Adventures Among the Red Indians

m warned them that savages were in pursuit. A single glance back was sufficient to show how futile all attempts at flight would probably be; the redskins w

ntrol of his horse-the youngest and fastest of the three-and was soon well ahead of his sisters, the younger of whom, Ascencion by name, had the presence of mind to scream to him to ri

n. Do not

e chief himself, a splendid-looking elder

found themselves being whirled away in the direction of the Parana River, which lay some hundred and seventy miles distant. The cavalcade made no halt till long after dark, when it arrived at a tolde

ine it and its contents. This was soon done. The miserable abode was a pyramidal hut, each side about nine feet long and consisting merely of a few tall slender sticks, across which a rough matting of straw, like a collectio

f finding out her sister's whereabouts, whe

e Cordoban sold

eard. Heedless of the danger she might incur, she r

houts came from a hundred yards away, followed by a carbine volley whose bullets knocked up the dust all round her, and 47 one of which laid a young Indian dead, almost within a yard of her. Then she caught sight of her sister being lifted into a saddle, and while she endeavou

s? The distance increased, then lessened considerably, then began slowly to increase again. She heard a few shots fired by the pursuers, but these took no effect. The space between them grew greater than ever, for even while the Cordobans' horses slackened their speed and flagged, those of the Indians seemed only to gain fresh strength; and at last she looked away, again losin

handed over to the care of a motherly old body who was a relative of the cacique, and presumably a person of some importance in the tri

fe, who, if she made them work hard at cooking, corn-grinding, and rough weaving, was at least not unkind to them. But this is not to say that these Indians were no

is in store for any of your fri

g Spaniard, bound hand and foot to pegs that were driven into the ground. He ha

bows, each sent an arrow straight at him. Every arrow but one transfixed the body; that one

acique threatened her and her sister with death if they made any attempt to escape. As far as they could gather, they w

ening and called excitedly for the cacique. They had, said they, been pursued by a strong party of Macabi Indians (one

were in sight, and would soon endeavour to surround the tolderia, the inhabitants of which, so far from showing any sign of unreadiness to do battle, or anxiety as to the issue thereof, were quickly and joyously disposing

t seem that Ascencion would care little as to the result of the conflict, but the Peruvians were a fierce tribe, far more uncivilised than their enemies-who were, f

the horses. The Macabis were steadily gaining the upper hand, and all the women were to be escorted by as many of the tribe as could be spared, towards a small and semi-permanent camp on the river, between Chamorra and Goya. No time was lost in obeying

of a second long march in the dark; but that was all. For she was in a fever which did not leave her till some days after their arrival at the river tolderia; and, when next she left her hut, the firs

1 sister. But one afternoon, when most of the men were away hunting, the cacique came up to her as she was

for the shore. Stay here till they are gone.

ere she was, under a tree, feeling but little interest in the coming of the sailors. Looking listlessly towards the row of trees that hid the river from her view, she presently caught sight of the cacique ushering two white men towards his toldos, and evidently bearing himself with great o

not an Indian

rence to her condition. She had heard her o

. I am a prisoner,"

t escap

d kill me. No on