by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XV
INVESTIGATIONS
Harry was relieved when, a few minutes later, Bertie's head appearedabove the edge, and directly afterwards he crawled over. "My arms havestrengthened ever so much with our work. I could have done it before,but it would have been hard work."
"Well, so far so good, Bertie. There is no doubt that it is one of thebest hiding-places in the world, and I am not a bit surprised that theSpaniards never found it. Now we will go back to the edge of the ravineand have a good look from that side."
As they went along he said, "Let us have a look at these bushes,Bertie. The soil is very thin about here, and I wonder that the treesgrew."
"These are pines," Bertie said, "and in the mountains we often sawpines growing among rocks where there did not seem a handful of soilfor them."
On examining they found several old stumps, and thrusting a ramrod downHarry found, to his surprise, that the soil was from three to four feetdeep. He tried again a little farther off, and found that it was twofeet; further still, it was only one.
"The tree must have stood in a hole in the rock," he said. "Try anotherone, Bertie." The same results were obtained. "That explains it, Bert.Evidently when they planted the trees to prevent this place from beingseen from the hills, they cut away the rock in circles about twelvefeet across and made cup-shaped holes, which they filled up with earth.When they planted the young trees I dare say at first they wateredthem. They could easily enough fetch water up from the stream. When thetrees got fairly rooted they would be able to leave them alone, perhapsgiving them a good watering once every two or three months. Wheneverthe rains came they would be able to give up watering altogether, forin these basins the earth would keep moist for a very long time. Itwould be a big job, but no doubt the king who built the place had allhis tribe at work on it. It is probable that the Incas had establishedthemselves at Cuzco for many years before they came down to this place,and the trees may not have been planted till their coming was firstheard of. In that case there would be plenty of time to hide the placebefore they came down and searched the shore. We know that the Chimoosresisted them for a considerable time before they were finallyconquered. Well, for whatever purpose this place was built it is one inwhich either the Chimoos or the Incas, if they ever found the place,would be likely to hide treasure, which is satisfactory. Now we willsit down here for a short time and watch both windows. You look at thetwo top lines, Bertie, and I will look at the two lower lines. Icertainly do not see any signs of life. That is how the water getsout," and he pointed to a roughly-shaped arch about twelve feet wideand as many high. Through this the little stream disappeared. "I expectthere is a similar passage at the other end."
"There may have been," Bertie said. "I was hanging so close to the wallthat there may very well have been one without my being able to see it.But it looks pitch-dark in there. If there were much of an opening weought to see the light, for, as we agreed, it can't be more than ahundred feet long."
HARRY DROPPED THE BARREL OF HIS RIFLE INTO THE PALM OFHIS LEFT HAND.]
"That is the first place we will investigate, Bertie. The question ofhow we are to get into the house wants some thinking over. That lowestwindow is a good twenty-five feet above the ground."
"Of course if we had a grapnel we could fasten it to the end of a ropeand chuck it in."
"We shall have to make something of that sort. If the window had beenon the other side instead of this it would have been easy enough,because I could have lowered you and slipped down the rope afterwards,but that arch sticking out so far on this side makes it impossible. Allthat we can do now is, as far as I can see, to lower ourselves down onto the top of that wall in the ravine, then go and examine the tunnel.We have got plenty of rope to lower ourselves from here on to the wall."
They watched the building for another twenty minutes. "I am convincedthat no one is there," Harry said. "I have not seen as much as a shadowpass any of the windows since. If people did live in it they wouldnaturally be on this side of the house, because the rooms here arebetter lighted and more cheerful, and no doubt they are the principalrooms, as the house narrows so much at the other end."
"Well, let us try it," Bertie said. "If there is a strong force here weshould only have to make a bolt back to that narrow staircase. We couldhold that against a whole tribe."
They rose and walked along the edge of the ravine till they were abovethe wall, then, fastening the rope to a stump, they slid down on to it.
"So far so good," Harry said, as, holding their rifles in their hands,they went down the steps. Then he suddenly stopped. "Hullo," heexclaimed, "here are two skeletons!"
