“It is coming nearer,” cried Diego in alarm. “And I hear voices singing, or howling. It’s behind us. Juan! What shall we do? Hide! yes, that is it; hide!”
They looked all about them for a proper place, and Diego noticed a narrow cleft in the rocks higher up to his right.
“Up here!” he whispered, and ran with all his speed followed close by Juan.
They were soon there, and the cleft proved to be a narrow, cave-like opening the depth of which the boys could not determine, nor did they try to discover; for all that interested them was the fact that it offered a good place of concealment for them.
At the same time it afforded them a good view of the country they had been traversing, and promised to enable them to see the new-comers without difficulty. And it fulfilled its promise in a very few minutes, giving the boys a sight of a most extraordinary and startling spectacle.
From out of the wood, not far from where they had just come, there emerged a fantastic procession, which moved with a rapidity that was really remarkable in view of the numbers of which it was composed.
“THE CLEFT PROVED TO BE A NARROW, CAVE-LIKE OPENING.”
At the head of it came a man beating a sort of drum and moving at a rapid pace. Behind him were perhaps twenty men, all beating drums and chanting at the same time that they performed all sorts of singular antics, though without interfering with the rapid advance of the procession. Behind them again came hundreds of girls, dancing and singing in time with each other; and behind them came hundreds more of men and women, also singing and dancing with the greatest fervor.