by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER VII
AN INDIAN ATTACK
One day when they returned from exploring a valley, Harry and hisbrother, taking their rifles, strolled down an open glade, while Diasand Jose unpacked the animals. They had gone but a hundred yards whenthey heard a sound that was new to them. It sounded like the gruntingof a number of pigs. Dias was attending to the mules. Harry and Bertiecaught up their guns. Presently a small pig made its appearance fromamong some trees. Harry was on the point of raising his gun to hisshoulder when Dias shouted, "Stop, do not shoot!"
"What is the matter, Dias?" he asked in surprise, as the latter ran up.
"That is a peccary."
"Well, it is a sort of pig, isn't it?"
"Yes, senor. But if you were to kill it, we might all be torn inpieces. They travel through the forests in great herds, and if one isinjured or wounded, the rest will rush upon its assailants. You mayshoot down dozens of them, but that only redoubles their fury. The onlyhope of escape is to climb a tree; but they will keep watch there,regardless of how many are shot, until hunger obliges them to retire.They are the bravest beasts of the forests, and will attack and killeven a lion or a tiger if it has seized one of their number. I beg youto stroll back quietly, and then sit down. I will go to the head of themules. If the herd see that we pay no attention to them, they may go onwithout interfering with us. If we see them approaching us, andevidently intending to attack, we must take to the trees and try tokeep them from attacking the mules; but there would be small chance ofour succeeding in doing so."
He and Jose at once went up to the mules, and stood perfectly quiet attheir head. Harry and Bertie moved closely up, laid theirdouble-barrelled guns beside them, and then sat down. By this timeforty or fifty of the peccaries had issued from the trees; some wererooting among the herbage, others stood perfectly quiet, staring at thegroup on the rise above them. Seeing no movement among them nor anysign of hostility, they joined the others in their search for food, andin a quarter of an hour the whole herd had moved off along the edge ofthe forest.
"Praise be to the saints!" Dias said, taking off his hat and crossinghimself. "We have escaped a great danger. A hunter would rather meet acouple of lions or tigers than a herd of peccaries. These littleanimals are always ready to give battle, and once they begin, fighttill they die. The more that are killed the more furious do the othersbecome. Even in a tree there is no safety. Many a hunter has beenbesieged in a tree until, overpowered by thirst, he fell to the groundand was torn to pieces."
"What do they eat?" Harry asked.
"They will eat anything they kill, but their chief food is roots. Theykill great numbers of snakes. Even the largest python is no match for aherd of peccaries if they catch him before he can take refuge in atree."
"Well, then, it is very lucky that you stopped us before we fired."
"Fortunate indeed, senor. By taking to the trees we might have savedour lives, but we should certainly have lost our mules. Both pumas andtigers kill the little beasts when they come across stragglers. And itis well that they do, for otherwise the woods would be full of them,though fortunately they do not multiply as fast as our pigs, havingonly two or three in a litter. They are good eating, but it is seldomthat a hunter can shoot one, for if he only wounds it, its shrieks willcall together all its companions within a mile round."
"Then we must give up the idea of having pork while we are among themountains."
"Now, are you going to keep me here all day, Dias?" Maria calledsuddenly. "It seems to me that you have forgotten me altogether."
Harry and Bertie could not help laughing.
Dias had, on returning to the mules, taken his wife and seated her on abranch six feet from the ground, in order that, should the peccariesattack them, he might be ready at once to snatch up his rifle and joinin the fight without having first to think of the safety of his wife.He now lifted her down.
The action did even more than what Dias had said to convince Harry ofthe seriousness of the danger to which they had been exposed, for as arule Donna Maria had scoffed at any offers of aid, even in the mostdifficult places, and with her light springy step had taxed the powerof the others to keep up with her. These offers had not come from Dias,who showed his confidence in his wife's powers by paying no attentionwhatever, and a grim smile had often played on his lips when Harry orhis brother had offered her a hand. That his first thought had been ofher now showed that he considered the crisis a serious one.
