"Mebbe," said Rodrigo, "if you knew the down-south Bolivians as well as
I do, you would not respect them a great deal. Fact is, boys, there is
little to respect them for.
"Brave? Well, if you can call slaves brave, then they're about as
bully's they make 'em.
"I have mentioned the inland sea called Lake Titicaca. Ah, boys, you
must see this fresh-water ocean for yourselves! and if ever you get
married, why, take my advice and go and spend your honeymoon there.
"Me married, did you say, Mr. Bill? It strikes me, sir, I know a trick
worth several of that. Been in love as often as I've got toes and
fingers, and mebbe teeth, but no tying up for life, I'm too old a
starling to be tamed.
"But think, _amigo mio_, of a lake situated in a grand mountain-land,
the level of its waters just thirteen thousand feet above the blue
Pacific.
"Surrounded by the wildest scenery you can imagine. The wildest, ay,
boys, and the most romantic.
"You have one beautiful lake or loch in your Britain--and I have
travelled all over that land of the free,--I mean Loch Ness, and the
surrounding mountains and glens are magnificent; but, bless my buttons,
boys, you wouldn't have room in Britain for such a lake as the mighty
Titicaca. It would occupy all your English Midlands, and you'd have to
give the farmers a free passage to Australia."
"How do you travel on this lake?" said Dick Temple.
"Ah!" continued Rodrigo, "I can answer that; and here lies another
marvel. For at this enormous height above the ocean-level, steamboats,
ply up and down. No, not built there, but in sections sent from America,
and I believe even from England. The labour of dragging these sections
over the mountain-chains may easily be guessed.
"The steamers are neither so large nor so fine as your Clyde boats, but
there is a lot of honest comfort in them after all.
"And terrible storms sometimes sweep down from the lofty Cordilleras,
and then the lake is all a chaos of broken water and waves even houses
high. If caught in such storms, ordinary boats are speedily sunk, and
lucky are even the steamers if shelter is handy.
"Well, what would this world be, I wonder, if it were always all
sunshine. We should soon get well tired of it, I guess, and want to go
somewhere else--to murky England, for example."
Rodrigo blew volumes of smoke before he continued his desultory yarn.
"Do you know, boys, what I saw when in your Britain, south of the Tweed?
I saw men calling themselves sportsmen chasing poor little hares with
harriers, and following unfortunate stags with buck-hounds. I saw them
hunt the fox too, men and women in a drove, and I called them in my own
mind cowards all. Brutality and cowardice in every face, and there
wasn't a farmer in the flock of stag-hunting Jockies and Jennies who
could muster courage enough to face a puma or even an old baboon with a
supple stick in its hand. Pah!
"But among the hills and forests around this Lake Titicaca is the
paradise of the hunter who has a bit of sand and grit in his substance,
and is not afraid to walk a whole mile away from a cow's tail.
"No, there are no dangerous Indians that ever I came across among the
mountains and glens; but as you never know what may happen, you've got
to keep your cartridges free from damp.
"What kind of game? Well, I was going to say pretty much of all sorts.
We haven't got giraffes nor elephants, it is true, nor do we miss them
much.
"But there are fish in the lake and beasts on the shore, and rod and gun
will get but little holiday, I assure you, lads, if you elect to travel
in that strange land.
"I hardly know very much about the fish. They say that the lake is
bottomless, and that not only is it swarming with fish, wherever there
is a bank, but that terrible animals or beasts have been seen on its
deep-blue surface; creatures so fearful in aspect that even their sudden
appearance has turned gray the hairs of those who beheld them.
"But I calculate that this is all Indian gammon or superstition.
"As for me, I've been always more at home in the woods and forests, and
on the mountain's brow.
"I'm not going to boast, boys, but I've climbed the highest hills of the
Cordilleras, where I have had no companion save the condor.
"You Europeans call the eagle the bird of Jove. If that is so, I want to
ask them where the condor comes in.
"Why, your golden eagle of Scottish wilds isn't a circumstance to the
condor of the Andes. He is no more to be compared to this great forest
vulture than a spring chicken is to a Christmas turkey.