They were not quite skeletons, for the bones were covered by aparchment-like skin, and there were still remains of the short skirteach had worn in life. A spear lay beside each. With difficulty thebrothers passed down without treading upon them.
"They must have been here a long time, Harry," Bertie said when theygot to the bottom.
"Any time," the other said. "In the dry air of these low lands there isscarce any decay. You remember those mummies we saw. I believe iron orsteel will lie here for years without rusting. They may have been herefor a couple of hundred years or more."
"I wonder what killed them, Harry?"
"I have no idea. You see, one was lying almost on the other with hisarms round his body, as if he had died trying to lift him up. If theyhad been shot by arrows they would still be sticking into them; if theyhad been killed by people pursuing them they would probably be lyingupon their backs, for they would naturally have faced round at the lastmoment to resist their pursuers, whereas there are no signs of injury.This settles the point that there is no one in the house. Had it beeninhabited, the bodies would have been removed from the path, for it isby this that people would go out and return. There may have been aladder down from the wall; the only other way they could have got outwould have been through that passage to the sea. A boat may have beenkept there; but even if that had been so, we should scarcely have foundthose bodies on the steps. Well, we shall have plenty of time to talkover that."
They walked across the open space until they approached the building.For a height of twenty feet it was constructed of stone, above that itappeared to be made of the great adobe bricks which had been so largelyused at Pachacamac, and in others of the old ruins they had seen.
"There is no question that it must have been built by the Chimoos orsome race before them," Harry said; "the Incas could have had nopossible reason for erecting such a place. Well, now for the tunnel."
The little stream only occupied two feet of the passage. They weretherefore enabled to walk down dry-foot.
"We ought to have brought a torch with us," Bertie said.
"I don't think we shall want that; there is a sort of thin blue light,the reflection of the light upon the water outside, though I don't knowwhy it should be so blue."
The reason was soon manifest. The passage sloped downwards, and whenthey had gone some fifty feet their progress was arrested by waterwhich appeared of a deep-blue colour.
"That is it," Harry said. "You see the roof comes down into the watertwenty feet off, and the light has come up under it. They sloped thispassage to make the water flow out below the surface of the sea, sothat the opening could not be seen from without. By the light I shouldnot say that the opening is more than six inches under the water. Idon't know how the tides are, but if it is high tide now, the top ofthe opening would be eighteen inches out of water at low tide, for, asyou know, the tide only rises about two feet on this coast. In thatcase a boat would be able to come in and out at low tide, but of coursea man wanting to come in or go out could easily dive under at any time.Well, that settles that point for the present. It was a clever plan;any amount of water could flow out in flood time, and yet no one whotook the trouble to come behind that ledge of rocks we saw would haveany idea that there was an opening. I think now that we had better goback, Bertie; in the first place because we can do nothing until weha
ve manufactured a grapnel of some sort, and in the next place becauseevery moment we delay will add to the anxiety of our friends in camp.We must have been away three hours, I should say."
They ascended the steps, fastened the short rope round a block at thetop of the wall across the ravine, and lowered themselves down. Theyhad to proceed with great care while making their way down the slopecomposed of rough and jagged rocks, Once at the bottom of the ravine,however, they walked briskly on. They had scarcely issued from theentrance when they saw a stir in the camp in the distance and heard ashout of delight, and then Dias dashed off to meet them at the top ofhis speed.
"Thanks to all the saints, senor, that you are safe! You do not knowhow we have suffered. We have prayed ever since you started, all of us.Once or twice I threw myself down in despair, but Maria chided me forhaving so little faith in God to keep you from evil, and cheered me bysaying that had harm come to you we should assuredly have heard thesound of your guns. Have you been in the castle?"
"No, Dias, we have not been in--for the good reason that we could notget in, because the only entrance is fully twenty-five feet from theground. We cannot enter until we have made some contrivance by which arope can be fixed there, or manufactured a ladder, which would be thebest way and save a lot of trouble, if we could get a couple of poleslong enough. We thought that we would come back when we had seen allthere was to be seen outside the place."
