CHAPTER XII
PRISONERS
When they arrived at Cerro de Pasco they found that the division ofGamarra's army stationed in the district had mutinied and had declaredfor Vivancohidas, and were killing all those known as adherents ofGamarra. All traffic was at a stand-still. Numbers of the soldiers whodid not choose to join in the mutiny had taken to the hills, and werepillaging convoys and peaceful travellers alike.
"I think, senor," Dias said, "that instead of crossing the Cordillerasto the west, as we had intended, it will be better for us to go south,skirt the lake of Junin, and make for Oroya. That is the routegenerally taken, for the passes west are terribly difficult. I havetraversed this route many times, and when going with merchandise Ialways go through Oroya, though in returning from Cerro I take theshorter route."
"Very well, Dias, you are the best judge of that. It is a greatnuisance that this rising should have taken place just as we want totraverse the country, but it can't be helped. I will go to thehead-quarters of Quinda--he is established at the mayor's househere--and get a pass from him.
"It would be well, perhaps, if you were to go with me, Dias, to confirmmy statement that we have been shooting and hunting. I hope he willgive us a pass, so that we shall not be interfered with by his mengathered at different points on the road to Oroya. I hear that aconsiderable portion of his force have already marched forward."
The Peruvian colonel questioned Harry closely as to his motives fortravelling there.
"I suppose," he said, "you have been searching for gold. We are sorelyin need of funds, and I shall feel myself obliged to borrow any goldthat you may have collected for the use of my army, giving you an orderon the treasury at Lima, which will, of course, be honoured as soon asthe authority of President Vivancohidas is established."
"I do not doubt the goodness of the security," Harry said quietly,"although possibly I might have to wait some time before the order wascashed; but while hunting I have not come upon any treasure. We haveoccasionally, when halting at streams, amused ourselves by doing alittle gold-washing, but when I tell you that during the eight monthssince we started from Cuzco we have only collected about twenty ouncesof gold, you may well suppose that no good fortune has attended us."
"Is that all, senor?"
"I give you my word of honour that is all, senor; and as I shall haveto lay in a store of provisions and so on for my journey down to Lima,you may well imagine that it would be a serious inconvenience to me topart with it."
"Quite so, senor; so small a sum as that would not go far among thefour thousand men under my command. However, I shall have pleasure ingiving you the pass that you ask. You have had good sport, I hope?"
"As good as I expected. We kept ourselves in food, and have seen asplendid country, which I hope some time will again be cultivated, andadd to the wealth of your country."
After a further exchange of compliments Harry returned to the inn wherethey had put up.
Next morning, after purchasing some coffee and other stores that wereneeded, they set out.
"Now we are all right, Dias," Harry said as they started.
"I hope so, senor; but from what I heard yesterday evening severalstrong bands of disaffected soldiers are in the hills between this andOroya. Quinda's troops have by no means all joined him, and severalcompanies that broke off have stationed themselves in the hills alongthis road. They have stopped and robbed more than one mule train withsilver from the mines there. They have not meddled, as far as I hear,with Quinda's troops, but have simply seized the opportunity ofperpetrating brigandage on a large scale."
"Well, we must take our chance, Dias. Fortunately we have money enoughat Lima to replace the animals. We have pretty well finished all ourstores, and beyond the tents and the bedding, which would be a matterof a hundred dollars, there is nothing worth thinking of; still,certainly I do not want to lose it. I hope we sha'n't fall in with anyof those scoundrels."
"I hope not, senor. Perhaps we had better put our gold dust and moneyin Jose's boots. They are less likely to examine him than they are us.
"You had better put half in his boots, and give the other half to mywife to hide about her clothes. We shall want some money, if we arerobbed, to take us down to Lima. With the gold dust we could get acouple of mules and enough provisions to take us down there. We shouldbe in a very awkward position if we found ourselves penniless."
They stopped for the night at a little village close to the lake. Therewas but one small room at the inn, but at the other end of thestraggling village there was a yard where the mules could stand, and aloft where Dias, Maria, and Jose could sleep.
Harry and his brother had lain down but an hour on their blankets whenthere was a shouting in the street, and two or three shots were fired.They leapt up.
"We had better hide our rifles and pistols," Harry said, "under thatragged bed that we did not care about sleeping on. We may possibly getthem again even if we are robbed of everything else."
A minute later four or five men with a lantern rushed into the room.They were all armed with muskets, and one carried a torch.
"Who are you?" this man asked.
"We are English sportsmen," Harry said. "We have been shooting for somemonths at the foot of the hills, and are now returning to Lima. Thereare our guns, you see."
