CHAPTER XVIII.
“The demons of the Andes!” exclaimed Harry and Topsie in one breath; and then the girl added, “the same as killed poor Miriam Vane and James Outram in the great gold mine of Or. When our Uncle Harry told us of them we used to call them Traucos, which now, to all appearance, they are not, but far more appropriately termed ‘demons of the Andes.’”
She made this remark to Sir Francis and Lady Vane and the others, addressing them in English. Then turning to Piñone she inquired:
“These were surely not Traucos?”
“No,” answered Piñone decidedly, “for the Traucos are human. These were fiends, raging monsters, with all the thirst of wild beasts for blood. But the river was broad, and they had no other weapons than their clubs, so as long as we kept in mid-stream they could not reach us. At length, however, the Traucos appeared to get impatient, for their men and women all arose, unslung their bows, and fitted a golden-tipped arrow in each string. The big woman, to whom I have already alluded, now appeared to assume command, for she marshalled them into line, and signed to the men with the poles to keep the rafts stationary. Then she raised her bow, and aiming at one of the yelling monsters on the bank sent the shaft winging at him. Next moment a wild shriek rent the air, as the black fiend relaxed his grasp of the branch to which he had been clinging, and crashing through the leafy boughs, came with a dull thud to the ground, the gold-headed arrow having penetrated the centre of his forehead.
“As he fell, twenty arrows winged their deadly flight, and five fiends bit the dust. Two, after struggling for a moment or two, stretched their limbs out with a shudder, and lay still, but the other three sprang up and darted away into the forest, shrieking hideously, and grasping with both hands the arrows which stuck into their bodies. This attack seemed to discourage and overawe the others, for they all took to the trees, and amidst a chorus of weird cries and general hubbub, sprang from branch to branch and disappeared. Then several Traucos landed to recover their arrows from the bodies of the slain, which they lifted up and hurled into the water. The dead fiends sank almost immediately after immersion in a flood of bubbles and eddying whirlpools.
“All that day, and for several days after it, we worked up the great river on these rafts with little or nothing occurring to break the dull monotony of the journey. And ever as we went my heart and that of my father beat heavy with a great load as we thought of the beloved country daily getting further away, and of all that it contained for which our spirits yearned.