The Indian's face fell. "Then you do not know what is in the house,senor?"
"No; but we are certain that there is no one there, and that probablyno one has been there for the past two hundred years, and perhaps agood deal longer."
"And the demons have not interfered with you?"
"The demons knew better," Bertie laughed.
"They may not be powerful in the daytime," Dias said in an awed tone."It is at night that they would be terrible."
"Well, Dias," Bertie said, "everyone knows that the demons cannotwithstand the sign of the cross. All you have to do is to make a smallcross, hold it up in front of you and say, '_Vade retro, Satanas!_' andthey will fly howling away."
"Seriously," Harry said, "you know it is all bosh about demons, Dias."
"But the church exorcises evil spirits. I have seen a priest go withcandles and incense to a haunted house, and drive out the evil spiritsthere."
"That is to say, Dias, no spirits were ever seen there afterwards, andwe may be very certain that no spirits were ever seen there before,though cowardly people might have fancied they saw them. However,to-morrow we shall get inside, and Bertie and I will stop there allnight, and if we neither see nor hear anything of them you may be quitesure that there are none there."
"But the traditions say they have strangled many and torn them, senor;their bodies have been found in the daytime and carried off."
"It is quite possible that they were strangled and torn there, but youmay be sure that it was the work not of demons, but of the men who wereset to guard the place from intruders. Well, those men have gone. Wefound two skeletons, which must have been there at least a hundredyears, perhaps a great deal more. They were lying on the stairs, theonly way of getting into the place, and they would have been removedlong ago if anyone had been passing in or out."
By this time they had arrived at the camp. "I knew you would come backall safe, senors," Donna Maria said triumphantly; "I told Dias so overand over again. But what have you seen?"
"I see something now--or rather I don't see something now that I shouldlike to see," Bertie laughed. "I thought you would have got a gooddinner ready for me, but I do not see any signs of its being evenbegun."
The woman laughed. "I have been too busy praying, senor, and have beenkeeping up Dias's spirits. I never knew him faint-hearted before, andit really almost frightened me; but I will set about getting dinner atonce."
"No, no," Harry said; "we are really not hungry. We had a good mealbefore we started. So do you three sit down and I will tell you all wehave seen."
The three natives listened with intense interest. When he had done,Maria clapped her hands. "It must be a wonderful place," she said. "Iwish I had gone with you, I will go to-morrow if you will take me."
"Certainly we will take you, Maria; and I have no doubt that Dias willgo too."
"I will go as far as the place," said Dias, "but I will not promise togo in."
"I won't press you, Dias. When we have slept there a night I have nodoubt you will become convinced that it is quite safe. And now aboutthe ladder. We shall really want two to be comfortable--one for gettingup to the window, that must be made of wood; the other, which will beused for getting up and down the wall in the ravine, may be made ofropes. But I think that that had best be hung from the top of theravine above it, so as to avoid having to climb over those rough stonesat the foot, which are really very awkward. One might very well twistone's ankle among them."
"I will go at once, senor, and get the poles," Dias said. "You may aswell come with me, Jose. We passed a wood in the valley about fivemiles off; there we can cut down a couple of young trees. If we put thesaddles on two of the riding mules, when we have got the poles clear wecan fasten the ends to ropes and trail them behind us."
"We shall also want some of the branches you cut off, Dias. You hadbetter say thirty lengths of about two feet long, so that we may placethe rungs nine inches apart. You had better get poles thirty feet long,for we may not have just the height by a couple of feet."
The two natives at once rode off, and the brothers set to work tocollect sticks for the fire.
"It is too bad, senors, that this should not have been done while youwere away, but we thought of nothing but your danger."
"You were perfectly right, Maria; if we were in peril, you did the bestthing of all to obtain help for us. As to the dinner, there is no hurrywhatever for it. What have you got to eat?"
"There is nothing, senor, but a few of the fish we fried two days ago,and the ham that we smoked of that bear."
