“There is no fear of that, as they have already passed the only point where they could descend the cliffs,” answered the Indian. “All we have to do is to remain quiet.”
We agreed not to tell my mother and sister what we had heard, but to keep a vigilant watch, so that should the strangers prove to be foes, and find us out, we might be prepared to resist them.
The thoughts of a possible encounter kept us awake during the greater part of the night; and towards morning the ever active Kanimapo again stole out of the camp. Just before daybreak he returned. He had got sufficiently near to the strangers’ camp to hear what they were talking about; and he had discovered that they were mostly deserters from the Spanish army, who had turned robbers, and were as ready to prey on one party as the other. It would, therefore, be very dangerous to fall into their hands; and Kanimapo advised that we should remain concealed where we were till they had left the neighbourhood.
The time, as may be supposed, was an anxious one: still, it afforded us rest; and as we had plenty of food, we were gaining strength to enable us to perform the more arduous part of the journey which still lay before us.
Kanimapo was absent till the evening, tracking the banditti. He at length saw them cross a lofty ridge to the southward, and disappear; and feeling satisfied that they would no longer molest us, he returned with the intelligence.
The following morning we were again en route. Having reached the foot of a steep mountain, our guide called a halt, and told us that we were near the end of our journey, but that there were portions of the path which no mules or horses could traverse. We could, however, reach our destination by taking a much more circuitous path. He inquired whether we should be content to proceed on foot—in which case we might reach a place of safety in the course of three or four hours; or if we were disposed to take the circuitous path, which would occupy the whole of that day and a portion of the next—while we would also run the risk of discovery, as the high-road passed in view of the track we should have to pursue.
My father at once decided to ascend the mountain on foot; while Tim volunteered, with Chumbo, to conduct the horses and mules round by the way Kanimapo described to him.
Led by the Indian, we therefore recommenced the ascent of the mountain without delay. Fatiguing as it was, the doctor and the padre each insisted on carrying a child, while my father helped up my mother, and I aided Norah—though Kathleen and she declared they felt perfectly able to climb up by themselves. Gerald and I sometimes gave them our hands, at others pushed them from behind.
After ascending a considerable distance, we saw on our right a lofty peak. The clearness of the atmosphere made it appear much nearer than it really was. Kathleen announced her intention of climbing to the top of it, and was much surprised to find that it was some twenty or thirty miles off.
In spite of the fresh air, the heat was great; but the atmosphere was far more exhilarating than I had before found it in the plains. At last the summit was reached; when we went some distance over tolerably level ground, and then had to commence descending by one of the steepest paths I ever met with,—such as even the mules could not have slidden down without the risk of rolling over. On reaching the bottom we found a rapid stream flowing at our feet, along the brink of which Kanimapo now led us; and we continued making our way, amid the rich vegetation which grew on either side, till we saw before us a fine waterfall, and, as far as we could judge, our progress appeared completely barred.