CHAPTER IV.
Harry and Topsie were awakened the morning following upon that of the fight, by the sounds of the Araucanians returning from the river’s side, where they had been to perform their morning ablutions. It must have been about dawn.
“I say, Harry,” observed his sister, raising herself up from off her couch of warm skins, “I should uncommonly like a plunge. I caught sight of a beautiful stream in the forest yesterday which I think I could find again. I daresay Aunt Ruby and Mary will be glad to be shown it, so I’ll just stir them up and ask them.”
“Right you are, old girl!” ejaculated Harry, yawning, “and I will pilot Uncle Francis, Freddy, and Willie. I know the stream you mean. It is not ten minutes’ stroll from here. Yes, a plunge will be uncommonly refreshing. I wonder how all the Warriors are, and Queen Aniwee! Does it not seem like a dream to you, to be back amongst these wild scenes again?”
“Well, you see, Harry,” remarked Topsie gravely, “these are not exactly old scenes, because you knowalthough we saw something of the Araucanians when they joined the Tehuelches in the Patagonian pampas, we never entered their country. What a lovely one it is, to be sure!”
“Yes, indeed; and you were a brick to get uncle and aunt to come, Topsie. I am looking forward to a real good time of it after all the hardships I have gone through on the Pacific station,” continued Harry, with a sly twinkle in his eye.
“Oh, Harry, you conceited monkey!” laughed Topsie. “To hear you talk one would think you were martyred day and night, instead of living in clover, as you have been doing on father’s ship.”
“I say, whatareyou two jabbering about?” queried a sleepy voice from under a heap of skins, and Freddy’s head at length appeared in view. His hair was very much ruffled, and he looked extremely comical.
At the sight of him both his cousins burst into fits of laughter.
“Oh, Freddy, what a guy you look!” exclaimed Topsie.
Now Freddy in reality was a broad-shouldered, fine, handsome youth, with yellow hair and beautiful blue eyes. I think he just knew that he was not altogether plain, and therefore resented the description of his personal appearance given by his good-looking cousin.
“Guy, am I?” he pretended to remark indignantly. “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Look at yourself, Topsie. I never saw such a scarecrow in my life.”
“I tell you what, Freddy,” put in Harry, struggling torepress his laughter, “if you insult my charming sister I’ll sit on you, and squash you as flat as a pancake. Remember who I am, and who you are. Why, you are a mere fledgeling, aspiring to enter the army, while I am a full-blown officer in Her Majesty’s service.”
How this passage of arms might have ended I do not pretend to be able to say, but it was rudely interrupted by the entrance of Willie and Mary.
“Lazies!” cried this latter. “Why, I and Willie have been for ever such a long ramble, and we had a splendid swim in the Rio Limay far away below. We have seen the sun rise on those glorious Andes, and come across all sorts of funny and strange things. Oh, Topsie! I just do call this Paradise.”
“Well, did I not tell you how nice it was, miss?” put in Harry, “and you would not believe me. Now you see I am always right. But I say, Freddy, come on, old chap, and we’ll go and have a plunge. I’ll just ask Uncle Francis if he will come.”
“And I will ask Aunt Ruby,” put in Topsie, as she made for the tent’s entrance. “Come on, Shag, old boy.”
For Shag had risen and shaken himself demurely the moment he saw that it was his beloved mistress’s intention to leave the tent. He was just a little stiff after his long gallop of the day before, but that was no reason in Shag’s honest mind for taking him away from his mistress’s side.
On returning to the toldos about an hour and a half later, our white friends found a great bustle going on in the camp. Horses were being caught and saddled,the flock of sheep and herd of cattle were being driven in, and preparations for departure evidently being indulged in on an extensive scale.
“Ah! I see it is to be a case of forward to-day,” remarked Topsie in a pleased voice. “Now for a dash into the unknown.”
“But, Topsie, we must not forget to arrange with Aniwee for an expedition to the great gold mine of Or, which you know is the principal object of our presence here,” interposed Sir Francis. “Will you speak to her, or shall I?”
“Well, I think you had better let me do so, uncle,” answered his niece. “Aniwee is not superstitious to the same extent as are the Patagonians and Araucanians, still, you know, she will have to overcome these latter’s prejudices if she is to accompany us.”
As Topsie spoke the Queen entered. She looked a shade weary, and her wounded arm was stiff and painful. Her watch all night by the couch of the youth Graviel, had deprived her of the sleep which is so necessary to the young, after fatigue and excitement.
“Aniwee salutes the great Caciques,” she said, with an inclination of her head, and raising her right hand slightly. “Are they willing to accompany her to-day? A large herd of wild horses has been observed not an hour’s march from here, and the Caciques may like to join the Araucanos in attempting the capture of some of them. To-morrow we hunt the wild bull, and next day a puma fastness is to be stormed. The Caciques shall not want excitement or feel dull, if Aniwee can prevent it.”