"We will take you before the captain," the man said. "Bring those gunsalong, Pedro and Juan."
The village was in an uproar. Some fifty men were occupied in searchingthe houses and in appropriating everything they thought useful. Onehouse had been set on fire, and near this a man in an officer's uniformwas standing. He heard the report of Harry's and Bertie's capture.
"English sportsmen, eh! How long have you been shooting?" he asked.
"Eight months."
"Eight months! Then guard them securely, Montes; they are doubtlessrich Englishmen, and we shall get a good ransom for them. Englishsenors who come out here to shoot must be men with plenty of money; butlikely enough they are not sportsmen, but gold-seekers. However, itmatters little."
"I protest against this," Harry said. "Our consul at Lima will demandsatisfaction from the government."
The other laughed.
"Government!" he said, "there is no government; and if there were, theywould have no power up in the hills."
So saying he turned away.
Plunder that had been collected was brought in and divided among theparty, four of the men with muskets keeping guard over the prisoners.
"I don't see anything of Dias and the mules," Bertie said in English.
"No, I have been expecting to see them brought up every minute. Now Iam beginning to hope that they have got safely off. I think the fellowsbegan their attack at our end of the village.
"You know how watchful Dias is. Very likely he or Jose were up, and youmay be sure that the moment they heard the uproar they would drive themules out and be off. You see only two of them are laden, and theycould have thrown the things on to their backs and been off at once. Hewould know that it was useless to wait for us. I expect he would turnthem off the road at once and make down towards the lake. If thesefellows had caught him and the mules they would certainly have broughtthem up here before this."
"I hope he got off--not so much because of the mules, as because I amsure that, if he gets fairly away, he will do what he can to help us."
"I am sure he will, Bertie. We must make the best of it. There is onething, we have got a good month before us. It will take them all thattime to go down to Lima about our ransom and return; and it is hard ifwe don't give them the slip before that."
A quarter of an hour later the band started with their booty andprisoners for the hills.
"I don't suppose they will go far," Harry said. "Quinda has got hishands full, and will be wanting to start as soon as he can to joinVivancohidas. He won't lose time in hunting the scoundrel who hascaught us, so I expect the band make their head-quarters in somevillage at the foot of the hills."
This
turned out to be so. After a march of four hours the band haltedin a village in a valley running up into the hills. The prisoners werethrust into an empty hut, and four men with muskets told off as theirguard. Next morning the captain of the band came in.
"I shall require a hundred thousand dollars for your ransom," he said.
"We could never pay such a sum," Harry said. "We are not rich men. I ama lieutenant on half-pay in the English navy, and, having nothing to doat home, came out with my brother for a year's sport. I could not pay atenth of that sum."
"That we shall see," the man said. "If you cannot pay, your governmentcan. You will at once write to your consul at Lima, telling him that ifthis hundred thousand dollars are not handed over to my messengerwithin four days of his arrival there, you will both have your throatscut."
"I will write the letter if you wish," Harry replied quietly, "but youwon't get the money. If you like to say ten thousand dollars, I daresay the consul will do his best to raise that amount."
"One hundred thousand is the smallest sum," the man said angrily. "Hecan get it out of the government there. They will not choose to riskhaving trouble with your country for the sake of such a sum."
"Gamarra is away," Harry said, "and it is pretty certain that he willnot have left a hundred thousand dollars in the treasury; and even ifhe has, you maybe sure that his people there would not give it up, forhe wants every penny for his war expenses."
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"So much the worse for you. Write as I told you; here is paper, pen,and ink. Do not write in English. I will come back in a quarter of anhour for it."
"This is awkward, Bertie. It is evident that I must write. As to theirpaying twenty thousand pounds, the thing is absurd; if he had mentionedtwo thousand they might have considered the matter. What I hope is thatthey will not send up anything. I feel certain that we shall be able toget away from here within a month; and if they were to send up one ortwo thousand pounds, we should probably miss the fellow on the way. Inthat case we should have to repay the money when we got to Lima, whichI certainly should not see my way to do--anyhow, until I got toEngland, when I could, of course, sell out some of my stock. There isnothing here that we could use as invisible ink. If there were, I wouldrisk writing a message with it; but even then it is fifty to oneagainst their bringing it to light. Well, here goes!" and he wrote inSpanish the required message.
The robber on his return read it through, turned the paper over to seethat nothing was written on the back, and held it up to the light.
