By and by, however, Ronie and Jack came out into a more thickly populated country. The sun was beginning to crimson the eastern horizon with its early beams, and the two drew rein for a short consultation.
"I am afraid we have kept too far to our right," said Jack. "Manuel spoke of leaving the mountains over our shoulder, and we seem to be approaching them."
"If the country is becoming more broken, it has the appearance of being more thickly populated. Do you think, Jack, we need to stand in much fear of the insurgents in this vicinity?"
"Manuel spoke of a victory for his side recently at Barquisimete, and if I am not mistaken, we shall pass near that city—certainly near enough to be within range of the revolutionists. In fact, I feel pretty sure that the revolution is mainly centered in this part of the republic."
"I almost wish we had taken the route to Valencia."
"No doubt, whichever we had taken we should wish we had taken the other before we reached our destination. But that is not the right way to look at it. We must put on a bold front and push ahead."
"In order to do that we must see that our horses have sufficient food to enable them to keep moving, even if we go hungry ourselves."
"Right, my lad, and if there is an inn in yonder village I suggest we stop there long enough to allow them rest and feed."
"I agree to that. Shall you claim to be a revolutionist or a follower of Castro?"
"At present that must depend on circumstances. Ha! as I thought, we are approaching a coffee planter's little republic, with the liberty of his followers left out. Look beyond that ridge, and in the valley formed by the twin ranges of foothills you will see a typical peasant settlement, which certainly denotes that not far ahead we shall come upon some wealthy planter. These peons of Venezuela are to all intents and conditions slaves, resulting from the debts, it may be, contracted by their remote ancestors, as generation after generation have been doomed to work to satisfy the laws and customs of a country which never outlaws its debts, when those debts have been contracted by a weaker party. The consequence is that the poor of these South American States are destined to remain poor until some radical change has been made in this direction. It is true, Venezuela is not as bad off in this respect as some of the other republics, but it is bad enough here. Ay, in South America the word 'republic' loses the significance of liberty that it bears in other lands. It is natural a people condemned to lifelong poverty, for no fault of their own in most cases, should be ever ready to listen to the call to arms as a summons to a holiday. So you see it is easy to raise an army of this sort, and it is small wonder Venezuela has been bothered with so many outbreaks against its peace and progress. But here we are close upon the spacious abode of the coffee planter, who is the principal man of this vicinity, unless there happens to be another of his class."