PRISONERS
When they arrived at Cerro de Pasco they found that the division of
Gamarra's army stationed in the district had mutinied and had declared
for Vivancohidas, and were killing all those known as adherents of
Gamarra. All traffic was at a stand-still. Numbers of the soldiers who
did not choose to join in the mutiny had taken to the hills, and were
pillaging convoys and peaceful travellers alike.
"I think, señor," Dias said, "that instead of crossing the Cordilleras
to the west, as we had intended, it will be better for us to go south,
skirt the lake of Junin, and make for Oroya. That is the route
generally taken, for the passes west are terribly difficult. I have
traversed this route many times, and when going with merchandise I
always go through Oroya, though in returning from Cerro I take the
shorter route."
"Very well, Dias, you are the best judge of that. It is a great
nuisance that this rising should have taken place just as we want to
traverse the country, but it can't be helped. I will go to the
head-quarters of Quinda--he is established at the mayor's house
here--and get a pass from him.
"It would be well, perhaps, if you were to go with me, Dias, to confirm
my statement that we have been shooting and hunting. I hope he will
give us a pass, so that we shall not be interfered with by his men
gathered at different points on the road to Oroya. I hear that a
considerable portion of his force have already marched forward."
The Peruvian colonel questioned Harry closely as to his motives for
travelling there.
"I suppose," he said, "you have been searching for gold. We are sorely
in need of funds, and I shall feel myself obliged to borrow any gold
that you may have collected for the use of my army, giving you an order
on the treasury at Lima, which will, of course, be honoured as soon as
the authority of President Vivancohidas is established."
"I do not doubt the goodness of the security," Harry said quietly,
"although possibly I might have to wait some time before the order was
cashed; but while hunting I have not come upon any treasure. We have
occasionally, when halting at streams, amused ourselves by doing a
little gold-washing, but when I tell you that during the eight months
since we started from Cuzco we have only collected about twenty ounces
of gold, you may well suppose that no good fortune has attended us."
"Is that all, señor?"
"I give you my word of honour that is all, señor; and as I shall have
to lay in a store of provisions and so on for my journey down to Lima,
you may well imagine that it would be a serious inconvenience to me to
part with it."
"Quite so, señor; so small a sum as that would not go far among the
four thousand men under my command. However, I shall have pleasure in
giving you the pass that you ask. You have had good sport, I hope?"
"As good as I expected. We kept ourselves in food, and have seen a
splendid country, which I hope some time will again be cultivated, and
add to the wealth of your country."
After a further exchange of compliments Harry returned to the inn where
they had put up.
Next morning, after purchasing some coffee and other stores that were
needed, they set out.
"Now we are all right, Dias," Harry said as they started.
"I hope so, señor; but from what I heard yesterday evening several
strong bands of disaffected soldiers are in the hills between this and
Oroya. Quinda's troops have by no means all joined him, and several
companies that broke off have stationed themselves in the hills along
this road. They have stopped and robbed more than one mule train with
silver from the mines there. They have not meddled, as far as I hear,
with Quinda's troops, but have simply seized the opportunity of
perpetrating brigandage on a large scale."
"Well, we must take our chance, Dias. Fortunately we have money enough
at Lima to replace the animals. We have pretty well finished all our
stores, and beyond the tents and the bedding, which would be a matter
of a hundred dollars, there is nothing worth thinking of; still,
certainly I do not want to lose it. I hope we sha'n't fall in with any
of those scoundrels."
"I hope not, señor. Perhaps we had better put our gold dust and money
in José's boots. They are less likely to examine him than they are us.
"You had better put half in his boots, and give the other half to my
wife to hide about her clothes. We shall want some money, if we are
robbed, to take us down to Lima. With the gold dust we could get a
couple of mules and enough provisions to take us down there. We should
be in a very awkward position if we found ourselves penniless."
They stopped for the night at a little village close to the lake. There
was but one small room at the inn, but at the other end of the
straggling village there was a yard where the mules could stand, and a
loft where Dias, Maria, and José could sleep.
Harry and his brother had lain down but an hour on their blankets when
there was a shouting in the street, and two or three shots were fired.
They leapt up.
"We had better hide our rifles and pistols," Harry said, "under that
ragged bed that we did not care about sleeping on. We may possibly get
them again even if we are robbed of everything else."
A minute later four or five men with a lantern rushed into the room.
They were all armed with muskets, and one carried a torch.
"Who are you?" this man asked.
"We are English sportsmen," Harry said. "We have been shooting for some
months at the foot of the hills, and are now returning to Lima. There
are our guns, you see."
