and be cautious!" the three bomberos, the two girls, and patito left the cave, and glided through the darkness like shadows, marching in indian file, at one moment stooping down to the ground, crawling on their knees, and trying as far as possible to hide their passage. it was a singular and dangerous journey, in the depths of night, and across a desert whose thickets in time of war are peopled with invisible enemies. pedrito had placed himself at the head of the party. doña concha, excited by the courage which love imparts, stained the prickles with her blood, but not a single complaint passed her lips. after three hours of extraordinary effort, the little party that followed pedrito's track suddenly stopped on his stopping. "look!" he said to them, in a whisper, "we are in the heart of the aucas' camp." all around them in the moonbeams they saw the indian sentinels leaning on their lances and watching over the safety of their brothers. a shudder ran over the maidens; fortunately, the guards, not fearing a sortie from carmen, were sleeping at their posts, but the slightest badly calculated movement or stumble might wake them. hence, pedrito recommended them to redouble their prudence, if they wished to save their lives. about two hundred yards in front of them rose the first houses of carmen, gloomy, silent, and apparently at least deserted or plunged in silence. the six adventurers had cleared one half the distance, when suddenly, at the moment when pedrito stretched out his arm to shelter himself behind a sandhill, several men crawling on the opposite side, found themselves face to face with him. there was a moment of terrible anxiety. "who goes there?" a low and threatening voice asked. "pedrito the bombero." "who is with you?" "my brothers." "pass." ten minutes after this encounter they reached the barriers, which were at once opened on pedrito mentioning his name, and they were at length safe in carmen. it was high time; in spite of their resolution and courage, the two girls, worn out with fatigue, could no longer support themselves. so soon as the danger had passed, their nervous excitement gave way, and they fell utterly exhausted. pedrito raised his sister in his arms; pepe took charge of doña concha, and they proceeded to don valentine's house, where fresh difficulties awaited them. tío peralta refused to open the gate, but on at length recognizing his mistress, he led the travellers into a room and lit the candles. "what are we to do now?" doña concha asked, as she fell back into a chair. "nothing just at present," pedrito answered. "rest yourself, señorita, and regain your strength." "shall we remain for long in this state of inaction, which kills us?" "only till tomorrow. we must not run blindly into danger, but prepare everything for the success of our plans, and watch for the propitious moment. tomorrow at the latest, those men, whose conversation we overheard, will attempt an attack on población del sur. as for us, we shall be more at liberty to enter the indian camp. keep your presence in carmen a secret from everybody, and give no sign of life till i return. good-bye till tomorrow morning." "are you not going to rest, don pedro?" "i have no time." pedrito left the room. doña concha recommended the utmost silence to tío peralta, and dismissed her companions, who went off to sleep in hastily prepared apartments. mercedes would not separate from her friend, and they reposed on the same couch. in spite of their wish to remain awake, nature was the stronger, and they soon fell into a deep sleep. the sun was already high on the horizon when they opened their eyes again. they dressed themselves and breakfasted with their companions, impatiently awaiting the bombero's return. several hours passed, lacerating doña concha's heart, and making her love bleed; the recollection of her betrothed husband, covered with the shadow of death, painfully troubled her thoughts. at length the town bells rang out a full peal to call the population under arms, and acted as a gloomy accompaniment to the dull booming of the cannon and the flashes of the musketry fire. without doubt the indians were attacking población del sur; but where was pedrito? doña concha asked herself, as she walked, like a lioness in a cage, up and down the room, devoured by anxiety and despair. "listen!" she said to mercedes, as she turned her head toward the door. "it is he!" mercedes replied. "at last!" conchita exclaimed. "here i am, señorita," pedrito said; "are you ready?" "ever since the morning," she answered reproachfully. "it would have been too soon," he said quietly; "now if you like." "at once." "señorita, be dumb; whatever you may hear and see, leave me to speak and act alone. stay! here is a mask for each of you, with which you will conceal your faces. when i give the word come in." all three left the house unnoticed, for the townspeople were guarding the barricades or engaged in the furious contest going on in población del sur. chapter xix. don torribio's house. don sylvio d'arenal, so soon as his sword slipped from his grasp, and he fell by the side of the capataz, gave no signs of life. the masked men, despising blas salazar, went up to doña concha's betrothed husband. the pallid hues of death clouded his handsome, noble face; his teeth were clenched under his half-parted lips; the blood flowed profusely from his wounds, and his closed hand still clutched the hilt of his sword, which had been broken in the fight. "_¡caspita!_" one of the bandits remarked, "here is a young gentleman who is very ill; what will the master say?" "what would you have him say, señor panchito?" another objected. "he defended himself like a maddened panther; it is his own fault; he ought to have been more polite to us. we have lost four men." "a fine loss, on my word--those scamps!" panchito said, with a shrug of his shoulders; "i should have preferred his killing six and being in a better condition himself." "hang it," the bandit muttered, "that is kind towards us." "present parties excepted," panchito added with a laugh; "but quick, bind up his wounds and let us be off. this is not a proper place for us, and besides the master is waiting for us." don sylvio's wounds were bathed and bound up somehow or another; and, without troubling themselves whether he was dead or alive, they laid him across the horse of panchito, the leader of this expedition. the dead remained on the spot as a prey for the wild beasts. the other masked men set out at a gallop, and at the expiration of two hours halted in front of the cave of the cougars, where nocobotha and pincheira were waiting for them. "well," the former shouted to them as soon as he saw them. "the job is done," panchito answered laconically, as he got off his horse, and laid don sylvio on a bed of leaves. "is he dead?" nocobotha asked, turning pale. "not much better," the gaucho answered, with a shake of his head. "villain!" the indian shouted, beside him with, fury, "is that the way in which my orders are executed? did i not command you to bring him to me alive?" "hum!" said panchito. "i should like to see you try it. armed only with a sword, he fought like ten men for more than twenty minutes. he killed four of ours, and perhaps we should not have been here now if his weapon had not broken." "you are cowards," the master said, with a smile of contempt. he went up to don sylvio's body. "is he dead?" pincheira asked him. "no," nocobotha replied. "all the worse." "on the contrary, i would give a great deal to see him recover." "nonsense," the chilian officer said; "what do we care for this man's life. was he not your personal enemy?" "that is the very reason why i should not like him to die." "i do not understand you." "my friend," nocobotha said, "i have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea to which i have sacrificed my hatreds and friendships." "why in that case lay a trap for your rival?" "my rival? no, it is not he whom i have attacked." "who then?" "the richest and most influential man in the colony; the man who may thwart my plans; a powerful adversary, a spaniard, but not a rival. nothing permanent is founded on corpses. i would have willingly killed him in battle, but i do not wish to make a martyr of him." "nonsense," pincheira said, "one more or one less, what matter?" "brute," nocobotha thought, "he has not understood a word i said." two gauchos, aided by panchito, incessantly rubbed with rum the temples and chest of don sylvio, whose features retained the rigidity of death. the indian chief drew his knife from his girdle, wiped the blade, and placed it to the wounded man's lips. it seemed to him as if it were slightly tarnished. he at once kneeled down by the side of don sylvio, raised the cuff of his left coat sleeve, and pricked the vein with the sharp point of his knife. gradually a black dot appeared on the wound, and became enlarged to the size of a pea. this drop hesitated, trembled, and at length ran down the arm, pushed on by a second drop, that made room for a third; then the blood became less black and less thick, and a long vermilion jet gushed forth, which announced life. nocobotha could not repress a cry of joy: don sylvio was saved! almost immediately the young man gave a deep sigh. "continue the rubbing," the chief said to the gauchos. he bound up don sylvio's arm, rose, and made a sign to pincheira to follow him to another part of the cave. "heaven has granted my prayer," the great chief said, "and i thank it for having spared me a crime." "if you are satisfied," the chilian remarked, in surprise, "i have no objection to offer." "that is not all. don sylvio's wounds, though numerous, are not serious; his lethargy is the result of the loss of the blood and the speed with which he was brought here. he will regain his senses presently." "good." "he must not see me." "what next?" "or recognize you." "that is difficult." "it is important." "i will try my best." "i am about to leave you. you will have don sylvio conveyed to carmen." "to your house?" "yes; it is the safest spot," nocobotha said, as he drew from his pocket a paper folded after a peculiar fashion; "but he must not know, under any pretext, that i gave the orders, nor where he is; and, above all, he must not go out." "is that all?" "yes; and you will answer to me for his safety." "on your order i will deliver him to you alive or dead." "alive, i tell you; his life is precious to me." "well," pincheira replied, "since you are so anxious about your prisoner, not a hair of his head shall be touched." "thank you, and good-bye, pincheira." the chief mounted a magnificent mustang, and disappeared in the windings of the road. pincheira returned to the wounded man with a look of ill temper, and twisting his moustache. he was dissatisfied with nocobotha's orders; but, as he possessed only one virtue, respect for his word, he resigned himself. "how is he?" he asked panchito, in a whisper. "not so bad, captain; it is astonishing what good the bleeding did him. he has already opened his eyes twice, and has even attempted to speak." "in that case there is no time to be lost. bind the fellow's eyes and to prevent his tearing the bandage off, fasten his hands to his side; act gently if you can manage it. do you understand?" "yes, captain." "in ten minutes we start." don sylvio, who had gradually regained his senses, asked himself into what hands he had fallen. his presence of mind had also returned, and he offered no resistance when the gauchos carried out the orders of the chilian officer. these precautions revealed to him that his life would not be taken. "captain, what is to be done now?" panchito said. "carry him to the boat tied up down there; and do not shake him, scoundrels, or i will blow out what little brains you possess." "¡caray!" the gaucho said with a grimace. "yes," pincheira said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "that will teach you to kill people thoroughly another time." pincheira had not understood why nocobotha so eagerly desired that don sylvio should live; and in his turn panchito did not understand why pincheira regretted that he was not dead. the gaucho opened his dull eyes in amazement on hearing the chief's last remark, but hastened to obey. don sylvio was carried down to the boat by pincheira, panchito, and another gaucho, while the rest of the party, who took charge of the horses, returned to carmen by land. the voyage in the boat was performed in silence, and three hours after the start the prisoner was lying on a bed in don torribio carvajal's house. then the gag was removed and his hands were untied; but a masked and silent man stood on the threshold of the door, like a statue, and never once took his eyes off him. don sylvio, worn out by the emotions of the day, and weakened by the loss of blood, and trusting to chance to get him out of his incomprehensible position, took that investigating glance around which is peculiar to prisoners, and fell into a heavy sleep, which lasted several hours and restored to his mind all its calmness and original lucidity. however, he was treated with the utmost respect, and his slightest caprices were satisfied. in fact, his situation was endurable, and, after all, was not without a certain amount of originality. hence the young man, feeling reassured, bravely made up his mind to wait for better times. on the third day of his captivity his wounds were almost cicatrized. he got up to try his strength, and, perhaps, to reconnoitre the chance of escaping, for what can people do in prison, save think about getting out of it? a warm and cheering sunbeam entered through the crack of the closed shutter, and traced long white stripes on the ceiling of his room. this sunbeam revived his spirits, and he took several steps under the inevitable eye of the dumb and masked watchman. all at once a formidable noise broke out in the vicinity, and a discharge of cannon made the windows rattle. "what is that?" he asked the masked man. the latter shrugged his shoulders, but made no reply. the sharp crack of musketry fire was mingled with the boom of the guns. the dumb man closed the window. don sylvio walked up to him. "my friend," he said to him, in a gentle voice, "what is going on outside?" the jailer obstinately remained silent. "in heaven's name speak!" the noise seemed to draw nearer, and hurried footsteps were mingled with the shouts. the man in the mask drew his machete from its sheath and his pistol from his belt, and ran to the door, which was suddenly burst open. another masked bandit evidently suffering from great terror, dashed into the room. "look out!" he shouted. "we are lost!" at these words four men, also masked and armed to the teeth, appeared in the doorway. "back!" the jailer cried; "no one enters here without the password." "there it is," said one of the newcomers, and he laid him stark dead with a pistol shot. the four men passed over his body and securely tied his companion, who had sought refuge in a corner, and was trembling all over. one of them then walked up to the prisoner, who comprehended nothing of this scene. "you are free caballero!" he said to him. "come, make haste to fly far from this house." "who are you?" the young man asked. "no matter; follow us." "no; unless i know who you are." "do you wish to see doña concha again?" the speaker whispered in his ear. "i will follow you," don sylvio answered with a blush. "señor, take these weapons, which you will perhaps require, as all is not finished yet." "weapons!" the young man exclaimed. "oh! you are friends." they went out. "what?" don sylvio said, as he entered the courtyard, "i am in carmen." "were you not aware of it?" "no." "those saddled horses fastened to the rings are ours. can you sit a horse?" "i hope so." "you must." "mount, then, and let us be off." as they turned into the street, a dozen horsemen dashed up toward them, at a distance of about five and twenty paces. "here is the enemy," the stranger said in a firm voice; "take your bridle in your teeth, and let us charge." the four men ranged themselves in a single line, and rushed at the newcomers. they discharged firearms and drew their sabres. "caray!" pincheira, who commanded the twelve horseman, shouted, "my prisoner is escaping from me." the chilian officer darted in pursuit of don sylvio, who fired two shots at him without relaxing his speed. pinchiera's horse rolled on the ground, dragging down its rider, who got up again, greatly shaken by his fall; but don sylvio and his comrades were already far away. "oh, i shall find them again!" he shouted, mad with rage. the fugitives had reached the river's bank, where a boat was waiting for them. "we shall separate here, señor," the stranger said to don sylvio, as he removed his mask. "pedrito!" he exclaimed. "myself!" the bombero answered. "this boat will take you to the estancia of san julian. start without delay, and," he added, as he stooped down to don sylvio's ear, and handed him a folded paper, "read this, and, perhaps, you will soon be able to come to our assistance. good-bye, señor." "one word, pedrito. who is the man that held me prisoner?" "don torribio carvajal." "thank you." "or, if you prefer it, nocobotha, the great chief of the aucas." "which of the two?" "they are the same." "i will remember," don sylvio said, as he leaped into the boat. the skiff glided over the water with the speed of an arrow, owing to the vigour of the rowers, and soon disappeared in the gathering darkness. three persons who remained on the bank looked anxiously after the movements of the boat. they were pedrito, mercedes, and doña concha. chapter xx. the indian camp. "and now, señorita," pedrito asked doña concha when the boat was out of sight, "what are your intentions?" "to see nocobotha in his camp." "it is dishonour; it is death." "no, don pedro, it is revenge." "you mean it?" "i am resolved." "good, i will myself lead you to the camp of the aucas." all three returned to don valentine cardoso's house without exchanging a word. night had completely set in; the streets were deserted, the silent town was illumined by the flames of población del sur, and the diabolical outlines of the indians could be seen passing among the ruins and crumbling walls. "go and get ready, señoritas; i will wait for you here," pedrito said with a melancholy accent. mercedes and doña concha entered the house. pedrito, thoughtful and sad, sat down on one of the steps in front of the houses. the two girls soon re-appeared, dressed in full aucas' costume, with painted faces, and impossible to recognize. "oh!" said the bombero, "here are two real indian girls." "do you believe," doña concha asked him, "that don torribio alone possesses the privilege of changing himself at his pleasure." "who can contend with a woman?" pedrito said, shaking his head; "and now, what do you demand of me?" "your protection to the first indian lines." "and afterwards?" "the rest is our business." "but you do not intend to remain alone in the midst of the pagans?" "we must, don pedro." "mercedes," the latter continued, "do you wish to fall again into the hands of your persecutors? "reassure yourself, brother; i run no risk." "still--" "i answer for her," doña concha interrupted him. "well, heaven be merciful to you!" he muttered, with an air of doubt. "let us start," said don sylvio's affianced wife, as she wrapped herself up in a spacious cloak. pedrito walked before them. the dying fires of carmen lit up the night with a pale and uncertain gleam; a leaden silence brooded over the town, only interrupted at intervals by the hoarse croaking of the birds of prey that were tearing the spanish and indian corpses. the three persons walked through the ruins, stumbling against tottering walls, striding over bodies, and disturbing the horrible festival of the urubús and vultures which fled away with heavy wings. they went through nearly the entire length of the town, and at length arrived, after a thousand windings and difficulties, at one of the barriers that faced the indian camp, whose numerous fires could be seen sparkling a short distance off, and from which fearful yells reached their ears. the bombero exchanged a few words with the sentries, and passed through the barricade, followed by the two girls. then he stopped. "doña concha," he said, in a choking voice, "there is the indian camp before us." "i thank you, don pedro," she answered, offering him her hand. "señorita," pedrito added, retaining the young lady's hand, "there is still time; give up your fatal plan, since your betrothed is saved, and return to san julian." "good-bye," doña concha answered resolutely. "good-bye," the worthy man repeated sorrowfully. "mercedes, i implore you to remain with me." "where she goes, i will go, brother." the leave-taking was short, as may be supposed, and the bombero, so soon as he was alone, uttered a sigh, or rather a burst of sorrow, and returned to carmen at a sharp pace. "i trust i may not arrive too late," he said to himself, "and that he has not yet seen don antonio valverde." he reached the fort at the moment when don torribio and the governor were crossing the drawbridge, but absorbed in his own thoughts, he did not perceive the two horsemen. this accident was the cause of an irreparable misfortune. as for the two girls, they proceeded haphazard toward the camp fires, a short distance from which they halted to regain breath and calm the movement of their hearts, which beat as if ready to start from their breasts. when near the danger they voluntarily sought, they felt their courage abandon them; the sight of the indian toldos made their blood run cold with terror. strange to say, it was mercedes who revived her companion's firmness. "señorita," she said to her, "i will be your guide; we will leave these cloaks here, which would cause us to be recognized as white persons. walk by my side, and whatever may happen, display neither surprise nor fear, and before all say not a word, or it will be all over with us." "i will obey," concha answered. "we are," mercedes exclaimed, "two indian girls who have made a vow to gualichu for the recovery of their wounded father. remember, not a word, my friend!" "let us go on, and may heaven protect us." "so be it!" mercedes replied, crossing herself. they set out again, and within five minutes entered the camp, where the indians were giving way to the most extravagant joy. nothing could be heard on all sides but songs and yells. drunk with aguardiente, they danced in a burlesque fashion among empty barrels, which they had plundered from población del sur and the estancias. there was a wondrous disorder and a strange confusion, and all these raving madmen even ignored the authority of their ulmens, the majority of whom, however, were in a state of the most disgusting intoxication. owing to the general uproar, concha and mercedes were enabled to cross the camp lines unseen; then, with palpitating hearts, limbs rigid with terror, but calm faces, they glided like lizards through the groups, passing unperceived by the drunken men, who stumbled against each other at every moment. the girls seemed lost in this human labyrinth, wandering haphazard, and trusting to providence or their lucky stars to discover the abode of the great toqui in this confused mass of toldos. they walked about for a long time, but rendered bolder by their success in avoiding any unpleasant encounter, and feeling less timid, they exchanged at times a hoping glance, till all at once an indian of athletic build seized doña concha round the waist, lifted her from the ground like a child, and imprinted a hearty kiss on her neck. at this unexpected outrage, concha uttered a cry of terror, disengaged herself from the indian's grasp, and forcibly thrust him away from her. the savage tottered on his drunken legs, and measured his length of six feet on the ground; but he sprang up again at once and leapt on the maiden like a jaguar. mercedes interposed between them. "back," she said, courageously, laying her hand on the indian's chest, "this woman is my sister." "churlakin," another chief said, "do not put up with an insult." the savage frowned and drew his knife. "do you wish to kill her?" mercedes exclaimed in horror. "yes," churlakin answered, "unless she will follow me to my toldo, where she will be the squaw of a chief--a great chief." "you are mad," mercedes retorted, "your toldo is full, and there is no room for another fire." "there is still room for two fires," the indian answered, with a laugh, "and since this woman is your sister, you shall come with her." in the course of this discussion an impenetrable circle of savages surrounded the two girls and churlakin. mercedes did not know how to escape the danger. "well," churlakin continued, seizing doña concha's hair, which he rolled round his wrist, and brandishing his knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my toldo?" doña concha, who had sunk down to the ground, awaited the death-stroke with pallid face and closed eyes. mercedes drew herself and checked the arm that was ready to strike. "since you insist on it, dog," she said to the chief, in a haughty voice, "your destiny shall be accomplished. look at me. gualichu does not allow his slaves to be insulted with impunity. look at me!" she turned her face towards a huge fire, flashing a few yards off, and which threw a bright light over the surrounding objects. the indians uttered a cry of surprise on recognizing her, and fell back. churlakin himself let go of doña concha's hair. "oh!" he said, in consternation, "it is the white slave of the tree of gualichu." the circle round the two girls had grown larger; but the superstitious indians, nailed to the ground by terror, looked at them fixedly. "the power of gualichu," mercedes added, to complete her triumph, "is great and terrible. it is he who sends me; woe to the man who would try to thwart his designs; back, all of you." and seizing the arm of doña concha, who was still trembling with emotion, she advanced with a firm step. waving her arm authoritatively, the circle divided, and the indians fell back to the right and left, making way for them to pass. "i feel as if i was dying," doña concha murmured. "courage, señorita, we are saved." "oh, oh!" a mocking voice said, "what is going on here?" and a man placed himself in front of the girls, and looked impudently at them. "the matchi!" the indians said, who, being reassured by the presence of their sorcerer, again assembled round the prisoners. mercedes trembled inwardly on seeing her stratagem compromised by the advent of the matchi, and at the suggestion of despair, she made a final effort. "gualichu, who loves the indians," she said, "has sent me to the matchi of the aucas." "ah!" the sorcerer answered, in a mocking accent, "and what does he want with me?" "no one but yourself must hear it." the matchi walked up to the maiden, laid his hand on her shoulder, and looked at her with a longing air. "will you save me?" she asked him in a low voice. "that depends," the fellow answered, his eye sparkling with desire, "it is in your own hands." she repressed a look of disgust. "stay," she said, as she removed from her arms her rich gold bracelets, set with fine pearls. "och!" said the indian, as he concealed them in his bosom, "that is fine; what does my daughter want?" "deliver us first from these men." "fly!" the matchi shouted, turning to the spectators; "this woman is under an evil spell; gualichu is irritated. fly!" the sorcerer had immediately put on a face adapted to the circumstances; his mysterious conversation with the white woman and the terror depicted on his features were sufficient for the indians, who, without stopping to ask any questions dispersed in all directions, and disappeared behind the toldos. "you see," the sorcerer said, with a smile of pride, "i am powerful, and can avenge myself on those who deceive me. but where does my white daughter come from?" "from the tree of gualichu," she answered boldly. "my daughter has the forked tongue of the cougar," the matchi replied, who believed neither in his own words nor in his god; "does she take me for a ñandu?" "here is a magnificent collar of pearls which gualichu gave me for the inspired man of the aucas." "oh," said the sorcerer, "what service can i render my daughter?" "lead us to the toldo of the great chief of the patagonian nations." "does my daughter desire to speak with nocobotha?" "i do." "nocobotha is a wise chief; will he receive a woman?" "he must." "it is well. but this other woman?" he asked, pointing to doña concha. "she is a friend of pincheira's; she also wishes to speak with the great toqui." "the warriors will spin llama wool," the sorcerer said, shaking his head, "since women wage war and sit at the council fire." "my father is mistaken; nocobotha loves his sister." "no," the indian said. "will my father make haste? nocobotha is waiting for us," mercedes continued, impatient at the savage's tergiversation; "where is the toldo of the great chief?" "follow me, my white daughters." he placed himself between them, seized an arm of each, and guided them through the inextricable labyrinth of the camp. the terrified indians fled as they passed. in his heart the matchi was satisfied with mercedes' presents, and the opportunity for proving to the warriors his intimate relations with gualichu. the marching and counter-marching lasted a quarter of an hour, and at last they found themselves before a toldo, in front of which was planted the token of the united nations, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four warriors. "it is here," he said to mercedes. "good! my father will let us go in alone." "must i leave you, then?" "yes, but my father can wait for us outside." "i will wait," the sorcerer said briefly, as he looked suspiciously at the maidens. they went in with sorely beating hearts. the toldo was empty. chapter xxi. the toldo of the great toqui. don antonio valverde, delighted at the succour the president of the argentine republic sent him, rode at a gallop by the side of the new colonel, don torribio. they soon reached a barrier, guarded by a large body of gauchos and armed colonists. "we must go out here," don torribio said to the governor, "but, as the night is dark, and we have one or two leagues to ride, it would be imprudent to venture alone upon a plain traversed by vagabond indians." "that is true," don antonio interrupted him. "the governor must not risk his life lightly; suppose you were made prisoner, for instance, what a blow it would be for the colony." "you speak most sensibly, don torribio." "let us take an escort." "of how many men?" "ten will be enough." "we will take twenty, for we may come across a hundred indians." "twenty, then, if you wish it, don antonio," the other answered with a sardonic smile. on the governor's arrival the defenders of the fort had got under arms. don torribio detailed twenty horsemen, who, by his orders formed up behind him. "are we ready to start, governor?" "let us be off." the escort, having the two colonels at its head, started in the direction of the plain, torribio delighted don antonio valverde for three quarters of an hour by the rolling fire of his witty remarks, when he was interrupted by him. "pardon me, colonel," the governor said anxiously, "but does it not appear singular to you that we have as yet met nobody?" "not the least in the world, señor," torribio answered; "of course they know what road to take, and they are awaiting my return." "that is possible," the governor said, after a moment's reflection. "in that case we shall have another league to ride. let us go on, then." don torribio's vein of humour was exhausted. at times his eye examined the space around him, while don antonio remained silent. all at once the distant neighing of a horse reached their ears. "what's that?" torribio asked. "probably the men we are seeking." "in any case let us be prudent. wait for me; i will go ahead as scout." he galloped forward and disappeared in the gloom. when a certain distance off, he dismounted and put his ears to the ground. "_¡demonios!_" he muttered, as he got up and leapt on to his horse again; "we are pursued. can that satan of a pedrito have recognized me?" "what's the matter?" the governor asked. "nothing," torribio replied, laying his left hand on his arm. "don antonio valverde, surrender; you are my prisoner." "are you mad, don torribio?" "no longer call me don torribio, señor," the young man said in a hollow voice; "i am nocobotha, the great chief of the patagonian natives." "treachery!" the governor shouted; "help, gauchos, defend me!" "it is useless, colonel, for those men belong to me." "i will not surrender," the governor continued "don torribio, or whoever you may be, you are a coward." he freed himself from the young man's grasp by a bound of his horse, and drew his sabre. the rapid gallop of several horses came nearer every moment. "can that be help arriving for me?" the governor said, as he cocked a pistol. "yes, but too late," the indian chief answered coldly. by his orders, the gauchos surrounded the commandant, who killed two of them. from this moment the fight in the dark became frightful. don antonio, seeing that his life was lost, wished, at least, to die as a soldier should die, and fought desperately. the sound of the galloping horses constantly drew nearer. nocobotha saw that it was time to finish, and with a pistol shot killed the governor's horse. don antonio rolled on the sand, but, jumping up suddenly, he dealt his adversary a sabre stroke, which the latter parried by leaping on one side. "a man such as i am does not surrender to dogs like you," don antonio exclaimed, as he blew out his own brains. this explosion was followed by a sharp discharge of musketry, and a squadron of horsemen rushed like a whirlwind on the gauchos. the contest hardly lasted a moment. at a whistle from nocobotha the gauchos turned round and fled separately over the dark plain. eight corpses strewed the ground. "too late!" pedrito said to major bloomfield, who had started in pursuit of don torribio so soon as the bombero warned him of the peril into which the indian had led the governor. "yes," said the major, sorrowfully, "he was a good soldier; but how are we to catch the traitors up, and know what we have to depend on?" "they are already in the indian camp." pedrito leapt from his horse, cut with his machete a branch of resinous fir, which he made into a torch, and by its light examined the bodies stretched on the ground. "here he is!" the bombero exclaimed; "his skull is fearfully fractured; his hand grasps a pistol; but his face still retains an expression of haughty defiance." a silent tear rolled down major bloomfield's bronzed face. "why was my old friend fated thus to die in an ambuscade when his fortress is besieged?" the englishman murmured. "god is the master," pedrito remarked, philosophically. "he has performed his duty, so let us perform ours." they raised the body of don antonio valverde, and then the whole squadron returned to carmen. nocobotha, however, we must remark, had only wished to make the colonel prisoner in order to treat with the colonists, and shed as little blood as possible, and he bitterly regretted the governor's death. while the gauchos were rejoicing at the success of the trap, nocobotha, gloomy and dissatisfied, returned to his camp. mercedes and doña concha, on seeing the toldo of the great chief unoccupied, could not repress a sigh of satisfaction. they had the time to recover from their emotion in his absence, and prepare for the interview which concha desired to have with him. they had removed their indian garb in all haste, and resumed their spanish attire. by an accident that favoured the plans of don sylvio's betrothed wife, she was lovelier and more seductive than usual; her pallor had a touching and irresistible grace about it, and her eyes flashed eager flames of love or hatred. when nocobotha arrived in front of the toldo, the matchi walked up to him. "what do you want?" the chief asked. "my father will pardon me," the sorcerer answered, humbly. "this night two women have entered the camp." "what do i care?" the chief interrupted him, impatiently. "these women, though dressed in the indian fashion, are white," the matchi said, laying a stress on the last word. "they are doubtless wives of the gauchos." "no," the sorcerer said; "their hands are too white, and their feet too small. besides, one of them is the white slave of the tree of gualichu." "ah! and who made them prisoners?" "no one; they arrived alone." "alone?" "i accompanied them through the camp, and protected them against the curiosity of the warriors." "you acted well." "i introduced them into my father's toldo." "are they there now?" "for the last hour." "i thank my brother." nocobotha took off one of his bracelets, and threw it to the matchi, who bowed down to the ground. the chief, suffering from indescribable agitation, rushed toward his toldo, the curtain of which he raised with a feverish hand, and he could not restrain a cry of delight and astonishment on hearing doña concha's voice. the maiden greeted him with one of those strange and charming smiles of which women alone possess the secret. "what is the meaning of this?" the chief asked, with a graceful bow. doña concha involuntarily admired the young man; his splendid indian costume flashing in the light, heightened his masculine and proud attitude, and his head was haughtily erect. he was very handsome, and born to command. "by what name shall i address you, caballero?" she said to him, as she pointed to a seat of carved copal wood by her side. "that depends, señorita. if you address the spaniard, call me don torribio; if you have come to speak to the indian, my brothers call me nocobotha." "we shall see," she said. during a momentary silence, the two speakers examined each other aside. doña concha did not know how to begin, and the chief himself was seeking the motive for such a visit. "did you really wish to see me?" nocobotha at length began. "who else?" she replied. "the happiness of seeing you here appears to me a dream, and i fear lest i should awake from it." this remark reminded her of don valentine cardoso's guest, and did not agree with the ornaments of an indian chief and the interior of a toldo. "good gracious!" doña concha said lightly, "you are not far removed from believing me a witch or a fairy, so i will break my wand." "for all that you will not be the less an enchantress," nocobotha interrupted her with a smile. "the sorcerer is this child's brother, who revealed to me your real name, and the spot where i might find you. you must give pedrito all the credit." "i shall not forget it when an opportunity offers," he answered with a frown, which did not escape doña concha's notice; "but let us return to yourself, señorita. would it be an indiscretion to ask you to what extraordinary circumstance i owe the favour of a visit which i did not anticipate, but which overwhelms me with joy?" "oh! a very simple cause," she replied, giving him a fiery look. "i am listening, madam." "perhaps you wish to make me undergo an examination?" "oh! i trust that you do not think what you are saying." "don torribio, we live in such unhappy times, that a person can never be sure of addressing a friend." "i am yours, madam." "i hope so, and even believe it, hence i will speak to you in the most perfect confidence. a girl of my age, and especially of my rank, does not take a step so singular, without very serious motives." "i am convinced of that." "what can make a woman lay aside her instinctive modesty, and cause her to disdain even her reputation? what feeling inspires her with masculine courage? is it not love, don torribio --love? do you understand me?" "yes, madam," he answered with emotion. "well, i have said it, it is a question of my heart and of yours--perhaps--don torribio. at our last interview, my father announced rather suddenly, both to you and me, my approaching marriage with don sylvio d'arenal. i had thought you loved me--" "señorita!" "but at that moment i became certain of it; i saw your sudden pallor, your voice was troubled." "still!--" "i am a woman, don torribio; we women guess a man's love before a man himself does so." the indian chief gazed at her with an undefinable expression. "a few days later," she continued, "don sylvio fell into an ambuscade--why did you do that, don torribio?" "i wished to avenge myself on a rival, but i did not order his death." "i knew it." nocobotha did not understand her. "you had no rival--you had scarce left the house ere i confessed to my father that i did not love don sylvio, and would not marry him." "o heavens!" the young man exclaimed sorrowfully. "reassure yourself, the misfortune is repaired; don sylvio is not dead." "who told you so?" "i know it, i know it so well that don sylvio, torn from pincheira's hands by my orders, is at this moment at the estancia de san julian, whence he will shortly set out for buenos aires." "can i--" "that is not all. i made my father understand toward whom my heart turned, and whose love it confided in, and my father, who has never been able to refuse me anything, permitted me to go and join the man whom i prefer." she gave don torribio a glance full of love, looked down and blushed. a thousand contradictory feelings were contending in nocobotha's heart, for he did not dare believe that which rendered him so happy; a doubt remained, a cruel doubt--suppose she were trifling with him? "what!" he said, "you love me?" "my presence here,--" she stammered. "happiness renders me confused, so forgive me." "if i did not love you," she answered, "sylvio is free and i could marry him." "oh women! adorable creatures, who will ever sound the depths of your heart! who can divine the sorrow or joy you conceal in a glance or in a smile? yes, señorita, yes, i love you, and i wish to tell you so on my knees." and the great chief of the patagonian nations threw himself at doña concha's feet; he pressed her hands and covered them with burning kisses. the maiden, who held her head erect, while he lay thus prostrate before her, had a ferocious delight in her eyes; she had repeated the eternal allegory of the lion that surrenders its claws to the scissors of love. this man, so powerful and formidable, was conquered, and henceforth she was sure of her vengeance. "what shall i tell my father?" she said in a voice gentle as a caress. the lion rose with flashing eyes and radiant brow. "madam," he answered with supreme majesty, "tell don valentine cardoso that within a month i shall place a crown on your beloved forehead." chapter xxii. delilah. it is rare for an extreme situation, when drawn to its utmost limits, to remain long in a state of tension; hence it is not surprising that nocobotha, after advancing so far in his confiding love, should recoil terrified at the progress he had made. man is so constituted that too much happiness embarrasses and alarms him, and it is, perhaps, a foreboding that this happiness will be of short duration. the indian chief, whose heart overflowed like a brimming cup, felt a vague doubt mingle with his joy and obscure it with a cloud. still, it is pleasant to flatter one's self, and the young man yielded to this new intoxication and the pleasures of hope. these smiles, these looks, everything reassured him. why had she come to him through so many dangers? she loves me, he thought, and love intensified the bandage which doña concha had fastened over his eyes with so much grace and perfidy. men of lofty intellect are nearly all unconsciously affected by a weakness that frequently causes their ruin, the more so because they believe nobody clever enough to cheat them. had nocobotha nothing to fear from this girl of fifteen, who avowed her love with such simplicity? but as his mind was, so to speak, turned away from real life to be absorbed in a single dream--the independence of his country--nocobotha had never essayed to read that enigmatical book called a woman's heart; he was ignorant that a woman, especially an american woman, never forgives an insult offered to her lover, for he is her deity and is inviolable. the indian loved for the first time, and this first love, which is so sharp that at a later date all other loves grow pale at the mere remembrance of it, had sunk deeply into his heart. he loved, and the transient doubt which had saddened his thoughts could not struggle against a thought which was now eradicable. "can i," concha asked, "remain in your camp without fear of being insulted, until my father arrives?" "command me, madam," the indian answered, "you have only slaves here." "this girl, to whom you owe my presence here, will proceed to the estancia of san julian." nocobotha walked to the curtain of the toldo and clapped his hands twice. lucaney appeared. "let a toldo be prepared for me, i give up to the two paleface women," the chief said in the aucas tongue. "a band of picked warriors, selected by my brother, will watch over their safety night and day. woe to the man who fails in respect to them! these women are sacred and free to come and go and receive any visitors they think proper. have two horses saddled for me and for one of the white women." lucaney went out. "you see, madam, that you are the queen here." doña concha drew from her bosom a letter written beforehand and unsealed, which she handed to him, with a smile on her lips, but trembling at her heart. "read, don torribio, what i have written to my father." "oh, señorita!" he exclaimed, thrusting the note away. doña concha slowly folded the letter without any apparent emotion, and delivered it to mercedes. "my child, you will give this to my father when alone, and explain to him what i have forgotten to say." "permit me to withdraw, madam." "no," concha replied, with a bewitching smile, "i have no secrets from you." the young man smiled at this remark. at this moment the horses were brought up, and doña concha found time to whisper in mercedes' ear the hurried words: "your brother must be here in an hour." mercedes slightly closed her eyes as a sign of intelligence. "i will accompany your friend myself," the chief said, "as far as the entrenchments of carmen." "i thank you, don torribio." the two maidens tenderly embraced. "in an hour," doña concha murmured. "good," mercedes answered. "you are at home here, madam," nocobotha said to doña concha, who accompanied him to the entrance of the toldo. mercedes and the chief mounted their horses: the young spanish girl followed them with eye and ear, and then re-entered the toldo. "the game has begun, and he must reveal his plans to me." in a quarter of an hour mercedes and her guide came within fifty yards of carmen, without having exchanged a word. "here," said nocobotha, "you no longer require my services." he turned back and galloped toward the camp. the girl advanced boldly in the direction of the town, whose gloomy outline rose before her. but a vigorous hand seized her bridle, she felt a pistol placed against her bosom, and a low voice said in spanish-- "who goes there?" "a friend," she replied, suppressing a shriek of terror. "mercedes!" the rude voice exclaimed, becoming much softer. "pedrito!" she replied joyously, as she slipped into the arms of her brother, who embraced her affectionately. "where do you come from, little sister?" "from the camp of the patagonians." "already?" "my mistress has sent me to you." "who accompanied you?" "nocobotha himself." "malediction!" the bombero said, "for five minutes i had him at the end of my rifle. well, but come, we will talk inside." "oh!" pedrito exclaimed, when mercedes ended the narration of their expedition, "oh, women are demons, demons, and men plucked chickens; and your letter?" "here it is." "don valentine must receive it tonight, for the poor father will be pining in mortal anxiety." "i will carry it," said mercedes. "no; you need rest. i have a safe man here, who will ride to the estancia. you, little sister, come into the house, where a worthy woman, who knows me, will take care of you." "will you go to doña concha?" "i should think so. poor girl! alone among the pagans." "ever devoted, my kind brother!" "it seems that is my vocation." pedrito led mercedes to the house he had referred to, warmly recommended her to the hostess, and then turned into a street, in the middle of which a large fire was burning, and several men reposing round it, wrapped in their cloaks. the bombero roughly shook the foot of one of the sleepers. "come, come, patito," he said to him, "up with you, my boy, and gallop to the estancia of san julian." "why, i have just come from there," the gaucho muttered, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "the better reason; you must know the road. it is doña concha who sends you." "if the señorita wishes it, of course," patito said, whom the name thoroughly aroused; "what am i to do?" "mount your horse and carry this letter to don valentine; it is an important letter, you understand?" "very good." "let nobody take it from you." "of course not." "if you are killed--?" "i shall be killed." "when you are dead it must not even be found on you." "i will swallow it." "the indians will not think of ripping you up." "all right." "be off." "only give me time to saddle my horse." "good-bye, patito, and luck be with you." pedrito left the gaucho, who speedily started. "it is now my turn," the bombero muttered; "how am i to reach doña concha?" he scratched his head and frowned, but ere long his forehead became unwrinkled, and he proceeded gaily to the fort; after a conference with major bloomfield, who had succeeded don antonio valverde in command of the town, pedrito doffed his clothes, and disguised himself as an aucas. he set out, slipped into the indian camp, and shortly before sunrise was back again in the town. "well?" his sister said to him. "all goes well," the bombero answered, "_¡viva dios!_ nocobotha, i fancy, will pay dearly for carrying off don sylvio. oh, women are demons!" "am i to go and join her?" "no; it is unnecessary." and, without entering into any details, pedrito, who was worn out with fatigue, selected a place to sleep in, snored away, not troubling himself about the indians. several days elapsed ere the besiegers renewed their attack on the town, which, however, they invested more closely. the spaniards, strictly blockaded, and having no communication with the exterior, found their provisions running short, and hideous famine would soon pounce on its victims. fortunately, the indefatigable pedrito had an idea which he communicated to major bloomfield. he had a hundred and fifty loaves worked up with arsenic, water, and vitriol mingled with twenty barrels of spirits; the whole loaded on mules, was placed under the escort of pedrito and his two brothers. the bomberos approached the patagonian earthworks with this frugal stock of provisions. the indians, who are passionately fond of firewater, rushed to meet the caravan, and seize the barrels. pedrito and his brothers left their burden lying on the sand, and returned to the town at a gallop with the mules, which were intended to support the besieged, if the patagonians did not make the assault. there was a high holiday in the camp. the loaves were cut up; the heads of the barrels stove in, and nothing was left. this orgy cost the indians six thousand men, who died in atrocious tortures. the others, struck with horror, began disbanding in all directions. the chiefs were no longer respected. nocobotha himself saw his authority wavering before the superstition of the savages, who believed in a celestial punishment. the prisoners, men, women, and children, were massacred with horrible refinements of barbarity. doña concha, though protected by the great chief, only owed her escape to chance or to god, who preserved her as the instrument of his will. the rage of the indians, having no one left to vent itself on, gradually calmed down. nocobotha went about constantly to restore courage. he felt that it was time to come to an end, and he gave lucaney orders to assemble all the chiefs in his toldo. "great chiefs of the great nations," nocobotha said to them, so soon as they were all collected round the council fire, "tomorrow, at daybreak, carmen will be attacked on all sides at once. so soon as the town is taken the campaign will be over. those who recoil are not men, but slaves. remember that we are fighting for the liberty of our race." he then informed each chief of the place of his tribe in the assault; formed a reserve of ten thousand men to support, if necessary, those who gave way, and, after cheering up the ulmens, he dismissed them. so soon as he was alone, he proceeded to doña concha's toldo. the young lady gave lucaney orders to admit him. doña concha was talking with her father, who, on receiving her letter, through patito, at once hastened to her. the interior of the toldo was completely altered, for nocobotha had placed in it furniture, carried off from the estancias by the indians. externally nothing was changed, but inside it was divided by partitions, and rendered a perfect european residence. here concha lived pleasantly enough, honoured by the supreme chief and in the company of her father and mercedes, who acted as her lady's maid. the indians, though somewhat astonished at their great toqui's mode of life, remembered the european education he had received, and dared not complain. was not nocobotha's hatred of the white men still equally ardent? were not his words still full of love for his country at the council fire? was it not he who had directed the invasion, and led the tribes on the path of liberty? hence, nocobotha had lost nothing in the opinion of the warriors. he was still their well-beloved chief. "is the effervescence of the tribes appeased?" doña concha asked nocobotha. "yes, heaven be thanked, señorita; but the man commanding at carmen is a wild beast. six thousand men have been killed by poison." "oh, it is fearful," the young lady said. "the whites are accustomed to treat us thus, and poison--" "say no more about it, don torribio; it makes me shudder." "for centuries the spaniards have been our murderers." "what do you intend doing?" don valentine asked, in order to turn the conversation. "tomorrow, señor, a general assault will be made on carmen." "tomorrow?" "yes. tomorrow i shall have destroyed the spaniards' power in the patagonia, or be dead myself." "god will protect the good cause," doña concha said in a prophetic voice. a cloud passed over don valentine's forehead. "during the battle, which will be obstinate, i implore you, señorita, not to leave this toldo, before which i will leave twenty men on guard." "are you going to leave us already, don torribio?" "i must; so excuse me, madam." "good-bye, then," doña concha said. "all is over!" don valentine murmured, in despair, when nocobotha had gone out. "they will succeed." the maiden, who was calm and half smiling, but whose eye was inflamed with hatred, walked up to don valentine, clasped her hands on his shoulder, and said, in a whisper-- "have you read the bible, father?" "yes; when i was young." "do you remember the history of samson delilah?" "do you mean to cut his hair off, then?" "do you remember judith and holofernes?" "then you mean to cut his head off?" "no, father." "what mean these strange questions?" "i love don sylvio!" chapter xxiii. the agony of a town. about two in the morning, at the moment when the blue jay struck up its first song, faint as a sigh, nocobotha, completely armed for war, left his toldo, and proceeded to the centre of the camp. here the ulmens, apo-ulmens, and caraskens, were squatting on their heels round an immense fire, and smoking in silence. all rose on the arrival of the supreme toqui, but at a signal from the master they resumed their seats. nocobotha then turned to the matchi, who was walking gravely by his side, and to whom he had dictated his orders beforehand. "will gualichu," he asked him, "be neutral, adverse, or favourable in the war of his indian sons against the pale faces?" the sorcerer went up to the fire, and walked round it thrice from left to right, while muttering unintelligible words. at the third round he filled a calabash with sacred water contained in closely plaited reeds, sprinkled the assembly, and threw the rest toward the east. then, with body half bent and head advanced, he stretched out his arms, and appeared listening to sounds perceptible to himself alone. on his right hand the blue jay poured forth its plaintive note twice in succession. suddenly the matchi's face was disfigured by horrible grimaces; his blood-suffused eyes swelled; he turned pale and trembled as if suffering from an ague fit. "the spirit is coming! the spirit is coming!" the indians said. "silence!" nocobotha commanded; "the sage, is about to speak." in fact, obeying this indirect order, he whistled guttural sounds between his teeth, among which the broken words could be detected-- "the spirit is marching!" he exclaimed; "he has unfastened his long hair, which floats in the wind; his breath spreads death around. the sky is red with blood! gualichu, the prince of evil will not want for victims. the flesh of the palefaces serves as a sheath for the knives of the patagonians. do you hear the urubús and vultures in the distance? what a splendid meal they will have!--utter the war yell! courage, warriors, gualichu guides you death is nothing; glory everything." the sorcerer still continued to stammer, and rolled on the ground, suffering from a fit of epilepsy. then the indians pitilessly turned away from him, for the man who is so rash as to touch the matchi when the spirit is torturing him would be struck by a sudden death. such is the indian belief. nocobotha addressed the audience in his turn. "chiefs of the great patagonian nations, as you see, the god of our fathers is with us, and he wishes our land to become free again. the sun, when it sets, must not see a spanish flag waving in patagonia. courage, brothers! the incas, my ancestors, who hunt on the blessed prairies of the eskennam, will joyfully receive among them those who may fall in battle. each will proceed to his post! the cry of the urubú, repeated thrice at equal intervals, will be the signal for the assault." the chiefs bowed and withdrew. the night, studded with stars, was calm and imposing. the moon coloured with a pale silver the dark blue of the firmament. there was not a breath in the air, not a cloud in the sky; the atmosphere was serene and limpid; nothing disturbed the silence of this splendid night, except the dull, vague murmur which seems on the desert to be the breathing of sleeping nature. a thousand varied feelings were confounded in the mind of nocobotha, who thought of the approaching deliverance of his country, and his love for doña concha. then raising his eyes to the star-studded vault of heaven, the indian fervently implored him who is omnipotent, and who tries the loins and hearts to fight on his side. if he had been compelled to choose between his love and the cause he defended, he assuredly would not have hesitated; for the happiness of an individual is as nothing when compared with the liberty of an entire nation. while the toqui was plunged in these reflections a hand was laid heavily on his shoulder. it was the matchi who looked at him with his tiger cat eyes. "what do you want?" he asked him drily. "is my father satisfied with me? did gualichu speak well?" "yes," the chief said, repressing a start of disgust. "withdraw." "my father is great and generous." nocobotha contemptuously threw one of his rich necklaces to the wretched sorcerer, who made a grimace to show his joy. "begone!" he said to him. the matchi, satisfied with his reward, went away. the trade of an indian sorcerer is a famous one. "i have the time," nocobotha muttered, after calculating the hours by the position of the stars. he hastily bent his steps toward doña concha's toldo. "she is there," he said to himself, "she is sleeping, lulled by her childish dreams; her lips are opened like a flower to inhale the perfumed breath of night. she is slumbering with her hand upon her heart to defend it. and i love her! grant, o heaven, that i may render her happy! help my arm, which wishes to save a people!" he went up to a warrior, standing at the entrance to the toldo. "lucaney," he said, in a voice that was powerfully affected, "i have twice saved you from death." "i remember it." "all i love is in that toldo: i intrust it to you." "this toldo is sacred, my father." "thanks!" nocobotha said, affectionately pressing the hand of the ulmen, who kissed the hem of his robe. the ulmens, after the council was over, had drawn up their tribes in readiness for the assault; the warriors, lying down flat on the ground, began one of those astounding marches which indians alone are capable of undertaking. gliding and crawling like lizards through the lofty grass, they succeeded, within an hour, in placing themselves unnoticed at the very foot of the argentine intrenchments. this movement had been executed with the refined prudence the indians display on the war trail. the silence of the prairie had not been disturbed, and the town seemed buried in sleep. some minutes, however, before the ulmens received nocobotha's final orders, a man, dressed in the costume of the aucas, had left the camp before them all, and made his way to carmen on his hands and knees. on reaching the first barricades, he held out his hands to an invisible hand, which hoisted him over the wall. "well, pedrito?" "we shall be attacked, major, within an hour." "is it an assault?" "yes; the indians are afraid of being poisoned like rats, and hence wish to come to an end." "what is to be done?" "we must die." "by jupiter! that's fine advice." "we may still try--" "what?" "give me twenty faithful gauchos." "take them, and what then?" "leave me to act, major. i do not answer for success, as these red demons are as numerous as flies; but i shall certainly kill some of them." "and the women and children?" "i have shut them up in the estancia of san julian." "heaven be praised!" "but, by the way, they will attack the estancia if they take carmen." "you're a humbug, pedrito," the major said, with a smile. "you forget doña concha." "that is true," the bombero remarked gaily; "i did not think of the señorita. i also forgot this--the signal for the attack will be an urubú cry, repeated at three equal intervals." "good! i will go and prepare, for i do not expect they will wait for sunrise." the major on one side, and the bombero on the other, proceeded from post to post to awake the defenders of the town, and warn them to be on their guard. on that very evening, major bloomfield had convened all the inhabitants; and in a short and energetic harangue depicted to them their desperate situation. "the boats tied up under the guns of the fort," he said, in conclusion, "are ready to receive the women, children, and any frightened men. they will be removed during the night to the estancia of san julian." the inhabitants stationed themselves behind the barricades with eye and ear on the watch, and musket in hand. an hour was spent in watching for the patagonians, when suddenly the hoarse, ill-omened cry of the urubú broke the silence. a second cry followed the first closely, and the last note of the third was still vibrating, when a frightful clamour burst forth on all sides simultaneously, and the indians dashed forward tumultuously to scale the outer entrenchments. they broke against the living wall that rose at the barriers. astounded by this unexpected resistance, the patagonians fell back, and were decimated by the canister, which spread desolation and death among their ranks. pedrito, profiting by the panic of the redskins, dashed, after them at the head of his gauchos, and cut them down vigorously. after two hours of terrific fighting, the sun, disdainful of human contests, majestically rose in the horizon, and spread the splendour of its beams over the field of carnage. the indians saluted its apparition with shouts of joy, and rushed with much rage at the intrenchments--their shock was irresistible. the colonists fled, pursued by the savages. but a formidable explosion upheaved the ground beneath their feet, and the hapless indians hurled into the air fell dead all around. it was a mine the argentines had fired. the indians, wild with terror, and deaf to the voice of their ulmens, fled, and refused to begin the engagement again. nocobotha, mounted on a splendid charger, black as night, dashed forward, almost alone, and waved the sacred totem of the united nations, shouting in a voice heard above the din of battle-- "cowards who refuse to conquer, at least see me die!" this cry sounded in the ears of the indians as a shameful reproach, and they ran after their chief. nocobotha appeared invulnerable. he made his horse curvet, rushed into the thickest of the fight, parried every blow with the staff of the totem, which he raised above his head and shouted to his men-- "courage, follow me!" "nocobotha, the last of the indians! let us die for the child of the sun!" the patagonians shouted, electrified by the rash boldness of their toqui. "ah!" he exclaimed, enthusiastically pointing to the planet of day, "see! my radiant father smiles on our valour. forward, forward!" "forward!" the warriors repeated, and redoubled their fury. all the town was already invaded, and the fighting went on from house to house. the aucas formed in close columns, and, led by nocobotha, dashed up the eastern steep street that runs to old carmen and the citadel. they advanced fearlessly, in spite of the incessant fire from the guns of the fort. nocobotha, respected by death, and ever in front, brandished his totem, and made his black horse rear. "well," major bloomfield said, mournfully to pedrito, "the hour has arrived." "do you wish it, major?" "i insist on it." "that is enough," the bombero added. "good-bye, major, till we meet again in another world." the two men shook hands: it was a final leave-taking, for, unless a miracle occurred, they were about to die. after this farewell, pedrito collected fifty horsemen, formed them into a close squadron, and between two discharges from the battery, they dashed at full speed upon the ascending indians. the redskins opened right and left before this avalanche that rushed down the mountain; and they had scarce recovered from their stupor, ere they perceived the spanish horsemen in three boats, pulling out to sea with all their might. taking advantage of this bold diversion, all the colonists, by major bloomfield's directions, shut themselves up in the fort. nocobotha made the aucas a sign to halt, and advanced alone up to the walls of the citadel. "major," he shouted in a firm voice, "surrender; you and your men will be allowed to live." "you are a traitor and a dog," the major, who at once appeared, answered. "you are warned, you and your men." "i will not surrender." twenty bullets whistled from the top of the wall, but nocobotha had returned to his warriors with the rapidity of an arrow. "back! back!" he shouted to them. a detonation, loud as a hundred peals of thunder, rent the air. the major had blown up the powder in the fortress. the stony giant oscillated for two or three seconds on its base like an intoxicated mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, it rose in the air, and burst like an overripe pomegranate, amid expiring cries of "long live our country!" a shower of stones and horridly mutilated corpses fell on the terrified indians. all was over. nocobotha was master of the ruins of carmen. weeping with rage on seeing this disastrous victory, he planted his totem on a piece of tottering wall, which was the only relic of the fort and its defenders. chapter xxiv. the last of the incas. the principal houses of the town were only spared from pillage; and nocobotha, in order to save their riches, adjudged them to the most powerful ulmens. as for himself, he established his headquarters in his own mansion in old carmen. don valentine and his daughter took possession of their house, which had escaped the fury of the indians. the town, crowded with patagonians, offered an image of desolation. a week after the capture of the colony, at about ten in the morning, three persons were conversing in a low voice in don valentine cardoso's saloon. they were don valentine himself, his daughter, and the capataz don blas salazar. the latter, in his gaucho dress, had the look of a thorough bandit. mercedes, standing as sentry at a window was laughing heartily at him, to the great despair of the capataz, who most sincerely wished his confounded disguise at the deuce. "blas, my friend," don valentine was saying, "get yourself ready for a dance." "then the ceremony is to take place today?" "yes, blas. i must confess that we live in singular times, and a singular country. i have seen several revolutions, but this one beats them all." "from the indian point of view," concha said, "it is very logical." "which of you, a month ago, expected such a sudden re-establishment of the empire of the incas?" "not i," the capataz replied. "still, it seems to me that nocobotha is not at all magnanimous for a future emperor." "what do you mean by that, my friend?" "has he not written to don sylvio that, if he does not leave the colony in three days, he will have him hung?" "before hanging people," said doña concha, "it is necessary to catch them." "all that is very fine, blas, but you will return to the estancia. above all, do not forget my instructions." "trust to me for that, excellency; but i am anxious about pedrito," he added, in a low voice, not to be overheard by mercedes; "he has disappeared for the last six days, and we have heard nothing about him." "don pedro," concha remarked, "is not the man to be lost without leaving traces. reassure yourself, we shall see him again." "nocobotha!" mercedes exclaimed, turning round. "blas, my friend, decamp," don valentine said. "come again soon," mercedes added. nocobotha walked in. the great chief of the aucas, dressed in his magnificent indian costume, had a thoughtful brow and anxious look. after the first compliment, doña concha, alarmed by the chiefs gloomy appearance, bent forward gracefully to him, and said, with an affectionate air, which was admirably assumed-- "what is the matter with you, torribio; you seem troubled? have you received any unpleasant news?" "no, madam; i thank you. if i were ambitious, all my wishes would be fulfilled. the patagonian chiefs have resolved on re-establishing the empire of the incas, and they have elected me, who am the direct heir, to succeed the unfortunate athahualpa; but--" "they have done you justice." "this distinction terrifies me, and i fear i cannot bear the weight of an empire. the wounds dealt my race by the spaniards are old and deep. the indians have been brutalized by a long servitude. what a task it is to command these disunited tribes! who will carry on my work if i die in twenty years, two years, tomorrow, perhaps? what will become of the dream of my life?" "heaven means you to live long, don torribio," doña concha answered. "a diadem on my brow! stay, señorita, i am discouraged, weary of life; it seems to me that the crown will press my temples like a band of iron, and crush them, and that i shall be buried in my triumph!" "dismiss these vain presentiments," the girl remarked, giving a side glance full of meaning. "as you know, madam, the tarpeian rock is close to the capitol." "come, come! don torribio," don valentine said, gaily; "let us take our places." a splendid breakfast had been laid. the first moments passed in silence. the guests seemed embarrassed, but by degrees, thanks to doña concha's efforts, the conversation became more animated, nocobotha, it could be easily seen, was making a violent effort to drive back the flood of thoughts that ran to his lips. toward the end of the repast he turned to the young lady. "señorita," he said to her, "this evening all will be over. i shall be emperor of the patagonians, and enemy of the spaniards, who will doubtless return with arms in their hands to overthrow our empire. what they most dread in an indian insurrection is the reprisals, that is to say, the massacre of the white men. my marriage with an argentine is a pledge of peace for your countrymen, and a security for their commerce. doña concha, give me your hand." "what hurry is there at this moment, don torribio?" she asked. "are you not sure of me?" "ever the same vague and obscure answer," the chief said with a frown. "child, you are playing with a lion, and i see to the bottom of your heart. imprudent girl, you are rushing on your own destruction; but no, you are in my power; and after saving your life ten times, i offer you half a throne. tomorrow, madam, you will and must marry me. your father's and don sylvio's heads will answer for your obedience." and seizing a crystal bottle full of limpid water, he filled his glass to the brim, and emptied it at a draught, while doña concha gazed at him fixedly; this look contained a cruel and concealed joy. "in an hour," he added as he placed the glass on the table again, "you will be present at the ceremony by my side; i insist on it." "i will be there," she replied. "farewell, madam." the young lady rose quickly, seized the bottle, and walked up to the window. "what are you going to do there?" don valentine asked. "i am watering my flowers, father." while pouring out the water, concha, whose eye sparkled with a gloomy fire, muttered to herself-- "don torribio, you told me one day that there's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip; well, listen to me in my turn; between your forehead and a crown there is death!" she then placed two flower pots near the balustrade on the terrace of the house. this was doubtless a signal, for in a few minutes mercedes entered the saloon hurriedly, saying-- "he is here." "let him come in," don valentine and his daughter said simultaneously. pedrito made his appearance. the estanciero recommended the utmost vigilance to mercedes, closed the door, and then seated himself by the bombero's side. "well?" he asked him. the plaza mayor on this day offered an unexpected sight. in the centre rose a tall scaffold covered with red velvet tapestry, on which a chair of carved nopal wood was placed. the back was surmounted by a massive gold sun flashing with diamonds; a vulture of the andes, the sacred bird of the incas, also of gold, held in its bent beak an imperial crown, while in its claws it had a sceptre terminating in a trident, and a hand of justice holding a dazzling sun. this vulture, with outstretched wings, seemed hovering over the chair, to which there was an ascent of four steps. on the right of this chair was another, somewhat lower, but more simple. at midday, the moment when the day star at its zenith darts forth all its beams, five cannon shots, fired at regular intervals, boomed forth majestically. at the same moment the different patagonian tribes debouched through each of the entrances of the square, led by their ulmen, and dressed in their robes of state. only fifteen thousand warriors were assembled, for, according to the indian custom, so soon as carmen was taken, the booty was sent under safe escort to the mountains, and the patagonian troops disbanded and returned to their tolderías, ready to come back, however, on the first signal. the tribes drew up on three sides, leaving the fourth vacant, which was soon occupied by five hundred gauchos. the latter were mounted and well armed, while the indians were on foot, and had only their machetes in their girdle. the windows were lined with spectators, behind whom indian women, irregularly grouped, thrust out their heads over their shoulders. the centre of the square was free. in front of the scaffolding, and at the foot of a clumsy altar shaped like a table, with a deep gutter running down it and a sun above it, stood the great matchi of the patagonians and twenty priests, all with their arms crossed, and their eyes fixed on the ground. when all had taken their places, five more gunshots were fired, and a brilliant cavalcade came up. nocobotha, who marched at their head, with doña concha on his right and don valentine on his left, held his totem in his hand. after them came the principal ulmens and caraskens of the united nations, with their brilliant ornaments of gold and precious stones. nocobotha got off his horse, held out his hand to doña concha to help her to dismount, mounted the scaffold, led her to the second chair, and himself stopped before the first one, though without sitting down. his ordinary pale features were inflamed, his eyes seemed swollen by watching, and he incessantly wiped away the perspiration that stood on his forehead. something unusual was going on within him. doña concha's pallor was extreme, but her face was tranquil. the ulmens surrounded the scaffold, and at a third cannonade, the priests stepped on one side and displayed a securely bound man lying on the ground in their midst. the matchi turned to the crowd. "all you who listen to me, the sun, our ancestor, has smiled on our arms, and gualichu himself fought for us. the empire of the incas is established, the indians are free, and the supreme chief of the patagonian nation, nocobotha, is about to place on his head the diadem of athahualpa. in the name of the new emperor and ourselves we are about to offer to the sun from whom he is descended, the most grateful of all sacrifices. priests, bring up the victim." the priests laid the unhappy wretch in the trough of the altar. he was a colonist made prisoner at the taking of población del sur; indeed the pulquero in whose shop the gauchos were accustomed to drink their chicha. in the meanwhile nocobotha trembled as if smitten with ague. he had a buzzing in his ears; his temples beat violently, and his eyes were suffused with blood. he supported himself on one of the arms of his chair. "what is the matter?" doña concha asked him. "i do not know," he answered; "the heat, the excitement, perhaps--i am stifling; i hope it will be nothing." the unfortunate pulquero had been stripped of all his clothes, with the exception of his trousers, and he uttered heart-rending cries. the matchi approached him, brandishing his knife. "oh, it is frightful!" doña concha exclaimed, burying her face in her hands. "silence!" nocobotha murmured; "it must be." the matchi, insensible to the yells of the victim, selected the spot where he was to strike, looked at the day star with an inspired air, raised his knife, and laid open the pulquero's chest. then, while the victim writhed in agony, and the priests collected the blood which poured in a stream, the matchi plucked out his heart, and held it up to the sun, like the host in catholic churches. at this moment all the ulmens mounted the scaffold, and seating nocobotha on the throne, raised him on their shoulders, shouting enthusiastically-- "long live the new emperor! long live the son of the sun!" the priests sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the victim, and the indians filled the air with deafening shouts. at length nocobotha exclaimed, "i have restored the empire of the incas, and freed my race!" "not yet!" doña concha said to him, triumphantly. "look!" the gauchos, who had hitherto been impassive spectators of the ceremony, suddenly dashed at a gallop upon the defenceless indians, while through all the streets poured argentine troops, who had arrived from buenos aires, and all the windows were lined with white men, who fired at the mob. in the centre of the square could be recognized don sylvio d'arenal, blas salazar pedrito and his two brothers, who pitilessly massacred the indians with shouts of "exterminate the pagans!" "oh!" nocobotha exclaimed, brandishing his totem with a trembling hand, "what treachery!" he tried to fly to the help of his people, but he tottered and fell on his knees; his eyes were covered by an ensanguined mist; a devouring fire burnt his entrails. "what is the matter?" he asked himself in despair. "you are dying, don torribio," doña concha whispered in his ear, as she seized his arm forcibly. "woman, you lie," he said, striving to rise. "i will help my brothers." "your brothers are being slaughtered; did you not mean to kill my father, my affianced husband, and myself? die, villain! die by a woman's hand! i love don sylvio--do you hear me?--and i am avenged." "woe, woe!" nocobotha shrieked, dragging himself on his knees to the edge of the platform, "i am the murderer of a people i wished to save." the indians fell like ripe corn before the sickle of the reapers. it was no longer a combat, but a butchery. several chiefs flying before pedrito the capataz and don sylvio rushed to the platform as a last refuge. "oh!" nocobotha howled, as he took a tiger bound and seized don sylvio by the throat, "i too will revenge myself." there was a moment of terrible anxiety. "no," the chief added, letting loose his enemy and falling back; "it would be cowardly, for this man has done me no injury." doña concha, on hearing these words, could not restrain tears of admiration, tardy tears; tears of repentance, or of love, perhaps! pedrito fired his rifle into the chest of the chief, who was lying stretched out at his feet. at the same instant pincheira fell, his head cleft asunder by don sylvio. don valentine struck by a straggling bullet, sank into his disconsolate daughter's arms. "my god," nocobotha murmured, "you will judge me!" he locked up to heaven, moved his lips again as if in prayer, and suddenly his countenance became radiant; he fell back and expired. "perhaps this man's cause was just," doña concha said, overwhelmed with remorse. it is not the first time that a woman has, through the decree of heaven, arrested a conqueror. the end. [illustration: a startling experience the world seemed to turn over and slip from under him, his head struck the gunwale smartly, and he gradually got a dim notion that he was standing with his back against something hard, and his body at right angles to that of the indian in the bows.] * * * * * adventures among the red indians romantic incidents and perils amongst the indians of north and south america by h. w. g. hyrst author of "adventures in the great forests," "adventures in the arctic regions" &c. &c. with sixteen illustrations london seeley and co. limited great russell street * * * * * uniform with this volume the library of adventure _extra crown vo. with many illustrations. /- each_ "delightful books of adventure, beautifully printed and tastefully got up."--_educational times._ "boy readers will find a kaleidoscope of brilliant and picturesque scenes from all lands collected for their benefit."--_spectator._ adventures on the high mountains by richard stead, b.a. f.r.hist.soc. _with sixteen illustrations_ "deeds of heroism and daring fill these lively pages."--_globe_ adventures in the great forests by h. w. g. hyrst _with sixteen illustrations_ "the kind of book a healthy english boy will delight in."--_country life_ adventures on the high seas by richard stead _with sixteen illustrations_ adventures in the arctic regions by h. w. g. hyrst _with sixteen illustrations_ adventures in the great deserts by h. w. g. hyrst _with sixteen illustrations_ "as stirring as any story of fictitious adventure."--_glasgow herald_ adventures on the great rivers by richard stead _with sixteen illustrations_ "thrilling stories-plentifully illustrated."--_globe_ adventures among wild beasts by h. w. g. hyrst _with twenty-four illustrations_ adventures among the red indians by h. w. g. hyrst _with sixteen illustrations_ seeley & company limited preface these pages describe the adventures of men whom duty or inclination has brought into contact with the indians of the entire american continent; and, since every day sees the red race diminishing, or abandoning the customs and mode of life once characteristic of it, such adventures must necessarily relate mainly to a bygone generation. to-day the indians form a bare sixtieth of the american population, a falling off for which the colonist has been responsible both actively and involuntarily. the history of the red man's relations to those who ultimately were to be his rulers is a painful one; massacres and cruelties on the one side led to reprisals of a similar nature on the other. happily the days of persecution and revolt are now ended; some few of the natives have intermarried with whites and have adapted themselves to the conditions of modern civilisation; others have settled down to an inoffensive and gypsy-like life on reserves granted by the white governments. meanwhile the whole race--particularly in the north--continues to diminish. it is not improbable that in the days of cortez and pizarro the indians were already a dying people; and that collision with the white invaders only hastened their demise. the result of this collision is melancholy, and the author of "westward ho!" has put it all into a nutshell. "the mind of the savage, crushed by the sight of the white man's superior skill, and wealth, and wisdom, loses at first its self-respect, while his body, pampered with easily-obtained luxuries, instead of having to win the necessaries of life by heavy toil, loses its self-helpfulness; and with self-respect and self-help vanish all the savage virtues." bishop bompas, who spent his life among the indians of the far north, says, "the whole of the tenni race seem to be of a sickly habit, and are dwindling in numbers. they are not much addicted to ardent spirits, nor are these now supplied to them, but they have an inveterate propensity to gamble. though almost wholly free from crimes of violence, and not much inclined to thieve, yet heathen habits still cling to them, and they exhibit the usual indian deficiency in a want of stability and firmness of character.... in sickness the indians are very pitiful. they soon lose heart, and seem to die more fro despondency than disease. the constant removals are trying to the weak and infirm, and in times of distress those who cannot follow the band are left behind to perish.... the old women employ themselves in twisting grass or roots or sinew into twine for sewing or fishing-nets. the men and boys are often busied in shaping bows, arrows, snowshoes, and sledges.... their capacity for civilisation is very limited; none become business men." contents page chapter i cherokee warfare indian insurgents and their rifles--the rising of --march of lieutenants lowry and boyd--the indian attack--sergeant munson--saving an officer's life--walking into the battle instead of out of it--the third indian contingent--munson wounded--prisoners--taken through the forest--the camp on lake erie--the chief's sentence--slavery!--plans for flight--munson's escape by water--the cherokee canoemen chapter ii the invasion of corrientes southern indians as soldiers--andresito artegas--the war of - --an awkward time for british residents--the panic in corrientes--the march of the indian army--a magnanimous chief--mr. postlethwaite--hindrances to good fellowship--a quaint vengeance--schemes for flight--andresito as a guest--a peruvian blackguard--flight and pursuit--running for it--a ship in sight--the last struggle for liberty chapter iii a captive among argentine indians the guaranian family--a story of don pedro campbell--indians in pursuit--ascencion and her sister captured--taken to the _tolderia_--"the cordoban soldiers are coming!"--escape of the indians--the two girls made slaves--murder of a young spaniard--an evening alarm--the macabis--the battle--ascencion's sister killed--another flight--a strange ship in the river--the portuguese commander--peter campbell as rescuer--the indians subdued--punishing a would-be assassin chapter iv the iroquois of the canadian boundary the iroquoian family--surgeon bigsby--coasting on lake ontario--a strange reception--saluting "royalty"--landing in the indian village--the chief's remarkable speech--the excitement that a red tunic may cause--the old chief's generosity--further popularity for the doctor--the chief's dinner-party--farewell gifts--the next halt--troubles of a geologist--"césar auguste"--an unwelcome passenger--getting rid of the half-breed chapter v creek indians at play u.s. government and indians--captain basil hall, r.n.--the creeks--a disappointment--the real indians--a well-timed visit--the local band--the eve of a great festival--dancing--scarifying--the great day of the year--the match-ground--where are the players?--the two teams--a discourteous commencement--other preliminaries--the ball-play begins--some alterations much needed--the end of the game chapter vi with the delawares and crees sir george head--across nova scotia--up the st. john river--indian salmon-spearing--a ducking for the major--a novel method of life-saving--the guides' limit--a ferocious cree--engaging the new guide--irishwoman _versus_ indian--the ride through the pine-forest--snow--wolf-tracks--provisions short--the wolves' attack--keeping the guide in order--trying to be wiser than an indian--how to kill wolves--the indian camp--dances chapter vii among the fuegian indians the pesherahs of tierra del fuego--admiral fitzroy--fuegians as boat-thieves--hostages--an experiment--fitzroy's second voyage--met by the natives--compliments and curiosity--a puzzle--indian vanity--ashore again--hostile natives--"yammerskooner"--an uncomfortable plight for english sailors--a night among unpleasant neighbours--jemmy button's meeting with his relatives--mr. matthews's experiences--jemmy again--why jemmy stayed among his people chapter viii the end of the “black hawk” war what's in a name?--black hawk--the treaty of --how it was kept--the treaty of --the beginning of the end--the illinois militia--through wisconsin--cholera--general atkinson's march continued--the bad axe river--an unlooked-for meeting--on board the _warrior_--a dialogue--a _mauvais quart d'heure_--the white men's revenge--fording the river, in pursuit--a brief battle--the sioux--capture of black hawk--_væ victis!_ chapter ix peruvian indians lieutenant smyth, r.n.--the h.m.s. _samarang_ survey--a rash offer--the jevero indians--the guides' opinion of their employers--how the mountain indians defy hunger--coca balls--a gruesome neighbourhood--_alma perdida_--up the huallaga river--manatee hunters--trouble caused by the guides--smyth's presence of mind chapter x the caribs of guatemala john lloyd stephens--a delicate mission--belize--reception by the british commanding officer--up the river--a genial franciscan--caught in the storm--a rude awakening--"squaring" the caribs--central guatemala--agricultural caribs--hospitality--catherwood seized with fever--the chargé d'affaires in a hole--the native doctor to the rescue--any port in a storm--a miraculous cure--caribs and mestizo rebels--joining forces with the officers--the scuffle--the long mile back to british soil--safe over the boundary chapter xi a prince’s adventures in brazil prince adalbert of prussia--journey across south america--no guides--the brazilian forest--a path discovered--gathering cherries--the mysterious carib--the visit to the village--the cacique's banquet--an unlooked-for _taboo_--the bull-fight dance--carib guides--the amazon at last--indians among the trees and on the river--the party captured by guaranis--taken before the cacique--ransom--an unexpected ally--the penitent guaranis--a tapir hunt chapter xii indian warfare in california captain wise, u.s.n.--sent ashore at monterey--the march of the boat's crew--a yankee trapper settlement--news of the apaches and comanches--indians in the pay of mexico--preparing for an attack--the night alarm--"hy-yah!"--the four comanches--the palaver--trouble ahead--the sudden volley--pursuing the apaches--following the trail--from the forest to the prairie--a dilemma--the battle of the indians--capture of the fugitives--a surprise chapter xiii with the aymaras and moxos prevalence of indian tribes in bolivia--the colla or aymara people--hugh de bonelli--the aymaras as walkers--a walk along lake titicaca--seventy miles a day--the moxos--a glorious canoe-ride--family parties of indians on the river--the gathering of the tribe--the cacique--the start for the egg-hunt--turtle "nests"--a large family--commencement of the digging--five days' hard work--breaking the eggs--procuring the oil chapter xiv a sporting trip across the prairies the hon. henry coke--across the prairies--bluffs--the crow guide--brought to a full stop--bison in sight--disappearance of the guide and some of the baggage--pursuing him--a hopeless chase in the dark--the indians' camp-fire--the pawnees--bargaining for a prisoner's life--the new guides--bison--cautioning the new hands--some very risky hunting--cut off from the herd--man down!--attacked by an infuriated bison--saved by an indian's presence of mind chapter xv how the yo-semite valley was discovered the sierra nevada--the snakes, or shoshonees--san francisco--john savage--josé jerez--indian dissatisfaction--impressing the savages--trouble with drunken indians--an anxious drive--home again--boycott?--terrible news--attack on the frezno river store--the return--indians kept at bay by the diggers--an opportune arrival--a wife stolen--pursuit--volunteers to the rescue--guided by prisoners--found at last--the surrender in the yo-semite valley chapter xvi among the niquirans and apaches julius froebel--a hazardous project--a travelling indian tribe--a hot march--niquiran hospitality--"el dorado"--a deserted village--the villagers' gold-mine--froebel's reception--the baskets and their contents--a very ill-judged action--flight--froebel's wanderings--ancient ruins--a new occupation for the wanderer--the apaches--firing on the mexicans' camp--pursuit through the darkness--an unexpected arrest chapter xvii across the united states in a waggon mexican boundary commission--john russell bartlett--an ethnologist's hunting-ground--panic among horses and teamsters--the cause--a remarkable sight--a bison-surround--wanton carnage--approach of the missouris--the presents--the delicate part of the bison--grave warnings--breakdown of the waggon--the apaches--"mangus colorado"--the attack on the inn--the apaches put to flight chapter xviii a journey to the gran chaco the gran chaco of western paraguay--charles blachford mansfield--up the para--the madman's cold dip--corrientes--finding canoemen--the indians--a dangerous landing-place--pitching the camp--supper--_maté_--a jaguar--game easily obtained--nearing asuncion--an inexplicable scare--hunting on the chaco chapter xix among the seris of mexico gustav ferdinand von tempsky--a risky journey--a tropical thunderstorm--a warm reception for the travellers--mistaken for indians--the road to durango--"they have burnt another village!"--dr. steel as leader--von tempsky's "capture"--the mexican lancers--a scraggy army--tracking the redskins-- sudden appearance of three hundred indians--working with awkward tools--the fight--reinforced by yankees chapter xx a holiday among the ojibewas the algonquin family--charles richard weld--a holiday tour in southern canada--a coach ride over the prairie--indian bullies--getting rid of them--a rattlesnake hunt--extraordinary method of snake-killing--ojibewa guides--rapid-shooting without warning--english strangers--major strickland's farm--ojibewas as indoor and outdoor servants--a great prong-buck hunt--hunting methods of the ojibewas--the battue chapter xxi chippewyans and columbian gold-diggers the columbian gold find of --h.m.s. _plumper's_ task--lieut. mayne, r.n.--the yale rising--up the fraser in a pinnace--coming in at the end--the indians' complaint--night march of the bluejackets--excitement of the indian guides--glee turned to fear--reaching the scene of disorder--the miners' outpost--an awful sight--quelling the mob--struggle of the indians to save their wigwams from the rioters--disarming the diggers--the chippewyan reinforcement--the lieutenant in an awkward dilemma--the palaver--an anxious night chapter xxii the chippewyans of the columbian mountains john keast lord--across the columbian coast range--disadvantage of an escort--lord's best weapon of defence--"held up" by indians--between danger and safety--the assailants become guides--suspicions on both sides--a night at the indian camp--the canadian's discovery--lord on his mettle--the escape--indian notion of keeping an oath--signalling--the gorge--the ambush--the truth chapter xxiii two days in a mohawk village johann georg kohl--the quebec mohawks--the indian village--some of the villagers--lodgings--the chief--his recollections and his house--his sons--supper--the evening chat--kohl a _persona grata_--a morning in the forest--lynx traps--"scratching the russian"--the black bear--native sport--old and new customs--a betrothal.... chapter xxiv canadian lake and river indians the athapascan family--the chippewyans--rev. c. colton--from new york to the saskatchewan--a curious demonstration--making ready for the chippewyans--the steam-launch aground--surrounded by the canoes--"sturgeons!"--making the indians pay the piper--the lake of the woods--the indian fur-traders' camp--bargaining--chippewyan "lodges"--start of the canoe flotilla--experiments--the strange river--too late to turn--rapids--an awful fate ahead--the canoemen's presence of mind--a way of escape--scaling the cañon--towing chapter xxv a walk about uruguay indians of uruguay--thomas woodbine hinchcliff--a solitary walk--the mountain-forest--lost--a very remarkable bull--sudden appearance of indian cattle-hunters--lassoing--breakfast with the indians--riding, under difficulties--a critical moment--strange method of persuading a horse--thirst--help in sight, but running away--the indian fellow-traveller--a surprise--sticking up for the indian--what the vice-consul had to say chapter xxvi the exploration of the salado valley thomas hutchinson, f.r.s.--in santa fé--a fortunate meeting--the steam-launch--up the salado--the gaucho farmstead--the quiteño guide--his luggage--warnings--visit from the "man-eaters"--the parley from the boat--feeding the savages--their terror at sight of smoke--fear of the quiteño--men who have sunk to monkey level--fish-bone spears--a very indiscreet question--getting rid of the savages--other indians--ostrich-hunting--the quiteño's contempt for the ox-waggon, and its remedy chapter xxvii business and pleasure on the llanos venezuela--don ramon paez--an extraordinary commission--looking for indians--finding them--native fishermen on the orinoco--the _payara_ and the _caribe_--a vicious fish--in search of the three thousand wild horses--business-like lassoing--the aide-de-camp's first attempt--the struggle with a wild horse--the race--rescued by a carib--deer-hunting with masks list of illustrations a startling experience frontispiece page a gallant rescue a narrow escape a plucky rescue a bully well served a game at ball the snow-shoe dance of the red indians a fierce retort almost a tragedy red indian attack on a store a bison surround stocking the larder a primitive system of telegraphy a novel bridal ceremony an arduous task crane stalking-masks adventures among red indians chapter i cherokee warfare it has been said by certain historians that, after the american war of independence, british agents were employed not only to poison the minds of those siouan and iroquoian tribes that dwelt on the united states side of the boundary, but even to keep them supplied with rifles and ammunition. be that as it may, it is certainly a fact that, in , the cherokee and seneca tribes of the iroquois were not only at war with the crows, iowas, etc., of the rival sioux faction, but were turning their mysteriously obtained rifles on the white people of the states; and the celebrated general wayne was sent into ohio with a strong force of cavalry and infantry to restore order. he pitched his camp near fort jefferson, on lake erie, and having driven away the insurgents, sent a hundred foot-soldiers, under lieutenants lowry and boyd, across the lake to a fort near detroit, to bring back by road three hundred horses and extra provisions, and, incidentally, to disarm any quarrelsome redskins they might meet with. the return march was destined to be a very unpleasant one. large and small bodies of the indians whom wayne had driven to the forests persistently harried the column, flank and rear, firing from behind rocks and among the trees, till, in a couple of days, the hundred men had become only seventy, and many of the horses had escaped or been stolen. at noon on the third day the men halted for dinner on a barren tract between a range of hills and a thick forest; and, in order to guard against a surprise, lieutenant boyd with twenty men was sent to patrol the woods while the rest ate their meal in comfort. half an hour later, while lieutenant lowry was preparing to send another twenty men to relieve the scouts, the report of a gun, followed quickly by a dozen others, warned him that the day was not to be gone through without further trouble. [illustration: a gallant rescue lieutenant boyd had been sent with twenty men to patrol the wood while the main body ate their meal. presently shots were heard, and sergeant munson was sent to bring back an immediate report. he found the lieutenant trying to bind his shattered leg. shooting the foremost redskin, the sergeant mounted the officer on his back and, after several narrow escapes, brought him into camp.] every soldier caught up his rifle and made ready to defend the horses and stores which had been placed in the centre of the camp. lowry called a couple of sergeants to him and pointed to the new patrol. "take these to mr. boyd's assistance; and you, munson" (to the younger sergeant) "bring me back word of what is going on. hark at that!" a rapid, running fire was beginning, and above boyd's voice, which was shouting directions or encouragement to his men, there rose the truly fearful war-whoop peculiar to the cherokee indians. "hurry; off with you! i've enough men here to guard the horses in case----" the little squad plunged into the wood and made for the scene of action, which could not be far away, judging by the distinctness of the voices. they arrived after a minute's quick double, and the sight that awaited them was not an encouraging one. ten of their comrades were already dead or dying; the rest were fighting desperately against a score of indians, most of whom were armed with rifles in addition to their bows and hatchets, while, leaning back against a tree, and doing his best to cheer on the survivors, sat lieutenant boyd, his shin-bone shattered by a bullet. the new-comers fired a volley; several indians fell, and the rest were speedily charged with fixed bayonets. again came the horrible war-whoop, this time from a second batch of indians who either had just arrived or had been in hiding, and these hastened to pour flight after flight of arrows into the rescuers from behind. young munson, who was now fighting on the right wing of the little force, turned swiftly, and, firing off the charge which he had just rammed down, shot the foremost of the bowmen. but, even as he started to reload, he remembered his officer's command to return at once with news; in the hurry and excitement of the last few minutes he had forgotten all about it. he looked round for the quickest exit from the wood, and, in so doing, caught sight of boyd who, faint with the loss of blood, had been feebly endeavouring to bandage his wound with a handkerchief. the sergeant threw one more glance back at the soldiers; many of them had already fallen before the indian arrows, and the rest, paying no attention to their new assailants, were pursuing those who had guns. then he turned again to the officer. to leave him here was to abandon him to death, perhaps by torture. "can you get on my back, sir? he said hurriedly. quick; the redskins'll be on us in another minute. here, give me a hold of your pistol; i must leave my rifle unless you can carry it for me." but the officer had scarcely strength enough to enable him to stand. with difficulty munson hauled him upright against the tree-trunk, snatched up the pistol in case he should need it on the perilous little journey which he was undertaking, and, hoisting boyd on his back, darted among the trees out of sight of the approaching indians. on every side of him shooting seemed to be going on; an arrow fell at his very feet, and the next moment a stray musket-ball flattened itself against the tree which he was passing. what he could not understand was that, the nearer he came with his burden to the camp, the louder and more frequent did the firing sound. had his mates already driven the enemy into the open? a few steps more and he would be out of the wood. but what was all this prancing and stamping? the horses could hardly have broken loose, for, since his recent losses, lowry had had them tethered in batches whenever a halt of any length was made. the firing grew louder and faster than ever, and all doubt in his mind was ended when he heard the lieutenant's voice ordering the men to charge. while the two bodies of indians worked such fearful havoc among the patrols, a third and stronger party--fifty in number, and many of them mounted--had worked round to the open and were attacking the remainder of the company with tomahawks and spears. the horses, many of them already liberated by the savages, were plunging and screaming. lowry, who had leapt on to the back of one of them, was cutting right and left with his sword at the mounted indians, while his men, though they fought furiously, were retreating rather than charging, for these cherokee redskins, unlike the timid, treacherous bullies of the southern and western tribes, knew no such thing as fear; moreover, in addition to their unquestioned bravery, they often displayed, in their warfare, an amount of forethought and method that would not have discredited a white regiment. naturally, munson's first care was to get rid of his burden; and he resolutely turned his back on the fighting and made for the little tent that had been hastily rigged up for the two officers when the company halted. depositing the wounded man here, he snatched up a rifle and hurried breathlessly back to take part in the fray, which was but a small part, for, all in a moment, a spear, thrown with terrific force, struck him in the shoulder and he dropped to the ground, striking his head on a boulder so violently that he lost consciousness. when he recovered himself, some indians were bending over him, and one of them asked him, by signs, if he could stand. he contrived to stagger to his feet; then, finding that his water-flask was still at his belt, took a long drink from it, for his lips and throat seemed as dry as the back of his hand. "well done, sergeant; bravo!" said someone behind him; and other voices echoed the sentiment. he turned his head dazedly, and gave a start of astonishment. under a tree near him stood ten men of his company, some of them with heads or limbs roughly bandaged. "what's up? he asked. what's happened, anyhow?" one of the indians here took him by the arm, led him over to the tree, and signified that he must take his stand with the rest; and now he could see that those of his comrades who were not wounded had their hands bound, and that every man had a lasso-like thong tied about his waist, the other end of which at present trailed loosely on the ground. "we're all on us prisoners; that's what's happened," said a corporal by whose side he had been placed. "i thought _you_ was done for; 'pon my word i did." "where's all the rest?" "dead, or else cut their lucky. lowry, he's gone out, poor feller." "how about left'nant boyd?" "guess he got clear after all. i seen two o' the boys gettin' him on to a saddle-horse. there's one thing, them as got away on horseback'll soon take the news to wayne, so if these varmints don't tomahawk us or set light to us, i surmise he'll soon be along to rescue us.... what's their game now?" several mounted redskins were coming over to the prisoners, and after a few words with those who had been taking charge of them, made a sign to the yankees that they must be prepared to march. the loose ends of the thongs that bound them were handed up to one or other of the horsemen, and they were soon being dragged forward at a brisk walking pace. munson indicated that he could not walk far till his wound had received attention, whereupon, instead of treating him like the rest, the indians lifted him on to a spare horse, fastened his ankles under the animal's belly, and one of the mounted cherokees, seizing the bridle, rode on with his captive. the procession turned at once into the thickest part of the forest, the horses stepping along so quickly, nevertheless, that those on foot could scarcely keep up with them. although there was no visible track for them to follow, the redskins appeared to know quite well where they were going; they conversed very little among themselves, and munson was riding too far away from his comrades to be able to communicate with them. as nearly as he could guess by the light, it must have been after five o'clock, and he had eaten nothing since midday. he signed to his companion that he was hungry, but the indian merely shook his head. in about an hour from the time of starting the horses were stopped, a short conversation ensued among the riders, and then, to the sergeant's dismay, all moved on again, every one of the prisoners being taken in a different direction. munson's captor, who was now joined by two other savages, turned in the direction of the lake shore, and, quickening their pace to a canter, they rode a good twelve miles without stopping. by dark they arrived at an encampment where there were at least sixty wigwams pitched. the horses were pulled up, the prisoner's feet were freed, and he was ordered to dismount. he again made signs that he was hungry, and this time one of the indians pointed encouragingly to a cooking-pot that hung over the nearest fire, and bade him sit down on the grass. presently a squaw brought a kind of meal cake, and, plunging a wooden fork into the pot, brought out a bird rather larger than a pigeon, which she laid on the cake and handed to the captive, the three indians helping themselves in a similar manner. after a while, voices and the tramp of more horses became audible, and about fifty indians, seemingly of the same tribe as those who had attacked the soldiers, marched or rode into the camp. many of these must have been away on a hunting expedition, for they had with them a good supply of birds, deer, hares, and foxes. feeling considerably stronger and more hopeful after his meal, the american cast his eyes round in search of a way of escape. he was unbound, and might possibly succeed in crawling, inch by inch, down to the water-side; yet, with his shoulder in its present condition, he could neither swim nor--supposing he should have the luck to find a canoe--work a paddle; reason, moreover, suggested that a semi-permanent camp such as this appeared to be, would assuredly be far enough away from any white station or boat-route. while he was still revolving plans, two redskins crossed over to him, made him stand, seized his arms and bound them securely, though not unmercifully, behind his back, and motioned to him to follow them. they conducted him towards the largest of the wigwams, outside which sat the chief of the tribe, solemnly smoking. after an interval of dead silence, that personage gave a little shout, and all the men in the camp collected round about the prisoner. a lengthy harangue followed, addressed partly to munson, partly to the bystanders; and, at the close of this, one of the indians drew a knife and whetted it on his moccasin. young munson pulled himself together and endeavoured to take courage from the fact that, if death had now come, it had come while he was doing his duty; a man of his calling must expect to meet it any day of the week; indeed, how many of his old comrades-in-arms had met it within the last few hours? at least the savages should see that he could die like a man, without making a fuss. the indians nearest to him took him by the shoulders and forced him into a sitting posture, and the man with the knife walked slowly up to him and stood grinning over him. then a horrible thought came to him; they were going to give him a punishment almost worse than death--to scalp him, in fact--an indignity which only a man who had lived all his life in the neighbourhood of indians could fully appreciate. he wriggled himself free and, springing up again, kicked out fiercely at his tormentors. for this they seemed to care little; the man's hands were tied and he was at their mercy. he was forced down again and held motionless; then, while one man gripped him by the back of his neck so that he could not possibly move his head, the operator with the knife entered upon his task. but he whom munson had regarded as the public executioner was but the barber to the tribe; the formidable-looking knife had no more terrible work to perform than that of shaving the unfortunate man's head, and this in token that henceforth he was the chief's bond-slave. so much relieved that he laughed loudly at himself for his idle fears, the sergeant was then liberated, and taken to a wigwam where he found a fellow-slave, a crow indian, who had been captured some few weeks earlier; and both occupied the tent that night, by no means cheered by the fact that an armed redskin stood at the entrance all night long. apart from his anxiety to let his friends know of his whereabouts, the young man was not unhappy among the cherokees. for the first month or two of his captivity a very close watch was kept upon him, and, even later, it was at all times difficult for him to be away from observation for many consecutive minutes; but gradually he was given more liberty, was allowed to go fishing and hunting within certain limits, and was not again subjected to the disgrace of having his head shaved. his principal duties were to carry water from the lake, collect firewood, tend the fires, and do such other menial work as the squaws were not strong enough for, and as the men were too proud to do. having no one to converse with in his own language, he rapidly picked up theirs, more rapidly indeed than they realised, for they would often talk of their war plans in his presence as though he would not understand their talk. from the more approachable of the cherokees he occasionally learned news of the outside world; heard that general wayne was still fighting against their people, and that "they themselves didn't care a button for him." he never saw, among them, any of the horrible scenes of blood and torture which other captives among indians have described; they were ignorant and superstitious, but neither lazy nor drunken nor particularly cruel. sometimes the "war-arrow" was brought into the camp by some fleet messenger, and then the majority of the braves would gallop away or set off in their canoes, and, after an absence of hours or days, would return--often laden with spoil taken from the sioux or the whites, and sometimes leaving some of their number behind. we may be sure that, all this while, munson had worked out a good many schemes for effecting his escape; but, like a wise man, he knew that one unsuccessful attempt would infallibly result in prolonging his captivity and rendering it more severe, if not actually in his death. when he started, there must be no half-measures; all hindrances and difficulties must be foreseen and allowed for. he practised assiduously the art of following a trail, whether by land or water; already he had become very handy with a bow and arrow, for he was never allowed firearms; he did his best to become an expert canoeman, and lost no opportunity, in fact, of learning to outwit the enemy with their own weapons, all the while telling himself that, sooner or later, the golden opportunity must come. it did come, but not till he had been in the cherokee camp for nearly eight months. one morning, in the summer of , three indians whom he had never seen before and who, he learned, were of the huron tribe, rode into the camp and held a short parley with the chief. very soon the place was in an uproar, and munson was easily able to find out the news. the iowas had spied out this camp and that of some neighbouring hurons, had betrayed the secret to the yankee general, and he was now on his way to attack the hurons' stronghold. in an hour's time all the men, save three aged braves, had left the wigwams and were on the war-path. for a while the sergeant hesitated. if the soldiers really knew how to find the camp they would force their way to it before long, cost them what it might; and he would be set at liberty. but the chances were that he might be either shot down before he could make himself known to them, or be killed by the indians the moment he endeavoured to do so. he would never get a better opportunity of escaping than this, for the weather was warm, there was no one to stop him from going, and the canoes were all at his service, as the braves had gone in the opposite direction to the water. he waited five days, for the old men left behind had shown a certain amount of suspicion of him for the first day or two. then, with a plentiful supply of food, arrows, and fish-spears, he stole away soon after sundown, crept into a canoe and paddled away from the shore. his object was to reach buffalo if possible, but that was over a hundred miles away, and he could not paddle day and night without rest. knowing that he must husband his strength, he confined himself to an easy rate of about three miles an hour; and even then, by the time he had gone thirty miles, he could hardly keep his eyes open. he had recourse to the good old specific of cold water, took a header into the lake and, after a short swim, returned to his post, ate a cold but hearty breakfast, and began again, all the while keeping his eyes open for any white men's boat that might come along. but the hours went by and he saw nothing, and the desire for sleep became as pressing--and just now as much to be dreaded--as though he had been lost in a snow-drift. he took a second dip and, clambering back into the canoe, began paddling again, though his muscles were now so stiff that he could scarcely move his arms. he was nodding over his now almost useless labour when a light splash, like the bob of a fish, made him look round him. the splash had been caused by an arrow. behind him, two canoes, each with three indians in it, were coming along at a speed that he could not have beaten even had he been perfectly fresh. for just one second there was the hope that the redskins might be of some tribe hostile to the cherokees, who would be willing to help him in return for promises of money, which he could easily obtain from some charitable person at buffalo. but he knew the build, the costume, the very method of using the paddles, too well; these men were cherokees. he turned round to pick up his bow, and, in so doing, looked over the side. floating within a yard or two of him was an arrow, lying perfectly horizontal! he stared at it open-mouthed; an arrow, if the weight of its head did not sink it entirely, must float perpendicularly, showing but very little of its length. but this particular arrow _had_ no head; a token that it had not been shot in any unfriendly spirit. he looked back at his pursuers again; one of them was waving his hand, and, as his canoe came almost within touching distance, shouted: "we have some fish; will you give us bread in exchange for some? we have no bread, and very little tobacco." the words sounded very much like an excerpt from somebody or other's "french exercises," not the less so in that they were uttered in french-canadian--a language which munson understood perfectly well. he could almost have cried with relief. the cherokees were ontario fishermen; christians, and the sons of christians, and no more likely to interfere with the soldier than if they had been his fellow-countrymen. on finding that he spoke not only french but their own iroquoian as well, they became exceedingly friendly; but munson (perhaps he did them grave injustice) had become far too cautious to tell them the circumstances under which he had learned their language. he confined himself to the statement that he wished to reach buffalo, and would reward them amply if they would put him ashore there; he had been robbed of his money, he said--which was perfectly true--but could easily get some in the town; he was too tired to use his paddles; would they take him there? the next thing he knew was that the indians were waking him at the quay outside buffalo; he had fallen asleep even while trying to strike a bargain with them, and now they refused to take any other payment than the tobacco and provisions with which he had stored his boat; and, bidding him good-bye, they landed him and paddled away again. he went to the nearest military depôt and reported himself, and of course had no difficulty in obtaining the means to reach his home. chapter ii the invasion of corrientes the south american indian, as a soldier, is a being about whom we english know very little. of course we know that, centuries ago, he was a force to be reckoned with locally; we know that when his civilisation was stamped out of him he became a mere savage, ignorant, dirty, brutal and crafty; but it is something of a surprise to us to learn that, during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, he occasionally shook off much of his savagery, and showed himself the equal of the white soldier in discipline, generalship, staying-power and chivalry. a case in point is that of andresito artegas, one of the most striking figures in modern south american history. andresito, who belonged to the guaycuru branch of the great guaranian tribe, was the adopted son of the celebrated insurgent leader, artegas, who seems to have given him some education and to have developed in him the great natural foresight and controlling power which he was to exhibit later in the war between the guaranians and the portuguese of argentina. this petty war, which lasted roughly from to , was largely a "coming to a head" of the constant bickerings, forays, and persecutions which, for years, had been interchanged between the white man and the red; and though, in the end, the indians were badly beaten and the tribe almost annihilated, in the early and middle stages of the contest there seemed every likelihood of the portuguese being driven out of la plata. in , emboldened by a train of minor successes, andresito, with a force of seven hundred guaycurus, determined to seize the city of corrientes. next to buenos ayres, this was the wealthiest and most important of the argentine towns, and much of the commerce was in the hands of british merchants, such as the well-known brothers robertson, and their friend and sometime patron thomas postlethwaite. to men like this the news of andresito's advance was alarming enough, for it would probably mean financial ruin, if nothing worse; but to the more excitable portuguese residents it was absolute paralysis. people went stark mad with panic; the seven hundred indians became seven, and even seventy, thousand. tales went from mouth to mouth of massacres unspeakable in every village and town on andresito's line of march, and it was said that the paraguay boundary and the parana river--the only means of safety hitherto open to fugitives--were already in indian hands. mr. postlethwaite, disappointed in the hopes of being able to send his two daughters down the river to buenos ayres, resolved to take matters into his own hands as far as possible, and saw that all the europeans were armed and ready to band together in self-defence. but before anything in the way of concerted effort could be agreed upon, rumour became fact; andresito and his indian cavalry were within half a mile of the city. two portuguese men dropped dead in the street with fright; francisco bedoya, commandant of the colonial troops, lost his head altogether; collected all the money and plate he could lay his hands on and buried it in the garden, then began to run about the streets like a rat in a trap. as a last resource, mr. postlethwaite sent one of his servants to andresito with a letter, warning him that our government might mete out a terrible punishment if british life and property were not respected; and, to his great relief, the man soon came riding back with a courteous message from the young chief, to the effect that no violence was intended to anyone, least of all to british subjects. the englishman was imparting this message to his friends when the steady trot of a large body of horse was heard, and everyone either rushed to hiding-places or swarmed into the streets. postlethwaite and his daughters reached the _plaza_ in time to see the indian soldiers take possession of it. nothing could less resemble a horde of uncivilised invaders than these seven hundred men. headed by the handsome young andresito and his spanish-peruvian secretary, mexias, the guaycurus halted and dismounted at the sound of the bugle, and it could be seen that they were a set of well-trained fellows, armed like a european cavalry troop, dressed like civilised people, and apparently no more ready for outrage than if they had been loyalist soldiers come to rescue the town. the rear of the procession was certainly remarkable, being composed of four hundred boys of from six to fourteen years, half of them the children of white people, round whom thronged a mixed group of farmers and their wives, screaming, threatening, and entreating. the indian boys were liberated slaves, and it appeared that wherever andresito had found a native child in captivity, he had freed him and taken a white boy prisoner. it is interesting to know that, not many days later, the indian chief gathered together the distressed parents who had been able to keep up with or to follow his march, and handed the white children over to them. "i have given you a lesson, he said. in future, try to remember that indian parents have hearts as well as you." andresito's first act on arriving at the _plaza_ was certainly not that of a bloodthirsty tyrant; for, marshalling his men on foot, he led them straight into the cathedral to hear mass, and as soon as the service was ended, began to converse amicably with the principal inhabitants of the town. the cowardly commandant, bedoya, had found a place of concealment; perhaps his conscience pricked him, for only a few weeks before he had instigated the massacre of an entire indian village. at any rate, he would not face the guaycurus, and in imitation of their valiant leader, the whole garrison deserted their barracks, leaving them at the new-comers' disposal. in mr. postlethwaite, andresito speedily recognised a far-seeing, wise, and courageous old man, whose advice would be worth listening to; and after a few days, the englishman's influence over him became so great that, during the young leader's occasional outbursts of ungovernable temper or drunkenness, his followers would invariably send for the tactful merchant and beg him to manage their chief for them. no doubt this peaceful state of things might have lasted indefinitely but for two unpleasant factors; the first of which was the spite and jealousy of mexias, the indian chief's secretary--a vulgar toady and adventurer who could not be loyal to white man or red, and who, alarmed at the willingness with which andresito listened to postlethwaite's counsels, lost no opportunity of poisoning his mind against the honest merchant. the second probable cause of trouble was the ill-bred conduct of the spanish and portuguese residents towards the indian chiefs. we all know, either from history or experience, that it is dangerous and unwise to ignore the natural barrier that exists between the white and the coloured races; but that is no reason why a man should be gratuitously insulted because he is an indian; and when andresito found himself regarded socially with contempt and ridicule by people who, a fortnight earlier, would have knelt and grovelled to him for their lives, he was not unnaturally out of temper. from these two causes, relations became more and more strained, and one morning a file of soldiers appeared at postlethwaite's house, arrested him on a variety of stupid and trumped-up charges, and lodged him in the common prison among criminals of the lowest type. his elder daughter at once went to andresito's hotel, but could not obtain an interview with him till the next day. then the chief happened to be in a good humour, and after some little argument, admitted that the arrest was due to mexias' having told him that her father meditated escaping to buenos ayres to warn the portuguese; and on the girl's indignantly denying this, the prisoner was set at liberty. as a peace-offering for this affront to the europeans, andresito gave a great dinner-party to the chief residents, which was to be followed by a display of picturesque indian dances. very few of the spaniards or portuguese accepted the invitation, and those who did were particularly offensive in their comments on the dancing. andresito left the hall in a towering rage. the following morning the postlethwaite household was again disturbed by a visit from indian soldiers. "what now?" asked the merchant, losing patience. "all those who received invitations to the general's entertainment last night are to come and report themselves; the gentlemen at the _plaza_ and the ladies at the barracks," said a soldier civilly. the two english girls followed their conductors to the barracks, and there found all the best-known white women of corrientes guarded by a troop of soldiers. andresito soon made his appearance. "ladies, he said, i understand that you disapprove of indian dances; therefore i have invited you here to teach us better. when each lady has condescended to dance with an indian soldier she will be set at liberty." miss postlethwaite and her sister had the good sense to regard the affair as one of humour rather than of humiliation, and not stopping to point out that they were being punished for the misdeeds of others, they readily yielded to the chief's whim, and were the first to be dismissed. they hurried at once to the _plaza_, and here a very unlooked-for sight awaited them. guarded by a hundred soldiers under mexias, all the well-to-do men of the town were at work on their hands and knees, weeding the square, rooting out, with fingers or penknives, the tufts of shabby grass that grew plentifully between the cobble-stones! the heat was so suffocating that their father and other elderly men were well-nigh fainting; but there all were obliged to remain till the task was finished, shortly before sundown. this indignity so enraged postlethwaite that he was tempted to persuade the white men to combine against their persecutors and rid the town of them, but was deterred by the irresolution and petty jealousies of the corrientes men, and by the thought of the terrible amount of bloodshed for which he would be making himself responsible. abandoning that idea, he fell back on plans for escape. this would be difficult, if not impossible, for indians were said to be in possession of the country all round, and flight by water was out of the question, because all the boats had been destroyed or sent adrift, and the larger craft from buenos ayres seldom came farther north than goya. by way of lulling any suspicions on andresito's part as to his schemes, he invited him and his staff to dinner one evening. the indians conducted themselves with great dignity and politeness, and were very loud in their praise of british fare--particularly of the "plom puddin ingles" with which the host regaled them. andresito's bearing towards his young hostesses was gallantry itself; he even styled them his _paysanitas_ or countrywomen, as well as _indias rubias_ (fair indians.) "but what makes you think we are your compatriots, señor?" asked the younger girl. "ah, señorita," said andresito, "i fear you have not studied the history of england as i have done. did you not know that _all_ the people in your country were indians till the spanish king, julius cæsar, conquered it?" the dinner passed off very brightly and merrily, and at last the english merchant proposed the health of the indian chief. this was drunk heartily; but mexias, who had much of the mischief-maker and still more of the cad in him, having emptied his glass, broke it and threw the pieces over his shoulder, calling on the indians to do the same. now this was not at all an uncommon spanish custom; but miss postlethwaite had strong objections to seeing every glass in the house broken, at a time when communication with the capital was cut off, and even the simplest household necessaries difficult to procure. she whispered a hint to andresito, at which the hot-headed fellow sprang up, drew his sword, and vowed that he would kill the next man who broke a glass. in revenge for this snub, the peruvian asked the postlethwaite ladies and others to a dinner; and when all had partaken of and commended the soup and entrées, he took occasion to inform his guests with great insolence that the substance of all the savouries was horse-beef. this elegant practical joke was his last. the following evening he was met by the brother of one of the spanish ladies, who promptly avenged the insult in a manner not unusual among people of latin blood--by plunging a knife into his back. this incident was the beginning of general anarchy. indians and argentines alike took the law into their own hands, the latter emboldened by rumours that white armies were marching on the city, the former restless and demoralised through their leader's inability to press on to further conquests till he was reinforced by the troops of indians, half-castes, or insurgent whites for which he was waiting. to mr. postlethwaite there now seemed no more risk in flight than in remaining in the city; so, secreting his portable wealth, and sending his daughters forward with horses and two armed menservants as occasion offered, he managed to join them at nightfall near the river and well beyond the town. they made excellent pace, and soon after daybreak had reached the strip of desolate, hilly country that runs along the west bank of the parana. then postlethwaite called a halt, and had decided that they would rest themselves and their horses for a few hours, when juan, his spanish cook, pointed back to some moving objects at the foot of the long hill whose summit they had just reached--indians, from the way they sat their horses, though the distance was too great for the watchers to distinguish whether they were the half-naked savages of the country or the better-dressed, better-armed cavalry of andresito. [illustration: a narrow escape when corrientes was seized by andresito and his indians mr. postlethwaite and his daughters succeeded in escaping to the banks of the parana. a pursuing body of indians almost captured them, but the boat's crew of a ship which happened to be lying in the river kept them at bay with oars and boat-stretchers.] "in either case we must not risk falling into their hands," said postlethwaite. "up with you all again." "but the horses are so beaten," urged his elder daughter. "not more so than theirs, probably," he said. "and they have a good mile or more of hill to climb." the jaded beasts were hastily mounted again, and, always keeping the river in sight, the party made what speed they could towards the nearest white station or landing-stage. the hill which their pursuers had yet to climb would double the value of the start they had of them, to be sure; but there would be no means of hiding from them when they again reached the high level, and unless the indians' horses were extraordinarily fatigued, it was to be feared that they would soon make up for lost time. for the next half-hour there was no sign of redskins. then one head, then another, straggled into view, but still so far distant that the fugitives could not see whether they were moving or stationary. their own horses were on their last legs, so much so that it was becoming sheer brutality to urge them on. the two girls dismounted and turned their poor beasts loose and the servants followed their example--as did also postlethwaite himself when, on looking back once more, he could see at least ten figures--moving now, beyond all doubt--not much more than a mile behind. "we shall have to run for it," he said. "a ship, señor; a ship!" cried one of the men hysterically, pointing ahead; and sure enough there were the two naked topmasts of a brig, a mile or more farther down the river. no one else remarked on the sight; no one had breath to spare for anything but running. five minutes went by, and they seemed no nearer. the englishman glanced behind him; the indians had not appreciably lessened the distance between them. another five minutes, and then voices were becoming distinctly audible, though whether those of seamen or pursuers it was difficult to say. postlethwaite began to stumble. "i'm--done for," he panted. "you must go on--and send help back." "no, no, give me your hand," cried his elder daughter. "look; look behind you!" he obeyed. the two foremost indians had abandoned their horses and come within gunshot; and one was coolly taking aim at them with his musket. "only another minute or two," said the girl soothingly. "where are you going? where are you going?" cried a voice in spanish. they were running exactly parallel to the river, but about thirty yards from the water-edge. looking to their left they saw for the first time that one of the brig's boats had drawn up as close as possible to the bank and that her coxswain was beckoning to them. they needed no further warning, but made a dash for the boat. as they did so a bullet whistled past their ears, and the younger girl sank down on the dry grass. "she is wounded; she is killed," shouted postlethwaite. "no, señor; only faint and frightened," panted the stalwart cook, and, hastily picking his young mistress up in his arms, he caught up the others, who were dragged on board as a second bullet flew over their heads. juan handed in his burden and was about to vault over the gunwale, when his foot slipped on the mud and he fell sideways into the water. with drawn swords the two indians--emissaries of andresito--made a dash at him, but were kept aloof by oars and boat-stretchers; and as one of them drew a pistol, juan's fellow-servant did likewise and sent a bullet through his arm, just as the plucky cook was dragged into safety and the boat pushed into the stream. not long afterwards a strong portuguese force drove the guaycurus out of corrientes and took andresito prisoner. he was conveyed to the coast and eventually liberated; but he died not long after, and with him the hopes of independence which the guaranian indians had been cherishing. chapter iii a captive among argentine indians till the beginning of the nineteenth century, the guaranian indians (with the abipons and other sub-tribes) were in possession of a great part of southern brazil, paraguay, and eastern argentina. they were one of the strongest of the indian peoples, unusually tall and athletic, and, so long as they had reliable leaders, well able to hold their own against the portuguese. but owing to internal dissensions, intermarriages with europeans, and more especially to the crushing defeat by the colonists, in , of their great chief andresito artegas, they had become, by the middle of the century, a negligible quantity. much of their trouble with the portuguese was of their own seeking; for, not content with beating off their attacks, they were perpetually making unprovoked raids upon peaceful farmsteads, carrying off not only cattle, but european boys and girls, of whom they not infrequently made slaves. a typical instance of this sort of thing came under the notice of mr. peter campbell, better known as don pedro, _commandante de marinos_, or admiral of the fleet, who from onwards was in the employ of the argentine government. two portuguese girls, with their little brother, were returning on horseback to their father's farm near cordoba, when a series of frantic yells behind them warned them that savages were in pursuit. a single glance back was sufficient to show how futile all attempts at flight would probably be; the redskins were well mounted and used to riding at breakneck pace, while the girls' horses, not too spirited at the best of times, were jaded with a long, hot journey. the cries--rendered more savage and blood-curdling by the indian practice of simultaneously clapping the lips with the palm of the hand--grew louder and more bewildering. the boy lost control of his horse--the youngest and fastest of the three--and was soon well ahead of his sisters, the younger of whom, ascencion by name, had the presence of mind to scream to him to ride straight on to cordoba, if possible, and warn the military authorities there. the words were hardly out of her mouth when a shriek came from her sister, who was a dozen yards behind. "i am taken. do not desert me." ascencion turned her head, only to see the chief himself, a splendid-looking elderly man, riding straight for her own bridle. in another minute both girls were prisoners. each was dragged from her saddle and lifted to that of her captor; their two horses were handed to some young indians who rode in the rear, and then they found themselves being whirled away in the direction of the parana river, which lay some hundred and seventy miles distant. the cavalcade made no halt till long after dark, when it arrived at a _tolderia_ or native encampment. here the girls were handed over to the womenfolk, who, after robbing them of all their finery, took them to separate tents and told them what would be their future duties. worn out with grief and excitement, ascencion threw herself on the ground in her wigwam (_toldos_) and, refusing food, sobbed herself to sleep. when she awoke, it was day; she was alone in the tent, and now had leisure to examine it and its contents. this was soon done. the miserable abode was a pyramidal hut, each side about nine feet long and consisting merely of a few tall slender sticks, across which a rough matting of straw, like a collection of old bottle cases, was laid. through the matting sufficient daylight struggled to show that the only furniture of the _toldos_ consisted of half a dozen bows of great length, and a few gourds, fashioned into drinking-cups. she was creeping to the entry in the hope of finding out her sister's whereabouts, when agitated shouts resounded through the camp. "flee, flee! the cordoban soldiers are coming." those shouts were the sweetest music she had ever heard. heedless of the danger she might incur, she rushed into the open, calling loudly for her sister. what followed was very like a nightmare. redskinned, half-naked figures flitted backwards and forwards, screaming incoherently, in her tongue and their own. then all of a sudden the tents round about seemed to rise up of themselves and collapse. a lengthy, rumbling chorus of shouts came from a hundred yards away, followed by a carbine volley whose bullets knocked up the dust all round her, and one of which laid a young indian dead, almost within a yard of her. then she caught sight of her sister being lifted into a saddle, and while she endeavoured to attract her attention, a hand was pressed over her own mouth and strong arms swung her on to a horse which seemed to come from nowhere. she knew nothing more till she found herself being borne at a tearing speed across the plain, lashed inextricably to the cacique's body. she stole a glance over her shoulder. less than half a mile away she could see, through a cloud of dust, a string of straggling mounted figures, half a dozen riding ahead, and seven or eight more trying in vain to keep up with them; and from the flash of the sun-rays on their scabbards and metal horse-furniture, she knew them to be white men. but would they overtake her captors? the distance increased, then lessened considerably, then began slowly to increase again. she heard a few shots fired by the pursuers, but these took no effect. the space between them grew greater than ever, for even while the cordobans' horses slackened their speed and flagged, those of the indians seemed only to gain fresh strength; and at last she looked away, again losing all heart. for the soldiers had come to a dead stop, and in a few minutes she would be carried out of all sight of them. a howl of triumph and derision rose from the abipons; nevertheless, they did not draw bridle till they came in sight of another _tolderia_, whose occupants would form such a reinforcement as would enable them to defy any but a very strong company of white men. ascencion had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours and had held no communication with her sister since their separation. she was now handed over to the care of a motherly old body who was a relative of the cacique, and presumably a person of some importance in the tribe. not only did she at once supply the girl with food and drink, but she promised to make interest for her sister to be placed with her. this promise was fulfilled, and for the next week or two the girls shared the old woman's hut together at night, being kept by day in attendance on the cacique's wife, who, if she made them work hard at cooking, corn-grinding, and rough weaving, was at least not unkind to them. but this is not to say that these indians were not cruel by nature and habit. one day after a foraging party had returned, the cacique approached the two prisoners, and addressing them in portuguese, said roughly: "come with me. come and see what is in store for any of your friends who attempt to rescue you." they followed him tremblingly to the centre of the camp, and there found a young spaniard, bound hand and foot to pegs that were driven into the ground. he had been caught wandering in the forest, and, being unarmed, was an easy capture. at a word from the chief, a dozen men stepped back from the prostrate lad, and drawing their bows, each sent an arrow straight at him. every arrow but one transfixed the body; that one was ceremoniously burnt and its ashes buried; it was in disgrace for having missed its mark. this murder was the only exhibition of cruelty which ascencion witnessed at that camp, though almost every day the cacique threatened her and her sister with death if they made any attempt to escape. as far as they could gather, they were to be kept till the next general meeting of the tribe, and then sold or bartered as wives to the two highest bidders. when they had been in captivity a little over a fortnight some young men of the tribe rode hastily into the camp one evening and called excitedly for the cacique. they had, said they, been pursued by a strong party of macabi indians (one of the peruvian sub-tribes) who had never altogether lost sight of them, and were even now making a descent on the camp. instantly the whole tribe turned out, with bows, spears, hatchets, and some few even with muskets. the alarm was no false one. the macabis, about eighty in number, badly mounted, but far better armed than were the abipons, were in sight, and would soon endeavour to surround the _tolderia_, the inhabitants of which, so far from showing any sign of unreadiness to do battle, or anxiety as to the issue thereof, were quickly and joyously disposing themselves to the best advantage. indeed, they were the first to open fire; but the harmless volley from the half-dozen ramshackle old muskets was answered by a deadly shower of well-aimed bullets from at least forty guns. the two slave girls, crouching with some other women in one of the huts, could catch glimpses of the fight through the chinks in the matting. to an outsider it might seem that ascencion would care little as to the result of the conflict, but the peruvians were a fierce tribe, far more uncivilised than their enemies--who were, for the most part, christians--and to fall into their hands would probably involve far worse treatment than she had undergone at the hands of her original captors. presently, as the darkness began to fall, she saw a score of the young men separate themselves from the rest of the defenders, and begin to untether some of the horses. then one of them hastened into her tent and bade her and those with her hurry out to the horses. the macabis were steadily gaining the upper hand, and all the women were to be escorted by as many of the tribe as could be spared, towards a small and semi-permanent camp on the river, between chamorra and goya. no time was lost in obeying, and ascencion had already been lifted up behind the cacique's wife, when her sister, who was waiting to be mounted on the next horse, threw up her arms and fell without a cry. one of the enemy's bullets had pierced her breast and the poor girl lay dead. from that time ascencion knew little or nothing of what happened; she had an indistinct recollection of an all-night ride, then of resting, once in green woods, and once on a burning, sandy plain; then of a second long march in the dark; but that was all. for she was in a fever which did not leave her till some days after their arrival at the river _tolderia_; and, when next she left her hut, the first thing she saw was the remainder of the tribe returning from the long battle. they had been beaten, but nevertheless had inflicted such a blow on the victors as crippled all attempts at pursuit of them. then began again the same wearisome life as before, only more intolerable now that ascencion had lost her sister. but one afternoon, when most of the men were away hunting, the cacique came up to her as she was preparing for her daily task of fetching water from the river, and showing his knife threateningly, observed: "there is a boat's crew of white men making for the shore. stay here till they are gone. if you speak to one of them you shall die." the caution seemed needless enough, for by this time the poor girl had become so cowed and destitute of hope, that she had little heart to attempt escape. moreover, it was quite possible that men of her own race might be no more desirable neighbours than the indians. and so she sat down where she was, under a tree, feeling but little interest in the coming of the sailors. looking listlessly towards the row of trees that hid the river from her view, she presently caught sight of the cacique ushering two white men towards his _toldos_, and evidently bearing himself with great obsequiousness towards them. the taller of the two entered, but the other began idly to walk about the camp, exchanging cheery words with the women at work there. very soon he was standing by ascencion's side. she was hesitating whether to answer a civil greeting of his, when he said quickly: "but you are not an indian girl, surely?" then she forgot all caution and all indifference to her condition. she had heard her own language spoken by one of her own people! "no; i am portuguese. i am a prisoner," she whispered eagerly. "why not escape then?" "alas; they would kill me. no one will help me." "i'll find someone who will," said the young man, who wore a naval commander's uniform; and he ran to the cacique's tent, ascencion following him more slowly. in another minute both strangers reappeared, talking earnestly in a language which the girl could only suppose to be english, as the second sailor was very tall and of fair complexion. when they had almost reached her, the portuguese officer suddenly touched his cap and set off running full speed back towards the river. the other beckoning to her, and addressing her gently in tolerable portuguese, said: "is it true that you are a prisoner, my poor lass?" the girl hesitated, for the cacique, who had guessed something of the import of the white men's conversation, was laying his hand on the haft of his knife. but the englishman noticed the action, and immediately began to finger his sword-hilt. "speak up," he said; "there is nothing to be afraid of." then, interrupted every now and then by indignant remonstrance or denial from the chief, ascencion told her story. "very well," said the sailor at length. "come on board my ship; i shall take you up the river to corrientes, and leave you with some english ladies till your friends can be communicated with." "not so fast, señor," said the cacique, assuming a more bullying tone. "of course you can take her--if you like to pay the price i----" the officer whipped out his sword. "this is the only price i pay," he said curtly. [illustration: a plucky rescue the indians surrounded the officer and the shrinking portuguese girl. the cacique threatened him with his hatchet, but a touch of the englishman's sword-point at his throat made him reconsider his designs. another indian made at him with a knife, only to receive such a blow across the ear with the flat of the sword as knocked him to the ground.] the cacique laughed contemptuously, and with a single shout summoned the couple of dozen men who happened to be within hearing, and who surrounded the englishman and the shrinking girl in an instant, swinging their war-hatchets, and yelling one against the other. "oh, stop that din, do," said the officer with good-humoured impatience. "listen to me, my lads. i am commandante don pedro--or plain peter campbell, if you like that better. i've got a cutter and twenty men a few yards away, to say nothing of a ten-gun brig with sixty hands aboard of her, in the stream. now, are you going to stand clear?" brigs and cutters were meaningless to the indians; but what they did understand was the sudden appearance from among the trees of don edwardo, the portuguese captain, followed by a dozen sturdy seamen--english, yankee, and portuguese, armed with muskets and cutlasses. the cacique re-echoed his war-cry and threatened campbell with his hatchet; but a touch of the englishman's sword-point at his throat made him reconsider his designs. another indian made at the "admiral" with a knife--only to receive such a blow across the ear with the flat of the sword as knocked him to the ground. the tramp of the seamen stopped, and, at the command, muskets were slung and cutlasses drawn. the cacique bade his men drop their arms--almost a needless recommendation. "take her," he said sullenly. campbell pointed to the man whom he had knocked down. "take away his knife," he said, addressing his boatswain, a burly yankee. "now--you have attempted to kill an englishman, and you shall die." don pedro felt the edge of the knife and gave it a final "strop" on his palm. "i'm going to cut his head off, as a warning to the rest of you," he said, so sternly that the indians and even the cacique uttered little cries of terror. ascencion began to think that englishmen were no more merciful than other people; for, as the indian crouched whimpering at don pedro's feet, he stooped and brandished the knife with all the coolness of a butcher. but, to her amazement, when he stood up again, the head was still in its normal position, while, in his left hand, campbell held the braided pigtail of hair, full five feet long, which had proudly adorned the head of the would-be assassin; and he, still doubting his good fortune in having got off so cheaply, sprang up and made headlong for the woods. this is but one of the scores of anecdotes told of the celebrated soldier of fortune, peter campbell, who, whatever may have been his faults, was never known to show fear, to be disloyal to his employers or unjust to the indians; indeed, by his unfailing good nature and sense of fairness and fun, he succeeded in adjusting many a tribal or political grievance which in the hands of most men, however well-meaning, would probably have ended in bloodshed. the portuguese girl was taken up the river, and when she returned to her parents she was accompanied by a husband, for she married an irish settler in corrientes. chapter iv the iroquois of the canadian boundary the iroquoian branch of the red race is considered by the best authorities to be far superior, mentally and physically, to any other. before british rule was definitely established in canada, they were a power (known as "the six nations") duly recognised by english and french alike; and to-day, though less numerous than the algonquins, they show fewer signs of dying out than the other families. ontario is, and has ever been, a favourite district of theirs, and it was while living in this province that dr. john bigsby, who died in , jotted down the notes concerning them which one often sees quoted in works dealing with the study of races. surgeon-major bigsby had the good fortune, as a young man, to be appointed geologist and medical officer to the canadian boundary commission, a post decidedly congenial to a zealous student of ethnology, since it brought him in constant touch with the cherokees, who, with the hurons, mohawks, etc., constitute the iroquoian family. the inspection of military and native hospitals, together with his geological researches, necessitated frequent journeys north, south, and west from montreal; and it was on one such journey, in the year , that he met with a string of adventures both comical and exciting. from montreal he set out in a light waggon for kingston, where he fell in with an acquaintance, jules rocheblanc, a fur-trader who, like himself, had various calls to make on the shores of lake ontario. rocheblanc had already arranged to travel with father tabeau, the diocesan inspector of missions, and the doctor very willingly joined their party. the mission boat, unlike the birch canoes, was a well-built, roomy craft paddled by eight or ten indians--cherokees and hurons--all of whom spoke canadian-french fluently. the weather, though cool, was far from severe, and as all three travellers had frequent engagements ashore, these made welcome breaks in the journey. after toronto was passed, the white stations became scarcer, and villages inhabited by indians more frequent; and, at the first of these, the young army surgeon began to fear that the treachery so often justly imputed to the redskins was going to betray itself. three of the indians had asked leave to go ashore for a day's hunting, and, as the meat supply had run short, père tabeau was glad to let them go, on the understanding that they were to await him that evening at a spot below the next indian village, at which he was to halt for a few hours. owing to some minor accident, it was well on in the afternoon before the boat came in sight of the village, which stood at the foot of a hill, immediately on the lake shore. two or three dozen indians could be seen on a grassy space, engaged in their national ball-play--a mixture of tennis, lacrosse, and rugby football, which will be more closely described in the next chapter. by the goal nearest the water, the absent canoemen were standing, a goodly heap of game piled at their feet. the moment they caught sight of their boat they drew the attention of the players to it; these immediately abandoned the game and, running to the farther goal, picked up muskets and hastened with them towards the quay. "this is something new," said bigsby, "and i don't like the look of it. for whom do they take us?" he took a pistol from his bag, and rocheblanc did the same; then, looking towards the bank again, they saw that every redskin had pointed his gun-muzzle on the boat. "i think it is only a salute," said the priest, "though i must confess i have never been so honoured before. they are harmless, hard-working men, and all know me perfectly well." he had scarcely finished speaking when the guns began to go off in twos and threes and sixes, anyhow, in fact. then the surgeon put away his pistol and laughed, for there was not a splash on the water anywhere. "the father was right; it's only a salute. do they often do this?" he asked of the nearest of the canoemen. "i've not seen it before." the indian looked very knowing and mysterious, and, after a pause, answered: "it is a royal salute. they only fire like this for a great iroquois chief, or for a messenger from the white king." very soon another succession of reports came, the guns all the while trained so accurately on the boat that even bigsby, fresh from three years' constant active service at the cape, began earnestly to hope that no one had, in the excitement of the moment, dropped a bullet into a gun-muzzle by mistake. before the muskets could be loaded a third time the travellers were safely at the landing-stage. at other indian villages the doctor had noticed that the priest was always subjected to lengthy greetings, speechifyings, and very elaborate homage. the homage and the greetings were not absent to-day, but they were of the hurried and perfunctory sort, for everyone, after a word and an obeisance to his reverend fellow-traveller, turned to bigsby himself; and the old chief, coming forward with tremulous respect, began to address a long oration to him, calling him the lord of lakes and forests, the father of the red man, the slayer of beasts, and a score of other titles; in short, "describing him ever so much better than he knew himself," as john ridd says. while he was stammering out a suitable acknowledgment in french, the parish priest came hurrying to greet his superior, and then the mystery was explained, for père tabeau introduced the lord of lakes, etc., to him as plain "surgeon bigsby." the old _curé_ laughed heartily. "i understand. your uniform is responsible for all this, monsieur. your boatmen had told us that an ambassador from the king was coming with the père supérieur." he pointed at the doctor's regimental coat. "then that is why all the canoemen have been so distant and servile with me to-day," said the young surgeon. "i've not been able to get a word out of them." usually he wore a perfectly plain, blue relief-jacket, but on this particular morning he had donned a very old scarlet tunic, of the dragoon regiment to which he belonged, merely because the day happened to be too chilly for the thin serge jacket, and not cold enough for him to trouble about unpacking a winter coat; and if this had raised him in the canoemen's estimation, he had been quite unconscious of it. as a matter of fact, when the indians left the boat that morning, they had already made of him a british potentate who was at last throwing off his disguise, and this they honestly believed him to be; but, before the morning was out, their imagination had run away with them so far as to promote him to the rank of envoy extraordinary; in other words, they had exaggerated, as more civilised people sometimes will, for the sake of a little reflected greatness. "mr. rocheblanc," said the doctor, "if you will lend me a spare coat till i unpack to-night, i think i can sweeten that chief's declining years." a coat was soon produced, and, to the wonderment of the indians, bigsby removed the old tunic which, with a grave bow, he begged the old chief to accept as a memento. so great, indeed, was the surprise of the redskins that the donor was in no danger of the contempt which they might otherwise have shown for a broken idol--a daw despoiled of its peacock's plumage. such liberality was stupefying. but the chief was not to be outdone in self-sacrifice. after a tremendous struggle with himself he stifled his vanity and desire for possession, and turning to the old parish priest, begged him to wear the garment, as being more worthy of the honour; nor was it till he was made to understand that, neither in nor out of church, would it be seemly for the staid old clergyman to go flaunting in a cavalry officer's scarlet and gold, that the chief would consent to wear it. and then his appearance and his self-satisfaction were such that none of the white men dared look at him for long, lest they should hurt the dear old fellow's feelings by a burst of laughter. the gift led to an invitation to dinner from the chief, so persistent and impassioned that it was impossible for the visitors to refuse it, though the _curé_ had a meal awaiting them at his presbytery. and now the doctor was to achieve even greater popularity, for the _curé_, who usually acted as village surgeon and herbalist, took the opportunity of asking his advice in the case of a baby of one of the parishioners that suffered from what seemed to be incurable fits. bigsby at once went to examine the child and recommended the application of a little blistering lotion to the back of the neck; he sent to the boat for his medicine-case, gave the _curé_ a small supply of the lotion, and instructed him how to make more. this was, of course, the signal for everyone in the village to require doctoring. ailments were discovered or invented with astonishing rapidity, and the whole time, till dinner was ready, was occupied in feeling pulses, drawing teeth, lancing abscesses, and salving sores. but if the surgeon had been a vain man, the reverence paid to his skill would have been ample reward. at last the white men were conducted in state to the chief's hut. the dinner was laid on the floor, and mats and cushions arranged round it in a circle; the two priests sat on the chief's right, the doctor and rocheblanc on his left, and his son opposite him, while the wife and the daughter-in-law brought in, helped, and handed round the various courses. the first of these was _sowete_, a really villainous concoction of bruised sunflower seeds, _camash_ (a very insipid kind of truffle), and the gristly parts of some fish-heads, all boiled together to the consistency of porridge. of this the guests ate sparingly, and of the next course not at all, though it looked and smelt so inviting that bigsby and the fur-trader would have done full justice to it, had it not been for a warning look from père tabeau, and the ejaculation of the single word "puppy!" which was lost upon the indians, as they spoke only the canadian _patois_ and their own iroquoian. the dish might have been a roasted hare; but bigsby suddenly recalled, with a shudder, having seen a fresh dog-skin spread to dry on the outside wall of the hut. but the remaining courses were unexceptionable: various fish, a kind of grouse, venison, and a right good beefsteak to finish with. the chief implored his guests to stay for at least one night, but the mission superior had an appointment early the following day; and, when he had inspected the parish books, all returned to the boat, conducted by the red-habited chief. at the landing-stage the canoemen were busy stowing away presents which half the parish had brought down for the mighty medicine man: fruits of all kinds, small cheeses, carvings on horn, bone, and wood, and--to bigsby's great delight--several lumps of nickel and copper ore and some bits of gold quartz. these he knew were to be found in the vicinity, though he had not yet succeeded in discovering them; and here were valuable specimens which he might have spent weeks in trying to find. as a good deal of time had been lost, no halt was made that night, each man sleeping in the boat, where and when and how he could; and, long before noon of the following day, the next stopping-place was reached. this was a small fur-trading centre where rocheblanc also had affairs to transact; and he and père tabeau went about their respective business, agreeing to meet the doctor at the boat at three o'clock. bigsby, having nothing special to do, explored the tiny settlement and, strolling a mile inland, collected one or two geological specimens. this occupation attracted a knot of indian idlers, who stood gaping at the childishness of a white man who could find nothing better to do than picking stones off the road, throwing them down again or putting them in his pocket, and varying these puerilities by producing a hammer and knocking chips off unoffending wayside boulders. geologists and painters are too much accustomed to being stared at, as marvels or lunatics, to heed such curiosity; and it was not till he heard a strident voice in french, ordering the indians to go away, that he even troubled to turn his head. "_sales chiens_," "_salauds_," and "_sacrés cochons_" were the mildest terms that were being hurled at the simple redskins by an over-dressed and much-bejewelled being whose european toilette could not conceal the fact that he was a negro-indian (or a zambo, as he would have been termed farther south), with possibly a streak of white blood in him. "out of the way, reptiles, redskinned animals," he shouted. "white gentlemen don't want to be pestered by you," and pushing his way roughly through the little crowd, he came and stood by the scientist, bestowing on him a most princely bow and a gracious smile. now as bigsby had not sought this very loud young man's acquaintance, and wouldn't have had it at any price he could have offered him, he took no notice of him beyond a civil nod, and returned to his task of examining a chip of quartz with a pocket-lens. but the zambo, having established the fact that he was "somebody" in these parts by driving away the shrinking natives, endeavoured to press on the doctor a card that bore a string of names beginning with césar auguste and ending with the historic surname of de valois. convinced that the man was not sober, and unwilling to be the centre of a disturbance, bigsby turned away with a curt "good morning" and followed the retreating indians. at three o'clock he returned to the boat. the others were already in their places, and sitting next to rocheblanc was a coloured person, resplendent in white hat, fur-collared surtout, and an infinite number of waistcoats, pins, brooches, chains, and rings; dr. bigsby's acquaintance of a few hours before. "i took the liberty of inviting mr. de valois to join us as far as the next station, where he has business," said rocheblanc, who, like the indians, seemed more or less in awe of the stranger. bigsby concealed his annoyance and comforted himself with the reflection that the next station would be reached in less than three hours' time. it turned out that the fellow was a millionaire fur-buyer, with whom rocheblanc had often done business and wished to do more, and who, from his great size, his wealth, his powers of bullying, and his pretensions to white blood, was a terror to all the more civilised indians. to the doctor, as a "king's officer," he condescended to be more friendly than was desired; but his manner towards the two canadians was insufferably patronising, while a curse or a kick was the sole form of notice he could spare for the canoemen, and that only when they happened to splash him. father tabeau and the doctor pocketed their disgust as well as they could, and rocheblanc endeavoured to hold his guest tightly down to business conversation. the worst of it was that the canoemen, though strong, able fellows, seemed fascinated by their fear of him, and had it not been still broad daylight, a serious accident might have happened to the boat. even as it was, the men paddled nervously and irregularly, more than once getting her into a crosscurrent, and growing only more frightened and helpless as the half-breed became noisier and more abusive. [illustration: a bully well served the over-dressed zambo, after bullying the canoemen to the verge of mutiny, was ordered by bigsby to leave the canoe. the bully clenched his fist, but bigsby planted a powerful blow on his throat, and sent him right over the gunwale.] "there'll be trouble if we're not careful, father," said bigsby in english, now at the end of his patience. "if you'll allow me i'll try and get rid of him." he made a sign to the indians to pull sharply in, which mr. de valois did not perceive. but, when the confused redskins suddenly ran the boat among a number of projecting stakes, where an old landing-stage had been broken up, the zambo, splashed and shaken, began to behave like a maniac. he jumped up, cane in hand, and lashed the three nearest indians savagely over the head and face, swearing, gesticulating, and threatening till the doctor was minded to pitch him into the water straight away. "steady her; hold by those stakes," he cried to the men in the bow, who, being farthest from the stick, were the coolest. then, throwing himself between the half-breed and the canoemen, he said, "there's one redskin too many here, my man, and i think _you'd_ better clear out," and at the same time he wrenched the stick from his hand and flung it on shore. the bully clenched his fist, but again bigsby was too quick for him, and planted a powerful blow neatly under his throat; he staggered, tried to steady himself, and, in so doing, toppled clean over the gunwale. "all right; push off," said bigsby coolly. "he's got plenty to catch hold of there." the water was still fairly deep, but the stakes were so numerous that even a non-swimmer could be in no danger. the boat was soon in clear water again, and cæsar augustus could now be seen--a truly pitiable figure--helping himself ashore from stump to stump, a sadder if not a wiser man. bigsby never had the felicity of seeing him again, but he heard, some months later, that his power over the redskins was very much diminished, and that he had grown considerably less ready to domineer over the race which certainly had more claim to him than any other. chapter v creek indians at play a great deal of abuse has been poured, from time to time, on the united states government for its treatment of the north american indians. in point of fact, much of this abuse was quite undeserved, for, as the well-known traveller, captain basil hall, r.n., has shown, constant endeavours were made by congress to render the savages self-supporting; large grants of money and land were given to those who were dispossessed of their forest or prairie homes, and the remainder were allowed and encouraged to preserve as many of their own customs and laws as were not connected with blood-feud or revolt. the redskins with whom captain hall came most in touch were the creeks, who--with the choctaws, chicasas, etc.--belong to the great muskhogean family, at one time the possessors of kentucky, tennessee, georgia, alabama, and florida. when the captain first set foot in the state of georgia, in , he knew little or nothing of the indians, save from books; and on entering upon the prairies near the savannah river, he was prepared for adventures thrilling and abundant. he and his attendants were all well armed, for they had before them a lonely ride that would occupy two days, to a small government settlement on the edge of a hilly forest, where they were to meet a united states agent to whom the captain had letters of introduction. they rode all that day, however, without meeting a soul; and the greater part of the next also. then, as they crossed a stream which formed a natural frontier between prairie and forest, smoke became visible among the trees, and, shortly after, the travellers began to catch glimpses, not of the wigwams which they had looked to see, but of tarred log huts that were certainly not the work of unreclaimed savages. but every man examined the loading of his firearms and prepared to defend himself: a very needless precaution, as it turned out. for, amid a confused barking of dogs and screaming of women, a dozen or more redskins crept gloomily out from one or other of the huts, and captain hall's heart sank in chill disappointment. were _these_ the noble savages whom, all his life, he had burned to see? the "black eagles" and "sparrowhawks" and "pathfinders" of the romance-writers? the skinny, stooping, half-starved-looking group drew near. not one carried arms, not one appeared to have nerve enough to slay a spring chicken; and the moment the white men reined up, all began a chorus of whining appeals for tobacco, drink, or money, such as you may hear from the gypsies along the epsom road. hall hastily distributed some small change and a handful of cigars and rode on again, having scarcely the heart to look round on the dismal little village with its scolding women, its disreputable fowls and dogs, and its little company of loafing, unkempt men, the most energetic of whom could find no more vigorous employment than the making of toy bows and arrows for sale, or the listless sowing of seeds in ground that had never been properly dug. and _these_ were the famous creek indians! but compensation for the disappointment awaited him when, some hours later, the forest path which he was following widened into a large clearing where wigwams, as well as permanent huts, well-fed horses, and camp fires announced at least a more virile and natural form of life. a robust and well-dressed young white man came running out of the first and largest of the huts and, greeting the captain warmly, introduced himself as the government agent. "oh, pooh! they're not all so bad as that," he said when, seated over a comfortable meal in the hut, captain hall dwelt on what he had seen at the edge of the forest. "they're only the dregs and leavings. i'll show you something different to that by and by. poor beggars; i'm afraid they've no one but themselves to thank for their condition." "how do you make that out?" asked the englishman. "well, when congress claimed that bit of prairie land, these fellows were given the patch where you saw them--and considerable money grants as well. they went off to the towns and spent the money like children, and when they hadn't got a red cent left, calculated to try farming. i reckon you saw the sort of farming _they_ go in for, captain. they're too lazy to fell the trees, let alone grub out the roots or break up the soil. we've given 'em corn for seed, but they only chaw it up and then come back and ask for more. they had the option of coming out here, but they ain't partial to forest hunting; they won't help themselves, and they won't let us help them." "but what's the good of their coming out here if you fellows are going to turn them off when you think good?" asked the captain. the agent shrugged his shoulders. "look here, sir, these chaps won't be disturbed for another twenty years. the chiefs have had fair warning, and if they don't turn to and help themselves before then, it'll be their own look-out. finer men you needn't wish to see--at present." hall felt that the last remark was fully justified when, later in the evening, his new friend conducted him to the middle of the clearing, where the whole tribe had foregathered. "couldn't have come at a better time, captain," said the yankee. "to-morrow's their derby day, university match, or whatever you like to call it--the greatest day of the year. a team of up-forest creeks is now on the way to play against them at ball." "ball?" "ay, you'll see to-morrow. come and be presented to the chiefs now--and mind the dogs." the caution was needful enough, for at the entry of every hut or wigwam was a brace of half-wild indian hounds, each fastened by a thong to a stump, and ready to spring on the unwary. "what's all the din about?" asked hall, as they came to the village square or _place_. "local band," said the american briefly, and just then they came upon the gifted instrumentalists, two in number, though making noise enough for two dozen. one "uneasy imp of darkness" was beating with his fist a drum made of deer-skin stretched over a short length of hollow tree-trunk; the other had a gourd, so dry that it resembled wood, which contained a double handful of pebbles and which he shook as a child shakes a rattle, only with more disastrous results to christian ears. the "square" was formed by four long huts or pavilions, in one of which sat an assembly of chiefs, cross-legged and smoking; and to these the captain was introduced with a good deal of ceremony. in the middle of the quadrangle was an enormous fire of pitch-pine, and, between it and the hut where hall was now seated, were over twenty young women, who sat--in accordance with local etiquette--with their backs turned to the chiefs and visitors. these were the dancers, and at a given signal they all rose, and went through some manoeuvres far more tedious than interesting. perhaps the englishman's face showed that he was bored, for the oldest of the braves ordered the dancing to cease after a while, and remarking to the agent that he had something in store that _would_ amuse the stranger, banged a copper vessel which did duty for a gong. immediately thirty fine young men sprang up from various quarters of the court, and made a dash for a heap of sticks or clubs which lay close to where the white men were sitting. certainly these indians were a contrast to the poor wretches encountered at the edge of the wood; every one of them looked as hard as iron and as agile as a puma. uttering fearful shrieks, and swinging their clubs round their heads, they performed the wild sort of war-dance that captain hall had heard of and had despaired of seeing, and followed it up with a series of very ingenious and difficult somersaults, round and round the fire. "that's only the first part of the preparation for to-morrow," said the agent. "come along, we must go to the town hall for the second." they followed the chiefs to a very large circular hut beyond the far side of the square, which was lighted and heated by another pitch-pine fire; and they had no sooner sat down than the thirty athletes crowded into the building and at once stripped off ornaments and clothes. supporting the roof were six stanchions, and to each of these one of the indians betook himself and stood embracing it. then six of the chiefs rose solemnly, and at once every voice was hushed. each of these had provided himself with a short stick, at the end of which was a tiny rake--in some cases consisting of a row of garfish teeth, in others of a dozen or more iron needle-points, with their blunt ends stuck in a corn-cob. every chief approached his man, and having drenched him from head to foot with water, commenced an operation calculated to set any civilised man's teeth and nerves on edge. _scroop-scroop_, sounded the rakes, like razors being drawn over very bristly chins; and captain hall realised that these young men had given themselves up to be scraped and scarified with the rows of teeth. all stood quite passive while both thighs, both calves, and both upper-arms were scored with cuts seven or eight inches in length, the pleasantness of which proceeding may be gauged by the fact that, in a few minutes, the victims were bathed in blood from heel to shoulder. "but what's it _for_?" whispered the captain, fretted by the long silence and the whole uncanny exhibition, as batch after batch of athletes submitted themselves to the ordeal. "they reckon it makes them more limber for to-morrow's performance," explained the agent. "they're the 'ball' team, you know." captain hall had seen enough for one day, but early the next morning he rode further into the forest with his guide, towards the playing ground, some six miles away. this turned out to be another clearing--a space two hundred yards by twenty, at either end of which were two large green boughs stuck six feet apart in the earth, evidently meant to act as some sort of goals. here was the ground, right enough, and batches of spectators were continually adding themselves to those already in attendance. but where were the players, and what were they going to play? "they go to meet the other team," said the agent; "and they usually take their time over getting here, for there'll be a score or two of private fights, that have been carried over from last year, to settle by the way." when the white men had waited for more than two hours, they lost patience and rode further into the forest in search of the rival companies, guiding themselves more or less by the warlike howls that proceeded from the distance. and presently they came upon the bulk of the missing men, some walking in twos and threes, others stopping to adjust private grievances with the strangers or their own people (they did not seem particular), and a third contingent lying in the rank grass, singing war-songs, sleeping, smoking, or bedizening themselves. these latter, who had left the putting on of their bravery till the eleventh hour, were painting their eyelids (one black and the other yellow) and adorning their persons artistically with feathers and the tails of monkeys or wild cats. clearly it would be idle to suggest their hurrying themselves; and the captain and his conductor rode back to the field very much at their leisure. shortly after midday, however, both teams arrived, and having inspected the ground for a bare minute, made a sudden stampede, each side for its own goal. "there's one thing, they don't waste any time about beginning, when they _do_ get here," said hall relievedly, at which remark the agent only grinned. in another moment an appalling chorus of yells arose from the neighbourhood of either goal, and both teams began to dance like madmen, waving over their heads the sticks with which they were going to play. and now--imagine the oxford and cambridge crews, as a preliminary to the race, gathering one on either bank and bawling derisively at each other, cursing like bargemen and screaming themselves hoarse in a struggle as to which side could make the more noise and utter the grosser invective or the more offensive personalities. this is what these unsophisticated savages were doing, and continued to do for a good twenty minutes, the one lot recalling to the other's memory former defeats or instances of foul play, the other replying with both wholesale and individual charges of lying, theft, etc. then, when the abuse began to grow monotonous, it dropped suddenly; and, at a sign from one of the chiefs, both parties advanced to the centre and laid down their sticks. these were bits of well-seasoned wood, two feet long and split at one end, the fork thus made being laced across with sinew or skin, so forming a small and very rough sort of tennis-racquet. a deputation of braves advanced, examined the sticks severally, and carefully counted the men (thirty on each side), and, this being done to universal satisfaction, a chief harangued the teams for a quarter of an hour, bidding them "play the game." having finished his speech, he told them to pick up their sticks--each player had two--and go to their places; whereupon they distributed themselves much as we should do at football or hockey, each goal, however, being guarded by _two_ men. when all were ready the committee of elders passed the ball from hand to hand, each inspecting it gravely to see that it satisfied the regulations. it was a soft, rough edition of an ordinary cricket-ball, being made of raw hide, neatly stitched, and stuffed with horse-hair. by this time hall had begun to understand why his companion had smiled so subtly at his anticipation of a speedy commencement. they had tethered their horses some distance away, and had secured for themselves a point of vantage near the scorers. at last the old chief threw the ball in the air and beat a hasty retreat. as it fell it was caught deftly by one of the home team between his two bats, and, regardless of tripping, kicking, punching, and snatching on the part of the other side, he began bravely to force a way towards the opposite goal, backed up sturdily by his fellows, who were waiting for him to throw the ball to them as soon as he saw himself brought to a final stop by his adversaries. and thus the match proceeded, being--as may be seen--not at all unlike our rugby game; and whenever a goal was scored by either team, the delirious shouting of the spectators might have added to the impression of a modern onlooker that he was witnessing a crystal palace cup tie. but there were two respects in which their rules would have profited by a little overhauling. we consider an hour and a half ample time for a match to last; but, though captain hall watched the indians' game for five hours, it was not quite finished when he left. twenty "was the game," and any footballer knows that that number of goals is not to be scored all in a hurry, when both teams are equally active, powerful, and skilled men. the scoring, by the way--or the counting of the goals--was done by the two mathematicians of the tribe, each of whom was supplied with ten sticks, and stuck one of them in the ground every time a goal was gained by his side. the dear old gentlemen could not count above ten, so, when the eleventh goal had to be marked, the sticks were pulled up and the reckoning was begun a second time. [illustration: a game at ball this game is a mixture of tennis, lacrosse, and rugby football. the rules are few and simple, the object being to gain possession of the ball by any means and hurl it between the goalposts of the opponents. the safety or comfort of the onlookers is of no consequence whatever.] the other direction in which the indian laws cried loudly for amendment concerned the spectators even more closely than the players. there was no "touch" line, nor was the ball, no matter where it went, ever regarded as _in_ "touch." with a pitch only twenty yards wide, it will easily be seen that the ball was, from time to time, knocked or thrown among the onlookers; but that was their own affair, argued the players, who rushed pell-mell among them, screaming and struggling, hitting or kicking, or trampling right and left. indeed, it was one of these wild rushes that was the means of bringing captain hall's interest in the contest to an abrupt end. the ball had come within a yard or two of him, plump between the two scorers, each of whom wisely made an instantaneous dash into the open and so avoided the onrush of the players. if hall had had two more seconds at his disposal he would have seized the ball and flung it into play again; but the sportsmen were too near. "tree, tree," shouted the agent behind him; and waiting for no second reminder, the active sailor sprang at the bough above him and hoisted himself into safety just as the crowd swarmed over and half killed a boy who was trying to follow him into the tree. when the ball was safely on the other side of the ground he climbed down. "i'm going," he said resolutely. they reached their horses and were riding slowly back towards the village when shouts resounded behind them, eclipsing the loudest and noisiest of any they had heard that day. "the end of the game," said hall. "our side were nineteen when we came away." "ay, the end of the game," assented the young american; "and the beginning of the fighting. the losers are getting ready to whop the winners. are you keen on going back again?" chapter vi with the delawares and crees sir george head, elder brother of the great south american explorer and colonial governor, was a sort of ralegh on a small scale, inasmuch as he figured in the various rôles of sailor, soldier, traveller, and courtier. the greater part of his time from to was spent in and about nova scotia, quebec, and ungava, his military duties at halifax, as chief of the commissariat, giving him plenty of opportunity for combining pleasure with business in long journeys northward. late in the autumn of he set out on a tour north-westwards from halifax, intending to devote his six months' furlough to hunting among the cree indians of new brunswick and eastern quebec. it was not a journey that would commend itself to people who love the sun and the fireside, for though the district for which he was making is in the same latitude as cornwall, the average winter temperature may be put down as ° f. a coach took him and his servant across country as far as the annapolis basin, whence it was only a sixty-mile run by steam packet to st. john; and here there was no difficulty in obtaining a large canoe with three delaware indians to paddle it and act as guides. of the st. john river, up which quite big steamers travel over two hundred miles nowadays, comparatively little was then known, except its lower reaches, and its source, which lies north-westwards in the state of maine; and even the indian guides would not undertake to go many miles beyond fredericton. "what do you mean by 'many miles beyond'?" asked major head, when, on passing that town some days later, the indians reminded him of their contract. "ten miles, or perhaps fifteen. we are strangers beyond that, and, though the cree indians are akin to us, they do not love us." this was perfectly true, for the crees, blackfeet, and other of the less civilised algonquin redskins despised the delaware indians as mere cockneys. in the end, the guides promised that they would go as far as the next town, which was twenty miles farther, admitting that they might possibly have business there. the nature of that business soon leaked out, for suddenly the indian in the bow dropped his paddle, snatched up a spear from a small bundle of those implements that lay to hand, leant over the side, and brought up a salmon nearly three feet long. the other canoemen at once abandoned their paddling and stood expectant, spear in hand. the major had never caught salmon in any other way than with rod and line, and he, too, took up a spear, determined to distinguish himself; but, though they waited patiently for another hour, not a second fish was seen, and at length the indians picked up their paddles again and moved on. "we may get some to-night," said one of them; "though it is almost too late in the year. nearly all of them have reached the sea by this time, but it was worth our while to come so far on speculation. between fredericton and the sea there is little chance of catching anything, for the timber rafters frighten all the fish, so that they seldom rise." at evening they landed to make their camp for the night; but, soon after supper, instead of lying down as usual, the delawares announced that they were going fishing. by way of a preliminary, each lighted a substantial brand of pitch-pine, and, taking up their spears, got into the boat again, head following them. and this time there appeared to be considerably more chance for the fishermen; the silence and darkness and loneliness of the spot were, of course, in their favour, but of even more importance were the torches, which would appeal to the curiosity of any salmon that might be about. even in daylight the indian fishermen more often than not regard a flame of some sort as a necessary adjunct to their work. sport opened briskly and brilliantly. long before the englishman's eyes had accustomed themselves to looking down into the water by this constantly moving artificial light, the indians had caught over a dozen fish; and still the silly creatures came peeping to the surface or hovering a few feet below it. with the "beginner's luck" that is proverbial, the first salmon that came within his reach fell an easy prey to the major's spear, so easy, in fact, that the redskins smiled broadly at his triumphant satisfaction, for they knew that it was the one happy chance in a million. he began to think so, too, when, time after time, he darted the spear into the water without making a second catch. his eye and hand were well trained to every kind of sport; and, of course, he knew that hitting an object in water and out of water are two very different things. over and over again he would have taken an oath that his spear had struck its mark, and yet it came up empty. he grew more and more impatient and venturesome, and, in the end, naturally met with the reward that he might have expected: lost his balance and went heels over head into the water. he was a bold and strong man who had faced danger and death in many forms, but the icy chill of that water almost prompted him to scream out; and, as it gurgled and bubbled over his ears, he decided that his chance of ever getting out of it alive was but small, for he was wearing top-boots, thick leather breeches, a seal-skin jacket, and a heavy overcoat. nevertheless, he struck out desperately and reached the surface again. if he could only keep himself up for a few seconds he was safe. at once catching sight of him, one of the indians uttered a shout, leant forward with his paddle, and held it towards the drowning man. a couple of laboured strokes brought him near enough to clutch the blade of it, and he was speedily drawn to the stern of the boat. "hold there," cried the indian. "no, don't do that," for head was trying might and main to draw himself up. as every swimmer knows, it is not the easiest thing in the world to get into a light boat from the water, even when one has no clothes on and is not numbed to the very marrow with cold. "what on earth are you trying to do?" he spluttered, as the other two delawares also took up their paddles. what they were about to do was soon clear enough; they meant to tow him ashore, for suddenly the paddles flashed through the water and, despite the weight behind it, the canoe moved rapidly towards the bank. "wait a minute, you precious fools," gasped the major wrathfully; but they never so much as turned their heads. true, he had never seen a canoe move so swiftly in all his life, yet those forty or fifty yards to the bank were like miles, and when, springing ashore, two of the indians bent over to help him out of the water, he could scarcely use his feet to scramble up the low bank. "why ever didn't you pull me out straight away, or keep still till i got into the boat?" he asked, as he stood and shivered before the fire while his man gave him a rub down with a blanket. the delawares looked grave and wise. "you are a tall and a heavy man. you might have upset the boat--and then we should have lost all our fish." sir george does not record the answer that he made to these curmudgeonly rascals who preferred endangering a man's life to the risk of losing a few salmon. but perhaps they were only having their revenge on him for having spoilt their night's work by driving away all the fish. the next afternoon, fishing and paddling by turns, they came to a town or village of some pretensions--the last on the river. head again tried to persuade the indians to agree to go farther, but fruitlessly; and their utmost concession was that, as one of their number was going into the town to buy some goods while the others sold their fish at the wharf, he would make inquiries about procuring new guides. the major sent his man across with the luggage to the only decent inn of the place, and himself idled about the jetty, talking to the remaining indians and their customers. "he has found a guide for you," said one of the delawares at last, pointing to a strange figure that came stalking along the quay behind the third indian. the new arrival was a middle-aged man of such ferocious aspect that head fancied he could foresee trouble before they had gone far together. he was one of the crees, and his personal beauty--probably never at any time great--was not improved by the scars and tattoo marks that covered his face, arms, and chest. cold though the weather was becoming, he was naked, but for his moccasins and a sort of kilt or petticoat made of feathers and deer-skin. his hair, also decorated with feathers, extended to his waist, and he wore a string of odds and ends round his neck: glass beads, teeth, bits of metal, coins, and buttons. he carried a broad-bladed spear nearly eight feet high in one hand, and an enormous club in the other, while from his neck or shoulders hung bow, quiver, tomahawk, and two knives. head, who spoke the algonquin dialect perfectly well, bade him give some account of himself, and he replied, in a voice whose mildness scarcely fitted his fierce and repulsive appearance, that he had ridden down from his camp near presque isle (in maine) to guide a yankee fur-trader across the new brunswick boundary, and had now been waiting two days on the chance of a similar job for his return journey. "who did you suppose would be likely to be going up there from _here_?" asked the soldier suspiciously. "there are many french people who come from here to buy our furs. is it not true?" the new guide turned fiercely on the delawares for confirmation, and they nodded, making little effort to disguise their fear of him. hitherto they had generally shown themselves cool-headed enough, but in the presence of this forest savage they seemed afraid to say that their souls were their own. head reflected that he was becoming very tired of the river, and further, that it might now be frozen hard any day. moreover, it was but a roundabout way of travelling compared to the forest, which, being only of pine and spruce, offered none of the obstructions of the creeper-clad woods farther south. could he hire or buy horses? he asked of a negro working close at hand. ay, any number of them; mustangs were being brought over the boundary every day by enterprising americans, and could be bought for a couple of pounds a head. "very well, then." the major turned to the cree again. "call for me at the inn to-morrow morning at nine, and i shall be ready to start." arrangements were soon made as to horses, and head, who had not slept without his clothes for a week, and might not see a christian bed for weeks to come, went off to his room, resolved upon at least one night's good rest. coming down to his breakfast in the morning, he found that his man had put out, cleaned, and loaded a pair of pistols for him. "beg pardon, major; most disreputable-looking party that guide, sir." "well--yes; we don't want to know too many of his sort. we'll keep an eye on him in case he has some idea of leading us into an ambush; but don't let him imagine that we suspect him." head had finished his breakfast and was strolling into the yard at the back of the house to see if the horses were ready, when a violent uproar arose in the bar, which was at the other end of the passage: women screaming and running hither and thither, loafers shouting and laughing. yielding to natural curiosity, he turned back along this passage and was just in time to see a stranger sight than he had ever witnessed in all his six-and-thirty years. there, gesticulating, stammering, and struggling, was the terrible indian of the day before, and, behind him, one hand firmly grasping his long hair, the other buffeting him liberally over head and ears, was the landlady--a sturdy irishwoman--who was "helping him into the street," at the same time expressing her opinion of him with great volubility. in her wake followed two chamber-maids, each armed with a mop, and from one of them the traveller learned that the indian had already been forbidden to enter the house on account of his drunken and riotous behaviour there two days earlier. "we only keep one manservant, and he's frightened of him, so missis had to take him in hand," explained the girl cheerfully. the valiant brave made no second attempt to enter the inn, and stood meekly by his horse till the travellers were ready, and head--with difficulty keeping a straight face--bade him lead on. they were soon riding at a good level pace along the forest track, which, by its narrowness and few signs of recent use, did not promise a meeting with many travelling companions. at first the indian only answered curtly to the remarks addressed to him, but, little by little, he forgot the insult to his dignity and had become quite chatty by the time they stopped to rest the horses and eat the dinner which they had brought with them. he said they would pass no more inns--no more white habitations of any sort, in fact--till they came to the united states boundary, and but very few then; and no indian camps that side of presque isle, which was still forty-five miles distant. from there the travellers could, if they chose, journey as far as the st. lawrence with a party of crees who would soon be starting away for the winter hunting, and who would show them where they could get a boat across the estuary. they rode another twenty miles before sunset, and then halted for the night. while the indian was making the fire he several times glanced round him to windward and sniffed the air suspiciously. "there will be snow before morning," he said; and indeed, during the past hour there had been well-nigh an arctic chill in the air, though it still wanted a week or two of the beginning of winter. that snow was coming was bad hearing; not that two men, who had often slept practically under water during the war in spain, were likely to shirk one night in the snow; but because they had not troubled to bring many provisions, being unwilling to hamper themselves and relying on finding abundance of game in the forest. if a heavy snow should come, the chances of killing anything fit to eat would be diminished tenfold, for hares, rabbits, and squirrels would stay at home; and further, the journey towards a district where they were safe to meet with plenty of animals (elk, caribou, etc., that had just migrated to the forest from farther north) would occupy thrice the time they had allowed for it. "you and i must take watch and watch to-night," said head to his servant, not unmindful, in face of new dangers, of the likelihood of their guide's playing them false. "we don't want any of this good man's 'surprises'; if you turn in when you've had your supper, i'll call you soon after midnight and we'll change guard." immediately after supper the indian rolled himself in his blanket and head was left to amuse himself. when his man roused him at six the next morning, he found the ground more than a foot deep in snow, and the indian, who was just returning from filling the breakfast kettle from the stream hard by, greeted him with the news that the ice was several inches thick. but, he added, there would be no fear of famine; they would have sport enough before the day was out. "what sport?" "wolves!" the cree smacked his lips as if he were speaking of a mansion house banquet. "ah! then that is what i heard just as i was falling asleep." "most likely; their track lies all round our camp; not close, for they feared our fire." "is there more snow to come, do you think?" none was falling now. "not unless the wind gets up again. but we ought soon to be moving; it will be bad going for the horses." the hardy little mustangs seemed not a whit the worse for their snowy bed, and stepped out bravely as soon as they were mounted. but head pulled a long face as he remembered how little corn he had brought with him; truly the cobbler's wife was going the worst shod; he who had control of the entire military commissariat for that district had left the food for his men and horses to chance, on a journey of sixty miles, twenty-five of which had still to be covered! of course, the pace they made was wretched, for the snow was fetlock-deep at the best; and, at the worst, it had risen to drifts of ten feet, which had to be dodged or skirted. three miles an hour was the utmost that could be expected, making allowances for everything; and by the time the horses had gone twelve miles, it was clear that they must have a rest. "so our next meal is to be wolf, eh?" said head as he surveyed a lump of salt beef of which none would be left when three men with frost-sharpened appetites had eaten their fill. the indian nodded. "and they are not far away; i have heard them for the last hour. the horses can smell them now; you will find that they will not touch their oats." this was true; two of the tethered animals crouched shiveringly, disdaining their food, while the third strained at his halter as though he meditated flight. "what does it matter?" said the cree. "we have but thirteen miles to go; we shall be at our camp soon after dark, and my people will be as brothers to you. as for the wolves--" he laughed boastfully--"i will kill them by the dozen if need be." "yes; we've seen something of your bravery before," said the major in english. he divided the one remaining loaf and the meat into three equal parts. "you two can do as you like; i shall only eat half my share now." the servant followed his example, but the indian was resolved that the future should take care of itself. he had scarcely swallowed his last mouthful when he started up. "mount! quick! they are coming!" "then what's the good of mounting, you infernal coward?" said the major, snatching up his gun. "we can't race wolves." the guide made no answer; but, slipping his horse's halter, vaulted to his back, and might have ridden away but that head turned his gun-barrel on him. "you stay where you are.... now, sanders, we must keep them off the horses if we can. fire the moment they show their noses, and trust to their eating up their brothers while we----_look out!_" a pack of over forty wolves came yelping through the trees, with a strange, bouncing motion which showed that even they were seriously impeded by the snow. "fire; and keep one eye on the redskin," muttered head. a wolf went down before the servant's first barrel and, from the break in their ranks, several of the others appeared to be falling on the carcase. a second and third and fourth fell to the guns; but the wolves had smelt horse-flesh, and neither noise nor gunpowder nor dead comrades could keep them from following up the scent. the two white men reloaded, fired, and loaded again with the coolness habitual with soldiers; but it was plain enough that the pack would not be kept off much longer. "i'm afraid we shall have to give up the horses after all," said head, as the foremost wolves bounded contemptuously past or over the last of their number that had been shot. "why do you not mount?" bawled the indian in his ear. head had forgotten his existence for the moment. "that is the only way to save your horse. you have had your play; let me show you what the red man can do." as he finished speaking he methodically pulled his quiver forward and began to pour arrows into the howling pack more swiftly than the eye could follow them, every one of them carrying death to a wolf. "up, sanders, and use your pistols! by jingo, that fellow was right!" shouted head as he leapt into his saddle. "you see? it is quite easy," remarked the indian with as much _sang-froid_ as though he were at target-practice. "when i have emptied my quiver they will all be dead; if not, i have my lance. don't waste any more of your powder." and all the while he went on shooting. the soldiers could do little but stare at the man's amazing coolness; he who had writhed and screamed when attacked by an irate irishwoman, was now killing wolves at the rate of about twelve per minute, and the only time he broke off from his task was to draw his knife and stab that one of the wolves that was bold enough to venture a spring at his horse. it was plain enough that he had known what he was talking about when he counselled mounting the horses. wolves that would tear an unridden horse to shreds would not dare touch one that was mounted, unless they were maddened by hunger; and so early in winter this could hardly be the case. "yah! now run away, cowards, and tell your brethren to come," shrieked the cree, when, without waiting for his last few shots, the remaining dozen wolves turned tail and skulked away. then head stretched out his hand and patted the blanketed shoulder. "well done; i did wrong to call you coward. you shall have double payment when we reach your camp, and i will make you a present of these two horses." "we must have my arrows back, in case of further accident," said the redskin, making neither much nor little of his achievement. in a few minutes he had cut all the barbs from the carcases, and proceeded to skin the three primest wolves, cut away the fore and hind quarters, hung the three "saddles" on his horse's withers, and remounted. the cree indians and the eskimos will none of them refuse roast wolf, and the ribs are considered a special delicacy. with a little coaxing from the guide the horses now ate their corn; and, not long after dark, that much misjudged individual led his employer proudly into the indian camp. the chief, very much astonished at finding a white man able to speak his tongue with fluency, promised, in return for a ridiculously small sum of money, to allow the travellers to join his great hunting party which was to start northwards for elks, caribous, etc., in a few days' time. during those few days major head had an opportunity of noting various ceremonies peculiar to the northern indians, which were quite new to him. one of these was a dance which signified a loving farewell between the hunters and the warriors who remained behind to guard the camp, and was precisely the same as that which samuel hearne saw farther north-west.[ ] in this, the two parties formed into two single files, and, bow in the left hand and an arrow in the right, approached each other, walking backwards. when the lines were almost touching one another, both turned suddenly, each party starting back with feigned surprise at seeing the other; then, with astonishing quickness, transferred the bow to the right hand and the arrow to the left, in token that their intentions were strictly friendly. [ ] see "adventures in the arctic regions." (seeley and co., .) the other ceremony was also a dance, the celebrated snow-shoe dance, which took place when all was ready for the departure northwards; and in this head was especially interested, because he was himself an expert on "shoes." two or three spears, elaborately decorated with feathers or other trophies of the chase, were stuck upright in the snow, and to one of them a pair of snow-shoes was hung; and, after prayers and incantations by the old chief, ten mighty men of the tribe, each carrying his weapons, formed themselves in a ring round the spears. waddling, sliding, dancing, or jumping, these passed round and round the consecrated shoes till all were satisfied that the great spirit's aid had been enlisted, and that the ghosts of the animals or birds that they might kill would never return to vex the slayers. [illustration: the snow-shoe dance of the red indians a religious ceremony at the opening of the winter hunting season.] chapter vii among the fuegian indians tierra del fuego--"the land of fire," as maghelhaens christened it, from the number of beacons exhibited along its coast--is the home of a family of indians properly known as pesherahs. whence they came no one can tell us, though some think them to be of chilean origin; but they are--and have been, during the last four centuries--among the most degraded savages that the earth holds. this is, no doubt, partly owing to the barrenness of the archipelago and the almost animal simplicity of their lives which is a consequence of it; for though their brain development is certainly not extraordinary, it is probably as high as that of many savages who have yielded with comparative readiness to european influence. all sorts of efforts at civilising the fuegians have been made by philanthropists, scientists, and missionaries, but it is to be feared that they have met with little success. not the least practical of these was an experiment made by the late admiral fitzroy, inventor of the nautical barometer that bears his name, and better known to readers in general as darwin's friend and at one time commanding officer. from to this clever young sailor was in command of h.m.s. _beagle_, which, with h.m.s. _adventure_, was sent on a surveying expedition to the southern seas. during the early part of this cruise, while an exploring party was ashore in what is now called beagle channel, a number of fuegians took advantage of the absence of the sailors to spring into their boat and row off with it. not wishing to lose the boat, and deeming it advisable to give the natives a lesson, commander fitzroy took another pinnace ashore and, with half a dozen bluejackets, made a descent on the nearest encampment, captured the first family he could lay hands on, and took them back to the brig to be held in pawn for the stolen boat. this move, of course, answered its purpose; the boat was restored and the hostages liberated. but of these there were three to whom the commander had taken a special fancy: a stalwart young fellow of nineteen whom (from the adjacent mountain which cook had so named) he had dubbed "york minster," and a boy and girl of about fourteen. york and the girl, fuegia, on being asked if they would like to come to england, joyfully accepted the offer; and the other boy was readily exchanged by his father for a pearl shirt-button. the enthusiastic young commander brought these three home with him, endeavoured to teach them english, and dressed them respectably; and after he had been ashore for about two years, decided to take them back to their country as a pattern to their friends and relations. he engaged a missionary--a mr. matthews--and was on the point of chartering a small vessel and taking the natives back at his own expense, when, to his joy, he heard that his old brig was to be sent a second time to the horn and that he, now gazetted post-captain, was to have command of her. it was on this voyage that he took with him, as naturalist, charles darwin, a young fellow not long down from cambridge. in december, , the brig anchored in the bay of good success, and her arrival was hailed by a tatterdemalion group of fuegians who piled their fires high and frantically waved their scanty garments as though to scare off the intruders. these people of the eastern side of the island were a far more robust set than the typical fuegians of farther west; many of them were over six feet high, and all boasted some sort of clothing--usually a mantle of guanaco (llama) skin. fitzroy and other officers went ashore, bearing presents, at sight of which the savages abandoned their distrustful and defensive bearing and showed every willingness to be friendly. their chief had his hair confined by a rough head-dress of feathers, and his coppery face was painted with transverse bars, after the fashion of the indians of the north. the englishmen distributed pieces of red cloth, which each recipient immediately tied round his neck. thanks for these bounties were offered in a series of "clucks," which a horse would assuredly have translated as "gee-up"; and further, by sundry pats on the breasts of the donors. after captain fitzroy had been thus patted three times by the chief, it occurred to him to return the compliment, a proceeding which highly delighted the whole tribe. but the most exciting scene was when one of the sailors left in charge of the boat began to sing absently to himself. in an instant the indians deserted the group of officers, rushed madly down the beach again, and almost grovelled before the singer, considerably to his amazement. "all right; sing up, my man; let'em hear you," cried captain fitzroy encouragingly; for the bashful performer had stopped somewhat abruptly on finding himself thus distinguished. "bear a hand, you lads; he's shy." thus urged, the grinning bluejackets struck up a rousing sea-chorus, the effect whereof was to make even the important-looking chief stand open-mouthed and wave his hands in wonder and delight. as the first meeting with the savages had been so successful, on his second landing the captain was accompanied by york minster and the other two natives, jemmy button, now a strapping fellow of eighteen, and fuegia basket, already a grown woman, and betrothed to york. the indians' attitude towards them was one of curiosity as intelligent as such people are capable of. they felt their english-made clothes and compared them half contemptuously with the bright-buttoned uniforms of the officers, and the chief, pointing to a few straggling hairs on york minster's chin, inquired why he did not shave them off after the indian fashion. the colour of their visitors was the greatest mystery to them. jemmy and york were dressed like white men, and had short hair, and yet were not white. york knew their language and jemmy did not. this was very puzzling. then--was jemmy the same colour "all over"? the chief made him strip his sleeve, but while this was being done something else happened to distract the savages' attention. mr. bynoe, the ship's surgeon, had been examining one or two bad sores on the face of a native, and now stepped back to a rock-pool to wash his hands. that a man should dream of washing at all was a mystery to the fuegians (in fact, during the whole of the brig's cruise in these islands the practice never failed to attract admiration, though it does not seem to have gained converts), but the doctor had thrown off his pilot-jacket and rolled up his shirt-sleeves for the performance. this more than staggered the beholders, so that jemmy saw himself rudely neglected; for the englishman's arms were a different colour from that of his hands! it was the white men's turn to be inspected again. everyone, from the captain to the boat's crew, was implored to show his arms, and this only led to further mystification, for while the hands of the officers were tanned and their arms white, the brown on the seamen extended to the elbows. a full parliament was at once held, but the debate had to be abandoned; the matter was too abstruse for the fuegian brain. mr. darwin created a diversion by attracting the captain's attention to a very tall fellow among the group; and to settle an argument between them as to his abnormal height, fitzroy called to him the tallest of the boat's crew, and told him to stand back to back with the rival giant. with the natural vanity of the savage, the fuegian seemed to guess in a moment what was being said about him, and no sooner was he placed back to back with the seaman than he endeavoured, first to edge himself on to higher ground, and, failing that, to stand a-tiptoe. when york minster explained to him that he was the taller by two finger-joints, he began to swagger about as if he had bought the island. the old chief was very anxious that the three natives should at once take up their abode with that portion of the tribe; but neither jemmy nor miss fuegia could yet make themselves understood; the parents of all three lived on the other side of the island, and further, the captain was not at all satisfied that the chief's hospitality arose from any higher motive than that of plunder, if not murder. with a favouring wind they ran through the strait the next day, and once more went ashore. here fitzroy found that his former visit had presumably been forgotten; for when he led an exploring party of thirty men into the nearest camp, the natives armed themselves with slings, stones, and fish-spears, and assumed altogether a very threatening front. these folk were the most debased of the islanders; not one man had a stitch of clothing on him, and whereas the other natives had shown such terror of the bluejackets' muskets that they would not even lay a finger on them, these were not even inquisitive as to the weapons of the white men, and certainly mistook the amiable demeanour of the strangers for timidity. they dropped their arms, however, on some offerings of red ribbon being made. but possession only whetted greed; and taking up their arms again, they began one and all to bawl "yammerskooner," which, york minster said, meant "give me," but which sounded a great deal more like "your money or your life!" the more the sailors gave, the more did the indians pester, till, with the hope of scaring them away, fitzroy drew his sword and flourished it round the head of the chief; but he and those with him laughed jeeringly, as though this were only child's fooling. then the captain, who was an excellent shot, pointed a pistol at--or rather half an inch above--the head of the noisiest of the party, and fired. every man stared at his neighbour; every man clapped his hands to his ears and uttered an ejaculation; but nobody thought of moving. poor wretches; they were as ignorant of danger as the wild beasts. "no good, captain sir," said york minster. "but you kill one--then all run." "tell them they're likely to get hurt if they go too far," said the captain. the interpreter obeyed, but they showed no more feeling at his remark than fear of the pistol. it was growing late; the englishmen were hungry and had yet to find a comfortable ground for the night's bivouac. fitzroy quietly told his men to draw off; but at the first movement of retreat, the savages grew bolder and more menacing. nothing could be much more galling to englishmen than retreat under such circumstances as these. here were thirty white men, all well armed, and the majority of them experienced fighting-men, turning their backs on less than a hundred miserable specimens of humanity with scarcely brains enough to know the use of their own weapons. the faster the sailors moved, the faster the indians followed. to kill one or two of their number would have been to put the rest to flight; but unless actual violence should be offered, neither fitzroy nor any of his companions were the men to disgrace their flag by the sort of "fighting" which has made the spaniards and dutch hated in east and west. arrived at a good spot, the captain called a halt, and ignoring his persecutors, ordered a large fire to be made, and posted sentries at various points round the camp; then told york to try his eloquence with the natives once more. meanwhile the stores were unpacked, and at sight of the strangers eating, a new begging chorus arose which was fortunately satisfied by a small distribution of ship's biscuit. at dark the natives were ordered out of the camp and warned by york that they must not attempt to pass the sentries. that lesson was impressed on the more obstinate by the sailors' throwing them "neck and crop" beyond the boundary line. this sort of argument they could understand; and though some of them loitered round the camp all night, or lit their own watch-fires close to it, there were no attempts at trespass. young jemmy button, on being rallied by the officers on his disreputable connections, stoutly disowned them; he belonged to another tribe, he said. but soon after sunrise several dozen strange men and women appeared, summoned by the remainder, and among them were jemmy's mother and brethren. darwin, who witnessed the reunion, says, "the meeting was less interesting than between a horse turned out into a field and an old companion." but those women who recognised fuegia showed themselves very interested in her toilette. it was now that the value of fitzroy's experiment was to be tested. matthews, the missionary, asked to be left behind with three natives while the sailors continued their coasting trip; and it was plain enough that york and his bride and jemmy asked nothing better than to be allowed to settle among their own people, from whom they had now been absent four years. already jemmy was recalling his language--which was a great mercy for him, for, as fitzroy had said earlier, "he had forgotten fuegian and never more than half learned english, so that he was as ignorant as a rational being could well be." the captain's surveying expedition lasted for some days, and when it was finished he ordered the boats to call at the spot where the missionary had been left, before they returned to the _beagle_. mr. matthews was awaiting them in a terrible plight: scarcely a rag of clothes on him, hungry, bruised, and wounded, and with a wretched tale to unfold. jemmy had been robbed of everything he possessed; even york, strong man though he was, had had much ado to protect himself and his wife, while the missionary, left to fend for himself, had not dared to sleep during the whole time. he had been robbed, stoned, threatened with all manner of violence, and only saved from death by doling out buttons, studs, or coins which he had contrived to secrete. fitzroy, who knew that these people were not only ruffians but occasionally cannibals as well, sent the missionary on board again, and was half tempted to take jemmy with him also, particularly as the young man was loud in abuse of his family; but on the whole he was likely to be safe enough under york's patronage now that he had nothing left to steal. the brig made sail farther south, and a month or so later returned to her old anchorage. before long a canoe put off from the shore, and a thin, haggard savage came paddling out to the vessel--jemmy! jemmy, without a rag to cover him! "i think, sir, you'll have to take him aboard again," pleaded young darwin. "it does look like it," said fitzroy. "i'm afraid we've made a fish out of water of him," and the two went forward to greet their old friend. but jemmy electrified everyone by the statement that he was perfectly happy, and had only come out to bring a couple of otter-skins to lieutenant sulivan and dr. bynoe--his favourites among the officers--and some neatly-carved arrows for the captain; and further, to invite the ship's company ashore to visit the tribe. mr. button was fed, and loaded with presents; and later in the day fitzroy, sulivan, and darwin went ashore. the first thing that was apparent was that jemmy had taught the tribe some english words; the second was that that youth had reasons for not wishing to rejoin the _beagle_. for, pointing to a modest-looking girl who stood in the background, the old chief tapped the captain on the shoulder and observed, "jemmy's wife; jemmy's wife," and the whole tribe, parrot-like, took up the cry. fitzroy never met his protégés again; but, in , captain sulivan, who was cruising off the island, fell in with a british whaling skipper, and he told him that his men had seen a native woman who spoke excellent english. this could have been no other than fuegia. chapter viii the end of the "black hawk" war some allowance ought surely to be made for a man who is condemned to go through life with such a name as muckkertamesheckkerkerk; and, to do the united states government justice, the gentleman so styled seems to have been treated with a good deal of patience and lenity. "black hawk" (to give him at once the name by which he is better known in american history) was an indian chief who contrived to be as much a thorn in the flesh of the white rulers of his country as--let us say--some of the welsh princes were in that of our plantagenet kings. he was born in , and by the time he was fifteen had so distinguished himself in war and in hunting that he became a recognised brave of his tribe--the sac and fox. up till the year the new republic could afford to ignore the deeds and misdeeds of this renowned patriot, for he confined most of his energies to warfare with the cherokees and osages--sub-tribes of the iroquois; but, as white civilisation continued to push westward, it became necessary either to conciliate or to subdue those who stood in the way of its progress. at first conciliation did not appear difficult. general harrison invited black hawk--now a man of four-and-thirty, and the recognised champion of all the algonquin indian tribes--to appear at st. louis, in order to discuss the question of boundaries, and to enter into a treaty which would be of mutual benefit. black hawk came, and with him a host of tributary chiefs--shawnees, blackfeet, sacs and foxes, etc. the american general's proposals were fair and to the point. the redskins were to renounce all claim to about seven hundred miles of land east of the mississippi, in return for an annual payment of a thousand dollars. a couple of hundred pounds as rental for a strip of land some eight hundred miles long sounds ridiculous enough to us, unless we bear in mind that the indians were merely asked to keep to the other side of the river; they were not giving up towns or houses or cultivated lands; they were receiving what--to them--meant a very substantial income, in return for their migrating to far better hunting-grounds in iowa and minnesota. black hawk solemnly agreed to the contract, with--we must believe--every intention of keeping his word. unluckily, general harrison and his officers had rather lavish notions of hospitality; and when black hawk's decision was made known to the other chiefs, most of them were a great deal too drunk to know what they were agreeing to. the money was paid regularly enough, and, for some few years, whatever breaches of the treaty there were, were so trifling that the government could easily wink at them. black hawk went about his hunting and his civil warfare and conducted himself as a respectable savage should. then he got into bad hands. as the troubles of our own armies in india and the soudan have shown, it is no uncommon thing to find peaceable men stirred to fighting frenzy by some maniac who makes it his business to cause as much strife as possible in the name of religion. a great prophet had arisen among the indians--a shawnee, in whose hands poor black hawk was wax; and who gave the redskins no rest till they crossed the river in a body, and swept eastwards as far as michigan, driving the handful of white settlers back and back to the towns from which they had come. this was in . in the following year, now thoroughly persuaded that he and all the chiefs and all the white subscribers to the treaty were drunk when it was signed, and that it was no longer binding, black hawk pressed on into michigan as far as detroit. this was more than human patience could stand; the white citizens turned out, and drove away the indians with such slaughter that their leader was only too glad to draw off. for four years he confined his attacks to petty farm raids, and, in , signed another treaty, which was followed by fourteen years of comparative peace, though black hawk and a few of his supporters refused to retire across the river again. by the states government, realising its folly in having allowed any deviation from the strict terms of the agreement, obliged black hawk to sign another, by which every acre of land east of the river became white property. it was now that the real trouble began. the indian chief was growing old, losing his former promptness of action, and becoming more and more a slave to the shawnee prophet's counsels. during the fourteen years that he had been practically defying the government, he and his immediate adherents had begun to farm a little; and just now their crops were ripening, and harvest-time was almost due. when the order came for him to leave the neighbourhood he lost his head or his temper, refused to stir, and threatened with death anyone who dared to interfere with him. a week later he returned from his hunting to find some white labourers calmly ploughing up his crops and parcelling out his land. there was a brief scuffle, and the whites were obliged to flee, and thus opened the last period of the war. knowing that vengeance would be taken, black hawk sent across the river for more warriors, and prepared to make a decided stand. but instead of the half-dozen shopkeepers and labourers he had been prepared to meet, he found himself attacked by a body of men several hundred strong, well armed, and many of them mounted. these were the illinois militia under general gaines--hardy trappers, farmers, and timber-rafters, whose fathers had fought with and defeated british regiments. the indians' nerve failed them, and, after a single deadly volley from the militia, they fled. but, instead of crossing the river, they went north, into wisconsin, where they looked to find remnants of their tribe who would ally themselves with them. during the whole of the next year, and until the summer of , a very clever guerrilla warfare was carried on by the savages; hundreds of white men were killed, and scarcely one indian; nor was there much in the shape of a pitched battle. it was then that general atkinson, an old and experienced fighter of indians, was sent to put an end to the whole matter. dispatching a small force of light cavalry, under general scott, to search the woods, he marched the bulk of his little army towards the wisconsin river, in the hope of eventually surrounding the indians and capturing black hawk. his march proved more tedious than he had bargained for. nowadays tired new yorkers and chicagoites, with a taste for sport, devote their summer holidays to shooting over the beautiful wisconsin highlands; but in there were no railways or palace-like hotels there. even a farm was a rarity, and every hill or ravine might conceal a score of indian sharpshooters. the whole aspect of the country was savage, dreary, and forbidding. it had been the duty of the advance guard to see that there were no redskins lying in ambush; but general atkinson soon began to think that that duty had been very much neglected, for at almost every mile an arrow or a bullet came from nowhere, wounding some man or horse, and in one case killing a sioux guide. this kind of thing continued for a couple of days or more; and atkinson had begun to say somewhat hard things of his colleague when one of the scouts rode up to report a mound of earth which, he said, looked very much like a grave. before the day was out, six more such mounds had been seen by the wayside, and as most of them were marked by a cross, hastily made with a couple of sticks, it was all too probable that these were the graves of white men. the old soldier's mind was soon made up. "we must get double work out of our horses, boys," he said; "there'll be no camping to-night; i'm going to overtake general scott." all sorts of possibilities suggested themselves, the most prominent of which was that they were coming to a district more thickly populated by indians, who had been picking off scott's men with increasing rapidity; for the last four graves were ominously close together. scouts were doubled and, so far from making any pretence of a stealthy march, lanterns and torches were lit, and every hiding-place hurriedly examined. the night passed without any sign of indians; but, soon after daybreak, three or four columns of smoke were seen rising from behind a hill that lay in the line of march. half a dozen scouts galloped forward and soon disappeared. atkinson's men closed up, baggage-waggons were dragged to the centre, and in a moment everyone was prepared either to charge or to repel a charge. in less than five minutes a single horseman appeared on the top of the hill and clattered down the slope. atkinson spurred his horse and hurried to meet the messenger--one of the six scouts. "well?" he shouted when he was within earshot. "general scott--cholera--had to give up!" was the cheering intelligence. "forward!" shouted atkinson, and the company hastened over the hill, at the foot of which a pitiable state of things awaited them. soon after the start of scott's troops, cholera, in its most malignant form, had broken out among the party. in less than two days seven men were dead, and now the remainder had been obliged to abandon their march, for there was scarcely a trooper of them who was not more or less afflicted by the horrible malady. as some little consolation for these tidings, general scott reported that he had dislodged a party of sac and fox indians from a ravine, and that these had fled collectively towards bad axe river. leaving behind the few men that he could spare to guard and nurse the sick, atkinson hastily drew his force to a safe distance from the cholera camp, and, after a few hours' rest, marched for the nearest reach of the river, and along the bank, northwards. indian chasing does not permit of lengthy rest; the cavalry did not stop again till long after nightfall, and were off again before dawn. that afternoon, as they came to a wider strip of river, the general realised--and not for the first time--that it is the unexpected that usually happens. barely a mile ahead, a schooner, towed by three cutters, was moving slowly northward. atkinson galloped ahead, but before he had overtaken the vessel the men in the boats had long ceased rowing, and she was heading more towards the opposite bank. "who are _you_?" was suddenly shouted from her after-deck. "general atkinson. who are you, and what are you about here? seen any injuns?" "the _warrior_--captain throckmorton.--all right, sir; i'm sending a boat ashore for you." this was the first that atkinson had heard of a river expedition having been sent. he knew captain throckmorton as a very distinguished young officer, and a clever linguist, master of several native dialects. while he was speculating as to what had brought the schooner here, and, further, as to the meaning of a white, flag-like object which--as he looked past the vessel's stern--he could see waving on the opposite bank, one of the cutters had pulled ashore and was waiting for him. a lieutenant met him at the gangway. "cap'n's talking to the redskins. come aft, sir, please." then the waving white thing was explained; there were indians on the far bank, seeking, under cover of the white flag, to parley with the captain. atkinson joined him and, as well as he was able, followed the dialogue. "if you want to speak to me, you must send at least ten of your men aboard." "i have not so many with me." "liar. i saw over a hundred of you a few minutes ago. where's your hopeful leader? where's black hawk?" "they were but women and children whom you saw." "where's black hawk?" "are those general atkinson's warriors on the other bank?" "yes," interrupted the old soldier explosively; "and i reckon you'll find that out purty soon." "where is black hawk?" once more demanded the captain. "he is--he is--oh, across the river." "will you come aboard if i send you a boat?" "no." "then i give you fifteen minutes in which to send away your women. you know what that--_heads oh!_" a flight of arrows had greeted the captain's last remark. happily no one was struck, and the schooner immediately put into mid-stream again. through the thick foliage on the bank, a redskin or a white feather could be seen every now and then; the muffled sound of voices could also be heard. then another volley of arrows came; and another, and exclamations from the direction of the boats showed that two men were wounded. the captain motioned to the crews to shelter behind the vessel, but still he gave no order. he had promised a quarter of an hour's grace, and only five minutes of that time had gone by. "hear that?" said atkinson suddenly; and throckmorton nodded. every man on deck had heard the click-click of a score or more of gun-hammers being pulled back. the crew looked questioningly, but not impatiently, at their captain; they knew that he would not go back from his word. there were still seven minutes to wait. "lie low, all hands," said throckmorton very quietly; and as he spoke twenty or more sparks and flashes showed through the leaves and a shower of lead flew over their heads. the man at the wheel was shot in the shoulder; but the captain sprang back and had taken the spokes almost before the sailor fell. "let them go on," he said, looking at his watch again. "your turn will come, my lads." perhaps no other men on the face of the earth, save those of british extraction, would have stood by uncomplainingly during those next five minutes without returning a shot. every man had a loaded musket in his hand, except the two or three who were in attendance on the howitzer, ready at a second's notice to fire. another flight of arrows came; then one more, and the schooner's spars and bulwarks were bristling with them. "two more minutes!" said throckmorton. "look out; they're firing again." the volley came. one man fell dead, and another had his hat carried away; but still no one spoke. captain throckmorton beckoned a sailor to him and bade him take the wheel; and again expectant eyes were turned on him. suddenly he returned his watch to his pocket, and everyone gave a little gasp of relief. the captain nodded to the men at the howitzer, and instantly a shell flew among the trees; and, before the echo of the report had died away, the sailors' muskets began an incessant fire. indians appeared from everywhere--from tree-branches, grass, sedge, in many cases only to fall before the steady rain of bullets. some ran north, others south, and these latter suddenly found their retreat cut off by a heavy fire from the other bank; for colonel dodge, whom atkinson had left in charge, had only waited for the men on the schooner to begin firing to get his own carabineers to work. "where can my waggons ford it?" asked atkinson significantly. captain throckmorton soon produced a soundings-chart and showed that, at about a mile higher up, the waggons could easily cross, now that the tide was running down. "put me ashore, then." in a very few minutes the old fighting-man was in the saddle again; and, while the baggage was moved on to the ford, he and a hundred light-armed cowboys were swimming their horses across the river. the shelter from which the indians had fired proved to be a narrow, copse-like strip which separated the river from an undulating prairie. "there they go, general!" cried a young fellow, captain dixon, who rode behind the leader. "ay; making for the hills. _i_ know; the same old plant. we must pretend to be taken in.--go on, dixon; after 'em with twenty men." the general knew well enough, from bygone experience, that the spot from which the score or so of redskins were fleeing was probably that at which the bulk of their army lay _perdu_, and that they were merely trying their old trick of getting a pursuing force between the two halves of their own. he rode steadily on, and, before he reached the hills, saw that he had not been mistaken. the fleeing indians had suddenly wheeled and were bearing down furiously on captain dixon's few men. "forward!" shouted atkinson. "he can take good care of himself. we want black hawk.... and here he is, by the living jingo!" as he spoke, sixty or seventy indians appeared at the top of the hill, four of them beautifully mounted; the rest on wrecks of animals that could scarcely be matched in a belfast job-yard. "fire! a hundred dollars to the man who gets black hawk--alive or dead," shouted atkinson as he drew his horse to one side. without drawing bridle, the troop fired and reloaded, as only men born, reared, and nourished in the saddle as these were could have done. three of the well-mounted indians, ignoring the volley, rode straight at the white men, and were followed more hesitatingly by the rest, with the exception of those killed, and of the fourth man, evidently--from his fantastic garb--the aged shawnee prophet. "black hawk! black hawk! over with him!" roared the excited yankees, as a splendid-looking old man, six feet four inches in height, rode fearlessly at them. pistol-bullets whizzed round his head, but he appeared to ignore them and, swinging his war-hatchet, began to cut a way through the cowboys. his two well-horsed companions--his sons--followed closely, and in a couple of minutes six of atkinson's men were dead. but one glance behind him showed the chief that he was playing a losing game. general atkinson seemed to have surrounded all the rest of the indians with his troop, who were hewing them down right and left. captain dixon's men, too, had put to flight or killed those who had turned on them, and were now coming to reinforce their comrades. with a passionate yell of disappointment and hatred, the chief turned his horse's head in the direction whither the prophet was already fleeing; and, with his sons, rode for some distant bluffs. it was all very well for atkinson to spur in pursuit, shouting, "after him!" the white men's horses had been almost dead-beat before the flight began, and now could scarcely move at all; and the general was obliged to await his baggage-vans for the pitching of his camp, for at least a few hours. but, before those few hours were ended, another party of indians came riding into view, and, as the men sprang to their arms, one of atkinson's sioux guides cried jubilantly: "they are our brothers! they are the white chief's brothers also." the strangers galloped up and showed a goodly supply of fresh scalps. they had pursued and slaughtered those of black hawk's warriors who could not escape with him. "why didn't you catch black hawk?" asked atkinson disgustedly. "we know where he has gone to hide. what will the white chief give us for black hawk and his sons?" the old man named a price, and the troop rode off again. soon after sunrise they returned, and in their midst were black hawk and his sons. the old chief was sullenly silent--a broken man, in fact--and one is glad to know that these rough cowboys had it in them to treat the poor old fellow with the courtesy becoming his standing among the natives. with his two sons and seven other braves he was taken to fort monroe and there imprisoned for a short time; but when the country was once more quieted, the government appointed a fresh chief in his place and he was set at liberty. he died among his own people six years later. chapter ix peruvian indians the history of south america teems with accounts of arduous marches made by european explorers through its forests or deserts, across its mountains or along the banks of its rivers. some of these are more widely celebrated than others because the results were greater; but many minor expeditions--some unsuccessful, others serving no practical end--are as worthy of remembrance because those who undertook them went coolly, and with their eyes open, into all manner of privations or dangers, for the sole purpose of advancing their country's interests. among such secondary enterprises is the journey made by lieutenant smyth and midshipman lowe from callao to the amazon, in , an enterprise which recalls some of the splendidly reckless achievements of the spaniards in the first half of the sixteenth century, or of our own even bolder adventurers in the second half. while captain fitzroy was still surveying the southerly parts of the american continent, h.m.s. _samarang_, under captain paget, was making a similar though more rapid cruise right round the peninsula from la guayra to the bay of panama. as the ship lay at anchor for observations off the peruvian coast, the question was raised as to the possibility of the amazon being converted into a water-way between the atlantic and the pacific; and captain paget, more in jest than seriously, asked who would volunteer to go ashore, cross the andes, and find the nearest approach to the main stream of the river. to his amazement, john smyth, a junior lieutenant, at once offered, and so earnestly did he beg to be allowed to go that the captain was forced to give way at last. young smyth had a good knowledge of spanish, and was known to be courageous and level-headed; but the difficulty was that not a boat's crew, not a single seaman, in fact, could be spared to accompany him; but smyth insisted that he required no protection, and only asked leave to take, as companion, his young cousin, a midshipman named lowe. their knapsacks were soon packed, a cutter took them ashore, and the crew gave them a parting cheer as they turned back to the ship. in callao smyth hired five mules, and two jevero indians to attend him as muleteers and guides. as becomes direct descendants of the incas, these were fearless, fine-looking men, industrious and kind-hearted, though by no means the sort of folk one would like to offend. they belonged by birth to ecuador, which is the chief home of their tribe; but they seemed to know every yard of the country from colombia to chile, and from the coast to the brazilian frontier, and, contrary to the usual custom of their tribe, both spoke spanish quite well. one part of their costume which very much interested the two sailors was a short length of dried reed which each wore in place of an earring, and fixed to the end of which was the tooth of a slain enemy. but this was the only essentially barbarous decoration they possessed. they were bare-foot and bare-headed, but wore shirts and trousers like ordinary mortals; both, too, were christians. at first they assuredly did not flatter whatever vanity the english lads may have possessed, for they would scarcely believe that such youthful-looking persons (smyth was twenty, and lowe sixteen) could command the obedience of tried warriors. the question arose through luis, the younger guide, contrasting the weapons of the two. the middy, after the fashion of the time, wore a dirk, while his cousin, of course, carried a sword. was it then the custom, asked luis, for the length of an english warrior's weapon to depend on his years and fighting experience? with what sort of blade, in that case, did the _commandante_ of a ship fight? their opinion improved very much, however, as time went on and as they found these two lads enduring, without a murmur, heat and cold and thirst and fatigue which few white men that they had ever seen could have borne. perhaps it should be added that their experience of white men was limited to the incorrigible lurchers and beach-combers--most of them of spanish origin--to be seen anywhere along the south american coast. by the end of the second day they had come to feel quite a fatherly affection for them, so much so that they divulged a secret which, just at that time, might be worth more than its weight in gold to the explorers. the lieutenant had noticed that, though neither guide showed any disposition to eat or drink "between meals," they never seemed wearied, nor did they, when supper-time came round, eat with great appetite; this was the more surprising since they walked the greater part of the way, while smyth and lowe rode mule-back. on his making a remark about this, filipe, the elder indian, opened the satchel in which he carried his various belongings, and displayed a good stock of leaves and a small tin of quick-lime, saying: "you have just eaten your supper, señor lieutenante, and cannot judge; to-morrow i will give you some of these to try for yourself." during the next morning, after a wearisome climb, filipe fulfilled his promise; he rolled a few particles of lime in two or three of the leaves, and, pressing the whole into globular form, handed it to smyth. "chew that," he said. "it is _coca_, and will sustain you for nearly an hour." smyth had previously noticed both men stuffing something into their mouths periodically, but, being so used to seeing the sailors chew tobacco, he had never given it a second thought. he chewed lustily at the little ball for five minutes, but succeeded in extracting neither taste nor nourishment from it. "i think i should prefer salt pork," he said. "what little taste your coca has is beastly; and i am as hungry as i was before." "patience; you have not chewed it long enough." he tried again, and presently the indian said with a smile: "well, señor?" "i don't know how it is, but i'm losing my hunger. _you_ try it, frank.--give my friend one." the jevero shook his head doubtfully. "it must be a little one, then. it is not good for him. you smoke cigars, and you give some to us; but you do not give him one. with _coca_ it is the same." smyth continued to chew, and was no longer conscious either of hunger or fatigue--for half an hour or more, when both these mortal ills began to return; and of course with double acuteness. he remarked on this to the indians. "ah!" said luis; "now you know how we can tell the time without a watch, how we know the number of miles we have walked without counting our steps. when you feel to want new coca-leaves, thirty-five minutes have gone by; add the ten minutes during which you found no effect from them, and you observe that three-quarters of an hour has expired. in that time we walk, at the present rate, five miles." he might have added that, if abused, the coca habit is as pernicious and as degrading as opium-taking. "it will be five miles no longer now," said filipe, interrupting. "quick; blind the mules, luis!" they immediately began to bustle about like seamen in a gale of wind, and, in a few minutes, each of the five mules had a cloth tied over his eyes. there was soon no need to ask why. the slope they had been ascending had become a level strip--literally a strip. to the left of them the sailors saw a sheer wall of rock, rising perhaps a hundred feet, while to the right, not more than eight feet from it, was the edge of a precipice. used as they both were to overcoming inclinations to giddiness or fear, they shuddered involuntarily as they cast their eyes over the brink and found that they could see no bottom to the abyss. yet the jeveros put themselves on the mules' outer side, one leading a string of three, the other two, and walking heedlessly within a couple of feet of the precipice. to add to the gruesomeness of the neighbourhood, a weird, wailing cry began to rise from the high ledge above their heads, at the sound of which the jeveros crossed themselves and mumbled a prayer. "what is it?" asked the midshipman, not without a little touch of awe. "_alma perdida!_" said luis, reverently lowering his voice. the words meant "a lost soul," but the boy was unaware of that, and smyth did not think a mountain-ledge, such as this, quite the right place to choose for enlightening him. used to spanish and now to indian superstition, he guessed--and rightly--that the cry was that of some bird, probably peculiar to the andes; and he questioned filipe, who was walking at his mule's head. "yes; it is a bird. it passes its time in bewailing the dead, and the sins which they have committed." "it will have a chance of bewailing its own death," said the lieutenant peevishly, "as soon as i can get a shot at it," at which the guides betrayed as much horror as smyth himself would have shown had they proposed using an albatross as a target. "what are we going to do if we meet another string of mules along here?" he asked. "one party must lie down and let the other pass over it," said filipe indifferently. by night-time the severe nerve strain of such a passage was ended, for this ledge at last became a rock-walled mountain-path sloping at quite an easy incline. they were no sooner well along this road the following morning than the guides looked to the loading of the guns, for they said that in the neighbourhood they might expect to meet with black indians, who were notorious cannibals, and whom it would be their duty to kill. but it happened that none thought it worth while to put in an appearance; the "cannibals" were probably imaginary, though, of course, there are blacks--negroes, not indians--settled in various parts of the andes, the descendants of the african slaves introduced by the spaniards in the sixteenth century to carry packages of gold or silver which the indians could not or would not carry. at last the most wonderful mountain-range in the world was crossed. the mules were left at a village, and the two jeveros had an opportunity of showing that they were as expert on the water as on the mountains. for now they were in amazonian peru, and the huallaga river had to be descended and examined before the sailors' task was accomplished. in this more easterly forest district of peru there are, at this day, nearly four hundred thousand indians, and at that time there were half a million; many of them very degraded, many more warlike and intelligent heathens, and others who led quite peaceable lives as farmers, planters, fishers, or exporters of turtle-oil. only once were the sailors in serious danger at the hands of any of these tribes, and that was due not to themselves or to the natives, but to the jevero guides, both of whom had an ineradicable contempt for all indian families but their own. this happened soon after the return journey up the huallaga had begun. smyth had expected such an occurrence for some time, for he had more than once been forced to remonstrate with his men for their quarrelsome or jeering attitude towards indians whom they met and talked with, and who would have been perfectly willing to be friendly and obliging. they came up with a large canoe containing eight indians who were lying in wait for a manatee. smyth bade the jeveros draw up, and entered into conversation with the hunters, who answered civilly, though not without some distrust. luis and filipe joined in unasked, and, when it was too late, the lieutenant perceived that they were "chaffing" the strangers. these became more and more angry, and at last refused to answer smyth, who thereupon, for peace' sake, told his canoemen to paddle on. they obeyed, but not without a parting jeer which the englishmen did not understand, but which so incensed the indian in the bows of the other canoe that he hurled the harpoon which he was holding straight at luis. luis gave a peculiar twist with his paddle, the canoe shot sideways, and the weapon passed harmlessly by him. filipe picked up the short-barrelled gun that lay at his feet, but, quick to meet all emergencies, smyth drew a pistol and pointed it at him. "if you don't drop it before i count three, i shall fire." [illustration: a fierce retort the indian in the bows of the other canoe became so incensed at the "chaffing" of the strangers that he hurled the harpoon he was holding straight at luis.] in english, he added quickly to the midshipman, "cover luis, if he tries any games." filipe dropped the gun with a shame-faced little laugh, and luis showed no disposition either to take revenge for the harpoon, or to back up his friend against their employer. "give way, as hard as you can; both of you," said the lieutenant, watching, with no little concern, the harpoons which were being held in readiness to throw at his canoe. perhaps one bullet from his gun might have put the whole boat's crew to flight, but he had the love of fair play and reluctance to kill which has distinguished the majority of british explorers, whether renowned or obscure. he put his pride in his pocket and frankly ran away. strangely enough, neither of the jeveros ever showed any animosity towards him for thus siding with the enemy. when, at length, the parting time came, both pressed keepsakes on the young officers, and then surprised them by holding them by the hands and crying over them like a pair of women. chapter x the caribs of guatemala in , curious as to the rumours of general anarchy prevailing throughout most of the central american countries, the united states government sent a young foreign office official--mr. john lloyd stephens--to find out the truth of the matter. at first glance there seems nothing specially alarming or hazardous about such a mission, nor would there be nowadays; but, at the date of which we are speaking, there were no means of rapid communication between the towns, and many of the roads, rivers, and forest or mountain tracks were in the hands of strong parties of carib and mosquito indians, zambos, and mestizos (white and indian half-bloods), who would have no more respect for an agent of the american government than for the colonists of their own country, against whom many of them were uniting their forces. under the circumstances, mr. stephens thought it wisest to land at belize, and learn from the english officials there the best plan to pursue. british honduras at that time was not strictly a crown colony, but was governed by the executive in jamaica. the commanding officer of the garrison, colonel mcdonald, received him with great geniality, and entertained him for a couple of days. but he could promise him no material help, he said, when once he was off british soil; he had no authority even to lend him a boat or launch, and dared not take upon himself to send an armed escort beyond the frontier. "there is a guatemala steamer starting up the belize river to-morrow night," he said. "i will send down and book you a passage. after you land you must not rely on us"--the colonel laughed--"in our official capacity, that is to say. of course, some of the staff are often up country after game, and if we should happen to find you in a tight corner on somebody else's ground, we couldn't, as private individuals, leave you in the lurch. you've got a nasty job; guatemala and honduras are both more or less in rebellion; so's mexico for that matter; and the indians are plundering government and revolutionaries alike. we've had a little trouble of our own with the caribs; you'll probably meet some of our firing-parties, any of whom will guarantee you protection as long as you're our side of the boundary." the next evening, mr. stephens, accompanied by his secretary, mr. catherwood, went on board the little steamer--a boat which an american or english owner would send round the world with a ship's company of six, but which, here, was manned by no less than twenty mestizos, an english engineer, and a spanish skipper. the only other passenger was a young irish franciscan, who proved very jovial company, and who professed to regard the indian risings as a mere idle scare. he, too, was going into the first native territory through which the travellers must pass, and offered himself as their guide thus far. they could not have had a better, for his "cloth" was of more use to them than a small escort might have been. soon after leaving the steamer they came to the first of the carib camps. the irishman baptised all the babies in the place, good-humouredly "chaffed" the warriors over their unwisdom in taking part in white men's squabbles, procured a supply of provisions for himself and his companions, and all three set off across the boundary into the more dangerous territory. they should by right have reached a spanish village that night, where they would have been able to obtain horses; but a storm came on, and there was nothing for it but to wait on the plain till it was over. a question arose as to shelter and fuel, and this was solved by their seeing a sheep-fold in the distance. they came up to it and found it untenanted; there was a hut big enough for three persons to sit in, but too small for even one to lie in. for a fire, they broke down some of the rails of the fold, from which they cut kindling wood, and soon had a cosy blaze which defied the rain; they ate their supper and slept on the floor of the hut, huddled together. in the morning they were awakened by a loud chattering of men, and stephens, who was nearest the door, found himself being dragged forcibly into the open, while he was rubbing his eyes and trying to remember where he was. catherwood sprang out after him, pistol in hand, only to be overpowered and relieved of it by a crowd of caribs. but, at sight of the friar, the indians hesitated and became less noisy. he spoke to them in their own language, and demanded to know the cause of this violence. "these men have broken up and burnt our sheep-fold," exclaimed one of the caribs. "well, well; leave go and i'll explain. give that gentleman his pistol back; he doesn't want to hurt you." "tell them we'll pay for our night's lodging," added stephens. an explanation was offered and accepted, as were five dollars (about the value of the whole enclosure in a country where wood was plentiful) from the americans; and the mollified caribs led the way to their camp, gave the strangers a good breakfast, and put them on their road for the spanish village. there they found everything quiet and orderly, though reports were rife as to terrible doings farther west; the irishman obtained two good horses for his friends and bade them good-bye, as their ways divided here. "we're on our own resources now, and no mistake," said stephens when, coming to the end of the plain, they found themselves in the hilly district which grows higher and higher till it becomes the central guatemala range, , feet high. "let's have a look at the chart." colonel mcdonald had warned them of the mountains, and had given them a plan showing one or two deep river valleys, here and in salvador, by following which they could reach the pacific coast without any climbing that a horse could not manage. upon this an indian village was marked at a distance of about six miles from where they now were; and they might expect to reach it easily by nightfall, after allowing themselves ample time for making notes of the country by the way. they were tolerably sure of a civil reception and a night's lodging, for their thoughtful irish friend had given them a letter of introduction to the resident spanish padre of the place. they made very few notes, for they had no fancy for a second night over a fire of palings; another storm was threatening, and they spurred for the village without further delay, arriving at the same time as the rain. it was just at the end of the _invierno_, or wet season, which consists, in central america, of lengthy thunderstorms at very irregular intervals. the priest happened to be absent, but letters of recommendation were superfluous here; the travellers had landed on a tribe of caribs as different from the others as yeoman-farmers are from gypsies. the others had been one part shepherds and nine parts brigands; these were the agricultural guatemalans, descendants of the most highly civilised of the ancient indians, whom--by reason of their very civilisation--cortez could easily subdue in war, while the other tribes rendered his march through the country anything but safe or triumphant. their inoffensive disposition made the spaniards treat them rather as protégés than as victims. the only difficulty that presented itself was that few of the inhabitants spoke any language but their own, for the tribe had, for four centuries, resisted all attempts to force a new language or new laws upon them; even their christianity was but a hundred years old. they entertained the visitors well, but could give them no information as to the state of the country; they were not interested in the doings of the outer world; they cultivated their cochineal insects, grew their coffee, tended their cattle, and minded their own business. they gave the americans an unoccupied hut, brought them a generous supply of meat, wine, and cakes, and left them to amuse themselves for the night, with instructions to ring if they wanted anything; the ringing, by the way, to be performed by beating a drum which they hung outside the hut door. just before it was light, stephens waked to hear a low cry from his friend. he sat up and struck a light. catherwood was lying with his knees drawn up, hands clenched, and eyes staring, and, in reply to the other's questionings, answered only in an incoherent babble. stephens crossed over to him and saw that his teeth were chattering and his face almost scarlet; there was no doubt as to his condition; he was in a burning fever. nothing could have been more unlucky. he had brought the young fellow with him purely on his own account, and unauthorised by his department. he was not in government service, but merely a personal friend whom stephens' private means enabled him to keep in constant employment as amanuensis; therefore, to lose several days, or weeks, nursing him, at such a time, would be to bring himself into serious disgrace with the ministry. yet how could he leave him in an indian camp, to the tender mercies of some mad witch-doctor, who would charm and physic him to death with the most generous intentions? he paced up and down for a while, and, at daylight, went out into the open, forced by his own ignorance of medicine, and his anxiety for his friend's safety, to stoop to ask advice of a people whom his american upbringing had taught him to despise. and it was just possible that the spanish padre might have returned by now, and he would be sure to possess some knowledge of drugs and minor surgery. in the village street he met the chief, one of the few natives who spoke spanish. "i will call the physician of the tribe," he said, when stephens, learning to his dismay that the priest was not expected till night-time, had communicated his difficulty. the native doctor was a little old man who had no small opinion of his own importance, and was as contemptuously ignorant of spanish as the yankee was of huaxtecan and cariban. he passed his hand over the patient's brow, breathed on him, muttered incantations, and then walked round the hut about a dozen times, solemnly talking to himself, till stephens could scarcely resist the temptation to give him a lift into the street with his foot. after a time the _piache_, doctor, conjurer, or whatever he called himself, took out two powders from his girdle, poured water on them, sipped the drink, breathed and mumbled over it, opened the sufferer's mouth, and poured it down his throat before the spectator could make up his mind whether to interfere or no. then the old image strutted out of the hut, as proud as punch. this was all very well, but stephens' mind was ill at ease. he followed the man of medicine into the street, and found the chief waiting modestly but expectantly outside. "ask him what he has given my friend," he said, curtly. the chief bowed, but shook his head. "these are mysteries into which i may not inquire. the physician's secrets are sacred. you may rest assured that the young white man will soon be well." of course, stephens did anything but rest assured of this. he turned into the hut again, and lo! catherwood was sleeping as peacefully as a child, with no sign of indisposition except the flush on his face. the chief peeped in apologetically. "he says that the sick señor will be well enough to travel by midday," he whispered. it was now four o'clock; stephens ate some breakfast fretfully, looked at the patient, walked about the village, and sought to kill time as best he could. every time he re-entered the hut, catherwood's temperature was less high; and, about the middle of the day, he awoke of his own accord, ravenous for some breakfast. the old medicine-man had known his business; had administered two, out of the thousand and two, healing drugs which the american forests and valleys produce--probably quinine and some preparation of poppy--and had nipped in the bud what was doubtless an attack of malarial fever. catherwood paid his doctor's bill by the gift of a four-bladed pen-knife, his friend forced a similar present on the chief, and early in the afternoon they rode away about their business. the next few weeks were passed in hurried journeys from town to town, in false alarms, in being potted at by revolutionaries, and humbugged by officials; and by the time they had crossed once more to the bay of honduras and the guatemala coast, they had found out all that there was to learn. about a mile from the british boundary they encountered their most exciting adventure. outside a carib village were a dozen indians and mestizos, all armed with guns, and in heated argument with five young men, who were obviously british officers in mufti; these also had guns, and two of them carried well-filled game-bags. "you intend to keep us here? it will be the worse for you if you try it," the eldest of the white men was saying in spanish. "unless you give us what we ask," replied a mestizo insolently. "you have no right to be over the border." the americans pulled up their horses, and stephens drew a pistol. "all right," he said. "we're going to be in this." "then pray begin by putting that pistol out of the way, there's a good fellow," said major walrond, the young man who had spoken to the half-caste. "we shall be very glad if you'll back us up. we want to get out of it without firing on them if we can." "what's the row?" "these mestizos belong to the rebels, and are recruiting among the indians; promising them all sorts of plunder, no doubt, and they rather think of practising on us for a start; want us to empty our pockets and game-bags, and give up our guns and ammunition. look out, you fellows." seeing a reinforcement for the white men, yet not one that need be feared so far as they could see, the ruffians were becoming impatient, and one or two had cocked their guns. "ride 'em down; use your whips, but for goodness' sake don't fire a shot while we're on this side of the boundary," said the senior officer hurriedly. "bravo, spencer; over with him"; for a subaltern had seized the rifle of one of the half-breeds and was wrenching it out of his hands. "thank you, mr. stephens." the last remark was occasioned by the american's felling with his pistol-stock an indian who was taking aim at the major. then the white men began to hit out, shoulder to shoulder. the indians were quickly overpowered, for they were more than half afraid of the guns they held, and, on these being wrested from them, fled to the nearest ravine. but the mestizos were more of a handful. there had been five of them to begin with; the subaltern had disarmed one, and he had fled; major walrond had just knocked another down with his fist, and he lay unconscious; but the other three, artful enough to reflect that even if their opponents decided to fire on them, their guns were only charged with bird-shot, harmless at any appreciable distance, were running away with the evident intention of using their own ball-cartridges from some point of vantage. stephens' matter-of-fact yankee way of looking at things now became a valuable asset. "_we're_ no british subjects," he said hurriedly, "and you'll not be to blame if we fire on these chaps"; and, pistol in hand, he spurred after one fugitive while catherwood pursued a second. the third fired at catherwood, the bullet carrying away his hat, but one of the subalterns was on him before he could load again, wrenched the rifle out of his hands, and gave him a complimentary tap on the head with the butt thereof. the other two, seeing that the horsemen at least would have no scruple about using firearms, stopped when called upon to do so, and sullenly gave up their guns. but that mile back to british territory seemed a most amazingly long one. the carib fugitives had alarmed the neighbourhood, and knots of indians were gathering, armed with bows and arrows, which they seemed desirous of using on the white men, for the two or three venomous lies circulated all in a moment by the mestizos had soon swelled to two or three dozen; and to the caribs, the opportune arrival of the two men on horseback was part of a deep-laid plot against their liberties. "shall we ride in and disperse them?" suggested catherwood. "better not; it'll only make matters worse," said one of the englishmen gloomily. "they'll let go with their bows if you do. i think we look fools enough as it is, sneaking along like this; better not make it any worse." "no; we can't afford to have guatemala declaring war against great britain," laughed walrond. "if they attempt to shoot we must let them have it; but it mustn't be said that we fired first." it was a queer procession; every man felt that he was cutting a hang-dog figure; he was not afraid of an arrow, but he was mortally afraid of looking ridiculous. all knew, too, that if serious trouble arose, the commanding officer would forbid their crossing the frontier any more, and there was no shooting to be had on their own side of it that could compare with that here. "all right, my chickens," muttered walrond at last; "if you follow us just fifty yards farther, we may be able to deal with you." the fifty yards were covered; the white men were on their own ground again, but still the indians--proudly indifferent to frontiers other than those recognised by their own tribe--followed at a distance of about forty paces, debating their tactics in low tones, and by no means unwilling to make a rush for the englishmen and rob them of their guns. "now let's tickle them a little," said major walrond; and he turned sharply and sent a charge of small shot among the indians. "down, quick; 'ware arrows." the two horsemen jumped out of their stirrups and fell on the grass, and the little shower of arrows passed harmlessly over the heads of all. the other four officers fired in quick succession. this was too much for the caribs, many of whom were peppered right painfully; and, with no further pretence at shooting, they turned and fled towards their village, leaving the white men masters of the field. chapter xi a prince's adventures in brazil prince adalbert of prussia, a nephew of friedrich wilhelm iii, is less remembered as a traveller than as a frequent visitor to this country, and one who sought to build up a german navy that should, in time, be an exact copy of our own. yet, in his younger days, before he took seriously to sailoring, he led a restless, wandering life, and, in the course of about eighteen years, contrived to see almost every country in the world. in , when he was a little over thirty, he landed at parahiba, in northern brazil, with a small suite of prussian officers, determined to make a cross-country journey to the andes and back. needless to say, such a march promised no small amount of excitement and danger; for european settlements were few and far between, and the greater part of the inhabited regions were in the hands of caribs and guaranis, who, even where they were not savage and bloodthirsty, were usually so jealous of the intrusion of white men that they would offer every hindrance to their progress through the country. the initial difficulty was the not uncommon one of obtaining guides. guides by the score--indian, half-blood, spanish and italian--were ready enough to show the way to caxias, two hundred and fifty miles distant; but the prince happened to have an excellent chart of the country as far as even three hundred miles beyond that (to the other side of the para river). but beyond the river no one had been or had any intention of going, for fear of the indians, who were popularly supposed to number cannibalism among their other little eccentricities. passably good horses, however, were not hard to come by, and the little cavalcade crossed the first five or six hundred miles of plain and forest without mishap, and without seeing any other indians than those who were mildly and agriculturally disposed. but now they came to what looked like an untouched and absolutely impenetrable forest, where neither man nor horses could move unless a path was first cut; and to render this gloomy neighbourhood a little more uninviting, there appeared to be no dearth of jaguars, wild cats, and boa-constrictors. several of the officers separated and, for a whole day, rode in every direction, exploring every possible curve and opening that might be the beginning of a road; losing themselves and each other a score of times. but at sundown, when all met at a prearranged spot, count oriolla--the last to arrive--triumphantly announced that he had found a winding path that showed signs of rare but comparatively recent use. he had traced this for a good ten miles, and it still promised to remain open and to lead "somewhere." to a band of men who were young, strong, well armed, and romantically inclined, the prospect offered by this mysterious path was a delightful one, and by daybreak everyone was waiting and anxious to continue the journey. count oriolla led the way through various palm clumps and then alongside a wall of forest where every tree seemed to be linked inextricably to its neighbour by creepers and lianas; and, after some five miles of this, to a little wedge-like opening which continued in a sharp backward turn, and which no one but himself had noticed on the preceding day. for just a few yards this was so narrow that the horses could only move in single file, but it very quickly widened to the breadth of an ordinary country lane. close examination by the scientist of the party showed that it was a path chiefly of nature's making; probably a dried-up watercourse which had been used by men and cattle at sufficiently frequent intervals to prevent the saplings, suckers, and undergrowth from becoming a serious obstruction. travelling very much at their ease, the prince and his companions followed this road for about fifteen miles before stopping for the midday meal and siesta. in consequence of the great heat they usually all rested from twelve till four; but to-day count oriolla and captain bromberg preferred to walk on for a mile or two as soon as they had lunched, in order to see what possibilities the neighbourhood offered in the way of game, fruit, and water. a few hundred yards from the camp they came to a veritable cherry orchard on a small scale; a grove of tall trees laden with small black fruit and having leaves and bark precisely the same as those of the european cherry. the fruit was the "jabuticabas," or brazilian cherry; the two young men tasted some "windfalls," and these were so promising that the count urged his more active companion to climb one of the trunks and shake down a good supply. for a sailor this was no difficulty; and captain bromberg was soon in the fork of a tree, rocking the branches vigorously, while the count stowed the falling fruit in a small game-bag. presently the captain happened to peer down from his perch, and then, to his bewilderment, he saw that a third person had appeared on the scene. the count was still on his knees, diligently filling the bag; while, unperceived by him, a tall indian, armed with a spear, bow, and quiver, stood near him as motionless as a statue. bromberg at once swung himself down and dropped beside his friend, so suddenly that the count sprang up in alarm, though the indian betrayed no shadow of surprise. the count, turning his head and finding himself face to face with a carib, started back with a cry of astonishment and fumbled in his pocket for the pistol which he usually carried there; but the stranger's demeanour was so mild and amiable, that he at once felt ashamed of himself. "why don't you speak to him in spanish?" said bromberg; "no doubt he would understand." the count, himself half spanish, spoke civilly to the carib, who at once answered in that tongue, at the same time turning his spear-point to the ground in token of peace. he pointed to the end of the grove of fruit trees. "that is where i live, gentlemen"; and for the first time they noticed a thin column of smoke rising from a hut or tent a couple of hundred yards away. "is there an indian village here then?" asked the count. "nearly a mile farther on; i and my parents keep an inn outside it." the outlook seemed promising, and the count at once asked as to the likelihood of their finding suitable guides. "you want to go by way of santaren? yes; any of us will guide you as far as there, or even to the madeira river. but we should not choose to go any farther, for we are ill friends with the guaranis just now; nor would you do well to venture far up the amazon; between indians, reptiles, and _tigres_, your lives would never be safe." the two officers laughed; and the count, giving their new acquaintance a drop of brandy from his flask in token of good will, easily persuaded him to return with them to the spot where they had left their companions. the prince at once asked to be conducted to the village. this consisted of a very picturesque street of palm-thatched huts, whose owners looked cleaner, more robust, and more thriving than any indians prince adalbert had seen. a deputation, consisting of two chiefs and a native catholic priest, came to bid the new-comers welcome, and begged them to accept the hospitality of the village for as long as it might suit them. they confirmed what the other indian had said: the way was safe enough and agreeable enough as far as the confluence of the amazon and madeira, but no farther. on learning that the white men would pass that night in the village, everyone was resolved to make the stay an entertaining one. the visitors were shown the parish church, school, stores, etc., and eventually led to the older chief's house for an elaborate meal of fish, turtle-eggs, mushrooms, venison, partridges, and stewed monkey, with fruit jellies, cakes, and native beer. the hut was neatly furnished with cane-seated benches or lounges; and--not always to the guests' greater comfort--a puma, various snakes, a couple of monkeys, and three parrots, all very tame, wandered about the place at will. soon after supper, while prince adalbert smoked with the chiefs and the padre, he unconsciously committed a very serious breach of local etiquette. attracted by the great size and artistic workmanship of two bows that stood against the wall close by him, he leant forward and took up one to examine it more closely. immediately a heart-rending scream rose from the only woman present--the cacique's widowed mother--who, springing forward, snatched the weapon from the stranger's hand and replaced it with great care and reverence. the courtier-instinct of the prussian officers was naturally scandalised, the cacique remained perfectly still, though he looked very uncomfortable, and said something in dialect to his mother that appeared to be a gentle reproach; while the indian padre, whose education had brought him more in touch with white men and their notions of hospitality, hastened politely to explain and apologise. the bows, he said, were the last weapons used by the woman's late husband, and it was the custom of the tribe to regard such things as extremely sacred; no one but the deceased's widow or eldest son might so much as touch them or stand within a pace of them. the prince was, of course, too much a man of the world to feel any annoyance, and quickly put his entertainers at their ease again by expressing keen interest in the customs peculiar to the caribs; and this led to the cacique's inviting him to witness a dance which was being arranged in his honour. he led the way to the public square or _plaza_, which was now illuminated by a symmetrical arrangement of torches and a huge bonfire. as soon as all were seated under a canopy, the cacique struck a gong, and, from every corner of the square, the young men of the tribe appeared, each armed with a blunted spear and a round wooden shield; and, at a second beat of the gong, all these began an awkward, waddling march round and round the fire. this had gone on for some minutes when, with a roar that was a splendid imitation of a bull's bellowing, a man sprang up from the ground and, with head down, pretended to run at full charge through the procession. the march stopped instantly, every man turned his spear on the disturber, and then followed a really admirable pantomime of a bull-fight, which ended in the vanquishing and pretended death of the "bull." in the morning the prussians sought to press various gifts on the hospitable indians; but they were only received under protest and on condition of the visitors accepting others in return; moreover, the cacique appointed five mounted men to act as guides as far as the river; and these, he said, were on no account to accept any payment beyond their daily rations. a march of something like four hundred miles now lay before the travellers, and this was accomplished, by easy stages, within about a fortnight. when once the river was in sight the indians did not, as the prince had expected, promptly desert; nevertheless, they reground their knives and the points of their spears and arrows as though they anticipated an attack at any moment. but no other indians were sighted for a while; the ford of the madeira marked on the chart was found, and the explorers crossed the river in comfort and bade good-bye to the honest fellows who had guided them so far and so faithfully. now came a temporary break in the forest land; and for several miles the road was a mere sand-strip, like a towpath, running between the amazon and some low, marshy ground. no one was sorry to escape from this district to the higher and more wooded lands again, for not only do such marshes breed all kinds of fever, but they are the chosen lurking-places of crocodiles, water-serpents, and other abominations. on the third afternoon of the new march, count oriolla noticed, as they entered upon more forest land, that dark-skinned figures continually flitted among the trees, as though someone were spying on or keeping up with the horsemen. he reported this, and the prince gave orders for all to draw more together and to have their weapons ready to hand. at every step, too, the track betrayed more and more signs of recent use by horses and cattle; and, from the top of the next hill, a haze like the smoke from dozens of houses was visible. "what are those?" asked the prince as he pointed to some dark objects moving on the surface of the water a long way ahead. "canoes, _hoheit_; and indians in them," promptly answered the naval captain, more accustomed than the rest to long-distance gazing. "well, well; let us ride on. they probably intend us no harm." just then a valet, who was riding a little to the rear, hurried forward. "your highness may perceive that we are being followed," he said; and pointed behind him to a group of thirty indians of some other tribe than the caribs, who were moving along on foot at a steady double; and among the trees closer at hand several more could be seen. "better to ignore them for the present," said the prince. "evidently the village is not far away; time enough to stop when we come to it." "this looks like an ambuscade," muttered oriolla to the man riding next him. they had come almost to the end of the little patch of forest, and, beyond the last belt of trees, the heads and forefeet of several horses drawn up in line could be seen. the words were hardly out of his mouth when, howling at the top of their voices, two dozen men shot out from the cover indicated and rode at full speed towards the new-comers. "pistols out; but let no one fire unless i give the word," shouted the prince. "ha! here come the others from behind." the second lot of indians had increased their pace, and the prussians saw themselves about to be hemmed between two little forces of yelling savages. within a few yards, both parties of redskins halted and either brandished their axes or fitted arrows to their bows. "what do you want?" shouted the prince in spanish. "you are our prisoners; you must come with us to our camp," said a young indian, advancing his horse a foot or two. "give up your arms." the prince looked round at his followers. they only numbered thirteen, all told, five of whom had never been under fire in their lives. then he said resolutely: "certainly we will come with you; but we shall not give up our arms; and if any violence is attempted, i warn you that we shall fire on you." none of the indians carried guns, and for that reason the prince had more faith in the efficacy of his threat. "very well," said the leader of the mounted indians. "follow us." it was but a short distance to the village or camp or _tolderia_; and, at the entrance to it, the guaranis (for to that tribe they belonged) dismounted, and each of the white men found his bridle seized by an indian. "who is your chief? where is your cacique?" demanded prince adalbert impatiently. his captors pointed to a young man who, accompanied by another much older, had just appeared from the largest of the huts and was coming towards them. the young chief proved to be a very mild-mannered person. he said half apologetically that the tribe was poor, and that strangers were expected to make some offering on coming among them. "we were prepared to make presents," said the prince good-humouredly, "but we object to being asked for them." the older man--evidently the ahithophel of the tribe--whispered something, whereupon the chief said more spiritedly: "you have been taken prisoners in our forest. you must ransom yourselves"--ahithophel whispered again--"by giving up your arms and your baggage." those of the prussians who understood the cacique's spanish cocked their pistols. "patience; we must reason with them," said the prince in his own language. he was trying to think of the most potent argument to employ, when a sudden outcry arose on all hands, and more than half the indians, including the chief and his evil genius, turned towards the river as though in haste to meet someone. the canoes which the travellers had seen from a distance were drawing up to the wooden landing-stage. "what's this? what are they all doing?" asked the prince; as well he might, for his assailants, so clamorous and threatening only a moment before, were falling on their knees one after the other, crossing themselves and shouting jubilantly: "the padre! the holy padre!" a pleasant-faced, athletic-looking man, wearing a large _sombrero_ and a priest's cassock, was standing on the little quay, holding up his hand to bless the kneeling crowd, and at the same time throwing a quick glance of curiosity towards the prisoners. "at least he's a white man," said the prince, much relieved, as he signed to count oriolla to dismount and go to speak to the new-comer. in a couple of minutes he saw both men hurrying towards him. the priest raised his hat and, in excellent german, introduced himself as a scots jesuit whose duty it was to make periodical visits to the camps that had no church, to administer the sacraments to the devout. "you must look leniently on them," he said when the position was explained. "they are just grownup children. i will see that a proper apology is made. i suspect i can put my hand on the black sheep." he pointed at ahithophel, and, speaking in spanish, ordered him and the cacique to come forward. before he had spoken for a couple of minutes, it was clear enough to the strangers that the good missionary knew the class of men with whom he had to deal. led by the cacique, the indians were soon sobbing and groaning in chorus; and even the grey-headed counsellor bewailed his indiscretion when, passing from the moral to the politic side of the question, the scotsman hinted at the possibilities of a german invasion to avenge this insult to royalty; and ended by forbidding anyone in the village, as a penance, to receive any present whatever from the travellers. the power that just one white man of quick brain and strong will had over all these savages seemed incredible. the prussians remained in the village three days, and during that time the indians strained every effort to please and entertain them; not an article of their property was interfered with, and when, on leaving, the prince--forgetting the padre's prohibition--offered trifling presents of knives, jewellery, and silk handkerchiefs, everyone edged away as though these things were poison. "they have been _good_ children, father," pleaded the prince, and so earnestly that the jesuit was obliged to give way; whereupon the guaranis accepted the gifts with tears of gratitude, and readily offered a supply of guides who would ensure the travellers against molestation by others of their tribe between there and the andes. on the last day of their stay it was reported that a tapir had been seen in the forest a mile or two back; and the scots cleric, himself a keen sportsman, undertook to show the prussians a native hunt at its best. in this, however, he did not quite succeed, for some of the younger members of the tribe stole a march on the rest, and the visitors only saw the "finish." the lads had started earlier in the morning, had discovered the tapir and driven him through the forest towards the river; and, as the white men reached the most practicable path, the ungainly beast charged out of it and made straight towards the water. but the cacique was too quick for him. spurring his horse with the sharp angles of his stirrups, he dashed from the rear of the prussians and flung his lasso over the animal's head. but this was not all. the tapir cared no more for this than a whale does for a single harpoon and line, and rushed straight on for the river, apparently dragging the hunter with him. all in a moment, however, there came a clatter of hoofs, a cloud of dead leaves, chips, and dust, and four of the beaters dashed out from the forest path with their lassoes poised, and each bawling like a man possessed. two lassoes whistled past the prince's head and seemed to fall at exactly the same moment on that of the tapir; these were followed by a third, which, as the beast had made a half stop, just missed him; then by a fourth, which fell unerringly. even then the power of this strange animal was amazing, and for a minute it seemed as though he must draw his captors into the river; but, at a shout from the cacique, the three hunters followed his example, swung their horses round, and spurred them so terrifically that they towed the quarry back, foot by foot, till he fell over on his side with all the breath strangled out of him. then the cacique, as the first to get his lasso "home," handed the thong to another hunter, dismounted, and gave the tapir his quietus with his spear. chapter xii indian warfare in california one of america's great naval commanders--captain henry augustus wise--made use of the opportunity afforded him by the mexican war of - to collect material for a very engrossing account of some indians concerning whom little was then known: the coast comanches of lower california and mexico. the captain--a cousin of governor wise of virginia, and an intimate friend of rear-admiral wilkes--was at that time second lieutenant of the man-of-war _independence_, a steamship which was cruising between san francisco and the gulf of california. his first acquaintance with the western redskins was when he was sent ashore at monterey, a hundred and twenty miles south of san francisco, to reconnoitre the country and offer protection--or, if need be, a means of escape--to any united states subjects settled in the district. let it be remembered that the california of that day was vastly different even from the california of two years later. its hidden gold was only known to the comanches and other shoshonee tribes, and a few mexican spaniards; monterey was still the capital, while "frisco" was but a little market-town; above all, the yankees had as yet scarce more than a foothold in the state, the greater part of it being (till the end of that war) under mexican sway; and the coast indians had not yet had their own virtues knocked out of them and replaced by the vices of the white diggers of ' . lieutenant wise and his boat's crew, on leaving the town, began to make their way down-country between the coast and the buonaventura river, relying for hospitality mainly on the american settlers, many of whom did a thriving and regular trade in skins. they found the district tolerably quiet, though there were reports of various fierce battles between the comanches and their old enemies the apaches, many of the latter being, it was said, in the pay of the mexicans. it was at a trappers' camp that wise heard this piece of news, a queer little circle of log-huts erected on a wide clearing in one of the river forests which they came upon by accident late one afternoon. the trappers--all of them american or american-irish--gave a very cordial welcome to the little party, though they would not at first admit the necessity for their offer of protection. "see here," said one of them. "the mexicans are shifting down south right hard, and all you're likely to see, you've seen in monterey. your ship, or else some other, has bombarded santa barbara already; and, like as not, is clearing san diego out by now. as for the redskins, take an old stager's advice and let 'em fight it out theirselves. there's one lot we'd like very well to get hold of, but the rest we don't vally a cuss." "who are they?" asked wise, sitting down to the meal of grilled deer's meat that was set before him. "more'n we can tell ye. some o' that coyotero lot that have learned to use a rifle; for gun-stealing and horse and rifle-lifting they've got no living ekals. last week they killed two of our fellows at a camp up the river; scalped 'em; broke open the magazine, and got away with all the powder and lead, as well as half a dozen spare guns. 'twas no good the rest going to look for 'em when they came home; p'raps they were half a hundred miles away by then." "i've had orders to seize all firearms found on indians," said the lieutenant. "and don't forget it," said one of his hosts. "take my word, them guns, and a good many hundreds beside, have gone down-country to the mexicans; and the injuns are allowed to keep all the horses and eat all the mules for their reward." "eat the mules?" "what else? what _won't_ apaches eat, for that matter? how do you reckon they come to be called _coyoteros_? half of 'em 'd live on coyotes" (prairie wolves) "and never touch anything more christian, if they had their way. well; i s'pose we'll get a visit from 'em next; so far we've lost nothing but horses." "are all of you in camp now?" asked wise. at present he had only seen fourteen men. "no; there's six gone across the river to trade for horses; for, barring what they're riding, we've only got one left, and he's sick. if the redskins come ever so, we can't run after 'em." "i can stay till the day after to-morrow, if you think they're likely to come within that time. i daren't stay longer, for we're to join the ship at san diego on the twenty-sixth." "wal; there's eleven of you, and that's a big help; we shan't say no," said the head trapper. "they might come to-night; might not come for another six months. you needn't fear for your men's rations; they won't starve." when bed-time came, wise posted five sentries, who were to be relieved after four hours' duty, and went to the hut set aside for him with his mind at ease. he was in his first sleep, when he became drowsily conscious that the report of a rifle was fitting itself into his dreams. too tired after his long march to be much affected by it, he was sleeping peacefully on, when the familiar, hoarse voice of the boatswain roused him effectually. "guard, turn out!--all hands on deck; come on, there." sailor-like, he was on his feet and into his boots in a couple of seconds, and was running out, sword in hand, before the cry could be repeated. "hy-yah; hy-yah!" someone was shouting; and the boatswain was answering grimly: "yes; _we'll_ 'hy-yah' ye. git off'n them horses will ye?" by the firelight wise could make out three mounted indians, a fourth on foot, and, near him, a dead horse that had, no doubt, fallen before the sentry's rifle. around them stood his ten sailors, every man with his rifle covering one or other of the redskins; while the trappers, less accustomed to abrupt night-calls, appeared more slowly, rubbing their eyes and cocking their guns. "hy-yah! hy-yah, mason!" again the high-pitched nasal voice. the head trapper, who came stumbling out of his hut, shouted a few words in the shoshonee dialect, and, immediately after: "don't fire, there; don't let 'em fire, mr. wise; they've copped the wrong men. these are friends; comanches," and a great laugh from the trappers echoed over the camp. "i challenged 'em first," said the sentry who had fired. "how was _i_ to know who they was?" mason, the chief trapper, spoke for a moment or two with the redskin who had hailed him; then signed to him and his companions to take their seats by the fire. "stop here, lootenant, will you? they want to have a bit of a palaver with us." as they dismounted, wise could see that the comanches were tall, well-made men, very different from the creeks and choctaws of the atlantic coast. all had moccasins, and three of them wore sleeveless jackets of leather; while the fourth was habited in a magnificent "buffalo" robe. each had either the tail of a polecat or a bunch of leather snippings in lieu of it, tied to either heel; the front half of their moccasins was painted blue, the other half red. but what struck the officer most forcibly was the remarkable thickness and length of the indians' hair, which descended almost to their heels. alas for human vanity; three parts of those tresses were false; their own hair and somebody else's, together with a liberal supply of horses' tails, were all matted together with fat, and secured at the top by their feather head-dresses. mason approached the subject in curt, business-like fashion, rapidly translating to the rest all that the indians said, and cutting very short the embroideries, formalities, and courtesy-titles contained in their address. it appeared that comanche scouts had reported a march of the apaches towards their own camp; they were several hundred strong, and were coming across country from the rio del norte direction. "last time we drove them away with great slaughter," continued the comanche chief; "but they are more now, and many of them have guns; they are more confident too, for our scouts learn that they have inflicted a great defeat on white men." "ask him whereabouts," said wise hurriedly. "in sonora, it is understood." "surely he doesn't expect us to join him?" muttered wise. "no; no sich thing. he's only come to say he's moving his camp from the buonaventura, so that we mustn't rely on help from his tribe as heretofore, until they've met and whipped the apaches. his tribe have always been the best o' friends with us. say, it'll _be_ a battle; not a make-believe; but bear in mind what i said; keep out'n it." "if these apaches are coming from the del norte, they'll probably not be the same as the ones we expect." "never no tellings; they're here to-day, and goodness knows where to-morrow." "then i'll stay as long as i said," answered the lieutenant; and he went back to finish his night's rest. when he turned out in the morning the comanches had long gone and the trappers were discussing plans, some advocating going about their work as usual, since the seamen were there to guard the camp; the rest insisting that both parties ought to lie hidden within the camp and give it the appearance of being entirely deserted. as the apaches, being mounted, would have such an enormous advantage, whether in the open field or in eluding pursuit, wise and mason decided upon the latter course, and positions were being assigned to the men, when, all in a moment, a dozen rifles blazed out from beyond the edge of the clearing; bullets rattled against the huts, and two of the trappers fell back wounded. a roar of vengeance rose from all except the sailors, who, catching their officer's eye, at once sent an answering volley among the trees. "they're on foot," screamed one trapper as he snatched up his gun and ran like a madman across the clearing. "come on, boys; there they go." "fall in," said wise shortly; then turned to mason. "this is a bad business for you chaps--but we must go to work in a proper fashion. you can spot their trail better than we; go on, we'll follow you." with the exception of the delirious person who had already gone in pursuit, the trappers collected in an orderly manner, each man swiftly examining his stock of ammunition and snatching up whatever food lay to hand; and all were ready to start at a sign from mason. the noisy man was soon caught up with, bidden to hold his tongue and go back to attend to his two wounded comrades, and the chase began in good earnest. every trapper had his special business to attend to, for the trail of each indian had to be discovered, and, from the fact that all the twelve men were soon following a separate course, wise gathered that the redskins had more or less dispersed in their flight. he merely occupied himself with keeping his men together, and as nearly as possible in touch with all of the trappers. for half an hour they proceeded at an easy trot, and so came to a long, narrow pool. mason gave a single whistle and stopped, and everyone closed in on him. "strangers," he murmured. his mates knew what he meant. the redskins had halted here in doubt about the depth; the stillness of the water showed that it had not been disturbed recently, and the trail proved that they had turned both left and right. "three of you cross; if you don't signal in two minutes we shall divide and follow both trails." the men knew well enough that just here the pool was but five feet deep at the very most, and three of them ran through it. mason took out his watch, and, just after the final second had expired, a whistle was heard ahead. the main trail had been found. with their guns held high above their heads, the yankees slid down the bank and crossed the water, and the double began again. "without they've got horses waiting for 'em, this looks like a 'find,'" said mason over his shoulder. "we shall come slap on to the prairie this way; and that's as level as a billiard-table for nigh on ten miles; and we've gained a rare big pull in crossing the pond." it was as he had said; in about another half-hour the forest came to an abrupt end. "there they go," shouted one excitable man; and this time a cheer rose from the sailors. the indians, twelve of them, were scarcely a mile away, walking and running by turns, and to all appearances beginning to knock up, though they made a fresh spurt at sight of their pursuers. the lieutenant now felt himself in a difficult position. these trappers had seen two of their friends shot down--perhaps killed--only an hour or so ago; and, though the average man of anglo-saxon blood (save him of cheap and nasty melodrama) is far too manly a fellow to be able to nourish revenge for an indefinite period, he may be a dangerous customer while the memory of a grievance is still fresh. wise badly wanted the fugitives' muskets; he wanted to arrest the owners of them; if need were, to hang them, in requital of their murderous attack; but he did not want to see them riddled with bullets and hacked with bowie-knives by men wild with passion. "i think you'd better leave this to us now," he whispered to mason, who was a man open to reason. the old trapper shook his head, however. "i wish i could," he said, "but it's no use trying. they've got a good many old scores against the varmints, and this one coming atop--wal!" "then it's going to be a race," said the lieutenant, with decision; and he bade his men quicken their double, in the faint hope of their being able to outrun the trappers. but, as things turned out, the difficulty was removed from his hands. for some few minutes he had noticed a thick mass of moving figures across the plain some distance farther to the left than the point for which the indians were making. at first he had taken them for cattle; but, on closer inspection, he saw that they were mounted men. he pointed them out to mason, who was now twenty yards behind. "yes; i see 'em," he shouted. "it's a battle; comanches and apaches, i count." in the sailors' excitement they almost forgot the objects of their pursuit, though these were again showing unmistakable signs of breaking down. "now, lads; one good spurt and we'll be within range," said wise. "never mind about what's going on over there." but it was not in human nature not to watch what could be seen of the combat; wise himself could not resist the temptation; one side was already taking flight, shooting at their pursuers as they went; and the two forces formed, with wise's men, two converging lines which would very soon meet. "the apaches have had enough; they're making for the mountains, and this here other lot of reptiles'll get away on the first horses they can come near," shouted mason from behind. in a few minutes the first of the indian forces was only half a mile away from the sailors' line of march. no doubt they had come to the hopeless stage in indian warfare; the stage at which all arrows or bullets have been shot away and it is a question either of close fighting--for which they have neither strength nor stomach--or of flight. but, strangely enough, the indians on foot made no attempt to join their brethren; instead, they wheeled more than ever to the right. for the next few minutes, things were little more than a confused blur to wise; the dust was flying; he scarcely knew one party from the other; he was bewildered by the yelling of both, and by the lightning speed at which pursued and pursuers moved; in fact, he knew nothing definitely till a shout of triumph arose from the trappers behind. "_got 'em!_" the comanches, abandoning the hope of overtaking their enemy, had wheeled suddenly, and closed round the twelve scattering apaches who were on foot. "guess it's out of our hands now, anyway," said wise to the boatswain. just then two of the comanches turned their horses and cantered up to the sailors; at the same time the trappers joined them from behind, impelled by curiosity; and wise heard old mason talking with one of the men who had entered the camp the night before. "he says, does the young white chief--that's _you_, gov'nor--want them mexicans? if not, they calculate _they_ can find a use for 'em." "_mexicans?_" said wise. "ay; what do ye think of 'em? mexican spies and gun-runners, dressed and painted up as apaches, as i'm a sinner. if we'd had a redskin with us he'd ha' seen through 'em in a jiff." the pseudo-apaches were soon bound and, despite the protest of the trappers, taken in charge by wise, who handed them over to the first military picket he met. they were one of the many parties sent out by the mexicans to steal guns, ammunition, horses, and information, and had visited the trappers' camp that morning in the hope of making a haul of weapons. finding it garrisoned they had run away again, venting their disappointment in a hasty volley at the men who wore the government uniform, secure, as they flattered themselves, from pursuit through the trappers' having no horses. lieutenant wise had many more exciting adventures before that war was ended, but these did not again bring him in touch with the warfare of redskins, whether genuine or sham. chapter xiii with the aymaras and moxos there is no part of the american continent, save perhaps guatemala (and, of course, the arctic regions), where the indian race has survived in such power and--relatively--such numbers as in bolivia. at the last census, the entire population of the republic was two millions, and of that number the whites, blacks, and half-bloods together amounted to less than three hundred thousand. the coast indians belong mainly to the colla (more commonly called aymara) tribe of the quechuan family, and, unlike the average redskin, are square and squat in build; long in the arms and body and short in the legs; many of them have passed their lives entirely on the mountains and have never seen a lowland river or town. in bolivia there is no british consulate, for britishers there are almost as rare as samoyeds; but as a rule there is some semi-official chargé d'affaires in residence. from to this office was filled by a young englishman of italian extraction--hugh de bonelli; and much of that time he passed exclusively among indians; hunting, sight-seeing, mountaineering, and collecting natural history specimens. in mixing among the aymaras, one of the first things he discovered was that, though himself an exceptionally good walker, he was a baby at such exercise when pitted against them. while staying at a native village on lake titicaca, he expressed a wish to visit a spot rather less attractive than the sahara--the atacama desert, to wit, which lies between the coast and the andes. plenty of men were willing to guide him, though they cautioned him that they could not be spared for more than a day or two, because a general meeting of the tribe was about to take place. now as the lake lies more than twelve thousand feet above the sea-level, and when this prodigious descent had been made, there would be several miles to traverse on foot, he wisely abandoned the project. nevertheless, being curious to test the truth of the reports he had heard as to their long walks, he accompanied a party of aymaras who were bound for the far end of the lake with loads of silver. they started at sunrise, and the mountain air being deliciously cool, he was not at first incommoded by the pace at which they went. but that pace was five miles an hour! he kept up easily the first two hours, and, with considerably more difficulty, the second two; five miles in one hour, and twenty in four hours, are however, not quite the same thing; and when he had walked the twenty-second mile, he was ready to drop from fatigue and hunger. yet they showed no signs of being about to stop; and conversation was not easy, for only one of the number understood spanish, and that very scantily; the language of the aymaras being almost pure quechuan, i.e. the tongue of the ancient incas, who founded their wonderful empire when we english were vainly endeavouring to ward off invasion by the normans. he explained that he was both tired and hungry, and, at last growing desperate, inquired where he could get a mule. happily that article was obtainable at a village which they were now approaching, and, his curiosity thoroughly aroused as to how far they intended going, he ambled on after them (for they had not deigned to stop while he concluded his bargain), caught them, and kept up with them, though he was now almost too stiff to sit his mule and too tired to enjoy the food which he had brought with him. the thirty-fifth mile was reached before those energetic indians stopped, and de bonelli wished he had with him some of the people who make the sweeping statement that "all indians are lazy." he expected to see them bivouac for at least a couple of hours; instead of this, not one man sat down; all stood or lounged, as though they knew by instinct that the walker who allows his muscles to relax completely is doubling the strain of the after walk; and the standing only lasted long enough to enable them to eat their meal--twenty minutes at the outside. then on again. _seventy miles_ did these indolent wretches walk between sunrise and sunset, only stopping for that one brief meal. it sounds incredible, but even greater distances are stated, on the best authority, to have been covered by members of this wonderful tribe. * * * * * de bonelli found a contrast when, after some weeks' condor and wild-cat shooting in the mountains, he descended to the lowlands and moved for a while among the moxos of the beni river. a member of this tribe had come up to titicaca, as ambassador from his cacique, to treat for the barter of copper and turtle-oil for mountain silver; and the inquiring traveller was glad to engage him as a guide to the lower beni, which he was anxious to trace as far as its junction with the mamore, the chief feeder of the madeira river. de bonelli was bound to admit that the moxo was to be preferred as a companion; he was chatty, light-hearted, and witty, whereas the aymaras had a sort of puritan austerity and were devoid of sense of humour; he spoke spanish and they did not; and further, he considered twenty miles--with a four hours' siesta between the two tens--an ample day's walk. better still, on the fourth day he produced a canoe from a cunning hiding-place among the undergrowth by the river, and thenceforward the journey became a luxurious holiday; for the woods on either bank were, to all intents and purposes, orchards, the fish was delicious and easily caught, and the moxo guide kept the boat well supplied with venison and peccary-pork. the indian's destination was a large village about fifty miles from the brazilian frontier, and, as the canoe drew near to it, de bonelli observed that they were continually overtaking or being overtaken by other canoes; not tiny boats, manned singly or by twos, such as he had seen higher up the river, but large family concerns; houseboats, literally; for everyone carried a family and all the cooking utensils, tools, weapons, toys, etc., that it might require. "it is the great egg-gathering," said the moxo enthusiastically. "do you mean that the whole tribe is turning out to go bird's-nesting?" asked the white man with good-humoured contempt. "our birds are water-birds, with houses on their backs," laughed the indian. "turtles!" "even then i shouldn't have thought several hundred people were required to take the eggs." "you shall judge presently, señor. the cacique was sending out the order for the people to collect when i left. no one may touch the eggs till he grants permission." they found the indian village overflowing with detachments of new arrivals. de bonelli was introduced to the cacique, who was so overjoyed by the present of a silver-mounted pistol that he was ready to place the whole town and its resources at his visitor's feet. "pray stay among us as long as you will," he said. "our egg-taking begins to-morrow and will last for about a week; but, after that, i and my tribe will be at your service, and i can promise you better hunting than you have seen with the gloomy aymaras." the noise in and around the village aroused the traveller at an early hour in the morning, and he strolled out from his tent to survey the neighbourhood. since the previous night the village had swelled to four times its size; for on every side pyramidal tents had been erected by the simple process of sticking three poles in the ground, sloping so that the tops met, and covering the spaces between the poles with mats made of grass or palm-leaves. the cacique was already at breakfast, which he begged his guest to share; and, when it was finished, he said: "you will do me the favour to ride in my canoe. then you will be able to see all my people at once." they proceeded to the water-edge and found all the tribe--nearly two hundred men with their wives and children--seated in canoes and impatiently awaiting their chief's arrival as the signal to start. the moment he and his guest were embarked, a great shout went up and paddling began with a will, the canoes moving at such a rate that the journey to the "turtle-ground," five miles away, seemed to occupy no time. arrived here the chief's paddlers drew in and he and de bonelli landed, the tribe following in due order of importance. as an amateur naturalist the chargé d'affaires knew something of the habits of the turtle, but he was not prepared for many things which he saw that day. turtles seldom lay their eggs immediately by the water; as often as not they choose a place half a mile or more away from it. in this case the row of "nests" took the form of a long sand-bank which lay between two fringes of trees, and this, the traveller learned, had been stealthily and jealously watched by spies from the village for some weeks past, so that there could be no mistaking the spot. behind the cacique walked a man with a drum, and, as soon as the bank was reached, a short "call" was beaten and all the men, every one carrying a paddle, collected round him. the chief made a short speech, enjoining patience, industry, and good temper, and then began to portion off the bank among the men, each family thus being entitled to whatever they might find in their patch. the reader is probably aware that the turtle, like many other reptiles, deposits her eggs in the ground, and carefully covers them with sand or soft earth. through this covering the fierce sun of the tropics can easily penetrate, and in a short time--if left alone--the young are hatched. and what a family! one to two hundred eggs, and sometimes more, are laid by this prolific creature.[ ] when every man had taken up his station at his "claim," his wife and children went and stood at the other side of the bank opposite him, and everyone waited breathlessly for the signal to begin; for etiquette forbade the stirring of a single egg till the cacique had formally opened the patch which belonged to him. he made a sign to the drummer, who handed him a paddle, with which he turned over a spadeful of earth. immediately there followed a long roll of the drum, and every man struck his paddle into the ground and began to dig. [ ] for a further account of the turtle, see the "romance of the world's fisheries," by s. wright. (seeley and co.) de bonelli could scarcely believe his eyes; the place seemed alive with turtle-eggs; yellowish, globular objects considerably larger than a golf-ball, with a soft but very tough shell. as fast as a "nest" was turned out by the digger, his wife and children collected the eggs, throwing them into bags, baskets, or copper pots; and, by evening, the canoes were so full that it was a wonder how the families stowed themselves away. the return journey was like the home-coming of a party of hop-pickers, for jubilation and noise, the only difference being that these benighted moxos were perfectly sober, and that their singing consisted mainly of hymns in a mixture of spanish, native dialect, and truly barbarous latin, instead of music-hall songs. on reaching the village each family carried its share of eggs to its tent and piled them up outside, and a feast of some of these delicacies followed, recalling the "herring-breakfasts" in which the more old-fashioned of our fishermen indulge at the opening of the season. the next day the digging was continued, though no opening ceremony was observed, each man beginning when he thought fit; and this went on for five days, most of which time de bonelli spent in teaching the cacique the use of firearms--a task which he would probably better have left undone--and in shooting jaguars and alligators. the sixth day was passed in the village, for the eggs were now all gathered and all the tribe were busy converting their eggs into oil. large copper tanks were filled with the eggs; those indians who had come from a distance and could not borrow tanks, borrowed small canoes for the purpose, which seemed to do equally well; and the owners set to work to break the eggs, which they did by beating them with sticks, stones, paddles, or anything that came handy. in some cases the younger men and boys jumped into the tank and danced on them, as though they were treading a wine-press; and by and by the various receptacles were half full of a dirty yellow mash. the women now came toiling up from the river-bank with pots of water, which they poured into the tanks till the mixture rose nearly to the top. by this time the dinner and siesta-hour had come round, and the tanks were left to take care of themselves; good care, too, thought de bonelli, as he walked round, an hour or two later, with the chief. while the workers slept, the sun had done their work for them; had warmed the tanks, freed the oleaginous particles contained in the eggs, and now the top of every tank was several inches deep in oil, which the indians were preparing to skim off and bale into their cooking-pots; the skimming being done by means of large shells. by evening the whole village was dotted with small fires over which hung pots of oil; and the oil, thus clarified, was ultimately poured into earthenware pots, corked up, and ready to be exported to the towns for use in lamps, or carried up the river and across country to the hills, where the aymaras were willing to pay high prices in silver for a product which could be used for fuel, light, or even food. chapter xiv a sporting trip across the prairies there is nothing extraordinary to the english reader in a man's making a sixteen-hundred-mile journey across lonesome prairies and mountain-ranges, where railways are almost unknown and fierce tribes of savages abound, merely for the sake of shooting big game; for if we do not take our pleasures sadly, we at least are proud to devote to our sports as much energy and self-discipline as another nation would bestow on its politics or monetary interests. after a good deal of rambling through the eastern states, mr. henry coke, brother of the second earl of leicester, found himself wandering one morning, in the year , about the streets of st. louis, already sickened of town life and eager for something more wholesome and natural. generally it is only in story-books that a happy coincidence suddenly arises to help a man out of a difficulty; but real life also has its chance meetings and its odd bits of luck, and so mr. coke thought when, on turning a corner, he found his arm seized by an old cambridge chum of whom he had heard nothing for three years. "why, man, what are you doing here?" he demanded. "packing up. i'm off for the columbia river to-morrow, salmon-fishing. you'd better come and make a sixth; i'm travelling with four canadian chaps; everything's arranged: horses, waggons, mules, stores, and even a redskin guide." there was no resisting such a temptation, especially as coke had never been farther west than kansas city, had only caught salmon in norway and scotland, had never seen a bison or a grisly except in a show, and had never met with any indians who were not perfectly respectable and law-abiding. therefore he never dreamt of hesitating, but hastened away to make a few necessary purchases, and, the next morning, presented himself at his friends' inn, where he found nine mules, eight riding-horses, and two waggons drawn up, and his friend's valet vainly endeavouring to get into conversation with a particularly morose-looking indian who sat on the front-board of one of the waggons. the early days of the journey were occupied by the sportsmen, as such days generally are, in getting to know one another and in settling down to a novel mode of life. the young canadians were the sons of a wealthy stock-breeder and were taking a year's furlough in order to see the states; and no more valuable companions could have been found; for, if they were ignorant of the route, there was not much left for them to learn where prairie and forest life and the ways of indians and wild beasts were concerned. for the first week or so the party managed each night to put up at some wayside inn or farm; but they no sooner came on to the wilds of kansas than the mere aspect of the country was sufficient to tell them that they had probably bidden good-bye to eastern civilisation. the way that now lay before them, if seen from a balloon, would have looked like a gigantic staircase whose treads sloped slightly upwards and whose uprights were low, ragged-faced bluffs that seemed to hint at the advisability of abandoning the waggons as henceforth useless, and teaching the horses and mules to take flying ten-foot jumps. the guide, however, seemed fairly confident in his ability to find suitable inclines, and at least for some fifty miles they were able to follow a very rough track that was a guide in itself. but the indian--one of the crow tribe--grew more sullen and silent and discontented as each new platform of ground was reached; so much so, that george dumont, the eldest of the canadians, who was perfectly familiar with the siouan tongue, began to question him closely as to the cause of his grumbling demeanour. "it is no use trying to go any farther," said the crow moodily. "the next bluff is quite impassable." "then why didn't you say so before we left st. louis?" the indian shelved the question. "and even if it were not, the country here is full of comanches and pawnees and shoshonees. did i not warn you of _that_?" "oh, if that's all," said the canadian, laughing, "don't frighten yourself. they won't hurt us." the indian shrugged his shoulders and said no more; but presently he stood up on the footboard and, attracting dumont's attention, pointed triumphantly to a bluff about a furlong ahead, which had been hitherto concealed by a ridge of rising ground dotted with pine-trees. coke, who had been riding some way in advance with his friend, now hurried back to dumont's side. "what do you make of this?" he said, pointing to the bluff. "fred's ridden off to the right to try and find a slope, and i'm just off the opposite way." dumont rode with him as far as the obstruction and examined it more carefully; it was a sheer precipice, twelve feet high. "right you are," he said. "try and find a slope, and i'll wait here for the other fellows." two hours later the men met again; the two scouts had ridden ten miles along the cliff-foot either way, only to find that there was no spot where the waggons could possibly be raised. meanwhile, two of the dumonts had scooped footholds for themselves and climbed to the higher level, which they pronounced to be a beautiful grass plain, studded with little conical hills; and by the aid of a telescope they had seen large herds of bison going on ahead towards the platte river. "then we must go on," said coke, "even if we have to haul the waggons after us, or cut a roadway." the others were of the same mind, but the sun had just set, and whatever their plans might be, they would have to stand over till to-morrow. the fire was lit and all were sitting down to supper when someone asked: "where's the redskin?" the redskin had gone, bag and baggage (someone else's baggage). "why, he's collared your new gun, coke," shouted fred, who had jumped up into the waggon in which the indian had ridden and was making a hurried search, "and--whew! my little valise as well." the gun was a large-bore rifle of a new pattern, which coke had only obtained with difficulty at the last moment; but even this theft, annoying as it was, was of minor importance compared with the disappearance of the valise, which contained all such maps and charts as its owner had been able to procure, some money, and his letters of introduction to people in washington and across the boundary. "mounted or on foot?" asked paul dumont, the youngest of the brothers. "horses and mules all here, sir," reported the manservant after a brisk look round. "then come on, coke; up with you," said young paul. "we'll have him," and taking the two best of the horses, they were soon galloping along the path by which they had come. in a few minutes they were past the ridge with its little belt of trees, beyond which all was plain sailing--or would have been if only the light could have lasted a little longer; for here was only a treeless, imperceptibly sloping plain where even an indian could scarcely hope to conceal himself. "fellow must be a perfect ass to think he could get away from us here," said coke. "there you are; there goes the gentleman." a couple of miles ahead was a dark, moving dot, evidently the indian trotting along at a good round pace. "ass enough to know that there's precious little twilight now, at any rate," said paul ruefully, as he urged on his horse. "and there's no moon till after midnight." they rode the next mile in silence, and, at the end of it, were no longer able to distinguish the fleeing figure with any degree of certainty. in another few minutes they were at the spot where they had first seen the indian, but there was hardly enough light for even the keen-sighted canadian to detect any trail. "it's no use thinking of giving up," he said. "we must have the bag if we ride all night for it." again they spurred the horses to a gallop, peering all the while on either side of them; and in this manner they covered another few miles. farther than this the indian could not possibly have gone in the time. "better divide, and prowl round," said coke. "fire a pistol if you see anything, and i'll do the same." he rode away at a gentle trot, pausing now and then to listen. after half an hour of this he heard the pop of a pistol a good way behind him, yet distinct enough in the silent night air. wheeling round, he looked steadily before him in the hope of seeing the flash of a second report. this came after a few seconds, and he at once responded to it. but even before he saw the flash he had noticed something else of far more importance: a little glow of flame on the ground a few miles away, somewhere about in the direction which dumont had started to follow. and now, coming towards him, was the steady thud of a horse's hoofs. "that you, paul?" "ay; come on," sounded from a mounted figure that was beginning to stand out indistinctly against the blue-black of the sky. the two young men were soon together again, and dumont pointed towards the flame. "redskins. thought i'd better come back and meet you first." "how many?" "i could make out three. they couldn't hear my shots with the wind this way; i didn't hear yours; only saw the flash. now for a little bit of spying. are you well loaded up?" they were soon within a pistol-shot of the fire, in the light of which shone the bodies of three indians, naked as far as the waist. the englishman's heart beat with excitement, for as yet he had never been so close to indians who were real savages. a few more steps and then the indians, not to be taken altogether by surprise, sprang erect and stood with bowstrings stretched. "pawnees, i think," said dumont, reining up. he shouted some words in the siouan dialect, and was answered by what seemed to coke merely a series of grunts. again the canadian spoke, and on receiving a brief reply moved on again. "come on," he said triumphantly. "they've got him; they've got our man." as the two white men, stiff and hungry, got down from their saddles, the pawnees advanced cautiously to meet them, their bows still bent. paul, however, made some masonic motions with his hands which were understood as meaning peace, and each returned his arrow to his quiver. a conversation began which, to the englishman, was very much worse than any greek, and so gave him leisure to look about him. now that his eyes had become accustomed to the glare of the fire, the first thing he saw clearly was the runaway guide, bound so tightly with thongs that the poor creature could not move an inch. near him lay the stolen rifle and his friend's valise, the latter disgorging papers through an opening which had been slashed along one side of it. regardless of a murmur of protest from the savages, young dumont picked up the gun and handed it to its owner, and having satisfied himself that none of the papers were missing, strapped the bag across his own shoulder. "you must pay us for them," said the pawnees discontentedly. "yes, yes; all right. come to our camp in the morning, and we'll give you what is reasonable. what do you propose doing with this man?" "we shall take him to our camp." "i'll swear you shan't," said dumont in english; for he knew what sort of mercy a trespassing crow might expect from the pawnees. "tell them we'll fight them or we'll buy the chap of them, which they like," said coke, when the position was explained to him. a debate followed in which paul showed himself a shrewd bargainer. he and coke totted up their available assets, and eventually about a quarter of a pint of whisky, a penknife, a steel watch-chain, and four or five shillings' worth of small silver were offered as the crow's ransom, and accepted, much to the astonishment of coke, who, in his innocence, had been about to add a valuable ring and a pair of pocket-pistols to the purchase-money. he stooped and cut the prisoner's bonds, and that worthy, in obedience to a threatening hint from dumont, fled into the darkness. the indians were amicably inclined, and not only shared their supper of broiled deer's meat with the travellers, but agreed to call for them at the camp in the morning and lead them to a point where the waggons could easily be drawn up to the higher platform; and on this good understanding the young men rode away. the new guides were as good as their word, and appeared on their little mustangs before coke's party had finished breakfast. they appeared to be one of several small scouting parties sent out from a main camp farther on to gather intelligence as to a reported advance of the crow indians against them; and were now returning to their head-quarters beyond the platte river. instructed by them, the sportsmen moved along the bluff to a place about three miles farther than coke had ridden on the previous afternoon; and there found a tolerably easy incline, up which the waggons were soon dragged. by the side of the first of the hills seen the day before, the noonday halt was made. the pawnees still continued very friendly, the more so on discovering that nothing but the desire to do battle with bisons and grisly bears had brought the pale-faces so far. "to-morrow we will show you many bisons," they said; and they certainly kept their promise. all that afternoon the sportsmen could trace the steady passage north-westwards of herd after herd of the animals; at that distance merely a brown, moving blur; and coke wondered how the indians ever proposed to come up with them. "they will go no farther than the river," said the pawnees, when questioned. on the afternoon of the next day, as the little procession came near to another of the mound-like hills, the guides called a halt. "we are too few to attack a herd," they said. "we must watch for the stragglers which may be grazing on the slopes. go very quietly and do not raise your voices. follow us and leave the waggons here." they moved on their horses again at a quick walk, and the white men did the same, till they had gone nearly half round the base of the hill, when the pawnees pulled up with a jerk, and one of them spoke hurriedly to george dumont, who rode immediately behind the guides. on the hillside about twenty bisons were grazing; and it seemed the easiest thing in the world to cut them off from the rest of the herd, which, to the number of three or four hundred, were moving slowly towards the river, now plainly to be seen flashing in the far distance. "look here," said george, turning to the englishmen, and speaking with evident embarrassment. "they mean to make us prove our pretensions to being mighty hunters. two of them are going round the farther side to keep the bulls from wandering, and this chap is going to captain us. we've got to guard the valley and this side of the hill; but as you fellows are new to it--if you'd rather not be in it----" "oh, bosh!" said coke; "we're going to stand by you and get our share of the fun." "oh--of course; if you feel sure of yourselves. well; keep an eye open for the game beyond. they have a nasty trick of coming to each other's assistance." he made a sign to the two foremost indians, who galloped away without a word, and were soon invisible behind the loitering bisons. then the englishmen saw what sort of sport they were letting themselves in for. they were to stop the probable downward and sideward rush of twenty bulls, killing as many of them as they could, and be prepared at the same time for an attack by the remaining hundreds that, at the first gunshot, might turn on them in a body. daily, for the past fortnight, both of them had zealously practised shooting with a rifle while at the gallop; but what sort of experience was that to bring to a task which the canadians, used from boyhood to bison-hunting, admitted was a dangerous one? low as the voices had been, the stragglers had heard them and were beginning to look nervously from side to side. suddenly a white streak darted through the air, and with an awful bellow one of the bisons fell, pierced through the eye by an arrow, and began to roll helplessly down the grassy slope. the remaining pawnee had drawn first blood. but a second after, the four canadians brought their guns to the shoulder and fired one after the other; two beasts fell dead and two more showed by their groaning that they were badly wounded. "here goes," said fred; and in another moment he had shot his first bison. "get more to your left, or they'll bolt yet," shouted dominique dumont; and coke, with an uncomfortable impression that the whole herd was charging upon him from the rear, nevertheless spurred his horse sidewards for several yards; then fired at a bull which was endeavouring to flee down the near side of the hill; and with a thrill of pride saw him fall on his knees and then roll over. the excitement of the hunt was on him now and he thought no more of the herd behind him. had he looked back he might have seen that alarms on that score were groundless; for, contrary to their usual custom, at the first shot they had fled in a body. but it was their desertion that made the loiterers so determined to escape and rejoin them. three more of their number had fallen dead or disabled before the arrows of the pawnees on the farther side, who could now be seen pressing the game more closely; and, at a sign from the other indian, the party in the valley now spurred up the hill, the six guns all crashing out together. in despair the remaining bulls sought the only sure escape open to them, and charged up the hill. fred, the best mounted of the white men, was soon ahead of the rest, and, deaf to a laughing shout of "whoa! don't be in a hurry," from paul dumont, was soon on the heels of the biggest of the bisons. he had but one barrel loaded; the bullet took the animal in the hindquarters, making him stop and turn. the next thing fred knew was that he was lying bruised and giddy, on his back, within a very few yards of the maddened brute; for his horse, young and easily confused, had suddenly reared at sight of the monster's motion towards him and had thrown his rider. [illustration: almost a tragedy fred had fired at the bison, but only hit it in the hind-quarters. it stopped and turned, frightening the horse, which threw its rider within a few yards of the maddened brute. his friends were powerless to help him, but a pawnee on his wiry little mustang galloped up between them and with a couple of arrows brought the monster down.] coke had reloaded by this time, but at first his aim was baulked by the prancing horse. "shoot the confounded horse; he'll kick him to death," yelled george dumont in his ear, at the same time frantically pushing a cartridge into the empty breech of his own gun; but just then the horse swerved and fled down the hill towards the waggons. the bull, meanwhile, seeing his enemy at his mercy, had paused just for a moment as though to take breath; and now, with his nose to the ground, was making a wild dash towards him. coke pulled up, took good aim, and fired; but unluckily, the bullet which was meant for the bison's shoulder caught him on the frontlet, his most hopelessly invulnerable part. the three younger dumonts, unaware of the accident, were now over the brow and out of sight. george had almost pulled his trigger, when the pawnee who had been riding near him galloped between him and the bull. the little indian horse, more used to climbing than the heavily-built hacks of the white men, shot up the slope like a chamois, and, joining his whinny to the rider's howl, flew between the prostrate man and the bull. fred, who had been too unnerved for the moment to do anything but try feebly to roll away out of danger, was conscious suddenly of a good deal of clattering close to him; then, looking up, he saw that the bull had turned to flee and that the shaft of an arrow was protruding from his ribs. the bull was struggling up the hill, too startled and confused to attempt to battle with his new assailant, who, in hot pursuit, was sending a second arrow after the first. "no, no; hang it; let the redskin finish him," said dumont as coke made ready to fire again. the bull did not require much more "finishing." already the indian had wounded him in two places and was getting a third arrow ready for him; and the final rush up-hill, together with loss of blood, was weakening him at every step. the mustang, not to be outraced, was soon abreast of him; and one more arrow from the persevering indian brought the luckless beast on to his knees. mr. coke and his friend saw and shot a good many bisons after that, but never again one that so nearly turned their trip into a tragedy. chapter xv how the yo-semite valley was discovered till , the peaks and valleys of the californian sierra nevada were known only as a grim, mysterious region that white men, who valued their lives, would do well not to pry into. parties of diggers travelling westwards had crossed the range in certain places, but even the strongest bands of them carried their lives in their hands in so doing, for the snake indians regarded the whole neighbourhood as their special property. all that was definitely known was that, between the hills, lay deep, uninviting valleys, walled and overhung with granite blocks. the deepest and most picturesque of these, the yo-semite, was the great stronghold of the indian banditti; a cunningly hidden natural fortress whose approaches no stranger would suspect; and it was only by sheer accident that white men ever discovered it. only too often, "civilisation" has been another name for importing white men's most degrading vices into a country whose people could originally have taught the civilisers many a lesson in dignified humility and self-restraint. and in no instance is this more true than in that of the snake or shoshonean branch of the indian race; for whereas, in , the worst complaints that captains lewis and clarke[ ] had to make of them was that they were treacherous and given to pilfering, by they had already become drunken, lazy highway robbers and gamblers; and for this the white gold-seekers were largely to blame. [ ] see "adventures in the great deserts," chapter iii. (seeley and co.) on account of the rush of the "forty-niners," san francisco and sacramento had developed, all in five minutes, from mere spanish market-villages into great, raw, ugly towns or camps, whose principal buildings were drinking and gaming dens and money-brokers' offices. the indians stood by and watched, and wondered; and then coveted; for a vulgar tawdriness, that soon became positively idiotic, was to them a world of magnificence--and the gold which paid for it all was derived from their own soil; a wealth which they ought to have been enjoying! they went back to their hill-camps and reported; the matter was pondered and discussed. they could not take san francisco, but at least they could prevent the white man's territory from spreading beyond certain limits; and this they determined to do to the best of their ability. the strangers most likely to be affected by such an attitude were those restless spirits who, dissatisfied with the output of their "claims," were already wandering farther into the unknown country in search of better ones; and the store and tavern keepers who supplied travellers and the more outlying diggers. two such stores were the property of a young american named john savage, a good-hearted, respectable fellow, who, because he was wise enough to ignore little thefts on the part of his indian neighbours, yet man enough to hit out uncompromisingly if necessary, was very popular among the redskins; and this popularity he increased by marrying an indian girl. he, his wife, and his mother conducted the store at mariposa creek, while that on the frezno river was left in charge of a manager and two assistants. every evening a crowd of snake indians would collect outside savage's house, or in the store, and while he smoked a friendly pipe with them, he was sometimes able to gauge their feelings towards the fresh inhabitants of the tiny settlement, whose number was steadily increasing. the chief of the snakes was one josé jerez, a comparatively young man, who certainly had not benefited by contact with white men. bit by bit this brave had succeeded in supplying most of his tribe with muskets; but ammunition was not so easy to obtain. savage had, from the beginning, firmly refused to supply the indians with powder; and now that san francisco was becoming a power in the land, few of them dared enter it to make purchases, lest some of their tribe's recent depredations should be visited on them. thus jerez was dependent on what ammunition he could bully or steal or wheedle from passing travellers or raw new-comers. one evening savage noticed that the group of idlers were less chatty and civil than usual; in fact, they pointedly conversed with one another in their own dialect, of which they knew him to be ignorant, instead of in the broken english which they generally employed. this so aroused his suspicions that he ordered his wife to play the part of eavesdropper, and to report anything of a dangerous nature. the talk turned on the indians' grievances, real or imaginary. their fishing and hunting had been encroached upon, they said; the pale-faces were enriching themselves out of land that belonged to them, and giving them nothing in return; not so much as a bag of gunpowder; and the miners would never be satisfied till they had driven them up to the barren mountain-tops. when savage had learned the gist of the conversation, his mind was soon made up. he had to drive into san francisco on the following day for fresh stores, and it occurred to him that if he offered jerez a seat in his waggon, and a day's sight-seeing, he would not only be restoring the chief to good humour, but would have an opportunity of showing that gentleman the numerical strength of the white men, and the folly of interfering with people who might deal out some very unwelcome chastisement. jerez and another brave joyfully accepted the invitation, and at daybreak the waggon drove off. on the way savage did his best, by means of quiet hints, to show his two guests that it is always wise to put up with what one cannot alter; and that indian notions of wholesale bloodshed would not "pay" with white men. in san francisco he hammered this lesson home by taking them to see the volunteers at target-practice, and pointing out one or two pieces of artillery that had been imported. the chiefs were decidedly impressed, and, seeing them in such a satisfactory frame of mind, savage conducted them to the inn where he purposed staying the night and went about his purchases. left to themselves, each found the dollar which savage had given him burning a hole in his pocket. not daring to venture into the streets by themselves, they spent the money at the bar, and so effectually that, when their entertainer returned, both were very drunk and very quarrelsome. savage remonstrated mildly, whereupon both grew abusive and threatening. in order to avoid an unpleasant scene, he went down the yard to the outbuilding where he was to sleep; but before he had lain down, both redskins sought him out for a renewal of the argument. savage pointed to the apartment reserved for them, and recommended them to go to it; and their answer was a further torrent of threats, which they emphasised by brandishing their knives. no one with the spirit of a man in him cares to see a knife brought into a discussion or fight; john savage expressed his personal views on the matter by hammering both his antagonists with his fists till they were glad to retreat to their bedroom. in the morning they were sullen and silent, but savage took no notice of this; he finished his marketing, and then returned to the inn to put in his horses and take up the indians. still they would not speak, and, disliking their demeanour, the yankee very ostentatiously loaded a pair of pistols with ball, and stuck them in his belt before joining the others on the front-board. at a house a mile or two out of the town he stopped to deliver a parcel; he was not away from the waggon five minutes, but when he returned, jerez and his companion had vanished. savage was aghast, for there was but one construction to be placed upon their disappearance: they wanted to reach mariposa creek before him. for what purpose would scarcely bear thinking of. they were familiar with every inch of the country, while he only knew the cart-track--a road cut purposely zigzag that the worst of the hills might be avoided; the average rate of his horses could hardly exceed six miles an hour on such a road, while the indians could easily run eight; he had thirty miles to drive, and ought to give the horses at least one rest; they had scarcely eighteen miles before them, if they went in a straight line, and would easily accomplish in three hours a journey that usually took him six. he lashed the horses without mercy; already he was picturing his wife and mother killed, and his home in flames; for the indians would probably reach mariposa in the early afternoon, a time when no diggers would be likely to be within a mile of the store. he gave no further thought to food for himself, or bait or rest for the horses. twice he saw, or fancied that he saw, two figures hurrying over the hills to the southeast; he only drove the harder, trying might and main to sit on his fears and laugh at himself for being frightened of a couple of redskins. unhappily, he knew all too well that it was not just "a couple of redskins" who had to be taken into account. during the past six months, seven such stores as his had been plundered and burnt by a strong posse of snakes; and jerez could, without difficulty, collect the best part of a hundred men at an hour's notice. hours and miles slipped by; the horses behaved like bricks, never once stumbling and apparently never tiring. as always happens in such a case, the last mile seemed as long as all the rest together; the road here was a steady wind, so that the driver could never see more than a hundred yards ahead of him; for on either side of the track was dense forest. at last he came in sight of his home, and then, like a boy, he stood up on the footboard and vented his feelings in a delighted "hurrah!" for everything was in its normal condition; the cattle and horses grazing in the pound; the poultry in the roadway, and his women-folk gossiping cheerily with a couple of diggers under the verandah. so far nothing had been heard of the indians, and, after a rest and a meal, savage began to feel heartily ashamed of his terrors. but, that night, either a remarkable coincidence or a very ominous event took place. for the first time in two years, the store was entirely deserted by indians; not a single shoshonee looked in for an evening's chat. the next night it was the same, and the next after that. on the fourth night the proprietor arrived at a conclusion. "it's a boycott," he said; "and i'm not sorry a little bit; we shall be better off without 'em." "maybe they've boycotted the country as well as the store," said a loitering digger. "for none of our boys have clapped eyes on a injun since you come back from 'frisco." "so much the better; 'cause to-morrow's audit day, and the old lady goes to the river for her little jaunt." on the first of every month, either savage or his mother drove over to the store at frezno river to examine accounts, pay wages, and bring back the "takings." on this occasion the young man felt himself in an awkward dilemma; on the one hand dreading to be absent from his store, on the other not at all satisfied that his mother might not be attacked on the way by revengeful indians. the old lady, however, always looked forward to such an outing as a welcome break in the monotony of her life at the creek, and would not be baulked of her treat; though, in the morning, she consented to take sam, a reliable negro servant, as escort. the frezno river store was but a four hours' drive distant; and she ought to be able to return soon after dark came on, at latest. in the middle of the day a digger rushed excitedly into the store. he had just returned from a "claim" six miles away, whither he had gone to compare some quartz. "where's all the boys? not knocked off for the noon spell yet?" he cried. "some of 'em'll soon be round," said savage, who was alone in the store. "what's the trouble?" "trouble 'nough. the redskins have come down on first creek, killed a dozen of 'em, and cleared out with all the powder an' nuggets they could see their way to handling." savage turned pale; first creek was on the direct road to his other store. "where are they got to now?" he gasped. "lord knows. it was a nigger as told me, just afore he died; he seen it all, an' got one o' their bullets into him. all the rest of the diggers have made tracks for 'frisco, to fetch out the volunteers. never had a chance, so the nigger said. there was 'most three hundred o' the reptiles, an' not more'n twenty of our boys, an' all of 'em took by surprise; shot down afore they could pick up their guns." savage gave the frightened man a drink of spirits, then said resolutely: "see an' muster as many o' the boys as ye can.--here come some of 'em. tell the others if they don't wipe off this score, our lives won't be worth a cent out here. my poor old mother's over at the other store, and i'm off to fetch her back." within half an hour fifty diggers had been collected, and, after a brief discussion, it was arranged that forty of them should accompany savage on horseback while the others guarded the store, which, just now, was less likely to be attacked than the more distant one. riding at full gallop they accomplished the distance in a little over two hours; and even that was two hours too late. a roar of futile anger arose from the miners as they pulled up their horses. the store was in flames, and already half consumed; at the end, by the stables, was savage's van, minus the horses, and across the front-board of it lay the faithful black, shot dead, but still clutching a discharged rifle; while round about the doorway were the bodies of the manager, his two assistants, and old mrs. savage. heedless of everything else, her son rushed to her side; then uttered a strange little cry of relief as she opened her eyes and sat up painfully. blood was running from her shoulder. "thank god you are safe," he said huskily. "the rest doesn't matter so much now." he lifted her in his arms and carried her tenderly to the waggon. meanwhile, some of his companions were examining the other bodies for some sign of life, which, unhappily, was not forthcoming; while the rest made fruitless efforts at extinguishing the fire. the old lady's story was soon told. she had not been in the store very long when a large party of indians swooped down on the place with guns, tomahawks, and lighted torches. she heard a scream from the negro who had been dozing under the waggon-tilt, and she and the three shopmen rushed to the door, only to be shot down immediately by the crowd of shrieking wretches outside. she had received a ball in the shoulder, and, while the indians were ransacking and firing the store, swooned away from fright and loss of blood. a pair of horses were at once put into the shafts and the sorrowful party were about to return to mariposa creek, when a dozen horsemen galloped up; miners from the "claim" hard by, who, though they had paid no special heed to the firing, had soon been alarmed by the smoke of the burning house. not one of them had seen anything of the shoshonees, and all were anxious to help in a search for the culprits. but the short winter's day was already at an end, and savage preferred getting his mother home in safety to scouring a country that might teem with indian ambuscades; he therefore urged the volunteers to make a dash for san francisco, to interview the governor (mcdougall) and ask for troops and ammunition. but the day's misadventures were not yet ended. within a mile of mariposa creek the returning men could hear spasmodic bursts of musketry fire. [illustration: red indian attack on a store the indians swooped down on the place with guns, tomahawks, and lighted torches. those within rushed to the door, only to be shot down immediately by a crowd of wild redskins outside.] "they're laying up for us, by gum!" said one man, starting off at a gallop. savage leapt from the waggon and on to a spare horse, and, leaving his mother to the care of two or three men who were riding inside, he started with the rest for the store. "we've got them this time," he shouted triumphantly. about seventy redskins, most of them on horseback, and the rest with their horses tethered close at hand, were firing on the house, though from a tolerably safe distance; for the undaunted miners within had a good supply of ammunition, whereas the snakes had to use theirs sparingly. already a good many indians lay dead or wounded, and, at the sound made by the new arrivals, the rest either turned to bay or fled. "don't say i didn't warn you, jerez," shouted savage as he charged at the chief and fired off his pistol in his face. seeing their leader down, the indians hesitated, though some of the bolder of them rode straight for the store, now that it was no longer safe for the men inside to continue their fire. but the ensuing battle was only a very short one. however brave the indians might be at shooting from cover, or making war on women, they were powerless in open field against the burly miners, who cared nothing for their howls and their hatchets, and who, in many cases, having exhausted their ammunition, tore the savages screaming from their saddles and flung them senseless on the hard-frozen road. "look what the oseberds be at, savage!" roared a huge devonshireman, spurring his horse furiously in pursuit of a small batch of indians who were galloping for the hills. "after 'em," echoed the defenders of the store; and savage and five others rode madly in the devonshireman's wake. confident of success now that their friends had returned, the miners in the store had come out to continue the fight in the open; and the young indian wife had followed them. in an instant, and at first unseen by anyone except billy west the devonshireman, one of the braves had snatched up the woman, flung her across his saddle, and ridden off, his flight covered by other fugitives. the little handful of white men rode despairingly on, though their horses were jaded, though it was pitch dark and a heavy snow was beginning. there was no thought of ambuscades now; each man's blood was up; each man ready to deal with a score of indians single-handed. yet, at last, common sense said "stop." for the first mile or so, the snow had been their friend; for, to eyes accustomed to darkness, the indians' track was visible enough on its surface; but with the increasing storm, footprints were obliterated as fast as they were made. the devonshireman was the first to pull up. "shall us goo on, or goo back, or baide yere,--or what?" he asked. everyone looked towards savage. clearly these good fellows were all anxiety to show their sympathy with him, and their readiness to fall in with his least wish. he, too, had now pulled up, but seemed altogether too dazed to form any decision. the others held a whispered council; but, while they still hesitated, they heard a body of mounted men riding swiftly behind them. "halt!--who goes there?" and as an echo to the leader's voice, came the click of three dozen carbine-hammers. "all right; _we_ shan't eat ye," growled a miner; and the troop rode on towards them. "who are _you_, any way?" "dr. bunnell, and forty volunteers from 'frisco. know anything about that affair at first creek this morning?" the new arrivals were mounted militia from san francisco, who had been warned by the fugitives from the massacre at the diggings. billy west began to tell of the other outrages, but the doctor interrupted him. "ay; we judged there was something of the sort going on. bring that redskin here again." two men with bull's-eye lanterns at their belts rode forward, leading a third horse on which an indian was securely bound. "here's our guide," said dr. bunnell grimly. he held up his heavy stock-whip to the lantern light, and the shoshonee winced. "we captured him this afternoon, and he's going to be good enough to show us where his brothers live. we got ten of 'em altogether; captain boling's men are looking after the rest. they'll meet us yon side the first hill at midnight; so fall in with our lads, and we'll get on; if your horses are anything like ours, you'll be glad to travel slowly." the troop rode on silently, following the directions given by the prisoner; and soon after midnight they came upon a body of men, seventy strong, who, having dismounted, were huddling over camp-fires on the mountain-side. the soldiers were well supplied with rations, which they readily shared with savage and his six friends; and all settled down to give the horses a breathing space. a couple of hours before dawn, a bugle blew, and the shivering, stiffened men clambered into their saddles again. the way now lay across a snow-clad plain which, after a few miles, began to slope steadily upwards. as day broke, the riders saw a group of hills not far ahead; and at sight of them the indians began to look hesitating and uncomfortable. "what's wrong?" asked captain boling. "they can't agree, gov'nor," said a man who acted as interpreter. "some of 'em allow we're on the wrong track altogether." "in other words, they reckon we're in for the worst of it, and they'll get burnt for informing," said dr. bunnell, riding up. he spoke impressively in the shoshonean dialect to the prisoners for a minute, then added, "all right; drive on. i've made them understand that it won't answer their purpose to be crooked with us." more crestfallen than ever, the guides led the way up the slope and into an unsuspected ravine, which eventually opened on to another plain; and this they crossed, coming out presently to the brink of a sharp downward slope, at the foot of which the opening of a valley was visible. "there's someone standing over there." captain boling pointed to the mouth of the valley. "ay; injun woman," said a sharp-eyed miner. as the men quickened their pace the woman ran to meet them. it was an old indian squaw, who was wringing her hands in an agony of terror. dr. bunnell reined up and questioned her, and she at once admitted that a strange indian girl had been brought to the valley a few hours earlier, and that over two hundred indians were sheltering there. she also told him what he did not believe at the time, but which subsequently proved to be true: that these would be the first white men to enter the valley. he looked sharply round at the prisoners; their faces fully confirmed the old woman's betrayal of their tribe's hiding-place. at the sound of the bugle the whole troop dashed into the valley, and the first sight that greeted them was a large group of wigwams. before the savages could get into battle array their camp was surrounded, and a brisk carbine fire had opened on them. almost at the first shot they lost heart, and on seeing them lay down their arms, the captain stopped the firing and ordered his men to close in. john savage, unable to control himself any longer, made a rush for the wigwams; and, while he looked desperately round him, his wife, screaming deliriously, came running to meet him. through this prompt action on the part of the militia, the indian rising was entirely suppressed, over a hundred braves were carried back to san francisco as hostages, and the beautiful yo-semite valley ceased, from that day, to be the stronghold of shoshonee mountain-brigands. chapter xvi among the niquirans and apaches a somewhat adventurous career fell to the lot of the late julius froebel, a nephew of the great friedrich froebel of "kindergarten" fame. having devoted his early manhood to journalism and politics of a very rabid and revolutionary character, he became the recognised leader of the dresden democratic party in . after being arrested in austria and reprieved from a death-sentence, he fled to new york, and was for some time the editor of a german paper published there. two years later he joined a party of traders who were sailing for central america, and with these he stayed for some months at granada, on lake nicaragua. finding town life becoming tame to him, he one day started off by himself to examine the more inland district, which was then inhabited largely by indian tribes. the project had been in his mind for a long time, and what finally decided him was the accidental meeting with a fellow countryman, who told him privately that gold had just been found in large quantities at a village a little farther west; so without a guide, without more than one day's provisions, and with only a very scanty knowledge of spanish to help him on his way, he set off on his risky trip. he travelled all that day, and met no one after he had left the outskirts of the town; and that night, with his saddle for a pillow, he slept very comfortably under a tree. on the next day, he continued his way till an easy ride of about twelve miles, across a pathless plain, brought him suddenly on the heels of a travelling party of fifty indians,--men, women, and children--all of them chatting freely and jubilantly, and riding as though bent upon some definite errand. they saluted him cheerily and he asked, in his broken spanish, how far he was from the next village. "it is over there; not far; not very far." he looked where they were pointing and saw that smoke was rising thinly from beyond a clump of trees. "keep with us, señor, and we will show you the way," added the man, who seemed to be the chief or leader. but this village proved to be a great deal farther than it looked; riding among the trees and thick undergrowth was slow and weary work, and, even in this damp, shaded spot, the heat was now becoming almost unendurable. the indians themselves were losing their energy and talkativeness; and many of them were beginning to lag behind or fall asleep in their saddles, when the chief cried out that they would halt at the little stream which was already in sight. froebel, more than willing, dismounted with the rest, and, tethering his horse to a tree, sought a comfortable resting-place for himself. hunger and fatigue not infrequently go hand in hand, and the sight of the indian women collecting sticks to feed the fires which they had speedily made reminded the traveller not only that it was some hours since he had breakfasted, but that, beyond a flask of brandy and water, all his provisions were exhausted. he watched wistfully the indians' preparations. what were they going to eat? two women near him were untying their bundles, and now produced therefrom a number of small drinking-gourds, nets of eggs, bunches of plantains, with oranges or other fruit, which froebel eyed hungrily. then, to his great relief, he saw that he was to be regarded as one of the family; for two young indians, sons of the chief, at once helped him generously to the fruit, and explained that the great cooking-pots that hung over one or other of the fires would soon be filled with eggs, of which he would be expected to eat his share. when the eggs were "done," the water used for boiling them, instead of being thrown away, was economically employed for cocoa-making; irregular, greasy-looking blocks of sweetened chocolate being thrown into the pot, which a woman stirred with a stick till it was a thick, boiling paste; and into this each person dipped his or her gourd. the meal being ended, the men lay and smoked long cheroots, and recommenced their light-hearted gabble of the morning. froebel intimated that he was willing to pay for his meal, but the indians stoutly refused his offer of money, and with such an air of gentle reproach that he began to feel as small as though he had asked for a bill after dining at a friend's table. something of the dignity of manner of their spanish conquerors seemed to have descended to these indians; though they were far from holding themselves aloof from their guest, or from making any secret of their own affairs, not one of them ventured to ask the german a single question as to his coming or his going. they told him that they were niquirans--a wandering, gypsy-like tribe of the nahuatlan stock; and that, as they had heard of the discovery of a gold-mine at the village which they were approaching, where everyone might go and help himself, they thought--being in the neighbourhood--they might as well bring away a few sackfuls of the metal. the journalist pricked up his ears. el dorado, tom tiddler's ground, was not a fable after all, then? "are there any white men there?" he asked. the chief of the niquirans smiled. he was a great deal too polite to say that, had there been, the gold would not be there long, but that was what his smile seemed to imply. "we have heard of none as yet, señor; but we did not know of the gold till this morning. the village, as you perceive, is quite away from any main road, and ordinarily there is nothing to bring white men in this direction." when all had rested sufficiently, the journey was resumed, and a short ride brought them into the village, which was as deserted as "sweet auburn" itself. not so much as a dog was in evidence; but the murmur of voices in the little valley beyond was a sufficient guide to the quarter where the inhabitants had collected. very soon the gold-seekers came upon these, three or four hundred of them, encamped between a stream and a small bluff; and, round this, horses, mules, ox-waggons, and tents were drawn up in the form of a crescent. no sooner did the new-comers show their faces than the villagers, who seemed to have been taking their siesta, rose up and armed themselves with stones or sticks, and some few even with bows and spears. the niquirans drew up hesitatingly, and froebel, dismounting, approached the threatening crowd with every sign of friendliness. he asked to see the chief, and, on being taken before him, demanded to know the cause of such a hostile reception. "we have found a gold-mine here," said the chief, "and our people at first mistook your party for unfriendly indians who might have come to drive us away from it." he went on to say, with delightful frankness, that the villagers intended removing as much of the gold as possible, and that, as soon as their own claims were satisfied, anyone would be welcome to what remained. "but _will_ there be any remaining?" asked froebel, with an incredulous smile. "there are many of my people who would gladly give you money and cattle in exchange for your gold. you had better show me your mine." the chief eyed him with some amount of suspicion, discussed the matter with one or two cronies for a few minutes, and at last invited the stranger to "come and see." following his conductors through the line of vehicles, animals, and babies that marked off the precious spot, froebel came to the bluff-face, at which one or two of the more zealous indians were now beginning work again. he had been prepared to see nothing but quartz, or possibly a few grains of the metal mingled with sand; therefore he was fain to stand still and rub his eyes when he beheld a broad golden stratum in the cliff on which the sunrays flashed as on a looking-glass. it was a sight that would have made the least covetous of mortals gasp. the chief pointed proudly to a row of bushel-baskets, piled to the brim with the glittering substance, and intimated that, since the white stranger's intentions were peaceable, he was at liberty to fill his pockets. there are some white men who, when they have an unpalatable truth to disclose, do not trouble to choose a tasteful or tactful or kind method of performing the task; and it is to be feared that herr froebel was one of these. he knew little about metallurgy, but one glance at the shining lump that he took from the nearest basket told him that the "gold" was pyrites, worth perhaps twopence a cart-load. to the amazement of the indians he flung it contemptuously away. "that's no gold; it's rubbish; worth nothing," he blurted out. _not gold?_ but not an indian believed him; not one of them could see anything but jealousy or intentional insult in this frank piece of information; and the chief and his followers turned threateningly upon him. one and another took up the cry, and froebel, who had left his only pistol in his holster, fancied that he saw death staring him in the face; for the excitement that he had created in the little community could not be quelled by a man who only knew about a thousand words of the language. he dodged between two mules and into the open; but the crowd of loiterers there had already invented another version of his crime; he was running off with their gold! there was nothing for it but pure and undisguised flight, and he set off as fast as his legs could carry him to the spot where the niquirans were awaiting him. sticks, stones, and mud whizzed about his head, and he could hear swift feet pursuing him. luckily, it was a time of day when no indian, however fleet of foot, will run very far or fast; his pursuers turned out to be only some mischievous boys who were not going to throw away an opportunity of pelting a fugitive; and, at sight of the grim-looking niquiran horsemen, who began to move a step or two forward, even these returned to their camp. mounting his horse again, froebel looked back and saw that the villagers were making ready to repel any advance of the strangers; they were again collecting their weapons and shouting defiance at the niquirans. doubtless these would have had a very easy victory; for they were better armed and infinitely finer men, in the habit of fighting at a moment's notice; while the simple villagers had had no quarrel with their neighbours for a quarter of a century. "there is nothing to fight about; it was all my fault," said froebel; and he hastily explained the whole matter. his companions laughed, and turned their horses' heads; they were happy-go-lucky, hand-to-mouth folk, to whom the disappointment was far less bitter than to the german; and they rode away cheerily enough, leaving the gold-diggers to bask in their happy ignorance. as he had nothing better to do, froebel threw in his lot with the wanderers, and, in this manner, spent many happy months in seeing the country. but, to a man of his restless disposition, even this roving life became wearisome; he returned to granada and there fell in again with two of the yankee traders with whom he had arrived. for the next year or so he travelled with them, visiting almost every town in central america; and at last decided to return with them to the states by way of mexico. mexico, as will be seen in a later chapter, was in a state of great unrest at this time ( ); and, in the wilder parts, it was unsafe for white men to travel without escort; but, as troops of soldiers were often scouring the country, the three strangers relied on being able to travel with one or other of these. they had a pleasant ride through guatemala, visited the wonderful ruins at uxmal in yucatan: ruins nearly a thousand years old, that tell practically all that can be told of the civilisation of the ancient mexicans; and at length entered upon the longer and more perilous portion of their trip. but fortune was more favourable to them than to the generality of mexican travellers in those days; for they covered the long journey, of over a thousand miles, from the frontier to chihuahua in north mexico, without a single misadventure. while in this city, froebel discovered, first that he was leading too uneventful a life for his constitution, and secondly, that his purse was now empty, for while his companions had been ants, he had been a cricket. it happened that the mexican commander-in-chief, general trias, was going north to put down a rising, and froebel obtained from him the post of temporary transport-agent; he was to follow the troops with ten waggons and a hundred mules, and assist generally in the commissariat. every day, from the time of starting, horrible reports of atrocities committed by the apache indians reached him. in one place, fourteen women and children had been slaughtered; in another, a flock of sheep had been stolen and the shepherds killed; while in a third, the prairie had been deliberately set on fire at a time when the wind could not fail to carry the flames to a cluster of huts, many of whose occupants were burned to death. yet the soldiers could not so much as get a sight of the culprits, who, on their fleet horses, made nothing of covering fifty miles in a few hours. but one night, when froebel and his muleteers were encamped some few hundred yards behind the main body, a volley of musketry sounded close at hand; and an attendant, who was in the act of handing the transport agent his supper, fell dead. the muleteers snatched up brands from the fire for torches, and, gun in hand, ran in search of the enemy. "shoot; shoot," cried froebel, himself setting the example by firing at a group of shadowy figures that were already on the move. but it was too late; the indians could be heard scampering away across the prairie. the agent dared not take his men in pursuit, leaving the mules unguarded; but he rode across to the cavalry tents where general trias and twenty men, who had heard the firing, were already in the saddle. "fall in with us, then, as you know the direction in which they went," said trias hurriedly; and away they all galloped. far away across the plain they could hear the regular beat of the fleeing horses' hoofs. without stopping, trias gave the command to fire; the twenty carbines went off like one, and, from the sudden wild screaming ahead of them, froebel knew that some of the bullets had hit their random mark. this was confirmed in a minute or so when, in the clouded and uncertain light of the moon, he caught sight of three indians and a horse lying on the ground as the troop swept past. "there they are; load again," shouted trias; and all could see the feather head-dresses of the apaches waving in the breeze, still within gunshot. but the next volley took no apparent effect, the shapes were growing dimmer again, and the sounds less distinct. "on; on; we must have them," shouted the general; and, as the horses were tolerably fresh, the task was still not hopeless. "hark! they have reached the road," cried one of the soldiers, who was perfectly familiar with the neighbourhood. this was the high road to the texan frontier, in places a mere sand-strip bordered on either side by forests, in others a smooth, well-beaten track bisecting a vast prairie. the news was the reverse of good, for now the apaches might at any moment separate, and disappear among the trees. the forest part of the road wound very considerably, so that the pursuers would no longer be able to profit by the light of the already setting moon. half an hour went by; an hour; and still the mexicans rode on, now certain that they heard the indians' horses, now equally certain that all of them had dispersed over the prairie or in the woods. but all of a sudden a faint scream sounded along the road, together with the undeniable tramp of horses. the scream came nearer, and the soldiers spurred their breathless chargers round the bend of the road. "there are lights," shouted froebel. "yes; carriage-lamps; they have stopped the mail-coach," roared trias. "keep it up, my men; we must have them now." "why, they are running to meet us," said froebel; "they must have been reinforced." the lights were certainly coming nearer, and, with them, a body of horsemen; and now the soldiers could hear the quick popping of pistol-shots. then all at once a loud shout arose from where the lights were, the sound of wheels came nearer and nearer, but the accompanying horsemen were obviously riding now in the other direction. "are you the soldiers?" shouted a chorus of voices from the coach as it came up. "yes." "you can catch them yet; they tried to stop us and rob us; and would have done, but for hearing you." the troop did not draw bridle, but wheeled away on to the prairie in pursuit of half a dozen moving figures on whom they were easily gaining. a minute later a voice in front cried: "all right; we'll give in. don't fire." "why, those are not indians," said trias in astonishment. nor were they; they were six mexican brigands who had been pursuing the mail; the apaches were probably safe long ago, in one of their forest camps. the highwaymen were soon seized and bound, and as it was ultimately discovered that they were some of the revolutionaries for whom trias was on the look-out, the night-ride was not altogether a wild-goose chase. chapter xvii across the united states in a waggon from the foregoing chapter it will have been seen that mexico, in the middle of the nineteenth century, was not a neighbourhood wherein a man might look to find rest and quiet; and it is safe to say that if any one part of it was less to be desired than another as a place of resort, it was the united states frontier. when the war between mexico and the united states ended in , this frontier had to be overhauled and settled afresh, and within the next two years presidents polk and taylor appointed a boundary commission. one of the commissioners was the late john russell bartlett, secretary to the new york ethnographical society, and subsequently one of the greatest authorities on the indian races. mr. bartlett did not leave new york for his southward journey till the summer of , and one of the first lessons that he learned on that journey was that redskins, like other men, cannot be understood from books or from mere surface examination. anxious to see as much as possible of the indians of the southern states, he elected to travel by waggon, there being no immediate hurry for him to present himself at el paso. such a course meant passing through wild regions of prairie, plain, and hill, peopled by missouris, choctaws, bannocks, comanches, chicasas, araphoes, and perhaps a score more of savage tribes, the majority of whom still regarded the white man as their natural enemy; and the details of that ride, with his subsequent adventures in and round mexico, would occupy more than the whole of this book. his first acquaintance with the missouri indians came about while the waggon was crossing the great undulating plains near the arkansas river. he was seated under the tilt pretending to write letters, but, in actual fact, dozing off to sleep under the influence of a sudden spell of heat, when a wild shriek from the direction of his leaders' heads aroused him. he looked up and found that he was alone, though this was nothing out of the ordinary; for his negro attendant and his two waggoners not infrequently got down and walked when the horses were obliged to move slowly or when there was an opportunity of filling the pot. before he could reach the forepart of the waggon, the black's curly head showed above the front-board, eyes bulging and teeth chattering with terror. "look, massa; look!" he shrieked. "catch hold o' them ribbons, _will_ ye?" he heard one of the teamsters shout; but the negro was too paralysed with fear to obey. the next moment the man who had called out, and had now got possession of the reins, landed with a flying leap on the footboard, and was followed with no less precipitation by his mate. "gun; quick!" panted the second man, while the first endeavoured to control the frightened horses. stumbling over the cowering nigger, mr. bartlett joined the teamsters. the four horses were still shying violently and kicking in every direction; and, not fifteen feet from the two wheelers, was a bison, charging with furious determination straight at them. he caught up his gun, which hung in slings close to his hand, and emptied both barrels at the formidable beast, which fell on his knees, gasping and bellowing, till two more bullets from the second teamster made him roll over. "reckon we'll have some of his meat, when them hosses have done rearing," said the shooter. it took time to quiet the terror-stricken creatures, and, in the end, the driver was forced to give them their heads for a while; and they had hardly settled to their normal condition when a fresh incident occurred to trouble their peace. a succession of single shouts from various directions sounded from beyond the hill which they were now passing, and suddenly swelled into a long, howling, shrieking chorus that was echoed by maddened bellowings as from a thousand bulls. with difficulty the horses allowed themselves to be held in, and as they were walked past the final spur of the hill, a truly wonderful sight broke on the spectators. they had come to the mouth of a pleasant, grassy valley, in the midst of which a herd of over two hundred bison were running hither and thither, butting each other, falling over, or trying furiously to reach the slopes; while, down the hill on either side, a great troop of mounted indians swept like a torrent; spears slung at their backs, arrows flying from the bows in their hands. with all the order and method of a cavalry brigade, they slackened their speed suddenly, and, spreading out, formed themselves into a huge circle; then straightway continued with their spears the work of slaughter which their arrows had begun. for ever on the move, now to right, now to left, now charging into the heaving brown mass, they plied their lances untiringly, time after time avoiding, with no visible effort, the desperate charge of one or other of the bisons. to a man who loved sport, but not slaughter, it was a revolting sight; yet fascinating as well, by reason of the skill and pertinacity which these savages displayed in their task of blood. now and then one or two energetic bulls would force a way through some opening in the line, in the fond hope of being allowed to flee over the hills; but there was always some vigilant horseman ready to give chase or else to send half a dozen arrows in rapid succession, and so to cut short the creature's chance of escape. not till every bison lay dead did the redskins stay their hands or condescend to turn an eye on the onlookers who had drawn up at the entrance to the valley. bartlett waited with curiosity to see what the indians' next move would be. as concerned himself they might be perfectly harmless; already he had come to the conclusion that the redskin is a very much maligned man; but, whether harmless or offensive, the hunters had now caught sight of the waggon, and to attempt to flee before men, mounted as well as they were, would only be a ridiculous waste of energy. a few turned their horses his way, but the great majority continued to hunt down the game; but whatever work these had still to do, was very soon done; for, by the time their brethren had come up with the waggon, they were following in their wake. from the teamsters bartlett learned that the horsemen were missouris--a branch of the sioux--and accordingly he stood up in the waggon and began hesitatingly to address the foremost in what he had already mastered of the siouan dialect. the effect should have been flattering; they didn't give him "three cheers," their education in that form of enthusiasm being as yet imperfect; but they smiled encouragingly and turned their spears points downwards, while the more demonstrative pressed up to him, patted his shoulders, his ribs, and his leggings, telling him that he was a great man, a wise chief, and a "good medicine"--whatever that might mean. three men who appeared, from their more ornate dress, to be rulers among the tribe, now turned and gave some directions to those who were coming up behind them; and, as these rode forward, bartlett noticed that every man of the division that had stayed to cut up the carcases carried one or more semi-globular lumps of bison-beef on his saddle-bow; and it was to bestow some of these lumps on the stranger that the chief had called them. in a couple of minutes the footboard was like a butcher's stall, for meat enough lay there to feed the four occupants of the waggon for about a month. on bartlett's asking where was the best place to cross the river, a chief told him there was a ferry fourteen miles farther, to which the troop would have great pleasure in escorting him. [illustration: a bison surround the indians would surround a herd of bison and wantonly kill every member of it. they would cut off the hump only, leaving the rest of the carcase for wolves and coyotes.] "we have finished our hunting for the day, and are going home to our camp, which is a few miles this side of the river," he said. "finished?" reiterated bartlett. "then who is going to carry the game home?" he pointed to the carcase-crowded valley. "oh, _those_ are for the coyotes and wolves," said the oldest chief contemptuously. "then why kill so many?" the chief pointed to one of the blocks of meat. "that is all that we care to eat; and just now we have no need of hides or hoofs, so we can afford to leave those." the meat that had been cut away was just the "hump" of the animal; the raised portion of the withers. in his old age, mr. bartlett was not surprised to hear naturalists and sportsmen bewailing the scarcity of bisons after what he saw that day, and on many subsequent occasions. the indians had surrounded and slain a whole herd, with the wanton love of destruction that the child and the savage usually display. they were in the habit of using the horns for spear-heads, and the hoofs to make the glue with which they fixed their arrow-points; but here were enough horns and glue to equip a dozen regiments of indians--and all left to waste and rot. the ferry was reached before dark; the indians were rewarded with bits of finery, and a plug or two of tobacco, and went on their way. as the waggon neared the "llano estacado," bartlett began to hear news of redskins who might not accord him so amiable a reception. at the red river tributary of the mississippi, he was told that several american travellers had been murdered in the valleys and passes by apaches, who were popularly supposed to be a sort of hired assassins of the mexicans at this time. the tidings did not sound encouraging, but he had now travelled through about twelve hundred miles of indian territory without encountering so much as an angry word or a petty theft, and he was not prepared to go out of his way on account of a mere rumour. he had scarcely crossed the first part of the hill-ridge that encloses the celebrated llano, when his waggon broke down without the least warning. tools were got out and the damage examined, and the axle-bar of the hind wheels was found to be so injured as to necessitate repairs that would take a good deal of time. jim, the black, had just unharnessed the horses, and was pegging them down, when one of the teamsters reported a small batch of apaches overtaking them, as though they might have followed the waggon from a distance. "i see they all have muskets," commented bartlett. "that doesn't look promising. we must make as big a show as we can. here you, jim; you must pretend to be mending the waggon, and we others will stand by and look as innocent as we can--but with guns and pistols ready." the negro's courage was not remarkable, and this was a very satisfactory means of keeping him out of the way, for he would be perfectly happy under the waggon; the teamsters, on the other hand, were men who had been through the recent war, and cared no more for indians than they did for mexicans. they and bartlett picked up their guns, taking care to hold them as unconcernedly and inoffensively as possible; but at the same time keeping a sharp eye on the horsemen, and prepared to fire the moment they saw any of them inclined to take a preliminary shot at them by way of greeting. perhaps this attitude disconcerted the redskins; perhaps they had had no evil intentions from the beginning; at any rate, they rode up harmlessly enough, asked what was the matter, and offered to act as guides if the travellers would give them a little powder and tobacco. while the teamsters betook themselves to the repairs, bartlett talked with the apaches, questioned them about the way, and told them smoothly but decisively that he could not part with any ammunition, though he would give tobacco and some scarlet cloth. the cloth was received rapturously, and, as soon as the waggon was mended, the procession moved on, the apaches proving very satisfactory and friendly guides. at parting, bartlett gave the chief--who, by the way, called himself "mangus colorado"--an old overcoat, and his delight, his pride, and his antics forthwith convulsed the beholders. months afterwards, while scouring the valley of the rio grande with captain buford and his dragoons, who were hunting for indian horse-thieves, the commissioner came across mangus again; he was still wearing the overcoat, though it was a stifling day, and though he had, all his life, gone naked as far as the waist. the guides left the waggon at the beginning of the el paso road, whence, though the way was rough and sometimes nearly impassable, there could be no difficulty in finding the city. on the evening of the following day, bartlett, hearing gunshots close at hand, sent a teamster forward to reconnoitre. the man soon came running back; some apaches were besieging a wayside inn, he said. he mounted to his place and the horses were whipped up to the gallop. "the more show and noise we make, the better," remarked the driver as he reached for his gun. as soon as they were past a belt of boulders they could see what was taking place. twelve indians on horseback were surrounding the house, while, from behind a half-shuttered window, a man and a woman were firing despairingly, though the apaches were sheltered from their bullets; no one but these two seemed to be about the place. as the waggon stopped, one of the indians got off his horse and began to batter at the flimsy door with the stock of his gun. the second teamster raised his rifle and fired with as much coolness as if he had been shooting a prairie wolf, and the redskin fell dead. "now they'll make fools of themselves, and get between two fires. leastwise they 'most always do," he said. after a moment's hesitation the indians charged with a frightful howl at the waggon; but, in so doing, they brought themselves in full range of the couple who had been trying to get a shot from the window. two more of their number dropped, and the rest pulled up as suddenly as they had begun their charge. bartlett and the driver fired, wounding a man and killing a horse. such a reception was more than the apaches had bargained for or could stand; they fired one wild, almost aimless volley which flew well clear of the waggon, then, urging their horses forward, they spurred past bartlett's team like a whirlwind and disappeared. the inn was one kept by a mexican and his yankee wife; and they, too, told fearful tales of the apaches' depredations; and were both convinced that, but for the happy arrival of the waggon, they would have been killed, and their house plundered and burnt. chapter xviii a journey to the gran chaco the gran chaco, or "great hunting-ground" of western paraguay, is a land of wooded plains and little patches of primeval forest, about which astonishingly little is known even to-day. white men have never yet explored more than the fringe of it, and it was to an englishman that the honour fell of being the first european in a period of forty years to venture into the unknown region, as well as of proceeding farther through it than any of his predecessors had done. this was in , when mansfield made his celebrated journey up the paraguay river. charles blachford mansfield, the dearly loved friend of kingsley, maurice, carlyle, and other great thinkers of a bygone generation, was one of those men whose physical bravery and spirit of enterprise are hidden from all but close observers by the shyness natural to a scholar, and by the gentle earnestness of a man who takes life very seriously. while travelling down the south american coast from pernambuco to buenos ayres, he incidentally heard much talk of this mysterious hunting-ground from his fellow-passengers; but he no sooner hinted at his desire to see it than he brought a hail of ridicule on himself. who but an englishman would think of trying to go where the paraguayans themselves dared not venture? the same doubts or ridicule assailed him when he spoke of his intention to the spanish skipper of the river steamer on which he took a passage from buenos ayres to corrientes. "ask the crew, señor; some of them are of indian blood; they will tell you all about the paraguay," said he scornfully. to the quiet scientist, whose pursuits kept him mainly among people of his own social standing, this crew was something of a revelation: zambos, blacks, mestizos, italians, spaniards, most of them as dirty and lazy and insubordinate as they were high. the negroes and whites had never been farther up than corrientes, but some of the half-bloods had been as far as asuncion, and these said unhesitatingly that even if the englishman could get canoemen to take him up the paraguay to the capital, every inch of the way was dangerous on account of the uncivilised guaranis; and that--supposing he reached asuncion alive--he would not be permitted to enter upon the chaco. "take me as far as corrientes and i will be responsible for the rest," said mansfield. "at least i can but try." the voyage up the parana was monotonous, for the boat was seldom close enough to either bank to admit of more than a confused view of the country, and the solitary englishman was relieved when the two days' journey came to an end. on the second morning, when he went on deck the boat was making a stop, and he profited by it to slip off shirt and trousers and take a cool, delicious header into the river. coming to the surface again he glanced up at the steamer, for the crew were all screaming one against the other; a charitable zambo was heaving him a life-belt which (on finding that there were no objectionable reptiles anywhere near him) he laughingly refused. he had his swim, swarmed up a rope, and reached the deck again. "did i not say he was possessed, or mad?" he overheard the skipper growl in spanish. "what made the señor do that?" asked the friendly zambo soothingly. "for pleasure, _amigo_; and in order to be clean. in my country it is the custom to have a cold bath or a swim every morning." the half-breed turned away, tapping his forehead gravely, and communicated this piece of news to the white men, who seemed even more astounded. wash? what _for_, in the name of all the fiends? they had scarcely ever heard of such an operation. in corrientes, mansfield whiled away a few days in trying to obtain further information about the chaco; but without much success. the civic authorities, from whom he had first to gain permission to move any higher up the river, made little demur; privately they thought the town would be well rid of a wandering maniac. they told him that he might possibly find indian canoemen who would take him to asuncion, though he would be almost the first englishman who had ever been there; but that he must assume entire responsibility for such a venture; they would offer no hindrance, but no help either. as luck would have it, while he was loitering on the jetty one evening, a large canoe, manned by four indians and laden with oranges and plantains, ran alongside. that they did not belong to these parts was evidenced by their great size, their strange dress and easy motions, and by the number of native words with which their spanish was interlarded. a crowd of buyers gathered round them, and their cargo was very soon disposed of; indeed, the townsfolk seemed only too anxious to let them do their business and take themselves off again, the brawny forest-giants being about as welcome here as genseric's vandals were in rome. when the crowd had dispersed, mansfield approached the indians and asked if they were going up the river again. they stared at him, more in wonder than in ill-humour. "yes," said one of them at last. "to-morrow." (no one in south america ever yet did anything "to-day"; has not _mañana_ fever become a byword?) "i want to come with you. i will pay you well, if you will take me and my luggage up to asuncion." the savages hesitated, muttered among themselves, and at length one remarked half-sulkily that it was a long journey; nearly two hundred miles. the señor was doubtless in a hurry, and speaking for themselves they objected to being hurried. they would want to kill deer to take back with them; perhaps to catch fish as well. mansfield said that that would be no objection, and, in the end, they agreed to set off with him in the morning. their respect for the stranger increased somewhat when, the next day, his luggage appeared, and was found to contain a very excellent double-barrelled gun; they themselves had only spears and bows, and were inclined to pooh-pooh firearms except for fighting. who ever saw a gun kill a manatee, they asked; or a cayman, or even an inia (fresh-water dolphin)? the boat pushed off and swung rapidly round the bend of the river, and out of sight of civilisation. then the englishman began to cultivate his crew's acquaintance. physically they formed a striking contrast to any of the town indians he had seen; all were naked but for a waist-cloth of deer-skin; their hair, done in either one or two plaits, reached almost to their heels, though not one of them was under six feet three. at first they were very reserved with their employer, but when, treating them like children, he began to distribute sweet cakes and other confectioners' ware, such as they had never beheld, their tongues were loosed, one topic led to another, and they soon forgot to be shy or suspicious. on the first day they showed no disposition to stop or land till night-time, and as they hugged the left bank all the way, mansfield had the advantage of seeing what was to be seen without the delays that he had anticipated. whatever else happened on this hazardous journey, starvation would surely be kept at a distance, for in that vast forest through which the paraguay runs, are no less than four hundred and fifty varieties of birds, from eagles to creatures the size of a thumb-nail, together with deer innumerable; while the fish in the stream almost plead to be caught. mansfield already knew enough of the climate to be aware that, even in summer, when the sun has gone in, warm coverings are necessary; and he had supplied himself with a pair of good blankets, thinking that he would be expected to sleep in the canoe. but, at sundown, the indians ran inside a tiny creek and three of them took up their bows and arrows, while the fourth clambered up the bank, spear in hand. mansfield started to ask questions, but was immediately frowned into silence. the indian disappeared behind a thick curtain of bush and creeper, and was followed by one of his friends, who stood on the bank within sight; while the other two remained in the boat, standing like beautiful copper statues, their bows bent, their eyes fixed on the trees or the bank. after a little rustling behind this natural curtain, there came the sharp click of a flint and, a little later, the crackling of burning grass; but not till a great burst of smoke arose, followed by a roaring flare, did the other indians drop their weapons. "that will keep the jaguars away," said one of them. "they come down to drink just about this time." "were you afraid that one of them might spring out on your comrade?" asked mansfield. "who knows? it is not only they that have to be guarded against. do you hear that noise? that is a puma; ocelots sometimes will spring upon us from a tree; a tapir will attack us if her young one is with her. and what of the snakes and the alligators?" "then why land at all for sleeping?" the indians shivered. "have you never heard of water-boas? the paraguay is full of them; by day they rarely come up; but at night! come; our fire is big now; we are going to moor the boat and land." when he got ashore, the traveller found that a whole bush formed the substance of the fire; a little dry grass had been laid to the windward side of it, and the bush, being of a resinous nature, soon flared up like an oil-barrel. the fire-maker was returning from collecting fuel, and had both arms full of fallen wood, with which he banked up a solid fire before the bush could roar itself out. the englishman had his own opinion on the wisdom of lighting fires in such overgrown spots, and was not surprised when, during that river journey, they passed many patches--some over a hundred acres in extent--where almost every tree had been consumed by some recent conflagration. "so there are water-serpents here, are there?" he asked as they seated themselves as near to the fire as was consistent with comfort. "yes; some of them thirty feet long, or even forty. they will sometimes upset a whole canoe, or will lift a man out of his seat and drag him to the bottom." this may or may not be an indian exaggeration, but it is certainly a fact that the anaconda and his many brethren in the paraguay make no trouble of carrying off a calf or small deer that has come down to drink. "to-morrow we must kill something," said another indian as he unwrapped a slab of _carne seca_, or dried beef, from a strip of grass matting. "this is all that is left. see after the water, one of you." a redskin had brought a great pot full of water from the river, and this he wedged nicely on the fire where the ashes were the most solid. mansfield sighed; were they going to make chocolate, a drink which he loathed? by the time the beef was eaten, together with the french bread which the explorer had brought as a special luxury for his guides, the water boiled; and it transpired that they were not going to drink chocolate, for one of the men produced from a bag a great handful of dry, curled leaves, whipped the pot off the fire and dropped the leaves into it, stirring the whole vigorously with a stick. the leaves were the _yerba maté_--generally abbreviated to _maté_--or paraguay ilex; a sort of holly which occupies exactly the same position among the south americans as tea does with the chinese. another indian cut five hollow stalks of a plant that looked to the scientist suspiciously like hemlock; but he supposed the man knew what he was doing, and accepted the one that was offered to him. as soon as the decoction was sufficiently stirred, the redskins thrust their stalks into the almost boiling liquid and began to suck greedily at it. mansfield took his place in the circle round the pot when its contents had cooled somewhat, and found it exceedingly refreshing, though rank and bitter to anyone not used to it. but as he drank more freely, he became aware that, like many other good things, it may become a curse instead of a blessing to a man; for he soon found himself growing drowsy under its influence; but the indians, more accustomed to it, were equal to his share as well as their own, and emptied the pot unmovedly. on later occasions he saw natives quite stupid or unconscious through over-indulgence in the beverage. he rolled himself in his blankets and was soon asleep; but he was awakened at daybreak by the ceaseless chatter of the monkeys in the trees overhead. the indians were already astir, packing up their weapons and cooking-utensils, and showing generally that this was the most energetic period of the day with them. the most noticeable feature of their behaviour now was that they had become as careless and bold as, over night, they had been vigilant and calculating; and this point perhaps marks more strongly than any other the difference between the indians north and south of the mexican frontier. the attacks in the dark, the night marches so common among the northern redskins, are almost unknown in the south and centre; and in all likelihood this has arisen from the comparative scarcity of nocturnal animals in the north. for one square mile of the amazon contains more animals of the cat tribe than a hundred miles of the mississippi, and the only beasts likely to be abroad after dark, apart from a few pumas, are the wolves, of which the north american indian has no fear. mansfield and two of the guides had got into the canoe, when those on the bank held up each a warning hand and fitted an arrow to his bow. a rustling noise came from among the trees and a very graceful though short-legged deer came bounding from between them. no deer ever moved at such a speed unless frightened or pursued, and the englishman was not surprised to see a dark-skinned animal rise from the ground some few feet behind the fugitive and fall full on its back with a snarling roar that a good-sized lion could scarcely have beaten. a confident smile played over the faces of the indians in the boat, who took no more notice of the slayer than they would have done of a rabbit. [illustration: stocking the larder as they watched from the canoe a graceful deer darted out of the thicket closely pursued by a full-grown jaguar. no sooner had he slain his prey than the two indians coolly approached and planted one arrow in his neck and another in his ribs, and while one of them dragged away the carcase of the deer, the other put an end to the jaguar with his spear.] "why should not the _tigre_ save us the trouble of hunting?" said one, disdaining all pretence at silence. just then the roar was repeated, this time more ear-splitting than before; the yell of a beast in great pain. mansfield peered through the bushes and saw the guaranis walking in very leisurely manner towards the place where the deer had fallen. almost as its assailant--a full-grown male jaguar--put an end to its struggles by taking the head between its immense paws and breaking the neck, two arrows had pierced him simultaneously; one through the ribs and the other through the neck, and the howl which the watchers in the boat had heard was his last. the taller of the indians dragged the deer's carcase free, while his companion contemptuously drove his spear-blade into the expiring jaguar, and the venison was quickly butchered and brought in triumph to the canoe. the two hunters chuckled as they got into the boat; they had now enough food for to-day's needs and meant to take it easy: another difference between the indian who lives within the tropics and him who lives outside; only hunger or strict business will prompt the one to exert himself to go a-hunting; the other is a sportsman born. no event worth chronicling befell the little crew till, a day or two later, they were within ten miles of asuncion. the canoemen were dipping their paddles lazily, and mansfield himself was inclined to doze, for it was getting towards the middle of the day, when a horrified whisper, which he could not catch, passed from mouth to mouth. in an instant the guaranis threw off their lethargy, and the explorer saw that a look of terror had come into every eye; the paddles flew through the water, the men straining till the sweat streamed down their faces, and till their veins swelled as though they must burst. he spoke encouragingly to them, but obtained no answer; the indians only paddled the faster, till their panic began to communicate itself to him; for it is always the unknown that is most terrifying. two minutes passed, and they did not abate their speed or answer the questions put to them. surely it could not be anything so very awful, for, only ten minutes before, a schooner-rigged vessel had overtaken them on its way up the river; whatever the peril was, she seemed to have escaped it. mansfield had known what danger was, for he had worked like a hero among the poor of south london during the cholera outbreak of five years before; but, when the third minute had passed, he found that the suspense was becoming unbearable. a minute is a short time, but those who have passed through great danger or uncertainty know that it can sometimes seem like a week. "well; now what was it?" he asked, breaking into a laugh as the men, uttering exclamations of relief, rested on their paddles and wiped their brows. "hornets!" "_hornets?_" "you laugh, señor. god help us if they had followed us. did you not hear their murmurings? some fiend-begotten monkey had disturbed their nest; 'tis to be hoped he has got his reward. two of my brothers were stung to death last year in less than a minute by a swarm of them; and there is a man of our tribe who is stone-blind through them." * * * * * asuncion is, to-day, a town of only forty-five thousand inhabitants, and had not then half that number. with the exception of w. p. robertson and a few other bold traders, charles mansfield was probably the only englishman who had then set foot inside it. he made it his head-quarters for the next two and a half months, and, during that time, made various excursions into the gran chaco. on one occasion he joined a party of indians who were going out there deer-hunting; and, though there was nothing specially new to him in their methods, he was enabled to examine the country under favourable circumstances. no doubt there was something in the report of its inhabitants being dangerous; for the men with him were hardy, fearless fellows, well used to bearing arms; and even these would not attempt to reach the more distant of the inhabited regions. to him the hunting was more wearisome than agreeable, for it consisted mainly in crawling along on hands and knees mile after mile--so it seemed--till the sportsmen were within bowshot of a herd, which promptly fled before a single arrow could be launched at them. the crawling began again, and in course of time another or the same herd was reached, and these fled at the first discharge of arrows. the carcases were collected and hidden, and the creeping was begun afresh, but no more herds were overtaken. then the indians had recourse to a very common though unsportsmanlike dodge; they concealed themselves, shortly before sundown, by a river where, as the wind was, the deer would not scent them when they came down their usual path to the water. but, further disappointment, a thunderstorm came on, the deer spent the night under the trees, and the indians went home disgusted. with the practical eye of a real philanthropist, mr. mansfield noted all the advantages of this great and fertile hunting-ground--or as much of it as he was able to see. he returned to england full of a great project for colonising the chaco and educating the indians--a scheme which was never carried out. for, only a few months later, while he was performing a chemical experiment, a naphtha-still ignited; and, while pluckily trying to throw it into the street to save the house from catching fire, he sustained injuries which caused his death, at the early age of thirty-six. chapter xix among the seris of mexico it is a fact generally acknowledged throughout the american continent, that the indian population have never yet failed to take advantage of war, revolution, or other political crises among the white settlers, to make themselves more than usually troublesome. from to , mexico went through a troublous period of rebellion and warfare; which is another way of saying that, for fifty-seven years, the mexican indians saw themselves at liberty to plunder and slay without the least fear of organised opposition; and judging from the account given by the german-polish traveller, gustav von tempsky, they seem to have made use of their opportunity. after three years' residence in california, herr von tempsky, with an american friend, dr. steel, took ship from san francisco to mazatlan, intending to explore the southern spurs of the sierra madre, and to return to the states overland. this was in - , a time when the government, such as it was, had perhaps reached the summit of its helplessness; which will explain why, on arriving at mazatlan, the travellers found plenty of counsellors ready to confirm the advice they had heard in california: "keep out of mexico, if you value your lives." not to be deterred by mere hearsay, the two friends hired mules and guides, and at once set out eastwards, far more anxious to escape to the highlands from the tropical heat of mazatlan, than apprehensive of interference from indians. yet, as the country grew lonelier and more rugged, the mules less tractable and the guides less self-confident, the journey certainly began to lose some of the romantic charm which, from a safe distance, it had promised to possess; and when, towards nightfall of the third day's march, a tropical thunderstorm suddenly burst upon them, and the mexican guides announced that the nearest shelter was at a hill village ten miles distant, both the adventurers found themselves thinking wistfully of the cosy steamer which they had recently left. those ten miles seemed like a hundred; the rain continued to fall like a cataract; a baggage-mule took to flight and had to be pursued; then the animal ridden by the doctor got his forefeet in a hole, and for some time refused to move; and, by way of a little further diversion, the guides began to quarrel among themselves as to the precise direction in which the village lay. the end of the journey came at last, however, but not the end of their annoyances. as the drenched men came within a stone's-throw of half a dozen feeble lights for which they had been making, they heard an excited buzz of voices, and, without warning, a dozen or more guns were fired in their direction. a baggage-mule dropped screaming from a skin wound on the shoulder, and one bullet passed so close to the doctor's head that the broad brim of his _sombrero_ was perforated. "back, everybody," shouted one of the guides. "it is an indian ambuscade. they are firing from shelter, and we can do nothing." but von tempsky had caught the sound of something which gave him a little comfort; to wit, an expression in french from one of the shooters. "who are you?" he shouted in french. the reply was in the same language. "halt there; stay where you are and let us know your business." "do you think we want to stop here to get soaked a little more?" shouted dr. steel, urging on his mule before his friend had had time to frame an explanation. "come along; we guessed they were indians, and they paid us the same compliment." the volley was not repeated; but a crowd of men with rifles and lanterns came scurrying to meet the little cavalcade; and, after some laughter and expressions of regret, their leader began a voluble explanation, which von tempsky cut very short by announcing that he and his party were wet to the skin and required shelter. thereupon they were ushered into the building whence the shots had been fired, which proved to be a tumble-down inn kept by an old frenchman. "we have been much beset by the seris of late," he said apologetically. "three times during the past fortnight have we had the village surrounded by parties of them; and, when we heard you approach so late at night, we naturally supposed you to be indians." the tavern offered little enough comfort; but provisions were plentiful, and there was a good fire where clothes could be dried. the tales which the _rancheros_ had to tell were certainly appalling. several villages had been entirely depopulated by the savages; many inoffensive travellers had been killed, and others had escaped with the bare life. these seri indians were--and even now are--a fierce, intractable people, utterly different from the typical mexican indians, who (the comanches and apaches apart) are a mild, diligent, and strongly religious race. mexico still possesses some fifty tribes of redskins, most of which are subdivisions of the very ancient nahuatl family; but, with the exception of the three tribes just mentioned, many of these had, before von tempsky's time, begun to intermarry with europeans and settle in the towns. at first all the guides except jago, the leader, flatly refused to go any farther, on hearing these gruesome stories; but when, on the next day, a dozen of the _rancheros_ offered to accompany the party as far as durango, on condition that they would combine with them against any indians they might meet, the grumbling ceased; for no one was averse to getting a shot at the men who, at one time or other, had robbed every one of them of friend or property. von tempsky and steel were nothing loth, either; the one came from a country where persecution and death were everyday matters; while the other had roughed it for five-and-twenty years, first in the backwoods and latterly at the californian diggings, where it was a case of "a word and a blow--and the blow first." for a day or two no sign of indians was observed, and despite the irregularity of the road and the alarming prevalence of rattlesnakes, the journey was not unpleasant. but on the third afternoon, as the guide jago was seeking to point out from a distance the village where the company was to pass the night, he uttered a horrified exclamation, and made the sign of the cross. at the same moment an angry hubbub arose from the group of _rancheros_. "what is it? what are they all looking at?" inquired von tempsky. "smoke; and plenty of it," said the doctor, who was shading his eyes with his hands. "ay; smoke," said jago, who spoke english quite well. "they have burnt another village. let us go forward quickly, señors." an hour's sharp riding brought them to what, a day earlier, had been a fertile settlement or _rancho_, but which was now nothing but a pile of smouldering wood-ashes, round about which lay fully fifty corpses of men, women, and children. at the sight, both guides and _rancheros_ went almost mad with indignation; and von tempsky himself was eager to press on immediately in pursuit of the wretches who had been guilty of such relentless slaughter. it was then that the more phlegmatic yankee doctor showed the rest the value of a cool and calculating head. "see here, boys," he said in his best spanish, when he could make his voice heard above the howls and oaths of vengeance; "i reckon a redskin's a redskin, whether he hails from here or 'way north. _i'd_ got no quarrel with these particular vermin, till i saw _this_. now i fought indians before some of you were born; and i'll do it again if you'll let me. but there'll have to be none of this tear-away sort of game that some of you are after. will you make me captain? you can soon turn me out of it again if you're not satisfied." the _rancheros_ wavered for a moment. why obey a perfect stranger, who knew neither the country nor the seris? but the look of simple honesty, yet of bull-dog determination and pluck, in the man's face, gave confidence even to the most hesitating. "very good, señor doctor; we will obey you." "they mean they'll _try_, poor fellows," said steel, in english, to von tempsky. "they don't know what discipline is." by his orders, mules and horses were ungirthed, and while he, jago, and the oldest of the _rancheros_ made a careful examination of the first mile of the track left by the murderers, the others lay down to rest and eat. "they have crossed the ridge," said steel when he rejoined his fellow-traveller. "we'll all of us take four hours' rest now. it'll be no real delay. those rascals are fifty miles away by this time, as like as not; perhaps a hundred, for these poor souls have been dead a good many hours. we needn't worry; we shall come up with them later; or with more like them, who'll have to pay for this picnic." the doctor was probably not exaggerating the distance covered by the seris. the youngsters of the tribe were put on a horse as soon as they could straddle him; their only toys were bows and arrows, and the generally spartan upbringing which all underwent enabled them to ride or march or fight for a whole day without food or rest. large bodies of seris or comanches would move a hundred and thirty miles in a day. stifling their impatience as well as they could, the avenging party waited till the four hours had expired; then all set off on their mountain climb, though darkness would be coming on almost immediately. half a mile from the top of the ridge, von tempsky was seen to spring from his saddle and make a dash at some dark object that lay in the shelter of a rock. before he had reached it, however, a scuffling, clattering sound arose near him, and a horse, saddled but riderless, struggled to his feet. the others halted. "show a light some of you; i've got him," shouted von tempsky. "but--why, the man's dead!" jago dismounted, and, striking a light, revealed the pallid face of a mexican, who lay with an arrow through his back. von tempsky, who had been the only one of the riders to notice the recumbent figure, had imagined it to be that of an indian spy or sentinel, and had at once made a grab at his throat, only to find the body stiff and quite cold. "one more score against them," cried the doctor. "ride on." they travelled all night and till long after daybreak, without meeting or seeing anyone; and at length steel called another halt for a few hours. presently, as he and von tempsky sat chatting, the latter drew his attention to a body of mounted men riding slowly across their projected path, a couple of miles away. "we've got them this time," said steel, jumping up. "those are not indians, señor," said jago. "tch! look at their spears, man." "i do. they are our mexican lancers. there; do you not hear their bugle?" a faint note or two from some brass instrument was carried to them by the wind. "all right; mount," cried the doctor. "we'll have a look at them, anyway." they had not gone more than a few hundred yards, when the new-comers caught sight of them riding down the incline; they reined up and, waving their lances, greeted them with jubilant shouts. "well--of all the scraggy-looking donkey-drivers!" exclaimed steel in an aside, as they came up with the "lancers." there were about eighty of them, all more or less in rags, each man armed with a lance, a very rusty sabre, and a carbine. in their midst, two men held their lances aloft, each spear-point being decorated with the head of an indian. the men were hearty-looking, happy-go-lucky ruffians, brave as need be, but woefully undisciplined, and out of gear generally. after one glance at them, von tempsky no longer wondered that many an englishman, irishman, scot, or yankee who would think himself lucky if he ever rose to the rank of sergeant, at home, could here become a field-marshal or an admiral in half an hour. for the mexico of those days was, like the southern republics, a happy hunting-ground for foreign soldiers of fortune. "and they send _these_ fellows to put down an indian rising!" he muttered to the doctor; adding aloud, in spanish: "is that all you have killed? who is your officer?" the lancers grinned. no; they had killed at least thirty, out of some two hundred. officer? h'm! nobody was quite sure. the two men with the heads were _supposed_ to be something in that line; but really they couldn't say for certain. "all right; pray go on. i and my troop will follow you," said steel. there was one advantage in having fallen in with these ragamuffins; two at least of their number were half-bloods, with eyes like hawks for a trail; and this put an end to all doubt as to the way which must be followed now that the plain was reached. some of the lancers had more terrible tales of the indians to add to what the travellers already knew. a priest and a farmer had been murdered two days before; and, only that morning, three ladies had been found speared to death near an _estancia_ (farm). the track wound in serpentine fashion, now skirting a town, now going straight through a _rancho_ whence the occupants had fled. by late afternoon the pursuers were within half a dozen miles of durango; but here the track--more visible than ever now, in the long grass to which they had come--broke away at an obtuse angle, towards the more hilly ground on their right. the doctor pulled up, and he and von tempsky began to confer with the soldiers. horses and mules and men were all jaded, urged steel; and the trail might lead them on through another all-night journey; and to no purpose. why not ride for the town, take a short rest, and beat up recruits? the question was being argued and re-argued, when a series of whistles, followed by one concerted and unearthly yell, proceeded from the hills; and, like a pack of wolves, the indians for whom they had been hunting came charging down the slope; full three hundred of them, stark naked, their bodies painted scarlet and black, their hair and their horses decked with feathers. steel looked glumly at his own little army. oh for a couple of dozen well-armed men who had learned the virtues of obedience and combination! "you lancers prepare to receive their charge," he shouted; and motioned to his own men to draw off and be ready to attack the seris in the rear. he was obeyed indifferently; further urged by von tempsky and jago, the guides and _rancheros_ were wheeling slowly northwards; but the lancers were evidently more than half minded to charge wholesale at the oncoming savages. it is proverbial that the greater the pain or the danger or the suspense, the more readily a man finds time to notice minute detail that has little or nothing to do with the matter in hand. steel observed, on this occasion--though the yelling mob was within thirty yards of him--that apparently not a man of them was under six feet in height; that every man sat his horse as though he were a part of it, and that each carried a spear, bow, and quiver, and also a trumpery-looking round shield, studded with bits of brass, shell, and looking-glass. as he had half anticipated, the savages suddenly changed their tactics on reaching the hill foot, and wheeled sharply towards the smaller force. "lancers, charge, the moment our volley's fired," shouted the doctor. "fire!--charge! _charge_, you thick-headed clod-hoppers, can't you?--o lord!" his voice died away in a disheartened little groan. for the lancers might so easily have had it all their own way; at least twenty redskins had fallen before the carbines of the _rancheros_, and clearly the rest were surprised and confused. yet there sat these intelligent lancers, their spears in rest, calmly unslinging their carbines for a volley that was quite as likely to hurt their own side as the enemy. "can't be helped now," said the doctor to his followers. "blaze away at them as best you can." there were no quick-firing magazine-rifles in those days, and with the exception of von tempsky and steel, who had each a couple of revolvers, every man was armed with a muzzle-loader; but necessity had long been the mother of invention with the _rancheros_, as with the trappers and the gauchos. wads were dispensed with; a generous pinch of powder was thrown into the barrel, and each man had his mouth full of bullets, ready to spit one after the powder; a cap was hastily stuck on the pin and everyone was ready for another volley. but even as it was fired, a shower of arrows was launched at each troop, and many a man dropped forward in his saddle. already the boot was on the other leg; it was the whites who were confused now, while the indians had recovered their coolness; and, with a discord of howls, they swiftly separated into two parts, one preparing to charge at each white division. "pull yourselves together!"--"die like men!" cried steel and von tempsky respectively, as, abandoning their bridles and with a revolver in each hand, they rode straight to meet the charge; while one half of the lancers fled, and the other half sought to cut a way through their assailants and rejoin the _rancheros_. the doctor fired off six shots into the front rank as the two forces met, and four indians fell dead; but his own mule dropped under him, transfixed by a spear. "here you are; mount," bawled von tempsky in his ear, just when, in imagination, he was already being trampled down by the indians' horses. the ready-witted pole had sent a bullet into the head of the redskin nearest him, and as he fell, had caught the bridle of his horse. the old backwoodsman, active as a cat, sprang to the horse's back, and the next moment was emptying his second revolver into the faces of the enemy. meanwhile, the lancers fought furiously but spasmodically. their lances could not avail them against the war-hatchets of the savages; and while one half clubbed their carbines, the other made but fruitless play with their sabres, seeking at the same time to drown the howls of the indians with their own. but suddenly, when the fight was at its hottest, and when the issue was very much in the balance, a cry of dismay broke from one batch of redskins, who, pointing towards durango, began to wheel round with the obvious intention of taking flight. "help is coming," cried jago encouragingly; and, looking back for an instant, steel saw about forty men, splendidly mounted, and coming up at a gallop from the direction of the town. the second division of the enemy followed the example of the first, and turned to flee. the forty strangers, without uttering a word as they swept past, dashed in pursuit, firing while still at the gallop. it was vain for the indians to goad their tired horses; those of the rescuing party were fresh. before they had gone a mile they were overtaken, and steel, who had followed as best he could, heard a voice cry in english: "no quarter; they don't deserve mercy. if we take prisoners, the mexicans will torture them to death." in a few minutes there was not an indian left alive; every man of the fugitives had fallen before the ceaseless shower of bullets poured into their ranks by the strangers. the very sort of men for whom steel had been longing had come; forty of the texan mounted militia, who had been sent down-country to treat for mules, had put themselves at the disposal of the durango police for the suppression of the indian hordes; and on this, as on subsequent occasions, the punishment which they served out was so terrible that the redskins fled south and east, or hid in the hills, and for a year or two, at least, little was heard of their attacking either travellers or homesteads. chapter xx a holiday among the ojibewas we have already spoken, in chapter viii, of the algonquin branch of the red race. this vast family, comprising ojibewas, shawnees, crees, araphoes, blackfeet, etc., once owned practically the whole of south canada, as well as the eastern portion of the states as far down as kentucky. the territory peculiar to the ojibewas ran in a rough curve from saratoga to winnipeg, and round about the lake district; but as the construction of the railway from new york to montreal seemed to establish the definite claim of the white men, the indians retreated farther north, some taking service under the farmers, or settling down to farm for themselves; others wandering in what was left of the prairie and forest land, and turning an occasional dishonest penny by robbing unprotected travellers. when charles richard weld made his tour from boston into and through southern canada in , only a part of the railway was made, and the greater portion of the journey had to be accomplished by coach, by canoe, or on horseback. mr. weld (who must not be confused with isaac weld, the explorer, his half-brother) was a barrister and literary man, in whom a close personal friendship with many great travellers, including sir john barrow and sir john franklin, had bred a strong ambition to see the world and make discoveries on his own account. but a busy man, who adds to his other duties the secretaryship of the royal society, must perforce stay at home, and it was not till , when he was a man of thirty-seven, that he saw his way to travelling; and that only by devoting the long vacation of each year to visiting some special quarter of the globe. it was while journeying northwards on this railway that he encountered his first real "sight," which was a prairie-fire: a swiftly-moving mass of flame and smoke that rolled almost up to the very rails, making the occupants of the cars feel as though they were in an oven. the fire raged for a good many days, for long after weld had left the railroad and transferred himself to the coach for lake george, he could still see the smoke and flare in the distance. the major part of the coach-route lay along a plank road, bounded on either side by miles of monotonous prairie, or by dark patches of pine-wood, where squirrels, deer, and red foxes abounded. the "coach" was an open arrangement--a _char-à-bancs_, in fact; and mr. weld's travelling companions consisted of three farmers, a couple of french trappers, a wheezy old irishwoman and her two granddaughters. on the last stage of the journey, when they were within a few miles of the lake-shore, the englishman's attention was attracted by the driver to a dark mass that was moving rapidly through the long grass, towards the road. "injuns; see em?" about a score of ojibewas in full war-dress were riding at the top of their speed, with the apparent intention of cutting off the vehicle. "well; i suppose they won't hurt _us_?" said weld. the coachman whipped up his horses. "i reckon they hadn't better." as nobody seemed in the least alarmed, the tourist watched the approach of the indians rather with interest than with anxiety. nevertheless, as the redskins, on coming within a hundred yards, suddenly set up an inharmonious howling, and brandished spears or tomahawks, he thought it time to produce and examine his revolver. just then the horses were pulled up short, and the driver took from beneath his feet a very workmanlike double-barrelled gun; and, looking round him, weld saw that the other men were doing the same; while even the old woman and the two girls, albeit without a sign of undue excitement, had each brought out a revolver from her reticule. "that's the way to let 'em have it," said the driver, having fired off both barrels at the advancing mob. before a second gun could be fired, the whole troop had wheeled about, and were riding away as quickly as they had come. the coachman reloaded as though nothing unusual had happened, put away his rifle, and started the horses again. "biggest cowards on the yearth," he mumbled to weld. "that was only a couple o' charges o' birdshot i give 'em. bless ye, we know 'em by heart now. years ago they'd put-up a mail, and tomahawk everybody; but nowadays they seem to run away as soon as they see a gun. if there'd only been you an' me, or nobody but women, they'd ha' tried to bluff _something_ out of us, if 'twas only a keg o' spirits, or a bit of tobacker; but half a dozen men'll frighten the lives out of 'em. one time o' day they'd send a charge of arrows first; but they're shy of that if they see any rifles waiting for 'em." this was weld's first and only experience of an indian assault, for the few wild tribes with which he came in contact were quite disorganised, had lost confidence in their traditional weapons of war, and had as yet a wholesome horror of gunpowder. but this absence of hostilities enabled him to get a good insight into ojibewa forest and river life, and afforded him plenty of interesting adventure where hunting was concerned. at the lake-side inn, where he stayed for a few days, the host invited him to attend an ojibewa rattlesnake-hunt, a form of sport of which he had never before heard. "what weapons must i take?" he asked before starting. "oh, nothing. put a gun (revolver) in your pocket if you like," was the careless reply. a small party of redskins were squatting outside the inn, and seeing that the two white men were ready to accompany them, they led the way to a hilly and well-wooded spot, just on the eastern shore of the lake. weld noticed that the only arms carried by them were a knife and a long, slender stick, and from all he had heard of the terrible rattlesnake, this appeared a poor equipment indeed wherewith to kill reptiles which might be any length up to eight or even ten feet. being prepared for a very great deal of wariness and of elaborate preliminary on the part of the indians, he was, of course, _not_ prepared for the entire absence of such preliminary. one of the hunters who walked beside him stooped unconcernedly, picked up a strip of something, gave it a shake, and put it in his game-bag. "_he_ always seems to find the first one," remarked the innkeeper. "the first _what_?" queried weld. "and what on earth is this awful stench?" "rattlesnake," chuckled the yankee. "see'd him pick it up, didn't ye? come on; here's a chance for _you_, now.--bah! what in the 'nation did ye want to do _that_ for?" for, without any hesitation, weld had pulled out his revolver and sent two bullets into the body of a snake which, coiled up like a wire spring, had placed itself across a narrow path, and was rearing its head in an uncomfortably suggestive manner. "what did you expect me to do?" asked weld with some impatience. "why, _this_.--stand clear!" but the yankee was too "cocksure," as the boys say; and was only too glad to spring back again to the side of his guest. what he had _tried_ to do was to seize another snake by the tail and "snap" it, as a carter cracks a whip; but the creature's mouth and poison-fangs happened to be very much in the way just then, and the innkeeper left the task to the more expert ojibewas. now that he knew what to expect, weld retired to a safe distance and began to note all that took place. the overpowering smell of which he had complained arose from the snakes themselves. the rats, rabbits, squirrels, etc., on which they feed begin to putrefy as soon as they are swallowed, owing to the action of the poison, and one snake is often enough to make a whole neighbourhood intolerable. the majority of those captured were small, averaging about three and a half feet long, and the activity of the indians in detecting, seizing, and killing them was almost incredible. in most cases the snake was lying, straight or coiled as the case might be, in the tracks usually followed by small animals in their periodical path to the water, for rattlesnakes are singularly slow in their movement, and so are forced to rely more on their proverbial "wisdom." the moment one of them was discovered it was whisked off the ground so rapidly that it seemed to fly up; one deft jerk, or whip-like flick, dislocated its backbone and it was dead. to an englishman the process sounds about as sane and as safe as lifting a bull-terrier by the tail; but the indians did their work unmovedly, not a man was bitten, and weld learned later that not once in ten years was such hunting attended with fatal results to anyone; for should a man be bitten a rough sort of cautery, or the sucking of the wound, together with drugs taken internally, generally gave the lie to the popular belief that a rattlesnake's bite is incurable. where a captive was inconveniently large or long, or where he refused to uncoil himself, the savages used their sticks, either to rap him on the head, or to "straighten-out" his coils. the object in killing was to obtain the oil and gall, which were highly valued for medicinal and other virtues; therefore, any blow that might wound the body was avoided if possible. in weld's opinion the "rattle" of the animal has been much exaggerated by travellers; "creaking" or "rustling" would be a better term, for the noise resembles that made by stiff paper, or parchment, when crumpled in the hand. a few days later, when travelling up-country by canoe, he realised that these snakes can swim with perfect ease, for the ojibewa guides whom he had engaged more than once drew his attention to one of them gliding down the bank and into the water in determined pursuit of a rat that had refused to become a victim to its supposed (and very doubtful) powers of fascination. for the first time in his life, mr. weld now found himself completely cut off from association with white men, for he had before him a lonely journey by river and lake to a backwoods settlement, where an old friend, major strickland, had set up a model farm. fortunately, one of the ojibewas spoke english fluently, and the other three had at least a smattering of french. perhaps they were not remarkable for their intelligence, save where canoeing and hunting were concerned, but at least they were amiable, obliging, and contented. his first acquaintance with rapids was worthy of remark, for it came without a moment's warning or preparation. he and two indians travelled in one canoe, while the other two followed, in a second, with his baggage. weld was lying back, idly smoking, and probably lost in admiration of the solemn, rugged beauty of the steep banks, fringed with pine and cedar trees, when all in a moment the world seemed to turn over and slip from under him; his head struck the gunwale smartly, and he gradually got a dim notion that he was standing with his back against something hard and his body at right angles to that of the indian in the bows, who nevertheless continued to ply his paddle stolidly, and without a smile or a word. for a few seconds the boat trebled her speed in some unaccountable manner, then followed another jerk, another knock on the head, and once more he was lounging in his former position, and the canoe moving along as before. he now threw a glance behind him, and shuddered, for what he saw was a sheer fall of water, apparently about sixteen feet high, studded everywhere with ugly-looking rocks. he began an angry remonstrance with the indians for not having warned him, but just then a weird cry, something between the bray of a jackass and the wail of a peacock, echoed through the forest. one second a large white body was seen flapping over their heads; the next, the same body lay fluttering on the water near the boat. one of the ojibewas had dropped his paddle and, like lightning, sent an arrow through the noisy creature, which turned out to be a pelican that they had disturbed from its evening fishing. on the following morning, as weld was finishing his breakfast over his camp fire, he was aroused from his meditations by one of the indians pointing significantly towards the thicket behind him. "'morning! have you got a drop of tea left; we're thirsty," cried a voice as he turned his head, and a second added, "well, peter; what are you doing round our neighbourhood?" the indian who spoke english jumped up delightedly, and greeted with much respect three strapping young fellows who suddenly stepped out from among the bushes. "i don't know who you are, gentlemen," said weld as he rose to welcome them, "but it's good to hear one's own language spoken again." the lads introduced themselves as farm pupils of major strickland's, and, leaving the indians to bring weld's luggage by water, they showed him a short cut to his friend's house, which, in a straight line, was but seven miles away. at the farm he was surprised to find indians performing all the domestic offices of a civilised household, and dressed more or less in european garb; for, tired of the ingrained laziness of negro servants, the major had long had all the menial work of his house and estate done by redskins, and these, as far as weld could see, worked diligently and honestly. one small body of them were kept constantly employed as hunters, and instructors in woodcraft to the pupils, and, judging from their abilities as deer-trackers, the lads could have had no better tutors. an animal much coveted for the sake both of its skin and its flesh was the _cabrit_, prong-buck, or prong-horned antelope, as it is variously called; and the stalking of this creature was weld's principal amusement during his stay. in spite of frequent slaughter among them, large herds were often to be seen in the neighbourhood, and one day no less than a hundred carcases were brought home, to be dried for winter food. the hunting party on this occasion consisted of weld, strickland, and six other englishmen, together with about thirty ojibewas, a dozen of whom were given a start of five hours. these, leaving the farm at daybreak, moved swiftly through the sparse forest to the hills beyond, and started a herd of over two hundred. taking up positions at wide intervals from each other, the indians succeeded in frightening and mystifying the bucks, and gradually driving them towards the spot for which the main body of the hunt was now making. this was some ten miles from the farm, and so rapidly did all his companions cover the distance, that weld had great difficulty in keeping up with them, though himself a strong and athletic man. one old ojibewa was always a few yards ahead of the party, and weld was instructed to watch and obey every signal made by him. sometimes he came to a dead halt, and the whole troop followed his example, not so much as a whisper being uttered; then again, he would lead the way at a good swinging pace, often talking freely and even loudly with those behind. all of a sudden, however, he broke off his conversation; a gun-shot had sounded from some three miles away. he held up his hand, and everyone stood breathless. presently he moved on again, but more slowly, for several hundred yards, the rest gliding along in his wake, and at last he stopped dead again. this was the most irksome, or the most disciplinary, period of the hunt, for the tyrannical leader kept everyone standing motionless for quite ten minutes; and when weld merely took out his handkerchief to mop his brow, the indians nearest him eyed him as reproachfully as though this were a penal offence. the next thing the guide did was to fall flat on his face, and each man mechanically imitated him--except weld, who had visions of a dislocated shoulder, if not of a self-discharging gun, and who consequently performed the manoeuvre by degrees. now that his ear was so close to the ground, he could plainly detect the uniform tread of a large body of light-stepping animals, but he dared not risk spoiling sport by raising his head to peer among the tree-trunks in front of him. in a few minutes a gun went off, half a mile to their left front, and was immediately echoed by one to the right, and another well ahead, whereat the trampling increased in speed and volume. immediately the leader raised his hand to a perpendicular, and the redskins began to crawl on, worm-fashion, in two diverging lines. weld started awkwardly to imitate them, but a strong hand caught him by the ankle and held him still. screwing his head round, he saw that strickland was his captor. "hold on," whispered the major. "we get our fun from this side." another three minutes' silence followed, only broken by the tramp of the approaching herd, slower now, and more hesitating. "now then; roll away or crawl away to your right, as far as you can, and as sharp as you can; and jump up when i open fire," whispered the old soldier, and weld could see that, at a wave of his friend's arm, all the englishmen were swiftly separating. he obeyed; but by the time he had covered a dozen yards, he became convinced that the indians had all gone suddenly demented, for from every direction there arose a succession of demoniacal yells that almost drowned the crack-crack of the rifles that now sounded on his left. he leapt to his feet; not an indian was in sight. the white men, all standing up, were blazing away as hard as they could, into an immense herd of bucks, which were falling in numbers out of all reasonable proportion to the shots fired. then he discovered that, from the other three sides, the ojibewas, lying in the long grass or crouching behind trees, were pouring volley after volley of arrows at the bewildered beasts, which, butting each other, were starting hither and thither, completely panic-stricken. "'ware horns!" shouted the major's son as, hurriedly butting his rifle, he felled an antelope that had charged despairingly at him; and very soon weld was glad enough to follow the example, as a stout young buck rushed, head down, in his direction. more terrified now by the noise of the guns and the sight of the white men than by the arrows and shouts that proceeded from the other three points of the compass, the herd turned to flee back towards the hills. but this was only the signal for every indian to spring erect and brandish his long spear. that effectually broke up the herd; the distracted creatures squeezed a passage for themselves wherever they could, and fled out of sight, leaving a good half of their number to be carried back to the farm in the waggons which were now on their way to the scene of the battue. chapter xxi chippewyans and columbian gold-diggers while human nature is what it is, the sudden discovery of gold in any country must ever be the signal for all the available flotsam and jetsam and riff-raff of society to flock to that country, in the sorry hope of finding a shorter road to wealth than the old-fashioned one of steady plodding. before mining concerns were regulated by governments or by syndicates, the edifying spectacle of men wrangling and fighting over a claim or a "find," like dogs over a bone, might be witnessed at any hour of the day. add to this the constant disturbance between the strangers and the original inhabitants, and you have a condition of affairs which must quickly call for some intervention by the state. this is what our government thought when, in , the discovery of gold in british columbia began to lead to rioting among the miners and to petty insurrections of the indians of the vicinity. in order to nip such disorders in the bud, a few troops were landed near what is now called new westminster, on the fraser river, and a man-of-war, h.m.s. _plumper_, commanded by captain richards, was ordered to keep a watchful eye on the river mouth. rumour said that the ship had been sent to hold the indians in check; but admiral mayne, who was then first lieutenant of the _plumper_, tells us that it was the white immigrants who required handling, and that, but for them, the columbian indians, who had long been quiet and inoffensive, would have confined their attentions to their fishing and farming. one day, just at the beginning of winter, news was brought to the ship that fighting was going on among the miners and indians at a camp near a small town called yale. the _plumper_ had a steam-launch which was ordinarily used for river work, and an armed body of bluejackets under lieutenant mayne at once put off in a large pinnace for the spot--two miles higher up--where she was lying in dock, with the intention of hastening to the scene of the disturbance. to the young officer's dismay, the launch had disappeared, and, on inquiry, he learned that colonel moody of the engineers, who had been the first to hear the news, had immediately put off in her with twenty-five men and a howitzer. a mounted messenger was soon dispatched back to the harbour and, in half an hour, returned with orders from the captain, for the firing-party to hurry after the soldiers and offer their services. by nightfall the place was reached; a cheerless, rugged spot where the crew had some difficulty in landing. the pinnace was made fast to the launch, and, following the directions of the men who had been left in charge of her, the sailors marched quickly over a hill and were soon at the diggings. "you've come too late," were the engineer officer's first words. he pointed to a group of prisoners, indian and white, who, under the guard of an armed picket, were making themselves comfortable for the night. "we've had a heavy day, though," continued colonel moody; "and three of my fellows have been badly wounded. your men pretty fresh, i suppose?" "quite, sir." "give them half an hour for supper, and then i shall want you to march them about ten miles across country. i have guides ready for you. come and have something to eat, and i'll tell you all about it." the colonel, a subaltern, and a regimental surgeon had established themselves in a miner's hut, and here, over a very unconventional meal, mayne learned what had happened. scarcely had the soldiers put an end to the rioting, when six chippewyan indians had galloped into the camp. the miners at the next claim had fired on them, they said; had threatened to burn their winter fodder-stacks, and meant to drive them out of their old settlement. "of course, we've only heard one side," concluded colonel moody. "don't trust your guides too far, mr. mayne. let one of them keep his horse, in case you want to send me a message in a hurry, and make the other five march between your men; they can leave their horses here." he turned to the surgeon. "you'd better go, too, campbell; you may be wanted. they've a very good doctor here if we need him. good-bye, and good luck to you both." the doctor buckled on his sword and mayne collected the sailors, placing five of the indians in the centre, and all set off at a brisk step. the mounted redskin led them some miles along a curving valley and then across an open tract of country, whence they were soon able to see the lights from some settlement. "is that the place?" the lieutenant asked of a redskin who spoke intelligible english. "yes; we have but four miles to go now." "there seems to be plenty of light in the place; how is that?" the indian did not reply, but spoke in his own language to his neighbour. "you don't understand them, do you?" said campbell in a low voice. "more do i, worse luck. they seem to be very proud of themselves all at once. if i were you, i'd have an answer out of that chap." the lieutenant laid his hand sharply on the redskin's naked shoulder. "answer the question, my friend. we don't want all that mumbling and whispering." the man remained sulkily silent, but the chippewyan to whom he had spoken, a brighter, more intelligent fellow, said: "we are pleased because our warriors have come down from the mountains, and are burning the town." "your warriors'll get hurt, if that's their game," said mayne; and for a while nothing more was said. but as they came nearer to the lights, the indians all began talking at the top of their voices, and mayne was obliged to call for silence. presently the mounted redskin stopped his horse, and a halt was called. "we had better go back, or wait for more warriors," he said; "we are too few." "what are you talking about?" asked young mayne sharply. "it is not the white men's camp that is burning, but our own. it is clear that our brethren have not come, as we had hoped. there are over seventy of the miners, and you are but eighteen. they will massacre you." "ride on, and hold your stupid tongue," said the sailor. but the redskin suddenly struck his horse across the withers and would have galloped away, but that dr. campbell made a deft spring and managed to seize the thong that did duty for a bridle. "thanks, doctor.