"I thought Dias had gone mad," she said, as she regained her feet. "Icould not think what was the matter when he began to shout and rantowards you. I saw nothing but a little pig. Then, when he came slowlyback with you and suddenly seized me and jerked me up on to that bough,I felt quite sure of it, especially when he told me to hold my tongueand not say a word. Was it that little pig? I saw lots more of themafterwards."
"Yes; and if they had taken it into their heads to come this way youwould have seen a good deal more of them than would be pleasant," Diassaid. "With our rifles we could have faced four lions or tigers with abetter hope of success than those little pigs you saw. They werepeccaries, a sort of wild pig, and the most savage little beasts in theforest. They would have chased us all up into the trees and killed allthe mules."
"Who would have thought it!" she said. "Why, when I was a girl I haveoften gone in among a herd of little pigs quite as big as those things,and never felt the least afraid of them. I must have been braver than Ithought I was."
"You are a good deal sillier than you think you are, Maria," Dias saidshortly. "There is as much difference between our pig and a peccary asthere is between a quiet Indian cultivator on the Sierra and one ofthose savage Indians of the woods."
"I suppose I can light a fire now, Dias. There is no fear of thosecreatures coming back again, is there?"
"No, I should think not. Fortunately they are going in the oppositedirection, otherwise I should have said that we had better stop herefor a day or two in case they should attack us if we came upon themagain."
The next day, as they were journeying through the forest, at the footof the slopes Jose gave a sudden exclamation.
"What is it?" Dias asked.
"I saw a naked Indian standing in front of that tree; he has gone now."
"Are you sure, Jose?"
"Quite sure. He was standing perfectly still, looking at us, but when Icalled to you he must have slipped round the tree. I only took my eyesoff him for a moment; when I looked again he was gone."
"Then we are in for trouble," Dias said gravely. "Of course it was oneof the Chincas. No doubt he was alone, but you may be sure that he hasmade off to tell his companions he has seen us. He will know exactlyhow many we are, and how many animals we have. It may be twenty-fourhours, it may be three or four days, before he makes his appearanceagain; but it is certain that, sooner or later, we shall hear of him.Hunters as they are, they can follow a track where I should seenothing; and so crafty are they, that they can traverse the countrywithout leaving the slightest sign of their passage. The forest mightbe full of them, and yet the keenest white hunter would see nofootprint or other mark that would indicate their presence."
"What had we better do, Dias?"
"We shall probably come to another stream before nightfall, senor. Thiswe will follow up until we get to some ravine bare of trees. There wecan fight them; in the forest we should have no chance. They would liein ambush for us, climb into the trees and hide among the foliage, andthe first we should know of their presence would be a shower of arrows;and as they are excellent marksmen, we should probably be all riddledat the first volley. There can be no sauntering now, we must push theanimals forward at their best speed. I will lead the way. Do you,senor, bring up the rear and urge the mules forward. I shall try andpick the ground where the trees are thinnest, and the mules can then goat a trot. They cannot do so here, for they would always be knockingtheir loads off."
It was evening before they arrived at a stream. Here they made a shorthalt while they
gave a double handful of grain to each of the animals,then they pushed on again until it was too dark to go farther.
"Will it be safe to light a fire, Dias?"
"Yes, that will make no difference. They are not likely to attack us atnight. Savages seldom travel after dark, partly because they are afraidof demons, partly because they would be liable to be pounced upon bywild beasts. But I do not think there is any chance of their overtakingus until tomorrow. The man Jose saw may have had companions close athand, but they will know that we are well armed, and will do nothinguntil they have gathered a large number and feel sure that they canoverpower us. They will probably take up the track to-morrow atdaylight; but we have made a long march, and can calculate that weshall find some defensible position before they overtake us. Jose and Iwill keep watch to-night."
"We will take turns with you, Dias."
"No, senor; my ears are accustomed to the sounds of the forests, yoursare not. If you were watching I should still have no sleep."
The night passed without an alarm.
An hour before daylight Dias gave all the animals a good feed of corn,and as soon as it was light they again started. They were already somedistance up the mountain, and after eight hours' travelling theyarrived at a gorge that suited their purpose. For two hundred yards therocks rose perpendicularly on each side of the stream, which was butsome thirty feet wide. No rain had fallen for some days, and the waterwas shallow enough at the foot of the cliff for the mules to make theirway among the fallen rocks, through which it rushed impetuously. At theupper end the cliffs widened out into a basin some fifty yards across.
