Part 4 (1/2)
But when he had reached this latter point of retrospection Marin, she appeared to have fallen into a deep sleep Before, however, his disappointment had found tian to speak in a low tone, as though soliloquising
”Yes,” she lea, with their ropes strained tight by the dew that has fallen heavily during the night; the peonsin the keen air as they make their preparations for the day's work; the horses andcheerily and the blue sht up in the still air Yes, and I see the two English at breakfast in their tents The elder man is tall and thin, with black hair touched here and there with grey, and a close-clipped , and wears brown boots reaching to the knee He is glancing through a little book as he eats, writing in it fro a whip in his hand, puts on a soft cloth cap and goes to the tent door He calls to one nales_ certain instructions, speaking sharply as though in anger
”Now the horse is brought, and the elder _Ingles_ h he were not accustomed to life in the saddle, and rides off, accos on them, also heavy hammers, axes, les_ also prepares to leave the cae instruments that are packed in boxes of polished wood But it is the elder _Ingles_ that Itoward a snow-clad peak that glea occasionally while his peons drive a stake into the ground where directed by hi a bare rocky slope so steep that scarcely ht a llales_ looks about hi the precipice until they co on a steep spur of the mountain They enter this wood and penetrate it for a considerable distance, the ground ever rising o Here the horse finds it so hard to keep his feet, and is in such constant danger of falling, that at length the rider dis, presses forward as though anxious to get to the other side of the wood, his peons following and whispering eagerly together They are encumbered with the various articles which they carry, and consequently cannot travel over that steep, loose ground so rapidly as the English whip and one of the poles with a flag on it, which he uses to help hiround, and he turns upon thereater exertion At first they answer nothing; but at length the strictures of the _Ingles_ goad the, but soon with such heat that he lifts his whip and strikes one of theh the bloere a signal, every peon flings from him his burden, and the whole of theround, the one as struck raising his h to split the skull of his enemy”
CHAPTER SIX
FOUND!
At this point Maled violently in an endeavour to wrench her hands out of Esob's grasp, crying that they were going to lishman, and that she would not remain to see it But the vision which she had thus far described was of so extraordinary a character, and ily with a sense of its reality and truth, that he was determined to follow up the clue as far as possible; he therefore resolutely retained his grip upon the old woman's hands, under the impression that, if he released them, the vision would pass, possibly beyond recall
But suddenly Cachah relieved of soreat fear
”Ah!” she exclaimed, ”they will not kill hi out that if the Englishain show their faces in the towns, for inforiven, and the Peruvian Corporation--who have elishman to do this work for theht to justice The others understand this at once, and agree that there shall be no lishman's hands and feet, so that he cannot escape; and now they are asking each other ill be best to do with hi, some another--now Jose, the man who prevented the murder, speaks--he proposes that the prisoner shall be carried to a certain place and there detained until the whole of their wages be paid them, after which they are to release their prisoner, and each lish on the proposal--yes, they have all agreed to it; and now they are releasing the Englishman's feet, in order that he may ith them, but his hands remain tied behind him, and one of the peons holds the end of the rope, to rasp hih and steep, and the going bad Theyan easterly direction--their progress is slow, for the English tied He declares that walking, under such circurily degles on, falling frequently despite the assistance of the two e from the wood on its far side and find theround
Now they reach the crest of the spur, and, passing over it, still travelling in an easterly direction, descend into the valley beyond until they reach thenorthward Here they pause in the shadow of an enorranite rock of very remarkable appearance, for it bears a most extraordinary resemblance to the head and neck of an Indian--I knoell; and a us it is called 'The Inca's Head' They sit down beneath this rock and proceed to eat and drink--for it is noo hours pasthis hands to enable him to feed himself Now thenorthward along the western bank of the strea ever deeper into the valley
The soil here is once rass--through which they leave a trail easy to follow--and dense , the valley grows dark, and the party prepare to caht; they have found a suitable spot, quite close to the river bank, and are lighting a large fire They eat and drink again Now they have finished, and are disposing the to remain awake for a certain time to watch the prisoner, until relieved by another ill perforht of daeeps down the steepthe prisoner awakes his fellows Again they eat and drink Now they have finished theirthe western bank of the streao with them as they plod on, hour after hour, until they reach a point where the streae of a shallow spot which enables the eastward up the slope of the valley, and at length they ereat plateau, thickly dotted with extensive clumps of bush, interspersed here and there ide belts of tih which they pass Forthe cluh the belts of forest trees, but all the while holding steadily toward the east Night coht, they eat and drink, and onceto watch the prisoner For a ti I know not, but it appears to be about an hour--this man remains faithful to his duty; but, as theheavily, the watcher's vigilance relaxes, he grows drowsy, his eyelids close, he dozes, awakes, dozes again, once more awakes, and finally succumbs to sleep
