use. We first
cleared away the rubbish out of the rooms, and then placed against the
doorway some timbers and planks, which we tore up from the floors, so as
effectually to prevent the ingress of any wild beasts.

By the time we had thus fortified ourselves it had become perfectly
dark; and I must own that a feeling such as I had never before
experienced, crept over me, as I thus found myself shut up with my young
companion in that abode of the dead. I knew that I must arouse myself,
or it would master me completely.

"Come, Pedro," said I, "we must now light a fire. It will serve to
cheer our spirits, and to keep us warm, for I feel the evening chilly."

The floor of the room we were in was composed of bricks, so that we
could make our fire in the middle of it; and as there was no roof, we
had no fear of being incommoded by the smoke. From among the rubbish I
managed to pick out several smaller bits of timber, which had escaped
being totally consumed, and some of the dry grass we had collected for
our mules served as lighter fuel to kindle a flame. Having thus
collected sufficient materials, we piled some of them up in the middle
of the room, and kept the rest in a corner, to feed our fire as it
required.

A flame was soon kindled; and as it burned up brightly, it contributed
very much to banish the feelings which had before oppressed me, aided, I
suspect, by the exertions which it had been necessary to make to collect
the fuel. I have always found that exertion both of mind and body is
the best, I may say the only, remedy for melancholy and foreboding
thoughts. The light enabled us to find more fuel, which we agreed it
would be requisite to husband with care, so as to make it last till
sunrise. We had no wish to be again left in darkness.

The light, however, served to show us more clearly the desolation of the
place. The walls were bare, and not a particle of furniture had been
left; for the Indians had carried off from the village everything that
had escaped the flames. Above our heads a few charred timbers only
remained of the roof, beyond which the stars were seen shining from out
of the dark sky.

"We might have been very much worse off," I observed to Pedro, as we sat
by the fire eating the provisions which we had brought with us. After
supper we lay down in the cleanest spot we could find, and tried to
recruit our strength by sleep.

I was awoke by Pedro's hand touching my shoulder. I looked