And so well did she act her part that she managed to allay his suspicions, so that after a few minutes he released her, and allowed her to wander about, keeping, however, a good watch upon her movements.
Gradually, and by degrees, Topsie worked her way back to the two Araucanians. These, divining the object of her manœuvres, had thrown themselves on the ground, and were apparently paying no attention to her whatever. But the girl knew better; and when at length she sat herself down beside them she inquired quickly: “Who are these people, Piñone? Are they men or beasts?”
“They are men,” answered the Cacique. “They are the Trauco people.”
CHAPTER X.
“The Trauco people!” exclaimed Topsie, into whose mind those words infused a flood of meaning. During her wanderings in Patagonia she had often heard the Indians speak with awe of these wild beings, in whose existence they implicitly believed, but both she and Harry had always laughed at the idea, and declared that the Trauco must be a species of large ape; and this belief had more than ever been confirmed in their minds, by the descriptions given to them by their old hermit uncle, of those “demons of the Andes” who had guarded the great gold mine of Or.
But between the demons and these hairy people a wide gulf of difference yawned, and for the first time Topsie found the word Trauco impressed upon her as the name of a reality of the human species, instead of a mythical ape.
“But, Piñone, how did you get here?” she again inquired in a low voice. “Aniwee and the Araucanians think you dead. After the raid made by you and Cuastral on the Cristianos, Inacayal returned, saying he had seen your dead bodies.”