"I will take the line, then, and go down and try to catch some freshfish," Bertie said. "There is a good-sized pool about half-way betweenhere and the ravine. I might get some fish there."
"I will take my gun, Bertie, and go up to the bushes by the ravine, andsee if I can get a bird or two. There is no other shelter anywhereabout here."
In half an hour the lad brought a dozen fish into the camp. None ofthem were above half a pound, but they were nearly of a size.
"These will be very nice," the woman said with a smile as he handedthem to her. "I have thrown away the others. I do not think we driedthem enough; they were certainly going bad. I have heard your brotherfire several times, and as he does not often miss, I have no doubt hewill bring us something."
Twenty minutes later Harry was seen coming along. When he arrived hethrew down a large bunch of wild pigeons.
"There are ten brace," he said. "That will give us four apiece. I foundnothing in the bushes, but I suddenly remembered that when we wentacross from the ravine to the house, lots of wild pigeons rose from thesides of the rocks. We did not give them a thought at the time, ourattention being fixed upon the building. But when I got nothing above,I suddenly remembered them, and concluded that they had their nests inthe crannies of the rocks. So I walked along to the top, and as I didso numbers of them flew up. I shot a couple; most of the others soonsettled again, but some kept flying round and round, and in ten minutesI got as many as I wanted. Then of course I had to go down into theravine by the rope and the steps to gather them up. I returned the waywe did, by the rope we had left hanging from the top of the wall."
Maria was already at work on the birds. Taking them by the legs, shedipped them for a minute into a pot of boiling water, and as she tookthem out Bertie pulled off the feathers. Then she cut off the heads andfeet, cleaned them, and spitted them on Jose's ramrod, and, raking outa line of embers from the fire, laid the ends of the ramrod on twoforked twigs while she attended to the fish.
"But they will be done before the others
arrive," Bertie said.
"No, senor; there they come! They will be here in a quarter of an hour.The cakes are ready and hot, so we will lay the pigeons on them, andthey will be nicely flavoured by the time that we have eaten the fishand are ready for them."
Dias and Jose soon arrived at a gallop, with the long poles trailingbehind them and a fagot of short sticks fastened to each saddle.
"Those are capital poles, Dias," Harry said as he examinedthem--"strong enough for anything. We will chop notches in them for therungs to lie in. There will be no fear then of their shifting, whichthey might do if the lashings stretched. Now, we have got a capitaldinner just done to a turn, so you see we have not been lazy while youwere away.
"You see," he said, after they had finished breakfast, "my shooting hasquite settled the point that no Indians are in the castle. If there hadbeen they would certainly have come to the windows to see who wasfiring. I kept an eye on the castle between each shot, and saw no signsof any movement. It is a capital thing that so many pigeons live amongthe rocks. If we content ourselves with say five brace a day, they willlast us a long time, and will be a change from salt and dried meat,which we should otherwise have to depend upon, for we cannot be sendingaway for fresh meat two or three times a week. We can get fish, thoughI don't suppose that will last very long, for the pool will soon befished out, and I don't think that there is water enough in otherplaces for fish of that size."
"We can get them from the sea, Harry. We have got plenty of large hooksand lines, which we used on the other side of the mountains. If any ofthe window openings on that side are large enough, we can let down thelines from there. If not, we can do it from the top where I went down."
"I should not like that," Harry said. "One might slip on that shortgrass."
"Well, one could dive out through the passage and sit on that ledge ofrocks, and fish either inside them or in the sea outside."
"Yes, we might do that, Bertie, and certainly it would be a first-ratething if we could get plenty of fish. It would keep us in good healthand make a nice change. I think to-morrow morning, Dias, we had betterfix our camp close up to the mouth of the ravine. Out here in the openvalley we can be seen from the hills, and if anyone caught sight of theanimals, it would very soon get talked about, and we should have aparty down here to see who we were and what we were about."
"Yes, senor, that would be much better. I should not have liked to gonearer this morning; but now that you have been there twice, and havereturned safely, I am ready to move."
