Year: 1875

ed as II that letter had gone to the right
address. And then, for few minutes,
it was just fash flash bang, bang! like
fire work-Seth and keeping 'em IN
play while the rest slid down one by,
one. And mighty ugly work it was, too,
| can tell yeu, blazing away in the dark
with nothing to aim at and hear the bull
lets come rattling about yon without
ever seeing who sent them. But the
rope was soon clear and then Seth stuck
up the dead nigger against tree, with
his gun across the fork of it, that they
might see the CLINT of the barrel, and
think we were still on the watch. Then
he slid down and | after him.
The first thing we did was to take the
gold out of the poor old nigger's pack
and part it among us. The rest of the
! things we threw away, rs We had thrown
away our tools long before (for our only
chance now was to march as light as
possible), and then we set forward along
the gully. For some time we could hear
the rascals banging away overhead, but
that died away BY degrees, and there
was silence as if the world bad Just
| been created and no life come into it
| yet.


All that night we stumbled along the
bottom OF the ravine like men cropping
in tunnel sitting down every 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 shallower till at last, a
little after sunrise, we came out into the
forest again. But just then the other
niggef sat down and put his hand to his
side.


No can go farther, senor!"
| ran up to him, and blest if he 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 Il 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.
1t was harder than ever for us now,
| for we had eight loads among six men,
and already could see one of the Span
Iards beginning to stagger and the old
| Indian trembling like leaf. Then n
horrible kind Of fear crept over me that
we should keep 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 sort of
yell like man starting up from bad
dream. But Seth punched me in the ribs
with his elbow, and whispered:


"Sh! don't frighten the rest"
And l set my teeth and choked it
| down.
| II may havesbeen an hour or two after
this-I was beginning to lose all count
OF time now-that Seth, who had got u
little ahead of the rest, suddenly sang
out:


Hurrahr'


We all looked up


Here's somethin' civilized at last, by
hoe e-cakep says he "Guess we've struck
the right track without KNOWN it, Look
here"


Just in front of US was q gully about
forty feet deep, through which ran a
small stream, and across it lay 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 lashed to them, just like the
sleepers on q railway. Then we all
shouted at once and stepped out to cross
| it; but, all in a moment. the poor old In
| dian, who was one of the hindmost,
lurched over the edge, and went slap
down into the water, and the gold he
carried Just sunk him like a stone.
| Whether he'd got hurt in the fight too,
or whether he was just tired and dizzy
like the rest of us, can't say-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.


"That's bad job" says Seth; "but
never mind, boys-we must jest steer by
the light of natur' now. Whar thar's u
bridge like that thar oughter be trail
somewhar."


Sure enough there was a trail, and we
tried to follow it, but we soon lost it
! az ain, and tramped on all day at hap
hazard trying to steer by the sun.
Toward evening we halted to eat, and
then pushed on again hot-foot, for that
was the last of our provisions.
| just as the moon arose we came upon
a gully with bridge across it, and there
we all stopped dead and looked at each
other-a look l shall never forget. 1t
was the same bridge that we had crossed
twelve hours before.


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


Well, boys" says old Seth (who was
our main stay throughout, "we're in n
kind of fix; thar amt no denyin' it,.
Naow, | calclate this bridge amt been
long built by the look of it, and so, in
stead o. goin losin' ourselves outer
/ eveTybody's way, guess we'll just stick
here till some party picks us up-it
won't be long, reckon. That's my
idee; how does it strike yewY"


We all agreed at once; and, indeed, we
we're too far gone now for any more
marching, So we sat down there for
three days, bearing it as well as we could,
and trying to shoot game between whiles.
But our eyes were too dim and our
hands too shaky for that; and the birds
and monkeys scurried past, chattering
and screaming as if in mockery. And at
last we couldn't keep 1t oil amy longer
and it came.


The Spaniards died first, and no won.
der poor fellowsl for, though some of
them are as brave men as ever stepped,
they haven't the pith and fiber of an


Englishman. The Portigee held out


longer, for he had the heart Of lion


but at last he went too and old Seth and


| were left alone.


"Seth," says |, "let's bury these poor


fellows while we can for if they're left
lying here, and our hunger gets worse


we might be driven tO-you known





their blankets, with a heavy stone tc


each, and rolled them over the edge Of


the ravine 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; AMI then we lay dowI
again, as if we had nothing left to do bu
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 awhirl
and old Seth stood up as tall as steeple
and great black things came out of th,
J bushes and made faces at me; and then


was sitting under the old tree in tn
chuTchyard at home and heard my OLE
mothers voice who's been dead this nv,
and twenty years. as plain as print, I'll


all at once there were mems faces an'
mems voices all around US and fel
, somebody lifting my head and pouring
} something into my mouth, and then


tainted right OFF