--now, my man, you get down and march with the rest." mayne turned to his sailors. "can any of you lads manage a leather jib-sheet?" "ay, ay; let me have her, please, sir," volunteered a young seaman. the guide was made to dismount and the sailor began to lead the horse in the rear. after a few minutes the indians resumed their talk among themselves again and--evidently taking courage from the careless demeanour of the bluejackets--began to handle their tomahawks more or less jubilantly, as though waxing eager to be at their enemies; so much so that the two officers held a muttered debate. they had come out here to make peace; but if these savages once saw themselves backed by resolute and well-armed white men, they would never rest till they had butchered as many of the diggers as possible. it was a trying position for a young man who would be held responsible for whatever evil might happen; and mayne, though he had gone through the crimean war with distinction, gaining his first lieutenant's step in the sea of azov, was still only a lad of twenty-two. "what would _you_ do?" he asked. "disarm the jolly lot, straight away," said campbell, who was his senior by a few years. mayne halted his men, explained the position to them, and told the indians what he and his colleague had decided; and they, with many grunts of dissatisfaction, gave up their arms on condition that they should be restored if necessary for self-defence. "you know, _this_ begins to look like business," commented the surgeon when, within half a mile of the glaring flames, a chorus of hooting, yelling, and singing greeted their ears. "_i_ think it looks like advancing at the quick step," said his companion; and he gave the order. very soon only a fringe of pine-trees separated them from the scene of the tumult, and, as they reached these, three men jumped up from the ground, and cried: "who the blazes are you?" "firing-party from h.m.s. _plumper_." "then git off back to your mothers and mind your own business, afore ye git killed," hiccupped the first, who carried a lantern in one hand and a revolver in the other. the next moment he was lying on his back, for dr. campbell had wrenched the pistol out of his hand, and, with a single blow of his fist, had knocked him clean off his feet. the second man put his hand in his pocket, doubtless in search of a pistol, but, without waiting to make sure of that, mayne had him round the arms and waist and was soon squeezing half the breath out of his body. the third man turned to give the alarm, but a petty-officer sprang after him and dragged him back by his shirt-collar. "take away their weapons," cried mayne as, with a smart trick of the heel, he threw his captive violently to the ground. "no time for prisoners.--forward!" a few steps more and the sailors were past the trees, and in full view of all that was going on. and a pretty sight it was. thirty or more miners, many of them delirious with drink, were capering round one or other of the fuel and fodder stacks to which they had set light; indians and white men, to the number of a score, lay on the ground dead or wounded; and, beyond the stacks, was a heaving, struggling, shrieking mob of miners and redskins, the former brandishing knives and pickaxes, and shouting to their drunken allies to come to their assistance; the latter spending all their savage energies in defence of their homes and families. a whisper of indignant disgust ran through the little knot of sailors; a fair and square sea-fight, or even a "set-to" in a portsmouth or chatham slum, was respectable in comparison with all this. the men at the fires were the first to be aware of the new arrivals; they broke off their dancing and, some awestruck, others bombastic, lurched towards them. "halt!--now listen to me, you sweeps, if you've got sense enough left," cried mayne, drawing his sword. the wild-looking, drink-sodden crowd--english, german, french, and yankee--ceased their babel for a moment. but when they saw that the little force consisted of only sixteen men led by what they considered a couple of boys, their appearance became mere matter for uproarious jesting; the noise broke out afresh and was echoed by despairing wails from the indians in the background, who only saw a powerful addition to their persecutors. "who's your leader?" shouted young mayne. "that's me, gov'nor," said a tall englishman, who carried "escaped convict" in every line of his face. "all right, boys; they've only come to lend a hand; why, they've got some injun pris'ners. come on, lootenant; i was a seaman afore you was born. shake hands." the noisy ruffian came swaggering forward, and the sailors breathed hard for a moment. surely their favourite officer would never stand that sort of talk. yet it was no time for words; these men were harmless, compared to the other blackguards who were trying to burn the indians' wigwams and huts over their heads. the lieutenant sheathed his sword and took a half-step forward, at the same time clenching his left fist; then let drive, straight at the digger's chin. the fellow went down like a sack of flour, apparently stunned, for he made no attempt to get up again. but immediately several revolver-barrels flashed in the fire-light and three shots were fired; a burning pain in his left arm told mayne that he was wounded, but the other shots went wide. he stepped from in front of his men. "open order!--out of the way, you red men.--_present!_" the rifles flew to the sailors' shoulders like magic. there was no time to be lost now; only thirty yards away, indians were murdering and being murdered, and the shrieks of the women made the young fellow's blood run cold. yet he dared not place his few men between two forces of desperate maniacs. the rioters had again ceased their gabble. "hands up, every one of you." the lieutenant waited for a few seconds. "make up your minds; you'll not get another warning." however mad the diggers might be, it began to dawn on them that they could not hold their own for three minutes against men who regarded fighting as part of their day's work. still they hesitated, for the more curious or less pressed of the other body were leaving the huts and coming over to them. they looked from these to the sailors, in whose faces there was no sign of wavering; already the officer's lips seemed to be framing the word "fire!" then they could bear the tension no longer. some in ill-tempered silence, the rest whimpering for mercy, threw up both hands. "dr. campbell; take charge here till all arms are collected; then join me.--rear rank; 'tion! left turn. trail arms. double!" but when mayne and his eight men reached the wigwams, it was plain enough that it would be the indians who would give the trouble. they had at last discovered that the white warriors were with them, and now, though their disheartened assailants were already ceasing to fight, other than on the defensive, and were retiring as fast as they could get clear of the crush, they began to strike with double fury, shrieking their war-whoops, hacking and stabbing wherever they could. mayne gave a command, and every sailor slung his rifle and drew his cutlass. "now separate them, lads." the bluejackets dashed into the crowd with a cheer, and good-humouredly flung themselves between miners and redskins, employing fists, shoulders, and, where necessary and practicable, the hilts or flats of their cutlasses. by the time campbell came running up with his eight men, the wonder-stricken indians had drawn back, and were meditating on the apparent illogicalness of their queen's warriors. "serve this lot the same as the others," said mayne; and those of the miners who had not fled were soon holding up their hands, while the grinning sailors crammed their haversacks with pistols and bowie-knives, or stacked rifles and pickaxes out of harm's way. the indian guides now asked for their weapons and were curtly refused by mayne, who, intimating to the miners that they were now under arrest, made them fall in, preparatory to a return to their own camp, which was but a few hundred yards away. while the indefatigable doctor was singling out the more sober and respectable of these to help him in an examination of the wounded of both parties, a german digger who had fled came running back to the camp, hysterical with fright. "the chippewyans!" he screamed, clutching at campbell's arm, and sobbing convulsively. there was no need to ask what he meant, for the thunder of horses' hoofs could already be heard, and, by the time the sailors were brought to attention, the wild war-whoop of a body of indians was resounding over the slopes. "our pistols. give us our arms," roared the terrified miners; and again the lieutenant found himself in an uncomfortable predicament. only a minute before, he had been considering the advisability of disarming the redskins in case of a treacherous attack during the night. the new arrivals were mounted, and doubtless strong in numbers; and, backed by the forty or more indians already present, they might easily be a more powerful force than he could deal with. already the savages, seeing vengeance for their burning stacks within their grasp, had gathered together and were chattering and waving their war-hatchets. "i can't trust you with pistols," he said coldly, and beckoned to him the most reliable of the indian guides. "you must tell your people who are coming that the white queen's judges will punish these men. if they attempt to do it themselves, they also will be punished." the indian hurried away to repeat the message to his chief, who appeared to be haranguing his warriors; while mayne spoke a few cheery words of caution to the sailors. a whistle from the doctor made him turn round. "here they come. by george! how many more of them?" in the shifting blaze of the stacks, the body of horsemen who suddenly shot from among the trees seemed to be at least a thousand; in reality, there were between eighty and a hundred; some belonging to this camp, but the majority of them braves from the cascade or other mountains, whom the messengers had hurriedly collected. the unarmed miners huddled together, shivering or cursing; while the seamen, with their rifles "shouldered," stood in a single line between them and the advancing savages. at a sign from the chief, the horsemen drew up and a palaver began. "come on. you and i'll take a hand in this," said mayne. "they seem to be in doubt. where's our interpreter?" he and the surgeon walked over to the chiefs, and, for some time, it seemed as though there certainly would have to be bloodshed; for the indians who had come from a distance wanted value for their money, and were not disposed to hear reason. but presently the interpreter cut into the conversation, reminding the chiefs that the "warriors with no hair on their faces" had easily subdued a large body of white men; and that, only ten miles away, there were "braves in red coats, with hair on their upper lips," as well as a large number of miners, who would take a speedy vengeance on them. "tell them, also," said mayne, "that unless they agree to keep the peace, i shall give the miners their weapons again, and we shall fight for _them_." his heart was "in his mouth" as he uttered this high-sounding threat; for, of course, he no more dared do such a thing than he dared head a mutiny on board his ship. it was a chance shot; but it carried the day. a buzz of conversation arose among the indians of the camp. set those white fiends about their ears again? they would fight their own allies first. an agreement was speedily arrived at, and mayne marched both sailors and prisoners back to the white camp. but it was an anxious night for him. his wound, though only a flesh cut, was causing him great pain now that the excitement of the evening was over; his men were getting hungry and sleepy, and the doctor--no less so--had his hands full with those whom the indians had injured; there were not a dozen miners who, in their present condition, could be relied upon to fight if need arose; and the redskins, to whom treachery was as the breath of their nostrils, might, instead of keeping faith, swoop down on the camp at any moment. but sailors are used to short spells of sleep; sentries were relieved every two hours; there was no more disturbance, and by morning the diggers had come to a rational and penitent frame of mind. how the quarrel had begun was one of the things that will never be found out; when white men allow the beast in them to come uppermost, there is nothing to choose between them and savages of any other colour. before the day was ended, colonel moody and a squad of soldiers had arrived; the ringleaders on either side were on their way to vancouver for examination, and peace was once more restored. chapter xxii the chippewyans of the columbian mountains in a former volume[ ] the writer has related a hunting adventure which befell the late lieutenant john keast lord; but, as the career of this intrepid traveller was so full of romantic and striking episodes, the reader may be glad to hear a little more about him. [ ] "adventures among the wild beasts." after his eventful mule-buying expedition into the states, he returned to british columbia, where he was acting as naturalist to the canadian boundary commission; but he had no sooner reached new westminster than he found other instructions awaiting him; this time, to report on the fauna of the coast ranges. this was in , when already the chippewyans and kuchins had been unsettled and rendered ripe for assault and murder by the newly-arrived gold-diggers; and mr. lord wisely decided to take with him a bodyguard of half a dozen young canadian hunters, whose bravery, judgment, and fidelity he had many times proved. new westminster was indeed new in those days; in fact, it was not a year old; and much of the ride from there to the cascade mountains was a pathless, hilly waste, dotted with mountain-like rocks of granite, and occasionally varied by chasms and cañons; and in this cheerful neighbourhood many indians who feared the vengeance of the government, for some of their various crimes, had taken up their abode. the soldier-naturalist's intention was to reach the seaward slopes of the range, which had been but very little explored, and were known to be covered to a great extent by dense forests. by the second day of his journey he had begun to have serious thoughts of sending back at least three of his companions, realising that a troop of seven mounted men, fully armed, and accompanied by five baggage-mules, had very much the appearance of a punitive expedition on a small scale. certainly this must have been the view of the first few parties of redskins with whom he met; for these either fled hastily as though to warn their friends, or else defiantly threatened the strangers with their bows or muskets. lord's absolutely perfect knowledge of the athapascan tongue, and of the character and customs of the chippewyans, was really the surest weapon of defence for him to rely on now; and, bidding his men conceal all arms but their rifles, and endeavour to look as much as possible like a peaceful hunting or travelling party, he resolved that, whenever they met with indians, he would get in first blow with his tongue and conciliate the savages. this very soon proved to be a promising plan; for on the third morning, not long after the little troop had begun its day's march, a score of indians burst out from the shelter of one of the huge boulders and, in a chorus of wild yells, ordered the white men to throw down their rifles. signing to his companions to stay where they were, lord cantered across the strip of broken ground, and, with no sign of anxiety, pulled up before the noisiest of the indians and gave him a laughing good morning. "have you not yet learned to distinguish between friends and enemies?" he asked. the redskins ceased their clamour and looked at each other in a puzzled manner. they had been prepared for violence on the part of the new-comers; or they would even have beheld their meek surrender without betraying great astonishment; but that the white leader should treat them and their demands as a huge joke, and further, should speak their tongue with an accent as pure and natural as their own, were facts not to be grappled with hurriedly. and, while they hesitated, lord continued airily, "what do you fear, my brothers? we have not come to hurt you. why did you beseech us to drop our guns?" "you have tracked some of our tribe from the mines, have you not?" said the chief cautiously, and more, perhaps, to gain time than because he sought information. "no; we have nothing to do with the mines, nor do we wish to poach on your hunting or your fishing. we are going to look for beasts in the forest on the distant slopes. if you will guide us to a place where we can cross the range with our horses and mules, we will pay you well." to do him justice, though the indian may be treacherous, he is seldom a liar; consequently he is less prone than the rest of the world to doubt another man's word. from the chief's increasing hesitation it was clear enough that he believed the englishman's statement, and was not unwilling to be friendly. all the same, lord's mind was not entirely at ease; none of the indians had horses; few of them had firearms; and the covetous glances cast at his horse and his rifle showed plainly enough that at least the majority of his new neighbours would like the opportunity of robbing him and his men. some of them began to consult in low tones, but he turned on these with a sudden severity, partly assumed and partly real. "what?" he shouted. "do you make a stranger of _me_? do you exclude from your palaver one who speaks your tongue; who has smoked the peace-pipe and hunted with your brethren everywhere, from the nipigon lake to these very mountains, and from the white man's gold-camps to the country of the apaches and the navajos; who has taught even the wisest of your tribe; who can charm away pains in the jaws, and can put new life into horses and dogs and cattle when they are sick?" the muttered conversation broke off abruptly, and, with some approach to deference, the chief explained that it only related to the price which they should ask for guiding the big white chief, and to the doubts that some of them had as to the good faith of his followers. the big white chief (he stood six feet four) answered curtly that he would be answerable for his men, and, by way of payment, would give a supply of tobacco and rum to each indian, and a revolver, with fifty cartridges, to the leader. the last item clinched the bargain in a moment, and the chief at once agreed to show the way to a gorge through which the travellers and their beasts could pass with ease to the other side. this, he said, was more than a day's journey away; if the white braves would stay the night at his camp, which they would reach by sundown, he would undertake to bring them to the gorge by noon on the following day. "go on, then," said the englishman. "i will inform my men and we will follow you"; and in a very few words he explained the situation to the canadians, warning everyone to be on his guard. the indians, though laden with the spoils of a brief hunting expedition, set off at a rapid jog-trot, seeming quite heedless of the broken and ever-rising ground, over which the white men's horses had much ado to keep pace with them. at times this difficult road gave place to a winding but well-worn track that seemed as though it would eventually lead, corkscrew fashion, to the summit of a mountain nearly ten thousand feet high. some distance up this, lord called a halt for dinner, and, when it was ended, he had one of the mules disburthened, and, with much show of friendly condescension, insisted upon placing it at the chief's disposal for the remainder of their climb. by this means he gained as it were a hostage in case of treachery; for it would be easy for one or other of his party to place himself between the now mounted chief and the rest of the indians, with whom he had for a long time been carrying on a mysterious and disquieting conversation in an undertone. lord was a poor hand at playing eavesdropper, even had his life or liberty depended on that form of acquiring information; but, from odd syllables he had overheard from time to time, it had not been difficult to gather that his guides had become two factions, the one strongly disagreeing with the policy of the other. late in the afternoon the path wound suddenly into a thick grove of red and yellow cedars and douglas firs; and the half-muffled sounds of life in the distance told the travellers that the indian camp, or some other, could not be far away. the sounds soon separated themselves so that the barking of dogs, the blows of an axe on a tree-trunk, etc., could easily be distinguished; then lights peeped out among the trees, and the chatter of women and screaming of babies grew plainly audible. since he had been compelled to ride among the white men, the chief had become more and more moodily silent and ill at ease; and now the indians ahead were throwing apprehensive glances back, and renewing their whispered arguments. "what is it? what do they fear?" asked lord of the chief, who was then riding abreast of him. he answered nervously, "i will not deceive my great brother. they fear lest you or your companions should tell other white men what you will have seen at our camp." "and if we did?" "you would no longer be the red man's friend. if harm should come to us through any of you, my tribe would take a fearful vengeance." the big veterinary surgeon laughed negligently, and remarked that the chief need not be uneasy. whatever curiosity he might feel was soon to be satisfied; for one more twist of the path brought them on to a large clearing, dotted everywhere with fires and wigwams. lord had half expected to see a considerable reinforcement of indians here; and was much relieved to find the camp guarded only by women and six or seven elderly men. the guides separated, each going to his own wigwam, and the chief signified that the strangers would be expected to share a banquet with him over his particular fire. the food was good, the chief and his own special cronies who sat with him very hospitable and entertaining. bed-time came, and two tents were placed at the guests' disposal, lord, of course, arranging a system of "watches" to guard against surprise. but no surprise came; the night passed quietly and peacefully, and the englishman was at a loss to understand the fears and suspicions of the indians. but while he was washing at a stream close at hand, one of the canadians joined him. "i've got at their mystery, i think," he said in a whisper. "ah?" "chinese prisoners; three of 'em. i've been talking to one while you were having your breakfast. i take it that this is a refuge-camp for all the rascality of the neighbourhood. john chinaman tells me that the whole crew are 'wanted' at vancouver for sundry attacks on the mining camps. why, these are some of the varmints who burnt thomson's store last year." lord finished his ablutions and sat down to discuss the position, which was certainly not a pleasant one. in a sense, he was on his honour not to betray his entertainers; yet, as a government servant, it seemed to be his duty either to arrest the chief or else lay information against him. moreover, though the few chinamen he had met had not impressed him favourably, his blood boiled at the notion of slavery on british soil, and of the unnameable cruelties to a captive of which the redskins were capable. before he could arrive at any decision, however, a terrible scream resounded through the camp, and both men rushed towards the wigwams. on the ground lay a chinaman, pierced by an arrow, and lord saw at a glance that he was dead. "the brutes," muttered his companion. "that's the poor beggar's punishment for breaking out and speaking to me." lord called to his men and then rounded on the chief, who was hurriedly approaching. "where are the other two prisoners?" he said. "you must hand them over to me. i am a warrior of the white queen's, and can have every one of you hanged.--no, no; i'll have no secret discussions. if you disobey the queen you are no longer my friends. (look out, you fellows!)" in another moment he had pulled a revolver from his pocket and was covering the chief. "i give you one minute in which to bring out the other prisoners." bows or muskets were hastily raised, but the canadians had unslung their rifles like lightning, and were grouped behind lord ready to fire on the first man who dared to aim at him. the chief shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and ordered the prisoners to be produced. they soon appeared, unbound but strongly guarded, and, in pidgin english, told how, a few days before, their camp near the sea had been raided, their employers put to flight, and themselves brought away to slavery. "can you guide us to the sea?" asked lord. yes; they could. it was but a few miles distant. "very well, then," he continued, turning to the chief. "if you will give me these men, and will swear by the great spirit that you will not again trouble the white men's camps, we will promise not to betray your hiding-place." a rapid exchange of glances took place between the indians, and then the chief said emphatically: "i give up the prisoners, and i swear that my tribe will keep faith with yours." lord then swore to his part of the bargain, and, anxious to escape from the indians at once, paid the guides and set off immediately in the wake of the liberated prisoners. "what do you think about it?" he asked the eldest of the canadians, when they were well on the road through the wood. "i think they were a sight too ready to give way. we haven't seen the last of 'em, i reckon." "well; we shall be in open country directly, according to the chinamen," said lord. he was disposed towards a hopeful view, the more so that he had given the indians plainly to understand that they would pay dearly for any attempt at treachery. once or twice, on looking back, he perceived men walking slowly behind them, but as these were only armed with bows, and made no pretence of secrecy, he took little notice; and, in another hour, the wood came to an end. but where was the promised gorge? the only path he could see was a granite ridge, which on one side was bounded by a stretch of rough rising ground, and on the other became a precipice. the guides, however, remained confident, and, after hinting that it would be bad for them if they led him wrong, he followed them. "what's that?" he cried suddenly, when they had travelled about half a mile along the ridge in single file. all reined up at a sound similar to that of a "moose-trumpet," or bark horn. then they saw that three indians had appeared from the wood behind them, had come to a stop on the edge of the cliff, and were looking across the chasm towards a precipice twice the height of that on which they stood. evidently their trumpeting was intended to rouse somebody across the chasm, for two or three indistinct figures soon appeared on the farther cliff. then one of the indians who had followed lord's party raised his arms and began to make signs to those on the other side. "signalling, eh?" said one of the men. "can you read it, mr. lord?" the redskin was, in fact, transmitting a message across the chasm, employing a system of telegraphy similar to that used in japan, or among our own sailors: a form of "deaf and dumb alphabet" not uncommon among the indians of the hills and prairies. "i can read enough to see that these rascals are warning someone to stop us," said lord. "though how they reckon to do that remains to be seen. let's get on as fast as possible." [illustration: a primitive system of telegraphy the indians are able to transmit messages by movements of their arms and fingers at greater distances than the voice would carry. in this case the question is "who are you?" the answer "pani," transmitted from the lofty crags of a wide gorge.] they moved swiftly up the ridge, till the ground began to slope downwards again, and very steeply; then a final bend brought them almost opposite the mouth of the long looked-for gorge, which was wide enough for all the horsemen to ride abreast in comfort. the road was now beautifully level, and but that the chinamen would not risk their necks on mule-back and knew nothing about horses, the whole party could have galloped. the gorge proved to be some six miles in length, and, at the end of a couple of hours, the travellers knew that they had come to the outlet. the fact was made known in a not very pleasing manner, for all at once two musket-shots echoed down the ravine, and the chinamen, who were some ten yards ahead of the horsemen, fell prostrate. "charge for it," shouted lord, though he could not as yet see the mysterious assailants. "don't give 'em time to load or aim"; and the seven men, pistol in hand, galloped to the mouth of the gorge. here they were greeted by a flight of arrows, launched so hastily that no one was hit. the ambush consisted of a dozen redskins, who, in obedience to the signalling, had hastened round the head of the chasm, easily arriving in time to cut off the more slowly moving party. fortunately, only two of them had firearms; and the majority, seeing at once what chance they would stand against mounted men who were desperate and well armed, fled like chamois down the slopes. three of the party were, however, speedily stopped by revolver-bullets from the horsemen, and so rendered an easy capture. then the truth, or something like it, came out. the chinamen were gold-thieves who had escaped from the mines and had fallen into the hands of the chippewyans, who cared nothing for their stolen gold but a good deal for the labour which they would have been able to extort from them. lord had neither time nor inclination to sift the matter. finding that the celestials were not so badly injured but that they could ride back to prison, he had them bound on to baggage-mules, made the three wounded indians mount behind three of his men, and so conveyed all the prisoners in triumph to the coast, where he handed them over to a military picket for a journey to vancouver jail. chapter xxiii two days in a mohawk village a very voluminous writer, and an explorer of no small repute in germany--johann georg kohl--has drawn up, from personal experience, as exhaustive an account of the mohawk section of the iroquois indians as surgeon bigsby gave of the huron and cherokee branches of that once powerful family. herr kohl spent the years - in travelling about the north-eastern portion of the united states and southern canada, and thus was able to gather some interesting and valuable information concerning the tribe, which the writers of story-books seem to have maligned very much. he shows us the mohawks of quebec as hard-working farmers, respectable traders in fur, bold hunters, and pious christians; and he reminds us that there is nothing extraordinary in all this if we take into account a century and a half of french influence at its best, together with the splendid labours of the jesuit missionary heroes. from lake champlain, herr kohl travelled across the boundary in a canadian farmer's waggon, which eventually set him down at an indian village that stood on the verge of an immense pine-forest. to be "dumped" down suddenly in a place where there is not a single white person would be disconcerting enough to any but a man of inquiring and adventurous disposition; but kohl, on learning from his companion that here was a purely native population, eagerly jumped out of the cart with his gun and his luggage and bade the farmer drive on. of course, he was stared at; but so he would have been in an english or german village; with this difference: that these mohawk women and children possessed a native politeness and readiness to oblige that few english and fewer germans can muster up. kohl spoke encouragingly to the starers; was there an inn in the place? he asked in french. no; there was not. where could he get a night's lodging then? anywhere in the village; perhaps the gentleman would like to see the chief's house, as being the largest and most fitting for his reception. a neat little old woman called a youth who was repairing a timber-trolley. "go, my son; carry the gentleman's _paquet_ and show him the chief's house." the idlers drew back, and though they continued to stare, made no attempt to follow the stranger. he began to ask questions. where were all the men? the men were at work, a few in the fields, but most of them in the forest--hunting, wood-lumbering, or clearing the traps set for foxes, squirrels, etc.; many of them would be home by sundown. the german looked curiously up the little street; nearly all the houses were on one side of it; on the other there were but four buildings; the church, which--said the lad--was visited three times a week by a french _curé_ from a neighbouring town; the school, the chief's dwelling, and the "assembly house"--a long wooden shed where public functions took place; e.g. certain games and sports, the entertaining of chiefs from a distance, tribal discussions, etc. "this is where the chief lives, monsieur," said the indian lad, pointing to a wooden hut about thirty feet square, painted a dull red, with a bright yellow door. the place was not architecturally beautiful, to be sure; but it was the residence of the ruler of the place; and, as the lad tapped at the door, the traveller began to experience the same diffidence that a stranger in london might feel in asking for a night's lodging at buckingham palace. a buxom serving-woman opened the door, and, on the boy's explaining the visit, bade him bring the luggage in and courteously asked the german to follow her into the chief's presence. kohl gave the lad about a shilling's-worth of coppers, whereat both he and the servant exclaimed. the man must be a prince! a halfpenny would have been thought a more than sufficient tip for such a task as the indian boy had performed. the woman led the way through the house--which was so ill-lighted, that anyone coming in from the bright sunshine could at first see nothing--and out by another small door to a huge space which seemed to be cornfield, garden, meadow, and orchard all in one. the back of the house was as tasteful as the front was grotesque; the porch was covered with honeysuckle, now in full bloom, and all kinds of creepers ran over the blank wall. in the middle of the garden a man was digging early potatoes. he looked round as the two walked up the path, and, to kohl's surprise, the woman introduced the potato-digger as the mohawk chief. when she had gone, the intruder entered into explanations to which the chief--a bright-eyed, gentle-looking old man--listened with polite attention. "you are very welcome," he said. "we country people are always glad to see visitors and learn all their news; strangers seldom come this way now; they go over there instead--they travel by the _chemin de fer_"; he pointed westwards, where, fifteen miles away, ran a line of railroad. "but--it must be an awful thing to go about the country like that, sir. i myself have never been in a train, thank god." he spoke the ordinary canadian _patois_, though he evidently understood kohl's parisian french quite well. "you do not travel far, i suppose?" said the white man gently. "no; i am over eighty years of age. but in my time i have been far, very far. i have traded and fought with the _inwi_" (eskimos); "i have guided white hunters through ungava; i have seen steamboats and railway trains." while he was speaking the old gentleman shouldered his fork, picked up his potato-basket, and turned towards the house. "you will like some refreshment. we do not dine till my sons return." they entered the house again, and, as soon as kohl's eyes were accustomed to the gloom, he saw that it was simply one large room. the floor was of planks, beautifully clean; and the walls were almost entirely hidden by the skins of various animals; these certainly made for snugness in winter, stopping the draught that otherwise would have come through the chinks; but the effect was more startling than artistic, for some ambitious soul had dyed or painted most of them, a magnificent elk-hide being daubed with alternate stripes of green, red, and yellow, while a black bear-skin had little yellow crosses painted all over it. two of the walls were partitioned off into a sort of loose-boxes, each six feet wide; these were the bedrooms; the light came through a hole in the roof (which was also the chimney) and from two small windows, where a clumsy attempt had been made at fitting ready-made sashes into openings that were anything but "true." near the door hung a crucifix and holy-water stoup, not ill-carved in wood; but this was the only attempt at civilised wall-decoration. the woman whom kohl had imagined to be a servant came bustling forward with a platter of cakes and a basin of cider, which she pressed on the visitor. "this is my youngest son's wife," said the chief. "i have three sons, and they and their wives live with me." "and their children?" asked kohl. "only one girl; all the others are married; and she is to be betrothed to-morrow. to-morrow we keep holiday; there will be much dancing and ball-play and feasting." then they fell to talking of the old man's early days. he could remember the time when it was still quite a new thing for the english to be regarded by the french colonists as anything but tyrants; he had heard his father talk of seeing the white soldiers of general wolfe; he himself had fought against the sioux many times. bah! the sioux were bad men; cruel men, who would not keep faith. his reminiscences were so engrossing, that kohl lost all count of the time, till the sound of footsteps, voices, and horses' hoofs past the house told him that the men were returning from their day's work. the eldest son, the future chief of the tribe, now entered. he was a very tall, lithe man, between fifty and sixty, less formal in his manner than his father, but quite as modest and agreeable. he had been superintending the carting of the hay from some distant meadows which he owned; and kohl could not refrain from smiling at the talk that went on between father and son. he had come out here prepared to see bloodthirsty robbers and torturers and bear-slayers; and behold, the chief dug potatoes, and the chief's son performed his ablutions in a bucket of water, and talked of the hay-harvest and the amount of cider consumed by the mowers that day, as if he were in kohl's native bavaria. he was now almost ready to see a telegram or a munich newspaper brought to the door. as soon as the other sons returned from their hunting, two of the women dragged a deal table from one side of the room, and all sat down to supper. this was the first time that herr kohl had seen the women sit down with the men; here it seemed a recognised thing. the unmarried granddaughter--a pretty girl of seventeen--did most of the waiting, and that by helping an enormous stew of onions, beef, chickens and hare from the pot on to wooden platters, and handing them round. forks were not used. after supper they all adjourned to the benches outside the house. the visitor had brandy and cigars in his portmanteau; and, while he handed these delicacies round, another surprise greeted him; the chief was a teetotaller! and even the sons partook very sparingly of the brandy, though they appreciated the cigars as having a flavour of town life. he was beginning to understand now why there was no inn in the place. the street was the village public-house. men sat and smoked outside the huts, or strolled up and down in twos and threes; some even squatted in the middle of the road. to-night, as there was a stranger in the place, a knot of indians stood looking on from a respectful distance at the chief's party; and presently, most of the elders of the tribe came and sat or lounged near the chief. each of these greeted the stranger with a guttural "bon soir, m'sieu'" (one or two of them promoted him to "monseigneur"). had they forgotten their own language even? for a while the talk was of the morrow's festivity, and a tall young brave, whose face was indistinguishable in the twilight, was introduced to kohl as the future bridegroom; but this topic soon flagged, and the traveller guessed, from the general turning of faces towards him, that it was "news" that everybody wanted. before he had talked many minutes he had become a personage; for he had read and travelled widely, and had the rare knack of being able to suit himself to whatever company he happened to be in. he could tell the redskins nothing of quebec city, for he had not been there; but what pleased them more than anything else was his talk of england; he had once stayed in london; had even seen their white queen. they wanted no fresher news than that, though it was more than three years old; and they let him talk till his head was nodding with sleep. after a night passed in one of the loose-boxes and between two bear-skins, he rose early and started off to the woods with the three sons of the house, who had to clear some traps a few miles away. for some time their talk mystified him, for they continually spoke of the animal for which the snares were set as _le chat_. he knew that wild cats were almost unknown so far north, and the tame ones could scarcely be so plentiful in a pine-forest as to need trapping. he asked for an explanation, which his companions laughingly gave. "we call him that because it is easier to say than _le loup cervier_; many of the french trappers call him _le lynx_. it is only lately that we have taken the trouble to catch him." "how is that?" "we must catch what the fur-dealers ask us for, sir. just now, they tell us, the white people in the towns are very fond of wearing lynx-skin as part of their dress." when they arrived at the line of traps the bavarian perceived that the mohawks' progressive notions extended even to these, for they were steel gins bearing the trade-mark of a montreal hardware firm. in all, ten well-grown lynxes were taken from the traps, which were reset and baited with fresh meat. then the four hungry men sat down to their breakfast of cold meat, barley bread, and cider, and chatted gaily over it, finding far more rational matter that they could discuss in common than the average english gentleman would often find in conversation with three average english peasant-farmers. yet kohl, who had a healthy admiration for the fighting-animal in man, was becoming conscious of a certain melancholy as he looked at his companions. of course, a mohawk who went to church, paid his taxes, and sent his children to school was a more desirable neighbour than one whose merits were reckoned according to the number of human scalps in his possession; still, one could almost have wished---- he got no farther with these reflections, for, just then, something happened that upset all his fine theorising, and proved conclusively that there is something in the old saying about scratching a russian and finding a tartar. all in a moment the indians dropped their cider-horns and sprang to their feet, shouting: "_musquaw! musquaw!_" it was almost the first native word he had heard, and it meant a black bear. peering among the trees, he at length caught sight of a large animal hastily turning his back on them and preparing to beat a retreat. the mohawks ran in pursuit like deerhounds, though all of them were over fifty years of age. their rifles--modern breech-loaders--lay to hand ready charged, but they left them behind; those were all very well for money-getting, but just now it was sport that they wanted. kohl picked up his own gun and hastened after them. they were shouting at the top of their voices--and in iroquoian; reviling the bear, daring him to turn on them, and taunting him with his cowardice; in a word, hunting as their fathers and grandfathers had done before them. each had slipped a formidable-looking hatchet from his belt, and now, as they came up with the fugitive, the youngest brother dealt him a blow across the haunches that made him stop and bellow with pain. as a rule, the _musquaw_ is a perfectly harmless beast if left alone; but, when he turns to bay, he is as ferocious and almost as strong as a grisly. maddened and almost maimed, the great brute now reared, and so suddenly, that the eldest indian, who had been aiming a similar blow to his brother's, lost his balance and fell with his head actually touching the beast's back as he rose on his hind feet. but this was only matter for laughing; he was up again in a second, and striking for the back of the bear's head, while his brothers sprang backwards or sidewards with terrier-like activity, dodging his outspread claws and awaiting an opportunity to bring him down with a blow across his snout. kohl had now reached the scene of the combat, and took up a position whence he could easily cover the enemy with his rifle, which he had just loaded with ball. but the mohawks wanted no such help as that. "no; don't fire, we would kill fifty like him," screamed andré, the second brother; and, as he spoke, his hatchet fell, cleaving the forepart of the great creature's skull. the blade stuck fast, and it was only by letting go of the haft and taking a tremendous backward spring, that he saved himself from the paw that struck out at him almost automatically. the bear was tottering now, and another blow on the back of the head from the indian behind brought him down, stone-dead. other redskins, attracted by the shouting, had now left their traps and come up, and to these was given the task of flaying the carcase and bringing home the skin; while the chief's sons, happy as a boy who has killed his first rabbit, went back for their guns. when they reached the village again, they found it _en fête_. on the wide space between the chief's house and the church, all the inhabitants had collected to do honour to the hero and heroine of the day; and, coming out from the house, were the chief, a french priest, and all the womenfolk of the family. "come along," cried the old man gaily to his youngest son; "we are only waiting for you." then ensued a quaint mingling of ancient and modern mohawk custom. much of the success of catholic missions probably lies in the fact that the clergy have never opposed those traditions and customs of savages which were in themselves innocent; here was an instance. a girl was about to become engaged to her future husband, and there was no difficulty in grafting on to the indian ceremony the mediæval religious rite of betrothal. the chief's youngest son, the girl's father, approached the lover, carrying a bow and four arrows. "my brother," he said solemnly; "you have asked to have my daughter for your wife. but, before you can take the bird to your own nest, you must catch her." he fitted an arrow to his bow and shot it so that it stuck in the ground about a hundred yards away. then, amid dead silence, he stuck a second arrow in the turf at the young man's feet, and, taking his daughter's hand, led her to where the first arrow had dropped. he shot a third arrow, this time high in the air, and it fell about twenty yards away from where the girl was standing. "will you try to catch my bird?" he shouted to the bridegroom-elect; and of course received "yes" for an answer. "then fly," and he shot his fourth arrow as a signal for the start. it was queer handicapping--a hundred yards start out of a hundred and twenty--but the girl had doubtless made up her mind beforehand. after hurrying off at full speed, in coquettish pretence of wishing to escape, she contrived to stumble, fell on her face, lay there till the happy man was within a yard or two of her, and allowed herself to be caught before she reached the goal. of course, the ceremony was a survival from a time when an indian girl received no other intimation of the wishes of the man who wanted her for his wife, and might reasonably wish to bestow her hand on some other suitor--in which case here was an escape for her; but the result of the race was received with as much applause as though everything had been real earnest. immediately afterwards, everyone went into the church; the lovers stood at the altar, and the priest read the short betrothal office (_fiançailles_) which had been introduced by the early french settlers. games and dancing followed; not the genuine indian dancing which kohl had hoped to see, but a rough imitation of the french peasants' dance; and the day ended with a great feast in the assembly house. kohl was obliged to proceed on his way in the morning, but he made many subsequent visits to this queer little community, and always found himself treated like an old friend. [illustration: a novel bridal ceremony among the mohawks a suitor must pursue and capture his bride. she is given a start, and if her lover captures her before she reaches a certain point she becomes his wife, and to bring about this happy result she coquettishly trips, or gets exhausted.] chapter xxiv canadian lake and river indians the athabaskan or athapascan family of indians may be found anywhere between alaska and manitoba, and some of the more unsettled or enterprising tribes have even wandered as far as the mexican boundary. in southern and western canada they are principally represented by the kuchins and chippewyans, hardy hunters, canoemen, and fighters, many of whom are to this day very unsophisticated in their views and habits. in the 'sixties, canada still knew little about railways; lakes and rivers were the recognised highways of travel, and the eastern chippewyans made a steady income as carriers, boatmen, and guides; to which occupations, says the rev. c. colton, they applied the same combination of energy and deliberateness that their tribe has always displayed in its hunting or its warfare. mr. colton was rector of an anglican church in new york, and, in , he set out to visit some friends who lived on the saskatchewan river--a journey similar in point of distance to that from london to moscow, or palermo to dublin. after a stay at the famous niagara falls, he embarked at buffalo for detroit, which meant a three-hundred-mile run across lake erie; then made his way to port huron, whence a little steamer would carry him to port arthur, ontario. the morning before the boat came in sight of this place, he observed quite a swarm of indians on the near bank, leaping into their canoes in the greatest excitement; none of them had guns or bows, but--which looked neither promising nor peaceable--every man had, either beside him or in his hand, a long, barb-headed spear. indians had, on many occasions, paddled out to the steamer, but it had always been with the sole object of selling fruit or furs or fish, and this was the first time that mr. colton had seen them carrying weapons of any sort. he asked the master of the boat what it meant; but neither he nor the engineer could account for the demonstration; and the four negroes who formed the crew showed by their restless motions and their inattention to everything but the three or four dozen canoes that were flocking towards the launch, that they were considerably alarmed. the only passengers besides the clergyman were three ladies, and a canadian journalist named barnes, who was returning to the british columbian gold-diggings, and who, like the rest, did not know what to make of the sudden and rapid approach of the indians. "they're chippewyans," he said. "and, by the look of it, they mean to board us. have you got a 'gun'? then take this one; i've another in my bag." "look out for yourselves and your baggage, gents," cried the yankee skipper, producing a six-shooter. "they mean to hold us up. ladies, please go into the cabin." mr. colton was dumbfounded. one minute they had been gliding easily along with no more thought of piracy or highway robbery than you have when on a thames penny steamer; the next, a revolver had been thrust into his unskilled hands with the recommendation to "look after himself." it was too absurd, yet decidedly awkward; and it would not be a mere case of driving off the canoes by a distribution of grapeshot, but--unless their engine was more powerful than chippewyan paddles--of being outnumbered by about ten to one and robbed of every cent and every thing they possessed, even if not killed. and worse was behind all this. why on earth was the boat stopping instead of steering out? stopped it certainly had, and a cursing match was in progress between the infuriated master and the engineer. in their excitement they had, between them, managed to run the steamer on to a pebble-bank. a yell of delight arose from the indians; their paddles flashed through the water with greater rapidity than ever, and in another minute the canoes were round the steamer's bows, the paddles dropped, and the spears picked up. colton had never fired a pistol in his life, but, like many of his cloth, he had a very pretty notion of using his fists when need arose, and he took his stand fearlessly by the side of the journalist, determined to sell his life dearly. barnes regarded the matter coolly; he had had many a brush with indians, and had more than once "stripped-to" and thrashed an offensive digger. "what do you want? what's your game?" he shouted to the redskins in their own dialect. "look; look!" cried the skipper. "do they conclude to stave her in?--what is it they say, boss?" sure enough, every indian was stooping low, spear in hand and point downwards, earnestly studying the water, and as much of the boat's underside as they could distinguish. a conversation was proceeding meanwhile between barnes and the indian nearest him; and all of a sudden the journalist fell back into the arms of the skipper, choking and convulsed with laughter. "_say!_" remonstrated the skipper mildly. "don't keep it all to yerself, squire; if they don't mean mischief, what the plague _do_ they mean?" "_sturgeons!_" gasped the canadian. "oh, my aunt! somebody's been plumbing them up that the 'fire-canoes' are towed along by great sturgeons. look at the noble savages." with breathless anticipation, every indian was gravely watching the water round the bows, ready in an instant to plunge his spear into the first sturgeon that came handy. "wal," said the skipper, "even then their intentions wasn't more'n middlin' benevolent, i allow. how did they calc'late we'd make any way when a neefarious gang had cleared out our propelling gear for us--_s'posing_ we was towed that way? you'd better argufy with 'em, and bring that p'int home to 'em, mr. barnes." after another conversation the journalist turned to the master. "if you'll pay out one or two tow-lines, skipper, they'll soon have us off this. i've told them it's their fault we ran aground, and that, if they don't tow us off, we shall report them at the next cavalry depôt, and they'll get hurt." no time was lost in throwing over four tow-warps, and the indians, much impressed by barnes's representation to them of the measure of their iniquity, considered themselves let off very cheaply. the canoes were divided into four lots, one to each rope, and as soon as they had "tailed-on" one to the other, the four long teams paddled with a will, and the launch--no bigger than a brighton fishing-smack--was towed free without the least difficulty. only too glad to fall in with a companion who, in addition to being a decently educated man, undoubtedly "knew his way about," mr. colton readily agreed to the young canadian's becoming his companion as far as his destination. he still had a very long journey before him, but the newness of all his surroundings and the beauty of the country made it seem all too short. sometimes they got a lift in a farm-waggon or were able to hire horses as far as the next water-way; failing these, they walked, sleeping at night at a farmhouse, or sometimes in the forest; and in this way they came to the lake of the woods, whence they would be able to travel all the way by water to the saskatchewan river, where the clergyman's journey ended. they reached the lake early one morning after having passed the night at a fur-agent's house on the minnesota boundary; and, before they were aware of it, they had walked straight into a camp of wandering chippewyans, who had been resting on the lake shore for a few days before returning northwards from disposing of their furs. evidently they were used enough to meeting with white men, for, beyond a cheery "good morning," they took no further notice till the strangers addressed them; and then it appeared that several of them spoke english or french. they had just finished their breakfast, for the fires were still smoking, and cooking utensils and broken food lay about the ground, though most of their other property had already been stowed in the canoes. "we also want to reach the saskatchewan," said barnes, when they mentioned their destination. "what reward do you ask for taking us there?" the braves conferred in a low voice, and at last the chief said: "we will take you there, and feed you by the way, for five dollars each"; which meant that, for a guinea, a man might travel four hundred miles by water, in beautiful weather, and be fed for a whole week at the least. colton was about to offer them more, but his companion checked him. "give them what you like extra at the end of the journey, but we must haggle now, or they'll think we're worth robbing"; and he actually had the face to beat the redskins down to three dollars a head, money down. "what did you get for your furs?" he asked, when his terms had been agreed to. they named a sum which was a disgrace to the white agents, for it meant that they had bought skins which the indians had toiled for months to get, and had brought all the way from the saskatchewan, for a sum that would yield about five hundred per cent profit. "you see?" he whispered to his companion. "they've no idea of values, poor chaps; a few dollars seem a gold-mine to them; and then, when a man comes along and offers an honest price without any bating, ten to one he'll be robbed and murdered because they think he's a millionaire." but the day was rapidly coming when unscrupulous persons could no longer defraud the savages; writing only ten years later, an english traveller deplores the extortionate charges made by the redskins for even the most trifling service, and points out that he could have bought furs in regent street as cheaply as they would sell them to any private individual. the two travellers paid their money, of course prepared to add liberally to it at the journey's end, and their boat was pointed out to them. the canoes were most of them very large, and capable of seating a crew and a family. the one assigned to the white strangers was manned by a chief and five braves; the other men, with their wives and children, distributing themselves pretty equally between the remaining canoes. "how will they get these down? or are they going to leave them?" asked colton, pointing to the huts, or lodges, as barnes called them. "get them down? you might as well talk about taking home empty wine-bottles and lobster claws after a picnic. they may take the matting, but i doubt it. they can make and erect a hut in less than an hour." hitherto the only indian dwellings they had passed had been huts, or else the well-known wigwams made of grass-cloth, or coarse linen; but these "lodges" were very different. they were nearly dome-shaped; more strictly, they were octagonal with a convex roof, and were constructed by eight long, slender rods of some flexible wood being stuck in the ground at equal distances; the tops were bent down till they met or overlapped, and then bound securely together with vegetable fibre. lengths of bark, cut from the paper birch, were tied over these to form a roof; and the sides were made, in some cases by hanging strips of matting from pole to pole, but more commonly by erecting thatch walls, speedily improvised with fibre and bundles of wild rice stalks, which grew like rushes in the shallows. no attempt was made to remove them, and they were left to the next comer--an altruistic practice which had its reward; for other wandering indians had done the same thing higher up the lake, and more often than not, when the flotilla stopped for the night, there was a camp of ready-made tents awaiting the travellers. all that week the two adventurers lived, like the proverbial fighting-cock, on the fat of the land: sturgeon, salmon, woodcock, wild-duck, venison, eggs, and sometimes fruit, were all to be had for the asking; for, though the chippewyans had no guns, they had spears and arrows and quick sight. the boat's crew were decent fellows, who soon lost their taciturnity and suspicion when they found the passengers kindly and conversationally disposed; and they made no demur at being asked, from time to time, to turn out of their way a little, that colton might explore one or other of the channels, side-creeks, and rivulets that form part of the complicated water-way between minnesota and the saskatchewan. on one of these experimental cruises, the explorers found themselves in an adventure which missed little of ending tragically. barnes suggested following a little stream that appeared to run parallel to the main channel, and the indians, who, of course, knew almost as little about the byways of the vicinity as their passengers, were not unready to indulge their own curiosity; if the stream did not bring them into the open water again, they could soon turn back. the banks were low and sparsely wooded, and suggested little in the shape of either game or human habitation; but these features did but add to the romance of the scene, and the two travellers were well content to go on; more particularly when they saw that ahead of them the banks promised to rise mountains high. "we are coming to a cañon," murmured an indian lazily. all the better; mr. colton had never seen a cañon worth the name. gradually the speed of the canoe quickened, and the rowers' labours became proportionately lighter; so much so that the chief looked grave. "we must go no farther," he cried. "with a current like this, there must surely be rapids ahead." "then here's one who's for going back," said the canadian, who knew, far better than his companion, what this might imply; shooting low rapids in small canoes, with indians who knew every inch of the way, was all very well; but who could say that there was not a second niagara within a few miles of them? the indians at once rested on their paddles, only to find that this did not greatly arrest the progress of the boat. for once, curiosity and indolence combined had got the better of their characteristic wariness. the chief signed to the white men to move to the other end of the boat, for there was no difference in the shape of her bows and stern, and, the weight properly adjusted, she could be worked either way and needed no turning. but even while they were obeying, the canoe moved swiftly on again; two of the indians, in the confusion, had had their paddles swept from under them for a moment by the water, the canoe swerved a little more towards midstream, and was at once caught in an irresistible current. "no good; we must take our chance now," said the chief. the note of something approaching despair in his voice was not comforting to his hearers. "come; we must make some effort," said the clergyman briskly. but his friend shook his head. "leave them alone; they won't miss a chance. they know they may do more harm than good with their paddles in a wash like this.--i say; this _is_ going it." the canoe was fairly held by the tide now, and the utmost that could be done was for the chief and the bowman to keep her head straight. the banks flew by at an appalling rate, rising higher and higher till they formed an imposing cañon. suddenly barnes whistled under his breath. "can you hear?" he said. the distant rumble which had hitherto passed unnoticed, or at least unconnected with coming danger, was swelling to a thunder roll that could only proceed from a mighty rapid. their plight was only too horribly apparent now; in the ordinary course of events, nothing could save them from the destruction awaiting them, and to attempt to make matters better by trying to reach the smoother water under either bank, would only be to make that destruction quite as sure and much more swift. and the black dots ahead, where the current split into forty currents and joined again beyond; what were they? rocks, beyond a doubt. that being the case, it was not easy to understand why the chief's morose expression suddenly grew brighter. he made a motion with his head, and one of the braves picked up and loosened a coil of rope, muttering words in dialect to the other canoemen. "o-ho! sit tight," whispered barnes. the indian had doubled his rope, so that the bight formed a loop-noose; and now, on his knees across the bottom of the boat, with the three unoccupied canoemen ready to bear a hand at a quarter of a second's notice, he was watching a spike of rock that rose two or three feet above the torrent, between which and a flat islet of stone, the current was bearing them. colton involuntarily half closed his eyes; safety was so near now; yet so sickeningly doubtful. now they were up to the passage. at any rate, the bows had not dashed on to either rock. now they were through. only a few yards beyond was a ghastly vision of boulders--a whole bed of them, over which the torrent surged and bubbled, and which they could never hope to pass. he opened his eyes wide again. if they were alongside the little pinnacle of rock, why did the indian still remain motionless? but, at that very moment, the lean brown arm shot past his head, as though the brave had struck at him; the three waiting indians fell almost on to their faces grasping at something; there was a jerk that brought a frightful spasm of pain to the face of the man who had thrown the rope, and the boat had come to a stop. the bight had fallen over the splinter of rock, and already the ends of rope had been made fast to the canoe by the three waiting redskins, while the fourth held the double line together till the chief had bound the two cords with a thong, so completing the noose. the men could now take enough breath to enable them to realise that, so far, their case was not much better than it had been. as long as the line held, they were in no danger of being dashed on to the rocks, or beyond, to the distant rapids; but they could never paddle back; and, though there was a little food in the boat, they must starve to death in a few days if they stayed here. "_there's_ the way out," said barnes confidently, after a lengthy silence. ay; it was a way out, but only such as a man of strong nerve could follow. they who dared might leap on to the flat rock on the other side of the canoe, walk across it, and, by a series of jumps, from one to another of the three stepping-stones beyond, reach a low spit of rock that ran out from the cliff foot; and from there the face of the cañon might be scaled with tolerable ease, in one place, by means of a series of ledges and boulders. "i will climb up and examine," said one of the redskins; and he leapt lightly across the awful current and began his walk over the rocks, the rest watching in breathless suspense. in half an hour he was back again, with the report that the top of the cliff was a narrow, barren hill, sloping gently down on two of its sides; would they not do well to abandon the canoe and walk back to the lake shore? this course did not recommend itself to anyone; least of all to the white men, who could not afford to leave their baggage behind. the only other plan was to land, drag the canoe as far as possible out of the current and into the fringe of smoother water, and then tow her; and this they agreed to adopt. five of the redskins were to climb up to the cliff-top, carrying a tow line, and the remaining one was to stay behind and steer. [illustration: an arduous task five of the redskins climbed up to the cliff-top carrying a tow-line, and the remaining one stayed behind to steer.] barnes and colton were for accompanying the indians; but when he came to face the six-foot leap over that roaring torrent, the clergyman, who was no longer young or very active, felt that in his case it would be sheer suicide to attempt the jump; and he stayed behind with the steersman. in so doing he well knew that he was not choosing the safer course. for, the moment the mooring rope was removed, the boat began to kick frightfully, and water was soon streaming over her bows. he caught up a copper pot and began baling for dear life, till the sweat ran out of him and his arms grew weary, and till the water had ceased to flow in. then he looked up at the other men; there they were, fifty or sixty feet above him, straining like horses going uphill, in their effort to fight the current below. what wonder that he looked almost despairingly at the tow-line--a wretched contrivance hastily rigged up by joining together all the ropes and thongs that the canoe contained? how long was it going to stand the mere strain, let alone the sawing and chafing that it must get from every abutting rock? at such a time a man can do no more than keep a stiff upper lip, and humbly leave his fate in the hands that, for wise purposes, made nature at once as beautiful and as terrible as she is. suddenly the rector was aroused by the chief's voice. "can paddle! yes! you see!" the men at the top had paused for breath, but the line was no longer so horribly taut, and the fact that the chief was beginning to propel the boat at least sufficiently to cause the rope very soon to sag, showed that the worst was over. in due time she was towed as far as the low bank and the six men were taken aboard; but mr. colton never again trusted himself down a strange river with canoemen who knew no more about it than he. chapter xxv a walk about uruguay taken as a whole the indians of uruguay are--and have ever been--a brave but peace-loving people, engaged principally in sheep and cattle-rearing. no doubt the mildness of their character and pursuits is largely due to considerations which are purely geographical; for the sea and the uruguay river together make the country almost an island, to which the argentine and brazilian indians would never venture to penetrate. further, there are--apart from the native cattle--no large or fierce wild animals. the latter fact is by no means generally known; and ignorance, or doubt of it, led the late thomas woodbine hinchcliff to take a trip across from buenos ayres to the little state in the hope of finding jaguars, pumas, or other animals more worthy of a sportsman's gun than those which he had seen round about buenos ayres. mr. hinchcliff was a london barrister, but is better remembered as the first president of the alpine club, and the man who did more than any of his contemporaries to popularise mountaineering. in , while touring in south america, he went ashore from a uruguay river steamer, quite alone and with only provisions for a couple of days, determined to explore one of the mountain forests, and, if possible, to reach san josé, the largest of the inland towns. a fourteen-mile walk across a well-wooded plain brought him in sight of a gaucho farmstead, where he was made very welcome and persuaded to stay the night; and it was here that he learned the futility of attempting to find any big game shooting in the country, and that there was nothing special to see at san josé. in consequence, he altered his course in the morning, making direct for the most accessible of the mountain forests, and, arrived here, he wandered about with the ecstasy of a man who has discovered an earthly paradise. it was the amazon forest over again, with all its beauties and advantages and none of its drawbacks; a climate similar to that of algiers, a wealth of fruit and flowers and streams and birds; and no deadly swamps, no suffocating heat, no jaguars or alligators, and apparently no snakes. he made his dinner of fruit and continued his wanderings, with a result that he might well have foreseen: when night came, he was utterly lost. he slept sweetly enough, however, under a tree, and after a hearty breakfast, continued his wanderings. by evening he came to an outlet, and found himself on an undulating grass plain, but, as no habitation was in sight, he finished his provisions and philosophically resigned himself to another night in the fresh air. he awoke early, conscious of two things; the one that he was hungry, the other that a beast whose like he had never seen, in or out of a show, was gravely inspecting him from a distance of a few feet. was it a bull, or a bison, or a nightmare? without question it had the body of a bull, but the face was far more like that of a bull-dog, for the nostrils were placed high up, and the lower jaw protruded in such a fashion, that the teeth showed ferociously, whether the mouth was closed or open. he reached for his gun, which he had laid ready loaded on going to bed; the beast looked well capable of goring or trampling him to death at less than a minute's notice. but even while, half sitting, half lying, he took aim for the creature's eye, a general lowing sounded from farther down the hill, and the bull turned and ran swiftly down the slope. the bewildered englishman arose and was now able to learn the cause of the lowing. a dozen mounted indians were in the valley, their horses standing motionless, while two more, approaching from the left and right sides of the hill, were seeking to frighten a small herd of the remarkable-looking animals into the valley. the bull, no doubt the recognised protector of his tribe, whom curiosity had betrayed into a momentary neglect of duty, had heard the bellowings of alarm, and was hastening to the defence of his kindred. but even as he charged wrathfully down the hill, the nearer of the indians made a motion with his arm, and he fell with a crash that was distinctly audible to the spectator above; while the second indian, spurring his horse and bawling at the top of his voice, rode straight at the retreating cattle; these, of course, became panic-stricken and ran helter-skelter down towards the spot where the unruffled horsemen were awaiting them with lassoes. from his vantage ground, hinchcliff watched the proceedings with breathless interest. for a minute or so a whole maze of lassoes showed against the background of the next slope, curling and twirling; then the herd fled, some right, some left; some to rush away out of sight, others to be pulled up in mid-career by the fatal thong that had been deftly thrown over their horns; and so suddenly and sharply, that in most cases they fell to the ground. the englishman walked quickly towards his particular bull, which lay roaring piteously, but the animal was up again before he could reach him; the indian had dismounted, slipped a noose over the roarer's head, and untwisted from his forelegs what hinchcliff at once recognised as a _bolas_--three thongs of equal length, the upper ends joined, the lower loose, and each terminating in a ball of metal or heavy wood. the redskin, whose only garment was a pair of loose-fitting trousers made of deer-skin, looked inquisitively at the stranger and gave him a respectful "good morning" in spanish; adding to the bull, which was beginning to toss his head and stamp, "useless, old friend; useless; we have coveted you this many a day," and even while he spoke he vaulted across his horse and started away at a breakneck speed, dragging his captive after him, willy-nilly. by the time the pedestrian reached the valley, the prisoners seemed to have become sullenly reconciled to their fate, for they were making no attempt to struggle, and some had even begun to crop the grass at their feet, leaving their captors free to inspect the stranger. hinchcliff told them, in spanish, that he had lost his way and wanted some breakfast. "it is many miles to our town," said the young man who had caught the disturber of his peace; "but we shall breakfast here when we have made our cattle fast. you are welcome to share our food." his companions echoed the invitation, and, the cattle being secured to the neighbouring trees, the indians seated themselves by a pool and shared their breakfast of chocolate-cake, bread and beef with their guest, who now began to notice the queer bulls and cows more closely. the hind legs were markedly longer than the front ones, and, whenever they moved, they seemed to be looking for pasture, for they persistently kept their heads low and their necks sloping. "we call them _niata_," was the reply to a question of his. "the best and youngest will be kept for breeding; the rest will be slaughtered for _carne seca_." _carne seca_, the very meat to which the hungry englishman was doing such abundant justice, is beef dried in the sun; and for the last fifty years, uruguay has been exporting immense quantities of it all over south america. the _niata_ cattle are peculiar to uruguay and la plata, and are probably the only kind indigenous to south america. when breakfast was finished, the question naturally arose, whither did the señor wish to be guided? in point of fact, the señor had seen quite enough of the woods and hills for one while, and lost no time in making up his mind that he would like to visit their village, provided there was some means of riding there. one of the indians pointed to his horse. "neither of us is very heavy; you can ride behind me. if you hold by my waistband you will be perfectly safe." it was a method of locomotion new to the explorer; but now that the morning was growing warm and he was away from the shade of the forest, it would be decidedly preferable to walking; and he meekly mounted behind this good samaritan. at starting, the cattle became obstinate for a while; but superior force and intelligence prevailed; the horses were not the deplorable scarecrows of the argentine, but stout, well-fed animals, that understood the business of catching and driving refractory bulls as well as their masters; and they closed in on the _niata_, hustling them with knees and shoulders, till they were glad enough to walk in sober fashion. all the same, the journey to the indian town was not to be entirely void of adventure. outside the village was a stream some forty feet wide, deep, but easily fordable in some places; and this would have to be crossed. "we always swim our horses across," said hinchcliff's companion; "but if we have cattle with us, it is safer to go a little out of our way to this ford. why, good lord! only last year one of our men was killed--cut nearly in halves, if the señor will believe me--through a bull hanging back on the bank after his horse had started to swim. the horse took fright, and backed so that the man got the lasso drawn round him and--bah!" cattle and horses plunged into the water and all landed safely on the other side without more ado, except the horse that carried the two men. whether it was that he was less used to the water, or was merely restive at the unaccustomed weight, it was impossible to say; but, when he was about a fifth of the way across, he stopped and began to kick; and the englishman, with the gruesome story of the man who was sawn through by a lasso still in his mind, felt that he was in no enviable position. "sit tight, señor," shouted the indian, putting the bridle into his hand and jumping down so suddenly, that hinchcliff had barely time to clutch at the saddle and steady himself. "keep his head straight; don't let him jib." then water began to splash liberally in the face of the disobedient horse, which immediately plunged forward, stopping whenever the splashing ceased. the englishman could not refrain from throwing an inquiring glance over his shoulder, and then he was very much tempted to burst out laughing; for the indian, up to his shoulders in water, was grasping the animal's tail with one hand, and beating the water into his face with the other. and so, with much patience, horse and rider and helmsman landed on the other bank. the town, its inhabitants and their actions, were very much what hinchcliff had seen in brazil and the argentine; very orderly and simple and not too cleanly. the people refused to take any money for their hospitality, and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded the chief, on bidding him good-bye the next day, to accept a small sum to hold in trust for any one of his subjects who might happen to be in want. the truth is, that where they have not been demoralised by white people, savage tribes are usually simple enough in their habits; none of them is ever in want, and poverty, as understood in civilised countries, is almost unknown. a man works (or, more properly speaking, makes his wife work) not for a fixed sum, but for the necessaries of life merely; and the indian tribes, whether of north or south, have little of the insatiable cupidity of the asiatic or the negro. after a night in the village, hinchcliff set out to find his way back to the river by a different route, avoiding the woods and endeavouring to follow a faintly-marked horse-track over the grassy hills. this procedure nearly led him into a difficulty far more serious than that of losing his way in a luxuriant forest, for he missed his road and got on to one where there was no sign of a stream, and where the pools had nothing but dry mud to offer him, so that he went all the afternoon and night without tasting a drop of water. he woke before daybreak, almost delirious, and set off at the best pace he could contrive for some low-lying land, which he had failed to notice overnight. all at once a strongly built indian started up from the ground fifty yards in front of him, and, after one look at him, began to flee down the hill. "stop! i want you; i want water," shouted hinchcliff. the fleeing figure turned its head as though straining to catch the words, but still ran on. then the thirsting man grew desperate, and, determined to make the man help him to find water, raised his gun and pretended to take aim at him. immediately the fugitive stopped. "water!" shouted hinchcliff. "i have lost my way, and am dying of thirst." the indian appeared to reflect for a moment, and at last made towards his pursuer, disengaging a large water-gourd from his belt as he walked. "what made you run away?" panted the englishman, when he had emptied the gourd at one draught. "i saw your gun and i was frightened. we do not like firearms, señor; and here in the lowlands we seldom see white men.--you have lost your way, you say?" "yes; i want to reach the river." "i am going that way and will show you it; it is but a few miles. but first, with your permission, i will finish what i was doing when i caught sight of you." he sat down, and from a round wooden box, began to cover his fingers liberally with a lard-like substance which he proceeded to rub over his face, shoulders, breast, arms, and waist. "i have been much indoors, lately; sick," he explained; "and the insects trouble me greatly. they will not sting through this ointment. some of our more ignorant people use mud instead; but i--i have lived in towns at times; i am more learned." the indian was, in truth, a very intelligent man, and hinchcliff found him a most interesting companion. he soon discovered a stream where they could drink their fill; he asked questions about the weapons that had frightened him so much, and even so far overcame his fear of firearms as to offer to carry the gun a little way; an offer that was declined with thanks. when the wonderful instrument brought down a fine young ostrich for dinner, the unsophisticated fellow actually put his lips to the barrel. quick to turn his hand to any open-air work, he plucked and cleaned the bird and collected sticks and dry pampas grass for the fire; whereupon another surprise awaited him; for hinchcliff was growing very short of matches, and was in the habit of economising them by using a burning-glass for lighting his pipe and his fire. and this was the only occasion on which an indian ever asked him for anything, even indirectly; on receiving a hint that his companion would give the world to possess such a wonderworking implement, he handed it to him readily enough; for, if necessary, he could easily use one of the lenses of his field-glass for getting a light. shortly before sunset, as the two trudged along towards the river, which had long been in sight, the indian, after a sudden glance behind him, set off at a sharp run, making for a tiny valley that opened between the hills on his left. "_now_ what?" shouted the astonished englishman. as he turned to look back, the sound of approaching horses caught his ear, and he saw an indian and three gauchos riding at full speed, followed closely by a man who rode like a european. they wheeled for the valley at once, and reached it long before the fleeing indian, who turned back shrieking towards hinchcliff. "shoot, señor; for the love of all the saints; shoot them dead; they are bad men," he gasped in an agonised voice. this was rather a large call on a man who came from a country where to shoot people is a capital crime; but the piteous appeal for help in the fugitive's face was irresistible. if an englishman is averse to taking pot-shots at strangers, he is generally quite as loth to see the weaker side go to the wall. while he was asking himself what was the best thing to do, the foremost gaucho made a sudden motion with his arm, the noose of a lasso dropped over the indian's head, and he was jerked over on to his back. at sight of the bulging eyes of the half-strangled victim, hinchcliff pulled out his knife and was about to slash the thong through, when the second gaucho, springing to the ground, flung himself in the way and presented a pistol. "we are acting under orders," he said. "be careful what you do.--all right; loose him and tie his hands, juan." "you are sure that's your man?" asked the european stranger, hurrying up. he had spoken in such execrable spanish, that hinchcliff said unceremoniously: "englishman, aren't you?" "yes; i am british vice-consul for this district. question for question--is this a friend of yours?" "no; merely a paid guide; but----" "then you don't know that he is the cleverest thief and prison-breaker in uruguay, if what these fellows say is true. i only met them by accident a little higher up; but i know it's a fact that an indian prisoner broke loose from san josé gaol the other day." "there's no mistaking _him_," said the man who was binding the prisoner. "but let the tracker decide." (a "tracker" is an indian who hires himself out as a sort of blood-hound, to catch horse-thieves, stray cattle, etc.) "he knows him well enough." no mistake had been made; the simple--but teachable--indian was the man who was wanted; and a most respectable barrister of the inner temple had spent a whole day chatting affably with a notorious criminal, who would assuredly have robbed him of his gun and money had the opportunity arisen. chapter xxvi the exploration of the salado valley when poor charles mansfield made his journey up to the unknown chaco, he passed, on his way, a district equally unknown at that time: the valley of the salado river, which remained unexplored till , when hutchinson, the african traveller, traced the river to its source. thomas hutchinson, f.r.s., had been appointed british consul at rosario in , and, before leaving england, had been instructed by the foreign secretary (earl russell) to take the first opportunity of exploring the salado and its basin, and to test the truth of the report that the indian territory there abounded in wild cotton. it was not till the following year that he could spare time for a task which might occupy an indefinite period; and then he ascended the parana by steamer as far as parana city, rode across to santa fé, which is on the salado river, and there began to make inquiries. generally, a man on such an errand finds plenty of people ready to pour cold water on his schemes and to draw his attention to innumerable obstacles; but this time the reverse was the case. though he could find none of the inhabitants who had ever been more than a few miles higher up than santa fé, when he returned to his hotel that evening, the landlord informed him that a gentleman who was now in the smoking-room had just arrived by private steamer from buenos ayres, and had been asking the same question as himself: did anyone know anything of the upper part of the salado? the stranger was one, don ruberta, a young argentino engineer who had studied in london; he had been making a survey of the colorado and rio negro, and aspired to do the same on the salado. he proposed starting on the following morning, and at once begged the consul to accept the hospitality of his little launch; and so it came about that outlying guaranis, quiteños, and chiquitos were enabled to behold a steam vessel--and probably an englishman--for the first time. the crew, which consisted of a portuguese engineer and three zambos, were as ignorant of the neighbourhood as their employer; but the main charm in river exploration lies in the fact that, so long as rapids, or dilemma-like forks, or mud-banks do not intervene, you have but to follow your nose. on the first day they passed sundry indians in canoes, but these evinced no excitement or curiosity. don ruberta had divided his coal into two parts, and meant, if necessary, to steam for as long as the first half held out. at night the vessel stopped from dark till dawn, to avoid mud-banks, and in order that the explorers might miss nothing that could be of importance. by the middle of the second day they came to a _rancheria_, or collection of gaucho huts, standing about a mile back from the left bank; and, as it looked as if some valuable information might be obtained here, the two men landed and strolled up the hill. the place was a very large horse-farm, but the gauchos could tell them little or nothing of what they wanted to know, for their trade was all with santiago or cordoba, and they never had occasion to use the river. but one of the employés, a quiteño indian who hailed from the bolivian frontier, said modestly that he could tell the señors all they needed to know about the river. "then will you come with me as pilot for a few days?" asked ruberta. "i will come--that is, if you are well armed. for there are wild people higher up, who eat man's flesh; they run from guns, but they do not fear arrows unless there are many bowmen. then, too, there are the river chiquitos, who may blow poisoned darts at us unless we keep them at a distance." no objection was raised by the gauchos, to whom hutchinson gave a small money present, and the indian retired to "pack up." the luggage with which he very shortly reappeared was doubtless cumbersome; but then it comprised all that he needed, whether for a journey to the united states, or for setting up housekeeping permanently. over his shoulders were slung bow, quiver, blanket, lance, and copper pot; in one hand he carried a hatchet, a bundle of lassoes, and two bolas; in the other, some spare thongs, a well-seasoned paddle, a pair of stirrups, each as big and wellnigh as heavy as the skidpan of a waggon-wheel, the sharpened angles of which did duty for spurs; while at his belt hung a knife and a deer-skin pouch, the latter containing flint and steel, palmetto-leaves, tobacco, and a little bag of dried _maté_. happy quiteño; he was ready for any emergency; whether fighting, boat-building, horse-catching, or beast-slaying! of the launch he had not much opinion; if it did not sink with all that weight of machinery, it would catch fire at any moment; nothing would persuade him to sleep in the tiny forecastle with the zambos, and he passed the night wrapped in his blanket on deck. the _rancheria_, he said, was the last civilised spot they would pass, for tucuman was many days' journey away from the water; so was salta; and, after that, the river became only a stream, running through the territory of the aymaras. the cotton he knew nothing about, which, from hutchinson's point of view, was awkward, as it would mean many landings and perhaps many fruitless searches. the next morning the consul woke soon after dawn, to find the guide peering through the hatch of the little after-cabin where he and ruberta slept. "the man-eaters have come," whispered the quiteño; "they have been watching us all night, i suppose. if you bring your gun you can kill many of them." hutchinson went on deck and looked towards the nearer bank, which was about eight yards away. crouching behind the reeds were some fifty indians. he called out to them in spanish; they made no answer, but slunk backwards a few steps up the slope, so bringing themselves into full view. they were of medium height, stark naked, with no ornaments whatever, and armed only with short spears. the explorer had seen niger savages and fuegians, but neither had the debased, abject look of these men. "speak to them in your tongue. tell them we mean no harm," he said. the quiteño obeyed, and it was plain that they at least partially understood him. "the dogs!" he said scornfully. "they think our boat is alive. may i kill them, señor?" "rubbish. tell them i and my friend are coming on shore after breakfast.--ah, señor don; here are the cannibals, you see." "what do they say?" asked ruberta, laughing. "the dogs!" reiterated the guide. "they say that my people kill and eat them;" and he would have unslung his bow, but that hutchinson stayed him. "tell them we will do them no harm, and that we are only coming to look for flowers; but that if they attempt to injure us we shall kill them." this menace was more to the indian's taste, and he delivered the latter part of it with unction. "they say they are not afraid of _you_, gentlemen, because you have no bows. it is i whom they fear." the crew had now come on deck, and at their appearance, one by one from the bowels of the boat as it were, the savages retreated still farther. the zambo cook, as usual, laid the explorers' breakfast on deck. "let's test them with a little christian diet," said ruberta, flinging a bunch of bananas towards the inquisitive crowd, who at once scrambled for it. those who succeeded in getting one of the fruits ate it greedily, rind and all, which told a tale: there was no fruit about here, and the savages, not having energy or courage to travel, had never tasted such a delicacy. hutchinson cut off a thick round of cold ham and threw it after the bananas. the man who captured it took a big bite, and while he coughed and spluttered at it, his neighbour snatched the remainder from him, and was soon coughing in like manner. they had never tasted salt. "try them with bread," said ruberta to the cook, who took a steaming cake from his frying-pan and threw it on the bank. but no one picked it up. already the smoke from the engine-funnel had surprised if not terrified them. "they think it is alive," said the quiteño, "because it steams. they are not men, señors; they are monkeys; they do not understand half what i say to them, and i suggest that your excellencies should kill them all." hutchinson had already taken it for granted that they did not understand all that was said, for accustomed to listening attentively to uncivilised speech, he had detected in theirs that continual repetition of certain sounds, which argues a scanty vocabulary. when breakfast was finished he filled his pipe, and ruberta rolled up a cigarette; this brought the indians a pace nearer again, and made them stand on tiptoe; but when one of the white men struck a match they sprang back again, and, at sight of the smoke issuing from the strangers' lips, they set up a chorus of little shrieks that suggested even more fear than surprise; and was repeated with double vigour when the quiteño and the crew also "lit up." that an indian, of all people, had never seen smoking told a tale in itself. "now draw in, pedro," said ruberta to his engineer, who backed his engine, making towards a natural landing-place which had been observed on the previous night. "diego; tell them once more we will not hurt them." the quiteño repeated the message, which seemed to be received with indifference; but, as he leapt ashore, every spear was poised, and levelled at him. "come back. ask them what's the matter," said hutchinson. diego jumped back to the deck. "they are saying that i want to kill them with my spear and arrows." "well, then, let them see you lay them down." "i cannot go without my arms, señor." "stupid fellow; borrow señor pedro's revolver, but hide it in your pouch; if they see it, they'll want it, because it shines." then the explorer, versed in the ways of such people, held up a string of bright beads. he might as well have held up a turnip, for all the excitement or cupidity it created; and some scarlet cloth met with no better reception. "shall i try them with these, señor?" said the zambo cook, coming aft with a small basket of yesterday's fish which he had been keeping for bait. _that_ they understood; their eyes brightened a little--a very little; and, as the half-breed threw each raw and anything but fresh fish to them, it was scrambled for and greedily devoured. the quiteño now jumped a second time; the indians started distrustfully, but did not threaten him with their spears, and the two white men followed him, their hands prudently on their hidden revolvers. the savages chattered excitedly, but still made no offensive motion. "ask them about the cotton, diego," said the argentino. "tall yellow flowers, with purple spots, tell them." "yellow? what? flowers? we eat them," was the lucid reply which diego obtained. the truth was, the poor wretches were so degraded and helpless, that apart from obeying such elementary instincts as eating and killing, they knew nothing, thought nothing, understood nothing. they ate anything that they could chew or swallow: flowers, roots, slugs, beetles, and such fish, birds, or reptiles as they had the wit to kill; perhaps they filled their stomachs with mud upon occasion, as many savages are said to do; perhaps they actually were cannibals, and, like some of the fuegians, ate their dead relatives instead of burying them. altogether it was a sad spectacle; sadder still if one reflects that they may possibly have had in their veins the blood of a once powerful people. as the strangers advanced, the indians drew off, walking backwards and at a similar pace to theirs. the bank gave on to a shrub-dotted plain, covered with flowers of all colours, and, in patches, with giant thistles. snipe started up from the ground at the sound of the voices; in the distance were a few ostriches and wild cattle; but as the only weapon which the natives seemed to possess was this kind of club with a fish-bone point bound to it with a strip of fish-skin, it is probable that neither birds nor beasts suffered much at their hands. this visit was not thrown away, for hutchinson soon found enough wild cotton to encourage the hope that there was more in the neighbourhood. meanwhile, ruberta asked how the savages caught their fish. it turned out that they had even forgotten how to make lines, let alone hooks; they had no boats, and were dependent on spearing such fish as came under the banks from time to time. where the poor souls lived was a mystery; not a habitation of any sort was visible. only once more did they show anger or animation. diego was questioning them, when all of a sudden they stopped and extended their spears, as if to bar the intruders' passage; and, for a moment, their wooden expression gave place to something like ferocity and rage. "what have you been saying to them?" asked hutchinson anxiously. "i merely asked what they had done with their women and children." the question was indiscreet, as the explorer could have told him; but their mode of answering it was interesting, as showing that the poor fellows had some little sense of proprietorship, if not of the duty of protecting those who should be dependent on them. most likely they had sent the women and children away, on finding that strangers were in the neighbourhood--a sign of suspicion, if not of meditated war, common among all indians from the eskimos to the fuegians. "they needn't think we're likely to want to marry into their tribe," said ruberta. "i think we have seen about enough of them now. let's get rid of them." he drew his revolver and fired into a flock of wild duck that were making for the water. a startled scream rose from all the indians; they turned and fled for perhaps fifty yards; then stopped and looked back; but just then the three zambos who were loitering on the bank began running towards their employer, thinking the report was a danger signal; and this completed the panic of the savages, who fled over the nearest hill and were seen no more. the launch proceeded another two days' journey up the river, and this brought the travellers in sight of the distant peaks of the andes. it was a positive relief here to meet with indians who could help themselves, after the animal-like beings seen lower down. they began to pass canoes, and sometimes neat and prosperous villages peopled by christian guaranis and quiteños; and now, as ruberta wanted to stop and make geological researches, hutchinson decided to continue the journey by land, and, taking diego with him, agreed to return to the launch in a few days' time. diego enlivened the journey; he chatted, hunted, introduced his master to various wandering indians, as well as surprised him by his dexterity in the use of the bolas. he had consented to leave his paddle, cooking-pot, and spear in the boat, but could not be prevailed upon to part with his lassoes, bolas, and stirrups. such indians as he are almost lost without a horse, and he showed hutchinson before long that he meant to have one. as though to keep his hand in, he practised from time to time on the ostriches with his bolas, bringing down the ungainly birds with perfect ease from a distance of sixty or seventy yards. the weapon used for such work as this was lighter than that described in the last chapter, and consisted of only two joined thongs, the balls being pebbles covered with leather. at the next village hutchinson found that an ox-waggon was about to start for the spot which he wished to reach, and, having little admiration for the domestic horses of the neighbourhood, and no ambition to ride one of the wild ones which diego was so confident of catching, he resolved to travel in this manner. but diego had a soul above such a conveyance, and, that very evening, while the oxen were being unyoked, he stole away towards a small group of horses that were browsing on the plain. it was becoming a question of "do or die" with him now, for every step was taking the travellers farther from the region where horses are to be seen in any numbers. the consul had many times seen a lasso used from the saddle, but he could not understand how master diego proposed to catch a horse while he was on foot; and he watched him eagerly through his field-glass. crawling on his belly, the quiteño patiently worked his way towards the nearest horse, and no sooner did the animal turn his back on him, than he sprang up, and the noose had secured him. so far, so good; but did diego expect the animal to follow him like a pup on the lead, or a donkey in the shafts? thought the consul. the horse gave a wild spring, and, for a second, the indian was almost dragged off his feet; then he began to "play" his capture. diego was a fine-looking man, over six feet high, and with limbs as hard as a stone, though they were so slender; and he had no hesitation in pitting his own strength against the horse's. with infinite patience he stood, the centre of a circle, while the frightened creature ran off his first fit of energy, round and round his captor; then, having spied a clump of trees not far away, the quiteño let himself be dragged towards these; and, before the horse had realised that he was running to his doom, the lasso had taken a turn round the nearest trunk and was soon hitched there immovable. by morning the prisoner was in a humbler frame of mind, and, under pressure, submitted to be loose-hobbled; diego vaulted on to his back without thought of saddle or bridle, and, holding his mane, buffeted him so mercilessly over the face and withers, that hutchinson was tempted to serve him the same. less than half an hour of this management made the animal sufficiently tractable to submit to being saddled; and, with the skid-pan stirrups, the rest was perfectly easy--and disgusting. chapter xxvii business and pleasure on the llanos south america is the land of revolution and civil war, and venezuela has not been far behind the other republics in its indulgence in such pastimes. in , five out of seven provinces that had been enrolled the previous year seceded, and the commander-in-chief, general paez, was kept busy between subduing seceders and warding off colombian invasion. it is common enough to find an english gentleman filling any imaginable capacity, from highest to lowest, in america; but one is scarcely prepared to meet, on the llanos, a young venezuelan speaking or writing the language of an educated englishman, and carrying into his fighting, his hunting and his dealings with the indians all the best traditions of manliness and fair play characteristic of our public schools. yet such a man "might have been seen" (as ainsworth or g. p. r. james would say) riding beside the republican general as his secretary and aide-de-camp. this was young ramon paez, the general's nephew, who, on account of his father's exile, was brought up mainly in england, and educated at stonyhurst; and who, after taking an arts degree at london university, returned to his own country and joined his uncle in the north-west of venezuela, in . late in the year, while they were quieting the colombian frontier, he received a commission which would have made an english aide-de-camp stare; his uncle sent for him, and told him without preliminary that he was to ride back to the orinoco plains, catch three thousand wild horses, and bring them to the camp for the extra cavalrymen who had enlisted. "take three troopers with you; it is all i can spare; it will probably be enough." of course, ramon paez did not question his last remark, but he had his own opinion on the subject. "you can take three extra horses; two to carry your provisions, and the third you can load up with presents for the indians." so; it was the indians who were to do the work! young paez had almost left them out of his calculations. the presents--beads, knives, briar pipes, condemned small arms, etc.--were soon collected and packed, and the four men rode away in search of natives and horses. the indians were not easy to find; at least not the indians of the right sort; of the wrong sort--idlers, camp-followers, and hangers-on, who had quarrelled with hard work the day they were born and never become reconciled--there were plenty. but it was not till they reached the orinoco and had travelled down it for a couple of days, that they came across any who looked like the men they wanted. these were fishing, and the workmanlike way in which they went about their task augured well for the success of the aide-de-camp's mission. he entered into conversation with them and learned that, some miles farther south, horses of a very fine breed were plentiful; and, after a hint from him as to pecuniary reward and a probable distribution of presents, they agreed to refer the matter to their cacique, and if he should raise no objection, to start on the morrow. the young venezuelan watched the native sport with keen interest, for, till lately, he had seen nothing of the kind since his childhood. the net--a kind of ground-seine--was rectangular, with a square flap at either end, and the back weighted at right angles to the bottom; in fact, while it was down, it might be likened in shape to an enormous box which has had the lid and one of its sides removed. it was shot from two canoes about fifty yards from the bank, its back and ends being stiffened and kept in place by canes, or lengths of _palma morice_ stalks. when it had been down for about half an hour, the two canoes--strictly keeping pace with one another--moved so slowly towards the bank, that scarcely a ripple was made; the tow-lines were thrown ashore, and the net dragged into the shallow. considering the marvellous variety of fish which the orinoco possesses, the result was a little disappointing to an onlooker; for the catch, though very large, consisted almost entirely of but two kinds: the electric eel, and a creature peculiar to tropical south america--the _payara_--the size of a small salmon; this had its lower jaw supplied with fangs, which the indians said cut like razors. as the net was pulled into the shallows, an indian waved his hand warningly to the four soldiers who were standing by. "be careful, gentlemen; beware of the _caribe_! pray stand farther back; your red sashes will attract them." as he spoke, some small fish leapt out of the water and into the net. "quick; quick with the forks!" half a dozen long slender canes, each ending in two metal prongs like those of a carving-fork, were instantly produced, and it was soon plain enough why such implements were required. those few little green fish, so beautifully barred with red and orange, were like bulls in a china shop; they leapt, wriggled, or swam about the net, biting first the fish and then the net as viciously as rats; and paez stared to see mesh after mesh snapped through before the indians could eject them with their forks. "if they could have got near you they would have bitten you in the same manner," said the principal of the fishermen, when he had got rid of the last of the _caribes_. "anything red will attract them. we dare not attempt to swim a spurred horse through here, for he would be bitten to death, or till he was mad, before he reached the other side. i have seen a white man killed by them, merely because he happened to have a red scratch on his leg when he entered the water." * * * * * the cacique was interviewed, and not only granted permission for the whole tribe to go on the hunting expedition, but announced his own intention of going; and, early the following morning, they all started southwards with a good supply of lassoes. the indians--one of the cariban tribes--were the finest horsemen paez had seen; and this was the more noteworthy, inasmuch as the caribs as a whole care little for riding; many of those of the forest regions and of the central american mountains have never seen such a thing as a horse; and we know that the cavalry of the spanish adventurers terrified the sixteenth-century caribs as much as pyrrhus' elephants disconcerted the romans and their horses. yet these venezuelan natives rode as if they had been born on horseback, and made no more ado of eating their dinner while they were in the saddle than as though it had been an arm-chair. the nearer the cavalcade drew to the softer grass of the llano, the more wild horses they saw; and paez, who had never yet used a lasso, was for making his maiden effort on one of these; till the cacique warned him that "horses can tell things to each other;" and that these scouts, if chased, would easily escape and caution the larger herds, thereby lengthening out the hunt by an extra week or more. but at length they saw enough of the animals to satisfy the most wary of caciques; they could only be counted by the herd; it seemed as though all the horses in america had been turned out to grass on this particular spot. from the matter-of-fact way in which the three troopers went to work, the chief saw at once that they had little to learn from his tribe; but he bade paez, in fatherly fashion, to keep close to him and "watch how he did it." the young officer's riding was perfect; but, after his first one or two efforts with the lasso, he was tempted to forswear horse-catching. the thing would not go right; either he ran his noose too small, or too large, or it fell short, or missed wildly; or, worse still, got in the way of the other hunters, so that they gave him a wide berth. however, he persevered, and towards the close of the first day, actually succeeded in dropping the noose over the head of a fine black stallion; and in imagination he saw himself bestriding him proudly, to the envy of all his mess. but the beautiful creature, finding the thong about him, gave a leap that seemed to tear his captor's saddle from under him; then another, that almost pulled the ridden horse off his feet; then sped across the plain as though he moved on wings. ramon paez was certainly as strong as most young men of one-and-twenty who lead active outdoor lives, and he had distinguished himself in every variety of english sport from boxing to ferreting; but he could no more stop or haul in this wild horse, than he could have lassoed the flying dutchman. the line was as taut as a fiddle-string, and his own mount, unused to such diversions, was being drawn along irresistibly. how much farther did the outraged beast intend to drag horse and rider? "let him run himself out, señor," bawled one of his troopers, as the stallion fled past the outer line of hunters. the recommendation was superfluous, for this was the very thing the noble animal seemed to intend doing. he galloped another half-mile, then changed his mind, as though the strangulation were beginning to tell on him. he swung straight round as if resigned to the notion of going back to the rest, hesitated, then caught the slackening thong in his teeth and bit at it as savagely as a wild ass. naturally the beginner at once turned his own horse, meaning to pay his prisoner out in his own coin; and spurring vigorously, headed towards the central part of the hunt. but this did not please the irate captive, and, after useless efforts to stand--first on his dignity and then on his head, he made a dead weight of himself for an instant, then took several successive bounds forward, easily outstripping his tormentor and slackening the pressure of the noose. "is the brute going to dance?" don paez asked himself wrathfully. this was just what the brute was going to do; not after the common or circus fashion, but with the fixed idea of crushing the lad's arm with his great jaws. the young man's fine horsemanship was the only thing that could now save him from a bite which would not only mangle a limb, but would probably lead to blood-poisoning--a disease not exactly sought after in england, and almost sure to be fatal in the tropics. he backed, and the line tightened; but the stallion was on him again in another spring. he backed once more, dodged to the right, to the left, waved his arm at the infuriated creature, but to no purpose; and, though he would have bitten his tongue out before he would own himself beaten, by shouting for help, he felt that he was playing a losing game. there was just one chance left for him, and that was to spur his already enfeebled horse to a gallop and race his antagonist. never did derby competitor work a horse more recklessly; don paez spurred and smote, smote and spurred, and only to lose at one minute the start he had gained the minute before; only just now he had been endeavouring might and main to slacken the lasso; now he would have given a five-pound note to feel it taut. suddenly his horse seemed to turn round like a wheel, he had a confused vision of the sky falling on him, then of the earth coming up to meet him, and he and the horse lay on the ground together. he had obeyed his instinct to kick himself free from the stirrups, and so fell clear of the horse and escaped with only a severe shaking. then he looked up and saw the cause of his fall; an old carib, who had watched his struggle from a distance, had pegged down his own capture, galloped across and neatly dropped a second lasso over the head of the rebellious wild horse. the next few nights, all camped out on the llano, and by the end of the week, were ready to start for the camp with fully three thousand horses. south american ways with animals are not our ways, and indian methods of taming and transporting horses are not such as english readers love to hear of;[ ] it will be sufficient to say that, for transport, the captives were yoked up in long teams, each horse being thong-hobbled on his fore-legs. [ ] a full account of wild horse-taming will be found in the writer's "adventures among the wild beasts." horse-hunting was not the only species of sport which don paez witnessed among the caribs. on the journey to the camp, it became necessary to replenish the food-supply, and he accompanied six of the indians on one of their curious deer-hunts. as a preliminary, the hunters made a call at a native village and each returned with a small bundle in his hand. "they are our masks," said the cacique, who was of the party. "some of our people hunt with an ox, but you will see that the mask is as effective. i have brought one for you, señor commandante. will you put it on?" [illustration: crane stalking-masks on the llanos the indians use masks made of the head and feathers of the crane, then, imitating the actions of the bird searching for snakes and other reptiles among the reeds and grasses of the river bank, wait until the unsuspecting deer come down to drink, when they form an easy target for their arrows.] paez had already humoured the indians by leaving his gun at the camp and bringing a bow and arrows, about which he knew as little as they of gunpowder. but when the cacique produced a not too sweet-smelling head-dress of brown and white feathers, adorned with the bill of a _cariama_ (a species of crane), he thought the good man was rather overstraining his willingness to become a savage. however, he put it on, and took up his bow and arrows, but so awkwardly that the cacique hinted that, on this occasion, he might like to be a mere spectator. the masks, as worn by men who knew the workings thereof, were very satisfactory disguises; when the indians had fallen on their knees with their heads bent, they might easily be mistaken in the distance for cranes feeding; and in this guise they crawled down towards the edge of the river just before the deer came down to drink. paez, concealed in the long grass, had an excellent view of the proceedings, and could well understand, at that distance, how the unsuspecting game might fall into the snare. the "cranes," with their backs to the water and their heads bobbing so as to make the pendent bill move as if in search of the small snakes or other reptiles beloved of such birds, waited till a good-sized herd came within range; then the six bow-strings twanged, and six deer lay dead or helpless, while their startled brethren fled across the plain; and six more of these were brought down by a second volley before they could get out of reach. the end. * * * * * william brendon and son, ltd. printers, plymouth * * * * * the romance of savage life describing the habits, customs, everyday life, &c., of primitive man by prof. g. f. scott elliot, m.a., b.sc., &c. _with thirty illustrations. extra crown vo. s._ "mr. scott elliot has hit upon a good idea in this attempt to set forth the life of the primitive savage. on the whole, too, he has carried it out well and faithfully.... we can recommend the book as filling a gap."--_athenæum._ "a readable contribution to the excellent series of which it forms a part. mr. scott elliot writes pleasantly ... he possesses a sufficiently vivid imagination to grasp the relation of a savage to his environment."--_nature._ "there are things of remarkable interest in this volume, and it makes excellent reading and represents much research."--_spectator._ the romance of plant life describing the curious and interesting in the plant world by prof. g. f. scott elliot, m.a., b.sc., &c. _with thirty-four illustrations. extra crown vo. s._ "the author has worked skilfully into his book details of the facts and inferences which form the groundwork of modern botany. the illustrations are striking, and cover a wide field of interest, and the style is lively."--_athenæum._ "in twenty-nine fascinating, well-printed, and well-illustrated chapters, prof. scott elliot describes a few of the wonders of plant life. a very charming and interesting volume."--_daily telegraph._ "mr. scott elliot is of course a well-known authority on all that concerns plants, and the number of facts he has brought together will not only surprise but fascinate all his readers."--_westminster gazette._ the romance of insect life describing the curious & interesting in the insect world by edmund selous author of "the romance of the animal world," etc. _with sixteen illustrations. extra crown vo, s._ "an entertaining volume, one more of a series which seeks with much success to describe the wonders of nature and science in simple, attractive form."--_graphic._ "offers most interesting descriptions of the strange and curious inhabitants of the insect world, sure to excite inquiry and to foster observation. there are ants white and yellow, locusts and cicadas, bees and butterflies, spiders and beetles, scorpions and cockroaches--and especially ants--with a really scientific investigation of their wonderful habits, not in dry detail, but in free and charming exposition and narrative. an admirable book to put in the hands of a boy or girl with a turn for natural science--and whether or not."--_educational times._ "both interesting and instructive. such a work as this is genuinely educative. there are numerous illustrations."--_liverpool courier._ "with beautiful original drawings by carton moore park and lancelot speed, and effectively bound in dark blue cloth, blazoned with scarlet and gold."--_lady._ "admirably written and handsomely produced. mr. selous's volume shows careful research, and the illustrations of insects and the results of their powers are well done."--_world._ the romance of modern mechanism interesting descriptions in non-technical language of wonderful machinery, mechanical devices, & marvellously delicate scientific instruments by archibald williams, b.a. (oxon.), f.r.g.s. author of "the romance of modern exploration," etc. _with twenty-six illustrations. extra crown vo. s._ "no boy will be able to resist the delights of this book, full to the brim of instructive and wonderful matter."--_british weekly._ "this book has kept your reviewer awake when he reasonably expected to be otherwise engaged. we do not remember coming across a more fascinating volume, even to a somewhat blasé reader whose business it is to read all that comes in his way. the marvels, miracles they should be called, of the modern workshop are here exploited by mr. williams for the benefit of readers who have not the opportunity of seeing these wonders or the necessary mathematical knowledge to understand a scientific treatise on their working. only the simplest language is used and every effort is made, by illustration or by analogy, to make sufficiently clear to the non-scientific reader how the particular bit of machinery works and what its work really is. delicate instruments, calculating machines, workshop machinery, portable tools, the pedrail, motors ashore and afloat, fire engines, automatic machines, sculpturing machines--these are a few of the chapters which crowd this splendid volume."--_educational news._ "it is difficult to make descriptions of machinery and mechanism interesting, but mr. williams has the enviable knack of doing so, and it is hardly possible to open this book at any page without turning up something which you feel you must read; and then you cannot stop till you come to the end of the chapter."--_electricity._ "this book is full of interest and instruction, and is a welcome addition to messrs. seeley and company's romance series."--_leeds mercury._ "a book of absorbing interest for the boy with a mechanical turn, and indeed for the general reader."--_educational times._ "an instructive and well-written volume."--_hobbies._ seeley & co., ltd., great russell street * * * * * transcriber's note: author's archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is mostly preserved. author's punctuation style is preserved. illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs, but the original page numbers are preserved in the list of illustrations. passages in italics indicated by _underscores_. passages in bold indicated by =equal signs=. typographical problems have been changed, and are listed below. transcriber's changes: page : added closing quote mark (soon to be moving; it will be bad going for the =horses."=) page : was 'off' (the beautiful yo-semite valley ceased, from that day, to be the stronghold =of= shoshonee mountain-brigands.) page : was 'rattle-snakes' (the alarming prevalence of =rattlesnakes=, the journey was not unpleasant.) page : was 'fire-arms' ("i saw your gun and i was frightened. we do not like =firearms=, señor;) page : was 'fire-arms' (and even so far overcame his fear of =firearms= as to offer to carry the gun a little way;) page : was 'deerskin' (while at his belt hung a knife and a =deer-skin= pouch, the latter containing flint and steel) variably hyphenated words: fore-legs and forelegs bow-strings and bowstrings sun-rays and sunrays women-folk and womenfolk up-hill and uphill well-nigh and wellnigh bird-shot and birdshot snow-shoes and snowshoes hind-quarters and hindquarters pen-knife and penknife gun-shot and gunshot skid-pan and skidpan mid-stream and midstream fire-light and firelight the myths of mexico & peru by lewis spence author of "the mythologies of ancient mexico and peru" "the popol vuh" "the civilization of ancient mexico" "a dictionary of mythology" etc. etc. with sixty full-page illustrations mainly by gilbert james and william sewell and other drawings and maps new york thomas y. crowell company publishers printed by ballantyne and company ltd tavistock street covent garden london england preface in recent years a reawakening has taken place in the study of american archæology and antiquities, owing chiefly to the labours of a band of scholars in the united states and a few enthusiasts in the continent of europe. for the greater part of the nineteenth century it appeared as if the last word had been written upon mexican archæology. the lack of excavations and exploration had cramped the outlook of scholars, and there was nothing for them to work upon save what had been done in this respect before their own time. the writers on central america who lived in the third quarter of the last century relied on the travels of stephens and norman, and never appeared to consider it essential that the country or the antiquities in which they specialised should be examined anew, or that fresh expeditions should be equipped to discover whether still further monuments existed relating to the ancient peoples who raised the teocallis of mexico and the huacas of peru. true, the middle of the century was not altogether without its americanist explorers, but the researches of these were performed in a manner so perfunctory that but few additions to the science resulted from their labours. modern americanist archæology may be said to have been the creation of a brilliant band of scholars who, working far apart and without any attempt at co-operation, yet succeeded in accomplishing much. among these may be mentioned the frenchmen charnay and de rosny, and the americans brinton, h. h. bancroft, and squier. to these succeeded the german scholars seler, schellhas, and förstemann, the americans winsor, starr, savile, and cyrus thomas, and the englishmen payne and sir clements markham. these men, splendidly equipped for the work they had taken in hand, were yet hampered by the lack of reliable data--a want later supplied partly by their own excavations and partly by the painstaking labours of professor maudslay, now the principal of the international college of antiquities at mexico, who, with his wife, is responsible for the exact pictorial reproductions of many of the ancient edifices in central america and mexico. writers in the sphere of mexican and peruvian myth have been few. the first to attack the subject in the light of the modern science of comparative religion was daniel garrison brinton, professor of american languages and archæology in the university of philadelphia. he has been followed by payne, schellhas, seler, and förstemann, all of whom, however, have confined the publication of their researches to isolated articles in various geographical and scientific journals. the remarks of mythologists who are not also americanists upon the subject of american myth must be accepted with caution. the question of the alphabets of ancient america is perhaps the most acute in present-day pre-columbian archæology. but progress is being made in this branch of the subject, and several german scholars are working in whole-hearted co-operation to secure final results. what has great britain accomplished in this new and fascinating field of science? if the lifelong and valuable labours of the venerable sir clements markham be excepted, almost nothing. it is earnestly hoped that the publication of this volume may prove the means of leading many english students to the study and consideration of american archæology. there remains the romance of old america. the real interest of american mediæval history must ever circle around mexico and peru--her golden empires, her sole exemplars of civilisation; and it is to the books upon the character of these two nations that we must turn for a romantic interest as curious and as absorbing as that bound up in the history of egypt or assyria. if human interest is craved for by any man, let him turn to the narratives of garcilasso el inca de la vega and ixtlilxochitl, representatives and last descendants of the peruvian and tezcucan monarchies, and read there the frightful story of the path to fortune of red-heeled pizarro and cruel cortés, of the horrible cruelties committed upon the red man, whose colour was "that of the devil," of the awful pageant of gold-sated pirates laden with the treasures of palaces, of the stripping of temples whose very bricks were of gold, whose very drain-pipes were of silver, of rapine and the sacrilege of high places, of porphyry gods dashed down the pyramidal sides of lofty teocallis, of princesses torn from the very steps of the throne--ay, read these for the most wondrous tales ever writ by the hand of man, tales by the side of which the fables of araby seem dim--the story of a clash of worlds, the conquest of a new, of an isolated hemisphere. it is usual to speak of america as "a continent without a history." the folly of such a statement is extreme. for centuries prior to european occupation central america was the seat of civilisations boasting a history and a semi-historical mythology second to none in richness and interest. it is only because the sources of that history are unknown to the general reader that such assurance upon the lack of it exists. let us hope that this book may assist in attracting many to the head-fountain of a river whose affluents water many a plain of beauty not the less lovely because bizarre, not the less fascinating because somewhat remote from modern thought. in conclusion i have to acknowledge the courtesy of the bureau of american ethnology, which placed in my hands a valuable collection of illustrations and allowed me to select from these at my discretion. the pictures chosen include the drawings used as tailpieces to chapters; others, usually half-tones, are duly acknowledged where they occur. lewis spence edinburgh: july contents chapter page i. the civilisation of mexico ii. mexican mythology iii. myths and legends of the ancient mexicans iv. the maya race and mythology v. myths of the maya vi. the civilisation of old peru vii. the mythology of peru bibliography glossary and index list of illustrations page the princess is given a vision frontispiece the descent of quetzalcoatl xiv toveyo and the magic drum the altar of skulls the guardian of the sacred fire pyramid of the moon: pyramid of the sun ruins of the pyramid of xochicalco the spirit of the dead aztec is attacked by an evil spirit who scatters clouds of ashes the demon izpuzteque the aztec calendar stone a prisoner fighting for his life combat between mexican and bilimec warriors priest making an incantation over an aztec lady the princess sees a strange man before the palace tezcatlipoca, lord of the night winds the infant war-god drives his brethren into a lake and slays them statue of tlaloc, the rain-god the aged quetzalcoatl leaves mexico on a raft of serpents ritual masks of quetzalcoatl and tezcatlipoca; and sacrificial knife the so-called teoyaominqui statue of a male divinity xolotl the quauhxicalli, or solar altar of sacrifice macuilxochitl the penitent addressing the fire cloud serpent, the hunter-god mexican goddess tezcatlipoca "place where the heavens stood" a flood-myth of the nahua the prince who fled for his life the princess and the statues the king's sister is shown the valley of dry bones mexican deity the prince who went to found a city "the tablet of the cross" design on a vase from chamá representing maya deities the house of bats part of the palace and tower, palenque the king who loved a princess teocalli or pyramid of papantla: the nunnery, chichen-itza details of the nunnery at chichen-itza the old woman who took an egg home great palace of mitla: interior of an apartment in the palace of mitla hall of the columns, palace of mitla the twins make an imitation crab the princess and the gourds the princess who made friends of the owls in the house of bats how the sun appeared like the moon queen móo has her destiny foretold the rejected suitor piece of pottery representing a tapir doorway of tiahuanaco fortress at ollantay-tampu "mother and child are united" the inca fortress of pissac "making one of each nation out of the clay of the earth" painted and black terra-cotta vases conducting the white llama to the sacrifice "the birdlike beings were in reality women" "a beautiful youth appeared to thonapa" "he sang the song of chamayhuarisca" "the younger one flew away" "his wife at first indignantly denied the accusation" "he saw a very beautiful girl crying bitterly" maps the valley of mexico distribution of the races in ancient mexico distribution of the races under the empire of the incas chapter i: the civilisation of mexico the civilisations of the new world there is now no question as to the indigenous origin of the civilisations of mexico, central america, and peru. upon few subjects, however, has so much mistaken erudition been lavished. the beginnings of the races who inhabited these regions, and the cultures which they severally created, have been referred to nearly every civilised or semi-civilised nation of antiquity, and wild if fascinating theories have been advanced with the intention of showing that civilisation was initiated upon american soil by asiatic or european influence. these speculations were for the most part put forward by persons who possessed but a merely general acquaintance with the circumstances of american aboriginal civilisation, and who were struck by the superficial resemblances which undoubtedly exist between american and asiatic peoples, customs, and art-forms, but which cease to be apparent to the americanist, who perceives in them only such likenesses as inevitably occur in the work of men situated in similar environments and surrounded by similar social and religious conditions. the maya of yucatan may be regarded as the most highly civilised of the peoples who occupied the american continent before the advent of europeans, and it is usually their culture which we are asked to believe had its seat of origin in asia. it is unnecessary to refute this theory in detail, as that has already been ably accomplished. [ ] but it may be remarked that the surest proof of the purely native origin of american civilisation is to be found in the unique nature of american art, the undoubted result of countless centuries of isolation. american language, arithmetic, and methods of time-reckoning, too, bear no resemblance to other systems, european or asiatic, and we may be certain that had a civilising race entered america from asia it would have left its indelible impress upon things so intensely associated with the life of a people as well as upon the art and architecture of the country, for they are as much the product of culture as is the ability to raise temples. evidence of animal and plant life it is impossible in this connection to ignore the evidence in favour of native advancement which can be adduced from the artificial production of food in america. nearly all the domesticated animals and cultivated food-plants found on the continent at the period of the discovery were totally different from those known to the old world. maize, cocoa, tobacco, and the potato, with a host of useful plants, were new to the european conquerors, and the absence of such familiar animals as the horse, cow, and sheep, besides a score of lesser animals, is eloquent proof of the prolonged isolation which the american continent underwent subsequent to its original settlement by man. origin of american man an asiatic origin is, of course, admitted for the aborigines of america, but it undoubtedly stretched back into that dim tertiary era when man was little more than beast, and language as yet was not, or at the best was only half formed. later immigrants there certainly were, but these probably arrived by way of behring strait, and not by the land-bridge connecting asia and america by which the first-comers found entrance. at a later geological period the general level of the north american continent was higher than at present, and a broad isthmus connected it with asia. during this prolonged elevation vast littoral plains, now submerged, extended continuously from the american to the asiatic shore, affording an easy route of migration to a type of man from whom both the mongolian branches may have sprung. but this type, little removed from the animal as it undoubtedly was, carried with it none of the refinements of art or civilisation; and if any resemblances occur between the art-forms or polity of its equal descendants in asia and america, they are due to the influence of a remote common ancestry, and not to any later influx of asiatic civilisation to american shores. traditions of intercourse with asia the few traditions of asiatic intercourse with america are, alas! easily dissipated. it is a dismal business to be compelled to refute the dreams of others. how much more fascinating would american history have been had asia sowed the seeds of her own peculiar civilisation in the western continent, which would then have become a newer and further east, a more glowing and golden orient! but america possesses a fascination almost as intense when there falls to be considered the marvel of the evolution of her wondrous civilisations--the flowers of progress of a new, of an isolated world. the idea that the "fu-sang" of the chinese annals alluded to america was rendered illusory by klaproth, who showed its identity with a japanese island. it is not impossible that chinese and japanese vessels may have drifted on to the american coasts, but that they sailed thither of set purpose is highly improbable. gomara, the mexican historian, states that those who served with coronado's expedition in saw off the pacific coast certain ships having their prows decorated with gold and silver, and laden with merchandise, and these they supposed to be of cathay or china, "because they intimated by signs that they had been thirty days on their voyage." like most of these interesting stories, however, the tale has no foundation in fact, as the incident cannot be discovered in the original account of the expedition, published in in the travel-collection of ternaux-compans. legends of european intercourse we shall find the traditions, one might almost call them legends, of early european intercourse with america little more satisfactory than those which recount its ancient connection with asia. we may dismiss the sagas of the discovery of america by the norsemen, which are by no means mere tradition, and pass on to those in which the basis of fact is weaker and the legendary interest more strong. we are told that when the norsemen drove forth those irish monks who had settled in iceland, the fugitives voyaged to "great ireland," by which many antiquarians of the older school imagine the author of the myth to have meant america. the irish book of lismore recounts the voyage of st. brandan, abbot of cluainfert, in ireland, to an island in the ocean which providence had intended as the abode of saints. it gives a glowing account of his seven years' cruise in western waters, and tells of numerous discoveries, among them a hill of fire and an endless island, which he quitted after an unavailing journey of forty days, loading his ships with its fruits, and returning home. many norse legends exist regarding this "greater ireland," or "huitramanna land" (white man's land), among them one concerning a norseman who was cast away on its shores, and who found there a race of white men who went to worship their gods bearing banners, and "shouting with a loud voice." there is, of course, the bare possibility that the roving norsemen may have on occasions drifted or have been cast away as far south as mexico, and such an occurrence becomes the more easy of belief when we remember that they certainly reached the shores of north america. the legend of madoc a much more interesting because more probable story is that which tells of the discovery of distant lands across the western ocean by madoc, a princeling of north wales, in the year . it is recorded in hakluyt's english voyages and powel's history of wales. madoc, the son of owen gwyneth, disgusted by the strife of his brothers for the principality of their dead father, resolved to quit such an uncongenial atmosphere, and, fitting out ships with men and munition, sought adventure by sea, sailing west, and leaving the coast of ireland so far north that he came to a land unknown, where he saw many strange things. "this land," says hakluyt, "must needs be some part of that country of which the spaniards affirme themselves to be the first finders since hanno's time," and through this allusion we are enabled to see how these legends relating to mythical lands came to be associated with the american continent. concerning the land discovered by madoc many tales were current in wales in mediæval times. madoc on his return declared that it was pleasant and fruitful, but uninhabited. he succeeded in persuading a large number of people to accompany him to this delectable region, and, as he never returned, hakluyt concludes that the descendants of the folk he took with him composed the greater part of the population of the america of the seventeenth century, a conclusion in which he has been supported by more than one modern antiquarian. indeed, the wildest fancies have been based upon this legend, and stories of welsh-speaking indians who were able to converse with cymric immigrants to the american colonies have been received with complacency by the older school of american historians as the strongest confirmation of the saga. it is notable, however, that henry vii of england, the son of a welshman, may have been influenced in his patronage of the early american explorers by this legend of madoc, as it is known that he employed one guttyn owen, a welsh historiographer, to draw up his paternal pedigree, and that this same guttyn included the story in his works. such legends as those relating to atlantis and antilia scarcely fall within the scope of american myth, as they undoubtedly relate to early communication with the canaries and azores. american myths of the discovery but what were the speculations of the red men on the other side of the atlantic? were there no rumours there, no legends of an eastern world? immediately prior to the discovery there was in america a widely disseminated belief that at a relatively remote period strangers from the east had visited american soil, eventually returning to their own abodes in the land of sunrise. such, for example, was the mexican legend of quetzalcoatl, to which we shall revert later in its more essentially mythical connection. he landed with several companions at vera cruz, and speedily brought to bear the power of a civilising agency upon native opinion. in the ancient mexican pinturas, or paintings, he is represented as being habited in a long black gown, fringed with white crosses. after sojourning with the mexicans for a number of years, during which time he initiated them into the arts of life and civilisation, he departed from their land on a magic raft, promising, however, to return. his second advent was anxiously looked for, and when cortés and his companions arrived at vera cruz, the identical spot at which quetzalcoatl was supposed to have set out on his homeward journey, the mexicans fully believed him to be the returned hero. of course montezuma, their monarch, was not altogether taken by surprise at the coming of the white man, as he had been informed of the arrival of mysterious strangers in yucatan and elsewhere in central america; but in the eyes of the commonalty the spanish leader was a "hero-god" indeed. in this interesting figure several of the monkish chroniclers of new spain saw the apostle st. thomas, who had journeyed to the american continent to effect its conversion to christianity. a peruvian prophecy the mexicans were by no means singular in their presentiments. when hernando de soto, on landing in peru, first met the inca huascar, the latter related an ancient prophecy which his father, huaina ccapac, had repeated on his death-bed, that in the reign of the thirteenth inca white men of surpassing strength and valour would come from their father the sun, and subject the peruvians to their rule. "i command you," said the dying king, "to yield them homage and obedience, for they will be of a nature superior to ours." [ ] but the most interesting of american legends connected with the discovery is that in which the prophecy of the maya priest chilan balam is described. father lizana, a venerable spanish author, records the prophecy, which he states was very well known throughout yucatan, as does villagutierre, who quotes it. the prophecy of chilan balam part of this strange prophecy runs as follows: "at the end of the thirteenth age, when itza is at the height of its power, as also the city called tancah, the signal of god will appear on the heights, and the cross with which the world was enlightened will be manifested. there will be variance of men's will in future times, when this signal shall be brought.... receive your barbarous bearded guests from the east, who bring the signal of god, who comes to us in mercy and pity. the time of our life is coming...." it would seem from the perusal of this prophecy that a genuine substratum of native tradition has been over-laid and coloured by the influence of the early spanish missionaries. the terms of the announcement are much too exact, and the language employed is obviously scriptural. but the native books of chilan balam, whence the prophecy is taken, are much less explicit, and the genuineness of their character is evinced by the idiomatic use of the maya tongue, which, in the form they present it in, could have been written by none save those who had habitually employed it from infancy. as regards the prophetic nature of these deliverances it is known that the chilan, or priest, was wont to utter publicly at the end of certain prolonged periods a prophecy forecasting the character of the similar period to come, and there is reason to believe that some distant rumours of the coming of the white man had reached the ears of several of the seers. these vague intimations that the seas separated them from a great continent where dwelt beings like themselves seem to have been common to white and red men alike. and who shall say by what strange magic of telepathy they were inspired in the minds of the daring explorers and the ascetic priests who gave expression to them in act and utterance? the discovery of america was much more than a mere scientific process, and romance rather than the cold speculations of mediæval geography urged men to tempt the dim seas of the west in quest of golden islands seen in dreams. the type of mexican civilisation the first civilised american people with whom the discoverers came into contact were those of the nahua or ancient mexican race. we use the term "civilised" advisedly, for although several authorities of standing have refused to regard the mexicans as a people who had achieved such a state of culture as would entitle them to be classed among civilised communities, there is no doubt that they had advanced nearly as far as it was possible for them to proceed when their environment and the nature of the circumstances which handicapped them are taken into consideration. in architecture they had evolved a type of building, solid yet wonderfully graceful, which, if not so massive as the egyptian and assyrian, was yet more highly decorative. their artistic outlook as expressed in their painting and pottery was more versatile and less conventional than that of the ancient people of the orient, their social system was of a more advanced type, and a less rigorous attitude was evinced by the ruling caste toward the subject classes. yet, on the other hand, the picture is darkened by the terrible if picturesque rites which attended their religious ceremonies, and the dread shadow of human sacrifice which eternally overhung their teeming populations. nevertheless, the standard of morality was high, justice was even-handed, the forms of government were comparatively mild, and but for the fanaticism which demanded such troops of victims, we might justly compare the civilisation of ancient mexico with that of the peoples of old china or india, if the literary activity of the oriental states be discounted. the mexican race the race which was responsible for this varied and highly coloured civilisation was that known as the nahua (those who live by rule), a title adopted by them to distinguish them from those tribes who still roamed in an unsettled condition over the contiguous plains of new mexico and the more northerly tracts. this term was employed by them to designate the race as a whole, but it was composed of many diverse elements, the characteristics of which were rendered still more various by the adoption into one or other of the tribes which composed it of surrounding aboriginal peoples. much controversy has raged round the question regarding the original home of the nahua, but their migration legends consistently point to a northern origin; and when the close affinity between the art-forms and mythology of the present-day natives of british columbia and those of the nahua comes to be considered along with the very persistent legends of a prolonged pilgrimage from the north, where they dwelt in a place "by the water," the conclusion that the nahua emanated from the region indicated is well-nigh irresistible. [ ] in nahua tradition the name of the locality whence the race commenced its wanderings is called aztlan (the place of reeds), but this place-name is of little or no value as a guide to any given region, though probably every spot betwixt behring strait and mexico has been identified with it by zealous antiquarians. other names discovered in the migration legends are tlapallan (the country of bright colours) and chicomoztoc (the seven caves), and these may perhaps be identified with new mexico or arizona. legends of mexican migration all early writers on the history of mexico agree that the toltecs were the first of the several swarms of nahua who streamed upon the mexican plateau in ever-widening waves. concerning the reality of this people so little is known that many authorities of standing have regarded them as wholly mythical, while others profess to see in them a veritable race, the founders of mexican civilisation. the author has already elaborated his theory of this difficult question elsewhere, [ ] but will briefly refer to it when he comes to deal with the subject of the toltec civilisation and the legends concerning it. for the present we must regard the toltecs merely as a race alluded to in a migration myth as the first nahua immigrants to the region of mexico. ixtlilxochitl, a native chronicler who flourished shortly after the spanish conquest of mexico, gives two separate accounts of the early toltec migrations, the first of which goes back to the period of their arrival in the fabled land of tlapallan, alluded to above. in this account tlapallan is described as a region near the sea, which the toltecs reached by voyaging southward, skirting the coasts of california. this account must be received with the greatest caution. but we know that the natives of british columbia have been expert in the use of the canoe from an early period, and that the mexican god quetzalcoatl, who is probably originally derived from a common source with their deity yetl, is represented as being skilled in the management of the craft. it is, therefore, not outside the bounds of possibility that the early swarms of nahua immigrants made their way to mexico by sea, but it is much more probable that their migrations took place by land, following the level country at the base of the rocky mountains. the toltec upheaval like nearly all legendary immigrants, the toltecs did not set out to colonise distant countries from any impulse of their own, but were the victims of internecine dissension in the homeland, and were expelled from the community to seek their fortunes elsewhere. thus thrust forth, they set their faces southward, and reached tlapallan in the year tecpatl (a.d. ). passing the country of xalisco, they effected a landing at huatulco, and journeyed down the coast until they reached tochtepec, whence they pushed inland to tollantzinco. to enable them to make this journey they required no less than years. ixtlilxochitl furnishes another account of the toltec migration in his relaciones, a work dealing with the early history of the mexican races. in this he recounts how the chiefs of tlapallan, who had revolted against the royal power, were banished from that region in a.d. . lingering near their ancient territory for the space of eight years, they then journeyed to tlapallantzinco, where they halted for three years before setting out on a prolonged pilgrimage, which occupied the tribe for over a century, and in the course of which it halted at no less than thirteen different resting-places, six of which can be traced to stations on the pacific coast, and the remainder to localities in the north of mexico. artificial nature of the migration myths it is plain from internal evidence that these two legends of the toltec migrations present an artificial aspect. but if we cannot credit them in detail, that is not to say that they do not describe in part an actual pilgrimage. they are specimens of numerous migration myths which are related concerning the various branches of the mexican races. few features of interest are presented in them, and they are chiefly remarkable for wearisome repetition and divergence in essential details. myths of the toltecs but we enter a much more fascinating domain when we come to peruse the myths regarding the toltec kingdom and civilisation, for, before entering upon the origin or veritable history of the toltec race, it will be better to consider the native legends concerning them. these exhibit an almost oriental exuberance of imagination and colouring, and forcibly remind the reader of the gorgeous architectural and scenic descriptions in the arabian nights. the principal sources of these legends are the histories of zumarraga and ixtlilxochitl. the latter is by no means a satisfactory authority, but he has succeeded in investing the traditions of his native land with no inconsiderable degree of charm. the toltecs, he says, founded the magnificent city of tollan in the year of the incarnation. this city, the site of which is now occupied by the modern town of tula, was situated north-west of the mountains which bound the mexican valley. thither were the toltecs guided by the powerful necromancer hueymatzin (great hand), and under his direction they decided to build a city upon the site of what had been their place of bivouac. for six years they toiled at the building of tollan, and magnificent edifices, palaces, and temples arose, the whole forming a capital of a splendour unparalleled in the new world. the valley wherein it stood was known as the "place of fruits," in allusion to its great fertility. the surrounding rivers teemed with fish, and the hills which encircled this delectable site sheltered large herds of game. but as yet the toltecs were without a ruler, and in the seventh year of their occupation of the city the assembled chieftains took counsel together, and resolved to surrender their power into the hands of a monarch whom the people might elect. the choice fell upon chalchiuh tlatonac (shining precious stone), who reigned for fifty-two years. legends of toltec artistry happily settled in their new country, and ruled over by a king whom they could regard with reverence, the toltecs made rapid progress in the various arts, and their city began to be celebrated far and wide for the excellence of its craftsmen and the beauty of its architecture and pottery. the name of "toltec," in fact, came to be regarded by the surrounding peoples as synonymous with "artist," and as a kind of hall-mark which guaranteed the superiority of any article of toltec workmanship. everything in and about the city was eloquent of the taste and artistry of its founders. the very walls were encrusted with rare stones, and their masonry was so beautifully chiselled and laid as to resemble the choicest mosaic. one of the edifices of which the inhabitants of tollan were most justly proud was the temple wherein their high-priest officiated. this building was a very gem of architectural art and mural decoration. it contained four apartments. the walls of the first were inlaid with gold, the second with precious stones of every description, the third with beautiful sea-shells of all conceivable hues and of the most brilliant and tender shades encrusted in bricks of silver, which sparkled in the sun in such a manner as to dazzle the eyes of beholders. the fourth apartment was formed of a brilliant red stone, ornamented with shells. the house of feathers still more fantastic and weirdly beautiful was another edifice, "the house of feathers." this also possessed four apartments, one decorated with feathers of a brilliant yellow, another with the radiant and sparkling hues of the blue bird. these were woven into a kind of tapestry, and placed against the walls in graceful hangings and festoons. an apartment described as of entrancing beauty was that in which the decorative scheme consisted of plumage of the purest and most dazzling white. the remaining chamber was hung with feathers of a brilliant red, plucked from the most beautiful birds. huemac the wicked a succession of more or less able kings succeeded the founder of the toltec monarchy, until in a.d. huemac ii ascended the throne of tollan. he ruled first with wisdom, and paid great attention to the duties of the state and religion. but later he fell from the high place he had made for himself in the regard of the people by his faithless deception of them and his intemperate and licentious habits. the provinces rose in revolt, and many signs and gloomy omens foretold the downfall of the city. toveyo, a cunning sorcerer, collected a great concourse of people near tollan, and by dint of beating upon a magic drum until the darkest hours of the night, forced them to dance to its sound until, exhausted by their efforts, they fell headlong over a dizzy precipice into a deep ravine, where they were turned into stone. toveyo also maliciously destroyed a stone bridge, so that thousands of people fell into the river beneath and were drowned. the neighbouring volcanoes burst into eruption, presenting a frightful aspect, and grisly apparitions could be seen among the flames threatening the city with terrible gestures of menace. the rulers of tollan resolved to lose no time in placating the gods, whom they decided from the portents must have conceived the most violent wrath against their capital. they therefore ordained a great sacrifice of war-captives. but upon the first of the victims being placed upon the altar a still more terrible catastrophe occurred. in the method of sacrifice common to the nahua race the breast of a youth was opened for the purpose of extracting the heart, but no such organ could the officiating priest perceive. moreover the veins of the victim were bloodless. such a deadly odour was exhaled from the corpse that a terrible pestilence arose, which caused the death of thousands of toltecs. huemac, the unrighteous monarch who had brought all this suffering upon his folk, was confronted in the forest by the tlalocs, or gods of moisture, and humbly petitioned these deities to spare him, and not to take from him his wealth and rank. but the gods were disgusted at the callous selfishness displayed in his desires, and departed, threatening the toltec race with six years of plagues. the plagues of the toltecs in the next winter such a severe frost visited the land that all crops and plants were killed. a summer of torrid heat followed, so intense in its suffocating fierceness that the streams were dried up and the very rocks were melted. then heavy rain-storms descended, which flooded the streets and ways, and terrible tempests swept through the land. vast numbers of loathsome toads invaded the valley, consuming the refuse left by the destructive frost and heat, and entering the very houses of the people. in the following year a terrible drought caused the death of thousands from starvation, and the ensuing winter was again a marvel of severity. locusts descended in cloud-like swarms, and hail- and thunder-storms completed the wreck. during these visitations nine-tenths of the people perished, and all artistic endeavour ceased because of the awful struggle for food. king acxitl with the cessation of these inflictions the wicked huemac resolved upon a more upright course of life, and became most assiduous for the welfare and proper government of his people. but he had announced that acxitl, his illegitimate son, should succeed him, and had further resolved to abdicate at once in favour of this youth. with the toltecs, as with most primitive peoples, the early kings were regarded as divine, and the attempt to place on the throne one who was not of the royal blood was looked upon as a serious offence against the gods. a revolt ensued, but its two principal leaders were bought over by promises of preferment. acxitl ascended the throne, and for a time ruled wisely. but he soon, like his father, gave way to a life of dissipation, and succeeded in setting a bad example to the members of his court and to the priesthood, the vicious spirit communicating itself to all classes of his subjects and permeating every rank of society. the iniquities of the people of the capital and the enormities practised by the royal favourites caused such scandal in the outlying provinces that at length they broke into open revolt, and huehuetzin, chief of an eastern viceroyalty, joined to himself two other malcontent lords and marched upon the city of tollan at the head of a strong force. acxitl could not muster an army sufficiently powerful to repel the rebels, and was forced to resort to the expedient of buying them off with rich presents, thus patching up a truce. but the fate of tollan was in the balance. hordes of rude chichimec savages, profiting by the civil broils in the toltec state, invaded the lake region of anahuac, or mexico, and settled upon its fruitful soil. the end was in sight! a terrible visitation the wrath of the gods increased instead of diminishing, and in order to appease them a great convention of the wise men of the realm met at teotihuacan, the sacred city of the toltecs. but during their deliberations a giant of immense proportions rushed into their midst, and, seizing upon them by scores with his bony hands, hurled them to the ground, dashing their brains out. in this manner he slew great numbers, and when the panic-stricken folk imagined themselves delivered from him he returned in a different guise and slew many more. again the grisly monster appeared, this time taking the form of a beautiful child. the people, fascinated by its loveliness, ran to observe it more closely, only to discover that its head was a mass of corruption, the stench from which was so fatal that many were killed outright. the fiend who had thus plagued the toltecs at length deigned to inform them that the gods would listen no longer to their prayers, but had fully resolved to destroy them root and branch, and he further counselled them to seek safety in flight. fall of the toltec state by this time the principal families of tollan had deserted the country, taking refuge in neighbouring states. once more huehuetzin menaced tollan, and by dint of almost superhuman efforts old king huemac, who had left his retirement, raised a force sufficient to face the enemy. acxitl's mother enlisted the services of the women of the city, and formed them into a regiment of amazons. at the head of all was acxitl, who divided his forces, despatching one portion to the front under his commander-in-chief, and forming the other into a reserve under his own leadership. during three years the king defended tollan against the combined forces of the rebels and the semi-savage chichimecs. at length the toltecs, almost decimated, fled after a final desperate battle into the marshes of lake tezcuco and the fastnesses of the mountains. their other cities were given over to destruction, and the toltec empire was at an end. the chichimec exodus meanwhile the rude chichimecs of the north, who had for many years carried on a constant warfare with the toltecs, were surprised that their enemies sought their borders no more, a practice which they had engaged in principally for the purpose of obtaining captives for sacrifice. in order to discover the reason for this suspicious quiet they sent out spies into toltec territory, who returned with the amazing news that the toltec domain for a distance of six hundred miles from the chichimec frontier was a desert, the towns ruined and empty and their inhabitants scattered. xolotl, the chichimec king, summoned his chieftains to his capital, and, acquainting them with what the spies had said, proposed an expedition for the purpose of annexing the abandoned land. no less than , , people composed this migration, and only , , remained in the chichimec territory. the chichimecs occupied most of the ruined cities, many of which they rebuilt. those toltecs who remained became peaceful subjects, and through their knowledge of commerce and handicrafts amassed considerable wealth. a tribute was, however, demanded from them, which was peremptorily refused by nauhyotl, the toltec ruler of colhuacan; but he was defeated and slain, and the chichimec rule was at last supreme. the disappearance of the toltecs the transmitters of this legendary account give it as their belief, which is shared by some authorities of standing, that the toltecs, fleeing from the civil broils of their city and the inroads of the chichimecs, passed into central america, where they became the founders of the civilisation of that country, and the architects of the many wonderful cities the ruins of which now litter its plains and are encountered in its forests. but it is time that we examined the claims put forward on behalf of toltec civilisation and culture by the aid of more scientific methods. did the toltecs exist? some authorities have questioned the existence of the toltecs, and have professed to see in them a race which had merely a mythical significance. they base this theory upon the circumstance that the duration of the reigns of the several toltec monarchs is very frequently stated to have lasted for exactly fifty-two years, the duration of the great mexican cycle of years which had been adopted so that the ritual calendar might coincide with the solar year. the circumstance is certainly suspicious, as is the fact that many of the names of the toltec monarchs are also those of the principal nahua deities, and this renders the whole dynastic list of very doubtful value. dr. brinton recognised in the toltecs those children of the sun who, like their brethren in peruvian mythology, were sent from heaven to civilise the human race, and his theory is by no means weakened by the circumstance that quetzalcoatl, a deity of solar significance, is alluded to in nahua myth as king of the toltecs. recent considerations and discoveries, however, have virtually forced students of the subject to admit the existence of the toltecs as a race. the author has dealt with the question at some length elsewhere, [ ] and is not of those who are free to admit the definite existence of the toltecs from a historical point of view. the late mr. payne of oxford, an authority entitled to every respect, gave it as his opinion that "the accounts of toltec history current at the conquest contain a nucleus of substantial truth," and he writes convincingly: "to doubt that there once existed in tollan an advancement superior to that which prevailed among the nahuatlaca generally at the conquest, and that its people spread their advancement throughout anahuac, and into the districts eastward and southward, would be to reject a belief universally entertained, and confirmed rather than shaken by the efforts made in later times to construct for the pueblo something in the nature of a history." [ ] a persistent tradition the theory of the present author concerning toltec historical existence is rather more non-committal. he admits that a most persistent body of tradition as to their existence gained general credence among the nahua, and that the date ( ) of their alleged dispersal admits of the approximate exactness and probability of this body of tradition at the time of the conquest. he also admits that the site of tollan contains ruins which are undoubtedly of a date earlier than that of the architecture of the nahua as known at the conquest, and that numerous evidences of an older civilisation exist. he also believes that the early nahua having within their racial recollection existed as savages, the time which elapsed between their barbarian condition and the more advanced state which they achieved was too brief to admit of evolution from savagery to culture. hence they must have adopted an older civilisation, especially as through the veneer of civilisation possessed by them they exhibited every sign of gross barbarism. a nameless people if this be true it would go to show that a people of comparatively high culture existed at a not very remote period on the mexican tableland. but what their name was or their racial affinity the writer does not profess to know. many modern american scholars of note have conferred upon them the name of "toltecs," and speak freely of the "toltec period" and of "toltec art." it may appear pedantic to refuse to recognise that the cultured people who dwelt in mexico in pre-nahua times were "the toltecs." but in the face of the absence of genuine and authoritative native written records dealing with the question, the author finds himself compelled to remain unconvinced as to the exact designation of the mysterious older race which preceded the nahua. there are not wanting authorities who appear to regard the pictorial chronicles of the nahua as quite as worthy of credence as written records, but it must be clear that tradition or even history set down in pictorial form can never possess that degree of definiteness contained in a written account. toltec art as has been stated above, the toltecs of tradition were chiefly remarkable for their intense love of art and their productions in its various branches. ixtlilxochitl says that they worked in gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead, and as masons employed flint, porphyry, basalt, and obsidian. in the manufacture of jewellery and objets d'art they excelled, and the pottery of cholula, of which specimens are frequently recovered, was of a high standard. other aboriginal peoples mexico contained other aboriginal races besides the toltecs. of these many and diverse peoples the most remarkable were the otomi, who still occupy guanajuato and queretaro, and who, before the coming of the nahua, probably spread over the entire valley of mexico. in the south we find the huasteca, a people speaking the same language as the maya of central america, and on the mexican gulf the totonacs and chontals. on the pacific side of the country the mixteca and zapoteca were responsible for a flourishing civilisation which exhibited many original characteristics, and which in some degree was a link between the cultures of mexico and central america. traces of a still older population than any of these are still to be found in the more remote parts of mexico, and the mixe, zaque, kuicatec, and popolcan are probably the remnants of prehistoric races of vast antiquity. the cliff-dwellers it is probable that a race known as "the cliff-dwellers," occupying the plateau country of arizona, new mexico, colorado, and utah, and even extending in its ramifications to mexico itself, was related ethnologically to the nahua. the present-day pueblo indians dwelling to the north of mexico most probably possess a leaven of nahua blood. ere the tribes who communicated this leaven to the whole had intermingled with others of various origin, it would appear that they occupied with others those tracts of country now inhabited by the pueblo indians, and in the natural recesses and shallow caverns found in the faces of the cliffs erected dwellings and fortifications, displaying an architectural ability of no mean order. these communities extended as far south as the gila river, the most southern affluent of the colorado, and the remains they have left there appear to be of a later date architecturally than those situated farther north. these were found in ruins by the first spanish explorers, and it is thought that their builders were eventually driven back to rejoin their kindred in the north. farther to the south in the cañons of the piedras verdes river in chihuahua, mexico, are cliff-dwellings corresponding in many respects with those of the pueblo region, and dr. hrdlicka has examined others so far south as the state of jalisco, in central mexico. these may be the ruins of dwellings erected either by the early nahua or by some of the peoples relatively aboriginal to them, and may display the architectural features general among the nahua prior to their adoption of other alien forms. or else they may be the remains of dwellings similar to those of the tarahumare, a still existing tribe of mexico, who, according to lumholtz, [ ] inhabit similar structures at the present day. it is clear from the architectural development of the cliff-dwellers that their civilisation developed generally from south to north, that this race was cognate to the early nahua, and that it later withdrew to the north, or became fused with the general body of the nahua peoples. it must not be understood, however, that the race arrived in the mexican plateau before the nahua, and the ruins of jalisco and other mid-mexican districts may merely be the remains of comparatively modern cliff-dwellings, an adaptation by mid-mexican communities of the "cliff-dweller" architecture, or a local development of it owing to the exigencies of early life in the district. the nahua race the nahua peoples included all those tribes speaking the nahuatlatolli (nahua tongue), and occupied a sphere extending from the southern borders of new mexico to the isthmus of tehuantepec on the south, or very much within the limits of the modern republic of mexico. but this people must not be regarded as one race of homogeneous origin. a very brief account of their racial affinities must be sufficient here. the chichimecs were probably related to the otomi, whom we have alluded to as among the first-comers to the mexican valley. they were traditionally supposed to have entered it at a period subsequent to the toltec occupation. their chief towns were tezcuco and tenayucan, but they later allied themselves with the nahua in a great confederacy, and adopted the nahua language. there are circumstances which justify the assumption that on their entrance to the mexican valley they consisted of a number of tribes loosely united, presenting in their general organisation a close resemblance to some of the composite tribes of modern american indians. the aculhuaque next to them in point of order of tribal arrival were the aculhuaque, or acolhuans. the name means "tall" or "strong" men, literally "people of the broad shoulder," or "pushers," who made a way for themselves. gomara states in his conquista de mexico that they arrived in the valley from acolhuacan about a.d. , and founded the towns of tollan, colhuacan, and mexico itself. the acolhuans were pure nahua, and may well have been the much-disputed toltecs, for the nahua people always insisted on the fact that the toltecs were of the same stock as themselves, and spoke an older and purer form of the nahua tongue. from the acolhuans sprang the tlascalans, the inveterate enemies of the aztecs, who so heartily assisted cortés in his invasion of the aztec capital, tenochtitlan, or mexico. the tecpanecs the tecpanecs were a confederacy of purely nahua tribes dwelling in towns situated upon the lake of tezcuco, the principal of which were tlacopan and azcapozalco. the name tecpanec signifies that each settlement possessed its own chief's house, or tecpan. this tribe were almost certainly later nahua immigrants who arrived in mexico after the acolhuans, and were great rivals to the chichimec branch of the race. the aztecs the aztecâ, or aztecs, were a nomad tribe of doubtful origin, but probably of nahua blood. wandering over the mexican plateau for generations, they at length settled in the marshlands near the lake of tezcuco, hard by tlacopan. the name aztecâ means "crane people," and was bestowed upon the tribe by the tecpanecs, probably because of the fact that, like cranes, they dwelt in a marshy neighbourhood. they founded the town of tenochtitlan, or mexico, and for a while paid tribute to the tecpanecs. but later they became the most powerful allies of that people, whom they finally surpassed entirely in power and splendour. the aztec character the features of the aztecs as represented in the various mexican paintings are typically indian, and argue a northern origin. the race was, and is, of average height, and the skin is of a dark brown hue. the mexican is grave, taciturn, and melancholic, with a deeply rooted love of the mysterious, slow to anger, yet almost inhuman in the violence of his passions when aroused. he is usually gifted with a logical mind, quickness of apprehension, and an ability to regard the subtle side of things with great nicety. patient and imitative, the ancient mexican excelled in those arts which demanded such qualities in their execution. he had a real affection for the beautiful in nature and a passion for flowers, but the aztec music lacked gaiety, and the national amusements were too often of a gloomy and ferocious character. the women are more vivacious than the men, but were in the days before the conquest very subservient to the wills of their husbands. we have already very briefly outlined the trend of nahua civilisation, but it will be advisable to examine it a little more closely, for if the myths of this people are to be understood some knowledge of its life and general culture is essential. legends of the foundation of mexico at the period of the conquest of mexico by cortés the city presented an imposing appearance. led to its neighbourhood by huitzilopochtli, a traditional chief, afterwards deified as the god of war, there are several legends which account for the choice of its site by the mexicans. the most popular of these relates how the nomadic nahua beheld perched upon a cactus plant an eagle of great size and majesty, grasping in its talons a huge serpent, and spreading its wings to catch the rays of the rising sun. the soothsayers or medicine-men of the tribe, reading a good omen in the spectacle, advised the leaders of the people to settle on the spot, and, hearkening to the voice of what they considered divine authority, they proceeded to drive piles into the marshy ground, and thus laid the foundation of the great city of mexico. an elaboration of this legend tells how the aztecs had about the year sought refuge upon the western shore of the lake of tezcuco, in an island among the marshes on which they found a stone on which forty years before one of their priests had sacrificed a prince of the name of copal, whom they had made prisoner. a nopal plant had sprung from an earth-filled crevice in this rude altar, and upon this the royal eagle alluded to in the former account had alighted, grasping the serpent in his talons. beholding in this a good omen, and urged by a supernatural impulse which he could not explain, a priest of high rank dived into a pool close at hand, where he found himself face to face with tlaloc, the god of waters. after an interview with the deity the priest obtained permission from him to found a city on the site, from the humble beginnings of which arose the metropolis of mexico-tenochtitlan. mexico at the conquest at the period of the conquest the city of mexico had a circumference of no less than twelve miles, or nearly that of modern berlin without its suburbs. it contained , houses, and its inhabitants were computed to number , . many other towns, most of them nearly half as large, were grouped on the islands or on the margin of lake tezcuco, so that the population of what might almost be called "greater mexico" must have amounted to several millions. the city was intersected by four great roadways or avenues built at right angles to one another, and laid four-square with the cardinal points. situated as it was in the midst of a lake, it was traversed by numerous canals, which were used as thoroughfares for traffic. the four principal ways described above were extended across the lake as dykes or viaducts until they met its shores. the dwellings of the poorer classes were chiefly composed of adobes, but those of the nobility were built of a red porous stone quarried close by. they were usually of one story only, but occupied a goodly piece of ground and had flat roofs, many of which were covered with flowers. in general they were coated with a hard, white cement, which gave them an added resemblance to the oriental type of building. towering high among these, and a little apart from the vast squares and market-places, were the teocallis, or temples. these were in reality not temples or covered-in buildings, but "high places," great pyramids of stone, built platform on platform, around which a staircase led to the summit, on which was usually erected a small shrine containing the tutelar deity to whom the teocalli had been raised. the great temple of huitzilopochtli, the war-god, built by king ahuizotl, was, besides being typical of all, by far the greatest of these votive piles. the enclosing walls of the building were feet in circumference, and strikingly decorated by carvings representing festoons of intertwined reptiles, from which circumstance they were called coetpantli (walls of serpents). a kind of gate-house on each side gave access to the enclosure. the teocalli, or great temple, inside the court was in the shape of a parallelogram, measuring feet by feet, and was built in six platforms, growing smaller in area as they descended. the mass of this structure was composed of a mixture of rubble, clay, and earth, covered with carefully worked stone slabs, cemented together with infinite care, and coated with a hard gypsum. a flight of steps circled round the terraces and led to the upper platform, on which were raised two three-storied towers feet in height, in which stood the great statues of the tutelar deities and the jasper stones of sacrifice. these sanctuaries, say the old conquistadores who entered them, had the appearance and odour of shambles, and human blood was bespattered everywhere. in this weird chapel of horrors burned a fire, the extinction of which it was supposed would have brought about the end of the nahua power. it was tended with a care as scrupulous as that with which the roman vestals guarded their sacred flame. no less than of these sacred braziers were kept alight in the city of mexico alone. a pyramid of skulls the principal fane of huitzilopochtli was surrounded by upwards of forty inferior teocallis and shrines. in the tzompantli (pyramid of skulls) were collected the grisly relics of the countless victims to the implacable war-god of the aztecs, and in this horrid structure the spanish conquerors counted no less than , human skulls. in the court or teopan which surrounded the temple were the dwellings of thousands of priests, whose duties included the scrupulous care of the temple precincts, and whose labours were minutely apportioned. nahua architecture and ruins as we shall see later, mexico is by no means so rich in architectural antiquities as guatemala or yucatan, the reason being that the growth of tropical forests has to a great extent protected ancient stone edifices in the latter countries from destruction. the ruins discovered in the northern regions of the republic are of a ruder type than those which approach more nearly to the sphere of maya influence, as, for example, those of mitla, built by the zapotecs, which exhibit such unmistakable signs of maya influence that we prefer to describe them when dealing with the antiquities of that people. cyclopean remains in the mountains of chihuahua, one of the most northerly provinces, is a celebrated group called the casas grandes (large houses), the walls of which are still about feet in height. these approximate in general appearance to the buildings of more modern tribes in new mexico and arizona, and may be referred to such peoples rather than to the nahua. at quemada, in zacatecas, massive ruins of cyclopean appearance have been discovered. these consist of extensive terraces and broad stone causeways, teocallis which have weathered many centuries, and gigantic pillars, feet in height and feet in circumference. walls feet in thickness rise above the heaps of rubbish which litter the ground. these remains exhibit little connection with nahua architecture to the north or south of them. they are more massive than either, and must have been constructed by some race which had made considerable strides in the art of building. teotihuacan in the district of the totonacs, to the north of vera cruz, we find many architectural remains of a highly interesting character. here the teocalli or pyramidal type of building is occasionally crowned by a covered-in temple with the massive roof characteristic of maya architecture. the most striking examples found in this region are the remains of teotihuacan and xochicalco. the former was the religious mecca of the nahua races, and in its proximity are still to be seen the teocallis of the sun and moon, surrounded by extensive burying-grounds where the devout of anahuac were laid in the sure hope that if interred they would find entrance into the paradise of the sun. the teocalli of the moon has a base covering feet and a height of feet. that of the sun is of greater dimensions, with a base of feet and a height of feet. these pyramids were divided into four stories, three of which remain. on the summit of that of the sun stood a temple containing a great image of that luminary carved from a rough block of stone. in the breast was inlaid a star of the purest gold, seized afterwards as loot by the insatiable followers of cortés. from the teocalli of the moon a path runs to where a little rivulet flanks the "citadel." this path is known as "the path of the dead," from the circumstance that it is surrounded by some nine square miles of tombs and tumuli, and, indeed, forms a road through the great cemetery. the citadel, thinks charnay, was a vast tennis or tlachtli court, where thousands flocked to gaze at the national sport of the nahua with a zest equal to that of the modern devotees of football. teotihuacan was a flourishing centre contemporary with tollan. it was destroyed, but was rebuilt by the chichimec king xolotl, and preserved thenceforth its traditional sway as the focus of the nahua national religion. charnay identifies the architectural types discovered there with those of tollan. the result of his labours in the vicinity included the unearthing of richly decorated pottery, vases, masks, and terra-cotta figures. he also excavated several large houses or palaces, some with chambers more than feet in circumference, with walls over - / feet thick, into which were built rings and slabs to support torches and candles. the floors were tessellated in various rich designs, "like an aubusson carpet." charnay concluded that the monuments of teotihuacan were partly standing at the time of the conquest. the hill of flowers near tezcuco is xochicalco (the hill of flowers), a teocalli the sculpture of which is both beautiful and luxuriant in design. the porphyry quarries from which the great blocks, feet in length, were cut lie many miles away. as late as the structure towered to a height of five stories, but the vandal has done his work only too well, and a few fragmentary carvings of exquisite design are all that to-day remain of one of mexico's most magnificent pyramids. tollan we have already indicated that on the site of the "toltec" city of tollan ruins have been discovered which prove that it was the centre of a civilisation of a type distinctly advanced. charnay unearthed there gigantic fragments of caryatides, each some feet high. he also found columns of two pieces, which were fitted together by means of mortise and tenon, bas-reliefs of archaic figures of undoubted nahua type, and many fragments of great antiquity. on the hill of palpan, above tollan, he found the ground-plans of several houses with numerous apartments, frescoed, columned, and having benches and cisterns recalling the impluvium of a roman villa. water-pipes were also actually unearthed, and a wealth of pottery, many pieces of which were like old japanese china. the ground-plan or foundations of the houses unearthed at palpan showed that they had been designed by practical architects, and had not been built in any merely haphazard fashion. the cement which covered the walls and floors was of excellent quality, and recalled that discovered in ancient italian excavations. the roofs had been of wood, supported by pillars. picture-writing the aztecs, and indeed the entire nahua race, employed a system of writing of the type scientifically described as "pictographic," in which events, persons, and ideas were recorded by means of drawings and coloured sketches. these were executed on paper made from the agave plant, or were painted on the skins of animals. by these means not only history and the principles of the nahua mythology were communicated from generation to generation, but the transactions of daily life, the accountings of merchants, and the purchase and ownership of land were placed on record. that a phonetic system was rapidly being approached is manifest from the method by which the nahua scribes depicted the names of individuals or cities. these were represented by means of several objects, the names of which resembled that of the person for which they stood. the name of king ixcoatl, for example, is represented by the drawing of a serpent (coatl) pierced by flint knives (iztli), and that of motequauhzoma (montezuma) by a mouse-trap (montli), an eagle (quauhtli), a lancet (zo), and a hand (maitl). the phonetic values employed by the scribes varied exceedingly, so that at times an entire syllable would be expressed by the painting of an object the name of which commenced with it. at other times only a letter would be represented by the same drawing. but the general intention of the scribes was undoubtedly more ideographic than phonetic; that is, they desired to convey their thoughts more by sketch than by sound. interpretation of the hieroglyphs these pinturas, as the spanish conquerors designated them, offer no very great difficulty in their elucidation to modern experts, at least so far as the general trend of their contents is concerned. in this they are unlike the manuscripts of the maya of central america with which we shall make acquaintance further on. their interpretation was largely traditional, and was learned by rote, being passed on by one generation of amamatini (readers) to another, and was by no means capable of elucidation by all and sundry. native manuscripts the pinturas or native manuscripts which remain to us are but few in number. priestly fanaticism, which ordained their wholesale destruction, and the still more potent passage of time have so reduced them that each separate example is known to bibliophiles and americanists the world over. in such as still exist we can observe great fullness of detail, representing for the most part festivals, sacrifices, tributes, and natural phenomena, such as eclipses and floods, and the death and accession of monarchs. these events, and the supernatural beings who were supposed to control them, were depicted in brilliant colours, executed by means of a brush of feathers. the interpretative codices luckily for future students of mexican history, the blind zeal which destroyed the majority of the mexican manuscripts was frustrated by the enlightenment of certain european scholars, who regarded the wholesale destruction of the native records as little short of a calamity, and who took steps to seek out the few remaining native artists, from whom they procured copies of the more important paintings, the details of which were, of course, quite familiar to them. to those were added interpretations taken down from the lips of the native scribes themselves, so that no doubt might remain regarding the contents of the manuscripts. these are known as the "interpretative codices," and are of considerable assistance to the student of mexican history and customs. three only are in existence. the oxford codex, treasured in the bodleian library, is of a historical nature, and contains a full list of the lesser cities which were subservient to mexico in its palmy days. the paris or tellerio-remensis codex, so called from having once been the property of le tellier, archbishop of rheims, embodies many facts concerning the early settlement of the various nahua city-states. the vatican mss. deal chiefly with mythology and the intricacies of the mexican calendar system. such mexican paintings as were unassisted by an interpretation are naturally of less value to present-day students of the lore of the nahua. they are principally concerned with calendric matter, ritualistic data, and astrological computations or horoscopes. the mexican "book of the dead" perhaps the most remarkable and interesting manuscript in the vatican collection is one the last pages of which represent the journey of the soul after death through the gloomy dangers of the other-world. this has been called the mexican "book of the dead." the corpse is depicted dressed for burial, the soul escaping from its earthly tenement by way of the mouth. the spirit is ushered into the presence of tezcatlipoca, the jupiter of the aztec pantheon, by an attendant dressed in an ocelot skin, and stands naked with a wooden yoke round the neck before the deity, to receive sentence. the dead person is given over to the tests which precede entrance to the abode of the dead, the realm of mictlan, and so that he may not have to meet the perils of the journey in a defenceless condition a sheaf of javelins is bestowed upon him. he first passes between two lofty peaks, which may fall and crush him if he cannot skilfully escape them. a terrible serpent then intercepts his path, and, if he succeeds in defeating this monster, the fierce alligator xochitonal awaits him. eight deserts and a corresponding number of mountains have then to be negotiated by the hapless spirit, and a whirlwind sharp as a sword, which cuts even through solid rocks, must be withstood. accompanied by the shade of his favourite dog, the harassed ghost at length encounters the fierce izpuzteque, a demon with the backward-bent legs of a cock, the evil nextepehua, the fiend who scatters clouds of ashes, and many another grisly foe, until at last he wins to the gates of the lord of hell, before whom he does reverence, after which he is free to greet his friends who have gone before. the calendar system as has been said, the calendar system was the source of all mexican science, and regulated the recurrence of all religious rites and festivals. in fact, the entire mechanism of nahua life was resident in its provisions. the type of time-division and computation exemplified in the nahua calendar was also found among the maya peoples of yucatan and guatemala and the zapotec people of the boundary between the nahua and maya races. by which of these races it was first employed is unknown. but the zapotec calendar exhibits signs of both nahua and maya influence, and from this it has been inferred that the calendar systems of these races have been evolved from it. it might with equal probability be argued that both nahua and maya art were offshoots of zapotec art, because the characteristics of both are discovered in it, whereas the circumstance merely illustrates the very natural acceptance by a border people, who settled down to civilisation at a relatively later date, of the artistic tenets of the two greater peoples who environed them. the nahua and maya calendars were in all likelihood evolved from the calendar system of that civilised race which undoubtedly existed on the mexican plateau prior to the coming of the later nahua swarms, and which in general is loosely alluded to as the "toltec." the mexican year the mexican year was a cycle of days, without any intercalary addition or other correction. in course of time it almost lost its seasonal significance because of the omission of the extra hours included in the solar year, and furthermore many of its festivals and occasions were altered by high-priests and rulers to suit their convenience. the mexican nexiuhilpililztli (binding of years) contained fifty-two years, and ran in two separate cycles--one of fifty-two years of days each, and another of seventy-three groups of days each. the first was of course the solar year, and embraced eighteen periods of twenty days each, called "months" by the old spanish chroniclers, with five nemontemi (unlucky days) over and above. these days were not intercalated, but were included in the year, and merely overflowed the division of the year into periods of twenty days. the cycle of seventy-three groups of days, subdivided into groups of thirteen days, was called the "birth-cycle." lunar reckoning people in a barbarous condition almost invariably reckon time by the period between the waxing and waning of the moon as distinct from the entire passage of a lunar revolution, and this period of twenty days will be found to be the basis in the time-reckoning of the mexicans, who designated it cempohualli. each day included in it was denoted by a sign, as "house," "snake," "wind," and so forth. each cempohualli was subdivided into four periods of five days each, sometimes alluded to as "weeks" by the early spanish writers, and these were known by the sign of their middle or third day. these day-names ran on without reference to the length of the year. the year itself was designated by the name of the middle day of the week in which it began. out of twenty day-names in the mexican "month" it was inevitable that the four calli (house), tochtli (rabbit), acatl (reed), and tecpatl (flint) should always recur in sequence because of the incidence of these days in the mexican solar year. four years made up a year of the sun. during the nemontemi (unlucky days) no work was done, as they were regarded as ominous and unwholesome. we have seen that the civil year permitted the day-names to run on continuously from one year to another. the ecclesiastical authorities, however, had a reckoning of their own, and made the year begin always on the first day of their calendar, no matter what sign denominated that day in the civil system. groups of years as has been indicated, the years were formed into groups. thirteen years constituted a xiumalpilli (bundle), and four of these a nexiuhilpilitztli (complete binding of the years). each year had thus a double aspect, first as an individual period of time, and secondly as a portion of the "year of the sun," and these were so numbered and named that each year in the series of fifty-two possessed a different description. the dread of the last day with the conclusion of each period of fifty-two years a terrible dread came upon the mexicans that the world would come to an end. a stated period of time had expired, a period which was regarded as fixed by divine command, and it had been ordained that on the completion of one of those series of fifty-two years earthly time would cease and the universe be demolished. for some time before the ceremony of toxilmolpilia (the binding up of the years) the mexicans abandoned themselves to the utmost prostration, and the wicked went about in terrible fear. as the first day of the fifty-third year dawned the people narrowly observed the pleiades, for if they passed the zenith time would proceed and the world would be respited. the gods were placated or refreshed by the slaughter of the human victim, on whose still living breast a fire of wood was kindled by friction, the heart and body being consumed by the flames so lighted. as the planets of hope crossed the zenith loud acclamations resounded from the people, and the domestic hearths, which had been left cold and dead, were rekindled from the sacred fire which had consumed the sacrifice. mankind was safe for another period. the birth-cycle the birth-cycle, as we have said, consisted of days. it had originally been a lunar cycle of thirteen days, and once bore the names of thirteen moons. it formed part of the civil calendar, with which, however, it had nothing in common, as it was used for ecclesiastical purposes only. the lunar names were abandoned later, and the numbers one to thirteen adopted in their places. language of the nahua the nahua language represented a very low state of culture. speech is the general measure of the standard of thought of a people, and if we judged the civilisation of the nahua by theirs, we should be justified in concluding that they had not yet emerged from barbarism. but we must recollect that the nahua of the conquest period had speedily adopted the older civilisation which they had found awaiting them on their entrance to mexico, and had retained their own primitive tongue. the older and more cultured people who had preceded them probably spoke a more polished dialect of the same language, but its influence had evidently but little effect upon the rude chichimecs and aztecs. the mexican tongue, like most american languages, belongs to the "incorporative" type, the genius of which is to unite all the related words in a sentence into one conglomerate term or word, merging the separate words of which it is composed one into another by altering their forms, and so welding them together as to express the whole in one word. it will be at once apparent that such a system was clumsy in the extreme, and led to the creation of words and names of the most barbarous appearance and sound. in a narrative of the spanish discovery written by chimalpahin, the native chronicler of chalco, born in , we have, for example, such a passage as the following: oc chiucnauhxihuitl inic onen quilantimanca españa camo niman ic yuh ca omacoc ihuelitiliztli inic niman ye chiuhcnauhxiuhtica, in oncan ohualla. this passage is chosen quite at random, and is an average specimen of literary mexican of the sixteenth century. its purport is, freely translated: "for nine years he [columbus] remained in vain in spain. yea, for nine years there he waited for influence." the clumsy and cumbrous nature of the language could scarcely be better illustrated than by pointing out that chiucnauhxihuitl signifies "nine years"; quilantimanca, "he below remained"; and omacoc ihuelitiliztli, "he has got his powerfulness." it must be recollected that this specimen of mexican was composed by a person who had had the benefit of a spanish education, and is cast in literary form. what the spoken mexican of pre-conquest times was like can be contemplated with misgiving in the grammars of the old spanish missionaries, whose greatest glory is that they mastered such a language in the interests of their faith. aztec science the science of the aztecs was, perhaps, one of the most picturesque sides of their civilisation. as with all peoples in a semi-barbarous state, it consisted chiefly in astrology and divination. of the former the wonderful calendar system was the basis, and by its aid the priests, or those of them who were set apart for the study of the heavenly bodies, pretended to be able to tell the future of new-born infants and the progress of the dead in the other world. this they accomplished by weighing the influence of the planets and other luminaries one against another, and extracting the net result. their art of divination consisted in drawing omens from the song and flight of birds, the appearance of grains of seed, feathers, and the entrails of animals, by which means they confidently predicted both public and private events. nahua government the limits of the aztec empire may be defined, if its tributary states are included, as extending over the territory comprised in the modern states of mexico, southern vera cruz, and guerrero. among the civilised peoples of this extensive tract the prevailing form of government was an absolute monarchy, although several of the smaller communities were republics. the law of succession, as with the celts of scotland, prescribed that the eldest surviving brother of the deceased monarch should be elected to his throne, and, failing him, the eldest nephew. but incompetent persons were almost invariably ignored by the elective body, although the choice was limited to one family. the ruler was generally selected both because of his military prowess and his ecclesiastical and political knowledge. indeed, a mexican monarch was nearly always a man of the highest culture and artistic refinement, and the ill-fated montezuma was an example of the true type of nahua sovereign. the council of the monarch was composed of the electors and other personages of importance in the realm. it undertook the government of the provinces, the financial affairs of the country, and other matters of national import. the nobility held all the highest military, judicial, and ecclesiastical offices. to each city and province judges were delegated who exercised criminal and civil jurisdiction, and whose opinion superseded even that of the crown itself. petty cases were settled by lesser officials, and a still inferior grade of officers acted as a species of police in the supervision of families. domestic life the domestic life of the nahua was a peculiar admixture of simplicity and display. the mass of the people led a life of strenuous labour in the fields, and in the cities they wrought hard at many trades, among which may be specified building, metal-working, making robes and other articles of bright featherwork and quilted suits of armour, jewellery, and small wares. vendors of flowers, fruit, fish, and vegetables swarmed in the markets. the use of tobacco was general among the men of all classes. at banquets the women attended, although they were seated at separate tables. the entertainments of the upper class were marked by much magnificence, and the variety of dishes was considerable, including venison, turkey, many smaller birds, fish, a profusion of vegetables, and pastry, accompanied by sauces of delicate flavour. these were served in dishes of gold and silver. pulque, a fermented drink brewed from the agave, was the universal beverage. cannibalism was indulged in usually on ceremonial occasions, and was surrounded by such refinements of the table as served only to render it the more repulsive in the eyes of europeans. it has been stated that this revolting practice was engaged in owing solely to the tenets of the nahua religion, which enjoined the slaughter of slaves or captives in the name of a deity, and their consumption with the idea that the consumers attained unity with that deity in the flesh. but there is good reason to suspect that the nahua, deprived of the flesh of the larger domestic animals, practised deliberate cannibalism. it would appear that the older race which preceded them in the country were innocent of these horrible repasts. a mysterious toltec book a piece of nahua literature, the disappearance of which is surrounded by circumstances of the deepest mystery, is the teo-amoxtli (divine book), which is alleged by certain chroniclers to have been the work of the ancient toltecs. ixtlilxochitl, a native mexican author, states that it was written by a tezcucan wise man, one huematzin, about the end of the seventh century, and that it described the pilgrimage of the nahua from asia, their laws, manners, and customs, and their religious tenets, science, and arts. in the baron de waldeck stated in his voyage pittoresque that he had it in his possession, and the abbé brasseur de bourbourg identified it with the maya dresden codex and other native manuscripts. bustamante also states that the amamatini (chroniclers) of tezcuco had a copy in their possession at the time of the taking of their city. but these appear to be mere surmises, and if the teo-amoxtli ever existed, which on the whole is not unlikely, it has probably never been seen by a european. a native historian one of the most interesting of the mexican historians is don fernando de alva ixtlilxochitl, a half-breed of royal tezcucan descent. he was responsible for two notable works, entitled historia chichimeca (the history of the chichimecs) and the relaciones, a compilation of historical and semi-historical incidents. he was cursed, or blessed, however, by a strong leaning toward the marvellous, and has coloured his narratives so highly that he would have us regard the toltec or ancient nahua civilisations as by far the most splendid and magnificent that ever existed. his descriptions of tezcuco, if picturesque in the extreme, are manifestly the outpourings of a romantic and idealistic mind, which in its patriotic enthusiasm desired to vindicate the country of his birth from the stigma of savagery and to prove its equality with the great nations of antiquity. for this we have not the heart to quarrel with him. but we must be on our guard against accepting any of his statements unless we find strong corroboration of it in the pages of a more trustworthy and less biased author. nahua topography the geography of mexico is by no means as familiar to europeans as is that of the various countries of our own continent, and it is extremely easy for the reader who is unacquainted with mexico and the puzzling orthography of its place-names to flounder among them, and during the perusal of such a volume as this to find himself in a hopeless maze of surmise as to the exact locality of the more famous centres of mexican history. a few moments' study of this paragraph will enlighten him in this respect, and will save him much confusion further on. he will see from the map (p. ) that the city of mexico, or tenochtitlan, its native name, was situated upon an island in the lake of tezcuco. this lake has now partially dried up, and the modern city of mexico is situated at a considerable distance from it. tezcuco, the city second in importance, lies to the north-east of the lake, and is somewhat more isolated, the other pueblos (towns) clustering round the southern or western shores. to the north of tezcuco is teotihuacan, the sacred city of the gods. to the south-east of mexico is tlaxcallan, or tlascala, the city which assisted cortés against the mexicans, and the inhabitants of which were the deadliest foes of the central nahua power. to the north lie the sacred city of cholula and tula, or tollan. distribution of the nahua tribes having become acquainted with the relative position of the nahua cities, we may now consult for a moment the map which exhibits the geographical distribution of the various nahua tribes, and which is self-explanatory (p. ). nahua history a brief historical sketch or epitome of what is known of nahua history as apart from mere tradition will further assist the reader in the comprehension of mexican mythology. from the period of the settlement of the nahua on an agricultural basis a system of feudal government had evolved, and at various epochs in the history of the country certain cities or groups of cities held a paramount sway. subsequent to the "toltec" period, which we have already described and discussed, we find the acolhuans in supreme power, and ruling from their cities of tollantzinco and cholula a considerable tract of country. later cholula maintained an alliance with tlascala and huexotzinco. bloodless battles the maxim "other climes, other manners" is nowhere better exemplified than by the curious annual strife betwixt the warriors of mexico and tlascala. once a year they met on a prearranged battle-ground and engaged in combat, not with the intention of killing one another, but with the object of taking prisoners for sacrifice on the altars of their respective war-gods. the warrior seized his opponent and attempted to bear him off, the various groups pulling and tugging desperately at each other in the endeavour to seize the limbs of the unfortunate who had been first struck down, with the object of dragging him into durance or effecting his rescue. once secured, the tlascaltec warrior was brought to mexico in a cage, and first placed upon a stone slab, to which one of his feet was secured by a chain or thong. he was then given light weapons, more like playthings than warrior's gear, and confronted by one of the most celebrated mexican warriors. should he succeed in defeating six of these formidable antagonists, he was set free. but no sooner was he wounded than he was hurried to the altar of sacrifice, and his heart was torn out and offered to huitzilopochtli, the implacable god of war. the tlascaltecs, having finally secured their position by a defeat of the tecpanecs of huexotzinco about a.d. , sank into comparative obscurity save for their annual bout with the mexicans. the lake cities the communities grouped round the various lakes in the valley of mexico now command our attention. more than two score of these thriving communities flourished at the time of the conquest of mexico, the most notable being those which occupied the borders of the lake of tezcuco. these cities grouped themselves round two nuclei, azcapozalco and tezcuco, between whom a fierce rivalry sprang up, which finally ended in the entire discomfiture or azcapozalco. from this event the real history of mexico may be said to commence. those cities which had allied themselves to tezcuco finally overran the entire territory of mexico from the mexican gulf to the pacific. tezcuco if, as some authorities declare, tezcuco was originally otomi in affinity, it was in later years the most typically nahuan of all the lacustrine powers. but several other communities, the power of which was very nearly as great as that of tezcuco, had assisted that city to supremacy. among these was xaltocan, a city-state of unquestionable otomi origin, situated at the northern extremity of the lake. as we have seen from the statements of ixtlilxochitl, a tezcucan writer, his native city was in the forefront of nahua civilisation at the time of the coming of the spaniards, and if it was practically subservient to mexico (tenochtitlan) at that period it was by no means its inferior in the arts. the tecpanecs the tecpanecs, who dwelt in tlacopan, coyohuacan, and huitzilopocho, were also typical nahua. the name, as we have already explained, indicates that each settlement possessed its own tecpan (chief's house), and has no racial significance. their state was probably founded about the twelfth century, although a chronology of no less than fifteen hundred years was claimed for it. this people composed a sort of buffer-state betwixt the otomi on the north and other nahua on the south. the aztecs the menace of these northern otomi had become acute when the tecpanecs received reinforcements in the shape of the aztecâ, or aztecs, a people of nahua blood, who came, according to their own accounts, from aztlan (crane land). the name aztecâ signifies "crane people," and this has led to the assumption that they came from chihuahua, where cranes abound. doubts have been cast upon the nahua origin of the aztecâ. but these are by no means well founded, as the names of the early aztec chieftains and kings are unquestionably nahuan. this people on their arrival in mexico were in a very inferior state of culture, and were probably little better than savages. we have already outlined some of the legends concerning the coming of the aztecs to the land of anahuac, or the valley of mexico, but their true origin is uncertain, and it is likely that they wandered down from the north as other nahua immigrants did before them, and as the apache indians still do to this day. by their own showing they had sojourned at several points en route, and were reduced to slavery by the chiefs of colhuacan. they proved so truculent in their bondage, however, that they were released, and journeyed to chapoultepec, which they quitted because of their dissensions with the xaltocanecs. on their arrival in the district inhabited by the tecpanecs a tribute was levied upon them, but nevertheless they flourished so exceedingly that the swamp villages which the tecpanecs had permitted them to raise on the borders of the lake soon grew into thriving communities, and chiefs were provided for them from among the nobility of the tecpanecs. the aztecs as allies by the aid of the aztecs the tecpanecs greatly extended their territorial possessions. city after city was added to their empire, and the allies finally invaded the otomi country, which they speedily subdued. those cities which had been founded by the acolhuans on the fringes of tezcuco also allied themselves with the tecpanecs with the intention of freeing themselves from the yoke of the chichimecs, whose hand was heavy upon them. the chichimecs or tezcucans made a stern resistance, and for a time the sovereignty of the tecpanecs hung in the balance. but eventually they conquered, and tezcuco was overthrown and given as a spoil to the aztecs. new powers up to this time the aztecs had paid a tribute to azcapozalco, but now, strengthened by the successes of the late conflict, they withheld it, and requested permission to build an aqueduct from the shore for the purpose of carrying a supply of water into their city. this was refused by the tecpanecs, and a policy of isolation was brought to bear upon mexico, an embargo being placed upon its goods and intercourse with its people being forbidden. war followed, in which the tecpanecs were defeated with great slaughter. after this event, which may be placed about the year , the aztecs gained ground rapidly, and their march to the supremacy of the entire mexican valley was almost undisputed. allying themselves with tezcuco and tlacopan, the mexicans overran many states far beyond the confines of the valley, and by the time of montezuma i had extended their boundaries almost to the limits of the present republic. the mexican merchant followed in the footsteps of the mexican warrior, and the commercial expansion of the aztecs rivalled their military fame. clever traders, they were merciless in their exactions of tribute from the states they conquered, manufacturing the raw material paid to them by the subject cities into goods which they afterwards sold again to the tribes under their sway. mexico became the chief market of the empire, as well as its political nucleus. such was the condition of affairs when the spaniards arrived in anahuac. their coming has been deplored by certain historians as hastening the destruction of a western eden. but bad as was their rule, it was probably mild when compared with the cruel and insatiable sway of the aztecs over their unhappy dependents. the spaniards found a tyrannical despotism in the conquered provinces, and a faith the accessories of which were so fiendish that it cast a gloom over the entire national life. these they replaced by a milder vassalage and the earnest ministrations of a more enlightened priesthood. chapter ii: mexican mythology nahua religion the religion of the ancient mexicans was a polytheism or worship of a pantheon of deities, the general aspect of which presented similarities to the systems of greece and egypt. original influences, however, were strong, and they are especially discernible in the institutions of ritualistic cannibalism and human sacrifice. strange resemblances to christian practice were observed in the aztec mythology by the spanish conquistadores, who piously condemned the native customs of baptism, consubstantiation, and confession as frauds founded and perpetuated by diabolic agency. a superficial examination of the nahua religion might lead to the inference that within its scope and system no definite theological views were embraced and no ethical principles propounded, and that the entire mythology presents only the fantastic attitude of the barbarian mind toward the eternal verities. such a conclusion would be both erroneous and unjust to a human intelligence of a type by no means debased. as a matter of fact, the nahua displayed a theological advancement greatly superior to that of the greeks or romans, and quite on a level with that expressed by the egyptians and assyrians. toward the period of the spanish occupation the mexican priesthood was undoubtedly advancing to the contemplation of the exaltation of one god, whose worship was fast excluding that of similar deities, and if our data are too imperfect to allow us to speak very fully in regard to this phase of religious advancement, we know at least that much of the nahua ritual and many of the prayers preserved by the labours of the spanish fathers are unquestionably genuine, and display the attainment of a high religious level. cosmology aztec theology postulated an eternity which, however, was not without its epochs. it was thought to be broken up into a number of æons, each of which depended upon the period of duration of a separate "sun." no agreement is noticeable among authorities on mexican mythology as to the number of these "suns," but it would appear as probable that the favourite tradition stipulated for four "suns" or epochs, each of which concluded with a national disaster--flood, famine, tempest, or fire. the present æon, they feared, might conclude upon the completion of every "sheaf" of fifty-two years, the "sheaf" being a merely arbitrary portion of an æon. the period of time from the first creation to the current æon was variously computed as , , , or solar years, the discrepancy and doubt arising because of the equivocal nature of the numeral signs expressing the period in the pinturas or native paintings. as regards the sequence of "suns" there is no more agreement than there is regarding their number. the codex vaticanus states it to have been water, wind, fire, and famine. humboldt gives it as hunger, fire, wind, and water; boturini as water, famine, wind, and fire; and gama as hunger, wind, fire, and water. in all likelihood the adoption of four ages arose from the sacred nature of that number. the myth doubtless shaped itself upon the tonalamatl (mexican native calendar), the great repository of the wisdom of the nahua race, which the priestly class regarded as its vade mecum, and which was closely consulted by it on every occasion, civil or religious. the sources of mexican mythology our knowledge of the mythology of the mexicans is chiefly gained through the works of those spaniards, lay and cleric, who entered the country along with or immediately subsequent to the spanish conquistadores. from several of these we have what might be called first-hand accounts of the theogony and ritual of the nahua people. the most valuable compendium is that of father bernardino sahagun, entitled a general history of the affairs of new spain, which was published from manuscript only in the middle of last century, though written in the first half of the sixteenth century. sahagun arrived in mexico eight years after the country had been reduced by the spaniards to a condition of servitude. he obtained a thorough mastery of the nahuatl tongue, and conceived a warm admiration for the native mind and a deep interest in the antiquities of the conquered people. his method of collecting facts concerning their mythology and history was as effective as it was ingenious. he held daily conferences with reliable indians, and placed questions before them, to which they replied by symbolical paintings detailing the answers which he required. these he submitted to scholars who had been trained under his own supervision, and who, after consultation among themselves, rendered him a criticism in nahuatl of the hieroglyphical paintings he had placed at their disposal. not content with this process, he subjected these replies to the criticism of a third body, after which the matter was included in his work. but ecclesiastical intolerance was destined to keep the work from publication for a couple of centuries. afraid that such a volume would be successful in keeping alight the fires of paganism in mexico, sahagun's brethren refused him the assistance he required for its publication. but on his appealing to the council of the indies in spain he was met with encouragement, and was ordered to translate his great work into spanish, a task he undertook when over eighty years of age. he transmitted the work to spain, and for three hundred years nothing more was heard of it. the romance of the lost "sahagun" for generations antiquarians interested in the lore of ancient mexico bemoaned its loss, until at length one muñoz, more indefatigable than the rest, chanced to visit the crumbling library of the ancient convent of tolosi, in navarre. there, among time-worn manuscripts and tomes relating to the early fathers and the intricacies of canon law, he discovered the lost sahagun! it was printed separately by bustamante at mexico and by lord kingsborough in his collection in , and has been translated into french by m. jourdanet. thus the manuscript commenced in or after was given to the public after a lapse of no less than three hundred years! torquemada father torquemada arrived in the new world about the middle of the sixteenth century, at which period he was still enabled to take from the lips of such of the conquistadores as remained much curious information regarding the circumstances of their advent. his monarchia indiana was first published at seville in , and in it he made much use of the manuscript of sahagun, not then published. at the same time his observations upon matters pertaining to the native religion are often illuminating and exhaustive. in his storia antica del messico the abbé clavigero, who published his work in , did much to disperse the clouds of tradition which hung over mexican history and mythology. the clarity of his style and the exactness of his information render his work exceedingly useful. antonio gama, in his descripcion historica y cronologica de las dos piedras, poured a flood of light on mexican antiquities. his work was published in . with him may be said to have ceased the line of mexican archæologists of the older school. others worthy of being mentioned among the older writers on mexican mythology (we are not here concerned with history) are boturini, who, in his idea de una nueva historia general de la america septentrional, gives a vivid picture of native life and tradition, culled from first-hand communication with the people; ixtlilxochitl, a half-breed, whose mendacious works, the relaciones and historia chichimeca, are yet valuable repositories of tradition; josé de acosta, whose historia natural y moral de las yndias was published at seville in ; and gomara, who, in his historia general de las indias (madrid, ), rested upon the authority of the conquistadores. tezozomoc's chronica mexicana, reproduced in lord kingsborough's great work, is valuable as giving unique facts regarding the aztec mythology, as is the teatro mexicana of vetancurt, published at mexico in - . the worship of one god the ritual of this dead faith of another hemisphere abounds in expressions concerning the unity of the deity approaching very nearly to many of those we ourselves employ regarding god's attributes. the various classes of the priesthood were in the habit of addressing the several gods to whom they ministered as "omnipotent," "endless," "invisible," "the one god complete in perfection and unity," and "the maker and moulder of all." these appellations they applied not to one supreme being, but to the individual deities to whose service they were attached. it may be thought that such a practice would be fatal to the evolution of a single and universal god. but there is every reason to believe that tezcatlipoca, the great god of the air, like the hebrew jahveh, also an air-god, was fast gaining precedence of all other deities, when the coming of the white man put an end to his chances of sovereignty. tezcatlipoca tezcatlipoca (fiery mirror) was undoubtedly the jupiter of the nahua pantheon. he carried a mirror or shield, from which he took his name, and in which he was supposed to see reflected the actions and deeds of mankind. the evolution of this god from the status of a spirit of wind or air to that of the supreme deity of the aztec people presents many points of deep interest to students of mythology. originally the personification of the air, the source both of the breath of life and of the tempest, tezcatlipoca possessed all the attributes of a god who presided over these phenomena. as the tribal god of the tezcucans who had led them into the land of promise, and had been instrumental in the defeat of both the gods and men of the elder race they dispossessed, tezcatlipoca naturally advanced so speedily in popularity and public honour that it was little wonder that within a comparatively short space of time he came to be regarded as a god of fate and fortune, and as inseparably connected with the national destinies. thus, from being the peculiar deity of a small band of nahua immigrants, the prestige accruing from the rapid conquest made under his tutelary direction and the speedily disseminated tales of the prowess of those who worshipped him seemed to render him at once the most popular and the best feared god in anahuac, therefore the one whose cult quickly overshadowed that of other and similar gods. tezcatlipoca, overthrower of the toltecs we find tezcatlipoca intimately associated with the legends which recount the overthrow of tollan, the capital of the toltecs. his chief adversary on the toltec side is the god-king quetzalcoatl, whose nature and reign we will consider later, but whom we will now merely regard as the enemy of tezcatlipoca. the rivalry between these gods symbolises that which existed between the civilised toltecs and the barbarian nahua, and is well exemplified in the following myths. myths of quetzalcoatl and tezcatlipoca in the days of quetzalcoatl there was abundance of everything necessary for subsistence. the maize was plentiful, the calabashes were as thick as one's arm, and cotton grew in all colours without having to be dyed. a variety of birds of rich plumage filled the air with their songs, and gold, silver, and precious stones were abundant. in the reign of quetzalcoatl there was peace and plenty for all men. but this blissful state was too fortunate, too happy to endure. envious of the calm enjoyment of the god and his people the toltecs, three wicked "necromancers" plotted their downfall. the reference is of course to the gods of the invading nahua tribes, the deities huitzilopochtli, titlacahuan or tezcatlipoca, and tlacahuepan. these laid evil enchantments upon the city of tollan, and tezcatlipoca in particular took the lead in these envious conspiracies. disguised as an aged man with white hair, he presented himself at the palace of quetzalcoatl, where he said to the pages-in-waiting: "pray present me to your master the king. i desire to speak with him." the pages advised him to retire, as quetzalcoatl was indisposed and could see no one. he requested them, however, to tell the god that he was waiting outside. they did so, and procured his admittance. on entering the chamber of quetzalcoatl the wily tezcatlipoca simulated much sympathy with the suffering god-king. "how are you, my son?" he asked. "i have brought you a drug which you should drink, and which will put an end to the course of your malady." "you are welcome, old man," replied quetzalcoatl. "i have known for many days that you would come. i am exceedingly indisposed. the malady affects my entire system, and i can use neither my hands nor feet." tezcatlipoca assured him that if he partook of the medicine which he had brought him he would immediately experience a great improvement in health. quetzalcoatl drank the potion, and at once felt much revived. the cunning tezcatlipoca pressed another and still another cup of the potion upon him, and as it was nothing but pulque, the wine of the country, he speedily became intoxicated, and was as wax in the hands of his adversary. tezcatlipoca and the toltecs tezcatlipoca, in pursuance of his policy inimical to the toltec state, took the form of an indian of the name of toueyo (toveyo), and bent his steps to the palace of uemac, chief of the toltecs in temporal matters. this worthy had a daughter so fair that she was desired in marriage by many of the toltecs, but all to no purpose, as her father refused her hand to one and all. the princess, beholding the false toueyo passing her father's palace, fell deeply in love with him, and so tumultuous was her passion that she became seriously ill because of her longing for him. uemac, hearing of her indisposition, bent his steps to her apartments, and inquired of her women the cause of her illness. they told him that it was occasioned by the sudden passion which had seized her for the indian who had recently come that way. uemac at once gave orders for the arrest of toueyo, and he was haled before the temporal chief of tollan. "whence come you?" inquired uemac of his prisoner, who was very scantily attired. "lord, i am a stranger, and i have come to these parts to sell green paint," replied tezcatlipoca. "why are you dressed in this fashion? why do you not wear a cloak?" asked the chief. "my lord, i follow the custom of my country," replied tezcatlipoca. "you have inspired a passion in the breast of my daughter," said uemac. "what should be done to you for thus disgracing me?" "slay me; i care not," said the cunning tezcatlipoca. "nay," replied uemac, "for if i slay you my daughter will perish. go to her and say that she may wed you and be happy." now the marriage of toueyo to the daughter of uemac aroused much discontent among the toltecs; and they murmured among themselves, and said: "wherefore did uemac give his daughter to this toueyo?" uemac, having got wind of these murmurings, resolved to distract the attention of the toltecs by making war upon the neighbouring state of coatepec. the toltecs assembled armed for the fray, and having arrived at the country of the men of coatepec they placed toueyo in ambush with his body-servants, hoping that he would be slain by their adversaries. but toueyo and his men killed a large number of the enemy and put them to flight. his triumph was celebrated by uemac with much pomp. the knightly plumes were placed upon his head, and his body was painted with red and yellow--an honour reserved for those who distinguished themselves in battle. tezcatlipoca's next step was to announce a great feast in tollan, to which all the people for miles around were invited. great crowds assembled, and danced and sang in the city to the sound of the drum. tezcatlipoca sang to them and forced them to accompany the rhythm of his song with their feet. faster and faster the people danced, until the pace became so furious that they were driven to madness, lost their footing, and tumbled pell-mell down a deep ravine, where they were changed into rocks. others in attempting to cross a stone bridge precipitated themselves into the water below, and were changed into stones. on another occasion tezcatlipoca presented himself as a valiant warrior named tequiua, and invited all the inhabitants of tollan and its environs to come to the flower-garden called xochitla. when assembled there he attacked them with a hoe, and slew a great number, and others in panic crushed their comrades to death. tezcatlipoca and tlacahuepan on another occasion repaired to the market-place of tollan, the former displaying upon the palm of his hand a small infant whom he caused to dance and to cut the most amusing capers. this infant was in reality huitzilopochtli, the nahua god of war. at this sight the toltecs crowded upon one another for the purpose of getting a better view, and their eagerness resulted in many being crushed to death. so enraged were the toltecs at this that upon the advice of tlacahuepan they slew both tezcatlipoca and huitzilopochtli. when this had been done the bodies of the slain gods gave forth such a pernicious effluvia that thousands of the toltecs died of the pestilence. the god tlacahuepan then advised them to cast out the bodies lest worse befell them, but on their attempting to do so they discovered their weight to be so great that they could not move them. hundreds wound cords round the corpses, but the strands broke, and those who pulled upon them fell and died suddenly, tumbling one upon the other, and suffocating those upon whom they collapsed. the departure of quetzalcoatl the toltecs were so tormented by the enchantments of tezcatlipoca that it was soon apparent to them that their fortunes were on the wane and that the end of their empire was at hand. quetzalcoatl, chagrined at the turn things had taken, resolved to quit tollan and go to the country of tlapallan, whence he had come on his civilising mission to mexico. he burned all the houses which he had built, and buried his treasure of gold and precious stones in the deep valleys between the mountains. he changed the cacao-trees into mezquites, and he ordered all the birds of rich plumage and song to quit the valley of anahuac and to follow him to a distance of more than a hundred leagues. on the road from tollan he discovered a great tree at a point called quauhtitlan. there he rested, and requested his pages to hand him a mirror. regarding himself in the polished surface, he exclaimed, "i am old," and from that circumstance the spot was named huehuequauhtitlan (old quauhtitlan). proceeding on his way accompanied by musicians who played the flute, he walked until fatigue arrested his steps, and he seated himself upon a stone, on which he left the imprint of his hands. this place is called temacpalco (the impress of the hands). at coaapan he was met by the nahua gods, who were inimical to him and to the toltecs. "where do you go?" they asked him. "why do you leave your capital?" "i go to tlapallan," replied quetzalcoatl, "whence i came." "for what reason?" persisted the enchanters. "my father the sun has called me thence," replied quetzalcoatl. "go, then, happily," they said, "but leave us the secret of your art, the secret of founding in silver, of working in precious stones and woods, of painting, and of feather-working, and other matters." but quetzalcoatl refused, and cast all his treasures into the fountain of cozcaapa (water of precious stones). at cochtan he was met by another enchanter, who asked him whither he was bound, and on learning his destination proffered him a draught of wine. on tasting the vintage quetzalcoatl was overcome with sleep. continuing his journey in the morning, the god passed between a volcano and the sierra nevada (mountain of snow), where all the pages who accompanied him died of cold. he regretted this misfortune exceedingly, and wept, lamenting their fate with most bitter tears and mournful songs. on reaching the summit of mount poyauhtecatl he slid to the base. arriving at the sea-shore, he embarked upon a raft of serpents, and was wafted away toward the land of tlapallan. it is obvious that these legends bear some resemblance to those of ixtlilxochitl which recount the fall of the toltecs. they are taken from sahagun's work, historia general de nueva españa, and are included as well for the sake of comparison as for their own intrinsic value. tezcatlipoca as doomster tezcatlipoca was much more than a mere personification of wind, and if he was regarded as a life-giver he had also the power of destroying existence. in fact on occasion he appears as an inexorable death-dealer, and as such was styled nezahualpilli (the hungry chief) and yaotzin (the enemy). perhaps one of the names by which he was best known was telpochtli (the youthful warrior), from the fact that his reserve of strength, his vital force, never diminished, and that his youthful and boisterous vigour was apparent in the tempest. tezcatlipoca was usually depicted as holding in his right hand a dart placed in an atlatl (spear-thrower), and his mirror-shield with four spare darts in his left. this shield is the symbol of his power as judge of mankind and upholder of human justice. the aztecs pictured tezcatlipoca as rioting along the highways in search of persons on whom to wreak his vengeance, as the wind of night rushes along the deserted roads with more seeming violence than it does by day. indeed one of his names, yoalli ehecatl, signifies "night wind." benches of stone, shaped like those made for the dignitaries of the mexican towns, were distributed along the highways for his especial use, that on these he might rest after his boisterous journeyings. these seats were concealed by green boughs, beneath which the god was supposed to lurk in wait for his victims. but if one of the persons he seized overcame him in the struggle he might ask whatever boon he desired, secure in the promise of the deity that it should be granted forthwith. it was supposed that tezcatlipoca had guided the nahua, and especially the people of tezcuco, from a more northerly clime to the valley of mexico. but he was not a mere local deity of tezcuco, his worship being widely celebrated throughout the country. his exalted position in the mexican pantheon seems to have won for him especial reverence as a god of fate and fortune. the place he took as the head of the nahua pantheon brought him many attributes which were quite foreign to his original character. fear and a desire to exalt their tutelar deity will impel the devotees of a powerful god to credit him with any or every quality, so that there is nothing remarkable in the spectacle of the heaping of every possible attribute, human or divine, upon tezcatlipoca when we recall the supreme position he occupied in mexican mythology. his priestly caste far surpassed in power and in the breadth and activity of its propaganda the priesthoods of the other mexican deities. to it is credited the invention of many of the usages of civilisation, and that it all but succeeded in making his worship universal is pretty clear, as has been shown. the other gods were worshipped for some special purpose, but the worship of tezcatlipoca was regarded as compulsory, and to some extent as a safeguard against the destruction of the universe, a calamity the nahua had been led to believe might occur through his agency. he was known as moneneque (the claimer of prayer), and in some of the representations of him an ear of gold was shown suspended from his hair, toward which small tongues of gold strained upward in appeal of prayer. in times of national danger, plague, or famine universal prayer was made to tezcatlipoca. the heads of the community repaired to his teocalli (temple) accompanied by the people en masse, and all prayed earnestly together for his speedy intervention. the prayers to tezcatlipoca still extant prove that the ancient mexicans fully believed that he possessed the power of life and death, and many of them are couched in the most piteous terms. the teotleco festival the supreme position occupied by tezcatlipoca in the mexican religion is well exemplified in the festival of the teotleco (coming of the gods), which is fully described in sahagun's account of the mexican festivals. another peculiarity connected with his worship was that he was one of the few mexican deities who had any relation to the expiation of sin. sin was symbolised by the nahua as excrement, and in various manuscripts tezcatlipoca is represented as a turkey-cock to which ordure is being offered up. of the festival of the teotleco sahagun says: "in the twelfth month a festival was celebrated in honour of all the gods, who were said to have gone to some country i know not where. on the last day of the month a greater one was held, because the gods had returned. on the fifteenth day of this month the young boys and the servitors decked all the altars or oratories of the gods with boughs, as well as those which were in the houses, and the images which were set up by the wayside and at the cross-roads. this work was paid for in maize. some received a basketful, and others only a few ears. on the eighteenth day the ever-youthful god tlamatzincatl or titlacahuan arrived. it was said that he marched better and arrived the first because he was strong and young. food was offered him in his temple on that night. every one drank, ate, and made merry. the old people especially celebrated the arrival of the god by drinking wine, and it was alleged that his feet were washed by these rejoicings. the last day of the month was marked by a great festival, on account of the belief that the whole of the gods arrived at that time. on the preceding night a quantity of flour was kneaded on a carpet into the shape of a cheese, it being supposed that the gods would leave a footprint thereon as a sign of their return. the chief attendant watched all night, going to and fro to see if the impression appeared. when he at last saw it he called out, 'the master has arrived,' and at once the priests of the temple began to sound the horns, trumpets, and other musical instruments used by them. upon hearing this noise every one set forth to offer food in all the temples." the next day the aged gods were supposed to arrive, and young men disguised as monsters hurled victims into a huge sacrificial fire. the toxcatl festival the most remarkable festival in connection with tezcatlipoca was the toxcatl, held in the fifth month. on the day of this festival a youth was slain who for an entire year previously had been carefully instructed in the rôle of victim. he was selected from among the best war captives of the year, and must be without spot or blemish. he assumed the name, garb, and attributes of tezcatlipoca himself, and was regarded with awe by the entire populace, who imagined him to be the earthly representative of the deity. he rested during the day, and ventured forth at night only, armed with the dart and shield of the god, to scour the roads. this practice was, of course, symbolical of the wind-god's progress over the night-bound highways. he carried also the whistle symbolical of the deity, and made with it a noise such as the weird wind of night makes when it hurries through the streets. to his arms and legs small bells were attached. he was followed by a retinue of pages, and at intervals rested upon the stone seats which were placed upon the highways for the convenience of tezcatlipoca. later in the year he was mated to four beautiful maidens of high birth, with whom he passed the time in amusement of every description. he was entertained at the tables of the nobility as the earthly representative of tezcatlipoca, and his latter days were one constant round of feasting and excitement. at last the fatal day upon which he must be sacrificed arrived. he took a tearful farewell of the maidens whom he had espoused, and was carried to the teocalli of sacrifice, upon the sides of which he broke the musical instruments with which he had beguiled the time of his captivity. when he reached the summit he was received by the high-priest, who speedily made him one with the god whom he represented by tearing his heart out on the stone of sacrifice. huitzilopochtli, the war-god huitzilopochtli occupied in the aztec pantheon a place similar to that of mars in the roman. his origin is obscure, but the myth relating to it is distinctly original in character. it recounts how, under the shadow of the mountain of coatepec, near the toltec city of tollan, there dwelt a pious widow called coatlicue, the mother of a tribe of indians called centzonuitznaua, who had a daughter called coyolxauhqui, and who daily repaired to a small hill with the intention of offering up prayers to the gods in a penitent spirit of piety. whilst occupied in her devotions one day she was surprised by a small ball of brilliantly coloured feathers falling upon her from on high. she was pleased by the bright variety of its hues, and placed it in her bosom, intending to offer it up to the sun-god. some time afterwards she learnt that she was to become the mother of another child. her sons, hearing of this, rained abuse upon her, being incited to humiliate her in every possible way by their sister coyolxauhqui. coatlicue went about in fear and anxiety; but the spirit of her unborn infant came and spoke to her and gave her words of encouragement, soothing her troubled heart. her sons, however, were resolved to wipe out what they considered an insult to their race by the death of their mother, and took counsel with one another to slay her. they attired themselves in their war-gear, and arranged their hair after the manner of warriors going to battle. but one of their number, quauitlicac, relented, and confessed the perfidy of his brothers to the still unborn huitzilopochtli, who replied to him: "o brother, hearken attentively to what i have to say to you. i am fully informed of what is about to happen." with the intention of slaying their mother, the indians went in search of her. at their head marched their sister, coyolxauhqui. they were armed to the teeth, and carried bundles of darts with which they intended to kill the luckless coatlicue. quauitlicac climbed the mountain to acquaint huitzilopochtli with the news that his brothers were approaching to kill their mother. "mark well where they are at," replied the infant god. "to what place have they advanced?" "to tzompantitlan," responded quauitlicac. later on huitzilopochtli asked: "where may they be now?" "at coaxalco," was the reply. once more huitzilopochtli asked to what point his enemies had advanced. "they are now at petlac," quauitlicac replied. after a little while quauitlicac informed huitzilopochtli that the centzonuitznaua were at hand under the leadership of coyolxauhqui. at the moment of the enemy's arrival huitzilopochtli was born, flourishing a shield and spear of a blue colour. he was painted, his head was surmounted by a panache, and his left leg was covered with feathers. he shattered coyolxauhqui with a flash of serpentine lightning, and then gave chase to the centzonuitznaua, whom he pursued four times round the mountain. they did not attempt to defend themselves, but fled incontinently. many perished in the waters of the adjoining lake, to which they had rushed in their despair. all were slain save a few who escaped to a place called uitzlampa, where they surrendered to huitzilopochtli and gave up their arms. the name huitzilopochtli signifies "humming-bird to the left," from the circumstance that the god wore the feathers of the humming-bird, or colibri, on his left leg. from this it has been inferred that he was a humming-bird totem. the explanation of huitzilopochtli's origin is a little deeper than this, however. among the american tribes, especially those of the northern continent, the serpent is regarded with the deepest veneration as the symbol of wisdom and magic. from these sources come success in war. the serpent also typifies the lightning, the symbol of the divine spear, the apotheosis of warlike might. fragments of serpents are regarded as powerful war-physic among many tribes. atatarho, a mythical wizard-king of the iroquois, was clothed with living serpents as with a robe, and his myth throws light on one of the names of huitzilopochtli's mother, coatlantona (robe of serpents). huitzilopochtli's image was surrounded by serpents, and rested on serpent-shaped supporters. his sceptre was a single snake, and his great drum was of serpent-skin. in american mythology the serpent is closely associated with the bird. thus the name of the god quetzalcoatl is translatable as "feathered serpent," and many similar cases where the conception of bird and serpent have been unified could be adduced. huitzilopochtli is undoubtedly one of these. we may regard him as a god the primary conception of whom arose from the idea of the serpent, the symbol of warlike wisdom and might, the symbol of the warrior's dart or spear, and the humming-bird, the harbinger of summer, type of the season when the snake or lightning god has power over the crops. huitzilopochtli was usually represented as wearing on his head a waving panache or plume of humming-birds' feathers. his face and limbs were striped with bars of blue, and in his right hand he carried four spears. his left hand bore his shield, on the surface of which were displayed five tufts of down, arranged in the form of a quincunx. the shield was made with reeds, covered with eagle's down. the spear he brandished was also tipped with tufts of down instead of flint. these weapons were placed in the hands of those who as captives engaged in the sacrificial fight, for in the aztec mind huitzilopochtli symbolised the warrior's death on the gladiatorial stone of combat. as has been said, huitzilopochtli was war-god of the aztecs, and was supposed to have led them to the site of mexico from their original home in the north. the city of mexico took its name from one of its districts, which was designated by a title of huitzilopochtli's, mexitli (hare of the aloes). the war-god as fertiliser but huitzilopochtli was not a war-god alone. as the serpent-god of lightning he had a connection with summer, the season of lightning, and therefore had dominion to some extent over the crops and fruits of the earth. the algonquian indians of north america believed that the rattlesnake could raise ruinous storms or grant favourable breezes. they alluded to it also as the symbol of life, for the serpent has a phallic significance because of its similarity to the symbol of generation and fructification. with some american tribes also, notably the pueblo indians of arizona, the serpent has a solar significance, and with tail in mouth symbolises the annual round of the sun. the nahua believed that huitzilopochtli could grant them fair weather for the fructification of their crops, and they placed an image of tlaloc, the rain-god, near him, so that, if necessary, the war-god could compel the rain-maker to exert his pluvial powers or to abstain from the creation of floods. we must, in considering the nature of this deity, bear well in mind the connection in the nahua consciousness between the pantheon, war, and the food-supply. if war was not waged annually the gods must go without flesh food and perish, and if the gods succumbed the crops would fail, and famine would destroy the race. so it was small wonder that huitzilopochtli was one of the chief gods of mexico. huitzilopochtli's principal festival was the toxcatl, celebrated immediately after the toxcatl festival of tezcatlipoca, to which it bore a strong resemblance. festivals of the god were held in may and december, at the latter of which an image of him, moulded in dough kneaded with the blood of sacrificed children, was pierced by the presiding priest with an arrow--an act significant of the death of huitzilopochtli until his resurrection in the next year. strangely enough, when the absolute supremacy of tezcatlipoca is remembered, the high-priest of huitzilopochtli, the mexicatl teohuatzin, was considered to be the religious head of the mexican priesthood. the priests of huitzilopochtli held office by right of descent, and their primate exacted absolute obedience from the priesthoods of all the other deities, being regarded as next to the monarch himself in power and dominion. tlaloc, the rain-god tlaloc was the god of rain and moisture. in a country such as mexico, where the success or failure of the crops depends entirely upon the plentiful nature or otherwise of the rainfall, he was, it will be readily granted, a deity of high importance. it was believed that he made his home in the mountains which surround the valley of mexico, as these were the source of the local rainfall, and his popularity is vouched for by the fact that sculptured representations of him occur more often than those of any other of the mexican deities. he is generally represented in a semi-recumbent attitude, with the upper part of the body raised upon the elbows, and the knees half drawn up, probably to represent the mountainous character of the country whence comes the rain. he was espoused to chalchihuitlicue (emerald lady), who bore him a numerous progeny, the tlalocs (clouds). many of the figures which represented him were carved from the green stone called chalchiuitl (jadeite), to typify the colour of water, and in some of these he was shown holding a serpent of gold to typify the lightning, for water-gods are often closely identified with the thunder, which hangs over the hills and accompanies heavy rains. tlaloc, like his prototype, the kiche god hurakan, manifested himself in three forms, as the lightning-flash, the thunderbolt, and the thunder. although his image faced the east, where he was supposed to have originated, he was worshipped as inhabiting the four cardinal points and every mountain-top. the colours of the four points of the compass, yellow, green, red, and blue, whence came the rain-bearing winds, entered into the composition of his costume, which was further crossed with streaks of silver, typifying the mountain torrents. a vase containing every description of grain was usually placed before his idol, an offering of the growth which it was hoped he would fructify. he dwelt in a many-watered paradise called tlalocan (the country of tlaloc), a place of plenty and fruitfulness, where those who had been drowned or struck by lightning or had died from dropsical diseases enjoyed eternal bliss. those of the common people who did not die such deaths went to the dark abode of mictlan, the all-devouring and gloomy lord of death. in the native manuscripts tlaloc is usually portrayed as having a dark complexion, a large round eye, a row of tusks, and over the lips an angular blue stripe curved downward and rolled up at the ends. the latter character is supposed to have been evolved originally from the coils of two snakes, their mouths with long fangs in the upper jaw meeting in the middle of the upper lip. the snake, besides being symbolised by lightning in many american mythologies, is also symbolical of water, which is well typified in its sinuous movements. many maidens and children were annually sacrificed to tlaloc. if the children wept it was regarded as a happy omen for a rainy season. the etzalqualiztli (when they eat bean food) was his chief festival, and was held on a day approximating to may , about which date the rainy season usually commenced. another festival in his honour, the quauitleua, commenced the mexican year on february . at the former festival the priests of tlaloc plunged into a lake, imitating the sounds and movements of frogs, which, as denizens of water, were under the special protection of the god. chalchihuitlicue, his wife, was often symbolised by the small image of a frog. sacrifices to tlaloc human sacrifices also took place at certain points in the mountains where artificial ponds were consecrated to tlaloc. cemeteries were situated in their vicinity, and offerings to the god interred near the burial-place of the bodies of the victims slain in his service. his statue was placed on the highest mountain of tezcuco, and an old writer mentions that five or six young children were annually offered to the god at various points, their hearts torn out, and their remains interred. the mountains popocatepetl and teocuinani were regarded as his special high places, and on the heights of the latter was built his temple, in which stood his image carved in green stone. the nahua believed that the constant production of food and rain induced a condition of senility in those deities whose duty it was to provide them. this they attempted to stave off, fearing that if they failed in so doing the gods would perish. they afforded them, accordingly, a period of rest and recuperation, and once in eight years a festival called the atamalqualiztli (fast of porridge-balls and water) was held, during which every one in the nahua community returned for the time being to the conditions of savage life. dressed in costumes representing all forms of animal and bird life, and mimicking the sounds made by the various creatures they typified, the people danced round the teocalli of tlaloc for the purpose of diverting and entertaining him after his labours in producing the fertilising rains of the past eight years. a lake was filled with water-snakes and frogs, and into this the people plunged, catching the reptiles in their mouths and devouring them alive. the only grain food which might be partaken during this season of rest was thin water-porridge of maize. should one of the more prosperous peasants or yeomen deem a rainfall necessary to the growth of his crops, or should he fear a drought, he sought out one of the professional makers of dough or paste idols, whom he desired to mould one of tlaloc. to this image offerings of maize-porridge and pulque were made. throughout the night the farmer and his neighbours danced, shrieking and howling round the figure for the purpose of rousing tlaloc from his drought-bringing slumbers. next day was spent in quaffing huge libations of pulque, and in much-needed rest from the exertions of the previous night. in tlaloc it is easy to trace resemblances to a mythological conception widely prevalent among the indigenous american peoples. he is similar to such deities as the hurakan of the kiche of guatemala, the pillan of the aborigines of chile, and con, the thunder-god of the collao of peru. only his thunderous powers are not so apparent as his rain-making abilities, and in this he differs somewhat from the gods alluded to. quetzalcoatl it is highly probable that quetzalcoatl was a deity of the pre-nahua people of mexico. he was regarded by the aztec race as a god of somewhat alien character, and had but a limited following in mexico, the city of huitzilopochtli. in cholula, however, and others of the older towns his worship flourished exceedingly. he was regarded as "the father of the toltecs," and, legend says, was the seventh and youngest son of the toltec abraham, iztacmixcohuatl. quetzalcoatl (whose name means "feathered serpent" or "feathered staff") became, at a relatively early period, ruler of tollan, and by his enlightened sway and his encouragement of the liberal arts did much to further the advancement of his people. his reign had lasted for a period sufficient to permit of his placing the cultivated arts upon a satisfactory basis when the country was visited by the cunning magicians tezcatlipoca and coyotlinaual, god of the amantecas. disentangled from its terms of myth, this statement may be taken to imply that bands of invading nahua first began to appear within the toltec territories. tezcatlipoca, descending from the sky in the shape of a spider by way of a fine web, proffered him a draught of pulque, which so intoxicated him that the curse of lust descended upon him, and he forgot his chastity with quetzalpetlatl. the doom pronounced upon him was the hard one of banishment, and he was compelled to forsake anahuac. his exile wrought peculiar changes upon the face of the country. he secreted his treasures of gold and silver, burned his palaces, transformed the cacao-trees into mezquites, and banished all the birds from the neighbourhood of tollan. the magicians, nonplussed at these unexpected happenings, begged him to return, but he refused on the ground that the sun required his presence. he proceeded to tabasco, the fabled land of tlapallan, and, embarking upon a raft made of serpents, floated away to the east. a slightly different version of this myth has already been given. other accounts state that the king cast himself upon a funeral pyre and was consumed, and that the ashes arising from the conflagration flew upward, and were changed into birds of brilliant plumage. his heart also soared into the sky, and became the morning star. the mexicans averred that quetzalcoatl died when the star became visible, and thus they bestowed upon him the title "lord of the dawn." they further said that when he died he was invisible for four days, and that for eight days he wandered in the underworld, after which time the morning star appeared, when he achieved resurrection, and ascended his throne as a god. it is the contention of some authorities that the myth of quetzalcoatl points to his status as god of the sun. that luminary, they say, begins his diurnal journey in the east, whence quetzalcoatl returned as to his native home. it will be recalled that montezuma and his subjects imagined that cortés was no other than quetzalcoatl, returned to his dominions, as an old prophecy declared he would do. but that he stood for the sun itself is highly improbable, as will be shown. first of all, however, it will be well to pay some attention to other theories concerning his origin. perhaps the most important of these is that which regards quetzalcoatl as a god of the air. he is connected, say some, with the cardinal points, and wears the insignia of the cross, which symbolises them. dr. seler says of him: "he has a protruding, trumpet-like mouth, for the wind-god blows.... his figure suggests whirls and circles. hence his temples were built in circular form.... the head of the wind-god stands for the second of the twenty day signs, which was called ehecatl (wind)." the same authority, however, in his essay on mexican chronology, gives to quetzalcoatl a dual nature, "the dual nature which seems to belong to the wind-god quetzalcoatl, who now appears simply a wind-god, and again seems to show the true characters of the old god of fire and light." [ ] dr. brinton perceived in quetzalcoatl a similar dual nature. "he is both lord of the eastern light and of the winds," he writes (myths of the new world, p. ). "like all the dawn heroes, he too was represented as of white complexion, clothed in long, white robes, and, as many of the aztec gods, with a full and flowing beard.... he had been overcome by tezcatlipoca, the wind or spirit of night, who had descended from heaven by a spider's web, and presented his rival with a draught supposed to confer immortality, but in fact producing an intolerable longing for home. for the wind and the light both depart when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain upon the fields." the theory which derives quetzalcoatl from a "culture-hero" who once actually existed is scarcely reconcilable with probability. it is more than likely that, as in the case of other mythical paladins, the legend of a mighty hero arose from the somewhat weakened idea of a great deity. some of the early spanish missionaries professed to see in quetzalcoatl the apostle st. thomas, who had journeyed to america to effect its conversion! the man of the sun a more probable explanation of the origin of quetzalcoatl and a more likely elucidation of his nature is that which would regard him as the man of the sun, who has quitted his abode for a season for the purpose of inculcating in mankind those arts which represent the first steps in civilisation, who fulfils his mission, and who, at a late period, is displaced by the deities of an invading race. quetzalcoatl was represented as a traveller with staff in hand, and this is proof of his solar character, as is the statement that under his rule the fruits of the earth flourished more abundantly than at any subsequent period. the abundance of gold said to have been accumulated in his reign assists the theory, the precious metal being invariably associated with the sun by most barbarous peoples. in the native pinturas it is noticeable that the solar disc and semi-disc are almost invariably found in connection with the feathered serpent as the symbolical attributes of quetzalcoatl. the hopi indians of mexico at the present day symbolise the sun as a serpent, tail in mouth, and the ancient mexicans introduced the solar disc in connection with small images of quetzalcoatl, which they attached to the head-dress. in still other examples quetzalcoatl is pictured as if emerging or stepping from the luminary, which is represented as his dwelling-place. several tribes tributary to the aztecs were in the habit of imploring quetzalcoatl in prayer to return and free them from the intolerable bondage of the conqueror. notable among them were the totonacs, who passionately believed that the sun, their father, would send a god who would free them from the aztec yoke. on the coming of the spaniards the european conquerors were hailed as the servants of quetzalcoatl, thus in the eyes of the natives fulfilling the tradition that he would return. various forms of quetzalcoatl various conceptions of quetzalcoatl are noticeable in the mythology of the territories which extended from the north of mexico to the marshes of nicaragua. in guatemala the kiches recognised him as gucumatz, and in yucatan proper he was worshipped as kukulcan, both of which names are but literal translations of his mexican title of "feathered serpent" into kiche and mayan. that the three deities are one and the same there can be no shadow of doubt. several authorities have seen in kukulcan a "serpent-and-rain god." he can only be such in so far as he is a solar god also. the cult of the feathered snake in yucatan was unquestionably a branch of sun-worship. in tropical latitudes the sun draws the clouds round him at noon. the rain falls from the clouds accompanied by thunder and lightning--the symbols of the divine serpent. therefore the manifestations of the heavenly serpent were directly associated with the sun, and no statement that kukulcan is a mere serpent-and-water god satisfactorily elucidates his characteristics. quetzalcoatl's northern origin it is by no means improbable that quetzalcoatl was of northern origin, and that on his adoption by southern peoples and tribes dwelling in tropical countries his characteristics were gradually and unconsciously altered in order to meet the exigencies of his environment. the mythology of the indians of british columbia, whence in all likelihood the nahua originally came, is possessed of a central figure bearing a strong resemblance to quetzalcoatl. thus the thlingit tribe worship yetl; the quaquiutl indians, kanikilak; the salish people of the coast, kumsnöotl, quäaqua, or släalekam. it is noticeable that these divine beings are worshipped as the man of the sun, and totally apart from the luminary himself, as was quetzalcoatl in mexico. the quaquiutl believe that before his settlement among them for the purpose of inculcating in the tribe the arts of life, the sun descended as a bird, and assumed a human shape. kanikilak is his son, who, as his emissary, spreads the arts of civilisation over the world. so the mexicans believed that quetzalcoatl descended first of all in the form of a bird, and was ensnared in the fowler's net of the toltec hero hueymatzin. the titles bestowed upon quetzalcoatl by the nahua show that in his solar significance he was god of the vault of the heavens, as well as merely son of the sun. he was alluded to as ehecatl (the air), yolcuat (the rattlesnake), tohil (the rumbler), nanihehecatl (lord of the four winds), tlauizcalpantecutli (lord of the light of the dawn). the whole heavenly vault was his, together with all its phenomena. this would seem to be in direct opposition to the theory that tezcatlipoca was the supreme god of the mexicans. but it must be borne in mind that tezcatlipoca was the god of a later age, and of a fresh body of nahua immigrants, and as such inimical to quetzalcoatl, who was probably in a similar state of opposition to itzamna, a maya deity of yucatan. the worship of quetzalcoatl the worship of quetzalcoatl was in some degree antipathetic to that of the other mexican deities, and his priests were a separate caste. although human sacrifice was by no means so prevalent among his devotees, it is a mistake to aver, as some authorities have done, that it did not exist in connection with his worship. a more acceptable sacrifice to quetzalcoatl appears to have been the blood of the celebrant or worshipper, shed by himself. when we come to consider the mythology of the zapotecs, a people whose customs and beliefs appear to have formed a species of link between the mexican and mayan civilisations, we shall find that their high-priests occasionally enacted the legend of quetzalcoatl in their own persons, and that their worship, which appears to have been based upon that of quetzalcoatl, had as one of its most pronounced characteristics the shedding of blood. the celebrant or devotee drew blood from the vessels lying under the tongue or behind the ear by drawing across those tender parts a cord made from the thorn-covered fibres of the agave. the blood was smeared over the mouths of the idols. in this practice we can perceive an act analogous to the sacrificial substitution of the part for the whole, as obtaining in early palestine and many other countries--a certain sign that tribal or racial opinion has contracted a disgust for human sacrifice, and has sought to evade the anger of the gods by yielding to them a portion of the blood of each worshipper, instead of sacrificing the life of one for the general weal. the maize-gods of mexico a special group of deities called centeotl presided over the agriculture of mexico, each of whom personified one or other of the various aspects of the maize-plant. the chief goddess of maize, however, was chicomecohuatl (seven-serpent), her name being an allusion to the fertilising power of water, which element the mexicans symbolised by the serpent. as xilonen she typified the xilote, or green ear of the maize. but it is probable that chicomecohuatl was the creation of an older race, and that the nahua new-comers adopted or brought with them another growth-spirit, the "earth-mother," teteoinnan (mother of the gods), or tocitzin (our grandmother). this goddess had a son, centeotl, a male maize-spirit. sometimes the mother was also known as centeotl, the generic name for the entire group, and this fact has led to some confusion in the minds of americanists. but this does not mean that chicomecohuatl was by any means neglected. her spring festival, held on april , was known as hueytozoztli (the great watch), and was accompanied by a general fast, when the dwellings of the mexicans were decorated with bulrushes which had been sprinkled with blood drawn from the extremities of the inmates. the statues of the little tepitoton (household gods) were also decorated. the worshippers then proceeded to the maize-fields, where they pulled the tender stalks of the growing maize, and, having decorated them with flowers, placed them in the calpulli (the common house of the village). a mock combat then took place before the altar of chicomecohuatl. the girls of the village presented the goddess with bundles of maize of the previous season's harvesting, later restoring them to the granaries in order that they might be utilised for seed for the coming year. chicomecohuatl was always represented among the household deities of the mexicans, and on the occasion of her festival the family placed before the image a basket of provisions surmounted by a cooked frog, bearing on its back a piece of cornstalk stuffed with pounded maize and vegetables. this frog was symbolic of chalchihuitlicue, wife of tlaloc, the rain-god, who assisted chicomecohuatl in providing a bountiful harvest. in order that the soil might further benefit, a frog, the symbol of water, was sacrificed, so that its vitality should recuperate that of the weary and much-burdened earth. the sacrifice of the dancer a more important festival of chicomecohuatl, however, was the xalaquia, which lasted from june to july , commencing when the maize plant had attained its full growth. the women of the pueblo (village) wore their hair unbound, and shook and tossed it so that by sympathetic magic the maize might take the hint and grow correspondingly long. chian pinolli was consumed in immense quantities, and maize-porridge was eaten. hilarious dances were nightly performed in the teopan (temple), the central figure in which was the xalaquia, a female captive or slave, with face painted red and yellow to represent the colours of the maize-plant. she had previously undergone a long course of training in the dancing-school, and now, all unaware of the horrible fate awaiting her, she danced and pirouetted gaily among the rest. throughout the duration of the festival she danced, and on its expiring night she was accompanied in the dance by the women of the community, who circled round her, chanting the deeds of chicomecohuatl. when daybreak appeared the company was joined by the chiefs and headmen, who, along with the exhausted and half-fainting victim, danced the solemn death-dance. the entire community then approached the teocalli (pyramid of sacrifice), and, its summit reached, the victim was stripped to a nude condition, the priest plunged a knife of flint into her bosom, and, tearing out the still palpitating heart, offered it up to chicomecohuatl. in this manner the venerable goddess, weary with the labours of inducing growth in the maize-plant, was supposed to be revivified and refreshed. hence the name xalaquia, which signifies "she who is clothed with the sand." until the death of the victim it was not lawful to partake of the new corn. the general appearance of chicomecohuatl was none too pleasing. her image rests in the national museum in mexico, and is girdled with snakes. on the underside the symbolic frog is carved. the americanists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were unequal to the task of elucidating the origin of the figure, which they designated teoyaominqui. the first to point out the error was payne, in his history of the new world called america, vol. i. p. . the passage in which he announces his discovery is of such real interest that it is worth transcribing fully. an antiquarian mare's-nest "all the great idols of mexico were thought to have been destroyed until this was disinterred among other relics in the course of making new drains in the plaza mayor of mexico in august . the discovery produced an immense sensation. the idol was dragged to the court of the university, and there set up; the indians began to worship it and deck it with flowers; the antiquaries, with about the same degree of intelligence, to speculate about it. what most puzzled them was that the face and some other parts of the goddess are found in duplicate at the back of the figure; hence they concluded it to represent two gods in one, the principal of whom they further concluded to be a female, the other, indicated by the back, a male. the standard author on mexican antiquities at that time was the italian dilettante boturini, of whom it may be said that he is better, but not much better, than nothing at all. from page of his work the antiquaries learned that huitzilopochtli was accompanied by the goddess teoyaominqui, who was charged with collecting the souls of those slain in war and sacrifice. this was enough. the figure was at once named teoyaominqui or huitzilopochtli (the one plus the other), and has been so called ever since. the antiquaries next elevated this imaginary goddess to the rank of the war-god's wife. 'a soldier,' says bardolph, 'is better accommodated than with a wife': a fortiori, so is a war-god. besides, as torquemada (vol. ii. p. ) says with perfect truth, the mexicans did not think so grossly of the divinity as to have married gods or goddesses at all. the figure is undoubtedly a female. it has no vestige of any weapon about it, nor has it any limbs. it differs in every particular from the war-god huitzilopochtli, every detail of which is perfectly well known. there never was any goddess called teoyaominqui. this may be plausibly inferred from the fact that such a goddess is unknown not merely to sahagun, torquemada, acosta, tezozomoc, duran, and clavigero, but to all other writers except boturini. the blunder of the last-named writer is easily explained. antonio leon y gama, a mexican astronomer, wrote an account of the discoveries of , in which, evidently puzzled by the name of teoyaominqui, he quotes a manuscript in mexican, said to have been written by an indian of tezcuco, who was born in , to the effect that teoyaotlatohua and teoyaominqui were spirits who presided over the fifteenth of the twenty signs of the fortune-tellers' calendar, and that those born in this sign would be brave warriors, but would soon die. (as the fifteenth sign was quauhtli, this is likely enough.) when their hour had come the former spirit scented them out, the latter killed them. the rubbish printed about huitzilopochtli, teoyaominqui, and mictlantecutli in connection with this statue would fill a respectable volume. the reason why the features were duplicated is obvious. the figure was carried in the midst of a large crowd. probably it was considered to be an evil omen if the idol turned away its face from its worshippers; this the duplicate obviated. so when the dance was performed round the figure (cf. janus). this duplication of the features, a characteristic of the very oldest gods, appears to be indicated when the numeral ome (two) is prefixed to the title of the deity. thus the two ancestors and preservers of the race were called ometecuhtli and omecihuatl (two-chief, two-woman), ancient toltec gods, who at the conquest become less prominent in the theology of mexico, and who are best represented in that of the mexican colony of nicaragua." the offering to centeotl during her last hours the victim sacrificed at the xalaquia wore a ritual dress made from the fibres of the aloe, and with this garment the maize-god centeotl was clothed. robed in this he temporarily represented the earth-goddess, so that he might receive her sacrifice. the blood of victims was offered up to him in a vessel decorated with that brilliant and artistic feather-work which excited such admiration in the breasts of the connoisseurs and æsthetes of the europe of the sixteenth century. upon partaking of this blood-offering the deity emitted a groan so intense and terrifying that it has been left on record that such spaniards as were present became panic-stricken. this ceremony was followed by another, the nitiçapoloa (tasting of the soil), which consisted in raising a little earth on one finger to the mouth and eating it. as has been said, centeotl the son has been confounded with centeotl the mother, who is in reality the earth-mother teteoinnan. each of these deities had a teopan (temple) of his or her own, but they were closely allied as parent and child. but of the two, centeotl the son was the more important. on the death of the sacrificed victim her skin was conveyed to the temple of centeotl the son, and worn there in the succeeding ritual by the officiating priests. this gruesome dress is frequently depicted in the aztec pinturas, where the skin of the hands, and in some instances the feet, of the victims can be seen dangling from the wrists and ankles of the priest. importance of the food-gods to the mexicans the deities of most importance to the community as a whole were undoubtedly the food-gods. in their emergence from the hunting to the agricultural state of life, when they began to exist almost solely upon the fruits of the earth, the mexicans were quick to recognise that the old deities of the chase, such as mixcoatl, could not now avail them or succour them in the same manner as the guardians of the crops and fertilisers of the soil. gradually we see these gods, then, advance in power and influence until at the time of the spanish invasion we find them paramount. even the terrible war-god himself had an agricultural significance, as we have pointed out. a distinct bargain with the food-gods can be clearly traced, and is none the less obvious because it was never written or codified. the covenant was as binding to the native mind as any made betwixt god and man in ancient palestine, and included mutual assistance as well as provision for mere alimentary supply. in no mythology is the understanding between god and man so clearly defined as in the nahuan, and in none is its operation better exemplified. xipe xipe (the flayed) was widely worshipped throughout mexico, and is usually depicted in the pinturas as being attired in a flayed human skin. at his special festival, the "man-flaying," the skins were removed from the victims and worn by the devotees of the god for the succeeding twenty days. he is usually represented as of a red colour. in the later days of the aztec monarchy the kings and leaders of mexico assumed the dress or classical garments of xipe. this dress consisted of a crown made of feathers of the roseate spoonbill, the gilt timbrel, the jacket of spoonbill feathers, and an apron of green feathers lapping over one another in a tile-like pattern. in the cozcatzin codex we see a picture of king axayacatl dressed as xipe in a feather skirt, and having a tiger-skin scabbard to his sword. the hands of a flayed human skin also dangle over the monarch's wrists, and the feet fall over his feet like gaiters. xipe's shield is a round target covered with the rose-coloured feathers of the spoonbill, with concentric circles of a darker hue on the surface. there are examples of it divided into an upper and lower part, the former showing an emerald on a blue field, and the latter a tiger-skin design. xipe was imagined as possessing three forms, the first that of the roseate spoonbill, the second that of the blue cotinga, and the last that of a tiger, the three shapes perhaps corresponding to the regions of heaven, earth, and hell, or to the three elements, fire, earth, and water. the deities of many north american indian tribes show similar variations in form and colour, which are supposed to follow as the divinity changes his dwelling to north, south, east, or west. but xipe is seldom depicted in the pinturas in any other form but that of the red god, the form in which the mexicans adopted him from the yopi tribe of the pacific slope. he is the god of human sacrifice par excellence, and may be regarded as a yopi equivalent of tezcatlipoca. nanahuatl, or nanauatzin nanahuatl (poor leper) presided over skin diseases, such as leprosy. it was thought that persons afflicted with these complaints were set apart by the moon for his service. in the nahua tongue the words for "leprous" and "eczematous" also mean "divine." the myth of nanahuatl tells how before the sun was created humanity dwelt in sable and horrid gloom. only a human sacrifice could hasten the appearance of the luminary. metztli (the moon) led forth nanahuatl as a sacrifice, and he was cast upon a funeral pyre, in the flames of which he was consumed. metztli also cast herself upon the mass of flame, and with her death the sun rose above the horizon. there can be no doubt that the myth refers to the consuming of the starry or spotted night, and incidentally to the nightly death of the moon at the flaming hour of dawn. xolotl xolotl is of southern, possibly zapotec, origin. he represents either fire rushing down from the heavens or light flaming upward. it is noticeable that in the pinturas the picture of the setting sun being devoured by the earth is nearly always placed opposite his image. he is probably identical with nanahuatl, and appears as the representative of human sacrifice. he has also affinities with xipe. on the whole xolotl may be best described as a sun-god of the more southerly tribes. his head (quaxolotl) was one of the most famous devices for warriors' use, as sacrifice among the nahua was, as we have seen, closely associated with warfare. xolotl was a mythical figure quite foreign to the peoples of anahuac or mexico, who regarded him as something strange and monstrous. he is alluded to as the "god of monstrosities," and, thinks dr. seler, the word "monstrosity" may suitably translate his name. he is depicted with empty eye-sockets, which circumstance is explained by the myth that when the gods determined to sacrifice themselves in order to give life and strength to the newly created sun, xolotl withdrew, and wept so much that his eyes fell out of their sockets. this was the mexican explanation of a zapotec attribute. xolotl was originally the "lightning beast" of the maya or some other southern folk, and was represented by them as a dog, since that animal appeared to them to be the creature which he most resembled. but he was by no means a "natural" dog, hence their conception of him as unnatural. dr. seler is inclined to identify him with the tapir, and indeed sahagun speaks of a strange animal-being, tlaca-xolotl, which has "a large snout, large teeth, hoofs like an ox, a thick hide, and reddish hair"--not a bad description of the tapir of central america. of course to the mexicans the god xolotl was no longer an animal, although he had evolved from one, and was imagined by them to have the form shown in the accompanying illustration. the fire-god this deity was known in mexico under various names, notably tata (our father), huehueteotl (oldest of gods), and xiuhtecutli (lord of the year). he was represented as of the colour of fire, with a black face, a headdress of green feathers, and bearing on his back a yellow serpent, to typify the serpentine nature of fire. he also bore a mirror of gold to show his connection with the sun, from which all heat emanates. on rising in the morning all mexican families made xiuhtecutli an offering of a piece of bread and a drink. he was thus not only, like vulcan, the god of thunderbolts and conflagrations, but also the milder deity of the domestic hearth. once a year the fire in every mexican house was extinguished, and rekindled by friction before the idol of xiuhtecutli. when a mexican baby was born it passed through a baptism of fire on the fourth day, up to which time a fire, lighted at the time of its birth, was kept burning in order to nourish its existence. mictlan mictlantecutli (lord of hades) was god of the dead and of the grim and shadowy realm to which the souls of men repair after their mortal sojourn. he is represented in the pinturas as a grisly monster with capacious mouth, into which fall the spirits of the dead. his terrible abode was sometimes alluded to as tlalxicco (navel of the earth), but the mexicans in general seem to have thought that it was situated in the far north, which they regarded as a place of famine, desolation, and death. here those who by the circumstances of their demise were unfitted to enter the paradise of tlaloc--namely, those who had not been drowned or had not died a warrior's death, or, in the case of women, had not died in childbed--passed a dreary and meaningless existence. mictlan was surrounded by a species of demons called tzitzimimes, and had a spouse, mictecaciuatl. when we come to discuss the analogous deity of the maya we shall see that in all probability mictlan was represented by the bat, the animal typical of the underworld. in a preceding paragraph dealing with the funerary customs we have described the journey of the soul to the abode of mictlan, and the ordeals through which the spirit of the defunct had to pass ere entering his realm (see p. ). worship of the planet venus the mexicans designated the planet venus citlalpol (the great star) and tlauizcalpantecutli (lord of the dawn). it seems to have been the only star worshipped by them, and was regarded with considerable veneration. upon its rising they stopped up the chimneys of their houses, so that no harm of any kind might enter with its light. a column called ilhuicatlan, meaning "in the sky," stood in the court of the great temple of mexico, and upon this a symbol of the planet was painted. on its reappearance during its usual circuit, captives were taken before this representation and sacrificed to it. it will be remembered that the myth of quetzalcoatl states that the heart of that deity flew upward from the funeral pyre on which he was consumed and became the planet venus. it is not easy to say whether or not this myth is anterior to the adoption of the worship of the planet by the nahua, for it may be a tale of pre- or post-nahuan growth. in the tonalamatl tlauizcalpantecutli is represented as lord of the ninth division of thirteen days, beginning with ce coatl (the sign of "one serpent"). in several of the pinturas he is represented as having a white body with long red stripes, while round his eyes is a deep black painting like a domino mask, bordered with small white circles. his lips are a bright vermilion. the red stripes are probably introduced to accentuate the whiteness of his body, which is understood to symbolise the peculiar half-light which emanates from the planet. the black paint on the face, surrounding the eye, typifies the dark sky of night. in mexican and central american symbolism the eye often represents light, and here, surrounded by blackness as it is, it is perhaps almost hieroglyphic. as the star of evening, tlauizcalpantecutli is sometimes shown with the face of a skull, to signify his descent into the underworld, whither he follows the sun. that the mexicans and maya carefully and accurately observed his periods of revolution is witnessed by the pinturas. sun-worship the sun was regarded by the nahua, and indeed by all the mexican and central american peoples, as the supreme deity, or rather the principal source of subsistence and life. he was always alluded to as the teotl, the god, and his worship formed as it were a background to that of all the other gods. his mexican name, ipalnemohuani (he by whom men live) shows that the mexicans regarded him as the primal source of being, and the heart, the symbol of life, was looked upon as his special sacrifice. those who rose at sunrise to prepare food for the day held up to him on his appearance the hearts of animals they had slain for cooking, and even the hearts of the victims to tezcatlipoca and huitzilopochtli were first held up to the sun, as if he had a primary right to the sacrifice, before being cast into the bowl of copal which lay at the feet of the idol. it was supposed that the luminary rejoiced in offerings of blood, and that it constituted the only food which would render him sufficiently vigorous to undertake his daily journey through the heavens. he is often depicted in the pinturas as licking up the gore of the sacrificial victims with his long tongue-like rays. the sun must fare well if he was to continue to give life, light, and heat to mankind. the mexicans, as we have already seen, believed that the luminary they knew had been preceded by others, each of which had been quenched by some awful cataclysm of nature. eternity had, in fact, been broken up into epochs, marked by the destruction of successive suns. in the period preceding that in which they lived, a mighty deluge had deprived the sun of life, and some such catastrophe was apprehended at the end of every "sheaf" of fifty-two years. the old suns were dead, and the current sun was no more immortal than they. at the end of one of the "sheaves" he too would succumb. sustaining the sun it was therefore necessary to sustain the sun by the daily food of human sacrifice, for by a tithe of human life alone would he be satisfied. naturally a people holding such a belief would look elsewhere than within their own borders for the material wherewith to placate their deity. this could be most suitably found among the inhabitants of a neighbouring state. it thus became the business of the warrior class in the aztec state to furnish forth the altars of the gods with human victims. the most suitable district of supply was the pueblo of tlaxcallan, or tlascala, the people of which were of cognate origin to the aztecs. the communities had, although related, been separated for so many generations that they had begun to regard each other as traditional enemies, and on a given day in the year their forces met at an appointed spot for the purpose of engaging in a strife which should furnish one side or the other with a sufficiency of victims for the purpose of sacrifice. the warrior who captured the largest number of opponents alive was regarded as the champion of the day, and was awarded the chief honours of the combat. the sun was therefore the god of warriors, as he would give them victory in battle in order that they might supply him with food. the rites of this military worship of the luminary were held in the quauhquauhtinchan (house of the eagles), an armoury set apart for the regiment of that name. on march and december and , at the ceremonies known as nauhollin (the four motions--alluding to the quivering appearance of the sun's rays), the warriors gathered in this hall for the purpose of despatching a messenger to their lord the sun. high up on the wall of the principal court was a great symbolic representation of the orb, painted upon a brightly coloured cotton hanging. before this copal and other fragrant gums and spices were burned four times a day. the victim, a war-captive, was placed at the foot of a long staircase leading up to the quauhxicalli (cup of the eagles), the name of the stone on which he was to be sacrificed. he was clothed in red striped with white and wore white plumes in his hair--colours symbolical of the sun--while he bore a staff decorated with feathers and a shield covered with tufts of cotton. he also carried a bundle of eagle's feathers and some paint on his shoulders, to enable the sun, to whom he was the emissary, to paint his face. he was then addressed by the officiating priest in the following terms: "sir, we pray you go to our god the sun, and greet him on our behalf; tell him that his sons and warriors and chiefs and those who remain here beg of him to remember them and to favour them from that place where he is, and to receive this small offering which we send him. give him this staff to help him on his journey, and this shield for his defence, and all the rest that you have in this bundle." the victim, having undertaken to carry the message to the sun-god, was then despatched upon his long journey. a quauhxicalli is preserved in the national museum of mexico. it consists of a basaltic mass, circular in form, on which are shown in sculpture a series of groups representing mexican warriors receiving the submission of war-captives. the prisoner tenders a flower to his captor, symbolical of the life he is about to offer up, for lives were the "flowers" offered to the gods, and the campaign in which these "blossoms" were captured was called xochiyayotl (the war of flowers). the warriors who receive the submission of the captives are represented in the act of tearing the plumes from their heads. these bas-reliefs occupy the sides of the stone. the face of it is covered by a great solar disc having eight rays, and the surface is hollowed out in the middle to form a receptacle for blood--the "cup" alluded to in the name of the stone. the quauhxicalli must not be confounded with the temalacatl (spindle stone), to which the alien warrior who received a chance of life was secured. the gladiatorial combat gave the war-captive an opportunity to escape through superior address in arms. the temalacatl was somewhat higher than a man, and was provided with a platform at the top, in the middle of which was placed a great stone with a hole in it through which a rope was passed. to this the war-captive was secured, and if he could vanquish seven of his captors he was released. if he failed to do so he was at once sacrificed. a mexican valhalla the mexican warriors believed that they continued in the service of the sun after death, and, like the scandinavian heroes in valhalla, that they were admitted to the dwelling of the god, where they shared all the delights of his diurnal round. the mexican warrior dreaded to die in his bed, and craved an end on the field of battle. this explains the desperate nature of their resistance to the spaniards under cortés, whose officers stated that the mexicans seemed to desire to die fighting. after death they believed that they would partake of the cannibal feasts offered up to the sun and imbibe the juice of flowers. the feast of totec the chief of the festivals to the sun was that held in spring at the vernal equinox, before the representation of a deity known as totec (our great chief). although totec was a solar deity he had been adopted from the people of an alien state, the zapotecs of zalisco, and is therefore scarcely to be regarded as the principal sun-god. his festival was celebrated by the symbolical slaughter of all the other gods for the purpose of providing sustenance to the sun, each of the gods being figuratively slain in the person of a victim. totec was attired in the same manner as the warrior despatched twice a year to assure the sun of the loyalty of the mexicans. the festival appears to have been primarily a seasonal one, as bunches of dried maize were offered to totec. but its larger meaning is obvious. it was, indeed, a commemoration of the creation of the sun. this is proved by the description of the image of totec, which was robed and equipped as the solar traveller, by the solar disc and tables of the sun's progress carved on the altar employed in the ceremony, and by the robes of the victims, who were dressed to represent dwellers in the sun-god's halls. perhaps totec, although of alien origin, was the only deity possessed by the mexicans who directly represented the sun. as a borrowed god he would have but a minor position in the mexican pantheon, but again as the only sun-god whom it was necessary to bring into prominence during a strictly solar festival he would be for the time, of course, a very important deity indeed. tepeyollotl tepeyollotl means heart of the mountain, and evidently alludes to a deity whom the nahua connected with seismic disturbances and earthquakes. by the interpreter of the codex telleriano-remensis he is called tepeolotlec, an obvious distortion of his real name. the interpreter of the codex states that his name "refers to the condition of the earth after the flood. the sacrifices of these thirteen days were not good, and the literal translation of their name is 'dirt sacrifices.' they caused palsy and bad humours.... this tepeolotlec was lord of these thirteen days. in them were celebrated the feast to the jaguar, and the last four preceding days were days of fasting.... tepeolotlec means the 'lord of beasts.' the four feast days were in honour of the suchiquezal, who was the man that remained behind on the earth upon which we now live. this tepeolotlec was the same as the echo of the voice when it re-echoes in a valley from one mountain to another. this name 'jaguar' is given to the earth because the jaguar is the boldest animal, and the echo which the voice awakens in the mountains is a survival of the flood, it is said." from this we can see that tepeyollotl is a deity of the earth pure and simple, a god of desert places. it is certain that he was not a mexican god, or at least was not of nahua origin, as he is mentioned by none of those writers who deal with nahua traditions, and we must look for him among the mixtecs and zapotecs. macuilxochitl, or xochipilli this deity, whose names mean five-flower and source of flowers, was regarded as the patron of luck in gaming. he may have been adopted by the nahua from the zapotecs, but the converse may be equally true. the zapotecs represented him with a design resembling a butterfly about the mouth, and a many-coloured face which looks out of the open jaws of a bird with a tall and erect crest. the worship of this god appears to have been very widespread. sahagun says of him that a fête was held in his honour, which was preceded by a rigorous fast. the people covered themselves with ornaments and jewels symbolic of the deity, as if they desired to represent him, and dancing and singing proceeded gaily to the sound of the drum. offerings of the blood of various animals followed, and specially prepared cakes were submitted to the god. this simple fare, however, was later followed by human sacrifices, rendered by the notables, who brought certain of their slaves for immolation. this completed the festival. father and mother gods the nahua believed that ometecutli and omeciuatl were the father and mother of the human species. the names signify lords of duality or lords of the two sexes. they were also called tonacatecutli and tonacaciuatl (lord and lady of our flesh, or of subsistence). they were in fact regarded as the sexual essence of the creative deity, or perhaps more correctly of deity in general. they occupied the first place in the nahua calendar, to signify that they had existed from the beginning, and they are usually represented as being clothed in rich attire. ometecutli (a literal translation of his name is two-lord) is sometimes identified with the sky and the fire-god, the female deity representing the earth or water--conceptions similar to those respecting kronos and gæa. we refer again to these supreme divinities in the following chapter (see p. ). the pulque-gods when a man was intoxicated with the native mexican drink of pulque, a liquor made from the juice of the agave americana, he was believed to be under the influence of a god or spirit. the commonest form under which the drink-god was worshipped was the rabbit, that animal being considered to be utterly devoid of sense. this particular divinity was known as ometochtli. the scale of debauchery which it was desired to reach was indicated by the number of rabbits worshipped, the highest number, four hundred, representing the most extreme degree of intoxication. the chief pulque-gods apart from these were patecatl and tequechmecauiani. if the drunkard desired to escape the perils of accidental hanging during intoxication, it was necessary to sacrifice to the latter, but if death by drowning was apprehended teatlahuiani, the deity who harried drunkards to a watery grave, was placated. if the debauchee wished his punishment not to exceed a headache, quatlapanqui (the head-splitter) was sacrificed to, or else papaztac (the nerveless). each trade or profession had its own ometochtli, but for the aristocracy there was only one of these gods, cohuatzincatl, a name signifying "he who has grandparents." several of these drink-gods had names which connected them with various localities; for example, tepoxtecatl was the pulque-god of tepoztlan. the calendar day ometochtli, which means "two-rabbit," because of the symbol which accompanied it, was under the special protection of these gods, and the mexicans believed that any one born on that day was almost inevitably doomed to become a drunkard. all the pulque-gods were closely associated with the soil, and with the earth-goddess. they wore the golden huaxtec nose-ornament, the yaca-metztli, of crescent shape, which characterised the latter, and indeed this ornament was inscribed upon all articles sacred to the pulque-gods. their faces were painted red and black, as were objects consecrated to them, their blankets and shields. after the indians had harvested their maize they drank to intoxication, and invoked one or other of these gods. on the whole it is safe to infer that they were originally deities of local husbandry who imparted virtue to the soil as pulque imparted strength and courage to the warrior. the accompanying sketch of the god tepoxtecatl (see p. ) well illustrates the distinguishing characteristics of the pulque-god class. here we can observe the face painted in two colours, the crescent-shaped nose-ornament, the bicoloured shield, the long necklace made from the malinalli herb, and the ear-pendants. it is of course clear that the drink-gods were of the same class as the food-gods--patrons of the fruitful soil--but it is strange that they should be male whilst the food-gods are mostly female. the goddesses of mexico: metztli metztli, or yohualticitl (the lady of night), was the mexican goddess of the moon. she had in reality two phases, one that of a beneficent protectress of harvests and promoter of growth in general, and the other that of a bringer of dampness, cold, and miasmic airs, ghosts, mysterious shapes of the dim half-light of night and its oppressive silence. to a people in the agricultural stage of civilisation the moon appears as the great recorder of harvests. but she has also supremacy over water, which is always connected by primitive peoples with the moon. citatli (moon) and atl (water) are constantly confounded in nahua myth, and in many ways their characteristics were blended. it was metztli who led forth nanahuatl the leprous to the pyre whereon he perished--a reference to the dawn, in which the starry sky of night is consumed in the fires of the rising sun. tlazolteotl tlazolteotl (god of ordure), or tlaelquani (filth-eater), was called by the mexicans the earth-goddess because she was the eradicator of sins, to whose priests the people went to make confession so that they might be absolved from their misdeeds. sin was symbolised by the mexicans as excrement. confession covered only the sins of immorality. but if tlazolteotl was the goddess of confession, she was also the patroness of desire and luxury. it was, however, as a deity whose chief office was the eradication of human sin that she was pre-eminent. the process by which this was supposed to be effected is quaintly described by sahagun in the twelfth chapter of his first book. the penitent addressed the confessor as follows: "sir, i desire to approach that most powerful god, the protector of all, that is to say, tezcatlipoca. i desire to tell him my sins in secret." the confessor replied: "be happy, my son: that which thou wishest to do will be to thy good and advantage." the confessor then opened the divinatory book known as the tonalamatl (that is, the book of the calendar) and acquainted the applicant with the day which appeared the most suitable for his confession. the day having arrived, the penitent provided himself with a mat, copal gum to burn as incense, and wood whereon to burn it. if he was a person high in office the priest repaired to his house, but in the case of lesser people the confession took place in the dwelling of the priest. having lighted the fire and burned the incense, the penitent addressed the fire in the following terms: "thou, lord, who art the father and mother of the gods, and the most ancient of them all, thy servant, thy slave bows before thee. weeping, he approaches thee in great distress. he comes plunged in grief, because he has been buried in sin, having backslidden, and partaken of those vices and evil delights which merit death. o master most compassionate, who art the upholder and defence of all, receive the penitence and anguish of thy slave and vassal." this prayer having concluded, the confessor then turned to the penitent and thus addressed him: "my son, thou art come into the presence of that god who is the protector and upholder of all; thou art come to him to confess thy evil vices and thy hidden uncleannesses; thou art come to him to unbosom the secrets of thy heart. take care that thou omit nothing from the catalogue of thy sins in the presence of our lord who is called tezcatlipoca. it is certain that thou art before him who is invisible and impalpable, thou who art not worthy to be seen before him, or to speak with him...." the allusions to tezcatlipoca are, of course, to him in the shape of tlazolteotl. having listened to a sermon by the confessor, the penitent then confessed his misdeeds, after which the confessor said: "my son, thou hast before our lord god confessed in his presence thy evil actions. i wish to say in his name that thou hast an obligation to make. at the time when the goddesses called ciuapipiltin descend to earth during the celebration of the feast of the goddesses of carnal things, whom they name ixcuiname, thou shalt fast during four days, punishing thy stomach and thy mouth. when the day of the feast of the ixcuiname arrives thou shalt scarify thy tongue with the small thorns of the osier [called teocalcacatl or tlazotl], and if that is not sufficient thou shalt do likewise to thine ears, the whole for penitence, for the remission of thy sin, and as a meritorious act. thou wilt apply to thy tongue the middle of a spine of maguey, and thou wilt scarify thy shoulders.... that done, thy sins will be pardoned." if the sins of the penitent were not very grave the priest would enjoin upon him a fast of a more or less prolonged nature. only old men confessed crimes in veneribus, as the punishment for such was death, and younger men had no desire to risk the penalty involved, although the priests were enjoined to strict secrecy. father burgoa describes very fully a ceremony of this kind which came under his notice in in the zapotec village of san francisco de cajonos. he encountered on a tour of inspection an old native cacique, or chief, of great refinement of manners and of a stately presence, who dressed in costly garments after the spanish fashion, and who was regarded by the indians with much veneration. this man came to the priest for the purpose of reporting upon the progress in things spiritual and temporal in his village. burgoa recognised his urbanity and wonderful command of the spanish language, but perceived by certain signs that he had been taught to look for by long experience that the man was a pagan. he communicated his suspicions to the vicar of the village, but met with such assurances of the cacique's soundness of faith that he believed himself to be in error for once. shortly afterwards, however, a wandering spaniard perceived the chief in a retired place in the mountains performing idolatrous ceremonies, and aroused the monks, two of whom accompanied him to the spot where the cacique had been seen indulging in his heathenish practices. they found on the altar "feathers of many colours, sprinkled with blood which the indians had drawn from the veins under their tongues and behind their ears, incense spoons and remains of copal, and in the middle a horrible stone figure, which was the god to whom they had offered this sacrifice in expiation of their sins, while they made their confessions to the blasphemous priests, and cast off their sins in the following manner: they had woven a kind of dish out of a strong herb, specially gathered for this purpose, and casting this before the priest, said to him that they came to beg mercy of their god, and pardon for their sins that they had committed during that year, and that they brought them all carefully enumerated. they then drew out of a cloth pairs of thin threads made of dry maize husks, that they had tied two by two in the middle with a knot, by which they represented their sins. they laid these threads on the dishes of grass, and over them pierced their veins, and let the blood trickle upon them, and the priest took these offerings to the idol, and in a long speech he begged the god to forgive these, his sons, their sins which were brought to him, and to permit them to be joyful and hold feasts to him as their god and lord. then the priest came back to those who had confessed, delivered a long discourse on the ceremonies they had still to perform, and told them that the god had pardoned them and that they might be glad again and sin anew." chalchihuitlicue this goddess was the wife of tlaloc, the god of rain and moisture. the name means lady of the emerald robe, in allusion to the colour of the element over which the deity partly presided. she was specially worshipped by the water-carriers of mexico, and all those whose avocation brought them into contact with water. her costume was peculiar and interesting. round her neck she wore a wonderful collar of precious stones, from which hung a gold pendant. she was crowned with a coronet of blue paper, decorated with green feathers. her eyebrows were of turquoise, set in as mosaic, and her garment was a nebulous blue-green in hue, recalling the tint of sea-water in the tropics. the resemblance was heightened by a border of sea-flowers or water-plants, one of which she also carried in her left hand, whilst in her right she bore a vase surmounted by a cross, emblematic of the four points of the compass whence comes the rain. mixcoatl mixcoatl was the aztec god of the chase, and was probably a deity of the otomi aborigines of mexico. the name means cloud serpent, and this originated the idea that mixcoatl was a representation of the tropical whirlwind. this is scarcely correct, however, as the hunter-god is identified with the tempest and thunder-cloud, and the lightning is supposed to represent his arrows. like many other gods of the chase, he is figured as having the characteristics of a deer or rabbit. he is usually depicted as carrying a sheaf of arrows, to typify thunderbolts. it may be that mixcoatl was an air and thunder deity of the otomi, older in origin than either quetzalcoatl or tezcatlipoca, and that his inclusion in the nahua pantheon becoming necessary in order to quieten nahua susceptibilities, he received the status of god of the chase. but, on the other hand, the mexicans, unlike the peruvians, who adopted many foreign gods for political purposes, had little regard for the feelings of other races, and only accepted an alien deity into the native circle for some good reason, most probably because they noted the omission of the figure in their own divine system. or, again, dread of a certain foreign god might force them to adopt him as their own in the hope of placating him. their worship of quetzalcoatl is perhaps an instance of this. camaxtli this deity was the war-god of the tlascalans, who were constantly in opposition to the aztecs of mexico. he was to the warriors of tlascala practically what huitzilopochtli was to those of mexico. he was closely identified with mixcoatl, and with the god of the morning star, whose colours are depicted on his face and body. but in all probability camaxtli was a god of the chase, who in later times was adopted as a god of war because of his possession of the lightning dart, the symbol of divine warlike prowess. in the mythologies of north america we find similar hunter-gods, who sometimes evolve into gods of war for a like reason, and again gods of the chase who have all the appearance and attributes of the creatures hunted. iztlilton ixtlilton (the little black one) was the mexican god of medicine and healing, and therefore was often alluded to as the brother of macuilxochitl, the god of well-being or good luck. from the account of the general appearance of his temple--an edifice of painted boards--it would seem to have evolved from the primitive tent or lodge of the medicine-man, or shaman. it contained several water-jars called tlilatl (black water), the contents of which were administered to children in bad health. the parents of children who benefited from the treatment bestowed a feast on the deity, whose idol was carried to the residence of the grateful father, where ceremonial dances and oblations were made before it. it was then thought that ixtlilton descended to the courtyard to open fresh jars of pulque liquor provided for the feasters, and the entertainment concluded by an examination by the aztec Æsculapius of such of the pulque jars dedicated to his service as stood in the courtyard for everyday use. should these be found in an unclean condition, it was understood that the master of the house was a man of evil life, and he was presented by the priest with a mask to hide his face from his scoffing friends. omacatl omacatl was the mexican god of festivity and joy. the name signifies two reeds. he was worshipped chiefly by bon-vivants and the rich, who celebrated him in splendid feasts and orgies. the idol of the deity was invariably placed in the chamber where these functions were to take place, and the aztecs were known to regard it as a heinous offence if anything derogatory to the god were performed during the convivial ceremony, or if any omission were made from the prescribed form which these gatherings usually took. it was thought that if the host had been in any way remiss omacatl would appear to the startled guests, and in tones of great severity upbraid him who had given the feast, intimating that he would regard him no longer as a worshipper and would henceforth abandon him. a terrible malady, the symptoms of which were akin to those of falling-sickness, would shortly afterwards seize the guests; but as such symptoms are not unlike those connected with acute indigestion and other gastric troubles, it is probable that the gourmets who paid homage to the god of good cheer may have been suffering from a too strenuous instead of a lukewarm worship of him. but the idea of communion which underlay so many of the mexican rites undoubtedly entered into the worship of omacatl, for prior to a banquet in his honour those who took part in it formed a great bone out of maize paste, pretending that it was one of the bones of the deity whose merry rites they were about to engage in. this they devoured, washing it down with great draughts of pulque. the idol of omacatl was provided with a recess in the region of the stomach, and into this provisions were stuffed. he was represented as a squatting figure, painted black and white, crowned with a paper coronet, and hung with coloured paper. a flower-fringed cloak and sceptre were the other symbols of royalty worn by this mexican dionysus. opochtli opochtli (the left-handed) was the god sacred to fishers and bird-catchers. at one period of aztec history he must have been a deity of considerable consequence, since for generations the aztecs were marsh-dwellers and depended for their daily food on the fish netted in the lakes and the birds snared in the reeds. they credited the god with the invention of the harpoon or trident for spearing fish and the fishing-rod and bird-net. the fishermen and bird-catchers of mexico held on occasion a special feast in honour of opochtli, at which a certain liquor called octli was consumed. a procession was afterwards formed, in which marched old people who had dedicated themselves to the worship of the god, probably because they could obtain no other means of subsistence than that afforded by the vocation of which he was tutelar and patron. he was represented as a man painted black, his head decorated with the plumes of native wild birds, and crowned by a paper coronet in the shape of a rose. he was clad in green paper which fell to the knee, and was shod with white sandals. in his left hand he held a shield painted red, having in the centre a white flower with four petals placed crosswise, and in his right hand he held a sceptre in the form of a cup. yacatecutli yacatecutli was the patron of travellers of the merchant class, who worshipped him by piling their staves together and sprinkling on the heap blood from their noses and ears. the staff of the traveller was his symbol, to which prayer was made and offerings of flowers and incense tendered. the aztec priesthood the aztec priesthood was a hierarchy in whose hands resided a goodly portion of the power of the upper classes, especially that connected with education and endowment. the mere fact that its members possessed the power of selecting victims for sacrifice must have been sufficient to place them in an almost unassailable position, and their prophetic utterances, founded upon the art of divination--so great a feature in the life of the aztec people, who depended upon it from the cradle to the grave--probably assisted them in maintaining their hold upon the popular imagination. but withal the evidence of unbiased spanish ecclesiastics, such as sahagun, tends to show that they utilised their influence for good, and soundly instructed the people under their charge in the cardinal virtues; "in short," says the venerable friar, "to perform the duties plainly pointed out by natural religion." priestly revenues the establishment of the national religion was, as in the case of the mediæval church in europe, based upon a land tenure from which the priestly class derived a substantial though, considering their numbers, by no means inordinate revenue. the principal temples possessed lands which sufficed for the maintenance of the priests attached to them. there was, besides, a system of first-fruits fixed by law for the priesthood, the surplusage therefrom being distributed among the poor. education education was entirely conducted by the priesthood, which undertook the task in a manner highly creditable to it, when consideration is given to surrounding conditions. education was, indeed, highly organised. it was divided into primary and secondary grades. boys were instructed by priests, girls by holy women or "nuns." the secondary schools were called calmecac, and were devoted to the higher branches of education, the curriculum including the deciphering of the pinturas, or manuscripts, astrology and divination, with a wealth of religious instruction. orders of the priesthood at the head of the aztec priesthood stood the mexicatl teohuatzin (mexican lord of divine matters). he had a seat on the emperor's council, and possessed power which was second only to the royal authority. next in rank to him was the high-priest of quetzalcoatl, who dwelt in almost entire seclusion, and who had authority over his own caste only. this office was in all probability a relic from "toltec" times. the priests of quetzalcoatl were called by name after their tutelar deity. the lesser grades included the tlenamacac (ordinary priests), who were habited in black, and wore their hair long, covering it with a kind of mantilla. the lowest order was that of the lamacazton (little priests), youths who were graduating in the priestly office. an exacting ritual the priesthood enjoyed no easy existence, but led an austere life of fasting, penance, and prayer, with constant observance of an arduous and exacting ritual, which embraced sacrifice, the upkeep of perpetual fires, the chanting of holy songs to the gods, dances, and the superintendence of the ever-recurring festivals. they were required to rise during the night to render praise, and to maintain themselves in a condition of absolute cleanliness by means of constant ablutions. we have seen that blood-offering--the substitution of the part for the whole--was a common method of sacrifice, and in this the priests engaged personally on frequent occasions. if the caste did not spare the people it certainly did not spare itself, and its outlook was perhaps only a shade more gloomy and fanatical than that of the spanish hierarchy which succeeded it in the land. chapter iii: myths and legends of the ancient mexicans the mexican idea of the creation "in the year and in the day of the clouds," writes garcia in his origin de los indias, professing to furnish the reader with a translation of an original mixtec picture-manuscript, "before ever were years or days, the world lay in darkness. all things were orderless, and a water covered the slime and ooze that the earth then was." this picture is common to almost all american creation-stories. [ ] the red man in general believed the habitable globe to have been created from the slime which arose above the primeval waters, and there can be no doubt that the nahua shared this belief. we encounter in nahua myth two beings of a bisexual nature, known to the aztecs as ometecutli-omeciuatl (lords of duality), who were represented as the deities dominating the genesis of things, the beginning of the world. we have already become acquainted with them in chapter ii (see p. ), but we may recapitulate. these beings, whose individual names were tonacatecutli and tonacaciuatl (lord and lady of our flesh), occupy the first place in the calendar, a circumstance which makes it plain that they were regarded as responsible for the origin of all created things. they were invariably represented as being clothed in rich, variegated garments, symbolical of light. tonacatecutli, the male principle of creation or world-generation, is often identified with the sun- or fire-god, but there is no reason to consider him as symbolical of anything but the sky. the firmament is almost universally regarded by american aboriginal peoples as the male principle of the cosmos, in contradistinction to the earth, which they think of as possessing feminine attributes, and which is undoubtedly personified in this instance by tonacaciuatl. in north american indian myths we find the father sky brooding upon the mother earth, just as in early greek creation-story we see the elements uniting, the firmament impregnating the soil and rendering it fruitful. to the savage mind the growth of crops and vegetation proceeds as much from the sky as from the earth. untutored man beholds the fecundation of the soil by rain, and, seeing in everything the expression of an individual and personal impulse, regards the genesis of vegetable growth as analogous to human origin. to him, then, the sky is the life-giving male principle, the fertilising seed of which descends in rain. the earth is the receptive element which hatches that with which the sky has impregnated her. ixtlilxochitl's legend of the creation one of the most complete creation-stories in mexican mythology is that given by the half-blood indian author ixtlilxochitl, who, we cannot doubt, received it directly from native sources. he states that the toltecs credited a certain tloque nahuaque (lord of all existence) with the creation of the universe, the stars, mountains, and animals. at the same time he made the first man and woman, from whom all the inhabitants of the earth are descended. this "first earth" was destroyed by the "water-sun." at the commencement of the next epoch the toltecs appeared, and after many wanderings settled in huehue tlapallan (very old tlapallan). then followed the second catastrophe, that of the "wind-sun." the remainder of the legend recounts how mighty earthquakes shook the world and destroyed the earth-giants. these earth-giants (quinames) were analogous to the greek titans, and were a source of great uneasiness to the toltecs. in the opinion of the old historians they were descended from the races who inhabited the more northerly portion of mexico. creation-story of the mixtecs it will be well to return for a moment to the creation-story of the mixtecs, which, if emanating from a somewhat isolated people in the extreme south of the mexican empire, at least affords us a vivid picture of what a folk closely related to the nahua race regarded as a veritable account of the creative process. when the earth had arisen from the primeval waters, one day the deer-god, who bore the surname puma-snake, and the beautiful deer-goddess, or jaguar-snake, appeared. they had human form, and with their great knowledge (that is, with their magic) they raised a high cliff over the water, and built on it fine palaces for their dwelling. on the summit of this cliff they laid a copper axe with the edge upward, and on this edge the heavens rested. the palaces stood in upper mixteca, close to apoala, and the cliff was called place where the heavens stood. the gods lived happily together for many centuries, when it chanced that two little boys were born to them, beautiful of form and skilled and experienced in the arts. from the days of their birth they were named wind-nine-snake (viento de neuve culebras) and wind-nine-cave (viento de neuve cavernas). much care was given to their education, and they possessed the knowledge of how to change themselves into an eagle or a snake, to make themselves invisible, and even to pass through solid bodies. after a time these youthful gods decided to make an offering and a sacrifice to their ancestors. taking incense vessels made of clay, they filled them with tobacco, to which they set fire, allowing it to smoulder. the smoke rose heavenward, and that was the first offering (to the gods). then they made a garden with shrubs and flowers, trees and fruit-bearing plants, and sweet-scented herbs. adjoining this they made a grass-grown level place (un prado), and equipped it with everything necessary for sacrifice. the pious brothers lived contentedly on this piece of ground, tilled it, burned tobacco, and with prayers, vows, and promises they supplicated their ancestors to let the light appear, to let the water collect in certain places and the earth be freed from its covering (water), for they had no more than that little garden for their subsistence. in order to strengthen their prayer they pierced their ears and their tongues with pointed knives of flint, and sprinkled the blood on the trees and plants with a brush of willow twigs. the deer-gods had more sons and daughters, but there came a flood in which many of these perished. after the catastrophe was over the god who is called the creator of all things formed the heavens and the earth, and restored the human race. zapotec creation-myth among the zapotecs, a people related to the mixtecs, we find a similar conception of the creative process. cozaana is mentioned as the creator and maker of all beasts in the valuable zapotec dictionary of father juan de cordova, and huichaana as the creator of men and fishes. thus we have two separate creations for men and animals. cozaana would appear to apply to the sun as the creator of all beasts, but, strangely enough, is alluded to in cordova's dictionary as "procreatrix," whilst he is undoubtedly a male deity. huichaana, the creator of men and fishes, is, on the other hand, alluded to as "water," or "the element of water," and "goddess of generation." she is certainly the zapotec female part of the creative agency. in the mixtec creation-myth we can see the actual creator and the first pair of tribal gods, who were also considered the progenitors of animals--to the savage equal inhabitants of the world with himself. the names of the brothers nine-snake and nine-cave undoubtedly allude to light and darkness, day and night. it may be that these deities are the same as quetzalcoatl and xolotl (the latter a zapotec deity), who were regarded as twins. in some ways quetzalcoatl was looked upon as a creator, and in the mexican calendar followed the father and mother, or original sexual deities, being placed in the second section as the creator of the world and man. the mexican noah flood-myths, curiously enough, are of more common occurrence among the nahua and kindred peoples than creation-myths. the abbé brasseur de bourbourg has translated one from the codex chimalpopoca, a work in nahuatl dating from the latter part of the sixteenth century. it recounts the doings of the mexican noah and his wife as follows: "and this year was that of ce-calli, and on the first day all was lost. the mountain itself was submerged in the water, and the water remained tranquil for fifty-two springs. "now toward the close of the year titlacahuan had forewarned the man named nata and his wife nena, saying, 'make no more pulque, but straightway hollow out a large cypress, and enter it when in the month tozoztli the water shall approach the sky.' they entered it, and when titlacahuan had closed the door he said, 'thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize, and thy wife but one also.' "as soon as they had finished eating, they went forth, and the water was tranquil; for the log did not move any more; and opening it they saw many fish. "then they built a fire, rubbing together pieces of wood, and they roasted fish. the gods citallinicue and citallatonac, looking below, exclaimed, 'divine lord, what means that fire below? why do they thus smoke the heavens?' "straightway descended titlacahuan-tezcatlipoca, and commenced to scold, saying, 'what is this fire doing here?' and seizing the fishes he moulded their hinder parts and changed their heads, and they were at once transformed into dogs." the myth of the seven caverns but other legends apart from the creation-stories of the world pure and simple deal with the origin of mankind. the aztecs believed that the first men emerged from a place known as chicomoztoc (the seven caverns), located north of mexico. various writers have seen in these mythic recesses the fabulous "seven cities of cibola" and the casas grandes, ruins of extensive character in the valley of the river gila, and so forth. but the allusion to the magical number seven in the myth demonstrates that the entire story is purely imaginary and possesses no basis of fact. a similar story occurs among the myths of the kiche of guatemala and the peruvians. the sacrificed princess coming to semi-historical times, we find a variety of legends connected with the early story of the city of mexico. these for the most part are of a weird and gloomy character, and throw much light on the dark fanaticism of a people which could immolate its children on the altars of implacable gods. it is told how after the aztecs had built the city of mexico they raised an altar to their war-god huitzilopochtli. in general the lives rendered to this most sanguinary of deities were those of prisoners of war, but in times of public calamity he demanded the sacrifice of the noblest in the land. on one occasion his oracle required that a royal princess should be offered on the high altar. the aztec king, either possessing no daughters of his own or hesitating to sacrifice them, sent an embassy to the monarch of colhuacan to ask for one of his daughters to become the symbolical mother of huitzilopochtli. the king of colhuacan, suspecting nothing amiss, and highly flattered at the distinction, delivered up the girl, who was escorted to mexico, where she was sacrificed with much pomp, her skin being flayed off to clothe the priest who represented the deity in the festival. the unhappy father was invited to this hideous orgy, ostensibly to witness his daughter's deification. in the gloomy chambers of the war-god's temple he was at first unable to mark the trend of the horrid ritual. but, given a torch of copal-gum, he saw the officiating priest clothed in his daughter's skin, receiving the homage of the worshippers. recognising her features, and demented with grief and horror, he fled from the temple, a broken man, to spend the remainder of his days in mourning for his murdered child. the fugitive prince one turns with relief from such a sanguinary tale to the consideration of the pleasing semi-legendary accounts of ixtlilxochitl regarding the civilisation of tezcuco, mexico's neighbour and ally. we have seen in the sketch of nahua history which has been given how the tecpanecs overcame the acolhuans of tezcuco and slew their king about the year . nezahualcoyotl (fasting coyote), the heir to the tezcucan throne, beheld the butchery of his royal father from the shelter of a tree close by, and succeeded in making his escape from the invaders. his subsequent thrilling adventures have been compared with those of the young pretender after the collapse of the "forty-five" resistance. he had not enjoyed many days of freedom when he was captured by those who had set out in pursuit of him, and, being haled back to his native city, was cast into prison. he found a friend in the governor of the place, who owed his position to the prince's late father, and by means of his assistance he succeeded in once more escaping from the hostile tecpanecs. for aiding nezahualcoyotl, however, the governor promptly paid the penalty of death. the royal family of mexico interceded for the hunted youth, and he was permitted to find an asylum at the aztec court, whence he later proceeded to his own city of tezcuco, occupying apartments in the palace where his father had once dwelt. for eight years he remained there, existing unnoticed on the bounty of the tecpanec chief who had usurped the throne of his ancestors. maxtla the fierce in course of time the original tecpanec conqueror was gathered to his fathers, and was succeeded by his son maxtla, a ruler who could ill brook the studious prince, who had journeyed to the capital of the tecpanecs to do him homage. he refused nezahualcoyotl's advances of friendship, and the latter was warned by a favourably disposed courtier to take refuge in flight. this advice he adopted, and returned to tezcuco, where, however, maxtla set a snare for his life. a function which took place in the evening afforded the tyrant his chance. but the prince's preceptor frustrated the conspiracy, by means of substituting for his charge a youth who strikingly resembled him. this second failure exasperated maxtla so much that he sent a military force to tezcuco, with orders to despatch nezahualcoyotl without delay. but the same vigilant person who had guarded the prince so well before became apprised of his danger and advised him to fly. to this advice, however, nezahualcoyotl refused to listen, and resolved to await the approach of his enemies. a romantic escape when they arrived he was engaged in the mexican ball-game of tlachtli. with great politeness he requested them to enter and to partake of food. whilst they refreshed themselves he betook himself to another room, but his action excited no surprise, as he could be seen through the open doorway by which the apartments communicated with each other. a huge censer, however, stood in the vestibule, and the clouds of incense which arose from it hid his movements from those who had been sent to slay him. thus obscured, he succeeded in entering a subterranean passage which led to a large disused water-pipe, through which he crawled and made his escape. a thrilling pursuit for a season nezahualcoyotl evaded capture by hiding in the hut of a zealous adherent. the hut was searched, but the pursuers neglected to look below a heap of maguey fibre used for making cloth, under which he lay concealed. furious at his enemy's escape, maxtla now ordered a rigorous search, and a regular battue of the country round tezcuco was arranged. a large reward was offered for the capture of nezahualcoyotl dead or alive, along with a fair estate and the hand of a noble lady, and the unhappy prince was forced to seek safety in the mountainous country between tezcuco and tlascala. he became a wretched outcast, a pariah lurking in caves and woods, prowling about after nightfall in order to satisfy his hunger, and seldom having a whole night's rest, because of the vigilance of his enemies. hotly pursued by them, he was compelled to seek some curious places of concealment in order to save himself. on one occasion he was hidden by some friendly soldiers inside a large drum, and on another he was concealed beneath some chia stalks by a girl who was engaged in reaping them. the loyalty of the tezcucan peasantry to their hunted prince was extraordinary, and rather than betray his whereabouts to the creatures of maxtla they on many occasions suffered torture, and even death itself. at a time when his affairs appeared most gloomy, however, nezahualcoyotl experienced a change of fortune. the tyrannous maxtla had rendered himself highly unpopular by his many oppressions, and the people in the territories he had annexed were by no means contented under his rule. the defeat of maxtla these malcontents decided to band themselves together to defy the tyrant, and offered the command of the force thus raised to nezahualcoyotl. this he accepted, and the tecpanec usurper was totally defeated in a general engagement. restored to the throne of his fathers, nezahualcoyotl allied himself with mexico, and with the assistance of its monarch completely routed the remaining force of maxtla, who was seized in the baths of azcapozalco, haled forth and sacrificed, and his city destroyed. the solon of anahuac nezahualcoyotl profited by the hard experiences he had undergone, and proved a wise and just ruler. the code of laws framed by him was an exceedingly drastic one, but so wise and enlightened was his rule that on the whole he deserves the title which has been conferred upon him of "the solon of anahuac." he generously encouraged the arts, and established a council of music, the purpose of which was to supervise artistic endeavour of every description. in nezahualcoyotl mexico found, in all probability, her greatest native poet. an ode of his on the mutability of life displays much nobility of thought, and strikingly recalls the sentiments expressed in the verses of omar khayyám. nezahualcoyotl's theology nezahualcoyotl is said to have erected a temple to the unknown god, and to have shown a marked preference for the worship of one deity. in one of his poems he is credited with expressing the following exalted sentiments: "let us aspire to that heaven where all is eternal, and corruption cannot come. the horrors of the tomb are the cradle of the sun, and the dark shadows of death are brilliant lights for the stars." unfortunately these ideas cannot be verified as the undoubted sentiments of the royal bard of tezcuco, and we are regretfully forced to regard the attribution as spurious. we must come to such a conclusion with very real disappointment, as to discover an untutored and spontaneous belief in one god in the midst of surroundings so little congenial to its growth would have been exceedingly valuable from several points of view. the poet prince we find nezahualcoyotl's later days stained by an act which was unworthy of such a great monarch and wise man. his eldest son, the heir to the crown, entered into an intrigue with one of his father's wives, and dedicated many passionate poems to her, to which she replied with equal ardour. the poetical correspondence was brought before the king, who prized the lady highly because of her beauty. outraged in his most sacred feelings, nezahualcoyotl had the youth arraigned before the high court, which passed sentence of death upon him--a sentence which his father permitted to be carried out. after his son's execution he shut himself up in his palace for some months, and gave orders that the doors and windows of the unhappy young man's residence should be built up so that never again might its walls echo to the sound of a human voice. the queen with a hundred lovers in his history of the chichimeca ixtlilxochitl tells the following gruesome tale regarding the dreadful fate of a favourite wife of nezahualpilli, the son of nezahualcoyotl: when axaiacatzin, king of mexico, and other lords sent their daughters to king nezahualpilli, for him to choose one to be his queen and lawful wife, whose son might succeed to the inheritance, she who had the highest claims among them, for nobility of birth and rank, was chachiuhnenetzin, the young daughter of the mexican king. she had been brought up by the monarch in a separate palace, with great pomp, and with numerous attendants, as became the daughter of so great a monarch. the number of servants attached to her household exceeded two thousand. young as she was, she was exceedingly artful and vicious; so that, finding herself alone, and seeing that her people feared her on account of her rank and importance, she began to give way to an unlimited indulgence of her power. whenever she saw a young man who pleased her fancy she gave secret orders that he should be brought to her, and shortly afterwards he would be put to death. she would then order a statue or effigy of his person to be made, and, adorning it with rich clothing, gold, and jewellery, place it in the apartment in which she lived. the number of statues of those whom she thus sacrificed was so great as to almost fill the room. when the king came to visit her, and inquired respecting these statues, she answered that they were her gods; and he, knowing how strict the mexicans were in the worship of their false deities, believed her. but, as no iniquity can be long committed with entire secrecy, she was finally found out in this manner: three of the young men, for some reason or other, she had left alive. their names were chicuhcoatl, huitzilimitzin, and maxtla, one of whom was lord of tesoyucan and one of the grandees of the kingdom, and the other two nobles of high rank. it happened that one day the king recognised on the apparel of one of these a very precious jewel which he had given to the queen; and although he had no fear of treason on her part it gave him some uneasiness. proceeding to visit her that night, her attendants told him she was asleep, supposing that the king would then return, as he had done at other times. but the affair of the jewel made him insist on entering the chamber in which she slept; and, going to wake her, he found only a statue in the bed, adorned with her hair, and closely resembling her. seeing this, and noticing that the attendants around were in much trepidation and alarm, the king called his guards, and, assembling all the people of the house, made a general search for the queen, who was shortly found at an entertainment with the three young lords, who were arrested with her. the king referred the case to the judges of his court, in order that they might make an inquiry into the matter and examine the parties implicated. these discovered many individuals, servants of the queen, who had in some way or other been accessory to her crimes--workmen who had been engaged in making and adorning the statues, others who had aided in introducing the young men into the palace, and others, again, who had put them to death and concealed their bodies. the case having been sufficiently investigated, the king despatched ambassadors to the rulers of mexico and tlacopan, giving them information of the event, and signifying the day on which the punishment of the queen and her accomplices was to take place; and he likewise sent through the empire to summon all the lords to bring their wives and their daughters, however young they might be, to be witnesses of a punishment which he designed for a great example. he also made a truce with all the enemies of the empire, in order that they might come freely to see it. the time having arrived, the number of people gathered together was so great that, large as was the city of tezcuco, they could scarcely all find room in it. the execution took place publicly, in sight of the whole city. the queen was put to the garrotte (a method of strangling by means of a rope twisted round a stick), as well as her three gallants; and, from their being persons of high birth, their bodies were burned, together with the effigies before mentioned. the other parties who had been accessory to the crimes, who numbered more than two thousand persons, were also put to the garrotte, and burned in a pit made for the purpose in a ravine near a temple of the idol of adulterers. all applauded so severe and exemplary a punishment, except the mexican lords, the relatives of the queen, who were much incensed at so public an example, and, although for the time they concealed their resentment, meditated future revenge. it was not without reason, says the chronicler, that the king experienced this disgrace in his household, since he was thus punished for an unworthy subterfuge made use of by his father to obtain his mother as a wife! this nezahualpilli, the successor of nezahualcoyotl, was a monarch of scientific tastes, and, as torquemada states, had a primitive observatory erected in his palace. the golden age of tezcuco the period embraced by the life of this monarch and his predecessor may be regarded as the golden age of tezcuco, and as semi-mythical. the palace of nezahualcoyotl, according to the account of ixtlilxochitl, extended east and west for yards, and for yards from north to south. enclosed by a high wall, it contained two large courts, one used as the municipal market-place, whilst the other was surrounded by administrative offices. a great hall was set apart for the special use of poets and men of talent, who held symposiums under its classic roof, or engaged in controversy in the surrounding corridors. the chronicles of the kingdom were also kept in this portion of the palace. the private apartments of the monarch adjoined this college of bards. they were gorgeous in the extreme, and their description rivals that of the fabled toltec city of tollan. rare stones and beautifully coloured plaster mouldings alternated with wonderful tapestries of splendid feather-work to make an enchanting display of florid decoration, and the gardens which surrounded this marvellous edifice were delightful retreats, where the lofty cedar and cypress overhung sparkling fountains and luxurious baths. fish darted hither and thither in the ponds, and the aviaries echoed to the songs of birds of wonderful plumage. a fairy villa according to ixtlilxochitl, the king's villa of tezcotzinco was a residence which for sheer beauty had no equal in persian romance, or in those dream-tales of araby which in childhood we feel to be true, and in later life regretfully admit can only be known again by sailing the sea of poesy or penetrating the mist-locked continent of dream. the account of it which we have from the garrulous half-blood reminds us of the stately pleasure-dome decreed by kubla khan on the turbulent banks of the sacred alph. a conical eminence was laid out in hanging gardens reached by an airy flight of five hundred and twenty marble steps. gigantic walls contained an immense reservoir of water, in the midst of which was islanded a great rock carved with hieroglyphs describing the principal events in the reign of nezahualcoyotl. in each of three other reservoirs stood a marble statue of a woman, symbolical of one of the three provinces of tezcuco. these great basins supplied the gardens beneath with a perennial flow of water, so directed as to leap in cascades over artificial rockeries or meander among mossy retreats with refreshing whisper, watering the roots of odoriferous shrubs and flowers and winding in and out of the shadow of the cypress woods. here and there pavilions of marble arose over porphyry baths, the highly polished stone of which reflected the bodies of the bathers. the villa itself stood amidst a wilderness of stately cedars, which shielded it from the torrid heat of the mexican sun. the architectural design of this delightful edifice was light and airy in the extreme, and the perfume of the surrounding gardens filled the spacious apartments with the delicious incense of nature. in this paradise the tezcucan monarch sought in the company of his wives repose from the oppression of rule, and passed the lazy hours in gamesome sport and dance. the surrounding woods afforded him the pleasures of the chase, and art and nature combined to render his rural retreat a centre of pleasant recreation as well as of repose and refreshment. disillusionment that some such palace existed on the spot in question it would be absurd to deny, as its stupendous pillars and remains still litter the terraces of tezcotzinco. but, alas! we must not listen to the vapourings of the untrustworthy ixtlilxochitl, who claims to have seen the place. it will be better to turn to a more modern authority, who visited the site about seventy-five years ago, and who has given perhaps the best account of it. he says: "fragments of pottery, broken pieces of obsidian knives and arrows, pieces of stucco, shattered terraces, and old walls were thickly dispersed over its whole surface. we soon found further advance on horseback impracticable, and, attaching our patient steeds to the nopal bushes, we followed our indian guide on foot, scrambling upwards over rock and through tangled brushwood. on gaining the narrow ridge which connects the conical hill with one at the rear, we found the remains of a wall and causeway; and, a little higher, reached a recess, where, at the foot of a small precipice, overhung with indian fig and grass, the rock had been wrought by hand into a flat surface of large dimensions. in this perpendicular wall of rock a carved toltec calendar existed formerly; but the indians, finding the place visited occasionally by foreigners from the capital, took it into their heads that there must be a silver vein there, and straightway set to work to find it, obliterating the sculpture, and driving a level beyond it into the hard rock for several yards. from this recess a few minutes' climb brought us to the summit of the hill. the sun was on the point of setting over the mountains on the other side of the valley, and the view spread beneath our feet was most glorious. the whole of the lake of tezcuco, and the country and mountains on both sides, lay stretched before us. "but, however disposed, we dare not stop long to gaze and admire, but, descending a little obliquely, soon came to the so-called bath, two singular basins, of perhaps two feet and a half diameter, cut into a bastion-like solid rock, projecting from the general outline of the hill, and surrounded by smooth carved seats and grooves, as we supposed--for i own the whole appearance of the locality was perfectly inexplicable to me. i have a suspicion that many of these horizontal planes and grooves were contrivances to aid their astronomical observations, one like that i have mentioned having been discovered by de gama at chapultepec. "as to montezuma's bath, it might be his foot-bath if you will, but it would be a moral impossibility for any monarch of larger dimensions than oberon to take a duck in it. "the mountain bears the marks of human industry to its very apex, many of the blocks of porphyry of which it is composed being quarried into smooth horizontal planes. it is impossible to say at present what portion of the surface is artificial or not, such is the state of confusion observable in every part. "by what means nations unacquainted with the use of iron constructed works of such a smooth polish, in rocks of such hardness, it is extremely difficult to say. many think tools of mixed tin and copper were employed; others, that patient friction was one of the main means resorted to. whatever may have been the real appropriation of these inexplicable ruins, or the epoch of their construction, there can be no doubt but the whole of this hill, which i should suppose rises five or six hundred feet above the level of the plain, was covered with artificial works of one kind or another. they are doubtless rather of toltec than of aztec origin, and perhaps with still more probability attributable to a people of an age yet more remote." the noble tlascalan as may be imagined regarding a community where human sacrifice was rife, tales concerning those who were consigned to this dreadful fate were abundant. perhaps the most striking of these is that relating to the noble tlascalan warrior tlalhuicole, who was captured in combat by the troops of montezuma. less than a year before the spaniards arrived in mexico war broke out between the huexotzincans and the tlascalans, to the former of whom the aztecs acted as allies. on the battlefield there was captured by guile a very valiant tlascalan leader called tlalhuicole, so renowned for his prowess that the mere mention of his name was generally sufficient to deter any mexican hero from attempting his capture. he was brought to mexico in a cage, and presented to the emperor montezuma, who, on learning of his name and renown, gave him his liberty and overwhelmed him with honours. he further granted him permission to return to his own country, a boon he had never before extended to any captive. but tlalhuicole refused his freedom, and replied that he would prefer to be sacrificed to the gods, according to the usual custom. montezuma, who had the highest regard for him, and prized his life more than any sacrifice, would not consent to his immolation. at this juncture war broke out between mexico and the tarascans, and montezuma announced the appointment of tlalhuicole as chief of the expeditionary force. he accepted the command, marched against the tarascans, and, having totally defeated them, returned to mexico laden with an enormous booty and crowds of slaves. the city rang with his triumph. the emperor begged him to become a mexican citizen, but he replied that on no account would he prove a traitor to his country. montezuma then once more offered him his liberty, but he strenuously refused to return to tlascala, having undergone the disgrace of defeat and capture. he begged montezuma to terminate his unhappy existence by sacrificing him to the gods, thus ending the dishonour he felt in living on after having undergone defeat, and at the same time fulfilling the highest aspiration of his life--to die the death of a warrior on the stone of combat. montezuma, himself the noblest pattern of aztec chivalry, touched at his request, could not but agree with him that he had chosen the most fitting fate for a hero, and ordered him to be chained to the stone of combat, the blood-stained temalacatl. the most renowned of the aztec warriors were pitted against him, and the emperor himself graced the sanguinary tournament with his presence. tlalhuicole bore himself in the combat like a lion, slew eight warriors of renown, and wounded more than twenty. but at last he fell, covered with wounds, and was haled by the exulting priests to the altar of the terrible war-god huitzilopochtli, to whom his heart was offered up. the haunting mothers it is only occasionally that we encounter either the gods or supernatural beings of any description in mexican myth. but occasionally we catch sight of such beings as the ciuapipiltin (honoured women), the spirits of those women who had died in childbed, a death highly venerated by the mexicans, who regarded the woman who perished thus as the equal of a warrior who met his fate in battle. strangely enough, these spirits were actively malevolent, probably because the moon-goddess (who was also the deity of evil exhalations) was evil in her tendencies, and they were regarded as possessing an affinity to her. it was supposed that they afflicted infants with various diseases, and mexican parents took every precaution not to permit their offspring out of doors on the days when their influence was believed to be strong. they were said to haunt the cross-roads, and even to enter the bodies of weakly people, the better to work their evil will. the insane were supposed to be under their especial visitation. temples were raised at the cross-roads in order to placate them, and loaves of bread, shaped like butterflies, were dedicated to them. they were represented as having faces of a dead white, and as blanching their arms and hands with a white powder known as tisatl. their eyebrows were of a golden hue, and their raiment was that of mexican ladies of the ruling class. the return of papantzin [ ] one of the weirdest legends in mexican tradition recounts how papantzin, the sister of montezuma ii, returned from her tomb to prophesy to her royal brother concerning his doom and the fall of his empire at the hands of the spaniards. on taking up the reins of government montezuma had married this lady to one of his most illustrious servants, the governor of tlatelulco, and after his death it would appear that she continued to exercise his almost viceregal functions and to reside in his palace. in course of time she died, and her obsequies were attended by the emperor in person, accompanied by the greatest personages of his court and kingdom. the body was interred in a subterranean vault of his own palace, in close proximity to the royal baths, which stood in a sequestered part of the extensive grounds surrounding the royal residence. the entrance to the vault was secured by a stone slab of moderate weight, and when the numerous ceremonies prescribed for the interment of a royal personage had been completed the emperor and his suite retired. at daylight next morning one of the royal children, a little girl of some six years of age, having gone into the garden to seek her governess, espied the princess papan standing near the baths. the princess, who was her aunt, called to her, and requested her to bring her governess to her. the child did as she was bid, but her governess, thinking that imagination had played her a trick, paid little attention to what she said. as the child persisted in her statement, the governess at last followed her into the garden, where she saw papan sitting on one of the steps of the baths. the sight of the supposed dead princess filled the woman with such terror that she fell down in a swoon. the child then went to her mother's apartment, and detailed to her what had happened. she at once proceeded to the baths with two of her attendants, and at sight of papan was also seized with affright. but the princess reassured her, and asked to be allowed to accompany her to her apartments, and that the entire affair should for the present be kept absolutely secret. later in the day she sent for tiçotzicatzin, her major-domo, and requested him to inform the emperor that she desired to speak with him immediately on matters of the greatest importance. the man, terrified, begged to be excused from the mission, and papan then gave orders that her uncle nezahualpilli, king of tezcuco, should be communicated with. that monarch, on receiving her request that he should come to her, hastened to the palace. the princess begged him to see the emperor without loss of time and to entreat him to come to her at once. montezuma heard his story with surprise mingled with doubt. hastening to his sister, he cried as he approached her: "is it indeed you, my sister, or some evil demon who has taken your likeness?" "it is i indeed, your majesty," she replied. montezuma and the exalted personages who accompanied him then seated themselves, and a hush of expectation fell upon all as they were addressed by the princess in the following words: "listen attentively to what i am about to relate to you. you have seen me dead, buried, and now behold me alive again. by the authority of our ancestors, my brother, i am returned from the dwellings of the dead to prophesy to you certain things of prime importance. papantzin's story "at the moment after death i found myself in a spacious valley, which appeared to have neither commencement nor end, and was surrounded by lofty mountains. near the middle i came upon a road with many branching paths. by the side of the valley there flowed a river of considerable size, the waters of which ran with a loud noise. by the borders of this i saw a young man clothed in a long robe, fastened with a diamond, and shining like the sun, his visage bright as a star. on his forehead was a sign in the figure of a cross. he had wings, the feathers of which gave forth the most wonderful and glowing reflections and colours. his eyes were as emeralds, and his glance was modest. he was fair, of beautiful aspect and imposing presence. he took me by the hand and said: 'come hither. it is not yet time for you to cross the river. you possess the love of god, which is greater than you know or can comprehend.' he then conducted me through the valley, where i espied many heads and bones of dead men. i then beheld a number of black folk, horned, and with the feet of deer. they were engaged in building a house, which was nearly completed. turning toward the east for a space, i beheld on the waters of the river a vast number of ships manned by a great host of men dressed differently from ourselves. their eyes were of a clear grey, their complexions ruddy, they carried banners and ensigns in their hands and wore helmets on their heads. they called themselves 'sons of the sun.' the youth who conducted me and caused me to see all these things said that it was not yet the will of the gods that i should cross the river, but that i was to be reserved to behold the future with my own eyes, and to enjoy the benefits of the faith which these strangers brought with them; that the bones i beheld on the plain were those of my countrymen who had died in ignorance of that faith, and had consequently suffered great torments; that the house being builded by the black folk was an edifice prepared for those who would fall in battle with the seafaring strangers whom i had seen; and that i was destined to return to my compatriots to tell them of the true faith, and to announce to them what i had seen that they might profit thereby." montezuma hearkened to these matters in silence, and felt greatly troubled. he left his sister's presence without a word, and, regaining his own apartments, plunged into melancholy thoughts. papantzin's resurrection is one of the best authenticated incidents in mexican history, and it is a curious fact that on the arrival of the spanish conquistadores one of the first persons to embrace christianity and receive baptism at their hands was the princess papan. chapter iv: the maya race and mythology the maya it was to the maya--the people who occupied the territory between the isthmus of tehuantepec and nicaragua--that the civilisation of central america owed most. the language they spoke was quite distinct from the nahuatl spoken by the nahua of mexico, and in many respects their customs and habits were widely different from those of the people of anahuac. it will be remembered that the latter were the heirs of an older civilisation, that, indeed, they had entered the valley of mexico as savages, and that practically all they knew of the arts of culture was taught them by the remnants of the people whom they dispossessed. it was not thus with the maya. their arts and industries were of their own invention, and bore the stamp of an origin of considerable antiquity. they were, indeed, the supreme intellectual race of america, and on their coming into contact with the nahua that people assimilated sufficient of their culture to raise them several grades in the scale of civilisation. were the maya toltecs? it has already been stated that many antiquarians see in the maya those toltecs who because of the inroads of barbarous tribes quitted their native land of anahuac and journeyed southward to seek a new home in chiapas and yucatan. it would be idle to attempt to uphold or refute such a theory in the absolute dearth of positive evidence for or against it. the architectural remains of the older race of anahuac do not bear any striking likeness to maya forms, and if the mythologies of the two peoples are in some particulars alike, that may well be accounted for by their mutual adoption of deities and religious customs. on the other hand, it is distinctly noteworthy that the cult of the god quetzalcoatl, which was regarded in mexico as of alien origin, had a considerable vogue among the maya and their allied races. the maya kingdom on the arrival of the spaniards (after the celebrated march of cortés from mexico to central america) the maya were divided into a number of subsidiary states which remind us somewhat of the numerous little kingdoms of palestine. that these had hived off from an original and considerably greater state there is good evidence to show, but internal dissension had played havoc with the polity of the central government of this empire, the disintegration of which had occurred at a remote period. in the semi-historical legends of this people we catch glimpses of a great kingdom, occasionally alluded to as the "kingdom of the great snake," or the empire of xibalba, realms which have been identified with the ruined city-centres of palenque and mitla. these identifications must be regarded with caution, but the work of excavation will doubtless sooner or later assist theorists in coming to conclusions which will admit of no doubt. the sphere of maya civilisation and influence is pretty well marked, and embraces the peninsula of yucatan, chiapas, to the isthmus of tehuantepec on the north, and the whole of guatemala to the boundaries of the present republic of san salvador. the true nucleus of maya civilisation, however, must be looked for in that part of chiapas which skirts the banks of the usumacinta river and in the valleys of its tributaries. here maya art and architecture reached a height of splendour unknown elsewhere, and in this district, too, the strange maya system of writing had its most skilful exponents. although the arts and industries of the several districts inhabited by people of maya race exhibited many superficial differences, these are so small as to make us certain of the fact that the various areas inhabited by maya stock had all drawn their inspiration toward civilisation from one common nucleus, and had equally passed through a uniform civilisation and drawn sap from an original culture-centre. the maya dialects perhaps the most effectual method of distinguishing the various branches of the maya people from one another consists in dividing them into linguistic groups. the various dialects spoken by the folk of maya origin, although they exhibit some considerable difference, yet display strongly that affinity of construction and resemblance in root which go to prove that they all emanate from one common mother-tongue. in chiapas the maya tongue itself is the current dialect, whilst in guatemala no less than twenty-four dialects are in use, the principal of which are the quiche, or kiche, the kakchiquel, the zutugil, coxoh chol, and pipil. these dialects and the folk who speak them are sufficient to engage our attention, as in them are enshrined the most remarkable myths and legends of the race, and by the men who used them were the greatest acts in maya history achieved. whence came the maya? whence came these folk, then, who raised a civilisation by no means inferior to that of ancient egypt, which, if it had had scope, would have rivalled in its achievements the glory of old assyria? we cannot tell. the mystery of its entrance into the land is as deep as the mystery of the ancient forests which now bury the remnants of its mighty monuments and enclose its temples in impenetrable gloom. generations of antiquarians have attempted to trace the origin of this race to egypt, phoenicia, china, burma. but the manifest traces of indigenous american origin are present in all its works, and the writers who have beheld in these likenesses to the art of asiatic or african peoples have been grievously misled by superficial resemblances which could not have betrayed any one who had studied maya affinities deeply. civilisation of the maya at the risk of repetition it is essential to point out that civilisation, which was a newly acquired thing with the nahua peoples, was not so with the maya. they were indisputably an older race, possessing institutions which bore the marks of generations of use, whereas the nahua had only too obviously just entered into their heritage of law and order. when we first catch sight of the maya kingdoms they are in the process of disintegration. such strong young blood as the virile folk of anahuac possessed did not flow in the veins of the people of yucatan and guatemala. they were to the nahua much as the ancient assyrians were to the hosts of israel at the entrance of the latter into national existence. that there was a substratum of ethnical and cultural relationship, however, it would be impossible to deny. the institutions, architecture, habits, even the racial cast of thought of the two peoples, bore such a general resemblance as to show that many affinities of blood and cultural relationship existed between them. but it will not do to insist too strongly upon these. it may be argued with great probability that these relationships and likenesses exist because of the influence of maya civilisation upon mexican alone, or from the inheritance by both mexican and maya people of a still older culture of which we are ignorant, and the proofs of which lie buried below the forests of guatemala or the sands of yucatan. the zapotecs the influence of the maya upon the nahua was a process of exceeding slowness. the peoples who divided them one from another were themselves benefited by carrying maya culture into anahuac, or rather it might be said that they constituted a sort of filter through which the southern civilisation reached the northern. these peoples were the zapotecs, the mixtecs, and the kuikatecs, by far the most important of whom were the first-mentioned. they partook of the nature and civilisation of both races, and were in effect a border people who took from and gave to both maya and nahua, much as the jews absorbed and disseminated the cultures of egypt and assyria. they were, however, of nahua race, but their speech bears the strongest marks of having borrowed extensively from the maya vocabulary. for many generations these people wandered in a nomadic condition from maya to nahua territory, thus absorbing the customs, speech, and mythology of each. the huasteca but we should be wrong if we thought that the maya had never attempted to expand, and had never sought new homes for their surplus population. that they had is proved by an outlying tribe of maya, the huasteca, having settled at the mouth of the panuco river, on the north coast of mexico. the presence of this curious ethnological island has of course given rise to all sorts of queer theories concerning toltec relationship, whereas it simply intimates that before the era of nahua expansion the maya had attempted to colonise the country to the north of their territories, but that their efforts in this direction had been cut short by the influx of savage nahua, against whom they found themselves unable to contend. the type of maya civilisation did the civilisation of the maya differ, then, in type from that of the nahua, or was it merely a larger expression of that in vogue in anahuac? we may take it that the nahua civilisation characterised the culture of central america in its youth, whilst that of the maya displayed it in its bloom, and perhaps in its senility. the difference was neither essential nor radical, but may be said to have arisen for the most part from climatic and kindred causes. the climate of anahuac is dry and temperate, that of yucatan and guatemala is tropical, and we shall find even such religious conceptions of the two peoples as were drawn from a common source varying from this very cause, and coloured by differences in temperature and rainfall. maya history before entering upon a consideration of the art, architecture, or mythology of this strange and highly interesting people it will be necessary to provide the reader with a brief sketch of their history. such notices of this as exist in english are few, and their value doubtful. for the earlier history of the people of maya stock we depend almost wholly upon tradition and architectural remains. the net result of the evidence wrung from these is that the maya civilisation was one and homogeneous, and that all the separate states must have at one period passed through a uniform condition of culture, to which they were all equally debtors, and that this is sufficient ground for the belief that all were at one time beneath the sway of one central power. for the later history we possess the writings of the spanish fathers, but not in such profusion as in the case of mexico. in fact the trustworthy original authors who deal with maya history can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. we are further confused in perusing these, and, indeed, throughout the study of maya history, by discovering that many of the sites of maya cities are designated by nahua names. this is due to the fact that the spanish conquerors were guided in their conquest of the maya territories by nahua, who naturally applied nahuatlac designations to those sites of which the spaniards asked the names. these appellations clung to the places in question; hence the confusion, and the blundering theories which would read in these place-names relics of aztec conquest. the nucleus of maya power as has been said, the nucleus of maya power and culture is probably to be found in that part of chiapas which slopes down from the steep cordilleras. here the ruined sites of palenque, piedras negras, and ocosingo are eloquent of that opulence of imagination and loftiness of conception which go hand in hand with an advanced culture. the temples and palaces of this region bear the stamp of a dignity and consciousness of metropolitan power which are scarcely to be mistaken, so broad, so free is their architectural conception, so full to overflowing the display of the desire to surpass. but upon the necessities of religion and central organisation alone was this architectural artistry lavished. its dignities were not profaned by its application to mere domestic uses, for, unless what were obviously palaces are excepted, not a single example of maya domestic building has survived. this is of course accounted for by the circumstance that the people were sharply divided into the aristocratic and labouring classes, the first of which was closely identified with religion or kingship, and was housed in the ecclesiastical or royal buildings, whilst those of less exalted rank were perforce content with the shelter afforded by a hut built of perishable materials, the traces of which have long since passed away. the temples were, in fact, the nuclei of the towns, the centres round which the maya communities were grouped, much in the same manner as the cities of europe in the middle ages clustered and grew around the shadow of some vast cathedral or sheltering stronghold. early race movements we shall leave the consideration of maya tradition until we come to speak of maya myth proper, and attempt to glean from the chaos of legend some veritable facts connected with maya history. according to a manuscript of kuikatec origin recently discovered, it is probable that a nahua invasion of the maya states of chiapas and tabasco took place about the ninth century of our era, and we must for the present regard that as the starting-point of maya history. the south-western portions of the maya territory were agitated about the same time by race movements, which turned northward toward tehuantepec, and, flowing through guatemala, came to rest in acalan, on the borders of yucatan, retarded, probably, by the inhospitable and waterless condition of that country. this nahua invasion probably had the effect of driving the more peaceful maya from their northerly settlements and forcing them farther south. indeed, evidence is not wanting to show that the warlike nahua pursued the pacific maya into their new retreats, and for a space left them but little peace. this struggle it was which finally resulted in the breaking up of the maya civilisation, which even at that relatively remote period had reached its apogee, its several races separating into numerous city-states, which bore a close political resemblance to those of italy on the downfall of rome. at this period, probably, began the cleavage between the maya of yucatan and those of guatemala, which finally resolved itself into such differences of speech, faith, and architecture as almost to constitute them different peoples. the settlement of yucatan as the celts of wales and scotland were driven into the less hospitable regions of their respective countries by the inroads of the saxons, so was one branch of the maya forced to seek shelter in the almost desert wastes of yucatan. there can be no doubt that the maya did not take to this barren and waterless land of their own accord. thrifty and possessed of high agricultural attainments, this people would view with concern a removal to a sphere so forbidding after the rich and easily developed country they had inhabited for generations. but the inexorable nahua were behind, and they were a peaceful folk, unused to the horrors of savage warfare. so, taking their courage in both hands, they wandered into the desert. everything points to a late occupation of yucatan by the maya, and architectural effort exhibits deterioration, evidenced in a high conventionality of design and excess of ornamentation. evidences of nahua influence also are not wanting, a fact which is eloquent of the later period of contact which is known to have occurred between the peoples, and which alone is almost sufficient to fix the date of the settlement of the maya in yucatan. it must not be thought that the maya in yucatan formed one homogeneous state recognising a central authority. on the contrary, as is often the case with colonists, the several maya bands of immigrants formed themselves into different states or kingdoms, each having its own separate traditions. it is thus a matter of the highest difficulty to so collate and criticise these traditions as to construct a history of the maya race in yucatan. as may be supposed, we find the various city-sites founded by divine beings who play a more or less important part in the maya pantheon. kukulcan, for example, is the first king of mayapan, whilst itzamna figures as the founder of the state of itzamal. the gods were the spiritual leaders of these bands of maya, just as jehovah was the spiritual leader and guide of the israelites in the desert. one is therefore not surprised to find in the popol vuh, the saga of the kiche-maya of guatemala, that the god tohil (the rumbler) guided them to the site of the first kiche city. some writers on the subject appear to think that the incidents in such migration myths, especially the tutelage and guidance of the tribes by gods and the descriptions of desert scenery which they contain, suffice to stamp them as mere native versions of the book of exodus, or at the best myths sophisticated by missionary influence. the truth is that the conditions of migration undergone by the maya were similar to those described in the scriptures, and by no means merely reflect the bible story, as short-sighted collators of both aver. the septs of yucatan the priest-kings of mayapan, who claimed descent from kukulcan or quetzalcoatl, soon raised their state into a position of prominence among the surrounding cities. those who had founded chichen-itza, and who were known as itzaes, were, on the other hand, a caste of warriors who do not appear to have cherished the priestly function with such assiduity. the rulers of the itzaes, who were known as the tutul xius, seem to have come, according to their traditions, from the western maya states, perhaps from nonohualco in tabasco. arriving from thence at the southern extremity of yucatan, they founded the city of ziyan caan, on lake bacalar, which had a period of prosperity for at least a couple of generations. at the expiry of that period for some unaccountable reason they migrated northward, perhaps because at that particular time the incidence of power was shifting toward northern yucatan, and took up their abode in chichen-itza, eventually the sacred city of the maya, which they founded. the cocomes but they were not destined to remain undisturbed in their new sphere. the cocomes of mayapan, when at the height of their power, viewed with disfavour the settlement of the tutul xius. after it had flourished for a period of about years it was overthrown by the cocomes, who resolved it into a dependency, permitting the governors and a certain number of the people to depart elsewhere. flight of the tutul xius thus expelled, the tutul xius fled southward, whence they had originally come, and settled in potonchan or champoton, where they reigned for nearly years. from this new centre, with the aid of nahua mercenaries, they commenced an extension of territory northward, and entered into diplomatic relations with the heads of the other maya states. it was at this time that they built uxmal, and their power became so extensive that they reconquered the territory they had lost to the cocomes. this on the whole appears to have been a period when the arts flourished under an enlightened policy, which knew how to make and keep friendly relations with surrounding states, and the splendid network of roads with which the country was covered and the many evidences of architectural excellence go to prove that the race had had leisure to achieve much in art and works of utility. thus the city of chichen-itza was linked up with the island of cozumel by a highway whereon thousands of pilgrims plodded to the temples of the gods of wind and moisture. from itzamal, too, roads branched in every direction, in order that the people should have every facility for reaching the chief shrine of the country situated there. but the hand of the cocomes was heavy upon the other maya states which were tributary to them. as in the yucatan of to-day, where the wretched henequen-picker leads the life of a veritable slave, a crushing system of helotage obtained. the cocomes made heavy demands upon the tutul xius, who in their turn sweated the hapless folk under their sway past the bounds of human endurance. as in all tottering civilisations, the feeling of responsibility among the upper classes became dormant, and they abandoned themselves to the pleasures of life without thought of the morrow. morality ceased to be regarded as a virtue, and rottenness was at the core of maya life. discontent quickly spread on every hand. the revolution in mayapan the sequel was, naturally, revolution. ground down by the tyranny of a dissolute oligarchy, the subject states rose in revolt. the cocomes surrounded themselves by nahua mercenaries, who succeeded in beating off the first wave of revolt, led by the king or regulus of uxmal, who was defeated, and whose people in their turn rose against him, a circumstance which ended in the abandonment of the city of uxmal. once more were the tutul xius forced to go on pilgrimage, and this time they founded the city of mani, a mere shadow of the splendour of uxmal and chichen. hunac eel if the aristocracy of the cocomes was composed of weaklings, its ruler was made of sterner stuff. hunac eel, who exercised royal sway over this people, and held in subjection the lesser principalities of yucatan, was not only a tyrant of harsh and vindictive temperament, but a statesman of judgment and experience, who courted the assistance of the neighbouring nahua, whom he employed in his campaign against the new assailant of his absolutism, the ruler of chichen-itza. mustering a mighty host of his vassals, hunac eel marched against the devoted city whose prince had dared to challenge his supremacy, and succeeded in inflicting a crushing defeat upon its inhabitants. but apparently the state was permitted to remain under the sovereignty of its native princes. the revolt, however, merely smouldered, and in the kingdom of mayapan itself, the territory of the cocomes, the fires of revolution began to blaze. this state of things continued for nearly a century. then the crash came. the enemies of the cocomes effected a junction. the people of chichen-itza joined hands with the tutul xius, who had sought refuge in the central highlands of yucatan and those city-states which clustered around the mother-city of mayapan. a fierce concerted attack was made, beneath which the power of the cocomes crumpled up completely. not one stone was left standing upon another by the exasperated allies, who thus avenged the helotage of nearly years. to this event the date is assigned, but, like most dates in maya history, considerable uncertainty must be attached to it. the last of the cocomes only a remnant of the cocomes survived. they had been absent in nahua territory, attempting to raise fresh troops for the defence of mayapan. these the victors spared, and they finally settled in zotuta, in the centre of yucatan, a region of almost impenetrable forest. it would not appear that the city of chichen-itza, the prince of which was ever the head and front of the rebellion against the cocomes, profited in any way from the fall of the suzerain power. on the contrary, tradition has it that the town was abandoned by its inhabitants, and left to crumble into the ruinous state in which the spaniards found it on their entrance into the country. the probability is that its people quitted it because of the repeated attacks made upon it by the cocomes, who saw in it the chief obstacle to their universal sway; and this is supported by tradition, which tells that a prince of chichen-itza, worn out with conflict and internecine strife, left it to seek the cradle of the maya race in the land of the setting sun. indeed, it is further stated that this prince founded the city of peten-itza, on the lake of peten, in guatemala. the maya peoples of guatemala when the maya peoples of guatemala, the kiches and the kakchiquels, first made their way into that territory, they probably found there a race of maya origin of a type more advanced and possessed of more ancient traditions than themselves. by their connection with this folk they greatly benefited in the direction of artistic achievement as well as in the industrial arts. concerning these people we have a large body of tradition in the popol vuh, a native chronicle, the contents of which will be fully dealt with in the chapter relating to the maya myths and legendary matter. we cannot deal with it as a veritable historical document, but there is little doubt that a basis of fact exists behind the tradition it contains. the difference between the language of these people and that of their brethren in yucatan was, as has been said, one of dialect only, and a like slight distinction is found in their mythology, caused, doubtless, by the incidence of local conditions, and resulting in part from the difference between a level and comparatively waterless land and one of a semi-mountainous character covered with thick forests. we shall note further differences when we come to examine the art and architecture of the maya race, and to compare those of its two most distinctive branches. the maya tulan it was to the city of tulan, probably in tabasco, that the maya of guatemala referred as being the starting-point of all their migrations. we must not confound this place with the tollan of the mexican traditions. it is possible that the name may in both cases be derived from a root meaning a place from which a tribe set forth, a starting-place, but geographical connection there is none. from here nima-kiche, the great kiche, started on his migration to the mountains, accompanied by his three brothers. tulan, says the popol vuh, had been a place of misfortune to man, for he had suffered much from cold and hunger, and, as at the building of babel, his speech was so confounded that the first four kiches and their wives were unable to comprehend one another. of course this is a native myth created to account for the difference in dialect between the various branches of the maya folk, and can scarcely have any foundation in fact, as the change in dialect would be a very gradual process. the brothers, we are told, divided the land so that one received the districts of mames and pocomams, another verapaz, and the third chiapas, while nima-kiche obtained the country of the kiches, kakchiquels, and tzutuhils. it would be extremely difficult to say whether or not this tradition rests on any veritable historical basis. if so, it refers to a period anterior to the nahua irruption, for the districts alluded to as occupied by these tribes were not so divided among them at the coming of the spaniards. doubtful dynasties as with the earlier dynasties of egypt, considerable doubt surrounds the history of the early kiche monarchs. indeed, a period of such uncertainty occurs that even the number of kings who reigned is lost in the hopeless confusion of varying estimates. from this chaos emerge the facts that the kiche monarchs held the supreme power among the peoples of guatemala, that they were the contemporaries of the rulers of mexico city, and that they were often elected from among the princes of the subject states. acxopil, the successor of nima-kiche, invested his second son with the government of the kakchiquels, and placed his youngest son over the tzutuhils, whilst to his eldest son he left the throne of the kiches. icutemal, his eldest son, on succeeding his father, gifted the kingdom of kakchiquel to his eldest son, displacing his own brother and thus mortally affronting him. the struggle which ensued lasted for generations, embittered the relations between these two branches of the maya in guatemala, and undermined their joint strength. nahua mercenaries were employed in the struggle on both sides, and these introduced many of the uglinesses of nahua life into maya existence. the coming of the spaniards this condition of things lasted up to the time of the coming of the spaniards. the kakchiquels dated the commencement of a new chronology from the episode of the defeat of cay hun-apu by them in . they may have saved themselves the trouble; for the time was at hand when the calendars of their race were to be closed, and its records written in another script by another people. one by one, and chiefly by reason of their insane policy of allying themselves with the invader against their own kin, the old kingdoms of guatemala fell as spoil to the daring conquistadores, and their people passed beneath the yoke of spain--bondsmen who were to beget countless generations of slaves. the riddle of ancient maya writing what may possibly be the most valuable sources of maya history are, alas! sealed to us at present. we allude to the native maya manuscripts and inscriptions, the writing of which cannot be deciphered by present-day scholars. some of the old spanish friars who lived in the times which directly succeeded the settlement of the country by the white man were able to read and even to write this script, but unfortunately they regarded it either as an invention of the father of evil or, as it was a native system, as a thing of no value. in a few generations all knowledge of how to decipher it was totally lost, and it remains to the modern world almost as a sealed book, although science has lavished all its wonderful machinery of logic and deduction upon it, and men of unquestioned ability have dedicated their lives to the problem of unravelling what must be regarded as one of the greatest and most mysterious riddles of which mankind ever attempted the solution. the romance of the discovery of the key to the egyptian hieroglyphic system of writing is well known. for centuries the symbols displayed upon the temples and monuments of the nile country were so many meaningless pictures and signs to the learned folk of europe, until the discovery of the rosetta stone a hundred years ago made their elucidation possible. this stone bore the same inscription in greek, demotic, and hieroglyphics, and so the discovery of the "alphabet" of the hidden script became a comparatively easy task. but central america has no rosetta stone, nor is it possible that such an aid to research can ever be found. indeed, such "keys" as have been discovered or brought forward by scientists have proved for the most part unavailing. the maya manuscripts the principal maya manuscripts which have escaped the ravages of time are the codices in the libraries of dresden, paris, and madrid. these are known as the codex perezianus, preserved in the bibliothèque nationale at paris, the dresden codex, long regarded as an aztec manuscript, and the troano codex, so called from one of its owners, señor tro y ortolano, found at madrid in . these manuscripts deal principally with maya mythology, but as they cannot be deciphered with any degree of accuracy they do not greatly assist our knowledge of the subject. the system of the writing the "tablet of the cross" gives a good idea of the general appearance of the writing system of the ancient peoples of central america. the style varies somewhat in most of the manuscripts and inscriptions, but it is generally admitted that all of the systems employed sprang originally from one common source. the square figures which appear as a tangle of faces and objects are said to be "calculiform," or pebble-shaped, a not inappropriate description, and it is known from ancient spanish manuscripts that they were read from top to bottom, and two columns at a time. the maya tongue, like all native american languages, was one which, in order to express an idea, gathered a whole phrase into a single word, and it has been thought that the several symbols or parts in each square or sketch go to make up such a compound expression. the first key (so called) to the hieroglyphs of central america was that of bishop landa, who about attempted to set down the maya alphabet from native sources. he was highly unpopular with the natives, whose literary treasures he had almost completely destroyed, and who in revenge deliberately misled him as to the true significance of the various symbols. the first real step toward reading the maya writing was made in by léon de rosny, a french student of american antiquities, who succeeded in interpreting the signs which denote the four cardinal points. as has been the case in so many discoveries of importance, the significance of these signs was simultaneously discovered by professor cyrus thomas in america. in two of these four signs was found the symbol which meant "sun," almost, as de rosny acknowledged, as a matter of course. however, the maya word for "sun" (kin) also denotes "day," and it was later proved that this sign was also used with the latter meaning. the discovery of the sign stimulated further research to a great degree, and from the material now at their disposal drs. förstemann and schellhas of berlin were successful in discovering the sign for the moon and that for the maya month of twenty days. clever elucidations in dr. seler discovered the sign for night (akbal), and in förstemann unriddled the symbols for "beginning" and "end." these are two heads, the first of which has the sign akbal, just mentioned, for an eye. now akbal means, as well as "night," "the beginning of the month," and below the face which contains it can be seen footsteps, or spots which resemble their outline, signifying a forward movement. the sign in the second head means "seventh," which in maya also signifies "the end." from the frequent contrast of these terms there can be little doubt that their meaning is as stated. "union" is denoted by the sting of a rattlesnake, the coils of that reptile signifying to the maya the idea of tying together. in contrast to this sign is the figure next to it, which represents a knife, and means "division" or "cutting." an important "letter" is the hand, which often occurs in both manuscripts and inscriptions. it is drawn sometimes in the act of grasping, with the thumb bent forward, and sometimes as pointing in a certain direction. the first seems to denote a tying together or joining, like the rattlesnake symbol, and the second förstemann believes to represent a lapse of time. that it may represent futurity occurs as a more likely conjecture to the present writer. the figure denoting the spring equinox was traced because of its obvious representation of a cloud from which three streams of water are falling upon the earth. the square at the top represents heaven. the obsidian knife underneath denotes a division or period of time cut off, as it were, from other periods of the year. that the sign means "spring" is verified by its position among the other signs of the seasons. the sign for "week" was discovered by reason of its almost constant accompaniment of the sign for the number thirteen, the number of days in the maya sacred week. the symbol of the bird's feather indicates the plural, and when affixed to certain signs signifies that the object indicated is multiplied. a bird's feather, when one thinks of it, is one of the most fitting symbols provided by nature to designate the plural, if the number of shoots on both sides of the stem are taken as meaning "many" or "two." water is depicted by the figure of a serpent, which reptile typifies the undulating nature of the element. the sign entitled "the sacrificial victim" is of deep human interest. the first portion of the symbol is the death-bird, and the second shows a crouching and beaten captive, ready to be immolated to one of the terrible maya deities whose sanguinary religion demanded human sacrifice. the drawing which means "the day of the new year," in the month ceh, was unriddled by the following means: the sign in the upper left-hand corner denotes the word "sun" or "day," that in the upper right-hand corner is the sign for "year." in the lower right-hand corner is the sign for "division," and in the lower left-hand the sign for the maya month ceh, already known from the native calendars. from its accompaniment of a figure known to be a deity of the four cardinal points, whence all american tribes believed the wind to come, the symbol entitled "wind" has been determined. methods of study the method employed by those engaged in the elucidation of these hieroglyphs is typical of modern science. the various signs and symbols are literally "worn out" by a process of indefatigable examination. for hours the student sits staring at a symbol, drinking in every detail, however infinitesimal, until the drawing and all its parts are wholly and separately photographed upon the tablets of his memory. he then compares the several portions of the symbol with similar portions in other signs the value of which is known. from these he may obtain a clue to the meaning of the whole. thus proceeding from the known to the unknown, he advances logically toward a complete elucidation of all the hieroglyphs depicted in the various manuscripts and inscriptions. the method by which dr. seler discovered the hieroglyphs or symbols relating to the various gods of the maya was both simple and ingenious. he says: "the way in which this was accomplished is strikingly simple. it amounts essentially to that which in ordinary life we call 'memory of persons,' and follows almost naturally from a careful study of the manuscripts. for, by frequently looking tentatively at the representations, one learns by degrees to recognise promptly similar and familiar figures of gods by the characteristic impression they make as a whole or by certain details, and the same is true of the accompanying hieroglyphs." the maya numeral system if bishop landa was badly hoaxed regarding the alphabet of the maya, he was successful in discovering and handing down their numeral system, which was on a very much higher basis than that of many civilised peoples, being, for example, more practical and more fully evolved than that of ancient rome. this system employed four signs altogether, the point for unity, a horizontal stroke for the number , and two signs for and . yet from these simple elements the maya produced a method of computation which is perhaps as ingenious as anything which has ever been accomplished in the history of mathematics. in the maya arithmetical system, as in ours, it is the position of the sign that gives it its value. the figures were placed in a vertical line, and one of them was employed as a decimal multiplier. the lowest figure of the column had the arithmetical value which it represented. the figures which appeared in the second, fourth, and each following place had twenty times the value of the preceding figures, while figures in the third place had eighteen times the value of those in the second place. this system admits of computation up to millions, and is one of the surest signs of maya culture. much controversy has raged round the exact nature of the maya hieroglyphs. were they understood by the indians themselves as representing ideas or merely pictures, or did they convey a given sound to the reader, as does our alphabet? to some extent controversy upon the point is futile, as those of the spanish clergy who were able to learn the writing from the native maya have confirmed its phonetic character, so that in reality each symbol must have conveyed a sound or sounds to the reader, not merely an idea or a picture. recent research has amply proved this, so that the full elucidation of the long and painful puzzle on which so much learning and patience have been lavished may perhaps be at hand. mythology of the maya the maya pantheon, although it bears a strong resemblance to that of the nahua, differs from it in so many respects that it is easy to observe that at one period it must have been absolutely free from all nahua influence. we may, then, provisionally accept the theory that at some relatively distant period the mythologies of the nahua and maya were influenced from one common centre, if they were not originally identical, but that later the inclusion in the cognate but divided systems of local deities and the superimposition of the deities and rites of immigrant peoples had caused such differentiation as to render somewhat vague the original likeness between them. in the mexican mythology we have as a key-note the custom of human sacrifice. it has often been stated as exhibiting the superior status in civilisation of the maya that their religion was free from the revolting practices which characterised the nahua faith. this, however, is totally erroneous. although the maya were not nearly so prone to the practice of human sacrifice as were the nahua, they frequently engaged in it, and the pictures which have been drawn of their bloodless offerings must not lead us to believe that they never indulged in this rite. it is known, for example, that they sacrificed maidens to the water-god at the period of the spring florescence, by casting them into a deep pool, where they were drowned. quetzalcoatl among the maya one of the most obvious of the mythological relationships between the maya and nahua is exhibited in the maya cult of the god quetzalcoatl. it seems to have been a general belief in mexico that quetzalcoatl was a god foreign to the soil; or at least relatively aboriginal to his rival tezcatlipoca, if not to the nahua themselves. it is amusing to see it stated by authorities of the highest standing that his worship was free from bloodshed. but it does not appear whether the sanguinary rites connected with the name of quetzalcoatl in mexico were undertaken by his priests of their own accord or at the instigation and pressure of the pontiff of huitzilopochtli, under whose jurisdiction they were. the designation by which quetzalcoatl was known to the maya was kukulcan, which signifies "feathered serpent," and is exactly translated by his mexican name. in guatemala he was called gucumatz, which word is also identical in kiche with his other native appellations. but the kukulcan of the maya appears to be dissimilar from quetzalcoatl in several of his attributes. the difference in climate would probably account for most of these. in mexico quetzalcoatl, as we have seen, was not only the man of the sun, but the original wind-god of the country. the kukulcan of the maya has more the attributes of a thunder-god. in the tropical climate of yucatan and guatemala the sun at midday appears to draw the clouds around it in serpentine shapes. from these emanate thunder and lightning and the fertilising rain, so that kukulcan would appear to have appealed to the maya more as a god of the sky who wielded the thunderbolts than a god of the atmosphere proper like quetzalcoatl, though several of the stelæ in yucatan represent kukulcan as he is portrayed in mexico, with wind issuing from his mouth. an alphabet of gods the principal sources of our knowledge of the maya deities are the dresden, madrid, and paris codices alluded to previously, all of which contain many pictorial representations of the various members of the maya pantheon. of the very names of some of these gods we are so ignorant, and so difficult is the process of affixing to them the traditional names which are left to us as those of the maya gods, that dr. paul schellhas, a german student of maya antiquities, has proposed that the figures of deities appearing in the maya codices or manuscripts should be provisionally indicated by the letters of the alphabet. the figures of gods which thus occur are fifteen in number, and therefore take the letters of the alphabet from a to p, the letter j being omitted. difficulties of comparison unluckily the accounts of spanish authors concerning maya mythology do not agree with the representations of the gods delineated in the codices. that the three codices have a mythology in common is certain. again, great difficulty is found in comparing the deities of the codices with those represented by the carved and stucco bas-reliefs of the maya region. it will thus be seen that very considerable difficulties beset the student in this mythological sphere. so few data have yet been collected regarding the maya mythology that to dogmatise upon any subject connected with it would indeed be rash. but much has been accomplished in the past few decades, and evidence is slowly but surely accumulating from which sound conclusions can be drawn. the conflict between light and darkness we witness in the maya mythology a dualism almost as complete as that of ancient persia--the conflict between light and darkness. opposing each other we behold on the one hand the deities of the sun, the gods of warmth and light, of civilisation and the joy of life, and on the other the deities of darksome death, of night, gloom, and fear. from these primal conceptions of light and darkness all the mythologic forms of the maya are evolved. when we catch the first recorded glimpses of maya belief we recognise that at the period when it came under the purview of europeans the gods of darkness were in the ascendant and a deep pessimism had spread over maya thought and theology. its joyful side was subordinated to the worship of gloomy beings, the deities of death and hell, and if the cult of light was attended with such touching fidelity it was because the benign agencies who were worshipped in connection with it had promised not to desert mankind altogether, but to return at some future indefinite period and resume their sway of radiance and peace. the calendar like that of the nahua, the maya mythology was based almost entirely upon the calendar, which in its astronomic significance and duration was identical with that of the mexicans. the ritual year of twenty "weeks" of thirteen days each was divided into four quarters, each of these being under the auspices of a different quarter of the heavens. each "week" was under the supervision of a particular deity, as will be seen when we come to deal separately with the various gods. traditional knowledge of the gods the heavenly bodies had important representation in the maya pantheon. in yucatan the sun-god was known as kinich-ahau (lord of the face of the sun). he was identified with the fire-bird, or arara, and was thus called kinich-kakmo (fire-bird; lit. sun-bird). he was also the presiding genius of the north. itzamna, one of the most important of the maya deities, was a moon-god, the father of gods and men. in him was typified the decay and recurrence of life in nature. his name was derived from the words he was supposed to have given to men regarding himself: "itz en caan, itz en muyal" ("i am the dew of the heaven, i am the dew of the clouds"). he was tutelar deity of the west. chac, the rain-god, is the possessor of an elongated nose, not unlike the proboscis of a tapir, which of course is the spout whence comes the rain which he blows over the earth. he is one of the best represented gods on both manuscripts and monuments, and presides over the east. the black god ekchuah was the god of merchants and cacao-planters. he is represented in the manuscripts several times. ix ch'el was the goddess of medicine, and ix chebel yax was identified by the priest hernandez with the virgin mary. there were also several deities, or rather genii, called bacabs, who were the upholders of the heavens in the four quarters of the sky. the names of these were kan, muluc, ix, and cauac, representing the east, north, west, and south. their symbolic colours were yellow, white, black, and red respectively. they corresponded in some degree to the four variants of the mexican rain-god tlaloc, for many of the american races believed that rain, the fertiliser of the soil, emanated from the four points of the compass. we shall find still other deities when we come to discuss the popol vuh, the saga-book of the kiche, but it is difficult to say how far these were connected with the deities of the maya of yucatan, concerning whom we have little traditional knowledge, and it is better to deal with them separately, pointing out resemblances where these appear to exist. maya polytheism on the whole the maya do not seem to have been burdened with an extensive pantheon, as were the nahua, and their polytheism appears to have been of a limited character. although they possessed a number of divinities, these were in a great measure only different forms of one and the same divine power--probably localised forms of it. the various maya tribes worshipped similar gods under different names. they recognised divine unity in the god hunabku, who was invisible and supreme, but he does not bulk largely in their mythology, any more than does the universal all-father in other early faiths. the sun is the great deity in maya religion, and the myths which tell of the origin of the maya people are purely solar. as the sun comes from the east, so the hero-gods who bring with them culture and enlightenment have an oriental origin. as votan, as kabil, the "red hand" who initiates the people into the arts of writing and architecture, these gods are civilising men of the sun as surely as is quetzalcoatl. the bat-god a sinister figure, the prince of the maya legions of darkness, is the bat-god, zotzilaha chimalman, who dwelt in the "house of bats," a gruesome cavern on the way to the abodes of darkness and death. he is undoubtedly a relic of cave-worship pure and simple. "the maya," says an old chronicler, "have an immoderate fear of death, and they seem to have given it a figure peculiarly repulsive." we shall find this deity alluded to in the popol vuh, under the name camazotz, in close proximity to the lords of death and hell, attempting to bar the journey of the hero-gods across these dreary realms. he is frequently met with on the copan reliefs, and a maya clan, the ah-zotzils, were called by his name. they were of kakchiquel origin, and he was probably their totem. modern research we must now turn to the question of what modern research has done to elucidate the character of the various maya deities. we have already seen that they have been provisionally named by the letters of the alphabet until such proof is forthcoming as will identify them with the traditional gods of the maya, and we will now briefly examine what is known concerning them under their temporary designations. god a in the dresden and other codices god a is represented as a figure with exposed vertebræ and skull-like countenance, with the marks of corruption on his body, and displaying every sign of mortality. on his head he wears a snail-symbol, the aztec sign of birth, perhaps to typify the connection between birth and death. he also wears a pair of cross-bones. the hieroglyph which accompanies his figure represents a corpse's head with closed eyes, a skull, and a sacrificial knife. his symbol is that for the calendar day cimi, which means death. he presides over the west, the home of the dead, the region toward which they invariably depart with the setting sun. that he is a death-god there can be no doubt, but of his name we are ignorant. he is probably identical with the aztec god of death and hell, mictlan, and is perhaps one of those lords of death and hell who invite the heroes to the celebrated game of ball in the kiche popol vuh, and hold them prisoners in their gloomy realm. god b is the deity who appears most frequently in the manuscripts. he has a long, truncated nose, like that of a tapir, and we find in him every sign of a god of the elements. he walks the waters, wields fiery torches, and seats himself on the cruciform tree of the four winds which appears so frequently in american myth. he is evidently a culture-god or hero, as he is seen planting maize, carrying tools, and going on a journey, a fact which establishes his solar connection. he is, in fact, kukulcan or quetzalcoatl, and on examining him we feel that at least there can be no doubt concerning his identity. concerning god c matter is lacking, but he is evidently a god of the pole-star, as in one of the codices he is surrounded by planetary signs and wears a nimbus of rays. god d is almost certainly a moon-god. he is represented as an aged man, with sunken cheeks and wrinkled forehead on which hangs the sign for night. his hieroglyph is surrounded by dots, to represent a starry sky, and is followed by the number , to show the duration of the moon. like most moon deities he is connected with birth, for occasionally he wears the snail, symbol of parturition, on his head. it is probable that he is itzamna, one of the greatest of maya gods, who was regarded as the universal life-giver, and was probably of very ancient origin. the maize-god god e is another deity whom we have no difficulty in identifying. he wears the leafed ear of maize as his head-dress. in fact, his head has been evolved out of the conventional drawings of the ear of maize, so we may say at once without any difficulty that he is a maize-god pure and simple, and a parallel with the aztec maize-god centeotl. brinton calls this god ghanan, and schellhas thinks he may be identical with a deity yum kaax, whose name means "lord of the harvest fields." a close resemblance can be noticed between gods f and a, and it is thought that the latter resembles the aztec xipe, the god of human sacrifice. he is adorned with the same black lines running over the face and body, typifying gaping death-wounds. the sun-god in g we may be sure that we have found a sun-god par excellence. his hieroglyph is the sun-sign, kin. but we must be careful not to confound him with deities like quetzalcoatl or kukulcan. he is, like the mexican totec, the sun itself, and not the man of the sun, the civilising agent, who leaves his bright abode to dwell with man and introduce him to the arts of cultured existence. he is the luminary himself, whose only acceptable food is human blood, and who must be fed full with this terrible fare or perish, dragging the world of men with him into a fathomless abyss of gloom. we need not be surprised, therefore, to see god g occasionally wearing the symbols of death. god h would seem to have some relationship to the serpent, but what it may be is obscure, and no certain identification can be made. i is a water-goddess, an old woman with wrinkled brown body and claw-like feet, wearing on her head a grisly snake twisted into a knot, to typify the serpent-like nature of water. she holds in her hands an earthenware pot from which water flows. we cannot say that she resembles the mexican water-goddess, chalchihuitlicue, wife of tlaloc, who was in most respects a deity of a beneficent character. i seems a personification of water in its more dreadful aspect of floods and water-spouts, as it must inevitably have appeared to the people of the more torrid regions of central america, and that she was regarded as an agent of death is shown from her occasionally wearing the cross-bones of the death-god. "the god with the ornamented nose" god k is scientifically known as "the god with the ornamented nose," and is probably closely related to god b. concerning him no two authorities are at one, some regarding him as a storm-god, whose proboscis, like that of kukulcan, is intended to represent the blast of the tempest. but we observe certain stellar signs in connection with k which would go to prove that he is, indeed, one of the quetzalcoatl group. his features are constantly to be met with on the gateways and corners of the ruined shrines of central america, and have led many "antiquarians" to believe in the existence of an elephant-headed god, whereas his trunk-like snout is merely a funnel through which he emitted the gales over which he had dominion, as a careful study of the pinturas shows, the wind being depicted issuing from the snout in question. at the same time, the snout may have been modelled on that of the tapir. "if the rain-god chac is distinguished in the maya manuscript by a peculiarly long nose curving over the mouth, and if in the other forms of the rain-god, to which, as it seems, the name of balon zacab belongs, the nose widens out and sends out shoots, i believe that the tapir which was employed identically with chac, the maya rain-god, furnished the model," says dr. seler. is k, then, the same as chac? chac bears every sign of affinity with the mexican rain-god tlaloc, whose face was evolved from the coils of two snakes, and also some resemblance to the snouted features of b and k. but, again, the mexican pictures of quetzalcoatl are not at all like those of tlaloc, so that there can be no affinity between tlaloc and k. therefore if the mexican tlaloc and the maya chac be identical, and tlaloc differs from quetzalcoatl, who in turn is identical with b and k, it is clear that chac has nothing to do with k. the old black god god l dr. schellhas has designated "the old black god," from the circumstance that he is depicted as an old man with sunken face and toothless gums, the upper, or sometimes the lower, part of his features being covered with black paint. he is represented in the dresden ms. only. professor cyrus thomas, of new york, thinks that he is the god ekchuah, who is traditionally described as black, but schellhas fits this designation to god m. the more probable theory is that of förstemann, who sees in l the god votan, who is identical with the aztec earth-god, tepeyollotl. both deities have similar face markings, and their dark hue is perhaps symbolical of the subterranean places where they were supposed to dwell. the travellers' god god m is a veritable black god, with reddish lips. on his head he bears a roped package resembling the loads carried by the maya porter class, and he is found in violent opposition with f, the enemy of all who wander into the unknown wastes. a god of this description has been handed down by tradition under the name of ekchuah, and his blackness is probably symbolical of the black or deeply bronzed skin of the porter class among the natives of central america, who are constantly exposed to the sun. he would appear to be a parallel to the aztec yacatecutli, god of travelling merchants or chapmen. the god of unlucky days god n is identified by schellhas with the demon uayayab, who presided over the five unlucky days which it will be recollected came at the end of the mexican and maya year. he was known to the maya as "he by whom the year is poisoned." after modelling his image in clay they carried it out of their villages, so that his baneful influence might not dwell therein. goddess o is represented as an old woman engaged in the avocation of spinning, and is probably a goddess of the domestic virtues, the tutelar of married females. the frog-god god p is shown with the body and fins of a frog on a blue background, evidently intended to represent water. like all other frog-gods he is, of course, a deity of water, probably in its agricultural significance. we find him sowing seed and making furrows, and when we remember the important part played by frog deities in the agriculture of anahuac we should have no difficulty in classing him with these. seler asserts his identity with kukulcan, but no reason except the circumstance of his being a rain-god can be advanced to establish the identity. he wears the year-sign on his head, probably with a seasonal reference. maya architecture it was in the wonderful architectural system which it developed without outside aid that the maya people most individually expressed itself. as has been said, those buildings which still remain, and which have excited the admiration of generations of archæologists, are principally confined to examples of ecclesiastical and governmental architecture, the dwellings of the common people consisting merely of the flimsiest of wattle-and-daub structures, which would fall to pieces shortly after they were abandoned. buried in dense forests or mouldering on the sun-exposed plains of yucatan, honduras, and guatemala, the cities which boasted these edifices are for the most part situated away from modern trade routes, and are not a little difficult to come at. it is in yucatan, the old home of the cocomes and tutul xius, that the most perfect specimens of maya architecture are to be found, especially as regards its later development, and here, too, it may be witnessed in its decadent phase. methods of building the maya buildings were almost always erected upon a mound or ku, either natural or artificial, generally the latter. in this we discover affinities with the mexican teocalli type. often these kus stood alone, without any superincumbent building save a small altar to prove their relation to the temple type of anahuac. the typical maya temple was built on a series of earth terraces arranged in exact parallel order, the buildings themselves forming the sides of a square. the mounds are generally concealed by plaster or faced with stone, the variety employed being usually a hard sandstone, of which the maya had a good supply in the quarries of chiapas and honduras. moderate in weight, the difficulty of transport was easily overcome, whilst large blocks could be readily quarried. it will thus be seen that the maya had no substantial difficulties to surmount in connection with building the large edifices and temples they raised, except, perhaps, the lack of metal tools to shape and carve and quarry the stone which they used. and although they exhibit considerable ingenuity in such architectural methods as they employed, they were still surprisingly ignorant of some of the first essentials and principles of the art. no knowledge of the arch for example, they were totally ignorant of the principles upon which the arch is constructed. this difficulty they overcame by making each course of masonry overhang the one beneath it, after the method employed by a boy with a box of bricks, who finds that he can only make "doorways" by this means, or by the simple expedient--also employed by the maya--of placing a slab horizontally upon two upright pillars. in consequence it will readily be seen that the superimposition of a second story upon such an insecure foundation was scarcely to be thought of, and that such support for the roof as towered above the doorway would necessarily require to be of the most substantial description. indeed, this portion of the building often appears to be more than half the size of the rest of the edifice. this space gave the maya builders a splendid chance for mural decoration, and it must be said they readily seized it and made the most of it, ornamental façades being perhaps the most typical features in the relics of maya architecture. pyramidal structures but the maya possessed another type of building which permitted of their raising more than one story. this was the pyramidal type, of which many examples remain. the first story was built in the usual manner, and the second was raised by increasing the height of the mound at the back of the building until it was upon a level with the roof--another device well known to the boy with the box of bricks. in the centre of the space thus made another story could be erected, which was entered by a staircase outside the building. hampered by their inability to build to any appreciable height, the maya architects made up for the deficiency by constructing edifices of considerable length and breadth, the squat appearance of which is counterbalanced by the beautiful mural decoration of the sides and façade. definiteness of design he would be a merely superficial observer who would form the conclusion that these specimens of an architecture spontaneously evolved were put together without survey, design, or previous calculation. that as much thought entered into their construction as is lavished upon his work by a modern architect is proved by the manner in which the carved stones fit into one another. it would be absurd to suppose that these tremendous façades bristling with scores of intricate designs could have been first placed in position and subsequently laden with the bas-reliefs they exhibit. it is plain that they were previously worked apart and separately from one entire design. thus we see that the highest capabilities of the architect were essential in a measure to the erection of these imposing structures. architectural districts although the mason-craft of the maya peoples was essentially similar in all the regions populated by its various tribes and offshoots, there existed in the several localities occupied by them certain differences in construction and ornamentation which would almost justify us in dividing them into separate architectural spheres. in chiapas, for example, we find the bas-relief predominant, whether in stone or stucco. in honduras we find a stiffness of design which implies an older type of architecture, along with caryatides and memorial pillars of human shape. in guatemala, again, we find traces of the employment of wood. as the civilisation of the maya cannot be well comprehended without some knowledge of their architecture, and as that art was unquestionably their national forte and the thing which most sharply distinguished them from the semi-savage peoples that surrounded them, it will be well to consider it for a space as regards its better-known individual examples. fascination of the subject he would indeed be dull of imagination and of spirit who could enter into the consideration of such a subject as this without experiencing some thrill from the mystery which surrounds it. although familiarised with the study of the maya antiquities by reason of many years of close acquaintance with it, the author cannot approach the theme without a feeling of the most intense awe. we are considering the memorials of a race isolated for countless thousands of years from the rest of humanity--a race which by itself evolved a civilisation in every respect capable of comparison with those of ancient egypt or assyria. in these impenetrable forests and sun-baked plains mighty works were raised which tell of a culture of a lofty type. we are aware that the people who reared them entered into religious and perhaps philosophical considerations their interpretations of which place them upon a level with the most enlightened races of antiquity; but we have only stepped upon the margin of maya history. what dread secrets, what scenes of orgic splendour have those carven walls witnessed? what solemn priestly conclave, what magnificence of rite, what marvels of initiation, have these forest temples known? these things we shall never learn. they are hidden from us in a gloom as palpable as that of the tree-encircled depths in which we find these shattered works of a once powerful hierarchy. mysterious palenque one of the most famous of these ancient centres of priestly domination is palenque, situated in the modern state of chiapas. this city was first brought into notice by don josé calderon in , when he discovered no less than eighteen palaces, twenty great buildings, and a hundred and sixty houses, which proves that in his day the primeval forest had not made such inroads upon the remaining buildings as it has during the past few generations. there is good evidence besides this that palenque was standing at the time of cortés' conquest of yucatan. and here it will be well at once to dispel any conception the reader may have formed concerning the vast antiquity of these cities and the structures they contain. the very oldest of them cannot be of a date anterior to the thirteenth century, and few americanists of repute would admit such an antiquity for them. there may be remains of a fragmentary nature here and there in central america which are relatively more ancient. but no temple or edifice which remains standing can claim a greater antiquity. palenque is built in the form of an amphitheatre, and nestles on the lowest slopes of the cordilleras. standing on the central pyramid, the eye is met by a ring of ruined palaces and temples raised upon artificial terraces. of these the principal and most imposing is the palace, a pile reared upon a single platform, forming an irregular quadrilateral, with a double gallery on the east, north, and west sides, surrounding an inner structure with a similar gallery and two courtyards. it is evident that there was little system or plan observed in the construction of this edifice, an unusual circumstance in maya architecture. the dwelling apartments were situated on the southern side of the structure, and here there is absolute confusion, for buildings of all sorts and sizes jostle each other, and are reared on different levels. our interest is perhaps at first excited by three subterraneous apartments down a flight of gloomy steps. here are to be found three great stone tables, the edges of which are fretted with sculptured symbols. that these were altars admits of little doubt, although some visitors have not hesitated to call them dining-tables! these constitute only one of the many puzzles in this building of feet frontage, with a depth of feet, which at the same time is only about feet high! on the north side of the palace pyramid the façade of the palace has crumbled into complete ruin, but some evidences of an entrance are still noticeable. there were probably fourteen doorways in all in the frontage, with a width of about feet each, the piers of which were covered with figures in bas-relief. the inside of the galleries is also covered at intervals with similar designs, or medallions, many of which are probably representations of priests or priestesses who once dwelt within the classic shades and practised strange rites in the worship of gods long since forgotten. one of these is of a woman with delicate features and high-bred countenance, and the frame or rim surrounding it is decorated in a manner recalling the louis xv style. the east gallery is feet long, the north feet, and the west feet, so that, as remarked above, a lack of symmetry is apparent. the great court is reached by a mayan arch which leads on to a staircase, on each side of which grotesque human figures of the maya type are sculptured. whom they are intended to portray or what rite they are engaged in it would indeed be difficult to say. that they are priests may be hazarded, for they appear to be dressed in the ecclesiastical maxtli (girdle), and one seems to be decorated with the beads seen in the pictures of the death-god. moreover, they are mitred. the courtyard is exceedingly irregular in shape. to the south side is a small building which has assisted our knowledge of maya mural decoration; especially valuable is the handsome frieze with which it is adorned, on which we observe the rather familiar feathered serpent (kukulcan or quetzalcoatl). everywhere we notice the flat maya head--a racial type, perhaps brought about by deformation of the cranium in youth. one of the most important parts of the palace from an architectural point of view is the east front of the inner wing, which is perhaps the best preserved, and exhibits the most luxurious ornamentation. two roofed galleries supported by six pillars covered with bas-reliefs are reached by a staircase on which hieroglyphic signs still remain. the reliefs in cement are still faintly to be discerned on the pillars, and must have been of great beauty. they represent mythological characters in various attitudes. above, seven enormous heads frown on the explorer in grim menace. the effect of the entire façade is rich in the extreme, even in ruin, and from it we can obtain a faint idea of the splendours of this wonderful civilisation. an architectural curiosity one of the few towers to be seen among the ruins of maya architecture stands at palenque. it is square in shape and three stories in height, with sloping roof, and is not unlike the belfry of some little english village church. the building we have been describing, although traditionally known as a "palace," was undoubtedly a great monastery or ecclesiastical habitation. indeed, the entire city of palenque was solely a priestly centre, a place of pilgrimage. the bas-reliefs with their representations of priests and acolytes prove this, as does the absence of warlike or monarchical subjects. the temple of inscriptions the temple of inscriptions, perched on an eminence some feet high, is the largest edifice in palenque. it has a façade feet long by feet deep, composed of a great gallery which runs along the entire front of the fane. the building has been named from the inscriptions with which certain flagstones in the central apartment are covered. three other temples occupy a piece of rising ground close by. these are the temple of the sun, closely akin in type to many japanese temple buildings; the temple of the cross, in which a wonderful altar-piece was discovered; and the temple of the cross no. ii. in the temple of the cross the inscribed altar gave its name to the building. in the central slab is a cross of the american pattern, its roots springing from the hideous head of the goddess chicomecohuatl, the earth-mother, or her maya equivalent. its branches stretch to where on the right and left stand two figures, evidently those of a priest and acolyte, performing some mysterious rite. on the apex of the tree is placed the sacred turkey, or "emerald fowl," to which offerings of maize paste are made. the whole is surrounded by inscriptions. (see illustration facing p. .) aké and itzamal thirty miles east of merida lies aké, the colossal and primeval ruins of which speak of early maya occupation. here are pyramids, tennis-courts, and gigantic pillars which once supported immense galleries, all in a state of advanced ruin. chief among these is the great pyramid and gallery, a mighty staircase rising toward lofty pillars, and somewhat reminiscent of stonehenge. for what purpose it was constructed is quite unknown. the house of darkness one ruin, tradition calls "the house of darkness." here no light enters save that which filters in by the open doorway. the vaulted roof is lost in a lofty gloom. so truly have the huge blocks of which the building is composed been laid that not even a needle could be inserted between them. the whole is coated with a hard plaster or cement. the palace of owls the knuc (palace of owls), where a beautiful frieze of diamond-shaped stones intermingling with spheres may be observed, is noteworthy. all here is undoubtedly of the first yucatec era, the time when the maya first overran the country. at itzamal the chief object of interest is the great pyramid of kinich-kakmo (the sun's face with fiery rays), the base of which covers an area of nearly square feet. to this shrine thousands were wont to come in times of panic or famine, and from the summit, where was housed the glittering idol, the smoke of sacrifice ascended to the cloudless sky, whilst a multitude of white-robed priests and augurs chanted and prophesied. to the south of this mighty pile stand the ruins of the ppapp-hol-chac (the house of heads and lightnings), the abode of the chief priest. itzamna's fane at itzamal, too, stood one of the chief temples of the great god itzamna, the legendary founder of the maya empire. standing on a lofty pyramid, four roads radiated from it, leading to tabasco, guatemala, and chiapas; and here they brought the halt, the maimed, and the blind, aye, even the dead, for succour and resurrection, such faith had they in the mighty power of kab-ul (the miraculous hand), as they designated the deity. the fourth road ran to the sacred isle of cozumel, where first the men of spain found the maya cross, and supposed it to prove that st. thomas had discovered the american continent in early times, and had converted the natives to a christianity which had become debased. bearded gods to the west arose another pyramid, on the summit of which was built the palace of hunpictok (the commander-in-chief of eight thousand flints), in allusion, probably, to the god of lightning, hurakan, whose gigantic face, once dominating the basement wall, has now disappeared. this face possessed huge mustachios, appendages unknown to the maya race; and, indeed, we are struck with the frequency with which mexican and mayan gods and heroes are adorned with beards and other hirsute ornaments both on the monuments and in the manuscripts. was the original governing class a bearded race? it is scarcely probable. whence, then, the ever-recurring beard and moustache? these may have been developed in the priestly class by constant ceremonial shaving, which often produces a thin beard in the mongolians--as witness the modern japanese, who in imitating a custom of the west often succeed in producing quite respectable beards. a colossal head not far away is to be found a gigantic head, probably that of the god itzamna. it is feet in height, and the features were formed by first roughly tracing them in rubble, and afterwards coating the whole with plaster. the figure is surrounded by spirals, symbols of wind or speech. on the opposite side of the pyramid alluded to above is found a wonderful bas-relief representing a tiger couchant, with a human head of the maya type, probably depicting one of the early ancestors of the maya, balam-quitze (tiger with the sweet smile), of whom we read in the popol vuh. chichen-itza at chichen-itza, in yucatan, the chief wonder is the gigantic pyramid-temple known as el castillo. it is reached by a steep flight of steps, and from it the vast ruins of chichen radiate in a circular manner. to the east is the market-place, to the north a mighty temple, and a tennis-court, perhaps the best example of its kind in yucatan, whilst to the west stand the nunnery and the chichan-chob, or prison. concerning chichen-itza cogolludo tells the following story: "a king of chichen called canek fell desperately in love with a young princess, who, whether she did not return his affection or whether she was compelled to obey a parental mandate, married a more powerful yucatec cacique. the discarded lover, unable to bear his loss, and moved by love and despair, armed his dependents and suddenly fell upon his successful rival. then the gaiety of the feast was exchanged for the din of war, and amidst the confusion the chichen prince disappeared, carrying off the beautiful bride. but conscious that his power was less than his rival's, and fearing his vengeance, he fled the country with most of his vassals." it is a historical fact that the inhabitants of chichen abandoned their city, but whether for the reason given in this story or not cannot be discovered. the nunnery the nunnery at chichen is a building of great beauty of outline and decoration, the frieze above the doorway and the fretted ornamentation of the upper story exciting the admiration of most writers on the subject. here dwelt the sacred women, the chief of whom, like their male prototypes, were dedicated to kukulcan and regarded with much reverence. the base of the building is occupied by eight large figures, and over the door is the representation of a priest with a panache, whilst a row of gigantic heads crowns the north façade. here, too, are figures of the wind-god, with projecting lips, which many generations of antiquarians took for heads of elephants with waving trunks! the entire building is one of the gems of central american architecture, and delights the eye of archæologist and artist alike. in el castillo are found wonderful bas-reliefs depicting bearded men, evidently the priests of quetzalcoatl, himself bearded, and to the practised eye one of these would appear to be wearing a false hirsute appendage, as kings were wont to do in ancient egypt. were these beards artificial and symbolical? the "writing in the dark" the akab-sib (writing in the dark) is a bas-relief found on the lintel of an inner door at the extremity of the building. it represents a figure seated before a vase, with outstretched forefinger, and whence it got its traditional appellation it would be hard to say, unless the person represented is supposed to be in the act of writing. the figure is surrounded by inscriptions. at chichen were found a statue of tlaloc, the god of rain or moisture, and immense torsos representing kukulcan. there also was a terrible well into which men were cast in time of drought as a propitiation to the rain-god. kabah at kabah there is a marvellous frontage which strikingly recalls that of a north american indian totem-house in its fantastic wealth of detail. the ruins are scattered over a large area, and must all have been at one time painted in brilliant colours. here two horses' heads in stone were unearthed, showing that the natives had copied faithfully the steeds of the conquering spaniards. nothing is known of the history of kabah, but its neighbour, uxmal, fifteen miles distant, is much more famous. uxmal the imposing pile of the casa del gobernador (governor's palace, so called) at uxmal is perhaps the best known and described of all the aboriginal buildings of central america. it occupies three successive colossal terraces, and its frieze runs in a line of feet, and is divided into panels, each of which frames a gigantic head of priest or deity. the striking thing concerning this edifice is that although it has been abandoned for over three hundred years it is still almost as fresh architecturally as when it left the builder's hands. here and there a lintel has fallen, or stones have been removed in a spirit of vandalism to assist in the erection of a neighbouring hacienda, but on the whole we possess in it the most unspoiled piece of yucatec building in existence. on the side of the palace where stands the main entrance, directly over the gateway, is the most wonderful fretwork and ornamentation, carried out in high relief, above which soar three eagles in hewn stone, surmounted by a plumed human head. in the plinth are three heads, which in type recall the roman, surrounded by inscriptions. a clear proof of the comparative lateness of the period in which uxmal was built is found in the circumstance that all the lintels over the doorways are of wood, of which much still exists in a good state of preservation. many of the joists of the roofs were also of timber, and were fitted into the stonework by means of specially carved ends. the dwarf's house there is also a nunnery which forcibly recalls that at chichen, and is quite as elaborate and flamboyant in its architectural design. but the real mystery at uxmal is the casa del adivino (the prophet's house), also locally known as "the dwarf's house." it consists of two portions, one of which is on the summit of an artificial pyramid, whilst the other, a small but beautifully finished chapel, is situated lower down facing the town. the loftier building is reached by an exceedingly steep staircase, and bears every evidence of having been used as a sanctuary, for here were discovered cacao and copal, recently burnt, by cogolludo as late as , which is good evidence that the yucatecs did not all at once abandon their ancient faith at the promptings of the spanish fathers. the legend of the dwarf in his travels in yucatan stephens has a legend relating to this house which may well be given in his own words: "an old woman," he says, "lived alone in her hut, rarely leaving her chimney-corner. she was much distressed at having no children, and in her grief one day took an egg, wrapped it up carefully in cotton cloth, and put it in a corner of her hut. she looked every day in great anxiety, but no change in the egg was observable. one morning, however, she found the shell broken, and a lovely tiny creature was stretching out its arms to her. the old woman was in raptures. she took it to her heart, gave it a nurse, and was so careful of it that at the end of a year the baby walked and talked as well as a grown-up man. but he stopped growing. the good old woman in her joy and delight exclaimed that the baby should be a great chief. one day she told him to go to the king's palace and engage him in a trial of strength. the dwarf begged hard not to be sent on such an enterprise. but the old woman insisted on his going, and he was obliged to obey. when ushered into the presence of the sovereign he threw down his gauntlet. the latter smiled, and asked him to lift a stone of three arobes ( lb.). the child returned crying to his mother, who sent him back, saying, 'if the king can lift the stone, you can lift it too.' the king did take it up, but so did the dwarf. his strength was tried in many other ways, but all the king did was as easily done by the dwarf. wroth at being outdone by so puny a creature, the prince told the dwarf that unless he built a palace loftier than any in the city he should die. the affrighted dwarf returned to the old woman, who bade him not to despair, and the next morning they both awoke in the palace which is still standing. the king saw the palace with amazement. he instantly sent for the dwarf, and desired him to collect two bundles of cogoiol (a kind of hard wood), with one of which he would strike the dwarf on the head, and consent to be struck in return by his tiny adversary. the latter again returned to his mother moaning and lamenting. but the old woman cheered him up, and, placing a tortilla on his head, sent him back to the king. the trial took place in the presence of all the state grandees. the king broke the whole of his bundle on the dwarf's head without hurting him in the least, seeing which he wished to save his own head from the impending ordeal; but his word had been passed before his assembled court, and he could not well refuse. the dwarf struck, and at the second blow the king's skull was broken to pieces. the spectators immediately proclaimed the victorious dwarf their