wild Indians, and Pita was their son. I don't know which
tribe it was that his mother belonged to, but I know that they lived in
the forests on one of the greater rivers. Pita is not one who talks much
of himself, or who talks much at all, but I know that he has the
reputation of being one of the most daring hunters and guides in the
country, and that he has gone through many adventures while travelling
with traders. He has always been trustworthy and faithful to his
employers. As he says, he cannot promise to take you safely down the
Madeira, but if any man can do it, he will."

Half an hour later they returned to the hut, where the Indian was sitting
in precisely the same attitude in which they had left him.

"Well, Pita, have you arrived at a conclusion?" Gomez asked.

"I have thought it over," he said, "and I calculate that it may be a year
before I return, and the risk is great. Can the senor afford to pay three
hundred and sixty-five dollars? That is for the services of myself and my
comrade. He has no wife or family, and will therefore need less pay than
I, who will have to leave money behind for mine. The senor will be at no
other expense until he arrives at Barra, except for such things as tea and
sugar, and any liquor he may wish to put on board at starting. If the
senor cannot afford that, I will guide him down along by the foot of the
mountains until we can cross over into Chili. It will be an arduous
journey, but without perils, and we shall pass through few villages."

"How long will that take, Pita?"

"It would be a long journey, senor. As a bird flies it would be seven or
eight hundred miles; but winding round the foot of the hills it would be
two thousand."

"I would rather try the other, Pita," Stephen replied; for the thought of
the passage by water through unknown forests, and then down the Amazon,
exercised a strong fascination over him, and the idea of a toilsome
journey of two thousand miles was the reverse of attractive. The war was,
he was sure, nearly over. He might arrive in Chili only to find that the
admiral had gone away; and even when he reached the frontier he had
another journey to make before he reached Valparaiso, whereas when he
arrived at Para he could sail direct for England.

"I could afford to pay you the terms you ask," he went on, "and shall
still have enough left to take me from Barra home."

"Then, so be it," the Indian said; "to-morrow we will start for
Paucartambo,