"We will take you before the captain," the man said. "Bring those guns
along, Pedro and Juan."
The village was in an uproar. Some fifty men were occupied in searching
the houses and in appropriating everything they thought useful. One
house had been set on fire, and near this a man in an officer's uniform
was standing. He heard the report of Harry's and Bertie's capture.
"English sportsmen, eh! How long have you been shooting?" he asked.
"Eight months."
"Eight months! Then guard them securely, Montes; they are doubtless
rich Englishmen, and we shall get a good ransom for them. English
señors who come out here to shoot must be men with plenty of money; but
likely enough they are not sportsmen, but gold-seekers. However, it
matters little."
"I protest against this," Harry said. "Our consul at Lima will demand
satisfaction from the government."
The other laughed.
"Government!" he said, "there is no government; and if there were, they
would have no power up in the hills."
So saying he turned away.
Plunder that had been collected was brought in and divided among the
party, four of the men with muskets keeping guard over the prisoners.
"I don't see anything of Dias and the mules," Bertie said in English.
"No, I have been expecting to see them brought up every minute. Now I
am beginning to hope that they have got safely off. I think the fellows
began their attack at our end of the village.
"You know how watchful Dias is. Very likely he or José were up, and you
may be sure that the moment they heard the uproar they would drive the
mules out and be off. You see only two of them are laden, and they
could have thrown the things on to their backs and been off at once. He
would know that it was useless to wait for us. I expect he would turn
them off the road at once and make down towards the lake. If these
fellows had caught him and the mules they would certainly have brought
them up here before this."
"I hope he got off--not so much because of the mules, as because I am
sure that, if he gets fairly away, he will do what he can to help us."
"I am sure he will, Bertie. We must make the best of it. There is one
thing, we have got a good month before us. It will take them all that
time to go down to Lima about our ransom and return; and it is hard if
we don't give them the slip before that."
A quarter of an hour later the band started with their booty and
prisoners for the hills.
"I don't suppose they will go far," Harry said. "Quinda has got his
hands full, and will be wanting to start as soon as he can to join
Vivancohidas. He won't lose time in hunting the scoundrel who has
caught us, so I expect the band make their head-quarters in some
village at the foot of the hills."
This turned out to be so. After a march of four hours the band halted
in a village in a valley running up into the hills. The prisoners were
thrust into an empty hut, and four men with muskets told off as their
guard. Next morning the captain of the band came in.
"I shall require a hundred thousand dollars for your ransom," he said.
"We could never pay such a sum," Harry said. "We are not rich men. I am
a lieutenant on half-pay in the English navy, and, having nothing to do
at home, came out with my brother for a year's sport. I could not pay a
tenth of that sum."
"That we shall see," the man said. "If you cannot pay, your government
can. You will at once write to your consul at Lima, telling him that if
this hundred thousand dollars are not handed over to my messenger
within four days of his arrival there, you will both have your throats
cut."
"I will write the letter if you wish," Harry replied quietly, "but you
won't get the money. If you like to say ten thousand dollars, I dare
say the consul will do his best to raise that amount."
"One hundred thousand is the smallest sum," the man said angrily. "He
can get it out of the government there. They will not choose to risk
having trouble with your country for the sake of such a sum."
"Gamarra is away," Harry said, "and it is pretty certain that he will
not have left a hundred thousand dollars in the treasury; and even if
he has, you maybe sure that his people there would not give it up, for
he wants every penny for his war expenses."
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"So much the worse for you. Write as I told you; here is paper, pen,
and ink. Do not write in English. I will come back in a quarter of an
hour for it."
"This is awkward, Bertie. It is evident that I must write. As to their
paying twenty thousand pounds, the thing is absurd; if he had mentioned
two thousand they might have considered the matter. What I hope is that
they will not send up anything. I feel certain that we shall be able to
get away from here within a month; and if they were to send up one or
two thousand pounds, we should probably miss the fellow on the way. In
that case we should have to repay the money when we got to Lima, which
I certainly should not see my way to do--anyhow, until I got to
England, when I could, of course, sell out some of my stock. There is
nothing here that we could use as invisible ink. If there were, I would
risk writing a message with it; but even then it is fifty to one
against their bringing it to light. Well, here goes!" and he wrote in
Spanish the required message.
The robber on his return read it through, turned the paper over to see
that nothing was written on the back, and held it up to the light.
"That will do," he said. "Now let me warn you, don't attempt to escape.