"It would certainly be better; besides, it would save us a couple ofmiles' walk each time we wanted a meal. However, when we once set towork I have no doubt we shall establish ourselves in the castle. Ofcourse one of us will come down morning and evening to see to theanimals."
As soon as the meal was finished they set to work to make the ladder. Ashort stick was cut as a guide to the space that was to be left betweenthe rungs. Bertie and Jose marked off the distances on the two poles,and Dias and Harry with their axes cut the grooves in which the stickswere to lie. Then the poles were laid a foot apart, and the work ofpressing the sticks into their places began. They agreed that the ropesshould not be cut up, as they would be wanted for fastening on theloads whenever the mules went to fetch food or powder. Two of thehead-ropes were used on each side, and a firm job was made.
"When you go, Dias, for the powder and so on, you must get anothersupply of rope. We shall want a longer ladder than this in the ravine,and also a rope to lift powder and firewood and so on into the castle,and perhaps for other things that one does not think of at present.Tomorrow we will unfasten the cord by which we descended to the wall,as we shall not want to use that in future. I think to-morrow, when wego to the castle, as you and Jose do not mean to accompany us, youmight take your axes and cut down a lot of those stumps among thebrushwood, split them up, and pitch them into the courtyard of thecastle. It would be well to lay in a good stock of firewood. We shallwant it for cooking and lighting of an evening. We have only one or twotorches left, and we shall want a cheerful fire."
"I may go with you to-morrow, may I not?" Maria said.
"Certainly you may, if you wish."
"I should like to," she said. "In your company I sha'n't be a bitafraid of demons; and I want to see the place."
"That is right, Maria, and it shows at any rate that your curiosity isstronger than your superstition."
"If Maria goes I will go," Dias said. "I don't like it; but if she wentand I didn't I should never hear the last of it."
"Very well," Harry said with a laugh, "I do think she would have thebetter of you in the future if you didn't. So you see you will be bothconquering your superstitions--she, because her curiosity is greater;you, because you are more afraid of her tongue than you are of thedemons."
"A woman never forgets, senor; if she once has something to throw up ina man's teeth it comes out whenever she is angry."
"I suppose so, Dias. Bertie and I have had no experience that way, butwe will take your word for it."
The next morning they moved the mules and all their belongings to theextreme end of the valley. Then they had an early breakfast. Jose tookup his axe and the others their arms; the former turned back for thepoint where he could climb the hill. Dias and Harry took the heavy endof the ladder, Bertie the light one, and they started up the ravine.Maria followed with a store of bread that she had baked the day before.It was hard work carrying the ladder up the rocks at the foot of thewall. When it was securely fastened there, they mounted and dragged itup to them.
When they came out into the open space there was a pause. "It is, asyou said, a strange place, senor."
"It is, Dias, an extraordinary place; and if the people who built itwanted, as I suppose they did, to avoid observation, they could nothave chosen a better. When those trees were growing it would have beenimpossible to catch sight of them without coming down the ravine."
"It looks very still," Dias said in a doubtful voice.
"That is generally the case when a place is empty, Dias, Now let us goon at once and get the ladder up."
As soon as the ladder was in position Harry mounted, closely followedby Bertie. Dias hesitated; but a merry laugh from his wife settled thepoint, and he followed with an expression of grave determination on hisface. As soon as he was on the ladder his wife followed him with alight step.
As Harry reached the top, he found that the sill of the window was twofeet and a half above the floor of the apartment. He stepped down andthen looked round. The room occupied the whole width of the house, andwas some twenty feet wide. Four rows of pillars ran across it,supporting the roof above. The ends of the room were in semi-darkness.It was not above ten feet in height. There were rude carvings on thepillars and the walls.