sovereign. after this the old woman disappeared. but in the village of mani, fifty miles distant, is a deep well leading to a subterraneous passage which extends as far as merida. in this passage is an old woman sitting on the bank of a river shaded by a great tree, having a serpent by her side. she sells water in small quantities, accepting no money, for she must have human beings, innocent babies, which are devoured by the serpent. this old woman is the dwarf's mother." the interpretation of this myth is by no means difficult. the old woman is undoubtedly the rain-goddess, the dwarf the man of the sun who emerges from the cosmic egg. in yucatan dwarfs were sacred to the sun-god, and were occasionally sacrificed to him, for reasons which appear obscure. the mound of sacrifice another building at uxmal the associations of which render it of more than passing interest is the pyramid of sacrifice, an edifice built on the plan of the mexican teocalli. indeed, it is probably of aztec origin, and may even have been erected by the mercenaries who during the fifteenth century swarmed from mexico into yucatan and guatemala to take service with the rival chieftains who carried on civil war in those states. beside this is another mound which was crowned by a very beautiful temple, now in an advanced state of ruin. the "pigeon house" is an ornate pile with pinnacles pierced by large openings which probably served as dovecotes. the entire architecture of uxmal displays a type more primitive than that met elsewhere in yucatan. there is documentary evidence to prove that so late as the indians still worshipped in the ruins of uxmal, where they burnt copal, and performed "other detestable sacrifices." so that even a hundred and fifty years of spanish rule had not sufficed to wean the natives from the worship of the older gods to whom their fathers had for generations bowed down. this would also seem conclusive evidence that the ruins of uxmal at least were the work of the existing race. the phantom city in his travels in central america stephens recounts a fascinating story told him by a priest of santa cruz del quiche, to the effect that four days' journey from that place a great indian city was to be seen, densely populated, and preserving the ancient civilisation of the natives. he had, indeed, beheld it from the summit of a cliff, shining in glorious whiteness many leagues away. this was perhaps lorillard city, discovered by suarez, and afterwards by charnay. in general type lorillard closely resembles palenque. here was found a wonderfully executed stone idol, which charnay thought represented a different racial type from that seen in the other central american cities. the chief finds of interest in this ancient city were the intricate bas-reliefs, one over the central door of a temple, probably a symbolic representation of quetzalcoatl, who holds the rain-cross, in both hands, and is seen vis-à-vis with an acolyte, also holding the symbol, though it is possible that the individual represented may have been the high-priest of quetzalcoatl or kukulcan. another bas-relief represents a priest sacrificing to kukulcan by passing a rope of maguey fibre over his tongue for the purpose of drawing blood--an instance of the substitution in sacrifice of the part for the whole. the horse-god at peten-itza, cortés left his horse, which had fallen sick, to the care of the indians. the animal died under their mismanagement and because of the food offered it, and the terrified natives, fancying it a divine being, raised an image of it, and called it izimin chac (thunder and lightning), because they had seen its rider discharge a firearm, and they imagined that the flash and the report had proceeded from the creature. the sight of the idol aroused such wrath in the zealous bosom of a certain spanish monk that he broke it with a huge stone--and, but for the interference of the cacique, would have suffered death for his temerity. peten was a city "filled with idols," as was tayasal, close at hand, where in the seventeenth century no less than nine new temples were built, which goes to prove that the native religion was by no means extinct. one of these new temples, according to villagutierre, had a spanish balcony of hewn stone! in the temple of the sun at tikal, an adjoining city, is a wonderful altar panel, representing an unknown deity, and here also are many of those marvellously carved idols of which stephens gives such capital illustrations in his fascinating book. copan copan, one of the most interesting of these wondrous city-centres, the name of which has, indeed, become almost a household word, is in the same district as the towns just described, and abounds chiefly in monolithic images. it yielded after a desperate struggle to hernandez de chaves, one of alvarado's lieutenants, in . the monolithic images so abundantly represented here are evolved from the stelæ and the bas-relief, and are not statues in the proper sense of the term, as they are not completely cut away from the stone background out of which they were carved. an altar found at copan exhibits real skill in sculpture, the head-dresses, ornaments, and expressions of the eight figures carved on its sides being elaborate in the extreme and exceedingly lifelike. here again we notice a fresh racial type, which goes to prove that one race alone cannot have been responsible for these marvellous ruined cities and all that they contain and signify. we have to imagine a shifting of races and a fluctuation of peoples in central america such as we know took place in europe and asia before we can rightly understand the ethnological problems of the civilised sphere of the new world, and any theory which does not take due account of such conditions is doomed to failure. mitla we now come to the last of these stupendous remnants of a vanished civilisation--mitla, by no means the least of the works of civilised man in central america. at the period of the conquest the city occupied a wide area, but at the present time only six palaces and three ruined pyramids are left standing. the great palace is a vast edifice in the shape of the letter t, and measures feet in its greater dimension, with an apartment of a like size. six monolithic columns which supported the roof still stand in gigantic isolation, but the roof itself has long fallen in. a dark passage leads to the inner court, and the walls of this are covered with mosaic work in panels which recalls somewhat the pattern known as the "greek fret." the lintels over the doorways are of huge blocks of stone nearly eighteen feet long. of this building viollet-le-duc says: "the monuments of greece and rome in their best time can alone compare with the splendour of this great edifice." a place of sepulture the ruins at mitla bear no resemblance to those of mexico or yucatan, either as regards architecture or ornamentation, for whereas the yucatec buildings possess overlapping walls, the palaces of mitla consist of perpendicular walls intended to support flat roofs. of these structures the second and fourth palaces alone are in such a state of preservation as to permit of general description. the second palace shows by its sculptured lintel and two inner columns that the same arrangement was observed in its construction as in the great palace just described. the fourth palace has on its southern façade oblong panels and interesting caryatides or pillars in the shape of human figures. these palaces consisted of four upper apartments, finely sculptured, and a like number of rooms on the lower story, which was occupied by the high-priest, and to which the king came to mourn on the demise of a relative. here, too, the priests were entombed, and in an adjoining room the idols were kept. into a huge underground chamber the bodies of eminent warriors and sacrificial victims were cast. attempts have been made to identify mitla with mictlan, the mexican hades, and there is every reason to suppose that the identification is correct. it must be borne in mind that mictlan was as much a place of the dead as a place of punishment, as was the greek hades, and therefore might reasonably signify a place of sepulture, such as mitla undoubtedly was. the following passages from the old historians of mitla, torquemada and burgoa, throw much light on this aspect of the city, and besides are full of the most intense interest and curious information, so that they may be given in extenso. but before passing on to them we should for a moment glance at seler's suggestion that the american race imagined that their ancestors had originally issued from the underworld through certain caverns into the light of day, and that this was the reason why mitla was not only a burial-place but a sanctuary. an old description of mitla of mitla father torquemada writes: "when some monks of my order, the franciscan, passed, preaching and shriving, through the province of zapoteca, whose capital city is tehuantepec, they came to a village which was called mictlan, that is, underworld [hell]. besides mentioning the large number of people in the village they told of buildings which were prouder and more magnificent than any which they had hitherto seen in new spain. among them was a temple of the evil spirit and living-rooms for his demoniacal servants, and among other fine things there was a hall with ornamented panels, which were constructed of stone in a variety of arabesques and other very remarkable designs. there were doorways there, each one of which was built of but three stones, two upright at the sides and one across them, in such a manner that, although these doorways were very high and broad, the stones sufficed for their entire construction. they were so thick and broad that we were assured there were few like them. there was another hall in these buildings, or rectangular temples, which was erected entirely on round stone pillars, very high and very thick, so thick that two grown men could scarcely encircle them with their arms, nor could one of them reach the finger-tips of the other. these pillars were all in one piece, and, it was said, the whole shaft of a pillar measured ells from top to bottom, and they were very much like those of the church of santa maria maggiore in rome, very skilfully made and polished." father burgoa gives a more exact description. he says: "the palace of the living and of the dead was built for the use of this person [the high-priest of the zapotecs].... they built this magnificent house or pantheon in the shape of a rectangle, with portions rising above the earth and portions built down into the earth, the latter in the hole or cavity which was found below the surface of the earth, and ingeniously made the chambers of equal size by the manner of joining them, leaving a spacious court in the middle; and in order to secure four equal chambers they accomplished what barbarian heathen (as they were) could only achieve by the powers and skill of an architect. it is not known in what stone-pit they quarried the pillars, which are so thick that two men can scarcely encircle them with their arms. these are, to be sure, mere shafts without capital or pedestal, but they are wonderfully regular and smooth, and they are about ells high and in one piece. these served to support the roof, which consists of stone slabs instead of beams. the slabs are about ells long, ell broad, and half an ell thick, extending from pillar to pillar. the pillars stand in a row, one behind the other, in order to receive the weight. the stone slabs are so regular and so exactly fitted that, without any mortar or cement, at the joints they resemble mortised beams. the four rooms, which are very spacious, are arranged in exactly the same way and covered with the same kind of roofing. but in the construction of the walls the greatest architects of the earth have been surpassed, as i have not found this kind of architecture described either among the egyptians or among the greeks, for they begin at the base with a narrow outline and, as the structure rises in height, spread out in wide copings at the top, so that the upper part exceeds the base in breadth and looks as if it would fall over. the inner side of the walls consists of a mortar or stucco of such hardness that no one knows with what kind of liquid it could have been mixed. the outside is of such extraordinary workmanship that on a masonry wall about an ell in height there are placed stone slabs with a projecting edge, which form the support for an endless number of small white stones, the smallest of which are a sixth of an ell long, half as broad, and a quarter as thick, and which are as smooth and regular as if they had all come from one mould. they had so many of these stones that, setting them in, one beside the other, they formed with them a large number of different beautiful geometric designs, each an ell broad and running the whole length of the wall, each varying in pattern up to the crowning piece, which was the finest of all. and what has always seemed inexplicable to the greatest architects is the adjustment of these little stones without a single handful of mortar, and the fact that without tools, with nothing but hard stones and sand, they could achieve such solid work that, though the whole structure is very old and no one knows who made it, it has been preserved until the present day. human sacrifice at mitla "i carefully examined these monuments some thirty years ago in the chambers above ground, which are constructed of the same size and in the same way as those below ground, and, though single pieces were in ruins because some stones had become loosened, there was still much to admire. the doorways were very large, the sides of each being of single stones of the same thickness as the wall, and the lintel was made out of another stone which held the two lower ones together at the top. there were four chambers above ground and four below. the latter were arranged according to their purpose in such a way that one front chamber served as chapel and sanctuary for the idols, which were placed on a great stone which served as an altar. and for the more important feasts which they celebrated with sacrifices, or at the burial of a king or great lord, the high-priest instructed the lesser priests or the subordinate temple officials who served him to prepare the chapel and his vestments and a large quantity of the incense used by them. and then he descended with a great retinue, while none of the common people saw him or dared to look in his face, convinced that if they did so they would fall dead to the earth as a punishment for their boldness. and when he entered the chapel they put on him a long white cotton garment made like an alb, and over that a garment shaped like a dalmatic, which was embroidered with pictures of wild beasts and birds; and they put a cap on his head, and on his feet a kind of shoe woven of many coloured feathers. and when he had put on these garments he walked with solemn mien and measured step to the altar, bowed low before the idols, renewed the incense, and then in quite unintelligible murmurs he began to converse with these images, these depositories of infernal spirits, and continued in this sort of prayer with hideous grimaces and writhings, uttering inarticulate sounds, which filled all present with fear and terror, till he came out of that diabolical trance and told those standing around the lies and fabrications which the spirit had imparted to him or which he had invented himself. when human beings were sacrificed the ceremonies were multiplied, and the assistants of the high-priest stretched the victim out upon a large stone, baring his breast, which they tore open with a great stone knife, while the body writhed in fearful convulsions, and they laid the heart bare, ripping it out, and with it the soul, which the devil took, while they carried the heart to the high-priest that he might offer it to the idols by holding it to their mouths, among other ceremonies; and the body was thrown into the burial-place of their 'blessed,' as they called them. and if after the sacrifice he felt inclined to detain those who begged any favour he sent them word by the subordinate priests not to leave their houses till their gods were appeased, and he commanded them to do penance meanwhile, to fast and to speak with no woman, so that, until this father of sin had interceded for the absolution of the penitents and had declared the gods appeased, they did not dare to cross their thresholds. "the second (underground) chamber was the burial-place of these high-priests, the third that of the kings of theozapotlan, whom they brought hither richly dressed in their best attire, feathers, jewels, golden necklaces, and precious stones, placing a shield in the left hand and a javelin in the right, just as they used them in war. and at their burial rites great mourning prevailed; the instruments which were played made mournful sounds; and with loud wailing and continuous sobbing they chanted the life and exploits of their lord until they laid him on the structure which they had prepared for this purpose. living sacrifices "the last (underground) chamber had a second door at the rear, which led to a dark and gruesome room. this was closed with a stone slab, which occupied the whole entrance. through this door they threw the bodies of the victims and of the great lords and chieftains who had fallen in battle, and they brought them from the spot where they fell, even when it was very far off, to this burial-place; and so great was the barbarous infatuation of those indians that, in the belief of the happy life which awaited them, many who were oppressed by diseases or hardships begged this infamous priest to accept them as living sacrifices and allow them to enter through that portal and roam about in the dark interior of the mountain, to seek the feasting-places of their forefathers. and when any one obtained this favour the servants of the high-priest led him thither with special ceremonies, and after they allowed him to enter through the small door they rolled the stone before it again and took leave of him, and the unhappy man, wandering in that abyss of darkness, died of hunger and thirst, beginning already in life the pain of his damnation, and on account of this horrible abyss they called this village liyobaa. the cavern of death "when later there fell upon these people the light of the gospel, its servants took much trouble to instruct them, and to find out whether this error, common to all these nations, still prevailed; and they learned from the stories which had been handed down that all were convinced that this damp cavern extended more than thirty leagues underground, and that its roof was supported by pillars. and there were people, zealous prelates anxious for knowledge, who, in order to convince these ignorant people of their error, went into this cave accompanied by a large number of people bearing lighted torches and firebrands, and descended several large steps. and they soon came upon many great buttresses which formed a kind of street. they had prudently brought a quantity of rope with them to use as guiding-lines, that they might not lose themselves in this confusing labyrinth. and the putrefaction and the bad odour and the dampness of the earth were very great, and there was also a cold wind which blew out their torches. and after they had gone a short distance, fearing to be overpowered by the stench, or to step on poisonous reptiles, of which some had been seen, they resolved to go out again, and to completely wall up this back door of hell. the four buildings above ground were the only ones which still remained open, and they had a court and chambers like those underground; and the ruins of these have lasted even to the present day. palace of the high-priest "one of the rooms above ground was the palace of the high-priest, where he sat and slept, for the apartment offered room and opportunity for everything. the throne was like a high cushion, with a high back to lean against, all of tiger-skin, stuffed entirely with delicate feathers, or with fine grass which was used for this purpose. the other seats were smaller, even when the king came to visit him. the authority of this devilish priest was so great that there was no one who dared to cross the court, and to avoid this the other three chambers had doors in the rear, through which even the kings entered. for this purpose they had alleys and passage-ways on the outside above and below, by which people could enter and go out when they came to see the high-priest.... "the second chamber above ground was that of the priests and the assistants of the high-priest. the third was that of the king when he came. the fourth was that of the other chieftains and captains, and though the space was small for so great a number, and for so many different families, yet they accommodated themselves to each other out of respect for the place, and avoided dissensions and factions. furthermore, there was no other administration of justice in this place than that of the high-priest, to whose unlimited power all bowed. furniture of the temples "all the rooms were clean, and well furnished with mats. it was not the custom to sleep on bedsteads, however great a lord might be. they used very tastefully braided mats, which were spread on the floor, and soft skins of animals and delicate fabrics for coverings. their food consisted usually of animals killed in the hunt--deer, rabbits, armadillos, &c., and also birds, which they killed with snares or arrows. the bread, made of their maize, was white and well kneaded. their drinks were always cold, made of ground chocolate, which was mixed with water and pounded maize. other drinks were made of pulpy and of crushed fruits, which were then mixed with the intoxicating drink prepared from the agave; for since the common people were forbidden the use of intoxicating drinks, there was always an abundance of these on hand." chapter v: myths of the maya mythology of the maya our knowledge of the mythology of the maya is by no means so full and comprehensive as in the case of mexican mythology. traditions are few and obscure, and the hieroglyphic matter is closed to us. but one great mine of maya-kiche mythology exists which furnishes us with much information regarding kiche cosmogony and pseudo-history, with here and there an interesting allusion to the various deities of the kiche pantheon. this is the popol vuh, a volume in which a little real history is mingled with much mythology. it was composed in the form in which we now possess it by a christianised native of guatemala in the seventeenth century, and copied in kiche, in which it was originally written, by one francisco ximenes, a monk, who also added to it a spanish translation. the lost "popol vuh" for generations antiquarians interested in this wonderful compilation were aware that it existed somewhere in guatemala, and many were the regrets expressed regarding their inability to unearth it. a certain don felix cabrera had made use of it early in the nineteenth century, but the whereabouts of the copy he had seen could not be discovered. a dr. c. scherzer, of austria, resolved, if possible, to discover it, and paid a visit to guatemala in for that purpose. after a diligent search he succeeded in finding the lost manuscript in the university of san carlos in the city of guatemala. ximenes, the copyist, had placed it in the library of the convent of chichicastenango, whence it passed to the san carlos library in . genuine character of the work much doubt has been cast upon the genuine character of the popol vuh, principally by persons who were almost if not entirely ignorant of the problems of pre-columbian history in america. its genuine character, however, is by no means difficult to prove. it has been stated that it is a mere réchauffé of the known facts of maya history coloured by biblical knowledge, a native version of the christian bible. but such a theory will not stand when it is shown that the matter it contains squares with the accepted facts of mexican mythology, upon which the popol vuh throws considerable light. moreover, the entire work bears the stamp of being a purely native compilation, and has a flavour of great antiquity. our knowledge of the general principles of mythology, too, prepares us for the unqualified acceptance of the material of the popol vuh, for we find there the stories and tales, the conceptions and ideas connected with early religion which are the property of no one people, but of all peoples and races in an early social state. likeness to other pseudo-histories we find in this interesting book a likeness to many other works of early times. the popol vuh is, indeed, of the same genre and class as the heimskringla of snorre, the history of saxo grammaticus, the chinese history in the five books, the japanese nihongi, and many other similar compilations. but it surpasses all these in pure interest because it is the only native american work that has come down to us from pre-columbian times. the name "popol vuh" means "the collection of written leaves," which proves that the book must have contained traditional matter reduced to writing at a very early period. it is, indeed, a compilation of mythological character, interspersed with pseudo-history, which, as the account reaches modern times, shades off into pure history and tells the deeds of authentic personages. the language in which it was written, the kiche, was a dialect of the maya-kiche tongue spoken at the time of the conquest in guatemala, honduras, and san salvador, and still the tongue of the native populations in these districts. the creation-story the beginning of this interesting book is taken up with the kiche story of the creation, and what occurred directly subsequent to that event. we are told that the god hurakan, the mighty wind, a deity in whom we can discern a kiche equivalent to tezcatlipoca, passed over the universe, still wrapped in gloom. he called out "earth," and the solid land appeared. then the chief gods took counsel among themselves as to what should next be made. these were hurakan, gucumatz or quetzalcoatl, and xpiyacoc and xmucane, the mother and father gods. they agreed that animals should be created. this was accomplished, and they next turned their attention to the framing of man. they made a number of mannikins carved out of wood. but these were irreverent and angered the gods, who resolved to bring about their downfall. then hurakan (the heart of heaven) caused the waters to be swollen, and a mighty flood came upon the mannikins. also a thick resinous rain descended upon them. the bird xecotcovach tore out their eyes, the bird camulatz cut off their heads, the bird cotzbalam devoured their flesh, the bird tecumbalam broke their bones and sinews and ground them into powder. then all sorts of beings, great and small, abused the mannikins. the household utensils and domestic animals jeered at them, and made game of them in their plight. the dogs and hens said: "very badly have you treated us and you have bitten us. now we bite you in turn." the millstones said: "very much were we tormented by you, and daily, daily, night and day, it was squeak, screech, screech, holi, holi, huqi, huqi, [ ] for your sake. now you shall feel our strength, and we shall grind your flesh and make meal of your bodies." and the dogs growled at the unhappy images because they had not been fed, and tore them with their teeth. the cups and platters said: "pain and misery you gave us, smoking our tops and sides, cooking us over the fire, burning and hurting us as if we had no feeling. now it is your turn, and you shall burn." the unfortunate mannikins ran hither and thither in their despair. they mounted upon the roofs of the houses, but the houses crumbled beneath their feet; they tried to climb to the tops of the trees, but the trees hurled them down; they were even repulsed by the caves, which closed before them. thus this ill-starred race was finally destroyed and overthrown, and the only vestiges of them which remain are certain of their progeny, the little monkeys which dwell in the woods. vukub-cakix, the great macaw ere the earth was quite recovered from the wrathful flood which had descended upon it there lived a being orgulous and full of pride, called vukub-cakix (seven-times-the-colour-of-fire--the kiche name for the great macaw bird). his teeth were of emerald, and other parts of him shone with the brilliance of gold and silver. in short, it is evident that he was a sun-and-moon god of prehistoric times. he boasted dreadfully, and his conduct so irritated the other gods that they resolved upon his destruction. his two sons, zipacna and cabrakan (cockspur or earth-heaper, and earthquake), were earthquake-gods of the type of the jötuns of scandinavian myth or the titans of greek legend. these also were prideful and arrogant, and to cause their downfall the gods despatched the heavenly twins hun-apu and xbalanque to earth, with instructions to chastise the trio. vukub-cakix prided himself upon his possession of the wonderful nanze-tree, the tapal, bearing a fruit round, yellow, and aromatic, upon which he breakfasted every morning. one morning he mounted to its summit, whence he could best espy the choicest fruits, when he was surprised and infuriated to observe that two strangers had arrived there before him, and had almost denuded the tree of its produce. on seeing vukub, hun-apu raised a blow-pipe to his mouth and blew a dart at the giant. it struck him on the mouth, and he fell from the top of the tree to the ground. hun-apu leapt down upon vukub and grappled with him, but the giant in terrible anger seized the god by the arm and wrenched it from the body. he then returned to his house, where he was met by his wife, chimalmat, who inquired for what reason he roared with pain. in reply he pointed to his mouth, and so full of anger was he against hun-apu that he took the arm he had wrenched from him and hung it over a blazing fire. he then threw himself down to bemoan his injuries, consoling himself, however, with the idea that he had avenged himself upon the disturbers of his peace. whilst vukub-cakix moaned and howled with the dreadful pain which he felt in his jaw and teeth (for the dart which had pierced him was probably poisoned) the arm of hun-apu hung over the fire, and was turned round and round and basted by vukub's spouse, chimalmat. the sun-god rained bitter imprecations upon the interlopers who had penetrated to his paradise and had caused him such woe, and he gave vent to dire threats of what would happen if he succeeded in getting them into his power. but hun-apu and xbalanque were not minded that vukub-cakix should escape so easily, and the recovery of hun-apu's arm must be made at all hazards. so they went to consult two great and wise magicians, xpiyacoc and xmucane, in whom we see two of the original kiche creative deities, who advised them to proceed with them in disguise to the dwelling of vukub, if they wished to recover the lost arm. the old magicians resolved to disguise themselves as doctors, and dressed hun-apu and xbalanque in other garments to represent their sons. shortly they arrived at the mansion of vukub, and while still some way off they could hear his groans and cries. presenting themselves at the door, they accosted him. they told him that they had heard some one crying out in pain, and that as famous doctors they considered it their duty to ask who was suffering. vukub appeared quite satisfied, but closely questioned the old wizards concerning the two young men who accompanied them. "they are our sons," they replied. "good," said vukub. "do you think you will be able to cure me?" "we have no doubt whatever upon that head," answered xpiyacoc. "you have sustained very bad injuries to your mouth and eyes." "the demons who shot me with an arrow from their blow-pipe are the cause of my sufferings," said vukub. "if you are able to cure me i shall reward you richly." "your highness has many bad teeth, which must be removed," said the wily old magician. "also the balls of your eyes appear to me to be diseased." vukub appeared highly alarmed, but the magicians speedily reassured him. "it is necessary," said xpiyacoc, "that we remove your teeth, but we will take care to replace them with grains of maize, which you will find much more agreeable in every way." the unsuspicious giant agreed to the operation, and very quickly xpiyacoc, with the help of xmucane, removed his teeth of emerald, and replaced them by grains of white maize. a change quickly came over the titan. his brilliancy speedily vanished, and when they removed the balls of his eyes he sank into insensibility and died. all this time the wife of vukub was turning hun-apu's arm over the fire, but hun-apu snatched the limb from above the brazier, and with the help of the magicians replaced it upon his shoulder. the discomfiture of vukub was then complete. the party left his dwelling feeling that their mission had been accomplished. the earth-giants but in reality it was only partially accomplished, because vukub's two sons, zipacna and cabrakan, still remained to be dealt with. zipacna was daily employed in heaping up mountains, while cabrakan, his brother, shook them in earthquake. the vengeance of hun-apu and xbalanque was first directed against zipacna, and they conspired with a band of young men to bring about his death. the young men, four hundred in number, pretended to be engaged in building a house. they cut down a large tree, which they made believe was to be the roof-tree of their dwelling, and waited in a part of the forest through which they knew zipacna must pass. after a while they could hear the giant crashing through the trees. he came into sight, and when he saw them standing round the giant tree-trunk, which they could not lift, he seemed very much amused. "what have you there, o little ones?" he said laughing. "only a tree, your highness, which we have felled for the roof-tree of a new house we are building." "cannot you carry it?" asked the giant disdainfully. "no, your highness," they made answer; "it is much too heavy to be lifted even by our united efforts." with a good-natured laugh the titan stooped and lifted the great trunk upon his shoulder. then, bidding them lead the way, he trudged through the forest, evidently not disconcerted in the least by his great burden. now the young men, incited by hun-apu and xbalanque, had dug a great ditch, which they pretended was to serve for the foundation of their new house. into this they requested zipacna to descend, and, scenting no mischief, the giant readily complied. on his reaching the bottom his treacherous acquaintances cast huge trunks of trees upon him, but on hearing them coming down he quickly took refuge in a small side tunnel which the youths had constructed to serve as a cellar beneath their house. imagining the giant to be killed, they began at once to express their delight by singing and dancing, and to lend colour to his stratagem zipacna despatched several friendly ants to the surface with strands of hair, which the young men concluded had been taken from his dead body. assured by the seeming proof of his death, the youths proceeded to build their house upon the tree-trunks which they imagined covered zipacna's body, and, producing a quantity of pulque, they began to make merry over the end of their enemy. for some hours their new dwelling rang with revelry. all this time zipacna, quietly hidden below, was listening to the hubbub and waiting his chance to revenge himself upon those who had entrapped him. suddenly arising in his giant might, he cast the house and all its inmates high in the air. the dwelling was utterly demolished, and the band of youths were hurled with such force into the sky that they remained there, and in the stars we call the pleiades we can still discern them wearily waiting an opportunity to return to earth. the undoing of zipacna but hun-apu and xbalanque, grieved that their comrades had so perished, resolved that zipacna must not be permitted to escape so easily. he, carrying the mountains by night, sought his food by day on the shore of the river, where he wandered catching fish and crabs. the brothers made a large artificial crab, which they placed in a cavern at the bottom of a ravine. they then cunningly undermined a huge mountain, and awaited events. very soon they saw zipacna wandering along the side of the river, and asked him where he was going. "oh, i am only seeking my daily food," replied the giant. "and what may that consist of?" asked the brothers. "only of fish and crabs," replied zipacna. "oh, there is a crab down yonder," said the crafty brothers, pointing to the bottom of the ravine. "we espied it as we came along. truly, it is a great crab, and will furnish you with a capital breakfast." "splendid!" cried zipacna, with glistening eyes. "i must have it at once," and with one bound he leapt down to where the cunningly contrived crab lay in the cavern. no sooner had he reached it than hun-apu and xbalanque cast the mountain upon him; but so desperate were his efforts to get free that the brothers feared he might rid himself of the immense weight of earth under which he was buried, and to make sure of his fate they turned him into stone. thus at the foot of mount meahuan, near vera paz, perished the proud mountain-maker. the discomfiture of cabrakan now only the third of this family of boasters remained, and he was the most proud of any. "i am the overturner of mountains!" said he. but hun-apu and xbalanque had made up their minds that not one of the race of vukub should be left alive. at the moment when they were plotting the overthrow of cabrakan he was occupied in moving mountains. he seized the mountains by their bases and, exerting his mighty strength, cast them into the air; and of the smaller mountains he took no account at all. while he was so employed he met the brothers, who greeted him cordially. "good day, cabrakan," said they. "what may you be doing?" "bah! nothing at all," replied the giant. "cannot you see that i am throwing the mountains about, which is my usual occupation? and who may you be that ask such stupid questions? what are your names?" "we have no names," replied they. "we are only hunters, and here we have our blow-pipes, with which we shoot the birds that live in these mountains. so you see that we do not require names, as we meet no one." cabrakan looked at the brothers disdainfully, and was about to depart when they said to him: "stay; we should like to behold these mountain-throwing feats of yours." this aroused the pride of cabrakan. "well, since you wish it," said he, "i will show you how i can move a really great mountain. now, choose the one you would like to see me destroy, and before you are aware of it i shall have reduced it to dust." hun-apu looked around him, and espying a great peak pointed toward it. "do you think you could overthrow that mountain?" he asked. "without the least difficulty," replied cabrakan, with a great laugh. "let us go toward it." "but first you must eat," said hun-apu. "you have had no food since morning, and so great a feat can hardly be accomplished fasting." the giant smacked his lips. "you are right," he said, with a hungry look. cabrakan was one of those people who are always hungry. "but what have you to give me?" "we have nothing with us," said hun-apu. "umph!" growled cabrakan, "you are a pretty fellow. you ask me what i will have to eat, and then tell me you have nothing," and in his anger he seized one of the smaller mountains and threw it into the sea, so that the waves splashed up to the sky. "come," said hun-apu, "don't get angry. we have our blow-pipes with us, and will shoot a bird for your dinner." on hearing this cabrakan grew somewhat quieter. "why did you not say so at first?" he growled. "but be quick, because i am hungry." just at that moment a large bird passed overhead, and hun-apu and xbalanque raised their blow-pipes to their mouths. the darts sped swiftly upward, and both of them struck the bird, which came tumbling down through the air, falling at the feet of cabrakan. "wonderful, wonderful!" cried the giant. "you are clever fellows indeed," and, seizing the dead bird, he was going to eat it raw when hun-apu stopped him. "wait a moment," said he. "it will be much nicer when cooked," and, rubbing two sticks together, he ordered xbalanque to gather some dry wood, so that a fire was soon blazing. the bird was then suspended over the fire, and in a short time a savoury odour mounted to the nostrils of the giant, who stood watching the cooking with hungry eyes and watering lips. before placing the bird over the fire to cook, however, hun-apu had smeared its feathers with a thick coating of mud. the indians in some parts of central america still do this, so that when the mud dries with the heat of the fire the feathers will come off with it, leaving the flesh of the bird quite ready to eat. but hun-apu had done this with a purpose. the mud that he spread on the feathers was that of a poisoned earth, called tizate, the elements of which sank deeply into the flesh of the bird. when the savoury mess was cooked, he handed it to cabrakan, who speedily devoured it. "now," said hun-apu, "let us go toward that great mountain and see if you can lift it as you boast." but already cabrakan began to feel strange pangs. "what is this?" said he, passing his hand across his brow. "i do not seem to see the mountain you mean." "nonsense," said hun-apu. "yonder it is, see, to the east there." "my eyes seem dim this morning," replied the giant. "no, it is not that," said hun-apu. "you have boasted that you could lift this mountain, and now you are afraid to try." "i tell you," said cabrakan, "that i have difficulty in seeing. will you lead me to the mountain?" "certainly," said hun-apu, giving him his hand, and with several strides they were at the foot of the eminence. "now," said hun-apu, "see what you can do, boaster." cabrakan gazed stupidly at the great mass in front of him. his knees shook together so that the sound was like the beating of a war-drum, and the sweat poured from his forehead and ran in a little stream down the side of the mountain. "come," cried hun-apu derisively, "are you going to lift the mountain or not?" "he cannot," sneered xbalanque. "i knew he could not." cabrakan shook himself into a final effort to regain his senses, but all to no purpose. the poison rushed through his blood, and with a groan he fell dead before the brothers. thus perished the last of the earth-giants of guatemala, whom hun-apu and xbalanque had been sent to destroy. the second book the second book of the popol vuh outlines the history of the hero-gods hun-apu and xbalanque. we are told that xpiyacoc and xmucane, the father and mother gods, had two sons, hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu, the first of whom had by his wife xbakiyalo two sons, hunbatz and hunchouen. the weakness of the whole family was the native game of ball, possibly the mexican-mayan game of tlachtli, a sort of hockey. to this pastime the natives of central america were greatly addicted, and numerous remains of tlachtli courts are to be found in the ruined cities of yucatan and guatemala. the object of the game was to "putt" the ball through a small hole in a circular stone or goal, and the player who succeeded in doing this might demand from the audience all their clothes and jewels. the game, as we have said, was exceedingly popular in ancient central america, and there is good reason to believe that inter-city matches took place between the various city-states, and were accompanied by a partisanship and rivalry as keen as that which finds expression among the crowd at our principal football matches to-day. a challenge from hades on one occasion hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu played a game of ball which in its progress took them into the vicinity of the realm of xibalba (the kiche hades). the rulers of that drear abode, imagining that they had a chance of capturing the brothers, extended a challenge to them to play them at ball, and this challenge hun-came and vukub-came, the sovereigns of the kiche hell, despatched by four messengers in the shape of owls. the brothers accepted the challenge, and, bidding farewell to their mother xmucane and their respective sons and nephews, followed the feathered messengers down the long hill which led to the underworld. the fooling of the brethren the american indian is grave and taciturn. if there is one thing he fears and dislikes more than another it is ridicule. to his austere and haughty spirit it appears as something derogatory to his dignity, a slur upon his manhood. the hero-brothers had not been long in xibalba when they discovered that it was the intention of the lords of hades to fool them and subject them to every species of indignity. after crossing a river of blood, they came to the palace of the lords of xibalba, where they espied two seated figures in front of them. thinking that they recognised in them hun-came and vukub-came, they saluted them in a becoming manner, only to discover to their mortification that they were addressing figures of wood. this incident excited the ribald jeers of the xibalbans, who scoffed at the brothers. next they were invited to sit on the seat of honour, which they found to their dismay to be a red-hot stone, a circumstance which caused unbounded amusement to the inhabitants of the underworld. then they were imprisoned in the house of gloom, where they were sacrificed and buried. the head of hunhun-apu was, however, suspended from a tree, upon the branches of which grew a crop of gourds so like the dreadful trophy as to be indistinguishable from it. the fiat went forth that no one in xibalba must eat of the fruit of that tree. but the lords of xibalba had reckoned without feminine curiosity and its unconquerable love of the forbidden. the princess xquiq one day--if day ever penetrated to that gloomy and unwholesome place--a princess of xibalba called xquiq (blood), daughter of cuchumaquiq, a notability of xibalba, passed under the tree, and, observing the desirable fruit with which it was covered, stretched out her hand to pluck one of the gourds. into the outstretched palm the head of hunhun-apu spat, and told xquiq that she would become a mother. before she returned home, however, the hero-god assured her that no harm would come to her, and that she must not be afraid. in a few months' time the princess's father heard of her adventure, and she was doomed to be slain, the royal messengers of xibalba, the owls, receiving commands to despatch her and to bring back her heart in a vase. but on the way she overcame the scruples of the owls by splendid promises, and they substituted for her heart the coagulated sap of the bloodwort plant. the birth of hun-apu and xbalanque xmucane, left at home, looked after the welfare of the young hunbatz and hunchouen, and thither, at the instigation of the head of hunhun-apu, went xquiq for protection. at first xmucane would not credit her story, but upon xquiq appealing to the gods a miracle was performed on her behalf, and she was permitted to gather a basket of maize where no maize grew to prove the authenticity of her claim. as a princess of the underworld, it is not surprising that she should be connected with such a phenomenon, as it is from deities of that region that we usually expect the phenomena of growth to proceed. shortly afterwards, when she had won the good graces of the aged xmucane, her twin sons were born, the hun-apu and xbalanque whom we have already met as the central figures of the first book. the divine children but the divine children were both noisy and mischievous. they tormented their venerable grandmother with their shrill uproar and tricky behaviour. at last xmucane, unable to put up with their habits, turned them out of doors. they took to an outdoor life with surprising ease, and soon became expert hunters and skilful in the use of the serbatana (blow-pipe), with which they shot birds and small animals. they were badly treated by their half-brothers hunbatz and hunchouen, who, jealous of their fame as hunters, annoyed them in every possible manner. but the divine children retaliated by turning their tormentors into hideous apes. the sudden change in the appearance of her grandsons caused xmucane the most profound grief and dismay, and she begged that they who had brightened her home with their singing and flute-playing might not be condemned to such a dreadful fate. she was informed by the divine brothers that if she could behold their antics unmoved by mirth her wish would be granted. but the capers they cut and their grimaces caused her such merriment that on three separate occasions she was unable to restrain her laughter, and the men-monkeys took their leave. the magic tools the childhood of hun-apu and xbalanque was full of such episodes as might be expected from these beings. we find, for example, that on attempting to clear a milpa (maize plantation) they employed magic tools which could be trusted to undertake a good day's work whilst they were absent at the chase. returning at night, they smeared soil over their hands and faces, for the purpose of deluding xmucane into the belief that they had been toiling all day in the fields. but the wild beasts met in conclave during the night, and replaced all the roots and shrubs which the magic tools had cleared away. the twins recognised the work of the various animals, and placed a large net on the ground, so that if the creatures came to the spot on the following night they might be caught in its folds. they did come, but all made good their escape save the rat. the rabbit and deer lost their tails, however, and that is why these animals possess no caudal appendages! the rat, in gratitude for their sparing its life, told the brothers the history of their father and uncle, of their heroic efforts against the powers of xibalba, and of the existence of a set of clubs and balls with which they might play tlachtli on the ball-ground at ninxor-carchah, where hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu had played before them. the second challenge but the watchful hun-came and vukub-came soon heard that the sons and nephews of their first victims had adopted the game which had led these last into the clutches of the cunning xibalbans, and they resolved to send a similar challenge to hun-apu and xbalanque, thinking that the twins were unaware of the fate of hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu. they therefore despatched messengers to the home of xmucane with a challenge to play them at the ball-game, and xmucane, alarmed by the nature of the message, sent a louse to warn her grandsons. the louse, unable to proceed as quickly as he wished, permitted himself to be swallowed by a toad, the toad by a serpent, and the serpent by the bird voc, the messenger of hurakan. at the end of the journey the other animals duly liberated each other, but the toad could not rid himself of the louse, who had in reality hidden himself in the toad's gums, and had not been swallowed at all. at last the message was delivered, and the twins returned to the abode of xmucane, to bid farewell to their grandmother and mother. before leaving they each planted a cane in the midst of the hut, saying that it would wither if any fatal accident befell them. the tricksters tricked they then proceeded to xibalba, on the road trodden by hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu, and passed the river of blood as the others had done. but they adopted the precaution of despatching ahead an animal called xan as a sort of spy or scout. they commanded this animal to prick all the xibalbans with a hair from hun-apu's leg, in order that they might discover which of them were made of wood, and incidentally learn the names of the others as they addressed one another when pricked by the hair. they were thus enabled to ignore the wooden images on their arrival at xibalba, and they carefully avoided the red-hot stone. nor did the ordeal of the house of gloom affright them, and they passed through it scatheless. the inhabitants of the underworld were both amazed and furious with disappointment. to add to their annoyance, they were badly beaten in the game of ball which followed. the lords of hell then requested the twins to bring them four bouquets of flowers from the royal garden of xibalba, at the same time commanding the gardeners to keep good watch over the flowers so that none of them might be removed. but the brothers called to their aid a swarm of ants, who succeeded in returning with the flowers. the anger of the xibalbans increased to a white fury, and they incarcerated hun-apu and xbalanque in the house of lances, a dread abode where demons armed with sharp spears thrust at them fiercely. but they bribed the lancers and escaped. the xibalbans slit the beaks of the owls who guarded the royal gardens, and howled in fury. the houses of the ordeals they were next thrust into the house of cold. here they escaped a dreadful death from freezing by warming themselves with burning pine-cones. into the house of tigers and the house of fire they were thrown for a night each, but escaped from both. but they were not so lucky in the house of bats. as they threaded this place of terror, camazotz, ruler of the bats, descended upon them with a whirring of leathern wings, and with one sweep of his sword-like claws cut off hun-apu's head. (see mictlan, pp. , .) but a tortoise which chanced to pass the severed neck of the hero's prostrate body and came into contact with it was immediately turned into a head, and hun-apu arose from his terrible experience not a whit the worse. these various houses in which the brothers were forced to pass a certain time forcibly recall to our minds the several circles of dante's hell. xibalba was to the kiche not a place of punishment, but a dark place of horror and myriad dangers. no wonder the maya had what landa calls "an immoderate fear of death" if they believed that after it they would be transported to such a dread abode! with the object of proving their immortal nature to their adversaries, hun-apu and xbalanque, first arranging for their resurrection with two sorcerers, xulu and pacaw, stretched themselves upon a bier and died. their bones were ground to powder and thrown into the river. they then went through a kind of evolutionary process, appearing on the fifth day after their deaths as men-fishes and on the sixth as old men, ragged and tatterdemalion in appearance, killing and restoring each other to life. at the request of the princes of xibalba, they burned the royal palace and restored it to its pristine splendour, killed and resuscitated the king's dog, and cut a man in pieces, bringing him to life again. the lords of hell were curious about the sensation of death, and asked to be killed and resuscitated. the first portion of their request the hero-brothers speedily granted, but did not deem it necessary to pay any regard to the second. throwing off all disguise, the brothers assembled the now thoroughly cowed princes of xibalba, and announced their intention of punishing them for their animosity against themselves, their father and uncle. they were forbidden to partake in the noble and classic game of ball--a great indignity in the eyes of maya of the higher caste--they were condemned to menial tasks, and they were to have sway over the beasts of the forest alone. after this their power rapidly waned. these princes of the underworld are described as being owl-like, with faces painted black and white, as symbolical of their duplicity and faithless disposition. as some reward for the dreadful indignities they had undergone, the souls of hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu, the first adventurers into the darksome region of xibalba, were translated to the skies, and became the sun and moon, and with this apotheosis the second book ends. we can have no difficulty, in the light of comparative mythology, in seeing in the matter of this book a version of "the harrying of hell" common to many mythologies. in many primitive faiths a hero or heroes dares the countless dangers of hades in order to prove to the savage mind that the terrors of death can be overcome. in algonquian mythology blue-jay makes game of the dead folk whom his sister ioi has married, and balder passes through the scandinavian helheim. the god must first descend into the abyss and must emerge triumphant if humble folk are to possess assurance of immortality. the reality of myth it is from such matter as that found in the second book of the popol vuh that we are enabled to discern how real myth can be on occasion. it is obvious, as has been pointed out, that the dread of death in the savage mind may give rise to such a conception of its vanquishment as appears in the popol vuh. but there is reason to suspect that other elements have also entered into the composition of the myth. it is well known that an invading race, driving before them the remnants of a conquered people, are prone to regard these in the course of a few generations as almost supernatural and as denizens of a sphere more or less infernal. their reasons for this are not difficult of comprehension. to begin with, a difference in ceremonial ritual gives rise to the belief that the inimical race practises magic. the enemy is seldom seen, and, if perceived, quickly takes cover or "vanishes." the majority of aboriginal races were often earth- or cave-dwellers, like the picts of scotland, and such the originals of the xibalbans probably were. the invading maya-kiche, encountering such a folk in the cavernous recesses of the hill-slopes of guatemala, would naturally refer them to the underworld. the cliff-dwellings of mexico and colorado exhibit manifest signs of the existence of such a cave-dwelling race. in the latter state is the cliff palace cañon, a huge natural recess, within which a small city was actually built, which still remains in excellent preservation. in some such semi-subterranean recess, then, may the city of "xibalba" have stood. the xibalbans we can see, too, that the xibalbans were not merely a plutonic race. xibalba is not a hell, a place of punishment for sin, but a place of the dead, and its inhabitants were scarcely "devils," nor evil gods. the transcriber of the popol vuh says of them: "in the old times they did not have much power. they were but annoyers and opposers of men, and, in truth, they were not regarded as gods." the word xibalba is derived from a root meaning "to fear," from which comes the name for a ghost or phantom. xibalba was thus the "place of phantoms." the third book the opening of the third book finds the gods once more deliberating as to the creation of man. four men are evolved as the result of these deliberations. these beings were moulded from a paste of yellow and white maize, and were named balam-quitze (tiger with the sweet smile), balam-agab (tiger of the night), mahacutah (the distinguished name), and iqi-balam (tiger of the moon). but the god hurakan who had formed them was not overpleased with his handiwork, for these beings were too much like the gods themselves. the gods once more took counsel, and agreed that man must be less perfect and possess less knowledge than this new race. he must not become as a god. so hurakan breathed a cloud over their eyes in order that they might only see a portion of the earth, whereas before they had been able to see the whole round sphere of the world. after this the four men were plunged into a deep sleep, and four women were created, who were given them as wives. these were caha-paluma (falling water), choima (beautiful water), tzununiha (house of the water), and cakixa (water of parrots, or brilliant water), who were espoused to the men in the respective order given above. these eight persons were the ancestors of the kiche only, after which were created the forerunners of the other peoples. at this time there was no sun, and comparative darkness lay over the face of the earth. men knew not the art of worship, but blindly lifted their eyes to heaven and prayed the creator to send them quiet lives and the light of day. but no sun came, and dispeace entered their hearts. so they journeyed to a place called tulan-zuiva (the seven caves)--practically the same as chicomoztoc in the aztec myth--and there gods were vouchsafed to them. the names of these were tohil, whom balam-quitze received; avilix, whom balam-agab received; and hacavitz, granted to mahacutah. iqi-balam received a god, but as he had no family his worship and knowledge died out. the granting of fire grievously did the kiche feel the want of fire in the sunless world they inhabited, but this the god tohil (the rumbler, the fire-god) quickly provided them with. however, a mighty rain descended and extinguished all the fires in the land. these, however, were always supplied again by tohil, who had only to strike his feet together to produce fire. in this figure there is no difficulty in seeing a fully developed thunder-god. the kiche babel tulan-zuiva was a place of great misfortune to the kiche, for here the race suffered alienation in its different branches by reason of a confounding of their speech, which recalls the story of babel. owing to this the first four men were no longer able to comprehend each other, and determined to leave the place of their mischance and to seek the leadership of the god tohil into another and more fortunate sphere. in this journey they met with innumerable hardships. they had to cross many lofty mountains, and on one occasion had to make a long détour across the bed of the ocean, the waters of which were miraculously divided to permit of their passage. at last they arrived at a mountain which they called hacavitz, after one of their deities, and here they remained, for it had been foretold that here they should see the sun. at last the luminary appeared. men and beasts went wild with delight, although his beams were by no means strong, and he appeared more like a reflection in a mirror than the strong sun of later days whose fiery beams speedily sucked up the blood of victims on the altar. as he showed his face the three tribal gods of the kiche were turned into stone, as were the gods or totems connected with the wild animals. then arose the first kiche town, or permanent dwelling-place. the last days of the first men time passed, and the first men of the kiche race grew old. visions came to them, in which they were exhorted by the gods to render human sacrifices, and in order to obey the divine injunctions they raided the neighbouring lands, the folk of which made a spirited resistance. but in a great battle the kiche were miraculously assisted by a horde of wasps and hornets, which flew in the faces of their foes, stinging and blinding them, so that they could not wield weapon nor see to make any effective resistance. after this battle the surrounding races became tributary to them. death of the first men now the first men felt that their death-day was nigh, and they called their kin and dependents around them to hear their dying words. in the grief of their souls they chanted the song "kamucu," the song "we see," that they had sung so joyfully when they had first seen the light of day. then they parted from their wives and sons one by one. and of a sudden they were not, and in their place was a great bundle, which was never opened. it was called the "majesty enveloped." so died the first men of the kiche. in this book it is clear that we have to deal with the problem which the origin and creation of man presented to the maya-kiche mind. the several myths connected with it bear a close resemblance to those of other american peoples. in the mythology of the american indian it is rare to find an adam, a single figure set solitary in a world without companionship of some sort. man is almost invariably the child of mother earth, and emerges from some cavern or subterranean country fully grown and fully equipped for the upper earth-life. we find this type of myth in the mythologies of the aztecs, peruvians, choctaws, blackfeet indians, and those of many other american tribes. american migrations we also find in the story of the kiche migration a striking similarity to the migration myths of other american races. but in the kiche myth we can trace a definite racial movement from the cold north to the warm south. the sun is not at first born. there is darkness. when he does appear he is weak and his beams are dull and watery like those of the luminary in a northern clime. again, there are allusions to the crossing of rivers by means of "shining sand" which covered them, which might reasonably be held to imply the presence upon them of ice. in this connection we may quote from an aztec migration myth which appears almost a parallel to the kiche story. "this is the beginning of the record of the coming of the mexicans from the place called aztlan. it is by means of the water that they came this way, being four tribes, and in coming they rowed in boats. they built their huts on piles at the place called the grotto of quineveyan. it is there from which the eight tribes issued. the first tribe is that of the huexotzincos, the second the chalcas, the third the xochimilcos, the fourth the cuitlavacas, the fifth the mallinalcas, the sixth the chichimecas, the seventh the tepanecas, the eighth the matlatzincas. it is there where they were founded in colhuacan. they were the colonists of it since they landed there, coming from aztlan.... it is there that they soon afterwards went away from, carrying with them their god vitzillopochtli.... there the eight tribes opened up our road by water." the "wallum olum," or painted calendar records, of the leni-lenape indians contain a similar myth. "after the flood," says the story, "the lenape with the manly turtle beings dwelt close together at the cave house and dwelling of talli.... they saw that the snake-land was bright and wealthy. having all agreed, they went over the water of the frozen sea to possess the land. it was wonderful when they all went over the smooth deep water of the frozen sea at the gap of the snake sea in the great ocean." do these myths contain any essence of the truth? do they refer to an actual migration when the ancestors of certain american tribes crossed the frozen ocean of the kamchatka strait and descended from the sunless north and the boreal night of these sub-arctic regions to a more genial clime? can such a tradition have been preserved throughout the countless ages which must have passed between the arrival of proto-mongolian man in america and the writing or composition of the several legends cited? surely not. but may there not have been later migrations from the north? may not hordes of folk distantly akin to the first americans have swept across the frozen strait, and within a few generations have made their way into the warmer regions, as we know the nahua did? the scandinavian vikings who reached north-eastern america in the tenth century found there a race totally distinct from the red man, and more approaching the esquimaux, whom they designated skrellingr, or "chips," so small and misshapen were they. such a description could hardly have been applied to the north american indian as we know him. from the legends of the red race of north america we may infer that they remained for a number of generations in the far west of the north american continent before they migrated eastward. and a guess might be hazarded to the effect that, arriving in america somewhere about the dawn of the christian era, they spread slowly in a south-easterly direction, arriving in the eastern parts of north america about the end of the eleventh century, or even a little later. this would mean that such a legend as that which we have just perused would only require to have survived a thousand years, provided the popol vuh was first composed about the eleventh century, as appears probable. but such speculations are somewhat dangerous in the face of an almost complete lack of evidence, and must be met with the utmost caution and treated as surmises only. cosmogony of the "popol vuh" we have now completed our brief survey of the mythological portion of the popol vuh, and it will be well at this point to make some inquiries into the origin and nature of the various gods, heroes, and similar personages who fill its pages. before doing so, however, let us glance at the creation-myth which we find detailed in the first book. we can see by internal evidence that this must be the result of the fusion of more than one creation-story. we find in the myth that mention is made of a number of beings each of whom appears to exercise in some manner the functions of a creator or "moulder." these beings also appear to have similar attributes. there is evidently here the reconciliation of early rival faiths. we know that this occurred in peruvian cosmogony, which is notoriously composite, and many another mythology, european and asiatic, exhibits a like phenomenon. even in the creation-story as given in genesis we can discover the fusion of two separate accounts from the allusion to the creative power as both "jahveh" and "elohim," the plural ending of the second name proving the presence of polytheistic as well as monotheistic conceptions. antiquity of the "popol vuh" these considerations lead to the assumption that the popol vuh is a mythological collection of very considerable antiquity, as the fusion of religious beliefs is a comparatively slow process. it is, of course, in the absence of other data, impossible to fix the date of its origin, even approximately. we possess only the one version of this interesting work, so that we are compelled to confine ourselves to the consideration of that alone, and are without the assistance which philology would lend us by a comparison of two versions of different dates. the father-mother gods we discover a pair of dual beings concerned in the kiche creation. these are xpiyacoc and xmucane, the father-mother deities, and are obviously kiche equivalents to the mexican ometecutli-omeciuatl, whom we have already noticed (pp. - ). the former is the male fructifier, whilst the name of the latter signifies "female vigour." these deities were probably regarded as hermaphroditic, as numerous north american indian gods appear to be, and may be analogous to the "father sky" and "mother earth" of so many mythologies. gucumatz we also find gucumatz concerned in the kiche scheme of creation. he was a maya-kiche form of the mexican quetzalcoatl, or perhaps the converse was the case. the name signifies, like its nahua equivalent, "serpent with green feathers." hurakan hurakan, the wind-god, "he who hurls below," whose name perhaps signifies "the one-legged," is probably the same as the nahua tezcatlipoca. it has been suggested that the word "hurricane" has been evolved from the name of this god, but the derivation seems rather too fortuitous to be real. hurakan had the assistance of three sub-gods, cakulha-hurakan (lightning), chipi-cakulha (lightning-flash), and raxa-cakulha (track of the lightning). hun-apu and xbalanque hun-apu and xbalanque, the hero-gods, appear to have the attributes of demi-gods in general. the name hun-apu means "master" or "magician," and xbalanque "little tiger." we find many such figures in american myth, which is rich in hero-gods. vukub-cakix and his sons vukub-cakix and his progeny are, of course, earth-giants like the titans of greek mythology or the jötuns of scandinavian story. the removal of the emerald teeth of vukub-cakix and their replacement by grains of maize would seem to be a mythical interpretation or allegory of the removal of the virgin turf of the earth and its replacement by maize-seed. therefore it is possible that vukub-cakix is an earth-god, and not a prehistoric sun-and-moon god, as stated by dr. seler. [ ] metrical origin of the "popol vuh" there is reason to believe that the popol vuh was originally a metrical composition. this would assist the hypothesis of its antiquity, on the ground that it was for generations recited before being reduced to writing. passages here and there exhibit a decided metrical tendency, and one undoubtedly applies to a descriptive dance symbolical of sunrise. it is as follows: "'ama x-u ch'ux ri vuch?' 've,' x-cha ri mama. ta chi xaquinic. quate ta chi gecumarchic. cahmul xaquin ri mama. 'ca xaquin-vuch,' ca cha vinak vacamic." this may be rendered freely: "'is the dawn about to be?' 'yes,' answered the old man. then he spread apart his legs. again the darkness appeared. four times the old man spread his legs. 'now the opossum spreads his legs,' say the people." it is obvious that many of these lines possess the well-known quality of savage dance-poetry, which displays itself in a rhythm of one long foot followed by two short ones. we know that the kiche were very fond of ceremonial dances, and of repeating long chants which they called nugum tzih, or "garlands of words," and the popol vuh, along with other matter, probably contained many of these. pseudo-history of the kiche the fourth book of the popol vuh contains the pseudo-history of the kiche kings. it is obviously greatly confused, and it would be difficult to say how much of it originally belonged to the popol vuh and how much had been added or invented by its latest compiler. one cannot discriminate between saga and history, or between monarchs and gods, the real and the fabulous. interminable conflicts are the theme of most of the book, and many migrations are recounted. queen móo whilst dealing with maya pseudo-history it will be well to glance for a moment at the theories of the late augustus le plongeon, who lived and carried on excavations in yucatan for many years. dr. le plongeon was obsessed with the idea that the ancient maya spread their civilisation all over the habitable globe, and that they were the originators of the egyptian, palestinian, and hindu civilisations, besides many others. he furthermore believed himself to be the true elucidator of the maya system of hieroglyphs, which in his estimation were practically identical with the egyptian. we will not attempt to refute his theories, as they are based on ignorance of the laws which govern philology, anthropology, and mythology. but he possessed a thorough knowledge of the maya tongue, and his acquaintance with maya customs was extensive and peculiar. one of his ideas was that a certain hall among the ruins of chichen-itza had been built by a queen móo, a maya princess who after the tragic fate of her brother-husband and the catastrophe which ended in the sinking of the continent of atlantis fled to egypt, where she founded the ancient egyptian civilisation. it would be easy to refute this theory. but the tale as told by dr. le plongeon possesses a sufficiency of romantic interest to warrant its being rescued from the little-known volume in which he published it. [ ] we do not learn from dr. le plongeon's book by what course of reasoning he came to discover that the name of his heroine was the rather uneuphonious one of móo. probably he arrived at it by the same process as that by which he discovered that certain mayan architectural ornaments were in reality egyptian letters. but it will be better to let him tell his story in his own words. it is as follows: the funeral chamber "as we are about to enter the funeral chamber hallowed by the love of the sister-wife, queen móo, the beauty of the carvings on the zapote beam that forms the lintel of the doorway calls our attention. here is represented the antagonism of the brothers aac and coh, that led to the murder of the latter by the former. carved on the lintel are the names of these personages, represented by their totems--a leopard head for coh, and a boar head as well as a turtle for aac, this word meaning both boar and turtle in maya. aac is pictured within the disk of the sun, his protective deity which he worshipped, according to mural inscriptions at uxmal. full of anger he faces his brother. in his right hand there is a badge ornamented with feathers and flowers. the threatening way in which this is held suggests a concealed weapon.... the face of coh also expresses anger. with him is the feathered serpent, emblematic of royalty, thence of the country, more often represented as a winged serpent protecting coh. in his left hand he holds his weapon down, whilst his right hand clasps his badge of authority, with which he covers his breasts as for protection, and demanding the respect due to his rank.... "passing between the figures of armed chieftains sculptured on the jambs of the doorway, and seeming like sentinels guarding the entrance of the funeral chamber, we notice one wearing a headdress similar to the crown of lower egypt, which formed part of the pshent of the egyptian monarchs. the frescoes "the frescoes in the funeral chamber of prince coh's memorial hall, painted in water-colours taken from the vegetable kingdom, are divided into a series of tableaux separated by blue lines. the plinths, the angles of the room, and the edges of the ceiling, being likewise painted blue, indicate that this was intended for a funeral chamber.... the first scene represents queen móo while yet a child. she is seated on the back of a peccary, or american wild boar, under the royal umbrella of feathers, emblem of royalty in mayach, as it was in india, chaldea, and other places. she is consulting a h-men, or wise man; listening with profound attention to the decrees of fate as revealed by the cracking of the shell of an armadillo exposed to a slow fire on a brazier, the condensing on it of the vapour, and the various tints it assumes. this mode of divination is one of the customs of the mayas.... the soothsayers "in front of the young queen móo, and facing her, is seated the soothsayer, evidently a priest of high rank, judging from the colours, blue and yellow, of the feathers of his ceremonial mantle. he reads the decrees of fate on the shell of the armadillo, and the scroll issuing from his throat says what they are. by him stands the winged serpent, emblem and protective genius of the maya empire. his head is turned towards the royal banner, which he seems to caress. his satisfaction is reflected in the mild and pleased expression of his face. behind the priest, the position of whose hand is the same as that of catholic priests in blessing their congregation, and the significance of which is well known to occultists, are the ladies-in-waiting of the young queen. the royal bride "in another tableau we again see queen móo, no longer a child, but a comely young woman. she is not seated under the royal umbrella or banner, but she is once more in the presence of the h-men, whose face is concealed by a mask representing an owl's head. she, pretty and coquettish, has many admirers, who vie with each other for the honour of her hand. in company with one of her wooers she comes to consult the priest, accompanied by an old lady, her grandmother probably, and her female attendants. according to custom the old lady is the spokeswoman. she states to the priest that the young man, he who sits on a low stool between two female attendants, desires to marry the queen. the priest's attendant, seated also on a stool, back of all, acts as crier, and repeats in a loud voice the speech of the old lady. móo's refusal "the young queen refuses the offer. the refusal is indicated by the direction of the scroll issuing from her mouth. it is turned backward, instead of forward towards the priest, as would be the case if she assented to the marriage. the h-men explains that móo, being a daughter of the royal family, by law and custom must marry one of her brothers. the youth listens to the decision with due respect to the priest, as shown by his arm being placed across his breast, the left hand resting on the right shoulder. he does not accept the refusal in a meek spirit, however. his clenched fist, his foot raised as in the act of stamping, betoken anger and disappointment, while the attendant behind him expostulates, counselling patience and resignation, judging by the position and expression of her left-hand palm upward. the rejected suitor "in another tableau we see the same individual whose offer of marriage was rejected by the young queen in consultation with a nubchi, or prophet, a priest whose exalted rank is indicated by his headdress, and the triple breastplate he wears over his mantle of feathers. the consulter, evidently a person of importance, has come attended by his hachetail, or confidential friend, who sits behind him on a cushion. the expression on the face of the said consulter shows that he does not accept patiently the decrees of fate, although conveyed by the interpreter in as conciliatory a manner as possible. the adverse decision of the gods is manifested by the sharp projecting centre part of the scroll, but it is wrapped in words as persuasive and consoling, preceded by as smooth a preamble as the rich and beautiful maya language permits and makes easy. his friend is addressing the prophet's assistant. reflecting the thoughts of his lord, he declares that the nubchi's fine discourse and his pretended reading of the will of the gods are all nonsense, and exclaims 'pshaw!' which contemptuous exclamation is pictured by the yellow scroll, pointed at both ends, escaping from his nose like a sneeze. the answer of the priest's assistant, evidenced by the gravity of his features, the assertive position of his hand, and the bluntness of his speech, is evidently 'it is so!' aac's fierce wooing "her brother aac is madly in love with móo. he is portrayed approaching the interpreter of the will of the gods, divested of his garments in token of humility in presence of their majesty and of submission to their decrees. he comes full of arrogance, arrayed in gorgeous attire, and with regal pomp. he comes not as a suppliant to ask and accept counsel, but haughty, he makes bold to dictate. he is angered at the refusal of the priest to accede to his demand for his sister móo's hand, to whose totem, an armadillo on this occasion, he points imperiously. it was on an armadillo's shell that the fates wrote her destiny when consulted by the performance of the pou ceremony. the yellow flames of wrath darting from all over his person, the sharp yellow scroll issuing from his mouth, symbolise aac's feelings. the pontiff, however, is unmoved by them. in the name of the gods with serene mien he denies the request of the proud nobleman, as his speech indicates. the winged serpent, genius of the country, that stands erect and ireful by aac, is also wroth at his pretensions, and shows in its features and by sending its dart through aac's royal banner a decided opposition to them, expressed by the ends of his speech being turned backwards, some of them terminating abruptly, others in sharp points. prince coh "prince coh sits behind the priest as one of his attendants. he witnesses the scene, hears the calm negative answer, sees the anger of his brother and rival, smiles at his impotence, is happy at his discomfiture. behind him, however, sits a spy who will repeat his words, report his actions to his enemy. he listens, he watches. the high-priest himself, cay, their elder brother, sees the storm that is brewing behind the dissensions of coh and aac. he trembles at the thought of the misfortunes that will surely befall the dynasty of the cans, of the ruin and misery of the country that will certainly follow. divested of his priestly raiment, he comes nude and humble as it is proper for men in the presence of the gods, to ask their advice how best to avoid the impending calamities. the chief of the auspices is in the act of reading their decrees on the palpitating entrails of a fish. the sad expression on his face, that of humble resignation on that of the pontiff, of deferential astonishment on that of the assistant, speak of the inevitable misfortunes which are to come in the near future. "we pass over interesting battle scenes ... in which the defenders have been defeated by the mayas. coh will return to his queen loaded with spoils that he will lay at her feet with his glory, which is also hers. the murder of coh "we next see him in a terrible altercation with his brother aac. the figures in that scene are nearly life-size, but so much disfigured and broken as to make it impossible to obtain good tracings. coh is portrayed without weapons, his fists clenched, looking menacingly at his foe, who holds three spears, typical of the three wounds he inflicted in his brother's back when he killed him treacherously. coh is now laid out, being prepared for cremation. his body has been opened at the ribs to extract the viscera and heart, which, after being charred, are to be preserved in a stone urn with cinnabar, where the writer found them in . his sister-wife, queen móo, in sad contemplation of the remains of the beloved, ... kneels at his feet.... the winged serpent, protective genius of the country, is pictured without a head. the ruler of the country has been slain. he is dead. the people are without a chief." the widowhood of móo the widowhood of móo is then said to be portrayed in subsequent pictures. other suitors, among them aac, make their proposals to her, but she refuses them all. "aac's pride being humiliated, his love turned to hatred. his only wish henceforth was to usurp the supreme power, to wage war against the friend of his childhood. he made religious disagreement the pretext. he proclaimed that the worship of the sun was to be superior to that of the winged serpent, the genius of the country; also to that of the worship of ancestors, typified by the feathered serpent, with horns and a flame or halo on the head.... prompted by such evil passions, he put himself at the head of his own vassals, and attacked those who had remained faithful to queen móo and to prince coh's memory. at first móo's adherents successfully opposed her foes. the contending parties, forgetting in the strife that they were children of the same soil, blinded by their prejudices, let their passions have the better of their reason. at last queen móo fell a prisoner in the hands of her enemy." the manuscript troano dr. le plongeon here assumes that the story is taken up by the manuscript troano. as no one is able to decipher this manuscript completely, he is pretty safe in his assertion. here is what the pintura alluded to says regarding queen móo, according to our author: "the people of mayach having been whipped into submission and cowed, no longer opposing much resistance, the lord seized her by the hair, and, in common with others, caused her to suffer from blows. this happened on the ninth day of the tenth month of the year kan. being completely routed, she passed to the opposite sea-coast in the southern parts of the country, which had already suffered much injury." here we shall leave the queen, and those who have been sufficiently credulous to create and believe in her and her companions. we do not aver that the illustrations on the walls of the temple at chichen do not allude to some such incident, or series of incidents, as dr. le plongeon describes, but to bestow names upon the dramatis personæ in the face of almost complete inability to read the maya script and a total dearth of accompanying historical manuscripts is merely futile, and we must regard dr. le plongeon's narrative as a quite fanciful rendering of probability. at the same time, the light which he throws--if some obviously unscientific remarks be deducted--on the customs of the maya renders his account of considerable interest, and that must be our excuse for presenting it here at some length. chapter vi: the civilisation of old peru old peru if the civilisation of ancient peru did not achieve the standard of general culture reached by the mexicans and maya, it did not fall far short of the attainment of these peoples. but the degrading despotism under which the peasantry groaned in inca times, and the brutal and sanguinary tyranny of the apu-ccapac incas, make the rulers of mexico at their worst appear as enlightened when compared with the peruvian governing classes. the quichua-aymara race which inhabited peru was inferior to the mexican in general mental culture, if not in mental capacity, as is proved by its inability to invent any method of written communication or any adequate time-reckoning. in imitative art, too, the peruvians were weak, save in pottery and rude modelling, and their religion savoured much more of the materialistic, and was altogether of a lower cultus. the country the country in which the interesting civilisation of the inca race was evolved presents physical features which profoundly affected the history of the race. in fact, it is probable that in no country in the world has the configuration of the land so modified the events in the life of the people dwelling within its borders. the chain of the andes divides into two branches near the boundary between bolivia and chili, and, with the cordillera de la costa, encloses at a height of over feet the desaguadero, a vast tableland with an area equal to france. to the north of this is cuzco, the ancient capital of the incas, to the south potosi, the most elevated town in the world, whilst between them lies lake titicaca, the largest body of fresh water in south america. the whole country is dreary and desolate in the extreme. cereals cannot ripen, and animals are rare. yet it was in these desolate regions that the powerful and highly organised empire of peru arose--an empire extending over an area miles long by broad. the andeans the prehistoric natives of the andean region had evolved a civilisation long before the days of the inca dynasties, and the cyclopean ruins of their edifices are to be found at intervals scattered over a wide field on the slopes of the range under the shadow of which they dwelt. their most extraordinary achievement was probably the city of tiahuanaco, on the southern shore of lake titicaca, built at a level , feet above the sea, occupying nearly half an acre in extent, and constructed of enormous megalithic blocks of trachytic rock. the great doorway, carved out of a single block of rock, is feet in height by - / feet wide, and - / feet thick. the upper portion of this massive portal is carved with symbolic figures. in the centre is a figure in high relief, the head surrounded by solar rays, and in each hand a sceptre, the end of which terminates in the head of a condor. this figure is flanked on either side by three tiers of kneeling suppliants, each of whom is winged and bears a sceptre similar in design to the central ones. elsewhere are mighty blocks of stone, some feet long, remains of enormous walls, standing monoliths, and in earlier times colossal statues were seen on the site. when the spanish conquerors arrived no tradition remained regarding the founders of these structures, and their origin still remains a mystery; but that they represent the remains of the capital of some mighty prehistoric kingdom is practically admitted. a strange site the greatest mystery of all regarding the ruins at tiahuanaco is the selection of the site. for what reason did the prehistoric rulers of peru build here? the surroundings are totally unsuitable for the raising of such edifices, and the tableland upon which they are placed is at once desolate and difficult of access. the snow-line is contiguous, and breathing at such a height is no easy matter. there is no reason to suppose that climatic conditions in the day of these colossal builders were different from those which obtain at the present time. in face of these facts the position of tiahuanaco remains an insoluble riddle. sacsahuaman and ollantay other remains of these prehistoric people are found in various parts of peru. at sacsahuaman, perched on a hill above the city of cuzco, is an immense fortified work six hundred yards long, built in three lines of wall consisting of enormous stones, some of which are twenty-seven feet in length. pissac is also the site of wonderful ruined masonry and an ancient observatory. at ollantay-tampu, forty-five miles to the north of cuzco, is another of these gigantic fortresses, built to defend the valley of the yucay. this stronghold is constructed for the most part of red porphyry, and its walls average twenty-five feet in height. the great cliff on which ollantay is perched is covered from end to end with stupendous walls which zigzag from point to point of it like the salient angles of some modern fortalice. at intervals are placed round towers of stone provided with loopholes, from which doubtless arrows were discharged at the enemy. this outwork embraces a series of terraces, world-famous because of their gigantic outline and the problem of the use to which they were put. it is now practically agreed that these terraces were employed for the production of maize, in order that during a prolonged investment the beleaguered troops and country-folk might not want for a sufficiency of provender. the stone of which this fortress was built was quarried at a distance of seven miles, in a spot upwards of three thousand feet above the valley, and was dragged up the steep declivity of ollantay by sheer human strength. the nicety with which the stones were fitted is marvellous. the drama-legend of ollantay among the dramatic works with which the ancient incas were credited is that of apu-ollanta, which may recount the veritable story of a chieftain after whom the great stronghold was named. it was probably divided into scenes and supplied with stage directions at a later period, but the dialogue and songs are truly aboriginal. the period is that of the reign of the inca yupanqui pachacutic, one of the most celebrated of the peruvian monarchs. the central figure of the drama is a chieftain named ollanta, who conceived a violent passion for a daughter of the inca named curi-coyllur (joyful star). this passion was deemed unlawful, as no mere subject who was not of the blood-royal might aspire to the hand of a daughter of the inca. as the play opens we overhear a dialogue between ollanta and his man-servant piqui-chaqui (flea-footed), who supplies what modern stage-managers would designate the "comic relief." they are talking of ollanta's love for the princess, when they are confronted by the high-priest of the sun, who tries to dissuade the rash chieftain from the dangerous course he is taking by means of a miracle. in the next scene curi-coyllur is seen in company with her mother, sorrowing over the absence of her lover. a harvest song is here followed by a love ditty of undoubtedly ancient origin. the third scene represents ollanta's interview with the inca in which he pleads his suit and is slighted by the scornful monarch. ollanta defies the king in a resounding speech, with which the first act concludes. in the first scene of the second act we are informed that the disappointed chieftain has raised the standard of rebellion, and the second scene is taken up with the military preparations consequent upon the announcement of a general rising. in the third scene rumi-ñaui as general of the royal forces admits defeat by the rebels. the love-story of curi-coyllur curi-coyllur gives birth to a daughter, and is imprisoned in the darksome convent of virgins. her child, yma sumac (how beautiful), is brought up in the same building, but is ignorant of the near presence of her mother. the little girl tells her guardian of groans and lamentations which she has heard in the convent garden, and of the tumultuous emotions with which these sad sounds fill her heart. the inca pachacutic's death is announced, and the accession of his son, yupanqui. rebellion breaks out once more, and the suppression of the malcontents is again entrusted to rumi-ñaui. that leader, having tasted defeat already, resorts to cunning. he conceals his men in a valley close by, and presents himself covered with blood before ollanta, who is at the head of the rebels. he states that he has been barbarously used by the royal troops, and that he desires to join the rebels. he takes part with ollanta and his men in a drunken frolic, in which he incites them to drink heavily, and when they are overcome with liquor he brings up his troops and makes them prisoners. mother and child yma sumac, the beautiful little daughter of curi-coyllur, requests her guardian, pitu salla, so pitifully to be allowed to visit her mother in her dungeon that the woman consents, and mother and child are united. ollanta is brought as a prisoner before the new inca, who pardons him. at that juncture yma sumac enters hurriedly, and begs the monarch to free her mother, curi-coyllur. the inca proceeds to the prison, restores the princess to her lover, and the drama concludes with the inca bestowing his blessing upon the pair. the play was first put into written form in the seventeenth century, has often been printed, and is now recognised as a genuine aboriginal production. the races of peru many races went to make up the peruvian people as they existed when first discovered by the conquering spaniards. from the south came a civilising race which probably found a number of allied tribes, each existing separately in its own little valley, speaking a different dialect, or even language, from its neighbours, and in many instances employing different customs. although tradition alleged that these invaders came from the north by sea within historical times, the more probable theory of their origin is one which states that they had followed the course of the affluents of the amazon to the valleys where they dwelt when the more enlightened folk from the south came upon them. the remains of this aboriginal people--for, though they spoke diverse languages, the probability is that they were of one or not more than two stocks--are still found scattered over the coastal valleys in pyramidal mounds and adobe-built dwellings. the coming of the incas the arrival of the dominant race rudely broke in upon the peaceful existence of the aboriginal folk. this race, the quichua-aymara, probably had its place of origin in the altaplanicie highlands of bolivia, the eastern cordillera of the andes. this they designated tucuman (world's end), just as the kiche of guatemala were wont to describe the land of their origin as ki pixab (corner of the earth). the present republic of argentina was at a remote period covered by a vast, partially land-locked sea, and beside the shores of this the ancestors of the quichua-aymara race may have settled as fishers and fowlers. they found a more permanent settlement on the shores of lake titicaca, where their traditions state that they made considerable advances in the arts of civilisation. it was, indeed, from titicaca that the sun emerged from the sacred rock where he had erstwhile hidden himself. here, too, the llama and paco were domesticated and agricultural life initiated, or perfected. the arts of irrigation and terrace-building--so marked as features of peruvian civilisation--were also invented in this region, and the basis of a composite advancement laid. the quichua-aymara this people consisted of two groups, the quichua and aymara, so called from the two kindred tongues spoken by each respectively. these possess a common grammatical structure, and a great number of words are common to both. they are in reality varying forms of one speech. from the valley of titicaca the aymara spread from the source of the amazon river to the higher parts of the andes range, so that in course of time they exhibited those qualities which stamp the mountaineer in every age and clime. the quichua, on the other hand, occupied the warm valleys beyond the river apurimac, to the north-west of the aymara-speaking people--a tract equal to the central portion of the modern republic of peru. the name "quichua" implies a warm valley or sphere, in contradistinction to the "yunca," or tropical districts of the coast and lowlands. the four peoples the metropolitan folk of cuzco considered peru to be divided into four sections--that of the colla-suyu, with the valley of titicaca as its centre, and stretching from the bolivian highlands to cuzco; the conti-suyu, between the colla-suyu and the ocean; the quichua chinchay-suyu, of the north-west; and the anti-suyu, of the montaña region. the inca people, coming suddenly into these lands, annexed them with surprising rapidity, and, making the aboriginal tribes dependent upon their rule, spread themselves over the face of the country. thus the ancient chroniclers. but it is obvious that such rapid conquest was a practical impossibility, and it is now understood that the inca power was consolidated only some hundred years before the coming of pizarro. the coming of manco ccapac peruvian myth has its quetzalcoatl in manco ccapac, a veritable son of the sun. the life-giver, observing the deplorable condition of mankind, who seemed to exist for war and feasting alone, despatched his son, manco ccapac, and his sister-wife, mama oullo huaca, to earth for the purpose of instructing the degraded peoples in the arts of civilised life. the heavenly pair came to earth in the neighbourhood of lake titicaca, and were provided with a golden wedge which they were assured would sink into the earth at the precise spot on which they should commence their missionary labours. this phenomenon occurred at cuzco, where the wedge disappeared. the derivation of the name cuzco, which means "navel," or, in more modern terms, "hub of the universe," proves that it was regarded as a great culture-centre. on this spot the civilising agents pitched their camp, gathering the uncultured folk of the country around them. whilst manco taught the men the arts of agriculture, mama oullo instructed the women in those of weaving and spinning. great numbers gathered in the vicinity of cuzco, and the foundations of a city were laid. under the mild rule of the heavenly pair the land of peru abounded in every desirable thing, like the eden of genesis. the legend of manco ccapac as we have it from an old spanish source is worth giving. it is as follows: "there [in tiahuanaco] the creator began to raise up the people and nations that are in that region, making one of each nation in clay, and painting the dresses that each one was to wear; those that were to wear their hair, with hair, and those that were to be shorn, with hair cut. and to each nation was given the language that was to be spoken, and the songs to be sung, and the seeds and food that they were to sow. when the creator had finished painting and making the said nations and figures of clay, he gave life and soul to each one, as well man as woman, and ordered that they should pass under the earth. thence each nation came up in the places to which he ordered them to go. thus they say that some came out of caves, others issued from hills, others from fountains, others from the trunks of trees. from this cause and others, and owing to having come forth and multiplied from those places, and to having had the beginning of their lineage in them, they made huacas [ ] and places of worship of them, in memory of the origin of their lineage. thus each nation uses the dress with which they invest their huaca; and they say that the first that was born in that place was there turned into stone. others say that they were turned into falcons, condors, and other animals and birds. hence the huacas they use are in different shapes." the peruvian creation-story the incan peruvians believed that all things emanated from pachacamac, the all-pervading spirit, who provided the plants and animals (which they believed to be produced from the earth) with "souls." the earth itself they designated pachacamama (earth-mother). here we observe that pachacamac was more the maker and moulder than the originator of matter, a view common to many american mythologies. pachacamac it was who breathed the breath of life into man, but the peruvian conception of him was only evolved in later inca times, and by no means existed in the early days of inca rule, although he was probably worshipped before this under another and less exalted shape. the mere exercise of will or thought was sufficient, according to the peruvians, to accomplish the creative act. in the prayers to the creator, and in other portions of inca rite, we read such expressions as "let a man be," "let a woman be," and "the creative word," which go to prove that the peruvian consciousness had fully grasped the idea of a creator capable of evolving matter out of nothingness. occasionally we find the sun acting as a kind of demiurge or sub-creator. he it is who in later legend founds the city of cuzco, and sends thither three eggs composed of gold, silver, and copper, from which spring the three classes of peruvians, kings, priests, and slaves. the inevitable deluge occurs, after which we find the prehistoric town of tiahuanaco regarded as the theatre of a new creation of man. here the creator made man, and separated him into nations, making one of each nation out of the clay of the earth, painting the dresses that each was to wear, and endowing them with national songs, languages, seeds to sow suitable to the environment of each, and food such as they would require. then he gave the peoples life and soul, and commanded them to enter the bowels of the earth, whence they came upward in the places where he ordered them to go. perhaps this is one of the most complete ("wholesale" would be a better word) creation-myths in existence, and we can glean from its very completeness that it is by no means of simple origin, but of great complexity. it is obviously an attempt to harmonise several conflicting creation-stories, notably those in which the people are spoken of as emanating from caves, and the later one of the creation of men at tiahuanaco, probably suggested to the incas by the immense ruins at that place, for which they could not otherwise account. local creation-myths in some of the more isolated valleys of peru we discover local creation-myths. for example, in the coastal valley of irma pachacamac was not considered to be the creator of the sun, but to be himself a descendant of it. the first human beings created by him were speedily separated, as the man died of hunger, but the woman supported herself by living on roots. the sun took compassion upon her and gave her a son, whom pachacamac slew and buried. but from his teeth there grew maize, from his ribs the long white roots of the manioc plant, and from his flesh various esculent plants. the character of inca civilisation apart from the treatment which they meted out to the subject races under their sway, the rule of the inca monarchs was enlightened and contained the elements of high civilisation. it is scarcely clear whether the inca race arrived in the country at such a date as would have permitted them to profit by adopting the arts and sciences of the andean people who preceded them. but it may be affirmed that their arrival considerably post-dated the fall of the megalithic empire of the andeans, so that in reality their civilisation was of their own manufacture. as architects they were by no means the inferiors of the prehistoric race, if the examples of their art did not bulk so massively, and the engineering skill with which they pushed long, straight tunnels through vast mountains and bridged seemingly impassable gorges still excites the wonder of modern experts. they also made long, straight roads after the most improved macadamised model. their temples and palaces were adorned with gold and silver images and ornaments; sumptuous baths supplied with hot and cold water by means of pipes laid in the earth were to be found in the mansions of the nobility, and much luxury and real comfort prevailed. an absolute theocracy the empire of peru was the most absolute theocracy the world has ever seen. the inca was the direct representative of the sun upon earth, the head of a socio-religious edifice intricate and highly organised. this colossal bureaucracy had ramifications into the very homes of the people. the inca was represented in the provinces by governors of the blood-royal. officials were placed above ten thousand families, a thousand families, and even ten families, upon the principle that the rays of the sun enter everywhere, and that therefore the light of the inca must penetrate to every corner of the empire. there was no such thing as personal freedom. every man, woman, and child was numbered, branded, and under surveillance as much as were the llamas in the royal herds. individual effort or enterprise was unheard of. some writers have stated that a system of state socialism obtained in peru. if so, then state surveillance in central russia might also be branded as socialism. a man's life was planned for him by the authorities from the age of five years, and even the woman whom he was to marry was selected for him by the government officials. the age at which the people should marry was fixed at not earlier than twenty-four years for a man and eighteen for a woman. coloured ribbons worn round the head indicated the place of a person's birth or the province to which he belonged. a golden temple one of the most remarkable monuments of the peruvian civilisation was the coricancha (town of gold) at cuzco, the principal fane of the sun-god. its inner and outer walls were covered with plates of pure gold. situated upon an eminence eighty feet high, the temple looked down upon gardens filled, according to the conquering spaniards, with treasures of gold and silver. the animals, insects, the very trees, say the chroniclers, were of the precious metals, as were the spades, hoes, and other implements employed for keeping the ground in cultivation. through the pleasances rippled the river huatenay. such was the glittering intipampa (field of the sun). that the story is true, at least in part, is proved by the traveller squier, who speaks of having seen in several houses in cuzco sheets of gold preserved as relics which came from the temple of the sun. these, he says, were scarcely as thick as paper, and were stripped off the walls of the coricancha by the exultant spanish soldiery. the great altar but this house of gold had but a roof of thatch! the peruvians were ignorant of the principle of the arch, or else considered the feature unsuitable, for some reason best known to their architects. the doorways were formed of huge monoliths, and the entire aspect of the building was cyclopean. the interior displayed an ornate richness which impressed even the spaniards, who had seen the wealth of many lands and oriental kingdoms, and the gold-lust must have swelled within their hearts at sight of the great altar, behind which was a huge plate of the shining metal engraved with the features of the sun-god. the surface of this plate was enriched by a thousand gems, the scintillation of which was, according to eye-witnesses, almost insupportable. around this dazzling sphere were seated the mummified corpses of the inca kings, each on his throne, with sceptre in hand. planetary temples surrounding the coricancha several lesser temples clustered, all of them dedicated to one or other of the planetary bodies--to the moon, to cuycha, the rainbow, to chasca, the planet venus. in the temple of the moon, the mythic mother of the inca dynasty, a great plate of silver, like the golden one which represented the face of the sun-god, depicted the features of the moon-goddess, and around this the mummies of the inca queens sat in a semicircle, like their spouses in the greater neighbouring fane. in the rainbow temple of cuycha the seven-hued arch of heaven was depicted by a great arc of gold skilfully tempered or painted in suitable colours. all the utensils in these temples were of gold or silver. in the principal building twelve large jars of silver held the sacred grain, and even the pipes which conducted the water-supply through the earth to the sanctuary were of silver. pedro pizarro himself, besides other credible eye-witnesses, vouched for these facts. the colossal representation of the sun became the property of a certain mancio serra de leguicano, a reckless cavalier and noted gambler, who lost it on a single throw of the dice! such was the spirit of the adventurers who conquered this golden realm for the crown of spain. the walls of the coricancha are still standing, and this marvellous shrine of the chief luminary of heaven, the great god of the peruvians, is now a christian church. the mummies of peru the fact that the ancient peruvians had a method of mummification has tempted many "antiquarians" to infer therefrom that they had some connection with ancient egypt. these theories are so numerous as to give the unsophisticated reader the idea that a regular system of immigration was carried on between egypt and america. as a matter of fact the method of mummification in vogue in peru was entirely different from that employed by the ancient egyptians. peruvian mummies are met with at apparently all stages of the history of the native races. megalithic tombs and monuments contain them in the doubled-up posture so common among early peoples all over the world. these megalithic tombs, or chulpas, as they are termed, are composed of a mass of rough stones and clay, faced with huge blocks of trachyte or basalt, so put together as to form a cist, in which the mummy was placed. the door invariably faces the east, so that it may catch the gleams of the rising sun--a proof of the prevalence of sun-worship. squier alludes to one more than feet high. an opening inches square gave access to the sepulchral chamber, which was feet square by feet high. but the tomb had been entered before, and after getting in with much difficulty the explorer was forced to retreat empty-handed. many of these chulpas are circular, and painted in gay primary colours. they are very numerous in bolivia, an old peruvian province, and in the basin of lake titicaca they abound. the dead were wrapped in llama-skins, on which the outlines of the eyes and mouth were carefully marked. the corpse was then arrayed in other garments, and the door of the tomb walled up. in some parts of peru the dead were mummified and placed in the dwelling-houses beside the living. in the rarefied air of the plateaus the bodies rapidly became innocuous, and the custom was not the insanitary one we might imagine it to be. on the pacific coast the method of mummification was somewhat different. the body was reduced to a complete state of desiccation, and was deposited in a tomb constructed of stone or adobe. vases intended to hold maize or chicha liquor were placed beside the corpse, and copper hatchets, mirrors of polished stone, earrings, and bracelets have been discovered in these burial-places. some of the remains are wrapped in rich cloth, and vases of gold and silver were placed beside them. golden plaques are often discovered in the mouths, probably symbolic of the sun. the bodies exhibit no traces of embalming, and are usually in a sitting posture. some of them have evidently been dried before inhumation, whilst others are covered with a resinous substance. they are generally accompanied by the various articles used during life; the men have their weapons and ornaments, women their household implements, and children their toys. the dryness of the climate, as in egypt, keeps these relics in a wonderful state of preservation. in the grave of a woman were found not only vases of every shape, but also some cloth she had commenced to weave, which her death had perhaps prevented her from completing. her light brown hair was carefully combed and plaited, and the legs from the ankle to the knee were painted red, after the fashion in vogue among peruvian beauties, while little bladders of toilet-powder and gums were thoughtfully placed beside her for her use in the life to come. laws and customs the legal code of the incas was severe in the extreme. murderers and adulterers were punished by death, and the unpardonable sin appears to have been blasphemy against the sun, or his earthly representative, the inca. the virgin of the sun (or nun) who broke her vow was buried alive, and the village from whence she came was razed to the ground. flogging was administered for minor offences. a peculiar and very trying punishment must have been that of carrying a heavy stone for a certain time. on marriage a home was apportioned to each couple, and land assigned to them sufficient for their support. when a child was born a separate allowance was given it--one fanega for a boy, and half that amount for a girl, the fanega being equal to the area which could be sown with a hundred pounds of maize. there is something repulsive in the inca code, with its grandmotherly legislation; and if this tyranny was beneficent, it was devised merely to serve its own ends and hound on the unhappy people under its control like dumb, driven cattle. the outlook of the average native was limited in the extreme. the inca class of priests and warriors retained every vestige of authority; and that they employed their power unmercifully to grind down the millions beneath them was a sufficient excuse for the spanish conquistadores in dispossessing them of the empire they had so harshly administered. the public ground was divided afresh every year according to the number of the members of each family, and agrarian laws were strictly fixed. private property did not exist among the people of the lower classes, who merely farmed the lot which each year was placed at their disposal. besides this, the people had perforce to cultivate the lands sacred to the inca, and only the aged and the sick could evade this duty. the peruvian calendar the standard chronology known to the peru of the incas was a simple lunar reckoning. but the four principal points in the sun's course were denoted by means of the intihuatana, a device consisting of a large rock surmounted by a small cone, the shadow of which, falling on certain notches on the stone below, marked the date of the great sun-festivals. the peruvians, however, had no definite calendar. at cuzco, the capital, the solstices were gauged by pillars called pachacta unanchac, or indicators of time, which were placed in four groups (two pillars to a group) on promontories, two in the direction of sunrise and two in that of sunset, to mark the extreme points of the sun's rising and setting. by this means they were enabled to distinguish the arrival and departure of the solstices, during which the sun never went beyond the middle pair of pillars. the inca astronomer's approximation to the year was days, which were divided into twelve moons of thirty days each. these moons were not calendar months in the correct sense, but simply a succession of lunations, which commenced with the winter solstice. this method, which must ultimately have proved confusing, does not seem to have been altered to co-ordinate with the reckoning of the succession of years. the names of the twelve moons, which had some reference to the daily life of the peruvian, were as follows: huchuy pucuy quilla (small growing moon), approximately january. hatun pucuy quilla (great growing moon), approximately february. pancar pucuy quilla (flower-growing moon), approximately march. ayrihua quilla (twin ears moon), approximately april. aymuray quilla (harvest moon), approximately may. auray cusqui quilla (breaking soil), approximately june. chahua huarqui quilla (irrigation moon), approximately july. tarpuy quilla (sowing moon), approximately august. ccoya raymi quilla (moon of the moon feast), approximately september. uma raymi quilla (moon of the feast of the province of uma), approximately october. ayamarca raymi quilla (moon of the feast of the province of ayamarca), approximately november. ccapac raymi quilla (moon of the great feast of the sun), approximately december. the festivals that the peruvian standard of time, as with all american people, was taken from the natural course of the moon is known chiefly from the fact that the principal religious festivals began on the new moon following a solstice or equinox. the ceremonies connected with the greatest festival, the ccapac raymi, were made to date near the lunar phases, the two stages commencing with the ninth day of the december moon and twenty-first day, or last quarter. but while these lunar phases indicated certain festivals, it very often happened that the civil authorities followed a reckoning of their own, in preference to accepting ecclesiastical rule. considerable significance was attached to each month by the peruvians regarding the nature of their festivals. the solstices and equinoxes were the occasions of established ceremonies. the arrival of the winter solstice, which in peru occurs in june, was celebrated by the intip raymi (great feast of the sun). the principal peruvian feast, which took place at the summer solstice, when the new year was supposed to begin, was the national feast of the great god pachacamac, and was called ccapac raymi. molina, fernandez, and garcilasso, however, date the new year from the winter solstice. the third festival of the inca year, the ccapac situa, or ccoya raymi (moon feast), which is signalled by the beginning of the rainy season, occurred in september. in general character these festivals appear to have been simple, and even childlike. the sacrifice of animals taken from sacred herds of llamas was doubtless a principal feature of the ceremony, accompanied by the offering up of maguey, or maize spirit, and followed by the performance of symbolic dances. the llama the llama was the chief domestic animal of peru. all llamas were the property of the inca. like the camel, its distant relative, this creature can subsist for long periods upon little nourishment, and it is suitable for the carriage of moderate loads. each year a certain amount of llama wool was given to the peruvian family, according to the number of women it contained, and these wove it into garments, whatever was over being stored away in the public cloth-magazines for the general use. the large flocks of llamas and alpacas also afforded a supply of meat for the people such as the mexicans never possessed. naturally much attention was given to the breeding of these animals, and the alpaca was as carefully regarded by the peruvian as the sheep by the farmer of to-day. the guanacos and vicuñas, wild animals of the llama or auchenia family, were also sources of food- and wool-supply. architecture of the incas the art in which the incan peruvians displayed the greatest advance was that of architecture. the earlier style of inca building shows that it was closely modelled, as has already been pointed out, on that of the megalithic masons of the tiahuanaco district, but the later style shows stones laid in regular courses, varying in length. no cement or mortar of any kind was employed, the structure depending for stability upon the accuracy with which the stones were fitted to each other. an enormous amount of labour must have been expended upon this part of the work, for in the monuments of peruvian architecture which still exist it is impossible to insert even a needle between the stones of which they are composed. the palaces and temples were built around a courtyard, and most of the principal buildings had a hall of considerable dimensions attached to them, which, like the baronial halls of the england of the middle ages, served for feasting or ceremony. in this style is built the front of the palace on the colcampata, overlooking the city of cuzco, under the fortress which is supposed to have been the dwelling of manco ccapac, the first inca. palaces at yucay and chinchero are also of this type. unsurpassed workmanship in an illuminating passage upon inca architecture sir clements markham, the greatest living authority upon matters peruvian, says: "in cuzco the stone used is a dark trachyte, and the coarse grain secured greater adhesion between the blocks. the workmanship is unsurpassed, and the world has nothing to show in the way of stone-cutting and fitting to equal the skill and accuracy displayed in the ynca structures of cuzco. no cement is used, and the larger stones are in the lowest row, each ascending course being narrower, which presents a most pleasing effect. the edifices were built round a court, upon which the rooms opened, and some of the great halls were paces long by wide, the height being to feet, besides the spring of the roof. the roofs were thatch; and we are able to form an idea of their construction from one which is still preserved, after a lapse of three centuries. this is on a circular building called the sondor-huasi, at azangaro, and it shows that even thatch in the hands of tasteful builders will make a sightly roof for imposing edifices, and that the interior ornament of such a roof may be exceedingly beautiful." the temple of viracocha the temple of viracocha, at cacha, in the valley of the vilcamayu, is built on a plan different from that of any other sacred building in peru. its ruins consist of a wall of adobe or clay feet high and long, built on stone foundations feet in height. the roof was supported on twenty-five columns, and the width of the structure was feet. it was a place of pilgrimage, and the caravanserais where the faithful were wont to be housed still stand around the ruined fane. titicaca the most sacred of the peruvian shrines, however, was titicaca, an island on the lake of that name. the island of coati, hard by, enjoyed an equal reverence. terraced platforms on the former, reached by flights of steps, support two buildings provided for the use of pilgrims about to proceed to coati. on titicaca there are the ruins of an extensive palace which commands a splendid view of the surrounding barren country. a great bath or tank is situated half-way down a long range of terraces supported by cut stone masonry, and the pool, feet long by , and feet deep, has similar walls on three sides. below this tank the water is made to irrigate terrace after terrace until it falls into the lake. coati the island of coati is about six miles distant. the principal building is on one of the loftiest of seven terraces, once radiant with flowers and shrubs, and filled with rich loam transported from a more fertile region. it is placed on three sides of a square, feet long by , and is of stone laid in clay and coated with plaster. "it has," says markham, "thirty-five chambers, only one of which is faced with hewn stones. the ornament on the façade consists of elaborate niches, which agreeably break the monotony of the wall, and above them runs a projecting cornice. the walls were painted yellow, and the niches red; and there was a high-pitched roof, broken here and there by gables. the two largest chambers are long by , and loftier than the rest, each with a great niche in the wall facing the entrance. these were probably the holy places or shrines of the temple. the beautiful series of terraces falls off from the esplanade of the temple to the shores of the lake." mysterious chimu the coast folk, of a different race from the incas, had their centre of civilisation near the city of truxillo, on the plain of chimu. here the ruins of a great city litter the plain for many acres. arising from the mass of ruin, at intervals stand huacas, or artificial hills. the city was supplied with water by means of small canals, which also served to irrigate the gardens. the mounds alluded to were used for sepulture, and the largest, at moche, is feet long by feet in breadth, and feet in height. it is constructed of adobes. besides serving the purpose of a cemetery, this mound probably supported a large temple on its summit. the palace a vast palace occupied a commanding position. its great hall was feet long by broad, and its walls were covered with a highly ornate series of arabesques in relief done in stucco, like the fretwork on the walls of palenque. another hall close at hand is ornamented in coloured stucco, and from it branch off many small rooms, which were evidently dormitories. from the first hall a long corridor leads to secret storehouses, where many vessels of gold and silver have been discovered hidden away, as if to secure them either from marauding bands or the gaze of the vulgar. all of these structures are hollowed out of a vast mound covering several acres, so that the entire building may be said to be partially subterranean in character. "about a hundred yards to the westward of this palace there was a sepulchral mound where many relics were discovered. the bodies were wrapped in cloths, woven in ornamental figures and patterns of different colours. on some of the cloths were sewn plates of silver, and they were edged with borders of feathers, the silver being occasionally cut in the shape of fishes. among the ruins of the city there are great rectangular areas enclosed by massive walls, and containing courts, streets, dwellings, and reservoirs for water. the largest is about a mile south of the mound-palace, and is yards long by . the outer wall is about feet high, feet thick at the base, with sides inclining toward each other. some of the interior walls are highly ornamented in stuccoed patterns; and in one part there is an edifice containing forty-five chambers or cells, in five rows of nine each, which is supposed to have been a prison. the enclosure also contained a reservoir feet long by broad, and feet deep." the civilisation of chimu the ruins of chimu are undoubtedly the outcome of a superior standard of civilisation. the buildings are elaborate, as are their internal arrangements. the extent of the city is great, and the art displayed in the manufacture of the utensils discovered within it and the taste evinced in the numerous wall-patterns show that a people of advanced culture inhabited it. the jeweller's work is in high relief, and the pottery and plaques found exhibit much artistic excellence. pachacamac the famous ruins of the temple and city of pachacamac, near the valley of lurin, to the south of lima, overlook the pacific ocean from a height of feet. four vast terraces still bear mighty perpendicular walls, at one time painted red. here was found the only perfect peruvian arch, built of large adobe bricks--a proof that the peruvian mind did not stand still in matters architectural at least. irrigation works it was in works of irrigation, however, that the race exhibited its greatest engineering genius. in the valley of nasca the incas cut deep trenches to reinforce the irrigating power of a small river, and carried the system high up into the mountains, in order that the rainfall coming therefrom might be conducted into the needful channel. lower down the valley the main watercourse is deflected into many branches, which irrigate each estate by feeding the small surface streams. this system adequately serves the fifteen estates of nasca to-day! another high-level canal for the irrigation of pasture-lands was led for more than a hundred and fifty miles along the eastern slope of the central cordillera. a singular discovery in peru, as in mexico, it is probable that the cross was employed as a symbol of the four winds. an account of the expedition of fuentes to the valley of chichas recounts the discovery of a wooden cross as follows: [ ] "when the settlers who accompanied fuentes in his glorious expedition approached the valley they found a wooden cross, hidden, as if purposely, in the most intricate part of the mountains. as there is not anything more flattering to the vanity of a credulous man than to be enabled to bring forward his testimony in the relation of a prodigy, the devotion of these good conquerors was kindled to such a degree by the discovery of this sacred memorial that they instantly hailed it as miraculous and divine. they accordingly carried it in procession to the town, and placed it in the church belonging to the convent of san francisco, where it is still worshipped. it appears next to impossible that there should not, at that time, have been any individual among them sufficiently enlightened to combat such a persuasion, since, in reality, there was nothing miraculous in the finding of this cross, there having been other christian settlers, before the arrival of fuentes, in the same valley. the opinion, notwithstanding, that the discovery was altogether miraculous, instead of having been abandoned at the commencement, was confirmed still more and more with the progress of time. the jesuits antonio ruiz and pedro lozano, in their respective histories of the missions of paraguay, &c., undertook to demonstrate that the apostle st. thomas had been in america. this thesis, which was so novel, and so well calculated to draw the public attention, required, more than any other, the aid of the most powerful reasons, and of the most irrefragable documents, to be able to maintain itself, even in an hypothetical sense; but nothing of all this was brought forward. certain miserable conjectures, prepossession, and personal interest, supplied the place of truth and criticism. the form of a human foot, which they fancied they saw imprinted on the rock, and the different fables of this description invented by ignorance at every step, were the sole foundations on which all the relations on this subject were made to repose. the one touching the peregrinations of st. thomas from brazil to quito must be deemed apocryphal, when it is considered that the above reverend fathers describe the apostle with the staff in the hand, the black cassock girt about the waist, and all the other trappings which distinguish the missionaries of the society. the credit which these histories obtained at the commencement was equal to that bestowed on the cross of tarija, which remained in the predicament of being the one st. thomas had planted in person, in the continent of america." the chibchas a people called the chibchas dwelt at a very high point of the andes range. they were brave and industrious, and possessed a culture of their own. they defended themselves against much stronger native races, but after the spanish conquest their country was included in new granada, and is now part of the united states of colombia. less experienced than the peruvians or aztecs, they could, however, weave and dye, carve and engrave, make roads, build temples, and work in stone, wood, and metals. they also worked in pottery and jewellery, making silver pendants and collars of shells and collars of precious stones. they were a wealthy folk, and their spanish conquerors obtained much spoil. little is known concerning them or their language, and there is not much of interest in the traditions relating to them. their mythology was simple. they believed the moon was the wife of bochica, who represented the sun, and as she tried to destroy men bochica only allowed her to give light during the night. when the aborigines were in a condition of barbarism bochica taught them and civilised them. the legends about bochica resemble in many points those about quetzalcoatl or manco ccapac, as well as those relating to the founder of buddhism and the first inca of peru. the chibchas offered human sacrifices to their gods at certain intervals, and kept the wretched victim for some years in preparation for his doom. they venerated greatly the lake of quatavita, and are supposed to have flung their treasures into it when they were conquered. although many attempts have been made to recover these, little of value has been found. the chibchas appear to have given allegiance to two leaders, one the zippa, who lived at bogota, the other the zoque, who lived at hunsa, now tunja. these chiefs ruled supreme. like the incas, they could only have one lawful wife, and their sons did not succeed them--their power passed, as in some central african tribes, to the eldest son of the sister. when the zippa died, sweet-smelling resin took the place of his internal parts, and the body was put in a wooden coffin, with sheets of gold for ornamentation. the coffin was hidden in an unknown sepulchre, and these tombs have never been discovered--at least, so say the spaniards. their weapons, garments, objects of daily use, even jars of chicha, were buried with these chiefs. it is very likely that a cave where rows of mummies richly dressed were found, and many jewels, was the secret burying-place of the zippas and the zoques. to these folk death meant only a continuation of the life on earth. a severe legal code the laws of the chibchas were severe--death was meted out to the murderer, and bodily punishment for stealing. a coward was made to look like a woman and do her work, while to an unfaithful wife was administered a dose of red pepper, which, if swallowed, released the culprit from the penalty of death and entitled her to an apology from her husband. the chibchas made no use of cattle, and lived on honey. their houses were built of clay, and were set in the midst of an enclosure guarded by watch-towers. the roofs were of a conical shape, covered with reed mats, and skilfully interlaced rushes were used to close the openings. the chibchas were skilful in working bronze, lead, copper, tin, gold, and silver, but not iron. the saint-germain museum has many specimens of gold and silver articles made by these people. m. uricaechea has still more uncommon specimens in his collection, such as two golden masks of the human face larger than life, and a great number of statuettes of men, and images of monkeys and frogs. the chibchas traded with what they made, exporting the rock salt they found in their own country and receiving in exchange cereals with which to cultivate their own poor soil. they also made curious little ornaments which might have passed for money, but they are not supposed to have understood coinage. they had few stone columns--only large granite rocks covered with huge figures of tigers and crocodiles. humboldt mentions these, and two very high columns, covered with sculpture, at the junction of the carare and magdalena, greatly revered by the natives, were raised probably by the chibchas. a strange mnemonic system on the arrival of the spaniards the peruvians were unacquainted with any system of writing or numeration. the only means of recording events they possessed was that provided by quipos, knotted pieces of string or hide of varying length and colour. according to the length or colour of these cords the significance of the record varied; it was sometimes historical and sometimes mathematical. quipos relating to the history of the incas were carefully preserved by an officer called quipo camayol--literally, "the guardian of the quipos." the greater number were destroyed as monuments of idolatry by the fanatical spanish monks who came over with the conquistadores, but their loss is by no means important, as no study, however profound, could possibly unriddle the system upon which they were based. the peruvians, however, long continued to use them in secret. practical use of the quipos the marquis de nadaillac has placed on record a use to which the quipos were put in more modern times. he says: "a great revolt against the spaniards was organised in . as was found out later, the revolt had been organised by means of messengers carrying a piece of wood in which were enclosed threads the ends of which were formed of red, black, blue, or white fringes. the black thread had four knots, which signified that the messenger had started from vladura, the residence of the chief of the conspiracy, four days after full moon. the white thread had ten knots, which signified that the revolt would break out ten days after the arrival of the messenger. the person to whom the keeper was sent had in his turn to make a knot in the red thread if he agreed to join the confederates; in the red and blue threads, on the contrary, if he refused." it was by means of these quipos that the incas transmitted their instructions. on all the roads starting from the capital, at distances rarely exceeding five miles, rose tambos, or stations for the chasquis or couriers, who went from one post to another. the orders of the inca thus became disseminated with great rapidity. orders which emanated directly from the sovereign were marked with a red thread of the royal llantu (mantle), and nothing, as historians assure us, could equal the respect with which these messages were received. the incas as craftsmen the incan peruvians had made some progress in the metallurgic, ceramic, and textile arts. by washing the sands of the rivers of caravaya they obtained large quantities of gold, and they extracted silver from the ore by means of blast-furnaces. copper also was abundant, and was employed to manufacture bronze, of which most of their implements were made. although it is difficult to know at what period their mining operations were carried on, it is evident that they could only have learned the art through long experience. many proofs are to be found of their skill in jewellery, and amongst these are wonderful statuettes which they made from an amalgam of gold and mercury, afterwards exposed to great heat. a number of curious little ornaments made of various substances, with a little hole bored through them, were frequently found under the huacas--probably talismans. the finest handiwork of the incas was undoubtedly in jewellery; but unfortunately most of the examples of their work in this craft were melted down to assuage the insatiable avarice of the spanish conquerors, and are therefore for ever lost to us. the spade and chisel employed in olden times by the peruvians are much the same as the people use now, but some of their tools were clumsy. their javelins, tomahawks, and other military arms were very futile weapons. some found near the mines of pasco were made of stone. the spinning, weaving, and dyeing of the peruvians were unequalled in aboriginal america, their cloths and tapestries being both graceful in design and strong in texture. stamps of bark or earthenware were employed to fix designs upon their woollen stuffs, and feathers were added to the garments made from these, the combination producing a gay effect much admired by the spaniards. the british museum possesses some good specimens of these manufactures. pottery the peruvians excelled in the potter's art. the pottery was baked in a kiln, and was varied in colour, red, black, and grey being the favourite shades. it was varnished outside, and the vases were moulded in two pieces and joined before heating. much of the work is of great grace and elegance, and the shapes of animals were very skilfully imitated. many drinking-cups of elegant design have been discovered, and some vases are of considerable size, measuring over three feet in height. a simple geometric pattern is usually employed for decoration, but sometimes rows of birds and insects figure in the ceramics. the pottery of the coast people is more rich and varied than that of the inca race proper, and among its types we find vases moulded in the form of human faces, many of them exhibiting so much character that we are forced to conclude that they are veritable portraits. fine stone dishes are often found, as well as platters of wood, and these frequently bear as ornament tasteful carvings representing serpents. on several cups and vases are painted representations of battles between the inca forces and the savages of the eastern forests using bows and arrows; below wander the animals of the forest region, a brightly painted group. the archæological museum of madrid gives a representation of very varied kinds of peruvian pottery, including some specimens modelled upon a series of plants, interesting to botanists. the louvre collections have one or two interesting examples of earthenware, as well as the ethnographical museum of st. petersburg, and in all these collections there are types which are believed to be peculiar to the old world. the trocadero museum has a very curious specimen with two necks called the "salvador." a drawing on the vase represents a man with a tomahawk. the peruvians, like the mexicans, also made musical instruments out of earthenware, and heavy ornaments, principally for the ear. historical sketch of the incan peruvians the inca dominion, as the spaniards found it, was instituted only about a century before the coming of the white man. before that time inca sway held good over scattered portions of the country, but had not extended over the entire territory which in later times was connected with the inca name. that it was founded on the wreck of a more ancient power which once existed in the district of chinchay-suyu there can be little doubt. this power was wielded over a space bounded by the lake of chinchay-cocha on the north and abancay on the south, and extended to the pacific at the valley of chincha. it was constituted by an alliance of tribes under the leadership of the chief of pucara, in the huanca country. a branch of this confederacy, the chanca, pushing southward in a general movement, encountered the inca people of colla-suyu, who, under their leader, pachacutic, a young but determined chieftain, defeated the invaders in a decisive battle near cuzco. in consequence of this defeat the chanca deserted their former allies and made common cause with their victors. together the armies made a determined attack on the huanca alliance, which they broke up, and conquered the northern districts of the chinchay-suyu. thus central peru fell to the inca arms. the inca monarchs inca history, or rather tradition, as we must call it in the light of an unparalleled lack of original documentary evidence, spoke of a series of eleven monarchs from manco ccapac to huaina ccapac, who died shortly before the spanish conquest. these had reigned for a collective period of nearly years. the evidence that these chiefs had reigned was of the best, for their mummified bodies were preserved in the great temple of the sun at cuzco, already described. there they received the same daily service as when in the flesh. their private herds of llamas and slaves were still understood to belong to them, and food and drink were placed before them at stated intervals. clothes were made for them, and they were carried about in palanquins as if for daily exercise. the descendants of each at periodical intervals feasted on the produce of their ancestor's private estate, and his mummy was set in the centre of the diners and treated as the principal guest. the first incas after manco ccapac and his immediate successor, sinchi roca (wise chief), lloque yupanqui comes third in the series. he died while his son was still a child. concerning mayta ccapac, who commenced his reign while yet a minor, but little is known. he was followed by ccapac yupanqui, who defeated the conti-suyu, who had grown alarmed at the great power recently attained by cuzco. the inca and his men were attacked whilst about to offer sacrifice. a second attempt to sack cuzco and divide its spoil and the women attached to the great temple of the sun likewise ended in the total discomfiture of the jealous invaders. with inca roca, the next inca, a new dynasty commences, but it is well-nigh impossible to trace the connection between it and the preceding one. of the origin of inca roca nothing is related save that he claimed descent from manco ccapac. roca, instead of waiting to be attacked in his own dominions, boldly confronted the conti-suyu in their own territory, defeated them decisively at pumatampu, and compelled them to yield him tribute. his successor, yahuarhuaccac, initiated a similar campaign against the colla-suyu people, against whom he had the assistance of the conquered conti-suyu. but at a feast which he held in cuzco before setting out he was attacked by his allies, and fled to the coricancha, or golden temple of the sun, for refuge, along with his wives. resistance was unavailing, and the inca and many of his favourites were slaughtered. the allied tribes which had overrun central peru now threatened cuzco, and had they advanced with promptitude the inca dynasty would have been wiped out and the city reduced to ruins. a strong man was at hand, however, who was capable of dealing with the extremely dangerous situation which had arisen. this was viracocha, a chieftain chosen by the vote of the assembled warriors of cuzco. by a prudent conciliation of the conti-suyu and colla-suyu he established a confederation which not only put an end to all threats of invasion, but so menaced the invaders that they were glad to return to their own territory and place it in a suitable state of defence. viracocha the great with viracocha the great, or "godlike," the period of true inca ascendancy commences. he was the real founder of the enlarged inca dominion. he was elected inca on his personal merits, and during a vigorous reign succeeded in making the influence of cuzco felt in the contiguous southern regions. in his old age he retired to his country seats at yucay and xaquixahuana, and left the conduct of the realm to his son and successor, urco-inca, a weak-minded voluptuary, who neglected his royal duties, and was superseded by his younger brother, pachacutic, a famous character in inca history. the plain of blood the commencement of pachacutic's reign witnessed one of the most sanguinary battles in the history of peru. hastu-huaraca, chief of the antahuayllas, in the chanca country, invaded the inca territory, and encamped on the hills of carmenca, which overlooks cuzco. pachacutic held a parley with him, but all to no purpose, for the powerful invader was determined to humble the inca dynasty to the dust. battle was speedily joined. the first day's fight was indecisive, but on the succeeding day pachacutic won a great victory, the larger part of the invading force being left dead on the field of battle, and hastu-huaraca retreating with five hundred followers only. the battle of yahuar-pampa (plain of blood) was the turning-point in peruvian history. the young inca, formerly known as yupanqui, was now called pachacutic (he who changes the world). the warriors of the south made full submission to him, and came in crowds to offer him their services and seek his alliance and friendship, and he shortly found himself supreme in the territories over which his predecessors had exercised merely a nominal control. the conquest of middle peru hastu-huaraca, who had been commissioned by the allied tribesmen of chinchay-suyu to reduce the incas, now threw in his lot with them, and together conqueror and conquered proceeded to the liberation of the district of chinchay-suyu from the tyranny of the huanca alliance. the reduction of the southern portion of that territory was speedily accomplished. in the valley of xauxa the invaders came upon the army of the huanca, on which they inflicted a final defeat. the inca spared and liberated the prisoners of war, who were numerous. once more, at tarma, were the huanca beaten, after which all resistance appears to have been overcome. the city-state of cuzco was now the dominant power throughout the whole of central peru, a territory miles in length, whilst it exercised a kind of suzerainty over a district of equal extent toward the south-east, which it shortly converted into actual dominion. fusion of races this conquest of central peru led to the fusing of the quichua-speaking tribes on the left bank of the apurimac with the aymara-speaking folk on the right bank, with the result that the more numerous quichua speedily gained linguistic ascendancy over their brethren the aymara. subsequently to this the peoples of southern and central peru, led by inca headmen, swept in a great wave of migration over cerro de pasco, where they met with little or no resistance, and pachacutic lived to be lord over a dominion extending for a thousand miles to the northward, and founder of a great inca colony south of the equator almost identical in outline with the republic of ecuador. two branches of the incas these conquests, or rather race-movements, split up the inca people into two separate portions, the respective centres of which were well-nigh a thousand miles apart. the centre of the northern district was at tumipampa, riopampa, and quito at different periods. the political separation of these areas was only a question of time. geographical conditions almost totally divided the two portions of the empire, a sparsely populated stretch of country miles in extent lying between them (see map, p. .) the laws of pachacutic pachacutic united to his fame as a warrior the reputation of a wise and liberal ruler. he built the great temple of the sun at cuzco, probably on the site of a still older building, and established in its walls the convent in which five hundred maidens were set apart for the service of the god. he also, it is said, instituted the great rite of the ccapac-cocha, at which maize, cloth, llamas, and children were sacrificed in honour of the sun-god. he devised a kind of census, by which governors were compelled periodically to render an account of the population under their rule. this statement was made by means of quipos. agriculture was his peculiar care, and he was stringent in the enforcement of laws regarding the tilling of the soil, the foundation and upkeep of stores and granaries, and the regulation of labour in general. as an architect he took upon himself the task of personally designing the principal buildings of the city of cuzco, which were rebuilt under his instructions and in accordance with models moulded from clay by his own hands. he appears to have had a passion for order, and to him we may be justified in tracing the rigorous and almost grandmotherly system under which the peruvians were living at the time of the arrival of their spanish conquerors. to pachacutic, too, is assigned the raising of the immense fortress of sacsahuaman, already described. he further instituted the order of knighthood known as auqui, or "warrior," entrance to which was granted to suitable applicants at the great feast of ccapac raymi, or festival of the sun. he also named the succession of moons, and erected the pillars on the hill of carmenca by which the season of solstice was found. in short, all law and order which had a place in the peruvian social economy were attributed to him, and we may designate him the alfred of his race. tupac-yupanqui pachacutic's son, tupac-yupanqui, for some time before his father's death acted as his lieutenant. his name signifies "bright" or "shining." his activity extended to every portion of the inca dominion, the borders of which he enlarged, suppressing revolts, subjugating tribes not wholly brought within the pale of inca influence, and generally completing the work so ably begun by his father. "the gibbet" a spirit of cruelty and excess such as was unknown to pachacutic marked the military exploits of tupac. in the valley of huarco, near the pacific coast, for example, he was repulsed by the natives, who were well supplied with food and stores of all sorts, and whose town was well fortified and very strongly situated. tupac constructed an immense camp, or rather town, the outlines of which recalled those of his capital of cuzco, on a hill opposite the city, and here he calmly sat down to watch the gradual starvation of the enemy. this siege continued for three years, until the wretched defenders, driven to despair through want of food, capitulated, relying on the assurance of their conqueror that they should become a part of the inca nation and that their daughters should become the wives of inca youths. the submission of their chiefs having been made, tupac ordered a general massacre of the warriors and principal civilians. at the conquest the spaniards could still see the immense heaps of bones which littered the spot where this heartless holocaust took place, and the name huarco (the gibbet) became indissolubly associated with the district. huaina ccapac tupac died in , and was succeeded by his son huaina ccapac (the young chief). huaina was about twenty-two years of age at the time of his father's death, and although the late inca had named ccapac-huari, his son by another wife, as his successor, the claims of huaina were recognised. his reign was peaceful, and was marked by wise administrative improvements and engineering effort. at the same time he was busily employed in holding the savage peoples who surrounded his empire in check. he favoured the northern colony, and rebuilt tumipampa, but resided at quito. here he dwelt for some years with a favourite son by a wife of the lower class, named tupac-atau-huallpa (the sun makes good fortune). huaina was the victim of an epidemic raging in peru at the time. he was greatly feared by his subjects, and was the last inca who held undisputed sway over the entire dominion. like nezahualcoyotl in mexico, he attempted to set up the worship of one god in peru, to the detriment of all other huacas, or sacred beings. the inca civil war on the death of huaina his two sons, huascar and atauhuallpa, [ ] strove for the crown. before his demise huaina had divided his dominion between his two sons, but it was said that he had wrested quito from a certain chieftain whose daughter he had married, and by whom he had atauhuallpa, who was therefore rightful heir to that province. the other son, huascar, or tupac-cusi-huallpa (the sun makes joy), was born to his principal sister-wife--for, according to inca custom, the monarchs of peru, like those of certain egyptian dynasties, filled with pride of race, and unwilling to mingle their blood with that of plebeians, took spouses from among their sisters. this is the story as given by many spanish chroniclers, but it has no foundation in fact. atauhuallpa was in reality the son of a woman of the people, and huascar was not the son of huaina's sister-wife, but of a wife of less intimate relationship. therefore both sons were on an equality as regards descent. huascar, however, was nearer the throne by virtue of his mother's status, which was that of a royal princess, whereas the mother of atauhuallpa was not officially recognised. huascar by his excesses and his outrages on religion and public decency aroused the people to revolt against his power, and atauhuallpa, discerning his opportunity in this émeute, made a determined attack on the royal forces, and succeeded in driving them slowly back, until at last tumipampa was razed to the ground, and shortly afterwards the important southerly fortress of caxamarca fell into the hands of the rebels. a dramatic situation atauhuallpa remained at caxamarca, and despatched the bulk of his forces into the enemy's country. these drove the warriors of huascar back until the upper courses of the apurimac were reached. huascar fled from cuzco, but was captured, and carried a prisoner with his mother, wife, and children to atauhuallpa. not many days afterwards news of the landing of the spaniards was received by the rebel inca. the downfall of the peruvian empire was at hand. a worthless despotism if the blessings of a well-regulated government were dispensed by the incas, these benefits were assuredly counterbalanced by the degrading despotism which accompanied them. the political organisation of the peruvian empire was in every sense more complete than that of mexico. but in a state where individual effort and liberty are entirely crushed even such an effective organisation as the peruvian can avail the people little, and is merely a device for the support of a calculated tyranny. chapter vii: the mythology of peru the religion of ancient peru the religion of the ancient peruvians had obviously developed in a much shorter time than that of the mexicans. the more ancient character inherent in it was displayed in the presence of deities many of which were little better than mere totems, and although a definite monotheism or worship of one god appears to have been reached, it was not by the efforts of the priestly caste that this was achieved, but rather by the will of the inca pachacutic, who seems to have been a monarch gifted with rare insight and ability--a man much after the type of the mexican nezahualcoyotl. in inca times the religion of the people was solely directed by the state, and regulated in such a manner that independent theological thought was permitted no outlet. but it must not be inferred from this that no change had ever come over the spirit of peruvian religion. as a matter of fact sweeping changes had been effected, but these had been solely the work of the inca race, the leaders of which had amalgamated the various faiths of the peoples whom they had conquered into one official belief. totemism garcilasso el inca de la vega, an early spanish writer on matters peruvian, states that tradition ran that in ante-inca times every district, family, and village possessed its own god, each different from the others. these gods were usually such objects as trees, mountains, flowers, herbs, caves, large stones, pieces of jasper, and animals. the jaguar, puma, and bear were worshipped for their strength and fierceness, the monkey and fox for their cunning, the condor for its size and because several tribes believed themselves to be descended from it. the screech-owl was worshipped for its beauty, and the common owl for its power of seeing in the dark. serpents, particularly the larger and more dangerous varieties, were especially regarded with reverence. although payne classes all these gods together as totems, it is plain that those of the first class--the flowers, herbs, caves, and pieces of jasper--are merely fetishes. a fetish is an object in which the savage believes to be resident a spirit which, by its magic, will assist him in his undertakings. a totem is an object or an animal, usually the latter, with which the people of a tribe believe themselves to be connected by ties of blood and from which they are descended. it later becomes the type or symbol of the tribe. paccariscas lakes, springs, rocks, mountains, precipices, and caves were all regarded by the various peruvian tribes as paccariscas--places whence their ancestors had originally issued to the upper world. the paccarisca was usually saluted with the cry, "thou art my birthplace, thou art my life-spring. guard me from evil, o paccarisca!" in the holy spot a spirit was supposed to dwell which served the tribe as a kind of oracle. naturally the paccarisca was looked upon with extreme reverence. it became, indeed, a sort of life-centre for the tribe, from which they were very unwilling to be separated. worship of stones the worship of stones appears to have been almost as universal in ancient peru as it was in ancient palestine. man in his primitive state believes stones to be the framework of the earth, its bony structure. he considers himself to have emerged from some cave--in fact, from the entrails of the earth. nearly all american creation-myths regard man as thus emanating from the bowels of the great terrestrial mother. rocks which were thus chosen as paccariscas are found, among many other places, at callca, in the valley of the yucay, and at titicaca there is a great mass of red sandstone on the top of a high ridge with almost inaccessible slopes and dark, gloomy recesses where the sun was thought to have hidden himself at the time of the great deluge which covered all the earth. the rock of titicaca was, in fact, the great paccarisca of the sun itself. we are thus not surprised to find that many standing stones were worshipped in peru in aboriginal times. thus arriaga states that rocks of great size which bore some resemblance to the human figure were imagined to have been at one time gigantic men or spirits who, because they disobeyed the creative power, were turned into stone. according to another account they were said to have suffered this punishment for refusing to listen to the words of thonapa, the son of the creator, who, like quetzalcoatl or manco ccapac, had taken upon himself the guise of a wandering indian, so that he might have an opportunity of bringing the arts of civilisation to the aborigines. at tiahuanaco a certain group of stones was said to represent all that remained of the villagers of that place, who, instead of paying fitting attention to the wise counsel which thonapa the civiliser bestowed upon them, continued to dance and drink in scorn of the teachings he had brought to them. again, some stones were said to have become men, as in the old greek creation-legend of deucalion and pyrrha. in the legend of ccapac inca pachacutic, when cuzco was attacked in force by the chancas an indian erected stones to which he attached shields and weapons so that they should appear to represent so many warriors in hiding. pachacutic, in great need of assistance, cried to them with such vehemence to come to his help that they became men, and rendered him splendid service. huacas whatever was sacred, of sacred origin, or of the nature of a relic the peruvians designated a huaca, from the root huacan, to howl, native worship invariably taking the form of a kind of howl, or weird, dirge-like wailing. all objects of reverence were known as huacas, although those of a higher class were also alluded to as viracochas. the peruvians had, naturally, many forms of huaca, the most popular of which were those of the fetish class which could be carried about by the individual. these were usually stones or pebbles, many of which were carved and painted, and some made to represent human beings. the llama and the ear of maize were perhaps the most usual forms of these sacred objects. some of them had an agricultural significance. in order that irrigation might proceed favourably a huaca was placed at intervals in proximity to the acequias, or irrigation canals, which was supposed to prevent them leaking or otherwise failing to supply a sufficiency of moisture to the parched maize-fields. huacas of this sort were known as ccompas, and were regarded as deities of great importance, as the food-supply of the community was thought to be wholly dependent upon their assistance. other huacas of a similar kind were called chichics and huancas, and these presided over the fortunes of the maize, and ensured that a sufficient supply of rain should be forthcoming. great numbers of these agricultural fetishes were destroyed by the zealous commissary hernandez de avendaño. the mamas spirits which were supposed to be instrumental in forcing the growth of the maize or other plants were the mamas. we find a similar conception among many brazilian tribes to-day, so that the idea appears to have been a widely accepted one in south american countries. the peruvians called such agencies "mothers," adding to the generic name that of the plant or herb with which they were specially associated. thus acsumama was the potato-mother, quinuamama the quinua-mother, saramama the maize-mother, and cocamama the mother of the coca-shrub. of these the saramama was naturally the most important, governing as it did the principal source of the food-supply of the community. sometimes an image of the saramama was carved in stone, in the shape of an ear of maize. the saramama was also worshipped in the form of a doll, or huantaysara, made out of stalks of maize, renewed at each harvest, much as the idols of the great corn-mother of mexico were manufactured at each harvest-season. after having been made, the image was watched over for three nights, and then sacrifice was done to it. the priest or medicine-man of the tribe would then inquire of it whether or not it was capable of existing until that time in the next year. if its spirit replied in the affirmative it was permitted to remain where it was until the following harvest. if not it was removed, burnt, and another figure took its place, to which similar questions were put. the huamantantac connected with agriculture in some degree was the huamantantac (he who causes the cormorants to gather themselves together). this was the agency responsible for the gathering of sea-birds, resulting in the deposits of guano to be found along the peruvian coast which are so valuable in the cultivation of the maize-plant. he was regarded as a most beneficent spirit, and was sacrificed to with exceeding fervour. huaris the huaris, or "great ones," were the ancestors of the aristocrats of a tribe, and were regarded as specially favourable toward agricultural effort, possibly because the land had at one time belonged to them personally. they were sometimes alluded to as the "gods of strength," and were sacrificed to by libations of chicha. ancestors in general were deeply revered, and had an agricultural significance, in that considerable tracts of land were tilled in order that they might be supplied with suitable food and drink offerings. as the number of ancestors increased more and more land was brought into cultivation, and the hapless people had their toil added to immeasurably by these constant demands upon them. huillcas the huillcas were huacas which partook of the nature of oracles. many of these were serpents, trees, and rivers, the noises made by which appeared to the primitive peruvians--as, indeed, they do to primitive folk all over the world--to be of the quality of articulate speech. both the huillcamayu and the apurimac rivers at cuzco were huillca oracles of this kind, as their names, "huillca-river" and "great speaker," denote. these oracles often set the mandate of the inca himself at defiance, occasionally supporting popular opinion against his policy. the oracles of the andes the peruvian indians of the andes range within recent generations continued to adhere to the superstitions they had inherited from their fathers. a rare and interesting account of these says that they "admit an evil being, the inhabitant of the centre of the earth, whom they consider as the author of their misfortunes, and at the mention of whose name they tremble. the most shrewd among them take advantage of this belief to obtain respect, and represent themselves as his delegates. under the denomination of mohanes, or agoreros, they are consulted even on the most trivial occasions. they preside over the intrigues of love, the health of the community, and the taking of the field. whatever repeatedly occurs to defeat their prognostics, falls on themselves; and they are wont to pay for their deceptions very dearly. they chew a species of vegetable called piripiri, and throw it into the air, accompanying this act by certain recitals and incantations, to injure some, to benefit others, to procure rain and the inundation of the rivers, or, on the other hand, to occasion settled weather, and a plentiful store of agricultural productions. any such result, having been casually verified on a single occasion, suffices to confirm the indians in their faith, although they may have been cheated a thousand times. fully persuaded that they cannot resist the influence of the piripiri, as soon as they know that they have been solicited in love by its means, they fix their eyes on the impassioned object, and discover a thousand amiable traits, either real or fanciful, which indifference had before concealed from their view. but the principal power, efficacy, and it may be said misfortune of the mohanes consist in the cure of the sick. every malady is ascribed to their enchantments, and means are instantly taken to ascertain by whom the mischief may have been wrought. for this purpose, the nearest relative takes a quantity of the juice of floripondium, and suddenly falls intoxicated by the violence of the plant. he is placed in a fit posture to prevent suffocation, and on his coming to himself, at the end of three days, the mohane who has the greatest resemblance to the sorcerer he saw in his visions is to undertake the cure, or if, in the interim, the sick man has perished, it is customary to subject him to the same fate. when not any sorcerer occurs in the visions, the first mohane they encounter has the misfortune to represent his image." [ ] lake-worship in peru at lake titicaca the peruvians believed the inhabitants of the earth, animals as well as men, to have been fashioned by the creator, and the district was thus sacrosanct in their eyes. the people of the collao called it mamacota (mother-water), because it furnished them with supplies of food. two great idols were connected with this worship. one called copacahuana was made of a bluish-green stone shaped like a fish with a human head, and was placed in a commanding position on the shores of the lake. on the arrival of the spaniards so deeply rooted was the worship of this goddess that they could only suppress it by raising an image of the virgin in place of the idol. the christian emblem remains to this day. mamacota was venerated as the giver of fish, with which the lake abounded. the other image, copacati (serpent-stone), represented the element of water as embodied in the lake itself in the form of an image wreathed in serpents, which in america are nearly always symbolical of water. the lost island a strange legend is recounted of this lake-goddess. she was chiefly worshipped as the giver of rain, but huaina ccapac, who had modern ideas and journeyed through the country casting down huacas, had determined to raise on an island of lake titicaca a temple to yatiri (the ruler), the aymara name of the god pachacamac in his form of pachayachachic. he commenced by raising the new shrine on the island of titicaca itself. but the deity when called upon refused to vouchsafe any reply to his worshippers or priests. huaina then commanded that the shrine should be transferred to the island of apinguela. but the same thing happened there. he then inaugurated a temple on the island of paapiti, and lavished upon it many sacrifices of llamas, children, and precious metals. but the offended tutelary goddess of the lake, irritated beyond endurance by this invasion of her ancient domain, lashed the watery waste into such a frenzy of storm that the island and the shrine which covered it disappeared beneath the waves and were never thereafter beheld by mortal eye. the thunder-god of peru the rain-and-thunder god of peru was worshipped in various parts of the country under various names. among the collao he was known as con, and in that part of the inca dominions now known as bolivia he was called churoquella. near the cordilleras of the coast he was probably known as pariacaca, who expelled the huaca of the district by dreadful tempests, hurling rain and hail at him for three days and nights in such quantities as to form the great lake of pariacaca. burnt llamas were offered to him. but the incas, discontented with this local worship, which by no means suited their system of central government, determined to create one thunder-deity to whom all the tribes in the empire must bow as the only god of his class. we are not aware what his name was, but we know from mythological evidence that he was a mixture of all the other gods of thunder in the peruvian empire, first because he invariably occupied the third place in the triad of greater deities, the creator, sun, and thunder, all of whom were more or less amalgamations of provincial and metropolitan gods, and secondly because a great image of him was erected in the coricancha at cuzco, in which he was represented in human form, wearing a headdress which concealed his face, symbolic of the clouds, which ever veil the thunder-god's head. he had a special temple of his own, moreover, and was assigned a share in the sacred lands by the inca pachacutic. he was accompanied by a figure of his sister, who carried jars of water. an unknown quichuan poet composed on the myth the following graceful little poem, which was translated by the late daniel garrison brinton, an enthusiastic americanist and professor of american archæology in the university of pennsylvania: bounteous princess, lo, thy brother breaks thy vessel now in fragments. from the blow come thunder, lightning, strokes of lightning; and thou, princess, tak'st the water, with it rainest, and the hail or snow dispensest, viracocha, world-constructor. it will be observed that the translator here employs the name viracocha as if it were that of the deity. but it was merely a general expression in use for a more than usually sacred being. brinton, commenting upon the legend, says: "in this pretty waif that has floated down to us from the wreck of a literature now for ever lost there is more than one point to attract the notice of the antiquary. he may find in it a hint to decipher those names of divinities so common in peruvian legends, contici and illatici. both mean 'the thunder vase,' and both doubtless refer to the conception here displayed of the phenomena of the thunderstorm." alluding to peruvian thunder-myth elsewhere, he says in an illuminating passage: "throughout the realms of the incas the peruvians venerated as maker of all things and ruler of the firmament the god ataguju. the legend was that from him proceeded the first of mortals, the man guamansuri, who descended to the earth and there wedded the sister of certain guachimines, rayless ones or darklings, who then possessed it. they destroyed him, but their sister gave birth to twin sons, apocatequil and piguerao. the former was the more powerful. by touching the corpse of his mother he brought her to life, he drove off and slew the guachimines, and, directed by ataguju, released the race of indians from the soil by turning it up with a spade of gold. for this reason they adored him as their maker. he it was, they thought, who produced the thunder and the lightning by hurling stones with his sling. and the thunderbolts that fall, said they, are his children. few villages were willing to be without one or more of these. they were in appearance small, round stones, but had the admirable properties of securing fertility to the fields, protecting from lightning, and, by a transition easy to understand, were also adored as gods of fire as well material as of the passions, and were capable of kindling the dangerous flames of desire in the most frigid bosoms. therefore they were in great esteem as love-charms. apocatequil's statue was erected on the mountains, with that of his mother on one hand and his brother on the other. 'he was prince of evil, and the most respected god of the peruvians. from quito to cuzco not an indian but would give all he possessed to conciliate him. five priests, two stewards, and a crowd of slaves served his image. and his chief temple was surrounded by a very considerable village, whose inhabitants had no other occupation but to wait on him.'" in memory of these brothers twins in peru were always deemed sacred to the lightning. there is an instance on record of how the huillca could refuse on occasion to recognise even royalty itself. manco, the inca who had been given the kingly power by pizarro, offered a sacrifice to one of these oracular shrines. the oracle refused to recognise him, through the medium of its guardian priest, stating that manco was not the rightful inca. manco therefore caused the oracle, which was in the shape of a rock, to be thrown down, whereupon its guardian spirit emerged in the form of a parrot and flew away. it is probable that the bird thus liberated had been taught by the priests to answer to the questions of those who came to consult the shrine. but we learn that on manco commanding that the parrot should be pursued it sought another rock, which opened to receive it, and the spirit of the huillca was transferred to this new abode. the great god pachacamac later peruvian mythology recognised only three gods of the first rank, the earth, the thunder, and the creative agency. pachacamac, the great spirit of earth, derived his name from a word pacha, which may be best translated as "things." in its sense of visible things it is equivalent to "world," applied to things which happen in succession it denotes "time," and to things connected with persons "property," especially clothes. the world of visible things is thus mamapacha (earth-mother), under which name the ancient peruvians worshipped the earth. pachacamac, on the other hand, is not the earth itself, the soil, but the spirit which animates all things that emerge therefrom. from him proceed the spirits of the plants and animals which come from the earth. pachamama is the mother-spirit of the mountains, rocks, and plains, pachacamac the father-spirit of the grain-bearing plants, animals, birds, and man. in some localities pachacamac and pachamama were worshipped as divine mates. possibly this practice was universal in early times, gradually lapsing into desuetude in later days. pachamama was in another phase intended to denote the land immediately contiguous to a settlement, on which the inhabitants depended for their food-supply. peruvian creation-stories it is easy to see how such a conception as pachacamac, the spirit of animated nature, would become one with the idea of a universal or even a partial creator. that there was a pre-existing conception of a creative agency can be proved from the existence of the peruvian name conticsi-viracocha (he who gives origin, or beginning). this conception and that of pachacamac must at some comparatively early period have clashed, and been amalgamated probably with ease when it was seen how nearly akin were the two ideas. indeed, pachacamac was alternatively known as pacharurac, the "maker" of all things--sure proof of his amalgamation with the conception of the creative agency. as such he had his symbol in the great coricancha at cuzco, an oval plate of gold, suspended between those of the sun and the moon, and placed vertically, it may be hazarded with some probability, to represent in symbol that universal matrix from which emanated all things. elsewhere in cuzco the creator was represented by a stone statue in human form. pachayachachic in later inca days this idea of a creator assumed that of a direct ruler of the universe, known as pachayachachic. this change was probably due to the influence of the inca pachacutic, who is known to have made several other doctrinal innovations in peruvian theology. he commanded a great new temple to the creator-god to be built at the north angle of the city of cuzco, in which he placed a statue of pure gold, of the size of a boy of ten years of age. the small size was to facilitate its removal, as peruvian worship was nearly always carried out in the open air. in form it represented a man with his right arm elevated, the hand partially closed and the forefinger and thumb raised, as if in the act of uttering the creative word. to this god large possessions and revenues were assigned, for previously service rendered to him had been voluntary only. ideas of creation it is from aboriginal sources as preserved by the first spanish colonists that we glean our knowledge of what the incas believed the creative process to consist. by means of his word (ñisca) the creator, a spirit, powerful and opulent, made all things. we are provided with the formulæ of his very words by the peruvian prayers still extant: "let earth and heaven be," "let a man be; let a woman be," "let there be day," "let there be night," "let the light shine." the sun is here regarded as the creative agency, and the ruling caste as the objects of a special act of creation. pacari tampu pacari tampu (house of the dawn) was the place of origin, according to the later inca theology, of four brothers and sisters who initiated the four peruvian systems of worship. the eldest climbed a neighbouring mountain, and cast stones to the four points of the compass, thus indicating that he claimed all the land within sight. but his youngest brother succeeded in enticing him into a cave, which he sealed up with a great stone, thus imprisoning him for ever. he next persuaded his second brother to ascend a lofty mountain, from which he cast him, changing him into a stone in his descent. on beholding the fate of his brethren the third member of the quartette fled. it is obvious that we have here a legend concocted by the later inca priesthood to account for the evolution of peruvian religion in its different stages. the first brother would appear to represent the oldest religion in peru, that of the paccariscas, the second that of a fetishistic stone-worship, the third perhaps that of viracocha, and the last sun-worship pure and simple. there was, however, an "official" legend, which stated that the sun had three sons, viracocha, pachacamac, and manco ccapac. to the last the dominion of mankind was given, whilst the others were concerned with the workings of the universe. this politic arrangement placed all the power, temporal and spiritual, in the hands of the reputed descendants of manco ccapac--the incas. worship of the sea the ancient peruvians worshipped the sea as well as the earth, the folk inland regarding it as a menacing deity, whilst the people of the coast reverenced it as a god of benevolence, calling it mama-cocha, or mother-sea, as it yielded them subsistence in the form of fish, on which they chiefly lived. they worshipped the whale, fairly common on that coast, because of its enormous size, and various districts regarded with adoration the species of fish most abundant there. this worship can have partaken in no sense of the nature of totemism, as the system forbade that the totem animal should be eaten. it was imagined that the prototype of each variety of fish dwelt in the upper world, just as many tribes of north american indians believe that the eponymous ancestors of certain animals dwell at the four points of the compass or in the sky above them. this great fish-god engendered the others of his species, and sent them into the waters of the deep that they might exist there until taken for the use of man. birds, too, had their eponymous counterparts among the stars, as had animals. indeed, among many of the south american races, ancient and modern, the constellations were called after certain beasts and birds. viracocha the aymara-quichua race worshipped viracocha as a great culture hero. they did not offer him sacrifices or tribute, as they thought that he, being creator and possessor of all things, needed nothing from men, so they only gave him worship. after him they idolised the sun. they believed, indeed, that viracocha had made both sun and moon, after emerging from lake titicaca, and that then he made the earth and peopled it. on his travels westward from the lake he was sometimes assailed by men, but he revenged himself by sending terrible storms upon them and destroying their property, so they humbled themselves and acknowledged him as their lord. he forgave them and taught them everything, obtaining from them the name of pachayachachic. in the end he disappeared in the western ocean. he either created or there were born with him four beings who, according to mythical beliefs, civilised peru. to them he assigned the four quarters of the earth, and they are thus known as the four winds, north, south, east, and west. one legend avers they came from the cave pacari, the lodging of the dawn. sun-worship in peru the name "inca" means "people of the sun," which luminary the incas regarded as their creator. but they did not worship him totemically--that is, they did not claim him as a progenitor, although they regarded him as possessing the attributes of a man. and here we may observe a difference between mexican and peruvian sun-worship. for whereas the nahua primarily regarded the orb as the abode of the man of the sun, who came to earth in the shape of quetzalcoatl, the peruvians looked upon the sun itself as the deity. the inca race did not identify their ancestors as children of the sun until a comparatively late date. sun-worship was introduced by the inca pachacutic, who averred that the sun appeared to him in a dream and addressed him as his child. until that time the worship of the sun had always been strictly subordinated to that of the creator, and the deity appeared only as second in the trinity of creator, sun, and thunder. but permanent provision was made for sacrifices to the sun before the other deities were so recognised, and as the conquests of the incas grew wider and that provision extended to the new territories they came to be known as "the lands of the sun," the natives observing the dedication of a part of the country to the luminary, and concluding therefrom that it applied to the whole. the material reality of the sun would enormously assist his cult among a people who were too barbarous to appreciate an unseen god, and this colonial conception reacting upon the mother-land would undoubtedly inspire the military class with a resolve to strengthen a worship so popular in the conquered provinces, and of which they were in great measure the protagonists and missionaries. the sun's possessions in every peruvian village the sun had considerable possessions. his estates resembled those of a territorial chieftain, and consisted of a dwelling-house, a chacra, or portion of land, flocks of llamas and pacos, and a number of women dedicated to his service. the cultivation of the soil within the solar enclosure devolved upon the inhabitants of the neighbouring village, the produce of their toil being stored in the inti-huasi, or sun's house. the women of the sun prepared the daily food and drink of the luminary, which consisted of maize and chicha. they also spun wool and wove it into fine stuff, which was burned in order that it might ascend to the celestial regions, where the deity could make use of it. each village reserved a portion of its solar produce for the great festival at cuzco, and it was carried thither on the backs of llamas which were destined for sacrifice. inca occupation of titicaca the rock of titicaca, the renowned place of the sun's origin, naturally became an important centre of his worship. the date at which the worship of the sun originated at this famous rock is extremely remote, but we may safely assume that it was long before the conquest of the collao by the apu-ccapac-inca pachacutic, and that reverence for the luminary as a war-god by the colla chiefs was noticed by tupac, who in suppressing the revolt concluded that the local observance at the rock had some relationship to the disturbance. it is, however, certain that tupac proceeded after the reconquest to establish at this natural centre of sun-worship solar rites on a new basis, with the evident intention of securing on behalf of the incas of cuzco such exclusive benefit as might accrue from the complete possession of the sun's paccarisca. according to a native account, a venerable colla (or hermit), consecrated to the service of the sun, had proceeded on foot from titicaca to cuzco for the purpose of commending this ancient seat of sun-worship to the notice of tupac. the consequence was that apu-ccapac-inca, after visiting the island and inquiring into the ancient local customs, re-established them in a more regular form. his accounts can hardly be accepted in face of the facts which have been gathered. rather did it naturally follow that titicaca became subservient to tupac after the revolt of the collao had been quelled. henceforth the worship of the sun at the place of his origin was entrusted to incas resident in the place, and was celebrated with inca rites. the island was converted into a solar estate and the aboriginal inhabitants removed. the land was cultivated and the slopes of the hills levelled, maize was sown and the soil consecrated, the grain being regarded as the gift of the sun. this work produced considerable change in the island. where once was waste and idleness there was now fertility and industry. the harvests were skilfully apportioned, so much being reserved for sacrificial purposes, the remainder being sent to cuzco, partly to be sown in the chacras, or estates of the sun, throughout peru, partly to be preserved in the granary of the inca and the huacas as a symbol that there would be abundant crops in the future and that the grain already stored would be preserved. a building of the women of the sun was erected about a mile from the rock, so that the produce might be available for sacrifices. for their maintenance, tribute of potatoes, ocas, and quinua was levied upon the inhabitants of the villages on the shores of the lake, and of maize upon the people of the neighbouring valleys. pilgrimages to titicaca titicaca at the time of the conquest was probably more frequented than pachacamac itself. these two places were held to be the cardinal shrines of the two great huacas, the creator and the sun respectively. a special reason for pilgrimage to titicaca was to sacrifice to the sun, as the source of physical energy and the giver of long life; and he was especially worshipped by the aged, who believed he had preserved their lives, then followed the migration of pilgrims to titicaca, for whose shelter houses were built at capacahuana, and large stores of maize were provided for their use. the ceremonial connected with the sacred rites of the rock was rigorously observed. the pilgrim ere embarking on the raft which conveyed him to the island must first confess his sins to a huillac (a speaker to an object of worship); then further confessions were required at each of the three sculptured doors which had successively to be passed before reaching the sacred rock. the first door (puma-puncu) was surmounted by the figure of a puma; the others (quenti-puncu and pillco-puncu) were ornamented with feathers of the different species of birds commonly sacrificed to the sun. having passed the last portal, the traveller beheld at a distance of two hundred paces the sacred rock itself, the summit glittering with gold-leaf. he was permitted to proceed no further, for only the officials were allowed entry into it. the pilgrim on departing received a few grains of the sacred maize grown on the island. these he kept with care and placed with his own store, believing they would preserve his stock, the confidence the indian placed in the virtue of the titicaca maize may be judged from the prevalent belief that the possessor of a single grain would not suffer from starvation during the whole of his life. sacrifices to the new sun the intip-raymi, or great festival of the sun, was celebrated by the incas at cuzco at the winter solstice. in connection with it the tarpuntaita-cuma, or sacrificing incas, were charged with a remarkable duty, the worshippers journeying eastward to meet one of these functionaries on his way. on the principal hill-tops between cuzco and huillcanuta, on the road to the rock of titicaca, burnt offerings of llamas, coca, and maize were made at the feast to greet the arrival of the young sun from his ancient birthplace. molina has enumerated more than twenty of these places of sacrifice. the striking picture of the celebration of the solar sacrifice on these bleak mountains in the depth of the peruvian winter has, it seems, no parallel in the religious rites of the ancient americans. quitting their thatched houses at early dawn, the worshippers left the valley below, carrying the sacrificial knife and brazier, and conducting the white llama, heavily laden with fuel, maize, and coca leaves, wrapped in fine cloth, to the spot where the sacrifice was to be made. when sunrise appeared the pile was lighted. the victim was slain and thrown upon it. the scene then presented a striking contrast to the bleak surrounding wilderness. as the flames grew in strength and the smoke rose higher and thicker the clear atmosphere was gradually illuminated from the east. when the sun advanced above the horizon the sacrifice was at its height. but for the crackling of the flames and the murmur of a babbling stream on its way down the hill to join the river below, the silence had hitherto been unbroken. as the sun rose the incas marched slowly round the burning mass, plucking the wool from the scorched carcase, and chanting monotonously: "o creator, sun and thunder, be for ever young! multiply the people; let them ever be in peace!" the citoc raymi the most picturesque if not the most important solar festival was that of the citoc raymi (gradually increasing sun), held in june, when nine days were given up to the ceremonial. a rigorous fast was observed for three days previous to the event, during which no fire must be kindled. on the fourth day the inca, accompanied by the people en masse, proceeded to the great square of cuzco to hail the rising sun, which they awaited in silence. on its appearance they greeted it with a joyous tumult, and, joining in procession, marched to the golden temple of the sun, where llamas were sacrificed, and a new fire was kindled by means of an arched mirror, followed by sacrificial offerings of grain, flowers, animals, and aromatic gums. this festival may be taken as typical of all the seasonal celebrations. the inca calendar was purely agricultural in its basis, and marked in its great festivals the renewal or abandonment of the labours of the field. its astronomical observations were not more advanced than those of the calendars of many american races otherwise inferior in civilisation. human sacrifice in peru writers ignorant of their subject have often dwelt upon the absence of human sacrifice in ancient peru, and have not hesitated to draw comparisons between mexico and the empire of the incas in this respect, usually not complimentary to the former. such statements are contradicted by the clearest evidence. human sacrifice was certainly not nearly so prevalent in peru, but that it was regular and by no means rare is well authenticated. female victims to the sun were taken from the great class of acllacuna (selected ones), a general tribute of female children regularly levied throughout the inca empire. beautiful girls were taken from their parents at the age of eight by the inca officials, and were handed over to certain female trainers called mamacuna (mothers). these matrons systematically trained their protégées in housewifery and ritual. residences or convents called aclla-huasi (houses of the selected) were provided for them in the principal cities. methods of medicine-men a quaint account of the methods of the medicine-men of the indians of the peruvian andes probably illustrates the manner in which the superstitions of a barbarian people evolve into a more stately ritual. "it cannot be denied," it states, "that the mohanes [priests] have, by practice and tradition, acquired a knowledge of many plants and poisons, with which they effect surprising cures on the one hand, and do much mischief on the other, but the mania of ascribing the whole to a preternatural virtue occasions them to blend with their practice a thousand charms and superstitions. the most customary method of cure is to place two hammocks close to each other, either in the dwelling, or in the open air: in one of them the patient lies extended, and in the other the mohane, or agorero. the latter, in contact with the sick man, begins by rocking himself, and then proceeds, by a strain in falsetto, to call on the birds, quadrupeds, and fishes to give health to the patient. from time to time he rises on his seat, and makes a thousand extravagant gestures over the sick man, to whom he applies his powders and herbs, or sucks the wounded or diseased parts. if the malady augments, the agorero, having been joined by many of the people, chants a short hymn, addressed to the soul of the patient, with this burden: 'thou must not go, thou must not go.' in repeating this he is joined by the people, until at length a terrible clamour is raised, and augmented in proportion as the sick man becomes still fainter and fainter, to the end that it may reach his ears. when all the charms are unavailing, and death approaches, the mohane leaps from his hammock, and betakes himself to flight, amid the multitude of sticks, stones, and clods of earth which are showered on him. successively all those who belong to the nation assemble, and, dividing themselves into bands, each of them (if he who is in his last agonies is a warrior) approaches him, saying: 'whither goest thou? why dost thou leave us? with whom shall we proceed to the aucas [the enemies]?' they then relate to him the heroical deeds he has performed, the number of those he has slain, and the pleasures he leaves behind him. this is practised in different tones: while some raise the voice, it is lowered by others; and the poor sick man is obliged to support these importunities without a murmur, until the first symptoms of approaching dissolution manifest themselves. then it is that he is surrounded by a multitude of females, some of whom forcibly close the mouth and eyes, others envelop him in the hammock, oppressing him with the whole of their weight, and causing him to expire before his time, and others, lastly, run to extinguish the candle, and dissipate the smoke, that the soul, not being able to perceive the hole through which it may escape, may remain entangled in the structure of the roof. that this may be speedily effected, and to prevent its return to the interior of the dwelling, they surround the entrances with filth, by the stench of which it may be expelled. death by suffocation "as soon as the dying man is suffocated by the closing of the mouth, nostrils, &c., and wrapt up in the covering of his bed, the most circumspect indian, whether male or female, takes him in the arms in the best manner possible, and gives a gentle shriek, which echoes to the bitter lamentations of the immediate relatives, and to the cries of a thousand old women collected for the occasion. as long as this dismal howl subsists, the latter are subjected to a constant fatigue, raising the palm of the hand to wipe away the tears, and lowering it to dry it on the ground. the result of this alternate action is, that a circle of earth, which gives them a most hideous appearance, is collected about the eyelids and brows, and they do not wash themselves until the mourning is over. these first clamours conclude by several good pots of masato, to assuage the thirst of sorrow, and the company next proceed to make a great clatter among the utensils of the deceased: some break the kettles, and others the earthen pots, while others, again, burn the apparel, to the end that his memory may be the sooner forgotten. if the defunct has been a cacique, or powerful warrior, his exequies are performed after the manner of the romans: they last for many days, all the people weeping in concert for a considerable space of time, at daybreak, at noon, in the evening, and at midnight. when the appointed hour arrives, the mournful music begins in front of the house of the wife and relatives, the heroical deeds of the deceased being chanted to the sound of instruments. all the inhabitants of the vicinity unite in chorus from within their houses, some chirping like birds, others howling like tigers, and the greater part of them chattering like monkeys, or croaking like frogs. they constantly leave off by having recourse to the masato, and by the destruction of whatever the deceased may have left behind him, the burning of his dwelling being that which concludes the ceremonies. among some of the indians, the nearest relatives cut off their hair as a token of their grief, agreeably to the practice of the moabites, and other nations.... the obsequies of a chief "on the day of decease, they put the body, with its insignia, into a large earthen vessel, or painted jar, which they bury in one of the angles of the quarter, laying over it a covering of potter's clay, and throwing in earth until the grave is on a level with the surface of the ground. when the obsequies are over, they forbear to pay a visit to it, and lose every recollection of the name of the warrior. the roamaynas disenterre their dead, as soon as they think that the fleshy parts have been consumed, and having washed the bones from the skeleton, which they place in a coffin of potter's clay, adorned with various symbols of death, like the hieroglyphics on the wrappers of the egyptian mummies. in this state the skeleton is carried home, to the end that the survivors may bear the deceased in respectful memory, and not in imitation of those extraordinary voluptuaries of antiquity, who introduced into their most splendid festivals a spectacle of this nature, which, by reminding them of their dissolution, might stimulate them to taste, before it should overtake them, all the impure pleasures the human passions could afford them. a space of time of about a year being elapsed, the bones are once more inhumed, and the individual to whom they belonged forgotten for ever." [ ] peruvian myths peru is not so rich in myths as mexico, but the following legends well illustrate the mythological ideas of the inca race: the vision of yupanqui the inca yupanqui before he succeeded to the sovereignty is said to have gone to visit his father, viracocha inca. on his way he arrived at a fountain called susur-pugaio. there he saw a piece of crystal fall into the fountain, and in this crystal he saw the figure of an indian, with three bright rays as of the sun coming from the back of his head. he wore a hautu, or royal fringe, across the forehead like the inca. serpents wound round his arms and over his shoulders. he had ear-pieces in his ears like the incas, and was also dressed like them. there was the head of a lion between his legs, and another lion was about his shoulders. inca yupanqui took fright at this strange figure, and was running away when a voice called to him by name telling him not to be afraid, because it was his father, the sun, whom he beheld, and that he would conquer many nations, but he must remember his father in his sacrifices and raise revenues for him, and pay him great reverence. then the figure vanished, but the crystal remained, and the inca afterwards saw all he wished in it. when he became king he had a statue of the sun made, resembling the figure as closely as possible, and ordered all the tribes he had conquered to build splendid temples and worship the new deity instead of the creator. the bird bride the canaris indians are named from the province of canaribamba, in quito, and they have several myths regarding their origin. one recounts that at the deluge two brothers fled to a very high mountain called huacaquan, and as the waters rose the hill ascended simultaneously, so that they escaped drowning. when the flood was over they had to find food in the valleys, and they built a tiny house and lived on herbs and roots. they were surprised one day when they went home to find food already prepared for them and chicha to drink. this continued for ten days. then the elder brother decided to hide himself and discover who brought the food. very soon two birds, one aqua, the other torito (otherwise quacamayo birds), appeared dressed as canaris, and wearing their hair fastened in the same way. the larger bird removed the llicella, or mantle the indians wear, and the man saw that they had beautiful faces and discovered that the bird-like beings were in reality women. when he came out the bird-women were very angry and flew away. when the younger brother came home and found no food he was annoyed, and determined to hide until the bird-women returned. after ten days the quacamayos appeared again on their old mission, and while they were busy the watcher contrived to close the door, and so prevented the younger bird from escaping. she lived with the brothers for a long time, and became the mother of six sons and daughters, from whom all the canaris proceed. hence the tribe look upon the quacamayo birds with reverence, and use their feathers at their festivals. thonapa some myths tell of a divine personage called thonapa, who appears to have been a hero-god or civilising agent like quetzalcoatl. he seems to have devoted his life to preaching to the people in the various villages, beginning in the provinces of colla-suya. when he came to yamquisupa he was treated so badly that he would not remain there. he slept in the open air, clad only in a long shirt and a mantle, and carried a book. he cursed the village. it was soon immersed in water, and is now a lake. there was an idol in the form of a woman to which the people offered sacrifice at the top of a high hill, cachapucara. this idol thonapa detested, so he burnt it, and also destroyed the hill. on another occasion thonapa cursed a large assembly of people who were holding a great banquet to celebrate a wedding, because they refused to listen to his preaching. they were all changed into stones, which are visible to this day. wandering through peru, thonapa came to the mountain of caravaya, and after raising a very large cross he put it on his shoulders and took it to the hill carapucu, where he preached so fervently that he shed tears. a chief's daughter got some of the water on her head, and the indians, imagining that he was washing his head (a ritual offence), took him prisoner near the lake of carapucu. very early the next morning a beautiful youth appeared to thonapa, and told him not to fear, for he was sent from the divine guardian who watched over him. he released thonapa, who escaped, though he was well guarded. he went down into the lake, his mantle keeping him above the water as a boat would have done. after thonapa had escaped from the barbarians he remained on the rock of titicaca, afterwards going to the town of tiya-manacu, where again he cursed the people and turned them into stones. they were too bent upon amusement to listen to his preaching. he then followed the river chacamarca till it reached the sea, and, like quetzalcoatl, disappeared. this is good evidence that he was a solar deity, or "man of the sun," who, his civilising labours completed, betook himself to the house of his father. a myth of manco ccapac inca when manco ccapac inca was born a staff which had been given to his father turned into gold. he had seven brothers and sisters, and at his father's death he assembled all his people in order to see how much he could venture in making fresh conquests. he and his brothers supplied themselves with rich clothing, new arms, and the golden staff called tapac-yauri (royal sceptre). he had also two cups of gold from which thonapa had drunk, called tapacusi. they proceeded to the highest point in the country, a mountain where the sun rose, and manco ccapac saw several rainbows, which he interpreted as a sign of good fortune. delighted with the favouring symbols, he sang the song of chamayhuarisca (the song of joy). manco ccapac wondered why a brother who had accompanied him did not return, and sent one of his sisters in search of him, but she also did not come back, so he went himself, and found both nearly dead beside a huaca. they said they could not move, as the huaca, a stone, retarded them. in a great rage manco struck this stone with his tapac-yauri. it spoke, and said that had it not been for his wonderful golden staff he would have had no power over it. it added that his brother and sister had sinned, and therefore must remain with it (the huaca) in the lower regions, but that manco was to be "greatly honoured." the sad fate of his brother and sister troubled manco exceedingly, but on going back to the place where he first saw the rainbows he got comfort from them and strength to bear his grief. coniraya viracocha coniraya viracocha was a tricky nature spirit who declared he was the creator, but who frequently appeared attired as a poor ragged indian. he was an adept at deceiving people. a beautiful woman, cavillaca, who was greatly admired, was one day weaving a mantle at the foot of a lucma tree. coniraya, changing himself into a beautiful bird, climbed the tree, took some of his generative seed, made it into a ripe lucma, and dropped it near the beautiful virgin, who saw and ate the fruit. some time afterwards a son was born to cavillaca. when the child was older she wished that the huacas and gods should meet and declare who was the father of the boy. all dressed as finely as possible, hoping to be chosen as her husband. coniraya was there, dressed like a beggar, and cavillaca never even looked at him. the maiden addressed the assembly, but as no one immediately answered her speech she let the child go, saying he would be sure to crawl to his father. the infant went straight up to coniraya, sitting in his rags, and laughed up to him. cavillaca, extremely angry at the idea of being associated with such a poor, dirty creature, fled to the sea-shore. coniraya then put on magnificent attire and followed her to show her how handsome he was, but still thinking of him in his ragged condition she would not look back. she went into the sea at pachacamac and was changed into a rock. coniraya, still following her, met a condor, and asked if it had seen a woman. on the condor replying that it had seen her quite near, coniraya blessed it, and said whoever killed it would be killed himself. he then met a fox, who said he would never meet cavillaca, so coniraya told him he would always retain his disagreeable odour, and on account of it he would never be able to go abroad except at night, and that he would be hated by every one. next came a lion, who told coniraya he was very near cavillaca, so the lover said he should have the power of punishing wrongdoers, and that whoever killed him would wear the skin without cutting off the head, and by preserving the teeth and eyes would make him appear still alive; his skin would be worn at festivals, and thus he would be honoured after death. then another fox who gave bad news was cursed, and a falcon who said cavillaca was near was told he would be highly esteemed, and that whoever killed him would also wear his skin at festivals. the parrots, giving bad news, were to cry so loud that they would be heard far away, and their cries would betray them to enemies. thus coniraya blessed the animals which gave him news he liked, and cursed those which gave the opposite. when at last he came to the sea he found cavillaca and the child turned into stone, and there he encountered two beautiful young daughters of pachacamac, who guarded a great serpent. he made love to the elder sister, but the younger one flew away in the form of a wild pigeon. at that time there were no fishes in the sea, but a certain goddess had reared a few in a small pond, and coniraya emptied these into the ocean and thus peopled it. the angry deity tried to outwit coniraya and kill him, but he was too wise and escaped. he returned to huarochiri, and played tricks as before on the villagers. coniraya slightly approximates to the jurupari of the uapès indians of brazil, especially as regards his impish qualities. [ ] the llama's warning an old peruvian myth relates how the world was nearly left without an inhabitant. a man took his llama to a fine place for feeding, but the beast moaned and would not eat, and on its master questioning it, it said there was little wonder it was sad, because in five days the sea would rise and engulf the earth. the man, alarmed, asked if there was no way of escape, and the llama advised him to go to the top of a high mountain, villa-coto, taking food for five days. when they reached the summit of the hill all kinds of birds and animals were already there. when the sea rose the water came so near that it washed the tail of a fox, and that is why foxes' tails are black! after five days the water fell, leaving only this one man alive, and from him the peruvians believed the present human race to be descended. the myth of huathiacuri after the deluge the indians chose the bravest and richest man as leader. this period they called purunpacha (the time without a king). on a high mountain-top appeared five large eggs, from one of which paricaca, father of huathiacuri, later emerged. huathiacuri, who was so poor that he had not means to cook his food properly, learned much wisdom from his father, and the following story shows how this assisted him. a certain man had built a most curious house, the roof being made of yellow and red birds' feathers. he was very rich, possessing many llamas, and was greatly esteemed on account of his wealth. so proud did he become that he aspired to be the creator himself; but when he became very ill and could not cure himself his divinity seemed doubtful. just at this time huathiacuri was travelling about, and one day he saw two foxes meet and listened to their conversation. from this he heard about the rich man and learned the cause of his illness, and forthwith he determined to go on to find him. on arriving at the curious house he met a lovely young girl, one of the rich man's daughters. she told him about her father's illness, and huathiacuri, charmed with her, said he would cure her father if she would only give him her love. he looked so ragged and dirty that she refused, but she took him to her father and informed him that huathiacuri said he could cure him. her father consented to give him an opportunity to do so. huathiacuri began his cure by telling the sick man that his wife had been unfaithful, and that there were two serpents hovering above his house to devour it, and a toad with two heads under his grinding-stone. his wife at first indignantly denied the accusation, but on huathiacuri reminding her of some details, and the serpents and toad being discovered, she confessed her guilt. the reptiles were killed, the man recovered, and the daughter was married to huathiacuri. huathiacuri's poverty and raggedness displeased the girl's brother-in-law, who suggested to the bridegroom a contest in dancing and drinking. huathiacuri went to seek his father's advice, and the old man told him to accept the challenge and return to him. paricaca then sent him to a mountain, where he was changed into a dead llama. next morning a fox and its vixen carrying a jar of chicha came, the fox having a flute of many pipes. when they saw the dead llama they laid down their things and went toward it to have a feast, but huathiacuri then resumed his human form and gave a loud cry that frightened away the foxes, whereupon he took possession of the jar and flute. by the aid of these, which were magically endowed, he beat his brother-in-law in dancing and drinking. then the brother-in-law proposed a contest to prove who was the handsomer when dressed in festal attire. by the aid of paricaca huathiacuri found a red lion-skin, which gave him the appearance of having a rainbow round his head, and he again won. the next trial was to see who could build a house the quickest and best. the brother-in-law got all his men to help, and had his house nearly finished before the other had his foundation laid. but here again paricaca's wisdom proved of service, for huathiacuri got animals and birds of all kinds to help him during the night, and by morning the building was finished except the roof. his brother-in-law got many llamas to come with straw for his roof, but huathiacuri ordered an animal to stand where its loud screams frightened the llamas away, and the straw was lost. once more huathiacuri won the day. at last paricaca advised huathiacuri to end this conflict, and he asked his brother-in-law to see who could dance best in a blue shirt with white cotton round the loins. the rich man as usual appeared first, but when huathiacuri came in he made a very loud noise and frightened him, and he began to run away. as he ran huathiacuri turned him into a deer. his wife, who had followed him, was turned into a stone, with her head on the ground and her feet in the air, because she had given her husband such bad advice. the four remaining eggs on the mountain-top then opened, and four falcons issued, which turned into four great warriors. these warriors performed many miracles, one of which consisted in raising a storm which swept away the rich indian's house in a flood to the sea. paricaca having assisted in the performance of several miracles, paricaca set out determined to do great deeds. he went to find caruyuchu huayallo, to whom children were sacrificed. he came one day to a village where a festival was being celebrated, and as he was in very poor clothes no one took any notice of him or offered him anything, till a young girl, taking pity on him, brought him chicha to drink. in gratitude paricaca told her to seek a place of safety for herself, as the village would be destroyed after five days, but she was to tell no one of this. annoyed at the inhospitality of the people, paricaca then went to a hill-top and sent down a fearful storm and flood, and the whole village was destroyed. then he came to another village, now san lorenzo. he saw a very beautiful girl, choque suso, crying bitterly. asking her why she wept, she said the maize crop was dying for want of water. paricaca at once fell in love with this girl, and after first damming up the little water there was, and thus leaving none for the crop, he told her he would give her plenty of water if she would only return his love. she said he must get water not only for her own crop but for all the other farms before she could consent. he noticed a small rill, from which, by opening a dam, he thought he might get a sufficient supply of water for the farms. he then got the assistance of the birds in the hills, and animals such as snakes, lizards, and so on, in removing any obstacles in the way, and they widened the channel so that the water irrigated all the land. the fox with his usual cunning managed to obtain the post of engineer, and carried the canal to near the site of the church of san lorenzo. paricaca, having accomplished what he had promised, begged choque suso to keep her word, which she willingly did, but she proposed living at the summit of some rocks called yanacaca. there the lovers stayed very happily, at the head of the channel called cocochallo, the making of which had united them; and as choque suso wished to remain there always, paricaca eventually turned her into a stone. in all likelihood this myth was intended to account for the invention of irrigation among the early peruvians, and from being a local legend probably spread over the length and breadth of the country. conclusion the advance in civilisation attained by the peoples of america must be regarded as among the most striking phenomena in the history of mankind, especially if it be viewed as an example of what can be achieved by isolated races occupying a peculiar environment. it cannot be too strongly emphasised that the cultures and mythologies of old mexico and peru were evolved without foreign assistance or intervention, that, in fact, they were distinctively and solely the fruit of american aboriginal thought evolved upon american soil. an absorbing chapter in the story of human advancement is provided by these peoples, whose architecture, arts, graphic and plastic, laws and religions prove them to have been the equals of most of the asiatic nations of antiquity, and the superiors of the primitive races of europe, who entered into the heritage of civilisation through the gateway of the east. the aborigines of ancient america had evolved for themselves a system of writing which at the period of their discovery was approaching the alphabetic type, a mathematical system unique and by no means despicable, and an architectural science in some respects superior to any of which the old world could boast. their legal codes were reasonable and founded upon justice; and if their religions were tainted with cruelty, it was a cruelty which they regarded as inevitable, and as the doom placed upon them by sanguinary and insatiable deities and not by any human agency. in comparing the myths of the american races with the deathless stories of olympus or the scarcely less classic tales of india, frequent resemblances and analogies cannot fail to present themselves, and these are of value as illustrating the circumstance that in every quarter of the globe the mind of man has shaped for itself a system of faith based upon similar principles. but in the perusal of the myths and beliefs of mexico and peru we are also struck with the strangeness and remoteness alike of their subject-matter and the type of thought which they present. the result of centuries of isolation is evident in a profound contrast of "atmosphere." it seems almost as if we stood for a space upon the dim shores of another planet, spectators of the doings of a race of whose modes of thought and feeling we were entirely ignorant. for generations these stories have been hidden, along with the memory of the gods and folk of whom they tell, beneath a thick dust of neglect, displaced here and there only by the efforts of antiquarians working singly and unaided. nowadays many well-equipped students are striving to add to our knowledge of the civilisations of mexico and peru. to the mythical stories of these peoples, alas! we cannot add. the greater part of them perished in the flames of the spanish autos-de-fé. but for those which have survived we must be grateful, as affording so many casements through which we may catch the glitter and gleam of civilisations more remote and bizarre than those of the orient, shapes dim yet gigantic, misty yet many-coloured, the ghosts of peoples and beliefs not the least splendid and solemn in the roll of dead nations and vanished faiths. bibliography the following bibliography is not intended to be exhaustive, but merely to indicate to those who desire to follow up the matter provided in the preceding pages such works as will best repay their attention. mexico acosta, josé de: historia natural y moral de las yndias. seville, . alzate y ramirez: descripcion de las antiguedades de xochicalco. . bancroft, h. h.: native races of the pacific states of america. . a compilation of historical matter relating to aboriginal america, given almost without comment. useful to beginners. boturini benaduci, l.: idea de una nueva historia general de la america septentrional. madrid, . contains a number of valuable original manuscripts. bourbourg, abbé brasseur de: histoire des nations civilisées du mexique et de l'amérique centrale. paris, - . the abbé possessed much knowledge of the peoples of central america and their ancient history, but had a leaning toward the marvellous which renders his works of doubtful value. charnay, désiré: ancient cities of the new world. london, . this translation from the french is readable and interesting, and is of assistance to beginners. it is, however, of little avail as a serious work of reference, and has been superseded. chevalier, m.: le mexique ancien et moderne. paris, . clavigero, abbé: storia antica del messico. cesena, . english translation, london, . described in text. diaz, bernal: historia verdadera de la conquista de nueva españa. . an eye-witness's account of the conquest of mexico. enock, c. reginald: mexico, its ancient and modern civilisation, &c. london, . gomara, f. l. de: historia general de las yndias. madrid, . herrera, antonio de: historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del mar oceano. vols. madrid, . humboldt, alex. von: vues des cordillères. paris, . english translation by mrs. williams. ixtlilxochitl, f. de alva: historia chichimeca; relaciones. edited by a. chavero. mexico, - . kingsborough, lord: antiquities of mexico. london, . lumholtz, c.: unknown mexico. . macnutt, f. c.: letters of cortés to charles v. london, . nadaillac, marquis de: prehistoric america. translation. london, . noll, a. h.: a short history of mexico. chicago, . nuttall, zelia: the fundamental principles of old and new world civilisations. . payne, e. j.: history of the new world called america. london, - . by far the best and most exhaustive work in english upon the subject. it is, however, unfinished. peñafiel, f.: monumentos del arte mexicano antiguo. berlin, . prescott, w. h.: history of the conquest of mexico. of romantic interest only. prescott did not study mexican history for more than two years, and his work is now quite superseded from a historical point of view. its narrative charm, however, is unassailable. sahagun, bernardino de: historia general de las cosas de nueva españa. mexico, . seler, e.: mexico and guatemala. berlin, . serra, justo (editor): mexico, its social evolution, &c. vols. mexico, . spence, lewis: the civilization of ancient mexico. a digest of the strictly verifiable matter of mexican history and antiquities. all tradition is eliminated, the author's aim being to present the beginner and the serious student with a series of unembellished facts. starr, f.: the indians of southern mexico. . thomas, cyrus, and magee, w. j.: the history of north america. . torquemada, juan de: monarquia indiana. madrid, . bulletin of the bureau of american ethnology contains translations of valuable essays by the german scholars seler, schellhas, förstemann, &c. many of the above works deal with central america as well as with mexico proper. central america cogolludo, d. lopez: historia de yucathan. . very scarce. diego de landa: relacion de cosas de yucatan. paris, . translation by brasseur. dupaix, colonel: antiquités mexicaines. paris, - . maudslay, a. p.: biologia centrali-americana. publication proceeding. contains many excellent sketches of ruins, &c. spence, lewis: the popol vuh. london, . peru enock, c. r.: peru: its former and present civilisation, &c. london, . markham, sir clements r.: history of peru. chicago, . prescott, w. h.: history of the conquest of peru. vols. philadelphia, . squier, e. g.: peru: incidents of travel and exploration in the land of the incas. london, . tschudi, j. j. von: reisen durch südamerika. vols. leipsic, - . travels in peru. london, . vega, garcilasso el inca de la: royal commentaries of the incas, . hakluyt society's publications. in seeking the original sources of peruvian history we must refer to the early spanish historians who visited the country, either at the period of the conquest or immediately subsequent to it. from those spaniards who wrote at a time not far distant from that event we have gained much valuable knowledge concerning the contemporary condition of peru, and a description of the principal works of these pioneers will materially assist the reader who is bent on pursuing the study of peruvian antiquities. pedro de cieza de leon composed a geographical account of peru in , devoting the latter part of his chronicle to the subject of the inca civilisation. this work has been translated into english by sir clements r. markham, and published by the hakluyt society. juan josé de betanzos, who was well acquainted with the quichua language, and who married an inca princess, wrote an account of the incas in , which was edited and printed by señor jimenes de la espada in . polo de ondegardo, a lawyer and politician, wrote his two relaciones in and , making valuable reports on the laws and system of administration of the incas. one of these works has been translated by sir clements r. markham, and printed by the hakluyt society. augustin de zarate, accountant, who arrived in peru with blasco nuñez vela, the first viceroy, is the author of the provincia del peru, which was published at antwerp in . fernando de santillan, judge of the linia audience, contributed an interesting relacion in , edited and printed in by señor jimenes de la espada. juan de matienzo, a lawyer contemporary with ondegardo, was the author of the valuable work gobierno de el peru, not yet translated. christoval de molina, priest of cuzco, wrote an interesting story of inca ceremonial and religion between and , which has been published by the hakluyt society. the translator is sir c. r. markham. miguel cavello balboa, of quito, gives us the only particulars we possess of indian coast history, and the most valuable information on the war between huascar and atauhuallpa, in his splendid miscellanea austral, , translated into french in by ternaux-compans. a jesuit priest, josé de acosta, compiled a natural history of the indies, which was published for the first time in . an english translation of the work is provided by the hakluyt society. fernando montesinos in his memorias antiguas historiales del peru and anales memorias nuevas del peru quotes a long line of sovereigns who preceded the incas. these works were translated into french in . relacion de los costombras antiguas de los naturales del peru, written by an anonymous jesuit, records an account of inca civilisation. the work was published in spain in . another jesuit, francisco de avila, wrote on the superstitions of the indians of huarochiri and their gods. his work was translated into english and published by the hakluyt society. pablo josé de arriaga, a priest who policed the country, destroying the false gods, compiled in extirpacion de la idolatria del peru, describing the downfall of the ancient inca religion. antonio de la calancha compiled an interesting history of the incas in his work on the order of st. augustine in peru ( - ). in his historia de copacabana y de su milagrosa imagen ( ) alonzo ramos gavilan disclosed much information concerning the colonists during the time of the inca rule. a valuable history of the incas is provided by garcilasso el inca de la vega in his commentarios reales. the works of previous authors are reviewed, and extracts are given from the compilations of the jesuit blas valera, whose writings are lost. the english translation is published by the hakluyt society. relacion de antiguedades deste reyno del peru, by pachacuti yamqui salcamayhua, an indian of the collao, was translated into english by sir c. r. markham, and published by the hakluyt society. the historia del reino del quinto, compiled by juan de velasco, was translated into french by ternaux-compans in . antonio de herrera gives a brief account of the history and civilisation of the inca people in his general history of the indies. in his history of america robertson was the first to compile a thorough account of the incas. prescott, however, in eclipsed his work by his own fascinating account. sir arthur helps has also given a résumé of inca progress in his spanish conquest ( ). the peruvian sebastian lorente published in a history of ancient peru, which presents the subject more broadly than the narratives of the american and english authors, and as the result of many years of further research he contributed a series of essays to the revista peruana. one of the best works dealing with the antiquities of the inca period is antiguedades peruanas, by don mariano rivero (english translation by dr. hawkes, ). the compilation on peru by e. g. squier ( ), and a similar narrative by c. weiner (paris, ), both of which stand in accuracy above the others, are also worthy of mention. the work of reiss and stubel, narrating their excavations at ancon, is richly presented in three volumes, with plates. the works of sir clements markham are the best guide to english scholars on the subject. index and glossary note on the pronunciation of the mexican, mayan, and peruvian languages mexican as the spanish alphabet was that first employed to represent mexican or nahuatl phonology, so mexican words and names must be pronounced, for the most part, according to the castilian system. an exception is the letter x, which in spanish is sometimes written as j and pronounced as h aspirate; and in nahuatl sometimes as in english, at other times as sh or s. thus the word "mexico" is pronounced by the aboriginal mexican with the hard x, but by the spaniard as "may-hee-co." the name of the native author ixtlilxochitl is pronounced "ishtlilshotshitl," the ch being articulated as tsh, for euphony. xochicalco is "so-chi-cal-co." the vowel sounds are pronounced as in french or italian. the tl sound is pronounced with almost a click of the tongue. mayan the maya alphabet consists of twenty-two letters, of which c, ch, k, pp, th, tz are peculiar to the language, and cannot be properly pronounced by europeans. it is deficient in the letters d, f, g, j, q, r, s. the remaining letters are sounded as in spanish. the letter x occurring at the beginning of a word is pronounced ex. for example, xbalanque is pronounced "exbalanke." the frequent occurrence of elisions in spoken maya renders its pronunciation a matter of great difficulty, and the few grammars on the language agree as to the hopelessness of conveying any true idea of the exact articulation of the language by means of written directions. norman in his work entitled rambles in yucatan remarks: "this perhaps accounts for the disappearance of all grammars and vocabularies of the maya tongue from the peninsula of yucatan, the priests finding it much easier to learn the language directly from the indian than to acquire it from books." peruvian the two languages spoken in peru in ancient times were the quichua, or inca, and the aymara. these still survive. the former was the language of the inca rulers of the country, but both sprang from one common linguistic stock. as these languages were first reduced to writing by means of a european alphabet, their pronunciation presents but little difficulty, the words practically begin pronounced as they are written, having regard to the "continental" pronunciation of the vowels. in quichua the same sound is give to the intermediate c before a consonant and to the final c, as in "chacra" and "pachacamac." the general accent is most frequently on the penultimate syllable. index and glossary a aac, prince. in the story of queen móo, , - , acalan. district in guatemala; race-movements and, acllacuna (selected ones). body of maidens from whom victims for sacrifice were taken in peru, aclla-huasi. houses in which the acllacuna lived, acolhuacan. district in mexico, acolhuans (or acolhuaque) (people of the broad shoulder). mexican race, ; said to have founded mexico, ; a pure nahua race, perhaps the toltecs, ; their supremacy, acolhuaque. see acolhuans acosta, josé de. work on mexican lore, acsumama. guardian spirit of the potato plant in peru, acxitl. toltec king, son of huemac ii, , acxopil. ruler of the kiche, - agoreros (or mohanes). members of peruvian tribes who claimed power as oracles, - , ahuizotl. mexican king, ah-zotzils. a maya tribe, akab-sib (writing in the dark). a bas-relief at el castillo, chichen-itza, aké. maya ruins at, - america. superficial resemblance between peoples, customs, and art-forms of asia and, ; civilisation, native origin of, - , , ; animal and plant life peculiar to, ; man, origin of, in, ; geographical connection between asia and, ; traditions of intercourse between asia and, ; chinese fu-sang and, ; possible chinese and japanese visits to, - ; coronado's expedition to, ; legends of intercourse between europe and, ; "great ireland" probably the same as, ; st. brandan's voyage and, ; reached by early norsemen, ; the legend of madoc and, - ; early belief in, respecting incursions from the east, ; prophecy of chilan balam re coming of white men to, america, central. indigenous origin of civilisation of, ; legend of toltec migration to, anahuac (by the water). native name of the mexican plateau, . see mexico ancestor-worship in peru, andeans. the prehistoric civilisation of, - ; architectural remains of, antahuayllas. peruvian tribe, antilia. legends of, have no connection with american myth, anti-suyu. one of the four racial divisions of ancient peru, apinguela. island on lake titicaca; huaina ccapac and the lake-goddess and, apocatequil. peruvian thunder-god, the "prince of evil"; in a creation-myth, - apu-ccapac (sovereign chief). title of the inca rulers, "apu-ollanta." a drama-legend of the incas, - apurimac (great speaker). river in peru; regarded as an oracle, aqua. a bird-maiden; in the myth of origin of the canaris, arara (fire-bird). same as kinich-ahau, which see architecture. i. of the nahua, - . ii. of the maya, - , - ; the most individual expression of the people, ; yucatan exhibits the most perfect specimens, and the decadent phase, ; methods of building, - ; ignorance of some first principles, ; mural decoration, ; pyramidal buildings, ; definiteness of design, ; architectural districts, ; not of great antiquity, ; father burgoa on the palace at mitla, - . iii. of the incas, - ; the art in which the race showed greatest advance, ; sir clements markham on, arriaga, p. j. de. on stone-worship in peru, art. early american, superficial resemblance to that of asia, ; native origin and unique character of american, - ; toltec, ; peruvians weak in, asia. origin of early american culture erroneously attributed to, ; man originally came to america from, ; former land-connection between america and, ; traditions of intercourse between america and, ataguju. supreme divinity of the peruvians; in a creation-myth, atamalqualiztli (fast of porridge-balls and water). nahua festival, atatarho. mythical wizard-king of the iroquois, atauhuallpa. son of the inca huaina ccapac; strives for the crown with huascar, - atl (water). mexican deity; often confounded with the moon-goddess, atlantis. legends of, have no connection with american myth, auqui (warrior). peruvian order of knighthood; instituted by pachacutic, avendaño, hernandez de. and peruvian fetishes, avilix. the god assigned to balam-agab in the kiche story of the creation, ; turned into stone, axaiacatzin, king. father of chachiuhnenetzin, the vicious wife of nezahualpilli, axayacatl. mexican king, aymara. peruvian race, - ; fusion with quichua, - azangaro. the sondor-huasi at, azcapozalco. mexican town, ; rivalry with tezcuco, ; aztecs and, aztecs (or aztecâ) (crane people). a nomad mexican tribe, , - ; racial affinities, ; character, - ; tlascalans and, ; founders of tenochtitlan (mexico), ; their science, ; in bondage to colhuacan, ; allied with tecpanecs, ; war with tecpanecs, ; development of the empire, ; commercial expansion, ; their tyranny, - ; their conception of eternity, ; the priesthood, - ; idea of the origin of mankind, ; a migration myth of, aztlan (crane land). traditional place of origin of nahua, ; aztecs and, , b bacabs. genii in maya mythology, balam-agab (tiger of the night). one of the first men of the popol vuh myth, , balam-quitze (tiger with the sweet smile). an ancestor of the maya, ; one of the first men of the popol vuh myth, , balon zacab. form of the maya rain-god, bat. typical of the underworld, bat-god. maya deity, known also as camazotz, - birth-cycle. in mexican calendar, , bochica. sun-god of the chibchas, bogota. city at which the zippa of the chibchas lived, boturini benaduci, l. his work on mexican lore, bourbourg, the abbé brasseur de. version of nahua flood-myth, - brandan, st. probable voyage to america, brinton, d. g. theory as to the toltecs, ; on quetzalcoatl, ; translation of a poem on the peruvian thunder-god myth, and comments on the myth, - burgoa, father. account of a confession ceremony, - ; description of mitla, - c cabrakan (earthquake). son of vukub-cakix; in a kiche myth in the popol vuh, , , - cabrera, don felix. and the popol vuh, cachapucara. hill; thonapa and, - caha-paluma (falling water). one of the first women of the popol vuh myth, cakixa (water of parrots). one of the first women of the popol vuh myth, cakulha-hurakan (lightning). a sub-god of hurakan, calderon, don josé. and palenque, calendar. i. the mexican, - ; an essential feature in the national life, ; resemblance to maya and zapotec calendric systems, , ; possible toltec origin, ; the year, ; the "binding of years," , ; the solar year, ; the nemontemi, ; the "birth-cycle," , ; the cempohualli, or "months," - ; the ecclesiastical system, ; the xiumalpilli, ; the ceremony of toxilmolpilia, . ii. the maya; similarities to calendar of the nahua, , . iii. the peruvian, - , callca. place in peru; sacred rocks found at, camaxtli. war-god of the tlascalans, camazotz. the bat-god, called also zotzilaha chimalman, - , ; a totem of the ahzotzils, a maya tribe, camulatz. bird in the kiche story of the creation, canaris. indian tribe; the myth of their origin, - canek. king of chichen-itza; the story of, cannibalism. among the mexicans, capacahuana. houses for pilgrims to titicaca at, carapucu. i. hill; in myth of thonapa, . ii. lake; in myth of thonapa, caravaya. mountain; in myth of thonapa, carmenca. the hill of, at cuzco; pillars on, for determining the solstices, - , caruyuchu huayallo. peruvian deity to whom children were sacrificed; in a myth of paricaca, casa del adivino (the prophet's house). ruin at uxmal, called also "the dwarf's house," ; the legend relating to, - casa del gobernador (governor's palace). ruin at uxmal, casas grandes (large houses). mexican ruin, castillo, el. ruined pyramid-temple at chichen-itza, , cauac. a minor maya deity, cavillaca. a maiden; the myth of coniraya viracocha and, - caxamarca. inca fortress, cay hun-apu (royal hunter). the kakchiquels and the defeat of, ccapac-cocha. sacrificial rite, instituted by pachacutic, ccapac-huari. eleventh inca, , ccapac raymi. the chief peruvian festival, ; auqui, order of knighthood, conferred at, ccapac situa (or ccoya raymi) (moon feast). peruvian festival, ccapac yupanqui. fifth inca, ccompas. agricultural fetishes of the peruvians, cempohualli. the mexican month, centeotl. i. group of maize-gods, . ii. a male maize-spirit, , ; god e similar to, . iii. mother of ii, known also as teteoinnan and tocitzin, , centzonuitznaua. mythical indian tribe; in myth of huitzilopochtli's origin, - chac. maya rain-god, tutelar of the cast, ; has affinities with tlaloc, ; god k not identical with, chacamarca. river in peru; thonapa and, chachiuhnenetzin. wife of nezahualpilli, - chacras. estates dedicated to the sun by the peruvians, chalcas. aztec tribe, chalchihuitlicue (lady of the emerald robe). wife of tlaloc, , , ; assists the maize-goddess, chalchiuh tlatonac (shining precious stone). first king of the toltecs, "chamayhuarisca" (the song of joy). manco ccapac sings, chanca. a peruvian people; and the incas, charnay, d. excavations on the site of teotihuacan, ; excavations at tollan, ; and lorillard, chasca. the peruvian name for the planet venus; the temple of, at cuzco, chiapas. mexican province; the nucleus of maya civilisation lay in, , chibchas. a peruvian race, - chichan-chob. ruin at chichen-itza, chichen-itza. sacred city of the maya; founded by itzaes, ; overthrown by cocomes, , ; assists in conquering cocomes, ; abandoned, ; ruins at, - ; and the story of canek, chichicastenango. the convent of; and the popol vuh, chichics. agricultural fetishes of the peruvians, chichimecs. aztec tribe; invade toltec territory, ; the great migration, ; supreme in toltec country, ; probably related to otomi, ; allied with nahua and adopt nahua language, ; conquered by tecpanecs, chicomecohuatl (seven-serpent). chief maize-goddess of mexico, - ; image of, erroneously called teoyaominqui by early americanists, - chicomoztoc (the seven caverns). nahua said to have originated at, ; and aztec idea of origin of mankind, ; identified with "seven cities of cibola" and the casas grandes, ; parallel with the kiche tulan-zuiva, chicuhcoatl. in the story of the vicious princess, chihuahua. mexican province, chilan balam. maya priest; the prophecy of, chimalmat. wife of vukub-cakix; in a kiche myth, - chimalpahin. mexican chronicler, chimu. the plain of; ruined city on, ; the palace, - ; the ruins display an advanced civilisation, - chinchero. inca ruins at, chipi-cakulha (lightning-flash). a sub-god of hurakan, choima (beautiful water). one of the first women of the popol vuh myth, cholula. sacred city inhabited by acolhuans, , ; the pottery of, chontals. aboriginal mexican race, choque suso. maiden; the myth of paricaca and, chulpas. megalithic mummy tombs of peru, churoquella. a name of the peruvian thunder-god, "citadel," the, at teotihuacan, citallatonac. mexican deity; in a flood-myth, citallinicue. mexican deity; in a flood-myth, citatli (moon). a form of the mexican moon-goddess, citlalpol (the great star). mexican name of the planet venus, citoc raymi (gradually increasing sun). peruvian festival, - ciuapipiltin (honoured women). spirits of women who had died in childbed, , civilisation. i. of mexico, - ; indigenous origin of, ; type of, . ii. of peru, - ; indigenous origin of, , ; inferior to the mexican and mayan, . iii. of the andeans, clavigero, the abbé. his work on mexican lore, - "cliff-dwellers." mexican race related to the nahua, , cliff palace cañon, colorado, coaapan. place in mexico, coatepec. i. mexican province, , . ii. mountain, coati. an island on lake titicaca; ruined temple on, - coatlantona (robe of serpents). a name of coatlicue, huitzilopochtli's mother, coatlicue. mother of huitzilopochtli, - ; as coatlantona, cocamama. guardian spirit of the coca-shrub in peru, cochtan. place in mexico, cocochallo. an irrigation channel; in a myth of paricaca, cocomes. a tribe inhabiting mayapan; overthrow chichen-itza, ; their tyranny and sway, - ; conquered by allies, ; remnant found zotuta, codex perezianus. maya manuscript, cogolludo, d. lopez. and the story of canek, coh, prince. in the story of queen móo, , , cohuatzincatl (he who has grandparents). a pulque-god, colcampata, the, at cuzco. the palace on, colhuacan. i. mexican city, , , . ii. king of; father of the sacrificed princess, colla-suyu. one of the four racial divisions of ancient peru, con. thunder-god of collao of peru, , confession among the mexicans, , ; tlazolteotl the goddess of, ; accounts of the ceremony, - coniraya viracocha. a peruvian nature-spirit; the myth of cavillaca and, - contici (the thunder vase). peruvian deity representing the thunderstorm, conticsi-viracocha (he who gives origin). peruvian conception of the creative agency, conti-suyu. one of the four racial divisions of ancient peru, copacahuana. idol associated with the worship of lake titicaca, copacati. idol associated with the worship of lake titicaca, copal. prince; in legend of foundation of mexico, copan. maya city; sculptural remains at, ; evidence at, of a new racial type, - coricancha (town of gold). temple of the sun at cuzco, - ; built by pachacutic, ; image of the thunder-god in, cortés. lands at vera cruz, ; mistaken for quetzalcoatl, , ; the incident of the death of his horse at peten-itza, cotzbalam. bird in the kiche story of the creation, coxoh chol dialect, coyohuacan. mexican city, coyolxauhqui. daughter of coatlicue, - coyotl inaual. a god of the amantecas; and quetzalcoatl, cozaana. a zapotec deity; in creation-myth, cozcaapa (water of precious stones). a fountain; in a quetzalcoatl myth, cozcatzin codex, cozumel. the island of, creation. mexican conceptions of, - ; the legend given by ixtlilxochitl, - ; the mixtec legend of, - ; the zapotec legend of, - ; the kiche story of, in the popol vuh, ; of man, the popol vuh myth of, - ; of man, a peruvian myth of, ; the inca conception of, - , ; local peruvian myths, - cross, the. a symbol of the four winds in mexico and peru, ; account of the discovery of a wooden, - cuchumaquiq. father of xquiq; in popol vuh myth, cuitlavacas. aztec tribe, curi-coyllur (joyful star). daughter of yupanqui pachacutic; in the drama apu-ollanta, - cuycha. peruvian name for the rainbow; temple of, at cuzco, cuzco (navel of the universe). the ancient capital of the incas, ; and the racial division of peru, ; in the legend of manco ccapac, ; a great culture-centre, ; founded by the sun-god, ; the coricancha at, - ; power under pachacutic, d discovery. american myths relating to the, dresden codex. maya manuscript, drink-gods, mexican, - "dwarf's house, the." ruin at uxmal, ; legend relating to, - e earth-mother. see teteoinnan education. in mexico, - ehecatl (the air). form of quetzalcoatl, ekchuah. maya god of merchants and cacao-planters, , ; god l thought to be, ; probably parallel to yacatecutli, "emerald fowl," the, etzalqualiztli (when they eat bean food). festival of tlaloc, f father and mother gods, mexican, - fire-god, mexican, fish-gods, peruvian, flood-myths, - , - food-gods, mexican, förstemann, dr. and the maya writing, , ; on god l, fu sang and america, g gama, antonio. his work on mexican lore and antiquities, ghanan. name given to god e by brinton, god a of dr. schellhas' system; a death-god, - ; thought to resemble the aztec xipe, god b. doubtless quetzalcoatl, god c. a god of the pole-star, god d. a moon-god, probably itzamna, god e. a maize-god, similar to centeotl, god f. resembles god a, god g. a sun-god, god h. god k. probably a god of the quetzalcoatl group, - god l. probably an earth-god, god m. probably a god of travelling merchants, - god n. probably god of the "unlucky days," god p. a frog-god, goddess i. a water-goddess, goddess o. probably tutelar of married women, gods. connection of, with war and the food-supply, ; nahua conception of the limited productivity of food and rain deities, ; american myth rich in hero-gods, gomara, f. l. de. work on mexican lore, guachimines (darklings). inhabitants of the primeval earth in peruvian myth, guamansuri. the first of mortals in peruvian myth, guatemala. i. the state; the maya of, - . ii. the city; the lost popol vuh found in, gucumatz (serpent with green feathers). kiche form of quetzalcoatl, worshipped in guatemala, , , ; in the kiche story of the creation, gwyneth, owen, father of madoc, h hacavitz. i. the god assigned to mahacutah in the kiche story of the creation, ; turned into stone, . ii. mountain at which the kiche first saw the sun, hakluyt. his english voyages, cited, hastu-huaraca. chieftain of the antahuayllas; defeated by pachacutic, - ; joins with pachacutic, henry vii. his patronage of early american explorers, hernandez, father. and the goddess ix chebel yax, house of bats. abode of the bat-god, ; mentioned in popol vuh myth, house of cold. in the kiche hades, house of darkness. ruin at aké, house of feathers. toltec edifice, house of fire. in the kiche hades, house of gloom. in the kiche hades, , house of lances. in the kiche hades, house of tigers. in the kiche hades, hrdlicka, dr. and mexican cliff-dwellings, huacaquan. mountain; in the myth of origin of the canaris, huacas. sacred objects of the peruvians, huaina ccapac (the young chief). eleventh inca, , - ; and the lake-goddess of titicaca, huamantantac. peruvian deity responsible for the gathering of sea-birds, huanca. peruvian race; allied against the incas, , huancas. agricultural fetishes of the peruvians, huantay-sara. idol representing the tutelary spirit of the maize plant, huarcans. the inca tupac and, huarco (the gibbet). the valley of; the inca tupac and the natives of, huaris (great ones). ancestors of the aristocrats of a tribe in peru; reverence paid to, huarochiri. village; in coniraya myth, huascar, or tupac-cusi-huallpa (the sun makes joy). son of the inca huaina ccapac, ; strives for the crown with atauhuallpa, - huasteca. aboriginal mexican race of maya stock, , - ; probably represent early maya efforts at colonisation, huatenay. river in peru; runs through the intipampa at cuzco, huathiacuri. a hero, son of paricaca; a myth of, - huatulco. place in mexico; toltecs at, huehuequauhtitlan. place in mexico; quetzalcoatl at, huehueteotl (oldest of gods). a name of the mexican fire-god, huehue tlapallan (very old tlapallan). in toltec creation-myth, huehuetzin. toltec chieftain; rebels against acxitl, , huemac ii. toltec king, , ; abdicates, ; opposes huehuetzin, huexotzinco. mexican city, , huexotzincos. aztec tribe, hueymatzin (great hand). toltec necromancer and sage, ; reputed author of the teo-amoxtli, ; and quetzalcoatl, hueytozoztli (the great watch). festival of chicomecohuatl, huichaana. zapotec deity; in creation-myth, , huillcamayu (huillca-river). river in peru; regarded as an oracle, huillcanuta. place in peru, huillcas. sacred objects of the nature of oracles, in peru, huitzilimitzin. in the story of the vicious princess, huitzilopocho. mexican city, huitzilopochtli (humming-bird to the left). aztec god of war, originally a chieftain, , ; and the foundation of mexico, ; the great temple of, at mexico, , ; plots against the toltecs and quetzalcoatl, ; and the legend of the amusing infant and the pestilence, - ; myth of the origin of, - ; associated with the serpent and the humming-bird, - ; as usually represented, ; associated with the gladiatorial stone, ; as mexitli, ; as serpent-god of lightning, associated with the summer, ; in connection with tlaloc, ; the toxcatl festival of, ; the priesthood of, ; in connection with the legend of the sacrificed princess, hun-apu (master, or magician). a hero-god, twin with xbalanque; in a kiche myth, - ; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, , - ; mentioned, hun-came. one of the rulers of xibalba, the kiche hades, , , hunabku. god of the maya, representing divine unity, hunac eel. ruler of the cocomes, hunbatz. son of hunhun-apu, , , hunchouen. son of hunhun-apu, , , hunhun-apu. son of xpiyacoc and xmucane; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, - , , , hunpictok (commander-in-chief of eight thousand flints). the palace of, at itzamal, - hunsa. city at which the zoque of the chibchas lived, hurakan (the one-legged). maya god of lightning; prototype of tlaloc, , ; the mustachioed image of, at itzamal, ; = the mighty wind, in the kiche story of the creation, ; and the creation of man in the second book of the popol vuh, - ; probably same as nahua tezcatlipoca, ; his sub-gods, i icutemal. ruler of the kiche, ilhuicatlan (in the sky). column in temple at mexico, connected with the worship of the planet venus, illatici (the thunder vase). peruvian deity representing the thunderstorm, inca roca. sixth inca, incas (people of the sun). the peruvian ruling race; a composite people, ; place of origin, ; inferior to the mexicans in general culture, ; mythology of, - , - ; character of their civilisation, ; no personal freedom, ; age of marriage, ; their system of mummification, - ; severity of their legal code, ; social system, - ; calendar, - ; religious festivals, ; architecture, - ; architectural remains, - ; irrigation works, ; possessed no system of writing, ; the quipos, - ; as craftsmen, - ; the pottery of, - ; period and extent of their dominion, - ; fusion of the constituent peoples, - ; splitting of the race, ; their despotism, ; religion of, ; sun-worship of, - incas. the rulers of peru, - ; the inca the representative of the sun, ; unlimited power of, ; the moon the mythic mother of the dynasty, inti-huasi. building sacred to the sun in peruvian villages, intihuatana. inca device for marking the date of the sun-festivals, intip raymi (great feast of the sun). peruvian festival, , - intipampa (field of the sun). garden in which the coricancha of cuzco stood, - ipalnemohuani (he by whom men live). mexican name of the sun-god, iqi-balam (tiger of the moon). one of the first men of the popol vuh myth, , irma. district in peru; local creation-myth of, - itzaes. a warlike race, founders of chichen-itza, itzamal. maya city-state in yucatan, , , ; ruins at, - itzamna. maya moon-god, father of gods and men, tutelar of the west, ; founder of the state of itzamal, ; god d probably is, ; the temple of, at itzamal, ; called also kab-ul (the miraculous hand), ; the gigantic image of, at itzamal, ix. a minor maya deity, ix chebel yax. maya goddess; identified with virgin mary by hernandez, ix ch'el. maya goddess of medicine, ixcoatl. mexican king, ixcuiname. mexican goddesses of carnal things, ixtlilton (the little black one). mexican god of medicine and healing, ; called brother of macuilxochitl, ixtlilxochitl, don fernando de alva. mexican chronicler, , ; account of the early toltec migrations, , ; and myths of the toltecs, ; reference to the teo-amoxtli, ; his historia chichimeca and relaciones, , ; his value as historian, ; legend of the creation related by, - izimin chac. the image of cortés' horse, izpuzteque. demon in the mexican other-world, iztacmixcohuatl. father of quetzalcoatl, j jaguar-snake. mixtec deer-goddess; in creation-myth, jalisco. mexican province; cliff-dwellings in, , k kabah. maya city; ruins at, - kab-ul (the miraculous hand). name given to itzamna, kakchiquel dialect, kakchiquels. a maya people of guatemala, - ; and the episode of the defeat of cay hun-apu, "kamucu" (we see). the song of the kiche at the first appearance of the sun, and at death of the first men, kan. a minor maya deity, kanikilak. indian deity, , ki pixab (corner of the earth). name given by the kiche to their land of origin, kiche. a maya people of guatemala, - ; their rulers supreme in guatemala, ; their story of the creation as related in the popol vuh, ; origin of, as related in the popol vuh, - ; fond of ceremonial dances and chants, kiche (or quiche) dialect, , ; the popol vuh originally written in, , "kingdom of the great snake." semi-historical maya empire, kinich-ahau (lord of the face of the sun). same as arara and kinich-kakmo. sun-god of the maya of yucatan, tutelar of the north, kinich-kakmo (sun-bird). i. same as kinich-ahau, which see. ii. the pyramid of, ruin at itzamal, klaproth, h. j. von. and the fu sang fallacy, knuc (palace of owls). ruin at aké, kuicatecs. aboriginal mexican race, ; a medium through which maya civilisation filtered to the north, kukulcan. maya form of quetzalcoatl, , ; regarded as king of mayapan, kumsnöotl. god of the salish indians, l lamacazton (little priests). lowest order of the aztec priesthood, landa, bishop. and the maya alphabet, ; discovers the maya numeral system, "lands of the sun." name given to inca territories, language. mexican or nahuan, - , ; mayan, , ; peruvian, le plongeon, dr. augustus. his theories as to the maya, ; and the maya hieroglyphs, ; his story of queen móo, - leguicano, mancio serra de. and the golden plate from the coricancha, liyobaa. village near mitla; mentioned by father burgoa, lizana, father. and the prophecy of chilan balam, llama. importance of, among the incas, lloque yupanqui. the third inca, lorillard. maya city; architectural remains found at, m macuilxochitl (or xochipilli) (five-flower, source of flowers). god of luck in gaming, ; ixtlilton called brother of, madoc. the legend of, , mahacutah (the distinguished name). one of the first men of the popol vuh myth, , maize-gods. mexican, - ; peruvian, mallinalcas. aztec tribe, mama oullo huaca. wife of manco ccapac, mama-cocha (mother-sea). conception under which the peruvians worshipped the sea, mamacota. name given to lake titicaca by people of the collao, mamacuna. matrons who had charge of the acllacuna, in peru, mamapacha (or pachamama). the peruvian earth-goddess, mamas (mothers). tutelary spirits of the maize and other plants in peru, mames. district in guatemala, man of the sun. quetzalcoatl as, ; other conceptions of, manco. the inca appointed by pizarro; and an oracle, - manco ccapac. i. divine being, son of the life-giver; sent to instruct the primitive peruvians, - ; a legend in connection with, . ii. the first inca, identical with the foregoing, , ; regarded as son of the sun, ; a myth of, - mani. mexican city, founded by the tutul xius, mannikins. in the kiche story of the creation related in the popol vuh, - markham, sir clements. on inca architecture, matlatzincas. aztec tribe, maxtla. i. king of the tecpanecs; and nezahualcoyotl, - . ii. a noble; in the story of the vicious princess, maya. the most highly civilised of ancient american peoples, , ; their culture erroneously stated to be of asiatic origin, ; theory as to toltec relationship, ; sphere of the civilisation, ; the nucleus of the civilisation, - , ; the dialects, ; origin of the race, ; their civilisation self-developed, , ; blood and cultural relationships with nahua, - ; efforts at expansion, - ; climatic influence on the civilisation and religion, ; sources of their history, - ; division of the aristocratic and labouring classes, ; influence of the nahua invasions, ; cleavage between yucatan and guatemala peoples, ; the yucatec race, - ; incidents in migration myths represent genuine experience, ; the race in guatemala, ; the writing system, - ; the manuscripts, - ; the numeral system, ; the mythology, - , - ; the calendar, , , ; the pantheon, , - ; architecture, - ; relationship of the mythology to that of the nahua, ; dr. le plongeon's theories as to, mayapan. city-state in yucatan, ; rises into prominence, , ; overthrown by allies, mayta ccapac. the fourth inca, meahuan, mount. in the kiche myth of vukub-cakix, medicine-men. account of the methods of, among peruvians, - metztli (or yohualticitl) (the lady of night). mexican goddess of the moon, ; in myth of nanahuatl, , mexicatl teohuatzin (mexican lord of divine matters). head of the aztec priesthood, mexico. i. the city; capital of the aztecs, native name tenochtitlan, , ; origin of the name, ; said to have been founded by acolhuans, ; huitzilopochtli and, , ; legends of the foundation of, - ; at the period of the conquest, - ; the annual "bloodless battle" with tlascala, . ii. the state; the civilisation of, , ; possibly reached by early norsemen, mexico-tenochtitlan. native name of city of mexico, mexitli (hare of the aloes). a name of huitzilopochtli, mictecaciuatl. wife of mictlan, mictlan (or mictlantecutli) (lord of hades). i. mexican god of the dead and the underworld, , , - ; god a probably identical with, . ii. the abode of the god mictlan; mitla identified with, . iii. village mentioned by torquemada, migration myths. probably reflect actual migrations, - mitla. maya city, , ; ruins at, - ; identified with mictlan, the mexican hades, ; description of, by father torquemada, ; description of, by father burgoa, - mixcoatl (cloud serpent). aztec god of the chase, - ; camaxtli identified with, mixe. aboriginal mexican race, mixteca. aboriginal mexican race, ; creation-myth of, - ; a medium through which maya civilisation passed north, moche. place in peru; sepulchral mound at, mohanes (or agoreros). members of peruvian tribes who claimed power as oracles, - , moneneque (the claimer of prayer). a name of tezcatlipoca, montezuma ii. mexican emperor, native name motequauhzoma; mentioned, , ; and the coming of cortés, ; in the story of tlalhuicole, - ; in the story of princess papan, - móo, queen. the story of, - moon, the. mythic mother of the inca dynasty, ; temple of, at cuzco, - ; wife of the sun, in the mythology of the chibchas, muluc. a minor maya deity, mummification. among the peruvians, - n nadaillac, marquis de. account of the use of quipos, - nahua (those who live by rule). ancient mexican race, ; civilisation, features in, and character of, , , ; compared with oriental peoples, ; meaning of the name, ; place of origin, - ; route of migrations to mexico, ; theory of toltec influence upon, ; and cliff-dwellers, - ; territories occupied by, ; writing system of, - ; calendric system of, - ; language of, - ; science of, ; form of government, - ; domestic life of, - ; distribution of the component tribes, ; authentic history of the nation, - ; religion, ; tezcatlipoca and, ; influence of the maya civilisation upon, ; culture and religion influenced by climatic conditions, ; invade maya territory, - ; influence maya cleavage, ; in the maya conflict in guatemala, ; the relationship of the mythology of, to that of the maya, ; difference in sun-worship of, from peruvian, - nahuatlatolli. the nahua tongue, nanahuatl (poor leper) (or nanauatzin). mexican god of skin diseases, ; the myth of, ; xolotl probably identical with, nanauatzin. same as nanahuatl, which see nanihehecatl. form of quetzalcoatl, nata. the mexican noah, - nauhollin (the four motions). mexican sacrificial ceremonies, nauhyotl. toltec ruler of colhuacan, nemontemi (unlucky days). in mexican calendar, , nena. wife of nata, the mexican noah, - nexiuhilpilitztli (binding of years). in mexican calendar, , nextepehua. fiend in the mexican other-world, nezahualcoyotl (fasting coyote). king of tezcuco; the story of, - ; his enlightened rule, ; as a poet, ; his theology, ; and his son's offence, ; his palace, ; his villa of tezcotzinco, - nezahualpilli (the hungry chief). i. a manifestation of tezcatlipoca, . ii. son of nezahualcoyotl; story of his wife's crime, - ; in the story of princess papan, nima-kiche. the ancestor of the kiche race; the legend of, ninxor-carchah. place in guatemala; mentioned in popol vuh myth, nitiçapoloa. ceremony connected with worship of centeotl the son, nonohualco. place in mexico; tutul xius may have come from, norsemen. voyages of the, to america, nunnery. the ruin at chichen-itza, - o obsequies. in peru; a description of, - ocosingo. ruined maya city, ollanta. inca chieftain; in the drama apu-ollanta, - ollantay-tampu. prehistoric ruins at, - ; apu-ollanta, the drama legend of, - omacatl (two reeds). mexican god of festivity, - omeciuatl. mexican mother god of the human species, associated with ometecutli, - , ; xmucane the kiche equivalent of, ometecutli (two-lord). father god of the human species, associated with omeciuatl, - , ; xpiyacoc the kiche equivalent of, ometochtli. i. a pulque-god, . ii. a day in the mexican calendar, opochtli (the left-handed). mexican god of fishers and bird-catchers, - oracles in peru, - ; a legend connected with an oracle, - otomi. aboriginal mexican race, , , owen, guttyn. mentioned, oxford codex, p paapiti. island on lake titicaca; huaina ccapac and the lake-goddess and, pacari tampu (house of the dawn). place of origin of four brothers and sisters who initiated the systems of worship and civilised peru, , pacaw. a sorcerer mentioned in popol vuh myth, paccariscas. holy places of origin of the peruvian tribes, , , pachacamac. i. the supreme divinity of the incas, known also as pacharurac, , - ; not a primitive conception, ; in the local creation-myth of irma, - ; the ccapac raymi the national festival of, ; yatiri the aymara name for, ; symbol of, in the coricancha, ; regarded as son of the sun, ; daughters of, in the coniraya myth, . ii. sacred city of the incas, ; ruins of, ; in the coniraya myth, pachacamama (earth-mother). name given by the incas to their conception of the earth, pachacta unanchac. inca device for determining the solstices, - pachacutic (or yupanqui pachacutic) (he who changes the world). ninth inca; in the drama apu-ollanta, - ; defeats hastu-huaraca, , - ; formerly known as yupanqui, ; his extensive dominion, ; his achievements as ruler, - ; a man like the mexican nezahualcoyotl, ; and the legend of the stones that turned into warriors, ; and the thunder-god, ; and the conception of the creator, ; introduces sun-worship, ; the vision of, - pachamama (or mamapacha) (earth-mother). the peruvian earth-goddess, pacharurac. a name of pachacamac, which see pachayachachic. a form of pachacamac, regarded as direct ruler of the universe, , ; viracocha called, "palace of owls." ruin at aké, palace, the, at palenque, - palenque. maya city, , , - ; the palace at, - ; temple of inscriptions at, ; temple of the sun, ; temple of the cross, ; temple of the cross no. ii, ; "tablet of the cross" at, , - palpan. hill near tollan; excavations at, papantzin. sister of montezuma ii; the story of her return from the tomb, - papaztac (the nerveless). a pulque-god, pariacaca. i. a name of the peruvian thunder-god, - ; and the lake of pariacaca, . ii. the lake of, paricaca. a hero, father of huathiacuri; in the huathiacuri myth, - ; in a flood-myth, - ; and the choque suso myth, paris (or tellerio-remensis) codex, patecatl. a pulque-god, "path of the dead, the," at teotihuacan, payne, e. j. on the origin of the maya culture, ; on the origin of the nahua, ; on the toltecs, ; on the teoyaominqui fallacy, - peru. the civilisation of, , - ; the country, - ; the people, - ; the mythology, - , - ; government, - , ; laws and customs, - ; the calendar, - ; the festivals, ; architecture and architectural remains, , - ; irrigation works, ; no writing or numeral system, ; craftsmanship, , - ; history, - ; religion, - ; human sacrifice, peten-itza. maya city, founded by a prince of chichen-itza, ; the incident of cortés and his horse at, - ; a city "filled with idols," petlac. place mentioned in myth of huitzilopochtli's origin, piedras negras. ruined maya city, "pigeon house." ruin at uxmal, piguerao. peruvian deity, brother of apocatequil; in a creation-myth, pillan. thunder-god of aborigines of chile, analogous to tlaloc, pillco-puncu. door to be passed before reaching rock of titicaca, pinturas. mexican hieroglyphs, or picture-writing, , - pipil dialect, piqui-chaqui (flea-footed). servant of ollanta, pissac. ruined inca fortress at, pitu salla. guardian of yma sumac, pizarro, francisco. conqueror of peru, pizarro, pedro. cousin of francisco pizarro, "place of fruits." valley in which tollan stood, pleiades. kiche myth of the origin of, pocomams. district in guatemala, popocatepetl. the mountain; sacred to tlaloc, popolcan. aboriginal mexican race, "popol vuh" (the collection of written leaves). a volume of maya-kiche mythology and history, , , ; description, - ; genuine character, ; probable date of composition, ; antiquity, , ; the gods and others mentioned in, - ; probably a metrical composition originally, - . the first book: the creation, ; the downfall of man, - ; story of vukub-cakix, - ; the undoing of zipacna, - ; the overthrow of cabrakan, - ; the creation-story probably the result of the fusion of several myths, . the second book: hunhun-apu and vukub-hunapu descend to the underworld, - ; hunhun-apu and xquiq, ; birth and exploits of hun-apu and xbalanque, - ; the hero-brothers in xibalba, and the discomfiture of the lords of hell, - ; the conception in this book common to other mythologies, ; the savage dread of death probably responsible for the conception of its vanquishment, ; other sources of the myth, . the third book: man is created, ; woman is created, ; gods are vouchsafed to man, ; tohil provides fire, - ; the race is confounded in speech and migrates, ; the sun appears, ; death of the first men, ; resemblance of the myth to those of other american peoples, ; similarity of the migration-story to others, - ; probable origin of the migration-myth, - . the fourth book, - potosi. peruvian city, powel. history of wales, cited, poyauhtecatl, mount. in quetzalcoatl myth, ppapp-hol-chac (the house of heads and lightnings). ruin at itzamal, priesthood, mexican, - ; power of, ; beneficent ministrations of, ; revenues of, ; education conducted by, - ; orders of, ; rigorous existence of, - pucara. peruvian fortress-city; leader in the huanca alliance, pueblo indians. probably related to nahua, pulque. the universal mexican beverage, pulque-gods, - puma-puncu. door to be passed before reaching rock of titicaca, puma-snake. mixtec deer-god; in creation-myth, pumatampu. place in peru; inca roca defeats the conti-suyu at, purunpacha. the period after the deluge when there was no king, in peru, pyramid of sacrifice. ruin at uxmal, q quäaqua. sun-god of the salish indians, quacamayo birds. in a myth of the canaris indians, quaquiutl. indian tribe, quatlapanqui (the head-splitter). a pulque-god, quatavita, the lake of. the chibchas and, quauhquauhtinchan (house of the eagles). sacrifice to the sun in, quauhtitlan. place mentioned in legend of quetzalcoatl's journey from tollan, quauhxicalli (cup of the eagles). mexican sacrificial stone, , quauitleua. festival of tlaloc, quauitlicac. in myth of huitzilopochtli's origin, , quemada. place in mexico; cyclopean ruins at, quenti-puncu. door to be passed before reaching rock of titicaca, quetzalcoatl ("feathered serpent" or "feathered staff"). the kukulcan of the maya, god of the sun, the wind, and thunder, common to mexican and maya mythologies; mexican legend of, - ; probably cognate with yetl, ; king of the toltecs in nahua myth, ; tezcatlipoca and, , ; huitzilopochtli, tezcatlipoca, and tlacahuepan plot against, ; quits tollan and proceeds to tlapallan, - , ; probably a god of pre-nahua people, ; "father of the toltecs," ; enlightened sway as ruler of tollan, ; consequences of his exile, ; legend of, in connection with the morning star, , ; whether rightly considered god of the sun, ; conception of, as god of the air, ; as wind-god and god of fire and light, - ; whether originating from a "culture-hero," ; the "st. thomas" idea, ; as man of the sun, - ; as usually represented, ; regarded as a liberator, ; various conceptions of, - , ; probable northern origin, ; hueymatzin and, ; the worship of, - ; the priesthood of, ; place in the mexican calendar, ; vogue among maya, , ; regarded as foreign to the soil in mexico, ; differences in the maya and nahua conceptions of, ; called kukulcan by the maya, ; called gucumatz in guatemala, , ; god b probably is, quetzalpetlatl. female counterpart of quetzalcoatl, quiche. same as kiche, which see quichua. peruvian race, - ; fusion of, with aymara, - quichua-aymara. the inca race. see incas quichua chinchay-suyu. one of the four racial divisions of ancient peru, quinames. earth-giants; in toltec creation-myth, quineveyan. grotto, mentioned in aztec migration-myth, quinuamama. guardian spirit of the quinua plant, in peru, quipos. cords used by the incas for records and communications, - ; account of the use of, by the marquis de nadaillac, - quito. sometime centre of the northern district of peru, , r raxa-cakulha. a sub-god of hurakan, religion. i. of the nahua, - ; the worship of one god, - . ii. of the peruvians, ; inferior to the mexican, ; the legend relating to the evolution of, - riopampa. sometime centre of the northern district of peru, rosny, léon de. research on the maya writing by, - rumi-ñaui. inca general; in the drama apu-ollanta, - s sacrifice, human. in connection with teotleco festival, ; with toxcatl festival, - ; with tlaloc, - ; displaced by "substitution of part for whole," , ; in the xalaquia festival, ; in connection with xipe, ; xolotl the representative of, ; in worship of the planet venus, ; in sun-worship, - , ; the keynote of nahua mythology, ; among the maya, ; at mitla, described by father burgoa, - ; among the chibchas, ; in peru, sacrificed princess, the legend of the, - sacsahuaman. inca fortress; the ruins of, ; built by pachacutic, sahagun, father bernardino. his work on mexican lore, - ; account of the teotleco festival, - ; account of a confession ceremony, - salish indians, "salvador," the. a curious inca vase, san carlos. the university of, in guatemala; the lost popol vuh found in, san lorenzo. village; in a myth of paricaca, saramama. guardian spirit of the maize plant, in peru, schellhas, dr. and the maya writing, ; and names of the maya deities, scherzer, dr. c. finds the lost popol vuh, sea. worshipped by the peruvians as mama-cocha, seler, dr. on quetzalcoatl, - ; on xolotl, - ; and the maya writing, , ; on god k, - ; on god p, ; on mitla and the origin of the american race, serpent. varied significance of the, , , ; association of huitzilopochtli with, - ; associated with the bird, seven caverns. myth of the, sierra nevada (mountain of snow). in legend of quetzalcoatl's migration, sinchi roca (wise chief). the second inca, skinner, j. account of the discovery of a wooden cross, - ; on mohanes, - ; account of the methods of medicine men in peru, - ; account of obsequies among a peruvian tribe, - släalekam. sun-god of the salish indians, sondor-huasi. an inca building bearing a thatched roof, soto, hernando de. mentioned, squier, e. g. on the coricancha, stephens, j. l. legend of the dwarf related by, - ; story of the unknown city, stones, worship of, in peru, - suarez. lorillard city discovered by, sun. prophecy as to coming of white men from, ; symbolised as a serpent by hopi indians, ; pictured as abode of quetzalcoatl, ; "father" of totonacs, ; quaquiutl myth respecting, - ; worship of the, in mexico, - ; the supreme mexican deity, ; the heart his special sacrifice, ; blood his especial food, ; destruction of successive suns, ; human sacrifice to, in mexico, - ; as god of warriors, ; conception of the warrior's after-life with, ; the feast of totec, the chief mexican festival of, - ; the supreme maya deity, ; in inca creation-myth, , ; in the mythology of the chibchas, ; worship of, in peru, , - ; the possessions of, and service rendered to, - ; and the rock of titicaca, - ; especially worshipped by the aged, ; the intip-raymi festival of, - ; the citoc-raymi festival, - ; human sacrifice to, in peru, sunrise, land of. in early american belief, "suns," the four. in aztec theology, susur-pugaio. a fountain; and the vision of yupanqui, t tabasco. same as tlapallan, which see "tablet of the cross," , - tancah. maya city, tapac-yauri. the royal sceptre of the incas, tarahumare. mexican tribe; and cliff-dwellings, tarma. place in peru; huanca defeated at, tarpuntaita-cuma. incas who conducted sacrifice, tata (our father). a name of the mexican fire-god, tayasal. maya city, teatlahuiani. a pulque-god, tecpanecs. confederacy of nahua tribes, , ; significance of the name, , ; rivals of the chichimecs, ; of huexotzinco, defeated by tlascaltecs, ; aztecs allies of, ; growth of their empire, ; conquer tezcuco and chichimecs, tecumbalam. bird in the kiche story of the creation, telpochtli (the youthful warrior). a name of tezcatlipoca, temacpalco. place mentioned in the myth of quetzalcoatl's journey to tlapallan, temalacatl. the mexican gladiatorial stone of combat, temple of the cross no. i, the, at palenque, , ; no. ii, temple of inscriptions, the, at palenque, temple of the sun, the. i. at palenque, . ii. at tikal, tenayucan. chichimec city, tenochtitlan. same as mexico, which see teo-amoxtli (divine book). a nahua native chronicle, - teocalli. the mexican temple, teocuinani. mountain; sacred to tlaloc, teohuatzin. high-priest of huitzilopochtli, teotihuacan. sacred city of the toltecs, , ; the fiend at the convention at, ; the mecca of the nahua races, ; architectural remains at, , ; rebuilt by xolotl, chichimec king, ; charnay's excavations at, teotleco (coming of the gods). mexican festival, - teoyaominqui. name given to the image of chicomecohuatl by early investigators, ; payne on the error, - tepeolotlec. a distortion of the name of tepeyollotl, tepeyollotl (heart of the mountain). a god of desert places, - ; called tepeolotlec, tepoxtecatl. the pulque-god of tepoztlan, , tepoztlan. mexican city, tequechmecauiani. a pulque-god, tequiua. disguise of tezcatlipoca, ternaux-compans, h. cited, teteoinnan (mother of the gods). mexican maize-goddess, known also as tocitzin, and identical with centeotl the mother, , tezcatlipoca (fiery mirror). same as titlacahuan and tlamatzincatl. the mexican god of the air, the jupiter of the nahua pantheon, , , ; tribal god of the tezcucans, ; development of the conception, - ; in legends of the overthrow of tollan, ; adversary of quetzalcoatl, , ; plots against quetzalcoatl, and overcomes him, - ; as toueyo, and the daughter of uemac, - ; and the dance at the feast in tollan, ; as tequiua, and the garden of xochitla, ; and the legend of the amusing infant and the pestilence, - ; as nezahualpilli, ; as yaotzin, ; as telpochtli, ; as usually depicted, ; aztec conception of, as wind-god, ; as yoalli ehecatl, ; extent and development of the cult of, - ; as moneneque, ; and the teotleco festival, - ; the toxcatl festival of, - , ; in the character of tlazolteotl, , tezcotzinco. the villa of nezahualcoyotl, - tezcuco. i. chichimec city, , ; rivalry with azcapozalco, ; its hegemony, ; conquered by tecpanecs, ; allied with aztecs, ; tezcatlipoca the tribal god, ; the story of nezahualcoyotl, the prince of, - . ii. lake, ; in legend of the foundation of mexico, ; the cities upon, , - tezozomoc, f. de a. on mexican mythology, theozapotlan. mexican city, thlingit. indian tribe, thomas, professor c. research on maya writing, ; on god l, thomas, st. the apostle; cortés believed to be, ; associated with the maya cross, , ; and the wooden cross found in the valley of the chichas, thonapa. son of the creator in peruvian myth; in connection with stone-worship, ; myths of, - thunder-god, peruvian, - tiahuanaco. prehistoric city of the andeans, - ; the great doorway at, ; in a legend of manco ccapac, ; in inca creation-myth, ; and legend of thonapa the civiliser, tiçotzicatzin. in the story of princess papan, tikal. maya city; architectural remains at, titicaca. i. lake, ; settlements of the quichua-aymara on the shores of, ; manco ccapac and mama oullo huaca descend to earth near, ; regarded by peruvians as place where men and animals were created, ; called mamacota by people of the collao, ; idols connected with, - . ii. island on lake titicaca; the most sacred of the peruvian shrines, ; ruined palace on, ; sacred rock on, the paccarisca of the sun, , ; sun-worship and the rock of titicaca, - ; the inca tupac and the rock, - ; effect on the island of the inca worship of the rock, ; pilgrimage to, - ; thonapa on, titlacahuan. same as tezcatlipoca, which see titlacahuan-tezcatlipoca, tiya-manacu. town in peru; thonapa at, tlacahuepan. mexican deity; plots against quetzalcoatl, ; and the legend of the amusing infant and the pestilence, - tlachtli. national ball-game of the nahua and maya, , , , tlacopan. mexican city, , ; aztecs allied with, tlaelquani (filth-eater). a name of tlazolteotl, which see tlalhuicole. tlascalan warrior; the story of, - tlaloc. the mexican rain-god,or god of waters, , ; and the foundation of mexico, ; in association with huitzilopochtli, ; as usually represented, - ; espoused to chalchihuitlicue, ; tlalocs his offspring, ; kiche god hurakan his prototype, ; manifestations of, ; festivals of, ; human sacrifice in connection with, - ; and atamalqualiztli festival, - ; similarities to, in other mythologies, tlalocan (the country of tlaloc). abode of tlaloc, tlalocs. gods of moisture; and huemac ii, ; offspring of tlaloc, tlalxicco (navel of the earth). name of the abode of mictlan, tlamatzincatl. same as tezcatlipoca, which see tlapallan (the country of bright colours). legendary region, ; nahua said to have originated at, ; the toltecs and, ; quetzalcoatl proceeds to, from tollan, - , tlapallan, huehue (very old tlapallan). in toltec creation-myth, tlapallantzinco. place in mexico; toltecs at, tlascala (or tlaxcallan). mexican city, , ; and the "bloodless battle" with mexico, , , ; decline, tlascalans. mexican race, offshoot of the acolhuans, ; helped cortés against aztecs, , tlauizcalpantecutli (lord of the dawn). name of the planet venus; myth of quetzalcoatl and, , ; quetzalcoatl called, ; worship of, ; in the mexican calendar, tlaxcallan. same as tlascala, which see tlazolteotl (god of ordure) (or tlaelquani). mexican goddess of confession, - tlenamacac (ordinary priests). lesser order of the mexican priesthood, tloque nahuaque (lord of all existence). toltec deity, tobacco. use of, among the nahua, tochtepec. place in mexico; toltecs at, tocitzin (our grandmother). see teteoinnan tohil (the rumbler). form of quetzalcoatl, ; guides the kiche-maya to their first city, ; the god assigned to balam-quitze in the kiche myth of the creation, ; gives fire to the kiche, - ; turned into stone, tollan. toltec city, modern tula; founded, , ; its magnificence, ; afflicted by the gods, - ; huehuetzin's rebellions, , ; overthrown, ; charnay's excavations at, ; tezcatlipoca and the overthrow of, ; quetzalcoatl leaves, , tollantzinco. city of the acolhuans, ; toltecs at, toltecs. first nahua immigrants to mexico, ; whether a real or a mythical race, , - ; at tlapallan, , ; migration route, ; their migration a forced one, ; imaginative quality of their myths, ; elect a king, ; progress in arts and crafts, , ; under plagues, ; their empire destroyed, , ; and the civilisation of central america, ; dr. brinton's theory, ; quetzalcoatl king of, ; possible influence upon nahua civilisation, ; acolhuans may have been, ; tezcatlipoca opposes, and plots against, - ; and creation-myth recounted by ixtlilxochitl, ; theory that the maya were, tonacaciuatl (lady of our flesh). a name of omeciuatl, which see tonacatecutli (lord of our flesh). a name of ometecutli, which see tonalamatl (book of the calendar), torito. a bird-maiden; in the myth of origin of the canaris, torquemada, father. his work on mexican lore, ; on mitla, totec (our great chief). a sun-god, - ; his feast, the chief solar festival, - totemism. among the primitive peruvians, - totonacs. aboriginal mexican race, ; and the sun, toueyo. tezcatlipoca's disguise, - toveyo. toltec sorcerer; and the magic drum, toxcatl. festival; of tezcatlipoca, - ; of huitzilopochtli, toxilmolpilia. mexican calendar ceremony; and the native dread of the last day, troano codex. maya manuscript, ; dr. le plongeon and the reference to queen móo in, tucuman (world's end). name given by the quichua-aymara to their land of origin, tulan (or tulan-zuiva). city; the starting-point of the kiche migrations, - , ; the kiche arrive at, and receive their gods, ; parallel with the mexican chicomoztoc, ; the kiche confounded in their speech at, tumipampa. sometime centre of the northern district of peru, , , tupac-atau-huallpa (the sun makes good fortune). son of huaina ccapac, tupac-yupanqui (bright). tenth inca, son of pachacutic, - , - ; achievements as ruler, ; and the huarcans, ; and the rock of titicaca, - tutul xius. ruling caste among the itzaes; found ziyan caan and chichen-itza, ; expelled from chichen-itza by cocomes, ; settle in potonchan, build uxmal, and regain power, ; again overthrown, and found mani, ; finally assist in conquering the cocomes, tzitzimimes. demons attendant on mictlan, tzompantitlan. place mentioned in the myth of huitzilopochtli's origin, tzompantli (pyramid of skulls). minor temple of huitzilopochtli, tzununiha (house of the water). one of the first women of the popol vuh myth, tzutuhils. a maya people of guatemala, , u uayayab. demon who presided over the nemontemi (unlucky days), ; god n identified with, uemac. tezcatlipoca and the daughter of, - uitzlampa. place in mexico; in myth of huitzilopochtli's origin, urco-inca. inca superseded by pachacutic, uricaechea, m. his collection of chibcha antiquities, uxmal. mexican city, founded by tutul xius, ; abandoned, ; ruins at, - ; primitive type of its architecture, v vatican mss., ; description of the journey of the soul in, - vega, garcilasso el inca de la. hist. des incas, cited, ; on the gods of the early peruvians, venus. the planet; worship of, - ; the only star worshipped by mexicans, ; camaxtli identified with, ; temple of, at cuzco, vera cruz. quetzalcoatl lands at, verapaz. district in guatemala, vetancurt, a. de. on mexican mythology, villa-coto. mountain; in a peruvian flood-myth, - villagutierre, j. de soto-mayor. and the prophecy of chilan balam, viollet-le-duc, e. on the ruined palace at mitla, viracocha. i. eighth inca, , . ii. peruvian deity; temple of, at cacha, ; regarded as son of the sun, ; worshipped by quichua-aymara as a culture hero, and called pachayachachic, . iii. a higher class of sacred objects of the peruvians, . iv. name given to any more than usually sacred being, vitzillopochtli. same as huitzilopochtli; in an aztec migration-myth, voc. a bird, the messenger of hurakan; in popol vuh myth, votan. maya god, identical with tepeyollotl; god l probably is, vukub-cakix (seven-times-the-colour-of-fire). a sun-and-moon god (dr. seler); in a kiche myth recounted in the popol vuh, - ; possibly an earth-god, vukub-came. one of the rulers of xibalba, the kiche hades, , , vukub-hunapu. son of xpiyacoc and xmucane; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, - , , , w "wallum olum." records of the leni-lenape indians; a migration-myth in, resembles kiche and aztec myths, - wind-nine-cave. mixtec deity; in creation-myth, - , wind-nine-snake. mixtec deity; in creation-myth, - , women of the sun. women dedicated to the service of the sun in peru, writing. of the nahua, - ; of the maya, - ; dr. le plongeon and the maya hieroglyphs, x xalaquia. i. festival of chicomecohuatl, - . ii. the victim sacrificed at the xalaquia festival, , xalisco. district in mexico toltecs in, xaltocan. mexican city, xan. an animal mentioned in popol vuh myth, xaquixahuana. place in peru, xauxa. place in peru, xbakiyalo. wife of hunhun-apu, xbalanque (little tiger). a hero-god, twin with hun-apu; in a kiche myth, - ; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, , - ; mentioned, xecotcovach. bird in the kiche story of the creation, xibalba. i. a semi-legendary empire of the maya, . ii. the kiche hades, "place of phantoms"; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, - , - ; possible origin of the conception, ; properly a "place of the dead," ; origin of the name, xibalbans. in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, , - ; the originals of, - ; nature of, xilonen. form of chicomecohuatl, ximenes, francisco. copied and translated the popol vuh, xipe (the flayed). mexican god, - ; his dress assumed by aztec monarchs and leaders, - ; xolotl has affinities with, ; god a thought to resemble, xiuhtecutli (lord of the year). a name of the mexican fire-god, xiumalpilli. in mexican calendar, xiyan caan. city in yucatan, xmucane (female vigour). the mother-god in the kiche story of the creation in the popol vuh, ; in the vukub-cakix myth, - ; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, - ; equivalent to the mexican omeciuatl, xochicalco (the hill of flowers). a teocalli near tezcuco, - xochimilcos. aztec tribe, xochipilli. a name of macuilxochitl, which see xochitla. a flower-garden near tollan; the legend of tezcatlipoca and, xochitonal. monster in the mexican other-world, xochiyayotl (the war of flowers). campaign for the capture of victims for sacrifice, - , xolotl. i. king of the chichimecs, ; teotihuacan rebuilt by, . ii. a sun-god, - ; of southern origin and foreign to mexico, ; probably identical with nanahuatl, ; representative of human sacrifice, ; has affinities with xipe, ; representations of, xpiyacoc. the father god in the popol vuh story of the creation, ; in the vukub-cakix myth, - ; in the myth in the second book of the popol vuh, ; equivalent to the mexican ometecutli, xquiq (blood). a princess of xibalba, daughter of cuchumaquiq; in popol vuh myth, xulu. a sorcerer mentioned in popol vuh myth, y yacatecutli. tutelar god of travellers of the merchant class in mexico, ; the maya ekchuah probably parallel with, yahuarhuaccac. seventh inca, yahuar-pampa (plain of blood). battle of, yamquisupa. village; thonapa and, yanacaca. rocks; in a myth of paricaca, yaotzin (the enemy). a manifestation of tezcatlipoca, yatiri (the ruler). aymara name of pachacamac in his form of pachayachachic; huaina ccapac and, year. the mexican, , yetl. god of natives of british columbia, ; probably cognate with quetzalcoatl, , yma sumac (how beautiful). daughter of curi-coyllur; in the drama apu-ollanta, - yoalli ehecatl (the night wind). a manifestation of tezcatlipoca, yohualticitl. a name of metztli, which see yolcuat. form of quetzalcoatl, yopi. indian tribe; xipe adopted from, yucatan. settlement of the maya in, - ; architectural remains in, yucay. inca ruins at, yum kaax (lord of the harvest fields). maya deity; god e probably identical with, yunca. name given to the tropical and lowland districts of peru, yupanqui pachacutic. ninth inca, known also as pachacutic. see pachacutic z zacatecas. mexican province, zapoteca. aboriginal mexican race, ; builders of mitla, ; their calendric system, ; and quetzalcoatl, - ; creation-myth of, - ; maya influences transmitted to the nahua through, ; in effect a border people, influenced by and influencing maya and nahua, ; of nahua stock, zaque. aboriginal mexican race, zipacna (cockspur or earth-heaper). son of vukub-cakix; in a kiche myth in the popol vuh, - , zippa. a chieftain of the chibchas, zoque. a chieftain of the chibchas, zotuta. region in yucatan inhabited by remnant of cocomes, zotzilaha chimalman. the maya bat-god, called also camazotz, - zumarraga. mexican chronicler, zutugil dialect, notes [ ] by payne in the new world called america, london, - . [ ] garcilasso el inca de la vega, hist. des incas, lib. ix. cap. . [ ] see payne, history of the new world called america, vol. ii. pp. et seq. [ ] see spence, civilisation of ancient mexico, chap. ii. [ ] see civilisation of ancient mexico, chap. ii. [ ] payne, hist. new world, vol. ii. p. . [ ] unknown mexico, vol. i., ; also see bulletin , bureau of american ethnology, p. . [ ] bulletin of the u.s. bureau of ethnology. [ ] see the author's article on "american creation-myths" in the encyclopædia of religion and ethics, vol. iv. [ ] the suffix tzin after a mexican name denotes either "lord" or "lady," according to the sex of the person alluded to. [ ] these words are obviously onomatopoetic, and are evidently intended to imitate the sound made by a millstone. [ ] see my remarks on this subject in the popol vuh, pp. , (london, ). [ ] queen móo and the egyptian sphinx (london, ). [ ] sacred things. [ ] skinner's state of peru, p. ( ). [ ] this is the name by which he is generally alluded to in peruvian history. [ ] skinner, state of peru, p. . [ ] skinner, state of peru, pp. et seq. [ ] see spence, article "brazil" in encyclopædia of religion and ethics, vol. ii. real gold, by george manville fenn. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ real gold, by george manville fenn. chapter one. a chat in a boat. "bother the old fish!" "yes; they won't bite." "it's no good, perry; they are having their siesta. let's get in the shade and have one too." "what! in the middle of the day--go to sleep? no, thank you. i'm not a foreigner." "more am i; but you come and live out here for a bit, and you'll be ready enough to do as the romans--i mean the spaniards--do." "not i, cyril, and i don't believe fish do go to sleep." "what? why, i've seen them lie in shoals here, perfectly still; basking in the hot sunshine, fast asleep." "with their eyes shut?" "gammon! fish can't shut their eyes." "then they can't go to sleep.--my! it is hot. i shan't fish any more." two boys sitting in a boat half a mile from the shore, and sheltered by a ridge of rocks from the tremendous swell of the vast pacific ocean, which to north and south curled over in great glistening billows upon the sand--in the former instance, to scoop it out, carry it back, and then throw it up farther away; in the latter, to strike upon sheer rocks and fly up in silver spray with a low deep sound as of muttered thunder. away to the west there was the great plain of smooth damasked silver, lost at last in a faint haze, and all so bright that the eyes ached and were dazzled by its sheen. to the east, the bright-looking port of san geronimo, with a few ships, and half-a-dozen long, black, red-funnelled screw-steamers at anchor; beyond them wharves and warehouses, and again beyond these the houses of the little town, with a few scattered white villas rising high on terrace and shelf of the steep cliffs. the place looked bright and attractive seen from the distance, but dry and barren. nothing green rested and refreshed the eye. no trees, no verdant slope of lawn or field; nothing but sand in front, glittering rock behind. everything suggested its being a region where no rain fell. but, all the same, it had its beauty. more, its grandeur, for apparently close at hand, though miles away in the clear distance, rose the great sierra--the mighty range of mountains, next to the himalayas the highest in the world--and seeming to rise suddenly like a gigantic wall right up into the deep blue sky, cloudless, and dazzling with the ice and snow. the two boys, both of them, though fair by nature, tanned now of a warm reddish brown, were of about the same age, and nearly the same physique; and as now they twisted the stout lines they had been holding round the thole pins of the boat, which softly rose and fell with a pleasant lulling motion, the first who had spoken unfastened the neck-button of his shirt. "hullo! going to bathe?" "bathe! no, thankye. i should wake up the sharks: they'd bite then." "ugh!" "yes, you may shudder. they grow fine about here. why, before i'd made a dozen strokes, you'd hear me squeak, and see me go down and never come up again." "how horrid! you don't mean it, though, do you?" "yes, it's true enough. i'm going to have a nap." as the boy spoke, he lay back in the stern of the boat, and placed his broad panama hat over his face. "i say, perry, old chap!" he continued, with his voice sounding whistly through the closely-woven hat. "what?" "if you smell me burning, wake me up." "all right," said the lad addressed as perry; and resting his elbows on his knees, he sat gazing up at the huge towering mountain nearest at hand for a few minutes, then: "cil!" "hullo!" drowsily. "don't go to sleep, old chap; i want to talk to you." "i can't go to sleep if you talk. what is it?" "i say, how rum it seems for it to be boiling hot down here, and all that ice and snow to be up there. look." "yes," said cyril, "'tis its nature to. i don't want to look. seen it before." "but how far is it up to where the snow is--a thousand feet?" "what?" cried cyril, starting up into a sitting position, with his hat falling off. "i said how far is it up to where the snow is?" "i know you did," cried the boy, laughing, "and you said, was it a thousand feet?" "yes, and it was stupid of me. it must be twice as high." "perry campion, you are a greenhorn. i say: no offence meant; but my dear, fresh, innocent, young friend, that snow is three miles high." "well, i know that, of course. it must be much more to where it is." "sixty or seventy," said cyril, whose drowsiness had departed, and who was now all life and eagerness. "the air's so clear here that it's horribly deceiving. but i didn't mean that: i meant that the snow's quite three miles straight up perpendicular in the air." "nonsense!" "but i tell you it is. if you were to rise straight up in a balloon from here, you'd have to go up three miles to get on a level with the snow." perry campion looked fixedly at his companion, but there was no flinching. "i'm not gammoning you," said cyril earnestly. "things are so much bigger out here than they look." "then how big--how high is that mountain?" said perry. "nearly four miles." "but it seems to be impossible." "it isn't, though," said cyril. "that one's over twenty thousand feet high, and father has seen much bigger ones up to the north. i say, squire, you've got some climbing to do. you won't hop over those hills very easily." "no," said perry thoughtfully. "it will be a climb." "i say: whereabouts are you going?" "i don't know. right up in the mountains somewhere." "but what are you going for?" "i don't know that either. to travel, i suppose." "oh, but the colonel must be going for something," cried cyril. "i believe i know." "do you? what?" "well, you don't want me to tell you. i suppose the colonel has told you not to tell anybody." "no," said perry quickly. "he has not told me. why do you think he's going?" "prospecting. to search out a good place for a mine." perry looked at him eagerly. "the andes are full of places where there might be mines. there's gold, and silver, and quicksilver, and precious stones. lots of treasures never been found yet." "yes, i've heard that there are plenty of minerals," said perry thoughtfully. "and besides," said cyril, grinning, "there's all the gold and silver that belonged to the incas. the indians buried it, and they have handed down the secret of the different places to their children." "who have dug it up and spent it," said perry. "no. they're too religious. they dare not. they keep the secret of the places till the incas come again to claim their country, and then it will all be dug up, golden wheels, and suns, and flowers, and cups, and things that the spaniards never found. that's it; your father's going after the treasures. but if he is, you'd better look out." "why?" "because if the indians thought you were after that, they'd kill you in no time." perry looked at him searchingly. "oh, i mean it," said cyril. "father has often talked about it, and he says that the indians consider it a religious duty to protect the hiding-places of these treasures. there was a man took a party with him up into the mountains on purpose to search for them." "well? did he find anything?" "don't know. nobody ever did know." "how was that?" "he never came back. nor any of his people." "why? what became of them?" "i tell you they went up into the mountains and never came back. the indians know what became of them." "but was no search made for them--no examination made of the indians?" cried perry, looking aghast. "search! where? indians! what indians?" said cyril sharply. "you forget how big the place is, and what great forests and wilds there are over the other side." "but it sounds so horrible for a party like that to disappear, and no more to be heard of them," said perry. "yes, but the indians are savages, and, as father said, they think they are doing their duty against people who have no right in the country, so your father will have to look out. i wish i were going with you, all the same." "you're safer in san geronimo, if it's as bad as you say," cried perry. "oh, it's bad enough, but i shouldn't mind." there was silence for a few minutes, during which time both lads sat gazing dreamily up at the vast range of mountains before them, with its glittering peaks, dark cavernous valleys, and mysterious shades, towards where the high tablelands lay which had been the seat and home of the barbaric civilisation of the incas, before ruin and destruction came in the train of the spanish adventurers who swept the land in search for el dorado, the city of gold. perry campion was the first to break the silence. "how long have you been out here, cyril?--cil, i say, i shall call you cil." "all right, i don't mind, only it won't be for long. you go next week, don't you?" "yes, i suppose so," said perry, glancing again at the mountains. "wish i were going with you. what did you say?--how long have i been out here? nearly four years. father sent me over to england to be educated when i was six, and i was at a big school at worksop till i was twelve, and then he sent for me to come out here again." "weren't you glad?" "of course. it was very jolly at school; but school isn't home, is it?" "of course not." "father said i could go on reading with him, and it would brush up his classics, which had grown rusty since he turned merchant." "wasn't he always a merchant, then?" "my father?" cried cyril. "no, he was a captain in the army, and had to give up on account of his health. the doctors said he was dying. that was twelve years ago; but he doesn't look like dying now, does he?" "no, he looks wonderfully strong and well." "yes. this place suited him and mother because it was so dry." "and then he took to being a merchant?" "yes; and ships off drugs, and minerals, and guano, and bark." "what! for tanning?" "tanning! ha! ha! no, no; peruvian bark, that they make quinine of. physic for fevers." "oh! i see." "it's very jolly, and he makes plenty of money; but i do get so tired sometimes. i should like to go to sea, or to travel, or something. i hate being always either at studies or keeping accounts. i wish i were going along with you." "to be killed by the indians," said perry drily. "i should like to catch 'em at it," cried cyril. "but i'd risk it. what an adventure, to go with your father to hunt out the places where the indians buried the incas' gold!" "my father did not say he was going in search of that," said perry. "no; he's too close. but that's it, safe enough; you see if it isn't. only think of it--right up in the grand valleys, where it's almost dark at mid-day, and you walk along shelves over the torrents where there isn't room for two mules to pass, and there are storms that are quite awful sometimes. i say, i'd give anything to go." "i wish you were going, cil." "you do?" cried the boy excitedly. "i say: do you mean that?" "of course i do," said perry, looking amused at his companion's eagerness. "we've got on right enough together since we have been staying at your house." "got on? i should think we have," cried cyril. "why, it has been no end of a treat to me for you to be at our place. i can't get on very well with the half-spanish chaps about here. they're gentlemen, of course, with tremendously grand descents from don this and don that; but they're not english boys, and you can't make english boys of them." "of course not." "ah, you may laugh," continued cyril, "but would you believe it? i tried to get up a cricket club, and took no end of pains to show them the game, and they all laughed at it, and said i must be half mad. that's being spanish, that is! it's no wonder their country's left all behind." "then the cricket was a failure?" said perry. "failure? it ended in a fight, and i went home and burned the stumps, bats, and balls." "what a pity!" cried perry. "that's what father said, and it did seem too bad, after he'd had the tackle brought out from england on purpose. i was sorry afterwards; but i was so jolly wild then, i couldn't help it." "how came there to be a fight?" said perry after a pause, during which he watched the frank, handsome face of his companion, who was looking at the great peak again. "oh, it was all about nothing. these spanish chaps are so cocky and bumptious, and ready to take everything as being meant as an insult. little stupid things, too, which an english boy wouldn't notice. i was bowling one evening, and young mariniaz was batting. of course he'd got his bat and his wits, and he ought to have taken care of himself. i never thought of hitting him, but i sent in a shooter that would have taken off the bail on his side, and instead of blocking it, he stepped right before the wicket." "what for?" said perry. "ah, that's more than i know," said cyril; "and the next moment he caught it right in the centre of his--er--middle." "ha! ha!" laughed perry merrily. "it knocked all the wind out of him for a minute, and then, as soon as he could speak, he was furious, and said i did it on purpose--in spanish--and i said it was an accident that all people were liable to in cricket, and that they ought to be able to defend themselves. then he said he was able to defend himself." "that meant fighting," cried perry, growing more interested. "of course it did, but i wasn't going to notice it, for the mater said i was to be very careful not to get into any quarrel with the spanish fellows, because they are none too friendly about my father being here. they're jealous because he's a foreigner, when all the time there isn't a more splendid fellow living than my father," cried the boy warmly. "you don't half know him yet." "well, what happened then?" said perry, as he noted the warm glow in the boy's cheeks and the flash of his eyes. "oh, mariniaz appealed to three or four of the others, and they sided with him, and said that they saw me take a long breath and gather myself up and take a deadly aim at his chest, and then hurl the ball with all my might, as if i meant to kill him." "what rubbish!" cried perry. "wasn't it? you couldn't teach chaps like that to play cricket, could you?" "of course not. they didn't want to learn." "that was it; and they egged mariniaz on till he called me an english beast, and that upset me and made my tongue loose." "well?" "he said he knew from the first i had a spite against him, and had been trying to knock him over with the ball; and, feeling what a lie it was, i grew pepper, and told him it wasn't the first time an english ball had knocked over a spaniard, for i got thinking about our old chaps playing bowls when the news came about the armada." "yes?" cried perry, for cyril had stopped. "well, then, he turned more yellow than usual, and he gave me a backhanded smack across the face." "and what did you do?" cried perry hotly, for the boy once more stopped. "oh, i went mad for a bit." "you--went mad?" "i suppose so. my mother said i must have been mad, so i expect i was." "but you don't tell me," cried perry impatiently. "what did you do?" "i don't know." "yes, you do: tell me." "i can't recollect, and i never could. i only know i turned very hot and saw sparks, and that there was a regular banging about, and sometimes i was up and sometimes i was down; and then all at once i was standing there, with mariniaz lying on the ground crying, and with his nose bleeding. another chap was sitting holding his handkerchief to one eye, and two more were being held up by some of the players, who were giving one of them some water to drink, while the other was showing them a tooth which he held in his fingers." "then you'd whacked four of them?" cried perry excitedly. "i don't know," said cyril, with his face screwed up. "i suppose i had been knocking them about a bit, and they wouldn't fight any more. they all said i was an english savage, and that i ought to be sent out of the place; and then i began to get a bit cooler, and felt sorry i had knocked them all about so much." "i don't see why you should," cried perry. "but i did. it made such an upset. there was no end of a bother. my mother cried about it when i went home, and said i should never look myself again; and when my father came home and saw me with bits of sticking plaster all over my face and knuckles, he was in a regular passion, for he had been hearing about it in the town, and had words with the other boys' fathers. then he made me tell him all about it from the beginning, sitting back, looking as fierce and stern as could be, till i had done; and i finished off by saying, `what would you have done if you had been me?' "`just the same as you did, cil, my boy,' he cried, shaking hands; and then my mother looked astonished, and he sat back in his chair and laughed till he cried. `why, mother,' he said, `they tell us that the english stock is falling off. not very much, eh? one english to four spanish.' "`but it's so terrible,' my mother said. `yes,' said my father, `fighting is very disgraceful. no more of it, cil, my lad; but i've made a mistake: i ought to have made a soldier of you, after all.' i say, though, perry, i do wish i were going with you, all the same." "i tell you what," cried perry; "i'll ask my father to ask yours to let you go with us." "you will?" cried cyril, making a rush. "mind! we shall have the boat over." it was a narrow escape, but by sitting down they made the boat right itself. "yes, i'll ask him to. i say, though, it isn't so dangerous as you say, is it?" "they say it is, particularly if you are going to hunt for the gold the indians have buried." "but i don't know that we are. would you go, even if it is so dangerous." "of course i would," cried cyril excitedly. "i do so want a change. ahoy! hurray! dinner!" "eh? where?" cried perry. "look. father's hoisting the flag." he pointed in the direction of one of the white villas up on the high cliff slope, where a union jack was being run up a tall signal staff by a figure in white, clearly seen in the bright sunshine, while another figure was evidently using a telescope. "there's my father watching us," said perry, shading his eyes. "lend a hand here and help to haul up this stone," cried cyril, and together the boys hauled up the heavy block which served for an anchor. five minutes after, they were rowing steadily for the wharf--incas' treasure, perils from indians, fights with spanish boys, and heights of snow peaks forgotten in the one important of all questions to a hungry youth--_dinner_. chapter two. a failure. dinner was over at captain norton's. mrs norton had left the dining-room, after begging her son and his visitor not to go out in the broiling heat. the boy had promised that he would not, and after he had sat listening to colonel campion's--a keen grey-haired man, thin, wiry in the extreme, and giving promise of being extremely active--talk to his father about the preparations for his trip up into the mountains, cyril gave perry a kick under the table, and rose. taking the sharp jar upon his shin to mean telegraphy and the sign, "come on," perry rose as well, and the two boys, forgetful of all advice, went and sat in the dry garden, where every shrub and plant seemed to be crying out for water, and looked as if it were being prepared for a _hortus siccus_ beloved of botanists, and where the sun came down almost hot enough to fry. here the boys had a long discussion about the promise perry had made in the boat; after which they waited for an opportunity. meanwhile, as the two gentlemen sat chatting over their cigarettes, captain norton, a frank, genial, soldierly-looking man, said: "so you mean to take all the risks?" "risks!" said the colonel, turning his keen eyes upon the speaker, as he let the smoke from his cigarette curl up toward the ceiling. "you an old soldier, and ask that?" "yes," said captain norton. "i have been here a long time now, and know something of the country." "are the risks so very great, then?" "to an ordinary traveller--no: to a man going with some special object or search--yes." "i did nut say that i was going on a special search," said colonel campion quickly. "no, but everything points to it; and as you came to me with letters of introduction from an old friend and brother-officer, i receive you as my friend, and treat you as i would a brother." "and as the man whom you treat as a brother, i am very reticent, eh?" "very," said cyril norton's father; "and if i try to know why you are going upon so perilous a journey, it is not from curiosity, but because i am eager to save you from running into danger." colonel campion held out his hand, which was taken, and the two men sat for a few moments gazing in each other's eyes. "if i spoke out, norton, you would immediately do everything you could to prevent me from going, instead of helping me; so i am silent, for i have made up my mind to go, and no persuasion would stop me." "then you are going on an insane quest of the treasures of gold said to have been buried by the incas' followers to preserve them from the spaniards." "am i?" said the colonel quietly. "i take it for granted that you are; so now, listen. it will be a very dangerous search. that the gold exists, i do not doubt; and i feel pretty sure that the indians have had it handed down from father to son. where this gold is hidden in the mountains is a sacred trust, which they in their superstitious natures dare not betray. it means death to any one who discovers one of these hoards." "if found out," said the colonel, smoking, with his eyes half shut. "he would certainly be found out," said the captain, "and if you persist in going, you must run the risk; but i beg of you not to take that boy perry with you, to expose him to these dangers." "what am i to do with him, then?" "leave him with us. he will be happy enough with my boy cyril; and my wife and i will take every care of him." "thank you, norton," cried the colonel warmly; "i am most grateful. but you are wrong: he would not be happy if he stayed here and i went alone; i believe he would prefer running all risks with me. how odd!" added the colonel, smiling; "here he is, to speak for himself." for at that moment the door was softly opened, and perry stood there, looking startled. "come in, boy, come in," cried the colonel. "i--i beg; our pardon; i thought captain norton had gone." "no, and we were just talking about you." "about me, father?" "yes; captain norton thinks it would be too risky and arduous a journey for you up into the mountains, and he says you are to stay here and make yourself happy with cyril till i come back." the lad looked delighted. "oh father!" he cried. then, quick as thought, his manner changed. "it is very good of captain norton," he said gravely, "but i could not stop here and let you go alone." "don't be hasty, perry, lad," said the captain kindly. "there, i'm going down to the wharf; you and your father chat it over, and we'll talk about it when i return." he left the room, passing out through the veranda. "well," said the colonel, looking away at the window, "i think he's right, and you had better stay, perry." "i don't think you do, father," replied the boy. "besides, you promised to take me." "um! yes, i did, my lad; but circumstances have altered since then. they say it's dangerous up there among the indians." "then you had better not go, father," said perry quickly. "i have undertaken to go, and i am going," said the colonel firmly. "i gave my word." "and you can't break it, father?" "no, my boy, not honourably." perry laughed softly. "hullo! what does that mean, sir?" cried the colonel. "glad i am going into danger?" "of course not, father," said perry. "i was only laughing because you promised to take me, and you can't break your word." the colonel leaned back and laughed. "and i've come with a petition, father," said perry. "petition?" "yes; you said that it would be nice for me to be with cyril norton." "yes, i rather like the lad. he's a rackety, wild young dog, but there's a good deal of the gentleman about him. but what do you mean! you said you did not want to stay here." "yes, father, but he wants to stay with us." "stay with us? we're not going to stay here." "i mean, go with us. he is wild to go. take him with us, father. i should like it so much." "why, perry, my boy, you're mad," said the colonel. "if the journey is so risky that captain norton wishes me to leave you here, do you think it likely that he will let his son go?" "perhaps he would with you, father. he trusts you." "not to that extent." "try him, father. it would be so nice to have cil with us." "nice for you, sir--double responsibility for me." "you wouldn't mind that, father, and we would help you so." "yes, nice lot of help i should get from you." "you don't know, father; but, i say, you will ask him?" "ask him yourself, sir," said the colonel firmly; "here he is." for at that moment steps were heard in the veranda, and captain norton appeared. "don't let me disturb you," he said; "i came back for some bills of lading.--well, perry, you're going to stop and keep cil company, eh? i'll have the big boat out and newly rigged for you boys. you can fish, and sail, and--" "but i'm not going to stay, sir," said perry quietly. "not going to stay! i'm very sorry. but you must think better of it. sleep on it, my lad. that journey in the mountains will be too arduous for a lad like you." "oh no, sir. i'm light and strong, and--" "yes? and what? you are afraid of outstaying your welcome? nonsense, boy; you'll be conferring a favour upon us. i shall be glad for cil to have your company. he likes you." perry exchanged glances with his father, who nodded, and his eyes seemed to say, "now's your time." "yes, sir, and i like cil. we get on together, and--and he wants to go with us!" perry uttered the last words hurriedly, and then wished that he had not said them, for the captain looked at him quite fiercely. "what!" he exclaimed. "cil said he would give anything to go with us, sir, and i promised to ask my father if he would take him." "well," said captain norton sternly, "and have you asked him?" "yes, sir." "what does he say?" "he says no," said the colonel firmly. "there is no doubt, i suppose, that i am going to run some risks, and i begin to feel now that i am hardly warranted in exposing my own son to these dangers. i should certainly not be right in exposing the son of a friend to them, even if that friend consented, which he would not. am i right, norton?" "quite right," said the gentleman addressed. "then we need say no more about it," cried the colonel. "pray, my boy, help us by dissuading your new friend from thinking about so mad a project. we must not make captain and mrs norton regret their kindness to us." "no, father. i understand," said perry. "then there is an end of the matter," said the colonel. "not quite," said their host, smiling, "i am still hoping that you will stay with us, perry." "no, sir," said the boy, very firmly now, "i am going with my father. i wish, though, you would let cil come too." "impossible, my lad," said the captain. "then now let's change the subject," said the colonel. "i do not start yet for a week, and plenty of things may occur to alter all our opinions and determinations." "they will not alter mine," said the captain firmly. "if you both alter yours, i shall be very glad. there, i must go now." captain norton gave perry a friendly nod, and left them once more. "there, perry, you hear?" "yes, father, but he may alter his mind." "don't expect it, my lad; captain norton is firm as a rock in all he decides upon." "so is cyril, father." "not quite," said the colonel, smiling; "the stuff is soft yet, and will have to yield. there, go and tell him you have failed." "yes, father," said perry sadly. "and you mean to go with me?" "of course, father." "very well," said the colonel, and perry left the room. chapter three. preparing to start. "well, did you ask him?" cried cyril eagerly, as perry went out into the parched garden, the boy pouncing out upon him from behind a patch of dry-looking shrubs. "yes, i asked him, and then your father came in." "yes," said cyril eagerly, "i saw him, and kept in hiding, because i thought it best to leave it for you to do. well, what did your father say?" "he as good as said no." "yes, at first," cried cyril. "i knew he would. but he came round." "and then your father came in." "yes?" "and my father made me ask him what he had to say about it." "yes? do go on, old chap. you are so slow." "the captain was quite angry, and wouldn't listen to the idea for a moment." "that was because he had made his plans for you to stay with me. but he came round, didn't he?" "no," said perry sadly. "he was firm as a rock, and they are both dead against it. i should have liked for you to come, cil." there was a dead silence; and as perry looked at his companion, he saw that his brow was full of deep lines, and that the boy's face looked hard and set, the eyes fixed, and the lips tightened together into quite a hard crease. perry looked at him for a few moments, feeling pained to see the way in which the lad took his disappointment. "i'm so sorry, cil," he said at last. cyril did not seem to have heard him, and after a pause perry spoke again. "perhaps your father will give way before we go." "what?" perry started, the word sounded so sharp and harsh. "i say perhaps he'll give way before we go." "no, he won't. he never does. father says a thing, and means it." "it's very disappointing," said perry, "but it's of no use to fret." cyril laughed bitterly. "you're going," he said sharply. "it can't disappoint you." "yes, it can. i am disappointed. i don't care about going so much now without you." "then stop here with me," cried cyril sharply. "i can't," was the reply. "you wouldn't give up going if you were me. don't let's think any more about it now, but go and do something." cyril made no reply, but walked straight away out of the garden and then down towards the harbour, while perry watched him for a few minutes sadly, and then followed slowly, missed sight of him, and after quite a long search found him sitting on the edge of his wharf, where the sun beat down most fiercely, and staring straight out to sea. "cil!" said perry, after going close up, but without exciting the slightest notice of his presence. there was no reply. "cil--don't be sulky with me." "not sulky," came with quite a snap. "well, angry then. it isn't my fault. i wish you could come." "didn't say it was your fault." "then why do you take it like that?" cyril turned upon him quite fiercely. "what's the good of talking?" he cried. "you can't understand. you go sailing about with your father and seeing things everywhere. i never go even into the forest. it's horrible always shut up here with book-keeping and classics. i wish sometimes i was only one of the indians, like that one yonder." perry felt disposed to say, which one? for there was a second indian close by; but wishing to brighten his companion, and turn the current of his thoughts, he merely said: "well, i shouldn't wish to be a she indian." "those are not shes--they're both men," said cyril sharply. perry looked at the pair incredulously, for they certainly had a most feminine aspect, being broad of figure and face, plump-cheeked, and with thick long hair cut square across the forehead and allowed to hang down behind. their eyes were dreamy-looking and oblique, their faces perfectly devoid of hair, and to add to their womanish look, they wore a loose kind of cotton garment, which hung down from their shoulders nearly to their ankles. "i say, what are they doing?" said perry, as he stared at the pair. "taking snuff. that's their way. they carry some in a little bag, and when they want to take any, they put the powder in that little siphon-like pipe, and hold it to their nose, and another one blows it up. that one sitting down's the guide father is getting for you.--here, hi!" the indians looked round, nodded, finished the snuff-taking business, and then came deliberately toward the boys. "they're antis," said cyril, as perry watched the two sleepy-looking indians curiously, and noted that they were both about his own height. the men came close up, and stood there smiling, waiting to be spoken to; and as perry had hoped, their presence took cyril out of himself for the time. "been to see my father?" said cyril in a mongrel kind of spanish. one of the indians nodded. "and his father too?" the man replied that he was going now. so cyril interpreted the few words. "that's the worst of them; and it's so hard to make them understand exactly what you mean. he didn't know what i meant, and had not been-- what say?" for the indian had muttered something which he repeated. "wants to know if i'm going too," said cyril bitterly; and he shook his head at the indian, when both smiled and looked pleased. cyril gave his teeth a grind. "you beggars," he cried in english, "looking glad because i'm disappointed.--and i've given that first chap many a good tuck out, and lots of tobacco dust for snuff, and paid him no end of times for birds he has shot with his blowpipe, besides buying butterflies and eggs he has brought down out of the mountains. all right, though; i'll serve them out.--i say," cried the boy, and a complete change came over him, "can you speak spanish?" "i? no, not a word." "that's a pity. you'll have to learn a few words, so as to be able to talk to these chaps. but you'll soon pick them up--some indian, some spanish, and some half-and-half. wait a moment; i want to talk to this chap about--about your going." he began to speak to the man in a low voice, and then grew more and more eager, while the indian began by smiling and looking amused, but, directly after, shook his head, and seemed to be refusing something which cyril was asking. then perry saw the lad put his hand in his pocket and give the indian a good two-bladed pocket-knife, whose keenness he demonstrated to the great interest of the indian, who tried it on one of the heavy posts by the wharf, and then transferred it to his pocket with a smile of satisfaction, nodding his head now to everything cyril said. their conversation lasted for some time, and perry began to grow impatient after he had satisfied his scrutiny of the two indians' appearance, and wondered why they should disfigure themselves by painting horizontal lines from their noses across their cheeks. "there," cried cyril, speaking rather excitedly, "it's all right now. he says he'll take great care of you, and wait upon you as if you were his father, and always find the best places for sleeping, and mind you don't tumble down into any of the great gaps. but, i say, perry, old chap, you do wish i was going, don't you?" "of course i do." "ah, well, i suppose i must give in and make the best of it, mustn't i?" "i'm afraid so." "and you can't write to me and tell me how you are getting on. there are no post-offices up there." "no, i suppose not." "you suppose not!" cried cyril, laughing, and looking as if his bitter fit had quite passed away. "why, you're going where you'll hardly see a soul, unless you meet a party coming down from the mines, or bringing bales of bark. there, i'm not going to look grumpy any more, but i did feel savage for a bit." "that's right. let's make the best of it while we're together, and do some more fishing, or have a mule ride or two." "no," said cyril decisively, "that's all over now. father told me this morning that i should have to work and help you make all your preparations, for there would be no end to do. come along. they're going up to see your father now." the two indians were both moving off, and the boys followed to the house, where they were witnesses to the meeting, captain norton having followed shortly, and acting as interpreter between the parties. "it is rather awkward," he said, "but i daresay you will soon pick up enough of their jargon to make them understand." "oh yes," said the colonel. "i could gather the man's meaning from the spanish words he used." "then you will soon manage. of course, if you had been a spaniard, it would have been easy enough." "i shall not worry about that part of the business," said the colonel, "so long as the man is willing, and will do his best. but we shall want two others to attend to the mules." "he understands that. he is going to bring another trustworthy fellow. he proposed doing so himself." "and they can manage the mules?" "oh yes, you may trust them. this man, diego, as we call him, has been in the habit of coming down from the mountains for years to trade and sell. i consider that i was very lucky in getting him for you. when will you start, shall i tell him?" "on the sixth day from now." "that is soon, is it not?" "no; that ought to be time enough to get our mule-packs ready, and a sufficiency of stores. i have everything else." "don't hurry," said captain norton. "you are very welcome here, and i shall regret your going." "i know that," said the colonel warmly, "but i am eager to begin, and shall be restless till i start." the captain nodded, and said a few words to the indians, who replied, and then took their departure, it being fully understood that they would be there, ready, on the sixth morning. "ha!" exclaimed the colonel, "that is satisfactory.--now then, perry, my boy, call up john manning to unpack the luggage, and we'll make our selection of what we mean to take. captain norton will keep in store for us all that we decide to leave, and he will help us with his experience in making our selection.--and you will help too, cyril, will you not?" "of course, sir." "thanks. sorry i can't take you, my lad, but your father is right." those next five days passed almost like magic. six highly-bred mules were selected by captain norton's help, and furnished with packages and hide ropes, besides more for riding purposes. "but we shan't be able to manage so many, sir," said john manning, a lithe, dry-looking man of about forty, who had been the colonel's servant when he was in the army, and had stayed with him ever since, to perry's great disgust; for the lad declared that he was the most disagreeable fellow under the sun, since he was always grumbling. it was quite true, for he found fault with everything to the two boys; though silent, as if he were still in the ranks, in the presence of the colonel. but he quite won cyril's heart in one of his grumbles, and always after, during their preparations, the boy declared that he was capital fun, and that he liked him. "there, young gentlemen," said john, "that's as much toggery as i can get in the colonel's soft portmanter, and you'll have to make shift, master perry, if you want any more flannels and things." "oh, there'll be enough, john," said perry. "a fellow don't want collars and cuffs up in the mountains." "but there ain't enough, sir. the man must ha' been a hijot as made that portmanter. if it had been six inches longer, it would have held ever so much more." "why, of course it would," said cyril contemptuously. "it ain't my business," continued the man; "i'm only a servant. but what ought to ha' been done was to have had mr cyril here with us, and filled a portmanter up with his things. then they'd ha' balanced quite easy on the mule's back." "yes, that's what ought to have been done," said cyril excitedly. "i wish you'd hold your tongue, john," cried perry angrily. "all right, sir. cut it out, if you like. we're in savage lands, and there's no magistrates to stop it, for all i know. but there, sir, that's all i can do as i see." "how are you getting on?" cried the colonel, joining them. "all packed now?" "yes, sir," said john manning, drawing himself up stiffly. "did you oil the rifles and pistols?" "oh yes, sir; i went all over the armoury. everything's in perfect order." "and the cartridges?" "some in every package, sir; so that you can always get a few." "that's right." by this time the captain had had an abundance of the most portable and useful provisions packed, simplicity having been especially studied; and on the evening of that fifth day, it was felt that nothing more could be done. "i can think of nothing else to help you, campion," said captain norton. "no, you have done wonders for me. there's only one thing i wish." "what is it?" "that you were coming too." "colonel campion!" cried mrs norton, as the boys exchanged glances. "i beg your pardon, madam," said the colonel. "i will not be so selfish. no, i do not wish that.--come, boys, make the most of your last hours together. shall you be up to see us off in the morning, cyril?" "of course," said the boy with a sigh. "to be sure," said the captain; "and we'll ride a few miles with you-- eh, cil?" "no, thank you father, i'd rather not," said the lad dolefully. "i'll bid them good-bye here.--coming out, perry?" "yes," said the latter. "don't be long, my lad," said the colonel. "i want you to get to bed in good time. you must be up by four." "breakfast will be ready by then," said mrs norton. "all right, father," said perry, and the two lads went out into the soft moonlight, to be accosted directly by john manning. "i was looking for you, master perry, sir," he said. "i've been a-making of my will, and want you to see me sign it, and witness it." "you want to sign your will?" cried perry, laughing. "yes, sir; this here's going to be my last journey, i'm afraid, for one o' them mules has marked me down. he means to kick me over the first pressy pass we comes to." "don't let him," cried cyril. "if he's going to, shove him over instead." john manning stared. "thankye, sir, i will. now, do you know, i never thought o' that." "come along, cil," said perry, laying his hand upon his companion's shoulder, and they strolled along to where they could look over the sparkling lights of the town, away across the glittering ocean, with its broad path of silver, and then back up to the huge mountain, whose icy top flashed in the brilliant moonbeams, while every here and there the deep ravines marked the sides with an intense black. they neither of them spoke, both feeling too sad at heart, but stood there, rapt in thought about the coming morrow, till they were interrupted by the coming of john manning. "colonel says it's lights out, young gentlemen," he said respectfully. "there's allers something wrong in this world.--you ought to ha' been with us, master cyril, sir, in this forlorn-hope job. but, i suppose, we must make the best of it." "yes," said cyril bitterly. "i suppose we must." a quarter of an hour later the lads were in their bedrooms, listening to the hum of the mosquitoes, and feeling weary, but restless in the heat. cyril felt as if he could not sleep for thinking of the coming day, but all the same, he went off soundly in spite of his depressing thoughts, and woke up with a start, to find that his father was standing by his bedside. "half-past three, my lad," he cried. "up with you, and act like a man. show our visitors that you can be unselfish, and let's start them happily upon their expedition." cyril tried to say, "yes, father," cheerfully, but not a word would come. "sulky?" said captain norton rather sternly. "i'm sorry that you turn like that. i'll talk to you this evening, cyril, my boy." the boy drew his breath hard, but he said no word, only began hurriedly to dress, as his father left the room. chapter four. three shadows. "hallo, sir," cried captain norton, as they stood outside in the enclosure where the mules were being loaded, "where's the a other man?" the indian guide looked a little troubled, but spoke out quickly in his half-indian, half-spanish jargon. "he will come. he will meet us soon in the mountains." "is that to be depended upon?" said the colonel harshly; for the absence of one man of his force jarred upon his military precision. "yes. i have always found the antis trustworthy." "but we shall be a man short for the mule-driving." "no," said cyril quickly. "they want no driving. all you have to do is to start the leading mule, and the others will follow right enough." "one more thing," said the colonel, who had had many a weary march across the hot dusty plains of india. "ought we not to take water?" "no; the indians will take you from spring to spring. they know all the streams and falls in the mountains." the mules were laden after a good deal of squealing and kicking, and, during the process, john manning shook his head, and confided to perry that the big leading mule with the bells had squinted round and shaken one hind-leg at him. "he means me, master perry, sir. i ought to have got that will done." "nonsense! it's all right," cried the boy; and soon after, an affectionate farewell was taken of the nortons, it being decided, at the last moment, that the captain should not accompany them. then the little mule train started in the darkness up the bridle road leading straight away for the mountains, cyril sending a cooee-like call after them as they reached the first turn of the zigzag road, and, ten minutes after, they were slowly rising above the town, which still lay in the darkness below. the guide went first quite out of sight with the leading baggage mule, the others following; then the colonel walked next, beside his mule, with john manning behind him; lastly, followed perry with his mule, and the second indian came last of all. the road was fairly wide at first, giving room for three mules to have walked abreast, but their habit was to keep in single file, and, in spite of all efforts on perry's part, his animal followed the example of others, and walked close to the edge. as the day broke, john manning noticed the trouble his young master was taking, and he shook his head. "'tain't no good, sir; i've been a-trying as hard as a man can try to get the crittur to walk like a christian, and he won't. one of 'em 'll go over the edge directly, and kill hisself, and serve him right." but the mule team plodded on, in their slow patient way, higher and higher, while from time to time the travellers stopped to gaze back away over the town, at the glittering, far-spreading sea, till all at once, after surmounting the last zigzag up the side of the mountain, the leading mule turned a sharp corner and disappeared from perry's view, the others following, just as if they had entered a door in the side of the mountain. but, upon leaching the spot, perry found that they had entered a chasm in the slope--a huge rift, not twenty feet wide, and made quite dim by the distance to where it opened upon the sky; while below, it rapidly ran together, and closed some forty feet beneath the ledge along which the path ran, and with a swift gurgling stream hurrying downward to the shore. it was perry's first sight of a mountain stream whose waters came direct from the melting snow of the heights above, where winter always reigned, but he could see little but an occasional flash as the mules plodded on close to the edge of the path, which, as it rose, grew narrower and more rugged. and, as they still ascended, and the walls on either side of the gorge shut out the light, the boy shuddered, and wondered whether the way would become more dangerous, for, if so, he felt that he dared not mount and ride where a false step on the part of the mule would send him down headlong from the shelf-like track, twenty--forty--why, it must be a hundred feet down to the stream! "two, i should say, boy," said the colonel, for perry had involuntarily spoken aloud. "don't take any notice of the depth; you'll soon get used to it. look at the mules, how they keep to the very edge." "yes, it's horrible, father. the guides ought to train them to keep close to the wall." "the mules know best, boy. they are used to carry loads which spread out on either side, and they avoid the wall because it is as dangerous. they might catch their burden against it, and be jerked off." "i don't think i shall ever get used to such paths as this." the colonel laughed. "not in half a day," he said. "in a short space of time you will run along them as fearlessly as if you were on an english road." "but are there many like this?" "pooh, this is nothing, perry. you are going up into a land of wonders, where everything is so vast and grand that you will have no time to feel nervous." "but what are we going for?" asked perry. the colonel turned and looked his son full in the eye. then, smiling: "wait," he said. "you will know in good time." perry felt abashed, and wished that he had not asked, mentally determining not to question his father again, while, as he recalled his conversations with cyril, he began to feel that his new friend's ideas must be right. directly after, he felt sure that they were, for john manning edged up to him, where the path was a little wider, and said in a whisper: "master won't tell you, then, master perry?" "won't tell me what?" said perry rather shortly. "what we're going after. strikes me as we're going treasure-hunting, and we shall get into one of them wonderful valleys you read of in the _'rabian nights_, where the precious stones lies about so thick, you can scoop 'em up." "oh, nonsense!" "do you know what the next country is to this?" "well, i suppose, if you went far enough over the mountains, you'd come to brazil." "zackley, sir; and what comes from brazil?" "nuts," said perry, laughing. "hard-shelled, oily nuts, that are horribly nasty to eat." "yes, sir, and di'monds. so don't you say it ain't likely that we may come to a valley of precious stones, because it strikes me that's what it means." onward and upward, along paths partly natural, partly cut in the sides of the gorge where the stream ran, and about mid-day perry began to realise how high the mountains were, for, upon reaching an opening where he could look up and down, he saw that they had been climbing up and up for about seven hours, and were able to look down at a wonderful panorama of mountain-side and valley; but upon looking upward, the great snowy peak appeared to be as far away as when they started. just then the guide spoke to the leading mule, his voice echoing back from across the gorge, for they had reached a slope where the sun shone, and there were patches of grass and green shrub which promised pasture for the animals. they all stopped at once, waited patiently to be relieved of their burdens; and then, when the packs were neatly arranged in a circle, the patient beasts threw themselves down, had a good roll, tossing their legs high in the air, so as to balance themselves for a few moments upon their spines, and then rose again, to begin nibbling at such herbage as they could find. john manning busied himself at once and started a fire, while, taking a tin, the second indian went down the steep slope to the bottom of the gorge, and toiled up again with his load of clear icily-cold water, into which, when it boiled, a small handful of tea was thrown, the tin removed from the fire, and the provisions the colonel's servant had taken from a basket were served out. the indians took what was given to them, and sat down by themselves, while the others partook of their portions with great gusto. then, upon looking round, perry found that the indians were fast asleep, and asked his father whether he ought not to go and wake them up. "no, boy; they'll take their mid-day nap and wake up soon." and so it proved, for at the end of a couple of hours, the two men suddenly sprang up, caught the leading mule and led him back to the path, the others following and standing patiently to be laden. then onward again till dark, when the guides halted at a spot like the last, the fire was lit, the evening meal prepared, and, well tired out, perry lay down to pass the first night in the awful solitude to which they had climbed, and gazed up at the brilliant stars seen between large walls of rock. he wondered what cyril was doing; felt that it would be impossible to sleep cushioned on that hard rock, and fell asleep directly, as a matter of course. the night was cold up there beneath the glittering stars, but when perry woke up, warmly rolled in his blanket, there was a sight before him that was as new to him as it was grand. right away, apparently at the head of a long narrow valley, and high up toward the heavens, there was a huge peak that might have been the mass of glittering rock from which broke away the diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, opals, and amethysts, which went to form the valleys of precious stones of which john manning had spoken. for it was all dark below, but up there one of the gigantic andean peaks was bathed in the full blaze of the rising sun. the boy lay gazing up, enraptured, thinking of the delight of climbing up into such a world of glory, and then rolling himself out of his blanket, he leaped up, with the stiffness and uneasiness of the past night quite gone, for the colonel's voice reached him: "now, my lad, jump up; breakfast." at the same moment he heard the crackling sound of burning wood, and in a nook of the great wall of rock, where otherwise it would have been quite dark, the glow of a bright fire shone upon the intent, hard face of john manning, who was baking a bread cake upon a disc of iron, while the two plump, effeminate-looking indians watched him complacently. just below, the mules were cropping the green herbage, and from below them came the rush, roar, and splash of falling water. "that's right," cried the colonel, holding out his hand. "slept well? find your bedroom draughty?" "i don't know, father," said perry. "i was looking at the stars one minute, and the next i was staring at that glorious peak." "glorious indeed, my boy. hah! there's nothing like a tramp in the mountains, and a night's rest in the beautiful, crisp, fresh air. come along down to the dressing-room." "where?" said perry, staring. "down yonder for a wash," said the colonel merrily; and, leading the way, they descended the precipitous slope to where the stream ran thundering by, reaching first a place where it was not above a couple of yards across. "why, i thought it would be bigger than this," said perry, "from the noise it makes." "bigger than you think, my lad," said the colonel. "there is an enormous amount of water going by here. i daresay that crack is a hundred feet deep. look at the speed at which it runs." "yes, it seems to run fast." "seems!" cried the colonel. "here, give me your hand. don't be afraid. stop a moment; roll up your sleeve above your elbow. that's it. set your feet fast, and trust to me." the boy obeyed, and after making sure of his own footing, the colonel let his son sink down sidewise till he was nearly horizontal, and could plunge his arm right into the stream above the elbow. it was a strange sensation for the boy to be sinking lower and lower, gazing in the gloom at that rushing, glassy water, which, as it darted along, carried with it another stream--one of air, which blew his hair about and felt icily-cold, but nothing to compare with the water into which he plunged his arm. the shock was electric. it was as if he received a blow from a mass of ice which numbed him, and gave his limb a sudden snatch and drag to draw it from the socket. perry gave a gasp, and pulled his arm out of the torrent. "ugh!" he ejaculated. "it's freezing." "yes; would you like a plunge in?" "what! there, father? it would sweep me away." "yes, if you were a thousand times as strong, my lad. the force is tremendous. come along here." he led the way upwards to where there was a fall of some few feet, and at the side a shallow pool of the water, wonderfully round, and forming a basin, giving them ample room for their ablutions; after which, fresh and glowing, they climbed up past the mules to where the breakfast was waiting, the hot coffee, bread, and frizzled charqui, or dried beef, being partaken of with an appetite perry had never felt before. then the remains were packed up, the squealing mules loaded, and they started once more; now rising a thousand feet, now descending, but always following the stream deeper and deeper into the mountains, till the grandeur and weird sternness of the gorge's defiles through which they passed grew monotonous, so that at the end of two days perry began to long for some change and the open sunshine, away from the tremendous precipices which closed them in, and, in spite of the elasticity of the air, had sometimes a strangely depressing effect. john manning felt it, evidently, and sought every opportunity of keeping perry by his side, so as to have a good grumble about the colonel. "i don't know what he could be thinking about, master perry, to come to such a place as this. it's the world's end, i say. we shan't have a bit o' shoe to our foot when we've gone a bit farther." "why don't you ride more, then?" said perry. "you've got a mule on purpose." "what!" said john manning, turning sharply round, "ride that mule? no, thankye, sir. i've seen him kick. i'm not going to give him a chance to send me over his head down into one of them cracks. i believe some of them go right through the world. look at this one now. i can't see no bottom to it--can you?" he pointed down into the deep chasm along one of whose sides the rough path led. "no, not from here," said perry, glancing down, and wondering at the absence of giddiness. "nor from anywhere else, sir," grumbled the man. "why, if any one told me that if you dropped down there, you'd come out somewhere by simla, i should believe him, for i know they go right through." "nonsense!" said perry, laughing. "there, father's beckoning to me." it was evening once more, and they were coming again to an opening among the lower mountains, where they would halt for the night. in fact, half an hour later the leading indian checked his mule in a bowl-shaped hollow, where there was a dense little wood of goodly-sized trees, and a thread-like fall of water came curving down into a mossy basin, while the whole place was brightened by the reflection from the mountains, made dazzling now by the setting sun. the preparations were made for the evening meal with quite military precision; the arms were placed near the fire, and, as if in imitation, the two indians placed together their long stave-like blowpipes and bows and arrows, before helping to unload the mules, and then sitting down patiently to administer snuff to each other, and wait to be asked to join the meal. "it's very awkward, perry, my lad," said the colonel suddenly. "we ought to have had a guide who could understand us more easily." "it _is_ awkward, father," said perry. "come and help me now, and between us we may make the man comprehend." perry followed to where the indians were squatting down in their loose cotton smock-frock-like garments, and at a sign the leader rose. "the other man--where is the other man?" said the colonel in spanish; but the indian gazed at him vacantly, till in a fit of inspiration perry repeated his father's words as nearly as he could, and then began to count, laughing as he said in spanish, "one--two"--and gave an inquiring tone to the word "three," as if asking for it. the man smiled and pointed to the ground as he answered, and then closed his eyes and let his head fall over upon one hand. "what does he mean by that, father?" said perry. "i can't tell, my boy, unless he wants to show us that the other man is coming while we sleep." they tried again, but could get no farther. the indian grew excited at last and voluble, making gestures too, pointing forward and then at the ground, ending by pointing at them in turn, throwing himself down and pretending to sleep. "i give it up," said the colonel, turning away towards the fire; "but we must try to learn their language as fast as we can, or we shall never get through our journey." a good meal near the fire, whose glow was comfortable enough up at the height they now were, and then father and son strolled a little way about their camp, the wood proving very attractive; but the darkness soon closed in, and they began to return toward the fire, which glowed brightly and cast the shadows of the indians against the rock-wall as they sat prolonging their meal. "what is john manning doing eating with them?" said the colonel suddenly. "i told him he was to keep those men in their places. they are my paid servants while--" "he's over yonder," said perry, interrupting his father, "stacking guns together, i think." "nonsense!" said the colonel; "there he is, sitting with the indians, eating." "he can't be, father; i can see him over there." "but look, boy, there are three shadows against the cliff." "one--two--yes, there are three shadows," said perry dubiously; "but it is something to do with the fire." "absurd, my lad; there are three shadows cast by three men sitting there." "i know," cried perry excitedly; "that is what the indian meant--that the third fellow would be here to-night to sleep, or while we slept." "to be sure," cried the colonel, in a tone full of satisfaction. "i'm glad of it, not but what we could have got on without him, for the mules go well enough, but because it proves the guide to be trusty and a man of his word." chapter five. perry is startled. the guide came to the colonel smiling as soon as he saw him seated, and pointed to; the other side of the fire, as he spoke words which evidently announced the coming of the promised assistant. the colonel replied in spanish, and the indian went back to his companions. soon after, the smell from john manning's pipe rose on the cool night-air, and perry sat talking to his father in a questioning mood. "when are we going over the top of one of the snow-mountains, father?" he said. "i have no intention of going over the top of either of the mountains," replied the colonel. "we have nothing to gain but hard labour up there. we want to get through the first ridge, and on to the rich tablelands, or among the beautiful valleys." perry said "oh!" in a tone of voice which suggested "do we? i did not know." then aloud: "how high up are we now?" "about eight thousand feet, i should say; perhaps a little more, for it is rather cold. there, let's get to sleep; i want to start early and be well on our way soon after sunrise." the colonel had his desire, for, long before the lower part of the ridge was quite light, the mules were all loaded, and the party made their start, with diego the indian leading, the new arrival second, and the other man right in the rear as before. perry had one glance at the new-comer, and made out that he was a more stunted fellow than the others. in other respects he seemed to be similar in aspect, but wore a good deal of radiating paint upon his cheeks, from which it was drawn along in lines right up to his brows, and downward toward the jaws. he wore the same loose, many-folded gown, reaching just to his knees, and carried a bow, arrows, and a long blowpipe, but he was wanting in his friends' plumpness and breadth of shoulder. "looking at the new mule-driver, perry?" said the colonel. "yes? seems to be quite a stripling. but so long as he does his work well enough, it does not matter." he did do his work and well, as it proved, trudging along by the mules, helping to unload and load again, managing those under his charge admirably, and proving to be most industrious in fetching water. but he was timid and distant to a degree, shrinking away when either of the english party approached him, and on one occasion showing so evident an intention to hurry away into the mountains, that the colonel checked his son when next he saw him making for the indian lad. "let him be," said the colonel; "he's wild as a hawk, and he doesn't look particularly clean." "no," said perry, laughing, "he is a grub. those fellows don't wash, i suppose, for fear of spoiling their paint." they ceased then to take much notice of their fresh follower all through that day and the next; and the indian trudged on beside the luggage mules, with his shoulders up and his head bent, as if he were carefully watching where he should next place his feet, speaking to nobody but diego, when the guide left the leading mule for a few minutes to stop and look right along the line, inspecting the loads as the mules passed him, smiling at the colonel and perry, and exchanging rather a fierce look with john manning; for, somehow, these two did not seem to be the best of friends. then he would let his companion who guarded the rear come right up, walk beside him, talking for a few minutes, and then start forward again at a trot, passing them once more till he had reached the leading mule. there was little change that day, always a constant succession of precipitous walls to right and left, their way being along a narrow shelf, with the stream they followed thundering beneath them, sometimes a hundred feet beneath, at others perhaps a thousand, and quite invisible, but making itself evident by the echoing roar of the rushing waters. they passed nobody, neither did they see a single animal to tempt them to use rifle or gun that hung by its sling across their backs, till late in the afternoon, when, just as they turned the corner of a great buttress of rock, a huge bird suddenly swept by, gazing wonderingly at them. by one consent, father and son paused to watch the ease with which the great-winged creature glided along the gorge, half-way between the top and the stream below, turned suddenly and came back, as if to renew their acquaintance, and then curved round again, sweeping along for a short distance, and again wheeling round, not in a series of circles, but ellipses, each turn sending it almost without effort higher and higher, till it had reached a sufficient elevation, when it passed out of sight over the wall on their left. "eagle?" said perry. "vulture," replied the colonel. "there you have seen one of the biggest birds that fly. didn't you notice its naked head?" "yes; and it had quite a comb over the top, and a ruff round its neck. i thought it was an eagle from its great hooked beak." "the featherless head is a general mark of the vultures," said the colonel. "i wish i had had a shot at it; but i don't know: i don't want to be burdened with bird-skins, especially of such a size as that." "what a monster to skin!" said perry thoughtfully. "why, its wings must have been six or seven feet from point to point." "double the length--say fourteen or fifteen, my boy," replied the colonel. "it must have been that. old travellers used to make them out to be twenty-five or thirty feet from wing-tip to wing-tip; but they do reach the size i say. hallo! what are we stopping for?" "why, there's a bridge," cried perry; "and the path goes along on the other side of the gorge." "and what a bridge," muttered the colonel. he might well exclaim, for it was formed in the narrowest part of the gloomy gorge, and though not more than five-and-thirty feet in length, it looked perilous in the extreme, being formed merely of a couple of thick ropes of twisted fibre, secured at either side round masses of rock, and with a roadway made by rough pieces of wood laid across and firmly bound to the ropes. "a suspension bridge with a vengeance," continued the colonel. "we shall never get the mules to cross that." and he had perfect warrant for his words. for some forty yards below, the water foamed along in a perfect torrent, falling heavily from a shelf above, and sending up quite a thick mist, which magnified the surrounding objects and added to the gloom of the place. perry felt appalled, but the halt was of short duration, for after turning to them and shouting something which was almost inaudible in the roar of the torrent, the indian stepped on to the bridge, and walked coolly across, half hidden by the mist; while the mule which played the part of leader bent its head, sniffed at the stout boards which formed the flooring, stepped on and walked carefully across, with the bridge swaying heavily beneath its weight. "not so bad as it looked, my lad," said the colonel, as the next mule followed without hesitation. then, after a pause, their new indian crossed, followed with the mule by which he had walked, and then the rest, including those from which the travellers had dismounted, for no one thought of venturing to ride across the chasm. "our turns now, perry," said the colonel. "how do you feel?" "don't like it," said perry huskily. "summon up your nerve, my lad; forget that there is any torrent beneath you, and walk boldly across. here, i'll go first." "no, no, please don't," cried perry, setting his teeth. "i'll go." "go on, then," said the colonel. the boy descended from the few yards of loose stony way to where the wet rough-hewn boards began, drew a deep breath, and stepped on to the bridge, conscious that the guide was looking back, and that the new indian was at the other end, watching him earnestly, with his lips slightly parted and his teeth bared. to perry it was a sign that their attendant felt the danger of the place, and was watching to see him fall. and if he did, he felt nothing could save him, for he would be swept away in an instant down that narrow chasm full of rushing water, where it was impossible for any one to climb down and stretch out a helping hand. one step, two steps, three steps, all descending, for the middle of the bridge hung far lower than the ends, and perry could feel it vibrato beneath him, and his nervous dread increased. and yet it was so short a distance to where the indians were waiting, as he stepped cautiously on till he was well past the middle, when all at once the sky above him seemed to be darkened over his head, there was a peculiar, whistling, rushing sound, and looking up sharply, perry saw that the huge bird which had passed out of sight had wheeled round and was flying so close above him, that it seemed as if its object were to strike at him with its powerful talons. as a matter of fact, the bird swept by five-and-twenty feet above his head, but it was near enough to destroy the lad's balance as he started and bent down to avoid the fancied blow. the colonel uttered a loud cry of warning, and perry made an effort to recover himself, but this stagger caused the bridge to sway, and in another moment or two he would have been over into the torrent had not the bridge vibrated more heavily as a guttural voice whispered to him: "quick! _mano_--hand!" it was accompanied by a sharp drag as his own was seized, and, recovering his balance, he half ran--was half pulled--up the slope into safety on the other side. perry felt giddy and dazed as the indian loosed his hold and hurried away among the mules, while before he had half recovered himself, his father had crossed and was at his side. "perry, my lad, you sent my heart into my mouth." "yes," faltered the boy. "it was very horrid. that bird." "it was startling, my lad, but you ought to be able to walk boldly across a place like that." "ahoy! colonel!" came from the other side, as john manning hailed them. "what is it?" shouted back the colonel. "hadn't i better go back, sir?" "back? no. come over!" john manning took off his hat and scratched his head, looking down at the hanging bridge and then up at his master. just then there was a shout from diego and some words in the indian tongue, which resulted in the other indian offering his hand to the colonel's servant, who resented it directly. "no," he growled; "i'll do it alone. one must be safer by one's self;" and stretching out his arms like a tight-rope dancer, he came down cautiously, stepped on to the bridge and slowly walked across, the indian following at a trot, as if astonished at any body finding so good a pathway difficult. "i hope there ain't many more o' them spring playthings, sir," said john manning gruffly. "i thought master perry was gone." "nonsense!" said the colonel shortly. "that great bird startled him. forward again; the men are going on.--perry, my boy, you must give that indian lad a knife, or something as a present: he saved your life." "yes, father," said the boy, looking dazed and strange. "i--i'm better now." "yes, of course you are. pish! we mustn't dwell upon every slip we have. there, think no more about it," he continued, as he noticed the boy's blank, pale face. "go on, and mount your mule." "i think i would rather walk," said perry. "walk, then," said the colonel shortly, and he went on and mounted his mule. "quick! _mano_--hand!" buzzed in perry's ear, and at the same time he seemed to hear the booming roar of the torrent beneath his feet, and the rush of the huge bird's wings just above his head--"quick! _mano_-- hand!" "i say, master perry, sir, don't look that how," said john manning in a low voice; "you're as white as taller candle. you're all right now." "yes," said perry, trying hard to recover his natural balance. "i'm all right now." "you've made the colonel look as black as thunder, and it wasn't our fault. they've no business to have such bridges in a christian country. but it was enough to scare any one, my lad. i thought that there bird meant to have you." "that was fancy," said perry hastily. "i ought to have known better." "no, it wasn't fancy, my lad. i think he'd have had you, only seeing us all about made him give you up. but it's all right." "all right?" "yes, sir, we're on the c'rect track." "of course we are," said perry, as they marched on once more behind the mules, followed by the indian. "you dunno what i mean, sir," said john manning testily. "i meant on the track for one o' them di'mond valleys. know what that bird was?" "yes; a condor." "con grandmother, sir. it was a roc, one o' them birds as carried sindbad out o' the valley. this was only a chicken, i should say; but it was a roc, all the same." "what nonsense!" said perry. "that was all fancy tale and romance." "not it, sir. i might have thought so once, but i don't now. let me ask you this, sir," said manning: "suppose there was no way out or no way into the valleys we've come along, could you climb up the sides?" "no, of course not." "and if you'd heard tell of birds with wings thirty foot across before you'd seen 'em, would you have believed in them?" "no, and i don't now." "what! after one of 'em come down to attack you, and we scared it away." "that was only about half the size." "oh, come, master perry, sir, don't get a haggling about trifles; there ain't much difference between fifteen foot and thirty. you mark my words, sir, the colonel's been studying up his _'rabian nights_, and he's on the right track now for one of them valleys, and we shall go back to san-what's-its-name with these ugly-looking donkey mules loaded up with all kinds of precious stones. you're a lucky one, master perry, sir, and your fortune's about made." "think so?" said perry, for the sake of speaking, for he was very thoughtful. "yes, sir, i just do; and as for me, i hope it's going to be my luck to get just a few nubbly bits for myself, so as i can buy myself a cottage and a bit o' garden, and keep a pig, so as to live retired. you'll come and see me, master perry, then, won't you?" "of course," said the boy, and then, making a trivial excuse to get away, he hurried along the line of slow-going mules to see that his father was right in front before their guide, who walked by the first mule; then there were three more plodding along, just far enough behind each other to be safe from any playful kick. by the head of the third mule their new indian driver was walking with his bow over his shoulder, a handful of long arrows tucked under his arm, and his head bent down watching his footsteps. perry kept behind at some distance, watching the indian's every gesture, till he saw his father returning, for the track had become wider, and the boy watched intently; for he saw the colonel bend down from his mule and tap the indian on the shoulders as he said a few words in spanish. but what they were perry was too far off to hear, the mules too making a good deal of clattering on the rocky track, which noise was echoed all around in a wonderful way. "it must have been my fancy, but i could have been sure he said something to me in english," muttered perry. "i was so excited, i suppose." chapter six. a night alarm. "did you give the indian lad the knife?" said the colonel as they came abreast. "no, father." "go and do it at once, and mind how you give it; the fellow's as wild as a hawk. i thought he was going to spring over the precipice as soon as i touched him." perry took out the pocket-knife he had with him, and stepped forward; but a word from his father checked him. "i don't want to make too much fuss over this, perry, my lad," he said, "but you displayed a great want of nerve. you did not act like a healthy, sturdy, english boy, and but for that indian's quick decision, you would have lost your life." "yes, father, i'm afraid so." "then, for goodness' sake, my lad, try to shake off this girlish cowardice, or you'll make me regret bringing you." "i'll try, father," said the boy, his face flushing hotly. "that's right. i'm sure captain norton's son would have cut a better figure." perry's face grew hotter, and he felt a bitter feeling of annoyance at being compared so unfavourably with the lad who had been his companion. the feeling was only momentary, though, and he went on and overtook the indian, with the knife in his hand. he was going to give it without a word, but the idea that, perhaps, after all, the half-savage being might understand a few words of english, flashed into his mind, and he said: "this is not worth much, but i hope you'll keep it in memory of my gratitude for your bravery to-day." to his disgust, the indian paid not the slightest attention, but trudged on barefooted beside the mule, as if perfectly unconscious of any one beside him, and perry's nerves being all on the jar, he felt irritated at giving, un-noticed, a pretty speech. "here, catch hold," he said. "this is for you." he thrust the knife into the indian's grimy hand as he spoke, and then walked on to where diego received him with a smile of welcome, and began talking directly in his mongrel tongue, perfectly content if the boy seemed to understand a word here and there, when he pointed to cavernous-looking holes in the cliff face opposite to him, to some brighter and greener spot in the gorge, or to some distant fall which glittered in the sunshine which came obliquely down into the narrow vale. all at once there was a beating of wings, and one of the huge condors, startled from the eyrie it occupied high up above their heads, suddenly threw itself off, and began to fly round, rising higher and higher, while the indian rapidly fitted one of the long feathered arrows be carried to the string of his bow, waited till the great bird was gliding by, and then loosed the shaft. the arrow struck the condor in the wing, and made the huge bird give itself an angry jerk, as if it were disposed to turn upon its aggressor; but as perry watched, the bird gave a few rapid beats with its pinions, shooting upwards rapidly, and though it was some distance away, the air was so clear that perry distinctly saw the long feathered arrow shaken out of the condor's white wing, and fall slowly down into the depths of the gorge, while the great bird literally shot up for some distance, and then glided over a shoulder of the mountain they were flanking, and disappeared. the indian looked at perry and shook his head, as he muttered some words which were easily interpreted. "lost my arrow, and did not get my bird." "and a good thing too," said perry. "it would have been of no use, and only wanton destruction." the man nodded and smiled as if perry's words were full of sympathy for his loss. but they fell upon other ears as well, for the colonel was close behind. "rather misdirected sympathy, i'm afraid, perry, my lad," he said. "the bird would have been no use to us, but i dare say its death would have saved the lives of a good many young vicunas and llamas." perry stared for a moment or two, and then: "oh yes, i know. do they live up in these mountains?" "yes, you'll see plenty by-and-by." "sort of goats, aren't they, father?" "well, my boy, they partake more of the nature of a camel or sheep, as you'll say whenever you see the long-necked, flat-backed creatures. but it's getting time for camping. the mules are growing sluggish, and sniffing about for food." "i hope we shan't camp here," said perry with a shiver. "not an attractive place, but i daresay diego has some spot marked out in his eye, for he has evidently been along here a good many times before." ten minutes later, as the snowy peaks which came into view began to grow of a bright orange in the western sunshine, one of the mules in front uttered a whinnying squeal, and the rest pricked up their ears and increased their pace. "steady there! wo-ho!" shouted john manning. "hadn't we better sound a halt, sir, or some of 'em 'll be over the side of the path." "i think we may trust them; they smell grass or something ahead, and know it is their halting-place." "but look at that brown 'un, sir; he's walking right out from under his load." a few hitches, though, and a tightening of the hide ropes, kept the loosened pack in its place; and soon after, to perry's great delight, the gorge opened out into a bright green valley, where, a snug, well-sheltered nook being selected, the mules were once more unloaded, and a fire lit. then, thanks to john manning's campaigning cleverness, before the light on the mountain tops quite died out, they were seated at a comfortable meal, with a good fire crackling and burning between them and the indians, wood for once in a way being fairly plentiful, there being a little forest of dense scrubby trees low down by the stream which coursed through the bottom of the valley. "not quite such a savage-looking place, master perry," said john manning, when the colonel had taken his gun and gone for a final look round before they retired to their blankets on the hard ground. "savage! why, it's beautiful," cried perry, who had been watching the colours die out on one snowy peak. "yes, sir, i suppose it is," said the man, shaking his head; "but we didn't take all the trouble to see things look beautiful. we can do that at home. what i'm thinking is that the place don't look healthy." "not healthy? up here in the mountains?" "tchah! i don't mean that way, sir; i mean healthy for your pocket. this looks like a place where you might have a farm and gardens, and keep sheep. you'd never come here to search for di'monds, and sapphires, and things." "n-no," assented perry. "o' course not. we want good wild broken stone muddle over rocky places, where you have to let yourselves down with ropes." "or ride down on rocs' backs, eh, john?" "yes, sir, that's your sort. we've passed several good wholesome-looking places that i should have liked to have hunted over; but of course the colonel knows best, and he is leading us somewhere for us to have a regular good haul. tired, sir?" "yes, pretty well, but one feels as if one could go on walking a long way up in these mountains." "well, sir, we've got every chance, and i'd just as soon walk as get across one of these mules, with your legs swinging, and the thin, wiry-boned crittur wriggling about under you. i always feel as if my one was groaning to himself, and looking out for a good place where he could thrust his hind-legs up and send me flying over his head into the air, where he could watch me turn somersaults till i got to the bottom." "oh, they're quiet enough," said perry. "oh, are they, sir? don't you tell me. my one never misses a chance of rubbing my leg up against a corner, and when he has done there, he goes to the other extreme and walks right along the edge, so that my other leg is hanging over the side; and if i look down, i get giddy, and expect that every moment over we shall both go." "i tell you, they don't mean anything," cried perry. "then why does my one, as soon as he knows he has frightened me, begin to show his teeth, and laugh and wriggle his ears about, as if he were enjoying himself right down to the roots. i don't believe these mules are any good, master perry, that i don't, and as aforesaid, i always feel as if i'd rather walk." further conversation was put an end to by the return of the colonel, and soon after, leaving the indians crouching near the fire, which they seemed reluctant to leave, the english party sought the corner which had been selected for their sleeping-place, rolled themselves in their blankets, and with valises for pillows, and their stores piled up for a shelter from the wind, they were not long in dropping off to sleep. perry's was sound enough at first, but after a time he began to dream and go through the troubles connected with crossing the swinging bridge again. he found himself half-way across, and then he could go no farther in spite of all his efforts, till, just as the condor was about to take advantage of his helplessness, and descend to fix its talons in the sides of his head and pick out his eyes, the indian made a snatch at him, and dragged him across for him to awake with a start. it was all so real that his brow was wet with perspiration, but he settled what was the cause, and changed his position peevishly. "that comes of eating charqui late at night, and then lying on one's back," he muttered, and dropped off to sleep again directly. but only to begin dreaming again of the condor, which was floating overhead, spreading its wings quite thirty feet now; and there was the scene of the day repeated with exaggerations. for the indian guide bent an immense bow, and sent an arrow as big as a spear whizzing through the air, to strike the huge bird, which swooped down close by, and looked at him reproachfully, as it said in a whisper: "i only came to bring back your knife." perry lay bound in the fetters of sleep, but all the same, his ears seemed to be open to outer impressions, for the words were repeated close to him, and he started up on to his elbow. "who's there? who spoke?" said a low firm voice close to him. "that you, perry?" "yes, father," replied the boy, as he heard the ominous _click-click_ of the double gun that lay by the colonel's side. "what were you doing?" "nothing, father. i just woke up and fancied i heard some one speak." "there was a whisper, and some one brushed against me just before. did you move from your place?" "no, father," said perry, feeling startled now. "manning!" "sir!" "have you been moving?" "no, sir; fast asleep till you woke me, talking." "then some one has been visiting us," whispered the colonel. "hah! what's that?" "something rustling along yonder, sir." _bang! bang_! both barrels were discharged with a noise which seemed to have awakened all the sleeping echoes of the mountains around their camp. then, as the colonel hastily reloaded his piece, perry and john manning sprang up, each seizing his gun, and waited. "i missed him; but, whoever it is, he won't come prowling about again. follow me quickly. stoop." bending down, they hurried across the few yards which intervened between them and the smouldering ashes of the fire, which, fanned now and then by the breeze sweeping along the valley, gave forth a faint phosphorescent-looking light, by which they could just make out the figures of the three indians standing with their bows and arrows ready, as if about to shoot. "which of you came over to us?" said the colonel in spanish; but there was no reply, and the speaker stamped his foot in anger. "what folly," he cried, "not to be able to communicate with one's guide!" "could it have been some one from the valley lower down?" whispered perry, who then felt a curious startled sensation, for he recalled perfectly the words he had heard while asleep, or nearly so: "i only came to bring back your knife." "then it must have been the little indian, and he could speak english after all." accusatory words rose to perry's lips, but he did not speak them. a strange reluctance came over him, and he shrank from getting the poor fellow into trouble, knowing, as he did, that his father would be very severe on the intruder upon their little camp. for it was a fact that the little indian had crept up to where they slept and spoken to him. the excitement had prevented him from noticing it before, but he held in his hand the proof of the visit, tightly, nervously clutched: the knife was in his left hand, just as it had been thrust there while he slept. "attend here," said the colonel. then very sternly: "you cannot understand my words, perhaps, but you know what i mean by my actions. one of you came for some dishonest purpose to where we lay sleeping, and i wonder i did not hit whoever it was as he ran.--give me your hand, sir," he cried; and he seized and held diego's right hand for a few moments. then dropping it, he held out his hand to the other indian, who eagerly placed his in the colonel's palm. "an outside enemy, i'm afraid," muttered the colonel; "they are both perfectly calm.--now you, sir," he continued, turning to the last comer, who hesitated for a moment, and then held out his hand. this was all in the dim starlight, the figures of the men being made plainer from time to time by the faint glow from the fire; but their faces were quite in the shade as the colonel took the last comer's hand and grasped it tightly, while perry's heart began to beat, for he felt that the discovery was coming; and hence he was not surprised at the colonel's fierce and decided action. "your pulse galloping," he cried angrily, as he dragged the dimly-seen figure forward. "perry, manning, cover those two men, and if they make a gesture to draw their bows, fire at once.--now, you scoundrel, it was you, and you had come to steal." "no, he had not, father; he came to give me back my knife." "what!" cried the colonel angrily. "it's a fact; he put it in my hand while i slept; and here it is." "then--" "it's quite true, sir, and no good to keep it up any longer." "cil!" cried perry in astonishment. "yes. don't be very angry with me, colonel campion. i felt obliged to come; i couldn't stop away." "why, you treacherous young rascal," cried the colonel, shaking him violently. "don't, sir, please; you hurt!" cried cyril half angrily. "how dare you mutiny against your father's commands, and come after us like--?" "i dunno," said cyril mournfully. "i felt obliged; i wanted to be with perry there." "but to come masquerading like this, sir! how dare you?" "i dunno, i tell you," said the boy petulantly. "it isn't so very nice to come over the stones without shoes or stockings, and only in this thing. it's as cold as cold, besides being painted and dirtied up as i am. my feet are as sore as sore." "and serve you right, you young dog. what will your father say?" "i don't know what he'd have said if you'd shot me," grumbled cyril. the colonel coughed. "you precious nearly did, you know," continued cyril querulously. "i heard the shots go crashing in among the bushes as i ran." "then you shouldn't have come prowling about the camp in the middle of the night," cried the colonel. "of course, sir, i took you for some wild beast or marauding indian." "well," said cyril, "now you know, sir, and i suppose i can go back and try to sleep." "go back? yes, sir, first thing--to your father," cried the colonel fiercely. "i suppose he does not know you have come?" "no, sir." "of course not. a pretty disgraceful escapade, upon my word, sir! i only wish i were back in my regiment, and you were one of my subalterns. i'd punish you pretty severely for this, i promise you." "would you, sir?" said cyril drearily. "i thought i was getting punished enough. i'm sorry i disturbed you, sir; i only wanted to get close up, and touch perry's hand." "bah!" cried the colonel. "why did you want to touch perry's hand?" "because i was so lonely and miserable, lying there with my feet sore. i couldn't sleep, sir. the stones have cut them, and i was afraid to wash them, for fear you should see how white my legs were." the colonel coughed. "here; stop a moment, sir," he said, in rather a different tone. "you see, i might have shot you." "yes, sir," said cyril dolefully. "and it did seem hard to be shot at, because i felt glad the poor fellow didn't go off the bridge." the colonel coughed again. "hum, ha, yes," he said, a little huskily. "it was a very narrow escape, of course, and you behaved very well. you--er--yes, of course, you quite saved his life. but i shall say no more about that now.-- here, manning, get mr cyril norton a couple of blankets.--and you'll come and lie down by us, sir; and mind this: no more evasions, no attempts to escape." "i shan't try to escape in the dark," said cyril drearily. "where should i escape to, sir?" "ah! of course. where to, indeed! so recollect you are a prisoner, till i place you back safely in your father's hands.--stop! halt! what are you doing, perry?" "only shaking hands with him, father," said the lad. "then don't shake hands with him, sir. shake hands with gentlemen, and not with lads who disgrace themselves by disobeying their father's orders, and satisfying their own selfishness by causing others intense anxiety." perry drew in a long, deep breath, which did not go down into his lungs properly, but seemed to catch here and there. "one moment," said the colonel; "can you make that man diego understand?" "yes, sir." "then tell him and his companion to go to sleep again." cyril said a few words to the guide, and the two indians dropped down at once, close to the warm ashes. "i suppose, then, he knew all about your escapade, sir, eh?" cried the colonel. "of course, he must have got you the indian clothes and paint." "it was all my fault, sir; don't blame him," said cyril humbly. "i'm very sorry i did it now. it seemed--" "seemed? well, what did it seem, eh? there, hold your tongue now, and go and lie down by perry. recollect you are in an old soldier's camp, and i forbid all talking now. stop!--er--are you hungry?" "no, sir; i can't eat," said cyril bitterly. "humph! there, go and lie down, both of you, and get to sleep.--once more, no talking, perry; not till to-morrow morning.--good-night, both of you." by this time john manning had taken two soft blankets out of one of the packs, and handed them to the prisoner with a very unmilitary whisper. "my!" he said, "what a game, mr cyril." but neither of the boys smiled. they lay down in perry's old place, and cyril uttered a sigh of content, and then a stifled sob, as he felt perry's hand seeking for his to hold it tightly. "good-night," he whispered, as perry bent over him, and then there was another whisper. "can father send you back, cil?" and the answer came: "it's too late now. no." just then the colonel lay down again in his old place, and another rustling told that john manning was curling up in his. "good-night, perry, my boy," said the colonel. "good-night, father," replied perry, and then to himself, "oh, i hope he'll say good-night to poor old cil." he had his wish. "good-night, cyril," came rather huskily. "good-night, sir," said the boy, in a voice he could hardly keep steady. and then came: "thank god i did not hit you when i fired, my lad." then there was nothing heard but the whispering of the wind below them among the trees. chapter seven. the slippery way. "awake, cil?" whispered perry, just as daylight was making its way down into the depths of the valley, and a faint glow became visible on one of the snow peaks. "yes," was whispered back, "these two hours." "couldn't you sleep?" "no; not for thinking. it's all very well for you, but i've got to hear what your father _says_ this morning." this was unanswerable, and perry remained silent for a few minutes, wondering what he had better say next. then the inspiration came. "look here, cil," he said; "you won't get on any the better for having a painted and dirty face. i'll get a bit of soap, and we'll go down and have a good wash." "what's the good?" said cyril. "dirty painted face goes best with things like this." "yes, but you're not going like this," said perry. "you must put on decent clothes." "haven't got any," said cyril sourly. "no, but i have--two spare suits, and you shall have one." cyril gave a start. "i say, per," he whispered excitedly, "do you mean that?" "of course i do. my things will fit you, and you can have a regular rig-out." "oh!" ejaculated cyril. "come on then, quick." they stole out of their corner to the baggage pile, where perry pointed to the portmanteau containing his kit, signing to cyril to take one end and help him to bear it a dozen yards away to where a huge mass of rock had fallen from above. "here we are," cried perry, dragging out one of the suits that had been made expressly for the journey. "they'll fit you, i know." "fit!" cried cyril excitedly; "of course they will. once get myself decent, i shan't so much mind what the colonel says--i mean, i can bear it better. i did feel such a poor miserable wretch when he was talking to me in the night. it all seemed so easy just to dress like one of the indians; but as soon as i was in that long shirt thing, with my bare legs and feet, i felt as if i'd suddenly turned into a savage, and daren't look any one in the face." "and i don't wonder at it," growled a deep voice. "here, what game's this, young gents?" the boys looked up to see that john manning was peering over the rock, and they were so startled for a few moments that neither spoke. "going off again, and you with him, master perry? well, you don't do that while i'm here." "don't be so stupid, john," cried perry, recovering himself. "can't you see what we're doing?" "yes, that's what i can see, making of yourselves a little kit apiece, ready to desert, both of you." "rubbish!" cried perry.--"that's all, isn't it, cyril?" "boots!" said cyril dolefully; "but i don't know how i am going to get them on." "oh, a good bathing will do that. here you are.--now, john manning, fasten this up again, and take it back." "honour, master perry?" "honour what?" "you're not going to desert?" "you go and light a good fire and get breakfast ready; we're going down to have a bathe." "oh, that's it, is it?" said the old soldier, chuckling. "well, a bath would improve master cyril. shall i bring you down a tin of hot water, gentlemen." "you be off, and hold your tongue. i don't want my father to know until we get back." "all right, gentlemen," said john manning, grinning; "but i say, master cyril, there'll be court-martial on you arter breakfast." "come along, and don't mind him," whispered perry, and they hurried down to the side of the torrent, where they had to spend some time before a suitable place was found where they could bathe without being washed away, for the water ran with tremendous force. but at length a safe spot was hit upon, where the stream eddied round and round; and here perry's tin of soap was brought into play with plenty of vigour, there being no temptation to prolong their stay in water which had come freshly down from the snow, and which turned their skins of a bluish scarlet by the time they were dressed. "shall i pitch this smock-frock thing into the stream?" said perry, with a look of satisfaction at his companion. "throw it away? no. perhaps your father will order me to keep it to wear, and make me give back your clothes." "i know my father better than that," cried perry warmly. "but see how he went on at me last night, and how he'll go on at me again to-day. i wish i hadn't done it." "i'm glad you are come, cil," said perry; "but it does seem a pity. whatever made you do it?" "i hardly know," said the boy sadly. "i was so down in the dumps because i couldn't come with you, and i did so long, for it seemed as if you were going to have all the fun, and i was to be left drudging away at home, where it was going to be as dull as dull without you. and then i got talking to diego, and when he heard that i was not coming too, he said he should give it up. he wasn't coming with three strangers, he said, for how did he know how people with plenty of guns and powder and shot would behave to him." "he said that?" cried perry. "yes, and a lot more about it, and he wanted me to ask father again to let me come." "and did you?" "no; where would have been the use? when father says a thing, he means it. then diego turned quite sulky, and i thought he was going to give up altogether. that was two days before you were going to start, and i begged him not to throw you over, and he said he wouldn't if i came too; and when i told him my father wouldn't let me, he said why not come without leave? and after a great deal of talking, in which he always had the best of me, because i wanted to do as he proposed, at last i said i would, and he got me the indian dress and the bow and arrows." "and when did you start?" "that same night, after they'd gone to bed at home. i'd got the things all ready, and i soon dressed and locked up the clothes i took off in a drawer they weren't likely to look into, so that they might keep on expecting to see me back, thinking i'd gone out next morning early, and that would give me a start of all that night and all next day." "what a thing to do!" said perry. "yes; wasn't it? didn't seem so bad in the hurry and worry of getting off i didn't think about anything but hurrying on after you, and then i got very tired and hot, and that kept me too from thinking about anything but catching up to you." "but how did you know the way?" said perry. "oh, that was easy enough. diego told me which road he should take, and i'd been along there before as far as the place where he said he would wait for me." "yes, he said when you would come." "and when at last i was getting nearer to you, i began to lose heart altogether, and i'd eaten all the food i brought with me; and i'd had so little sleep, because i was obliged to overtake you before you started. if i had not--" he stopped short, and perry stared at him. "go on," he said at last. "if you hadn't what?" "if i hadn't caught up to you, it would have been all over." "nonsense! why? you'd have gone back." "no. i'd been one whole day without anything to eat, and i couldn't have got back, tired as i was, in less than four days. i should have lain down and died." "but you'd have met somebody," said perry. "up here? no. there's a caravan of llamas comes down about twice a year, and now and then a traveller comes along, but very seldom. how many people did you meet?" "not one." "no, and you were not likely to. i knew this, and it made me keep on walking to overtake you, for it was my only chance." "but did you think about what a risky thing you were going to do before you started?" "no," said cyril sadly; "all that came after, and there was no going back." "but what a way your father and mother must be in. what will they think?" "oh, don't, don't, don't!" groaned cyril. "think i haven't gone over it all, times enough? i never thought how much there was in it, or what trouble it would make till it was too late. do you think i'd have come to be near you for a minute last night, if i'd known that the colonel was going to shoot at me?" "of course not." "and that's the way with lots of things: one don't think about them till it's too late. hush, here he comes." for while the boys were busy talking, they had climbed up the side of the valley, and come close up to the fire before they were aware of it. "humph!" ejaculated the colonel sternly. "so you've given up being a savage then, young fellow, eh?" "yes, sir," said cyril humbly. "you'll join us at breakfast, then, eh?" "i don't feel as if i could eat anything, thank you, sir." "no, i shouldn't think you did; i don't think i should have much of an appetite if i had behaved to my father and mother as you have behaved to yours. but there, you are my friend's son, and i must be hospitable, i suppose. come and have breakfast, and then the sooner you are off back, the better." perry stared at his father so hard that the colonel noticed it. "well, boy," he said, "what is it?" "i was thinking about what you said, father." "about his going back? well, what about it?" "how is he to go all the way back by himself?" "the same way as he came, sir, of course." "he couldn't do it, father. his feet are sore, and he'd have to carry all the provisions he'd want on the way." "provisions! to carry? why, he hasn't got any.--have you, sir?" cyril shook his head. "then how do you expect to get back?" "i don't know," said the boy sadly. "no!" thundered the colonel. "of course you don't know. nice sort of a young scoundrel you've proved yourself. scoundrel? no: lunatic. you can't go on with us, because, out of respect for your father, i won't have you; and you can't go back alone, because you have no stores. what do you mean to do--lie down and die?" "perhaps i'd better," said cyril bitterly; "there seems to be nothing else i can do." "well, don't lie down and die anywhere near where i'm camping, sir, because it would be very unpleasant, and spoil my journey. what time do you start back, now you can go decently?" "now, sir," said cyril, and he turned sharply and took a step to go, but the colonel caught him by the shoulder. "come and have your breakfast first, sir. if you can behave badly to your father and mother, i cannot, by ill-treating their son. no nonsense: come and sit down, and i'm very glad to see that you are beginning to realise what a mad trick it is of which you have been guilty.--ready, manning?" "yes, sir," came back from the fire, and a minute later they were all seated in silence, partaking of the hot coffee and fried bacon made ready for them by manning, who gave cyril a bit of a grin as he saw the change in his appearance. the colonel ate heartily, but perry's appetite was very poor; and cyril could hardly master a morsel, in spite of the colonel's manner becoming less harsh. "come, boy," he said, "eat. you've a long journey back, and you'd better make much of the provisions, now you have a chance. i'll send your father a line in pencil for you to bear, and to exonerate me from causing him so much uneasiness. by the way, how many days do you think it will take you to get back?" cyril tried to answer indignantly, but the words seemed to stick in his throat; and perry's face grew red at what he considered to be his father's harsh treatment of the lad whom he looked upon as his friend. there was a painful silence, then, for some minutes, during which the colonel went on with his breakfast, and perry sat with his eyes dropped, unable to get any farther. all at once, cyril spoke out in a half-suffocated voice, as he looked up indignantly at the colonel. "isn't it too hard upon me, sir," he cried, "to keep on punishing me like this? you know i cannot go back, or i should have gone long ago." "i want to punish you, sir, because i want to make you feel what a mad thing you have done, and how bitterly cruel you have been to a father who trusted in your honour as a gentleman, and a mother whose affection for you was without bounds." "but, don't i know all that?" cried cyril, springing up and speaking passionately now. "hasn't it been torturing me for days past; and wouldn't i have gone back if i could, and owned how wrong i had been?" "only you had found that, when once you had foolishly put your foot on the slippery decline, you could not get back to the starting-point, and have gone on gliding down ever since," said the colonel, speaking quietly. "yes, my lad, i believe you have been bitterly sorry for your foolish escapade since you started, and you have been severely punished. there, i will say no more about it." "and you will help me to get back, sir?" "if an opportunity occurs. as soon as we meet an indian who can be trusted, you can take two of the mules, and a sufficiency of provisions to last till you get back. i am a man short now, or one of these should return with you at once. i am sorry for your people, but i cannot turn back now, and i'm sure your father would not ask it of me." "thank you, sir," said cyril humbly. "there," cried the colonel, "i have done my duty by you, boy. you have had your punishment, and you have taken it bravely. i have no more to say, especially as you are not yet out of the wood, but have your father to meet." "yes, sir, i have my father to meet," said cyril. "then, now eat your breakfast, and let's get on again. take off that miserable face, for i shall not refer to the trouble again." he held out his hand. something very like a sob escaped from cyril's lips, as the boy made a quick snatch at his hand, and held it in his for a moment or two. then the breakfast went on in silence, and perry's appetite suddenly returned; while cyril did not do so very badly after all. chapter eight. signs of suspicion. half an hour later, the little caravan was in motion, and, for the first time the preparations were delightfully easy. eager to be of some service, and to try to make up for what he had done, cyril began to help to load the mules, and above all, helped the colonel. for the latter was trying hard to make the guide understand that he would like to pass through the patch of forest below them, before they ascended the mountain path visible away to their left; and the man stared at him in the most blank way possible, and then kept on pointing to a couple of great fagots which lay tightly bound upon one of the mules' backs. "it's all right, sir; let me speak to him," cried cyril eagerly. "he thinks you keep on telling him you want wood for the next fire we make, and he says he has got plenty." then, turning to the guide, he rapidly said a few words in the rough dialect of indian and spanish, with the result that the man gave the colonel a sharp look, and then nodded his head, and went off with the leading mule. perry gave his father an eager look, and the colonel, who was smiling with satisfaction at the ease with which a difficulty had been smoothed away, frowned. "oh yes, it's very nice," he said; "but i cannot afford to have an intelligent interpreter on such terms as these, master perry. there, get on; i said i would not refer to the trouble any more.--hi! cyril, my lad, you'd better ride that black mule." "ride--the mule, sir?" said the boy hesitatingly. "yes; your feet are cut and sore. rest till they are better." "hurrah!" whispered perry. "jump up, old chap. here, i'll give you a leg. i shall ride, too, to-day." the next minute, both boys were mounted, and following the last mule with the second indian. that patch of scrubby forest looked to be close at hand, but it took them nearly an hour to reach it, everything being on so grand a scale among the mountains; but at last they began to thread their way through, with the colonel eagerly examining the different trees, the indians noting his actions curiously, but always hanging their heads again if they thought that they were observed. the colonel kept up his examination, but did not seem very well satisfied; and soon after, the bushy trees with their shining green leaves were left behind, and they journeyed on through what had looked at a distance like fields of buttercups, but which proved to be a large tract covered with golden calceolaria, whose rounded turban-like flowers glistened in the sun. this looked the more beautiful from the abundance of grass, at which the mules sniffed carelessly, for they had passed the night eating. then before starting upward, there was the rapid stream to cross at a spot where the rocks had fallen in a perfect chaos from the mountain-side, completely filling up the chasm along which the water ran; and here they could hear it rushing, gurgling, and trickling down a hundred channels far below, in and out amongst the rugged masses of rock which dammed it back. the mules made no difficulty about going over here, merely lowering their muzzles, and sniffing at the cracks and holes as they felt about with their forefeet, and climbed more than walked across to the solid rock and the bare, very faintly marked, stony track, which led up and up to a narrow gap in the mountains, evidently a pass. steeper and steeper grew the way, now zigzagging along a stiff slope, now making a bold dash at the mountain-side, over loose stones which went rolling down, setting others in motion till regular avalanches rolled down into the valley hundreds of feet beneath. "have you ever been here before, cil?" said perry, who now rode close behind his friend. "no. never any farther than the place where i overtook you." "isn't this very dangerous?" continued perry, as the mules climbed up, sending the loose stones rattling down to their right. "eh? dangerous? i don't know. i was wondering what they are thinking at home. yes, i suppose it is dangerous." "then hadn't we better get down and walk?" "what for? we couldn't walk up so well as the mules. they've got four legs to our two. they're a deal more clever and sure-footed than we should be." perry kept his seat, fully expecting to have the mule make a slip, and then for them to go rolling down hundreds of feet into the valley; but in due time the gap-like opening was reached, and through this place, with the walls on either side so steep that they looked an if they had been cut, they passed into a narrow valley, or rather chasm, looking as if the mountains had been split down to their roots by some earthquake; and a chill of horror ran through perry, as he checked his mule where the rest were panting and recovering their breath. "not a very cheerful-looking place, boys," said the colonel, as he surveyed the great chasm, running apparently for miles through the mountains, zigzagging, returning upon itself, and always dark and profound in its lower part; so deep, in fact, that from where they stood it might have gone right down to the centre of the earth, while upward the sides rose, wall-like, toward three huge peaks, which looked dazzlingly white. all at once perry started, and it seemed as if an electric shock had passed through the mules. for there was a tremendous booming roar some distance away, followed by peal after peal, as if of thunder running for miles amongst the mountains, and not dying away till quite a couple of minutes had elapsed. "thunder," whispered perry. "no, i think not," said cyril below his breath.--"what was that, diego?" he said in the man's tongue. the answer was laconic, and accompanied by a smile. "he says some of the snow fell over yonder, out of sight." _crash_! there was another roar, followed by its echoes. "look! look!" cried cyril excitedly. "there, just below that place where the sun shines on the ice." "yes, i see it," said perry; "a waterfall." and he shaded his eyes to gaze at the glittering appearance of a cascade pouring over a shelf of ice into the depths below. "waterfall!" said the colonel, smiling. "there is no water up there to fall. it is a cataract of pieces of ice and solidified snow, thousands of tons of it broken away through the weight and the mass being loosened by the heat of the sun." "gone!" cried cyril. "to appear again, lower down," said the colonel, and they watched the glittering curve of dazzling ice as it reappeared and made another leap, and again another and another, lower down, till it finally disappeared by falling into some chasm behind a fold of the mountain. but the roar of the ice was continued like distant thunder, telling how enormous the fall must have been, though dwarfed by the distance into a size that appeared trifling. then the boys sat gazing at the black gulf before them, with its huge walls, which were nearly perpendicular in places. "i say, of course, we're not going along that way?" said perry nervously. "i don't know," replied cyril; "the tracks generally do go along the worst-looking places." "but how can they have been so stupid as to pick those?" said perry petulantly. "they don't pick them," replied cyril. "only they are obliged to go along any places there are. yes, we shall have to go along yonder." "impossible." "how would you go, then?" said cyril. "we're not flies; we can't climb up those walls; and you couldn't go over the mountains if you wished, because of the ice and snow. you must go in and out round them where the valleys are open, and this is open enough. there is no other way." "but, i say, shan't you be--er--just a little afraid to go down there?" "no," said cyril quietly. "i don't feel afraid a bit. there's only one thing i feel afraid of now." "what's that? falling off one of the precipices?" "no," said cyril sadly. "meeting my father." perry was silent, and his friend turned to diego, who was going from mule to mule, examining the knots in the hide ropes by which the baggage was secured to the pack-saddles. "which way does the road go now?" he asked. the man pointed straight along the black chasm running from below them away into the distance. "along there?" whispered perry, as he comprehended the gesture. "yes, i thought so," said cyril coolly. "there can be no other way." "but what else did he say?" asked perry breathlessly. "he said, did your father want to go on any more." "what's that?" cried the colonel. cyril repeated the man's remark. "tell him of course, till i wish him to stop." cyril delivered the message, and the man spoke again, gesticulating and pointing along the deep valley. "he says, sir, that there is no place farther on where you will get a bigger valley, and that there are plenty of snow-mountains farther back." the colonel made a gesture full of impatience. "what does he mean, cyril? doesn't he want to go any farther?" "i think that's it, sir. i'll ask him what he means." cyril turned to the guide again, and there was a short, eager conversation, carried on for a minute or so. "he says, sir, that the way along the track is very dangerous. it goes along that side, to the left, and the path is very narrow. if any one slipped, he would fall right to the bottom." "it must be the regular way across the mountains, where mules are accustomed to go, and he undertook to guide me; so tell him i go on." cyril conveyed the colonel's words to the man, who looked annoyed, and glanced suspiciously at the colonel as he said a few words, to which the boy replied angrily. "what's that? what's that?" cried the colonel. cyril hesitated. "speak out, sir; what is it? why don't you speak?" "he said he wanted to know where you wanted to go, and what for?" said cyril, watching the colonel rather anxiously. "tell him as far as i please, and where i please," said the colonel sternly. "now then, at once; and tell him i should advise him not to ask me any more questions. forward!" cyril interpreted the words, and the indian looked sharply at his employer, to see in his eyes the glances of a man accustomed to command, and without a word he took the rein of the leading mule, and went away to the left, seeming to perry as if he were passing over the edge of a precipice, so suddenly the descent began, a dozen yards away. but, as is often the case among the mountains, that which had looked so terrible at a little distance, last its dangerous aspect when boldly approached, for, following closely upon the luggage mules, perry reached the edge of that which he had supposed to be a precipice, and found that it was only a slope, going downward; but it was quite steep enough to require great care in crossing it, and the mules showed their comprehension of the fact that it must not be attacked lightly, by the way in which they walked, slowly and carefully, making sure of every step they took, till they were well across the green slope, and on to solid rock once more. and now it was plain that the man had not exaggerated, for their path lay along what is known to geologists as a fault in the rock of which the side of the valley was composed--that is to say, the upper part of the huge mass appeared to have slipped sidewise, leaving four or five feet of the lower part of the valley wall like a shelf, and along this the mules began to walk cautiously, taking the greatest care that their loads did not touch the side of the rock, and consequently walking as close to the edge as possible. the man had not exaggerated in the least. the shelf-like paths they had previously traversed were in places perilous enough, but here the bottom of the chasm-like valley was quite hidden from the travellers, and imagination added largely to the depth whenever either of the boys stole a glance downward. no one spoke, but they rode on in single line, feeling appalled by the awful nature of the place, hour after hour, for the path wound and zigzagged, and seemed without end. at every slip of a mule's hoof, at every kick against a loose stone, cyril felt his pulses leap, and perry turned cold with apprehension; while, whenever cyril turned to look round at his friend, each saw in the other's face a hard set look, and a strange, almost despairing stare in his eyes. they were conscious of there being a rushing torrent somewhere far below, but it was down in the region of gloom, and they went on for hours without once catching even a gleam of the water, which at times sent up a dull thunderous roar, at others died away into a faint murmuring vibration, as if it were making for itself a subterranean channel through the bottom of the chasm. but little attention was paid to that, each of the travellers keeping his eyes fixed upon the narrow path in front, and rarely glancing up at the rocky wall on their left, or down into the profound gulf upon their right. it was well on in the afternoon when, in turning an angle where the path shot off suddenly to their left, they came upon a wide opening lit up by the sun; but, saving that it was light, it was more repellent to the eye than the path along which they had come. for it was one wild chaos of tumbled-together rocks, looking as if, by some convulsion of nature, the whole of that portion of the valley side had been shattered and tumbled down from the shoulder of a huge mountain, destroying the pathway, and leaving in its place a broad stretch of masses of rocks, from pieces hundreds of tons in weight, to fragments not larger than a man's head. progress across this appeared impossible, but the guide went on for a few minutes and then stopped; for rugged as the place was, it possessed the quality of being level enough to enable them to make a halt for refreshments, without being on a narrow shelf where there was not room for a mule to be turned. hideous as the place was, every face brightened, for the strain of feeling in great peril was for the time removed, and even the mules showed their satisfaction by whinnying to each other, and giving themselves a shake, as they began to sniff about and browse upon the dry vegetation which grew amongst the fallen stones. "hah!" ejaculated the colonel, as he got off his mule, and looked round and above at the pure blue sky. "one feels as if one could breathe and move now." "yes," said perry, with a shudder; "it was horrible." "nonsense, boy," cried the colonel. "it was not a place one would select for a nice walk, but i should not have liked to miss such a journey. people at home do not know there are such wildly-grand places in the world--eh, cyril?" "no, sir," replied the latter eagerly, for a pleasant word or two from the colonel was like a gleam of sunshine in his breast; "but it was dangerous. i should not have liked to get off my mule on that shelf." "not on the precipice side, certainly," said the colonel. "why, there wasn't any room on the other," cried perry; "and if one had turned giddy, one would have gone down, down--ugh!" "yes, the place did look deep," said the colonel, "but no one did turn giddy, and the mules went along as steadily as if they had been on a turnpike road.--well, manning, what's the matter?" "i was thinking about our having to go back along that there path, sir." "well, i daresay we shall," replied the colonel, "but you don't mind." "not mind, sir?" cried the old soldier gloomily. "not you, my man. i grant it is a little dangerous, but not so bad as walking along a shelf in the nagari pass, with a belooch behind every stone, taking aim at one with his long matchlock." john manning grinned, took off his hat, and scratched his head. "you did not complain about the danger then," continued the colonel. "no, sir, i didn't, did i!" said the man, wrinkling up his face a little more; "and i ain't going to grumble about this neither. i'll go wherever you lead, colonel, like a soldier should." "yes; i knew that when i chose you to come with us, manning," said the colonel quietly. "well, what about dinner? we had better have it upon that flat-topped stone." "i shan't be five minutes, sir; but i was hesitating about that stone. it's just in the hot sunshine, and if there are any snakes about here, that seems a likely place." "any snakes about here, diego?" asked cyril, and the man shook his head, and replied that it was too cold. a few minutes later they were enjoying a hearty meal, and the mules were revelling in their freedom from their loads, while the two indians sat munching their sun-dried strips of meat, and talking together in a low voice. "all these stones and rocks tumbled down from above, i suppose, sir?" said cyril, after a prolonged look upward at the peak which rose high above them, with its smooth sides glittering with snow, and a thin, white, gauzy cloud just hiding the extreme point. "yes, my lad," said the colonel, shading his eyes, and looking up. "the snow hides the old scar, but i should say that during some eruption the whole side of the crater fell outward, and crumbled down to here, as you say." "crater?" cried cyril. "yes; don't you see that it is a volcano?" "i did not, sir. then those clouds up there are smoke?" "more likely steam." "steam? those clouds?" cried perry, gazing up. "and is this a burning mountain?" "yes. you will be able to say you have been on the side of a volcano," said the colonel quietly. "look at all this broken stone about; how glistening a great deal is, as if it had been molten. that piece, too, looks like scoria." "then hadn't we better go on at once?" cried perry, getting up from the stone on which he was seated. "what for? are you afraid of an eruption?" said the colonel, with a shade of contempt in his voice.--"feel that stone where he was sitting, cyril; perhaps it is warm." "yes, it was quite warm when i sat down upon it," said perry hastily. "all the stones about here are nearly hot." "of course they are, sir," cried his father. "have they not been baking in this hot sunshine? there, sit down and finish your dinner. mountains don't break out into eruption without giving some warning." "but this must have been quite lately, sir," said cyril, to turn the colonel's fire. "geologically lately, my lad," he said, picking up and examining a stone, "but not in our time, nor our grandfathers'. in all probability these stones came crumbling down some hundreds of years ago." "then you think there is no fear of another eruption, father?" "if i did think there was, do you think i should be sitting here so calmly?" replied the colonel. perry had nothing to say to this, and he soon after became interested in a conversation which took place between cyril and the guide, waiting impatiently until it was at an end. "what does he say?" asked perry, as cyril turned away. "that as soon as we've passed this rough place there's another path, like the one we've come by, and he wants to know if your father means to risk it." perry felt a shrinking sensation, but he said nothing, knowing how determined his father was when he had set his mind upon a thing. "i told him we were going, of course. but, i say, perry," whispered cyril, "how far does he mean to go?" perry shook his head. "is it any use to ask him where he means to stop?" whispered cyril. "no; not a bit." "hallo! look here!" cried cyril, and perry snatched up his piece from where it lay. "look out, father!" he cried, as one by one, with solemn, slow stride, some half-dozen peculiar-looking, flat-backed, long-necked animals came into sight round an angle of the valley at the far side of the chaos of stones amongst which they had made their halt. "put down that gun. don't be stupid," cried cyril. "can't you see they are llamas?" "what if they are? i suppose they are good to eat." "i shouldn't like to try one," cried cyril, laughing. the colonel had now caught sight of the animals, which kept on coming round the corner in regular file, with their long necks held up stiffly. "quite a caravan," the colonel said. "ask diego what they are carrying." "i know, without asking, sir," said cyril eagerly. "they're bringing down quinquina--kina, as they call it. you know, sir--bark." "hah!" ejaculated the colonel eagerly, and he took out the little double glass he carried to examine the train of animals, which had evidently come from the track that they were to pursue after their halt. "you're wrong, i think, my lad," said the colonel, after a long examination through his glass. "they have all got bales of something on their backs, and, judging from the outside, i think they are skins or hides." "yes, sir, that's right," cried cyril, "but it is bark inside. they make the bark up into bales, and cover them with hides before binding them up. i know; i've seen them before." the colonel continued his inspection, and cyril hurriedly questioned the guide before speaking to the former again. "he says they are taking the kina down to the port, and that they will halt here to rest." "then we'll stay a little longer and see them," said the colonel, closing his glass after seeing several armed men turn the corner and begin to climb beside the llamas over the rugged stones. chapter nine. cyril scents danger. as the men in charge of the llamas came in sight of the colonel and his party, they waited for more and more to join them, and it soon became plain that they expected or meditated an attack; but a peaceful message sent on by the colonel gave them confidence, and the swarthy men, for the most part armed, came on, followed now by their charge, till the great opening in the rock-wall was filled by the drove of rough, woolly-looking animals; there being over five hundred in the caravan, and each bearing about a hundredweight of the precious fever-averting bark. diego and cyril's powers were soon brought into requisition for interpreting; the strangers willingly stating where they were going, but proving themselves as eager to know the colonel's business as he showed himself about the bark bales, before the mules were once more loaded, and the english party started again, so as to get to the end of the valley before dark. the coming of the caravan had given the boys encouragement, for, as cyril argued to perry, the track could not be so very bad if that drove of animals bearing loads could come along it in safety. "i don't know about that," replied perry. "i had a good look at them. short-legged, broad things like these, with soft spongy feet like camels, seem made for walking up here among the rocks; while the mules, with their long legs and hard hoofs, look as if they might slip and go over at any time." this was just after they had started, and found, as soon as they had cleared the rocky chaos, that the shelf path was so wide that the lads were able to ride abreast; and as the colonel had gone right in front with the guide, the boys began talking about the men with the llamas. "any one would think your father wanted to go into the kina trade," said cyril, who was rapidly recovering his spirits. "did you notice how the indian frowned when diego kept on talking to him, and i asked all those questions for your father?" "i thought he seemed impatient and tired, and as if he wanted to sit down and rest." "oh, it wasn't that," said cyril quietly; "it's because they want to keep all about the bark trees very secret, so that no one else shall be able to grow it and supply it for sale. you heard my father say how the people who went in search of the trees never came back again. father feels sure that they were murdered." "no; that was the people who went after the treasures." "oh, was it? i forget. perhaps it was both," said cyril. "my head got in such a muddle over my coming after you, that things are mixed. i suppose it was because colonel campion asked so much about the kina." "father takes a great interest in everything; that's why he travels and has come here," said perry. "look, there goes a condor." "well, let him go," said cyril. "he isn't good to eat, and you've got plenty of provisions to last till you get to some village on the other side of the mountains. but, i say, it does seem strange that you people should come here of all places in the world." "i don't see it," replied perry. "it's a very wonderful place to come to, but i wish it wasn't quite so dangerous. i keep feeling afraid of turning giddy." "yes, it's a wonderful place to come to, and i had no idea that the valleys were so awful and deep; but i should enjoy it if it wasn't for thinking of them at home. i hope they believe i've come after you. wish i'd left a line to say where i had gone." "it's too late to wish that now," said perry. "yes, but one can't help wishing it all the same. i wish i knew why your father has come up here." at that moment there was a warning shout from forward, and another from john manning in the rear, for the boys had been so wrapped in their thoughts that they had not noticed how rapidly the path was narrowing. they had, however, another hint, and that was from cyril's mule, which, from long training on similar paths, knew exactly what to do, and went on ahead, while perry's stopped short on the narrowing shelf which followed all the windings and angles of the rocky wall, and had become so strait that perry shrank from watching the laden mules, whose loads every now and then brushed against the stones, and one completely caught against a rough projection, making the intelligent animal that bore it stop and ease away a little, leaning more and more over the precipice till perry's hands turned cold and wet, and he held his breath. just, though, as he was about to close his eyes, so as not to see the poor brute plunge headlong down to where it would certainly be dashed to pieces, the load escaped from the awkward corner, and the mule trudged on just as before, while perry heard a deeply-drawn sigh just behind him. "i thought he'd have gone, master perry," said john manning. "mules ain't got no nerves, that's for certain, and if ever you hear any one say in the future as a donkey's a stupid animal, you tell him he don't know what he's talking about." "that mule's sensible enough, at all events," said perry, without venturing to turn his head, lest he should have to look down into the gulf. "sensible, sir? why, he acted just as a human being would. i call it wonderful. i say, master perry, though." "yes? but i wish you wouldn't talk to me so, while we are going along a place like this." "don't say so, master perry, because i want to talk. it keeps one from feeling a bit skeary, because this is a place, sir, really." "well, what do you want to say? speak loud, for i can't turn round to listen." "but if i speak loud, the colonel will hear me, sir, and i want to talk about him." "well, go on then; what is it?" "can't you tell me, sir, where we're going to, and what we're going for?" "we're going over the mountains, john." "well, sir, i know that; but what are we going for?" "to find the valley of diamonds, and throw down lumps of meat for the rocs to fetch out." "no, no, sir, that won't do," said john manning, shaking his head. "as you said to me the other day, that's only a story out of the _'rabian nights_, and not real truth, though these places might just as well be something of the kind, from the looks of them. but, i say, sir, you do know where we're going, and what for, don't you?" "no, i have not the slightest idea. ask my father yourself." "what, sir! me ask the colonel about the plan of his campaign? why, i should as soon have thought of asking the dook o' wellington." "we shall know in good time, i daresay," said perry; and then a slip on the part of one of the mules ahead made them turn cold once more. but the clever animal recovered itself on the instant, and for hours they kept on along this path, till the boys despaired of reaching its end, and began to calculate on the possibility of having to encamp on a place like that for the night. but it is a long lane that has no turning, and just when there was a sensible deepening of the gloom, and the peeps they had of the sky overhead were of a golden amber, they turned an angle and became aware of an increase in the murmuring sound of water, which thenceforth grew louder and louder, till it was evident that they were approaching some extensive fall. an hour later they were in full sight of where it came thundering down hundreds of feet, spouting forth from a gap, and plunging down on to a huge buttress of rock, which shot it off again far into the air, distributing it so that it went on down into the valley like a misty rain, and without a sound arising from below. the fall was magnificent, for, as they approached, the upper part was turned to gold by the setting sun, and to add to the beauty of the scene, there was a patch of forest on either side, and the narrow shelf was broadening out to where it ran into a side valley, all golden green and darkened shadow. for they had reached the end of the terrific gorge, and there were scores of places just in front ready for the formation of ideal camps, without the risk of an incautious step sending its unhappy author thousands of feet down into the depths below. in another half-hour they were in a place which, by comparison with the sterile defile of darkness and depression, seemed to the lads beautiful in the extreme; and after a hearty meal, while the colonel was looking round the camp, as he called it, and having a farewell glance for the night at the mules, which were thoroughly enjoying the abundance of grass, cyril sat looking very thoughtful and depressed. "he's thinking of home and his people," said perry to himself, and then, on the impulse of the moment: "i say," he cried, "why didn't my father send you back along with the llama train? i never thought of that before." "are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?" said cyril bitterly. "no, of course not; but as he said he should send you home by the first, i thought it strange that he had not done so." "because they were not going to san geronimo," said cyril quietly. "they would turn off to the north, just where i first joined you, and i suppose he thought, after what i had suffered, it would be too cruel to send me to find a great deal of my way back with people like that." they relapsed into silence for a time, during which period john manning cleared away and washed up as methodically as if he were at home, while the two indians sat by the fire munching away at the supply of biscuit given to them. "what are you thinking about, perry?" said cyril at last. "the stars. how big and bright they are up here. what were you thinking about?" "diego, our guide." "what about him?--that he ought to be fonder of water, even if it is icily-cold?" "no," said cyril seriously. "i want to know why he has turned so quiet and serious, and why he seems to be always watching your father in such a peculiar way." "father was sharp with him, and ordered him to go on, when he seemed to want to go back." "yes, and i suppose he did not quite like it; but that isn't all." "what is all, then?" said perry. "ah, that's what i want to find out. he puzzles me. he's thinking about something, and i shouldn't wonder if he has taken it into his head that your father has come up here to look for the incas' treasures." "pooh! why should he think that?" returned perry. "because these indian chaps are horribly suspicious as well as superstitious. they would think it a horrible sin to touch the gold if there is any; and if it is found, they would be ready to defend it." "what with? bows and arrows?" cried perry, laughing. "yes, and blowpipes." "why don't you introduce pop-guns as well?" "because they are toys," said cyril seriously, "and blowpipes are not. don't you know the tiny darts they send out are poisoned, and that one will kill anything it hits?" "is that true?" said perry, whose eyes dilated at the idea. "quite true. i saw a man kill several birds with the darts. they died almost directly they were struck, and i have been told by father that he has seen small animals die in a few minutes after being scratched." "but do you think--oh, what nonsense! you have got your head crammed with that idea about the gold." "perhaps so," said cyril thoughtfully, "and maybe i'm wrong. but i don't like to see old diego turn so gruff and distant, and it seemed strange for him to go and talk for a long time with the indians in charge of the llamas. i saw them look very strangely and suspiciously at your father afterwards." "those indians? why, what could it be to them? ah, the peruvian indians are said to be joined together to protect everything belonging to the old days when they were a great nation, and keep it for the time when the incas come back to rule over them again." "say, master perry," said john manning in a low voice, "your eyes are younger than mine. just cast 'em along the rock path we come to-day." "yes, what for?" "are you looking straight along, sir?" "yes." "well, what do you see?" "nothing at all." "try again, sir." both perry and cyril looked along the path, tracing it faintly in the coming night for some distance along, beyond where the great fall came thundering down. "i can't see anything," said perry. "nor i," said cyril. "yes, i can. there's something that looks like shadows moving." "steady, sir; don't seem as if you were noticing it, but notice it all the same. it struck me as strange ten minutes ago, but i thought it was fancy. but you see it, sir, and it must be right. now then, sir, what do you make that to be?" "indians," said cyril promptly. "that's right, sir--what i thought; and they're watching us, and after no good." "what! do you think they are hanging round the camp to try to steal?" "don't know, sir," said john manning gruffly. "i hope that's the worst." chapter ten. john manning thinks. john manning's curious remark sent a thrill through cyril, and, trying hard not to appear as if watching, he strained his eyes in the direction indicated, but the gloom had increased, and neither he nor perry could make out anything more. "what do you mean by `you hope that's the worst?'" said perry. "well, sir, i hardly know how to tell you." "speak out," said cyril rather huskily. "if you think there's danger, tell us, so that we can tell the colonel, and put him on his guard." "well, young gents, i did give him a hint once, but he nearly jumped down my throat," said john manning. "what!" cried the boys in a breath. "well, sir, that's what you clever folk call methy-physical. i told him i didn't think the indians was to be trusted, and that i fancied they were keeping an eye upon everything he did, and he insulted me, sir." "nonsense, john," said perry. "my father wouldn't insult you." "o' course you stick up for your dad, master perry, as is quite right natural, and your duty to. but i put it to you, master cyril: he's a soldier, and i'm a soldier, and if one soldier calls another a stoopid old woman, with no more pluck than a quill pen, isn't that an insult?" "but colonel campion did not mean it, i'm sure," said cyril impatiently. "now then, don't waste time. what is it you think?" "well, sir, i think our indians said something to those indians who were with the llamas, and three or four turned back and followed after us." "are you sure?" said cyril anxiously. "well, sir, i'm sure i saw some of them dodging us and following. i wasn't very sure at first, for i thought p'raps the colonel was right, and i was a bit of an old woman growing scared at shadows; but i feel pretty sure now." "but why should they follow us?" asked cyril tentatively. "you have some idea in your head." "well, sir, i have; and whether it's right or wrong i can't say, but it seems to me as these people are all in league together, and they don't want anybody to come up in the mountains. they want to know what we're about." "but don't you fancy that, because it is what you have been thinking, john," said perry. "you have been wonderfully anxious to know where we were going, and what for." "that's a true word, sir," replied the man, "but i think they want to know too. it seems to me they're afraid we want to take something out of their country." "nonsense," said perry. "nonsense!" said cyril sharply. "he's right, perry. it's just what i told you, and--" "now, quick, mr cyril!" whispered john. "turn towards me, as if you were going to speak, and look toward the path we came by." cyril responded quickly, and saw by the light of the fire, which had just then blazed up brightly, a dark face peering at them over a great piece of rock. he even saw the flash of the fire in the watcher's eyes, and then, as he pretended to hand something to manning, his look was averted for a moment, and when he glanced again in the same direction, the face was gone. cyril responded quickly, and saw a dark face peering at them over a great piece of rock. "now, master cyril, what do you say?" whispered john manning. "i say it may only be curiosity," replied cyril, "but certainly we are being watched, and the colonel ought to know directly." "hah!" ejaculated the old soldier, with a sigh of satisfaction, "this puts one in mind of old times up in the hill-country, with the niggers waiting to go at you with matchlock or knife. i didn't think i was ever going to have the luck to see a bit of fighting again." perry started, and cyril's face looked in the firelight as if it was flushed. "where's the colonel?" he said quickly. "be steady, perry, old chap. there's nothing to be frightened about. don't look as if anything was the matter. come and find your father, and let's go and speak to diego and the other man." "but i can't speak to them," said perry excitedly. "never mind, i will. come along." "and suppose they shoot at us," whispered perry, "with an arrow or blowpipe?" "they'd better!" said cyril grimly. "but they won't do that. come on." he walked on toward the fire, behind which the two indians were crouched, apparently enjoying the warmth and the charqui they were munching; but they gazed furtively up at the two boys as they came up, and one of them started slightly as cyril made a sudden stoop, but became impassive directly when the boy picked up two or three half-burned brands and threw them into the middle of the fire before holding his hands out to the flame. "the waterfall makes it feel cold up here, and damp," he said to the guide in his patois, and the man smiled as he spoke, and then pointed up a defile away above them as he replied. "what does he say?" asked perry. "that the wind comes down that narrow rift from the snow, and it is that which makes it cold. i only half understand him." he turned laughingly to the guide, and said a few words to that effect, and the man laughed and nodded as he replied. "oh, what a big fib!" said cyril merrily. "he says i speak his tongue beautifully.--oh, there's the colonel looking round at the mules. they're having a beautiful feed here. plenty of grass for the mules," he said to the indian, and the man nodded again, and said it was good. the colonel said something very similar, as the boys strolled carelessly up, at a time when perry felt as if he must run to his father, shouting: "look out! danger!" "we must stay here two or three days, boys," the colonel said. "the mules will revel in this grass and fresh water, and make up for their fasting lately." "i think not, sir," said cyril, speaking carelessly, and making believe to pat one of the mules, which turned sharply round and showed him its heels. "what do you mean, sir?" cyril told him quickly; and as he spoke, the colonel's hand twitched, and went involuntarily to his side, as if he were seeking a sword. "humph!" he ejaculated. then quietly, and looking at the mules: "that's right, lads; don't make a sign. i daresay john manning is right. he has eyes like a hawk, and he is true as steel. well, i'm not surprised. i half expected it, though not quite so soon." "what shall we do then, father?" said perry anxiously. "go back?" "englishmen don't go back, perry," said his father gravely. "they would not have colonised the whole world if they did. no, boy, we are going on, and i don't think there is anything to fear. these people are all joined together to watch every stranger who comes into their country, in dread lest they should be in search of the incas' treasures, and they would be ready to fight in defence." "and kill us, father," said perry, with his lips paling in the firelight. "if we let them, boy. but we are well-armed, john manning and i, and know how to use our weapons if it should come to a struggle, which i doubt." "then you have come in search of something, sir! i knew it," cried cyril. "yes, i have come in search of something, boy, and i mean to find it and take it away out of the country in spite of all their watchfulness and care. now, then, what do you say to that? are you afraid, and do you want to get back?" "i don't know, sir," said cyril quietly. "yes, i do. i can't help feeling a bit frightened like. i don't want to, but i do." "and you wish to go back? for i warn you i am going on in spite of all obstacles." "no, i don't," said cyril quietly. "i shall go with you. i'm not going to leave perry in the lurch." "there's a coward for you, perry, my boy," said the colonel, laughing. "you must be a very good sort of a fellow to have made a friend like that; one who risks his father's anger to come with you, and who is now ready to run more risks for your sake." "i'm afraid it isn't that, sir," said cyril frankly. "i wanted to come because i thought it was going to be a great treat." "there, say no more now. listen to me. i shall take it for granted that we have spies in the camp, and that, consequent upon their communication to the men of the llama caravan, some of that party are following us. of course the poor fellows consider that they are performing a religious duty, so i shall not charge them with their action. they will go on watching us till they find i have done something which calls for immediate action. till then we are safe." "then you will not do anything, sir?" said cyril, looking quite aghast. "oh yes, i shall be upon my guard. from now there will be watch set every night in camp, and we shall sleep with our arms charged and ready for action at a moment's notice." "yes," said cyril, with a sigh of satisfaction. "you can handle a gun, cyril?" "yes, sir, after a fashion. i have often been up in the hills with my father, shooting." "that will do," said the colonel. "now let's go and have a look at the falls before setting watch and going to our blankets. tell the men to keep up a pretty good fire, cyril." he led the way to where the indians were seated as he spoke, and nodded to them smilingly as cyril gave his orders; and then, as the men quickly obeyed them, the colonel led the way to the edge of a cliff! from here they could see the large body of water come gliding down in a curve from far away up in the darkness, to gleam in the firelight as it passed them, and then dive down into the deeper darkness below. "an awful-looking place, boys, in the darkness," said the colonel quietly. "there now, we'll seek our blankets--at least you shall, for i shall take the first watch; john manning will take the second." "shall i sit up with you, father?" said perry. "no, my lad, we must husband our resources. your turn will come to-morrow night. remember what i said about the guns. make no show, but have your ammunition ready for use at a moment's notice. the indians will see that, you may depend upon it, and act accordingly." half an hour later the two boys were lying inside a little shelter formed of the mules' packs and a wall-like mass of rock, listening to the roar of the falls, and watching the figure of the colonel standing gazing out into the night, as he rested his chin upon the barrel of his piece. "i shan't go to sleep to-night," said perry in a whisper. "oh yes, you will. i shall," replied cyril. just then john manning came close up, with his gun in his hand. "good-night, gentlemen," he said. "colonel says i'm to come and lie in the shelter here. don't kick in the night, please, because i'm going to be at your feet. i had a messmate once out in india, who, when we were in barracks, used to sleep like a lamb, but so sure as we were on the march and had to share a tent, which meant he slept in his boots, you might just as well have gone to sleep with a pack of commissariat mules, for the way in which he'd let go with his heels was a wonder. good-night, gentlemen, good-night." chapter eleven. the peril thickens. there must have been something wonderfully lulling in the roar of that fall, and a feeling of great confidence in the fact that the colonel would keep watch over them half the night, and john manning, stern, tried, old soldier that he was, for the second half; for, though the boys lay there, fully convinced that they would not be able to sleep, and had visions of knife-armed indians creeping toward them through the darkness, they soon dropped off, and rested uninterruptedly for eight hours, when they sprang up at a touch from john manning. "if you gentlemen will relieve guard," he said quietly, "i'll see about breakfast." soon after, as if nothing whatever had happened, they all sat down to a hearty meal, and that over, once more started upon their journey through the mountains; the indians seeming more willing, and at the suggestion that the mules should rest for a day or two in that luxuriant pasturage, eagerly assuring the colonel, through cyril, that for days to come they would find plenty, and that the road would be easier. on hearing this, the colonel decided to go on, and soon found that the guide's words were correct; for, during the next six days, they traversed smiling valleys, with grass and trees in abundance. snowcapped hills rose high above them; but where they journeyed, they were in a beautiful temperate climate, with rich soil and abundance of flowers. this part of their journey was delightful; for the way along the passes was easy, and the colonel, who was a dead shot, several times over added to their larder with his gun. but they went on in no false security; for several times over they passed indians, and were made fully aware of the fact that every mile they took was carefully watched, and that the leader of the expedition inspected no mountain shelf, cave, or patch of dwarf forest, without his acts being duly noted, though in no observant way. diego proved to be a perfect guide; and, making no objections now, he led them steadily on in a way which would have disarmed suspicion with some people; but the colonel was quietly on the alert, and went on examining plant, flower, and tree, at one time with all the patient care of a botanist; and at another time, when they were climbing some rugged shelf in a ravine, letting no mineral escape his observation. and all the while the little party, though they made no sign, were perfectly well aware that they were being watched. "strikes me that when we've got it, they won't let us take a simple lump of gold out of the place, master cyril." "no," said the boy drily. "but i mean some of the precious stones, master perry. i shall have them." "how?" "swaller 'em, sir, if i can manage it without being seen. why, do you know i went down by that bit o' stream, last night, to bathe my feet, and before i got there, i stopped short and sneezed, and before i had time to say, `bless me!' there was an indian's head popped up over a bush, and another from behind a stone, to see what was the matter." "yes; i've noticed something of the kind," said cyril thoughtfully. "but i shouldn't advise you to swallow any stones you find." "why, sir?" "because they won't agree with you." "they agree with chickens," said manning, grinning, "and make their hard food digest, so i don't see why they shouldn't agree with me, sir. but, i say, master perry, let it out now; i'm sure you'd feel a deal happier if you told us what the colonel's hunting for." "i shall not tell you, because i don't know. my father knows best about what he's doing, i daresay. we thought, the other day, that we were in great danger; but you saw how quietly he took it, and how it all came to nothing." "perhaps the time has not come yet," said cyril rather seriously; "don't let's talk too soon." no more was said then; but a few days later, the others thought of how prophetic the boy's words had proved. but it was not until another fortnight had passed, and a day had arrived when, after journeying through a deep defile of a similar character to that which they had threaded upon the day when they met the llama caravan, they reached a point upon the slope of a huge mountain, from which they looked down over a glorious picture of hill and dale, verdant forest and wide-reaching plain, with, in two places, thin serpentine threads of water glistening in the sun. "at last," said the colonel gravely. "it has been a long journey, boys, but we have reached the point i sought." cyril looked at him inquiringly; and perry, who felt that he was expected to speak, said: "yes; it's very grand. how different to being in amongst the mountains!" "yes, boy; we can breathe out here. did you notice the water in the last two streams we passed?" "yes; very beautiful with the overhanging trees, father." "yes; but the way they ran?" "no," said perry. "look yonder, then," said the colonel, pointing to a little rivulet which leaped out from between two masses of rock. "where is that going?" "into another stream, i suppose," said perry, "and that will run into another, and so on, till they all together form a big river, and run into the ocean." "yes; but what ocean, my boy? don't you see that we have crossed the watershed? till the last day or two, all the streams we passed have been going constantly west into the pacific. now we have passed through the mountains, and found the eastern slope, where all run down to make the vast rivers which flow into the atlantic." "i should not have known," said perry. "nor i," said cyril; "but its much fresher out here." "yes, we have left the dry region behind, to get into the land of rains and many waters. we saw no such forests as those which are spread before us even at this height." "is this high, sir?" asked cyril. "yes, my lad, about nine thousand feet." "and shall we go back the same way?" asked perry. "possibly, my lad, but more probably not. it depends upon the way the indians treat us." "but we can never find our way back any other way," cried cyril. "don't think about it. we should be lost up here in these mountains." "no, because we have a guide with us, my boy, and if i can help it, he will not leave us till he has seen us safely back." cyril said nothing, but the thought occurred to him: "suppose we wake some fine morning, and the guides are gone." they camped that night on the slope of the hill, and till it was growing dark, the colonel busied himself with his glass, carefully, as it seemed to the boys, inspecting the forest in every direction, and ending by closing the telescope with a satisfied smile, which was not lost upon cyril. "he has found it," he said to perry, as soon as they were alone. "found what?" "what he has come after." perry looked at him wonderingly. "you have found out?" he said. "no, i wish i had; but didn't you see how pleased he seemed when he came back to supper, and said that we should camp here for a few days?" "yes, i noticed that." "well, doesn't it mean that we have got to the spot at last that he was in search of?" perry shook his head. "well, you see if we don't find out something to-morrow." perry had almost forgotten his companion's words at breakfast-time the next morning, but they came to his memory as soon as they had done, for the colonel said: "now, boys, we'll make a little expedition along the edge of the forest here this morning. cyril, tell the men to mind the mules don't stray too far, and keep up the fire." john manning looked sharply at the colonel, as much as to say: "then you mean me to come also, sir?" "yes, i want you to carry spare ammunition and the game-bag. i hope we shall have some sport along here," said the colonel, who had caught the old soldier's inquiring gaze. half an hour later, they were tramping along the mountain-slope, through open woods that were quite park-like, and gave them glimpses of the far-spreading region below, all vested in a delicate bluish mist, while where they journeyed all was brilliant sunshine. there was a delicious feeling of spring in the air, for though the sun was hot, the air was crisp and cool, making the task of walking easy, and giving the travellers a feeling of elasticity, wanting when passing through the gloomy gorges of the huge mountain-chain. the colonel led off as if he were quite accustomed to the place, though there was no sign of a track, and before they had gone far, perry whispered a hope that they would not lose their way. "no fear," said cyril. "we are keeping the mountains on our left, and we must keep them on our right as we go back. we have only to keep along till we strike the stream, and follow it up or down till we reach our fire. i daresay we shall see it long before we are near, by the smoke." they had gone quite a couple of miles without seeing any trace of game, the woods being wonderfully silent. the colonel was on in front, and the two boys about twenty yards behind, each bearing a gun, when perry suddenly paused. "where's john manning?" he said. "i thought he was close up." they waited, and then whistled several times, but there was no response, and then cyril ran back to where the land was more open, but still there was no sign; and he was about to run forward again, and signal to the colonel to stop, when the missing man suddenly appeared with his piece at the trail, running hard, but keeping himself bent down, to avoid being seen. "what's the matter?" said cyril, as the old soldier came up. "seen a deer?" "no, sir; i only had a suspicion." "what of?" "struck me that master diego would come after us to see which way we went." "well?" "yes, i hung back to watch, and he's half a mile behind, tracking us by our footmarks, with his head down, or else he'd have seen me." "come on, and tell the colonel." they hurried forward, and joined perry, waiting for them anxiously. "at last," he said excitedly. "did you see?" "see what?" "those indians." "no. where?" said cyril. "on both sides, among the trees. they are watching us. what ought we to do?" "rearguard closes up on the main body," said john manning quickly. "single file, and at the double. now, sir, you head the advance. march." cyril sprang forward to overtake the colonel, looking down as he trotted forward in search of trampled-down grass and broken twigs; but from the first he saw nothing, neither could he hear a sound, and after some minutes' progress, he pulled up short, and breathing hard. "we had better spread out now," he said, "or we shall overlook him." "didn't you see which way he went?" said john manning. "out this way somewhere," said perry. "he can't be far away." "enemy closing in," said the old soldier in a low voice. "forward, my lads. we must find him now." those last words sent a chill through cyril, who sprang forward again, and then nearly uttered a shout; for, about fifty yards in front, he caught sight of the colonel standing half hidden by the thick growth at the edge of a clearing, where some dozen or so of men were busy apparently cutting wood. beyond them were two rough huts thatched with boughs, and piled up in little stacks were fagots of the wood which the men had cut down. they were so busy over their task, that they had not noticed the presence of the colonel, neither did they hear the approaching footsteps as they worked on. but the colonel did, and turned and hurried back to meet the boys, holding up his hand to command silence. his eyes were flashing with satisfaction as they came up, and he had a branch of one of the trees about them in his hand. "we thought we had lost you," said perry excitedly. "what's that?" "the magic tree i have come all these thousands of miles to seek, boy, and now--" "will you cast your eye this way, sir?" said john manning, in a hoarse low voice of warning. "indians all around. do it mean mischief, or are they only friends?" he gave his head a backward wag as he spoke, and as cyril looked excitedly in the indicated direction, he saw that which made him thrust his hand into his pouch to count the cartridges; for if the coming indians meant offence, they as travellers were in mortal peril of losing their lives. chapter twelve. at bay. to have attempted to escape, the colonel said, would be madness, for it would have suggested fear of the approaching indians, and made them think at once that the visit to their secluded haunts meant no good to them; so throwing his piece into the hollow of his left arm, and bidding the others do as he did, colonel campion took a few steps forward to meet the indians, and held out his hand. this had the effect of making them halt a few yards from them, and keeping their faces fixed upon the english party, they talked rapidly among themselves. at that moment cyril caught sight of diego hanging back among the men in the rear. "there's our guide, sir," he said hurriedly. "shall i call him?" "he there?" said the colonel sharply. "yes, call him. no: go through them, and fetch him, boy." cyril hesitated for a moment or two, and his heart beat high; but the order had been given in true military style, and it had its influence. the boy felt that he would be backed up by the colonel in all he did, and throwing his gun over his right shoulder, he stepped boldly forward, finding that the white was master even here; for the indians, taken by surprise at his firmness, parted at once to let him pass, and then cyril's pulses beat a little more rapidly, for the men closed up again, shutting him off from his friends. the boy felt this, but he knew that he must not show fear, and without a moment's hesitation, he walked on up to where diego stood half hidden behind a couple of the indians, and clapping his hand upon the man's shoulder, "come," he said, "the colonel wants you." the guide shrank at cyril's touch, and looked at his fellows for support, but no one stirred, and uttering a low sigh, the man allowed himself to be marched away to where the colonel stood, the indians giving way on either side, and then closing up again in silence, and without the slightest show of menace. for to them it was as if a superior being had calmly passed among them and fetched one, each man feeling relieved that he was not the one selected, and that, had he been, he would have felt compelled to go. "well done, british boy," said the colonel to cyril, as he stopped before him with the guide, who looked of a curious dusky colour now; his eyes showing the whites around the iris, and his lips seeming parched as he moistened them hastily with his tongue from time to time. "now then," continued the colonel sharply, as if he were addressing a delegate from a mutinous company of his old regiment, "why have you brought all these men after me, sir?