"But the condor is only one of a thousand wild birds of prey, or of
song, found in the Andean regions or giant Cordilleras.
"And at lower altitude we find the llamas, the guanacos, and herds of
wild vicunas.
"You may come across the puma and the jaguar also, and be sorry you've
met.
"Then there are goats, foxes, and wild dogs, as well as the viscacha and
the chinchilla, to say nothing of deer.
"But on the great lake itself, apart from all thought of fish, you need
never go without a jolly good dinner if the rarest of water-fowl will
please you. Ducks and geese galore, and other species too many to
name."
"That is a land, and that is a lake," said Dick musingly, "that I should
dearly like to visit. Yes, and to dwell in or on for a time.
"I suppose labour is cheap?" he added enquiringly.
"I guess," returned Rodrigo, "that if you wanted to erect a wooden hut
on some high and healthy promontory overlooking the lake--and this would
be your best holt--you would have to learn the use of axe and adze and
saw, and learn also how to drive a nail or two without doubling it over
your thumb and hitting the wrong nail on the head."
"Well, anyhow," said Dick, "I shall dream to-night of your great inland
ocean, of your Lake Titicaca, and in my dreams I shall imagine I am
already there. I suppose the woods are alive with beautiful birds?"
"Yes," said Rodrigo, "and with splendid moths and butterflies also; so
let these have a place in your dreams as well. Throw in chattering
monkeys too, and beautiful parrots that love to mock every sound they
hear around them. Let there be evergreen trees draped in garments of
climbing flowers, roaring torrents, wild foaming rivers, that during
storms roll down before them, from the flooded mountains, massive tree
trunks, and boulders houses high."
"You are quite poetic!"
"But I am not done yet. People your paradise with strangely beautiful
lizards that creep and crawl everywhere, looking like living flowers,
and arrayed in colours that rival the tints of the rainbow. Lizards--ay,
and snakes; but bless you, boys, these are very innocent, objecting to
nothing except to having their tails trodden on."
"Well, no creature cares for treatment like that," said Roland. "If you
and I go to this land of beauty, Dick, we must make a point of not
treading on snakes' tails."
"But, boys, there are fortunes in this land of ours also. Fortunes to
be had for the digging."
"Copper?"
"Yes, and gold as well!"
Rodrigo paused to roll and light another cigarette. I have never seen
anyone do so more deftly. He seemed to take an acute delight in the
process. He held the snow-white tissue-paper lovingly in his grasp,
while with his forefinger and thumb he apportioned to it just the right
quantity of yellow fragrant Virginia leaf, then twisting it tenderly,
gently, he conveyed it to his lips.
Said Dick now, "I have often heard of the wondrous city of La Paz, and
to me it has always seemed a sort of semi-mythical town--a South
American Timbuctoo."
"Ah, lad, it is far from being mythical! On the contrary, it is very
real, and so are everything and everybody in it.
"I could not, however, call it, speaking conscientiously, a gem of a
place, though it might be made so. But you see, boys, there is a deal
of Spanish or Portuguese blood in the veins of the real whites
here--though, mind you, three-fourths of the population are Indians of
almost every Bolivian race. Well, the motto of the dark-eyed whites
seems to be Manana (pronounce Mah-nyah-nah), which signifies
'to-morrow', you know. Consequently, with the very best intentions in
the world, they hardly ever finish anything they begin. Some of the
streets are decently paved, but every now and then you come to a slough
of despond. Many of the houses are almost palatial, but they stand side
by side with, and are jostled by, the vile mud-huts of the native
population. They have a cathedral and a bazaar, but neither is finished
yet.
"Well, La Paz stands at a great altitude above the ocean. It is well
worthy of a visit. If you go there, however, there are two things you
must not forget to take with you, namely, a bottle of smelling-salts and
plenty of eau-de-Cologne."
"The place smells--slightly, then, I suppose," ventured Dick.
"Ha! ha! ha!" Rodrigo had a hearty laugh of his own. "Yes, it smells
slightly. So do the people, I may add.
