me by weakness, had, in their attempt to drink, fallen
in, and prevented the others from getting their mouths to it. The first
lay trampled on and drowned, making the once clear pool a mass of mud
and filth. The rear ranks, rushing over them, had died of raging
thirst, in sight of the water which might have saved them. Both men and
horses were mingled in a dreadful heap, torn and mangled by the birds
and beasts of prey. We crossed as rapidly as we could to the other side
of the oasis, where Ithulpo produced a skin full of clear water from one
of the saddle-bags.

"We must not disappoint our poor beasts," he observed, as he gave them
to drink.

Just then the horse my father rode gave a neigh. It was answered from a
distance; and to our no little satisfaction and astonishment, our two
horses were seen trotting up towards the oasis. They had evidently been
prevented taking shelter in the oasis by the presence of the tiger, but
had kept in the neighbourhood, in the hopes of his taking his departure.
Ithulpo at once enticed them to him by the offer of water, which they
drank eagerly; and having secured them, after allowing them to crop a
little of the grass which grew beneath the shade of the trees, we
mounted, and prepared to recommence our journey. As we left the now
polluted oasis, Ithulpo looked carefully round to examine the traces on
the sand, and declared that of all those who had reached the spot, not
one had left it.

"A just vengeance has overtaken the tyrants who yesterday so cruelly
ill-treated us, Senores," he remarked. "I knew it would be so. We may
now, without fear, proceed to Lima."

In two hours we reached the confines of the desert, and once more got
among streams, and trees, and cultivated fields. We slept that night at
an Indian village, where Ithulpo's influence procured us a warm
reception; and after a rest of two days, we proceeded on our journey to
Lima. As we rode along a fine straight road, shaded by an avenue of
lofty willows, peculiarly grateful in a hot climate, we at length came
in sight of the steeples and domes of the far-famed city of Lima, with
the blue ocean on one side of us, and the interminable ranges of the
snowy Cordilleras reaching to the sky on the other.

"What a magnificent city!" I exclaimed. "Well worthy, indeed, does it
appear of its great founder, the conqueror Pizarro."

"Wait till we get within the walls before you pronounce an opinion,"
remarked my fathe