The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 1 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

12 A PERUVIAN PARADISE. ignorance of religious, as well as other matters, is appalling. He was a man fully six feet in height—as tall as Ronald Keeth himself—with a mighty chest and arms like a gladiator. He worea loose tunic of cured skin, sandals, and very little else. His right shoulder was untrammeled by even the sack- like tunic, but the garment was belted in at the waist and fell nearly to his knees. He carried a long knife in his belt, and a spear for a staff. His long black hair made other covering for his head unnecessary, and the thongs of his sandals, wound round and round his ankles, protected those parts from the rocks. He professed himself entirely familiar with the Sierras for a hundred leagues to the north of Hualpa, and agreed to guide the party directly to the spot where the three pines overhung the gorge. Fora small sum in addition he offered to carry one of them the entire distance in a chair, or cradle, such as these mountaineers often bear upon their shoulders. But none of the fotir cared to travel in that precarious way. | ‘‘Hi’ve rid on one of these fellows’ backs,’’ said Fitch ; ‘‘ but one trip was enough. Hi was sicker than w’en I come acrost from [unnon ten year ago. A man don’t feel safe swingin’ over precipices a thousand feet deep, with nothin’ but a strap around a Hinjun’s ’ead a-holdin’ of ’im on.’’ They left Hualpa early one morning and set out over a trail to the north, a path which showed for the first few miles that it was much traveled. Each one in the party carried a pack strapped to his shoulders, and Keeth bore a coil of small, though very stout, hemp rope. The four Europeans were heav- ily armed, and Ford, because of his inexperience, and Fitch, because of his blind contempt for the inhabitants of the mountains, felt confident that they © would be more than a match for any party of wild Indians which .might attack them. Jose Rodriguez assured them that the tribe who had held him captive so long knew nothing about the use of firearms, fighting entirely with bows and arrows, spears, and great war clubs. ‘““W’y,’’ cried Fitch, in talking it over, ‘‘ we can go right in, harmed as we are, hand drive the ’ole crowd hout of the mountains.’’ But the Spaniard shook his head. ‘There were places in the mountains, he knew, where a man with merely a bow and arrows could hold a whole army at bay. , Before they stopped for their noon meal the guide led them off the main trail into a side path which was much more arduous to follow. It wound up and up among the rocks, occasionally crossing an almost level plateau, then winding about the base of a peak which, snow covered to the summit, towered far above them among the clouds. The atmosphere among these peaks was chill, and at night they were glad to descend beyond the ridge into a clump of hardy trees and build a huge campfire before which to stretch themselves for rest. It had been the hardest day’s march Ford had ever experienced ; but it told the most upon the trader, whose figure was too corpulent to make walk- ing a pleasure. Poor Fitch fell asleep immediately after supper and slept right on until nearly morning, when, in common with the others, he was awakened by an entirely unlooked for incident. Eomichbooks (S@)