At that moment a voice came from below, calling:—
“Have the boys returned?”
“Yes, father,” replied Louis. “We are here.”
“Come down.”
“All right, sir,” he replied, and the lads obeyed only too willingly. Mrs. Dartmoor, reassured at hearing her husband’s voice, returned to her room.
The Dartmoor Row, which included the house occupied by John Dartmoor before his failure, and to which he had removed since the discovery of the gold mine, and the advance to him of money by capitalists of Lima, consisted of a number of fine residences, built in a semicircle in the heart of Chucuito suburb. They were, in fact, the most pretentious structures in this little place, and because of the prominence in diplomatic and business life of the tenants, they were known by foreigners all up and down the West Coast. Back of the houses was a high fence, which completed the circle, and which enclosed a large court. Within the enclosure were the stables and other outbuildings, arranged so that the whole somewhat resembled an English country residence; indeed, it was said to have been patterned from an estate near London. Flights of stairs connected the court with the different houses, and it was down one of these that the boys ran. At the bottom they met Mr. Dartmoor, Señor Cisneros, and Captain Saunders.
“We had a little brush with them,” said Louis’s father.
“With whom, sir?” the lads asked, and they saw that the iron merchant was holding a handkerchief to the side of his head and that the Peruvian was limping as if his leg pained him.
“With a rascally band of soldiers,” replied Mr. Dartmoor. “But they were not half so bad as their leader. Louis, who do you think he was?”
“But, father, are you hurt?”