You won't succeed if you do, and the sentries have orders to shoot you
down should you attempt it."
The time passed slowly. The brigand was evidently determined to give
them no chance of escaping, and four sentries remained round the hut,
one at each corner. In the daytime the prisoners were allowed to sit at
the door of the hut, but they were shut up at nightfall. The guards
were not allowed to speak to them, and there was therefore no chance of
offering them a bribe. On the evening of the fifth day they had, as
usual, been shut up, and were chatting over the situation.
"If they continue to guard us like this, Bertie, I really don't see a
shadow of a chance of getting away. We calculated on there being one,
or perhaps two sentries at the door, and thought we could have cut a
hole through that adobe wall at the back and crept out through it; but
as there is a guard at each corner, I don't see a chance of it. The
fellows are evidently afraid of their captain, and each keeps to his
corner, and sits there and smokes and drones out songs, but they never
move till they are relieved. Of course we must make the attempt if we
see no other way of escaping. But I have still great hope that Dias
will somehow or other try to get us out, though how he can do it I
don't know."
They observed that the sentries were not changed in any military way.
Five minutes before sunset the four men who were to relieve those on
guard came sauntering up. The former guard ordered the captives into
the hut and bolted the door, and then after a short chat with the
others went off, the new sentries having already taken their posts at
the corners of the hut. On the fifth evening after their capture they
saw approaching a peasant woman sitting on a mule. A man was walking
beside her. Behind the woman was a small barrel, and two packs and two
small wine-skins hung on each side.
"Harry," Bertie exclaimed, "I believe that is Dias and Maria!"
"It is," Harry said. "Thank God they have found us! Twenty to one they
will get us out. What have they got with them, I wonder?"
They stopped in the road opposite the house, which was the end one in
the village.
"You are not to come nearer," one of the sentries shouted.
"I am sure I don't want to come nearer," the woman said pertly. "You
don't think you are so handsome that I want to get a better sight of
your face?"
"What have you got there?" the man asked. "We shall be coming off duty
in ten minutes."
"Well, we have got a little of everything," she said. "As pretty sashes
as there are in the country, beautiful silk neckerchiefs, silver
brooches for your sweethearts, and for those who purchase freely a
glass of the best pisco spirit."
"Well, wait, and I dare say we shall lay out a dollar or two."
A minute or two later four other men sauntered up, and began to talk to
Maria, who slipped off her mule. The guards, fearful that the best
bargains would be sold before they could get forward, hurried the
prisoners into the hut and bolted the door. The brothers heard a great
deal of talking and arguing, and ten minutes later the sentries came up
to their usual post.
"I would not mind betting odds," Bertie said with delight, "that Dias
has drugged that spirit."
"I expect so, Bertie. He would be sure that they could not resist it,
for it is the best spirit there is in Peru."
For a time the sentries talked, saying that the pedlars' goods were
cheap and the spirit as good as any they had ever tasted. "We had great
difficulty in getting her to sell us a second glass each; and she was
right, for she had not much of it, and it must help her rarely to sell
her goods. The husband seemed a surly sort of chap. I wonder such a
pretty little woman would marry such a fellow."
"I suppose he was well-to-do and she was poor," another said; "such is
generally the case when you see a marriage like that. I dare say he
makes a good thing of it; the goods are as cheap, though, as they would
be in Lima."
Gradually the talking ceased, and within an hour there was perfect
quiet outside the hut. Half an hour later they heard footsteps coming
quietly up to the door. They held their breath; but instead of, as they
expected, hearing the bolt drawn, they heard the new-comers going round
the hut, pausing a minute at each corner. Then they again stopped at
the door; the two bolts were shot back, and the door opened.
"Come, señors," Dias said; "it is quite safe. We have put them all to
sleep. Here are their muskets and pistols. You had better take them, in
case we are pursued, which is not likely. At any rate, should one of
them wake the want of a gun will mean delay in raising the alarm.
"Don't speak, señors; it is as well to keep quiet till we are fairly
off." He shut the door and rebolted it, and then led the way down into
the road.
Not a word was spoken till they had gone a hundred yards, and then
Harry said: "You have done us another good turn, Dias; we did not see
any possible way of getting out; but we both agreed that if you could
find us you would."
"Of course, señors, you could not suppose that Maria and I would go
quietly off."
"How did you manage to get away, Dias?"
