Under the Chilian Flag: A Tale of War between Chili and Peru

by Harry Collingwood

Watch as he might, however, the young man could find no opportunity, for the guards had redoubled their vigilance, and they kept an especially sharp eye on Jim, for he was considered by all the Peruvians to have been the ringleader of the Cuzco affair; indeed, the soldiers quite failed to understand why Captain Garcia-y-Garcia had shown him any mercy on that occasion. The young Englishman also kept his eyes open, carefully marking in his mind the route by which they had come, so that he might find his way back along it upon some future occasion. They had now left the strictly mountainous region, and had entered upon the flat dusty tableland in the midst of which Lake Titicaca is situated; and it was for the northern end of the lake that the party was now heading.

Then, one day at dawn, they beheld a magnificent sight. There, before them, lying at a slightly lower level than the surrounding country, lay the blue waters of the lake, shimmering in the sun, whose beams had already gilded the snowy summit of Mount Sorata, which lay a little to the south-eastward. It was at the foot of this giant among mountains that the village of Sorata was situated, and Jim realised that their long journey of seven hundred miles was nearly ended.

It was exactly one month after the tragedy of Cuzco that the way-worn troop marched into the village; and a fearful-looking lot of scarecrows the prisoners were by that time, in truth. They had scarcely a rag to their backs, while their boots and stockings had long since worn away from their feet, and they had to tramp along barefooted. They were lean and gaunt, with scarcely an ounce of flesh on their poor starved bodies; in fact they presented the appearance of a squad of skeletons rather than of living men. Tanned, as they were, to a deep mahogany colour by the fierce sun and strong air, with hair growing down upon their shoulders, and with coarse, matted beards, no one would have believed that a few short months ago many of these men were among the smartest and best-dressed officers in the Chilian army and navy. Jim himself looked as bad as the rest, but he had one advantage which the others had not, for under his tattered rags his brave heart beat as strongly and as resolutely as ever, whereas the Chilians had entirely lost their courage.

The sun was just setting, and the long day’s work was over, when the Chilians arrived, and they were just in time to see the prisoners who were already there taking their evening meal. A few half-starved curs had run out to meet the new arrivals, and now jumped and barked savagely around them in a transport of fury at seeing a few new faces. The village, if such it could be called, consisted simply of a number of long wooden huts roofed over with corrugated iron. Some of the huts were used as barracks for the convicts, some as quarters for their guards, and a still larger number as engine, boiler, machinery, and store houses for the purpose of extracting and storing the silver from the ore. The whole place was intersected by narrow-gauge tram-lines, upon which were run little wagons which a couple of men could push, for bringing the raw material from the mine to the smelting-houses. Several of these standing about in various parts of the village added to the general uncouthness and desolation of the scene; and Jim felt that if he were compelled to stay here for very long, he would go mad with the very dismalness and horror of his surroundings.

But he was not allowed very much time for reflection, for directly the much-diminished roll was called, the prisoners were conducted to a shed containing a large number of sacks of crushed Indian corn, the staple food of the Indians in Peru; and here a small quantity of the unappetising stuff was served out, together with a tin can, to each man. This corn, made into a sort of porridge by boiling it with water, was to constitute the prisoners’ evening meal; and they were given to understand that all their other meals would consist of the same food. The unfortunate men, who had been freed from their shackles as soon as they arrived at their destination, then took their tins, and, making themselves as comfortable as they could in the prisoners’ compound, proceeded to boil and eat their unwholesome-looking porridge. By the time that this was done, darkness had fallen, and the village was lighted up by means of rough paraffin lamps hoisted on poles. By the light of these the prisoners were now herded together once more and marched away to the long iron sheds in which they were told they would have to sleep. But before entering these hovels, a number of Peruvian soldiers brought out a quantity of clothing, made on purpose for the convicts, and the Chilians were ordered to strip and put these on. Jim was very glad to have another suit, although it consisted of only a pair of rough blue serge trousers, a kind of jersey, a neckcloth, and a jacket, for his own garments were so torn and ragged that they were hardly sufficient to cover him. They were then told that a pair of clogs would be served out to each of them the next morning at daybreak, when work would commence, but that now they were expected to turn in for the night, according to the rules governing this little convict settlement. The iron-roofed shed looked even more uninviting inside than outside. Down each side were ranged narrow platforms, which were divided into “beds” by narrow strips of wood about three inches in height, and all the covering allowed was a pair of very old dirty blankets; of mattresses there was no sign, not even loose straw being provided, and the whole interior was dirty and odoriferous beyond description. However, considered Jim philosophically, prisoners cannot be choosers; and having arranged his blankets as comfortably as was possible under the circumstances, he turned in and slept the sleep of the utterly weary.