"We cannot do better than halt here," Dias said. "In two or three hourswe can form a strong breast-work on the rocks nearly out to the middleof the stream, where the current is too swift for anyone to make hisway up against it."
"Are they likely to besiege us long, Dias?"
"That I cannot say; but I do not think they will give it up easily.Savages learn to be patient when roaming the forest in search of game.Their time is of no value to them; besides, they are sure to lose manyif they attack, and will therefore try to get their revenge."
"They may have to give it up from want of food."
Dias shook his head.
"There are sure to be plenty of fish in the river, and they will poisonsome pool and get an abundance. With their bows and arrows they canbring down monkeys from the trees, and can snare small animals.However, senor, we can talk over these things to-morrow. We had bestbegin the breast-work at once while Maria is cooking dinner, which weneed badly enough, for we have had nothing but the maize cakes we atebefore starting."
Working hard till it was dark, they piled up rocks and stones till theyformed a breast-work four feet high on both sides. Some twelve feet inthe centre were open. They had chosen a spot where so many fallen rockslay in the stream that it needed comparatively little labour to fill upthe gaps between them.
"I thought wood-chopping bad enough," Bertie said as they threwthemselves down on the ground after completing their labour, "but it isa joke to this. My back is fairly broken, my arms feel as if they werepulled out of the sockets, my hands are cut, I have nearly squeezed twonails off."
"It has been hard work," Harry agreed; "still, we have made ourselvesfairly safe, and we will get the walls a couple of feet higher in themorning. We shall only want to add to them on the lower face in orderto form a sort of parapet that will shelter us as we lie down to fire,so it won't be anything like such hard work. Then we will fill in therocks behind with small stones and sand to lie down upon."
"They will never be able to fight their way up to it," Dias said.
"We need have no fear on that score. The question is, can they get downinto this valley behind us; the rocks look very steep and in mostplaces almost perpendicular."
"They are steep, senor; but trees grow on them in many places, andthese savages are like monkeys. We shall have to examine them verycarefully when we have finished the wall. If we find that it ispossible for anyone to get down, we must go up the next gorge and seeif we can find a better position."
"I suppose you think we are safe for to-night, Dias?'
"I don't think they will try to come up through the stream. They havekeen eyes, but it would be so dark down there that even a cat could notsee. They will guess that we have stopped here, and will certainly wantto find out our position before they attack. One or two may come up asscouts, and in that case they may attack at daybreak. Of course two ofus will keep watch; we can change every three hours. I will take thefirst watch with your brother, and you and Jose can take the next."
"Jose had better sleep," Maria put in; "he watched all last night. Myeyes are as good as his, and I will watch with Don Harry."
Harry would have protested, but Dias said quietly:
"That will be well, Maria, but you will have to keep your tongue quiet.These savages have ears like those of wild animals, and if you were toraise your voice you might get an arrow in the brain."
"I can be silent when I like, Dias."
"It is possible," Dias said dryly; "but I don't remember in all theseyears we have been married that I have known you like to do so."
"I take that as a compliment," she said quietly, "for it shows at leastthat I am never sulky. Well, Don Harry, do you accept me as a fellowwatcher?"
"Certainly I shall be very glad to have you with me; and I don't thinkthat you need be forbidden to talk in a low tone, for the roar of thewater among the rocks would prevent the sound of voices from beingheard two or three yards away."
Accordingly, as soon as it became dark Dias went to the wall withBertie. Jose, after a last look at the mules, wrapped himself in ablanket and lay down.
"I think I had better turn in to the tent," Harry said; "we have hadtwo days' hard work, and the building of that wall has pretty nearlyfinished me, so if I don't get two or three hours' sleep to-night I amafraid I shall not be a very useful sentinel."
Five minutes later he was sound asleep, and when his brother roused himhe could hardly believe that it was time for him to go on duty.
"Dias is waiting there. Will you come down?" the latter said. "You weresleeping like a top; I had to pull at your leg three times before youwoke."