”Meanwhile the prisoner, who has to all appearance been sleeping heavily, has reuard is not over watchful, proceeds to strain stealthily upon his bonds, which, he has noticed, are not drawn quite so tight as usual Gradually he succeeds in loosening them to such an extent that eventually he is able to free one hand To free the other at once becomes easy, and, this done, the prisoner very cautiously raises himself sufficiently to assure hi Satisfied of this, he rolls hiently over and over, a few inches at a time, until he is outside the circle of his captors, when he rises to his feet and with infinite caution withdraws into the darkness, , he places between hi camp fire Hidden thus from his late captors, should any of them chance to awake andover his shoulder in fear lest he should be pursued; and in this manner he soon places a couple ofpeons He believes that he is now returning toward the caround which he has already traversed, and he hastens onward as fast as the uneven nature of the ground will perht is dark, the stars are obscured by heavyrain-cloud; there is therefore no beacon by which he can guide his footsteps, and, unsuspected by hi south-east And now the gathering storm breaks, the rain falls heavily, and in a few itive is drenched to the skin, and chilled to thedown froher Andes; yet he dares not take shelter from the storm, even in the recesses of a clump of scrub, for he fears that by dawn at the latest, his enenorant of the fact that the stors or experienced trackers--of which the peons have none--the fugitive is madly anxious to put as many gers, blindly and breathlessly, whipped by the pelting rain, buffeted by the furious wind, half-fainting already fro terror--I think that unless he is quickly rescued the Englishman will die”
Esob shuddered and hite to the lips Thisfootstep had been faithfully traced through Maift, was a remorseless tyrant in his petty way, so curiously constituted that his one idea of pleasure appeared to be theout of his way to do so, to such extent, indeed, that men had been heard to say bitterly that, as in the case of some noxious animal or reptile, the world would be the better for his death The young Englishman could recall without effort many an occasion when he had been so harassed and worried, and his existence so embittered by the ientle and kindly as was his disposition in general, believed he could have conte not far removed from equanimity Yet, now that the enerous instinct in the lad sprang at once to the surface, his one idea was to hurry to the rescue, and he cried eagerly:
”Tellhim in”
”Wait, _muchacho_, wait!” exclaimed Cachama impatiently ”Let me follow hirowing erratic, his ht, and he no longer has any clear knowledge of anything, the one conviction which haunts hi that he must press onward anywhere--no matter where--otherwise his pursuers will overtake him and put him to a terrible death Ah! now the dawn breaks, and the storlishman takes no note of this He see now, but runs on ai froly before hi beneath hi in saturated tatters to his body, which is streaked here and there with blood where the thorns have torn hiht Aha! the endnear, for see, the foarows a deeper crimson; he reels and stuain--and staggers onwards for a few yards-- now he is down again, falling with a crash--and, rolling over on his back with outstretched ar out of the corners of his asped Esob, his grievances all forgotten now, and his sense of pity stirred to its utterraphically painted by the words of the old Indian woman
”Nay,” answered Cachama, ”he still lives, for his chest heaves and he now and then gasps for breath; but his flight is ended, for the present at least, and if you would find him with the life still in his body you must surely hasten”
”But how shall I find hiht to where he lies; for should it be necessary for us to pick up his trail and follow that, he would be dead long ere we could reach him”
”Where is Arima?” demanded Cachama ”Let hi near to the old woman
”Then listen attentively, Arima, and mark hat I say,” commanded the Mama She spoke to hiue, of which Esob co what s of the spot where Butler lay exhausted and senseless, Ari here and there a word of comprehension as she went on Her description ended, she paused for a few seconds, then h Now let me awake, for I am old I have wandered afar, and the journey has wearied me”
Whereupon, after an interval of a minute or two, she slowly opened her eyes, stared about her vacantly for a little, and finally said: ”Ah, yes, I re, Senor Have you learned what you desired to know?”
”Yes, thanks,” answered Harry, ”always provided, of course, that-- that,”--he was about to say--”that your inforracious words--”that Arima can find the spot which you have described to him”
”Think you that you can find it, Arima?” demanded the old woman