“How long we lay unconscious I know not. It might have been a night and part of a day, it might have been for nights and days, but when I opened my eyes my limbs were numbed and powerless, blistered and shrivelled by the sun, which makes me incline to the belief that our sleep had been heavy and prolonged. Cuastral lay stretched beside me still face downwards, though as I was lying on my back, I must have turned into that position during sleep. But what immediately fixed my attention was the sight that I viewed above. On the edge of the precipice, which frowned down upon us, I beheld several Trauco forms, one of which lay motionless at full length and peering over. This one was the Trauco queen.
“I groaned aloud, and tried to move my arms, but they were useless. Then I lifted up my voice and shouted to Cuastral. He never moved, but I felt that the action of shouting restored feeling to my limbs, so I kept on at it.
“Gradually, and by degrees, my powers came back to me, and I was able to rise. I then turned my attention to my father. I found him numbed in the same way as I had been, but by dint of rubbing his limbs circulation was brought back, and he was able to stand on his feet. Then I told him how we were being watched from above, and we deliberated again on the course to be followed. There was only one to adopt, and that was to continue to follow the river. It might happen that the cliffs would become more accessible, in which case we could scale the left side, and thus put the deep gorge between ourselves and our pursuers. As we prepared to start a strange thing happened. The Trauco queen had risen and stretched out her arms towards me, as though imploring me to come to her. As if to entice me, she threw me several splendid apples. A happy thought struck me, and I clapped my hands in the same way as I had seen the Traucos do when they were pleased, and held out my hands as if pleading for more. She understood, and threw more down, adding to them some fine araucarias. I continued my gestures and apparent prayers in the mute language of her tribe, until we had stacked a fine supply. Then we both resumed our paddles and our toil up stream.
“At the sight of this she uttered a loud trumpet note of anger, and followed along the precipitous edge, holding out her arms, and again signing to us to come to her.
“And thus for several days we travelled, she and her followers never losing sight of us for a moment. When we anchored and slept, they took up their position on the cliff above, for they had clearly no intention of abandoning the pursuit.
“One evening, after a more than unusually hard day’s toil, we sighted a tiny miniature raft tied to the land, for narrow banks on either side had reappeared, though the cliffs still prevented escape. Above the raft was a small plateau bank covered with flowers and creeping plants. A perfect fairy nook, as if the hand of man had given to it especial care. The tiny raft mystified us, but we determined to exchange it for the heavier one, and after spending the night amidst the flowers, we resumed our journey on the mysterious raftling. But we did not go far. We had barely paddled an hour when a bend in the river opened a fresh scene to our view. Ahead of us yawned a wide open cave; the stream, which had narrowed considerably, came to an end. The road was barred against all further outlet of escape. We stared at each other, despair in our eyes.”
Harry and Topsie had for some minutes been looking at each other. As Piñone paused, the latter exclaimed—
“Good heavens, Harry! it must have been the great gold mine of Or.”