--interpret quickly, cyril." this was done, and the man's voice trembled as he answered. "he says they made him come, sir," said cyril. "which is a lie," cried john manning; "for he has been dodging us all the time." "silence there. 'tention!" cried the colonel harshly, and the old soldier drew himself up smartly, lowered and then shouldered arms, just as if he had been on parade. it was a trifle, but it had its effect upon the indians, giving them a great idea of the importance of the colonel, who stood there, erect and stern, issuing his orders; and in their eyes he was a great white chief, if not a king. "now," he said sharply, "let that boy ask him what these people want." cyril interpreted and obtained his answer, the peril of their position sharpening the boy's faculties, and making him snatch at words of which he was in doubt. "they have come," said cyril, "to see why you are here. they say you have no right to come amongst the kina gatherers, and that you must go back to the coast at once." "indeed!" said the colonel haughtily. "we shall see about that. tell them, boy, that i am the english chief of a great white queen; that i have come into this country to examine it and its products, and that i will shoot dead with this piece the first man who dares to interfere with me and mine." "hear, hear!" growled john manning. "silence in the ranks," cried the colonel sharply; while, gaining confidence, cyril's voice partook somewhat of his leader's imperious command, as he repeated the words as loudly as he could, so that all might hear. there was a low fierce murmur from the little crowd, which was now augmented by the bark peelers, who closed the english party up from the rear. "what do they say?" cried the colonel, taking a step forward, and cocking his piece at the same moment. "that they will make us prisoners, sir," said cyril. "who dared say that?" roared the colonel, and taking another step forward, he looked fiercely round, with the result that to a man the indians bent their heads before him, and not one dared look him in the face. "hah!" he ejaculated, "that is better. now tell them i wish to see the kina gathered and prepared." cyril gave the interpretation of his words, and diego and an old indian came humbly forward and laid down their bows and arrows at his feet. the colonel took a step and planted his foot upon the weapons. then drawing back, he pointed down. "pick them up!" he said sternly in english, and repeated the words in spanish, when a low murmur of satisfaction arose, and the men stooped, lifted their weapons, and then making deprecating signs, they led the way into the clearing where the cinchona trees had been cut down, and the people had been busy collecting and drying the bark. the colonel went on first, and cyril and john manning next, followed by perry and diego. "it does one good, master cyril," whispered john manning, "it does one good again, my lad. that's the sort of man the colonel is. fit for a king, every inch of him. there ain't many men as would have faced a body of savage indians with their bows and arrows like that. he's the right sort of stuff, ain't he? and yet they let him leave the army and go on half-pay." "yes, but do you think there will be any treachery?" replied cyril. "no, sir, i don't, so long as we show 'em we mean to keep the upper hand of 'em. they daren't. they know the colonel meant what he said, and felt that every word he said was true, and that a big chief had come among 'em." "yes, i could see that," said cyril. "my word, he was like a lion among a lot o' them big, long-necked sheep, sir; and you did your part of it splendidly." "i did?" said cyril, looking at the man in wonder. "yes, you, sir. i only wish our master perry would speak up as bold." "why, john manning," said cyril, half laughing, "if you only knew how i felt." "i do, sir." "not you, or you would not talk like that." "i tell you i do, sir. you felt just as i did first time i went into action, and heard the bullets go whizzing by like bees in the air, and saw some of them sting the poor fellows, who kept on dropping here and there, many of 'em never to get up again. i thought i was in a terrible fright, and that i was such a miserable coward i ought to be drummed out of the regiment; but it couldn't have been fright, only not being used to it; and i couldn't have been a coward, because i was in the front rank all the time, close alongside of your father; and when we'd charged and driven the enemy flying, the colonel clapped me on the shoulder and said he'd never seen a braver bit of work in his life, and of course he ought to know." "i did feel horribly frightened, though," said cyril. "thought you did, sir, that was all. you couldn't have done it better." "i don't know," said the boy, smiling. "suppose the indians had found me out?" "found you out, sir? bah! if it comes to the worst, they'll find out you can fight as well as talk. now, just look here, sir; didn't you ever have a set to at school, when you were at home in england?" "yes, two or three." "and didn't you feel shimmery-whimmery before you began?" "yes." "and as soon as you were hurt, forgot all that, and went in and whipped." "well, yes, i suppose so." "of course you did, sir. that's human nature, that is. but, i say, mr cyril, sir, what does it all mean? why has the colonel come out here? he can't have come just to see people cut down a few trees and peel off the bark." "i begin to think he has." "but i could have taken him down in surrey, sir, and showed him into woods where they were doing all that to the oak trees, without coming out here, or running any risks of getting an arrow sent through you, just as if you was a chicken got ready to roast." "i don't quite understand it yet," said cyril; "but don't talk any more now. look, look! what is he going to do?" chapter thirteen. in treasure land. they were by this time close up in front of the huts of the bark gatherers, when all at once one of the huge condors came swooping along overhead, looking gigantic up against the sky. and then it was as if a sudden idea had struck the colonel, who raised his piece, took aim, lowered it, and hesitated; for the huge bird was at a great distance, and the people looked at him wonderingly. the next moment his rifle was at his shoulder again, there was the flash and puff of white smoke, the sharp crack, and the rumbling echoing roar in the mountains, as the condor was seen to swerve and then dart straight upward. "missed!" muttered john manning, "but he felt the bullet." "hit!" cried cyril excitedly, for all at once the bird's wings closed, and it fell over and over and then dropped like a stone, crashing in among the trees about a hundred yards away. the indians had looked on at first incredulously, and several of them exchanged glances as the condor shot upward as if to escape unharmed; but the moment it turned over and began to fall, they set up a loud shout and rushed off to pick up the fallen bird, the whole crowd making for the dense patch of forest, and then walking back steadily, bearing the bird in triumph. "rather a risky thing to do, boys," said the colonel, reloading as he spoke. "if i had missed, i should have done harm to the position we have made in these people's estimation. but i felt that i could hit the bird, and now they will believe that i may prove a terrible enemy in anger." "do it? of course he could," whispered john manning. "i've known him take a rifle from one of our men lots of times, and pick off one of the beloochees who was doing no end of mischief in our ranks up in the mountains." by this time the indians were back, looking full of excitement, and ready almost to worship the white chief who had come amongst them, with such power of life and death in his hands--powers beside which their bows and arrows and poison-dealing blowpipes seemed to them to be pitiful in the extreme. they laid the body of the great bird, which was stone-dead, at his feet, and then looked at him wonderingly, as if to say, "what next?" that shot had the effect which the colonel had intended to produce, for to a man the indians felt the terrible power their white visitor held in his hand, and each felt that he might be the object of his vengeance if any attack was made. but colonel campion felt that the effect was only likely to be temporary, and that he must gain the object for which he had made his perilous journey as quickly as possible, and begin to return before the impression had worn off. bidding cyril then tell their guide that he should camp there for a few days, he sent the two men back for the mules, giving orders that they should take a couple of the indians who had followed them to help. his manner carried the day, and the party of four departed. "i suppose it's all right, master cyril," whispered john manning; "but i should have thought we'd ha' done better by fortifying our own camp, and not running our heads right into the lion's mouth; but the colonel knows best, and we've only got to obey orders." certainly that seemed to be the safest course to pursue--a bold one; so in this spirit, and as if the colonel felt that there was nothing whatever to be feared from the people, the mules and packages were brought up. a snugly-sheltered spot was selected, close to a spring which came gushing from the rock, and a fresh camp made; the party going and coming among the cinchona gatherers as if they were invited visitors; while the indians themselves looked puzzled, and watched every action from a distance. that night, beside the fire, surrounded by the dense growth of the life-preserving trees he had sought, the colonel became more communicative. "you boys have, i daresay, canvassed why i undertook this expedition," he said, "and, i suppose, took it for granted that i came in search of the gold supposed to be hidden by the peruvians, to save it from the rapacity of the spaniards." "yes, sir; that's what i thought," said cyril. "or else to find one of the di'mond walleys," growled john manning. "this is not the right direction for them, my man," said the colonel, smiling. "you have to seek for them between the leaves of books. no, boys; i came to seek something of far greater value to my fellow-creatures than a buried store of yellow metal, which may or may not exist. it is possible that a number of the sacred vessels from some of the old temples may have been hidden by the priests, who, at their death, handed down the secret to their successors; but i think it is far more likely to be a fable. still, the indians believe in it, and if they knew that a discovery had been made, they would destroy the lives of the finders, sooner than that the gold should be taken out of the country." "then you have not come to find the gold, sir?" said cyril; while perry lay there upon his chest, resting his chin upon his hands, and elbows on the earth, gazing up in his father's face. "no, boy; i have come, and i am running some risks, i know, to drag out into the light of day the wondrous medicine which has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands, and made it possible for men to exist in the fever-haunted countries spread around the globe." "you mean quinine," said cyril. "father always keeps a bottle in his desk." "yes, i mean quinine, the beautiful crystals obtained from the bark of these trees, boy; the medicine kept so jealously guarded here, the only place where it is produced, high up on the eastern slope of these mountains. i have come to seek it, and have found it far more easily than i expected: we are sitting and lying here right in the middle of one of the cinchona groves." "but we can't take away much, father, even if they will let us," said perry. "wrong, boy. i hope that we shall be able to bear away, unseen, enough to stock the world, and to make the drug, which is a blessing to humanity, plentiful, instead of civilised europe having to depend upon the supply from here--from this carefully-guarded place." "you mean to take away some young trees," said cyril excitedly. "i should like to do so, but that is a doubtful way, my boy. the young trees would be awkward to carry, and transplanting trees often means killing them. we must try something better than that, though. i shall see what i can do in making one bundle, with the roots carefully bound up in damp moss." "yes, we might do that," assented cyril, "but we didn't bring a spade." "let us find some tiny trees, and we'll do without a spade," said the colonel quietly. "but i am in this position, boys. i know very little about the trees we see around us. that they are the right ones there can be no doubt, for the indians are camped here, cutting them down, and peeling off and drying the bark. there are several kinds which produce inferior kinds of quinine; but these laurel-like evergreen trees produce the true, the best peruvian bark; and it is to take away the means of propagating these trees in suitable hot mountainous colonies of our own, that we are here. now, how is it to be done?" "indians won't let it be done, sir," said manning. "here, i know lots o' places up simla way where it would grow fine. up there, north o' calcutta, sir." "yes; there are spots there where it might be grown, or in the mountains of ceylon," said the colonel; "but we have to get it there." "i know," said cyril. "let's get heaps of seed. why, we might till our pockets that way." "yes; that is my great hope, boys; so, whenever you see seed-pods or berries nearly ripe, secure them. but we are surrounded by difficulties. we may be here at the wrong time of year, though i calculated that as well as i could; and now that we are here, i have been terribly disappointed, for so far, instead of seeing seed, i have noted nothing but the blossoms. it is as if we are too early, though i hope these are only a second crop of flowers, and that we may find seed after all." "but these sweet-smelling flowers, something like small lilac, are not the blossoms of the trees, are they?" said perry. "yes, those are they," said the colonel. "now my secret is out, and you know what we have to do.--well, manning, what is it?" "my old father had a garden, sir, and he used to grow little shrubs by cutting up roots in little bits, which were often dry as a bone when he put them in, but they used to grow." "yes," said the colonel. "quite right; and now we are here, in spite of all opposition, we must take away with us seeds, cuttings of twigs, and roots, and if possible, and we can find them, a number of the tiny seedlings which spring up beneath the old trees from the scattered seed. there, that is our work, and all must help.--do you hear, manning?" "oh yes, sir, i hear, and if you show me exactly what you want, i'll do my best; but, begging your pardon, sir, ain't it taking a deal o' trouble for very small gains?" "no, my man, the reward will be incalculable." "all right, sir, you know best. i'll do what you tell me, and when we've got what we want, i'll fight for it. that's more in my way. but, begging your pardon once more, wouldn't it be better for you to go to the head-man, and say, through master cyril here: `look here, young fellow, we've come a long journey to get some seed and young plants of this stuff; can't you make a sort of trade of it, and sell us a few pen'orth civilly.'" the colonel laughed. "no. they will not let us take a seed out of the country if they can prevent it. i will tell you all the worst at once. they will make a bold effort to master the dread with which i have succeeded in inspiring them, and fight desperately to stop us when we get our little store." "then, begging your pardon again, colonel, wouldn't it ha' been better to have come with a couple of companies of foot, and marched up with fixed bayonets, and told him that you didn't mean to stand any nonsense, but were going to take as much seed as you liked?" "invited the rulers of the country to send a little army after us?" "yes, of course, sir; but they've got no soldiers out here as could face british grenadiers." the colonel was ready to listen to every opinion that night, and he replied quietly: "i thought it all out before i started, and this was the only way--to come up into the mountains as simple travellers, reach the hot slopes and valley regions where the cinchona grows, and then trust to our good fortune to get a good supply of the seed. but, even now, from our start from san geronimo we have been watched. you have noticed it too, boys. even the guide we took has arrayed himself against us from the first, and, while seeming to obey my orders, has taken care to communicate with every one we passed that he was suspicious of my motives. every mile we have come through the mountain-range has been noted, and will be noted, till we get back." "why not go back, then, some other way, sir?" "because we cannot cross the mountains where we please. the road we followed is one which, no doubt, dates from the days when the incas ruled, and there are others here and there at intervals, but they will be of no use to us. somehow or other, we must go back by the way we came, and i hope to take at least one mule-load with us to get safely to england. there, that is enough for to-night. now for a good rest and we shall see what to-morrow brings forth. cyril and perry, you will be on sentry till as near midnight as you can guess, and then rouse me. i'm going now to take a look round at the mules, and then i shall lie down." he rose and walked away to where the mules were cropping the grass, which grew abundantly in the open places, and as soon as he was out of hearing, john manning began to growl. "all right, young gentlemen," he said, "i'm ready for anything; but, of all the wild scarum-harum games i was ever in, this is about the wildest. come up here to steal stuff! for that's what it is, and you can't call it anything else. i've know'd people steal every mortal thing nearly, from a horse down to a pocket-knife. i've been where the niggers tickled you when you was asleep and made you roll over, so that they could steal the blanket you lay upon. i've seen the crows in indy steal the food out of the dogs' mouths; but this beats everything." "why?" said perry shortly. "why, sir? because physic's a thing as everybody's willing enough to give to someone else; i didn't think it was a thing as anybody would ever dream o' stealing. as you may say, it's a thing as couldn't be stole." "father knows what he is about," said perry shortly. "course he does, sir. nobody denies that. we've got to begin taking physic with a vengeance. all right: i'm ready. and i was thinking all the time as we should bring back those four-legged jackasses loaded with gold and precious stones. all right, gentlemen. as i said before, i'm ready; and it's a good beginning for me, for i shall get a long night's rest; so here goes." he rolled himself in his blanket, then lay down with his feet near the fire, and began to breathe the heavy breath of a sleeper the next minute. "well, cil," said perry, "what do you think of it?" "don't know," said cyril. "yes, i do. they're wonderfully watchful over the bark, and as soon as they know what we are after, they'll stop us." "then we must not let them see what we are after, my lad," said the colonel, who had returned unseen. "we must collect plants and flowers of all kinds, and load a couple of the mules. that will help to disarm suspicion.--pieces loaded?" "yes, sir." "that's right. we must keep military watch now regularly; but there will be nothing to fear to-night." chapter fourteen. the night-watch. those were very encouraging words, and they seemed to tingle in the boys' ears as the colonel followed his servant's example, rolled a blanket about his shoulders, and lay down with his head resting on one of the mules' loads; but the impression soon died away, leaving the lads close together, with their guns resting on the grass, listening in the deep silence of the starlit night, and for some time without speaking a word. "come a little farther away," whispered perry at last. "i want to talk." they moved a few yards away from the sleepers, and stopped beneath a great spreading tree at about equal distance from the colonel and the fire, which glowed faintly, but gave sufficient light for them to see diego and the other indian squatted down, making tents of their long garments, and with their chins bent down upon their breasts; but whether asleep, or waking and watchful, it was impossible to say. "well?" said perry at last, after they had been straining their ears to catch different sounds, now the trickling murmur of falling water, now some strange cry from far away in the woods, or the whisper of a breeze which came down from the mountains to pass away among the trees. "well?" said cyril. "isn't it awfully quiet?" "yes." "look over there, just to the left of the fire. isn't that some one watching us?" "tree trunk," said cyril laconically. there was a pause, and then perry whispered again. "i say, i don't want to be cowardly, but there's some one coming slowly through the trees. i caught a glimpse of his back. he's stooping down--there, between those two big trunks, where it's open. don't you see--stooping?" "yes, i see, and nibbling the grass as he comes. one of the mules." perry shaded his eyes--needlessly, for there was no glare to shut out-- and he soon convinced himself that his companion was right. but he felt annoyed, and said testily: "i wish you wouldn't be so ready to contradict everything i say." cyril laughed softly. "why, you didn't want it to be an enemy, did you?" perry made no reply, and they stood for some time together in silence, listening to the _crop, crop_ sound made by the mules, and the whispering sighs of the wind, which came down sharp and chill from the mountains. at last cyril spoke again. "let's walk round the camp." "you can't for the trees." "oh yes, we can. it's cold standing here. we'll work in and out of the trees, and make a regular path round. it will be better than standing still." "very well," said perry shortly. "go on first." cyril shouldered his piece and stepped off cautiously for a couple of dozen yards, and then struck off to the left, meaning to make the fire act as a centre round which they could walk, keeping guard and themselves warm; but before he had gone many steps he stopped short. "look here," he whispered, "you are a soldier's son, and ought to teach me what to do in keeping guard." "there's nothing to teach," said perry. "all you've got to do is to keep a sharp lookout." "yes, there is. if we keep together like this, we leave a lot of the camp exposed. what we ought to do is for one to go one way, and one the other; then meet, cross, and go on again. it would be far better." "but then we should be alone so long. we had better keep together." "very well," said cyril shortly; but he owned to himself that he felt better satisfied, for it was lonely, depressing work there in the darkness. cyril stepped forward again, going slowly and carefully through the thick growth, making as little noise as possible, and trying to keep as nearly as possible to the same distance from the fire--no easy task, by the way--but he had not gone far before he stopped short and started aside, bringing his gun down to the present. for, all at once, from out of the darkness, some one seemed to strike at him, the blow cutting through the twigs and leaves by which he was surrounded with a loud whistling noise, while the stroke was so near, that he felt the air move close to his face. "fire--fire!" whispered perry excitedly. "what at? i can't see any one," replied cyril, as he stood with his finger on the trigger. he felt his heart beat with a heavy throb, and his hands grew moist, as he tried hard to pierce the darkness, and fix his eyes upon the enemy who had made so cowardly a blow at him; but the thick branches shut out every ray of light, and the silence was now painful in the extreme. the position was the more startling from the fact that neither could tell from which side the next blow would come. but still that blow did not fall, and it seemed to cyril, as he stood there holding his breath, that the indian who had struck at him so treacherously was waiting until he moved, so as to make sure before striking again. at last the painful tension came to an end, for suddenly, from just in front, there was a heavy sigh, and _crop, crop, crop_, followed by a burst of laughter from the boy. "oh, i say, perry," he cried, "what a game! fancy being scared like that by a mule." "then it was one of the mules?" "of course; we frightened the poor thing, and it kicked out at us. come along." he bore off a little to one side, and they passed the browsing animal, and, though describing rather an irregular circle, made their way round the fire, getting back pretty exactly to the place from which they started. this was repeated several times, and then, for a change, cyril proposed that they should strike off a little, straight away from the camp. perry was willing, and they put their plan in operation, for no special reason other than that of seeing the ground was clear in different directions, and to relieve the monotony of the watch. "you lead now," said cyril, in a low voice, so as not to disturb the others, who, in thorough confidence that a good watch would be kept, and that there was no fear of any danger, were sound asleep. perry led on, finding the way more open a short distance from the camp, but he had not led thirty yards when he stopped short. "hallo! another mule?" said cyril. "indian!" said perry huskily; and, as cyril pressed forward to his companion's side, there, hard to define, but plain at last, stood one of the indians, who raised his arm and pointed back, uttering two or three words in a guttural tone. "what does he say?" "that we must go back to the fire. perhaps we had better," said cyril. "i don't like his being there, though. look here," he said quickly; "let's make haste back, and go right out the other way." "what for?" said perry, following his companion. "i'll tell you directly." five minutes later they were checked just on the other side by another indian who started up right in their path. "come and warn my father," said perry excitedly. "they're going to attack us." "no; i think not," replied cyril decisively. "they're sentries. come and try another way." he led off again, after they had returned to the fire, finding that they were not followed, and that all was still; and again they were stopped by an indian starting up and ordering them back. "that's it," said cyril quietly; "they've surrounded us with sentries." "to attack us?" "no; to see that we don't escape; and while we were walking round and round, they were within a few yards of us, listening to all our movements." "but they couldn't have been there then, or they would have started up as they did just now." "no; we weren't doing anything they minded; but as soon as we tried to go straight away, they stopped us. let's try once more." he led off quickly again, with the same result; and then perry turned back to where his father lay asleep. "what are you going to do?" whispered cyril. "wake up my father, of course. we are attacked." "don't do that," said cyril decisively. "we are not attacked, or they would have seized us at once. i'm sure they are only guarding us, to make sure that we don't try to escape. it's of no use to wake him till the proper time." perry hesitated. "but we are in danger." "no; i don't think we are. they are watching us, but they don't mean to attack us, or they would do so. you'll see now. we've come among them, and they'll keep us under their eye, and perhaps will not let us go again. look here: let's go and speak to diego." perry was easily led, and yielding to his companion's decisive manner, he followed to the fire and then round to the other side, where the indian guide and his companion were squatted down with their chins resting upon their chests. they made no sign as the boys came silently up, and appeared to be fast asleep; but cyril knew better, for he saw in the dim glow shed by the fire, a slight tightening of the man's hand upon his bow. "they're asleep," whispered perry. "better come to my father." "asleep with one eye open, and on the watch," said cyril quietly, and he bent down and whispered a few words. they were electric in their effect, for both men raised their heads, and their eyes glittered in the faint light from the fire. "didn't take much waking," said cyril, with a little laugh. then turning to diego, he said, in the man's half-spanish jargon: "why are the indians on the watch all round here?" the man looked at the speaker intently. "are the indians watching all round?" he said quietly. "you know they are. why is it? to keep us from going away?" the man looked at him intently, and then nodded his head. "and suppose we try to go away, what then? would they fight?" "yes," said the guide gravely. "and try to kill us?" "yes, they would kill you." "try to, you mean." "no," said the man gravely. "kill you. you are few, they are many." "stop a moment," said cyril, as the man turned his head aside wearily. "will they try to kill us if we stay?" "no." cyril tried to get more information from the man, but he shook his head, and made a pretence of being so lazy and unable to comprehend the boy's words, that cyril gave up in disgust, and turned impatiently away. "it's of no good to-night," he said. "we heard all that he is likely to know. let's walk round again." "but they may strike at us in the dark." "no, they will not do that. i'm not afraid. let's go through with our watching, till we think it's midnight, and then wake up the colonel." "we'd better call him now." "no; if we did, it would only be giving a false alarm, when we know that there is no danger. come along." the weaker mind yielded to the stronger, and the march round was begun again, one which required no little courage, knowing, as the boys did, that there must be quite a dozen indians within striking distance, and every rustle they heard, made probably by one of the grazing mules, might be caused by an enemy creeping forward to strike a blow. at last, when they felt that it must be getting toward midnight, cyril proposed that they should go back close to where the colonel lay asleep, and they had not been standing near him ten minutes, hesitating to call him for fear he should be awakened too soon, when he suddenly made a hasty movement, opened his eyes, looked round, and sprang to his feet. "midnight, boys," he said, "is it not?" "we don't know, father, and did not like to call you too soon." "yes, it must be about midnight," he said decisively, "or i should not have woke up. well, is all right?" "no, father," whispered perry. "oh yes; there's nothing to mind," said cyril hastily. "we only found that there are a lot of indians round about the camp." "you saw them?" "yes, sir. so soon as we moved a little way, a man rose up and stopped us." "on one side?" said the colonel. "all round, sir." "on guard, then, in case we wished to escape. we're prisoners, my lad, for the present. however, they will not venture to hurt us, unless we give them good reason, by loading up the mules to take away something they consider ought to be kept here, and that we shall not be ready to do for some days to come." "that's what i wanted perry to feel sir," said cyril, "but he would have it that they were going to attack us to-night." "there is no fear of that, my boy," said the colonel firmly. "there, lie down, and sleep till breakfast-time; there is nothing to fear." "but are you going to watch alone, sir?" "yes, quite alone, my lad," said the colonel, smiling. "there, take my place; i'm rested now, and you have nothing to mind. don't meet perils half-way; its bad enough when they come. till they do, it is our duty to be patient and watch. afterwards we must fight--if it is necessary. now--to bed." the boys obeyed, and the colonel commenced his solitary watch. chapter fifteen. collecting the gold. "ever see 'em ketch eels at home, master cyril?" said john manning one morning. "we used to set night lines in the lake at school," said cyril. "we threw the bait out ever so far, and tied the other end to a brick sunk in the water." "oh yes: but i don't mean that way, where every twopenny eel spoils four pen'orth o' good line and hooks. i mean with an eel-trap, one of those made of osiers, so that it's very easy to get in, but very hard to get out." "yes; i saw some of those once," cried perry, "up by a weir. but why? there are no eels here." john manning chuckled, and shook all over, as if he enjoyed what he was saying. "not many, sir, but quite enough. we're the eels, and we've wriggled ourselves right into a trap, and there's no getting out again." "it doesn't seem as if there were," said cyril thoughtfully; "but we're getting what the colonel wanted, and i don't think the indians have noticed it yet." "'tain't for want of looking, sir," said the old soldier. "i go for a bit of a walk in one direction, and begin picking something, and feel a tickling about the back. `some one's eyes on me,' i says to myself, and i go a bit farther, and feel the same tickling in front. then one side, then t'other, and it's always eyes watching." "yes," said perry. "we've been a week here, and i get so sick of it: i never move without there being some one after me; and the worst of it is, you don't see him coming, but find him watching you from behind a rock, or out of a bush." "yes," said cyril, "it isn't nice. they crawl about like snakes, and almost as quietly." "don't matter," said john manning, with another chuckle. "we can be as cunning as they. how have you young gents got on since the colonel give his orders?" "pretty well," said cyril. "of course it's of no use to try and get roots or cuttings, they look too sharp after us; but i've found some seed, and he has got more than i have." "how much have you got, both of you together?" asked the old soldier, with his eyes twinkling. "nearly a handful, i should say," replied cyril. "a handful, sir! why, what's that? i've got quite half a gallon." "you have?" cried perry. "father will be so pleased." "course he will, sir," said john manning, with a self-satisfied smile. "`get every seed you can,' he says, `and they'll hardly notice you.' "`right, sir,' i says, and i set to work quietly, going a bit here, and a bit there, in among the trees, making believe i was making for them cocoa-nut leaves as the indians chew; and whenever i caught one of the injuns watching me, i picked a leaf, and began to chew it, and nodded at him, and said _bono, bono_. you should have seen how he grinned and showed his teeth at me, master cyril, and i could see he was thinking what a fool this englishman was. but i wasn't quite so stupid as he thought, eh?" "but that's not cocoa-nut leaf," said cyril, "but the leaf of the coca." "well, sir, that's what i say. i know it isn't the nuts but the leaves they chew." "but the coca leaf's a different thing." "course it is, sir; one's a leaf and t'other's a nut." "but, don't you see, cocoa-nut leaf and coca leaf are different things?" "no, sir; but it don't matter. they think i'm hunting for them leaves to chew, and they laugh at me, and all the time i'm getting a good heap of the seeds the colonel wants. 'tain't the first time he's sent me to forage." "but where are the seeds?" said cyril. "all right, sir," said john manning, with a look full of cunning. "never you put all your eggs in one basket, sir." "of course not; but i hope you've put them in a dry place. seeds are no use if they're not kept dry." "they're all right, sir. i've got some in each of my pockets, and some along with my cartridges in my satchel, and some inside the lining of my coat, and a lot more round my waist." "round your waist?" cried cyril. "you can't wear seeds round your waist." john manning chuckled once more. "can, if you put 'em in an old stocking first, sir," he said. "but look here, young gents, as i'm so much more lucky than you are, and know better where to go for 'em, you'd better take part o' mine, and leave me free to fill up again." "yes, that will be best," assented perry. "i can take a lot in my pockets." "any one looking, sir?" "very likely; but i shall take no notice. they won't know what we're changing from one pocket to the other, so let them watch." "all right, sir; then here goes," said the old soldier, thrusting a hand deep down into his trousers pocket, and drawing out a quantity of seed. "here you are, sir; and i'd make believe to eat a bit in case any one is watching." but as they were seated out of the sun, in the shade of the rough hut that had originally been put up for drying the kina bark, they were pretty well hidden from watchers, and able to carry on the transfer in comparative secrecy. "but this isn't seed of the cinchona tree," cried cyril excitedly. "what!" said the old soldier sharply, and as if startled. then altering his tone to one of easy confidence, with a dash of the supercilious. "don't you talk about what you can't understand, sir. these here are what the colonel showed me, and told me to pick for him." "they're not the same as my father told me to pick," cried perry. "well, seeing as you're young gents, and i'm only a sarvant," grumbled the man, "it ain't for me to contradict, and i won't; but i will say them's the seeds the colonel told me to pick, and there they are, and you'd better put 'em away." "i'm not going to put these in my pocket," said cyril, "for i know they're wrong." "and i certainly shan't put them in mine," said perry. "look here, young gents, ain't this a bit mutinous?" said john manning. "colonel's orders were that we should collect them seeds, and if you'd got the best lot, i should have helped you; but as you haven't got the best lot, and i have, ain't it your duty to help me?" "yes; and so we should, if you hadn't made a blunder." "but i ain't, young gents; these here are right." "no," said perry. "these are right," and he took a few seeds from his pocket. "and these," said cyril, following his companion's example. "not they," cried john manning warmly. "they ain't a bit like mine." "no, not a bit," said cyril triumphantly. "no, nor his ain't like yours, master perry." the boys stared, for this was a new phase of the question, and they eagerly inspected the treasures. "i'm sure i'm right," said perry confidently. "and i'm sure i'm right," cried cyril. john manning put his arms round his knees, as he sat on the ground, and rocked himself to and fro, chuckling softly. at that point the colonel came up, and looked round wonderingly. "you're just in time, father," cried perry. "look at this seed john manning has collected.--show him, john." the old soldier triumphantly pulled out a handful, and held it under the colonel's nose. "what's that?" said his master. "the seed you told me to forage for, sir." "absurd! there: throw it away." "throw it away, sir?" "of course. it is not what i told you. there, take and throw it away, where the indians see you do it, and they will pay less attention next time they see you collecting." john manning said nothing then, but went out of the slight hut frowning, came back, and the colonel turned to the boys. "well," he said, "what have you got?" they both eagerly showed a little of the seed, and the colonel uttered an ejaculation full of impatience. "no, no," he said; "pray be careful. that is not the same as you got for me the day before yesterday." "not mine?" cried perry. "no, sir; nor yours either, cyril. they are both cinchona, but of the inferior, comparatively useless kinds." john manning chuckled. "but the seeds are so much alike, sir," said cyril. "yes, but the broken capsules with them are not, boy. the good splits down one way, the inferior the other. there, i suppose i must give you all another lesson. come and have a walk at once." he led the way out, all taking their guns, in the hope of getting a little fresh provision, as well as to throw off the attention of the indians, who smiled at them pleasantly enough, as they looked up from their tasks of cutting and peeling the bark from the trunks and branches, most of the men with their jaws working, as they chewed away at the coca leaf, which every one seemed to carry in a little pouch attached to the waist. no one seemed to pay further heed to them, but they were soon conscious that they were being watched, for an indian was visible, when they went past the spot where their two guides were watching the browsing mules; and then, as they plunged into the forest, from time to time there was an indication that they were being well guarded, and that any attempt at evasion would result in an alarm being spread at once. once well out among the trees, the colonel began picking leaf and flower indiscriminately, to take off the watcher's attention; but he contrived, at the same time, to rivet the boys' attention upon the flower and seed of the most valuable of the cinchona trees, indicating the colour of the blossom, and the peculiarities of the seed-vessels, till even john manning declared himself perfect. "seeds only," said the colonel. "i give up all thought of trying to take plants. we must depend upon the seeds alone, and we ought to get a good collection before we have done." "and then, father?" asked perry. "then we go back as fast as we can, if--" "if what?" asked perry. "the indians will let us depart." "that's it, sir," put in john manning. "what i was saying to the young gentleman this morning. they don't mean to let us go. we've regularly walked into a trap." there was silence for a few moments, the colonel frowning, as if resenting the interference of his servant, but directly after he said quietly: "i'm afraid you are right, john manning, but we must set our wits against theirs. in another week we shall have quite sufficient of the treasured seed to satisfy me--that is, if you three are more careful-- then we must start back, before our stores begin to fail." "what about the guides, sir?" said cyril. "they will not help us." "no," said the colonel. "not the indian guides, but i have a little english guide here, upon which we shall have to depend. there must be other passes through the mountains, and we know that our course is due west. we shall have to trust to this." he held out a little pocket-compass as he spoke, and then, after they had added somewhat to the store of seed already collected, both boys this time making the proper selection of tree from which to gather the reproductive seeds, they walked slowly back toward the camp. but not alone: the indians who had followed them outward, returning slowly behind them, carefully keeping far in the background, and trying to conceal the fact that they were on the watch; but it was only too plain to all that it would require a great deal of ingenuity to escape notice and get a fair start when the time came for making their escape. chapter sixteen. preparing for flight. "i say, cil, i don't quite know what to make of it," said perry, a few days later. "these people are as civil and amiable as can be; they surely won't try to stop us when we want to go?" "you wait and see," was the reply. "they will. i know them better than you do." "but they don't think we have got anything to take away." "perhaps not; but they will think that as soon as we are out of their sight we shall be searching for and taking something away that they want to preserve, and if we do get away unseen, they will be after us directly." "well, we shall soon see," said perry rather gloomily, as he sat gazing down into a deep valley running due south, in whose depths a bright gleam here and there told of the presence of water. "yes, we shall soon know now. your father and john manning have been carefully examining the mules, and going over the stores and packages." "have they? i didn't know." "i did, and then they came out here and sat for some time over their guns." "on the lookout for birds?" "on the lookout to see if this way would do for us to escape." perry whistled. "did they tell you so?" "no; but i put that and that together." "put why go this way? this does not lead over the mountains." "because the indians will not think we should choose this route." "but we couldn't get over the mountains from down there." "we must," said cyril quietly. "but," said perry, "we can't get the mules and their loads away without diego knowing." "must again," replied cyril. "we can't escape without a supply of food, and we must have the mules to carry it, for we may be weeks wandering about in the gorges of the mountains. so it's must, must, must, my lad. we've got it to do, and we're going to do it." "i say." "well--what?" "do you think it will come to a fight?" "not if your father can help it; but if it does, we shall have to do some shooting." perry drew his breath hard. "don't stare down the valley any more," said cyril, after a pause. "why? it's very beautiful." "because you're watched. we're watched always, sleeping or waking." "then we shall never be able to get away," said perry despondently. "must, my lad. why, we're not going to let a pack of half-savage indians prove too clever for us. what are you thinking about? there, let's get back at once, or they'll be thinking we mean something by sitting here." perry rose and followed his companion, who made several halts in the forest before they reached the shelter-hut, to find the colonel and john manning away; but they returned soon after, each carrying a couple of good-sized birds, which gave a colour to their morning's walk. this game john manning bore off to prepare by the fire which diego and his companion kept going night and day; and as soon as he had gone, the colonel seated himself, and looked curiously from one boy to the other. "well cyril," he said sharply, "ready to go home and meet your father?" "yes, sir," replied the boy promptly. "i want to get it over." "and you, perry, ready to go back to where you can sleep in a decent bed again?" "yes, father," replied perry; but there was a dubious tone to his words. "that's right. listen, then, both of you. i trust to you to make no sign whatever, but to go on precisely the same as usual, so as to keep the indians in ignorance of our intentions." "then you are going to make a start, sir?" said cyril eagerly. "all being well, very soon, my lad." "but the mules, sir?" "ah, we shall see about that," said the colonel. "i have now got together quite as much of the seed as i dared to hope for, and it would be foolish to delay longer. these indian labourers are only working for somebody of importance, and if whoever he may be comes and finds us here, our position may be made very unpleasant, so i have decided for us to start at dark, to-morrow evening." this announcement caused a peculiar fluttering in the breasts of both lads, for they felt that they would not be able to get away without a struggle, since that they were detained here until some one in authority arrived, seemed certain; and they well understood how necessary it was for them to get away if possible. the rest of the day passed like a feverish dream to cyril, whose thoughts were of a very mingled nature. on the one hand, there was the risk to be run in making their escape, and the long perilous journey before them; on the other hand, there was home at san geronimo, and his father's stern face rose before him, full of reproach for his conduct; and now, more than ever, he asked himself how he could have been so mad and so cruel to those who loved him, as to leave in the way he had. too late for repentance then, as he knew, and he had to face the inevitable, and take the punishment he deserved as patiently as he could. toward dark the boys found themselves alone with john manning, who whispered: "been over the arms and ammunition, gentlemen, and they're in splendid order. bit touched with rust, but that won't interfere with their shooting." "don't talk about it," said perry petulantly. "can't help it, sir. we're off to-morrow night, and some of us may have to cover the retreat. you can't do that sort o' work without tools." "look here," said cyril eagerly. "how about the mules?" "i don't know, sir," replied the old soldier. "that's the puzzle of it. but the colonel knows what he means to do, of course. i've been with him before, when he was going to make an advance." "but this is a retreat," said cyril sharply. "what, sir? retreat? british soldiers don't retreat. of course they have to make an advance the other way on sometimes. you can't always be going in one direction; but they don't retreat. it'll be all right, though, sir. you'll see: for following orders, i've got all the packs ready to stow on the saddles at a moment's notice, and we shan't leave nothing behind." they had a hint soon after of there being a plan all ready, for the colonel came and hunted cyril out to act as interpreter, and walked down with him to where diego and his companion were seated, while the mules were browsing here and there, some fifty yards away. "now, interpret as well as you can," said the colonel. "tell him that i am very angry about the state of the mules, which look half-starved. the feed about here is disgraceful, and all the time there is a splendid supply on the other side of the clearing, beyond where the indians are cutting and stacking the bark." cyril's voice shook a little from anxiety as he began his interpretation, but it soon grew stronger, and he gave the colonel's wishes with so much energy that the guide looked terribly disturbed as he replied. "what does he say?" cried the colonel angrily. "that the head-man of the kina gatherers gave orders that they were to be pastured here." "then tell him to go to the head-man, and say i order them to be moved at once over to the other side of the huts, ready for me when i wish to go on." diego started off at once, and returned soon after with the head-man and about a dozen of the indians, to whom the colonel's wishes were repeated; and then came quite a deprecating reply that it was impossible, for the woodcutters were going in that direction the very next day, and the mules would be disturbed again. "tell him my mules are of more consequence than his bark gatherers," said the colonel, "and that i insist upon the mules being moved." there was a laboured interpretation, a short buzz of conversation, and then a reply came through diego that the head-man would obey the white chief's orders, and remove the mules to better pasture; but it could not be there, in the place he wished. "tell him anywhere, so long as the poor beasts are properly fed." the colonel stalked away, with his rifle in the hollow of his arm, the indians giving place obsequiously; but he turned back to cyril. "tell john manning to stop and see where they are driven, and then come and report to me.--you two follow." cyril gave the colonel's orders, and then went after him to the hut, where they sat waiting for nearly an hour before manning arrived. "well, where are the mules?" "they've driven 'em out of the bit of forest, sir, and down on the other side toward the slope of that big valley." "hah!" ejaculated the colonel; and then, after a pause, "the very spot." "but you said the other side," said cyril; "at the back of their huts." "where i knew they would not have them," said the colonel. "it looked to them, in their childish cunning, like an attempt on my part to get the animals down toward the point from which we came; and, of course, they would not do that. i hardly expected such good fortune, boys; but the mules are in the very place i wish. now we have to devise a means of getting those mules loaded unseen, and then starting off down the valley as soon after dark to-morrow night as possible." a long conversation followed as to those best means, and the colonel heard each one's proposal impatiently. perry said it was impossible, and that they must all take as much provision as they could carry, and leave the mules behind. john manning said there was only one way of doing it, and that was for him to take the stock off one of the guns, and as soon as it was dusk creep round the camp, and catch every one of the sentries by surprise, and then club him, and bind his hands and feet. "i could stun 'em, sir, and then they couldn't give no alarm." "you mean, murder the poor wretches," said the colonel quietly. "no, no, sir; not so bad as that," grumbled the man. "these injuns have got heads as thick as rams. more likely to spoil the gun." "now you, cyril," said the colonel quietly. "i can't propose anything, sir," said cyril frankly. "it seems to me that we might pass one or two of the indians, but the others would see or hear the mules." "and you can propose nothing else?" cyril shook his head, and the colonel got up and went out of the hut, to go and walk up and down where the indians were busy, giving first one a friendly nod, and then another, evidently to their great satisfaction. the party in the hut watched him for a few moments, and then john manning said: "there aren't no better way, gentlemen, than mine. i don't want to kill none of 'em, so long as they don't try to kill me, or any of you. if they do, why, of course, it makes me feel nasty, and as if i could do anything to stop 'em." "it's too horrid and butcher like," said cyril firmly. "yes," assented perry. "very well, then, gentlemen, suppose you propose a better way. it's of no use to go an' say, `please we're tired of staying here, and want to go,' because that only would be waste of breath." "yes," said perry sadly. "we shall never get away till they give us leave." "hear that, mr cyril, sir; that's my young master, and the son of a stout soldier as never turned his back on an enemy in his life. don't say you're going to give up like that, sir." "no," said cyril, setting his teeth. "i'm not going to give up, and he is not going to give up either. we'll get away somehow, though we can't see the way just now." "that we will, sir," cried john manning excitedly. "bri'sh wits again' injun wits. bah! who says we can't beat them? it's all right, gentlemen. i know the colonel, and have known him since he was a slip of an ensign, and i was not much more than a raw johnny of a boy fresh from the awkward squad. i say i know the colonel, and he's only been leading us on. wait till to-morrow night. he's got some dodge or another ready to fire off, and this time two days we shall be on our way back, and the injuns'll be howling like mad, because they can't make out which way we've gone." chapter seventeen. perry's horror. "how do you feel, cil?" said perry, in the middle of that same night. "horrible. can't sleep. i am hot and itchy, and all of a fidget about things." "father said we were to take things coolly, when he said good-night." "didn't say how, did he?" whispered cyril. "i shall be so glad when we begin doing something. anything's better than this waiting to begin. i say--" "yes." "isn't it near morning?" "no, it ain't," said a gruff voice in an ill-used tone. "how's a man to get a good sleep before he relieves the colonel, if you two young gents keep on twisting about and talking?" "all right, we'll be quiet now." "ay, do, my lads. get a good sleep, and have a nap or two to-morrow, for we shall be travelling all night." there was silence for the rest of the time in the little camp, broken only by a weary sigh or two, for no sleep came to the restless lads; and the next morning found them red-eyed and feverish in spite of the bathe they had in the intensely cold water of the neighbouring mountain rill. and all that day they were on the strain, and constantly on the watch for the colonel, hoping that he would become communicative. but he was very quiet, and spent the greater part of the day either sleeping or pretending, and lounging about watching the indians busy cutting down trees, or peeling the boughs and twigs. john manning, too, looked wonderfully lazy, and avoided the boys, who at last began to look at each other in despair. "i can't make it out," said perry at last. "we are not going to-night, or father would have said something--don't you think so?" "don't know." "but you don't think we can be going?" "i think we are," replied cyril, "and they are doing all this to throw the indians off their guard." dinner-time came, for which meal john manning had prepared a very satisfactory dish from some charqui flavoured with fruit and vegetables, and the boys anxiously waited again for some communication from the colonel. but he was still reticent, and after the meal was over, diego and his companion were summoned and left to clear the tin bowl which did duty as a dish, a duty they always carried out to perfection, never leaving it so long as there was a scrap to finish. then came the long, hot, weary afternoon, which the two boys started to pass under the boughs of a sturdy tree, both feeling their irritability increase as they listened to the crackling and breaking of wood near at hand, and the murmur of voices from the indians, who kept on busily with their work. there was a humming noise in the air, as the insects darted here and there in the hot afternoon sunshine; and from where the two lads lay, they could see the mountains slope down rapidly into the long deep valley, filled now with a soft golden haze, while the air was delicious with the aromatic perfume shed by the trees around. cyril felt hot, feverish, and weary still, but at the same time, as he lay there, it seemed as if that valley at his feet was very beautiful with the sun lighting it up from end to end, and that it would be a pity to start that night, before he had had a good restful sleep, and then-- directly after it seemed to him--he felt vexed with perry for worrying and shaking him. the next moment he started up to find that the valley below looked dark, and the sun was on the other side of the mountains, while the colonel was standing over him, smiling. "that's better, boys," he said. "i'm glad that you have both had a good rest. you will be all the fresher for your walk." "then you are going to-night, sir?" "hush! yes; of course.--perry." "yes, father." "don't go away, either of you, and you must not look excited. come and have supper--it is ready--and then wait about by the hut while the guides have theirs. you will take no notice of anything, but loiter about outside while john manning and i act. but be ready to help, if i call upon you." "we'll do all you wish, sir," said cyril excitedly. "then do it calmly," said the colonel. "mind this, the indians must not have a suggestion that shall make them suspicious. to them everything must seem as if we were patiently submitting to our rather easy captivity. come." the colonel led the way back to the fire, close to which their meal was spread by john manning, and as the boys drew nearer, they saw that diego and his companion were hanging about as if wondering why they had not been summoned sooner to partake of the meal. "yes, we're late," said the colonel aloud, and setting the example, he took his place and began to eat as calmly as if nothing important was on the way. "come, boys," he said quietly, "make a good meal, and don't look anxious; there are some of the indians coming up. recollect what i said." cyril tried to act his part, and said something in a laughing way to perry, but it fell very flat. still, there was nothing in the scene to attract attention, and though they were all aware that work for the day had long ceased near the huts, and the indians who were not partaking of their simple meal, were strolling about, and many of them keenly watching the white party, no head was turned. at last the colonel asked if all were done, and then rose and signed to diego and the other man to come and take their places. this they did eagerly, and from where cyril stood now in the semi-darkness, he could see the men's faces by the light of the fire, and that they were eating hungrily. "did you look to the mules?" said the colonel in a low voice. "yes, sir, all ready." "that's right. now, boys, the indians have strolled back, and i don't think they have set any watch yet. keep on walking to and fro as you do sometimes, with your arms on each other's shoulders. keep between the fire and the indians' clearing, and take no notice of anything you see. we shall not leave you behind." cyril's heart beat violently, and he heard perry utter a low sigh as he threw his arm over his companion's shoulder and they began walking to and fro about twenty yards from their fire, while the low hum of many voices came from the clearing where the indians were talking together before settling themselves for the night. meanwhile diego and his companion were eating away as if they had suffered a three days' fast, and showed no sign of leaving off, till all at once, just as the boys turned, they became aware of the fact that the colonel had gone from the spot where they had seen him last, and that he and john manning had suddenly appeared in front of the guides, where they were eating. by the light of the fire they saw that guns were presented at the men's heads, with the effect of making them throw out their arms to seize their weapons, but before they could effect anything for their defence, they were thrust backward, and cyril at the same moment saw by the firelight diego lying upon his back, with the colonel's foot upon his chest, and the other man in a similar position, held down by john manning. "keep on walking," cyril said aloud to perry, for the latter had stopped, panting and startled, and cyril felt him quiver as he half-forced him along. "what are they going to do? kill them?" whispered perry. "they're going to master them," replied cyril. "don't speak like that. recollect our orders. it is to save them from being seen." the boys kept on their walk, watching the proceedings by the fire as much as they could, but in less than five minutes there was nothing to see, for both the guides were bound with a hide rope from the mules' packages; and urged onward by threats from the colonel's and john manning's pieces, they had passed out of sight among the bushes in an enforced stooping position, a faint crackling telling of the direction in which they had gone, while a louder crackling and snapping told, with the accompanying blaze, that something had been thrown upon the fire. "the bows and arrows," whispered perry, and they kept up their monotonous tramp to and fro. "what are they doing now?" said perry suddenly, and then he started, for cyril burst out into a merry laugh, and gave him a sharp slap on the back, so suddenly, and with such force, that perry stumbled forward, and nearly fell. "are you mad?" cried the boy furiously. "not quite," said cyril merrily. "here, give us your hand, old chap: i'll haul up. that's your sort. ahoy! there you are again." he said all this boisterously, and then in a low whisper: "keep it up. hit me, or do something. two indians have come up close to watch." perry trembled violently, but he tried to follow out his companion's plan, and turning upon him, engaged in a mock struggle, each making believe to throw the other for a minute or two, and then laughingly resuming their walk to and fro. those laughs were very hysterical, though, and perry's next words came with gasps as he said: "see the indians now?" "no; they're either gone back or they're hiding." "which? let's go and see." "we can't," replied cyril. "our orders are to walk up and down here, as if nothing were wrong. can't you see it will make them believe we are going on as usual?" "yes," said perry huskily; "but i wish my father would come now." "so do i." "those two may have got the better of them." "not they," said cyril stoutly. "it would take three indians to get rid of your john manning. your father will take care they do nothing. don't take any notice. hear that?" "yes, some one going away through the bushes. those two hadn't gone, and they were hiding." "yes." "but are they both gone now?" "i only heard one," said cyril, beginning to whistle a merry tune, but before he had got through the first strain, there was another faint rustling among the trees. "there goes the other," said cyril quietly, and then he broke into a loud yawn. "heigh--he--ha--hum," he said. "how dark it has grown." "listen," whispered perry. "i heard it," said cyril. "one of the mules squeaking." "no, it was a horrible cry. some one has been killed." "there goes another then," said cyril, as a peculiar sound came from the forest. "yes, they are killing the guides." "i tell you, it was the squeaking of the mules. i know the sound well enough." "i'm sure you're wrong," protested perry. "and i'm sure _you_ are. if it was the cry of some one being killed, wouldn't there be a rush of the indians, to see what was the matter?" "if they heard it." "and they would. trust them for that. the mules are excited and calling to one another. i believe they are being loaded." "oh, how can you take it all so coolly?" groaned perry. "my heart beats as if it would break, and i feel a curious choking sensation at the throat, and all the time you take it as if there was nothing the matter." "do i? you don't know," said cyril. "i believe i'm worse than you are; but never mind, try to laugh." "laugh," said perry piteously. "i feel as if i could sit down and cry." "leave that to the girls, lad. we've got something else to do. don't stop. we must keep on, so as to keep the indians from thinking there's anything wrong. there, cheer up. can you sing any thing?" "sing!" cried perry, in a voice full of reproach. "very well, then, i must whistle softly." he commenced a tune, and got through a few bare. then he ceased as suddenly as he had begun, and began talking. "i say it was very plucky of your father, wasn't it? the boldness of the plan has made it do. the indians could not even think we should make such an attempt." for a full hour the boys kept up that painful tramp up and down, perry growing more and more silent, and cyril bursting out from time to time with a little peal of forced laughter. twice over, they were conscious of the presence of the watchful indians creeping furtively among the trees; but the actions of the boys allayed their suspicions, and they went back as softly as they came. "was it never to end?" the lads asked themselves, and though neither made any allusion to their thoughts, they were tortured by fancies of what might have happened, till at last perry was certain that, instead of the colonel and john manning killing the two guides, these two men had turned upon them and stabbed them to the heart. at last the boy could bear this thought no longer. he fought hard to keep it to himself, but it would have vent finally, and as they turned to continue their weary tramp, he suddenly caught cyril fiercely by the arm. "they won't come back to us," he whispered. "they cannot. diego and the other man turned upon them, killed them, and those were their cries we heard. they're both dead, cil--they're both dead." "and your father has come to tell us he has been killed," said cyril, with a forced laugh, which was more like a hoarse cry of agony. "at last," he groaned: "i don't think i could have borne it any longer." "what do you mean?" said perry. "there--by the fire. here they come." perry looked sharply round in the direction pointed out by his companion, and then the pulses of both seemed to stand still, for they heard the approach of indians from the direction of the clearing. almost at the same moment, they could plainly see by the faint light of the fire, not the colonel and john manning coming to fetch them at last, but the figures of the guides bending down, and then beginning to approach, in the soft furtive manner of a couple of wild beasts about to make their fatal spring. chapter eighteen. adventures of a night. "he was right," muttered cyril, as the blood rushed to his head and made him feel giddy; "and now they mean to have us, but--" he stopped short, and his teeth made a grating sound as he seized perry by the shoulder. "can you fight?" he whispered. "i--i don't half know," groaned perry. "i'll try." "that's right. we must," the boy continued. "they shall find we're english after all." "what are you going to do?" said perry, holding on by his companion's arm. "get our guns. they're close by the fire there. what are those two doing?" "i don't know," was the reply, and perry gazed hard at the two guides, who were stooping about the fire. "yes, i do; they're putting on more wood." "then, as soon as they come toward us, we must run round and try to get our guns." they stood in the darkness watching for some moments, while the guides still busied themselves about the fire, wandering here and there, as if busy about something; though, after seeing the flames rise, on the first portion of wood being added, their object appeared vague. all at once the rustling toward the clearing recommenced, and the boys looked sharply in that direction, fully expecting that the first attack would come from there; but the sound grew fainter, and they knew that the indians must be going back, apparently satisfied with their scrutiny. this meant the danger lessened for the moment by one half; and cyril now gripped his companion's shoulder more tightly. "now, then," he said, "let's get round by the trees to the other side." "too late," said perry; "they are coming here." cyril glanced toward the fire, but no one was visible. in the brief moments during which their backs were turned, the guides had disappeared, and all was silent; not a sound suggested the spot from which the enemy would advance. "we must chance it," whispered cyril. "quick; come along this way. quiet." they started away to their right, so as to get round to the back of the fire; but as fate had it, they went right into the arms of those whom they were seeking to avoid. not forty steps had been taken cautiously through the dark shadows beneath the trees, before perry uttered a cry as the two guides sprang up in their path. "this way, cil; run," he whispered. "hush! silence!" came in a familiar voice. "don't you know us, boys?" both cyril and perry were speechless, so great was the emotion caused by the surprise, and they stared at the dimly-seen, bare-headed figures wearing the indians' long, loose garments. "now, quick," said the colonel, stripping off the indian frock, "off with yours, too, manning." the man obeyed with all a well-drilled soldier's celerity and silence, and, stooping down, the colonel was about to thrust the cotton garments in amongst the undergrowth, when cyril, who had now recovered himself, whispered a few words to the colonel. "good! capital!" he said. "only quick, and we'll wait here." cyril snatched at the two frocks, and, stooping down, laid them, well stretched out, at a short distance from the fire, where, in the dim light, they gave a rough idea of covering a couple of indians stretched out in sleep. it was only the work of a minute, and then cyril was back to where perry stood excited and nervous, for the feeling was strong upon him that, after all, his father and manning had slain the two guides. "where are the mules?" said cyril to the colonel. "silence! follow. stoop till we are well beyond the fire." "but our guns, sir?" said cyril. "i said silence, boy!" replied the colonel, and they went off in single file for about a couple of hundred yards in and out among the trees, till the colonel stopped short, and the boys made out that they were standing by the mules, which were waiting, all ready laden, and with hanging heads, ready to proceed on their journey. then, without another word, the colonel took the rein of the old leader, started off, and steadily and quietly the others followed, the unladen last, while john manning and the two boys followed for some time. "here, take your fireworks, my lads," whispered john manning at last. "pouches are fastened to 'em, and well filled with ammunition. i'll help you to put 'em on as we go." all this in a whisper, and then perry said: "you thought of our wanting them, then?" "rum sort of soldier if i hadn't, my lad," growled the man. "steady. keep on walking. under your right arm, my lad. that's it.--now you, mr cyril." "mine's on all right," was the reply; and then it was always onward and downward, in and out among the trees, with all around so dark beneath branches, that, but for the steady, slow pace of the mules, which never hesitated for a moment, the journey would have been next to impossible. and all the time, as the rustling, soft, trampling noise made by the animals' hoofs went on, very few words were spoken, for every ear was attent and strained to catch the first announcement of the pursuit having begun. the two boys felt no inclination to converse, but tramped on silent enough, while, when anything was said, john manning was the speaker. he would begin by enjoining silence in the ranks, and the minute after, find he had something he must say. "don't think they've took the alarm yet, gentlemen," he said, after a long time. "that dodge o' yourn with the injuns' frocks was splendid. when they do come, take your word from me, as i command the rearguard; and fire low, for we must give them a volley." perry shrank from their old servant involuntarily, for it seemed to him horrible that john manning should speak in so cheery a tone from time to time, when, only a short time back, he had imbrued his hand in the blood of their two guides. but at last he felt constrained to speak, the words coming forth unbidden. "those two guides," he said huskily. "ay, poor chaps, it seemed hard, sir," replied the old soldier; "but it was us or them, and, of course, it had to be them. we was obliged to do it, or else how was i to get the mules loaded?" "but it seems so horrible," said cyril. "oh, i don't know, sir. sort o' tit for tat. they wouldn't ha' been very particular about us, and it was, as you may say, in self-defence. but, i say, mr cyril, don't you think i got all those packs down to the mules pretty quick, and the beasts laden?" "wonderfully quickly," said cyril. "it was, sir, though i say it as shouldn't say it. i did get warm over the job. thought i should have had no end o' trouble with 'em, but they took it as quietly as lambs; and as soon as they found out what was going on, the pack-mules all hung together and waited their turns, while the saddle mules seemed to be looking on." "of course that was after the--after diego and the other man--" "of course, sir. there'd ha' been no mule packing if we'd left those two chaps to lift up their lovely voices, and shout to their friends for help. that would not have done, eh, mr cyril?" "no; i suppose not, if we were to escape." "and that's what we had to do, sir; for, as the colonel said to me more than once, `we're not safe, john manning, for sooner or later they'll find out why i have come, and then i would not answer for our lives.' but we're off now in spite of 'em, and well provisioned too. my word, i did get a warming over those mules; but the colonel's wonderful handy at the loading, and helped me well. you see, he superintended a lot out in india, when we had mules and camels to carry our baggage. and we did it all fine. listen." they paused, but the faint pattering of the mules' hoofs was the only sound; and they followed on again, john manning keeping silence for a time, and then bursting out with a chuckle. "i told you so yes'day, young gentlemen. the colonel 'll have some dodge to get us off, and there you are! he led, and it was grand the way in which he had worked it out. he didn't tell me till to-night, and when he had done, i laughed out. `think it will do, john manning?' he said. `do, sir?' i says. `of course it'll do;' and it's done. don't suppose those two liked it much, poor fellows, but they had to put up with it." "oh, john manning," cried perry excitedly, unable to bear it any longer, "how can you treat it so lightly? if you had tied and bound the poor wretches, it would have been different, but to drag them away and kill them in cold blood! it is horrible." "well i _am_ blessed!" exclaimed the old soldier, in a tone and with an emphasis that showed how he was startled. "and i'll never believe that my father meant it to be so." john manning gave cyril a dig with his elbow, and he winked one eye, but the act was invisible in the darkness. "why, it was him as 'vented the plan, sir. i only helped carry it out." "oh!" ejaculated perry. "hadn't we got to escape, sir?" "but in such a way!" "why, it was a splendid way, master perry. but i say i am ashamed of you to go private court-martialling your own father in that way, and find such fault with him for helping you to get off!" "i'm not going to judge him," said perry. "i only say it was horrible." "well, yes, sir, it was, and is," said the old soldier, giving cyril another dig. "can't say as i should like to lie all night on my back with my hands tied behind me to a big pole, and my ankles and knees served the same, just as if i was going to be roasted for a cannibal's dinner, and to make it worse, an old worsted stocking rammed into my mouth, and a cloth tied over it and behind my neck, to make sure i didn't get it out." "what!" cried perry. "i said a stocking rammed into my month, sir, so as i shouldn't holler, only breathe. it is hard on a man, but what was you to do?" "then you didn't kill them," cried perry joyfully. "kill 'em," said john manning, in a tone full of disgust. "did you ever know a british soldier, as was a soldier, go killing folk in that way, sir, when they'd been made prisoners? master perry, sir, i'm ashamed o' you for thinking such a thing o' your father, as is as fine an officer as ever stepped." "not so much ashamed of me as i am of myself," said perry huskily. "then diego and the other man are all right?" "they don't think so," said the old soldier with a chuckle. "they're precious uncomfortable by this time, for i rammed the stockings pretty far, and i tied them knots with those new hide ropes as tight as they'd draw." "quiet there, quiet," said the colonel sternly, for he had stopped and let the mules pass him. "no more talking for the present. can you hear anything?" "no, sir, not a sound," said john manning. but even as he spoke there was a faint cry borne on the night wind from high up the valley, and situated as they were, that sound could only have one meaning--pursuit. chapter nineteen. the dark way. "they've missed us," said cyril excitedly. "shall i run to the leader, sir, and hurry him on?" "no, my lad," said the colonel, "we shall do nothing by hurrying. our retreat must be carried out slowly. we can get on no faster than the mules will walk. keep on as we are." he left them after listening for a few minutes, and hurried forward to reach his place again by the leading mule, for the sagacious beast had gone steadily on, followed by the others, acting as if it knew its duty as well as a human being--that duty being to follow the easiest course offered by the valley, which ran parallel with one of the outer ranges of foot-hills, there being no track whatever to act as guide. "sounds quite reviving," said john manning in a whisper. "we've had so much dull do-nothing times, that it quite freshens one up." "how long will it be before they overtake us?" said perry anxiously. "how long have we been coming here, sir?" replied the old soldier. "i don't know--an hour, i suppose." "yes, sir, an hour. well, if they knew the way we came and followed on, it would take them hours more than it has taken us." "why?" said cyril sharply. "why, sir? because," said john manning, with one of his dry chuckles, "they'll have to come along very slowly, searching among the trees as they come, for fear of overrunning the scent; for as it's dark, they've got nothing to guide 'em, and i hope they won't find much when it's light, for the sun will soon dry up the dew which shows the marks made by brushing it off. we're all right till they hit the track we've come, and that won't be till some time to-morrow, if they hit it then." "oh, they'll know the way we've come," said perry, who was breathing hard from excitement. "they must be very clever then, sir," said john manning drily. "i should say they'll think we've made for the way we came." "speak lower," said cyril. "why?" "because, says they, these white fellows haven't got any guides now, and they only know one road, so they're sure to take it." "yes, that sounds likely," said perry sharply; "but how was it we could hear them shouting?" "i know that," said cyril. "the air is so clear right up here in the mountains, and the wind is this way. it's like seeing. you know how close the peaks seem when they're twenty miles away." "yes, sir, and sounds run along a hollow like this wonderfully. why, i remember in one of the passes up in india, we in the rearguard could hear the men talking right away in the front as easily as if we were close to them." "but look here," said cyril. "diego or the other fellow must have seen which way we came." "they must have been very sharp then, sir, for i took care to tie a little biscuit bag over each of their heads, only i left holes for their noses to come out and breathe. don't you fret, young gentlemen; we've got the start, and i don't believe the fight 'll begin 'fore to-morrow evening, if it do then." "you know, then, that it will come to a fight," said perry. "well, say a skirmish, sir. we in the rearguard 'll have to be divided into three companies, and keep on retiring one after the other, and taking up fresh ground to protect the baggage-train. it's all right, gentlemen, and it'll be quite a new experience for you both. you'll like it as soon as the excitement begins." "excitement?" cried perry. "suppose one of us is shot." "ah, we don't think of that, sir, in the army," said john manning. "we think of the enemy getting that. but, if one of us is so unlucky, why, then, he'll be clapped on a mule's back and go on with the baggage-train." the two boys stopped then to listen, but all was silent save the faint rustling made by the mules in front as they went steadily onward in their leader's track. the night was dark, but the stars glittered brilliantly overhead in a broad strip which showed how deep down the valley had grown, and how wall-like the sides rose in their blackness. "i say," whispered perry, stopping short. "doesn't it make you feel shivery?" "no," said cyril. "shuddery. we seem to be going on, down and down, as if this were a slope leading right underground. i shall be glad when the daylight comes, so that we can see where we are going.--hear any one coming?" "no, but let's go on, or we may be left behind." "well, we are left behind now." "but suppose we missed the others. it would be horrible." "no fear," said cyril; "the valley's getting narrower and narrower, and if we keep on, we're sure to overtake the mules." cyril was right, for in a few minutes they heard the faint patter of the hoofs again, and were glad to keep close in the rear, for instinctively the patient beasts picked out the easiest way. and now from being a smooth, grassy, park-like, open valley, the route they followed began to contract into a gorge, from whose wall-like sides masses of stone had been tumbled down in the course of ages, till the bottom was growing more difficult to traverse every mile they passed; while, for aught they knew in the darkness, they might be skirting precipice and pitfall of the most dangerous kind, depending, as they were, entirely upon the mules. they had suggestions of there being unknown depths around, for to their left there was the gurgling, rushing sound of water, apparently deep down beneath the fallen stones, sometimes louder, sometimes dying away into a murmur; till all at once, as they turned a corner into sudden, complete darkness--for the long band of starry light overhead was now shut out--they were startled by a deep echoing, booming roar, and a chilling damp air smote them in the face as it came down, evidently from some gorge to their right, which joined the one along which they had travelled. it needed no explanation. light failed, but they knew as well as if they were in broad sunshine that they were face to face with a huge cascade which came gliding down from far on high into some terrific chasm far below, while the change from the calm silence of the valley they had traversed to the deafening sound which rose from below, was confusing and strange to such a degree, that they came to a stand. it was not that the noise was so great, as that it seemed, paradoxical as it may sound, so huge and soft, and to pervade all space, to the exclusion of everything else. as cyril said afterwards, it was a noise that did not pierce and ring in your ears, but stopped them up and smothered all speech; while the darkness was so deep, that no one felt the slightest desire to take a step forward. perry was the first to make any move, for all at once he felt for cyril, placed his lips close to his ear, and said excitedly: "my father: can you hear him?" "no," replied his companion, after a pause. "i can only hear the water." "then he must have fallen in.--here, john manning. where is the lantern?" "tied to the first mule's pack, sir." "oh!" exclaimed perry excitedly, and then he shouted "father!" as loudly as he could, but the cry seemed to be driven back in his face. "i'll light a match, sir," cried manning, and after a few moments there was a flash, the gleam of a light, and the shape of the old soldier's hands, with the tiny flame gleaming ruddily between his fingers; but, save that the boys saw the familiar rugged features of the man's face for a few moments, they saw nothing more, and the darkness grew painful as the match went out. john manning struck another light, got the splint well in a blaze, and tossed it from him; but there was nothing to be seen but mist. the boys now shouted together, but without result, and a chilling sensation of dread came over them as they grasped each other's wet cold hand, not daring to stir, and with the horrible feeling increasing upon them that some terrible tragedy must have happened to their leader. just when the sensation of horror was at its height, john manning's voice was heard. "what had we best do, gentlemen--go forward or go back?" "we ought to go forward," said cyril. "yes, that's what i feel, sir," shouted the man; "but next step may be down into the pit." "we must go on," said perry excitedly; "my father wants help. he's in danger, i'm sure, or he would have made some sign." as he spoke, he snatched his hand from cyril's grasp, and took a step or two forward into the black darkness. "perry!" shouted cyril, in a voice which sounded like a faint whisper, as he felt himself seized by the shoulder, john manning's great hand closing upon it like a vice, and holding it firmly. "where's master perry?" no answer escaped cyril's lips for a minute. he felt suffocated, and it was not until john manning had shaken him violently and repeated his question twice, that he panted out the single word, "gone." "can you see where--has he fallen in?" was panted in his ear. "no; he stepped from me to help the colonel, and then he was gone." john manning groaned, and cyril felt the strong man's hand trembling, and the vibration thrilled through the boy's frame until every nerve quivered with the horrible dread which assailed him. all at once he felt the lips at his ear again. "let's shout together, sir," was whispered, and they tried hard to make their voices heard, calling together with all their strength, but they did not seem to be able to pierce the roar which pressed, as it were, upon them; and though they repeated the cry at intervals and listened for a reply, none came. "it's no good, mr cyril, sir," groaned john manning. "i'm ready, sir, to do anything to try and save my poor colonel and master perry; what can i do? it's like chucking away my life and yours, sir, to stir a step." "yes, and i'd help you," said cyril despairingly; "but we dare not move in this terrible darkness." "shall we try to go back, sir?" "no," shouted cyril firmly. "we must not do that." "what then, sir? what can we do?" "wait for daylight," cyril shouted back in the man's ear. then softly to himself: "and pray." chapter twenty. waiting for daylight. as john manning afterwards said, those were hours to make a man's hair turn grey, and to cyril every minute seemed to be indefinitely prolonged, as he stood till he felt his knees begin to give way beneath him, and finally sank cautiously down upon them--john manning imitating his movement--till they both rested upon wet, slippery rock. there they crouched with strained ears, waiting for the light which seemed as if it would never come, while the noise was crushing them back, as it were, upon themselves, and dulling their brains till all was to cyril like some terrible dream. there were moments when he felt as if his senses were leaving him, and the sensation was almost welcome, for the agony at last grew greater than he could bear. he had reached this pitch as he crouched there with his arm drawn tightly through john manning's, when he felt the man's grasp upon him loosened, and the next moment he felt a thrust. he knew directly what it meant. following the movement, he became conscious of some pale, bluish-looking smoke on his left, and as this grew clearer, he realised that it was not smoke, but a thick mist between him and the coming light of day; but for a few minutes there was nothing more. then by slow degrees this dim, grey appearance grew and expanded, till the boy made out that the mist rose out of the depths before them, and at last that he and john manning were crouching upon a ledge of rock on one side of a great gulf, down into which the waters thundered from their right, while overhead the wall of rock rose up nearly straight, the light of day being shut out by the dense mist which rose from below. this light increased rapidly now in pale gleams from the left, and a faint, soft diffusion from above, showing that they were where a vast rift in the mountain joined at right angles the valley they had descended, while the rocky sides were so close that they nearly met overhead. but some time elapsed before they could make out more, the steamy mist obscuring everything, and preventing them from seeing anything of perry or the colonel. they had both risen to their feet, and clasping hands, began, as soon as it was possible to see a step or two, to try to penetrate farther in; but before they had gone half-a-dozen steps, john manning, who looked misty and unsubstantial to cyril, stopped short and pointed downward in front of him to where the rock looked slippery as glass. "he went down there, sir," he shouted, and loosening his grasp, threw himself down upon his chest, and wormed himself forward, so as to get his head over the gulf and look down. cyril watched the man in agony, fully expecting to see him glide forward out of sight; but in a few minutes he worked himself back, rose, and placed his lips to the boy's ear again. "can't see. all one thick cloud of spray." cyril gave a great start, for at that moment, from out of the misty gloom, the colonel strode forward to meet them. "thank goodness," he shouted. "i was very nervous about--where's perry?" cyril and john manning, whose faces had lit up with pleasure, now gave him a despairing look, which made him seize cyril by both arms. "my boy!" he gasped. "where's my boy?" there was no reply. there was none needed, for the colonel read in their faces what was wrong. he had seen them, too, trying to look down into the misty gulf below, and there was a horrible look of despair in his countenance as he pointed mutely down into the terrible-looking gloom. then going right to the edge, he tried to look over, but drew back a little and stretched out his hand to john manning, hooking his fingers the while. the old soldier stepped forward. long discipline and training had made him ready to grasp his master's wishes, and planting his right foot against a projecting piece of the rock, he hooked his fingers in the colonel's, and then hung slightly back, giving a little and a little more, till the latter was able to lean right out and gaze down. it was by this time far lighter, and the mist was here and there transparent, as it came eddying up more and more like the clouds of smoke from a fire, but there was no piercing even the lightest parts; and giving this up in despair, colonel campion rose up, made a sign to them to stand firm, and then stepped rapidly in the direction from which they had seen him come. one minute they saw his figure growing fainter along by the side of the rock-wall, the next he had disappeared in the gloom and mist. "let's follow," said cyril, with his lips to john manning's ear. the man shook his head. "soldier never leaves his post without orders," he replied. "better stay, sir." cyril hesitated, but stayed; now watching the spot where the colonel had disappeared, now letting his eyes wander round the place, which, as the growing light of day penetrated it more and more, was still awful enough, with its whirling mist, gloom, and deafening roar of invisible water falling behind the pearly veil, but far from being as terrible as when it was all shrouded in deep obscurity. for the light came down softly from high above their heads, showing that though the rocky walls nearly approached, there was a firmly-defined band that would probably be bright and golden when the sun rose, but john manning's words were justified as he suddenly leaned forward and said: "what a place, sir! it's a wonder there ain't four of us gone for good." just then the colonel reappeared with half-a-dozen of the raw hide ropes used about the mules for lassoes, tethering, and binding on their loads. these he threw down, and john manning followed his example as he began to knot them together. "bear me?" shouted the colonel to the old soldier. "two of you, sir," said the latter; "but you lower, i'll go." the colonel shook his head angrily--the task of speaking was too much in his state of anguish--and he went on trying the knots he made, while cyril picked up one end and examined a couple of the knots before making a strong loop, and passing it over his head and shoulders. his action passed un-noticed for a few moments, for he had drawn back; but when the last rope was joined to the others, the colonel turned and grasped the boy's intention. "god bless you, my lad," he cried, "but i cannot let you go." cyril hardly heard a word in the midst of that deep-toned, booming thunder, but he grasped their import, and stood firm. "yes," he shouted. "i'm light. lower me down." a curious sensation attacked him as he spoke, and he knew that he was turning pale, but he faced in the direction of the gulf, and tried hard to pull himself together. "perry would have gone down after me," he said to himself, "and it isn't so very dangerous after all." but all the while he knew that it was, and also that it was a task calling for nerve, determination, and strength, all three of which he seemed to be wanting in when face to face with the dense, wreathing mist of that terrible gulf. "i don't care. i'm afraid, horribly afraid," he muttered between his teeth. "but i'll go. i'd go if it was twice as dangerous, if it's only to let father know i'm not all bad." meanwhile, a short discussion, painfully hard, went on between the colonel and john manning, the former hesitating, the latter insisting. "he's light, and can do it better than you. perhaps we couldn't pull you up, nor you me." then the colonel held out his hand to cyril, who grasped it eagerly, but in an instant the colonel's face began to work, and he drew the lad to his breast, held him there for a brief moment, and then released him. "i'm not afraid now," shouted cyril, and he stepped at once to the edge, and, as the line was tightened, went down on his face, passed his legs over, and, grasping the line with both hands, glided down; seeing the faces of the two men who held the rope disappear, then the shelf; and the next minute, as he was lowered, he saw nothing but the light mist which closed him in, and struck dank and chilly to his face and hands. he had expected to swing to and fro in the air, and had prepared himself to grasp at the rock, and try to prevent himself from turning round and round; but to his surprise he found that he was on a sharp incline, down which he was sliding easily, for the rock was covered with a slippery mossy growth, over which his hands glided whenever he tried to check his course; for, in spite of his determination, the desire to do this mastered him. anything to stop himself from going down into that awful place at some terrible depth below, where the water was churning round and round, and tossing up this mist of spray. to go down into that must mean instant death; and after all, what good was he going to do? poor perry had slipped, gone over the edge, and then not fallen headlong, but glided down at a terrible rate, with no power to arrest his course; and, if he were not down there below, he must have been swept out by the stream, and be far away down the river by then. these thoughts came quickly as he slipped gently down, keeping his face toward the roaring water and churning mist, but seeing nothing; for the darkness now, as he was lowered more, began to increase. down, down, down! was there no end to the rope? how long it seemed before it was checked. still cyril tried hard to make out something of the whereabouts of his friend. but no; if he turned to the right, toward where there was the hissing noise of the falling water, all was black, as black as it was below in the fearful hollow into which it plunged, to send up that deafening, reverberating thunder. at last to the left there, where he knew the chasm must open into the valley by which they came, he could see a faint suggestion of light, such light as one sees when looking towards a candle with the eyes tightly closed, and when trying to peer through the veined lids. then, to his horror, he was being lowered again, for he had believed that the end of the hide rope was reached. it seemed a great depth down before there was another check, though probably it was not more than a dozen or twenty feet; and once more, as he tried to grasp the slimy rock behind him, he peered about vainly, knowing that if poor perry had once begun to glide down that horrible slope, he must have gone right on down to the bottom. then there was a heavier strain upon his chest, and to his intense relief, now that he felt how vain his effort had been, he turned his face toward the rocks, and tried to help by climbing, as he was being drawn up. vain effort. hands and feet glided over the slippery moss, and he soon subsided, and waited in increasing agony, while he was steadily hauled up. for, in descending, his senses were hard at work, and he was momentarily hoping to rest upon some shelf where he might come upon perry. but now he had nothing to do but think of himself and his risks, and, in spite of the effort to be brave, he could not keep his mind from dwelling upon the knots of the several ropes, and wondering whether those john manning tied were as firm as the colonel's, and whether the rope itself might not have been frayed by passing over the rocks, and give way just before he reached the shelf. at last, with head burning, hands and feet like ice, and clothes drenched with the spray, he felt himself seized by john manning's strong fingers and lifted into safety. it had now become light enough for him to see well around; the mist on high was turning roseate and warm by reflection, for the sun was rising; and the colonel turned from him with a look of agony, and stood with his back to them, while john manning unloosed the rope. "nobody could come out of such a place as that, my lad," he said, "alive." chapter twenty one. the pursuit. "i'll go down again, sir," said cyril, when the colonel had turned back, and he had tried to make him understand the nature of the place, as far as he had been able to make out. but the colonel shook his head. "we must go back, and try to reach the stream where it flows out, my boy," he said. "we can do no good here.--come, manning, and fetch the mules." john manning stared, and seemed as if he could not understand. "the mules, sir--go back and find the stream? what about the indians, if they are coming on?" the colonel had forgotten their pursuers. "the mules," he said then; and he led the way on into the mist, cyril following him wonderingly along the continuation of the rocky shelf for about a hundred yards, and glancing back from time to time to see that john manning was close behind, untying the knots of the hide ropes as he came. every step took them nearer to the great waterfall, and in the dim light cyril now made out that the path was wider; but all at once it seemed to end in front of a gleaming sheet of water reaching from the thick mist below right up to where the rock-walls appeared to give place to the spray-clouded sky. and there, just before them, all huddled together, stood the mules, ready to turn toward them as they approached. "they brought me as far as this last night," said the colonel, "and then stopped. no wonder, poor brutes, they would go no farther; and i was lost in the darkness, and dared not turn back. i stood with them till daybreak, hoping you all were safe, and then--" cyril uttered a wild cry of joy, one which made itself heard by all, for a bare-headed misty figure, whose presence they had not been aware of as it followed them, suddenly caught the colonel's arm, placed its lips to his ear, and cried: "quick, father--the indians; they're coming down the valley fast." in the face of such news as perry bore, there was no time to ask questions about his escape, but as the colonel grasped the boy's arm, trembling the while with excitement, his heart throbbing with joy, he cried: "how far away?" "not half a mile. i could see them coming down the valley." "this way," said the colonel promptly, and he supplemented his words with gestures, as, still holding his son's arm tightly, he led them on through the mist of fine spray inward toward where the mules were standing together. and now as they approached the fall, a great deal of the horror caused by the darkness and noise passed away, for the mist grew opalescent from the sunshine far above, and though progress looked terribly perilous, they could see the extent of their danger, and there was no mystery of hidden peril, no constant dread of unknown chasms waiting to engulf them at their next stride. for they knew now that they were in one of nature's wildest and grandest rifts, where a goodly-sized river, after tearing its way along the profound depths of a narrow gorge, had reached a spot where by some earthquake convulsion this gorge had suddenly, as it were, broken in two. one part had dropped several hundred feet, forming a profound chasm into which the water from above leaped in one great glistening wave, smooth as so much gleaming glass, to be broken up into spray as it reached the jagged rocks below, and there eddy and foam in what was undoubtedly a huge basin, from which the mist arose, while the broken water swept on down into the valley to join the little stream by whose side they had come. the leading mule threw up its head as the colonel approached, and its parted teeth and drawn-back lips suggested that it was whinnying a welcome or a demand for food. but the great fall before them, and the knowledge that at any time the indians might appear from out of the dense mist and commence their attack, gave the colonel eyes for only one thing, and that a way out of what seemed to be a perfect _cul de sac_. the deafening roar, of course, prevented all consultation, and the mist added to the confusion; but these had their advantages for the fugitives, veiling their actions from their pursuers, and preventing any sound made by the mules from being heard. and as cyril watched their leader's actions, and then caught an encouraging look from john manning, who gave his head a jerk in the colonel's direction, as if to say: "it's all right, he'll find his way out," the boy felt in better spirits. the terrors of the night were gone; they were all there safe, and there was the possibility of the indians feeling as much in awe of the terrible chasm as they had themselves, and hence shrinking from making their way through the mist, and giving them the credit of going on down the valley by the greater stream which issued from beneath the falls. cyril's thoughts were many, and in the reaction from the terrible despair from which he had suffered, he was ready to accept anything short of the marvellous; and consequently he was in nowise surprised on seeing their leader go right on into the darkness, peering here and there, and the leading mule follow him and perry, the rest getting in motion directly, and going on into the mist till the last had disappeared. just then john manning, who had turned to look back, wiping the moisture from his face, clapped cyril on the shoulder, and placed his lips close to the boy's ear. "can't see 'em coming. this'll scare 'em from following. they'll think nobody but mad folk would ever come along here. i say, he's found a way behind the fall." but john manning was wrong. they followed the direction taken by the last mule, together stepping cautiously onward through the mist, for the rugged shelf they were on was dripping with moisture, and felt slippery beneath their feet, while to their left there was the huge body of water always gliding down into the spray which eddied up to meet it. then, to their intense astonishment, they stepped right out of the dense, clinging mist, which hid everything, into a clear atmosphere. it was quite in twilight that they stood, but the falling water brought with it a cool current of air; and as they both stopped for a moment to gaze and wonder, there to their left was the great fall rushing down clear of the rock behind, and leaving plenty of room for any one to pass through to the other side, beneath the water, had the shelf been continued there; but it passed round to their right, as if nature had made a natural staircase, zigzagging up the side of the gorge; and there, some distance above them, were the colonel and perry, mounting slowly after the leading mule, which showed no hesitation about proceeding now that it was day. john manning nodded, and they followed up and up the giddy path, now leaving the fall some distance behind, now approaching it again, but always near enough to be terribly impressed by the vast curve of gleaming black water, which, as they rose higher, could be plainly seen plunging down into what appeared to them as a dark grey cloud. from time to time the colonel looked back and waved his hand, stopping at last at a spot where the natural track curved suddenly round a sharp point of rock. the mules followed one by one, their heads right down, and their feet carefully planted at every step, till the last had gone round; and then in turn cyril and john manning climbed up, and before passing the sharp rock, stopped to gaze down into the vast rift up whose side they had mounted so far. from this point the whole of the wild zigzag was visible right to where the grey veil of mist shut off the level shelf where they had passed the night, and john manning's lips had just parted to utter some words about the horrible nature of the place, when cyril started back and jerked his garment, to make him follow suit. the old soldier was keenly alive to danger, and dropping upon his knees, he joined cyril in cautiously looking over the edge of the rocks they had just ascended, softly bringing the muzzle of his piece to bear upon what he saw. for, as he gazed down, there in the gloom, not two hundred yards away as an arrow would fly, but at a distance which it had taken them nearly half an hour to climb by the gradual ascent, was the figure of an indian standing out just clear of the mist, and peering cautiously about, as if searching every rock and crevice around. the next minute another had joined him, coming out of the mist cautiously, and with the tentative motion of one who was on strange ground. then came another and another, with their figures looking huge and grotesque as they stood in the mist, and then suddenly shrinking into the stature as of dwarfs, as soon as they were clear. one by one they came on, till there were at least thirty collected together, and all gazing about cautiously, as if in dread. as cyril knew from his own experience, they could only converse with difficulty, so that he was not surprised to see that one of them, who appeared to be the leader, was gesticulating and pointing here and there, and finally upward toward where the two fugitives were watching every act. but, as the boy watched the indians keenly, it was very evident that they were far from confident, and he soon decided that they were as much panic-stricken by the horror of the place as he and his friends had been overnight. at last, though after a great deal of pointing upward and hesitation, it seemed as if they were all reluctantly about to continue the pursuit, for their leader took a few steps forward and waved them on. but they did not stir, save to crowd together a little more and press toward the wall of rock, away from the fall. "they don't like it," whispered john manning, for it was becoming possible, where they lay, to make a few words audible without shouting. "strikes me they're so scared, that if we were to send one of these big pieces of rock rolling down, they'd beat a retreat." "look, look!" whispered cyril. "i am," said john manning, for all at once a couple more of the indians suddenly appeared from out of the mist, in whom they recognised diego and his fellow-guide, the former holding something in his hand which he was showing to all in turn with a great deal of gesticulation, accompanied by eager pointings down into the depths below the fall, and back through the mist. "what's he got there?" whispered john manning. "something to eat? he wants them to go back." "i know," said cyril so loudly that his companion caught his arm. "it's perry's cap." "what!" cried the old soldier. "i know how it is. they've found it somewhere down the stream, where it had been washed, and he's saying that we must all have tumbled in there and been swept away." this appeared to be a very likely interpretation, for, with a great display of eagerness, the men hurried back through the mist till all were gone. "let's make haste on and overtake them," said cyril eagerly. "i want to ask perry where he left his cap." "and he'll tell you, sir, that he didn't leave it anywhere, but had it took away by the water." "are they in sight?" said the colonel, bending down over them. "you were quite right. this is an excellent place to keep them back. yes," he continued, on hearing the surmises of the two watchers, "that must be it, and they have gone back to follow the stream." he led the way again, and they followed to where perry was anxiously looking back, as the mules steadily went on higher and higher up the gloomy gorge, where the great stream was hurrying and foaming along toward where it would make its plunge; while the thunderous roar of the fall was rapidly dying away, shut out, as it now was, by curve after curve of the valley. the place was black and forbidding enough, but as they got on another mile or two, their journey was brightened by the glow upon the ridges and slopes on high where the sun reached, and the grassy sides of the lower mountains looked delightful after their long experience of black, dripping stone. many a look back was given as they went on higher and higher, every step taking them more into the mighty range, and fortunately due west; and, weary as they all were, intense was the longing to hurry their steps. but that last was impossible. they were dependent upon the mules for their supply of food, and the cautious animals only had one pace, and this regulated their masters'. at last, when utterly exhausted, a halt was called just at a sharp turn in the gorge, where water could be reached, and the rocks sheltered them and the mules from pursuers; while they gave them the opportunity of scanning the narrow way for nearly a mile, so that if a watch was kept, it was impossible for them to be taken by surprise. there was some stunted herbage too, here, upon which, as soon as they had drunk, the mules began to browse. but no load was removed, arms were ready for an attack, and the only mule that was lightened was the one that bore the provisions. and now perry was questioned more closely about his escape, and cyril heard it from his lips for the first time. chapter twenty two. perry's peril. "there isn't much to tell," said the boy with a shiver. "never mind; tell me: i want to know. what's the matter--cold?" "no, i'm warm enough now," said perry, "for my clothes have got dry; but it makes me shiver as soon as i think about it, and i feel as if i always shall. it's a thing i shall dream about of a night, and wake up feeling the water strangling me." cyril looked at him in wonder, and the boy tried to smile, but it was a very pitiful attempt, and he went on hurriedly. "you know how horrible all that was when i felt sure that my father had gone down somewhere, and something forced me to go and try to find him. and then, as i went on through the mist, i only took three or four steps before my feet gave way, and i was sliding at a terrible rate down, down to where the water was thundering and roaring." "was it very deep?" said cyril, for his companion paused. "i don't know; i seemed to be sliding along very fast, and then i was fighting for breath, and being dashed here and there, and i suppose i was carried along by the water almost as swiftly as i slid down that dreadful slope. then, after fighting for my breath, all was confusion and darkness, and i can't remember any more till i found myself lying among some rocks. the water was rushing and foaming over my legs, and every now and then rushing up over my chest, and making me feel so in fear of being drowned that i climbed a little, and then a little more, till i was out of the water, but afraid to move in the darkness in case i should fall in again." "where were you?" said cyril. "i didn't know then, but lay aching with the cold, and listening to the rushing water; while it was so dark, that i felt sure that i must have been washed into some great hole underground, where i should lie till i was dead." "we felt all kinds of horrors about you," said cyril, "but you seem to have suffered more than we did." "i don't know," said perry plaintively. "it was very bad, though, and if i hadn't fallen at last into a sort of stupor, i've thought since that i should have gone mad." "stupor!" said cyril, smiling. "you mean you went to sleep." perry looked at him so reproachfully that cyril felt the blood flush into his cheeks, and the colour deepened as his companion said: "how could a fellow go to sleep when he believes his father has been killed, and he has himself just escaped from a horrible death?" "don't take any notice of what i said," cried cyril hurriedly; "i did not mean it." "i know you did not. i suppose it was from being so exhausted. i felt as if i had been stunned, and could neither think nor stir, and then this curious feeling came over me, and everything passed away. it was not sleep." "no, no; don't say that again," cried cyril apologetically. "how long were you like that?" "i don't know, only that it was still dark when i came to, and sat wondering where i was, and whether i should ever see the light again, so miserable and desolate you cannot think." "yes, i can," said cyril warmly; "i felt bad, too, when i thought you were drowned, and went down to try to find you." "what!" cried perry excitedly. "you went down to try to find me?" "oh yes," said cyril coolly. "didn't you know? they put a rope round me and let me down." "cil!" "well, don't make a fuss about it," said cyril, laughing. "they had hold of the rope." "but the place was so awful. didn't you feel frightened?" "horribly, of course, and it was ever so much worse when i'd got to the end of the rope, and felt that you must be gone. but never mind that. go on. you were saying how miserable you were." "yes," said perry thoughtfully, "till all at once i caught sight of something high up, just as if it was a point of light coming through a crack in the roof of the cavern into which i had been washed." "and was it?" "no," said the boy, with his eyes brightening, "it was the first light of morning shining miles up on the ice of one of the great peaks, and as i watched it, i saw it get brighter and then begin to glow as if it were a precious stone. the light gradually stole down lower and lower, till it seemed to come right into my heart; and from that moment i began to grow strong and hopeful, and something seemed to tell me that i should see you all again." "hah!" ejaculated cyril, as he watched his friend's countenance; "i wish something of that kind had come to me when i was feeling worst." "you weren't alone," said perry, smiling. "well, as soon as i found that i was just at the edge of a rushing torrent, i knew that if i followed it up, i should come to the mouth of the gorge where you must be, and i began to climb along the side, getting warmer every minute; and i felt more hopeful too, for i began to think how clever my father was, and that he would have been able to save himself, or have been saved, just as i was." "and then you soon found the mouth of the gorge where the water came out?" "yes, and the place where we turned in last night, instead of going right on down the main valley. it was quite a climb up to the path, but i dragged myself up; and just then i happened to turn my eyes along the way we came just as i was warmest, and then i turned cold again." "because you saw the indians?" perry nodded, and the boys sat in silence for a few minutes, looking up at the sunlit sky, which appeared like a broad jagged path running along high above their heads. "what are you thinking about?" said perry suddenly, as he noted the thoughtful, deeply-lined brow of his companion. "eh? oh, nothing much," replied cyril. "only that when i knew you were coming up into the mountains, i felt so jealous of you, and i fancied that you were coming to see all kinds of wonders and make great discoveries, and that it would be one grand holiday, day after day, and instead of that--i say, we haven't had so very much fun yet, have we?" "plenty of adventures," replied perry thoughtfully. "yes, plenty of adventures." "it's been so hard upon you, though, from the first. you were so upset when you joined us." "and serve me right," cried cyril angrily. "i'd no business to do it; i believe they think at home that i'm dead. nothing's too bad to happen to me." "then you're sorry you came?" "yes; horribly. i don't mind all we've gone through, because it has seemed to stir me up so, and made me feel as if i'd got more stuff in me; and it ought to, for sometimes i've felt, since we came, that i behaved like a miserable, thoughtless coward." "no one could call you a coward," said perry firmly. "oh yes, they could--a miserable, selfish coward." "i should just like to hear any one call you one," said perry viciously, and with a hard, fierce look in his countenance. "then you soon shall," said cyril. "i call myself one a dozen times a day. there, i'm a coward." "but i meant some one else." "you wait long enough, and you'll hear my father call me one." "you're not." "yes, i am, and i shall deserve all he says--that is, if we ever get back to san geronimo." "don't talk like that," said perry. "what's to prevent us?" "indians," said cyril mournfully. "but we've left them behind." "for a bit. they'll hunt us out again somewhere. they've got all the advantage of us. i daresay there are thirty or forty of them hunting us, and what one doesn't know of the country, another does; and as they spread out, they'll warn every indian they meet, so as to run us down, for they're sure to feel now that we're after the buried treasures, and they'll give us credit for having found them." "why?" "because we have escaped. every pass will be guarded, and every valley searched, so that they are sure to come across us at last.--look, they're going to start. come along." and picking up their guns, the boys joined the colonel and john manning, who were tightening up the ropes round two of the loads. "better trust the leader, manning," said the colonel. "yes, sir. he seems as good as a guide; and if you set his head straight, he'll take us somewhere; and where he goes, the others'll follow. rum thing, too, sir." "oh, i don't know," said the colonel; "these animals have passed their lives in the mountains." "of course, sir, but i didn't mean that. i meant it was a rum thing for them to follow their leader in this way, for they all hate him like poison, and kick at him whenever they have a chance; and as for the way he kicks at them, i wonder sometimes he doesn't get his heels stuck in their ribs, so that he can't get out no more. 'tis their natur' to, eh, master cyril, sir?--ah, would yer!" this to one of the mules, whose heels must have itched, for it was softly turning itself round as if seeking somewhere to administer a good round kick. then all was ready for a start; but first the colonel mounted the side among the rocks, to search the valley with his glass. he was soon satisfied that the indians were nowhere within sight, and taking advantage of the high position he occupied, he turned the glass in the other direction, to scan the way they were about to go. all there was utterly silent and desolate. there were the rocks everywhere, hardly relieved by a patch of green, and he was about to descend and start the mules, when he caught sight of cyril hurrying back toward him, and signing to him to stay where he was. "what is it?" he cried, as he saw the boy's anxious face. "look up to your left, sir, just above where that big rock sticks out just as if it must fall." "yes, i see," said the colonel; "with another just above." "that's it, sir. look just between those two blocks." "yes, i have the place." "well, sir, there are two indians there watching us." "no, my lad, there are no indians there. take the glass and look for yourself." cyril snatched the glass, directed it to the steep, precipitous side of the gorge, and then uttered an ejaculation full of annoyance. "they're gone, sir, but i'm sure there were two men there." "then if so, they must be close to the same spot now. i hope you are wrong, but of course you may be right. let's go on, and if they are there, we shall be sure to catch sight of them, for they must go forward or backward." "would you go on?" said cyril dubiously. "at any cost, boy. we cannot go back to that awful chasm to pass another night. there, back with you, but keep your eyes on the position in which you saw the men." cyril was silenced, and half ready to suppose that in his anxiety he had deceived himself; and in a few minutes he was back with the colonel, beside perry and the mules, but without seeing anything in the direction he had pointed out. "ready?" "yes, sir, but my eyes are not quite so good as they were, sir, and i fancied i saw some one creeping along the side of the rock, up yonder to the right." "left, john manning," cried cyril, "and i saw it too." "you saw something on your left, sir? then i am right, and my eyes are true. there's injuns watching us, sir, and if we don't look out, we shall have arrows sticking in our skins." chapter twenty three. at the bivouac. the boys were heartily glad when, just before nightfall--night, which fell much sooner, shut in there in the deep valleys of the andes--the colonel snatched at a suggestion made by john manning. "water, sir, coming out of that slit in the rock, plenty o' breastwork, and a bit of green stuff for the mules." "yes, we'll halt here. we are not likely to find a better place," said the colonel. so instead of tramping on for another hour, a halt was called early, the packages formed into a shelter in front of the "slit" in the rock, as john manning called it, a place which suggested its being a way into a good-sized cavern, and then a fire was lit, and they prepared their meal. for no more had been seen of the indians, and though the colonel had a shrewd suspicion that they might still be in chase of them, those which had been seen in the valley were, he concluded, only wanderers, whom they had startled while on some hunting expedition, and whom they would probably see no more. the fire was only used to heat the water for their coffee, and as soon as this was made, carefully extinguished by john manning, so as not to attract attention if any one was still about; and then they sat, glad of the rest, eating biscuit and charqui, and sipping coffee from the tin. over the meal, john manning made a report respecting what he called the commissariat department. "stores getting low, sir," he said. "yes, i must supplement them with one of the guns," said the colonel. "i have been so much taken up with getting the cinchona seed, that i have hardly thought of anything else." very little was said then for some time, the weariness mentally felt by all making them ill disposed for conversation; but just before dark the colonel carefully inspected their surroundings, and with john manning's help, made a few arrangements for their defence. "i don't think they would dare to attack us if they found where we are," said the colonel; "but we must be prepared." "is it worth all this trouble and risk, father?" said perry, who was, in addition to being weary and low-spirited, stiff, and a good deal bruised. "what! to get the seed, boy?" perry nodded. "lie down and rest, and wait till the knowledge comes to you, boy. there, i'll speak out and ask you a question. do you think it is good for humanity at large for one of the greatest blessings discovered by them, for the prevention and cure of a terrible ill, to be solely under the control of one petty, narrow-minded government, who dole it out to the world just as they please, and at what price they like? why, such a blessing as quinine ought to be easily accessible all the world round, and if i can succeed in getting our precious little store safely to england, it will be the beginning of a very great work. worth the trouble? why, the tenth part of what i have obtained of full ripe seed, of what is undoubtedly the finest white-flowered kind, would be worth a hundred times the labour and risk we have gone through--worth even giving up life, my lad, so that others might benefit by what i have done." "but suppose, when we get it to england, it won't grow," said perry. "why, you doleful young croaker!" cried the colonel merrily, "i don't expect it to grow in england. tropic plants do not flourish in our little, cool, damp isle. there are plenty of places, though, where it would grow, if we get it safely home." "getting it wet isn't good for it, is it?" said perry sleepily. "you are thinking of what you have in your pockets," said the colonel. "that will not have hurt, for it would dry again pretty soon.--you have yours safe, cyril?" "yes, sir, there's about three pounds in my pockets." "i have as much, and john manning a little more, while i have a small packet in each of the mules' loads." "so as to make sure of saving some of it?" said cyril eagerly. "yes, that is the idea, my lad," said the colonel. "now, boys, manning and i will take it in turns to watch. there, get a good rest, and don't think that i should have gone through all this labour, risk, and excitement unless i had felt that i was doing something well worthy of the trouble; so make up your minds to get it safely to san geronimo." he left them, as usual, to see where the mules were grazing, and cyril sat gazing down before him. "what's the matter?" said perry. "i was thinking that it's all very well for you people to get back home, only it isn't so pleasant for me." "father will speak to captain norton for you," said perry. "no: i don't want him to. i shall speak myself. i wouldn't have my father see me sneak in behind yours in that cowardly way. oh dear, i wish it was over!" "mules feeding well and all quiet, boys," said the colonel; "and to all appearance there isn't a soul near us for miles.--by the way, manning, did you go into the cave?" "no, sir. did you tell me? seemed too damp to use for sleeping." "no, i did not tell you; but get the lantern and let's look inside. we don't want to be disturbed by some animal coming out in the night." manning took the battered lantern, and led the way to where the spring came gushing out of what at a distance looked like a long, narrow, sloping crack, but which proved to be, on closer acquaintance, large enough for a man to walk in upright by stepping from stone to stone, round about which the water came gurgling and bubbling out. it was about a dozen yards from where their fire had been lit, amongst the stones fallen at different times from the heights above; and as they approached, a low musical rippling greeted their ear in a pleasant murmur, suggesting that the spring must come for some distance through a low, natural passage, whose stony walls caused the echoings of silvery splashings, which now grew louder and more strange. "yes, too damp-looking for a resting-place," said the colonel; "and it does not look like the lair of any dangerous beast, but we may as well examine it, and we ought to have done so before. why, boys, it would make quite a fortress if we had to defend ourselves. plenty of water-supply, and ample room to drive in the mules." john manning had gone inside at once, and as soon as he was a short distance from the narrow entrance, he struck a light and applied it to the candle within the lantern, holding it above his head, and then cautiously picking his steps along from stone to stone in the bed of the stream. whish, whirr, came a peculiar sound, and, as if moved by one impulse, the two boys rushed out, startled, to stand looking back, wondering why the colonel had not followed. "what was that?" cried cyril. "i don't know. something rushed by my head," said perry excitedly, as he looked vainly round in the dim light, and then back at the faintly lit-up entrance to the cave, where the lantern, now invisible behind a curve, shone upon the moist stone wall. "come along back," cried cyril; "what cowards they will think us. it must have been birds. ah! yes; look, dozens of them," he cried, pointing to where what seemed to be faint shadows kept gliding out and shooting upward over the face of the rock, to disappear at once in the evening gloom. "think they are birds?" said perry, in an awe-stricken voice. "birds or bats," said cyril. "how stupid to be startled like that! come along." he sturdily led the way back, ashamed of the sudden access of fear which had come upon him; though entering so strangely weird-looking a place by the feeble light of a lantern, and when unnerved by long toil and the dangers they had lately passed through, it was not surprising, and stronger folk might easily have been scared. he had hardly got well inside again before his face was brushed by a soft wing, and he felt ready to run back once more, but this time he mastered the dread, and felt that perry's hand was laid upon his arm just as the colonel's voice, which sounded hollow, echoing, and strange, said softly: "goes in, perhaps, for miles.--look, boys." the voice sounded close to his ear; but to his surprise he found that the lantern was quite a hundred yards in, and the light glimmering from the surface of the tiny stream, while there was plenty of room on either side for them to walk. "where are you, boys?" said the colonel, more loudly. "here, sir; coming," cried cyril, who grasped the fact, now, that their sudden rush out had not been noticed. "it's all safe so far; no crevices or chasms," said the colonel; and as the two lads approached, "did you see the birds? they are flying about overhead in flocks. hark at the rush of their wings!" as he ceased speaking, and his voice was no longer reverberating and whispering about overhead, a peculiar fluttering, whirring sound, as of many wheels in rapid motion, struck upon the boys' ears, a sound which added strangely to the mysterious air of the place. it was evident, too, that the roof was now far above their heads, giving room for the strange dwellers in darkness to wheel and swoop about, often so close that the wind raised by their pinions beat upon the explorers' cheeks. "lucky i'd got the lantern door shut," said john manning, in a strange whisper, "or they'd have blown it out a dozen times over.--shall i go any farther, sir?" "no; it is of no use. but what a hiding-place! there's room, manning, for quite a brigade.--what's that?" a sharp crash fell upon their ears, as of a stone dislodged somewhere high up in the distance; and this was evidently the case, for they heard it rattle down, loosening others, and sending a reverberating echo along the cavern, which told of its vastness being greater than they had before imagined. "one of the birds loosened a stone, sir," said john manning. "look out: here they come." for, evidently alarmed by the falling stones, there was now the rush as of a mighty wind, and the little party could feel that a great flock of birds was passing overhead toward the entrance, hurriedly making their escape out into the open air. "let's follow their example," said the colonel; "we are only wasting time. but this would make a capital retreat if we were attacked; and we could defend it against hundreds." "till we were starved, or burned out," grumbled john manning. "it would take a forest on fire to burn us out of this, sir," said the colonel. "what! make difficulties? we have plenty to encounter without. now then, forward with the light." john manning faced round, and led on at once, while, as he held up the lantern, the dark mass of birds in a regular train could be seen passing on toward the entrance, which was reached directly after, both boys uttering a sigh of relief on finding themselves once more in the outer darkness, where they could breathe freely, and feel as if a great danger had been escaped. chapter twenty four. the cave's mouth. as soon as they were outside, cyril looked round for the birds, expecting to see them swooping about in all directions, but there was nothing visible between him and the stars; and with the peculiar nervous feeling which he had felt in the cavern assailing him again, he turned to the colonel, who laughed. "well," he said, "did you think it was something of what the scotch call `no canny,' my lad?" cyril felt more uncomfortable still. "do you think they really were birds?" he said. "of course; the south american cave-bird. a regular nocturnal creature." "what! a sort of owl, sir?" "no. perry here has seen their relatives at home." "i? no, father," said the boy wonderingly. "nonsense. what about the nightjars you have seen hawking round the oak trees in surrey, after sunset?" "oh yes, i remember them," cried perry. "well, these are, i fancy, birds of a similar kind, but instead of frequenting trees, they live in flocks in these dark caverns, and go out of a night to feed. our light startled them just as they were about to take flight. this must be one of their great breeding-places.--but no more chatter. sleep, and get a good night's rest." easier said than done. the boys lay down in company with john manning, but it was long enough before either cyril or perry could drop off! they would close their eyes, but only by an effort, for they were always ready to start open again at some sound high up on one or the other side of the narrow winding valley. it was cold too, in spite of the blankets, and when cyril did at last slumber, he felt that he could hardly have been asleep an hour, as he started up into wakefulness again. something was wrong he was sure, and he stretched out his hand to touch john manning, who awoke instantly and sat up. "all right," he said, in a low voice. "no, no, don't move," whispered cyril, grasping his arm. "i fancied i heard something." "eh? fancied? perhaps it was fancy, sir. i'll ask the colonel." "listen first." they knelt there in the darkness, attent for some minutes. "don't hear anything, sir. i'll go and speak to the colonel. what did you fancy?" "i--i don't know," faltered cyril. "it must have been while i was asleep. yes," he whispered excitedly, "that was it." "the mules!" said the old soldier. "what are they doing here in camp?" for there came plainly now the soft pattering of hoofs on the stony ground, and directly after a tall figure loomed up out of the darkness. "want me, sir?" said john manning, in a quick whisper. "as you are awake, yes. there is something stirring close at hand, whether wild beast or indian i can't say. keep watch, and cover us while i get the mules into that cave." john manning's double gun was already in his hand, and he stood fast while the colonel went by with the leading mule, the others following. then directly after the soft pattering ceased, and the watchers knew that the patient animals had been led right into the cave. "hear anything, master cyril?" whispered john manning. "no." "and one can't see down in this dark gash," grumbled the man. "we humans are worse off than any of the animals. we can't see so well, nor hear so well, nor smell so well, nor run, nor fly. lucky for us, we've got gumption enough to make telescopes and steam-engines and ships, or i don't know what we should do." "who's that?" said the colonel, returning. "cyril?" "yes, sir." "go and stand at the mouth of the cave, and mind that the mules don't come out." cyril obeyed, and took up his position on a stone in the gurgling stream, to stand listening to the soft patter of the mules within, and to the faint whispers which came time after time from where he had left the colonel and john manning. he had been at his position for some few minutes, turning from time to time in the darkness to cast a furtive look back into the entrance of the cavern, hardly able to restrain a shudder, as he thought of its unknown depths and the strange sound they had heard of the stone falling, and he could not help wishing that perry was with him for company's sake. for there was a terrible feeling of lonesomeness there in the darkness, especially at a time like that, when he had just been roused from an uneasy sleep by something unexplained at which the colonel had taken alarm. "he said either indian or wild beast," mused the boy. "what wild beast could there be?" there were, he knew, the wild varieties of the llamas, guanacoes, and the like, but they were timid, sheep-like creatures; and there were, he knew, pumas, the south american lions, as they were called, and perhaps jaguars--both these latter cat-like, nocturnal creatures; but they were animals of the forests, and not of these sterile, rocky valleys. still, there might be other dangerous beasts in plenty, and his eyes wandered here and there, and he held his gun ready, though in that deep gloom he felt that he would be quite at the mercy of anything which attacked. he had just reached this point, when his thoughts took a fresh direction--suppose some savage creature should be in the cave, and suddenly spring upon him from behind. he turned cold with horror, and tried to call for help, but his mouth and throat were dry from the nervous trepidation he suffered; for he had suddenly been touched just below the shoulders, something big having given him a rude thrust. this was followed by another, which nearly sent him down into the water from the stone. but he recovered himself, turned sharply, and struck out with his right hand--a quick angry blow, while he felt as angry with himself for his absurd cowardice, the second thrust having awakened him to the fact that he had received a heavy push from the head of one of the mules, which had come silently close up, and was desirous of getting out again into the open air. cyril's blow drove the animal hastily back, and as he stood listening, he heard the effect of his sharp action, for there was a good deal of pattering about when the mule turned sharply to its companions, driving them farther in. then there was silence once more. "how easy it is to let one's self be frightened," thought cyril. "i wish i were braver, and more like a man." then he wondered why the colonel and john manning did not come to him, and whether they were searching about for the cause of alarm. all was very still now, and it was some time since he had heard a whisper. "very likely i shall hear a shot fired," he thought, and making up his mind not to be startled if he did, for that it would be a good sign and a proof that the cause of their night alarm had either been killed or frightened away, he stood gazing out into the darkness in all directions, and then smiled and complimented himself on his firmness. "not going to be scared at that," he muttered, for there had been a sudden clattering of hoofs among the stones inside the cavern--just such a sound as would be made if one of the mules had kicked out at its companions, and made them start. all was silent again for a minute, and then there was a faint splash. "one of them gone down to drink," said cyril to himself, and he turned now and looked inward along the narrow opening, and could see faintly one of the stars reflected in the black water, now twinkling, now burning brightly. then it disappeared, as if a cloud had passed across the heavens, though that could not be, for another star gleamed closer to him, but that was blotted out too. "one of the mules coming out," he said, starting and raising his hand, when there was a sudden bound made by something which had been crawling slowly out of the cave's mouth; and as the boy struck at it wildly, his fist touched something warm and soft, and the object, whatever it was, made a stone or two rattle where it alighted, and then was gone. cyril raised his gun, but he did not draw trigger, for it was folly to fire quite at random, and he was leaning forward, peering into the darkness, when a faint click made him turn again toward the mouth of the cave, just in time to be driven backward and lose his feet as another of the creatures leaped out and dashed away into the darkness. two, and they were not mules, though evidently four-footed creatures. but what could they be? he asked himself, as he recovered his feet and stood with presented piece, his heart throbbing, and his finger on the trigger, ready to fire at the next movement from the cave. they could not be pumas, for the touch he had of the first one's body was not furry; neither could they be large monkeys, for they would not have smooth bodies, and besides, these creatures were too large. he was still in doubt, when there was a sound behind him, and as he turned sharply, a husky whisper: "don't fire, my lad. what was that?" "did you hear it, manning?" "yes, and had a glint of some one running by me." "some one?" "yes. indian, i think; did you see him?" cyril told him of what he had seen, and was just finishing, when there was a faint whisper and a movement of a stone or two as some one hurried up. "manning--cyril--" "yes, sir."--"yes, sir." "look out. some one passed me just now. who's this--perry?" "yes, father," came in excited tones from out of the darkness. "was it you who fell over me?" "no: when? where?" "just now. then it must have been cyril. he went down heavily, but jumped up and ran away." "indians, sir," said john manning, in a low angry growl. "they passed the line of sentries, and must have been trying to spot the camp." "absurd." "fact, sir. ask mr cyril here." "yes, sir; two indians--i thought they were wild beasts--came crawling out of the cave and jumped by me." "you saw them?" "oh no, sir: it was so dark; but i hit at one of them and felt him." "came out of the cavern?" "yes, sir." "but are you sure?" "quite, sir; i heard them frighten the mules, which began trampling, and then one of the men sprang out." "shall i light the lantern, sir, and go in and see if there's any more?" growled john manning. "no, my man; in all probability there were only the two, and perhaps they were not enemies to be feared. possibly we have scared them more than they scared us." cyril mentally demurred to that, but said nothing, and the colonel went on: "i'm afraid our night's rest has gone," he said, "for it is impossible to lie down with the knowledge that indians who may be enemies are about.--did you see anything as you made your round, john manning?" "no, sir; but i heard something twice. it may have been only an animal, but something moved a few little stones up to the left. when i went cautiously up, whatever it was had gone. did you see or hear anything, sir?" "i thought i heard a whisper a short distance away, but i could not be sure. i am sure, though, that some one glided by me, and perry here had the best of evidence that one of the indians fell over him." "unless it was cyril; he did lie down to sleep by me, father." "i've been on guard here by the cave's mouth for ever so long," said cyril sharply, as if resenting the fact that his companion should have been sleeping while he watched. "then it was an indian," said the boy sharply. "we have the mules safe, manning," said the colonel, "and now we must make sure of the baggage. stand together, boys, facing two ways, while manning and i get the packs into the cave." "but there may be more indians in there, sir," said cyril. "if there are, we must drive them out. that must be our fort for the present." at that moment there was a faint whistle from a distance, and it was answered from somewhere high up on the mountain-side. chapter twenty five. between two stools. no time was lost. the two boys were posted at the cavern entrance, one to try to check any advance from the valley, the other to guard against the escape of the mules, and stay by his presence any indian who might still be in hiding. this latter was cyril's duty, and this time he set his teeth and stepped right within the opening, encouraged by the fact that he had the colonel and john manning constantly coming and going with the mule-packs, till only two were left to bring in. "i can hear people coming nearer," whispered perry just then, and the colonel threw his load down at his son's feet. "you lads carry that in," he said.--"manning, quick, we must get those other packs. they're coming on." john manning, who was walking back from the cave, hastened his pace, and the two men hurried through the darkness to where the last two packages lay. "you keep watch," said cyril. "i'm the stronger, and will get the pack inside." perry said nothing, but felt glad and yet sorry, for he dreaded to re-enter the cave alone, and at the same time was ashamed to relegate the task to his companion. but there was no time for hesitation. something serious was evidently going on by the spot where the packages had been stacked, for there were shouts and cries, and cyril stooped to lift the pack, meaning to hurry into the cave and then return to pick up the gun he left with perry, and stand ready to support their companions, in case he could do any good. the package was heavy, but he hoisted it on to one shoulder, and was about to bear it into the cave, when he was driven backward, and fell heavily, to be trampled under foot by a couple of men who charged out, plainly showing that there were others inside. it was almost momentary work. the men were there and then gone in the darkness, and, sore and angry, cyril struggled to his feet. "why didn't you fire?" he cried. "what at? i might have hit you, or perhaps my father," protested perry. "trampling on a fellow like that," grumbled cyril, rehoisting his load. "yes; they had each got a pack." "what! our packs?" cried cyril excitedly. "yes; i could just make that out," said perry. "oh!" ejaculated cyril, stepping close in, and throwing down his load so as to regain his gun, "what will the colonel say?" not what the boy expected, for just then he came panting up with john manning, carrying a pack between them; while the rattling of the loose stones told that they were being pursued. "quick, both of you," cried the colonel, "fire in the direction of the noise." cyril's gun spoke out with both barrels rapidly, one after the other, the flashes cutting through the darkness, and the reports being followed a few seconds later by quite a volley of echoes, which ran reverberating along the gorge, to die away slowly in the distance; but before they had ceased, the little party was well inside the very doubtful shelter they had chosen, and john manning posted at the entrance with his loaded piece. "why didn't you fire?" whispered cyril. "i did." "that you didn't. i did twice." "i mean," said perry, "i pulled the trigger, but the thing wouldn't go off.--oh!" "what's the matter?" said cyril eagerly, as he reloaded his piece. "don't say anything," whispered perry. "i forgot to cock it." "a narrow escape, manning," said the colonel just then. "tidy, sir," replied the old soldier; "but i don't like losing that pack. shall i make a charge and fetch it in?" "madness, man," said the colonel. "let it go. we've got all the others safe." "no, father," cried perry excitedly; "two indians rushed out of this place while you were gone, and each man had one of the packs." "what!" cried the colonel in a despairing tone; "three of my precious packages of seed--gone?" no one spoke; but from out of the darkness came the peculiar sound of one grinding his teeth, and a pang of misery and disappointment shot through cyril as the colonel said bitterly: "two of you with guns, and you could not check those brutes." "no, sir," growled john manning; "how could they without bay'nets? 'tain't to be done." "it was all so sudden, father," put in perry, his words saving john manning from a stern reproof. "cyril was knocked down, and there was not time to fire." "and if there had been," whispered cyril maliciously, "your gun would not have gone off." "beg pardon, sir," said john manning, "i daresay we can get back the seed in the morning: they'll keep the good things, and throw what they think is rubbish away." "no," said the colonel, speaking sternly, "the three bags in those packages are gone. it is the main object of these men to keep the seed from being taken out of the country. where is the lantern, manning?" "somewhere along with the packages, sir. i think we brought it in with the second lot." "you keep guard, while we search the cave. a sharp lookout, mind.-- perry, come with me.--you stay with manning, cyril, till i return." "sharp lookout, sir!" growled the old soldier. "who's to keep a sharp lookout in the dark, and how's a man to guard the inside and outside together?--say, master cyril, we're in a pretty tidy hole here, and it'll take all we know to get out of it again." "oh, we shall manage," said cyril sharply; "but three packs gone. that's terrible!" "'tis, sir, and they'd all got in what's of more consequence to us now than seed--a whole bag each of rice and meal, without counting delicacies in the shape o' pepper and mustard." just then there was the crackling of a match, followed by a faint glow, and the lantern shed its light around, gleaming from the running water, and showing dimly the mules standing in a group with their heads together. then as cyril stood waiting and watchful, he saw the lantern go on and on as if the colonel were zigzagging about to and fro, now approaching the little stream, now going right away. sometimes the light passed beyond intervening rocks, and disappeared for a minute, then came into sight again; but there was no sign of other occupant in the great cave, whose extent was evidently vast. "don't see no more o' they bat birds buzzing about," said manning suddenly. "i hope they'll come back." "why?" said cyril. "foodling," growled the old soldier. "we may have to stand a siege, and it ain't bad to know you've got plenty of meat and water on the spot." "what's that noise?" whispered cyril. "some on 'em crawling about on the stones outside yonder. i heered 'em, and if they don't keep off--i don't want to shoot no one, had enough of it when i was out in indy, sir; but duty's duty, and if they won't leave us alone, they must be taught how. see anything o' the lantern now?" "no; it has gone out of sight some time." "humph! i hope they won't go too far and lose theirselves, sir, because they can't be spared. i knowed of a man losing himself in a stone quarry once under ground, but they found him afterwards." "half-starved?" said cyril eagerly. "quite, sir. it was a year after he went down. i don't like work under ground. it's only fit for rats or worms. see the light now?" "no: what's that?" "something moving inside, sir." "the mules?" "no, sir; their hoofs are not so soft as that. sounds to me as if some of 'em was going to make a rush, and we haven't a bay'net to bless ourselves with. you fire, sir, at once before they come on." cyril did not hesitate, but without shouldering his piece, he drew trigger with the result that they heard, mingled with the reverberations of the report, a faint pattering noise as of retreating feet. "well done, sir. reload quickly. they were going to rush us, and that's taught 'em we were on the kwy wyve as the frenchies call it." "keep a sharp lookout your way," said cyril as he hurriedly reloaded, his fingers trembling from his excitement. "that's what i'm doing, sir, with my ears. i've been on sentry before with different kind of indians on the lookout to bring you down with bullets. i shall hear 'em, i dessay." "but look here, john manning, we've stopped those men from coming, and driven them back on the colonel." "yes, sir, and all the worse for them, for he's sure to hear them and be on the lookout. strikes me that the cave swarms with indians, and that our first job ought to be to clear the place. but look out, and don't be in too great a hurry to shoot now, sir, because your shot 'll bring our friends back to us. perhaps it came in quite right, for they may have lost their way." then some minutes passed, and a noise was heard which made cyril lower his gun again, but a voice warned him that he must not fire. "where are you?" cried the colonel. "here, sir." "thank goodness. we had an accident, fell over a stone, and put out the light. this place is tremendous, and we should have hardly found our way out of it, had it not been for your shot. did you mean it as a recall?" cyril explained, and the colonel came to the conclusion that it was useless to explore farther, for there was room for a hundred of the enemy to hide and elude them, so vast was the number of huge blocks lying about, masses which had fallen from the roof during some convulsion of nature. "we must wait for daylight," he said at last. "it is impossible to make any plans till then." but all the same the colonel arranged his little force so that it might tell to the best advantage; he and perry securing themselves behind a block of stone to guard from an attack within, while cyril had to join john manning in guarding the entrance from an attack from outside, where they had the satisfaction soon after of seeing one of the mountain peaks appear, pale and ghastly looking, over the other side of the gorge, while all below was intensely black. once they heard a peculiar cry which might have come from indians or some wild creature, quadruped or night-bird; but otherwise all was still in the gorge, as they strained their eyes in their endeavours to pierce the darkness in search of danger. at last weariness began to tell upon cyril, and his head nodded gently, then went down so suddenly that he started up, angry, and in dread lest manning should have been aware of his lapse. for it was horrible at a time like that, when perhaps the lives of all depended upon his watchfulness. "it was too dark, and he did not notice it," thought cyril, with a glow of satisfaction pervading his breast. "yes, it's hard work, as i well know, sir," said manning quietly. "when i was a soldier first, i used to think it killing work to keep on sentry when one would have given anything to have a good sleep." "you noticed it, then," said cyril. "noticed it, my lad? why, of course. seeing how dark it is, you might have had a doze and me not known anything but there you were, very quiet; but when you says to me, as plain as a young man can speak, `i'm tired out, and my eyes won't keep open any longer,' why, of course, i know you're off." "but did i say that?" "not exactly, sir, but you said `gug,' and i heered your teeth chop together when your chin went down upon your chest." "oh!" ejaculated cyril bitterly, "and i did try so hard." "course you did, sir, but human nature's the nat'ralist thing there is, and it will have its own way. i'd say have a snooze, but orders were that you was to watch, and watch you must." "yes," said cyril firmly, "and i will keep awake now." he kept his word for fully ten minutes, and then his efforts were vain. if the peril had been ten times greater, he would have dropped off all the same; but he had not slept a minute before there was the sharp report of a gun which came bellowing out of the cave's mouth, and the boy started up once more as if it were he who had been shot; while from close at hand there was a rush of feet, and john manning fired at once into the darkness, with the result that there was another rush from cyril's right. chapter twenty six. in the gorge. "well," cried the colonel, as the echoing died away, "are they coming on?" "they were, sir, without us knowing it," said cyril. "your shot frightened them, and then manning fired and startled some more." "the mules warned me," said the colonel, "as they did you, but a shot sent the rascals back.--hah! the light coming at last." for the mountain peaks were beginning to glow, and the clouds which hung round the highest showed tints that were quite crimson, while the light was now slowly stealing down into the deep gorge, bringing with it relief from the terrible anxiety of the night. then, as it grew brighter, it became evident that the indians had drawn off for a time, not a sign being visible of their presence anywhere in the deep valley, while inside the cavern all was so still that it was almost impossible to believe that any danger could be lurking there. but the danger was ever present, and it was not until john manning had been posted well inside the cavern, ready to fire in the event of any fresh advance, that preparations were made for a very necessary meal; after which it became requisite to hold a council of war, when it was decided that to stay where they were would be madness, and that nothing remained for them but to show a bold front and push on at once. perry looked so dubious that his father smiled. "don't you see, my boy, how dependent we are upon the mules? well, the mules must be turned out to graze, and we shall be as safe journeying on as posting ourselves to guard them. besides, if we stop here, the indians will conclude that we are afraid to go on, and this will give them courage; whereas, if we advance boldly, they will give us the credit of being braver than we are." "and if we shut ourselves up in that cave, how long will the provisions hold, sir, if i may make so bold?" said john manning. "quite right," said the colonel nodding. "don't you know, perry, that a wise man once said that an army does not gallop along, but crawls upon its stomach?" "crawls?" said perry. "you don't understand, boy. he meant that an army can only move as fast as provisions can be supplied to it. that is our case. if we take the risk of shutting ourselves up here--a dreary, depressing plan, by the way--we can only hold out till our provisions come to an end. better far make a bold dash onward toward the other side of the mountains. every step we take will be toward civilisation and safety, while every step the indians take in pursuit will be toward land where they know that they will be at a disadvantage. there, i do not see why i should explain all this to you, but i want you to have confidence in me. and you too, sir." "oh, i have, father," cried perry. "and i'm sure i have, sir," said cyril warmly, "only i can't help feeling that we shall be safer in the cavern than out there in the narrow valley, where these people can shoot us down when they like." "of course you feel that, my lad," said the colonel, "but i am under the impression that they will hesitate about shooting at us. i fancy that they will strain every nerve to master us and capture all our stores, in the full belief that we are taking out of the country valuables that their traditions and the teachings of their rulers bind them to defend. if they had liked, i feel convinced that some one of us, perhaps two, would be wounded and helpless by now.--what do you say, john manning?" "well, sir, i'm 'bout divided in my opinions. one time i think they must be such bad shots, they're afraid to show it, and another i get thinking that they've got an idea of your being an indefatigable sort of a gentleman." "well, i am, john manning," replied the colonel smiling; "and you know it too." "course i do, sir, but that isn't what i mean, sir: 'tain't indefatigable; it's a word that means something to do with armour, and the more you shoot at any one, the more you won't hurt him." "invulnerable," said cyril. "that's it, sir," cried the old soldier, slapping his leg. "lor', what a fine thing it is to have been brought up a scholar." "you are right, manning. i impressed them, i suppose, by my shooting, and they have evidently some idea of that kind in their ignorance. we'll take advantage of it and start at once.--very tired, boys?" they were silent. "shall we start now, or try to get some rest, and then start at night?" "let's start now, sir," said cyril firmly. "the darkness makes cowards of us--i mean, makes one of me, for i'm always fancying dangers all around." "are you ready, perry?" "yes, father. let's go at once." "we will," said the colonel, "for i'm afraid that we should make very poor progress after dark. in with you then, and let's load up the mules; they must take a mouthful of grass wherever there is any as we go." the very thought of getting on chased away a great deal of the weariness, and the little party were soon hard at work in the semi-darkness, just inside the cave, fastening on the packs. then all mounted the riding mules, and without a moment's hesitation rode out, the colonel with the leading mule turning up the gorge, which ran pretty nearly due west and rising higher at every step, while john manning and the two lads formed the rearguard. "ten times better than being shut up there in the dark, my lads," said the old soldier, sitting up erect in his saddle, with the butt of his piece resting upon his thigh. "it's like being in the cavalry.--see any of 'em, master cyril, sir?" "no, not a soul in sight. have they gone right away?" john manning chuckled. "just far enough to keep a sharp eye on us, sir. they're hiding somewhere behind the stones." but for the space of an hour, as they rode on in the shade of the early morning, there was no sign of an enemy either to front or rear, and inspirited by the crisp mountain air, the boys felt their spirits rise, and were ready to banter john manning about what they looked upon as his mistake. "depend upon it," said perry, "they drew right back to go and camp for the day, and rest, before coming to attack us again." "they were soon rested then, sir," said the old soldier drily, "for there's two of 'em up yonder behind those pieces of rock." "where? nonsense. birds: condors, perhaps, on a shelf." "perhaps so, sir," said john manning; "but they're birds that can make signals, and your father sees them too." for just then the colonel drew his mule aside, and let the rest pass on, while he waited for the rearguard to come up. "be on the alert," he said as they came up; "the indians are high above us on the mountain-side, and they are making signs to others right up the gorge. close up." then going nearer to his old servant, he whispered: "keep a sharp eye up to right and left, and if they open the ball, jump down, and don't hesitate about taking good aim at the first who tries to stop us." "right, sir. but how do you think they will open the ball, sir? arrows?" "no: as our old friends in the north-west did, john manning. ah, look, they have begun." "yes, sir; i expected it," cried john manning, as the mules all stopped short, their leader having suddenly swerved aside to avoid a little avalanche of stones and masses of rocks which came tearing down from far on high, right across their course. it began by the dislodging of one great mass, which was forced over from a rocky shelf, and before this had rolled half-way, it had started hundreds more, the attempt being so well contrived that the pieces of rock, which came leaping and bounding down with a clashing sound like thunder, would certainly have crushed one or more of the mules, but for their quick appreciation of the danger. two sharp replies to this attack were given from the loaded pieces, and the indians disappeared; but when, after a great deal of coaxing, the mules were got into motion once more, the colonel urging the leader round beyond where the stones had fallen, the boys uttered a warning cry, for another mass of rock was started from high up on the other side, and with such good effect that the rush of stones it started caught the tiny caravan half-way, and to the misery and despair of all, one of the best mules lay with its pack half buried, and the poor creature's head crushed almost flat. this time the boys fired up at a single man perched fully twelve hundred feet above the narrow bottom of the gorge, and he dropped out of sight, while the colonel and john manning leaped down again, and rapidly removed the stones which impeded them in their efforts to loosen the pack-ropes and remove the load to another mule. this was a hindrance of a good half-hour, and the colonel looked very stern as he gave the order to advance again, when they gained about a mile, the gorge opening a little. then the huge towering walls contracted once more, and a black-looking prospect opened before them, for there, so narrow that there was barely room for the mules to go singly, was their way, through a black-looking rift, above which the mountains on either side rose in shelves admirably adapted for the enemy's defence, and promising so ill for the little party, that the colonel hesitated for a minute while he used his glass. then, as all was still, no sign of an enemy visible, he gave the order to advance, in the hope that the place was too precipitous for the indians to occupy. vain hope! ten minutes later the mule he rode lay quivering on the ground; the colonel having the narrowest of narrow escapes from a terrible death. "forward!" he said firmly, but as he spoke, another avalanche and another came thundering down, and seeing the madness of attempting to proceed, he gave the word to retreat. it was needless, for the mules had already sprung round, and were hurrying back at a rate that was faster than anything they had yet shown. there was no yell of triumph from on high, and no sign of enemy on either hand as they rode back, face to face with the fact that exit from the gorge in that direction was impossible, and that unless they could find some side ravine leading in the direction they wished to pursue, there was nothing for it but to retrace their steps right to the cinchona cutters' camp, and from thence make their way home by the road they came. "it does seem so strange," said perry, as they rode back; "they don't pursue us, but let us ride quietly on. are they satisfied with the mischief they have done?" cyril made no answer, for he was watching the colonel, where he rode by himself, grave and stern, impressed as he was by the feeling that all his efforts would be brought to nought, if he could not devise some means of reaching san geronimo. at that moment it looked hopeless, and as if he would be thwarted at every step, for though the enemy were invisible, he had had bitter experience of the fact that their knowledge of the mountain paths placed them at a tremendous advantage, and he felt that in all probability they were even then where they could watch every movement, and had perhaps got well ahead, ready to stop them by another attack upon the mules. it was past mid-day now, and the hope of getting well onward toward safety was completely crushed; the sun was now shining fiercely down into the gorge, heating the rocks so, that the reflection was almost worse than the scorching rays from above. the mules were panting and thirsty, and the exertions of the day, coming upon such a broken night, were telling terribly upon all, so that reluctantly, and as their only resource, the colonel allowed the old leading mule to make straight for the stream which came gurgling out of the cave they had left that morning. here, to the surprise of all, the intelligent beast, instead of stooping to drink at once, stepped carefully among the stones right into the cool shade within, the rest following, and five minutes later perry and cyril were seated inside upon one of the packs. "and all that day's work thrown away," said cyril sadly. "and two mules dead," whispered perry, so that his father should not hear. "but we saved their loads," replied cyril. "what for?" said perry, in the same low voice. "it's of no use: we shall never get away alive." chapter twenty seven. ready for the worst. nature must be satisfied at whatever cost, and, as soon as possible, the provisions were unpacked, while a fire, which had been lit with the scraps of wood collected as they returned, burned brightly, the smoke drawing farther into the cavern, and being rapidly dispersed. then, as soon as the kettle, suspended by an iron rod over the flames, began to boil, a very small handful of tea was thrown in, and the tin lifted off and laid aside. only some very wooden cake bread, and some very dry tough beef, with a strong flavour of being imperfectly sun-cured; but how delicious it was when washed down by the warm, unsweetened, milkless tea! they sat on the stones a little way inside the entrance, where the cool dampness of the cave was relieved by the soft, warm, sunny air which floated in from the gorge; and a sharp lookout was kept for the indians, but not a sign betrayed their presence. a short exploration of the interior, too, was made, but there was not a sound to be heard, save an impatient stamp or two from the mules; and, concluding that the enemy had all left the place, the colonel returned to where he had left the boys on guard, but only to find them both fast asleep, and john manning walking up and down slowly by the stream, with his gun over his shoulder. "don't wake 'em, sir," said the man appealingly: "they tried very hard to hold up, but it warn't to be done; and if i hadn't got up and taken to marching here on sentry-go, i should have been fast asleep too." "poor fellows," said the colonel sadly, "it was too much to expect after what they have gone through. there, lie down for a couple of hours, and then i'll wake you to relieve me." "begging your pardon, sir, if you'd take first turn," began the old soldier, but he was cut short directly by a sharp gesture, and, without a word, he lay down with his piece in his hand, and was asleep directly. the colonel took his place, and then began to walk slowly to and fro, now right out where the sinking sun glistened upon the surface of the stream, now back inward, with the walk growing darker, till it was quite black. and as he marched to and fro, the colonel reflected upon the hopelessness of their position. as he approached the open sunshine, he felt lighter-hearted; but as he turned and walked inward toward the cold and darkness, his spirits sank once more, and he saw no way out of their difficulties save the giving up of that for which he had come all those many thousand miles. then he stopped short, for cyril had suddenly sprung to his feet, looking horribly guilty and ashamed. "i am so sorry, sir," he faltered. "i did not mean to go to sleep." "you could not help it, my lad," said the colonel, laying his hand upon the boy's shoulder. "you had reached the limit of human endurance. but, cyril, my lad, you are being sharply punished for your mad escapade." "yes, sir," said the boy sadly, "and i suppose i deserve it. i should mind all this much less if we had arranged with my father that i should come." "well done, young philosopher," said the colonel, as he kept his hand on the lad's shoulder, and marched him to and fro. "come, as you can think so well, give me your advice. you know why i have come--to obtain this seed to place in the hands of those who will cultivate it, and make the world independent of the one source of supply." "yes, sir," said cyril wonderingly. "and you see the position to which i am reduced." "yes, sir. will the indians kill us?" "not without paying dearly for it," said the colonel sternly. then changing his manner: "no, my lad. these people are only half-savage, and look upon what they are doing as a duty. i do not think they will kill us if they can get possession of all our baggage. they might keep us in captivity until means are taken to free us; but i don't know--i hardly feel that our lives are safe." "not very, sir," said cyril grimly, "if they rolled big stones. it might have been us instead of the mules this morning." "yes, we have had some narrow escapes; but what shall i do now--give up and own that i am beaten?" "and let them have the kina seed, sir? no, that i wouldn't; i'd fight for it first," cried cyril excitedly. "do you know what you are talking about?" said the colonel excitedly. "yes, sir," cried cyril, "i was very much down a while ago; but i've had something to eat now, and a sleep and--what! give up to a pack of savages, and let them rob you of all we have worked so hard to get? that i wouldn't while there was a charge of powder left." "humph!" ejaculated the colonel, looking at the boy searchingly. "that's what my father would say if he were here. i wish he were." "to thrash you for leaving home in that cowardly way?" "no, sir," said cyril quietly. "my father never thrashed me, and he never would. he always said it was degrading a boy to beat him, and that he was a poor parent who could not rule his children without blows. he told me he thought he could hurt me a good deal more by his words, and so he always could." "perhaps so, sir," said the colonel sternly; "but see what a mistake he has made, and what a miserable young dog you have turned out." cyril was silent for a few moments. "i hope i'm not all bad, sir," he said. "i'm sure i've bitterly repented what i have done." "and been severely punished, too, my lad," said the colonel kindly. "your father is quite right, and when i tell him how you have behaved-- as, please god, i hope i shall--if he is the man i believe him to be, he will shake hands with you as i do now, and say, `let's forget the past!'" "colonel campion!" cried cyril, snatching at the hand extended to him. he could say no more, for something seemed to rise in his throat and choke him, while the colonel rested his arm affectionately upon his shoulder once more, and walked him up and down toward the light and back again. "so you'd fight for it and stand out, eh?" said the colonel at last. "yes, sir, that i would," cried cyril excitedly, "and i'm sure perry will say the same." the colonel was silent for a few moments, gazing straight before him into the darkness, and he asked himself whether he would be justified in running all these risks. he shook his head, and they turned and marched down again toward the light, where the rippling stream looked rosy in the evening, and the rocks on the other side of the gorge were all aglow. and there was so much in the brightness and hope and prospect of success that the feelings of dread, the shrinking from a terrible ordeal, and all hesitation fled away. "yes," he said firmly as he stopped short; "a civilian might hesitate and give up, but i cannot, my lad. i determined to carry out this task, believing that by it i should vastly benefit suffering humanity at large, and heaven helping me, i will achieve my aims." "and you will fight it out, sir?" cried cyril. "i will, my boy, to the bitter end. i made the indians fear me, and if they attack us now, they shall fear me more, for i have our lives to save as well. now, go and lie down." "no, sir, i don't feel sleepy; let me watch with you." "you are a soldier for the time being, my lad, and if we are to succeed, discipline must be observed. in an hour's time i rouse up john manning to relieve me, and toward morning, when you are rested and refreshed, you shall be called to take your watch." cyril lay down without a word, meaning to think out all that had been said, and feeling happier than he had since he left home. but he did not think, for in a few seconds after he had stretched his weary limbs upon the rocky floor, all the corners and points of his bed became soft as eider-down, and he dropped into a deep dreamless sleep, leaving the colonel seated on a rock, leaning forward with his gun between his legs, and his form looking black against the soft glowing light at the entrance of the cave. chapter twenty eight. nature is mistress. "i haven't slept long," thought cyril as he woke with a start to see the colonel seated as he had left him when sleep came. he did not appear to have moved, and all was perfectly still. one thing, however, puzzled him, and that was the light. it was soft and warm and glowing then; now it was clear and bright. all at once he saw something come into sight from the side and stand looking in. it was the old leading mule, and it stood there munching away at a tuft of green stuff which it held in its teeth, and then dropped, and stooped its head to take a long drink of water. "have the indians gone?" thought cyril, "and has the colonel let the mules out to feed?" he sat up for a moment or two, and then lay down again. "i may as well sleep till i am called," he thought, and he lay listening to the heavy breathing of john manning and perry, whom he could see lying in precisely the same position as when he lay down a few minutes before. but was it a few minutes before? cyril asked himself as he saw the mule lift its head with the water dripping from its lips, and then pick up the tuft of green twigs, and go on munching again. it could not have been longer, for the colonel had not been relieved yet; but the light was so strange. last time he looked, the opposite side of the gorge was glowing with the sunset rays; now it was in shadow, and the sun was shining just inside the mouth of the cave, and making the water flash like molten silver. the mule stared in toward him, and cyril made a bull, as a sudden thought flashed through his mind. "why, it's to-morrow morning!" he mentally exclaimed as he started up, "and i've been asleep all this time." he went to where the colonel sat, and though the stones rattled a little beneath his feet, the watcher did not stir, but sat as if gazing straight out past the mule, when cyril said reproachfully: "you shouldn't have let me sleep so long, sir." but there was no answer, and at that moment there was a dull sound, a whinnying sigh, as the mule gave a violent start, throwing out its legs in all directions, and scattering the stones before gathering itself together, and making a tremendous leap to go galloping away, not so quickly, though, but that cyril saw it had a long arrow sticking in its back. "what's that? who? you, cyril?" cried the colonel, springing to his feet. "what! have i been to sleep?" "i don't know, sir; i only just woke up." "why, it's morning," cried the colonel angrily. "what was that noise?" "the old mule. some one shot an arrow, and stuck it in her back." "but how came it there? i--i--ah! and i blamed you, boy, for falling asleep at your post." "anything the matter, sir?" said john manning, coming forward, followed hastily by berry. "matter, man; yes. i have kept watch by sleeping all night." "well, sir, i don't wonder," said the man. "i have too, for you didn't call me to go on duty." "oh, shame!" exclaimed the colonel. "and at a time like this!" "i don't see no shame in it, sir," growled john manning bluntly. "you wanted sleep like the rest of us, and you couldn't fight against it. you ain't an iron man, sir." "silence, sir!" cried the colonel angrily, and he hurried right out of the cave, closely followed by the boys, in time to see the mule disappear low down the gorge, galloping madly among the stones. "another--our most valuable pack mule gone," cried the colonel, in a voice full of the anger and annoyance he felt. "the poor brute must have strayed out to graze." "yes, sir; i saw it eating when i awoke, and then directly after the arrow struck it." "then the indians must be close at hand. come back and help to secure the rest of the mules, or they may be straying out after their leader." cyril looked in the colonel's face, and then pointed down the valley at something moving, plainly seen now in the clear morning atmosphere. "yes; i see it. one moment till i focus the glass." the colonel held his little double glass to his eye, and then let his hand fall to his side in dismay on learning that the mischief was worse than he had anticipated, for there was another mule on the far slope; and just then john manning came up with perry from an expedition within the cave. "yes: what is it?" cried the colonel sharply. "sorry to have to report it, sir," said manning, in a low deep growl, "but the mules have strayed out in the night." "all?" said the colonel hoarsely. "is there not one left?" "no, sir; as far as i can make out, not one." the colonel's brows knit, and he stood motionless for a few moments. then without a word he walked right in to where it was quite dark. "light the lantern," he said sharply, and in a few moments a match gleamed out, and the candle was soon after shedding its rays in all directions. but hardly had john manning given a glance round, than he uttered a sharp ejaculation. "what is it?" cried the colonel. "can you see the rest of the mules?" "no, sir." "well, what is it?" cried the colonel impatiently. "don't you see, father?" cried perry excitedly; "the indians must have crept in while we slept. they have carried everything away." "what?" raged out the colonel as he looked wildly round where his servant was holding up the lantern, and then he uttered a groan. for it was too true. every pack had gone, and with them the possibility of holding out against the cunning enemy who had been in their midst. the same thoughts came to each of the boys--thoughts of all they had heard before setting out, of those who ventured into the mountains in search of the incas' treasures never being heard of more, and a curious chilling feeling of despair came over them. would they ever see home again? but the colonel was not the man to give way to despair. the position was terrible--right out there amid the gigantic mountains, with the only roads through them those naturally formed by the torrents in the wild deep gorges, shut in by precipices of the most stupendous nature, with no other guide than their compass, and surrounded by enemies who might at any moment make an attack; while, so far from being able to make a prolonged defence now, the indians had robbed them of the means. this was the position as it struck them all at first, but the colonel gave it a different aspect directly. "council of war," he said cheerily, as he led the way out into the sunshine, and sat down upon a block of stone. "come, perry lad, a soldier's son must not look like that as soon as he is face to face with difficulties. john manning will tell you that he and i have been in worse straits than this up in the hill-country.--eh, manning?" "of course, sir. this is nothing. such a fine morning, too. why, if the snow lay twenty foot deep, as we've seen it, and we didn't know whether we had any fingers or toes, we might begin to holler." "of course," said the colonel. "so let's see what is to be done." the two boys exchanged glances, but said nothing. "now, then," cried the colonel, "let's look the worst straight in the face, and then we will calculate our advantages. first of all, the enemy." "none in sight, sir," said john manning. "no; they have gone. they have achieved their aim in getting possession of our baggage." "don't you think they'll attack us, sir?" said cyril. "no, certainly not. they have been here, and found us asleep. had they wished to slay us, there we were at their mercy, and not a hair of our heads has been touched. next trouble." "walked off with all the wittle, sir," growled john manning. "yes, that's bad; but we have plenty of water, and shall not fail in our journeyings for that. bad thing to be journeying through a wild country with not a drop of water, eh, manning? we have done that." "don't talk about it, sir. and the sun all the time drying the very marrow out of your bones." "yes, those were terrible times, my man. we shall not suffer that way, and as to food, we have our guns. what about ammunition?" "all got plenty, sir," growled john manning. "i've seen every morning that our pouches were full." "that's right, then. with a little hunting, we must find some game in these valleys, scarce as it has been. then there is the coca leaf, whose virtues we must try, failing anything better. oh, come, we are not so very badly off." "then you will try at once to make for one of the tracks through the mountains, sir?" said cyril. "and live by hunting, father?" cried perry. "and give up, after trying so long, and being so near success, my boy?" said the colonel. "come, come: britons would not have made their name known all over the world if they had gone on like that." "look here," cried cyril excitedly; and then he stopped and looked doubtingly at the colonel. "well, i'm waiting, my lad. every suggestion has its value at a time like this. speak out." "i'm afraid you'll think the idea too wild, sir." "i will say so if it is, my boy. let's have it." "i thought this, sir," said cyril hesitatingly: "we're well-armed; the indians are afraid of you, and they are most likely retreating back to their camp with our mules and baggage, along with the seed we worked so hard to get." he stopped again, and looked from one to the other, very red in the face all the time. "well, go on," said the colonel encouragingly. "why not show them we're not a bit afraid, and go on in pursuit of them at once? i don't believe they'd fight, and if they did--well, we should have to do the same." "hooray!" shouted john manning, throwing up his cap, catching it again, and then drawing himself up stiffly as he glanced at the colonel: "beg pardon, sir." the colonel merely nodded, but said to himself: "i wish percy had spoken like that." then turning to cyril: "you said, why not go in pursuit?" "yes, sir," said cyril, throwing off his hesitation, and speaking now with his eyes sparkling, and cheeks flushed with excitement. "why not?" "exactly, my boy, why not?" said the colonel. "we were caught unawares, and i have blamed myself, an old soldier, severely for the greatest lapse of which an officer can be guilty--eh, john manning?--sleeping on duty in face of the enemy." "awful bad, sir, in time of war." "yes, but there are bounds to human nature's endurance, john manning; and though i would not own it to myself, i was utterly exhausted." "all was, sir." "then now we must make up for it.--cyril, my lad, you have proposed exactly what i intended to do. fortunately, we made a good meal last night. to-day we must feast again when we have retaken the baggage.-- all ready? fall in." the boys followed the colonel's example, and leaped to their feet. "light marching order," said the colonel, "so we ought to get along fast. that mule we saw, cyril, shows that the others have been taken down the valley toward the great fall. there is no choice of road here, so i take it that the indians are making their way straight back to their camp. now, one word more. see that your weapons are ready for immediate use; no talking, but keep all your energies devoted to making observations in every direction. no rift or ravine likely to hide the enemy must be passed, if it is one possible for mules to climb. now, forward." then with a feeling of exhilaration that the boys could hardly comprehend, the little party started off with the colonel leading, and john manning with his gun over his shoulder marching last, with a look in his face that suggested his feeling that he was guarding the rear of a column of advance once again. chapter twenty nine. a military movement. at the first spot which gave him an opportunity to examine the gorge, the colonel mounted to a narrow shelf and made good use of his glass, descending at last to say: "they have got a good start of us, but there is something about a quarter of a mile on that i can't make out. forward cautiously." five minutes later the colonel halted again and sent perry to the left, close up under that side of the gorge; cyril to the right, with orders to advance in a line with him, and be ready to fire if there were any need. it was quite a military movement, and the boys' hearts beat heavily at what seemed like the first initiation in real warfare; but before they had gone far cyril uttered a shout, and pointed forward to something now hidden from the colonel by a cluster of rocks in the lowest part of the ravine, close to where the river ran with a deep-toned roar far below. a minute later they were alongside the object, which proved to be the leader, lying as near as it could get to the deep gash in which the water was foaming. the poor wounded beast had in its struggles broken the long arrow nearly level with its skin, and in its agony of thirst it had been trying to reach the water, but fallen upon its side. as cyril came close up, the mule raised its head and uttered a piteous whinnying noise, looking up in the face of one who had many a time broken off some green spray of juicy growth to feed it as it trudged along with its load; but its eyes were already glazing, and it was the poor creature's last effort, for the head fell back heavily: there was a curious quivering of the legs, which struck out once as if their owner were galloping, and then all was still. "poor brute," said the colonel. "we cannot bury it, for there is no soil here, even if we had tools. forward, my lads." he led on, and the boys followed, feeling low-spirited; but they soon had something else to think about, for just as they were approaching one of the narrowest parts of the gorge, perry stopped short. "where's john manning?" he said. cyril followed suit, but no sign of the old soldier met his eyes, and they communicated with the colonel, who looked very anxious and much disturbed. "we must return," he said. "why, boys, you ought to have kept in touch with him. double." they all started back, but before they had gone a hundred yards the colonel cried "halt;" for there in the distance was the missing man coming on at a rate which meant that he would soon overtake them. "did you see what he has been doing?" said cyril, as they were once more on the march. "been stopping to get something," said perry, "but i could not see what. could you?" "ugh! yes," said cyril, with a shudder of disgust. "he doesn't want for us to be starved, but who's going to eat mule?" the tramp was long and tedious, but being no longer controlled by the pace of the baggage animals, the little party made far better progress than when they were making their way up the valley; yet the distance they had come was far greater than they had anticipated, and for long enough there was no sign of the indians having passed that way. but they kept on, the colonel feeling convinced that they had passed no side ravine up which the mules could have been driven; while, having these animals at their command, the colonel felt certain that the indians would not carry the loads. at last, during the hottest part of the afternoon, a halt was called, and they made for a huge rock which overhung on one side, offering a tempting shade from the burning sun; but before they reached it cyril uttered an eager cry. "look! look!" he said excitedly, and he pointed to where there were marks about a patch of herbage where the mules had been cropping the coarse stuff, as well as browsing upon some tufts of bushes, whose green twigs were bitten and broken off, and here and there leaves which had been dropped were still so fresh that it was evident that they could not long have been left. this discovery, and a faint trace or two of the indians having been with the mules, had a better effect upon the party than hours of rest. for they knew now that the treasured packs, containing not only the necessities upon which they depended for life, but the carefully-collected seed, were only a short distance ahead, and that if they pushed on with energy they ought to overtake them. the rest depended upon the strong arms of the two men. they went on then at once, but no fresh sign encouraged them, and at last the closing in of the ravine and the piled-up mountain in front warned them that they were approaching the gloomy chasm into which the river plunged. in fact, half an hour after, the deep booming roar of the fall began to be audible, as if coming from somewhere high up on the mountain-side. "if it's coming to a fight," said perry, "i hope it will not be in that deep cavernous place near the fall. i feel as if i hardly dare go down to it after what happened." "nonsense; you'll feel plucky enough when it comes to the point. come along." "steady, young gentleman. halt," growled john manning. "you should keep your eyes open for what's going on in front. look at the colonel." they gazed forward, and saw that the last-named gentleman was signing to them to stop and follow his example of crouching down; and directly after they saw him creeping on toward the spot, from which so short a time before they had seen the indians come out from behind the veil of mist, and amidst the roar of the falls point upward, making signs to each other, and then disappear. it was now so gloomy, that it was hard to make out their leader's movements, for the light only reached them from the narrow opening high overhead, and where the little river raced onward toward the fall it was rapidly growing black; but in a few minutes the colonel signed to them to come on, and at a word from john manning they advanced quickly, stooping in obedience to a sign from the colonel's hand, and reached him at last where he crouched behind a stone. he did not speak, but pointed, and first john manning, then perry, and lastly cyril peered cautiously over the stone, the latter being only in time to see that they were quite right in their surmises, for there below was a party of about thirty well-armed indians, slowly making their way down the last of the many zigzags of the path toward where the mist rose like a dark veil, the wind which blew down the gorge keeping it, as it rose from the great gulf, from spreading in their direction, but beating it back into a dense cloud, to float slowly out into the valley beyond. there they were walking very cautiously, some ten in front, and next, to cyril's great joy, the remainder of their train of pack-mules, well loaded with the treasures taken from the cave. the rest of the party followed about a dozen yards behind. cyril remained watching till the head of the little column readied the veil of mist, went on, and was completely blotted out the next minute, one by one, the indians being visible in the gloom, and then gone. next it was the turn of the animals, and as cyril watched, it was very curious to note how a mule would be visible for a time, then its head and shoulders would disappear, and lastly it would be entirely swallowed up. the remainder of the indians followed, one by one, till the last man, who seemed to be their chief, was alone, and he turned back to gaze upward, narrowly scrutinising the zigzag path by which his party had descended for a few minutes before he followed the rest. then the gloomy place was utterly deserted, and momentarily growing blacker, so that the way down could not be seen. there was no fear now of their words being heard above the booming roar which came up out of the chasm, and the colonel explained his intentions. "i am going to call upon you all to show your nerve," he said, "for we must go down, and pass along by the fall through the darkness and mist." "but is it safe, father?" said perry anxiously. "safe or no, my lad, it is a chance i cannot let slip," replied his father. "you saw their leader looking back, cyril? he was evidently satisfied that there was no pursuit, and he and his people will conclude that once they get through the mist they will be safe, and no doubt camp just on the other side for the night.--manning, we must steal through the mist, creep up, and surprise them. two or three of our little volleys will, i believe, put them to flight if we come upon them suddenly, and then we must return this way, and show our teeth fiercely if they pursue." "right, sir; i'm ready," said john manning. "you lead, and we'll follow." "let's rest, then, till it is quite dark. i believe i can lead you right through to the other side without much risk, for after our experience we know the worst. besides, where they can go, we can go. there, wait a bit, boys, and we shall have our own again, and the wherewithal to make a good meal. no, no," the colonel added as john manning raised his head. "only in case of utter starvation, my man. we can hold out a little longer, and i hope we shall not have to come to eating mule. now, lie down, all of you, and rest. in a couple of hours' time i shall start." chapter thirty. trapped. hungry and faint, it was a dreary time passed during that halt; but in spite of all, it was restful, though the stones were hard, and there were moments when cyril felt as if he could go off fast asleep, and dream of banquets, as hungry people are said to do. but there was no sleeping, and, as nearly as could be guessed, at the end of two hours the colonel rose, and gave the word "forward." then began the journey down the long zigzag, every turn bringing them nearer to the spot where the river took its great plunge into the gulf. the roar grew deeper and louder, though still smothered by the dense mist, and as they drew nearer, there was the damp odour of water, breathed in the smallest of vesicles, as it was churned and then whirled upward to battle with the breeze descending the gorge. the last turn of the descending path at last, and then the colonel stopped, for they were face to face with the great black veil of mist. "now," he said, with his lips close to each one's ear in turn, "you first, perry, take a grip of the stock of my gun, and pass your own backward as i do mine for cyril to take hold. then cyril will do the same for john manning to grasp, and we shall be linked together and well in touch. i shall lead, of course. courage, boys, and no hesitation. we shall soon be through. now, forward." in half-a-dozen steps the darkness, which had been relieved by the faint gleaming of the stars peering down into the gorge, became intense, for they were once more in the mist, and guided only by the gentle drag upon the guns, as without hesitation the colonel led on, keeping close to the wall upon his left. the noise of the water thundering down was more confusing than ever, the mist more stifling; but the boys gathered confidence as they went on, and perry was too much occupied in following his father's steps, to think much about the horrible slip into the gulf below; while cyril, as he stepped on manfully, kept trying to recall how far the way was through, and calculated that they must be fully half-way. he had just arrived at this conclusion, when he turned angrily to resent what he looked upon as absurd behaviour on the part of john manning, who suddenly grasped him tightly, pinning his arms down to his sides, and flinging him up against the rock-wall as far as possible from the edge of the gulf. "how stupid!" he cried aloud, though not a word was heard. "i'm all right. now you've broken the chain." he had arrived at this point, when he felt a rope passed rapidly round him, binding his arms to his sides. then he was thrown upon his back, and in spite of his struggles, his legs were treated in the same way, after which a cloth was bound over his face, so tightly as to be almost suffocating. lastly, he felt himself lifted head and heels, and borne forward, dizzy, confused, and wondering what had happened to his companions, and finally bound to conclude that they must have been treated precisely in the same way. he felt that this must be so, and that the indian cunning had been too much for the colonel's strategy, a party having remained in waiting in full knowledge that they were pursued, and ready to pounce upon them, just in a spot where an attack would be least expected and surest of success. all at once, as the boy was borne along, feeling satisfied that it was useless to struggle and folly to exert himself and shout, it occurred to him that his bearers were going closer to the edge of the gulf, for the roar of the water seemed to be more deafening. there could only be one reason for this, he argued--it was his turn to be thrown in, and the others must be gone. the horrible thought made him begin to struggle with all his might, but at the first writhe a strong additional arm was passed over his body, gripping him tightly to its owner's side, and in this fashion he became helpless, and was carried forward, to grow calmer, for he awoke to the fact that his life was certainly for the present safe. then a curious feeling of faintness came over him, the heat of the cloth over his mouth was suffocating, bright specks of light danced before his eyes, there was a singing in his ears, and then everything seemed to be at an end, till the stars were looking down at him from far on high, and above the low distant booming of the fall he could hear the pleasant silvery gurgle of water, and the heavy breathing of sleepers close at hand. by degrees the boy's head grew clearer, but at the expense of his body, for as the power of thinking brightened, his limbs grew heavier, numb, and helpless, and the effort he made to turn over upon one side proved to be in vain. he felt that the cloth which bound his lips was gone, but there was no inclination to cry for help, and he lay perfectly still, wondering whether his companions were near, and then utterly exhausted, all passed away again, but this time he slept. it must have been near morning once more, when cyril awoke with a feeling of something warm touching his ear, and a voice whispered: "careful, my lad. i've cut you free, and i'm going to cut the colonel and master perry clear. now try and rub your legs gently. we must make a dash for it, as soon as you're ready. don't speak." the lips were removed from his ear, and there was a faint rustling, that was all. he tried to obey the orders he had received, but for some minutes there was scarcely any sense of feeling in his hand, or in the part he touched, but he worked on, feeling hopeful now. john manning was fighting for their freedom, and the others must be close at hand, but he felt that if they were as helpless as he, they would not be of much use in an attempt to escape from their captors. and as cyril went on softly rubbing circulation into his numbed and swollen legs once more, a faint point of light high up in the clouds, where an ice peak was catching the first rays of the coming morn, shone out like a hopeful sign to tell him that all was not yet lost. for quite half an hour he kept up the gentle friction, bringing back circulation, but with it intense pain. then his heart bounded, and he forgot his agony, for john manning crept close to him again. "been rubbing?" he whispered. "yes." "can you fight?" "i'll try." "all right then, boy; the others are ready, and i think the indians are asleep. we must make a dash for it now, before they make up their minds to put us out of our misery, for i am afraid it's that they mean." "what do we do first?" whispered cyril, who felt the power rapidly coming back into his legs. "wait till the colonel joins us with master perry. they're coming as soon as they feel it safe, and then we dash back for the falls, and retreat up the gorge. when we jump up, keep together and run. hit out, lad, at anybody who tries to stop you. they're only cowards after all, but the colonel's coming. now get up softly. ready?" "yes." at that moment there was a fierce yell, and cyril was dashed back upon the ground, three indians flinging themselves upon him; there was a dull blow, a groan, and john manning cried aloud: "they've done for me, lad; run for it, if you can get free. tell the colonel i did my duty to the last." almost at the same moment cyril, as he fiercely struggled, heard a shrill cry of agony from perry, a shout from the colonel, and the reports of half-a-dozen guns fired in rapid succession. then all was blank, for a heavy blow on the side of the head made the lad insensible to what was passing around. chapter thirty one. father and son. when cyril opened his eyes and began to look about, his head was aching violently, and a swimming sensation made everything near him look misty and indistinct. but he was conscious that the sun was shining brightly all around, and that he was lying in the shade cast by a tree, whose foliage was so familiar that he closed his eyes again to think and wonder whether he was dreaming. for that was unmistakably a cinchona tree, one of those he had thought about so much of late. he opened his eyes again, and looked round to see that there were several mules about grazing on the rich grass, and there was a peculiar odour in the air which he knew to be caused by burning wood. a low buzz of conversation was going on, too, somewhere close behind him, and he tried to look round, but the movement gave him so much pain that he let his head sink down, uttering a weary sigh, which was evidently heard, for there was a rustling sound behind him, and some one came and bent down and took his hand, at the same time laying another upon his forehead and gazing into his eyes. for some moments nothing was said; cyril, with his heart beating heavily, gazing up into the eyes that looked down into his, while he wondered more than ever what it all meant. "don't you know me, my boy?" was said at last, and a half-hysterical cry escaped the lad's lips as he clung to the hand which grasped his. "yes, father! but--but what does it all mean?" "that you must lie still and rest for a bit. you have had a nasty blow on the head, but you will soon be better." "but--where are we?--where is perry, and where is the colonel? i can't think, but i don't understand why you are here." "you can ask yourself that last question by-and-by, my lad." cyril shrank a little, for those words were more potent than any reproach, and captain norton went on: "you were asking about your friends. they are all here, but have been hurt more or less. we only came up just in time." "you came up--just in time? oh, i remember now. we were fighting and trying to escape, and somebody fired. was it you, father?" "yes, my lad, my friends and i. if we had not arrived as we did, i'm afraid that there would have been a tragedy here in this valley, for the indians were roused, and i believe that you would none of you have lived to see another day." "and the indians: where are they now?" "far away, my lad. they will not face firearms." "but you came, father--after me?" "of course, as soon as i grasped the fact that you had followed colonel campion. at first i would not think it possible that my son could treat us at home as you had; but when, from a man who had come over the mountains with a llama train, i learned that he had seen you, i did what i felt it to be my duty to do for your mother's sake." cyril's hands went up to his face for a few moments, and then they were gently pressed aside. "this is no time for blaming you, cyril," said the captain gently; "you are injured. get well, my boy. but you asked me how i came here. as soon as i knew that you were with colonel campion, i got the help of two or three friends, and our servants, and we obtained mules and came on in search of you. i did so, for, in addition to my duty to you, i repented letting a brother-officer come upon what i felt more and more was an exceedingly risky expedition. it has proved so, has it not?" "i'm afraid so, father," sighed cyril. "would the indians have killed us?" "it seems so. you were utterly outnumbered, and from what i can gather, i suppose they believe you were hunting for and had found some of the old treasures buried here in the mountains." "oh no," cried cyril; "they were quite wrong." and he explained the object of the colonel's mission. "they would not believe that, my boy, though they would have been just as ready to stop anything of the kind. i found, on tracing you to their camp, that you had come down in this direction, and the man who acted as our guide gathered that there was some trouble on the way, and thus made me hurry on after you. i should have come up with your party sooner, only three times over we were tricked into following another track, our guide proving perfectly untrustworthy directly after he had been in communication with the people at the back camp. however, i came up with you in time, just as a fierce fight was going on, and your party were being worsted. a few shots drove the indians off, and for the present we are safe." "and the mules and their loads?" "there are our mules," said the captain quietly. "no, no; i mean ours," cried cyril. "i have seen no others. there are none here." "but they've taken the kinia seed that the colonel came to collect. we must go and attack them at once." "we must get from here on to the regular track through the mountains as soon as we can, my boy," said the captain sternly. "we do not know whether we may not ourselves be attacked by a strong body of the indians. i cannot do as i like, for i must study my friends; but if i could, i would not run any risk in the face of such odds: so if colonel campion can by any possibility sit a mule, we shall begin our retreat at once. what? can you stand?" "yes, father. only a little giddy; and i want to see the colonel and john manning." for cyril had raised himself to his feet, and his father led him at once to where his companions lay close by, where their rescuers had formed their temporary camp, and were now making a hearty meal. perry was lying back with his head bandaged, john manning was suffering from a severe knife wound, and the colonel lay looking very hollow of cheek, for he also in the fight had received a bad knife thrust, and to cyril it seemed that it would be impossible for the party to begin their retreat for some days to come. but as soon as he awoke, the colonel declared himself able to sit a mule, and john manning insisted upon the hurt he had received being merely a scratch; so, as the case was urgent, a start was made that same afternoon, and a few miles made before they were overtaken by night, and encamped, setting a careful watch in case of attack. but none came, the lesson given by captain norton quelling all present desire for a closer acquaintance with the firearms; and soon after daybreak they were once more in motion, the leader retracing the way taken by his friends in their attempted escape till they were close up to the cinchona camp, which they found deserted. a long halt was necessary here on account of the injured party, but two days later they were on their way again, after a long consultation between colonel campion and their friends. "did you hear what was said?" asked perry, as he and cyril rode side by side wherever the track would allow. "yes, everything; your father wanted to stay here for a bit and make an expedition or two in search of the indians, so as to try and recover the baggage and mules." "of course," said perry. "it's horrible to go back like this, regularly beaten. but they wouldn't?" "no: my father said he was willing, but the rest would not. they said they had come to help to save all our lives, and bring me back, but they were not going to risk their own any more to satisfy--" "well, satisfy what?" said perry, for his companion checked himself. "like to know?" "of course." "satisfy your father's mad-brained ideas." "mad-brained indeed!" cried perry indignantly. "and didn't father say they must go?" "no," replied cyril, laughing, "because he had no authority, and he was perfectly helpless. you see he couldn't go himself." "i only wish he was strong enough," cried perry. "he would soon show some of them." "hasn't he shown them enough? my father's right." "what, in giving up?" cried perry indignantly. "no, in behaving like a good soldier, and drawing off his forces when he is beaten. father told him that it was folly to go on now in his helpless state. that, injured as he was, he would kill himself and you and your man too, for you had neither mules, provisions, nor weapons, and that the only thing to do was to go back." "and what did my father say?" cried perry hotly. "nothing. he only held out his hand without speaking, and they stood for half a minute." "but it's horrid to be beaten and go back like this, robbed of all our belongings, and just too when we had succeeded so well. the cowards! all that party against us. i feel as if i couldn't go back to san geronimo." "so do i," said cyril dolefully. "you? what have you got to mind?" "what have i got to mind? all that my father will say when we get back, though i don't worry about that so much." "what, then?" "i've got to meet my mother." "well, but she won't say anything unkind to you." "no," said cyril sadly, "not a word; but she'll look at me as i often seem to see her looking at me now, and asking me how i could behave so cruelly to her. it half killed her, father says, for my boat was missing for a fortnight. one of the fishermen had taken it away, and she thought i had gone out in her, and was drowned." perry was silent, and soon after the boys had to separate, and ride in single file about the middle of the little line, captain norton and two of his friends forming the rearguard, in case of attack. but though the return journey was very slow, on account of the weakness of the injured part of the little caravan, and there was every opportunity for the indians to fall upon them had they been so disposed, they went on, day after day, unmolested, and their nights were undisturbed. those long narrow shelves of rock at the sides of the defiles seemed as if they would never end, but the clear crisp mountain air was wonderful in its curative effects; and while perry was quite well again, and cyril had about forgotten his injury, colonel campion and john manning, though both thin of face, and generally a good deal pulled down, were strong enough to walk down--at the close of the last day's journey--the long slope which led to captain norton's house on its platform high above the sea. "where's cyril?" said perry suddenly to captain norton. "i haven't seen him these two hours." captain norton stopped at the edge of the narrow path, and pointed down to the dry-looking garden at the back of his house, where the tall, tapering flagstaff stood up, with the british colours fluttering in the sea-breeze. perry shaded his eyes, and through the clear evening air he could distinctly see his companion standing by a lady, and looking up at the little mule train filing down the slope. "why, he has run on home!" "yes," said the captain. "i sent him on to meet his mother alone. perry, my lad, for the sake of all who hold you dear, never be guilty of such a selfish, thoughtless act as his." "i'll try not," replied the boy thoughtfully; and then in an animated way: "but, i say, captain norton, if it had not been for his thoughtless act, where would we three have been now?" the captain smiled and looked at the colonel, who had heard all that had been said. "that's a question i would rather not try to answer, my lad. there, no more: i've promised cyril to bury the past." weak as he still was from his injuries, and smarting from the bitter disappointment of his failure, colonel campion seized the first opportunity which occurred of getting a passage up to panama, the two boys parting with many promises of keeping up a correspondence, which were none too faithfully fulfilled. perry wrote from panama, and again from barbadoes on the way home. then three years elapsed before cyril had a letter, though captain norton had heard again and again from his friend the colonel. here is a portion of the letter cyril received: "i don't suppose they will do it, but i think they ought to make my father f.l.s. and f.r.s. and f.g.s., and all the rest of it, besides knighting him. for only think, in spite of all the disappointment of losing the packages of seed we so carefully made up, the little lots we had in our pockets, including those you gave me at san geronimo out of yours--i mean that day on board the packet, when you said, `you may as well take these, for they're no use to me--' i say, all these were distributed and set, and with the exception of one lot, pretty well all grew, and they have made small plantations in java, ceylon, india, and one or two other places, so that in the course of time there'll be quinine in plenty in hot places all over the world. which lot do you think it was failed? you, in your modesty, will say your own. not it, but mine; and i'll tell you how it was--through my fall down into that horrid place. the seed was of course soaked, and it went off mouldy, i suppose. at all events, none of it grew." "hah!" exclaimed captain norton as he heard the letter read. "it was a daring thing to do--a brave soldier's deed. how many poor wretches in the future who struggle back from some deadly fever will ever hear of or bless his name? hardly one." "but we shall have the satisfaction, father, of knowing that we helped to save them all the same." "right, boy," cried the captain, bringing his hand heavily down upon his son's shoulder. "you did your share, and it would be a poor world indeed if we did all our good actions for the sake of the reward." "but mine was not a good action, father," said cyril gravely. "ah, well," said his father, "it is a matter of the past. i made you a promise then, and we will not argue that." the end. none [illustration: the figure springs into the air--see page .] [illustration: the boys own bookshelf] our home in the silver west a story of struggle and adventure by gordon stables, c.m., m.d., r.n. author of 'the cruise of the snowbird,' 'wild adventures round the pole,' etc., etc. the religious tract society , paternoster row; , st. paul's churchyard and piccadilly richard clay and sons, limited, london and bungay. contents. chapter page i. the highland feud. ii. our boyhood's life. iii. a terrible ride. iv. the ring and the book. v. a new home in the west. vi. the promised land at last. vii. on shore at rio. viii. moncrieff relates his experiences. ix. shopping and shooting. x. a journey that seems like a dream. xi. the tragedy at the fonda. xii. attack by pampa indians. xiii. the flight and the chase. xiv. life on an argentine estancia. xv. we build our house and lay out gardens. xvi. summer in the silver west. xvii. the earthquake. xviii. our hunting expedition. xix. in the wilderness. xx. the mountain crusoe. xxi. wild adventures on prairie and pampas. xxii. adventure with a tiger. xxiii. a ride for life. xxiv. the attack on the estancia. xxv. the last assault. xxv farewell to the silver west. list of illustrations. page the figure springs into the air frontispiece orla thrusts his muzzle into my hand ray lay stark and stiff 'look! he is over!' he pointed his gun at me 'i'll teach ye!' fairly noosed 'ye can claw the pat' comical in the extreme tries to steady himself to catch the lasso interview with the orang-outang on the same limb of the tree the indians advanced with a wild shout [illustration: orla thrusts his muzzle into my hand] our home in the silver west chapter i. the highland feud. why should i, murdoch m'crimman of coila, be condemned for a period of indefinite length to the drudgery of the desk's dull wood? that is the question i have just been asking myself. am i emulous of the honour and glory that, they say, float halo-like round the brow of the author? have i the desire to awake and find myself famous? the fame, alas! that authors chase is but too often an _ignis fatuus_. no; honour like theirs i crave not, such toil is not incumbent on me. genius in a garret! to some the words may sound romantic enough, but--ah me!--the position seems a sad one. genius munching bread and cheese in a lonely attic, with nothing betwixt the said genius and the sky and the cats but rafters and tiles! i shudder to think of it. if my will were omnipotent, genius should never shiver beneath the tiles, never languish in an attic. genius should be clothed in purple and fine linen, genius should---- 'yes, aunt, come in; i'm not very busy yet.' my aunt sails into my beautiful room in the eastern tower of castle coila. 'i was afraid,' she says, almost solemnly, 'i might be disturbing your meditations. do i find you really at work?' 'i've hardly arrived at that point yet, dear aunt. indeed, if the truth will not displease you, i greatly fear serious concentration is not very much in my line. but as you desire me to write our strange story, and as mother also thinks the duty devolves on me, behold me seated at my table in this charming turret chamber, which owes its all of comfort to your most excellent taste, auntie mine.' as i speak i look around me. the evening sunshine is streaming into my room, which occupies the whole of one story of the tower. glance where i please, nothing is here that fails to delight the eye. the carpet beneath my feet is soft as moss, the tall mullioned windows are bedraped with the richest curtains. pictures and mirrors hang here and there, and seem part and parcel of the place. so does that dark lofty oak bookcase, the great harp in the west corner, the violin that leans against it, the _jardinière_, the works of art, the arms from every land--the shields, the claymores, the spears and helmets, everything is in keeping. this is my garret. if i want to meditate, i have but to draw aside a curtain in yonder nook, and lo! a little baize-covered door slides aside and admits me to one of the tower-turrets, a tiny room in which fairies might live, with a window on each side giving glimpses of landscape--and landscape unsurpassed for beauty in all broad scotland. but it was by the main doorway of my chamber that auntie entered, drawing aside the curtains and pausing a moment till she should receive my cheering invitation. and this door leads on to the roof, and this roof itself is a sight to see. loftily domed over with glass, it is at once a conservatory, a vinery, and tropical aviary. room here for trees even, for miniature palms, while birds of the rarest plumage flit silently from bough to bough among the oranges, or lisp out the sweet lilts that have descended to them from sires that sang in foreign lands. yonder a fountain plays and casts its spray over the most lovely feathery ferns. the roof is very spacious, and the conservatory occupies the greater part of it, leaving room outside, however, for a delightful promenade. after sunset coloured lamps are often lit here, and the place then looks even more lovely than before. all this, i need hardly say, was my aunt's doing. i wave my hand, and the lady sinks half languidly into a fauteuil. 'and so,' i say, laughingly, 'you have come to visit genius in his garret.' my aunt smiles too, but i can see it is only out of politeness. i throw down my pen; i leave my chair and seat myself on the bearskin beside the ample fireplace and begin toying with orla, my deerhound. 'aunt, play and sing a little; it will inspire me.' she needs no second bidding. she bends over the great harp and lightly touches a few chords. 'what shall i play or sing?' 'play and sing as you feel, aunt.' 'i feel thus,' my aunt says, and her fingers fly over the strings, bringing forth music so inspiriting and wild that as i listen, entranced, some words of ossian come rushing into my memory: 'the moon rose in the east. fingal returned in the gleam of his arms. the joy of his youth was great, their souls settled as a sea from a storm. ullin raised the song of gladness. the hills of inistore rejoiced. the flame of the oak arose, and the tales of heroes were told.' aunt is not young, but she looks very noble now--looks the very incarnation of the music that fills the room. in it i can hear the battle-cry of heroes, the wild slogan of clan after clan rushing to the fight, the clang of claymore on shield, the shout of victory, the wail for the dead. there are tears in my eyes as the music ceases, and my aunt turns once more towards me. 'aunt, your music has made me ashamed of myself. before you came i recoiled from the task you had set before me; i longed to be out and away, marching over the moors gun in hand and dogs ahead. now i--i--yes, aunt, this music inspires me.' aunt rises as i speak, and together we leave the turret chamber, and, passing through the great conservatory, we reach the promenade. we lean on the battlement, long since dismantled, and gaze beneath us. close to the castle walls below is a well-kept lawn trending downwards with slight incline to meet the loch which laps over its borders. this loch, or lake, stretches for miles and miles on every side, bounded here and there by bare, black, beetling cliffs, and in other places 'o'erhung by wild woods thickening green, a very cloudland of foliage. the easternmost horizon of this lake is a chain of rugged mountains, one glance at which would tell you the season was autumn, for they are crimsoned over with blooming heather. the season is autumn, and the time is sunset; the shadow of the great tower falls darkling far over the loch, and already crimson streaks of cloud are ranged along the hill-tops. so silent and still is it that we can hear the bleating of sheep a good mile off, and the throb of the oars of a boat far away on the water, although the boat itself is but a little dark speck. there is another dark speck, high, high above the crimson clouds. it comes nearer and nearer; it gets bigger and bigger; and presently a huge eagle floats over the castle, making homeward to his eyrie in the cliffs of ben coila. the air gets cooler as the shadows fall; i draw the shawl closer round my aunt's shoulders. she lifts a hand as if to deprecate the attention. 'listen, murdoch,' she says. 'listen, murdoch m'crimman.' she seldom calls me by my name complete. 'i may leave you now, may i not?' 'i know what you mean, aunt,' i reply. 'yes; to the best of my ability i will write our strange story.' 'who else would but you, murdoch m'crimman, chief of the house of crimman, chief of the clan?' i bow my head in silent sorrow. 'yes, aunt; i know. poor father is gone, and i _am_ chief.' she touches my hand lightly--it is her way of taking farewell. next moment i am alone. orla thrusts his great muzzle into my hand; i pat his head, then go back with him to my turret chamber, and once more take up my pen. * * * * * a blood feud! has the reader ever heard of such a thing? happily it is unknown in our day. a blood feud--a quarrel 'twixt kith and kin, a feud oftentimes bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, handed down from generation to generation, getting more bitter in each; a feud that not even death itself seems enough to obliterate; an enmity never to be forgotten while hills raise high their heads to meet the clouds. such a feud is surely cruel. it is more, it is sinful--it is madness. yet just such a feud had existed for far more than a hundred years between our family of m'crimman and the raes of strathtoul. there is but little pleasure in referring back to such a family quarrel, but to do so is necessary. vast indeed is the fire that a small spark may sometimes kindle. two small dead branches rubbing together as the wind blows may fire a forest, and cause a conflagration that shall sweep from end to end of a continent. it was a hundred years ago, and forty years to that; the head of the house of stuart--prince charles edward, whom his enemies called the pretender--had not yet set foot on scottish shore, though there were rumours almost daily that he had indeed come at last. the raes were cousins of the m'crimmans; the raes were head of the clan m'rae, and their country lay to the south of our estates. it was an ill-fated day for both clans when one morning a stalwart highlander, flying from glen to glen with the fiery cross waving aloft, brought a missive to the chief of coila. the raes had been summoned to meet their prince; the m'crimman had been _solicited_. in two hours' time the straths were all astir with preparations for the march. no boy or man who could carry arms, 'twixt the ages of sixteen and sixty, but buckled his claymore to his side and made ready to leave. listen to the wild shout of the men, the shrill notes of bagpipes, the wailing of weeping women and children! oh, it was a stirring time; my scotch blood leaps in all my veins as i think of it even now. right on our side; might on our side! we meant to do or die! 'rise! rise! lowland and highland men! bald sire to beardless son, each come and early. rise! rise! mainland and island men, belt on your claymores and fight for prince charlie. down from the mountain steep-- up from the valley deep-- out from the clachan, the bothy and shieling; bugle and battle-drum, bid chief and vassal come, loudly our bagpipes the pibroch are pealing.' m'crimman of coila that evening met the raes hastening towards the lake. 'ah, kinsman,' cried m'crimman, 'this is indeed a glorious day! i have been summoned by letter from the royal hands of our bold young prince himself.' 'and i, chief of the raes, have been summoned by cross. a letter was none too good for coila. strathtoul must be content to follow the pibroch and drum.' 'it was an oversight. my brother must neither fret nor fume. if our prince but asked me, i'd fight in the ranks for him, and carry musket or pike or pistol.' [illustration: ray lay stark and stiff] 'it's good being you, with your letter and all that. kinsman though you be, i'd have you know, and i'd have our prince understand, that the raes and crimmans are one and the same family, and equal where they stand or fall.' 'of that,' said the proud coila, drawing himself up and lowering his brows, 'our prince is the best judge.' 'these are pretty airs to give yourself, m'crimman! one would think your claymore drank blood every morning!' 'brother,' said m'crimman, 'do not let us quarrel. i have orders to see your people on the march. they are to come with us. i must do my duty.' 'never!' shouted rae. 'never shall my clan obey your commands!' 'you refuse to fight for charlie?' 'under your banner--yes!' 'then draw, dog! were you ten times more closely related to me, you should eat your words or drown them in your blood!' half an hour afterwards the m'crimmans were on the march southwards, their bold young chief at their head, banners streaming and pibroch ringing! but, alas! their kinsman rae lay stark and stiff on the bare hillside. there and then was established the feud that lasted so long and so bitterly. surrounded by her vassals and retainers, loud in their wailing for their departed chief, the widowed wife had thrown herself on the body of her husband in a paroxysm of wild, uncontrollable grief. but nought could restore life and animation to that lowly form. the dead chief lay on his back, with face up-turned to the sky's blue, which his eyes seemed to pierce. his bonnet had fallen off, his long yellow hair floated on the grass, his hand yet grasped the great claymore, but his tartans were dyed with blood. then a brother of the rae approached and led the weeping woman gently away. almost immediately the warriors gathered and knelt around the corpse and swore the terrible feud--swore eternal enmity to the house of coila--'to fight the clan wherever found, to wrestle, to rackle and rive with them, and never to make peace 'while there's leaf on the forest or foam on the river.' we all know the story of prince charlie's expedition, and how, after victories innumerable, all was lost to his cause through disunions in his own camps; how his sun went down on the red field of culloden moor; how true and steadfast, even after defeat, the peasant highlanders were to their chief; and how the glens and straths were devastated by fire and sword; and how the streams ran red with the innocent blood of old men and children, spilled by the brutal soldiery of the ruthless duke. the m'crimmans lost their estates. the raes had never fought for charlie. their glen was spared, but the hopes of m'rae--the young chief--were blighted, for after years of exile the m'crimman was pardoned, and fires were once more lit in the halls of castle coila. long years went by, many of the raes went abroad to fight in foreign lands wherever good swords were needed and lusty arms to wield them withal; but those who remained in or near strathtoul still kept up the feud with as great fierceness as though it had been sworn but yesterday. towards the beginning of the present century, however, a strange thing happened. a young officer of french dragoons came to reside for a time in glen coila. his name was le roi. though of scotch extraction, he had never been before to our country. now hospitality is part and parcel of the religion of scotland; it is not surprising, therefore, that this young son of the sword should have been received with open arms at coila, nor that, dashing, handsome, and brave himself, he should have fallen in love with the winsome daughter of the then chief of the m'crimmans. when he sought to make her his bride explanations were necessary. it was no uncommon thing in those days for good scotch families to permit themselves to be allied with france; but there must be rank on both sides. had a thunderbolt burst in castle coila then it could have caused no greater commotion than did the fact when it came to light that le roi was a direct descendant of the chief of the raes. alas! for the young lovers now. le roi in silence and sorrow ate his last meal at castle coila. hospitality had never been shown more liberally than it was that night, but ere the break of day le roi had gone--never to return to the glen _in propriâ personâ_. whether or not an aged harper who visited the castle a month thereafter was le roi in disguise may never be known; but this, at least, is fact--that same night the chief's daughter was spirited away and seen no more in coila. there was talk, however, of a marriage having been solemnized by torchlight, in the little catholic chapel at the foot of the glen, but of this we will hear more anon, for thereby hangs a tale. in course of time coila presented the sad spectacle of a house without a head. who should now be heir? the scottish will of former chiefs notified that in event of such an occurrence the estates should pass 'to the nearest heirs whatever.' but was there no heir of direct descent? for a time it seemed there would be or really was. to wit, a son of le roi, the officer who had wedded into the house of m'crimman. now our family was brother-family to the m'crimmans. m'crimmans we were ourselves, and celtic to the last drop of blood in our veins. our claim to the estate was but feebly disputed by the french rae's son. his father and mother had years ago crossed the bourne from which no traveller ever returns, and he himself was not young. the little church or chapel in which the marriage had been celebrated was a ruin--it had been burned to the ground, whether as part price of the terrible feud or not, no one could say; the priest was dead, or gone none knew whither; and old mawsie, a beldame, lived in the cottage that had once been the catholic manse. those were wild and strange times altogether in this part of the scottish highlands, and law was oftentimes the property of might rather than right. at the time, then, our story really opens, my father had lived in the castle and ruled in the glens for many a long year. i was the first-born, next came donald, then dugald, and last of all our one sister flora. what a happy life was ours in glen coila, till the cloud arose on our horizon, which, gathering force amain, burst in storm at last over our devoted heads! chapter ii. our boyhood's life. on our boyhood's life--that, i mean, of my brothers and myself--i must dwell no longer than the interest of our strange story demands, for our chapters must soon be filled with the relation of events and adventures far more stirring than anything that happened at home in our day. and yet no truer words were ever spoken than these--'the boy is father of the man.' the glorious battle of waterloo--wellington himself told us--was won in the cricket field at home. and in like manner our greatest pioneers of civilisation, our most successful emigrants, men who have often literally to lash the rifle to the plough stilts, as they cultivate and reclaim the land of the savage, have been made and manufactured, so to speak, in the green valleys of old england, and on the hills and moors of bonnie scotland. probably the new m'crimman of coila, as my father was called on the lake side and in the glens, had mingled more, far more, in life than any chief who had ever reigned before him. he would not have been averse to drawing the sword in his country's cause, had it been necessary, but my brothers and i were born in peaceful times, shortly after the close of the war with russia. no, my father could have drawn the claymore, but he could also use the ploughshare--and did. there were at first grumblers in the clans, who lamented the advent of anything that they were pleased to call new-fangled. men there were who wished to live as their forefathers had done in the 'good old times'--cultivate only the tops of the 'rigs,' pasture the sheep and cattle on the upland moors, and live on milk and meal, and the fish from the lake, with an occasional hare, rabbit, or bird when heaven thought fit to send it. they were not prepared for my father's sweeping innovations. they stared in astonishment to see the bare hillsides planted with sheltering spruce and pine trees; to see moss and morass turned inside out, drained and made to yield crops of waving grain, where all was moving bog before; to see comfortable cottages spring up here and there, with real stone walls and smiling gardens front and rear, in place of the turf and tree shielings of bygone days; and to see a new school-house, where english--real english--was spoken and taught, pour forth a hundred happy children almost every weekday all the year round. this was 'tempting providence, and no good could come of it;' so spoke the grumblers, and they wondered indeed that the old warlike chiefs of m'crimman did not turn in their graves. but even the grumblers got fewer and further between, and at last long peace and plenty reigned contentedly hand in hand from end to end of glen coila, and all around the loch that was at once the beauty and pride of our estate. improvements were not confined to the crofters' holdings; they extended to the castle farm and to the castle itself. nothing that was old about the latter was swept away, but much that was new sprang up, and rooms long untenanted were now restored. a very ancient and beautiful castle was that of coila, with its one huge massive tower, and its dark frowning embattled walls. it could be seen from far and near, for even the loch itself was high above the level of the sea. i speak of it, be it observed, in the past tense, solely because i am writing of the past--of happy days for ever fled. the castle is still as beautiful--nay, even more so, for my aunt's good taste has completed the improvements my father began. i do not think any one could have come in contact with father, as i remember him during our early days at coila, without loving and respecting him. he was our hero--my brothers' and mine--so tall, so noble-looking, so handsome, whether ranging over the heather in autumn with his gun on his shoulder, or labouring with a hoe or rake in hand in garden or meadow. does it surprise any one to know that even a highland chieftain, descended from a long line of warriors, could handle a hoe as deftly as a claymore? i grant he may have been the first who ever did so from choice, but was he demeaned thereby? assuredly not; and work in the fields never went half so cheerfully on as when father and we boys were in the midst of the servants. our tutor was a young clergyman, and he, too, used to throw off his black coat and join us. at such times it would have done the heart of a cynic good to have been there; song and joke and hearty laugh followed in such quick succession that it seemed more like working for fun than anything else. and our triumph of triumphs was invariably consummated at the end of harvest, for then a supper was given to the tenants and servants. this supper took place in the great hall of the castle--the hall that in ancient days had witnessed many a warlike meeting and bacchanalian feast. before a single invitation was made out for this event of the season every sheaf and stook had to be stored and the stubble raked, every rick in the home barn-yards had to be thatched and tidied; 'whorls' of turnips had to be got up and put in pits for the cattle, and even a considerable portion of the ploughing done. 'boys,' my father would say then, pointing with pride to his lordly stacks of grain and hay, 'boys, '"peace hath her victories, no less renowned than war." and now,' he would add, 'go and help your tutor to write out the invitations.' so kindly-hearted was father that he would even have extended the right hand of peace and fellowship to the raes of strathtoul. the head of this house, however, was too proud; yet his pride was of a different kind from father's. it was of the stand-aloof kind. it was even rumoured that le roi, or rae, had said at a dinner-party that my good, dear father brought disgrace on the warlike name of m'crimman because he mingled with his servants in the field, and took a very personal interest in the welfare of his crofter tenantry. but my father had different views of life from this semi-french rae of strathtoul. he appreciated the benefits and upheld the dignity, and even sanctity, of honest labour. had he lived in the days of ancient greece, he might have built a shrine to labour, and elevated it to the rank of goddess. only my father was no heathen, but a plain, god-fearing man, who loved, or tried to love, his neighbour as himself. if our father was a hero to us boys, not less so was he to our darling mother, and to little sister flora as well. so it may be truthfully said that we were a happy family. the time sped by, the years flew on without, apparently, ever a bit of change from one christmas day to another. mr. townley, our tutor, seemed to have little ambition to 'better himself,' as it is termed. when challenged one morning at breakfast with his want of desire to push, 'oh,' said townley, 'i'm only a young man yet, and really i do not wish to be any happier than i am. it will be a grief to me when the boys grow older and go out into the world and need me no more.' mr. townley was a strict and careful teacher, but by no means a hard taskmaster. indoors during school hours he was the pedagogue all over. he carried etiquette even to the extent of wearing cap and gown, but these were thrown off with scholastic duties; he was then--out of doors--as jolly as a schoolboy going to play at his first cricket-match. in the field father was our teacher. he taught us, and the 'grieve,' or bailiff, taught us everything one needs to know about a farm. not in headwork alone. no; for, young as we were at this time, my brothers and i could wield axe, scythe, hoe, and rake. we were highland boys all over, in mind and body, blood and bone. i--murdoch--was fifteen when the cloud gathered that finally changed our fortunes. donald and dugald were respectively fourteen and thirteen, and sister flora was eleven. big for our years we all were, and i do not think there was anything on dry land, or on the water either, that we feared. mr. townley used very often to accompany us to the hills, to the river and lake, but not invariably. we dearly loved our tutor. what a wonderful piece of muscularity and good-nature he was, to be sure, as i remember him! of both his muscularity and good-nature i am afraid we often took advantage. flora invariably did, for out on the hills she would turn to him with the utmost _sang-froid_, saying, 'townley, i'm tired; take me on your back.' and for miles townley would trudge along with her, feeling her weight no more than if she had been a moth that had got on his shoulders by accident. there was no tiring townley. to look at our tutor's fair young face, one would never have given him the credit of possessing a deal of romance, or believed it possible that he could have harboured any feeling akin to love. but he did. now this is a story of stirring adventure and of struggle, and not a love tale; so the truth may be as well told in this place as further on--townley loved my aunt. it should be remembered that at this time she was young, but little over twenty, and in every way she was worthy to be the heroine of a story. townley, however, was no fool. although he was admitted to the companionship of every member of our family, and treated in every respect as an equal, he could not forget that there was a great gulf fixed between the humble tutor and the youngest sister of the chief of the m'crimmans. if he loved, he kept the secret bound up in his own breast, content to live and be near the object of his adoration. perhaps this hopeless passion of townley's had much to do with the formation of his history. * * * * * those dear old days of boyhood! even as they were passing away we used to wish they would last for ever. surely that is proof positive that we were very happy, for is it not common for boys to wish they were men? we never did. for we had everything we could desire to make our little lives a pleasure long drawn out. boys who were born in towns--and we knew many of these, and invited them occasionally to visit us at our highland home--we used to pity from the bottom of our hearts. how little they knew about country sports and country life! one part of our education alone was left to our darling mother--namely, bible history. oh, how delightful it used to be to listen to her voice as, seated by our bedside in the summer evenings, she told us tales from the book of books! then she would pray with us, for us, and for father; and sweet and soft was the slumber that soon visited our pillows. looking back now to those dear old days, i cannot help thinking that the practice of religion as carried on in our house was more puritanical in its character than any i have seen elsewhere. the sabbath was a day of such solemn rest that one lived as it were in a dream. no food was cooked; even the tables in breakfast-room and dining-hall were laid on saturday; no horse left the stables, the servants dressed in their sombrest and best, moved about on tiptoe, and talked in whispers. we children were taught to consider it sinful even to think our own thoughts on this holy day. if we boys ever forgot ourselves so far as to speak of things secular, there was flora to lift a warning finger and with terrible earnestness remind us that this was god's day. from early morn to dewy eve all throughout the sabbath we felt as if our footsteps were on the boundaries of another world--that kind, loving angels were near watching all our doings. i am drawing a true picture of sunday life in many a scottish family, but i would not have my readers mistake me. let me say, then, that ours was not a religion of fear so much as of love. to grieve or vex the great good being who made us and gave us so much to be thankful for would have been a crime which would have brought its own punishment by the sorrow and repentance created in our hearts. just one other thing i must mention, because it has a bearing on events to be related in the next chapter. we were taught then never to forget that a day of reckoning was before us all, that after death should come the judgment. but mother's prayers and our religion brought us only the most unalloyed happiness. chapter iii. a terrible ride. i have but to gaze from the window of the tower in which i am writing to see a whole fieldful of the daftest-looking long-tailed, long-maned ponies imaginable. these are the celebrated castle coila ponies, as full of mischief, fun, and fire as any british boy could wish, most difficult to catch, more difficult still to saddle, and requiring all the skill of a trained equestrian to manage after mounting. as these ponies are to-day, so they were when i was a boy. the very boys whom i mentioned in the last chapter would have gone anywhere and done anything rather than attempt to ride a coila pony. not that they ever refused, they were too courageous for that. but when gilmore led a pony round, i know it needed all the pluck they could muster to put foot in stirrup. flora's advice to them was not bad. 'there is plenty of room on the moors, boys,' she would say, laughing; and flora always brought out the word 'boys' with an air of patronage and self-superiority that was quite refreshing. 'plenty of room on the moors, so you keep the ponies hard at the gallop, till they are quite tired. mind, don't let them trot. if you do, they will lie down and tumble.' poor archie bateman! i shall never forget his first wild scamper over the moorland. he would persist in riding in his best london clothes, spotless broad white collar, shining silk hat, gloves, and all. before mounting he even bent down to flick a little tiny bit of dust off his boots. the ponies were fresh that morning. in fact, the word 'fresh' hardly describes the feeling of buoyancy they gave proof of. for a time it was as difficult to mount one as it would be for a fly to alight on a top at full spin. we took them to the paddock, where the grass and moss were soft. donald, dugald, and i held flora's fiery steed _vi et armis_ till she got into the saddle. 'mind to keep them at it, boys,' were her last words, as she flew out and away through the open gateway. then we prepared to follow. donald, dugald, and i were used to tumbles, and for five minutes or more we amused ourselves by getting up only to get off again. but we were not hurt. finally we mounted archie. his brother was not going out that morning, and i do believe to this day that archie hoped to curry favour with flora by a little display of horsemanship, for he had been talking a deal to her the evening before of the delights of riding in london. at all events, if he had meant to create a sensation he succeeded admirably, though at the expense of a portion of his dignity. no sooner was he mounted than off he rode. stay, though, i should rather say that no sooner did we mount him than off he was carried. that is a way of putting it which is more in accordance with facts, for we--donald, dugald, and i--mounted him, and the pony did the rest, he, archie, being legally speaking _nolens volens_. when my brothers and i emerged at last, we could just distinguish flora waiting on the horizon of a braeland, her figure well thrown out against the sky, her pony curveting round and round, which was flora's pet pony's way of keeping still. away at a tangent from the proper line of march, archie on his steed was being rapidly whirled. as soon as we came within sight of our sister, we observed her making signs in archie's direction and concluded to follow. having duly signalled her wishes, flora disappeared over the brow of the hill. her intention was, we afterwards found out, to take a cross-cut and intercept, if possible, the mad career of archie's coila steed. 'hurry up, donald,' i shouted to my nearest brother; 'that pony is mad. it is making straight for the cliffs of craigiemore.' on we went at furious speed. it was in reality, or appeared to be, a race for life; but should we win? the terrible cliffs for which archie's pony was heading away were perpendicular bluffs that rose from a dark slimy morass near the lake. fifty feet high they were at the lowest, and pointed unmistakably to some terrible convulsion of nature in ages long gone by. they looked like hills that had been sawn in half--one half taken, the other left. our ponies were gaining on archie's. the boy had given his its head, but it was evident he was now aware of his danger and was trying to rein in. trying, but trying in vain. the pony was in command of the situation. on--on--on they rush. i can feel my heart beating wildly against my ribs as we all come nigher and nigher to the cliffs. donald's pony and dugald's both overtake me. their saddles are empty. my brothers have both been unhorsed. i think not of that, all my attention is bent on the rider ahead. if he could but turn his pony's head even now, he would be saved. but no, it is impossible. they are on the cliff. there! they are over it, and a wild scream of terror seems to rend the skies and turn my blood to water. [illustration: 'look! he is over!'] but lo! i, too, am now in danger. my pony has the bit fast between his teeth. he means to play at an awful game--follow my leader! i feel dizzy; i have forgotten that i might fling myself off even at the risk of broken bones. i am close to the cliff--i--hurrah! i am saved! saved at the very moment when it seemed nothing could save me, for dear flora has dashed in front of me--has cut across my bows, as sailors would say, striking my pony with all the strength of her arm as she is borne along. saved, yes, but both on the ground. i extricate myself and get up. our ponies are all panting; they appear now to realize the fearfulness of the danger, and stand together cowed and quiet. poor flora is very pale, and blood is trickling from a wound in her temple, while her habit is torn and soiled. we have little time to notice this; we must ride round and look for the body of poor archie. it was a ride of a good mile to reach the cliff foot, but it took us but a very short time to get round, albeit the road was rough and dangerous. we had taken our bearings aright, but for a time we could see no signs of those we had come to seek. but presently with her riding-whip flora pointed to a deep black hole in the slimy bog. 'they are there!' she cried; then burst into a flood of tears. we did the best we could to comfort our little sister, and were all returning slowly, leading our steeds along the cliff foot, when i stumbled against something lying behind a tussock of grass. the something moved and spoke when i bent down. it was poor archie, who had escaped from the morass as if by a miracle. a little stream was near; it trickled in a half-cataract down the cliffs. donald and dugald hurried away to this and brought back highland bonnetfuls of water. then we washed archie's face and made him drink. how we rejoiced to see him smile again! i believe the london accent of his voice was at that moment the sweetest music to flora she had ever heard in her life. 'what a pwepostewous tumble i've had! how vewy, _vewy_ stoopid of me to be wun away with!' poor flora laughed one moment at her cousin and cried the next, so full was her heart. but presently she proved herself quite a little woman. 'i'll ride on to the castle,' she said, 'and get dry things ready. you'd better go to bed, archie, when you come home; you are not like a highland boy, you know. oh, i'm so glad you're alive! but--ha, ha, ha! excuse me--but you do look _so_ funny!' and away she rode. we mounted archie on dugald's nag and rode straight away to the lake. here we tied our ponies to the birch-trees, and, undressing, plunged in for a swim. when we came out we arranged matters thus: dugald gave archie his shirt, donald gave him a pair of stockings, and i gave him a cap and my jacket, which was long enough to reach his knees. we tied the wet things, after washing the slime off, all in a bundle, and away the procession went to coila. everybody turned out to witness our home-coming. well, we did look rather motley, but--archie was saved. my own adventures, however, had not ended yet. neither my brothers nor flora cared to go out again that day, so in the afternoon i shouldered my fishing rod and went off to enjoy a quiet hour's sport. what took my footsteps towards the stream that made its exit from the loch, and went meandering down the glen, i never could tell. it was no favourite stream of mine, for though it contained plenty of trout, it passed through many woods and dark, gloomy defiles, with here and there a waterfall, and was on the whole so overhung with branches that there was difficulty in making a cast. i was far more successful than i expected to be, however, and the day wore so quickly away that on looking up i was surprised to find that the sun had set, and i must be quite seven miles from home. what did that matter? there would be a moon! i had highland legs and a highland heart, and knew all the cross-cuts in the country side. i would try for that big trout that had just leapt up to catch a moth. it took me half an hour to hook it. but i did, and after some pretty play i had the satisfaction of landing a lovely three-pounder. i now reeled up, put my rod in its canvas case, and prepared to make the best of my way to the castle. it was nearly an hour since the sun had gone down like a huge crimson ball in the west, and now slowly over the hills a veritable facsimile of it was rising, and soon the stars came out as gloaming gave place to night, and moonlight flooded all the woods and glen. the scene around me was lovely, but lonesome in the extreme, for there was not a house anywhere near, nor a sound to break the stillness except now and then the eerisome cry of the brown owl that flitted silently past overhead. had i been very timid i could have imagined that figures were creeping here and there in the flickering shadows of the trees, or that ghosts and bogles had come out to keep me company. my nearest way home would be to cross a bit of heathery moor and pass by the neglected graveyard and ruined catholic chapel; and, worse than all, the ancient manse where lived old mawsie. i never believed that mawsie was a witch, though others did. she was said to creep about on moonlight nights like a dry aisk,[ ] so people said, 'mooling' among heaps of rubbish and the mounds over the graves as she gathered herbs to concoct strange mixtures withal. certainly mawsie was no beauty; she walked 'two-fold,' leaning on a crutch; she was gray-bearded, wrinkled beyond conception; her head was swathed winter and summer in wraps of flannel, and altogether she looked uncanny. nevertheless, the peasant people never hesitated to visit her to beg for herb-tea and oil to rub their joints. but they always chose the daylight in which to make their calls. 'perhaps,' i thought, 'i'd better go round.' then something whispered to me, 'what! you a m'crimman, and confessing to fear!' that decided me, and i went boldly on. for the life of me, however, i could not keep from mentally repeating those weird and awful lines in burns' 'tam o' shanter,' descriptive of the hero's journey homewards on that unhallowed and awful night when he forgathered with the witches: 'by this time he was 'cross the ford whare in the snaw the chapman smo'red;[ ] and past the birks[ ] and meikle stane whare drunken charlie brak's neck-bane; and through the furze and by the cairn where hunters found the murdered bairn, and near the thorn, aboon the well, where mungo's mither hanged hersel', when glimmering through the groaning trees, kirk alloway seemed in a bleeze.' i almost shuddered as i said to myself, 'what if there be lights glimmering from the frameless windows of the ruined chapel? or what if old mawsie's windows be "in a bleeze"?' tall, ghostly-looking elder-trees grew round the old manse, which people had told me always kept moving, even when no breath of wind was blowing. if i had shuddered before, my heart stood still now with a nameless dread, for sure enough, from both the 'butt' and the 'ben' of the so-called witch's cottage lights were glancing. what could it mean? she was too old to have company, almost an invalid, with age alone and its attendant infirmities--so, at least, people said. but it had also been rumoured lately that mawsie was up to doings which were far from canny, that lights had been seen flitting about the old churchyard and ruin, and that something was sure to happen. nobody in the parish could have been found hardy enough to cross the glen-foot where mawsie lived long after dark. well, had i thought of all this before, it is possible that i might have given her house a wide berth. it was now too late. i felt like one in a dream, impelled forward towards the cottage. i seemed to be walking on the air as i advanced. to get to the windows, however, i must cross the graveyard yard and the ruin. this last was partly covered with tall rank ivy, and, hearing sounds inside, and seeing the glimmer of lanterns, i hid in the old porch, quite shaded by the greenery. from my concealment i could notice that men were at work in a vault or pit on the floor of the old chapel, from which earth and rubbish were being dislodged, while another figure--not that of a workman--was bending over and addressing them in english. it was evident, therefore, those people below were not highlanders, for in the face of the man who spoke i was able at a glance to distinguish the hard-set lineaments of the villain duncan m'rae. this man had been everything in his time--soldier, school-teacher, poacher, thief. he was abhorred by his own clan, and feared by every one. even the school children, if they met him on the road, would run back to avoid him. duncan had only recently come back to the glen after an absence of years, and every one said his presence boded no good. i shuddered as i gazed, almost spellbound, on his evil countenance, rendered doubly ugly in the uncertain light of the lantern. suppose he should find me! i crept closer into my corner now, and tried to draw the ivy round me. i dared not run, for fear of being seen, for the moonlight was very bright indeed, and m'rae held a gun in his hand. after a time, which appeared to be interminable, i heard duncan invite the men into supper, and slowly they clambered up out of the pit, and the three prepared to leave together. all might have been well now, for they passed me without even a glance in my direction; but presently i heard one of the men stumble. 'hullo!' he said; 'is this basket of fish yours, mr. mac?' 'no,' was the answer, with an imprecation that made me quake. 'we are watched!' in another moment i was dragged from my place of concealment, and the light was held up to my face. 'a m'crimman of coila, by all that is furious! and so, youngster, you've come to watch? you know the family feud, don't you? well, prepare to meet your doom. you'll never leave here alive.' he pointed his gun at me as he spoke. 'hold!' cried one of the men. 'we came from town to do a bit of honest work, but we will not witness murder.' 'i only wanted to frighten him,' said m'rae, lowering his gun. 'look you, sir,' he continued, addressing me once more, 'i don't want revenge, even on a m'crimman of coila. i'm a poacher; perhaps i'm a distiller in a quiet way. no matter, you know what an oath is. you'll swear ere you leave here, not to breathe a word of what you've seen. you hear?' 'i promise i won't,' i faltered. he handled his fowling-piece threateningly once again. verily, he had just then a terribly evil look. 'i swear,' i said, with trembling lips. his gun was again lowered. he seemed to breathe more freely--less fiercely. 'go, now,' he said, pointing across the moor. 'if a poor man like myself wants to hide either his game or his private still, what odds is it to a m'crimman of coila?' how i got home i never knew. i remember that evening being in our front drawing-room with what seemed a sea of anxious faces round me, some of which were bathed in tears. then all was a long blank, interspersed with fearful dreams. it was weeks before i recovered consciousness. i was then lying in bed. in at the open window was wafted the odour of flowers, for it was a summer's evening, and outside were the green whispering trees. townley sat beside the bed, book in hand, and almost started when i spoke. [illustration: he pointed his gun at me] 'mr. townley!' 'yes, dear boy.' 'have i been long ill?' 'for weeks--four, i think. how glad i am you are better! but you must keep very, _very_ quiet. i shall go and bring your mother now, and flora.' i put out my thin hand and detained him. 'tell me, mr. townley,' i said, 'have i spoken much in my sleep, for i have been dreaming such foolish dreams?' townley looked at me long and earnestly. he seemed to look me through and through. then he replied slowly, almost solemnly, 'yes, dear boy, you have spoken _much_.' i closed my eyes languidly. for now i knew that townley was aware of more than ever i should have dared to reveal. ----- [ ] triton. [ ] smothered. [ ] birch-trees. chapter iv. the ring and the book. my return to health was a slow though not a painful one. my mind, however, was clear, and even before i could partake of food i enjoyed hearing sister play to me on her harp. sometimes aunt, too, would play. my mother seldom left the room by day, and one of my chief delights was her stories from bible life and tales of bible lands. at last i was permitted to get up and recline in fauteuil or on sofa. 'mother,' i said one day, 'i feel getting stronger, but somehow i do not regain spirits. is there some sorrow in your heart, mother, or do i only imagine it?' she smiled, but there were tears in her eyes. 'i'm sure we are all very, _very_ happy, murdoch, to have you getting well again.' 'and, mother,' i persisted, 'father does not seem easy in mind either. he comes in and talks to me, but often i think his mind is wandering to other subjects.' 'foolish child! nothing could make your father unhappy. he does his duty by us all, and his faith is fixed.' one day they came and told me that the doctor had ordered me away to the seaside. mother and flora were to come, and one servant; the rest of our family were to follow. it was far away south to rothesay we went, and here, my cheeks fanned by the delicious sea-breezes, i soon began to grow well and strong again. but the sorrow in my mother's face was more marked than ever, though i had ceased to refer to it. the rooms we had hired were very pleasant, but looked very small in comparison with the great halls i had been used to. well, on a beautiful afternoon father and my brothers arrived, and we all had tea out on the shady lawn, up to the very edge of which the waves were lapping and lisping. i was reclining in a hammock chair, listening to the sea's soft, soothing murmur, when father brought his camp-stool and sat near me. 'murdoch, boy,' he said, taking my hand gently, almost tenderly, in his, 'are you strong enough to bear bad news?' my heart throbbed uneasily, but i replied, bravely enough, 'yes, dear father; yes.' 'then,' he said, speaking very slowly, as if to mark the effect of every word, 'we are--never--to return--to castle coila!' i was calm now, for, strange to say, the news appeared to be no news at all. 'well, father,' i answered, cheerfully, 'i can bear that--i could bear anything but separation.' i went over and kissed my mother and sister. 'so this is the cloud that was in your faces, eh? well, the worst is over. i have nothing to do now but get well. father, i feel quite a man.' 'so do we both feel men,' said donald and dugald; 'and we are all going to work. won't that be jolly?' in a few brief words father then explained our position. there had arrived one day, some weeks after the worst and most dangerous part of my illness was over, an advocate from aberdeen, in a hired carriage. he had, he said, a friend with him, who seemed, so he worded it, 'like one risen from the dead.' his friend was helped down, and into father's private room off the hall. his friend was the old beldame mawsie, and a short but wonderful story she had to tell, and did tell, the aberdeen advocate sitting quietly by the while with a bland smile on his face. she remembered, she said with many a sigh and groan, and many a doleful shake of head and hand, the marriage of le roi the dragoon with the miss m'crimman of coila, although but a girl at the time; and she remembered, among many other things, that the priest's books were hidden for safety in a vault, where he also kept all the money he possessed. no one knew of the existence of this vault except her, and so on and so forth. so voluble did the old lady become that the advocate had to apply the _clôture_ at last. 'it is strange--if true,' my father had muttered. 'why,' he added, 'had the old lady not spoken of this before?' 'ah, yes, to be sure,' said the aberdonian. 'well, that also is strange, but easily explained. the shock received on the night of the fire at the chapel had deprived the poor soul of memory. for years and years this deprivation continued, but one day, not long ago, the son of the present claimant, and probably rightful heir, to coila walked into her room at the old manse, gun in hand. he had been down shooting at strathtoul, and naturally came across to view the ruin so intimately connected with his father's fate and fortune. no sooner had he appeared than the good old dame rushed towards him, calling him by his grandfather's name. her memory had returned as suddenly as it had gone. she had even told him of the vault. 'perhaps,' continued he, with a meaning smile, '"'tis the sunset of life gives her mystical lore, and coming events cast their shadow before."' a fortnight after this visit a meeting of those concerned took place at the beldame's house. she herself pointed to the place where she thought the vault lay, and with all due legal formality digging was commenced, and the place was found not far off. at first glance the vault seemed empty. in one corner, however, was found, covered lightly over with withered ferns, many bottles of wine and--a box. the two men of law, le roi's solicitor and m'crimman's, had a little laugh all to themselves over the wine. legal men will laugh at anything. 'the priest must have kept a good cellar on the sly,' one said. 'that is evident,' replied the other. the box was opened with some little difficulty. in it was a book--an old latin bible. but something else was in it too. townley was the first to note it. only a silver ring such as sailors wear--a ring with a little heart-shaped ruby stone in it. book and ring were now sealed up in the box, and next day despatched to edinburgh with all due formality. the best legal authorities the scotch metropolis could boast of were consulted on both sides, but fate for once was against the m'crimmans of coila. the book told its tale. half-carelessly written on fly-leaves, but each duly dated and signed by stewart, the priest, were notes concerning many marriages, le roi's among the rest. even m'crimman himself confessed that he was satisfied--as was every one else save townley. 'the book has told one tale--or rather its binding has,' said townley; 'but the ring may yet tell another.' all this my father related to me that evening as we sat together on the lawn by the beach of rothesay. when he had finished i sat silently gazing seawards, but spoke not. my brothers told me afterwards that i looked as if turned to stone. and, indeed, indeed, my heart felt so. when father first told me we should go back no more to coila i felt almost happy that the bad news was no worse; but now that explanations had followed, my perplexity was extreme. one thing was sure and certain--there was a conspiracy, and the events of that terrible night at the ruin had to do with it. the evil man duncan m'rae was in it. townley suspected it from words i must have let fall in my delirium; but, worst of all, my mouth was sealed. oh, why, why did i not rather die than be thus bound! it must be remembered that i was very young, and knew not then that an oath so forced upon me could not be binding. come weal, come woe, however, i determined to keep my word. * * * * * the scene of our story changes now to edinburgh itself. here we had all gone to live in a house owned by aunt, not far from the calton hill. we were comparatively poor now, for father, with the honour and christian feeling that ever characterized him, had even paid up back rent to the new owner of coila castle and glen. that parting from coila had been a sad one. i was not there--luckily for me, perhaps; but townley has told me of it often and often. 'yes, murdoch m'crimman,' he said, 'i have been present at the funeral of many a highland chief, but none of these impressed me half so much as the scene in glen coila, when the carriage containing your dear father and mother and flora left the old castle and wound slowly down the glen. men, women, and little ones joined in procession, and marched behind it, and so followed on and on till they reached the glen-foot, with the bagpipes playing "farewell to lochaber." this affected your father as much, i think, as anything else. as for your mother, she sat silently weeping, and flora dared hardly trust herself to look up at all. then the parting! the chief, your father, stood up and addressed his people--for "his people" he still would call them. there was not a tremor in his voice, nor was there, on the other hand, even a spice of bravado. he spoke to them calmly, logically. in the old days, he said, might had been right, and many a gallant corps of heroes had his forefathers led from the glen, but times had changed. they were governed by good laws, and good laws meant fair play, for they protected all alike, gentle and simple, poor as well as rich. he bade them love and honour the new chief of coila, to whom, as his proven right, he not only heartily transferred his lands and castle, but even, as far as possible, the allegiance of his people. they must be of good cheer, he said; he would never forget the happy time he had spent in coila, and if they should meet no more on this earth, there was a happier land beyond death and the grave. he ended his brief oration with that little word which means so much, "good-bye." but scarcely would they let him go. old, bare-headed, white-haired men crowded round the carriage to bless their chief and press his hand; tearful women held children up that he might but touch their hair, while some had thrown themselves on the heather in paroxysms of a grief which was uncontrollable. then the pipes played once more as the carriage drove on, while the voices of the young men joined in chorus-- "youth of the daring heart, bright be thy doom as the bodings that light up thy bold spirit now. but the fate of m'crimman is closing in gloom, and the breath of the grey wraith hath passed o'er his brow." 'when,' added townley, 'a bend of the road and the drooping birch-trees shut out the mournful sight, i am sure we all felt relieved. your father, smiling, extended his hand to your mother, and she fondled it and wept no more.' * * * * * for a time our life, to all outward seeming, was now a very quiet one. although donald and dugald were sent to that splendid seminary which has given so many great men and heroes to the world, the 'high school of edinburgh,' townley still lived on with us as my tutor and flora's. what my father seemed to suffer most from was the want of something at which to employ his time, and what townley called his 'talent for activity.' 'doing nothing' was not father's form after leading so energetic a life for so many years at coila. like the city of boston in america, edinburgh prides itself on the selectness of its society. to this, albeit we had come down in the world, pecuniarily speaking, our family had free _entrée_. this would have satisfied some men; it did not satisfy father. he missed the bracing mountain air, he missed the freedom of the hills and the glorious exercise to which he had been accustomed. he missed it, but he mourned it not. his was the most unselfish nature one could imagine. whatever he may have felt in the privacy of his own apartment, however much he may have sorrowed in silence, among us he was ever cheerful and even gay. perhaps, on the whole, it may seem to some that i write or speak in terms too eulogistic. but it should not be forgotten that the m'crimman was my father, and that he is--gone. _de mortuis nil nisi bonum._ the ex-chief of coila was a gentleman. and what a deal there is in that one wee word! no one can ape the gentleman. true gentlemanliness must come from the heart; the heart is the well from which it must spring--constantly, always, in every position of life, and wherever the owner may be. no amount of exterior polish can make a true gentleman. the actor can play the part on the stage, but here he is but acting, after all. off the stage he may or may not be the gentleman, for then he must not be judged by his dress, by his demeanour in company, his calmness, or his ducal bow, but by his actions, his words, or his spoken thoughts. 'chesterfields and modes and rules for polished age and stilted youth. and high breeding's choicest school need to learn this deeper truth: that to act, whate'er betide, nobly on the christian plan, this is still the surest guide how to be a gentleman.' about a year after our arrival in edinburgh, townley was seated one day midway up the beautiful mountain called arthur's seat. it was early summer; the sky was blue and almost cloudless; far beneath, the city of palaces and monuments seemed to sleep in the sunshine; away to the east lay the sea, blue even as the sky itself, except where here and there a cloud shadow passed slowly over its surface. studded, too, was the sea with many a white sail, and steamers with trailing wreaths of smoke. the noise of city life, faint and far, fell on the ear with a hum hardly louder than the murmur of the insects and bees that sported among the wild flowers. townley would not have been sitting here had he been all by himself, for this herculean young parson never yet set eye on a hill he meant to climb without going straight to the top of it. 'there is no tiring townley.' i have often heard father make that remark; and, indeed, it gave in a few words a complete clue to townley's character. but to-day my aunt cecilia was with him, and it was on her account he was resting. they had been sitting for some time in silence. 'it is almost too lovely a day for talking,' she said, at last. 'true; it is a day for thinking and dreaming.' 'i do not imagine, sir, that either thinking or dreaming is very much in your way.' he turned to her almost sharply. 'oh, indeed,' he said, 'you hardly gauge my character aright, miss m'crimman.' 'do i not?' 'no, if you only knew how much i think at times; if you only knew how much i have even dared to dream--' there was a strange meaning in his looks if not in his words. did she interpret either aright, i wonder? i know not. of one thing i am sure, and that is, my friend and tutor was far too noble to seem to take advantage of my aunt's altered circumstances in life to press his suit. he might be her equal some day, at present he was--her brother's guest and domestic. 'tell me,' she said, interrupting him, 'some of your thoughts; dreams at best are silly.' he heaved the faintest sigh, and for a few moments appeared bent only on forming an isosceles triangle of pebbles with his cane. then he put his fingers in his pocket. 'i wish to show you,' he said, 'a ring.' 'a ring, mr. townley! what a curious ring! silver, set with a ruby heart. why, this is the ring--the mysterious ring that belonged to the priest, and was found in his box in the vault.' 'no, that is not _the_ ring. _the_ ring is in a safe and under seal. that is but a facsimile. but, miss m'crimman, the ring in question did not, i have reason to believe, belong to the priest stewart, nor was it ever worn by him.' 'how strangely you talk and look, mr. townley!' 'whatever i say to you now, miss m'crimman, i wish you to consider sacred.' the lady laughed, but not lightly. 'do you think,' she said, 'i can keep a secret?' 'i do, miss m'crimman, and i want a friend and occasional adviser.' 'go on, mr. townley. you may depend on me.' 'all we know, or at least all he will tell us of murdoch's--your nephew's--illness, is that he was frightened at the ruin that night. he did not lead us to infer--for this boy is honest--that the terror partook of the supernatural, but he seemed pleased we did so infer.' 'yes, mr. townley.' 'i watched by his bedside at night, when the fever was at its hottest. i alone listened to his ravings. such ravings have always, so doctors tell us, a foundation in fact. he mentioned this ring over and over again. he mentioned a vault; he mentioned a name, and starting sometimes from uneasy slumber, prayed the owner of that name to spare him--to shoot him not.' 'and from this you deduce----' 'from this,' said townley, 'i deduce that poor murdoch had seen that ring on the left hand of a villain who had threatened to shoot him, for some potent reason or another, that murdoch had seen that vault open, and that he has been bound down by sacred oath not to reveal what he did see.' 'but oh, mr. townley, such oath could not, cannot be binding on the boy. we must----' 'no, we must _not_, miss m'crimman. we must not put pressure on murdoch at present. we must not treat lightly his honest scruples. _you_ must leave _me_ to work the matter out in my own way. only, whenever i need your assistance or friendship to aid me, i may ask for it, may i not?' 'indeed you may, mr. townley.' her hand lay for one brief moment in his; then they got up silently and resumed their walk. both were thinking now. chapter v. a new home in the west. to-night, before i entered my tower-room study and sat down to continue our strange story, i was leaning over the battlements and gazing admiringly at the beautiful sunset effects among the hills and on the lake, when my aunt came gliding to my side. she always comes in this spirit-like way. 'may i say one word,' she said, 'without interrupting the train of your thoughts?' 'yes, dear aunt,' i replied; 'speak as you please--say what you will.' 'i have been reading your manuscript, murdoch, and i think it is high time you should mention that the m'raes of strathtoul were in no degree connected with or voluntarily mixed up in the villainy that banished your poor father from castle coila.' 'it shall be as you wish,' i said, and then aunt cecilia disappeared as silently as she had come. aunt is right. nor can i forget that--despite the long-lasting and unfortunate blood-feud--the strathtouls were and are our kinsmen. it is due to them to add that they ever acted honourably, truthfully; that there was but one villain, and whatever of villainy was transacted was his. need i say his name was duncan m'rae? a m'rae of strathtoul? no; i am glad and proud to say he was not. i even doubt if he had any right or title to the name at all. it may have been but an _alias_. an _alias_ is often of the greatest use to such a man as this duncan; so is an _alibi_ at times! i have already mentioned the school in the glen which my father the chief had built. m'rae was one of its first teachers. he was undoubtedly clever, and, though he had not come to coila without a little cloud on his character, his plausibility and his capability prevailed upon my father to give him a chance. there used at that time to be services held in the school on sunday evenings, to which the most humbly dressed peasant could come. humble though they were, they invariably brought their mite for the collection. it was dishonesty--even sacrilegious dishonesty--in duncan to appropriate such moneys to his use, and to falsify the books. it is needless to say he was dismissed, and ever after he bore little good-will to the m'crimmans of coila. he had now to live on his wits. his wits led him to dishonesty of a different sort--he became a noted poacher. his quarrels with the glen-keepers often led to ugly fights and to bloodshed, but never to duncan's reform. he lived and lodged with old mawsie. it suited him to do so for several reasons, one of which was that she had, as i have already said, an ill-name, and the keepers were superstitious; besides, her house was but half a mile from a high road, along which a carrier passed once a week on his way to a distant town, and duncan nearly always had a mysterious parcel for him. the poacher wanted a safe or store for his ill-gotten game. what better place than the floor of the ruined church? while digging there, to his surprise he had discovered a secret vault or cell; the roof and sides had fallen in, but masons could repair them. such a place would be invaluable in his craft if it could be kept secret, and he determined it should be. after this, strange lights were said to be seen sometimes by belated travellers flitting among the old graves; twice also a ghost had been met on the hill adjoining--some _thing_ at least that disappeared immediately with eldritch scream. it was shortly after this that duncan had imported two men to do what they called 'a bit of honest work.' duncan had lodged and fed them at mawsie's; they worked at night, and when they had done the 'honest work,' he took them to invergowen and shipped them back to aberdeen. but the poacher's discovery of the priest's bible turned his thoughts to a plan of enriching himself far more effectually and speedily than he ever could expect to do by dealing in game without a licence. at the same time duncan had found the poor priest's modest store of wine. a less scientific villain would have made short work with this, but the poacher knew better at present than to 'put an enemy in his mouth to steal away his brains;' besides, the vault would look more natural, when afterwards 'discovered,' with a collection of old bottles of wine in it. to forge an entry on one of the fly-leaves of the book was no difficult task, nor was it difficult to deal with mawsie so as to secure the end he had in view in the most natural way. once again his villain-wit showed its ascendency. a person of little acumen would have sought to work upon the old lady's greed--would have tried to bribe her to say this or that, or to swear to anything. but well duncan knew how treacherous is the aged memory, and yet how easily acted on. he began by talking much about the le roi marriage which had taken place when she was a girl. he put words in the old lady's mouth without seeming to do so; he manufactured an artificial memory for her, and neatly fitted it. 'surely, mother,' he would say, 'you remember the marriage that took place in the chapel at midnight--the rich soldier, you know, le roi, and the bonnie m'crimman lady? you're not so _very_ old as to forget that.' 'heigho! it's a long time ago, _ma yhillie og_, a long time ago, and i was young.' 'true, but old people remember things that happened when they were young better than more recent events.' they talked in gaelic, so i am not giving their exact words. 'ay, ay, lad--ay, ay! and, now that you mention it, i do remember it well--the lassie m'crimman and the bonnie, bonnie gentleman.' 'gave you a guinea--don't you remember?' 'ay, ay, the dear man!' 'is this it?' continued duncan, holding up a golden coin. her eyes gloated over the money, her birdlike claw clutched it; she 'crooned' over it, sang to it, rolled it in a morsel of flannel, and put it away in her bosom. a course of this kind of tuition had a wonderful effect on mawsie. after the marriage came the vault, and she soon remembered all that. but probably the guinea had more effect than anything else in fixing her mind on the supposed events of the past. you see, duncan was a psychologist, and a good one, too. pity he did not turn his talents to better use. the poacher's next move was to hurry up to london, and obtain an interview with the chief of strathtoul's son. he seldom visited scotland, being an officer of the guards--a soldier, as his grandfather had been. is it any wonder that duncan m'rae's plausible story found a ready listener in young le roi, or that he was only too happy to pay the poacher a large but reasonable sum for proofs which should place his father in possession of fortune and a fine estate? the rest was easy. a large coloured sketch was shown to old mawsie as a portrait of the le roi who had been married in the old chapel in her girlhood. it was that of his grandson, who shortly after visited the manse and the ruin. duncan was successful beyond his utmost expectations. only 'the wicked flee when no man pursueth' them, and this villain could not feel easy while he remained at home. two things preyed on his mind--first, the meeting with myself at the ruin; secondly, the loss of his ring. probably had the two men not interfered that night he would have made short work of me. as for the ring, he blamed his own carelessness for losing it. it was a dead man's ring; would it bring him ill-luck? so he fled--or departed--put it as you please; but, singular to say, old mawsie was found dead in her house the day _after_ he had been seen to take his departure from the glen. it was said she had met her death by premeditated violence; but who could have slain the poor old crone, and for what reason? it was more charitable and more reasonable to believe that she had fallen and died where she was found. so the matter had been allowed to rest. what could it matter to mawsie? townley alone had different and less charitable views about the matter. meanwhile townley's bird had flown. but everything comes to him who can wait, and--there was no tiring townley. * * * * * a year or two flew by quickly enough. i know what that year or two did for me--_it made me a man!_ not so much in stature, perhaps--i was young, barely seventeen--but a man in mind, in desire, in ambition, and in brave resolve. do not imagine that i had been very happy since leaving coila; my mind was racked by a thousand conflicting thoughts that often kept me awake at night when all others were sunk in slumber. something told me that the doings of that night at the ruin had undone our fortunes, and i was bound by solemn promise never to divulge what i had seen or what i knew. a hundred times over i tried to force myself to the belief that the poacher was only a poacher, and not a villain of deeper dye, but all in vain. time, however, is the _edax rerum_--the devourer of all things, even of grief and sorrow. well, i saw my father and mother and flora happy in their new home, content with their new surroundings, and i began to take heart. but to work i must go. what should i do? what should i be? the questions were answered in a way i had little dreamt of. one evening, about eight o'clock, while passing along a street in the new town, i noticed well-dressed mechanics and others filing into a hall, where, it was announced, a lecture was to be delivered-- 'a new home in the west.' such was the heading of the printed bills. curiosity led me to enter with others. i listened entranced. the lecture was a revelation to me. the 'new home in the west' was the argentine republic, and the speaker was brimful of his subject, and brimful to overflowing with the rugged eloquence that goes straight to the heart. there was wealth untold in the silver republic for those who were healthy, young, and willing to work--riches enough to be had for the digging to buy all scotland up--riches of grain, of fruit, of spices, of skins and wool and meat--wealth all over the surface of the new home--wealth _in_ the earth and bursting through it--wealth and riches everywhere. and beauty everywhere too--beauty of scenery, beauty of woods and wild flowers; of forest stream and sunlit skies. why stay in scotland when wealth like this was to be had for the gathering? england was a glorious country, but its very over-population rendered it a poor one, and poorer it was growing every day. 'hark! old ocean's tongue of thunder, hoarsely calling, bids you speed to the shores he held asunder only for these times of need. now, upon his friendly surges ever, ever roaring "come," all the sons of hope he urges to a new, a richer home. there, instead of festering alleys, noisome dirt and gnawing dearth, sunny hills and smiling valleys wait to yield the wealth of earth. all she seeks is human labour, healthy in the open air; all she gives is--every neighbour wealthy, hale, and happy there!' language like this was to me simply intoxicating. i talked all next day about what i had heard, and when evening came i once more visited the lecture-hall, this time in company with my brothers. 'oh,' said donald, as we were returning home, 'that is the sort of work we want.' 'yes,' cried dugald the younger; 'and that is the land to go to.' 'you are so young--sixteen and fifteen--i fear i cannot take you with me,' i put in. donald stopped short in the street and looked straight in my face. 'so _you_ mean to go, then? and you think you can go without dugald and me? young, are we? but won't we grow out of that? we are not town-bred brats. feel my arm; look at brother's lusty legs! and haven't we both got hearts--the m'crimman heart? ho, ho, murdoch! big as you are, you don't go without dugald and me!' 'that he sha'n't!' said dugald, determinedly. 'come on up to the top of the craig,' i said; 'i want a walk. it is only half-past nine.' but it was well-nigh eleven before we three brothers had finished castle-building. remember, it was not castles in the air, either, we were piling up. we had health, strength, and determination, with a good share of honest ambition; and with these we believed we could gather wealth. the very thoughts of doing so filled me with a joy that was inexpressible. not that i valued money for itself, but because wealth, if i could but gain it, would enable me to in some measure restore the fortunes of our fallen house. we first consulted father. it was not difficult to secure his acquiescence to our scheme, and he even told mother that it was unnatural to expect birds to remain always in the parent nest. i have no space to detail all the outs and ins of our arguments; suffice it to say they were successful, and preparations for our emigration were soon commenced. one stipulation of dear mother's we were obliged to give in to--namely, that aunt cecilia should go with us. aunt was very wise, though very romantic withal--a strange mixture of poetry and common-sense. my father and mother, however, had very great faith in her. moreover, she had already travelled all by herself half-way over the world. she had therefore the benefit of former experiences. but in every way we were fain to admit that aunt was eminently calculated to be our friend and mentor. she was and is clever. she could talk philosophy to us, even while darning our stockings or seeing after our linen; she could talk half a dozen languages, but she could talk common-sense to the cook as well; she was fitted to mix in the very best society, but she could also mix a salad. she played entrancingly on the harp, sang well, recited ossian's poems by the league, had a beautiful face, and the heart of a lion, which well became the sister of a chief. it is only fair to add that it was aunt who found the sinews of war--our war with fortune. she, however, made a sacrifice to our pride in promising to consider any and all moneys spent upon us as simply loans, to be repaid with interest when we grew rich, if not--and this was only an honest stipulation--worked off beforehand. but poor dear aunt, her love of travel and adventure was quite wonderful, and she had a most childlike faith in the existence and reality of the el dorado we were going in search of. the parting with father, mother, and flora was a terrible trial. i can hardly think of it yet without a feeling akin to melancholy. but we got away at last amid prayers and blessings and tears. a hundred times over flora had begged us to write every week, and to make haste and get ready a place for her and mother and father and all in our new home in the west, for she would count the days until the summons came to follow. fain would honest, brawny townley have gone with us. what an acquisition he would have proved! only, he told me somewhat significantly, he had work to do, and if he was successful he might follow on. i know, though, that parting with aunt cecilia almost broke his big brave heart. there was so much to do when we arrived in london, from which port we were to sail, so much to buy, so much to be seen, and so many people to visit, that i and my brothers had little time to revert even to the grief of parting from all we held dear at home. we did not forget to pay a visit to our forty-second cousins in their beautiful and aristocratic mansion at the west end. archie bateman was our favourite. my brothers and i were quite agreed as to that. the other cousin--who was also the elder--was far too much swamped in _bon ton_ to please highland lads such as we were. but over and over again archie made us tell him all we knew or had heard of the land we were going to. the first night archie had said, 'oh, i wish i were going too!' the second evening his remark was, 'why _can't_ i go?' but on the third and last day of our stay archie took me boldly by the hand-- 'don't tell anybody,' he said, 'but i'm going to follow you very soon. depend upon that. i'm only a younger son. younger sons are nobodies in england. the eldest sons get all the pudding, and we have only the dish to scrape. they talk about making me a barrister. i don't mean to be made a barrister; i'd as soon be a bumbailiff. no, i'm going to follow you, cousin, so i sha'n't say good-bye--just _au revoir_.' and when we drove away from the door, i really could not help admiring the handsome bold-looking english lad who stood in the porch waving his handkerchief and shouting, '_au revoir--au revoir._' chapter vi. the promised land at last. 'there is nothing more annoyin' than a hitch at the hin'eren'. what think you, young sir?' 'i beg pardon,' i replied, 'but i'm afraid i did not quite understand you.' i had been standing all alone watching our preparations for dropping down stream with the tide. what a wearisome time it had been, too! the canton was advertised to sail the day before, but did not. we were assured, however, she would positively start at midnight, and we had gone to bed expecting to awake at sea. i had fallen asleep brimful of all kinds of romantic thoughts. but lo! i had been awakened early on the dark morning of this almost wintry day with the shouting of men, the rattling of chains, and puff-puff-puffing of that dreadful donkey-engine. 'oh yes, we'll be off, sure enough, about eight bells.' this is what the steward told us after breakfast, but all the forenoon had slipped away, and here we still were. the few people on shore who had stayed on, maugre wind and sleet, to see the very, _very_ last of friends on board, looked very worn and miserable. but surely we were going at last, for everything was shipped and everything was comparatively still--far too still, indeed, as it turned out! 'i said i couldn't stand a hitch at the hin'eren', young sir--any trouble at the tail o' the chapter.' i looked up--i _had_ to look up, for the speaker was a head and shoulders bigger than i--a broad-shouldered, brawny, brown-bearded scotchman. a highlander evidently by his brogue, but one who had travelled south, and therefore only put a scotch word in here and there when talking--just, he told me afterwards, to make better sense of the english language. 'do i understand you to mean that something has happened to delay the voyage?' 'i dinna care whether you understand me or not,' he replied, with almost fierce independence, 'but we're broken down.' it was only too true, and the news soon went all over the ship--spread like wild-fire, in fact. something had gone wrong in the engine-room, and it would take a whole week to make good repairs. i went below to report matters to aunt and my brothers, and make preparations for disembarking again. when we reached the deck we found the big scot walking up and down with rapid, sturdy strides; but he stopped in front of me, smiling. he had an immense plaid thrown highland-fashion across his chest and left shoulder, and clutched a huge piece of timber in his hand, which by courtesy might have been called a cane. 'you'll doubtless go on shore for a spell?' he said. 'a vera judicious arrangement. i'll go myself, and take my mither with me. and are these your two brotheries, and your sister? how d'ye do, miss?' he lifted his huge tam-o'-shanter as he made these remarks--or, in other words, he seized it by the top and raised it into the form of a huge pyramid. 'my aunt,' i said, smiling. 'a thousand pa_rr_dons, ma'am!' he pleaded, once more making a pyramid of his 'bonnet,' while the colour mounted to his brow. 'a thousand pa_rr_dons!' like most of his countrymen, he spoke broader when taken off his guard or when excited. at such times the _r_'s were thundered or rolled out. aunt cecilia smiled most graciously, and i feel sure she did not object to be mistaken for our sister. 'it seems,' he added, 'we are to be fellow-passengers. my name is moncrieff, and if ever i can be of the slightest service to you, pray command me.' 'you mentioned your mother,' said aunt, by way of saying something. 'is the old--i mean, is she going with you?' 'what else, what else? and you wouldn't be wrong in calling her "old" either. my mither's no' a spring chicken, but--she's a marvel. ay, mither's a marvel.' 'i presume, sir, you've been out before?' 'i've lived for many years in the silver west. i've made a bit of money, but i couldn't live a year longer without my mither, so i just came straight home to take her out. i think when you know my mither you'll agree with me--she's a marvel.' on pausing here for a minute to review a few of the events of my past life, i cannot agree with those pessimists who tell us we are the victims of chance; that our fates and our fortunes have nothing more certain to guide them to a good or a bad end than yonder thistle-down which is the sport of the summer breeze. when i went on board the good ship canton, had any one told me that in a few days more i would be standing by the banks of loch coila, i would have laughed in his face. yet so it was. aunt and donald stayed in london, while i and dugald formed the strange resolve of running down and having one farewell glance at coila. i seemed impelled to do so, but how or by what i never could say. no; we did not go near edinburgh. good-byes had been said, why should we rehearse again all the agony of parting? nor did we show ourselves to many of the villagers, and those who did see us hardly knew us in our english dress. just one look at the lake, one glance at the old castle, and we should be gone, never more to set foot in coila. and here we were close by the water, almost under shadow of our own old home. it was a forenoon in the end of february, but already the larch-trees were becoming tinged with tender green, a balmy air went whispering through the drooping silver birches, the sky was blue, flecked only here and there with fleecy clouds that cast shadow-patches on the lake. up yonder a lark was singing, in adjoining spruce thickets we could hear the croodle of the ringdove, and in the swaying branches of the elms the solemn-looking rooks were already building their nests. dugald and i were lying on the moss. 'spring always comes early to dear coila,' i was saying; 'and i'm so glad the ship broke down, just to give me a chance of saying "good-bye" to the loch. you, dugald, did say "good-bye" to it, you know, but i never had a chance. ahem! we were startled by the sound of a little cough right behind us--a sort of made cough, such as people do when they want to attract attention. standing near us was a gentleman of soldierly bearing, but certainly not haughty in appearance, for he was smiling. he held a book in his hand, and on his arm leant a beautiful young girl, evidently his daughter, for both had blue eyes and fair hair. dugald and i had started to our feet, and for the life of me i could not help feeling awkward. 'i fear,' i stammered, 'we are trespassing. but--but my brother and i ran down from london to say good-bye to coila. we will go at once.' 'stay one moment,' said the gentleman. 'do not run away without explaining. you have been here before?' 'we are the young m'crimmans of coila, sir.' i spoke sadly--i trust not fiercely. 'pardon me, but something seemed to tell me you were. we are pleased to meet you. irene, my daughter. it is no fault of ours--at least, of mine--that your family and the m'raes were not friendly long ago.' 'but my father _would_ have made friends with the chief of strathtoul,' i said. 'yes, and mine had old highland prejudices. but look, yonder comes a thunder-shower. you _must_ stay till it is over.' 'i feel, sir,' i said, 'that i am doing wrong, and that i have done wrong. my father, even, does not know we are here. _he_ has prejudices now, too,' 'well,' said the officer, laughing, 'my father is in france. let us both be naughty boys. you must come and dine with me and my daughter, anyhow. bother old-fashioned blood-feuds! we must not forget that we are living in the nineteenth century.' i hesitated a moment, then i glanced at the girl, and next minute we were all walking together towards the castle. we did stop to dinner, nor did we think twice about leaving that night. the more i saw of these, our hereditary enemies, the more i liked them. irene was very like flora in appearance and manner, but she had a greater knowledge of the world and all its ways. she was very beautiful. yes, i have said so already, but somehow i cannot help saying it again. she looked older than she really was, and taller than most girls of fourteen. 'well,' i said in course of the evening, 'it _is_ strange my being here.' 'it is only the fortune of war our both being here,' said m'rae. 'i wonder,' i added, 'how it will all end!' 'if it would only end as i should wish, it would end very pleasantly indeed. but it will not. you will write filially and tell your good father of your visit. he will write cordially, but somewhat haughtily, to thank us. that will be all. oh, highland blood is very red, and highland pride is very high. well, at all events, murdoch m'crimman--if you will let me call you by your name without the "mr."--we shall never forget your visit, shall we, darling?' i looked towards miss m'rae. her answer was a simple 'no'; but i was much surprised to notice that her eyes were full of tears, which she tried in vain to conceal. i saw tears in her eyes next morning as we parted. her father said 'good-bye' so kindly that my whole heart went out to him on the spot. 'i'm not sorry i came,' i said; 'and, sir,' i added, 'as far as you and i are concerned, the feud is at an end?' 'yes, yes; and better so. and,' he continued, 'my daughter bids me say that she is happy to have seen you, that she is going to think about you very often, and is so sorrowful you poor lads should have to go away to a foreign land to seek your fortune while we remain at coila. that is the drift of it, but i fear i have not said it prettily enough to please irene. good-bye.' we had found fine weather at coila, and we brought it back with us to london. there was no hitch this time in starting. the canton got away early in the morning, even before breakfast. the last person to come on board was the scot, moncrieff. he came thundering across the plank gangway with strides like a camel, bearing something or somebody rolled in a tartan plaid. dugald and i soon noticed two little legs dangling from one end of the bundle and a little old face peeping out of the other. it was his mother undoubtedly. he put her gently down when he gained the deck, and led her away amidships somewhere, and there the two disappeared. presently moncrieff came back alone and shook hands with us in the most friendly way. 'i've just disposed of my mither,' he said, as if she had been a piece of goods and he had sold her. 'i've just disposed of the poor dear creature, and maybe she won't appear again till we're across the bay.' 'you did not take the lady below?' 'there's no' much of the lady about my mither, though i'm doing all i can to make her one. no; i didn't take her below. fact is, we have state apartments, as you might say, for i've rented the second lieutenant's and purser's cabins. there they are, cheek-by-jowl, as cosy as wrens'-nests, just abaft the cook's galley amidships yonder.' 'well,' i said, 'i hope your mother will be happy and enjoy the voyage.' 'hurrah!' shouted the scot; 'we're off at last! now for a fair wind and a clear sea to the shores of the silver west. i'll run and tell my mither we're off.' that evening the sun sank on the western waves with a crimson glory that spoke of fine weather to follow. we were steaming down channel with just enough sail set to give us some degree of steadiness. though my brothers and i had never been to sea before, we had been used to roughing it in storms around the coast and on loch coila, and probably this may account for our immunity from that terror of the ocean, _mal-de-mer_. as for aunt, she was an excellent sailor. the saloon, when we went below to dinner, was most gay, beautifully lighted, and very home-like. the officers present were the captain, the surgeon, and one lieutenant. the captain was president, while the doctor occupied the chair of _vice_. both looked thorough sailors, and both appeared as happy as kings. there seemed also to exist a perfect understanding between the pair, and their remarks and anecdotes kept the passengers in excellent good humour during dinner. the doctor had been the first to enter, and he came sailing in with aunt, whom he seated on his right hand. now aunt was the only young lady among the passengers, and she certainly had dressed most becomingly. i could not help admiring her--so did the doctor, but so also did the captain. when he entered he gave his surgeon a comical kind of a look and shook his head. 'walked to windward of me, i see!' he said. 'miss m'crimman,' he added, 'we don't, as a rule, keep particular seats at table in this ship.' 'don't believe a word he says, miss m'crimman!' cried the doctor. 'look, he's laughing! he never is serious when he smiles like that. steward, what is the number of this chair?' 'fifteen, sir.' 'fifteen, miss m'crimman, and you won't forget it; and this table-napkin ring, observe, is gordon tartan, green and black and orange.' 'miss m'crimman,' the captain put in, as if the doctor had not said a word, 'to-morrow evening, for example, you will have the honour to sit on my right.' 'honour, indeed!' laughed the doctor. 'the honour to sit on my right. you will find i can tell much better stories than old conserve-of-roses there; and i feel certain you will not sit anywhere else all the voyage!' 'ah, stay one moments!' cried a merry-looking little spaniard, who had just entered and seated himself quietly at the table; 'the young lady weel not always sit dere, or dere, for sometime she weel have de honour to sit at my right hand, for example, eh, capitan?' there was a hearty laugh at these words, and after this, every one seemed on the most friendly terms with every one else, and willing to serve every one else first and himself last. this is one good result that accrues from travelling, and i have hardly ever yet known a citizen of the world who could be called selfish. there were three other ladies at table to-night, each of whom sat by her husband's side. though they were all in what dr. spinks afterwards termed the sere and yellow leaf, both he and the good captain really vied with each other in paying kindly attention to their wants. so pleasantly did this our first dinner on board pass over that by the time we had risen from our seats we felt, one and all, as if we had known each other for a very long time indeed. next came our evening concert. one of the married ladies played exceedingly well, and the little spanish gentleman sang like a minor sims reeves. 'your sister sings, i feel sure,' he said to me. 'my aunt plays the harp and sings,' i answered. 'and the harp--you have him?' 'yes.' 'oh, bring him--bring him! i do love de harp!' while my aunt played and sang, it would have been difficult to say which of her audience listened with the most delighted attention. the doctor's face was a study; the captain looked tenderly serious; captain bombazo, the black-moustachioed spaniard, was animation personified; his dark eyes sparkled like diamonds, his very eyelids appeared to snap with pleasure. even the stewards and stewardess lingered in the passage to listen with respectful attention, so that it is no wonder we boys were proud of our clever aunt. when she ceased at last there was that deep silence which is far more eloquent than applause. the first to break it was moncrieff. 'well,' he said, with a deep sigh, 'i never heard the like o' that afore!' the friendly relations thus established in the saloon lasted all the voyage long--so did the captain's, the doctor's, and little spanish officer's attentions to my aunt. she had made a triple conquest; three hearts, to speak figuratively, lay at her feet. our voyage was by no means a very eventful one, and but little different from thousands of others that take place every month. some degree of merriment was caused among the men, when, on the fourth day, big moncrieff led his mother out to walk the quarter-deck leaning on his arm. she was indeed a marvel. it would have been impossible even to guess at her age; for though her face was as yellow as a withered lemon, and as wrinkled as a malaga rasin, she walked erect and firm, and was altogether as straight as a rush. she was dressed with an eye to comfort, for, warm though the weather was getting, her cloak was trimmed with fur. on her head she wore a neat old-fashioned cap, and in her hand carried a huge green umbrella, which evening and morning she never laid down except at meals. [illustration: 'i'll teach ye!'] this umbrella was a weapon of offence as well as defence. we had proof of that on the very first day, for as he passed along the deck the second steward had the bad manners to titter. next moment the umbrella had descended with crushing force on his head, and he lay sprawling in the lee scuppers. 'i'll teach ye,' she said, 'to laugh at an auld wife, you gang-the-gate swinger.' 'mither! mither!' pleaded moncrieff, 'will you never be able to behave like a lady?' the steward crawled forward crestfallen, and the men did not let him forget his adventure in a hurry. 'mither's a ma_rr_vel,' moncrieff whispered to me more than once that evening, for at table no 'laird's lady' could have behaved so well, albeit her droll remarks and repartee kept us all laughing. after dinner it was just the same--there were no bounds to her good-nature, her excellent spirits and comicality. even when asked to sing she was by no means taken aback, but treated us to a ballad of five-and-twenty verses, with a chorus to each; but as it told a story of love and war, of battle and siege, of villainy for a time in the ascendant, and virtue triumphant at the end, it really was not a bit wearisome; and when moncrieff told us that she could sing a hundred more as good, we all agreed that his mother was indeed a marvel. i have said the voyage was uneventful, but this is talking as one who has been across the wide ocean many times and oft. no long voyage can be uneventful; but nothing very dreadful happened to mar our passage to rio de janeiro. we were not caught in a tornado; we were not chased by a pirate; we saw no suspicious sail; no ghostly voice hailed us from aloft at the midnight hour; no shadowy form beckoned us from a fog. we did not even spring a leak, nor did the mainyard come tumbling down. but we _did_ have foul weather off finisterre; a man _did_ fall overboard, and was duly picked up again; a shark _did_ follow the ship for a week, but got no corpse to devour, only the contents of the cook's pail, sundry bullets from sundry revolvers, and, finally, a red-hot brick rolled in a bit of blanket. well, of course, a man fell from aloft and knocked his shoulder out--a man always does--and mother carey's chickens flew around our stern, boding bad weather, which never came, and shoals of porpoises danced around us at sunset, and we saw huge whales pursuing their solitary path through the bosom of the great deep, and we breakfasted off flying fish, and caught cape pigeons, and wondered at the majestic flight of the albatross; and we often saw lightning without hearing thunder, and heard thunder without seeing lightning; and in due course we heard the thrilling shout from aloft of 'land ho!' and heard the officer of the watch sing out, 'where away?' and lo and behold! three or four hours afterwards we were all on deck marvelling at the rugged grandeur of the shores of rio, and the wondrous steeple-shaped mountain that stands sentry for ever and ever and ever at the entrance to the marvellous haven. when this was in sight, moncrieff rushed off into the cabin and bore his mother out. he held the old lady aloft, on one arm, shouting, as he pointed landwards-- 'look, mither, look! the promised land! our new home in the silver west!' chapter vii. on shore at rio. it was well on in the afternoon when land was sighted, but so accurately had the ship been navigated for all the long, pleasant weeks of our voyage that both the captain and his first officer might easily have been excused for showing a little pride in their seamanship. your british sailor, however, is always a modest man, and there was not the slightest approach to bombast. the ship was now slowed, for we could not cross the bar that night. at the dinner-table we were all as merry as schoolboys on the eve of a holiday. old jenny, as moncrieff's mother had come to be called, was in excellent spirits, and her droll remarks not only made us laugh, but rendered it very difficult indeed for the stewards to wait with anything approaching to _sang-froid_. moncrieff was quietly happy. he seemed pleased his mother was so great a favourite. aunt, in her tropical toilet, looked angelic. the adjective was applied by our mutual friend captain roderigo de bombazo, and my brothers and i agreed that he had spoken the truth for once in a way. did he not always speak the truth? it may be asked. i am not prepared to accuse the worthy spaniard of deliberate falsehood, but if everything he told us was true, then he must indeed have come through more wild and terrible adventures, and done more travelling and more fighting, than any lion-hunter that ever lived and breathed. he was highly amusing nevertheless, and as no one, with the exception of jenny, ever gave any evidence of doubting what he said and related concerning his strange career, he was encouraged to carry on; and even the exploits of baron munchausen could not have been compared to some of his. i think it used to hurt his feelings somewhat that old jenny listened so stolidly to his relations, for he used to cater for her opinion at times. 'ah!' jenny would say, 'you're a wonderful mannie wi' your way o't! and what a lot you've come through! i wonder you have a hair in your heed!' 'but the señora believes vot i say?' 'believe ye? if a' stories be true, yours are no lees, and i'm not goin' ahint your back to tell ye, sir.' once, on deck, he was drawing the long-bow, as the yankees call it, at a prodigious rate. he was telling how, once upon a time, he had caught a young alligator; how he had tamed it and fed it till it grew a monster twenty feet long; how he used to saddle it and bridle it, and ride through the streets of tulcora on its back--men, women, and children screaming and flying in all directions; how, armed only with his good sabre, he rode it into a lake which was infested with these dread saurians; how he was attacked in force by the awful reptiles, and how he had killed and wounded so many that they lay dead in dozens next day along the banks. 'humph!' grunted old jenny when he had finished. the little captain put the questions, 'ah! de aged señora not believe! de aged señora not have seen much of de world?' jenny had grasped her umbrella. 'look here, my mannie,' she said, 'i'll gie ye a caution; dinna you refer to my age again, or i'll "aged-snorer" you. if ye get the weight o' my gingham on your shou'ders, ye'll think a coo has kick't ye--so mind.' and the spanish captain had slunk away very unlike a lion-hunter, but he never called jenny old again. to-night, however, even before we had gone below, jenny had given proofs that she was in an extra good temper, for being a little way behind bombazo--as if impelled by some sudden and joyous impulse--she lifted that everlasting umbrella and hit him a friendly thwack that could be heard from bowsprit to binnacle. 'tell as mony lees the nicht as ye like, my mannie,' she cried, 'and i'll never contradict ye, for i've seen the promised land!' 'and so, captain, you must stay at rio a whole week?' said my aunt at dessert. 'yes, miss m'crimman,' replied the captain. 'are you pleased?' 'i'm delighted. and i propose that we get up a grand picnic in "the promised land," as good old jenny calls it.' and so it was arranged. bombazo and dr. spinks, having been at rio de janeiro before, were entrusted with the organization of the 'pig-neeg,' as bombazo called it, and held their first consultation on ways and means that very evening. neither i nor my brothers were admitted to this meeting, though aunt was. nevertheless, we felt confident the picnic would be a grand success, for, to a late hour, men were hurrying fore and aft, and the stewards were up to their eyes packing baskets and making preparations, while from the cook's gally gleams of rosy light shot out every time the door was opened, to say nothing of odours so appetising that they would have awakened van winkle himself. before we turned in, we went on deck to have a look at the night. it was certainly full of promise. we were not far from the shore--near enough to see a long line of white which we knew was breakers, and to hear their deep sullen boom as they spent their fury on the rocks. the sky was studded with brilliant stars--far more bright, we thought them, than any we ever see in our own cold climate. looking aloft, the tall masts seemed to mix and mingle with the stars at every roll of the ship. the moon, too, was as bright as silver in the east, its beams making strange quivering lines and crescents in each approaching wave. and somewhere--yonder among those wondrous cone-shaped hills, now bathed in this purple moonlight--lay the promised land, the romantic town of rio, which to-morrow we should visit. we went below, and, as if by one accord, my brothers and i knelt down together to thank the great power on high who had guided us safely over the wide illimitable ocean, and to implore his blessing on those at home, and his guidance on all our future wanderings. early next morning we were awakened by a great noise on deck, and the dash and turmoil of breaking water. the rudder-chains, too, were constantly rattling as the men at the wheel obeyed the shouts of the officer of the watch. 'starboard a little!' 'starboard it is, sir!' 'easy as you go! steady!' 'steady it is, sir!' 'port a little! steady!' then came a crash that almost flung us out of our beds. before we gained the deck of our cabin there was another, and still another. had we run on shore? we dreaded to ask each other. but just then the steward, with kindly thought, drew back our curtain and reassured us. 'we're only bumping over the bar, young gentlemen--we'll be in smooth water in a jiffey.' we were soon all dressed and on deck. we were passing the giant hill called sugar loaf, and the mountains seemed to grow taller and taller, and to frown over us as we got nearer. once through the entrance, the splendid bay itself lay spread out before us in all its silver beauty. full twenty miles across it is, and everywhere surrounded by the grandest hills imaginable. not even in our dreams could we have conceived of such a noble harbour, for here not only could all the fleets in the world lie snug, but even cruise and manoeuvre. away to the west lay the picturesque town itself, its houses and public buildings shining clear in the morning sun, those nearest nestling in a beauty of tropical foliage i have never seen surpassed. my brothers and i felt burning to land at once, but regulations must be carried out, and before we had cleared the customs, and got a clean bill of health, the day was far spent. our picnic must be deferred till to-morrow. however, we could land. as they took their seats in the boat and she was rowed shoreward, i noticed that donald and dugald seemed both speechless with delight and admiration; as for me, i felt as if suddenly transported to a new world. and such a world--beauty and loveliness everywhere around us! how should i ever be able to describe it, i kept wondering--how give dear old mother and flora any notion, even the most remote, of the delight instilled into our souls by all we saw and felt in this strange, strange land! without doubt, the beauty of our surroundings constitutes one great factor in our happiness, wherever we are. when we landed--indeed, before we landed--while the boat was still skimming over the purple waters, the green mountains appearing to mingle and change places every moment as we were borne along, i felt conquered, if i may so express it, by the enchantment of my situation. i gave in my allegiance to the spirit of the scene, i abandoned all thoughts of being able to describe anything, i abandoned myself to enjoyment. _laisser faire_, i said to my soul, is to live. every creature, every being here seems happy. to partake of the _dolce far niente_ appears the whole aim and object of their lives. and so i stepped on shore, regretting somewhat that flora was not here, feeling how utterly impossible it would be to write that 'good letter' home descriptive of this wondrous medley of tropical life and loveliness, but somewhat reckless withal, and filled with a determination to give full rein to my sense of pleasure. i could not help wondering, however, if everything i saw was real. was i in a dream, from which i should presently be rudely awakened by the rattle and clatter of the men hauling up ashes, and find myself in bed on board the canton? never mind, i would enjoy it were it even a dream. what a motley crowd of people of every colour! how jolly those negroes look! how gaily the black ladies are dressed! how the black men laugh! what piles of fruit and green stuff! what a rich, delicious, warm aroma hovers everywhere! an interpreter? you needn't ask _me_. i'm not in charge. ask my aunt here; but she herself can talk many languages. or ask that tall brawny scot, who is hustling the darkies about as if south america all belonged to him. 'a carriage, moncrieff? oh, this is delightful! auntie, dear, let me help you on board. hop in, dugald. jump, donald. no, no, moncrieff, i mean to have the privilege of sitting beside the driver. off we go. hurrah! do you like it, donald? but aren't the streets rough! i won't talk any more; i want to watch things.' i wonder, though, if paradise itself was a bit more lovely than the gardens we catch glimpses of as we drive along? how cool they look, though the sun is shining in a blue and cloudless sky! what dark shadows those gently waving palm-trees throw! look at those cottage verandahs! look, oh, look at the wealth of gorgeous flowers--the climbing, creeping, wreathing flowers! what colours! what fantastic shapes! what a merry mood nature must have been in when she framed them so! and the perfume from those fairy gardens hangs heavy on the air; the delicious balmy breeze that blows through the green, green palm-leaves is not sufficient to waft away the odour of that orange blossom. behold those beautiful children in groups, on terraces and lawns, at windows, or in verandahs--so gaily are they dressed that they themselves might be mistaken for bouquets of lovely flowers! i wonder what the names of all those strange blossom-bearing shrubs are. but, bah! who would bother about names of flowers on a day like this? the butterflies do not, and the bees do not. are those really butterflies, though--really and truly? are they not gorgeously painted fans, waved and wafted by fairies, themselves unseen? the people we meet chatter gaily as we pass, but they do not appear to possess a deal of curiosity; they are too contented for anything. all life here must be one delicious round of enjoyment. and nobody surely ever dies here; i do not see how they could. 'is this a cave we are coming to, moncrieff? what is that long row of columns and that high, green, vaulted roof, through which hardly a ray of sunshine can struggle? palm-trees! oh, moncrieff, what glorious palms! and there is life upon life there, for the gorgeous trees, not apparently satisfied with their own magnificence of shape and foliage, must array themselves in wreaths of dazzling orchids and festoons of trailing flowers. the fairies _must_ have hung those flowers there? do not deny it, moncrieff!' and here, in the botanical gardens, imagination must itself be dumb--such a wild wealth of all that is charming in the vegetable and animal creation. 'donald, go your own road. dugald, go yours; let us wander alone. we may meet again some day. it hardly matters whether we do or not. i'm in a dream, and i don't think i want to awaken for many a long year.' i go wandering away from my brothers, away from every one. a fountain is sending its spray aloft till the green drooping branches of the bananas and those feathery tree-ferns are everywhere spangled with diamonds. i will rest here. i wish i could catch a few of those wondrous butterflies, or even one of those fairylike humming-birds--mere sparks of light and colour that flit and buzz from flower to flower. i wish i could--that i--i mean--i--wish--' 'hullo! murdoch. where are you? why, here he is at last, sound asleep under an orange-tree!' it is my wild highland brothers. they have both been shaking me by the shoulders. i sit up and rub my eyes. 'do you know we've been looking for you for over an hour?' 'ah, dugald!' i reply, 'what is an hour, one wee hour, in a place like this?' we must now go to visit the market-place, and then we are going to the hotel to dine and sleep. the market is a wondrously mixed one, and as wondrously foreign and strange as it is possible to conceive. the gay dresses of the women--some of whom are as black as an ebony ball; their gaudy head-gear; their glittering but tinselled ornaments; their round laughing faces, in which shine rows of teeth as white perhaps as alabaster; the jaunty men folks; the world of birds and beasts, all on the best of terms with themselves, especially the former, arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow; the world of fruit, tempting in shape, in beauty, and in odour; the world of fish, some of them beautiful enough to have dwelt in the coral caves of fairyland beneath the glittering sea--some ugly, even hideous enough to be the creatures of a demon's dream, and some, again, so odd-looking or so grotesque as to make one smile or laugh outright;--the whole made up a picture that even now i have but to close my eyes to see again! when night falls the streets get for a time more crowded; side-paths hardly exist--at all events, the inhabitants show their independence by crowding along the centre of the streets. not much light to guide them, though, except where from open doors or windows the rays from lamps shoot out into the darkness. away to the hotel. a dinner in a delightfully cool, large room, a punkah waving overhead, brilliant lights, joy on all our faces, a dessert fit to set before a king. now we shall know how those strange fruits taste, whose perfume hung around the market to-day. to bed at last in a room scented with orange-blossoms, and around the windows of which the sweet stephanotis clusters in beauty--to bed, to sleep, and dream of all we have done and seen. we awaken--at least, i do--in the morning with a glad sensation of anticipated pleasure. what is it? oh yes, the picnic! but it is no ordinary picnic. it lasts for three long days and nights, during which we drive by day through scenes of enchantment apparently, and sleep by night under canvas, wooed to slumber by the wind whispering in the waving trees. 'moncrieff,' i say on the second day, 'i should like to live here for ever and ever and ever.' 'man!' replies moncrieff, 'i'm glad ye enjoy it, and so does my mither here. but dinna forget, lads, that hard work is all before us when we reach buenos ayres.' 'but i will, and i _shall_ forget, moncrieff,' i cry. 'this country is full of forgetfulness. away with all thoughts of work; let us revel in the sunshine like the bees, and the birds, and the butterflies.' 'revel away, then,' says moncrieff; and dear aunt smiles languidly. on the last day of 'the show,' as dugald called it, and while our mule team is yet five good miles from town, clouds dark and threatening bank rapidly up in the west. the driver lashes the beasts and encourages them with shout and cry to do their speedy utmost; but the storm breaks over us in all its fury, the thunder seems to rend the very mountains, the rain pours down in white sheets, the lightning runs along the ground and looks as if it would set the world on fire; the wind goes tearing through the trees, bending the palms like reeds, rending the broad banana-leaves to ribbons; branches crack and fall down, and the whole air is filled with whirling fronds and foliage. moncrieff hastily envelopes his mother in that highland plaid till nought is visible of the old lady save the nose and one twinkling eye. we laugh in spite of the storm. louder and louder roars the thunder, faster and faster fly the mules, and at last we are tearing along the deserted streets, and hastily draw up our steaming steeds at the hotel door. and that is almost all i remember of rio; and to-morrow we are off to sea once more. chapter viii. moncrieff relates his experiences. our life at sea had been like one long happy dream. that, at all events, is how it had felt to me. 'a dream i could have wished to last for aye.' i was enamoured of the ocean, and more than once i caught myself yearning to be a sailor. there are people who are born with strange longings, strange desires, which only a life on the ever-changing, ever-restless waves appears to suit and soothe. to such natures the sea seems like a mother--a wild, hard, harsh mother at times, perhaps, but a mother who, if she smiles but an hour, makes them forget her stormy anger of days or weeks. but the dream was past and gone. and here we had settled down for a spell at buenos ayres. we had parted with the kindly captain and surgeon of the canton, with many a heartily expressed hope of meeting again another day, with prayers on their side for our success in the new land, with kindliest wishes on ours for a pleasant voyage and every joy for them. dear me! what a very long time it felt to look back to, since we had bidden them 'good-bye' at home! how very old i was beginning to feel! i asked my brothers if their feelings were the same, and found them identical. time had been apparently playing tricks on us. and yet we did not look any older in each other's eyes, only just a little more serious. yes, that was it--_serious_. even dugald, who was usually the most light-hearted and merry of the three of us, looked as if he fully appreciated the magnitude of what we had undertaken. here we were, three--well, young men say, though some would have called us boys--landed on a foreign shore, without an iota of experience, without much knowledge of the country apart from that we had gleaned from books or gathered from the conversations of bombazo and moncrieff. and yet we had landed with the intention, nay, even the determination, to make our way in the new land--not only to seek our fortunes, but to find them. oh, we were not afraid! we had the glorious inheritance of courage, perseverance, and self-reliance. here is how donald, my brother, argued one night: 'look, here, murdo,' he said. 'this _is_ a land of milk and honey, isn't it? well, we're going to be the busy bees to gather it. it _is_ a silver land, isn't it? well, we're the boys to tap it. fortunes _are_ made here, and _have_ been made. what is done once can be done five hundred times. whatever men dare they can do. _quod erat demonstrandum._' '_et nil desperandum_,' added dugald. 'i'm not joking, i can tell you, dugald, i'm serious now, and i mean to remain so, and stick to work--aren't you, murdo?' 'i am, donald.' then we three brothers, standing there, one might say, on the confines of an unknown country, with all the world before us, shook hands, and our looks, as we gazed into each other's eyes, said--if they said anything--'we'll do the right thing one by the other, come weal, come woe.' aunt entered soon after. 'what are you boys so serious about?' she said, laughing merrily, as she seated herself on the couch. 'you look like three conspirators.' 'so we are, aunt. we're conspiring together to make our fortunes.' 'what! building castles in the air?' 'oh, no, no, _no_,' cried donald, 'not in the air, but on the earth. and our idols are not going to have feet of clay, i assure you, auntie, but of solid silver.' 'well, we shall hope for the best. i have just parted with mr. moncrieff, whom i met down town. we have had a long walk together and quite a nice chat. he has made me his confidant--think of that!' 'what! you, auntie?' 'yes, me. who else? and that sober, honest, decent, scot is going to take a wife. it was so good of him to tell _me_. we are all going to the wedding next week, and i'm sure i wish the dear man every happiness and joy.' 'so do we, aunt.' 'and oh, by the way, he is coming to dine here to-night, and i feel sure he wants to give you good advice, and that means me too, of course.' 'of course, auntie, you're one of us.' moncrieff arrived in good time, and brought his mother with him. 'ye didn't include my mither in the invitation, miss m'crimman,' said the scot; 'but i knew you meant her to come. i've been so long without the poor old creature, that i hardly care to move about without her now.' 'poor old creature, indeed!' mrs. moncrieff was heard to mumble. 'where,' she said to a nattily dressed waiter, 'will you put my umbrella?' 'i'll take the greatest care of it, madam,' the man replied. 'do, then,' said the little old dame, 'and i may gi'e ye a penny, though i dinna mak' ony promises, mind.' a nicer little dinner was never served, nor could a snugger room for such a _tête-à-tête_ meal be easily imagined. it was on the ground floor, the great casement windows opening on to a verandah in a shady garden, where grass was kept green and smooth as velvet, where rare ferns grew in luxurious freedom with dwarf palms and drooping bananas, and where stephanotis and the charming lilac bougainvillea were still in bloom. when the dessert was finished, and old jenny was quite tired talking, it seemed so natural that she should curl up in an easy-chair and go off to sleep. 'i hope my umbrella's safe, laddie,' were her last words as her son wrapped her in his plaid. 'as safe as the union bank,' he replied. so we left her there, for the waiter had taken coffee into the verandah. aunt, somewhat to our astonishment, ordered cigars, and explained to moncrieff that she did not object to smoking, but _did_ like to see men happy. moncrieff smiled. 'you're a marvel as well as my mither,' he said. he smoked on in silence for fully five minutes, but he often took the cigar from his mouth and looked at it thoughtfully; then he would allow his eyes to follow the curling smoke, watching it with a smile on his face as it faded into invisibility, as they say ghosts do. 'mr. moncrieff,' said aunt, archly, 'i know what you are thinking about.' moncrieff waved his hand through a wreath of smoke as if to clear his sight. 'if you were a man,' he answered, 'i'd offer to bet you couldn't guess my thoughts. i was not thinking about my dulcinea, nor even about my mither; i was thinking about you and your britheries--i mean your nephews.' 'you are very kind, mr. moncrieff.' 'i'm a man of the wo_rrr_ld, though i wasn't aye a man of the wo_rrr_ld. i had to pay deep and dear for my experience, miss m'crimman.' 'i can easily believe that; but you have benefited by it.' 'doubtless, doubtless; only it was concerning yourselves i was about to make an observation or two.' 'oh, thanks, do. you are so kind.' 'never a bit. this is a weary wo_rrr_ld at best. where would any of us land if the one didn't help the other? well then, there you sit, and woman of the wo_rrr_ld though you be, you're in a strange corner of it. you're in a foreign land now if ever you were. you have few friends. bah! what are all your letters of introduction worth? what do they bring you in? a few invitations to dinner, or to spend a week up country by a wealthy _estanciero_, advice from this friend and the next friend, and from a dozen friends maybe, but all different. you are already getting puzzled. you don't know what to do for the best. you're stopping here to look about you, as the saying is. you might well ask me what right have i to advise you. the right of brotherhood, i may answer. by birth and station you may be far above me, but--you are friends--you are from dear auld scotland. boys, you are my brothers!' 'and i your sister!' aunt extended her hand as she spoke, and the worthy fellow 'coralled' it, so to speak, in his big brown fist, and tears sprang to his eyes. he pulled himself up sharp, however, and surrounded himself with smoke, as the cuttle-fish does with black water, and probably for the same reason--to escape observation. 'now,' he said, 'this is no time for sentiment; it is no land for sentiment, but for hard work. well, what are you going to do? simply to say you're going to make your fortune is all fiddlesticks and folly. how are you going to begin?' 'we were thinking--' i began, but paused. '_i_ was thinking--' said my aunt; then she paused also. moncrieff laughed, but not unmannerly. 'i was thinking,' he said. '_you_ were thinking; _he_, _she_, or _it_ was thinking. well, my good people, you may stop all your life in buenos ayres and conjugate the verb "to think"; but if you'll take my advice you will put a shoulder to the wheel of life, and try to conjugate the verb "to do".' 'we all want to _do_ and act,' said donald, energetically. 'right. well, you see, you have one thing already in your favour. you have a wee bit o' siller in your pouch. it is a nest egg, though; it is not to be spent--it is there to bring more beside it. now, will i tell you how i got on in the world? i'm not rich, but i am in a fair way to be independent. i am very fond of work, for work's sake, and i'm thirty years of age. been in this country now for over fourteen years. had i had a nest egg when i started, i'd have been half a millionaire by now. but, wae's me! i left the old country with nothing belonging to me but my crook and my plaid.' 'you were a shepherd before you came out, then?' said aunt. 'yes; and that was the beauty of it. you've maybe heard o' foudland, in aberdeenshire? well, i came fra far ayant the braes o' foudland. that's, maybe, the way my mither's sae auldfarrent. there, ye see, i'm talkin' scotch, for the very thought of foudland brings back my scotch tongue. ay, dear lady, dear lady, my father was an honest crofter there. he owned a bit farm and everything, and things went pretty well with us till death tirled at the door-sneck and took poor father away to the mools. i was only a callan o' some thirteen summers then, and when we had to leave the wee croft and sell the cows we were fain to live in a lonely shieling on the bare brae side, just a butt and a ben with a wee kailyard, and barely enough land to grow potatoes and keep a little shetland cowie. but, young though i was, i could herd sheep--under a shepherd at first, but finally all by myself. i'm not saying that wasn't a happy time. oh, it was, lady! it was! and many a night since then have i lain awake thinking about it, till every scene of my boyhood's days rose up before me. i could see the hills, green with the tints of spring, or crimson with the glorious heather of autumn; see the braes yellow-tasselled with the golden broom and fragrant with the blooming whins; see the glens and dells, the silver, drooping birch-trees, the grand old waving pines, the wimpling burns, the roaring linns and lochs asleep in the evening sunset. and see my mither's shieling, too; and many a night have i lain awake to pray i might have her near me once again.' 'and a kind god has answered that prayer!' 'ay, miss m'crimman, and i'll have the sad satisfaction of one day closing her een. never mind, we do our duty here, and we'll all meet again in the great "up-bye." but, dear boys, to continue my story--if story i dare call it. not far from the hills where i used to follow laird glennie's sheep, and down beside a bonnie wood and stream, was a house, of not much pretension, but tenanted every year by a gentleman who used to paint the hills and glens and country all round. they say he got great praise for his pictures, and big prices as well. i used often to arrange my sheep and dogs for him into what he would call picturesque groups and attitudes. then he painted them and me and dogs and all. he used to delight to listen to my boyish story of adventure, and in return would tell me tales of far-off lands he had been in, and about the silver land in particular. such stories actually fired my blood. he had sown the seeds of ambition in my soul, and i began to long for a chance of getting away out into the wide, wide world, and seeing all its wonders, and, maybe, becoming a great man myself. but how could a penniless laddie work his way abroad? impossible. 'well, one autumn a terrible storm swept over the country. it began with a perfect hurricane of wind, then it settled down to rain, till it became a perfect "spate." i had never seen such rain, nor such tearing floods as came down from the hills. 'our shieling was a good mile lower down the stream than the artist's summer hut. it was set well up the brae, and was safe. but on looking out next day a sight met my eyes that quite appalled me. all the lowlands and haughs were covered with a sea of water, down the centre of which a mighty river was chafing and roaring, carrying on its bosom trees up-torn from their roots, pieces of green bank, "stooks" of corn and "coles" of hay, and, saddest of all, the swollen bodies of sheep and oxen. my first thought was for the artist. i ran along the bank till opposite his house. yes, there it was flooded to the roof, to which poor mr. power was clinging in desperation, expecting, doubtless, that every moment would be his last, for great trees were surging round the house and dashing against the tiles. 'hardly knowing what i did, i waved my plaid and shouted. he saw me, and waved his arm in response. then i remembered that far down stream a man kept a boat, and i rushed away, my feet hardly seeming to touch the ground, till i reached--not the dwelling, that was covered, but the bank opposite; and here, to my delight, i found old m'kenzie seated in his coble. he laughed at me when i proposed going to the rescue of mr. power. '"impossible!" he said. "look at the force of the stream." '"but we have not to cross. we can paddle up the edge," i insisted. 'he ventured at last, much to my joy. it was hard, dangerous work, and often we found it safest to land and haul up the boat along the side. 'we were opposite the artist's hut at length, hardly even the chimney of which was now visible. but power was safe as yet. 'at the very moment our boat reached him the chimney disappeared, and with it the artist. the turmoil was terrible, for the whole house had collapsed. for a time i saw nothing, then only a head and arm raised above the foaming torrent, far down stream. i dashed in, in spite of m'kenzie's remonstrances, and in a minute more i had caught the drowning man. i must have been struck on the head by the advancing boat. that mattered little--the sturdy old ferryman saved us both; and for a few days the artist had the best room in mither's shieling. 'and this, dear lady, turned out to be--as i dare say you have guessed--my fairy godfather. he went back to buenos ayres, taking me as servant. he is here now. i saw him but yesterday, and we are still the fastest friends. 'but, boys, do not let me deceive you. mr. power was not rich; all he could do for me was to pay my passage out, and let me trust to providence for the rest. 'i worked at anything i could get to do for a time, principally holding horses in the street, for you know everybody rides here. but i felt sure enough that one day, or some day, a settler would come who could value the services of an honest, earnest scottish boy. 'and come the settler did. he took me away, far away to the west, to a wild country, but one that was far too flat and level to please me, who had been bred and born among the grand old hills of scotland. 'never mind, i worked hard, and this settler--a welshman he was--appreciated my value, and paid me fairly well. the best of it was that i could save every penny of my earnings. 'yes, boys, i roughed it more than ever you'll have to do, though remember you'll have to rough it too for a time. you don't mind that, you say. bravely spoken, boys. success in the silver land rarely fails to fall to him who deserves it. 'well, in course of time i knew far more about sheep and cattle-raising than my master, so he took me as a partner, and since then i have done well. we changed our quarters, my partner and i. we have now an excellent steading of houses, and a grand place for the beasts.' 'and to what qualities do you chiefly attribute your success?' said my aunt. 'chiefly,' replied moncrieff, 'to good common-sense, to honest work and perseverance. i'm going back home in a week or two, as soon as i get married and my mither gets the "swimming" out of her head. she says she still feels the earth moving up and down with her; and i don't wonder, an auld body like her doesn't stand much codging about. 'well, you see, boys, that i, like yourselves, had one advantage to begin with. you have a bit o' siller--i got a fairy godfather. but if i had a year to spare i'd go back to scotland and lecture. i'd tell them all my own ups and downs, and i'd end by saying that lads or young men, with plenty of go in them and willingness to work, will get on up country here if they can once manage to get landed. ay, even if they have hardly one penny to rattle against another. 'now, boys, do you care to go home with me? mind it is a wild border-land i live on. there are wild beasts in the hill jungles yet, and there are wilder men--the indians. yes, i've fought them before, and hope to live to fight them once again.' 'i don't think _we'll_ fear the indians _very_ much,' said my bold brother donald. 'and,' i added, 'we are so glad you have helped us to solve the problem that we stood face to face with--namely, how to begin to do something.' 'well, if that is all, i'll give you plenty to do. i've taken out with me waggon-loads of wire fencing as well as a wife. next week, too, i expect a ship from glasgow to bring me seven sturdy scotch servant men that i picked myself. every one of them has legs like pillar post-offices, hands as broad as spades, and a heart like a lion's. and, more than all this, we are trying to form a little colony out yonder, then we'll be able to hold our own against all the reeving indians that ever strode a horse. ah! boys, this silver land has a mighty future before it! we have just to settle down a bit and work with a will and a steady purpose, then we'll fear competition neither with australia nor the united states of america either. 'but you'll come. that's right. and now i have you face to face with fate and fortune. "now's the day and now's the hour, see the front of battle lower." yes, boys, the battle of life, and i would not give a fig for any lad who feared to face it. 'coming, mither, coming. that's the auld lady waking up, and she'll want a cup o' tea.' chapter ix. shopping and shooting. we all went to moncrieff's wedding, and it passed off much the same way as do weddings in other parts of the world. the new mrs. moncrieff was a very modest and charming young person indeed, and a native of our sister island--ireland. i dare say moncrieff loved his wife very much, though there was no extra amount of romance about his character, else he would hardly have spoken about his wife and a truck-load of wire fencing in the self-same sentence. but i dare say this honest scot believed that wire fencing was quite as much a matter of necessity in the silver west as a wife was. as for my brothers and me, and even aunt, we were impatient now--'burning' bold donald called it--to get away to this same silver west and begin the very new life that was before us. but ships do not always arrive from england exactly to a day; the vessel in which moncrieff's men, dogs, goods, and chattels were coming was delayed by contrary winds, and was a whole fortnight behind her time. meanwhile we restrained ourselves as well as we could, and aunt went shopping. she had set her heart upon guanaco robes or ponchos for each of us; and though they cost a deal of money, and were, according to moncrieff, a quite unnecessary expense, she bought them all the same. 'they will last for ever, you know,' was aunt's excuse for the extravagance. 'yes,' he said, 'but we won't. besides,' he added, 'these ponchos may bring the gaucho malo (the bad gaucho) round us.' 'all the better,' persisted aunt. 'i've heard such a deal about this gaucho malo that i should very much like to see a live specimen.' moncrieff laughed. 'i much prefer _dead_ specimens,' he said, with that canny twinkle in his eye. 'that's the way i like to see them served up. it is far the safest plan.' we were very fond of aunt's company, for she really was more of a sister to us than our auntie; but for all that we preferred going shopping with moncrieff. the sort of stores he was laying in gave such earnest of future sport and wild adventure. strange places he took us to sometimes--the shop of a half-caste indian, for instance, a fellow from the far south of patagonia. here moncrieff bought quite a quantity of ordinary ponchos, belts, and linen trousers of great width with hats enough of the sombrero type to thatch a rick. this mild and gentle savage also sold moncrieff some dozen of excellent lassoes and bolas as well. from the way our friend examined the former, and tried the thong-strength of the latter, it was evident he was an expert in the use of both. bolas may be briefly described as three long leather thongs tied together at one end, and having a ball at the free end of each. on the pampas, these balls are as often as not simply stones tied up in bits of skin; but the bolas now bought by moncrieff were composed of shining metal, to prevent their being lost on the pampas. these bolas are waved round the heads of the horsemen hunters when chasing ostriches, or even pumas. as soon as the circular motion has given them impetus they are dexterously permitted to leave the hand at a tangent, and if well thrown go circling round the legs, or probably neck of the animal, and bring it to the ground by tripping it up, or strangling it. the lasso hardly needs any description. 'can you throw that thing well?' said dugald, his eyes sparkling with delight. 'i think i can,' replied moncrieff. 'come to the door and see me lasso a dog or something.' out we all went. 'oh!' cried dugald, exultingly, 'here comes little captain bombazo, walking on the other side of the street with my aunt. can you lasso him without hurting auntie?' 'i believe i can,' said moncrieff. 'stand by, and let's have a good try. whatever a man dares he can do. hoop là!' the cord left the scotchman's hand like a flash of lightning, and next moment bombazo, who at the time was smiling and talking most volubly, was fairly noosed. the boys in the street got up a cheer. bombazo jumped and struggled, but moncrieff stood his ground. 'he must come,' he said, and sure enough, greatly to the delight of the town urchins, moncrieff rounded in the slack of the rope and landed the captain most beautifully. 'ah! you beeg scot,' said bombazo, laughing good-humouredly. 'i would not care so mooch, if it were not for de lady.' 'oh, she won't miss you, bombazo.' 'on the contraire, she veel be inconsolabeel.' 'ha, ha, ha!' laughed moncrieff. 'what a tall opinion of yourself you have, my little friend!' bombazo drew himself up, but it hardly added an inch to his height, and nothing to his importance. saddles of the pampas pattern the semi-savage had also plenty of, and bridles too, and moncrieff gave a handsome order. a more respectable and highly civilized saddler's store was next visited, and real english gear was bought, including two charming ladies' saddles of the newest pattern, and a variety of rugs of various kinds. off we went next to a wholesale grocer's place. out came moncrieff's great note-book, and he soon gave evidence that he possessed a wondrous memory, and was a thorough man of business. he kept the shopman hard at it for half an hour, by which time one of the pyramids of egypt, on a small scale, was built upon the counter. [illustration: fairly noosed] 'now for the draper's, and then the chemist's,' said our friend. from the former--a scot, like himself--he bought a pile of goods of the better sort, but from their appearance all warranted to wear a hundred years. his visit to the druggist was of brief duration. 'is my medicine chest filled?' 'yes, sir, all according to your orders.' 'thanks; send it, and send the bill.' 'never mind about the bill, mr. moncrieff. you'll be down here again.' 'send the bill, all the same. and i say, mr. squills--' 'yes, sir.' 'don't forget to deduct the discount.' but moncrieff's shopping was not quite all over yet, and the last place he went to was a gunsmith's shop. and here i and my brothers learned a little about silver west shooting, and witnessed an exhibition that made us marvel. moncrieff, after most careful examination, bought half a dozen good rifles, and a dozen fowling pieces. it took him quite a long time to select these and the ammunition. 'you have good judgment, sir,' said the proprietor. 'i require it all,' said moncrieff. 'but now i'd look at some revolvers.' he was shown some specimens. 'toys--take them away.' he was shown others. 'toys again. have you nothing better?' 'there is nothing better made.' 'very well. your bill please. thanks.' 'if you'll wait one minute,' the shopkeeper said, 'i should feel obliged. my man has gone across the way to a neighbour gunsmith.' 'couldn't i go across the way myself?' 'no,' and the man smiled. 'i don't want to lose your custom.' 'your candour is charming. i'll wait.' in a few minutes the man returned with a big basket. 'ah! these are beauties,' cried moncrieff. 'now, can i try one or two?' 'certainly.' the man led the way to the back garden of the premises. against a wall a target was placed, and moncrieff loaded and took up his position. i noticed that he kept his elbow pretty near his side. then he slowly raised the weapon. crack--crack--crack! six times in all. 'bravo!' cried the shopkeeper. 'why, almost every shot has hit the spot.' moncrieff threw the revolver towards the man as if it had been a cricket-ball. 'take off the trigger,' he said. 'off the trigger, sir?' 'yes,' said moncrieff, quietly; 'i seldom use the trigger.' the man obeyed. then he handed back the weapon, which he had loaded. moncrieff looked one moment at the target, then the action of his arm was for all the world like that of throwing stones or cracking a whip. he seemed to bring the revolver down from his ear each time. bang--bang--bang! and not a bullet missed the bull's-eye. 'how is it done?' cried dugald, excitedly. 'i lift the hammer a little way with my thumb and let it go again as i get my aim--that is all. it is a rapid way of firing, but i don't advise you laddies to try it, or you may blow off your heads. besides, the aim, except in practised hands like mine, is not so accurate. to hit well it is better to raise the weapon. first fix your eye on your man's breast-button--if he has one--then elevate till you have your sight straight, and there you are, and there your indian is, or your "gaucho malo."' moncrieff pointed grimly towards the ground with his pistol as he spoke, and dugald gave a little shudder, as if in reality a dead man lay there. 'it is very simple, you see.' 'oh, mr. moncrieff,' said dugald, 'i never thought you were so terrible a man!' moncrieff laughed heartily, finished his purchases, ordering better cartridges, as these, he said, had been badly loaded, and made the weapon kick, and then we left the shop. 'now then, boys, i'm ready, and in two days' time hurrah for the silver west! between you and me, i'm sick of civilization.' and in two days' time, sure enough, we had all started. the train we were in was more like an american than an english one. we were in a very comfortable saloon, in which we could move about with freedom. moncrieff, as soon as we had rattled through the streets and found ourselves out in the green, cool country, was brimful of joy and spirits. aunt said he reminded her of a boy going off on a holiday. his wife, too, looked 'blithe' and cheerful, and nothing could keep his mother's tongue from wagging. bombazo made the old lady a capital second, while several other settlers who were going out with us--all scotch, by the way--did nothing but smile and wonder at all they saw. we soon passed away for a time beyond the region of trees into a rich green rolling country, which gave evidence of vast wealth, and sport too. of this latter fact dugald took good notice. 'oh, look!' he would cry, pointing to some wild wee lake. 'murdoch! donald! wouldn't you like to be at the lochside yonder, gun in hand?' and, sure enough, all kinds of feathered game were very plentiful. but after a journey of five hours we left the train, and now embarked on a passenger steamer, and so commenced our journey up the paraná. does not the very name sound musical? but i may be wrong, according to some, in calling the paraná beautiful, for the banks are not high; there are no wild and rugged mountains, nor even great forests; nevertheless, its very width, its silent moving power, and its majesticness give it a beauty in my eye that few rivers i know of possess. we gazed on it as the sunset lit up its wondrous waters till an island we were passing appeared to rise into the sky and float along in the crimson haze. we gazed on it again ere we retired for the night. the stars were now all out, and the river's dark bosom was studded here and there with ripples and buttons of light; but still it was silent, as if it hid some dark mysterious secret which it must tell only to the distant ocean. we slept very soundly this night, for the monotonous throb-throb of the engine's great pulse and the churning rush of the screw not only wooed us to slumber, but seemed to mingle even with our dreams. all night long, then, we were on the river, and nearly all next day as well. but the voyage appeared to my brothers and me to be all too short. we neared rosario about sunset, and at last cast anchor. but we did not land. we were too snug where we were, and the hotel would have had far fewer charms. to-night we had a little impromptu concert, for several of moncrieff's friends came on board, and, strange to say, they were nearly all scotch. so scotch was spoken, scotch songs were sung, and on deck, to the wild notes of the great bagpipes, scotch reels and strathspeys were danced. after that, 'the nicht drave on wi' songs and clatter,' till it was well into the wee short hours of the morning. at rosario we stopped for a day--more, i think, because moncrieff wished to give aunt and his young wife a chance of seeing the place than for any business reason. neither my brothers nor i were very much impressed by it, though it is a large and flourishing town, built somewhat on philadelphia principles, in blocks, and, like philadelphia, gridironed all over with tramway lines. it is a good thing one is able to get off the marble pavements into the cars without having far to go, for the streets are at times mere sloughs of despond. it is the same in all new countries. rosario lies in the midst of a flat but fertile country, on the banks of the paraná. the hotel where we lodged was quite oriental in its appearance, being built round a beautiful square, paved with marble, and adorned with the most lovely tropical shrubs, flowers, and climbing plants. there seems to be a flea in rosario, however--just one flea; but he is a most ubiquitous and a most insatiably blood-thirsty little person. the worst of it is that, night or day, you are never perfectly sure where he may be. it is no use killing him either--that is simply labour thrown away, for he appears to come to life again, and resumes his evil courses as merrily as before. fifty times a day did i kill that flea, and dugald said he had slain him twice as often; but even as dugald spoke i could have vowed the lively _pulex_ was thoroughly enjoying a draught of my highland blood inside my right sock. although none of our party shed tears as we mounted into the train, still the kindly hand-shakings and the hearty good-byes were affecting enough; and just as the train went puffing and groaning away from the station they culminated in one wild highland hurrah! repeated three times thrice, and augmented by the dissonance of a half-ragged crew of urchins, who must needs wave their arms aloft and shout, without the faintest notion what it was all about. we were now _en route_ for cordoba, westward ho! by frayle muerto and villa neuva. chapter x. a journey that seems like a dream. it was towards sunset on the day we had left rosario, and we had made what our guard called a grand run, though to us it was a somewhat tedious one. moncrieff had tucked his mother up in the plaid, and she had gone off to sleep on the seat 'as gentle as "ewe lammie,"' according to her son. my aunt and the young bride were quietly talking together, and i myself was in that delightful condition called "twixt sleeping and waking,' when suddenly dugald, who had been watching everything from the window, cried, 'oh, donald, look here. what a lovely changing cloud!' had moncrieff not been busy just then--very earnestly busy indeed--discussing the merits of some sample packets of seeds with one of his new men, he might have come at once and explained the mystery. it was indeed a lovely cloud, and it lay low on the north-western horizon. but we had never before seen so strange a cloud, for not only did it increase in length and breadth more rapidly than do most clouds, but it caught the sun's parting rays in quite a marvellous manner. when first we looked at it the colour throughout was a bluish purple; suddenly it changed to a red with resplendent border of fiery orange. next it collapsed, getting broader and rounder, and becoming a dark blue, almost approaching to black, while the border beneath was orange-red. but the glowing magnificence of the colour it is impossible to describe in words; and the best artist would have failed to reproduce it even were he ten times a turner. at this moment, and just as the cloud was becoming elongated again, moncrieff came to our side. his usually bright face fell at once as soon as he glanced at it. 'locusts!' he almost gasped the word out. 'locusts!' was re-echoed from every corner of the carriage; and immediately all eyes were strained in the direction of our 'lofty golden cloud.' as we approached nearer to it, and it came nearer to us, even the light from the setting sun was obscured, and in a short time we were in the cloud, and apparently part of it. it had become almost too dark to see anything inside our carriage, owing to that dense and awful fog of insect life. we quickly closed the windows, for the loathsome insects were now pattering against the glass, and many had already obtained admittance, much to the horror of young mrs. moncrieff, though aunt took matters easy enough, having seen such sights before. the train now slowly came to a standstill. something--no one appeared to know what--had happened on ahead of us, and here we must wait till the line was clear. even moncrieff's mother had awakened, and was looking out with the rest of us. 'dearie me! dearie me!' she exclaimed. 'a shower o' golochs! the very licht o' day darkened wi' the fu'some craiters. ca' you this a land o' milk and honey? egyptian darkness and showers o' golochs!' we descended and walked some little distance into the country, and the sight presented to our astonished gaze i, for one, will not forget to my dying day. the locusts were still around us, but were bearing away southward, having already devastated the fields in this vicinity. but they fell in hundreds and thousands around us; they struck against our hands, our faces, and hats; they got into our sleeves, and even into our pockets; and we could not take a step without squashing them under foot. only an hour before we had been passing through a country whose green fertility was something to behold once and dream about for ever. evidence of wealth and contentment had been visible on all sides. beautiful, home-looking, comfortable _estancias_ and out-buildings, fat, sleek cattle and horses, and flocks of beautiful sheep, with feathered fowls of every description. but here, though there were not wanting good farmsteadings, all was desolation and threatened famine; hardly a green blade or leaf was left, and the woebegone looks of some of the people we met wandering aimlessly about, dazed and almost distracted, were pitiful to behold. i was not sorry when a shriek from the engine warned us that it was time to retrace our slippery footsteps. 'is this a common occurrence?' i could not help asking our friend moncrieff. he took me kindly by the arm as he replied, 'it's a depressing sight to a youngster, i must allow; but we should not let our thoughts dwell on it. sometimes the locusts are a terrible plague, but they manage to get over even that. come in, and we'll light up the saloon.' for hours after this the pattering continued at the closed windows, showing that the shower of golochs had not yet ceased to fall. but with lights inside, the carriage looked comfortable and cheerful enough, and when presently moncrieff got out bombazo's guitar and handed it to him, and that gentleman began to sing, we soon got happy again, and forgot even the locusts--at least, all but moncrieff's mother did. she had gone to sleep in a corner, but sometimes we heard her muttering to herself, in her dreams, about the 'land o' promise,' 'showers of golochs,' and 'egyptian darkness.' the last thing i remember as i curled up on the floor of the saloon, with a saddle for a pillow and a rug round me--for the night had grown bitterly cold--was bombazo's merry face as he strummed on his sweet guitar and sang of tresses dark, and love-lit eyes, and sunny spain. this was a delightful way of going to sleep; the awakening was not quite so pleasant, however, for i opened my eyes only to see a dozen of the ugly 'golochs' on my rug, and others asquat on the saddle, washing their faces as flies do. i got up and went away to wash mine. the sun was already high in the heavens, and on opening a window and looking out, i found we were passing through a woodland country, and that far away in the west were rugged hills. surely, then, we were nearing the end of our journey. i asked our mentor moncrieff, and right cheerily he replied, 'yes, my lad, and we'll soon be in cordoba now.' this visit of ours to cordoba was in reality a little pleasure trip, got up for the special delectation of our aunt and young mrs. moncrieff. it formed part and parcel of the scotchman's honeymoon, which, it must be allowed, was a very chequered one. if the reader has a map handy he will find the name villa maria thereon, a place lying between rosario and cordoba. this was our station, and there we had left all heavy baggage, including moncrieff's people. on our return we should once more resume travelling together westward still by mercedes. and thence to our destination would be by far and away the most eventful portion of the journey. 'look out,' continued moncrieff, 'and behold the rugged summits of the grand old hills.' 'and these are the sierras?' 'these are the sierras; and doesn't the very sight of mountains once again fill your heart with joy? don't you want to sing and jump--' 'and call aloud for joy,' said his mother, who had come up to have a peep over our shoulders. 'dearie me,' she added, 'they're no half so bonny and green as the braes o' foudland.' 'ah! mither, wait till you get to our beautiful home in mendoza. ye'll be charmed wi' a' you see.' 'i wish,' i said, 'i was half as enthusiastic as you are, moncrieff.' 'you haven't been many days in the silver land. wait, lad, wait! when once you've fairly settled and can feel at home, man, you'll think the time as short as pleasure itself. days and weeks flee by like winking, and every day and every week brings its own round o' duty to perform. and all the time you'll be makin' money as easy as makin' slates.' 'money isn't everything,' i said. 'no, lad, money isn't everything; but money is a deal in this wo_rrr_ld, and we mustn't forget that money puts the power in our hands to do others good, and that i think is the greatest pleasure of a'. and you know, murdoch, that if god does put talents in our hands he expects us to make use of them.' 'true enough, moncrieff,' i said. 'see, see! that is cordoba down in the hollow yonder, among the hills. look, mither! see how the domes and steeples sparkle in the mornin's sunshine. yonder dome is the cathedral, and further off you see the observatory, and maybe, mither, you'll have a peep through a telescope that will bring the moon so near to you that you'll be able to see the good folks thereon ploughin' fields and milkin' kye.' we stayed at cordoba for four days. i felt something of the old pleasant languor of rio stealing over me again as i lounged about the handsome streets, gazed on the ancient churches and convent, and its world-renowned university, or climbed its _barranca_, or wandered by the rio balmeiro, and through the lovely and romantic suburbs. in good sooth, cordoba is a dreamy old place, and i felt better for being in it. the weather was all in our favour also, being dry, and neither hot nor cold, although it was now winter in these regions. i was sorry to leave cordoba, and so i feel sure was aunt, and even old jenny. then came the journey back to villa maria, and thence away westward to villa mercedes. the railway to the latter place had not long been opened. it seems all like a beautiful halo--that railway ride to the _ultima thule_ of the iron horse--and, like a dream, it is but indistinctly remembered. let me briefly catch the salient points of this pleasant journey. villa maria we reach in the evening. the sun is setting in a golden haze; too golden, for it bodes rain, and presently down it comes in a steady pour, changing the dust of the roads into the stickiest of mud, and presently into rivers. moncrieff is here, there, and everywhere, seeing after his manifold goods and chattels; but just as the short twilight is deepening into night, he returns 'dressed and dry,' as he calls it, to the snug little room of the inn, where a capital dinner is spread for us, and we are all hungry. even old jenny, forgetting her troubles and travels, makes merry music with knife and fork, and bombazo is all smiles and chatter. it rains still; what of that? it will drown the mosquitoes and other flying 'jerlies.' it is even pleasant to listen to the rattle of the rain-drops during the few lulls there were in the conversation. the sound makes the room inside seem ever so much more cosy. besides, there is a fire in the grate, and, to add to our enjoyment, bombazo has his guitar. even the landlord takes the liberty of lingering in the room, standing modestly beside the door, to listen. it is long, he tells us, since he has had so cheerful a party at his house. aileen, as moncrieff calls his pretty bride, is not long in discovering that the innkeeper hails from her own sweet isle of sorrow, and many friendly questions are asked on both sides. bed at last. a bright morning, the sun coming up red and rosy through an ocean of clouds more gorgeous than ever yet was seen in tame old england. we are all astir very early. we are all merry and hungry. farewells are said, and by and by off we rattle. the train moves very slowly at first, but presently warms to her work and settles down to it. we catch a glimpse of a town some distance off, and nearer still the silver gleam of a river reflecting the morning sun. by and by we are on the river bridge, and over it, and so on and away through an open pampa. such, at least, i call it. green swelling land all around, with now and then a lake or loch swarming with web-footed fowl, the sight of which makes dugald's eyes water. we pass station after station, stopping at all. more woods, more pampa; thriving fields and fertile lands; _estancias_, flocks of sheep, herds of happy cattle. a busy, bustling railway station, with as much noise around it as we find at clapham junction; another river--the rio cuarto, if my memory does not play me false; pampas again, with hills in the distance. wine and water-melons at a station; more wine and more water-melons at another. after this i think i fall asleep, and i wonder now if the wine and the water-melons had anything to do with that. i awake at last and rub my eyes. bombazo is also dozing; so is old jenny. old jenny is a marvel to sleep. dugald is as bright as a humming bird; he says i have lost a sight. 'what was the sight?' 'oh, droves upon droves of real wild horses, wilder far than our ponies at coila.' i close my eyes again. dear old coila! i wish dugald had not mentioned the word. it takes me back again in one moment across the vast and mighty ocean we have crossed to our home, to father, mother, and flora. before long we are safe at villa mercedes. not much to see here, and the wind blows cold from west and south. we are not going to lodge in the town, however. we are independent of inns, if there are any, and independent of everything. we are going under canvas. already our pioneers have the camp ready in a piece of ground sheltered by a row of lordly poplars; and to-morrow morning we start by road for the far interior. * * * * * another glorious morning! there is a freshness in the air which almost amounts to positive cold, and reminds one of a november day in scotland. bombazo calls it bitterly cold, and my aunt has distributed guanaco ponchos to us, and has adorned herself with her own. yes, adorned is the right word to apply to auntie's own travelling toilet; but we brothers think we look funny in ours, and laugh at each other in turn. moncrieff sticks to the highland plaid, but the sight of a guanaco poncho to old jenny does, i verily believe, make her the happiest old lady in all the silver land. she is mounted in the great canvas-covered waggon, which is quite a caravan in every respect. it has even windows in the sides and real doorways, and is furnished inside with real sofas and indian-made chairs, to say nothing of hammocks and tables and a stove. this caravan is drawn by four beautiful horses, and will be our sitting-room and dining-room by day, and the ladies' boudoir and bedroom for some time to come. away we rattle westwards, dozens of soldiers, half-bred chilians, gauchos, and a crowd of dark-eyed but dirty children, giving us a ringing cheer as we start. what a cavalcade it is, to be sure! waggons, drays, carts, mules, and horses. all our imported scotchmen are riding, and glorious fellows they look. each has a rifle slung across his shoulder, belts and sheath knives, and broad sombrero hat. the giant moncrieff himself is riding, and looks to me the bravest of the brave. i and each of my brothers have undertaken to drive a cart or waggon, and we feel men from hat to boots, and as proud all over as a cock with silver spurs. we soon leave behind us those tall, mysterious-looking poplar trees. so tall are they that, although when we turned out not a breath of wind was blowing on the surface of the ground, away aloft their summits were waving gently to and fro, with a whispering sound, as if they were talking to unseen spirits in the sky. we leave even the _estancias_ behind. we are out now on the lonesome rolling plain. here and there are woods; away, far away, behind us are the jagged summits of the everlasting hills. by and by the diligence, a strange-looking rattle-trap of a coach--a ghost of a coach, i might call it--goes rattling and swaying past us. its occupants raise a feeble cheer, to which we respond with a three times three; for we seem to like to hear our voices. after this we feel more alone than ever. on and on and on we jog. the road is broad and fairly good; our waggons have broad wheels; this retards our speed, but adds to our comfort and that of the mules and horses. before very long we reach a broad river, and in we plunge, the horsemen leading the van, with the water up to their saddle-girths. i give the reins of my team to my attendant gaucho, and, running forward, jump on board the caravan to keep the ladies company while we fight the ford. but the ladies are in no way afraid; they are enjoying themselves in the front of the carriage, which is open. old jenny is in an easy-chair and buried to the nose in her guanaco robe. she is muttering something to herself, and as i bend down to listen i can catch the words: 'dearie me! dearie me! when'll ever we reach the land o' promise? egyptian darkness! showers of golochs! chariots and horsemen! dearie me! dearie me!' but we are over at last, and our whole cavalcade looks sweeter and fresher for the bath. presently we reach a corral, where two men beckon to moncrieff. they are wild and uncouth enough in all conscience; their baggy breeches and ponchos are in sad need of repair, and a visit to a barber would add to the respectability of their appearance. they look excited, wave their arms, and point southwards. but they talk in a strange jargon, and there are but two words intelligible to me. these, however, are enough to set my heart throbbing with a strange feeling of uneasiness i never felt before. '_los indios! los indios!_' moncrieff points significantly to his armed men and smiles. the gauchos wave their arms in the air, rapidly opening and shutting their hands in a way that to me is very mysterious. and so they disappear. chapter xi. the tragedy at the fonda. i could not help wondering, as i glanced at aunt whether she had heard and understood the meaning of those wild gauchos' warning. if she did she made no sign. but aunt is a m'crimman, and the sister of a bold highland chief. she would not _show_ fear even if she _felt_ it. yes, the brave may feel fear, but the coward alone is influenced by it. old jenny had gone to sleep, so i said good-bye to aunt, nodded to aileen, and went back to my waggon once more. we made good progress that day, though we did not hurry. we stopped to feed our cattle, and to rest and feed ourselves. the jolting had been terrible on some parts of the road. but now the sun was getting very low indeed, and as we soon came to a piece of high, hard ground, with a view of the country round us for miles, we determined to bivouac for the night. the horses and mules were hobbled and turned off to graze under the charge of sentry gauchos. no fear of their wandering off far. they were watered not an hour ago, and would be fresh by daybreak. now, moncrieff had been too long in the wilds to neglect precautions while camping out. i had taken an early opportunity to-day to interview our leader concerning the report that indians were abroad. 'ah!' he answered, 'you heard and understood what that half-breed said, then?' 'just a word or two. he appeared to give us a warning of some kind. is it of any account?' 'well, there's always some water where the stirkie drowns; there's always some fire where you see smoke; and it is better to be sure than sorry.' i could elicit no more information from my canny countryman than that. i said nothing to any one, not even my brothers. why should i cause them the slightest alarm, and speak a word that might tend to make them sleep less soundly? however, as soon as the halt was made, i was glad to see that moncrieff took every precaution against a surprise. the caravan was made the centre of a square, the waggons being 'laggered' around it. the fire was lit and the dinner cooked close beside a sheltering _barranca_, and as soon as this meal was discussed the fire was extinguished. 'then came still evening on,' and we all gathered together for prayer. even the gauchos were summoned, though i fear paid but little attention, while moncrieff, standing bare-headed in the midst of us, read a chapter from the book by the pale yellow light of the western sky. then, still standing-- 'brothers, let us pray,' he said. erect there, with the twilight shadows falling around him, with open eyes and face turned skywards, with the sunset's after-glow falling on his hard but comely features, his plaid depending from his broad shoulders, i could not help admiring the man. his prayer--and it was but brief--had all the trusting simplicity of a little child's, yet it was in every way the prayer of a man communing with his god; in every tone thereof was breathed belief, reliance, gratitude, and faith in the father. as he finished, dugald pressed my arm and pointed eastwards, smiling. a star had shone out from behind a little cloud, and somehow it seemed to me as if it were an angel's eye, and that it would watch over us all the live-long night. our evening service concluded with that loveliest of hymns, commencing-- 'o god of bethel, by whose hand thy children still are fed; who through this weary wilderness hath all our fathers led.' he gave it out in the old scotch way, two lines at a time, and to the tune 'martyrdom.' it was surely appropriate to our position and our surroundings, especially that beautiful verse-- 'oh, spread thy covering wings around, till all our wanderings cease, and at our father's loved abode our souls arrive in peace.' we now prepared for rest. the sentries were set, and in a short time all was peace and silence within our camp. more than once during the night the collies--dogs brought out by moncrieff's men--gave an uneasy bark or two, their slumbers being probably disturbed by the cry of some night bird, or the passing of a prowling fox. so, wrapped in our guanaco robes--the benefit of which we felt now--my brothers and i slept sweetly and deeply till the sun once more rose in the east. soon all was bustle and stir again. thus were our days spent on the road, thus our evenings, and eke our nights. and at the end of some days we were still safe and sound, and happy. no one sick in the camp; no horse or mule even lame; while we were all hardening to travel already. so far, hardly anything had happened to break the even tenour of our journey. our progress, however, with so much goods and chattels, and over such roads, was necessarily slow; yet we never envied the lumbering diligence that now and then went rattling past us. we saw many herds of wild horses. some of these, led by beautiful stallions, came quite close to us. they appeared to pity our horses and mules, condemned to the shafts and harness, and compelled to work their weary lives away day after day. our beasts were slaves. they were free--free as the breezes that blew over the pampas and played with their long manes, as they went thundering over the plains. we had seen several ostriches, and my brothers and i had enjoyed a wild ride or two after them. once we encountered a puma, and once we saw an armadillo. we had never clapped eyes on a living specimen before, but there could be no mistaking the gentleman in armour. not that he gave us much time for study, however. probably the creature had been asleep as we rounded the corner of a gravel bank, but in one moment he became alive to his danger. next moment we saw nothing but a rising cloud of dust and sand; lo! the armadillo was gone to the antipodes, or somewhere in that direction--buried alive. probably the speed with which an armadillo--there are several different species in the silver west--disappears at the scent of any one belonging to the _genus homo_, is caused by the decided objection he has to be served up as a side-dish. he is excellent eating--tender as a chicken, juicy as a sucking-pig, but the honour of being roasted whole and garnished is one he does not crave. riding on ahead one day--i had soon got tired of the monotony of driving, and preferred the saddle--at a bend of the road i came suddenly upon two horsemen, who had dismounted and were lying on a patch of sward by the roadside. their horses stood near. both sprang up as i appeared, and quick as lightning their hands sought the handles of the ugly knives that depended in sheaths from their girdles. at this moment there was a look in the swarthy face of each that i can only describe as diabolical. hatred, ferocity, and cunning were combined in that glance; but it vanished in a moment, and the air assumed by them now was one of cringing humility. 'the gaucho malo,' i said to myself as soon as i saw them. their horses were there the nobler animals. bitted, bridled, and saddled, the latter were in the manner usual to the country, the saddle looking like a huge hillock of skins and rags; but rifles were slung alongside, to say nothing of bolas and lasso. the dress of the men was a kind of nondescript garb. shawls round the loins, tucked up between their legs and fastened with a girdle, did duty as breeches; their feet were encased in _potro_ boots, made of the hock-skin of horses, while over their half-naked shoulders hung ponchos of skin, not without a certain amount of wild grace. something else as well as his rifle was lashed to the saddle of one of these desert gipsies, and being new to the country, i could not help wondering at this--namely, a guitar in a case of skin. with smiles that i knew were false one now beckoned me to alight, while the other unslung the instrument and began to tune it. the caravan must have been fully two miles behind me, so that to some extent i was at the mercy of these gauchos, had they meant mischief. this was not their plan of campaign, however. having neighed in recognition of the other horses, my good nag stood as still as a statue; while, with my eyes upon the men and my hand within easy distance of my revolver, i listened to their music. one sang while the other played, and i must confess that the song had a certain fascination about it, and only the thought that i was far from safe prevented me from thoroughly enjoying it. i knew, as if by instinct, however, that the very fingers that were eliciting those sweet sad tones were itching to clutch my throat, and that the voice that thrilled my senses could in a moment be changed into a tiger yell, with which men like these spring upon their human prey. on the whole i felt relieved when the rumble of the waggon wheels fell once more on my ears. i rode back to meet my people, and presently a halt was made for the midday feed. if aunt desired to feast her eyes on the gaucho malo she had now a chance. they played to her, sang to her, and went through a kind of wild dance for her especial delectation. 'what romantic and beautiful blackguards they are!' was the remark she made to moncrieff. moncrieff smiled, somewhat grimly, i thought. 'it's no' for nought the cland[ ] whistles,' he said in his broadest, canniest accents. these gauchos were hunting, they told moncrieff. had they seen any indians about? no, no, not an indian. the indians were far, far south. aunt gave them some garments, food, and money; and, with many bows and salaams, they mounted their steeds and went off like the wind. i noticed that throughout the remainder of the day moncrieff was unusually silent, and appeared to wish to be alone. towards evening he beckoned to me. 'we'll ride on ahead,' he said, 'and look for a good bit of camping-ground.' then away we both went at a canter, but in silence. we rode on and on, the ground rising gently but steadily, until we stopped at last on a high plateau, and gazed around us at the scene. a more bleak and desolate country it would be impossible to imagine. one vast and semi-desert plain, the eye relieved only by patches of algarrobo bushes, or little lakes of water. far ahead of us the cone of a solitary mountain rose on the horizon, and towards this the sun was slowly declining. away miles in our rear were the waggons and horses struggling up the hill. but silence as deep as death was everywhere. moncrieff stretched his arm southwards. 'what do you see yonder, murdo?' he said. 'i see,' i replied, after carefully scanning the rolling plain, 'two ostriches hurrying over the pampas.' 'those are not ostriches, boy. they are those same villain gauchos, and they are after no good. i tell you this, that you may be prepared for anything that may happen to-night. but look,' he added, turning his horse's head; 'down here is a corral, and we are sure to find water.' we soon reached it. somewhat to our surprise we found no horses anywhere about, and no sign of life around the little inn or _fonda_ except one wretched-looking dog. as we drew up at the door and listened the stillness felt oppressive. moncrieff shouted. no human voice responded; but the dog, seated on his haunches, gave vent to a melancholy howl. 'look,' i said, 'the dog's paws are red with blood. he is wounded.' 'it isn't _his_ blood, boy.' the words thrilled me. i felt a sudden fear at my heart, born perhaps of the death-like stillness. ah! it was indeed a death-like stillness, and the stillness of death itself as well. moncrieff dismounted. i followed his example, and together we entered the _fonda_. we had not advanced a yard when we came on an awesome sight--the dead body of a gaucho! it lay on its back with the arms spread out, the face hacked to pieces, and gashes in the neck. the interior of the hut was a chaos of wild confusion, the little furniture there was smashed, and evidently everything of value had been carried away. half buried in the _débris_ was the body of a woman, and near it that of a child. both were slashed and disfigured, while pools of blood lay everywhere about. young though i was, i had seen death before in several shapes, but never anything so ghastly and awful as this. a cold shudder ran through my frame and seemed to pierce to the very marrow of my bones. i felt for a few moments as if in some dreadful nightmare, and i do not hesitate to confess that, m'crimman and all as i am, had those gauchos suddenly appeared now in the doorway, i could not have made the slightest resistance to their attack. i should have taken my death by almost rushing on the point of their terrible knives. but moncrieff's calm earnest voice restored me in a moment. at its tones i felt raised up out of my coward self, and prepared to face anything. 'murdoch,' he said, 'this is a time for calm thought and action.' 'yes,' i answered; 'bid me do anything, and i will do it. but come out of this awful place. i--i feel a little faint.' together we left the blood-stained _fonda_, moncrieff shutting the door behind him. 'no other eye must look in there,' he said. 'now, murdoch, listen.' he paused, and i waited; his steadfast eyes bent on my face. 'you are better now? you are calm, and no longer afraid?' 'i am no longer afraid.' 'well, i can trust _you_, and no one else. led by those evil fiends whom we saw to-day, the indians will be on us to-night in force. i will prepare to give them a warm reception--' 'and i will assist,' i hastened to say. 'no, murdoch, you will not be here to help us at the commencement. i said the indians would attack in _force_, because they know our numbers. those _malo_ men have been spying on us when we little thought it. they know our strength to a gun, and they will come in a cloud that nothing can withstand, or that nothing could withstand in the open. but we will entrench and defend ourselves till your return.' 'my return!' 'twelve miles from here,' he went on, 'is a fort. it contains two officers and over a score soldiers. in two hours it will be dusk, in an hour after that the moon rises. 'twixt twilight and moonrise you must ride to that fort and bring assistance. depend upon it, we can defend ourselves till you come with your men, and you must attack the savages in the rear. you understand?' 'perfectly. but had i not better ride away at once?' 'no, the indians would waylay you. you never would reach the frontier fort. even if you did escape from the chase, the knowledge that the troops were coming would prevent them from attacking to-night.' 'and you want them to attack to-night?' 'i wish them to attack to-night. we may never be able to give a good account of them again, but all depends on your success.' in a short time the first waggons came up. they would have stopped, but moncrieff beckoned them onwards. when the last waggon had gone we mounted our horses and slowly followed. at a stream not far distant we watered, and once more continued our journey. the road now rose rapidly, till in half an hour we were on high ground, and here the halt was made. i could breathe more easily now we had left that blood-stained hollow, though well i knew the sight i had witnessed would not leave my thoughts for years to come. everything was done as quietly and orderly as if no cloud were hovering over us, so soon to burst. the big fire was lit as usual, supper cooked, prayers said, and the fire also lit in the ladies' caravan, for the nights were cold and raw now. the night began to fall. moncrieff and i had kept our secret to ourselves hitherto, but we could no longer conceal from any one that there was danger in the air. yet the news seemed to astonish no one, not even aunt. 'dear brother,' she said to our leader, 'i read it in your face all the afternoon.' it was almost dusk now, and work was commenced in earnest. spades were got out, and every man worked like a slave to entrench the whole position. the strength that i was to leave behind me was seven-and-twenty men all told, but this included ten gauchos. nevertheless, behind trenches, with plenty of guns, revolvers, and ammunition, they were powerful enough to defend the position against hundreds of badly-armed indians. not far off was a patch of wood which stretched downwards into a rocky ravine. luckily it lay on the north side of the road, and hither, as soon as it was dark enough, every horse and mule was led and secured to the trees. nor even in this extremity of danger were their wants forgotten, for grass mixed with grains was placed in front of each. my horse was now led round. each hoof was encased in a new and strong _potro_ boot, secured by thongs around the legs. 'you must neither be heard nor seen,' said moncrieff, as he pointed to these. 'now, good-night, boy; god be wi' ye, and with us all!' 'amen!' i responded, earnestly. then away i rode in silence, through the starlight; but as i looked back to the camp my heart gave an uneasy throb. should i ever see them alive again? ----- [ ] cland, a kind of hawk. chapter xii. attack by pampa indians. so lonesome a ride in the darkness of night, through a country wild and bleak, with danger lurking perhaps on either side of me, might easily have daunted a bolder heart than mine. something of the unspeakable feeling of dread i had experienced in the _fonda_ while surrounded by those awful corpses came back to me now. i tried to banish it, but failed. my nervousness became extreme, and appeared to increase rather than diminish as i left the camp farther and farther behind me. it was almost a superstitious fear that had gotten possession of my soul. it was fear of the unseen; and even at this distance of time i can only say i would willingly face death in open day a hundred times over rather than endure for an hour the terrors i suffered that night. every bush i saw i took for a figure lurking by the roadside, while solitary trees i had to pass assumed the form and shape and even movement of an enemy on horseback riding silently down to meet me. again and again i clutched my revolver, and even now i cannot tell what power prevented me from firing at my phantom foes. over and over again i reined up to listen, and at such times the wind whispering through the tall grass sounded to me like human voices, while the cry of birds that now and then rose startlingly close to me, made my heart beat with a violence that in itself was painful. sometimes i closed my eyes, and gave the horse his head, trying to carry my thoughts back to the lights of the camp, or forward to the fort which i hoped soon to reach. i had ridden thus probably five good miles, when i ventured to look behind me, and so great had been the strain on my nerves that the sight i now witnessed almost paralyzed me. it was the reflection as of a great fire on the brow of the hill where my people were beleaguered. 'the camp is already attacked, and in flames,' i muttered. whither should i ride now--backwards or forwards? while i yet hesitated the flames appeared to wax fiercer and fiercer, till presently--oh, joy!--a big round moon gradually shook itself clear of a cloud and began slowly to climb the eastern sky. all fear fled now. i muttered a prayer of thankfulness, dashed the spurs into my good horse's sides, and went on at the gallop. the time seemed short after this, and almost before i knew i came right upon the fort, and was challenged by the sentry. '_amigo!_' i yelled. '_amigo! angleese!_' i dare say i was understood, for soon after lights appeared on the ramparts, and i was hailed again, this time in english, or for what passed as english. i rode up under the ramparts, and quickly told my tale. in ten minutes more i was received within the fort. a tumble-down place i found it, but i was overjoyed to be in it, nevertheless. in the principal room most of the men were playing games, and smoking and talking, while the commandant himself lounged about with a cigarette in his mouth. he considered for a minute or two--an age it appeared to me--ere he answered. yes; he would come, and take with him fifteen soldiers, leaving the rest to guard the fort. i could have embraced him, so joyful did i feel on hearing these words. how long would he be? one hour, no more. for arms had to be cleaned, and ammunition to be got ready; and the men must feed. a whole hour! no wonder i sighed and looked anxious. why, every minute was precious to my poor beleaguered friends. it would be long past midnight ere i reached the camp again, for these men would not be mounted. yet i saw the good little commander was doing his best, not only to expedite matters, but to treat me with kindness and hospitality. he brought forth food and wine, and forced me to eat and drink. i did so to please him; but when he proposed a game to pass the time, i began to think the man was crazed. he was not. no; but possessed a soldierly virtue which i could not boast of--namely, patience. * * * * * the work of entrenchment was soon completed after my departure; then there was nothing more to be done except to appoint the men to their quarters, place sentinels on the highest of the waggons, and wait. ah, but this waiting is a weary thing under circumstances like the present--waiting and watching, not knowing from what quarter the attack will come, what form it will take, or when it will commence. except in the chief caravan itself, where moncrieff and donald sat for a time to keep up the hearts of the ladies, no lights were lit. there was no singing to-night, hardly a smile on any face, and no one spoke much above a whisper. poor old jenny had gone to sleep, as usual. 'wake me,' had been her last words. 'wake me, laddie, when the philistines are upon us.' 'the old lady's a marvel!' moncrieff had whispered to aunt. moncrieff was doing all he could to keep conversation alive, though, strange to say, bombazo seldom spoke. surely he could not be afraid. moncrieff had his suspicions. brave as my aunt was, the waiting made her nervous. 'hark!' she would say every now and then; or, 'listen! what was that?' 'only the cry of a burrowing owl,' moncrieff might have to answer; or, 'only the yap of a prowling fox.' oh, the waiting, the weary waiting! the moon rose at last, and presently it was almost as light as day. 'will they come soon, think you?' whispered poor aileen. 'no, darling; not for hours yet. believe me there is no danger. we are well prepared.' 'oh, alec, alec!' she answered, bursting into tears; 'it is you i fear for, not myself. let me go with you when they come. i would not then be afraid; but waiting here--oh, it is the waiting that takes all the heart out of me.' 'egyptian darkness!' murmured the old lady in her sleep. then in louder, wilder key, 'smite them!' she exclaimed. 'smite this host of the philistines from gideon to gaza.' 'dear old mither, she's dreaming,' said moncrieff. 'but, oh, we'll laugh at all this by to-morrow night, aileen, my darling.' one hour, two hours went slowly, painfully past. the moon mounted higher and higher, and shone clearer and clearer, but not yet on all the plains were there signs of a mounted indian. yet even at that moment, little though our people knew it, swarthy forms were creeping stealthily through the pampas grass, with spears and guns at trail, pausing often to glance towards the camp they meant so soon to surprise and capture. the moon gets yet brighter. moncrieff is watching. shading his eyes from the light, he is gazing across the marsh and listening to every sound. not a quarter of a mile away is a little marshy lake. from behind it for several minutes he has heard mournful cries. they proceed from the burrowing owls; but they must have been startled! they even fly towards the camp, as if to give warning of the approach of the swarthy foe. suddenly from the edge of the lake a sound like the blast of a trumpet is heard; another and another, and finally a chorus of trumpet notes; and shortly after a flock of huge flamingoes are seen wheeling in the moonlit air. 'it is as i thought,' says moncrieff; 'they are creeping through the grass. hurry round, dugald, and call the men quietly to quarters.' moncrieff himself, rifle in hand, climbs up to the top of the waggon. 'go down now,' he tells the sentry. 'i mean to fire the first shot.' he lies down to wait and watch. no bloodhound could have a better eye. presently he sees a dark form raise itself near a tussock of grass. there is a sharp report, and the figure springs into the air, then falls dead on the pampas. no need for the foe to conceal themselves any longer. with a wild and unearthly scream, that the very earth itself seems to re-echo, they spring from their hiding and advance at the double towards the fort--for fort it is now. as they come yelling on they fire recklessly towards it. they might as well fire in the air. moncrieff's bold doric is heard, and to some purpose, at this juncture. 'keep weel down, men! keep weel to cove_rrr_! fire never a shot till he has the o_rr_der. let every bullet have its billet. ready! fire-_r_-_r_-_r_!' moncrieff rattled out the _r_'s indefinitely, and the rifles rattled out at the same time. so well aimed was the volley that the dark cloud seemed staggered. the savages wavered for a time, but on they came again, redoubling their yells. they fired again, then, dropping their guns, rushed on towards the breastwork spears in hand. it was thus that the conflict commenced in dread earnest, and the revolvers now did fearful execution. the indians were hurled back again and again, and finally they broke and sought cover in the bush. their wounded lay writhing and crying out close beneath the rampart, and among these were also many who would never move more in this world. on seeing the savages take to the bush, moncrieff's anxiety knew no bounds. the danger of their discovering the horses was extreme. and if they did so, revenge would speedily follow defeat. they would either drive them away across the pampas, or in their wrath slaughter them where they stood. what was to be done to avert so great a catastrophe? a forlorn hope was speedily formed, and this my two brothers volunteered to lead. on the first shout heard down in the hollow--indicating the finding of our horses--donald, dugald, and fifteen men were to rush out and turn the flank of the swarthy army if they could, or die in the attempt. meanwhile, however, the enemy appeared bent on trying cunning and desperate tactics. they were heard cutting down the bushes and smaller trees, and not long afterwards it looked as if the whole wood was advancing bodily up towards the breastwork on that side. a rapid and no doubt effective fire was now kept up by moncrieff and his men. this delayed the terrible _dénoûment_, but it was soon apparent that if some more strategic movement was not made on our part it could not wholly thwart it. at all hazards that advancing wood must be checked, else the horrors of fire would be the prelude to one of the most awful massacres that ever took place on the lonely pampas. 'how is the wind?' asked moncrieff, as if speaking to himself. 'it blows from the wood towards the camp,' said dugald, 'but not quite in a line. see, i am ready to rush out and fire that pile.' 'no, dugald,' cried donald; 'i am the elder--i will go.' 'brother, i spoke first.' 'yes,' said moncrieff, quietly, 'dugald must go, and go now. take five men, ten if you want them.' 'five will do--five gauchos,' said dugald. it was wise of dugald to choose gauchos. if the truth must be told, however, he did so to spare more valuable lives. but these wild plainsmen are the bravest of the brave, and are far better versed in the tactics of indian warfare than any white man could be. dugald's plan would have been to issue out and make a bold rush across the open space of seventy and odd yards that intervened between the moving pile of brushwood and the camp. had this been done, every man would have been speared ere he got half across. the preparations for the sally were speedily made. each man had a revolver and knife in his belt, and carried in his hands matches, a bundle of _pob_ (or tarred yarn), and a small cask of petroleum oil. they issued from the side of the camp farthest from the wood, and, crawling on their faces, took advantage of every tussock of grass, waving thistle, or hemlock bush in their way. meanwhile a persistent fire was kept up from behind the breastwork, which, from the screams and yells proceeding from the savages, must have been doing execution. presently, close behind the bush and near the ground, moncrieff could see dugald's signal, the waving of a white handkerchief, and firing immediately ceased. almost immediately afterwards smoke and flames ran all along the wood and increased every moment. there was a smart volley of revolver firing, and in a minute more dugald and his gauchos were safe again within the fort. 'stand by now, lads, to defend the ramparts!' cried moncrieff; 'the worst is yet to come.' the worst was indeed to come. for under cover of the smoke the indians now made ready for their final assault. in the few minutes of silence that elapsed before the attack, the voice of a gaucho malo was heard haranguing his men in language that could not but inflame their blood and passions. he spoke of the riches, the wealth of the camp, of the revenge they were going to have on the hated white man who had stolen their hunting fields, and driven them to the barren plains and mountains to seek for food with the puma and the snake, and finally began to talk of the pale-face prisoners that would become their possession. 'give them another volley, men,' said moncrieff, grimly. 'fire low through the smoke.' it would have been better, probably, had our leader waited. little need to precipitate an onslaught that could have but one ending--unless indeed assistance arrived from the fort. * * * * * the long, long hour of waiting came to an end at last, and the commander and myself left the frontier fort at the head of the men. how terribly tedious the march back seemed! the officer would keep talking as cheerfully as if going to a concert or evening party. i hardly answered, i hardly heard him. i felt ashamed of my anxiety, but still i could not help it. i was but a young soldier. at last we are within sight, ay, and hearing, of the camp, and the events of the next hour float before my memory now as i write, like the shadowy pantomime of some terrible dream. first we see smoke and fire, but hear no sound. all must be over, i think--tragedy and massacre, all--and the camp is on fire. even the commander of our little force takes a serious view of the case now. he draws his sword, looks to his revolver, and speaks to his men in calm, determined tones. for long minutes the silence round the camp is unbroken, but suddenly rifles ring out in the still air, and i breathe more freely once again. then the firing ceases, and is succeeded by the wild war-cries of the attacking savages, and the hoarse, defiant slogan of the defending scots. 'hurrah!' i shout, 'we are yet in time. oh, good sir, hurry on! listen!' well might i say listen, for now high above the yell of savages and ring of revolvers rises the shriek of frightened women. i can stand this no longer. i set spur to my horse, and go dashing on towards the camp. chapter xiii. the flight and the chase. the very last thing i had seen that cool argentine commander do, was to light a fresh cigarette with the stump of the old one. the next time i saw him, he was standing by his wounded horse, in the moonlight, with a spear wound in his brow, but smoking still. the onslaught of the savages had been for a while a terrible one, but the soldiers came in time, and the camp was saved. hardly knowing what i did--not knowing till this day how i did it--i had put my good steed at the breastwork, and, tired though he was, he fairly cleared it. next i remember hewing my way, sword in hand, through a crowd of spear-armed savages, finding myself close to the ladies' caravan, and next minute inside it. a single glance showed me all were safe. aileen lay pale and motionless on the sofa. near her, revolver in hand, stood my brave aunt, and by the stove was old jenny herself. 'oh, bless you, dear boy!' cried auntie. 'how glad we are to see you!' "deed are we, laddie!' chimed old jenny; 'but--' and she grinned as she spoke, 'they rievin' philistines will be fools if they come this road again. i've gi'en some o' them het [hot] hurdies. ha, ha! i'm makin' a drap mair for them in case they come again.' 'poor thing!' i think; 'she has gone demented.' there was no time now, however, to ask for explanation; for although the indians had really been driven off, the chase, and, woe is me, the slaughter, had commenced. and i shudder even yet when i think of that night's awful work on the moonlit pampas. still, the sacrifice of so many redskins was calculated to insure our safety. moreover, had our camp fallen into the hands of those terrible indians, what a blood-blotted page would have been added to the history of the silver west! it is but just and fair to moncrieff, however, to say that he did all in his power to stay the pursuit; but in vain. the soldiers were just returning, tired and breathless, from a fruitless chase after the now panic-stricken enemy, when a wild shout was heard, and our gauchos were seen riding up from the woods, brandishing the very spears they had captured from the indians, and each one leading a spare horse. the _soldados_ welcomed them with a shout. next minute each was mounted and galloping across the pampas in one long extended line. they were going to treat the indians to a taste of their own tactics, for between each horse a lasso rope was fastened. all our men who were safe and unwounded now clambered into the waggon to witness the pursuit. nothing could exceed the mad grandeur of that charge--nothing could withstand that wild rash. the indians were mowed down by the lasso lines, then all we could see was a dark commingled mass of rearing horses, of waving swords and spears, and struggling, writhing men. yells and screams died away at last, and no sound was now heard on the pampas except the thunder of the horses' hoofs, as our people returned to the camp, and occasionally the trumpet-like notes of the startled flamingoes. as soon as daylight began to appear in the east the ramparts were razed, and soon after we were once more on the move, glad to leave the scene of battle and carnage. from higher ground, at some distance, i turned and looked back. already the air was darkened by flocks of pampas kites, among them many slow-winged vultures, and i knew the awful feast that ever follows slaughter had already commenced. we had several gauchos killed and one of our own countrymen, but many more were wounded, some severely enough, so that our victory had cost us dear, and yet we had reason to be thankful, and my only surprise to this day is that we escaped utter annihilation. it would be anything but fair to pass on to other scenes without mentioning the part poor old jenny played in the defence of the caravan. jenny was not demented--not she. neither the fatigue of the journey, the many wonders she had witnessed, including the shower of golochs, nor the raid upon the camp had deprived moncrieff's wonderful mither of her wits. i have said there was a stove burning in the caravan. as soon, then, as jenny found out that they were fortifying or entrenching the camp, and that the philistines, as she called them, might be expected at any moment, she awoke to a true sense of the situation. the first thing she did was to replenish the fire, then she put the biggest saucepan on top of the stove, and as soon as it commenced to boil she began 'mealing in,' as she called it. 'oatmeal would have been best,' she told my aunt; 'but, after a',' she added, 'indian meal, though it be but feckless stuff, is the kind o' kail they blackamoors are maist used to.' aunt wondered what she meant, but was silent, and, indeed, she had other things to think about than jenny and her strange doings, for aileen required all her attention. [illustration: 'ye can claw the pat'] when, however, the fight had reached its very fiercest, when the camp itself was enveloped in smoke, and the constant cracking of revolvers, the shrieks of the wounded men and clashing of weapons would have daunted a less bold heart than jenny's--the old lady took her saucepan from the stove and stationed herself by the front door of the caravan. she had not long to wait. three of the fiercest of the indian warriors had sprung to the _coupé_ and were half up, 'but little kenned they jenny's mettle, or dreamt what lay in jenny's kettle.' with eyes that seemed to flash living fire, her grey hair streaming over her shoulders, she must have looked a perfect fury as she rushed out and deluged the up-turned faces and shoulders of the savages with the boiling mess. they dropped yelling to the ground, and jenny at once turned her attention to the back door of the van, where already one of the leading gaucho malos--aunt's beautiful blackguards of the day before--had gained footing. this villain she fairly bonneted with the saucepan. 'your brithers have gotten the big half o' the kail,' she cried, 'and ye can claw the pat.' it was not till next evening that aunt told moncrieff the brave part old jenny had played. he smiled in his quiet way as he patted his mother's hand. 'just as i told ye, miss m'crimman,' he said; 'mither's a ma_rrr_vel!' but where had the bold bombazo been during the conflict? sword and revolver in hand, in the foremost ranks, and wherever the battle raged the fiercest? nay, reader, nay. the stern truth remains to be told. during all the terrible tulzie bombazo had never once been either seen or heard. nor could he be anywhere found after the fight, nor even after the camp was struck, though search was made for him high and low. some one suggested that he might have been overcome by fear, and might have hidden himself. moncrieff looked incredulous. what! the bold bombazo be afraid--the hero of a hundred fights, the slayer of lions, the terror of the redskins, the brave hunter of pampas and prairie? captain rodrigo de bombazo hide himself? yet where could he be? among the slain? no. taken prisoner? alas! for the noble redman. those who had escaped would hardly have thought of taking prisoners. bombazo's name was shouted, the wood was searched, the waggons overhauled, not a stone was left unturned, figuratively speaking, yet all in vain. but, wonderful to relate, what _men_ failed to do a _dog_ accomplished. an honest collie found bombazo--actually scraped him up out of the sand, where he lay buried, with his head in a tussock of grass. it would be unfair to judge him too harshly, wrong not to listen to his vouchsafed explanation; yet, sooth to say, to this very day i believe the little man had hidden himself after the manner of the armadillos. 'where is my sword?' he shouted, staggering to his feet. 'where is the foe?' the scotchmen and even the gauchos laughed in his face. he turned from them scornfully on his heel and addressed moncrieff. 'dey tried to keel me,' he cried. 'dey stunned me and covered me up wit' sand. but here i am, and now i seek revenge. ha! ha! i will seek revenge!' old jenny could stand it no longer. 'oh, ye shameless sinner!' she roared. 'oh, ye feckless fusionless winner! let me at him. _i'll_ gie him revenge.' there was no restraining jenny. with a yell like the war cry of a clucking hen, she waved her umbrella aloft, and went straight for the hero. the blow intended for his head alighted lower down. bombazo turned and fled, pursued by the remorseless jenny; and not even once did she miss her aim till the terror of the redskins, to save his own skin, had taken refuge beneath the caravan. * * * * * as at sea, so in travelling. day after day, amid scenes that are for ever new, the constantly recurring adventure and incident suffice to banish even thoughts of the dead themselves. but neither seafarers nor travellers need be ashamed of this; it is only natural. god never condemns his creatures to constant sorrow. the brave fellows, the honest scot and the gauchos, that we had laid side by side in one grave in the little burying-place at the frontier fort, were gone beyond recall. no amount of sorrowing could bring them back. we but hoped they were happier now than even we were, and so we spoke of them no more; and in a week's time everything about our caravan and camp resumed its wonted appearance, and we no longer feared the indians. one gaucho, however, had escaped, and there was still the probability he might seek for revenge some other day. we have left the bleak pampas land, although now and then we come to bare prairie land but scantily furnished with even bushes, and destitute of grass; houses and _estancias_ become more frequent, and _fondas_ too, but nothing like that fearful _fonda_ in the prairie--the scene of the massacre. we have passed through san lui--too wretched a place to say much about; and even la paz and santa rosa; and on taking her usual seat one forenoon in front of the caravan, old jenny's eyes grew bright and sparkling with very delight. 'saw anybody ever the like o' that?' she cried, as she raised both her hands and eyes cloudwards. but it was not the clouds old jenny was marvelling at--for here we were in the province of mendoza, and a measurable distance from the beautiful city itself; and instead of the barren lands we had recently emerged from, beheld a scene of such natural loveliness and fertility, that we seemed to have suddenly dropped into a new world. the sky was blue and almost cloudless; winter though it was, the fields were clad in emerald green; the trees, the vineyards, the verandahed houses, the comfortable dwellings, the cattle, the sheep, and flocks of poultry--all testified to the fact that in summer this must indeed be a paradise. 'what do you think of all this, mither?' said moncrieff, with a happy smile. he was riding close to the caravan _coupé_. 'think o' it, laddie! loshie me, laddie! it beats the braes o' foudlan'! it is surely the garden o' eden we're coming to at last.' it was shortly after this that moncrieff went galloping on ahead. we could see him miles and miles away, for the road was as straight as one of the avenues in some english lord's domains. suddenly he disappeared. had the earth swallowed him up? not quite. he had merely struck into a side path, and here we too turned with our whole cavalcade; and our road now lay away across a still fertile but far more open country. after keeping to this road for miles, we turned off once more and headed for the distant mountains, whose snow-clad, rugged tops formed so grand a horizon to the landscape. on we journey for many a long hour, and the sun goes down and down in the west, and sinks at last behind the hills; and oh, with what ineffably sweet tints and shades of pink and blue and purple his farewell rays paint the summits! twilight is beginning to fall, and great bats are flitting about. we come within sight of a wide and well-watered valley; and in the very centre thereof, and near a broad lagoon which reminds us somewhat of dear old coila, stands a handsome _estancia_ and farmyard. there are rows and rows of gigantic poplar-trees everywhere in this glen, and the house itself--mansion, i might almost say--lies in the midst of a cloud of trees the names of which we cannot even guess. there was altogether such a home-like look about the valley, that i knew at once our long, long journey was over, and our weary wanderings finished for a time. there was not a very great deal of romance in honest moncrieff's nature, but as he pointed with outstretched arm to the beautiful _estancia_ by the lake, and said, briefly, 'mither, there's your hame!' i felt sure and certain those blue eyes of his were moist with tears, and that there was the slightest perceptible waver in his manly voice. but, behold! they have seen us already at the _estancia_. there is a hurrying and scurrying to and fro, and out and in. we notice this, although the figures we see look no larger than ants, so clear and transparent is even the gloaming air in this wonderful new land of ours. by and by we see these same figures on horseback, coming away from the farm, and hurrying down the road towards us. one, two, three, six! why, there must be well-nigh a score of them altogether. nearer and nearer they come, and now we see their arms wave. nearer still, and we hear them shout; and now at length they are on us, with us, and around us, waving their caps, laughing, talking, and shaking hands over and over again--as often as not twice or thrice with the same person. verily they are half delirious with joy and wholly hysterical. what volleys of questions have to be asked and answered! what volumes of news to get and to give! what hurrying here and there and up and down to admire the new horses and mules, the new waggons and caravan--to admire everything! while the half-frightened looks those sturdy, sun-browned, bearded men cast at auntie and aileen were positively comical to witness! then, when the first wave of joyous excitement had partially expended itself-- 'stand back, boys!' shouted moncrieff's partner, a bold-faced little welshman, with hair and beard just on the turn; 'stand back, my lads, and give them one more little cheer.' but was it a little cheer? nay, but a mighty rattling cheer--a cheer that could have issued only from brave british throats; a cheer that i almost expected to hear re-echoed back from the distant mountains. ah! but it _was_ echoed back. echoed by us, the new-comers, and with interest too, our faithful gauchos swelling the chorus with their shrill but not unmusical voices. but look! more people are coming down the road. the welcome home is not half over yet. yonder are the lads and lasses, english, irish, castilian and scotch, who have no horses to ride. foremost among them is a highlander in tartan trews and bagpipes. and if the welcome these give us is not altogether so boisterous it is none the less sincere. in another hour we are all safe at home. all and everything appears to us very strange at first, but we soon settle down, and if we marvelled at the outside of moncrieff's mansion, the interior of it excites our wonder to even a greater degree. who could have credited the brawny scot with so much refinement of taste? the rooms were large, the windows were bowers, and bowers of beauty too, around which climbed and trailed--winter though it was--flowers of such strange shapes and lovely colours that the best of our floral favourites in this country would look tame beside them. none of the walls were papered, but all were painted, and many had pictures in light, airy and elegant frames. the furniture too was all light and elegant, and quite oriental in appearance. oriental did i say? nay, but even better; it was occidental. one room in particular took my aunt's fancy. this was to be the boudoir, and everything in it was the work of indian hands. it opened on to a charming trellised verandah, and thence was a beautiful garden which to-night was lit up with coloured lanterns, and on the whole looked like a scene in some eastern fairy tale. 'and would you believe it, aileen,' said moncrieff, when he was done showing us round the rooms; 'would you believe it, auntie, when i came here first my good partner and i had no place to live in for years but a reed shanty, a butt and a ben, mither mine, with never a stick of furniture in it, and neither a chair nor stool nor table worth the name?' 'that is so, miss m'crimman,' said the partner, mr. jones. 'and i think my dear friend moncrieff will let the ladies see the sort of place we lived in.' 'this way, then, ladies,' said the big scot. he seized a huge naphtha lamp as he spoke, and strode before them through the garden. arrived at the end of it they came to a strange little hut built apparently of mud and straw. with little ceremony he kicked open the rickety door, and made them enter. both aunt and aileen did so, marvelling much to find themselves in a room not ten feet wide, and neither round nor square. the roof was blackened rafters and straw, the floor was hardened clay. a bed--a very rude one--stood in one corner. it was supported by horses' bones; the table in the centre was but a barrel lid raised on crossed bones. 'won't you sit down, ladies?' said moncrieff, smiling. he pointed to a seat as he spoke. it was formed of horses' skulls. aunt smiled too, but immediately after looked suddenly serious, gathered her dress round her with a little shudder, and backed towards the door. 'come away,' she said; 'i've seen enough.' what she had seen more particularly was an awful-looking crimson and grey spider as big as a soft-shell crab. he was squatting on a bone in one corner, glaring at her with his little evil eyes, and moving his horizontal mandibles as if he would dearly like to eat her. chapter xiv. life on an argentine estancia. i verily believe that britons, whether english, irish, or scotch, are all born to wander, and born colonists. there really seems to be something in the very air of a new land, be it australia, america, or the silver west, that brings all their very best and noblest qualities to the surface, and oftentimes makes men--bold, hardy, persevering men--of individuals who, had they stayed in this old cut-and-dry country, would never have been anything better than louts or johnnie raws. i assure the reader that i speak from long experience when i make these remarks, and on any saturday evening when i happen to be in london, and see poor young fellows coming home to garrets, perhaps with their pittance in their pockets, i feel for them from the very depths of my soul. and sometimes i sigh and murmur to myself---- 'oh dear me!' i say, 'if my purse were only half as big as my heart, wouldn't i quickly gather together a thousand of these white slaves and sail merrily off with them to the land of the silver west! and men would learn to laugh there who hardly ever smiled before, and tendons would wax wiry, and muscles hard, and pale faces grow brown with the tints of health. and health would mean work, and work would mean wealth, and--but, heigho! what is the good of dreaming? only some day--yes, _some_ day--and what a glorious sunrise it will be for this empire--government will see its way to grant free passages to far-off lands, in which there is peace and plenty, work and food for all, and where the bread one eats is never damped by falling tears. god send that happy day! and send it soon! it is the memory of our first months and years of a downright pleasant life that makes me write like this. we poor lads--my brothers and i--poor, but determined, found everything so enjoyable at our new home in the silver west that oftentimes we could not help wishing that thousands of toiling mortals from glasgow and other great overcrowded cities would only come out somehow and share our posy. for really, to put it in plain and simple language, next to the delight of enjoying anything oneself, should it only be an apple, is the pleasure of seeing one's neighbour have a bite. now here is a funny thing, but it is a fact. the air of mendoza is so wonderfully dry and strong and bracing that it makes men of boys in a very short time, and makes old people young again. it might not smooth away wrinkles from the face, or turn grey hair brown, or even make two hairs grow where only one grew before; but it does most assuredly rejuvenate the heart, and shakes all the wrinkles out of that. out here it is no uncommon thing for the once rheumatic to learn to dance, while stiff-jointed individuals who immigrated with crutches under their arms, pitch these crutches into the irrigation canals, and take to spades and guns instead. it is something in the air, i think, that works these wondrous changes, though i am sure i could not say what. it may be oxygen in double doses, or it may be ozone, or even laughing gas; but there it is, and whosoever reads these lines and doubts what i say, has only to take flight for the beautiful province of mendoza, and he shall remain a sceptic no longer. well, as soon as we got over the fatigues of our long journey, and began to realize the fact that we were no longer children of the desert, no longer nomads and gipsies, my brothers and i set to work with a hearty good-will that astonished even ourselves. in preparing our new homes we, and all the other settlers of this infant colony as well, enjoyed the same kind of pleasure that robinson crusoe must have done when he and his man friday set up house for themselves in the island of juan fernandez. even the labourers or 'hands' whom moncrieff had imported had their own dwellings to erect, but instead of looking upon this as a hardship, they said that this was the fun of the thing, and that it was precisely here where the laugh came in. moreover they worked for themselves out of hours, and i dare say that is more than any of them would have done in the old country. never once was the labour of the _estancia_ neglected, nor the state of the aqueducts, nor moncrieff's flocks and herds, nor his fences. some of these men had been ploughmen, others shepherds, but every one of them was an artisan more or less, and it is just such men that do well--men who know a good deal about country life, and can deftly use the spade, the hoe, the rake, the fork, as well as the hammer, the axe, the saw, and the plane. thanks to the way dear father had brought us up, my brothers and i were handy with all sorts of tools, and we were rather proud than otherwise of our handicraft. i remember that dugald one day, as we sat at table, after looking at his hands--they had become awfully brown--suddenly said to moncrieff, 'oh, by the by, brother moncrieff, there is one thing that i'm ready to wager you forgot to bring out with you from england.' 'what was that?' said moncrieff, looking quite serious. 'why, a supply of kid gloves, white and coloured.' we all laughed. 'my dear boy,' said this huge brother of ours, 'the sun supplies the kid gloves, and it strikes me, lad, you've a pair of coloured ones already.' 'yes,' said dugald, 'black-and-tan.' 'but, dear laddies,' old jenny put in, 'if ye really wad like mittens, i'll shortly shank a curn for ye.' 'just listen to the old braid scotch tongue o' that mither o' moine--"shortly shank a curn."[ ] who but an aberdonian could understand that?' but indeed poor old jenny was a marvel with her 'shank,' as she called her knitting, and almost every third day she turned off a splendid pair of rough woollen stockings for one or other of her bairns, as she termed us generically. and useful weather-defiant articles of hosiery they were too. when our legs were encased in these, our feet protected by a pair of double-soled boots, and our ankles further fortified by leather gaiters, there were few snakes even we were afraid to tackle. the very word 'snake,' or 'serpent,' makes some people shudder, and it is as well to say a word or two about these ophidians here, and have done with them. i have, then, no very wild adventures to record concerning those we encountered on our _estancias_. nor were either my brothers or myself much afraid of them, for a snake--this is my firm belief--will never strike a human being except in self-defence; and, of all the thousands killed annually in india itself by ophidians, most of the victims have been tramping about with naked feet, or naked legs at least. * * * * * independent of the pure, wholesome, bracing air, there appeared to us to be another peculiarity in the climate which is worthy of note. it is _calmative_. there is more in that simple sentence than might at first be imagined, and the effect upon settlers might be best explained by giving an example: a young man, then, comes to this glorious country fresh from all the excitement and fever of europe, where people are, as a rule, overcrowded and elbowing each other for a share of the bread that is not sufficient to feed all; he settles down, either to steady work under a master, or to till his own farm and mind his own flocks. in either case, while feeling labour to be not only a pleasure, but actually a luxury, there is no heat of blood and brain; there is no occasion to either chase or hurry. life now is not like a game of football on rugby lines--all scurry, push, and perspiration. the new-comer's prospects are everything that could be desired, and--mark this--_he does not live for the future any more than the present_. there is enough of everything around him _now_, so that his happiness does not consist in building upon the far-off _then_, which strugglers in this britain of ours think so much about. the settler then, i say, be he young or old, can afford to enjoy himself to-day, certain in his own mind that to-morrow will provide for itself. but this calmness of mind, which really is a symptom of glorious health, never merges into the dreamy laziness and ignoble activity exhibited by brazilians in the east and north of him. my brothers and i were happily saved a good deal of business worry in connection with the purchase of our _estancia_, so, too, were the new settlers, for moncrieff, with that long scotch head of his, had everything cut and dry, as he called it, so that the signing of a few papers and the writing of a cheque or two made us as proud as any scottish laird in the old country. 'you must creep before you walk,' moncrieff told us; 'you mustn't go like a bull at a gate. just look before you "loup."' so we consulted him in everything. suppose, for instance, we wanted another mule or horse, we went to moncrieff for advice. 'can you do without it?' he would say. 'go home and settle that question between you, and if you find you can't, come and tell me, and i'll let you have the beast as cheap as you can buy it anywhere.' well, we started building our houses. unlike the pampas, mendoza _can_ boast of stone and brick, and even wood, though round our district a deal of this had been planted. the woods that lay on moncrieff's colony had been reared more for shelter to the flocks against the storms and tempests that often sweep over the country. in the more immediate vicinity of the dwelling-houses, with the exception of some splendid elms and plane-trees, and the steeple-high solemn-looking poplar, no great growth of wood was encouraged. for it must be remembered we were living in what moncrieff called uncanny times. the indians[ ] were still a power in the country, and their invasions were looked for periodically. the state did not then give the protection against this foe it does now. true, there existed what were called by courtesy frontier forts; they were supposed to billet soldiers there, too, but as these men were often destitute of a supply of ammunition, and spent much of their time playing cards and drinking the cheap wines of the country, the settlers put but little faith in them, and the wandering pampa indians treated them with disdain. our houses, then, for safety's sake, were all built pretty close together, and on high ground, so that we had a good view all over the beautiful valley. they could thus be more easily defended. here and there over the _estancias_, _puestos_, as they were called, were erected for the convenience of the shepherds. they were mere huts, but, nevertheless, they were far more comfortable in every way than many a crofter's cottage in the scottish highlands. round the dwellings of the new settlers, which were built in the form of a square, each square, three in all, having a communication, a rampart and ditch were constructed. the making of these was mere pastime to these hardy scots, and they took great delight in the work, for not only would it enable them to sleep in peace and safety, but the keeping of it in thorough decorative repair, as house agents say, would always form a pleasant occupation for spare time. the mansion, as moncrieff's beautiful house came to be called, was similarly fortified, but as it stood high in its grounds the rampart did not hide the building. moreover, the latter was partially decorated inside with flowers, and the external embankment always kept as green as an english lawn in june. the ditches were wide and deep, and were so arranged that in case of invasion they could be filled with water from a natural lake high up on the brae lands. for that matter they might have been filled at any time, or kept filled, but moncrieff had an idea--and probably he was right--that too much stagnant, or even semi-stagnant water near a house rendered it unhealthy. as soon as we had bought our claims and marked them out, each settler's distinct from the other, but ours--my brothers' and mine--all in one lot, we commenced work in earnest. there was room and to spare for us all about the moncrieff mansion and farmyard, we--the m'crimmans--being guests for a time, and living indoors, the others roughing it as best they could in the out-houses, some of which were turned into temporary huts. nothing could exceed the beauty of moncrieff's _estancia_. it was miles and miles in extent, and more like a lovely garden than anything else. the fields were all square. round each, in tasteful rows, waved noble trees, the weird and ghostly poplar, whose topmost branches touched the clouds apparently, the wide-spreading elm, the shapely chestnut, the dark, mysterious cypress, the fairy-leaved acacia, the waving willow and sturdy oak. these trees had been planted with great taste and judgment around the fields, and between all stretched hedges of laurel, willow, and various kinds of shrubs. the fields themselves were not without trees; in fact, trees were dotted over most of them, notably chestnuts, and many species of fruit trees. but something else added to the extreme beauty of these fields, namely, the irrigation canals--i prefer the word canals to ditches. the highest of all was very deep and wide, and was supplied with water from the distant hills and river, while in its turn it supplied the whole irrigation system of the _estancia_. the plan for irrigating the fields was the simplest that could be thought of, but it was quite as perfect as it was simple. add to the beauty of the trees and hedges the brilliancy of trailing flowers of gorgeous hues and strange, fantastic shapes; let some of those trees be actually hanging gardens of beauty; let flowers float ever on the waters around the fields, and the fields themselves be emerald green--then imagine sunshine, balmy air, and perfume everywhere, and you will have some idea of the charm spread from end to end of moncrieff's great _estancia_. but there was another kind of beauty about it which i have not yet mentioned--namely, its flocks and herds and poultry. a feature of the strath, or valley, occupied by this little scoto-welsh colony was the sandhills or dunes. 'do you call those sandhills?' i said to moncrieff one day, shortly after our arrival. 'why, they are as green and bonnie as the broad hill on the links of aberdeen.' moncrieff smiled, but looked pleased. 'man!' he replied, 'did you ever hear of the proverb that speaks about making mountains of mole-hills? well, that's what i've done up yonder. when my partner and i began serious work on these fields of ours, those bits of hills were a constant trouble and menace to us. they were just as big then, maybe, as they are now--about fifty feet high at the highest, perhaps, but they were bare sandy hillocks, constantly changing shape and even position with every big storm, till a happy thought struck my partner, and we chose just the right season for acting on it. we got the gauchos to gather for us pecks and bushels of all kinds of wild seed, especially that of the long-rooted grasses, and these we sowed all over the mole-hills, as we called them, and we planted bushes here and there, and also in the hollows, and, lo! the mole-hills were changed into fairy little mountains, and the bits o' glens between into bosky dells.' 'dear brother moncrieff,' i said, 'you are a genius, and i'm so glad i met you. what would i have been without you?' 'twaddle, man! nonsensical havers and twaddle! if you hadn't met me you would have met somebody else; and if you hadn't met him, you would have foregathered wi' experience; and, man, experience is the best teacher in a' the wide worruld.' in laying out and planning our farm, my brothers and i determined, however, not to wait for experience of our own, but just take advantage of moncrieff's. that would sustain us, as the oak sustains the ivy. ----- [ ] 'shortly shank a curn'--speedily knit a few pairs. [ ] since then the indians have been swept far to the south, and so hemmed in that the provinces north of their territory are as safe from invasion as england itself.--g. s. chapter xv. we build our house and lay out gardens. about a hundred yards to the left of the buildings erected for the new colony and down near the lake, or laguna, was an elevated piece of ground about an acre in extent. it was bounded on two sides by water, which would thus form for it a kind of natural protection in case of indian invasion. it really was part and parcel of moncrieff's claim or land, and at an early date in his career, thinking probably it might come in handy some day for a site on which to build, he had taken considerable pains to plant it with rows of beautiful trees, especially on the sides next the water and facing the west. my brothers and i arranged to have this, and moncrieff was well pleased to have us so near to him. a more excellent position for a house could hardly be, and we determined it should be a good substantial one, and of as great architectural beauty as possible. having therefore laid out our farm proper, and stocked it with sheep and cattle, positioned our shepherds, and installed our labourers and general servants under the charge of a _capataz_, or working bailiff, we turned our attention to the erection of our house, or mansion, as dugald grandly called it. 'of course you will cut your coat according to your cloth,' said moncrieff, as he came one evening into the room we had set apart for our private study. he had found us to-night with our heads all together over a huge sheet of paper on which we were planning out our house. 'oh yes,' said donald, 'that we must do.' 'but,' said dugald, 'we do not expect to remain all our lives downright poor settlers.' 'that i am sure you won't.' 'well, i propose building a much bigger house than we really want, so that when we do get a bit rich we can furnish it and set up--set up--' 'set up a carriage and pair, eh?' said donald, who was very matter of fact--'a carriage and pair, dugald, a billiard-room, turkey carpets, woven all in one piece, a cellar of old wine, a butler in black and flunkeys in plush--is that your notion?' donald and i laughed, and dugald looked cross. moncrieff did not laugh: he had too much tact, and was far too kind-hearted to throw cold water over our young brother's ambitions and aspirations. 'and what sort of a house do you propose?' he said to us. as he spoke he took a chair at dugald's side of the table and put his arm gently across the boy's shoulders. there was very much in this simple act, and i feel sure dugald loved him for it, and felt he had some one to assist his schemes. 'oh,' replied donald, 'a small tasteful cottage. that would suit well for the present, i think. what do you think, murdoch?' 'i think with you,' i replied. after having heard moncrieff speaking so much about cutting coats according to cloth and looking before 'louping,' and all the rest of it, we were hardly prepared to hear him on the present occasion say boldly, 'and _i_ think with dugald.' 'bravo, moncrieff!' cried dugald. 'i felt sure--' 'bide a wee, though, lad. ca' canny.[ ] now listen, the lot o' ye. ye see, murdoch man, your proposed cottage would cost a good bit of money and time and trouble, and when you thought of a bigger place, down that cottage must come, with an expense of more time and more trouble, even allowing that money was of little object. besides, where are you going to live after your cottage is knocked down and while your mansion is building? so i say dugald is right to some extent. begin building your big house bit by bit.' 'in wings?' 'preceesely, sirs; ye can add and add as you like, and as you can afford it.' it was now our time to cry, 'bravo, moncrieff!' 'i wonder, donald, we didn't think of this plan.' 'ah,' said moncrieff, 'ye canna put young he'ds on auld shoulders, as my mither says.' so moncrieff's plan was finally adopted--we would build our house wing by wing. it took us weeks, however, to decide in what particular style of architecture it should be built. among the literature which moncrieff had brought out from england with him was a whole library in itself of the bound volumes of good magazines; and it was from a picture in one of these that we finally decided what our coila villa should be like, though, of course, the plan would be slightly altered to suit circumstances of climate, &c. it was to be--briefly stated--a winged bungalow of only one story, with a handsome square tower and portico in the centre, and verandahs nearly all round. so one wing and the tower was commenced at once. but bricks were to be made, and timber cut and dried and fashioned, and no end of other things were to be accomplished before we actually set about the erection. to do all these things we appointed a little army of gauchos, with two or three handy men-of-all-work from scotland. meanwhile our villa gardens were planned and our bushes and trees were planted. terraces, too, were contrived to face the lake, and dugald one evening proposed a boat-house and boat, and this was carried without a dissentient voice. dugald was extremely fond of our sister flora. we only wondered that he now spoke about her so seldom. but if he spoke but little of her he thought the more, and we could see that all his plans for the beautification and adornment of the villa had but one end and object--the delight and gratification of its future little mistress. dear old dugald! he had such a kind lump of a heart of his own, and never took any of our chaff and banter unpleasantly. but i am quite sure that as far as he himself was concerned he never would have troubled himself about even the boat-house or the terraced gardens either, for every idle hour that he could spare he spent on the hill, as he called it, with his dog--a lovely irish setter--and his gun. i met him one morning going off as usual with dash, the setter, close beside the little mule he rode, and with his gun slung over his back. 'where away, old man?' i said. 'only to a little laguna i've found among the hills, and i mean to have a grand bag to-day.' 'well, you're off early!' 'yes; there is little to be done at home, and there are some rare fine ducks up yonder.' 'you'll be back to luncheon?' 'i'll try. if not, don't wait.' 'not likely; ta-ta! good luck to you! but you really ought to have a gaucho with you.' 'nonsense, murdoch! i don't need a groom. dash and old tootsie, the mule, are all i want.' it was the end of winter, or rather beginning of spring, but moncrieff had not yet declared close time, and dugald managed to supply the larder with more species of game than we could tell the names of. birds, especially, he brought home on his saddle and in his bag; birds of all sizes, from the little luscious dove to the black swan itself; and one day he actually came along up the avenue with a dead ostrich. he could ride that mule of his anywhere. i believe he could have ridden along the parapet of london bridge, so we were never surprised to see dugald draw rein at the lower sitting-room window, within the verandah. he was always laughing and merry and mischievous-looking when he had had extra good luck; but the day he landed that ostrich he was fairly wild with excitement. the body of it was given to the gauchos, and they made very merry over it: invited their friends, in fact, and roasted the huge bird whole out of doors. they did so in true patagonian fashion--to wit, the ostrich was first trussed and cleaned, a roaring fire of wood having been made, round stones were made almost red-hot. the stones were for stuffing, though this kind of stuffing is not very eatable, but it helps to cook the bird. the fire was then raked away, and the dinner laid down and covered up. meanwhile the gauchos, male and female, girls and boys, had a dance. the ubiquitous guitars, of course, were the instruments, and two of these made not a bad little band. after dinner they danced again, and wound up by wishing dugald all the good luck in the world, and plenty more ostriches. the feathers of this big game-bird were carefully packed and sent home to mother and flora. well, we had got so used to dugald's solitary ways that we never thought anything of even his somewhat prolonged absence on the hill, for he usually dropped round when luncheon was pretty nearly done. there was always something kept warm for 'old dugald,' as we all called him, and i declare it did every one of us good to see him eat. his appetite was certainly the proverbial appetite of a hunter. on this particular day, however, old dugald did not return to luncheon. 'perhaps,' said donald, 'he is dining with some of the shepherds, or having "a pick at a priest's," as he calls it.' 'perhaps,' i said musingly. the afternoon wore away, and there were no signs of our brother coming, so i began to get rather uneasy, and spoke to donald about it. 'he may have met with an accident,' i said, 'or fifty things may have happened.' 'well,' replied donald, 'i don't suppose fifty things have happened; but as you seem a bit anxious, suppose we mount our mules, take a gaucho with us, and institute a search expedition?' 'i'm willing,' i cried, jumping up, 'and here's for off!' there was going to be an extra good dinner that day, because we expected letters from home, and our runner would be back from the distant post-office in good time to let us read our epistles before the gong sounded and so discuss them at table. 'hurry up, boys; don't be late, mind!' cried aunt, as our mules were brought round to the portico, and we were mounted. 'all right, auntie dear!' replied donald, waving his hand; 'and mind those partridges are done to a turn; we'll be all delightfully hungry.' the gaucho knew all dugald's trails well, and when we mentioned the small distant laguna, he set out at once in the direction of the glen. he made so many windings, however, and took so many different turns through bush and grass and scrub, that we began to wonder however dugald could have found the road. but dugald had a way of his own of getting back through even a cactus labyrinth. it was a very simple one, too. he never 'loaded up,' as he termed it; that is, he did not hang his game to his saddle till he meant to start for home; then he mounted, whistled to dash, who capered and barked in front of the mule, permitted the reins to lie loosely on the animal's neck, and--there he was! for not only did the good beast take him safely back to coila, as we called our _estancia_, but he took him by the best roads; and even when he seemed to dugald's human sense to be going absolutely and entirely wrong, he never argued with him. 'reason raise o'er instinct, if you can; in this 'tis god directs, in that 'tis man.' 'you are certain he will come this way, zambo?' i said to our gaucho. 'plenty certain, señor. i follow de trail now.' i looked over my saddle-bow; so did donald, but no trail could we see--only the hard, yellow, sandy gravel. we came at last to the hilly regions. it was exceedingly quiet and still here; hardly a creature of any kind to be seen except now and then a kite, or even condor, the latter winging his silent way to the distant mountains. at times we passed a biscacha village. the biscacha is not a tribe of indians, but, like the coney, a very feeble people, who dwell in caves or burrow underground, but all day long may be seen playing about the mounds they raise, or sitting on their hind legs on top of them. they are really a species of prairie-dog. with them invariably live a tribe of little owls--the burrowing owls--and it seems to be a mutual understanding that the owls have the principal possession of these residential chambers by day, while the biscachas occupy them by night. this arrangement answers wonderfully well, and i have proved over and over again that they are exceedingly fond of each other. the biscachas themselves are not very demonstrative, either in their fun or affection, but if one of them be killed, and is lying dead outside the burrow, the poor owl often exhibits the most frantic grief for the murder of his little housekeeper, and will even show signs of a desire to attack the animal--especially if a dog--which has caused his affliction. donald and i, with our guide, now reached the land of the giant cacti. we all at home here in britain know something of the beauty of the common prickly cactus that grows in window-gardens or in hot-houses, and surprises us with the crimson glory of its flowers, which grow from such odd parts of the plant; but here we were in the land of the cacti. dugald knew it well, and used to tell us all about them; so tall, so stately, so strange and weird, that we felt as if in another planet. already the bloom was on some of them--for in this country flowers soon hear the voice of spring--but in the proper season nothing that ever i beheld can surpass the gorgeous beauty of these giant cacti. the sun began to sink uncomfortably low down on the horizon, and my anxiety increased every minute. why did not dugald meet us? why did we not even hear the sound of his gun, for the gaucho told us we were close to the laguna? presently the cacti disappeared behind us, and we found ourselves in open ground, with here and there a tall, weird-looking tree. how those trees--they were not natives--had come there we were at first at a loss to understand, but when we reached the foot of a grass-grown hill or sand dune, and came suddenly on the ruins of what appeared a jesuit hermitage or monastery, the mystery was explained. on rounding a spur of this hill, lo! the lake; and not far from the foot of a tree, behold! our truant brother. beside him was dash, and not a great way off, tied to a dwarf algaroba tree, stood the mule. dugald was sitting on the ground, with his gun over his arm, gazing up into the tree. 