"That will do," he said. "Now let me warn you, don't attempt to escape.You won't succeed if you do, and the sentries have orders to shoot youdown should you attempt it."
The time passed slowly. The brigand was evidently determined to givethem no chance of escaping, and four sentries remained round the hut,one at each corner. In the daytime the prisoners were allowed to sit atthe door of the hut, but they were shut up at nightfall. The guardswere not allowed to speak to them, and there was therefore no chance ofoffering them a bribe. On the evening of the fifth day they had, asusual, been shut up, and were chatting over the situation.
"If they continue to guard us like this, Bertie, I really don't see ashadow of a chance of getting away. We calculated on there being one,or perhaps two sentries at the door, and thought we could have cut ahole through that adobe wall at the back and crept out through it; butas there is a guard at each corner, I don't see a chance of it. Thefellows are evidently afraid of their captain, and each keeps to hiscorner, and sits there and smokes and drones out songs, but they nevermove till they are relieved. Of course we must make the attempt if wesee no other way of escaping. But I have still great hope that Diaswill somehow or other try to get us out, though how he can do it Idon't know."
They observed that the sentries were not changed in any military way.Five minutes before sunset the four men who were to relieve those onguard came sauntering up. The former guard ordered the captives intothe hut and bolted the door, and then after a short chat with theothers went off, the new sentries having already taken their posts atthe corners of the hut. On the fifth evening after their capture theysaw approaching a peasant woman sitting on a mule. A man was walkingbeside her. Behind the woman was a small barrel, and two packs and twosmall wine-skins hung on each side.
"Harry," Bertie exclaimed, "I believe that is Dias and Maria!"
"It is," Harry said. "Thank God they have found us! Twenty to one theywill get us out. What have they got with them, I wonder?"
They stopped in the road opposite the house, which was the end one inthe village.
"You are not to come nearer," one of the sentries shouted.
"I am sure I don't want to come nearer," the woman said pertly. "Youdon't think you are so handsome that I want to get a better sight ofyour face?"
"What have you got there?" the man asked. "We shall be coming off dutyin ten minutes."
"Well, we have got a little of everything," she said. "As pretty sashesas there are in the country, beautiful silk neckerchiefs, silverbrooches for your sweethearts, and for those who purchase freely aglass of the best pisco spirit."
"Well, wait, and I dare say we shall lay out a dollar or two."
A minute or two later four other men sauntered up, and began to talk toMaria, who slipped off her mule. The guards, fearful that the bestbargains would be sold before they could get forward, hurried theprisoners into the hut and bolted the door. The brothers heard a greatdeal of talking and arguing, and ten minutes later the sentries came upto their usual post.
"I would not mind betting odds," Bertie said with delight, "that Diashas drugged that spirit."
"I expect so, Bertie. He would be sure that they could not resist it,for it is the best spirit there is in Peru."
For a time the sentries talked, saying that the pedlars' goods werecheap and the spirit as good as any they had ever tasted. "We had greatdifficulty in getting her to sell us a second glass each; and she wasright, for she had not much of it, and it must help her rarely to sellher goods. The husband seemed a surly sort of chap. I wonder such apretty little woman would marry such a fellow."
"I suppose he was well-to-do and she was poor," another said; "such isgenerally the case when you see a marriage like that. I dare say hemakes a good thing of it; the goods are as cheap, though, as they wouldbe in Lima."
Gradually the talking ceased, and within an hour there was perfectquiet outside the hut. Half an hour later they heard footsteps comingquietly up to the door. They held their breath; but instead of, as theyexpected, hearing the bolt drawn, they heard the new-comers going roundthe hut, pausing a minute at each corner. Then they again stopped atthe door; the two bolts were shot back, and the door opened.
"Come, senors," Dias said; "it is quite safe. We have put them all tosleep. Here are their muskets and pistols. You had better take them, incase we are pursued, which is not likely. At any rate, should one ofthem wake the want of a gun will mean delay in raising the alarm.
"Don't speak, senors; it is as well to keep quiet till we are fairlyoff." He shut the door and rebolted it, and then led the way down intothe road.
Not a word was spoken till they had gone a hundred yards, and thenHarry said: "You have done us another good turn, Dias; we did not seeany possible way of getting out; but we both agreed that if you couldfind us you would."
"Of course, senors, you could not suppose that Maria and I would goquietly off."
"How did you manage to get away, Dias?"