By the time he had made these observations the others had joined him."I see people there," Dias said, in an awed voice, pointing to one endof the room. Harry dropped the barrel of his rifle into the palm of hisleft hand. After gazing two seconds he placed it on his shoulder,saying, "There are people, Dias, but they won't do us any harm;" and hewalked in that direction. Two figures lay on the ground; four otherswere in a sitting position, close to each other, against the end wall.Some bows and arrows and spears lay near them. All were dressed in agarment of rough cloth. Harry walked up to one and touched it on thehead with the muzzle of his gun. As he did so it crumbled away; thebones rattled on the stone floor as they fell. Donna Maria gave alittle cry.
"They are dead!" she exclaimed. "They must have been dead years andyears ago."
"Two or three hundred, I should think. Your legends are evidently true,Dias. There was a party left here to keep strangers from entering thisplace. Now, before we go farther, let us think this out. We will sitdown on the ledge of the window. But before we do so, take a good lookat their arms and skulls, Dias. You have often been with travellers tothe ruins; let us hear what you say."
Dias, who was now assured that he had only to deal with human beings,examined t
hem carefully, looking at the ornaments that still hung roundtheir necks, and then said: "They are not the old people, senor; thesewere Incas."
"That is an important point; now let us see how this is to beexplained. Now," he said, as they sat down, "it is clear that the Incasdid know this building. They may have discovered treasures here or theymay not; but it would certainly seem that they were as anxious as theChimoos had been to keep its existence a secret, and it is certain thatthey must have had some interest in doing so. We have reason to believethat the Spaniards at least did not know of it. There is no doubtwhatever that these men were not killed in fight; on the contrary,their sitting position proves that they died quietly, and probably atthe same time. We see no signs of food; we may find some as we searchthe place. If we do not, we must take it that they either died from anoutbreak of some epidemic or from hunger. And it is quite probable thatthe two skeletons on the steps were two of their companions who weregoing out to seek for food, and that they fell from weakness; oneclearly died in the act of trying to lift the other. What do you thinkof that, Dias?"
"I think that what you say is likely. But why should they have diedfrom hunger?"
"It is probable that others were in the secret, and were in the habitof bringing provisions to them, and perhaps of relieving them atcertain periods. We know that there were fierce battles in the earlytimes of the Spaniards. In one of these battles the whole of those whowere acquainted with the secret may have fallen. Or it may have beenearlier after the conquest had been completed, when the Spaniards drovetens of thousands of men to work as slaves in the mines. The peoplehere may have remained at their post, hoping for relief until it wastoo late. Two of the strongest may have started at last, but have beentoo weak to climb the steps, and died there. Their comrades may havenever known their fate, but have sat down to die here, as you see. Ishould think it probable that the second of my suggestions is likely tobe the right one, and that this did not take place until perhaps ahundred years after the arrival of the Spaniards, otherwise thoselegends of men who came near this place being killed would never havebeen handed down. If all this is as I suggest, either the Incas knewthat the Chimoos had buried treasure here, or they themselves buriedsome, although, as you say, there is no tradition of treasure havingbeen taken here. But it is possible that that treasure ship, whichundoubtedly sailed from some place along the coast and was never againheard of, really came here; that her treasure was landed, and thevessel then destroyed. In either case, there is strong reason for hopethat there is treasure somewhere in this castle if we can but find it."
"We will find it," Bertie said confidently. "What you say must be true.These Indians would never have been fools enough to sit here and diewithout some good reason for it. Well, I vote that before we doanything else we clear these bones out."
"We can do that the first thing to-morrow morning, Bertie. We can'tjust throw them out of the window. The bones are of men who died doingtheir duty to their country. We will leave them as they are to-day, andto-morrow we will bring up one of the big leather bags, place the bonesin it, and take them down into the valley and bury them."
"Then you won't sleep here to-night, Harry?"
"No; I have not a shadow of superstition, but I do not think it wouldbe lively here with those things at the end of the room. Now, let uslook about a bit.
"This was evidently the great hall of the place; do you not think so,Dias?"
"Yes, senor; the house gets narrower as it nears the sea. This is byfar the best lighted room on this side. No doubt the rooms on thisfloor were the abode of the chief who built it, and his principalfollowers; the others would be above."
