ppointed day the signal of revolt was given; and the
_corregidores_ in many of the provinces, whom they looked upon as their
principal oppressors, were seized and executed.

The _corregidor_ of Tungasuca had been entertaining a party of friends
and some travellers at his house. The feast was over; they had taken
their _siesta_; and other guests had assembled to pass the evening with
music and dancing. His wife and daughters were there, and several
ladies young and lovely. The gay guitar was sounding in the hall, and
happy hearts and light feet were keeping time to the music. The
_corregidor_ was standing apart from the rest in earnest conversation
with a stranger.

"This is my farewell assembly," he observed. "I have now, thank
Providence, amassed a fortune sufficient for my wants; and in a few
weeks' time I shall sail for my beloved Spain. This country is a good
one for making money, but for nothing else."

"It is a fine country, though; and history tells us was once a perfect
paradise," remarked the stranger.

"A paradise it might have been when the fields were better cultivated
and more mines were worked; but the people have chosen to die off, and
those who remain are idle and lazy, and will not work," answered the
_corregidor_, with a scornful laugh.

"They have lately taken to care very little for religion either,"
observed Padre Diogo, the family chaplain, who now joined the speakers.
"When we go among them with the saints to collect offerings, our boxes
come back not a quarter full."

Just then a servant, pale with terror, rushed up to his master.

"What is the matter?" asked the _corregidor_. "Speak, fool, speak!" for
the man could only utter some unintelligible sounds.

"The Indians! the Indians!" cried the man, at length finding his voice.
"The house is surrounded by thousands of them!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "The slaves would not dare--"

Just then an unearthly cry rent the air. The music ceased, and the
strangers hurried to go--the ladies clasping their partners' arms, and
the children clinging to their mothers. Some of the men went to the
windows. What the servant had reported was too true. On each side were
seen, by the beams of the pale moon, dense masses of armed savages,
forming an impenetrable barrier round the house; while others kept
arriving from every direction.

"What means all this?" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "I will go out and
order the slaves to d