s, and, with their swords in
their hands, rushed down upon the confused bands of the Indians.
Catari, and those immediately about him, fought bravely, for they had
not a hope of escaping. His people threw themselves before him, and
allowed the Spaniards to cut them to pieces in their attempt to preserve
the life of their chief. Pedro and I were fortunately at the time a
little in the rear of the advanced guard; and we had escaped the bullets
which had laid low many of those near us. The Indians, however, were so
completely blocking up the narrow defile in their eagerness to escape,
that we saw it would be impossible to fly in that direction. Our only
chance of saving our lives was to put in execution the plan I had just
before been proposing.

"Let us throw ourselves from our mules, and try to climb up the cliffs,"
I exclaimed to Pedro.

Just then a bullet struck Catari. I saw him reel in his saddle, when
one of his companions seized his horse's bridle, and attempted to lead
him out of the fray towards the rear. But he was mortally wounded; and
before he could be got from among the combatants, he fell to the ground.
His death was the signal for the rest to fly; but they attempted to do
so in vain. The Spanish soldiers pressed in upon them, and cutting them
down without mercy, forced them back in confusion. A few of the
Indians, driven to despair, still fought fiercely, and for a time
impeded their progress, thus leaving a clear space near where Pedro and
I stood.

"Now, now!" I exclaimed to Pedro. "We have not a moment to lose. If
the Spaniards reach us before we have time for explanation, they will
kill us. Jump from your mule and follow me."

I had observed that on one side the cliff was considerably broken, and
that a number of jutting rocks would enable us to climb up to the
summit, and afford us some sort of shelter in the meantime. I threw
myself out of my saddle as I spoke, and Pedro following my example, we
ran as fast as we could towards the rocks. It was the work of a moment
to spring up them; there was an abundance of shrubs and creeping plants
to help us. By laying hold of them, we drew ourselves from rock to
rock. Our lives we felt depended on our activity; and under ordinary
circumstances I do not think we could have accomplished the task. We
had thus climbed up some forty feet or so in a shorter time than I have
taken to describe it, when we reached a platform, above which, as we
loo