"No, Bertie, and I should not think of treating you so; but you had had very hard work, and were completely knocked up, which was not wonderful; and you may want all your strength to-day. Besides, you know, you would have been of no use had you been awake, for you could have seen nothing. Donna Maria's eyes were a good deal sharper than mine, and I am quite sure that, tired as you were, Dias would have seen them coming long before you would. We had better lie down again, for it will be light enough soon for them to make us out. How far do their arrows fly, Dias?"
"They can shoot very straight up to forty or fifty yards, but beyond that their arrows are of very little use."
"Well, then, we shall be able to stop them before they get to that ravine."
Presently, as it became light, a figure showed itself at the turn of the ravine.
"Don't fire at him," Harry said; "it is better that they should think that our guns won't reach them. Besides, if the beggars will leave us alone, I have no wish to harm them."
In a minute or two the figure disappeared behind the bend and two or three others came out. "They think that our guns won't carry so far, or we should have shot the first man."
For a quarter of an hour there were frequent changes, until at least fifty men had taken a look at them.
"Now there will be a council," Harry said as the last disappeared. "They see what they have got before them, and I have no doubt they don't like it."
"I don't think they will try it, señor," Dias said. "At any rate they will not do so until they have tried every other means of getting at us."
Half an hour passed, and then Harry said. "I will stop here with my brother, Dias, and you and José had better examine the hillsides and ascertain whether there is any place where they can come down. You know a great deal better than I where active naked-footed men could clamber down. They might be able to descend with ease at a place that would look quite impossible to me."