'dugald! dugald!' i cried. but dugald never moved his head. was he dead, or were these green sand dunes fairy hillocks, and my brother enchanted? i leapt off my mule, and, rifle in hand, went on by myself, never taking my eyes off my brother, and with my heart playing pit-a-pat against my ribs. 'dugald!' i said again. he never moved. 'dugald, speak!' he spoke now almost in a stage whisper: 'a lion in the tree. have you your rifle?' i beckoned to my brother to come on, and at the same moment the monster gave voice. i was near enough now to take aim at the puma; he was lying in a cat-like attitude on one of the highest limbs. but the angry growl and the moving tail told me plainly enough he was preparing to spring, and spring on dugald. it was the first wild beast i had ever drawn bead upon, and i confess it was a supreme moment; oh, not of joy, but,--shall i say it?--fear. what if i should miss! but there was no time for cogitation. i raised my rifle. at the self-same moment, as if knowing his danger, the brute sprang off the bough. the bullet met him in mid-air, and--_he fell dead at dugald's feet_. the ball had entered the neck and gone right on and through the heart. one coughing roar, an opening and shutting of the terrible jaws--which were covered with blood and froth--and a few convulsive movements of the hind legs, and all was over. 'thank heaven, you are saved, dear old dugald!' i cried. 'yes,' said dugald, getting up and coolly stretching himself; 'but you've been a precious long time in coming.' 'and you were waiting for us?' 'i couldn't get away. i was sitting here when i noticed the lion. dash and i were having a bit of lunch. my cartridges are all on the mule, so i've been staring fixedly at that monster ever since. i knew it was my only chance. if i had moved away, or even turned my head, he would have had me as sure as--' 'but, i say,' he added, touching the dead puma with his foot, '_isn't_ he a fine fellow? what a splendid skin to send home to flora!' this shows what sort of a boy brother dugald was; and now that all danger was past and gone, although i pretended to be angry with him for his rashness, i really could not help smiling. 'but what a crack shot you are, murdoch!' he added; 'i had no idea--i--i really couldn't have done much better myself.' 'well, dugald,' i replied, 'i may do better next time, but to tell the truth i aimed at the beast _when he was on the branch_.' 'and hit him ten feet below it. ha! ha! ha!' we all laughed now. we could afford it. the gaucho whipped the puma out of his skin in less than a minute, and off we started for home. i was the hero of the evening; though dugald never told them of my funny aim. bombazo, who had long since recovered his spirits, was well to the front with stories of his own personal prowess and narrow escapes; but while relating these he never addressed old jenny, for the ancient and humorsome dame had told him one day that 'big lees were thrown awa' upon her.' what a happy evening we spent, for our gaucho runner had brought 'good news from home!' ----- [ ] 'ca' canny' = drive slowly. chapter xvi. summer in the silver west. though it really was not so very long since we had said farewell to our friends in scotland and the dear ones at home, it seemed an age. so it is no wonder, seeing that all were well, our letters brought us joy. not for weeks did we cease to read them over and over again and talk about them. one of mine was from archie bateman, and, much to my delight and that of my brothers, he told us that he had never ceased worrying his father and mother to let him come out to the silver west and join us, and that they were yielding fast. he meant, he said, to put the screw on a little harder soon, by running away and taking a cruise as far as newcastle-on-tyne in a coal-boat. he had no doubt that this would have the desired effect of showing his dearly-beloved _pater et mater_ that he was in downright earnest in his desire to go abroad. so we were to expect him next summer--'that is,' he added, 'summer in england, and winter with you.' another letter of mine was from irene m'rae. i dare say there must have been a deal of romance about me even then, for irene's delightful little matter-of-fact and prosaic letter gave me much pleasure, and i--i believe i carried it about with me till it was all frayed at every fold, and i finally stowed it away in my desk. flora wrote to us all, with a postscript in addition to dugald. and we were to make haste and get rich enough to send for pa and ma and her. i did not see townley's letter to aunt, but i know that much of it related to the 'coila crime,' as we all call it now. the scoundrel m'rae had disappeared, and mr. townley had failed to trace him. but he could wait. he would not get tired. it was as certain as fate that as soon as the poacher spent his money--and fellows like him could not keep money long--he would appear again at coila, to extort more by begging or threatening. townley had a watch set for him, and as soon as he should appear there would be an interview. 'it would,' the letter went on, 'aid my case very much indeed could i but find the men who assisted him to restore the vault in the old ruin. but they, too, are spirited away, apparently, and all i can do fails to find them. but i live in hope. the good time is bound to come, and may heaven in justice send it soon!' moncrieff had no letters, but i am bound to say that he was as much delighted to see us happy as if we were indeed his own brothers, and our aunt his aunt, if such a thing could have been possible. but meanwhile the building of our coila villa moved on apace, and only those situated as we were could understand the eager interest we took in its gradual rise. at the laying of the foundation-stone we gave all the servants and workmen, and settlers, new and old, an entertainment. we had not an ostrich to roast whole this time, but the supper placed before our guests under moncrieff's biggest tent was one his cook might well have been proud of. after supper music commenced, only on this special and auspicious occasion the guitars did not have it all their own way, having to give place every now and then to the inspiring strains of the highland bagpipes. that was a night which was long remembered in our little colony. while the villa was being built our furniture was being made. this, like that in moncrieff's mansion, was all, or mostly, indian work, and manufactured by our half-caste gauchos. the wood chiefly used was algaroba, which, when polished, looked as bright as mahogany, and quite as beautiful. this occidental furniture, as we called it, was really very light and elegant, the seats of the couches, fauteuils and sofas, and chairs being worked with thongs, or pieces of hardened skin, in quite a marvellous manner. we had fences to make all round our fields, and hedges to plant, and even trees. then there was the whole irrigation system to see to, and the land to sow with grain and lucerne, after the soil had been duly ploughed and attended to. all this kept us young fellows very busy indeed, for we worked with the men almost constantly, not only as simple superintendents, but as labourers. yes, the duties about an _estancia_, even after it is fairly established, are very varied; but, nevertheless, i know of no part of the world where the soil responds more quickly or more kindly to the work of the tiller than it does in the silver west. and this is all the more wonderful when we consider that a great part of the land hereabouts is by nature barren in the extreme. * * * * * i do not think i am wrong in saying that sheep, if not first introduced into the _estancias_ of the silver west by the scotch, have at all events been elevated to the rank of a special feature of produce in the country by them. moncrieff had done much for the improvement of the breed, not only as regards actual size of body, but in regard to the texture of the wool; and it was his proudest boast to be able to say that the land of his adoption could already compare favourably with australia itself, and that in the immediate future it was bound to beat that island. it is no wonder, therefore, that we all looked forward to our first great shearing as a very busy time indeed. our great wool harvest was, indeed, one of the principal events of the year. moncrieff said he always felt young again at the sheep-shearing times. now there are various styles of wool harvesting. moncrieff's was simple enough. preparations were made for it, both out-doors and in, at least a fortnight beforehand. indoors, hams, &c., were got ready for cooking, and the big tent was erected once more near and behind the mansion, for extra hands to the number of twenty at least were to be imported; several neighbour settlers--they lived ten miles off, and still were neighbours--were coming over to lend a hand, and all had to eat, and most had to sleep, under canvas. if sheep-shearing prospects made moncrieff young again, so they did his mother. she was here, there, and everywhere; now in parlour or dining-room, in kitchen and scullery, in out-houses and tent, giving orders, leading, directing, ay, and sometimes even driving, the servants, for few of the gauchos, whether male or female, could work with speed enough to please old jenny. well, the sheds had to be cleared out, and a system of corralling adopted which was only called for during times like these. then there were the weighing machines to be seen to; the tally tables and all the packing and pressing machinery--which on this large _estancia_ was carried almost to perfection--had all to be got into the very best working order imaginable. for, in the matter of sheep-shearing, moncrieff was fastidious to a degree. the sheep were washed the day before. this was hard work, for no animal i know of is more obstinate than a sheep when it makes up its mind to be so. so the work commenced, and day after day it went merrily on. moncrieff did not consider this a very large shearing, and yet in six days' time no less than , sheep were turned away fleeceless. and what a scene it was, to be sure! i remember well, when quite a little lad, thinking old parson mcgruer's shearing a wonderful sight. the old man, who was very fat and podgy, and seldom got down to breakfast before eleven in the morning, considered himself a sheep farmer on rather a large scale. did he not own a flock of nearly six hundred--one shepherd's work--that fed quietly on the heath-clad braes of coila? one shepherd and two collies; and the collies did nearly all the duty in summer and a great part of it in winter. the shepherd had his bit of shieling in a clump of birch-trees at the glen-foot, and at times, crook in hand, his highland plaid dangling from his shoulder, he might be seen slowly winding along the braes, or standing, statue-like, on the hill-top, his romantic figure well defined against the horizon, and very much in keeping with the scene. i never yet saw the minister's shepherd running. his life was almost an idyllic one in summer, when the birks waved green and eke, or in autumn, when the hills were all ablaze with the crimson glory of the heather. to be sure, his pay was not a great deal, and his fare for the most part consisted of oatmeal and milk, with now and then a slice of the best part of a 'braxied' sheep. here, in our home in the silver west, how different! every _puestero_ had a house or hut as good as the minister's shepherd; and as for living, why, the worthy mr. mcgruer himself never had half so well-found a table. our dogs in the silver west lived far more luxuriously than any farm servant or shepherd, or even gamekeeper, 'in a' braid scotland.' but our shepherds had to run and to ride both. wandering over miles upon miles of pasturage, sheep learn to be dainty, and do not stay very long in any one place; so it is considered almost impossible to herd them on foot. it is not necessary to do so; at all events, where one can buy a horse for forty shillings, and where his food costs _nil_, or next to _nil_, one usually prefers riding to walking. but it was a busy time in may even at the scotch minister's place when sheep-shearing came round. the minister got up early then, if he did not do so all the year round again. the hurdles were all taken to the river-side, or banks of the stream that, leaving loch coila, went meandering through the glen. here the sheep were washed and penned, and anon turned into the enclosures where the shearers were. lads and lasses all took part in the work in one capacity or another. the sun would be brightly shining, the 'jouking burnie' sparkling clear in its rays; the glens and hills all green and bonnie; the laughing and joking and lilting and singing, and the constant bleating of sheep and lambs, made altogether a curious medley; but every now and then donald the piper would tune his pipes and make them 'skirl,' drowning all other sounds in martial melody. but here on moncrieff's _estancia_ everything was on a grander scale. there was the same bleating of sheep, the same laughing, joking, lilting, singing, and piping; the same hurry-scurry of dogs and men; the same prevailing busy-ness and activity; but everything was multiplied by twenty. mcgruer at home in coila had his fleeces thrust into a huge sack, which was held up by two stalwart highlanders. into this not only were the fleeces put, but also a boy, to jump on them and pack them down. at the _estancia_ we had the very newest forms of machinery to do everything. day by day, as our shearing went on, moncrieff grew gayer and gayer, and on the final morning he was as full of life and fun as a harrow schoolboy out on the range. the wool harvest had turned out well. it had not been so every year with moncrieff and his partner. they had had many struggles to come through--sickness had at one time more than decimated the flocks. the indians, though they do not as a rule drive away sheep, had played sad havoc among them, and scattered them far and wide over the adjoining pampas, and the pampero[ ] had several times destroyed its thousands, before the trees had grown up to afford protection and shelter. i have said before that moncrieff was fond of doing things in his own fashion. he was willing enough to adopt all the customs of his adopted country so long as he thought they were right, but many of the habits of his native land he considered would engraft well with those of mendoza. moncrieff delighted in dancing--that is, in giving a good hearty rout, and he simply did so whenever there was the slightest excuse. the cereal harvest ended thus, the grape harvest also, and making of the wine and preserves, and so of course did the shearing. the dinner at the mansion itself was a great success; the supper in the marquee, with the romp to follow, was even a greater. moncrieff himself opened the fun with aunt cecilia as a partner, donald and a charming spanish girl completing the quartette necessary for a real highland reel. the piper played, of course (guitars were not good enough for this sort of thing), and i think we must have kept that first 'hoolichin' up for nearly twenty minutes. then moncrieff and aunt were fain to retire 'for-fochten.'[ ] well moncrieff might have been 'for-fochten,' but neither donald nor his spanish lassie were half tired. nor was the piper. 'come on, dugald,' cried donald, 'get a partner, lad. hooch!' 'hooch!' shouted dugald in response, and lo and behold! he gaily led forth--whom? why, whom but old jenny herself? what roars of laughter there was as, keeping time to a heart-stirring strathspey, the litle lady cracked her thumbs and danced, reeling, setting, and deeking! roars of laughter, and genuine hearty applause as well. moncrieff was delighted with his mother's performance. it was glorious, he said, and so true to time; surely everybody would believe him now that mither was a downright ma_r-r-r-_vel. and everybody did. during the shearing donald and i had done duty as clerks; and very busy we had been kept. as for dugald, it would have been a pity to have parted him and his dear gun, so the work assigned to him was that of lion's provider--we, the shearing folk, being the lion. for a youth of hardly sixteen dugald was a splendid shot, and during the shearing he really kept up his credit well. moncrieff objected to have birds killed when breeding; but in this country, as indeed in any other where game is numerous, there are hosts of birds that do not, for various reasons, breed or mate every season. these generally are to be found either singly and solitary, as if they had some great grief on their minds that they desired to nurse in solitude, or in small flocks of gay young bachelors. dugald knew such birds well, and it was from the ranks of these he always filled the larder. to the supply thus brought daily by dugald were added fowls, ducks, and turkeys from the _estancia's_ poultry-yard, to say nothing of joints of beef, mutton, and pork. nor was it birds alone that dugald's seemingly inexhaustible creels and bags were laden with, but eggs of the swan[ ] and the wild-duck and goose, with--to serve as tit-bits for those who cared for such desert delicacies--cavies, biscachas, and now and then an armadillo. if these were not properly appreciated by the new settlers, the eyes of the old, and especially the gauchos, sparkled with anticipation of gustatory delight on beholding them. for some days after the shearing was over comparative peace reigned around and over the great _estancia_. but nevertheless preparations were being made to send off a string of waggons to villa mercedes. the market at mendoza was hardly large enough to suit moncrieff, nor were the prices so good as could be obtained in the east. indeed, moncrieff had purchasing agents from villa mercedes to meet his waggons on receipt of a telegram. so the waggons were loaded up--wool, wine, and preserves, as well as raisins. to describe the vineyards at our _estancia_ would take up far too much space. i must leave them to the reader's imagination; but i hardly think i am wrong in stating that there are no grapes in the world more delicious or more viniferous than those that grow in the province of mendoza. the usual difficulty is not in the making of wine, but in the supply of barrels and bottles. moncrieff found a way out of this; and in some hotels in buenos ayres, and even monte video, the château moncrieff had already gained some celebrity. the manufacture of many different kinds of preserves was quite an industry at the _estancia_, and one that paid fairly well. there were orangeries as well as vineries; and although the making of marmalade had not before been attempted, moncrieff meant now to go in for it on quite a large scale. this branch was to be superintended by old jenny herself, and great was her delight to find out that she was of some use on the estate, for 'really 'oman,' she told aunt, 'a body gets tired of the stockin'--shank, shank, shank a' day is hard upon the hands, though a body maun do something.' well, the waggons were laden and off at last. with them went moncrieff's welsh partner as commander, to see to the sale, and prevent the gauchos and drivers generally from tapping the casks by the way. the force of men, who were all well armed, was quite sufficient to give an excellent account of any number of prowling indians who were likely to put in an appearance. and now summer, in all its glory, was with us. and such glory! such glory of vegetable life, such profusion of foliage, such wealth of colouring, such splendour of flowers! such glory of animal life, beast and bird and insect! the flowers themselves were not more gay and gorgeous than some of these latter. nor were we very greatly plagued with the hopping and blood-sucking genera. numerous enough they were at times, it must be confessed, both by day and night; but somehow we got used to them. the summer was wearing to a close, the first wing of our coila villa was finished and dry, the furniture was put in, and as soon as the smell of paint left we took possession. this was made the occasion for another of moncrieff's festive gatherings. neighbours came from all directions except the south, for we knew of none in this direction besides the wild pampean indians, and they were not included in the invitation. probably we should make them dance some other day. about a fortnight after our opening gathering, or 'house-warming,' as moncrieff called it, we had a spell of terribly hot weather. the heat was of a sultry, close description, difficult to describe: the cattle, sheep, and horses seemed to suffer very much, and even the poor dogs. these last, by the way, we found it a good plan to clip. long coats did not suit the summer season. one evening it seemed hotter and sultrier than ever. we were all seated out in the verandah, men-folk smoking, and aunt and aileen fanning themselves and fighting the insects, when suddenly a low and ominous rumbling was heard which made us all start except moncrieff. is it thunder? no; there is not at present a cloud in the sky, although a strange dark haze is gathering over the peaks on the western horizon. 'look!' said moncrieff to me. as he spoke he pointed groundwards. beetles and ants and crawling insects of every description were heading for the verandah, seeking shelter from the coming storm. the strange rumbling grew louder! it was not coming from the sky, but from the earth! ----- [ ] pampero, a storm wind that blows from the south. [ ] for-fochten = worn out. the term usually applies to barn-yard roosters, who have been settling a quarrel, and pause to pant, with their heads towards the ground. [ ] swans usually commence laying some time before either ducks or geese; but much depends upon the season. chapter xvii. the earthquake. with a rapidity that was truly alarming the black haze in the west crept upwards over the sky, the sun was engulfed in a few minutes, and before half an hour, accompanied by a roaring wind and a whirl of dust and decayed leaves, the storm was with us and on us, the whole _estancia_ being enveloped in clouds and darkness. the awful earth sounds still continued--increased, in fact--much to the terror of every one of us. we had retreated to the back sitting-room. moncrieff had left us for a time, to see to the safety of the cattle and the farm generally, for the gauchos were almost paralyzed with fear, and it was found afterwards that the very shepherds had left their flocks and fled for safety--if safety it could be called--to their _puestos_. yet gauchos are not as a rule afraid of storms, but--and it is somewhat remarkable--an old indian seer had for months before been predicting that on this very day and night the city of mendoza would be destroyed by an earthquake, and that not only the town but every village in the province would be laid low at the same time. it is difficult to give the reader any idea of the events of this dreadful night. i can only briefly relate my own feelings and experiences. as we all sat there, suddenly a great river of blood appeared to split the dark heavens in two, from zenith to horizon. it hung in the sky for long seconds, and was followed by a peal of thunder of terrific violence, accompanied by sounds as if the whole building and every building on the estate were being rent and riven in pieces. at the self-same moment a strange, dizzy, sleepy feeling rushed through my brain. i could only see those around me as if enshrouded in a blue-white mist. i tried to rise from my chair, but fell back, not as i thought into a chair but into a boat. floor and roof and walls appeared to meet and clasp. my head swam. i was not only dizzy but deaf apparently, not too deaf, however, to hear the wild, unearthly, frightened screams of twenty at least of our gaucho servants, who were huddled together in the centre of the garden. it was all over in a few seconds: even the thunder was hushed and the wind no longer bent the poplars or roared through the cloud-like elm-trees. a silence that could be felt succeeded, broken only by the low moan of terror that the gauchos kept up; a silence that soon checked even that sound itself; a silence that crept round the heart, and held us all spellbound; a silence that was ended at last by terrible thunderings and lightnings and earth-tremblings, with all the same dizzy, sleepy, sickening sensations that had accompanied the first shock. i felt as if chaos had come again, and for a time felt also as if death itself would have been a relief. but this shock passed next, and once more there was a solemn silence, a drear stillness. and now fear took possession of every one of us, and a desire to flee away somewhere--anywhere. this had almost amounted to panic, when moncrieff himself appeared in the verandah. 'i've got our fellows to put up the marquee,' he said, almost in a whisper. 'come--we'll be safer there. mither, i'll carry you. you're not afraid, are you?' 'is the worruld comin' tae an end?' asked old jenny, looking dazed as her son picked her up. 'is the worruld comin' tae an end, _and the marmalade no made yet_?' in about an hour after this the storm was at its worst. flash followed flash, peal followed peal: the world seemed in flames, the hills appeared to be falling on us. the rain and hailstones came down in vast sheets, and with a noise so great that even the thunder itself was heard but as a subdued roar. we had no light here--we needed none. the lightning, or the reflection of it, ran in under the canvas on the surface of the water, which must have been inches deep. the hail melted as soon as it fell, and finally gave place to rain alone; then the water that flowed through the tent felt warm, if not hot, to the touch. this was no doubt occasioned by the force with which it fell to the ground. the falling rain now looked like cords of gold and silver, so brightly was it illuminated by the lightning. while the storm was still at its height suddenly there was a shout from one of the gauchos. 'run, run! the tent is falling!' was the cry. it was only too true. a glance upwards told us this. we got into the open air just in time, before, weighted down by tons of water, the great marquee came groundwards with a crash. but though the rain still came down in torrents and the thunder roared and rattled over and around us, no further shock of earthquake was felt. fear fled then, and we made a rush for the house once more. moncrieff reached the casement window first, with a gaucho carrying a huge lantern. this man entered, but staggered out again immediately. 'the ants! the ants!' he shouted in terror. moncrieff had one glance into the room, as if to satisfy himself. i took the lantern from the trembling hands of the gaucho and held it up, and the sight that met my astonished gaze was one i shall never forget. the whole room was in possession of myriads of black ants of enormous size; they covered everything--walls, furniture, and floor--with one dense and awful pall. the room looked strange and mysterious in its living, moving covering. here was indeed the blackness of darkness. yes, and it was a darkness too that could be felt. of this i had a speedy proof of a most disagreeable nature. i was glad to hand the lantern back and seek for safety in the rain again. luckily the sitting-room door was shut, and this was the only room not taken possession of. after lights had been lit in the drawing-room the storm did not appear quite so terrible; but no one thought of retiring that night. the vague fear that something more dreadful still might occur kept hanging in our minds, and was only dispelled when daylight began to stream in at the windows. by breakfast-time there was no sign in the blue sky that so fearful a storm had recently raged there. nor had any very great violence been done about the farmyards by the earthquake. many of the cattle that had sought shelter beneath the trees had been killed, however; and in one spot we found the mangled remains of over one hundred sheep. here also a huge chestnut-tree had been struck and completely destroyed, pieces of the trunk weighing hundreds of pounds being scattered in every direction over the field. earthquakes are of common occurrence in the province of mendoza, but seldom are they accompanied by such thunder, lightning, and rain as we had on this occasion. it was this demonstration, coupled with the warning words of the indian seer, which had caused the panic among our worthy gaucho servants. but the seer had been a false prophet for once, and as the gauchos seized him on this same day and half drowned him in the lake, there was but little likelihood that he would prophesy the destruction of mendoza again. mendoza had been almost totally destroyed already by an awful earthquake that occurred in . out of a population of nearly sixteen thousand souls no less than thirteen thousand, we are told, were killed--swallowed up by the yawning earth. fire broke out afterwards, and, as if to increase the wretchedness and sad condition of the survivors, robbers from all directions--even from beyond the andes--flocked to the place to loot and pillage it. but mendoza is now built almost on the ashes of the destroyed city, and its population must be equal to, even if it does not exceed, its former aggregate. * * * * * with the exception of a few losses, trifling enough to one in moncrieff's position, the whole year was a singularly successful one. nor had my brothers nor i and the other settlers any occasion to complain, and our prospects began to be very bright indeed. nor did the future belie the present, for ere another year had rolled over our heads we found ourselves in a fair way to fortune. we felt by this time that we were indeed old residents. we were thoroughly acclimatized: healthy, hardy, and brown. in age we were, some would say, mere lads; in experience we were already men. our letters from home continued to be of the most cheering description, with the exception of townley's to aunt. he had made little if any progress in his quest. not that he despaired. duncan m'rae was still absent, but sooner or later--so townley believed--poverty would bring him to bay, and _then_-- nothing of this did my aunt tell me at the time. i remained in blissful ignorance of anything and everything that our old tutor had done or was doing. true, the events of that unfortunate evening at the old ruin sometimes arose in my mind to haunt me. my greatest sorrow was my being bound down by oath to keep what seemed to me the secret of a villain--a secret that had deprived our family of the estates of coila, had deprived my parents--yes, that was the hard and painful part. for, strange as it may appear, i cared nothing for myself. so enamoured had i become of our new home in the silver west, that i felt but little longing to return to the comparative bleakness and desolation of even scottish highland scenery. i must not be considered unpatriotic on this account, or if there was a decay of patriotism in my heart, the fascinating climate of mendoza was to blame for it. i could not help feeling at times that i had eaten the lotus-leaf. had we not everything that the heart of young men could desire? on my own account, therefore, i felt no desire to turn the good soldier m'rae away from coila, and as for irene--as for bringing a tear to the eyes of that beautiful and engaging girl, i would rather, i thought, that the dark waters of the laguna should close over my head for ever. besides, dear father was happy. his letters told me that. he had even come to like his city life, and he never wrote a word about coila. still, the oath--the oath that bound me! it was a dark spot in my existence. _did_ it bind me? i remember thinking that question over one day. could an oath forced upon any one be binding in the sight of heaven? i ran off to consult my brother moncrieff. i found him riding his great bay mare, an especial favourite, along the banks of the highest _estancia_ canal--the canal that fed the whole system of irrigation. here i joined him, myself on my pet brown mule. 'planning more improvements, moncrieff?' i asked. he did not speak for a minute or two. 'i'm not planning improvements,' he said at last, 'but i was just thinking it would be well, in our orra[ ] moments, if we were to strengthen this embankment. there is a terrible power o' water here. now supposing that during some awful storm, with maybe a bit shock of earthquake, it were to burst here or hereabouts, don't you see that the flood would pour right down upon the mansion-house, and clean it almost from its foundations?' 'i trust,' i said, 'so great a catastrophe will not occur in our day.' 'it would be a fearful accident, and a judgment maybe on my want of forethought.' 'i want to ask you a question,' i said, 'on another subject, moncrieff.' 'you're lookin' scared, laddie. what's the matter?' i told him as much as i could. 'it's a queer question, laddie--a queer question. heaven give me help to answer you! i think, as the oath was to keep a secret, you had best keep the oath, and trust to heaven to set things right in the end, if it be for the best.' 'thanks, moncrieff,' i said; 'thanks. i will take your advice.' that very day moncrieff set a party of men to strengthen the embankment; and it was probably well he did so, for soon after the work was finished another of those fearful storms, accompanied as usual by shocks of earthquake, swept over our valley, and the canal was filled to overflowing, but gave no signs of bursting. moncrieff had assuredly taken time by the forelock. one day a letter arrived, addressed to me, which bore the london post-mark. it was from archie, and a most spirited epistle it was. he wanted us to rejoice with him, and, better still, to expect him out by the very first packet. his parents had yielded to his request. it had been the voyage to newcastle that had turned the scale. there was nothing like pluck, he said; 'but,' he added, 'between you and me, murdoch, i would not take another voyage in a newcastle collier, not to win all the honour and glory of livingstone, stanley, gordon-cumming, and colonel frederick burnaby put in a bushel basket.' i went tearing away over the _estancia_ on my mule, to find my brothers and tell them the joyful tidings. and we rejoiced together. then i went off to look for moncrieff, and he rejoiced, to keep me company. 'and mind you,' he said, 'the very day after he arrives we'll have a dinner and a kick-up.' 'of course we will,' i said. 'we'll have the dinner and fun at coila villa, which, remember, can now boast of two wings besides the tower.' 'very well,' he assented, 'and after that we can give another dinner and rout at my diggings. just a sort of return match, you see?' 'but i don't see,' i said; 'i don't see the use of two parties.' 'oh, but i do, murdoch. we must make more of a man than we do of a nowt[ ] beast. now you mind that bull i had sent out from england--towsy jock that lives in the easter field?--well, i gave a dinner when he came. £ i paid for him too.' 'yes, and i remember also you gave a dinner and fun when the prize ram came out. oh, catch you not finding an excuse for a dinner! however, so be it: one dinner and fun for a bull, two for archie.' 'that's agreed then,' said moncrieff. now, my brothers and i and a party of gauchos, with the warlike bombazo and a scot or two, had arranged a grand hunt into the guanaco country; but as dear old archie was coming out so soon we agreed to postpone it, in order that he might join in the fun. meanwhile we commenced to make all preparations. they say that the principal joy in life lies in the anticipation of pleasure to come. i think there is a considerable amount of truth in this, and i am sure that not even bluff old king hal setting out to hunt in the new forest could have promised himself a greater treat than we did as we got ready for our tour in the land of the guanaco, and country of the condor. we determined to be quite prepared to start by the time archie was due. not that we meant to hurry our dear cockney cousin right away to the wilds as soon as he arrived. no; we would give him a whole week to 'shake down,' as moncrieff called it, and study life on the _estancia_. and, indeed, life on the _estancia_, now that we had become thoroughly used to it, was exceedingly pleasant altogether. i cannot say that either my brothers or i were ever much given to lazing in bed of a morning in scotland itself. to have done so we should have looked upon as bad form; but to encourage ourselves in matutinal sloth in a climate like this would have seemed a positive crime. even by seven in the morning we used to hear the great gong roaring hoarsely on moncrieff's lawn, and this used to be the signal for us to start and draw aside our mosquito curtains. our bedrooms adjoined, and all the time we were splashing in our tubs and dressing we kept up an incessant fire of banter and fun. the fact is, we used to feel in such glorious form after a night's rest. our bedroom windows were very large casements, and were kept wide open all the year round, so that virtually we slept in the open air. we nearly always went to bed in the dark, or if we did have lights we had to shut the windows till we had put them out, else moths as big as one's hand, and all kinds and conditions of insect life, would have entered and speedily extinguished our candles. even had the windows been protected by glass, this insect life would have been troublesome. in the drawing and dining rooms we had specially prepared blinds of wire to exclude these creatures, while admitting air enough. the mosquito curtains round our beds effectually kept everything disagreeable at bay, and insured us wholesome rest. but often we were out of bed and galloping over the country long before the gong sounded. this ride used to give us such appetites for breakfast, that sometimes we had to apologize to aunt and aileen for our apparent greediness. we were out of doors nearly all day, and just as often as not had a snack of luncheon on the hills at some settler's house or at an outlying _puesto_. aunt was now our housekeeper, but nevertheless so accustomed had we and moncrieff and aileen become to each other's society that hardly a day passed without our dining together either at his house or ours. the day, what with one thing and another, used to pass quickly enough, and the evening was most enjoyable, despite even the worry of flying and creeping insects. after dinner my brothers and i, with at times moncrieff and bombazo, used to lounge round to see what the servants were doing. they had a concert, and as often as not some fun, every night with the exception of sabbath, when moncrieff insisted that they should retire early. at many _estancias_ wine is far too much in use--even to the extent of inebriety. our places, however, owing to moncrieff's strictness, were models of temperance, combined with innocent pleasures. the master, as he was called, encouraged all kinds of games, though he objected to gambling, and drinking he would not permit at any price. one morning our post-runner came to coila villa in greater haste than usual, and from his beaming eyes and merry face i conjectured he had a letter for me. i took it from him in the verandah, and sent him off round to the kitchen to refresh himself. no sooner had i glanced at its opening sentences than i rushed shouting into the breakfast-room. 'hurrah!' i cried, waving the letter aloft. 'archie's coming, and he'll be here to-day. hurrah! for the hunt, lads, and hurrah! for the hills!' ----- [ ] orra = leisure, idle. an orra-man is one who does all kinds of odd jobs about a farm. [ ] nowt = cattle. chapter xviii. our hunting expedition. if not quite so exuberant as the welcome that awaited us on our arrival in the valley, archie's was a right hearty one, and assuredly left our cousin nothing to complain of. he had come by diligence from villa mercedes, accomplishing the journey, therefore, in a few days, which had occupied us in our caravan about as many weeks. we were delighted to see him looking so well. why, he had even already commenced to get brown, and was altogether hardy and hearty and manlike. we were old _estancieros_, however, and it gave us unalloyed delight to show him round our place and put him up to all the outs and ins of a settler's life. dugald even took him away to the hills with him, and the two of them did not get home until dinner was on the table. archie, however, although not without plenty of pluck and willingness to develop into an _estanciero_ pure and simple, had not the stamina my brothers and i possessed, but this only made us all the more kind to him. in time, we told him, he would be quite as strong and wiry as any of us. 'there is one thing i don't think i shall ever be able to get over,' said archie one day. it may be observed that he did not now talk with the london drawl; he had left both his cockney tongue and his tall hat at home. 'what is it you do not think you will ever get over, arch?' i asked. 'why, the abominable creepies,' he answered, looking almost miserable. 'why,' he continued, 'it isn't so much that i mind being bitten by mosquitoes--of which it seems you have brutes that fly by day, and gangs that go on regular duty at night--but it is the other abominations that make my blood run positively cold. now your cockroaches are all very well down in the coal-cellar, and centipedes are interesting creatures in glass cases with pins stuck through them; but to find cockroaches in your boots and centipedes in your bed is rather too much of a good thing.' 'well,' said dugald, laughing, 'you'll get used to even that. i don't really mind now what bites me or what crawls over me. besides, you know all those creepie-creepies, as you call them, afford one so excellent an opportunity of studying natural history from the life.' 'oh, bother such life, dugald! my dear cousin, i would rather remain in blissful ignorance of natural history all my life than have even an earwig reposing under my pillow. besides, i notice that even your yahoo servants--' 'i beg your pardon, cousin; gaucho, not yahoo.' 'well, well, gaucho servants shudder, and even run from our common bedroom creepies.' 'oh! they are nothing at all to go by, archie. they think because a thing is not very pretty it is bound to be venomous.' 'but does not the bite of a centipede mean death?' 'oh dear no. it isn't half as bad as london vermin.' 'then there are scorpions. do they kill you? is not their bite highly dangerous?' 'not so bad as a bee's sting.' 'then there are so many flying beetles.' 'beauties, archie, beauties. why, solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like some of these.' 'perhaps not. but then, solomon or not solomon, how am i to know which sting and which don't?' '_experientia docet_, archie.' archie shuddered. 'again, there are spiders. oh, they do frighten me. they're as big as lobsters. ugh!' 'well, they won't hurt. they help to catch the other things!' 'yes, and that's just the worst of it. first a lot of creepies come in to suck your blood and inject poison into your veins, to say nothing of half scaring a fellow to death; and then a whole lot of flying creepies, much worse than the former, come in to hunt them up; and bats come next, to say nothing of lizards; and what with the buzzing and singing and hopping and flapping and beating and thumping, poor _me_ has to lie awake half the night, falling asleep towards morning to dream i'm in purgatory.' 'poor _you_ indeed!' said dugald. 'you have told me, too, i must sleep in the dark, but i want to know what is the good of that when about one half of those flying creepies carry a lamp each, and some of them two. only the night before last i awoke in a fright. i had been dreaming about the great sea-serpent, and the first thing i saw was a huge creature about as long as a yard stick wriggling along my mosquito curtains.' 'ah! how could you see it in the dark?' 'why, the beggar carried two lamps ahead of him, and he had a smaller chap with a light. ugh!' 'these were some good specimens of the _lampyridæ_, no doubt.' 'well, perhaps; but having such a nice long name doesn't make them a bit less hideous to me. then in the morning when i looked into the glass i didn't know myself from adam. i had a black eye that some bug or other had given me--i dare say he also had a nice long name. i had a lump on my brow as large as a spanish onion, and my nose was swollen and as big as a bladder of lard. from top to toe i was covered with hard knots, as if i'd been to donnybrook fair, and what with aching and itching it would have been a comfort to me to have jumped out of my skin.' 'was that all?' i said, laughing. 'not quite. i went to take up a book to fling at a monster spider in the corner, and put my hand on a scorpion. i cracked him and crushed the spider, and went to have my bath, only to find i had to fish out about twenty long-named indescribables that had committed suicide during the night. other creepies had been drowned in the ewer. i found earwigs in my towels, grasshoppers in my clothes, and wicked-looking little beetles even in my hairbrushes. this may be a land flowing with milk and honey and all the rest of it, murdoch, but it is also a land crawling with creepie-creepies.' 'well, anyhow,' said dugald, 'here comes your mule. mount and have a ride, and we'll forget everything but the pleasures of the chase. come, i think i know where there is a jaguar--an immense great brute. i saw him killing geese not three days ago.' 'oh, that will be grand!' cried archie, now all excitement. and five minutes afterwards dugald and he were off to the hills. but in two days more we would be off to the hills in earnest. for this tour we would not of our own free-will have made half the preparations moncrieff insisted on, and perhaps would hardly have provided ourselves with tents. however, we gave in to his arrangements in every way, and certainly we had no cause to repent it. the guide--he was to be called our _cacique_ for the time being--that moncrieff appointed had been a gaucho malo, a pampas cain. no one ever knew half the crimes the fellow had committed, and i suppose he himself had forgotten. but he was a reformed man and really a christian, and it is difficult to find such an anomaly among gauchos. he knew the pampas well, and the andes too, and was far more at home in the wilds than at the _estancia_. a man like this, moncrieff told us, was worth ten times his weight in gold. and so it turned out. * * * * * the summer had well-nigh gone when our caravan at length left moncrieff's beautiful valley. the words 'caravan at length' in the last sentence may be understood in two ways, either as regards space or time. ours was no caravan on wheels. not a single wheeled waggon accompanied us, for we should cross deserts, and pass through glens where there would be no road, perhaps hardly even a bridle-path. so the word caravan is to be understood in the arab sense of the word. and it certainly was a lengthy one. for we had a pack mule for every two men, including our five gauchos. putting it in another way, there were five of us europeans--donald, dugald, archie bateman, sandie donaldson, and myself; each european had a horse and a gaucho servant, and each gaucho had a mule. bombazo meant to have come; he said so to the very last, at all events, but an unfortunate attack of toothache confined him to bed. archie, who had no very exalted idea of the little spanish captain's courage, was rude enough to tell us in his hearing that he was 'foxing.' i do not pretend to understand what archie meant, but i feel certain it was nothing very complimentary to bombazo's bravery. 'dear laddies,' old jenny had said, 'if you think you want onybody to darn your hose on the road, i'll gang wi' ye mysel'. as for that feckless loon bombazo, the peer[ ] body is best in bed.' our arms consisted of rifles, shot-guns, the bolas, and lasso. each man carried a revolver as well, and we had also abundance of fishing tackle. our tents were only three in all, but they were strong and waterproof, a great consideration when traversing a country like this. we were certainly prepared to rough it, but had the good sense to take with us every contrivance which might add to our comfort, so long as it was fairly portable. archie had one particular valise of his own that he declared contained only a few nicknacks which no one ought to travel without. he would not gratify us by even a peep inside, however, so for a time we had to be content with guessing what the nicknacks were. archie got pretty well chaffed about his gladstone bag, as he called it. 'you surely haven't got the tall hat in it,' said dugald. 'of course you haven't forgotten your nightcap,' said donald. 'nor your slippers, archie?' i added. 'and a dressing-gown would be indispensable in the desert,' said sandie donaldson. archie only smiled to himself, but kept his secret. what a lovely morning it was when we set out! so blue was the sky, so green the fields of waving lucerne, so dense the foliage and flowers and hedgerows and trees, it really seemed that summer would last for many and many a month to come. we were all fresh and happy, and full of buoyant anticipation of pleasures to come. our very dogs went scampering on ahead, barking for very joy. of these we had quite a pack--three pure scotch collies, two huge bloodhound-mastiffs, and at least half a dozen animals belonging to our gauchos, which really were nondescripts but probably stood by greyhounds. these dogs were on exceedingly good terms with themselves and with each other--the collies jumping up to kiss the horses every minute by way of encouragement, the mastiffs trotting steadily on ahead cheek-by-jowl, and the hounds everywhere--everywhere at once, so it appeared. being all so fresh, we determined to make a thorough long day's journey of it. so, as soon as we had left the glen entirely and disappeared among the sand dunes, we let our horses have their heads, the _capataz_ gaucho riding on ahead on a splendid mule as strong as a stallion and as lithe as a scottish deerhound. not long before our start for the hunting grounds men had arrived from the chilian markets to purchase cattle. the greatest dainty to my mind they had brought with them was a quantity of _yerba maté_, as it is called. it is the dried leaves of a species of patagonian ilex, which is used in this country as tea, and very delightful and soothing it is. this was to be our drink during all our tour. more refreshing than tea, less exciting than wine, it not only seems to calm the mind but to invigorate the body. drunk warm, with or without sugar, all feeling of tiredness passes away, and one is disposed to look at the bright side of life, and that alone. we camped the first night on high ground nearly forty miles from our own _estancia_. it was a long day's journey in so rough a country, but we had a difficulty earlier in the afternoon in finding water. here, however, was a stream as clear as crystal, that doubtless made its way from springs in the _sierras_ that lay to the west of us at no very great distance. behind these jagged hills the sun was slowly setting when we erected our tents. the ground chosen was at some little distance from the stream, and on the bare gravel. the cacti that grew on two sides of us were of gigantic height, and ribboned or edged with the most beautiful flowers. our horses and mules were hobbled and led to the stream, then turned on to the grass which grew green and plentiful all along its banks. a fire was quickly built and our great stewpan put on. we had already killed our dinner in the shape of a small deer or fawn which had crossed our path on the plains lower down. with biscuits, of which we had a store, some curry, roots, which the gauchos had found, and a handful or two of rice, we soon had a dinner ready, the very flavour of which would have been enough to make a dying man eat. the dogs sat around us and around the gauchos as we dined, and, it must be allowed, behaved in a most mannerly way; only the collies and mastiffs kept together. they must have felt their superiority to those mongrel greyhounds, and desired to show it in as calm and dignified a manner as possible. after dinner sentries were set, one being mounted to watch the horses and mules. we were in no great fear of their stampeding, but we had promised moncrieff to run as little risk of any kind as possible on this journey, and therefore commenced even on this our first night to be as good as our word. the best gauchos had been chosen for us, and every one of them could talk english after a fashion, especially our bold but not handsome _capataz_, or _cacique_ yambo. about an hour after dinner the latter began serving out the _maté_. this put us all in excellent humour and the best of spirits. as we felt therefore as happy as one could wish to be, we were not surprised when the _capataz_ proposed a little music. 'it is the pampas fashion, señor,' he said to me. 'will you play and sing?' i said. 'play and sing?' he replied, at once producing his guitar, which lay in a bag not far off. '_si_, señor, i will play and sing for you. if you bid me, i will dance; every day and night i shall cook for you; when de opportunity come i will fight for you. i am your servant, your slave, and delighted to be so.' 'thank you, my _capataz_; i have no doubt you are a very excellent fellow.' 'oh, señor, do not flatter yourself too mooch, too very mooch. it is not for the sake of you young señors i care, but for the sake of the dear master.' 'sing, _capataz_,' i said, 'and talk after.' to our surprise, not one but three guitars were handed out, and the songs and melodies were very delightful to listen to. then our sandie donaldson, after handing his cup to be replenished, sang, _ye banks and braes_ with much feeling and in fine manly tenor. we all joined in each second verse, while the guitars gave excellent accompaniment. one song suggested another, and from singing to conversational story-telling the transition was easy. to be sure, neither my brothers nor i nor archie had much to tell, but some of the experiences of the gauchos, and especially those of our _capataz_, were thrilling in the extreme, and we never doubted their truth. but now it was time for bed, and we returned to the tents and lit our lamps. our beds were the hard ground, with a rug and guanaco robe, our saddles turned upside down making as good a pillow as any one could wish. we had now the satisfaction of knowing something concerning the contents of that mysterious grip-sack of archie's. so judge of our surprise when this wonderful london cousin of ours first produced a large jar of what he called mosquito cream, and proceeded to smear his face and hands with the odorous compound. 'this cream,' he said, 'i bought at buenos ayres, and it is warranted to keep all pampas creepies away, or anything with two wings or four, six legs or sixty. have a rub, dugald?' 'not i,' cried dugald. 'why, man, the smell is enough to kill bees.' archie proceeded with his preparations. before enshrouding himself in his guanaco mantle he drew on a huge waterproof canvas sack and fastened it tightly round his chest. he next produced a hooped head-dress. i know no other name for it. 'it is an invention of my own,' said archie, proudly, 'and is, as you see, composed of hoops of wire--' 'like a lady's crinoline,' said dugald. 'well, yes, if you choose to call it so, and is covered with mosquito muslin. this is how it goes on, and i'm sure it will form a perfect protection.' he then inserted his head into the wondrous muslin bladder, and the appearance he now presented was comical in the extreme. his body in a sack, his head in a white muslin bag, nothing human-looking about him except his arms, that, encased in huge leather gloves, dangled from his shoulders like an immense pair of flippers. we three brothers looked at him just for a moment, then simultaneously exploded into a perfect roar of laughter. sandie donaldson, who with the _capataz_ occupied the next tent, came rushing in, then all the gauchos and even the dogs. the latter bolted barking when they saw the apparition, but the rest joined the laughing chorus. and the more we looked at archie the more we laughed, till the very sand dunes near us must have been shaken to their foundations by the manifestation of our mirth. 'laugh away, boys,' said our cousin. 'laugh and grow fat. i don't care how i look, so long as my dress and my cream keep the creepies away.' ----- [ ] peer = poor. [illustration: comical in the extreme] chapter xix. in the wilderness. some days afterwards we found ourselves among the mountains in a region whose rugged grandeur and semi-desolation, whose rock-filled glens, tall, frowning precipices, with the stillness that reigned everywhere around, imparted to it a character approaching even to sublimity. the _capataz_ was still our guide, our foremost man in everything; but close beside him rode our indefatigable hunter, dugald. we had already seen pumas, and even the terrible jaguar of the plains; we had killed more than one rhea--the american ostrich--and deer in abundance. moreover, dugald had secured about fifty skins of the most lovely humming-birds, with many beetles, whose elytra, painted and adorned by nature, looked like radiant jewels. all these little skins and beetles were destined to be sent home to flora. as yet, however, we had not come in contact with the guanaco, although some had been seen at a distance. but to-day we were in the very country of the guanaco, and pressing onwards and ever upwards, in the hopes of soon being able to draw trigger on some of these strange inhabitants of the wilderness. only this morning dugald and i had been bantering each other as to who should shoot the first. 'i mean to send my first skin to flora,' dugald had said. 'and i my first skin to irene,' i said. on rounding the corner of a cliff we suddenly came in sight of a whole herd of the creatures, but they were in full retreat up the glen, while out against the sky stood in bold relief a tall buck. it was the trumpet tones of his voice ringing out plaintively but musically on the still mountain air that had warned the herd of our approach. another long ride of nearly two hours. and now we must have been many thousands of feet above the sea level, or even the level of the distant plains. it is long past midday, so we determine to halt, for here, pure, bubbling from a dark green slippery rock, is a spring of water as clear as crystal and deliciously cool. what a treat for our horses and dogs! what a treat even for ourselves! i notice that dugald seems extra tired. he has done more riding to-day than any of us, and made many a long _détour_ in search of that guanaco which he has hitherto failed to find. a kind of brotherly rivalry takes possession of me, and i cannot help wishing that the first guanaco would fall to my rifle. the gauchos are busy preparing the stew and boiling water for the _maté_, so shouldering my rifle, and carelessly singing to myself, i leave my companions and commence sauntering higher up the glen. the hill gets very steep, and i have almost to climb on my hands and knees, starting sometimes in dread as a hideous snake goes wriggling past me or raises head and body from behind a stone, and hisses defiance and hate almost in my face. but i reach the summit at last, and find myself on the very edge of a precipice. oh, joy! on a little peak down beneath, and not a hundred yards away, stands one of the noblest guanacos i have ever seen. he has heard something, or scented something, for he stands there as still as a statue, with head and neck in the air sniffing the breeze. how my heart beats! how my hand trembles! i cannot understand my anxiety. were i face to face with a lion or tiger i could hardly be more nervous. a thousand thoughts seem to cross my mind with a rush, but uppermost of all is the fear that, having fired, i shall miss. he whinnies his warning now: only a low and undecided one. he is evidently puzzled; but the herd down in the bottom of the cañon hear it, and every head is elevated. i have judged the distance; i have drawn my bead. if my heart would only keep still, and there were not such a mist before my eyes! bang! i have fired, and quickly load again. have i missed? yes--no, no; hurrah! hurrah! yonder he lies, stark and still, on the very rock on which he stood--my first guanaco! the startled herd move up the cañon. they must have seen their leader drop. i am still gazing after them, full of exultation, when a hand is laid on my shoulder, and, lo! there stands dugald laughing. 'you sly old dog,' he says, 'to steal a march on your poor little brother thus!' for a moment i am startled, mystified. 'dugald,' i say, 'did i really kill that guanaco?' 'no one else did.' 'and you've only just come--only just this second? well, i'm glad to hear it. it was after all a pure accident my shooting the beast. i _did_ hold the rifle his way. i _did_ draw the trigger----' 'well, and the bullet did the rest, boy. funny, you always kill by the merest chance! ah, murdoch, you're a better shot than i am, for all you won't allow it.' wandering still onwards and still upwards next day, through lonely glens and deep ravines, through cañons the sides of which were as perpendicular as walls, their flat green or brown bottoms sometimes scattered with huge boulders, casting shadows so dark in the sunlight that a man or horse disappeared in them as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up, we came at length to a dell, or strath, of such charming luxuriance that it looked to us, amid all the barrenness of this dreary wilderness, like an oasis dropped from the clouds, or some sweet green glade where fairies might dwell. i looked at my brother. the same thought must have struck each of us, at the same moment--why not make this glen our _habitat_ for a time? 'oh!' cried archie, 'this is a paradise!' 'beautiful! lovely!' said dugald. 'suppose now--' 'oh, i know what you are going to say,' cried donald. 'and i second the motion,' said sandie donaldson. 'well,' i exclaimed, 'seeing, sandie, that no motion has yet been made--' 'here is the motion, then,' exclaimed dugald, jumping out of his saddle. it was a motion we all followed at once; and as the day was getting near its close, the gauchos set about looking for a bit of camping-ground at once. as far as comfort was concerned, this might have been chosen almost anywhere, but we wanted to be near to water. now here was the mystery: the glen was not three miles long altogether, and nowhere more than a mile broad; all along the bottom it was tolerably level and extremely well wooded with quite a variety of different trees, among which pines, elms, chestnuts, and stunted oak-trees were most abundant; each side of the glen was bounded by rising hills or braes covered with algorroba bushes and patches of charmingly-coloured cacti, with many sorts of prickly shrubs, the very names of which we could not tell. curious to say, there was very little undergrowth; and, although the trees were close enough in some places to form a jungle, the grass was green beneath. but at first we could find no water. leaving the others to rest by the edge of the miniature forest, dugald and i and archie set out to explore, and had not gone more than a hundred yards when we came to a little lake. we bent down and tasted the water; it was pure and sweet and cool. 'what a glorious find!' said dugald. 'why, this place altogether was surely made for us.' we hurried back to tell the news, and the horses and mules were led to the lake, which was little more than half an acre in extent. but not satisfied with drinking, most of the dogs plunged in; and horses and mules followed suit. 'come,' cried donald, 'that is a sort of motion i will willingly second.' he commenced to undress as he spoke. so did we all, and such splashing and dashing, and laughing and shouting, the birds and beasts in this romantic dale had surely never witnessed before. dugald was an excellent swimmer, and as bold and headstrong in the water as on the land. he had left us and set out to cross the lake. suddenly we saw him throw up his arms and shout for help, and we--donald and i--at once commenced swimming to his assistance. he appeared, however, in no danger of sinking, and, to our surprise, although heading our way all the time, he was borne away from us one minute and brought near us next. when close enough a thrill of horror went through me to hear poor dugald cry in a feeble, pleading voice, 'come no nearer, boys: i soon must sink. save yourselves: i'm in a whirlpool.' it was too true, though almost too awful to be borne. i do not know how donald felt at that moment, but as for myself i was almost paralyzed with terror. 'back, back, for your lives!' shouted a voice behind us. it was our gaucho _capataz_. he was coming towards us with powerful strokes, holding in one hand a lasso. instead of swimming on with us when he saw dugald in danger, he had gone ashore at once and brought the longest thong. we white men could have done nothing. we knew of nothing to do. we should have floated there and seen our dear brother go down before our eyes, or swam recklessly, madly on, only to sink with him. dugald, weak as he had become, sees the gaucho will make an attempt to save him, and tries to steady himself to catch the end of the lasso that now flies in his direction. but to our horror it falls short, and dugald is borne away again, the circles round which he is swept being now narrower. the gaucho is nearer. he is perilously near. he will save him or perish. again the lasso leaves his hand. dugald had thrown up his hands and almost leapt from the water. he is sinking. oh, good gaucho! oh, good _capataz_, surely heaven itself directed that aim, for the noose fell over our brother's arms and tightened round the chest! in a few minutes more we have laid his lifeless body on the green bank. lifeless only for a time, however. presently he breathes, and we carry him away into the evening sunshine and place him on the soft warm moss. he soon speaks, but is very ill and weak; yet our thanks to god for his preservation are very sincere. surely there is a providence around one even in the wilderness! we might have explored our glen this same evening, perhaps we really ought to have done so, but the excitement caused by dugald's adventure put everything else out of our heads. in this high region, the nights were even cold enough to make a position near the camp fire rather a thing to be desired than otherwise. it was especially delightful, i thought, on this particular evening to sit around the fire and quietly talk. i reclined near dugald, who had not yet quite recovered. i made a bed for him with extra rugs; and, as he coughed a good deal, i begged of him to consider himself an invalid for one night at least; but no sooner had he drunk his mug of _maté_ than he sat up and joined in the conversation, assuring us he felt as well as ever he had in his life. [illustration: tries to steady himself to catch the lasso] it was a lovely evening. the sky was unclouded, the stars shining out very clear, and looking very near, while a round moon was rising slowly over the hill-peaks towards the east, and the tall dark pine-trees were casting gloomy shadows on the lake, near which, in an open glade, we were encamped. i could not look at the dark waters without a shudder, as i thought of the danger poor dugald had so narrowly escaped. i am not sure that the boy was not always my mother's favourite, and i know he was flora's. how could i have written and told them of his fearful end? the very idea made me creep nearer to him and put my arm round his shoulder. i suppose he interpreted my thoughts, for he patted my knee in his brotherly fond old fashion. our gaucho _capataz_ was just telling a story, an adventure of his own, in the lonely pampas. he looked a strange and far from comely being, with his long, straggling, elf-like locks of hair, his low, receding forehead, his swarthy complexion, and high cheek bones. the mark of a terrible spear wound across his face and nose did not improve his looks. 'yes, señors,' he was saying, 'that was a fearful moment for me.' he threw back his poncho as he spoke, revealing three ugly scars on his chest. 'you see these, señors? it was that same tiger made the marks. it was a keepsake, ha! ha! that i will take to de grave with me, if any one should trouble to bury me. it was towards evening, and we were journeying across the pampa. we had come far that day, my indians and me. we felt tired--sometimes even indians felt tired on de weary wide pampa. de sun has been hot all day. we have been chased far by de white settlers. dey not love us. ha! ha! we have five score of de cattle with us. and we have spilt blood, and left dead and wounded indians plenty on de pampa. never mind, i swear revenge. oh, i am a bad man den. gaucho malo, mucho malo, nandrin, my brother _cacique_, hate me. i hate him. i wish him dead. but de indians love him all de same as me. by and by de sun go down, down, down, and we raise de _toldo_[ ] in de cañon near a stream. here grow many ombu-trees. the young señors have not seen this great tree; it is de king of the lonely pampa. oh, so tall! oh, so wide! so spreading and shady! two, three ombu-trees grow near; but i have seen de great tiger sleep in one. my brother _cacique_ have seen him too. when de big moon rise, and all is bright like de day, and no sound make itself heard but de woo-hoo-woo of de pampa owl, i get quietly up and go to de ombu-tree. i think myself much more brave as my brother _cacique_. ha! ha! he think himself more brave as me. when i come near de ombu-trees i shout. ugh! de scream dat comes from de ombu-tree make me shake and shiver. den de terrible tiger spring down; i will not run, i am too brave. i shoot. he not fall. next moment i am down--on my back i lie. one big foot is on me; his blood pour over my face. he pull me close and more close to him. soon, ah, soon, i think my brother _cacique_ will be chief--i will be no more. de tiger licks my arm--my cheek. how he growl and froth! he is now going to eat me. but no! ha! ha! my brother _cacique_ have also leave de camp to come to de ombu-tree. de tiger see him. p'r'aps he suppose his blood more sweet as mine. he leave poor me. ha! ha! he catch my brother _cacique_ and carry him under de shade of de ombu-tree. by and by i listen, and hear my brother's bones go crash! crash! crash! de tiger is enjoying his supper!' 'but, _capataz_,' i said, with a shudder, 'did you make no attempt to save your brother chief?' 'not much! you see, he all same as dead. suppose i den shoot, p'r'aps i kill him for true; 'sides, i bad gaucho den; not love anybody mooch. next day i kill dat tiger proper, and his skin make good ponchos. ha! ha!' many a time during the gaucho's recital he had paused and looked uneasily around him, for ever and anon the woods re-echoed with strange cries. we white men had not lived long enough in beast-haunted wildernesses to distinguish what those sounds were, whether they proceeded from bird or beast. as the _capataz_ stopped speaking, and we all sat silent for a short time, the cries were redoubled. they certainly were not calculated to raise our spirits: some were wild and unearthly in the extreme, some were growls of evident anger, some mere groanings, as if they proceeded from creatures dying in pain and torment, while others again began in a low and most mournful moan, rising quickly into a hideous, frightened, broken, or gurgling yell, then dying away again in dreary cadence. i could not help shuddering a little as i looked behind me into the darkness of the forest. the whole place had an uncanny, haunted sort of look, and i even began to wonder whether we might not possibly be the victims of enchantment. would we awaken in the morning and find no trees, no wood, no water, only a green cañon, with cliffs and hills on every side? 'look, look!' i cried, starting half up at last. 'did none of you see that?' 'what is it? speak, murdoch!' cried archie; 'your face is enough to frighten a fellow.' i pressed my hand to my forehead. 'surely,' i said, 'i am going to be ill, but i thought i could distinctly see a tall grey figure standing among the trees.' we resumed talking, but in a lower, quieter key. the events of the evening, our strange surroundings, the whispering trees, the occasional strange cries, and the mournful beauty of the night, seemed to have cast a glamour over every heart that was here; and though it was now long past our usual hour for bed, no one appeared wishful to retire. all at once archie grasped me by the shoulder and glanced fearfully into the forest behind me. i dared scarcely turn my head till the click of yambo's revolver reassured me. yes, there was the figure in grey moving silently towards us. 'speak, quick, else i fire!' shouted our _capataz_. '_ave maria!_' yambo lowered the revolver, and we all started to our feet to confront the figure in grey. ----- [ ] toldo = a tent. chapter xx. the mountain crusoe. the figure in grey--the grey was a garment of skin, cap, coat, breeches, and even boots, apparently all of the same material--approached with extended hand. we could see now it was no ghost who stood before us, but a man of flesh and blood. very solid flesh, too, judging from the cheeks that surmounted the silvery beard. the moon shone full on his face, and a very pleasant one it was, with a bright, merry twinkle in the eye. 'who are you?' said i. 'nay, pardon me,' was the bold reply, 'but the question would come with greater propriety from my lips. i need not ask it, however. you are right welcome to my little kingdom. you are, i can see, a party of roving hunters. few of your sort have ever come here before, i can tell you.' 'and you?' i said, smiling. '_i_ am--but there, what need to give myself a name? i have not heard my name for years. call me smith, jones, robinson; call me a hunter, a trapper, a madman, a fool--anything.' 'a hermit, anyhow,' said dugald. 'yes, boy, a hermit.' 'and an englishman?' 'no; i am a portuguese by birth, but i have lived in every country under the sun, and here i am at last. have i introduced myself sufficiently?' 'no,' i said; 'but sit down. you have,' i continued, 'only introduced yourself sufficiently to excite our curiosity. yours must be a strange story.' 'oh, anybody and everybody who lives for over fifty years in the world as i have done has a strange story, if he cared to tell it. mine is too long, and some of it too sad. i have been a soldier, a sailor, a traveller; i have been wealthy, i have been poor; i have been in love--my love left _me_. i forgot _her_. i have done everything except commit crime. i have not run away from anywhere, gentlemen. there is no blood on my hands. i can still pray. i still love. she whom i love is here.' 'oh!' cried dugald, 'won't you bring the lady?' the hermit laughed. 'she _is_ here, there, all around us. my mistress is nature. ah! boys,' he said, turning to us with such a kind look, 'nature breaks no hearts; and the more you love her, the more she loves you, and leads you upwards--always upwards, never down.' it was strange, but from the very moment he began to talk both my brothers and i began to like this hermit. his ways and his manners were quite irresistible, and before we separated we felt as if we had known him all our lives. he was the last man my brothers and i saw that night, and he was the first we met in the morning. he had donned a light cloth poncho and a broad sombrero hat, and really looked both handsome and picturesque. we went away together, and bathed, and i told him of dugald's adventure. he looked interested, patted my brother's shoulder, and said: 'poor boy, what a narrow escape you have had! 'the stream,' he continued, 'that flows through this strange glen rises in the hills about five miles up. it rises from huge springs--you shall see them--flows through the woods, and is sucked into the earth in the middle of that lake. i have lived here for fifteen years. walk with me up the glen. leave your rifles in your tents; there is nothing to hurt.' we obeyed, and soon joined him, and together we strolled up the path that led close by the banks of a beautiful stream. we were enchanted with the beauty displayed everywhere about us, and our guide seemed pleased. 'almost all the trees and shrubs you see,' he said, 'i have planted, and many of the beautiful flowers--the orchids, the climbers, and creepers, all are my pets. those i have not planted i have encouraged, and i believe they all know me.' at this moment a huge puma came bounding along the path, but stopped when he saw us. 'don't be afraid, boys,' said the hermit. 'this, too, is a pet. do not be shy, jacko. these are friends.' the puma smelt us, then rubbed his great head against his master's leg, and trotted along by his side. 'i have several. you will not shoot while you live here? thanks. i have a large family. the woods are filled with my family. i have brought them from far and near, birds and beasts of every kind. they see us now, but are shy.' 'i say, sir,' said dugald, 'you are adam, and this is paradise.' the hermit smiled in recognition of the compliment, and we now approached his house. 'i must confess,' i said, 'that a more crusoe-looking establishment it has never been my luck to behold.' 'you are young yet,' replied the hermit, laughing, 'although you speak so like a book. 'here we are, then, in my compound. the fence, you see, is a very open one, for i desire neither to exclude the sunshine nor the fresh air from my vegetables. observe,' he continued, 'that my hut, which consists of one large room, stands in the centre of a gravel square.' 'it is strange-looking gravel!' said dugald. 'it is nearly altogether composed of salt. my house is built of stone, but it is plastered with a kind of cement i can dig here in the hills. there is not a crevice nor hollow in all the wall, and it is four feet thick. the floor is also cemented, and so is the roof.' 'and this,' i remarked, 'is no doubt for coolness in summer.' 'yes, and warmth in winter, if it comes to that, and also for cleanliness. yonder is a ladder that leads to the roof. up there i lounge and think, drink my _maté_ and read. oh yes, i have plenty of books, which i keep in a safe with bitter-herb powder--to save them, you know, from literary ants and other insects who possess an ambition to solve the infinite. observe again, that i have neither porch nor verandah to my house, and that the windows are small. i object to a porch and to climbing things on the same principle that i do to creeping, crawling creatures. the world is wide enough for us all. but they must keep to their side of the house at night, and i to mine. and mine is the inside. this is also the reason why most of the gravel is composed of salt. as a rule, creepies don't like it.' 'oh, i'm glad you told us that,' said archie; 'i shall make my mule carry a bushel of it. i'm glad you don't like creepies, sir.' 'but, boy, i _do_. only i object to them indoors. walk in. observe again, as a showman would say, how very few my articles of furniture are. notice, however, that they are all scrupulously clean. nevertheless, i have every convenience. that thong-bottomed sofa is my bed. my skins and rugs are kept in a bag all day, and hermetically sealed against the prying probosces of insectivora. here is my stove, yonder my kitchen and scullery, and there hangs my armoury. now i am going to call my servant. he is a highlander like yourselves, boys; at any rate, he appears to be, for he never wears anything else except the kilt, and he talks a language which, though i have had him for ten years, i do not yet understand. archie, archie, where are you?' 'another archie!' said dugald, 'and a countryman, too?' 'he is shy of strangers. archie, boy! he is swinging in some tree-top, no doubt.' 'what a queer fellow he must be! wears nothing but the kilt, speaks gaelic, swings in tree-tops, and is shy! a _rara avis_ indeed.' 'ah! here he comes. archie, spread the awning out of doors, lay the table, bring a jug of cold _maté_ and the cigars.' truly archie was a curious highlander. he was quite as tall as our archie, and though the hermit assured us he was only a baby when he bought him in central africa for about sevenpence halfpenny in indian coin, he had now the wrinkled face of an old man of ninety--wrinkled, wizened, and weird. but his eye was singularly bright and young-looking. in his hand he carried a long pole from which he had bitten all the bark, and his only dress was a little petticoat of skunk skin, which the hermit called his kilt. he was, in fact, an african orang-outang. 'come and shake hands with the good gentlemen, archie.' archie knitted his brows, and looked at us without moving. the hermit laughingly handed him a pair of big horn-rimmed spectacles. these he put on with all the gravity of some ancient professor of sanscrit, then looked us all over once again. we could stand this no longer, and so burst into a chorus of laughing. 'don't laugh longer than you can help, boys. see, archie is angry.' archie was. he showed a mouth full of fearful-looking fangs, and fingered his club in a way that was not pleasant. 'archie, you may have some peaches presently.' [illustration: interview with the orang-outang] archie grew pleasant again in a moment, and advanced and shook hands with us all round, looking all the time, however, as if he had some silent sorrow somewhere. i confess he wrung our hands pretty hard. neither my brother nor i made any remark, but when it came to archie's turn-- 'honolulu!' he shouted, shaking his fingers, and blowing on them. 'i believe he has made the blood come!' 'i suppose,' said dugald, laughing, 'he knows you are a namesake.' off went the great baboon, and to our intense astonishment spread the awning, placed table and camp-stools under it, and fetched the cold _maté_ with all the gravity and decorum of the chief steward on a first-class liner. i looked at my brothers, and they looked at me. 'you seem all surprised,' the hermit said, 'but remember that in olden times it was no rare thing to see baboons of this same species waiting at the tables of your english nobility. well, i am not only a noble, but a king; why should not i also have an anthropoid as a butler and valet?' 'i confess,' i said, 'i for one am very much surprised at all i have seen and all that has happened since last night, and i really cannot help thinking that presently i shall awake and find, as the story-books say, it is all a dream.' 'you will find it all a very substantial dream, i do assure you, sir. but help yourself to the _maté_. you will find it better than any imported stuff.' 'archie! archie! where are you?' 'ah! ah! yah, yah, yah!' cried archie, hopping round behind his master. 'the sugar, archie.' 'ah, ah, ah! yah, yah!' 'is that gaelic, dugald?' said our archie. 'not quite, my cockney cousin.' 'i thought not.' 'why?' said dugald. 'it is much more intelligible.' the hermit laughed. 'i think, dugald,' he said, 'your cousin has the best of you.' he then made us tell him all our strange though brief history, as the reader already knows it. if he asked us questions, however, it was evidently not for the sake of inquisitiveness, but to exchange experiences, and support the conversation. he was quite as ready to impart as to solicit information; but somehow we felt towards him as if he were an elder brother or uncle; and this only proves the hermit was a perfect gentleman. 'shall you live much longer in this beautiful wilderness?' asked donald. 'well, i will tell you all about that,' replied the hermit. 'and the all is very brief. when i came here first i had no intention of making a long stay. i was a trapper and hunter then pure and simple, and sold my skins and other odds and ends which these hills yield--and what these are i must not even tell to you--journeying over the andes with mules twice every year for that purpose. but gradually, as my trees and bushes and all the beauty of this wild garden-glen grew up around me, and so many of god's wild children came to keep me company, i got to love my strange life. so from playing at being a hermit, i dare say i have come to be one in reality. and now, though i have money--much more than one would imagine--in the chilian banks, i do not seem to care to enter civilized life again. for some years back i have been promising myself a city holiday, but i keep putting it off and off. i should not wonder if it never comes, or, to speak more correctly, i should wonder if it ever came. oh, i dare say i shall die in my own private wilderness here, with no one to close my eyes but old archie.' 'do you still go on journeys to chili?' 'i still go twice a year. i have strong fleet mules. i go once in summer and once in winter.' 'going in winter across the andes! that must be a terribly dreary journey.' 'it is. yet it has its advantages. i never have to flee from hostile indians then. they do not like the hills in winter.' 'are you not afraid of the pampas indians?' 'no, not at all. they visit me occasionally here, but do not stay long. i trust them, i am kind to them, and i have nothing they could find to steal, even if they cared to be dishonest. but they are _not_. they are good-hearted fellows in their own way.' 'yes,' i said, 'very much in their own way.' 'my dear boy,' said the hermit, 'you do not know all. a different policy would have made those indians the sworn friends, the faithful allies and servants of the white man. they would have kept then to their own hunting-grounds, they would have brought to you wealth of skins, and wealth of gold and silver, too, for believe me, they (the indians) have secrets that the white trader little wots of. no, it is the dishonest, blood-stained policy of the republic that has made the indian what he is--his hand against every man, every man's hand against him.' 'but they even attack you at times, i think you gave us to understand?' 'nay, not the pampas or pampean indians: only prowling gipsy tribes from the far north. even they will not when they know me better. my fame is spreading as a seer.' 'as a seer?' 'yes, a kind of prophet. do not imagine that i foster any such folly, only they will believe that, living here all alone in the wilds, i must have communication with--ha! ha! a worse world than this.' as we rose to go the hermit held out his hand. 'come and see me to-night,' he said; 'and let me advise you to make this glen your headquarters for a time. the hills and glens and bush for leagues around abound in game. then your way back lies across a pampa north and east of here; not the road you have come.' 'by the by,' said archie, 'before we go, i want to ask you the question which tramps always put in england: "are the dogs all safe?"' 'ah,' said the hermit, smiling, 'i know what you mean. yes, the dogs are safe. my pet pumas will not come near you. i do not think that even my jaguars would object to your presence; but for safety's sake archie shall go along with you, and he shall also come for you in the evening. give him these peaches when you reach camp. they are our own growing, and archie dotes upon them.' so away back by the banks of the stream we went, our strange guide, club in hand, going hopping on before. it did really seem all like a scene of enchantment. we gave archie the peaches, and he looked delighted. 'good-bye, old man,' said dugald, as he presented him with his. 'speak a word or two of gaelic to him,' said our archie. sandie donaldson was indeed astonished at all we told him. 'i suppose it's all right,' he said, 'but dear me, that was an uncanny-looking creature you had hirpling on in front of you!' in the evening, just as we had returned from a most successful guanaco hunt, we found donaldson's uncanny creature coming along the path. 'i suppose he means us to dine with him,' i remarked. 'ah, ah, ah! yah, ah, yah!' cried the baboon. 'well, will you come, sandie?' sandie shook his head. 'not to-night,' said sandie. 'take care of yourselves, boys. mind what the old proverb says: "they need a lang spoon wha sup wi' the deil."' we found the hermit at his gate, and glad he seemed to see us. 'i've been at home all the afternoon,' he said, 'cooking your dinner. most enjoyable work, i can assure you. all the vegetables are fresh, and even the curry has been grown on the premises. i hope you are fond of armadillo; that is a favourite dish of mine. but here we have roast ducks, partridges, and something that perhaps you have never tasted before, roast or boiled. for bread we have biscuit; for wine we have _maté_ and milk. my goats come every night to be milked. archie does the milking as well as any man could. ah, here come my dogs.' two deerhounds trotted up and made friends with us. 'i bought them from a roving scot two years ago while on a visit to chili.' 'how about the pumas? don't they--' 'no, they come from the trees to sleep with rob and rory. even the jaguars do not attempt to touch them. sit down; you see i dine early. we will have time before dusk to visit some of my pets. i hope they did not keep you awake.' 'no, but the noise would have done so, had we not known what they were.' conversation never once flagged all the time we sat at table. the hermit himself had put most of the dishes down, but archie duly waited behind his master's chair, and brought both the _maté_ and the milk, as well as the fruit. this dessert was of the most tempting description; and not even at our own _estancia_ had i tasted more delicious grapes. but there were many kinds of fruit here we had never even seen before. as soon as we were done the waiter had _his_ repast, and the amount of fruit he got through surprised us beyond measure. he squatted on the ground to eat. well, when he commenced his dinner he looked a little old gentleman of somewhat spare habit; when he rose up--by the aid of his pole--he was decidedly plump, not to say podgy. even his cheeks were puffed out; and no wonder, they were stuffed with nuts to eat at his leisure. 'i dare say archie eats at all odd hours,' i said. 'no, he does not,' replied the hermit. 'i never encouraged him to do so, and now he is quite of my way of thinking, and never eats between meals. but come, will you light a cigarette and stroll round with me?' 'we will stroll round without the cigarette,' i said. 'then fill your pockets with nuts and raisins; you must do something.' 'feed the birds, archie.' 'ah, ah, ah! yah, ah! yah, yah!' 'the birds need not come to be fed; there is enough and to spare for them in the woods, but they think whatever we eat must be extra nice. we have all kinds of birds except the british sparrow. i really hope you have not brought him. they say he follows englishmen to the uttermost parts of the world.' we waited for a moment, and wondered at the flocks of lovely bright-winged doves and pigeons and other birds that had alighted round the table to receive their daily dole, then followed our hermit guide, to feast our eyes on other wonders not a whit less wonderful than all we had seen. chapter xxi. wild adventures on prairie and pampas. if i were to describe even one half of the strange creatures we saw in the hermit's glen, the reader would be tired before i had finished, and even then i should not have succeeded in conveying anything like a correct impression of this floral wilderness and natural menagerie. it puzzled me to know, and it puzzles me still, how so many wild creatures could have been got together in one place. 'i brought many of them here,' the hermit told us, 'but the others came, lured, no doubt, by the water, the trees, and the flowers.' 'but was the water here when you arrived?' 'oh yes, else i would not have settled down here. the glen was a sort of oasis even then, and there were more bushes and trees than ever i had seen before in one place. the ducks and geese and swans, in fact, all the web-footed fraternity, had been here before me, and many birds and beasts besides--the biscachas, the armadilloes, the beetle-eating pichithiego, for instance--the great ant-eater, and the skunk--i have banished that, however--wolves, foxes, kites, owls, and condors. i also found peccaries, and some deer. these latter, and the guanaco, give me a wide berth now. they do not care for dogs, pumas, and jaguars. insects are rather too numerous, and i have several species of snakes.' archie's--_our_ archie's--face fell. 'are they?' he began, 'are they very--' 'very beautiful? yes; indeed, some are charming in colour. one, for example, is of the brightest crimson streaked with black.' 'i was not referring to their beauty; i meant were they dangerous?' 'well, i never give them a chance to bite me, and i do not think they want to; but all snakes are to be avoided and left severely alone.' 'or killed, sir?' 'yes, perhaps, if killed outright; for the pampan indians have an idea that if a rattlesnake be only wounded, he will come back for revenge. but let us change the subject. you see those splendid butterflies? well, by and by the moths will be out; they are equally lovely, but when i first came here there were very few of either. they followed the flowers, and the humming-birds came next, and many other lovely gay-coloured little songsters. i introduced most of the parrots and toucans. there are two up there even now. they would come down if you were not here.' 'they are very funny-looking, but very pretty,' said dugald. 'i could stop and look at them for hours.' 'but we must proceed. here are the trees where the parrots mostly live. early as it is, you see they are retiring.' what a sight! what resplendency of colour and beauty! such bright metallic green, lustrous orange, crimson and bronze! 'why do they frequent this particular part of the wood?' said dugald. 'ah, boy,' replied the hermit, 'i see you want to know everything. don't be ashamed of that; you are a true naturalist at heart. well, the parrots like to be by themselves, and few of my birds care to live among them. you will notice, too, that yonder are some eucalyptus trees, and farther up some wide-spreading, open-branched trees, with flowers creeping and clinging around the stems. parrots love those trees, because while there they have sunshine, and because birds of prey cannot easily tell which is parrot and which is flower or flame-coloured lichen.' 'that is an advantage.' 'well, yes; but it is an advantage that also has a disadvantage, for our serpents are so lovely that even they are not easily seen by the parrots when they wriggle up among the orchids.' 'can the parrots defend themselves against snakes?' 'yes, they can, and sometimes even kill them. i have noticed this, but as a rule they prefer to scare them off by screaming. and they can scream, too. "as deaf as an adder," is a proverb; well, i believe it was the parrot that first deafened the adder, if deaf it be.' 'have you many birds of prey?' 'yes, too many. but, see here.' 'i see nothing.' 'no, but you soon shall. here in the sunniest bank, and in this sunniest part of the wood, dwell a family of that remarkable creature the blind armadillo, or pichithiego. i wonder if any one is at home.' as he spoke, the hermit knelt down and buried his hands in the sand, soon bringing to the surface a very curious little animal indeed, one of the tenderest of all armadilloes. it shivered as it cuddled into the hermit's arms. dugald laughed aloud. 'why,' he cried, 'it seems to end suddenly half-way down; and that droll tail looks stuck on for fun.' 'yes, it is altogether a freak of nature, and the wonder to me is how, being so tender, it lives here at all. you see how small and delicate a thing it is. they say it is blind, but you observe it is not; although the creatures live mostly underground. they also say that the _chlamyphorus truncatus_--which is the grand name for my wee friend,--carries its young under this pink or rosy shell jacket, but this i very much doubt. now go to bed, little one. 'i have prettier pets than even these, two species of agoutis, for instance, very handsome little fellows indeed, and like rats in many of their ways and in many of their droll antics. they are not fond of strangers, but often come out to meet me in my walks about the woods. they live in burrows, but run about plentifully enough in the open air, although their enemies are very numerous. even the indians capture and eat them, as often raw as not. 'you have heard of the peccary. well, i have never encouraged these wild wee pigs, and for some years after i came, there were none in the woods. one morning i found them, however, all over the place in herds. i never knew where they came from, nor how they found us out. but i do know that for more than two years i had to wage constant war with them.' 'they were good to eat?' 'they were tolerably good, especially the young, but i did not want for food; and, besides, they annoyed my wee burrowing pets, and, in fact, they deranged everything, and got themselves thoroughly hated wherever they went.' 'and how did you get rid of them?' 'they disappeared entirely one night as if by magic, and i have never seen nor heard one since. but here we are at my stable.' 'i see no stable,' i said. 'well, it is an enclosure of half an acre, and my mules and goats are corralled here at night.' 'do not the pumas or jaguars attempt to molest the mules or goats?' 'strange to say, they do not, incredible as it may seem. but come in, and you will see a happy family.' 'what are these?' cried dugald. 'dogs?' 'no, boy, one is a wolf, the other two are foxes. all three were suckled by one of my dogs, and here they are. you see, they play with the goats, and are exceedingly fond of the mules. they positively prefer the company of the mules to mine, although when i come here with their foster-dam, the deerhound, they all condescend to leave this compound and to follow me through the woods. 'here come my mules. are they not beauties?' we readily admitted they were, never having seen anything in size and shape to equal them. 'now, you asked me about the jaguars. mine are but few; they are also very civil; but i do believe that one of these mules would be a match even for a jaguar. if the jaguar had one kick he would never need another. the goats--here they come--herd close to the mules, and the foxes and wolf are sentinels, and give an alarm if even a strange monkey comes near the compound. ah, here come my pet toucans!' these strange-beaked birds came floating down from a tree to the number of nearly a dozen, nor did they look at all ungainly, albeit their beaks are so wondrously large. 'what do they eat?' 'everything; but fruit is the favourite dish with them. but look up. do you see that speck against the cloud yonder, no bigger in appearance than the lark that sings above the cornfields in england? see how it circles and sweeps round and round. do you know that bird is a mile above us?' 'that is wonderful!' 'and what think you it is doing? why, it is eyeing you and me. it is my pet condor. the only bird i do not feed; but the creature loves me well for all that. he is suspicious of your presence. now watch, and i will bring him down like an arrow.' the hermit waved a handkerchief in a strange way, and with one fell downward swoop, in a few seconds the monster eagle had alighted near us. well may the condor be called 'king of the air,' i thought, for never before had i seen so majestic a bird. he was near us now, and scrutinizing us with that bold fierce eye of his, as some chieftain in the brave days of old might have gazed upon spies that he was about to order away to execution. i believed then--and i am still of the same opinion--that there was something akin to pity and scorn in his steadfast looks, as if we had been brought here for his especial delectation and study. 'poor wretched bipeds!' he seemed to say; 'not even possessed of feathers, no clothes of their own, obliged to wrap themselves in the hair and skins of dead quadrupeds. no beaks, no talons; not even the wings of a miserable bat. never knew what it was to mount and soar into the blue sky to meet the morning sun; never floated free as the winds far away in the realms of space; never saw the world spread out beneath them like a living panorama, its woods and forests mere patches of green or purple, its lakes like sheets of shimmering ice, its streams like threads of spiders' webs before the day has drunk the dew, its very deserts dwarfed by distance till the guanacos and the ostriches[ ] look like mites, and herds of wild horses appear but crawling ants. never knew what it was to circle round the loftiest summits of the snow-clad voiceless andes, while down in the valleys beneath dark clouds rolled fiercely on, and lightnings played across the darkness; nor to perch cool and safe on peak or pinnacle, while below on earth's dull level the hurricane pampero was levelling house and hut and tree; or the burning breath of the zonda was sweeping over the land, scorching every flower and leaf, drinking every drop of dew, draining even the blood of moving beings till eyes ache and brains reel, till man himself looks haggard, wild, and worn, and the beasts of the forest, hidden in darkling caves, go mad and rend their young.' the hermit returned with us to our camping-ground just as great bats began to circle and wheel around, as butterflies were folding their wings and going to sleep beneath the leaves, and the whole woodland glen began to awake to the screaming of night-birds, to the mournful howling of strange monkeys, and hoarse growl of beasts of prey. we sat together till far into the night listening to story after story of the wild adventures of our new but nameless hero, and till the moon--so high above us now that the pine-trees no longer cast their shadows across the glade--warned us it was time to retire. 'good night, boys all,' said the hermit; 'i will come again to-morrow.' he turned and walked away, his _potro_ boots making no sound on the sward. we watched him till the gloom of the forest seemed to swallow him up. 'what a strange being!' said archie, with a sigh. 'and what a lonely life to lead!' said donald. 'ah!' said dugald, 'you may sigh as you like, archie, and say what you please, i think there is no life so jolly, and i've half a mind to turn hermit myself.' we lived in the glen for many weeks. no better or more idyllic headquarters could possibly have been found or even imagined, while all around us was a hunter's paradise. we came at last to look upon the hermit's dell as our home, but we did not bivouac there every night. there were times when we wandered too far away in pursuit of the guanaco, the puma, jaguar, or even the ostrich, which we found feeding on plains at no great distance from our camp. it was a glorious treat for all of us to find ourselves on these miniature pampas, across which we could gallop unfettered and free. under the tuition of yambo, our _capataz_, and the other gauchos, we became adepts in the use of both bolas and lasso. away up among the beetling crags and in the deep, gloomy caverns we had to stalk the guanacos as the swiss mountaineer stalks the chamois. oh, our adventures among the rocks were sometimes thrilling enough! but here on the plains another kind of tactics was pursued. i doubt if we could have ridden near enough to the ostriches to bola them, so our plan was to make _détours_ on the pampas until we had outflanked, encircled, and altogether puzzled our quarry. then riding in a zigzag fashion, gradually we narrowed the ring till near enough to fire. when nearer still the battue and stampede commenced, and the scene was then wild and confusing in the extreme. the frightened whinny or neigh of the guanacos, the hoarse whirr of the flying ostriches, the shouts of the gauchos, the bark and yell of dogs, the whistling noise of lasso or bolas, the sharp ringing of rifle and revolver--all combined to form a medley, a huntsman's chorus which no one who has once heard it and taken part in it is likely to forget. when too far from the camp, then we hobbled our horses at the nearest spot where grass and water could be found, and after supping on broiled guanaco steak and ostrich's gizzard--in reality right dainty morsels--we would roll ourselves in our guanaco robes, and with saddles for pillows go quietly to sleep. ah, i never sleep so soundly now as i used to then beneath the stars, fanned by the night breeze; and although the dews lay heavy on our robes in the morning, we awoke as fresh as the daisies and as happy as puma cubs that only wake to play. we began to get wealthy ere long with a weight of skins of birds and beasts. some of the most valuable of these were procured from a species of otter that lived in the blackest, deepest pools of a stream we had fallen in with in our wanderings. the gauchos had a kind of superstitious dread of the huge beast, whom they not inappropriately termed the river tiger. we had found our dogs of the greatest use in the hills, especially our monster bloodhound-mastiffs. these animals possessed nearly all the tracking qualities of the bloodhound, with more fierceness and speed than the mastiff, and nearly the same amount of strength. their courage, too, and general hardiness were very great. among our spoils we could count the skins of no less than fifteen splendid pumas. several of these had shown fight. once, i remember, archie had leapt from his horse and was making his way through a patch of bush on the plains, in pursuit of a young guanaco which he had wounded. he was all alone: not even a dog with him; but yambo's quick ear had detected the growl of a lion in that bit of scrub, and he at once started off three of his best dogs to the scene of archie's adventure. not two hundred yards away myself, but on high ground, i could see everything, though powerless to aid. i could see archie hurrying back through the bush. i could see the puma spring, and my poor cousin fall beneath the blow--then the death struggle began. it was fearful while it lasted, which was only the briefest possible time, for, even as i looked, the dogs were on the puma. the worrying, yelling, and gurgling sounds were terrible. i saw the puma on its hind legs, i saw one dog thrown high in the air, two others on the wild beast's neck, and next moment yambo himself was there, with every other horseman save myself tearing along full tilt for the battle-field. yambo's long spear had done the work, and all the noise soon ceased. though stunned and frightened, archie was but little the worse. one dog was killed. it seemed to have been yambo's favourite. i could not help expressing my astonishment at the exhibition of yambo's grief. here was a man, once one of the cruellest and most remorseless of desert wanderers, whose spear and knife had many a time and oft drunk human blood, shedding tears over the body of his poor dog! nor would he leave the place until he had dug a grave, and, placing the bleeding remains therein, sadly and slowly covered them up. but yambo would meet his faithful hound again in the happy hunting-grounds somewhere beyond the sky. that, at least, was yambo's creed, and who should dare deny him the comfort and joy the thought brings him! * * * * * it was now the sweetest season of all the year in the hills--the indian summer. the fierce heat had fled to the north, fled beyond the salt plains of san juan, beyond the wild desert lands of rioja and arid sands of catamarca, lingering still, perhaps, among the dreamland gardens of tucuman, and reaching its eternal home among the sun-kissed forests of leafy brazil and bolivia. the autumn days were getting shorter, the sky was now more soft, the air more cool and balmy, while evening after evening the sun went down amidst a fiery magnificence of colouring that held us spellbound and silent to behold. a month and more in the hermit's glen! we could hardly believe it. how quickly the time had flown! how quickly time always does fly when one is happy! and now our tents are struck, our mules are laden. we have but to say good-bye to the solitary being who has made the garden in the wilderness his home, and go on our way. 'good-bye!' 'good-bye!' little words, but sometimes _so_ hard to say. we had actually begun to like--ay, even to love the hermit, and we had not found it out till now. but i noticed tears in dugald's eye, and i am not quite sure my own were not moist as we said farewell. we glanced back as we rode away to wave our hands once more. the hermit was leaning against a tree. just then the sun came struggling out from under a cloud, the shadow beneath the tree darkened and darkened, till it swallowed him up. and we never saw the hermit more. ----- [ ] the _rhea americana_. chapter xxii. adventure with a tiger. two years more have passed away, four years in all, since we first set foot in the silver west. what happy, blithesome years they had been, too! every day had brought its duties, every duty its pleasures as well. during all this time we could not look back with regret to one unpleasant hour. sometimes we had endured some crosses as well, but we brothers bore them, i believe, without a murmur, and moncrieff without one complaining word. 'boys,' he would say, quietly, 'nobody gets it all his own way in this world. we must just learn to take the thick wi' the thin.' moncrieff was somewhat of a proverbial philosopher; but had he been entrusted with the task of selecting proverbs that should smooth one's path in life, i feel sure they would have been good ones. strath coila new, as we called the now green valley in which our little colony had been founded, had improved to a wonderful extent in so brief a time. the settlers had completed their houses long ago; they, like ourselves, had laid out their fields and farms and planted their vineyards; the hedges were green and flowering; the poplar-trees and willows had sprung skywards as if influenced by magic--the magic of a virgin soil; the fields were green with waving grain and succulent lucerne; the vines needed the help of man to aid them in supporting their wondrous wealth of grapes; fruit grew everywhere; birds sang everywhere, and to their music were added sounds even sweeter still to our ears--the lowing of herds of sleek fat cattle, the bleating armies of sheep, the home-like noise of poultry and satisfied grunting of lazy pigs. the latter sometimes fed on peaches that would have brought tears of joy to the eyes of many an english market gardener. our villa was complete now; wings and tower, and terraced lawns leading down to the lake, close beside which dugald had erected a boat-house that was in itself like a little fairy palace. dugald had always a turn for the romantic, and nothing would suit him by way of a boat except a gondola. what an amount of time and taste he had bestowed on it too! and how the gaucho carpenters had worked and slaved to please him and make it complete! but there it was at last, a thing of beauty, in all conscience--prows and bows, cushioned seats, and oars, and awnings, all complete. it was his greatest pleasure to take auntie, aileen, and old jenny out to skim the lake in this gondola, and sit for long happy hours reading or fishing. even bombazo used to form an item in these pleasant little excursions. he certainly was no use with an oar, but it was the 'bravo' captain's delight to dress as a troubadour and sit twanging the light guitar under the awnings, while aileen and auntie plied the oars. dugald was still our mighty hunter, the fearless nimrod of hill and strath and glen. but he was amply supported in all his adventures by archie, who had wonderfully changed for the better. he was brown and hard now, an excellent horseman, and crack shot with either the revolver or rifle. between the two of them, though ably assisted by a gaucho or two, they had fitted up the ancient ruined monastery far away among the hills as a kind of shooting-box, and here they spent many a day, and many a night as well. archie had long since become acclimatized to all kinds of creepies--they no longer possessed any terrors for him. the ruin, as i have before hinted, must have, at some bygone period, belonged to the jesuits; but so blown up with sand was it when dugald took possession that the work of restoration to something like its pristine form had been a task of no little difficulty. the building stood on a slight eminence, and at one side grew a huge ombu-tree. it was under this that the only inhabitable room lay. this room had two windows, one on each side, facing each other, one looking east, the other west. neither glass nor frames were in these windows, and probably had not existed even in the jesuits' time. the room was cooler without any such civilized arrangements. it was a lonesome, eerie place at the very best, and that weird looking ombu-tree, spreading its dark arms above the grey old walls, did not detract from the air of gloom that surrounded it. sometimes archie said laughingly that the tree was like a funeral pall. well, the half-caste indians of the _estancias_ used to give this ruin a wide berth; they had nasty stories to tell about it, stories that had been handed down through generations. there were few indeed of even the gauchos who would have cared to remain here after night-fall, much less sleep within its walls. but when dugald's big lamp stood lighted on the table, when a fire of wood burned on the low hearth, and a plentiful repast, with bowls of steaming fragrant _maté_, stood before the young men, then the room looked far from uncomfortable. there was at each side a hammock hung, which our two hunters slept in on nights when they had remained too long on the hill, or wanted to be early at the chase in the morning. 'whose turn is it to light the fire to-night?' said dugald, one winter evening, as the two jogged along together on their mules towards the ruin. 'i think it is mine, cousin. anyhow, if you feel lazy i'll make it so.' 'no, i'm not lazy, but i want to take home a bird or two to-morrow that auntie's very soul loveth, so if you go on and get supper ready i shall go round the red dune and try to find them.' 'you won't be long?' 'i sha'n't be over an hour.' archie rode on, humming a tune to himself. arrived at the ruin, he cast the mule loose, knowing he would not wander far away, and would find juicy nourishment among the more tender of the cacti sprouts. having lit a roaring fire, and seen it burn up, archie spread asunder some of the ashes, and placed thereon a huge pie-dish--not an empty one--to warm. meanwhile he hung a kettle of water on the hook above the fire, and, taking up a book, sat down by the window to read by the light of the setting sun until the water should boil. a whole half-hour passed away. the kettle had rattled its lid, and archie had hooked it up a few links, so that the water should not be wasted. it was very still and quiet up here to-night, and very lonesome too. the sun had just gone down, and all the western sky was aglow with clouds, whose ever-changing beauty it was a pleasure to watch. archie was beginning to wish that dugald would come, when he was startled at hearing a strange and piercing cry far down below him in the cactus jungle. it was a cry that made his flesh quiver and his very spine feel cold. it came from no human lips, and yet it was not even the scream of a terror-struck mule. next minute the mystery was unravelled, and dugald's favourite mule came galloping towards the ruin, pursued by an enormous tiger, as the jaguar is called here. [illustration: on the same limb of the tree] just as he had reached the ruin the awful beast had made his spring. his talons drew blood, but the next moment he was rolling on the ground with one eye apparently knocked out, and the foam around his fang-filled mouth mixed with blood; and the mule was over the hills and safe, while the jaguar was venting his fume and fury on archie's rugs, which, with his gun, he had left out there. there is no occasion to deny that the young man was almost petrified with fear, but this did not last long: he must seek for safety somehow, somewhere. to leave the ruin seems certain death, to remain is impossible. look, the tiger even already has scented him; he utters another fearful yell, and makes direct for the window. the tree! the tree! something seems to utter those words in his ear as he springs from the open window. the jaguar has entered the room as archie, with a strength he never knew he possessed, catches a lower limb and hoists himself up into the tree. he hears yell after yell; now first in the ruin, next at the tree foot, and then in the tree itself. archie creeps higher and higher up, till the branches can no longer bear him, and after him creeps death in the most awful form imaginable. already the brute is so close that he sees his glaring eye and hears his awful scenting and snuffling. archie is fascinated by that tiger's face so near him--on the same limb of the tree, he himself far out towards the point. this must be fascination. he feels like one in a strange dream, for as the time goes by and the tiger springs not, he takes to speculating almost calmly on his fate, and wondering where the beast will seize him first, and if it will be very painful; if he will hear his own bones crash, and so faint and forget everything. what fangs the tiger has! how broad the head, and terribly fierce the grin! but how the blood trickles from the wound in the skull! he can hear it pattering on the dead leaves far beneath. why doesn't the tiger spring and have it over? why does--but look, look, the brute has let go the branch and fallen down, down with a crash, and archie hears the dull thud of the body on the ground. dead--to all intents and purposes. the good mule's hoof had cloven the skull. 'archie! archie! where on earth are you? oh, archie!' it is dugald's voice. the last words are almost a shriek. then away goes fear from archie's heart, and joy unspeakable takes its place. 'up here, dugald,' he shouts, 'safe and sound.' i leave the reader to guess whether dugald was glad or not to see his cousin drop intact from the ombu-tree, or whether or not they enjoyed their pie and _maté_ that evening after this terrible adventure. 'i wonder,' said archie, later on, and just as they were preparing for hammock, 'i wonder, dugald, if that tiger has a wife. i hope she won't come prowling round after her dead lord in the middle of the night.' 'well, anyhow, archie, we'll have our rifles ready, and dash will give us ample warning, you know. so good-night.' 'good-night. don't be astonished if you hear me scream in my sleep. i feel sure i'll dream i'm up in that dark ombu-tree, and perhaps in the clutches of that fearsome tiger.' * * * * * about a month after the above related adventure the young men had another at that very ruin, which, if not quite so stirring, was at all events far more mysterious. it happened soon after a wild storm, a kind of semi-pampero, had swept over the glen with much thunder and lightning and heavy rains. it had cleared the atmosphere, however, which previously had been hazy and close. it had cooled it as well, so that one afternoon, dugald, addressing archie, said, 'what do you say to an early morning among the birds to-morrow, cousin?' 'oh, i'm ready, dugald, if you are,' was the reply. 'well, then, off you trot to the kitchen, and get food ready, and i'll see to the shooting tackle and the mules.' when dugald ran over to say good-night to moncrieff and aileen before they started, he met old jenny in the door. 'dear laddie,' she said, when she heard he was bound for the hills, 'i hope nae ill will come over ye; but i wot i had an unco' ugly dream last night. put your trust in providence, laddie. and ye winna forget to say your prayers, will ye?' 'that we won't, mother. ta, ta!' moncrieff saw dugald to his own gate. with them went wolf, the largest bloodhound-mastiff. 'dreams,' said moncrieff, 'may be neither here nor there; but you'll be none the worse for taking wolf.' 'thank you,' said dugald; 'he shall come, and welcome.' the sun had quite set before they reached the ruin, but there was a beautiful after-glow in the west--a golden haze beneath, with a kind of crimson blush over it higher up. when they were on a level with the ruin, the two windows of which, as already stated, were opposite to each other, archie said, musingly, 'look, dugald, what a strange and beautiful light is streaming through the windows!' 'yes,' replied dugald, 'but there is something solemn, even ghostly, about it. don't you think so?' 'true; there always is something ghostly about an empty ruin, i think. are you superstitious?' 'no; but--see. what was that? why, there is some one there! look to your rifle, archie. it was an indian, i am certain.' what had they seen? why, only the head and shoulders of a passing figure in the orange light of the two windows. it had appeared but one moment--next it was gone. rifles in left hand, revolvers in right, they cautiously approached the ruin and entered. never a soul was here. they went out again, and looked around; they even searched the ombu-tree, but all in vain. 'our eyes must have deceived us,' said dugald. 'i think,' said archie, 'i have a theory that might explain the mystery.' 'what is it, then?' 'well, that was no living figure we saw.' 'what! you don't mean to say, archie, it was a ghost?' 'no, but a branch of that ghostly ombu-tree moved by a passing wind between us and the light.' as he spoke they rounded the farthest off gable of the ruin, and there both stopped as suddenly as if shot. close beside the wall, with some rude digging tools lying near, was a newly-opened grave! 'this is indeed strange,' said dugald, remembering old jenny's warning and dream; 'i cannot make it out.' 'nor can i. however, we must make the best of it.' by the time supper was finished they had almost forgotten all about it. only before lying down that night-- 'i say, archie,' said dugald, 'why didn't we think of it?' 'think of what?' 'why, of putting wolf the mastiff on the track. if there have been indians here he would have found them out.' 'it will not be too late to-morrow, perhaps.' dugald lay awake till it must have been long past midnight. he tried to sleep, but failed, though he could tell from his regular breathing that nothing was disturbing archie's repose. it was a beautiful night outside, and the light from a full moon streamed in at one window and fell on the form of good wolf, who was curled up on the floor; the other window was shaded by the branches of the ombu-tree. no matter how calm it might be in the valley below, away up here there was always a light breeze blowing, and to-night the whispering in the tree at times resembled the sound of human voices. so thought dugald. several times he started and listened, and once he felt almost sure he heard footsteps as of people moving outside. then again all sounds--if sounds there had been--ceased, and nothing was audible save the sighing wind in the ombu-tree. oh, that strange waving ombu-tree! he wondered if it really had some dark secret to whisper to him, and had chosen this silent hour of night to reveal it. hark, that was a sound this time! the mournful but piercing cry of a night-bird. 'chee-hee-ee! chee-hee-ee!' it was repeated farther up the hill. but could the dog be deceived? scarcely; and growling low as if in anger, wolf had arisen and stood pointing towards the ombu-shaded window. with one accord both dugald and archie, seizing their revolvers and jumping from their hammocks, ran out just in time to see a tall figure cross a patch of moonlit sward and disappear in the cactus jungle. both fired in the direction, but of course aimlessly, and it was with the greatest difficulty they succeeded in keeping the great dog from following into the bush. they were disturbed no more that night; and daylight quite banished their fears, though it could not dispel the mystery of the newly-dug grave. indeed, they could even afford to joke a little over the matter now. 'there is something in it, depend upon that,' said dugald, as the two stood together looking into the hole. 'there doesn't seem to be,' said archie, quizzingly. 'and i mean to probe it to the bottom.' 'suppose you commence now, dugald. believe me, there is no time like the present. here are the tools. they look quite antediluvian. do you think now that it really was a flesh-and-blood indian we saw here; or was it the ghost of some murdered priest? and has he been digging down here to excavate his own old bones, or have a peep to see that they are safe?' 'archie,' said dugald, at last, as if he had not listened to a word of his companion's previous remarks, 'archie, we won't go shooting to-day.' 'no?' 'no, we will go home instead, and bring moncrieff and my brothers here. i begin to think this is no grave after all.' 'indeed, dugald, and why?' 'why, simply for this reason: yambo has told me a wonderful blood-curdling story of two hermit priests who lived here, and who had found treasure among the hills, and were eventually murdered and buried in this very ruin. according to the tradition the slaughtering indians were themselves afterwards killed, and since then strange appearances have taken place from time to time, and until we made a shooting-box of the ruin no gauchos could be found bold enough to go inside it, nor would any indian come within half a mile of the place. that they have got more courageous now we had ample evidence last night.' 'and you think that--' 'i think that indians are not far away, and that--but come, let us saddle our mules and be off.' it was high time, for at that very moment over a dozen pairs of fierce eyes were watching them from the cactus jungle. spears were even poised ready for an attack, and only perhaps the sight of that ferocious-looking dog restrained them. no one could come more speedily to a conclusion than moncrieff. he hardly waited to hear dugald's story before he had summoned yambo, and bade him get ready with five trusty gauchos to accompany them to the hills. 'guns, señor?' 'ay, guns, yambo, and the other dog. we may have to draw a trigger or two. sharp is the word, yambo!' in two hours more, and just as the winter's sun was at its highest, we all reached the cactus near the old monastic ruin. here a spear flew close past moncrieff's head. a quick, fierce glance of anger shot from the eyes of this buirdly scot. he called a dog, and in a moment more disappeared in the jungle. a minute after there was the sharp ring of a revolver, a shriek, a second shot, and all was still. presently moncrieff rode back, looking grim, but calm and self-possessed. there was no one near the ruin when we advanced, but the indians had been here. the grave was a grave no longer in shape, but a huge hole. 'set to work, yambo, with your men. they have saved us trouble. dugald and archie and donald, take three men and the dogs and scour the bush round here. then place sentinels about, and post yourselves on top of the red dune.' yambo and his men set to work in earnest, and laboured untiringly for hours and hours, but without finding anything. a halt was called at last for rest and refreshment; then the work was commenced with greater heart than ever. i had ridden away to the red dune to carry food to my brothers and the dogs and the sentinels. the day was beginning already to draw to a close. the sky all above was blue and clear, but along the horizon lay a bank of grey rolling clouds, that soon would be changed to crimson and gold by the rays of the setting sun. hawks were poised high in the air, and flocks of kites were slowly winging their way to the eastward. from our position on the summit of the red dune we had a most extended view on all sides. we could even see the tall waving poplars of our own _estancias_, and away westward a vast rolling prairie of pampa land, bounded by the distant _sierras_. my eyes were directed to one level and snow-white patch in the plain, which might have been about three square miles in extent, when suddenly out from behind some dunes that lay beyond rode a party of horsemen. we could tell at a glance they were indians, and that they were coming as fast as fleet horses could carry them, straight for the hill on which we stood. there was not a moment to lose, so, leaping to the back of my mule, i hurried away to warn our party. chapter xxiii. a ride for life. 'moncrieff!' i cried, as soon as i got within hail, 'the indians will be on us in less than half an hour!' 'then, boy,' replied moncrieff, 'call in your brothers and the men; they cannot hold the dune. we must fight them here, if it be fighting they mean. hurry back, i have something to show you.' we had all returned in less than ten minutes. greatly to our astonishment, we found no one in the pit now, but we heard voices beneath, and i hurried in and down. they had found a cave; whether natural or not we could not at present say. at one side lay a heap of mouldering bones, in the opposite corner a huge wooden chest. moncrieff had improvised a torch, and surely aladdin in his cave could not have been more astonished at what he saw than we were now! the smoky light fell on the golden gleam of nuggets! yes, there they were, of all shapes and sizes. moncrieff plunged his hand to the bottom of the box and stirred them up as he might have done roots or beans. this, then, was the secret the ruin had held so long--the mystery of the giant ombu-tree. that the indians in some way or other had got scent of this treasure was evident, and as these wandering savages care little if anything for gold on their own account, it was equally evident that some white man--himself not caring to take the lead or even appear--was hounding them on to find it, with the promise doubtless of a handsome reward. not a moment was there to be lost now. the treasure must be removed. an attempt was first made to lift the chest bodily. this was found to be impossible owing to the decayed condition of the wood. the grain-sacks, therefore, which formed a portion of the gaucho's mule-trappings, were requisitioned, and in a very short time every gold nugget was carried out and placed in safety in a corner of our principal room in the hunting-box. the beasts were placed for safety in another room of the ruin, a trench being dug before the door, which could be commanded from one of our windows. 'how many horsemen did you count?' said moncrieff to me. 'as near as i could judge,' i replied, 'there must be fifty.' 'yes, there may be a swarm more. one of you boys must ride to-night to the _estancia_ and get assistance. who volunteers?' 'i do,' said dugald at once. 'then it will be well to start without delay before we are surrounded. see, it is already dusk, and we may expect our indian friends at any moment. mount, lad, and heaven preserve you!' dugald hardly waited to say another word. he saw to the revolvers in his saddle-bows, slung his rifle over his shoulder, sprang to the saddle, and had disappeared like a flash. and now we had but to wait the turn of events--turn how they might. * * * * * dugald told us afterwards that during that memorable ride to the _estancia_ he felt as if the beast beneath him was a winged horse instead of his own old-fashioned and affectionate mule. perhaps it was fear that lent him such speed, and possibly it was fear transmitted even from his rider. times without number since we had come out to our new home in the silver west my brother had shown what sort of stuff he was made of, but a ride like this is trying to a heart like oak or nerves like steel, and a young man must be destitute of soul itself not to feel fear on such an occasion. besides, the very fact of flying from unseen foes adds to the terror. down through the cactus jungle he went, galloping in and out and out and in, himself hardly knowing the road, trusting everything to the sagacity of the wondrous mule. oftentimes when returning from a day on the hills, tired and weary, he had thought the way through this strange green bushland interminably long; but now, fleetly though he was speeding on, he thought it would never, never end, that he would never, never come out into the open braeland, and see, miles away beneath him, the twinkling lights of the _estancia_. many an anxious glance, too, did he cast around him or into the gloomiest shades of the jungle, more than once imagining he saw dusky figures therein with long spears ready to launch at him. he is out at last, however; but the path is now loose and rough and stony. after riding for some hundred yards he has to cut across at right angles to the jungle he has left. to his horror, a dozen armed indians at that very moment leave the cactus, and with levelled spears and wild shouts dash onward to intercept him. this is indeed a ride for life, for to his immediate left is a precipice full twenty feet in height. he must gain the end of this before he can put even a yard of actual distance betwixt himself and the savages who are thirsting for his life. more than once he has half made up his mind to dare the leap, but the venture is far too great. nearer and nearer sweep the indians. dugald is close at the turning-point now, but he sees the foremost savage getting the deadly lasso ready. he must shoot, though he has to slacken speed slightly to take better aim. he fires. down roll horse and man, and dugald is saved. they have heard that rifle-shot far away on the _estancia_. quick eyes are turned towards the braelands, and, dusk though it is, they notice that something more than usual is up. five minutes afterwards half a dozen armed horsemen thunder out to meet dugald. they hear his story, and all return to alarm the colony and put the whole place in a state of defence. then under the guidance of dugald they turn back once more--a party of twenty strong now--towards the hills, just as the moon, which is almost full, is rising and shining through between the solemn steeple-like poplars. to avoid the jungle, and a probable ambuscade, they have to make a long _détour_, but they reach the ruin at last, to find all safe and sound. the indians know that for a time their game is played, and they have lost; and they disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as they came leaving not a trace behind. the gold is now loaded on the backs of the mules, and the journey home commenced. as they ride down through the giant cacti two huge vultures rise with flapping wings and heavy bodies at no great distance. it was into that very thicket that moncrieff rode this morning. it was there he fired his revolver. the vultures had been disturbed at a feast--nothing more. great was the rejoicing at the safe return of moncrieff and his party from the hills. our poor aunt had been troubled, indeed, but aileen was frantic, and threw herself into her husband's arms when she saw him in quite a passion of hysterical joy. now although there was but little if any danger of an attack to-night on the _estancias_, no one thought of retiring to bed. there was much to be done by way of preparation, for we were determined not to lose a horse, nor even a sheep, if we could help it. so we arranged a code of signals by means of rifle-shots, and spent the whole of the hours that intervened betwixt the time of our return and sunrise in riding round the farms and visiting even distant _puestos_. my brothers and i and moncrieff lay down when day broke to snatch a few hours of much-needed rest. it was well on in the forenoon when i went over to moncrieff's mansion. i had already been told that strangers had arrived from distant _estancias_ bringing evil tidings. the poor men whom i found in the drawing-room with moncrieff had indeed brought dreadful news. they had escaped from their burned _estancias_ after seeing their people massacred by savages before their eyes. they had seen others on the road who had suffered even worse, and did not know what to do or where to fly. many had been hunted into the bush and killed there. forts had been attacked further south, and even the soldiers of the republic in some instances had been defeated and scattered over the country. the year, indeed, was one that will be long remembered by the citizens of the argentine republic. happily things have now changed for the better, and the indians have been driven back south of the rio negro, which will for ever form a boundary which they must not cross on pain of death. more fugitives dropped in that day, and all had pitiful, heartrending stories to tell. moncrieff made every one welcome, and so did we all, trying our very best to soothe the grief and anguish they felt for those dear ones they would never see more on earth. and now hardly a day passed that did not bring news of some kind of the doings of the indians. success had rendered them bold, while it appeared to have cowed for a time the government of this noble republic, or, at all events, had confused and paralyzed all its action. forts were overcome almost without resistance. indeed, some of them were destitute of the means of resisting, the men having no proper supply of ammunition. _estancia_ after _estancia_ on the frontier had been raided and burned, with the usual shocking barbarities that make one shudder even to think of. it was but little likely that our small but wealthy colony would escape, for the fact that we were now possessed of the long-buried treasure--many thousands of pounds in value--must have spread like wild-fire. one morning moncrieff and i started early, and rode to a distant _estancia_, which we were told had been attacked and utterly destroyed, not a creature being left alive about the place with the exception of the cattle and horses, which the indians had captured. we had known this family. they had often attended moncrieff's happy little evening parties, and the children had played in our garden and rowed with us in the gondola. heaven forbid i should attempt to draw a graphic picture of all we saw! let it be sufficient to say that the rumours which had reached us were all too true, and that moncrieff and i saw sights which will haunt us both until our dying day. the silence all round the _estancia_ when we rode up was eloquent, terribly eloquent. the buildings were blackened ruins, and it was painful to notice the half-scorched trailing flowers, many still in bloom, clinging around the wrecked and charred verandah. but everywhere about, in the out-buildings, on the lawn, in the garden itself, were the remains of the poor creatures who had suffered. 'alas! for love of this were all, and none beyond, o earth!' moncrieff spoke but little all the way back. while standing near the verandah i had seen him move his hand to his eyes and impatiently brush away a tear, but after that his face became firm and set, and for many a day after this i never saw him smile. * * * * * at this period of our strange family story i lay down my pen and lean wearily back in my chair. it is not that i am tired of writing. oh, no! evening after evening for many and many a long week i have repaired up here to my turret chamber--my beautiful study in our castle of coila--and with my faithful hound by my feet i have bent over my sheets and transcribed as faithfully as i could events as i remember them. but it is the very multiplicity of these events as i near the end of my story that causes me to pause and think. ah! here comes aunt, gliding into my room, pausing for a moment, curtain in hand, half apologetically, as she did on that evening described in our first chapter. 'no, auntie, you do not disturb me. far from it. i was longing for your company.' she is by my side now, and looking down at my manuscript. 'yes,' she says many times--nodding assent to every sentence, and ever turning back the pages for reference--'yes, and now you come near the last events of this story of the m'crimmans of coila. come out to the castle roof, and breathe the evening air, and i will talk.' we sit there nearly an hour. aunt's memory is better even than mine, and i listen to her without ever once opening my lips. then i lead her back to the tower, and point smilingly to the harp. she has gone at last, and i resume my story. * * * * * we, moncrieff and i, saw no signs of indians during our long ride that day. we had gone on this journey with our lives in our hands. the very daringness and dash of it was probably our salvation. the enemy were about--they might be here, there, anywhere. every bush might conceal a foe, but they certainly made no appearance. all was the same apparently about our _estancias_; _but_ i wondered a little that my brothers had not come out to meet me as usual, and that faithful, though plain-faced yambo looked at me strangely, and i thought pityingly, as he took my mule to lead away to the compound. i went straight away through our gardens, and entered the drawing-room by the verandah window. i paused a moment, holding the casement in my hand. coming straight out of the glare of the evening sunset, the room appeared somewhat dark, but i noticed dugald sitting at the table with his face bent down over his hand, and donald lying on the couch. 'dugald!' he started up and ran towards me, seizing and wringing my hand. 'oh, murdoch,' he cried, 'our poor father!' 'you have had a letter--he is ill?' 'he is ill.' 'dugald,' i cried, 'tell me all! dugald--is--father--dead?' no reply. i staggered towards the table, and dropped limp and stricken and helpless into a chair. i think i must have been ill for many, many days after this sad news. i have little recollection of the events of the next week--i was engrossed, engulfed in the one great sorrow. the unexpected death of so well-beloved a father in the meridian of life was a terrible blow to us all, but more so to me, with all i had on my mind. 'and so, and so,' i thought, as i began to recover, 'there is an end to my bright dreams of future happiness--_the_ dream of all my dreams, to have father out here among us in our new home in the silver west, and all the dark portions of the past forgotten. heaven give me strength to bear it!' i had spoken the last words aloud, for a voice at my elbow said-- 'amen! poor boy! amen!' i turned, and--_there stood townley_. 'you wonder to see me here,' he said, as he took my hand. 'nay, but nobody should ever wonder at anything i do. i am erratic. i did not come over before, because i did not wish to influence your mind. you have been ill, but--i'm glad to see you weeping.' i did really sob and cry then as if my very heart would burst and break. * * * * * i was well enough in a day or two to hear the rest of the news. townley, who was very wise, had hesitated to tell me everything at once. but if anything could be called joyful news now surely this was--mother and flora were at villa mercedes, and would be here in a day or two. townley had come on before, even at considerable personal risk, to break the news to us, and prepare us all. mother and sister were waiting an escort, not got up specially for them certainly, but that would see to their safety. it consisted of a large party of officers and men who were passing on to the frontiers to repel, or try to repel, the indian invasion. * * * * * we all went to meet mother and sister at the far-off cross roads. there was quite a large and very well-armed party of us, and we encamped for three days near an _estancia_ to await their coming. it was on the morning of the fourth day that one of the gauchos reported an immense cloud of dust far away eastwards on the mendoza road. 'they might be indians,' he added. 'perhaps,' said moncrieff, 'but we will risk it.' so camp was struck and off we rode, my brothers and i forming the vanguard, moncrieff and archie bringing up the rear. how my heart beat with emotion when the first horsemen of the advancing party became visible through the cloud of dust, and i saw they were soldiers! on we rode now at the gallop. yes, mother was there, and sister, and they were well. our meeting may be better imagined than described. * * * * * both mother and flora were established at the _estancia_, and so days and weeks flew by, and i was pleased to see them smile, though mother looked sad, so sad, yet so beautiful, just as she had ever looked to me. dugald was the first to recover anything approaching to a chastened happiness. he had his darling sister with him. he was never tired taking her out and showing her all the outs-and-ins and workings of our new home. it appeared to give him the chiefest delight, however, to see her in the gondola. i remember him saying one evening: 'dear flora! what a time it seems to look back since we parted in old edina. but through all these long years i have worked for you and thought about you, and strange, i have always pictured you just as you are now, sitting under the gondola awnings, looking piquant and pretty, and on just such a lovely evening as this. but i didn't think you would be so big, flora.' 'dear stupid dugald!' replied flora, blushing slightly because archie's eyes were bent on her in admiration, respectful but unconcealable. 'did you think i would always remain a child?' 'you'll always be a child to me, flo,' said dugald. but where had the indians gone? had our bold troops beaten them back? or was the cloud still floating over the _estancia_, and floating only to burst? chapter xxiv. the attack on the estancia. shortly after we had all settled down at the _estancia_, and things began to resume their wonted appearance, albeit we lived in a state of constant preparation to repel attack, an interview took place one day in moncrieff's drawing-room, at which, though i was not present, i now know all that happened. to one remark of townley's my mother replied as follows: 'no, mr. townley, i think with you. i feel even more firmly, i believe, than you do on the subject, for you speak with, pardon me, some little doubt or hesitancy. our boy's conscience must not be tampered with, not for all the estates in the world. much though i love coila, from which villainy may have banished us, let it remain for ever in the possession of the m'rae sooner than even hint to murdoch that an oath, however imposed, is not binding.' 'yes,' said townley, 'you are right, mrs. m'crimman; but the present possessor of coila, the younger le roi, or m'rae, as he was called before his father's death, has what he is pleased to call broader views on the subject than we have.' 'mr. townley, the m'rae is welcome to retain his broad views, and we will stick to the simple faith of our forefathers. the m'rae is of french education.' 'yes, and at our meeting, though he behaved like a perfect gentleman--indeed, he is a gentleman--' 'true, in spite of the feud i cannot forget that the m'raes are distant relatives of the m'crimmans. he must, therefore, be a gentleman.' '"my dear sir," he said to me, "i cannot conceive of such folly"--superstitious folly, he called it--"as that which your young friend murdoch m'crimman is guilty of. let him come to me and say boldly that the ring found in the box and in the vault was on the finger of duncan--villain he is, at all events--on the night he threatened to shoot him, and i will give up all claim to the estates of coila; but till he does so, or until you bring me other proof, i must be excused for remaining where i am."' 'then let him,' said my mother quietly. 'nay, but,' said townley, 'i do not _mean_ to let him. it has become the one dream of my existence to see justice and right done to my dear old pupil murdoch, and i think i begin to see land.' 'yes?' 'i believe i do. i waited and watched untiringly. good gilmore, who still lives in coila, watched for me too. i knew one thing was certain--namely, that the ex-poacher duncan m'rae would turn up again at the castle. he did. he went to beg money from the m'rae. the m'rae is a man of the world; he saw that this visit of duncan's was but the beginning of a never-ending persecution. he refused duncan's request point-blank. then the man changed flank and breathed dark threatenings. the m'rae, he hinted, had better not make him (duncan) his enemy. he (m'rae) was obliged to him for the house and position he occupied, but the same hand that _did_ could _undo_. at this juncture the m'rae had simply rung the bell, and the ex-poacher had to retire foiled, but threatening still. it was on that same day i confronted him and told him all i knew. then i showed him the spurious ring, which, as i placed it on my finger, even he could not tell from the original. even this did not overawe him, but when i ventured a guess that this very ring had belonged to a dead man, and pretended i knew more than i did, he turned pale. he was silent for a time--thinking, i suppose. then he put a question which staggered me with its very coolness, and, clergyman though i am, i felt inclined at that moment to throttle the man where he stood. would we pay him handsomely for turning king's evidence on himself and confessing the whole was a conspiracy, and would we save him from the legal penalty of the confessed crime? 'i assure you, mrs. m'crimman, that till then i had leaned towards the belief that, scoundrel though this duncan be, some little spark of humanity remained in his nature, and that he might be inclined to do justice for justice's sake. i dare say he read my answer in my eyes, and he judged too that for the time being i was powerless to act. could he have killed me then, i know he would have done so. once more he was silent for a time. he did not dare to repeat his first question, but he put another, "have you any charge to make against me about _anything_?" he placed a terribly-meaning emphasis on that word "anything." i looked at him. i was wondering whether he really had had anything to do with the death of old mawsie, and if the ring of which i had the facsimile on my finger had in reality belonged to a murdered man. seeing me hesitate, he played a bold card; it was, i suppose, suggested to him by the appearance at that moment of the village policeman walking calmly past the window of the little inn where we sat. he knocked, and beckoned to him, while i sat wondering and thinking that verily the man before me was cleverer by far than i. on the entrance of the policeman--"this gentleman, policeman," he said, quietly and slowly, "makes or insinuates charges against me in private which now in your presence i dare him to repeat." then turning to me--"the ball is with you," he said. and what could i reply? nothing. i do believe that at that very moment even the worthy village policeman noticed and pitied my position, for he turned to duncan, and, nodding, made this remark in gaelic: "i know mr. townley as a gentleman, and i know you, duncan m'rae, to be something very different. if mr. townley makes no charge against you it is no doubt because he is not prepared with proofs. but, duncan, boy, if you like to remain in the glen for a few days, i'm not sure there isn't a charge or two i could rub up against you myself." 'i left the room with the policeman. now i knew that, although foiled, duncan did not consider himself beaten. i had him watched therefore, and followed by a detective. i wanted to find out his next move. it was precisely what i thought it would be. he had heard of our poor chief m'crimman's death, remember. well, a day or two after our conversation in the little inn at coila, duncan presented himself at the m'rae's advocate's office and so pleaded his case--so begged and partially hinted at disclosures and confessions--that this solicitor, not possessed of the extraordinary pride and independence of the m'rae--' 'a pride and independence, mr. townley,' said my aunt, 'which the m'raes take from their relatedness to our family.' 'that is true,' said my mother. 'well, i was going to say,' continued townley, 'that duncan so far overcame the advocate that this gentleman thought it would be for his client's interest to accede in part to his demands, or rather to one of them--viz., to pay him a sum of money to leave the country for ever. but this money was not to be paid until he had taken his passage and was about to sail for some--any--country, not nearer than the united states of america, mr. moir's--the advocate's--clerk was to see him on board ship, and see him sail.' 'and did he sail?' said my aunt, as townley paused and looked at her. 'yes, in a passenger ship, for buenos ayres.' 'i see it all now,' said my aunt. 'he thinks that no charge can be made against him there for conspiracy or crime committed at home.' 'yes, and he thinks still further: he thinks that he will be more successful with dear murdoch than he was with either the m'rae or myself.' there was a few minutes' pause, my aunt being the first to break the silence. 'what a depth of well-schemed villainy!' was the remark she made. moncrieff had listened to all the conversation without once putting in a word. now all he said was-- 'dinna forget, miss m'crimman, the words o' the immortal bobbie burns: "the best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley, and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy."' * * * * * to the fear and fever consequent upon the depredations committed by the indians there succeeded a calmness and lull which the canny moncrieff thought almost unnatural, considering all that had gone before. he took pains to find out whether, as had been currently reported, our argentine troops had been victorious all along the frontier line. he found that the report, like many others, had been grossly exaggerated. if a foe retires, a foe is beaten by the army which _sees_ that foe retire. this seems too often to be the logic of the war-path. in the present instance, however, the indians belonged to races that lived a nomad life. they were constantly advancing and retreating. when they chose to advance in this particular year there was not a sufficient number of cavalry to oppose them, nor were the soldiers well mounted. the savages knew precisely on what part of the stage to enter, and they did not think it incumbent on them to previously warn our argentine troops. indeed, they, like sensible savages, rather avoided a conflict than courted one. it was not conflict but cattle they were after principally; then if at any time strategy directed retreat, why, they simply turned their horses' heads to the desert, the pampas, or mountain wilds, and the troops for a time had seen the last of them. i think moncrieff would have made a capital general, for fancied security never sent him to sleep. what had happened once might happen again, he thought, and his _estancias_ were big prizes for indians to try for, especially as there was plenty to gain by success, and little to lose by defeat. i have said that our coila villa was some distance from the fortified moncrieff houses. it was now connected with the general rampart and ditches. it was part and parcel of the whole system of fortification; so my brothers and i might rest assured it would be defended, if ever there was any occasion. 'it seems hard,' said townley to moncrieff one day, 'that you should be put to so much trouble and expense. why does not the government protect its settlers?' 'the government will in course of time,' replied moncrieff. 'at present, as we lie pretty low down in the western map, we are looked upon as rich pioneers, and left to protect ourselves.' they were riding then round the _estancias_, visiting outlying _puestos_. 'you have your rockets and red-lights for night signals, and your flags for day use?' moncrieff was saying to each _puestero_ or shepherd. 'we have,' was the invariable reply. 'well, if the indians are sighted, signal at once, pointing the fan in their direction, then proceed to drive the flocks towards the _estancias_. there,' continued moncrieff, 'there is plenty of corraling room, and we can concentrate a fire that will, i believe, effectually hold back these raiding thieves.' one day there came a report that a fort had been carried by a cloud of indians. this was in the forenoon. towards evening some gauchos came in from a distant _estancia_. they brought the old ugly story of conflagration and murder, to which moncrieff and his welsh partner had long since become used. but now the cloud was about to burst over our _estancia_. we all ate our meals together at the present awful crisis, just, i think, to be company to each other, and to talk and keep up each other's heart. but to-day moncrieff had ordered an early dinner, and this was ominous. hardly any one spoke much during the meal. a heaviness was on every heart, and if any one of us made an effort to smile and look cheerful, others saw that this was only assumed, and scarcely responded. perhaps old jenny spoke more than all of us put together. and her remarks at times made us laugh, gloomy though the situation was. 'they reeving philistines are coming again, are they? well, laddie, if the worst should happen i'll just treat them to a drap parridge.' 'what, mither?' 'a drap parridge, laddie. it was boiled maize i poured ower the shoulders o' them in the caravan. but oatmeal is better, weel scalded. na, na, naething beats a drap parridge. bombazo,' she said presently,'you've been unco quiet and douce for days back, i hope you'll no show the white feather this time and bury yoursel' in the moold like a rabbit.' poor bombazo winced, and really, judging from his appearance, he had been ill at ease for weeks back. there was no singing now, and the guitar lay unheeded in its case. 'do not fear for me, lady. i am burning already to see the foe.' 'weel, bombazo man, ye dinna look vera warlike. you're unco white about the gills already, but wae worth the rigging o' you if ye dinna fecht. my arm is strong to wield the auld ginghamrella yet.' 'hush, mither, hush!' said moncrieff. immediately after dinner moncrieff beckoned to townley, and the two left the room and the house together. 'you think the indians will come to-night?' said townley, after a time. 'i know they will, and in force too.' 'well, i feel like an idler. you, general moncrieff, have not appointed me any station.' moncrieff smiled. 'i am now going to do so,' he said, 'and it is probably the most important position and trust on the _estancia_.' they walked up as far as the great canal while they conversed. arrived there, moncrieff pointed to what looked like a bundle of brushwood. 'you see those branches?' 'yes.' 'and you see that wooden lock or huge doorway?' 'i do.' 'well, my friend, the brushwood conceals a sentry-box. it overlooks the whole _estancia_. it conceals something else, a small barrel of gunpowder, which you are to hang to the hook yonder on the wooden lock, and explode the moment you have the signal.' 'and the signal will be?' 'a huge rocket sent up from either my _estancia_ house or coila villa. there may be several, but you must act when you see the first. there is fuse enough to the bomb to give you time to escape, and the bomb is big enough to burst the lock and flood the whole ditch system in and around the _estancia_. you are to run as soon as you fire. further on you will find another brushwood place of concealment. hide there. heaven forbid i should endanger a hair of your head! now you know your station!' 'i do,' said townley, 'and thankful i am to think i can be of service in this great emergency.' before dark all the most valuable portion of our stock was safely corraled, and silence, broken only by the occasional lowing of the cattle or the usual night sounds of farm life, reigned around and over the _estancia_. later on townley stole quietly out, and betook himself to his station. still later on yambo rode in and right up to the verandah of our chief sitting-room. the horse he bestrode was drenched in sweat. he had seen indians in force; they were even now advancing. he had ridden for his life. the order 'every man to his quarters!' was now given. the night which was to be so terrible and so memorable in the annals of moncrieff's _estancia_ had begun. it was very still, and at present very dark. but by and by the moon would rise. 'a rocket, sir!' we heard archie shout from his post as sentinel; 'a rocket from the south-western _puesto_.' we waited, listening, starting almost at every sound. at length in the distance we could plainly hear the sound of horses' hoofs on the road, and before many minutes the first _puestero_ rode to the gate and was admitted. the men from the other _puestos_ were not far behind; and, all being safe inside, the gates were fastened and fortified by triple bars of wood. all along the ditches, and out for many yards, was spread such a thorny spikework of pointed wood as to defy the approach of the cleverest indian for hours at least. while we waited i found time to run round to the drawing-room. there was no sign of fear on any face there, with the exception perhaps of that of poor irish aileen. and i could well believe her when she told me it was not for herself she cared, but for her 'winsome man.' i was talking to them as cheerfully as i could, when i heard the sound of a rifle, and, waving them good-bye, i rushed off to my station. slowly the moon rose, and before many minutes the whole _estancia_ was flooded with its light. and how we thanked heaven for that light only those who have been situated as we were now can fully understand. up it sailed between the dark whispering poplars. never had these trees seemed to me more stately, more noble. towering up into the starry sky, they seemed like sentinels set to guard and defend us, while their taper fingers, piercing heavenwards, carried our thoughts to one who never deserts those who call on him in faith in their hour of need. the moon rose higher and higher, and its light--for it was a full moon--got still more silvery as it mounted towards its zenith. but as yet there was no sign that a foe as remorseless and implacable as the tiger of the jungle was abroad on the plains. a huge fire had been erected behind the mansion, and about ten o'clock the female servants came round our lines with food, and huge bowls of steaming _maté_. almost immediately after we were at our quarters again. i was stationed near our own villa. leaning over a parapet, i could not help, as i gazed around me, being struck with the exceeding beauty of the night. not far off the lake shone in the moon's rays like a silver mirror, but over the distant hills and among the trees and hedges was spread a thin blue gauzy mist that toned and softened the whole landscape. as i gazed, and was falling into a reverie, a puff of white smoke and a flash not fifty yards away, and the ping of a bullet close to my ear, warned me that the attack had commenced. there had been no living thing visible just before then, but the field on one side of our villa was now one moving mass of armed indians, rushing on towards the ditch and breastwork. at the same moment all along our lines ran the rattle of rifle-firing. that savage crowd, kept at bay by the spikework, made a target for our men that could hardly be missed. the war-cry, which they had expected to change in less than a minute to the savage shout of victory, was mingled now with groans and yells of anger and pain. but this, after all, was not the main attack. from a red signal-light far along the lines i soon discovered that moncrieff was concentrating his strength there, and i hastened in that direction with five of my best men. the indians were under the charge of a _cacique_ on horseback, whose shrill voice sounded high over the din of battle and shrieks of the wounded. he literally hurled his men like seas against the gates and ramparts here. but all in vain. our fellows stood; and the _cacique_ at length withdrew his men, firing a volley or two as they disappeared behind the hedges. there was comparative silence for a space now. it was soon broken, however, by the thunder of indian cavalry. the savages were going to change their tactics. chapter xxv. the last assault. never before, perhaps, in all the annals of indian warfare had a more determined attack been made upon a settler's _estancia_. the _cacique_ or _caciques_ who led the enemy seemed determined to purchase victory at any cost or hazard. nor did the principal _cacique_ hesitate to expose himself to danger. during the whole of the first onset he moved about on horseback close in the rear of his men, and appeared to bear a charmed life. the bullets must have been whizzing past him as thick as flies. moncrieff himself tried more than once to bring him down, but all in vain. during the final assault he was equally conspicuous; he was here, there, and everywhere, and his voice and appearance, even for a moment, among them never failed to cause his men to redouble their efforts. it was not, however, until far on into the night that this last and awful charge was made. the savage foe advanced with a wild shout all along the line of rampart that connected the moncrieff main _estancia_ with our villa. this was really our weakest part. [illustration: the indians advanced with a wild shout] the assault was made on horseback. we heard them coming thundering on some time before we saw them and could fire. they seemed mad, furious; their tall feather-bedecked spears were waved high in air; they sat like huge baboons on their high saddles, and their very horses had been imbued with the recklessness of their riders, and came on bounding and flying over our frail field of spikes. it was to be all spear work till they came to close quarters; then they would use their deadly knives. hardly had the first sound of the horses' hoofs reached our ears ere one, two, three rockets left coila villa; and scarcely had they exploded in the air and cast their golden showers of sparks abroad, before the roar of an explosion was heard high up on the braeland that shook the houses to their very foundations--and then--there is the awful rush of foaming, seething water. nothing could withstand that unexpected flood; men and horses were floated and washed away, struggling and helpless, before it. just at the time when the last assault was nearly at its grim close i felt my arm pulled, and looking quickly round found yambo at my side. he still clutched me by the arm, but he was waving his blood-stained sword in the direction of moncrieff's house, and i could see by the motions of his mouth and face he wished me to come with him. something had occurred, something dreadful surely, and despite the excitement of battle a momentary cold wave of fear seemed to rush over my frame. sandie donaldson was near me. this bold big fellow had been everywhere conspicuous to-night for his bravery. he had fought all through with extraordinary intrepidity. wherever i had glanced that night i had seen sandie, the moon shining down on the white shirt and trousers he wore, and which made him altogether so conspicuous a figure, as he took aim with rifle or revolver, or dashed into a crowd of spear-armed indians, his claymore hardly visible, so swiftly was it moved to and fro. i grasped his shoulder, pointed in the direction indicated by yambo, and on we flew. as soon as we had rounded the wing of an outbuilding and reached moncrieff's terraced lawn, the din of the fight we had just left became more indistinct, but we now heard sounds that, while they thrilled us with terror and anger, made us rush on across the grass with the speed of the panther. they were the voices of shrieking women, the crashing of glass and furniture, and the savage and exultant yell of the indians. looking back now to this episode of the night, i can hardly realize that so many terrible events could have occurred in so brief a time, for, from the moment we charged up across the lawn not six minutes could have elapsed ere all was over. it is like a dream, but a dream every turn of which has been burned into my memory, to remain while life shall last. yonder is a tall _cacique_ hurrying out into the bright moonlight from under the verandah. he bears in his arms the inanimate form of my dear sister flora. is it really _i_ myself who rush up to meet him? have _i_ fired that shot that causes the savage to reel and fall? is it i who lift poor flora and lay her in the shade of a mimosa-tree? it must be i, yet every action seems governed by instinct; i am for the time being a strange psychological study. it is as if my soul had left the body, but still commanded it, standing aside, ruling every motion, directing every blow from first to last, and being implicitly obeyed by the other _ego_, the _ego_-incorporate. there is a crowd, nay, a cloud even it seems, around me; but see, i have cut my way through them at last: they have fallen before me, fallen at my side--fallen or fled. i step over bodies, i enter the room, i stumble over other bodies. now a light is struck and a lamp is lit, and standing beside the table, calm, but very pale, i see my aunt dimly through the smoke. my mother is near her--my own brave mother. both have revolvers in their hands; and i know now why bodies are stretched on the floor. one glance shows me aileen, lying like a dead thing in a chair, and beside her, smoothing her brow, chafing her hands, moncrieff's marvellous mother. but in this life the humorous is ever mixed up with the tragic or sad, for lo! as i hurry away to join the fight that is still going on near the verandah i almost stumble across something else. not a body this time--not quite--only bombazo's ankles sticking out from under the sofa. i could swear to those striped silk socks anywhere, and the boots are the boots of bombazo. i administer a kick to those shins, and they speedily disappear. i am out on the moonlit lawn now, and what do i see? first, good brave yambo, down on one knee, being borne backwards, fierce hands at his throat, a short knife at his chest. the would-be assassin falls; yambo rises intact, and together we rush on further down to where, on a terrace, donaldson has just been overpowered. but see, a new combatant has come upon the scene; several revolver shots are fired in quick succession. a tall dark figure in semi-clerical garb is cutting right and left with a good broadsword. and now--why, now it is all over, and townley stands beside us panting. well might he pant--he had done brave work. but he had come all too late to save sandie. he lies there quietly enough on the grass. his shirt is stained with blood, and it is his own blood this time. townley bends over and quietly feels his arm. no pulse there. then he breathes a half audible prayer and reverently closes the eyes. i am hurrying back now to the room with flora. 'all is safe, mother, now. flora is safe. see, she is smiling: she knows us all. oh, heaven be praised, she is safe!' we leave townley there, and hurry back to the ramparts. the stillness alone would have told us that the fight was finished and the victory won. a few minutes after this, standing high up on the rampart there, moncrieff is mustering his people. one name after another is called. alas! there are many who do not answer, many who will never answer more, for our victory has been dearly bought. four of our scottish settlers were found dead in the trench; over a dozen gauchos had been killed. moncrieff and his partner were both wounded, though neither severely. archie and dugald were also badly cut, and answered but faintly and feebly to the roll-call. sandie we know is dead, and bombazo is--under the sofa. so i thought; but listen. 'captain rodrigo de bombazo!' 'here, general, here,' says a bold voice close behind me, and bombazo himself presses further to the front. i can hardly believe my eyes and ears. could those have been bombazo's boots? had i really kicked the shins of bombazo? surely the events of the night had turned my brain. bombazo's boots indeed! bombazo skulk and hide beneath a sofa! impossible. look at him now. his hair is dishevelled; there is blood on his brow. he is dressed only in shirt and trousers, and these are marked with blood; so is his right arm, which is bared over the elbow, and the sword he carries in his hand. bold bombazo! how i have wronged him! but the silk striped socks? no; i cannot get over that. * * * * * barely a month before the events just narrated took place at the _estancias_ of moncrieff there landed from a sailing ship at the port of buenos ayres a man whose age might have been represented by any number of years 'twixt thirty and forty. there were grey hairs on his temples, but these count for nothing in a man whose life has been a struggle with fortune and fate. the individual in question, whom his shipmates called dalston, was tall and tough and wiry. he had shown what he was and what he could do in less than a week from the time of his joining. at first he had been a passenger, and had lived away aft somewhere, no one could tell exactly where, for he did not dine in the saloon with the other passengers, and he looked above messing with the stewards. as the mate and he were much together it was supposed that dalston made use of the first officer's cabin. the ship had encountered dirty weather from the very outset; head winds and choppy seas all the way down channel, so that she was still 'kicking about off the coast'--this is how the seamen phrased it--when she ought to have been crossing the bay or stretching away out into the broad atlantic. she fared worse by far when she reached the bay, having met with a gale of wind that blew most of her cloth to ribbons, carried away her bowsprit, and made hurdles of her bulwarks both forward and amidships. worse than all, two men were blown from aloft while trying to reef a sail during a squall of more than hurricane violence. i say blown from aloft, and i say so advisedly, for the squall came on after they had gone up, a squall that even the men on deck could not stand against, a squall that levelled the very waves, and made the sea away to leeward--no one could see to windward--look like boiling milk. the storm began to go down immediately after the squall, and next day the weather was fine enough to make sail, and mend sail. but the ship was short-handed, for the skipper had made no provision against loss by accident. he was glad then when the mate informed him that the 'gentleman' dalston was as good as any two men on board. 'send him to me,' said the skipper. 'good morning. ahem, i hear, sir, you would be willing to assist in the working of the ship. may i ask on what terms?' 'certainly,' said dalston. 'i'm going out to the argentine, to buy a bit of land; well, naturally, money is some object to me. you see?' 'i understand.' 'well, my terms are the return of my passage money and civility.' 'agreed; but why do you mention civility?' 'because i've heard you using rather rough language to your men. now, if you forgot yourself so far as to call me a bad name i'd----' he paused, and there was a look in his eyes the captain hardly relished. 'well! what would you do?' 'why, i'd--retire to my cabin.' 'all right then, i think we understand each other.' so dalston was installed, and now dined forward. he became a favourite with his messmates. no one could tell a more thrilling and adventuresome yarn than dalston, no one could sing a better song than himself or join more heartily in the chorus when another sang, and no one could work more cheerily on deck, or fly more quickly to tack a sheet. smyth had been the big man in the forecastle before dalston's day. but smyth was eclipsed now, and i dare say did not like his rival. one day, near the quarter-deck, smyth called dalston an ugly name. dalston's answer was a blow which sent the fellow reeling to leeward, where he lay stunned. 'have you killed him, dalston?' said the captain. 'not quite, sir; but i could have.' 'well, dalston, you are working for two men now; don't let us lose another hand, else you'll have to work for three.' dalston laughed. smyth gathered himself up and slunk away, but his look was one dalston would have cause to remember. this good ship--sevenoaks she was called, after the captain's wife's birthplace--had a long and a rough passage all along. the owners were dutchmen, so it did not matter a very great deal. there was plenty of time, and the ship was worked on the cheap. perhaps the wonder is she kept afloat at all, for at one period of the voyage she leaked so badly that the crew had to pump three hours out of every watch. then she crossed a bank on the south american coast, and the men said she had sucked in a bit of seaweed, for she did not leak much after this. the longest voyage has an end, however, and when the sevenoaks arrived at buenos ayres, dalston bade his messmates adieu, had his passage money duly returned, and went on shore, happy because he had many more golden sovereigns to rattle than he had expected. dalston went to a good hotel, found out all about the trains, and next day set out, in company with a waiter who had volunteered to be his escort, to purchase a proper outfit--only light clothes, a rifle, a good revolver, and a knife or two to wear in his belt, for he was going west to a rough country. in the evening, after the waiter and he had dined well at another hotel: 'you go home now,' said dalston; 'i'm going round to have a look at the town,' 'take care of yourself,' the waiter said. 'no fear of me,' was the laughing reply. but that very night he was borne back to his inn, cut, bruised, and faint. and robbed of all his gold. 'who has done this?' said the waiter, aghast at his friend's appearance. 'smyth!' that was all the reply. dalston lay for weeks between life and death. then he came round almost at once, and soon started away on his journey. the waiter--good-natured fellow--had lent him money to carry him to mendoza. but dalston's adventures were not over yet. he arrived at villa mercedes well and hopeful, and was lucky enough to secure a passage in the diligence about to start under mounted escort to mendoza. after a jolting ride of days, the like of which he had never been used to in the old country, the ancient-looking coach had completed three-quarters of the journey, and the rest of the road being considered safe the escort was allowed to go on its way to the frontier. they had not departed two hours, however, before the travellers were attacked, the driver speared, and the horses captured. the only passenger who made the slightest resistance was dalston. he was speedily overpowered, and would have been killed on the spot had not the _cacique_ of the party whom dalston had wounded interfered and spared his life. spared his life! but for what? he did not know. some of the passengers were permitted to go free, the rest were killed. he alone was mounted on horseback, his legs tied with thongs and his horse led by an indian. all that night and all next day his captors journeyed on, taking, as far as dalston could judge, a south-west course. his sufferings were extreme. his legs were swollen, cut, and bleeding; his naked shoulders--for they had stripped him almost naked--burned and blistered with the sun; and although his tongue was parched and his head drooping wearily on his breast, no one offered him a mouthful of water. he begged them to kill him. perhaps the _cacique_, who was almost a white man, understood his meaning, for he grinned in derision and pointed to his own bullet-wounded arm. the _cacique_ knew well there were sufferings possible compared to which death itself would be as pleasure. when the indians at last went into camp--which they did but for a night--he was released, but guarded; a hunk of raw guanaco meat was thrown to him, which he tried to suck for the juices it contained. next day they went on and on again, over a wild pampa land now, with here and there a bush or tussock of grass or thistles, and here and there a giant ombu-tree. his ankles were more painful than ever, his shoulders were raw, the horse he rode was often prodded with a spear, and he too was wounded at the same time. once or twice the _cacique_, maddened by the pain of his wound, rushed at dalston with uplifted knife, and the wretched prisoner begged that the blow might fall. towards evening they reached a kind of hill and forest land, where the flowering cacti rose high above the tallest spear. then they came to a ruin. indians here were in full force, horses dashed to and fro, and it was evident from the bustle and stir that they were on the war-path, and soon either to attack or be attacked. the prisoner was now roughly unhorsed and cruelly lashed to a tree, and left unheeded by all. for a moment or two he felt grateful for the shade, but his position after a time became painful in the extreme. at night-fall all the indians left, and soon after the sufferings of the poor wretch grew more dreadful than pen can describe. he was being slowly eaten alive by myriads of insects that crept and crawled or flew; horrid spiders with hairy legs and of enormous size ran over his neck and naked chest, loathsome centipedes wriggled over his shoulders and face and bit him, and ants covered him black from head to feet. towards dusk a great jaguar went prowling past, looked at him with green fierce eyes, snarled low, and went on. vultures alighted near him, but they too passed by; they could wait. then it was night, and many of the insect pests grew luminous. they flitted and danced before his eyes till tortured nature could bear no more, and insensibility ended his sufferings for a time. * * * * * the indians must have thought that, although their attack on our _estancia_ had failed, we were too weak or too frightened to pursue them. they did not know moncrieff. wounded though he was, he had issued forth from behind the ramparts with thirty well-armed and splendidly-mounted men. they followed the enemy up for seven long hours, and succeeded in teaching them such a lesson that they have never been seen in that district since. towards noon we were riding homewards, tired and weary enough now, when donald suggested our visiting the old jesuit ruin, and so we turned our horses' heads in that direction. donald had ridden on before, and as i drew near i heard him cry, 'oh, moncrieff, come quickly! here is some poor fellow lashed to the ombu-tree!' chapter xxv farewell to the silver west. we cut the man's cords of thongs, we spread rugs on the grass and laid him gently down, then bathed his poor body with wine, and poured a little down his throat. in about half an hour the wretched being we had thought dead slowly raised himself on his elbow and gazed at _me_ as well as his swollen eyes would permit him. his lips moved as if to speak, but no intelligible sound escaped them. the recollection dawned on my mind all at once, and in that sadly-distorted face i discovered traces of the man who had wrought us so much sorrow and evil. i took his hand in mine. 'am i right?' i said. 'are you duncan m'rae?' he nodded drowsily, closed his eyes again, and lay back. we cut branches from the ombu-tree, tied them together with the thongs that had bound the victim's limbs, and so made a litter. on this we placed rugs and laid the man; and between two mules he was borne by the gauchos slowly homewards to the _estancias_. poor wretch! he had expected to come here all but a conqueror, and in a position to dictate his own terms--he arrived a dying man. our _estancia_ for many weeks was now turned almost into a hospital, for even those indians who had crept wounded into the bush, preferring to die at the sides of hedges to falling into our hands, we had brought in and treated with kindness, and many recovered. all the dead we could find we buried in the humble little graveyard on the braeside. we buried them without respect of nationality, only a few feet of clay separating the white man's grave from that of his indian foe. 'it matters little,' said moncrieff. 'where one rests, "for still and peaceful is the grave, where, life's vain tumults past, the appointed house, by heaven's decree, receives us all at last."' both dugald and archie made excellent patients, and flora and aileen the best of nurses. but _the_ nurse over even these was old jenny. she was hospital superintendent, and saw to all the arrangements, even making the poultices and spreading the salves and plasters with her own hands. 'my mither's a ma_rr_vel at he_rr_bs!' said moncrieff over and over again, when he saw the old lady busy at work. there was one patient, and only one, whom old jenny did not nurse. this was duncan himself. for him townley did all his skill could suggest, and was seldom two consecutive hours away from the room where he lay. in spite of all this it was evident that the ex-poacher was sinking fast. then came a day when moncrieff, archie, and myself were called into the dying man's apartment, and heard him make the fullest confession of all his villainy, and beg for our forgiveness with the tears roiling down his wan, worn face. yes, we forgave him willingly. may heaven forgive him too! at the time of his confession he was strong enough to read over and sign the document that townley placed before him. he told townley too the addresses of the men who had assisted him in the old vault at the ruined kirk in coila. and duncan had seemed brighter and calmer for several days after this. but he told us he had no desire to live now. then, one morning the change came, and so he sank and died. * * * * * it was several months before we could make up our minds to leave 'our home in the silver west.' indeed, there was considerable preparation to be made for the long homeward voyage that was before us; besides, townley had no inclination to hurry matters now that he felt sure of victory. victory was not even yet a certainty, however. the estate of coila was well worth fighting for. was there not the possibility, the bare possibility, that the solicitors or advocates of le roi, or the m'rae, who now held the castle and glen, might find some fatal flaw in the evidence which townley had spent so much time and care in working out and collecting? it was not at all probable. in fact, despite the blood-feud, that ancient family folly, i believed that m'rae would act the part of a gentleman. 'if,' said townley to me one day, as we walked for almost the last time in the beautiful gardens around moncrieff's mansion-house, 'we have anything to fear, i believe it is from the legal advisers of the present "occupier"'--townley would not say 'owner'--'of the estate. these men, you know, murdoch, can hardly expect to be _our_ advocates. they are well aware that if they lose hold of coila now the title-deeds thereof will never again rest in the fireproof safes of their offices.' 'i am afraid,' i said, 'you have but a poor opinion of edinburgh advocates.' 'not so, murdoch, not so. but,' he added, meaningly 'i have lived longer in life than you, and i have but a poor opinion of human nature.' 'i suppose,' i said, 'that the m'rae will know nothing of what is coming till our arrival on scottish shores!' 'on the contrary,' answered townley; 'although it may really seem like playing into our opponent's hands, i have written a friendly letter to the m'rae, and have told him to be prepared; that i have irrefragable evidence--mind, i do not particularize--that you, murdoch m'crimman, are the true and only proprietor of the estates of coila. i want him to see and feel that i am treating him as the man of honour i believe him to be, and that the only thing we really desire is justice to all concerned.' i smiled, and could not help saying, 'townley, my best of friends, what an excellent advocate you would have made!' townley smiled in turn. 'say, rather,' he replied, 'what an excellent detective i should have made! but, after all, murdoch, it may turn out that there is a spice of selfishness in all i am doing.' 'i do not believe a word of it, townley.' townley only laughed, and looked mysterious. 'hold on a little,' he said; 'don't be too quick to express your judgment.' 'i will wait, then,' i answered; 'but really i cannot altogether understand you.' * * * * * perhaps nothing shows true physical courage better than the power to say 'farewell' apparently unmoved. it is a kind of courage, however, that is very rare indeed, and all sorts of stratagems have been adopted to soften the grief of parting. i am not sure that i myself was not guilty of adopting one of these on the morning we left that pleasant home by the lake. 'i'm not going to say "farewell" at all,' i insisted, as i shook hands with irish aileen and poor old jenny, moncrieff's 'marvellous mither.' 'i'm coming out again to see you all as soon as ever i can get settled. do you think i could leave this beautiful country entirely, without spending at least a few more years in it? not i! and even if i do succeed in getting old coila back once more--even that, mind, is uncertain--i sha'n't quite give up coila new. so _au revoir_, moncrieff; _au revoir_!' then, turning to jenny, '_au revoir_, jenny,' i said. 'guid-bye, laddie, and god be wi' ye. i canna speak french. i've tried a word or twa mair than once, and nearly knocked my jaws out o' the joint; so i'll just say "guid-bye." lang, lang ere you can come back to coila new puir old jenny's bones will be in the mools.' i felt a big lump in my throat just then, and was positively grateful when bombazo strutted up dressed in full uniform. '_a dios_', he said; 'my friend, _a dios_. and now you have but to say the word, and if you have the least fear of being molested by indians, my trusty sword is at your service, and i will gladly escort you as far as villa mercedes.' it is needless to say that i declined this truly heroic offer. our party--the departing one--consisted of mother, aunt, townley, archie, and myself. my sister and my brothers came many miles on the road with us; then we bade them good-bye, and i felt glad when that was over. but moncrieff's convoy was a truly scottish one. he and his good men never thought of turning back till they had seen us safely on board the train, and rapidly being whirled away southwards. as long as i could see this honest settler he was waving his broad bonnet in the air, and--i felt sure of this--commending us all to a kind providence. the vessel in which we took passage was a steamer that bore us straight to the clyde. our voyage was a splendid one; in fact, i believe we were all just a little sorry when it was finished. landing there in the broomielaw on a cold forenoon in early spring would have possessed but little of interest for any of us--so full were our minds with the meeting that was before us, the meeting of m'crimman and m'rae--only we received a welcome that, being all so unexpected, caused tears of joy to spring to my eyes. for hardly was the gangway thrust on board from the quay ere more than twenty sturdy highlanders, who somehow had got possession of it, came rushing and shouting on board. i knew every face at once, though some were changed--with illness, years, or sorrow. perhaps few such scenes had ever before been witnessed on the broomielaw, for those men were arrayed in the full scottish costume and wore the m'crimman tartan, and their shouts of joy might have been heard a good half-mile off, despite the noises of the great city. how they had heard of our coming it never occurred to me to inquire. suffice it to say that here they were, and i leave the reader to guess the kind of welcome they gave us. no, nothing would satisfy them short of escorting us to our hotel. our carriages, therefore, to please these kindly souls from coila, were obliged to proceed but slowly, for five pipers marched in front, playing the bold old air of 'the march of the cameron men,' while the rest, with drawn claymores, brought up the rear. on the very next day townley, archie, and i received a message from m'rae himself, announcing that he would gladly meet us at the royal hotel in edinburgh. we were to bring no advocate with us, the letter advised; if any dispute arose, then, and not till then, would be the time to call in the aid of the law. i confess that i entered m'rae's room with a beating heart. how would he receive us? we found him quietly smoking a cigar and gazing out of the window. but he turned with a kindly smile towards us as soon as we entered, and the next minute we were all seated round the table, and business--_the_ business--was entered into. m'rae listened without a word. he never even moved a muscle while townley told all his long story, or rather read it from paper after paper, which he took from his bag. the last of these papers was duncan's own confession, with archie's signature and mine as witnesses alongside moncrieff's. he opened his lips at last. 'this is your signature, and you duly attest all this?' he put the question first to archie and then to me. receiving a reply in the affirmative, it was but natural that i should look for some show of emotion in m'rae's face. i looked in vain. i have never seen more consummate coolness before nor since. indeed, it was a coolness that alarmed me. and when he rose from the table after a few minutes of apparently engrossing thought, and walked directly towards a casket that stood on the writing-table, i thought that after all our cause was lost. in that casket, i felt sure, lay some strange document that should utterly undo all townley's work of years. m'rae is now at the table. he opens the casket, and for a moment looks critically at its contents. i can hear my heart beating. i'm sure i look pale with anxiety. now m'rae puts his hand inside and quietly takes out--a fresh cigar. then, humming a tune the while, he brings the casket towards townley, and bids him help himself. townley does as he is told, but at the same time bursts into a hearty laugh. 'mr. m'rae,' he says, 'you are the coolest man that ever i met. i do believe that if you were taken out to be shot--' 'stay,' said m'rae, 'i _was_ once. i was tried for a traitor--tried for a crime in france called "treason," that i was as guiltless of as an unborn babe--and condemned.' 'and what did you do?' 'some one on the ground handed me a cigar, and--i lit it. 'nay, my dear friends, i have lost my case here. indeed, i never, it would seem, had one. 'm'crimman,' he continued, shaking me by the hand, 'coila is yours.' 'strathtoul,' i answered, 'is our blood feud at an end?' 'it is,' was the answer; and once again hand met hand across the table. * * * * * need i tell of the home-coming of the m'crimmans of coila? of the clansmen who met us in the glen and marched along with us? of the cheering strains of music that re-echoed from every rock? of the flags that fluttered over and around our castle coila? of the bonfires that blazed that night on every hill, and cast their lurid light across the darkling lake? or of the tears my mother shed when, looking round the tartan drawing-room, the cosiest in all the castle, she thought of father, dead and gone? no, for some things are better left to the reader's imagination. * * * * * i throw down my pen with a sigh of relief. i think i have finished my story; my noble deerhound thinks so too. he gets slowly up from the hearthrug, conies towards me, and places his honest head on my arm, but his eyes are fixed on mine. it is not patting that he wants, nor petting either. 'come out now, master,' he seems to say, speaking with soft brown eyes and wagging tail; 'come out, master; mount your fleetest horse, and let us have a glorious gallop across the hills. see how the sun shines and glitters on grass, on leaves and lake! while you have been writing there day after day, i, your faithful dog, have been languishing. come, master, come!' and we go together. when i return, refreshed, and run up stairs to the room in the tower, i find dear auntie there. she has been reading my manuscript. 'there is,' she says, 'only one addition to make.' 'name it, auntie,' i say; 'it is not yet too late.' but she hesitates. 'it is almost a secret,' she says at last, bending down and smoothing the deerhound. 'a secret, auntie? ha, ha!' i laugh. 'i have it, auntie! i have it!' and i kiss her there and then. 'it is townley's secret and yours. he has proposed, and you are to--' but auntie has run out of the room. and now, come to think of it, there is something to add to all this. can you guess _my_ secret, reader mine? irene, my darling irene and i, murdoch m'crimman, are also to be-- but, there, you have guessed my secret, as i guessed auntie's. and just let me ask this: could any better plan have been devised of burying the hatchet betwixt two rival highland clans, and putting an end for ever to a blood feud? the end. richard clay and sons, limited, london and bungay. the boy's own bookshelf. this is a series of popular reprints from volumes of the boy's own paper, most of which are now quite out of print. the books are very attractively bound, and are freely illustrated. adventures of a three-guinea watch. by talbot baines reed. illustrations. new edition, reduced in price. crown vo. s. d. football. this volume contains the rules of the game, with papers on how the game should be played, by such authorities as c. w. alcock and dr. irvine. illustrated. s. d. cricket. by dr. w. g. grace, rev. j. pycroft, lord charles russell, frederick gale, and others. many illustrations. crown vo. s. a great mistake. by t. s. millington. with many illustrations. small to. s. d. the fifth form at st. dominic's. by talbot b. reed, author of "the adventures of a three-guinea watch," etc. illustrated. crown vo. s. d. through fire and through water. a story of adventure and peril. by t. s. millington, author of "straight to the mark," etc. illustrated. crown vo. s. d. harold, the boy earl. a story of old england. by j. f. hodgetts, author of "edric the norseman," "kornak the viking," etc. illustrated. crown vo. s. d. my friend smith. by talbot baines reed, author of "adventures of a three-guinea watch," etc. with an introduction by g. a. hutchison. illustrated. crown vo. s. , paternoster row, london; and of all booksellers. sixpence monthly, with frontispiece, or one penny weekly. the boy's own paper. "the boy's own holds its place against competitors with undiminished vitality. it is very proper, of course, yet not the less surprising in this age of rivalry, to find this entertaining miscellany in its thirteenth year preserving the freshness and exuberance of youth. the stories are as thrilling as any in the past, and the pictures run them hard in vigour."--saturday review. "simply crammed with good things, and has heaps of spirited illustrations, many being effectively coloured."--pall mall gazette. "deservedly popular on both sides of the ocean."--new york herald. [illustration: boys own paper] "as for the tales, they tell of travel, sport, and adventure all over the world. games of all kinds are discussed with the careful attention they deserve. there are, of course, good articles on natural history and the domestic animals; science and the severer pursuits are by no means neglected, and the notes under 'doings of the month' are full of useful information on every possible subject."--times. "a very feast of good things."--christian. "an abundant store of amusement and instruction."--spectator. "a wonderful sixpennyworth."--queen. "we strongly advise all our readers to introduce, in its monthly form, this splendid collection of pure literature to their school libraries and book clubs."--teachers' aid. , paternoster row, london; and of all booksellers. books by the rev. j. g. wood, m.a. the handy natural history. by the rev. j. g. wood, m.a., author of "homes without hands," etc. with engravings. small to. s. cloth boards, gilt edges. "a handsome volume, in which the author, a well-known naturalist, tells his readers in simple, untechnical language, the habits and nature of birds, beasts, and reptiles. mr. wood's style is excellently adapted for attracting the interest and insuring the attention of even ordinarily careless readers."--mail. "a delightful book, and will make a very handsome and enviable high-class prize or present."--school board chronicle. the brook and its banks. by the rev. j. g. wood, m.a., author of "the handy natural history," etc., etc. with many illustrations. imperial mo. s. cloth boards, gilt edges. "a book of real power, and its value is enhanced by scores of well-drawn and carefully executed pictures. one of the most popular gift-books of the season."--record. "handsome and most interesting."--times. "will form an admirable present for the young."--queen. "a charmingly written series of chapters on natural history. a reader of the book will be instructed without knowing it."--scotsman. "no more delightful book can be cited among the writings of its lamented author."--saturday review. "a nicer book for boys than this it would be hard to imagine."--spectator. "few writers have done so much to familiarise boys and girls with the simple facts of natural history as mr. wood, for he always painted the inhabitants of fields, forests and rivers from actual eye-witness, and pressed home his lessons by cheery anecdotes sure to be remembered."--the graphic. , paternoster row, london; and of all booksellers. 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"no more valuable gift-book could be chosen for young people with active brains."--saturday review. "this is an admirable book for boys; no mere réchauffé of the ordinary boys' handbooks, but prepared by experts in their several subjects, and justifying in every way the editor's claim that there is sufficient amplitude of detail and thoroughness of exposition to render their respective contributions of very real and permanent educational value."--star. "a splendid gift-book for an intelligent lad."--methodist recorder. "it contains information on nearly every subject dear to boys, and should certainly find a place on every boy's bookshelf."--educational times. 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"behold in these what leisure hours demand: amusement and true knowledge hand in hand." the volume of this monthly magazine for family and general reading contains imperial vo pages of interesting reading, with numerous illustrations by eminent artists. it forms a handsome book for presentation, and an appropriate and instructive volume for a school or college prize. price s. cloth boards; s. extra boards, gilt edges; s. d. half-bound in calf. the sunday at home annual. an illustrated family magazine for sabbath reading. this volume forms a very suitable book for presentation. it contains pages, imperial vo, with a great variety of interesting and instructive sabbath reading for every member of the family. it is profusely illustrated by coloured and wood engravings. price s. cloth boards; s. extra boards, gilt edges; s. d. half-bound in calf. , paternoster row, london; and of all booksellers. works issued by the hakluyt society [illustration: _facsimile (reduced) of the_ coat of arms of king philip ii., _from the sarmiento ms., , göttingen university library. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth._] history of the incas by pedro sarmiento de gamboa translated and edited with notes and an introduction by sir clements markham, k.c.b. president of the hakluyt society. cambridge: printed for the hakluyt society. mdccccvii. cambridge: printed by john clay, m.a. at the university press. council of the hakluyt society. sir clements markham, k.c.b., f.r.s., _president_. the right hon. the earl of liverpool, _vice-president_. the right hon. the lord amherst of hackney, _vice-president_. the right hon. the lord belhaven and stenton. thomas b. bowring. colonel george earl church. sir william martin conway, m.a., f.s.a. the rev. canon john neale dalton, c.m.g., c.v.o. george william forrest, c.i.e. william foster, b.a. the right hon. sir george taubmin goldie, k.c.m.g., d.c.l., ll.d., f.r.s., _pres. r.g.s._ albert gray, k.c. edward heawood, m.a. colonel sir thomas hungerford holdich, k.c.m.g., k.c.s.i., c.b., r.e. john scott keltie, ll.d. admiral sir albert hastings markham, k.c.b. admiral of the fleet sir frederick william richards, g.c.b. admiral of the fleet sir edward honart seymour, g.c.b., o.m. lieut.-col. sir richard carnac temple, bart., c.l.e. roland venables vernon, b.a. basil harrington soulsby, b.a., f.s.a., _honorary secretary_. table of contents. introduction dedicatory letter to king philip ii i. division of the history ii. the ancient division of the land iii. description of the ancient atlantic island iv. first inhabitants of the world and principally of the atlantic island v. inhabitants of the atlantic island vi. the fable of the origin of these barbarous indians of peru, according to their blind opinions vii. fable of the second age, and creation of the barbarous indians according to their account viii. the ancient _behetrias_ of these kingdoms of peru and their provinces ix. the first settlers in the valley of cuzco x. how the incas began to tyrannize over the lands and inheritances xi. the fable of the origin of the incas of cuzco xii. the road which these companies of the incas took to the valley of cuzco, and of the fables which are mixed with their history xiv. entry of the incas into the valley of cuzco, and the fables they relate concerning it xiv. the difference between manco ccapac and the alcabisas, respecting the arable land xv. commences the life of sinchi rocca, the second inca xvi. the life of lloqui yupanqui, the third inca xvii. the life of mayta ccapac, the fourth inca xviii. the life of ccapac yupanqui, the fifth inca xix. the life of inca rocca, the sixth inca xx. the life of titu cusi hualpa, vulgarly called yahuar-huaccac xxi. what happened after the ayarmarcas had stolen titu cusi hualpa xxii. how it became known that yahuar-huaccac was alive xxiii. yahuar-huaccac inca yupanqui commences his reign alone, after the death of his father xxiv. life of viracocha, the eighth inca xxv. the provinces and towns conquered by the eighth inca viracocha xxvi. life of inca yupanqui or pachacuti, the ninth inca xxvii. coming of the chancas against cuzco xxviii. the second victory of pachacuti inca yupanqui over the chancas xxix. the inca yupanqui assumes the sovereignty and takes the fringe, without the consent of his father xxx. pachacuti inca yupanqui rebuilds the city of cuzco xxxi. pachacuti inca yupanqui rebuilds the house of the sun and establishes new idols in it xxxii. pachacuti inca yupanqui depopulates two leagues of country near cuzco xxxiii. pachacuti inca yupanqui kills his elder brother named inca urco xxxiv. the nations which pachacuti inca subjugated and the towns he took; and first of tocay ccapac, sinchi of the ayamarcas, and the destruction of the cuyos xxxv. the other nations conquered by inca yupanqui, either in person or through his brother inca rocca xxxvi. pachacuti inca yupanqui endows the house of the sun with great wealth xxxvii. pachacuti inca yupanqui conquers the province of colla-suyu xxxviii. pachacuti inca yupanqui sends an army to conquer the province of chinchay-suyu xxxix. pachacuti inca yupanqui plants _mitimaes_ in all the lands he had conquered xl. the collas, sons of chuchi ccapac, rebel against inca yupanqui to obtain their freedom xli. amaru tupac inca and apu paucar usnu continue the conquest of the collao and again subdue the collas xlii. pachacuti inca yupanqui nominates his son tupac inca yupanqui as his successor xliii. how pachacuti armed his son tupac inca xliv. pachacuti inca yupanqui sends his son tupac inca yupanqui to conquer chinchay-suyu xlv. how pachacuti inca yupanqui visited the provinces conquered for him by his captains xlvi. tupac inca yupanqui sets out, a second time, by order of his father, to conquer what remained unsubdued in chinchay-suyu xlvii. death of pachacuti inca yupanqui xlviii. the life of tupac inca yupanqui, the tenth inca xlix. tupac inca yupanqui conquers the province of the antis l. tupac inca yupanqui goes to subdue and pacify the collas li. tupac inca makes the _yanaconas_ lii. tupac inca yupanqui orders a second visitation of the land, and does other things liii. tupac inca makes the fortress of cuzco liv. death of tupac inca yupanqui lv. the life of huayna ccapac, eleventh inca lvi. they give the fringe of inca to huayna ccapac, the eleventh inca lvii. the first acts of huayna ccapac after he became inca lviii. huayna ccapac conquers chachapoyas lix. huayna ccapac makes a visitation of the whole empire from quito to chile lx. huayna ccapac makes war on the quitos, pastos, carangues, cayambis, huancavilcas lxi. the chirihuanas come to make war in peru against those conquered by the incas lxii. what huayna ccapac did after the-said wars lxiii. the life of huascar, the last inca, and of atahualpa lxiv. huascar inca marches in person to fight chalco chima and quiz-quiz, the captains of atahualpa lxv. the battle between the armies of huascar and atahualpa. huascar made prisoner lxvi. what chalco chima and quiz-quiz did concerning huascar and those of his side in words lxvii. the cruelties that atahualpa ordered to be perpetrated on the prisoners and conquered of huascar's party lxviii. news of the spaniards comes to atahualpa lxix. the spaniards come to caxamarca and seize atahualpa, who orders huascar to be killed. atahualpa also dies lxx. it is noteworthy how these incas were tyrants against themselves, besides being so against the natives of the land lxxi. summary computation of the period that the incas of peru lasted certificate of the proofs and verification of this history * * * * * account of the province of vilcapampa and a narrative of the execution of the inca tupac amaru, by captain baltasar de ocampo list of illustrations. . map of central peru. . by graham mackay, r.g.s six facsimiles (reduced) from the sarmiento ms., (göttingen university library): . _a_. arms of philip ii of spain. coloured . _b_. last page of sarmiento's introductory letter to philip ii, with his autograph . _c_. arms of philip ii. fol. . _d_. title of the sarmiento ms. fol. . _e_. arms of don francisco de toledo, viceroy of peru, -- . fol. . _f_. signatures of the attesting witnesses, . fol. . portrait of the viceroy, don francisco de toledo, at lima. from a sketch by sir clements markham in . group of incas, in ceremonial dresses, from figures in the pictures in the church of santa ana, cuzco, a.d. . from a sketch by sir clements markham in . portraits of the incas. facsimile of the title-page of the fifth decade of antonio de herrera's _historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del mar oceano_, madrid, . fol. from the rev. c.m. cracherode's copy in the british museum . capture of atahualpa, and siege of cuzco. from the title-page of the sixth decade of antonio de herrera . map of vilca-pampa. . by graham mackay, r.g.s plates -- have been reproduced from the negatives, kindly lent for the purpose by professor dr richard pietschmann, director of the göttingen university library. [illustration: . series ii. vol. xxii. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth. portraits of the incas. from the rev. c.m. cracherode's copy in the british museum.] introduction. the publication of the text of the sarmiento manuscript in the library of göttingen university, has enabled the council to present the members of the hakluyt society with the most authentic narrative of events connected with the history of the incas of peru. the history of this manuscript, and of the documents which accompanied it, is very interesting. the viceroy, don francisco de toledo, who governed peru from to , caused them to be prepared for the information of philip ii. four cloths were sent to the king from cuzco, and a history of the incas written by captain pedro sarmiento de gamboa. on three cloths were figures of the incas with their wives, on medallions, with their _ayllus_ and a genealogical tree. historical events in each reign were depicted on the borders. the fable of tampu-tocco was shown on the first cloth, and also the fables touching the creations of viracocha, which formed the foundation for the whole history. on the fourth cloth there was a map of peru, the compass lines for the positions of towns being drawn by sarmiento. the viceroy also caused reports to be made to him, to prove that the incas were usurpers. there were thirteen reports from cuzco, guamanga, xauxa, yucay, and other places, forming a folio of leaves, preserved in the _archivo de indias_[ ]. at cuzco all the inca descendants were called upon to give evidence respecting the history of peru under their ancestors. they all swore that they would give truthful testimony. the compilation of the history was then entrusted to captain pedro sarmiento de gamboa, the cosmographer of peru. when it was completed the book was read to the inca witnesses, chapter by chapter, in their own language. they discussed each chapter, and suggested some corrections and alterations which were adopted. it was then submitted to the viceroy, who caused the documents to be attested by the principal spaniards settled at cuzco, who had been present at the conquest, or had taken a leading part in the subsequent administration. these were dr loarte, the licentiate polo de ondegardo[ ], alonso de mena[ ], mancio serra de leguisano[ ], pero alonso carrasco, and juan de pancorvo[ ], in whose house the viceroy resided while he was at cuzco. mancio serra de leguisano married beatriz Ñusta, an inca princess, daughter of huayna ccapac. the viceroy then made some final interpolations to vilify the incas, which would not have been approved by some of those who had attested, certainly not by polo de ondegardo or leguisano. [note : printed in the same volume with montesinos, and edited by jimenes de la espada, _informaciones acerca del señorio y gobierno de los ingas hechas por mandado de don francisco de toledo,_ -- .] [note : the accomplished lawyer, author, and statesman.] [note : one of the first conquerors. his house at cuzco was in the square of our lady, near that of garcilasso de la vega.] [note : a generous defender of the cause of the indians.] [note : one of the first conquerors. he occupied a house near the square, with his friend and comrade alonso de marchena.] sarmiento mentions in his history of the incas that it was intended to be the second part of his work. there were to be three parts. the first, on the geography of peru, was not sent because it was not finished. the third part was to have been a narrative of the conquest. the four cloths, and the other documents, were taken to spain, for presentation to the king, by a servant of the viceroy named geronimo pacheco, with a covering letter dated at yucay on march st, . of all these precious documents the most important was the history of the incas by sarmiento, and it has fortunately been preserved. the king's copy found its way into the famous library of abraham gronovius, which was sold in , and thence into the library of the university of göttingen, where it remained, unprinted and unedited, for years. but in august, , the learned librarian, dr richard pietschmann published the text at berlin, very carefully edited and annotated with a valuable introduction. the council of the hakluyt society is thus enabled to present an english translation to its members very soon after the first publication of the text. it is a complement of the other writings of the great navigator, which were translated and edited for the hakluyt society in . the manuscript consists of eight leaves of introduction and of text. the dedicatory letter to the king is signed by sarmiento on march th, . the binding was of red silk, under which there is another binding of green leather. the first page is occupied by a coloured shield of the royal arms, with a signature _el capitã sarmi de gãboa_. on the second page is the title, surrounded by an ornamental border. the manuscript is in a very clear hand, and at the end are the arms of toledo (_chequy azure and argent_) with the date cuzco, feb., . there is also the signature of the secretary, alvaro ruiz de navamuel[ ]. [note : alvaro ruiz and his brother captain francisco ruiz were the sons of francisco santiago rodriguez de los rios by inez de navamuel. both used their mother's name of navamuel as their surname; and both were born at aquilar del campo. alonso ruiz de navamuel was secretary to the governments of five successive viceroys. he wrote a _relacion de las cosas mas notables que hiza en el peru, siendo virev don francisco de toledo, dec. _. he died in the year . the descendants of his son juan de los rios formed the _mayorazgos_ of rios and cavallero. by his wife angela ortiz de arbildo y berriz, a biscayan, he had a daughter inez married to her cousin geronimo aliaga, a son of the secretary's brother captain francisco ruiz de navamuel, the _encomendero_ of caracoto in the collao, by juana, daughter of captain geronimo de aliaga. his marriage, at which the viceroy toledo was present, took place on november rd, . from the marriage of the younger geronimo de aliaga with inez navamuel, descend the aliagas, counts of luringancho in peru.] the history of the incas by sarmiento is, without any doubt, the most authentic and reliable that has yet appeared. for it was compiled from the carefully attested evidence of the incas themselves, taken under official sanction. each sovereign inca formed an _ayllu_ or "gens" of his descendants, who preserved the memory of his deeds in _quipus_, songs, and traditions handed down and learnt by heart. there were many descendants of each of these _ayllus_ living near cuzco in , and the leading members were examined on oath; so that sarmiento had opportunities of obtaining accurate information which no other writer possessed. for the correct versions of the early traditions, and for historical facts and the chronological order of events, sarmiento is the best authority. but no one can supersede the honest and impartial old soldier, pedro de cieza de leon, as regards the charm of his style and the confidence to be placed in his opinions; nor the inca garcilasso de la vega as regards his reminiscences and his fascinating love for his people. molina and yamqui pachacuti give much fuller details respecting the ceremonial festivals and religious beliefs. polo de ondegardo and santillana supply much fuller and more reliable information respecting the laws and administration of the incas. it is in the historical narrative and the correct order of events that sarmiento, owing to his exceptional means of collecting accurate information, excels all other writers. there is one serious blemish. sarmiento's book was written, not only or mainly to supply interesting information, but with an object. bishop las casas had made europe ring with the cruelties of the spaniards in the indies, and with the injustice and iniquity of their conquests. don francisco de toledo used this narrative for the purpose of making a feeble reply to the good bishop. under his instructions sarmiento stated the viceroy's argument, which was that the king of spain was the rightful sovereign of peru because the incas had usurped their power by conquest and had been guilty of acts of cruelty. hence the constant repetition of such phrases as "cruel tyranny" and "usurping tyrant"; and the numerous interpolations of the viceroy himself are so obvious that i have put them in italics within brackets. he goes back as far as the first inca to make out the usurpation, and he is always harping on illegitimacy. if we go back as far as sancho iv the title of philip ii to spain was voided by the grossest usurpation, while we need only go back to henry ii to see how philip's title was vitiated by illegitimacy. as for cruelty, it would be a strange plea from the sovereign by whose orders the netherlands were devastated, the moors of granada almost annihilated, and under whose rule the inquisition was in full swing. it is the old story of preaching without practice, as dr newman once observed in quoting what james i said to george heriot: "o geordie, jingling geordie, it was grand to hear baby charles laying down the guilt of dissimulation, and steenie lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence." it is right to say that philip never seems to have endorsed the argument of his viceroy, while his father prohibited the circulation of a book by dr sepulveda which contained a similar argument; nor was the work of sarmiento published. barring this blemish, the history of the incas, written by order of the viceroy toledo, is a most valuable addition to the authorities who have given us authentic accounts of andean civilization; for we may have every confidence in the care and accuracy of sarmiento as regards his collection and statement of historical facts, provided that we always keep in mind the bias, and the orders he was under, to seek support for the viceroy's untenable argument. i have given all i have been able to find respecting the life of sarmiento in the introduction to my edition of the voyages of that celebrated navigator. but the administration of the viceroy don francisco de toledo, from to , forms a landmark in the history of peru, and seems to call for some notice in this place. he found the country in an unsettled state, with the administrative system entirely out of gear. though no longer young he entered upon the gigantic task of establishing an orderly government, and resolved to visit personally every part of the vast territory under his rule. this stupendous undertaking occupied him for five years. he was accompanied by ecclesiastics, by men well versed in the language of the incas and in their administrative policy, and by his secretary and aide-de-camp. these were the bishop of popayan, augustin de la coruña, the augustine friars juan vivero and francisco del corral, the jesuit and well-known author, joseph de acosta, the inquisitor pedro ordoñez flores, his brother, the viceroy's chaplain and confessor, the learned lawyer juan matienzo, whose work is frequently quoted by solorzano[ ], the licentiate polo de ondegardo, who had been some years in the country and had acquired an intimate knowledge of the laws of the incas, the secretary alvaro ruiz de navamuel, and as aide-de-camp his young nephew, geronimo de figueroa, son of his brother juan, the ambassador at rome[ ]. [note : in his _politica indiana_. there are two manuscripts of juan matienzo de peralta at the british museum, _govierno del peru_ and _relacion del libro intitulado govierno del peru_, apparently one work in two parts. _add. mss_. , in gayangos catalogue, vol. ii. p. .] [note : some sons took the father's surname, others that of the mother. the viceroy had the name of his father, francisco alvarez de toledo, the third count of oropesa, while his brother juan had the surname of figueroa, being that of his mother.] toledo was endowed with indefatigable zeal for the public service, great energy, and extraordinary powers of application. he took the opinions of others, weighed them carefully, and considered long before he adopted any course. but he was narrow-minded and obstinate, and when he had once determined on a measure nothing could alter him. his ability is undoubted, and his appointment, at this particular juncture, is a proof of philip's sagacity. the viceroy's intercourse with polo de ondegardo informed him respecting the administrative system of the incas, so admirably adapted to the genius of the people, and he had the wisdom to see that there was much to learn from it. his policy was to collect the people, who, to a great extent, were scattered over the country and hiding from the spaniards, in villages placed near the centres of their cultivated or pasture lands. he fixed the numbers in each village at to , with a priest and alcalde. he also ordered the boundaries of all the parishes to be settled. spanish corregidors were to take the places of the _tucuyricoc_ or governors of inca times, and each village had an elected alcalde approved by the corregidor. under him there were to be two overseers, a _pichca pachaca_ over , and a _pachaca_ as assistant. another important measure was the settlement of the tribute. the name "tribute" was unfortunate. the system was that of the incas, and the same which prevailed throughout the east. the government was the landlord, and the so-called "tribute" was rent. the incas took two-thirds for the state and for religion, and set apart one-third for the cultivators. toledo did much the same, assessing, according to the nature of the soil, the crops, and other local circumstances. for the formation of villages and the assessment of the tribute he promulgated a whole code of ordinances, many of them intended to prevent local oppression in various forms. the viceroy next took up the questions of the position of _yana-cunas_ or domestic servants, and of forced service. both these institutions existed in incarial times. all that was needed were moderate laws for the protection of servants and conscripts, and the enforcement of such laws. toledo allowed a seventh of the adult male population in each village to be made liable for service in mines or factories, fixed the distance they could be taken from their homes, and made rules for their proper treatment. it is true that the _mita_, as it was called, was afterwards an instrument of cruel oppression, that rules were disregarded, and that it depopulated the country. but this was not the fault of toledo. the viceroy gave much attention to the mining industry, promoted the introduction of the use of mercury in the extraction of silver, and founded the town of huancavelica near the quick-silver mine. his personality pervaded every department of the state, and his _tasas_ or ordinances fill a large volume. he was a prolific legislator and a great statesman. his worst mistake was the policy he adopted with regard to the family of the incas. he desired to establish the position of the king of spain without a rival. he, therefore, sought to malign the preceding dynasty, persecuted the descendants of the incas, and committed one act of cruel injustice. when atahualpa put his half-brother huascar, the last reigning inca, to death, there remained three surviving sons of their father the great inca huayna ccapac, named manco, paullu, and titu atauchi, and several daughters. after his occupation of cuzco, pizarro acknowledged manco inca as the legitimate successor of his brother huascar, and he was publicly crowned, receiving all the insignia on march th, . he escaped from the spaniards and besieged them in cuzco at the head of a large army. forced to raise the siege he established his head-quarters at ollantay-tampu, where he repulsed an attack led by hernando pizarro. he was, however, defeated by orgoñiez, the lieutenant of almagro, and took refuge in the mountainous province of vilcapampa on the left bank of the vilcamayu. from thence he made constant attacks on the spaniards, maintaining his independence in this small remnant of his dominions. some of the partisans of almagro took refuge with him, and he was accidentally killed by one of them in , after a not inglorious reign of ten years. he left two legitimate sons, named sayri tupac and tupac amaru, by his wife and niece the princess ataria cusi huarcay, daughter of his ill-fated brother huascar. this marriage was legalized by a bull of pope paul iii in the time of the viceroy marquis of cañete, -- . he had also an illegitimate son named cusi titu yupanqui, and a daughter named maria tupac usca, married to don pedro ortiz de orue, one of the first conquerors[ ]. [note : diego ortiz de orue was born in the village of getafe, near madrid. he went out to peru in , and at once began to study the quichua language. he was _encomendero_ of maras, a village overlooking the valley of yucay. by the inca princess he had a daughter named catalina married to don luis justiniani of seville, descended from the genoese family. their son luis was the grandfather of dr justo pastor justiniani who married manuela cataño, descended from tupac inca yupanqui. their son don pablo justiniani was cura of laris until his death in , and was a great depository of inca lore. he had a very early copy of the inca drama of ollanta.] sayri tupac succeeded as fourteenth inca of peru. on the arrival of the marquis of cañete as viceroy in , he caused overtures to be made to sayri tupac through his aunts, who were living at cuzco with their spanish husbands, juan sierra de leguisano and diego hernandez. it was finally arranged that the inca should receive _castellanos_ of rent and the valley of yucay. on october th, , sayri tupac left vilcapampa with followers, reaching andahuaylas on november th. he entered lima on january th, , was cordially greeted by the viceroy and received investiture, assuming the names of manco ccapac pachacuti yupanqui. he went to live in the lovely vale of yucay. he had been baptized with the name of diego, but he did not long survive, dying at yucay in . his daughter clara beatriz married don martin garcia loyola. their daughter lorenza was created marchioness of oropesa and yucay, with remainder to descendants of her great uncle tupac amaru. she was the wife of juan henriquez de borja, grandson of the duke of gandia. on the death of sayri tupac, his illegitimate brother, cusi titu yupanqui assumed sovereignty, owing to the youth of the legitimate brother tupac amaru, both remaining in vilcapampa. paullu tupac yupanqui, the next brother of manco inca, was baptized with the name of cristóval. he accompanied almagro in his expedition to chile, and was with young almagro at the battle of chupas. eventually he was allowed to fix his residence on the colcampata of cuzco, at the foot of the fortress, and by the side of the church of san cristóval. from the terrace of the colcampata there is a glorious view with the snowy peak of vilcañota in the far distance. paullu died in may, , and was succeeded on the colcampata by his son carlos inca. he had two other sons named felipe and bartolomé. from the latter was descended the late archdeacon of cuzco, dr justo salmaraura inca. titu atauchi, the youngest son of huayna ccapac, had a son alonso. the princesses, daughters of huayna ccapac and sisters of manco and paullu, were beatriz Ñusta, married first to martin de mustincia, and secondly to diego hernandez of talavera; leonor Ñusta, the wife of juan de balsa, who was killed at the battle of chupas on the side of young almagro, secondly of francisco de villacastin: francisca Ñusta, niece of huayna ccapac, married to juan de collantes, and was great-grandmother of bishop piedrahita, the historian of nueva granada: another beatriz Ñusta married mancio sierra de leguisano, the generous defender of the natives; and inez Ñusta married first francisco pizarro and had a daughter francisca, who has descendants, and secondly to francisco ampuero. angelina, daughter of atahualpa, was married to juan de betanzos, the author and quichua scholar. the brother of huayna ccapac, named hualpa tupac yupanqui, had a daughter, isabel Ñusta yupanqui, the wife of garcilasso de la vega, and mother of the inca garcilasso de la vega[ ], the historian, author of the _comentarios reales_. [note : the inca garcilasso was a third cousin of the regicide viceroy toledo. their great grandfathers were brothers.] this then was the position of the inca family when the viceroy, francisco de toledo, came to cuzco in . cusi titu yupanqui and tupac amaru, sons of the inca manco were in the mountains of vilcapampa, the former maintaining his independence. carlos inca, son of paullu, was baptized, and living on the colcampata at cuzco with his wife maria de esquivel. seven inca princesses had married spaniards, most of them living at cuzco with their husbands and children. the events, connected with the inca family, which followed on the arrival of the viceroy toledo at cuzco, will be found fully described in this volume. it need only be stated here that the inexorable tyrant, having got the innocent young prince tupac amaru into his power, resolved to put him to death. the native population was overwhelmed with grief. the spaniards were horrified. they entreated that the lad might be sent to spain to be judged by the king. the heads of religious orders and other ecclesiastics went down on their knees. nothing could move the obstinate narrow-minded viceroy. the deed was done. when too late toledo seems to have had some misgivings. the judicial murder took place in december, . the history of the incas was finished in march, . yet there is no mention of the death of tupac amaru. for all that appears he might have been still in vilcapampa. nevertheless the tidings reached philip ii, and the viceroy's conduct was not approved. there was astonishing audacity on the part of toledo, in basing arguments on the alleged cruelty and tyranny of the incas, when the man was actually red-handed with the blood of an innocent youth, and engaged in the tyrannical persecution of his relations and the hideous torture of his followers. his arguments made no impression on the mind of philip ii. the king even showed some favour to the children of tupac amaru by putting them in the succession to the marquisate of oropesa. in the inca pedigrees toledo is called "el execrable regicidio." when he presented himself on his return from peru the king angrily exclaimed: "go away to your house; for i sent you to serve kings; and you went to kill kings[ ]." [note : "idos a vuestra casa, que yo os envie a servir reyes; y vos fuiste a matar reyes."] all his faithful services as a legislator and a statesman could not atone for this cruel judicial murder in the eyes of his sovereign. he went back to his house a disgraced and broken-hearted man, and died soon afterwards. the history of the incas by sarmiento is followed, in this volume, by a narrative of the execution of tupac amaru and of the events leading to it, by an eye-witness, the captain baltasar de ocampo. it has been translated from a manuscript in the british museum. the narrative of ocampo, written many years after the event, is addressed to the viceroy marquis of montes claros. its main object was to give an account of the province of vilcapampa, and to obtain some favours for the spanish settlers there. vilcapampa is a region of very special historical and geographical interest, and it is one of which very little is known. it is a mountainous tract of country, containing the lofty range of vilcacunca and several fertile valleys, between the rivers apurimac and vilcamayu, to the north of cuzco. the mountains rise abruptly from the valley of the vilcamayu below ollantay-tampu, where the bridge of chuqui-chaca opened upon paths leading up into a land of enchantment. no more lovely mountain scenery can be found on this earth. when manco inca escaped from the spaniards he took refuge in vilcapampa, and established his court and government there. the sun temple, the convent of virgins, and the other institutions of the incas at cuzco, were transferred to this mountain fastness. even handsome edifices were erected. here the incas continued to maintain their independence for years. ocampo opens his story with a very interesting account of the baptism of melchior carlos, son of carlos inca, who had become a christian, and lived in the palace on the colcampata at cuzco. he then describes the events which culminated in the capture, of the inca tupac amaru, and gives a pathetic and touching account of the judicial murder of that ill-fated young prince. ocampo was an actor in these events and an eye-witness. the rest of his narrative consists of reminiscences of occurrences in vilcapampa after it was occupied by the spaniards. he owned property there, and was a settler holding official posts. he tells of the wealth and munificence of a neighbour. he gives the history of an expedition into the forests to the northward, which will form material for the history of these expeditions when it is written. he tells the story of an insurrection among the negro labourers, and complains of the spiritual destitution of his adopted land. he finally returns to cuzco and gives an account of a very magnificent pageant and tilting match. but this story should have preceded the mournful narrative of the fate of tupac amaru; for the event took place at the time of the baptism of melchior carlos, and before the viceroy toledo became a regicide. ocampo's story is that of an honest old soldier, inclined to be garrulous, but an eye-witness of some most interesting events in the history of peru. i think it is an appropriate sequel to the history by sarmiento, because it supplies material for judging whether the usurpation and tyranny were on the side of the incas or of their accuser. [illustration: _facsimile (reduced) of_ page ii of the sarmiento ms. . _from the original, göttingen university library. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth._] the second part of the general history called "indica" which was composed by the captain pedro sarmiento de gamboa by order of the most excellent lord don francisco de toledo viceroy governor and captain-general of the kingdoms of peru and mayor-domo of the royal household of castille [illustration: _facsimile (reduced) of_ page i of the sarmiento ms. . _from the original, göttingen university library_. _reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth_.] to his sacred cÆsarian majesty the king, don felipe, our lord. among the excellencies, o sovereign and catholic philip, that are the glorious decorations of princes, placing them on the highest pinnacle of estimation, are, according to the father of latin eloquence, generosity, kindness, and liberality. and as the roman consuls held this to be the principal praise of their glory, they had this title curiously sculptured in marble on the quirinal and in the forum of trajan---"most powerful gift in a prince is liberality[ ]." for this kings who desired much to be held dear by their own people and to be feared by strangers, were incited to acquire the name of liberal. hence that royal sentence became immortal "it is right for kings to give." as this was a quality much valued among the greeks, the wise ulysses, conversing with antinous[ ], king of the phæacians, said---"you are something like a king, for you know how to give, better than others." hence it is certain that liberality is a good and necessary quality of kings. [note : "primum signum nobilitatis est liberalitas."] [note : alcinous.] i do not pretend on this ground, most liberal monarch, to insinuate to your majesty the most open frankness, for it would be very culpable on my part to venture to suggest a thing which, to your majesty, is so natural that you would be unable to live without it. nor will it happen to so high minded and liberal a lord and king, what befell the emperor titus who, remembering once, during supper time, that he had allowed one day to pass without doing some good, gave utterance to this laudable animadversion of himself. "o friends! i have lost a day[ ]." for not only does your majesty not miss a day, but not even an hour, without obliging all kinds of people with benefits and most gracious liberality. the whole people, with one voice, says to your majesty what virgil sang to octavianus augustus: "nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane, divisum imperium cum jove cæsar habet." [note : "amici! diem perdidi." suetonius.] but what i desire to say is that for a king who complies so well with the obligation of liberality, and who gives so much, it is necessary that he should possess much; for nothing is so suitable for a prince as possessions and riches for his gifts and liberalities, as tully says, as well as to acquire glory. for it is certain, as we read in sallust that "in a vast empire there is great glory[ ]"; and in how much it is greater, in so much it treats of great things. hence the glory of a king consists in his possessing many vassals, and the abatement of his glory is caused by the diminution of the number of his subjects. [note : proem of catiline.] of this glory, most christian king, god almighty gives you so large a share in this life that all the enemies of the holy catholic church of christ our lord tremble at your exalted name; whence you most justly deserve to be named the strength of the church. as the treasure which god granted that your ancestors should spend, with such holy magnanimity, on worthy and holy deeds, in the extirpation of heretics, in driving the accursed saracens out of spain, in building churches, hospitals and monasteries, and in an infinite number of other works of charity and justice, with the zeal of zealous fathers of their country, not only entitled them to the most holy title of catholics, but the most merciful and almighty god, whom they served with all their hearts, saw fit to commence repayment with temporal goods, in the present age. it is certain that "he who grants celestial rewards does not take away temporal blessings[ ]," so that they earned more than the mercies they received. this was the grant to them of the evangelical office, choosing them from among all the kings of this world as the evangelizers of his divine word in the most remote and unknown lands of those blind and barbarous gentiles. we now call those lands the indies of castille, because through the ministry of that kingdom they will be put in the way of salvation, god himself being the true pilot. he made clear and easy the dark and fearful atlantic sea which had been an awful portent to the most ancient argives, athenians, egyptians, and phoenicians, and what is more to the proud hercules, who, having come to cadiz from the east, and seen the wide atlantic sea, he thought this was the end of the world and that there was no more land. so he set up his columns with this inscription "ultra gades nil" or "beyond cadiz there is nothing." but as human knowledge is ignorance in the sight of god, and the force of the world but weakness in his presence, it was very easy, with the power of the almighty and of your grandparents, to break and scatter the mists and difficulties of the enchanted ocean. laughing with good reason at alcides and his inscription, they discovered the indies which were very populous in souls to whom the road to heaven could be shown. the indies are also most abundant in all kinds of inestimable treasures, with which the heavy expenses were repaid to them, and yet remained the richest princes in the world, and thus continued to exercise their holy and christian liberality until death. by reason of this most famous navigation, and new and marvellous discovery, they amended the inscription on the columns of hercules, substituting "plus ultra" for "ultra gades nil"; the meaning was, and with much truth, that further on there are many lands. so this inscription, "plus ultra," remained on the blazon of the arms and insignia of the indies of castille. [note : from the poem of coelius sedulius, a christian poet who flourished about a.d. . the passage is--"hostis herodes impie christum venire quod timeo? non eripit mortalia qui regna dat coelestia." (note by dr peitschmann.)] as there are few who are not afflicted by the accursed hunger for gold, and as good successes are food for an enemy, the devil moved the bosoms of some powerful princes with the desire to take part in this great business. alexander vi, the vicar of jesus christ, considering that this might give rise to impediments in preaching the holy evangel to the barbarous idolaters, besides other evils which might be caused, desired of his own proper motion, without any petition from the catholic kings, by authority of almighty god, to give, and he gave and conceded for ever, the islands and main lands which were then discovered and which might hereafter be discovered within the limits and demarcation of ° of longitude, which is half the world, with all the dominions, rights, jurisdictions and belongings, prohibiting the navigation and trading in those lands from whatever cause, to the other princes, kings, and emperors from the year , to prevent many inconveniences. but as the devil saw that this door was shut, which he had begun to open to introduce by it dissensions and disturbances, he tried to make war by means of the very soldiers who resisted him, who were the same preachers. they began to make a difficulty about the right and title which the kings of castille had over these lands. as your invincible father was very jealous in matters touching his conscience, he ordered this point to be examined, as closely as possible, by very learned doctors who, according to the report which was given out, were indirect and doubtful in their conclusions. they gave it as their opinion that these incas, who ruled in these kingdoms of peru, were and are the true and natural lords of that land. this gave a handle to foreigners, as well catholics as heretics and other infidels, for throwing doubt on the right which the kings of spain claim and have claimed to the indies. owing to this the emperor don carlos of glorious memory was on the point of abandoning them, which was what the enemy of the faith of christ wanted, that he might regain the possession of the souls which he had kept in blindness for so many ages. all this arose owing to want of curiosity on the part of the governors in those lands, at that time, who did not use the diligence necessary for ascertaining the truth, and also owing to certain reports of the bishop of chiapa who was moved to passion against certain conquerors in his bishoprick with whom he had persistent disputes, as i knew when i passed through chiapa and guatemala[ ]. though his zeal appears holy and estimable, he said things on the right to this country gained by the conquerors of it, which differ from the evidence and judicial proofs which have been seen and taken down by us, and from what we who have travelled over the indies enquiring about these things, leisurely and without war, know to be the facts[ ]. [note : see the introduction to my _voyages of sarmiento_ p. x.] [note : sarmiento here refers to the efforts of las casas to protect the natives from the tyranny and cruelties of the spanish settlers. he appears to have been in guatemala when las casas arrived to take up his appointment as bishop of chiapas, and encountered hostility and obstruction from certain "conquistadores de su obispado," as sarmiento calls them. on his return to spain, the good las casas found that a certain dr sepulveda had written a treatise maintaining the right of spain to subdue the natives by war. las casas put forward his _historia apologetica_ in reply. a junta of theologians was convoked at valladolid in , before which sepulveda attacked and las casas defended the cause of the natives. mr. helps (_spanish conquest in america_, vol. iv. book xx. ch. ) has given a lucid account of the controversy. sarmiento is quite wrong in saying that las casas was ignorant of the history of peru. the portion of his _historia apologetica_ relating to peru, entitled _de las antiguas gentes del peru_, has been edited and published by don marcos jimenez de la espada in the "coleccion de libros españoles raros ó curiosos" ( ). it shows that las casas knew the works of xeres, astete, cieza de leon, molina, and probably others; and that he had a remarkably accurate knowledge of peruvian history.] this chaos and confusion of ignorance on the subject being so spread over the world and rooted in the opinions of the best informed literary men in christendom, god put it into the heart of your majesty to send don francisco de toledo, mayor-domo of your royal household, as viceroy of these kingdoms[ ]. when he arrived, he found many things to do, and many things to amend. without resting after the dangers and long voyages in two seas which he had suffered, he put the needful order into all the things undertook new and greater labours, such as no former viceroys or governors had undertaken or even thought of. his determination was to travel over this most rugged country himself, to make a general visitation of it, during which, though it is not finished, it is certain that he has remedied many and very great faults and abuses in the teaching and ministry of the christian doctrine, giving holy and wise advice to its ministers that they should perform their offices as becomes the service of god, and the discharge of your royal conscience, reducing the people to congregations of villages formed on suitable and healthy sites which had formerly been on crags and rocks where they were neither taught nor received spiritual instruction. in such places they lived and died like wild savages, worshipping idols as in the time of their inca tyrants and of their blind heathenism. orders were given to stop their public drinking bouts, their concubinage and worship of their idols and devils, emancipating and freeing them from the tyrannies, of their _curacas_, and finally giving them a rational life, which was before that of brutes in their manner of loading them as such. [note : don francisco de toledo was viceroy of peru, from nov. th, , to sept. th, , and in some respects a remarkable man. he was a younger son of the third count of oropesa who had a common ancestor with the dukes of alva. his mother was maria de figueroa daughter of the count of feria. through her he was directly descended from the first duke of alva. he was a first cousin of that duke of feria who made a love match with jane dormer, the friend and playmate of our edward vi. moreover don francisco was a third cousin of charles v. their great grandmothers were sisters, daughters of fadrique henriquez, the admiral of castille. this viceroy was advanced in years. he held the appointment of a mayor-domo at the court of philip ii, and another brother juan was ambassador at rome. the viceroy toledo came to peru with the inquisition, which proved as great a nuisance to him as it was a paralyzing source of terror to his people. he was a man of extraordinary energy and resolution, and was devoted heart and soul to the public service. sarmiento does not speak too highly of his devotion to duty in undertaking a personal visit to every part of his government. he was a most prolific legislator, founding his rules, to some extent, on the laws of the incas. he was shrewd but narrow minded and heartless; and his judicial murder of the young inca, tupac amaru, has cast an indelible stain on his memory. such a man could have no chance in an attack on the sound arguments of las casas. there is a picture which depicts the outward appearance of the viceroy toledo. a tall man with round stooping shoulders, in a suit of black velvet with the green cross of alcantara embroidered on his cloak. a gloomy sallow face, with aquiline nose, high forehead and piercing black eyes too close together. the face is shaded by a high beaver hat, while one hand holds a sword, and the other rests on a table.] [illustration: _facsimile (reduced) of the_ coat of arms of don francisco de toledo, viceroy of peru, -- . _from the sarmiento ms. , göttingen university library. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth._] the work done by your viceroy is such that the indians are regenerated, and they call him loudly their protector and guardian, and your majesty who sent him, they call their father. so widely has the news spread of the benefits he has conferred and is still conferring, that the wild warlike indians in many contiguous provinces, holding themselves to be secure under his word and safe conduct, have come to see and communicate with him, and have promised obedience spontaneously to your majesty. this has happened in the andes of xauxa, near pilcocanti, and among the mañaries and chunchos to the east of cuzco. these were sent back to their homes, grateful and attached to your royal service, with the presents he gave them and the memory of their reception. [illustration: don francisco de toledo, viceroy of peru, a.d. - . after the portrait at lima, from a sketch by sir clements markham, .] among christians, it is not right to take anything without a good title, yet that which your majesty has to these parts, though more holy and more honourable than that which any other kings in the world have for any of their possessions, has suffered detriment, as i said before, in the consciences of many learned men and others, for want of correct information. the viceroy proposes to do your majesty a most signal service in this matter, besides the performance of all the other duties of which he has charge. this is to give a secure and quiet harbour to your royal conscience against the tempests raised even by your own natural subjects, theologians and other literary men, who have expressed serious opinions on the subject, based on incorrect information. accordingly, in his general visitation, which he is making personally throughout the kingdom, he has verified from the root and established by a host of witnesses examined with the greatest diligence and care, taken from among the principal old men of the greatest ability and authority in the kingdom, and even those who pretend to have an interest in it from being relations and descendants of the incas, the terrible, inveterate and horrible tyranny of the incas, being the tyrants who ruled in these kingdoms of peru, and the _curacas_ who governed the districts. this will undeceive all those in the world who think that the incas were legitimate sovereigns, and that the _curacas_ were natural lords of the land. in order that your majesty may, with the least trouble and the most pleasure, be informed, and the rest, who are of a contrary opinion, be undeceived, i was ordered by the viceroy don francisco de toledo, whom i follow and serve in this general visitation, to take this business in hand, and write a history of the deeds of the twelve incas of this land, and of the origin of the people, continuing the narrative to the end. this i have done with all the research and diligence that was required, as your majesty will see in the course of the perusal and by the ratification of witnesses. it will certify to the truth of the worst and most inhuman tyranny of these incas and of their _curacas_ who are not and never were original lords of the soil, but were placed there by tupac inca yupanqui, [_the greatest, the most atrocious and harmful tyrant of them all_]. the _curacas_ were and still are great tyrants appointed by other great and violent tyrants, as will clearly and certainly appear in the history; so that the tyranny is proved, as well as that the incas were strangers in cuzco, and that they had seized the valley of cuzco, and all the rest of their territory from quito to chile by force of arms, making themselves incas without the consent or election of the natives. besides this, there are their tyrannical laws and customs. [_it will be understood that your majesty has a specially true and holy title to these kingdoms of peru, because your majesty and your most sacred ancestors stopped the sacrifices of innocent men, the eating of human flesh, the accursed sin, the promiscuous concubinage with sisters and mothers, the abominable use of beasts, and their wicked and accursed customs[ ].]_ for from each one god demands an account of his neighbour, and this duty specially appertains to princes, and above all to your majesty. only for this may war be made and prosecuted by the right to put a stop to the deeds of tyrants. even if they had been true and natural lords of the soil, it would be lawful to remove them and introduce a new government, because man may rightly be punished for these sins against nature, though the native community has not been opposed to such practices nor desires to be avenged, as innocent, by the spaniards. for in this case they have no right to deliver themselves and their children over to death, and they should be forced to observe natural laws, as we are taught by the archbishop of florence, innocent, supported by fray, francisco de victoria in his work on the title to the indies. so that by this title alone, without counting many others, your majesty has the most sufficient and legitimate right to the indies, better than any other prince in the world has to any lordship whatever. for, whether more or less concealed or made known, in all the lands that have been discovered in the two seas of your majesty, north and south, this general breaking of the law of nature has been found. [note : for a contradiction of these slanders by an impartial witness see cieza de leon, ii. p. .] by this same title your majesty may also, without scruple, order the conquest of those islands of the archipelago of "nombre de jesus," vulgarly but incorrectly called the solomon isles, of which i gave notice and personally discovered in the year ; although it was for the general alvaro de mendaña; and many others which are in the same south sea[ ]. i offer myself to your majesty to discover and settle these islands, which will make known and facilitate all the commercial navigation, with the favour of god, by shorter routes. i offer much, well do i see it, but i trust in almighty god with whose favour, i believe i can do what i say in your royal service. the talent which god has given me leads me to aspire to the accomplishment of these achievements, and does not demand of me a strict account, and i believe that i shall comply with what will be required, for never did i so wish to achieve anything. your majesty sees and does not lose what other kings desire and hold by good fortune. this makes me speak so freely of my desire to die in your service in which i have laboured since my childhood, and under what circumstances others may say. [note : see my introduction to the _voyages of sarmiento_, pp. xiii--xvii.] believing that, in writing this present history, i have not done a less but a greater service than all the rest, i obeyed your viceroy who made me undertake it. your majesty will read it many times because, besides that the reading of it is pleasant, your majesty will take a great interest in the matters of conscience and of administration of which it treats. i call this the second part, because it is to be preceded by the geographical description of all these lands, which will form the first part. this will result in great clearness for the comprehension of the establishment of governments, bishopricks, new settlements, and of discoveries, and will obviate the inconveniences formerly caused by the want of such knowledge. although the first part ought to precede this one in time, it is not sent to your majesty because it is not finished, a great part of it being derived from information collected during the general visitation. suffice that it will be best in quality, though not in time. after this second part will be sent a third part on the times of the evangel. all this i have to finish by order of the viceroy don francisco de toledo. may your majesty receive my work with the greatest and most favourable attention, as treating of things that will be of service to god and to your majesty and of great profit to my nation; and may our lord preserve the sacred catholic and royal person of your majesty, for the repair and increase of the catholic church of jesus christ. from cuzco. _the th of march_, . your catholic royal majesty from the least vassal of your majesty the captain pedro sarmiento de gamboa. [illustration: _facsimile_ (_reduced_) _of the last page of_ sarmiento's introductory letter to king philip ii, . _from the original ms., göttingen university library. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth._] i. division of the history. this general history of which i took charge by order of don francisco de toledo, viceroy of these kingdoms of peru, will be divided into three parts. the first will be the natural history of these lands, being a particular description of them. it will contain accounts of the marvellous works of nature, and other things of great profit and interest. i am now finishing it, that it may be sent to your majesty after this, though it ought to have come before it. the second and third parts treat of the people of these kingdoms and of their deeds in the following order. in the second part, which is the present one, the most ancient and first peoplers of this land will be discussed in general, and then, descending to particulars, i shall describe [_the terrible and inveterate tyranny of_] the ccapac incas of these kingdoms, down to the end and death of huascar, the last of the incas. the third and last part will treat of the times of the spaniards, and of their notable deeds in the discovery and settlement of this kingdom and others adjoining it, with the captains, governors, and viceroys who have ruled here, down to the present year . ii. the ancient division of the land. when historians wish to write, in an orderly way, of the world or some part of it, they generally first describe the situation containing it, which is the land, before they deal with what it contains, which is the population, to avoid the former in the historical part. if this is so in ancient and well known works, it is still more desirable that in treating of new and strange lands, like these, of such vast extent, a task which i have undertaken, the same order should be preserved. this will not only supply interesting information but also, which is more to be desired, it will be useful for navigation and new discoveries, by which god our lord may be served, the territories of the crown of spain extended, and spaniards enriched and respected. as i have not yet finished the particular description of this land, which will contain everything relating to geography and the works of nature minutely dealt with, in this volume i shall only offer a general summary, following the most ancient authors, to recall the remains of those lands which are now held to be new and previously unknown, and of their inhabitants. the land, which we read of as having existed in the first and second age of the world, was divided into five parts. the three continents, of which geographers usually write, asia, africa, and europe, are divided by the river tanais, the river nile, and the mediterranean sea, which pomponius calls "our" sea. asia is divided from europe by the river tanais[ ], now called silin, and from africa by the nile, though ptolemy divides it by the red sea and isthmus of the desert of arabia deserta. africa is divided from europe by "our" sea, commencing at the strait of gibraltar and ending with the lake of meotis. the other two parts are thus divided. one was called, and still ought to be called, catigara[ ] in the indian sea, a very extensive land now distinct from asia. ptolemy describes it as being, in his time and in the time of alexander the great, joined on to asia in the direction of malacca. i shall treat of this in its place, for it contains many and very precious secrets, and an infinity of souls, to whom the king our lord may announce the holy catholic faith that they may be saved, for this is the object of his majesty in these new lands of barbarous idolatry. the fifth part is or was called the atlantic island, as famous as extensive, and which exceeded all the others, each one by itself, and even some joined together. the inhabitants of it and their description will be treated of, because this is the land, or at least part of it, of these western indies of castille. [note : the don.] [note : marinus of tyre, quoted by ptolemy, gave an enormous extension to eastern asia, and placed the region he called catigara far to the s.e. of it. catigara was described by marinus of tyre as an emporium and important place of trade. it is not mentioned in the periplus of the erythræan sea.] iii. description of the ancient atlantic island. the cosmographers do not write of this ancient atlantic island because there was no memory, when they wrote, of its very rich commercial prosperity in the second, and perhaps in the first age. but from what the divine plato tells us and from the vestiges we see which agree with what we read, we can not only say where it was and where parts of it were, as seen in our time, but we can describe it almost exactly, its grandeur and position. this is the truth, and the same plato affirms it as true, in the timæus, where he gives its truthful and marvellous history. we will speak first of its situation, and then of its inhabitants. it is desirable that the reader should give his attention because, although it is very ancient history, it is so new to the ordinary teaching of cosmography that it may cause such surprise as to raise doubts of the story, whence may arise a want of appreciation. from the words which plato refers to solon, the wisest of the seven of greece, and which solon had heard with attention from the most learned egyptian priest in the city called delta, we learn that this atlantic island was larger than asia and africa together, and that the eastern end of this immense island was near the strait which we now call of gibraltar. in front of the mouth of the said strait, the island had a port with a narrow entrance; and plato says that the island was truly continental. from it there was a passage by the sea, which surrounded it, to many other neighbouring islands, and to the main land of europe and africa. in this island there were kings of great and admirable power who ruled over that and many adjacent islands as well as the greater part of europe and africa, up to the confines of egypt, of which i shall treat presently. the extent of the island was from the south, where were the highest mountains, to the north. the mountains exceeded in extent any that now exist, as well in their forests, as in height, and in beauty. these are the words of plato in describing the situation of this most richly endowed and delightful atlantic island. it now remains for me to do my duty, which is to explain what has been said more clearly and from it to deduce the situation of the island. from what plato says that this island had a port near the mouth of the strait of the pillars of hercules, that it was larger than asia and africa together, and that it extended to the south, i gather three things clearly towards the understanding of all that invites attention. the first is that the atlantic island began less than two leagues from the mouth of the strait, if more it was only a little more. the coast of the island then turned north close to that of spain, and was joined to the island of cadiz or gadiz, or caliz, as it is now called. i affirm this for two reasons, one by authority and the other by conjectural demonstration. the authority is that plato in his critias, telling how neptune distributed the sovereignty of the island among his ten sons, said that the second son was called in the mother tongue "gadirum," which in greek we call "eumelo." to this son he gave the extreme parts of the island near the columns of hercules, and from his name the place was called gadiricum which is caliz. by demonstration we see, and i have seen with my own eyes, more than a league out at sea and in the neighbourhood of the island of caliz, under the water, the remains of very large edifices of a cement which is almost imperishable[ ], an evident sign that this island was once much larger, which corroborates the narrative of critias in plato. the second point is that the atlantic island was larger than asia and africa. from this i deduce its size, which is incredible or at least immense. it would give the island leagues of longitude, that is from east to west. for asia has leagues in a straight line from malacca which is on its eastern front, to the boundary of egypt; and africa has leagues from egypt to the end of the atlantic mountains or "montes claros" facing the canary islands; which together make leagues of longitude. if the island was larger it would be more in circuit. round the coast it would have leagues, for asia is and africa leagues in circuit, a little more or less, which together makes leagues, and it is even said that it was more. [note : dr peitschmann quotes from juan bautista suarez de salazar, _grandezas y antigüedades de la isla y ciudad de cadiz_ (cadiz, )---"that which all those who traverse the sea affirm was that to the south, the water being clear, there is seen beneath it at a distance of a league, ruins of edifices which are good evidence that the ocean has gained upon the land in this part." he refers also to a more recent history of cadiz and its province by adolfo de castro ( ), and to the five first books of the _general chronicle of spain_ of florian de ocampo, (lib. ii. cap. ii).] having considered the measurement of its great size we come to the third point, which is the true position over which this great island extended. plato says that the position of the island extended to the south; opposite to the north. from this we should understand that, the front conterminous with spain from the strait of gibraltar to cadiz thence extended westward, making a curve along the coast of barbary or africa, but very close to it, between west and south, which is what sailors call south-west. for if it was opposite to north, which is between east and north, called north-east, it must necessarily have its direction in the said south-west, west-south-west, or south-south-west. it would include and incorporate the canary islands which, according to this calculation, would be part of it, and from thence the land trended south-west. as regards the south, it would extend rather more to the south and south-south-west, finally following the route by which we go when we sail from spain to the indies, forming a continent or main land with these western indies of castille, joining on to them by the parts stretching south-west, and west-south-west, a little more or less from the canaries. thus there was sea on one side and on the other of this land, that is on the north and south, and the indies united with it, and they were all one. the proof of this is that if the atlantic island had leagues of longitude, and the distance of cadiz to the mouth of the river marañon or orellana and trinidad, on the coast of brazil, is, not more than , , or leagues, being the part where this land joined to america, it clearly appears that, to complete the complement of leagues, we have to include in the computation all the rest of the land from the mouth of the marañon and brazil to the south sea, which is what they now call america. following this course it would come to coquimbo. counting what is still wanting, this would be much less than leagues. measuring the circumference, the island was more than leagues round, because that is about the circumference of asia and africa by their coasts. if this land is joined to the other, which in fact it was in conformity with the description, it would have a much greater circuit, for even now these parts of the western indies, measured by compass, and latitude, have more than leagues. from all this it may be inferred that the indies of castille formed a continent with the atlantic island, and consequently that the same atlantic island, which extended from cadiz over the sea we traverse to the indies, and which all cosmographers call the atlantic ocean because the atlantic island was in it, over which we now navigate, was land in ancient times. finally we shall relate the sequel, first giving an account of the sphere at that time and of the inhabitants. iv. first inhabitants of the world and principally of the atlantic island. having described the four parts of the world, for of catigara, which is the fifth, we shall not speak except in its place which the ancients assigned to it, it will be right to come to the races which peopled them. all of which i have to treat has to be personal and heathen history. the chief value and perfection of history consists in its accuracy, thoroughly sifting each event, verifying the times and periods of what happened so that no doubt may remain of what passed. it is in this way that i desire to write the truth in so far as my ability enables me to do so respecting a thing so ancient as the first peopling of these new lands. i wish, for the better illustration of the present history, to precede it with the foundations that cannot be denied, counting the time in conformity with the chronology of the hebrews in the days before our saviour jesus christ, and the times after his most holy nativity according to the counting used by our mother the holy church, not making account of the calculations of chaldean or egyptian interpreters. thus, passing over the first age from adam to the deluge, which covers years, we will begin from the second age, which is that of the patriarch noah, second universal father of mortals. the divine scriptures show us that eight persons were saved from the flood, in the ark. noah and his wife terra or vesta, named from the first fire lighted by crystal for the first sacrifice as berosus would have; and his three sons to wit, cam and his wife cataflua, sem and his wife prusia or persia, japhet and his wife fun a, as we read in the register of the chronicles. the names of some of these people remain, and to this day we can see clearly whence they were derived, as the hebrews from heber, the assyrians from amur, but most of them have been so changed that human intelligence is insufficient to investigate by this way. besides the three sons, noah had others after the flood. the descendants of these men having multiplied and become very numerous, noah divided the world among his first sons that they might people it, and then embarked on the euxine sea as we gather from xenophon. the giant noah then navigated along the mediterranean sea, as filon says and annius repeats, dividing the whole land among his sons. he gave it in charge to sem to people asia from the nile to the eastern indies, with some of the sons he got after the flood. to cam he gave africa from the rinocoruras to the straits of gibraltar with some more of the sons. europe was chosen for japhet to people with the rest of the sons begotten after the flood, who were all the sons of tuscan, whence descend the tadescos, alemanes, and the nations adjacent to them. in this voyage noah founded some towns and colonies on the shores of the mediterranean sea, and remained in them for ten years, until years after the universal deluge. he ordered his daughter araxa to remain in armenia where the ark rested, with her husband and children, to people that country. then he, with the rest of his companions, went to mesopotamia and settled. there nembrot was raised up for king, of the descendants of cam. this nembrot, says berosus, built babylon years after the flood. the sons of sem elected for their king, jektan, son of heber. those of japhet chose fenec for their king, called assenes by moses. there were , men under him only years after the deluge. each king, with his companions, set out to people the part of the world chosen for them by the patriarch noah. it is to be noted that, although noah divided the parts of the world among his three sons and their descendants, many of them did not keep to the boundaries. for some of one lineage settled on the lands of another brother. nembrot, being of the line of cam, remained in the parts of sem, and many others were mixed together in the same way. thus the three parts of the world were peopled by these and their descendants, of whom i do not propose to treat in detail, for our plan is to proceed in our narrative until we come to the inhabitants of the atlantic island, the subject of this history. this was so near spain that, according to the common fame, caliz used to be so close to the main land in the direction of the port of santa maria, that a plank would serve as a bridge to pass from the island to spain. so that no one can doubt that the inhabitants of spain, jubal and his descendants, peopled that land, as well as the inhabitants of africa which was also near. hence it was called the atlantic island from having been peopled by atlas, the giant and very wise astrologer who first settled mauritania now called barbary, as godefridus and all the chronicles teach us. this atlas was the son of japhet by the nymph asia, and grandson of noah. for this there is no authority except the above, corroborated by the divine plato as i began by explaining, and it will be necessary to seek his help to give the reader such evidence as merits belief respecting the inhabitants of this atlantic island. v. inhabitants of the atlantic island. we have indicated the situation of the atlantic island and those who, in conformity with the general peopling of the world, were probably its first inhabitants, namely the early spaniards and the first mauritanian vassals of the king atlas. this wonderful history was almost forgotten in ancient times, plato alone having preserved it, as has already been related in its place, and which should again be consulted for what remains. plato, in critias, says that to neptune's share came the atlantic island, and that he had ten sons. he divided the whole island amongst them, which before and in his time was called the empire of the floating islands, as volaterranius tells us. it was divided by neptune into ten regions or kingdoms. the chief one, called venus, he gave to his eldest son named atlantis, and appointed him sovereign of the whole island; which consequently took the name of atlantica, and the sea atlantic, a name which it retains to this day. the second son, named gadirun, received the part which lies nearest to spain and which is now caliz. to the third son neptune gave a share. his name was amferes, the fourth's eutoctenes, the seventh's alusipo, the eighth's mestores, the ninth's azaen, the tenth's diaprepem. these and their descendants reigned for many ages, holding the lordships, by the sea, of many other islands, which could not have been other than hayti, which we call santo domingo, cuba and others, also peopled by emigrants from the atlantic island. they also held sway over africa as far as egypt, and over europe to tirrenia and italy. the lineage of atlas extended in a grand succession of generations, and his kingdom was ruled in succession by the firstborns. they possessed such a copious supply of riches that none of the natives had seen it all, and that no new comers could realise it. this land abounded in all that is necessary for sustaining human life, pasture, timber, drugs, metals, wild beasts and birds, domestic animals including a great number of elephants, most fragrant perfumes, liquors, flowers, fruits, wine, and all the vegetables used for food, many dates, and other things for presents. that island produced all things in great profusion. in ancient times it was sacred, beautiful, admirable and fertile, as well as of vast extent. in it were extensive kingdoms, sumptuous temples, palaces calling forth great admiration, as is seen from the relation of plato respecting the metropolis of the island which exceeded babylon, troy, or rome, with all their rich buildings, curious and well-constructed forts, and even the seven wonders of the world concerning which the ancients sing so much. in the chief city of this empire there was a port to which so many ships and merchants resorted from all parts, that owing to the vast concourse a great and continual noise caused the residents to be thunderstruck. the number of these atlantics ready for war was so great that in the capital city alone they had an ordinary garrison of , soldiers, always distributed among farms, each farm measuring furlongs. the rest inhabited the woods and other places, and were innumerable. they took to war , two-horse chariots each containing eight armed men, with six slingers and stone throwers on either side. for the sea they had , boats with four men in each, making , men for the sea-service alone. this was quite necessary owing to the great number of subject nations which had to be governed and kept in obedience. the rest which plato relates on this subject will be discussed in the sequel, for i now proceed to our principal point, which is to establish the conclusion that as these people carried their banners and trophies into europe and africa which are not contiguous, they must have overrun the indies of castille and peopled them, being part of the same main land. they used much policy in their rule. but at the end of many ages, by divine permission, and perhaps owing to their sins, it happened that a great and continuous earthquake, with an unceasing deluge, perpetual by day and night, opened the earth and swallowed up those warlike and ambitious atlantic men. the atlantic island remained absorbed beneath that great sea, which from that cause continued to be unnavigable owing to the mud of the absorbed island in solution, a wonderful thing. this special flood may be added to the five floods recorded by the ancients. these are the general one of moses, the second in egypt of which xenophon makes mention, the third flood in achaia of greece in the time of ogyges atticus, described by isidore as happening in the days of jacob, the fourth in thessaly in the time of deucalion and pyrrha, in the days of moses according to isidore, in as given by juan annius. the fifth flood is mentioned by xenophon as happening in egypt in the time of proteus. the sixth was this which destroyed so great a part of the atlantic island and sufficed so to separate the part that was left unsubmerged, that all mortals in asia, africa and europe believed that all were drowned. thus was lost the intercourse and commerce of the people of these parts with those of europe and africa, in such sort that all memory of them would have been lost, if it had not been for the egyptians, preservers of the most ancient deeds of men and of nature. the destruction of the atlantic island, over at least leagues of longitude, was in the time when aod[ ] governed the people of israel, years before christ and years after the creation, according to the hebrews. i deduce this calculation from what plato relates of the conversation between solon and the egyptian priest. for, according to all the chronicles, solon lived in the time of tarquinius priscus the king of rome, josiah being king of israel at jerusalem, before christ years. from this period until the time when the atlantics had put a blockade over the athenians lunar years had passed which, referred to solar years, make . all added together make the total given above. very soon afterwards the deluge must have come, as it is said to have been in the time of aod[ ] or years after the general deluge of noah. this being so it is to be noted that the isle of caliz, the canaries, the salvages, and trinidad must have been parts of the absorbed land. [note : ehud.] it may be assumed that these very numerous nations of atlantis were sufficient to people those other lands of the western indies of castille. other nations also came to them, and peopled some provinces after the above destruction. strabo and solinus say that ulysses, after the fall of troy, navigated westward to lusitania, founded lisbon, and, after it had been built, desired to try his fortune on the atlantic ocean by the way we now go to the indies. he disappeared, and it was never afterwards known what had become of him. this is stated by pero anton beuter, a noble valencian historian and, as he mentions, this was the opinion of dante aligheri, the illustrious florentine poet. assuming this to be correct we may follow ulysses from island to island until he came to yucatan and campeachy, part of the territory of new spain. for those of that land have the grecian bearing and dress of the nation of ulysses, they have many grecian words, and use grecian letters. of this i have myself seen many signs and proofs. their name for god is "teos" which is greek, and even throughout new spain they use the word "teos" for god. i have also to say that in passing that way, i found that they anciently preserved an anchor of a ship, venerating it as an idol, and had a certain genesis in greek, which should not be dismissed as absurd at first sight. indeed there are a sufficient number of indications to support my conjecture concerning ulysses. from thence all those provinces of mexico, tabasco, xalisco, and to the north the capotecas, chiapas, guatemalas, honduras, lasandones, nicaraguas, tlaguzgalpas, as far as nicoya, costa rica, and veragua. moreover esdras recounts that those nations which went from persia by the river euphrates came to a land never before inhabited by the human race. going down this river there was no way but by the indian sea to reach a land where there was no habitation. this could only have been catigara, placed in ° s. by ptolemy, and according to the navigators sent by alexander the great, days of navigation from asia. this is the land which the describers of maps call the unknown land of the south, whence it is possible to go on settling people as far as the strait of magellan to the west of catigara, and the javas, new guinea, and the islands of the archipelago of nombre de jesus which i, our lord permitting, discovered in the south sea in the year , the unconquered felipe ii reigning as king of spain and its dependencies by the demarcation of ° of longitude. it may thus be deduced that new spain and its provinces were peopled by the greeks, those of catigara by the jews, and those of the rich and most powerful kingdoms of peru and adjacent provinces by the atlantics who were descended from the primeval mesopotamians and chaldæans, peoplers of the world. these, and other points with them, which cannot be discussed with brevity, are true historical reasons, of a quality worthy of belief, such as men of reason and letters may adopt respecting the peopling of these lands. when we come to consider attentively what these barbarians of peru relate of their origin and of the tyrannical rule of the incas ccapacs, and the fables and extravagances they recount, the truth may be distinguished from what is false, and how in some of their fables they allude to true facts which are admitted and held by us as such. therefore the reader should peruse with attention and read the most strange and racy history of barbarians that has, until now, been read of any political nation in the world. vi. the fable of the origin of these barbarous indians of peru, according to their blind opinions. as these barbarous nations of indians were always without letters, they had not the means of preserving the monuments and memorials of their times, and those of their predecessors with accuracy and method. as the devil, who is always striving to injure the human race, found these unfortunates to be easy of belief and timid in obedience, he introduced many illusions, lies and frauds, giving them to understand that he had created them from the first, and afterwards, owing to their sins and evil deeds, he had destroyed them with a flood, again creating them and giving them food and the way to preserve it. by chance they formerly had some notice, passed down to them from mouth to mouth, which had reached them from their ancestors, respecting the truth of what happened in former times. mixing this with the stories told them by the devil, and with other things which they changed, invented, or added, which may happen in all nations, they made up a pleasing salad, and in some things worthy of the attention of the curious who are accustomed to consider and discuss human ideas. one thing must be noted among many others. it is that the stories which are here treated as fables, which they are, are held by the natives to be as true as we hold the articles of our faith, and as such they affirm and confirm them with unanimity, and swear by them. there are a few, however, who by the mercy of god are opening their eyes and beginning to see what is true and what is false respecting those things. but we have to write down what they say and not what we think about it in this part. we shall hear what they hold respecting their first age, [_and afterwards we shall come to the inveterate and cruel tyranny of the inca tyrants who oppressed these kingdoms of peru for so long. all this is done by order of the most excellent don francisco de toledo, viceroy of these kingdoms_]. i have collected the information with much diligence so that this history can rest on attested proofs from the general testimony of the whole kingdom, old and young, incas and tributary indians. the natives of this land affirm that in the beginning, and before this world was created, there was a being called viracocha. he created a dark world without sun, moon or stars. owing to this creation he was named viracocha pachayachachi, which means "creator of all things[ ]." [note : uiracocha (viracocha) was the creator. garcilasso de la vega pointed out the mistake of supposing that the word signified "foam of the sea" (ii. p. ). he believed it to be a name, the derivation of which he did not attempt to explain. blas valera (i. p. ) said the meaning was the "will and power of god"; not that this is the signification of the word, but by reason of the godlike qualities attributed to him who was known by it. cieza de leon says that tici-uiracocha was god, creator of heaven and earth: acosta that to tici-uiracocha they assigned the chief power and command over all things; montesinos that illa-tici-uiracocha was the name of the creator of the world; molina that tecsi-uiracocha was the creator and incomprehensible god; the anonymous jesuit that uiracocha meant the great god of "pirua"; betanzos that the creator was con-tici-uiracocha. according to montesinos and the anonymous jesuit _uira_ or _vira_ is a corruption of _pirua_ meaning a depository. the first meaning of _cocha_ is a lake, but here it is held to signify profundity, abyss, space. the "dweller in space." _ticci_ or _tici_ is base or foundation, hence the founder. _illa_ means light. the anonymous jesuit gives the meaning "eternal light" to _illa-ticci_. the word _con_, given by betanzos and garcia, has no known meaning. pachacamac and pachayachachi are attributes of the deity. _pacha_ means time or place, also the universe. _camac_ is the ruler, _yachachi_ the teacher. "the ruler and teacher of the universe." the meaning and significance of the word _uiracocha_ has been very fully discussed by señor don leonardo villar of cuzco in a paper entitled _lexicologia keshua uiracocha_ (lima, ).] and when he had created the world he formed a race of giants of disproportioned greatness painted and sculptured, to see whether it would be well to make real men of that size. he then created men in his likeness as they are now; and they lived in darkness. viracocha ordered these people that they should live without quarrelling, and that they should know and serve him. he gave them a certain precept which they were to observe on pain of being confounded if they should break it. they kept this precept for some time, but it is not mentioned what it was. but as there arose among them the vices of pride and covetousness, they transgressed the precept of viracocha pachayachachi and falling, through this sin, under his indignation, he confounded and cursed them. then some were turned into stones, others into other things, some were swallowed up by the earth, others by the sea, and over all there came a general flood which they call _uñu pachacuti_, which means "water that overturns the land." they say that it rained days and nights, that it drowned all created things, and that there alone remained some vestiges of those who were turned into stones, as a memorial of the event, and as an example to posterity, in the edifices of pucara, which are leagues from cuzco. some of the nations, besides the cuzcos, also say that a few were saved from this flood to leave descendants for a future age. each nation has its special fable which is told by its people, of how their first ancestors were saved from the waters of the deluge. that the ideas they had in their blindness may be understood, i will insert only one, told by the nation of the cañaris, a land of quito and tumibamba, leagues from cuzco and more. they say that in the time of the deluge called _uñu pachacuti_ there was a mountain named guasano in the province of quito and near a town called tumipampa. the natives still point it out. up this mountain went two of the cañaris named ataorupagui and cusicayo. as the waters increased the mountain kept rising and keeping above them in such a way that it was never covered by the waters of the flood. in this way the two cañaris escaped. these two, who were brothers, when the waters abated after the flood, began to sow. one day when they had been at work, on returning to their hut, they found in it some small loaves of bread, and a jar of chicha, which is the beverage used in this country in place of wine, made of boiled maize. they did not know who had brought it, but they gave thanks to the creator, eating and drinking of that provision. next day the same thing happened. as they marvelled at this mystery, they were anxious to find out who brought the meals. so one day they hid themselves, to spy out the bringers of their food. while they were watching they saw two cañari women preparing the victuals and putting them in the accustomed place. when about to depart the men tried to seize them, but they evaded their would-be captors and escaped. the cañaris, seeing the mistake they had made in molesting those who had done them so much good, became sad and prayed to viracocha for pardon for their sins, entreating him to let the women come back and give them the accustomed meals. the creator granted their petition. the women came back and said to the cañaris--"the creator has thought it well that we should return to you, lest you should die of hunger." they brought them food. then there was friendship between the women and the cañari brothers, and one of the cañari brothers had connexion with one of the women. then, as the elder brother was drowned in a lake which was near, the survivor married one of the women, and had the other as a concubine. by them he had ten sons who formed two lineages of five each, and increasing in numbers they called one hanansaya which is the same as to say the upper party, and the other hurinsaya, or the lower party. from these all the cañaris that now exist are descended[ ]. [note : the same story of the origin of the cañaris is told by molina, p. . but the mountain is called huaca-yuan; and instead of women the beings who brought the food were macaws. molina tells another story received from the people of ancas-mayu. both seem to have been obtained by asking leading questions about a deluge.] in the same way the other nations have fables of how some of their people were saved from whom they trace their origin and descent. but the incas and most of those of cuzco, those among them who are believed to know most, do not say that anyone escaped from the flood, but that viracocha began to create men afresh, as will be related further on. one thing is believed among all the nations of these parts, for they all speak generally and as well known of the general flood which they call _uñu pachacuti_. from this we may clearly understand that if, in these parts they have a tradition of the great flood, this great mass of the floating islands which they afterwards called the atlanticas, and now the indies of castille or america must have begun to receive a population immediately after the flood, although, by their account, the details are different from those which the true scriptures teach us. this must have been done by divine providence, through the first people coming over the land of the atlantic island, which was joined to this, as has been already said. for as the natives, though barbarous, give reasons for their very ancient settlement, by recording the flood, there is no necessity for setting aside the scriptures by quoting authorities to establish this origin. we now come to those who relate the events of the second age after the flood, which is the subject of the next chapter. vii. fable of the second age, and creation of the barbarous indians according to their account. it is related that everything was destroyed in the flood called _uñu pachacuti_[ ]. it must now be known that viracocha pachayachachi, when he destroyed that land as has been already recounted, preserved three men, one of them named taguapaca, that they might serve and help him in the creation of new people who had to be made in the second age after the deluge, which was done in this manner. the flood being passed and the land dry, viracocha determined to people it a second time, and, to make it more perfect, he decided upon creating luminaries to give it light. with this object he went, with his servants, to a great lake in the collao, in which there is an island called titicaca, the meaning being "the rock of lead," of which we shall treat in the first part. viracocha went to this island, and presently ordered that the sun, moon, and stars should come forth, and be set in the heavens to give light to the world, and it was so. they say that the moon was created brighter than the sun, which made the sun jealous at the time when they rose into the sky. so the sun threw over the moon's face a handful of ashes, which gave it the shaded colour it now presents. this frontier lake of chucuito, in the territory of the collao, is leagues to the south of cuzco. viracocha gave various orders to his servants, but taguapaca disobeyed the commands of viracocha. so viracocha was enraged against taguapaca, and ordered the other two servants to take him, tie him hands and feet, and launch him in a _balsa_ on the lake. this was done. taguapaca was blaspheming against viracocha for the way he was treated, and threatening that he would return and take vengeance, when he was carried by the water down the drain of the same lake, and was not seen again for a long time. this done, viracocha made a sacred idol in that place, as a place for worship and as a sign of what he had there created[ ]. [note : _uñu pachacuti_ would mean the world (_pacha_) overturned (_cuti_) by water (_uñu_). probably a word coined by the priests, after putting leading questions about a universal deluge.] [note : this servant of uiracocha is also mentioned by cieza de leon and yamqui pachacuti. cieza appears to consider that tuapaca was merely the name of uiracocha in the collao. yamqui pachacuti gives the names tarapaca and tonapa and connects them with uiracocha. but he also uses the word pachacca, a servant. these names are clearly the same as the tahuapaca of sarmiento. _tahua_ means four, but sarmiento gives three as the number of these servants of uiracocha. the meaning of _paca_ is anything secret or mysterious, from _pacani_ to hide. the names represent an ancient myth of some kind, but it is not possible, at this distance of time, to ascertain more than the names. tonapa looks like a slip of the pen, and is probably tarapa for tarapaca. don samuel a. lapone quevedo published a mythological essay entitled _el culto de tonapa_ with reference to the notice in the work of yamqui pachacuti; but he is given to speculations about phallic and solar worship, and to the arbitrary alteration of letters to fit into his theories.] leaving the island, he passed by the lake to the main land, taking with him the two servants who survived. he went to a place now called tiahuanacu in the province of colla-suyu, and in this place he sculptured and designed on a great piece of stone, all the nations that he intended to create. this done, he ordered his two servants to charge their memories with the names of all tribes that he had depicted, and of the valleys and provinces where they were to come forth, which were those of the whole land. he ordered that each one should go by a different road, naming the tribes, and ordering them all to go forth and people the country. his servants, obeying the command of viracocha, set out on their journey and work. one went by the mountain range or chain which they call the heights over the plains on the south sea. the other went by the heights which overlook the wonderful mountain ranges which we call the andes, situated to the east of the said sea. by these roads they went, saying with a loud voice "oh you tribes and nations, hear and obey the order of ticci viracocha pachayachachi, which commands you to go forth, and multiply and settle the land." viracocha himself did the same along the road between those taken by his two servants, naming all the tribes and places by which he passed. at the sound of his voice every place obeyed, and people came forth, some from lakes, others from fountains, valleys, caves, trees, rocks and hills, spreading over the land and multiplying to form the nations which are to-day in peru. others affirm that this creation of viracocha was made from the titicaca site where, having originally formed some shapes of large strong men[ ] which seemed to him out of proportion, he made them again of his stature which was, as they say, the average height of men, and being made he gave them life. thence they set out to people the land. as they spoke one language previous to starting, they built those edifices, the ruins of which may still be seen, before they set out. this was for the residence of viracocha, their maker. after departing they varied their languages, noting the cries of wild beasts, insomuch that, coming across each other afterwards, those could not understand who had before been relations and neighbours. [note : jayaneo. this was the name given to giants in the books of chivalry. see _don quijote_, i. cap. , p. .] whether it was in one way or the other, all agree that viracocha was the creator of these people. they have the tradition that he was a man of medium height, white and dressed in a white robe like an alb secured round the waist, and that he carried a staff and a book in his hands. besides this they tell of a strange event; how that viracocha, after he had created all people, went on his road and came to a place where many men of his creation had congregated. this place is now called cacha. when viracocha arrived there, the inhabitants were estranged owing to his dress and bearing. they murmured at it and proposed to kill him from a hill that was near. they took their weapons there, and gathered together with evil intentions against viracocha. he, falling on his knees on some plain ground, with his hands clasped, fire from above came down upon those on the hill, and covered all the place, burning up the earth and stones like straw. those bad men were terrified at the fearful fire. they came down from the hill, and sought pardon from viracocha for their sin. viracocha was moved by compassion. he went to the flames and put them out with his staff. but the hill remained quite parched up, the stones being rendered so light by the burning that a very large stone which could not have been carried on a cart, could be raised easily by one man. this may be seen at this day, and it is a wonderful sight to behold this hill, which is a quarter of a league in extent, all burnt up. it is in the collao[ ]. [note : not in the collaos but in the valley of the vilcamayu. afterwards a very remarkable temple was built there, described by squier.] after this viracocha continued his journey and arrived at a place called urcos, leagues to the south of cuzco. remaining there some days he was well served by the natives of that neighbourhood. at the time of his departure, he made them a celebrated _huaca_ or statue, for them to offer gifts to and worship; to which statue the incas, in after times, offered many rich gifts of gold and other metals, and above all a golden bench. when the spaniards entered cuzco they found it, and appropriated it to themselves. it was worth $ , . the marquis don francisco pizarro took it himself, as the share of the general. returning to the subject of the fable, viracocha continued his journey, working his miracles and instructing his created beings. in this way he reached the territory on the equinoctial line, where are now puerto viejo and manta. here he was joined by his servants. intending to leave the land of peru, he made a speech to those he had created, apprising them of the things that would happen. he told them that people would come, who would say that they were viracocha their creator, and that they were not to believe them; but that in the time to come he would send his messengers who would protect and teach them. having said this he went to sea with his two servants, and went travelling over the water as if it was land, without sinking. for they appeared like foam over the water and the people, therefore, gave them the name of viracocha which is the same as to say the grease or foam of the sea[ ]. at the end of some years after viracocha departed, they say that taguapaca, who viracocha ordered to be thrown into the lake of titicaca in the collao, as has already been related, came back and began, with others, to preach that he was viracocha. although at first the people were doubtful, they finally saw that it was false, and ridiculed them[ ]. [note : a mistake. see garcilasso de la vega, ii. p. .] [note : this story is told in a somewhat different form by yamqui pachacuti, p. .] this absurd fable of their creation is held by these barbarians and they affirm and believe it as if they had really seen it to happen and come to pass[ ]. [note : the tradition of the exercise of his creative powers by viracocha at lake titicaca, is derived from the more ancient people who were the builders of tiahuanacu. besides sarmiento, the authors who give this titicaca myth are garcilasso de la vega, cieza de leon, molina, betanzos, yamqui pachacuti, polo de ondegardo, and the anonymous jesuit. acosta, montesinos, balboa and santillana are silent respecting it.] viii. the ancient _behetrias_[ ] of these kingdoms of peru and their provinces. it is important to note that these barbarians could tell nothing more respecting what happened from the second creation by viracocha down to the time of the incas. but it may be assumed that, although the land was peopled and full of inhabitants before the incas, it had no regular government, nor did it have natural lords elected by common consent to govern and rule, and who were respected by the people, so that they were obeyed and received tribute. on the contrary all the people were scattered and disorganized, living in complete liberty, and each man being sole lord of his house and estate. in each tribe there were two divisions. one was called hanansaya, which means the upper division, and the other hurinsaya, which is the lower division, a custom which continues to this day. these divisions do not mean anything more than a way to count each other, for their satisfaction, though afterwards it served a more useful purpose, as will be seen in its place. [note : _behetria_. a condition of perfect equality without any distinction of rank. freedom from the subjection of any lord.] as there were dissensions among them, a certain kind of militia was organized for defence, in the following way. when it became known to the people of one district that some from other parts were coming to make war, they chose one who was a native, or he might be a stranger, who was known to be a valiant warrior. often such a man offered himself to aid and to fight for them against their enemies. such a man was followed and his orders were obeyed during the war. when the war was over he became a private man as he had been before, like the rest of the people, nor did they pay him tribute either before or afterwards, nor any manner of tax whatever. to such a man they gave and still give the name of _sinchi_ which means valiant. they call such men "sinchi-cuna" which means "valiant now" as who should say--"now during the time the war lasts you shall be our valiant man, and afterwards no ": or another meaning would be simply "valiant men," for "cuna" is an adverb of time, and also denotes the plural[ ]. in whichever meaning, it is very applicable to these temporary captains in the days of _behetrias_ and general liberty. so that from the general flood of which they have a tradition to the time when the incas began to reign, which was years, all the natives of these kingdoms lived on their properties without acknowledging either a natural or an elected lord. they succeeded in preserving, as it is said, a simple state of liberty, living in huts or caves or humble little houses. this name of "sinchi" for those who held sway only during war, lasted throughout the land until the time of tupac inca yupanqui, the tenth inca, who instituted "curacas" and other officials in the order which will be fully described in the life of that inca. even at the present time they continue this use and custom in the provinces of chile and in other parts of the forests of peru to the east of quito and chachapoyas, where they only obey a chief during war time, not any special one, but he who is known to be most valiant, enterprising and daring in the wars. the reader should note that all the land was private property with reference to any dominion of chiefs, yet they had natural chiefs with special rights in each province, as for instance among the natives of the valley of cuzco and in other parts, as we shall relate of each part in its place. [note : cinchicona. _sinchi_ means strong. _cuna_ is the plural particle. _sinchi_ was the name for a chief or leader. i have not met with _cuna_ as an adverb of time and meaning "now." no such meaning is given in the _grammar_ of domingo de santo tomas, which was published in , twelve years before sarmiento wrote.] ix. the first settlers in the valley of cuzco. i have explained how the people of these lands preserved their inheritances and lived on them in ancient times, and that their proper and natural countries were known. there were many of these which i shall notice in their places, treating specially at present of the original settlers of the valley where stands the present city of cuzco. for from there we have to trace the origin of the tyranny of the incas, who always had their chief seat in the valley of cuzco. before all things it must be understood that the valley of cuzco is in ° ' from the equator on the side of the south pole[ ]. in this valley, owing to its being fertile for cultivation, there were three tribes settled from most ancient times, the first called sauaseras, the second antasayas, the third huallas. they settled near each other, although their lands for sowing were distinct, which is the property they valued most in those days and even now. these natives of the valley lived there in peace for many years, cultivating their farms. [note : ° '. he is miles out in his latitude.] some time before the arrival of the incas, three sinchis, strangers to this valley, the first named alcabisa[ ], the second copalimayta, and the third culunchima, collected certain companies and came to the valley of cuzco, where, by consent of the natives, they settled and became brothers and companions of the original inhabitants. so they lived for a long time. there was concord between these six tribes, three native and three immigrant. they relate that the immigrants came out to where the incas then resided, as we shall relate presently, and called them relations. this is an important point with reference to what happened afterwards. [note : the alcabisas, as original inhabitants of the cuzco valley, are mentioned by cieza de leon (ii. p. ) who calls them alcaviquiza. betanzos has alcaviya, and balboa allcay-villcas. cieza describes the victory over them by mayta ccapac. yamqui pachacuti gives allcayviesas, cullinchinas, and cayancachis as the names of the tribes who originally inhabited the cuzco valley. cayancachi is a southern suburb of cuzco outside the huatanay river.] before entering upon the history of the incas i wish to make known or, speaking more accurately, to answer a difficulty which may occur to those who have not been in these parts. some may say that this history cannot be accepted as authentic being taken from the narratives of these barbarians, because, having no letters, they could not preserve such details as they give from so remote an antiquity. the answer is that, to supply the want of letters, these barbarians had a curious invention which was very good and accurate. this was that from one to the other, from fathers to sons, they handed down past events, repeating the story of them many times, just as lessons are repeated from a professor's chair, making the hearers say these historical lessons over and over again until they were fixed in the memory. thus each one of the descendants continued to communicate the annals in the order described with a view to preserve their histories and deeds, their ancient traditions, the numbers of their tribes, towns, provinces, their days, months and years, their battles, deaths, destructions, fortresses and "sinchis." finally they recorded, and they still record, the most notable things which consist in their numbers (or statistics), on certain cords called _quipu_, which is the same as to say reasoner or accountant. on these cords they make certain knots by which, and by differences of colour, they distinguish and record each thing as by letters. it is a thing to be admired to see what details may be recorded on these cords, for which there are masters like our writing masters[ ]. [note : the system of recording by _quipus_ is described by garcilasso de la vega, i. pp. and , also ii. p. and more fully at ii. pp. -- . cieza de leon mentions the _quipu_ system in his first part (see i. p. and note) and in the second part (ii. pp. -- , , , , ). at p. the method of preserving the memory of former events is described very much as in the text. see also molina, pp. , . molina also describes the boards on which historical events were painted, p. . they were, he says, kept in a temple near cuzco, called poquen-cancha. see also cieza de leon (second part), p. .] besides this they had, and still have, special historians in these nations, an hereditary office descending from father to son. the collection of these annals is due to the great diligence of pachacuti inca yupanqui, the ninth inca, who sent out a general summons to all the old historians in all the provinces he had subjugated, and even to many others throughout those kingdoms. he had them in cuzco for a long time, examining them concerning their antiquities, origin, and the most notable events in their history. these were painted on great boards, and deposited in the temple of the sun, in a great hall. there such boards, adorned with gold, were kept as in our libraries, and learned persons were appointed, who were well versed in the art of understanding and declaring their contents. no one was allowed to enter where these boards were kept, except the inca and the historians, without a special order of the inca. in this way they took care to have all their past history investigated, and to have records respecting all kinds of people, so that at this day the indians generally know and agree respecting details and important events, though, in some things, they hold different opinions on special points. by examining the oldest and most prudent among them, in all ranks of life, who had most credit, i collected and compiled the present history, referring the sayings and declarations of one party to their antagonists of another party, for they are divided into parties, and seeking from each one a memorial of its lineage and of that of the opposing party. these memorials, which are all in my possession, were compared and corrected, and ultimately verified in public, in presence of representatives of all the parties and lineages, under oaths in presence of a judge, and with expert and very faithful interpreters also on oath, and i thus finished what is now written. such great diligence has been observed, because a thing which is the foundation of the true completion of such a great work as the establishment of the tyranny of the cruel incas of this land will make all the nations of the world understand the judicial and more than legitimate right that the king of castille has to these indies and to other lands adjacent, especially to these kingdoms of peru. as all the histories of past events have been verified by proof, which in this case has been done so carefully and faithfully by order and owing to the industry of the most excellent viceroy don francisco de toledo, no one can doubt that everything in this volume is most sufficiently established and verified without any room being left for reply or contradiction. i have been desirous of making this digression because, in writing the history, i have heard that many entertain the doubts i have above referred to, and it seemed well to satisfy them once for all. x. how the incas began to tyrannize over the lands and inheritances. having explained that, in ancient times, all this land was owned by the people, it is necessary to state how the incas began their tyranny. although the tribes all lived in simple liberty without recognising any lord, there were always some ambitious men among them, aspiring for mastery. they committed violence among their countrymen and among strangers to subject them and bring them to obedience under their command, so that they might serve them and pay tribute. thus bands of men belonging to one region went to others to make war and to rob and kill, usurping the lands of others. as these movements took place in many parts by many tribes, each one trying to subjugate his neighbour, it happened that leagues from the valley of cuzco, at a place called paccari-tampu, there were four men with their four sisters, of fierce courage and evil intentions, although with lofty aims. these, being more able than the others, understood the pusillanimity of the natives of those districts and the ease with which they could be made to believe anything that was propounded with authority or with any force. so they conceived among themselves the idea of being able to subjugate many lands by force and deception. thus all the eight brethren, four men and four women, consulted together how they could tyrannize over other tribes beyond the place where they lived, and they proposed to do this by violence. considering that most of the natives were ignorant and could easily be made to believe what was said to them, particularly if they were addressed with some roughness, rigour and authority, against which they could make neither reply nor resistance, because they are timid by nature, they sent abroad certain fables respecting their origin, that they might be respected and feared. they said that they were the sons of viracocha pachayachachi, the creator, and that they had come forth out of certain windows to rule the rest of the people. as they were fierce, they made the people believe and fear them, and hold them to be more than men, even worshipping them as gods. thus they introduced the religion that suited them. the order of the fable they told of their origin was as follows. xi. the fable of the origin of the incas of cuzco. all the native indians of this land relate and affirm that the incas ccapac originated in this way. six leagues s.s.w. of cuzco by the road which the incas made, there is a place called paccari-tampu, which means "the house of production[ ]" at which there is a hill called tampu-tocco, meaning "the house of windows." it is certain that in this hill there are three windows, one called "maras-tocco," the other "sutic-tocco," while that which is in the middle, between these two, was known as "ccapac-tocco," which means "the rich window," because they say that it was ornamented with gold and other treasures. from the window called "maras-tocco" came forth, without parentage, a tribe of indians called maras. there are still some of them in cuzco. from the "sutic-tocco" came indians called tampus, who settled round the same hill, and there are also men of this lineage still in cuzco. from the chief window of "ccapac-tocco," came four men and four women, called brethren. these knew no father nor mother, beyond the story they told that they were created and came out of the said window by order of ticci viracocha, and they declared that viracocha created them to be lords. for this reason they took the name of inca, which is the same as lord. they took "ccapac" as an additional name because they came out of the window "ccapac-tocco," which means "rich," although afterwards they used this term to denote the chief lord over many. [note : correctly "the tavern of the dawn."] the names of the eight brethren were as follows: the eldest of the men, and the one with the most authority was named manco ccapac, the second ayar auca, the third ayar cachi, the fourth ayar uchu. of the women the eldest was called mama occlo, the second mama huaco, the third mama ipacura, or, as others say, mama cura, the fourth mama raua. the eight brethren, called incas, said--"we are born strong and wise, and with the people who will here join us, we shall be powerful. we will go forth from this place to seek fertile lands and when we find them we will subjugate the people and take the lands, making war on all those who do not receive us as their lords," this, as they relate, was said by mama huaco, one of the women, who was fierce and cruel. manco ccapac, her brother, was also cruel and atrocious. this being agreed upon between the eight, they began to move the people who lived near the hill, putting it to them that their reward would be to become rich and to receive the lands and estates of those who were conquered and subjugated. for these objects they moved ten tribes or _ayllus_, which means among these barbarians "lineages" or "parties"; the names of which are as follows: i. chauin cuzco ayllu of the lineage of ayar cachi, of which there are still some in cuzco, the chiefs being martin chucumbi, and don diego huaman paocar. ii. arayraca ayllu cuzco-callan. at present there are of this ayllu juan pizarro yupanqui, don francisco quispi, alonso tarma yupanqui of the lineage of ayar uchu. iii. tarpuntay ayllu. of this there are now some in cuzco. iv. huacaytaqui ayllu. some still living in cuzco. v. saÑoc ayllu. some still in cuzco. the above five lineages are hanan-cuzco, which means the party of upper cuzco. vi. sutic-tocco ayllu is the lineage which came out of one of the windows called "sutic-tocco," as has been before explained. of these there are still some in cuzco, the chiefs being don francisco avca micho avri sutic, and don alonso hualpa. vii. maras ayllu. these are of the men who came forth from the window "maras-tocco." there are some of these now in cuzco, the chiefs being don alonso llama oca, and don gonzalo ampura llama oca. viii. cuycusa ayllu. of these there are still some in cuzco, the chief being cristoval acllari. ix. masca ayllu. of this there is in cuzco--juan quispi. x. oro ayllu. of this lineage is don pedro yucay. i say that all these _ayllus_ have preserved their records in such a way that the memory of them has not been lost. there are more of them than are given above, for i only insert the chiefs who are the protectors and heads of the lineages, under whose guidance they are preserved. each chief has the duty and obligation to protect the rest, and to know the history of his ancestors. although i say that these live in cuzco, the truth is that they are in a suburb of the city which the indians call cayocache and which is known to us as belem, from the church of that parish which is that of our lady of belem. returning to our subject, all these followers above mentioned marched with manco ccapac and the other brethren to seek for land [_and to tyrannize over those who did no harm to them, nor gave them any excuse for war, and without any right or title beyond what has been stated_]. to be prepared for war they chose for their leaders manco ccapac and mama huaco, and with this arrangement the companies of the hill of tampu-tocco set out, to put their design into execution. xii. the road which these companies of the incas took to the valley of cuzco, and of the fables which are mixed with their history. the incas and the rest of the companies or _ayllus_ set out from their homes at tampu-tocco, taking with them their property and arms, in sufficient numbers to form a good squadron, having for their chiefs the said manco ccapac and mama huaco. manco ccapac took with him a bird like a falcon, called _indi_[ ], which they all worshipped and feared as a sacred, or, as some say, an enchanted thing, for they thought that this bird made manco ccapac their lord and obliged the people to follow him. it was thus that manco ccapac gave them to understand, and it was carried in _vahidos_[ ], always kept in a covered hamper of straw, like a box, with much care. he left it as an heirloom to his son, and the incas had it down to the time of inca yupanqui. in his hand he carried with him a staff of gold, to test the lands which they would come to. [note : this bird called _indi_, the familiar spirit of manco ccapac, is not mentioned by any other author. there is more about it in the life of mayta ccapac, the great-grandson of manco ccapac. the word seems to be the same as _ynti_ the sun-god.] [note : _vahido_ means giddiness, vertigo.] marching together they came to a place called huana-cancha, four leagues from the valley of cuzco, where they remained for some time, sowing and seeking for fertile land. here manco ccapac had connexion with his sister mama occlo, and she became pregnant by him. as this place did not appear able to sustain them, being barren, they advanced to another place called tampu-quiro, where mama occlo begot a son named sinchi rocca. having celebrated the natal feasts of the infant, they set out in search of fertile land, and came to another place called pallata, which is almost contiguous to tampu-quiro, and there they remained for some years. not content with this land, they came to another called hays-quisro, a quarter of a league further on. here they consulted together over what ought to be done respecting their journey, and over the best way of getting rid of ayar cachi, one of the four brothers. ayar cachi was fierce and strong, and very dexterous with the sling. he committed great cruelties and was oppressive both among the natives of the places they passed, and among his own people. the other brothers were afraid that the conduct of ayar cachi would cause their companies to disband and desert, and that they would be left alone. as manco ccapac was prudent, he concurred with the opinion of the others that they should secure their object by deceit. they called ayar cachi and said to him, "brother! know that in ccapac-tocco we have forgotten the golden vases called _tupac-cusi_[ ], and certain seeds, and the _napa_[ ], which is our principal ensign of sovereignty." the _napa_ is a sheep of the country, the colour white, with a red body cloth, on the top ear-rings of gold, and on the breast a plate with red badges such as was worn by rich incas when they went abroad; carried in front of all on a pole with a cross of plumes of feathers. this was called _suntur-paucar_[ ]. they said that it would be for the good of all, if he would go back and fetch them. when ayar cachi refused to return, his sister mama huaco, raising her foot, rebuked him with furious words, saying, "how is it that there should be such cowardice in so strong a youth as you are? get ready for the journey, and do not fail to go to tampu-tocco, and do what you are ordered." ayar cachi was shamed by these words. he obeyed and started to carry out his orders. they gave him, as a companion, one of those who had come with them, named tampu-chacay, to whom they gave secret orders to kill ayar cachi at tampu-tocco, and not to return with him. with these orders they both arrived at tampu-tocco. they had scarcely arrived when ayar cachi entered through the window ccapac-tocco, to get the things for which he had been sent. he was no sooner inside than tampu-chacay, with great celerity, put a rock against the opening of the window and sat upon it, that ayar cachi might remain inside and die there. when ayar cachi turned to the opening and found it closed he understood the treason of which the traitor tampu-chacay had been guilty, and determined to get out if it was possible, to take vengeance. to force an opening he used such force and shouted so loud that he made the mountain tremble. with a loud voice he spoke these words to tampu-chacay, "thou traitor! thou who hast done me so much harm, thinkest thou to convey the news of my mortal imprisonment? that shall never happen. for thy treason thou shalt remain outside, turned into a stone." so it was done, and to this day they show the stone on one side of the window ccapac-tocco. turn we now to the seven brethren who had remained at hays-quisro. the death of ayar cachi being known, they were very sorry for what they had done, for, as he was valiant, they regretted much to be without him when the time came to make war on any one. so they mourned for him. this ayar cachi was so dexterous with a sling and so strong that with each shot he pulled down a mountain and filled up a ravine. they say that the ravines, which we now see on their line of march, were made by ayar cachi in hurling stones. [note : _tupac-cusi_, meaning golden vases, does not occur elsewhere. it may be a mis-print for _tupac-ccuri, tupac_ meaning anything royal and ccuri gold.] [note : _napa_ was the name of a sacred figure of a llama, one of the insignia of royalty. see molina, pp. , , . the verb _napani_ is to salute, _napay_, salutation. _raymi-napa_ was the flock dedicated for sacrifice.] [note : _suntur-paucar_ was the head-dress of the inca. see balboa, p. . literally the "brilliant circle." see also molina, pp. , , , , , and yamqui pachacuti, pp. , , .] the seven incas and their companions left this place, and came to another called quirirmanta at the foot of a hill which was afterwards called huanacauri. in this place they consulted together how they should divide the duties of the enterprise amongst themselves, so that there should be distinctions between them. they agreed that as manco ccapac had had a child by his sister, they should be married and have children to continue the lineage, and that he should be the leader. ayar uchu was to remain as a _huaca_ for the sake of religion. ayar auca, from the position they should select, was to take possession of the land set apart for him to people. leaving this place they came to a hill at a distance of two leagues, a little more or less, from cuzco. ascending the hill they saw a rainbow, which the natives call _huanacauri_. holding it to be a fortunate sign, manco ccapac said: "take this for a sign that the world will not be destroyed by water. we shall arrive and from hence we shall select where we shall found our city." then, first casting lots, they saw that the signs were good for doing so, and for exploring the land from that point and becoming lords of it. before they got to the height where the rainbow was, they saw a _huaca_ which was a place of worship in human shape, near the rainbow. they determined among themselves to seize it and take it away from there. ayar uchu offered himself to go to it, for they said that he was very like it. when ayar uchu came to the statue or _huaca_, with great courage he sat upon it, asking it what it did there. at these words the _huaca_ turned its head to see who spoke, but, owing to the weight upon it, it could not see. presently, when ayar uchu wanted to get off he was not able, for he found that the soles of his feet were fastened to the shoulders of the _huaca_. the six brethren, seeing that he was a prisoner, came to succour him. but ayar uchu, finding himself thus transformed, and that his brethren could not release him, said to them--"o brothers, an evil work you have wrought for me. it was for your sakes that i came where i must remain for ever, apart from your company. go! go! happy brethren, i announce to you that you will be great lords. i, therefore, pray that in recognition of the desire i have always had to please you, you will honour and venerate me in all your festivals and ceremonies, and that i shall be the first to whom you make offerings. for i remain here for your sakes. when you celebrate the _huarachico_ (which is the arming of the sons as knights) you shall adore me as their father, for i shall remain here for ever." manco ccapac answered that he would do so, for that it was his will and that it should be so ordered. ayar uchu promised for the youths that he would bestow on them the gifts of valour, nobility, and knighthood, and with these last words he remained, turned into stone. they constituted him the _huaca_ of the incas, giving it the name of ayar uchu huanacauri.[ ] and so it always was, until the arrival of the spaniards, the most venerated _huaca_, and the one that received the most offerings of any in the kingdom. here the incas went to arm the young knights until about twenty years ago, when the christians abolished this ceremony. it was religiously done, because there were many abuses and idolatrous practices, offensive and contrary to the ordinances of god our lord. [note : huanacauri was a very sacred _huaca_ of the peruvians. cieza de leon tells much the same story as sarmiento, ii. pp. , , , , , , , . garcilasso de la vega mentions huanacauri four times, i. pp. , , and ii. pp. , , as a place held in great veneration. it is frequently mentioned by molina. the word is given by yamqui pachacuti as huayna-captiy. _huayna_ means a youth, _captiy_ is the subjunctive of the verb _cani_, i am. the word appears to have reference to the arming of youths, and the ordeals they went through, which took place annually at this place.] xiii. entry of the incas into the valley of cuzco, and the fables they relate concerning it. the six brethren were sad at the loss of ayar uchu, and at the loss of ayar cachi; and, owing to the death of ayar cachi, those of the lineage of the incas, from that time to this day, always fear to go to tampu-tocco, lest they should have to remain there like ayar cachi. they went down to the foot of the hill, whence they began their entry into the valley of cuzco, arriving at a place called matahua, where they stopped and built huts, intending to remain there some time. here they armed as knight the son of manco ccapac and of mama occlo, named sinchi rocca, and they bored his ears, a ceremony which is called _huarachico_, being the insignia of his knighthood and nobility, like the custom known among ourselves. on this occasion they indulged in great rejoicings, drinking for many days, and at intervals mourning for the loss of their brother ayar uchu. it was here that they invented the mourning sound for the dead, like the cooing of a dove. then they performed the dance called _ccapac raymi_, a ceremony of the royal or great lords. it is danced, in long purple robes, at the ceremonies they call _quicochico_[ ], which is when girls come to maturity, and the _huarachico_[ ], when they bore the ears of the incas, and the _rutuchico_[ ] when the inca's hair is cut the first time, and the _ayuscay_[ ], which is when a child is born, and they drink continuously for four or five days. [note : quicu-chicuy was the ceremony when girls attained puberty. the customs, on this occasion, are described by molina, p. . see also yamqui pachacuti, p. , and the anonymous jesuit, p. .] [note : huarachicu was the great festival when the youths went through their ordeals, and were admitted to manhood and to bear arms. garcilasso de la vega gives the word as "huaracu"; and fully describes the ordeals and the ceremonies, ii. pp. -- . see also molina, pp. and -- , and yamqui pachacuti, p. .] [note : rutuchicu is the ceremony when a child reaches the age of one year, from _rutuni_, to cut or shear. it receives the name which it retains until the huarachicu if a boy, and until the quicu-chicuy if a girl. they then receive the names they retain until death. at the rutuchicu the child was shorn. molina, p. .] [note : molina says that ayuscay was the ceremony when the woman conceives. molina, p. .] after this they were in matahua for two years, waiting to pass on to the upper valley to seek good and fertile land. mama huaco, who was very strong and dexterous, took two wands of gold and hurled them towards the north. one fell, at two shots of an arquebus, into a ploughed field called colcapampa and did not drive in well, the soil being loose and not terraced. by this they knew that the soil was not fertile. the other went further, to near cuzco, and fixed well in the territory called huanay-pata, where they knew the land to be fertile. others say that this proof was made by manco ccapac with the staff of gold which he carried himself, and that thus they knew of the fertility of the land, when the staff sunk in the land called huanay-pata, two shots of an arquebus from cuzco. they knew the crust of the soil to be rich and close, so that it could only be broken by using much force. let it be by one way or the other, for all agree that they went trying the land with a pole or staff until they arrived at this huanay-pata, when they were satisfied. they were sure of its fertility, because after sowing perpetually, it always yielded abundantly, giving more the more it was sown. they determined to usurp that land by force, in spite of the natural owners, and to do with it as they chose. so they returned to matahua. from that place manco ccapac saw a heap of stones near the site of the present monastery of santo domingo at cuzco. pointing it out to his brother ayar auca, he said, "brother! you remember how it was arranged between us, that you should go to take possession of the land where we are to settle. well! look at that stone." pointing out the stone he continued, "go thither flying," for they say that ayar auca had developed some wings, "and seating yourself there, take possession of land seen from that heap of stones. we will presently come to settle and reside." when ayar auca heard the words of his brother, he opened his wings and flew to that place which manco ccapac had pointed out. seating himself there, he was presently turned into stone, and was made the stone of possession. in the ancient language of this valley the heap was called _cozco_, whence that site has had the name of cuzco to this day[ ]. from this circumstance the incas had a proverb which said, "ayar auca cuzco huanca," or, "ayar auca a heap of marble." others say that manco ccapac gave the name of cuzco because he wept in that place where he buried his brother ayar cachi. owing to his sorrow and to the fertility he gave that name which in the ancient language of that time signified sad as well as fertile. the first version must be the correct one because ayar cachi was not buried at cuzco, having died at ccapac-tocco as has been narrated before. and this is generally affirmed by incas and natives. [note : _cuzco_ means a clod, or hard unirrigated land. _cuzquini_ is to break clods of earth, or to level. montesinos derives the name of the city from the verb "to level," or from the heaps of clods, of earth called _cuzco_. cusquic-raymi is the month of june.] five brethren only remaining, namely manco ccapac, and the four sisters, and manco ccapac being the only surviving brother out of four, they presently resolved to advance to where ayar auca had taken possession. manco ccapac first gave to his son sinchi rocca a wife named mama cuca, of the lineage of sañu, daughter of a sinchi named sitic-huaman, by whom he afterwards had a son named sapaca. he also instituted the sacrifice called _capa cocha_[ ], which is the immolation of two male and two female infants before the idol huanacauri, at the time when the incas were armed as knights. these things being arranged, he ordered the companies to follow him to the place where ayar auca was. [note : ccapac-cocha. the weight of evidence is, on the whole, in favour of this sacrifice of two infants having taken place at the huarachicu, cieza de leon, in remarking that the spaniards falsely imputed crimes to the indians to justify their ill-treatment, says that the practice of human sacrifice was exaggerated, ii. pp. , . see also molina, pp- , . yamqui pachacuti, p. .] arriving on the land of huanay-pata, which is near where now stands the _arco de la plata_ leading to the charcas road, he found settled there a nation of indians named huallas, already mentioned. manco ccapac and mama occlo began to settle and to take possession of the land and water, against the will of the huallas. on this business they did many violent and unjust things. as the huallas attempted to defend their lives and properties, many cruelties were committed by manco ccapac and mama occlo. they relate that mama occlo was so fierce that, having killed one of the hualla indians, she cut him up, took out the inside, carried the heart and lungs in her mouth, and with an _ayuinto_, which is a stone fastened to a rope, in her hand, she attacked the huallas with diabolical resolution. when the huallas beheld this horrible and inhuman spectacle, they feared that the same thing would be done to them, being simple and timid, and they fled and abandoned their rights. mama occlo reflecting on her cruelty, and fearing that for it they would be branded as tyrants, resolved not to spare any huallas, believing that the affair would thus be forgotten. so they killed all they could lay their hands upon, dragging infants from their mothers' wombs, that no memory might be left of these miserable huallas. having done this manco ccapac advanced, and came within a mile of cuzco to the s.e., where a sinchi named copalimayta came out to oppose him. we have mentioned this chief before and that, although he was a late comer, he settled with the consent of the natives of the valley, and had been incorporated in the nation of sauaseray panaca, natives of the site of santo domingo at cuzco. having seen the strangers invading their lands and tyrannizing over them, and knowing the cruelties inflicted on the huallas, they had chosen copalimayta as their sinchi. he came forth to resist the invasion, saying that the strangers should not enter his lands or those of the natives. his resistance was such that manco ccapac and his companions were obliged to turn their backs. they returned to huanay-pata, the land they had usurped from the huallas. from the sowing they had made they derived a fine crop of maize, and for this reason they gave the place a name which means something precious[ ]. [note : the origin of the inca dynasty derived from manco ccapac and his brethren issuing from the window at paccari-tampu may be called the paccari-tampu myth. it was universally received and believed. garcilasso de la vega gives the meanings of the names of the brothers. ayar cachi means salt or instruction in rational life, ayar uchu is pepper, meaning the delight experienced from such teaching, and ayar sauca means pleasure, or the joy they afterwards experienced from it. balboa gives an account of the death of ayar cachi, but calls him ayar auca. he also describes the turning into stone at huanacauri. betanzos tells much the same story as sarmiento; as do cieza de leon and montesinos, with some slight differences. yamqui pachacuti gives the names of the brothers, but only relates the huanacauri part of the story. montesinos and garcilasso de la vega call one of the brothers ayar sauca. sarmiento, betanzos and balboa call him ayar auca. all agree in the names of the other brothers.] after some months they returned to the attack on the natives of the valley, to tyrannize over them. they assaulted the settlement of the sauaseras, and were so rapid in their attack that they captured copalimayta, slaughtering many of the sauaseras with great cruelty. copalimayta, finding himself a prisoner and fearing death, fled out of desperation, leaving his estates, and was never seen again after he escaped. mama huaco and manco ccapac usurped his houses, lands and people. in this way manco ccapac, mama huaco, sinchi rocca, and manco sapaca settled on the site between the two rivers, and erected the house of the sun, which they called ynti-cancha. they divided all that position, from santo domingo to the junction of the rivers into four neighbourhoods or quarters which they call _cancha_. they called one quinti-cancha, the second chumpi-cancha, the third sayri-cancha, and the fourth yarampuy-cancha. they divided the sites among themselves, and thus the city was peopled, and, from the heap of stones of ayar auca it was called cuzco[ ]. [note : garcilasso de la vega gives the most detailed description of the city of cuzco and its suburbs, ii. p. , but he does not mention these four divisions. the space from santo domingo to the junction of the rivers only covers a few acres; and was devoted to the gardens of the sun.] xiv. the difference between manco ccapac and the alcabisas, respecting the arable land. it has been said that one of the natural tribes of this valley of cuzco was the alcabisas. at the time when manco ccapac settled at ynti-cancha and seized the goods of the sauaseras and huallas, the alcabisas were settled half an arquebus shot from ynti-canchi, towards the part where santa clara now stands. manco ccapac had a plan to spread out his forces that his tyrannical intentions might not be impeded, so he sent his people, as if loosely and idly, making free with the land. he took the lands without distinction, to support his companies. as he had taken those of the huallas and sauaseras, he wished also to take those of the alcabisas. as these alcabisas had given up some, manco ccapac wished and intended to take all or nearly all. when the alcabisas saw that the new comers even entered their houses, they said: "these are men who are bellicose and unreasonable! they take our lands! let us set up landmarks on the fields they have left to us." this they did, but mama huaco said to manco ccapac, "let us take all the water from the alcabisas, and then they will be obliged to give us the rest of their land." this was done and they took away the water. over this there were disputes; but as the followers of manco ccapac were more and more masterful, they forced the alcabisas to give up their lands which they wanted, and to serve them as their lords, although the alcabisas never voluntarily served manco ccapac nor looked upon him as their lord. on the contrary they always went about saying with loud voices-to those of manco ccapac--"away! away! out of our territory." for this manco ccapac was more hard upon them, and oppressed them tyrannically. besides the alcabisas there were other tribes, as we have mentioned before. these manco ccapac and mama huaco totally destroyed, and more especially one which lived near ynti-cancha, in the nearest land, called humanamean, between ynti-cancha and cayocachi[ ], where there also lived another native sinchi named culunchima. manco ccapac entered the houses and lands of all the natives, especially of the alcabisas, condemned their sinchi to perpetual imprisonment, sending the others to banishment in cayocachi, and forcing them to pay tribute. but they were always trying to free themselves from the tyranny, as the alcabisas did later[ ]. [note : garcilasso de la vega describes cayau-cachi as a small village of about inhabitants in his time. it was about paces west of the nearest house of the city in ; but he had been told that, at the time of his writing in , the houses had been extended so as to include it.] [note : cieza de leon and balboa corroborate the story of sarmiento that the alcabisas (cieza calls them alcaviquizas, balboa has allcay-villcas) were hostile to the incas, cieza, ii. p. , balboa, p. . yamqui pachacuti mentions them as allcayviesas, p. .] having completed the yoke over the natives, their goods and persons, manco ccapac was now very old. feeling the approach of death, and fearing that in leaving the sovereignty to his son, sinchi rocca, he and his successors might not be able to retain it owing to the bad things he had done and to the tyranny he had established, he ordered that the ten lineages or companies that had come with him from tampu-tocco should form themselves into a garrison or guard, to be always on the watch over the persons of his son and of his other descendants to keep them safe. they were to elect the successor when he had been nominated by his father, or succeeded on the death of his father. for he would not trust the natives to nominate or elect, knowing the evil he had done, and the force he had used towards them. manco ccapac being now on the point of death, he left the bird _indi_ enclosed in its cage, the _tupac-yauri_[ ] or sceptre, the _napa_ and the _suntur-paucar_ the insignia of a prince, [_though tyrant_,] to his son sinchi rocca that he might take his place, [_and this without the consent or election of any of the natives_]. [note : _tupac-yauri_ the sceptre of the sovereign. molina, pp. , , . yamqui pachacuti, p. .] thus died manco ccapac, according to the accounts of those of his _ayllu_ or lineage, at the age of years, which were divided in the following manner. when he set out from paccari-tampu or tampu-tocco he was years of age. from that time until he arrived at the valley of cuzco, during which interval he was seeking for fertile lands, there were eight years. for in one place he stayed one, in another two years, in others more or less until he reached cuzco, where he lived all the rest of the time, which was years, as _ccapac_ or supreme and rich sovereign. they say that he was a man of good stature, thin, rustic, cruel though frank, and that in dying he was converted into a stone of a height of a vara and a half. the stone was preserved with much veneration in the ynti-cancha until the year when, the licentiate polo ondegardo being corregidor of cuzco, found it and took it away from where it was adored and venerated by all the incas, in the village of bimbilla near cuzco. from this manco ccapac were originated the ten ayllus mentioned above. from his time began the idols _huauquis_, which was an idol or demon chosen by each inca for his companion and oracle which gave him answers[ ]. that of manco ccapac was the bird _indi_ already mentioned. this manco ccapac ordered, for the preservation of his memory, the following: his eldest son by his legitimate wife, who was his sister, was to succeed to the sovereignty. if there was a second son his duty was to be to help all the other children and relations. they were to recognize him as the head in all their necessities, and he was to take charge of their interests, and for this duty estates were set aside. this party or lineage was called _ayllu_ if there was no second son, or if there was one who was incapable, the duty was to be passed on to the nearest and ablest relation. and that those to come might have a precedent or example, manco ccapac made the first _ayllu_ and called it _chima panaca ayllu_, which means the lineage descending from chima, because the first to whom he left his _ayllu_ or lineage in charge was named _chima_, and _panaca_ means "to descend." it is to be noted that the members of this _ayllu_ always adored the statue of manco ccapac, and not those of the other incas, but the _ayllus_ of the other incas always worshipped that statue and the others also. it is not known what was done with the body, for there was only the statue. they carried it in their wars, thinking that it secured the victories they won. they also took it to huanacauri, when they celebrated the _huarachicos_ of the incas. huayna ccapac took it with him to quito and cayambis, and afterwards it was brought back to cuzco with the dead body of that inca. there are still those of this _ayllu_ in cuzco who preserve the memory of the deeds of manco ccapac. the principal heads of the _ayllu_ are now don diego chaco, and don juan huarhua chima. they are hurin-cuzcos. manco ccapac died in the year of the nativity of christ our lord, loyba the goth reigning in spain, constantine iv being emperor. he lived in the ynti-cancha, house of the sun. [note : sarmiento says that every sovereign inca had a familiar demon or idol which he called _guauqui_, and that the _guauqui_ of manco ccapac was the _indi_ or bird already mentioned. this is corroborated by polo de ondegardo. the word seems to be the same as _huauqui_, a brother.] xv. commences the life of sinchi rocca, the second inca. it has been said that manco ccapac, the first inca, who tyrannized over the natives of the valley of cuzco, only subjugated the huallas, alcabisas, sauaseras, culunchima, copalimayta and the others mentioned above, who were all within the circuit of what is now the city of cuzco. to this manco ccapac succeeded his son sinchi rocca, son also of mama occlo, his mother and aunt[ ]. he succeeded by nomination of his father, under the care of the _ayllus_ who then all lived together, but not by election of the people, they were all either in flight, prisoners, wounded or banished, and were all his mortal enemies owing to the cruelties and robberies exercised upon them by his father manco ccapac. sinchi rocca was not a warlike person, and no feats of arms are recorded of him, nor did he sally forth from cuzco, either himself or by his captains[ ]. he added nothing to what his father had subjugated, only holding by his _ayllus_ those whom his father had crushed. he had for a wife mama cuca of the town of saño by whom he had a son named lloqui yupanqui. lloqui means left-handed, because he was so. he left his _ayllu_ called _raura panaca ayllu_ of the hurin-cuzco side. there are some of this _ayllu_ living, the chiefs being don alonso puscon and don diego quispi. these have the duty of knowing and maintaining the things and memories of sinchi rocca. he lived in ynti-cancha, the house of the sun, and all his years were . he succeeded when , and reigned years. he died in the year of the nativity of our lord jesus christ , wamba being king of spain, leo iv emperor, and donus pope. he left an idol of stone shaped like a fish called _huanachiri amaru_, which during life was his idol or _guauqui_. polo, being corregidor of cuzco, found this idol, with the body of sinchi rocca, in the village of bimbilla, among some bars of copper. the idol had attendants and cultivated lands for its service. [note : all the authorities concur that sinchi rocca was the second sovereign of the inca dynasty, except montesinos, who makes him the first and calls him inca rocca. acosta has inguarroca, and betanzos chincheroca.] [note : cieza de leon and garcilasso de la vega also say that sinchi rocca waged no wars. the latter tells us that, by peaceful means, he extended his dominions over the canchis, as far as chuncara.] xvi. the life of lloqui yupanqui, the third inca. on the death of sinchi rocca the incaship was occupied by lloqui yupanqui, son of sinchi rocca by mama cuca his wife. it is to be noted that, although manco ccapac had ordered that the eldest son should succeed, this inca broke the rule of his grandfather, for he had an elder brother named manco sapaca[ ], as it is said, who did not consent, and the indians do not declare whether he was nominated by his father. from this i think that lloqui yupanqui was not nominated, but manco sapaca as the eldest, for so little regard for the natives or their approval was shown. this being so, it was tyranny against the natives and infidelity to relations with connivance of the _ayllus_ legionaries; and with the inca's favour they could do what they liked, by supporting him. so lloqui yupanqui lived in ynti-cancha like his father[ ]. he never left cuzco on a warlike expedition nor performed any memorable deed, but merely lived like his father, having communication with some provinces and chiefs. these were huaman samo, chief of huaro, pachaculla viracocha, the ayamarcas of tampu-cunca, and the quilliscachis[ ]. [note : manco sapaca, the eldest son of sinchi rocca, is also mentioned by balboa, pp. , , .] [note : all the authorities concur in making lloqui yupanqui the third inca, except acosta, who has iaguarhuaque. herrera spells it lloki yupanqui, fernandez has lloccuco panque, merely corrupt spellings. cieza de leon also represents this reign to have been peaceful, but garcilasso de la vega makes lloqui yupanqui conquer the collao.] [note : huaro or guaro is a village south of cuzco in the valley of the vilcamayu (balboa, p. ). huaman samo was the chief of huaro. balboa mentions pachachalla viracocha as a chief of great prudence and ability who submitted to lloqui yupanqui, pp. , . the ayamarcas formed a powerful tribe about miles south of cuzco. the quilliscachis formed one of the original tribes in the valley of cuzco (yamqui pachacuti, p. ). tampu-cunca only occurs here.] one day lloqui yupanqui being very sad and afflicted, the sun appeared to him in the form of a person and consoled him by saying---"do not be sorrowful, lloqui yupanqui, for from you shall descend great lords," also, that he might hold it for certain that he would have male issue. for lloqui yupanqui was then very old, and neither had a son nor expected to have one. this having been made known, and what the sun had announced to lloqui yupanqui having been published to the people, his relations determined to seek a wife for him. his brother manco sapaca, understanding the fraternal disposition, sought for a woman who was suitable for it. he found her in a town called oma, two leagues from cuzco, asked for her from her guardians, and, with their consent, brought her to cuzco. she was then married to lloqui yupanqui. her name was mama cava, and by her the inca had a son named mayta ccapac. this lloqui did nothing worthy of remembrance. he carried with him an idol, which was his _guauqui_ called _apu mayta_. his _ayllu_ is _avayni panaca ayllu_, because the first who had the charge of this _ayllu_ was named avayni. this inca lived and died in ynti-cancha. he was years of age, having succeeded at the age of , so that he was sovereign or "ccapac" for years. he died in , alfonso el casto being king of spain and leo iv supreme pontiff. some of this _ayllu_ still live at cuzco. the chiefs are putisuc titu avcaylli, titu rimachi, don felipe titu cunti mayta, don agustin cunti mayta, juan bautista quispi cunti mayta. they are hurin-cuzcos. the licentiate polo found the body of this inca with the rest. xvii. the life of mayta ccapac, the fourth inca[ ]. [note : all authorities agree that mayta ccapac was the fourth inca, except acosta and betanzos. acosta has viracocha. betanzos places mayta ccapac after ccapac yupanqui, whom other authorities make his son. his reign was peaceful except that he encountered and finally vanquished the alcabisas. but garcilasso de la vega makes him the conqueror of the region south of lake titicaca, as well as provinces to the westward, including the settlement of arequipa. all this is doubtless a mistake on the part of garcilasso.] mayta ccapac, the fourth inca, son of lloqui yupanqui and his wife mama cava, is to those indians what hercules is to us, as regards his birth and acts, for they relate strange things of him. at the very first the indians of his lineage, and all the others in general, say that his father, when he was begotten, was so old and weak that every one believed he was useless, so that they thought the conception was a miracle. the second wonder was that his mother bore him three months after conception, and that he was born strong and with teeth. all affirm this, and that he grew at such a rate that in one year he had as much strength and was as big as a boy of eight years or more. at two years he fought with very big boys, knocked them about and hurt them seriously. this all looks as if it might be counted with the other fables, but i write what the natives believe respecting their ancestors, and they hold this to be so true that they would kill anyone who asserted the contrary. they say of this mayta that when he was of very tender years, he was playing with some boys of the alcabisas and culunchimas, natives of cuzco, when he hurt many of them and killed some. and one day, drinking or taking water from a fountain, he broke the leg of the son of a sinchi of the alcabisas, and hunted the rest until they shut themselves up in their houses, where the alcabisas lived without injuring the incas. but now the alcabisas, unable to endure longer the naughtiness of mayta ccapac, which he practised under the protection of lloqui yupanqui, and the _ayllus_ who watched over him, determined to regain their liberty and to venture their lives for it. so they selected ten resolute indians to go to the house of the sun where lloqui yupanqui and his son mayta ccapac lived, and enter it with the intention of killing them. at the time mayta ccapac was in the court yard of the house, playing at ball with some other boys. when he saw enemies entering the house with arms, he threw one of the balls he was playing with, and killed one. he did the same to another, and, attacking the rest, they all fled. though the rest escaped, they had received many wounds, and in this state they went back to their sinchis of calunchima and alcabasa. the chiefs, considering the harm mayta ccapac had done to the natives when a child, feared that when he was grown up he would destroy them all, and for this reason they resolved to die for their liberty. all the inhabitants of the valley of cuzco, that had been spared by manco ccapac, united to make war on the incas. this very seriously alarmed lloqui yupanqui. he thought he was lost, and reprehended his son mayta ccapac, saying, "son! why hast thou been so harmful to the natives of this valley, so that in my old age i shall die at the hands of our enemies?" as the _ayllus_, who were in garrison with the incas, rejoiced more in rapine and disturbances than in quiet, they took the part of mayta ccapac and told the old inca to hold his peace, leaving the matter to his son, so lloqui yupanqui took no further steps in reprehending mayta ccapac. the alcabisas and culunchimas assembled their forces and mayta ccapac marshalled his _ayllus_. there was a battle between the two armies and although it was doubtful for some time, both sides fighting desperately for victory, the alcabisas and calunchimas were finally defeated by the troops of mayta ccapac. but not for this did the alcabisas give up the attempt to free themselves and avenge their wrongs. again they challenged mayta ccapac to battle, which he accepted. as they advanced they say that such a hail storm fell over the alcabisas that they were defeated a third time, and entirely broken up. mayta ccapac imprisoned their sinchi for the remainder of his life. mayta ccapac married mama tacucaray, native of the town of tacucaray, and by her he had a legitimate son named ccapac yupanqui, besides four others named tarco huaman, apu cunti mayta, queco avcaylli, and rocca yupanqui. this mayta ccapac was warlike, and the inca who first distinguished himself in arms after the time of mama huaco and manco ccapac. they relate of him that he dared to open the hamper containing the bird _indi_. this bird, brought by manco ccapac from tampu-tocco, had been inherited by his successors, the predecessors of mayta ccapac, who had always kept it shut up in a hamper or box of straw, such was the fear they had of it. but mayta ccapac was bolder than any of them. desirous of seeing what his predecessors had guarded so carefully, he opened the hamper, saw the bird _indi_ and had some conversation with it. they say that it gave him oracles, and that after the interview with the bird he was wiser, and knew better what he should do, and what would happen. with all this he did not go forth from the valley of cuzco, although chiefs from some distant nations came to visit him. he lived in ynti-cancha, the house of the sun. he left a lineage called _usca mayta panaca ayllu_, and some members of it are still living in cuzco. the heads are named don juan tambo usca mayta, and don baltasar quiso mayta. they are hurin-cuzcos. mayta ccapac died at the age of years, in the year of the nativity of our lord jesus christ. the licentiate polo found his body and idol _guauqui_ with the rest. xviii. the life of ccapac yupanqui, the fifth inca[ ]. [note : all authorities are agreed that ccapac yupanqui was the fifth inca, except betanzos, who puts him in his father's place. garcilasso attributes extensive conquests to him, both to south and west.] at the time of his death, mayta ccapac named ccapac yupanqui as his successor, his son by his wife mama tacucaray. this ccapac yupanqui, as soon as he succeeded to the incaship, made his brothers swear allegiance to him, and that they desired that he should be ccapac. they complied from fear, for he was proud and cruel. at first he lived very quietly in the ynti-cancha. it is to be noted that although ccapac yupanqui succeeded his father, he was not the eldest son. cunti mayta, who was older, had an ugly face. his father had, therefore, disinherited him and named ccapac yupanqui as successor to the sovereignty, and cunti mayta as high priest. for this reason ccapac yupanqui was not the legitimate heir, although he tyrannically forced his brothers to swear allegiance to him. this inca, it is said, was the first to make conquests beyond the valley of cuzco. he forcibly subjugated the people of cuyumarca and ancasmarca, four leagues from cuzco. a wealthy sinchi of ayamarca, from fear, presented his daughter, named ccuri-hilpay to the inca. others say that she was a native of cuzco. the inca received her as his wife, and had a son by her named inca rocca, besides five other sons by various women. these sons were named apu calla, humpi, apu saca, apu chima-chaui, and uchun-cuna-ascalla-rando[ ]. apu saca had a son named apu mayta, a very valiant and famous captain, who greatly distinguished himself in the time of inca rocca and viracocha inca, in company with vicaquirau, another esteemed captain. besides these ccapac yupanqui had another son named apu urco huaranca[ ]. this ccapac yupanqui lived years, and was ccapac for years. he succeeded at the age of , and died in the year of the nativity of our redeemer jesus christ. his _ayllu_ or lineage was and is called _apu mayta panaca ayllu_. several of this lineage are now living, the principal heads being four in number, namely, don cristobal cusi-hualpa, don antonio piçuy, don francisco cocasaca, and don alonso rupaca. they are hurin-cuzcos. the licentiate polo found the idol or _guaoqui_ of this inca with the body. they were hidden with the rest, to conceal the idolatrous ceremonies of heathen times. [note : _calla_ means a distaff. _humpi_ means perspiration. _saca_ is a game bird, also a comet. chima-chaui is a proper name with no meaning. the name of the fifth son is rather unmanageable. uchun-cuna-ascalla-rando. _uchun-cuna_ would mean the peruvian pepper with the plural particle. _ascalla_ would be a small potato. _rando_ is a corrupt form of _runtu_, an egg. this little inca seems to have done the marketing.] [note : _urco_, the male gender. _huaranca_, a thousand.] xix. the life of inca rocca, the sixth inca[ ]. when ccapac yupanqui died, inca rocca, his son by his wife ccuri-hilpay, succeeded by nomination of his father and the guardian _ayllus_. this inca rocca showed force and valour at the beginning of his incaship, for he conquered the territories of muyna[ ] and pinahua with great violence and cruelty. they are rather more than four leagues to the south-south-east of cuzco. he killed their sinchis muyna pancu, and huaman-tupac, though some say that huaman-tupac fled and was never more seen. he did this by the help of apu mayta his nephew, and grandson of ccapac yupanqui. he also conquered caytomarca, four leagues from cuzco. he discovered the waters of hurin-chacan and those of hanan-chacan, which is as much as to say the upper and lower waters of cuzco, and led them in conduits; so that to this day they irrigate fields; and his sons and descendants have benefited by them to this day. [note : all authorities are agreed respecting inca rocca as the sixth inca. garcilasso makes him extend the inca dominion beyond the apurimac, and into the country of the chancos.] [note : muyna is a district with a lake, miles s.s.w. of cuzco. pinahua is mentioned by garcilasso as a chief to the westward, i. p. .] inca rocca gave himself up to pleasures and banquets, preferring to live in idleness. he loved his children to that extent, that for them he forgot duties to his people and even to his own person. he married a great lady of the town of pata-huayllacan, daughter of the sinchi of that territory, named soma inca. her name was mama micay. from this marriage came the wars between tocay ccapac and the cuzcos as we shall presently relate. by this wife inca rocca had a son named titu cusi hualpa[ ], and by another name yahuar-huaccac, and besides this eldest legitimate son he had four other famous sons named inca paucar, huaman taysi inca, and vicaquirau inca[ ]. the latter was a great warrior, companion in arms with apu mayta. these two captains won great victories and subdued many provinces for viracocha inca and inca yupanqui. they were the founders of the great power to which the incas afterwards attained. [note : _titu_ means august or magnanimous. _cusi_ joyful. _hualpa_ a game bird. _paucar_ means beautiful or bright coloured. _huaman_ a falcon. _vica_ may be _nilca_ sacred. _quirau_ a cradle.] as the events which happened in the reign of inca rocca touching the ayamarcas will be narrated in the life of his son, we will not say more of this inca, except that, while his ancestors had always lived in the lower part of cuzco, and were therefore called hurin-cuzcos, he ordered that those who sprang from him should form another party, and be called hanan-cuzcos, which means the cuzcos of the upper part. so that from this inca began the party of upper or hanan-cuzcos, for presently he and his successors left their residence at the house of the sun, and established themselves away from it, building palaces where they lived, in the upper part of the town. it is to be noted that each inca had a special palace in which he lived, the son not wishing to reside in the palace where his father had lived. it was left in the same state as it was in when the father died, with servants, relations, _ayllus_ or heirs that they might maintain it, and keep the edifices in repair. the incas and their _ayllus_ were, and still are hanan-cuzco; although afterwards, in the time of pachacuti, these _ayllus_ were reformed by him. some say that then were established the two parties which have been so celebrated in these parts. inca rocca named his son vicaquirao as the head of his lineage, and it is still called after him the _vicaquirao panaca ayllu_. there are now some of this lineage living in cuzco, the principal heads who protect and maintain it being the following: don francisco huaman rimachi hachacoma, and don antonio huaman mayta. they are hanan-cuzcos. inca rocca lived years, and died in the year of the nativity of our lord. the licentiate polo found his body in the town called rarapa, kept there with much care and veneration according to their rites. xx. the life of titu cusi hualpa, vulgarly called yahuar-huaccac. titu cusi hualpa inca, eldest son of inca rocca and his wife mama micay, had a strange adventure in his childhood[ ]. these natives therefore relate his life from his childhood, and in the course of it they tell some things of his father, and of some who were strangers in cuzco, as follows. it has been related how the inca rocca married mama micay by the rites of their religion. but it must be understood that those of huayllacan had already promised to give mama micay, who was their countrywoman and very beautiful, in marriage to tocay ccapac, sinchi of the ayamarcas their neighbours. when the ayamarcas[ ] saw that the huayllacans had broken their word, they were furious and declared war, considering them as enemies. war was carried on, the huayllacans defending themselves and also attacking the ayamarcas, both sides committing cruelties, inflicting deaths and losses, and causing great injury to each other. while this war was being waged, mama micay gave birth to her son titu cusi hualpa. the war continued for some years after his birth, when both sides saw that they were destroying each other, and agreed to come to terms, to avoid further injury. the ayamarcas, who were the most powerful, requested those of huayllacan to deliver the child titu cusi hualpa into their hands, to do what they liked with him. on this condition they would desist from further hostilities, but if it was not complied with, they announced that they would continue a mortal war to the end. the huayllacans, fearing this, and knowing their inability for further resistance, accepted the condition, although they were uncles and relations of the child. in order to comply it was necessary for them to deceive the inca. there was, in the town of paulo, a brother of inca rocca and uncle of titu cusi hualpa named inca paucar. he went or sent messengers to ask inca rocca to think well of sending his nephew titu cusi hualpa to his town of paulo in order that, while still a child, he might learn to know and care for his relations on his mother's side, while they wanted to make him the heir of their estates. believing in these words the inca rocca consented that his son should be taken to paulo, or the town of micocancha. as soon as they had the child in their town the huayllacans made great feasts in honour of titu cusi hualpa, who was then eight years old, a little more or less. his father had sent some incas to guard him. when the festivities were over, the huayllacans sent to give notice to the ayamarcas that, while they were occupied in ploughing certain lands which they call _chacaras_, they might come down on the town and carry off the child, doing with him what they chose, in accordance with the agreement. the ayamarcas, being informed, came at the time and to the place notified and, finding the child titu cusi hualpa alone, they carried it off. [note : the very interesting story of the kidnapping of the heir of inca rocca, is well told by sarmiento.] [note : the ayarmarcas seem to have occupied the country about miles s.s.w. of cuzco, near muyna. the word ayar is the same as that in the names of the brethren of manco ccapac. but others omit the r, and make it ayamarca, cieza de leon, pp. , , garcilasso, i. p. , yamqui pachacuti, p. . the month of october was called ayamarca-raymi. molina says that it was because the ayamarca tribe celebrated the feast of huarachicu in that month.] others say that this treason was carried out in another way. while the uncle was giving the child many presents, his cousins, the sons of inca paucar, became jealous and treated with tocay ccapac to deliver the child into his hands. owing to this notice tocay ccapac came. inca paucar had gone out to deliver to his nephew a certain estate and a flock of llamas. tocay ccapac, the enemy of inca rocca was told by those who had charge of the boy. he who carried him fled, and the boy was seized and carried off by tocay ccapac. be it the one way or the other, the result was that the ayamarcas took titu cusi hualpa from the custody of inca paucar in the town of paulo, while inca paucar and the huayllacans sent the news to inca rocca by one party, and with another took up arms against the ayamarcas. xxi. what happened after the ayamarcas had stolen titu cusi hualpa. when the ayamarcas and their sinchi tocay ccapac stole the son of inca rocca, they marched off with him. the huayllacans of paulopampa, under their sinchi paucar inca, marched in pursuit, coming up to them at a place called amaro, on the territory of the ayamarcas. there was an encounter between them, one side to recover the child, and the other to keep their capture. but paucar was only making a demonstration so as to have an excuse ready. consequently the ayamarcas were victorious, while the huayllacans broke and fled. it is said that in this encounter, and when the child was stolen, all the _orejones_ who had come as a guard from cuzco, were slain. the ayamarcas then took the child to the chief place of their province called ahuayro-cancha. many say that tocay ccapac was not personally in this raid but that he sent his ayamarcas, who, when they arrived at ahuayro-cancha, presented the child titu cusi hualpa to him, saying, "look here, tocay ccapac, at the prisoner we have brought you." the sinchi received his prize with great satisfaction, asking in a loud voice if this was the child of mama micay, who ought to have been his wife. titu cusi hualpa, though but a child, replied boldly that he was the son of mama micay and of the inca rocca. tocay was indignant when he had heard those words, and ordered those who brought the child as a prisoner to take him out and kill him. the boy, when he heard such a sentence passed upon him, was so filled with sadness and fright, that he began to weep from fear of death. he began to shed tears of blood and with indignation beyond his years, in the form of a malediction he said to tocay and the ayamarcas, "i tell you that as sure as you murder me there will come such a curse on you and your descendants that you will all come to an end, without any memory being left of your nation." the ayamarcas and tocay attentively considered this curse of the child together with the tears of blood. they thought there was some great mystery that so young a child should utter such weighty words, and that the fear of death should make such an impression on him that he should shed tears of blood. they were in suspense divining what it portended, whether that the child would become a great man. they revoked the sentence of death, calling the child _yahuar-huaccac_, which means "weeper of blood," in allusion to what had taken place. but although they did not wish to kill him then and with their own hands, they ordered that he should lead such a life as that he would die of hunger. before this they all said to the child that he should turn his face to cuzco and weep over it, because those curses he had pronounced, would fall on the inhabitants of cuzco, and so it happened. this done they delivered him to the most valiant indians, and ordered them to take him to certain farms where flocks were kept, giving him to eat by rule, and so sparingly that he would be consumed with hunger before he died. he was there for a year without leaving the place, so that they did not know at cuzco, or anywhere else, whether he was dead or alive. during this time inca rocca, being without certain knowledge of his son, did not wish to make war on the ayamarcas because, if he was alive, they might kill him. so he did no more than prepare his men of war and keep ready, while he enquired for his son in all the ways that were possible. xxii. how it became known that yahuar-huaccac was alive. as the child yahuar-huaccac was a year among the shepherds without leaving their huts, which served as a prison, no one knew where he was, because he could not come forth, being well watched by the shepherds and other guards. but it so happened that there was a woman in the place called chimpu orma, native of the town of anta, three leagues from cuzco. she was a concubine of the sinchi tocay ccapac, and for this reason she had leave to walk about and go into all parts as she pleased. she was the daughter of the sinchi of anta, and having given an account of the treatment of the child to her father, brothers, and relations, she persuaded them to help in his liberation. they came on a certain day and, with the pass given them by chimpu orma, the father and relations arranged the escape of yahuar-huaccac. they stationed themselves behind a hill. yahuar-huaccac was to run in a race with some other boys, to see which could get to the top of the hill first. when the prince reached the top, the men of anta, who were hidden there, took him in their arms and ran swiftly with him to anta. when the other boys saw this they quickly gave notice to the valiant guards, who ran after the men of anta. they overtook them at the lake of huaypon, where there was a fierce battle. finally the ayamarcas got the worst of it, for they were nearly all killed or wounded. the men of anta continued their journey to their town, where they gave many presents to yahuar-huaccac and much service, having freed him from the mortal imprisonment in which tocay ccapac held him. in this town of anta the boy remained a year, being served with much love, but so secretly that his father inca rocca did not know that he had escaped, during all that time. at the end of a year those of anta agreed to send messengers to inca rocca to let him know of the safety of his son and heir, because they desired to know and serve him. the messengers went to inca rocca and, having delivered their message, received the reply that the inca only knew that the ayamarcas had stolen his son. they were asked about it again and again, and at last inca rocca came down from his throne and closely examined the messengers, that they might tell him more, for not without cause had he asked them so often. the messengers, being so persistently questioned by inca rocca, related what had passed, and that his son was free in anta, served and regaled by the chief who had liberated him. inca rocca rejoiced, promised favours, and dismissed the messengers with thanks. inca rocca then celebrated the event with feasts and rejoicings. but not feeling quite certain of the truth of what he had been told, he sent a poor man seeking charity to make enquiries at anta, whether it was all true. the poor man went, ascertained that the child was certainly liberated, and returned with the news to inca rocca; which gave rise to further rejoicings in cuzco. presently the inca sent many principal people of cuzco with presents of gold, silver, and cloth to the antas, asking them to receive them and to send back his son. the antas replied that they did not want his presents which they returned, that they cared more that yahuar-huaccac should remain with them, that they might serve him and his father also, for they felt much love for the boy. yet if inca rocca wanted his son, he should be returned on condition that, from that time forwards, the antas should be called relations of the _orejones_. when inca rocca was made acquainted with the condition, he went to anta and conceded what they asked for, to the sinchi and his people. for this reason the antas were called relations of the cuzcos from that time. inca rocca brought his son yahuar-huaccac to cuzco and nominated him successor to the incaship, the _ayllus_ and _orejones_ receiving him as such. at the end of two years inca rocca died, and yahuar-huaccac, whose former name was titu cusi hualpa, remained sole inca. before inca rocca died he made friends with tocay ccapac, through the mediation of mama chicya, daughter of tocay ccapac, who married yahuar-huaccac, and inca rocca gave his daughter ccuri-occllo in marriage to tocay ccapac. xxiii. yahuar-huaccac inca yupanqui commences his reign alone, after the death of his father[ ]. when yahuar-huaccac found himself in possession of the sole sovereignty, he remembered the treason with which he had been betrayed by the huayllacans who sold him and delivered him up to his enemies the ayamarcas; and he proposed to inflict an exemplary punishment on them. when the huayllacans knew this, they humbled themselves before yahuar-huaccac, entreating him to forgive the evil deeds they had committed against him. yahuar-huaccac, taking into consideration that they were relations, forgave them. then he sent a force, under the command of his brother vicaquirau, against mohina and pinahua, four leagues from cuzco, who subdued these places. he committed great cruelties, for no other reason than that they did not come to obey his will. this would be about years after the time when he rested in cuzco. some years afterwards the town of mollaca, near cuzco, was conquered and subjugated by force of arms. [note : _yahuar_ means blood. _huaccani_ to weep. yahuar-huaccac succeeded to inca rocca according to garcilasso de la vega, montesinos, betanzos, balboa, yamqui pachacuti and sarmiento. cieza de leon and herrera have inca yupanqui. garcilasso makes this inca banish his son viracocha, who returns in consequence of a dream, and defeats the chancas. this all seems to be a mistake. it was viracocha who fled, and his son inca yupanqui, surnamed pachacuti, who defeated the chancas and dethroned his father.] yahuar-huaccac had, by his wife mama chicya, three legitimate sons. the eldest was paucar ayllu. the second, pahuac hualpa mayta[ ], was chosen to succeed his father, though he was not the eldest. the third was named viracocha, who was afterwards inca through the death of his brother. besides these he had three other illegitimate sons named vicchu tupac because he subdued the town of vicchu, marca-yutu, and rocca inca. as the huayllacans wanted marca-yutu to succeed yahuar-huaccac, because he was their relation, they determined to kill pahuac hualpa mayta, who was nominated to succeed. with this object they asked his father to let him go to paulo. forgetting their former treason, he sent the child to its grandfather soma inca with forty _orejones_ of the _ayllus_ of cuzco as his guard. when he came to their town they killed him, for which the inca, his father, inflicted a great punishment on the huayllacans, killing some and banishing others until very few were left. [note : or pahuac mayta inca (garcilasso de la vega, i. p. ) so named from his swiftness. _pahuani_, to run.] the inca then went to the conquest of pillauya, three leagues from cuzco in the valley of pisac, and to choyca, an adjacent place, and to yuco. after that he oppressed by force and with cruelties, the towns of chillincay, taocamarca, and the caviñas, making them pay tribute. the inca conquered ten places himself or through his son and captains. some attribute all the conquests to his son viracocha. this inca was a man of gentle disposition and very handsome face. he lived years. he succeeded his father at the age of , and was sovereign for years. he left an _ayllu_ named _aucaylli panaca_, and some are still living at cuzco. the principal chiefs who maintain it are don juan concha yupanqui, don martin titu yupanqui, and don gonzalo paucar aucaylli. they are hanan-cuzcos. the body of this inca has not been discovered[ ]. it is believed that those of the town of paulo have it, with the inca's _guauqui_. [note : in the margin of the ms., "the witnesses said that they believed that the licentiate polo found it." navamuel.] xxiv. life of viracocha the eighth inca[ ]. [note : all authorities agree respecting viracocha as the eighth inca.] as the huayllacans murdered pahuac hualpa mayta who should have succeeded his father yahuar-huaccac, the second son viracocha inca was nominated for the succession, whose name when a child was hatun tupac inca, younger legitimate son of yahuar-huaccac and mama chicya. he was married to mama runtucaya, a native of anta. once when this hatun tupac inca was in urcos, a town which is a little more than five leagues s.s.e. of cuzco, where there was a sumptuous _huaca_ in honour of ticci viracocha, the deity appeared to him in the night. next morning he assembled his _orejones_, among them his tutor hualpa rimachi, and told them how viracocha had appeared to him that night, and had announced great good fortune to him and his descendants. in congratulating him hualpa rimachi saluted him, "o viracocha inca." the rest followed his example and celebrated this name, and the inca retained it all the rest of his life. others say that he took this name, because, when he was armed as a knight and had his ears bored, he took ticci viracocha as the godfather of his knighthood. be it as it may, all that is certain is that when a child, before he succeeded his father, he was named hatun tupac inca, and afterwards, for the rest of his life, viracocha inca. after he saw the apparition in urcos, the inca came to cuzco, and conceived the plan of conquering and tyrannizing over all the country that surrounds cuzco. for it is to be understood that, although his father and grandfather had conquered and robbed in these directions, as their only object was rapine and bloodshed, they did not place garrisons in the places they subdued, so that when the inca, who had conquered these people, died, they rose in arms and regained their liberty. this is the reason that we repeat several times that a place was conquered, for it was by different incas. for instance mohina and pinahua, although first overrun by inca rocca, were also invaded by yahuar-huaccac, and then by viracocha and his son inca yupanqui. each town fought so hard for its liberty, both under their sinchis and without them, that one succeeded in subjugating one and another defeated another. this was especially the case in the time of the incas. even in cuzco itself those of one suburb, called carmenca, made war on another suburb called cayocachi. so it is to be understood that, in the time of the seven incas preceding viracocha, although owing to the power they possessed in the _ayllus_, they terrorized those of cuzco and the immediate neighbourhood, the subjection only lasted while the lance was over the vanquished, and that the moment they had a chance they took up arms for their liberty. they did this at great risk to themselves, and sustained much loss of life, even those in cuzco itself, until the time of viracocha inca. this inca had resolved to subjugate all the tribes he possibly could by force and cruelty. he selected as his captains two valiant _orejones_ the one named apu mayta and the other vicaquirau, of the lineage of inca rocca. with these captains, who were cruel and impious, he began to subjugate, before all things, the inhabitants of cuzco who were not incas _orejones_, practising on them great cruelties and putting many to death. at this time many towns and provinces were up in arms. those in the neighbourhood of cuzco had risen to defend themselves from the _orejones_ incas of cuzco who had made war to tyrannize over them. others were in arms with the same motives as the incas, which was to subdue them if their forces would suffice. thus it was that though many sinchis were elected, their proceedings were confused and without concert, so that each force was small, and they were all weak and without help from each other. this being known to viracocha, it encouraged him to commence his policy of conquest beyond cuzco. before coming to treat of the nations which viracocha inca conquered, we will tell of the sons he had. by mama runtucaya, his legitimate wife, he had four sons, the first and eldest inca rocca, the second tupac yupanqui, the third inca yupanqui, and the fourth ccapac yupanqui. by another beautiful indian named ccuri-chulpa, of the ayavilla nation in the valley of cuzco he also had two sons, the one named inca urco, the other inca socso. the descendants of inca urco, however, say that he was legitimate, but all the rest say that he was a bastard[ ]. [note : urco is made by cieza de leon to succeed, and to have been dethroned by inca yupanqui owing to his flight from the chancas. yamqui pachacuti records the death of urco. herrera, fernandez, yamqui pachacuti also make urco succeed viracocha.] xxv. the provinces and towns conquered by the eighth inca viracocha. viracocha, having named apu mayta and vicaquirau as his captains, and mustered his forces, gave orders that they should advance to make conquests beyond the valley of cuzco. they went to pacaycacha, in the valley of pisac, three leagues and a half from cuzco. and because the besieged did not submit at once they assaulted the town, killing the inhabitants and their sinchi named acamaqui. next the inca marched against the towns of mohina, pinahua, casacancha, and runtucancha, five short leagues from cuzco. they had made themselves free, although yahuar-huaccac had sacked their towns. the captains of viracocha attacked and killed most of the natives, and their sinchis named muyna pancu and huaman tupac. the people of mohina and pinahua suffered from this war and subsequent cruelties because they said that they were free, and would not serve nor be vassals to the incas. at this time the eldest son, inca rocca, was grown up and showed signs of being a courageous man. viracocha, therefore, made him captain-general with apu mayta and vicaquirau as his colleagues. they also took with them inca yupanqui, who also gave hopes owing to the valour he had shown in the flower of his youth. with these captains the conquests were continued. huaypar-marca was taken, the ayamarcas were subdued, and tocay ccapac and chihuay ccapac, who had their seats near cuzco, were slain. the incas next subjugated mollaca and ruined the town of cayto, four leagues from cuzco, killing its sinchi named ccapac chani they assaulted the towns of socma and chiraques, killing their sinchis named puma lloqui and illacumbi, who were very warlike chiefs in that time, who had most valorously resisted the attacks of former incas, that they might not come from cuzco to subdue them. the inca captains also conquered calca and caquia xaquixahuana, three leagues from cuzco, and the towns of collocte and camal. they subdued the people between cuzco and quiquisana with the surrounding country, the papris and other neighbouring places; all within seven or eight leagues round cuzco. [_in these conquests they committed very great cruelties, robberies, put many to death and destroyed towns, burning and desolating along the road without leaving memory of anything_.] as viracocha was now very old, he nominated as his successor his bastard son inca urco, without regard to the order of succession, because he was very fond of his mother. this inca was bold, proud, and despised others, so that he aroused the indignation of the warriors, more especially of the legitimate sons, inca rocca, who was the eldest, and of the valiant captains apu mayta and vicaquirau. these took order to prevent this succession to the incaship, preferring one of the other brothers, the best conditioned, who would treat them well and honourably as they deserved. they secretly set their eyes on the third of the legitimate sons named cusi, afterwards called inca yupanqui, because they believed that he was mild and affable, and, besides these qualities, he showed signs of high spirit and lofty ideas. apu mayta was more in favour of this plan than the others, as he desired to have some one to shield him from the fury of viracocha inca. mayta thought that the inca would kill him because he had seduced a woman named cacchon chicya, who was a wife of viracocha. apu mayta had spoken of his plan and of his devotion to cusi, to his colleague vicaquirau. while they were consulting how it should be managed, the chancas of andahuaylas, thirty leagues from cuzco, marched upon that city, as will be narrated in the life of inca yupanqui. inca viracocha, from fear of them, fled from cuzco, and went to a place called caquia xaquixahuana, where he shut himself up, being afraid of the chancas. here he died after some years, deprived of cuzco of which his son cusi had possession for several years before his father's death. viracocha inca was he who had made the most extensive conquests beyond cuzco and, as we may say, he tyrannized anew even as regards cuzco, as has been said above. viracocha lived years, succeeding at the age of . he was ccapac years. he named the _ayllu_, which he left for the continuance of his lineage, _socso panaca ayllu_, and some are still living at cuzco, the heads being amaru titu, don francisco chalco yupanqui, don francisco anti hualpa. they are hanan-cuzcos. this inca was industrious, and inventor of cloths and embroidered work called in their language _viracocha-tocapu_, and amongst us _brocade_. he was rich [_for he robbed much_] and had vases of gold and silver. he was buried in caquia xaquixahuana and gonzalo pizarro, having heard that there was treasure with the body, discovered it and a large sum of gold. he burnt the body, and the natives collected the ashes and hid them in a vase. this, with the inca's _guauqui_, called _inca amaru_, was found by the licentiate polo, when he was corregidor of cuzco. xxvi. the life of inca yupanqui or pachacuti[ ], the ninth inca. [note : inca yupanqui surnamed pachacuti was the ninth inca. all the authorities agree that he dethroned either his father viracocha, or his half brother urco, after his victory over the chancas, and that he had a long and glorious reign.] it is related, in the life of inca viracocha, that he had four legitimate sons. of these the third named cusi, and as surname inca yupanqui, was raised to the incaship by the famous captains apu mayta and vicaquirau, and by the rest of the legitimate sons, and against the will of his father. in the course of their intrigues to carry this into effect, the times gave them the opportunity which they could not otherwise have found, in the march of the chancas upon cuzco. it happened in this way. thirty leagues to the west of cuzco there is a province called andahuaylas, the names of the natives of it being chancas. in this province there were two sinchis, [_robbers and cruel tyrants_] named uscovilca and ancovilca who, coming on an expedition from near huamanca with some companies of robbers, had settled in the valley of andahuaylas, and had there formed a state. they were brothers. uscovilca being the elder and principal one, instituted a tribe which he called hanan-chancas or upper chancas. ancovilca formed another tribe called hurin-chancas or lower chancas. these chiefs, after death, were embalmed, and because they were feared for their cruelties in life, were kept by their people. the hanan-chancas carried the statue of uscovilca with them, in their raids and wars. although they had other sinchis, they always attributed their success to the statue of uscovilca, which they called ancoallo. the tribes and companies of uscovilca had multiplied prodigiously in the time of viracocha. it seemed to them that they were so powerful that no one could equal them, so they resolved to march from andahuaylas and conquer cuzco. with this object they elected two sinchis, one named asto-huaraca, and the other tomay-huaraca, one of the tribe of hanan-chanca, the other of hurin-chanca. these were to lead them in their enterprise. the chancas and their sinchis were proud and insolent. setting out from andahuaylas they marched on the way to cuzco until they reached a place called ichu-pampa, five leagues west of that city, where they halted for some days, terrifying the neighbourhood and preparing for an advance. the news spread terror among the _orejones_ of cuzco, for they doubted the powers of inca viracocha, who was now very old and weak. thinking that the position of cuzco was insecure, viracocha called a council of his sons and captains apu mayta and vicaquirau. these captains said to him--"inca viracocha! we have understood what you have proposed to us touching this matter, and how you ought to meet the difficulty. after careful consideration it appears to us that as you are old and infirm owing to what you have undergone in former wars, it will not be well that you should attempt so great a business, dangerous and with victory doubtful, such as that which now presents itself before your eyes. the wisest counsel respecting the course you should adopt is that you should leave cuzco, and proceed to the place of chita, and thence to caquia xaquixahuana, which is a strong fort, whence you may treat for an agreement with the chancas." they gave this advice to viracocha to get him out of cuzco and give them a good opportunity to put their designs into execution, which were to raise cusi inca yupanqui to the throne. in whatever manner it was done, it is certain that this advice was taken by the inca viracocha. he determined to leave cuzco and proceed to chita, in accordance with their proposal. but when cusi inca yupanqui found that his father was determined to leave cuzco, they say that he thus addressed him, "how father can it fit into your heart to accept such infamous advice as to leave cuzco, city of the sun and of viracocha, whose name you have taken, whose promise you hold that you shall be a great lord, you and your descendants." though a boy, he said this with the animated daring of a man high in honour. the father answered that he was a boy and that he spoke like one, in talking without consideration, and that such words were of no value. inca yupanqui replied that he would remain where they would be remembered, that he would not leave cuzco nor abandon the house of the sun. they say that all this was planned by the said captains of viracocha, apu mayta and vicaquirau, to throw those off their guard who might conceive suspicion respecting the remaining of inca yupanqui in cuzco. so viracocha left cuzco and went to chita, taking with him his two illegitimate sons inca urco and inca socso. his son inca yupanqui remained at cuzco, resolved to defend the city or die in its defence. seven chiefs remained with him; inca rocca his elder and legitimate brother, apu mayta, vicaquirau, quillis-cacha, urco huaranca, chima chaui pata yupanqui, viracocha inca paucar, and mircoy-mana the tutor of inca yupanqui. xxvii coming of the chancas against cuzco. at the time when inca viracocha left cuzco, asto-huaraca and tomay-huaraca set out for ichu-pampa, first making sacrifices and blowing out the lungs of an animal, which they call _calpa_. this they did not well understand, from what happened afterwards. marching on towards cuzco, they arrived at a place called conchacalla, where they took a prisoner. from him they learnt what was happening at cuzco, and he offered to guide them there secretly. thus he conducted them half way. but then his conscience cried out to him touching the evil he was doing. so he fled to cuzco, and gave the news that the chancas were resolutely advancing. the news of this indian, who was a quillis-cachi of cuzco, made viracocha hasten his flight to chita, whither the chancas sent their messengers summoning him to surrender, and threatening war if he refused. others say that these were not messengers but scouts and that inca viracocha, knowing this, told them that he knew they were spies of the chancas, that he did not want to kill them, but that they might return and tell their people that if they wanted anything he was there. so they departed and at the mouth of a channel of water some of them fell and were killed. at this the chancas were much annoyed. they said that the messengers had been ordered to go to inca viracocha, and that they were killed by his captain quequo mayta. while this was proceeding with the messengers of the chancas, the chanca army was coming nearer to cuzco. inca yupanqui made great praying to viracocha and to the sun to protect the city. one day he was at susurpuquio in great affliction, thinking over the best plan for opposing his enemies, when there appeared a person in the air like the sun, consoling him and animating him for the battle. this being held up to him a mirror in which the provinces he would subdue were shown, and told him that he would be greater than any of his ancestors: he was to have no doubt, but to return to the city, because he would conquer the chancas who were marching on cuzco. with these words the vision animated inca yupanqui. he took the mirror, which he carried with him ever afterwards, in peace or war, and returned to the city, where he began to encourage those he had left there, and some who came from afar[ ]. the latter came to look on, not daring to declare for either party, fearing the rage of the conqueror if they should join the conquered side. inca yupanqui, though only a lad of or years, provided for everything as one who was about to fight for his life. [note : susurpuquio seems to have been a fountain or spring on the road to xaquixahuana. molina relates the story of the vision somewhat differently, p. . mrs. zelia nuttall thinks that the description of the vision bears such a very strong resemblance to a bas relief found in guatemala that they must have a common origin.] while the inca yupanqui was thus engaged the chancas had been marching, and reached a place very near cuzco called cusi-pampa, there being nothing between it and cuzco but a low hill. here the quillis-cachi was encountered again. he said that he had been to spy, and that he rejoiced to meet them. this deceiver went from one side to the other, always keeping friends with both, to secure the favour of the side which eventually conquered. the chancas resumed the march, expecting that there would be no defence. but the quillis-cachi, mourning over the destruction of his country, disappeared from among the chancas and went to cuzco to give the alarm. "to arms! to arms!" he shouted, "inca yupanqui. the chancas are upon you." at these words the inca, who was not off his guard, mustered and got his troops in order, but he found very few willing to go forth with him to oppose the enemy, almost all took to the hills to watch the event. with those who were willing to follow, though few in number, chiefly the men of the seven sinchis, brothers and captains, named above, he formed a small force and came forth to receive the enemy who advanced in fury and without order. the opposing forces advanced towards each other, the chancas attacking the city in four directions. the inca yupanqui sent all the succour he could to the assailed points, while he and his friends advanced towards the statue and standard of uscovilca, with asto-huaraca and tomay-huaraca defending them. here there was a bloody and desperate battle, one side striving to enter the city, and the other opposing its advance. those who entered by a suburb called chocos-chacona were valiantly repulsed by the inhabitants. they say that a woman named chañan-ccuri-coca here fought like a man, and so valiantly opposed the chancas that they were obliged to retire. this was the cause that all the chancas who saw it were dismayed. the inca yupanqui meanwhile was so quick and dexterous with his weapon, that those who carried the statue of uscovilca became alarmed, and their fear was increased when they saw great numbers of men coming down from the hills. they say that these were sent by viracocha, the creator, as succour for the inca. the chancas began to give way, leaving the statue of uscovilca, and they say even that of ancovilca. attacking on two sides, inca rocca, apu mayta, and vicaquirau made great havock among the chancas. seeing that their only safety was in flight, they turned their backs, and their quickness in running exceeded their fierceness in advancing. the men of cuzco continued the pursuit, killing and wounding, for more than two leagues, when they desisted. the chancas returned to ichu-pampa, and the _orejones_ to cuzco, having won a great victory and taken a vast amount of plunder which remained in their hands. the cuzcos rejoiced at this victory won with so little expectation or hope. they honoured inca yupanqui with many epithets, especially calling him pachacuti, which means "over-turner of the earth," alluding to the land and farms which they looked upon as lost by the coming of the chancas. for he had made them free and safe again. from that time he was called pachacuti inca yupanqui. as soon as the victory was secure, inca yupanqui did not wish to enjoy the triumph although many tried to persuade him. he wished to give his father the glory of such a great victory. so he collected the most precious spoils, and took them to his father who was in chita, with a principal _orejon_ named quillis-cachi urco huaranca. by him he sent to ask his father to enjoy that triumph and tread on those spoils of the enemy, a custom they have as a sign of victory. when quillis-cachi urco huaranca arrived before viracocha inca, he placed those spoils of the chancas at his feet with great reverence, saying, "inca viracocha! thy son pachacuti inca yupanqui, to whom the sun has given such a great victory, vanquishing the powerful chancas, sends me to salute you, and says that, as a good and humble son he wishes you to triumph over your victory and to tread upon these spoils of your enemies, conquered by your hands." inca viracocha did not wish to tread on them, but said that his son inca urco should do so, as he was to succeed to the incaship. hearing this the messenger rose and gave utterance to furious words, saying that he did not come for cowards to triumph by the deeds of pachacuti. he added that if viracocha did not wish to receive this recognition from so valiant a son, it would be better that pachachuti should enjoy the glory for which he had worked. with this he returned to cuzco, and told pachacuti what had happened with his father. xxviii. the second victory of pachacuti inca yupanqui over the chancas. while pachacuti inca yupanqui was sending the spoil to his father, the chancas were recruiting and assembling more men at ichu-pampa, whence they marched on cuzco the first time. the sinchis tomay-huaraca and asto-huaraca began to boast, declaring that they would return to cuzco and leave nothing undestroyed. this news came to pachacuti inca yupanqui. he received it with courage and, assembling his men, he marched in search of the chancas. when they heard that the incas were coming, they resolved to march out and encounter them, but the advance of pachacuti inca yupanqui was so rapid that he found the chancas still at ichu-pampa. as soon as the two forces came in sight of each other, asto-huaraca, full of arrogance, sent to inca yupanqui to tell him that he could see the power of the chancas and the position they now held. they were not like him coming from the poverty stricken cuzco, and if he did not repent the past and become a tributary and vassal to the chancas; asto-huaraca would dye his lance in an inca's blood. but inca yupanqui was not terrified by the embassy. he answered in this way to the messenger. "go back brother and say to asto-huaraca, your sinchi, that inca yupanqui is a child of the sun and guardian of cuzco, the city of ticci viracocha pachayachachi, by whose order i am here guarding it. for this city is not mine but his; and if your sinchi should wish to own obedience to ticci viracocha, or to me in his name, he will be honourably received. if your sinchi should see things in another light, show him that i am here with our friends, and if he should conquer us he can call himself lord and inca. but let him understand that no more time can be wasted in demands and replies. god (ticci viracocha) will give the victory to whom he pleases." with this reply the chancas felt that they had profited little by their boasting. they ran to their arms because they saw pachacuti closely following the bearer of his reply. the two armies approached each other in ichu-pampa, encountered, and mixed together, the chancas thrusting with long lances, the incas using slings, clubs, axes and arrows, each one defending himself and attacking his adversary. the battle raged for a long time, without advantage on either side. at last pachacuti made a way to where asto-huaraca was fighting, attacked him and delivered a blow with his hatchet which cut off the chanca's head. tomay-huaraca was already killed. the inca caused the heads of these two captains to be set on the points of lances, and raised on high to be seen by their followers. the chancas, on seeing the heads, despaired of victory without leaders. they gave up the contest and sought safety in flight. inca yupanqui and his army followed in pursuit, wounding and killing until there was nothing more to do. this great victory yielded such rich and plentiful spoils, that pachacuti inca yupanqui proposed to go to where his father was, report to him the story of the battle and the victory, and to offer him obedience that he might triumph as if the victory was his own. loaded with spoil and chanca prisoners he went to visit his father. some say that it was at a place called caquia xaquixahuana, four leagues from cuzco, others that it was at marco, three leagues from cuzco. wherever it was, there was a great ceremony, presents being given, called _muchanaco_[ ]. when pachacuti had given his father a full report, he ordered the spoils of the enemy to be placed at his feet, and asked his father to tread on them and triumph over the victory. but viracocha inca, still intent upon having inca urco for his successor, desired that the honour offered to him should be enjoyed by his favourite son. he, therefore, did not wish to accept the honours for himself. yet not wishing to offend the inca yupanqui pachacuti on such a crucial point, he said that he would tread on the spoils and prisoners, and did so. he excused himself from going to triumph at cuzco owing to his great age, which made him prefer to rest at caquia xaquixahuana. [note : _muchani_, i worship. _nacu_ is a particle giving a reciprocal or mutual meaning, "joint worship."] with this reply pachacuti departed for cuzco with a great following of people and riches. the inca urco also came to accompany him, and on the road there was a quarrel in the rear guard between the men of urco and those of pachacuti. others say that it was an ambush laid for his brother by urco and that they fought. the inca pachacuti took no notice of it, and continued his journey to cuzco, where he was received with much applause and in triumph. soon afterwards, as one who thought of assuming authority over the whole land and taking away esteem from his father, as he presently did, he began to distribute the spoils, and confer many favours with gifts and speeches. with the fame of these grand doings, people came to cuzco from all directions and many of those who were at caquia xaquixahuana left it and came to the new inca at cuzco. xxix. the inca yupanqui assumes the sovereignty and takes the fringe, without the consent of his father. when the inca yupanqui found himself so strong and that he had been joined by so many people, he determined not to wait for the nomination of his father, much less for his death, before he rose with the people of cuzco with the further intention of obtaining the assent of those without. with this object he caused a grand sacrifice to be offered to the sun in the inti-cancha or house of the sun, and then went to ask the image of the sun who should be inca. the oracle of the devil, or perhaps some indian who was behind to give the answer, replied that inca yupanqui pachacuti was chosen and should be inca. on this answer being given, all who were present at the sacrifice, prostrated themselves before pachacuti, crying out "ccapac inca intip churin," which means "sovereign lord child of the sun." presently they prepared a very rich fringe of gold and emeralds wherewith to crown him. next day they took pachacuti inca yupanqui to the house of the sun, and when they came to the image of the sun, which was of gold and the size of a man, they found it with the fringe, as if offering it of its own will. first making his sacrifices, according to their custom, he came to the image, and the high priest called out in his language "intip apu," which means "governor of things pertaining to the sun." with much ceremony and great reverence the fringe was taken from the image and placed, with much pomp, on the forehead of pachacuti inca yupanqui. then all called his name and hailed him "intip churin inca pachacuti," or "child of the sun lord, over-turner of the earth." from that time he was called pachacuti besides his first name which was inca yupanqui. then the inca presented many gifts and celebrated the event with feasts. [_he was sovereign inca without the consent of his father or of the people, but by those he had gained over to his side by gifts_.] xxx. pachacuti inca yupanqui rebuilds the city of cuzco. as soon as the festivities were over, the inca laid out the city of cuzco on a better plan; and formed the principal streets as they were when the spaniards came. he divided the land for communal, public, and private edifices, causing them to be built with very excellent masonry. it is such that we who have seen it, and know that they did not possess instruments of iron or steel to work with, are struck with admiration on beholding the equality and precision with which the stones are laid, as well as the closeness of the points of junction. with the rough stones it is even more interesting to examine the work and its composition. as the sight alone satisfies the curious, i will not waste time in a more detailed description. besides this, pachacuti inca yupanqui, considering the small extent of land round cuzco suited for cultivation, supplied by art what was wanting in nature. along the skirts of the hills near villages, and also in other parts, he constructed very long terraces of paces more or less, and to wide, faced with masonry, and filled with earth, much of it brought from a distance. we call these terraces _andenes_, the native name being _sucres_. he ordered that they should be sown, and in this way he made a vast increase in the cultivated land, and in provision for sustaining the companies and garrisons. in order that the precise time of sowing and harvesting might be known, and that nothing might be lost, the inca caused four poles to be set up on a high mountain to the east of cuzco, about two _varas_ apart, on the heads of which there were holes, by which the sun entered, in the manner of a watch or astrolabe. observing where the sun struck the ground through these holes, at the time of sowing and harvest, marks were made on the ground. other poles were set up in the part corresponding to the west of cuzco, for the time of harvesting the maize. having fixed the positions exactly by these poles, they built columns of stone for perpetuity in their places, of the height of the poles and with holes in like places. all round it was ordered that the ground should be paved; and on the stones certain lines were drawn, conforming to the movements of the sun entering through the holes in the columns. thus the whole became an instrument serving for an annual time-piece, by which the times of sowing and harvesting were regulated. persons were appointed to observe these watches, and to notify to the people the times they indicated[ ]. [note : the pillars at cuzco to determine the time of the solstices were called _sucanca_. the two pillars denoting the beginning of winter, whence the year was measured, were called _pucuy sucanca_. those notifying the beginning of spring were _chirao sucanca_. _suca_ means a ridge or furrow and _sucani_ to make ridges: hence _sucanca_, the alternate light and shadow, appearing like furrows. acosta says there was a pillar for each month. garcilasso de la vega tells us that there were eight on the east, and eight on the west side of cuzco (i. p. ) in double rows, four and four, two small between two high ones, feet apart. cieza de leon says that they were in the carmenca suburb (i. p. ). to ascertain the time of the equinoxes there was a stone column in the open space before the temple of the sun in the centre of a large circle. this was the _inti-huatana_. a line was drawn across from east to west and they watched when the shadow of the pillar was on the line from sunrise to sunset and there was no shadow at noon. there is another _inti-huatana_ at pisac, and another at hatun-colla. _inti_, the sun god, _huatani_, to seize, to tie round, _inti-huatana_, a sun circle.] besides this, as he was curious about the things of antiquity, and wished to perpetuate his name, the inca went personally to the hill of tampu-tocco or paccari-tampu, names for the same thing, and entered the cave whence it is held for certain that manco ccapac and his brethren came when they marched to cuzco for the first time, as has already been narrated. after he had made a thorough inspection, he venerated the locality and showed his feeling by festivals and sacrifices. he placed doors of gold on the window ccapac-tocco, and ordered that from that time forward the locality should be venerated by all, making it a prayer place and _huaca_, whither to go to pray for oracles and to sacrifice. having done this the inca returned to cuzco. he ordered the year to be divided into twelve months, almost like our year. i say almost, because there is some difference, though slight, as will be explained in its place. he called a general assembly of the oldest and wisest men of cuzco and other parts, who with much diligence scrutinized and examined the histories and antiquities of the land, principally of the incas and their forefathers. he ordered the events to be painted and preserved in order, as i explained when i spoke of the method adopted in preparing this history. xxxi. pachacuti inca yupanqui rebuilds the house of the sun and establishes new idols in it. having adorned the city of cuzco with edifices, streets, and the other things that have been mentioned, pachacuti inca yupanqui reflected that since the time of manco ccapac, none of his predecessors had done anything for the house of the sun. he, therefore, resolved to enrich it with more oracles and edifices to appal ignorant people and produce astonishment, that they might help in the conquest of the whole land which he intended to subdue, and in fact he commenced and achieved the subjugation of a large portion of it he disinterred the bodies of the seven deceased incas, from manco ccapac to yahuar-huaccac, which were all in the house of the sun, enriching them with masks, head-dresses called _chuco_, medals, bracelets, sceptres called _yauri_ or _champi_[ ], and other ornaments of gold. he then placed them, in the order of their seniority, on a bench with a back, richly adorned with gold, and ordered great festivals to be celebrated with representations of the lives of each inca. these festivals, which are called _purucaya_[ ], were continued for more than four months. great and sumptuous sacrifices were made to each inca, at the conclusion of the representation of his acts and life. this gave them such authority that it made all strangers adore them, and worship them as gods. these strangers, when they beheld such majesty, humbled themselves, and put up their hands to worship or _mucha_ as they say. the corpses were held in great respect and veneration until the spaniards came to this land of peru. [note : _champi_ means a one-handed battle axe (garcilasso de la vega, i. lib. ix. cap. ). novices received it at the festival of huarachicu, with the word _auccacunapac_, for traitors.] [note : according to mossi _puruccayan_ was the general mourning on the death of the inca.] besides these corpses, pachacuti made two images of gold. he called one of them viracocha pachayachachi. it represented the creator, and was placed on the right of the image of the sun. the other was called _chuqui ylla_, representing lightning, placed on the left of the sun. this image was most highly venerated by all. inca yupanqui adopted this idol for his _guauqui_[ ], because he said that it had appeared and spoken in a desert place and had given him a serpent with two heads, to carry about with him always, saying that while he had it with him, nothing sinister could happen in his affairs. to these idols the inca gave the use of lands, flocks, and servants, especially of certain women who lived in the same house of the sun, in the manner of nuns. these all came as virgins but few remained without having had connexion with the inca. at least he was so vicious in this respect, that he had access to all whose looks gave him pleasure, and had many sons. [note : _huauqui_, brother.] besides this house, there were some _huacas_ in the surrounding country. these were that of huanacauri, and others called anahuarqui, yauira, cinga, picol, pachatopan[ ] [_to many they made the accursed sacrifices, which they called_ ccapac cocha, _burying children, aged or , alive as offerings to the devil, with many offerings of vases of gold and silver_]. [note : anahuarqui was the name of the wife of tupac inca yupanqui. yauira may be for yauirca, a fabulous creature described by yamqui pachacuti. cinga and picol do not occur elsewhere. pachatopan is no doubt _pacha tupac_, beautiful land.] the inca, they relate, also caused to be made a great woollen chain of many colours, garnished with gold plates, and two red fringes at the end. it was fathoms in length, more or less. this was used in their public festivals, of which there were four principal ones in the year. the first was called raymi or ccapac raymi, which was when they opened the ears of knights at a ceremony called _huarachico_. the second was called situa resembling our lights of st john[ ]. they all ran at midnight with torches to bathe, saying that they were thus left clean of all diseases. the third was called ynti raymi, being the feast of the sun, known as _aymuray_. in these feasts they took the chain out of the house of the sun and all the principal indians, very richly dressed, came with it, in order, singing, from the house of the sun to the great square which they encircled with the chain. this was called _moroy urco_[ ]. [note : the months and the festivals which took place in each month are given by several authorities. the most correct are those of polo de ondegardo and calancha who agree throughout. calancha gives the months as received by the first council of lima. june-- july. intip raymi (_sun festival_). july-- aug. chahuar huarquiz--ploughing month. aug.-- sept. yapaquiz (situa _or moon festival_)--sowing month. sept.-- oct. ccoya raymi---expiatory feast. molina a month behind. oct.-- nov. uma raymi--month of brewing chicha. nov.-- dec. ayamarca--commemoration of the dead. dec.-- jan. ccapac raymi (huarachicu _festival_). jan.-- feb. camay--month of exercises. feb.