"The natives of La Paz, although some of them boast of a direct descent
from the ancient Incas, are to all intents and purposes slaves.
"Well, boys, when I say 'slaves' I calculate I know pretty well what I
am talking about. The old feudal system holds sway in what we call the
civilized portions of Bolivia. Civilization, indeed! Only in the wilds
is there true freedom and independence. The servants on ranches and
farms are bought or sold with the land on which they live. So, Mr.
Bill, if you purchase a farm in Bolivia, it won't be only the cows and
cocks and hens you'll have to take, but the servants as well, ay, and
the children of these.
"Bolivian Indians, who are troubled with families that they consider a
trifle too large for their income, have a simple and easy method of
meeting the difficulty. They just take what you might call the surplus
children to some white-man farmer and sell them as they do their cows."
"Then these children are just brought up as slaves?"
"Yes, their masters treat them fairly well, but they generally make good
use of the whip. 'Spare the rod and spoil the child' is a motto they
play up to most emphatically, and certainly I have never known the rod
to be spared, nor the child to be spoiled either.
"Oh! by the way, as long as my hand is in I may tell you about the
servants that the gentry-folks of La Paz keep. I don't think any
European would be plagued with such a dirty squad, for in a household
of, say, ten, there must be ten slaves at the very least, to say nothing
of the pongo man.
"This pongo man is in reality the charwoman of La Paz. It is he who
does all the dirty work, and a disagreeable-looking and painfully dirty
blackguard he is himself. It is not his custom to stay more than a week
with any one family. He likes to be always on the move.
"He assists the cook; he collects dried llama manure for firewood, as
Paddy might say; he fetches water from the fountain; he brings home the
marketing, in the shape of meat and vegetables; he cleans and scrubs
everywhere, receiving few pence for his trouble, but an indefinite
number of kicks and cuffs, while his bed at night is on the cold stones
behind the hall door. Yet with all his ill-usage, he seems just about as
happy as a New Hollander, and you always find him trotting around
trilling a song.
"Ah, there is nothing like contentment in this world, boys!"
"Yes, Mr. Bill, I have seen one or two really pretty girls among the
Bolivians, but never lost my heart to any of them, for between you and
me, they don't either brush or comb their hair, and when walking with
them it is best to keep the weather-gauge. And that's a hint worth
having, I can assure you."
----
On the very next evening after Don Rodrigo spoke his piece, as he
phrased it, about the strange customs and habits of the Bolivians, all
were assembled as usual in the biggest tent.
Burly Bill and his meerschaum were getting on remarkably well together,
the Don was rolling a cigarette, when suddenly Brawn started up as if
from a dream, and stood with his ears pricked and his head a little to
one side, gazing out into the darkness.
He uttered no warning growl, and made no sound of any sort, but his tail
was gently agitated, as if something pleased him.
Then with one impatient "Yap!" he sprang away, and was seen no more for
a few minutes.
"What can ail the dog?" said Roland.
"What, indeed?" said Dick.
And now footsteps soft and slow were heard approaching the tent, and
next minute poor Benee himself staggered in and almost fell at Roland's
feet.
The honest hound seemed almost beside himself with joy, but he had sense
enough to know that his old favourite, Benee, was exhausted and ill,
and, looking up into his young master's face, appeared to plead for his
assistance.
Benee's cheeks were hollow, his feet were cut and bleeding, and yet as
he lay there he smiled feebly.
"I am happy now," he murmured, and forthwith fell asleep.
Both Roland and Dick trembled. They thought that sleep might be the
sleep of death, but Don Rodrigo, after feeling Benee's pulse, assured
them that it was all right, and that the poor fellow only needed rest
and food.
In about half an hour the faithful fellow--ah! who could doubt his
fidelity now?--sat painfully up.
Dick went hurrying off and soon returned with soup and with wine, and
having swallowed a little, Benee made signs that he would rest and
sleep.
"To-morrow," he said, "to-morrow I speak plenty. To-night no can do."
And so they did all they could to make him comfortable, and great Brawn
lay down by his side to watch him.