time, while at night those dangers were multiplied a
hundredfold. Enquiry revealed that none of the six peons whom Harry had
that morning despatched to seek for traces of the missing party had
returned, and the young man therefore gave Arima instructions to make
all necessary preparations to start with him at daybreak, in search of
the spot at which Cachama had described Butler as falling exhausted
after his terrible flight through the night and storm. Of course Harry
scarcely expected to find Butler there, and still less did he hope it,
for in that event it would only too probably mean that the missing man
was dead, whereas Harry hoped that, after lying exhausted for perhaps
some hours, his chief would recover strength enough to make a further
effort to return to camp; but he knew that in any case the search must
necessarily start from the spot indicated by Cachama, and for that spot,
therefore, he must make in the first instance.

It was broad daylight, but the sun had not yet risen above the snow-
capped Andes when Escombe, accompanied by Arima, each of them mounted
upon a sturdy mule, and the Indian leading Butler's saddled and bridled
horse, rode out of camp the next morning on their quest for the missing
man, taking with them a week's rations for each, and a similar quantity
for Butler's use--should they be fortunate enough to find him--as well
as a small supply of medical comforts, the whole contained in a pack
securely strapped upon the saddle of the led horse.

For the first hour the route followed by Arima was identical with that
described by Mama Cachama while in her clairvoyant state; but when they
reached the wood wherein Butler's horse had been found straying, the
Indian bore away to the right, and, skirting the belt of timber for some
distance, cut through it near its southern extremity, emerging upon the
mountain spur some three miles from, and much higher than, the spot
where the first search party had come out. The crest of the spur now
lay about half a mile in front of them, and upon reaching it the
travellers beheld a magnificent prospect before them. The mountain spur
sloped away steeply from their feet, plunging down until it was lost in
a wide, densely wooded ravine about a mile in width, beyond which the
ground again rose somewhat irregularly in a wide sweep of upland,
gradually merging into foothills which, viewed from that distance,
appeared to be the advance guard of the towering Andes. T