The next morning he was awakened by a hideous clanging noise, which proceeded from a huge gong hung in the courtyard. Everybody immediately sprang out of bed, folded up their blankets, and streamed out into the courtyard, where, Jim noticed, there was a narrow stream of running water. He availed himself of this to have a good wash, a proceeding which excited the laughter of the gaolers, many of whom looked as though they had never touched water in any form during the whole of their lives. This having been done, he procured his tin and his daily allowance of meal and prepared his breakfast, for which he had an excellent appetite. When this was over, the prisoners were told off in groups of ten each, a soldier with loaded rifle mounting guard over each section. These were marched away one by one, until only one group remained, and Jim had not yet been apportioned to a party; but he soon found that Captain Garcia-y-Garcia had represented him to the Governor as being a most dangerous character, so that he was to have a guard all to himself, and not to be allowed near the other prisoners. This arrangement suited Jim admirably, for he had already made up his mind that if he was to escape at all, it must be alone, and he would have a much better chance of getting away while working by himself than he would get if he were one of a gang; for it would be strange indeed if a strong, able-bodied young Englishman could not get the better of a mere Peruvian soldier.

He therefore accepted the situation with much satisfaction, which, however, he took care not to show, and marched off toward the mine with his guard. When he arrived at the place where he was to work, he saw that the word “mine” hardly described the place, for it was not in the least like an English mine. The so-called mines consisted of a number of ancient Inca workings which, after having lain idle for hundreds of years, had been again started by the Peruvians. Instead of a shaft being driven down into the earth, and galleries being cut in various directions from that shaft, the mines simply consisted of tunnels driven horizontally into the side of a hill. It was a primitive method, and one adopted by the Incas; but the ground was so rich and ore so plentiful that this method was found as good as any other, and cheaper than most. There were scores of these tunnels, some of which had been exhausted and abandoned, while the ore was being taken out of others by truck-loads at a time, the little narrow-gauge tram-lines running from the tunnel-mouths right down into the village.

By the time that Jim had arrived at his allotted post his fellow-prisoners had disappeared elsewhere, and he found, to his great joy, that he was working on the side of the hill remote from all the other convicts. He could hardly conceal his satisfaction, for everything was falling out much better than he could possibly have expected; and, under the influence of his newly awakened hope, he became quite chatty and affable with the sentry, who gradually thawed under the Englishman’s flow of talk and high spirits. Douglas now found that he was not expected to extract ore, for indeed there was no tram-line here whereby it could be carried away. This particular tunnel had been closed up by a fall of rock as long ago as the sixteenth century and had never since been worked, and as the Peruvians thought that there might still be a good supply of ore there, they had determined to open it once more. This, then, was Jim’s task, and he approached the blocked-up tunnel-mouth determined to do as much work as he possibly could, and thus endeavour to earn the sentry’s good-will, for that, he decided, should be his first step on the road to freedom.

By the time that dusk had fallen and work had ceased for the day, Douglas had cleared away several cubic yards of rubble from the tunnel-mouth, and had also impressed the sentry so favourably that the latter not only thought himself lucky in having charge of so docile a prisoner, but also decided that it would not be necessary for him to exercise quite so much vigilance as he had expected to be obliged to do.

Morning after morning the Englishman and the Peruvian went up to the tunnel, and the two soon became, to all appearance, very excellent friends. Jim steadily worked his way farther and farther into the tunnel, and the sentry sat at the entrance thereto, smoking and dozing, instead of standing close beside the prisoner during the whole day, as he had done at first. Douglas was delighted, for this was precisely what he wanted. The soldier’s suspicions were being lulled to sleep very effectively, and Jim told himself that the time was fast approaching when he might try to hoodwink the fellow still further. However, in order not to act too hastily, he allowed a few more days to elapse, and then one morning, during his mid-day meal, he entered into conversation with the Peruvian, adroitly keeping the conversation as personal as possible, and leading the fellow on to talk about himself. It was an easy task that Jim had before him, as he very soon found. He sympathised with the man in all his little troubles, and advised him what to do to make matters easier for himself, the consequence being that Douglas passed the whole afternoon sitting down and talking with the soldier, with the result that by the evening the two were as friendly together as even Jim could wish.