"It was easy enough. After what we had heard of these brigands I made
up my mind that I would not unsaddle the mules, nor take the packs off
the two loaded ones. The burdens were not heavy, for we have little but
our bedding and the tents left, and I thought they might as well stay
where they were, and in the morning we could shift them on to the
others. I told José to watch about half the night; but I was standing
talking to him, and smoking my last cigarette, when he said suddenly,
'I can hear a noise at the other end of the village.'
"The evening was still, and I could also hear the sound of many
footsteps, so I ran and pulled down the bar at the back of the yard,
called Maria, and told her and José to take the mules straight down to
the lake, and then to follow the bank. Then I ran to warn you; but
before I got half-way I heard shouts and firing, and knew that I was
too late, so I ran back to the lake, where I overtook the mules, and we
mounted and went off at a trot. When I got a quarter of a mile away I
told the others to go on to Junin, which we knew was twenty miles away,
and put up there till I joined them. Then I ran back to the village,
and, keeping myself well behind a house, watched them getting ready to
start, and saw you. There was nothing to do but to follow you. I did
so, and observed where they had shut you up, and I waited about for
some hours, so as to see how you were guarded.
"I saw their captain go into your hut twice. When he came out the
second time he had a paper in his hand. He went to the house he has
taken possession of, and I kept a good watch over that. Presently two
lieutenants came out, talking together. They entered another house, and
ten minutes afterwards issued out again, dressed in ordinary clothes,
such as a muleteer or a cultivator fairly well off would wear, and
returned to the captain's house, and stayed there for a good half-hour
before they came out again. Two horses had been brought round to the
door. The captain came out with them, and was evidently giving them
some last instructions. Then they rode off, saying good-bye to some of
the men as they passed through the village.
"Knowing the ways of these bandits, I had no doubt the paper I saw
their captain bring out of the hut where you were was a letter he had
compelled you to write to request a large sum of money to be sent in
exchange for you; and as I felt certain that we should rescue you
somehow, I thought it was a pity that this letter should go down, so I
started at once to follow them. They had not got more than a quarter of
an hour's start of me, and by the line they had taken I saw that they
intended to go to Junin. I did not think it likely that they would
enter the place, because they would be sure to meet some of Quinda's
men there; but would probably sleep at some small village near it, and
then make a circuit to strike the road beyond the town.
"Fortunately I had some money in my pocket, and at the first farm I
came to I bought a mule. You see, señor, I had not lain down the night
before, and had done a fair day's work before I started to follow your
captors. I had walked twenty miles with them, and had been busy all the
morning. I knew it could not be much less than thirty miles to Junin,
and that if I could not find them there I should have to push on after
them again the next morning, so I gave the farmer what he asked for his
mule, and started at once on it barebacked. It turned out to be a good
animal, and I rode hard, for I wanted to get down to Junin before the
two men. I reckoned I should do that, because, as they were going a
very long journey, they would not want to press their horses, and
besides would prefer that it should be dark before they stopped for the
night.
"When I got to Junin I found Maria and José, who had put up the mules
at the only inn there. I set Maria to watch on the road leading into
the town, and went out with José to a little village a mile back, where
I made sure the fellows would stop. I was not long in finding out that
they had arrived about half an hour after I had ridden through, and had
put up at the priest's. That was good enough for me. We went back to
the town. I had some supper, which I can tell you I wanted badly, for I
had been afraid of going into the brigand's village to buy anything,
as, being a stranger, I might have been asked questions, so I had had
nothing since the night before. I had found that there was a road from
the place where they had stopped, by which they could ride along by the
lake without going into the town; so José and I ambushed there an hour
before daylight, thinking that they would be off early. We were right;
for in a quarter of an hour they came along. Day was just breaking, so
we could make out their figures easily enough, and as they were not
five yards away as they passed, we were not likely to miss them. Well,
I found the paper you had written in the coat-pocket of one of them,
together with two hundred dollars, no doubt for the expenses of his
journey. We hid the two bodies under a heap of stones."
"Then you killed them, Dias?" Harry said, in a tone of surprise.
"Of course! what else would one do with them? They were brigands, and
they had attacked a peaceable village and killed several people. Even
if I had not wanted to get your paper it would have been a very
meritorious action."
"Oh, I am not blaming you, Dias, at all! There was no other way of
getting the paper, and it may be regarded as an act of necessity. And
what did you do with their horses?"
"José went on with them, and I returned to the town again and started
with Maria and the mules. We journeyed to a village half-way to Oroya.
