llies--paths
by which that daring adventurer had brought his handful of men, his horses
and guns, over the Sierra, and which had recently conducted the Spanish
major and his squadron to their less successful coup-de-main. Hours were
consumed in clambering up and down this rough and dangerous ground, and
not a word was uttered by the patriots until they arrived in a valley at a
considerable distance below the platform they had left. A shrill whistle
was then heard, followed by a wild howl resembling that of the caguar,
whereupon the party halted a short time, and then again started off at a
rapid pace. Their path now led through lofty woods and tangled thickets,
overgrown with a mantle of creeping plants, so closely entwined and
intricate, that they might well have deterred the most daring hunter from
attempting to force a passage. The stunted oaks and pines had been
replaced by palm and tamarind trees, the sharp cold had given way to a
moderate degree of warmth. Over the adjacent ravines, billows of mist were
floating, and from time to time were wafted towards the wanderers by a
puff of the night breeze, rendering the darkness that surrounded them yet
more intense. Now and then Indians emerged, with rapid but silent step,
from the clefts and passes of the mountain, and joined the party; others
left it and disappeared with the same noiseless dispatch. No voice was
heard, no command given; there was every appearance of the blindest
obedience, without any visible chief.

Hitherto our young Don had given no sign of his existence. He had followed
mechanically wherever he had been led, over mountain and valley, through
ravine and forest, until, on a sudden, the brilliant spectacle of fifty
torches, flaring along a rocky ridge, and illuminating the depths of a
fearful precipice, roused him into life and consciousness. Before he had
time to enquire where he was, or whither they were taking him, a whistle
was heard, and at the same moment he was seized by a pair of powerful
arms, and placed upon the shoulders of a gigantic Indian, who tucked the
young man's legs under his arms, and trotted away with his burden as
though it had been a feather.

"_Vigilancia!_" suddenly exclaimed a voice, and the party paused for an
instant: in the silence the roar of a mountain torrent was heard,
ascending, as it seemed, from the very bowels of the earth. The climate,
which had been alternately cold and temperate, as the march had lain over
high