-- march. hatun poccoy (great ripening). march-- april. pacha poccoy (mosoc nina _festival_). april-- may. ayrihua (harvest). may-- june. aymuray (harvest home).] [note : the great chain, used at festivals, is called by sarmiento muru-urco. see also molina. _muru_ means a coloured spot, or a thing of variegated colours. molina says that it was the house where the chain was kept that was called muru-urco, as well as the cable. _huasca_ is another name for a cable (see g. de la vega, ii. p, ).] xxxii. pachacuti inca yupanqui depopulates two leagues of country near cuzco. after pachacuti had done what has been described in the city, he turned his attention to the people. seeing that there were not sufficient lands for sowing, so as to sustain them, he went round the city at a distance of four leagues from it, considering the valleys, situation, and villages. he depopulated all that were within two leagues of the city. the lands of depopulated villages were given to the city and its inhabitants, and the deprived people were settled in other parts. the citizens of cuzco were well satisfied with the arrangement, for they were given what cost little, and thus he made friends by presents taken from others, and took as his own the valley of tambo [_which was not his_]. the news of the enlargement of this city went far and wide, and reached the ears of viracocha inca, retired in caquia xaquixahuana[ ]. he was moved to go and see cuzco. the inca yupanqui went for him, and brought him to cuzco with much rejoicing. he went to the house of the sun, worshipped at huanacauri and saw all the improvements that had been made. having seen everything he returned to his place at caquia xaquixahuana, where he resided until his death, never again visiting cuzco, nor seeing his son pachacuti inca yupanqui. [note : this great plain to the north-west of cuzco, called xaquixahuana, and sacsahuana, is now known as surita. most of the early writers call it sacsahuana. sarmiento always places the word caquia before the name. _capuchini_ is to provide, _capuchic_ a purveyor. hence _capuquey_ means "my goods," abbreviated to _caguey_, "my property." the meaning is "my estate of xaquixahuana."] xxxiii. pachacuti inca yupanqui kills his elder brother named inca urco. pachacuti inca yupanqui found himself so powerful with the companies he had got together by liberal presents to all, that he proposed to subjugate by their means all the territories he could reach. for this he mustered all the troops that were in cuzco, and provided them with arms, and all that was necessary for war. affairs being in this state pachacuti heard that his brother urco was in a valley called yucay, four leagues from cuzco, and that he had assembled some people. fearing that the movement was intended against him the inca marched there with his army. his brother inca rocca went with him, who had the reputation of being a great necromancer. arriving at a place called paca in the said valley, the inca went out against his brother urco, and there was a battle between them. inca rocca hurled a stone which hit urco on the throat. the blow was so great that urco fell into the river flowing down the ravine where they were fighting. urco exerted himself and fled, swimming down the river, with his axe in his hand. in this way he reached a rock called chupellusca, a league below tampu, where his brothers overtook him and killed him. from thence the inca pachacuti yupanqui, with his brother inca rocca marched with their troops to caquia xaquixahuana to see his father who refused ever to speak with or see him, owing to the rage he felt at the death of inca urco. but inca rocca went in, where viracocha was and said, "father! it is not reasonable that you should grieve so much at the death of urco, for i killed him in self defence, he having come to kill me. you are not to be so heavy at the death of one, when you have so many sons. think no more of it, for my brother pachacuti yupanqui is to be inca, and i hold that you should favour him and be as a father to him." seeing the resolution of his son inca rocca, viracocha did not dare to reply or to contradict him. he dismissed him by saying that that was what he wished, and that he would be guided by him in everything. with this the inca yupanqui and his brother inca rocca returned to cuzco, and entered the city triumphing over the past victories and over this one. the triumph was after this manner. the warriors marched in order, in their companies, dressed in the best manner possible, with songs and dances, and the captives, their eyes on the ground, dressed in long robes with many tassels. they entered by the streets of the city, which were very well adorned to receive them. they went on, enacting their battles and victories, on account of which they triumphed. on reaching the house of the sun, the spoils and prisoners were thrown on the ground, and the inca walked over them, trampling on them and saying--"i tread on my enemies." the prisoners were silent without raising their eyes. this order was used in all their triumphs. at the end of a short time inca viracocha died of grief at the death of inca urco, deprived and despoiled of all honour and property. they buried his body in caquia xaquixahuana. xxxiv. the nations which pachacuti inca subjugated and the towns he took: and first of tocay ccapac, sinchi of the ayamarcas, and the destruction of the cuyos. near cuzco there is a nation of indians called ayamarcas who had a proud and wealthy sinchi named tocay ccapac. neither he nor his people wished to come and do reverence to the inca. on the contrary, he mustered his forces to attack the inca if his country was invaded. this being known to inca yupanqui, he assembled his _ayllus_ and other troops. he formed them into two parties, afterwards called hanan-cuzcos and hurin-cuzcos, forming them into a corps, that united no one might be able to prevail against them. this done he consulted over what should be undertaken. it was resolved that all should unite for the conquest of all neighbouring nations. those who would not submit were to be utterly destroyed; and first tocay ccapac, chief of the ayamarcas, was to be dealt with, being powerful and not having come to do homage at cuzco. having united his forces, the inca marched against the ayamarcas and their sinchi, and there was a battle at huanancancha. inca yupanqui was victorious, assaulting the villages and killing nearly all the ayamarcas. he took tocay ccapac as a prisoner to cuzco, where he remained in prison until his death. after this inca yupanqui took to wife a native of choco named mama anahuarqui. for greater pleasure and enjoyment, away from business, he went to the town of the cuyos, chief place of the province of cuyo-suyu. being one day at a great entertainment, a potter, servant of the sinchi, without apparent reason, threw a stone or, as some say, one of the jars which they call _ulti_, at the inca's head and wounded him. the delinquent, who was a stranger to the district, was seized and tortured to confess who had ordered him to do it. he stated that all the sinchis of cuyo-suyu, who were cuyo ccapac, ayan-quilalama, and apu cunaraqui, had conspired to kill the inca and rebel. this was false, for it had been extorted from fear of the torture or, as some say, he said it because he belonged to a hostile tribe and wished to do them harm. but the inca, having heard what the potter said, ordered all the sinchis to be killed with great cruelty. after their deaths he slaughtered the people, leaving none alive except some children and old women. thus was that nation destroyed, and its towns are desolate to this day. xxxv. the other nations conquered by inca yupanqui, either in person or through his brother inca rocca. inca yupanqui and his brother inca rocca, who was very cruel, had determined to oppress and subdue all the nations who wished to be independent and would not submit to them. they knew that there were two sinchis in a town called ollantay-tampu, six leagues from cuzco, the one named paucar-ancho and the other tocori tupac, who ruled over the ollantay-tampus, but would not come to do homage, nor did their people wish to do so. the inca marched against them with a large army and gave them battle. inca rocca was severely wounded, but at last the ollantay-tampus were conquered. [_all were killed, the place was destroyed so that no memory was left of it_][ ] and the inca returned to cuzco. [note : this is untrue. the splendid ruins remain to this day. the place was long held against the spaniards by inca manco.] there was another sinchi named illacumpi, chief of two towns four leagues from cuzco, called cugma and huata. inca yupanqui and inca rocca sent to him to do homage, but he replied that he was as good as they were and free, and that if they wanted anything, they must get it with their lances. for this answer the inca made war upon the said sinchi. he united his forces with those of two other sinchis, his companions, named paucar tupac and puma lloqui, and went forth to fight the inca. but they were defeated and killed, with nearly all their people. the inca desolated that town with fire and sword, and with very great cruelty. he then returned to cuzco and triumphed for that victory. the inca received information, after this, that there was a town called huancara, leagues from cuzco, ruled by sinchis named ascascahuana and urcu-cuna. so a message was sent to them, calling upon them to give reverence and obedience to the inca and to pay tribute. they replied that they were not women to come and serve, that they were in their native place, and that if any one came to seek them they would defend themselves. moved to anger by this reply, inca yupanqui and inca rocca made war, killed the sinchis and most of their people and brought the rest prisoners to cuzco, to force them into obedience. next they marched to another town called toguaro, six leagues from huancara, killing the sinchi, named alca-parihuana, and all the people, not sparing any but the children, that they might grow and repeople that land. with similar cruelties in all the towns, the inca reduced to pay tribute the cotabambas, cotaneras, umasayus, and aymaracs, being the principal provinces of cunti-suyu. the inca then attacked the province of the soras, leagues from cuzco. the natives came forth to resist, asking why the invaders sought their lands, telling them to depart or they would be driven out by force. over this question there was a battle, and two towns of the soras were subdued at that time, the one called chalco, the other soras. the sinchi of chalco was named chalco-pusaycu, that of soras huacralla. they were taken prisoners to cuzco, and there was a triumph over them. there was another place called acos, or leagues from cuzco. the two sinchis of it were named ocacique and utu-huasi. these were strongly opposed to the demands of the inca and made a very strenuous resistance. the inca marched against them with a great army. but he met with serious difficulty in this conquest, for the acos defended themselves most bravely and wounded pachacuti on the head with a stone. he would not desist, but it was not until after a long time that they were conquered. he killed nearly all the natives of acos, and those who were pardoned and survived after that cruel slaughter, were banished to the neighbourhood of huamanca, to a place now called acos[ ]. [note : acobamba, the present capital of the province of angaraes.] in all these campaigns which have been described, inca rocca was the companion in arms, and participator in the triumphs of inca yupanqui. it is to be noted that in all the subdued provinces chiefs were placed, superseding or killing the native sinchis. those who were appointed, acted as guards or captains of the conquered places, holding office in the inca's name and during his pleasure. in this way the conquered provinces were oppressed and tyrannized over by the yoke of servitude. a superior was appointed over all the others who were nominated to each town, as general or governor. in their language this officer was called tucuyrico[ ], which means "he who knows and oversees all." [note : _tucuyricuc_, he who sees all. _tucuy_ means all. _ricini_ to see. garcilasso de la vega, i. lib. ii. cap. . balboa, p. . montesinos, p. . santillana, p. .] thus in the first campaign undertaken by pachacuti inca yupanqui, after the defeat of the chancas, he subdued the country as far as the soras, leagues to the west of cuzco. the other nations, and some in cunti-suyu, from fear at seeing the cruelties committed on the conquered, came in to submit, to avoid destruction. [_but they ever submitted against their wills_.] xxxvi. pachacuti inca yupanqui endows the house of the sun with great wealth. after pachacuti inca yupanqui had conquered the lands and nations mentioned above, and had triumphed over them, he came to visit the house of the sun and the mama-cunas or nuns who were there. he assisted one day, to see how the mama-cunas served the dinner of the sun. this was to offer much richly cooked food to the image or idol of the sun, and then to put it into a great fire on an altar. the same order was taken with the liquor. the chief of the mama-cunas saluted the sun with a small vase, and the rest was thrown on the fire. besides this many jars full of that liquor were poured into a trough which had a drain, all being offerings to the sun. this service was performed with vessels of clay. as pachacuti considered that the material of the vases was too poor, he presented very complete sets of vases of gold and silver for all the service that was necessary. to adorn the house more richly he caused a plate of fine gold to be made, two _palmas_ broad and the length of the court-yard. he ordered this to be nailed high up on the wall in the manner of a cornice, passing all round the court-yard. this border or cornice of gold remained there down to the time of the spaniards. xxxvii. pachacuti inca yupanqui conquers the province of colla-suyu. to the south of cuzco there was a province called colla-suyu or collao, consisting of plain country, which was very populous. at the time that pachacuti inca yupanqui was at cuzco after having conquered the provinces already mentioned, the sinchi of collao was named chuchi ccapac or colla ccapac, which is all one. this chuchi ccapac increased so much in power and wealth among those nations of colla-suyu, that he was respected by all the collas, who called him inca ccapac. pachacuti inca yupanqui determined to conquer him from a motive of jealousy, together with all the provinces of the collao. with this object he assembled his army and marched on the route to the collao in order to attack chuchi ccapac who waited for him at hatun-colla, a town of the collao where he resided, leagues from cuzco, without having taken further notice of the coming nor of the forces of inca yupanqui. when he came near to hatun colla, the inca sent a message to chuchi colla, requesting him to serve and obey him or else to prepare for battle, when they would try their fortunes. this message caused much heaviness to chuchi colla, but he replied proudly that he waited for the inca to come and do homage to him like the other nations that had been conquered by him, and that if the inca did not choose to do so, he would prepare his head, with which he intended to drink in his triumph after the victory which he would win if they should come to a battle. after this reply inca yupanqui ordered his army to approach that of chuchi ccapac the next day, which was drawn up ready to fight. soon after they came in sight, the two forces attacked each other, and the battle continued for a long time without either side gaining any advantage. inca yupanqui, who was very dexterous in fighting, was assisting in every part, giving orders, combating, and animating his troops. seeing that the collas resisted so resolutely, and stood so firmly in the battle, he turned his face to his men saying in a loud voice: "o incas of cuzco! conquerors of all the land! are you not ashamed that people so inferior to you, and unequal in weapons, should be equal to you and resist for so long a time?" with this he returned to the fight, and the troops, touched by this rebuke, pressed upon their enemies in such sort that they were broken and defeated. inca yupanqui, being an experienced warrior, knew that the completion of the victory consisted in the capture of chuchi ccapac. although he was fighting, he looked out for his enemy in all directions and, seeing him in the midst of his people, the inca attacked them at the head of his guards, took him prisoner, and delivered him to a soldier with orders to take him to the camp and keep him safe. the inca and his army then completed the victory and engaged in the pursuit, until all the sinchis and captains that could be found were captured. pachacuti went to hatun-colla, the residence and seat of government of chuchi ccapac, where he remained until all the provinces which obeyed chuchi ccapac, were reduced to obedience, and brought many rich presents of gold, silver, cloths, and other precious things. leaving a garrison and a governor in the collao to rule in his name, the inca returned to cuzco, taking chuchi ccapac as a prisoner with the others. he entered cuzco, where a solemn triumph was prepared. chuchi colla and the other colla prisoners were placed before the inca's litter dressed in long robes covered with tassels in derision and that they might be known. having arrived at the house of the sun, the captives and spoils were offered to the image of the sun, and the inca, or the priest for him, trod on all the spoils and captives that pachacuti had taken in the collao, which was great honour to the inca. when the triumph was over, to give it a good finish, the inca caused the head of chuchi ccapac to be cut off, and put in the house called _llasa-huasi_[ ], with those of the other sinchis he had killed. he caused the other sinchis and captains of chuchi ccapac to be given to the wild beasts, kept shut up for the purpose, in a house called _samca-huasi_[ ]. [note : llasa-huasi. _llasa_ means weight, from _llasani_ to weigh. _huasi_ a house.] [note : samgaguacy. this should be _samca-huasi_, a prison for grave offences. serpents and toads were put into the prison with the delinquents. mossi, p. .] in these conquests pachacuti was very cruel to the vanquished, and people were so terrified at the cruelties that they submitted and obeyed from fear of being made food for wild beasts, or burnt, or otherwise cruelly tormented rather than resist in arms. it was thus with the people of cunti-suyu who, seeing the cruelty and power of inca yupanqui, humiliated themselves and promised obedience. it was for the cause and reason stated, and because they were threatened with destruction if they did not come to serve and obey. chuchi ccapac had subjugated a region more than leagues from north to south, over which he was sinchi or, as he called himself, ccapac or colla-ccapac, from within leagues of cuzco as far as the chichas, with all the bounds of arequipa and the sea-coast to atacama, and the forests of the musus. for at this time, seeing the violence and power with which the inca of cuzco came down upon those who opposed him, without pardoning anyone, many sinchis followed his example, and wanted to do the same in other parts, where each one lived, so that all was confusion and tyranny in this kingdom, no one being secure of his own property. we shall relate in their places, as the occasion offers, the stories of the sinchis, tyrants, besides those of the incas who, from the time of inca yupanqui, began to get provinces into their power, and tyrannize over the inhabitants. inca yupanqui, as has already been narrated, had given the house of the sun all things necessary for its services, besides which, after he came from colla-suyu, he presented many things brought from there for the image of the sun, and for the mummies of his ancestors which were kept in the house of the sun. he also gave them servants and lands. he ordered that the _huacas_ of cuzco should be adopted and venerated in all the conquered provinces, ordaining new ceremonies for their worship and abolishing the ancient rites. he charged his eldest legitimate son, named amaru tupac inca, with the duty of abolishing the _huacas_ which were not held to be legitimate, and to see that the others were maintained and received the sacrifices ordered by the inca. huayna yamqui yupanqui, another son of inca yupanqui, was associated with the heir in this duty. xxxviii. pachacuti inca yupanqui sends an army to conquer the province of chinchay-suyu. when pachacuti inca yupanqui returned from the conquest of colla-suyu and the neighbouring provinces, as has been narrated in the preceding chapter, he was well stricken in years, though not tired of wars, nor was his thirst for dominion satisfied. owing to his age he chose to remain at cuzco, as the seat of his government, to establish the lands he had subdued, in the way which he well knew how to establish. in order to lose no time in extending his conquests, he assembled his people, from among whom he chose , provided with arms and all things necessary for a military campaign. he nominated his brother, ccapac yupanqui, to be captain-general, giving him for colleagues another of his brothers named huayna yupanqui, and one of his sons named apu yamqui yupanqui. among the other special captains in this army was one named anco ayllo of the chanca nation, who had remained a prisoner in cuzco from the time that the inca conquered the chanca's at cuzco and at ichu-pampa. he had ever since been sad and brooding, thinking of a way of escape. but he dissimulated so well that the inca treated him as a brother and trusted him. hence the inca nominated him as commander of all the chancas in the army. for to each nation the inca gave a captain from among their own people, because he would understand how to rule them and they would obey him better. this anco ayllo, seeing there was an opportunity for fulfilling his desire, showed satisfaction at receiving this commission from the inca, and promised to do valuable service, as he knew those nations whose conquest was about to be undertaken. when the army was ready to march, the inca gave the captain-general his own arms of gold, and to the other captains he gave arms with which to enter the battles. he made a speech to them, exhorting them to achieve success, showing them the honourable reward they would obtain, and the favours he, as a friend, would show them, if they served in that war. he gave special orders to ccapac yupanqui that he should advance with his conquering army as far as a province called yana-mayu, the boundary of the nation of the hatun-huayllas, and that there he should set up the inca's boundary pillars, and he was on no account to advance further. he was to conquer up to that point and then return to cuzco, leaving sufficient garrisons in the subjugated lands. he was also to establish posts at every half league, which they call _chasquis_, by means of which the inca would be daily informed of what had happened and was being done[ ]. [note : for accounts of the _chasquis_ or inca couriers see garcilasso de la vega, ii. pp. , , , , . balboa, p. . polo de ondegardo, p. .] ccapac yupanqui set out from cuzco with these orders, and desolated all the provinces which did not submit. on arriving at a fortress called urco-collac, near parcos, in the country of huamanca, he met with valorous resistance from the inhabitants. finally he conquered them. in the battle the chancas distinguished themselves so that they gained more honour than the cuzcos _orejones_ and the other nations. this news came to the inca, who was much annoyed that the chancas should have distinguished themselves more, and had gained more honour than the incas. he imagined that it would make them proud, so he proposed to have them killed. he sent a messenger ordering ccapac yupanqui to lay a plan for killing all the chancas in the best way he could devise, and if he did not kill them, the inca would kill him. the runner of the inca reached ccapac yupanqui with this order, but it could not be kept a secret. it became known to a wife of ccapac yupanqui, who was a sister of anco ayllo, the captain of the chancas. this woman told her brother, who always longed for his liberty, and now was urgently minded to save his life. he secretly addressed his chanca soldiers, putting before them the cruel order of the inca, and the acquisition of their liberty if they would follow him. they all agreed to his proposal. when they came to huarac-tambo, in the neighbourhood of the city of huanuco, all the chancas fled with their captain anco ayllo, and besides the chancas other tribes followed this chief. passing by the province of huayllas they pillaged it, and, continuing their route in flight from the incas, they agreed to seek a rugged and mountainous land where the incas, even if they sought them, would not be able to find them. so they entered the forests between chachapoyas and huanuco, and went on to the province of ruparupa. these are the people who are settled on the river pacay and, according to the received report, thence to the eastward by the river called cocama which falls into the great river marañon. they were met with by the captain gomez d'arias, who entered by huanuco, in the time of the marquis of cañete, in the year . though ccapac yupanqui went in chase of the chancas, they were so rapid in their flight that he was unable to overtake them[ ]. [note : garcilasso de la vega also gives an account of the flight of the chancas under anco-ayllu or hanco-hualla, ii. pp. , .] in going after them ccapac yupanqui went as far as caxamarca, beyond the line he was ordered not to pass by the inca. although he had the order in his mind, yet when he saw that province of caxamarca, how populous it was and rich in gold and silver, by reason of the great sinchi, named gusmanco ccapac, who ruled there and was a great tyrant, having robbed many provinces round caxamarca, ccapac yupanqui resolved to conquer it, although he had no commission from his brother for undertaking such an enterprise. on commencing to enter the land of caxamarca, it became known to gusmanco ccapac. that chief summoned his people, and called upon another sinchi, his tributary, named chimu ccapac, chief of the territory where now stands the city of truxillo on the coast of peru. their combined forces marched against ccapac yupanqui, who by a certain ambush, and other stratagems, defeated, routed and captured the two sinchis gusmanco ccapac and chimu ccapac, taking vast treasure of gold, silver and other precious things, such as gems, and coloured shells, which these natives value more than silver or gold. ccapac yupanqui collected all the treasure in the square of caxamarca, where he then was; and when he saw such immense wealth he became proud and vainglorious, saying that he had gained and acquired more than his brother the inca. his arrogance and boasting came to the ears of his sovereign, who, although he felt it deeply and desired an opportunity to kill him, dissimulated for a time and waited until the return to cuzco. inca yupanqui feared that his brother would rebel, and for this reason he appeared to be pleased before the envoys sent by ccapac yupanqui. he sent them back with orders that ccapac yupanqui should return to cuzco with the treasure that had been taken in the war, as well as the principal men of the subdued provinces, and the sons of gusmanco ccapac and chimu ccapac. the great chiefs themselves were to remain, in their territories with a sufficient garrison to keep those lands obedient to the inca. on receiving this order ccapac yupanqui set out for cuzco with all the treasure, and marched to the capital full of pride and arrogance. inca yupanqui, who himself subdued so many lands and gained so much honour, became jealous, as some say afraid, and sought excuses for killing his brother. when he knew that ccapac yupanqui had reached limatambo, eight leagues from cuzco, he ordered his lieutenant-governor named inca capon, to go there and cut off the head of ccapac yupanqui. the reasons given were that he had allowed anco ayllo to escape, and had gone beyond the line prescribed. the governor went and, in obedience to his orders, he killed the inca's two brothers ccapac yupanqui and huayna yupanqui. the inca ordered the rest to enter cuzco, triumphing over their victories. this was done, the inca treading on the spoils, and granting rewards. they say that he regretted that his brother had gained so much honour, and that he wished that he had sent his son who was to be his successor, named tupac inca yupanqui, that he might have enjoyed such honour, and that this jealousy led him to kill his brother. xxxix. pachacuti inca yupanqui plants _mitimaes_ in all the lands he had conquered. as all the conquests made by this inca were attended with such violence and cruelties, with such spoliation and force, and the people who became his subjects by acquisition, or to speak more correctly by rapine, were numerous, they obeyed so long as they felt the force compelling them, and, as soon as they were a little free from that fear, they presently rebelled and resumed their liberty. then the inca was obliged to conquer them again. turning many things in his mind, and seeking for remedies, how he could settle once for all the numerous provinces he had conquered, at last he hit upon a plan which, although adapted to the object he sought to attain, and coloured with some appearance of generosity, was really the worst tyranny he perpetrated. he ordered visitors to go through all the subdued provinces, with orders to measure and survey them, and to bring him models of the natural features in clay. this was done. the models and reports were brought before the inca. he examined them and considered the mountainous fastnesses and the plains. he ordered the visitors to look well to what he would do. he then began to demolish the fastnesses and to have their inhabitants moved to plain country, and those of the plains were moved to mountainous regions, so far from each other, and each so far from their native country, that they could not return to it. next the inca ordered the visitors to go and do with the people what they had seen him do with the models. they went and did so. he gave orders to others to go to the same districts, and, jointly with the _tucuricos_, to take some young men, with their wives, from each district. this was done and they were brought to cuzco from all the provinces, from one , from another , more or less according to the population of each district. these selected people were presented before the inca, who ordered that they should be taken to people various parts. those of chinchay-suyu were sent to anti-suyu, those of cunti-suyu to colla-suyu, so far from their native country that they could not communicate with their relations or countrymen. he ordered that they should be settled in valleys similar to those in their native land, and that they should have seeds from those lands that they might be preserved and not perish, giving them land to sow without stint, and removing the natives. the incas called these colonists _mitimaes_[ ], which means "transported" or "moved," he ordered them to learn the language of the country to which they were removed, but not to forget the general language, which was the quichua, and which he had ordered that all his subjects in all the conquered provinces must learn and know. with it conversation and business could be carried on, for it was the clearest and richest of the dialects. the inca gave the colonists authority and power to enter the houses of the natives at all hours, night or day, to see what they said, did or arranged, with orders to report all to the nearest governor, so that it might be known if anything was plotted against the government of the inca, who, knowing the evil he had done, feared all in general, and knew that no one served him voluntarily, but only by force. besides this the inca put garrisons into all the fortresses of importance, composed of natives of cuzco or the neighbourhood, which garrisons were called _michecrima_[ ]. [note : the system of _mitimaes_ was a very important part of the inca polity. it is frequently referred to by cieza de leon, and described by garcilasso de la vega, ii. p. . see also balboa, pp. , , , . molina, pp. , , . yamqui pachacuti, pp. , , polo de ondegardo, p. .] [note : _michec_ a shepherd, hence a governor. _rimay_ to speak.] xl. the collas, sons of chuchi ccapac, rebel against inca yupanqui to obtain their freedom. after inca yupanqui had celebrated the triumphs and festivities consequent on the conquest of chinchay-suyu, and arranged the system of _mitimaes_, he dismissed the troops. he himself went to yucay, where he built the edifices, the ruins of which may still be seen. these being finished, he went down the valley of yucay to a place which is now called tambo, eight leagues from cuzco, where he erected some magnificent buildings. the sons of chuchi ccapac, the great sinchi of the collao, had to labour as captives at the masonry and other work. their father, as has already been narrated, was conquered in the collao and killed by the inca. these sons of chuchi ccapac, feeling that they were being vilely treated, and remembering that they were the sons of so great a man as their father, also seeing that the inca had disbanded his army, agreed to risk their lives in obtaining their freedom. one night they fled, with all the people who were there, and made such speed that, although the inca sent after them, they could not be overtaken. along the route they took, they kept raising the inhabitants against the inca. much persuasion was not needed, because, as they were obeying by force, they only sought the first opportunity to rise. on this favourable chance, many nations readily rebelled, even those who were very near cuzco, but principally the collao and all its provinces. the inca, seeing this, ordered a great army to be assembled, and sought the favour of auxiliaries from gusmanco ccapac and chimu ccapac. he collected a great number of men, made sacrifices _calpa_[ ], and buried some children alive, which is called _capa cocha_, to induce their idols to favour them in that war. all being ready, the inca nominated two of his sons as captains of the army, valorous men, named the one tupac ayar manco, the other apu paucar usnu. the inca left cuzco with more than , warriors, and marched against the sons of chuchi ccapac, who also had a great power of men and arms, and were anxious to meet the incas and fight for their lives against the men of cuzco. [note : _calpa_ means force, vigour; also an army.] as both were seeking each other, they soon met, and joined in a stubborn and bloody battle, in which there was great slaughter, because one side fought for life and liberty and the other for honour. as those of cuzco were better disciplined and drilled, and more numerous than their adversaries, they had the advantage. but the collas preferred to die fighting rather than to become captives to one so cruel and inhuman as the inca. so they opposed themselves to the arms of the _orejones_, who, with great cruelties, killed as many of the collas as opposed their advance. the sons of the inca did great things in the battle, with their own hands, on that day. the collas were defeated, most of them being killed or taken prisoners. those who fled were followed to a place called lampa. there the wounded were cared for, and the squadrons refreshed. the inca ordered his two sons, tupac ayar manco and apu paucar usnu, to press onward, conquering the country as far as the chichas, where they were to set up their cairns and return. the inca then returned to cuzco, for a triumph over the victory he had gained. the inca arrived at cuzco, triumphed and celebrated the victory with festivities. and because he found that a son had been born to him, he raised him before the sun, offered him, and gave him the name of tupac inca yupanqui. in his name he offered treasures of gold and silver to the sun, and to the other oracles and _huacas_, and also made the sacrifice of _capa cocha_. besides this he made the most solemn and costly festivals that had ever been known, throughout the land. this was done because inca yupanqui wished that this tupac inca should succeed him, although he had other older and legitimate sons by his wife and sister mama anahuarqui. for, although the custom of these tyrants was that the eldest legitimate son should succeed, it was seldom observed, the inca preferring the one he liked best, or whose mother he loved most, or he who was the ablest among the brothers. xli. amaru tupac inca and apu paucar usnu continue the conquest of the collao and again subdue the collas. as soon as the inca returned to cuzco, leaving his two sons tupac amaru and apu paucar usnu[ ] in the callao, those captains set out from lampa, advancing to hatun-colla, where they knew that the collas had rallied their troops to fight the cuzcos once more, and that they had raised one of the sons of chuchi ccapac to be inca. the incas came to the place where the collas were awaiting them in arms. they met and fought valorously, many being killed on both sides. at the end of the battle the collas were defeated and their new inca was taken prisoner. thus for a third time were the collas conquered by the cuzcos. by order of the inca, his sons, generals of the war, left the new inca of the collas at hatun-colla, as a prisoner well guarded and re-captured. the other captains went on, continuing their conquests, as the inca had ordered, to the confines of charcas and the chichas. [note : tupac amaru. _tupac_ means royal, and _amaru_ a serpent. _apu_ a chief, _paucar_ beautiful and _usnu_ a judgment seat.] while his sons prosecuted the war, pachacuti their father, finished the edifices at tambo, and constructed the ponds and pleasure houses of yucay. he erected, on a hill near cuzco, called patallata, some sumptuous houses, and many others in the neighbourhood of the capital. he also made many channels of water both for use and for pleasure; and ordered all the governors of provinces who were under his sway, to build pleasure houses on the most convenient sites, ready for him when he should visit their commands. while inca yupanqui proceeded with these measures, his sons had completed the conquest of the collao. when they arrived in the vicinity of charcas, the natives of paria, tapacari, cochabambas, poconas and charcas retreated to the country of the chichas and chuyes, in order to make a combined resistance to the incas, who arrived where their adversaries were assembled, awaiting the attack. the inca army was in three divisions. a squadron of men went by the mountains, another of , by the side of the sea, and the rest by the direct road. they arrived at the strong position held by the charcas and their allies, and fought with them. the incas were victorious, and took great spoils of silver extracted by those natives from the mines of porco. it is to be noted that nothing was ever known of the _orejones_ who entered by the mountains or what became of them. leaving all these provinces conquered, and subdued, amaru tupac inca and apu paucar usnu returned to cuzco where they triumphed over their victories, pachacuti granting them many favours, and rejoicing with many festivals and sacrifices to idols. xlii. pachacuti inca yupanqui nominates his son tupac inca yupanqui as his successor. pachacuti inca yupanqui was now very old; and he determined to nominate a successor to take his place after his death. he called together the incas his relations, of the _ayllus_ of hanan-cuzco and hurin-cuzco and said, "my friends and relations! i am now, as you see, very old, and i desire to leave you, when my days are over, one who will govern and defend you from your enemies. some propose that i should name amaru tupac inca, but it does not appear to me that he has the qualifications to govern so great a lordship as that which i have acquired. i, therefore, desire to nominate another with whom you will be more content." the relations, in their reply, gave thanks to the inca, and declared that they would derive great benefit from his nomination. he then said that he named his son tupac inca, and ordered him to come forth from the house. he had been there for or years to be brought up, without any one seeing him except very rarely and as a great favour. he was now shown to the people, and the inca presently ordered a fringe of gold to be placed in the hand of the image of the sun, with the head-dress called _pillaca-llaytu_[ ]. after tupac inca had made his obeisance to his father, the inca and the rest rose and went before the image of the sun where they made their sacrifices and offered _capa cocha_ to that deity. then they offered the new inca tupac yupanqui, beseeching the sun to protect and foster him, and to make him so that all should hold and judge him to be a child of the sun and father of his people. this done the oldest and principal _orejones_ took tupac inca to the sun, and the priests took the fringe from the hands of the image, which they call _mascapaycha_, and placed it over the head of tupac inca yupanqui until it rested on his forehead. he was declared inca ccapac and seated in front of the sun on a seat of gold, called _duho_[ ], garnished with emeralds and other precious stones. seated there, they clothed him in the _ccapac hongo_[ ], placed the _suntur paucar_ in his hand, gave him the other insignia of inca, and the priests raised him on their shoulders. when these ceremonies were completed, pachacuti inca yupanqui ordered that his son tupac inca should remain shut up in the house of the sun, performing the fasts which it is the custom to go through before receiving the order of chivalry; which ceremony consisted in opening the ears. the inca ordered that what had been done should not be made public until he gave the command to publish it. [note : _pillaca-llatu_ is a cloth or cloak woven of two colours, black and brown.] [note : this word is corrupt. _tiana_ is the word for a seat.] [note : ccapac uncu. the word _uncu_ means a tunic.] xliii. how pachacuti armed his son tupac inca. pachacuti inca yupanqui found happiness in leaving memory of himself. with this object he did extraordinary things as compared with those of his ancestors, in building edifices, celebrating triumphs, not allowing himself to be seen except as a great favour shown to the people, for as such it was considered, on the day that he appeared. then he ordered that no one should come to behold him without worshipping and bringing something in his hand to offer him. this custom was continued by all his descendants, and was observed inviolably. [_thus, from the time of this pachacuti began an unheard of and inhuman tyranny in addition to the tyrannies of his ancestors._] as he was now old and desirous of perpetuating his name, it appeared to him that he would obtain his desire by giving authority to his son and successor named tupac inca. so the boy was brought up, confined in the house of the sun for more than years, seeing no one but his tutors and masters until he was brought and presented to the sun, to be nominated as has already been explained. to invest him at the _huarachico_ the inca ordered a new way of giving the order of chivalry. for this he built round the city four other houses for prayer to the sun, with much apparatus of gold idols, _huacas_ and service, for his son to perambulate these stations after he had been armed as a knight. affairs being in this state, there came to the inca pachacuti, his son amaru tupac inca, who had been named by his father as his successor some years before, because he was the eldest legitimate son. he said, "father inca! i understand that you have a son in the house of the sun whom you have ordered to be successor after your own days. order that he may be show to me." the inca, looking upon this as boldness on the part of amaru tupac, replied, "it is true, and i desire you and your wife shall be his vassals, and that you shall serve and obey him as your lord and inca." amaru replied that he wished to do so, and that for this reason, he desired to see him and offer sacrifice to him, and that orders should be given to take him where his brother was. the inca gave permission for this, amaru tupac inca taking what was necessary for the ceremony, and being brought to where tupac inca was fasting. when amaru saw him in such majesty of wealth and surroundings, he fell on his face to the earth, adoring, offering sacrifices and obedience. on learning that it was his brother, tupac inca raised him and saluted him in the face. presently inca yupanqui caused the necessary preparations to be made for investing his son with the order of chivalry. when all was ready, the inca, accompanied by all his principal relations and courtiers, went to the house of the sun, where they brought out tupac inca with great solemnity and pomp. for they carried with him all the idols of the sun, vircocha, the other _huacas, moro-urco_. all being placed in order with such pomp as had never been seen before, they all went to the great square of the city, in the centre of which a bonfire was made. all relations and friends then killed many animals, offering them as sacrifices by throwing them into the flames. they worshipped the heir, offering him rich gifts, the first that brought a gift being his father. following the example all the rest adored, seeing that his father had shown him reverence. thus did the _orejones_ incas and all the rest who were present, seeing that for this they had been called and invited, to bring their gifts and offer them to their new inca. [illustration: group of incas, in ceremonial dresses, from the pictures in the church of santa ana, cuzco a.d. . from a sketch by sir clements markham, .] this being done, the festival called _ccapac raymi_ was commenced, being the feast of kings, and consequently the most solemn festival kept by these people. when the ceremonies had been performed, they bored the ears of tupac inca yupanqui, which is their mode of investiture into the order of chivalry and nobility. he was then taken to the stations of the houses of the sun, giving him the weapons and other insignia of war. this being finished his father the inca yupanqui gave him, for his wife, one of his sisters named mama ocllo, who was a very beautiful woman with much ability and wisdom. xliv. pachacuti inca yupanqui sends his son tupac inca yupanqui to conquer chinchay-suyu. the inca yupanqui desired that his son should be employed on some service that would bring him fame, as soon as he had been proclaimed his successor, and armed as a knight. he had information that chinchay-suyu was a region where name and treasure might be acquired, especially from a sinchi named chuqui-sota in chachapoyas. he, therefore, ordered all preparations to be made for the conquest of chinchay-suyu. he gave the prince for his tutors, captains, and captains-general of his army, two of his brothers, the one named auqui yupanqui and the other tilca yupanqui. the army being assembled and the preparations made, they set out from cuzco. tupac went in such pomp and majesty that, where he passed, no one dared to look him in the face, in such veneration was he held. the people left the roads along which he had to pass and, ascending the hills on either side, worshipped and adored. they pulled out their eyebrows and eyelashes, and blowing on them, they made offering to the inca. others offered handfuls of a very precious herb called _coca_. when he arrived at the villages, he put on the dress and head-gear of that district, for all were different in their dress and head-gear as they are now. for inca yupanqui, so as to know each nation he had conquered, ordered that each one should have a special dress and head-gear, which they call _pillu_, _llaytu_ and _chuco_, different one from the other, so as to be easily distinguished and recognized. seating himself, tupac inca made a solemn sacrifice of animals and birds, burning them in a fire which was kindled in his presence; and in this way they worshipped the sun, which they believed to be god. in this manner tupac inca began to repeat the conquests and tyranny of all his ancestors and his father. for, although many nations were conquered by his father, almost all were again with arms in their hands to regain their liberty, and the rest to defend themselves. as tupac inca advanced with such power, force and pride, he not only claimed the subjection of the people, but also usurped the veneration they gave to their gods or devils, for truly he and his father made them worship all with more veneration than the sun. tupac inca finally marched out of cuzco and began to proceed with measures for subduing the people in the near vicinity. in the province of the quichuas[ ] he conquered and occupied the fortresses of tohara, cayara, and curamba, and in the province of angaraes the fortresses of urco-colla and huaylla-pucara, taking its sinchi named chuquis huaman prisoner. in the province of xauxa he took sisiquilla pucara, and in the province of huayllas the fortresses of chuncu-marca and pillahua-marca. in chachapoyas the fortress of piajajalca fell before him, and he took prisoner a very rich chief named chuqui sota. he conquered the province of the paltas, and the valleys of pacasmayu and chimu, which is now truxillo. he destroyed it as chimu ccapac had been subdued before. he also conquered the province of the cañaris, and those who resisted were totally destroyed. the cañaris submitted from fear, and he took their sinchis, named pisar ccapac, cañar ccapac and chica ccapac, and built an impregnable fortress there called quinchi-caxa. [note : the province of the quichuas was in the valley of the pachachaca, above abancay.] tupac inca yupanqui then returned to cuzco with much treasure and many prisoners. he was well received by his father with a most sumptuous triumph, and with the applause of all the _orejones_ of cuzco. they had many feasts and sacrifices, and to please the people they celebrated the festival called inti raymi with feasts and dances, a time of great rejoicing. the inca granted many favours for the sake of his son tupac inca, that he might have the support of his subjects, which was what he desired. for as he was very old and unable to move about, feeling the approach of death, his aim was to leave his son in the possession of the confidence of his army. xlv. how pachacuti inca yupanqui visited the provinces conquered for him by his captains. it has been related how the inca yupanqui placed garrisons of cuzco soldiers, and a governor called _tucuyrico_ in all the provinces he conquered and oppressed. it must be known that owing to his absorbing occupations in conquering other provinces, training warriors, and placing his son in command for the conquest of chinchay-suyu, he had not been able to put his final intentions and will into execution, which was to make those he oppressed submissive subjects and tributaries. seeing that the people were in greater fear at beholding the valour of tupac inca, he determined to have a visitation of the land, and nominated visitors, four for each of the four _suyus_ or divisions of the empire, which are _cunti-suyu_ from cuzco south and west as far as the south sea, _chinchay-suyu_ from cuzco to the north and west, _anti-suyu_ from cuzco to the east, and _colla-suyu_ from cuzco to the south, south-west, and south-east. these visitors each went to the part to which he was appointed, and inspected, before all things, the work of the _tucuyricos_ and the methods of their government. they caused irrigating channels to be constructed for the crops, broke up land where this had been neglected, built _andenes_ or cultivated terraces, and took up pastures for the sun, the inca, and cuzco. above all they imposed very heavy tribute on all the produce, [_so that they all went about to rob and desolate property and persons_]. the visitations occupied two years. when they were completed the visitors returned to cuzco, bringing with them certain cloths descriptive of the provinces they had visited. they reported fully to the inca all that they had found and done. besides these, the inca also despatched other _orejones_ as overseers to make roads and hospices on the routes of the inca, ready for the use of his soldiers. these overseers set out, and made roads, now called "of the inca," over the mountains and along the sea coast. those on the sea coast are all provided, at the sides, with high walls of _adobe_, wherever it was possible to build them, except in the deserts where there are no building materials. these roads go from quito to chile, and into the forests of the andes. although the inca did not complete all, suffice it that he made a great part of the roads, which were finished by his sons and grandsons. xlvi. tupac inca yupanqui sets out, a second time, by order of his father, to conquer what remained unsubdued in chinchay-suyu. pachacuti inca yupanqui knew from the report made by his son when he returned from the conquest of chinchay-suyu, that there were other great and rich nations and provinces beyond the furthest point reached by tupac inca. that no place might be left to conquer, the inca ordered his son to return with a view to the subjugation of the parts of quito. he assembled the troops and gave his son the same two brothers as his colleagues, tilca yupanqui and anqui yupanqui, who had gone with him on the former expedition. [_tupac inflicted unheard of cruelties and deaths on those who defended themselves and did not wish to give him obedience_.] in this way he arrived at tumipampa, within the territory of quito, whose sinchi, named pisar ccapac, was confederated with pilla-huaso, sinchi of the provinces and site of quito. these two chiefs had a great army and were determined to fight tupac inca for their country and lives. tupac sent messengers to them, demanding that they should lay down their arms and give him obedience. they replied that they were in their own native country, that they were free, and did not wish to serve any one nor be tributaries. tupac and his colleagues rejoiced at this answer, because their wish was to find a pretext to encounter them with blows and to rob them, which was the principal object of the war. they say that the inca army numbered more than , experienced soldiers. tupac ordered them to march against the men of quito and the cañaris. they encountered each other, both sides fighting with resolution and skill. the victory was for a long time doubtful because the quitos and cañaris pressed stubbornly against their enemies. when the inca saw this he got out of the litter in which he travelled, animated his people, and made signs for the , men who were kept in reserve for the last necessity. when these fresh troops appeared the quitos and cañaris were defeated and fled, the pursuit being continued with much bloodshed and cruelty, the victors shouting, "ccapac inca yupanqui! cuzco! cuzco!" all the chiefs were killed. they captured pilla-huaso in the vanguard. no quarter was given, in order to strike terror into those who heard of it. thence inca tupac marched to the place where now stands the city of san francisco de quito, where they halted to cure the wounded and give much needed rest to the others. so this great province remained subject, and tupac sent a report of his proceedings to his father. pachacuti rejoiced at the success of his son, and celebrated many festivals and sacrifices on receiving the tidings. after tupac inca had rested at cuzco, re-organized his army, and cured the wounded he went to tumipampa, where his wife and sister bore him a son, to whom he gave the name of titu cusi hualpa, afterwards known as huayna ccapac. after the inca tupac had rejoiced and celebrated the birthday festivals, although the four years were passed that his father had given him to complete the conquests, he heard that there was a great nation towards the south sea, composed of indians called huancavelicas. so he determined to go down to conquer. at the head of the mountains above them he built the fortress of huachalla, and then went down against the huancavelicas. tupac divided his army into three parts, and took one by the most rugged mountains, making war on the huancavelica mountaineers. he penetrated so far into the mountains that for a long time nothing was known of him, whether he was dead or alive. he conquered the huancavelicas although they were very warlike, fighting on land and at sea in _balsas_, from tumbez to huañapi, huamo, manta, turuca and quisin. marching and conquering on the coast of manta, and the island of puna, and tumbez, there arrived at tumbez some merchants who had come by sea from the west, navigating in _balsas_ with sails. they gave information of the land whence they came, which consisted of some islands called avachumbi and ninachumbi, where there were many people and much gold. tupac inca was a man of lofty and ambitious ideas, and was not satisfied with the regions he had already conquered. so he determined to challenge a happy fortune, and see if it would favour him by sea. yet he did not lightly believe the navigating merchants, for such men, being great talkers, ought not to be credited too readily. in order to obtain fuller information, and as it was not a business of which news could easily be got, he called a man, who accompanied him in his conquests, named antarqui who, they all declare, was a great necromancer and could even fly through the air. tupac inca asked him whether what the merchant mariners said was true. antarqui answered, after having thought the matter well out, that what they said was true, and that he would go there first. they say that he accomplished this by his arts, traversed the route, saw the islands, their people and riches, and, returning, gave certain information of all to tupac inca. the inca, having this certainty, determined to go there. he caused an immense number of _balsas_ to be constructed, in which he embarked more than , chosen men; taking with him as captains huaman achachi, cunti yupanqui, quihual tupac (all hanan-cuzcos), yancan mayta, quisu mayta, cachimapaca macus yupanqui, llimpita usca mayta (hurin-cuzcos); his brother tilca yupanqui being general of the whole fleet. apu yupanqui was left in command of the army which remained on land. tupac inca navigated and sailed on until he discovered the islands of avachumbi and ninachumbi, and returned, bringing back with him black people, gold, a chair of brass, and a skin and jaw bone of a horse. these trophies were preserved in the fortress of cuzco until the spaniards came. an inca now living had charge of this skin and jaw bone of a horse. he gave this account, and the rest who were present corroborated it. his name is urco huaranca. i am particular about this because to those who know anything of the indies it will appear a strange thing and difficult to believe. the duration of this expedition undertaken by tupac inca was nine months, others say a year, and, as he was so long absent, every one believed he was dead. but to deceive them and make them think that news of tupac inca had come, apu yupanqui, his general of the land army, made rejoicings. this was afterwards commented upon to his disadvantage, and it was said that he rejoiced because he was pleased that tupac inca yupanqui did not appear. it cost him his life. these are the islands which i discovered in the south sea on the th of november, , and more leagues to the westward, being the great discovery of which i gave notice to the licentiate governor castro. but alvaro de mendaña, general of the fleet, did not wish to occupy them[ ]. [note : this story of the navigation of tupac inca to the islands of ninachumbi and avachumbi or hahua chumpi is told by balboa as well as by sarmiento. they were no doubt two of the galapagos islands. _nina chumpi_ means fire island, and _hahua chumpi_ outer island. see my introduction to the _voyages of sarmiento_, p. xiii; and _las islas de galapagos_ by marco jimenes de la espada.] after tupac inca disembarked from the discovery of the islands, he proceeded to tumipampa, to visit his wife and son and to hurry preparations for the return to cuzco to see his father, who was reported to be ill. on the way back he sent troops along the coast to truxillo, then called chimu, where they found immense wealth of gold and silver worked into wands, and into beams of the house of chimu ccapac, with all which they joined the main army at caxamarca. thence tupac inca took the route to cuzco, where he arrived after an absence of six years since he set out on this campaign. tupac inca yupanqui entered cuzco with the greatest, the richest, and the most solemny triumph with which any inca had ever reached the house of the sun, bringing with him people of many different races, strange animals, innumerable quantities of riches. but behold the evil condition of pachacuti inca yupanqui and his avarice, for though tupac inca was his son whose promotion he had procured, he felt such jealousy that his son should have gained such honour and fame in those conquests, that he publicly showed annoyance that it was not himself who triumphed, and that all was not due to him. so he determined to kill his sons tilca yupanqui and auqui yupanqui who had gone with tupac inca, their crime being that they had disobeyed his orders by delaying longer than the time he had fixed, and that they had taken his son to such a distance that he thought he would never return to cuzco. they say that he killed them, though some say that he only killed tilca yupanqui. at this tupac inca yupanqui felt much aggrieved, that his father should have slain one who had worked so well for him. the death was concealed by many feasts in honour of the victories of tupac inca, which were continued for a year. xlvii. death of pachacuti inca yupanqui. pachacuti inca yupanqui derived much comfort from his grandson, the son of tupac inca. he always had the child with him, and caused him to be brought up and cherished in his residence and dormitory. he would not let him out of his sight. being in the highest prosperity and sovereignty of his life, he fell ill of a grave infirmity, and, feeling that he was at the point of death, he sent for all his sons who were then in the city. in their presence he first divided all his jewels and contents of his wardrobe. next he made them plough furrows in token that they were vassals of their brother, and that they had to eat by the sweat of their hands. he also gave them arms in token that they were to fight for their brother. he then dismissed them. he next sent for the incas _orejones_ of cuzco, his relations, and for tupac inca his son to whom he spoke, with a few words, in this manner:--"son! you now see how many great nations i leave to you, and you know what labour they have cost me. mind that you are the man to keep and augment them. no one must raise his two eyes against you and live, even if he be your own brother. i leave you these our relations that they may be your councillors. care for them and they shall serve you. when i am dead, take care of my body, and put it in my houses at patallacta. have my golden image in the house of the sun, and make my subjects, in all the provinces, offer up solemn sacrifice, after which keep the feast of _purucaya_, that i may go to rest with my father the sun." having finished his speech they say that he began to sing in a low and sad voice with words of his own language. they are in castilian as follows: "i was born as a flower of the field, as a flower i was cherished in my youth, i came to my full age, i grew old, now i am withered and die." having uttered these words, he laid his head upon a pillow and expired, giving his soul to the devil, having lived years. for he succeeded, or rather he took the incaship into his hands when he was , and he was sovereign years. he had four legitimate sons by his wife mama anahuarqui, and he had sons and daughters who were bastards. being numerous they were called _hatun-ayllu_, which means a "great lineage." by another name this lineage is called _inaca panaca ayllu_. those who sustain this lineage at the present time are don diego cayo, don felipa inguil, don juan quispi cusi, don francisco chaco rimachi, and don juan illac. they live in cuzco and are hanan-cuzcos. pachacuti was a man of good stature, robust, fierce, haughty, insatiably bent on tyrannizing over all the world, [_and cruel above measure. all the ordinances he made for the people were directed to tyranny and his own interests_]. his conduct was infamous for he often took some widow as a wife and if she had a daughter that he liked, he also took the daughter for wife or concubine. if there was some gallant and handsome youth in the town who was esteemed for something, he presently made some of his servants make friends with him, get him into the country, and kill him the best way they could. he took all his sisters as concubines, saying they could not have a better husband than their brother. this inca died in the year . he conquered more than leagues, more or less in person accompanied by his legitimate brothers, the captains apu mayta and vicaquirao, the rest by amaru tupac inca his eldest son, ccapac yupanqui his brother, and tupac inca his son and successor, with other captains, his brothers and sons. this inca arranged the parties and lineages of cuzco in the order that they now are. the licentiate polo found the body of pachacuti in tococachi, where now is the parish of san blas of the city of cuzco, well preserved and guarded. he sent it to lima by order of the viceroy of this kingdom, the marquis of cañete. the _guauqui_ or idol of this inca was called _inti illapa_. it was of gold and very large, and was brought to caxamarca in pieces. the licentiate polo found that this _guauqui_ or idol had a house, estate, servants and women. xlviii. the life of tupac inca yupanqui[ ], the tenth inca. [note : all authorities agree that tupac inca yupanqui was the successor of pachacuti except betanzos, santillana and garcilasso de la vega. betanzos has a yamqui yupanqui. garcilasso gives the reign of another inca named inca yupanqui between pachacuti and tupac inca. he was ignorant of the fact that pachacuti and inca yupanqui were the same person. santillana follows garcilasso but calls pachacuti's other self ccapac yupanqui.] when pachacuti inca yupanqui died, two _orejones_ were deputed to watch the body, and to allow no one to enter or go out to spread the news of his death, until orders had been given. the other incas and _orejones_ went with tupac inca to the house of the sun and then ordered the twelve captains of the _ayllus_ of the inca's guard to come. they came with men of the guard, under their command, fully armed, and surrounded the yupanqui with the fringe, and gave him the other insignia of sovereignty, as he had now inherited and succeeded his father. taking him in the midst of themselves, and of the guards, they escorted him to the great square, where he was seated, in majesty, on a superb throne. all the people of the city were then ordered to come and make obeisance to the inca on pain of death. those who had come with the inca, went to their houses to fetch presents to show reverence and do homage to the new inca. he remained with his guards only, until they returned with presents, doing homage and adoring. the rest of the people did the same, and sacrifices were offered. [_it is to be noted that only those of cuzco did this, and if any others were present who did so, they must have been forced or frightened by the armed men and the proclamation_.] this having been done, they approached the inca and said, "o sovereign inca! o father! now take rest." at these words tupac inca showed much sadness and covered his head with his mantle, which they call _llacolla_, a square cloak. he next went, with all his company, to the place where the body of his father was laid, and there he put on mourning. all things were then arranged for the obsequies, and tupac inca yupanqui did everything that his father had ordered at the point of death, touching the treatment of his body and other things. xlix. tupac inca yupanqui conquers the province of the antis. pachacuti inca yupanqui being dead, and tupac inca ruling alone, he caused all the sinchis and principal men of the conquered provinces to be summoned. those came who feared the fury of the inca, and with them the indians of the province of anti-suyu, who are the dwellers in the forests to the eastward of cuzco, who had been conquered in the time of pachacuti his father. tupac inca ordered them all to do homage, adore, and offer sacrifices. the antis were ordered to bring from their country several loads of lances of palm wood for the service of the house of the sun. the antis, who did not serve voluntarily, looked upon this demand as a mark of servitude. they fled from cuzco, returned to their country, and raised the land of the antis in the name of freedom. tupac inca was indignant, and raised a powerful army which he divided into three parts. he led the first in person, entering the anti-suyu by ahua-tona. the second was entrusted to a captain named uturuncu achachi, who entered anti-suyu by a town they call amaru. the third, under a captain named chalco yupanqui, advanced by way of pilcopata. all these routes were near each other, and the three divisions formed a junction three leagues within the forest, at a place called opatari, whence they commenced operations against the settlements of the antis. the inhabitants of this region were antis, called opataris, and were the first to be conquered. chalco yupanqui carried an image of the sun. the forests were very dense and full of evil places; so that they could not force their way through, nor did they know what direction to take in order to reach the settlements of the natives, which were well concealed in the thick vegetation. to find them the explorers climbed up the highest trees, and pointed out the places where they could see smoke rising. so they worked away at road making through the undergrowth until they lost that sign of inhabitants and found another. in this way the inca made a road where it seemed impossible to make one. the sinchi of the greater part of these provinces of the antis was condin savana, of whom they say that he was a great wizard and enchanter, and they had the belief, and even now they affirm that he could turn himself into different shapes. tupac inca and his captains penetrated into this region of the antis, which consists of the most terrible and fearful forests, with many rivers, where they endured immense toil, and the people who came from peru suffered from the change of climate, for peru is cold and dry, while the forests of anti-suyu are warm and humid. the soldiers of tupac inca became sick, and many died. tupac inca himself, with a third of his men who came with him to conquer, were lost in the forests, and wandered for a long time, without knowing whether to go in one direction or another until he fell in with uturuncu achachi who put him on the route. on this occasion tupac inca and his captains conquered four great tribes. the first was that of the indians called opataris. the next was the mano-suyu. the third tribe was called mañaris or yanasimis, which means those of the black mouth: and the province of rio, and the province of the chunchos. they went over much ground in descending the river tono, and penetrated as far as the chiponauas. the inca sent another great captain, named apu ccuri-machi, by the route which they now call of camata. this route was in the direction of the rising of the sun, and he advanced until he came to the river of which reports have but now been received, called paytiti, where he set up the frontier pillars of inca tupac. during the campaign against these nations, tupac inca took prisoners the following sinchis: vinchincayua, cantahuancuru, nutan-huari[ ]. [note : this expedition of tupac inca yupanqui into the montaña of paucartambo, and down the river tono is important. garcilasso de la vega describes it in chapters xiii., xiv., xv. and xvi. of book vii. he says that five rivers unite to form the great amaru-mayu or serpent river, which he was inclined to think was a tributary of the rio de la plata. he describes fierce battles with the chunchos, who were reduced to obedience. after descending the river tono, garcilasso says that the incas eventually reached the country of the musus (moxos) and opened friendly relations with them. many incas settled in the country of the musus. garcilasso then gives some account of spanish expeditions into the montaña, led by diego aleman, gomez de tordoya, and juan alvarez maldonado. the account in the text agrees, in the main, with that of garcilasso de la vega. sarmiento gives the names of four indian tribes who were encountered, besides the chunchos.] during the campaign an indian of the collas, named coaquiri, fled from his company, reached the collao, and spread the report that tupac inca was dead. he said that there was no longer an inca, that they should all rise and that he would be their leader. presently he took the name of pachacuti, the collas rose, and chose him as their captain. this news reached tupac inca in anti-suyu where he was in the career of conquest. he resolved to march against the collas and punish them. he left the forests, leaving uturuncu achachi to complete the conquest, with orders to return into peru when that service was completed, but not to enter cuzco triumphing until the inca should come. l. tupac inca yupanqui goes to subdue and pacify the collas. as the collas were one of those nations which most desired their freedom, they entered upon attempts to obtain it whenever a chance offered, as has already been explained. tupac inca yupanqui resolved to crush them once for all. having returned from the antis, he increased his army and nominated as captains larico, the son of his cousin ccapac yupanqui, his brother chachi, cunti yupanqui, and quihual tupac. with this army he advanced to the collao. the collas had constructed four strong places at llallaua, asillo, arapa, and pucara. the inca captured the chiefs and the leader of all, who was chuca-chucay pachacuti coaquiri, he who, as we have said, fled from anti-suyu. afterwards these were the drummers[ ] of inca tupac. finally, owing to the great diligence of inca tupac, although the war occupied some years, the incas conquered and subdued all [_perpetrating great cruelties on them_]. following up his victories, in pursuit of the vanquished, he got so far from cuzco that he found himself in charcas. so he determined to advance further, subduing every nation of which he received notice. he eventually prosecuted his conquests so far that he entered chile, where he defeated the great sinchi michimalongo, and tangalongo, sinchi of the chilians as far as the river maule. he came to coquimbo in chile and to the banks of the maule, where he set up his frontier columns, or as others say a wall, to show the end of his conquests. from this campaign he returned with great riches in gold, having discovered many mines of gold and silver. he then returned to cuzco. these spoils were joined with those of uturuncu achachi, who had returned from the forests of the antis after a campaign of three years. he was at paucar-tampu, awaiting the return of his brother, who entered cuzco with a very great triumph. they made great feasts to commemorate the conquests, presenting gifts and granting many favours to the soldiers who had served with the inca in these campaigns. as the provinces of the chumpi-vilicas saw the power and greatness of tupac inca yupanqui they came to submit with the rest of cunti-suyu. [note : _i.e._ their skins were made into drums.] besides this the inca went to chachapoyas, and crushed those who had been suspected, visiting many provinces on the road. on his return to cuzco he made certain ordinances, as well for peace as for war time. he increased the _mitimaes_ which his father had instituted, as has been explained in the account of his life, giving more privileges and liberty. besides, he caused a general visitation to be made of all the land from quito to chile, registering the whole population for more than a thousand leagues; and imposed a tribute [_so heavy that no one could be owner of a_ mazorca _of maize, which is their bread for food, nor of a pair of_ usutas, _which are their shoes, nor marry, nor do a single thing without special licence from tupac inca. such was the tyranny and oppression to which he subjected them_]. he placed over the _tucuricos_ a class of officers called _michu_[ ] to collect the taxes and tributes. [note : _michu_ should be _michec_ a shepherd, also a governor. _michisca_ the governed.] tupac inca saw that in the districts and provinces the sinchis claimed to inherit by descent. he resolved to abolish this rule, and to put them all under his feet, both great and small. he, therefore, deposed the existing sinchis, and introduced a class of ruler at his own will, who were selected in the following way. he appointed a ruler who should have charge of , men, and called him _huanu_, which means that number. he appointed another ruler over , and called him _huaranca_, which is . the next had charge of , called _pichca-pachaca_, or . to another called _pachac_ he gave charge of , and to another he gave charge of men, called _chunca curaca_. all these had also the title of _curaca_, which means "principal" or "superior," over the number of men of whom they had charge. these appointments depended solely on the will of the inca, who appointed and dismissed them as he pleased, without considering inheritance, or succession. from that time forward they were called _curacas_, which is the proper name of the chiefs of this land, and not _caciques_, which is the term used by the vulgar among the spaniards. that name of _cacique_ belongs to the islands of santo domingo and cuba. from this place we will drop the name of _sinchi_ and only use that of _curaca_. li. tupac inca makes the yanaconas. among the brothers of the inca there was one named tupac ccapac, a principal man, to whom tupac inca had given many servants to work on his farms, and serve on his estates. it is to be understood that tupac inca made his brother visitor-general of the whole empire that had been conquered up to that time. tupac ccapac, in making the visitation, came to the place where his brother had given him those servants. under colour of this grant, he took those and also many more, saying that all were his _yana-cunas_[ ], which is the name they give to their servants. he persuaded them to rebel against his brother, saying that if they would help him he would show them great favours. he then marched to cuzco, very rich and powerful, where he gave indications of his intentions. [note : garcilasso de la vega says that the meaning of _yanacona_ is "a man who is under the obligation to perform the duties of a servant." balboa, p. , tells the same story of the origin of the _yanaconas_ as in the text. the amnesty was granted on the banks of the river yana-yacu, and here they were called yana-yacu-cuna, corrupted into yana-cona. the spaniards adopted the word for all indians in domestic service, as distinguished from _mitayos_ or forced labourers.] he intended his schemes to be kept secret, but tupac inca was informed of them and came to cuzco. he had been away at the ceremony of arming one of his sons named ayar manco. having convinced himself that his information was correct, he killed tupac ccapac with all his councillors and supporters. finding that many tribes had been left out of the visitation by him, for this attempt, tupac inca went in person from cuzco, to investigate the matter and finish the visitation. while doing this the inca came to a place called yana-yacu, which means "black water" because a stream of a very dark colour flows down that valley, and for that reason they call the river and valley yana-yacu. up to this point he had been inflicting very cruel punishment without pardoning any one who was found guilty either in word or deed. in this valley of yana-yacu his sister and wife, mama ocllo, asked him not to continue such cruelties, which were more butchery and inhumanity than punishment, and not to kill any more but to pardon them, asking for them as her servants. in consequence of this intercession, the inca ceased the slaughter, and said that he would grant a general pardon. as the pardon was proclaimed in yana-yacu, he ordered that all the pardoned should be called yana-yacus. they were known as not being allowed to enter in the number of servants of the house of the sun, nor those of the visitation. so they remained under the curacas. this affair being finished, the visitation made by tupac ccapac was considered to be of no effect. so the inca returned to cuzco with the intention of ordering another visitation to be made afresh. lii. tupac inca yupanqui orders a second visitation of the land, and does other things. as the visitation entrusted to tupac ccapac was not to his liking, the inca revoked it, and nominated another brother named apu achachi to be visitor-general. the inca ordered him not to include the yana-yacus in the visitation, because they were unworthy to enter into the number of the rest, owing to what they had done, apu achachi set out and made his general visitation, reducing many of the indians to live in villages and houses who had previously lived in caves and hills and on the banks of rivers, each one by himself. he sent those in strong fastnesses into plains, that they might have no site for a fortress, on the strength of which they might rebel. he reduced them into provinces, giving them their curacas in the order already described. he did not make the son of the deceased a curaca, but the man who had most ability and aptitude for the service. if the appointment did not please the inca he, without more ado, dismissed him and appointed another, so that no curaca, high or low, felt secure in his appointment. to these curacas were given servants, women and estates, submitting an account of them, for, though they were curacas, they could not take a thing of their own authority, without express leave from the inca. in each province all those of the province made a great sowing of every kind of edible vegetable for the inca, his overseers coming to the harvest. above all there was a _tucurico apu_, who was the governor-lieutenant of the inca in that province. it is true that the first inca who obliged the indians of this land to pay tribute of everything, and in quantity, was inca yupanqui. but tupac inca imposed rules and fixed the tribute they must pay, and divided it according to what each province was to contribute as well for the general tax as those for _huacas_, and houses of the sun. [_in this way the people were so loaded with tributes and taxes, that they had to work perpetually night and day to pay them, and even then they could not comply, and had no time for sufficient labour to suffice for their own maintenance_.] tupac inca divided the estates throughout the whole empire, according to the measure which they call _tupu_. he divided the months of the year, with reference to labour in the fields, as follows. three months in the year were allotted to the indians for the work of their own fields, and the rest must be given up to the work of the sun, of _huacas_, and of the inca. in the three months that were given to themselves, one was for ploughing and sowing, one for reaping, and another in the summer for festivals, and for make and mend clothes days. the rest of their time was demanded for the service of the sun and the incas. this inca ordered that there should be merchants who might profit by their industry in this manner. when any merchant brought gold, silver, precious stones, or other valuable things for sale, they were to be asked where they got them, and in this way they gave information respecting the mines and places whence the valuables had been taken. thus a very great many mines of gold and silver, and of very fine colours, were discovered. this inca had two governors-general in the whole empire, called suyuyoc apu[ ]; one resided at xauxa and the other at tiahuanacu in colla-suyu. [note : _suyu_ a great division of the empire, or a province. _yoc_ a terminal particle denoting possession or office.] tupac inca ordered the seclusion of certain women in the manner of our professed nuns, maidens of years and upwards, who were called _acllas_[ ]. from thence they were taken to be given in marriage to the _tucurico apu_, or by order of the inca who, when any captain returned with victory, distributed the _acllas_ to captains, soldiers and other servants who had pleased him, as gracious gifts which were highly valued. as they took out some, they were replaced by others, for there must always be the number first ordained by the inca. if any man takes one out, or is caught inside with one they are both hanged, tied together. [note : _aclla_ means chosen, selected.] this inca made many ordinances, in his tyrannical mode of government, which will be given in a special volume. liii. tupac inca makes the fortress of cuzco. after tupac inca yupanqui had visited all the empire and had come to cuzco where he was served and adored, being for the time idle, he remembered that his father pachacuti had called the city of cuzco the lion city. he said that the tail was where the two rivers unite which flow through it[ ], that the body was the great square and the houses round it, and that the head was wanting. it would be for some son of his to put it on. the inca discussed this question with the _orejones_, who said that the best head would be to make a fortress on a high plateau to the north of the city. [note : this district of cuzco has always been called _pumap chupan_ or tail of the puma.] this being settled, the inca sent to all the provinces, to order the tucuricos to supply a large number of people for the work of the fortress. having come, the workmen were divided into parties, each one having its duties and officers. thus some brought stones, others worked them, others placed them. the diligence was such that in a few years, the great fortress of cuzco was built, sumptuous, exceedingly strong, of rough stone, a thing most admirable to look upon. the buildings within it were of small worked stone, so beautiful that, if it had not been seen, it would not be believed how strong and beautiful it was. what makes it still more worthy of admiration is that they did not possess tools to work the stone, but could only work with other stones. this fortress was intact until the time of the differences between pizarro and almagro, after which they began to dismantle it, to build with its stones the houses of spaniards in cuzco, which are at the foot of the fortress. great regret is felt by those who see the ruins. when it was finished, the inca made many store houses round cuzco for provisions and clothing, against times of necessity and of war; which was a measure of great importance[ ]. [note : this fortress of cuzco, on the sacsahuaman hill, was well described by cieza de leon and in greater detail by garcilasso de la vega, ii. pp. -- . both ascribe it to inca yupanqui or his son tupac inca, as does sarmiento. the extensive edifices, built of masonry of his period, were no doubt the work of tupac inca who thus got credit for the whole. these later edifices were pulled down by the spaniards, for material for building their houses in the city. but the wonderful cyclopean work that remains is certainly of much more ancient date, and must be assigned, like tiahuanacu, to the far distant age of the monolithic empire.] liv. death of tupac inca yupanqui. having visited and divided the lands, and built the fortress of cuzco, besides edifices and houses without number, tupac inca yupanqui went to chinchero[ ], a town near cuzco, where he had very rich things for his recreation; and there he ordered extensive gardens to be constructed to supply his household. when the work was completed he fell ill of a grave infirmity, and did not wish to be visited by anyone. but as he became worse and felt the approach of death, he sent for the _orejones_ of cuzco, his relations, and when they had assembled in his presence he said: "my relations and friends! i would have you to know that the sun my father desires to take me to himself, and i wish to go and rest with him. i have called you to let you know who it is that i desire to succeed me as lord and sovereign, and who is to rule and govern you." they answered that they grieved much at his illness, that as the sun his father had so willed it so must it be, that his will must be done, and they besought the inca to nominate him who was to be sovereign in his place. tupac inca then replied: "i nominate for my successor my son titu cusi hualpa, son of my sister and wife, mama ocllo." for this they offered many thanks, and afterwards the inca sank down on his pillow and died, having lived years. [note : chinchero is a village near cuzco, on the heights overlooking the lovely valley of yucay, with magnificent mountains in the background. the remains of the inca palace are still standing, not unlike those on the colcampata at cuzco.] tupac inca succeeded his father at the age of years. he had two legitimate sons, bastards, and daughters. some say that at the time of his death, or a short time before, he had nominated one of his illegitimate sons to succeed him named ccapac huari, son of a concubine whose name was chuqui ocllo. he left a lineage or _ayllu_ called _ccapac ayllu_, whose heads, who sustain it and are now living, are don andres tupac yupanqui, don cristobal pisac tupac, don garcia vilcas, don felipe tupac yupanqui, don garcia azache, and don garcia pilco. they are hanan-cuzcos. the deceased inca was frank, merciful in peace, cruel in war and punishments, a friend to the poor, a great man of indefatigable industry and a notable builder. [_he was the greatest tyrant of all the incas_.] he died in the year . chalco chima burnt his body in , when he captured huascar, as will be related in its place. the ashes, with his idol or _guauqui_ called _cusi-churi_, were found in calis-puquiu where the indians had concealed it, and offered to it many sacrifices. lv. the life of huayna ccapac, eleventh inca[ ]. [note : all authorities agree that huayna ccapac was the son and successor of tupac inca.] as soon as tupac inca was dead, the _orejones_, who were with him at the time of his death, proceeded to cuzco for the customary ceremonies. these were to raise the inca his successor before the death of his father had become known to him, and to follow the same order as in the case of the death of pachacuti inca yupanqui. as the wives and sons of tupac inca also went to cuzco, the matter could not be kept secret. a woman who had been a concubine of the late inca, named ccuri ocllo, a kins-woman of ccapac huari, as soon as she arrived at cuzco, spoke to her relations and to ccapac huari in these words. "sirs and relations! know that tupac inca is dead and that, when in health, he had named ccapac huari for his successor, but at the end, being on the point of death, he said that titu cusi hualpa, son of mama ocllo, should succeed him. you ought not to consent to this. rather call together all your relations and friends, and raise ccapac huari, your elder brother, son of chuqui ocllo, to be inca." this seemed well to all the relations of ccapac huari, and they sent to assemble all the other relations on his behalf. while this was proceeding, the _orejones_ of cuzco, knowing nothing of it, were arranging how to give the fringe to titu cusi hualpa. the plot of the party of ccapac huari became known to the late inca's brother, huaman achachi. he assembled some friends, made them arm themselves, and they went to where titu cusi hualpa was retired and concealed. they then proceeded to where the friends of ccapac huari had assembled, and killed many of them, including ccapac huari himself. others say that they did not kill ccapac huari at that time, but only took him. his mother chuqui ocllo was taken and, being a rebel as well as a witch who had killed her lord tupac inca, she was put to death. ccapac huari was banished to chinchero, where he was given a maintenance, but he was never allowed to enter cuzco again until his death. they also killed the woman ccuri ocllo, who had advised the raising of ccapac huari to the incaship. lvi. they give the fringe of inca to huayna ccapac, the eleventh inca. the city of cuzco being pacified, huaman achachi went to quispicancha, three leagues from cuzco, where titu cusi hualpa was concealed, and brought his nephew to cuzco, to the house of the sun. after the sacrifices and accustomed ceremonies, the image of the sun delivered the fringe to titu cusi hualpa. this being done, and the new inca having been invested with all the insignia of ccapac, and placed in a rich litter, they bore him to the _huaca_ huanacauri, where he offered a sacrifice. the _orejones_ returned to cuzco by the route taken by manco ccapac. arrived at the first square, called rimac-pampa, the accession was announced to the people, and they were ordered to come and do homage to the new inca. when they all assembled, and saw how young he was, never having seen him before, they all raised their voices and called him _huayna ccapac_ which means "the boy chief" or "the boy sovereign." for this reason he was called huayna ccapac from that time, and the name titu cusi hualpa was no longer used. they celebrated festivals, armed him as a knight, adored, and presented many gifts---as was customary. lvii. the first acts of huayna ccapac after he became inca. as huayna ccapac was very young when he succeeded, they appointed a tutor and coadjutor for him named hualpaya, a son of ccapac yupanqui, brother of inca yupanqui. this prince made a plot to raise himself to the incaship, but it became known to huaman achachi, then governor of chinchay-suyu. at the time he was in cuzco, and he and his people killed hualpaya and others who were culpable. huaman achachi assumed the government, but always had as a councillor his own brother auqui tupac inca. in course of time huayna ccapac went to the house of the sun, held a visitation, took account of the officials, and provided what was necessary for the service, and for that of the _mama-cunas_. he took the chief custodianship of the sun from him who then held it, and assumed the office himself with the title of "shepherd of the sun." he next visited the other _huacas_ and oracles, and their estates. he also inspected the buildings of the city of cuzco and the houses of the _orejones_. huayna ccapac ordered the body of his father tupac inca to be embalmed. after the sacrifices, the mourning, and other ceremonies, he placed the body in the late inca's residence which was prepared for it, and gave his servants all that was necessary for their maintenance and services. the same huayna ccapac mourned for his father and for his mother who died nearly at the same time. lviii. huayna ccapac conquers chachapoyas. after huayna ccapac had given orders respecting the things mentioned in the last chapter, it was reported to him that there were certain tribes near the territory of the chachapoyas which might be conquered, and that on the way he might subdue the chachapoyas who had rebelled. he gave orders to his _orejones_ and assembled a large army. he set out from cuzco, having first offered sacrifices and observed the _calpa_[ ]. on the route he took, he reformed many things. arriving at the land of the chachapoyas, they, with other neighbouring tribes, put themselves in a posture of defence. they were eventually vanquished and treated with great severity. the inca then returned to cuzco and triumphed at the victory gained over the chachapoyas and other nations. [note : _calpa_ means force, power. _calpay_ work. _calparicu_ "one who gives strength," used for a wizard. the calpa was a ceremony connected with divination.] while he was absent on this campaign, he left as governor of cuzco one of his illegitimate brothers named sinchi rocca, an eminent architect. he built all the edifices at yucay, and the houses of the inca at casana in the city of cuzco. he afterwards built other edifices round cuzco for huayna ccapac, on sites which appeared most convenient. lix. huayna ccapac makes a visitation of the whole empire from quito to chile. huayna ccapac having rested in cuzco for a long time and, wishing to undertake something, considered that it was a long time since he had visited the empire. he determined that there should be a visitation, and named his uncle huaman achachi to conduct it in chinchay-suyu as far as quito, he himself undertaking the region of colla-suyu. each one set out, huayna ccapac, in person, taking the route to the collao, where he examined into the government of his _tucuricos_, placing and dismissing governors and curacas, opening lands and making bridges and irrigating channels. constructing these works he arrived at charcas and went thence to chile, which his father had conquered, where he dismissed the governor, and appointed two native curacas named michimalongo and antalongo, who had been vanquished by his father. having renewed the garrison, he came to coquimbo and copiapo, also visiting atacama and arequipa. he next went to anti-suyu and alayda, by way of collao and charcas. he entered the valley of cochabamba, and there made provinces of _mitimaes_ in all parts, because the natives were few, and there was space for all, the land being fertile. thence he went to pocona to give orders on that frontier against the chirihuanas, and to repair a fortress which had been built by his father. while engaged on these measures, he received news that the provinces of quito, cayambis, carangues, pastos, and huancavilcas had rebelled. he, therefore, hurried his return and came to tiahuanacu, where he prepared for war against the quitos and cayambis, and gave orders how the urus[ ] were to live, granting them localities in which each tribe of them was to fish in the lake. he visited the temple of the sun and the _huaca_ of ticci viracocha on the island of titicaca, and sent orders that all those provinces should send troops to go to that war which he had proclaimed. [note : the urus are a tribe of fishermen, with a peculiar language, living among the reed beds in the s.w. part of lake titicaca.] lx. huayna ccapac makes war on the quitos, pastos, carangues, cayambis, huancavilcas. knowing that the pastos, quitos, carangues, cayambis and huancavilcas had rebelled, killed the _tucuricos_, and strengthened their positions with strong forces, huayna ccapac, with great rapidity, collected a great army from all the districts of the four _suyus_. he nominated michi of the hurin-cuzcos, and auqui tupac of the hanan-cuzcos as captains, and left his uncle huaman achachi as governor of cuzco. others say that he left apu hilaquito and auqui tupac inca in cuzco, with his son who was to succeed named tupac cusi hualpa inti illapa, and with him another of his sons named titu atanchi, who remained to perform the fasts before knighthood. it is to be noted that huayna ccapac was married, in conformity with custom and with the prescribed ceremonies to cusi rimay coya, by whom he had no male child. he, therefore, took his sister araua ocllo to wife, by whom he had a son tupac cusi hualpa, vulgarly called huascar. preparing for the campaign he ordered that atahualpa and ninan cuyoche, his illegitimate sons, now grown men, should go with him. his other sons, also illegitimate, named manco inca and paulu tupac, were to remain with huascar. these arrangements having been made, the inca set out for quito. on the way he came to tumipampa where he had himself been born. here he erected great edifices where he placed, with great solemnity, the caul in which he was born. marching onwards and reaching the boundary of the region where the quitos were in arms, he marshalled his squadrons, and presently resolved to conquer the pastos. for this service he selected two captains of the collao, one named mollo cavana, the other mollo pucara, and two others of cunti-suyu named apu cautar canana and cunti mollo, under whose command he placed many men of their nations, and _orejones_ as guards, under auqui tupac inca, brother of huayna ccapac and acollo tupac of the lineage of viracocha. they marched to the country of the pastos who fell back on their chief place, leaving their old people, women and children, with a few men, that the enemy might think there was no one else. the incas easily conquered these and, thinking that was all, they gave themselves up to idleness and pleasure. one night, when they were engaged in a great rejoicing, eating and drinking freely, without sentries, the pastos attacked them, and there was a great slaughter, especially among the collas. those who escaped, fled until they came to the main army of the incas which was following them. they say that atahualpa and ninan cuyoche brought up assistance, and that, with the confidence thus gained, huayna ccapac ordered the war to be waged most cruelly. so they entered the country of the pastos a second time, burning and destroying the inhabited places and killing all the people great and small, men and women, young and old. that province having been subdued, a governor was appointed to it. huayna ccapac then returned to tumipampa, where he rested some days, before moving his camp for the conquest of the carangues, a very warlike nation. in this campaign he subdued the macas to the confines of the cañaris, those of quisna, of ancamarca, the province of puruvay, the indians of nolitria, and other neighbouring nations. thence he went down to tumbez, a seaport, and then came to the fortresses of carangui and cochisque. in commencing to subdue those of cochisque he met with a stubborn resistance by valiant men, and many were killed on both sides. at length the place was taken, and the men who escaped were received in the fortress of carangui. the incas decided that the country surrounding this fortress should first be subdued. they desolated the country as far as ancas-mayu and otabalo, those who escaped from the fury of the incas taking refuge in the fortress. huayna ccapac attacked it with his whole force, but was repulsed by the garrison with much slaughter, and the _orejones_ were forced to fly, defeated by the cayambis, the inca himself being thrown down. he would have been killed if a thousand of his guard had not come up with their captains cusi tupac yupanqui and huayna achachi, to rescue and raise him. the sight of this animated the _orejones_. all turned to defend their inca, and pressed on with such vigour that the cayambis were driven back into their fortress. the inca army, in one encounter and the other, suffered heavy loss. huayna ccapac, on this account, returned to tumipampa, where he recruited his army, preparing to resume the attack on the cayambis. at this time some _orejones_ deserted the inca, leaving him to go back to cuzco. huayna ccapac satisfied the rest by gifts of clothes, provisions, and other things, and he formed an efficient army. it was reported that the cayambis had sallied from their fortress and had defeated a detachment of the inca army, killing many, and the rest escaping by flight. this caused great sorrow to the inca, who sent his brother auqui toma, with an army composed of all nations, against the cayambis of the fortress. auqui toma went, attacked the fortress, captured four lines of defence and the outer wall, which was composed of five. but at the entrance the cayambis killed auqui toma, captain of the cuzcos, who had fought most valorously. this attack and defence was so obstinate and long continued that an immense number of men fell, and the survivors had nowhere to fight except upon heaps of dead men. the desire of both sides to conquer or die was so strong that they gave up their lances and arrows and took to their fists. at last, when they saw that their captain was killed, the incas began to retreat towards a river, into which they went without any care for saving their lives. the river was in flood and a great number of men were drowned. this was a heavy loss for the cause of huayna ccapac. those who escaped from drowning and from the hands of the enemy, sent the news to the inca from the other side of the river. huayna ccapac received the news of this reverse with heavier grief than ever, for he dearly loved his brother auqui toma, who had been killed with so many men who were the pick of the army. huayna ccapac was a brave man, and was not dismayed. on the contrary it raised his spirit and he resolved to be avenged. he again got ready his forces and marched in person against the fortress of the cayambis. he formed the army in three divisions. he sent michi with a third of the army to pass on one side of the fortress without being seen. this detachment consisted of cuzco _orejones_, and men of chinchay-suyu. they were to advance five marches beyond the fortress and, at a fixed time, return towards it, desolating and destroying. the inca, with the rest of his army marched direct to the attack of the fortress, and began to fight with great fury. this continued some days, during which the inca lost some men. while the battle was proceeding, michi and those of chinchay-suyu turned, desolating and destroying everything in the land of the cayambis. they were so furious that they did not leave anything standing, making the very earth to tremble. when huayna ccapac knew that his detachment was near the fortress, he feigned a flight. the cayambis, not aware of what was happening in their rear, came out of the fortress in pursuit of the inca. when the cayambis were at some distance from their stronghold, the chinchay-suyus, commanded by michi, came in sight. these met with no resistance in the fortress as the cayambis were outside, following huayna ccapac. they easily entered it and set it on fire in several parts, killing or capturing all who were inside. the cayambis were, by this time, fighting with the army of huayna ccapac. when they saw their fortress on fire they lost hope and fled from the battle field towards a lake which was near, thinking that they could save themselves by hiding among the beds of reeds. but huayna ccapac followed them with great rapidity. in order that none might escape he gave instructions that the lake should be surrounded. in that lake, and the swamps on its borders, the troops of huayna ccapac, he fighting most furiously in person, made such havock and slaughter, that the lake was coloured with the blood of the dead cayambis. from that time forward the lake has been called _yahuar-cocha_, which means the "lake of blood," from the quantity that was there shed. it is to be noted that in the middle of this lake there was an islet with two willow trees, up which some cayambis climbed, and among them their two chiefs named pinto and canto, most valiant indians. the troops of huayna ccapac pelted them with stones and captured canto, but pinto escaped with a thousand brave cañaris. the cayambis being conquered, the cuzcos began to select those who would look best in the triumphal entry into cuzco. but they, thinking that they were being selected to be killed, preferred rather to die like men than to be tied up like women. so they turned and began to fight. huayna ccapac saw this and ordered them all to be killed. the inca placed a garrison in the fortress, and sent a captain with a detachment in pursuit of pinto who, in his flight, was doing much mischief. they followed until pinto went into forests, with other fugitives, escaping for a time. after huayna ccapac had rested for some days at tumipampa, he got information where pinto was in the forests, and surrounded them, closing up all entrances and exits. hunger then obliged him, and those who were with him, to surrender. this pinto was very brave and he had such hatred against huayna ccapac that even, after his capture, when the inca had presented him with gifts and treated him kindly, he never could see his face. so he died out of his mind, and huayna ccapac ordered a drum to be made of his skin. the drum was sent to cuzco, and so this war came to an end. it was at cuzco in the _taqui_ or dance in honour of the sun. lxi. the chirihuanas come to make war in peru against those conquered by the incas. while huayna ccapac was occupied with this war of the cayambis, the chirihuanas, who form a nation of the forests, naked and eaters of human flesh, for which they have a public slaughter house, uniting, and, coming forth from their dense forests, entered the territory of charcas, which had been conquered by the incas of peru. they attacked the fortress of cuzco-tuyo, where the inca had a large frontier garrison to defend the country against them. their assault being sudden they entered the fortress, massacred the garrison, and committed great havock, robberies and murders among the surrounding inhabitants. the news reached huayna ccapac at quito, and he received it with much heaviness. he sent a captain, named yasca, to cuzco to collect troops, and with them to march against the chirihuanas. this captain set out for cuzco, taking with him the _huaca_ "cataquilla[ ]" of caxamarca and huamachuco, and "curichaculla" of the chachapoyas; and the _huacas_ "tomayrica and chinchay-cocha," with many people, the attendants of the _huacas_. he arrived at cuzco where he was very well received by the governors, apu hilaquito and auqui tupac inca. having collected his troops he left cuzco for charcas. on the road he enlisted many men of the collao. with these he came up with the chirihuanas and made cruel war upon them. he captured some to send to huayna ccapac at quito, that the inca might see what these strange men were like. the captain yasca rebuilt the fortress and, placing in it the necessary garrison, he returned to cuzco, dismissed his men, and each one returned to his own land. [note : it was the policy of the incas that the idols and _huacas_ of conquered nations should be sent to cuzco and deposited there. catiquilla was an idol of the caxamarca and huamachuco people. arriaga calls it apu-cati-quilla. _apu_ the great or chief, _catic_ follower, _quilla_ the moon. apu-cati-quilla appears to have been a moon god. the other _huacas_ are local deities, all sent to cuzco. catiquilla had been kept as an oracle in the village of tauca in conchucos (calancha, p. ). _cati-quilla_ would mean "following moon." (see also _extirpation de la idolatria del peru_, joseph de arriaga. lima, .)] lxii. what huayna ccapac did after the said wars. as soon as huayna ccapac had despatched the captain against the chirihuanas, he set out from tumipampa to organize the nations he had conquered, including quito, pasto, and huancavilcas. he came to the river called ancas-mayu, between pasto and quito, where he set up his boundary pillars at the limit of the country he had conquered. as a token of grandeur and as a memorial he placed certain golden staves in the pillars. he then followed the course of the river in search of the sea, seeking for people to conquer, for he had information that in that direction the country was well peopled. on this road the army of the inca was in great peril, suffering from scarcity of water, for the troops had to cross extensive tracts of sand. one day, at dawn, the inca army found itself surrounded by an immense crowd of people, not knowing who they were. in fear of the unknown enemy, the troops began to retreat towards the inca. just as they were preparing for flight a boy came to huayna ccapac, and said: "my lord! fear not, those are the people for whom we are in search. let us attack them." this appeared to the inca to be good advice and he ordered an impetuous attack to be made, promising that whatever any man took should be his. the _orejones_ delivered such an assault on those who surrounded them that, in a short time, the circle was broken. the enemy was routed, and the fugitives made for their habitations, which were on the sea coast towards coaques, where the incas captured an immense quantity of rich spoils, emeralds, turquoises, and great store of very fine _mollo_, a substance formed in sea shells, more valued amongst them than gold or silver. here the inca received a message from the sinchi or curaca of the island of puna with a rich present, inviting him to come to his island to receive his service. huayna ccapac did so. thence he went to huancavilca, where he joined the reserves who had been left there. news came to him that a great pestilence was raging at cuzco of which the governors apu hilaquito his uncle, and auqui tupac inca his brother had died, also his sister mama cuca, and many other relations. to establish order among the conquered nations, the inca went to quito, intending to proceed from thence to cuzco to rest. on reaching quito the inca was taken ill with a fever, though others say it was small-pox or measles. he felt the disease to be mortal and sent for the _orejones_ his relations, who asked him to name his successor. his reply was that his son ninan cuyoche was to succeed, if the augury of the _calpa_ gave signs that such succession would be auspicious, if not his son huascar was to succeed. orders were given to proceed with the ceremony of the _calpa_, and cusi tupac yupanqui, named by the inca to be chief steward of the sun, came to perform it. by the first _calpa_ it was found that the succession of ninan cuyoche would not be auspicious. then they opened another lamb and took out the lungs, examining certain veins. the result was that the signs respecting huascar were also inauspicious. returning to the inca, that he might name some one else, they found that he was dead. while the _orejones_ stood in suspense about the succession, cusi tupac yupanqui said: "take care of the body, for i go to tumipampa to give the fringe to ninan cuyoche." but when he arrived at tumipampa he found that ninan cuyoche was also dead of the small-pox pestilence[ ]. [note : ninan cuyoche is said by cobos to have been legitimate, a son of the first wife cusi rimay huaco, who is said by sarmiento and others not to have borne a male heir.] seeing this cusi tupac yupanqui said to araua ocllo--"be not sad, o coya! go quickly to cuzco, and say to your son huascar that his father named him to be inca when his own days were over." he appointed two _orejones_ to accompany her, with orders to say to the incas of cuzco that they were to give the fringe to huascar. cusi tupac added that he would make necessary arrangements and would presently follow them with the body of huayna ccapac, to enter cuzco with it in triumph, the order of which had been ordained by the inca on the point of death, on a staff. huayna ccapac died at quito at the age of years. he left more than sons. he succeeded at the age of , and reigned years. he was valiant though cruel. he left a lineage or _ayllu_ called _tumipampa ayllu_. at present the heads of it, now living, are don diego viracocha inca, don garcia inguil tupac, and gonzalo sayri. to this _ayllu_ are joined the sons of paulu tupac, son of huayna ccapac. they are hanan-cuzcos. huayna ccapac died in the year of the nativity of our lord jesus christ, the invincible emperor charles v of glorious memory being king of spain, father of your majesty, and the pope was paul iii. the body of huayna ccapac was found by the licentiate polo in a house where it was kept concealed, in the city of cuzco. it was guarded by two of his servants named hualpa titu and sumac yupanqui. his idol or _guauqui_ was called _huaraqui inca_. it was a great image of gold, which has not been found up to the present time. lxiii the life of huascar, the last inca, and of atahualpa. huayna ccapac being dead, and the news having reached cuzco, they raised titu cusi hualpa inti illapa, called huascar, to be inca. he was called huascar because he was born in a town called huascar-quihuar, four and a half leagues from cuzco. those who remained at tumipampa embalmed the body of huayna ccapac, and collected the spoils and captives taken in his wars, for a triumphal entry into the capital. it is to be noted that atahualpa, bastard son of huayna ccapac by tocto coca, his cousin, of the lineage of inca yupanqui, had been taken to that war by his father to prove him. he first went against the pastos, and came back a fugitive, for which his father rated him severely. owing to this atahualpa did not appear among the troops, and he spoke to the inca _orejones_ of cuzco in this manner. "my lords! you know that i am a son of huayna ccapac and that my father took me with him, to prove me in the war. owing to the disaster with the pastos, my father insulted me in such a way that i could not appear among the troops, still less at cuzco among my relations who thought that my father would leave me well, but i am left poor and dishonoured. for this reason i have determined to remain here where my father died, and not to live among those who will be pleased to see me poor and out of favour. this being so you need not wait for me." he then embraced them all and took leave of them. they departed with tears and grief, leaving atahualpa at tumipampa[ ]. [note : atahualpa is said by sarmiento and yamqui pachacuti to have been an illegitimate son of huayna ccapac by tocto coca his cousin, of the ayllu of pachacuti. cieza de leon says that he was a son by a woman of quilaco named tupac palla. gomara, who is followed by velasco, says that atahualpa was the son of a princess of quito. as huayna ccapac only set out for the quito campaign twelve years before his death, and atahualpa was then grown up, his mother cannot have been a woman of quito. i, therefore, have no doubt that sarmiento is right.] the _orejones_ brought the body of huayna ccapac to cuzco, entering with great triumph, and his obsequies were performed like those of his ancestors. this being done, huascar presented gold and other presents, as well as wives who had been kept closely confined in the house of the _acllas_ during the time of his father. huascar built edifices where he was born, and in cuzco he erected the houses of amaru-cancha, where is now the monastery of the "name of jesus," and others on the colcampata, where don carlos lives, the son of paulo. after that he summoned cusi tupac yupanqui, and the other principal _orejones_ who had come with the body of his father, and who were of the lineage of inca yupanqui and therefore relations of the mother of atahualpa. he asked them why they had not brought atahualpa with them, saying that doubtless they had left him there, that he might rebel at quito, and that when he did so, they would kill their inca at cuzco. the _orejones_, who had been warned of this suspicion, answered that they knew nothing except that atahualpa remained at quito, as he had stated publicly, that he might not be poor and despised among his relations in cuzco. huascar, not believing what they said, put them to the torture, but he extracted nothing further from them. huascar considered the harm that these _orejones_ had done, and that he never could be good friends with them or be able to trust them, so he caused them to be put to death. this gave rise to great lamentation in cuzco and hatred of huascar among the hanan-cuzcos, to which party the deceased belonged. seeing this huascar publicly said that he divorced and separated himself from relationship with the lineages of the hanan-cuzcos because they were for atahualpa who was a traitor, not having come to cuzco to do homage. then he declared war with atahualpa and assembled troops to send against him. meanwhile atahualpa sent his messengers to huascar with presents, saying that he was his vassal, and as such he desired to know how he could serve the inca. huascar rejected the messages and presents of atahualpa and they even say that he killed the messengers. others say that he cut their noses and their clothing down to their waists, and sent them back insulted. while this was taking place at cuzco the huancavilcas rebelled. atahualpa assembled a great army, nominating as captains--chalco chima, quiz-quiz, incura hualpa, rumi-ñaui, yupanqui, urco-huaranca and uña chullo. they marched against the huancavilcas, conquered them, and inflicted severe punishment. returning to quito, atahualpa sent a report to huascar of what had taken place. at this time atahualpa received news of what huascar had done to his messengers, and of the death of the _orejones_; also that huascar was preparing to make war on him, that he had separated himself from the hanan-cuzcos, and that he had proclaimed him, atahualpa, a traitor, which they call _aucca_. atahualpa, seeing the evil designs entertained by his brother against him, and that he must prepare to defend himself, took counsel with his captains. they were of one accord that he should not take the field until he had assembled more men, and collected as large an army as possible, because negotiations should be commenced when he was ready for battle. at this time an orejon named hancu and another named atoc came to tumipampa to offer sacrifices before the image of huayna ccapac, by order of huascar. they took the wives of huayna ccapac and the insignia of inca without communication with atahualpa. for this atahualpa seized them and, being put to the torture, they confessed what orders huascar had given them, and that an army was being sent against atahualpa. they were ordered to be killed, and drums to be made of their skins. then atahualpa sent scouts along the road to cuzco, to see what forces were being sent against him by his brother. the scouts came in sight of the army of huascar and brought back the news. atahualpa then marched out of quito to meet his enemies. the two armies encountered each other at riopampa where they fought a stubborn and bloody battle, but atahualpa was victorious. the dead were so numerous that he ordered a heap to be made of their bones, as a memorial. even now, at this day, the plain may be seen, covered with the bones of those who were slain in that battle. at this time huascar had sent troops to conquer the nations of pumacocha, to the east of the pacamoros, led by tampu usca mayta and by titu atauchi, the brother of huascar. when the news came of this defeat at riopampa, huascar got together another larger army, and named as captains atoc, huaychac, hanco, and huanca auqui. this huanca auqui had been unfortunate and lost many men in his campaign with the pacamoros. his brother, the inca huascar, to insult him, sent him gifts suited to a woman, ridiculing him. this made huanca auqui determine to do something worthy of a man. he marched to tumipampa, where the army of atahualpa was encamped to rest after the battle. finding it without watchfulness, he attacked and surprised the enemy, committing much slaughter. atahualpa received the news at quito, and was much grieved that his brother huanca auqui should have made this attack, for at other times when he could have hit him, he had let him go, because he was his brother. he now gave orders to quiz-quiz and chalco chima to advance in pursuit of huanca auqui. they overtook him at cusi-pampa, where they fought and huanca auqui was defeated, with great loss on both sides. huanca auqui fled, those of atahualpa following in pursuit as far as caxamarca, where huanca auqui met a large reinforcement sent by huascar in support. huanca auqui ordered them to march against chalco chima and quiz-quiz while he remained at caxamarca. the troops sent by huanca auqui were chachapoyas and many others, the whole numbering , . they met the enemy and fought near caxamarca. but the chachapoyas were defeated and no more than escaped. huanca auqui then fled towards cuzco, followed by the army of atahualpa. in the province of bombon[ ], huanca auqui found a good army composed of all nations, which huascar had sent to await his enemies there, who were coming in pursuit. those of atahualpa arrived and a battle was fought for two days without either party gaining an advantage. but on the third day huanca auqui was vanquished by quiz-quiz and chalco chima. [note : correctly pumpu.] huanca auqui escaped from the rout and came to xauxa, where he found a further reinforcement of many indians, soras, chancas, ayamarcas, and yanyos, sent by his brother. with these he left xauxa and encountered the pursuing enemy at a place called yanamarca. here a battle was fought not less stubbornly than the former one. finally, as fortune was against huanca auqui, he was again defeated by chalco chima, the adventurous captain of the army of atahualpa. the greater part of the forces of huanca auqui was killed. he himself fled, never stopping until he reached paucaray. here he found a good company of _orejones_ of cuzco, under a captain named mayta yupanqui who, on the part of huascar, rebuked huanca auqui, asking how it was possible for him to have lost so many battles and so many men, unless he was secretly in concert with chalco chima. he answered that the accusation was not true, that he could not have done more; and he told mayta yupanqui to go against their enemy, and see what power he brought. he said that atahualpa was determined to advance if they could not hinder his captains. then mayta yupanqui went on to encounter chalco chima, and met him at the bridge of anco-yacu where there were many skirmishes, but finally the _orejones_ were defeated[ ]. [note : this campaign is also fully described by balboa, and in some detail by yamqui pachacuti, pp. -- .] lxiv. huascar inca marches in person to fight chalco chima and quiz-quiz, the captains of atahualpa. as the fortune of huascar and his captains, especially of huanca auqui, was so inferior to that of atahualpa and his adventurous and dexterous captains chalco chima and quiz-quiz, one side meeting with nothing that did not favour them, the other side with nothing that was not against them, such terrible fear took possession of huanca auqui and the other inca captains after the battle of anco-yacu bridge, that they fled without stopping to vilcas, and more leagues from anco-yacu, on the road to cuzco. over the satisfaction that the captains of atahualpa felt at the glory of so many victories that they had won, there came the news sent by atahualpa that he had come in person to caxamarca and huamachuco, that he had been received as inca by all the nations he had passed, and that he had assumed the fringe and the _ccapac-uncu_. he was now called inca of all the land, and it was declared that there was no other inca but him. he ordered his captains to march onwards conquering, until they encountered huascar. they were to give him battle, conquer him like the rest, and if possible take him prisoner. atahualpa was so elated by his victories, and assumed such majesty, that he did not cease to talk of his successes, and no one dared to raise his eyes before him. for those who had business with him he appointed a lieutenant called "inca apu," which means "the inca's lord," who was to take his place by the inca when he was seated. those who had business transacted it with him, entering with a load on their backs, and their eyes on the ground, and thus they spoke of their business with the _apu_. he then reported to atahualpa, who decided what was to be done. atahualpa was very cruel, he killed right and left, destroyed, burnt, and desolated whatever opposed him. from quito to huamachuco he perpetrated the greatest cruelties, robberies, outrages, and tyrannies that had ever been done in that land. when atahualpa arrived at huamachuco, two principal lords of his house came to offer sacrifice to the _huaca_ of huamachuco for the success that had attended their cause. these _orejones_ went, made the sacrifice, and consulted the oracle. they received an answer that atahualpa would have an unfortunate end, because he was such a cruel tyrant and shedder of so much human blood. they delivered this reply of the devil to atahualpa. it enraged him against the oracle, so he called out his guards and went to where the _huaca_ was kept. having surrounded the place, he took a halberd of gold in his hand, and was accompanied by the two officers of his household who had made the sacrifice. when he came to where the idol was, an old man aged a hundred years came out, clothed in a dress reaching down to the ground, very woolly and covered with sea shells. he was the priest of the oracle who had made the reply. when atahualpa knew who he was, he raised the halberd and gave him a blow which cut off his head. atahualpa then entered the house of the idol, and cut off its head also with many blows, though it was made of stone. he then ordered the old man's body, the idol, and its house to be burnt, and the cinders to be scattered in the air. he then levelled the hill, though it was very large, where that oracle, idol or _huaca_ of the devil stood. all this being made known to chalco chima and quiz-quiz, they celebrated festivals and rejoicings, and then resumed their march towards cuzco. huascar received reports of all that had happened, and mourned over the great number of men he had lost. he clearly saw that there only remained the remedy of going forth in person to try his fortune, which had hitherto been so adverse. in preparation he kept some fasts--for these gentiles also have a certain kind of fasting, made many sacrifices to the idols and oracles of cuzco, and sought for replies. all answered that the event would be adverse to him. on hearing this he consulted his diviners and wizards, called by them _umu_, who, to please him, gave him hope of a fortunate ending. he got together a powerful army, and sent out scouts to discover the position of the enemy. the hostile army was reported to be at a place, leagues from cuzco, called curahuasi[ ]. they found there chalco chima and quiz-quiz, and reported that they had left the main road to cuzco, and had taken that of cotabamba, which is on the right, coming from caxamarca or lima to cuzco. this route was taken to avoid the bad road and dangerous pass by the apurimac bridge. huascar divided his army into three divisions. one consisted of the men of cunti-suyu, charcas, colla-suyu, chuys, and chile under the command of a captain named arampa yupanqui. his orders were to advance over cotabamba towards another neighbouring province of the omasayos, to harass the enemy on the side of the river of cotabamba and the apurimac bridge. the survivors of the former battles, under huanca auqui, ahua panti, and pacta mayta, were to attack the enemy on one flank, and to march into cotabamba. huascar in person commanded a third division. thus all the forces of both huascar and atahualpa were in cotabamba. [note : curahuasi is near the bridge over the apurimac.] arampa yupanqui got news that the forces of atahualpa were passing through a small valley or ravine which leads from huanacu-pampa. he marched to oppose them, and fought with a strong squadron of the troops under chalco chima. he advanced resolutely to the encounter, and slew many of the enemy, including one of their captains named tomay rima. this gave huascar great satisfaction and he said laughingly to the _orejones_--"the collas have won this victory. behold the obligation we have to imitate our ancestors." presently the captains-general of his army, who were titu atauchi, tupac atao his brother, nano, urco huaranca and others, marshalled the army to fight those of atahualpa with their whole force. the armies confronted each other and attacked with skill and in good order. the battle lasted from morning nearly until sunset, many being slain on both sides, though the troops of huascar did not suffer so much as those of chalco chima and quiz-quiz. the latter seeing their danger, many of them retreated to a large grassy plateau which was near, in huanacu-pampa. huascar, who saw this, set fire to the grass and burnt a great part of atahualpa's forces. chalco chima and quiz-quiz then retreated to the other side of the river cotabamba. huascar, satisfied with what he had done, did not follow up his advantages, but enjoyed the victory which fortune had placed in his hands. for this he took a higher position. chalco chima and quiz-quiz, who were experienced in such manoeuvres, seeing that they were not followed, decided to rest their troops, and on another day to attack those who believed themselves to be conquerors. they sent spies to the camp of huascar, and found from them that huascar would send a certain division of his troops to take atahualpa's captains, without their being able to escape. lxv. the battle between the armies of huascar and atahualpa huascar made prisoner. when the morning of the next day arrived huascar determined to finish off the army of his brother at one blow. he ordered tupac atao to go down the ravine with a squadron, discover the position of the enemy, and report what he had seen. tupac atao received this order and entered the ravine in great silence, looking from side to side. but the spies of chalco chima saw everything without being seen themselves and gave notice to chalco chima and quiz-quiz. chalco chima then divided his men into two parts and stationed them at the sides of the road where the _orejones_ would pass. when tupac atao came onwards, they attacked him to such purpose that scarcely any one escaped, tupac atao himself was taken, badly wounded, by whom chalco chima was informed that huascar would follow him with only a squadron of men, while the rest of his army remained in huanacu-pampa. chalco chima sent this information to quiz-quiz, who was at a little distance, that they might unite forces. he told him that tupac atao was taken, that huascar was expected with a small force, and that quiz-quiz was wanted that both might take this enemy on the flanks. this was done. they divided their forces, placing them on both sides as in the attack on tupac atao. a short time after they entered the ravine, huascar and his men came upon the dead bodies of the men of tupac atao who, being known to huascar he wished to turn back, understanding that they were all dead and that there must have been some ambush. but it was too late, for he was surrounded by his enemies. then he was attacked by the troops of chalco chima. when he tried to fly from those who fell upon his rear, he fell into the hands of quiz-quiz who was waiting for him lower down. those of chalco chima and those of quiz-quiz fought with great ferocity, sparing none, and killing them all. chalco chima, searching for huascar, saw him in his litter and seized him by the hands, and pulled him out of his litter. thus was taken prisoner the unfortunate huascar inca, twelfth and last tyrant of the inca sovereigns of peru, falling into the power of another greater and more cruel tyrant than himself, his people defeated, killed, and scattered. placing huascar in safe durance with a sufficient guard, chalco chima went on in the inca's litter and detached of his men to advance towards the other troops remaining on the plain of huanacu-pampa. he ordered that all the rest should follow quiz-quiz, and that when he let fall the screen, they should attack. he executed this stratagem because his enemies thought that he was huascar returning victorious, so they waited. he advanced and arrived where the troops of huascar were waiting for their lord, who, when they saw him, still thought that it was huascar bringing his enemies as prisoners. when chalco chima was quite near, he let loose a prisoner who had been wounded, who went to the inca troops. he told them what had happened, that it was chalco chima, and that he could kill them all by this stratagem. when this was known, and that chalco chima would presently order them to be attacked with his whole force, for he had let the screen fall, which was to be the sign, the inca troops gave way and took to flight, which was what chalco chima intended. the troops of atahualpa pursued, wounding and killing with excessive cruelty and ferocity, continuing the slaughter, with unheard of havock, as far as the bridge of cotabamba. as the bridge was narrow and all could not cross it, many jumped into the water from fear of their ferocious pursuers, and were drowned. the troops of atahualpa crossed the river, continuing the pursuit and rejoicing in their victory. during the pursuit they captured titu atauchi, the brother of huascar. chalco chima and quiz-quiz arrived at some houses called quiuipay, about half a league from cuzco, where they placed huascar as a prisoner with a sufficient guard. here they encamped and established their head-quarters. the soldiers of chalco chima went to get a view of cuzco from the hill of yauina overlooking the city, where they heard the mourning and lamentation of the inhabitants, and returned to inform chalco chima and quiz-quiz. those captains sent a messenger to cuzco to tell the inhabitants not to mourn, for that there was nothing to fear, it being well known that this was a war between two brothers for the gratification of their own passions. if any of them had helped huascar they had not committed a crime, for they were bound to serve their inca; and if there was any fault he would remit and pardon it, in the name of the great lord atahualpa. presently he would order them all to come out and do reverence to the statue of atahualpa, called _ticci ccapac_ which means "lord of the world." the people of cuzco consulted together, and resolved to come forth and obey the commands of chalco chima and quiz-quiz. they came according to their _ayllus_ and, on arriving at quiuipay, they seated themselves in that order. presently the troops of atahualpa, fully armed, surrounded all those who had come from cuzco. they took huanca auqui, ahua panti, and paucar usna, who had led the army against them in the battle at tumipampa. then they took apu chalco yupanqui and rupaca, priests of the sun, because these had given the fringe to huascar. these being prisoners quiz-quiz rose and said--"now you know of the battles you have fought with me on the road, and the trouble you have caused me. you always raised huascar to be inca, who was not the heir. you treated evilly the inca atahualpa whom the sun guards, and for these things you deserve death. but using you with humanity, i pardon you in the name of my lord atahualpa, whom may the sun prosper." but that they might not be without any punishment, he ordered them to be given some blows with a great stone on the shoulders, and he killed the most culpable. then he ordered that all should be tied by the knees, with their faces towards caxamarca or huamachuco where atahualpa was, and he made them pull out their eyelashes and eyebrows as an offering to the new inca. all the _orejones_, inhabitants of cuzco, did this from fear, saying in a loud voice, "long live! live for many years atahualpa our inca, may our father the sun increase his life!" araua ocllo, the mother of huascar, and his wife chucuy huypa, were there, and were dishonoured and abused by quiz-quiz. in a loud voice the mother of huascar said to her son, who was a prisoner, "o unfortunate! thy cruelties and evil deeds have brought you to this state. did i not tell you not to be so cruel, and not to kill nor ill-treat the messengers of your brother atahualpa." having said these words she came to him, and gave him a blow in the face. chalco chima and quiz-quiz then sent a messenger to atahualpa, letting him know all that had happened, and that they had made prisoners of huascar and many others, and asking for further orders. lxvi. what chalco chima and quiz-quiz did concerning huascar and those of his side in words. after chalco chima and quiz-quiz had sent off the messengers to atahualpa, they caused the prisoners to be brought before them, and in the presence of all, and of the mother and wife of huascar, they declared, addressing themselves to the mother of huascar, that she was the concubine and not the wife of huayna ccapac, and that, being his concubine, she had borne huascar, also that she was a vile woman and not a coya. the troops of atahualpa raised a shout of derision, and some said to the _orejones_, pointing their fingers at huascar--"look there at your lord! who said that in the battle he would turn fire and water against his enemies?" huascar was then tied hand and foot on a bed of ropes of straws. the _orejones_, from shame, lowered their heads. presently quiz-quiz asked huascar, "who of these made you lord, there being others better and more valiant than you, who might have been chosen?" araua ocllo, speaking to her son, said, "you deserve all this my son as i told you, and all comes from the cruelty with which you treated your own relations." huascar replied, "mother! there is now no remedy, leave us," and he addressed himself to the priest chalco yupanqui, saying--"speak and answer the question asked by quiz-quiz." the priest said to quiz-quiz, "i raised him to be lord and inca by command of his father huayna ccapac, and because he was son of a coya" (which is what we should call infanta). then chalco chima was indignant, and called the priest a deceiver and a liar. huascar answered to quiz-quiz, "leave off these arguments. this is a question between me and my brother, and not between the parties of hanan-cuzco and hurin-cuzco. we will investigate it, and you have no business to meddle between us on this point." enraged at the answer chalco chima ordered huascar to be taken back to prison, and said to the incas, to re-assure them, that they could now go back to the city as they were pardoned. the _orejones_ returned, invoking viracocha in loud voices with these words--"o creator! thou who givest life and favour to the incas where art thou now? why dost thou allow such persecution to come upon us? wherefore didst thou exalt us, if we are to come to such an end?" saying these words they beat their cloaks in token of the curse that had come upon them all. lxvii. the cruelties that atahualpa ordered to be perpetrated on the prisoners and conquered of huascar's party. when atahualpa knew what had happened, from the messengers of chalco chima and quiz-quiz, he ordered one of his relations named cusi yupanqui to go to cuzco, and not to leave a relation or friend of huascar alive. this cusi yupanqui arrived at cuzco, and chalco chima and quiz-quiz delivered the prisoners to him. he made inquiries touching all that atahualpa had ordered. he then caused poles to be fixed on both sides of the road, extending not more than a quarter of a league along the way to xaquixahuana. next he brought out of the prison all the wives of huascar, including those pregnant or lately delivered. he ordered them to be hung to these poles with their children, and he ordered the pregnant to be cut open, and the stillborn to be hung with them. then he caused the sons of huascar to be brought out and hung to the poles. among the sons of huayna ccapac who were prisoners there was one named paullu tupac. when they were going to kill him, he protested saying, it was unreasonable that he should be killed, because he had previously been imprisoned by huascar; and on this ground he was released and escaped death. yet the reason that he was imprisoned by huascar was because he had been found with one of the inca's wives. he was only given very little to eat, the intention being that he should die in prison. the woman with whom he was taken was buried alive. the wars coming on he escaped, and what has been related took place. after this the lords and ladies of cuzco who were found to have been friends of huascar were seized and hanged on the poles. then there was an examination of all the houses of deceased incas, to see which had been on the side of huascar, and against atahualpa. they found that the house of tupac inca yupanqui had sided with huascar. cusi yupanqui committed the punishment of the house to chalco chima and quiz-quiz. they seized the steward of the house, and the mummy of tupac inca, and those of his family and hung them all, and they burnt the body of tupac inca outside the town and reduced it to ashes. and to destroy the house completely, they killed many _mama cunas_ and servants, so that none were left of that house except a few of no account. besides this they ordered all the chachapoyas and cañaris to be killed, and their curaca named ulco colla, who they said had rebelled against the two brothers. all these murders and cruelties were perpetrated in the presence of huascar to torment him. they murdered over sons and daughters of huascar, and what he felt most cruelly was the murder, before his eyes, of one of his sisters named coya miro, who had a son of huascar in her arms, and another in her womb; and another very beautiful sister named chimbo cisa. breaking his heart at the sight of such cruelty and grief which he was powerless to prevent, he cried, with a sigh, "oh pachayachachi viracocha, thou who showed favour to me for so short a time, and honoured me and gave me life, dost thou see that i am treated in this way, and seest thou in thy presence what i, in mine, have seen and see." some of the concubines of huascar escaped from this cruelty and calamity, because they had neither borne a child nor were pregnant, and because they were beautiful. they say that they were kept to be taken to atahualpa. among those who escaped were doña elvira chonay, daughter of cañar ccapac, doña beatriz carnamaruay, daughter of the curaca of chinchay-cocha, doña juana tocto, doña catalina usica, wife, that was, of don paullu tupac, and mother of don carlos, who are living now. in this way the line and lineage of the unfortunate tyrant huascar, the last of the incas, was completely annihilated. lxviii. news of the spaniards comes to atahualpa. atahualpa was at huamachuco celebrating great festivals for his victories, and he wished to proceed to cuzco and assume the fringe in the house of the sun, where all former incas had received it when he was about to set out there came to him two tallanas indians, sent by the curacas of payta and tumbez, to report to him that there had arrived by sea, which they call _cocha_, a people with different clothing, and with beards, and that they brought animals like large sheep. the chief of them was believed to be viracocha, which means the god of these people, and he brought with him many viracochas, which is as much as to say "gods." they said this of the governor don francisco pizarro, who had arrived with men and some horses which they called sheep. as the account in detail is left for the history of the spaniards, which will form the third part to come after this, i will only here speak briefly of what passed between the spaniards and atahualpa. when this became known to atahualpa he rejoiced greatly, believing it to be the viracocha coming, as he had promised when he departed, and as is recounted in the beginning of this history. atahualpa gave thanks that he should have come in his time, and he sent back the messengers with thanks to the curacas for sending the news, and ordering them to keep him informed of what might happen. he resolved not to go to cuzco until he had seen what this arrival was, and what the viracochas intended to do. he sent orders to chalco chima and quiz-quiz to lose no time in bringing huascar to caxamarca, where he would go to await their arrival, for he had received news that certain viracochas had arrived by sea, and he wished to be there to see what they were like. as no further news came, because the spaniards were forming a station at tangarara, atahualpa became careless and believed that they had gone. for, at another time, when he was marching with his father, in the wars of quito, news came to huayna ccapac that the viracocha had arrived on the coast near tumbez, and then they had gone away. this was when don francisco pizarro came on the first discovery, and returned to spain for a concession, as will be explained in its place. lxix. the spaniards come to caxamarca and seize atahualpa, who orders huascar to be killed. atahualpa also dies. as the subject of which this chapter treats belongs to the third part (the history of the spaniards), i shall here only give a summary of what happened to atahualpa. although atahualpa was careless about the spaniards they did not miss a point, and when they heard where atahualpa was, they left tangarara and arrived at caxamarca. when atahualpa knew that the viracochas were near, he left caxamarca and went to some baths at a distance of half a league that he might, from there, take the course which seemed best. as he found that they were not gods as he had been made to think at first, he prepared his warriors to resist the spaniards. finally he was taken prisoner by don francisco pizarro, the friar, vicente valverde, having first made a certain demand, in the square of caxamarca. don francisco pizarro knew of the disputes there had been between atahualpa and huascar, and that huascar was a prisoner in the hands of the captains of atahualpa, and he urged atahualpa to have his brother brought as quickly as possible. huascar was being brought to caxamarca by atahualpa's order, as has already been said. chalco chima obeying this order, set out with huascar and the captains and relations who had escaped the butchery of cusi yupanqui. atahualpa asked don francisco pizarro why he wanted to see his brother. pizarro replied that he had been informed that huascar was the elder and principal lord of that land and for that reason he wished to see him, and he desired that he should come. atahualpa feared that if huascar came alive, the governor don francisco pizarro would be informed of what had taken place, that huascar would be made lord, and that he would lose his state. being sagacious, he agreed to comply with pizarro's demand, but sent off a messenger to the captain who was bringing huascar, with an order to kill him and all the prisoners. the messenger started and found huascar at antamarca, near yana-mayu. he gave his message to the captain of the guard who was bringing huascar as a prisoner. directly the captain heard the order of atahualpa he complied with it. he killed huascar, cut the body up, and threw it into the river yana-mayu. he also killed the rest of the brothers, relations, and captains who were with him as prisoners, in the year . huascar had lived years. he succeeded his father at the age of and reigned for years. his wife was chucuy huypa by whom he had no male child. he left no lineage or _ayllu_, and of those who are now living, one only, named don alonso titu atauchi is a nephew of huascar, son of titu atauchi who was murdered with huascar. he alone sustains the name of the lineage of huascar called the _huascar ayllu_. in this river of yana-mayu atahualpa had fixed his boundary pillars when he first rebelled, saying that from thence to chile should be for his brother huascar, and from the yana-mayu onwards should be his. thus with the death of huascar there was an end to all the incas of peru and all their line and descent which they held to be legitimate, without leaving man or woman who could have a claim on this country, supposing them to have been natural and legitimate lords of it, in conformity with their own customs and tyrannical laws. for this murder of huascar, and for other good and sufficient causes, the governor don francisco pizarro afterwards put atahualpa to death. he was a tyrant against the natives of this country and against his brother huascar. he had lived years. he was not inca of peru, but a tyrant. he was prudent, sagacious, and valiant, as i shall relate in the third part, being events which belong to the deeds of the spaniards. it suffices to close this second part by completing the history of the deeds of the inca tyrants who reigned in this kingdom of peru from manco ccapac the first to huascar the twelfth and last tyrant. lxx. it is noteworthy how these incas were tyrants against themselves, besides being so against the natives of the land. it is a thing worthy to be noted [_for the fact that besides being a thing certain and evident the general tyranny of these cruel and tyrannical incas of peru against the natives of the land, may be easily gathered from history_], and any one who reads and considers with attention the order and mode of their procedure will see, that their violent incaship was established without the will and election of the natives who always rose with arms in their hands on each occasion that offered for rising against their inca tyrants who oppressed them, to get back their liberty. each one of the incas not only followed the tyranny of his father, but also began afresh the same tyranny by force, with deaths, robberies and rapine. hence none of them could pretend, in good faith, to give a beginning to time of prescription, nor did any of them hold in peaceful possession, there being always some one to dispute and take up arms against them and their tyranny. moreover, and this is above all to be noted, to understand the worst aims of these tyrants and their horrid avarice and oppression, they were not satisfied with being evil tyrants to the natives, but also to their own proper sons, brothers and relations, in defiance of their own laws and statutes, they were the worst and most pertinacious tyrants with an unheard-of inhumanity. for it was enacted among themselves and by their customs and laws that the eldest legitimate son should succeed, yet almost always they broke the law, as appears by the incas who are here referred to. [illustration: _reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth._ capture of atahualpa, and siege of cuzco, etc. _from the rev. c.m. cracherode's copy in the british museum._] before all things manco ccapac, the first tyrant, coming from tampu-tocco, was inhuman in the case of his brother ayar cachi, sending him to tampu-tocco cunningly with orders for tampu-chacay to kill him out of envy, because he was the bravest, and might for that reason be the most esteemed. when he arrived at the valley of cuzco he not only tyrannized over the natives, but also over copalimayta and columchima who, though they had been received as natives of that valley were his relations, for they were _orejones_. then sinchi rocca, the second inca, having an older legitimate son named manco sapaca who, according to the law he and his father had made, was entitled to the succession, deprived him and nominated lloqui yupanqui the second son for his successor. likewise mayta ccapac, the fourth inca, named for his successor ccapac yupanqui, though he had an older legitimate son named cunti mayta, whom he disinherited. viracocha, the eighth inca, although he had an older legitimate son named inca rocca, did not name him as his successor, nor any of his legitimate sons, but a bastard named inca urco. this did not come about, inca urco did not enjoy the succession, nor did the eldest legitimate son, for there was a new tyranny. for inca yupanqui deprived both the one and the other, besides despoiling his father of his honours and estate. the same inca yupanqui, having an elder legitimate son named amaru tupac inca, did not name him, but a young son, tupac inca yupanqui. the same tupac inca, being of the same condition as his father, having huayna ccapac as the eldest legitimate son, named ccapac huari as his successor, although the relations of huayna ccapac would not allow it, and rose in his favour. if ccapac huari was legitimate, as his relations affirm, the evil deed must be fixed on huayna ccapac, who deprived his brother ccapac huari, and killed his mother and all his relations, making them infamous as traitors, that is supposing he was legitimate. huayna ccapac, though he named ninan cuyoche, he was not the eldest, and owing to this the succession remained unsettled, and caused the differences between huascar and atahualpa, whence proceeded the greatest and most unnatural tyrannies. turning their arms against their own entrails, robbing, and with inhuman intestine wars they came to a final end. thus as they commenced by their own authority, so they destroyed all by their own proper hands. it may be that almighty god permits that one shall be the executioner of the other for his evil deeds, that both may give place to his most holy gospel which, by the hands of the spaniards, and by order of the most happy, catholic, and unconquered emperor and king of spain, charles v of glorious memory, father of your majesty, was sent to these blind and barbarous gentiles. yet against the force and power of the incas on foot and united, it appeared that it would be impossible for human force to do what a few spaniards did, numbering only , who at first entered with the governor don francisco pizarro. it is well established that it is a thing false and without reason, and which ought not to be said, that there is now, in these kingdoms, any person of the lineage of the incas who can pretend to a right of succession to the incaship of this kingdom of peru, nor to be natural or legitimate lords. for no one is left who, in conformity with their laws, is able to say that he is the heir, in whole or in part of this land. only two sons of huayna ccapac escaped the cruelty of atahualpa. they were paullu tupac, afterwards called don cristóval paullu, and manco inca. they were bastards, which is well known among them. and these, if any honour or estate had belonged to them or their children, your majesty would have granted more than they had, their brothers retaining their estate and power. for they would merely have been their tributaries and servants. these were the lowest of all, for their lineage was on the side of their mothers which is what these people look at, in a question of birth[ ]. [note : these statements about the illegitimacy of manco and paullu inca are made to support the viceroy's argument and have no foundation in fact. the two princes were legitimate; their mother being a princess of the blood.] and manco inca had been a traitor to your majesty and was a fugitive in the andes where he died or was killed. your majesty caused his son to be brought out, in peace, from those savage wilds. he was named don diego sayri tupac. he became a christian, and provision was made for him, his sons and descendants. sayri tupac died as a christian, and he who is now in the andes in rebellion, named titu cusi yupanqui, is not a legitimate son of manco inca, but a bastard and apostate. they hold that another son is legitimate who is with the same titu, named tupac amaru, but he is incapable and the indians called him _uti_. neither one nor the other are heirs of the land, because their father was not legitimate. your majesty honoured don cristóval paullu with titles and granted him a good _repartimiento_ of indians, on which he principally lived. now it is possessed by his son don carlos. paullu left two legitimate sons who are now alive, named don carlos and don felipe. besides these he left many illegitimate sons. thus the known grandsons of huayna ccapac, who are now alive and admitted to be so, are those above mentioned. besides these there are don alonso titu atauchi, son of titu atauchi, and other bastards, but neither one nor the other has any right to be called a natural lord of the land. for the above reasons it will be right to say to those whose duty it may be to decide, that on such clear evidence is based the most just and legitimate title that your majesty and your successors have to these parts of the indies, proved by the actual facts that are here written, more especially as regards these kingdoms of peru without a point to raise against the said titles by which the crown of spain holds them. respecting which your viceroy of these kingdoms, don francisco toledo, has been a careful and most curious enquirer, as zealous for the clearing of the conscience of your majesty, and for the salvation of your soul, as he has shown and now shows himself in the general visitation which he is making by order of your majesty, in his own person, not avoiding the very great labours and dangers which he is suffering in these journeys, so long as they result in so great a service to god and your majesty. lxxi. summary computation of the period that the incas of peru lasted. the terrible and inveterate tyranny of the incas ccapac of peru, which had its seat in the city of cuzco, commenced in the year of our christian redemption, justin ii being emperor, loyva son of athanagild the goth being king of spain, and john iii supreme pontiff. it ended in , charles v being the most meritorious emperor and most christian king of spain and its dependencies, patron of the church and right arm of christendom, assuredly worthy of such a son as your majesty whom may god our lord take by the hand as is necessary for the holy christian church. paul iii was then pope. the whole period from manco ccapac to the death of huascar was years. it is not to be wondered at that these incas lived for so long a time, for in that age nature was stronger and more robust than in these days. besides men did not then marry until they were past thirty. they thus reached such an age with force and substance whole and undiminished. for these reasons they lived much longer than is the case now. besides the country where they lived has a healthy climate and uncorrupted air. the land is cleared, dry, without lakes, morasses, or forests with dense vegetation. these qualities all conduce to health, and therefore to the long life of the inhabitants whom may god our lord lead into his holy faith, for the salvation of their souls. amen[ ]. maxima tolleti proregis gloria creuit dum regni tenebras, lucida cura, fugat. ite procul scioli, vobis non locus in istis! rex indos noster nam tenet innocue. [note : cieza de leon and other authorities adopt a more moderate chronology.] certificate of the proofs and verification of this history. in the city of cuzco, on the th day of february, , before the very excellent lord don francisco de toledo, mayor-domo to his majesty, and his viceroy, governor, and captain-general of these kingdoms and provinces of peru, president of the royal audience and chancellory that resides in the city of the kings, and before me alvaro ruiz de navamuel his secretary and of the government and general visitation of these kingdoms, the captain pedro sarmiento de gamboa presented a petition of the following tenor: most excellent lord, i, the captain pedro sarmiento, cosmographer-general of these kingdoms of peru, report that by order of your excellency i have collected and reduced to a history the general chronicle of the origin and descent of the incas, of the particular deeds which each one did in his time and in the part he ruled, how each one of them was obeyed, of the tyranny with which, from the time of tupac inca yupanqui, the tenth inca, they oppressed and subjugated these kingdoms of peru until by order of the emperor charles v of glorious memory, don francisco pizarro came to conquer them. i have drawn up this history from the information and investigations which, by order of your excellency, were collected and made in the valley of xauxa, in the city of guamanga, and in other parts where your excellency was conducting your visitation, but principally in this city of cuzco where the incas had their continual residence, where there is more evidence of their acts, where the _mitimaes_ of all the provinces gathered together by order of the said incas, and where there is true memory of their _ayllus_. in order that this history may have more authority, i pray that you will see, correct, and give it your authority, so that, wherever it may be seen, it may have entire faith and credit. pedro sarmiento de gamboa. having been seen by his excellency he said that it may be known if the said history was in conformity with the information and evidence, which has been taken from the indians and other persons of this city and in other parts, and he ordered that doctor loarte, alcalde of the court of his majesty should cause to appear before him the principal and most intelligent indians of the twelve _ayllus_ or lineages of the twelve incas and other persons who may be summoned, and being assembled before me, the present secretary, the said history shall be read and declared to them by an interpreter in the language of the said indians, that each one may understand and discuss it among themselves, whether it is conformable to the truth as they know it. if there is anything to correct or amend, or which may appear to be contrary to what they know, it is to be corrected or amended. so i provide and sign don francisco de toledo before me alvaro ruiz de navamuel. afterwards, on the abovesaid day, month, and year the illustrious doctor gabriel de loarte, in compliance with the order of his excellency and in presence of me the said secretary, caused to appear before him the indians of the names, ages and _ayllus_ as follows: _ayllu of manco ccapac._ aged sebastian ylluc francisco paucar chima _ayllu of sinchi rocca._ diego cayo hualpa don alonso puzcon _ayllu of lloqui yupanqui._ hernando hualpa don garcia ancuy miguel rimachi mayta _ayllu of mayta ccapac._ don juan tampu usca mayta don felipe usca mayta francisco usca mayta _ayllu of ccapac yupanqui._ aged don francisco copca mayta don juan quispi mayta don juan apu mayta _ayllu of inca rocca._ don pedro hachacona don diego mayta _ayllu of yahuar-huaccac._ juan yupanqui martin rimachi _ayllu of viracocha._ don francisco anti-hualpa martin quichua sucsu don francisco chalco yupanqui _ayllu of pachacuti._ don diego cayo don juan hualpa yupanqui don domingo pascac don juan quispi cusi don francisco chanca rimachi don francisco cota yupanqui don gonzalo huacanhui don francisco quichua _ayllu of tupac inca._ don cristóval pisac tupac don andres tupac yupanqui don garcia pilco tupac don juan cozco _ayllu of huayna ccapac._ don francisco sayri don francisco ninan coro don garcia rimac tupac _ayllu of huascar._ aged don alonso titu atauchi _besides these ayllus._ don garcia paucar sucsu don carlos ayallilla don juan apanca don garcia apu rinti don diego viracocha inca don gonzalo tupac these being together in presence of his excellency, the said alcalde of the court, by the words of gonzalo gomez ximenes, interpreter to his excellency, in the general language of the indians, said:--"his excellency, desiring to verify and put in writing and to record the origin of the incas, your ancestors, their descent and their deeds, what each one did in his time, and in what parts each one was obeyed, which of them was the first to go forth from cuzco to subdue other lands, and how tupac inca yupanqui and afterwards huayna ccapac and huascar, his son and grandson became lords of all peru by force of arms; and to establish this with more authenticity, he has ordered that information and other proofs should be supplied in this city and other parts, and that the said information and proofs should be, by captain pedro sarmiento to whom they were delivered, digested into a true history and chronicle. the said pedro sarmiento has now made it and presented it to his excellency, to ascertain whether it is truthfully written in conformity with the sayings and declarations which were made by some indians of the said _ayllus_. his excellency is informed that the _ayllus_ and descendants of the twelve incas have preserved among themselves the memory of the deeds of their ancestors, and are those who best know whether the said chronicle is correct or defective, he has therefore caused you to assemble here, that it may be read in your presence and understood. you, among yourselves, will discuss what will be read and declared in the said language, and see if it agrees with the truth as you know it, and that you may feel a stronger obligation to say what you know, it is ordered that you take an oath." the said indians replied that they had understood why they had been sent for, and what it was that was required. they then swore, in the said language, by god our lord, and by the sign of the cross, that they would tell the truth concerning what they knew of that history. the oaths being taken the reading was commenced in sum and substance. there was read on that and following days from their fable of the creation to the end of the history of the incas. as it was read, so it was interpreted into their language, chapter by chapter. and over each chapter the indians discussed and conferred among themselves in the said language. all were agreed in confirming and declaring through the interpreter, that the said history was good and true, and in agreement with what they knew and had heard their fathers and ancestors say, as it had been told to them. for, as they have no writing like the spaniards, they conserve ancient traditions among themselves by passing them from tongue to tongue, and age to age. they heard their fathers and ancestors say that pachacuti inca yupanqui, the ninth inca, had verified the history of the former incas who were before him, and painted their deeds on boards, whence also they had been able to learn the sayings of their fathers, and had passed them on to their children. they only amended some names of persons and places and made other slight corrections, which the said alcalde ordered to be inserted as the indians had spoken, and this was done. after the said corrections all the indians, with one accord, said that the history was good and true, in conformity with what they knew and had heard from their ancestors, for they had conferred and discussed among themselves, verifying from beginning to end. they expressed their belief that no other history that might be written could be so authentic and true as this one, because none could have so diligent an examination, from those who are able to state the truth. the said alcalde signed the doctor loarte gonzalo gomez ximenes before me alvaro ruiz de navamuel. after the above, in the said city of cuzco, on the nd of march of the same year, his excellency having seen the declaration of the indians and the affidavits that were made on them, said that he ordered and orders that, with the corrections the said indians stated should be made, the history should be sent to his majesty, signed and authenticated by me the said secretary. it was approved and signed by the said doctor gabriel de loarte who was present at the verification with the indians, and then taken and signed don francisco de toledo before alvaro ruiz de navamuel i the said alvaro ruiz de navamuel, secretary to his excellency, of the government, and to the general visitation of these kingdoms, notary to his majesty, certify that the said testimony and verification was taken before me, and is taken from the original which remains in my possession, and that the said alcalde, the doctor loarte, who signed, said that he placed and interposed upon it his authority and judicial decree, that it may be valued and accepted within his jurisdiction and beyond it. i here made my sign in testimony of the truth alvaro ruiz de navamuel [illustration: _facsimile (reduced) of the_ signatures of the attesting witnesses to the sarmiento ms. . _from the original, göttingen university library. reproduced and printed for the hakluyt society by donald macbeth_.] generously made available by the posner memorial collection (http://posner.library.cmu.edu/posner/)) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * in this version [=e] signifies "e macron"; [)e] "e breve"; and so forth. the "errata et corrigenda" (after the list of plates) have been actioned. voyages of the adventure and beagle. ------ volume i. [illustration: p. p. king t. landseer patagonian. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] * * * * * narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships adventure and beagle, between the years and , describing their examination of the southern shores of south america, and the beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. ------ in three volumes. vol. i. ------ london: henry colburn, great marlborough street. ------ . * * * * * london: printed by. j. l. cox and sons, , great queen street, lincoln's-inn fields. * * * * * volume i. ------ proceedings of the first expedition, -- , under the command of captain p. parker king, r.n., f.r.s. * * * * * to the right honourable the earl of minto, g.c.b., first lord commissioner of the admiralty. ------ my lord: i have the honour of dedicating to your lordship, as head of the naval service, this narrative of the surveying voyages of the adventure and beagle, between the years and . originated by the board of admiralty, over which viscount melville presided, these voyages have been carried on, since , under his lordship's successors in office. captain king has authorized me to lay the results of the expedition which he commanded, from to , before your lordship, united to those of the beagle's subsequent voyages. i have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's obedient servant, robert fitz-roy. * * * * * {ix} preface. in this work, the result of nine years' voyaging, partly on coasts little known, an attempt has been made to combine giving general information with the paramount object--that of fulfilling a duty to the admiralty, for the benefit of seamen. details, purely technical, have been avoided in the narrative more than i could have wished; but some are added in the appendix to each volume: and in a nautical memoir, drawn up for the admiralty, those which are here omitted will be found. there are a few words used frequently in the following pages, which may not at first sight be familiar to every reader, therefore i need hardly apologize for saying that, although the great portuguese navigator's name was magalhaens--it is generally pronounced as if written magellan:--that the natives of tierra del fuego are commonly called fuegians;--and that chilóe is thus accented for reasons given in page of the second volume. in the absence of captain king, who has entrusted to me the care of publishing his share of this work, i may have overlooked errors which he would have detected. being hurried, and unwell, while attending to the printing of his volume, i was not able to do it justice. {x} it may be a subject of regret, that no paper on the botany of tierra del fuego is appended to the first volume. captain king took great pains in forming and preserving a botanical collection, aided by a person embarked solely for that purpose. he placed this collection in the british museum, and was led to expect that a first-rate botanist would have examined and described it; but he has been disappointed. in conclusion, i beg to remind the reader, that the work is unavoidably of a rambling and very mixed character; that some parts may be wholly uninteresting to most readers, though, perhaps, not devoid of interest to all; and that its publication arises solely from a sense of duty. robert fitz-roy. london, march . * * * * * {xi} introduction in , the lords commissioners of the admiralty directed two ships to be prepared for a survey of the southern coasts of south america; and in may, of the following year, the adventure and the beagle were lying in plymouth sound, ready to carry the orders of their lordships into execution. these vessels were well provided with every necessary, and every comfort, which the liberality and kindness of the admiralty, navy board, and officers of the dock-yards, could cause to be furnished. on board the adventure, a roomy ship, of tons burthen, without guns,[ ] lightly though strongly rigged, and very strongly built, were-- phillip parker king, commander and surveyor, senior officer of the expedition. j. cooke lieutenant. b. ainsworth master. j. tarn surgeon. {xii} g. rowlett purser. r. h. sholl mate. j. c. wickham mate. j. f. brand mate. t. graves mate and assistant surveyor. g. harrison mate. e. williams second master. j. park assistant surgeon. w. w. wilson midshipman. a. millar master's assistant. a. mellersh volunteer st class. j. russell volunteer d class. g. hodgskin clerk. j. anderson botanical collector. gunner--boatswain--and carpenter. serjeant and fourteen marines; and about forty seamen and boys. in the beagle, a well-built little vessel, of tons, rigged as a barque, and carrying six guns, were-- pringle stokes commander and surveyor. e. hawes lieutenant. w. g. skyring lieut. and assist. surveyor. s. s. flinn master. e. bowen surgeon. j. atrill purser. j. kirke mate. b. bynoe assistant surgeon. j. l. stokes midshipman. r. f. lunie volunteer st class. w. jones volunteer d class. j. macdouall clerk. carpenter. serjeant and nine marines; and about forty seamen and boys. {xiii} in the course of the voyage, several changes occurred among the officers, which it may be well to mention here. in september, , lieutenant hawes invalided: and was succeeded by mr. r. h. sholl, the senior mate in the expedition. in february, , mr. ainsworth was unfortunately drowned; and, in his place, mr. williams acted, until superseded by mr. s. s. flinn, of the beagle. lieutenant cooke invalided in june, ; and was succeeded by mr. j. c. wickham. in the same month mr. graves received information of his promotion to the rank of lieutenant. between may and december, , mr. bowen and mr. atrill invalided; besides messrs. lunie, jones, and macdouall: mr. w. mogg joined the beagle, as acting purser; and mr. d. braily, as volunteer of the second class. mr. bynoe acted as surgeon of the beagle, after mr. bowen left, until december, . in august, , captain stokes's lamented vacancy was temporarily filled by lieutenant skyring; whose place was taken by mr. brand. mr. flinn was then removed to the adventure; and mr. a. millar put into his place. {xiv} in december, , the commander-in-chief of the station (sir robert waller otway) superseded the temporary arrangements of captain king, and appointed a commander, lieutenant, master, and surgeon to the beagle. mr. brand then invalided, and the lists of officers stood thus-- adventure ( - ). phillip parker king, commander and surveyor, senior officer of the expedition. t. graves lieut. and assist. surveyor. j. c. wickham lieutenant. s. s. flinn master. j. tarn surgeon. g. rowlett purser. g. harrison mate. w. w. wilson mate. e. williams second master. j. park assistant surgeon. a. mellersh midshipman. a. millar master's assistant. j. russell volunteer d class. g. hodgskin clerk. j. anderson botanical collector. gunner--boatswain--and carpenter. serjeant and fourteen marines: and about fifty[ ] seamen and boys. beagle ( - ). robert fitz-roy commander and surveyor. w. g. skyring lieut. and assist. surveyor. j. kempe lieutenant. m. murray master. {xv} j. wilson surgeon. w. mogg (acting) purser. j. kirke mate. b. bynoe assistant surgeon. j. l. stokes midshipman. j. may carpenter. d. braily volunteer d class. j. megget clerk. serjeant and nine marines: and about forty seamen and boys. in june, , lieutenant mitchell joined the adventure; and in february, , mr. a. millar died very suddenly:--and very much regretted. the following instructions were given to the senior officer of the expedition. "by the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland, &c. "whereas we think fit that an accurate survey should be made of the southern coasts of the peninsula of south america, from the southern entrance of the river plata, round to chilóe; and of tierra del fuego; and whereas we have been induced to repose confidence in you, from your conduct of the surveys in new holland; we have placed you in the command of his majesty's surveying vessel the adventure; and we have directed captain stokes, of his majesty's surveying vessel the beagle, to follow your orders. "both these vessels are provided with all the {xvi} means which are necessary for the complete execution of the object above-mentioned, and for the health and comfort of their ships' companies. you are also furnished with all the information, we at present possess, of the ports which you are to survey; and nine government chronometers have been embarked in the adventure, and three in the beagle, for the better determination of the longitudes. "you are therefore hereby required and directed, as soon as both vessels shall be in all respects ready, to put to sea with them; and on your way to your ulterior destination, you are to make, or call at, the following places, successively; namely; madeira: teneriffe: the northern point of st. antonio, and the anchorage at st. jago; both in the cape verd islands: the island of trinidad, in the southern atlantic: and rio de janeiro: for the purpose of ascertaining the differences of the longitudes of those several places. "at rio de janeiro, you will receive any supplies you may require; and make with the commander-in-chief, on that station, such arrangements as may tend to facilitate your receiving further supplies, in the course of your expedition. "after which, you are to proceed to the entrance of the river plata, to ascertain the longitudes of the cape santa maria, and monte video: you are then to proceed to survey the coasts, islands, and straits; from cape st. antonio, at the south side {xvii} of the river plata, to chilóe; on the west coast of america; in such manner and order, as the state of the season, the information you may have received, or other circumstances, may induce you to adopt. "you are to continue on this service until it shall be completed; taking every opportunity to communicate to our secretary, and the commander-in-chief, your proceedings: and also, whenever you may be able to form any judgment of it, where the commander-in-chief, or our secretary, may be able to communicate with you. "in addition to any arrangements made with the admiral, for recruiting your stores, and provisions; you are, of course, at liberty to take all other means, which may be within your reach, for that essential purpose. "you are to avail yourself of every opportunity of collecting and preserving specimens of such objects of natural history as may be new, rare, or interesting; and you are to instruct captain stokes, and all the other officers, to use their best diligence in increasing the collections in each ship: the whole of which must be understood to belong to the public. "in the event of any irreparable accident happening to either of the two vessels, you are to cause the officers and crew of the disabled vessel to be {xviii} removed into the other, and with her, singly, to proceed in prosecution of the service, or return to england, according as circumstances shall appear to require; understanding that the officers and crews of both vessels are hereby authorized, and required, to continue to perform their duties, according to their respective ranks and stations, on board either vessel to which they may be so removed. should, unfortunately, your own vessel be the one disabled, you are in that case to take the command of the beagle: and, in the event of any fatal accident happening to yourself; captain stokes is hereby authorized to take the command of the expedition; either on board the adventure, or beagle, as he may prefer; placing the officer of the expedition who may then be next in seniority to him, in command of the second vessel: also, in the event of your inability, by sickness or otherwise, at any period of this service, to continue to carry the instructions into execution, you are to transfer them to captain stokes, or to the surviving officer then next in command to you, who is hereby required to execute them, in the best manner he can, for the attainment of the object in view. "when you shall have completed the service, or shall, from any cause, be induced to give it up; you will return to spithead with all convenient expedition; and report your arrival, and proceedings, to our secretary, for our information. {xix} "whilst on the south american station, you are to consider yourself under the command of the admiral of that station; to whom we have expressed our desire that he should not interfere with these orders, except under peculiar necessity. "given under our hands the th of may . (signed) "melville. "g. cockburn. "to phillip p. king, esq., commander of his majesty's surveying vessel adventure, at plymouth. "by command of their lordships. (signed) "j. w. croker." on the d of may, , the adventure and beagle sailed from plymouth; and, in their way to rio de janeiro, called successively at madeira, teneriffe, and st. jago. unfavourable weather prevented a boat being sent ashore at the northern part of san antonio; but observations were made in terrafal bay, on the south-west side of the island: and, after crossing the equator, the trade-wind hung so much to the southward, that trinidad could not be approached without a sacrifice of time, which, it was considered, might be prejudicial to more important objects of the expedition. both ships anchored at rio de janeiro on the {xx} th of august, and remained there until the d of october, when they sailed to the river plata. in maldonado,[ ] their anchors were dropped on the th of the same month; and, till the th of november, each vessel was employed on the north side of the river, between cape st. mary and monte video. * * * * * {xxi} contents volume i. ------ chapter i. page departure from monte video--port santa elena--geological remarks--cape fairweather--non-existence of chalk--natural history--approach to cape virgins, and the strait of magalhaens (or magellan) chapter ii. enter the strait of magalhaens (or magellan), and anchor off cape possession--first narrow--gregory bay--patagonian indians--second narrow--elizabeth island--freshwater bay-- fuegian indians--arrival at port famine chapter iii. prepare the beagle, and a decked boat (the hope) for surveying the strait--beagle sails westward, and the hope towards the south-east--sarmiento's voyage--and description of the colony formed by him at port famine--steamer duck-- large trees--parroquets--mount tarn--barometrical observations--geological character--report of the hope's cruise chapter iv. deer seen--hope sails again--eagle bay--gabriel channel-- 'williwaws'--port waterfall--natives--admiralty sound-- gabriel channel--magdalen channel--hope returns to port famine--san antonio--lomas bay--loss of boat--master and two seamen drowned {xxii} chapter v. lieutenant sholl arrives--beagle returns--loss of the saxe coburg sealer--captain stokes goes to fury harbour to save her crew--beagle's proceedings--bougainville's memorial-- cordova's memorial--beagle's danger--difficulties--captain stokes's boat-cruise--passages--natives--dangerous service-- western entrance of the strait of magalhaens--hope's cruise--prepare to return to monte video chapter vi. trees--leave port famine--patagonians--gregory bay-- bysante--maria--falkner's account of the natives-- indians seen on the borders of the otway water, in -- maria visits the adventure--religious ceremony--patagonian encampment--tomb of a child--women's employment-- children--gratitude of a native--size of patagonians-- former accounts of their gigantic height--character-- articles for barter--fuegians living with patagonians-- ships sail--arrive at monte video and rio de janeiro chapter vii. leave rio de janeiro--santos--sta. catharina--monte video--purchase the adelaide schooner, for a tender to the adventure--leave monte video--beagle goes to port desire--shoals off cape blanco--bellaco rock--cape virgins--possession bay--first narrow--race--gregory bay--view--tomb--traffic with natives--cordial meeting-- maria goes on board--natives intoxicated--laredo bay-- port famine chapter viii. find that the cutter had been burned--anxiety for the beagle--uxbridge sealer--beagle arrives--her cruise-- bellaco rock--san julian--santa cruz--gallegos--adeona-- {xxiii} death of lieutenant sholl--adelaide sails--supposed channel of san antonio--useless bay--natives--port san antonio--humming-birds--fuegians--beagle sails--sarmiento-- roldan--pond--whales--structure--scenery--port gallant chapter ix. detention in port gallant--humming-birds in snow showers-- fuegians--geological remarks--canoes--carving--birds-- fish--shag narrows--glaciers--avalanches--natives-- climate--winter setting in--adelaide loses a boat-- floods--lightning--scurvy--adelaide's survey--bougainville harbour--indians cross the strait, and visit port famine-- sealing vessels sail--scurvy increases--adelaide sent for guanaco meat--return of the beagle--captain stokes very ill--adelaide brings meat from the patagonians--death of captain stokes chapter x. account of the beagle's cruise--borja bay--cape quod-- stuart bay--cape notch--remarks on weather, and errors of chart--evangelists--santa lucia--madre de dios--gulf of trinidad--port henry--puma's track--humming-birds--very bad weather--campana island--dangers--gale--wet--sick-- santa barbara--wager's beam--wigwams--guaineco islands-- cape tres montes--st. paul--port otway--hoppner sound-- cape raper chapter xi. leave port otway--san quintin sound--gulf of peñas--kelly harbour--st. xavier island--death of serjeant lyndsey-- port xavier--ygnacio bay--channel's mouth--bad weather-- perilous situation--lose the yawl--sick list--return to port otway--thence to port famine--gregory bay--natives-- guanaco meat--skunk--condors--brazilians--juanico--captain foster--changes of officers {xxiv} chapter xii. adventure sails from rio de janeiro to the river plata-- gorriti--maldonado--extraordinary pampero--beagle's losses--ganges arrives--another pampero--go up the river for water--gale, and consequent detention--sail from monte video--part from consorts--port desire--tower rock-- skeletons--sea bear bay--fire--guanacoes--port desire inlet--indian graves--vessels separate--captain foster-- chanticleer--cape horn--kater peak--sail from st. martin cove--tribute to captain foster--valparaiso--santiago-- pinto heights--chilóe--aldunate chapter xiii. beagle and adelaide anchor in possession bay--beagle passes the first narrow--fogs--pecket harbour--adelaide arrives with guanaco meat--portuguese seamen--peculiar light--party missing--return--proceed towards port famine--fuegians--lieut. skyring--adelaide sails to survey magdalen and barbara channels--views--lyell sound--kempe harbour--cascade bay--san pedro sound--port gallant-- diet--rain--awnings--boat cruise--warning--jerome channel--blanket bags--otway water--frequent rain-- difficulty in lighting fires chapter xiv. place for a settlement--frost--boats in danger--narrow escape--sudden change--beagle hills--fuegian painting-- tides--medicine--water warmer than the air--jerome channel--mr. stokes returns to the beagle--cape quod-- snowy sound--whale sound--choiseul bay--return to the beagle--adelaide returns--plan of operations--difficulties removed--preparations--wear and tear of clothing--ascend the mountain de la cruz--sail from port gallant--tides-- borja bay--cape quod--gulf of xaultegua--frost and snow-- meet adelaide--part--enter pacific--arrive at chilóe {xxv} chapter xv. extracts from the journals of lieutenants skyring and graves--magdalen channel--keats sound--mount sarmiento-- barrow head--cockburn channel--prevalence of south-west winds--melville sound--ascent of mount skyring--memorial-- cockburn and barbara channels--mass of islets and rocks-- hewett bay--cypress trees useful--adelaide rejoins beagle in port gallant--captain king's narrative resumed--plan of future proceedings--adelaide arrives at chilóe--abstract of lieutenant skyring's account of her proceedings--smyth channel--mount burney--'ancon sin salida'--natives--kirke narrow--guia narrow--peculiar tides--indians in plank canoes--passage to chilóe chapter xvi. chilóe--its probable importance--valdivia founds seven cities; afterwards destroyed by the indians--migration of spanish settlers--province and islands of chilóe--districts and population--government--defence--winds--town-- durability of wooden buildings--cultivation--want of industry--improvement--dress--habits of lower classes-- morality--schools--language--produce--manufactures-- exports and imports--varieties of wood--alerse--roads-- piraguas--ploughs--corn--potatoes--contributions--birds-- shell-fish--medical practitioners--remedies--climate chapter xvii. chilóe the last spanish possession in south america-- freyre's expedition--failure--second expedition under freyre and blanco--quintanilla's capitulation--chilóe taken--aldunate placed in command--chilóe a dependency of chile--beagle sails to sea coast of tierra del fuego-- adelaide repaired--adelaide sails--adventure goes to {xxvi} valparaiso--juan fernandez--fishery--goats--dogs-- geology--botany--shells--spanish accounts--anson's voyage--talcahuano--concepcion--pinoleo--araucanian indians--re-enter the strait of magalhaens--fuegians chapter xviii. adelaide's last cruise--port otway--san quintin--marine islands--unknown river or passage--san tadeo--isthmus of ofqui--san rafael--sufferings and route of wager's party--channel's mouth--byron--cheap--elliot--hamilton-- campbell--indian cacique--passage of the desecho-- osorio--xavier island--jesuit sound--kirke's report-- night tides--guaianeco islands--site of the wager's wreck--bulkely and cummings--speedwell bay--indigenous wild potato--mesier channel--fatal bay--death of mr. millar--fallos channel--lieutenant skyring's illness-- english narrow--fish--wigwams--indians--level bay--brazo ancho--eyre sound--seal--icebergs--walker bay--nature of the country--habits of the natives--scarcity of population chapter xix. sarmiento channel--ancon sin salida--cape earnest--canal of the mountains--termination of the andes--kirke narrow-- easter bay--disappointment bay--obstruction sound--last hope inlet--swans--coots--deer river--lagoon--singular eddies--passage of the narrow--arrival at port famine-- zoological remarks chapter xx. beagle sails from san carlos--enters strait--harbour of mercy--cape pillar--apostles--judges--landfall island-- cape gloucester--dislocation harbour--week islands-- fuegians--latitude bay--boat's crew in distress--petrel-- passages--otway bay--cape tate--fincham islands-- {xxvii} deepwater sound--breaker bay--grafton islands--geological remarks--barbara channel--mount skyring--compasses affected--drawings--provisions--opportunities lost chapter xxi. skyring's chart--noir island--penguins--fuegians-- sarmiento--townshend harbour--horace peaks--cape desolation--boat lost--basket--search in desolation bay-- natives--heavy gale--surprise--seizure--consequences-- return to beagle--sail to stewart harbour--set out again--escape of natives--unavailing search--discomforts-- tides--nature of coast--doris cove--christmas sound-- cook--york-minster--march harbour--build a boat-- treacherous rocks--skirmish with the natives--captives-- boat memory--petrel chapter xxii. mr. murray returns--go to new year sound--see diego ramirez islands from henderson island--weddell's indian cove--sympiesometer--return to christmas sound--beagle sails--passes the ildefonso and diego ramirez islands-- anchors in nassau bay--orange bay--yapoos--mr. murray discovers the beagle channel--numerous natives-- guanacoes--compasses affected--cape horn--specimens-- chanticleer--mistake about st. francis bay--diego ramirez islands--climate--san joachim cove--barnevelt isles-- evouts isle--lennox harbour chapter xxiii. set out in boats--find guanacoes--murray narrow--birch fungus--tide--channel--glaciers--view--mountains-- unbroken chain--passages--steam-vessels--jemmy button-- puma--nest--accident--natives--murray's journal--cape graham--cape kinnaird--spaniard harbour--valentyn bay-- {xxviii} cape good success--natives--lennox island--strait le maire--good success bay--accident--tide race--san vicente--san diego--tides--soundings--north-east coast-- san sebastian--reflections--port desire--monte video-- santa catharina--rio de janeiro chapter xxiv. a few nautical remarks upon the passage round cape horn; and upon that through the strait of magalhaens, or magellan {xxix} directions to the binder for placing the plates. volume i. map of south america loose. strait of magalhaens loose. patagonian frontispiece. monte video to face page distant view of mount sarmiento (with two other views) curious peak--admiralty sound (with other views) patagonian 'toldo' and tomb monte video mole rio de janeiro fuegian wigwams at hope harbour, in the magdalen channel monte video--custom-house corcovado mountain mount sarmiento san carlos de chilóe breast ploughing in chilóe point arena--chilóe (with other views) south west opening of cockburn channel (with views of headlands) wollaston island, near cape horn chart of a part of south america, by captain p. p. king ------ note.--the loose plates are to be folded into pockets in the covers of the volumes. * * * * * errata et corrigenda. ------ page , line from bottom, _for_ lying, _read_ being. , heading, line , _for_ beagle sailed, _read_ beagle sails. , line , _insert_ narrow, _before_ and shoal. , line , _instead of_ the, _read_ our. , line , _for_ cuts, _read_ cut. , line , _for_ have, _read_ had. , (note) line from bottom, _for_ they, _read_ he. , line , _for _was, _read_ were. , line , _after_ day, _insert a_ colon _instead of a_ comma. , line , _after_ as well, _insert_ as. , line , _for_ lieutenants skyring and graves again took with them, _read_ lieutenant skyring again took with him. , line , _dele_ the. , line , _for_ contiue, _read_ continue. , line , _for_ wit, _read_ with. , line , _for_ santa catalina, _read_ santa catharina. , line , _after_ which is, _insert_ a. , bottom line, _for_ . . , _read_ . . . , line , (of positions) _for_ . , _read_ . . ---- bottom line, _for_ . , _read_ . . , line , _for_ northern, _read_ southern. , line from bottom, _for_ . , _read_ . ; and _for_ . , _read_ . . , line , _for_ °, _read_ °. , line , _for_ . , _read_ . . , line , _for_ . . , _read_ . . ; and _for_ . . , _read_ . . . , _for_ variation, _read_ dip. mammalia. , line , _for_ harlau _read_ harlan. , line , _for_ keroda _read_ kerodon. birds. , line , _for_ dumérel, _read_ duméril. ---- line , _for_ miloago, _read_ milvago. ---- line , _for_ sparoerius, _read_ sparverius. , line , _dele_ spix. ---- bottom line, _for_ silvia, _read_ sylvia, and in next page the same. , line , _dele_ fursa, veillot. ---- line from bottom, _for_ smaragdimis, _read_ smaragdinus. , line from bottom, _for_ strutheo, _read_ struthio. ---- line from bottom, for _rinacea_, read _binacea_. , line , _for_ totamus, _read_ totanus. , line , for _subtas_, read _subtus_. ---- lower lines, _where_ hoematopus occurs, _read_ hÆmatopus. , last line, for _meneque_, read _mineque_; and for _pariè_, read _parcè_. , line , _for_ catarrhoctes, _read_ catarrhactes. ---- line from bottom, for _ud_, read _ad_. , line , for _gracillimus_, read _gracillimis_. shells. , last line, for _brachyptera_, read _brachypterus_; for _patachonica_, read _patachonicus_. * * * * * [illustration: c. martens t. landseer monte video. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] * * * * * { } surveying voyages of the adventure and the beagle, - . ------ chapter i. departure from monte video--port santa elena--geological remarks--cape fairweather--non-existence of chalk--natural history--approach to cape virgins, and the strait of magalhaens (or magellan) we sailed from monte video on the th of november ; and, in company with the beagle, quitted the river plata. according to my instructions, the survey was to commence at cape san antonio, the southern limit of the entrance of the plata; but, for the following urgent reasons, i decided to begin with the southern coasts of patagonia, and tierra del fuego, including the straits of magalhaens.[ ] in the first place, they presented a field of great interest and novelty; and secondly, the climate of the higher southern latitudes being so severe and tempestuous, it appeared important to encounter its rigours while the ships were in good condition--while the crews were healthy--and while the charms of a new and difficult enterprize had full force. { } our course was therefore southerly, and in latitude ° south, a few leagues northward of port santa elena, we first saw the coast of patagonia. i intended to visit that port; and, on the th, anchored, and landed there. seamen should remember that a knowledge of the tide is of especial consequence in and near port santa elena. during a calm we were carried by it towards reefs which line the shore, and were obliged to anchor until a breeze sprung up. the coast along which we had passed, from point lobos to the north-east point of port santa elena, appeared to be dry and bare of vegetation. there were no trees; the land seemed to be one long extent of undulating plain, beyond which were high, flat-topped hills of a rocky, precipitous character. the shore was fronted by rocky reefs extending two or three miles from high-water mark, which, as the tide fell, were left dry, and in many places were covered with seals. as soon as we had secured the ships, captain stokes accompanied me on shore to select a place for our observations. we found the spot which the spanish astronomers of malaspina's voyage (in ) used for their observatory, the most convenient for our purpose. it is near a very steep shingle (stony) beach at the back of a conspicuous red-coloured, rocky projection which terminates a small bay, on the western side, at the head of the port. the remains of a wreck, which proved to be that of an american whaler, the decatur of new york, were found upon the extremity of the same point; she had been driven on shore from her anchors during a gale. the sight of the wreck, and the steepness of the shingle beach just described, evidently caused by the frequent action of a heavy sea, did not produce a favourable opinion of the safety of the port: but as it was not the season for easterly gales, to which only the anchorage is exposed, and as appearances indicated a westerly wind, we did not anticipate danger. while we were returning on board, the wind blew so strongly that we had much difficulty in reaching the ships, and the boats were no sooner hoisted up, and every thing { } made snug, than it blew a hard gale from the s.w. the water however, from the wind being off the land, was perfectly smooth, and the ships rode securely through the night: but the following morning the gale increased, and veered to the southward, which threw a heavy sea into the port, placing us, to say the least, in a very uneasy situation. happily it ceased at sunset. in consequence of the unfavourable state of the weather, no attempt was made to land in order to observe an eclipse of the sun; to make which observation was one reason for visiting this port. the day after the gale, while i was employed in making some astronomical observations, a party roamed about in quest of game: but with little success, as they killed only a few wild ducks. the fire which they made for cooking communicated to the dry stubbly grass, and in a few minutes the whole country was in a blaze. the flames continued to spread during our stay, and, in a few days, more than fifteen miles along the coast, and seven or eight miles into the interior were overrun by the fire. the smoke very much impeded our observations, for at times it quite obscured the sun. the geological structure of this part of the country, and a considerable portion of the coast to the north and south, consists of a fine-grained porphyritic clay slate. the summits of the hills near the coast are generally of a rounded form, and are paved, as it were, with small, rounded, siliceous pebbles, imbedded in the soil, and in no instance lying loose or in heaps; but those of the interior are flat-topped, and uniform in height, for many miles in extent. the valleys and lower elevations, notwithstanding the poverty and parched state of the soil, were partially covered with grass and shrubby plants, which afford sustenance to numerous herds of guanacoes. many of these animals were observed feeding near the beach when we were working into the bay, but they took the alarm, so that upon landing we only saw them at a considerable distance. in none of our excursions could we find any water that had not a brackish taste. several wells have been dug in the valleys, both near the sea and at a considerable distance from it, by the { } crews of sealing vessels; but, except in the rainy season, they all contain saltish water. this observation is applicable to nearly the whole extent of the porphyritic country. oyster-shells, three or four inches in diameter, were found, scattered over the hills, to the height of three or four hundred feet above the sea. sir john narborough, in , found oyster-shells at port san julian; but, from a great many which have been lately collected there, we know that they are of a species different from that found at port santa elena. both are fossils. no recent specimen of the genus _ostrea_ was found by us on any part of the patagonian coast. narborough, in noticing those at port san julian, says, "they are the biggest oyster-shells that i ever saw, some six, some seven inches broad, yet not one oyster to be found in the harbour: whence i conclude they were here when the world was formed." the short period of our visit did not enable us to add much to natural history. of quadrupeds we saw guanacoes, foxes, cavies, and the armadillo; but no traces of the puma (_felis concolor_), or south american lion, although it is to be met with in the interior. i mentioned that a herd of guanacoes was feeding near the shore when we arrived. every exertion was made to obtain some of the animals; but, either from their shyness, or our ignorance of the mode of entrapping them, we tried in vain, until the arrival of a small sealing-vessel, which had hastened to our assistance, upon seeing the fires we had accidentally made, but which her crew thought were intended for signals of distress. they shot two, and sent some of the meat on board the adventure. the next day, mr. tarn succeeded in shooting one, a female, which, when skinned and cleaned, weighed lbs. narborough mentions having killed one at port san julian, that weighed, "cleaned in his quarters, lbs." the watchful and wary character of this animal is very remarkable. whenever a herd is feeding, one is posted, like a sentinel, on a height; and, at the approach of danger, gives instant alarm by a loud neigh, when away they all go, at a hand-gallop, to the next eminence, where they quietly resume their feeding, { } until again warned of the approach of danger by their vigilant 'look-out.' another peculiarity of the guanaco is, the habit of resorting to particular spots for natural purposes. this is mentioned in the 'dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle,' in the 'encyclopédie méthodique,' as well as other works. in one place we found the bones of thirty-one guanacoes collected within a space of thirty yards, perhaps the result of an encampment of indians, as evident traces of them were observed; among which were a human jaw-bone, and a piece of agate ingeniously chipped into the shape of a spear-head. the fox, which we did not take, appeared to be small, and similar to a new species afterwards found by us in the strait of magalhaens. the cavia[ ] (or, as it is called by narborough, byron, and wood, the hare, an animal from which it differs both in appearance and habits, as well as flavour), makes a good dish; and so does the armadillo, which our people called the shell-pig.[ ] this little animal is found abundantly about the low land, and lives in burrows underground; several were taken by the seamen, and, when cooked in their shells, were savoury and wholesome. teal were abundant upon the marshy grounds. a few partridges, doves, and snipes, a rail, and some hawks were shot. the few sea-birds that were observed consisted of two species of gulls, a grebe and a penguin (_aptenodytes magellanica_). we found two species of snakes and several kinds of lizards. fish were scarce, as were also insects; of the last, our { } collections consisted only of a few species of _coleoptera_, two or three _lepidoptera_, and two _hymenoptera_. among the sea-shells, the most abundant was the _patella deaurata_, lamk.; this, with three other species of patella, one _chiton_, three species of _mytilus_, three of _murex_, one of _crepidula_, and a _venus_, were all that we collected. about the country, near the sea-shore, there is a small tree, whose stem and roots are highly esteemed for fuel by the crews of sealing-vessels which frequent this coast. they call it 'piccolo.' the leaf was described to me as having a prickle upon it, and the flower as of a yellow colour. a species of berberis also is found, which when ripe may afford a very palatable fruit. our short visit gave us no flattering opinion of the fertility of the country near this port. of the interior we were ignorant; but, from the absence of indians and the scarcity of fresh water, it is probably very bare of pasturage. falkner, the jesuit missionary, says these parts were used by the tehuelhet tribes for burying-places: we saw, however, no graves, nor any traces of bodies, excepting the jaw-bone above-mentioned; but subsequently, at sea bear bay, we found many places on the summits of the hills which had evidently been used for such a purpose, although then containing no remains of bodies. this corresponds with falkner's account, that after a period of twelve months the sepulchres are formally visited by the tribe, when the bones of their relatives and friends are collected and carried to certain places, where the skeletons are arranged in order, and tricked out with all the finery and ornaments they can collect. the ships sailed from port santa elena on the th december, and proceeded to the southward, coasting the shore as far as cape two bays. our object being to proceed with all expedition to the strait of magalhaens, the examination of this part of the coast was reserved for a future opportunity. on the th, we had reached within fifty miles of cape virgins, the headland at the entrance of the strait, but it was directly in the wind's eye { } of us. the wind veering to s.s.w., we made about a west course. at day-light the land was in sight, terminating in a point to the s.w., so exactly like the description of cape virgins and the view of it in alison's voyage, that without considering our place on the chart, or calculating the previous twenty-four hours' run, it was taken for the cape itself, and, no one suspecting a mistake, thought of verifying the ship's position. the point, however, proved to be cape fairweather. it was not a little singular, that the same mistake should have been made on board the beagle, where the error was not discovered for three days.[ ] from the appearance of the weather i was anxious to approach the land in order to anchor, as there seemed to be every likelihood of a gale; and we were not deceived, for at three o'clock, being within seven miles of the cape, a strong wind sprung up from the s.w., and the anchor was dropped. towards evening it blew so hard, that both ships dragged their anchors for a considerable distance. on the charts of this part of the coast the shore is described to be formed of "chalk hills, like the coast of kent." to geologists, therefore, especially, as they were not disposed to believe that such was the fact, this was a question of some interest. from our anchorage the appearance of the land favoured our belief of the existence of chalk. the outline was very level and steep; precipitous cliffs of whitish colour, stratified horizontally, with their upper part occasionally worn into hollows, strongly resembled the chalk cliffs of the english coasts. the gale prevented our landing for three days, when ( th) a few minutes sufficed to discover that the cliffs were composed { } of soft clay, varying in colour and consistence, and disposed in strata running horizontally for many miles without interruption, excepting where water-courses had worn them away. some of the strata were very fine clay, unmixed with any other substance, whilst others were plentifully strewed with round siliceous gravel,[ ] without any vestige of organic remains. the sea beach, from high-water mark to the base of the cliffs, is formed by shingle, with scattered masses of indurated clay of a green colour.[ ] between the high and low tide marks there is a smooth beach of the same green clay as the masses above-mentioned, which appears to have been hardened by the action of the surf to the consistence of stone. generally this beach extends for about one hundred yards farther into the sea, and is succeeded by a soft green mud, over which the water gradually deepens. the outer edge of the clay forms a ledge, extending parallel with the coast, upon the whole length of which the sea breaks, and over it a boat can with difficulty pass at low water. the very few shells we found were dead. strewed about the beach were numbers of fish, some of which had been thrown on shore by the last tide, and were scarcely stiff. they principally belonged to the genus _ophidium_; the largest that we saw measured four feet seven inches in length, and weighed twenty-four pounds. many caught alongside the ship were, in truth, coarse and insipid; yet our people, who fed heartily upon them, called them ling, and thought them palatable. the hook, however, furnished us with a very wholesome and well-flavoured species of cod (_gadus_). attached to the first we found two parasitical animals; one was a _cymothoa_, the other a species of _lernæa_, which had so { } securely attached itself under the skin, as not to be removed without cutting off a piece of the flesh with it. an undescribed species of _muræna_ was also taken. whilst we were on shore, the beagle moved eight or nine miles nearer to the cape, where captain stokes landed to fix positions of remarkable land. one peaked hill, from the circumstance of his seeing a large animal near it, he called tiger mount. mr. bowen shot a guanaco; and being at a distance in shore, unable to procure assistance, he skinned and quartered it with his pocket-knife, and carried it upon his shoulders to the boat. next morning the ships weighed, and proceeded towards cape virgins. when a-breast of cape fairweather, the opening of the river gallegos was very distinctly seen; but the examination of it was deferred to a future opportunity. passing onward, the water shoaled to four fathoms, until we had passed extensive banks, which front the river. our approach to the entrance of the strait, although attended with anxiety, caused sensations of interest and pleasure not easily to be described. though dangers were experienced by some navigators who had passed it, the comparative facility with which others had effected the passage showed that, at times, the difficulties were easily surmounted, and we were willing to suppose that in the former case there might have been some little exaggeration. the most complete, and, probably, the only good account of the navigation of the strait of magalhaens is contained in the narrative of don antonio de cordova, who commanded the spanish frigate santa maria de la cabeza, on a voyage expressly for the purpose of exploring the strait. it was published under the title of 'ultimo viage al estrecho de magallanes.' that voyage was, however, concluded with only the examination of the eastern part, and a subsequent expedition was made, under the command of the same officer, the account of which was appended to the cabeza's voyage; so that cordova's expedition still retained the appellation of 'ultimo { } viage, &c.' it is written in a plain and simple style, gives a most correct account of every thing seen, and should therefore be in the possession of every person who attempts the navigation of the strait. cordova's account of the climate is very uninviting. speaking of the rigours of the summer months (january, february, and march), he says, "seldom was the sky clear, and short were the intervals in which we experienced the sun's warmth: no day passed by without some rain having fallen, and the most usual state of the weather was that of constant rain."[ ] the accounts of wallis and carteret are still more gloomy. the former concludes that part of his narrative with the following dismal and disheartening description: "thus we quitted a dreary and inhospitable region, where we were in almost continual danger of shipwreck for near four months, having entered the strait on the th of december, and quitted it on the th of april : a region where, in the midst of summer, the weather was cold, gloomy, and tempestuous, where the prospects had more the appearance of a chaos than of nature; and where for the most part the valleys were without herbage and the hills without wood." these records of cordova and wallis made me feel not a little apprehensive for the health of the crew, which could not be expected to escape uninjured through the rigours of such a climate. nor were the narratives of byron or bougainville calculated to lessen my anxiety. in an account, however, of a voyage to the strait by m. a. duclos guyot, the following paragraph tended considerably to relieve my mind upon the subject:--"at length, on saturday the d of march, we sailed out of that famous strait, so much dreaded, after having experienced that there, as well as in other places, it was very fine, and very warm, and that for three-fourths of the time the sea was perfectly calm." in every view of the case, our proximity to the principal scene of action occasioned sensations of a peculiar nature, in which, however, those that were most agreeable and hopeful { } preponderated. the officers and crews of both ships were healthy, and elated with the prospect before them; our vessels were in every respect strong and sea-worthy; and we were possessed of every comfort and resource necessary for encountering much greater difficulties than we had any reason to anticipate. * * * * * there has existed much difference of opinion as to the correct mode of spelling the name of the celebrated navigator who discovered this strait. the french and english usually write it magellan, and the spaniards magallanes; but by the portuguese (and he was a native of portugal) it is universally written magalhaens. admiral burney and mr. dalrymple spell it magalhanes, which mode i have elsewhere adopted, but i have since convinced myself of the propriety of following the portuguese orthography for a name which, to this day, is very common both in portugal and brazil. * * * * * { } chapter ii. enter the straits of magalhaens (or magellan), and anchor off cape possession--first narrow--gregory bay--patagonian indians--second narrow--elizabeth island--freshwater bay--fuegian indians--arrival at port famine. a contrary tide and light winds detained us at anchor near cape virgins until four o'clock in the afternoon, when, with the turn of the tide, a light air carried us past dungeness point, aptly named by wallis from its resemblance to that in the english channel. a great number of seals were huddled together upon the bank, above the wash of the tide, whilst others were sporting about in the surf. cape possession was in sight, and with the wind and tide in our favour we proceeded until ten o'clock, when the anchor was dropped. at daylight we found ourselves six miles to the eastward of the cape. the anchor was then weighed, and was again dropped at three miles from the cape until the afternoon, when we made another attempt; but lost ground, and anchored a third time. before night a fourth attempt was made, but the tide prevented our making any advance, and we again anchored. mount aymond[ ] and "his four sons," or (according to the old quaint nomenclature) the asses' ears, had been in sight all day, as well as a small hummock of land on the s.w. horizon, which afterwards proved to be the peaked hillock upon cape orange, at the south side of the entrance to the first narrow. at this anchorage the tide fell thirty feet, but the strength of the current, compared with the rate at which we afterwards found it to run, was inconsiderable. here we first experienced { } the peculiar tides of which former navigators have written. during the first half of the flood[ ] or westward tide, the depth decreased, and then, after a short interval, increased until three hours after the stream of tide had begun to run to the eastward. the following morning ( st) we gained a little ground. our glasses were directed to the shore in search of inhabitants, for it was hereabouts that byron, and wallis, and some of the spanish navigators held communication with the patagonian indians; but we saw none. masses of large sea-weed,[ ] drifting with the tide, floated past the ship. a description of this remarkable plant, although it has often been given before, may not be irrelevant here. it is rooted upon rocks or stones at the bottom of the sea, and rises to the surface, even from great depths. we have found it firmly fixed to the ground more than twenty fathoms under water, yet trailing along the surface for forty or fifty feet. when firmly rooted it shows the set of the tide or current. it has also the advantage of indicating rocky ground: for wherever there are rocks under water, their situation is, as it were, buoyed by a mass of sea-weed[ ] on the surface of the sea, of larger extent than that of the danger below. in many instances perhaps it causes unnecessary alarm, since it often grows in deep water; but it should not be entered without its vicinity having been sounded, especially if seen in masses, with the extremities of the stems trailing along the surface. if there be no tide, or if the wind and tide are the same way, the plant lies smoothly upon the water, but if the wind be against the tide, the leaves curl up and are visible at a distance, giving a rough, rippling appearance to the surface of the water. during the last two days the dredge had furnished us with a few specimens of _infundibulum_ of sowerby (_patella trochi-formis_, lin.), and some dead shells (_murex magellanicus_) were brought up by the sounding-lead. we made another attempt next morning, but again lost { } ground, and the anchor was dropped for the eighth time. the threatening appearances of the clouds, and a considerable fall of the barometer indicating bad weather, captain stokes agreed with me in thinking it advisable to await the spring-tides to pass the first narrow: the ships were therefore made snug for the expected gale, which soon came on, and we remained several days wind-bound, with top-masts struck, in a rapid tide-way, whose stream sometimes ran seven knots. on the th, with some appearance of improving weather, we made an attempt to pass through the narrow. the wind blowing strong, directly against us, and strengthening as we advanced, caused a hollow sea, that repeatedly broke over us. the tide set us through the narrow very rapidly, but the gale was so violent that we could not show more sail than was absolutely necessary to keep the ship under command. wearing every ten minutes, as we approached either shore, lost us a great deal of ground, and as the anchorage we left was at a considerable distance from the entrance of the narrows, the tide was not sufficient to carry us through. at slack water the wind fell, and as the weather became fine, i was induced to search for anchorage near the south shore. the sight of kelp, however, fringing the coast, warned me off, and we were obliged to return to an anchorage in possession bay. the beagle had already anchored in a very favourable berth; but the tide was too strong to permit us to reach the place she occupied, and our anchor was dropped a mile astern of her, in nineteen fathoms. the tide was then running five, and soon afterwards six miles an hour. had the western tide set with equal strength, we should have succeeded in passing the narrow. our failure, however, answered the good purpose of making us more acquainted with the extent of a bank that lines the northern side of possession bay, and with the time of the turn of tide in the narrow; which on this day (new moon) took place within a few minutes of noon. as we passed cape orange, some indians were observed lighting a fire under the lee of the hill to attract our notice; but we were too busily engaged to pay much attention to { } their movements. guanacoes also were seen feeding near the beach, which was the first intimation we had of the existence of that animal southward of the strait of magalhaens. when day broke ( th) it was discovered that the ship had drifted considerably during the night. the anchor was weighed, and with a favourable tide we reached an anchorage a mile in advance of the beagle. we had shoaled rather suddenly to eight fathoms, upon which the anchor was immediately dropped, and on veering cable the depth was eleven fathoms. we had anchored on the edge of a bank, which soon afterwards, by the tide falling, was left dry within one hundred yards of the ship. finding ourselves so near a shoal, preparations were made to prevent the ship from touching it. an anchor was dropped under foot, and others were got ready to lay out, for the depth alongside had decreased from eleven to seven fathoms, and was still falling. fortunately we had brought up to leeward of the bank, and suffered no inconvenience; the flood made, and as soon as possible the ship was shifted to another position, about half a mile to the s.e., in a situation very favourable for our next attempt to pass the narrow. this night the tide fell thirty-six feet, and the stream ran six knots. the ensuing morning we made another attempt to get through the narrow, and, from having anchored so close to its entrance, by which the full benefit of the strength, as well as the whole duration of the tide was obtained, we succeeded in clearing it in two hours, although the distance was more than twenty miles, and the wind directly against us, the sea, as before, breaking repeatedly over the ship. after emerging from the narrow we had to pass through a heavy 'race' before we 'reached' out of the influence of the stream that runs between the first and second narrow, but the tide lasted long enough to carry us to a quiet anchorage. in the evening we weighed again, and reached gregory bay, where the beagle joined us the next morning. since entering the strait, we had not had any communication { } with the beagle on account of the weather, and the strength of the tide; this opportunity was therefore taken to supply her with water, of which she had only enough left for two days. the greater part of this day was spent on shore, examining the country and making observations. large smokes[ ] were noticed to the westward. the shore was strewed with traces of men and horses, and other animals. foxes and ostriches were seen; and bones of guanacoes were lying about the ground. the country in the vicinity of this anchorage seemed open, low, and covered with good pasturage. it extends five or six miles, with a gradual ascent, to the base of a range of flat-topped land, whose summit is about fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. not a tree was seen; a few bushes[ ] alone interrupted the uniformity of the view. the grass appeared to have been cropped by horses or guanacoes, and was much interspersed with cranberry plants, bearing a ripe and juicy, though very insipid fruit. next day the wind was too strong and adverse to permit us to proceed. in the early part of the morning an american sealing vessel, returning from the madre de dios archipelago on her way to the falkland islands, anchored near us. mr. cutler, her master, came on board the adventure, passed the day and night with us, and gave me much useful information respecting the nature of the navigation, and anchorages in the strait. he told me there was an englishman in his vessel who was a pilot for the strait, and willing to join the ship. i gladly accepted the offer of his services. in the evening an indian was observed on horseback riding to and fro upon the beach, but the weather prevented my sending a boat until the next morning, when lieutenant cooke went on shore to communicate with him and other indians who appeared, soon after dawn, upon the beach. on landing, he was received by them without the least distrust. they were eight or ten in number, consisting of an old man and his wife, three young men, and the rest children, all mounted on { } good horses. the woman, who appeared to be about fifty years of age, was seated astride upon a pile of skins, hung round with joints of fresh guanaco meat and dried horse-flesh. they were all wrapped in mantles, made chiefly of the skins of guanacoes, sewed together with the sinews of the same animal. these mantles were large enough to cover the whole body. some were made of skins of the 'zorillo,' or skunk, an animal like a pole-cat, but ten times more offensive; and others, of skins of the puma. the tallest of the indians, excepting the old man, who did not dismount, was rather less than six feet in height. all were robust in appearance, and with respect to the head, length of body, and breadth of shoulders, of gigantic size; therefore, when on horseback, or seated in a boat, they appeared to be tall, as well as large men. in proportion to the parts above-mentioned, their extremities were very small and short, so that when standing they seemed but of a moderate size, and their want of proportion was concealed by the mantle, which enveloped the body entirely, the head and feet being the only parts exposed. when mr. cooke landed, he presented some medals[ ] to the oldest man, and the woman; and suspended them round their necks. a friendly feeling being established, the natives dismounted, and even permitted our men to ride their horses, without evincing the least displeasure, at the free advantage taken of their good-nature. mr. cooke rode to the heights, whence he had a distinct view of the second narrow, and elizabeth island, whither, he explained to the indians who accompanied him, we were going. mr. cooke returned to the ship with three natives, whom he had induced to go with us to elizabeth island; the others were to meet them, and provide us with guanaco meat, to which arrangement the elders of the family had, after { } much persuasion, assented. at first they objected to their companions embarking with us, unless we left hostages for their safety; but as this was refused, they did not press the point, and the three young men embarked. they went on board singing; in high glee. while the ship was getting under way, i went ashore to a larger number of indians who were waiting on the beach. when my boat landed they were mounted, and collected in one place. i was surprised to hear the woman accost me in spanish, of which, however, she knew but a few words. having presented medals to each of the party, they dismounted (excepting the elders), and in a few minutes became quite familiar. by this time captain stokes had landed, with several of his officers, who increased our party to nearly double the number of theirs: notwithstanding which they evinced neither fear nor uneasiness. the woman, whose name was maria, wished to be very communicative; she told me that the man was her husband, and that she had five children. one of the young men, whom we afterwards found to be a son of maria, who was a principal person of the tribe, was mounted upon a very fine horse, well groomed, and equipped with a bridle and saddle that would have done credit to a respectable horseman of buenos ayres or monte video. the young man wore heavy brass spurs, like those of the guachos of buenos ayres. the juvenile and feminine appearance of this youth made us think he was maria's daughter, nor was it until a subsequent visit that our mistake was discovered. the absence of whiskers and beard gives all the younger men a very effeminate look, and many cannot be distinguished, in appearance, from the women, but by the mode in which they wrap their mantles around them, and by their hair, which is turned up and confined by a fillet of worsted yarn. the women cross their mantle over the breast like a shawl, and fasten it together with two iron pins or skewers, round which are twisted strings of beads and other ornaments. they also wear their hair divided, and gathered into long tresses or tails, which hang one before each ear; and those who have short hair, wear false tails made of horse-hair. under { } their mantle the women wear a sort of petticoat, and the men a triangular piece of hide instead of breeches. both sexes sit astride, but the women upon a heap of skins and mantles, when riding. the saddles and stirrups used by the men are similar to those of buenos ayres. the bits, also, are generally of steel; but those who cannot procure steel bits have a sort of snaffle, of wood, which must, of course, be frequently renewed. both sexes wear boots, made of the skins of horses' hind legs, of which the parts about the hock joints serve for the heels. for spurs, they use pieces of wood, pointed with iron, projecting backwards two or three inches on each side of the heel, connected behind by a broad strap of hide, and fastened under the foot and over the instep by another strap. the only weapons which we observed with these people were the 'bolas,' or balls, precisely similar to those used by the pampas indians; but they are fitter for hunting than for offence or defence. some are furnished with three balls, but in general there are only two. these balls are made of small bags or purses of hide, moistened, filled with iron pyrites, or some other heavy substance, and then dried. they are about the size of a hen's egg, and attached to the extremities of a thong, three or four yards in length. to use them, one ball is held in the hand, and the other swung several times around the head until both are thrown at the object, which they rarely miss. they wind round it violently, and if it be an animal, throw it down. the bolas, with three balls, similarly connected together, are thrown in the same manner. as more time could not be spared we went on board, reminding the natives, on leaving them, of their promise to bring us some guanaco meat. aided by the tide, the ships worked to windward through the second narrow, and reached an anchorage out of the strength of tide, but in an exposed situation. the wind having been very strong and against the tide, the ship had much motion, which made our patagonian passengers very sick, and heartily sorry for trusting themselves afloat. one of them, with tears in his eyes, begged to be landed, but was soon convinced of the difficulty of compliance, { } and satisfied with our promise of sending him ashore on the morrow. after we anchored, the wind increased to a gale, in which the ship pitched so violently as to injure our windlass. its construction was bad originally, and the violent jerks received in possession bay had done it much damage. while veering cable, the support at one end gave way, and the axle of the barrel was forced out of the socket, by which some of the pawls were injured. fortunately, dangerous consequences were prevented, and a temporary repair was soon applied. the beagle, by her better sailing, had reached a more advanced situation, close to the n.e. end of elizabeth island, but had anchored disadvantageously in deep water, and in the strength of the tide. next morning we made an attempt to pass round elizabeth island, but found the breeze so strong that we were forced to return, and were fortunate enough to find good anchorage northward of the island, out of the tide. the patagonians, during the day, showed much uneasiness at being kept on board so much longer than they expected; but as they seemed to understand the cause of their detention, and as their sickness ceased when we reached smooth water, they gradually recovered their good-humour, and became very communicative. as well as we could understand their pronunciation, their names were 'coigh,' 'coichi,' and 'aighen.' the country behind cape negro they called 'chilpéyo;' the land of tierra del fuego, 'osch[=e]rri;' elizabeth island, 't[)u]rr[)e]tterr;' the island of santa magdalena, 'shr[=e]e-ket-tup;' and cape negro, 'o[=e]rkr[)e]ckur.' the indians of tierra del fuego, with whom they are not on friendly terms, are designated by them 's[)a]p[=a]ll[)i][)o]s.' this name was applied to them in a contemptuous tone. aighen's features were remarkably different from those of his companions. instead of a flat nose, his was aquiline and prominent, and his countenance was full of expression. he proved to be good-tempered, and easily pleased; and whenever a shade of melancholy began to appear, our assurance of { } landing him on the morrow restored his good-humour, which was shown by singing and laughing. the dimensions of coichi's head were as follows:-- from the top of the fore part of the head to the eyes inches. do do to the tip of the nose do do to the mouth do do to the chin width of the head across the temples ½ breadth of the shoulders ½ the head was long and flat, at the top; the forehead broad and high, but covered with hair to within an inch and a half of the eyebrow, which had scarcely any hair. the eyes were small, the nose was short, the mouth wide, and the lips thick. neck short, and shoulders very broad. the arms were short, and wanting in muscle, as were also the thighs and legs. the body was long and large, and the breast broad and expanded. his height was nearly six feet. the next day we rounded elizabeth island, and reached cape negro, where we landed the indians, after making them several useful presents, and sending some trifles by aighen to maria, who, with her tribe, had lighted large fires about the country behind peckett's harbour, to invite us to land. our passengers frequently pointed to them, telling us that they were made by maria, who had brought plenty of guanaco meat for us. our anxiety to reach port famine prevented delay, and, as soon as the boat returned, we proceeded along the coast towards freshwater bay, which we reached early enough in the afternoon to admit of a short visit to the shore. from cape negro the country assumed a very different character. instead of a low coast and open treeless shore, we saw steep hills, covered with lofty trees, and thick underwood. the distant mountains of tierra del fuego, covered with snow, were visible to the southward, some at a distance of sixty or seventy miles. we had now passed all the difficulties of the entrance, and had reached a quiet and secure anchorage. { } the following day was calm, and so warm, that we thought if wallis and cordova were correct in describing the weather they met with, duclos guyot was equally entitled to credit; and we began to hope we had anticipated worse weather than we should experience. but this was an unusually fine day, and many weeks elapsed, afterwards, without its equal. the temperature of the air, in the shade on the beach, was ½°, on the sand ½°; and that of the water °. other observations were made, as well as a plan of the bay, of which there is a description in the sailing directions. here we first noticed the character of the vegetation in the strait, as so different from that of cape gregory and other parts of the patagonian coast, which is mainly attributable to the change of soil; the northern part being a very poor clay, whilst here a schistose sub-soil is covered by a mixture of alluvium, deposited by mountain streams; and decomposed vegetable matter, which, from the thickness of the forests, is in great quantity. two specimens of beech (_fagus betuloides_ and _antarctica_), the former an evergreen,--and the winter's bark (_wintera aromatica_), are the only trees of large size that we found here; but the underwood is very thick, and composed of a great variety of plants, of which _arbutus rigida_, two or three species of _berberis_, and a wild currant (_ribes antarctica_, bankes and solander mss.), at this time in flower, and forming long clustering bunches of young fruit, were the most remarkable. the berberis produces a berry of acidulous taste, that promised to be useful to us. a species of wild celery, also, which grows abundantly near the sea-shore, was valuable as an antiscorbutic. the trees in the immediate vicinity of the shore are small, but the beach was strewed with trunks of large trees, which seemed to have been drifted there by gales and high tides. a river falls into the bay, by a very narrow channel, near its south end; but it is small, and so blocked up by trees as not to be navigable even for the smallest boat: indeed, it is merely a mountain torrent, varying in size according to the state of the weather. { } tracks of foxes were numerous about the beach, and the footsteps of a large quadruped, probably a puma, were observed. some teal and wild ducks were shot; and several geese were seen, but, being very wary, they escaped. upon point st. mary we noticed, for the first time, three or four huts or wigwams made by the fuegian indians, which had been deserted. they were not old, and merely required a slight covering of branches or skins to make them habitable. these wigwams are thus constructed: long slender branches, pointed at the end, are stuck into the ground in a circular or oval figure; their extremities are bent over, so as to form a rounded roof, and secured with ligatures of rush; leaving two apertures, one towards the sea, and the other towards the woods. the fire is made in the middle, and half fills the hut with smoke. there were no indians in the bay when we arrived, but, on the following evening, lieutenant sholl, in walking towards the south end of the bay, suddenly found himself close to a party which had just arrived in two canoes from the southward. approaching them, he found there were nine individuals--three men, and the remainder women and children. one of the women was very old, and so infirm as to require to be lifted out of the canoe and carried to the fire. they seemed to have no weapons of any consequence; but, from our subsequent knowledge of their habits, and disposition, the probability is they had spears, bows, and arrows concealed close at hand. the only implement found amongst them was a sort of hatchet or knife, made of a crooked piece of wood, with part of an iron hoop tied to the end. the men were very slightly clothed, having only the back protected by a seal's skin; but the females wore large guanaco mantles, like those of the patagonian indians, whom our pilot told us they occasionally met for the purpose of barter. some of the party were devouring seal's flesh, and drinking the oil extracted from its blubber, which they carried in bladders. the meat they were eating was probably part of a sea lion (_phoca jubata_); for mr. sholl found amongst them a portion of the neck of one of those animals, which is { } remarkable for the long hair, "like a lion's mane," growing upon it. they appeared to be a most miserable, squalid race, very inferior, in every respect, to the patagonians. they did not evince the least uneasiness at mr. sholl's presence, or at our ships being close to them; neither did they interfere with him, but remained squatting round their fire while he staid near. this seeming indifference, and total want of curiosity, gave us no favourable opinion of their character as intellectual beings; indeed, they appeared to be very little removed from brutes; but our subsequent knowledge of them has convinced us that they are not usually deficient in intellect. this party was perhaps stupified by the unusual size of our ships, for the vessels which frequent this strait are seldom one hundred tons in burthen. we proceeded next morning at an early hour. the indians were already paddling across the bay in a northerly direction. upon coming abreast of them, a thick smoke was perceived to rise suddenly from their canoes; they had probably fed the fire, which they always carry in the middle of their canoe, with green boughs and leaves, for the purpose of attracting our attention, and inviting us to communicate with them. it was remarked that the country begins to be covered with trees at cape negro; but they are stunted, compared with those at freshwater bay. near this place, also, the country assumes a more verdant aspect, becoming also higher, and more varied in appearance. in the neighbourhood of rocky point some conspicuous portions of land were noticed, which, from the regularity of their shape, and the quantity as well as size of the trees growing at the edges, bore the appearance of having been once cleared ground; and our pilot robinson (possessing a most inventive imagination) informed us that they were fields, formerly cleared and cultivated by the spaniards, and that ruins of buildings had been lately discovered near them. for some time his story obtained credit, but it proved to be altogether void of foundation. these apparently cleared tracts were afterwards found to be occasioned by unusual poverty of soil, and by being overrun with thick { } spongy moss, the vivid green colour of which produces, from a distance, an appearance of most luxuriant pasture land. sir john narborough noticed, and thus describes them: "the wood shows in many places as if there were plantations: for there were several clear places in the woods, and grass growing like fenced fields in england, the woods being so even by the sides of it."[ ] the wind, after leaving freshwater bay, increased, with strong squalls from the s.w., at times blowing so hard as to lay the ship almost on her broadside. it was, however, so much in our favour, that we reached the entrance of port famine early, and after some little detention from baffling winds, which always render the approach to that bay somewhat difficult, the ships anchored in the harbour. * * * * * { } chapter iii. prepare the beagle, and our decked boat (the hope) for surveying the strait--beagle sails westward, and the hope towards the south-east-- sarmiento's voyage--and description of the colony formed by him at port famine--steamer-duck--large trees--parroquets--mount tarn--barometrical observations--geological character--report of the hope's cruize. in almost every account published of the strait of magalhaens, so much notice has been taken of port famine, that i had long considered it a suitable place for our purposes; and upon examination i found it offered so many advantages, that i did not hesitate to make it our head-quarters. as soon, therefore, as the ship was moored, tents were pitched, our decked-boat was hoisted out and hauled on shore, to be coppered and equipped for the survey;--and captain stokes received orders to prepare the beagle for examining the western part of the strait; previous to which she required to be partially refitted, and supplied with fuel and water. for several days after our arrival, we had much rain and strong south-westerly wind, with thick clouds, which concealed the high land to the southward; allowing us only now and then a partial glimpse. one evening ( th) the air was unusually clear, and many of the mountains in that direction were distinctly defined. we had assembled to take leave of our friends in the beagle, and were watching the gradual appearance of snow-capped mountains which had previously been concealed, when, bursting upon our view, as if by magic, a lofty mountain appeared towering among them; whose snowy mantle, strongly contrasted with the dark and threatening aspect of the sky, much enhanced the grandeur of the scene. [illustration: the hope, in the strait of magalhaens.] [illustration: the adelaide, in humming bird cove.] [illustration: p. p. king s. bull distant view of mt. sarmiento. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } this mountain was the "snowy volcano" (_volcan nevado_) of sarmiento, with whose striking appearance that celebrated navigator seems to have been particularly impressed, so minute and excellent is his description. it is also mentioned in the account of cordova's voyage.[ ] the peculiar shape of its summit as seen from the north would suggest the probability of its being a volcano, but we never observed any indication of its activity. its volcanic form is perhaps accidental, for, seen from the westward, its summit no longer resembles a crater. from the geological character of the surrounding rocks its formation would seem to be of slate. it is in a range of mountains rising generally two or three thousand feet above the sea; but at the n.e. end of the range are some, at least four thousand feet high. the height of the "snowy volcano," or as we have called it, mount sarmiento,[ ] was found, by trigonometrical measurement, to be six thousand eight hundred feet[ ] above the level { } of the sea. it is the highest land that i have seen in tierra del fuego; and to us, indeed, it was an object of considerable interest, because its appearance and disappearance were seldom failing weather guides. in our meteorological diary, a column was ruled for the insertion of its appearances.[ ] this clear state of the atmosphere was followed by a heavy fall of rain, with northerly and easterly winds, which did not, however, last long. in the vicinity of our tents erected on the low land, on the s.w. side of the bay, were several ponds of water, perfectly fit for immediate use; but, perhaps, too much impregnated with vegetable matter to keep good for any length of time. captain stokes, therefore, filled his tanks from the river; but as that water did not keep well, it was probably taken into the boat too near the sea. this, however, was unavoidable, except by risking the boats among a great number of sunken trees in the bed of the river. the beagle sailed on the th, to survey the western entrance of the strait, with orders to return to port famine by the end of march. our decked boat, the hope, being ready, the command of her was given to mr. wickham, who was in every way qualified for the trust. we were, however, much mortified by finding that she leaked so considerably as to oblige us to unload, and again haul her on shore. when ready for sea, she sailed under the direction of my assistant-surveyor, mr. graves, to examine the st. sebastian channel and the deep opening to the s.e. of cape valentyn. her crew consisted of seven men, besides mr. wickham, and mr. rowlett, the purser. having despatched the beagle and the hope, i was at leisure to carry on the survey of the coast in the neighbourhood of port famine, and to make a plan of the port itself. the { } transit, and altitude circle, were set up; but from the very unfavourable state of the weather, and the interference of other occupations, i was only enabled to procure a series of zenith distances of the sun, and stars, for the latitude. port famine, a name well known to all who have interested themselves about the strait of magalhaens, was selected by sarmiento as the most convenient place for the site of an establishment formed, at his suggestion, by philip ii. king of spain. the voyage of sir francis drake through the strait into the pacific, and his successes against the spanish colonies and trade on the western side of the continent of america, induced the viceroy of lima to send an expedition to pursue the "corsair," with orders to fight and take him, dead or alive.[ ] this expedition, commanded by pedro sarmiento de gamboa, who had already been engaged twice with drake, consisted of two ships, containing in all two hundred armed men, sailors and soldiers; a force which was considered sufficient to ensure the capture.[ ] the strait of magalhaens being the most likely place to meet with drake, sarmiento was ordered to proceed through it, and take the opportunity of exploring its coasts. all this he performed in a manner highly creditable, as well for the excellent description handed down in his unpretending journal, as for the enterprising zeal, and steady perseverance, shown among difficulties of no trifling nature. to his accounts of various places there will be frequent occasion to refer. our object, at present, is to give a short account of the colony. sarmiento sailed from peru ( ), and entered the strait from the pacific. after experiencing many serious difficulties, and escaping imminent dangers, in the western part of the strait, where the climate is so rigorous and the country so desolate, it was not surprising that he should become enraptured with the verdant, and picturesque appearance of the shores to the eastward of cape froward, and with the open country in { } the neighbourhood, and to the northward of cape virgins.[ ] after much opposition from the duke of alva[ ] and other powerful people, he succeeded in convincing the king of the expediency of fortifying the shores of the first narrow, and forming several establishments within the strait, to prevent the passage of strange ships, to the prejudice of the king's colonies in chile and peru; for at that time the passage round cape horn was not known. accordingly, an expedition was prepared, consisting of twenty-three vessels, under the joint command of diego florez de valdez and sarmiento; the former being appointed captain-general of the fleet, and of the coast of brazil; and the latter, captain-general of the strait of magalhaens, and governor of all the establishments that should be formed within it. of the twenty-three ships which sailed from spain, five only reached the entrance of the strait; and these, after experiencing many difficulties from bad weather and foul winds, returned to rio de janeiro to refit, where sarmiento met four vessels which had been sent from spain to his succour. his colleague and general in chief, florez, who had deserted the expedition, did all in his power to impede sarmiento, to the latest moment of his stay at the brazils. at last, however, five ships, commanded by ribera, and manned by five hundred and thirty men,[ ] sailed; and, without encountering further loss or detention, arrived off the strait in december ( ), and soon after reached an anchorage, between the first and second narrows. ribera would go no further; but landed about three hundred men, under sarmiento. a city was marked out, and named jesus,[ ] in a valley well provided with water. the { } ships were blown away to sea, leaving the colonists very destitute; fortunately, however, they were enabled to return, but were four times, afterwards, obliged to put to sea, from stress of weather. on the last return, one of the ships, la trinidad, was run on shore. the ardour of ribera being damped by repeated misfortunes, he returned to spain, without the knowledge or consent of sarmiento, leaving, for the use of the colony, only one ship, the maria. while unloading the trinidad, the spaniards were attacked by indians, whom they dispersed. sarmiento, after making the necessary arrangements at jesus, set out by land with one hundred men, to go to point st. anna,[ ] the ship maria being ordered to follow. on the journey, the sufferings of the party were very great, as well from the fatiguing nature of the march, as from their being harassed by the natives, with whom they had an engagement, in which one was killed, and ten men were wounded. a mutiny among his people then broke out, which was quelled by assistance from the ship. at last they reached their destination, and founded, with the usual solemnities, the city of king philip (or san felipe). at the latter end of march, while preparing habitations, the winter set in so suddenly, that for fifteen days it did not cease to snow. sarmiento, then, after quelling a mutiny which had broken out afresh among the soldiers, embarked with thirty men to visit the first encampment at jesus, and to superintend the erection of forts in the narrow; but upon reaching the anchorage, a gale of wind forced him to sea, and, lasting twenty days, obliged him (with his people blinded and frost-bitten) to bear up for rio de janeiro. here his ship was stranded; upon which he chartered a vessel to convey flour to the strait, and went himself to pernambuco, to procure large boats for carrying supplies to his { } colony, and assisting in the recovery of his stranded ship; she had, however, drifted off, and sunk near bahia; and all his boats were destroyed. still sarmiento persevered in his zealous efforts to succour his friends in the strait; and succeeded in procuring a vessel of fifty or sixty tons, which, loaded with arms and whatever he considered useful, sailed, and reached rio de janeiro a month after the departure of the first vessel (january ). he followed, but in the latitude of ° met with a furious gale, which drove him back to rio de janeiro, where the vessel that had preceded him had returned in distress. disappointed in his attempts to carry succour to the colony, he determined to go to spain; but on his voyage thither, to complete the catalogue of his misfortunes, his ship was captured by three english vessels, and taken to england, after which the ill-fated colony in the strait was neglected, if not entirely forgotten. two months after sarmiento's departure from the strait of magalhaens, in the month of august, the middle of the winter of that region, the party belonging to the first establishment at jesus set off by land, and joined that at san felipe, with the unwelcome tidings of their deserted state. but as the provisions at san felipe were insufficient to support all the people, andres de viedma, who, after sarmiento's departure, had assumed the command, detached two hundred soldiers, under the command of juan iniguez, back to jesus, for the purpose of communicating with any ship that might make her appearance, and awaiting the expected return of sarmiento; but the winter and following summer passed by without any relief. in this unhappy state, the colonists were obliged to think only of providing for their safety, and built two boats; in which fifty people embarked, besides viedma, suarez, a franciscan friar named antonio, and five spanish women. they had not proceeded farther than point santa brigida,[ ] { } when one of the boats struck upon a reef, and was lost, but the people were saved. the loss of this boat caused them to give up every hope of saving themselves in that way; and viedma, with suarez, the friar, and twenty soldiers, returned in the remaining boat to san felipe, leaving the rest of the party, consisting of thirty men and five women, to support themselves through the approaching winter as they could. after that season had passed, viedma sent to collect the wanderers; but fifteen men, and three women only, could be found; the rest having died of hunger and disease. the survivors then determined upon going to the first establishment at jesus; on their way to which they passed by the skeletons of the two hundred who had been first detached. travelling onwards, they observed three ships entering the strait, which anchored at a distance to the southward. during the night, viedma and his companions kept up large fires, supposing that the ships belonged to their own nation. next morning a boat was despatched from them; and three of viedma's party obtained permission to go and reconnoitre her. having approached near enough, a signal was made; upon which, the people in the boat pulled towards the beach, and said they were from england, bound to peru, and that if the spaniards wanted a passage, they had better embark. after some hesitation, arising from the fear of trusting themselves in the power of heretics, they consented; and one was permitted to get in, but the other two were left on the beach. in the boat was the enterprizing cavendish[ ] himself, who, on hearing the particulars of their story, sent the other two soldiers to viedma, offering to take him and the residue of his people on board. cavendish returned to his ship; but, without further delay, sailed on to the isla dos patos (santa magdalena island), where he leisurely salted down six casks of penguins; and then proceeded to san felipe, for wood and water; he remained there four days (during which time he destroyed the houses of the spaniards, and embarked six guns); and thence continued his voyage. the person saved { } by cavendish, whose name was tomé hernandez, afterwards escaped from him at quintero, near valparaiso; and, proceeding to peru, gave an account of the fate of this cruelly neglected colony. this was the first, and perhaps will be the last, attempt made to occupy a country, offering no encouragement for a human being; a region, where the soil is swampy, cold, and unfit for cultivation, and whose climate is thoroughly cheerless. the name, san felipe, ceased with the colony; for cavendish called it port famine, in allusion to the fate of the colonists, all of whom, except the man he took away, and one saved two years afterwards (in ), by andrew mericke,[ ] perished from hunger and its attendant diseases; and by this appellation the bay has since been universally known. to commemorate the ill-fated town, a very thickly-wooded mountain at the bottom of the bay, which forms a conspicuous and picturesque object, has been named by us mount san felipe. at this port, sarmiento, on his first voyage through the strait, communicated with a large party of indians, in consequence of which he called it bahia de la gente; and the river, which now bears the name of sedger, he named san juan. of this river sarmiento took formal possession, as well as of the whole strait, for the 'mui poderoso y mui católico señor phelipe segundo,' &c. &c. it was also here that, in consequence of the miraculous preservation of his vessel on many { } occasions, he attempted to change the name of the strait to estrecho de la madre de dios; but it had been too long called magalhaens, for even the influence of sarmiento, backed by the power of philip, to persuade the world to countenance so great an injustice. "magallanes, señor, fué el primer hombre que abriendo este camino le dió nombre." ercilla araucana, cant. i. oct. . during an excursion with mr. tarn to eagle bay,[ ] beyond cape san isidro, we found many wigwams. they were then novelties to us, and we were ignorant of their being such certain indications of very sheltered places, as subsequent experience has shown them to be. we often used them, after they had been well cleaned out: a boat's sail, thrown over the hemispherical roof, was a sufficient protection from rain;--and from wind they are always well defended by their situation. here we saw, for the first time, that most remarkable bird the steamer-duck. before steam-boats were in general use, this bird was denominated, from its swiftness in skimming over the surface of the water, the 'race-horse,' a name which occurs frequently in cook's, byron's, and other voyages. it is a gigantic duck, the largest i have met with. it has the lobated hind-toe, legs placed far backwards, and other characteristics of the oceanic ducks.[ ] the principal peculiarity of this bird is, the shortness and remarkably small size of the wings, which, not having sufficient power to raise the body, serve only to propel it along, rather than through the water, and are used like the paddles of a steam-vessel. aided by these and its strong, broad-webbed feet, it moves with astonishing velocity. { } it would not be an exaggeration to state its speed at from twelve to fifteen miles an hour. the peculiar form of the wing, and the short rigid feathers which cover it, together with the power this bird possesses of remaining a considerable length of time under water, constitute it a striking link between the genera _anas_ and _aptenodytes_. it has been noticed by many former navigators. the largest we found measured forty inches, from the extremity of the bill, to that of the tail, and weighed thirteen pounds; but captain cook mentions, in his second voyage, that the weight of one was twenty-nine pounds.[ ] it is very difficult to kill them, on account of their wariness and thick coat of feathers, which is impenetrable by any thing smaller than swan shot. the flavour of their flesh is so strong and fishy, that at first we killed them solely for specimens. five or six months, however, on salt provisions, taught many to think such food palatable, and the seamen never lost an opportunity of eating them. i have preferred these ducks to salt-beef, but more as a preventive against scurvy, than from liking their taste. i am averse to altering names, particularly in natural history, without very good reason, but in this case i do think the name of 'steamer' much more appropriate, and descriptive of the swift paddling motion of these birds, than that of 'race-horse.' i believe, too, the name of 'steamer' is now generally given to it by those who have visited these regions. many shells[ ] were taken from the bottom by means of a fizgig which mr. tarn found in one of the wigwams: it was a { } rough pole, eight or ten feet long, split crosswise at one end, and opened so as to form four prongs, kept apart by two small pieces of wood. although rudely made, it was excellently adapted for a shell-gatherer, and is used by the indians for collecting sea-eggs, which are found in the strait of very large size, and are doubtless, to them, a great delicacy. during our excursion we ascertained the best place to ascend the snowy mountain, since named 'tarn;' and the surgeon, whose name it bears, set off with a party of officers to make the attempt, in which he succeeded, and obtained such an extensive view as induced me to decide upon ascending it, a few days afterwards, to procure bearings from the summit, and for the purpose of measuring its height with a barometer. in the meantime i visited the sedger river (sarmiento's 'rio de san juan de posesion'), and found some difficulty in entering it, because of several banks which are dry at low water. between them, however, the stream keeps a small channel open, by which we effected our purpose. every gale of wind causes the banks to shift, and between the times of our first, and last, visit to port famine, the river's mouth underwent many changes. the bed of the river is so full of fallen trees, that we could not go, with the boat, more than three miles and a half above the entrance; there it was about fifteen yards wide, bounded on each side by thickly wooded banks, of moderate height. the trees on these banks are large, chiefly the two species of beech before-mentioned, and winter's-bark; there are besides many shrubs, and an impenetrable underwood of arbutus, berberis, and currant bushes. the largest beech-tree that we saw could not have been more than thirty or forty inches in diameter, which was insignificant compared with those noticed by commodore byron. in describing his excursion up this river, he mentions "trees that would supply the british navy with the best masts in the world."[ ] "some of them are of a great height, and more than eight feet in diameter, which is proportionally more than eight yards in { } circumference."[ ] the commodore may have been pleased by the appearance of these trees, but must have fancied their quality and dimensions such as he describes. the largest are generally rotten at the heart, and all are more or less defective. their wood is heavy, and far too brittle for masts: we could not use it even for boat-hook staves. it makes, however, tolerable plank for boat-building, and, when seasoned, might be used in ships. for common purposes, such as houses, or fences, it is very serviceable. we wandered about to examine the country; but, excepting the track of some quadruped, whose foot was small and cloven, rather like a pig's, we saw nothing new. the traces of foxes were numerous every where. we found no fish of any description in the river. geese and wild ducks were numerous, whose young were at this time scarcely fledged, and an easy prey. we also observed here, for the first time, the parroquet, which bougainville described to be common in the strait. he carried specimens home with him; but some naturalists of those days decided that there must have been a mistake, because, as they averred, parroquets did not exist in so high a latitude. bougainville, however, made no mistake, for the species[ ] is very abundant in the neighbourhood of port famine, and has been seen by us in all parts of the strait. it feeds principally upon the seeds of the winter's-bark. the existence of this bird in tierra del fuego is also mentioned by cook and narborough.[ ] { } all accounts of port famine informed us of its abounding in fish, but as yet we had taken none excepting with hook and line, although the seine had been frequently shot. at last, however, in the first week of february, we had a successful haul of mullet and smelts, many of the former weighing eight pounds, and the latter measuring fifteen inches in length. after this we were often very fortunate, and on one occasion caught, at one haul of the seine, sixteen hundred-weight of smelts, some weighing two pounds, and measuring twenty inches in length. a few days previously we had a draught of mullet, which served the crews of both adventure and beagle for three days. geese, wild ducks and teal, snipe, and now and then woodcocks, were to be found by taking a short walk; there were, however, no quadrupeds fit for food which we could take. foxes and wild cats were occasionally seen, and a foot-mark of some large animal of the feline race, probably a puma, was once observed upon the beach. we found many traces of horses, which showed that the patagonian indians sometimes come thus far south. had we been so fortunate as to meet them here, we might have procured, perhaps, a regular supply of guanaco meat. on the th of february, as the weather seemed favourable for ascending mount tarn,[ ] lieutenant cooke, the surgeon, and anderson, the botanical collector, set off in advance to select a convenient place for passing the night, carrying with them a tent and provisions. i followed later in the day, and, while the boat's crew were arranging their loads, made some observations with a barometer on the beach. our way led through thick underwood, and then, with a gradual ascent, among fallen trees, covered with so thick a coating of moss, that at every step we sunk up to the knees { } before firm footing could be found. it was very laborious work, and the ground being saturated, and each tree dripping with moisture, we were soon wet through. we proceeded along the same sort of road up a steep ascent; some one of the party constantly falling into deep holes covered by moss, or stumbling over fallen trunks of trees. as i carried a barometer i was obliged to proceed with caution, and succeeded in emerging from this jungle without accident. after about three quarters of an hour spent in this way, we reached an open space, where we rested, and i set up the barometer. here we found a cypress of very stunted growth. our road hence was rather more varied: always steep, but sometimes free from impediment. here and there we observed the boggy soil was faced with a small plant (_chamitis sp._) of a harsh character, growing so thick and close as to form large tufts, over which we walked as on hard ground. we struggled through several thickets of stunted beech-trees, with a thick jungle of berberis underneath, whose strong and sharp thorns penetrated our clothes at every step; and began to find the fatigue very oppressive: some of my boat's crew suffered much, being unused to such exercise. at last we approached the place where mr. cooke and his party had established themselves, and upon hailing, were invigorated by a cheer in reply. we reached the bivouac in a very way-worn condition, and found, to our great comfort, the tent pitched, and a good fire burning.[ ] the ground was so exceedingly wet, that although we slept upon branches, forming a layer at least a foot thick, we found ourselves, in the night, lying as if in a morass, and suffering from cold, even with a large fire blazing at our feet. at daylight next morning, just as we were starting, a boat was seen sailing round cape san isidro, which, by the aid of a telescope, i made out to be the hope. we resumed the ascent, and passed over, rather than through, thickets of the crumply-leaved beech, which, from { } their exposure to the prevailing winds, rose no higher than twelve or fourteen inches from the ground, with widely-spreading branches, so closely interwoven, as to form a platform that bore our weight in walking. we next traversed an extent of table-land,[ ] much intersected by ponds of water. mr. tarn shot two plovers of a new species (_charadrius rubecola_, zool. jour. vol. iv. p. ), and a snipe. we then ascended three or four hundred feet, and crossed a deep ravine. the bottom of the ravine was clay-slate in a decomposing state, but the surface of the ground was strewed with pebbles of granite. another plain, with many ponds, succeeded; the intervening spaces being covered with tufts of chamitis, and studded here and there with small clusters of dwarf beech; but the ground was so hard, and firm, that we proceeded rapidly, without fatigue, until we attained the height of , feet, when the ascent became very steep. near the summit lay a large mass of snow, rapidly melting away. we reached the highest pinnacle of the mount at seven o'clock (having left our resting-place at four), and immediately set up the instruments. i was obliged to avail myself of mr. tarn's assistance to hold the barometer, whilst two of my boat's crew held the legs of the theodolite-stand, for the wind was blowing very strongly, and the edge of a precipice was close to us, perpendicular for many hundred feet, and thence downwards so steep, that any body going over would fall at least a thousand feet. the theodolite-stand was unavoidably placed within a very few inches of the edge, and i took a round of angles, suffering, however, intense pain from the piercing coldness of the wind, which, heated as we were by the ascent, was much felt, though the temperature was not lower than °. i was lightly clothed, and should have fared badly, had not one of the party lent me his flushing jacket, while he descended under the lee of the mountain-top to make a fire. the barometer stood at , , the temperature of the air being °, and of { } the mercury °.[ ] unfortunately the day was very cloudy, and many squalls of sleet and rain, which obscured the hills, passed whilst i was taking bearings. to the n.e., towards the supposed sebastian channel, the horizon was too hazy to allow much view. a deep inlet was seen in that direction; but whether the land closed round, or whether a channel was at the bottom, we could not distinguish. a considerable body of water was observed to the southward of cape st. valentyn, behind lomas bay, but its extent was screened from our view by the intervention of the lomas hills. it appeared to be a channel, the opposite or eastern side of it being formed by the high ranges previously seen from point st. mary. cordova's ports san antonio and valdez were distinctly made out; but, to the southward, every thing was enveloped in mist. the bearings and observations, which occupied me nearly two hours, being completed, we all adjourned to a sheltered cleft in the rock close to our station, where we soon recovered the use of our fingers.[ ] { } having accomplished our object, we began the descent. in a comparatively mild and agreeable spot, i again set up the theodolite and barometer, while some of the party employed themselves in fruitless attempts to kindle a fire. the height, by the barometer, proved to be , feet above the sea; and the bearings from this station were much better than those i had taken from the exposed summit. we reached our tent at noon, having been absent seven hours. at three we reached the beach, where the barometer stood at , (air .° ,[ ] and mercury ,° ). excepting near the sea, where clay-slate (very similar to that of point st. anna, but with an opposite dip) showed itself, the side of the hill is clothed with trees and underwood, and no rock is visible until one arrives at the ravine. around the summit of mount tarn the ground is bare, but so covered with small decomposed fragments, that the solid rock only appears occasionally: it is very hard, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture: some of the specimens which we detached bore indistinct impressions of organic remains. we also found, projecting from the rock in which they were embedded, nodules, or small rounded masses of stone, in an advanced state of decomposition, mouldering away in laminar forms somewhat resembling the inner leaves of a cabbage. several were brought away carefully, but before we arrived on board they had crumbled to pieces: the nucleus was quite hard, but was surrounded by concentric laminæ, more brittle the nearer they approached to the outer surface. it seemed as if the face of the summit { } above-mentioned was covered with the decomposing fragments of these nodules. the highest parts of the mount form a ridge extending s.e. and n.w., being a succession of strata of slaty rock, dipping to the eastward, at an angle of ° or ° from the horizon. the strata are very narrow, and separated from each other by a vein of quartz, much of which is in a crystallized state. we reached the ship about seven o'clock, and found that the hope and her party had done well. her cruize proved interesting, with regard to the geography of the strait, and a summary of it is subjoined. mr. graves's orders were to survey the sebastian channel; but in the event of his seeing any thing more interesting to the s.e., he was allowed to defer that service to another opportunity. the hope crossed the strait, and anchored in a small bay, formed between the two projecting points of cape valentyn, where some few defects in the vessel were remedied, and a good round of angles obtained from the summit of the cape, whence there was a fine view. the country was low, undulating, and destitute of trees. from a station about two miles overland, to the eastward, a large body of water was observed to the southward, forming a channel, or deep sound, and it was determined to follow up its examination, rather than risk the crew in the deep bay that was supposed to communicate with the san sebastian channel, on board a vessel whose capabilities were unknown. several fire-places and remains of wigwams were seen; the latter were, however, very different, both in shape and material, from those at port famine, for the country being destitute of trees, they were built of driftwood, piled up in a conical form. passing round cape valentyn, the hope hauled to the southward, keeping the land on board. at night she anchored in philip gidley cove, at the bottom of willes bay, where she was weather-bound until the th of january. the shores of willes bay are thickly clothed with wood, growing to the water's edge, except at the s.w. side. the great abundance of muscles and limpets attracts the indians, whose wigwams { } were found standing, and from the green appearance of the branches with which they were formed, seemed to have been lately erected. after leaving willes bay, the hope visited fox bay, and sir edward owen's sound, which, it was thought, would lead into lomas bay, opposite to port famine; but, after running ten miles up, they got into shoal water, and as there was no current, or stream of tide, they landed, and found that a mile and a half farther on, the sound was terminated by low land. another day, while proceeding along the south side of brenton sound, the smoke of indians' fires was noticed near the beach. as this was the first time the natives of this part had been seen, the course was shaped towards them, until the hope anchored. three indians then approached, holding up the skins of some animal, and inviting them to land. the small boat was hoisted out, and messrs. wickham and rowlett, with robinson the pilot, went on shore. the fuegians presented a fox skin to each of the party, who in return gave them some trifles. after a short interview the boat left them, and no further communication was held that night. the following morning a canoe came off to the vessel, containing three young men, two women, and three children, the youngest not more than four months old. they were no sooner alongside than the men went on board, and commenced an active traffic with all the valuables they possessed; and for a few buttons, a glass bottle, or an empty preserved-meat canister, many of their goods were bartered. they had several fox-skins with them, but no other kind of peltry, except their clothing, obtained from the seal or guanaco: and though many of them wore a penguin skin suspended from their girdle, some were without even that covering. this canoe was followed by another, containing an old man, sixty or seventy years of age, with a grey beard; an elderly woman, and two children. before they came alongside they put their dogs on shore. although the visit from these indians did not last very long, they had time enough to pilfer. one of the young men, who was seen going into a canoe, excited, by his manner, a { } suspicion of his having stolen something, and a tin pot was found concealed under his mantle. as there was every probability of their soon separating, and mr. graves feared that punishment would cause a rupture, he only turned him out of the vessel: the rest soon followed him, and landed. having made a fire, the men squatted round it; while the women were despatched to collect shell-fish. as soon as the natives had finished their meal, they embarked, and proceeded eastward. next day they again visited the hope, but in consequence, perhaps, of the occurrence the day before, did not venture alongside, until invited by the words, 'ho-say, ho-say,' which mean, 'come, come.' in a few minutes confidence was restored, and they began to barter. the trade was opened by one of the women making a peace-offering of a shell necklace, in return for which, red caps and medals were given to each of the women and children. the hope went thence to soapsuds cove, where the crew washed their clothes, and replaced a broken spar. in a s.e. direction from this cove there appeared to be a considerable channel leading to the s.e., and to the southward was a deep sound, towards which they were proceeding the next morning; but having advanced about two miles, the land of cape expectation trended suddenly round to the eastward, and a long narrow channel presented itself, which seemed likely to communicate with the strait, to the southward of port san antonio. they proceeded through this channel, which takes a very straight course, and gradually narrows from port waterfall, where it is two miles and a half wide, to passage cove, where it is scarcely three quarters of a mile; and there they anchored. between port waterfall and passage cove, a party of natives was seen; but, being probably the same who were met at indian cove, no attention was paid to their hallooings and fires of invitation.[ ] the hope came into the strait, eastward of an opening then called magdalen sound; her passage { } must therefore have been through sarmiento's 'san gabriel' channel. at night, when between cape froward and port san antonio, a heavy squall from s.w. carried the little vessel rapidly towards cape san isidro, and, at daylight the next morning, she was in the position observed by us, while ascending mount tarn. * * * * * { } chapter iv. deer seen--hope sails again--eagle bay--gabriel channel--'williwaws'-- port waterfall--natives--admiralty sound--gabriel channel--magdalen channel--hope returns to port famine--san antonio--lomas bay--loss of boat--master and two seamen drowned. from mr. graves's report of the appearance of the channel to the s.e. of dawson island, i decided to proceed there as soon as the hope was ready, for she required some alteration, and repairs. a deer having been seen on point st. anna, mr. tarn landed, very early in the morning, eager for the prize, but could only get an ineffectual shot. at another time a few deer were seen by our party, near the river; but instead of returning with the information, they fired their guns, loaded with small shot only, which served but to scare them away. as the animal was new to us, and we had evidence of its being equally new to science, i was anxious to procure a specimen, but never afterwards had an opportunity. here sarmiento saw the only deer which he mentions in his journal. the morning of the th seeming more favourable, i set out in the hope. the heights were covered with snow which had fallen the preceding night, the thermometer had been at freezing point, and much ice had formed; but the appearance of the weather deceived us: we had scarcely left the ship, when it began to rain, and by the time we reached cape san isidro the wind had freshened to a gale, which obliged me to anchor in eagle bay. having landed, a tent was pitched, and a blazing fire made to dry our clothes. in the evening the gale blew with great { } violence from s.w., and the hope, at her anchor, sheered about by the squalls, was occasionally laid over so as to dip her gunwale under water. the following day ( th), although the rain had ceased, the wind was still strong. towards evening it fell, and early on the th we left eagle bay with a fresh breeze from e.n.e., and passed close to port san antonio; but were then delayed by calms and squalls. at noon a westerly wind sprung up, and we proceeded down the gabriel channel, with the wind aft, and the tide in our favour. port waterfall sheltered us for the night. the apparently artificial formation of this channel is very striking. it seems to have been formerly a valley between two ridges of the range, in the direction of the strata (of which there are frequent instances, such as the valley in the lomas range, opposite cape san isidro, the valley of valdez bay, and one immediately to the north of the channel itself, besides many others), and that at some remote period the sea had forced its way through, effecting a communication between the strait and the waters behind dawson island: as if one of those great 'northern waves,' of which we once heard so much, had rolled down the wide reach of the strait (the parallelism of whose shores is also remarkable) from the north-west, towards cape froward; and finding itself opposed by the lomas range, had forced a passage through the valley until stopped by the mountains at fitton bay. having imagined such a wave in motion, the reader may fancy it uniting with another northern roller from cape san valentyn, attacking the hills and carrying all before it, until mount hope, at the bottom of admiralty sound, arrested its course. i have already noticed the remarkably straight direction in which this curious channel trends. at both extremities the width may be from two to three miles; but the shores gradually approach each other midway, and the coast on each side rises abruptly to the height of fifteen hundred feet. the south shore, sheltered from the prevailing and strongest winds, is thickly covered with trees and luxuriant underwood, which, being chiefly evergreen, improve { } the scenery greatly, particularly in the winter season: the north shore is also well wooded for about two-thirds up; but the summit is barren and the outline very much serrated, as is usual in slate formations. on the north shore we noticed some extraordinary effects of the whirlwinds which so frequently occur in tierra del fuego. the crews of sealing vessels call them 'williwaws,' or 'hurricane-squalls,' and they are most violent. the south-west gales, which blow upon the coast with extreme fury, are pent up and impeded in passing over the high lands; when, increasing in power, they rush violently over the edges of precipices, expand, as it were, and descending perpendicularly, destroy every thing moveable. the surface of the water, when struck by these gusts, is so agitated, as to be covered with foam, which is taken up by them, and flies before their fury until dispersed in vapour. ships at anchor under high land are sometimes suddenly thrown over on their beam-ends, and the next moment recover their equilibrium, as if nothing had occurred. again a squall strikes them, perhaps on the other side, and over they heel before its rage: the cable becomes strained, and checks the ship with a jerk, that causes her to start a-head through the water, until again stopped by the cable, or driven astern by another gust of wind. at all these anchorages, under high land, there are some parts more exposed than others; and by watching for those places which are least troubled by these squalls, a more secure, or rather a more quiet, spot may be selected. i do not consider ships so anchored to be in danger if their ground tackle be good; but every thing that offers a stiff resistance must suffer from the fury of these blasts. in many parts of this country trees are torn up by the roots, or rent asunder by the wind; and in the gabriel channel the 'williwaws' bursting over the mountainous ridge, which forms the south side of the channel, descend, and striking against the base of the opposite shore, rush up the steep, and carry all before them. i know of nothing to which i can better compare the bared track left by one of these squalls than to a bad broad road. after { } having made such an opening, the wind frequently sweeping through prevents the growth of vegetation. confused masses of up-rooted trees lie at the lower ends of these bared tracks, and show plainly what power has been exerted. the southern shore of the channel is formed by the base of that range of hills, which extends, from the eastern side of the magdalen channel, towards the e.s.e. it is the highest part of tierra del fuego, and on it are several remarkable mountains, besides sarmiento, towering over all. close to the east end of the gabriel channel is mount buckland, a tall obelisk-like hill, terminating in a sharp needle-point, and lifting its head above a chaotic mass of 'reliquiæ diluvianæ,' covered with perpetual snow, by the melting of which an enormous glacier on the leeward, or north-eastern side, has been gradually formed. this icy domain is twelve or fourteen miles long, and extends from near the end of the channel to port waterfall, feeding, in the intermediate space, many magnificent cascades, which, for number and height, are not perhaps to be exceeded in an equal space of any part of the world. within an extent of nine or ten miles, there are upwards of a hundred and fifty waterfalls, dashing into the channel from a height of fifteen hundred, or two thousand feet. the course of many is concealed, at first, by intervening trees, and, when half-way down the descent, they burst upon the view, leaping, as it were, out of the wood. some unite as they fall, and together are precipitated into the sea, in a cloud of foam; so varied, indeed, are the forms of these cascades, and so great their contrast with the dark foliage of the trees, which thickly cover the sides of the mountain, that it is impossible adequately to describe the scene. i have met with nothing exceeding the picturesque grandeur of this part of the strait. there are several coves on the south shore, but opposite to them there is no shelter until you reach a deep bay in which are several islets; and where, i think, there is a communication with brenton sound, but we did not enter it. port waterfall may easily be known by a large flat-topped bare rock, lying across the summit of the eastern head, and { } by a magnificent cascade formed by the union of two torrents. all the plants of the strait grow here: a sweet-scented callixene (_c. marginata_, lam^k.) filled the air with its odour; and a beautiful flower we had not previously seen, was found by mr. graves: it was pendulous, tubular, about two inches long (class. hexand. monog. cal. pet. . pointed), and of a rich carnation colour. the trees are small and stunted; they are of the usual species, beech and winter's-bark. here we first noticed a large fern,[ ] having a stem two or three feet long, and five or six inches in diameter, very similar to the zamia of new holland. we saw very few birds, and no quadrupeds. among the former was a king-fisher, which at the time was new to us; but it is distributed over a large tract of south america, and i have since seen a specimen said to have been shot at rio de janeiro. fitton harbour is a deep inlet, surrounded on all sides by precipitous land, rising to the height of three, or four thousand feet, and terminated by peaks, of most fantastic shape, covered with ice and snow. between fitton harbour and cape rowlett are high mountains, two of which, more conspicuous than the rest, we called 'mount sherrard,' and 'curious peak.' card point proved to be clay-slate, and i think the projection of cape rowlett, and the mountains, are also of this rock. while crossing over towards cape rowlett, (the south head of a deep sound, trending to the s.e., which it was my intention to examine), we were met by three canoes, containing, together, about twenty-four people, and ten or twelve dogs. mr. wickham recognised them to be the same party who had visited the hope on her last cruize; the thief, however, was not amongst them, fearing probably he might be known. [illustration: port famine (looking northwards).] [illustration: port famine (looking southwards).] [illustration: p. p. king s. bull curious peak, admiralty sound. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } these natives conducted themselves very quietly, and, except one of the women, who wished to keep a tin-pot in which some water had been given her, made no attempt to pilfer. one of the party, who seemed more than half an idiot, spit in my face; but as it was not apparently done angrily, and he was reproved by his companions, his uncourteous conduct was forgiven. if possessed of any furs, they had left them, perhaps concealed, near their wigwams: only a few arrows, a necklace of shells, and a fillet for the head, made of ostrich feathers, were obtained by barter. their canoes were paddled by the women, occasionally helped by the men. one or two of the former were young, and well-featured, but the rest were hideous; and all were filthy and most disagreeable, from the quantity of seal-oil and blubber, with which they had covered their bodies. after we had obtained, by barter, all the articles they had to dispose of, i presented them with red caps and medals, of which they were very proud: the latter they requested might have a hole drilled through them, that they might be suspended by a string round their necks. their astonishment was much excited, and they were pleased by hearing a watch tick; but i believe i had very nearly, though unintentionally; given great offence, by cutting off a lock of hair, from the head of one of the men. assuming a grave look, he very carefully wrapped the hair up, and handed it to a woman in the canoe, who, as carefully, stowed it away in a basket, in which she kept her beads and paint: the man then turned round, requesting me, very seriously, to put away the scissors, and my compliance restored him to good-humour. the features of these people bore a great resemblance to those of the patagonian indians, but in person they were considerably shorter and smaller. the elderly people of both sexes had hideous figures; the children, however, and young men, were well-formed; particularly one of the boys, whom they called 'y[=a]l-l[)a]-b[)a],' which, i believe, meant a youth, or a young warrior. the word 'sh[=e]rr[=o]o' was used to denote a canoe, or vessel. they were ill-clothed, with mantles made of guanaco, or otter skins, but not so neatly as those of the patagonians. { } their bodies were smeared over with a mixture of earth, charcoal, or red-ocre, and seal-oil; which, combined with the filth of their persons, produced a most offensive smell. some were partially painted with a white argillaceous earth; others were blackened with charcoal; one of the men was daubed all over with a white pigment. their hair was bound by a fillet of plaited twine, made perhaps with strips of bark, and a few of them had it turned up; but to none did it appear to be an object of attention, except one of the young women, who repeatedly combed and arranged her's with the well-toothed jaw of a porpoise. during a remarkably calm night, we were frequently startled by the loud blowing of whales, between us and the shore. we had noticed several of those monsters on the previous day, but had never heard them blow in so still a place. at dawn, a light air carried us towards some broken land to the s.e. of cape rowlett, between the eastern trend of which, and the projecting point of an island, we found a secure and land-locked harbour, with two entrances, one to the north and the other to the south of high islet. the south side of the port, which i called port cooke,[ ] is a narrow strip of land, forming the head of a deep inlet or sound, called[ ] brook harbour. it seemed to extend to the base of the high mountainous range, and to be separated only by a narrow isthmus from fitton harbour. we had scarcely been at anchor half an hour when the same party of fuegians was seen arriving. the men hastened to us in their canoes, as soon as the women had landed, to cover or thatch the wigwams, which they found standing, and to light fires. we afterwards went ashore, and, sitting down near them, commenced a brisk trade for arrows, skins, necklaces, and other commodities. the furs which covered their backs they parted with, for a few beads, and went quite naked the whole evening. among them was a young man, who appeared to be treated { } with some deference by the others; he was one of the best-looking of the party; and there was a good-natured smile on his countenance during our communication, while the rest frequently manifested displeasure, even about trifles. he was, at least, the master of one of the two families; his wigwam contained his wife, and two children, his, or his wife's father, and mother, as well as the idiot, and his wife, who, from her appearance, must have been a patagonian, or else a woman of unusual size among these people. the old woman was very inquisitive, and the man, in a long speech, described to her all the wonders i had shown him, applying to me, from time to time, to point out to her the articles he was trying to describe. their dexterity with the sling is extraordinary; and, i should think, when used as a weapon of offence, it must be very formidable. upon asking the same man to show us its use, he picked up a pebble, about the size of a pigeon's egg, and placed it in the sling; then intimating that he was going to strike a canoe, he turned his back to the mark, and threw the stone in an opposite direction, against the trunk of a tree, whence it rebounded over his head, and fell close to the canoe. i have seen them strike a cap, placed upon the stump of a tree, fifty or sixty yards off, with a stone from a sling. in using the bow and arrow, also, with which they kill birds, they are very dexterous. the spear is principally for striking porpoises and seals, but is also used in war; and from the nature of the barb, must be an efficient weapon. for close quarters, they use clubs, stones held in the hand, and short wooden daggers, pointed with very sharp-edged quartz, pitch-stone, or flint. the next morning, seeing us underweigh, they came alongside and tried to induce us to anchor again. the young man, of whom i have spoken, was very importunate, and at last offered us his wife, as a bribe, who used all her fancied allurements to second his proposal. so highly did they esteem beads and buttons, that a few of each would have purchased the canoe, the wife, and children, { } their dogs, and all the furniture. seeing us proceed to the southward, with the apparent intention of sailing down the inlet, they motioned to us to go to the north, repeatedly calling out 'sherroo, sherroo,' and pointing to the northward; which we thought intimated that there was no passage in the direction we were taking. at noon, i landed to observe the latitude, and take bearings down the sound to the s.e., at the bottom of which was a hill, standing by itself, as it were, in mid-channel. the view certainly excited hopes of its being a channel; and as we had begun to calculate upon reaching nassau bay in a few days, we named this hill, mount hope. the point on which we landed was at the foot of a high snow-capped hill, called by us mount seymour; whence, had not the indians been near, i should have taken bearings. we sailed south-eastward, close to the south shore, until the evening; when from the summit of some hills, about three hundred feet above the sea, we had a view down the sound, which almost convinced us it would prove to be a channel. the rock at this place differed from any we had seen in the strait. the mountains are high, and evidently of clay-slate; but the point, near which we anchored, is a mass of hard, and very quartzose sand-stone, much resembling the old red sand-stone formation of europe, and precisely like the rock of goulburn island, on the north coast of new holland.[ ] the following morning ( d), we proceeded towards mount hope, while running down to which some squalls passed over, clouding the south shore, and as we passed parry harbour it bore so much the appearance of a channel, that we stood into it; but the clouds clearing away soon exposed the bottom to our view, where there seemed to be two arms or inlets. in the south-eastern arm, the shores were covered with thick ice (like the bottom of ainsworth harbour, to the west of parry harbour, where an immense glacier slopes down to the water's edge). the south-west arm appeared to be well sheltered, and if it affords a moderate depth of water, would be an excellent harbour. { } after satisfying ourselves that there was no channel here, we bore up on our original course; but, before long, found ourselves within two miles of the bottom of the sound; which is shallow, and appears to receive two rivers. the great quantity of ice water, which mingles here with the sea, changed its colour to so pale a blue, that we thought ourselves in fresh water. mount hope proved to be an isolated mass of hills, lying like the rest n.w. and s.e., having low land to the southward, over which nothing was visible except one hill, thirty or forty miles distant, covered with snow, to which the rays of the sun gave the appearance of a sheet of gold. finding ourselves embayed, we hastened out of the scrape, and, after beating for some hours, anchored in parry harbour. our entrance into a little cove in parry harbour disturbed a quantity of ducks, steamers, shags, and geese. their numbers showed that indians had not lately visited it. next day we reached ainsworth harbour, which is of the same character as parry harbour, and affords perfect security for small vessels: by dint of sweeping, we reached a secure anchorage in a cove at the south-east corner. the bottom of the port is formed, as i before said, by an immense glacier, from which, during the night, large masses broke off and fell into the sea with a loud crash,[ ] thus explaining the nocturnal noises we had often heard at port famine, and which at the time were thought to arise from the eruption of volcanoes. such were also, probably, the sounds heard by the spanish officers during their exploration of the straits, whilst in the port of santa monica, where they had taken refuge from a violent gale of wind.[ ] { } the harbour was full of fragments of ice, the succeeding morning, drifting into the sound, where the sea-water, being at a higher temperature than the air, rapidly melted them. since our departure from port waterfall, the weather had been mild, clear, and settled; but as it wanted only three days of the change of the moon, at which period, as well as at the full, it always blew a gale, i wished to reach a place of security in the gabriel channel or magdalen sound. near the islands of ainsworth harbour, three canoes passed us, steering across the sound, each with a seal-skin fixed up in the bow for a sail; and we recognised in them the party left at port cooke, among whom was the indian who had been detected in stealing a tin pot. they did not come along-side; but as we went by, pointed to the north, apparently urging us to go in that direction. we had noticed several wigwams at parry and ainsworth harbours, which shows that they are much frequented by indians, perhaps on their way to the open low country east of mount hope, where numerous herds of guanacoes may be found. porpoises and seal were not scarce in this inlet, and in the entrance there were many whales. the presence of seal and whales made me think it probable there was a channel; but i believe every person with me was satisfied of its being a sound, terminating under mount hope. since my later experience of the deceptive character of some passages in tierra del fuego (the barbara channel, for example), i have felt less certain that there may not be a communication with the low land, behind mount hope, round its northern base. the improbability was, however, so great,--from the bottom of the sound { } being shoal,--from the very slight tide-stream,--and from the information of the natives; who evidently intended to tell us we could not get out to sea,--that we did not consider it worth while to make another examination. i have before observed that the strata of the slate rocks, in the strait, dip to the s.e.; and i found that they dip similarly all the way to the bottom of this inlet, which i named admiralty sound. the north side, like that of the gabriel channel, is steep, without indentations, excepting where there is a break in the hills; but on the south shore there are many coves, and bights, the cause of which is shown in the accompanying imaginary section of the gabriel channel. the same cause operates on the outline of the north shore of the reach of cape froward, westward as far as cape holland, where the rock assumes a still more primitive form. its general character, however, is micaceous slate, with broad veins of quartz; the latter being particularly conspicuous at port gallant. the following slight sketch, intended to represent an imaginary section of such an opening as the gabriel channel, may also serve to give a general idea of many fuegian anchorages;--of deep water passages existing between the almost innumerable islands of tierra del fuego;--and of the effects of those sudden, and violent gusts of wind,--so frequent and dangerous,--commonly called hurricane-squalls,[ ] or williwaws. { } [illustration] the rock, of course, decomposes equally on both sides; but on that exposed to the south wind, it breaks off in flakes parallel to the direction of the strata, and therefore does not make the course of the beach more irregular; while on the other side it moulders away transversely to the direction of the dip, leaving holes, in which water lodges, and hastens decomposition by entering deeply into the interstices. water, air, and frost decompose the rock, and form a soil, which, if not too much exposed to the wind, is soon occupied by vegetation. the rugged faces of the cliffs, on the southern shore, caused by the rock decomposing across the grain, collect sand and mud; and hence it happens that anchorages are frequently found on one side, whilst, on the other, the anchor will not hold, from the steepness of the ground; there being nothing upon the smooth declivity to retain mud and sand before it gets to the bottom; which, in most cases known to me, lies far beyond the reach of the anchor. after a tedious and difficult passage through the gabriel channel, we anchored in a snug harbour within the entrance of magdalen channel, on the west side, under a peaked hill called by sarmiento 'el vernal,'--in our plan, the 'sugar-loaf.' the entrance is about a quarter of a mile wide; but after a few hundred yards the harbour opens, extending in for nearly a mile. it is of easy depth; seven fathoms in the entrance, and four, five, and six fathoms within; so that it is { } very convenient for a small vessel: to us, indeed, it was a most welcome discovery. the land rises, around this cove, to the height of two or three thousand feet. it is covered with beech, and winter's-bark, and near the water is adorned with large groves of fuchsia, berberis, and the common shrubs of port famine, growing so thickly as to form an almost impenetrable jungle; but, notwithstanding the picturesque character of its scenery, the towering height of the hills, which exclude the sun's rays for the whole day, during the greater portion of the year, renders it a gloomy and melancholy spot.[ ] we found a family of fuegians in the inner harbour. three canoes were hauled up on the beach, but their owners were not at first visible. at last, after our repeatedly calling out 'ho-say, ho-say,' they appeared, and, rather reluctantly, invited us, by signs, to land. there seemed to be fourteen or fifteen people, and seven or eight dogs. mr. wickham and mr. tarn went on shore to these natives, who exhibited some timidity, until a hideous old woman began to chatter, and soon made them understand that the young men (l[=a]-[=a]-pas) were absent on a hunting excursion, but were every moment expected to return. there were only three men with the women and children. to inspire them with confidence in our good intentions, mr. wickham gave each man a red cap, and some other trifles. one of them complained of being sick, but i rather imagine his illness was feigned, and the others did not at all seem to like our visit. by degrees their fears subsided, and, restraint being laid aside, an active trade began; in which several otter skins, shell-necklaces, spears, and other trifles, were obtained from them in exchange for beads, buttons, medals, &c. the otters are caught by the help of dogs, on which account, principally, the latter are so valuable. these people were slightly clothed with skins of the seal and otter, but some had pieces of guanaco mantles over their shoulders, whence we supposed that they were either of the same tribe, or at peace, with the indians of admiralty sound: { } unless, indeed, they trade with the patagonian indians; but such is the poverty of the fuegians, they can scarcely possess any thing of value sufficient to exchange with the goods of their northern neighbours, unless it be iron pyrites, which i think is not found in the open country inhabited by the patagonian indians, and, from the facility with which it yields sparks of fire, must be an object of importance. we were not a little amused by the surprise which these natives showed at the things in our possession, and by the effect produced in their countenances when they saw any thing extraordinary: the expression was not that of joy or surprise, but a sort of vacant, stupified, stare at each other. they must have been very suspicious of our intentions, or very much excited by what they had seen during the day, as throughout the night an incessant chattering of voices was heard on shore, interrupted only by the barking of their dogs. looking down the magdalen inlet, we saw two openings, which, while the hills were enveloped in mist, had the appearance of being channels. we proceeded for some distance into the more westerly of the two, but found that it was merely a sound, terminated by high land. the boat was then steered under a steep mass of black mountainous land,[ ] the summit of which is divided into three peaks, which sarmiento called 'el pan de azucar de los boquerones' (the sugar-loaf of the openings). we ran southward, fifteen miles down this sound, and reached the labyrinth islands; but finding there no suitable anchorage, resumed our course towards the bottom of what we thought another sound, terminated by mountains. at noon, the furthest point, on the west shore, which we called cape turn, was within three miles of us, and we should soon have discovered the continuation of the channel (as it has since been proved); but a breeze set in from the s.w., and in a short time it blew so strong as to oblige us to turn back. 'williwaws' and baffling eddy winds kept us seven hours under mount boqueron. these squalls were at first alarming, but by taking in all sail, before they passed, we sustained no injury. at { } sunset we were abreast of hope harbour, in which we purposed taking shelter from the gale. our late neighbours, the indians, had lighted a fire at the entrance to invite our return; but wind and tide were against us, and as we knew of no port to leeward, our only resource was to run out of the sound. furious squalls carried us into the true, or steady, wind, which we found very strong; and as port san antonio was on the lee-bow, we had to carry such a press of sail, that our excellent boat had nearly half the lee side of her deck under water. by daylight we got into smooth water, and, with less wind and better weather, steered for port famine. the smoother water enabled us to light a fire and cook a meal, not an unimportant affair, as we had eaten nothing since six o'clock on the preceding morning. in our absence mr. graves had surveyed lomas bay, and, after his return, mr. ainsworth had crossed the strait with the gig and cutter to survey port san antonio. they were victualled for five days; the gig was manned by my own boat's crew, and the cutter by volunteers: but although they had not come back, we felt no anxiety about their safety, being assured that mr. ainsworth would not run the risk of crossing the strait during bad weather. the tempestuous state of the two following days, however, made us uneasy, and on the third morning, when the wind moderated much, we looked out anxiously for their arrival. in the evening the cutter returned; but, alas! with the melancholy information of the loss of mr. ainsworth, and two seamen, drowned by the upsetting of the gig. one of the latter was my excellent coxswain, john corkhill. the remainder of the gig's crew were only rescued from drowning by the strenuous exertions of those in the cutter. mr. ainsworth, anxious to return to the ship, thought too little of the difficulty and danger of crossing the strait during unsettled weather. he set out from port san antonio under sail, and, while sheltered by the land, did very well; but as soon as they got into the offing, both wind and sea increased so much that the gig was in great danger, although under only a small close-reefed sail. { } the people in the cutter were anxiously watching her labouring movements, when she disappeared! they hastened to the spot--saved three men; but the other two had gone down. poor ainsworth was still clinging to the gig's gunwale when his shipmates eagerly approached; but letting go his hold from extreme exhaustion, and being heavily clothed, he sunk from their sight to rise no more. he had been cheering the drowning crew, and trying to save his companions, till the moment his grasp relaxed. just before ainsworth himself let go, mr. hodgskin lost his hold, exclaiming, ainsworth, save me! when, exhausted as he was, with one hand he rescued his friend, and, directly afterwards, his strength failing, sunk. this addition of three people to the already loaded cutter, made her cargo more than was safe, therefore mr. williams, who commanded her, very prudently bore up for the first convenient landing-place, and happily succeeded in reaching the only part of the beach, between lomas bay and cape valentyn, where a boat could land. the following morning, the weather being more favourable, they crossed under sail to freshwater bay, and thence pulled to port famine. this melancholy disaster was much felt by every one. ainsworth was a deserving officer, and highly esteemed. corkhill was captain of the forecastle, and had served in the polar voyages under sir edward parry. on the sunday following, the colours were hoisted half-mast high, and the funeral service was read after morning prayers: for although to recover the bodies was impossible, their watery grave was before our eyes; and the performance of this last sad duty was a melancholy satisfaction. "ours are the tears, tho' few, sincerely shed, when ocean shrouds and sepulchres our dead." a tablet was subsequently erected, on point st. anna, to record this fatal accident. * * * * * { } chapter v. lieutenant sholl arrives--beagle returns--loss of the saxe cobourg sealer--captain stokes goes to fury harbour to save her crew--beagle's proceedings--bougainville's memorial--cordova's memorial--beagle's danger--difficulties--captain stokes's boat-cruize--passages--natives-- dangerous service--western entrance of the strait of magalhaens--hope's cruize--prepare to return to monte video. the beagle's time of absence had expired on the st of april, and our anxiety, more excited by our recent loss, was becoming painful. i detained the hope from going upon a service for which she was prepared, in case she might be required to search for our consort: but on the th a strange whale-boat was descried pulling towards us from the southward, in which we soon distinguished lieut. sholl. his appearance, under such circumstances, of course raised fears for the beagle's safety; but, on approaching, his gratifying shout, "all's well!" at once removed anxiety. mr. sholl informed me, that the beagle had picked up a boat, belonging to the schooner 'prince of saxe cobourg,' wrecked in fury harbour, at the south entrance of the barbara channel; and that she had put into port gallant, whence captain stokes had gone with the boats to assist the sealers, leaving lieut. skyring on board. the safety of the beagle being established, i despatched mr. graves, in the hope, to examine some openings between the magdalen channel and the dos hermanos of bougainville. several days earlier than i expected, the beagle made her appearance, and captain stokes soon gave me the agreeable intelligence of having succeeded in saving the prince of saxe cobourg's crew. favoured by the weather, though delayed by his guide having forgotten the way, captain stokes reached fury harbour in two days, and embarked the master and { } crew of the wrecked vessel, with all their personal property, and the greater part of the seal-skins which they had cured. he reached port gallant again on the fourth day; sailed immediately in the beagle, and two days afterwards anchored in port famine. the prince of saxe cobourg, belonging to mr. weddel (whose voyage towards the south pole is so well known), and commanded by mr. matthew brisbane, who accompanied weddel on that occasion, sailed from england in the summer of , on a sealing voyage. at south shetland she encountered a continuance of bad weather, was beset by a large body of ice for several days, and received so much damage as to oblige her to run for the fuegian coast, and anchor in fury harbour, at the entrance of the barbara channel. there (december th, ) she was driven on shore by the furious strength of the williwaws, and wrecked. the crew were, however, enabled to save most of the provisions and stores, as well as their three boats. having made tents, and established themselves on shore, they remained in anxious expectation of the arrival of some vessel which might relieve them; day after day however passed, without succour. two boats were despatched to look for any sealing vessel that might be in the vicinity, but after fifteen days' absence they returned unsuccessful. in this interval one of the crew, who had long been sickly, died; and another, in carelessly discharging a musket, exploded twenty pounds of gunpowder, by which he was very much burned. three of the people being mutinous, were punished by being sent, each to a different island, with only a week's provisions. soon afterwards another boat was sent away, which reached hope harbour, but found no vessel there. seven of the people then obtained permission from the master (who kept up a very proper state of discipline), to take the largest whale-boat, and go towards the river negro. previous to their departure they drew up articles of agreement for their general conduct, a breach of which was to be punished by the offender being left upon the coast, wherever they might happen to { } be. the boat eventually arrived safely at the place of her destination, and the crew entered as volunteers on board of the buenos ayrean squadron, at that time engaged in the war with brazil. again a boat was despatched, directed to go westward through the strait in search of vessels. she had only reached as far as playa parda, when the beagle fell in with her (march d, ). while passing through the small channels, before entering the strait, she met several canoes, with indians, who endeavoured to stop her, and shot arrows at the crew; but, happily, without doing any mischief. after the last boat's departure, mr. brisbane began to build a small vessel, and, while so employed, was visited by a party of natives, who conducted themselves very peaceably, and went away. their visit, however, gave the shipwrecked people, now much reduced in number,[ ] reason to apprehend the return of a larger body, who might try to possess themselves of the property which was lying about on the shore; they therefore buried a great deal, and took means to preserve the rest by making preparations to repel attack. when captain stokes appeared with his two boats, the sealers flew to their arms, calling out "the indians, the indians!" but in a very few minutes excess of joy succeeded to their sudden alarm. captain stokes found the vessel lying on the rocks, bilged, and an utter wreck. the master and crew were extremely anxious to get away, he therefore embarked them, with as much of the property as could be carried, and succeeded (after another night in the boats, and a long pull of eighty miles,) in conveying them safely to the beagle. the following is an abstract of captain stokes's journal of his cruise to the western entrance of the strait. the beagle sailed from port famine on the th of january, to explore the strait westward of cape froward, and to fix particularly the positions of cape pillar, the rock called { } westminster hall, and the islands of direction, at the western entrance of the strait. for the first night captain stokes anchored in san nicolas bay, and in the evening examined a harbour[ ] behind nassau island, which bougainville, in the year , visited for the purpose of procuring wood for the french settlement at the falkland islands. on the second night, after a day nearly calm, the beagle was anchored in a cove to the eastward of cape froward, and the next day ( th) passed round the cape, carrying a heavy press of sail against a dead foul wind. captain stokes's account of this day's beat to windward will give the reader an idea of the sort of navigation. "our little bay had screened us so completely from the wind, that though, when (at five a.m.) we weighed, the breeze was so light as scarcely to enable us, with all sail set, to clear its entrance; no sooner were we outside, than we were obliged to treble reef the topsails. we continued to beat to windward under a heavy press of sail; our object being to double cape froward, and secure, if possible, an anchorage ere night-fall under cape holland, six leagues further to the westward. at first we made 'boards' right across the straits to within a third of a mile of each shore, gaining, however, but little. we then tried whether, by confining our tacks to either coast, we could discover a tide by which we might profit; and for that purpose i began with the north shore, for though we were there more exposed to violent squalls which came down the valleys, i thought it advisable to avoid the indraught of various channels intersecting the fuegian coast; but having made several boards without any perceptible advantage, we tried the south shore, with such success that i was induced to keep on that side during the remainder of the day. "and here let me remark, that in consequence of the westerly winds which blow through the western parts of the straits of magalhaens, with almost the constancy (as regards { } direction, not force) of a trade-wind; a current setting to the eastward, commonly at the rate of a knot and three quarters an hour, will be found in mid-channel. the tides exert scarcely any influence, except near either shore; and sometimes appear to set, up one side of the straits, and down the other: the weather tide is generally shown by a rippling.(c) "heavy squalls off cape froward repeatedly obliged us to clew all up. by day their approach is announced, in time for the necessary precautions, by their curling up and covering with foam the surface of the water, and driving the spray in clouds before them. "at last we doubled cape froward. this cape (called by the spaniards el morro de santa agueda), the southernmost point of all america, is a bold promontory, composed of dark coloured slaty rock; its outer face is nearly perpendicular, and whether coming from the eastward or westward, it 'makes' as a high round-topped bluff hill ('morro'). "bougainville observes, that 'cape froward has always been much dreaded by navigators.'[ ] to double it, and gain an anchorage under cape holland, certainly cost the beagle as tough a sixteen hours' beat as i have ever witnessed: we made thirty-one tacks, which, with the squalls, kept us constantly on the alert, and scarcely allowed the crew to have the ropes out of their hands throughout the day. but what there is to inspire a navigator with 'dread' i cannot tell, for the coast on both sides is perfectly clear, and a vessel may work from shore to shore." from cape holland, the beagle proceeded to port gallant, and during her stay there, mr. bowen ascended the mountain de la cruz. upon the summit he found some remains of a glass bottle, and a roll of papers, which proved to be the memorials stated to have been left by don antonio de cordova, { } and a copy of a document that had previously been deposited there by m. de bougainville. with these papers was found a spanish two-rial piece of carlos iii., which had been bent to admit of its being put into the bottle. it was with considerable difficulty that any of the writing could be decyphered, for the papers, having been doubled up, were torn, and the words defaced at the foldings, and edges. bougainville's memorial was in latin. cordova's, besides a document in latin, was accompanied by an account of his voyage, written in four languages, spanish, french, italian, and english. the legible part of the former was as follows:-- viatori benevolo salus ........ ........ que a periculose admodum naviga ...... ........ brasilie bonarve et insularum .......... ............................................ .......... incertis freti magellanici portubus .... ...................... historia astronomia .... .... boug ................................. .... boug .... duclos et de la giranda navium .. .............. primaris .... comerson .... doct med naturalista regio accu .... m. veron astronomo de romainville hidrographio .......... a rege christianissimo demandans .......... landais lavan fontaine navium loco tenentibus et vexillariis ........ ........ itineris locus dd dervi lemoyne .... ............ riouffe voluntariis. ................ vives .......... scriba anno mdcclxvi. the latin inscription of cordova was as follows:-- benevolo navigatori salutem anno domini mdcclxxxviii vir celeberrimus dd antonius de cordova laso de vega navibus duabus (_quarum_ nomina ss casilda et eulalia _erant ad scrutamen_ magellanici freti subsequendum _unâque_ littorum, portuum aliorumque notabilium .................... iter iterum fecit. .... e gadibus classis tertio nonas octobris habenas _immittit_ quarto idus _ejusdem nova_ ...... vidit { } a boreali ad austra ...... _miserium_ postridie kalendæ novembris emigravit. decimo quarto kalendas januarii patagonicis recognitis litoribus ad ostium appulit freti. tandem ingentibus periculis et horroribus tam in mari quam in freto magnanime et constanter super_atis_ et omnibus portubus atque navium _fundamentis_ utriusque litoris correctissime cognitis ad hunc portum divini jose vel galante septimo idu januarii pervenit ubi ad perpetuam rei memoriam in monte sanctissimæ crucis hoc monumentum reliquit. tertio et excelso carolo regnante potente regali jussu facta fuere suo. colocatum fuit nono kalendæ februarii anno mdcclxxxix. together with a list of the officers of both vessels, and enclosing a memorial of cordova's former voyage in the santa maria de la cabeza. the originals are placed in the british museum; but before we finally left the strait, copies were made on vellum, and deposited on the same spot. the beagle left port gallant[ ] with a fair wind, which carried her to swallow harbour. the next stopping place was marian's cove, a very snug anchorage on the north shore, a few miles beyond playa parda. proceeding thence to the westward, with the wind 'in their teeth,' and such bad weather, that they could only see the land of either coast at intervals, and failing in an attempt to find anchorage under cape upright, the beagle was kept under weigh during a squally dark night. in that very place, commodore byron, with the dolphin and tamar, passed the anxious night, which he thus describes:-- "our situation was now very alarming; the storm increased every minute, the weather was extremely thick, and the rain seemed to threaten another deluge; we had a long dark night before us, we were in a narrow channel, and surrounded on { } every side by rocks and breakers."[ ] the beagle was under similar circumstances, but the land being known to be high and bold, her danger was not considered so imminent. eastward of cape upright the water was smooth; but between it and cape providence a heavy breaking sea was caused by the deep swell of the pacific. captain stokes found an anchorage the next night in a bay under cape tamar; and the following evening very nearly reached another under cape phillip; but the darkness of a rainy night, and strong squalls, prevented their attempting to anchor in an unknown place, and the only resource was to bear up for shelter under cape tamar, where the previous night had been passed. even this was a dangerous attempt; they could hardly discern any part of the high land, and when before the wind could not avoid the ship's going much too fast. while running about eight knots, a violent shock--a lift forward--heel over--and downward plunge--electrified every one; but before they could look round, she was scudding along, as before, having fairly leaped over the rock. it was afterwards found that a great part of the gripe and false keel were knocked away. captain stokes's account of this day's beat will give an idea of the difficulties which the beagle's crew encountered, in working out of the strait. january st. "the hands were turned up at daylight up anchor; but the heavy squalls that came off the high land of the harbour, rendered it too hazardous to weigh, until a temporary lull enabled us to make sail, and re-commence beating to the westward against a dead foul wind, much rain, hard squalls, and a turbulent cross sea. "the squalls became more frequent and more violent after noon; but they gave, in daylight, sufficient warning, being preceded by dark clouds gradually expanding upwards, until their upper line attained the altitude of about fifty degrees: then came heavy rain, and perhaps hail; immediately after followed the squall in all its fury, and generally lasted fifteen or twenty minutes. { } "in working to windward we frequently extended our 'boards' to the south shore (not without risk considering the state of the weather), with the hope of making out tuesday bay, or some anchorage thereabout; but the coast was covered with so thick a mist, that not a single point, mentioned by preceding navigators, could be recognised. "about seven in the evening we were assailed by a squall, which burst upon the ship with fury far surpassing all that preceded it; had not sail been shortened in time, not a stick would have been left standing, or she must have capsized. as it was, the squall hove her so much over on her broadside, that the boat which was hanging at the starboard quarter was washed away. i then stood over to the north shore, to look for anchorage under the lee of a cape, about three leagues to the north-west of cape tamar. on closing it, the weather became so thick that at times we could scarcely see two ships' lengths a-head. "these circumstances were not in favour of exploring unknown bays, and to think of passing such a night as was in prospect, under sail in the straits, would have been a desperate risk; i was obliged therefore to yield the hard-gained advantage of this day's beat, and run for the anchorage whence we had started in the morning. "it was nearly dark ere we reached it; and in entering, desirous to keep well up to windward, in order to gain the best anchorage, i went too close to the outer islet, and the ship struck violently on a rocky ledge. however, she did not hang a moment, and was soon anchored in safety." finding so much danger and difficulty, in proceeding with the ship, without first knowing where to run for anchorages, captain stokes left her in tamar bay, under the charge of lieutenant skyring; and, accompanied by mr. flinn, set out in the cutter, with a week's provisions, to examine the south coast. in a very arduous and dangerous cruize he discovered several well-sheltered anchorages, but experienced a "constant heavy gale from w.n.w., with thick weather and incessant drenching rain." { } captain stokes says, "our discomfort in an open boat was very great, since we were all constantly wet to the skin. in trying to double the various headlands, we were repeatedly obliged (after hours of ineffectual struggle against sea and wind) to desist from useless labour, and take refuge in the nearest cove which lay to leeward." from the harbour of mercy, captain stokes attempted to cross the strait, on his return to the beagle; but the sea ran too high, and obliged him to defer his daring purpose until the weather was more favourable. during his absence, lieutenant skyring surveyed tamar bay and its vicinity. again the beagle weighed, and tried hard to make some progress to the westward, but was obliged a third time to return to tamar bay. after another delay she just reached sholl bay, under cape phillip, and remained there one day, to make a plan of the anchorage, and take observations to fix its position. the beagle reached the harbour of mercy (separation harbour of wallis and carteret),[ ] after a thirty days' passage from port famine, on the th, having visited several anchorages on the south shore in her way. but tedious and harassing as her progress had been, the accounts of byron, wallis, carteret, and bougainville show that they found more difficulty, and took more time, in their passages from port famine to the western entrance of the strait. byron, in , was forty-two days; wallis, in , eighty-two; carteret, in the same year, eighty-four; and bougainville, in , forty days, in going that short distance. five days were passed at this place, during which they communicated with a few natives, of whom captain stokes remarks; "as might be expected from the unkindly climate in which they dwell, the personal appearance of these indians does not { } exhibit, either in male or female, any indications of activity or strength. their average height is five feet five inches; their habit of body is spare; the limbs are badly turned, and deficient in muscle; the hair of their head is black, straight, and coarse; their beards, whiskers, and eyebrows, naturally exceedingly scanty, are carefully plucked out; their forehead is low; the nose rather prominent, with dilated nostrils; their eyes are dark, and of a moderate size; the mouth is large, and the under-lip thick; their teeth are small and regular, but of bad colour. they are of a dirty copper colour; their countenance is dull, and devoid of expression. for protection against the rigours of these inclement regions, their clothing is miserably suited; being only the skin of a seal, or sea-otter, thrown over the shoulders, with the hairy side outward. "the two upper corners of this skin are tied together across the breast with a strip of sinew or skin, and a similar thong secures it round the waist; the skirts are brought forward so as to be a partial covering. their comb is a portion of the jaw of a porpoise, and they anoint their hair with seal or whale blubber; for removing the beard and eyebrows they employ a very primitive kind of tweezers, namely, two muscle shells. they daub their bodies with a red earth, like the ruddle used in england for marking sheep. the women, and children, wear necklaces, formed of small shells, neatly attached by a plaiting of the fine fibres of seal's intestines. "the tracts they inhabit are altogether destitute of four-footed animals; they have not domesticated the geese or ducks which abound here; of tillage they are utterly ignorant; and the only vegetable productions they eat are a few wild berries and a kind of sea-weed. their principal food consists of muscles, limpets, and sea-eggs, and, as often as possible, seal, sea-otter, porpoise, and whale: we often found in their deserted dwellings bones of these animals, which had undergone the action of fire. "former voyagers have noticed the avidity with which they swallowed the most offensive offal, such as decaying seal-skins, { } rancid seal, and whale blubber, &c. when on board my ship, they ate or drank greedily whatever was offered to them, salt-beef, salt-pork, preserved meat, pudding, pea-soup, tea, coffee, wine, or brandy--nothing came amiss. one little instance, however, happened, which showed what they preferred. as they were going ashore, a lump of the tallow used for arming the lead was given to them, and received with particular delight. it was scrupulously divided, and placed in the little baskets which they form of rushes, to be reserved for eating last, as the richest treat. "to their dwellings have been given, in various books of voyages, the names of huts, wigwams, &c.; but, with reference to their structure, i think old sir john narborough's term for them will convey the best idea to an english reader; he calls them 'arbours.' they are formed of about a couple of dozen branches, pointed at the larger ends, and stuck into the ground round a circular or elliptical space, about ten feet by six; the upper ends are brought together, and secured by tyers of grass, over which is thrown a thatching of grass and seal-skins, a hole being left at the side as a door, and another at the top as a vent for the smoke. a fire is kept burning within, over which the natives are constantly cowering; hence, when seen abroad, instead of appearing to be hardy savages, inured to wet and cold, you see wretched creatures shivering at every breeze. i never met people so sensible of cold as these fuegian indians. "the nature of their domestic ties we had no opportunity of discovering; their manner towards their children is affectionate and caressing. i often witnessed the tenderness with which they tried to quiet the alarms our presence at first occasioned, and the pleasure which they showed when we bestowed upon the little ones any trifling trinkets. it appeared that they allow their children to possess property, and consult their little whims and wishes, with respect to its disposal; for being in a boat, alongside one of the canoes, bargaining for various articles, spears, arrows, baskets, &c., i took a fancy to a dog lying near one of the women, and offered a price for it; one of my seamen, supposing the bargain concluded, laid { } hands on the dog, at which the woman set up a dismal yell; so bidding him desist, i increased my offers. she declined to part with it, but would give two others. at last, my offers became so considerable, that she called a little boy out of the thick jungle (into which he had fled at our approach), who was the owner of the dog. the goods were shown to him, and all his party urged him to sell it, but the little urchin would not consent. he offered to let me have his necklace, and what he received in exchange was put away in his own little basket. "these people never evinced any thankfulness for our presents. whatever was offered they 'clutched at,' doubtful of getting it, although held out to them; and when in their own hand, it was instantly stowed away, as if they feared it would be recalled. "i sometimes tried to discover whether they preferred any particular colour, and for that purpose held out three strings of beads, black, white, and red; they clutched at all three, in their usual manner, without showing any preference. "their pronunciation is exceedingly harsh and guttural; not more than two words, whose signification was at all ascertained, could be made out, 'sherroo,' a ship, boat, or canoe, and 'peteet,' a child. they have a wonderful aptitude for imitating the sounds of strange languages: let a sentence, of even a dozen words, be distinctly pronounced, and they will repeat it with the utmost precision. "their only articles of traffic, besides such implements and weapons as they use, are seal and otter skins; and i should say that the quantity of peltry to be procured from them would be insignificant towards completing the cargo of a sealing vessel." during the next few days the beagle was employed in the most exposed, the least known, and the most dangerous part of the strait. fortunately, she was favoured by weather, and effected her purpose without injury or loss; but i never reflect upon this piece of service without an inward tribute of admiration to the daring, skill, and seamanship of captain stokes, lieutenant skyring, and mr. flinn. { } in his journal captain stokes says: "incessant rain and thick clouds prevented my completing, until this day ( th), the observations necessary for making an island, just outside the harbour of mercy, the southern end of my base, for the trigonometrical connection of the coasts and islands near the western entrance of this weather-beaten strait. "on the th, i weighed and beat to windward, intending to search for anchorage on the north shore, where i might land and fix the northern end of our base line. in the evening we anchored in an archipelago of islands, the real danger of whose vicinity was much increased to the eye by rocks, scattered in every direction, and high breakers, occasioned doubtless by reefs under water. we observed that most of the larger islands have small banks of sand at their eastern sides, on which anchorage may be found; but for ordinary purposes of navigation, this cluster of islands[ ] need only be pointed out to be avoided. the number and contiguity of the rocks, below as well as above water, render it a most hazardous place for any square-rigged vessel: nothing but the particular duty on which i was ordered would have induced me to venture among them. fore-and-aft vessels might work with far less risk; and as the rocks are frequented by vast numbers of fur seal, a season or two might be profitably passed here by a sealing vessel so rigged. "this morning ( st) i landed on one of the larger islands, with lieutenant skyring, and having ascended an eminence (observation mount) with the necessary instruments, fixed its position, and made it the northern end of our base. "it was a beautiful, and clear day; the isles of direction (or evangelists), as well as every point of importance on the adjacent coast, were seen distinctly during several hours. "my next object was to fix the position of cape victory, and ascertain whether anchorage could be found in its neighbourhood. accordingly, we weighed early next morning ( d,) and after extricating ourselves from this labyrinth (not without much difficulty and danger), we beat to the westward. violent squalls, a heavy sea, and thick weather, which came on about { } noon, obliged me to choose the least evil, and run for the harbour of mercy. "on the d, we went out again, and beat towards the isles of direction, off which we passed a night under sail. "the morning of the th was very fine, and the wind moderate. leaving the beagle to sound about the isles of direction, i set out in my boat, with two days' provisions, towards cape victory. as we rowed along these rocky shores, threading the mazes of the labyrinth of islets which fringe them, we saw vast numbers of black whales, and the rocks were quite covered with fur seal and brant geese. "after pulling, in earnest, for six hours, we landed upon cape victory, the north-western limit of the strait of magalhaens, and there, with a sextant, artificial horizon, and chronometer, ascertained the position of this remarkable promontory. from an eminence, eight hundred feet above the sea, we had a commanding view of the adjacent coasts, as well as of the vast pacific, which enabled us to rectify former material errors. late in the evening we were fortunate enough to get safely on board again, which, considering the usual weather here and the heavy sea, was unexpected success. this night was passed under sail in the pacific, and next morning we commenced our return to port famine. "when within four or five miles of cape pillar, and to the westward of it, a current was found to set southward, at about two knots an hour. as we neared the cape the wind fell, and the beagle was set rapidly towards those dangerous rocks, called the apostles. fortunately, a commanding breeze sprung up, and we extricated ourselves from the difficulty. while passing cape pillar, i landed in a cove near it, and determined its position. by sunset we had arrived near the harbour of mercy; and being becalmed, towed the ship in, with her boats, until an anchor was dropped at the proper place. "on the th, we went to tuesday bay, and on the th crossed the strait, and anchored under cape parker. i have rarely witnessed such a high, cross, and irregular sea as we this day passed through, near the strange mass of rock, called by { } narborough, 'westminster hall.' the coast about our unsafe anchorage was as barren and dismal-looking as any part of this country, which, as the old navigator above-mentioned said, is 'so desolate land to behold.' "next day (march st) we ran down to cape upright, and there remained until the d, collecting the required data for our survey. "while standing towards the bay called playa parda (on the d), a boat under sail was seen making towards us from the southern coast. i fired several guns, to show our position, before we became shut in by the land, and soon after anchoring a whale-boat came alongside, with the second mate and five men belonging to the sealing-vessel prince of saxe cobourg. "anxious not to lose a moment in hastening to the relief of our shipwrecked countrymen, i ran down next day to port gallant, and thence proceeded with two ten-oared boats (on the th) through the barbara channel, and the following evening reached fury harbour." having already given a short account of the saxe cobourg's loss, and the rescue of her crew by captain stokes, i will not repeat the story by extracting more from his journal. mr. graves returned from his cruize in the hope on the th, after suffering much from stormy weather and incessant rain; but having made a survey of the openings in the land to the west of magdalen channel as far as the sugar loaf point, at the west head of lyell sound, which he found to be deep inlets, affording no anchorages of value to navigation. the time having arrived for our return to monte video, preparations were made for sailing, and in the mean time i went to the northward, in the hope, to survey the coast between port famine and elizabeth island, including shoal haven. at the bottom of shoal haven we were stopped by the water shoaling to five feet, so that we were obliged to haul out till we could anchor in more than two fathoms. during the night the wind shifted to n.e., and blew right in, obliging us to weigh, and work under the s.w. end of elizabeth island into a bay close to that shore. from the summit of the s.w. { } point i afterwards took angles, among which the most important gave mount sarmiento bearing s. ½° w. (true). its distance must have been (by recent observations) ninety-four miles. elizabeth island is a long, low strip of land, lying parallel to the shores of the strait, which here take a n.n.e. direction. compared with the land to the southward it is very low, no part being more than two or three hundred feet high. it is composed of narrow ranges of hills, extending in ridges in the direction of its length, over which are strewed boulders of the various rocks, which have been noticed before as forming the shingle beaches of point st. mary and point st. anna; two kinds of rock, greenstone and hornblende, being the most common. the vallies which divide the hilly ridges were well clothed with grass, and in many places were seen hollows, that had contained fresh water, but now were entirely dried up. these spots were marked by a white crust, apparently caused by the saline quality of the soil. geese and wild ducks, and the red-bill (_hæmatopus_), seem to be the only inhabitants of this island. the indians sometimes visit it, for at the s.w. end we found remains of wigwams and shell-fish. perhaps it is a place whence they communicate with the patagonian natives, or they may in the season frequent it for eggs. we anchored in laredo bay, and visited a lake about a mile from the beach, distinguished on the chart by the name of duck lagoon: it is very extensive, and covered with large flights of gulls, ducks, and widgeons. we shot one widgeon, which was a most beautiful bird, and of a species we had not before seen.[ ] here the country begins to be clothed with the deciduous leaved beech tree (_fagus antarctica_), which is stunted in growth, but very convenient for fuel. though the hardiest tree of this region, it is never found of large size, the larger trees being the evergreen beech (_fagus betuloides_). we also met with several small plants common to cape gregory. one { } may consider cape negro to be the boundary of two countries, as entirely different from each other in geological structure and appearance, as they are in climate, to which last difference may be attributed the dissimilarity of their botanical productions. hence we returned to port famine. in our absence, a boat from the beagle had crossed the strait to lomas bay, where a party of natives had kindled fires of invitation. the weather, since the sun crossed the equator, had been unusually fine; and, with the exception of one day's heavy rain, the sky was so clear (the wind being moderate from the n.e.) that all the heights were exposed to our view, and amongst them mount sarmiento stood pre-eminent. our preparations for sailing being nearly completed, the hope was unrigged and hoisted in, and our temporary settlement on shore abandoned. it consisted of a marquee and a large bell tent. in the former was mr. harrison (mate), who had charge of the party, and of the meteorological instruments: the bell tent held the crew. near them were the observatory, a sawpit, and a cooking place, where a cheerful fire was always blazing. the carpenter's shop, cooper's bench, and armourer's forge had each its place, as well as a rope-walk, close to which our rigging was refitted, and the sails were repaired. after working-hours the shore party roamed about the woods with guns, or at low water picked up shell fish,[ ] by which they usually procured a fresh meal twice, but always once, a week. meanwhile the ship was kept carefully clean and in order. the officers not immediately employed in active duty made excursions with their guns; and although the immediate vicinity of our tents was pretty well thinned of game, yet a walk of a few miles was always rewarded by ample sport. when opportunities offered, some of the men were permitted to amuse themselves on shore with their guns, for which many had provided themselves with powder and shot. every sunday, after divine service, which was performed as regularly as possible under our circumstances, such of the ship's company as desired { } permission to land obtained it. on one occasion, however, we had nearly suffered for this indulgence, which was conducive to the men's health, and seldom abused: for one of them having made a fire at a little distance from the tents, the flames spread, and the exertions of all hands, for three hours, only just prevented it from communicating to the tents. on another occasion, two men set out on a shooting excursion, intending to cross the river sedger, against doing which there had been no particular orders, as such a proceeding was scarcely contemplated. having reached the bank near its mouth, and searched for a fordable place unsuccessfully, they launched a log of wood, and sitting astride, without providing themselves with a pole or paddle, pushed off from the shore, supposing it would go across; but, on reaching the middle of the stream, it was soon carried, by the current, out of the river, into the bay. one man, gilly, seeing that the log was still floating away with the ebb tide, plunged in, and just reached the shore south of the river, in a very exhausted state; the other, rix, unable to swim, kept his place, and was carried out to sea on a voyage that might have been fatal, had he not been seen from the ship, and saved by a boat. before leaving port famine we hauled one of our boats ashore, and left her (as we thought) securely hidden among the trees. being now ready to sail, and only waiting for wind, the officers of both ships, twenty-seven in number, dined together on shore. * * * * * { } chapter vi. trees--leave port famine--patagonians--gregory bay--bysante--maria-- falkner's account of the natives--indians seen on the borders of the otway water, in --maria visits the adventure--religious ceremony-- patagonian encampment--tomb of a child--women's employment--children-- gratitude of a native--size of patagonians--former accounts of their gigantic height--character--articles for barter--fuegians living with patagonians--ships sail--arrive at monte video and rio de janeiro. while detained by northerly winds, the carpenter and a party of people were employed in the woods selecting and cutting down trees to be ready for our next visit. after felling thirteen trees, from twenty-four to thirty-six inches in diameter, eight were found to be rotten at the heart; but by afterwards taking the precaution of boring the trees with an augur, while standing, much trouble was saved, and fifteen sound sticks of considerable diameter were cut down. we found one tree, an evergreen beech, too large for any of our saws: it measured twenty-one feet in girth at the base, and from the height of six feet to twenty it was seventeen feet in circumference; above this height, three large arms (each from thirty to forty inches in diameter), branched off from the trunk. it is, perhaps, the very tree described by byron in his account of this place. we only once saw it equalled in size, and that was by a prostrate trunk, very much decayed. in this interval of fine weather and northerly wind, we had the thermometer as high as °, and the barometer ranging between . and . ; but for two days before the wind shifted, the alteration was predicted by a gradual descent of the mercurial column, and a considerable increase of cold. on the th may, as there was some appearance of a change, we got under weigh; but were hardly outside the port, when a northerly wind again set in, and prevented our going farther than { } freshwater bay, where we passed the night. at last, on the th, accompanied by the beagle, we proceeded on our course with a strong south-westerly breeze, which carried us quickly up to cape negro, when it blew so hard that i anchored off laredo bay. at this anchorage we certainly felt the air much colder and sharper than at port famine, arising from our being in a more exposed situation, and from the approach of winter, as well as from the severe south-west gale which was blowing. after the gale had abated, we proceeded with fair weather and a light breeze to the second narrow, when the wind fell; but the tide being in our favour, we passed rapidly through. on a hill near us we observed three or four patagonian indians standing together, and their horses feeding close to them. a fire was soon kindled, to attract our notice, to which signal we replied by showing our colours; and had we not already communicated with these people, we should certainly have thought them giants, for they "loomed very large" as they stood on the summit of the hill. this optical deception must doubtless have been caused by mirage: the haze has always been observed to be very great during fine weather and a hot day arising from rapid evaporation of the moisture so abundantly deposited, on the surface of the ground, in all parts of the strait. as soon as the patagonians found they were noticed, they mounted and rode along the shore abreast of us, being joined by other parties, until the whole number could not have been less than forty. several foals and dogs were with them. having anchored in gregory bay, where i intended remaining for two days to communicate with them, i sent up a rocket, burnt a blue-light, and despatched lieutenant cooke on shore to ask for a large supply of guanaco meat, for which we would pay in knives and beads. the boat returned on board immediately, bringing off four natives, three men and 'maria.' this rather remarkable woman must have been, judging by her appearance, about forty years old: she is said to have been born at assuncion, in paraguay, but i think the place of her birth was nearer buenos ayres. she spoke broken, but { } intelligible, spanish, and stated herself to be sister of bysante, the cacique of a tribe near the santa cruz river, who is an important personage, on account of his size (which maria described to be immense), and his riches. in speaking of him, she said he was _very_ rich; he had many mantles, and also many hides ("_muy_ rico, tiene muchas mantas y tambien muchos cueros"). one of maria's companions, a brother of bysante, was the tallest and largest man of this tribe; and though he only measured six feet in height, his body was large enough for a much taller man. he was in great affliction: his daughter had died only two days before our arrival; but, notwithstanding his sad story, which soon found him friends, it was not long before he became quite intoxicated, and began to sing and roar on the subject of his misfortunes, with a sound more like the bellowing of a bull than the voice of a human being. upon applying to maria, who was not quite so tipsy as her brother, to prevent him from making such hideous noises, she laughed and said, "oh, never mind, he's drunk; poor fellow, his daughter is dead" (es boracho, povrecito, muriò su hija); and then, assuming a serious tone, she looked towards the sky, and muttered in her own language a sort of prayer or invocation to their chief demon, or ruling spirit, whom pigafetta, the companion and historian of magalhaens, called _setebos_, which admiral burney supposes to have been the original of one of shakspeare's names in the "tempest"-- "------------ his art is of such power he would controul my dam's god setebos.[ ]" maria's dress was similar to that of other females of the tribe; but she wore ear-rings, made of medals stamped with a figure of the virgin mary, which, with the brass-pin that secured her mantle across her breast, were given to her by one lewis, who had passed by in an american sealing-vessel, and who, we understood from her, had made them "christians." the jesuit falkner, who lived among them for many years, has written a long and, apparently, a very authentic account { } of the inhabitants of the countries south of the river plata, and he describes those who inhabit the borders of the strait and sea-coast to be, "yacana-cunnees, which signifies foot-people, for they have no horses in their country; to the north they border on the sehuau-cunnees, to the west on the key-yus, or key-yuhues, from whom they are divided by a ridge of mountains; to the east they are bounded by the ocean; and to the south by the islands of tierra del fuego, or the south sea. these indians live near the sea on both sides of the strait, and often make war with one another. they make use of light floats, like those of chilóe, in order to pass the straits, and are sometimes attacked by the huilliches and other tehuelhets, who carry them away for slaves, as they have nothing to lose but their liberty and their lives. they subsist chiefly on fish, which they catch either by diving, or striking them with their darts. they are very nimble afoot, and catch guanacoes and ostriches with their bowls. their stature is much the same as that of the other tehuelhets, rarely exceeding seven feet, and oftentimes not six feet. they are an innocent, harmless people."[ ] to the north of this race, falkner describes "the sehuau-cunnees, the most southern indians who travel on horseback; sehuau signifies in the tehuel dialect a species of black rabbit, about the size of a field rat; and as their country abounds in these animals, their name may be derived from thence: cunnee signifying 'people.'" with the exception of their mode of killing the guanaco by bowls, or balls, the description of the key-yus would apply better to the fuegian indians; and if so, they have been driven across the strait, and confined to the fuegian shores by the sehuau-cunnees, who must be no other than maria's tribe. the key-yus, who are described to inhabit the northern shore of the strait, between peckett's harbour and madre de dios, are probably the tribe found about the south-western islands, and now called alikhoolip; whilst the eastern fuegians, or yacana-cunnees, who have also been turned off the { } continent by their powerful neighbours, are now called tekeenikas. our knowledge of the names of these two tribes, alikhoolip and tekeenika, results from captain fitz-roy's subsequent examination of the outer coast of tierra del fuego in the beagle ( ). a cacique, belonging to the nation of the key-yus, told falkner that he had been in a house made of wood, that travelled on the water. a party of the indians, in four canoes, were met on the borders of the otway water by captain fitz-roy in , whose arms, implements, and every thing they had, were precisely like the fuegian indians, excepting that they had a quiver made from the skin of a deer, and were in form a superior race, being both stronger and stouter. for want of better information upon the subject, we must be content to separate the natives into patagonians and fuegians. the sealing vessels' crews distinguish them as horse indians, and canoe indians. these people have had considerable communication with the sealers who frequent this neighbourhood, bartering their guanaco skins and meat, their mantles, and furs, for beads, knives, brass ornaments, and other articles; but they are equally anxious to get sugar, flour, and, more than all, "aqua ardiente," or spirits. upon the arrival of a boat from any vessel, maria, with as many as she can persuade the boat's crew to take, goes on board, and, if permitted, passes the night. as soon as our boat landed, maria and her friends took their seats as if it had been sent purposely for them. not expecting such a visit, i had given no order to the contrary, and the novelty of such companions overcame the scruples of the officer, who was sent on shore to communicate with them. their noisy behaviour becoming disagreeable, they were soon conducted from below to the deck, where they passed the night. maria slept with her head on the windlass; and was so intoxicated, that the noise and concussion produced by veering eighty fathoms of cable round it did not awake her. the following morning, whilst i was at breakfast, she very unceremoniously introduced herself, with one of her companions, and { } seating herself at table, asked for tea and bread, and made a hearty meal. i took the precaution of having all the knives, and articles that i thought likely to be stolen, removed from the table; but neither then, nor at any time, did i detect maria in trying to steal, although her companions never lost an opportunity of pilfering. after breakfast the indians were landed, and as many of the officers as could be spared went on shore, and passed the whole day with the tribe, during which a very active trade was carried on. there were about one hundred and twenty indians collected together, with horses and dogs. it is probable that, with the exception of five or six individuals left to take care of the encampment, and such as were absent on hunting excursions, the whole of the tribe was mustered on the beach, each family in a separate knot, with all their riches displayed to the best advantage for sale. i accompanied maria to the shore. on landing, she conducted me to the place where her family were seated round their property. they consisted of manuel, her husband, and three children, the eldest being known by the appellation of capitan chico, or "little chief." a skin being spread out for me to sit on, the family and the greater part of the tribe collected around. maria then presented me with several mantles and skins, for which i gave in return a sword, remnants of red baize, knives, scissors, looking-glasses, and beads: of the latter i afterwards distributed bunches to all the children, a present which caused evident satisfaction to the mothers, many of whom also obtained a share. the receivers were selected by maria, who directed me to the youngest children first, then to the elder ones, and lastly to the girls and women. it was curious and amusing, to witness the order with which this scene was conducted, and the remarkable patience of the children, who, with the greatest anxiety to possess their trinkets, neither opened their lips, nor held out a hand, until she pointed to them in succession. having told maria that i had more things to dispose of for guanaco meat she dismissed the tribe from around me, and, { } saying she was going for meat (carne), mounted her horse, and rode off at a brisk pace. upon her departure a most active trade commenced: at first, a mantle was purchased for a string of beads; but as the demand increased, so the indians increased their price, till it rose to a knife, then to tobacco, then to a sword, at last nothing would satisfy them but 'aqua ardiente,' for which they asked repeatedly, saying "bueno es boracho--bueno es--bueno es boracho;"[ ]--but i would not permit spirits to be brought on shore. at marians return with a very small quantity of guanaco meat, her husband told her that i had been very inquisitive about a red baize bundle, which he told me contained "cristo," upon which she said to me "quiere mirar mi cristo" (do you wish to see my christ), and then, upon my nodding assent, called around her a number of the tribe, who immediately obeyed her summons. many of the women, however, remained to take care of their valuables. a ceremony then took place. maria, who, by the lead she took in the proceedings, appeared to be high priestess[ ] as well as cacique of the tribe, began by pulverising some whitish earth in the hollow of her hand, and then taking a mouthful of water, spit from time to time upon it, until she had formed a sort of pigment, which she distributed to the rest, reserving only sufficient to mark her face, eyelids, arms, and hair with the figure of the cross. the manner in which this was done was peculiar. after rubbing the paint in her left hand smooth with the palm of the right, she scored marks across the paint, and again others at right angles, leaving the impression of as many crosses, which she { } stamped upon different parts of her body, rubbing the paint, and marking the crosses afresh, after every stamp was made. the men, after having marked themselves in a similar manner (to do which some stripped to the waist and covered all their body with impressions), proceeded to do the same to the boys, who were not permitted to perform this part of the ceremony themselves. manuel, maria's husband, who seemed to be her chief assistant on the occasion, then took from the folds of the sacred wrapper an awl, and with it pierced either the arms or ears of all the party; each of whom presented in turn, pinched up between the finger and thumb, that portion of flesh which was to be perforated. the object evidently was to lose blood, and those from whom the blood flowed freely showed marks of satisfaction, while some whose wounds bled but little underwent the operation a second time. when manuel had finished, he gave the awl to maria, who pierced his arm, and then, with great solemnity and care, muttering and talking to herself in spanish (not two words of which could i catch, although i knelt down close to her and listened with the greatest attention), she removed two or three wrappers, and exposed to our view a small figure, carved in wood, representing a dead person, stretched out. after exposing the image, to which all paid the greatest attention, and contemplating it for some moments in silence, maria began to descant upon the virtues of her christ, telling us it had a good heart ('buen corazon'), and that it was very fond of tobacco. mucho quiere mi cristo tabaco, da me mas, (my christ loves tobacco very much, give me some). such an appeal, on such an occasion, i could not refuse; and after agreeing with her in praise of the figure, i said i would send on board for some. having gained her point, she began to talk to herself for some minutes, during which she looked up, after repeating the words "muy bueno es mi cristo, muy bueno corazon tiene," and slowly and solemnly packed up the figure, depositing it in the place whence it had been taken. this ceremony ended, the traffic, which had been suspended, recommenced with redoubled activity. { } according to my promise, i sent on board for some tobacco, and my servant brought a larger quantity than i thought necessary for the occasion, which he injudiciously exposed to view. maria, having seen the treasure, made up her mind to have the whole, and upon my selecting three or four pounds of it, and presenting them to her, looked very much disappointed, and grumbled forth her discontent: i taxed her with greediness, and spoke rather sharply, which had a good effect, for she went away and returned with a guanaco mantle, which she presented to me. during this day's barter we procured guanaco meat, sufficient for two days' supply of all hands, for a few pounds of tobacco. it had been killed in the morning, and was brought on horseback cut up into large pieces, for each of which we had to bargain. directly an animal is killed, it is skinned and cut up, or torn asunder, for the convenience of carrying. the operation is done in haste, and therefore the meat looks bad; but it is well tasted, excellent food, and although never fat, yields abundance of gravy, which compensates for its leanness. it improves very much by keeping, and proved to be valuable and wholesome meat. captain stokes, and several of the officers, upon our first reaching the beach, had obtained horses, and rode to their 'toldos,' or principal encampment. on their return, i learned that, at a short distance from the dwellings, they had seen the tomb of the child who had lately died. as soon, therefore, as maria returned, i procured a horse from her, and, accompanied by her husband and brother, the father of the deceased, and herself, visited these toldos, situated in a valley extending north and south between two ridges of hills, through which ran a stream, falling into the strait within the second narrow, about a mile to the westward of cape gregory. we found eight or ten huts arranged in a row; the sides and backs were covered with skins, but the fronts, which faced the east, were open; even these, however, were very much screened from wind by the ridge of hills eastward of the plain. near them the ground was rather bare, but a little { } farther back there was a luxuriant growth of grass, affording rich and plentiful pasture for the horses, among which we observed several mares in foal, and colts feeding and frisking by the side of their dams: the scene was lively and pleasing, and, for the moment, reminded me of distant climes, and days gone by. the 'toldos' are all alike. in form they are rectangular, about ten or twelve feet long, ten deep, seven feet high in front, and six feet in the rear. the frame of the building is formed by poles stuck in the ground, having forked tops to hold cross pieces, on which are laid poles for rafters, to support the covering, which is made of skins of animals sewn together so as to be almost impervious to rain or wind. the posts and rafters, which are not easily procured, are carried from place to place in all their travelling excursions. having reached their bivouac, and marked out a place with due regard to shelter from the wind, they dig holes with an iron bar or piece of pointed hard wood, to receive the posts; and all the frame and cover being ready, it takes but a short time to erect a dwelling. their goods and furniture are placed on horseback under the charge of the females, who are mounted aloft upon them. the men carry nothing but the lasso and bolas, to be ready for the capture of animals, or for defence. maria's toldo was nearly in the middle, and next to it was her brother's. all the huts seemed well stored with skins and provisions, the former being rolled up and placed at the back, and the latter suspended from the supporters of the roof; the greater part was in that state well known in south america by the name of charque (jerked beef); but this was principally horse-flesh, which these people esteem superior to other food. the fresh meat was almost all guanaco. the only vessels they use for carrying water are bladders, and sufficiently disagreeable substitutes for drinking utensils they make: the fuegian basket, although sometimes dirty, is less offensive. about two hundred yards from the village the tomb was erected, to which, while maria was arranging her skins and { } mantles for sale, the father of the deceased conducted me and a few other officers. it was a conical pile of dried twigs and branches of bushes, about ten feet high and twenty-five in circumference at the base, the whole bound round with thongs of hide, and the top covered with a piece of red cloth, ornamented with brass studs, and surmounted by two poles, bearing red flags and a string of bells, which, moved by the wind, kept up a continual tinkling. a ditch, about two feet wide and one foot deep, was dug round the tomb, except at the entrance, which had been filled up with bushes. in front of this entrance stood the stuffed skins of two horses, recently killed, each placed upon four poles for legs. the horses' heads were ornamented with brass studs, similar to those on the top of the tomb; and on the outer margin of the ditch were six poles, each carrying two flags, one over the other. the father, who wept much when he visited the tomb, with the party of officers who first went with him, although now evidently distressed, entered into, what we supposed to be, a long account of the illness of his child, and explained to us that her death was caused by a bad cough. no watch was kept over the tomb; but it was in sight of, and not very far from their toldos, so that the approach of any one could immediately be known. they evidently placed extreme confidence in us, and therefore it would have been as unjust as impolitic to attempt an examination of its contents, or to ascertain what had been done with the body. [illustration: p. p. king t. landseer patagonian 'toldo' and tomb. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } the patagonian women are treated far more kindly by their husbands than the fuegian; who are little better than slaves, subject to be beaten, and obliged to perform all the laborious offices of the family. the patagonian females sit at home, grinding paint, drying and stretching skins, making and painting mantles. in travelling, however, they have the baggage and provisions in their charge, and, of course, their children. these women probably have employments of a more laborious nature than what we saw; but they cannot be compared with those of the fuegians, who, excepting in the fight and chace, do every thing. they paddle the canoes, dive for shells and sea-eggs, build their wigwams, and keep up the fire; and if they neglect any of these duties, or incur the displeasure of their husbands in any way, they are struck or kicked most severely. byron, in his narrative of the loss of the wager, describes the brutal conduct of one of these indians, who actually killed his child for a most trifling offence. the patagonians are devotedly attached to their offspring. in infancy they are carried behind the saddle of the mother, within a sort of cradle, in which they are securely fixed. the cradle is made of wicker-work, about four feet long and one foot wide, roofed over with twigs like the frame of a tilted waggon. the child is swaddled up in skins, with the fur inwards or outwards according to the weather. at night, or when it rains, the cradle is covered with a skin that effectually keeps out the cold or rain. seeing one of these cradles near a woman, i began to make a sketch of it, upon which the mother called the father, who watched me most attentively, and held the cradle in the position which i considered most advantageous for my sketch. the completion of the drawing gave them both great pleasure, and during the afternoon the father reminded me repeatedly of having painted his child ("pintado su hijo.") one circumstance deserves to be noticed, as a proof of their good feeling towards us. it will be recollected that three indians, of the party with whom we first communicated, accompanied us as far as cape negro, where they landed. upon our arrival on this occasion, i was met, on landing, by one of them, who asked for my son, to whom they had taken a great fancy; upon my saying he was on board, the native presented me with a bunch of nine ostrich feathers, and then gave a similar present to every one in the boat. he still carried a large quantity under his arm, tied up in bunches, containing nine feathers in each; and soon afterwards, when a boat from the beagle landed with captain stokes and others, he went to meet them; but finding strangers, he withdrew without making them any present. { } in the evening my son landed, when the same indian came down to meet him, appeared delighted to see him, and presented him with a bunch of feathers, of the same size as those which he had distributed in the morning. at this, our second visit, there were about fifty patagonian men assembled, not one of whom looked more than fifty-five years of age. they were generally between five feet ten and six feet in height: one man only exceeded six feet--whose dimensions, measured by captain stokes, were as follows:-- ft. in. height ¾ round the chest - / do. loins ¾ i had before remarked the disproportionate largeness of head, and length of body of these people, as compared with the diminutive size of their extremities; and, on this visit, my opinion was further confirmed, for such appeared to be the general character of the whole tribe; and to this, perhaps, may be attributed the mistakes of some former navigators. magalhaens, or rather pigafetta, was the first who described the inhabitants of the southern extremity of america as giants. he met some at port san julian, of whom one is described to be "so tall, that our heads scarcely came up to his waist, and his voice was like that of a bull." herrera,[ ] however, gives a less extravagant account of them: he says, "the least of the men was larger and taller than the stoutest man of castile;" and maxim. transylvanus says they were "in height ten palms or spans; or seven feet six inches." in loyasa's voyage ( ), herrera mentions an interview with the natives, who came in two canoes, "the sides of which were formed of the ribs of whales." the people in them were of large size "some called them giants; but there is so little conformity between the accounts given concerning them, that i shall be silent on the subject."[ ] as loyasa's voyage was undertaken immediately after the return of magalhaens' expedition, it is probable that, from the { } impressions received from pigafetta's narrative, many thought the indians whom they met must be giants, whilst others, not finding them so large as they expected, spoke more cautiously on the subject; but the people seen by them must have been fuegians, and not those whom we now recognise by the name of patagonians. sir francis drake's fleet put into port san julian, where they found natives 'of large stature;' and the author of the 'world encompassed,' in which the above voyage is detailed, speaking of their size and height, supposes the name given them to have been _pentagones_, to denote a stature of "five cubits, viz. seven feet and a half," and remarks that it described the full height, if not somewhat more, of the tallest of them.[ ] they spoke of the indians whom they met within the strait as small in stature.[ ] the next navigator who passed through the strait was sarmiento; whose narrative says little in proof of the very superior size of the patagonians. he merely calls them "gente grande,"[ ] and "los gigantes;" but this might have originated from the account of magalhaens' voyage. he particularises but one indian, whom they made prisoner, and only says "his limbs are of large size:" ("es crecido de miembros.") this man was a native of the land near cape monmouth, and, therefore, a fuegian. sarmiento was afterwards in the neighbourhood of gregory bay, and had an encounter with the indians, in which he and others were wounded; but he does not speak of them as being unusually tall. after the establishment, called 'jesus,' was formed by sarmiento, in the very spot where 'giants' had been seen, no people of large stature are mentioned, in the account of the colony; but tomé hernandez, when examined before the vice-roy of peru, stated, "that the indians of the plains, who are giants, communicate with the natives of tierra del fuego, who are like them."[ ] anthony knyvet's account[ ] of cavendish's second voyage { } (which is contained in purchas), is not considered credible. he describes the patagonians to be fifteen or sixteen spans in height; and that of these cannibals, there came to them at one time above a thousand! the indians at port famine, in the same narrative, are mentioned as a kind of strange cannibals, short of body, not above five or six spans high, very strong, and thick made.[ ] the natives, who were so inhumanly murdered by oliver van noort, on the island of santa maria (near elizabeth island), were described to be nearly of the same stature as the common people in holland, and were remarked to be broad and high-chested. some captives were taken on board, and one, a boy, informed the crew that there was a tribe living farther in-land, named 'tiremenen,' and their territory 'coin;' that they were "great people, like giants, being from ten to twelve feet high, and that they came to make war against the other tribes,[ ] whom they reproached for being eaters of ostriches!"[ ] spilbergen ( ) says he "saw a man of extraordinary stature, who kept on the higher grounds to observe the ships;" and on an island, near the entrance of the strait, were found the dead bodies of two natives, wrapped in the skins of penguins, and very lightly covered with earth; one of them was of the common human stature, the other, the journal says, was two feet and a half longer.[ ] the gigantic appearance of the man on the hills may perhaps be explained by the optical deception we ourselves experienced. le maire and schouten, whose accounts of the graves of the patagonians agree precisely with what we noticed at sea bear bay, of the body being laid on the ground covered with { } a heap of stones, describe the skeletons as measuring ten or eleven feet in length, "the skulls of which we could put on our heads in the manner of helmets!" the nodales did not see any people on the northern side of the strait; those with whom they communicated were natives of tierra del fuego, of whose form no particular notice is taken. sir john narborough saw indians at port san julian, and describes them as "people of a middling stature: well-shaped. ... mr. wood was taller than any of them." he also had an interview with nineteen natives upon elizabeth island, but they were fuegians. in the year , patagonian indians were seen by bulkley and his companions. they were mounted on horses, or mules, which is the first notice we have of their possessing those animals. duclos de guyot, in the year , had an interview with seven patagonian indians, who were mounted on horses equipped with saddles, bridles, and stirrups. the shortest of the men measured five feet eleven inches and a quarter english. the others were considerably taller. their chief or leader they called 'capitan.' bougainville, in , landed amongst the patagonians. of their size he remarks: "they have a fine shape; among those whom we saw, not one was below five feet ten inches and a quarter (english), nor above six feet two inches and a half in height. their gigantic appearance arises from their prodigiously broad shoulders, the size of their heads, and the thickness of all their limbs. they are robust and well fed: their nerves are braced and their muscles strong, and sufficiently hard, &c." this is an excellent account; but how different is that of commodore byron, who says, "one of them, who afterwards appeared to be chief, came towards me; he was of gigantic stature, and seemed to realise the tales of monsters in a human shape: he had the skin of some wild beast thrown over his shoulders, as a scotch highlander wears his plaid, and was painted so as to make the most hideous appearance i { } ever beheld: round one eye was a large circle of white, a circle of black surrounded the other, and the rest of his body was streaked with paint of different colours. i did not measure him; but if i may judge of his height by the proportion of his stature to my own, it could not be less than seven feet. when this frightful colossus came up, we muttered somewhat to each other as a salutation, &c."[ ] after this he mentions a woman "of most enormous size;" and again, when mr. cumming, the lieutenant, joined him, the commodore says, "before the song was finished, mr. cumming came up with the tobacco, and i could not but smile at the astonishment which i saw expressed in his countenance upon perceiving himself, though six feet two inches high, become at once a pigmy among giants, for these people may, indeed, more properly be called giants than tall men: of the few among us who are full six feet high, scarcely any are broad and muscular, in proportion to their stature, but look rather like men of the common bulk grown up accidentally to an unusual height; and a man who should measure only six feet two inches, and equally exceed a stout well-set man of the common stature in breadth and muscle, would strike us rather as being of a gigantic race, than as an individual accidentally anomalous; our sensations, therefore, upon seeing five hundred people, the shortest of whom were at least four inches taller, and bulky in proportion, may be easily imagined."[ ] this account was published only seven years after the voyage, and the exaggeration, if any, might have been exposed by numbers. there can be no doubt, that among five hundred persons several were of a large size; but that all were four inches taller than six feet must have been a mistake. the commodore says, that he "caused them all to be seated," and in that position, from the length of their bodies, they would certainly appear to be of very large stature.[ ] { } shortly afterwards, wallis, in the neighbourhood of cape virgins, communicated with the same people, and as the story of the patagonian giants had been spread abroad, and was very much discredited, he carried two measuring rods with him; and says, in his narrative, "we went round and measured those that appeared to be the tallest. one was six feet seven inches high, several more were six feet five, and six feet six inches; but the stature of the greatest part of them was from five feet ten to six feet." in the voyage of the santa maria de la cabeza,[ ] , it is related that the height of one or two patagonians, with whom the officers had an interview, was six feet eleven inches and a half (of burgos), which is equal to six feet four inches and a half (english). this man wore a sword, on which was engraved "por el rey carlos iii.," and spoke a few words in spanish, proofs of his having had communication with some of the spanish settlements. it does not, however, appear from the account that there were many others, if any, of that height. of all the above accounts, i think those by bougainville and wallis the most accurate. it is true, that of the number we saw, none measured more than six feet two inches; but it is possible that the preceding generation may have been a larger race of people, for none that we saw could have been alive at the time of wallis's or byron's voyage. the oldest certainly were the tallest; but, without discrediting the accounts of byron, or any other of the modern voyagers, i think it probable that, by a different mode of life, or a mixture by marriage with the southern or fuegian tribes, which we know has taken place, they have degenerated into a smaller race, and have lost all right to the title of giants; yet their bulky, { } muscular forms, and length of body, in some measure bear out the above accounts; for had the present generation proportionate limbs, they might, without any exaggeration, justify the account of commodore byron. the jesuit missionary falkner,[ ] who, from an intercourse of forty years with the indians of south america, must be considered as one of the best authorities, says, speaking of a patagonian named cangapol, "this chief, who was called by the spaniards the cacique bravo,[ ] was tall and well-proportioned; he must have been seven feet and some inches in height, because on tiptoe i could not reach the top of his head: i was very well acquainted with him, and went some journeys in his company: i do not recollect ever to have seen an indian that was above an inch or two taller than cangapol. his brother sausimian was but about six feet high. the patagonians or puelches are a large-bodied people; but i never heard of that gigantic race which others have mentioned, though i have seen persons of all the different tribes of the southern indians." this is an account in , only twenty years before that of bougainville. taking all the evidence together, it may be considered, that the medium height of the males of these southern tribes is about five feet eleven inches. the women are not so tall, but are in proportion broader and stouter: they are generally plain-featured. the head is long, broad and flat, and the forehead low, with the hair growing within an inch of the eyebrows, which are bare. the eyes are often placed obliquely, and have but little expression, the nose is generally rather flat, and turned up; but we noticed several with that feature { } straight, and sometimes aquiline: the mouth is wide, with prominent lips, and the chin is rather large; the jaws are broad, and give the face a square appearance; the neck is short and thick; the shoulders are broad; the chest is broad, and very full; but the arm, particularly the fore-arm, is small, as are also the foot and leg; the body long, large and fat, but not corpulent. such was the appearance of those who came under my observation. as to their character, the patagonians are friendly, without that disposition to quarrel, after the novelty of first acquaintance has worn off, which is so common among savages in general. this probably arises from interested motives, certainly not from fear, unless it be the fear of being avoided instead of visited by the ships which pass by, and from which they procure many useful articles, and many temporary gratifications. swords, long knives, tobacco, paraguay tea, bits, saddles, guns, lead for balls, red cloth, beads (particularly of a sky-blue colour), flour, sugar, and spirits, are much desired in exchange for their peltry and guanaco meat; but they have no idea beyond that of satisfying the wants of the moment. after a few pounds of tobacco had been distributed amongst them, although they are very fond of smoking, it became quite a drug, and it was necessary to produce something new to excite their attention. from maria's influence, and the reference so constantly made to her, it would seem that she was considered as cacique of the tribe; but her apparent superiority may arise from her connexion with bysante, of whom they all spoke as 'el cacique grande,' or from the attention paid to her by ships with whom they communicate. the people of this tribe seemed to live together harmoniously; no bickerings or jealous feelings were observed, and certainly none were expressed by any one of our bulky friends on witnessing another receiving a valuable present, or a good exchange for his property. at sunset our people were ordered to embark, upon which the price of patagonian goods immediately fell, at least, a thousand per cent., though many held back in expectation of { } the next day. maria put into the boat, after my refusal to let her go on board to pass the night, two bags, and asked me to send her flour and sugar. she was most importunate for aqua ardiente, which, however, i refused. her constant cry was "it is very good to be drunk; i like drinking very much; rum is very good.--give me some?" ('muy bueno es boracho, mucho mi gusta, mucho mi gusta de beber, muy bueno es aqua ardiente.--da me no mas?') among them was a fuegian indian; but it did not appear clearly whether he was living with them permanently, or only on a visit. some of us thought we understood the account of one of the patagonians, who seemed to be the most interested about him, to be, that a master of a sealer had left him amongst them. we knew him instantly by his squalid and comparatively diminutive appearance, and were confirmed in our ideas by his recognition of the words 'hosay' and 'sherroo.' the patagonian name for a ship is 'carro grande,' and for a boat 'carro chico,' a mixture of their own and the spanish language. all that i could understand of his history was, that he was cacique of some indian tribes at a distance: he was evidently a great favourite, and although maria spoke generally with much contempt of the fuegian indians, she had patronised this stranger, for he lived in her toldo, and shared all the presents that were made to her. the following morning it rained hard, and blew so fresh a gale, from the westward, that it would have been dangerous to send a boat on shore: and i was obliged to weigh without landing the things which i had promised. after we were under weigh, the weather cleared partially, when we observed maria on the beach, mounted on her white horse, with others watching our departure, and when it was evident that we were really gone, she rode slowly back to her toldo, no doubt considerably vexed. i was very sorry to treat them in this way, for their conduct towards us had been open and friendly. all i could hope to do, to make amends, was to give something of value at my return. [illustration: a. earle t. a. prior monte video, mole. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } we steered across the bay of st. philip, accompanied by the beagle,[ ] left the strait of magalhaens with a fair wind, and, after a favourable passage, reached monte video on the th april . from monte video we went to rio de janeiro, to procure stores, and prepare for another voyage to the strait. on our arrival i received the commander-in-chief's leave to apply to the lord high admiral for permission to employ a tender, to facilitate the surveys of the sounds and deep channels, in the neighbourhood of the strait, and the inner sounds on the west coast; for which, neither the adventure, nor the beagle, were adapted; and i thought it best to delay our departure until an answer to my application was received. * * * * * { } chapter vii. leave rio de janeiro--santos--st. catherine's--monte video--purchase the adelaide schooner, for a tender to the adventure--leave monte video-- beagle goes to port desire--shoals off cape blanco--bellaco rock--cape virgins--possession bay--first narrow--race--gregory bay--view--tomb-- traffic with natives--cordial meeting--maria goes on board--natives intoxicated--laredo bay--port famine. we were ready to resume our voyage early in september ( ); but not having received any communication by the packet, from the admiralty, relative to the purchase of a tender, i determined to await the arrival of the next, early in october. i was again disappointed, and very reluctantly left rio de janeiro, on the th, for monte video; but that i might still benefit by the orders which were sure to be in the following packet, i determined upon calling at santos, and st. catherine's, for chronometrical observations; leaving the beagle to wait for letters conveying the decision of his royal highness the lord high admiral. we reached santos on the th, and staid there until the th. in this interval i paid a short visit to st. paul's, for the purpose of making barometrical observations.[ ] at st. catherine's we remained eight days, and during the interval necessary for ascertaining the rates of the chronometers, i obtained magnetic observations. [illustration: a. earle t. hair mole, palace and cathedral, rio de janeiro. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } after a tedious voyage of nineteen days from st. catherine's, i arrived at monte video, and there received intelligence that the long-wished permission from the lord high admiral, to procure a tender, had been obtained. i accordingly purchased a schooner, which i named the adelaide, and appointed lieutenant graves to the command. five months' additional provisions for both vessels were purchased, and put into her; and on the d december, after running up the river to complete our water, we sailed out by the southern entrance, passing to the westward of the archimedes' shoal, and proceeded without farther detention to the southward. on the st of january (in latitude ° ' and long. ° '), i was informed that we were close to a rock. upon going on deck, i saw the object; but in a very short time i perceived it was a dead whale, upon whose half-putrid body large flocks of birds were feeding. many on board were, however, sceptical, until, on passing to leeward, the strong odour testified the fact. its appearance certainly was very like the summit of a dark brown rock, covered with weeds and barnacles, and the myriads of birds which surrounded it added to the deception. it could, however, be distinguished by its buoyancy; for the water did not break over it, as of course it would have done had it been a fixed body. such is probably the origin of half the 'vigias' that are found on the charts. whales, when struck by the fishers, frequently escape and perish; the carcass then floats on the surface of the sea, until decomposed or eaten by birds and fishes. a small vessel striking against such a mass, would probably be severely injured; and at night, the { } body, from its buoyancy and the sea not breaking against it, would not be readily seen. on the th, being about one hundred miles to the n.e. of cape blanco, i communicated with captain stokes, and gave him directions to proceed to port desire for chronometrical observations, and then follow me immediately to cape fairweather or cape virgins. we had light winds during the night, so that the beagle made very little progress. in the afternoon, cape blanco, a long level-topped ridge, came in sight, of which good views are given in lord anson's voyage. we steered towards the land, and at six o'clock were in eighteen fathoms, the rocky hill at the extremity of the cape bearing s. ° e. thirteen miles; at seven o'clock, the same hill was six miles and a half off, bearing s. ° e., when we observed a line of rippling water, extending from east to as far as we could see on the south horizon. the depth was seventeen fathoms, but as we proceeded it gradually decreased to twelve and ten, and soon afterwards to seven fathoms, when the beagle was observed to be firing guns; but whether they were intended to warn us of danger, or as signals of her own distress, we could not determine, and i hauled to the wind to cross where the ripple appeared least violent. in passing through it we had not less than seven fathoms, and then it deepened to twelve and fifteen fathoms. we had now leisure to attend to the beagle, and soon saw that her signals were only to warn us, for she had resumed her course under a press of sail. after steering four miles to the s.e., we again found ourselves in the midst of ripplings, in which the water shoaled to six fathoms. it being then dark, and not knowing how to proceed, we shortened sail and brought to the wind, in order that if the ship struck it might be with less force; but happily we passed on without any further decrease of soundings. in going through the ripple, the adelaide, though deeply laden, behaved well. commodore byron passed over these shoals, which he describes as lying at a greater distance from the shore: it was to avoid them that we passed so near the land. { } during the following evening there was a very heavy dew, the never-failing prognostic of a northerly wind; the horizon, also, was very hazy, and the water perfectly smooth. we were not more than ten miles off shore, yet the land was completely distorted in appearance by mirage. next morning we were very close to the position assigned to the bellaco, or st. estevan's shoal, the existence of which has been very much doubted. it was discovered by the nodales, and in the diary of their voyage is thus described: "at five o'clock, or later in the evening, we discovered a rock a-wash ('una baxa que lababa la mar en ella') about five leagues from the shore, more or less. it is a very deceitful rock ('es muy bellaco baxo'), because it is under water, over which, in fine weather and smooth water, the sea breaks. we sounded near it, and found twenty-six fathoms stony bottom. its latitude is ½°, according to our noon observation, and the course and distance we have since run."[ ] the late don felipe bauza, one of the companions of malespina, informed me, that on the voyage of the descubierta and atrevida, their boats were sent to look for it, but were unsuccessful. at noon we were in lat. ° ' s., long. ° ', depth forty-two fathoms, but without any signs of the bellaco. sailing on, the coast was seen in the neighbourhood of beachy head (so named from its resemblance to the well-known promontory). afterwards, cape fairweather came in sight, and on the th cape virgins, which we passed in the evening, and, half an hour afterwards, rounding dungeness, we again entered the strait of magalhaens; and anchored near the northern shore. in possession bay we were detained several days, although repeated attempts to pass the first narrow were anxiously made. one evening, clouds gathered, and the weather assumed such a threatening appearance, that i expected to be obliged to run to sea; but to our surprise, when the cloudy mass seemed on { } the point of bursting over us with a deluge of rain, it suddenly vanished, and was succeeded by a beautifully clear and fine night. this favourable appearance gave us hopes of being able to make good our entrance on the following day; but a fresh gale set in, and kept us at our anchorage. early on the th we made another fruitless attempt to pass the first narrow. as the adelaide sailed under our stern, lieutenant graves informed me that he had lost an anchor, and had only one left, to which he had bent his chain-cable; and that she had shipped so much water in attempting to beat through, that he was on the point of asking permission to bear up when we ourselves gave up the attempt. it blew too hard to give any assistance to the adelaide, but next morning, when the weather was more moderate, i seized an opportunity of sending our two kedge anchors; and in the afternoon we supplied her with some water and other necessaries, so that she was comparatively well off, and my anxiety on her account much relieved. fires on the fuegian side had been kept up since our arrival, but we could not distinguish any inhabitants; on the patagonian shores we saw a great number of guanacoes feeding quietly, a proof of there being no indians near them. on the th, the weather appearing favourable, our anchor was weighed, and, with the adelaide, we soon entered the sluice of the narrow, proceeding rapidly, though the wind blew hard against us. the tide carried us to an anchorage, about four miles beyond the western entrance, and it was slack water when the anchor was dropped; but, no sooner had the stream turned, than we found ourselves in the midst of a 'race,' and during the whole tide, the water broke furiously over the ship. at slack water we got underweigh, but the adelaide not being able (from the strength of the tide), to purchase her anchor, was obliged to slip the cable: it was fortunate that we had supplied her with our kedges, or she would then have been without an anchor. the night was tempestuous, and although we reached a much quieter birth, the adelaide drifted considerably; had she remained at the morning's anchorage, { } in order to save her anchor and cable, we should probably never have seen her again. the succeeding morning, after a hard beat to windward, both vessels anchored in gregory bay. no indians were in the neighbourhood, or we should have seen their fires. in the afternoon the wind moderated, and as there was every appearance of fine weather, i remained to survey the coast. on the summit of the land, about half a mile northward of the extremity of the cape, while lieutenant graves and i were taking bearings, and making observations, two guanacoes came up and stood neighing at us; the observation, however, was of consequence, and as they were not disturbed, they remained watching us for some minutes before they took alarm and fled. lieutenant wickham and mr. tarn made an excursion to the summit of the table land, previously described as extending from the low land behind the second narrow to the n.e., in the direction of mount aymond, and were amply repaid for a fatiguing walk, with the thermometer at °, by a magnificent view: cape possession to the eastward, and to the south the mountains near mount tarn, eighty miles distant, were plainly distinguished. the view to the westward, stretching over a large extent of grassy plains, was bounded by lofty ranges of snow-capped mountains; but to the north it was intercepted by another summit of the mountain upon which they stood. the country they passed over was covered with short grass, through which a mass of granite occasionally protruded. neither trees nor shrubs were observed, excepting a few herbaceous plants, and the berberis; a goose, some ducks, snipe, and plovers were shot; and guanacoes were seen at a distance, but no ostriches, nor did they meet any indians. large fires were, however, kindled on both shores of the strait, in answer to the fire which they made for cooking. in consequence of those on the patagonian coast appearing so close to us, we expected a visit from the natives before night, but none made their appearance. next morning, mr. graves accompanied me in a boat to a { } station three miles within the second narrow on the north side, and in our way we found the geological structure of the cliffs to be of a decomposed clay-slate, arranged in strata, much distorted by the violent action of the water, and dispersed in vertical and inclined directions in very thin laminæ. these cliffs are about one hundred feet high, the soil a sandy alluvium, of a sterile character, scantily covered with a wiry, stunted grass, and here and there a berberis bush, loaded with ripe fruit, which, from the poverty of the soil, was tasteless and dry; the ground was also, in many parts, over-run to a considerable extent with an insipid cranberry, scarcely worth the trouble of gathering. we struck across the country, with the view of examining the place where the indians were residing at our last visit, and the tomb which had then been erected. grass had grown up, and effaced the traces of feet; but the tomb had suffered no farther alteration than the weather might have effected. we found that the place had been recently visited by the natives, for within a few yards of the entrance were strewed the ashes of a large fire, containing vestiges of the former decorations of the tomb, and the end of one of the flag-staffs, with the unburnt corner of one of the banners. amongst the ashes, also, we found calcined bones; but whether they were human or not, we could not ascertain. the discovery of the bones impressed us with the idea that the body had been burnt, and determined me to examine the tomb. the bushes that filled up the entrance appeared to be placed exactly as when we first saw them, and indeed the whole pile seemed to have remained quite undisturbed; but there was no appearance of the brass ornaments, or of the effigies of the horses. having effected an opening in the bushes, we found an inner covering, made of horse-skins. having cut two holes opposite each other, for the admission of light, we saw nothing but two parallel rows of stones, three in each row, probably intended as a bier for the body or a covering for the grave; but the ground around and between them bore no appearance { } of having been disturbed for burial.[ ] as we hourly expected the indians would arrive (the place being in the direct line of their journey to the ships), and were unwilling to let them know we had disturbed the sanctuaries of their dead, we restored the former appearance of the tomb; and it was fortunate we did so, for three women on horseback, carrying their children in cradles, with a quantity of skins, provisions, and other merchandise, evidently the harbingers of the tribe, made their appearance, and immediately began to erect their tents. when we next went on shore we found several indians arrived, and divided into three groups, with mantles, ostrich-feathers, skins, and joints of guanaco meat displayed for sale. as the meat appeared fresh, it is probable that, on seeing us, the women were despatched to place the toldos, while the men set out to provide guanaco meat, for they knew our partiality for this excellent food. when we landed, an active barter began. from the haste and avidity shown in offering their goods, and closing the bargains, it seemed as if they were anxious to monopolize our articles of barter before the rest of their party, or tribe arrived. one old man attempted to cheat; but my interdiction of all farther traffic with him brought him to a sense of his error, and i then made him a present of some tobacco and allowed him to trade, which he afterwards did, with cheerfulness and honesty. one of the party was the fuegian chief, whom i previously noticed, as a squalid, meagre-looking man; but he was now enlarged to patagonian dimensions, by his improved diet and more cheerful mode of life. the appearance of bad weather obliged us to suspend the barter and get on board. after we had reached the ship, successive parties of the tribe arrived, { } and formed the encampment. among them, mounted on her white horse, was maria, who, duly escorted, paraded on the beach to challenge our recognition. in the centre of the encampment, a large flag suspended from a pole was a signal to us, and showed the position of her toldo. the next morning being fine, we landed near the encampment, and were most cordially received. maria was particularly attentive, and embraced me closely, while her companions chaunted in chorus a song of delight at our arrival. when we reached her toldo, a mat was spread out for me to sit on. maria and her family placed themselves in front of me, while the rest sat round. almost the first question was an inquiry for my son philip, whom they called felipe,[ ] and two or three skins were given to me for him. they then asked for our pilot on the former voyage, and were much disappointed to find he had left the ship. after a short conversation i returned the two bags (which i had so unwillingly carried away at our last visit), having filled them with flour and sugar, and then proceeded to deliver our presents. as each article was delivered into her hands, she repeated, in spanish, i'll pay for this; but upon a bit for her horse being presented, a general burst of admiration followed, and it was handed round the tents, whilst each individual, as it passed on, looked, i thought, anxious to be its possessor. maria then began to consider what adequate requital she could possibly make me. the result was, a present of two mantles, one new, of guanaco skin, and the other well worn, of zorillo skin, besides two or three skins of the puma. she then produced a piece of paper, carefully wrapped up in canvas, containing a letter, or memorandum, left by mr. low, master of the uxbridge sealer, addressed to any shipmaster passing through the strait, apprising him "of the friendly disposition of the indians, and impressing him with the necessity of treating them well, and not deceiving them; for they had good memories, and would seriously resent it." the advice, no doubt, was good; but i think the fear of { } forfeiting advantages and comforts to be derived from traffic would induce them to restrain their resentment. i brought no spirits; for which, after a short time, maria asked, complaining that she was very ill, and had sore eyes, and for some time past had nothing but water to drink, and wood to smoke. her illness was evidently assumed, but her eyes seemed highly inflamed; and no wonder, for the upper part of her face was smeared over with an ochrous red pigment, even to the very edge of her eyelids: indeed, the whole tribe had ornamented themselves similarly, in compliment, i suppose, to our visit. as i prepared to return on board, maria's importunity induced me to allow her to accompany me; upon which she began to muster up all her empty bags, old mantles, and skins, and, attended by her husband, her brother-in-law, his wife and daughter, got into the boat. while going on board, the spray washed the painted countenances of our visitors, much to their regret. upon reaching the ship, i ordered them to be regaled with meat and biscuit, of which they partook very sparingly, but took care to put what remained into their bags. some spirits and water, too, which i thought would be soon dispatched, and which had been plentifully diluted to prevent their being made tipsy, they emptied into bottles to take on shore "for the evening," when, as maria said, they would be "very drunk." among various things shown to amuse them was a musical snuff-box, which i had procured for the express purpose of exciting their astonishment; but i was surprised to find, that a penny-whistle produced a ten-fold greater effect upon their senses. this indifference to musical sounds i should not have suspected, because they frequently sing, though certainly in a monotonous manner. as soon as their repast was concluded, the party, except maria and the girls, commenced bartering their mantles and skins, and, by the time their stock was expended, they had amassed a large quantity of biscuit, and a bundle of various { } trifles, some of which they had attempted to get by pilfering. they made themselves so contented, that it was not without much difficulty we could persuade them to go on shore. maria had made her mind up to pass the night on board, and so anxious were they all to remain, that it was only by giving maria two bottles of spirits (which had been well diluted) that they were induced to get into the boat, and accompany me ashore. being a lee-tide, and low water, the boat grounded at a considerable distance from the beach; seeing this, some of the indians rode into the water, and taking us up behind them, conveyed us to the encampment, my place being behind maria, the smell of whose zorillo-skin mantle was hardly bearable; but it was necessary to conceal our dislike of our companions as much as possible, for they are very sensitive, and easily offended. while waiting for the tide, we witnessed a drunken scene at maria's toldo. fifteen persons, seated around her, shared the spirits she had obtained on board, until all were intoxicated. some were screaming, others laughing, some stupified, and some bellowing. the uproar drew all the other indians round the tent, who tendered their assistance to compose their friends, and we returned to the ship. when we visited them the next day, they were quite recovered, and gave us some guanaco meat, which had been brought in that morning. on communicating my intention of proceeding on the voyage, maria wished to know when we should finish our "seal-killing," and come back. i told her "in five moons," upon which she endeavoured to persuade me to return in four, because she would then have plenty of skins to barter. i wrote a few lines to captain stokes, who, i expected, would arrive in a day or two, communicating my desire that he should follow, as soon as possible, to port famine, and committed the letter to maria's care, who promised to deliver it to him; then, taking leave of her and her companions, i embarked, and proceeded through the second narrow to an anchorage off cape negro. our visit to gregory bay, and communication with the { } indians, furnished us with many additions to our zoological collection; among them was a tiger-cat, which seemed, from the description, to be the _felis pajaros_ of the encyclopédie méthodique (the "chat de pampa" of d'azara). maria gave me a very large bezoar stone, that was taken from the stomach of a guanaco. it is used medicinally by the indians, as a remedy for bowel complaints.[ ] whilst we were at the anchorage before cape negro, mr. tarn and mr. wickham visited the lake at the back of laredo bay, and saw two swans, which, from the colour of their plumage, seemed to be the black-necked swan of the river plata and of the falkland islands[ ] (dom pernettey, ii. p. ). they brought on board with them a new species of duck, which is described in the proceedings of the zoological society as _anas specularis_ (nob.), and a small burrowing animal, of the rat tribe, that, from the character of its teeth, is probably of a genus not hitherto noted: it approaches nearest to f. cuvier's _helamys_. we next anchored in port famine, where the tents, &c. were replaced in their former positions, the ship was unrigged and secured for the winter, and all hands set to work, preparing the adelaide for service. * * * * * { } chapter viii. find that the cutter had been burned--anxiety for the beagle--uxbridge sealer--beagle arrives--her cruize--bellaco rock--san julian--santa cruz--gallegos--adeona--death of lieutenant sholl--adelaide sails-- supposed channel of san sebastian--useless bay--natives--port san antonio--humming-birds--fuegians--beagle sails--sarmiento--roldan-- pond--whales--structure--scenery--port gallant. port famine bore evident marks of having been visited in our absence by the indians, for a large fire, apparently recent, had over-run the grass, and burned the trees upon point santa anna, particularly in that part where our boat had been so carefully concealed. eager to know whether she had escaped the fire, i lost no time in hastening to the spot, directly after the adventure anchored, and found, as our fears had anticipated, that she had been completely destroyed, scarcely a vestige of her wood remaining, and most of the iron-work having been carried away; for which, doubtless, the indians had set her on fire. the sheds for the cooper and armourer, which had been erected with some pains, were also entirely consumed, and every thing portable had been carried away. those things which were of no use to them were either broken or burnt; but some of our station poles on point santa anna were left uninjured; as well as the tablet erected to the memory of mr. ainsworth and the boat's crew; which was singular, because it was secured by iron hoops--of great value, in their eyes. from the fresh traces of horses in the neighbourhood, we at first suspected the conflagration to have been caused by the patagonians; but we soon found we owed our loss to the fuegians, for in two new wigwams were strewed some remains of our boat. the last winter appeared to have been milder than that preceding it, for last january, mount sarmiento and the hills to { } the southward, over fitton bay, were so covered with snow, that not a particle of the rock could be seen; but this year many bare spots were visible. every thing else, however, indicated a bad season, and the berberis bushes and arbutus shrubs had scarcely any show of fruit; which was rather a disappointment, as the berries of the former plant proved an agreeable addition to our food last year. however, there was no scarcity of birds, and with the seine we procured plenty of fish. the beagle's long and unexpected absence caused us much uneasiness, and some apprehension for her safety. her visit to port desire ought not to have occupied more than three days, and her superior sailing should have enabled captain stokes to rejoin us in the entrance of the strait. people were sent daily to look out for her, and every succeeding day increased our anxiety. a long succession of blowing and rainy weather much impeded our progress with the adelaide; but the hope was hoisted out, and prepared for service. before daylight on the th i was informed that the beagle was seen in the offing. blue lights were burnt, and lanterns immediately shown to guide her to the anchorage; but our disappointment was great when the stranger proved to be mr. w. low's schooner, the uxbridge. he had been sealing since november in the neighbourhood of noir island, near the outer entrance of the barbara channel, and was on his way to cape gregory to meet his elder brother, who had been collecting sea-elephant oil at south shetland. the uxbridge had entered the strait from the pacific, by the magdalen 'channel,' which last year we thought a sound, and had attempted to explore in the hope, but had been deceived by the abrupt change in the direction of the channel at cape turn. at last (on the th), after the beagle's absence had been protracted to more than a month beyond the time intended, we were relieved from painful anxiety, and much rejoiced, by mr. tarn's telling us he had just seen her, and in two hours afterwards she arrived. captain stokes, to my great surprise, told me that he had { } been examining the whole coast between port desire and cape virgins, and for the last ten days had been detained in the gallegos river by heavy gales of wind. he had sounded round, and fixed the position of the bellaco rock, or st. estevan's shoal, the existence of which had been so long doubted. he had also visited and partially surveyed, the harbours of port san julian and santa cruz, besides coy bay, and had made almost a complete survey of the river gallegos, which he found to be a large and rapid river, whose entrance forms a spacious port: instead of being blocked up by a mound of shingle four or five feet above the level of the sea, and having so small a stream as to escape the notice of mr. weddell as he walked along the beach.[ ] cape fairweather is so remarkable, and so correctly placed upon the chart, that mr. weddell, in his search for the river, must have very much deceived himself. i should think he must have mistaken the ravine described upon my former visit, since that is the only part which answers his description: it could not be coy bay, because that opening, although of minor importance, has a broad boat communication with the sea. captain stokes described the tide at the anchorage, within the mouth of the gallegos, as running at the rate of five knots, and rising forty-six feet. from mr. weddell's account, he was on the point of passing by without examining it; but the weather being fine, he determined to go in his boat and ascertain the truth of that description. it was soon evident that the river was large, and, returning to his ship, he lost no time in anchoring her within the entrance, where she rode out a heavy gale from s.w. the beagle left the gallegos on the d, and reached port famine on the th, a very short passage, since she remained for a night and the greater part of a day at gregory bay, to communicate with the natives. when approaching the first narrow, captain stokes observed a brig, apparently at anchor, under cape orange, and supposing her either to have found a good anchorage, or to be in distress, steered towards her. { } before he had reached within two miles of her, the beagle touched the ground, but was extricated from the danger most fortunately, because it was nearly high water; and had she remained a-ground during the tide, the consequences might have been serious--at least, she could not have been got off without lightening her considerably. the brig proved to be the adeona (mr. low's vessel), on her way to meet the uxbridge. in attempting to enter the narrow, she grounded on the shoals, and had been left dry. the following tide again floated her, and she was on the point of getting underweigh, when the beagle hove in sight. captain stokes finding that the adeona had received no damage, proceeded to gregory bay. by the beagle's arrival we were informed of the death of lieutenant robert h. sholl, after an illness of ten days. his remains were interred at port san julian, where a tablet was erected to his memory. this excellent young man's death was sincerely regretted by all his friends, and by none more than by me. he was appointed to the expedition, as a midshipman, solely on account of his high character. during our voyage from england, he made himself conspicuously useful in saving the cargo of a vessel, which was stranded in port praya; and on our arrival at rio de janeiro, the commander-in-chief appointed him to a vacant lieutenantcy on board the beagle: an appointment which, up to the period of his lamented death, he filled zealously and most creditably.[ ] on the st of march we were surprised by the appearance of three europeans, walking round point st. anna. a boat { } was sent for them, and we found they were deserters from the uxbridge, who had come to volunteer for our ships. the following day the adeona and uxbridge arrived, on their way to port san antonio, to boil their oil; but i recommended bougainville, or (as the sealers call it) jack's harbour, as more convenient for their purpose, and more secure from storms, as well as from troublesome visits of the natives. upon my offering to restore the three deserters to the uxbridge, mr. low requested me to keep them, and another, also, who was anxious to join the adventure, to which i consented, as the adelaide wanted men. a few days after mr. low's departure, he returned in a whale-boat to ask assistance in repairing the uxbridge's rudder. by our help it was soon made serviceable, and she was enabled to prosecute her voyage, which could not otherwise have been continued. the adelaide being ready for sea: her first service was to be an examination of the st. sebastian channel, which, from its delineation on the old charts, would seem to penetrate through the large eastern island of tierra del fuego. in the voyage of the nodales (in the year ), an opening on the eastern coast, supposed to be the mouth of a channel, communicating with the strait of magalhaens, was discovered. after describing the coast to the south of cape espiritu santo, the journal of that voyage states: "we found, in the channel of st. sebastian, twenty fathoms clear ground. the north shore is a beach of white sand, five leagues in extent, stretching out from the high land that terminates at cape espiritu santo, and giving the coast here the appearance of a deep bay; but, on a nearer approach, a projecting tract of low shore is observed. the south extremity of this low beach is a sandy point, round which the channel trends; the mouth is a league and a half wide. the south shore is higher than the land to the northward, and in the middle of the bay the depth is from fifteen to twenty fathoms clear ground, and a good bottom; but from mid-channel to the south shore the bottom is stony, and the water, of little depth, there being only six and seven fathoms. from { } hence the channel shows itself, and continues, as far as we could see, of the same breadth. it seemed to be a large sea. the latitude was observed to be ° '."[ ] from the above account, and from the chart that accompanies it, in which this inlet is made to communicate with the strait of magalhaens by the opening round cape monmouth, our knowledge of the supposed st. sebastian channel was derived. that there is a deep bay, in the latitude of ° ', not only appears from the account of the nodales, who were within the heads, although it seems they did not proceed beyond the stony ground on the south side of the entrance; but also from the accounts of vessels who have lately seen it; and of one ship-master who was deterred from entering, by the formidable notice on our charts of its being "only navigable for small vessels," whence he conjectured that the tides would be very strong, and the channel occasionally narrow, as well as narrow, and shoal. sarmiento, narborough, byron, wallis, bougainville, and cordova, have severally noticed an opening, which corresponds to this supposed channel, namely, that between capes monmouth and valentyn; but the object of those voyagers having been to make the passage through the known strait, to explore this opening was, in all probability, considered a waste of time; yet, that such a channel was supposed to exist, we must conclude from the conspicuous figure it makes in the charts of tierra del fuego. had there been a knowledge of its affording any communication with the sea, surely sarmiento and narborough, as well as the nodales, who navigated the strait from west to east, would have been induced to attempt to pass through; and avoid the dangers, as well as difficulties, of the channels to the northward. anxious to set the question at rest, i gave captain stokes orders to proceed to survey the western coasts, between the strait of magalhaens and latitude ° south, or as much of { } those dangerous and exposed shores as he could examine, with the means at his disposal, and sailed myself, in the adelaide, to explore the supposed st. sebastian channel. every discretionary power was given to captain stokes to act as he pleased, for the benefit of the service; but he had strict orders to return to port famine by the th of july, when i hoped to move the adventure to some other part of the strait, and to recommence operations with the earliest days of spring, if the winter should be unfit for our work. having crossed over to the southward of point boqueron, we proceeded, on the th of march, to the n.e. (in which direction the opening trended), at no great distance from the northern shore; behind which the country seemed to rise gradually to the summit of a long ridge of table-land, terminating near the first narrow, and appearing like that in the neighbourhood of cape gregory. it was inhabited; for here and there we observed the smoke of fires, perhaps intended as invitations for us to land. the south side of the opening seemed (after forming a small bay under nose peak) to extend in a direction parallel to the northern coast of the bay, for three or four leagues, when it dipped beneath the horizon. neither shore had any opening or indenture in its coast line, of sufficient size to shelter even a boat; so that a vessel caught here, with a south-westerly gale, would have little chance of escape; unless a channel should exist, of which, from the stillness of the water and the total absence of tide, we had very little hope. the soundings were variable between twenty and thirty fathoms, and the bottom seemed to be of shells, probably covering a substratum of clay or sand. as we stood on, a small rocky lump came in sight, which appeared to be the termination of the northern shore, and again we flattered ourselves with the expectation of finding a passage; but in less than half an hour afterwards, the bay was distinctly seen to be closed by low land, and the rocky lump proved to be an isolated mass of rock, about two miles inland. as every person on board was then satisfied of the non-existence of any channel, we put about to return, and { } by bearings of mount tarn, crossed by angles from mount graves, nose peak, and point boqueron, our position, and the extent of this bay, were determined. as it affords neither anchorage nor shelter, nor any other advantage for the navigator, we have named it useless bay. it was too much exposed to the prevailing winds to allow of our landing to examine the country, and its productions, or to communicate with the indians; and as there was not much likelihood of finding anything of novel character, we lost no time in retreating from so exposed a place. abreast of point boqueron the patent log gave for our run twenty-six miles, precisely the same distance which it had given in the morning; so that from five o'clock in the morning until ten, and from ten o'clock until four in the afternoon, we had not experienced the least tide, which of itself is a fact confirmatory of the non-existence of a channel. from the fires of the natives in this part having been noticed at a distance from the beach, it would seem that they derive their subsistence from hunting rather than fishing; and as there are guanacoes on the south shore of the first narrow, it is probable the people's habits resemble those of the patagonians, rather than the fuegians; but as they have no horses, the chase of so shy and swift an animal as the guanaco must be fatiguing and very precarious.[ ] sarmiento is the only person on record who has communicated with the natives in the neighbourhood of cape monmouth. he calls them in his narrative a large race (gente grande). there it was that he was attacked by the indians, whom he repulsed, and one of whom he made prisoner. we remained a night in port famine, and again set out in the adelaide to survey some of the western parts of the strait. { } bad weather forced us into port san antonio; of which cordova gives so favourable an account, that we were surprised to find it small and inconvenient, even for the adelaide. he describes the port to be a mile and a half long, and three quarters of a mile broad: we found the length a mile and a quarter, and the mean breadth scarcely a quarter of a mile. it possesses no one advantage that is not common to almost every other harbour and cove in the strait; and for a ship, or square-rigged vessel of any kind, it is both difficult to enter, and dangerous to leave. besides the local disadvantages of port san antonio, the weather in it is seldom fair, even when the day is fine elsewhere. it lies at the base of the lomas range, which rises almost perpendicularly to the height of three thousand feet, fronting the great western channel of the strait, whence it receives upon its cold surface the western winds, and is covered by the vapour, which is condensed from them, while in all other parts the sun may be shining brightly. this port is formed by a channel, a quarter of a mile wide, separating two islands from the shore. the best anchorage is off a picturesque little bay on the south island, which is thickly wooded to the water's edge with the holly leaved berberis,[ ] fuchsia, and veronica, growing to the height of twenty feet; over-topped and sheltered by large beech, and winter's-bark trees, rooted under a thick mossy carpet, through which a narrow indian path winds between arbutus and currant bushes, and round prostrate stems of dead trees, leading to the seaward side of the island. upon the beach, just within the bushes, and sheltered by a large and wide-spreading fuchsia bush, in full flower, stood two indian wigwams, which, apparently, had not been inhabited since the visit of poor ainsworth. he had occupied these very wigwams for two days, having covered them over with the boat's sail; and remains of the ropeyarns that tied it down were still there: a melancholy memento. [illustration: p. p. king s. bull fuegian wigwams at hope harbour in the magdalen channel. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } in no part of the strait did we find the vegetation so luxuriant as in this little cove. some of the winter's-bark and currant trees had shoots more than five feet long, and many of the winter's-bark trees were two feet in diameter. the veronica (i believe _v. decussata_) grows in the sheltered parts to the height of twenty feet, with a stem six inches in diameter. it was found too on the windward side of the island in abundance, and of large size, rooted in the very wash of the sea-beach, and exposed to the full force of the cold winds and hail-storms, which rush down the wide western reach of the strait. the fuchsia also grows to a large size; but it is a more delicate plant than the veronica, and thrives only in sheltered places. many were observed six inches in diameter; the stems of the two last plants were used by us, during our stay, for fuel. the day after our arrival, the gale subsided, and the weather became very fine indeed. the stillness of the air may be imagined, when the chirping of humming-birds, and buzzing of large bees, were heard at a considerable distance. a humming-bird had been seen at port gallant last year, and was brought to me by captain stokes, since which none had been noticed. here, however, we saw, and procured several; but of only one species.[ ] it is the same as that found on the western coast, as high as lima; so that it has a range of ° of latitude, the southern limit being ½°, if not farther south. the islets, at the north part of the port, were well stocked with geese and other birds, which supplied our people with fresh meals. the steamer duck we found difficult to shoot, from its excessive wariness, and power of remaining, for a great length of time, under water. our fine weather lasted but a few hours, and (no unusual occurrence in these regions) was succeeded by a week's rain and wind, during which we were confined to the small space { } of the adelaide; and for some days had three anchors down, owing to the violent squalls. farenheit's thermometer ranged between thirty-six and forty-six degrees, and we had several snow storms, but the snow did not lie on the low grounds. on the th the gale began to subside, and there was a change for the better; but we were again disappointed, and not until the st could we effect our departure from this dreary and confined little place. the day before we sailed, three canoes, containing in all sixteen persons, of whom six only were men, came alongside. for about an hour they had hesitated to approach; but when once near us, very little invitation was necessary to induce them to come on board. one was clothed in a duck shirt, which was recognised by one of our people, who had joined us from the uxbridge, as having been given to them a few weeks before, when that vessel passed through magdalen channel: another wore a red flannel shirt, and in the canoe we observed an european boarding-pike, painted green, and a part of the iron-work of the cutter, burned at port famine during our absence; also some relics of the boat in which mr. ainsworth was drowned, which last they had doubtless found thrown up on the beach. upon our inquiring how they became possessed of the iron-work, they pointed towards fort famine; and i have no doubt they were concerned in the fire; but as we could not explain to them the mischief they had occasioned, it was thought better not to notice the affair, and the articles were returned to them. they could have had no idea of our being the owners of the boat, or they would have concealed all that belonged to her. they conducted themselves very quietly during their stay on board, with the exception of one, who tried to pick my pocket of a handkerchief; the offender was ordered out of the vessel, and there was no further attempt to pilfer. they wished to go below; but this was not permitted, because the odour of their oily persons was scarcely tolerable, even in the open air. as to food, tallow-candles, biscuit, beef, plumb-pudding, were { } equally liked, and swallowed most voraciously. one of them was discovered taking the tallow out of the end of the deep sea lead and eating it, although mixed with sand and dirt. before sunset their canoes were despatched on shore to prepare the wigwams, during which operation three of the men remained on board; and as soon as the preparations were made they called for a canoe and went on shore. we obtained several spears, baskets, necklaces, bows and arrows from them in barter; but they seemed to have very few skins. perhaps those they possessed were hidden in the bushes, because they had no wish to part with them. one woman was covered with a guanaco mantle; another merely wore a seal-skin over her back and shoulders, which, while she crouched in the canoe, was sufficient to cover her person. one had a black stripe down the nose, but she was the only female among them who was so painted. next morning the indians visited us with a fresh assortment of bows and arrows, in the manufacture of which they had evidently passed the night, for every one was quite new; the bows were of green wood, and the arrows not even pointed. they found, however, a ready sale. one of the party was a man who had been turned out of our vessel the preceding evening, for picking my pocket; but he was daubed over with a whitish pigment to deceive us, and would probably have escaped detection, but for the unusual ugliness of his person, which was not so easily disguised. he was much disconcerted by our recognition; and our refusal to barter with him made him angry and sullen. the women had daubed their faces all over with bright red ochre; to add to their beauty, no doubt. we sailed out of the port by the northern passage, and standing across the strait, anchored in san nicolas bay. mr. graves went to bougainville harbour, to communicate with the adeona, and take letters from me to lieutenant wickham. he brought back an account of all being well at port famine, and of the beagle having sailed on the th. when we left port famine my intention was to examine { } the magdalen channel; but, upon leaving san nicolas bay ( st april), the weather was so favourable for our proceeding to the westward, that i changed my mind and steered round cape froward in order to get to port gallant, whence, with a westerly wind, we might more easily survey the coast in returning. an easterly breeze carried us near cape holland, into wood's bay, where we anchored, and obtained a bearing of mount sarmiento, which, being clear of clouds, was a conspicuous, and even splendid object; for the sun's setting rays, shining upon the projecting snowy ridges on its western side, gave it the appearance of a mass of streaky gold. it had been in sight the whole day, as well as the preceding evening, when its bearings were taken from the islet in san nicolas bay. the next day was so calm that we only reached an anchorage in bradley cove, on the west side of bell bay, of which a plan was made; an extensive set of bearings was also taken on the west point of the bay, evidently that called by sarmiento tinquichisgua.[ ] the conspicuous mountain at the back of the bay, on its south-eastern side, is particularly noticed by him, and, according to his opinion, is the "campana de roldan" of magalhaens.[ ] between bradley cove and point tinquichisgua are two coves, over which a high double-peaked mountain forms a conspicuous object upon rounding cape froward; and they were named in compliment to mr. pond, the late astronomer royal. while at point tinquichisgua we were discovered by some natives to the westward, who immediately got into their canoes, and paddled towards us; but, as we had no arms in the boat, i did not think it prudent to await their arrival; and therefore, after taking the requisite angles, embarked and returned to the adelaide, examining the inlets under mount pond on our way. nothing more was seen of the indians until the following morning, when, as we sailed out of the bay, they made their appearance, but we did not communicate { } with them. they were as vociferous as usual, and pointed to the shore, inviting us to land. one of them, who stood up in the canoe while we passed, was ornamented about the hair and body with white feathers. this part of the strait teems with whales, seals, and porpoises. while we were in bradley cove, a remarkable appearance of the water spouted by whales was observed; it hung in the air like a bright silvery mist, and was visible to the naked eye, at the distance of four miles, for one minute and thirty-five seconds before it disappeared. a glance at the chart of this part of the strait will show the difference of geological structure in the opposite coasts. the north shore, from cape froward to port gallant, forms a straight line, with scarcely a projection or bight; but on the opposite side there is a succession of inlets, surrounded by precipitous mountains, which are separated by ravines. the northern shore is of slate; but the other is principally of greenstone, and its mountains, instead of running up into sharp peaks, and narrow serrated ridges, are generally round-topped. the vegetation on both sides is almost equally abundant, but the trees on the south shore are much smaller. the smooth-leaved beech (_fagus betuloides_) and winter's-bark are the principal trees; but here and there a small tree was observed, like a cypress, which does not grow to the eastward, excepting on the sides of mount tarn, where it only reaches the height of three or four feet. the scenery of this part of the strait, instead of being as cordova describes it, "horrible," is at this season exceedingly striking and picturesque. the highest mountains certainly are bare of vegetation; but their sharp peaks and snow-covered summits afford a pleasing contrast to the lower hills, thickly clothed with trees quite to the water's side, which is bordered by masses of bare rock, studded with ferns and moss, and backed by the rich dark-green foliage of the berberis and arbutus shrubs, with here and there a beech-tree, just beginning to assume its autumnal tints. in working into the narrow entrance of port gallant, the { } schooner grounded upon a bank that extends off the mouth of the river; but the water being perfectly smooth, no damage was caused. as a secure cove, port gallant is the best in the strait of magalhaens; from the stillness of its waters, it is a perfect wet dock, and from its position it is invaluable. there are many coves as safe and convenient when once entered; but the prevailing steepness of the shores, as well as the great depth of water, are obstacles of serious importance. here, however, is an exception: the bottom is even and the depth moderate; besides, fortescue bay, close by, is an excellent roadstead or stopping-place, to await an opportunity of entering. for repairing a ship, port famine is more convenient, on account of the quantity and size of well-seasoned timber lying about the beach, and also from the open character of the country. at port gallant the trees are much stunted, and unfit for present use, while the shore, as is the case around almost every cove to the westward of cape froward, is covered with shrubs and brushwood, quite to the high-water mark; so that there is no possibility of walking easily to any distance from the sea-side. a shingle, or sandy beach, twenty or thirty yards in length, occasionally intervenes, but is scarcely preferable to a vessel's deck, for a walk. * * * * * { } chapter ix. detention in port san antonio--humming-birds in snow showers--fuegians-- geological remarks--canoes--carving--birds--fish--shag narrows-- glaciers--avalanches--natives--climate--winter setting in--adelaide loses a boat--floods--lightning--scurvy--adelaide's survey--bougainville harbour--indians cross the strait, and visit port famine--sealing vessels sail--scurvy increases--adelaide sent for guanaco meat--return of the beagle--captain stokes very ill--adelaide brings meat from the patagonians--death of captain stokes. our stay at this port was prolonged beyond my intention by thick snowy weather and hard gales, which cut off our communication with the shore; for notwithstanding we were in so sheltered a place, and the vessel had three anchors down, we did not consider her quite secure against the violent squalls. we had been fortunate in procuring observations, and took advantage of our detention to lay down the operations of the preceding days on paper. muscles were found in great abundance on the mud flats. there are three varieties, one of which has a bitter, disagreeable taste, but the others are exceedingly good and wholesome. one of the latter is of large size (_mytilus magellanicus_ of the ency. méth.) the other is of a more globose form than the bitter sort, and has a very obtuse hinge and margin. the bitter kind contains pearls, which are valueless, because small, and of a bad colour. at first there were plenty of sea-birds[ ] in the cove, which took refuge at the head of the bay; till after two days, they deserted us altogether. there appeared to be an abundance of fish; but as we had not provided ourselves with a seine, and they { } would not take bait, we were confined for refreshments principally to shell-fish. no traces of quadrupeds, excepting an indian dog, were noticed. here wallis's people saw a large cloven-footed animal, which they described to be as "big as a jack-ass." it was probably a deer, one or two of which had occasionally appeared at port famine.(e) it has been mentioned that we found many humming-birds at port san antonio, which we attributed to the sheltered situation of the place, and the luxuriant growth of fuchsias and other plants, upon the sweets of whose flowers they feed. here, however, one of the same species was seen sporting about in a most exposed place and during the falling of a snow shower, a proof of the hardy character of this little bird, which, if it does migrate upon the approach of winter to a warmer clime, lingers, at least, as long as it possibly can. this was the middle of april, the winter had, in fact, already commenced, and all the mountains around us were clothed with snow, while the ground was also coated with the same dazzling covering. mr. graves intended to ascend the mountain de la cruz; but a heavy fall of snow prevented the attempt, and we lost the opportunity of obtaining a round of angles from that elevation, which would have materially assisted our operations. we should also have obtained a bird's-eye view of the barbara channel and the sounds on the opposite side of the strait, whose extent and nature we did not know; for cordova's notice of san simon's bay, and a deep inlet which exists to the westward of it, is very unsatisfactory. there were no signs of a recent visit from the fuegians, though at the entrance of the cove we found three or four wigwams in good repair; whence it seems probable, that the place is one of their frequent haunts. when the beagle came here last year, some station staves were left standing; but, before her return, every one had been removed; and when captain stokes went down the barbara channel, to the relief { } of the saxe cobourg's crew, those staves were seen in the possession of the indians. a fine morning ( th) induced us to leave this quiet anchorage, to examine the openings of the south shore; and in the afternoon, the anchor was dropped in a convenient place, on the west side of the western inlet, named by us warrington cove. while crossing the bay from point elvira, the north extremity of cayetano island, several 'smokes' were observed on the low land, at the bottom of the inlet; and after we anchored two canoes visited us, containing six men, four women, and two or three children. they approached very cautiously, and could not be induced to come alongside. at last the men landed, and invited us to communicate with them. i therefore went on shore with two or three officers, and remained with them half an hour, during which they gradually lost the distrust they had at first evinced; but each man still carried a number of pebbles in the corner of his wrapper, ready to repel any attack we might make upon them; from the knowledge we have since obtained of their character, i think it probable that they had lately committed some act of aggression on a sealing-vessel, and were afraid of retaliation. our conduct tended to assure them of our friendship; and, shortly after we left the shore, they came alongside in their canoes, and were very familiar, eagerly bartering their necklaces and baskets. in their way to us they had probably landed their more valuable goods, such as otter and seal-skins, as well as their weapons and dogs, without which they never go far. the natives of this part are considered by the sealers to be the most mischievously inclined of any in the strait, or tierra del fuego. the appearance of our visitors was certainly against them; but they did not commit themselves during our two or three days' communication, by any act which could make us complain, or cause suspicion of their honesty and friendship. we, however, kept too good a look-out, to enable them to take advantage of our seeming good-nature. among bushes behind the high beach were three wigwams, but the indians had no intention of remaining with us for the { } night. they went away, to our great satisfaction, at an early hour, and returned to the bottom of the sound, where a large party of their countrymen was assembled. their departure enabled us to look round, in the vicinity of our anchorage, and examine its productions, which differed in no way from those of other parts of the coast. its geological structure is, however, different: the rocks are greenstone, or granite, without slate. mount maxwell, rising immediately over the cove, is the termination of a rocky mountain range, whose summits are crowned with snow. the verdant sides of the hill, interspersed at intervals with large masses of bare rock, produced, from a distance, rather a pleasing effect; but, upon examination, the verdure was found to consist principally of moss, or a stunted vegetation, covering a soft and swampy soil. the upper portions of the mount are so precipitous as not to be easily reached; and, indeed, many parts rise with a perpendicular ascent for more than a hundred feet. on the south side of mount maxwell is smyth inlet, which contains anchorage on the north shore, particularly one in earle cove; but in the centre the water is deep, and on that account, it is not an inviting place for a ship. during mr. graves's absence in smyth harbour, i examined the coast as far as cape edgeworth, where i obtained an extensive set of bearings. the afternoon was particularly favourable for the purpose, the snow-capped mountains of the north shore were perfectly distinct; and among them was a very high one, shaped like a highland target, the peak of the mountain answering to the central spike of the shield. we never afterwards saw it, nor could i, on this occasion, fix its position better, than by estimating its distance. the rock is chiefly greenstone, accompanied by considerable masses of granite. a little islet, off dighton cove, is composed of granite, of a lamelliform structure. mr. graves brought me a specimen of lamelliform granite attached to a mass of greenstone. the indians visited us every day, their number being generally from twelve to sixteen, of which five or six only were men, the rest were women, and children of all ages. one of the latter could not have been more than three weeks old; yet the { } mother, apparently about sixteen years of age, was always occupied in the laborious employment of paddling the canoes. the child was secured in the mother's lap, with its head on her bosom, by a mantle, which was drawn tightly round both mother and child. their canoes were similar to those of the eastern parts of the strait, about ten feet long, holding four or five grown persons and two or three children, besides their dogs, implements, and weapons: they are formed of bark, and kept in shape by wooden cross supports secured to the gunwale, which is lined by a long, slender pole. they are divided into three compartments, the foremost occupying about one-third of the length, contains the spears, placed ready for immediate use; in the second are the grown persons, with the fire-place between them, the men sitting between the fire-place and the spears, to be ready to use them upon the approach of seals or porpoises; on the opposite side of the fire-place are seated the women who paddle the canoe, in which the men sometimes assist, when great expedition is necessary. behind the women, in the third division, are the elder children and the dogs, the younger children being generally stowed away in the women's laps, for the sake of mutual warmth. the fire is made upon a layer of clay, several inches thick, at the bottom of the canoe; and above the fire, across the gunwales, are laid several pieces of half-burnt wood, for fuel. during our communications with these visitors they conducted themselves peaceably, and made no attempt to pilfer, although there was some little roguery displayed by them in barter. one of the men having parted with all his disposable property, tendered one of his daughters, a fine girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age, for some mere trifle, and, being refused, became very pressing and importunate to close the bargain for the price that was jestingly offered; nor was it without difficulty that he was convinced we were not in earnest. they were as poor as the rest of their countrymen, very badly clothed, and possessing few skins to barter. two of them exchanged their otter skin mantles for cotton shirts, which they continued to wear without complaining of cold. { } as their visits lasted all day they always brought their food, consisting of the blubber of seals and porpoises. the method used by them in cutting it up is nearly similar to that adopted by the esquimaux indians, as described by sir edward parry in his second voyage, and also resembles the process of the natives of king george's sound, which i have described in the account of my survey of australia (vol. ii. p. ): a piece of blubber being held in the left hand, a corner of it is taken between the teeth, and it is then cut by a knife, held underhanded, into strips backward and forward, without passing the instrument entirely through: so that when the operation is finished the piece draws out into a long band, about an inch thick, formed by the connected strips. the whole affair from first to last is most offensive to the sight; and the countenance of the carver is beyond description, for his eyes being directed to the blubber, squint shockingly, and give his ugly face a hideous appearance. the strip of blubber is next divided among the party, each of whom proceeds to extract its oily juices by drawing it through his teeth and sucking it, after which it is warmed in the fire to facilitate its division into small pieces, which are swallowed or bolted without mastication. morsels of this dainty food were given not only to the elder children, but even to infants at the breast. on the th, while preparing to weigh, the indians came on board and helped to heave in the cable, but without rendering us much real assistance. when the sails were loosed, the women in the canoes began to chatter and scream for fear we should carry off their friends, and their alarm was no sooner given than the deck was cleared of our visitors, who seemed to be quite as much frightened for their safety as the women were. in a few minutes afterwards we were proceeding to the southward, and first tried to anchor in a bay on the south side of smyth harbour, but finding the depth too great, i sent lieut. graves to sound behind an islet where there were indications of a place of shelter, but he returned unsuccessful. during his absence i went to a very narrow passage, which he had discovered, leading to a large channel or sound; but finding it { } intricate, i deferred trying to enter with the vessel until a more favourable opportunity should offer, and we returned to the place south of warrington cove, called dighton bay, where we anchored off a sandy beach in twenty fathoms, and secured the vessel by laying the kedge on the shore. this sandy beach was the first we had found in the eastern part of the strait. the sand is quartzose, of a white colour, and being a novelty, rendered the place interesting. a stream, supplied by the ravines of mount maxwell, runs over the beach into the sea, and from it an abundant supply of excellent water may be obtained without difficulty. we observed no quadrupeds; but, of the feathered tribe, we found woodpeckers, kingfishers, and woodcocks, and in the sheltered nooks several humming-birds were darting about the flowery underwood of berberis, fuchsia, and arbutus. in the tide-way, at the narrow passage, the sea teemed with fish; over which hovered corvorants and other sea-fowl, preying upon the small fry that were trying to elude their voracious enemies, the porpoises and seals, thousands of which were seen sporting about as we proceeded on our way. whales were also numerous in the vicinity, probably because of an abundance of the small red shrimp, which constitutes their principal food. i went again to examine the passage, and the tide being against us, we were obliged to pull close to the western shore to benefit by the partial eddies, otherwise we could not have proceeded until the turn of the tide. these narrows, named 'shag' narrows, from the quantity of birds there so called by seamen, are not a hundred yards wide. the south end is fronted by an island, from whose summit, about four hundred feet high, i hoped to obtain a good view southward, and after passing the narrows we landed and reached the summit. while looking around at the view, and preparing the theodolite, a woodcock started up from the long grass and walked away so leisurely, that mr. tarn nearly succeeded in striking it with a stick. this bird afforded us a name for the station, which we found to be at the northern side of a large basin, ten miles wide, and six long, terminated at { } its south end by a channel leading to the open sea, but crowded with islands and rocks. a deep inlet or chasm in the land, at the n.w. corner of this basin, was filled with masses of floating ice, broken from an enormous glacier. after obtaining all the bearings and embarking, we pulled three miles to the westward, and took a round of angles at point cairncross, the south-west point of field's bay, and again another set at the south head of icy sound, near dinner cove, where we found a very convenient anchorage for small vessels. through icy sound we found some difficulty in penetrating, as the channel was much obstructed by ice. three miles within this sound the rocky shore became more precipitous, and at two miles farther, where the width across was not more than one hundred and fifty yards, the rocks rise perpendicularly on each side to the height of seven or eight hundred feet. beyond this remarkable part the channel opens out to a basin about half a mile in diameter, bounded by a sloping glacier, from which immense masses of ice broke off frequently, and falling with a noise like the discharge of a ship's broadside, threw up the foaming water with terrific violence. as we entered the basin, we were startled by a sudden roar, occasioned by the fall of one of these avalanches, followed by echoes which reverberated round the basin and among the mountains. we remained for half an hour afterwards waiting for another fall, but were not gratified. several were heard at a distance, probably high up the sides of the glacier. the examination of icy sound occupied us until dark, when we returned to the schooner. during our absence, indians had again visited the adelaide, the greater number of whom were strangers. we had also seen a party in a canoe close to mount woodcock, who were striking seal, and too intent upon their object to pay much attention to any thing else. on the th, the term of our absence having expired, we left dighton bay on our return: at night we anchored in st. nicholas bay, and the day after arrived at port famine. { } natives had discovered and visited the ship while i was away, but lieut. wickham did not encourage them to remain; and two or three attempts to pilfer being detected, they were treated with very little ceremony; so finding their company was not desired, they went across the strait to lomas bay, where for several days afterwards the smoke of their fires was seen. they were the same indians whom we had met at port san antonio. that these indians should be received so coolly, may seem to have been impolitic on our side, when it is considered that our smaller vessels and boats might be met with, and their crews ill-treated by way of retaliation. it was, however, time that they should know our superiority; for, of late, several very treacherous attacks had been made by them on sealing vessels, and this party was the most forward and insolent we had seen. one of them was teazing several of the men to box, an accomplishment he had probably learnt from the crews of sealing vessels; among others, he fixed upon the serjeant of marines, who very unceremoniously pushed him over the side, and made him return to his canoe, which he resented by pushing off from the ship's side, and throwing a stone at the serjeant, who was standing at the gangway. as it missed him, and did no harm, no notice was taken of his mischief. we afterwards heard that the same party had visited bougainville harbour, where the adeona was at anchor; but as mr. low neither gave them encouragement to remain, nor permitted them to go on board his brig, they very soon went away. the difference between the climates of the western and eastern portions of the strait was very striking. to the westward the country, being principally clothed with evergreens, such as the smooth-leaved beech, and winter's-bark, with an underwood of arbutus and berberis, seems to possess a constant verdure, nor until the snow covers all, does it assume any thing like the appearance of winter. to the eastward, evergreens are less common, their place being occupied by the beech (_fagus antarctica_), whose leaves fall very early. snow had also begun to cover the lower grounds, giving signs of winter. april { } terminated with finer weather than we had experienced for some weeks, but may set in with north-easterly winds and much rain, succeeded by a heavy fall of snow. "tristis hyems montes niveo velamine vestit." as yet the thermometer had not been very low. on one or two occasions it had fallen during the night to °, but generally it ranged between ° and °. the adelaide was again despatched on the th april, to carry on an examination of the openings on each side of cayetano island; but she returned on the st of may, with the disagreeable intelligence of having had her only serviceable boat stolen by the indians. this was a serious loss, not only on account of so much time being thrown away, but also because we had no other boat to substitute for her. to prevent delay, i sent to mr. low, at bougainville harbour, requesting that he would sell one of his boats; but he was himself so badly off, from similar losses, that he could only assist us by lending one for a few weeks, and as it was the only boat he possessed, it could not be spared to go far from his vessel. i, therefore, despatched mr. graves, in the adelaide, to bougainville harbour, to employ himself in examining the coast thence to cape froward, and in the mean time began to build a whale-boat, to be ready for the adelaide's use as soon as winter had passed over; for, from mr. graves's report of the state of the climate to the westward, very little could be done during the winter months. the following is lieut. graves's account of the loss of his boat:--upon leaving port famine he proceeded at once to port gallant, and surveyed cordes bay; after which he crossed the strait to st. simon's bay, and anchored in millar cove, on its western side, immediately to the north of port langara, from which it is only separated by a narrow neck of land. the adelaide remained there at anchor while mr. graves visited the different parts of the bay. her presence had attracted a large party of indians, who, occupying several wigwams near the entrance of the cove, paid daily visits to { } our people, and were apparently very familiar and well-disposed. but they had cast a longing eye on the whale-boat, which, when equipped for service, contained many things very useful to them, and they laid a plan to carry her off, which succeeded. one evening she was prepared for going away at an early hour the following day, and, to save time, every thing that might be required was placed in her, and she was made fast for the night. two or three indians were then on board, and observing what was done, laid their plan, and at sunset took their leave as usual. the night was pitchy dark, and at nine o'clock the boat was missed from alongside. the alarm was given, and instant search made at the wigwams of the indians, who had all decamped, without leaving the least trace of themselves or the boat. the 'painter,' or rope by which she had been fastened to the vessel, had been cut through with some sharp instrument, most probably a knife, which our people had sharpened for them on the grindstone that very day. every possible search was made next morning, but without success; the boat that was left was one which could not be used with any advantage, and mr. graves returned to port famine. vexatious as the accident was, i could not blame him for what had occurred, for no one had suspicions of such conduct from the indians, who, on all other occasions, had kept at a distance from us after night-fall. the boat was properly secured alongside, and the night was so cold that no person would have thought the indians would expose themselves to such a temperature ( °); for they must have swum alongside to cut her adrift, and then must have towed her away very gradually, to prevent the theft being discovered, for there were two persons walking the deck at the time. mr. tarn, who accompanied mr. graves on this occasion, brought me a very fine sea-eagle (_polyborus novæ zealandiæ_), and some other birds, and a specimen from a shrub which we had not before observed, a species of _desfontanea_. in order to prevent a similar loss in future, the adelaide { } was forthwith fitted with cranks outside, for hoisting up her boats when in harbour. winter advanced rapidly; the ground was constantly covered with snow, from one to two feet deep, and every night more fell. in the early part of june we had a gale of wind from the n.w., which flooded the low ground upon which our tents stood; but fortunately the large tent had been accidentally placed on a higher part, and escaped. this flood filled, and, of course, spoiled the water in all the ponds about the tents; and we had afterwards to procure our supplies from a considerable distance. on the th of june much lightning was observed to the northward, and repeated rumbling noises were heard, which continued for long periods; one lasted distinctly for the space of twenty minutes. at first, they were thought to be eruptions of some distant volcano; but, from the frequent lightning, they were probably echoes of thunder, reverberating through the deep ravines that intersect the rocky ridges of the cordillera, from which we were distant at least one hundred and fifty miles. a succession of bad weather followed, during which the barometer fluctuated rapidly. on the th, the mercury fell to . . inches, after which it gradually rose, with fine settled weather, until it reached . ., when bad weather again set in. the people at the tents experienced another inundation. had the water risen six inches more, it would have carried every thing away; and as the wind was blowing dead upon the shore, while a heavy surf was beating upon the beach, we could have rendered them very little assistance from the ship. the severity of the weather brought a most disagreeable accompaniment. scurvy appeared, and increased; while the accidental death of a seaman, occasioned by falling down a hatchway, followed by the decease of two others, and also of mr. low, of the adeona, whose body was brought to me for burial, tended to create a despondency amongst the crew that i could in no way check. the monotony of their occupations, the chilling and gloomy appearance of the country, and the severity of the climate, all tended to increase the number of the { } sick, as well as the unfavourable symptoms of their disease. the beagle's term of absence was, however, drawing to a close, and i caused a rumour to be spread, that upon her appearance we should quit port famine. to give a semblance of reality to this report, the topmasts were ordered to be fidded, and the ship otherwise prepared for sea, which had a manifest effect upon the scorbutic, of whom several were in a bad stage of that horrid disease, and many others were just attacked. we found ourselves now, too, thrown on our own resources for fresh food: scarcely a fish was taken with the hook, and the seine, although frequently shot, never caught anything. of birds, only a few hawks and small finches were procured, which were all reserved for the sick, the greater number of whom lived on shore, at the tents, where they might walk about, and amuse themselves as they pleased. the adelaide returned from bougainville harbour on the th of june, having succeeded in the object for which she was sent. the extremity of cape froward, a bluff head, over which is a round-topped hill (precisely the french 'morre') is what sarmiento called the morro de santa agueda. any name given by this excellent old navigator is too classical and valuable to be omitted; therefore, while the extremity itself may retain the modern appellation of cape froward, the mountain by which it is formed may still be allowed to keep his distinction. behind it, the land rises to a higher ridge, the edge of which is remarkably serrated, and probably of a slaty character. the specimens procured from the cape were clay-slate, much intermixed with iron pyrites, and crossed by small veins of white quartz. of the anchorages examined by mr. graves, bougainville harbour, better known to sealers by the name of jack's cove, or harbour, is the most sheltered. it is surrounded on all sides by high precipitous hills, thickly clothed with trees. the depth is moderate, and the water so beautifully clear, that the anchors, and even shells and stones, were distinctly seen upon the bottom. it was here that bougainville procured wood for the use of the settlement { } at the falkland islands. captain stokes says of this place: "after seeing the abundant supplies of timber which freshwater bay and port famine afford, i had shared in the surprise which byron expresses, that any one should have come so far up the strait to get it; but on examining the spot, i found that a happier selection could not have been made. it is a little cove, just round the eastern point of the bay of san nicolas, about a hundred yards wide and three times as long. here, moored to the shore, a ship may lie in eight fathoms, perfectly sheltered from any wind, the water as smooth as in a wet-dock. shapely trees, of all dimensions, are growing within a few yards of the shore; and the wood, when felled, may be hoisted on board from the beach, by tackles from the yard-arms. here, too, with very little trouble, a supply of water may be got from the many streams that make their way through the underwood which skirts the cove. as we pulled up this sequestered nook, the unusual sound of our oars and voices put to flight multitudes of birds, and the surface of the water was broken by the jumping of fine fish. some very eatable geese were shot. our stay was too short to admit of hauling the seine; but my boat's crew contrived to half-fill the boat with excellent muscles and limpets, which are found here in great plenty." the geological character of the coast between cape st. isidro and san nicolas bay is clay-slate; near the beach, however, this rock is not visible, since it is there covered with a kind of breccia of rounded pebbles, in an indurated sandy rock, of green colour. the pebbles are principally of slate; but some were found to be of granite and other quartzose rock, perhaps greenstone. one of the headlands, called by m. bougainville cape remarquable, was examined by mr. graves for fossil shells, of which the french navigator speaks. half the rock was beaten to pieces, without detecting anything like organic remains. living shells were in the greatest abundance about the base of the cape, but that is the case every where. the species generally found are limpets and muscles, but with little variety and no novelty. { } on the st of june, after a heavy north-east gale, we had an unusually fine day. the hills at the bottom of magdalen channel were more distinct than we had ever noticed them, and mount sarmiento was particularly clear; indeed its outline was so sharply defined, that the distance did not appear to be more than ten miles. this extraordinary transparency of the air was at first considered a presage of wet weather; yet the clear and sharp appearance of the distant land was unlike that which usually precedes a fall of rain. the long series of rainy weather we had experienced made us look for a good result from such an unusual atmosphere, and we were not deceived. the following day our hopes were still further confirmed by seeing three indian canoes, coming across the strait, towards us, from lomas bay, which they would not have attempted had they not been sure of its continuing fine; for their canoes are ill adapted to encounter the short cross sea found during bad weather in mid-channel of the strait. although the presence of the natives did not in general please me, because it naturally put a stop to all work; yet, on this occasion it was agreeable, as it tended in some measure to enliven the monotonous manner in which we passed our days. upon reaching the bay, the indians did not approach the ship, but paddled into the coves under point santa anna, where our boat was employed watering. mr. graves went to them, to prevent mischief, and found they were the same party who had before visited us. when our boats returned, they paddled over to the wigwam at the head of the port, about a quarter of a mile beyond our tents, and began to repair it, and by sunset were housed and sheltered for the night. we had, however, so lately experienced their treacherous disposition, that no confidence was placed in appearances. sentinels were posted at the tents, to give the alarm, should any of them approach; and at eight o'clock a volley of musketry was fired, by way of intimidation, and to impress them with the idea that we kept a watch upon their movements, and were prepared. while the wigwams were repairing, a few of the indians visited our tents; but were not allowed to pass within a rope { } that, by my orders, was stretched around our property, a restriction which they did not attempt to evade. at sunset all were told to go away, and they immediately, as well as cheerfully, complied. the next morning, and indeed throughout the whole day, the neighbourhood of the wigwams exhibited the appearance of a fair. i visited them, and found that they had not only repaired an old wigwam, but erected another. both together contained the whole party, consisting of twenty-six individuals, among whom were an old man, and two old women. they had brought over a collection of baskets, bows and arrows, stone heads of knives, &c. to sell to our people, who had always shown eagerness to possess these curiosities. the knife-heads were made generally of pitch-stone; but the greater number were of broken glass bottles, which they had collected when they visited us last year. a few strings of beads purchased all their riches; after which they sold their dogs, and mr. graves procured one of them for a knife and a string of beads. it was a remarkably fine animal, and showed great reluctance to be handled by our people, several of whom were bitten in their attempts to take him to the boat. at night one of the canoes was despatched to collect shell-fish, probably sea-eggs, from the reef of rocky bay. the following morning all their goods were embarked, and then they paddled their canoes to the beach, near the tents, where some of their men landed. they had nothing to offer in exchange for several things which tempted them, and were beginning to grow troublesome. one of them, the individual who threw a stone at the sergeant, persisting to pass the boundary that was marked upon the ground, which no one of them had before presumed to do, was pushed back by the sentinel; upon which he ran to his canoe and took out several spears, doubtless intending to try to force a passage; but the appearance of two or three muskets brought him to his senses, and the spears were returned to the canoe; after which he became familiar, and apparently friendly. this affair, however, was soon followed by their departure, which gave me much { } satisfaction. they went southward, landing for the night in voces bay, and the following day went to the adeona, in bougainville harbour, where they remained some days. the day after the indians left us, a boat came from the adeona, to acquaint us that, in a day or two, she and her companions, the uxbridge and mercury, intended to leave the strait for the falkland islands; upon which i prepared letters for england, and a report of my proceedings for the secretary of the admiralty. the ships passed by on the th, and took my letters. this last month (june) set in with snow or rain, which continued until the th, when the weather assumed a very threatening appearance. on the th the barometer fell to . , and the wind blew a hard gale from n.e.; but in the afternoon it veered round to s.w., and the mercury rose rapidly. a gale from s.w. followed, and then to the end of the month we had a series of moderate weather, but much snow. the mean temperature for june was °, the range being between °, and °, . july commenced with an unusually low temperature and a high barometer; the former, on the th was °, , and the latter, at the same time, at , inches, having risen since the th of june . of an inch. after this we had a few mild and fine days, but paid dearly for them; a northerly gale set in, bringing with it unwholesome damp weather, in which the temperature rose to between ° and °, and melted much of the snow that had covered the ground, quite to the water's edge, during the last two months. our sick-list, particularly of cases of scurvy, increased so much, during this damp, trying weather, that i determined upon sending the adelaide to the northward, to procure a supply of fresh meat from the patagonians; and, at the same time, to survey that part of the strait lying between cape negro and the second narrow. lieutenants graves and wickham, and mr. tarn, went upon this service, the latter being most anxious to procure some change of diet for the sick under his care, for some of whom he was much alarmed. the appearance and severity of this { } disease, although every precaution had been used, and subsequent attention paid to their diet, are not easy to account for: fresh provisions, bread baked on board, pickles, cranberries, large quantities of wild celery, preserved meats and soups, had been abundantly supplied; the decks were kept well-aired, dry, and warm, but all to no purpose; these precautions, perhaps, checked the disease for a time; but did not prevent it, as had been fully expected. the adelaide sailed on the th of july, with every prospect of fine weather. the same evening, an american sealing schooner anchored near us, on her way to staten land. she had entered the straits by cutler and smyth channels, and in forty-eight hours arrived at port famine. after obtaining some trifling assistance from our forge, she sailed. on the th, three new cases of scurvy appeared, one being the assistant-surgeon, which increased our sick-list to fourteen. feeling the necessity of doing something, i ordered the hands to be turned up, 'prepare ship for sea!' no sooner had the words escaped the boatswain's lips, than all was life, energy, and delight. the preliminary preparations were made, and every one looked forward with pleasure to the change, except myself. i had hoped to pass the twelve months at port famine, with the intention of completing a meteorological journal, for which this place afforded peculiar advantages. my plan was, on the beagle's return, to despatch her and the schooner along the west coast, and join them in the adventure at chilóe. as our departure was now supposed to depend on the beagle's arrival, every eye was on the stretch to watch for her, and every morning some one of our party ascended the heights, to look out. on the th she was seen, beating up from the southward; but as the wind was contrary, she did not anchor in the bay until the evening. her return was greeted with three most hearty cheers; but on passing under our stern, lieutenant skyring informed me that captain stokes was confined to his cabin by illness, and could not wait on me. i therefore went to the beagle, and found captain stokes looking very ill, and in low spirits. he expressed himself much distressed by the { } hardships the officers and crew under him had suffered; and i was alarmed at the desponding tone of his conversation. he told me that the beagle had been up the western coast as high as cape tres montes, in latitude °, had surveyed the gulf of peñas and other portions of the coast, particularly port henry, at cape three points, the entrance of the gulf of trinidad, and port santa barbara, at the north end of campana island. during the survey of the gulf of peñas they had experienced very severe weather, both stormy and wet, during which the beagle's crew were incessantly employed, and had consequently suffered greatly. captain stokes seemed not to have spared himself. he appeared much gratified by my visiting him, and before we parted he was for a time restored to his usual energy, detailing the circumstances of the voyage, and conversing upon the plan of our future operations with considerable animation. the return of the beagle cheered our ship's company, and on the th the adelaide came back, with a large quantity of guanaco meat, which had been procured from the patagonian indians at peckett's harbour. when the adelaide anchored there, about thirty natives appeared on the shore. mr. tarn landed, and communicated our wants, saying that he would give tobacco and knives for as much guanaco meat as they could procure; with them was the fuegian, who seemed to be a leading man, and to have become one of the most active of the party. he was the principal spokesman, and upon commencing the hunt he pointed to the snow upon the ground, and called it 'bueno' (good), because it would show the traces of the animals, and the direction they had taken. mr. wickham thus described to me the manner in which they hunted: two men ascended a hill, placed themselves one at each end of its summit, and stood motionless for some time, on the look-out. as soon as guanacoes were seen, their position and movements were communicated, by signs, to the men in the valley, who were thus enabled to approach their game unawares. the guanacoes are taken with the bolas, which entangle their legs and throw them down. as soon as they are killed, { } they are skinned and cut up. the first night seven hundred pounds of meat were brought, and two thousand and forty-six pounds were obtained in a few days. this ample change of diet inspired me with the hope that our sick, at least those affected by scurvy, would recover, and that after another large supply, which we now knew how to obtain, we might be enabled to prosecute our voyage as was first intended. all hands were therefore allowed fresh meat for a week, and the residue was placed at the disposal of the surgeon, for the use of the sick, but all ineffectually; the list still increased, and lieutenant wickham, with a violent cold, and mr. rowlett, with scurvy, were added to it. the assistant-surgeon's became the worst case of scurvy on board; and our people, finding that the preparations for quitting the place were not going on, began to despond again. captain stokes was anxious to prepare his vessel for another cruize, being very averse to giving up our plans and returning to monte video, since he thought the crews, from utter disgust at the privations and hardships they had endured, would not be persuaded to go on another voyage; but that if they were to go to chilóe or valparaiso, to refresh, they might recover their strength and spirits, and be willing to renew the survey; which, however, he himself seemed to dread, for he never mentioned the subject without a shudder. he was evidently much excited, and suspicions arose in my mind that all was not quite right with him. i endeavoured to prevail on him to give his people a longer rest, but he was the more anxious to make preparations. on the st july he sent an application for provisions, and in the evening i received a note from him, which was written in his former usual flow of spirits. the officers, however, knew more of the diseased state of his mind than i did; and it was owing to a hint given to me, that i desired mr. tarn to communicate with mr. bynoe, and report to me whether captain stokes's health was sufficiently restored to enable him to commence another cruize. this was on the st of august. the provisions had been sent, in compliance with his application, and the surgeons were on board the adventure, { } considering upon their report, which was, as i afterwards found, very unfavourable, when a boat came from the beagle, with the dreadful intelligence that captain stokes, in a momentary fit of despondency, had shot himself. the surgeons instantly repaired on board, and finding him alive, had recourse to every means in their power, but without hope of saving his life. during the delirium that ensued, and lasted four days, his mind wandered to many of the circumstances, and hair-breadth escapes, of the beagle's cruize. the following three days he recovered so much as to be able to see me frequently; and hopes were entertained by himself, but by no one else, that he would recover. he then became gradually worse, and after lingering in most intense pain, expired on the morning of the th. thus shockingly and prematurely perished an active, intelligent, and most energetic officer, in the prime of life. the severe hardships of the cruize, the dreadful weather experienced, and the dangerous situations in which they were so constantly exposed--caused, as i was afterwards informed, such intense anxiety in his excitable mind, that it became at times so disordered, as to cause the greatest apprehension for the consequences. on the return of the beagle he got better; and the officers were so sanguine in hoping for his complete restoration to health, on account of his progressive recovery, that nothing which had transpired was communicated to me until after his decease. his remains were interred at our burial-ground, with the honours due to his rank, and a tablet was subsequently erected to his memory. * * * * * { } chapter x. account of the beagle's cruize--borja bay--cape quod--stuart bay--cape notch--remarks on weather, and errors of chart--evangelists--santa lucia--madre de dios--gulf of trinidad--port henry--puma's track-- humming-birds--very bad weather--campana island--dangers--gale--wet-- sick--santa barbara--wager's beam--wigwams--guaianeco islands--cape tres montes--st. paul's--port otway--hoppner sound--cape raper. the following account of the beagle's cruize is drawn up from captain stokes's unfinished journal, and from detached memoranda, which were found amongst his papers. it will be recollected that, on my departure from port famine, in the adelaide, in the month of march, to survey portions of the southern side of the strait, i left instructions with captain stokes to proceed in the execution of his orders as soon as the beagle was ready. the details of those orders it is unnecessary to repeat here, as they were performed to my entire satisfaction; it will be merely requisite, as briefly as possible, to follow him through a most arduous and distressing service. it is the sequel that embitters the record. "on the th of march, i sailed from port famine, and next day reached port gallant. "on the d, we anchored in the little cove called borja bay, which, though very confined, and rather difficult of access, suited our purpose extremely well. (see sailing directions). while there we measured the height of one of the principal hills in the neighbourhood, and found it , feet. "bad weather detained us until the th, when we passed cape quod, and reached stuart bay. many places were left unexamined, because my object was to hasten westward before the year was farther advanced. "( th.) we left stuart bay, and continued our progress to the westward, with westerly winds, thick weather, and rain. { } the shores of the straits were seldom visible to us, from a thick mist with which they were clouded: it is, however, a bold coast on each side, otherwise the strait would be utterly unnavigable in such weather. near cape notch the mountains spire up into peaks of great height, singularly serrated, and connected by barren ridges. about their bases there are generally some green patches of jungle; but, upon the whole, nothing can be more sterile and repulsive than the view. this afternoon we passed playa parda, and in the evening anchored in marian cove. "in the course of the next day the wind freshened to a strong and squally gale from the w.n.w., with much rain; the weather was so thick that we could scarcely make out the coast. in this kind of weather, the lower parts of the shore are screened from view by mist, and the upper ones are seen looming through it in lofty masses, in a manner which would lead a stranger to believe that the ship was completely environed with islands. "in the evening we anchored in the little cove called half port bay, and next morning resumed our daily struggle against wind, tide, and weather. "we crossed the mouth of a deep sound on the north shore,[ ] where no tide or current was remarked: the delineation of the coast about this point is particularly defective in the old charts; fortunately, however, for the navigator, he has here to deal with shores where the omission of a whole island, or even the addition of a few that do not exist, is of less consequence to his safety than the exact limit of one sand-bank in other parts of the world. this night we anchored in upright bay, which, though affording excellent shelter from the prevailing winds, is bad with a southerly one; as, from the steepness of the bottom requiring a vessel to anchor close to the shore, sufficient scope is not left for veering cable. "sheltered by the high land under which we were anchored, { } with the exception of occasional gusts down the ravines and sounds, we had the wind light at w.s.w.; but the rapid travelling of the scud over-head showed that the usual weather prevailed. we weighed early next morning ( th), and by noon had reached so far to the westward that the easternmost of the round islands in cape tamar bight bore north about two miles. by nightfall we were off cape cortado; but the weather seeming settled and the wind drawing to the southward, i resolved to keep under weigh, and try to get out to sea that night. circumstances favoured us; the weather was fine, the moon remained unclouded, and the wind held at s.s.w. an hour after midnight cape pillar bore w.s.w., distant about two miles, and thence we shaped our course for the evangelists, which we passed at the distance of a mile. "the evangelists, as they are called by the early spanish voyagers, or as they were afterwards named ( ) by sir john narborough, the isles of direction,[ ] are a group of four rocky islets, and some detached rocks and breakers, occupying altogether a space of three miles; they are exceedingly rugged and barren, and suited only to afford a resting-place for seals and oceanic birds. from the heavy sea prevalent there, and the raging surf that generally breaks around, landing on them can be rarely practicable; yet sealers effect it. the mate of a sealing vessel told me that he had landed on the largest in a whale-boat, and killed several thousand seals. the evangelists are of sufficient height to be seen in clear weather from a ship's deck, at the distance of six or seven leagues, but the superior elevation of the coast on both sides will usually render it visible, before these islands can be observed. "immediately on rounding the evangelists a cape was distinguished, appearing to terminate the northern coast line, which we made out to be 'cape isabel' of the spanish charts. it is a steep, rocky promontory of great height, having at its base some detached columnar masses of rock, and at its summit a peak, and a serrated ridge; off it is a steep-sided island, { } which proved to be that (beagle island) of which lieut. skyring and i took the bearing last year, when we were on the summit of cape victory. "northward of cape victory the land forms a deep bight, of which cape santa lucia is the north-eastern headland. the coast in the interval is exceedingly rugged and mountainous. cape santa lucia may be distinguished by a portion of flat table-land, about one-third of the altitude of the mountain from which it proceeds, and terminating at its outer face with a perpendicular precipice. "the coast between capes isabel and santa lucia is dangerous to approach nearer than ten miles, for there are within that distance many sunken rocks, on which the sea only occasionally breaks. some of these breakers were seen to seaward of us, as we proceeded along the coast, at the distance of five or six miles. when off santa lucia, whales were very numerous around us. "the general aspect of this portion of the coast is similar to that of the most dreary parts of the magalhaenic regions: bare, rugged, rocky, and mountainous, intersected by inlets, and bordered by islets, rocks, and breakers. "the information we possessed respecting the prevalent winds on this coast was very scanty; yet, since all we could procure represented them as prevailing from the northward and north-westward, i considered it advisable to take advantage of the present southerly wind to proceed to the northern part of the coast assigned for our survey, instead of stopping to explore the bight between cape isabel and cape santa lucia. "from the bearings at sunset,[ ] we ran along the land with bright moonlight, sounding every hour; and at daylight were about ten miles from the island of madre de dios. "we closed the land and proceeded to the northward, keeping at a distance of about three miles off shore, sounding { } between twenty-eight and thirty-three fathoms, sandy bottom. the weather was clear and fine, and we were enabled to make observations, and take the bearings and angles, necessary for laying down the coast satisfactorily. "at noon we were in latitude ° ' south, and in the meridian of cape tres puntas, between which and a cape bearing from us n. ° e. (magnetic), distant eight miles, there was evidently an inlet: this cape is marked on the chart as cape william. the character of the land is the same with that which we had hitherto passed, bare, rugged, rocky mountains, with peaks, and sharply serrated ridges. from daylight to noon we had run twenty-one miles along the coast; in that interval only one inlet was seen, which was in the latitude of ° ' south, agreeing well with the 'west channel' of the spanish chart. it was four miles wide at its mouth, and appeared to follow a winding course to the eastward. the land of cape tres puntas curved in to the eastward, until it closed with cape william; at dusk we were abreast of cape william, and two leagues off shore, where we lay-to till daylight, as i wished to examine the inlet between it and cape tres puntas, which subsequently proved to be sarmiento's gulf of trinidad. the old navigator thus describes its discovery: "'at daylight, th of march, , in the name of the most holy trinity, we saw land, bearing e.s.e., ten leagues distant, towards which we steered to explore it. at mid-day, being near the land, we observed the latitude ½°, but hernando alonzo made it ° '. in approaching the shore we saw a great bay and gulf, which trended deeply into the land towards some snowy mountains. to the south there was a high mountain, with three peaks, wherefore pedro sarmiento named the bay 'golfo de la sanctisima trenidad.' the highest land of the three peaks was named 'cabo de tres puntas ó montes.' this island is bare of vegetation, and at the water-side is low and rugged, and lined with breakers; on the summit are many white, grey, and black-coloured portions of ground, or rock. six leagues to the north of cape tres puntas is the opposite side of the gulf, where it forms a large high mountain, backed { } to the north by low land, and fronted by many islands. this high mountain, which appears to be an island from the offing, was called 'cabo primero.''