“Harvey here!” exclaimed Mrs. Dartmoor, rising quickly, and she ran to the door, followed by her husband.
Yes, Harvey was there, and so were Hope-Jones and Ferguson.
“Why, you have grown nearly a foot!” said Mr. Dartmoor, holding him off at arm’s length after the first welcome was over. “And you are almost black.”
Then all fell to talking at once, as is usual on such occasions. General Matajente explained that he had met the travellers by chance as they were leaving the Oroya Railroad station in Lima, after coming in from Chicla. That was at five o’clock in the afternoon, and he had taken them to his home, where they had removed the stains of travel. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that the companion of their interior journey had been his cousin from Huari, and from him he had learned something of the adventures of the four. Anxious to hear the story in detail, and also to be a witness to the joyful reunion, he had accompanied them to Callao and on to Chucuito. He had planned that Harvey’s entrance should be a surprise, but the keen ears of Bella Caceras had enabled her somewhat to turn the tables.
The five had dined in Lima, but were nothing loath to again sitting down at the board, and at ten o’clock all drew up chairs. Then, as every one insisted that the story of the adventures be told that night, Hope-Jones described their experience from Lima to Huari, and the captain took up the thread of the story from the time of their departure from the mountain town. Mrs. Dartmoor shuddered when the adventure with the puma was related, and the girls turned pale. But when it came to the battle with the Majeronas, the details were listened to with breathless eagerness, and Harvey felt his mother’s arm press him closer.
There were two scarlet faces in the room as the captain detailed the sequel to this fight and Harvey’s narrow escape from death; and then, for the first time, the men learned who had been the donor of the pincushion that had stayed the arrow’s flight, for Bella Caceras had jumped to her feet, and had run over to the boy’s side when she heard how he had carried her little gift, and what it had done for him. The two were for several minutes the objects of many good-natured jests, but they bore them bravely, and, all being interested in hearing of the further discoveries, the narrative was resumed.
It was after midnight before everything had been told, and before they thought of rest. Mr. Dartmoor insisted that Señor Cisneros should remain with him, and that Hope-Jones and Ferguson also should stay. As the house was too small to accommodate all whom the genial American wished to accommodate, Captain Saunders invited General Matajente to go with him to La Punta, and he also urged that Louis join them as Carl’s guest. This arrangement was finally agreed upon, and the party for La Punta withdrew, being accompanied as far as the little railway station by Don Isaac, who had refused all invitations and had said that he would prefer to walk to his rooms in Callao.
“For,” he explained to Captain Saunders, “I feel a strange buoyancy to-night; even as if I were a boy again.”
The editor had good cause for this. A few minutes before good nights were said, he had been taken to one side by Mr. Dartmoor, who had whispered:—
“I spoke to Harvey of my wish that you should share our good fortune, and he is enthusiastic at the idea.”