"I am coming," Harry said as he crawled out. "I feel more sleepy thanwhen I lay down, and will just run down to the stream and sluice myhead, that will wake me up in earnest, for the water is almost as coldas ice."
When he came back he was joined by Donna Maria, and, taking both hisshot-gun and rifle, he went forward with her to the barricade.
"So you have neither seen nor heard anything, Dias?"
"Nothing whatever, senor."
"I have had a good sleep, Dias; we will watch for the next four hours.It is eleven o'clock now, so you will be able at three to take it ontill daylight."
"I will send and call you again an hour before that," Dias said. "Ifthey attack, as I expect they will as soon as the dawn breaks, we hadbetter have our whole force ready to meet them."
So saying Dias went off.
"This is scarcely woman's work, Donna Maria."
"It is woman's work to help defend her life, senor, as long as she can.If I found that the savages were beating us I should stab myself. Theywould kill you, but they might carry me away with them, which would bea thousand times worse than death."
"I don't think there is any fear of their beating us," Harry said;"certainly not here. We ought properly to be one on each side, butreally I shirk the thought of wading through the river waist-deep atthat shallow place we found a hundred yards up; it would be bad enoughto go through it, worse still to lie for four hours in wet clothes."
"Besides, we could not talk then, senor," Maria said with a littlelaugh, "and that would be very dull."
"Very dull. Even now we must only talk occasionally; we shall have tokeep our eyes and ears open."
"I don't think either of them will be much good," she said; "I can seethe white water but nothing else, and I am
sure I could not hear anaked footstep on the rocks."
"It is a good thing the water is white, because we can make out therocks that rise above the surface. When our eyes get quite accustomedto the dark we should certainly be able to see any figures steppingupon them or wading in the water."
"I could see that now, senor. I think it will be of advantage to talk,for I am sure if I were to lie with my eyes straining, and thinking ofnothing else, they would soon begin to close."
Talking occasionally in low tones, but keeping up a vigilant watch,they were altogether hidden from the view of anyone coming up thestream, for they exposed only their eyes and the top of their headsabove the rough parapet. No attempt had been made to fill up the spacesbetween the stones, so that, except for the rounded shape, it would benext to impossible to make them out between the rough rocks of thecrest. Harry had laid his double-barrelled gun on the parapet in frontof him. He had loaded both barrels with buck-shot, feeling that in thedarkness he was far more likely to do execution with that weapon thanwith a rifle.
They had been some two hours on watch when Donna Maria touched his armsignificantly. He gazed earnestly but could see nothing. A minutelater, however, a rock about fifteen yards away seemed to change itsshape. Before, it had been pointed, but just on one side of the topthere was now a bulge.
"Do you see them?" Maria whispered. "I can make out one above therocks; the other is standing against the wall."
AN INDIAN SPIES THE EXPEDITION.]
There was no movement for two or three minutes, and Harry had no doubtthat they were examining the two black lines of stones between whichthe water was rushing.
"There are two others on this side, senor," Maria whispered.
The pause was broken by the sharp tap of two arrows striking on thestones a few inches below their heads.
"Well, you have begun it," Harry muttered.
He had already sighted his gun at the head half-hidden by the rock. Henow pulled the trigger, and then, turning, he fired the other barrel,aiming along the side of the canyon where the two men seen by hiscompanion must be standing. The head disappeared, and loud cries brokefrom the other side. The stillness that had reigned in the valley wasbroken by a chorus of shrieks and roars, and the air overhead thrilledwith the sound of innumerable wings. Harry on firing had laid down thefowling-piece and snatched up his rifle.
"Do you see any others?"
"Two have run away; the one against the rocks on the other side waswounded, for I saw him throw up his arms, and it was he who screamed.The man by him dropped where he stood; the one behind the rock iskilled, I saw his body carried away in the white water."
Half a minute later Dias and Bertie came up.
"So they have come, senor?"
"Yes, there were four of them. Your wife saw them, though I could onlymake out one. They shot two arrows at us, and I answered them. The manI saw was killed, and Donna Maria said that one on the other side alsofell, and another was wounded."