[ ] "the following night was clear, and the wind moderate from s.e., but in the course of next morning it shifted to n.e., with squalls, rain, and thick weather; we worked into the inlet notwithstanding, and by noon had reached three miles within its s.w. head-land, cape william, and were abreast of a bay, into which i sent a boat to look for anchorage. on her return we stood into it, and anchored in the excellent harbour, afterwards named port henry, where we remained from the d to the th of april, employed in making a correct survey of the harbour and its adjacencies, and determining the latitude and longitude.[ ] "the inner harbour, distinguished in the plan by the name of 'aid basin,' is perfectly land-locked, and sufficiently spacious to contain a numerous squadron of the largest ships in twenty fathoms water, over a mud bottom, and as completely sheltered from the effects of wind and sea as in wet-docks. at the south-west side of the basin is a fresh-water lake, which discharges itself by a small stream, whence casks might be conveniently filled by means of canvas hoses, and the shores around have wood for fuel in abundance; but, from the lofty surrounding mountains, some rising almost perpendicularly to an elevation of two thousand feet, the thick clouds with which this basin was generally overhung, and the dense exhalations that arose from it during the rare intervals of sunshine, together with the exceeding prevalence of heavy rain on this coast, this place must be disagreeable and unhealthy. such objections do not apply to the outer harbour, for while its shores afford shelter, they do not obstruct a free circulation of air. it is sufficiently large to afford convenient and secure anchorage for five or six frigates. "we hauled the seine with very poor success, as a few smelt only were taken; we had no better luck with our fishing-lines; { } but the trial might have been more profitable at another season, judging from the number of seals we saw on the rocks off the port, which live principally upon fish. muscles, limpets, and sea-eggs abound here, and are good and wholesome of their kind. birds are few in number, and of the species most common in these regions. no quadruped of any kind was seen; but the purser told me that he had observed, near the sandy beach, traces of a four-footed animal, resembling those of a tiger: he followed them to a cavern, and thence to the jungle. he also said that he had seen several humming-birds. "with the exception of wild celery and the arbutus berry, i know not of any useful vegetable production that this place affords, unless the 'winter's-bark tree' may be mentioned. some coarse grass, fit perhaps for animals, may be there procured. the only signs of inhabitants were some wigwams on the western point, which seemed to have been long forsaken: in their construction they were precisely similar to those erected by the migratory tribes in the straits of magalhaens: and the shells of muscles, limpets, and sea-eggs, within and about them, showed that the former tenants of these hovels drew, like the magalhaenic tribes, a principal part of their subsistence from shell-fish. "around the harbour are granite mountains, perfectly bare at their summits and north-western sides, but the lower parts are thickly covered in sheltered places and ravines, partly with trees, and partly with brushwood: among the trees growing here we observed, as usual, two kinds of beech, a tree like the cypress, but of small size, and the winter's-bark. the underwood is composed of all the various shrubs we had met with in the straits of magalhaens; and this brushwood is so thickly spread over the lower parts of the shores of the harbour, that it is only by crawling over it that the distance of a few yards from the rocks can be gained; and being generally of insufficient strength to support a man's weight, it frequently gives way beneath him, and he is so completely buried, as to make it difficult for him to extricate himself. "scarcely any of the trees attain a size to render them fit { } for any thing but firewood; of those we felled there was scarcely one that was not more or less rotten at the heart, a defect probably caused by the extreme humidity of the climate. "during our stay, the master, accompanied by our boatswain's mate,(f) an experienced sealer, went to take seal on the rocks, and returned in a few hours with some of the inferior sort, called 'hair seal,' which were numerous; but the surf was in most places too heavy to allow them to land without much risk. the fry of the young seals we thought extremely good, not exceeded even by the finest lamb's fry. "on the morning of the th we worked to the westward, to clear the land on each side of the inlet; and at sunset, capo tres puntas bore n.b.w. ½ w., distant two leagues. the northerly breeze, which we had worked with since leaving port henry, increased rapidly to a hard gale, and by p.m. we were reduced to the close-reefed main-topsail and reefed foresail. the gale continued with unabated violence during the th, th, and th, from the north, n.w., and s.w., with a confused mountainous sea. our decks were constantly flooded, and we could rarely show more than the close-reefed main-topsail and reefed foresail. only two accidents occurred: the little boat which we carried astern was washed away by a heavy sea that broke over us, while hoisting her in-board; and the marine barometer was broken by the violent motion of the vessel. at noon, on the th, cape corso bore from us, by account, s.e. (true), distant fifty-five miles. i had tried to gain a wide offing to get a less turbulent sea, and because not even an outline of the sea-coast of campana island was drawn in the chart. we had not, during these three days, a glimpse of the sun or of a star, for it blew a constant gale, accompanied by squalls, thick weather, and rain. according to the time of year, the season of winter had not arrived, but the weather seemed to say it was already come-- sullen and sad, with all it's rising train of vapours, clouds, and storms. { } "the wind abated at daylight on the th, and drew to the southward, and thence to the s.e. (the fair weather quarter of this coast). we bore up to make the land, and at about a.m. the 'loom' of it was seen from the mast-head. at noon, high mountains were visible from the deck; our latitude, by observation, was ° ', and our longitude, by chronometer, ° ' west of port henry. no soundings were obtained with one hundred and ten fathoms of line. hence we steered east (magnetic) towards a remarkable mountain, which, from our being nearly in the parallel of it at noon, has been marked in the chart as parallel peak. the coast we were upon was that of the island 'campana,' and, in its general appearance, did not differ from that of madre de dios. it was late before we got very close to the land; but, for a couple of leagues to the northward, and about a league to the southward of the parallel of our latitude at noon, we could distinguish rocks and breakers skirting the coast to a distance of two leagues from the shore. "at dusk we hauled off for the night; but instead of being able to resume the examination of the coast next morning, we had to encounter another gale of wind from the n.w., which, before noon, reduced us to close-reefed main-topsail and reefed foresail. this gale suddenly subsided in the western quarter, which was singular; for those we have experienced generally commenced at north, thence drew round to the westward, from which point to s.w. they blew with the greatest fury, and hauling to the southward, usually abated to the eastward of south. "during the afternoon, we again made the land near parallel peak, but could not close it. next morning ( th), with fine weather, and a fresh breeze at s.w.b.w., we once more saw the land about parallel peak; and when distant from the shore about eight miles, steered n.b.e. along the coast. at noon our latitude was ° '. "throughout our run along the coast this day, we skirted a number of rocky islets, rocks, and breakers, lying off shore at the distance of three or four miles. some of the islets were elevated several feet above the surface of the sea; others were { } a-wash, and there were breakers that showed themselves only occasionally. along this line the surf beat very heavily, and, outside, a long rolling sea prevailed, in which the ship was very uneasy. "this line of dangers is not altogether continuous; for there is an opening about two miles wide, abreast of parallel peak, to the southward of which is a bight, where possibly a harbour may exist; but, considering the prevalence of heavy westerly gales and thick weather, if there be one, few vessels would venture to run for it; and this line must, i should think, be considered as a barrier that they ought not pass. as seal are found on the rocks, vessels engaged in that trade might not, perhaps, be deterred by these dangers, but every other would give all this extent of coast a wide berth. we ran past the breakers at the distance of about a mile, having rocky soundings, from thirty to twenty-three fathoms. "the termination of the coast line northward was a high, rugged island, with a small peak at the north end. the extremity of the main land was rather a high bluff cape, whence the coast extends southward, with craggy, mountainous peaks and ridges, as far as parallel peak. at sunset, the n.w. end of campana bore north (magnetic), distant three leagues, and from the mast-head i could see very distinctly the belt of rocks and breakers extending uninterruptedly to the northward, as far as the end of campana. "we hauled off for the night, and had light variable airs, or calms, until a.m. of the th, when a breeze from the northward sprung up, and freshened so rapidly, that by noon we were again reduced to a close-reefed main-topsail and foresail. the gale was accompanied, as usual, by incessant rain and thick weather, and a heavy confused sea kept our decks always flooded. "the effect of this wet and miserable weather, of which we had had so much since leaving port famine, was too manifest by the state of the sick list, on which were now many patients with catarrhal, pulmonary, and rheumatic complaints. the gale continued undiminished until the morning of the th, { } when, having moderated, we bore up and steered n.e. to close the land. at noon a good meridional altitude gave our latitude ° ' south, and about the same time we saw the land bearing n.e.b.e., which we soon made out to be parallel peak. after allowing amply for heave of sea, and lee-way, we were considerably southward of our reckoning, which indicates a southerly current; but under such circumstances of wind and weather its exact direction, or strength, could not be ascertained. "we proceeded along the land, taking angles and bearings for the survey, and at sunset the n.w. end of campana bore from us north (magnetic), distant five leagues. being now off the n.w. end of the island of campana, which forms the south-western headland of the gulf of peñas, i considered that, before i proceeded to examine its inlets, i ought to look for the harbour of santa barbara, which has been placed on the old charts in this neighbourhood. accordingly we lay-to during the night, and at a.m. bore up to close the land; at daylight the extremes of it were seen indistinctly through a very cloudy and hazy atmosphere, from n. ° e. to s. ° e. about noon the weather cleared off, and we got the meridian altitude of the sun, which gave our latitude ° ' south.[ ] we directed the course for our dundee rock, and when abreast of it, steered n.e. (compass) for an opening in the low part of the coast ahead, backed by very high mountains, which we found was the entrance of port santa barbara. the coast to the southward was lined with rocky islets, rocks, and breakers, extending a league to seaward, and there were others to the northward. we were in a channel half a mile wide, through which we continued our course, sounding from fifteen to eleven fathoms, and in the evening anchored near the entrance of the harbour. { } "as our present situation was completely exposed to westerly winds, i went to examine a deep bight in the southern shore, which proved to be a good harbour, perfectly sheltered from all winds, with a depth of three and a half fathoms over a fine sandy bottom. in the afternoon we weighed anchor and warped into a berth in the inner harbour, where we moored in three fathoms. i found lying, just above high-water mark, half buried in sand, the beam of a large vessel.[ ] we immediately conjectured that it had formed part of the ill-fated wager, one of lord anson's squadron (of whose loss the tale is so well told in the narratives of byron and bulkeley): the dimensions seemed to correspond with her size, and the conjecture was strengthened by the circumstance that one of the knees that attached it to the ship's side had been cut, which occurred in her case, when her decks were scuttled to get at the provisions; all the bolts were much corroded; but the wood, with the exception of the outside being worm-eaten, was perfectly sound. our carpenter pronounced it to be english oak. "the land about this harbour is similar to that about port henry. its shores are rocky, with some patches of sandy beach, but every where covered with trees, or an impervious jungle, composed of dwarfish trees and shrubs. the land, in most places, rises abruptly from the shore to mountains, some of which attain an altitude of more than two thousand feet, and are quite bare at their summits and on their sides, except in sheltered ravines, where a thick growth of trees is found. these mountains, or at least their bases, where we could break off specimens, were of basalt, with large masses of quartz imbedded in it; but on some parts of the shores the rocks were of very coarse granite. "as in the vicinity of port henry, the thickness of the jungle prevented our going far inland; the greatest distance was gained by lieut. skyring, who, with his wonted zeal to prosecute the survey, ascended some of the mountains for the { } purpose of obtaining bearings of remote points: he remarked to me, 'that many miles were passed over in ascending even moderate heights; the land was very high and very irregular; the mountains seemed not to lie in any uniform direction, and the longest chain that was observed did not exceed five miles. the flat land between the heights was never two miles in extent: the ground was always swampy, and generally there were small lakes receiving the drainage of mountain-streams. indeed the whole country appeared broken and unconnected.' "some of the mountains were ascertained to be , feet high, but the general height was about , feet. a large island, on the northern side of the harbour, is an excellent watering-place, at which casks may be conveniently filled in the boat. it is also an object of great natural beauty: the hill, which forms its western side, rises to seven or eight hundred feet, almost perpendicularly, and when viewed from its base in a boat, seems stupendous: it is clothed with trees, among which the light-green leaves of the winter's-bark tree, and the red flowers of the fuchsia, unite their tints with the darker foliage of other trees. this perpendicular part extends to the northward till it is met by the body of the mountain, which is arched into a spacious cavern, fifty yards wide and a hundred feet high, whose sides are clothed with a rich growth of shrubs; and before it a cascade descends down the steep face of the mountain. "on the shore we found two indian wigwams and the remains of a third; but they had evidently been long deserted, for the grass had grown up both around and within them to the height of more than a foot. these wigwams were exactly similar to those in the strait of magalhaens: one was larger than any i had met with, being eighteen feet in diameter. the only land birds i saw were two owls, which passed by us after dusk with a screeching noise. "on the patches of sandy beach, in the inner harbour, we hauled the seine, but unsuccessfully; we expected to find fish plentiful here, from seeing many seals on the rocks outside, and from finding the water quite red with the spawn of { } crayfish. muscles and limpets were pretty abundant, and the shells (_concholepas peruviana_) used by the magalhaenic tribes as drinking cups, were found adhering to the rocks in great numbers. "nothing; could be worse than the weather we had during nine days' stay here; the wind, in whatever quarter it stood, brought thick heavy clouds, which precipitated themselves in torrents, or in drizzling rain. we were well sheltered from the regular winds; but many troublesome eddies were caused by the surrounding heights, while the passing clouds showed that strong and squally north-west winds were prevalent. "on the morning of the th, we put to sea with a southerly breeze. the extent of coast from the eastern part of port santa barbara to the outer of the guaianeco islands presents several inlets running deep into the land; but it is completely bound by rocks and rocky islets, which, with its being generally a lee-shore, renders it extremely unsafe to approach. observing an opening between some islets, of which we had taken the bearing at noon, we stood in to see whether it afforded anchorage; and approaching the extremity of the larger island, proceeded along it at the distance of only half a mile, when, after running two miles through a labyrinth of rocks and kelp, we were compelled to haul out, and in doing so scarcely weathered, by a ship's length, the outer islet. deeming it useless to expend further time in the examination of this dangerous portion of the gulf, we proceeded towards cape tres montes, its north-western headland. "at sunset cape tres montes bore n. ° w., distant eighteen miles. in this point of view the cape makes very high and bold; to the eastward of it, land was seen uninterruptedly as far as the eye could reach. we stood in shore next morning, and were then at a loss to know, precisely, which was the cape. the highest mountain was the southern projection, and has been marked on the chart as cape tres montes: but none of the heights, from any point in which we saw them, ever appeared as 'three mounts.' the land, though mountainous, seemed more wooded, and had a less { } rugged outline than that we had been hitherto coasting, since leaving the strait. we steered along the western coast of the land near cape tres montes, and at noon, being three miles from the shore, observed, in latitude ° . south, the cape, bearing n. ° e. (mag.), distant seven miles. the northernmost cape in sight n. ° w., distant ten miles, soundings ninety-seven fathoms. shortly afterwards another cape opened at n. ° w. (mag.). "the parallel of forty-seven degrees, the limit assigned for our survey, being already passed, i did not venture to follow the coast further, although we were strongly tempted to do so by seeing it trend so differently from what is delineated on the old charts. an indentation in the coast presenting itself between mountainous projections on each side of low land (of which the northernmost was the cape set at noon), we hauled in to look for an anchorage; but it proved to be a mere unsheltered bight, at the bottom of which was a furious surf. we then stood to the southward, along the land of cape tres montes, with the view of examining the north side of the gulf of peñas. "the following morning was fine: cape tres montes bore n.e., distant about three leagues. we lay off and on during the day, while the master went in the whale-boat, to examine a sandy bay (of which cape tres montes was the easternmost point) for anchorage: he returned about sunset, and reported that it did afford anchorage; but was quite unsheltered from wind, and exposed to a great swell. the boat's crew had fallen in with a number of seals, and the quantity of young seal's fry they brought on board afforded a welcome regale to their mess-mates and themselves. "at daylight ( th) we were four leagues from cape tres montes, bearing n. ° w. (magnetic) a remarkable peak, marked in the chart the 'sugar loaf,' n. ° e., distant twenty-four miles, and our soundings were sixty-eight fathoms. this peak resembled in appearance, the sugar loaf at rio de janeiro: it rises from a cluster of high and thickly-wooded islands, forming apparently the eastern shore of an inlet, of which { } the land of cape tres montes is the western head. further to the n.e. stands a lofty and remarkable mountain, marked in our chart as 'the dome of saint paul's.' it is seen above the adjacent high land. the height of the sugar loaf is , feet, and that of the dome of saint paul's, , feet. "during the day we worked up towards the land, eastward of cape tres montes, and at night succeeded in anchoring in a sandy bay, nine miles from the cape, where our depth of water was twelve fathoms, at the distance of a cable and a half off shore. we lay at this anchorage until noon the following day, while lieut. skyring landed on some low rocks detached from the shore, where he was able to take some advantageous angles; and on his return we weighed and worked up the gulf, between the eastern land of cape tres montes, and high, well wooded islands. the shores of the main land, as well as of the islands, are bold, and the channel between them has no dangers: the land is in all parts luxuriantly wooded. about a mile and a half to the northward of the sandy beach which we had left, lies another, more extensive; and a mile further, a considerable opening in the main land, about half a mile wide, presented itself, having at its mouth two small thickly-wooded islands, for which we steered, to ascertain whether there was a harbour. the water was deep at its mouth, from thirty-eight to thirty-four fathoms; but the comparative lowness of the shores at its s.w. end, and the appearance of two sandy beaches, induced us to expect a moderate depth within. as we advanced, a long white streak was observed on the water, and was reported from the mast-head as a shoal; but it was soon ascertained to be foam brought down by the tide, and we had the satisfaction of anchoring in sixteen fathoms over a sandy bottom, in a very excellent port, which we named port otway, as a tribute of respect to the commander-in-chief of the south american station, rear admiral sir robert waller otway, k.c.b." * * * * * a deficiency here occurs in captain stokes's journal, which the beagle's log barely remedies. from the th of april to { } the th of may there was a succession of stormy weather, accompanied by almost incessant and heavy rain, which prevented the ship being moved; but proved, in one respect, advantageous, by affording a very seasonable cessation from work to the fatigued crew, and obliging captain stokes to take some little rest, which he so much required; but regretted allowing himself, and submitted to most reluctantly. he continues his journal on the th of may, stating that, "among the advantages which this admirable port presents to shipping, a capital one seems to be the rich growth of stout and shapely timber, with which its shores, even down to the margin of the sea, are closely furnished, and from which a frigate of the largest size might obtain spars large enough to replace a topmast, topsail-yard, or even a lower-yard. in order to try what would be the quality of the timber, if, in case of emergency, it were used in an unseasoned state, i sent the carpenter and his crew to cut two spars for a topgallant-mast and yard. those they brought on board were of beech-wood; the larger being thirteen inches in diameter, and thirty feet in length. "on the th, the weather having improved, the beagle was moved to the head of the inlet, to an anchorage in hoppner sound, and on the th i went with lieut. skyring to examine the opening, off which we were anchored. "on each side of it we found coves, so perfectly sheltered, and with such inexhaustible supplies of fresh water and fuel, that we lamented their not being in a part of the world where such advantages could benefit navigation. the depth of water in mid-channel was generally forty fathoms; in the bights, or coves, it varied from sixteen to twenty-five fathoms, with always a sandy bottom. we saw a great many hair seals, shoals of pie-bald porpoises, and birds of the usual kinds in considerable numbers. on several points of the shores were parts of the skeletons of whales; but we no where saw a four-footed animal, or the slightest trace of a human habitation. the unusual fineness of the morning, the smoothness of the water, and the proximity of the adjacent lofty mountains, clothed almost to their summits by the fullest foliage, with every { } leaf at rest, combined with the stillness around to give the scene a singular air of undisturbed repose. we reached the extremity of the inlet, which we found was about six miles from its mouth; and thinking that it was the inner shore of an isthmus, of no great width, curiosity prompted us to endeavour to see its outer shore: so we secured the boat, and accompanied by five of the boat's crew, with hatchets and knives to cut their way, and mark the trees to guide us on our way back, we plunged into the forest, which was scarcely pervious on account of its entangled growth, and the obstructions presented by trunks and branches of fallen trees. "our only guide was an occasional glimpse, from the top of a tree, of the ranges of mountains, by which we steered our course. however, two hours of this sort of work were rewarded by finding ourselves in sight of the great south sea. it would be vain to attempt describing adequately the contrast to the late quiet scene exhibited by the view we had on emerging from this dark wood. the inlet where we left our boat resembled a calm and sequestered mountain lake, without a ripple on its waters: the shore on which we now stood was that of a horrid rock-bound coast, lashed by the awful surf of a boundless ocean, impelled by almost unceasing west winds. "our view of the coast was limited on each side by rocky mountainous promontories: off the northernmost, which i called cape raper, were rocks and breakers, extending nearly a mile to seaward. having taken the few bearings our situation enabled us to obtain, we retraced our steps to the boat, and by aid of the marks we had left on the trees, reached her in an hour and forty-three minutes. "some of the beech-trees of this wood were fifteen feet in circumference; but i noticed none differing in their kind from those already observed about port otway. a few wrens were the only living creatures we saw; not even an insect was found in our walk. in the beds of some of the streams intersecting the woods was a singularly sparkling sand, which had so much the appearance of gold, that some of our party carried { } a bag-full on board to be tested. the shining substance proved to be, as i had supposed, the micaceous particles of disintegrated granite. it was not our good fortune to discover streams similar to those sung of by the poet, "whose foam is amber, and whose gravel gold." * * * * * { } chapter xi. leave port otway--san quintin's sound--gulf of peñas--kelly harbour--st. xavier island--death of serjeant lindsey--port xavier--ygnacio bay-- channel's mouth--bad weather--perilous situation--lose the yawl--sick list--return to port otway--thence to port famine--gregory bay--natives-- guanaco meat--skunk--condors--brazilians--juanico--captain foster-- changes of officers. the beagle returned to port otway the following day, and in an interval of better weather obtained the observations necessary for ascertaining the latitude and longitude of the port, and for rating the chronometers. captain stokes's journal continues on the th of may: "we left port otway, and as soon as we had cleared its entrance, steered e.n.e. across the gulf; leaving to the northward all that cluster of islands, distinguished in the chart as the 'marine islands,' and went to within a mile from the eastern shore. thence we ran four miles and a half parallel with the direction of coast e.s.e. (mag.), at the mean distance of a mile off shore. the aspect of the eastern and western portions of this gulf is very different, and the comparison is much to the disadvantage of the eastern. ranges of bare, rugged, rocky mountains now presented themselves, and where wood was seen, it was always stunted and distorted. a long swell rolled in upon the shore, and every thing seemed to indicate a stormy and inclement coast. there are a few bays and coves, in which is anchorage depth, with a pretty good bottom of dark coarse sand: but rock-weed in large patches, seen in some of them, denoted foul ground; and they are all more or less exposed, and extremely unsafe. as night advanced, the weather became rainy and thick; so having reached a bight which seemed less insecure than others that we passed, i hauled in, and at about seven p.m., guided only by the gradual decrease of our soundings, from { } fourteen to eight fathoms, and the noise of the surf, came to an anchor. "next morning ( th) we found that we had anchored in a small bay, at about half a mile from a shingle beach, on which a furious surf was breaking so heavily as to prevent our landing any where. we were completely exposed to s.w. winds, with a heavy rolling sea; and the surf on all points cut off communication with the shore. a breeze from the s.w. would have rendered it difficult to get out, and would have exposed us to imminent hazard. it is called on the chart bad bay. we left it eagerly, and proceeded to trace the coast to the e.s.e., until we were nearly abreast of a moderately high and thickly-wooded island, called purcell island. we passed to the northward of purcell island, leaving on the left a rock only a few feet above the surface of the sea, which lies about midway between that island and the main land. as we advanced to the eastward, a large and very remarkable field of ice was seen lying on the low part of the coast, which, at a distance, we took for a dense fog hanging over it, as nothing of the kind was observable in any other part. when nearly abreast of san xavier island, a deep sound was observed to the left, or north, which we concluded was the san quintin sound of the spanish chart: it seemed to be about five-miles in breadth, and following a westerly direction. we kept sight of the sugar loaf, and other points we had fixed, until more could be established, which enabled us to chart the coast as we went along. my next object was to trace the sound of san quintin to its termination, and at nightfall we succeeded in getting an anchorage at the entrance. "on the st we proceeded up the sound, passing to the northward of dead tree island. our soundings, until abreast of it, were from sixteen to ten fathoms, on a mud bottom; it then shoaled to four fathoms, and after running about three miles in that depth, we came to an anchor at the distance of a mile from the north shore of the sound, in four fathoms. "exceedingly bad weather detained us at this anchorage. from the time of our arrival, on the evening of the st, { } until midnight of the d, it rained in torrents, without the intermission of a single minute, the wind being strong and squally at w., w.n.w., and n.w. "when the weather improved, on the d, we weighed, and made sail along the northern side of the sound, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it admitted of a passage to the northward. we kept within a mile of the shore, sounding from eight to fifteen fathoms, generally on a sandy bottom; and a run of seven miles brought us within three miles of the bottom of the inlet, the depth of water being four fathoms, on sand. the termination of this sound is continuous low land, with patches of sandy beach, over which, in the distance, among mountains of great height, we were again able to make out and take the bearing of that remarkable one, named the 'dome of st. paul's.' the shores of this inlet are thickly wooded; the land near them is, for the most part, low, but rises into mountains, or rather hills, from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in height, from which many streams of water descend. as soon as a ship has passed dead tree island, she becomes land-locked; and as in all parts of the sound there is anchorage depth, with a muddy or sandy bottom, the advantages offered to shipping would be of great consequence in parts of the world more frequented than the gulf of peñas. "whales were numerous, and seals were seen in this inlet, now called the gulf of san estevan. "hence we went to kelly harbour, at the north-eastern side of the gulf of peñas, four miles n.e. of xavier island. the land around it is rocky and mountainous, but by no means bare of wood. near the entrance it is low, as compared with the adjacent land; but in the interior are lofty snow-capped mountains. "a large field of ice, lying on the low land near kelly harbour, was remarkable. there was none on the low grounds at the other (southern) side of the port, though it was almost the winter solstice at the time of our visit. "another day and night of incessant rain. in the morning of the th we had some showers of hail, and at daylight found { } that a crust of ice, about the thickness of a dollar, had been formed in all parts of the harbour. the water at our anchorage being fresh at half-tide, was, no doubt, in favour of this rapid congelation. lieutenant skyring having completed the examination of the harbour, we left it and steered between st. xavier island and the mainland, through a fine bold channel, nearly four miles wide, with a depth of more than thirty fathoms. the land on both sides is closely wooded, and rises into high mountains. about dusk we stood into port xavier, a little bight, with a sandy beach, on the eastern side of the island; and, at a distance of two cables' length from the beach, anchored for the night in seventeen fathoms. "( th). this sandy beach extended about half a mile between the points of the bay, and, at fifty yards from the water, was bounded by thick woodland, which rose with a rapid ascent to the height of a thousand feet. the trees were like those in the neighbourhood of port otway, and were stout and well-grown. a tree, large enough for a frigate's topmast, might be selected close to the shore. the winter's-bark tree attains here a greater size than i had before seen. one, which was felled by our wood-cutters, measured eighty-seven feet in length, and was three feet five inches in circumference. all the trees were in full foliage and verdure, though the season corresponded to the latter part of november in our northern latitudes. at the south end of the sandy beach was a stream of fresh water, several yards in width, and various waterfalls descended from the mountains. the shore to the southward was composed of fragments of granite, lying at the base of a lead-coloured clay cliff, at least three hundred feet in height. in this cliff the mountain-torrents had formed deep chasms, and strewed the beach with its débris, and with uprooted timber. the only living creatures seen were steamer-ducks, king-fishers, and turkey-buzzards. "while on shore, i received a melancholy message, announcing the death of serjeant lindsey, of the royal marines. during the last few days he had suffered from inflammation of the bowels, which brought his existence to a close. { } "the following day ( th) a grave was dug, and we discharged the last sad duties to our departed shipmate. a wooden cross was erected at the head of his grave, on which was an inscription to his memory: we also named the south point of the bay after him. about noon we left port xavier, and coasted the island, at the mean distance of a mile, examining it for anchorages, until, after a run of eight miles, we reached its south point. for the first four or five miles of that distance, the coast of the island consisted of a high steep cliff, having at its base a narrow beach, composed of various-sized masses of rock. in the interior there were heights, rising twelve or fourteen hundred feet, wooded nearly to the summits, with many streams of water descending from them; but for the remainder of the distance the coast was low, and the wood stunted and scanty. all along the shore rolled a heavy surf, that would have rendered any attempt to land exceedingly hazardous; there was no place fit for anchorage, except a small bight, near the extreme south point, into which we stood, and with some difficulty succeeded in anchoring at a cable's length from the shore. the bay proved to be that called by the spanish missionary voyagers 'ygnacio bay.' over the south point,--a narrow tongue of land, about five hundred yards across, with rocks and breakers stretching off shore, to the distance of two miles,--we took bearings and angles to various fixed points in the northern part of the gulf. the latitude, chronometric differences of longitude, and magnetic variation, were determined on shore at this southern point. "our observations being completed, we left this anchorage; and as it is little likely to be visited again, it will be enough to say that it is exceedingly dangerous. nothing would have induced me to enter it, but the duty of examining the coast for anchorage, and the danger of remaining under sail close to an unexplored shore. "under an impression that the island of st. xavier[ ] was the { } scene of the wager's wreck, i wished to examine its western side; but a strong n.n.e. wind did not permit my doing so, without risking the loss of more time than could be spared for an object of mere curiosity. i steered, therefore, to the south-eastward for an inlet, which proved to be the channel's mouth of the spanish charts, and reached it, after running seventeen miles from the south end of xavier island. we got no soundings with ninety fathoms of line, when at its entrance; but making no doubt that we should get anchorage within, we left, at the distance of half a mile, the islets of the northern point; passed between two others distant apart only one-fifth of a mile, and shortly after anchored in twenty fathoms, sheltered by an island to the westward, but with rocky islets around us in all directions, except the s.e., some of which were less than a cable's length from us.[ ] here we were detained until the th of june by the worst weather i ever experienced: we rode with three anchors down and the topmasts struck; and though we lay within a couple of hundred yards of the islands and rocks, and less than half a mile from the shores of the inlet, such a furious surf broke on them all, that it was but rarely a boat could land, even in the least exposed situations the inlet afforded. the evening of our arrival was fine, and we put up the observatory tent, on the island to the westward of us; but the weather was so bad, during the next day, that we could effect no landing to remove it, although we anticipated the result that followed, namely, its being washed away. "in the short intervals of the horrible weather that prevailed, boats were sent to the northern shore of the inlet, for the purpose of procuring water and fuel; but though they sometimes succeeded, by dint of great perseverance, in landing through a raging surf, it was but seldom they could embark the small casks (barecas) which had been filled, or the wood they had cut. "upon this shore the master observed remains of some indian wigwams, that seemed to have been long forsaken, and { } he described them to be exactly like those we had hitherto met to the southward. "this was the northernmost point at which we noticed traces of human beings. "finding the boats' crews suffer much from their unavoidable exposure during continually wet weather, i ordered some canvas to be given to each man for a frock and trowsers, to be painted at the first opportunity, as a protection against rain and spray. "nothing could be more dreary than the scene around us. the lofty, bleak, and barren heights that surround the inhospitable shores of this inlet, were covered, even low down their sides, with dense clouds, upon which the fierce squalls that assailed us beat, without causing any change: they seemed as immovable as the mountains where they rested. "around us, and some of them distant no more than two-thirds of a cable's length, were rocky islets, lashed by a tremendous surf; and, as if to complete the dreariness and utter desolation of the scene, even birds seemed to shun its neighbourhood. the weather was that in which (as thompson emphatically says) 'the soul of man dies in him.' "in the course of our service since we left england, we have often been compelled to take up anchorages, exposed to great risk and danger. but the beagle's present situation i deemed by far the most perilous to which she had been exposed: her three anchors were down in twenty-three fathoms of water, on a bad bottom of sand, with patches of rock. the squalls were terrifically violent, and astern of her, distant only half a cable's length, were rocks and low rocky islets, upon which a furious surf raged. "i might use bulkeley's words in describing the weather in this neighbourhood, and nearly at this season: 'showers of rain and hail, which beat with such violence against a man's face, that he can hardly withstand it.' "on the th, the wind being moderate, and the weather better, preparations were made to quit this horrid place. we put to sea, with a moderate breeze from n.b.w., which { } increased rapidly to a strong gale; and scarcely were we fairly freed from the channel, than we found ourselves in a heavy confused sea. anxious to clear the entrance, i had not waited to hoist in the yawl, with which we had weighed one of our anchors, expecting to find smooth water as we went out; but the sea we met made it unsafe to tow her, and while hauling up to hoist her in, she was so badly stove by blows received from the violent motion of the ship, that we were obliged to cut her adrift. this was a heavy loss. she was a beautiful boat, twenty-eight feet in length,--pulled and sailed well, and was roomy, light, and buoyant; her loss was second only to that of the ship. "we endeavoured to clear the guaianeco islands, by carrying a heavy press of sail, but soon after midnight were obliged to furl the reefed mainsail. before daylight the wind shifted suddenly to w.b.n., taking us aback by a violent squall, with much vivid lightning and heavy rain. our admirable little vessel paid off without sustaining any damage; but for a minute her situation was critical. at daylight, the land of cape tres montes bore w. ½ n. (magnetic), distant four leagues. the violence of the gale we had just had put it out of our power to clear the gulf; and, from the state to which we were reduced by the loss of our yawl, both gigs being in bad condition, and our cutter so much stove as to be useless, i considered that it would not be justifiable to attempt proceeding in a lone ship to an unknown and most stormy coast, without a single efficient boat; so i resolved to hasten to port otway, and put the boats into an effective state. we had baffling winds all day; but in the evening succeeded in reaching the harbour, and anchoring nearly in our old berth. on the th and th, we had a continued hard gale, with the usual accompaniment of heavy rain. the carpenters were, however, kept constantly at work to render the cutter effective. on the th, the state of the sick list caused me to require from the surgeon, his opinion as to the 'necessity of a temporary cessation of surveying operations.' mr. bynoe's reply stated 'that in consequence of great exposure to a long-continued succession of { } incessant and heavy rain, accompanied by strong gales, the health of the ship's company had been seriously affected, particularly with pulmonic complaints, catarrhal, and rheumatic affections; and that, as a recurrence of them would probably prove fatal in many instances, a temporary cessation would be of the greatest advantage to the crew, by affording an opportunity of recruiting their health.' "on receiving the above communication from the surgeon, i ordered the yards and topmasts to be struck, and the ship covered over with sails. precaution was used to prevent the people from being subjected to frequent exposure, by not employing any of them in boats, except once a day in procuring muscles, and every thing was avoided that could in the least interfere with the recovery of their health: but this place is exceedingly ill adapted for the winter quarters of a ship's company, as the woods that surround it, down even to the water's edge, allow no space for exercise on shore, and there is neither game nor fish to be procured, except shell-fish; of which, fortunately (muscles and clams), we found an abundance, and they proved useful in removing symptoms of scurvy, besides affording a change of diet. the place being destitute of inhabitants, is without that source of recreation, which intercourse with any people, however uncivilized, would afford a ship's company after a laborious and disagreeable cruise in these dreary solitudes. every port along this coast is alike ill suited for a winter's residence, and it was only our peculiar situation that induced me to determine on making a short stay at this place." * * * * * here poor captain stokes's remarks and notes end. those who have been exposed to one of such trials as his, upon an unknown lee shore, during the worst description of weather, will understand and appreciate some of those feelings which wrought too powerfully upon his excitable mind. the beagle remained quiet until the th of june, when the surgeon reported "the crew sufficiently healthy to perform their duties without any material injury to their constitutions." { } leaving port otway, she steered along the coast with, strange to say, easterly winds and fine weather, which enabled lieut. skyring to add much to the survey of the coast of madre de dios. captain stokes now began to show symptoms of a malady, that had evidently been brought on by the dreadful state of anxiety he had gone through during the survey of the gulf of peñas. he shut himself up in his cabin, becoming quite listless, and inattentive to what was going on; and after entering the strait of magalhaens, on his return to port famine, he delayed at several places without any apparent reason; conduct quite opposite to what his would naturally have been, had he then been of sound mind. at last, want of provisions obliged him to hasten to port famine; and the day on which he arrived every article of food was expended. the fatal event, which had cast an additional gloom over every one, decided our quitting the strait. both ships were immediately prepared, and we sailed on the th august; but previously, i appointed lieutenant skyring to act as commander of the beagle; mr. flinn to be master of the adventure; and mr. millar, second master of the adventure, to act as master of the beagle. the day we sailed, mr. flinn was taken ill; and, lieutenant wickham being on the sick list, i was the only commissioned officer able to keep the deck. as the wind was from the n.w., we were obliged to beat to windward all night, and the next morning were off sandy point; but it blew so very strong from the westward, and the weather was so thick from snow-squalls, which passed in rapid succession, that we bore up, and anchored in freshwater bay, where the ships were detained by northerly winds until the st, when we proceeded; the wind, however, again opposing, we anchored about half a mile from the shore, in a bight, seven miles southward of sandy point. the following day we were underweigh early, and reached gregory bay. when off elizabeth island, i despatched the beagle to pecket's harbour to recall the adelaide, in which lieutenant graves had been sent to procure guanaco meat. the beagle worked through, between elizabeth island and cape negro, and was seen by { } us at anchor off pecket's harbour before we entered the second narrow. upon our anchoring under cape gregory, two or three patagonians were seen on the beach, and before half an hour had elapsed others joined them. by sunset several toldos, or tents, were erected, and a large party had arrived. when the adelaide first went to pecket's harbour, mr. tarn told the indians that the adventure would be at gregory bay in twenty-five days, and, accidentally, we arrived punctually to the time. the patagonians must have been on their way to meet us, for they could not have travelled from pecket's harbour in the short space of time that we were in sight. to their great mortification, however, we held no communication with them that evening, and the next day the weather was so bad we could not even lower a boat. at noon the wind blew harder than i had ever witnessed; but since we were on good holding-ground, and the water was smooth, no danger was anticipated. as the snow-squalls cleared off, we looked towards the patagonians, with the full expectation of seeing their huts blown down:--to our astonishment, they had withstood the storm, although placed in a very exposed situation. we counted twelve or fourteen of them, and judging by our former experience of the number belonging to each, there must have been, at least, one hundred and fifty persons collected. during the gale they kept close; and it was only now and then that a solitary individual was observed to go from one toldo to another. the weather having moderated, the beagle and adelaide joined us on the following day. they rode the gale out, without accident, off the entrance of pecket's harbour. the next morning being fine, we prepared to proceed; but previous to weighing i landed, and communicated with our old acquaintances. maria was with them, and, if possible, dirtier, and more avaricious than ever. we collected the guanaco meat they had brought for us; distributed a few parting presents, and then returned on board. the adelaide brought sixteen hundred pounds of meat, which, with what was first obtained, amounted to four thousand { } pounds weight; and cost altogether ten pounds of tobacco, forty biscuits, and six pocket-knives. at first a biscuit was considered equivalent to forty or fifty pounds of meat; but as the demand increased, the price rose four or five hundred per cent. with the patagonians were two of mr. low's crew, who had left him. they were portuguese, in a miserable state, and appeared to be thoroughly ashamed of being the companions of such a dirty set: they could not speak english, and could give us very little information. they had not then assumed the indian garb, although, from the state of their clothes, they would very soon be obliged to adopt it. at pecket's harbour a few words of the native language were collected, which are very different from those given by falkner, in his description of the patagonian natives: he says himself, that the language of the northern indians differs materially from that of the 'yacana cunnees.' during lieutenant graves's communication with the natives, at pecket's harbour, he obtained some interesting information respecting these indians, which will be given in a subsequent part of the work. the adelaide brought me a few very gratifying additions to my zoological collection, among which was the zorillo, or skunk, of the pampas; differing in no way whatever from the species found about the river plata, in such numbers as to impregnate the air with their disagreeable odour for many miles around. i have frequently found the scent of this offensive little animal distinctly perceptible when i was on board the adventure, lying at anchor about two miles from monte video, with the wind blowing from the land.[ ] { } a very large condor was shot by one of the adelaide's party, which measured, in length, four feet three inches and a half, and nine feet two inches between the extremities of the wings. it was presented to the british museum. many exaggerated accounts of this bird have been given by old voyagers; but the largest dimensions stated, of whose accuracy there exists no doubt, are those of one that was preserved in the leverian museum, which measured thirteen feet one inch, from wing to wing. this, however, must have been an old bird; for the one we killed is larger than the usual size of specimens which have been obtained. molina states, in his account of this bird, vol. i. p. , that the largest he ever saw measured fourteen feet and some inches (spanish measure), from the tip of one wing to that of the other. m. humboldt also gives a detailed description. it is with the condor, says this celebrated voyager, "as with the patagonian, and many other objects of natural history; the more they are examined, the more they diminish in size." they inhabit the highest mountains of the andes, and only descend to the plains when pressed by hunger. frequently, in troops, they attack cattle, deer, guanacoes, and even the puma, and always succeed in killing them; but their principal food is carrion, of which, in a country so abundantly stocked with quadrupeds, there is probably no want. our departure from the strait was attended with beautiful weather; the moon was full, and the wind fair and moderate. { } cape virgins was passed soon after sunset, and we proceeded on our course with rapidity. the timely supply of guanaco meat had certainly checked the scurvy, for we had no new cases added to the number of the sick, now amounting to twenty. the beagle was not so sickly; but, during the last cruise, upwards of forty cases, principally pulmonic, had occurred, and several were not yet recovered. on the passage, a man fell overboard from the beagle, at night, and was drowned. in latitude ° s. we were delayed three days, by northerly winds and damp foggy weather, after which a fresh s.w. gale carried us into the river plata. having obtained good chronometer sights in the afternoon, we steered on through the night, intending to pass to the westward of the archimedes shoal; which would have been rather a rash step, had we not been well assured of the correctness of our chronometrical reckoning. at this time brazil and buenos ayres were at war, and some of the blockading squadron of the former were generally to be met with in the mouth of the river; but we saw none, until half-past two in the morning, when several vessels were observed at anchor to leeward, and we were soon close to a squadron of brigs and schooners, whose number was evident by a confusion of lights, rockets, and musketry, on board every vessel. i bore down to pass within hail of the nearest, which proved to be the commodore's, the marañao of eighteen guns; and on approaching, explained who and what we were; but they were so confused, i could not even make myself understood. the breeze, at the time, had fallen so light, that, fearing to get foul of the brig, the ship was hove up in the wind, and the anchor ordered to be let go. unluckily a stopper was foul, and before another bower could drop, the brazilians had fired several muskets into us, happily without doing any mischief; and threatened us, if we did not immediately anchor, with a broadside, which, in their utter confusion, i am astonished they did not fire. [illustration: a. earle t. a. prior monte video.--custom house. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } having anchored, and lowered the topsails, i sent a boat to inform the brazilian who we were, and to request, that in consequence of the number of our sick (we had only ten serviceable men on deck), we might not be detained, as even a few hours might prove of serious consequence; but all i could urge was unavailing, and we were detained until daylight with trifling excuses. we were so situated, that unless the brig veered her cable, or dropped out of our way, we could not move without getting foul of her, else i should have proceeded without permission. after daylight, the brig gave us room, by tripping her anchor; and upon an officer coming on board to release us, i told him my opinion of the affair, and said i should report the captain's conduct to his admiral. this report was afterwards made, in a very spirited manner, by captain henry dundas, of h.m.s. sapphire; but the admiral defended the conduct of his officer by saying that he had merely acted, "magna componere parvis," as an english blockading squadron would have done in a similar case. whether the act was borne out, or not, by the law or custom of blockade, it was very uncivil; and one for which, after the explanation given, and the proofs offered, there could not be the slightest occasion. owing to this detention, we did not reach the anchorage at monte video until too late in the day to procure refreshments for the sick. we found, to our sorrow, that fresh provisions were so extremely scarce, owing to the war, that none could be procured for our ships' companies; and had it not been for the kindness of señor juanico, a well-known, and highly esteemed resident at monte video, who supplied us plentifully with bitter (seville) oranges, we might have been much distressed. the free use, however, of this fruit alone caused a rapid change in the health of those affected by scurvy, and in less than a week every man was at his duty. a few days after our arrival, through the intervention of the british minister, a peace was concluded between the belligerents, in which buenos ayres gained all it had contended for, and brazil gave up what she had so imperiously demanded. i was extremely gratified by meeting, at this port, the late captain henry foster, in h.m.s. chanticleer, on his pendulum voyage. he was established at an observatory on a small island, called rat, or rabbit island, whither i lost no { } time in proceeding, and found him deeply engaged in that series of observations which has reflected so much honour upon his memory. before he sailed, i made an arrangement to meet the chanticleer, either at staten land or cape horn, for the purpose of supplying her with provisions, to enable him to proceed thence to the cape of good hope, without returning to monte video. on the th of october, we sailed for rio de janeiro to procure some stores, which had been sent from england for our use, and to be caulked and refitted. the beagle remained at monte video, to prepare for our next cruise. before we were ready to leave rio de janeiro, the commander-in-chief, sir robert otway, arrived from bahia, in his flag-ship, the ganges. sir robert acquainted me, that he considered it necessary for the beagle to be hove down and repaired;--that he intended to supersede lieutenant skyring; and had sent the requisite orders to monte video. when the beagle arrived, lieutenant robert fitz roy, flag lieutenant of the ganges, was appointed as commander; mr. j. kempe, mate, as lieutenant; and mr. m. murray, second master of the ganges, as master. although this arrangement was undoubtedly the prerogative of the commander-in-chief, and i had no reason to complain of the selection he had made to fill the vacancies, yet it seemed hard that lieutenant skyring, who had in every way so well earned his promotion, should be deprived of an appointment to which he very naturally considered himself entitled. the conduct of lieutenant skyring, throughout the whole of his service in the beagle,--especially during the survey of the gulf of peñas, and the melancholy illness of his captain,--deserved the highest praise and consideration; but he was obliged to return to his former station as assistant surveyor: and, to his honour be it said, with an equanimity and good-will, which showed his thorough zeal for the service. captain fitzroy was considered qualified to command the beagle: and although i could not but feel much for the bitterness of lieutenant skyring's disappointment, i had no other cause for dissatisfaction. [illustration: a. earle s. bull corcovado mountain, rio de janeiro. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] * * * * * { } chapter xii. adventure sails from rio de janeiro to the river plata--gorriti-- maldonado--extraordinary pampero--beagle's losses--ganges arrives-- another pampero--go up the river for water--gale, and consequent detention--sail from monte video--part from our consorts--port desire-- tower rock--skeletons--sea bear bay--fire--guanacoes--port desire inlet-- indian graves--vessels separate--captain foster chanticleer--cape horn--kater's peak--sail from st. martin cove--tribute to captain foster--valparaiso--santiago--pinto--heights--chilóe--aldunate. the adventure sailed from rio de janeiro on the th of december , leaving the beagle to complete her repairs, and follow to the river plata. the day before our arrival at maldonado, we were overtaken by the commander-in-chief, in h.m.s. ganges, and entered the river in company. the ganges proceeded to monte video; but we went into maldonado bay, where i had determined to wait for the beagle. since our last visit to this place, the island of gorriti had been occupied by brazilian troops, who, before going away, set fire to the buildings, and destroyed all the wood-work. as one object of my stay was to obtain observations for the latitude and longitude, i erected our portable observatory, and set up an azimuth altitude instrument. on the th of january, after some intensely hot and sultry weather, we experienced a very severe 'pampero.' it was preceded by the barometer falling to . , and by a strong n.w. wind, which suddenly veered round to s.w., when the pampero burst upon us. our ship and boats fortunately escaped any bad effects from the violence of the squall, which was so strong as to lay the former, at anchor, upon her broadside; but on shore our tent was blown down, and a boat that had been lately built, and fresh painted, on the island gorriti, was completely destroyed. the part above the thwarts, was torn away from the bottom of the boat, and carried, by the violence of the wind, for two hundred yards along the beach. a boat, also, { } on the opposite shore, was blown to atoms. when the squall commenced, one of our boats was coming off from the island; the officer being quite unconscious of the approaching hurricane, and as she was overloaded with people, i felt very uneasy until after the squall cleared away, when i observed her beached on the opposite shore, many yards above high water mark, to which position she had been driven by the force of the wind. the violence of this pampero, during the twenty minutes it lasted, was terrific. old inhabitants of maldonado declared, that they had experienced nothing like it for the last twenty years. the spray was carried up by whirlwinds, threatening complete destruction to every thing that opposed them. in less than half an hour it had diminished to a strong s.w. gale, which lasted during the night. just before the pampero commenced, l'aréthuse, french frigate, was observed over the point of land under all sail; but not being seen after the squall cleared off, we were much alarmed for her safety. at daylight, however, the next morning, she was seen at anchor under lobos island, and near her was our consort, the beagle, of whose approach we had known nothing; but she appeared to be lying quietly, with topmasts struck, under the lee of the island. l'aréthuse slipped her cable in the afternoon, and ran out to sea. on the st of february the wind moderated, and enabled the beagle to join us, when we found that she had been nearly capsized by the pampero; and had suffered a considerable loss of sails and masts, besides injury to her boats. both topmasts, and jib-boom, with all the small spars, were carried away; and her jib and topsails, although furled, were blown to pieces. the vessel was on her beam ends for some time; but letting go both anchors brought her head to wind and righted her, which prevented the necessity of cutting away the lower masts. to add to their misfortune, two men were blown overboard, from aloft, and drowned. these severe losses caused considerable detention; but, fortunately, the ganges arrived, and rendered every assistance in repairing and replacing the beagle's damages. { } on the night of the d of february we experienced another very severe pampero, during which one of the beagle's boats, hauled up on shore, was blown to atoms. the barometer had previously fallen to . . on the th of february, we went to monte video, and on the th ran up the north side of the river for water; but did not find it fresh until we were within four miles of cape 'jesus maria.' the wind was against our return, so that we had to beat down the river, in doing which the adelaide grounded, but without receiving any injury. we anchored twice in our passage out, and, at the second anchorage,[ ] experienced a very heavy westerly gale. in attempting to weigh at its commencement, our windlass was so much injured, that we were obliged to ride the gale out, which we did by veering to one hundred and ten fathoms of chain cable; and the beagle, to one hundred and fifty fathoms. owing to a short heavy sea, in which the adventure frequently pitched her bowsprit and stern alternately under water, her jolly-boat was washed away. this loss we could ill afford, as we were already three boats short of our establishment, and wants; and as the adelaide had suffered severely, by losing her topmast and jib-boom, and carrying away the head of her bowsprit, we were obliged to return, very reluctantly, after the gale had subsided, to monte video; whence we finally sailed on the st of march. on the th a s.s.e. gale separated us from our consorts, our course, therefore, was directed for the first rendezvous, at port desire. when off cape blanco, the high land of espinosa, in the interior, was clearly distinguished at a distance of sixty miles, and might probably be seen twenty miles further; so that its height must be, at least, four thousand feet. this range is of irregular form, and has several peaked summits, so very different from the general features of this coast, where the heights are either flat-topped, or of an undulating outline, that i suppose the rock to be of a character unlike that of the porphyry hills common hereabouts. { } on anchoring off port desire ( th), we found that the beagle had arrived, but had not met the adelaide. the following afternoon i landed to examine the tower rock, a very conspicuous object, on the south side of this harbour, having the appearance of an enormous dead tree with its branches lopped off. on our way to it we passed over an undulating plain, composed of a sandy light soil, lying on a rocky basis, which in many parts protruded. the soil was so poor, as only to produce a few tufts of grass, and here and there a straggling bush of berberis, or piccoli, a dwarf woody shrub, which is much esteemed as firewood by the sealers who frequent the coast. sir john narborough, in describing this place, says, "the soil is gravelly and sandy, with tufts of dry seared grass growing on it;" again: "from the tops of the hills i could see a great way into the land, which is all hills and downs, like cornwall, toilsome travelling to those who were not used to it." the tower rock is evidently the remains of what was once probably a considerable rocky mass, which has either been partially destroyed by some convulsion, or, more probably, has been gradually worn away by the effect of weather. like all the débris around, it is of a fine-grained red porphyritic claystone, much decomposed, but very hard, and difficult to break.[ ] it stands erect at the summit of a mound or heap of broken stones, of all sizes, some being very large blocks, from ten to twenty, or thirty tons weight. it is about forty feet high, and twelve in diameter, having its upper portion cleft, as it were, for about one-third down the middle, which gives it a resemblance to the forked branch of an immense tree. it is covered with moss and lichen, and, from its peculiar shape and prominent situation, presents a very remarkable object. near it we observed traces of an indian visit, among which was a horse's skull. from the sterility of the soil and absence of fresh water, it is probable that it is but little frequented by them. port desire is celebrated as being the place where { } schouten, the dutch navigator, is said to have found skeletons measuring eleven or twelve feet in length! captain fitz roy informed me that he had not seen the adelaide since we separated. the beagle had lost another boat in the gale; the eleventh we had lost in the expedition since leaving england. as the adelaide did not make her appearance, i determined upon proceeding in the adventure to sea bear bay, a few miles to the southward of port desire, to await her arrival with the beagle. while standing into the bay, we were amused by a chase of a novel description: a guanaco was observed following a fox, which had much difficulty in keeping his pursuer at a distance. as the guanaco is not carnivorous, it may have been in playfulness: reynard, however, by his speed, and anxiety to escape, did not seem to think it an amusement. how the chase terminated we did not see, for they disappeared in a valley. while the ship was being moored, i landed to examine some wells near the outer point, which have been said to afford some tuns of good water. i found them to be deep holes in the solid rock, within the wash of a heavy surf, and large enough to contain two hundred gallons of water; but in one only was the water fresh, the sea having broken into the others, and, of course, spoiled their contents. they receive the rain from the ravines, and are much depended upon by sealing vessels which frequent this coast. sea bear bay was discovered in the voyage of the nodales, in the year ; they describe the place, but give it, as it deserves, a very poor character. "the port," they say, "for a short stay, is not bad, since it affords a good depth of water and a clear bottom; but otherwise it possesses nothing to make it worth a ship visiting it, for there is neither wood nor water, which are what ships most require." nodales called the bay 'sea lion,' from the multitude of sea-lions (_phoca jubata_) found on penguin island. why it has been changed to sea bear bay i cannot determine. in one of mr. tarn's excursions into the country, he observed a sail in the offing, which he thought was a whale-boat; and { } supposing it might be in distress, if not one of the adelaide's, kindled a fire to attract attention. as the grass was very dry, it blazed furiously, and spread rapidly around, yet without exciting fear that it could do us any injury; but the next morning flames being observed on the crest of the hills, behind the valley in which our tent had been erected, a boat was sent to save it, and remove the instruments. our men had just left the ship, when, fanned by a land breeze which rose with the sun, the flames flew on with rapidity, descended the valley, and before the boat reached the shore, had consumed every vestige of the tent, and several articles of minor consequence. the sextant and artificial horizon, lying on the ground, escaped destruction, and the dipping-needle had fortunately been taken on board. before the fire burned itself out, the whole country for fifteen or twenty miles around was completely over-run, so that all hope of procuring guanacoes was destroyed. previous to the fire, mr. tarn had shot one; but being young, the carcase only weighed one hundred pounds, and was scarcely worth the trouble of sending fifteen miles for; however, as an amusement to the people, i sent a party to bring it on board, and it proved sufficient to furnish the ship's company with a fresh meal. we had seen several herds within four miles of the ship before the conflagration; but the country was so very level and open, that these shy animals were always warned of the approach of our people by their vigilant scouts. so watchful and attentive is the look-out at his post, that he never drops his head even to feed, and it is only with the greatest cunning and care a man can get near the herd. the best way is, to lie concealed near the water holes, and await their coming to drink. a small stream of fresh water trickled over the beach into the bay, fringed by a patch of grass which the fire had spared, at which having once observed a guanaco drinking, we set a watch; but whether the animals were aware of it or not, none came until the morning we sailed, when a small herd walked down to the place quite unconcernedly, having no doubt first ascertained that there was no danger. { } the little vessel mr. tarn saw was an american sealer, which anchored in the bay next morning. besides the guanacoes, and fox, above-mentioned, we saw no quadrupeds, although two or three sorts of cavia and the puma are common in this neighbourhood. of birds, nothing interesting was seen, except a plover (_totanus fuscus_?), oyster-catcher (_hæmatopus niger, rostro rubro, pedibus albis_), and one of the night bitterns, very much resembling the young of the european bird;[ ] but these three species had previously been found at port famine. several lizards were taken, and preserved. this extremely sterile and barren country is very unfavourable for animals of any kind. the soil is like that already described about port desire. the rock is of the same character as at port st. elena and port desire: red porphyritic claystone.[ ] on the d of march, a week having passed since we came to port desire, my anxiety for the adelaide's safety was much increased; especially as both wind and weather had been favourable for her approach to this rendezvous. i therefore despatched lieut. wickham overland to port desire to order the beagle to join us, and proceed with us to the other points of rendezvous, port san julian and cape fairweather. lieut. wickham reached port desire after a fatiguing walk, and early next morning the beagle was beating into sea bear bay against a very strong wind which increased, and detained us. i seized this opportunity of completing our consort's provisions to five months. captain fitz roy informed me that he had taken advantage of his stay at port desire, to ascend the inlet to the head. it extended for thirty miles, and the water was salt to its very extremity; but, from the height of the old banks on each side, it appeared likely that at times there may be considerable freshes. at the head of the river he lighted a fire, { } which spread, and soon joined that which mr. tarn had made. their union probably burned many square leagues of country. on the th, we were still detained by a southerly gale. captain fitz roy accompanied me in search of indian graves, which are described to be on the summits of the hills. we found the remains of two, one of which had been recently disturbed, but the other had been opened a considerable time. no vestiges of bones were left. it is said that the corpse is extended in an east and west direction, on the top of the highest pinnacle of the hill, and then covered over with large stones until secure from beasts of prey. decomposition takes place, or the flesh is consumed by small animals or insects, without the bones being removed, so that complete skeletons are formed. according to falkner, the bones are collected at a certain period, and removed to some general cemetery, where the skeletons are set up, and tricked out with all the finery the indians can collect. the avidity they evince for beads and other ornamental trifles is, perhaps, caused by this desire of adorning the remains of their ancestors. the next morning we left sea bear bay and proceeded to san julian, off which we anchored for a few hours, while captain fitz roy entered the port to look for the adelaide, or for some vestige of lieutenant graves's visit. finding nothing in the port, nor any tracks upon the shore, we went on towards cape fairweather, and in our way met the adelaide. after parting from us during the gale in which all her sails were split, she went to port desire, where she arrived first, and, not seeing us, proceeded to the two other places of rendezvous, and had been lying at anchor eight days off cape fairweather. finding we were not there, she was returning to port san julian, when we met her. the weather being calm, so good an opportunity of supplying the adelaide with provisions was not lost, and she was completed to six months. on the st of april we were off cape virgins, and parted from the beagle and adelaide; captain fitz roy having previously received orders from me to proceed through the strait of magalhaens, and despatch the adelaide to survey the { } magdalen and barbara channels, while he was to survey part of the south shore of the strait and the jerome channel, and then proceed, in company with the adelaide, to chilóe. the adventure then proceeded along the coast of tierra del fuego towards staten land, for the purpose of communicating with the chanticleer, or obtaining some intelligence of her. the appointed rendezvous was new year's harbour, and the day on which i had promised to be there was past. it was so foggy that no part of the coast of tierra del fuego could be seen; but as any detention might cause captain foster inconvenience, i did not wait for fair weather, but went at once to the place appointed. when crossing strait le maire, we were very nearly drifted through by the tide, which, however, changed just in time to admit of our keeping on the north side of staten land. with a strong squally breeze we entered new year's harbour, and seeing nothing of the chanticleer, should have sailed without further investigation, had we not observed a cleared white space on one of the islands, which being near the place where i had requested captain foster to leave a document, i concluded was intended to attract our attention. the anchor was therefore dropped in twenty-five fathoms (the island bearing from n. to n.w. ¼ w.), nearly in the spot where captain cook anchored, and a boat was sent to the white mark, near which a flag-staff was observed, at whose foot was a tin canister, containing a letter from captain foster, which informed me of his having been obliged, in consequence of a longer detention here than he had anticipated, to alter his arrangements, and requesting me to meet him at st. martin's cove, near cape horn, about this day. we therefore lost no time in getting under weigh, but in doing so, broke an anchor. we passed round cape st. john, and with a fair wind made rapid progress to the westward. at noon, the next day, being seventy-five miles from cape horn, bearing w. by s., the high mountains on the s.e. end of tierra del fuego came in sight, among which the 'sugar loaf'(g) was a conspicuous object. { } by an angular measurement of its altitude, and the distance given by the chart, its height must be nearly five thousand feet, and the average height of its neighbouring mountains full three thousand. a south-west gale now set in, and delayed our reaching cape horn until the th, when we anchored off the entrance of st. martin's cove and found the chanticleer moored within. a boat soon after came with the welcome information of all being well on board her. we were not able to warp into the cove until next day, and in doing so found much difficulty, owing to the violence of the squalls, which repeatedly obliged us to slacken the hawsers quickly, else we should have carried them away. the adventure was moored in seventeen fathoms, about a cable's length within the low green point on the south side: and the chanticleer lay in ten fathoms near the head of the cove. the summit of cape horn being in a line with the south point of entrance, we were quite land-locked, and perfectly sheltered from all winds, excepting the williwaws, or furious gusts from off the high land, which sometimes suddenly struck the ship, and threw her on her broadside; but being as momentary in duration as they were sudden in approach, we found them more disagreeable than dangerous. during our stay here i made a partial survey of the bay of st. francis, which has since been completed by captain fitz roy. st. joachim's cove, to the southward of st. martin's cove, is more exposed than the latter, but is of easier depth. these coves are separated from each other by a steep and precipitous mass of hills of greenstone, which in many parts appear to be stratified, the dip being to the westward, at an angle of °. i landed at the point, and ascended the hill, which i found more difficult to do than i supposed, the whole surface being covered with stunted beech bushes, so thickly matted or interwoven together, that i was obliged to walk or crawl over their tops. among them were occasionally seen the berberis ilicifolia and veronica, the latter of very small size. another day, lieutenant kendall, of the chanticleer, accompanied me { } to weddel's port maxwell, which is evidently st. bernard's cove of d'arquistade.(h) port maxwell is contained between jerdan island, saddle island, and a third island, forming a triangle. it has four entrances, the principal one being to the north of jerdan island, and affords tolerable anchorage in the centre, in nineteen and twenty fathoms, sand;[ ] nearer the shores of the island the depth is more moderate, but the bottom is very rocky. the summit of saddle island, which i ascended for bearings, is composed of large blocks of greenstone rock, on one of which the compass (kater's azimuth, without a stand) was placed; but the needle was found to be so much influenced by the ferruginous nature of the rock, composed of quartz and feldspar, thickly studded with large crystals of hornblende, that the poles of the needle became exactly reversed. an experiment was then made, by taking bearings of a very distant object, at several stations around, about fifty yards from the magnetic rock, when the extreme difference of the results amounted to °. the block upon which the compass stood, in the first instance, is now conspicuously placed in the museum of the geological society.[ ] saddle island, like the others near it, is clothed with low stunted brushwood of beech, berberis, and arbutus, and the ground is covered with a species of chamitis, and other mountain plants. while mr. kendall and i were absent from the boat, the crew caught several kelp fish, which are very delicate and wholesome food. on the following day, while going with mr. kendall to wollaston island, we passed a great many whales, leaping and tumbling in the water. a blow from one { } of them would have destroyed our boat, and i was glad to cross the sound without getting within their reach. we returned by the west side of jerdan island, where there are bights which might afford shelter to a small vessel. the sound that separates wollaston island from the bay of st. francis, i named after sir john franklin, and the harbour to the east of the point on which we landed, after lieutenant kendall, who was one of sir john franklin's companions in his last journey to the north-west coast of america. on the west point of kendall harbour, i observed a magnetic property in the rock, which is of the same character as that on saddle island. weddel noticed the same at st. martin's cove; but i placed the compass in various parts of that cove, without observing any difference from the correct bearing. this was, perhaps, owing to the rock being much covered with soil; for, being of the same character with that of the places above-mentioned, it should cause a similar effect. the next day s.w. gales and thick weather set in, and confined us almost to the ship. taking advantage of a short interval of more moderate weather, i ascended the highest peak on the south side of the cove, immediately over the anchorage, taking two barometers, one of the englefield construction, and the other a syphon barometer, on m. gay lussac's plan, made by bunten, of paris. mr. harrison accompanied me, taking charge of one barometer, whilst i carried the other. my coxswain carried a theodolite. on landing, the barometers were set up at the edge of the water and read off, and at the same moment the barometer on board was read off. we then ascended, but the rise was so precipitously steep as to offer very great impediments; and had it not been for a water-course, in whose bed we climbed for the first part, the ascent, with delicate instruments, would have been almost impracticable. we had ascended but little way, when the unfortunate theodolite escaped from my coxswain, rolled down the ravine, and was much damaged. it was an excellent magnetic transit, and for that purpose was irremediably injured; but, as a theodolite, it was yet useful. the first third of the ascent, from the { } comparative facility offered by the water-course, was only impeded by loose stones, which frequently yielded to the foot, and rolled down the gully, to the great danger of those who followed. the banks of the ravine were saturated with water, and covered either with spongy moss, or matted with plants,[ ] which afforded no assistance; had it not therefore been for straggling shrubs of arbutus, or veronica, and tufts of rushes, growing on the steeper parts, we should have had many a fall; and however unimportant we might think bruises and scratches, a broken barometer would have been a serious accident, and much care was required to avoid it. we had to leave the bed of the torrent, when it became full of wood, and then our difficulty increased much; for in many places we had to scramble over the thickly-matted and interwoven branches of the stunted bushes of beech which frequently yielded to our weight, and entangled our legs so much, that it was no easy matter to extricate ourselves. at the height of one thousand feet, vegetation became much more stunted; we found the plants and shrubs of very diminutive size, consisting principally of the deciduous-leaved beech, one plant of which, though not more than two inches high, occupied a space of four or five feet in diameter, its spreading branches insinuating themselves among wild cranberry, chamitis, donacia, arbutus, and escalonia, so closely matted together, as to form quite an elastic carpet. for the last two hundred feet, we walked over the bare rock, on which no other vegetation was observed than lichens. the summit of the peak is formed by a loose pile of green-stone rock, in which the hornblende appears in very varied forms, sometimes in large crystals, and again so small and disseminated, as to be scarcely visible; on the summit it is seen, in very long, narrow (? filiform) crystals, and the feldspar predominating, gives it a white appearance.[ ] the only living creatures we saw were a solitary hawk and { } one insect, a species of oniscus. nothing, in fact, could be more desolate, and we had only the satisfaction of a good observation for the height, and an excellent bird's-eye view of the surrounding islands and channel, to repay us for the labour of the ascent. on reaching the top, the barometers were suspended under the lee of the rock, twelve feet below its summit, and i then proceeded to set up the theodolite, which i found more damaged than i had anticipated; but not so much as to deprive me of a very extensive round of angles, in which were contained bearings of the ildefonso islands. we were thus occupied about an hour and half, which afforded me an opportunity of obtaining two good readings of the barometer. the view to the n.w. was very extensive, and bounded by long ranges of snow-clad mountains of great height; the atmosphere was remarkably clear, and every object unusually distinct. bearings of the islands of diego ramirez would have been taken, but for the extreme force of the wind, which more than once blew me from the theodolite, and once actually threw me on the ground. the temperature was not below °; but, owing to the wind, the cold was intense, and the rapid evaporation produced the most painful sensations, particularly in our feet and legs, which were thoroughly wet when we reached the top. our descent was not effected in less than an hour and twenty minutes, owing to the difficulty of passing through the beech thickets; but we reached the base without injury to the barometers, which was being more fortunate than i expected. they were again set up on the beach, and read; after which we returned on board, amply gratified and rewarded for our fatigue. the height of the peak, which, from its vicinity to the station selected by captain foster for the pendulum experiments, could not receive a more appropriate name than kater's peak, was found to be , feet above the high-water mark.[ ] { } the next day, after a beautifully clear and mild morning, with a fresh northerly breeze, the weather became cloudy, and the wind veered to the s.w. blowing excessively hard, with hail and rain. the gusts, or williwaws, rushed through the valley of the cove with inconceivable violence, heaving the ship over on her broadside every minute, so that we were obliged to have every thing lashed as if at sea. fortunately, we had completed wood and water, and now only waited for observations, to rate the chronometers, for our run to valparaiso, whither it was my intention to proceed. days, however, passed without a glimpse of the stars, and the sun only appeared for a few minutes above the hills. captain foster had completed his observations, and embarked all his instruments, excepting the transit, which remained for taking the passages of stars; but the bad weather continued, with little intermission. on the d, the gale was most violent, and the williwaws became short hurricanes, in some of which the ship drifted and fouled her anchors. on the th, we had a dry and fair day, which permitted us to sight the anchors and moor again. the fine weather was of only a few hours duration, when the gale again sprung up, and lasted, with little intermission, until the day of our departure (the th). from the th to the d the sky was so perpetually clouded, that the only transits obtained in that interval were, one of antares, one of regulus, and one of the limb of the moon, though captain foster even slept close to the telescope, in the greatest anxiety to obtain observations. on the night of the d four stars were { } observed, by which the error of the clock was satisfactorily ascertained. captain foster's pluviameter, a cubic foot in size, placed on a stand two feet above the ground, at an elevation of forty-five feet above the sea, contained eight inches and a quarter of rain, after standing thirty days; therefore, with the quantity evaporated, at least twelve inches must have fallen. the day after the above was registered, the vessel only contained seven inches and a quarter; so that in twenty-four hours one inch had evaporated, by which an idea may be formed of the sort of weather we experienced, and of the humidity of the climate. with respect to the geological features, i can only add, that all the islands on which i landed, and, i believe, all the others, are composed of green-stone of various characters. the lower portion, or base, being less decomposed, is a fine-grained green-coloured rock, in which the component parts are so blended as not to be distinguished from each other. it appears sometimes in strata, dipping at various angles, from ° to ° from the vertical; and is very similar to the rock which alternates with granite in the straits of magalhaens, at the entrance of the barbara; and also to that about pond harbour, and bell bay. at a greater elevation the feldspar predominates, the hornblende is observed in distinct crystals,[ ] and the rock contains a considerable quantity of iron, which is observed in the reddish tinge of its surface. i have before noticed the magnetic property of this rock, which was more or less according to the quantity of hornblende: the beach-stones are different sorts of green-stone. the lower parts of the hills, around st. martin's cove, are thickly wooded with the smooth-leaved, evergreen beech, which i have before described. its leaves were as fresh and vivid, when we sailed, as if it were the height of summer; but those of the deciduous-leaved beech had assumed their autumnal tint, and were falling fast. neither species attained a greater size, in diameter, than six or eight inches. the winter's-bark was { } found in sheltered places, but not larger in dimensions than the beech.[ ] where no trees are produced, the ground is covered with tufts of chamitis and donacia, which, being of a bright-green colour, give the sides of the hills a lively and verdant appearance. had the state of the weather permitted our boats to leave the neighbourhood of the cove, or had the woods afforded any addition to collections for natural history, our detention would have been more agreeable; but, with the exception of a few corvorants, divers, and 'steamers,' with now and then a solitary hawk, or a patagonian 'warbler,' we saw no traces of animal life. no indians came near us, having been frightened away by the chanticleer; for when captain foster was absent at night, after attempting to land at cape horn, several rockets were fired off as signals, and a few indians who were then in the cove were so much alarmed, that they went away next day, and never afterwards showed themselves, although i dare say we were very narrowly watched by them. having supplied the chanticleer with the provisions she required, we prepared to leave st. martin's cove. on the th the chanticleer sailed, and in two hours after we also left this dismal cove, in which we experienced a succession of very bad weather, an almost constant s.w. wind, and for the last month a scarcely ceasing fall of either rain, hail, or snow. the chanticleer bore away round cape horn, and was soon out of sight. this was my last meeting with captain foster, who, the night before we sailed, communicated to me a presentiment, which he could not shake off, that he should not survive the voyage. i cannot now resist indulging in the melancholy satisfaction of saying a few words to the memory of my late excellent { } friend, and lamenting, with many others, the severe loss which science suffered in his death. he was a fellow of the royal, and astronomical societies, and to the former had contributed, to use the words of his royal highness the duke of sussex, as president of the royal society, a most valuable and extensive series of observations upon the diurnal variation, diurnal intensity, and dip of the magnetic needle; and upon other subjects connected with the terrestrial magnetism and astronomical refraction, which formed an entire fourth part of the philosophical transactions for the year . for these papers he received the copley medal; and the lords of the admiralty acknowledged their sense of the honour which was thus conferred upon the profession to which he belonged, by immediately raising him to the rank of commander, and by appointing him to the command of the chanticleer, upon a voyage of discovery and observation in the south seas. the address of the president of the royal astronomical society, at the anniversary meeting,[ ] also bears ample testimony to his active and useful services in the expedition, under captain parry, towards the north pole; as well as to his ardent zeal, very great attention, and accuracy, in every thing which he undertook for the promotion of science; and concludes the notice of his death in the following words: "in the premature death of this young and accomplished officer, the society has to deplore the loss of a zealous and active votary to science; and his memory will be long held dear by those who were more intimately acquainted with him in the relations of private life." captain foster was unfortunately drowned, near the close of his voyage, while descending the river chagres in a canoe. no sooner had we cleared the land, than we found a strong westerly wind, and a heavy sea; so that if we had entertained any expectation of making a quiet passage to the westward, we should have been disappointed. the land of hermite island, and its vicinity, has a most remarkable appearance when seen from the south. its outline is a series of peaks, following each other in regular succession, { } and resembling the worn teeth of an old saw. mount hyde is made sufficiently distinct by its rounded apex, and by being higher than any land near it. kater's peak also is remarkable in this view, from its conical form and very pointed summit, and from being situated at the eastern end of the island. the 'horn' itself needs no description; it cannot easily be mistaken.[ ] westerly winds carried us as far as ° south latitude before we could make any westing, and then we had a slant from the eastward, followed by variable winds. our run to valparaiso was much like all other voyages in this climate; we had the usual quantity of foul and fair winds, with a share of tempestuous weather, and arrived at valparaiso bay on the d of june. while remaining here our chronometers were cleaned, and some of them repaired; and the ship was refitted and provisioned, with a full supply for the beagle and adelaide as well as herself. at the latter end of july, lieutenant wickham accompanied me to santiago, the capital of chile, ninety miles from the port, for the purpose of waiting upon general pinto, the director; and communicating to him the purpose of our voyage, to prevent exciting suspicion, or receiving any interruption on the part of the authorities of places we might visit, particularly chilóe, where our stay might be viewed with distrust or apprehension; for rumour had already said that the english were about to take that island. ridiculous as such a report was, i deemed it sufficiently important to induce me to explain to the chilian government our views and orders, which could be done better by personal explanation than by a correspondence. we commenced our journey early on the th of july, travelling in a covered chaise, drawn by three horses, one in { } the shafts, and the others outside, attached to the carriage by a single trace of hide; and preceded by a drove of horses, from which, at the end of every stage of twelve or fifteen miles, we selected a relay. the day was so very stormy, that we saw but little of the country. immediately after leaving the almendral, or suburbs of valparaiso, we ascended twelve hundred feet, and then descended about four hundred feet to an extensive plain, reaching to the cuesta de zapato, the summit of which, at least the highest part of the road over it, we found by barometrical measurement to be , feet above the sea. in the interval we passed through the village of casa blanca, lying eight hundred and three feet above the sea. after passing the cuesta de zapato, between it and the cuesta de prado, is another extensive valley, through which runs the river poangui. at curacavi, where we crossed the river, the height above the sea is six hundred and thirty-three feet;[ ] and the road proceeds by a gentle ascent to the foot of the cuesta de prado, near which is the village of bustamente, eight hundred and eight feet above the sea. this 'cuesta' is passed by a very steep road, and is ascended by twenty-seven traverses, which carry one to a height of , feet above the plain, or , feet above the sea. when we reached the summit of this mountain the weather was so cloudy, that the andes were almost concealed from view. beneath us was the extensive plain of maypo, with the city of santiago in the distance, a view of considerable extent, and possessing very great interest; but from the state of the weather, its beauty would not have been seen to advantage, had not portions of the towering andes, raised by optical deception to apparently twice their height, appeared at intervals among the clouds. on { } a fine day, when the range of mountains is uncovered, the view is grand; but not so imposing as when their lower portions are concealed, and their summits partially exposed. this part of the andes rises about , feet above the plain, and is covered half way down the sides with snow, the lower edge of which is regularly defined, and presents a change of colour so abrupt and horizontal as to appear unnatural, and therefore diminish the grandeur of the scene very much. but under whatever circumstances this view is seen from the cuesta de prado, it is magnificent, and produces an effect beyond description. the road descends down the eastern side of this cuesta, to a plain about , feet below the summit. so much rain had fallen during the two preceding days, and last night, that our driver expressed some doubt whether we should be able to cross the podaguel, a river which is frequently impassable from the strength of its current. the idea of spending a night at the miserable hovel we were leaving was enough to induce us to run a considerable risk, and we set off to make the attempt. the water was very deep, and the current sufficiently strong to render it a performance of some danger; but, this difficulty being passed, we soon reached the city of santiago, and in the house of mr. caldcleugh, enjoyed the hospitality and society of a warm-hearted friend. i waited on the director (pinto), who received me with the greatest politeness. he entered into the particulars of our past voyage with much interest, assuring me that every facility should be afforded, and every assistance rendered, whenever it might be required; and in this assurance we never found ourselves deceived, for on all occasions the conduct of the executive authorities towards us was marked in attention, and even kindness. i make this observation with the more pleasure, as it was very unusual in our communications with the authorities of those governments we had previously visited, to find the objects of our voyage considered in the least interesting. although the weather, during our visit to santiago, was not there considered fine, we left the city and its neighbourhood with a strong impression of the salubrity of the climate, and the { } mildness of its temperature, which even in the middle of winter, and at the height of nearly , feet above the sea, ranged no lower than ° fahrenheit, and during the day the maximum height of the thermometer never exceeded °.[ ](k) we returned to valparaiso on the th of july, and made preparations to sail; but were detained by a strong northerly gale for many days, in which we were enabled to render assistance to a large indian trader that would otherwise have been wrecked. on the th of august, we sailed for chilóe; and on our way were greatly delayed by southerly winds, which carried us in sight of the island of juan fernandez. we reached our destination on the th, and found the beagle, to our great delight, arrived, and all well. captain fitz roy came on board before we anchored, and gave me an outline of his proceedings, and those of the adelaide, which had not { } returned, but was daily expected, having been despatched to survey some interior channels on her way to chilóe. our anchorage was off point arenas, which is not only the best in the bay, but appeared to be well adapted to our wants. the beagle had arrived early in july, and had sent to valparaiso for stores with which to refit, and make preparations for another cruize to the south. the harbour master, mr. williams, an englishman, visited us soon after our anchoring, and by him i forwarded to the yntendente (or governor), don josé santiago aldunate, the letters brought for him from chile. in the afternoon i received his acknowledgments, and offers of all the assistance in his power to render. as it was probable that our stay would occupy some weeks, i established myself at a house in the town, obtained by his kindness; and there fixed my portable observatory, and set up an azimuth altitude instrument. * * * * * { } chapter xiii. beagle and adelaide anchor in possession bay--beagle passes the first narrow--fogs--pecket harbour--adelaide arrives with guanaco-meat-- portuguese seamen--peculiar light--party missing--return--proceed towards port famine--fuegians--lieut. skyring--adelaide sails to survey magdalen and barbara channels--views--lyell sound--kempe harbour--cascade bay--san pedro sound--port gallant--diet--rain--awnings--boat cruise--warning-- jerome channel--blanket bags--otway water--frequent rain--difficulty in lighting fires. the following is an account of the beagle's and adelaide's operations, after separating from the adventure, on the st of april, at the entrance of the strait of magalhaens. light northerly winds were favourable for their entering the strait, and they reached possession bay the first night. the following day was foggy, and almost calm, until the afternoon, when both vessels weighed, and proceeded with the tide. at sunset the adelaide anchored on the north shore; but the beagle stood on, and entered the narrow. after dark, when within it, with a rapid tide running, the wind fell light, and an anchor was let go, under the north shore, in eight fathoms; but the cable being accidentally checked too soon, snapped like a small rope, and the vessel was hustled out into deep water. as it would have been both useless and imprudent to let go another anchor, the beagle was kept underweigh, and worked to the westward, aided by a very powerful tide, which speedily carried her through the narrow, without accident, although the night was dark; and they had no guide but the chart and lead. at eleven o'clock she was anchored within the narrow, in twelve fathoms, soon after which the tide turned, and ran with great strength; but the night was calm, as well as the next morning. while waiting for wind, and the change of tide, several patagonian indians were observed on horseback hunting { } guanacoes. a very large dead cod-fish was also seen, floating past, which was taken on board; on its skin were several parasites.[ ] with the evening tide the beagle reached gregory bay; and the next day (april th) worked through the second narrow, and anchored in pecket harbour. as soon as she arrived people were sent on shore to make a large fire, to show the natives where the ship was, and attract them to her. next morning, the th, it had spread very much, and overrun several acres of ground, which showed either a very dry soil, or that there had not been much rain for some time. the ground was covered with cranberries; so much so, that it had quite a red tinge; they were very good. plenty of wild celery was found, but no wood of any kind. water was obtained in small quantities, from a spring about eighty yards from the beach, abreast of the anchorage: it may also be procured by sinking wells. early on the th of april the adelaide anchored near the beagle. captain fitz roy went on board, and found that lieutenant graves had seen the indians in gregory bay; and had anchored there for the purpose of obtaining guanaco meat, of which he got about nine hundred pounds weight. thick fogs had prevented his getting through the first narrow until the th. at gregory bay, lieutenant graves took three portuguese seamen on board, who claimed his protection, having been left by an english sealing vessel nearly a year before. one of them asked to be again put ashore, and was landed on quoin hill to carry a message to the indians, from whom he promised to bring a supply of meat in two days. the other two were entered on the books as supernumeraries, and employed in the adelaide. having given the beagle two-thirds of the meat, the adelaide weighed; and in two hours was out of sight, on her way to port famine. { } the following are extracts from captain fitz roy's journal of this cruise of the beagle. "monday th april. several of our people were employed in gathering cranberries, and preserving them for future use; they are anti-scorbutic, as well as the wild celery, much of which has been used with our guanaco soup. "wednesday, th. i went to oazy harbour with lieutenant skyring, who surveyed the harbour while i examined the cove to the northward. "oazy harbour appears large, but the part where there is anchorage is very small, and a strong tide sets in and round it, by which a bank is thrown up, a short distance inside the entrance; there is very little wood, and some difficulty in obtaining fresh water, even in a small quantity. the anchorage outside might be more convenient for procuring guanaco meat from the indians than gregory bay, but it is exposed to winds between w.s.w. and s.s.e. "at my return to the beagle, i was much surprised to find that lieutenant kempe, mr. bynoe, and a boy, had not yet come back from a shooting excursion. a boat had been to the appointed place at sun-set, and had waited an hour without seeing them. at seven, a light was seen on the top of quoin hill, and i sent a boat to the spot, with cautions about landing, being in doubt whether it was shown by them or by the indians; but the boatswain, who went with her, could find no person, nor any light. he waited some time, and returned on board.(l) a similar light was again seen, more than once, during the dark and gloomy weather, with small misty rain falling, and a light breeze from the westward, which we had all night. "thursday, th. no signs of our officers, nor any appearance of the indians. fearing that some accident had happened, i sent two boats away, with arms and provisions, to look for them all round the harbour, and the large lagoon which communicates { } with it. both boats were thoroughly cautioned about the indians, for i had thoughts of their treachery. just as the boats got out of sight, three people were observed on the ridge of a hill, about six miles distant; and, at the same time two other persons appeared, much nearer the ship, on the east side of the harbour. which was our party, and who the others were, it was perplexing to say. both disappeared again for about two hours, when our stragglers came over a hill, very near the ship. upon their arrival on board, they were scarcely able to move: they had been on their legs, almost without food, and without shelter from the rain, since they left the ship. their intention had been to walk round the harbour, which appeared an employment for two hours only; but at its head they found a lake, and beyond that lake a much larger one, joined to the first by a passage, which they could not cross. when they arrived at this passage, it was too late to return by the way they went, and their best chance seemed to be going on. after dark, they tried to make a fire, but the rain prevented them. it was too dark to see their way, and the cold rain obliged them to keep moving about, though in one place. when daylight came, they travelled on, and until they reached the ship at two o'clock, were constantly walking. "the other people seen by us must have been indians; none were met by our wanderers, but several places were passed where fires had been made by them. "april th. directly our boats returned, we weighed and made sail; but the wind soon failed, and the tide setting against us, obliged me to anchor. "april th. made sail towards the passage between elizabeth island and cape negro, and anchored there to wait for the tide, which ran past us when at anchor, at the rate of three knots an hour. about cape negro the appearance of the land entirely changes. a low barren country gives way to hills covered with wood, increasing in height, and becoming more rocky and mountainous as you go southward. "on the th, when working near the land, against a light southerly breeze, we saw a small canoe paddling along shore, { } and some people walking on the beach. while the ship was standing off, i went to them, being the first savages i had ever met. in the canoe were an old woman, her daughter, and a child, and on shore were two fuegian men with several dogs. their figures reminded me of drawings of the esquimaux, being rather below the middle size, wrapped in rough skins, with their hair hanging down on all sides, like old thatch, and their skins of a reddish brown colour, smeared over with oil, and very dirty. their features were bad, but peculiar; and, if physiognomy can be trusted, indicated cunning, indolence, passive fortitude, deficient intellect, and want of energy. i observed that the forehead was very small and ill-shaped; the nose was long, narrow between the eyes, and wide at the point; and the upper lip, long and protruding. they had small, retreating chins; bad teeth; high cheek-bones; small chinese eyes, at an oblique angle with the nose; coarse hair; wide ill-formed mouths, and a laugh as if the upper lip were immoveable. the head was very small, especially at the top and back; there were very few bumps for a craniologist. they asked earnestly for 'tabac, tabac,' but seemed very timid. we bartered some biscuit and old knives for a few of their arrows, skins, spears, &c. "their canoes, twenty-two feet long, and about three wide, were curiously made of the branches of trees, covered with pieces of beech-tree bark, sewed together with intestines of seals. a fire was burning in the middle, upon some earth, and all their property, consisting of a few skins and bone-headed lances, was stowed at the ends. "the young woman would not have been ill-looking, had she been well scrubbed, and all the yellow clay with which she was bedaubed, washed away. i think they use the clayey mixture for warmth rather than for show, as it stops the pores of the skin, preventing evaporation and keeping out the cold air. their only clothing was a skin, thrown loosely about them; and their hair was much like a horse's mane, that has never been combed. "april th. anchored in port famine." { } "april th. lieutenant skyring went on board the adelaide with mr. kirke, five seamen, and one of the beagle's whale-boats. mr. bynoe, the assistant-surgeon, also went as a volunteer. "april th. the adelaide sailed to survey the magdalen and barbara channels; after which she was to rejoin the beagle at port gallant. she soon got into a strong southerly wind, and could make no progress, as the current was against her; she therefore again stood into the bay, and anchored. "a sharply cold night made us remember we were far south, although the weather by day had been mild. i have said little about this anchorage, as it has already been described. the appearance of the surrounding country is striking and picturesque. mount tarn, with its patches of snow, rising from thick woods, and the high snow-covered mountains in the distance, with dark blue sea at their base, are very remarkable objects. "we sailed on the th with the adelaide, which had been prevented from going sooner by strong and unfavourable winds: and about noon we parted from our consort, whose course was southerly, into the magdalen channel, while we went towards lyell sound. "i cannot help here remarking, that the scenery this day appeared to me magnificent. many ranges of mountains, besides mount sarmiento, were distinctly visible, and the continual change occurring in the views of the land, as clouds passed over the sun, with such a variety of tints of every colour, from that of the dazzling snow to the deep darkness of the still water, made me wish earnestly to be enabled to give an idea of it upon paper; but a necessary look-out for the vessel, not having a commissioned officer with me who had been in the strait before, kept my attention too much occupied to allow me to make more than a few hasty outlines. under the high land the beagle had but little wind, and night closed upon us before we could gain an anchorage in lyell sound, so we shortened sail after dark, and kept near mid channel until the morning. { } "the night was one of the most beautiful i have ever seen; nearly calm, the sky clear of clouds, excepting a few large white masses, which at times passed over the bright full moon: whose light striking upon the snow-covered summits of the mountains by which we were surrounded, contrasted strongly with their dark gloomy bases, and gave an effect to the scene which i shall never forget. "at daylight, on the th, we were close to lyell sound, and stood along its west side, looking for an anchorage, until we found a very good harbour, about a mile inside mazaredo point. "i then went away, with two boats, to examine the sound, leaving the master to sound and plan the inner harbour. "kempe harbour, within lyell sound, would hold six large ships in security; but, like most of the harbours hereabouts, access is difficult, on account of the squalls off the high land, which are so irregular, and often violent. "during the night of the st, it blew strong in squalls, and the chain-cable kept us awake by rattling very much over rocks; yet when the anchor was hove to the bows next morning, it appeared to have been well bedded in stiff clay. to these sounds we afterwards became familiarised. "wednesday, d. strong squalls from the south-eastward during the night, and in the morning; when, being anxious to reach cascade bay, i weighed, though the weather was thick, and the wind against us. the flaws were so variable, that we were two hours knocking the helm and sails about before we could clear the anchorage, and move half a mile in still water. i should recommend warping in and out of these harbours, in preference to making sail: as it is far easier, if a ship is provided with small hawsers and kedges: and the hawsers can often be made fast to the rocks, or roots of trees. "the tide rises about four feet in kempe harbour; and there is a place where a vessel might be grounded or careened with perfect safety. "mazaredo peak (bougainville's sugar loaf) is an excellent guide to kempe harbour; the valley-like appearance of { } the land also shows its situation to a vessel in the straits. what at first appears to be lyell sound is kempe harbour, the sound lies more to the left. "after passing mazaredo point, the land is rugged and less woody; it is not very high, and has a peculiar, rounded appearance, like the tops of loaves of bread. "there was slate in kempe harbour, which seemed to me fit for roofing purposes. "in cascade bay we found the abundance of limpets and muscles usual on these shores, and of particularly good quality. the indians live almost entirely upon them and sea-eggs, though birds, and occasionally a seal, add to their subsistence. vegetation, both on shore and in the water, is most abundant. at every step one sinks knee-deep in moss, grass, fern, or low bushes. trees seem to arrive but seldom at perfection; the climate is so moist that they rot while growing, before they attain any size. moss grows every where; each bough is covered with it: and the water appears to be as favourable to the growth of kelp as the land is to that of plants. the large kind (_fucus giganteus_) shoots up, from many fathoms depth, to the surface, with strong stalks and large leaves. " d. a bad day; blowing strong, and at times raining. mr. murray, mr. stokes, and i, went with three boats to continue our work of exploring and sounding. "saturday, th. we weighed and made sail; but the breeze failed, and flaws came against us. while laying out warps, and hanging by the stream-cable, a squall took the ship and drove her against the rocks, but without doing her any injury, for they were quite wall-sided. the main-yard and spanker-boom were among the trees. we again laid out warps, and had made some progress, when another strong squall obliged us to go back into our anchorage, to remain until the hail, snow, wind, and rain should cease. " th. an unpromising and wet morning; but the heavy rain being over, we weighed, and in a few hours reached the western side of san pedro sound. "about a mile from the point we anchored in murray cove, { } which affords good shelter from westerly winds, and is very easy of access, being a small roadstead rather than a harbour. " th. we set out early with the boats, but the weather was too bad to do much; however, something was done, and at dusk we went ashore on a small island in the sound. it rained very hard all the afternoon and during part of the night. we sheltered ourselves as well as we could with the boat's sails and tarpaulins; but during the night the wind shifted, and blew so hard, that it threw down our slight shelter, and made me very anxious about the ship; for i was doubtful of the security of the anchorage where she lay. " th. this morning was very cold, it rained hard and blew strong; but when it cleared away for a short time, we set to work again, to explore what appeared to be a channel. "after a three hours' pull against wind, snow, and hail, my channel proved to be only one of the numerous inlets which encroach upon the fuegian territory; and the boats returned to the beagle, with the help of strong squalls from the s.w. i was not a little glad to see the ship in the place where i had left her. during the night another anchor had been let go; but she had not moved from her position. this anchorage is so easy of access, that i hope it will be of use to vessels passing through the strait. there is room for one large sized ship to lie conveniently, or for two or three small craft. "the weather has not yet been so cold as i expected it would be: snow lies on the deck a short time, but the thermometer has not been lower than ° (fahrenheit). " th. a rainy, blowing morning: mr. stokes and i set out in the boats; but it rained so much, that we could only make a fire to dry our clothes, and remove the numbness, caused by sitting a long time in the wet. "on the d of may, we anchored in port gallant: though perfectly secure, this is a dismal harbour in winter, being so surrounded by high mountains, that the sun is seldom visible. until the th, in addition to our usual daily duties, we were occupied in preparing for an excursion, in boats, to the jerome channel. salt provisions were entirely withheld from the crew { } for three days, and instead of them, preserved meat, shell-fish, and a large pig, brought from monte video, were substituted. we found in this, as in almost every fuegian harbour, abundance of muscles, limpets, and wild celery; some fish and some wild-fowl. many of our party thought shags good eating, but only one person could be found daring enough to try whether old sir john narborough was quite warranted in saying that a fox was 'savoury food,' and that one repented of his experiment during a week's serious illness. "my reason for entirely stopping the use of salt-meat, for a few days, was the belief that, at least, two or three days' change of diet is necessary to cause any real alteration in the system; and that it is better to give fresh provisions for three days in succession, and salt-meat during the remainder of three weeks, than to give fresh-meat at three separate intervals in the same period. "during the wet weather of these regions, we derived great benefit from awnings, painted for the purpose, while refitting at rio de janeiro and maldonado: they kept the lower, and a great part of the upper deck quite dry, even in heavy rain. "may th. mr. stokes and i set out with a cutter and whale-boat, to explore the jerome channel. we were well provided, with as much as the boats could stow, of what we thought likely to be useful during a month's cruise. of water we took but little, trusting to the wetness of these regions for a supply. each man had his clothes covered with canvas, or duck, well painted; and instead of a hat, every one had a 'south-wester' (like a coal-heaver's cap). "our provisions, being sufficient for twenty-eight days, made the boats rather deep; and i soon found the cutter pulled very heavily, and was obliged to take her in tow. all our party slept in the cutter the first night, the whale-boat being made fast astern. towards midnight it blew fresh, and as the boats were anchored near the wash of the beach, they rolled a good deal; and soon afterwards, feeling the whale-boat hanging heavily on her rope, i hauled her up alongside, and found she was almost swamped; in a few minutes she { } must have sunk with all her heavy cargo, to us invaluable. the plug had worked out by her rolling:--i seldom left her afloat at night after this warning. having saved the boat, made me think less of all our things being wetted, and of some of the instruments being almost spoiled. "at daylight, on the th, we pulled along shore, with the wind against us, and reached point york before the tide made strongly; but that place we could not pass; and sooner than give up an inch of ground, let go our grapnels, in the middle of a race of tide, that tumbled in over both gunwales, and ran past us at the rate of five knots. at one p.m. it slackened, and we pulled on into bachelor river, very glad to get so good a place to dry our clothes, and put the boats to rights. three deserted wigwams gave us shelter; and while some made fires, others went to collect shell-fish, or shoot birds. though the season was so far advanced, some shrubs were in flower, particularly one, which is very like a jessamine, and has a sweet smell. cranberries and berberis-berries were plentiful: i should have liked to pass some days at this place, it was so very pretty; the whole shore was like a shrubbery. i cannot account for the exaggerated accounts of the fuegian coasts given by some voyagers: it is true that the peaks of the mountains are covered with snow, and those sides exposed to the prevailing west winds are barren, and rugged; but every sheltered spot is covered with vegetation, and large trees seem to grow almost upon the bare rock. i was strongly reminded of some of the greek islands in winter, when they also have a share of snow on their mountains. "may th. the tide carried our boats rapidly up the jerome channel, which, though narrow, is quite free from danger. the west shore is very high, and steep, and well covered with wood; the eastern is lower, and less woody. "having passed this channel, we entered the mysterious indian sound, with all that anxiety one feels about a place, of which nothing is known, and much is imagined. i hoped to find a large river; and the strong tide setting up the channel convinced me that there was a body of water inland, but of what nature { } remained to be discovered. at dusk we put into a small creek, and secured the boats, hauling up the whale-boat on the sand. when too late to remove, we found the place of our bivouac so wet and swampy, that nearly two hours were occupied in trying to light a fire. supper and merry songs were succeeded by heavy rain, which continued throughout that night and the next day without intermission. " th. continual hard rain prevented our moving: the whale-boat's men were thoroughly drenched in their tent during the night; but made a better one in the morning. the cutter, having a tarpaulin cover, gave her crew a better lodging; and although a small and loaded boat, only twenty-four feet long, could not be expected to allow much room to a dozen sleepers, during such weather, with the help of our blanket bags,(m) we did very well. " th. during this night, also, it rained very hard. early the next morning, however, it cleared a little, and we got under-weigh. when in the fair-way our hopes were much excited; for beyond a high island, like a sugar-loaf, appeared an opening without land. i tasted the water repeatedly, fancying it less salt, and that we were approaching a river. "less salt it might have been, from the number of waterfalls dashing down the mountains on each side of the channel, which is here about two miles wide, with a current, or rather stream of tide, running at the rate of two knots an hour. "at noon, we reached the sugar loaf: it cost a struggle to get to the top with the instruments; but the view repaid me. for three points of the compass towards the north-east, i could see no land, except two islands; and the farthest extreme to the eastward, appeared to me distant, at least, thirty miles. no mountains or high land could be seen to the north or east; the country seemed there to change its character, and become { } lower and less wooded. this was, indeed, an animating view: i stood considering what might be the boundary of this water, till i recollected, that the longer i thought about it, the longer i should be finding it out; so we pushed on with the boats, of course taking the necessary bearings and angles, until we reached the 'point of islets' in 'otway water.' "on the th, our oars were going early. "the two islands, 'englefield' and 'vivian,' were the only land upon the horizon for six points of the compass. the southern coast trended away nearly east from cape charles, preserving the high mountainous character of the fuegian shores, while that to the northward was low, though as yet well wooded. "i was nearly tempted to try whether fanny bay led towards the gulf of xaultegua; but fortunately did not, as i should have regretted the time so employed. "point hamond is thickly-wooded with evergreens, similar to those of the strait; and with a species of pine, about thirty or forty feet in height. "to the s.e. three remarkable promontories stand out in bold relief from the fuegian shore; but beyond them the land sinks into the tame flatness of patagonia. "the water on the west shore is not deep; from ten to thirty fathoms at a quarter of a mile off shore, but getting more shallow advancing northward. there is anchorage for a vessel after passing indian channel, the whole way along; and as the prevailing winds are off shore, it would generally be safe. in indian channel i only know of two anchorages, cutter bay and bending cove. "such constant rain fell during this evening, that it was not until after much trouble that we at last made fires. carrying dry fuel in the boats we found indispensable, and i would recommend any person who passes a night on shore in this wet climate, with a boat, to carry a sheet of copper, or a piece of flat iron, in preference to any boat-stove, as a fire can be lighted upon it much more easily, and it does not take much stowage: the great difficulty about fires here is getting fuel to burn when the ground is wet, or when snow lies on it. { } " th. raining so steadily all day, that it was useless to proceed: i could neither see my way, nor notice any thing but wind and rain. " th. so mild was the weather, that i bathed this morning, and did not find the water colder than i have felt it in autumn on the english coast; its temperature, at a foot below the surface, averaged °; that of the air was °. from this place, point hamond, i saw seven points of the compass clear of land, my eye being twenty feet above the level of the sea. the water was quite salt, therefore we were certain of being in an unexpected inland sea, or large lagoon. four miles from point hamond lie englefield and vivian islands, rather low, but well wooded with evergreens. they are the only islands of any note in the otway water. the farthest point i could discern i called cape marvel, for much i wondered at the hitherto unsuspected extent of this inlet. "at noon we were off the north end of englefield island. mr. stokes and i observed the sun's meridian altitude satisfactorily from the boats, so smooth was the water. this quiet day was too fine, for it was hard work pulling from nine till five, without any help from sails. towards evening a breeze sprung up in our favour, and with its assistance we ran along the land about ten miles. taking advantage of the moonlight, i did not look out for a resting-place till past seven o'clock, when we had a great deal of trouble in landing; the coast having quite changed its character; and instead of deep water with a rocky shore, we found a flat shingly beach and shoal water, with very large stones scattered between high and low water marks, so numerously as to make it dangerous for a boat, especially at night. upon landing, we found the ground quite changed into a fine light soil, with stunted bushes and trees; and so dry was the wood, that a fire was easily kindled, but not a drop of water could be got any where to cook our supper. a considerable rise and fall of tide was observed, much greater than near indian channel. " th. no breakfast this morning, for want of water--a decided proof of the change of climate and country. north of { } us the sky was clear; but to the southward, over the strait, hung thick clouds. the trees were not evergreen, and at this time their leaves were withered and falling. "while pulling along shore, and passing a low projecting point, we saw the smoke of three fires, and approaching nearer, observed four canoes lying on the beach, near several wigwams. their owners soon appeared, running along the shore, hallooing and jumping. the first who came near us reminded me of an old-fashioned sign of the 'red lion,' for he was painted red all over, and looked more like a wild beast than a human being; another was covered with a bluish mixture; a third was quite black. several had the lower half of the face blacked, and the oldest men and women were painted entirely black. there were about eight men, six or eight boys, and perhaps a dozen women and girls. some had a skin over their shoulders, but others had no covering at all, except paint; they seemed apprehensive, and hid several skins and other things in the wood, as soon as they saw us approaching. "when they found we were peaceably disposed, and had tobacco and knives, they were eager to barter with us. how they have learned the use of tobacco is curious, but they are fond of it to excess. guanaco, as well as seal and otter skins, are in their possession; therefore they probably barter with the patagonians. they have also the skins and horns of a deer, which, as i understood them, inhabits their country.(n) they catch small animals with snares, made of whalebone, just like hare-snares. this tribe was very rich in fuegian wealth, such as skins, arrows, lances, &c. they appeared to be of a race similar, but superior, to the fuegians, being stronger, stouter, more lively, and more active. i persuaded one of their boys to have his face washed, and found his natural complexion was scarcely darker than that of a european. their language sounds like that of the fuegians, and the huts and weapons are precisely similar to their's. we asked them for water, and they pointed to a place about a mile further, { } making signs to us that we must dig in the earth for it. we went there, and near a green-looking spot some good water was found. we then landed, and enjoyed our breakfast at one o'clock, being not a little thirsty. "the natives were still with us; they seemed inquisitive and cunning; and shewed great surprise at a sextant and artificial horizon, by which they sat down, attentively watching what was done. i put my watch to their ears; they were much astonished, and each came in his turn to hear it tick. i pointed to the watch and then to the sky; they shook their heads and suddenly looked so grave, that from their manner in this instance, and from what i could understand by their signs, i felt certain they had an idea of a superior being, although they have nothing like an image, and did not appear to us to have any form of worship. we could learn scarcely any words of their language, because of their trick of repeating whatever we said. "they saw how we lighted a fire, by means of a tinder-box, and took an opportunity to tread it out of sight. our loss was not known until leaving the spot, when that material necessary was missed. it was evident they had stolen it; and while i was meditating a reprisal, one of our men by chance trod upon the missing box, which was artfully hid under the sand. after this discovery, they seemed rather inclined for a skirmish, all having clubs, while our men appeared to have no weapons. however, we parted without a quarrel. "the features of these people differed from those of the fuegians whom i had previously seen, in being better formed, and having a less artful expression. "we pulled hence along a low shore until evening, when distant land began to show itself, stretching to the northward and eastward, and bounding this supposed inland sea. at dusk we discovered an opening, which appeared to be either a river or a channel, and i steered for its north bank, securing the boats for the night in a place we named donkin cove, as a mark of respect to the preserver of meat, to whom we had been so often thankful. a little of this meat, mixed with wild fowl, and some wild celery, makes a wholesome and { } agreeable mess. on boat service, meat preserved in tin is particularly useful, being already cooked, and therefore fit for dinner without the aid of fire. "we were surprised at the mildness of the weather. indeed, the change of climate was as pleasant as it was sudden and unexpected. " th. at daylight, we found ourselves in the entrance of what was thought a river. under this impression, i hoped to penetrate into the interior of the country, and meet some new tribes of patagonians. as soon as we could get underweigh, we pulled and sailed along a winding channel, on one side of which was a pleasant-looking, woody country, extending towards tierra del fuego; and on the other, a low, barren district, like eastern patagonia. the banks on both shores were from five to forty feet high, sloping, and covered with grass. "the current was in our favour, which with the saltness of the water, inclined me to think it a channel, and not the mouth of a river. in this opinion i was confirmed in a short time, by seeing surf breaking against some land beyond an opening, which showed that we were approaching a large body of water. soon after, we reached the extreme west point of this small channel; and, to our surprise, saw an expanse, at least thirty miles across from east to west, and twenty from north to south. i thought it more at first, but probably was deceived. west and south of it i observed high snow-covered mountains; and the summit of one was remarkable, being like a castle with a high tower. northward, the land was low; excepting a few ranges of down-like hills with large plains between them. "it happened to be a very clear day, and all that could be seen at any time was visible. in two places there seemed to me to be openings to the westward; in the southernmost i could see no land at all; the other was backed by distant mountains, but still had the appearance of an opening. after this i went to the top of a hill near me, about three hundred feet high, to gain a better view, yet so small an elevation made but little difference, and i rather thought the opposite coast farther off than i had at first supposed. { } "having sent the cutter back a short distance, to make a fire and land our things, i crossed the channel to a fine level plain, and measured a base line. in crossing, i found a most rapid tide, at least five or six knots at neap tides, and to pull against it was out of the question. it caused a considerable swell and race at the entrance, which is not a quarter of a mile wide, though it averages twelve fathoms in depth. on the plain was growing thick grass, like that in the vicinity of the river plata. so rich and good were the grass and trefoil, that i saved a few seeds, hoping some day to see their produce in england. no tree was seen; the soil seemed dry, rich, and light. skunks, and a small kind of cavy, had burrowed every where, which proves the climate to be of a different nature from that of the strait. the bones and traces of guanacoes were numerous, and some horses' tracks were found; as also part of a dead guanaco, which appeared to have been a prey to wild beasts. water was not so plentiful as to the southward; but quite sufficient for all useful purposes, many small brooks being noticed, besides springs in the sides of the low hills. we shot a swan(o) and some coots; the swans were so fat, or so tame, that they would not rise from the water. " th. while on whitestone plain, a very heavy squall of wind and hail passed over from the s.w., so cuttingly cold, that it showed me one reason why these plains, swept by every wind from s.s.w. to n., are destitute of trees. "after dark, we returned to the cutter and partook of a large mess, made of the swan we had shot, the coots, some limpets, and preserved meat. the shortness of the days was becoming very inconvenient; from eight to four were the only hours of daylight; but some of the nights were so fine, that i got many sets of observations of the moon and stars. * * * * * { } chapter xiv. place for a settlement--frost--boats in danger--narrow escape--sudden change--beagle hills--fuegian painting--tides--medicine--water warmer than the air--jerome channel--mr. stokes returns to the beagle--cape quod--snowy sound--whale sound--choiseul bay--return to the beagle-- adelaide returns--plan of operations--difficulties removed-- preparations--wear and tear of clothing--ascend the mountain de la cruz-- sail from port gallant--tides--borja bay--cape quod--gulf of xaultegua-- frost and snow--meet adelaide--part--enter pacific--arrive at chilóe. " th of may. very cold, raining heavily, and blowing strong from s.w. the tide turned this day (full moon), and set to the westward at . . i only say 'turned,' because i could not distinguish the ebb from the flood, so little rise and fall was there. no sooner had the tide ceased to run in one direction, than it began to run as strongly in the other, for about six hours. for the last four nights i noticed, that soon after sunset the sky was suddenly overcast, a trifling shower fell, and afterwards the heavens became beautifully clear. the climate must be much like that of the east coast of patagonia, as shrubs grow here like those i saw at port desire. while walking, the leaves and dry sticks crackled under foot, which is very different from what one observes about the strait of magalhaens, where everything is wet and spungy. i was inclined to think this place suitable for a settlement. there is water, wood, and good soil, fit for planting, besides pasture land; the climate is not bad; and probably the patagonian indians might be induced to trade in guanaco meat, as they now do at gregory bay; while any of their hostile incursions would be prevented by the channel. " th. two natives, a man and a boy, came to our boats this morning; they seemed to have neither curiosity, nor fear, nor even a relish for tobacco. they took a piece of tinder, picked up a stone, and went away to some wigwams, at a little distance, where we soon afterwards saw a fire burning. { } "during this night and the preceding it froze sharply; but the sky was so clear, that i observed many sets of distances, on each side the moon. " th. we went eastward through the little channel. every thing was frozen; and the boat's sails were useless until thawed. we left donkin cove directly after noon, and with a fresh and fair wind, steered towards pecket harbour. i may as well mention here my reasons for taking this course, instead of going farther westward. "considering our very limited time, and provisions, i wished to do first what was most useful; and to find a new passage, seemed to me the primary object. having surveyed the narrow winding channel, and proved its navigability for vessels of any class; i thought it desirable to ascertain next the nature of the separation between otway water and the strait of magalhaens, between laredo bay and pecket harbour. "a western passage might be sought by the adelaide schooner, or by myself, at a future time. if we tried to cross the skyring water, our success would be very doubtful, for during the whole time we had been in the channel, the wind blew strong from s.w., raising so much sea, that it was with great difficulty i could sound outside the western entrance, even in a whale-boat. "a fine breeze carried us rapidly eastward; but it freshened too fast, reef after reef was taken in, until at two o'clock we were obliged to lower the sail, and pull to windward; for as far as we could see, the shore continued unbroken, flat, and low, with a high surf breaking on it. to have attempted to land, would have been folly; and as the wind continued to increase, and a current setting to windward caused a very short awkward sea, i sent mr. stokes off in the cutter, under his small close-reefed sails, to hang to windward as long as he could carry sail, while i kept the whale-boat head to wind. at three o'clock, we were embayed, and about a mile from the shore. my boat was deeply laden, and as our clothes and bags got soaked, pulled more heavily. we threw a bag of fuel overboard, but kept everything else to the last. at sunset the sea { } was higher, and the wind as strong as ever. i saw the cutter a little before, about three miles from us, standing to the eastward on a wind; but whether she would clear the shore i could not make out. "after dark, finding we could not well be worse off as to risk, i bore up, and pulled with the sea rather abaft the beam, twisting the boat 'end on' to each wave as it came, hoping to get into smoother water to the westward. night, and having hung on our oars five hours, made me think of beaching the boat to save the men; for in a sea so short and breaking, it was not likely she would live much longer. at any time in the afternoon, momentary neglect, allowing a wave to take her improperly, would have swamped us; and after dark it was worse. shortly after bearing up, a heavy sea broke over my back, and half filled the boat: we were baling away, expecting its successor, and had little thoughts of the boat living, when--quite suddenly--the sea fell, and soon after the wind became moderate. so extraordinary was the change, that the men, by one impulse, lay on their oars, and looked about to see what had happened. probably we had passed the place where a tide was setting against the wind. i immediately put the boat's head towards the cove we left in the morning, and with thankful gladness the men pulled fast ahead. in ten minutes the sea was smooth, and the breeze so moderate, as not to impede our progress. our only anxiety was then about the cutter; for we could not tell how she had weathered the gale. i was sure she would have prospered if kept by the wind; but some accident, or change of purpose, was to be feared. "about an hour after midnight, we landed in safety at donkin cove; so tired, and numbed by the cold, for it was freezing sharply, that we could hardly get out of the boat. the embers of our morning fire were still burning; so we put on some wood, and lay down round them. no men could have behaved better than that boat's crew: not a word was uttered by one of them; nor did an oar flag at any time, although they acknowledged, after landing, that they never expected to see the shore again. we resolved to start early to look for { } the cutter, and fell asleep: but before daylight i was roused by some one, and to my joy, saw mr. stokes standing by me. he had just arrived with the cutter, having kept his wind till the sea fell; and since that time had been pulling towards this spot: with what thankful feelings all hands lay down to sleep may be easily supposed. " st. this morning i believe no one waked before ten o'clock. drying our clothes, and putting the boats to rights, occupied most of the day. our time was now so short, besides having almost expended our provisions, that i gave up the idea of crossing the otway water, and decided to return nearly the way we came, after taking a view from the higher ground. " d. a sharp frost, during the past night and this day, hardened the ground, and with four of my boat's crew, i walked to the beagle hills. our way led through a scattered wood, the only one seen on the north side of the channel, and in which most of the trees appeared to have been burned. we gained the summit of the heights soon after noon, and were amply rewarded by an extensive view. "although not more than eight hundred feet above the sea, i could discern the gregory hills (so plainly as to make out their yellowish brown colour); cape bartholomew, nassau island; cape monmouth; the high peaks over cape froward; the range of mountains thence to the jerome channel, and from the jerome, westward to all those about cape phillip, and cape parker; and the whole extent of the otway and skyring waters; the latter being bounded to the n.w. by down-like hills, about six or eight hundred feet high. north of the beagle hills, a range of similar downs extended; and to the east was a succession of lagoons, completely intersecting the flat country towards pecket harbour. "we left a memorial, cut in lead, at the foot of a post sunk in the ground; but the air was so cold, that the men, who wished to add their names, were unable to mark them on the lead. it was eight o'clock before we regained our bivouac, much fatigued by the day's work. " d. i went into a wigwam, where there was a woman { } and two children. a rough likeness made of her did not please at all, because it was white: she took out her red paint, and put some on her own cheeks, as drawn on the paper, and then was quite satisfied, sitting as still as a mouse, while i made another sketch. in return for the compliment paid to her countenance, she daubed my face, as well as my coxswain's, with the same red mixture. " th. a sharp frost during the night. we left donkin cove, as soon as i had taken observations for the chronometers. a fine breeze in our favour carried us rapidly along, and at dusk we were near englefield island. the last few nights have been so clear, that two or three of the men, and myself, have slept in the open air without any other covering than our blanket-bags, and clothes. my cloak has been frozen hard over me every morning; yet i never slept more soundly, nor was in better health. "we had a good view of mount misery this day. it is about , feet in height; twice as high as the surrounding mountains, and quite bare, even of snow, on the summit. the night tides here rise more than those of the day at this season: the times of high water do not differ much on the opposite shores. about an hour after dusk we reached englefield island, having made a capital run, with a fresh and fair wind. creeping in the dark, along shore, we at last found shelter for the boats, and formed a snug place amongst the bushes for our tent and fires. one of my boat's crew was ill this day; the first man that had been seriously so, although several had been slightly affected by the muscles and limpets; and one had fits. a draught of hot port wine and winter's-bark, certainly seemed to be an efficient medicine for the slighter complaints. " th. blowing strong from the westward, with much rain. i forced a way, with much difficulty, among thick bushes, to the top of the island, and when i got there found, to my mortification, that by no possible contrivance could i see round, for i was encompassed by lofty trees of nearly equal height. " th. we crossed over to the east shore: the temperature of { } the water, between englefield island and the nearest land, one foot beneath the surface, was °; the air at the same time being °. while the sea water preserves this temperature, it must tend much to moderate the severity of cold, one would naturally expect in this latitude, near so many snow-covered mountains. we arrived at the point of islets, soon after sunset, on the th. " th. almost every night i observed that the wind subsided soon after sunset, the clouds passed away, and the first part of the night was very fine; but that, towards morning, wind and clouds generally succeeded. from point of islets, we sailed southward; and were again close to the mountains: from whose appearance at this spot, no one would suppose that any passage lay between them; so intricate and winding are the channels. "i was sorry to leave the open country, behind me; but time pressed; and there was yet much to do with our loaded boats, which could not make very great progress in the short daylight afforded by this season. after passing bennett island the land became rugged, and mountainous on each side, covered, however, with wood and vegetation wherever it could grow; and we were again in the magalhaenic regions. "this day i examined as much of the west side of the channel, as time would allow, and reached corona creek at about eight o'clock. what i called the sugar loaf must be the corona island of cordova's officers; for at some distance it looks somewhat like a crown. it is singular that they inserted (in their chart) an island near their corona, which cannot be distinguished from the main-land, until one is within two miles of it; and as at that distance the otway water is plainly visible, must they not have seen the opening? tired of their job, did they return without prosecuting the discovery, or was the weather too thick to see far? their description of the jerome channel, leads to the supposition of a continual current setting through in one direction, instead of a regular ebb and flood; and the surest sign of a passage between places in tierra del fuego, is a current or stream. { } many large inlets and sounds look like channels; but on going a short distance into them, you find dead water. " th. we passed through jerome channel, and reached the bar, off bachelor river, after dark; but the cutter got aground, and gave us some trouble to float her again. afterwards one of the men was landed on the bar, and by his walking in the deepest water, and the whale-boat going next, we got into the little river at nine o'clock, not sorry to be in safety. there are tide races between the jerome channel, and bachelor river, which are sometimes dangerous; but as the breeze was moderate, we passed them without difficulty. "may th. employed chiefly in stowing the cutter afresh, packing specimens, and preparing my boat to take what remained of our provisions. at two next morning, when the tide served, mr. stokes set out to return to the beagle: and having both wind and tide in his favour arrived early at port gallant. "the wind increased after daylight, and blew strong, with squalls. i waited a short time, but, having no hopes of its improving, left the river. my boat was much lumbered, having the chronometer-box, and more instruments than before; yet she pulled pretty well, even against the heavy squalls. after landing at the west side of the entrance to the jerome channel, to take bearings and angles, we pulled along shore to the westward, and at dark hauled the boat up in a small sheltered corner. after she was secured, we employed ourselves looking for limpets and muscles for supper, by the light of a lanthorn, as we had good appetites, and our provisions were scanty. "june st. we pulled along shore against a strong and squally wind, and before evening nearly reached cape quod; but not being able to pass it, stopped in a cove on the east side. " d. at the oars again, early, having a fine clear morning, with the tide rather in our favour. by eleven, cape quod was astern of us; and a long view of the strait presented itself. this part is very rugged and barren, and looks triste, indeed; still wherever a tree can take root it tries to grow. this night was passed on a small island at the west point of snowy sound. { } " d. we began at daylight, and worked, from point to point, up the sound, thinking it a channel. two good anchorages were found on the west side, but none on the east, except a trifling cove between the little island and the land, which would only shelter a small vessel. the night was passed on an island five miles within the sound. it rained hard for an hour before we landed, and all the night afterwards. our rest was not the most satisfactory, as the ground was wet and swampy. "two of the boat's crew got into a hole under a tree thinking they should be warm; but in the middle of the night they complained of not being able to get up, and of being half frozen. " th. the rain ceased at times this morning, but the wind continued. after going to the top of an island, we pulled and sailed onwards, not having a doubt of soon getting into whale sound. at noon, the passage appeared suspiciously small; yet i could not doubt the fine large opening laid down in our old charts, and proceeded until the shore made a sudden turn, when, to my astonishment, i saw a high black cliff stopping farther progress. after a hearty growl, we turned back, and landed to look for a sleeping place. not a spot could we find that was not wet like a sponge; but night was closing in, and obliged us to stay where we were. it was bitterly cold, all of us were wet through, the ground was a mere swamp, we could not get a fire to burn, and the frost was sharp. "after daylight on the th, we succeeded in making a large fire, and spent two hours drying our clothes and warming ourselves. in order to lighten the boat, no one carried more clothes, since leaving the cutter, than those he wore, except one shirt. we hastened back towards charles island, passing some very remarkable glaciers, one of which looked like an enormous frozen river, covering the whole side of a mountain. many portions were of a transparent blue colour, which, contrasted with the snowy whiteness of others, and with the dark shadows of bare rocky places, had a very striking effect. at noon, we passed out of the sound, and steered for charles island, with a { } light breeze in our favour. seeing a canoe coming across, we made towards it, and found a wretched-looking family, consisting of a man, his wife, and three children, with some small dogs, seemingly more miserable than their owners. a few wooden-headed spears were all the property they possessed, excepting the worn-out skins thrown over their shoulders. the man sold me a little dog for a bit of tobacco, and afterwards wanted to have him again, because his wife would not consent to the bargain. however, i kept the dog, and they began to abuse us in right earnest, the woman alternately crying and scolding, and the man apparently calling on the wind and water to destroy us. his gestures were very expressive and animated. i was surprised to see so much feeling for a wretched little half-starved puppy, and made them happy by returning him, without asking for the tobacco. "el morrion(p) (the helmet) was certainly an excellent name for the promontory we passed this day. it reminded me of the 'castle of otranto.' "we reached a small islet, at the west point of charles bay, and passed a good night on the top of a bare rock. so often had we slept in wet places, that a dry, though stony berth, was thought very comfortable. the boat's two sails, oars, and boat-hook, formed our tent. " th. we left the islet as soon after day-light as we could get breakfast, and take the required bearings and angles; went into spot cove, thence crossed to charles island, and to the narrow opening between it and the nearest land. ulloa's memory can no longer be preserved here in an island, though it may in a peninsula. this small channel is narrow, and has a strong tide setting through it. there is anchorage all the way, though generally over a rocky bottom, and it is navigable for small vessels: its average width is a quarter of a mile, and its length about three miles. for a boat going westward through the strait, it is far preferable to the regular channel. two old fuegians were living here, a man and a woman. "when in whale sound, appearances were such that had i { } not been to the bottom of snowy sound, i should have thought they joined. after going far enough, to see quite to the end, we returned, hauled the boat on a shingle beach, and secured her for the time. when a bit of shingle beach could be found, it was a prize; for on it we could always make a good tent, and have a dry bed, besides hauling the boat up easily. there is a greater rise and fall of tide here, than at the other side of charles island, being not less than seven or eight feet, at springs. during the night, a dog stole a small piece of pork, which we had reserved for our last dinner; and, until his track was discovered, there was no little distrust among our party. "whale sound is a large and deep inlet, ending in a valley between mountains. on the south side, a vessel may anchor in one place, at the west side of last harbour; but there, though the harbour appears large, the anchorage is small, and close to the shore. we pulled and sailed along the south shore, landing occasionally to take bearings, until we reached choiseul bay, and in a cove, at its west side, we passed the night. this is a place no ship need approach: it is a large, deceiving bay, full of islets and patches of kelp, under which, probably, there are rocks, and between the islets the water is deep and unfit for anchorage. the temperature of the sea this day, in the middle of the sound, one foot below the surface, was °. " th. as it rained heavily, we remained under such shelter as we could obtain; and prepared for our return to the beagle, by making use of the only razor we had. when the rain ceased, we left the cove and sailed across to port gallant, with a fresh breeze. the smoke of natives' fires was seen near the entrance of the barbara channel; and on prince island, where we stopped a few minutes, the first man seen had on an old pair of sailor's trowsers, which he had obtained from the beagle, tied round his legs in six places. the wigwam these people were living in was not half covered: both wind and rain passed through it. how they bear the cold is surprising, being without clothes: one minute sitting close to the fire, and the next perhaps up to the waist in water, getting muscles or sea-eggs. the women dive for sea-eggs, even in the middle of winter; { } but the water is never very cold ( ° to °).(q) in the afternoon we saw the beagle's mast-heads, and soon afterwards arrived on board, and enjoyed the happiness of finding all hands well, and every thing ready for farther progress. lieutenant kempe had turned the few hours of light, each day afforded, to the best account. those who have had the care of ships in remote places, will know my feelings at finding all as it should be, after a long absence, in a country little known. not a man had been ill; and the weather had been very tolerable compared with what was expected. there was less snow on the mountains than when i left port gallant early in may. one thing only disappointed me,--the adelaide had not arrived. it was past the time appointed for her, but she might have found much more to do than was expected, or might have been obliged to return by the magdalen, instead of coming through the barbara channel. "during my absence, two sealing vessels had been at port gallant, on their way through the strait. from one (an american), which arrived on the th of may from staten land, information was received that the adventure had not been there. the chanticleer had remained some time, but had sailed for the cape of good hope. the master of the american had a brother staying with a boat's crew in staten land, during the whole of april, who would probably have seen the adventure, had she called. the other was mr. cutler's vessel, the uxor, bound to the united states; he had been through a channel which leads from the gulf of trinidad to cape tamar, and spoke well of it; but could give no drawing, nor precise information; having passed through rapidly. "lieutenant kempe had been at the summit of the mountain de la cruz, and left a memorial. no rare animals had been seen, nor any new birds. small fish were still caught with hook and line, but very few with the seine. "i never was fully aware of the comfort of a bed until this { } night. not even a frost-bitten foot could prevent me from sleeping soundly for the first time during many nights. " th. at one o'clock this day, i heard an exclamation of 'the schooner!' and soon saw her standing across from the barbara channel with a fair wind. before she anchored in port gallant, i went on board, and, to my joy, found lieutenants skyring and graves, and all their companions well, having thoroughly completed the work they had to perform, without loss, or even an accident. the difficulty of their task was increased by very bad weather; but they succeeded in tracing and surveying the magdalen channel to its junction with the sea, and thence returned by the barbara channel to port gallant; carrying on a regular chain of triangles, and connecting their work with points previously fixed in the strait of magalhaens. a multitude of small islands, and much bad weather, detained them longer than was expected. "while lieutenants skyring and graves, assisted by mr. kirke, were employed surveying, mr. bynoe collected geological and other specimens.[ ] " th. we had nearly reached the shortest day; the sun did not rise above the hills until past eleven; it disappeared again before two (the land being less high towards the n.w.), and even in those three hours was seldom visible. " th. finding that lieutenant skyring agreed with me in thinking that the channel from cape tamar to the gulf of trinidad might be surveyed by the adelaide, in her way to san carlos de chilóe, i resolved to send him and lieutenant graves on that service, hoping that it would lead to the discovery of a passage into the skyring water, and give vessels another way of getting into or out of the strait, should thick weather or adverse winds oppose them in the usual channel. "in making this arrangement there was much to be considered. as i had received no orders from captain king to employ the adelaide in surveying, after her return from the magdalen channel; and as i had been desired to repair, with her, to san carlos, in chilóe, during which voyage lieutenant { } skyring was to be on board his own vessel, the beagle, it would be incurring considerable responsibility, to order a new piece of service to be undertaken, which might not be successful; and would require officers, men, a boat, provisions, and stores from the beagle. "i did not doubt that the measure would be approved by captain king, because he had discussed the feasibility of such a plan with me, and had expressed a wish that it should be tried; but as i had not received any orders, i could not decide without anxiety. "another, though a minor difficulty, arose from sending lieutenant skyring in command of the adelaide, over lieutenant graves, her proper commander, who had expected to take her to chilóe, and was quite competent to undertake this or any other service in which she might be employed. both these officers excelled in their professional duties; but skyring had been on the western coasts of patagonia before, and was the senior. "much to the credit of lieutenant graves, he removed one weight, by volunteering to go any where i thought proper to direct, either alone or with lieutenant skyring, and the necessary orders were forthwith given. (see appendix). mr. kirke was again to form one of their party, as well as mr. bynoe, who exchanged temporarily with mr. park. the beagle's whale-boat was also lent, with five able seamen to man her; and good care was taken that nothing the ship could give should be wanting in their outfit for a service which, at that time of year, must be severe and tedious. "anchors and cables, hawsers and kedges, were abundantly supplied, because in warping into unknown places, or anchoring hastily, many an anchor is unavoidably broken or lost. "the boat's crew, who had been away with the adelaide, and were going in her again, were supplied with extra clothing at the expense of government, the wear and tear of their clothes having been far beyond what they could be expected to make good out of their pay. { } "as an instance, i may mention, that a careful north countryman carried with him, when he left the beagle, two new pair of shoes (besides those on his feet), and three pair of new stockings: but brought back only a ragged pair of stockings and the remains of one shoe. the others had been fairly worn out, or lost, in scrambling over rocks and ascending mountains. "one height ascended by lieutenant skyring was so steep, that the men were obliged to pass the instruments from one to another, at a great risk of their own lives; and when they reached the summit, the wind was so strong, that a heavy theodolite and stand, firmly placed, was blown over; and even a kater's compass could scarcely be used. "with good clothing and provisions, weather may be almost defied, and work may be done at the less unfavourable times; but without them, ill-humour and ill-health must inevitably appear in such a climate as this. " th, sunday. i had the satisfaction of keeping this day in a proper manner, for the first time since we entered the strait. so much had depended upon employing every minute of our time while the weather would allow, that there had been little distinction of days. " th. the morning being fine, with not much wind, though a sharp frost, i left the ship with mr. murray and four men, and landed in fortescue bay, intending to ascend the mountain 'de la cruz,' if the snow and ice did not prevent me. "on the beach, close to the water, i suspended the mountain barometer, and let it remain half an hour before we began the ascent, which, from the snow lying so deep, was troublesome; for at one step a hard rock received one's foot, and at the next, perhaps, a deep hole amongst broken trees. sometimes we tumbled head foremost into soft snow, slightly covering rotten mossy boughs and swampy ground; and at others, slipped between the concealed trunks of trees, which, though much decayed, were hard enough to cause many a bruise. each movement of our arms or legs shook down a shower of snow from the trees, among which we were forcing our way. "at noon we gained the part that is clear of wood, but { } so very steep and slippery was the summit, that we were obliged to go on our hands and knees, forcing them as deeply into the snow as possible, to avoid sliding down again. the highest point is not visible from port gallant. "while i took angles with the theodolite, the seamen made a fire. it was well we carried some fuel and a tinder-box, with a sheet of copper, upon which to kindle it; for without a fire we should have been quite numbed. standing in one place for two hours, after being much warmed by exertion, made us more sensible of the cold. the highest spot is but a few yards wide, and by barometrical measurement is , feet above the sea.[ ] the height is, in truth, small; but as the mountain is so steep, and rises so abruptly from the sea, it appears considerable. "when we had finished our observations with the barometer and theodolite, we deposited a memorial, containing a list of the officers and crews of the beagle and adelaide--an account of the object of their voyage, how far it had succeeded, and where we were going--and a collection of coins, well-soldered up in a tin case--upon the bare rock; and made a great pile of stones over it. "having again examined the barometer, we began to descend; for the sun disappearing behind the distant mountains, warned us that it was time to return. we had enjoyed a magnificent view on all sides, and were reluctant to leave our station. in descending, we made rapid progress at first, sliding many yards together down the soft snow; but, by the time we reached the woody part, it was getting dark, and having foolishly tried to return by a straight line, instead of going round, we found steep cliffs, and ravines covered with rotten trees, which perplexed us exceedingly. darkness, and the deep snow, much increased our dilemma; yet we could not resist laughing heartily at the ludicrous scrapes some of the party got into: one man was rather a-head, looking for a way to descend a steep place, when the snow slipped from under him, and down he went, about eighty feet, partly sliding, { } partly falling, but quite against his consent. what he did by accident, we were obliged to do, because there was no alternative; so away we slid, one after another, like so many sledges upon russian ice-hills, holding the instruments as we could, by one hand, while the other was employed to check or steady us. with a little more of this sort of work, and some struggling through the wood at the bottom, we reached the shore, where a boat was waiting for us, and at about eight arrived on board, in a half-wet, half-frozen condition.[ ] " th. every thing was brought on board, the ship unmoored, and all made ready for our departure next morning. " th. sailed from port gallant, leaving the adelaide to rate her chronometers, and rejoin us before leaving the strait. in the evening we anchored in elizabeth bay, after a severe day's struggle against a strong and contrary wind, with much rain. " st. blowing hard again this morning from the n.w., with a great deal of rain. weighed and made sail under reefed courses and treble reefed topsails, but the wind and tide were more than a match for us, so we stood across into whale sound, and worked up under the lee of carlos island, finding the tide there rather in our favour. the 'williwaws' (i know no better name for the sudden gusts that come off the high land) gave us some trouble, occasionally laying us almost on our beam ends. at half past two i was induced to anchor under the lee of the south-east extremity of carlos island, and thought our day's work was repaid by a snug position close to a weather-shore, besides having made some little progress; but after dark the wind became more violent, and a williwaw drove us out into deep water. we set the storm sails, which, with the weather-tide, known to be then making strongly, i hoped would take her a-head sufficiently to clear rupert island (lying under our lee), and all hands then went to the capstan; but while heaving-in the cable, our bower anchor again caught the ground and brought us up. we veered away cable { } directly, let go another anchor, and rode out the rest of the gale, which was extremely violent, without driving. "the instant our anchor caught, i knew we must be on a ridge, of which lieut. skyring had spoken to me, lying between rupert and carlos islands, across which the tide makes strongly, at the rate of about three knots. rupert island was still under our lee, distant less than half a mile. " d. blowing hard and raining. at a.m. it cleared and moderated, but so strong a tide set past us, to the south, that we could not attempt to weigh. it differs here from that in mid-channel by two hours, which may much assist a vessel if she manages so as to take eight hours tide in her favour. "at eleven we unmoored, and got ready for moving at the turn of tide.[ ] at one we weighed and made sail with a moderate wind from n.w., and by keeping close to carlos island, and making short boards, we had a weather-tide, while in the fairway of the strait the stream was running to the s.e. we anchored in bachelor's bay (or york roads), choosing an outside berth in order to have more room to weigh again and work with the morning tide. it blew hard in the night, but we rode securely, although the tide ran at least three knots where we were. " d. we started and worked to the westward, and at nine were abreast of borja bay; but by trying for too much, nearly lost all that we had gained, for in standing across from the bay, hoping to weather cape quod, the flood tide took us so strongly, that it cost three hours close working to get to an anchor even in borja bay. we had rain and sleet continually through the day, and it blew hard at night, but as plenty of chain was out, the topsails and courses were close reefed, and the top-gallant masts on deck, we were ready for anything. " th. heavy squalls, with almost constant rain, prevented our moving westward, and similar weather continued throughout the day, becoming worse at night. had we had plenty of provisions i should not have minded this delay, because we might have remained at anchor till it was over; but so much { } had been said about the difficulty sometimes found in working through the strait, that it concerned us greatly not to lose a chance of making progress. during this night the squalls were very heavy. the holding ground must have been excellent, for williwaws drove the ship from one side to the other as if she had been a chip upon the water. " th. weighed this morning, weathered cape quod, and worked to the westward, the weather having cleared and become very fine. the part where most tide is felt was then past. cape quod projects so far south that the strait is there extremely narrow, and though very deep, has a strong tide. " th. at daylight we found ourselves to windward of marian's cove. looking eastward upon the land about cape quod, it has a very bleak and rugged appearance. the almost perennial west winds prevent vegetation from growing on the heights exposed to their action. hence the desolate look of the western shores of tierra del fuego. we saw a sail beyond cape notch, and, just before we moored, close to the shore in half-port cove, we made her out to be the adelaide. " th. a bad morning, snowy and blowing, but the wind being moderate between the squalls, i went in a whale boat to examine the gulf of xaultegua, and pulled along the south shore towards cape monday. having gained some distance to windward, while the snow was so thick it was impossible to see the shore, we made sail across the strait, and hit the place within a cable's length. when the snow ceased falling, we saw a large space of water before us, the land opposite being at least five miles distant. we sailed towards a strange looking islet in the middle of the gulf, very similar to the old mouldering figures of the fabled sphinx, but the snow becoming again almost incessant, only allowing us to see our way at intervals, while the wind was too strong for even a close reefed sail, we landed, and hauled the boat up on an island. i was in hopes of finding an opening which would lead me to the skyring water; and my boat's crew, being almost as eager as i was, cared little for the wind or snow. this night we made a larger tent than usual, with a top-gallant studding sail, and { } the consequence was, we were extremely cold, as there was a sharp frost, and the snow was lying every where very deep. next night we were wiser, and reduced our tent to the smallest dimensions. " th. early in the morning we resumed our search. i had a chronometer with me, but as we never saw the sun, nor even a star, i should have been as well without it. we pulled and sailed towards the northernmost corner first, but found no opening, and went thence to the eastward, with a strong and favourable breeze. passing still-hope point i felt sure of finding a passage, for before me were the tops of mountains seen from the otway water. i was, however, deceived, the gulf ended in two bights, or inlets, unconnected with other waters: so we returned to still-hope point and hauled up the boat. the night passed very well, in a snug place among trees, although the snow was falling thickly. early next morning we left the shore, having employed a quarter of an hour in clearing the snow out of our boat. when we started, it snowed fast but without wind, and we steered by compass for the sphinx. i sketched what i could see of the south side of this gulf, but did not consider it worth delaying longer, in such weather, for so unimportant a place, while anxious that the beagle should reach chilóe before her provisions were expended, and that i should fall in with the adelaide before leaving the strait. if ever a minute survey is made of this gulf, it should be after all others have been examined, as it is utterly useless. the temperature of the water within it we found to be ° fahr. we landed on st. anne's island, having run near thirty miles since the morning, and thence we sailed across the strait, reached his majesty's little vessel, and found that the adelaide had not yet passed by. all looked cold and wintry, every thing being covered with snow; and our sails were hard frozen, for the first time. "july st. after beating loose the sails, we stood out in the ship to meet the adelaide, which was seen coming towards us. i went on board, and found every one well. they too, in attempting to anchor off carlos island, had, like ourselves, been driven { } out: we compared chronometers, and supplied her with a few things not thought of before (keeping under all sail meanwhile to profit by an easterly wind); and the beagle's officers lent the adelaide their own stove. "in the afternoon, we parted company; the adelaide stood towards upright bay, and anchored at dusk, while we steered out of the strait, with a freshening breeze from the east, which increased much as we made westing. at midnight, we were in the pacific, and all our anxiety about weeks of beating to windward upon short allowance of provisions, vanished as quickly as the land astern. the glass falling, with the wind in the s.e. quarter, foretold unusually bad weather; we therefore shortened sail by degrees, making all secure. " d. at six o'clock in the morning, it was blowing a gale of wind, with so much sea, that it was necessary to steer right before it,--or heave-to,--which with a fair wind was not preferable; and we found the vessel scud extremely well, under close reefed fore and main topsails, and double reefed foresail. our quarter boats caused anxiety, for the davits were low, and at every lurch the boats were risked. frequently they dipped in the sea, and sometimes were half filled; but they hung fast till by a moment's neglect of the steerage, a sea broke over the whale-boat, and carried her away. the other, being much smaller and stronger, held on well, though frequently under water. towards midnight the gale broke; by the next morning the weather was more moderate; and from that time it continued fine, until our arrival at chilóe. "on the th, at daylight, we saw land at a great distance, which afterwards proved to be the island of guafo, and in the afternoon the south end of chilóe was seen. "on the th, we were working towards the port of san carlos, being off point huapilacuy, and next day ( th) anchored in the port of san carlos, which seemed to be well sheltered by a country, the appearance of which was very agreeable when contrasted with that of tierra del fuego. "the town reminded me of a cornish village. i thought, from their appearance and colour, that the houses were built { } of stone, and roofed with slate; but afterwards found they were of wood, from their foundations, to the tops of their roofs. except a few cleared spaces, the island is entirely covered with trees, even on the highest hills. the captain of the port (an englishman) boarded us as we neared the anchorage, and was very obliging in his offers. from him i learnt that the adventure had not yet arrived, nor even been heard of on the coast. we anchored under the lee of barcacura heights, in a good berth, and moored ship. i went on shore immediately, and paid my respects to the governor, don josé santiago aldunate, a brigadier-general in the chilian service, whose kind manner, and friendly offers of every assistance he could render us, were very gratifying. from the master of a merchant ship, lately arrived, i was surprised and concerned to learn, that the adventure had not reached valparaiso before the time of his sailing thence ( th of june).[ ] "refitting the beagle, repairing and building boats, occupied most of the officers, and all the crew, while mr. stokes and i were engaged in the work of the survey, during our stay in the port of san carlos. our ship required caulking, which, in so rainy a climate, was difficult to accomplish. so continually wet was the weather, that had we not dried our sails, and unbent them, during three fine days which we had(r) on our arrival, they would not have been dry during our stay." * * * * * { } chapter xv. extracts from the journals of lieutenants skyring and graves--magdalen channel--keats sound--mount sarmiento--barrow head--cockburn channel-- prevalence of south-west winds--melville sound--ascent of mount skyring-- memorial--cockburn and barbara channels--mass of islets and rocks--hewett bay--cypress trees useful--adelaide rejoins beagle in port gallant-- captain king's narrative resumed--plan of future proceedings--adelaide arrives at chilóe--abstract of lieutenant skyring's account of her proceedings--smyth channel--mount burney--'ancon sin salida'--natives-- kirke narrows--guia narrows--peculiar tides--indians in plank canoes-- passage to chilóe. the extracts from captain fitz roy's first journal being ended, i shall now give some passages from the journals of lieutenants skyring and graves, while employed in the adelaide, exploring and surveying the magdalen and barbara channels. the reader will remember, that the adelaide parted company with the beagle, at the entrance of the magdalen channel, on the th of april; and steered to the southward under the direction of lieutenant skyring. lieutenant graves says:-- "the east and west shores of the magdalen channel run nearly parallel to each other: but the east side is broken by a large opening, named keats sound, which runs into the land for eight miles, and appears very like a channel.(s) "at the s.w. angle of the magdalen channel stands mount sarmiento: the most conspicuous, and the most splendid object in these regions. rising abruptly from the sea, to a height of about , feet, it terminates in two sharp peaks, which seem absolutely in the sky: so lofty does the mountain appear, when you are close to its base. { } "two thirds of the height are covered with snow; and two enormous glaciers descend into the deep blue waters of the sea beneath. when the sun shines, it is a most brilliant and magnificent sight. "many days were almost lost to us, in consequence of heavy gales, accompanied by torrents of rain; but we profited by intervals of fine weather to move from cove to cove. "on the th of may, while working out of stormy bay, we grounded, and remained fixed upon a rock several hours, but were lifted off again by the next tide, without having sustained material injury. "to vessels navigating this channel, i should strongly recommend giving a preference to the south shore, where there are many openings, and i have no doubt good anchorages, which, as our time was limited, and the weather very tempestuous, we had not an opportunity of examining. if any such exist they would have a decided advantage over those on the north shore, from being generally to windward, and therefore easy to leave, as well as more secure. king and fitz roy islands, lying in mid-channel, between stormy and park bays, are of bold approach, as are also the kirke rocks, which lie further to the s.w. "one morning, being anxious to obtain a more secure situation for the vessel, we started in search of a better berth, intending, if possible, to reach a bay on the other shore, near barrow head, apparently affording good anchorage; but after beating about, from nine until four o'clock, without being able to reach it, the breeze freshening, and sea increasing, we bore up, and again anchored under the lee of the same island. s.w. winds prevail in these parts throughout the year: in confirmation of which, besides the experience we ourselves have had, all the trees which stand exposed, are bent in an opposite direction; and on the s.w. side of all the land open to that point, not only does the vegetation commence much further from the water's edge, but it is scarcer, and more stunted. in sheltered places the trees grow to within a foot of high-water mark. [illustration: c. martens t. landseer mount sarmiento. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } "may th. we remained at the above-mentioned anchorage; and while lieutenant skyring was examining a cluster of islands in the vicinity, i obtained observations for the latitude and longitude; and as it was the first fine day, indeed the only one since entering this channel in which we had a fair proportion of sunshine, it was taken advantage of to dry and air all our clothes and bedding, and clean out the vessel thoroughly. "the next anchorage we took, was in a cove just large enough to hold the schooner, at the entrance of dyneley sound, on the north shore. in crossing over, we had a fine view of mount sarmiento; and looking to seaward, from the hill over this cove, the tussac, and the fury rocks, at the entrance of melville sound, which are much resorted to by sealers, were clearly distinguishable. "during our stay here, until may th, the neighbouring coast was examined, whenever the weather permitted. we also communicated with several canoes full of indians, but gained no additional information respecting the habits of the natives. "the next start carried us through the islands of melville sound, to an anchorage in a small cove, at the n.e. end of the largest of the magill islands, upon which is mount skyring. having resolved to ascend to the top, as it offered so commanding a view, and was so centrally situated, we remained for that purpose." the weather, for several days, was very unfavourable, and it was not until the st, that there was any reasonable prospect of obtaining a view from the summit; when lieutenant skyring and mr. kirke had a most laborious excursion, and the latter was nearly frost-bitten in ascending the mountain; but they were fully recompensed for the trouble and difficulty they had experienced. lieutenant skyring says:-- "we gained the summit after three hour's hard travelling. during the last five hundred feet of ascent, the mountain was almost precipitous, and we had the utmost difficulty in passing the instruments from hand to hand. its formation is remarkable, although, i believe, the same structure exists throughout the hills around. the base is a coarse granite, but this solid { } formation cannot be traced half the height; above is an immense heap of masses of rock, irregularly and wonderfully thrown together, many huge fragments overhanging, with apparently very little hold. this station was the most commanding we had chosen during the survey, and answered well for the object we desired; which being attained, we returned on board, and i rejoiced when all were safe, for it was neither an easy, nor a pleasant enterprise." a document, of which the following is a copy, was enclosed in a bottle and a strong outer case, and left at the summit of the mountain. (copy.) this memorial was left by the officers of h.m. schooner adelaide, while employed on a survey of the magdalen, cockburn, and barbara channels; and any person finding it is requested to leave the original document, and build the pile, under which it is placed, at least six feet higher. signed this th day of may , by w. g. skyring, lieut. and assist. surveyor of h.m.s. beagle. thomas graves, lieut. of h.m. schooner adelaide. james kirke, midshipman h.m.s. beagle. alex. millar, master assist. h.m.s. adelaide. benj. bynoe, assist. surgeon h.m.s. beagle. jno. park, assist. surgeon h.m.s. adventure. god save the king. "in the cockburn channel,[ ] the flood-tide sets to seaward; { } but it was not found to be of consequence to a vessel in working through. the rise and fall is not more than six, or at most, eight feet, at spring-tides. "may d. we quitted this anchorage; and having worked to the westward, through the adelaide passage, took up a berth in a small bay, two miles and a half to the northward, where we remained during the night, and next morning; then, after examining the neighbouring coast sufficiently to carry on our triangulation, proceeded to an anchorage on the north side of bynoe island. from the summit of this place an extensive view was obtained of the islands in melville sound, as well as of the entrance to the cockburn and barbara channels. such a complicated mass of islands and rocks, i never before saw; to lay them all down correctly would occupy a long time. sufficient, however, has been done to take the navigator through this labyrinth; but i am well aware, that very much is still wanting to complete the survey. "fury and north harbours, of which the former became more particularly known to us from the prince of saxe cobourg having been wrecked there in december , were laid down from an eye-sketch only; but the peaks of the island, and its extremes, were fixed by triangulation.[ ] "melville sound is formed by the islands which separate the cockburn from the barbara channels. generally speaking, they, as well as the coasts in the immediate neighbourhood which are exposed to seaward, present a most barren and desolate appearance. "until the th of may, we were much occupied among the surrounding islands; but time being short, we took advantage of a southerly wind to run up the barbara channel, and soon reached an anchorage in hewett bay. while securing the vessel, a canoe, containing only a man, woman, and child, and three dogs, was seen coming round the south point of the bay. as they seemed very unwilling to pay us a visit, remaining at a distance, and vociferating as usual, 'ho-say,' 'ho-say!' mr. bynoe and i communicated with them in the dinghy; but { } finding they had not an article worth bartering for, we soon left them, and returned on board. it was suspected their companions were not far off, and indeed, the day after, lieutenant skyring saw several canoes; but the moment he was discovered, they were beached, and the men, taking to the woods, kept at a distance. "on the th, we left hewett bay, and, after threading the needle through a multitude of islands, islets, and small rocks, for more than three miles, reached an anchorage in a small cove, at the north entrance of brown bay, where we were detained, and confined to the vessel, by heavy gales, and stormy weather, until june d; when, having a fine day, we reached a spot (marked in the chart as north anchorage) sufficiently secure for a small vessel; but not to be recommended to any other. "between hewett bay, and the above anchorage, there are several rocks, among patches of kelp, which, as they only show themselves at half ebb, or near low water, render the navigation rather intricate. a good maxim in these channels is, 'avoid kelp, and you avoid danger.' forty-three days had passed since we left port famine; and in this interval, i find we had nine favourable days, twelve partially favourable, some hours of which we could employ in the work about which we were engaged, and the remaining twenty-three were days of rain and wind, far too unfavourable to serve our purpose in the least. "june th. while turning to windward, we, for the first time, felt the influence of the tide, which, from the channel's narrowing, begins to be sensible: here it was sufficiently strong to prevent our gaining ground in beating to windward, although with a good working breeze; we therefore ran into a bay on the west side, and anchored. the country around had rather a pleasing appearance, the shores being partially covered with the evergreen, and deciduous-leaved beech, and a few stunted cypress-trees. these last are serviceable for boat-hook spars, or boats' masts; and, when seasoned, work up very smoothly, and wear well: the beech-trees do not equal those found further northward in the strait, except here and there in sheltered corners. { } "with a leading wind, the next morning, we reached the south narrows of the barbara channel, through which we were carried by a strong tide, and anchored in bedford bay. "here, as well as throughout the barbara channel, the flood tide sets to the southward. we obtained at this place angles which connected our triangulation with points fixed by captain king during the previous year, and finished our examination of these channels within a very few days of the time allotted. "on the th of june we attempted to pass through the shag narrows, but not saving the tide, were obliged to anchor for the night in field bay, which is small and much exposed to southerly winds; the bank also is very abrupt, and the water is deep close to the shore. "on the th we succeeded in clearing the narrows, and reached port gallant early in the afternoon, where we rejoined the beagle." having given these brief extracts from journals kept on board the beagle and adelaide, during the time occupied by the adventure about cape horn, or on her way to chilóe, i will resume my own narrative. as it was my intention to remain at this port[ ] until the beagle and adelaide were equipped, the adventure was made snug, and, by way of relaxation, such of the officers as could be spared from the duties of the ship, resided in turns at the town, where also the ship's company had frequently permission to amuse themselves. the hoxsley schooner arrived from valparaiso and brought me letters from the admiralty, acquiescing in my request to return to england direct, instead of proceeding by way of new south wales and the cape of good hope, as was originally intended. i therefore determined to return to valparaiso as soon as our consorts had taken their departure, proceed thence to port famine, where we were to be joined by the adelaide, and afterwards repair to rio de janeiro to await the beagle's arrival, when we should sail for england. { } on the th of september my anxiety for the adelaide was relieved by her appearance, and by finding all on board her in good health. she had gone up the coast by the channels that communicate with the strait of magalhaens at beaufort bay, passing inside of hanover island and madre de dios; and lieut. skyring gave me a very interesting account of their discoveries, of which the following is an abstract. it will be remembered that the beagle left the adelaide at anchor under cape upright. while there the wind freshened up from the eastward, and threw a swell into the bay, which rendered the anchorage very unsafe, as the schooner's stern was in the foam of the sea that broke on the rocky shore close to her. much anxiety was felt for their safety, but the anchors held well. as soon as the weather permitted they sailed, entered beaufort bay, and steered towards a deep opening to the eastward of cape phillip, into which they ran with a steady s.e. wind, and found an anchorage on the west side in deep harbour. on the th of july lieut. skyring and mr. kirke were absent in a whaleboat, exploring a deep opening eastward of cape tamar, which they found to terminate in two sounds, named by them icy sound and glacier bay; the first from its being covered with a sheet of ice, and the latter from its being full of large masses which had been detached from an extensive glacier occupying the bottom of the bay. the examination of this opening was made in search of a channel, through which, vessels had entered the strait, and the schooner was to proceed to her rendezvous. the result proved that the adelaide was already in the channel they were looking for, therefore they returned on board, and proceeded ( th) to the northward. in passing mount joy a strong tide was observed, the certain indication of a channel; for, as has been before remarked, within sounds the tide has no perceptible stream. to gain a better knowledge of their way they anchored early in good's bay; the course of the channel, from the intersection of points, and intervention of islands, being by no means distinct. lieut. graves made a plan of the bay, while { } lieut. skyring, and his assistant,[ ] completed the survey of the entrance to the passage, which was named smyth channel, as a compliment to capt. w. h. smyth, r. n., under whom, while surveying the mediterranean, both lieuts. skyring and graves had served. the best channel they found to the eastward of renouard island, and the adelaide took that course, but stopped a night in a small cove on the eastern side of the island, and in passing shoal island next day struck on a rock; she was got off however without injury, and anchored afterwards, for a night, on the north side of the island of the narrows. the two following days ( th and th) were spent in examining the coast, and exploring clapperton inlet, which had the appearance of being a channel. from the hills at the bottom lieut. skyring noticed a considerable tract of low land and open plain, extending to the northward. on the th, being sunday, they remained quiet, and on the th the weather was so calm that they only reached hose harbour, on the east side; and the next day oake bay. thence crossing the channel in a whaleboat they explored some distance along that shore; and on the th anchored in otter bay. this slow progress was unavoidable, owing to the calm state of the weather, and to the survey being principally, if not entirely, carried on in boats. on the th the schooner was towed onwards, and passing over an extensive shoal flat of three fathoms, reached the summer islands, where she might have stopped, but, as the tide was still favourable, she proceeded to an anchorage under long island, the most northern in the elson group. the eastern shore of the channel was there very different in character from what they had so long been accustomed to, being nearly level; and, extending for some distance off every low point, there was shoal water. for some days a lofty mountain, covered with snow, had been in sight; which, by angular measurement, proved to { } be , feet in height. it was named mount burney, in compliment to the admiral. on the th the adelaide reached fortune bay, situated at the east extreme of a headland, on each side of which is a channel, leading, apparently, towards cape isabel. the northern seemed to be the principal one, and therefore was followed next day ( th) as far as welcome bay. continuing the survey onwards they reached victory passage, which they entered, thinking they were in the mouth of the 'ancon sin salida,' as laid down from sarmiento's journal by admiral burney. the weather, however, became so bad, that they were obliged to take shelter in island bay, and the next day the wind setting in from the eastward, they gave up, for a time, their search for the 'ancon sin salida,' and proceeded by smyth channel, as far as hamper bay, where they were again detained by bad weather. here a few rock fish were caught, but at no other time during this cruise were the fishermen successful, although the channel was so filled by porpoises and seals, that it is probably well stocked with fish at the proper season: and there are many places where the seine might be shot. proceeding slowly on the th, the adelaide struck on a rock, and remained fast for a few hours, but as the tide rose she swung off without damage. upon examining rocky bay they found it a complete bed of rocks; yet, bad as it was, the adelaide was obliged to remain there five days, owing to the tempestuous state of the weather. on the th they reached the north end of smyth channel, and anchored in narrow creek. on the st lieut. skyring went to a remarkable hill, which he called mount trafalgar, but thought it might have been the 'monte trigo'[ ] of sarmiento, so much did its appearance remind him of a corn stack. the day was most favourable: a round of angles, and an extensive view down lord nelson's strait, were obtained from the summit. they remained on an island all night, sheltered by the boat, and next morning went to two points, called by sarmiento 'oueste,' and 'mas { } al oueste,' (west and more west,) returning to the adelaide in the evening. the following morning was fine, and the adelaide moved out of smyth channel, the survey of which was completed very satisfactorily, although their progress was slow, owing to constant northerly winds. by towing the adelaide during tedious calms, they reached montague bay in the evening, and next day anchored in relief harbour, on the s.w. side of vancouver island. as it was evident that the 'ancon sin salida' was within piazzi and ceres islands, up the west coasts of which they had passed, lieut. skyring left the schooner moored in relief harbour, and proceeded, on the th august, to the southward, in a whale-boat with mr. kirke; but he took no more than a week's provisions, that time being all he could devote to this exploration. the th, th, and th, lieutenant skyring employed in pulling or sailing to the southward and eastward, through winding and intricate passages; although strong winds and much heavy rain annoyed him, and impeded his progress. on the th the weather was much more favourable than it had lately been. the boat pulled and sailed to the southward, and at noon lieutenant skyring ascended a height,[ ] having on each side of it a deep opening, but he was disappointed in the view; and, after taking bearings, pulled round the adjacent bights, one of which was exactly opposite artist bay, in smyth channel, and so near it that the two waters were only separated by a few hundred yards;[ ] the other,[ ] eastward of the height, was large, and closed at the bottom by very low lands. it was directly supposed to be the 'ancon sin salida;'[ ] but sarmiento's description, and the chart compiled by burney, { } were insufficient to enable them to decide with any degree of certainty. after looking round this bay, they continued to the eastward, and passed a point beyond which there was apparently a wide channel; having run about six miles down it without discovering any termination, they hauled their boat up on the beach for the night. on the th, two canoes were noticed on the west shore; but seeing strangers the natives, apparently much frightened, all landed, except an old man; and taking with them what they most valued, hid themselves among the brush-wood, leaving their canoes fastened to the sea-weed. by some fuegian words of invitation, the men were, however, induced to approach and traffic, receiving for their otter skins whatever could be spared. in appearance and manner these indians were exactly similar to the fuegians; and by their canoes only, which were built of planks, could they be distinguished as belonging to another tribe. after leaving the natives, the boat passed cape earnest, and lieutenant skyring observed a wide channel leading north and then n.n.w.;[ ] also, another opening to the eastward. the wind being easterly, he ran some distance to the northward, to gain more knowledge of the first inlet; and having gone ten or twelve miles from cape earnest, and observing the opening for eight miles beyond to be as wide as where they then were, he concluded it to be a channel, or else a deep sound terminated by low land, for there was evidently a division in { } the mountains, such as to justify this belief. returning, they entered the smaller opening to the eastward, and were almost assured of its being a channel; for when they were between the points, many porpoises and seals were observed, and a tide was found setting westward, at the rate of two knots. at dark, they hauled their boat on the beach of an excellent bay, at the north side of the narrow reach, and secured her for the night. on the th, shortly after daylight, they set out in a n.e. direction to ascertain the truth of their supposition; and before noon knew, beyond a doubt, that they were correct in their belief, being in the narrows of a channel before unknown, that had eluded sarmiento's notice. these narrows, which lieutenant skyring felt assured would lead to a large opening, were upwards of three miles in length, and generally about one-third of a mile in breadth. a strong tide took the boat through; and at the n.e. extremity, where the narrows were reduced to four hundred yards in width, the water, although a neap-tide, rushed at the rate of four knots, forming whirling eddies, which were carefully avoided by lieutenant skyring. at spring-tide, the strength of these rapids would probably not be less than seven knots. having passed through them, a clear channel was seen, upwards of two miles wide, running to the n.b.e. for, at least, eight miles, and then turning directly eastward, between moderately high land. another channel, nearly a mile and a half wide, trended to the s.e. for two or three miles, and then also turned to the eastward. here they stopped. lieutenant skyring regretted extremely not being able to prosecute the discovery, and have one more view from the eastern point of the n.e. channel; but as only one day's provisions remained, it would have been imprudent to delay his return. it was evident, that they had passed through the range of the cordilleras,[ ] for to the eastward the country appeared totally different, the highest hill not being above seven hundred feet. the opening to the n.e. was thought to communicate with the 'waters' lately discovered by captain fitz roy. the latitude { } was obtained on point return; and in the afternoon, reluctantly but anxiously, they retraced their way, and passed that night at their former quarters, in whale-boat bay. on the th, at daylight, they proceeded on their return. the wind was fair until they reached cape earnest, when it drew right against them; and they had the unpleasant prospect of a tedious pull to the schooner, with very little provision. the th was a thoroughly wet day, and the wind was so strong from the northward, with a very heavy sea running, that it was impossible to proceed. on the th, they left the bay soon after daylight, and having pulled along shore a few miles, crossed union sound, and gained the narrows of san benito, the wind being still fresh from the northward; thence they continued pulling until they hauled up, after dark, in a bay, opposite point benito, and waited till the morning of the th, when with a fresh s.w. wind they made good progress, which was of the more consequence, as their provisions were expended, although they had eked them out with corvorants and muscles. at last, the sight of the adelaide rejoiced them, and they soon afterwards reached her. their appearance was a relief to all who were on board, as they were becoming very anxious, and lieut. graves was preparing to send the other whale-boat in search of them. during their absence he had made the necessary astronomical observations, and finished the examination of those shores adjacent to the harbours. from the th to the th, the schooner was detained by bad weather, and the following day only succeeded in reaching escape bay, in san estevan channel, which was found to be a good and well-sheltered anchorage, although small. on the th, after angles had been taken on each side of the channel, the adelaide got under weigh, and steered up the channel. at noon she passed the mount which they supposed to be sarmiento's monte trigo, and soon after, nearing esperanza island, they sought for some mark by which to recognise the mountain of the fox ('monte de la zorra'). in the white part of a cliff, they fancied some resemblance to an { } animal, and noticed a harbour opposite, in which they anchored. they had such trouble in getting to the northward, that this day's run, though only eighteen miles, was a cause of much satisfaction. on the th, at daylight, the boats were employed around the anchorage, and at nine o'clock the vessel was underweigh, and working to the northward, although it rained hard then, as well as throughout the whole day: after beating until the evening, she anchored on the west shore. constant rain fell through the whole night, and during the st; it was therefore impossible to make any progress to the northward. on the d the adelaide weighed, and the weather being calm, was towed during the whole forenoon. at noon a southerly wind sprung up, and by the evening she was in the guia narrows (of sarmiento). they tried for anchorage in unfit bay, conceiving it to be sarmiento's port ochavario; but none being found, the vessel was towed into a cove, and securely moored. next day the boats surveyed the guia narrows. although long, they did not appear hazardous to pass, for the tides are not very rapid. the ebb tide runs to the northward, but at the south entrance of the san estevan channel, the ebb sets to the southward; which difference in direction, within so short a distance, is extraordinary, and difficult to account for without knowing more of the coast. certainly there is a meeting of tides between the two entrances; probably, all the land westward of san estevan is a collection of large islands, and water flows into this channel, from the pacific, through many openings, which may be the cause of this peculiarity. th. with light breezes from the eastward, the schooner weighed and stood through the narrows; passed point san juan, and continued along the eastern shore of concepcion strait to guard bay, where she was moored. th. rainy weather until near noon, when the boats were employed. on the th the schooner was towed out, and, as it was calm, { } kept a boat a-head the whole day. she anchored in a small bight, formed by chance islands, about seven miles from guard bay. the th was rainy, but the boats went to different points, and angles were taken before the schooner weighed and worked northward. at noon she came to an anchor in a small bay, northward of the hocico de caiman. constant rain during the remainder of the day. on the th it rained too incessantly the whole morning, to allow the party to work, even in boats; and the day was passed in laying down former observations. th. after angles had been taken near the anchorage, the schooner was moved, and worked along the coast. a strong wind from the n.w., with a heavy sea, brought the vessel under close-reefed sails, and obliged her to anchor in walker bay. on the th, the adelaide anchored in molyneux sound. to give a clearer idea of the delays experienced in making progress to the northward through these intricate channels, i shall now extract part of lieutenant skyring's journal, in his own words: " st. wind n.n.w. with a heavy swell in the strait; the boats at daylight went north and south of the anchorage, and angles were obtained. at nine, ready for starting; but the weather was too unfavourable, and continued so until the th of september, when, at seven o'clock in the morning, we weighed. at nine, squally--obliged to double-reef; but the tide serving, we gained a few miles to windward, and at one, p.m., stood among a mass of islands on the west side, and moored in tom's bay, steadying the vessel with the stream anchor. in the afternoon the survey was continued, and from the heights a view was obtained of the gulf of trinidad, and of several points observed last year. another detention of two days, owing to bad weather. " th. cloudy; weighed at daylight, and stood for the narrows. at eight, squally, with thick snowy weather; but, being once under weigh, we refrained from returning, until compelled. it certainly was not a favourable day for working { } through; but the wind moderated, and our attempt succeeded. no anchorage being found by the boats on the north side of the narrows, we made for the weather-shore of the gulf, and anchored early in windward bay. in the afternoon, angles were taken on middle island, and east and west of the anchorage. the time of our departure drawing near, it became doubly necessary to work constantly, that we might join this survey with that of last year, in the beagle. " th. weighed at daylight; wind light from n.w.; but, falling calm, boats were detached for continuing the angles, and the latitude was observed on red beak rocks. at five o'clock, we gained an anchorage, close to the eastward of the ancon del morro, on the s.e. side of division isle, in a bay which answered our purpose, although it was rather a confined place. some angles were taken on point candelaria, preparatory to continuing our course next morning. " th. at daylight weighed and stood over to the northern shore, and at eleven, anchored in neesham bay, in eleven fathoms. boats employed in the afternoon, on the survey. while at anchor, two canoes, containing together thirty-two indians, came alongside; they were chiefly men, a finer race of people, better formed, and better featured than the fuegians, and much less noisy. their canoes were made of planks, the longest upwards of twenty-three feet in length: they appeared exceedingly buoyant, and pulled quickly. " th. at daylight, we sailed out of the bay, with a light breeze from the eastward; at seven, the wind increased, and a heavy sea rose in the gulf. it was my intention to get an anchorage under mount corso; but, as that was now a leeward coast, with a heavy sea setting upon the shore, it would have been improper to attempt seeking for one. if it had answered our purpose, we might have gone to port henry, and, indeed, this was the only safe course we could have pursued, if our object had been to remain in the gulf; but no time was left to wait for favourable weather; therefore i chose in preference to leave the gulf, and take advantage of the fair wind to gain an offing, the time of our return being so near. { } "we left the gulf two days before i had expected to have done so; but we all rejoiced at our departure. no crew could have performed their duty more willingly than the adelaide's; but such lengthened fatigue as they had undergone, was sufficient to make any men feel happy at the prospect of a respite. "it was a pleasing reflection to lieutenant graves and myself, that the orders had been fully executed; that the coast we had passed was throughout well connected; and that this service was concluded without any illness or accident among the crew, without any damage to the vessel, without any loss of boats, or even the slightest misfortune." during the adelaide's passage to chilóe, lieutenant skyring and his companion were assiduously employed in transferring their observations to paper, notwithstanding the violent motion of their little vessel, during ten days of rough weather. * * * * * { } chapter xvi. chilóe--its probable importance--valdivia founds seven cities; afterwards destroyed by the indians--migration of spanish settlers-- province and islands of chilóe--districts and population--government-- defence--winds--town--durability of wooden buildings--cultivation--want of industry--improvement--dress--habits of lower classes--morality-- schools--language--produce--manufactures--exports and imports--varieties of wood--alerse--roads--piraguas ploughs--corn--potatoes--contributions-- birds--shell-fish--medical practitioners--remedies--climate. as the island of chilóe was formerly shrouded from notice, by the policy of its master, the king of spain, and therefore little known to the world; i have considered it not irrelevant to the narration of the voyage, to introduce a short account of its present state, particularly as since the trade of the whole coast has been opened, a new era has dawned upon this interesting island; and although it has been, as yet, the least frequented of the south american states, i think the time is not far distant, when it will become an important part of the chilian territory. after the foundation of the city of penco, or concepcion, by don pedro de valdivia, in the year , he passed on towards the south in search of convenient situations for other cities; and crossing the river bio bio, which separates concepcion from the territory of the araucanian indians, successively founded imperial, valdivia, villa rica, angol, cañete, and osorno; the last being effected in the year . the necessary distribution of the spanish forces, to protect so many points, made them comparatively defenceless, in a country inhabited by a large population of indians, who contemplated the hostile occupation of their native land, by the invading army, with a deep dissatisfaction. they had for some time endured, with sullen patience, the yoke of the spaniards; but at last, incensed by the servility and bondage to which they were reduced, and, probably, by no small portion of ill-treatment; the whole population rose simultaneously, and waged a most destructive and { } harassing war against the spaniards, in which the above-mentioned cities were all destroyed, and the greater number of their inhabitants put to death. the destruction of the city of osorno caused the province of chilóe, or, at least, the adjacent districts of calbuco and carelmapu, to be occupied. this town, being more distant from the seat of war, where the main body of the indian army was actively employed, was enabled to hold out for some time; but, at last, cut off from assistance, prevented from communicating with friends, and utterly destitute of supplies, the inhabitants retired to the fort, or citadel; which they maintained, until compelled, by absolute want of provisions, to abandon their position, and proceed to the south, with a view of establishing themselves in carelmapu and calbuco; where they hoped to be safe from attack. their retreat was attended by much suffering; many died from fatigue, and many were cut off by the indians, who hovered about them and murdered all who fell into their hands.[ ] at last they reached their destination, and established themselves first at carelmapu, which is on the main-land, on the north side of the boca de chilóe, opposite to san carlos; and afterwards at calbuco, on an island at the entrance to the gulf of reloncavi. the latter position by its insularity, was effectually protected against any attack from indian tribes, who, for many years, continually harassed the inhabitants of carelmapu. at what date this journey was made does not appear; nor is it certain that these places were occupied before the foundation of the city of castro, in , by the licentiate lope garcia de castro, in pursuance of an order from the viceroy of peru, marshal don martin ruiz de gamboa.[ ] the island of chilóe, from its situation, is a place of considerable importance, and may be termed the key of the pacific. { } it is the northernmost of that vast archipelago, which borders the coast from latitude ° south to cape horn. the province of chilóe, one of the eight divisions of the chilian republic, includes several islands, and extends on the main-land, as far as the south bank of the river maullin;[ ] which takes in the districts of carelmapu and calbuco. its southern extent is not defined; but as the existence of chilian authority is not known, to the southward of the chonos archipelago, certainly not farther south than the land of tres montes, the parallel of ° may be considered its southern limit. the country thence, to the strait of magalhaens, is known by the appellation of western patagonia. besides the isla grande, as chilóe is called, the following islands are inhabited:--achao, or quinchao, lemuy, quehuy, chelin, linlin, llignua, quenac, meulin, caguach or cahuache, alao, apiao, chaulinec, all in front of castro; the chaugues islands, opposite to tenoun; calbuco, llaichua, quenu, tabor, abtao, chiduapi (on which is the fort); huar in the neighbourhood, and district of calbuco; and, to the south, tanqui, to which may be added caylin, which is also called el fin de la cristiandad.[ ] of the above, next to the isla grande, the principal are quinchao and lemuy, both of which are very populous, and { } almost entirely cultivated. the other islands are small, and very close to each other; but separated by navigable channels, which offer many dangers to the frail vessels in which the islanders move about. the province is divided into ten districts, or partidos, as follows:-- . san carlos, containing the northern coast of the island, as far as chacao. . chacao. the n.e. part of the island. . carelmapu and maullin. . calbuco. . dalcahue, extending from chacao to tenoun. . quenac. . quinchao. . castro. . lemuy. . chonchi, which extends from castro to the south extremity of the island. by the census of , the population of the large island, and those in its neighbourhood would appear to be, comparatively, very considerable; the number of souls being , :[ ] particularly as the greater portion of the interior, and much of the sea-coast, are quite uninhabited. the population of the district of san carlos is confined principally to the town; for between it and chacao, there are very few inhabitants. at chacao there are only about two hundred houses, and dalcahue is but thinly occupied: but castro, quinchao, and lemuy, are very populous. these three districts are the most fertile and productive part of the island, particularly for seven or eight miles round castro. the peninsula opposite to that town, which is entirely cleared, would abundantly repay its cultivators, were industry more common among them. chilóe is governed by an 'yntendente,' or civil governor, who exacts obedience to the constitutional laws, as well as to the orders of the executive powers, and the resolutions of the provincial assembly, which is composed of members, elected { } by the people, at the rate of one deputy for , souls; but whatever the number may be, short of , , twelve deputies are to be elected. the duration of the assembly is biennial, and its business is to superintend the civil regulations of the province. under the yntendente each province has a local governor, whose principal duties are to maintain order, preside in the municipal meetings, see their regulations carried into execution, and obey the orders of the yntendente of the province. whilst we were at chilóe, the duties of yntendente, and military commandant, were performed by one person, brigadier-general don josé santiago aldunate; but, upon his resignation, the offices were separated: the military commandant retaining the charge of the treasury. the duties of the military chief, are to dispose of the troops under his command, as he sees occasion, so as to ensure the quietness, and subordination of the province, for which he is responsible; and to render the yntendente such assistance as he may require; but, for all ordinary purposes, the militia, who are under the immediate control of the yntendente, are employed. for the administration of the law there is a judge (juez de letras), who tries all civil as well as criminal actions. the province sends two deputies to the chilian congress, one from san carlos, and the other from castro. at the beginning of the year , the militia amounted to more than seven thousand men, and the regular troops to three hundred and thirty, which was quite sufficient for the province. the port of san carlos is capable of being well defended, and, during the time of the spaniards, was in a good state of defence. the entrance was protected by a battery on the highland of the corona, and by the castle of aguy, which effectually commands it. farther in, on the same side of the port, was the small, but well-placed, two-gun battery of barcacura; close under which is the anchorage. on the town side there are several batteries; but, towards the pudeto it is weak, although capable of being made very strong. fort san carlos, which, for some years past, has been used as a cemetery, was well-selected as to position, and constructed in a manner very { } creditable to the engineer. it was surrounded by a deep and wide ditch; and under it lay two small batteries: one, san antonio, commanding the passage between the small island of cochinos, and the main; and the other flanking the anchorage off the town. at the mole were two guns, and opposite to it, under the governor's house, was the battery, del carmen, mounting twelve or fourteen guns. in the town, in a convenient situation, there were excellent barracks, capable of containing more than one thousand men. the original establishment was at the sandy point, on the western side of the port, where the situation is better sheltered, and, perhaps, equally capable of being well defended. it is, also, on the windward side of the harbour, and close to the safest anchorage which the port affords; but the inconvenience of water-carriage was found to be so great, that the establishment was removed to its present site. a still better situation might have been selected opposite to sandy point, at leche agua; where the anchorage is perfectly safe, and the communication with castro could be more advantageously made. northerly and westerly winds prevail, and the town is exposed to all their fury, which, at times, is extreme. the anchorage nearest to it, for the sake of convenience, and expedition in loading and unloading cargoes, is often taken up, but is very unsafe, many vessels having been lost there, from the bottom being shoal, and rocky; and the swell, during a northerly gale, is so short and deep, that anchors will not hold. the town is built on two rising grounds, and in the valley that separates them; through which a rivulet runs into the bay, at a mole which affords sufficient protection to the boats and piraguas frequenting the port. the houses, which are all of wood, are generally small, and have but little comfort. the plaza, or square, without which no town in chile of the least importance is to be found, is situated on a flat piece of ground at the summit of the southern hill, and commands an extensive view. it is about one hundred and eighty yards square, with a flag-staff in the centre. [illustration: san carlos de chilÓe.] [illustration: c. martens s. bull san carlos de chilÓe. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } on the north side there is a strong, well-built stone storehouse, and opposite to it is the church, also built of stone. on the side next the sea is the yntendente's residence, a low range of wooden buildings, erected without regard to taste, convenience, or comfort; and opposite to this are two or three dwellings, very little superior to common huts, or ranchos. within the last few years, however, some substantial buildings have been erected by the more wealthy people in the town, an example which is likely to be followed. during our visit, several were built equally creditable for strength and convenience; and not a little remarkable for the rapidity, with which they were completed. wood, being abundant, and cheap, as well as easily worked, is the only material used in the construction of houses, which, with the exception of the provision-store, and the church, are all built of it; and notwithstanding the perishable nature of the material, which is not protected by paint, or any external coating, from the humidity of the climate, they are of extraordinary durability. the treasury, one of the oldest houses in the place, has been built upwards of seventy years; and is even now tight, and dry, and by no means unserviceable: but its removal has been ordered, and, probably ere this, it has been replaced by another. in chacao, where, in former days, the yntendente resided, the greater number of the government-buildings, not less than sixty or seventy years old, are still standing. this durability can only be accounted for by the nature of the wood, and the practice of charring the ends of the timbers before they are inserted in the ground. the lower frame is of 'roble;'(t) the beams are of laurel, and the floors and partitions, as well as the weather-boarding and shingles, of 'alerse:' the latter forms an excellent substitute for tiles, or slate, being much lighter, and almost as durable. some of the houses are thatched with reeds; but this shift is only used by those who cannot afford the expense of shingling. the inclosures, round the houses, are fenced with stakes of { } luma, three or four yards in length, fastened above and below to cross-rails, by ligatures of creeping plants, of which there is an abundance in the woods close to the town: the general name for them is buque. the land in the vicinity of san carlos, which is a peninsula, is cleared of timber, and partially cultivated. in the valley, through which the rivulet runs into the sea near the mole, there are a few attempts at gardens; but the extent to which the inhabitants cultivate, seems to be confined to a rood of potatoes and wheat, which, with a litter of pigs, and an inexhaustible store of shell-fish on the coast, are the principal support of their families. it is not surprising, when so little personal trouble is necessary to provide subsistence, that the chilotes(u) should not be an industrious race. byron, in his narrative of the loss of the wager, has given a most excellent and correct account of the inhabitants of this island; which, excepting for those about san carlos and castro, may well serve at the present time. in the town, trade, a free communication with other parts of south america, and the residence of several europeans, have introduced approaches towards refinement; and besides the articles of luxury that occasionally make their appearance, such as chairs and tables, crockery-ware, and similar domestic comforts; shoes and stockings are now, on feast days, in common use among the females; although in many instances one can easily observe, that the wearer is actuated by vanity, rather than by any comfort or pleasure she derives, from a confinement to which her feet have not been accustomed.[ ] this is one of the steps towards civilization, which the chilote peasantry are making, and among the higher classes 'el ultimo modo' (the latest fashion), is not less the theme of conversation than it is in other parts of the republic. in style of dress, among the upper ranks, the men are more advanced than the women, many having been in other countries. { } they have given up the use of the poncho, and in this particular, they say they are before the gentry at concepcion, who wear it on all occasions: and probably are quite right, for, with respect to comfort, there is much to admire in the poncho, as, of all cloaks, it is the most generally convenient, and the best adapted for protecting the person, especially on horseback, where it is indispensable: its use, however, offers the wearer such an opportunity to neglect the other part of his dress, which it effectually conceals, that sometimes, beneath the poncho, the body is very ill-clothed. the dress of men in the lower orders, consists of a pair of trowsers, and a shirt, over which is thrown the all-concealing poncho. the women are as slightly clad; but instead of a poncho, they wear a rebozo, or shawl, which, however, is very often dispensed with, and their persons are left too much exposed. these lower classes, or indians, as they, with much reason, are termed, are scarcely superior to the uncivilized savages of the southern coasts; and live principally upon shell-fish, with what little they are enabled to procure besides by the sale of a few pigs, or poultry, which they rear on the scanty store of potatoes and wheat, that remains after their new crop comes to maturity. one roof shelters a whole family. father and mother, sons and daughters, dogs and pigs, all live and sleep in their only room, in the middle of which, a fire is made; whence the smoke escapes by numerous apertures in the roof and sides of the dwelling. as to their morals, within the precincts of their habitations, i have reason to believe they have not much to boast of, although they are described, by agüeros and other writers, as most innocent, and well-conducted. agüeros speaks highly of their character; and cites padre ovalle, who, writing upon chilóe, between the years and , says: "the natives of these islands are the most docile and noble (dociles y nobles) of all chile, and are the least given to drunkenness, and other vices; therefore they are best disposed to be edified by the light of the gospel." since the province became subject to the chilian republic, { } the government has made several attempts to improve the condition of the inhabitants; among which, the instruction of public schools, was not the least important. from an official report there appear to be ninety schools, in which , children receive an education, according to the abilities of the masters, who are employed; but these, from the small salary attached to the situation, cannot be expected to be superior. the language in common use, is spanish; the original indian tongue being almost forgotten: but it is supposed to be the same as that spoken by the indians of madre de dios; for, on a late occasion, a whaler which had been upon the coast of those islands, and had taken on board an indian, as a pilot, called at castro; and during her visit, the indian communicated with those who understood the language of the chonos, and by them was tolerably well understood. this indian has been frequently embarked on board american or english sealers, which frequent those coasts, to serve as a pilot to the seal-rookeries.[ ] he is known by the name of dan. the products of the island, for the year , according to the census, and returns, officially made, were-- wheat , fanegas ( lbs. in a fanega) about , bushels. barley , . potatoes , . and the muster of stock, and apple-trees, as follows:-- horned cattle , head. sheep , swine , apple trees , the manufactures of the province are carro, a coarse woollen cloth, two and a half, or three yards long, and three quarters of a yard wide, used for men's garments, and of very durable quality. ponchos--both these and the carro are manufactured by women, in a rude sort of loom, of wool dyed of various colours from plants that are found in the island, or imported for the { } purpose. of the latter indigo is much used, and it is the general colour for the ground-work of the ponchos. frezadas, bordillas, sabanillas, mantillas de lana, blankets or rather counterpanes of different textures, are also among the manufactures: none of the above are exported, being made merely for their own use. cables, hawsers, and rope, they make of a plant, called quilineja, which is supposed to be the root of a species of _callixene_. no wine or spirit is made in the province, but chicha (a very good cyder) is manufactured from apples. the only other fruit produced is the 'frutilla,' a kind of strawberry. the exports must very nearly amount to the value of foreign imports, which consist principally of sugar, wine, brandy, salt, wearing apparel, and household furniture. the import duty on european and north american produce is twenty-seven per cent.; from which, however, some articles, such as arms and munitions of war, instruments of music, and other things of less importance, are exempt. spirits of all kinds, foreign wines, tobacco, tea, and cards, are monopolized by the government, and sold at an immense profit. the unauthorized sale of these goods is declared illegal, and is punishable by a heavy fine, and sequestration of goods. the exports, during the year , consisted of wood in beams, planks, and boards; hams, wheat, a small quantity of dried fish, fire-wood, and brooms,[ ] to the amount of , dollars, of which , dollars were for wood, and , for wheat. these articles were exported in sixteen vessels under national, and eight under foreign flags. the exports are said to be increasing very much. in the year , agüeros describes the exports of alerse planks (tablones) to lima, to be between fifty and sixty thousand in number; and some years previous to have been in a much greater quantity. the number of alerse boards exported, during the last year, was , , but of planks only , . the island, and neighbouring part of the main land, produce { } a great abundance, as well as variety, of wood fit for exportation, as well as home consumption. the following is a list of the principal trees, with their qualities, and the use to which they are most adapted. avellana (_quadra heterophylla_), a handsome tree, in appearance like the ash of europe, of a light wood, which shrinks very much when dry, and may be used with advantage for oars, being light, strong, and springy, as well as for planking small vessels below the water, and for the ceiling within; it is bad for firewood, being too light. the seed is a nut, about the size of a cherry, the kernel of which is roasted and eaten. the tree abounds at concepcion, and in the country to the south, and grows on the peninsula of lacuy. roble (_fagus obliqua_, mirb.), a large tree; and, from the durable quality of its timber, considered the best in the island, for ground-frames of houses, planks for vessels, and beams. the piraguas are built chiefly of this wood. there are two sorts, one an evergreen, and the other a deciduous-leaved tree. it is evidently a beech, and the same that grows in all parts of the strait of magalhaens; the smooth-leafed sort is _f. obliqua_ of mirb.--see bertero, in mercurio chileno, no. , p. . tiqui, heavy wood; but esteemed strong and durable. piraguas are sometimes built of it. laurel, used for house building in-doors, for beams and rafters, and posts; durable when not exposed to damp, in which it soon perishes. mañu, a tree of great dimensions, tall and straight, the leaf is like that of a yew; it is a very useful wood in ship-building, for planks, and, next to alerse, is the best for spars which the island produces; but the large trees have a great tendency to become rotten at the heart, owing possibly to the humidity of the climate, and to the very wet soil. as the adelaide wanted a mast, i sent her round to castro for a mañu spar, for which i agreed to pay eighty dollars; but of twenty trees that were cut down, not one was sound at the heart. the wood is heavy, with large knots, which penetrate into the trunk to a great depth. a great deal of this timber grows in the gulf of peñas. { } muermo. there is no wood produced on the island more useful than the muermo. it is used for timbers, and knees, and all other purposes of ship-building: and is excellent for the planks of boats, as it bears wet and dry without suffering from either. it is abundant, and much used as firewood, for which it is well suited. luma (_myrtus luma_), a very tough and useful wood, used for tree-nails, for stakes in fencing, for rafters in the roofs of houses; and is exported in large quantities to lima, for shafts and poles of carriages. the fruit is sweet, and might yield a strong spirit; it is called cauchao. ciruelillo, a small tree, used only for washing-bowls and boxes; it is of little value. quiaka. of no value. tapu, a very crooked tree, growing along the ground in swampy places. it might serve for floors, and timbers for small vessels; but it is not used, from its being so very hard. tenu, something like muermo, and considered a good wood. peta, a species of _myrtus_, of which hoops for barrels are made. ralral, considered to be like the wood of the walnut-tree, and of general use, on account of its toughness and durability; it is made into blocks for ships. meli, more tough than luma: of this the country people make pick-axes, for cultivating the ground (agüeros, p. ). pelu, also tough; useful for axle-trees and gun-carriages (agüeros, p. ). mayten, useful for turning; and lasts long under water. the above mentioned are produced on the island; but the two following, alerse and cypress, are from the main-land, in the neighbourhood of the cordilleras. they are not only in general use in chilóe, but are exported in large quantities to all the ports to the northward. the alerse, near chilóe, is of better quality than that which comes from concepcion. the cypress is brought to the island in 'tablones' (or planks), seven or eight feet long, two inches thick, and nine or ten inches wide, as is also the alerse; but the latter, from the facility with { } which it splits, is brought in boards also, four feet long, half an inch thick, and six inches broad, which, as i have before remarked, are the principal articles of barter. the alerse is found in great quantities near calbuco; but at so great a distance from the beach that it cannot easily be conveyed thither for embarkation, except in the above form. the tree is cut down and squared, then hewn by the axe into as many logs of seven or eight feet long as it will afford; and these, with the assistance of iron wedges, are split into planks and boards, in which state, without being further trimmed, they are tied together in bundles, and carried on men's backs, or dragged over the ground to the beach. the extraordinary straightness of the grain of this tree enables the natives to split it, so as to make it appear as if it had been dressed with an adze, or even with a plane; but, as i have said, the axe is the only instrument used. so great is the difficulty of obtaining a spar of this wood, that when i wished to procure a new mast for the adelaide, i offered four times the value of an alerse spar to the natives, besides the assistance of twenty men, and tackles, &c. to assist in conveying it to the beach. the temptation was almost too great to be withstood; but the man to whom i applied, who had before been employed to get masts for a schooner in the chilian service, and a flag-staff for the town, said that it would take his own party two months to bring one to the beach: with the assistance of our people, however, it might be done in a month. the trees were distant, and there were two or three ridges of heights to cross, that would cause much delay. the facility with which these people usually handle timber was a sufficient proof to me that such a task, if refused by them, must be very difficult indeed, and i gave it up, as the yntendente was so obliging as to give me the flag-staff, which had taken the same party two months to procure. the hoxsley, a national schooner, built at chilóe, for the government, was masted with alerse spars, which proved to be very strong. alerse is used principally for the floors, partitions, and { } weather-boards of houses, also for shingling the roof; for which purpose it is very superior and durable: after exposure to the weather it turns blue, and has the appearance of slate. it does not shrink or warp; and though brittle, is of a very close grain, and well adapted for furniture. of this wood the country people make staves for casks; and the bark of the tree is used for caulking the seams of vessels, for which it answers remarkably well, being extremely durable when constantly wet, though it soon decays when exposed to the sun and air. spars of alerse, eighty or ninety feet in length, may be procured; and from eight hundred to a thousand boards are frequently obtained from a single tree. i was told that as many as one thousand five hundred have sometimes been cut out of one trunk. alerse is found on the island, but not of any size. it is also common in the strait of magalhaens, in all those parts west of cape froward; but there, from the poverty of the soil, it is of very stunted growth. the cypress is thought to be a different tree, but i rather imagine it to be only a variety; the wood being white, whilst that of the alerse is of a deep red colour. as the trade of the island is principally carried on by water, roads are seldom used for that purpose, for which, indeed, the few that exist are far from being convenient. between san carlos and castro there is a road cut through the forest, forty or fifty feet in width, in the middle of which is a causeway, four or five feet wide, formed of logs of wood, laid transversely. this is the only way of communication, unless, which rarely occurs, the weather has been dry during some days; for, off the causeway, there is a mere bog, in which a horse frequently sinks up to the girths in mud. in many parts of the causeway, indeed, where the logs have decayed, and have not been repaired, the passage is equally bad, so that in wet weather, only persons without a load are able to pass. for the greater part of the way, the trees on each side prevent an extensive view; but on approaching within five or six miles of castro, the country becomes more open, having been cleared by cultivation, and there, of course, the road improves. { } there is a track branching off from the main road to the district of dalcahue; but on it, i believe, there is no causeway. as the only mode of supplying the town of san carlos with provisions is by water-carriage, it is frequently ill supplied during winter, when n.w. winds prevent the arrival of the piraguas. a southerly wind for two days, at that season, brings from fifty to a hundred piraguas from dalcahue and castro, laden with hams, potatoes, pigs, grain, fowls, calves, dried fish, and charcoal, which are sold at a cheap rate, paying one-tenth to the government. the arrival of so many piraguas at san carlos creates no slight bustle in the neighbourhood of the mole; and a stranger happening to arrive at the time would think it a place of considerable trade; the return, however, of the n.w. wind, with all its attendant "vapours, clouds, and storms," very soon dispels the illusion: the piraguas depart, one after another, and in two days all is dull and monotonous. these piraguas, the boats used by the natives of the archipelago of chilóe, are all similar in form and material; but vary much in size, according to the voyage they have to perform. the largest are from thirty-five to forty feet long. the head and stern are alike, and resemble those of a whale-boat, being sharp at both ends. the transverse section is that of a thick wedge, so that they have no bearings, and must be extremely unsafe,(v) particularly with so lofty a sail as they hoist; and yet these vessels have made long, and even dangerous passages, as is fully attested in agüeros's account of the missionaries' visit to the archipelago southward of tres montes. these boats are literally sewn together, there is not a nail used in their construction; every portion of the hull is of a vegetable nature. the lower, or garboard strake, is sewn to the keel by strips of the stem of a creeping plant, called pepoi,[ ] and the seam is caulked with bark of the alerse, which, while under { } water, is admirably adapted for the purpose. the upper planking consists of three or four broad boards on each side, sewn together, and their seams caulked. the wood of which they are made is the roble, or sometimes tiqui. agüeros's description of the construction of a piragua cannot be improved. "they are constructed of five or seven planks, each of which is from two to four fathoms long, half or three-fourths of a yard wide, and two or three inches thick. these are fashioned, or worked, narrow at each end, so as to form the bow and stern, and afterwards are exposed to the fire, in order to burn the outer surface on both sides. to unite these planks, they bore or burn holes, two inches from each other, along the edges of the planks, through which they sew them together with a rope of solid reeds (soquillas), or twisted cane (coligues), forming a junction as close as a seam of cloth. to prevent water from passing through the seams, they apply along the plank, within and without, pounded leaves of trees, over which they pass the stitches, and with the same preparation of leaves the holes are filled up. thus constructed, it is in appearance a perfect boat, or vessel, but without keel or deck. that they may resist the pressure of the water, and retain their shape, curved pieces (curbas) of wood, called 'barrotes' are fitted inside, and fastened by wedges of wood, instead of nails. for all this, they are dangerous; and, since their sails, oars, and other furniture are very inferior to what boats require, they are much exposed to be easily sunk, and the risk is greatly increased by want of care and management in those who navigate them." in the above description agüeros has given a very good account of the rude manner in which they are built, and has not in the least magnified the danger attendant on their use. it is, indeed, a miserable and unsafe vessel; and for the rudeness of its construction, and the poverty of its equipment, is a perfect prototype of the crew which it conveys. the largest have from eight to ten people, each of whom furnishes one poncho, and the 'patron,' who steers, and directs { } the course and all their movements, provides two ponchos, all which are sewn together to form their sail, which is hoisted by 'lazos,' or thongs of bullock's hide. these sails are generally in a wretched state, the name santisima is applied to them all by the crews, with the hope of securing the protection of their patron saint. the anchor is of wood, formed of four crooked pieces, in the shape of a grapnel with four flukes, at the bottom, or crown of which a large stone is fastened, to increase its weight. the crews are exceedingly timid, and instead of making exertions to extricate their vessel from any impending danger, they throw themselves on their knees, beating their breasts and calling loudly upon their saint, for 'misericordia.' i was given to understand that very few of them can swim, which seems extraordinary, since they are born and bred in the immediate vicinity of the sea, and depend chiefly upon its productions for subsistence. the fact speaks strongly for the indolence of their character, even although the rigour of the climate forms a bar to bathing as a mere amusement. several piraguas were lost while we were at chilóe, and, as may be inferred, their crews were all drowned. with regard to the cultivation of land, they are very far behind, and, comparing the present state with the description of byron ( ), and of agüeros ( ), very little improvement seems to have been made. the ground is prepared by make-shift ploughs, of a very rude construction. two poles of hard wood (luma), about three yards long and proportionably large, trimmed to a sharp point at one end and rounded at the other, are held by the middle, one in each hand, and pointed very obliquely into the ground; in this direction they are forced forward, by pressing against the blunt end with the abdomen, which is defended by a sheepskin, suspended in the form of an apron. after these have penetrated twelve or fourteen inches into the soil, a second person, generally a woman or a boy, places a stout stick under the poles, or 'lumas,' as they are called, close to the earth, to form a solid support for them. [illustration: p. p. king t. landseer breast ploughing at chilÓe. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } the large ends are then forced down, the ground turned up, and the lumas pushed forward again, while the woman uses her stick to turn the clods over, to the right and left, alternately. these clods are afterwards broken up by a wooden tool, in the shape of a pick-axe, called 'hualate,' made of the wood named meli. rude as this process is, the operation is rapidly performed, and i have seen a field, ploughed in this way, that would not do much discredit to an expert ploughman with a european plough. the soil is a rich, sandy loam, of a dark red colour; and although rarely, if ever manured, produces fair average crops. according to the usual allowance of lbs for a fanega of wheat,[ ] the weight of a bushel would not be more than ½lbs., which shews that the grain is but poor. wheat is sown in the month of april, and cut in the same month of the following year; but from the humidity of the climate, and constant rain, particularly at that season (the commencement of winter), it is frequently reaped before it is ripe, and almost always gathered in wet. every subsequent sunny day is taken advantage of, to dry the grain, but a part must be spoiled by mildew. the evaporation, however, is so great, that merely moving it about, and keeping it thinly strewed in granaries, will effect much. it is trodden out by oxen, and to clean it, the grain is thrown up in the wind by means of broad wooden shovels, and effectually separated from the chaff. this rude winnowing takes place frequently in the principal streets of san carlos, and even at the mole, where one would suppose that a great deal must be lost; but from the adroitness of the operation, it is not only well cleaned, but suffers no diminution. potatoes are planted in september, october, and november, and are fit to dig up in may. of the proceeds of harvest, one-tenth is paid as a tribute, or { } tax, to the government; but forced contributions may be required, when the necessities of the state demand them. these contributions are sometimes unfairly levied in chile; for the subsidy is only taken from those who possess grain, or some equally tangible article which can easily be turned into money; so that persons who are rich enough to live without cultivating land, or trading for their support, contribute nothing towards the emergency of the state. how does this accord with republican principles? or how can a republican government, so conducted, expect to become respectable among nations? i am not aware that such contributions have yet been levied in chilóe. from the character of general aldunate, i do not for a moment think he would commit such an act of injustice; but it is in the power of any yntendente to call for them, and i afterwards witnessed an example of this, during my visit to concepcion. a considerable quantity of wheat, purchased by a russian vessel, for the use of their settlements on the coast of california, was brought down to the port, at a time when the government was much in want of money, and knew no just way of obtaining it. they therefore very unceremoniously seized the wheat, and applied its value in dollars to their own use, giving only an uncertain, almost a nominal security to the owner for the recovery of his money. the only way of accounting for such an arbitrary proceeding is, that the country was distracted by civil war, and that the person who owned the property was opposed to that party, which at the time happened to have the upper hand, and which held, by main strength alone, the reins of government. among the birds of chilóe, the most remarkable are the 'cagge,' the 'cancania,' or 'canqueña,' and the 'barking bird.'[ ] { } the shell-fish,[ ] for which this island is justly famed, are principally brought from calbuco, and consist of the finest { } muscles, of which there are two sorts: the choro (_mytilus choras_, molina), and cholgua (_mytilus magellanicus_, lamarck), picos (_balanus psittacus nob. lepas psittacus_ molina, , p. ), a large barnacle,[ ] and the oyster (_o. edulis_), which is exceedingly well-flavoured. besides which there are several kinds of shell-fish of less value, but equally abundant, such as navajuelas (_solen sp._); caracoles (_turbo_); cornes (_pholas chiloensis_, molina); campaña (_calyptræa_); lapas (_crepidula_); tacas (_chama thaca_, molina); locos (_concholepas peruviana_, _murex loco_ of molina); quilmagues; piures (_pyura sp._ molina); and others. the apparently inexhaustible abundance of shell-fish with which nature has provided the inhabitants of these islands, the facility with which they are obtained, and their consequent cheapness, is the principal cause of that want of industry which is so remarkable in the chilotes. of the above-mentioned shell-fish, those deserving more particular notice are the large muscle, the oyster, and the pico. molina has described the choro of conception, which is not at all different from that of chilóe. it is often found seven or eight inches long. the fish is as large as a goose's egg, and of a very rich flavour: there are two kinds, one of a dark brown, and the other of a yellow colour; but the last is most esteemed. there is also another sort, much larger than the choro, yet equally delicate and good, the fish of which is as large as a swan's egg: it is called cholgua; but as the shells seem to be of the same species, i think the distinction can only be owing to size. in febres's dictionary of the chileno language, the word { } cholchua is rendered into spanish by "cascara de choros blancos," or shell of the white muscle. cholhua, or cholgua (the letters g and h are indiscriminately used), must be a corruption; for it is now used in chilóe to distinguish the large from the small choros. the manner in which the natives of these islands, both indians and descendants of foreigners, cook shell-fish, is very similar to that used for baking in the south sea islands, and on some parts of the coast of new holland. a hole is dug in the ground, in which large smooth stones are laid, and upon them a fire is kindled. when they are sufficiently heated, the ashes are cleared away, and shell-fish are heaped upon the stones, and covered, first with leaves or straw, and then with earth. the fish, thus baked, are exceedingly tender and good; and this mode of cooking them is very superior to any other, as they retain, within the shell, all their own juiciness. the oyster, which is a true _ostrea edulis_, is found in beds, at low water, or taken with the dredge. it is about the size of the native oyster of england, and not at all inferior to it in flavour. in agüeros's account of chilóe, he notices this excellent shell-fish; but remarks, that the islanders are ignorant of the value at which it is appreciated. it is rather curious, that, excepting in the neighbourhood of chilóe, the oyster is very rarely to be met with on the south american coast, while there it is in the greatest abundance. we have never observed any shells of this fish anywhere between the river plata and chilóe; nor is it known elsewhere upon the western coast, i believe, to the southward of guayaquil, which is very near the equinoctial line.[ ] the oyster-shells at port san julian are fossils. of the linnæan genus, ostrea, there are many sorts, on all parts of the coast, both east and west, but they are what we call the pecten or scollop. at coquimbo, a species of scollop is much used as an article of food, and called oyster; but it has no further right to the name than because linnæus classed them all as _ostrea_, and molina describes this to be _ostrea edulis_. { } the pico, which is a barnacle, grows to a very large size; at concepcion, however, it is still larger, being six or seven inches in length. it has, when properly cooked, very much the flavour of a crab, and by the inhabitants of this archipelago is considered preferable to any other shell-fish. before concluding this imperfect description of the shell-fish of chilóe, the piure claims some consideration, if it be only for its peculiar and disagreeable appearance. it was considered by molina as a genus allied to _ascidia_ (mol. i. ), none of the varieties of which are inviting in their look, as an edible substance, but the piure is still less so. it is thus described by molina: "the piure, scarcely deserving the name of a living animal, is as remarkable for its figure, as for the manner in which it is lodged. the body is about the size and shape of a small pear, an inch in diameter; or it may be described as a small, conical, fleshy bag, of a red colour, filled with saline liquor, and provided with two trunks or processes in the upper part, one of which is the mouth, similar to that of the tetias; and between these processes are seen two small, black, and shining points, which are supposed to be the eyes. i could distinguish no other organs, nor any viscera in the fleshy substance of which it is composed, which is smooth without and spongy within. they are extremely sensitive, and when touched, spout water out of both apertures. these small animals are shut up in a firm, but glutinous case, of various shapes; one case often contains eight or ten distinct bodies, separated from each other by cells, formed of a strong membraneous substance. they are attached to rocks or stones, under water, excepting when left uncovered by a low tide. the natives eat them boiled, or roasted in their shells. they also dry them for exportation to the province of cusco, where their flavour is much esteemed, and considered equal to that of the lobster." at chilóe, the piure is said to be a remedy for barrenness; and to such an extent has this idea prevailed, that a chilote woman, eating this fish, literally says, if asked what she is doing, that "she is making children." one would not, however, suppose, from the number of children which are seen { } crowding round the doors, that the chilotes had any necessity for such food. if one may judge from the few applications made to our medical men for advice, the climate is either very healthy, or the natives prefer their own mode of cure. they have very few medical advisers, and those few are not held in much estimation, being people of little or no education. a prejudice against medical men has been, even in late years, extended to foreign practitioners, and carried to great lengths. this illiberal feeling is, however, fast wearing away; but, among the lower orders, the application of herbs and other simples is yet wholly resorted to for the removal of their complaints. one day, when i was employed in making some astronomical observations, at sandy point, a woman passed me, and forcing her way through a thicket of thorny plants, began to gather branches of a species of arbutus (_a. rigida._), a small shrubby plant, which is every where abundant, especially to the south, and in the strait of magalhaens. my curiosity prompted me to inquire her reason for collecting it with such apparent anxiety. she replied, with a desponding air, "it is chaura[ ] for a poor, sick child. these branches," she said, "are to be put into the fire, and, being green, will produce a thick smoke, and yield a very strong aromatic smell. the child, who is only five months old, is to be held over it, which, as they say, is a good remedy; but," she added, with an air of doubt, "i know not (dicen que es bueno, pero yo no sé)." "who says so?" i asked. "los que saben (those who know)," replied the half-credulous mother, with a deep sigh, partly doubting the efficacy of the remedy, but unwilling to lose the advantages of whatever virtue it might possess, for the benefit of her sick infant. the climate of chilóe is considered, by those who live in other parts of chile, to be "rigorous, cold, and damp." certainly there is much reason for such an opinion, particularly in the winter months, when it almost always rains, and the wind, with little cessation, blows hard, from n. to n.w., and, { } by the w. to s.w.; but notwithstanding the great quantity of rain that falls, the evaporation is great, and it cannot therefore be called unhealthy; indeed, from experience, it is considered quite otherwise. agüeros, to whose excellent account of chilóe i have so often referred, dilates much upon this subject, and from having resided there a considerable time, may be taken as the best authority. those who now reside upon the island speak very much against it, and all whom i met, previous to my visit, condemned it, as being "the worst in the world." perhaps we, who had lately been experiencing a much more disagreeable climate, went to chilóe with the expectation of finding it exceed in severity that to which we had been accustomed in the strait of magalhaens, but we found ourselves agreeably mistaken. our visit certainly was in the better season, and we had, perhaps, no right to form a decided opinion upon the other part of the year. i shall, therefore, first quote agüeros, and then describe what we found the weather from september to december; yet as these months were considered by the inhabitants to be finer than is usual at that season, we can only form a vague idea of the spring and summer. for the autumn and winter i must depend upon the accounts of others. after explaining the contra-position of the seasons, to what is experienced north of the equator, with regard to the months of the year; agüeros says, "chilóe has also its four seasons, but does not enjoy the benefit of those changes, as do other parts of chile; for there is neither that abundance of fruit, nor are its fields adorned with so many and such beautiful flowers, and useful medicinal plants. the summer is the best time; for in the month of january, from ten o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon, the heat is excessive. between these hours, however, a sea-breeze, which is called 'vira-zon,' refreshes the air. in the winter the temperature is very cold; but the frosts are by no means so severe as in europe. i have never seen ice, even in the small streams, nor does snow lie any length of time on the ground. "in the winter months, as well as in other parts of the year, there are falls of rain, and heavy gales from n.n.w., and west, { } which last frequently for the whole moon, with scarcely a cessation, and the wind, at times, is so furious, that the houses are not secure, and the largest trees are torn up by the roots. the weather, when it is fine, cannot be depended upon for any length of time; not even in summer; for in the month of january i have frequently experienced gales, and rain, as severe and copious as in the winter. during the summer months southerly winds are more prevalent, and, while they last, the weather is fine, and clear, and the air particularly dry. "although the winter months, and a considerable part of the other seasons, are very disagreeable, owing to the severity of the winds, and exceeding quantity of rain, it cannot be denied that the climate is healthy. in chilóe no epidemic diseases are experienced. the small-pox and measles are not known;[ ] nor have tertian fevers, so common in the north, ever been experienced on the island. spotted fever (tabardillo), and acute pains in the stomach, are the only disorders to which the inhabitants of this archipelago are subject. thunder and lightning are rarely experienced; but earthquakes have occurred at intervals. in the year the church and houses were destroyed, and in the year much damage to the village of isla grande was caused by earthquakes." so far agüeros. on the whole, the climate is not so unfavourable as we had been led to expect from all that we had heard. captain fitz roy arrived there in july, during the latter part of which, and the month of august, the weather was very wet, with some heavy gales from the n.w.; but in his meteorological journal for those months there is no record of the thermometer falling below °, and it is recorded to have fallen to that degree only on one occasion, the general height being from ° to °. the first part and the middle of september were boisterous and wet; but towards the end of the month the wind was chiefly from the southward, and the weather dry and { } extremely fine. in october it was rather changeable; but for the last ten days, with the exception of one, on which there was a fresh gale with a heavy fall of rain, it was fine and dry, and the winds were moderate. the month of november was generally fine, but the first half of december continued tempestuous and wet. the mean temperature of the months, and other meteorological remarks, are as follows: column headings: a - p.m. water at anch. b - pressure reduced to °. c - dew point. d - dew point less than air. e - expansion. f - dryness by thermo. scales. g - weight of a cubic foot of air. h - quantity fallen. i - quantity evaporated. j - remaining in the gage at end of month. +-------------+-------------------+------+----------------------------+ | | temperature | | hygrometer (daniells') | +-------------+-------------------+------+----------------------------+ | | mean | ex. of | | | | | | | | |at a.m.| temp. | | | | | | | | |----+----+----+----| | | | | | | | months |air | a |max.|min.| b | c | d | e | f | g | +-------------+----+----+----+----+------+----+----+-----+-----+------+ | july days| . | . | -- | -- | . | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | | aug. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | | sept. | | -- | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | oct. | . | -- | | | . | . | . | . | . | . | | nov. | . | -- | . | | . | . | . | . | . | . | +-------------+----+----+----+----+------+----+----+-----+-----+------+ +-------------+-----+-----+---------+-----+ | |no. of days| rain | | +-------------+-----+-----+---------+-----+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | months |fine.|rain.| h | i | j | +-------------+-----+-----+----+----+-----+ | july days| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | | aug. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | | sept. | | | . | . | . | | oct. | | | . | . | . | | nov. | | | . | . | . | +-------------+-----+-----+----+----+-----+ { } this table partly shows the state of the weather during three spring months. the greatest quantity of rain in the gage at the end of the month of november did not exceed . inches. at st. martin's cove, near cape horn, after thirty days' observation, the rain-gage contained eight inches; so that although chilóe bears the character of being a very wet place, it is not one-third so bad as cape horn. the time of our visit to san carlos was certainly the finest part of the year; and i believe that the weather we experienced was unusually dry even for the season; therefore, the above table does not present a fair criterion of the climate: i do not, however, think it is by any means so bad as has been represented. * * * * * { } chapter xvii. chilóe the last spanish possession in south america--freyre's expedition--failure--second expedition under freyre and blanco-- quintanilla's capitulation--chilóe taken--aldunate placed in command-- chilóe a dependency of chile--beagle sails to sea coast of tierra del fuego--adelaide repaired--adelaide sails--adventure goes to valparaiso-- juan fernandez--fishery--coats--dogs--geology--botany--shells--spanish accounts--anson's voyage--talcahuano--concepcion--pinoleo--araucanian indians--re-enter the strait of maghalhaens--fuegians. the island of chilóe was the last place the king of spain possessed in south america; and even to this day he is not without friends there, who would gladly restore his absolute monarchy, notwithstanding the advantages that are acknowledged to have been derived from the change of masters, and the consequent opening of trade, which has added very much to the comfort, as well as civilization of the inhabitants. during the struggle for independence, this island was too distant from the seat of war to render it important; but when all other parts of chile were freed from the king's troops, the new government despatched an expedition, consisting of between three and four thousand men, commanded by the director-general freyre, to attack it. upon the appearance of this expedition off the harbour of san carlos, the spanish governor, quintanilla, was inclined to capitulate; but, instead of anchoring in the roads, the squadron proceeded to chacao, landed troops there, and despatched some of their forces to castro, where they were repulsed by the spanish and native troops, and obliged to re-embark. in this interval, one of the ships left the squadron, and returned to valparaiso, whence she was immediately ordered back; but meanwhile the director had embarked his troops, and returned to concepcion. not long afterwards, in january , a second expedition, under the same general, sailed from valdivia, convoyed by a strong squadron, under the command of admiral blanco. { } "upon this occasion the troops landed, on the th, at the little inlet of the bay of huechucucuy; and fort corona was immediately taken. on the th, the disembarkation of the troops was completed. a battalion was left to mask fort aguy, while a force, under colonel aldunate, passed on, and took the battery of barcacura. on the th, admiral blanco shifted his flag; and, leaving the o'higgins outside, stood into the bay with the rest of the squadron, which anchored off barcacura. "the governor, quintanilla, with upwards of three thousand royalists, took up a strong position on a hill, at the s.e. side of the bay, flanked on the left by an impenetrable wood, on the right by the shore, and supported by three gun-boats in shallow water. these were taken by the boats of the squadron, under captain bell, and turned against the royalists. their position was thus enfiladed, and they retired. freyre then advanced: some skirmishing took place: quintanilla capitulated; and the territory of chile was no longer sullied by the spanish flag. "colonel aldunate, majors maruri, asagra, and tupper (a native of jersey); and captain bell, of the navy, greatly distinguished themselves.--miller's memoirs." colonel aldunate was afterwards invested with the government of the island; but, owing to the disaffection of the troops, who were urged on by the king of spain's agents, a revolution took place, aldunate was imprisoned, and afterwards sent to valparaiso, and the spanish flag once more waved in chilóe. it was, however, for a short time only; aldunate was despatched once more, and with a small force of three hundred veteran troops, headed by colonel tupper, and accompanied by the aquiles, brig of war, again obtained possession of the island, which he has since kept, though not quietly, for the royalists were constantly on the alert, and made several futile attempts to recover the place for their king. time has now reconciled the greater number to the change; and, i believe, chilóe may be considered a contented dependency of the republic of chile. { } the beagle being ready to resume her voyage, sailed on the th of november to survey the southern coasts of tierra del fuego; after which, she was to rejoin the adventure at rio de janeiro.[ ] as the adelaide had received some damage in getting aground, it was requisite to lay her on the beach for examination and repair. her mainmast, also, was found to be sprung so badly, as to render a new one necessary; which we should have found much difficulty in obtaining, but for the kindness of general aldunate, who, finding that we were at a loss, proposed to give us the flag-staff of the town, a beautiful spar of alerse, that was in every way suitable. previously, however, to accepting his offer, being aware that such an act might expose him to much reproach from the people of the town, who were all very proud of it, i caused inquiry to be made whether a spar of the necessary dimensions could be brought from calbuco; and in the meantime we proceeded with the repairs. a creek behind sandy point offering every convenience for heaving her down, the adelaide was moved into it, and laid on the beach. on stripping her copper off, the injury proved to be considerable; but not beyond our means to repair. upon examination, the foremast was found to be in a bad state, but could be rendered effective by fishing it with the sound portion of the other mast, therefore our only real difficulty was to get a mainmast. from the account i received from calbuco, i found that, without a great delay, not less than two months, and sending a portion of our people with ropes and tackles, there was no chance of procuring a spar: it could only be obtained at a considerable distance from the shore, and when felled must be dragged over several high ranges of hills, which might be called mountains, before it could be got to the water-side. general aldunate, through whom this inquiry was made, then renewed his offer of the flag-staff, which i accepted most thankfully; and by his order it was taken down, and conveyed to the ship, soon after which it was converted into an excellent mainmast for the schooner. before it was moved, a new, but shorter staff, with a topmast, was fitted for the flag; notwithstanding which, many unpleasant observations were made, and absurd reports circulated, which spread to chile, and even to peru, that the english were about to take possession of chilóe, and had already removed the flag-staff of san carlos. [illustration: old church at castro.] [illustration: near pt. arena.] [illustration: pt. arena.--san carlos chiloe. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } by lieutenant mitchell's activity in superintending the adelaide's repairs, she was got ready for sea at the beginning of december, and sailed on the th, under the command of lieutenant skyring, with orders[ ] to survey those parts of the gulf of peñas which had not been examined by the beagle; particularly the river san tadeo, in san quintin's sound; the openings behind xavier island; the channel's mouths; and the guaianeco islands, where the wager was wrecked: and then to proceed down the mesier channel, behind the island campana, which was supposed to communicate with concepcion strait, by the brazo ancho (or wide channel) of sarmiento. he was then to go to the ancon sin salida, examining all the openings into the main land, on his way, and search for a communication with the large waters, discovered by captain fitz roy, through which he was to try to enter the strait, and join the adventure, at port famine, during the month of april. lieutenant skyring again took with him, by captain fitz roy's permission, mr. kirke and mr. bynoe, of the beagle; mr. alexander millar and mr. parke also accompanied them. having thus despatched our companions, we prepared, on board the adventure, to return to valparaiso; intending to proceed to rio de janeiro; by way of concepcion, port famine, and monte video; for the sake of adding some links to our chronometric chain: with a view to which, i had taken the opportunity of having the chronometers cleaned at valparaiso by mr. roskell, agent for messrs. roskell chronometer-makers at liverpool. general aldunate being on the point of returning to valparaiso, i had an opportunity of obliging him, and showing my sense of the assistance, and essential kindness we had { } received, by offering him and all his family a passage in the adventure, which he accepted; and on the th we left chilóe. in our way we touched at concepcion, and anchored at valparaiso on the d of january. we remained there until the th of february, and then sailed on our return to rio de janeiro, with the intention of passing though the strait of magalhaens, and taking that opportunity of completing some few parts, which our former surveys had left unfinished. as the breeze, which, on this coast, blows with the constancy of a trade wind, would carry us close to the island of juan fernandez, i determined upon visiting it, for a few days; and then proceeding again to concepcion. we reached cumberland bay, on the north side of juan fernandez, on the th, and anchored, within two cables lengths of the beach, in ten fathoms. i have seldom seen a more remarkable and picturesque view, than is presented by the approach to juan fernandez. when seen from a distance, the mountain of the 'yungue' (anvil), so called from its resemblance to a blacksmith's anvil, appears conspicuously placed in the midst of a range of precipitous mountains, and is alone an object of interest. it rises three thousand feet above a shore, which is formed by an abrupt wall of dark-coloured bare rock, eight or nine hundred feet in height, through whose wild ravines, broken by the mountain torrents, views are caught of verdant glades, surrounded by luxuriant woodland. the higher parts of the island are in general thickly-wooded; but in some places there are grassy plains of considerable extent, whose lively colour contrasts agreeably with the dark foliage of myrtle-trees, which abound on the island. the yungue is wooded, nearly from the summit to its base; whence an extensive and fertile valley extends to the shore, and is watered by two streams, which take their rise in the heights, and fall into the sea. this valley appears to have been formerly cleared and cultivated by the spaniards, who had a colony here; for the stone { } walls, which served to divide their enclosures, still remain. from walter's account of anson's voyage, and the view given with it of the commodore's tent, there is no difficulty in determining this valley to be the spot on which his encampment was placed. the island is now ( ) occupied, or rather rented from the governor of chile for a term of years, by don joachim larrain. the establishment consists of a superintendent (mayor-domo), there called, 'the governor;' and forty persons, who are employed in the seal and cod fishery, and in drying fish for the chilian market. their dwellings are erected on the flat land, at the north side of the bay, where the soil is richer than in other parts; and where it is more sheltered from the squalls, which, during strong southerly gales, rush down the valley of the yungue, the situation of the former establishment, with great violence. the remains of a fort, called san juan baptiste, are yet in a tolerable state; and from an inscription on the wall, it appears to have been repaired, or completed, in the year . it is situated on a rising ground, about one hundred and thirty feet above the sea, at the s.w. part of the bay, and overlooks the village; there are now no guns mounted, but, with a few, it might be made very effective in a short time; and, from its situation, would command the bay. in the middle of the beach are some ruins of a four-gun battery, and there are also traces of a fort at the n.w. end of the bay. at present, except wild-goats, wild peaches, figs, abundance of fish, and excellent fresh water, no refreshments can be procured. an establishment of forty persons, with very little to do, might naturally be expected to cultivate the land, raise vegetables and fruit, and rear poultry and pigs, to supply the vessels, which frequently touch here for wood and water; but it is not the character of the chileno to take any trouble, unless obliged, although his own comfort and advantage may be materially concerned. the mayor-domo, however, told me that their attempts to { } cultivate the soil, and raise potatoes, had been defeated by the destructive ravages of a worm. by sending a boat to the east point of the bay, to fish in forty fathoms water, a most delicious kind of cod-fish may be taken, in such numbers, that two men, in half an hour, could fill the boat. craw-fish, of large size, are almost equally abundant; they are taken with a hooked stick: one of our boats caught forty-five in a very short time. the inhabitants catch them, and cure their tails, by exposure to the sun, for exportation to chile, where they are much esteemed, and fetch a high price. wild-goats are very numerous among the inaccessible parts of the island, but are not easily obtained; they are sometimes shot, or taken with a lazo. these animals, according to woodes rogers, and other writers, were originally left on the island by juan fernandez, who, for a short time, lived there. according to the 'noticias secretas,' p. to , they are supposed to have been landed by the buccaneers, who frequented this island. certain it is, that, without such refreshments, the buccaneers would not have been able to carry on their harassing war of plunder against the spanish possessions on the american coast to such an extent; nor should we, perhaps, have heard anything more about commodore anson, and the crews of the centurion and gloucester, who were, on their arrival at this island, in the last stage of scurvy. to prevent juan fernandez from being so tempting a resort to buccaneers, the viceroy of peru caused a great many dogs to be landed, which hunted down and destroyed the goats in great numbers: this in some measure has prevented their subsequent increase. the dogs however drove the goats to places where they could not follow them, and were then obliged to destroy seals for food. large troops of these dogs still range about the lower grounds; but the heights are in the undisturbed possession of wild-goats; which may be seen in numbers browsing on elevated and almost inaccessible places, where they live in safety. the geological character of this island, according to mr. caldcleugh, who accompanied me in this trip, is of basaltic { } green-stone, and trap, which appears, at first sight, to be volcanic; but, on a more particular examination, the lava-like appearance of the rock does not seem to arise from an igneous origin. the green-stone is full of crystals of olivine, which, as they decompose, leave hollows, resembling those of scoriæ. mr. caldcleugh communicated an account of the structure to the geological society.[ ] in captain hall's interesting journal, there is a list of geological and mineralogical specimens, of which one from mas-a-fuéra[ ] is named 'vesicular lava.' may it not be this same rock in a decomposed state? the late signor bertero, whose botanical collections from chile have enriched many of the principal herbaria in europe, accompanied me to make a collection of the flora of the island; and he considered that the character of the vegetation was very little allied to the chilian, but partook more of that of california. the sandal-wood, which has been described as indigenous to this island, was not found by us, growing, but a large quantity was collected about the hills and vallies, in a dry state, and apparently very old. it is of the red kind, and still preserves a strong scent. the mayor-domo told me there were no sandal-wood trees in the island; but we had reason to think his information was incorrect, for one of the inhabitants would have taken us to a place where he said they were growing in large quantities, had not our arrangements for sailing interfered. the island produces several kinds of grass; but the most abundant herbaceous plant is a species of oat, which grows very luxuriantly, and towards the westward covers the ground for many miles. the neighbourhood of cumberland bay is over-run with strawberry plants, wild radishes, mint, and balm, besides peach, apple, cherry, and fig trees, which are { } found wild every where, and remind one of lord anson's visit.[ ] not only in its botanical productions does this island differ from the chilian coast, but also in its shells: the shell fish being extremely scarce, and dissimilar in character. on the rocks we found a patella and a small chama, but we saw no mytilus. from the deep water i fished up some coral, and attached to one fragment was a new species of arca.[ ] the fishing-lines brought up, from the depth of eighty fathoms, a branch of coralline, to which an infinite number of a species of caryophyllia were attached. the existence of coral is mentioned in mr. barry's translation of the 'noticias secretas de america; por don j. juan, y don a. de ulloa,' a work which contains a long and, generally speaking, good account of the island; but their description of the anchorage does not agree with ours. they say, "the distance between the two points, which form the bay, is two miles, and its depth about half a league; and, although the depth is nearly the same in all parts, the best berth to moor ships is in the front of the 'playa del este;' but it is necessary to be close to the stones of the beach, for at one or two cables' length there are fifty fathoms water, and the outer anchor is in the depth of seventy or eighty fathoms; but if the vessel is three or four cables off, it will be necessary to drop the outer anchor in one hundred fathoms, which, even with two cables an end, will scarcely secure the ship." now, at three cables' length from the beach, we had only ten fathoms, our outer anchor was dropped in seventeen fathoms, and in a line between the two points of the bay there is not more than fifty fathoms. if the accounts of those spanish officers were correct, the earthquakes, which certainly affect these islands, must have caused a considerable uprising of the base of the island; but, on referring to the plan in anson's voyage, the soundings in do not appear to have been different from ours. the innermost ship, whose berth we occupied, is, in that plan, at anchor in { } nineteen fathoms, and the depth between the points of the bay is shown to be about fifty fathoms. there are few persons who have not read, with much interest, mr. walter's account of the centurion's voyage, and who are not well acquainted with his description of this island, which we found exceedingly correct. the views of the land, although old-fashioned in execution, are most correctly delineated, and the plan of the bay is quite sufficient for every common purpose of navigation; but as we had an opportunity of fixing its latitude and longitude more correctly, it became desirable to make a more detailed plan than commodore anson's. the seals and sea-lions, which were so abundant formerly, are now reduced to such a small number, as to make the seal-fishery scarcely worth notice. they have been destroyed by taking them indiscriminately, without regard to age or sex, leaving none to propagate the race but those who by chance escaped. at present the island is let to a tenant, who is not permitted to kill them until the young have taken to the water, by which means an opportunity is given for them to increase. i am not aware that there are any indigenous animals. dogs, goats, and rats, have been imported. land birds are not numerous; some pigeons, said to have been imported, and a few hawks, are occasionally seen, besides three species of humming-birds, two of which are new to science.[ ] of sea-birds we saw very few; but were informed that the 'goat islands,' at the south-west end of juan fernandez, are completely covered by them at the breeding season. during our stay, several excursions were made, in various directions, from the village, and much facilitated by beaten paths, one of which leads up a valley, westward of that of the { } yungue, and thence to a pass over the principal range, communicating with the other side of the island. this pass, called the puertozuela, is , feet high, and was visited several times by the officers. on one occasion, they went to the western part of the island, to hunt wild goats. the party set out in boats with the mayor-domo, or governor, as their guide; but before they reached the proper landing-place, became so impatient that they landed, intending to walk back. the governor, however, persevered, and returned, in the evening, with five fine she-goats, which he had taken with 'lazos.' our pedestrians found their return by no means so easy as they had contemplated, being obliged to pass the night in a cave, which they fortunately found at sunset, and they did not reach the ship until the following afternoon, fatigued, but much pleased by their ramble. the thermometer on board ranged, during the day, between ° and °, and the barometer between . , and . . on shore the thermometer stood higher, in fine, unclouded weather, and lower when the summits of the hills were covered with clouds. we put to sea on the d, anchored at talcahuano on the d of march, and sailed again on the th, to proceed through the strait of magalhaens. while at concepcion i had an opportunity of seeing pinoleo,[ ] the indian chief, from whom captain basil hall endeavoured to obtain the release of a captured araucanian female, whose husband had been murdered in cold blood before her eyes.[ ] mr. rouse, our consul, procured for me the necessary introduction, and, with one of the governor's aides-de-camp, accompanied us to the indian quarters, situated on the { } outskirts of the town, towards the river bio-bio. we found the chief's residence (little better than a rancho, or hut of the country), surrounded by indians, some of whom were armed; and at the door were his two daughters, young, and rather good-looking, whose persons and dress we had leisure to examine, whilst waiting the chiefs pleasure to receive us. they were clothed with a mantle, or wrapper, of green baize, enveloping the body from the neck to the feet, and fastened at the breast by a toup, or tupu[ ] (a silver pin, or skewer, headed with a round silver plate, three inches in diameter), over which hung a string of beads. their hair, which was remarkably fine and clean, as well as neatly dressed, was divided into two plaited tails ('trensas'), and their foreheads were ornamented with a broad fillet, worked over with beads.[ ] they also wore necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and anklets of similar manufacture. our names having been announced to pinoleo, he came to the door to receive us, and invited us to enter. some of our party he recognized, and seemed pleased at their visiting him. we were early, and found him sober; but from his bloated and haggard appearance, it seemed that he had not been long so. on entering the hut, we observed a number of indians, scarcely sober, seated round, near the walls. some turbid wine was presented to us, in a silver cup, which we sipped as it passed round; but the last of our party knowing that to return the cup without emptying it, would be an offence, was obliged to drink the contents, and a bitter potion they were. pinoleo was then stout and rather corpulent, five feet ten inches in height, of a fairer complexion than the generality of his countrymen, and had lost much of his hair. he had laid aside the indian { } dress, and wore the deshabille of a spaniard, a shirt and pair of trowsers, in a very slovenly manner. he spoke spanish with great facility, and appeared to be quite at his ease in conversation. he has the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the chilian army, and receives pay, as a retainer for his friendship. a very short visit was sufficient to satisfy us, and we took the first opportunity of retiring, for fear of a second cup of wine. while leaving the hut, we were beset by some of his followers, asking for money. the indian quarter is a scene of drunkenness the whole day; the women, however, are prevented from thus injuring themselves; they are industrious and cleanly, and are principally occupied in the manufacture of ponchos. these indians are frequently at war with other tribes, who live on the south side of the bio-bio river, and who have never yet been conquered by white men, of which they are not a little proud.(w) these araucanians are by no means to be despised. the cacique mariloan,[ ] who resides near san carlos, on the bio-bio, has three hundred fighting men under his own command; and from the influence he holds over neighbouring caciques, could bring upwards of one thousand men into the field. upon the occasion of a late revolution in chile, a deputation of chiefs was sent by the araucanian caciques to inquire into the cause of those disturbances, of which they had received intelligence. they first asked for an interpreter, whom they cautioned to give a true and literal translation of their speech; and then they made a long harangue, in which they explained the cause of their visit, and declared their willingness to assist their friends, if their aid should be required, to expel a foreign foe; but if the troubles were caused only by the quarrels and dissensions of parties, they would not take an active part. they were then given to understand that an attempt had been made by one party to put down another, upon which they declined assisting either. the conference being ended, some horses were { } slaughtered and skinned. large holes were dug, and the skins put into them, to form substitutes for vessels, into which barrels of wine were poured, and the indians commenced their feast of horses' flesh and turbid wine, which threw them rapidly into a state of excitement and intoxication, that lasted some hours after the wine was all drunk. in this neighbourhood, the araucanian pine (_araucaria imbricata_) is found, but very few of the trees grow near the sea. one beautiful specimen which i saw in a garden was, at least, forty feet in height, with branches sweeping the ground. the cones of these trees, called piñones, are brought to the town from the mountains where they grow, and are roasted, to be sold in the streets. on the st of march, the land about cape lucia was seen, and at noon it bore e.b.n., distant twelve miles, when the wind ceased, and a heavy swell setting us towards the land, made our situation an anxious one. a breeze, however, sprung up, and by carrying a press of sail, we succeeded in gaining an offing before dark. the night was very squally, but next morning ( st april) the weather was better, so we stood in, and made the evangelists, which were seen from the mast-head, at a distance of twenty-two miles. between these islands and cape pillar we found a most turbulent sea; yet no sooner had we entered the strait, than the water became perfectly smooth. i intended anchoring in the harbour of mercy; but the night proved fine, and the wind was so favourable, that we proceeded by the chart, using a patent log, and passing within two miles of the headlands. sail was reduced as much as possible, to give us space sufficient to run on during the night, steering e. ¾ s. by compass. towards midnight the weather became cloudy, and occasionally the land was concealed from our view. abreast of cape tamar, and as far as cape providence, some sharp squalls raised a sea, rather heavy, considering we were in the strait; but afterwards the water became smooth again. off the latter cape, the patent log indicated a distance run equal to that shown by the chart, which proved that we had { } experienced no current. at daylight we were in the entrance of the 'long reach,' abreast of cape monday. while passing the opening opposite to playa parda, a schooner was observed at anchor, and a boat was seen coming out to us. it contained the mate of the schooner industry, of new bedford, who informed us that she had been lying there, weather-bound, for nearly a month. he came to make inquiries about good anchorages to the westward (having already lost two anchors), and to learn in what part of the strait he was; his own idea being, that the vessel was under cape monday. having given him the required information, we proceeded; but the wind fell light, and we were glad to anchor in the cove of playa parda. with our chains we found it safe; but the bottom, being rocky, would probably do much injury to hempen cables. the opening opposite to us, where the schooner was lying, was evidently sarmiento's 'abra.' it appeared to us to be a mile and a half wide, with an island in the entrance. within, it seemed to take a south, then a south-west direction, and afterwards to trend round a low hummocky point of the eastern shore, under a high, precipitous ridge, on the opposite or western shore, towards the s.e.; beyond this its course could not be observed. when passing through this part of the strait, captain stokes found the weather so bad, that although the distance across was only two or three miles, the shores were often concealed by clouds and rain, so as to render it impossible for him to make any survey of them. we were detained the two following days by bad weather. on the th we proceeded, but before we got abreast of snowy sound, heavy rain set in, which lasted all day. as we passed borja bay, a schooner was observed at anchor in it, so like the adelaide, that we altered our course to communicate with her. from a boat which came off to us, we learned that it was a sealing-vessel, called the hope, of new york, going through the strait, from staten land. she had seen nothing of the adelaide. when abreast of bachelor river, a canoe, containing two { } men and two women, came out to us; but we did not delay long, and at five the anchor was dropped in fortescue bay. as it did not appear that the adelaide had preceded us, i determined upon remaining, to make a chronometric measurement from port gallant to port famine; and the next morning lieutenant graves landed, and obtained a set of sights for time. in the early part of the day, two canoes, containing eight or ten fuegians, entered the bay. they came from the westward; but we did not recognize among them any of those who visited the ship as we passed bachelor's river. several had red baize shirts, and some had 'union caps,' such as are supplied to our men-of-war; which they must have procured from the beagle or adelaide, or from the chanticleer, at cape horn.(x) after hanging about us all day, they landed at sunset, and took up their quarters in some old wigwams in the inner harbour. the canoes of these natives were very different in their construction from any we had seen to the eastward. instead of being paddled, they were pulled with oars; one of which was an ash oar, probably obtained from some sealing-vessel. the canoes were large; at the bottom was a plank, twenty inches wide, to which were sewn the sides, in the manner of the piraguas, and they were caulked with bark, in a similar way. we did not remark any thing peculiar among these people which we had not perceived in other natives of tierra del fuego, except that they frequently used the word 'pecheray,' a word particularly noticed by bougainville, who thought that it meant the name of the tribe; and, in consequence, the fuegians have been often called pecherays. on one of the officers cutting a lock of hair from a woman's head, the men became angry, and one of them taking it away, threw half of it into the fire, and, rolling up the other portion between the palms of his hands, swallowed it. immediately { } afterwards, placing his hands to the fire, as if to warm them, and looking upwards, he uttered a few words, apparently of invocation: then, looking at us, pointed upwards, and exclaimed, with a tone and gesture of explanation, 'pecheray, pecheray.' after which, they cut off some hair from several of the officers who were present, and repeated a similar ceremony. from this fact, one might suppose the word to be connected with their ideas of divine worship; but we had heard it used for so many opposite things, that i could not consider it of so much importance as some of the officers were inclined to think it. the next day a party ascended the mountain de la cruz, to deposit a pewter plate, on which were cut the names of the ship and officers. at the summit they found the pile of stones made by captain fitz roy, which they left undisturbed; but made another, in which a bottle was placed, containing the little spanish coin, and copies, on vellum, of the memorials we had formerly taken from it, also several english coins, and some medals. the bottle was corked, covered with resin, and enveloped in sheet lead. our party returned in the evening, having been seven hours in going up and descending. the next day i obtained an angular measurement of the mountain de la cruz, with a theodolite, having measured a base of , feet, which gave for its elevation , feet, feet more than captain fitz roy's barometrical determination. during the day several fuegian families had arrived, and, by the evening, ten canoes, containing altogether about sixty natives, were collected. i landed to visit them, for i had never before seen so many assembled. we entered all the wigwams but one, which was said to be occupied by a woman in labour. in the opening stood her husband, painted all over with a red ochrous earth, and his head and breast ornamented with the white down of birds. the other fuegians called him 'pecheray;' and appeared to consider him, while in the character he had assumed, as a being superior to themselves. { } hence, there evidently is something of a superstitious nature connected with the word; but our frequent attempts to find out its precise meaning, were unsuccessful. on repeating this expression to a group of natives, one of them immediately coughed up a piece of blubber, which he had been eating, and gave it to another, who swallowed it with much ceremony, and with a peculiar guttural noise; then, looking up, and pointing with his finger to the skies, solemnly pronounced the talismanic 'pecheray,' this word is also used in pointing to the sun. on the th april, i went to charles islands, and surveyed them. there is very good anchorage for a small vessel, in eighteen fathoms, at the north end of the passage which separates them; and at the bottom, or elbow, under the eastern island, in thirteen or fourteen fathoms. the next day, a fresh arrival in two canoes increased the number of indians to eighty; rather a formidable body for a small vessel to encounter. they conducted themselves, on the whole, very peaceably, but seemed determined that our curiosity should not be gratified by finding out the contents of the 'tabooed' wigwam. it was always guarded by the 'pecheray,' who seemed ready and determined to dispute all access to it, by means of a heavy club. one of the midshipmen, however, with a little coaxing, persuaded the man to let him put his head in; but those who were inside, having received their lesson, threw ashes in his face, and nearly blinded him. after this, seeing they were determined on the point, i desired that no further attempt should be made to ascertain what was really going on inside the wigwam. we sailed the next day ( th), not without some apprehension that the adelaide might meet this large concourse of indians before they separated; as port gallant was a place rarely passed by vessels without stopping, and the natives being all housed behind a point of land, could not be seen until too late. we were abreast of cape froward at noon; in the evening we anchored in french bay, and next day ( th) reached port famine. as i purposed remaining until the adelaide should arrive, the tents were set up, the boats landed for repair, and the transit instrument was set up, in the hope that a comet { } might be visible, which we had seen in our passage from concepcion to the strait; but the weather was at first too cloudy, and afterwards the comet itself was too faint to be discerned.[ ] on the st, nine canoes arrived in the bay, containing a large party of fuegians, principally those who frequent the magdalen channel, and probably the sea-coast. they had generally shown themselves disposed to be mischievous, and i determined upon preventing their encamping near us; for their presence would greatly impede our watering and wooding parties, by distracting the attention of the people. i, therefore, went to meet them at the watering-place, under point st. anna, where they had landed, near one of our boats which was on the beach. among them we only recognised three who had visited us before, and those three were brought to our remembrance by their former misconduct. i had always made it a rule to treat them kindly, with the view of obtaining their good-will; but i found it was the wrong way to gain their respect, for it only made them expect more from me, the consequence of which was, that when we separated, neither party was pleased with the other. i used on this occasion a more dictatorial tone than i had hitherto done; for, seeing several with slings in their hands, and a collection of large, round pebbles wrapped up in the corner of their mantles, i desired them to throw the stones away, which they did not hesitate to do. the indians were now all landed, and evidently presuming upon their numerical strength, upwards of eighty being assembled, began to make themselves very familiar. i thought it best to check their advances, by desiring them not to visit the side of the bay where our tents stood, but to go round point st. anna, to an adjoining cove. they seemed to understand me perfectly, and soon afterwards embarked, while i returned on board. the natives, however, landed again, in the middle of the bay, at the north side, and there encamped. next morning, the men of the tribe visited our tents, but found them surrounded by a rope i had caused to be fixed, { } and which they were not permitted to pass. at noon, after observing the sun's transit, i went to the barrier, and while the people were at dinner, endeavoured to amuse our visitors, who were from fifteen to twenty in number, by showing them several trifles; among the rest, a pocket set of coloured glasses, belonging to the transit. they looked through them at the sun, but handled them rather roughly, and broke the frame; upon which i expressed my anger, and turned them away. soon afterwards, however, i walked towards them, and selecting the indian who had offended me, gave him a bunch of beads, and thus restored peace; but desired them, at the same time, to go to their wigwams, which they did. in their way, they mischievously broke down a part of my meridian mark; seeing which, i sent a carpenter, attended by a marine, to repair it, and went myself to inspect its being again set up. the natives were collected round it, evidently in expectation of my being angry, and awaited my approach. upon my coming near, i showed them that i was much displeased, and ordered them into their canoes; when one of the party, muttering a few words, picked up a stone from the ground, and was fixing it in his sling, when i took the marine's musket, and presented it at him, upon which the whole took to their heels; the principal offender and another ran along the beach, and the rest to their canoes. i could not resist the opportunity of letting them know we were prepared for them, by firing over the heads of the two who were running near the water. the report of the musket attracted the attention of lieutenant mitchell, who was on board on the look-out, expecting some fracas would, sooner or later, take place; and seeing four or five canoes paddling across, and the two indians running along the beach, he manned a boat, and pulled towards the canoes, which tried to evade him, and stones were thrown at him as he approached. a musket fired over their heads, soon quieted them, when he pulled round their canoes, to show them they were in his power, but did not molest them, and then allowed the party to proceed. this affair alarmed the women at the wigwams, and hastily { } gathering up their effects, they hurried into their canoes, and joined the others, who all paddled round point st. anna. the men, however, landed there, and remained on shore, armed with slings, spears, and bows, ready to defend themselves, and, by their gestures, defying us to land. no attention was paid to them, and, after a short time, they went over the hills to the coves on the north side of the point. as we had now openly quarrelled, i thought it better that they should keep at a distance; and therefore, taking two boats, pulled round the point, to tell them to go five miles farther, to rocky bay; but the canoes were already beached, and the women had taken up their quarters. as we approached, the hills echoed with the screams of the women and the shouts of the men; all of whom, stark naked, armed, and daubed with white paint, their heads being stuck full of white feathers, hastened down to the point of the bay. the place, from its nature, offered a good defence, as the beach was lined by large rocks, behind which they could conceal themselves from our view, and yet assail us with stones. when within a few yards of the beach, we held a parley--the object of which was, that they should go farther to the northward; to this they vociferously replied, by desiring us to leave them. seeing there was no chance of enforcing our demand, without shedding blood, i ordered the boats away; and on getting about a musket-shot from the beach, one of the fuegians threw a stone, which fell close to us. in an instant, every one of them was concealed behind the rocks; but we returned their fire, and another large stone fell within two feet of the boat. a second musket was fired, and another stone was returned, with equal precision. after the interchange of a few more stones for bullets, they ceased throwing them, and we returned on board. it was very unlikely that any of our shot took effect; for we were at a long distance, and could only see their heads above the rocks. fortunately, none of the stones struck us, for they were large enough to have caused a severe bruise. it is astonishing how very correctly they throw them, and to what a distance. when the first stone fell close to us, we all thought ourselves out of musket-shot. { } the next morning, five or six natives were seen crouching down among high grass, on the hill over our watering-well, waiting for the people to go for water; probably with the intention of assailing them, for it appeared afterwards that their slings and bows were in readiness. to show them they were not out of our reach, i caused a six-pound shot to be fired over their heads, which, as it went high above them, made no impression. the gun was then pointed lower, and another ineffectual shot fired. a third, however, fell close to them, when they jumped up, shook their mantles in the air, with the most violent gestures, and, apparently in a furious rage, scampered off; but the last man, before he disappeared, threw an immense stone, which did not reach one quarter of the distance. we saw nothing more of the natives until the evening, when lieutenant mitchell, who went to look for them, found they had moved away to rocky bay, where they had encamped on the open beach. the next day, i sent him to endeavour to make peace, which he very easily effected, by the interchange of a few trifles. after this we had much bad weather, during which most of the indians kept close to their wigwams; but a few occasionally communicated with our watering party, quite peaceably, as if nothing had happened. a day or two after, the weather improved, and the fuegians dispersed, probably for want of food, some going to the northward, but the greater part along shore to the southward. these people pointed upwards to the sky, when they were going away, repeating the word 'pecheray.' this was our last interview with the wretched fuegians. naturally petulant and quarrelsome, they are also ever intent upon mischief; the fear of punishment alone restraining them. weakly-manned vessels passing through this strait should always avoid them, if they are numerous; for unless they are given what they want, they try to steal it, and any consequent punishment probably brings on a quarrel. their conduct, and servile bearing, at our first seeing them, gave them an appearance of being timid and inactive; while, in reality, they { } are the very reverse. had we attempted to land on the last occasion, i do not think we should have effected our object, without receiving some severe contusions from their stones, which they sling with such extraordinary precision and force: so much so, that i consider the sling, in their dexterous hands, to be equal to a musket in ours. indeed, with many of us, a native would have had the advantage. it has been too much the practice, when obliged to fire upon them, to fire over their heads; by which proceeding the savages are led to consider our weapons as so uncertain in their effect, that they become much depreciated in their estimation. it would be almost preferable to inflict a slight wound, in order to show the nature of our arms, and as a warning against further hostilities. when the uxbridge, sealer, was at anchor in a harbour in the magdalen channel, some indians, who were on board, angry at being ordered out of the vessel at sunset, threw stones at the person who was walking the deck, as they returned to the shore. several muskets were fired over their heads, at which they expressed neither fear nor concern; but paddled leisurely away, and the next morning came off again to the vessel, as if nothing had happened. at port famine, duclos guyot had a skirmish with natives, the particulars of which are described in dom pernetty's history (ii. ). three of the indians were killed, and three of the french were severely wounded. it may be here remarked, that the chief's name, according to m. duclos guyot, was 'pach-a-chui,' which is not unlike 'pecheray;' the women were called 'cap, cap,' probably a mistake for 'cab, cab;' which evidently means 'no, no!' for it was an expression we frequently used, and was never misunderstood. their cunning is sufficiently proved by the theft of the adelaide's boat, in st. simon's sound (page ). the absence of the fuegians permitted us to move about a little; and among other places, we visited their late encampment at rocky bay, our approach to which was offensively indicated by a most sickening smell. on our way, i found two fossils; one was very interesting, bearing the appearance of a { } large orthoceratite:[ ] the other was a venus. from rocky point we descried a strange sail, which, by her movements, we thought must be the beagle: i returned, therefore, and sent lieutenant mitchell out to her. she arrived in the evening, but proved to be a ship belonging to the hudson bay company, called the dryad, bound to the columbia river, and last from the falkland islands. she came to wait for mr. low, of the adeona, who had promised to pilot her through the magdalen channel. the adeona arrived on the d of may; and the following day, to our great joy, the adelaide hove in sight: and being becalmed, was towed to an anchorage. the result of her cruise proved to be very interesting, although no communication had been discovered between the 'ancon sin salida,' and the skyring water. the only loss they had sustained was, however, a severe one; mr. alexander millar having died of inflammation in the bowels. the death of this promising young man threw a damp over the happiness we felt at meeting again, after having so nearly completed this long and tedious voyage. we had, for some days, been getting ready for sea, and now hastened to complete our preparations. the dryad, after receiving some assistance from us, sailed in company with the adeona, and passed out to the pacific, by going through the magdalen channel. the day afterwards we took our final departure--crossed the shoal that extends off magdalena island, in five fathoms, sailed on rapidly, and passed gregory bay at noon. seeing us approach, a large party of patagonians, at least a hundred in number, assembled at the usual place of communication; but as both wind and tide were in our favour, and we could derive no novel information from them, we continued on our course. the indians were probably much mortified and disappointed; but all on board were delighted by avoiding the anticipated delay. we showed our colours to them, but i dare say our friend, maria, was not very well pleased with my want of courtesy, in passing by so old an acquaintance { } without a salutation; or, what she coveted much more, such presents as she had always received when we anchored. just before entering the first narrow, we passed through a furious 'tide-race,' which broke over the adelaide, and not a little impeded her progress. no accident, however, was the consequence; and a rapid tide, running at the least nine knots an hour, swept us through the narrow, and round the reef off cape orange: after which we proceeded rapidly, and rounded cape virgins at ten p.m., not a little elated by leaving behind us, with no expectation of ever seeing it again, the famous strait of magalhaens. our voyage to monte video was rather long; but we delayed there only to water the ship, in the usual place, off cape jesu maria, and then proceeded to rio de janeiro, where we awaited the arrival of the beagle. our anxiety for her safety, during so hazardous a survey as that of the sea-coasts of tierra del fuego, was soon removed, by hearing that she had touched at monte video; and, on the d of august, our consort was seen entering the harbour; when we were delighted by finding all well on board, and the little vessel quite ready for sea, having refitted on her passage. * * * * * { } chapter xviii. adelaide's last cruise--port otway--san quintin--marine islands--unknown river or passage--san tadeo--isthmus of ofqui--san rafael--sufferings and route of the wager's party--channel's mouth--byron--cheap--elliott-- hamilton--campbell--indian cacique--passage of the desecho--osorio-- xavier island--jesuit sound--kirke's report--night tides--guaianeco islands--site of the wager's wreck--bulkeley and cummings--speedwell bay--indigenous wild potato--mesier channel--fatal bay--death of mr. millar--fallos channel--lieutenant skyring's illness--english narrow-- fish--wigwams--indians--level bay--brazo ancho--eyre sound--seal-- icebergs--walker bay--nature of the country--habits of the natives-- scarcity of population. i will now relate the principal incidents of the adelaide's last cruise. the following pages contain extracts from lieutenant skyring's journal, and also notices obtained from other sources. the adelaide sailed from chilóe on the th of december , made cape tres montes on the th, and anchored in port otway the same evening. of this place lieutenant skyring writes: "good anchorage, wood, water, and shell-fish (such as muscles and clams), port otway affords: but no more. excepting in one or two sandy bights, a landing is hardly to be effected; walking along shore is impossible, and it is scarcely practicable to enter the country, the land being so thickly wooded, from the summits of the hills down to the water-side. no soil is to be discovered; the shrubs, and even the trees, which are of large growth, rise out of moss, or decomposed vegetable substances. the climate is very wet; none but amphibious animals were seen, among which hair-seals were numerous. there were very few birds, excepting turkey buzzards; and not a trace of human beings; indeed, i do not believe indians ever go there--(y) they rarely leave the direct channels; as a proof { } of which, some articles left by the beagle, in a conspicuous place, were found by us untouched." during the adelaide's stay at port otway, the openings on the east side of hoppner sound were explored, yet they proved to be only small inlets. mr. kirke examined some, which appeared to communicate with san quintin sound; but found them to be merely channels dividing the group of the marine islands,[ ] excepting the most southern, which is the entrance of newman inlet, a deep bight, without anchorage, but abounding with hair-seal. from byron's narrative it would appear, that there is a channel somewhere hereabouts communicating with the gulf of san rafael, to the east of the peninsula of tres montes; for the indian guide wanted to conduct the wager's barge through it, but was prevented by the strength of the current. the adelaide sailed from port otway on the th, and the same evening reached san quintin sound, anchoring opposite an opening northward of dead-tree island, that proved to be the mouth of the river san tadeo, by which byron and his unfortunate companions effected their escape to chilóe. the sufferings of this party, which are so affectingly described in byron's narrative of the loss of the wager, made so deep an impression on our minds, that i thought it not irrelevant to the object of this voyage to endeavour to trace their steps. among the numerous incidents that occurred to them, the passage of the 'desecho,' or carrying-place over the isthmus of ofqui, is, from all the circumstances connected with it, one of the most interesting. it may be remembered, that, upon the departure of captain cheap, and his shipwrecked crew, from the place of the wreck (byron's narrative, p. ), they proceeded round the shores of the gulf of peñas, with an intention of tracing the coast of chilóe. they first attempted to steer for cape tres montes, which headland they had seen, in one of the intervals of fair weather, from the summit of mount misery, and which appeared to be twenty or thirty leagues distant. the wind, { } however, freshened to a gale, and they were obliged to run before it, and throw all their provisions overboard to lighten the boat. at night they took refuge in a small opening, which led to a secure harbour, and next day advanced a little farther, till they reached some small islands, where they were detained three or four days by bad weather. after leaving that place, they found an opening, into which they rowed, flattering themselves it would prove to be a passage; but, being disappointed, they were obliged to return. this was probably the inlet, called 'channel's mouth.' xavier island was the next place they went to, named by them montrose island. byron describes this island so exactly, that there cannot be the least doubt of its identity. "the next morning," he says, "being calm, we rowed out; but as soon as clear of the island, we found a great swell from the westward: we rowed to the bottom of a very large bay, which was to northward of us, the land very low, and we were in hopes of finding some inlet through, but did not; so kept along shore to the westward. this part, which i take to be fifty leagues from wager island, is the very bottom of the large bay it lies in. here was the only passage to be found, which (if we could by any means have got information of it) would have saved us much fruitless labour. of this passage i shall have occasion to say more hereafter."--byron's nar. p. . this is evidently san quintin sound. they proceeded to the westward and northward, entered a larger bay (holloway sound), and discovered another headland at a great distance to the westward (cape tres montes), which they reached with much difficulty; but being unable to get round it, and losing the boat that accompanied them, besides being obliged to leave four of the marines behind, they became quite disheartened, and returned to wager island, to linger out their miserable lives, without the least prospect of again seeing home. this expedition occupied two months, during which they lived principally upon sea-weed, called 'tangle;' but sometimes passed whole days without eating anything at all. while they { } were absent, some indians had visited the wreck; and, about a fortnight after their return, they arrived a second time, in two canoes. among them was an indian cacique of the chonos tribe, who live in the neighbourhood of chilóe. it was supposed that a report of the wreck had reached that place; and that this cacique, and another indian, had come to derive some advantage from it. as the cacique spoke spanish, the surgeon, mr. elliot, made himself so far understood, as to let him know that they wished to reach some of the spanish settlements; and eventually bargained to give him the barge, and every thing in it, if he would conduct them to chilóe. the party consisted of captain cheap; mr. elliot, the surgeon; mr. campbell, mr. hamilton, and mr. byron, midshipmen; and eight men, besides the two indians; in all fifteen. the first night they slept on an island, and the next laid upon their oars, to the westward of montrose island, not being able to land. they then pulled, "to the bottom of a great bay, where the indian guide had left his family, a wife and two children." there they staid two or three days; after which, taking on board the family, they proceeded to a river, "the stream of which," byron says, "was so rapid, that after our utmost efforts, from morning to evening, we gained little upon the current; and, at last, were obliged to desist from our attempts, and return." this was probably a river, or channel, to the westward of san quintin sound, which eluded our search; and, if so, it must communicate with channels north-eastward of the peninsula of tres montes. the indians, anxious to get the barge to the chonos, had no other way to effect their purpose; for the usual route was over the 'desecho;' to pass which, it was necessary to take a boat or canoe to pieces, and carry her, piecemeal, over a high mountain. after losing the barge, they crossed the peninsula of forelius, by hauling canoes over a narrow neck of land, and reached the water of san quintin sound; where they met another native family, with whom they proceeded to the river san tadeo, "up which they rowed four or five leagues; and then { } took to a branch of it that ran first to the eastward, and then to the northward." there they landed, took the canoes to pieces, and carried them over the isthmus; then putting them together again, re-embarked, and proceeded through the chonos archipelago to chilóe. when at chilóe, i saw an old man, pedro osorio, who had been in two of the last missionary voyages (in and ), to the guaineco islands; where the wager was wrecked. he related to me the particulars of these voyages, and gave me an account of the 'desecho,' over which the missionaries transported their piraguas. he also remembered byron and his companions; and described them by the following names:--don david (captain david cheap); don juan (john byron); hamerton (hamilton); and plasta. the name plasta is not once mentioned in byron's narrative; but on referring to bulkeley's and cumming's account, one plastow is described as the captain's servant; and perhaps he was one of the number who remained with captain cheap.(z) pedro osorio must have been upwards of ninety years of age, in .(a) a detailed account of these voyages is given in agüeros's historical description of the province of chilóe, p. . captain stokes's 'dead-tree island,' in the entrance of san estevan gulf, is near the 'cirujano island' (surgeon island) of those voyages. pedro osorio told me that it was so called, because the surgeon of the wager died there. from byron's narrative it would appear, that the surgeon died, and was buried, just before they embarked to cross the sound.--see byron, p. . as the examination of the river san tadeo, and the discovery of the 'desecho,' formed a part of lieutenant skyring's instructions, he proceeded up it, in a whale-boat, accompanied by mr. kirke. the entrance of the river is blocked up by a bar of sand and stones, which, at low spring-tide, must be nearly dry; and a heavy swell breaks upon its whole length, joining the surf of the beach, on each side; so that there is { } no deep channel; and, except in very fine weather, an attempt to cross is hazardous. at its mouth, the breadth is about a quarter of a mile, but within the entrance it increases for a short distance: at three miles up, it is three hundred yards, and thence gradually diminishes. the shores are a mixture of clay and sand; and the country, on both sides, is low and marshy, abounding with brant-geese, ducks, teal, and snipe. the land, near the mouth of the river, is studded with dead trees (a species of pine, about twenty feet high), which appear to have been killed by the sea overflowing the banks;(b) as it does at high-water for several miles. three miles from the entrance this river divides into two branches, one leading n.w., and the other eastward. considering the latter, from byron's description, to be the proper course, lieutenant skyring followed it. at nine miles from the mouth, a stream was found falling into the river from the north, in every respect differing from the principal stream; the water being fresh, dark, and clear, and the current constantly running down, uninfluenced by the tide; while the water of the river was brackish and turbid, and affected by the ebbing and flowing of the tide, although, at that distance, its effect was much diminished. the shores of the black river, as this new stream was called, are thickly wooded, which is not the case with the principal stream. they had entered it about a hundred yards before they discovered that they had left the main river; but being desirous of proceeding, they followed its windings, the next day, for three leagues; during the greater part of which distance, they found a strong current against them, and were also much impeded by fallen trees lying in the bed of the river. in many parts they dragged their boat along by the help of overhanging branches, or projecting roots; and the width, generally, was not more than fifty yards. as no piragua could pass there, lieutenant skyring felt assured that he was not in the right stream; therefore, returning to the main river, he proceeded { } up it during the next two days. at two miles above the junction, the tide ceased to be felt; and a rapid current met them, which increased in strength until they were unable to stem it; and as they were prevented from tracking the boats, by trees growing on the banks, they could ascend no farther. this place was not more than eleven miles from the sea; although, from the tortuous course of the stream, they had gone double that distance, and were about two miles from the foot of a mountain, whence the river descends. the mountain was very high, and the vallies, or ravines, were filled with glaciers. from byron's description, it seems probable that lieutenant skyring was near the carrying place; but as further delay could answer no good end, he very prudently returned, looking carefully about, as he proceeded, for some signs of a landing-place, but without success. he re-crossed the bar, reached the adelaide without accident, and the next day went on in her to xavier island. on the way they passed dead-tree island; where, observing seal on the rocks, a boat was sent ashore, and her crew succeeded in killing a few sea-elephants, twenty feet long. favoured with fine weather, they were enabled to land on the north side of xavier island, to improve the former survey; and in the evening anchored in xavier bay, where they remained four days; during which, jesuit sound was explored, and found to terminate in two narrow inlets. being a leewardly opening, it is unfit for any vessel to enter. the name jesuit sound, and those of the two inlets at the bottom, benito and julian, are memorials of the missionaries, who, in the expedition of , entered and explored it.[ ] (agüeros, p. .) the adelaide anchored the next night in ygnacio bay, at the south end of xavier island, which lieutenant skyring { } recommends for small vessels; the depth of water being six or eight fathoms, and the anchorage well sheltered from the wind. on the st they anchored under the hazard islands, in the channel's mouth: "preparatory," writes lieutenant skyring, "to commencing new work with the new year; for since entering the gulf, except while examining the san tadeo, we had followed the beagle's track, and only completed what she left unfinished; but from this place all would be new. this was the last wild anchorage she had taken; and although now fixed in the best situation, and in the height of summer, we found our position almost as dangerous as hers. "early on the st of january , mr. kirke went in a whale-boat to examine the openings, at the mouth of which we had anchored: he returned on the th, having traced to the end, all which had the least appearance of being channels. the two largest, the south and the east, penetrated into the cordillera for thirty miles. all these inlets are narrow but deep arms of the sea, running between ranges of very steep hills; their sides affording not the least shelter, even for a boat, and apparently deserted; for neither seal, nor birds of any kind were seen, nor were there even muscles on the rocks." mr. kirke, in his report, says: "the three northernmost of the inlets of the channel's mouth end with high land on each side, and low sandy beaches at the head, beyond which there rises a ridge of high mountains, about two miles from the beach. the s.e. inlets end in rivers rushing down from the mountains, and a rocky shore: not the smallest shelter could i find, even for the boat. two days and nights i was forced to keep her hauled up on a rock, just above high-water mark, in a strong gale, while the williwaws were so violent, that we were all obliged to add our weight to that of the boat, to prevent her from being blown off: and twice we were washed out of our resting-places, on the beach, by the night tide rising about fifteen or sixteen inches above that of the day." this opening in the coast is noticed by the pilot machado (agüeros, p. ); but by whom the name of channel's mouth was given, does not appear. it is by no means descriptive of { } what it has been proved to be; but as lieutenant skyring thought that a change in the name would not answer any good purpose, he very properly left it unaltered. the day after mr. kirke returned, very bad weather set in, and detained the adelaide nine days, during which nothing could be done, out of the vessel. january th, lieutenant skyring writes, "with moderate weather, and an easterly wind, we left the channel's mouth, and, standing for the guaianeco islands, passed those of ayautau (between which and the mainland are several rocky reefs, though the passage seems to be sufficiently clear for any vessel); and skirting tarn bay, we distinguished the mesier channel, and could see many leagues down it. the entrance of the mesier channel is very remarkable, from having two high and singular peaks on the islands at its mouth: the northernmost very much resembling (although higher than) nelson's monument, near the strait; and the other, more to the southward, and much higher, resembling a church with a cupola, instead of a spire. both are easily made out from the westward, at a distance of twenty or thirty miles. "we reached the guaianeco islands in the afternoon. the two largest are divided by a narrow passage, on the west side of which we anchored, in ten fathoms, in a spacious and secure haven, which proved to be speedwell bay of bulkeley and cummings; the boats were employed next day, and, while the examination of the coast was pursued, i sought to ascertain the exact spot of the wreck of the wager, but never could discover it: not a fragment of that ill-fated vessel was seen in any of our excursions. a few pieces of the boat lost by the beagle last year were picked up; but nothing more that could tend to denote the misfortunes which have occurred near these islands. "from the description of the wager's wreck, in bulkeley and cummings, there seems to be little doubt of the place being at the n.w. end of the eastern guaianeco island, near my rundle's passage, which is the place so often mentioned in their account as the 'lagoon.' { } "being well supplied with powder and small shot, the people provided themselves plentifully, during our stay at speedwell bay, with a variety of wild-fowl, namely, geese, ducks, redbeaks, shags, and the ibis; curlew, snipe, plover, and moorhens, were also met with, and fish were observed in shoals near the vessel, but, as we had no seine, they escaped. with hooks and lines our fishermen had no luck; the baits were no sooner at the bottom, than they were taken away, and for a day or two the cause of their loss was unknown; but being accidentally ascertained, small trap-nets were made, and great numbers of crabs were taken, about a pound each in weight. "in almost every bay we noticed the potato, growing among wild celery, close above high-water mark: but in so unfavourable a situation, choked by other vegetables, its produce was very small. "the trees are not of large growth in these islands, neither is the land thickly wooded; but above the beach, and almost round the coast, there is a breast-work of jungle and underwood, from fifty to one hundred yards broad, and nearly impenetrable; beyond which is a great extent of clear, but low and swampy ground. "on the th, we left this port, and ran to the s.e., through what i have named rundle's passage. this small channel, where the islands approach each other, is about a quarter of a mile wide, perfectly clear in the whole extent, and also at its southern entrance; but at the northern there are many detached rocks, which are obstacles to entering speedwell bay, except in daylight. rounding the islets, at the s.e. extreme of byron islands, we anchored in muscle bay, which lies on the northern side: by no means a secure place,--but the only one that could be found, by the boats, after many hours' search. i selected this situation in order that the entrance to the fallos channel, and the whole outline of these islands, might be laid down, and properly connected with the land of port barbara; which was thoroughly executed by mr. kirke and mr. millar, although delayed in the completion of their { } work until the st of february.(c) on that day we sailed, and entered the mesier channel, anchoring in a small open bay, the only stopping-place we could perceive; which, from the loss we sustained shortly after our arrival, was called fatal bay. it is insecure, and the anchorage ground confined: the only convenience was, that wood and fresh-water were near. during our stay we had much rain, which retarded us. mr. kirke went away in a boat, whenever the weather permitted, and, on the th, we sailed for an anchorage, about ten miles to the southward, where he had previously been; but a sad event happened before our departure. "on the afternoon of the d, we had the misfortune to lose mr. alexander millar, who died in consequence of a severe attack of inflammation of the bowels, which carried him off, after an illness of only three days. "on thursday afternoon he was buried, close to the shore, near the anchorage, and just within the edge of the wood. "that our progress had been so slow during the last month, was a great disappointment; but we had had many causes of detention. all the early part of january the weather was stormy: eighteen days we were anchored within the channel's mouth; yet during two only could our boats leave the vessel. "among the guaianeco islands we had moderate weather, but also much wet: still the chief cause of our delay, i fear, was my own illness. from the beginning of january, i had been confined to my bed, with a tedious and obstinate disease; and from that time most of the angles were taken, and all the observations were made, by mr. kirke, who was ever exceedingly willing and indefatigable. after the loss of mr. millar, not only almost the whole duty of surveying fell upon him, but much of the duty of the vessel. "at noon this day ( th), we moored in island harbour, a small but excellent landlocked anchorage, with good holding { } ground, and abundance of wood and water. the two following days, mr. kirke was away examining the coast; the third we were confined by bad weather; and, indeed, during our whole continuance at this place, we had very much rain. "we sailed early on the th from island harbour, and by night reached waterfall bay, an anchorage about fifteen miles to the southward: the wind all day was light, and the tide, the greater part of the time, against us; so that, with every exertion, we scarcely gained anchoring ground before it was quite dark: the strength of the tide was upwards of a mile an hour, at neap-tides: the ebb and flood were of equal duration, the former running to the s.b.e., the latter n.b.w. thirty miles within the mesier channel it is as wide as at the entrance, and for several miles to the southward appears clear: so that no one is liable thus far to mistake its course. "the land on the west side appears to be a number of large islands, with here and there wide passages leading to the s.w., rendering it probable that there are many (although not direct) communications between the mesier and the fallos channels. our anchorages were chiefly on the eastern shore, that the openings on that side might be more readily examined; but all which appeared to run far inland were found to be merely narrow inlets, or sounds ending abruptly. on each side the land is hilly, but not high; and this distinguishes the mesier channel from many others, whose shores for miles are formed by ranges of steep-sided mountains. here, in many places, there is much low land, which is generally thickly wooded, yet with no greater variety of trees than is to met with in the strait of magalhaens. the beech, birch, pine, or cypress, winter's-bark, and a kind of red-wood, form the forests; but none were observed that could be at all serviceable for the larger spars of a vessel. "( th). left waterfall bay, and with a n.w. breeze passed middle island, entered lion bay, and moored in white kelp cove. the coast survey was soon finished, but we were confined at our anchors here four days; not by bad, but by extraordinarily fine weather. during such intervals, so very rare { } in these regions, the wind, if there is any, is almost always southerly, and light. "at every anchorage we had found indian wigwams, but as yet had not met with any natives. here we took a great number of fish; and, among them, one like the ling, found on the east coast of patagonia, off cape fairweather, but of smaller size, for the largest did not weigh more than two pounds. very few water-fowl were seen; steamers and shags were the only ones shot; but in the woods we noticed king-fishers, woodpeckers, barking-birds, parroquets, and humming-birds. "( st.) with a light northerly wind we left this cove, and about ten miles to the southward the appearance of the channel changed greatly. instead of sailing through unconnected land, of moderate height, we were confined between two mountainous ridges.[ ] at noon we were obliged to anchor in halt bay, no opening appearing to the right or left, and being apparently embayed. on the west side, the high land was skirted by several low islands, among which our only way of proceeding seemed to lie. this day and the next mr. kirke was away, seeking a passage; and having found one, and noticed the tides, we sailed through on the d, and gave it the name of the english narrow. it is long and intricate, chiefly formed by islands; and in three places, where the shores approach each other, the distance across is less than four hundred yards, yet with a fair wind and slack tide, there is no hazard in passing. in the afternoon, we moored in ten or twelve fathoms in level bay, a spacious anchorage near the southern entrance of the narrow; the bottom mud and sand, and the depth of water equal throughout. mr. kirke, who was among the islands opposite this bay, saw numerous shoals { } of fish in many of the bights; with a seine, therefore, an abundant supply might be obtained. "the woodland eastward of our anchorage had very recently been on fire, and the conflagration must have been extensive, and very destructive; for throughout a space of ten or twelve miles along shore, all the trees had been consumed, the dead trunks of the larger ones alone remaining. we left level bay on the morning of the th, and passed a canoe full of indians; but they pulled to the shore, and ran into the woods; therefore, since they avoided us, and we had a fair wind, i did not seek their acquaintance. we had noticed traces of them in the neighbourhood of the narrow, on each side of which many wigwams, that had been recently occupied, were seen. "for the next ten or twelve miles we went through a fine reach, whose shores were low, and whose channel was interspersed with several islands, affording probably excellent anchorages; but to the southward the hills became more steep, and, except in the ravines, were destitute of vegetation. at four or five leagues to the e.s.e., beyond the english narrow, an opening, apparently a channel, presented itself, and the reach in which we were sailing seemed to end. doubtful which course to follow, we anchored the vessel in rocky bight, and despatched the boats to examine both passages. that to the e.s.e. was found to run direct nearly ten miles, and to communicate with a fine clear channel, trending to the s.s.w., which proved afterwards to be the wide channel (brazo ancho) of sarmiento. at the junction, a considerable arm extended to the n.n.e., apparently a continuation of the wide channel. "on mr. kirke's return from examining the passage in which we were sailing, i learnt that the same width continued about five miles southward of our present anchorage, and that there the shores approached closely, forming the intricate passage called rowlett narrow; which, after a s.e. course of many miles, also joins wide channel. the island formed by the two channels was named saumarez island, in honour of the gallant admiral. "it rained hard and blew strongly the whole day, which { } prevented our moving; but on the th we shifted our anchorage to fury cove, in wide channel. "mr. kirke, on the th, examined an opening to the northward, called sir george eyre sound, which terminates in a wide fresh-water river, running through low land from a large glacier. the low grounds extend two or three miles from it, and then the land becomes high. behind the glacier there is a ridge of high mountains, covered with snow, which we had seen twice before; first, from near white kelp cove, and again from halt bay. in the sound, we saw three whales, and being the first we had observed, since leaving the gulf of peñas, they inclined us to think we were near the gulf of trinidad. a great number of fur seal, besides two of their rookeries, or breeding-places, were also seen. several icebergs were floating out of the sound, some of which were dark-coloured; and upon one i found a quantity of rock that had come down with it from the mountains. there was serpentine and granite, specimens of which were collected, and given to captain king. one of the bergs, which was large, was aground. it was nearly seven fathoms above the water, and bottom could not be found by sounding round it with twenty-one fathoms of line. "fury cove is diminutive; there is not more than sufficient space for two small vessels; but the ground is good, and in every other respect it is a secure haven. we sailed on the d of march with the expectation of soon recognizing some known points in the gulf of trinidad; but as the wind failed, we were obliged to anchor for the night in sandy bay, in eight fathoms. "as we proceeded to the southward, the appearance of the country gradually changed: the mountains seemed more barren, the trees and shrubs more stunted, the land rose more suddenly, and the shores of the channel became bolder, and presented an uniform rocky line of coast. "( th.) we again steered southward, and at noon an opening appearing on the east side, which ran several miles inland, i sought an adjacent anchorage, in order that it might be explored. our boats were examining the shore all day, and { } sounding in the coves, but no fit spot was found; therefore we were forced to stop in an ill-sheltered nook, termed small craft bight, which just served us (having fair weather) as a resting-place until morning ( th), when we set out again to find a better anchorage; for i still desired to ascertain whether the opening to the eastward was a sound or a channel. in our course to the southward we traced both shores in search of a stopping-place; but there was neither bight nor cove where it was possible to anchor, until we arrived at open bay, which lies near the entrance of wide channel. even this was such a very insecure place, that although i remained the next day, to examine the neighbouring coast, it was far too exposed an anchorage for the vessel to continue in while the boats were away at a distance. "disappointed by not finding a place for the schooner near the opening i wished to explore, i was yet averse to leaving it unexamined, having traced every inlet to its extremity for upwards of two hundred miles along the continent. i wished to continue so sure a mode of proceeding; and although i felt certain that this opening terminated like the rest, and mr. kirke held the same opinion, i would gladly have prevented any doubt by following its course in the boats, could we have gained a safe anchorage for the vessel. the nearest harbour that could be found was thirty miles from the opening, and it would have detained us too long to send the boats such a distance; so considering that we had yet a great extent of coast to examine; that my state of health did not permit me to undertake any very exposed or arduous service; and that mr. kirke was the only person to whom such duty could be entrusted, i was induced to relinquish our former practice of exploring every opening to its end. "we left open bay on the th, and soon entered concepcion strait, keeping along the east shore, and sending a boat, at every opening, to seek a situation for the vessel. in the afternoon, a tolerably sheltered bay was found, at the south end of the north canning island, open only from s.e. to s.w.; but those winds being frequent and violent, and the { } bay exposed to a long reach of sea from that quarter, it cannot be accounted a safe harbour; yet it was very far preferable to many places in which we had been obliged to anchor. "this bay (portland bay) is on the north side of an opening called by sarmiento 'canal de tres cerros,' and from the broken state of the interior high land, one is led to imagine a channel might be found there. his conclusion, i have no doubt, was drawn from this appearance, since the view down the opening is very limited, and, at the distance of three or four miles within the entrance, is interrupted by several small islands. mr. kirke passed between those islets, and followed an opening to the s.e., for upwards of eight leagues. on his return, he reported that he had found a fine channel, of which the principal entrance was the opening of sarmiento's 'canal san andres.' "on the th, in full anticipation of making some interesting discovery, we sailed into the 'canal san andres,' anchoring in the afternoon in expectation bay, where we remained until the th. during that time, mr. kirke was employed examining the different openings, and tracing this supposed channel farther. at his return, he said that he had found a termination to every opening, even to that in which we then were, which he had previously thought to be a channel. like the rest, it extended only to the base of the snowy cordillera, and then was suddenly closed by immense glaciers. "this information caused great disappointment, as all hope of passing through the cordillera, thus far northward, was now given up; and i was fearful we should be delayed many more days before we could extricate ourselves from this (as we then supposed) false channel. we were many miles within the entrance; in that distance there were no anchorages, and the wind being generally from the westward, i anticipated much labour before we could effect our return; but the very next day we were so fortunate as to have a slant of fair wind, by which we cleared this opening, and a second time entered concepcion strait. knowing, by our former survey, that there was no anchorage along the coast to the southward of cape san andres before reaching guard bay, i ran over to madre { } de dios, and brought up in walker bay. fortunate we were, too; for before midnight the weather became so stormy as to oblige us to strike the topmasts and yard, let go a second anchor, and veer a long scope of cable. at few places in these channels where we had anchored, could we have veered even half a cable. we remained the following day, and on the st, the weather being moderate, ran for the guia narrow, and having a favourable tide, passed through easily. "it was my wish to have anchored among the islands to the southward of cape charles, since that would have been the most convenient place for the adelaide, while examining the opening beyond cape san antonio; but hauling round the headland into a bay formed by those islands, no soundings could be gained; and not perceiving any bight at all likely to afford shelter, i continued my course for puerto bueno, where sarmiento thought there was good anchorage. in the evening, with the assistance of the boats, we moored in schooner cove, puerto bueno, and the next day, mr. kirke went to examine the opening north of san antonio. "while we remained, a plan was made of this port, which lies five miles s.e. from cape charles and three and a-half from bonduca island. the shore is steep, and without any indenture. to the southward is lear bay, a mile in extent, affording anchorage, but not to be chosen when such an excellent haven as puerto bueno is near. the south extreme of this bay forms the north point of puerto bueno, and a few hundred yards south of that point is rosamond island, which is low and pointed; four hundred yards s.s.e. of this, is a small round islet, bold to on every side; and between this islet and a low point, a quarter of a mile to the s.e., is the widest channel to the anchorage. sarmiento, indeed, most appropriately named it puerto bueno. it has both an inner and an outer port, the depth of water throughout is from nine to six fathoms, and any position in either i consider safe; but excepting that it affords better shelter, it differs in no respect from other anchorages in these regions. wood and water are generally found in abundance near them all: fish may be caught; geese, ducks, shags, and { } steamers may be shot; and shell-fish gathered. the country, also, has the same appearance, and is of a similar nature; for if you force a passage through the woods, it is over fallen trees and moss; if you walk over clear flat ground, the place is found to be a swamp; and if you ascend the hills, it is by climbing over rocks, partially covered with spongy moss. "mr. kirke returned on the th, having found that the opening beyond san antonio led to the n.e., and at ten miles from the cape communicated with that called the canal san andres. "at daylight we left schooner cove, and in passing down sarmiento channel i tried, though unsuccessfully, to reconcile some of his remarks with our own observations. south of san marco and san lucas there are two extensive bays, which we afterwards found communicated with an opening between san mateo and san vicente, separating the greater part of the eastern shore of this channel from the main land. "i wished to anchor near cape san lucas, but around that opening no place could be distinguished likely to afford shelter, the shore in every part being bold, steep, and rocky. a like uniformity of coast presented itself as far as cape san mateo; but on the west side, along both esperanza and vancouver island, lie many bays that are well adapted for vessels. sailing, however, under cape san lucas, we stood for san mateo, and succeeded in anchoring in a small port, formed by weasel island, scarcely large enough, but perfectly safe, when once we were secured. from this place the boats were despatched. an opening east of our present station was to be traced, and this part of sarmiento channel, with the entrance between san mateo and san vicente, was to be laid down. these operations, which in moderately fair weather would not have occupied three days, were not completed before the st, from our being delayed by violent winds, and almost continual rain. we had also had exceedingly bad weather during our stay in puerto bueno, and those employed in the boats had undergone very severe fatigue, and had suffered much from wet and cold. a short distance within the entrance of the { } opening, between cape san mateo and san vincent, it turns suddenly to the south and s.b.e., continues in that direction for nearly thirty miles, washing the base of the cordillera which rises from it precipitously, and is closed by a low isthmus, two miles across, dividing this inlet from stewart bay, and over which mr. kirke passed to take the bearings of several points that he recognised in collingwood strait. "in the prosecution of the survey northward of our anchorage, those passages were discovered which separate so much of the east coast of sarmiento channel from the main land; and the islands thus made known i named after commodore sir edward owen,[ ] the channel of separation being called blanche passage. "one of the boats met with a canoe containing eight indians; this was only the second that had yet been seen during our cruise. "an interview, which two of the schooner's men had with these people, is so characteristic of the habits of the natives who wander in canoes, that i add the account, as given by one of those men: 'when we arrived at the wigwam, there were two women and five children inside, and a dozen dogs near it. at our entrance, the children crept close to one side of the wigwam, behind their mothers, who made signs for us to sit down on the opposite side, which we did. the women, seeing that we were wet, and meant to do them no harm, sent the two eldest children out to gather sticks, and made up a large fire; so we cut some pieces of bread from a loaf which we had, and distributed them. they all appeared to like the bread, particularly the youngest, which was sucking at the breast; for it eat its own slice, besides one we gave its mother. after we had been there about half an hour, and had given them some beads and buttons, a man came in from behind the wigwam, where he had concealed himself when we entered, and sat down beside us. by signs, he asked where our boat was, and how many men there were with us. we told him the men and boat were a little way off, and made signs that we wanted to { } stay all night with him. we then gave him some bread, which he smelt, and afterwards eat. he offered us some sea-elephant blubber, about two inches and a-half thick; we took it, and making signs it was not good, flung it on the fire. as soon as it began to melt, he took it from the fire, put one part in his mouth, and holding the other drew it back again, squeezing out the oil with his teeth, which were nearly shut. he put the same piece on the fire again, and, after an addition to it, too offensive to mention, again sucked it. several more pieces were served the same way, and the women and children partook of them. they drank large draughts of water as soon as they had done eating. as it grew dark at about eight o'clock, the man began to talk to the women about our 'sherroo' or boat, and our men, who he thought were near. they seemed to be alarmed, for the women shortly after left the wigwam, and did not return. they were quite naked. the man took the youngest child in his arms, squatted down with the rest, and making signs that he was going to sleep, stretched himself by the fire, the children lying between him and the side of the wigwam. soon afterwards another man came in, who seemed to be about twenty-two years of age, younger by ten years than the first we saw. he had a piece of platted grass round his head, in the form of a band. after talking some time with his companion, he talked and laughed with us, ate some bread, and would have eaten all we had, if we had not kept it from him. he ate about two pounds of blubber, broiling and squeezing it, as the other had done, and drank three or four pints of water. we had only one case knife, which he was very fond of borrowing now and then, to cut the blubber, pretending that the muscle shells, which he broke for the purpose, were not sharp enough. he examined all our clothes, felt our limbs and breasts, and would have taken our clothes off, if we had let him. he wanted a knife, and was continually feeling about us for one, as we did not let him know that we had only one. he opened a rush basket, and took out several trifles, such as fire-stone,[ ] feathers, spear-heads, a sailor's old mitten, part of { } a guernsey-frock, and other things, some of which he offered for the knife. "'about midnight it rained very hard, and the inside of the wigwam became soaked with wet; so they all roused up, and made a large fire; then ate some blubber, and drank some more water. they always carried a firebrand with them when they went out in the dark to get water, or for any thing else they might want. when they had well warmed themselves they lay down again. the young man lay close to us, and, when he supposed we were asleep, began to search the man who had the knife, but we kept watch and he could not get it. about two hours afterwards he made up the fire, and went out, as we thought, for firewood: but for no other purpose than to take away bushes from the side of the wigwam, that he might have a clear passage for what he intended to do. returning, he took up a piece of blubber, and asked for the knife to cut it. as soon as he had cut a slice, and put it on the fire, he darted through the part of the wigwam, which he had weakened, like an arrow. the other man seemed to be very much vexed, and thinking, perhaps, that we should do some mischief in consequence of the loss of the knife, watched an opportunity, when he thought we were asleep, to take out all the children, and leave us quite by ourselves. about two hours after, he returned, and pulling down dry branches, from the inside of the wigwam, made up a large fire. we had no doubt that the younger man was at hand watching us, and just at daybreak, as we were preparing to start, he jumped into the wigwam with his face streaked almost all over with black, and pretended to be quite a stranger. when we asked for the knife, he would not know what we meant, but took up one of our shoes that lay on the ground, and gave it to us. the band of grass was taken off his head, and his hair was quite loose. there were neither skins, spears, nor arrows in the wigwam, but no doubt they were in the bushes; for when we threatened to take the canoe he jumped into the wood, resting on one knee, with his right hand on the ground; and eyed us sharply till we were out of sight.' { } "the other family seen in the mesier channel we did not communicate with, and it may be remarked that in this passage, although between four and five hundred miles in extent, we did not meet twenty human beings; a strong evidence that these regions are very thinly inhabited, particularly when it is considered that we made no rapid progress, and that our boats traversed, through different channels, at least twice the distance run by the vessel." * * * * * { } chapter xix. sarmiento channel--ancon sin salida--cape earnest--canal of the mountains--termination of the andes--kirke narrow--easter bay-- disappointment bay--obstruction sound--last hope inlet--swans--coots-- deer--river--lagoon--singular eddies--passage of the narrow--arrival at port famine--zoological remarks. "(april st). this morning the weather was very unsettled, squally, and thick: but as no delay could be admitted, when there was a possibility of moving, we left at eight o'clock, and followed the course of sarmiento channel. i have no doubt that a passage exists eastward of point san gaspar, leading to collingwood strait, and forming an island between that point and cape san bartolomé: but with the n.w. wind and bad weather we then had, that bight was too leewardly for us to venture into. "the knowledge of an opening there could be of no great importance, yet had i been able to find an anchorage near cape san bartolomé i would gladly have profited by it, in order to assure myself of the existence of a passage. in hauling round, the appearance of the land favoured my impression; but our chief object being to seek a channel through the high mountains, i stood toward stewart bay, the most southern part examined by the boats. finding i could not anchor there without entering the bight and risking delay, which i was unwilling to do, as i wished to reach whale-boat bay as soon as possible, we proceeded and anchored in the evening in shingle roads, ready for moving the next morning. having, last year, passed along the whole line of coast, from cape earnest to this place, there seemed to me no necessity for a closer examination, for i knew there was no opening within that distance, and i could very little improve what was then laid down on the { } chart. the weather was very unpromising, and at daylight the next morning it blew hard from the n.w., but we weighed and ran to the southward. when in the 'ancon sin salida' of sarmiento the wind suddenly shifted to the s.e., and was so strong that we were quite unable to beat between cape earnest and the northern island of the 'ancon,' but passing round, found anchorage near the east end in a small bay: however, as the wind had moderated, and the canal of the mountains was open to us, on the east side of which there appeared to be several secure bays, we kept under sail, and in the evening anchored in leeward bay, which we at first thought would afford excellent shelter, but on reaching it found we had erred exceedingly. there was no time to look for another, so we moored, and prepared for bad weather, which, as usual, was soon experienced; and we were kept two days without a possibility of moving, or doing any thing to make our situation more secure. we had heavy squalls during the whole time; the wind being generally west or w.n.w., but at times nearly s.w., when more swell was thrown into the bay. "on the th we got clear of this bad and leewardly anchorage, the wind being more to the n.w.; but we had still such very squally weather, with rain, that it was a work of several hours to beat to whale-boat bay, where we moored in the evening, and prepared for examining the coast with our boats, both to the east and west. before leaving leeward bay, a round of angles was taken from high ground north of the anchorage, and it was satisfactory to reflect that the 'ancon sin salida' was traced far more correctly than could be done in our former visit. there was constant rain and squally weather all the morning, and only in the latter part of the day could any work be performed in the boats. on the following morning mr. kirke went to trace the canal of the mountains, and i rejoice to say that i was again able to assist in the boat service, and went to examine some openings. after leaving kirke narrow on the right hand a wide sound appeared, about nine miles in length; and having traversed it, we turned to the east, through a narrow intricate channel (white narrow), { } obstructed by several small islets, and passed suddenly out into a clear, open bay. our prospect here became wholly different to that which for months before we had daily witnessed. north and south of us were deep bays, while to the east, between two points seven or eight miles apart, our view was unobstructed by land, and we were sanguine in hoping that we had discovered an extensive body of water. there was also a considerable change in the appearance of the country, which no less delighted than astonished us; for so gratifying a prospect had not been seen since leaving chilóe. eastward, as i said before, we could perceive no land; to the north-east and south-eastward lay a low flat country, and the hills in the interior were long, level ranges, similar to that near cape gregory, while behind us, in every direction westward, rose high rugged mountains. i fully believed that our course hereafter would be in open water, along the shores of a low country, and that we had taken leave of narrow straits, enclosed by snow-capped mountains: the only difficulty to be now overcome was, i imagined, that of getting the vessel safely through the kirke narrow; which, hazardous as i thought the pass, was preferable to the intricate white narrow, through which we had just passed. such were my expectations; and with so noble a prospect in view, i hastened to look for anchorage for the schooner, which i succeeded in finding at a place named by me easter bay, and returned on board the next day through kirke narrow. mr. kirke employed three days about his work, having traced the inlet, which trended northward from cape grey for nearly eleven leagues. he found that it was bordered on each side by a steep range of mountains, broken here and there by deep ravines, which were filled with frozen snow, and surmounted by extensive glaciers, whence huge avalanches were continually falling. the western side of this canal is formed by the southern termination of the andes. at the northern end are two bays, with sandy beaches, backed by low land, which, however, rises gradually to high peaked mountains, distant about two miles. "early on easter tuesday we left whale-boat bay, and { } proceeded towards the kirke narrow. we had been unvarying in watching and trying the strength of the tides during our stay; but the observations never accorded with those in the narrow, and our calculations this morning, after all the trouble we had taken, were found to be erroneous. on approaching the place we met a stream of tide setting to the s.w. between two and three knots; the wind was light; we sometimes gained ground--at others were forced back by the strength of the tide--and thus kept hovering near the entrance until eleven o'clock; when the tide slackened, and we neared the eastern end, which is by far the narrowest part, and where, i apprehended, every exertion would be required to clear the rocks; but fortunately it was at the moment of slack water--we passed through easily, and our anticipated difficulty vanished. this eastern entrance is narrowed by two islands, which contract the width, at one part, to a hundred and fifty yards. when clear of this passage, point return, point desire, and easter bay were in sight, and we found ourselves in a channel much wider than those to which we had been lately accustomed. to the south was a deep sound, apparently branching in different directions between high land, but our principal object was the low country to the n.e., and through this we were so sanguine as to make sure of finding a passage. in the evening we anchored in easter bay, and moored the schooner in four and six fathoms, over a muddy bottom. "next morning ( th) the boats were prepared for going away to gain a better knowledge of the country around, to find out the best anchorage, and to become acquainted with some of the many advantages that, from the prospect before us, we considered ourselves sure of experiencing. mr. kirke went to examine worsley sound, and he was desired to examine every opening as he proceeded eastward. as soon as he was gone, i set about measuring a base between easter bay and focus island; which, being of moderate height, appeared to be a favourable position for extending the triangulation. this work was soon finished; but i was greatly disappointed, when on the summit of the island, with the view that presented itself { } to the eastward. the low points, before mentioned, beyond which, from easter bay, we could distinguish no land, and between which we expected to make good our course to the s.e., appeared to be connected by a low flat country. an extensive sheet of water was indeed observed to the eastward, yet i could only, from its appearance, conclude that it was a spacious bay. "my attention was next drawn to the southward, in which direction, to the east of woolley peninsula, appeared a wide and deep opening, and this i determined to explore on the morrow; for it was now the only course likely to lead us to fitz roy passage, where it became every day more indispensable that we should arrive, since our provisions were getting short. at my return on board, i learnt from mr. kirke that he had examined the greater part of worsley sound, whose eastern shore formed a line of coast almost connected with that of the bight before us, to which the name of disappointment bay was given. "it was arranged that he should proceed from his last point, and carefully trace the shore of disappointment bay to the eastern headland of the southern opening, down which it was my intention to proceed. with these objects in view, we left the schooner next morning. a fair wind soon brought me to the entrance, where i landed to take bearings on the west side, and arrived at the promontory of 'hope' by noon. there i ascended to the summit of the hills, but found them so thickly wooded, that my anticipated view of the land was almost intercepted, and the angles taken were in consequence very limited. "at this promontory the course of the channel trends slightly to the eastward; and its direction is afterwards to the s.s.e., being open and clear for eight or ten miles, when low land stretching across from the west side intercepts the view. in passing to the southward, i landed frequently to continue the angles, and hauled up, at the close of day, in rara avis bay, still doubtful of the nature of the opening. "next morning, passing point intervene, we pulled into an extensive reach; and having landed, to take bearings, on the { } east side, near cape thomas, i proceeded, in hopes that beyond the next point some better prospect would be gained: on arriving there, however, my expectations were instantly checked by a bold rising shore, continuing uninterruptedly as far as the oliver islands, which we passed soon afterwards. "the width of the channel between the oliver islands and the northern shore is not more than a mile, but it afterwards increases, and turns sharply first to the west, and then s.s.w. in the west reach there are many small islands, and the high ranges on both sides being detached from each other, gave me yet some hopes of finding a passage between them. proceeding in the afternoon, a bight appeared to the s.s.e., about two miles to the westward of cape up-an'down, which was examined, although there was no prospect of meeting with success by tracing it, and in it were found two small passages leading to the s.e., suitable only for boats. we ran down the largest, and a mile within the entrance were embayed. at the bottom of this bight the land was low, and i tried to get on some eminence, that i might command a view to the s.e., but was always impeded by an impervious wood. i observed, however, distant high land in that direction, and could see a sheet of water, about six miles from me: but whether it was a lagoon, or a part of the skyring water, was doubtful. i could not, at this prospect, rejoice as magalhaens did, when he first saw the pacific, for my situation, i began to think, resembled that of sterne's starling. "keeping along the south shore, until late in the evening we gained the west end of this reach, and finding no shelter for the boat, crossed to the broken land on the west side, and passed that night in hewitt harbour. "on the following morning, we pursued our course to the s.s.w., and at eleven o'clock reached the extremity of this extensive sound. all our suspense was then removed, and all our hopes destroyed; for the closing shores formed but a small bay in the s.w., and high land encircled every part without leaving an opening. "throughout the examination of this sound, we did not { } distinguish any decided stream of tide, and the rise and fall did not appear to have ever exceeded a foot: that there was a slight tidal movement of the water seemed evident, from the streams of foam coming from the cascades; and also from the fallen leaves which were borne on the water, from the shores of the bays, in long lines; but signs like these are indicative of there being no strength of tide: i have frequently noticed such appearances in large sounds, or inlets, but never in any channel where there was a current. "the bays between hope promontory and point intervene are frequented by immense numbers of black-necked swans (_anser nigricollis_): hundreds were seen together; they appeared not at all wild when we first passed; but, on our return, there was no approaching them within musket shot. many ducks and coots were also observed. on a rock, near the oliver islands, was a small 'rookery' of hair-seal; and, in our progress down the sound, we passed some few shags and divers. this is the enumeration of all we saw, and these few species seem to possess, undisturbed, this obstruction sound; for we neither observed any wigwams, nor saw any traces of inhabitants. "having no interest in remaining, after some necessary angles were taken on meta islet, we commenced our return; and, with a fair wind, made good progress, landing only where it was necessary for angles, and reached the vessel on the evening of the next day ( th). i have fully stated the examination of this sound, and have been, perhaps, unnecessarily particular and diffuse; but i think that when its near approach to the skyring water is known by others, it will be considered very singular that no communication exists between them. to every one on board the adelaide it was a great disappointment. the only inlet now remaining to be explored was through the s.s.e. opening, east of point return; which, on the th, i went to examine. mr. kirke returned on the same day as myself, having traced the coast as far as he had been directed, and found the large expanse of disappointment bay nearly bounded by a flat stony beach; and the water so shallow, that even his whale-boat could seldom approach the shore within a quarter of a { } mile; but he had left a small opening in the n.e. unexplored, which, as our last hope, i thought it necessary to examine; and he went for that purpose the next morning. situated as we were, we had great reason to be very earnest in the search for a passage; and, i think, that no channel into the skyring water, however small and intricate, would have been left unattempted at this crisis. during the vessel's continuance in easter bay, the men, who remained on board, were employed in clearing the hold, and completing wood and water to the utmost, in order that we might not be delayed at any anchorage after our departure thence. "on the th, i went, in a boat, down the opening east of point return; and by noon reached virginia island. two miles to the southward the channel branches to the s.e., and to the s.w.; i followed the latter branch, landing where necessary to continue the angles, and arrived in the evening at the extremity, which was closed by low land; in the middle was a wide and rapid stream. the slot of a deer was seen along the margin of the shore. next day we proceeded down the s.e. branch to the centre island, thence steered towards an opening that appeared in the s.w., and passing through a narrow winding passage, entered a large bay, which was closed at the bottom by low land, similarly to the branch examined yesterday. only an opening to the n.e. now remained to be explored; but night coming on, we hauled up in tranquil bay, near the northern extremity. the n.e. opening was found to trend eastward for three miles, and then turn to the s.e., forming an extensive bay, whose shores were encircled by low land, and only separated from obstruction sound, by an isthmus two miles broad. our search being concluded, i hastened back, and arrived on board the schooner late in the evening. finding mr. kirke had not returned, i still entertained some little hope, and the vessel was prepared to move either one way or the other as soon as he came back. "late on the st, mr. kirke arrived. the opening in the n.e. had been traced for nearly thirty miles from the entrance, first to the n.e., and then to the w.n.w., till it was closed { } by high land far to the northward of worsley bay. many deer were seen on the plains eastward of the inlet, and some were shot at, but escaped. swans, ducks, and coots had been killed in such numbers, that on their return all the schooner's crew were plentifully supplied. of this place mr. kirke says: 'at the commencement of the n.e. sound there is low land, which extends about thirteen miles up its shores. the entrance is three or four miles wide; but five miles up, the inlet is contracted to about half a mile in width, by a shoal connecting three islets with the western shore. these islets were literally surrounded by black-necked swans, mixed with a few which had black-tipped wings: the male of the latter has a peculiar note, which sounds like 'ken kank,' but the female only sounds 'kank.' "'a few coots were shot in this neighbourhood, out of an immense quantity seen. in each of two flocks, i think, there must have been upwards of a thousand. "'from these islets the sound trends nearly north for seven or eight miles, when it is again narrowed by an island, on each side of which there is a narrow passage for a vessel; but the eastern one is the best. the few bays near here are fit for small vessels only. "'beyond this island the face of the country begins to alter from low to mountainous land, with long flats in the valleys, and the sound also changes its course more to the n.w. near a high bluff on the eastern shore, eight miles further up the sound, the land becomes higher and covered with snow; yet there are still a few level patches between the mountains. from this bluff the sound trends about a point more westerly for five or six miles, to a place where there is a small inlet, on the left, between two snow-covered, mountainous ridges. the water there was changed to a clayey-colour, and had a brackish taste. continuing our course for two miles, i found a large expanse of water, the north end of which was limited by low land, backed by high snowy mountains in the distance; its southern extreme terminated at the foot of high mountains, also covered with snow; and had a large run of water from a { } glacier on the western side. in returning we saw some deer on the eastern shore of the low land, between the islands of the second reach, but could not get within gun-shot: they appeared to be of a dark colour, and fully as large as a guanaco. some of our men thought they could distinguish small straight horns, but i could not myself see them.(d) i endeavoured to cross the isthmus, where lieutenant skyring had seen water from focus island, near easter bay, and first attempted it by the course of a fresh water river, at the head of the bay; but i found the country so thickly covered with stunted wood, about eight feet high, and exceedingly prickly, that i lost my way twice, and returned to the shore; i tried again however, about half a mile more to the eastward, and at last got to a high part of the land. when there, and mounted on another man's shoulders, i could scarcely see above the trees (which, at the roots, were not thicker than a man's wrist): there was evidently a large expanse of water, but i could not distinguish much of it. i think it probable that it is fresh, as the river, fifty yards wide, is rapid, and appears to run out of it. there is not any high land in the neighbourhood, whence such a run of fresh water could be supplied. "'i saw numbers of deer tracks about this place, and the boat's crew observed three deer similar to those above-mentioned.'--(kirke ms.) "we weighed on the d, and towed out of easter bay, with the hope of repassing kirke narrow; but shortly afterwards so dense a fog arose, that we could distinguish no land, and were unable to profit by the advantage of a light fair wind, with otherwise favourable weather. in the afternoon, when it cleared up a little, we anchored in fog bay, on the west side of the channel, about three miles from kirke narrow. { } "( d.) a thick fog confined us at our anchorage till eight, when, having some hopes of the weather clearing, we weighed, and stood for the narrow, but a continued haze prevented us from entering until after noon. as we approached, no tide could be perceived, and again we were doubtful of our calculations, having expected to find it favourable, however, we steered for the islands. to give a better idea how we were driven about as we tried to approach this narrow, i have attempted, in the subjoined plan, to show the direction of the currents, and the courses we were carried by the eddies. [illustration] "the wind was light from the north-eastward. upon our reaching the station marked , without having previously { } noticed any current, we observed a strong rippling in the narrow, and immediately sent the boats a-head to tow us towards mid-channel. we proceeded rather quickly until we arrived at , when our progress was checked, and we were carried rapidly back, as far as . in the narrow the tide was evidently against us; but in crossing to the n.w. at , we were forced by the counter-current against all the efforts of the boats--were carried close to the large island--and for the space of thirty yards, were brushing the overhanging trees with our main-boom. this part was, most fortunately, quite steep; for had the vessel touched in her swift course, she must have been swung with violence against the rocks, and much damaged, perhaps irreparably. "no sooner had we passed the end of this island, than we were shot into mid-channel to , and then as suddenly and swiftly carried back by the stream of the tide. the boats could never keep hold of the vessel while in these whirlpools; and it was several times fortunate that they had cast off the tow-rope in time, for thrice we were twisted round, as if on a pivot, by those violent eddies. "a favourable moment was seized, the boats were again sent a-head; and, by great exertions, we were towed out of the influence of the tide, and then waited for the time of slack water. "at three o'clock mr. kirke was sent to guard point, to ascertain the time of high water; and at half-past four, in consequence of his signal, we towed in with both boats, and passed the islands with a favouring tide; but one quarter of a mile farther, we met ripplings, which we had no sooner entered than a reverse of tide was found, as if the waters from the sounds were gradually forcing back the tide of the channel. we still, however, made progress to the s.w.; but it was not before eight o'clock that we anchored in the west entrance of this narrow, pleased, indeed, to be again secure, and to have escaped unharmed. " th. thick, hazy weather in the morning; but at eight o'clock it cleared a little, so we weighed, and soon reached the { } ancon of sarmiento. a strong s.e. wind, during the forenoon, carried us past cape año nuevo, and at noon we were near the opening into smyth channel, which i have called victory passage. we moored in sandy bay, in eight fathoms, purposing to remain during the next day (sunday); and on the th, with a moderate wind from the northward, we left sandy bay, and stood to the south, passed the elson islands by noon, and at three moored in hose harbour. next day we cleared smyth channel, and anchored in deep harbour. "( th.) wind light and northerly. we towed out of deep harbour at daylight, stood across beaufort bay, and anchored in tamar bay; where, the weather being unfavourable, we remained during all the next day, filling water and cutting wood,--preparatory to our run to monte video,--in case of not finding the adventure at the appointed rendezvous, port famine. "on the th, with a moderate breeze from the n.w., we left tamar bay; but the wind soon after becoming contrary, we made but little progress, and anchored that evening in a small cove, near the east point of upright bay, where we passed the following day, in consequence of the wind continuing easterly, and causing much sea in the strait. " d. weighed, stood out, and made all sail, steering through the strait. we passed playa parda early that afternoon, and cape quod soon afterwards, and as there was every appearance of a moderately fine night, continued our course. we hauled in near port gallant, when it grew dark, and burned a blue light, to call the attention of any vessel lying there; but no return was made, so we passed on. at midnight we were between cape holland and cape froward, the wind being light and the weather moderate. " d. on rounding cape froward, we beat up in-shore against a n.n.e. breeze, and in the evening were three or four miles to the northward of point st. isidro. after a tempestuous night, we reached port famine, where, to our great joy, we found the adventure." with the exception of such fish and birds as had been { } previously observed near the strait, lieutenant skyring and his party saw few living creatures. one novelty which mr. bynoe gave me was a splendid corvorant, which, being quite new, and the most beautiful of the genus, i named _phalacrocorax imperialis_.[ ] i also received a species of swan, quite distinct from the common one of the strait, which has been long known as the black-necked swan (_anser nigricollis_ of ind. orn., ii. ; and latham, x. ). considering it an undescribed species, it was named _cygnus anatodoides_.[ ] several deer were seen, but none obtained. there is reason, however, to suppose them to be of a novel species. the horns are short and straight. * * * * * { } chapter xx. beagle sails from san carlos--enter strait--harbour of mercy--cape pillar--apostles--judges--landfall island--cape gloucester--dislocation harbour--week islands--fuegians--latitude bay--boat's crew in distress-- petrel--passages--otway bay--cape tate--fincham islands--deepwater sound--breaker bay--grafton islands--geological remarks--barbara channel--mount skyring--compasses affected--drawings--provisions-- opportunities lost. captain fitz roy having received his orders on the th of november (see appendix), sailed the following morning from san carlos, and proceeding to the southward, approached the entrance of the strait of magalhaens on the night of the th. the following are extracts from his journal:-- "at daylight on the th, with the wind at s.w., we made cape pillar right a-head (e.n.e. by compass), distant seven or eight leagues. the wind became lighter, and we were set by a current to the s.w., which obliged us, in nearing the cape, to alter our course from e.n.e. to n.n.e., to avoid being carried too near the apostle rocks. a dangerous rock, under water, on which the sea breaks, lies half a mile more towards the north than either of the apostles. cape pillar is a detached headland, and so very remarkable that no person can fail to know it easily. "a very good latitude was obtained at noon, from which, and the astronomical bearing of the cape, we made its latitude within half a mile of that given in the chart by captain stokes and lieutenant skyring; and the weather being clear and fine, sketches were taken of all the surrounding land. at one, we passed the cape, and at three, anchored in the harbour of mercy. by the distance we had run, as shown by the patent log and compared with the chart, there had been a current against us of more than a knot an hour. { } "in working into the harbour we passed over several patches of kelp, under which the bottom was plainly visible; but the lead never showed less than five fathoms, until we were about to anchor, when the vessel shot a-head into a weedy place, where we had three fathoms. this was about a cable's length in-shore (towards the highest mountain) of the spot marked by lieutenant skyring as good holding ground, to which we warped and anchored. it proved to be very good ground, being extremely tough clay. " th. a promising morning tempted me to try to obtain observations and a round of angles on or near cape pillar. i therefore left the ship with the master, and went in a boat to the cape. to land near it in much swell was not easy upon such steep and slippery rocks: at last we got ashore in a cove, and hauled the instruments up the rocks by lines, but could get no further, on account of precipices. i, therefore, gave up that attempt, and went outside the cape, to look for a better place; but every part seemed similar, and, as the weather was getting foggy, it was useless to persevere. in going to the cape, and in returning, i measured the distance by a patent log, and found the mean of the two measurements agree with the chart. what current there was, ran to the westward. "a small ox, which we had carried from chilóe, was doomed to end his voyage at this place, and probably we were the first people who ever eat fresh beef in the strait of magalhaens. " th and th. gloomy days, with much wind and rain; and the gusts coming so violently over the mountains, that we were unable to do any work, out of the ship. " th. still blowing and raining. "dec. st and d. cloudy days, with strong wind; but one short interval of sunshine was gladly made use of for rating our chronometers. " d. this morning we weighed, and worked out; and at one p.m. we were three miles westward of cape pillar, with every appearance of a n.w. gale. shortly after, the weather became so thick, that i could not see any part of the coast; and therefore stood off shore, under low sail, expecting a bad { } night. contrary to my expectation, the wind did not much increase; but the thick weather, and a heavy swell, induced me to stand farther out than i had at first intended. at eleven, p.m., we wore and stood in until daylight on the th, when we found ourselves so much to the southward, that the land about cape pillar bore n.b.w., the cape itself being shut in. we steered for the land, hoping to turn the day to some account; but those hopes soon ceased, for before we had run sufficient distance to make a serviceable base line, the weather became so thick as to oblige us to haul our wind. we saw just enough to make out a number of rocks and breakers, lying at a considerable distance off shore. after noon it was clearer, and we again stood in-shore; but found that the current was setting us so fast to the southward, that it was necessary to carry all sail and keep on a wind, to avoid losing ground; yet, with a fresh, double-reefed topsail breeze and a deeply laden weatherly vessel, we could not hold our own, and at seven in the evening were close to an islet which lies off cape sunday. we had seen very little of the coast thus far: the current had rendered the patent log useless for measuring bases, and the weather was very unfavourable for astronomical observations. the land appeared to be high and mountainous, as far as cape deseado, whence it seemed lower and more broken, forming a large bay between that cape and cape sunday. many rocks on which the sea breaks violently lie at a distance from the shore, besides those two clusters called the 'apostles' and the 'judges:' the latter off cape deseado, and the former off apostle point, a little south of cape pillar. " th. to our mortification, we found ourselves a great way off shore; and landfall island, which was eight miles to leeward the last evening, was now in the wind's eye, at a distance of about six leagues. a strong wind, with much swell, prevented our regaining lost ground in a northerly direction, i therefore preferred standing to the s.e. by the wind, intending to seek for a harbour, as it seemed hopeless to try to survey this coast while under sail, with such obstacles to contend against as a current setting about a mile an hour, and a sky { } generally clouded over. our only chance appeared to be, going from harbour to harbour and keeping close in-shore. "behind landfall island the coast forms a deep bay, apparently full of islands, and it is said there is in that part a communication with the strait of magalhaens. looking from seaward there seems to be an opening. "from the southern point of this bay the coast presents a high and regular line for a few miles, and then there is a succession of islets, rocks, and broken land. we stood in close to the breakers, but too late in the evening to find an anchorage. i observed kelp on the surface of the water, growing up from the bottom, while the lead gave a depth of forty-five fathoms. this was in a wild-looking, open bight, full of rocks and breakers, and much exposed. "we stood off, close to the wind, hoping to make northing and westing during the night; but at midnight it fell calm, and at day-break on the th, to our astonishment, we found ourselves to the southward of cape gloucester, a high, remarkable promontory, standing out from the land as if it were an island, with a peaked top, which, from the southward, appears notched. the day proved very fine, and as a breeze sprung up from the s.e. and gradually increased, i had hopes of seeing more of the coast, along which we had been hustled so fast, and so much against our inclination. "in running along shore, i noticed several inlets that seemed likely to afford good harbours. this coast has not, by any means, such a rugged and harsh appearance as i expected; but the number of islets and breakers is quite enough to give it a most dangerous character. the land is not very high near the sea, and seems to be wooded wherever the prevailing winds will allow trees to grow. soundings were taken at various distances within four miles of the shore, and the depth generally was between twenty and one hundred fathoms. a good idea may be formed of the current which had taken us to the s.e., when i say that, even with a fresh and fair wind, it occupied us the whole of the th to regain the place we had left the previous evening. { } " th. at daylight it blew half a gale of wind; but we stood in, a little south of the cluster of rocks, called the judges, towards a part of the shore which promised to afford a harbour. on closing it we saw an inlet, apparently large; but so fortified at the entrance by rocks and breakers, that i did not like to run in, without first sending a boat; yet it blew too strong, and there was too much sea, to lower one; therefore i stood off to wait for more moderate weather, for the place suited my purpose exactly, being near enough to the judges, and apostles, to fix their situation. this morning, mr. murray slipped across the forecastle and dislocated his shoulder: an accident which deprived us of his services for some time, and on account of it, we called the place where we anchored soon afterwards, dislocation harbour. so many rocks lie off this coast, that a vessel ought not to approach it unless she has daylight and clear weather. the lead will give warning, should the weather be thick, as soundings extend at least to four miles off shore, at which distance there are from thirty to one hundred fathoms, and generally speaking, there is less water as you approach the land. "on the th, th, and th, we were busily occupied in surveying the harbour and adjacent coast. in this place water may be obtained very easily, as boats can lie in a fresh water stream which runs from the mountains. wood is also plentiful. the harbour is large enough for four small vessels, and the bottom is very even, from fifteen to twenty-five fathoms, fine white sand. the entrance is narrow, but all dangers are visible, and now are laid down in the chart. it is much exposed to west winds, and the westerly swell, which might for weeks together prevent a vessel from getting out to sea. " th. a strong wind and much haziness prevented my weighing until near noon, when it became more moderate, though the weather was still thick. we then worked out with a light and variable breeze, which baffled us near the entrance, but at last we gained a good offing. i rejoiced to be outside, for our business in the harbour was over, and i had feared that west winds would detain us. the promontory, just to the southward of dislocation harbour, appeared to me to be 'cape { } deseado,' and that to the northward i called chancery point. mr. wilson ascended some heights at the back of the harbour, from which he saw many lakes, among barren and rugged hills; but a farther view was obstructed by other mountains. "an oar was picked up near the watering place, and recognised by one of the men as the same which was left on a rock near cape pillar (in observation cove) by captain stokes, in january . there could be no doubt of the fact, as the man's initials were on the oar, and it is curious as a proof of an outset along the south side of the strait (near cape pillar), and of its continuation along shore. traces of a fire were found, which showed that the natives visit even this most exposed part of the coast. the land about here is high, and craggy; and very barren, except in the valleys, where much wood grows. some wild fowl were seen and shot. "from cape deseado, the coast is high and unbroken for three miles; (a rocky islet lies about a mile from the shore) then there is an opening which probably leads into a good harbour behind a number of islands. several islands succeed, for a space of two miles, after which is barrister bay; an exposed place, full of islets, rocks, and breakers, extending nearly to murray passage. in sailing along this coast we passed inside of several breakers; and, i hope, noted all that lie in the offing: but, we cannot be sure, for breakers on rocks which are under the surface of the sea do not always show themselves. as it was getting dark, we hauled to the wind, near cape sunday, and, in doing so, were startled by a huge breaker which suddenly foamed up at a small ship's length from us. although looking out on all sides we had not previously seen any break near that spot. during the night we carried a heavy press of sail to avoid being drifted to the s.e., and at daylight i rejoiced to find that we had not lost ground, so we steered for the land, and rounded graves' island. observing several openings, i hauled close round a point, and tried to enter one of them; the wind, however, baffled us, and our anchor was let go in an exposed berth, but on good holding ground. we found a cluster of islands with so many anchorages between { } them, that thinking they ought to be surveyed, i returned on board, weighed, and worked towards the nearest opening. we shot into it, and warped to a berth four cables' lengths up a narrow passage, and anchored in twenty-four fathoms, upon sand and clayey mud. " th. many wigwams were found in this neighbourhood, which showed that our fuegian acquaintances were occasional visitors. the inner harbour seemed to be a fine basin; but the bottom was found inferior to that of the anchorage at which the beagle lay moored. " th. strong wind and frequent rain prevented much being done out of the ship this day. i went to the top of a mountain near the ship, but could not take many angles because of the violent squalls and the rain. at night it blew a hard gale: the squalls came furiously over the heights, and obliged us to let go a third anchor and strike topmasts. we were quite sheltered from the true wind; but were reached most effectually by the williwaws, which came down with great force. however vexed we might have been at not being able to go far from the ship, we were certainly very fortunate in escaping this gale at a secure anchorage. it appeared to be blowing very heavily at sea. " th. a strong gale all day, with much rain, prevented our leaving the ship. in coming down a height on the th, i found some red porphyry rock, like that about port desire; and the first i had seen in these parts. another novelty was a tract of about two acres of pure white sand thinly covered with grass. "though the middle of summer, the weather was not much warmer than in winter. the average height of the thermometer was about ten degrees greater; being nearly the same, as during the months of august and september, in chilóe. " th. a continuance of bad weather: no work was done in the boats this day. in the afternoon i tried to go up the mountain i had ascended on tuesday, to bring down a theodolite which i had left at the top; but the wind obliged me to return unsuccessful. " th. similar weather continued until noon: frequent strong { } squalls, and rain: the sky being so constantly overcast that we saw neither sun nor stars. although no progress was made in this weather, it was some satisfaction to think that we lost nothing but time; and that we saved much wear of the vessel by lying at anchor instead of being at sea. being more moderate in the afternoon, our boats went away, and the ship was prepared for sailing. we tried to get some fur-seal, which were seen on a rock near the harbour, but they were too wary. "my boat was almost capsized by a 'blind breaker,' which rose suddenly underneath her, and in an instant she was surrounded by and floated upon a white wave of foam, which broke all round and over, but without upsetting or swamping her. " th. weighed and ran across to an anchorage in landfall island which i had seen from the heights. we anchored in a sheltered bay lying on the north side of the larger island, at the east opening of a passage which separates it from the smaller. these islands are high and, towards the sea, barren; but the sides of the hills, towards the east, are thickly wooded. "a large smoke made near the bay showed us, that the fuegians were in possession of our intended quarters; and soon after we anchored, a canoe came off to us full of men, women, and children, sixteen in all. they were in every respect similar to those we had so frequently met before; and from their unwillingness to part with furs or skins, unless for serviceable articles, such as knives, &c. appeared to have had dealings with europeans: beads and trinkets they did not value. they had, in the canoe, many eggs, and dead birds, which they eat raw: the birds were a light blue, or dove-coloured, petrel, about eight inches long, which goes on land for a part of the year to lay eggs in holes in the ground. during this and the following day, we were fortunate enough to obtain observations, and nearly all the necessary bearings and angles. "as yet i was pleased with the anchorage; the bottom shoaled gradually from twenty to five fathoms (fine sand), and it was sheltered from west winds, besides others, except north. having obtained particularly good observations for latitude at { } this spot; i called it latitude bay. it is remarkably easy of access, and is also easy to leave: rather rare qualities in a fuegian harbour. cape inman being prominently situated, is a good guide to the anchorage. "sunday th. a fine day; and, knowing its value, we turned it to account. from a height i saw cape gloucester and the point of land on this (the northern) side of it; and to the northward i could distinguish the land about the entrance to the strait. the landfall islands appeared to be the top of a ridge of mountains lying (partly below the sea) in the same direction as most of the neighbouring ranges. many dangerous rocks lie off the s.w. side; and there is no passage for a ship between the islands, for the opening is narrow, and has only two fathoms in some places. " st. this morning i sent the master and mr. wilson[ ] in a whale-boat to the east end of the island, to make a plan of that part, and get some angles and bearings necessary for continuing the survey. " d. a bad day, blowing hard and raining. the wind being from north and n.n.w. threw in a swell; and as we were not yet sure of the quality of the bottom, though apparently good, we struck topmasts and veered away a long scope of cable. " th. the wind shifted to the s.w. and became rather more moderate, though still squally, with much rain. it freshened again in the night, and backed to the northward. "christmas-day. blowing strong from n.n.w. with a thickly clouded sky and heavy rain. i was very anxious to see the master return, but he could not in such weather. i feared that his provisions would be exhausted, having taken only enough for four days; yet they had a good tent, guns, and ammunition. " th. a strong wind with thick weather and much rain throughout the whole day. there was no possibility of sending a boat to the master, or of his returning by water. the island being very narrow he, or some of his party, could walk across, { } if they were in want of provisions, so as we did not hear from them i trusted that they had found wild fowl enough, and were not in distress. " th. rather a more moderate morning with clearer weather. we looked out anxiously for the whale-boat, as, in such weather, she might get back to the ship without much difficulty. before noon mr. wilson and the coxswain were seen on shore making signals to the ship; and a boat was sent immediately to bring them on board. they were very weak and tired, having walked across the island during the preceding afternoon and night, and having had no food for the last two days. the master and the other four men were said to be in a cove at the back of the island, and to have been without provisions since the th, not having been able to find either shell-fish or wild fowl. "at the time mr. wilson arrived on board, i was absent taking angles and bearings, but was soon informed of his return, and at noon left the ship with a week's provisions for the master's party and my own boat's crew. i had not lost sight of the beagle when i met the former returning. having given them some food, and two fresh hands to help them in pulling to the ship (it being then quite moderate and fine) i continued my course to the place they had left, in order to do what the bad weather had prevented the master from doing. being favoured with a fine afternoon i succeeded in obtaining the necessary angles and bearings, and returned to our vessel the following morning. " th. at my return i found the master and his party nearly recovered. they had tried every day to return to the ship, but had been repeatedly forced back, at the risk of being driven out to sea. the gusts of wind from off the high land were so powerful as almost to upset the boat, although she had not even a mast up. continual rain had wetted their ammunition and tinder, and they were then without fire or victuals: upon which mr. wilson and the coxswain set out, on saturday afternoon, to acquaint us with their situation. "when they came down to the sea-side the fuegians took { } advantage of their weak state to beat the coxswain and take away some of his clothes; therefore after my return i went in search of them. they had however taken the alarm, and were all gone away. this party consisted of about twenty persons, eight of whom were men, and the rest women and children. when some of our officers went to their wigwams they appeared armed with clubs, spears, and swords, which seemed to have been made out of iron hoops, or else were old cutlasses worn very thin by frequent cleaning. they must have obtained these, and many trifles we noticed, from sealing vessels. by the visits of those vessels, i suppose, they have been taught to hide their furs and other skins, and have learned the effects of fire-arms. the chief part of their subsistence on this island appeared to be penguins, seal, young birds, and petrel which they take in a curious way. having caught a small bird they tie a string to its leg and put it into a hole where blue petrels lay eggs. several old birds instantly fasten upon the intruder, and are drawn out with him by the string. "we weighed and worked out of the bay, increasing our depth of water very gradually as we left the shore, but having always the same bottom, fine speckled sand. i can safely recommend this bay as a good anchorage for shipping, and two cable's lengths n.n.w. of the beagle's berth as the best place. wood and water are not to be found so close to the anchorage as in other fuegian harbours, but they may be obtained with very little trouble, and in any quantity, by going up the passage (between the islands) to one of many streams which run from the high land. there is plenty of water also very near the best berth, on the south side, but frequently a surf breaks on that beach. two particular advantages which this roadstead[ ] possesses, consist in the ease with which a vessel can enter or leave it, during any wind; and in its situation being well pointed out by a remarkable headland, named cape inman (in compliment to the professor), which is high, with perpendicular cliffs, and almost detached from other land; so that a vessel, { } knowing her latitude within five miles of the truth, cannot fail to make it out, if the weather is tolerably clear. wild fowl and shell-fish were very scarce there, probably because the fuegians had scared or consumed them. from the top of a mountain, at the east end of the large island, i saw a great way down two channels or openings, which appeared to run far to the eastward, among many islands and very broken land. such a succession of islets, rocks, and breakers, as the coast presented, was astonishing: many hundreds were counted while looking eastward from one station only. "i wished much to know where these openings led, and whether there was a direct communication through them to the strait, as seemed almost certain; but considering the time already spent, the extent of coast to be surveyed, and the small advantage of such information, except to satisfy curiosity, i determined to proceed to the next prominent headland, a mountain at the s.e. extremity of otway bay, whose position i had already fixed with respect to stations on landfall island. "if there is a passage through those openings into otway bay, it must be unfit for vessels, being hampered with outlying rocks and breakers among which she could find no shelter in the event of rainy weather coming on before she cleared them; and clouds and rain are prevalent. as yet we had been extremely fortunate, in being under sail at intervals of fine weather, and anchored during the gales; but this was partly owing to a very careful attention to the barometer and sympiesometer. "having left latitude bay, we stood off until midnight, and then in shore again, carrying a press of sail all the time, in order to 'hold our own' against our old enemy, the current. "at daylight ( th), not having been swept to leeward by the current, we were in a good position for continuing the survey from the place left the previous night. we bore up as soon as the land could be distinctly seen,--rounded landfall island very near the outer rocks, and then steered for cape tate (the extremity of the mountain i mentioned yesterday). those outlying rocks are not very dangerous, as the sea { } always breaks violently upon them. in crossing otway bay, the morning being clear, i was enabled to add considerably to what had been already learned respecting the shores and dangers around it.(e) "off cape tate, to the north and west, lie the college rocks. those nearest the cape are also nearest the track of a ship running along the land, and half a mile west of them lies a detached and dangerous rock, under water. the sea generally breaks on it. "we had very thick weather when close to those rocks, which obliged us to 'haul our wind' for half an hour; when, as it cleared, we steered round cape tate, about a mile off shore. i was in hopes of gaining an anchorage between it and the fincham islands, and therefore kept as near the land as i could; but seeing numerous breakers a-head and outside of me, i altered our course, and steered to go outside of all the rocks. after we had passed some of them, a large bight opened out to the north-eastward, and tempted me to haul up for it. we entered the sound at noon, and stood on for nearly four miles without finding an anchorage, or even gaining bottom with fifty fathoms of line, although at the entrance we had from twenty to ten fathoms. thick weather coming on, made me very anxious to anchor somewhere, and we were now too much hampered to stand out again. we appeared to be among a multitude of islands, very near each other, yet without any anchorage between them; therefore, having no other resource, we let go both anchors upon the end of a steep-sided islet, where one fell into seven, the other into ten fathoms water, and hooked the rocks. veering half a cable on each, we found forty fathoms under the stern, with a similar rocky bottom; so that we had the pleasant prospect of shouldering both our anchors, and drifting into deep water, with the first strong squall. during the remainder of that day, our boats were looking for better anchorage, but without success; they found patches of rocky { } ground with from ten to twenty fathoms here and there, but not one that could be preferred to our islet. " th. one fuegian family was found here, consisting of a man and woman, with their children. during this day it rained too hard for anything to be done out of the ship; the wind was moderate; yet much as i disliked our rocky berth, it could not be changed. " st. moderate wind, with clearer weather. mr. murray and mr. stokes went away to different parts of the sound, while i was employed near the ship. observations for latitude, longitude, and variation were made. " st january. during part of the last night and this morning, the wind blew strongly in squalls, and made me very anxious; but the weather rendered it impossible to move voluntarily, for it was raining hard as well as blowing. at about eight it cleared, and the wind shifted to the southward, when we weighed, and worked down the sound; but it was after noon before we had cleared its entrance, and seven in the evening before we were outside of all the breakers, the wind having been light and contrary the whole time. "( d.) at five this morning, being close to the fincham islands, with clear weather, and a fresh breeze from the n.w., we steered into breaker bay, towards a ragged-looking projecting point. having approached as near as we could, and sounded, and taken angles, we steered so as to pass outside of some very outlying rocks, near the middle of the bay; for in-shore of them, i saw from the mast-head numerous breakers, rocks, and islets, in every direction. a worse place for a ship could scarcely be found; for, supposing thick weather to come on when in the depth of the bay, she would have lurking rocks and islets just awash with the water, on all sides of her, and no guide to take her clear of them, for soundings would be useless; and in such weather, the best chart that could be constructed would not help her. with this idea of the place, and for reasons similar to those which induced me to pass hastily across otway bay, i steered for cape gloucester, after passing the midbay rocks, at the distance of a quarter of a { } mile. the land at the bottom of the bay appeared to be distant, and much broken. indeed, from the week islands to cape gloucester,(f) there is an almost innumerable succession of islands and rocks, without any continued tract of land, so that channels might be found in all directions; valuable, no doubt, to fuegians in their canoes, but not often to seamen in ships, nor even to sealers; for where the natives go with their canoes, seals are never found in any numbers. "in crossing breaker bay, even with a moderate wind, there was a very cross and awkward sea, owing, doubtless, to the ocean swell rolling into this deep bight. such a swell would add much to the difficulty which vessels might find in getting out of this bay: i should therefore recommend them to avoid it particularly. cape gloucester is a most remarkable promontory, which can never be mistaken, after seeing even an indifferent sketch of it. at a distance it makes like a mountain rising out of the sea, but, on approaching nearer to it, a narrow neck of land appears. "we found from twenty to thirty fathoms water, at the distance of a mile from the cape; and saw several outlying breakers about half a mile off shore. from the steep and rocky nature of these coasts one would not expect to find soundings until close to the land: but on every outer part of this coast, that we have visited, the bottom may be reached with the sounding line. some natives were seen under the cape, who made a large fire. we stood into two bights, looking for anchorage, but, finding only rocks and breakers, steered along shore, rounded ipswich island, and hauled into a spacious bay, at the northern side of which there appeared to be several openings like harbours. in working across, we were agreeably surprised to find it a continued roadstead, open only towards the s.e., and having regular soundings, from twenty to fourteen fathoms. we anchored about a mile from the entrance of what seemed to be a harbour, at the n.w. corner, having worked up against a fresh n.w. wind. our anchor was dropped in sixteen fathoms, and held well. i went directly to { } look at the opening, and found a passage, in which were good soundings, leading into a very snug basin, perfectly sheltered from wind and sea, in which the bottom was composed of sand and clay, and the depth of water from five to fifteen fathoms. as soon as i returned we weighed and worked up to the entrance of the basin; then anchored, warped into it, and moored with half a cable each way. "this was the most secure and sheltered cove i had yet seen. it was called laura basin; and the bay we had crossed was named euston bay. i was very glad to discover so safe a place, because it enabled me to ascertain the position of cape gloucester and the neighbouring land, with the correctness which so prominent a place required, and because i hoped that it would prove useful as a harbour for vessels. from the top of a high ridge surrounding the basin, i thought cape gloucester seemed to be about seven miles off, and seeing a valley lead some distance in the desired direction, determined to go to it overland. i was so much pleased with the bay and the basin, that i did not hesitate to spend some time in the examination of their vicinity. the mountains hitherto examined between cape pillar and these (the grafton) islands, consist of greenstone, slate, or sandstone (excepting those near deep-water sound, which are of very coarse-grained whitish granite); and from the continual action of such heavy seas as break on those shores, the sandstone and slate rocks wear away, and by their detritus not only the bottoms of harbours are covered, but a bank is formed which extends into the offing. a moderate depth of water and good anchorages were found near slaty or sandstone hills, but exactly the reverse in the vicinity of granite.(g) " th. early this morning i sent mr. murray in a whale-boat to examine and plan some openings i had noticed on the north side of euston bay; and mr. stokes to make a plan of the harbour, and the basin in which we were lying. the master carried six days' provisions with him, in case he should be detained, as on a former occasion, by bad weather. no place { } could be more convenient than this for such purposes as wooding and watering; and we took advantage of it to the utmost by filling the ship's hold. the water casks were filled in our boat, in perfectly smooth water, and the wood was cut close to the water side. " th. a party of twelve, consisting of the purser, mr. w. wilson, mr. megget, eight seamen and myself, set out from the ship, intending to walk to cape gloucester. we landed in a valley at the n.w. corner of the harbour and began our march, two men carrying the tent, and the others our instruments and provisions: we had arms also, in case of meeting indians. difficult travelling, with such a cargo, very soon obliged us to stop and rest, but by continual changes with the heaviest loads, and great exertion on the part of those who carried them, we got over two-thirds of our journey in the course of the day, and at night pitched our tent, and defied the rain which poured incessantly until seven the following morning: when every height was covered with snow, as if it had been the middle of winter. " th. as soon as we had breakfasted we moved on again, and at noon reached the foot of a mountain which forms the cape. leaving the others to pitch our tent and cook some victuals, mr. wilson, mr. megget, and two seamen, ascended the mountain with me. a very severe task we had, but at last gained the highest pinnacle, where there was just room to place the theodolite and kneel by it, at the risk of a puff of wind canting us over either side. a stone moved from its place, would have reached the water as soon from one side as from the other. it was not a very clear day, but sufficiently so to enable me to gain the desired angles and bearings. from this summit i had a clear view of that dangerous place breaker bay, and was more confirmed in the idea i had formed of it, and rejoiced that i did not stand farther in with the beagle. having thus succeeded, and buried two memorials, one cased in tin and the other in a bottle, we filled our pockets with pieces of the rock and returned; rather too quickly, for the steepness of the hill assisted us more than we wished. during our absence some fuegians had appeared, who were quiet and { } inoffensive; but they seemed very distrustful of us, and, before sun-rise next morning, were all gone except one man. these natives seemed to be very active and went up the mountain in about half the time that our party required. they had two canoes with them, but how they had reached this place by water was puzzling, when the exposed bay they must have crossed and the prevailing weather were considered. perhaps they had carried their canoes overland, being rather like the chilote piraguas, made of boards sewed together. " th. we heard the voices of the fuegians at day-break this morning; but at four o'clock only one old man remained, who was probably left to watch us. we began our return, rather stiff from previous days' exertions, and looking dismally at the high rugged hills between the beagle and ourselves. the first ascent on our way back was the worst of all: how the men carried their cargo so well astonished me, for with a very light load i was glad to rest frequently. breakfast revived us, and by taking afterwards a better line we avoided the steepest hills and found much easier walking. while resting at our meal the weather was so clear that i got bearings of cape inman and other points more than fifty miles distant. there was very little variety or novelty in this walk through a fuegian island. the same kind of scenery and the same species of plants and shrubs were found which we had seen every where else in tierra del fuego. being more or less rocky made the only change. of quadrupeds, excepting otters and dogs, i saw no traces, nor do i think any were to be found. a large kind of snipe, by some called a woodcock, and quails, of a large and, i think, peculiar species, were often seen and shot. the latter are not by any means so well tasted as the european quail, and their flesh is darker and coarser. at seven this evening we were again on board the beagle, not a little tired. "should any future voyager feel inclined to make a similar excursion towards cape gloucester, he had better not think too lightly of his task. " th. mr. murray returned, having been into many openings between the islands to the eastward, and having collected { } much information. this afternoon it blew a heavy gale, but in such a sheltered place we only felt a few williwaws. from mr. murray's account it appeared that this island and those adjoining it to the eastward are a cluster lying together, but quite separated from the mainland, or rather the main body of islands, by a channel opening northward into breaker bay, and to the southward into stokes bay. they were called the grafton islands. " th. we had a heavy gale throughout this day with much rain. bad weather, while at a good anchorage, i did not at that time regret, as the materials for our charts accumulated fast, and afforded no leisure time while we were detained on board. " th. a favourable day allowed us to examine and sound the outer roads, and obtain a round of angles from the western extreme of ipswich island, which completed my triangulation. landing there was dangerous, and ascending the hill extremely difficult, on account of thick tangled brushwood which grows about three or four feet high on every part of the east side, and is so matted together as to be almost impenetrable. we generally scrambled over this jungle, but sometimes crept under it. " th. a tolerably fine day. the sun was visible both in the morning and afternoon; and from different summits mr. stokes and i took angles. the sky being clear near the horizon gave us a wide range. meanwhile the ship was prepared to sail in search of a new place at which to employ our instruments. i hoped that this basin, harbour, and roadstead, might be of service, and therefore spared no pains about them. eight latitudes were obtained by sets of circum-meridional altitudes; with four different sextants: two by mr. stokes, the rest by me: and as they all agreed, within fifteen seconds, i supposed their mean to be nearly correct. the sights for time were good, and the chronometers were going so steadily that dependence may be placed upon the accuracy of their results. to a vessel bound round cape horn and meeting with an accident, or in want of wood or water, this place might be useful. it is very easy to find, and easy to enter or depart from with the prevailing westerly winds. { } " th. we weighed and left the harbour, but the morning proved too hazy to allow of our running down the coast, therefore until eight o'clock we kept under easy sail in the roads. being clear and moderate after that time, we passed leading island, and hove-to, to watch for a breaker near it. it broke but twice during the hour that we waited, therefore probably there is water enough to allow any vessel to pass in safety. at ten we bore up, and ran towards isabella island; my first object being to look for a place called by sealers 'hope harbour,' which, from what i could learn, ought to lie thereabouts. its situation was not recognised by our boatswain,(h) who had been in it when sealing on this coast; so passing close to isabella island, we hauled our wind under the lee of the land, and came to an anchor in fifteen fathoms, sheltered from north to s.w.b.s. a high peaked hill, over the cove where i took observations, made this a suitable place for the business of the survey. mr. murray went up the height, while mr. stokes and i were employed near the water, till rain set in and drove us on board. this is the easternmost of the grafton islands. beyond the channel, which separates them from the main body of islands, appeared a succession of broken land, not very high, but reaching apparently to a distant range of snowy mountains. the part nearest to us was a labyrinth of islets and rocks. towards night the wind increased much, and drew to the s.w. and s.w.b.s. i was doubtful of our anchorage, and had the wind drawn one point more to the southward, we should have had a heavy sea to deal with, and must have slipped our cable. " th. it moderated again, and the sun showed himself enough to enable us to get sights, and be on board in time to weigh at nine. we had reason to think a sealing vessel had been along this coast not long before us, by the traces our boats found in several places. indians also had frequented these islands, for their wigwams were found everywhere. observations on shore made our anchoring here of some consequence, although as a { } safe anchorage for other vessels, it is out of the question, being an exposed roadstead, with many rocks, both to seaward and in-shore. a sealer might use it, but not willingly i should think. as we ran towards the agnes islands, before a strong w.n.w. wind, many rocks and breakers showed themselves, and when we neared the islands, became numerous on each side of us. it would have been more prudent to have kept outside all of them; but i was anxious to find hope harbour, or run into the entrance of the barbara channel, and anchor in the north cove of fury island. having passed the three agnes islands, and being nearly abreast of cape kempe,[ ] our view became far from agreeable, for the sea, on all sides, seemed strewed with breakers; and how to steer so as to pass between them was perplexing. we were at this time running free, under treble reefed topsails, with top-gallant yards and masts on deck; the wind being strong from w.n.w., but the weather tolerably clear. suddenly the boatswain hailed, 'hard-a-port, a rock under the bows!' round the little vessel turned, almost as fast as the order was given; but the thrill that shot through us was happily not the precursor of our destruction; for the supposed rock proved to be a huge whale which had risen close to the bows, and was mistaken for the top of a rock by the boatswain, who was looking out on the forecastle, while i was at the mast-head, and the 'hands' were upon deck. this part of the coast, from the agnes islands to cape schomberg, is the worst i have seen, it is so very broken, and has so many rocks and dangerous breakers lying at a long distance from the shore. "at noon we were close to fury island; but the wind fell and prevented our making much progress. fury harbour, where the saxe cobourg was lost, is a wild exposed place, and, as the bottom is bad, it ought to be avoided by all vessels: there is but one patch of good ground, and that is very small. "passing round fury island, we entered the barbara channel, at the entrance to which stands mount skyring, a high, peaked, and most barren mountain, visible at a great distance. { } we all felt much additional interest in what was then seen, on account of the late survey in the adelaide. cape schomberg and the astrea rock were easily known by lieutenant graves's sketch. to a high mountain, which in some views very much resembled the dome of st. paul's, i gave that name (finding it out of the limits of lieutenant skyring's survey): it lies a short distance east of cape schomberg. a passage appeared to go to the eastward, passing from the barbara channel, northward of cape schomberg and st. paul's. light baffling winds and an ebb-tide, of about a knot an hour, setting out of the barbara, detained us until six p.m., between the magill and fury islands; but soon after that hour we anchored in north cove, a small but perfectly secure place. by reaching this anchorage, i had the satisfaction of being enabled to connect my work with lieutenant skyring's, and to take a fresh start for the next piece of coast. hitherto we had been extremely fortunate, both with the ship and the boats; but such success could not be expected always. " th. early this morning, mr. murray went in a whale-boat to the islands, near cape kempe, to ascertain the situations of some reefs and islets thereabouts, and sketch the outer coast. mr. stokes went in another boat to look for hope harbour, and examine part of the coast. the boatswain accompanied him, as he thought he knew his way by passages among the islands, although he had failed to recognise the place from the offing. " th. bad weather, blowing a gale of wind and raining nearly all the day. " th. a squally and disagreeable day; but our boats made some progress. " th. some natives came alongside for a short time. as usual, we would not allow them to come on board, because of their being such dexterous thieves. a man to whom the canoe appeared to belong was far better featured, and more stoutly made, than any we had seen among the fuegians. after bartering some of their very valuable property they left us. " th. early this morning mr. stokes returned: he had { } been near enough to hope harbour, to see that it was in the grafton islands, and was one of the coves examined by mr. murray. he then returned as he had been desired; but made very good use of his time while away, by collecting materials for the charts. he fell in with a canoe under sail (the sail being a seal-skin); the first instance i had then known of a fuegian canoe sailing. as far as mr. stokes could see to the northward, the land was very broken, or rather it was a mass of islands reaching to the base of a range of snowy mountains. "north cove is large enough to hold any vessel when moored; but the passage, in and out, is too narrow and difficult for a ship of more than three or four hundred tons, unless she uses warps. being on the weather side of high land, but sheltered by low islands, williwaws do not annoy during westerly winds; but in a southerly gale i think they would be furious. "my next task was to ascend mount skyring. as there was but little snow on it, and the ground quite clear of wood, the ascent was easy; but when at the summit i could not see far, because of low misty clouds. i had taken only a compass with me, intending to look round, and ascend a second time with my usual companion, a theodolite. after taking a few bearings, i moved the compass off its stand, and placed it on a stone; when, to my surprise, i found the bearing of a point, i had just been looking at, altered twenty degrees. suspecting the cause, i put it on another stone, a few feet distant, and found the bearing again altered many degrees. i then examined the stones, and found there was much pyrites in them;[ ] and that when broken, or struck against one another, they smelt strongly of sulphur. the compass was then replaced on its stand, and bearings of the same point taken from various spots, only a few feet apart, the point being many miles distant, and at each spot the compass gave a different bearing, and was very dull and sluggish, although it was a good kater's compass, with a light card. having thus satisfied myself of the very strong local attraction existing, i returned to the ship, { } intending to make no further use of a compass in this place; and as lieutenant skyring might have been deceived in his bearings from a similar cause, i hoped to procure a round of angles, with a theodolite set to a true bearing, which might be serviceable for his work, as well as my own. many pieces of the stone, from different heights, were brought down; and in most of them were traces of metal. "the peaked top of this mountain is a mere heap of loose stones of all sizes. whether the rock has been shattered in this manner by frost, by volcanic fire, or by lightning, i cannot tell; but i should think, from its appearance, by all three. many of the stones are vitrified, and many are porous, like pumice-stones, although not so light. " th. i again went up mount skyring, taking a theodolite with me; and as the day was perfectly clear, and free from clouds, every point of land was visible, which can at any time be seen from that summit. mount sarmiento appeared in all its grandeur, towering above the other mountains to at least twice their height, and entirely covered with snow. having set the theodolite to a painted post, fixed on shore near the beagle (five miles distant), from which i had previously obtained the exact astronomical bearing of the spot on which the theodolite was placed; i obtained a most satisfactory round of angles, including most of the remarkable peaks, islands, and capes, within a range of forty miles from the mountain. the day was so fine, that it was not cold on the height, nor was there any wind to disturb the adjustment of the instrument. "this business being completed, i returned on board with mr. wilson, who, during the time i was on the height, made some very good sketches. even at this early period his drawings were becoming a valuable addition to the gleanings of our cruise, and their number increased fast; for he took much pains with them, and produced not only good drawings, but most accurate delineations of the coast. " st. fine weather for this climate. mr. murray returned in the whale-boat, having had a successful trip. "by shooting and fishing we obtained frequent change of { } diet, for we shot much wild fowl (geese, shags, and ducks), and caught fish in the kelp, which were excellent eating. all that could be procured was regularly and equally distributed to the different messes in turn, and an account kept in a 'game book.' (appendix.) " d. mr. stokes went to examine fury harbour, and returned late at night. in consequence of his account of the remains of the saxe cobourg sealing schooner, lost in that harbour, i sent a boat with the carpenter to collect from it some wood and bolts which might be useful to our ship, and remained at anchor for a day longer than i had intended. "this day all hands were put upon two-thirds' allowance, but as it was a measure which affected the crew much and myself not at all, i was reluctant to give the necessary order, without first proposing the measure openly, and giving the following reasons:-- "having succeeded beyond expectation in the examination of the coast thus far, and hoping to be able to continue the survey in the same manner, while our provisions lasted, i thought it better to shorten the allowance while all hands were well and hearty, and could obtain supplies of fish and wild fowl, rather than at a later period, when we might be otherwise situated. an extent of coast lay before us, and the parts particularly pointed out by captain king, were yet unexamined. " th. a tolerably fine day; i tried all the compasses on shore, in three different places, placing them in a line to a distant mark; because in taking bearings, for the variation of the compass, during previous days, i had found very wide differences between the results of the same, as well as different compasses; and they were also very sluggish; the light cards being more so than the heavy ones. i found it impossible to reconcile their results by change of place or position, therefore it is probable that all the rock affected the needle; and i suspect that not only this island and the one on which mount skyring is situated, but most of the islands near are magnetic: particularly a cluster lying about a mile to seaward of the magill islands, on which, i believe, lieutenant skyring, or some of his party, took bearings. a boat was sent to { } watch the tide, on the day of new moon, at the entrance of the channel, and brought back a piece of the rock of which the last-mentioned cluster of islets consists. it is similar to that of fury island and mount skyring, apparently metallic, with a sulphureous smell, when struck or broken.