Year: 1875

banging away overhead, but that died
away by degrees, and there was 81
lence as il the world mad Just been
created and no life come into il vet.
All that night we stumbled along
I the bottom OF the ravine like men
/ cropping in a tunnel, sitting down eT-
cry now and then to rest but when
/ day came we saw the rocks on
each side getting lower and lower and
the great black pit spreading out


broader and shaliOwer, till at last,
listle after sunrise, we came out into
the forest again. But inst then the
niger sat down and put his hand TO
his side.


"Eo can go farther, senor ~
i ran up to him, and blest IL be
l hadn't got big bullet wound in his
side from last nights scrimmage, and
/ the brave fellow had actually dragged
on all night without saying q word
about it, lest he should keep Us back
/ sat down and took his head on my
knee, and he died as quietly as .
child; and we covered him with leaves
and left him lying there in the bright


morning sunshine, and went forward
on our weary tramp again.
1 II was IAlAn CNCl uOMa
| for we had eight loads among six


men, and already could see one of


the Spanisrds beginning to stagger,


and the old Indian trembling like 3


leaf. Then q horrible kind Of fear


erept over me that We should keen


on dropping that way, man after man,


till there was only one left and then
but at that thought threw up my


arms and gave q sort of yell like q


man starting up from q bad dream.


But Seth punched me In the ribs with


his elbow, and whispered.


Ssh /! don't frIghten the rest"


And set nay teeth and choked it


down.


1t may have been an hour or two


after thIs-I was beginning to lose all


count of time nOw-that Seth, who


had got little ahead or the rest, sud-


denly sang out


"Hurrah ="


! We all looked up.


"Here's s0methin' civilized at last,
by hee-cake % says he. "Guess we've
struck the right trick without knowin'
il. Look here"


Just in front of US was gully about


forty feet deep, through which ran a
small stream, and across it lay a


bridge-not one of the rope bridges
you see in Lower Peru, but good solid


wood-twO long beams from bank to


bank, with crOss-pieces Iashed to
them, just like sleepers on a railway.
Then we all shouted at once and
stepped out to cross it but, all in q
moment, the poor old Indian, who
was one of the hindmost, lHrched
over the edge, and went slap down in
to the water, and the gold be carried
just sunk him like q stone. Whether
he'd got hurt in the flight too, or
whether he was just tired and dizzy
like the rest of US, I can't ssy-but
down he went, and we never saw him
more. So now we were cut down to
five, and had lost our guide into the
bargain.


"Thst's a bad job" says Seth ;
"but never mind, boys-we must jest
steer by the light Of natur' now.
Whar thar's bridge like that, thar
ought to be trail somewhar"


Sure enough there was q trail, and
we tried to follow it, but we soon
lost it again, and tramped on all day
at haphazard, trying to steer by the
sun.


Towards evening we halted to eat
and then pushed on again hot foot,
for that was the last of our prOvis-
ions.


Just as the moon rose we came up
on a gully with bridge across it, and
there we all stopped and looked at
each other look shall never forget.
It was the same bridge that we had
crossed before


That minutes one OF the things
never like to think Of There we were
lost in a tropical forest, our guide
gone, every man of us as weak as
child, and not morsel of food left


"Well, boys,n says old Seth (who
was our mainstay throughout),
"we're in kind of q fix, thar amt
no denyin' it. Meow L calclate this
bridge amt been long built by the
look of it, and so, instead o'goin'
lOsin' ourselves outer everybody's
way, guess We'll just stick here till
some party picks US up-it won't be
long, reckin. That's my idee how
does it strike yew ?


We all agreed at once and, indeed,
we were too far gone now for any more
marching. SO we sat down there for
three days, bearing it as we'll as we
could, and trying to shoot game be-
tween whiles. But our eyes were too
dim, and our hands too shakY, for
that: and the birds and monkeys
scurried past, chattering and scream
ing as if in mOckery. Aud at last We
couldn't keep it off any longer, and it
came.


mr. Co.,,f,-a, J;o1 e. - -
wonder, poor fellows, for though some
of them are as brave men as ever
stepped, they havn't the pith and f.
Der of an Englishman. The POrtngese
held out longer, for he had the heart
of lion, but at last he went too, and
Seth aud l were alone.


"Seth," says l, "let's bury these
poor fellows while we can for if
they are left lying here, and our hum
ger gets worse we might be driven to
you knOWi"


So we wrapped the poor fellows in
their blankets, with a heavy stone in
each, and rolled them over the edge
of the Tayine down into the water.
We buried the gold too, and marked
the spot, in case anything should
turn up to save us at the last; and
then we lay down again, as if we had
nothing left to do but to die.


And after that everything seems
blurred and haZy, like an ugly dream.
The trees and the rocks and the sky
seemed to go round and round in q
whirl, and old Seth stood up as tall as
a steeple, and great black things
came out of the bushes and made faces
at me; and then was sitting under
the old tree in the churchyard at
home, and heard my old mothers
voice who's been dead this five and
twenty years. as plain as print; till
all at once there were mems voices
all around US, and 1 felt somebody
lifting my head and pouring some-
thing into my mouth, and then faint
ed right off.


We had been picked up by party
back from the mines, and
they carried us down with them to
africa and when we got around
again we went back and dug up the
gold, aud gave q Jumping lot of it to
the wives and children of the poor
fellows that bad died for Us.


But when got back after that last
weeks work my hair was quite gray
-as gray as you see it now. And
that's ali the story.