"That was a good beginning," Dias said. "After such a lesson they willattempt nothing more to-night, and I doubt whether they will come downin the morning. They can get sight of the barricades from that bend ahundred yards down, and I don't think they will dare come up when theysee how ready we are for them."
"Well, we will work out our watch anyhow, Dias. Now that I see howsharp Donna Maria's eyes are I have not the least fear of beingsurprised."
"I will stop with you," Bertie said; "I shall have no chance of goingoff to sleep again after being wakened up like that."
"If you are going to stop, Bertie, you had better go back and fetch ablanket, it is chilly here; then if you like you can doze off againtill your watch comes."
"There is no fear of that, Harry. I have been eight-and-forty hours ondeck more than once. I will warrant myself not to go to sleep."
In spite of this, however, in less than ten minutes after his returnBertie's regular breathing showed that he was sound asleep. Harry andMaria continued their watch, but no longer with the same intentness asbefore. They were sure that Dias would not have lain down unless hefelt perfectly certain that the Chincas would make no fresh move untilthe morning, and they chatted gaily until, at two o'clock, Dias came up.
"Everything is quiet here, Dias. My brother is fast asleep, but I willwake him now that you have come up."
"Do not do so, senor; he worked very hard building the walls today. IfI see anything suspicious I will rouse him. We may have work tomorrow,and it is much better that he should sleep on."
"Thank you, Dias! the fatigue has told on him more than on us; hisfigure is not set yet, and he feels it more."
He walked back to the tents with Maria.
"If you wake just as daylight breaks please rouse me," he said.
"I shall wake, senor; I generally get up at daybreak. That is the besttime for work down in the plain, and I generally contrive to geteverything done before breakfast at seven."
Harry slept soundly until he was called.
"The sky is just beginning to get light, senor."
He turned out at once. Jose was already feeding the mules.
"You had better come along with me, Jose, and bring that gun of yourswith you. If the savages do attack, it will be well to make a forcibleimpression on them."
Greatly pleased with the permission, Jose took up the old musket hecarried and accompanied Harry.
"What have you got in that gun, Jose?"
"The charge of buck-shot that you gave me the other day, senor."
"All right! but don't fire unless they get close. The shot will notcarry far like a bullet; but if fired when they are close it is betterthan any bullet, for you might hit half a dozen of them at once."
Jose had been allowed to practise at their halting-places, and thoughhe could not be called a good shot, he could shoot well enough to dogood execution at thirty or forty yards.
Bertie was still asleep.
"Everything quiet, Dias?"
"I have seen nothing moving since I came out."
"Now, Bertie," Harry said, stirring his brother up with his foot. "Allhands on deck!"
Bertie sat up and opened his eyes. "What is up now?" he said. "Ay,what, is it you, Harry, and Jose too? I must have been asleep!"
"Been asleep! Why, you went off in the middle of my watch, and Dias hasbeen on the look-out for over three hours."
"Oh, confound it! You don't mean to say that I have slept for over fivehours? Why didn't you wake me, Dias?" he asked angrily.
"Two eyes were quite enough to keep watch," Dias said. "I should havewaked you if I had seen anything of the savages. Besides, Don Harrysaid you might as well go on sleeping if nothing happened, and Ithought so too."
"I feel beastly ashamed of myself," Bertie said. "I don't want to betreated like a child, Harry."
"No, Bertie, and I should not think of treating you so; but you had hadvery hard work, and were completely knocked up, which was notwonderful; and you may want all your strength to-day. Besides, youknow, you would have been of no use had you been awake, for you couldhave seen nothing. Donna Maria's eyes were a good deal sharper thanmine, and I am quite sure that, tired as you were, Dias would have seenthem coming long before you would. We had better lie down again, for itwill be light enough soon for them to make us out. How far do theirarrows fly, Dias?"
"They can shoot very straight up to forty or fifty yards, but beyondthat their arrows are of very little use."
"Well, then, we shall be able to stop them before they get to thatravine."
Presently, as it became light, a figure showed itself at the turn ofthe ravine.
"Don't fire at him," Harry said; "it is better that they should thinkthat our guns won't reach them. Besides, if the beggars will leave usalone, I have no wish to harm them."