[ ] small pieces put near the compass did not seem to affect it sensibly; but i did not spend time in trying the experiment with nicety, being satisfied of the general result. there may be metal in many of the fuegian mountains, and i much regret that no person in the vessel was skilled in mineralogy, or at all acquainted with geology. it is a pity that so good an opportunity of ascertaining the nature of the rocks and earths of these regions should have been almost lost. "i could not avoid often thinking of the talent and experience required for such scientific researches, of which we were wholly destitute; and inwardly resolving, that if ever i left england again on a similar expedition, i would endeavour to carry out a person qualified to examine the land; while the officers, and myself, would attend to hydrography." * * * * * { } chapter xxi. skyring's chart--noir island--penguins--fuegians--sarmiento--townshend harbour--horace peaks--cape desolation--boat lost--basket--search in desolate bay--natives--heavy gale--surprise--seizure--consequences-- return to beagle--sail to stewart harbour--set out again--escape of natives--unavailing search--discomforts--tides--nature of coast--doris cove--christmas sound--cook--york-minster--march harbour--build a boat-- treacherous rocks--skirmish with the natives--captives--boat-memory-- petrel. " th. we weighed, and went round to fury harbour, for the carpenter and his cargo, and met him with a spar and a raft of plank, taken from the wreck. having hoisted the boat up, and got the plank on board, we stood out towards the west furies, by the wind; my intention being either to sail round noir island, or anchor under it, before running to the eastward, in order that no part of the sea-coast might be left unexamined. we passed very near some of the rocks, but as the day was fine and the weather clear, a good look-out at the mast-head could be trusted. "before leaving the vicinity of mount skyring, i should remark that the true bearing of mount sarmiento's summit, which i obtained from the top of mount skyring, laid off on lieutenant skyring's chart, passed as truly through his position of the summit as if the line had been merely drawn between them. this is highly creditable to his work, for i know he did not himself see mount sarmiento, when upon mount skyring. "the breeze freshened, and drew more to the westward towards evening, i had therefore no hopes of nearing noir island. we saw the tower rocks distinctly before dark, and stood on towards them until ten o'clock, closing scylla to avoid charybdis, for in-shore of us lay all those scattered rocks, { } among which we had steered when passing the agnes islands and cape kempe. "the night was spent in making short boards, under reefed topsails, over the same two miles of ground, as nearly as possible, with the lead going, and a thoroughly good look-out. at daylight next morning the wind became strong and the weather thick, with rain, but we made as much sail as we could carry, and worked to windward all the day. in the afternoon it moderated, and before dark we anchored in a very good roadstead, at the east end of noir island, sheltered from all winds from n. to s.b.e. (by the west); over a clear, sandy bottom; and with a sheltered cove near us where boats may land easily, and get plenty of wood and water. in working up to the island, we passed very near a dangerous rock, under water, lying four miles off shore; and another, near the anchorage. the sea does not break on either of them when there is not much swell. " th. a fine day favoured us; the master went to one part of the island, and mr. stokes to another, while i went to a third. having taken angles at the extreme west point (which ends in a cluster of rocks like needles), i passed quite round the island, and returned to the anchorage after dusk, landing here and there for bearings, in my way. "there is a cove at the south part of the island, where boats would be perfectly safe in any weather, but the entrance is too narrow for decked vessels. the island itself is narrow and long, apparently the top of a ridge of mountains, and formed of sand-stone,[ ] which accounts for the bottom near it being so good, and for the needle-like appearance of the rocks at the west end; as the sand-stone, being very soft, is continually wearing away by the action of the water. "multitudes of penguins were swarming together in some parts of the island, among the bushes and 'tussac'[ ] near the shore, having gone there for the purposes of moulting and { } rearing their young. they were very valiant in self-defence, and ran open-mouthed, by dozens, at any one who invaded their territory, little knowing how soon a stick could scatter them on the ground. the young were good eating, but the others proved to be black and tough, when cooked. the manner in which they feed their young is curious, and rather amusing. the old bird gets on a little eminence, and makes a great noise (between quacking and braying), holding its head up in the air, as if it were haranguing the penguinnery, while the young one stands close to it, but a little lower. the old bird having continued its clatter for about a minute, puts its head down, and opens its mouth widely, into which the young one thrusts its head, and then appears to suck from the throat of its mother for a minute or two, after which the clatter is repeated, and the young one is again fed; this continues for about ten minutes. i observed some which were moulting make the same noise, and then apparently swallow what they thus supplied themselves with; so in this way i suppose they are furnished with subsistence during the time they cannot seek it in the water. many hair seal were seen about the island, and three were killed. wild fowl were very numerous. strange to say, traces of the fuegians (a wigwam, &c.) were found, which shows how far they will at times venture in their canoes. "no danger lies outside of noir island, except in the tower rocks, which are above water, and 'steep-to,' but many perils lie to the south-eastward. indeed, a worse place than the neighbourhood of cape kempe and the agnes islands could not often be found, i think: the chart of it, with all its stars to mark the rocks, looks like a map of part of the heavens, rather than part of the earth. " th. at daylight, we sailed from these roads, and passed close to the tower rocks (within half a cable's length): they are two only in number, a mile and a half apart, and steep-sided. thence we steered towards st. paul's, my intention being to seek an anchorage in that direction. this day proved very fine and so clear that when we were becalmed, off st. paul's, we saw mount sarmiento distinctly from the deck. a breeze { } carried us through pratt passage, which separates london island from sydney island, to an anchorage in a good harbour, under a high peaked hill (horace peaks), which is a good mark for it. finding no soundings in the passage as we approached, gave us reason to be anxious; but in the harbour, the bottom proved to be excellent, and the water only of a moderate depth. as soon as we anchored, i tried to ascend horace peaks, but returned without having reached their summits before dark; however, i saw enough to give me a general idea of the distribution of the land and water near us. i thought that this anchorage would be favourable for ascertaining the latitude of cape schomberg[ ] with exactness: having found a considerable difference between our chart and that of lieutenant skyring, respecting the latitude of that promontory. "meanwhile i contemplated sending the master to a headland called by cook, cape desolation, and which well deserves the name, being a high, craggy, barren range of land. i was not sorry to find myself in a safe anchorage, for the weather seemed lowering; and after being favoured with some moderate days, we could not but expect a share of wind and rain. " th. this morning the weather looked as if we should be repaid for the few fine days which we had enjoyed; but as we felt it necessary to work in bad weather as well as in good, it did not prevent the master from setting out on his way to cape desolation; near which, as a conspicuous headland, whose position would be of great consequence, he was to search for a harbour, and obtain observations for connecting the survey. he could not have been in a finer boat (a whale-boat built by mr. may, at san carlos); and as he well knew what to do with her, i did not feel uneasy for his safety, although after his departure the wind increased rapidly, and towards evening blew a hard gale. the barometer had not given so much warning as usual; but it had been falling gradually since our arrival in this harbour, and continued to fall. the sympiesometer had been more on the alert, and had fallen more rapidly. "( th.) a continued gale, with rain and thick weather { } throughout the day. during the night the weather became rather more moderate; but on the morning of the st, the wind again increased to a gale, and towards noon, the williwaws were so violent, that our small cutter, lying astern of the ship, was fairly capsized, though she had not even a mast standing. the ship herself careened, as if under a press of sail, sending all loose things to leeward with a general crash (not being secured for sea, while moored in so small a cove), but so rapidly did these blasts from the mountains pass by, that with a good scope of chain out, it was hardly strained to its utmost before the squall was over. while the gale was increasing, in the afternoon, the topmasts were struck; yet still, in the squalls, the vessel heeled many strakes when they caught her a-beam. at night they followed in such rapid succession, that if the holding-ground had not been excellent, and our ground-tackle very strong, we must have been driven on the rocks. "under the lee of high land is not the best anchorage in these regions. when good holding-ground can be found to windward of a height, and low land lies to windward of the anchorage, sufficient to break the sea, the place is much to be preferred; because the wind is steady and does not blow home against the height. the lee side of these heights is a great deal worse than the west side of gibraltar rock while the strongest levanter is blowing. "considering that this month corresponds to august in our climate, it is natural to compare them, and to think how hay and corn would prosper in a fuegian summer. as yet i have found no difference in tierra del fuego between summer and winter, excepting that in the former the days are longer, and the average temperature is perhaps ten degrees higher, but there is also then more wind and rain. "the gale still continued, and prevented any thing being done out of the ship. however safe a cove mr. murray might have found, his time, i knew, must be passing most irksomely, as he could not have moved about since the day he left us. he had a week's provisions, but with moderate weather would have returned in three days. { } "feb. d. still very squally and unsettled. this gale began at n.n.w., and drew round to s.s.w. much rain comes usually from the n.w. quarter; and as the wind draws southward, the weather becomes clearer. the squalls from the southern quarter bring a great deal of hail with them. " d. i was enabled to take a round of angles from horace peaks, over the ship, the sky being clear near the horizon. the theodolite had been left near the top since the th, each day having been too bad to use it. these peaked hills required time and exertion in the ascent; but the wide range of view obtained from their summits on a clear day, amply repaid us for both. if the height was sufficient, it gave a bird's-eye view of many leagues, and showed at a glance where channels lay, which were islands, and what was the nature of the surrounding land and water. the shattered state of all these peaks is remarkable: frost, i think, must be the chief cause. "after being deceived by the magnetism of mount skyring and other places, i never trusted the compass on a height, but always set up a mark near the water, at some distance, and from it obtained the astronomical bearing of my station at the summit. this afternoon we prepared the ship to proceed as soon as the master should arrive. " th. moderate weather. i was surprised that the master did not make his appearance; yet, having full confidence in his prudent management, and knowing that he had been all the time among islands, upon any one of which he could haul up his boat and remain in safety during the gales, i did not feel much anxiety, but supposed he was staying to take the necessary angles and observations, in which he had been delayed by the very bad weather we had lately experienced. "at three this morning ( th), i was called up to hear that the whale-boat was lost--stolen by the natives; and that her coxswain and two men had just reached the ship in a clumsy canoe, made like a large basket, of wicker-work covered with pieces of canvas, and lined with clay, very leaky, and difficult to paddle. they had been sent by the master, who, with the other people, was at the cove under cape desolation, where { } they stopped on the first day. their provisions were all consumed, two-thirds having been stolen with the boat, and the return of the natives, to plunder, and perhaps kill them, was expected daily. "the basket, i cannot call it a canoe, left the cape (now doubly deserving of its name) early on the morning of the th, and worked its way slowly and heavily amongst the islands, the men having only one biscuit each with them. they paddled all day, and the following night, until two o'clock this morning ( th), when in passing the cove where the ship lay, they heard one of our dogs bark, and found their way to us quite worn out by fatigue and hunger. not a moment was lost, my boat was immediately prepared, and i hastened away with a fortnight's provisions for eleven men, intending to relieve the master, and then go in search of the stolen boat. the weather was rainy, and the wind fresh and squally; but at eleven o'clock i reached the cove, having passed to seaward of the cape, and there found mr. murray anxiously, but doubtfully, awaiting my arrival. my first object, after inquiring into the business, was to scrutinize minutely the place where the boat had been moored, (for i could not believe that she had been stolen;) but i was soon convinced that she had been well secured in a perfectly safe place, and that she must, indeed, have been taken away, just before daylight, by the natives. her mast and sails, and part of the provisions were in her; but the men's clothes and the instruments had fortunately been landed. it was the usual custom with our boats, when away from the ship, to keep a watch at night; but this place appeared so isolated and desolate, that such a precaution did not seem necessary. had i been with the boat, i should probably have lost her in the same manner; for i only kept a watch when i thought there was occasion, as i would not harass the boat's crew unnecessarily; and on this exposed and sea-beaten island, i should not have suspected that indians would be found. it appeared that a party of them were living in two wigwams, in a little cove about a mile from that in which our boat lay, and must have seen her arrive; { } while their wigwams were so hidden as to escape the observation of the whale-boat's crew. at two o'clock on the first morning, mr. murray sent one of the men out of the tent to see if the boat rode well at her moorings in the cove, and he found her secure. at four another man went to look out, but she was then gone. the crew, doubtful what had been her fate, immediately spread about the shore of the island to seek for traces of her, and in their search they found the wigwams, evidently just deserted: the fire not being extinguished. this at once explained the mystery, and some proceeding along the shore, others went up on the hills to look for her in the offing; but all in vain. the next morning mr. murray began the basket, which was made chiefly by two of his men out of small boughs, and some parts of the tent, with a lining of clayey earth at the bottom. being on an island, about fifteen miles from the beagle, their plan was as necessary as it was ingenious: though certainly something more like a canoe than a coracle could have been paddled faster. "the chronometer, theodolite, and other instruments having been saved, mr. murray had made observations for fixing the position of the place, and had done all that was required before i arrived, when they embarked, with their things, in my boat, which then contained altogether eleven men, a fortnight's provisions, two tents,[ ] and clothing; yet with this load she travelled many a long mile, during the following week, a proof of the qualities of this five-oared whale-boat, which was also built by mr. jonathan may, our carpenter, while we were at san carlos. "the very first place we went to, a small island about two miles distant, convinced us still more decidedly of the fate of our lost boat, and gave us hopes of retrieving her; for near a lately used wigwam, we found her mast, part of which had been cut off with an axe that was in the boat. our next point was then to be considered, for to chase the thieves i was determined. north and east of us, as far as the eye could reach, lay an extensive { } bay in which were many islands, large and small; and westward was a more connected mass of large islands reaching, apparently, to the foot of that grand chain of snowy mountains, which runs eastward from the barbara channel, and over the midst of which sarmiento proudly towers. i resolved to trace the confines of the bay, from the west, towards the north and east, thinking it probable that the thieves would hasten to some secure cove, at a distance, rather than remain upon an outlying island, whence their retreat might be cut off. in the evening we met a canoe containing two fuegians, a man and a woman, who made us understand, by signs, that several canoes were gone to the northward. this raised our hopes, and we pushed on. the woman, just mentioned, was the best looking i have seen among the fuegians, and really well-featured: her voice was pleasing, and her manner neither so suspicious nor timid as that of the rest. though young she was uncommonly fat, and did justice to a diet of limpets and muscles. both she and her husband were perfectly naked. having searched the coves for some distance farther, night came on, and we landed in a sheltered spot. "the next day ( th), we found some rather doubtful traces of the thieves. towards night it blew a strong gale, with hail-squalls and rain. "on the th, at a place more than thirty miles e.n.e. of cape desolation, we fell in with a native family, and on searching their two canoes found our boat's lead line. this was a prize indeed; and we immediately took the man who had it into our boat, making him comprehend that he must show us where the people were, from whom he got it. he understood our meaning well enough, and following his guidance we reached a cove that afternoon, in which were two canoes full of women and children; but only one old man, and a lad of seventeen or eighteen. as usual with the fuegians, upon perceiving us they all ran away into the bushes, carrying off as much of their property as possible--returning again naked, and huddling together in a corner. after a minute search, some of the boat's gear was found, part of her sail, and { } an oar, the loom of which had been made into a seal-club, and the blade into a paddle. the axe, and the boat's tool-bag were also found, which convinced us that this was the resort of those who had stolen our boat; and that the women, six in number, were their wives. the men were probably absent, in our boat, on a sealing expedition; as a fine large canoe, made of fir-plank, perhaps from the wreck of the saxe cobourg, was lying on the beach without paddles or spears. she did not come there without paddles: and where were the spears of which every fuegian family has plenty? it was evident that the men of the party had taken them in our boat, and had cut up our oars like the one they had accidentally left. the women understood what we wanted, and made eager signs to explain to us where our boat was gone. i did not like to injure them, and only took away our own gear, and the young man, who came very readily, to show us where our boat was, and, with the man who had brought us to the place, squatted down in the boat apparently much pleased with some clothes and red caps, which were given to them. we had always behaved kindly to the fuegians wherever we met them, and did not yet know how to treat them as they deserved, although they had robbed us of so great a treasure, upon the recovery or loss of which much of the success of our voyage depended. following the guidance of these two natives, we pulled against wind and rain until dark, when it became absolutely necessary to secure our boat for the night, deeply laden as she was with thirteen people. as we were then at a great distance from the place, whence we brought the natives, having pulled for four hours alongshore, and as they seemed to be quite at their ease, and contented, i would not secure our guides as prisoners, but allowed them to lie by the fire in charge of the man on watch. about an hour before daylight, although the look-out man was only a few yards distant from the fire, they slipped into the bushes, and as it was almost dark were immediately out of sight. their escape was discovered directly, but to search for them during darkness, in a thick wood, would have been useless; besides, our men were tired with their day's work, and wanted rest, so { } i would not disturb them until daylight ( th), when we continued our search in the direction the natives had indicated; but after examining several coves without finding any traces of fuegians, we hastened back towards the wigwams we had visited on the previous day. sailing close along-shore, a large smoke suddenly rose up, out of a small cove close by us, where we immediately landed, and looked all round; but found only the foot-prints of two fuegians, probably the runaways, who had just succeeded in lighting a fire at the moment we passed by. this shows how quickly they find materials for the purpose, for when they left us, they had neither iron nor fire-stone (pyrites), nor any kind of tinder. they had carried off two tarpaulin coats, which mr. murray had kindly put on to keep them warm; although, treated as he had so lately been, one might have thought he would not have been the first to care for their comfort. i mention these incidents to show what was our behaviour to these savages, and that no wanton cruelty was exercised towards them. "after looking for these two natives, and for mr. murray's coats, which at that time he could ill spare, we returned to our boat, and pushed on towards the wigwams. the moment the inmates saw us, they ran away, and we gave chase, trying, in vain, to make them stop. disappointed in the hope of obtaining a guide, we determined to prevent these people from escaping far, and spreading any intelligence likely to impede the return of our boat, which we daily expected: we therefore destroyed two canoes, and part of a third, that the natives were building, and burned every material which could be useful to them in making another canoe. "( th). next day, we went straight across the bay to cape desolation, against a fresh breeze: by pulling in turns, the boat was kept going fast through the water, and late in the evening we reached the cove from which the thieves had first started, when they stole the boat; but no traces of their having been there again, were found. i thought it probable that they would return to see what had become of our party, and whether our people were weak enough to be plundered again, or perhaps attacked. { } "this idea proving wrong, we retraced ( th) much of our former course, because the direction pointed out by the fuegians who ran away from us seemed to lead towards the place we now steered for, courtenay sound, and was a probable line for the thieves to take. during the night it blew a gale from the southward, which increased next day ( th), and became more and more violent until the morning of the th, when it abated. "we continued our search, however, sometimes under a close-reefed sail; sometimes on our oars, and sometimes scudding with only the mast up. although the wind was very violent, too strong for a close reefed sail (with four reefs), the water was too much confined by islands to rise into a sea, but it was blown, as 'spoon drift,' in all directions. this day the beagle had her topmasts and lower yards struck, for the gale was extremely heavy where she lay. the barometer foretold it very well, falling more than i had previously seen, although the wind was southerly. in an exposed anchorage, i do not think any vessel could have rode it out, however good the holding ground. " th. this morning the weather was better, and improving fast. we went over much ground without the smallest success, and in the afternoon steered to the eastward again, for a third visit to the boat stealers' family. as it was late when we approached the place, i landed half our party, and with the rest went to reconnoitre. after a long search we discovered the indians in a cove, at some distance from that in which they were on the previous day; and having ascertained this point, taken a good view of the ground, and formed our plans, we returned to our companions, and prepared for surprising the natives and making them prisoners. my wish was to surround them unawares, and take as many as possible, to be kept as hostages for the return of our boat, or else to make them show us where she was; and, meanwhile, it was an object to prevent any from escaping to give the alarm. " th. whether the men belonging to the tribe had returned during our absence, was uncertain, as we could not, { } without risk of discovery, get near enough to ascertain: but, in case we should find them, we went armed, each with a pistol or gun, a cutlass, and a piece of rope to secure a prisoner. we landed at some distance from the cove, and, leaving two men with our boat, crept quietly through the bushes for a long distance round, until we were quite at the back of the new wigwams; then closing gradually in a circle, we reached almost to the spot undiscovered; but their dogs winded us, and all at once ran towards us barking loudly. further concealment was impossible, so we rushed on as fast as we could through the bushes. at first the indians began to run away; but hearing us shout on both sides, some tried to hide themselves, by squatting under the banks of a stream of water. the foremost of our party, elsmore by name, in jumping across this stream, slipped, and fell in just where two men and a woman were concealed: they instantly attacked him, trying to hold him down and beat out his brains with stones; and before any one could assist him, he had received several severe blows, and one eye was almost destroyed, by a dangerous stroke near the temple. mr. murray, seeing the man's danger, fired at one of the fuegians, who staggered back and let elsmore escape; but immediately recovering himself, picked up stones from the bed of the stream, or was supplied with them by those who stood close to him, and threw them from each hand with astonishing force and precision. his first stone struck the master with much force, broke a powder-horn hung round his neck, and nearly knocked him backwards: and two others were thrown so truly at the heads of those nearest him, that they barely saved themselves by dropping down. all this passed in a few seconds, so quick was he with each hand: but, poor fellow, it was his last struggle; unfortunately he was mortally wounded, and, throwing one more stone, he fell against the bank and expired. after some struggling, and a few hard blows, those who tried to secrete themselves were taken, but several who ran away along the beach escaped: so strong and stout were the females, that i, for one, had no idea that it was a woman, whose arms i and my coxswain endeavoured to pinion, until i heard some { } one say so. the oldest woman of the tribe was so powerful, that two of the strongest men of our party could scarcely pull her out from under the bank of the stream. the man who was shot was one of those whom we had taken in the boat as a guide, and the other was among our prisoners. mr. murray's coats were found in the wigwams divided into wrappers to throw over the shoulders. we embarked the indians (two men, three women, and six children), and returned to the spot where we had passed the preceding night. one man who escaped was a one-eyed man we had seen before; he was more active than any, and soon out of our reach. two or three others escaped with him, whom i did not see distinctly. "that a life should have been lost in the struggle, i lament deeply; but if the fuegian had not been shot at that moment, his next blow might have killed elsmore, who was almost under water, and more than half stunned, for he had scarcely sense to struggle away, upon feeling the man's grasp relax. when fairly embarked, and before we asked any questions, the natives seemed very anxious to tell us where our boat was; but pointed in a direction quite opposite to that which they had previously shown us. we guarded them carefully through the night, and next morning ( th) set out upon our return to the beagle, with twenty-two souls in the boat. my object was, to put them in security on board, run down the coast with the ship to some harbour more to the eastward, and then set out again upon another search; carrying some of my prisoners as guides, and leaving the rest on board to ensure the former remaining, and not deceiving us. we made tolerable progress, though the boat was so over-loaded, and on the th reached the beagle with our living cargo. in our way we fell in with a family of natives, whose wigwams and canoes we searched; but finding none of our property, we left them not only unmolested, but gave them a few things, which in their eyes were valuable. "this conduct appeared to surprise our prisoners, who, as far as we could make out, received a wholesome lecture, instead { } of assistance, from the strangers. at all events, when they parted, our passengers were as discontented as the others were cheerful. when we got on board, we fed our prisoners with fat pork and shell-fish, which they liked better than any thing else, and clothed them with old blankets.[ ] "next morning ( th) we weighed, and sailed along the coast towards cape castlereagh, at the east side of desolate bay. many straggling rocks and rocky islets were observed lying off cape desolation and in the bay. that afternoon, we stood into a narrow opening, which appeared to be the outlet of a harbour close to cape castlereagh, and found a very good anchorage, well suited for the purposes both of continuing the survey and looking for the lost boat. "( th.) the master and i, with the cutter and a whale-boat, set out upon a second chase, taking a week's provisions. in the first cove i searched, not two miles from the beagle, i found a piece of the boat's lead-line, which had been left in a lately deserted wigwam. this raised our hopes; and, in addition to the signs made by our prisoners, convinced us we were on the right track. "i took with me a young man as a guide, and in the cutter the master carried the two stoutest of the women, having left all the rest of our prisoners on board. as far as we could make out, they appeared to understand perfectly that their safety and future freedom depended upon their showing us where to find the boat. "we intended to go round the stewart islands; and after examining many coves, and finding signs that a party of natives had passed along the same route within the last two days, we stopped in a sheltered place for the night. having given our prisoners as much food as they could eat, muscles, limpets, and pork, we let them lie down close to the fire, all three together. i would not tie them, neither did i think it necessary to keep an unusual watch, supposing that their children being { } left in our vessel was a security for the mothers far stronger than rope or iron. i kept watch myself during the first part of the night, as the men were tired by pulling all day, and incautiously allowed the fuegians to lie between the fire and the bushes, having covered them up so snugly, with old blankets and my own poncho, that their bodies were entirely hidden. about midnight, while standing on the opposite side of the fire, looking at the boats, with my back to the fuegians, i heard a rustling noise, and turned round; but seeing the heap of blankets unmoved, satisfied me, and i stooped down to the fire to look at my watch. at this moment, another rustle, and my dog jumping up and barking, told me that the natives had escaped. still the blankets looked the same, for they were artfully propped up by bushes. all our party began immediately to search for them; but as the night was quite dark, and there was a thick wood close to us, our exertions were unavailing. "believing that we could not be far from the place where the natives supposed our boat to be, i thought that they would go directly and warn their people of our approach; and as the island was narrow, though long, a very little travelling would take them across to the part they had pointed out to us, while it might take a boat a considerable time to go round; i therefore started immediately to continue the search in that direction, and left the master to examine every place near our tents. "in the afternoon of the same day i returned to him, having traversed a long extent of coast without finding an outlet to sea-ward, or any traces of the lost boat. meanwhile mr. murray had searched every place near our bivouac without success; but he found the spot where the fuegians had concealed themselves during the night, under the roots of a large tree, only a dozen yards from our fire. "as it was possible that the thieves might have returned to the place whence we had taken the natives, i desired the master to cross the sound and go there, and afterwards return to meet me, while i continued the search eastward. with a fair and fresh wind i made a good run that evening, found a { } passage opening to the sea,[ ] and a wigwam just deserted. here was cause for hope; and seeing, beyond the passage, some large islands lying to seaward of that which we had been coasting, it appeared probable that our boat had been taken there for seal-fishing. our prisoners had given us to understand plainly enough that such was the object of those who had stolen her, and outlying islands were the most likely to be visited, as on them most seal are found. "next day ( th) i passed over to gilbert island, and in a cove found such recent marks of natives, that i felt sure of coming up with the chase in the course of the day. when the fuegians stop anywhere, they generally bark a few trees, to repair their canoes or cover their wigwams; but those whose traces we were following, had made long journeys without stopping; and, where they did stay, barked no trees, which was one reason for supposing them to be the party in our boat. in the course of the day we pulled nearly round the islands,[ ] looking into every cove. "on the th, we discovered three small canoes with their owners in a cove.[ ] all the men ran away, except two. as we saw that there were no more persons than the canoes required, we did not try to catch them, knowing that this could not be the party we were in search of. we had now examined every nook and corner about these islands, and i began to give up all hope of finding our boat in this direction. having no clue to guide me farther, and much time having been lost, i reluctantly decided to return to the beagle. our only remaining hope, that the master might have met with the boat, was but very feeble. "( st.) all this day we were pulling to the westward, to regain the beagle. at night-fall i met mr. murray, with the cutter, in the cove where i had appointed a rendezvous. he had not found any signs of the boat upon the opposite shore, and therefore returned; but he saw the people who had escaped from us when we surprised the whole family. they fled as soon as his boat was seen. leaving, therefore, three men to { } watch in the bushes, he stood out to sea in the boat; and the stratagem succeeded sufficiently to enable our men to get very near to the natives, but not to catch any of them. one old man squinted very much, and in other respects exactly answered the description of a fuegian who ill-treated some of the saxe-cobourg's crew, when they were cast away in fury harbour. i wish we could have secured him; but he was always on the alert, and too nimble for our people. in their canoe, which was taken, was found the sleeve of mr. murray's tarpaulin coat, a proof that these people belonged to the tribe which had stolen our boat. the canoe was a wretchedly patched affair, evidently put together in a great hurry. "next morning ( d) the master and i set out on our return to the beagle; but seeing a great smoke on the opposite shore, in thieves' sound, i thought it must be made by the offenders, who, having returned and found their home desolate, were making signals to discover where their family was gone: sending the cutter therefore on board, i pulled across the sound towards the smoke. as the distance was long, and the wind fresh against us, it was late before i arrived; yet the smoke rose as thickly as ever, exciting our expectations to the utmost:--but, to our disappointment, not a living creature could be seen near the fire, nor could any traces of natives be found. the fire must have been kindled in the morning, and as the weather was dry, had continued to burn all day. "we were then just as much at a loss as ever, for probably (if that was the party), they had seen us, and would, for the future, be doubly watchful. at first we had a chance of coming upon them unawares, but the time for that had passed: every canoe in the sound had been examined, and all its inhabitants knew well what we were seeking. "it blew too strong, and it was too late, to recross whale-boat sound that night, so i ascended a height to look round. next morning ( d) we again searched many miles of the shores of thieves' sound without any success; and afterwards sailed across to stewart harbour. we reached the beagle in the evening, but found that all the other prisoners, excepting { } three children, had escaped by swimming ashore during the preceding night. thus, after much trouble and anxiety, much valuable time lost, and as fine a boat of her kind as ever was seen being stolen from us by these savages, i found myself with three young children to take care of, and no prospect whatever of recovering the boat. it was very hard work for the boats' crews, for during the first ten days we had incessant rainy weather, with gales of wind; and though the last few days had been uncommonly fine, the men's exertions in pulling about among the coves, and in ascending hills, had been extremely fatiguing. "while the bad weather lasted, the men's clothes were seldom dry, either by day or night. frequently they were soaked by rain during the greater part of the day, and at night they were in no better condition; for although a large fire (when made) might dry one side, the other as quickly became wet. obliged, as we were, to pitch our small tent close to the water in order to be near our boat;--and because every other place was either rocky or covered with wood;--we were more than once awakened out of a sound sleep by finding that we were lying partly in the water, the night-tide having risen very much above that of the preceding day: although the tides should have been at that time 'taking off' (diminishing). "sometimes extreme difficulty was found in lighting a fire, because every thing was saturated with moisture; and hours have been passed in vain attempts, while every one was shivering with cold,--having no shelter from the pouring rain,--and after having been cramped in a small boat during the whole day. "in courtenay sound i saw many nests of shags (corvorants) among the branches of trees near the water: until then, i had understood that those birds usually, if not invariably, built their nests on the ground or in cliffs. "much time had certainly been spent in this search, yet it ought not to be considered as altogether lost. mr. stokes had been hard at work during my absence, making plans of the harbours, and taking observations, and i am happy to say, that { } i had reason to place great confidence in his work, for he had always taken the utmost pains, and had been most careful. my wanderings had shown me that from the apparent sea coast to the base of that snowy chain of mountains which runs eastward from the barbara channel, there is much more water than land, and that a number of islands, lying near together, form the apparently connected coast; within which a wide sound-like passage extends, opening in places into bays and gulfs, where islands, islets, rocks and breakers, are very numerous. these waters wash the foot of the snowy chain which forms a continued barrier from the barbara channel to the strait of le maire. this cruise had also given me more insight into the real character of the fuegians, than i had then acquired by other means, and gave us all a severe warning which might prove very useful at a future day, when among more numerous tribes who would not be contented with a boat alone. considering the extent of coast we had already examined, we ought to be thankful for having experienced no other disaster of any kind, and for having had the means of replacing this loss. "i became convinced that so long as we were ignorant of the fuegian language, and the natives were equally ignorant of ours, we should never know much about them, or the interior of their country; nor would there be the slightest chance of their being raised one step above the low place which they then held in our estimation. their words seemed to be short, but to have many meanings, and their pronunciation was harsh and guttural. "stewart harbour, in which the beagle remained during the last boat cruise, proved to be a good one, and, having three outlets, may be entered or quitted with any wind, and without warping. wood and water are as abundant as in other fuegian harbours; and it may be easily known by the remarkable appearance of cape castlereagh, which is on the island that shelters the anchorage from the s.w. wind and sea. the outlets are narrow, and can only be passed with a leading wind; but if one does not serve, another will answer. it should be { } noticed, that there are two rocks nearly in the middle of the harbour, which are just awash at high water. a heavy swell is generally found outside, owing to the comparatively shallow water, in which there are soundings to about three miles from the cape. in the entrances are from ten to twenty fathoms, therefore if the wind should baffle, or fail, an anchor may be dropped at any moment. "in my last search among the gilbert islands, i found a good harbour for shipping, conveniently situated for carrying on the survey, in a place which otherwise i should certainly have overlooked: and to that harbour i decided on proceeding. "for two miles to the eastward of stewart harbour, the shore projects, and is rocky and broken, then it retreats, forming a large bay, in which are the gilbert islands, and many rocky islets. we passed between gilbert and stewart islands, anchored at noon under a point at the west entrance of the passage, and in the afternoon moved the beagle to doris cove, and there moored her. "i had decided to build another boat as quickly as possible, for i found it so much the best way to anchor the vessel in a safe place and then work with the boats on each side, that another good one was most necessary. our cutter required too many men, and was neither so handy, nor could she pull to windward so well as a whale-boat; and our small boat was only fit for harbour duty. the weather on this coast was generally so thick and blowing, as not to admit of any thing like exact surveying while the vessel was under sail: the swell alone being usually too high to allow of a bearing being taken within six or eight degrees: and the sun we seldom saw. if caught by one of the very frequent gales, we might have been blown so far to the eastward that i know not how much time would have been lost in trying to regain our position. these coasts, which are composed of islands, allow boats to go a long distance in safety, and, from the heights near the sea, rocks and breakers may be seen, and their places ascertained, much better than can possibly be done at sea. for building a new boat we had all the materials on board, except prepared plank; and for this we cut up a spare spar, which was intended to supply the place of a defective or injured lower mast or bowsprit. with reluctance this fine spar, which had been the doris's main-topmast, was condemned to the teeth of the saw; but i felt certain that the boat mr. may would produce from it, would be valuable in any part of the world, and that for our voyage it was indispensable. [illustration: cape horn.] [illustration: cape horn.] [illustration: cape spencer and cape horn.] [illustration: st francis bay and entrance of st martin cove. ([two birds] kater peak)] [illustration: york minster.] [illustration: false cape horn.] [illustration: cape noir.] [illustration: cape noir.] [illustration: w. w. wilson s. bull south west opening of cockburn channel. ([one bird] mount skyring) published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } "profiting by a clear day, i went to a height in the neighbourhood, whence i could see to a great distance in-shore, as well as along the coast, and got a view of mount sarmiento. while away from the beagle, in search of the lost boat, we had enjoyed four succeeding days of fine weather, during which that noble mountain had been often seen by our party. the astronomical bearing of its summit was very useful in connecting this coast survey with that of the strait of magalhaens. " th and th. mr. murray went to the s.w. part of the island, taking three days' provisions. mr. stokes and i were employed near the ship, while every man who could use carpenter's tools was occupied in preparing materials for our new boat. the rock near here is greenstone, in which are many veins of pyrites. specimens are deposited in the museum of the geological society. " th. weighed, warped to windward, and made sail out of adventure passage. i was very anxious to reach christmas sound, because it seemed to me a good situation for the beagle, while the boats could go east and west of her, and the new boat might be built. running along the land, before a fresh breeze, we soon saw york minster, and in the evening entered christmas sound, and anchored in the very spot where the adventure lay when cook was here. his sketch of the sound, and description of york minster, are very good, and quite enough to guide a ship to the anchoring place. i fancied that the high part of the minster must have crumbled away since he saw it, as it no longer resembled 'two towers,' but had a ragged, notched summit, when seen from the westward. it was some satisfaction to find ourselves at anchor at this spot in { } february, notwithstanding the vexatious delays we had so often experienced. "as we had not sufficiently examined the coast between this sound and gilbert islands, i proposed sending mr. murray there with the cutter, while i should go to the eastward, during which time our new boat would be finished. " st march. this morning i went to look for a better anchorage for our vessel, that in which we lay being rather exposed, and very small. neither pickersgill cove nor port clerke suited; so i looked further, and found another harbour, nearer to york minster, easier of access for a ship arriving from sea, and with a cove in one corner where a vessel could lie in security, close to a woody point. having sounded this harbour, i returned to move our ship. cook says, speaking of port clerke, 'south of this inlet is another, which i did not examine:'--and into that inlet, named march harbour, the beagle prepared to go, but before we could weigh and work to windward, the weather became bad, which made our passage round the n.w. end of shag island rather difficult, as we had to contend with squalls, rain, and a narrow passage between rocks. the passage between waterman island and the south end of shag island is more roomy; but there is a rock near the middle which had not then been examined. we worked up to the innermost part of the harbour, and moored close to a woody point, in the most sheltered cove. finding this to be a very convenient spot for building our boat, and in every point of view a good place for passing part of the month of march, i decided to keep the beagle here for that purpose. this harbour might be useful to other vessels, its situation being well pointed out by york minster (one of the most remarkable promontories on the coast), and affording wood and water with as little trouble as any place in which the beagle had anchored. "march d. the master set out in the large cutter, with a fortnight's provisions, to examine the coast between the north part of christmas sound and point alikhoolip, near which we passed on the th, without seeing much of it. with { } moderate weather and a little sunshine, he might have been expected to return in a week or ten days. he carried a chronometer and other necessary instruments. two of the three children, left by their mother at stewart harbour, i sent with mr. murray, to be left with any fuegians he might find most to the westward, whence they would soon find their friends. the third, who was about eight years old, was still with us: she seemed to be so happy and healthy, that i determined to detain her as a hostage for the stolen boat, and try to teach her english. lieutenant kempe built a temporary house for the carpenters, and other workmen, near the ship and the spot chosen for observations, so that all our little establishment was close together. the greater part of the boat's materials being already prepared, she was not expected to be long in building, under the able direction and assistance of mr. may. " d. some fuegians in a canoe approached us this morning, seeming anxious to come on board. i had no wish for their company, and was sorry to see that they had found us out; for it was to be expected that they would soon pay us nightly as well as daily visits, and steal every thing left within their reach. having made signs for them to leave us, without effect, i sent mr. wilson to drive them away, and fire a pistol over their heads, to frighten them. they then went back, but only round a point of land near the ship; so i sent the boat again to drive them out of the harbour, and deter them from paying us another visit. reflecting, while mr. wilson was following them, that by getting one of these natives on board, there would be a chance of his learning enough english to be an interpreter, and that by his means we might recover our lost boat, i resolved to take the youngest man on board, as he, in all probability, had less strong ties to bind him to his people than others who were older, and might have families. with these ideas i went after them, and hauling their canoe alongside of my boat, told a young man to come into it; he did so, quite unconcernedly, and sat down, apparently contented and at his ease. the others said nothing, either to me or to him, but paddled out of the harbour as fast as they could. { } they seemed to belong to the same tribe as those we had last seen. " th. this afternoon our boat's keel was laid down, and her moulds were set up. fuegia basket[ ] told 'york minster'[ ] all her story; at some parts of which he laughed heartily. fuegia, cleaned and dressed, was much improved in appearance: she was already a pet on the lower deck, and appeared to be quite contented. york minster was sullen at first, yet his appetite did not fail; and whatever he received more than he could eat, he stowed away in a corner; but as soon as he was well cleaned and clothed, and allowed to go about where he liked in the vessel, he became much more cheerful. "at cape castlereagh and the heights over doris cove in gilbert island, the rock seemed to contain so much metal, that i spent the greater part of one day in trying experiments on pieces of it, with a blowpipe and mercury. by pounding and washing i separated about a tea-spoonful of metal from a piece of rock (taken at random) the size of a small cup. i put the powder by carefully, with some specimens of the rock--thinking that some of these otherwise barren mountains might be rich in metals. it would not be in conformity with most other parts of the world were the tract of mountainous islands composing the archipelago of tierra del fuego condemned to internal as well as external unprofitableness. from the nature of the climate agriculture could seldom succeed; and perhaps no quadrupeds fit for man's use, except goats and dogs, could thrive in it: externally too, the land is unfit for the use of civilized man. in a few years its shores will be destitute of seal: and then, what benefit will be derived from it?--unless it prove internally rich, not in gold or silver, but perhaps in copper, iron, or other metals. " th. this day all hands were put on full allowance, our savings since we left san carlos having secured a sufficient { } stock of provisions to last more than the time allotted for the remainder of our solitary cruise. "by using substitutes for the mens' shoes, made of sealskin, we secured enough to last as long as we should want them. i have never mentioned the state of our sick list, because it was always so trifling. there had been very little doing in the surgeon's department; nothing indeed of consequence, since mr. murray dislocated his shoulder. "the promontory of york minster is a black irregularly-shaped rocky cliff, eight hundred feet in height, rising almost perpendicularly from the sea. it is nearly the loftiest as well as the most projecting part of the land about christmas sound, which, generally speaking, is not near so high as that further west, but it is very barren. granite is prevalent, and i could find no sandstone. coming from the westward, we thought the heights about here inconsiderable; but cook, coming from the south sea, called them 'high and savage.' had he made the land nearer the barbara channel, where the mountains are much higher, he would have spoken still more strongly of the wild and disagreeable appearance of the coast. " th. during the past night it blew very hard, making our vessel jerk her cables with unusual violence, though we had a good scope out, and the water was perfectly smooth. we saw that the best bower-anchor had been dragged some distance, it was therefore hove to the bows when its stock was found to be broken, by a rock, in the midst of good ground, having caught the anchor. it had been obtained at san carlos from a merchant brig, but being much too light for our vessel, had been woulded round with chains to give it weight: its place was taken by a frigate's stream-anchor, well made and well tried, which i had procured from valparaiso.[ ] in shifting our berth, the small bower chain was found to be so firmly fixed round another rock that for several hours we could not clear it. such rocks as these are very treacherous and not easily detected, except by sweeping the bottom with a line and weights. a very { } heavy squall, with lightning and thunder, passed over the ship this afternoon, depressing the sympiesometer more than i had ever witnessed. very heavy rain followed. " th. in the forenoon i was on a height taking angles, when a large smoke was made by natives on a point at the entrance of the harbour; and at my return on board the ship, i found that two canoes had been seen, which appeared to be full of people. supposing that they were strangers, i went in a small boat with two men to see them, and find out if they possessed any thing obtained from our lost whale-boat, for i thought it probable she might have been taken along the coast eastward, to elude our pursuit. i found them in a cove very near where our carpenters were at work. they had just landed, and were breaking boughs from the trees. i was surprised to see rather a large party, about fourteen in number, all of whom seemed to be men, except two women who were keeping the canoes. they wanted me to go to them, but i remained at a little distance, holding up bits of iron and knives, to induce them to come to me, for on the water we were less unequal to them. they were getting very bold and threatening in their manner, and i think would have tried to seize me and my boat, had not lieutenant kempe come into the cove with six men in the cutter, when their manner altered directly, and they began to consult together. they were at this time on a rock rising abruptly from the water, and the canoes, which i wanted to search, were at the foot of the rock. under such local disadvantages i could not persevere without arms, for they had stones, slings, and spears, ready in their hands. lieutenant kempe and myself then returned on board for arms and more men, for i resolved to drive them out of the harbour, as it was absolutely necessary. already they, or their countrymen, had robbed us of a boat, and endangered the lives of several persons; and had they been allowed to remain near us, the loss of that part of another boat which was already built would have followed, besides many things belonging to the carpenters and armourer, which they were using daily on shore. "another motive for searching the canoes, arose from { } seeing so many men without women, for i concluded that some of the whale-boat thieves were among them, who, having seen our cutter go to the westward full of people, might suppose we had not many left on board: one boat's crew, as they perhaps imagined, being left on an island, and another away in search of them. they had hitherto seen only merchant-vessels on this coast, and judging of the number of a crew by them, might think there could not be many persons on board, and that the vessel would be easy to take. at all events they came prepared for war, being much painted, wearing white bands on their heads, carrying their slings and spears, and having left all their children and dogs, with most of their women, in some other place. "two boats being manned and armed, i went with lieut. kempe and mr. wilson to chase the fuegians, who were paddling towards another part of the harbour. seeing the boats approaching, they landed and got on the top of a rock, leaving the canoes underneath with the two women. from their manner i saw they were disposed to be hostile, and we therefore approached leisurely. their canoes being within our reach, i told the bowman to haul one alongside that we might search it; but no sooner did his boathook touch it, than a shower of stones of all sizes came upon us, and one man was knocked down, apparently killed, by the blow of a large stone on the temple. we returned their volley with our fire-arms, but i believe without hitting one of them. stones and balls continued to be exchanged till the cutter came to our assistance. the fuegians then got behind a rock, where we could not see them, and kept close. their canoes we took, and finding in them some bottles[ ] and part of our lost boat's gear, we destroyed them. the man of my crew who was knocked down by a stone was only stunned, and soon recovered, but the blow was very severe and dangerous. not choosing to risk any further injury to our people, and seeing no object to be gained, i would not land, though our numbers were much superior, and we had { } fire-arms. it appeared that the savages knew of no alternative but escape or death, and that in trying to take them they would certainly do material injury to some of our party with their spears, stones, or large knives made of pieces of iron hoops. remaining therefore with lieut. kempe, in the cutter, to watch their motions, i sent my boat on board with the man who was hurt. the fuegians made their escape separately through the bushes, and were quickly out of sight and reach: we fired a few shots to frighten them, watched their retreat over the barren upper part of the hills, and then went to look for their wigwams, which could not be far distant, as i thought; but after unsuccessfully searching all the coves near us, a smoke was seen at the opposite side of the sound, on one of the whittlebury islands; so concluding it was made by the rest of their tribe, and being late, i returned on board. " th. at daylight, next morning, i went to look for the wigwams, on the whittlebury islands, at the north side of the sound: we saw their smoke when we were half-way across, but no longer. the natives had probably seen us, and put out their fire directly, well knowing the difference between our boat and their own canoes, and noticing her coming from a part of the sound distant from the point whence they would expect their own people, and crossing over against a fresh breeze, which a canoe could not attempt to do. the wigwams were entirely deserted, and almost every thing was taken away; but near their huts a piece of 'king's white line,' quite new, was picked up; therefore our boat[ ] had been there, or these were some of the people who stole her. for the late inmates of the wigwams we searched in vain--only their dogs remained, they themselves being hidden. looking round on the other side of that islet, we saw two canoes paddling right away from the islands, though it was blowing a fresh breeze, and a considerable sea was running. knowing, from the place they were in, and their course, that they were the fugitives from the wigwams, we gave chase, and came up with them before { } they could land, but so close to the shore that while securing one canoe, the other escaped. from that which we seized a young man and a girl jumped overboard, deserting an old woman and a child, whom we left in order to chase the young man; but he was so active in the water that it was fully a quarter of an hour before we could get him into our boat. having at last secured him, we followed the others, but they had all landed and hidden, so we returned across the sound with our captive. in our way a smoke was seen in a cove of waterman island, and knowing that it must be made by those who escaped us yesterday, as there were no other natives there, we made sail for it; but the rogues saw us, and put out their fire. when we reached the spot, however, we found two wigwams just built, and covered with bark; so that there they had passed the night after their skirmish. i would not let any one land, as the fuegians might be lurking in the bushes, and might be too much for two or three of us on shore,--but left the place. they would think us gone for more boats, as at the former meeting, and would shift their quarters immediately; so by thus harassing them, i hoped to be freed from any more of their visits while we remained in the neighbourhood. "the bodily strength of these savages is very great ('york minster' is as strong as any two of our stoutest men), which, with their agility, both on shore and in the water, and their quickness in attack and defence with stones and sticks, makes them difficult to deal with when out of their canoes. they are a brave, hardy race, and fight to the last struggle; though in the manner of a wild beast, it must be owned, else they would not, when excited, defy a whole boat's crew, and, single-handed, try to kill the men; as i have witnessed. that kindness towards these beings, and good treatment of them, is as yet useless, i almost think, both from my own experience and from much that i have heard of their conduct to sealing vessels. until a mutual understanding can be established, moral fear is the only means by which they can be kept peaceable. as they see only vessels which when their boats are away have { } but a few people on board, their idea of the power of europeans is very poor, and their dread of fire arms not nearly so great as might be imagined. "from this cove we returned to the beagle. my fuegian captive, whom i named 'boat memory,' seemed frightened, but not low-spirited; he eat enormously, and soon fell fast asleep. the meeting between him and york minster was very tame, for, at first, they would not appear to recognise or speak to each other. 'boat' was the best-featured fuegian i had seen, and being young and well made, was a very favourable specimen of the race: 'york' was one of the stoutest men i had observed among them; but little fuegia was almost as broad as she was high: she seemed to be so merry and happy, that i do not think she would willingly have quitted us. three natives of tierra del fuego, better suited for the purpose of instruction, and for giving, as well as receiving information, could not, i think, have been found. " th. this morning, having been well cleaned and dressed, 'boat' appeared contented and easy; and being together, kept york and him in better spirits than they would probably otherwise have been, for they laughed, and tried to talk, by imitating whatever was said. fuegia soon began to learn english, and to say several things very well. she laughed and talked with her countrymen incessantly. " th. some evenings, at dusk, i observed large flights of birds, of the petrel kind, skimming over the sea (like swallows), as if in chase of insects. these birds were black, about the size of a 'cape pigeon.' we tried to shoot one, but did not succeed." * * * * * { } chapter xxii. mr. murray returns--go to new year sound--see diego ramirez islands from henderson island--weddell's indian cove--sympiesometer--return to christmas sound--beagle sails--passes the ildefonso and diego ramirez islands--anchors in nassau bay--orange bay--yapoos--mr. murray discovers the beagle channel--numerous natives--guanacoes--compasses affected--cape horn--specimens--chanticleer--mistake about st. francis bay--diego ramirez islands climate--san joachim cove--barnevelt isles--evouts isle-- lennox harbour. " th. this morning the master returned, having succeeded in tracing the coast far enough to join our former work, although the weather had been very unfavourable. he met with many fuegians, most of whom were armed with slings, spears, and cutting weapons made with pieces of iron hoop fastened on a stick. they were very troublesome, especially at night, and obliged him to keep them at a distance. their respect for a musket was not so great as might have been expected, and unless they saw it tolerably close, and pointed directly at them, they cared not. the boat's crew bought some fish from them, for buttons and other trifles. from forty to fifty men, besides women and children, were seen in one place alone; and many were met elsewhere. "mr. murray penetrated nearly to the base of the snow-covered mountains, which extend to the eastward in an unbroken chain, and ascertained that there are passages leading from christmas sound to the large bay where the whale-boat was stolen; and that they run near the foot of the mountains. he also saw a channel leading farther to the eastward than eye-sight could reach, whose average width seemed to be about a mile. he left the two children in charge of an old woman whom they met near the westernmost part which his party reached, who appeared to know them well, and to be very much pleased at having them placed in her care. " th. raining and blowing:--as usual, i might say. when { } it moderated i left the beagle, and set out in a boat with mr. wilson (mate), taking a fortnight's provisions; though i hoped to be again on board in less than ten days, by which time our new boat would be finished, and mr. stokes, as well as mr. murray, would have laid down his last work. my object was to go eastward towards indian sound and nassau bay, but the weather soon stopped our progress, and obliged us to put into a small cove on the west side of point nativity, where we hoped to get shelter from the increasing wind, though not from the rain, which poured down in torrents. the cove proved to be much exposed, but we staid there till daylight on the following morning, when we pulled out, and round the point to the eastward, gladly enough, for we had been in a bad berth during the night, exposed to wind and rain, besides swell. we ran along the land, with a moderate westerly wind, stopped for a time near cape rolle, the point of land next to weddell's 'hope island;' and in the evening went into some openings among the adjacent islands. " th. at daylight we set out again, and ran along-shore with a fresh west wind, crossed the mouth of a bay which seemed likely to afford shelter, but did not then delay to look at it closely. soon after noon we passed weddell's 'leading hill,' which is a very singular double-peaked height, conspicuous from a long distance, and remarkable in every point of view. between it and black point (a projecting craggy rock) lies a bay or sound, which appears to extend some distance northward. this part of the coast is bad for vessels to close with, being much broken, and having several rocky islets scattered near it; but two miles off shore there is no danger. having found a secure cove near leading hill, we landed, and the men set up our tent, while mr. wilson and i ascended the heights to look round. the wind soon freshened to a gale, and made us rejoice at having reached a sheltered place. " th. the whole of this day was lost by us, for it blew a strong gale with continual rain. collecting limpets and muscles--cutting wood--and drying our clothes on one side by the fire, while the other got wet, were our only occupations. { } " th. still a strong wind, but less rain. between the squalls i obtained a few sights of the sun, for time, and at noon a tolerably good set for latitude. being then better weather, and likely to improve, we crossed in the boat to leading hill, and from its summit took the necessary angles. it was very cold and windy, but we effected all that was then required. " th. decamped very early and ran across duff bay, towards henderson island, with a moderately fresh breeze off the land; and as my object was to obtain a good view and a round of angles from the summit of a height on that island, i passed weddell's morton isle, blunder cove, &c. without stopping, and reached the north end of henderson island soon enough to get sights for time. from that spot we went a short distance to a cove, where the boat might remain during my absence on the hill, observed the latitude, and then ascended. before we were half-way up, a squall came on from s.w. and increased rapidly, but having ascended so far, i was not disposed to turn back, so we pushed on and reached the summit; yet, when there, i could not use a theodolite, on account of the wind. towards the east i could see a long distance, to the farthest of the hermite islands; but towards the west the view was obscured by haze; so leaving the instruments, i hastened down to the boat and found her safe, though she had been in great danger. by this time the wind had moderated, and before dark we measured the distance between the morning and noon stations: that from the latter to the summit of the hill i had measured, when at the top, by a micrometer. we then passed round the north end of the island, and in the dark searched the east side for a resting-place, which after some time was found. " st. a fine clear day enabled me to make the necessary observations, and i then went up the height and succeeded in obtaining a distinct view of the diego ramirez islands. as this hill is distant from them between fifty and sixty miles, i felt sure of getting a good cross bearing from the south end of the hermite islands, distant from them, as i then thought, only about forty, and thus fixing their position. "new year sound appears to be a large body of water { } extending towards the n.w., with a multitude of islands scattered about it. from its east side the land trends away towards a point which is curiously peaked, like a horn, and which i supposed to be the western point of nassau bay.[ ] " d. we had hardly left our cove, when steady rain set in; however, we went across towards new year sound, sometimes favoured by the wind, but could do little. as far as i saw the day before, the snowy chain of mountains continued to the eastward, therefore i had little hope of finding a body of water in the interior of tierra del fuego, about the head of nassau bay. about noon we were near weddell's 'indian cove,' but the weather being thick i did not recognise it, so we stood up the sound with a fresh breeze from the w.s.w. i soon found that it led only to the north and west, and probably communicated with some of the passages which mr. murray saw leading to the eastward from the neighbourhood of christmas sound. towards the north and east i had already noticed a long range of mountains. concluding therefore from what i then observed, and from views obtained from the heights, that no passage leads from this sound direct to christmas sound, and that to return to the beagle i must go part of the way by the sea-coast, or else go round, by a series of intricate passages, to the places which mr. murray had seen in the cutter; i preferred the coast, as a second view of it would be of use, while a traverse among the islands could not be very beneficial. "putting about, we returned down the sound, the breeze still allowing us to sail fast. we closed the western shore to look for indian cove, and, as the weather had cleared up, found it without difficulty. it is not so good a place as i expected; for except at the inner corner close to a run of water, i found only rocky soundings. the few casts of good ground were so close to the shore that the place can only be considered fit for a cutter, or small craft, which could lie quite close to the land. this cove is, in my opinion, too far inland to be of general use; and an anchorage under morton island would be far preferable { } for a vessel arriving from sea. we found an empty north-american cask, apparently left that season: on a height near the cove there was a pile of stones we had not time to examine: and much wood appeared to have been cut down lately by the crew of some vessel. we saw several wigwams, but no indians. that night we stopped near the s.w. point of the sound, close to gold-dust island. " d. after examining the cove, in which we passed the night, and taking observations, we crossed duff bay, towards leading hill. i wished to have seen more of a promising bay on the east side of morton island, where i thought there was good anchorage, but could not afford time, as it was probable that we should be delayed in our return along this exposed part of the coast against the prevailing winds. there is a considerable tide between morton isle and the point next to gold-dust isle. the flood comes from the westward, about one knot, or at times two knots, an hour. with the ebb it is nearly slack water, or perhaps there is a slight tendency towards the west; and such appears to be the case all along this coast, from christmas sound. we reached leading hill late in the afternoon, although the wind had increased much and was directly against us: at night it blew a gale from the westward. " th. a strong gale prevented our moving, or making any beneficial use of our time. " th. still blowing very fresh; but i thought we could pull round into the next bay, and there do some good by planning the harbour, &c., although we might get no farther for some days. from the season, the state of the sympiesometer, and the appearance of the weather, i did not expect any favourable change until about the end of the month. the sympiesometer was my constant companion: i preferred it to a barometer, as being much more portable and quicker in its motions. by great exertion on the part of the men, for it required five hours' hard pulling, we got round a headland into the next bay, a distance of only four miles. it rained great part of the time, and in the afternoon poured steadily, but we succeeded in finding a sheltered spot for our lodging, and soon put ourselves into { } somewhat better plight than we had been in during the greater part of the day, the men having been constantly soaked through, and their hands quite numbed with cold and wet. i was disappointed by this place; the various coves were sounded, without getting bottom with twenty-five fathoms of line; and i could find no anchorage without going further up the inlet than would suit any vessel running in from sea for a temporary shelter. " th. a strong gale prevented our going outside, but in hopes that there might be an inland passage i set out to look for one. having pulled and sailed about six miles up the inlet, we reached its termination, and thence returned to our bivouac. there seemed to be an opening into duff bay not previously seen, which would have saved us some time and trouble had we known of its existence. " th. the gale continued with more or less violence, and during the greater part of the day we were occupied in gathering limpets and muscles, as a stock of food in case of being detained longer than our provisions would last. shooting did not succeed, because the sea-birds were very wild and scarce. i regretted that there was no harbour in the inlet which could be planned during our stay. every cove we could find had deep water, and so rocky a bottom that we found difficulty in securing even our small boat; for this continued gale raised so much swell that we were kept on the alert at night to shift her berth as often as the wind changed. " th. this day, and the preceding night, the wind was exceedingly violent, from n.w. to s.w., but generally southward of west. in pulling across the cove to get limpets, the squalls at times forced the oars out of the men's hands, and blew them across or away from the boat. much rain fell during most nights, but after sunrise it generally ceased; sometimes however the rain poured down by day as much as by night. "i here saw many seals teaching their young ones to swim. it was curious to see the old seal supporting the pup by its flipper, as if to let it breathe and rest, and then pushing it away into deep water to shift for itself. { } " th. this morning, with better weather, we sailed very early in hopes to get round black point; the wind being moderate promised well, but, with the sun, it rose again. however, we tried hard for about six hours, during four of which i hardly hoped to succeed, for it blew strong, and the tide race was dangerous: but before evening we gained the sheltered part of trefusis bay. the men were on their oars from five in the morning till four in the afternoon, and, excepting two rests of a quarter of an hour each, pulling hard all the time. we landed in a sheltered spot, about half a mile within the entrance of a passage which leads from trefusis bay to christmas sound. our fatigue and thorough drenching, by sea and rain, was then little cared for, having gained our point, and being only a day's pull from the beagle. "i had seen along this passage from christmas sound, as well as from leading hill, and rejoiced to get into it, for the outer coast is a wild one for a boat at any period of the year--and this was the month of march; about the worst time. " th. a fine clear morning. we started with the sun, and pulled so fast along in the smooth water, that by the evening we reached our little vessel, and found that all was well on board; that there had been no more visits from the fuegians, nor any troubles. the new boat was finished on the d, only twenty days having been occupied by mr. may and three men in building her. appearance was very much in her favour, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which she was built. lieutenant kempe had finished all the ship's work with his usual promptness: new topmast rigging had been fitted, and every thing prepared for sea. i was two days over the time for which we carried provisions, but by my coxswain's care of them, and by using limpets and other shell-fish, we still had a sufficiency. "having seen as much as seemed necessary of the coast between christmas sound and nassau bay (i mean necessary in proportion to our limited time and provisions), the ildefonsos and diego ramirez isles were to be our next objects. " st. a strong wind, with much rain, prevented our { } moving early--but as the sun rose higher the weather improved, and we tried to weigh,--yet were provokingly delayed, for the chain was so fast round a rock, that for nearly an hour we could not move it. at last we succeeded, without injury to anything--left the harbour, and stood away for the ildefonsos with a strong w.s.w. wind and a confused high swell. "march harbour (so called from our having passed the month of march in it) is not so good as i at first thought. the bottom is certainly excellent in some parts; it is well sheltered, and easy of access, but there are many rocky places which would injure a hemp cable. besides, there is a dangerous rock under water in the wide part of the harbour, hidden by a large patch of kelp. "we passed along the s.w. side of the ildefonsos, at the distance of half a mile. they appeared like the higher parts of a mountain almost under water, lying n.w. and s.e., nearly broken through by the sea in several places, so as to form several islets, of which the highest and largest is about two hundred feet above the sea, and one-third of a mile in length; another is about one-quarter of a mile long; the rest are mere rocks. the two larger are covered with tussac,[ ] among which we saw numerous seal which had scrambled up to the very summits. having seen enough of these islets, we hauled our wind, and shortened sail, to prepare for the night: for it blew a fresh gale, with every appearance of its increasing and drawing to the southward. i wished to make the diego ramirez islands the next morning, and thence run to the north-eastward; and, had the wind been moderate, could have done so without difficulty; but after carrying a press of sail during the night, and making southing, with as little easting as possible, i found myself, at daylight next morning, five miles to leeward of the above-mentioned islands, with the wind strong from the n.w., and too much sea to allow me to hope to see more of them without remaining under sail until the weather moderated. this would not have { } suited the chronometers, or our limited time; therefore we wore round and steered (by weddell's chart) for the western part of the hermite islands, intending to run along the land from west cape. the wind became more moderate towards noon, but the weather got so thick that no part of the land could be made out distinctly; and supposing that a point of land which i saw was cape spencer, we steered directly for it, as the day was drawing to a close and obliged me to give up my intention of coasting. nearing the land, i found it resembled the point i had seen from henderson island, and supposed to be the s.w. extreme of nassau bay, but did not correspond to any part of the hermite islands, as shewn by captain king's plan. evening was approaching, thick misty clouds shut out other land from our view, but being a weather shore, i trusted to finding anchorage somewhere, and stood on. "the wind increased, and blew in very strong squalls off shore, obliging us to carry low sail until we had run several miles along the land in smooth water, when we anchored at the entrance of a bay, in thirteen fathoms water, over a coarse sandy bottom. a low projecting point covered us from the force of the wind as it then blew; and the land on each side from all other westerly winds: but the squalls increased so violently in the early part of the night, that although in smooth water, with eighty fathoms of chain out, the top-gallant masts down, and yards braced up, the vessel drove, and we were obliged to let go another anchor, and veer a long scope of cable; after which she held on firmly through the night. " d. at daylight we hove up the best bower, but found one fluke broken off. after getting the sheet anchor to the bows, and the broken one in-board, we weighed and made sail to windward, in search of a good anchorage. when the weather cleared in the morning, i had discovered that we were in nassau bay, near orange bay, and that the curiously-peaked headland we had passed was 'false cape horn,' the same which i had seen from henderson island. finding this the case, i determined to turn the mistake to account, and at once set to work in this quarter, postponing our visit to the hermite { } islands. short runs were essential, because of the chronometers, and this last had been a long one for them, with much motion, therefore it was necessary i should get observations. "towards noon the weather cleared and became very fine, with a light breeze from the northward. we stood across near the north end of the hermite islands, carrying soundings right across; but the view we obtained of the head of nassau bay, did not encourage us to hope for either interior waters or a passage, as the mountains seemed to continue in an unbroken chain to the eastward of new island, and from the mast-head i saw other high mountains far to the eastward. in the afternoon we stood into a fine-looking clear bay, well sheltered, and with regular soundings, from twelve to twenty fathoms over fine sand. i afterwards found that this was orange bay, and that the bay at the south point of which we anchored last night was that called, by the dutch, schapenham bay. being a large, roomy place, with even bottom, we remained at single anchor; but the glass had been falling so much, and was then so extremely low, that i thought it prudent to prepare for the worst, and struck topmasts. "during the latter part of our stay in christmas sound, and up to the present time, our sick-list had been considerable, therefore i was not sorry to gain a safe anchorage in a place which appeared likely to afford the means of recruiting our invalids, and restoring them to health. colds and rheumatisms, owing to bleak winds and much wet, were the chief complaints. this was the only time since the beagle left rio de janeiro that her sick-list had been worthy of notice. "notwithstanding the unusual fall of the barometer and sympiesometer and their still continuing to sink, this day was as fine, and seemed as likely to continue so, as any day i had ever seen, therefore we took advantage of it, by getting the necessary observations for time, latitude, and true bearing; by airing bedding, and cleaning the ship throughout. this appeared to be an excellent place for vessels: the land around is rather low, and looked much more cheerful than the high dismal mountains under which we last anchored. wood and water { } were plentiful, and easily obtained. wild-fowl were numerous, and our people brought on board a serviceable supply, enough for all the sick, and for most of those who were in health. " d and th. still very fine weather, although the barometer and sympiesometer were lower than i had yet seen them in this country. our fuegians were becoming very cheerful, and apparently contented. we gave them as much fresh provision (birds and fish) as we could obtain with guns and lines, and hitherto they had fared very well. all that was shot went to one stock, from which it was divided in rotation to the messes, the sick being first provided for, and then the fuegians. " th and th. two more fine days, with a very low glass, shook my faith in the certainty of the barometer and sympiesometer.[ ] during those days, the wind had been light from n.n.w., and twice before i had known these instruments to be similarly affected during exactly similar wind and weather: once at port desire, on the coast of patagonia; and once at port gallant, while i was in the otway water. "the master went towards the head of nassau bay, and mr. stokes set out in the opposite direction. mr. murray had one of our best chronometers, kept in a box, well packed in wool, but exposed to the temperature of the air. before going away and after returning, it was kept and rated in the same box on deck, because the variations of temperature in the open air of this climate are small; much less than a chronometer would experience if alternating between a warm cabin and a cold boat. i was sadly grieved at finding that some fuegians who arrived were not of the same tribe as our captives, nor even spoke the same language. on the contrary, much enmity appeared to exist between them; though their colour, features, and habits were similar. at first, 'york' and 'boat' would not go near them; but afterwards took delight in trying to cheat them out of the things they offered to barter; and mocked their way of speaking and laughing; { } pointing at them, and calling them 'yapoo, yapoo.' 'fuegia' went on deck; but the instant she saw them, screamed and ran away. some one told her, in jest, to go into their canoe and live with them, which frightened her so much, that she burst into tears and ran below to hide herself. after they were gone, 'boat' and 'york' made us understand they had had fights with that tribe, and shewed the scars of wounds received from them. by the help of signs we could comprehend much of their meaning; but very few words were yet learned on either side. we afterwards found that these yapoos built their wigwams in a manner differing from that of the western tribes, being made of a number of poles, or pieces of wood, placed on end around a small space, and meeting at the top. "our yapoo acquaintances established themselves in the bay near our forge, but without attempting to steal any thing. they frequently came alongside the ship with fish, which they caught in the kelp. they take these fish by means of a line without a hook, having only a small piece of bait at the end, with which to entice them to the top of the water, close to the side of the canoe. a fish bites, and before it can detach its small teeth from the soft, tough bait, the hand holding the line jerks the prize above the water, and the other catches it. the fisher then bites out a large piece of its belly, takes out the inside, and hangs the fish on a stick by the fire in the canoe. " th. still fine steady weather, notwithstanding the unusually low fall of the barometer already mentioned. " th. by the assistance of mr. may, at the forge, we made one good anchor out of two broken ones, and fitted new hawse-plates where they were worn through, by constantly using the chains. fortunately, we brought from san carlos a good supply of iron and coals, and applied the latter only to the use of the armourer and the small stoves, so that we were enabled to use the forge very often; and between the wants of the ship and those of the boats, there was always much work for that most useful appendage. { } "the glasses had at last been rising; and during the past night and this day, the wind was very strong with much rain. the wind shifted from the northern quarter into the southern, drawing round to the s.e.; which, of course, would make the mercury rise higher after being so very low, though the weather might prove extremely bad. " th. the master returned, and surprised me with the information that he had been through and far beyond nassau bay. he had gone very little to the northward, but a long distance to the east, having passed through a narrow passage, about one-third of a mile wide, which led him into a straight channel, averaging about two miles or more in width, and extending nearly east and west as far as the eye could reach. westward of the passage by which he entered, was an opening to the north-west; but as his orders specified north and east, he followed the eastern branch of the channel, looking for an opening on either side, without success. northward of him lay a range of mountains, whose summits were covered with snow, which extended about forty miles, and then sunk into ordinary hills that, near the place which he reached, shewed earthy or clayey cliffs towards the water. from the clay cliffs his view was unbroken by any land in an e.s.e. direction, therefore he must have looked through an opening at the outer sea. his provisions being almost exhausted, he hastened back. "on the south side of the channel there were likewise mountains of considerable elevation; but, generally speaking, that shore was lower than the opposite. mr. murray saw great numbers of natives near the narrow passage and upwards of a hundred canoes were seen in one day, each containing from two to six people. these fuegians had much guanaco skin, and many of the bones of that animal made into spear-heads, but very little seal-skin. the wigwams were large and commodious, compared with those of the western tribes, being built of small trees piled up endwise, and tied together at the top, their outside being covered with bushes, grass, &c. to keep out the cold, and the earth inside scooped out much below the surface of the ground. some could hold about twice as many people { } as the western wigwams: but all were not so large. every canoe gave chase to our boat, eager to see the strangers, and exchange small fish, spear-heads, or arrows, for buttons, beads, and other trifles. no arms or offensive weapons were seen among them, excepting fish spears, bows, arrows, and slings: they had not even clubs, nor such lances as are used by the western tribes. they seemed to be more tractable, and less disposed to quarrel than those of the west. wherever the boat went, she was followed by a train of canoes, each full of people, and having a fire smoking in the middle. where they got the guanaco skins was a question not easy to answer. was there a passage to the northward, by which they could trade with the people living there?--or were there guanacoes in the southern part of tierra del fuego? both the bones and skins seemed abundant; but the people made signs to mr. murray that they came from the eastward:--none pointed towards the north. one native showed how they ran, and their shape, and how they were killed, also the kind of noise they made. " th. mr. stokes returned, after going a long way to the north and west, without finding a passage into new year sound. his examination, united to mr. murray's, almost completed the north and west part of nassau bay; and only the east side remained to be explored. our anchorage, called orange bay, is excellent; and one of the few on this coast which are fit for a squadron of line-of-battle ships. its approach from the sea is as easy as the harbour is commodious. there are three fathoms close to the shore; yet in no part are there more than twenty; and every where there is a sandy bottom. water is abundant; wood grows close to the sea; wild-fowl are numerous; and although shell-fish are scarce, plenty of small fish may be caught with hook and line among the kelp, and in the summer a seine will furnish abundance. "on the th we left orange bay, but light winds prevented our reaching the open sea that day, or during the following night. i was equally disposed to run out again to the diego ramirez--to look at the coast west of false cape for about ten miles--or to run for the bay of st. francis; but the { } wind failed entirely. during the night we had a breeze that would have carried us down to the latter spot, but wishing to see, and take bearings of the land as i went, i did not profit by it; and in the morning was baffled with light airs and a current setting to the northward. " th. during the early part of the day we had light variable winds, scarcely sufficient to help us against the current which seemed to set constantly into the bay, from the sea, at the rate of about one knot an hour. the manner in which our compasses were affected in this bay was remarkable; all of them being extremely sluggish, and, unless continually shaken, they did not show the proper magnetic bearings, or agree together, nearer than two points. i sharpened the centres with much care, and examined the agate caps, without improving the results. the compasses considered the best in other places, were here as bad as the worst; an excellent one, upon alexander's principle, with central jimbals, being nearly useless. in trying the compasses on shore, the heavy cards with large needles had been less affected by local influence than light delicate cards of kater: the heavy ones having averaged ° variation along the whole coast, though kater's differed in some places as much as from ° to °; agreeing nearly with each other, but not with gilbert's or alexander's compasses, in both of which were cards comparatively heavy. "we passed much too close to west cape, but having fortunately cleared it, ran along the land before a moderate breeze, and rounded cape spencer at dusk. the weather was so thick that cape horn could not be seen, and we mistook the former for the famous cape; especially as, in that view, the lower part of cape spencer looked like the head of a double-horned rhinoceros: but as we drew nearer, cape horn appeared. the wind failed as we entered the bay of st. francis, and left us to the alternative of anchoring in deep water, or driving about with the current: we therefore anchored off san joachim cove, near the seal rock. the night proved fine, so we lay quietly till next morning, and then made sail to a breeze from the northward and anchored in san martin { } cove. i afterwards went in a boat to horn island, to ascertain the nature of the landing, and whether it was practicable to carry any instruments to the summit of the cape. many places were found where a boat might land; and more than one spot where she could be hauled ashore: so that taking instruments to the summit did not seem likely to be a very difficult task. as the weather continued favourable i returned on board that night, and the next morning ( th) arranged for a visit to cape horn; a memorial having been previously prepared, and securely enclosed in a stone jar. "after taking observations at noon for latitude, we set out, carrying five days' provisions, a good chronometer, and other instruments. we landed before dark, hauled our boat up in safety on the north-east side, and established ourselves for the night on horn island. " th. at daybreak we commenced our walk across the island, each carrying his load; and by the time the sun was high enough for observing, were near the summit, and exactly in its meridian; so we stopped while i took two sets of sights and a round of angles. soon afterwards we reached the highest point of the cape, and immediately began our work; i and my coxswain, with the instruments; and lieut. kempe with the boat's crew raising a pile of stones over the memorial. "at first the diego ramirez islands were seen, but before i could get the theodolite fixed and adjusted, the horizon became hazy. at noon satisfactory sets of circum-meridional altitudes were obtained with two good sextants. a round of angles, compass bearings for the variation, and good afternoon sights for time completed our success. the pile made over our memorial was eight feet high, and in it were stones which required the united exertions of all seven men to raise to the top. we drank the health of his majesty king george the fourth, and gave three hearty cheers, standing round the union jack. directly all was finished we travelled towards our boat as fast as possible: but darkness surrounded us before we were more than half-way. those who had loads which would not be hurt by tumbling about among bushes, travelled on; but, having the chronometer and a sextant to take care of, i waited till one of the men returned with a lantern. all reached the boat before nine o'clock, without losing or injuring any thing; but the cargo of stones, for specimens, which each brought back, delayed our returning progress materially. [illustration: c. martens s. bull north-east side of wollaston island near cape horn. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, ] { } "at day-light ( st) we launched and stowed our boat, and set out on our return. we reached the ship that afternoon, well laden with fragments of cape horn. " d. since the end of march the weather had been more settled, and much finer than we had yet had it on any part of the coast; but our visit to horn island was only just in time, for it soon changed again to blowing and raining. being close to the head of the cove, we did not feel the williwaws--though they appeared to blow sharply enough about the middle of it. i did not wonder at the american, whom we met in the strait of magalhaens, saying that he saw 'marks of a very large establishment;' for the head of this cove appeared to have been colonized by the chanticleer, so many remains of wooden roads and wooden houses were visible every where. " d- th. bad weather. i was waiting anxiously for an opportunity of getting a true bearing of diego ramirez, from the top of kater peak, or cape spencer, to cross the bearings obtained from henderson island. " th. i went up to the summit of the peak, but found so thick a haze, that no distant object could be seen. leaving the instruments at the top, after taking a few angles, and observations of the sun for true bearings, i descended, and afterwards examined st. bernard cove, which appeared to be a good harbour. by comparing the old charts with this place and nassau bay, i became convinced that there had been a great mistake, and that the bay of nassau is, or rather was, the bay of st. francis; and that the plan given in the admiralty charts is a very fair sketch of its west side, from false cape to packsaddle island; but the bottom and east side of the bay are evidently put in at random, and would have been better left out to give place to the words, 'land was seen in this direction.' neither in shape, bearings, distance, or { } soundings, does that plan correspond with the place now called st. francis bay; but it does agree very closely, considering the date of its being made, with the part i have mentioned. the words cape horn may have misled the compiler, as the plan does not show any latitude or longitude, and those who since visited the place, previously to the beagle's arrival, had not been in nassau bay. " th. another fine day. i went up the peak again and obtained the desired angles; but diego ramirez appeared nearly as distant as when seen from the top of henderson island. meanwhile the beagle was unmoored and got under sail. i reached her outside the cove, and stood to seaward; but the day was too fine, there being little or no wind till dark, when a light breeze carried us out of the bay. i steered for the diego ramirez islands, anxious to profit by the fine weather, and examine them more closely. " th. the water being smooth, we had a good opportunity of taking angles for placing the coast between west cape and cape spencer, which completed what was wanting in that part; afterwards, we again steered towards the diego ramirez. " th. a fine morning with a fresh breeze, just such as we desired. having kept our wind under easy sail during the night, we bore up, and, at daylight, ran along the east side of the rocky cluster, the wind being from the n.e. we hove-to frequently to take angles and soundings, and sailed quite round the islands at the average distance of half a mile, and then stood away to the northward. they are quite similar to the ildefonsos; the top of a ridge of hills showing above the water, and broken through by the sea. the two largest are about two hundred feet high, and are covered with tussac: there is a shingle beach on one (the second in size), where a boat may be hauled up in safety; and there is enough good water on the east side of the same island to supply thirty men. a furious surf breaks against the west shore, and sends a spray over the whole island. there is no sheltered anchorage for a vessel: for though she might bring up in deep water, on the eastern side of the group, for a short time, she would even then risk { } losing her anchor. the least water i found was fifty fathoms, though weddell's chart shows that there is less than forty off the s.e. end. the heavy swell prevented my landing; but the appearance of the rocks induced me to suppose that they were greenstone. if not of that nature, and similar to the rock about cape horn, they may be of very hard sandstone. " th. in this climate, during the few intervals of settled fine weather, the sky is frequently overcast soon after sunset, and a slight shower falls. i noticed this frequently here, as well as during the preceding april, may, and june, in the strait. "we stood into the bay which lies between false cape and new year sound; but it offered nothing inviting to a ship, being a leeward bight, with rocks and islets scattered along it near the shore. perhaps there is shelter for a vessel amongst them; but i would not choose their neighbourhood, if it could be avoided, as the bay is exposed to the s.w. winds, which on this coast are the worst. the breeze freshening, and drawing to the northward, enabled us to reach cape spencer in the evening, when, as the weather promised ill, i was glad to anchor in eighteen fathoms, over a sandy bottom, off the entrance of san joachim cove. "expecting wind, we sent top-gallant masts on deck, braced up, and veered to eighty fathoms. after eight the weather cleared, and appeared likely to remain fine, but the glasses continued to fall. at ten a sudden heavy squall came over the land, and the tops of the hills became thickly covered with clouds. successive furious gusts followed: we let go a second anchor, and veered a whole cable on each. the squalls came most violently from the s.w., and in half an hour the bank of clouds disappeared; but a strong gale from s.w. continued till daylight, when it moderated. cape spencer protected us very well, both from wind and sea: should a ship wish to enter san martin cove, and the wind or daylight fail her, she will find this spot a convenient stopping-place. " th. the beagle unmoored, got under sail, and stood towards cape horn: at noon she was close to the famous cape, with beautifully fine weather, more like the climate of { } madeira than that of fifty-six south latitude. during this day i had excellent opportunities of taking angles, bearings, and soundings, which i hoped would be sufficient for the south and east sides of the hermite islands. the following night we worked to the northward, near the barnevelt islands, the weather being fine, and the moon shining brightly. "may st. a beautiful day--may-day indeed. i landed on the barnevelt islands, and took sights for time, latitude, and true bearing, besides a round of angles, while the beagle was making slow progress to the northward, the wind being very light, and variable. there is no good landing-place on those islands; but as the water was then comparatively smooth, we were enabled to land upon a steep rocky part, where the surf did not break much. they are two low islets, lying nearly north and south, covered with grass, tussac, and weeds. the largest is about half a mile long, and one-third of a mile wide; the other is about two cables' length square. several rocks lie off the south end, towards both the east and west; and one above water lies detached, towards the hermite islands, nearly in mid-channel: but no other appearance of danger was visible. the angles gained here, crossing those from orange bay, bounded the hermite islands towards the north--though the detail of their coast-line, northwards, yet remained to be ascertained. " d. as fine a day as the preceding. we were close to evouts, an islet similar to the barnevelts, but rather higher. the weather enabled mr. wilson to continue his sketches of the coast: but indeed no part along which we sailed had been quite omitted. in the afternoon we closed the shore near new island, and were looking out sharply for banks and shoals, fancying, because the land looked lower, and the nassau flat had shoal soundings, that we should find banks detached from the land. shoaler water we certainly found, compared with that to which we had been lately accustomed, namely, from fifteen to twenty fathoms, gradually decreasing as we neared the shore, but we never had less than ten till we were standing into a harbour in the evening. i could here trace no { } resemblance whatever to any published chart; but seeing a place at the back of some low islets which appeared likely to afford sheltered anchorage, we steered for it, and at sunset anchored in a well-sheltered harbour on the east side of a large island, to the west of new island. the water shoaled gradually, over a fine sandy bottom; but we ran in rather too far, and had only three fathoms after veering cable, so we were obliged to shift our berth. " d. mr. murray prepared to go along the coast towards cape good success, carrying one of the chronometers, and other necessary instruments, and taking three weeks' provisions. he set out, in a whale-boat, with six men, well armed and equipped in every way. having despatched the master, i prepared for an excursion into the interior passages of this part of tierra del fuego: while mr. stokes, in another boat, was to continue the survey of the coast from the east side of the head of nassau bay to the vicinity of new island; and lieut. kempe would take care of the ship, and forward her refitting, besides wooding and watering. * * * * * { } chapter xxiii. set out in boats--find guanacoes--murray narrow--birch fungus--tide-- channel--glaciers--view--mountains--unbroken chain--passages-- steam-vessels--jemmy button--puma--nest--accident--natives--murray's journal--cape graham--cape kinnaird--spaniard harbour--valentyn bay--cape good success--natives--lennox island--strait le maire--good success bay-- accident--tide race--san vicente--san diego--tides--soundings--north-east coast--san sebastian--reflections--port desire--monte video--santa catalina--rio de janeiro. " th. mr. stokes and i each began another trip in the boats, taking chronometers, and the necessary instruments. he steered to the northward, to get to the mainland; i kept outside to the south-westward, to make the most direct course towards the communication between nassau bay and the newly discovered passage or channel. i was surprised to find that the eastern shore of nassau bay resembled much of the coast of patagonia (being a stratum of earth without rock), and differed entirely from the general character of the coasts and islands of tierra del fuego. at sunset we landed, and hauled up our boat on a shingle beach which extended several miles, and upon walking only a few yards inland i saw the prints of large cloven hoofs, almost the size of those of a cow. this discovery gave an answer to the question about the guanaco skins and bones found among the fuegians, but made me less sanguine of finding a passage northward through the interior of the country. much brushwood was found near this place; and a profusion of rich grass covered an extensive plain. " th. we launched the boat, and continued our course along-shore, finding rather shoal water (three to six fathoms within about half a mile), with a very thick bed of kelp, through which it was difficult to force the boat. we had not advanced far, when, passing round a low point of land, we saw { } four fine guanacoes feeding close to the water. they did not seem to be much alarmed; but walked away from us round a projecting part of the shore, which prevented our getting a shot at them. they appeared to be much larger than those i had seen near port desire, on the patagonian coast, their bodies being far heavier, and their tails longer and more bushy. these differences might be the natural result of a different climate, as cool weather, with plenty of food and water, would probably increase their size. i would not delay, on their account, hoping to fall in with others, but pushed on along the shore. these animals were near what is called in the chart 'windhond bay.' in the afternoon, we were again among rocky mountains and deep-water shores, and being so fortunate as to get a fresh breeze from the s.e., made much progress before night. we saw several canoes, full of natives; but did not turn aside to speak to them, as time was too precious. " th. a very cold and blowing morning, the wind being against us, yet we made better progress than i had hoped for, as our boat proved to be so excellent; and whether sailing or pulling, was all we could wish for. this night we bivouacked close to the murray narrow, but took care not to land till after dark, and then carefully concealed the fire, so that our rest might not be disturbed by visits from the fuegians. a sharp look-out was, of course, kept by the watch; and by my two dogs, who were very useful in that way. " th. soon after we set out, many canoes were seen in chase of us; but though they paddled fast in smooth water, our boat moved too quickly for them to succeed in their endeavours to barter with us, or to gratify their curiosity. the murray narrow is the only passage into the long channel which runs so nearly east and west. a strong tide sets through it, the flood coming from the channel. on each side is rather low land, rising quickly into hills, behind which are mountains: those on the west side being high, and covered with snow. when we stopped to cook and eat our dinner, canoes came from all sides, bringing plenty of fish for barter. none of the natives had any arms; they seemed to be smaller in size, and less disposed { } to be mischievous, than the western race: their language sounded similar to that of the natives whom we saw in orange bay. we found a very large wigwam, built in a substantial manner, and a much better place to live in than many of the huts which are called houses in chilóe. i think twenty men might have stood upright in it, in a circle; but, probably, of these fuegians, it would house thirty or forty in the cold weather. "while our men were making a fire and cooking, i walked into the wood, but found it bore little resemblance to that which our eyes had lately been accustomed to. the trees were mostly birch, but grew tall and straight. the ground was dry and covered with withered leaves, which crackled as i walked; whereas, in other parts where we had lately passed our time, the splashing sound of wet, marshy soil had always attended our footsteps, when not on rock. these fuegians appeared to think the excrescences which grow on the birch trees, like the gall-nuts on an oak, an estimable dainty. they offered us several, some as large as an apple, and seemed surprised at our refusal. most of them had a small piece of guanaco, or seal-skin, on their shoulders or bodies, but not enough for warmth: perhaps they did not willingly approach strangers with their usual skin dress about them, their first impulse, on seeing us, being to hide it. several, whom i surprised at their wigwams, had large skins round their bodies, which they concealed directly they saw me. fish and the birch fungus must be their chief food, for shell-fish are scarce and small; but they catch an abundance of excellent rock-fish, smelt, and what might be called a yellow mullet. guanaco meat may occasionally be obtained by them, but not in sufficient quantity to be depended upon as an article of daily subsistence. "leaving the natives, we sailed across towards the western arm of the long channel, and continued making our way westward, with oar and sail, until dusk, when we landed, unperceived, as we thought, and established ourselves for the night. just as we had moored the boat, kindled a fire, and pitched our tent, a canoe came into the cove; another and another followed, until we were surrounded with natives. knowing { } we must either drive them away by force, or be plagued with them all night, we at once packed up our things, and wished them good evening. about three miles further westward, we again landed, and fixed our tent in a cove, which gave us good shelter through the night, without any interruption. it was high water this afternoon at four o'clock (being the day of full moon), and the tide rose three feet. the channel here, and opposite the narrow, is about three miles wide; on its north side is an unbroken line of high mountains, covered with snow to within about a thousand feet of the water. southward are likewise snow-covered heights, so that the channel is formed by the valley lying between two parallel ridges of high mountains. " th. this morning it froze very sharply. we started at sun-rise, with a fine breeze from the eastward, and made a long run before it. the channel preserved the same character, and nearly the same width; on the north, the mountains continued without any opening; but a few miles farther, we saw what appeared to be one. i soon found that there was one passage leading westward, and another rather to the southward of west, which appeared to open into the sea. the easterly breeze failing, and squalls from the n.w. succeeding, we did not make much progress in the afternoon; yet before dark had reached the place where the two channels commence, and stopped for the night on a small island. soon after dark, one of the boat's crew was startled by two large eyes staring at him, out of a thick bush, and he ran to his companions, saying he had seen the devil! a hearty laugh at his expense was followed by a shot at the bush, which brought to the ground a magnificent horned owl. "next day, we continued our westerly route. no natives were seen, though a few wigwams, of the round-topped kind, were passed. the westernmost sharp-pointed, or yapoo wigwam, was on the main-land, close to the island of the devil; it was made of small trees, piled up in a circle (the branches and roots having been broken off) with the smaller ends meeting at the top. the boat's crew said it had been a 'meeting-house,' and perhaps they were not far wrong; for being so { } large, and just on what might be called neutral ground between the two tribes, it is not unlikely that there may have been many a meeting there--perhaps many a battle. at the separation, or meeting of the two channels, it was high water at a quarter before five this morning, and the flood came from the west, about a knot an hour; the ebb-tide set to the west at about half that strength. much drift-wood and large fragments of ice were carried along with it. between some of the mountains the ice extended so widely as to form immense glaciers, which were faced, towards the water, by lofty cliffs. during a beautifully fine and still night, the view from our fireside, in this narrow channel, was most striking, though confined. thickly-wooded and very steep mountains shut us in on three sides, and opposite, distant only a few miles, rose an immense barrier of snow-covered mountains, on which the moon was shining brightly. the water between was so glassy, that their outline might be distinctly traced in it: but a death-like stillness was sometimes broken by masses of ice falling from the opposite glaciers, which crashed, and reverberated around--like eruptions of a distant volcano. " . before daylight this morning, we were on our oars; and by the time the sun was high enough for observing, were many miles westward of our resting-place. after sights, while the men were cooking, i obtained a few bearings, and prepared to return, not intending to go further westward. i saw water from that spot, more than twenty miles to the west (by compass); and then my view was limited by the channel turning towards the south. in those twenty miles, not the slightest appearance of an opening to the northward could be seen; mountain succeeded mountain, in unbroken succession. three ridges, or ranges, could be traced, lying parallel to each other; and the nearest summits of those in the third, or furthest range, stretching from the northward and eastward of me, and continuing, as far as eye could reach, towards the north and west, were at least five leagues distant. their height i supposed to be about four thousand feet: that of those nearest to me, about two thousand: and of those in the middle range, mentioned { } just now, about three thousand. at a distance, the channel appeared to trend to the southward of west, and there the sides of the mountains seemed to be very bare, and weather-beaten, while near me they were covered with wood. this led me to conclude that farther westward they were open to the sea winds, and that there the channel ended. by the observations, i found that we were[ ] nearly in the longitude of christmas sound, and in latitude ° ' s., being therefore twenty miles south of the end of admiralty sound, but considerably to the westward of it. this position, and the bearings and estimated distances, showed me that the other arm of this long channel opened near the spot where mr. murray laid down (near the head of christmas sound) a 'channel, running to the eastward, beyond eyesight;' and that the branch in which i was must lead towards the bay or sound to the n.w. of christmas sound, at the base of very high land, which mr. murray laid down as 'an unbroken range of snow-covered mountains.' the time of high water in this channel exactly corresponded with that on the adjacent sea-coast, but did not nearly agree with that of the strait of magalhaens. these facts, and the appearance of the land, removed every doubt in my mind of the existence of an unbroken chain of mountains, reaching from the barbara channel to the bell mountain, and i therefore decided to spend no further time in searching thereabouts for a passage northward, but make all haste to examine the exterior shores. "the channel here was about a mile wide, but the mountains on each side rising so abruptly, made it appear much narrower. it might be a good passage for a ship to sail through, from the westward, were it not for the trouble and anxiety of getting in with the land at the right place; and that a ship might sail on her course, in the open sea, by night as well as by day; but here she could hardly choose to run at night, because there are a few low islets, near mid-channel, in some parts. for a boat, in case of shipwreck, or other urgent reason, it might be convenient: but going through to the westward would be very difficult, because it would be { } necessary to ply to windward all day, and every day, making half-mile boards in defiance of squalls strong enough to capsize a vessel. a steam-vessel might answer in this region, as there is plenty of wood every where. directly the noon observations were finished, and the instruments safely stowed, we began our return, and as a fresh breeze sprung up from the westward, we dashed along with a favouring tide at a great rate. " th. next day we landed, for dinner and rest, near the murray narrow, and close to a wigwam, whose inmates ran away; but soon returned, on seeing us seated quietly by their fire. we bought fish from them for beads, buttons, &c., and gave a knife for a very fine dog, which they were extremely reluctant to part with; but the knife was too great a temptation to be resisted, though dogs seemed very scarce and proportionably valuable. afterwards we continued our route, but were stopped when in sight of the narrow by three canoes full of natives, anxious for barter. we gave them a few beads and buttons, for some fish; and, without any previous intention, i told one of the boys in a canoe to come into our boat, and gave the man who was with him a large shining mother-of-pearl button. the boy got into my boat directly, and sat down. seeing him and his friends seem quite contented, i pulled onwards, and, a light breeze springing up, made sail. thinking that this accidental occurrence might prove useful to the natives, as well as to ourselves, i determined to take advantage of it. the canoe, from which the boy came, paddled towards the shore; but the others still paddled after us, holding up fish and skins to tempt us to trade with them. the breeze freshening in our favour, and a strong tide, soon carried us through the narrow, and half an hour after dark we stopped in a cove, where we had passed the second night of this excursion. 'jemmy button,' as the boat's crew called him, on account of his price, seemed to be pleased at his change, and fancied he was going to kill guanaco, or w[)a]n[)a]k[=a]ye, as he called them--as they were to be found near that place. " th. we continued our course with a fresh and favouring { } breeze from the n.e.; passed windhond bay, and at sunset hauled the boat up, though a surf on the stony beach made it a difficult task. several guanacoes were seen near the shore as we passed along. "at daylight this morning ( th), we went in search of guanacoes; but, seeing none, soon returned to the boat, and launched her. i lost my new dog in the bushes, yet we could not stop to recover him. during our walk this morning, i observed traces of a large land-animal, which i supposed to be a puma; and two of the men noticed a place, like a large nest, made in the trees by the natives, in which i have no doubt they watch for the guanacoes, to spear them as they pass underneath. we reached the beagle in the evening, and found all well on board excepting one man, who, in carrying a guanaco,[ ] shot by the cutter's crew, had slipped and broken his leg. mr. stokes, with whom he was, contrived to set it for him; but very properly made the best of his way to our ship with the man, whose leg was there found to be so well set, and bandaged up with splints, by those in the boat, that the surgeon had nothing to alter. mr. stokes went away again directly; and both he and mr. murray were absent at my return; but lieut. kempe, with the few men left on board, had done what was required, and gave a good account of the harbour, with respect to safety as well as shelter from wind. ten canoes had come, at different times, to the ship; but the natives were extremely quiet and inoffensive, and sold our people a large quantity of fish. by success in shooting, lieut. kempe had been enabled to stop the issue of salt provisions for two days. our fuegians were in high spirits, and the meeting between them and jemmy button was droll enough: they laughed at him, called him yapoo, and told us to put more clothes on him directly. " th. mr. murray returned from his excursion to cape good success, having done all that was expected, but not without incurring considerable danger on so exposed a coast. had not his boat been a very fine one, his crew good, and { } he himself a most skilful manager, i do not think he could have gone so far along an unprotected shore, through 'races' of tide, and yet have returned in safety." the following are extracts from his journal. "'near cape graham we saw a large party of indians, with several canoes, one of which, paddled by two men and a woman, came alongside of our boat, and they sold us some fine fish, for the large price of two metal buttons and a small string of beads. finding no place at which i could land, on account of the rocks and heavy swell, we steered for the shore about fifteen miles to the northward. approaching a flat-topped bluff, covered with grass, i saw a large guanaco, and just afterwards a whole herd feeding, for which he seemed to be doing the duty of a sentinel. the shore was inviting, and earthy soil seemed abundant; but too many rocks showed their sharp points at the water's edge to allow of our landing. at last we found a small patch of shingle between two reefs of rocks, and there we succeeded in beaching the boat, through a heavy surf. i ascended a steep woody height to obtain a view of the neighbourhood, and found that for some miles the country was level, and apparently covered by thick grass. traces of, and paths made by, guanacoes, were very numerous in every direction. next day we pulled to the eastward against a tumbling sea, caused by a weather tide, and at sunset tried to land; but were disappointed, by finding that the shore was so fronted every where by rocks, that we could not approach. we therefore hastened towards a long reef of outlying rocks, which might afford some shelter, as a breakwater, during the night, but found such overfalls near them, that we were again obliged to continue our route alongshore in the dark. at last i heard the noise of a large waterfall, between the breakings of high surf on the rocks, and fancied a cove could be made out, towards which we cautiously advanced, sounding with the lead and a long pole, and succeeded in obtaining a place of temporary security. "'in passing along the shore on the following day, many herds of guanacoes were seen feeding. at night we again had { } much embarrassment in obtaining a place for the boat. on the th there was too much sea and wind to admit of our proceeding, so i went to various points suited for obtaining angles and bearings. one of these stations was a large rock, looking like a tower, which stood alone on a level plain. "'the weather being less unfavourable and the sea smoother on the th, we launched our boat and sailed to the eastward. in passing round cape kinnaird, great numbers of fur-seal were observed, so many indeed that they completely covered several of the large rocks. "'spaniard harbour proved to be a shallow bay, full of rocks, and dangerous reefs lining the shore, and without shelter, although there is anchorage for a vessel. "'in a large cave in a rock, which forms the south head of a little cove where our boat was secured, i found the recent traces of indians, who had left bones of guanacoes and birds lying about near the ashes of a large fire. i went into the cave for a considerable distance, until it became too dark to find my way farther, but did not reach the end. afterwards we sailed to the eastward again, under a treble reefed sail, and landed before dark in a corner between projecting rocks. numbers of guanacoes were feeding around; but, after our shooting one of them, they made off. in every place at which we landed, traces of indians had been found; yet hitherto we had seen only one party during this trip. the country near us, on the east side of spaniard harbour, or rather bay, seemed level, though here and there were low hills, whose eastern sides were thickly covered with wood: some of the trees (beech) growing large and straight enough to make topmasts or lower yards for a small ship; though probably their qualities would be unsuitable. "'may th. during a heavy gale, i ascended the highest hill, near the sea, and noticed many rocks, on which the sea was breaking, that i had not seen before. on the th we passed through a very dangerous 'tide-race' off bell cape. there was little or no wind, but it was scarcely possible to use our oars, so much was the water agitated: it was heaving { } and breaking in all directions, like water boiling in an immense caldron. when through, and again in safety, i was astonished at our fortunate escape. looking back upon it, only a mass of breakers could be seen, which passed rapidly to the westward, and therefore led me to suppose that the 'race' was caused by a meeting of tides; not by a strong tide passing over a rocky ledge. "'the land near bell cape is steep, high, and so rocky, that we could not find any place at which to land. we went into all the small coves, but they were so guarded by rocks as to be impracticable. sailing eastward, i at last found a small cove, near valentyn bay, in which we hauled the boat ashore. a small stream ran into it, near which were many wigwams, but no natives could be seen. "' th. we crossed valentyn bay, and landed near cape good success. i walked to the summit, and thence obtained a good view of staten island, on the east; and all the coast westward, as far as new island. in the north-east corner of valentyn bay, we found some indians, living in one large wigwam, without any canoes. there were eight men, each of whom had a bow and a few arrows in his hand, and all, except one, were clothed in guanaco-skins hanging down to their heels, the woolly side being outwards. we obtained several bows from them, by barter, but they were reluctant to part with many arrows. one of the number wore a large seal-skin, that i purchased with a knife, which, to my surprise, he distinctly called 'cuchillo.' they had some fine dogs, one being much like a young lion; but nothing we could offer seemed, in their eyes, to be considered an equivalent for his value. afterwards we examined valentyn bay, and found it unfit for vessels, being exposed to a heavy swell, and affording but bad anchorage. "'on the th and th, a heavy gale confined us to our cove, into which such numbers of wild-fowl came, for shelter i suppose, that we shot as many as we wanted. "'on the th, th, and th, we were returning to the beagle, not without meeting difficulties and risks similar to { } those already mentioned, but which it would be as tedious as unnecessary to relate.'" "soon after the master came alongside, mr. stokes also returned, having been a long way into the channel first discovered by mr. murray, and having examined all the shores about its eastern communication with the sea. he met many groups of indians, but managed so as not to have any collision or trouble with them. " th. digging in various places on lennox island, showed me that the soil is unlike that where the guanacoes were seen on navarin island, which is fit for cultivation; this being very moist, and too full of tussac and other roots, to be serviceable in any agricultural point of view. " th. natives had come alongside at various times, during the last few days, to sell fish for old buttons and other trifles. it was amusing to witness york and boat taking in these people, by their bargains. the same men who, two months back, would themselves have sold a number of fish for a bit of glass, were seen going about the decks collecting broken crockery-ware, or any trash, to exchange for the fish brought alongside by these 'yapoos,' as they called them; not one word of whose language did they appear to comprehend. lieut. kempe returned from an unsuccessful excursion to navarin island in search of guanacoes. he saw many, but could not get within shot. the footmarks of a puma were noticed by him in several places. " d. after obtaining a few sights of the sun, for the chronometer rates, we sailed from lennox harbour, a very secure place for small vessels; but, as it is rather shallow, ships drawing more than fourteen feet of water should anchor outside the entrance, where they would be safe, and in smooth water, excepting when a south-east gale blows, with which wind they would not, in all probability, wish to remain at anchor. the soundings are regular in the offing, and there is anchoring ground every where in the vicinity. wood and water may be obtained, in any quantity: wild fowl and fish are also to be had, but not in abundance. the easiest way { } of getting fish is to give bits of broken glass or buttons to the natives, who catch them in the kelp, by a baited line, without a hook, enticing the fish to the top of the water and then seizing them with the hand, or, if the fish has swallowed the bait, jerking it out of the water before it can disengage itself; as i mentioned before. "at daylight ( th), being off cape good success, we bore up, and ran towards the strait of le maire, with a fresh gale at south, and thick snow squalls. the strait appeared clear of all obstacles, no rocks, nor even kelp being visible. the shore from cape success to the north head of success bay is high and bold, with water for a ship as near to it as she could desire, or ought to go. we hauled our wind during a severe snow squall, lest we should run beyond the harbour, and afterwards bearing up, ran into good success bay, and anchored under the lee of its south head as a temporary berth. as soon as the ship was secure, i went to look for the best anchorage; and when it moderated, we weighed and shifted to a position where i supposed the ship secure when moored in smooth water, with sixty fathoms on our seaward anchor, and fifty on the other, the anchors lying respectively in eight and seven fathoms, over a clear, sandy bottom. the gale continued during the day, and towards night increased, drawing more to the eastward, and sending a swell into the bay. the wind was very cold, and the snow and hail froze fast, as they lodged upon any exposed part of the ship. between eight and nine it blew heavily; afterwards it became much more moderate; and at midnight there was only a fresh wind from e.s.e. a long swell then began to set into the bay from the same quarter; but the ship rode so easily, and the night seemed to be improving so fast, with the glass rising steadily, that i went to bed without an anxious thought respecting her safety: however, i was hardly asleep when i was told that the small bower, our seaward cable, had parted. i ran instantly upon deck, when finding the night fine, and no increase of swell, i thought at first it was a mistake; but was quickly set right by the ship turning her broadside to the swell, and dropping { } down upon her lee anchor. the critical nature of our situation at once struck me: it was evident, that the frost had rendered our chains, so often tried, a doubtful security against the jerk of rollers which occasionally set into the bay--one or two, perhaps, in half an hour--though the swell was at other times trifling. we veered a whole cable on the in-shore anchor (a small one, got at san carlos), cleared away and let go the sheet-anchor, shackled the remainder of the small bower chain to the best bower, and rode with two-thirds of a cable on the sheet, and a cable and a half on the bower, close to the beach, though in six fathoms water, keeping the cables constantly streaming wet at the hawse-holes, with sea-water, to prevent their freezing: the temperature of the water being °, though the snow and hail lay frozen on the weather-side of the masts. the link that broke, of the chain, was in the hawse exposed to a current of cold air through the hawse-hole. it certainly appeared defective, when examined next day; but as it had withstood many a heavy strain, i attribute its parting to the action of the frost, and would caution seamen to be on their guard when using chain cables in similar weather. the wind moderated, and the swell decreased towards morning; so we became again at ease with respect to the safety of the ship, after a few hours of anxious suspense, for we had no hemp cables, and were close to the surf of the shore. " th. the wind drawing southward brought the vessel's broadside to the swell, and prevented our getting the boats out for some time, as she rolled heavily, and i would not risk their being injured without absolute necessity. in the evening we crept for the end of the chain, weighed, and bent a stout hawser to it; and next day hove up the sheet anchor, and moored afresh, at a greater distance from the land. " th and th. blowing a furious gale of wind. "may th. the first tolerable day in this place was employed by the officers in taking bearings and soundings in the bay; and by the ship's company in wooding and watering. some wigwams and the traces of guanacoes' hoofs were seen, but the land is high, and being thickly wooded shut us out { } from the best guanaco country. i was not sure which was the height mr. banks ascended; but the broad road mentioned by cook is still a good mark for the bay, if the inbend of the land does not show it sufficiently. the weather here was colder than we had yet found it, the wind being so much in the south quarter; there were very sharp frosts at night, and snow lay deep, even close to the sea water-mark. "may th. i was in hopes of finding a harbour between cape san diego and cape san vicente, or a little farther along the coast, where we might be able to fix the position of cape san diego and the adjacent land; for i did not like sending a boat along this coast, the tides being so very strong, and the shore so rocky, without any inlets, where she could be secured at night. (during mr. murray's last trip, he was extremely fortunate in having a fine interval; as the coast he passed would have been impracticable for a boat in blowing weather. had these last strong southerly gales begun before he came back, his situation would have been extremely critical.) we therefore stood into the strait, the wind being variable and light with us, though blowing strongly over the tops of the hills, and striking the water nearest them in strong squalls. at half a mile from the land there was little wind; but from that distance to the shore was torn up by williwaws. this strange appearance must have been caused by the cold air rushing from the snow-covered hills and displacing the warmer air near the surface of the water. "with the ebb tide and what flaws of wind we could catch we stood to the southward, to get some angles and bearings, and see more of the shore between cape good success and the bay. in the afternoon we had a steady wind from n.n.w.; and having done what was necessary, to the southward, returned, and anchored after dark near the middle of the bay. "may st. at daylight this morning, we weighed and made sail with a fresh northerly breeze. i trusted to the weather improving, as the glasses were rising; but, indeed, our time was becoming too short to allow of a choice of days. we worked to the northward with the flood-tide, taking the required { } angles and bearings, and at noon were close to cape san diego, where the flood-tide opposed the north wind very strongly, and in addition to a heavy swell from the northward, made such an irregular high sea, as nearly caused the loss of our new boat, and would have damaged many a vessel. the weather became worse; and as the swell continued high from the northward, i was obliged to stand to sea, and carry a press of sail to keep off the land, which by that time was too much obscured by haze and clouds to admit of our running back. "june st. bad weather, with rain nearly all day. at about twelve miles to the northward of cape san vicente, by estimation, we stood off and on until in the latter part of the day we got a breeze from south, to which sail was made to close the land about cape san vicente. "at noon, on the d, we were well in-shore, and stood along the land, looking for a harbour. seeing a promising place, we anchored off it, in twenty-two fathoms water; and, as the night proved to be fine, remained quiet in smooth water, with the wind off the land, and a regular tide setting past the ship. "at daylight next morning, i went to look at the opening, which, from the masthead, seemed like a spacious harbour; but i found it to be so shallow an inlet, that at its entrance, just within the heads, there was no more than one fathom of water. nevertheless this cove must be the place which the spaniards dignified with the name of port san policarpo. "we weighed and sailed along-shore, but the wind being scant, and the tide against us, it was late before we could get into san vicente bay, where we anchored in a line between that cape and cape san diego, but nearest to the former. in a cove at the head of this bay, mr. banks landed when cook was here. during the night we were tossed about by a very heavy swell, opposing a strong tide; the wind being moderate, not enough to steady the vessel. "finding this morning (june th), that the swell was too high to allow a boat to be lowered in safety, i gave up my intention of examining the cove, and hastened back to the bay { } of good success, to complete wood and water, and obtain rates for the chronometers, previously to leaving the coast. wind and tide favoured us, and at noon we were moored in good success bay. soon afterwards i left the beagle, in my boat, with a week's provisions, intending to try to land near cape san diego, and thence walk to the cape with the instruments; but i found a cross swell in the strait, and a rocky shore without a place in which the boat could land: though i risked knocking her to pieces by trying to land in the only corner where there seemed to be any chance. after this escape i tried farther on, without success; by which time it became dark, and if i had not returned immediately, while the ebb-tide made, the flood would have begun and obliged me to lie at a grapnel, during a frosty night, in a strong tide-way, with the boat's crew wet through: i turned back, therefore, and pulled towards success bay, assisted by the tide, but the cockling sea it made half filled the boat more than once, and we were thankful when again safely on board the beagle. "having failed in this scheme for settling the latitude of cape san diego, i thought of effecting it by bringing the beagle to an anchor in the strait, two or three miles to the eastward of good success bay, and thence connecting the cape to known points by triangulation; the heads of this bay and cape good success, quite correctly placed, serving as the foundation. "june th. i obtained some sights of the sun this morning and observations at noon, besides bearings and angles to verify former ones. all hands were busy wooding and watering, preparatory to returning to monte video. a large albatross was shot by my coxswain, which measured nearly fourteen feet across the wings. " th. the snow which covered the ground when we were first here was quite gone, and the weather was comparatively mild. the frost at night was not more than in a common winter's night in england, the thermometer ranging from ° to °. the tide was carefully noticed this day, being full { } moon. it was high water at a quarter past four, and the tide rose seven feet. " th. we unmoored, weighed, stood to the eastward and anchored with the stream anchor, and a large hawser, in fifty fathoms water, about three miles from success bay. after taking the required angles and bearings we weighed at eleven, and stood towards cape san diego with the first of the flood. the tide being strong, we made rapid progress, and were soon out of the strait; but wishing to see as much of the n.e. coast as possible, in our progress northward, we hauled to the wind and kept near the land during the night, as the weather was fine and settled. "before leaving good success bay and the strait of le maire, i felt satisfied that we had acquainted ourselves with the tides, which are as regular and as little to be dreaded as in any part of the world where they run with strength. they will materially assist any vessel in her passage through the strait; which is very wide, perfectly free from obstacles of any kind, and has good success bay close at hand, in case wind or tide should fail. when the tide opposes the wind and swell, there is always a heavy, and, for small vessels, dangerous 'race' off cape san diego, where the water is more shoal than elsewhere (k), we found it so at a neap flood-tide, but let it be remembered that on another day, at the top of the springs, being the day after full moon, we passed the same spot, at half flood, with the water perfectly smooth, and although strong eddies were seen in every direction, the vessel's steerage was but little affected by them. it is high water in success bay soon after four in the afternoon, on the full and change days, and low water exactly at ten in the morning. the flood tide-stream begins to make to the northward about an hour after low water, and the ebb, to the southward, about the same time after high water. the tides rise from six to eight feet, perpendicularly. at cape pillar the turn of tide, with high water, is at noon: but along the s.w. and s.e. coast the time { } gradually increases to this coast. from cape san diego the flood tide sets north and west along the shore, from one knot to three knots each hour, as far as twenty miles along shore; and the ebb in a contrary direction, but not so strongly, except in san vicente bay. the flood in the strait of le maire runs about two knots in mid channel, more or less according to the wind, and the ebb about one knot an hour. perhaps, at times, when a strong spring tide is retarded in its progress by a northerly wind, there will be a dangerous overfall off cape san diego, like the bores in some parts of the world. "the soundings are tolerably regular, and may give notice of an approach to staten land, or to the n.e. coast, and may guide a ship to the fairway of the strait; but i should not place much confidence in them, near such a rocky coast as that of staten land. "good success bay is an excellent anchorage for vessels of any size to stop in for wood or water; but it would not answer if a vessel required to lie steady for repair, as a swell frequently rolls in. it is quite safe, yet, in the winter season, when easterly gales are common, no vessel should anchor so near the head of the bay as she might in summer; for heavy rollers at times (though rarely) set in. fish we did not try to get, not having spare time, and only a few birds were shot. "on the th, a very fine day with but little wind, we were off the flat-topped hill, called the table of orozco; and, from the mast-head, i had an extensive view of the adjacent country. about success bay and bell mount the land is high, but north of success bay it slopes away towards cape san diego, which is a long, low, projecting point. thence, as far as i could see, the n.e. coast extended, low, excepting a few hills here and there, and unbroken by inlets; the country near it being a pleasant looking hill and dale land, well wooded and quite free from snow. i could distinguish a snow-covered chain of mountains which must have lain near admiralty sound, the country on this side of them appearing to be a continued succession of hill and valley, with only a few of the hills capped with snow, although this was the depth of winter. { } smoke was seen at but one place, about two miles inland. in the evening we got a breeze off shore, and stood along the coast, the moon shining brightly and the weather being fine. i kept rather close to the land, during the night, in order to be near the entrance of the supposed st. sebastian channel in the morning. "at midnight cape santa inez was distant from us three or four miles, but thence we saw very little of the land, till three, near cape peñas, after which the weather became thick, and the wind drew round to the n.e., which made me keep more off shore until daylight ( th), when we bore up and stood for the land. having found cape santa inez and cape peñas correctly laid down on the chart we used, i thought cape st. sebastian would not be far wrong, and we had taken several observations during the early part of the night to correct our reckoning. standing towards the shore, we quickly shoaled our water, and found a ground swell increasing. having made what i supposed to be cape sebastian, and seeing from the mast-head a large opening to the northward of it similar to that laid down in the chart, with low distant land yet farther northward corresponding to the shores of 'bahia de nombre de jesus,' i stood on confidently, thinking how well the chart of this coast had been laid down, and regardless of the soundings decreasing as we went on. seeing, however, from the mast-head, what seemed to be a tide-ripple, two or three miles distant, i called the boatswain, who had been much among the tide-races on this coast, to ask his opinion of it: but before he could get up aloft to me, i saw that it was very low land, almost level with the sea, and what i thought the ripple, was the surf on the beach. standing on a little farther we had but seven fathoms water over a bottom of dark muddy sand, with bits of black slate. at this time, the weather had cleared enough to see the land fifteen or twenty miles on each side, but nothing like an opening appearing, on the contrary, a plain extending to the westward, as horizontal as the sea, i hauled to the wind and stood alongshore to the s.e., to look for an inlet, fancying { } i had overshot the proper place; especially as the land continued flat, and unbroken, for many miles to the n.w., while to the s.e. it seemed hilly and irregular. "having ranged along shore several miles, yet still seeing from the mast-head a continuation of the same kind of coast-line, as far as an eye could trace the surf on the beach, without any opening, we wore ship and stood to the northward, satisfied that the st. sebastian channel did not exist within many miles of the position laid down in the chart. "in the afternoon the weather became very thick, with rain, a fresh wind blowing right on shore, and the glasses falling; so we carried sail to get off the land and out of the shoal water, in which there was a heavy ground swell. at midnight we had obtained a good offing. "on the th, a fresh breeze from the n.e., a low glass, and thick weather, with constant rain, would have prevented my nearing the land again if i had been disposed to do so. though reluctant to leave any part of the coast of tierra del fuego unexplored, while i had so effective a vessel, and all with me in good health, i was bound to remember our distance from the appointed rendezvous; the state of our provisions, of which we had only three weeks left on board; and that i was ordered to be at rio de janeiro on the th of this month. i therefore decided to hasten to port desire, for the sake of the chronometer measurements; and from thence proceed to monte video and rio de janeiro. i had previously made up my mind to carry the fuegians, whom we had with us, to england; trusting that the ultimate benefits arising from their acquaintance with our habits and language, would make up for the temporary separation from their own country. but this decision was not contemplated when i first took them on board; i then only thought of detaining them while we were on their coasts; yet afterwards finding that they were happy and in good health, i began to think of the various advantages which might result to them and their countrymen, as well as to us, by taking them to england, educating them there as far as might be practicable, and then { } bringing them back to tierra del fuego. these ideas were confirmed by finding that the tribes of fuegians, eastward of christmas sound, were hostile to york minster's tribe, and that therefore we could not, in common humanity, land them in nassau bay or near the strait of le maire. neither could i put the boy ashore again, when once to the eastward of nassau bay, without risking his life; hence i had only the alternative of beating to the westward, to land them in their own districts, which circumstances rendered impracticable, or that of taking them to england. in adopting the latter course i incurred a deep responsibility, but was fully aware of what i was undertaking. "the fuegians were much slower in learning english than i expected from their quickness in mimickry, but they understood clearly when we left the coast that they would return to their country at a future time, with iron, tools, clothes, and knowledge which they might spread among their countrymen. they helped the crew whenever required; were extremely tractable and good-humoured, even taking pains to walk properly, and get over the crouching posture of their countrymen. "when we were at anchor in good success bay, they went ashore with me more than once, and occasionally took an oar in the boat, without appearing to harbour a thought of escape. "during the night of the th, we were near the land about sea bear bay; the wind, however, drew to the northward, and with a strong current setting to the s.e., drove us off again. "the th was foggy; clouds preventing any observations, but at three in the afternoon we made the land, a little north of port desire, near what is called in the chart 'rivers peak.' the wind having hauled to the southward, and the current setting northward, prevented our approaching nearer to the port on that day. "at daylight on the th, we were again off rivers peak, notwithstanding our having carried a press of sail in order to make southing during the night. we were set twenty miles to the northward during that time; but a slant of wind and { } the turn of tide in our favour carried us towards the entrance of the harbour, into which we worked, the tide of ebb having just ended; and we moored abreast of the ruins. my first care was to look for traces of the adventure or adelaide, but i found none. a bottle which i had deposited for the adelaide, at our last visit, by captain king's direction, was exactly where i then left it, and the papers it contained were untouched. while in this port i got good observations, the weather being clear, though very cold. no guanacoes were shot although many were seen, but numbers of sea-birds were brought on board.[ ] a quince was given to me which was found in a place where the spanish colony had made a garden. we remarked that the tracks of the guanacoes on shore here were not so large, by one-half, as those we had so lately seen in tierra del fuego. having noticed the currents particularly, in order to compare them with what i observed formerly and with the tide in the port; i can now say, decidedly, that the flood tide comes from the southward, and that the ebb sets to the south-east. north of port desire, or from port desire to cape blanco, the flood is much the strongest, but off penguin island the ebb is, i think, the strongest, setting two or three knots an hour. it is high-water and slack-water, in port desire, at half-past twelve, on the days of full and change. the tides, if not attended to, would baffle a ship much in making this port. "on the st we sailed, with a fresh breeze from the s.w.; and at nine a.m. on the th when about one mile southward of the alleged position of the ariel rocks, and near the nominal longitude, i hauled to the wind and ran some distance on their parallel, looking out for broken water. there was a very irregular and heavy swell, as much as would be raised by a gale of wind, but caused apparently by a current; and while waiting for the meridian altitude, before bearing up, having run twenty miles on the same parallel, a heavy swell rose on the quarter, which struck our weather quarter boat, and turned { } her in upon the deck, breaking both iron davits. one of the davits of the lee-boat was also unshipped by the jerk, and the after-part of the vessel well drenched with water. we secured both boats again, but the one to windward was badly stove. for a moment, i thought we had indeed found the rocks, and the huge black back of a dead whale which just then shewed itself very near the vessel, much increased the sensation. i imagined that we were in a meeting of tides or currents; where old trees, dead whales, &c. are often found, and have frequently caused reports of rocks; for the water was not more shallow than we had found it during the day, the soundings having varied from forty to fifty fathoms; so having obtained the meridional altitude we bore up, and steered our course again. "on the th we entered the plata, and at one a.m. on the th, lobos island was seen, and soon afterwards the high land about pan de azucar. we continued working to the westward, and at daylight were off whale point, but the wind fell light, and the current being against us, we lost during the day what had been gained in the night. at seven p.m. the current set so strongly out of the river that we were obliged to drop a kedge with a stout hawser, and ride by it, though keeping all sail set and going between four and five knots through the water. when the hawser bore a strain, the log was hove, and the current found to be setting more than five knots. this was off maldonado; lobos bearing n.n.e., distant four miles. soon after nine the stream slacked, we tripped the kedge and worked up the river, the wind being still westerly, but the current having turned in our favour. the u.s. frigate hudson passed, steering to the eastward:--she was the first sail we had seen since leaving san carlos de chilóe. at daylight next morning ( th), we were in sight of flores lighthouse, which was reported to be a vessel under sail. soon after which another vessel was reported as being under all studding sails; this was the mount itself: so curiously were objects distorted by the haze. soon after noon we anchored off monte video, and from captain talbot, of h.m.s. algerine, i heard of the arrival there, and subsequent departure of the adventure and the adelaide. { } "on the th of july we sailed from monte video,--on the th made the high land over the island of santa catharina, and after dark anchored in the bay. my object in calling there was to continue the chronometric chain, between tierra del fuego and rio de janeiro, by as short intervals as possible: and the results so obtained proved to be very satisfactory. "while in monte video i tried to have the fuegians vaccinated, but the virus did not take any effect on them. little fuegia was living several days with an english family, who were extremely kind to her; and the others were on shore at different times with me. no one noticed them; being so very like the indians of the neighbourhood. "the apparent astonishment and curiosity excited by what they saw, extraordinary to them as the whole scene must have been, were much less than i had anticipated; yet their conduct was interesting, and each day they became more communicative. it was here that i first learned from them that they made a practice of eating their enemies taken in war. the women, they explained to me, eat the arms; and the men the legs; the trunk and head were always thrown into the sea. "on the d we sailed from santa catalina; and on the d of august anchored in the harbour of rio de janeiro." here the extracts from captain fitz roy's journal end. the adventure and the beagle sailed together from rio de janeiro on the th of august, having left the adelaide as a tender to the flag-ship, but reimbarked her officers and crew; and, after a most tedious passage, anchored in plymouth sound on the th of october. both vessels were soon afterwards paid off; the beagle at plymouth, and the adventure at woolwich. [illustration: engraved by j. gardner. published by henry colburn, great marlborough street, .] * * * * * { } chapter xxiv. a few nautical remarks upon the passage round cape horn; and upon that through the strait of magalhaens, or magellan. ships bound from the atlantic to any of the ports in the pacific, will find it advantageous to keep within one hundred miles of the coast of eastern patagonia, as well to avoid the heavy sea that is raised by the westerly gales, which prevail to the eastward, and increase in strength according to the distance from the land, as to profit by the variableness of the wind when it is in the western board. near the coast, from april to september, when the sun has north declination, the winds prevail more from the w.n.w. to n.n.w. than from any other quarter. easterly gales are of very rare occurrence, but even when they do blow, the direction being obliquely upon the coast, i do not consider it at all hazardous to keep the land on board. in the opposite season, when the sun has south declination, the winds will incline from the southward of west, and frequently blow hard; but, as the coast is a weather shore, the sea goes down immediately after the gale. in this season, although the winds are generally against a ship's making quick progress, yet as they seldom remain fixed in one point, and frequently shift backward and forward six or eight points in as many hours, advantage may be taken of the change so as to keep close in with the coast. having once made the land, which should be done to the southward of cape blanco, it will be beneficial to keep it topping on the horizon, until the entrance of the strait of magalhaens be passed. with respect to this part of the voyage, whether to pass through strait le maire or round staten island, much difference of opinion exists. prudence, i think, suggests the { } latter; yet i should very reluctantly give up the opportunity that might offer of clearing the strait, and therefore of being so much more to windward. with a southerly wind it would not be advisable to attempt the strait; for, with a weather tide, the sea runs very cross and deep, and might severely injure and endanger the safety of a small vessel, and to a large one do much damage. in calm weather it would be still more imprudent (unless the western side of the strait can be reached, where a ship might anchor), on account of the tides setting over to the staten island side; where, if it becomes advisable to anchor, it would necessarily be in very deep water, and close to the land. with a northerly wind the route seems not only practicable, but very advantageous, and it would require some resolution to give up the opportunity so invitingly offered. i doubt whether northerly winds, unless they are very strong, blow through the strait--if not, a ship is drifted over to the eastern shores, where, from the force of the tides, she must be quite unmanageable. captain fitz roy seems to think there is neither difficulty nor risk in passing the strait. the only danger that does exist, and that may be an imaginary one, is the failure of the wind. ships passing through it from the south, are not so liable to the failure of the south-westerly wind, unless it be light, and then a breeze will probably be found from n.w., at the northern end of the strait. the anchorage in good success bay, however, is at hand, should the wind or tide fail. in passing to leeward of staten island, the tide race, which extends for some distance off cape st. john, at the n.e. end of the island, must be avoided: otherwise there exist no dangers. the anchorage under new year islands, although it is a wild one, the bottom bad, and the tide very strong, yet offers good shelter from south-west winds, and might be occupied with advantage during the existence of a gale from that quarter, which is so unfavourable for ships bound round the horn. after passing staten island, if the wind be westerly, the { } ship should be kept upon the starboard tack, unless it veer to the southward of s.s.w., until she reaches the latitude of ° south, and then upon that tack on which most westing may be made. in this parallel, however, the wind is thought to prevail more from the eastward than from any other quarter. never having passed round cape horn in the summer season, i may not perhaps be justified in opposing my opinion to that of others, who, having tried both seasons, give the preference to the summer months. the advantage of long days is certainly very great, but, from my experience of the winds and weather during these opposite seasons at port famine, i preferred the winter passage, and in our subsequent experience of it, found no reason to alter my opinion. easterly and northerly winds prevail in the winter off the cape, whilst southerly and westerly winds are constant during the summer months; and not only are the winds more favourable in the winter, but they are moderate in comparison to the fury of the summer gales. having passed the meridian of cape pillar, it will yet be advisable to take every opportunity of making westing in preference to northing until the meridian of ° or ° be reached, which will enable a ship to steer through the north-westerly winds that prevail between the parallels of ° and °. (see hall's south america, appendix.) with respect to the utility of the barometer as an indicator of the weather that is experienced off cape horn, i do not think it can be considered so unfailing a guide as it is in the lower or middle latitudes. captain fitz-roy, however, has a better opinion of the indications shewn by this valuable instrument: my opinion is, that although the rise or fall at times precedes the change, yet it more frequently accompanies it. the following sketch of the movement of the barometer, and of the weather that we experienced, may be not without its use. being to the north of staten island for three days preceding full moon, which occurred on the d april ( ), we had very foggy weather, with light winds from the eastward and { } northward, causing a fall of the mercury from . to . . on the day of full moon the column rose, and we had a beautiful morning, during which the high mountains of staten island were quite unclouded, as were also those of tierra del fuego. at noon, however, a fresh gale from the s.w. set in, and enveloped the land with a dense mist. no sooner had the wind changed, than the mercury rose to . , but fell again the next morning; and with the descent the wind veered round to n.w., and blew strongly with thick cloudy weather and rain, which continued until the following noon, when the wind veered to s.w., the barometer at . , having slightly risen; but after the change it fell, and continued to descend gradually until midnight, when we had a fresh gale from w.s.w. when this wind set in, the mercury rose, and continued to rise, as the wind veered without decreasing in strength to s.s.w., until it reached . , when it fell again and the weather moderated, but without any change of wind. during the descent of the mercury, the sky with us was dull and overcast, with squalls of wind and rain, but on shore it seemed to be very fine sunshiny weather. the column now fell to . , and during its descent the weather remained the same, dull and showery; but as soon as the mercury became stationary, a fresh breeze set in from the southward, with fine weather. after this to new moon the weather was very unsettled, the wind veering between south and w.s.w.; the barometer rising as it veered to the former, and falling as it became more westerly; but on no occasion did it precede the change. the mean height of the barometer is about . . the mercury stands lowest with n.w. winds, and highest with s.e. with the wind at n.w. or northerly the mercury is low; if it falls to inches or . , a s.w. gale may be expected, but it will not commence until the column has ceased to descend. it frequently, however, falls without being followed by this change. in the month of june, at port famine, the barometer fell to . , and afterwards gradually rose to . , { } which was followed by cold weather, in which the thermometer stood at °. the following table shews the mean temperature and pressure as registered at the observatory at port famine in the strait. +----------+--------------+-----------+ | . | temperature. | pressure. | +----------+--------------+-----------+ | february | . | . | | march | . | . | | april | . | . | | may | . | . | | june | . | . | | july | . | . | | august | . | . | +----------+--------------+-----------+ the difficulties that present themselves to navigators in passing round cape horn, as well from adverse winds as the severe gales and heavy sea to which they are exposed, are so great, that the strait of magalhaens has naturally been looked to as a route by which they may be avoided. hitherto no chart has existed in which much confidence could be placed; but by the present survey, the navigation through it, independent of wind and weather, has been rendered much easier; since a correct delineation of its shores, and plans of the anchorages, have been made; and in the preceding pages, sufficient descriptions of them have been given to assure the navigator of his place, and furnish him with advice as to his proceedings. the local difficulties therefore have been removed; but there remain much more serious ones, which i should not recommend a large, or even any but a very active and fast-sailing square-rigged vessel to encounter, unless detention be not an object of importance. for a square-rigged vessel bound through the strait, the following directions will be useful:-- { } in the eastern entrance the winds will frequently favour a ship's arrival off the first narrow; where, if she selects a good anchorage on the bank which bounds the northern side of the channel, she may await an opportunity of passing through the first narrow and of reaching gregory bay; where also a delay may safely be made for the purpose of passing the second narrow and arriving at the neighbourhood of cape negro; at which place the difficulties and dangers of the eastern entrance cease. the dangers being carefully placed on the chart, and now sufficiently described, nothing need be repeated here; and indeed much must be left to the judgment and discretion of the navigator. the tides answer best for vessels entering the strait at the period of full and change of the moon, since there are two westerly tides in the day. in the winter season, if the morning tide be not sufficient to carry a vessel through the first narrow, she may return to possession bay, select an anchorage, and be secured again before night; or, in the summer, if she has passed the narrow, and has been enabled to anchor for the tide, there will be sufficient daylight for her to proceed with the following tide to gregory bay, or at least to a safe anchorage off the peaked hillocks on the north shore. i have twice attempted to pass the first narrow, and been obliged to return to the anchorage in possession bay; and twice i have passed through it against a strong breeze blowing directly through, by aid of the tide; which runs, in the narrower parts, at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour. when the tide and wind are opposed to each other, the sea is very deep and heavy, and breaks high over the decks; it is therefore advisable to close reef, or lower the topsails on the cap, and drift through; for the tide, if at the springs, will generally be sufficient to carry a ship to an anchorage, although, not always to one where it would be safe to pass the night. on this account, it would be prudent to return; for, although the holding ground is exceedingly good, yet, to part in the night, or drift towards, or through the narrow, could scarcely happen without accident. { } in leaving the anchorage in gregory bay, attention must be paid to the tide, which continues to run to the eastward in the second narrow, three hours after it has commenced setting to the s.w. at the anchorage. with a leading wind through the second narrow, a ship will easily reach an anchorage off laredo bay, but, if the tide fails upon emerging from it, she should seek for a berth in the bay to the north of elizabeth island, as near to the island as possible, but to the westward of its n.e. end, to be out of the influence of the tide. the depth of water, however, will be the best guide. directions for passing round the south side of elizabeth island are given elsewhere; and as this part offers some dangers, the chart and the description should be carefully referred to. the only advice that seems wanting, to improve the directions for the coast from this to port famine, is, with a south-westerly wind, to keep close to the weather shore, in order to benefit by the flaws down the valleys; but this must be done with caution, in consequence of the squalls off the high land, the violence of which cannot be well imagined by a person unaccustomed to them. of the anchorages between port famine and cape froward, the only convenient one for a ship is st. nicholas bay, to which, if defeated in passing round the cape, she had better return; for it is easy to reach as well as to leave, and extremely convenient for stopping at, to await an opportunity of proceeding. from cape froward to the westward, unless favoured by a fair wind, it is necessary to persevere and take advantage of every opportunity of advancing step by step. there are several anchorages that a ship may take up, such as snug bay, off woods bay, near cape coventry, in fortescue bay, elizabeth bay, and york roads. to the westward, in crooked reach, the anchorages are not so good, and excepting borja bay, none seem to offer much convenience. borja bay, however, is well calculated to supply the deficiency, although for a square-rigged vessel there must be some difficulty in reaching it. { } long reach is both long and narrow, and ill supplied with anchorages for a ship; such as they are, swallow harbour, playa parda, marian cove, and half port bay, seem to be the best. in thick weather, although the channel is very narrow, yet one side is scarcely visible from the other, and the only advantage it has over other parts of the strait is the smoothness of the water. in sea reach there is a heavy rolling swell, with a short and deep sea, which renders it very difficult to beat to windward. tamar harbour, valentine harbour, tuesday cove, and the harbour of mercy, are the best anchorages; and the latter is particularly convenient to occupy, while awaiting an opportunity of sailing out of the strait. in the entrance, the sea runs very heavy and irregularly during and after a gale; so that a ship should not leave her anchorage in the harbour of mercy, without a fair or a leading wind to get her quickly through it. for small vessels, particularly if they be fore-and-aft rigged, many, if not all of the local difficulties vanish; and inlets which a ship dare not or cannot approach, may be entered with safety, and anchorage easily obtained by them. a large ship will perhaps be better off in entering and leaving the strait where there is open space and frequently a heavy sea; but for the navigation of the strait, a small vessel has considerably the advantage. she has also the opportunity of passing through the cockburn channel should the wind be north-westerly, which will very much reduce the length of the passage into the pacific. one very great advantage to be derived from the passage through the strait is, the opportunity of obtaining as much wood and water as can be required, without the least difficulty; and another benefit is, that by hauling the seine during the summer months, from january to may, at the mouth of the river or along the beaches in port famine, at the first quarter flood, a plentiful supply of fish may be obtained. excellent fish are also caught at the anchorage with the hook and line, at all seasons, early in the morning or late in the { } evening. fish may also be obtained with the seine at any other place where there are rivers. freshwater bay and port gallant are equally productive. on the outer coast of tierra del fuego an excellent fish may be caught in the kelp. the advantage which a ship will derive from passing through the strait, from the pacific to the atlantic is very great; and it ought to be great to induce the seaman to entangle his ship with the land when fair winds and an open sea are before him. after passing through the strait, the prevailing winds being westerly, and more frequently from the northward than from the southward of west, they are fair for his running up the coast; or if not, the ship is not liable to receive much injury from the sea, which is comparatively smooth; whereas, to a ship passing round the horn, if the wind be north-west she must go to the eastward of the falkland islands, and be exposed to strong gales and a heavy beam sea, and hug the wind to make her northing. to a small vessel the advantage is incalculable; for, besides filling her hold with wood and water, she is enabled to escape the severe weather that so constantly reigns in the higher latitudes of the south atlantic ocean. coming from the northward, it will be advisable to keep an offing until the western entrance of the strait is well under the lee, to avoid being thrown upon the coast to the northward of cape victory, which is rugged and inhospitable, and, forming as it were a breakwater to the deep rolling swell of the ocean, is for some miles off fringed by a cross hollow sea almost amounting to breakers. the land of cape victory is high and rugged, and much broken; and if the weather be not very thick, will be seen long before the evangelists, which are not visible above the horizon, from a ship's deck, for more than four or five leagues.[ ] pass to the southward of them, and steer for cape pillar, { } which makes like a high island. in calm weather do not pass too near to the cape, for the current sometimes sets out, and round the cape to the southward; but with a strong wind, get under the lee of it as soon as you please, and steer along the shore. in the night it will be advisable to keep close to the land of the south shore; and if a patent log be used, which no ship should be without, your distance will be correctly known. the course along-shore, by compass, is e. ¾ s.; and if the weather be hazy, by keeping sight of the south shore, there will be no difficulty in proceeding with safety. the adventure entered the strait on the st of april, , at sunset; and after passing within half a mile of the islets off the harbour of mercy, steered e. ¾ s. magnetic, under close-reefed topsails, braced by, the weather being so squally and thick that the land was frequently concealed from us; but being occasionally seen, the water being quite smooth, and the course steadily steered, with the patent log to mark the distance run, we proceeded without the least anxiety, although the night was dark, and the squalls of wind and rain frequent and violent. when abreast of cape tamar, that projection was clearly distinguished, as was also the land of cape providence, which served to check the distance shewn by the patent log; but both giving the same results, proved that we had not been subjected to any current; whereas the account by the ship's log was very much in error, in consequence of the violence of the squalls and the long intervals of light winds, which rendered it impossible to keep a correct account of the distance. at daybreak we were between cape monday and the gulf of xaultegua; and at eight o'clock we were abreast of playa parda, in which, after a calm day, the ship was anchored. in the summer season there is no occasion to anchor any where, unless the weather be very tempestuous, for the nights are short, and hardly dark enough to require it, unless as a precautionary measure, or for the purpose of procuring wood and water; the best place for which is port famine, where { } the beaches are strewed with abundance of logs of well-seasoned wood, which is very superior to the green wood that must otherwise be used. notwithstanding that the adventure experienced no current in the western part of the strait, there is generally a set to the eastward, which is more or less felt according to circumstances. the direction and strength of the currents are caused by the duration of the gales. the chart will be a sufficient guide for vessels bound through from the westward as far as laredo bay; after which a few directions will be necessary. the land here should be kept close on board, to avoid the reef off the south-west end of santa magdalena. being abreast of it, bear away, keeping the n.e. extremity of elizabeth island on the starboard bow, until you see santa marta in one with, or a little to the southward of, the south trend of the second narrow (cape st. vincent), which is a leading mark for the fair channel until you pass the spit of shoal soundings, which extends across to santa magdalena. there are also shoal soundings towards the south-west end of elizabeth island; at half a mile off we had five fathoms,--cape st. vincent being then the breadth of santa marta open to the northward of that island. keeping the cape just in sight to the northward of santa marta, steer on and pass round the low n.e. extremity of elizabeth island, off which are several tide eddies. the tide here sets across the channel. now steer for the second narrow, keeping cape gregory, which will be just discernible as the low projecting extreme of the north side of the second narrow, on the starboard bow, until you are three miles past santa marta; the course may then be directed for the cape, opening it gradually on the larboard bow as you approach it, to avoid the shoal that extends off it. if you anchor in gregory bay, which is advisable, in order to have the whole of the tide for running through the first narrow, haul up and keep at a mile and a half from the shore. when { } the north extremity of the sandy land of the cape is in a line with the west extreme of the high table-land, you will be near the anchorage; then shorten sail, and when the green slope begins to open, you will have fourteen fathoms: you may then anchor or keep away to the n.e., and choose a convenient depth, taking care not to approach the shore, so as to bring cape gregory to the southward of s. by w. ¼ w. (by compass). the best berth is with the cape bearing s.s.w. hence to the first narrow, the course by compass is due n.e. by e.[ ] the land at the entrance being low, will not at first be perceived; but, steering on, you will first see some hummocky land, making like islands. these are hills on the eastern, or fuegian side of the narrow. soon afterwards, a flat, low sand-hill will be seen to the northward, and this is at the s.w. extremity of point barranca. on approaching the narrow, at four miles off, keep a cliffy head, four or five miles within the east side of the narrow, open of the trend of point barranca, by which you will avoid the shoal that extends off the latter point. you should not go into less depth than six fathoms. at most times of the tide there are long lines and patches of strong ripplings, through which you must pass. the shoal is easily distinguished by the kelp. when the channel through the narrow bears by compass n. by e. ¾ e., steer through it; and that, or a n.n.e. course, will carry you through. on each side, the bank extends off for some distance; but by keeping in mid-channel, there is no danger until the cliffy coast be past, when reefs extend off either shore for some distance, particularly off cape orange. the n.n.e. course must be kept until the peak of cape orange bears south, and the northern direction hill w.s.w., or w. by s. ½ s. by compass. then steer e.n.e. for cape possession, taking care not to approach too near to the bank { } off cape orange, or to that on the north side of possession bay, for which the chart must be consulted. for a small vessel, the passage through the strait, from west to east, is not only easy, but strongly to be recommended as the best and safest route. indeed, i think the passage would be quite as expeditious, and perhaps much safer, to enter the gulf of trinidad, and pass down the concepçion strait, the sarmiento or st. estevan channels, and smyth channel, and enter the strait at cape tamar. in these channels northerly winds prevail, and there is no want of convenient and well-sheltered anchorages for the night, many of which have already been mentioned, and multitudes of others, perhaps much better ones, might be found. * * * * * appendix. ------ tables of latitude and longitude, variation of the compass, tide, and height. magnetic observations, discussed by major sabine, r.a., f.r.s. zoology; including mammalia--birds--and shells. copies of orders. extracts from a paper published in the journal of the royal geographical society. extract from a game-book. index. * * * * * { } tables of latitude and longitude, variation of the compass, and tide. ------ i. coasts of brazil, river plata, and eastern patagonia. ------ the latitudes to which the character * is prefixed, have resulted from astronomical observation. the longitudes which have been determined by chronometers, are designated by c.; and those by lunar distances by *). those without distinguishing marks are the result of triangulation. the longitudes in the following tables depend upon that of villegagnon island at rio de janeiro, which was found by fourteen chronometers from plymouth to be ° ' " west of greenwich. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+----------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+----------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- coast of brazil. | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ================ | | | | | santos | | | | | arsenal |* |c. | | | moela lighthouse |* |c. | | | alcatrasse island | | | | | centre |* |c. | | | abrigo island | | | | | centre |* |c. | | | figuera island | | | | | centre |* |c. | | | paranagua | | | | | fort on the bar |* |c. | | | west point of cotinga |* |c. | | | church of sta antonina |* |c. | | | st. catherine | | | | | sta cruz d'anhatomirim |* |c. | | | city, president's house |* | | | | cape st. mary | | | | | extremity | |c. | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- river plata. | | | | | ============ | | | | | gorriti island | | | | | well at n.e. end |* |c. | | | | |*) | | | monte video | | | | | rat island, flagstaff |* | | | | cathedral, cupola |* | | | | lighthouse on mount |* | | | | buenos ayres | | | | | cathedral | |c. | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- east coast of patagonia. | | | | | ======================== | | | | | port sta elena | | | | | observy marked on plan |* |c. | | | feet cape two bays | | | | | hill at projecting point | | | | | cape blanco | | | | | north point | | | | | port desire | | | | | ruins |* |c. | | | ½ feet { } penguin island | | | | | mount at north end | | | | | sea bear bay | | | | |north sandy beach at s. side |* |c. | | | feet shag rock | | | | | rock | | | | | watchman cape | | | | | monte video | | | | | bellaco rock | | | | | rock | |c. | | | port st. julian | | | | |northward shag island, in harbour |* |c. | | |rises | | | | |feet, | | | | |(observed | | | | |off the | | | | |river's | | | | |mouth.) wood mount | | | | | cape curioso | | | | | c. franc. de paulo | | | | | extremity | | | | | santa cruz | | | | | observatory opposite | | | | | feet sea-lion island |* |c. | | | mount entrance |* | | | | station up the river |* | | | | ---- |* | | | | broken cliff peak | | | | | brink | | | | |northw. lion mount | | | | | summit | | | | | observation mt. | | | | | summit |* | | | | coy inlet | | | | | height on south side |* | | | | of entrance | |c. | | | station up the inlet | | | | | cape sanches | | | | | extremity | | | | | tiger mount | | | | | summit | | | | | | |c. | | | c. fairweather | | | | | south extreme. | | | | |n.w. feet gallegos river | | | | | observatory mound |* | | | | feet | |c. | | | north hill | | | | | ---- | | | | | friars | | | | | smallest & northernm. | | | | | largest & southernm. | | | | | convents | | | | | northern | | | | | southern | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+ * * * * * { } table ii. ------ strait of magalhaens, including the cockburn and barbara channels, and the otway and skyring waters. column titles: a - coast, &c. b - east entrance c - possession bay d - eastern part ( d narrow to port famine) ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- east entrance | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ============= | | | | | cape virgins | | | | | s.e. extreme. |* | | | |northward. | |c. | | | dungeness | | | | | extremity | | | | | mount dinero | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- possession bay | | | | | ============== | | | | | cape possession | | | | | centre of cliff | | | | | mount aymond | | | | | summit | | | | | cape orange | | | |h. w. about , peak on the s. side of | | | |but the tide the entrance of the | | | |begins to set to first narrow | | | |the n.e. at noon. | | | | | feet. c. espiritu santo | | | | | summit miles inland | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- eastern part ( d narrow to port famine) | | | ======================================= | | | cape gregory | | | | | extremity | | | | | bush on summit of land |* |c. | | | elizabeth island | | | | | north-east bluff. |* |c. | | | oazy harbour | | | | | entrance | | | | | pecket harb. | | | | | beach opposite the | | | | | anchorage outside. | | | | | cape negro | | | | | south-east extreme | |c. | | | sandy point | | | | | extremity | | | | | point st. mary | | | | | ---- |* | | | | | |c. | | | rocky point | | | | | ---- | | | | | port famine | | | | | observatory |* |c. | | |south. | |*) | | | or ft. point santa anna | | | | | cape monmouth | | | | | extremity | | | | | point boqueron | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape st valentyn | | | | | summit at extreme | | | | | nose peak | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- admiralty sound | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| =============== | | | | | port cooke | | | | | rivulet in the bay | | | | | latitude point | | | | | extremity | | | | | bottom of admiralty sound | | | | | summit of mount hope | | | | | curious peak | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- east coast of dawson island| | | | | ===========================| | | | | mount seymour | | | | | summit | | | | | ainsworth harb | | | | | project point on w. side | | | | | parry harbour | | | | | outer point on w. side | | | | | card point | | | | | point | | | | | willes bay | | | | | islet in ph. gidley cove |* | | | | cannon point | | | | | extremity |* | | | | soapsuds cove | | | | | rivulet |* | | | | sharp peak | | | | | summit | | | | | cape expectation | | | | | south extremity, or | | | | | trend at entrance of | | | | | gabriel channel | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- gabriel channel | | | | | =============== | | | | | port waterfall | | | | | port | | | | | nar. of gabriel c. | | | | | midway | | | | | cone point | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- dawson island | | | | | ============= | | | | | mount graves | | | | | south summit | | | | | st. peter and st. paul isle| | | | | centre | | | | | port san antonio | | | | | humming bird cove |* | | | | | | | | | s.w. pt of north island | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- coast from pt. famine to c. froward | | | | =================================== | | | | mount tarn | | | | | peak at north end | | | | | cape san isidro | | | | | extremity | | | | | feet | | | | |southw. c. remarquable | | | | | extremity | | | | | nassau island | | | | | south-east point | | | | | st. nicholas bay | | | | | islet in the centre | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- cape froward to the jerome | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| channel, and north shore | | | | | of clarence island | | | | | ================== | | | | | cape froward | | | | | summit of the morro | | | | |n.e. cape holland | | | | | s. point of wood bay | | | | | bougainville sugar loaf | | | | | summit of peak | | | | | cascade harb. | | | | | small rock in harbour |* | | | | cordes bay | | | | | outer-point west side | | | | | bell bay | | | | | n.w. pt. bradley cove |* | | | | cape inglefield | | | | | islet off it | | | | | cape gallant | | | | | extremity |* | | | | port gallant | | | | | wigwam point |* |c. | | | or ft. charles island | | | | | wallis mark | | | | | rupert island | | | | | summit | | | | | monmouth islds | | | | | summit of largest island | | | | | point elizabeth | | | | | passage point reef | | | | | point york | | | | | extremity |* | | | | bachelor river | | | | | entrance | |c. | | | | | | | | jerome channel | | | | | bluff extremity, or | | | | | w. point of entrance | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- crooked reach | | | | | ============= | | | | | cape cross-tide | | | | | extremity | | | |at borja bay. | | | | | feet el morrion, or st. david he| | | | | extremity | | | | | cape quod | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- long reach | | | | | ========== | | | | | snowy sound | | | | | centre of ulloa island | | | | | cape notch | | | | | extremity | | | | | playa parda cove | | | | | anchorage | | | | | half-port bay | | | | | centre |* |c. | | | cape monday | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- sea reach | | | | | ========= | | | | | st. anne island | | | | | centre | | | | | cape upright | | | | | extremity, north trend | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- sea reach | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ========= | | | | | cape providence | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape tamar | | | | | observatory, tamar bay |* |c. | | | feet extremity of cape | | | | |eastwd. beaufort bay | | | | | stragglers, southernmost | | | | | cape phillip | | | | | sholl bay |* |c. | | | summit over the cape | | | | | cape parker | | | | | station near it |* |c. | | | point felix | | | | | station on its east side |* | | | | extremity | | | | | valentine harb. | | | | | mount (see plan) | | | | | cape cuevas | | | | | extremity |* | | | | cape cortado | | | | | extremity | | | | | westminst. hall | | | | | eastern summit | | | | | observation mt. | | | | | ---- |* |c. | | | harbour of mercy | | | | | observation islet |* |c. | | | feet | | | | or | | | | | | cape pillar | | | | | extremity | |c. | | | | | | | | cape victory | | | | | extremity |* |c. | | | evangelists, or isles of | | | | | direction | | | | | sugar loaf to south | | | | |variable eastward | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- magdalen channel | | | | | ================ | | | | | vernal | | | | | pinnacle on summit | | | | | anxious point | | | | | extremity | | | | | mount boqueron | | | | | centre pinnacle | | | | | labyrinth islands | | | | | summit of jane island | | | | | cape turn | | | | | extremity | | | | | warping cove | | | | | ---- | |c. | | | mnt. sarmiento | | | | | n.e. peak ( feet) | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- cockburn channel | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ================ | | | | | king island | | | | | summit | | | | |westw^d | | | | | or ft. prowse islands | | | | | station | | | | | park bay | | | | | beach on isthmus | | | | | or ft. bayne islands | | | | | cove at the n. end of | | | | | of south-east island | | | | | eliza bay | | | | | centre | | | | | kirke rocks | | | | | body | | | | | enderby island | | | | | centre | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- melville sound | | | | | ============== | | | | | mount skyring | | | | | summit ( feet) | | | | | tom harbour | | | | | cove near it |* |c. | | | | | | | | north cove | | | | | entrance |* |c. | | | | | | | | fury harbour | | | | | west point | | | | | west furies | | | | | body | | | | | east furies | | | | | body | | | | | cape schomberg | | | | | summit over extremity | | | | | cape kempe | | | | | peaks over | | | | | copper kettle | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- barbara channel | | | | | =============== | | | | | bynoe island | | | | | centre | | | | | mortimer island | | | | | summit | | | | | hewett bay | | | | | south point | | | | | or ft. | | | | |southw. brown bay | | | | | anchorage | | | | | bell mount | | | | | summit | | | | | north anchorage | | | | | ---- | |c. | | | bedford bay | | | | | entrance | | | | | or ft. | | | | |southw. field bay | | | | | point cairncross | | | | | cayetano peak | | | | | summit | | | | | shag narrow | | | | | north end | | | | |[ ] ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- barbara channel | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| =============== | | | | | dighton bay | | | | | latitude beach |* | | | | point elvira | | | | | extremity | | | | | cape edgeworth | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- jerome channel | | | | | ============== | | | | | bachelor peak | | | | | northernmost | | | | | three island bay | | | | | centre | | | | | real cove | | | | | centre | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- indian sound | | | | | ============ | | | | | cutter cove | | | | | centre | | | | | false corona | | | | | smallest islet |* |c. | | | | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- otway water | | | | | =========== | | | | | bennett island | | | | | ---- |* | | | | fanny bay | | | | | gidley islet at s. | | | | | entrance | | | | | point martin | | | | | ---- |* |c. | | | | | | | | inglefield island | | | | | north point |* |c. | | | | | | | | shell-note point | | | | | extremity |* | | | | point hall | | | | | extremity | | | | |n.w. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- fitz-roy passage | | | | | ================ | | | | | donkin cove | | | | | spot marked on plan |* |c. | | | | | | | | wigwam cove | | | | | do. |* |c. | |sets to east | | | |until ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- skyring water | | | | | ============= | | | | | euston opening | | | | | centre | | | | | dynevor castle | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- * * * * * { } table iii. ------ the western coast, and interior sounds, from the strait of magalhaens to the north extremity of the gulf of peÑas. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- smyth channel | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ============= | | | | | fairway isles | | | | | ---- |* | | | | deep harbour | | | | | south point of entrance |* | | | | good bay | | | | | north point |* | | | | or ft. oake bay | | | | | larch island |* | | | | otter bay | | | | | anchorage | | | | | summer isles | | | | | summit of larger island | | | | | fortune bay | | | | | rivulet | | | | | or ft. point palmer | | | | | extremity | | | | | isthmus bay | | | | | centre | | | | | welcome bay | | | | | entrance of cove | | | | | or ft. | | | | |(flood sets | | | | |to the | | | | |northward.) point st. julian | | | | | extremity | | | | | island bay | | | | | island at south side | | | | | of port | | | | | hamper bay | | | | | anchorage | | | | | rocky cove | | | | | n.w. point |* | | | | cape cheer | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- lord nelson strait | | | | | ================== | | | | | narrow creek | | | | | ---- |* | | | | mount trafalgar | | | | | summit | | | | | point west | | | | | extremity | | | | | cape kendall | | | | | extremity | | | | | relief harbour | | | | | rock on west side |* | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- st. estevan channel | | | | | =================== | | | | | escape bay | | | | | anchorage | | | | |northw. mount trigo | | | | | summit | | | | | cape donaldson | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- st. estevan channel | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| =================== | | | | | rejoice harbour | | | | | north point of entrance | | | | | anchor bay | | | | | north point of entrance | | | | | latitude cove | | | | | ---- |* | | | | guia narrow | | | | | north extremity in | | | | |southw. mid channel | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- sarmiento channel | | | | | ================= | | | | | bonduca island | | | | | centre | | | | | puerto bueno | | | | | n. pt. of schooner cove |* | | | |flood sets | | | | |to the | | | | |south. blanche passage | | | | | entrance. | | | | | port san mateo | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape st. vincent | | | | | northern trend | | | | | point balthazar | | | | | extremity | | | | | cape san bartholomew | | | | | ---- | | | | | staines peninsul. | | | | | isthmus | | | | | cape flamstead | | | | | rock off the extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- union sound | | | | | =========== | | | | | shingle road | | | | | anchorage | | | | | point maskelyne | | | | | extremity | | | | | brinkley island | | | | | summit | | | | | peñas de altura | | | | | ---- | | | | | crater cove | | | | | ---- | | | | | stony bay | | | | | west point |* | | | | cape año nuevo | | | | | north extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- interior sounds | | | | | =============== | | | | | mount burney | | | | | centre peak | | | | | ancon sin salida | | | | | summit of large island | | | | | opposite to cape | | | | | earnest | | | | | cape earnest | | | | | extremity | | | | | leeward bay | | | | | islets within anchorage | | | | | whale boat bay | | | | | beach |* | | | | cape retford | | | | | extremity | | | | | point return | | | | | " " |* | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- interior sounds | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| =============== | | | | | virginia island | | | | | s. e. point |* | | | | easter bay | | | | | beach |* |c. | | | canal of the mountains | | | | | bottom | | | | | last hope inlet | | | | | ---- | | | | | focus island | | | | | summit (centre) | | | | | obstruction sound. | | | | | bottom | | | | | s. e. bight, or the | | | | | nearest part to | | | | | skyring water | | | | | point san juan | | | | | s. w. extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- concepçion strait | | | | | ================= | | | | | guard bay | | | | | anchorage | |c. | | | innocent island | | | | | summit at north end | | | | | tapering point | | | | | extremity | | | | | point hocio de cayman | | | | | ---- | | | | | walker bay | | | | | beach | | | | | molyneux sound | | | | | rock to n. of point | | | | | michael |* | | | | portland bay | | | | | centre of island | | | | | fronting the | | | | | anchorage | | | | | expectation bay | | | | | anchorage | | | | | tom bay | | | | | beach near anchorage | | | | | open bay | | | | | summit of island off | | | | | pt. brazo ancho | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- gulf of trinidad | | | | | ================ | | | | | red bill island | | | | | summit |* | | | | windward bay | | | | | beach | | | | | double peak mt. | | | | | eastern peak | | | | | cathedral mount | | | | | summit | | | | | neesham bay | | | | | beach |* |c. | | | easter peak | | | | | summit | | | | | port henry | | | | | observatory |* |c. | |noon.| feet ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- gulf of trinidad | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ================ | | | | | seal rocks | | | | | body | | | | | cape tres puntas | | | | | pillar rock at the | | | | | extremity | | | | | cape primero | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- wide channel | | | | | ============ | | | | | mount corso | | | | | summit | | | | | small-craft bight | | | | | ---- | | | | | sandy bay | | | | | east point. | | | | | saumarez island | | | | | bold head | | | | | fury cove | | | | | head |* | | | |w.s.w. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- sir geo. eyre sd. | | | | | ================= | | | | | falcon inlet | | | | | cape wellesley, extrem. | | | | | bottom of the sd. | | | | | ---- | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- mesier channel | | | | | ============== | | | | | rocky bight | | | | | west point. | | | | | level bay | | | | | outer point, n. side | | | | | english narrow | | | | | south end | | | | | north end | | | | | halt bay. | | | | | ---- |* | | | |s.s.e. iceberg sound | | | | | station rock, on the n. | | | | | side of entrance |* | | | | bottom | | | | | white kelp cove | | | | | rock off the entrance |* | | | | middle island | | | | | north point | | | | |northw. waterfall bay | | | | | bottom | | | | |n. by w. island harbour | | | | | west point | | | | | millar island | | | | | south extreme | | | | | millar's monument, | | | | | north extreme | | | | | campana island | | | | | summit at south end | | | | | cape roman | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- guaianeco islands | | | | | ================= | | | | | ayautau island | | | | | summit on the largest | | | | | wager island | | | | | easternmost point | | | | | supposed position of | | | | | the wager's wreck | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- guaianeco islands | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ================= | | | | | speedwell bay | | | | | north beach |* |c. | | | | | | | | rundle pass | | | | | south end | | | | | islet, the most northern of| | | | | the group | | | | | summit | | | | | good harbour | | | | | isthmus at the bottom | | | | | byron island | | | | | most western point | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- gulf of peñas | | | | | ============= | | | | | channel's mouth | | | | | body of rocks off the | | | | | south entrance | | | | | hazard isles, centre | | | | | and westernmost | | | | | e side of northern islet |* |c. | | | bottom of east arm | | | | | bottom of south arm | | | | | xavier island | | | | | ignacio bay (beach) |* |c. | | | xavier bay (lyndsey pt) | | | | | jesuit sound | | | | | north point of entrance, | | | | | or head of false | | | | | harbour | | | | | kelly harbour | | | | | north point of entrance |* |c. | | | cirujano islet | | | | | north-east point | | | | | san tadeo river | | | | | sand hills on east side | | | | |head of st. of entrance | | | | |quintin | | | | |gulf. ft. purcell island | | | | | summit | | | | | isthmus | | | | | centre | | | | | port otway | | | | | observatory |* |c. | | | feet. sugar loaf | | | | | summit | | | | | dome of st. paul | | | | | ---- | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- peninsula of tres montes | | | | | ======================== | | | | | pt. mitford rees | | | | | extremity | | | | | cape raper | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape tres montes | | | | | ---- | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+ coast of wellington and | | | | | campana islands | | | | | =============== | | | | | bynoe island | | | | | entrance of fallos ch. | | | | | break sea island | | | | | northernmost point | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- coast of wellington and | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| campana islands | | | | | =============== | | | | | port santa barbara | | | | | observation inlet |* |c. | | | to feet | | | | |at neaps dundee rock | | | | | summit | | | | | cape dyer | | | | | extremity | | | | | sisters | | | | | centre peak | | | | | parallel peak | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- coast of madre de dios | | | | | ====================== | | | | | cape montague | | | | | summit | | | | | april peak | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape santiago | | | | | ---- | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- cape sta. lucia | | | | | ---- | | | | | cape isabel | | | | | ---- | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- * * * * * { } table iv. ------ outer, or sea coast, of tierra del fuego. ------ in order to adapt the longitudes of the places mentioned in this table to the meridians of port famine and st. martin cove, at cape horn, the following corrections[ ] have been made to captain fitz-roy's chronometrical results, _viz_:-- townshend harbour } { ' "} stewart harbour } { } to the eastward of captain doris cove } have been placed { } fitz-roy's chronometrical march harbour } { } deductions. good success bay } { } by captain fitz-roy's observations st. martin cove would be in long. ° ' ", which is ' " to the westward of the mean of upwards of thirty chronometrical results from monte video. the difference has, therefore, been equally divided between north cove and st. martin cove; the longitude of the latter being taken at ° ' ", and of port famine at ° '. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- sea coast of tierra del fuego ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ========================== | | | | | dislocation har. | | | | | near the projecting pt. |* |c. | | | week islands | | | | | saturday harbour | | | | | latitude bay | | | | | west point of entrance |* | | | | deepwater snd. | | | | | ---- |* |c. | | | laura basin | | | | | north point |* |c. | | | noir roads | | | | | penguin point | | | | | cape noir | | | | | extremity | | | | | tower rock | | | | | south easternmost | | | | | cape gloucester | | | | | summit | | | | | fury harbour | | | | | island in the entrance | | | | | isabella sound | | | | | ---- |* | | | | north cove | | | | | ---- |* |c. | | | mount skyring | | | | | summit | | | | | st. paul | | | | | south-east peak | | | | | townshend har. | | | | | islet on n. side of harb |* |c. | | | cape castlereagh | | | | | extremity | | | | | stewart harbour | | | | | e side of shelter island |* | | | | doris cove | | | | | east point entrance |* | | | | cape alikhoolip | | | | | extremity | | | | | york minster | | | | | summit | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- { } ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- sea coast of tierra del fuego ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| ========================== | | | | | march harbour | | | | | entrance of the basin |* | | | | adventure cove | | | | | rocky pt. n end of beach |* | | | | ildefonsos | | | | | henderson id. |* |} |(mount beaufoy.) ---- |* |} | | | orange bay | | | | | middle of bay |* |c. | | | st. martin cove | | | | | head of the cove |* |c. | | | cape horn | | | | | summit |* | | | | lennox harbour | | | | | point at n. end of beach |* | | | | evouts island | | | | | centre | | | | | diego ramirez | | | | | s or boat island, summit | | | | | northernmost rock | | | | | barnevelt islds. | | | | | centre |* | | | | spaniard harb. | | | | | point kinnaird | | | | | good success bay | | | | | s. side near sandy beach |* |c. | | | cape san diego | | | | | extremity | | | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- * * * * * table v. ------ coast of chile. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+---------------- name of | | | | tide ---------------------------+ | | |-----+---------- | | | | | direction | | | |h. w.| of flood, place. |latitude |longitude |variat| at | and rise particular spot. | south. | west. | east.|f.&w.| of tide. ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+---------- | ° ' "| ° ' "| ° '|h. m.| san carlos chilóe | | | | | sandy point |* |c. | | | talcahuano | | | | | fort galvez |* |c. | | | valparaiso | | | | | cerro alegre |* |c. | | | juan fernandez | | | | | fort san juan, in | | | | | cumberland bay |* |c. | | | ---------------------------+---------+----------+------+-----+----------- * * * * * { } table of observed or estimated heights of mountains and particular parts of the sea coast. ang. denotes the height to have been ascertained by angular measurement; bar. by barometer; and est. by estimation. north atlantic ocean. cape verd islands. feet. peak at the n.w. end of san antonio ang. pico antonio, on st. jago ang. pico of fuego ang. south atlantic ocean. coast of brazil. corcovado, at rio de janeiro bar. obs. sugar loaf, do ang. cubatoa, at santos (telegraph house) bar. obs. city of san paulo (base of the cathedral) bar. obs. east coast of patagonia. cliffy coast, near port st. julian to est. mount entrance (santa cruz) ang. cape fairweather and the cliffs to the northward est. cape virgins and the cliffs to the northward est. { } strait of magalhaens. feet. cape possession est. table mountain behind cape gregory to est. point santa anna (port famine) ang. mount st. philip do. ang. mount graves, north summit (dawson island) ang. do. south do. do. ang. lomas range, the highest part over port san antonio ang. mount tarn (peak at the n.e. end) { bar. obs. { ang. mount buckland, gabriel channel est. mount boqueron (entrance of magdalen channel) est. mount sarmiento (bottom of do. ) ang. pyramid hill ( do. do. ) ang. cape froward (land behind the morro) est. cape holland est. mount pond est. mount cross, port gallant { bar. { ang. obs. average height of the land near sea reach to est. outer coast of tierra del fuego. kater peak, on hermite island bar. obs. bell mount, near strait le maire est.[ ] noir island est. south pacific ocean. western coast of patagonia. mount burney ang. cape three points est. mountain within kelly sound ang. sugar loaf (marine islands, in holloway sound) ang. dome of st. paul ( do. do. ) ang. highest peak of juan fernandez (the yungue, or anvil) ang. * * * * * { } magnetic observations, discussed by major sabine, r.a., f.r.s. . _observations of the dip._ captain fitz-roy was furnished with two dip circles, one by gambey, and the other by dollond; the latter supplied by government, and gambey's purchased by himself. gambey's, being found to give results more accordant with each other than dollond's, was used at all the stations, except rio de janeiro. the circle was nine and a-half inches in diameter, and was furnished with two needles. this instrument was, in all respects, a very superior one. it was placed for observation on a stand, which raised it from two to three feet above the ground. the needle was observed in eight positions, and as the readings accorded sufficiently well with each other, their arithmetical mean has been taken as the dip resulting from the observation. the eight positions were as follows: , with the graduated face of the circle towards the east; , with the same towards the west. the needle was then taken out and replaced with the ends of the axle changed, so that each end rested on a different plane to what it did before; it was then observed, , with the face of the circle towards the west, and , with the same to the east. the poles were then inverted, so that the end of the needle which was before a north pole became a south pole, and the four positions were again repeated. the arc indicated by both ends of the needle was read in every position: an observation of the dip consisted, consequently, of sixteen readings. in the subjoined tabular record these are comprised in four entries, a mean being taken of the arc read at the two extremities of the needle, and of the positions and , and : and form the column, a; and the column, a'; and the same positions, with the poles reversed, the columns a" and a"'. { } magnetic dip. -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+------------------------------- | | | | | n | needle | | | | | e |---------------+--------------- | | | | | e | marked end a | marked end a | |above| |obs-| d | n. pole | s. pole | | the | |er- | l |-------+-------+-------+------- station | date | sea |therm|ver | e | a | a' | a" | a"' -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+-------+-------+-------+------- | |feet.| ° | | | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' plymouth |nov. {| | | f. | | | , | | | {| | | f. | | , | , | | , | | | | | | | | | port praya |jan. {| | | f. | | , | | | | {| | | f. | | , | , | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | s. | | | | , | bahia |mar. {| | | s. | | , | | | , | {| | | s. | | | , | , | | {| | | s. | | | , | , | | | | | | | | | | rio de | {| | | s. | | | , | | , janeiro |apr. {| | | s. | | | , | , | , | {| | | s. | | | | , | | | | | | | | | | {|sept. {| | | f. | | | | | , blanco bay{| {| | | f. | | | , | | {|sept. {| | | f. | | | , | , | {| {| | | f. | | | | , | | | | | | | | | | {|mar. {| | | f. | | | | | falkland {| {| | | f. | | | | | islands {|mar. {| | | f. | | | | | {| {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | monte video|nov. {| | | f. | | | | , | | {| | | f. | | | , | | | | | | | | | | | { } port desire|dec. {| | | f. | | | | | , | {| | | f. | | | , | | | | | | | | | | | falkland |mar. {| | | f. | | , | , | | islands | {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | , | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | river santa|may {| | | f. | | | | | cruz | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | port san |dec. {| | | f. | | | | | andres | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | port low |jan. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | chilóe |jan. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | valdivia |feb. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | concepçion |apr. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | valparaiso |june {| | | sg.| | | | , | | {| | | sg.| | , | , | | | | | | | | | | | callao |aug. {| | | sg.| | , | | , | | {| | | sg.| | | | , | , | | | | | | | | | galapagos |sept. {| | | sg.| | | , | | islands | {| | | sg.| | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | | galapagos |oct. {| | | f. | | , | | | , islands | {| | | f. | | , | , | | , | | | | | | | | | otaheite, {|nov. {| | | sg.| | | | , | or tahiti {| {| | | sg.| | | | , | {|nov. {| | | sg.| | , | | | , {| {| | | sg.| | | , | | -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+-------+-------+-------+------- { } -----------+-------------------+------------------ | | | | | | | | | | place of station | dip deduced. | observation -----------+-------------------+------------------ | ° ' ° ' | plymouth | , } , n.|athenæum | , } | | | port praya | , } , n.|landing place | , } | | | | , } | bahia | , } , n.|san antonio | , } |(dollond's instr.) | , } | | | rio de | , } , s.|villegagnon janeiro | , ) |island. | , ) |(dollond's instr.) | | {| , } | blanco bay{| , } s.|the wells at {| , } | point johnson. {| , } | | | {| } | falkland {| , } , s.|berkeley sound, islands {| , } |magellan or {| , } |johnson cove. | | monte video| , } , s.|rat island. | | | | { } port desire| , } , s.|spanish ruins. | , } | | | falkland | , } , s.| islands | , } |berkeley sound, | , } |port louis. | , } | | | river santa| , } , s.|keel point. cruz | , } | | | port san | , } , s.|christmas andres | , } |cove. | | port low | , } , s.|observation | , } |islet. | | chilóe | } , s.|san carlos, | , } |pt. arena. | | valdivia | } , s.|corral. | } | | | concepçion | , } , s.|fort | , } |galvez. | | valparaiso | , } , s.|near fort | , } |st. antonio. | | callao | , } , s.|arsenal. | , } | | | galapagos | , } , n.|chatham island, islands | , } |stephen bay. | | galapagos | , } , n.|charles islands | , } |island. | | otaheite, {| , } , s.|point or tahiti {| , } |venus. {| } | {| , } | -----------+-------------------+------------------ { } -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+------------------------------- | | | | | n | needle | | | | | e |---------------+--------------- | | | | | e | marked end a | marked end a | |above| |obs-| d | n. pole | s. pole | | the | |er- | l |-------+-------+-------+------- station | date | sea |therm|ver | e | a | a' | a" | a"' -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+-------+-------+-------+------- | |feet.| ° | | | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' new zealand|dec. {| | | sg.| | | , | , | | {| | | sg.| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | sydney |jan. {| | | sg.| | , | , | | | {| | | sg.| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | hobart town|feb. {| | | sg.| | , | | , | , | {| | | sg.| | , | | | , | | | | | | | | | king george|mar. {| | | sg.| | , | , | | sound | {| | | sg.| | , | | , | | | | | | | | | | keeling |apr. {| | | sg.| | , | , | | islands | {| | | sg.| | , | | , | | | | | | | | | | mauritius |may {| | | sg.| | , | | | , | {| | | sg.| | , | , | | , | | | | | | | | | |june { | | | sg.| | | | , | cape of | { | | | sg.| | , | , | | good hope |june {| | | sg.| | | | | , | {| | | sg.| | | | | | | | | | | | | | st. helena |july {| | | sg.| | | , | , | , | {| | | sg.| | , | , | | , | | | | | | | | | ascension |july {| | | sg.| | , | | , | , island | {| | | sg.| | , | | , | | | | | | | | | | bahia |aug. {| | | sg.| | , | | | , | {| | | sg.| | | , | | , | | | | | | | | | { } pernambuco |aug. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | {|sept. {| | | sg.| | , | , | | {| {| | | sg.| | , | , | | , port praya{|sept. { | | | sg.| | , | , | , | , {| { | | | sg.| | | , | , | , {|sept. {| | | sg.| | | | | , {| {| | | sg.| | , | | , | | | | | | | | | | terceira |sept. {| | | sg.| | | | | , | {| | | sg.| | , | | | , | | | | | | | | | falmouth |oct. {| | | f. | | | | | | {| | | f. | | | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | plymouth |oct. {| | | sg.| | | , | , | , | {| | | sg.| | , | | | | | | | | | | | | plymouth |oct. {| | | sg.| | | | , | | {| | | sg.| | | , | , | -----------+--------+-----+-----+----+---+-------+-------+-------+------- { } -----------+-------------------+------------------ | | | | | | | | | | place of station | dip deduced. | observation -----------+-------------------+------------------ | ° ' ° ' | new zealand| } s.|paihia islet. | } | | | sydney | , } , s.|fort macquarie. | , } | | | hobart town| , } , s.|fort mulgrave. | , } | | | king george| , } , s.|landing place. sound | , } | | | keeling | , } , s.|direction inlet. islands | , } | | | mauritius | , } , s.|cooper island. | , } | | | | , } , s.|simon town. cape of | , } | good hope | , } , s.|observatory | , } | (outside). | | st. helena | , } , s.|james town. | , } | | | ascension | , } , n.|barrack square. island | , } | | | bahia | , } , n.|san antonio. | , } | | | { } pernambuco | , } , n.|arsenal. | , } | | | {| , } | {| , } |landing place. port praya{| , } , n.| {| , } | {| , } |quail island. {| , } | | | terceira | , } n.|angra. | , } | | | falmouth | , } , |mr. fox's. | , } | | | plymouth | , } , n.|mount wise. | , } | | | plymouth | , } , n.|athenæum. | } | -----------+-------------------+------------------ observers:--f. capt. fitz-roy. s. lieut. sulivan. sg. mr. stebbing * * * * * { } . _observations of intensity._ the method employed by captain fitz-roy to determine the variations of the magnetic force was that of noting the time of vibration of a magnetic cylinder suspended horizontally. the cylinder was one which had been given by m. hansteen, in , to captain phillip parker king, r.n., and had been used by him during the survey of the coast of south america, which he conducted from to . the apparatus in which it was vibrated, both in captain king's and captain fitz-roy's voyages, was the well-known one of m. hansteen. by observations made with this cylinder on the d march , and again on the th january , in the garden of the royal observatory at greenwich, it appeared that its time of performing vibrations had increased from , seconds in , to , seconds in ; or , seconds in , days. a change of such magnitude in the magnetic intensity of the instrument employed to measure the variations of the terrestrial intensity, and which ought itself, therefore, to be invariable, would, in the generality of cases, have prevented any satisfactory conclusion whatsoever being drawn from the observations. fortunately from the nature of the duties in which captain king was engaged, he had occasion to return frequently to the same anchorages, and by his extreme care to repeat observations on every such return, he has provided a means of computing the decrease of the intensity of the cylinder, proportioned to intervals of time, between and ; and of thus introducing compensations for it, which render the results on the whole nearly as satisfactory as if the cylinder had preserved an uniform magnetic condition throughout. the voyage which captain fitz-roy had to perform promised to furnish few, if any, such opportunities of examining the state of the magnetism of the cylinder, between the departure from and the return to england; and,--as it cannot but be extremely discouraging to officers to make observations which they have reason to apprehend may prove unavailing from defect in the instrument employed,--it must be regarded as exceedingly creditable to captain fitz-roy and his officers, that, with the knowledge of the { } change which the cylinder had undergone in the preceding voyage, they persevered in diligently observing, and carefully recording, its time of vibration, at most of the principal ports which they visited in their voyage of five years' duration. nor was it until their return to the cape verd islands, in september , that they could infer, from observations repeated at the same spot as in their outward passage in , that the cylinder had not varied in any thing like the degree that it had done in the preceding voyage, and that the care and pains they had bestowed were therefore likely to be recompensed by success. this appears a fitting opportunity to remark, how much the establishment in england of a depository for magnetic needles is needed; whence officers, and persons desirous of making such observations, might be supplied with instruments, which had been kept a sufficient time to have attained their permanent magnetic state, and had been examined from time to time to prove that they had done so. the correction for temperature should be ascertained for each needle, and given with it; as well as the time of vibration (or whatever else constituted the measure of intensity,--as, for example, the angle of deflection in mr. lloyd's statical needles,)--observed at the spot which should be selected as most suitable for a point of general comparison; and the observations should be repeated at the same spot on the return of the needle. the want of such an establishment has long been greatly felt; and opportunities, where nothing was wanting but proper instruments, have been lost in consequence, where determinations of great value might have been obtained, in parts of the world of the highest magnetic interest, and where such opportunities are of rare occurrence. the corrections necessary to render the times of vibration at the different stations strictly comparable with each other, are as follows. st, for the rate of the chronometer. d, for the temperature of the needle. d, for the arc of vibration. th, for any change in the magnetic condition of the cylinder. in extensive voyages, the last-named correction, or that for the change in the cylinder itself, is the one which requires principal consideration. the corrections for temperature, and for the arc, on the first of which particularly much stress has sometimes been { } laid, are important when extreme accuracy is sought; as for example, in comparing the force at stations which have served as the unities of different observers: their effect is, however, of little moment in observations which include great differences of the terrestrial intensity. but when the magnetic condition of the needle has varied, and interpolation becomes necessary, the instances are rare in which it can be done with entire satisfaction. the time of vibration of this cylinder at plymouth, with corrections applied for the chronometer's rate, the temperature, and the arc, was, in december , , seconds, with a dip of ° ', , and in october , , seconds with a dip of ° ', . the difference in its magnetic state, at the two periods, is shown by the squares of the times of vibration multiplied by the cosine of the dip observed at the respective periods. this makes known what the time of vibration of the same cylinder would have been, had it been free to move in the direction of the dipping-needle, instead of being suspended horizontally; and, consequently, if it had been acted upon by the total magnetic intensity, instead of by the horizontal component only. it is here assumed that the total terrestrial intensity is constant at the same place. this is doubtless not strictly true; but the amount of the change must be too small to require consideration in the period occupied by captain fitz-roy's observations. the horizontal component must, however, necessarily vary with the changes in the dip: and it is, therefore, from the time of vibration in the direction of the dipping-needle, and not from the time of horizontal vibration, that the change, or otherwise, in the magnetism of the needle is to be inferred. we find, then, the equivalent time of vibration of this cylinder in the direction of the dipping-needle to have been , seconds in december , and , seconds in october ; showing a difference of , seconds in fifty-eight months. if we compare this amount with the far greater loss of intensity sustained by this cylinder in the preceding voyage, it seems a probable supposition that, at the commencement of captain fitz-roy's voyage, the cylinder had nearly attained its permanent magnetic state; and that its further loss of magnetism, occasioning an increase of , seconds in the time of vibration, took place in the early part of the voyage: supposing the loss to have been progressive, and not sudden, as from accidents, of which the observations give no indications. { } consistently with this supposition, the loss has been distributed through the first half, or twenty-nine months, of this voyage, in the proportion of three-tenths of a second per month in the first ten months, commencing december st ; two-tenths per month in the next nine months; and one-tenth per month in the remaining nine months. in the last twenty-nine months of the voyage, the intensity of the cylinder is supposed to have been uniform, and the same which it was found to possess on the return to england in . it is satisfactory that, with this compensation, the observations at port praya, in january , and in september , assign almost identically the same relative magnetic intensity to that station. the correction for temperature for this cylinder not having been previously examined, i received it from captain fitz-roy for that purpose, and made with it the following observations. the cylinder, in its own apparatus, was placed in a large earthen jar, glazed at the top, and standing in a larger earthen vessel, into which warm water could be poured at pleasure, and the cylinder was then vibrated alternately in heated air and in air of the natural temperature. these experiments were made at tortington, in sussex. { } +---------+-------+----------+----------+------------+ | | | | thermom. | time | | |day. | hour. |(reaumur.)|of vibration| +---------+-------+----------+----------+------------+ | | |h. m. | ° | s | | {|june | a.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | exp. {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | | | | | | | {|june | a.m.| , | , | | {| -- | a.m.| , | , | | exp. {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | | {| -- | p.m.| , | , | +---------+-------+----------+----------+------------+ +---------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | | | | | | +---------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | | | | {|} h. m. ° s | | {|} mean, p.m. , , natural temperature. | | {|} | | {|} | | exp. {|} mean, p.m. , , heated air. | | {|} | | {|} | | {|} mean, p.m. , , natural temperature. | | {|} | | | | | {|} mean, a.m. , , natural temperature. | | {|} | | exp. {|} mean, p.m. , , heated air. | | {|} | | {|} mean, p.m. , , natural temperature. | | {|} | +---------+--------------------------------------------------------+ in the first experiment, t= , ; t' . ; t= °, faht.; and t'= °, faht. in the second experiment, t= , ; t' , ; t= °, faht.; and t'= °, faht. the first experiment gives (t-t')/t(t-t') = . /( , × , )=. . the second experiment gives (t-t')/t(t-t') = , /( , × , )=. . { } whence the formula t'=t [ × . ( °-t)], in which t is the time of vibration at any station, t, the temperature of the cylinder in degrees of fahrenheit, and t' is the equivalent time at a standard temperature of °. the thermometer was noted at the beginning and ending of every set of vibrations, and was always placed in the box with the cylinder. * * * * * at all captain fitz-roy's stations the apparatus was placed for observation on a stand, which raised it from two to three feet above the ground, thereby rendering the cylinder somewhat less liable to be disturbed by local influences: it was not furnished with a means of examining the strict horizontality of the cylinder, that improvement having been introduced into m. hansteen's apparatus at a later period. on this point captain fitz-roy remarks: "a small leaden tripod was used as a stand, whose upper surface was adjusted by a small spirit-level--or roughly by the trough of an artificial horizon, filled with mercury. upon the leaden stand the box containing the needle was adjusted by its foot-screws, so that the suspending fibre of silk hung centrally in the wooden tube, the needle's centre being over that of the graduated circle, and the needle itself near, but not touching, the bottom of the box. the needle was not always strictly parallel to the bottom of the box, nor strictly horizontal, because i would not move the brass stirrup in which it was suspended, but its deviation from strict horizontality _never_ exceeded two degrees, and was seldom nearly so much." the time of completing every tenth vibration was recorded. the time of performing vibrations is deduced from a mean generally of seven partial results: _i.e._ from the th to the th; th to the th; and so on, to the th and th vibrations; the commencing vibration being always at an arc of °. in a very few instances the number of vibrations observed, after the commencing arc of °, was less than ; in such cases the first vibration after the arc had become ° has still been taken as the commencing one, though previous ones may have been recorded; it being kept strictly in view, to obtain the relative time of vibration in arcs as nearly the same as possible, and not exceeding ° as the initial. the arc was reduced to ° generally about the th vibration; and one thousandth of the time of vibration has been taken throughout the series as the correction to infinitely small arcs. { } the object of noting the time of every tenth vibration is to check errors in the counting, which will sometimes occur in the course of the , particularly with the very short and quick-moving needles of m. hansteen's very portable apparatus, and at stations of low dip, where the horizontal force is greatest, and the needle consequently moves most quickly. several such mistakes evidently occurred. when the time of completing every supposed tenth vibration is observed with tolerable exactness, and the duration of each pair of vibrations decidedly exceeds any irregularity of probable occurrence, apart from miscounting the number of vibrations, such mistakes can be discovered with ease, and rectified with certainty. this has been done in every case where no doubt could exist of a mistake of the kind having occurred; such as when all the intervals are of nearly equal duration, with one or two exceptions, which differ as much as three or four seconds from the general body. there are two stations, however, callao and keeling islands, where the rectification is not so clear, or the true result so obvious. at callao there are three series of horizontal intensities, each of forty observed intervals, which should be of ten vibrations each. several of these intervals are between , and , seconds, and several others between , and , seconds. these can hardly represent an equal number of vibrations, because the difference between them is greater than can easily be supposed due to any uncertainty in seizing the particular beat of the chronometer at which the vibration was completed; it is, moreover, about the time that would be occupied by two vibrations more or less. the question then arises, do the longer intervals represent , and the shorter vibrations, or do the longer represent , and the shorter ? in the former supposition the intensity at callao would be about . (paris = . ): in the latter about . . the difference shews how great an error would be risked by either assumption. if we take a mean of all the intervals as they stand, the amount of error risked would be certainly lessened; but we should assuredly not have the true time of three hundred vibrations, except on one supposition: namely, that the irregularities in question are not errors in estimating the number of vibrations, but that each interval really represented an equal number, and that some unusual and accidental cause occasioned the needle to differ so greatly in successive intervals. but this { } supposition would imply a disturbing cause vitiating the series as a measure of the magnetic intensity at the station. i have not ventured, therefore, to draw any conclusion from these observations, farther than to notice, as above, the limits within which, in either of the two first suppositions, the intensity would fall. a nearly similar reasoning applies to the observations at keeling islands; of three series, one is decidedly so irregular, that no inference could be drawn from it; in the two other series the irregularities are neither so frequent, nor so large: my general impression (in the uncertainty created by the irregularity of the first series), is, that the majority of the intervals are of twelve vibrations, and not of ten: if of twelve, the intensity would be about , ; if of ten, about , . the inconvenience of the rapid motion of the needle, occasioned, at one part of the voyage, the practice to be discontinued of observing every tenth vibration, and every twentieth was substituted. this no doubt relieved the perplexity in which the observer occasionally found himself, in having to observe, and record, and be prepared again to observe, at every twenty seconds or less, and so far the change enabled him to observe better. but still, the disadvantage remains, in so quick moving a needle, that if a mistake of two vibrations is made, the difference of time occasioned is not of so marked and decided a character as to be at all times at once distinguished. it is of much more importance that there should be no miscount of the vibrations, than that the times should be recorded correctly to the fraction of a second. it is only the earlier and later times that are finally influential; but every undetected error in the number of vibrations falls with its whole weight upon the result. the occasional discrepancies in the results of the same, or of different, observers, or on the same, or on different, days, which are seen in the subjoined table, are not, i believe, traceable to the source i have been discussing, nor apparently to any other than an actual difference in the time of the cylinder performing its vibration. a mean has been taken as the result at each station, except at st. helena, where the discrepancy on the th and th of july was so considerable, that it has been thought more satisfactory to collect the observations of each day into separate results. the subjoined table comprises the result of each observation, { } and the general results deduced for each station. the column entitled "time" is that of vibrations; and the "corrected time" is the mean of these, corrected for the rate of the chronometer and the arc, and reduced to an average temperature of °. the dips are those observed by captain fitz-roy; except at port famine, where, as captain fitz-roy did not observe, it has been supplied from captain king's observations; and at coquimbo, where, for the purpose of computing the intensity, it has been supplied by estimation from the other geographic positions on this coast, at which captain fitz-roy observed the dip. in the column showing the time of vibration as a dipping-needle at plymouth corresponding to the periods of observation at the several stations, the compensations have been introduced for the variation in the intensity of the cylinder, agreeably to what has been said above on that subject. the two final columns exhibit the values of the total magnetic intensity at the different stations derived from these observations. in the first of the two columns, the values are given relatively to the force at plymouth, considered as unity; and in the second column, relatively to the force at plymouth, expressed by . ; for the purpose of exhibiting captain fitz-roy's results in direct comparison with the determinations of continental observers, who have taken paris as their basis, giving the force at paris the arbitrary expression of . . i have taken the ratio of the force at plymouth to that at paris to be as . to . , which i believe will prove a very near approximation; it is that which results from captain fitz-roy's observations at plymouth, in october (page ), and mine, at tortington, in sussex, in june (page ): the dip at tortington, at the period in question being ° ', and the intensity, compared with paris, through the medium of london, . . { } +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |chron.'s| | |corrected| | station. | date. | time.| rate. |therm.|observer.| time | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | s. | s. | ° | | s. | | plymouth |dec. | , | - , | | kg. | , | | | | | | | | | | {|jan. | , | - , | | f. }| , | | port praya {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | - , | | f. }| | | {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| | | {|feb. | , | - , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | rio de janeiro |may | , | - , | | s. | , | | | | | | | | | | blanco bay {|sept. | , | , | | f. }| , | | {| -- | , | , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|mar. | , | + , | | f. }| | | falkland islands, {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| , | | magellan cove {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | monte video {|nov. | , | + , | | f. }| , | | {|-- | , | + , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | port desire {|dec. | , | + , | | f. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | |mar. | , | + , | | k. }| | | falkland islands {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| , | | port louis {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ +---------------------+--------+--------------------+------------+ | | | time of vibration | | | | |as a dipping-needle.| intensity | | | |---------+----------+-----+------+ | |observed|at each | at | | | | station. | dip |station. | plymouth.| . | . | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ | | ° ' | s. | s. | | | | plymouth | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| , | , | , | , | , | | port praya {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | rio de janeiro | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | blanco bay {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | falkland islands, {| , | , | , | , | , | | magellan cove {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | monte video {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | port desire {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | falkland islands {| , | , | , | , | , | | port louis {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ { } +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |chron.'s| | |corrected| | station. | date. | time.| rate. |therm.|observer.| time | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | s. | s. | ° | | s. | | {|may | , | + , | | k. }| | | r. santa cruz {| -- | , | + , | | st. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | st. }| | | | | | | | | | | port famine {|june | , | + , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | chilóe {|dec. | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | port low {|jan. | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | valdivia {|feb. | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|apr. | , | + , | | k. }| | | concepçion {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | coquimbo {|june | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | galapagos islands,{|oct. | , | - , | | st. }| , | | charles island {| -- | , | - , | | st. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|nov. | , | + , | | k. }| | | otaheite, {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| , | | or tahiti} {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ +---------------------+--------+--------------------+------------+ | | | time of vibration | | | | |as a dipping-needle.| intensity | | | |---------+----------+-----+------+ | |observed|at each | at | | | | station. | dip |station. | plymouth.| . | . | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ | | ° ' | s. | s. | | | | {| | | | | | | r. santa cruz {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | port famine {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | chilóe {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | port low {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | valdivia {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | concepçion {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | coquimbo {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | galapagos islands, {| , | , | , | , | , | | charles island {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | otaheite, {| , | , | , | , | , | | or tahiti} {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ { } +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |chron.'s| | |corrected| | station. | date. | time.| rate. |therm.|observer.| time | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | s. | s. | ° | | s. | | new zealand {|dec. | , | + , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|jan. | , | - , | | s. }| | | sydney {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| | | {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | hobart town {|feb. | , | + , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | king george sound {|mar. | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|may | , | - , | | k. }| | | mauritius {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | k. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|june | , | - , | | s. }| | | cape of good hope {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| | | {| -- | , | + , | | f. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|july | , | - , | | s. }| | | st. helena {| -- | , | - , | | st. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | | st. helena {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|july | , | - , | | s. }| | | ascension {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|aug. | , | - , | | s. }| | | bahia {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | | {| -- | , | - , | | s. }| | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ +---------------------+--------+--------------------+------------+ | | | time of vibration | | | | |as a dipping-needle.| intensity | | | |---------+----------+-----+------+ | |observed|at each | at | | | | station. | dip |station. | plymouth.| . | . | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ | | ° ' | s. | s. | | | | new zealand {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | sydney {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | hobart town {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | king george sound {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | mauritius {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | cape of good hope {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | st. helena {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | st. helena {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | ascension {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | bahia {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ { } +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |chron.'s| | |corrected| | station. | date. | time.| rate. |therm.|observer.| time | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ | | | s. | s. | ° | | s. | | {|aug. | , | - . | | s. }| | | pernambuco {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| . | | {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| | | {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|sept. | , | - . | | s. }| | | port praya {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| | | {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | terceira {|sept. | , | - . | | s. }| , | | {| -- | , | - . | | s. }| | | | | | | | | | | {|oct. | , | + . | | ss. }| | | plymouth {| -- | , | + . | | ss. }| , | | {| -- | , | + . | | ss. }| | +--------------------+-------+------+--------+------+---------+---------+ +---------------------+--------+--------------------+------------+ | | | time of vibration | | | | |as a dipping-needle.| intensity | | | |---------+----------+-----+------+ | |observed|at each | at | | | | station. | dip |station. | plymouth.| . | . | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ | | ° ' | s. | s. | | | | {| | | | | | | pernambuco {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | port praya {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | terceira {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | | | | | | | | | {| | | | | | | plymouth {| , | , | , | , | , | | {| | | | | | +---------------------+--------+---------+----------+-----+------+ observers:--f. captain fitz-roy. ss. mr. j.l. stokes. kg. capt. king. s. lieut. sulivan. st. mr. p.b. stewart. k. mr. p.g. king. * * * * * { } . _captain king's observations of dip and intensity._ captain king, having hitherto made known his observations with the same cylinder in the years to only by communicating them to m. hansteen, from whom he received the apparatus, has now given permission to captain fitz-roy to publish them with his own. i have already noticed the great loss of magnetism which took place in this cylinder during captain king's voyage, and the care with which that officer availed himself of every opportunity of ascertaining, by direct observation, the proportion of the loss sustained in separate portions of the voyage. there are twelve stations of observation on the east and west coasts of south america, besides three stations in ports of the atlantic on the outward voyage. by the practice of repeating observations at the same station at distant intervals, the south american stations are so linked together and connected, that by adopting a method similar to that used in determining longitudes by means of chronometers, we may compute the intensity at all the south american stations referred to and dependent on the force at rio de janeiro; regarding rio in the same light as a first meridian is considered in determinations of longitude. we may then make rio the means of connecting the whole series with europe; for which it is remarkably well suited, the intensity there having been determined, independently of captain king, by four observers of different nations, whose results are extremely accordant. the dip observations of captain king were communicated, in occasional correspondence during the voyage, to m. hansteen, who computed them by mayer's formula, and arranged them in a table, of which a copy was given by captain king to captain fitz-roy, and is printed in the next page. at some of the stations captain fitz-roy also observed the dip in the subsequent voyage, and, as will be seen, the results of the two observers sometimes differ considerably. this may have been caused, either by instrumental or other error of observation, or by actual differences of dip existing in different localities at the same station. * * * * * { } dips, _observed by_ capt. p. p. king, to . +------------------+-------+---------------------+---------------------+ | | |marked end a n. pole.|marked end a s. pole.| | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+ | station. |needle.| a | a' | a" | a"' | +------------------+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ | | | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | | rio de janeiro {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | sta. catharina {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | monte video {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | port famine {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | gorriti {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | sea bear bay | | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | st. martin cove {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | chilóe {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | valparaiso {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | {| | , | , | , | , | | juan fernandez {| | , | , | , | , | | {| | , | , | , | , | | | | | | | | | talcahuano | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +------------------+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ +------------------+---------------------+-------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | station. | dip deduced. | remarks. | +------------------+---------------------+-------------------------+ | | ° ' ° ' | | | rio de janeiro {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | sta. catharina {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | monte video {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | port famine {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | gorriti {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | sea bear bay | , , s.| | | | | | | {| , } | | | st. martin cove {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | chilóe {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | valparaiso {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | {| , } | | | juan fernandez {| , } , s.| | | {| , } | | | | | | | talcahuano | -- , s.|the particulars of this | | | |observation are wanting. | +------------------+---------------------+-------------------------+ { } the following table contains captain king's observations of intensity, with the times of vibration corrected for the arc and reduced to a standard temperature of °. magnetic intensity, _observed by_ capt. p. p. king _between and ._ ----------------+------------+------+------+-----------+----------------- | | | | corrected | station. | date. | time.|therm.| time. |particular place. ----------------+------------+------+------+-----------+----------------- | | s. | ° | | greenwich {| mar. | , | , | , }|observatory. {| jan. | , | , | , }| | | | | | madeira | may | , | , | , |consul's garden. | | | | | teneriffe | -- june | , | , | , |fort st. pedro. | | | | | port praya {| -- -- | , | , |} , {|landing place, {| -- -- | , | , |} {|quail island. | | | | | {| -- aug. | , | , | , }| {| sept. | , | , | }| rio de janeiro {| -- -- | , | , |} }|rat island. {| -- -- | , | , |} , }| {| -- -- | , | , |} }| {| dec. | , | , | , }| | | | | | sta catharina | nov. | , | , | , |anhatomirim. | | | | | {| oct. | , | , |} , }| gorriti {| -- nov. | , | , |} }|the well. {| jan. | , | , | , }| | | | | | {| dec. | , | , | , }|south point near monte video {| oct. | , | , | , }|the sea. {| june | , | , | , }| | | | | | port sta elena | dec. | , | , | , |landing-place. | | | | | sea bear bay | mar. | , | , | , |landing-place. | | | | | {| jan. | , | , |} | st. martin cove{| -- -- | , | , |} , }|head of the {| -- -- | , | , |} }|cove. {| -- mar. | , | , | , }| | | | | | {| jan. | , | , | , }| {| -- may | , | , | , }| port famine {| -- june | , | , |} , }|observatory. {| -- july | , | , |} }| {| apr. | , | , | , }| | | | | | chilóe {| sept. | , | , |} , |san carlos. {| -- dec. | , | , |} | | | | | | juan fernandez | feb. | , | , | , |landing-place. | | | | | talcahuano {| dec. | , | , | , }|fort galvez. {| may | , | , | , }| | | | | | {| aug. | , | , | , }| valparaiso {| jan. | , | , |} , }|almendral. {| -- feb. | , | , |} }| ----------------+------------+------+------+-----------+----------------- { } at rio de janeiro, which was the first station observed at in south america, the cylinder was vibrated in august , september , and december ; in the intervals between these dates are comprised the greater part of the observations on the east side of south america. there is no direct observation at rio subsequently to december ; but we are enabled to supply the time of vibration, which would have been observed had the cylinder been employed at rio on june , , in the following manner. we have seen that on the th september the time of vibration was observed at rio; on the th december following it was observed at monte video. these observations give the intensity at monte video relatively to that at rio, subject to whatever change of magnetism the cylinder may have undergone in the interval of three months. this comparison was repeated in the following year, on captain king's return from monte video to rio, the interval being nearly of the same duration, and the order of the experiment reversed, the passage being in this instance from monte video to rio, it having been before from rio to monte video. on the supposition of an uniform, or nearly uniform rate of change in the cylinder, the errors arising therefrom during the two passages would be of opposite kinds, and should compensate each other in a mean of the two comparisons. calling the force at rio unity, these comparisons give its value at monte video respectively as follows, namely, september and december ... . } october and december ... . } mean . . on the st of june , being then on his return from the west coast of south america, and on the eve of sailing for england, captain king again observed the time of vibration of the cylinder at monte video; whence, through the preceding comparison, we obtain the time of vibration at rio, which should belong to the same date. we have thus a fourth date at rio, which, added to those enumerated above, will include the whole of the south american stations; and we have only to distribute in each interval the loss of magnetism which the observations shew to have taken place from one date to the next, in the manner which may appear most suitable. there is no very obvious indication that the loss was other than gradual; and by considering it uniform in each separate { } interval, the results are found extremely accordant at several other stations at which observations were repeated at distant intervals. in the first of the subjoined tables are given the times of vibration at rio at the four periods referred to; and the corresponding times as a dipping needle. in its three last columns are shewn,--the number of days comprised in each interval,--the increase in the time of vibration owing to the loss of magnetism,--and the resulting daily correction, on the supposition in each case of the loss having been uniform in the interval during which it occurred. the second table contains the corrected times of horizontal vibration at each of the south american stations, at the dates respectively inserted,--the corresponding times as a dipping needle,--the times of vibration as a dipping needle at rio de janeiro at the same dates, derived from the observations in the first table,--and the resulting intensity at each station relatively to unity at rio. thus far the results are derived from captain king's observations, unmixed with those of any other observer: but in order to bring captain king's series into connexion with the general body of results of other observers, the values of his intensities are expressed in the final column in terms of the scale in common use, in which the force at paris = , , and at rio de janeiro , ; the latter being the mean of four independent determinations by the following observers, namely, and freycinet , } lütke , } , erman , } fitz-roy , } port st. elena is not included in this table, as no dip was observed there, and the total intensity consequently cannot be computed. the three stations, madeira, teneriffe, and port praya, at which the cylinder was vibrated in the outward voyage, are also without dips observed by captain king. the deficiency at port praya has been supplied from captain fitz-roy's observations and my own, both having been made at the same place at which captain king's intensity was observed,--captain fitz-roy's at a later, and mine at an earlier date. at madeira also the dip has been supplied from my observations, which were made in the british consul's garden at funchal, where captain king's cylinder was vibrated. i have { } deducted, from my determination of the dip, ' for the probable change between and . at teneriffe the dip has been frequently observed; but the values assigned by different observers vary so much as to indicate a more than usual frequency of local disturbance, which might also be expected from the geological character of that island. it would be unsafe therefore to employ any dip for that station but one which was certainly obtained at the same spot at which the horizontal intensity was observed. the dates of the observations at these three stations fall between the observations at greenwich in march , and those at rio de janeiro in august of the same year. having the intensity at greenwich = , and at rio = , , and the dip at greenwich ° ', and at rio ° , we have the time of vibration of captain king's cylinder as a dipping needle at rio at the respective dates as follows, namely, march , . august , . it appears therefore that but a very slight change took place in the magnetism of the cylinder during the outward voyage, and we may take , as the time of vibration at rio, corresponding to the dates of the intermediate observations; and this is done in the table for madeira and port praya. { } table i. ------------------+------------------------+---------+-----+--------- | time of vibration. | | | |-----------+------------+ | | rio de janeiro. |horizontal.|as a dipping|interval.|loss.|per diem. | | needle. | | | ------------------+-----------+------------+---------+-----+--------- | s. | s. | days. | s. | august , | , | , |} | , | . september , | , | , |} | | december , | , | , | | , | . june , | , | , | | , | . ------------------+-----------+------------+---------+-----+--------- table ii. ---------------+-------------+------------------------+------------------ | | time of vibration. | intensity. | |------------------------+-----------+------ | | at the station.|at rio.| | | |--------+-------+-------+ | | | | as a | as a | | | | |dipping|dipping| |rio= station. | date. |horizon.|needle.|needle.| rio= , .| , . ---------------+-------------+--------+-------+-------+-----------+------ | | s. | s. | s. | | madeira | may | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | port praya {| june |} , | , | , | , | , {| and |} | | | | | | | | | | sta catharina | nov. | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | gorriti {| oct. |} , | , | , | , } | -- {| and nov. |} | | | } , | , -- | jan. | , | , | , | , } | | | | | | | monte video | dec. | , | , | , | , } | -- | oct. | , | , | , | , } , | , -- | june | , | , | , | , } | | | | | | | sea bear bay | mar. | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | st. martin {| jan. |} , | , | , | , } | cove {| and |} | | | } , | , -- | -- mar. | , | , | , | , } | | | | | | | port famine | jan. | , | , | , | , | -- | -- may | , | , | , | , } | -- {| -- june |} , | , | , | , } , | , {| and july |} | | | } | -- | april | , | , | , | , } | | | | | | | chilóe {| sept. |} , | , | , | , | , {| and dec. |} | | | | juan fernandez | feb. | , | , | , | , | , | | | | | | talcahuano | dec. | , | , | , | , } , | , -- | may | , | , | , | , } | | | | | | | valparaiso | aug. | , | , | , | , } , | , -- {| jan. |} , | , | , | , } | {| and feb. |} | | | | ---------------+-------------+--------+-------+-------+-----------+------ { } .--the following table exhibits the magnetic observations of captains king and fitz-roy collected in one view. ---------------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------- | | | | |intensity, | | | | | paris= stations. |latitude.|longitude.|variation.| dip. | , . ---------------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------- | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | ° ' | madeira | n.| w. | -- | | k. , | | | | | terceira | n.| w. | w. | f. n.| f. , | | | | | | | | |{ -- | k. , port praya | n.| w. | w. |{f. , n.| f. , | | | |{f. , n.| f. , | | | | | ascension | s.| w. | w. | f. , n.| f. , | | | | | st. helena | s.| w. | w. | f. , s.|{f. , | | | | |{f. , | | | | | falkland | s.| w. | e. |{f. , s.| f. , islands | | | |{f. , s.| f. , | | | | | pernambuco | s.| w. | w. | f. , n.| f. , | | | | | bahia | s.| w. | w. |{f. , n.|}f. , | | | |{f. , n.|} | | | | | rio de janeiro | s.| w. | e. |{k. , s.|}f. , | | | |{f. , s.|} | | | | | sta catharina | s.| w. | -- | k. , s.| k. , | | | | | gorriti | s.| w. | -- | k. , s.| k. , | | | | | monte video | s.| w. | e. |{k. , s.| k. , | | | |{f. , s.| f. , | | | | | blanco bay | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | port desire | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | sea bear bay | s.| w. | -- | k. , s.| k. , | | | | | r. santa cruz | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | st. martin cove| s.| w. | -- | k. , s.| k. , | | | | | port famine | s.| w. | e. | k. , s.|{k. , | | | | |{f. , | | | | | port san andres| s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| -- | | | | | port low | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | chilóe | s.| w. | e. |{k. , s.| k. , | | | |{f. , s.| f. , | | | | | valdivia | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | concepçion | s.| w. | e. |{k. , s.| k. , | | | |{f. , s.| f. , | | | | | valparaiso | s.| w. | e. |{k. , s.|}k. , | | | |{f. , s.|} | | | | | coquimbo | s.| w. | e. | -- | f. , | | | | | callao | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| | | | | | galapagos | s.| w. | e. | f. , n.| islands | | | | | | | | | | ditto | s.| w. | e. | f. , n.| f. , | | | | | juan fernandez | s.| w. | | k. , s.| k. , | | | | | otaheite | s.| w. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | cape of good | s.| e. | w. | f. , s.| f. , hope | | | | | | | | | | mauritius | s.| e. | w. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | keeling islands| s.| e. | w. | f. , s.| | | | | | new zealand | s.| e. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | king george | s.| e. | w. | f. , s.| f. , sound | | | | | | | | | | hobart town | s.| e. | e. | f. , s.| f. , | | | | | sydney | s.| e. | e. | f. , s.| f. , ---------------+---------+----------+----------+--------------+---------- { } general remarks. . _variation._ captain fitz-roy's observations are so well distributed over the southern hemisphere, that a good view of the changes which the variation is undergoing throughout its meridians may be obtained by comparing his determinations with those of earlier observers at the same stations. the following table has been formed for the purpose of exhibiting such a comparison at all those stations where materials for it exist; and i may here remark how much such comparisons are facilitated by the valuable collection of early observations contained in the appendix to the magnetismus der erde. cape of good hope. | valparaiso. observer. | date.| variation.| observer. | date.| variation. | | ° ' | | | ° ' davis | | . e. | don g. juan | | . e. keeling | | . w. | vancouver | | . e. leydecker | | . w. | lütke | | . e. mathews | | . w. | fitz-roy | | . e. la caille | | . w. | wales | | . w. | callao. wales | | . w. | ulloa | | . e. bligh | | . w. | duperrey | | . e. dentrecasteaux | | . w. | fitz-roy | | . e. freycinet | | . w. | fitz-roy | | . w. | galapagos islands. | vancouver | | . e. st. helena | b. hall | | . e. davis | | . e. | fitz-roy | | . e. halley | | . e. | halley | | . w. | otaheite. mathews | | . w. | cook | | . e. wales | | . w. | wales | | . e. hunter | | . w. | bayley | | . e. macdonald | | . w. | vancouver | | . e. krusenstern | | . w. | duperrey | | . e. fitz-roy | | . w. | fitz-roy | | . e. | rio de janeiro. | bay of islands, n. zealand. cook | | . e. | tasman | | . e. hunter | | . e. | cook | | . e. freycinet | | . e. | duperrey | | . e. rumker | | . e. | fitz-roy | | . e. erman | | . e. | fitz-roy | | . e. | sydney. | cook | | . e. falklands islands. | hunter | | . e. freycinet | | . e. | flinders | | . e. duperrey | | . e. | freycinet | | . e. fitz-roy | | . e. | duperrey | | . e. | fitz-roy | | . e. port famine | wallis | | . e. | van diemen's land. carteret | | . e. | tasman | | . e. fitz-roy | | . e. | bayley | | . e. | bligh | | . e. concepÇion. | fitz-roy | | . e. la perouse | | . e. | b. hall | | . e. | mauritius. duperrey | | . e. | keeling | | . w. fitz-roy | | . e. | mathews | | . w. | freycinet | | . w. | duperrey | | . w. | fitz-roy | | . w. { } we may derive from the facts in the above table the following general and easily remembered conclusion in regard to the changes of the variation in the southern hemisphere; namely, that taking for our point of departure the meridian of ° west in south america, we find that at all the stations east of that meridian to the cape of good hope inclusive, the north pole of the needle has moved towards the west; and that all the stations west of the same meridian to mauritius inclusive, the north pole of the needle has moved towards the east. an almost equally simple generalization may be drawn in respect to the changes of situation of the lines of equal variation in the southern hemisphere: but here it must be supposed either that the reader is thoroughly familiar with the general arrangement of these lines, or that he has a map of them before him. he will find such a map of the variation lines in in the fifth report of the british association; but any other map, corresponding to any epoch within the last hundred years, will equally serve the purpose. referring to such a map, it will be seen that the lines of variation in the south pacific, form a system of nearly concentric curves, of an oval, or pear-shaped form, the outside curves having a higher variation, which progressively diminishes to the centre. we may regard this system as comprehending the whole of the geographical space between the coast of south america and the meridian of new zealand. throughout this space the variation is easterly, and increases: we may consequently characterize the change in the situation of the lines of equal variation as a progressive closing-in { } of the curves from all sides towards the centre, by which the areas severally comprehended by them become less; and the lower variations, as they successively reach the centre, disappear, and are replaced by the closing-in of those of next higher amount. the changes which have taken place at all captain fitz-roy's stations comprised within the space referred to, are accordant with the systematic alteration thus described. in all other parts of the hemisphere the lines of variation have a progressive westerly movement, and to this also captain fitz-roy's observations correspond. it follows, from what has been stated, that the lines on the western side of the concentric system in the south pacific have an eastward movement, which presents an apparent anomaly to the general progress of the lines of variation in the southern hemisphere, which is from east to west. otaheite, and the bay of islands in new zealand, present examples of changes in the variation corresponding to this apparent anomaly. the consistency, however, both of the movement and of the configuration of the lines of variation in this quarter, with those in other parts of the southern hemisphere, and with the general system of the magnetic phenomena, has been shewn by mr. hansteen in the magnetismus der erde, and in the annalen der physik, vol. xxi. the annual amount of the change of the variation appears considerably greater at the cape of good hope and mauritius than at any other of captain fitz-roy's stations, amounting to about eight minutes; shewing that the variation lines in that quarter are changing their position more rapidly than elsewhere. the north pole of the needle is moving to the west at the cape, and to the east at mauritius; but it will be seen, by a reference to the map, that these opposite movements are in perfect correspondence with the uniform westerly progression of the variation lines, and result from their configuration. at the stations in the vicinity of the meridian of ° west, the change appears to be very small. [the variation at ascension ( ° ' w.) is correctly inserted in the tables: it is the only one of captain fitz-roy's stations at which his observations are not accordant with those of other observers: the discordance may be occasioned by the great prevalence of local disturbances at ascension.] { } ii. _dip._ the following table exhibits the comparison of captain fitz-roy's observations of the dip in the southern hemisphere, with those of earlier observers, at stations where the materials for such a comparison exist. ascension. | | observer. | date.| variation.| observer. | date.| variation. | | ° ´ | | | ° ´ la caille | | . n. | lütke | | . s. cook | | . n. | king | | . s. sabine | | . n. | fitz-roy | | . s. duperrey | | . n. | fitz-roy | | . n. | king george sound. | vancouver | | . s. st. helena. | flinders | | . s. la caille | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. cook | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. | van diemen's land. | cook | | . s. cape of good hope. | bertrand | | . s. la caille | | . s. | dentrecasteaux | | . s. bayley | | . s. | de rossel | | . s. bayley | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. abercrombie | | . s. | bayley | | . s. | sydney. freycinet | | . s | flinders | | . s. fitz-roy | | . s. | freycinet | | . s. | brisbane | | . s. mauritius (port louis) | duperrey | | . s. la caille | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. duperrey | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. | n. zealand (bay of islands). | duperrey | | . s. otaheite. | fitz-roy | | . s. cook | | . s. | cook | | . s. | tierra del fuego. bayley | | . s. | bayley } | | duperrey | | . s. | lat. °. '; } | | . s. erman | | . . s| long. . . } | | fitz-roy | | . . s| king } | | | lat. °. '; } | | . s. lima and callao. | long. . . } | | feuillée | | . s. | humboldt | | . s. | falkland islands. duperrey | | . s. | freycinet | | . s. fitz-roy | | . s. | duperrey | | . s. | fitz-roy | - | . s. valparaiso. | malaspina | | . s. | sta catharina. vancouver | | . s. | duperrey | | . s. lütke | | . s. | king | | . s. king | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. | rio de janeiro. | la caille | | . s. concepÇion. | freycinet | | . s. feuillée | | . s. | king | | . s. perouse | | . s. | lütke | | . s. duperrey | | . s. | erman | | . s. | fitz-roy | | . s. we may classify the changes which are taking place in the dip in the southern hemisphere in four divisions, characterised by an { } alternate increase and decrease of dip. commencing with the meridian of greenwich, and proceeding eastwardly round the hemisphere, we may distinguish the divisions as follows, in the order of their geographical succession. _ st. south dip increasing._ annually. st. helena to , ' do. to , cape of good hope to , do. to , mauritius to , do. to , to this division also belongs ascension; but as the north end of the needle dips at that island, the change is _north dip diminishing,_ instead of _south dip increasing._ ascension to , annually. do. to , -- _ d. south dip decreasing._ new zealand to , annually.[ ] _ d. south dip increasing._ otaheite to , annually. _ th. south dip decreasing._ annually. lima and callao to , ' do to , valparaiso to , concepçion to , do. to , tierra del fuego to , falkland islands to , st^a catharina to , rio de janeiro to , do. to , in the d and d divisions the annual change is small; in the st and th considerably greater. it is greatest at the southern station in south america; the observations at valparaiso, concepçion, tierra del fuego, and the falkland islands, concur in shewing it to exceed '. the observations at ascension, st. helena, and the cape of good hope, concur in shewing an annual change in that quarter of the st division exceeding '. as the south dip decreases in south america, and increases in africa, it is obvious that somewhere intermediately the dip must be stationary. between africa and new zealand, for the same reason, there must be a second locality so characterised. between new zealand and otaheite, a third; and between otaheite and the west coast of south america, a fourth. captain fitz-roy has { } stations in the second of these localities only, between africa and new zealand. at hobart town, sydney, and king george sound, there appears to have been little or no change in the dip since the commencement of the present century. the arrangement of the changes of dip in the southern hemisphere in four divisions, characterised by an alternate increase and decrease of dip, is in correspondence with the _double flexure_ of the lines of dip; and is a consequence of the western motion of the two southern magnetic poles. careful observations made at st. petersburgh, have shewn that the annual change of the dip in the northern hemisphere takes place altogether between the months of may and december; there being in fact a small movement in an opposite direction between december and may. this fact is of great interest in its bearing on the study of the causes of the magnetic phenomena. we have as yet no corresponding knowledge in regard to the southern hemisphere. the magnitude of the annual change which captain fitz-roy's observations show is now taking place at the cape of good hope, is deserving of attention in this respect. a large amount of annual change is obviously highly favourable for a determination of all the circumstances belonging to it; and its existence at the cape, where there is already a fixed observatory, points to that station as most eligible for this investigation. the observations at ascension shew that the epoch is fast approaching when the needle will pass from north to south dip at that island: it is extremely desirable that the period at which this change takes place should be determined with as much precision as possible. iii. _intensity._ i have discussed in the seventh report of the british association, the very important inferences in regard to the general distribution of magnetism in the southern hemisphere, afforded by captains king and fitz-roy's most valuable series of intensity observations; but no inferences in regard to the _changes_ which this phenomenon may be supposed to undergo can be drawn, as has been done in the cases of the variation and dip, because we possess no observations of the intensity made at a sufficiently early period to afford good materials for such a comparison. edward sabine. * * * * * { } catalogue of the more interesting specimens of natural history that were collected during the voyage. ------ mammalia. . mustela zorilla. desm:[ ] the skunk. this animal was found abundantly on the coast of patagonia, between monte video and cape gregory, at the eastern entrance of the strait of magalhaens. it appeared to be the same species throughout the whole extent of the coast.--mus. zool. soc. . mustela lutris.--lin. _lutra marina_, steller. erxleb. harlan; _enhydra marina_, fleming. the sea otter exists, but not very plentifully, on the coast of tierra del fuego; we saw very few. the fuegian indians hunt them with dogs which are trained for the purpose.--museum zool. soc. . canis. the dogs belonging to the fuegian indians are certainly of the domesticated kind, originally obtained, probably, from the spanish settlements at buenos ayres; generally they resemble the esquimaux breed, but are much more diminutive in size. . canis vulpes. two if not three distinct species of the fox were brought home; one, of a small size, was thought to be a novelty; the other, perhaps, was only remarkable for its large size. mr. vigors thought the small one was quite new; the last is perhaps _c. cinereo argenteus_.--museum of zool. soc. . felis puma. several were seen: a skeleton was found on the shores of the strait, supposed to be one of the above species. { } . felis pajeros.--desm. e. m. p. . chat pampa, d'azara, . . a variety of this species was given to me, by the patagonian indians, that had been recently killed; the skin was preserved, and is now in the museum of the zoological society. the following is the description of my specimen:-- the prevailing colour is a yellowish grey, deeper above, and gradually blending into the colour of the belly, chin, neck, inner part of the legs, the region of the anus, and below the root of the tail, which are white; the under part of the neck and belly also are spotted with black, disposed in transverse bands; the fore arms have three similar transverse bands, and the thighs four encircling the legs; ears white inside and tipped black; eyes dark blue, eyelids whitish, corner of the eyes black, particularly at the anterior or inner angle; claws whitish, and paws black; whiskers white, and some long white hairs over the eyes; the canine teeth are very acute, and have the longitudinal grooves or angles deeply marked. inches. length of the body from the extremity of the nose to the root of the tail length of tail ¾ ditto head breadth of head between the ears - / height at the shoulder . otaria jubata.--desm. e. m. no. . the sea lion of anson and other voyagers; numerous in the eastern entrance of the strait, and particularly at port san julian and the neighbourhood of port desire. . otaria flavescens.--desm: e. m. . a young male was found on the beach, near port famine, that had been recently wounded by the indians, and had crawled on shore to die. . ctenomys magellanicus. n. s.--bennet. this little animal possesses fur as soft as the chinchilla. it abounds in the neighbourhood of cape gregory, at the eastern entrance of the strait of magalhaens, and burrows under the { } ground, which is so much undermined by them that it gives way at almost every step. it is a timid little fellow, feeds upon grass, and is eaten by the patagonian indians.--see bennet in the proceedings of the zool. soc. dec. , . a specimen is preserved in the museum. . kerodon kingii. n. s. see bennet ut supra, in museum of zool. soc. . cavia cutleri, n. s. nob.--see bennet ut supra. this specimen is in the collection of the society. it was known in the voyage by the name of the peruvian cavy: it was presented to one of the officers of the beagle by an american sailing master, mr. cutler, of stonington, u.s., a very intelligent person, to whom we are much indebted for information. the name which i have proposed for it is in recollection of the benefit we derived from his experience and knowledge of the intricate navigation of the south-western coast of patagonia, which was freely imparted to us on several occasions.--see bennet in proceedings of zool. soc. ut supra. . dasyprocta patachonica.--desm. e. m. . i regret very much that the only specimen obtained was not preserved. desmaret seems to suspect that it differs sufficiently in its dentition from the agouti to constitute a new genus, for which he has proposed the name _dolichotis_.--see e. m. . . dasypus minutus.--desm. procured at port sta elena, and corresponds exactly with the description of the above species. it is the tatou pichiy, or tatou septième of d'azara. . auchenia glama.--desm. e. m. . a living female guanaco was brought home in the adventure, and placed in the garden of the zoological society. the guanaco inhabits patagonia from buenos ayres to the strait of magalhaens: we also found it on king charles foreland, the eastern island of tierra del fuego, and on navarin island, at the north side of nassau bay, in the vicinity of cape horn. * * * * * { } birds. . sarcoramphus gryphus.--duméril. the condor. _vultur gryphus._--lin. . cathartes iota.--chilian eagle. . polyborus vulgaris.--_falco brasiliensis._ latham. caraçara eagle. strait of magalhaens. . milvago ochrocephala.--spix. young birds. strait of magalhaens. . haliÆtus erythronotus.--nob. in zool. journal, iii. . _hal. capite alisque fusco-griseis; dorso scapularibusque rufis, corpore caudâque subtus albis, fasciis fuscis gracilibus leviter notatis, hâc fasciâ latâ prope apicem nigrâ._ the total length of the bird from the _apex_ of the bill to the extremity of the tail is feet; of the bill from the _rictus_ to the _apex_ inches; from the cere inch; of the wing, from the end of the carpal joint to the end of the third quill feather, inches; of the tail ½ inches; of the _tarsus_ three inches. strait of magalhaens. . falco sparverius.--latham. strait of magalhaens. . falco peregrinus? strait of magalhaens. . polyborus brasiliensis. polyborus novæ zealandiæ. falco novæ zealandiæ of latham. . circus histrionicus.--nob. in zool. journal, iii. . _falco histrionicus_, quoy and gaimard. _circo cineraceus uropygio corporeque subtus albis: hoc fasciis frequentibus rufis notato._ the length from the _apex_ of the bill to that of the tail is { } inches; bill inch; wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the third quill feather, ½ inches; tail inches; _tarsus_ ½ inches. strait of magalhaens. . strix rufipes.--nob. in zool. journ., iii. . _str. saturate brunnea, albido fulvoque maculata fasciataque femorum tarsorumque plumis rufis._ the total length is ½ inches; that of the bill inch; of the wing, from the _carpus_ to the end of the fourth quill feather, inches; of the tail ½ inches; of the _tarsi_ - / . . strix nana.--nob. in zoological journal iii. . _str. fusco brunnea, fronte nuchâ alisque albo-notatis, gulâ albâ, caudâ fasciis frequentibus rufis notatâ._ the total length is - / inches; of the bill ½ inch; of the wing, from the _carpal_ joint to the extremity of the fourth quill feather, ¾ inches; of the tail ¾ inches; of the _tarsi_ / . _n.b._--three other species of this genus are in the collection which appear to be new. . hirundo.--sp.* . hirundo.--sp.* . hirundo.--sp.* * three distinct species of swallow, very much resembling the british species,--_hir. rustica_, _urbica_, and _riparia_. strait of magalhaens. . turdus magellanicus.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _turd. corpore supra grisescenti olivaceo, subtus pallidè rufescenti, capite supra, remigibus, caudâque fusco-atris gulâ-alba, fusco-atro lineatâ._ strait of magalhaens. . synallaxis anthoides.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _syn. supra brunnea plumis in medio fusco latè striatis, tectricibus alarum superioribus rufo tinctis subtus pallidè cinerea; rectricibus lateralibus ad marginem externum, fasciâque alarum, rufis. statura. syn. spinicaudæ._ strait of magalhaens. . sylvia spinicaudÆ.--latham. { } . sylvia dorsalis.--nob. in zool. journ. iii. . _syl. nigra, dorso scapularibusque rufis, remigibus rectricibusque fuscis._ the length from the end of the bill to that of the tail is ½ inches. . sylvia obscura.--nob. in zool. journ. iii. . _syl. corpore unicolore fusco-nigro, alis brevibus rotundatis caudâ brevi, pedibus elongatis, fortibus pallidis._ the length from the apex of the bill to that of the tail is ¼ inches; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the fourth quill feather, - / ; of the tail ¼; of the _tarsi_ ¾. . troglodytes. . fringilla.--(several species, probably new.) . sturnus militaris.--lin. motacilla patachonica.---lin. patagonian warbler of dixon's voyage. . sturnus.--sp. (black)? leistes sp. vigors. . dendrocolaptes albo-gularis. nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _dend. corpore supra, abdominisque lateribus, rufo brunneis; remigibus secundariis, dorso imo, caudâque rufis; mandibulâ inferiori ad basim, gulâ, jugulo, pectore, abdomineque medio, albis, hujus plumis brunneo ad apicem marginatis; rostro sursum recurvo._ length - / inches.--strait of magalhaens. . psittacus smaragdinus.--gmel. . psittacara leptorhynca. nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _psitt. viridis: fronte, strigâ per oculos, caudâque rufis: capite nigro, abdomine imo rufo, variegatis; mandibulâ superiori elongatâ, gracillimâ._ staturâ.--_psitt. lichtensteinii æqualis. habitat in insulâ_ chilóe. . picus magellanicus.--nob. in zool. journ. iii. . _pic. niger, capite cristato colloque coccineis, remigibus albo notatis._ foem. _capite cristato nigro, fronte mentoque coccineis._ { } the length of the bird from the tip of the bill to the extremity of the tail is inches; of the bill ½; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the fourth quill feather, ¾; of the tail ½; of the _tarsi_ - / ; of the external hind toe, the nail included, . strait of magalhaens. . picus melanocephalus.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _pic. capite corporeque supra nigris, hoc albo maculato; pectore abdomineque albis, illo albo lineato, hoc albo fasciato._ length or inches.--strait of magalhaens and chilóe. . mellisuga kingii--vigors in zool. journal, iii. . _ornismya sephanoides._--lesson et garn. _mell. supra metallicè viridis, infra alba viridi variegata, vertice splendide rubeo, rectricibus acuminatis._ this bird was found in the strait of magalhaens, so late in the year as the month of may, when it was seen flying in a snow-squall. it seemed regardless of the cold, and so long as the _fuchsia_ and _veronica_ were in blossom, so long did this hitherto supposed to be delicate little bird, remain to cull their sweets, or rather to prey upon the insects which buried themselves in the flowers; for, innocent as it seems, it is insectivorous. the bird was long known to naturalists, but was not described until november , when mr. vigors described it, from a specimen transmitted by me to the museum of the zoological society. it was found by mm. lesson and garnot, on the coast of chile, where we also subsequently found it. m. lesson described it in his useful little manuel d'ornithologie, ii. p. , as above, and has given a detailed account. had not mr. vigors previously described it, i should have had pleasure in referring it to their description, and their excellent plate, in lesson's monograph upon the trochilidæ. . trochilus fernandensis.--nob. in proceedings zool. soc. _troch. ferrugineo-rufus; capitis vertice splendenti-coccineo; remigibus fuscis._ length, inches. island of juan fernandez, south pacific. . trochilus stokesii.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _troch. corpore supra viridi-splendente, subtus albo viridi-guttato; capite supra, guttisque confertis gulæ lazulino-splendentibus; { } remigibus fusco-atris; remigum omnium, mediis exceptis, pogoniis internis albis._ length inches. island of juan fernandez. hylactes.--_novum genus. megapodio affine._ _characteres generici._ _rostrum subelongatum, subtenue, apice subemarginato; naribus basalibus, longitudinalibus, membranâ subtumescenti pilisque per mediam longitudinem tectâ._ _alæ, brevissimæ, rotundatæ; remige ta longissimâ._ _cauda, subelongata, gradata._ _pedes, fortes: tarsis subelongatis, in fronte scutellatis; digitis unguibusque elongatis, hic fortioribus subcompressis; halluce fortissimo, incumbente._ this genus appears to have some resemblance to mm. quoy and gaimard's genus _megapodius_: but no specimen of it being in this country, and my bird differing in essential points from its generic characters, particularly in the length and form of the wings, which in my bird are rounded, and so short as not to reach beyond the base of the tail, i have formed it into a new genus, for which the term hylactes (from its note, which very much resembles the sharp bark of a dog) has been selected. . hylactes tarnii.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _hyl. saturate fusco-brunneus; fronte, dorso, abdomineque rufis, hoc fusco fasciato._ at chilóe and port otway, in the gulf of peñas. the specific name i have selected is in compliment to mr. john tarn, surgeon of the adventure, to whose attention, in procuring and preserving numerous specimens in ornithology, i am greatly indebted. . struthio rhea.--lin. ( .) the american ostrich. maldonado. . columba fitz royii.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _col. binacea; alis, dorso imo, caudâque plumbeis, hujus fasciâ remigibusque atris: nuchæ plumis viridi-splendentibus; fascia occipitali albá._ in the woods of chilóe. dedicated to captain robert fitz roy, who succeeded to the command of h.m.s. beagle upon the death of captain stokes. { } . columba meridionalis.--nob. in zool. journal, iv. . _col. brunnescenti-plumbea, subtus rufescens; colli lateribus purpureo nitore splendentibus, genis pennisque secundariis nigro maculatis, rectricibus apice griseo fasciâque sub-apicali nigrâ._ length, ½ inches. . ardea.--sp. one of the night bitterns. . ardea major.--bonat., e. m. . port otway, gulf of peñas. . ibis melanopis.--bonat., e. m. . port san julian. in the ency. méth. the length of the bird is stated to be inches, but in the dict. d'histoire naturelle inches is given, which is correct. . totanus fuscus? . scolopax magellanicus.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _scol. supra brunneus, rufo fulvo nigroque maculatus undulatusque; abdomine medio albo; pectore brunneo rufoque sparso; tarsis brevibus._ the length of the bird from the front to the end of the tail is ½ inches; of the beak ½; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the quill feather, ; of the tail ½; and of the _tarsi_ - / . strait of magalhaens. . rhynchÆa occidentalis.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _rhync. supra brunnea, capite summo pectore alisque saturatioribus, fulvo undulata strigataque; abdomine, maculâ utrinque pectorali, maculisque alarum, albis, stringâ frontali brunneâ._ the length of the bird from the forehead to the end of the tail is seven inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing from the carpal joint to the extremity of the first quill feather, ¼; of the _tarsus_ - / ; of the tail ¾. strait of magalhaens. this bird may be considered as one of the most interesting acquisitions made in our voyage. the singular and strongly marked genus has been hitherto considered peculiar to the old world; and two species only having been discovered, an additional species from the new world is an important accession to science. the form of our magellanic bird accords accurately with that of the old world species, the bill being distinguished chiefly by its { } inferior length. the general appearance of the plumage also is similar, although it possesses sufficiently distinctive characters to authorize this species being separated from the other. . rallus setosus.--nob. in zool. journ. iv. . _rall. supra brunneus, dorso alisque nigro notatis, subtus plumbeus; remigibus primariis rectricibusque fuscis, his saturatioribus; fronte setoso._ the length of the bird from the forehead to the extremity of the tail is inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the second quill feather, - / ; of the tail ; of the _tarsus_ - / . . rallus antarcticus. nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _rall. supra brunneus, nigro strigatus; subtus plumbeus, femorum tectricibus crissoque atris, albo-fasciatis._ the length of the body is ½ inches; of the bill ¼; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the second quill feather, ¾; of the tail, ¾; of the _tarsus_ / . . fulica chloropoÏdes.--nob. in zool. journ. iv. . _ful. capite, coll. superiore, caudâque atris; corpore reliquo atro-fusco, crisso albo._ the length of the body is inches; of the bill ¼; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the extremity of the second quill feather, ½; of the tail ; of the _tarsi_ . . fulica gallinuloÏdes.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _ful. atro-fusca; dorso saturatiore, capite atro, gulâ albo-notatâ crisso albo, rostro angusto, in frontem parum extendente._ . chionis alba.--forster. seen at cape horn, and at sea, four hundred miles from the nearest land. captain foster, of h.m.s. chanticleer, saw some at south shetland. . hÆmatopus palliatus.--temminck. strait of magalhaens. . hÆmatopus leucopus.--gam. strait of magalhaens. the above two species of hæmatopus were frequently seen on { } the shores of the strait; the latter appears to answer the description of m. bougainville. see lesson, manuel d'ornithologie, ii. . . charadrius pluvialis.--var. not to be distinguished from the golden plover. . charadrius rubecola.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _char. capite summo, dorso, alis, caudâque supra grisescenti-fuscis, thorace nuchâque pallide griseis; pectore rufo, collari subpectorali nigro; fronte, striga superciliari, abdomine, crisso, rectricibusque lateralibus albis._ the length of the body is - / inches; of the bill ¾; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the first quill feather, - / ; of the tail ; of the _tarsi_ ¼. mountains of the strait of magalhaens , feet above the level of the sea. . vanellus cayanensis.--ency. méth. . pl. , fig. . maldonado, river plate. . podiceps.--sp. very much resembling p. minor. . podiceps.--sp. . podiceps leucopterus.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _pod. capite colloque superioribus nigris, gulâ griseo-albidâ, collo inferiore rufo; dorso fusco-atro; abdomine strigâque latâ alarum albis._ the length of the body is inches; of the bill ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the apex of the second quill feather, ¼; of the _tarsi_ . . aptenodytes magellanica.--e. méth. . aptenodytes chrysocome.?--a young bird. . phalacrocorax niger.--nob. in zool. journal, iv. . _phal. intensè niger, circulo angusto ab oculis descendente, mandibulasque circumcingente, paucisque genarum capitisque plumis albis._ the length of the bird is inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the extremity of the third quill { } feather, ; of the tail ½; of the _tarsi_ . the irides a bright blue green; the pupils black. this bird is probably d'azara's black zaramagullon (no. of his birds of paraguay), but it has not hitherto been described. . phalacrocorax atriceps.--nob. in zool. journal, iv. . _phal. capite supra corporeque superiore atris, inferiore albo; rostro pedibusque flavescentibus, rectricibus duodecim._ the dimensions are nearly the same as those of the last bird, except those of the bill, which is a quarter of an inch longer. . phalacrocorax cirriger. _phal. supra fusco-griseus, subtus albidus; gulâ, cirroque longitudinali per collum utrinque descendente, albis; rostro pedibusque rubris; rectricibus quatuordecim._ the length of the body is inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the extremity of third quill feather, ; of the tail ; of the _tarsi_ ¾. . phalacrocorax imperialis.--nob. in proceedings of zoological society. _phal. capite cristato, collo posteriori, corporeque supra intense purpureis; alis scapularibusque viridi atris; remigibus rectricibusque duodecim fusco-atris; corpore subtus, fasciâ alarum, maculâque dorsi medii sericeo-albis; rostro nigro; pedibus flavescentibus._ _statura._--_phal. carbonis._ _hab._--interior sounds of western patagonia. . phalacrocorax sarmientonus. _phal. capite, collo, dorsoque imo atro-purpureis; pectore abdomineque albis; dorso superiori, scapularibus, alisque viridi-atris; remigibus rectricibusque duodecim atris; gulâ, genis, femorumque tectricibus superioribus albo-notatis; rostro nigro; pedibus flavescentibus._ _staturâ præcedentis._ strait of magalhaens. . phalacrocorax erythrops.--nob. in proceedings of zoological society. _phal. capite, collo, corporeque supra purpureo-atris; pectore abdomineque albis; genis parcè albo-notatis; facie nudâ rubrâ; { } remigibus, rectricibus duodecim, rostroque sub-brevi atris: pedibus flavescentibus._ _staturâ paulo minor præcedentibus duobus._ . larus hÆmatorhynchus.--nob. in zool. journ. iv. . _lar. corpore plumbeo-griseo, dorso medio alisque nigris, his albo notatis; rostro pedibusque sanguineis._ the length of the bird is inches; of the bill ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the first quill feather, ; of the tail ; of the _tarsi_ . irides green silvery colour, pupil dark. . larus fuscus? . larus ridibundus? . lestris catarrhactes? . procellaria gigantea. a young bird. . procellaria capensis. this beautiful, but well-known petrel, was, of course, our constant companion on all occasions of our being at sea, and was particularly numerous off the entrance to the river plata, feeding probably upon the exuviæ that drift out with the current. one being taken with the hook, was killed, and in its entrails several small fragments of granite were found mixed with the half-digested food. a remarkable instance of the natural habits of this bird has lately come to my knowledge, which deserves to be recorded. the late mr. george fairfowl, surgeon r.n., on his return from new south wales, in the year , caught one of these birds, and let it go, with a ribbon tied round the body, by which it was easily distinguished; the bird was thereby observed to follow the ship, from day to day, for the space of , miles. . procellaria berardi. . procellaria wilsonii.--prince of musignano. _thalassidroma wilsonnii_--vigors. . diomedea exulans. . cygnus anatoÏdes. _cygn. albus, remigibus primariis ad apicem nigris; rostro pedibusque rubris, illo lato, subdepresso, tuberculo nullo._ { } interior sounds on the west coast of patagonia. molina describes a chilian duck, _anas coscoroba_, thus: _a. rostro extremo dilatato rotundato_; _corpore albo_; but i do not think it can be the same as mine, or he would have noticed its red feet and bill. it certainly is not _a. candidus_, of viellot; the _ganso blanco_ of d'azara, which the author of the article in the dict. d'hist. nat. xxiii. supposes to be the one and the same with _a. coscoroba_. molina gives but a short description of that bird. . anser inornatus.--nob. in proceedings of zool. society. _mas. ans. albus: dorso inferiori, caudâ, fasciis nuchæ dorsique superioris femorumque tectricum, pteromatibus, remigibusque atris: rostro nigro, pedibus flavescentibus._ foem. _capite colloque canis; dorso superiori corporeque inferiori albis, nigro confertim fasciatis; dorso imo remigibus, rectricibusque nigris; ptilis speculoque albis; tarsis subelongatis._ strait of magalhaens. . micropterus brachypterus.--quoy and gaimard. zool. de l'uranie, pl. . _oidemia patachonica._--nob. zool. journal, iv. . _anas brachyptera._--latham. racehorse.--cook.--byron. _micropt. supra plumbeo-grisescens, abdomine albescente speculo alarum albo; rostro luteo; ungue nigro._ . micropterus patachonicus.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _micropt. supra plumbeo grisescens; gulâ scapularibusque rufescentibus; abdomine speculoque alarum albis; rostro virescenti-nigro, ungue nigro._ smaller than _m. brachypterus_. this bird having a smaller body than the first, is enabled to fly; which with the scapulars and the feathers of the throat being of a redder hue than those of _m. brachypterus_, authorizes its being considered as specifically new. . anas nigricollis.--ind. orn. ii. . this bird has a wide range on the south american continent. it frequents the river plata, strait of magalhaens, and several parts of the western coast, as far up as chilóe. { } . anas chiloensis.--nob. in proceedings of zool. society. _an. fronte, genis, abdomine, uropygio, pteromatibusque albis; capite posteriori, collo, dorso inferiori, ptilis, remigibusque primariis, caudâque fuscis; dorso superiori, pectoreque fusco et albo fasciatis; remigibus secundariis et tertiis scapularibusque nitidè atris, his albo lineatis; abdominis lateribus crissoque rufescentibus; strigâ post oculos, latâ splendidè purpurascenti-viride._ length about inches. island of chilóe. . anas fretensis.--nob. in proceedings of zool. soc. _an. gulâ, genis, collo, pectore, dorsoque anteriori pallidè badiis; collo graciliter undulato; pectore dorsoque anteriori atro maculato; dorso abdomineque imis, crisso, caudâque albis nigro fasciatis; dorsi fasciis latis, abdominis gracillimis, caudæ sublatioribus, crissi sparsim undulatis; capite supra, remigibus, scapularibusque virescenti-atris; his albo in medio lineatis; tectricibus plumbeo-canis, fasciâ apicali albâ; speculo supra viridi, deinde purpureo, fasciâ atrâ apice albo terminatâ._ _statura anatis creccoidis_, nob. strait of magalhaens. . anas rafflesii.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _an. castaneo-rufa, capite abdomineque medio saturatiorbus; notis dorsi, remigibus, caudâ supra, crissoque nigris; ptilis cæruleis, pteromatibus albis, speculo alarum viridi._ a figure of the bird is given in the supplementary plates of the zool. jour. supp. xxix. length, inches. strait of magalhaens, and western coast to chilóe. this beautiful bird bears the name of the late sir j. stamford raffles, to whose exertions the science of zoology is under no trifling obligation. . anas specularis.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _an. capite summo, dorso, alis, caudâque nigris: subtus pallidè griseus, pectore brunneo undulato: speculo lato purpurascenti-aureo splendente, fasciâ atrâ alterâque albâ marginato: maculâ utrinque suboculari, mento, thoraceque albis._ the length of the bird is inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing, { } from the carpal joint to the extremity of the second quill feather, ; of the tail ; of the _tarsi_ ¼. . anas specularioides.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _an. capite summo corporeque supra fuscis: subtus pallidè griseus, pectore rufo-brunneo fasciato: remigibus, crisso, rectricibusque atris: speculo subangusto purpurascenti-aureo splendente, fasciâ atrâ, alterâque apicali albâ._ the length of the bird is inches; of the bill - / ; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the extremity of the second quill feather, ½; of the tail ; of the _tarsus_ ½. strait of magalhaens. this is the common duck in the vicinity of port famine, and in the winter months is excellent eating. . anas creccoides.--nob. in zool. jour. iv. . _an. pallidè brunneo-griseus, fusco sparsus notatusque; dorso imo, ptilisque fuscis, his apice rufo; speculo nigro, fulvo marginato._ the length of the bird is ½ inches; of the bill ¾; of the wing, from the carpal joint to the extremity of the second quill feather, - / ; of the tail - / ; of the _tarsus_ ¼. * * * * * { } shells. description of the cirrhipeda, conchifera, and mollusca, in a collection formed by the officers of h.m.s. adventure and beagle, employed between the years and in surveying the southern coasts of south america, including the strait of magalhaens and the coast of tierra del fuego. by captain phillip p. king, r.n., f.r.s., &c., assisted by w. j. broderip, esq., f.r.s., &c. (from the zoological journal.) the testacea, of which the following paper is a descriptive list, were principally collected upon the coast of south america; and, upon my arrival in england, were submitted to the examination of mr. george sowerby; who very obligingly selected the undescribed species from the collection which had been formed under my superintendence by the officers of h.m.s. adventure and beagle, employed under my command in surveying the southern coast of south america. to these gentlemen i am greatly indebted for the unwearied assiduity which they at all times displayed, and for the extent of the collection in this, as well as in other departments of natural history. in the description of the species i have had the benefit of the advice and assistance of my friend mr. broderip; and to his knowledge of the subject, and the attention which he has devoted to my collection, i owe in a great measure the paper which i have now the satisfaction of presenting to the public through the medium of the zoological journal. upon examining my specimens, mr. george sowerby found that he possessed several species not in my collection. these had been obtained during the voyage, and had been purchased from some of the crew by mr. sowerby, who handsomely put his acquisitions into my hands for description. ------ . balanus psittacus. syn. lepas psittacus. molina, ., . _b. testâ albido-rosaceâ, subconicâ, elongatâ, rudi, longitudinaliter creberrimè striatâ; radiis transversim striatis; operculo transversìm { } profundè sulcato, lineis elevatis creberrimè plicatis; valvis posticis valdè productis, acuminatis._ _habitat ad oras concepçionis et insulam chilóe. mus. brit., nost., broderip, &c._ this cirrhiped which, at concepçion de chile, is frequently found of a larger size than ½ inches long and ½ in diameter, forms a very common and highly esteemed food of the natives, by whom it is called _pico_, from the acuminated processes of the two posterior opercular valves. the anterior and posterior opercular valves, when in contact, present some resemblance to a parrot's beak, whence molina's name. it is also found very abundantly at valdivia and at calbuco, near the north end of the island of chilóe. it occurs in large bunches, and presents somewhat of a cactus-like appearance. the parent is covered by its progeny, so that large branches are found composed of from fifty to one hundred distinct individuals, each of which becomes in its turn the foundation of another colony. one specimen in the possession of my friend w. j. broderip, esq., consists of a numerous group based on two large individuals. they are collected by being chopped off with a hatchet. at concepçion, where they are found of larger size than to the southward, they are principally procured at the island of quiriquina, which lies across the entrance of the bay; whence they are exported in large quantities to valparaiso and santiago de chile, where they are considered as a great delicacy, and indeed with some justice, for the flesh equals in richness and delicacy that of the crab, which, when boiled and eaten cold, it very much resembles. . elminius leachii.[ ] _e. testâ albidâ, truncatâ, longitudinaliter striatâ, radiis creberrimè longitudinaliter substriatis; operculo ad basin transversim striato, quadripartito; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat._ _in museo geo. sowerby et nost._ . scalpellum papillosum. _s. pedunculo creberrimè papilloso; testâ lævi valdè compressâ; long. omnino / ; / pedunculi; lat. / , poll._ { } _habitat in mare alto circa oras patagonicas. mus. nost., g. sowerby._ taken by a dredge in fathom water, off the coast of south america, in latitude ½° south, and found adhering to a terebella. . pholas chiloensis. molina. _p. testâ elongatâ posticè ovato-rotundatâ, costis posticis dentato-muricatis; anticè attenuatâ striis transversis posticè undato-muricatis, anticè muticis; lat. : long. ; poll._ _habitat ad insulam chiloei. mus. brit., nost., brod., stokes._ some doubt has been thrown upon the existence of this shell, notwithstanding the description of molina. a species very nearly approaching it, if not identical, was found at rio de janeiro; but as only single valves were obtained, and these were in a very imperfect state, i have not ventured to characterise it. the soft parts of _pholas chiloensis_ are considered very delicate by the inhabitants of the island of chilóe, by whom the animal is called "_co-mes_." they are found in great abundance at low water imbedded in the rocks near sandy point, at san carlos de chilóe. . solen scalprum. _s. testâ lineari subrectâ extremitatibus subrotundatis; cardine bidentato; long. / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad patagoniæ oras orientates_ (sea bear bay). _mus. nost._ . anatina elliptica. _a. testâ ellipticâ, subtenui, transversim striató, anticè sub-truncatâ, epidermide fuscâ, tenui; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad oras antarcticas_ (new south shetland). _mus. brit., nost._ this shell was found at new south shetland, by lieutenant kendall, of his majesty's sloop, chanticleer, by whom it was presented to me. . mactra edulis. _m. testâ subtrigonâ, tumidâ, sublævi, fulvo-squalidâ, intus albâ, dentibus lateralibus prominentibus; long. ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat in freto magellanico_ (port famine). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this shell was found in great abundance on the flat of sandy mud, which fronts the west shore of port famine, and proved a { } valuable article of food to the ship's company, particularly during the winter months, when sea-birds and game were not to be procured, and the fish had deserted us. i have named it, in allusion to its affording us a grateful, as well as seasonable, supply of fresh food. . erycina solenoides. _e. testâ subellipticâ, transversim creberrimè substriatâ, albidâ, epidermide fusco-griseâ; long. paulo minus; lat. ; poll._ _habitat in freto magellanico_ (sandy mud flats of port famine). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . tellinides rosacea. _t. testâ subtrigonâ, planulatâ, striis concentricis creberrimis; long. / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad littora brasiliæ_ (santos). _mus. nost._ . venus inflata. _v. testârotundatâ, concentricè substriatâ, albente, intus albâ, lunulâ obsoletâ; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat in freto magellanico_ (port famine). _mus. nost._ . venus antiqua. _v. testâ sub-ovali, convexiusculâ, creberrimè cancellatâ, sub-fuscâ, intus albidâ; lunulâ cordatâ; long. - / ; lat. ; poll._ _obs. in junioribus, striis transversis concentricis elevatis, acutis._ _habitat ad littora occidentalia patagoniæ_ (gulf of peñas and its vicinity). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . arca angulata. _a. testâ transversâ, subcordato-quadratâ, intus fusco-violascente; latere antico producto, elevato, undulatim lamellato, postico rotundato; umbonibus valdè remotis, areâ cardinali maximâ, striatâ; margine hiante; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad_ juan fernandez. _mus. nost._ this shell was dredged up from fathoms water in the offing of cumberland bay, at juan fernandez; it was attached to a branch of coral. the hinge is broad and smooth, with distinct markings; the gape is rather wide, and the anterior part of the shell rises rather elegantly, like the stern of some indian canoes, and in all the specimens but one, terminates in a point. the one above { } described has a rounded form; the bows or front being rather elegantly and finely lamellated in a wavy form; the colour of the hinge is red, and the inside is generally of a brownish purple; in some it has a more yellow tinge. . arca pectinoides. _a. testâ auriculatâ, cordatâ, ventricosâ, multi-costatâ, transversim striatâ, albâ, epidermide rufo nigricante, pilosâ; umbonibus sub-approximatis, incurvatis, margine crenulato; long. ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad_ rio de janeiro. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . nucula striata. _n. testâ striatâ, subtumidâ, crassâ, sub-trigonâ, albâ; latere antico productiori, sub-rostrato; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat in mari alto circa oras patagonicas. mus. nost._ taken by a dredge in fathoms water, miles from the coast of south america, in the neighbourhood of port sta elena. . modiola sinuosa. _m. testâ ventricosâ, subovatâ, longitudinaliter striatâ; intus iridescente, margine sinuoso, epidermide fuscâ; long. / ; lat. / fere; poll._ _habitat ad littora brasiliæ_ (santos). _mus. nost._ . pecten patachonicus. _p. testâ sub-æquivalvi, brunneâ, longitudinaliter creberrimè elevato-radiatâ; intus albidâ, longitudinaliter sub-radiatâ; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _obs. auribus inæqualibus._ _habitat in freto magellanico passim. mus. nost._ . pecten vitreus. _p. testâ subæquivalvi, translucente, longitudinaliter multi-sulcatâ; sulcis convexis flavidulis, valvâ inferiore pallidiori; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _obs. auribus inæqualibus._ _habitat in freto magellanico passim. mus. nost._ this shell is found attached to the leaves of the _fucus giganteus_, and, with other _mollusca_, is the food of the steamer or race-horse duck (_micropterus brachypterus and m. patachonicus_). { } . terebratula flexuosa. _t. testâ rotundato-cordatâ, gibbâ, sub-fuscâ, longitudinaliter creberrimè sulcatâ; margine valdè flexuoso; long. - / ; lat. - / paulo minus; poll._ _habitat in freto magellanico_ (port famine). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this shell, which was dredged up from deep water in the bay of port famine, attached to stones, is not a common shell in the strait. . terebratula sowerbii. _t. testâ subrotundâ, planiusculâ, subfuscâ, longitudinaliter radiatim transversim substriatâ, medio supernè depressâ, infra convexâ, subglabrâ; margine utrinque crenulato, medio glabro; long. - / ; lat. / paulo plus; alt. / poll._ _habitat in freto magellanico. mus. nost., geo. sowerby._ . chiton setiger. _c. testâ ovali, anticé subattenuatâ; valvis subdentatis, tenuiter concentricè striatis, anticâ -radiatâ, posticâ lævi, parvulâ; areis lateralibus striis duabus elevatis marginalibus; ligamento marginali lævigato, setigero; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad oras insulæ_ tierra del fuego _et in freto magellanico. mus. brit., nost., brod._ shell ovate, rather attenuated towards the anterior end, generally of a light blue-green colour, variegated with markings of dark slate. valves slightly beaked with minute concentric striæ, the lateral compartments with two marginal ridges, which in some specimens are granulose, in others smooth. the anterior valve has eight, besides two marginal, ridges of the same character; the posterior valve is very small and smooth. border coriaceous, and set with bristles produced from three rows of tufts or pores. in some of the specimens in my possession the bristles are rubbed off. the shell is found in all parts of the shores of tierra del fuego, particularly on its seaward coast, and the western parts of the strait of magalhaens. . chiton bowenii. _c. testâ oblongo-ovatâ, castaneo-rufâ; dorso elevato; valvis subdentatis, sublævibus concentricè tenuiter striatis; areis lateralibus radiatim sulcatis; ligamento marginali granuloso, nigro; long. - / ; lat. ½; poll._ { } _habitat ad oras insulæ_ tierra del fuego _et in freto magellanico. mus. brit., nost., brod._ shell oblong-ovate, and generally of a chestnut red, and the granulose ligament black; the colour of the younger specimens is more brilliant, and sometimes interspersed with yellow. middle valves slightly toothed, and very delicately lineated, the lines forming an obtuse angle in the direction of the axis of the shell; the lateral compartments are marked with deeper striæa or grooves, radiating from the upper angle to the base, which, crossing the transverse markings of the valve, have a reticulated appearance: the anterior and posterior valves are radiated with fine lines. this chiton was discovered by mr. bowen, surgeon of the beagle, by whom it was presented to me. the specimen was sent home among a collection of natural history, transmitted in the year . . fissurella coarctata. _f. testâ ovatâ, anticé attenuatâ, elevatâ; radiis frequentibus elevatis; internè virescenti; foraminis margine externo juxta medium coarctato, subdentato; long - / ; lat. - / ; alt. / ; poll._ _habitat ad portum_ praya. _mus. brit., nost._ . helix translucens. _h. testâ subglobosâ, translucente, levissimè transversim striatâ; anfractu basali lineâ longitudinali castaneâ sub-mediâ ornato; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad_ rio de janeiro. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . helix pusio. _h. testâ rotundo-complanatâ, creberrimè striatâ, translucente, maculis castaneo-rufis ornatâ; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad_ juan fernandez. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . helicina sordida. _h. testâ globoso-conoideâ; anfractibus rotundatis longitudinaliter striatis; operculo castaneo; long. / paulo plus; lat / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad_ rio de janeiro. _mus. brit., nost._ the colour of this shell is of a dirty yellowish white, with a slight tinge of diaphanous violet within the margin of the lip. . pupa subdiaphana.--no. . mss. _p. testâ cylindraceâ, albâ, subdiaphanâ, transversim creberrimè substriatâ; long. / paulo minus; lat. / paulo minus; poll._ { } _habitat ad portum_ praya. (cape verd islands.) _mus. brit., nost._ . bulinus gravesii. _b. testâ subventricosâ, longitudinaliter subrugosâ, sub-albidâ, fusco-maculatâ, spirâ longitudinaliter striatâ; long. - / ; lat. / paulo minus; poll._ _habitat ad_ valparaiso. _mus. nost._ i have named the shell after my shipmate and friend, lieutenant thomas graves, whose zeal and assiduity in assisting and increasing my collections of natural history was as unwearied as the alacrity and ability which he displayed in the primary and more important objects of the voyage, of which, in his majesty's ship adventure, he filled the appointment of assistant surveyor. to lieutenant graves i am principally indebted for my land-shells, and i therefore take the opportunity of recording the valuable assistance he rendered me during the whole period of his serving under my command. . bulinus gravesii, var. _b. testâ subpyramidali, scabrâ, albidâ, aliquando lineolis raris; epidermide lutescente; long. - / ; lat. / paulo plus. poll._ _habitat ad_ valparaiso. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this is certainly a variety of no. , bulinus gravesii. . bulinus dentatus. _b. testâ cylindraceâ, punctatâ, sub-diaphanâ, fusco maculatâ; aperturâ dentatâ, clausiliam mentiente; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad oras brasiliæ_ (st. catherine). _mus. brit., nost._ . bulinus lutescens.--no. . mss. _b. testâ obovatâ, ventricosâ, subscabrâ, lutescente; long. - / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad maldonado_ (gorriti). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . bulinus corrugatus.--no. mss. _b. testâ subalbidâ, transversim et longitudinaliter rugoso-striatâ, maculis fuscis, obsoletis; aperturâ purpurascente; columellâ nigricante purpureâ; long. - / paulo plus; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad_ concepcion. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ the body-whorl of the older specimens of this shell is rather roughly striated or wrinkled, the last but one slightly so, and the remaining whorls are quite smooth. the colour is whitish, with { } purple spots more or less obsolete: the old specimens are sometimes of a dull yellowish white. a specimen is deposited in the british museum. the young shells of this species are of a whitish brown, with darker coloured striæ. they are very fragile and semi-transparent. . bulinus sordidus.--no. mss. _b. testâ pyramidali, transversim striatâ, fuscâ; anfractu basali ad suturam subalbido, lineâ subcentricâ pallidâ; labii vix reflexi margine albo; long. - / ; lat. / poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam_ (rio de janeiro). _mus. nost._ . bulinus multicolor.[ ]--no. mss. _b. testâ ovato-pyramidali, longitudinaliter et transversim creberrimè substriatâ, luteo-fuscâ maculis albis et purpureo-atris fucatâ; labio roseo subreflexo; columellâ subalbidâ, aperturâ intus subatropurpureâ; long. - / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam. mus. nost., geo. sowerby._ .* bulinus rosaceus. _b. testâ ovato-oblongâ, scabriusculâ; apice et anfractibus primis, rosaceis, cæteris viridi-fuscis; labro albo; suturis crenulatis seu plicatis; long. - / ; lat. ; poll._ _habitat ad oras americæ meridionalis_ (chile). _mus. brit., nost., brod., geo. sowerby, &c._ soon after the return of the expedition, my friend mr. broderip, to whose inspection lieutenant graves had submitted his collection, observing symptoms of life in some of the shells of this species, took means for reviving the inhabitants from their dormant state, and succeeded. after they had protruded their bodies, they were placed upon some green leaves, which they fastened upon and ate greedily. these animals had been in this state for seventeen or eighteen months, and five months subsequently another was found alive in my collection, so that this last had been nearly two years { } dormant. the shells were all sent to mr. loddige's nursery, where they lived for eight months, when they unfortunately all died within a few days of each other. soon after the shells were first deposited at mr. loddige's, one got away, and escaped detection for several months, until it was at last discovered in a state of hybernation; it was removed to the place where the others were kept, when it died also. the upper surface of the animal when in health is variegated with ruddy spots and streaks on an ash-coloured ground. . partula flavescens. _p. testâ subfusiformi, pallide flavâ, interdum castaneâ vel flavo et castaneo variâ; long. / ; lat. / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad oras americæ meridionalis_ (valparaiso). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this shell varies in its colour almost as much as _bulinus citrinus_. . achatina donellii.--no. mss. _a. testâ subalbidâ, transversim substriatâ, anfractu basali ventricosâ; long. / paulo plus; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad lima._ _mus. nost._ . achatina diaphana. _a. testâ subcylindraceâ, diaphanâ, transversim striatâ; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad insulam_ juan fernandez, _in montibus._ _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . achatina strigata.--no. mss. _a. testâ diaphanâ, subalbidâ, creberrimè transversim substriatâ, strigis longitudinalibus castaneis raris; anfractu basali subangulato; long. / paulo plus; lat. / paulo minus; poll._ _habitat in paludibus brasiliæ_ (santo paulo). _mus. nost._ . achatina sordida.--no. mss. _a. testâ subdiaphanâ, subconicâ, anfractu basali ventricoso; long. / paulo plus; lat. / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam_ (rio de janeiro). _mus. nost._ . achatina sellovii. _a. testâ cylindraceâ transversim striatâ subdiaphanâ; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam_ (st. catherine). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this shell, which i found at the city of nossa sen^a. de estero, { } i have dedicated to my friend, dr. sellow, whose researches in natural history for several years past in the interior of brazil, are well known to the scientific world. . succinea fragilis. _s. testâ ovato-acutâ, diaphanâ, ventricosâ, transversim striatâ, obliquè subrugosâ; spirâ brevi; long. / paulo minus; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad insulam_ juan fernandez. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . succinea patula. _s. testâ diaphanâ, ovato-rotundatâ, ventricosissimâ, transversim creberrimè striatâ; spirâ brevissimâ; aperturâ patulâ; long. / paulo plus; lat. / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad insulam_ juan fernandez. marinula. _nov. genus._ _character genericus._ _testâ ovato-productâ, sub-solidâ; aperturâ ovatâ, integrâ; columellâ bidentatâ, et basin versus uniplicatâ; dentibus magnis sub-remotis conniventibus, superiore maximo; operculum nullum._ . marinula pepita. _m. testâ ovato-productâ, viridi-fuscâ; anfractibus sub-tumidis; spirâ brevi; aperturâ nigricante; dentibus plicâque albidis; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad insulam_ chilóe. _mus. brit., nost., brod., g. sowerby_. this animal, which i have thought it necessary to assign to a new genus, appears to have for its nearest neighbours the genera auricula and pedipes. it was found on the wooden piles which support the mole in the bay of san carlos, in chilóe, below the wash of the high water. the mole stands out into the sea, and there is no fresh water near it, save a very little rill, which discharges its tiny stream more than fifty yards off. . lymnÆa diaphana.--no. mss. _l. testâ turritâ, transversim substriatâ, anfractibus ventricosis; long. / ; paulo plus; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad fretum magellanicum_ (cape gregory). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ this shell was found in the fresh-water ponds in the neighbourhood of cape gregory, which is on the continental side of the eastern end of the strait of magalhaens. { } . ampullaria cumingii. _a. testâ globosâ, transversim striatâ, subalbidâ, longitudinaliter castaneo-lineatâ et fasciatâ, epidermide virescente; umbilico parvo; lat. - / ; long. - / ; poll._ _habitat in sinu panamæ_; (island of saboga, in a small hill-stream). _mus. brit, nost., brod._ from mr. cuming's collection. i have named this shell after mr. cuming, from whom i received it. . natica globosa. _n. testâ globosâ, tenui, ventricosissimâ, corneâ, vel subalbidâ, subtilissimè striatâ; spirâ brevi; umbilico parvo; operculo valdè tenui; long. / paulo plus; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad fretum magellanicum_ (cape gregory). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . natica castanea. _n. testâ ovato-acutâ castaneâ, albo-lineatâ; aperturâ mediocri; columellâ valdè callosâ; umbilico mediocri; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad brasiliæ; oras, circa_ santos. _mus. nost._ . turbo lugubris. _t. testâ nigricante, striatâ; aperturâ argenteâ; labri margine nigrâ, subcrenulatâ; operculo valdè lapidoso, albo; long. - / ; lat. - / fere; poll._ _habitat ad sinum_ peñas. _mus. brit., nost., brod._ . odontis subplicata. _o. testâ granuloso-striatâ, viridi-fuscâ, nigro maculatâ; umbilico mediocri; labri margine sub-plicato; long. / ; lat. / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam_ (rio de janeiro). _mus. brit., nost._ . littorina flava. _l. testâ longitudinaliter striatâ, sub-flavâ; spirâ brevi; anfractu basali ventricoso; columellæ purpurascentis margine et aperturâ sub-flavâ; operculo nigricante; long. / paulo plus; lat. / poll._ _habitat ad brasiliam_ (rio de janeiro). _mus. brit., nost._ in young shells there are a few obscure reddish brown streaks crossing the striæ. . littorina perdix. _l. testâ striis elevatis balteatâ, albidâ, fusco-maculatâ, striis interstitialibus minus elevatis, ambabus sub-cancellatis; aperturâ albâ, { } labri margine tenui, castaneo-maculatâ; long. / ; lat. / poll._ _habitat? mus. nost._ . littorina striata. _l. testâ ovato-conicâ, fuscâ, striis elevatis scabrâ; spirâ brevi; anfractu basali tumido; aperturâ nigricante, basin versus strigâ luteoalbâ ornatâ; labri margine crenulato albo-fulvido; operculo nigro; long. / paulo plus; lat. / ferè; poll._ _habitat in mari atlantico boreali_ (port praya). _mus. brit., nost._ . margarita fasciata, n. s. _m. testâ albidâ, creberrimè striatâ, purpureo fasciatâ, aperturâ argenteâ; long. / ; lat. / ferè; poll._ _habitat in mari pacifico. mus. nost._ portions of the striated surface are elevated into belts, which are of a purple colour. . margarita violacea. _m. testâ sub-ovatâ, violaceâ, spirâ brevi; anfractibus tumidis; aperturâ iridescente; long. / ; lat. / fere; poll._ _habitat ad fretum magellanicum. mus. brit., nost., brod._ of this shell the indians make their necklaces; it is found adhering to the leaves of the fucus giganteus, and is the principal food of the steamer or racehorse duck (_micropterus patachonicus_, nob. in proceedings of the zoological society, december , , page ). . margarita coerulescens. _m. testâ sub-complanatâ, coeruleâ, striatâ, albido-lineatâ, aperturâ iridescente; lat. / ferè; long. / ; poll._ _habitat ad fretum magellanicum (cape gregory). mus. brit., nost., brod._ . turritella tricarinata. _t. testâ turritâ, anfractibus tricarinatis; carinis nodulosis; long. - / ; lat. / paulo minus; poll._ _habitat ad oras americæ meridionalis_ (valparaiso). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ the _carinæ_ are nodulous, or twisted like the strands of a rope; the twists of the upper _carina_ are in the direction of a water-laid, { } or right-handed rope, and those of the two lower _carinæ_ are in the opposite direction, or like what is termed a hawser-laid rope. between these nodulous _carinæ_ are elevated lines, and the base is very strongly striated. found in deep water in the bay of valparaiso. dead shells of this species are occasionally found thrown upon the beach, near the almendral. . turritella nodulosa. _t. testâ elongato-turritâ; anfractibus striatis; striis duabus maximis subnodulosis; long. - / ; lat. / fere; poll._ _habitat? mus. brit., nost._ the two large _striæ_, which are remarkable for the nodules, are not far from the middle of each whorl, and generally are nearer the upper suture: of these the lowest is the largest. . murex salebrosus. _m. testâ elongato-ovatâ, subalbidâ, fasciis fuscis, epidermide cinereâ; spirâ brevi; anfractibus angulatis, nodulosis; aperturâ oblongâ ad basin angustâ, castaneâ, intus albâ; labro internè denticulato, dentibus obtusis albis; columellâ rectâ, lævi; canali brevi; long. - / ; lat. ; poll._ _habitat? mus. nost., geo. sowerby._ this species approaches _murex vitulinus_ very nearly; the body-whorl is very much elongated, and the nodules which mark the angles of the whorl are formed of the more elevated parts of what may be termed coarse longitudinal plaits. . murex rhodocheilus. _m. testâ ventricosâ, albâ, fasciis elevatis striatis; septemfariam varicosâ, varicibus roseis denticulatis; aperturâ rotundatâ, roseâ, intus albidâ; labri margine asperrimè denticulato; caudâ mediocri, sub-recurvâ; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat? mus. nost._ . triton ranelliformis. _t. testâ ovato-fusiformi, subdepressâ, albidâ fusco fasciatâ, costatâ; costis granulosis, interstitiis striatis; aperturâ subrotundâ, albidâ; columellâ subrugosâ; labro internè obtusè denticulato; margine undulato; epidermide viridi-fuscâ, scabrâ; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad sinum peñas et oram occidentalem americæ meridionalis. mus. brit., nost., brod._ { } the denticules of the outer lip are ranged in pairs, at regular and somewhat distant intervals. . triton scaber. _t. testâ ovato-acutâ, cancellatâ; spirâ elongatâ; epidermide fuscâ, setosâ; aperturâ albâ granulosâ; labro interne obtusè denticulato; long.; lat.; poll._ _habitat ad oras americæ meridionalis_ (valparaiso). _mus. nost._ the denticules of the inner lip are more elevated than those of the last (t. ranelliformis), and are equidistant. it was fished up with the anchor in valparaiso bay. . monoceros fusoides. _m. testâ ventricosâ, spirâ mediocri, anfractibus bicarinatis; anfractu basali lineis elevatis admodum distantibus cincto; aperturâ patulâ; dente labiali brevi, lato, obtuso; canali producto, recto, integro; operculo corneo; long. ¾; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat ad oras americæ meridionalis_ (concepcion). _mus. brit., nost., brod._ approaching fusus in its elongated and entire canal, while its exterior lip has the labial tooth which distinguishes _monoceros_. the columella is not straight, as in all the other species, but curved, so as to make an angle in some specimens at the commencement of the canal, and in all it becomes very broad at the point where it is opposite to the tooth. the shell is of a reddish colour, ventricose, and girt with elevated lines, about a quarter of an inch apart. the spire has only two of these lines on each whorl, and has a bicarinated appearance. the aperture is wide, the outer lip sinuous, its tooth short, broad, and obtuse, and the operculum horny. the shell is seldom found in a perfect state, the beak being generally broken off, and the surface is, in all the specimens that i have seen, covered with a calcareous encrustation, entirely concealing the colours. . buccinum muriciforme. _b. testâ ovato-fusiformi, cinereâ; anfractibus tumidis, costellatis, costellis cancellatis; aperturâ castaneo-nigricante; labri margine crenulato. muricem mentiens; long. ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat ad fretum magellanicum. mus. brit., nost., brod._ the eggs of this species were found, and are preserved in spirits. { } . buccinum squalidum. _b. testâ conico-fusiformi, fuscâ; anfractu basali ventricoso; spirâ mediocri; aperturâ fuscâ, lutescenti, patulâ; long. - / ; lat. - / ; poll._ _habitat? mus. brit., nost., brod._ . buccinum deforme. _b. testa ovatâ, subponderosâ, subalbidâ, fasciis duabus fuscis obscuris; spirâ brevi; anfractu basali subdepresso, suturam versus crasso; columellâ valdè callosâ; long. - / ; lat. paulo plus; poll._ _habitat ad flumen plata_ (gorriti). _mus. brit., nost._ the eggs of this shell, contained in a transparent orbicular nidus, the size of a turtle's egg, were found thrown up on the sea-beach of the island. in the month of january they were observed in all stages of growth. a series was preserved in spirits, and presented to the college of surgeons. . columbella mitriformis. _c. testâ fusiformi, luteo-rufescente, fasciis nigro-castaneis, maculis albis tessellatâ; long. / ; lat. / ; poll._ _habitat? mus. brit., nost., brod._ . mitra pusilla. _m. testâ ovato-acutâ, ventricosâ, fulvâ, creberrimè costatâ; costis interstitiisque striatis, basi granulosâ; spirâ brevi, anfractibus suturam supereminentibus; columellâ quinque-plicatâ; long. / ; lat. / paulo plus; poll._ _habitat? mus. nost._ the denticules of the outer lip are arranged in pairs, at regular, and somewhat distant, intervals. . voluta. a fragment of a turbinated shell, bearing marks more assignable to voluta than to any other genus, was found on the sea-beach in the neighbourhood of cape fairweather, on the east coast of patagonia, in latitude ½° south. the remains appear to differ from _voluta ancilla_ and _v. brasiliana_. * * * * * { } copies of orders. ------ his majesty's surveying vessel adventure, sea bear bay. sir; th march . it is my direction, that when finally parting company from me, you proceed to the execution of the following orders, in company with the adelaide schooner, the commander of which, upon our meeting him, will receive instructions to put himself under your command. you will, as soon as possible, make the best of your way to port famine, stopping at pecket harbour to communicate with the indians, should they be there, for the purpose of securing a supply of guanaco meat for the ship's company. at port famine you will immediately detach lieutenant skyring, with a boat and boat's crew, in the adelaide, to co-operate with lieutenant graves in surveying the magdalen channel and its communication with the sea; after which you will direct him to rejoin you, by the barbara channel, at port gallant, whither you will proceed, after completing your water at port famine; on your way to which, if you should have an opportunity, the following bays, on the south side of the strait, might be planned, viz. lyell bay, cascade bay, san pedro bay, and freshwater bay (or cove). the coast also to the west of the barbara channel, behind the islands of charles and ulloa, should be examined; and of the northern arm of the jerome channel, called in the chart, indian sound, we know nothing. if, after the return of the adelaide, you should find the weather so favourable as to permit your extending your exploration of those parts of the strait which are yet unknown to us, you will remain for that purpose; but, at all events, you are to leave the strait by the middle of june, or the first of july at latest, and repair with the adelaide to san carlos, at the north end of chilóe, where you will find or hear of me, by the th of august. { } in performing the above orders you will act as you may consider best for their most effectual execution, keeping in mind that the most desirable part is the survey of the magdalen channel. from our experience, last year, of the weather during the months of april and may, i am in hopes of your being able to work during those months, with success; but should you meet with bad weather, you will be most careful in not exposing your people unnecessarily to the severity of the climate. upon detaching the adelaide you will appoint lieutenant skyring to the superintendence of the service upon which she is sent, giving lieutenant graves instructions to that effect accordingly. i have, &c. (signed) phillip parker king, commander and senior officer. * * * * * his majesty's surveying sloop beagle, port famine. sir; april , . in obedience to the orders i have received from commander phillip parker king, senior officer of the expedition for the survey of a part of south america, it is my direction that you proceed immediately, in the adelaide schooner, to survey as much of the magdalen channel and the strait or channel of santa barbara as you find practicable at this season of the year. if, in the execution of this service, you should find the season too much advanced to proceed without much risk to the vessel, or exposing yourself and the men to much bad weather, you will give up the design, and hasten to port gallant. should the beagle not be in port gallant at your return, and no letter left for you in a bottle, you will wait there one week, and then return to port famine. at all events, you will endeavour to rejoin the beagle before the first week in june has ended. i have, &c. (signed) robert fitz-roy, commander. to lieut. wm. geo. skyring, his majesty's sloop beagle. * * * * * { } sir; beagle, port famine, th april . in obedience to the orders i have received from captain king, it is my direction that you put yourself under the orders of lieut. skyring, and proceed with him as he may think best for the execution of the service upon which he is ordered, and in which you will give him every assistance that you can afford. mr. kirke, with a boat and boat's crew, will be sent to assist you. i have, &c. (signed) robert fitz-roy, commander. to lieut. thos. graves, commanding his majesty's schooner adelaide. * * * * * sir; beagle, port gallant, th june . it is my direction that you put yourself under the orders of lieutenant skyring, and co-operate with him in the execution of the service on which he is about to be employed. mr. kirke, with a boat and five men, will be sent to assist. i have, &c. (signed) robert fitz-roy. to lieut. thos. graves, commander. his majesty's schooner adelaide. * * * * * sir; beagle, port gallant, june th . it is my direction that as soon as you consider the rates of the chronometer on board the adelaide sufficiently settled, you proceed in her to search for, and, if practicable at this season of the year, survey such part of the passage which is supposed to lead from the vicinity of cape tamar to concepcion strait and the gulf of trinidad, as your time and provisions will allow. your chief object will be to open a passage from cape three points to cape tamar, between the mass of islands which lie between those capes. { } when to the northward of cape tamar, and before reaching as far north as oracion bay, or the latitude of ° ', should you notice an opening to the eastward, with a current or stream of tide setting through it, and an appearance of its joining another body of water, of considerable extent, you will endeavour to ascertain whether it communicates with the skyring water, provided that, in so doing you do not turn from your chief object more than a few days. in the execution of the above orders you will act as you may consider best for the service of his majesty; and if, at any time before its completion, you find your provisions getting short, the climate too severe, or yourself, or those under your orders, in bad health, you will immediately make the best of your way to chilóe. you will endeavour to be at san carlos, in the island of chilóe, before the th of september, and will let nothing that can be avoided detain you beyond that time. i have, &c. (signed) robert fitz-roy, commander. to lieutenant wm. geo. skyring, his majesty's sloop beagle. * * * * * by phillip parker king, esq., commander of his majesty's surveying vessel adventure, and senior officer of an expedition for the survey of a part of south america. as soon as you shall have completed the rates of your chronometers and be otherwise ready, it is my direction that you proceed to sea in his majesty's sloop under your command, to survey the sea-coast of tierra del fuego, from cape pillar to the east entrance of the strait of magellan, in the progressive examination of which you will be guided by the state of the weather, and other circumstances, keeping in view that the most interesting part of the coast is that portion between christmas sound and the strait le maire, particularly the openings of new year sound and nassau bay, and the openings to the eastward of the latter as far as new island; as there is reason to believe that there is a considerable body of water to the eastward of the termination of admiralty { } sound, communicating with the sea by some one if not many openings in the neighbourhood of nassau bay, and with an outlet on the n.e. coast (st. sebastian channel); and as the existence of such a strait would be of the greatest importance to small vessels bound to the westward round cape horn, you will see it fitting not to spend so much time to the westward of cape noir as may in the least impede the determination of the question, or prevent it being completely explored. it is my intention to be at port famine by the st of april, and at rio de janeiro by the st june, calling in my way at monte video, or gorriti, for chronometrical observations; and if can, conveniently, i shall also go to port desire for the same purpose. but as it is at present uncertain what orders i may find for me at valparaiso, you are to act according to your own discretion, so that you arrive at rio by the th of june to rejoin me. given under my hand, on board the adventure, at st. carlos de chilóe, november th, . phillip p. king, commander. to robert fitz-roy, esq., commander of h.m.s. beagle. * * * * * by phillip parker king, esq., commander of his majesty's surveying vessel adventure, and senior officer of an expedition for the survey of a part of south america. as soon as the adelaide tender is ready, you will proceed to sea, in the execution of the following orders:-- as your principal object will be to trace the main-land from the peninsula of tres montes to the southward, by penetrating into all the openings that lead easterly, you will commence at the channel mouths, and explore them to their termination. in the event of their affording a communication with the gulf of trinidad, and your having time, you will examine the channels that you have reported to exist in the neighbourhood of neesham bay, so as to complete the fallos channel, which separates campana from the land within it. should the channel mouths not afford the expected termination, you will proceed through the mesier or fallos channels, in { } which, and in the channels more to the southward, you will explore all openings leading into the interior, and, if possible, not lose sight of the main-land until you reach the strait of magellan; by doing which it is expected, from the results of your last survey, that you will pass through the skyring and otway waters, and enter the strait by the jerome channel. the above being the principal object of your operations, you will take every opportunity of examining all other interesting parts of the coast, in the vicinity of your anchorages, among which the following seem to be of most interest:-- the guaianeco islands, and the probable place of the wager's wreck, which would seem to be to the southward of, and not far from the dundee rock of your former survey. if time afforded, it would be interesting to lay down the shores of concepcion strait; also to examine the deep opening on the west side of st. estevan channel, in the latitude of ° '. lord nelson strait is also of much interest, and any extension of our knowledge of the land that bounds the western side of smyth channel. but in these you will be guided by your own discretion, keeping in mind the principal object of the present survey, that of tracing the shores of the main-land. the adventure will be at port famine by the st of april, if nothing occurs to prevent it; and at rio de janeiro by the st of june, where you will rejoin me; but you are at liberty to call at monte video, on your way, for any supplies which you may require. (signed) phillip p. king. th dec. . san carlos de chilóe. to lieutenant w. g. skyring, commanding h.m. schooner adelaide, tender to h.m.s. adventure. * * * * * { } some observations relating to the southern extremity of south america, tierra del fuego, and the strait of magalhaens; made during the survey of those coasts in his majesty's ships adventure and beagle, between the years and . by captain phillip parker king, f.r.s., commander of the expedition. ------ [the original paper, from which the following observations have been extracted, was read before the geographical society of london on the th of april and th of may ; and was printed in the journal of that society for the same year. it is here reprinted, with a few omissions and very slight alterations, in order that this volume may contain all that the author has yet published respecting south america; excepting particular sailing directions.] ------ considering the vast extent of the sea-coast of the southern extremity of america, it is not a little surprising that it should have been so frequently passed by, during the last century, without having been more explored. within the last twenty years, however, it has been very much resorted to by english and american vessels in the seal trade, and to the observing portion of their enterprising crews many of its intricacies are well known; but as the knowledge they have derived from their experience has only in one instance, that of mr. weddell's voyage, been published to the world, our charts cannot be said to have been much improved for the last fifty years. the eastern coast of patagonia, by which name the country between the river plata and the strait of magalhaens[ ] is known, { } was coasted, as well as the north-eastern side of tierra del fuego, by malaspina; and the charts of his voyage not only vie with any contemporaneous production for accuracy and detail, but are even now quite sufficient for the general purposes of navigation. the strait of magalhaens has been explored by several navigators; but, among the numerous plans of it extant, those of sir john narborough and cordova are the most correct. the first is particularly noticed in the late admiral burney's very useful work, and the result of the last has been published in the spanish language, and is entitled "ultimo viage al estrecho de magallanes." a second voyage was also made by cordova to the strait, the proceedings of which form an appendix to the above work. it is furnished with a good general chart of the coast, another of the strait, and many plans of the anchorages within it. byron, wallis, carteret, and bougainville, had already made considerable additions to narborough's plan, from which a chart had been compiled that answered all the purposes of general geographical information, and might even have been sufficient for navigation: for the latter purpose, however, cordova's chart was much superior; but, being published in spain only, and its existence little known in england, i found great difficulty in procuring a copy before i sailed, for my own use. the southern coast of tierra del fuego, between cape good success, the southern limit of strait le maire, and cape pillar at the western end of the strait of magalhaens, was very little known. cook's voyage affords several useful notices of the coast between cape deseado and christmas sound, and the dutch fleet under hermite partially explored the neighbourhood of cape horn: a confused chart of this coast, however, was the best that could be put together; and although mr. weddell has more recently published an account of the harbours and anchorages near cape horn and new year sound, yet little available benefit was derived from it, because these different navigators having confined their examinations to small portions of the coast, it was difficult to connect their respective plans, even on so small a scale as that of the general chart. the western coast of south america, which is very intricate, extending from cape victory (the north-west entrance of the { } strait of magalhaens) to the island of chilóe, may be said to have been wholly unknown; for since the time of sarmiento de gamboa nothing in the least descriptive of it had been published, with the exception of the brief notices of two missionary voyages in piraguas, from chilóe to the guiateca and guaianeco islands. every person conversant with south american geography, must be acquainted with the voyage of sarmiento. from the determined perseverance shown by that excellent and skilful navigator, through difficulties of no ordinary nature, we are possessed of the details of a voyage down the western coast, and through the strait of magalhaens, that has never been surpassed. his journal has furnished us with the description of a coast more difficult and dangerous to explore than any which could readily be selected--for it was at that time perfectly unknown, and is exposed to a climate of perpetual storms and rain: yet the account is written with such minute care and correctness, that we have been enabled to detect upon our charts almost every place described in the gulf of trinidad, and the channels to the south of it, particularly their termination at his ancon sin salida. it would be irrelevant to enter here into the history of sarmiento's voyage, or indeed of any other connected with these coasts. modern surveys are made so much more in detail than those of former years, that little use can be made of the charts and plans that have been hitherto formed; but the accounts of the voyages connected with them are replete with interesting and useful matter, and much amusement as well as information may be derived from their perusal, particularly sir john narborough's journal, and byron's romantic and pathetic narrative of the loss of the wager. the cordillera of the andes, which is known to extend from the northern part of the continent almost to its southern extremity, decreases in elevation near the higher southern latitudes. in the neighbourhood of quito, chimborazo and pinchincha rear their summits to the height of nearly twenty-two thousand feet above the level of the sea; near santiago de chile the highest land is supposed to be fourteen thousand feet; farther south, near concepcion, it is lower; and near chilóe there are few parts of the range exceeding seven thousand feet. between chilóe and the { } strait of magalhaens the average height may be taken at three thousand feet; though there are some mountains which may be between six and seven thousand feet high. by a reference to the chart it will be seen that about the parallel of ° the coast begins to assume, and retains to its furthest extremity, a very different appearance from that which it exhibits to the northward, where the sea, which is kept at a distance from the cordillera by a belt of comparatively low land for continuous intervals of some hundred miles, washes a long unbroken shore, affording neither shelter for vessels nor landing for boats; but, to the southward of that parallel, its waters reach to the very base of the great chain of the andes, and, flowing as it were into the deep ravines that wind through its ramifications, form numerous channels, sounds, and gulfs, and, in many instances, insulate large portions of land. in fact, the whole of this space is fronted by large islands and extensive archipelagoes, of which the most conspicuous are the great island of chilóe, wellington island, the archipelago of madre de dios, hanover island, and queen adelaide archipelago. the last forms the western entrance of the strait on its north side. the land of tres montes, however, is an exception: it is a peninsula, and is the only part of the continent within the above limits that is exposed to the ocean's swell. it forms the northern part of the gulf of peñas, and is joined to the main by the narrow isthmus of ofqui, over which the indians, in travelling along the coast, carry their canoes, to avoid the extreme danger of passing round the peninsula. it was here that byron and his shipwrecked companions crossed over with their indian guides: but it is a route that is not much frequented; for this part of the coast is very thinly inhabited, and the trouble of pulling to pieces and reconstructing the canoes,[ ] an operation absolutely necessary to be performed, is so great, that i imagine it is only done on occasions of importance. in this way the piraguas which conveyed the missionary voyagers to the guaianeco islands were transported { } over the isthmus; the particulars of which are fully detailed in their journals.[ ] the river san tadeo, although of small size, being navigable only for eleven miles, is the largest river of the coast south of the archipelago of chilóe, and therefore merits a particular description. at seven miles from the mouth it is fed by two streams or torrents, the currents of which are so strong that a fast-pulling boat can hardly make way against it. one of these streams takes its rise in a mountainous range, over which perhaps the communicating road passes; and the other is the drain of an extensive glacier or plain of ice of fifteen miles in extent. the river falls into the gulf of st. estevan over a shallow bar, upon which there is scarcely two feet water, and at low tide is probably dry. at the head of st. estevan gulf is st. quintin sound; both were examined and found to afford excellent anchorage, and they are both of easy access should a ship, passing up the coast, find herself upon a lee shore and not able to weather the land, as was the case with the ill-fated wager.[ ] the guaianeco islands form the southern head of the gulf of peñas; then follows wellington island, separated from the main by the mesier channel, which had not been previously explored, its mouth only being laid down in the charts, compiled from the information of machado, a pilot who was sent in by the viceroy of peru to examine the coast from chilóe to the strait { } of magalhaens.[ ] this channel is also noticed in one of the two missionary voyages above mentioned; but the object of these expeditions being for the purpose of converting the indians to christianity,[ ] and not for the extension of geographical knowledge, little information of that nature could be obtained from their journal: the entrance of the mesier, however, is described by them; and on one occasion they were obliged to take refuge in it for fifteen days.[ ] with this exception i cannot find that it had ever been entered before our visit. the length of the channel is one hundred and sixty miles, and it joins the concepcion strait behind the madre de dios archipelago, at the brazo ancho of sarmiento. lieutenant skyring, who superintended this particular part of the survey, called the land which it insulates, wellington island; the seaward coast of which is fronted by several islands. fallos channel, which separates the campaña and wellington islands, was examined, from its northern entrance, for thirty-three miles, and was conjectured, after communicating with the sea at dynely sound, to extend to the southward, and fall into the gulf of trinidad by one of the deep sounds which were noticed on the north shore. about thirty miles within the mesier channel, from the northern extremity, the west side appears to be formed by a succession of large islands, many of which are separated by wide channels leading to the south-west, and probably communicating with the fallos channel. on the eastern shore the openings were found to be either narrow inlets or abruptly terminating sounds. on both sides of the channel the coast is hilly, but not very high, and in many places there is much low and generally thickly wooded land. this character distinguishes the mesier from other channels in these regions. the trees here are nearly of the same description as those which are found in all parts between cape tres montes and the strait of magalhaens. of these the most common are an evergreen beech (_fagus betuloides_), a birch-like beech (_fagus antarctica_), the winter's bark (_winterana aromatica_[ ]), and a tree with all the appearance and habit of a cypress, of which the indians make their { } spears. among others there is one, the wood of which being extremely hard and weighty, answers better than the rest for fuel: the sealers call it 'the red wood,' from its colour. from the great quantity of timber which grows here it would be naturally supposed probably that spars for masts could be easily obtained, or at least wood useful for less important purposes; but although many trees were found that were sufficiently large at the base, they grew to no great height; and, in consequence of the moisture of the climate, and the crowded state of the forests preventing the admission of the sun's rays, the wood generally proved to be decayed in the heart; besides being very apt, even after a long seasoning, to warp and split when exposed to a dry air. ten miles beyond white-kelp cove, which is fifty miles within the entrance, the character of the mesier channel changes entirely; the shore on either side being formed of mountainous and precipitous ridges rising abruptly from the water. after this, at halt bay, twenty-three miles beyond white-kelp cove, the channel narrows for a considerable distance, and in three particular places is not more than four hundred yards wide. this part of the channel is called in the chart the english narrow. it is long and intricate, with many islands strewed throughout; and preserves its tortuous and frequently narrow course to its junction with the wide channel, in which the breadth increases to two miles and a half; and then, running thirty-four miles with a direct and unimpeded course, falls into the concepcion strait as above stated. at the point where the mesier and the wide channels unite, a deep sound extends to the n. n. e. for forty-six miles. it was named sir george eyre sound. an extensive glacier sloping into the sea from the summit of a range of high snowy mountains, that are visible from many parts of the mesier channel, terminates this sound; and near the head of it several large icebergs, containing no inconsiderable blocks of granite, were found aground.[ ] { } of the archipelago of madre de dios we know very little. it has probably many deep openings on its seaward face, and is fronted by islands and rocks. its character is rocky and mountainous, and by no means agreeable. the wide and safe channel of concepcion strait separates it from the main land, which in this part is much intersected by deep sounds, the principal of which, the canal of san andres, extends to the base of the snowy range of the cordillera, and there lieutenant skyring describes it to be suddenly closed by immense glaciers. behind hanover island, which is separated from madre de dios by the concepcion strait, the main-land is very much intersected by sounds like the san andres channel, extending to the base of the andes. south of hanover island is queen adelaide archipelago, through which are several channels that communicate with the strait of magalhaens; of which the principal, smyth channel, falls into the strait at cape tamar. in the winter of , captain robert fitz-roy, then commanding the beagle, in examining the jerome channel, which communicates with the strait in that part called crooked reach, discovered 'otway water,' an inland sea fifty miles long, trending to the n.e., and separated from the eastern entrance of the strait by a narrow isthmus; the actual width of which was not ascertained, for in the attempt the boats were nearly lost. the south-eastern shore is high and rocky, and generally precipitous, but the northern is formed by low undulating grassy plains, free from trees, and precisely like the country about the eastern entrance of the strait. at the north-west corner of the water a passage was found leading in a north-west direction for twelve miles, when it opened into another extent of water, about thirty-four miles long and twenty wide. this he called the skyring water. its southern and western sides are bounded by mountainous land, but the northern shore is low, apparently formed of undulating downs and grassy plains, and in some places watered by rivulets. at the western extremity of the water two openings were observed, separated by a remarkable castellated mountain which was called dynevor castle. beyond the southernmost opening there was no land visible, not even a distant mountain, which induced captain fitz-roy to suppose that it was a channel communicating with the { } western coast; but from what we now know, it is not probable that it can lead to anything of consequence. it is, perhaps, backed by low marshy land reaching to the hills at the bottom of glacier bay, which, from the distance being seventy miles, were not visible above the horizon. the northern opening probably passes dynevor castle, and, perhaps, nearly reaches the bottom of obstruction sound. the skyring water was not further explored; partly from want of a sufficient quantity of provisions to undertake it with any prospect of succeeding, and partly from a strong south-westerly gale, from which there was no shelter for the open boats in which this examination was performed. the remainder, therefore, of captain fitz-roy's time was spent in completing what he had commenced; and, after an absence of thirty-two days, he rejoined his ship at port gallant. at the western end of the passage, which unites the waters, the shore is well clothed on the north side with luxuriant grass and trefoil, with here and there a sprinkling of brushwood, but is entirely destitute of trees. the soil, although dry, is light, and tolerably good; but the ground is perforated everywhere by some burrowing animal, probably skunks, or _cavias_. the tracks of horses were noticed in many places, and the bones of guanacoes were scattered about. water was not very plentiful, but several small brooks and springs in the sides of the hills were observed, sufficient for all useful purposes. on the south side of the passage the land is low, but wooded: the banks are from five to forty feet high, sloping to the water, and covered with grass. in the entrance the tide ran five or six knots at the neaps, but inside with only half that rapidity. on the north side, at the distance of a mile and a-half, there is a ridge of hills, to the summit of which captain fitz-roy made an excursion, which is described in the narrative. in consequence of the supposed communication of the skyring water with some part of the western coast, a careful examination was made of every opening trending into the interior behind the islands and archipelagoes that line the western coast; the result of which has proved that the hypothesis so naturally formed was not confirmed by fact. a reference to the chart will show how carefully the search was carried on, and with what want of success it was concluded. the deep opening discovered by sarmiento, and { } named by him, 'ancon sin salida,' was found, upon examination, to extend so far into the interior, and in the direction of the skyring water, that the most strict investigation of the numerous sounds and canals was made, in the perfect conviction of finding the desired communication. but after a patient, laborious, and minute examination, particularly of those openings which led to the southward, among which obstruction sound held the most flattering appearance, lieutenant skyring, who performed this service, was obliged to give up the search and return. at one part, near the south-eastern end of the sound, he entered an opening, which at first had an appearance that was favourable to the desired communication, but it terminated in low, woody land. there was, however, a hill near the shore, which he ascended with the hope of obtaining a view of the country; but the sides and summit of the hill were so thickly wooded as to obstruct his view, and with the exception of some distant high land in the south-east quarter, and a sheet of water about six miles off in the same bearing, nothing was discerned to repay him for the fatigue and trouble of the ascent. whether the water is a lagoon, or a part of the skyring water, or whether it communicates with the opening trending round the north side of dynevor castle, yet remains to be ascertained. being foiled in this attempt, lieutenant skyring proceeded onward in a s.s.w. direction, and after a pull often miles came to the bottom of the sound, which was terminated by high, precipitous land encircling every part. neither wigwams nor traces of indians were seen, another proof, were one required, of the sound not communicating with the skyring water; for the indians very rarely visit these deep inlets, but are always to be found in narrow straits or communicating channels, where, from the strength of the tide, seals and porpoises, which constitute the principal food of the fuegian indians, abound. sarmiento's name, therefore, of 'ancon sin salida,' which we had hoped to have expunged from the chart, must now remain, a lasting memorial of his enterprising character, and of a voyage deservedly one of the most celebrated, as well as most useful, of the age in which it was performed. the termination of obstruction sound is one of the most remarkable features in the geography of this part of south america. in this examination the southern extremity of the cordillera was { } ascertained. the eastern shores of the interior channels were found to be low plains, with no hills or mountains visible in the distance; and such being characteristic also of the northern shores of the otway and skyring waters, it is probable that all the country to the east of the sounds is a continued plain. recent traces of indians were seen in some places; but at the time our party was there, they were either absent or had concealed themselves. i should not think that these interior sounds are much frequented by them; a family was, however, met in the passage between the otway and the skyring water, clothed with guanaco skins, like the patagonian tribes, but in manners and disposition resembling the wandering inhabitants of the strait and tierra del fuego; and they had canoes, which the patagonians do not use. they had probably come thus far for the purpose of communicating with the latter tribes, with whom they frequently have friendly intercourse. no guanacoes were seen either on the shores of the inland waters or of the sounds within the 'ancon sin salida,' although the country, being open and covered with luxuriant grass, was peculiarly suited to their habits; but as several large herds of deer were observed feeding near the sea-shore of obstruction sound, and the neighbouring country, the presence of these latter animals may probably be the cause; for on the eastern coast, where the guanacoes are every where abundant, the deer do not make their appearance. sea-otters were the only other animals that we met with; but they were only occasionally noticed, swimming about the kelp. the shores of the sounds were in many places crowded with the black-necked swan (_anas nigricollis_, linn.), and there were a few seen, but only one captured, whose plumage, excepting the tips of the wings, which were black, was of a dazzling white colour. i have described it in the first part of the proceedings of the zoological society as a new species (_cygnus anatoïdes_.) the strait of magalhaens, being a transverse section of the continent, exhibits a view of its geological structure. the strait may be divided into three portions; the western, the central, and the eastern. the western and central are of primitive character, rugged and very mountainous; but the eastern portion is of recent formation and low. the western tract is composed of a succession of stratified rocks, a difference at once distinguishable by the form { } and nature of the ranges, and the direction of the shores: the hills are irregularly heaped together; the sounds are intricate and tortuous in their course, and the shores are formed by deep sinuosities and prominently projecting headlands: the channels, also, are studded with innumerable islands and rocks extremely dangerous for navigation. in this portion the rock is, for the most part, granite and greenstone. near the centre of the strait, the rock being clay-slate, the mountains are higher, and more precipitous and rugged in their outline; and consequently not easily to be ascended. they are in general three thousand feet, but some are found to be four thousand feet, in height; and one, mount sarmiento, is upwards of six thousand feet high, and is covered throughout the year with snow. the line of perpetual snow in the strait seems to be about three thousand five hundred feet above the sea: the mountains, whose height does not exceed three thousand, are, during the summer, frequently free from any, excepting in holes, where a large quantity is accumulated by drifting, and protected from the sun. the strait here is quite free from islands, and it is a remarkable fact, that where the greenstone formation terminates, there the islands cease to appear. the slate formation continues as far as freshwater bay, where the stratified rocks leave the coast and extend in a north-west direction. the soil then becomes apparently a mixture of decomposed slate and clay; the slate gradually disappearing on approaching to cape negro, where the rock partakes of the character of the east coast. here again we observe, along with the change of geological character, the re-appearance of islands, the soil of which is clayey, but with masses of granite, hornblende rock and clay slate protruding in many places through the superficial soil, which, although it yields a poor grass, is entirely destitute of trees. in that portion of the strait to the eastward of cape negro the hills are remarkable for the regularity and parallelism of their direction, and their general resemblance to each other. on the north shore, near cape gregory, a range of high land commences suddenly, with rather a precipitous ascent, and extends for forty miles to the north-east, where it terminates in detached rocky hills. the south-western end of the range is a ridge of flat-topped { } land covered with soil, but with here and there a protruding mass of primitive rock: one of these appeared to be of sienite or granite. the north-eastern end of this range is perhaps more bare of soil, and, therefore, exposes the rock, which shows itself in detached hills. precisely similar in appearance and direction is a range on the south shore, about fifty miles in length, commencing at cape monmouth and terminating in detached hills in the vicinity of the south side of the first narrow. the courses, also, of both the first and second narrow, which are just within the eastern entrance of the strait, are nearly parallel with these hills; and the smaller ranges of eminences, elizabeth island and the cliffy land of cape negro, where the clay formation commences, all trend to the n.n.e., preserving a general resemblance of form and character to the two ranges above mentioned. the irregularity of the topographic features of the western portion of the strait, combined with its confused assemblage and immense number of islands and rocks;--the regularity of the strata--the coinciding parallelism of all the bays, channels, and sounds,--and the total absence of islands in the central portion or slate formation;--together with the remarkable similarity of the direction of the hills and coast line, and the stratification of the north-eastern tract, which is very different from that of the centre;--are very striking facts, and, geologically considered, are of great interest. no less remarkable, however, and equally interesting, is the character of the vegetation; not so much in the variety of plants, as in their stunted growth to the westward, their luxuriance in the centre, and the total absence of trees to the eastward. for this modification the following reasons seem to me to account sufficiently. to the westward the decomposition of granite, and the other primitive rocks which are found there, forms but a poor, unproductive soil; so that, although the land is thickly covered with shrubs, they are all small and stunted: the torrents of water also that pour down the steep sides of the hills, wash away the partial accumulations of soil that are occasionally deposited; consequently, few trees are to be found, excepting in clefts and recesses of the rock, where decomposed vegetable matter collects and nourishes their growth; but even there they are low and stunted, for the most luxuriant seldom attain a larger diameter than nine or ten inches. { } from the regularity of the direction of the strata in the slate districts the vallies are very extensive, and, being bounded on either side by precipitous mountains much intersected by deep ravines, receive large streams of water, which, uniting together in their course to the sea, form no inconsiderable rivers. during the winter months these rivers become swollen and overflow their banks, and deposit a quantity of alluvium, which, blending with the fallen leaves and other putrescent substances, produces a good superficial soil, in which trees grow to a large size, and the shrubs and smaller plants become particularly luxuriant and productive. at port famine, and in its neighbourhood, the evergreen beech (_fagus betuloides_) grows in the greatest abundance, and reaches a very large size. trees of this species, of three feet in diameter, are abundant; of four feet, there are many; and there is one tree (perhaps the very same noticed by commodore byron[ ]), which measures seven feet in diameter for seventeen feet above the roots, and then divides into three large branches, each of which is three feet through. this venerable tree seemed to be sound, but from our experience of several others that were cut down, might be expected to prove rotten in the centre. this tendency to decaying in the heart may be attributed to the coldness of the schistose sub-soil upon which the trees are rooted, as well as to the perpetual moisture of the climate above alluded to. the slate formation ceases at port st. mary, but there is no decided change in the vegetation until we come to cape negro, where the clay commences; and from thence onwards there is not a tree to be found. the nature of the soil is not favourable to plants which take a deep root, and, therefore, only shrubs and grasses are found: the former are thinly scattered over the extensive plains which characterise this country; but the grasses are abundant, and although of a harsh and dry appearance, must be nourishing, for they form the chosen food of numerous and large herds of guanacoes. besides the evergreen beech above-mentioned, there are but few other trees in the strait that can be considered as timber trees. such an appellation only belongs to two other species of beech and the winter's bark. the last, which is also an evergreen, is to be found mixed with the first, in all parts of the strait; so that { } the country and hills, from the height of two thousand feet above the sea, to the very verge of the high-water mark, are covered with a perpetual verdure which is remarkably striking, particularly in those places where the glaciers descend into the sea; the sudden contrast in such cases presenting to the view a scene as agreeable as it seems to be anomalous. i have myself seen vegetation thriving most luxuriantly, and large woody-stemmed trees of fuchsia and veronica[ ] (in england considered and treated as tender plants), in full flower, within a very short distance of the base of a mountain, covered for two-thirds down with snow, and with the temperature at °. the fuchsia certainly was rarely found except in sheltered spots, but not so the veronica; for the beaches of the bays on the west side of san juan island at port san antonio are lined with trees of the latter, growing even in the very wash of the sea. there is no part of the strait more exposed to the wind than this, for it faces the reach to the west of cape froward, down which the wind constantly blows, and brings with it a succession of rain, sleet, or snow; and in the winter months, from april to august, the ground is covered with a layer of snow, from six inches to two or three feet in depth. there must be, therefore, some peculiar quality in the atmosphere of this otherwise rigorous climate which favours vegetation; for if not, these comparatively delicate plants could not live and flourish through the long and severe winters of this region. in the summer, the temperature at night was frequently as low as ° of fahrenheit, and yet i never noticed the following morning any blight or injury sustained by these plants, even in the slightest degree. i have occasionally, during the summer, been up the greater part of the night at my observatory, with the internal as well as the external thermometers as low as freezing point, without being particularly warmly clad, and yet not feeling the least cold; and in the winter, the thermometer, on similar occasions, has been at ° and °, without my suffering the slightest inconvenience. this i attributed at the time to the peculiar stillness of the air, although, within a short distance in the offing and overhead, the wind was high. whilst upon this subject, there are two facts which may be { } mentioned as illustrative of the mildness of the climate, notwithstanding the lowness of the temperature. one is the comparative warmth of the sea near its surface, between which and the air, i have in the month of june, the middle of the winter season, observed a difference of °, upon which occasion the sea was covered with a cloud of steam. the other is, that parrots and humming-birds, generally the inhabitants of warm regions, are very numerous in the southern and western parts of the strait--the former feeding upon the seeds of the winter's bark, and the latter having been seen by us chirping and sipping the sweets of the fuchsia and other flowers, after two or three days of constant rain, snow, and sleet, during which the thermometer had been at freezing point. we saw them also in the month of may upon the wing, during a snow shower: and they are found in all parts of the south-west and west coasts as far as valparaiso. i have since been informed that this species is also an inhabitant of peru; so that it has a range of more than ° of latitude, the southern limit being ½° south.[ ] tierra del fuego is divided by several channels; a principal one of which is opposite to cape froward, and another fronts port gallant. the easternmost, called magdalen, trends in a due south direction for nineteen miles, and separates the clay slate from the more crystalline rocks, which seem to predominate in clarence island, and are chiefly of greenstone; though, at the eastern end, there is much mica slate. at the bottom of magdalen sound the channel turns sharply to the westward; and, after a course of about forty miles, meets the barbara channel, which, as above-mentioned, communicates with the strait opposite to port gallant, and both fall into the sea together. magdalen sound and its continuation, cockburn channel, are almost free from islands and rocks; but the barbara channel, which separates { } the granite from the greenstone and mica slate districts, is throughout thickly strewed with islands, which reduce the channel in some parts to a mile, and, in one place, to not more than fifty yards in width. here, of course, the tide sets with great strength. several vessels, however, have passed through it under sail; and one ship, a whaler belonging to messrs. enderby, working through the strait, and finding much difficulty in passing to the westward, bore up, and, the wind being fair and the distance to sea only fifty miles, ran through it without accident. the land to the westward of the barbara channel is high and rugged; and although in the vallies, ravines, and sheltered nooks, there is no want of vegetation, yet, in comparison with the eastern part of the strait, it has a very dismal and uninviting appearance. it was called by sarmiento, 'santa ines island';[ ] but narborough called it, 'south desolation; it being,' as he says, 'so desolate land to behold.'[ ] clarence island, which is fifty-two miles long and twenty-three broad, although equally rocky, is much more verdant in appearance. the uniform direction of the headlands of the north shore of the island is remarkable. upon taking a set of angles with the theodolite placed upon the extremity of the west end of bell bay, opposite to cape holland, the most prominent points to the south-east, as far as could be seen, were all visible in the field of the telescope at the same bearing. the same thing occurred on the opposite shore of the strait, where the projections of cape gallant, cape holland, and cape froward, are in the same line of bearing; so that a parallel ruler placed on the map upon the projecting points of the south shore, extended across, will also touch the headlands of the opposite coast. the eastern island, which had been previously called, and of course retains on our chart the name of king charles south land, extends from the entrance of the strait to the outlet of the barbara and cockburn channels, at cape schomberg. the northern part partakes of the geological character of the eastern portion of the strait. the centre is a continuation of the slate formation, which is evident at a glance, from the uniformity of the direction of the shores of admiralty sound, the gabriel channel, and all the bays and mountain ranges of dawson island. the south shore, or seaward coast line, is principally of greenstone, { } excepting the shores of the beagle channel, which extends from christmas sound to cape san pio, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles, with a course so direct that no points of the opposite shores cross and intercept a free view through; although its average breadth, which also is very parallel, is not much above a mile, and in some places is but a third of a mile across. the south shores of hoste and navarin islands are of horn-blende rock, which is also the principal component of the islands in the neighbourhood, as well as of the island itself of cape horn. the eastern part of king charles south land is low, with plains like the patagonian coast; but the range of high land interrupted at port famine extends down the north side of admiralty sound, and perhaps, with some few intervals, continues to the south-east extremity of the land, near cape good success, which is the south cape of the west side of strait le maire, and there terminates in lofty mountains covered with snow, one of which, called in the charts 'the sugar loaf,' is probably four thousand feet high. the eastern shore of king charles south land, towards the south part, is lofty, but near the northern part is very low. the interior is also low, with extensive plains, abounding with guanacoes, some of which also were found, and shot by the officers of the beagle, within fifty miles of cape horn. the eastern coast of patagonia, from the entrance of the strait of magalhaens to the river plata, is comparatively low. from cape virgins to port st. julian, where porphyritic claystone commences, the coast is formed of clay cliffs, horizontally stratified, and the country is undulating, with extensive plains, or pampas, covered with grass, but without trees. at port st. julian, the country becomes hilly, and continues so as far to the northward as latitude °, the rock being porphyritic. the clay formation to the southward has been likened to the appearance of the coast of kent, and at a short distance it bears certainly a very great resemblance to it; but the cliffs, instead of being of chalk, are composed of a soft marly clay, without any gravel or impressions of organic remains, excepting at port st. julian, where fossil shells, both bivalves and univalves, are found imbedded in clay cliffs; and on the surface are lying, strewed about, large oyster-shells. in the clay formation there are two rivers: the gallegos, in lat. ° '; and port santa cruz, in lat. ° '. the gallegos, at { } high water, may be easily entered, but at low water the banks are dry to a great extent; a channel, however, is left on its south side, of sufficient depth for a small vessel: the tide rises forty-six feet, and the stream is very strong. port desire, in ° ' south latitude, has a narrow entrance with strong tides; but affords in the offing very good anchorage as well as shelter from the prevailing winds, which are offshore, or westerly. the inlet extends up the country, nearly in a west direction, for eighteen miles; but the land is dry and parched, and very unsuitable for the establishment which the spanish government formed there not many years since, and of which evident traces remain to this day. st. george's gulf, called in the old charts 'bahia sin fondo,' or deep-sea gulf, was formerly considered to be a deep sinuosity of the coast, into which a river emptied its waters after winding through a large tract of country; for, until the descubierta and atrevida's voyage of discovery, very vague accounts had been given of this, or indeed of any other part of the coast. the gulf, upon that examination, was found to possess no river or creek in any part excepting on the north side, where there are several deep bays and coves, which are, and have been frequented by our sealing vessels. the country about is dry and parched, although partially covered with small shrubs, and a wiry grass on which large herds of guanacoes feed. according to falkner (the jesuit missionary, who resided many years among the indian tribes inhabiting the country about buenos ayres), the eastern coast between the latitudes of ° and ° is frequented by the natives for the purpose only of burying the dead: they have, however, been occasionally met with travelling along the coast, apparently without any particular object in view. near port desire i have seen the graves of the indians on the summit of the hills, but the bodies had been removed, probably by the indians themselves; for we are informed by falkner, that, after the dead have been interred twelve months, the graves are visited by the tribe, for the purpose of collecting the bones and conveying them to their family sepulchres, where they are set up and adorned with all the beads and ornaments the friends and family of the deceased can collect for the occasion. the ceremony { } is performed by certain women of the tribe whose peculiar office it is to attend to these rites. in the year , from the commencement of january to the middle of august, the adventure (the ship i commanded) was at anchor at port famine, in the strait of magalhaens, in latitude ° ¼' south, and longitude ° ' west of greenwich; and during the whole of that time a careful meteorological journal was kept. the temperature was registered from a very good thermometer of fahrenheit's scale, suspended within a copper cylindrical case of nine inches diameter, and perforated above and below with holes, to admit a free current of air. the cylinder was fixed to the roof of a shed, thatched with dried leaves to shelter it from the sun, while the sides were open. the barometer (a mountain barometer made by newman, with an iron cylinder) was hung up in the observatory, five feet above the high-water mark, and both instruments were examined carefully and regularly at the following hours, namely: six and nine o'clock in the morning, at noon, and at three and six o'clock in the evening. the state of the atmosphere was observed daily, by daniel's hygrometer, at three o'clock in the afternoon. the maximum and minimum temperatures were also observed twice in twenty-four hours, from a six's thermometer, namely: at nine o'clock in the morning, and at nine in the evening. from this journal the following abstract has been drawn up:-- { } summary of meteorological observations. ------ table i. mean height of the barometer, corrected for neut^l. p^t. and capill^y. and reduced to the temperature of °. +------+--------------------+----------------------+ | | autumnal period. | brumal period. | | |------+------+------+-------+-------+------+ | hour | feb. |march.|april.| may. | june. | july.| +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+ | |inches|inches|inches|inches |inches |inches| | vi. | . | . | . |+ . |+ . | . | | ix. | +. | +. | +. | . | . | . | | xii. | . | -. | . | . | . | . | | iii. | -. | . | -. | -. | -. | -. | | vi. | . | . | . | . | . | . | +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+ | means| . | . | . | . | . | . | +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+ +------+-----------------------+ | | means. | | |-------+-------+-------+ | hour |autumn.|brumal.|au.&br.| +------+-------+-------+-------+ | | inches|inches |inches | | vi. | . |+ . | . | | ix. | +. | . | +. | | xii. | . | . | . | | iii. | -. | -. | -. | | vi. | . | . | . | +------+-------+-------+-------+ | means| . | . | . | +------+-------+-------+-------+ table ii. +----------------------------------------------------------+ | thermometer--fahrenheit. | +------+--------------------+----------------------+-------+ | | autumnal period. | brumal period. | days| | |------+------+------+-------+-------+------+ of | | hour | feb. |march.|april.| may. | june. | july.|august.| +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+ | | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | | vi. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | ix. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | xii. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | iii. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | vi. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+ | means| . | . | . | . | . | . | . | +------+------+------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+ +------+-----------------------+ | | means. | | |-------+-------+-------+ | hour |autumn.|brumal.|au.&br.| +------+-------+-------+-------+ | | ° | ° | ° | | vi. | . | . | . | | ix. | . | . | . | | xii. | . | . | . | | iii. | . | . | . | | vi. | . | . | . | +------+-------+-------+-------+ | means| . | . | . | +------+-------+-------+-------+ { } table iii. daniel's hygrometer, observed at p.m., daily, and compared with the mean temperature. +---------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | | autumnal period. | brumal period. | | |-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | | feb. | march.| april.| may. | june. | july. | +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | | monthly mean tem. | . | . | . | . | . | . | | from table ii. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | temperature of | . | . | . | . | . | . | | dew point | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | difference between | . | . | . | . | . | . | | mean temperat. | | | | | | | | and dew point | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | dryness (the point | . | . | . | . | . | . | | of saturation | | | | | | | | being ) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | elasticity of vapour| . | . | . | . | . | . | | | | | | | | | | weight of a cubic | . | . | . | . | . | . | | foot of vapour in | | | | | | | | grains | | | | | | | +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ +---------------------+--------+---------------------------+ | | days | means. | | | of |--------+--------+-------- | | | august.| autumn.| brumal.|au.&br. | +---------------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ | | ° | ° | ° | ° | | monthly mean tem. | . | . | . | . | | from table ii. | | | | | | | | | | | | temperature of | . | . | . | . | | dew point | | | | | | | | | | | | difference between | . | . | . | . | | mean temperat. | | | | | | and dew point | | | | | | | | | | | | dryness (the point | . | . | . | . | | of saturation | | | | | | being ) | | | | | | | | | | | | elasticity of vapour| . | . | . | . | | | | | | | | weight of a cubic | . | . | . | . | | foot of vapour in | | | | | | grains | | | | | +---------------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ table iv. +---------+-----------------------+------------------------------------+ | | | temperature. | | | |------------------+-----------------+ | | pressure. | air. | water. | | |-------+-------+-------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | months | max. | min. | range | max.| min.| range| max.| min.|range| +---------+-------+-------+-------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | |inches.|inches.|inches.| ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | | february| . | . | . | | | . | . | . | . | | march | . | . | . | | . | . | . | . | . | | april | . | . | . | . | | . | . | . | . | | may | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | june | . | , | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | july | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | august }| . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | | days}| | | | | | | | | | +---------+-------+-------+-------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ +---------+---------------------+ | | dew point, | | | hygrometer | | |------+------+-------+ | months | max. | min. | range | +---------+------+------+-------+ | | ° | ° | ° | | february| . | | . | | march | | | | | april | | | | | may | | | | | june | . | | . | | july | . | | . | | august }| . | . | . | | days}| | | | +---------+------+------+-------+ { } from the preceding tables it will be seen that the mean temperature for the autumnal period (the months of february, march, and april) was °. ; the maximum and minimum were respectively ° and °. for the brumal period, the three following months, the mean temperature was °. , and the maximum and minimum °. and °. . during the former, or autumnal period, the barometer ranged between . and . inches, and for the latter it was between . and . inches. the range for the first being . inches, and for the last . inches. * * * * * { } extract from the beagle's 'game' book, . +--------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------| | date. | giver. | given for fresh provisions. | +--------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------| | may | mr. may | ducks redbills. | | -- | george west | gulls, goose. | | | mr. murray | lbs. of guanaco meat. | | | capt. fitz-roy | fish (from natives). | | | do. | shags, redbills. | | | j. bennett | shags, goose, penguins. | | june | j. bennett | shags, fish. | | | capt. fitz-roy | albatross, bittern. | | | lieut. kempe | shags, geese. | | | mr. brailey | hawk, owl. | | | jas. forsyth | redbills, sea-pigeons, | | | do. | redbills, hawk. | | | do. | shags. | | -- | lieut. kempe | shags, ducks, redbills,| | | | sea-pigeons. | | | lieut. kempe, mr. stokes, | shags, steamer-ducks, | | | and j. forsyth | redbills, | | | | sea-pigeons, hawks, | | | | owls. | +--------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------| _note._--otters, foxes, and seal, were tried more than once, but discarded. very young seal, however, were liked, as well as young penguins. { } extract from the beagle's 'game' book, . +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------+ | date. | given as fresh provisions. | to whom. | +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------+ | may | ducks, goose | the sick. | | -- | gulls, redbills | the fuegians. | | | lbs. of guanaco meat | all hands. | | | fish | sick & fuegians. | | | shags, redbills | sick. | | | shags, redbills | fuegians. | | | shags | sick. | | | goose, penguins | fuegians. | | june | shags, fish | sick. | | | albatross, bittern | fuegians. | | } |{ shags, redbills, } | | | } |{owl, pigeons, } | all hands.[ ] | | |{hawks, geese } | | | | shags | sick and fuegians. | | | shags, ducks, | | | | redbills | all hands.[ ] | | | shags, pigeons, | | | | owls | all hands. | | | shags, redbills, | | | | hawks | all hands.[ ] | | | shags, redbills |}sick and fuegians. | | | shags, steamers |} | +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------+ * * * * * { } { } index. adelaide (tender) granted, proceedings, , , goes to look for san sebastian channel, - return to port famine, sent to cayetano island, loses boat, - in bougainville harbour, further proceedings, , , , suffers from gale in river plata, detention, - goes to magdalen channel, , , , , , proceedings, - at chilóe, proceedings, - repaired, sails to gulf of peñas, arrives at port famine, sails with adventure to monte video and rio de janeiro, particulars of her last cruise, - left as tender to flag-ship, . adventure, leaves river plata, at sta. elena, - anchors near cape fairweather, enters strait of magalhaens, passes first narrow, in gregory bay, passes second narrow, in freshwater bay, at port famine, - in laredo bay, in gregory bay, - at rio de janeiro, goes to santos, sta. catharina, monte video, thence to southward, , re-enters strait, in possession bay, in gregory bay, in port famine, scurvy on board, leaves port famine, enters river plata, brazilian squadron, , at rio de janeiro, in pampero, , at port desire, in sea-bear bay, goes to staten land, st. martin cove, at valparaiso bay, at chilóe, at valparaiso, goes to juan fernandez, at concepcion, enters strait of magalhaens, in playa parda, fortescue bay, reaches port famine, departs finally, at rio de janeiro, arrival in england, . admiralty sound, glaciers, weather, indians, passages, description of shores, - . agnes islands, rocks, dangers, . agüeros, boundaries of chilóe, description of piraguas, quoted on climate, , account of missionary voyages, - . ainsworth, mr., goes to survey port san antonio, drowned, burial-place, - . aldunate, takes chilóe, yntendente of the province, anecdote, goes in adventure to valparaiso, . alerse, good qualities of wood, difficult to obtain, - . _anas specularis_, . ancon sin salida (of sarmiento), adelaide there, weather, traced, . andres san, canal (of sarmiento), disappointment, . _anser nigricollis_, . anson, juan fernandez, . antonio san, port, cordova's account, vegetation, humming-birds, { } weather, , detention there, - . _apterodytes magellanica_, . araucanian indians, dress, meeting, , . _araucaria imbricata_, . _argonauta tuberculosa_, found in maw of dolphin, containing _octopus ocythöe_, , . ariel rocks, supposed, search for, meeting of currents gave rise to false report of their existence, , . asses' ears, . aymond mount, . barbara channel, islands, rocks, tides, . barbara santa, port, oak-beam, supposed wager's, found, mountains, island, productions, wigwams, weather, , . barnevelt islands, . barometer, observations for height of mount tarn, , for weather, , before pampero, , observations, , , for height of mountain de la cruz, attention to, changes, , , , , , . beagle, leaves monte video, at sta. elena, approaches strait of magalhaens, passes first narrow, at gregory bay, at port famine, prepared to go to west part of straits, and sails, , anxiety for, arrival, proceedings, currents, squalls, doubles cape froward, leaves port gallant, cape tamar, danger, difficulties, dangerous service, - sails from pert famine for monte video, goes thence to rio de janeiro, ordered to port desire, protracted absence, arrival at port famine, sails again, return, proceedings during absence, dangers off parallel peak, sufferings of crew, at port santa barbara, port henry, port otway, perilous situation in channel's mouth, sufferings of crew, at port otway for recovery, - injured during pampero in river plata, sails thence, at port desire, in sea-bear bay, proceedings from, to, arrival at chilóe, sails for tierra del fuego, at rio de janeiro, proceedings during absence, weather, anchorage, gales, boat stolen, critical accident, in good success bay, at monte video, returns to england, - . bell cape, tide-race, rocks, , . bellaco rock, unsuccessful search for, found and examined, . black river, branch of san tadeo river, rapid currents, obstructions, shores, glaciers, . blanco cape, shoals off, . boat upset, lives lost, , boat stolen, , yawl lost, another boat lost, boats in danger, whale-boat stolen near cape desolation, basket-like substitute described, boat building, finished, . borja bay, weather, williwaws, , . bougainville, , , , memorial, , on patagonians, , . bougainville harbour, , , . breaker bay, , . buckland mount, . bueno port, its excellence, productions, , . burney mount, . bynoe, mr., excursion, volunteer in adelaide, , meets indians, volunteers again in adelaide, , . byron, commodore, notice of sedger river, of patagonians, of cave near port otway, endeavour to trace steps of his party after loss of wager, account of circumstances connected with it, - his description of montrose island, . bowen, mr., ascends mountain de la cruz, . campana island, bad weather, danger of beagle, , . candish, arrival in the strait, conduct to settlers, gives the name of port famine, . canqueña, or cagge, , . (note.) { } carlos san, de chilóe, anchorage, position, buildings, woods, piraguas, - . cascade bay, . cavia, by some called hare, . centurion, , , . chama, . channel's mouth, anchorage, weather, surf, desolate scene, perils, squalls, inlets near, gales, tides, . chanticleer at monte video, at st. martin cove, sails thence, . _charadrius rubecola_, . charles islands, surveyed, . chilóe, position, extent, population, , government, troops, cultivation, peasantry, manners, morals, schools, language, produce, manufactures, exports, imports, varieties of wood, , log roads, ploughs, soil, forced contributions, birds, shell-fish, mode of cooking, anecdote, climate, - struggles against chile, . cholgua (_mytilus magellanicus_, lamarck), . choro (_mytilus choras_, molina), . cockburn channel, . _coleoptera_, a few species at sta. elena, . _concholepas peruviana_, used as drinking cups, . condor, size, accounts of molina and humboldt, . _crepidula_, one species at sta. elena, . cruz, de la, mountain, ascended, memorials found, , ascended again, , its height, . _cygnus anatodoides_, . _dasyprocta_ (agouti), . _dasypus minutus_, of d'azara, . deer, on point sta. anna, track near obstruction sound, many more observed, supposed of a novel species, . desire, port, examined, , , , quince found there, tides, . diego ramirez islets, climate, . diego san, cape, strong tide, coast near, . dislocation harbour, . dogs, , , , , , fine one (fuegian), , small-sized, at juan fernandez, fine fuegian dog, one like young lion, . doris cove, weather, . dungeness point, . eagle bay, , , . easter bay, , . elena, sta. port, arrival there, coast, bad weather, fossil oyster-shells, animals and birds, scarcity of fish, trees, traces of natives, departure, . englefield island, . estevan san, channel of, tides, . evangelists, or isles of direction, . eyre, sir george, sound, glaciers, whales, seal, icebergs, . fairweather, cape, gale near, singular error, abundance of fish, , departure from, , . falkner, the jesuit, description of patagonians, , funeral ceremonies, graves, . famine, port, former spanish colony, , , , , named by candish, shells, animals, birds, fishing, preparations and departure, re-visited, events there during absence, weather, winter, floods, lightning, scurvy, effects of weather, , beagle there, adventure there, finally quitted, . felipe, san, spanish settlement under sarmiento, viedma, , abandoned, now port famine, . _felis pajaros_, . fire, at port sta. elena, at port famine, boat and sheds destroyed by fuegians, , at port desire, , in gregory bay, traces of near level bay, . { } fitz-roy, robert, commander, appointed to beagle, proceedings at port desire, explores jerome channel, scenery, indian channel, narrow escape, at port gallant, search for passage into skyring water, at chilóe, leaves san carlos, goes to relieve party in distress, excursion to cape gloucester, , search for lost boat, - remarks on tierra del fuego, excursion in boat, bad weather, gales, proceedings and return on board, , further proceedings to return to england, , . fortescue bay, , , . foster, henry, captain, meeting with, arrangements, in st. martin cove, sails thence, some account of his death, . fox, at sta. elena, curious chase of one, . freshwater bay, vegetation, . freyre, attacks and takes chilóe, , . froward, cape, described, . fuegians, first seen, wigwams, numbers, dress, food, character, near cape rowlett, manners, curious anecdote, , weapons, skill, barter in magdalen channel, conduct, in harbour of mercy, description of persons, ornaments, food, habitations, domestic ties, affection, , , at port san antonio, behaviour, appearance, cunning, in warrington cove, visits, canoes, carving, natives at port famine, mischievous, near point santa anna, troublesome, met again, near otway water, paint, cunning, anecdote, abuse, in fortescue bay, plank canoes, 'pecheray,' anecdote, curious circumstances, at port famine, misconduct, precautions, quarrel, , driven away, caution, , met by adelaide's boat's crew, curious notices, habits, theft, , few in number, at landfall island, conduct to party in distress, arms, bird-catching, near otway bay, living among tame seals, traces on noir island, steal whale-boat, met with, further meetings, boat's gear found, various incidents connected with natives, , thieves' family seized, another party met, guides escape, other meetings, , three children left on board beagle, two of them restored, natives in march harbour, young man detained, disturbance in march harbour, skirmish, their strength and daring, 'york-minster,' 'boat memory,' 'fuegia basket,' conduct of fuegians on board to other natives, , 'yapoos' mode of fishing, natives near nassau bay, skins, wigwams, without arms, tractable, in murray narrow, large wigwam, food, 'jemmy button,' in valentyn bay, dogs, . fury harbour, wreck of saxe coburg, described, examined, rocks, . gabriel channel, weather, squalls called 'williwaws,' . _gadus_, . gales, usual direction, , observations, usual course of, . gallant, port, , humming-birds, natives, , , , . gallegos river, tides, . geology of country near port sta. elena, cape fairweather, , mount sarmiento, mount tarn, port waterfall, admiralty sound, gabriel channel, near second narrow, cape froward and port gallant, mount maxwell, tower rock, cape horn, st. martin cove, juan fernandez, grafton islands, cape castlereagh, doris cove, . gilbert islands, doris cove, . glaciers, , , , , , , , . gloucester, cape, , excursion to, weather, natives, produce, . graves, mr., goes in hope, proceedings, , , { } surveys lomas bay, sails again in hope, returns, appointed to adelaide tender, in gregory bay, , in port gallant, , detached, loss of boat, , at bougainville harbour, , with patagonians, , at port gallant, honourable trait, journal, - near cape upright, goes to chilóe, . gregory bay, beagle joins adventure there, gales, mirage, patagonians, scenery, productions, fires, natives, . guanacoes, , , near cape orange, in gregory bay, bezoar-stone, mode of hunting them, unusual chase, near sea-bear bay, very large ones seen near windhond bay, numerous near aguirre bay, . guayaneco islands, , . guyot duclos, , notice of natives, skirmish with natives, . henry, port, productions, scenery, , . hermite island, remarkable peaks, survey, . hope, mount, , , . hope, decked boat, crew, sails on survey, proceedings, meets fuegians in brenton sound, , passage back to port famine, repaired, goes to eagle bay, into gabriel channel, further proceedings, - sails again, goes with captain king, further proceedings, . horn, cape, ascent of highest point, memorial left, weather, . horn island, . _hymenoptera_, at port sta. elena, . icebergs, field of ice, , , . icy sound, glaciers, avalanches, . ildefonsos, . indian channel, bivouac, weather, . island harbour, weather, . jerome channel, scenery, . jesuit sound, explored, . juan fernandez, establishment, productions, dogs, goats, fish, buccaneers, botany, trees, fruits, , shells, coral, anchorage, animals, seals, birds, excursions, thermometer, . kater peak, ascended, , , again, , . kelp, or sea-weed, its great use, immense growth, . kelp fish, excellent food, . kelly harbour, . kempe, lieut., excursions, , in chase of fuegians, , promptness, , left in charge of beagle, vigilance, , . kempe harbour, . kirke, mr., goes in adelaide, , , ascends mount skyring, near cape tamar, sails again in adelaide, examines the channel's mouth, zealous exertion, examines sir george eyre sound, further proceedings, , traces canal of the mountains, , worsley sound, disappointments, , further examinations, - . latitude bay, advantages, . laura basin, . leeward bay, . lennox harbour, natives, . _lepidoptera_, a few species at port sta. elena, . _liévre pampa_, of d'azara, . lizards, . lobos, port, . lomas bay, . loyasa's voyage quoted, . lucia santa, cape, coast near, . lyndsey, serjeant, death of, burial, . magalhaens, strait of, voyage to explore, under don antonio de cordova, account of bad weather, confirmed by wallis and carteret, difference in spelling name, vegetation of strait, animals, scenery, { } whales, &c., climate, re-passed, entered again, finally quitted, . magdalen channel, anchorage, scenery, examined, directions, . magnetic influence, unusual, , , , , , , . maire le, strait, tides in, , . malaspina, at port sta. elena in , . march harbour, , . maria, a patagonian, first interview with, at gregory bay, , visits ships, obtains guanaco meat for them, interview with on shore, acts as priestess, cupidity, 'toldo,' disappointment, cordial meeting with, presents, importunity, anecdote, scene in toldo, re-visited, . marian cove, . martin st. cove, weather, ascent of kater peak, , , gales and williwaws, . maxwell, port, . mesier channel, entrance to, entered by adelaide, anchorages, shores, trees, scarcity of inhabitants, . millar, alexander mr., death of, . misery mount, . mitchell, lieut., activity, , , . montes tres, cape, , , , . morton island, tide between it and gold-dust isle, . mountains, canal of the, . morrion el, . _muræna_, near cape fairweather, . murray, mr, accident, goes to e. end of landfall islands, in distress, goes to euston bay, - goes to cape desolation, bad weather, severe gales, return anxiously looked for, sends coxswain back in basket-like canoe, loss of whale-boat, search for her, , , goes away again, penetrates into channels leading from christmas sound, goes to head of nassau bay, discovers beagle channel, natives, goes towards cape good success, extract from journal, natives near cape graham, difficulties, , , . muscle bay, . _murex_ at port sta. elena, (_magellanicus_) brought up by lead, found in eagle bay, . _mytilus_, at port sta. elena, at port gallant, . _mytilus choras_, at chilóe . _mytilus magellanicus_, at chilóe, . narborough, sir john, quoted, , , , notice of patagonians, , , . narrow, english, described, , . narrow, first, passage attempted, cleared, tides, passed again, , tide-race before filtering, . narrow, guia, tides, passed by adelaide, . narrow, kirke, prospect after leaving it, tides, errors, wider channel, plan of narrow, singular eddies, , . narrow, murray, tides, shores, natives, woods, , channels near, mountains, anecdote, wigwam, tides, glaciers, disadvantages, . narrow, second, passed, , . narrow, shag, . narrow of san benito, . narrow, white, intricate, agreeable prospect, . nassau bay, master passes through it, formerly bay of st. francis, errors in charts, further examined, . nautical remarks, gales on the eastern coast of patagonia, entrance of strait of magalhaens, staten island, new year islands, passage round cape horn, barometer, barometer off cape horn, , directions for passage through strait, anchorages, , advantage of passing strait from pacific to atlantic, , further directions, , , . neesham bay, indians near, . negro cape, , , , . { } new year sound, , . nodales, voyage of the, , bellaco rock, san sebastian channel, , discovered sea-bear bay, . noir island, roadstead, penguins, tower rocks, . north cove, . obstruction sound, tides, remarks, . _oidemia patachonica_, . oliver islands, . _ophidium_, near cape fairweather, . orange bay, , anchorage, productions, . _orthoceratite_, fossil resembling an, rocky bay, . osorio pedro, at chilóe, byron, 'desecho,' . _ostrea edulis_, at chilóe, . _ostrea_, fossil at port sta. elena, . otway, port, weather, woods, trees, soil, birds, . otway water, . pampero, , . parallel peak, , . patagonians, near gregory bay, size, friendliness, dress, weapons, three go in adventure to cape negro, native names, appearance described, met again in gregory bay, animals with them, account of various tribes, , go on board ships, intoxication, trade, religious ceremony, , toldos, utensils, tomb, father's grief, women, occupations, parental affection, anecdotes, their size, former accounts compared, , , , , , character, contempt for fuegians, fires, tomb in gregory bay re-visited, natives arrive, traffic, cordial meeting, natives on board, in pecket harbour, hunting, , seen again, toldos, portuguese sailors living with them, native language, observed again in passing gregory bay, . patagonian cavy, . _patella deaurata_, at port sta. elena, . _patella trochi-formis_, . paul's, st., dome of, . pecheray, fuegian expression, anecdotes, , , mentioned again, . pecket harbour, , , , . _pecten vitreus_, in eagle bay, . penguins, mode of feeding young, . _phalacrocorax imperialis_, . _phoca jubata_, food of fuegians, . pico, . pillar, cape, , , mountains near, tide, . pinoleo, araucanian cacique, account of meeting near concepcion, daughters, their dress, ornaments, reception from him, his appearance, followers, intoxication, . pinto, general, director of chile, . piure, remarkable appearance, . plata, river, brazilian squadron, confusion, mistake, severe 'pampero,' effects, , gales, currents, . playa parda, . _polyborus novæ zealandiæ_, . possession, cape, tides, , detention, weather, . _psittacus smaragdinus_, near port famine, . quintin san, sound, , adelaide there, . quod, cape, . roldan campana de, . rundle passage, . rupert island, rocks, weather, . saddle island, magnetic, needle much affected, scenery, whales, kelp-fish, . santiago, journey to, , weather, . sarmiento, sent to look for sir francis drake, enters strait, sails to form establishments, { } marks out city, colonists' sufferings, goes to rio de janeiro, disappointments, taken to england, his account of natives near useless bay, campana de roldan, discovery of gulf of trinidad, , his 'abra' opposite playa parda, quoted, . sarmiento channel, passed, discoveries, course followed, . sarmiento mount, first appearance, height, , seen again, , , . saxe cobourg, prince of, wrecked in fury harbour, crew's sufferings, saved by beagle, . sea-bear bay, described by nodales, animals, birds, . seal, teaching their young to swim, . sebastian san, channel supposed, noticed by nodales, various voyagers' opinions, vain search, . sedger river, mouth changes, remarks, trees, . shags (corvorants), nests on trees in courtenay sound, . sholl, robert lieut., interview with natives, , , death of, . skyring, lieut., , , takes command of beagle, superseded, takes command of adelaide, goes to survey magdalen, cockburn, and barbara channels, reaches port gallant, part company near cape upright, meets indians, near cape upright, searches for 'ancon sin salida' of sarmiento, natives, tides, weather, his journal, sails for gulf of peñas, journal of proceedings, examines river san tadeo, proceedings, returns to adelaide, illness, officers' proceedings, resumes duty, disappointments, , excellence of charts, . skyring mount, ascent, memorial, , described, strong local attraction, effect on compasses, , view from it, . skyring water, tides, land, birds, . skunk, or zorillo, , . smyth channel, fish, survey, . snakes at port sta. elena, . snowy sound, . speedwell bay, abundance of wild-fowl, crabs, potatoes, trees, . spencer cape, , . steamer-duck, or race-horse, , . stewart harbour described, its advantages, . stokes, pringle captain, commands beagle, , , , rescues crew of shipwrecked vessel, journal, to dangerous cruise, skill and daring, rides to patagonian toldos, ordered to port desire, arrival at port famine, proceedings during absence, sails again, describes bougainville harbour, returns to port famine, sufferings, illness, , death, unfinished journal, - . stokes, mr. goes to explore jerome channel, , narrow escape, , examines hope harbour, fury harbour, , . success good, cape, , shores, anchorage in bay, swell, gales, . tadeo san, river, , , . tamar cape, weather off, beagle in bay of, returns three times, . tarn, mr., excursion to eagle bay, ascends mount tarn, , interview with natives, summit of table land, laredo bay, in adelaide, , with patagonians, signal-fire, guanacoes, . tarn mount, ascent of, temperature, observations, descent, , . teal found at port sta. elena, . tower rock near port desire, remarkable, narborough's description, . tower rocks, off noir island, . tower, rock like, near aguirre bay, . trinidad sanctisima, golfo de la, . tres puntas cape, , . { } _trochilus_ at juan fernandez, . ulloa, don j. juan, y don a. de, their account of the anchorage at juan fernandez, . 'ultimo viage al estrecho de magallanes,' quoted, , , , . upright, cape, bay, weather, . useless bay, natives near, . valdivia de, don pedro, founds cities, indians destroy them, settlers migrate, . valentyn hay, natives, . valparaiso, , . vicente san, bay, . viedma andres de, at san felipe, wrecked, return, distresses, , . video monte, departure from, return to, and sail from, revisited, meeting with captain foster at, gales in leaving, return there, finally quitted, . virgins cape, , , . wager, loss of, to , . warrington cove, geology, productions, . waterfall bay, weather, tides, . waterfall, port, - . weddell's leading hill, , . whales, dead, mistaken for rocks, , . white kelp cove, fish, birds, . william, cape, . wickham lieut., takes command of hope, meets indians, returns to port famine, in gregory bay, obtains curious birds, at port famine, goes to patagonians, ill, goes overland to port desire, at santiago, , . williwaws, , . wilson, mr., goes to landfall island, , , good drawings, natives, , sketches of coast, . woodcock mount, - . wreck found in port sta. elena, in fury harbour (of saxe cobourg), , . xavier san island, examined further, . xavier port, woods, water, birds, . xaultegua, gulf of, curious islet, frost and snow, . york-minster of cook, noticed, mark for march harbour, , . 'yungue' (juan fernandez), height, woods, squalls, , . zorillo, , . end of vol. i. * * * * * london: printed by j. l. cox and sons, , great queen street, lincoln's-inn-fields. * * * * * notes [ ] excepting one for signals. [ ] twelve additional seamen having been ordered, by the admiralty, for the adelaide schooner. [ ] on the north side of the river plata. [ ] commonly called magellan. see p. . [ ] _dasyprocta patachonica_: it is the _patagonian cavy_ of dr. shaw, and pennant's quadr., tab. , and the _liévre pampa_ of d'azara. m. desmarest thinks that if the teeth were examined it would form a new genus, for which he proposes the name of _dolichotis_ (ency. meth. mamm. p. ). at present he has, from its external character, placed it amongst the genus _dasyprocta_ (agouti). the only one that was taken was not preserved, which prevented me from ascertaining the fact. [ ] _dasypus minutus_, desm. _tatou pichiy_, or _tatou septième_ of d'azara, &c. &c. it has seven bands. [ ] a similar error was made by one of the ships of the fleet under loyasa in the year . the nodales also, in their description of the coast, mention the similarity of appearance in the two capes, virgins and fairweather. "y venido de mar en fuera à buscar la tierra facilmente podian hacer de rio de gallegos el cabo de virgenes," (and in making the land cape virgins may easily be mistaken for the river gallegos).--viage de los nodales, p. . [ ] some of the specimens of the clay strata consist, according to dr. fitton, who has kindly examined my collection, of a white marl not unlike certain varieties of the lower chalk; and of a clay having many of the properties of fuller's earth. the pebbles on the beach consist of quartz, red jasper, hornstone, and flinty slate, but do not contain any stone resembling chalk flint. [ ] dr. fitton considers these masses of clay to bear a resemblance to the upper green sand of england. [ ] ultimo viage al estrecho de magallanes, part ii. p. . [ ] a hill on the north shore of possession bay, having near it, to the westward, four rocky summits, which, from a particular point of view, bear a strong resemblance to the cropped ears of a horse or ass. these are described less briefly in the sailing directions. [ ] flowing into the strait from the east towards the west. [ ] fucus giganteus. [ ] usually called by seamen 'kelp.' [ ] columns of smoke rising from large fires. [ ] berberis. [ ] previous to the expedition quitting england, i had provided myself with medals, to give away to the indians with whom we might communicate, bearing on one side the figure of britannia, and on the reverse george iv. "adventure and beagle," and " ." [ ] narborough, p. . [ ] ultimo viage, p. . [ ] from an attentive perusal of the voyage of magalhaens, i have lately been led to think that this is the mountain which magalhaens called roldan's bell. sarmiento has, however, assigned that name to a mountain at the back of his bay of campana, which will be noticed in it's proper place. the name of mount sarmiento was too long, and too well established with us, or i should have restored the name bestowed upon it by magalhaens. herrera, in his descripcion de las indias occidentales, cap. xxiii, notices the "campana de roldan" as a great mountain in the midst of the entrance of a channel; they gave it this name (campana de roldan) because one of magalhaens's companions, named roldan, an artillery officer, went to examine it. "y la campana de roldan una peña grande en medio al principio de un canal: dieron le este nombre porque la fué a reconocer uno de los compañeros de magallanes llamado roldan que era artillero." [ ] by angular measurement, with a theodolite, from the tent, the base being by diff. of lat. , feet, and allowing / of the intercepted arc for terrestrial refraction , feet. by angular measure with sextant (index error, dip, and / of the intercepted arc being allowed) the base being , feet , by angular measurement, with a theodolite, from warp bay, by lieuts. skyring and graves , ------ mean , feet, ------ but as the last observation, from the angle of elevation being greater, was more likely to be correct, , feet is considered to be its elevation. [ ] at a subsequent visit, embracing a period of days, it was only seen on twenty-five, and during seven days only was it constantly visible. on the remaining eighteen, portions only were seen, and those but for a few hours at a time. [ ] sarmiento's voyage, p. . [ ] id. l.c. [ ] see burney, ii. p. , for a fuller account; also id. . [ ] who made a remark on the occasion, which became proverbial, "that if a ship carried out only anchors and cables, sufficient for her security against the storms in that part of the world, she would go well laden." burney coll. vol. ii. . [ ] burney, ii. . [ ] the situation of "jesus" must have been about half-way between the first and second narrow, near the point named in the chart n.s. de valle, where some peaked elevations, dividing vallies near the coast line, are conspicuous. the beagle anchored there, and found plenty of fresh water. [ ] close to port famine. [ ] from sarmiento's description of the coast, point santa brigida is the outward point of nassau island.(a) see sarmiento's voyage, p. . [ ] formerly spelled 'candish.' [ ] "near to port famine they took on board a spaniard, who was the only one then remaining alive of the garrison left in the strait by sarmiento. the account given by this man, as reported by magoths, is, that he had lived in those parts six years, and was one of the four hundred men sent thither by the king of spain in the year , to fortify and inhabit there, to hinder the passage of all strangers that way into the south sea. but that town (san felipe) and the other spanish colony being destroyed by famine, he said he had lived in a house, by himself, a long time, and relieved himself with his caliver(b) until our coming thither." burney, ii. p. . this man died on the voyage to europe. id. p. . [ ] so named by bougainville. [ ] it belongs to the group which m. temminck has lately named _hylobates_, without attending to the name long since conferred upon it by dr. fleming. i designated it _oidemia patachonica_, from its large dimensions, in my communication upon the ornithology of the straits. zoological journal, vol. iv. p. . on my return to england, i found that m. de freycinet had figured this bird, in the account of his last voyage in l'uranie, where it is described by messrs. quoy and gaimard under the name of _micropterus brachypterus_. [ ] cook's second voyage, to. p. . [ ] on the shores of eagle bay we procured a large collection of shells, among which were _margarita violacea_ (nob. in zool. journ. v. , no. ), a beautiful _modiola_ (_m. trapesina_, lam.^k), a new _pecten_ (p. vitreus nob. in zool. jour. v. , no. ), and a delicate transparent-shelled _patella_, answering the description of _p. cymbularia_. these four species were found attached to floating leaves of the kelp (_fucus giganteus_), and afford food to the steamer-duck. we also collected good specimens of _murex magellanicus_, lam.^k, of _fissurella picta_, lam.^k, and a great number of the common patella of the strait, which forms a considerable article of food for the natives. [ ] byron's voyage round the world, to. p. . [ ] l. c. [ ] _psittacus smaragdinus_, gmel. i have no doubt that the bird we saw is the same as bougainville procured, and from which a description has been given in the ency. méth., art. ornith. ; although a material error is made, for they are not _splendidé viridis_, nor is the _uropygium_ red, in other points, however, the description is correct. see buffon's hist. nat. des oiseaux, vi. . pl. enl. n. , perruche des terres magellaniques. [ ] bougainville says, "we have likewise perceived some perrokeets: the latter are not afraid of the cold." to which the english translator, t. r. forster, who is incredulous of the correctness of bougainville's assertion, appends the following note: "perruches, probably sea-parrots, or auks." buffon also doubted the fact, and the author of histoire naturelle, art. oiseaux, tom. ii. p. , suggests the possibility of a specimen having been obtained in some other part of the world, and put, by mistake, amongst those collected in the strait. [ ] so named because mr. tarn, the surgeon of the adventure, was the first person who reached its summit. [ ] the height of this place, as shown by the barometer, on the ascent, was feet, and, on the descent, feet. [ ] on this table-land the barometer stood at , . temperature of the air °, , and of the mercury °, , which gave the elevation , feet. [ ] the result of the barometric observation for the height of mount tarn is as follows: height by one barometer { ascent , . } { descent , . } mean , . feet. do. two do. { ascent , . } { descent , . } -- , . ------- , . ------- by angular measurement from observation cove, port famine, with theodolite, allowing / of the intercepted arc for terrestrial refraction, the height is , feet. another observation, with the sextant, made it , feet. the mean , i consider more correct, from the difficulty of obtaining a correct reading of the barometer on the summit. [ ] by daniell's hygrometer, used in this sheltered spot, i found the temperature of the air to be °; dew point °: but upon exposing the instrument to the wind, the air was ½°, and the dew point °: the difference in the former being °; and the latter ½°; from which the following results are obtained: air. dew pt. diff. exp. dryness. weight of a cubic. foot of air. in the ravine . exposed to wind ½ ½ . ------------------------------------------- difference ½ ½ . the above being the difference in the short space of three feet apart; the instrument, in the first case, being just under the lee of the rocky summit of the mountain, and in the last, above it, exposed to the wind. [ ] the air was so dry this afternoon that i failed to procure a deposit of dew upon daniell's hygrometer, although the internal temperature was lowered from ° to °. one of jones's portable hygrometers was also tried, and the temperature was lowered to °½ without a deposit; so that, the difference being more than thirty degrees, the expansive force of the air must have been less than , the dryness, on the thermometric scale, less than , and the weight of vapour, in a cubic foot of air, less than , grains. [ ] fires made to attract attention, and invite strangers to land. [ ] this fern we found at the island of juan fernandez also. [ ] after the lieutenant of the adventure. [ ] at mr. tarn's request. [ ] king's 'australia,' vol. i. p. ; also vol. ii. pp. , , and . [ ] at high tide the sea-water undermines, by thawing, large masses of ice, which, when the tide falls, want support, and, consequently, break off, bringing after them huge fragments of the glacier, and falling into the still basin with a noise like thunder. [ ] "en los dias , y , oimos un ruido sordo, y de corta duracion, que, por el pronto, nos pareció trueno; pero habiendo reflexîonado, nos inclinamos à creer que fué efecto de alguna explosion subterranea, formado en el seno de alguna de las montañas inmediatas, en que parece haber algunos minerales, y aun volcanes, que están del todo ó casi apagados, movièndonos a hacer este juicio, el haberse encontrado, en la cima de una de ellas, porcion de materia compuesta de tierra y metal, que en su peso, color, y demas caracteres, tenia impreso el sello del fuego activo en que habia tomado aquel estado, pues era una perfecta imagèn de las escorias del hierro que se ven en nuestras ferrerías.--_apendice al viage de cordova al magallanes_, p. . [ ] no canvas could withstand some of these squalls, which carry spray, leaves, and dirt before them, in a dense cloud, reaching from the water to the height of a ship's lower yards, or even lower mast-heads. happily their duration is so short, that the cable of a vessel, at anchor, is scarcely strained to the utmost, before the furious blast is over. persons who have been some time in tierra del fuego, but fortunate enough not to have experienced the extreme violence of such squalls, may incline to think their force exaggerated in this description: but it ought to be considered, that their utmost fury is only felt during unusually heavy gales, and in particular situations; so that a ship might pass through the strait of magalhaens many times, without encountering one such blast as has occasionally been witnessed there.--r. f. [ ] "sub rupe cavatâ arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbria." [ ] mount boqueron. [ ] including the master, there were on board, when cast away, twenty-two persons. [ ] bougainville harbour, better known to sealers by the name of 'jack's harbour.' [ ] "voyage autour du monde." . [ ] one of the feathered tribe, which a naturalist would not expect to find here, a 'humming bird,' was shot near the beach by a young midshipman.--stokes ms. [ ] hawkesworth's coll. of voyages, vol. i. p. . [ ] it was here that commodore wallis and captain carteret separated, the dolphin going round the world; the swallow returning to england. sarmiento's name of puerto de la misericordia, or 'harbour of mercy,' being of prior date, ought doubtless to be retained. [ ] called the scilly isles. [ ] 'anas rafflesii,' zool. journ., vol. iv., and tab. supp., xxix. [ ] of these a species of mactra (_m. edulis nob._) was most abundant. [ ] burney, i. and . [ ] falkner's patagonia, pp. , . [ ] it is good to be drunk, it is pleasant to be drunk. [ ] two portuguese seamen, however, who had resided some months with them, having been left behind by a sealing vessel, and taken off by us at a subsequent period of the voyage at their own request, informed us that maria is not the leader of religious ceremonies. each family possesses its own household god, a small wooden image, about three inches in length, the rough imitation of a man's head and shoulders, which they consider as the representative of a superior being, attributing to it all the good or evil that happens to them. [ ] burney, i. p. . [ ] ibid. p. . [ ] burney, i. . [ ] ibid, i. . [ ] sarmiento, p. . [ ] sarmiento's appendix, xxix. [ ] purchas, iv. ch. and . [ ] burney, ii. p. . [ ] the tribes described by this boy are the . kemenites, inhabiting a place called karay. . kennekas, karamay. . karaike, morine. . enoo, the tribe to which the indians, whom they murdered, belonged. [ ] burney, ii, . [ ] ibid. ii. . [ ] hawksworth's coll. i . [ ] ibid. [ ] see a letter from mr. charles clarke, an officer on board the dolphin, to mr. maly, m.d., secretary of the royal society, dated nov. , , read before the royal society on th april , and published in the fifty-seventh volume of the phil. trans., part i. p. , in which an exaggerated account is given of this meeting. the men are described to be eight feet high, and the women seven and a half to eight feet. "they are prodigious stout, and as well and proportionably made as ever i saw people in my life." this communication was probably intended to corroborate the commodore's account. [ ] ultimo viage, p. . [ ] falkner, according to dean funes, was originally engaged in the slave trade at buenos ayres; but afterwards became a jesuit, and studied in the college at cordova, where, to an eminent knowledge of medicine, he added that of theology. he is the author of a description of patagonia, published in london after the expulsion of the jesuits.--(_ensayo de la historia civil del paraguay, buenos ayres, y tucuman, por el doctor don gregorio funes, iii. p. , note. published at buenos ayres. vo. ._) [ ] see dean funes's account of buenos ayres, and of the indian tribes, vol. ii. . [ ] we left gregory bay in the morning, and passed cape virgins in the evening of the same day. [ ] on our passage from santos to st. catherine's, in latitude ° south, we caught a 'dolphin' (_coryphena_), the maw of which i found filled with shells, of _argonauta tuberculosa_, and all containing the '_octopus ocythöe_' that has been always found as its inhabitant. most of the specimens were crushed by the narrow passage into the stomach, but the smaller ones were quite perfect, and had been so recently swallowed that i was enabled to preserve several of various sizes containing the animal. to some of them was attached a nidus of eggs, which was deposited between the animal and the spire. the shells varied in size from two-thirds of an inch to two and a half inches in length; each contained an octopus, the bulk and shape of which was so completely adapted to that of the shell, that it seemed as if the shell increased with the animal's growth. when so many learned naturalists have differed so materially as to the character of the inhabitants of the argonauta, it would be presumption in me to express even an opinion; i therefore merely mention the fact, and state that in no one specimen did there appear to be any connexion between the animal and the shell. [ ] nodales, p. . [ ] falkner says, in his account of the burial ceremonies of the southern patagonians--that, after a certain interval, the bodies are taken out of the tomb, and skeletons are made of them by the women--the flesh and entrails having been burnt. it is possible that in this case the body had been so treated, and that the fire near it was for the purpose of burning the flesh, and perhaps with it all the flags and ornaments of the tomb. [ ] he was a great favourite with them. [ ] the medicinal property of this intestinal concretion is well known wherever the animal is found. marcgrave, in his "tractatus topographicus et meteorologicus brasiliæ," folio, p. , says:--"hæc animalia (guanacoes) generant lapides bezoares in sinu quodam ventriculi, qui maximi æstimantur contra venena et febres malignos ad roborandum et refocillandum cor, aliosque affectus. materia è qua generantur sunt herbæ insignis virtutis, quibus vescuntur naturæ instinctu ad sanitatem tuendum, aut morbos et venena superandum. hi lapides inveniuntur in adultioribus hisce animalibus atque interdum tam grandes, ut unum in italiam attulerim qui pendet uncias duas supra triginta."--mr. thompson, on intestinal concretions. see his syn. of chemistry, iv. . [ ] _anser nigrocollis_. encyc. méthod., art. ornithol. . [ ] weddell's voyage. [ ] i cannot avoid noticing here the considerate conduct of the commander-in-chief (sir george eyre) with respect to this appointment. by the tenor of my instructions the adventure and beagle were placed under the admiral's orders; and the vacancy, had he wished to exercise his prerogative, might have been filled by one of his own followers. it was, however, given, at my request, to mr. sholl, as being more conversant with the duties of this peculiar service than any of the midshipmen of the flag-ship. the admiral's conduct, on this occasion, calls for my warmest thanks. [ ] relacion del viage, &c. que hicieron los capitanes b. g. de nodales y gonzalo de nodales, p. . [ ] falkner describes the indians who inhabit the eastern islands of tierra del fuego, to be 'yacana-cunnees,' and as he designates those who inhabit the patagonian shore of the strait by the same name, it might be inferred that they are of the same race; but however closely connected they may have been formerly, they certainly are not so now, for maria (the patagonian) spoke very contemptuously of them, and disclaimed their alliance; calling them 'zapallios,' which means slaves. [ ] berberis ilicifolia.--banks and solander mss. [ ] the specimen that was found at port gallant was sent by me to mr. vigors, who considering it, although well known to ornithologists, as never having yet been named, describes it in the zoological journal (vol. iii. p. , aug. ), as mellisuga kingii. shortly afterwards m. lesson published it in his manuel d'ornithologie (vol. ii. p. .), as _ornismya sephaniodes_, as a discovery belonging to la coquille's voyage, in the illustrations of which it is figured at plate . i rather think, however, that it is molina's _trochilus galeritus_.--(molina, i. .). [ ] sarmiento, p. . [ ] este monte es el que llaman las relaciones antiguas la campana de roldan.--sarmiento. [ ] here we obtained a second species of the steamer-duck, which is described in the proceedings of the zoological society of london, as '_micropterus patachonicus_, nob.' it differs from the _m. brachypterus_ not only in colour but in size, being a smaller bird, and having the power of raising its body, in flight, out of the water. we called it the 'flying steamer.' [ ] afterwards examined by capt. fitz roy. it was called xaultegua by sarmiento, who very correctly describes it.--(sarmiento's voyage, p. .) [ ] because they formed a capital leading mark for the strait of magalhaens. [ ] beagle island n. °. e., cape isabel n. °. e., a remarkable mountain in the bight between cape santa lucia and cape isabel n. °. w. cape santa lucia n. °. w.; distance off shore three leagues; and soundings fifty fathoms, sandy bottom. [ ] (sarmiento, p. .) [ ] the description of port henry is given in our sailing directions. [ ] the n.w. end of the island de la campana bearing n. °. '. e. two distant hummocky islands (answering pretty well in position with the guaianeco islands of the spanish charts) n. °. '. e., and n. °. '. e., and a remarkable rock, the 'dundee' of bulkeley and cummings, about forty-five feet high, rising like a tower from the sea, distant offshore five miles, bearing east of us, distant one mile. [ ] length twenty feet five inches and a half, sided twelve inches, and moulded eight inches and a half. [ ] xavier's island is certainly the montrose island of byron's narrative. the wager was lost, as will be seen, more to the southward, on the guaianeco islands. [ ] this group was afterwards called hazard isles. [ ] d'azara, in his essai sur l'histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes de paraguay, gives the following account of this animal, which he calls yagouaré. it burrows in the ground, eats insects, eggs, and birds, when it can surprise them, and moves about the plains and fields both by day and night in search of food; brushing the ground with its body, and carrying its tail horizontally. it regards not the presence of man or beast; unless an attempt be made to injure or take it, when it gathers up its body, bristles up the hairs of its tail, erecting it vertically; and in this position awaits the approach of its enemy, at whom it ejects its urine, which produces so unbearable a smell, that neither man, dog, nor tiger, will attempt to touch the animal. the yagouaré moves very slowly, and cannot run. it produces two young ones, which are placed at the bottom of its burrow. the unconquered indians of the pampas make mantles with the furs of the fox, cavia, or other animals, and border them with the skins of the yagouaré, which are very soft and fine, and would be fit for being employed by the furrier were it not for the disagreeable odour which they impart to every thing they touch. the indians eat the flesh of this animal, which they irritate until its only means of defence is unavailing, and it can be captured without offensive consequences. [ ] from which the mount (at monte video) bore n. °. w., distant eight leagues. [ ] specimens of this rock are deposited in the geological society's museum, nos. and - . [ ] see zoological journal, vol. iv. p. . [ ] nos. and in the geological society's museum. a new species of solen (_solen scalprum_, nob., zool. journ. v. . no. .) was found on the beach; and the camerated nidus of _buccinum muriciforme_, nob., zool. journal, l.c. no. . [ ] according to capt. fitz roy the best berth is in sixteen fathoms. (sail. directions.) [ ] nos. to , geo. soc. museum. [ ] a species of gunnera (_dysemore integrifolia_, banks and solander), and the green-stemmed cineraria (_cin. leucanthema_. banks and solander). [ ] nos. to , in geol. soc. museum. [ ] the changes of pressure, during the intervals of ascent and descent, were obtained by registering the ship's barometer, which was done by signal from the stations on shore, when the readings were taken. during the ascent the column fell . inches, and during the descent rose . inches. corrections were made for the dew point, as observed by daniell's hygrometer at the base and summit, and the calculations were made according to the formula in daniell's meteorological essay. the following is the result: by bunten's syphon. by jones . ascent . . descent . . ------ ------ mean . . mean of the two instruments . feet. [ ] this rock is very similar to the boulders and pebbles which we found on the beach at point st. mary (freshwater bay). [ ] the underwood is composed chiefly of _arbutus rigida_--_berberis parvifolia_ and _ilicifolia_--(_sempervirens_ of banks and solander). _veronica_ (_decussata_?) and, in moist places, _cineraria leucanthema_, and _dysemore integrifolia_; both of which are found in all the sheltered corners of tierra del fuego. no _fuchsia_ was seen, but mr. anderson gathered the sweet-scented _callixene marginata_, and a species of _escalonia_, on the hill sides. [ ] ann. meeting, th nov. . [ ] the survey of this part now presents the navigator with the means of ascertaining his position, to a nicety, by angles taken with a sextant between cape horn summit and jerdan's peak, or mount hyde, and kater's peak; and if jerdan's peak and mount hyde be brought in a line, and an angle taken between them and cape horn summit, the operation will be still more simple. [ ] miers, in his account of chile, gives a table of barometrical measurements of the heights of the land between valparaiso and mendoza, from which it appears that he has deduced the height of curacavi to be , feet. as my determinations are the results of observations made on my way to and from santiago, i have no doubt of their correctness, and think that the registered height of miers's table should be . instead of . . [ ] the following are the results of the barometrical determination of the height of various points on the road between valparaiso and santiago:-- feet above the sea. casa blanca, ten leagues from valparaiso highest point of the road over the cuesta de zapata , inn at curacavi plain near bustamente summit of cuesta de prado (not certain to feet) , inn, or post-house, at the base of the east side of the cuesta de prado , santiago, by mean of numerous observations , miers makes the above places above the sea as follows:-- feet above the sea. casa blanca summit of cuesta de zapata , curacavi , summit of cuesta de prado , post-house, prado , santiago, mean of two observations , do. by malespina , } { , } do. mercurio chileno , ½ } spanish { , } english [ ] probably they are the same as we observed on the fish taken by us off cape fairweather, and which, i believe, to be nearly allied to the one that is figured in cuvier's règne animal, plate xv. figure , a species of _lernæa_, or _entomoda_ of lamarck, iii. . the species is new. [ ] geol. soc. museum, nos. to , and zool. mus. [ ] by angular measurement it was found to be , feet. [ ] the wristbands of our shirts, and all our outer clothes, were coated with ice, while our inner clothing was wet through. [ ] on heaving up the best bower, we found it had lost one fluke. [ ] the adventure arrived on the st.--p. p. k. [ ] in the old dutch charts, a passage was laid down near the place, and nearly in the direction of the cockburn channel, and named 'jelouzelt:' but until some written authority can be produced to prove that this passage was explored, or, at the least, discovered by the person who gave the name of 'jelouzelt' to one of the almost innumerable openings in tierra del fuego, it does not appear that the inlet so called has any claim to our consideration, greater than that of the non-existing san sebastian channel,--or a number of other imaginary passages which must have been laid down, upon supposition only, in many old charts. the first person known to have passed through the cockburn channel was the mate of the prince of saxe cobourg, who went in a boat (see page ). it was afterwards passed by mr. william low, master of the mercury, and has since been used by several vessels. [ ] since surveyed by capt. fitz roy in the beagle, - . [ ] san carlos, in chilóe. [ ] mr. kirke. [ ] a heap, or stack of corn. [ ] no doubt the mount oracion of sarmiento, p. .--p. p. k. [ ] this place is described in sarmiento's journal, p. .--p. p. k. [ ] ensenada de la oracion of sarmiento.--p. p. k. [ ] this bay is also described by sarmiento as an 'ancon sin salida,' p. ; but it is evidently not the one that bears that name on the chart.--p. p. k. [ ] here is certainly the ancon sin salida of sarmiento, whose journal describes the inlet as terminating in a cove to the north, p. . the mountain of año nuevo cannot be mistaken; indeed the whole of the coast is so well described by the ancient mariner, that we have little difficulty in determining the greater number of places he visited. in all cases we have, of course, preserved his names. the chart compiled by admiral burney is a remarkable instance of the care which that author took in arranging it, and how ingeniously and correctly he has displayed his judgment; it is also a proof that our favourite old voyager, sarmiento, was at least correct in his descriptions, although he appears to have been quite ignorant of the variation of the compass.--see burney coll. voyages, p. ; and sarmiento, p. . [ ] 'cordillera nevada' of sarmiento. [ ] a very full and detailed account of this journey is given by agüeros, in his 'history of the province of chilóe,' pp. to , as well as in the 'chronicles of the province of lima, by padre fr. diego de cordova,' salinas, chap. xvii. p. . [ ] agüeros, l. c. p. . [ ] agüeros describes its boundary thus:--it is situated between the latitudes ° ' and °; from point capitanes to quilan. on the north it is bounded by the territories of the indian tribes juncos and rancos, which extend to valdivia; on the n.e. by those of the ancient but destroyed city osorno; on the south by the archipelago of guaitecas and guaianeco, and others which extend to the strait of magalhaens; on the east by the cordillera; and on the west by the sea. (agüeros, p. .) [ ] when the yntendente, or governor of the province, visited castro for the purpose of taking a census of the population, a family of indians waited upon him to render an account of their property; who, upon being asked whence they came, replied, "del fin de la cristiandad." the name being new to the yntendente, it was explained to him that they belonged to caylin, which was more generally known by the above name, because there existed no christian population beyond, or to the southward of, that island. [ ] in the year there were , (agüeros): and in , , . [ ] agüeros says, "both men and women go generally with the foot and leg uncovered; with the exception of the principal families; but even those do not all wear shoes."--(agüeros, p. .) [ ] places where seal congregate--so called always by the sealers. [ ] potatoes are not mentioned in the report, yet they must have been exported in considerable quantities. [ ] molina, i. . a species of 'dolichos.' [ ] the fanega weighs lbs. and contains twelve almudes, which being cubic measures of eight inches and a half, contain each . cubic inches; therefore a fanega contains . cubic inches, and as an english bushel contains . cubic inches ( . x )/ . = - / lbs. the weight of a bushel. [ ] molina notices the 'cagge,' or 'chilóe duck,' (_anas antarctica_) vol. i. p. , and calls it _anas hybrida_. m. lesson, in his 'manuel d'ornithologie,' ii. , has taken great pains to describe it, and remarks, with reason, that much obscurity exists in the specific descriptions of the goose kind in the malouine (falkland) islands, and the extreme southern land of america. the male, lesson says, is white, the feet and beak of a bright yellow colour. all the specimens that we saw, and numbers were killed by us, had a black beak with a red cere--otherwise m. lesson's description is correct. in many specimens, however, we found the tip of the primary wing feathers black, which is not to be wondered at when the colour of the female is considered, but which it is not an easy task to describe. m. lesson, i think, has done it justice in a note to his vol. ii. p. :--"anas antarctica. a capite griseo, genis gulo colloque albo et nigro acuti-striatis; oculorum circuitu nudo: pectore abdomineque omninò atris, atque vittis niveis notatis: tectricibus alarum nigris; dorso uropygio caudâ et ano albis; alis niveis cum speculo lato virescente, brunneo marginato; pennis longis aterrimis; rostro et pedibus, aurantiacis." these birds are very common in the straits of magalhaens, and every where on the west coast between the strait and chilóe; also at the falkland islands. the _cancania_ (or _canqueña_) is the _anas magellanica_, _anser magellanicus_ (ency. méth. p. ). from buffon's description, and a well-drawn but badly-coloured figure, in the planches enluminées, no. , i have no hesitation in assigning it to that kind. the colour of the head, however, instead of being 'reddish purple,' is cinereous with a reddish hue; the feathers of the sides and thigh covers are white, with five black bars, the extremity being white; the central portion of the abdomen is white; the speculum of a splendid shining green. this bird is common to the strait as well as to chilóe, and is probably byron's 'painted duck,' and the _anser pictus_ of the ency. méth., p. . m. lesson considers _anas leucoptera_, gmel. as the male of _anas magellanica_, which may be doubted. the 'barking bird,' as our sailors called it, was first brought to me by capt. stokes, having been shot during the beagle's visit to port otway, in the gulf of peñas. it was an imperfect specimen; but mr. tarn afterwards obtained for me several others. it seems to have a great affinity to the genus _megapodius_; but no specimens of that genus being in england when i was last there, and the barking bird differing in essential points from m. tenminck's description of the genus, and from the figured specimen of _megapodius freycinettii_;--particularly in the length and form of its wings, which are rounded, and so short as not to reach beyond the base of the tail;--also in the emargination of the upper mandible;--i have been induced, by mr. vigors' advice, to form it, provisionally, into a new genus, termed _hylactes_. (see proc. zool. soc., vol. i. p. .) there is another specimen in our collection (now in the zoological society's museum), which will probably be placed in this genus, but there existed some uncertainty in essential points, which prevented my describing it before i left england. [ ] among the numerous testaceous productions is a small shell, which constitutes a new genus. _marinula_, nob. in zool. journal, vol. v. p. . it was found on the wooden piles which support the mole in the bay of san carlos, below the wash of the high water. the mole stands out into the sea, and there is no fresh water near it, save a very little rill, which discharges its tiny stream more than fifty yards off. this shell was named _marinula pepita_, zool. journal, l. c. no. . the following is its generic character:--'testa ovato-producta, sub-solida; apertura ovata, integra; columella bidentata et basin versus uniplicata; dentibus magnis sub-remotis conniventibus, superiori maximo; operculum nullum.' [ ] zool. journal, vol. v. p. . [ ] some have since been found on the north-east side of the guaytecas islands. [ ] chaura. una murta que no se come. febres, dict. of the chileno language. it is, however, edible, and has rather a pleasant flavour. [ ] the small-pox was introduced into the island, in the year by a ship from lima; but it was confined to san carlos, and was soon eradicated. the measles also were introduced by similar means, in the year ; but did not re-appear after once ceasing. [ ] see orders to captain fitz roy, in the appendix. [ ] see orders to lieut. skyring, in the appendix. [ ] phil. journal, and annals of philosophy, for march (new series x.), . [ ] juan fernandez is called 'de tierra,' because it is nearer the mainland than another adjacent island, which is called 'mas-a-fuéra' (farther off, or more in the distance). [ ] anson's voyage, p. . [ ] arca angúlata. see zool. journal, vol. v. p, . [ ] trochilus fernandensis, nob. _troch: ferugineo-rufus; capitis vertice splendento-coccineo; remigibus fuscis._ long. uncias. trochilus stokesii, nob. _troch: corpore supra viridi-splendente, subtus albo, viridi-guttato; capite supra, guttisque confertis gulæ lazulino-splendentibus: remigibus fusco-atris; remigum omnium, mediis exceptis, pogoniis internis albis._ long. ½ uncias. proceed. zool. society, vol. i.; also phil. magazine, for march , p. . [ ] pinoleo (from 'pino,' pisando; and 'leo,' rio; or, pisando sobre el rio, living close to the banks of a river), is the chief of a small tribe, whose territory is near the river imperial; but he generally lives in the confines of concepcion. he has four wives in the interior (la tierra) and three in the town. [ ] hall's extracts from a journal, vol. i. pp. . . [ ] in febres 'arte de la lengua de chile' they are thus described "ahujas grandes con una plancha redonda de plata como una hostia, ò mayor, con que prenden las mujeres sus mantas--certain large bodkins, with a round silver plate, as large as, or larger than, an oyster, with which the women fasten their mantles." [ ] the ornament on the forehead, which is worn only by unmarried women, is called trare-lonco, from the old chilian words trarin, to fasten, and lonco, the head. the bracelet is called anello curo; the anklets, anelleo. [ ] from 'mari,' diez, and 'loan,' huapo: whence mariloan means 'huapo como diez,' or, 'equal to ten men.' [ ] the same comet was seen at the mauritius; and its orbit calculated. see ast. soc. proceedings, and phil. journal. [ ] they are deposited in the museum of the geological society. [ ] the marine islands were so called, in remembrance of the four marines who were put on shore from the wager's boats, and left behind. see byron's nar., p. . [ ] mr. kirke, who examined them, says, "there are two openings opposite xavier island, on the mainland: the northernmost runs through high land, and is terminated by a low sandy beach, with a river in the middle, running from a large glacier; the southern inlet is ended by high mountainous land." [ ] on the west shore mr. kirke noticed what appeared to be a channel, about twelve miles n.w. of halt bay, in the mouth of which was a considerable tide-ripple; an almost certain indication of such an opening. "i thought the inlet about twelve miles north-west of halt bay much like a channel. i also noticed a distinct tide ripple, which i did not remark near any other opening. to me this appeared the southernmost inlet, of any depth; or at all likely to be a channel."--kirke ms. [ ] at the request of lieutenant mitchell, of the adventure. [ ] iron pyrites. [ ] _phal: capite cristato, collo posteriori, corporeque supra intensè purpureis; alis scapularibusque viridi-atris; remigibus rectricibusque duodecim fusco-atris; corpore subtus, fasciá alarum maculâque dorsi medii sericeo-albis; rostro nigro; pedibus flavescentibus. staluria phal. carbonis._ it was found in the inner sounds, within the 'ancon sin salida.'--proceed. of the zool. society, vol. i.; also phil. magazine, for march , p. . [ ] _c. albus remigibus primariis ad apicem nigris, rostro pedibusque rubris, illo lato subdepresso._ molina describes a chilian duck thus. anas coscoroba--_a. rostro extremo dilatato rotundato, corpore albo_, but i do not think it is the same as my specimen; certainly it is not _anser candidus_ of veillos, the ganso blanco of d'azara, which the author of the dict. d'hist. nat. (xxiii. .) supposes to be the same as a. coscoroba (id. p. ). molina's description is very short, and does not mention the tips of the primary wing-feathers being black. [ ] mate, lent to the beagle, from the adventure. [ ] a small vessel may moor between the islands, instead of lying in the outer road. [ ] the three peaks, in-shore of cape kempe, are very remarkable. [ ] specimens of the rock at the summit are in the collection at the geological society, numbered and . [ ] geological society, coll. no. . [ ] geological society, no. to , (perhaps clay-slate. p. p. k.) [ ] name given by sealers to a thick rushy kind of grass, which grows near the sea, in these latitudes. [ ] a high mountain at the n.w. end of london island. [ ] i carried two tents from the beagle, theirs having been cut up for the basket. [ ] it afterwards appeared that we had taken the families of the very men who stole the boat from mr. murray. [ ] adventure passage. [ ] gilbert islands. [ ] doris cove. [ ] so called in remembrance of the basket-like canoe by which we received intelligence of the loss of our boat. [ ] the man i took out of the canoe. [ ] it had formerly belonged to h.m.s. doris, which was condemned at valparaiso; being unserviceable. [ ] mr. murray had some bottles of beer in his boat--besides those in which the men's allowance of spirits was kept. [ ] in the lost boat were several pieces of spare line, 'king's white line,' quite new. [ ] false cape horn, or cape false. [ ] a rushy kind of coarse grass. [ ] the mercury in the barometer fell to , , and the oil in the sympiesometer to , ; the thermometer ranging from ° to ° (faht.) [ ] in longitude . . w. [ ] the stuffed skin is now in the british museum. [ ] the powder and shot expended here procured four meals of fresh provisions for all hands. [ ] from the adventure's deck, the eye being thirteen feet above the water, they were seen on the horizon at the distance of fourteen miles. [ ] if from the second narrow, n.e. ¼ e. will be the compass course; but i should recommend a ship to haul up to the northward until abreast of cape gregory, and then to steer as above. [ ] the tide begins to set to the southward at noon, at full and change. [ ] in the appendix to the second volume these alterations are discussed.--r. f. [ ] , ang. r. f. [ ] this is derived from the observations of captains duperrey and fitz-roy at the bay of islands, in lat. °. '. the interval is short; but the indication receives confirmation from the observations of captains cook and vancouver at dusky bay, new zealand, in lat. °. '. cook °. ' } '. annual decrease. vancouver . } [ ] or _mephitis americana_? [ ] _elminius kingii_, gray in zool. miscell. from a specimen collected during the voyage.--ed. [ ] whilst this sheet was printing, the september number of the annales des sciences made its appearance in england, containing a description of the above shell by m. sander rang, accompanied by an excellent figure (annales des sciences naturelles, september , p. , pl. , f. ). it is there named _helix multicolor_. in my description i have considered it to be a _bulinus_, but its specific name has been altered to that given to it by m. rang. [ ] there has existed much difference of opinion as to the correct mode of spelling the name of this celebrated navigator. the french and english usually write it magellan, and the spaniards magallanes; but by the portuguese, (and he was a native of portugal,) it is universally written magalhaens. admiral burney and mr. dalrymple spell it magalhanes, which mode i have elsewhere adopted: but i have since convinced myself of the propriety of following the portuguese orthography for a name, which to this day is very common both in portugal and brazil. [ ] during our examination of this part, our boats ascended the river san tadeo, and endeavoured in vain to find any traces of the road; an almost impenetrable jungle of reeds and underwood lined the banks of the river, and time was too valuable to admit of further delay, in search of an object comparatively of minor importance. [ ] agüeros, descripcion historial de la provincia y archipielago de chilóe, , p. . [ ] the precise situation of the wreck of this vessel had hitherto been very vaguely marked on our charts: a careful perusal, however, of byron's narrative, and of agüeros' account of the missionary voyages in , sufficiently points out the place within a few miles. it is on the north side, near the west end of the easternmost of the guaianeco islands, which we named, in consequence, wager island. at port santa barbara, seventeen miles to the southward of this group, a very old worm-eaten beam of a vessel was found, which there is reason to think may be a relic of that unfortunate ship. it was of english oak, and was found thrown up above the high-water mark upon the rocks at the entrance of the port. no other vestige was detected by us;--the missionaries, however, found broken glass bottles, and other evident traces of the wreck. at chilóe i saw a man who had formed one of this enterprising party, and obtained from him a curious and interesting account of those voyages. [ ] agüeros, p. , et seq. [ ] ibid. p. , et seq. [ ] ibid. p. . [ ] living plants of the above trees, and other vegetable productions from the strait of magalhaens, were introduced into england upon the return of the expedition, and have since thriven exceedingly well. [ ] near falcon inlet, seven miles up the eastern side of sir george eyre sound, are some large 'rookeries,' or breeding-haunts, of fur-seal. many thousands of these animals were congregated together, which probably had been driven from the sea-coast by the activity of the seal-fishers; and perhaps, for many years, if not ages, have been breeding undisturbed in this hitherto unknown, and therefore safe and quiet recess. two seals that were killed appeared to be of the same description as the species which frequents the sea-coasts. [ ] hawkesworth, voyages, i. . [ ] the stems of both from six to seven inches in diameter. [ ] this bird, although not rare in several english collections had never been noticed until i forwarded it to england in the early part of the year , when my friend mr. vigors described it in the zoological journal for the month of november (vol. iii. p. ), under the name of _mellisuga kingii_. shortly afterwards, m. lesson published it in his manuel d'ornithologie (vol. ii. p. ), as _ornismya sephaniodes_, as a discovery belonging to the coquille's voyage, in the illustrations of which it is figured at plate . [ ] sarmiento, p. . [ ] narborough's voyage, p. . [ ] except gun-room, second and third messes. [ ] except cabin, fourth and fifth messes. [ ] except cabin, sixth and seventh messes. additional notes by robert fitz-roy (a) by nassau island is meant the land forming the south shore of the second narrow.--r. f. (b) a kind of gun.--r. f. (c) while the 'current' runs eastward for many days in mid-channel, or along one shore, it often happens that the 'stream of tide' either sets in a contrary direction, along each side of the strait, or that it follows only the shore opposite to that washed by the 'current.'--r. f. (e) or the animal called by molina 'huemul.'--r. f. (f) thomas sorrell, now boatswain of the beagle ( ). he was boatswain of the saxe cobourg, when wrecked in fury harbour.--r. f. (g) campana, or bell mountain.--r. f. (h) i do not think the bay adjacent to cape horn is that which was named by d'arquistade 'st. francis,' and, if my supposition is correct, port maxwell is not the place which was called 'st. bernard's cove.' see second volume.--r. f. (k) sharp frosts sometimes occur.--r. f. (l) this was a remarkable instance of what i often observed afterwards in those regions, a kind of 'ignis fatuus,' which sometimes was stationary, like the light of a lanthorn, and at others suddenly flitting, like the flashes of pistols, at a distance. it was only seen upon the lower hills.--r. f. (m) each officer and man, when detached from the beagle during a night, carried a blanket, or large poncho (sewed up, and with a drawing-string, like a large bag), in which he slept, and found much comfort and warmth.--r. f. (n) like a roebuck; supposed to be the 'huemul' mentioned by molina.--r. f. (o) black-necked swan, noticed elsewhere by captain king.--r. f. (p) noticed previously by captain stokes.--r. f. (q) at the western entrance of the strait the water is said to be generally a few degrees warmer than at the eastern.--r. f. (r) por milagro (miraculously); as the inhabitants told me.--r. f. (s) i do not think that there is any opening at the bottom of keats sound; which lies at the base of a chain of snow-covered mountains, whose southern side i have closely traced.--r. f. (t) a kind of beech, found every where on these shores. the literal meaning of roble, is oak.--r. f. (u) native of chilóe.--r. f. (v) when moderately laden they are stiff under sail; and are not such very bad sea-boats, if properly managed.--r. f. (w) not since the first spanish conquest, perhaps.--r. f. (x) i believe that the natives who have canoes of the kind described above, do not go near the hermite islands, on which cape horn is situated.--r. f. (y) for evidence that indians have been thereabouts, see byron's account of the cave entered by the surgeon of the wager. i believe that curious place was either in, or close to, port otway.--r. f. (z) could 'plasta' refer to alexander campbell?--r. f. (a) pedro osorio died at san carlos in .--r. f. (b) or by an earthquake wave.--r. f. (c) during much of this cruise, lieutenant skyring was so ill that he was unable to leave the adelaide; and for a month he was confined to bed. his illness was caused by fatigue, and by sitting too long while constructing charts.--r. f. (d) mr. kirke was rather short-sighted, and therefore unable to discern distant objects clearly. from the natives of ponsonby land, between the otway and skyring waters, i procured, and gave to captain king, some short straight horns, and parts of the skins of animals, which were probably deer of the kind seen by mr. kirke, and, since that time, by mr. low, when he followed my track into the skyring water with his sealing vessel, the unicorn schooner.--r. f. (e) in otway bay, not far from landfall island, is a rock on which mr. low found fuegians living among a number of (apparently) tame seals. see second volume.--r. f. (f) and thence to the strait of le maire.--r. f. (g) see second volume for further remarks on this subject.--r. f. (h) mr. sorrell, formerly with mr. weddell, and since that time with mr. brisbane.--r. f. (k) five fathoms only were found in one spot during the beagle's last voyage.--r. f. [illustration] [illustration] * * * * * corrections made to printed original: errata et corrigenda:--" ", printed as "----" in original. page (in "these wigwams are thus constructed:"):--"constructed", printed as "constucted" in original. page (in "to the best account"):--"account", printed as "acccount" in original. page (top of column ):--" ", printed as " " in original. page (chionis alba):--" .", printed as " ." in original. page (achatina donellii, in "mus. nost."):--"mus.", printed as "must." in original. appendix header page (in "royal geographical society"):--"society", printed as "sociely" in original.