ong since have
been thrown off our track, and will probably have given up the
search and have returned to Lima, convinced that we already have
crossed the mountains and are beyond their reach. I think that
there is little danger in my nearing the city.

"Come, let us turn our horses' heads, at once."

In a few minutes, they were returning by the route they had
hitherto traveled They were already dressed as young Spaniards. The
disguises had been brought by their rescuer, and assumed at the
first halt. He himself had also washed the paint from his face and
hands, and had assumed European garb, in order that any inquiry
about three mounted Indians might be baffled.

"There is now," he said, "no longer any occasion for us to ride by
night. We are journeying north, and any inquiries which may ever be
set on foot will certainly point only to men going south; and
whereas our Indian disguises might have been suspected, I am now in
my proper character, and my passing through can excite no rumor or
comment."

Don Estevan had, indeed, assumed the garb of a Spanish proprietor
of rank, while the boys were dressed as vaqueros; and as they
passed through villages, in the daytime, kept their horses half a
length behind that of their leader. They avoided, on their ride
back, putting up at any of the posadas, or village inns, on their
road; sleeping, as before, in the woods. Their marches were long,
but were performed at a much slower rate of speed, as they were
certain that they would reach Lima long before the admiral's ship,
even should he not pause at any place on the way.

It was upon the sixth day after their rescue from prison that they
again approached Lima. After much consultation, they had agreed to
continue in their Spanish dresses, taking only the precaution of
somewhat staining their faces and hands, to give them the color
natural to men who spend their lives on the plains. Don Estevan,
himself, determined to enter the city with them after nightfall;
and to take them to the house of a trusty friend, where they should
lie, concealed, until the news arrived that the English ship was
off the port. He himself would at once mount his horse, and retrace
his steps to Arica.

The programme was carried out successfully. No one glanced at the
hidalgo as, with his vaqueros, he rode through the streets of Lima.
There were no lights, in those days, save those which hung before
shrines by the roadside; or occasionally a dim oil