"It was easy enough. After what we had heard of these brigands I madeup my mind that I would not unsaddle the mules, nor take the packs offthe two loaded ones. The burdens were not heavy, for we have little butour bedding and the tents left, and I thought they might as well staywhere they were, and in the morning we could shift them on to theothers. I told Jose to watch about half the night; but I was standingtalking to him, and smoking my last cigarette, when he said suddenly,'I can hear a noise at the other end of the village.'
> "The evening was still, and I could also hear the sound of manyfootsteps, so I ran and pulled down the bar at the back of the yard,called Maria, and told her and Jose to take the mules straight down tothe lake, and then to follow the bank. Then I ran to warn you; butbefore I got half-way I heard shouts and firing, and knew that I wastoo late, so I ran back to the lake, where I overtook the mules, and wemounted and went off at a trot. When I got a quarter of a mile away Itold the others to go on to Junin, which we knew was twenty miles away,and put up there till I joined them. Then I ran back to the village,and, keeping myself well behind a house, watched them getting ready tostart, and saw you. There was nothing to do but to follow you. I didso, and observed where they had shut you up, and I waited about forsome hours, so as to see how you were guarded.
"I saw their captain go into your hut twice. When he came out thesecond time he had a paper in his hand. He went to the house he hastaken possession of, and I kept a good watch over that. Presently twolieutenants came out, talking together. They entered another house, andten minutes afterwards issued out again, dressed in ordinary clothes,such as a muleteer or a cultivator fairly well off would wear, andreturned to the captain's house, and stayed there for a good half-hourbefore they came out again. Two horses had been brought round to thedoor. The captain came out with them, and was evidently giving themsome last instructions. Then they rode off, saying good-bye to some ofthe men as they passed through the village.
"Knowing the ways of these bandits, I had no doubt the paper I sawtheir captain bring out of the hut where you were was a letter he hadcompelled you to write to request a large sum of money to be sent inexchange for you; and as I felt certain that we should rescue yousomehow, I thought it was a pity that this letter should go down, so Istarted at once to follow them. They had not got more than a quarter ofan hour's start of me, and by the line they had taken I saw that theyintended to go to Junin. I did not think it likely that they wouldenter the place, because they would be sure to meet some of Quinda'smen there; but would probably sleep at some small village near it, andthen make a circuit to strike the road beyond the town.
"Fortunately I had some money in my pocket, and at the first farm Icame to I bought a mule. You see, senor, I had not lain down the nightbefore, and had done a fair day's work before I started to follow yourcaptors. I had walked twenty miles with them, and had been busy all themorning. I knew it could not be much less than thirty miles to Junin,and that if I could not find them there I should have to push on afterthem again the next morning, so I gave the farmer what he asked for hismule, and started at once on it barebacked. It turned out to be a goodanimal, and I rode hard, for I wanted to get down to Junin before thetwo men. I reckoned I should do that, because, as they were going avery long journey, they would not want to press their horses, andbesides would prefer that it should be dark before they stopped for thenight.
"When I got to Junin I found Maria and Jose, who had put up the mulesat the only inn there. I set Maria to watch on the road leading intothe town, and went out with Jose to a little village a mile back, whereI made sure the fellows would stop. I was not long in finding out thatthey had arrived about half an hour after I had ridden through, and hadput up at the priest's. That was good enough for me. We went back tothe town. I had some supper, which I can tell you I wanted badly, for Ihad been afraid of going into the brigand's village to buy anything,as, being a stranger, I might have been asked questions, so I had hadnothing since the night before. I had found that there was a road fromthe place where they had stopped, by which they could ride along by thelake without going into the town; so Jose and I ambushed there an hourbefore daylight, thinking that they would be off early. We were right;for in a quarter of an hour they came along. Day was just breaking, sowe could make out their figures easily enough, and as they were notfive yards away as they passed, we were not likely to miss them. Well,I found the paper you had written in the coat-pocket of one of them,together with two hundred dollars, no doubt for the expenses of hisjourney. We hid the two bodies under a heap of stones."
"Then you killed them, Dias?" Harry said, in a tone of surprise.
"Of course! what else would one do with them? They were brigands, andthey had attacked a peaceable village and killed several people. Evenif I had not wanted to get your paper it would have been a verymeritorious action."
"Oh, I am not blaming you, Dias, at all! There was no other way ofgetting the paper, and it may be regarded as an act of necessity. Andwhat did you do with their horses?"
