y his people and burn down his house, as
he had so often threatened to do.

"Let him come! Let Managa come!" I cried, staggering out after him. "I
am your friend, your brother; I have no spear and no arrows, but I have
this--this!" And here I drew out and flourished my revolver. "Where is
Managa?" I continued. "Where are the hills of Uritay?" He pointed to
a star low down in the south-west. "Then," I shouted, "let this bullet
find Managa, sitting by the fire among his people, and let him fall and
pour out his blood on the ground!" And with that I discharged my pistol
in the direction he had pointed to. A scream of terror burst out from
the women and children, while Runi at my side, in an access of fierce
delight and admiration, turned and embraced me. It was the first and
last embrace I ever suffered from a naked male savage, and although
this did not seem a time for fastidious feelings, to be hugged to his
sweltering body was an unpleasant experience.

More cups of casserie followed this outburst; and at last, unable to
keep it up any longer, I staggered to my hammock; but being unable to
get into it, Runi, overflowing with kindness, came to my assistance,
whereupon we fell and rolled together on the floor. Finally I was raised
by the others and tumbled into my swinging bed, and fell at once into a
deep, dreamless sleep, from which I did not awake until after sunrise on
the following morning.

CHAPTER II

It is fortunate that casserie is manufactured by an extremely slow,
laborious process, since the women, who are the drink-makers, in the
first place have to reduce the material (cassava bread) to a pulp by
means of their own molars, after which it is watered down and put away
in troughs to ferment. Great is the diligence of these willing slaves;
but, work how they will, they can only satisfy their lords' love of
a big drink at long intervals. Such a function as that at which I had
assisted is therefore the result of much patient mastication and silent
fermentation--the delicate flower of a plant that has been a long time
growing.

Having now established myself as one of the family, at the cost of some
disagreeable sensations and a pang or two of self-disgust, I resolved
to let nothing further trouble me at Parahuari, but to live the
easy, careless life of the idle man, joining in hunting and fishing
expeditions when in the mood; at other times enjoying existence in my
own way, apart from my fellows, conversi