us. Ithulpo still said not a word; but as
his eyes were now and then turned towards his countrymen, I observed
that looks of intelligence were exchanged between them. Some shrieked
with pain; others returned glances of rage at their tormentors; a few
almost fainted, till stirred up again to proceed; and two, who had been
wounded, actually dropped down, and as they were left in the rear, the
report of musketry told what had been their fate. The fear of a similar
catastrophe deterred others from giving in while they had any strength
remaining to drag onwards their weary limbs.

My father's kind heart was bursting with indignation and grief; but from
the surly answers he received, he saw that it would be hopeless to plead
for the unhappy beings.

"A day of bitter retribution will come, ere long, for this tyranny," he
observed. "Such conduct must arouse even the most long-enduring from
their apathy. Even as it is, how entirely has Spain failed to reap any
benefit from her apparently glorious conquest of this new world! or
rather, I may say, from the mode in which that conquest was conducted,
it has brought on her a heavy curse instead of a blessing. Since she
gained America, she has gradually declined in wealth, intelligence, and
power; and if I mistake not the signs of the times, these beautiful
provinces will soon be wrested from her, though, alas, the seeds of
misgovernment and bigotry which she planted, will take ages more to
eradicate."

Subsequent events, as my readers know, proved the correctness of my
father's observations. Spain no longer holds sway over any part of the
American continent; and the colonies she has planted, ever since
constantly plunged in civil war and anarchy, have been far outstripped
in civilisation by those peopled by the Anglo-Saxon race.

CHAPTER SIX.

ATTEMPT TO CROSS A DESERT--THE DISASTERS WE ENCOUNTERED.

Our journey was irksome and disagreeable in the extreme. We marched on
each day as long as the horses and men could move; and we rested at
night, sometimes in farm-houses, or in the public _tambos_; but
frequently we took shelter within the ruins of forts or other buildings,
and often we were obliged to sleep on the hard ground, with our saddles
for our pillows and the starlit sky above our heads. As it was the
height of summer, this mattered little. We suffered, however, much from
the heat in the day-time, and we were compelled frequently to dismount
to lead our ho