"Jose went on with them, and I returned to the town again and startedwith Maria and the mules. We journeyed to a village half-way to Oroya.Of course we overtook Jose a mile or two after we had left Junin. Therewe put up at a quiet place and talked over the situation. We knew thatthere was no particular hurry, for we read your letter, and knew thatno harm would come to you for a long time. It would be a month at leastbefore they would expect the men back with the money. There was anotherletter, addressed to Don Mariano Carratala, whom I know to be a busypolitician in Lima. The money was to be paid to him; at least he was toreceive it from the two men immediately they left the British consul'shouse, and he was to hold it for Valdez, which is the name of thebrigand."
"I thought he would not trust the men to bring up a sum like that."
"It would be enough to tempt the most incorruptible Peruvian, andcertainly the men he sent down would have taken good care never to cometo this part of the country again if they had got the money into theirpossession. I don't think either it would have been safe in the handsof Carratala, if he did not know that sooner or later he would get aknife between his shoulders if he kept it. Next morning Maria and Istarted back, bringing with us four mules, the fastest we had. We rodeon two and led the others. I knew some people at Junin, for I haveoften passed through the town when I have been bringing down silverfrom Cerro, and one managed to get for us that little barrel of pisco.I was sure that no soldier would refuse a glass; but it was almost asin to give such liquor to the dogs. Then we bought peasants' clothes,and a parcel of goods such as travelling hawkers carry.
"You know how we succeeded. Of course we had drugged the pisco heavily,and knew that two glasses would send any man off to sleep in half anhour. As soon as it was dark, Maria went on with the mule. We shallfind her half a mile from here at a deserted hut where we left theother three mules."
"Well, Dias, you have assuredly saved our lives. Guarded as we were,there was not the slightest chance of our getting away by ourselves;and as the British consul certainly could not have raised the sum theydemanded, we should have had our throats cut when the messengersreturned empty-handed. Valdez is not the man to go back from his wordin that respect."
"It is a pity you have lost your arms, senor."
"Yes, we have certainly lost our double-barrelled guns, but our riflesand pistols are hidden in the straw of the bed in the room where weslept. We had just time to hide them before the brigands burst into theroom."
"Then we can recover them, senor. Of course I intended to ride straightto Junin, but it won't make very much difference. We will ride to thevillage, get the rifles and pistols, and then follow the road by thelake. It is now only nine o'clock; we can be there by one easily, andreach Junin by morning. It will be perfectly safe to rest there. Isuppose your guards will be relieved about twelve o'clock?"
"Yes, that was the time we heard them changed."
"They will most likely discover that you have gone then. When they findthe four guards sound asleep, they are sure to unbolt the door and seeif you are there, then of course they will give the alarm at once. ButI hardly think they will even attempt to pursue. They are infantry, andnone of them are mounted but the officers, which means that at presentonly Valdez himself has a horse. They would know that you had beenassisted, and that probably horses were waiting for you somewhere.There is the hut, senors."
Maria ran out as they came up.
"The saints be praised," she exclaimed, "that you are with us again,senors!"<
br />
"The saints are no doubt to be praised," Harry said, "but we feel atpresent a good deal more indebted to Dias and yourself than to them. Weare indeed grateful to you both, and you managed it splendidly. Mybrother and I felt so confident that you would do something to get usout, that we were not in the least surprised when we recognized you andDiaz got up as travelling hawkers."
"You did not tell them that we were with you?"
"No. Fortunately they asked no questions at all, and took us forEnglishmen travelling by ourselves. They may have thought of itafterwards, but in the hurry of carrying off their booty theyapparently gave the matter no attention. If they had done so they wouldprobably have sent a party out in pursuit of the mules. Even if theyhad not done so, they would have been sure to look with some suspicionat two hawkers arriving at such an out-of-the-way village at such atime."
"Well, we had better be moving at once," Dias said. "We are going downto the village where they were captured, Maria. They hid their riflesand pistols there when they found the place was in the hands of thebrigands."
Three minutes later they started. There was a full moon, so they wereable to ride fast, and it was just midnight when they arrived at thevillage. When they knocked at the house where their rifles had beenleft, the proprietor looked out from the upper window in great dismay,fearing that the brigands might have returned. However, as soon as herecognized the party he came down and opened the door. The arms werefound where they had been hidden, and in five minutes they were againon their way, and arrived at Junin at five o'clock. It was necessary towait here twenty-four hours to rest the animals. The next morning theystarted as soon as it was light, and picked up Jose and the convoy. Thebrothers mounted the two horses, and Dias and Maria rode on one mule,and led three behind them. Jose rode another and led four. The horsesand the mule Dias had bought were sold at Oroya, and after purchasingenough provisions for the rest of their journey they started for Lima,having concluded that it would be better, now that they were on themain track, to follow it instead of striking across the hills.