"Well, we will light the two torches. Yes, there is no doubt that thiswas the room. You see there are brackets against all the pillars forholding torches. Before we go farther we will see what they are madeof."
He took his knife out of his pocket and went up to one of the brackets,which consisted of bars of metal an inch and a half square and eighteeninches long. They widened out at the end, and here was a round holeabout two inches in diameter, evidently intended to put the torch in.The metal was black with age. He scraped a few inches off one of themwith his knife. "Silver!" he exclaimed. "It would have been better ifthey had been gold. But as there are four on each pillar, and twelvepillars, they would make a tidy weight. That is a good beginning,Bertie. If they are the same in all the rooms there would be severaltons of it."
There was but one door to the room; through this they passed. Dias, nowthat there was some explanation for what he considered the work of thedemons, had a more assured air. One passage led straight on; two othersran parallel to the wall of the room they had left.
"We will examine these first," Harry said. "It is likely enough theylead to the stairs to the lower room. There must be two floors belowus, one above the level of the top of the tunnel, the other below thatmust be divided in two by it."
As they advanced into the passage there was a strange and suddenclamour, a roaring sound mingled with sharp shrieks and strange littlepiping squeaks. Maria ran back with a shriek of alarm, and there was astrange rush overhead. The torches were both extinguished, and Harryand his brother discharged their rifles almost at the same moment. Diasburst into a shout of laughter as they both dropped their weapons andswung their double-barrelled guns forward. "What on earth is it, Dias?"
"It is bats and birds, senor. I have seen them come out of caves thatway many times. I dare say the place is full of bats. The birds wouldonly come into rooms where there is some light."
Turning round they saw quite a cloud of bats flying out through thedoor.
"Confound it!" Harry said. "They have given me the worst fright I everhad in my life."
They went back to the room, they had left. Both Harry and Bertie hadlost every tinge of colour from their faces.
"I am very glad, Harry," Bertie said, with an attempt at a laugh, "thatyou were frightened. I was scared almost out of my life."
Maria had thrown herself down on her face.
"Ah, senors," Dias said triumphantly, "you thought they were demons!"
"I did not think they were demons, Dias, but what they were I could nottell you. I never heard any such sound before. I am not ashamed to saythat I did feel badly frightened. Now, see to your wife, Dias."
"There is nothing to be afraid of, Maria. What are you lying there for?"
The woman raised herself slightly. "Are you alive?" she said in a dazedway.
"Alive? of course I am! You don't suppose I am going to be frightenedat a lot of bats? There, look at them, they are still streaming out."
"It is all right, Maria," Harry said. "You have had a fright; and sohave Bertie and I, so you need not be ashamed of yourself. It is allvery well for Dias to laugh, but he says he has seen such thingsbefore."
"If you were afraid, senor, I need not be ashamed that I was; I reallydid think it was the demons."
"There is no such thing, Maria; but it was as good an imitation of themas you are ever likely to see."
"I was in a horrible funk, Maria," Bertie said, "and I am only justgetting over it; I feel I am quite as pale as you. What are you lookingso pleased about, Dias?" he asked almost angrily.
"I am pleased, senor, now I have got even with Maria. The first timeshe says to me 'demons', I shall say to her 'bats'."
"Now, let us start again," Harry said as they all laughed. "But insteadof going down, we will go upstairs. I have not pulled myself quitetogether yet, and I don't suppose you have."
"No, my knees are quite wobbling about, and if I saw anything, Icertainly could not aim straight just at present. And it's rum; we hadthe main-mast struck by lightning off the Cape one voyage I made, and Idid not feel a bit like this."
"I dare say not, Bertie. We all feel brave in dangers that we areaccustomed to; it is what we don't know that frightens us. We will sithere on the window-sill for another five minutes before we move again.Jose, you have got some pulque in your gourd, I suppose?"
"Yes, senor."
"Then we will all take a drink of it. I don't like the stuff, but justat present I feel that it won't come amiss at all."
Some of the spirit was poured into a tin mug they had with them, andmixed with water, with which they had filled their water-bottles fromthe stream before starting.