In a minute or two the figure disappeared behind the bend and two orthree others came out. "They think that our guns won't carry so far, orwe should have shot the first man."
For a quarter of an hour there were
frequent changes, until at leastfifty men had taken a look at them.
"Now there will be a council," Harry said as the last disappeared."They see what they have got before them, and I have no doubt theydon't like it."
"I don't think they will try it, senor," Dias said. "At any rate theywill not do so until they have tried every other means of getting atus."
Half an hour passed, and then Harry said. "I will stop here with mybrother, Dias, and you and Jose had better examine the hillsides andascertain whether there is any place where they can come down. You knowa great deal better than I where active naked-footed men could clamberdown. They might be able to descend with ease at a place that wouldlook quite impossible to me."
Without a word Dias shouldered his rifle and walked away, followed byJose. He returned in two hours.
"There are several places where I am sure the savages could come down.Now, senors, breakfast is ready; I will leave Jose here, and we will goand talk matters over while we eat. The tents are only a hundred yardsaway, so that if Jose shouts, we can be back here long before thesavages get up, for they could not come fast through that torrent."
"It seems to me," Harry said after they had finished the meal, "that ifthere are only one or two points by which they could climb down wecould prevent their doing so by picking them off; but if there aremore, and they really come on in earnest, we could not stop them."
"There are many more than that," Dias replied. "I made out certainlyfour points on the right-hand side and three on the left where I couldmake my way down; there are probably twice as many where they coulddescend."
"Then I should say that the first thing to do is to go up through thegorge above and see whether there is any place that could be betterdefended than this. If we find such a spot, of course we could move toit; if not, we shall have to settle whether to go up the gorge till weget to some place where the mules can climb out of it, or stay here andfight it out. By camping on the stream at a point where it could not beforded, and making a breast-work with the bales, stones, and so on, Ithink we could certainly beat off any attack by daylight, but I admitthat we should have no chance if they should make a rush during thenight."
"I will go at once," said Dias, "and examine the river higher up. If Ican find no place where the mules can climb, I am sure to be able tofind some spot where we could do so. But that would mean the failure ofour expedition, for we certainly could not go up the mountains,purchase fresh animals, food, and tools, and get down to the place weare looking for until too late."
"That would be serious, Dias, but cannot be counted against our lives.If there is no other way of escape from these savages, we mustcertainly abandon the animals and make our way back as best we can. Inthat case we must give up all idea of finding this gold stream. Thestar would not be in the same place again for another year, and eventhen we might not find it; so we must make up our minds to do our bestin some other direction. That point we must consider as settled. Ishould not feel justified in risking my brother's life, yours, yourwife's, and your nephew's, by remaining here to fight we know not howmany savages--for there may be many more than the fifty we saw thismorning, and they may in a day or two be joined by many others of theirtribe."
"I should not like to lose all the animals and go back empty-handed,"Dias said after a silence of two or three minutes, "unless it were alast resource."
"Nor should I, Dias; but you see, if we linger too long we may find itimpossible to retire, we may be so hemmed in that there would be nochance of our getting through. For the day of course we are safe. Thesavages will have to decide among themselves whether to give the matterup, seeing that they are sure to lose many lives before they overpowerus. Then, if they determine to attack us, they will have to settle howit is to be done. Numbers of them will go up to the top of the hills onboth sides and try to find a point at which they can make their waydown; others, perhaps--which would be still more serious--may gofarther up into the hills to find a spot where they could come down andissue out by the upper gorge, and then our retreat would be altogethercut off. All this will take time, so we may feel sure that no attackwill be made to-day."
"I will start up the river at once, senor. Certainly the first point tobe settled is whether we can find a more defensible spot than this, thesecond whether there is any way by which the animals can be taken up."
"There must surely be many points higher up where this can be done."
"Yes, senor, if we could get to them. But you saw we had difficulty inmaking our way through this gorge; there may be others higher up whereit would be impossible either for us or the animals to pass."
