of the elements. And all this had to be done in
a small land-locked cove, hemmed-in on every side by high, densely-
wooded land, where the trade-wind could not penetrate, and where the
land and sea-breezes were represented by merely fitful breathings of
suffocatingly hot air drifting by at infrequent intervals. And this,
too, with a blazing sun almost immediately overhead; for it was now mid-
August, and the cove lay almost immediately under the ninth parallel of
north latitude.

Then, when all this was done, there was the fixing up of the framework
for a roof or awning of palm-leaf thatch for the protection of the deck
and hull of the ship from the sun's rays; but Lukabela assured George
that there was no need to delay the departure of the expedition until
the roof had been thatched, for he undertook that the women of his
village, who were, according to him, experts in the art of thatching,
should attend to that part of the business.

The evening of the second day witnessed the completion of the
preparations for the Englishmen's daring descent upon Panama; and within
an hour after sunrise on the following day the entire party, with fifty
Cimarrones under Lukabela, and a train of twenty mules, also furnished
by the Cimarrone chief, mustered on the beach of the little secret cove
and made their final preparations for the march. These merely consisted
in loading the indispensable baggage of the party upon the mules; and as
this work was performed by the deft hands of the Cimarrones, twenty
minutes sufficed for the accomplishment of the task, when the expedition
at once started, taking the way, in the first instance, toward
Lukabela's village.

Until the adventurers reached the village the march was accomplished in
a very loose and happy-go-lucky fashion, half the Cimarrones leading the
way, with the Englishmen following in small chattering parties of twos
and threes as the path through the bush would permit, while the mule
train, in charge of the other half of the Cimarrones, brought up the
rear. But with their departure from the village silence and strict
military discipline became the order of the day, because although
Lukabela was going to lead them, not by the Gold road, upon which they
would be liable to encounter travellers at any moment, but by a devious
and secret path, known only to the Cimarrones, they would still be
passing through the enemy's country, and would be liable to detection
unless the utmost