“We will gladly accompany you, Aniwee, and we thank you much for your kind thoughts for our pleasure,” answered Topsie. “But, Aniwee, there is one thing I must tell you. My friends and myself desire to see the great gold mine of Or again, also the hut far up near the snows of the Andes peaks, where I, and you and my brother found that old white-haired man, living all alone. You remember it all, of course—how we went on with him to the mine of Or, while you went back to fetch Piñone; how, during our expedition to the mine, the old man died and was buried by the side of his long dead wife, on the banks of that dark mysterious river up which we had paddled to reach the mine; but I don’t think I ever told you the most wonderful thing of that wonderful adventure, how, in that old hermit of one hundred and thirteen years, I and my brother discovered an ancient relative, a great-great-uncle, in fact, whom every one thought had been drowned eighty years before; nor did I tell you, at the time, of the existence of the great gold mine of Or, which was discovered by Sir Harry Vane—for such was the name of the hermit—and shown to us. I did not make known its existence for the reason, that I wished to return later on and explore it in your company. And it is for this very purpose that we have sought you. Tell us, Aniwee. Will you come?”
The young Queen looked puzzled for a moment, and then replied:
“You know well that Aniwee has no fear. But she must consult the warriors of Piñone, and obtain theirconsent. Is she not pledged to rule over them for her child, and must she not consult their interests and those of the young Cacique?”
“You speak rightly and well, Aniwee,” put in Sir Francis; “you wish, in fact, to consult your people ere giving a definite reply? I am sure we respect your wishes.”
“The great Cacique understands Aniwee,” she answered in a grateful voice. “And now will they come to her toldo, and take some refreshment ere setting out on the trail?”
On entering Aniwee’s tolderia our white friends found a large fire burning therein. A pot, hanging on a tripod, simmered over the fire. Some fish on a gridiron stood near, and seven cups of steaming maté, with silver bombiglias stuck into each, stood round the fire.
To Harry and Topsie, this evidence of thoughtful attention on Aniwee’s part was all the more pleasing, inasmuch as they knew that it was not the custom of the Indians to eat before setting out on a journey. It was plain that she had not forgotten the habits of her white friends.
The baby Queen was rolling about on some skins, playing with her silver toys, and close by sat Graviel on a low stool. His face, arm, and leg were all neatly bandaged, the work of Blancha and Aniwee; for the former loved the handsome youth with tender devotion, and the latter made it her special care and pleasure to attend on Piñone’s favourite retainer, and the saviour of her child.
The scene at starting was a busy one. Every man and woman mounted their own especial horse, the women riding astride like the men—a sensible custom which white women would do well to imitate—as indeed did Lady Vane, Topsie, and Mary, who were all dressed in neat, comfortable knickerbockers, and well-fitting Norfolk jackets and stalking caps, with strong plain brown leather top riding boots, roomy and waterproof. A broad leathern belt encircled their waists, to which hung a sharp hunting knife and a bull-dog revolver in neat cases. Across one shoulder they carried a belt ribbed all round with rifle cartridges, and over the other shoulder each had a rifle slung. A similar attire and equipment composed Sir Francis’s, Harry’s, Freddy’s, and Willie’s rig-out, which possessed the merit of being comfortable and not too cumbersome.
They had brought two baggage horses with them, carrying a change of clothing for each, their surplus ammunition, and various presents for Aniwee and her Caciques, not omitting many a gaudy trinket for the common people. Aniwee was made intensely happy by the present of a beautiful rifle, which Sir Francis Vane had brought specially for presentation to the young Queen. Thus they set out. The cattle and sheep had preceded them, being driven forward by boys; and now the cavalcade consisted of about three hundred and fifty warriors, some thirty women and a few children, a fine troupiglia of mares and horses, and Aniwee, the baby Queen (or La Guardia Chica, as she was called by her subjects), attended by the faithfulBlancha and Graviel, the latter sitting his horse stoically, in spite of the pain which he was evidently suffering. Our white friends completed the imposing-looking party.
The way led through grassy valleys and rock-strewn gorges, which presently debouched into hillocky plains, whereon guanacos could be discerned, feeding in small knots of twenty or thirty together. Now and then an ostrich would start up and scud away in front of the advancing party, or a small silver fox spring forth from its seat, and gallop hastily forward in search of safety; for the Indian dogs, although trained to hunt the ostrich and guanaco only at the word of command, were always allowed free play with the foxes.
Aniwee explained to her young friends that here ended the limit of the guanaco, which entirely disappeared as they went more inland, giving place to the vicuña, an animal greatly resembling him, only with softer fur, and a habitant of the mountains in contradistinction to the guanaco, which favoured the plains, and she promised them many an exciting stalk after the former.
Before long they fell in with vast stretches of shady woods, which looked cool and inviting from the hot plains; and when at length they came into close proximity to them, Harry and Topsie, Freddy, Willie, and Mary, all uttered loud cries of delight as they beheld in this forest a veritable fairy scene. From the trees in every direction high up the mountain sides, and stretching along the valleys far and wide, hung thousands of red-cheeked, yellow-faced apples, temptingto the sight and pleasant to the palate,—a scene enticing in the highest degree to the young people, who gazed thereon with rapture.
“Mother, what a lovely sight!” cried Mary, as she dropped her reins on her horse’s neck, and clasped her hands together. “Oh, mother! I never dreamt of anything so beautiful. Are we in fairyland, I wonder?”
“It would seem so,” answered Lady Vane, smiling, as they suddenly rode into a green sunny valley watered by a bright running stream, and hemmed in on each side by apple groves, for in the valley erected on either side of the stream stood some hundred or more tolderias, with crowds of busy Indian men, women, and children moving to and fro. All along the valley pastured fine herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and immense troops of horses. Truly a beautiful scene!
“See!” exclaimed Aniwee, proudly pointing towards it; “of all my great possessions I love that spot the best, for Piñone loved it.”