"I did not think of that. Yes, that must be so. Well, you had certainlybetter go at once. My brother will relieve Jose, and after the boy hasbreakfasted he can return to his post, and Bertie can join me. I thinkif I see the savages trying to find a path I will open fire upon them.I don't say I should be able to hit them, for the top of those hillsmust be eight or nine hundred yards' range, and it is not easy to hitan object very much above or very much below you; but it is importantthat they should know that our weapons carry as far as that; when theyhear bullets strike close to them they will hesitate about coming lowerdown, and unless they do come within two or three hundred feet from thebottom they cannot be sure of getting down."
Dias nodded. "That is a very good idea. Another cause of delay will bethat those at the top cannot see far down the rock on their own side,so they will have to start by guess-work. Each party must fix upon theeasiest places on the opposite side, and then go back again and changesides. I don't suppose they know any more of this place than we do.They always keep down in the plains, and it is only because they met usdown there that they have followed us so far. I believe they willfollow on as long as they think there is a chance of destroying us, forthey are so jealous of any white man coming into what they regard astheir country that they would spare no pains to kill anyone whoventured there. Now I will go, senor. You will keep near this end ofthe valley, in case there should be an alarm that they are coming upthe stream."
"Certainly; and my brother shall remain with Jose. With his rifle andthe two double-barrelled guns and Jose's musket they could hold theravine against anything but a rush of the whole tribe."
An hour later Harry saw a number of figures appear against the sky-lineon both sides. As they were clustered together, and would afford a farbetter mark than a single Indian, he took a steady aim at the party onthe southern hill and fired. He had aimed above rather than below them,as, had the ball struck much below, they might not hear it, whereas, ifit went over their heads, they would certainly do so. A couple ofseconds after firing he saw a sudden movement among the savages, and amoment later not one was to be seen. Donna Maria, who was standingclose by him watching them, clapped her hands. "Your ball must havegone close to them," she said, "but I don't think you hit anyone."
"I did not try to do so," he said. "I wanted the ball to go just overtheir heads, so that they should know that even at that distance theywere not safe. I have no doubt that astonishment as much as fear madethem bolt. They'll be very careful how far they come down the side ofthe hill after that. Now for the fellows on the other side."
But these too had disappeared, having evidently noticed the effectproduced upon the others. After a pause heads appeared here and thereat the edge of the crests. Evidently the lesson had impressed them withthe necessity for precaution, as they no longer kept together, and theyhad apparently crawled up to continue their investigations. Beyondkeeping a watch to see that none had attempted to descend the slopeHarry did not interfere with them. At times he strolled to thebreast-work, but no movement had been seen in that direction. In twohours Dias returned.
"The gorge above is a quarter of a mile through, and very difficult topass. It is half-blocked with great rocks in two or three places, andthere would be immense difficulty in getting the mules over. Beyondthat it widens again, but the extent is not more than half what it ishere. The walls are almost perpendicular, an
d I do not think that itwould be possible to climb them at any point. Farther up there isanother ravine. It is very narrow--not half so wide as this--and thestream rushes with great velocity along it. Two hundred yards from theentrance the rocks close in completely, and there is a fall of watersixty or seventy feet high."
"Well, that settles the point, Dias. We cannot get the animals outexcept by the way they came in. As for ourselves, we might climb up atsome point in this ravine, but not in the others."
"That is so, senor," Dias said. "The outlook is a bad one--that is tosay, we may now be unable to reach the gold river in time--but so longas we stay here we may be safe. We have plenty of provisions, we cancatch fish in the stream, and no doubt shall find birds in the bushesat the lower part of the slopes. I doubt whether the natives will darecome down those precipices at night. If they try to descend by day, wecan very well defend ourselves."
"The only question is, How long will it take to tire them out?"
"That I cannot tell. We know so little of the Chincas that we havenothing to go upon. Some savages have patience enough to wait for anytime to carry out their revenge or slay an enemy; others are fickle,and though they may be fierce in attack, soon tire of waiting, and areeager to return to their homes again. I cannot think that they willspeedily leave. They have assembled, many of them perhaps fromconsiderable distances; they have had two days' march up here, and havelost at least two of their comrades. I think they will certainly notleave until absolutely convinced that they cannot get at us, butwhether they may come to that decision in two days or a month I cannotsay."