Of course we overtook José a mile or two after we had left Junin. There
we put up at a quiet place and talked over the situation. We knew that
there was no particular hurry, for we read your letter, and knew that
no harm would come to you for a long time. It would be a month at least
before they would expect the men back with the money. There was another
letter, addressed to Don Mariano Carratala, whom I know to be a busy
politician in Lima. The money was to be paid to him; at least he was to
receive it from the two men immediately they left the British consul's
house, and he was to hold it for Valdez, which is the name of the
brigand."
"I thought he would not trust the men to bring up a sum like that."
"It would be enough to tempt the most incorruptible Peruvian, and
certainly the men he sent down would have taken good care never to come
to this part of the country again if they had got the money into their
possession. I don't think either it would have been safe in the hands
of Carratala, if he did not know that sooner or later he would get a
knife between his shoulders if he kept it. Next morning Maria and I
started back, bringing with us four mules, the fastest we had. We rode
on two and led the others. I knew some people at Junin, for I have
often passed through the town when I have been bringing down silver
from Cerro, and one managed to get for us that little barrel of pisco.
I was sure that no soldier would refuse a glass; but it was almost a
sin to give such liquor to the dogs. Then we bought peasants' clothes,
and a parcel of goods such as travelling hawkers carry.
"You know how we succeeded. Of course we had drugged the pisco heavily,
and knew that two glasses would send any man off to sleep in half an
hour. As soon as it was dark, Maria went on with the mule. We shall
find her half a mile from here at a deserted hut where we left the
other three mules."
"Well, Dias, you have assuredly saved our lives. Guarded as we were,
there was not the slightest chance of our getting away by ourselves;
and as the British consul certainly could not have raised the sum they
demanded, we should have had our throats cut when the messengers
returned empty-handed. Valdez is not the man to go back from his word
in that respect."
"It is a pity you have lost your arms, señor."
"Yes, we have certainly lost our double-barrelled guns, but our rifles
and pistols are hidden in the straw of the bed in the room where we
slept. We had just time to hide them before the brigands burst into the
room."
"Then we can recover them, señor. Of course I intended to ride straight
to Junin, but it won't make very much difference. We will ride to the
village, get the rifles and pistols, and then follow the road by the
lake. It is now only nine o'clock; we can be there by one easily, and
reach Junin by morning. It will be perfectly safe to rest there. I
suppose your guards will be relieved about twelve o'clock?"
"Yes, that was the time we heard them changed."
"They will most likely discover that you have gone then. When they find
the four guards sound asleep, they are sure to unbolt the door and see
if you are there, then of course they will give the alarm at once. But
I hardly think they will even attempt to pursue. They are infantry, and
none of them are mounted but the officers, which means that at present
only Valdez himself has a horse. They would know that you had been
assisted, and that probably horses were waiting for you somewhere.
There is the hut, señors."
Maria ran out as they came up.
"The saints be praised," she exclaimed, "that you are with us again,
señors!"
"The saints are no doubt to be praised," Harry said, "but we feel at
present a good deal more indebted to Dias and yourself than to them. We
are indeed grateful to you both, and you managed it splendidly. My
brother and I felt so confident that you would do something to get us
out, that we were not in the least surprised when we recognized you and
Diaz got up as travelling hawkers."
"You did not tell them that we were with you?"
"No. Fortunately they asked no questions at all, and took us for
Englishmen travelling by ourselves. They may have thought of it
afterwards, but in the hurry of carrying off their booty they
apparently gave the matter no attention. If they had done so they would
probably have sent a party out in pursuit of the mules. Even if they
had not done so, they would have been sure to look with some suspicion
at two hawkers arriving at such an out-of-the-way village at such a
time."
"Well, we had better be moving at once," Dias said. "We are going down
to the village where they were captured, Maria. They hid their rifles
and pistols there when they found the place was in the hands of the
brigands."
Three minutes later they started. There was a full moon, so they were
able to ride fast, and it was just midnight when they arrived at the
village. When they knocked at the house where their rifles had been
left, the proprietor looked out from the upper window in great dismay,
fearing that the brigands might have returned. However, as soon as he
recognized the party he came down and opened the door. The arms were
found where they had been hidden, and in five minutes they were again
on their way, and arrived at Junin at five o'clock. It was necessary to
wait here twenty-four hours to rest the animals. The next morning they
started as soon as it was light, and picked up José and the convoy. The
brothers mounted the two horses, and Dias and Maria rode on one mule,
and led three behind them. José rode another and led four. The horses
and the mule Dias had bought were sold at Oroya, and after purchasing
enough provisions for the rest of their journey they started for Lima,
having concluded that it would be better, now that they were on the
main track, to follow it instead of striking across the hills.