e services of the cooks, and betook
themselves to wringing out their stockings as if they had never dreamed
of walking in silver slippers through the streets of Cuzco. They made no
further attempt to wring gold from the mouth of the Ouitubamba. As for
Maniri, it was the last site or human resting-place of any, the very
most trivial, kind before the opening of the utter wilderness which
proceeded to accompany the course of the Cconi River.

[Illustration: "THE REPUTED GOLD-BEARING RIVER OR OUITUBAMBA ROLLED FROM
ITS TUNNEL."]

The Bolivians imagined an exploration of a little stream on the left
bank, the Chuntapunco, which they thought might issue from a
quinine-bearing region. They built a little raft, and departed with
provisions for three or four days. They returned, in fact, after a
week's absence, with seven varieties of cinchona--the _hirsuta,
lanceolata, purpurea_ and _ovata_ of Ruiz and Pavon, and three more of
little value and unknown names.

During the absence of the cascarilleros a flat calm reigned in the
ajoupa of Maniri. Garcia and the colonel, the day after their
unproductive gold-hunt, betook themselves into the forest, ostensibly
for game, but in reality to review their hopeful labors by the banks of
the Ouitubamba. Aragon was detailed by Mr. Marcoy to accompany him in
his botanical and entomological tours. On these excursions the
acquaintance between the mozo and the senor was considerably developed.
The youth had naturally a gay and confident disposition, and added not a
little to the liveliness of the trips. Marcoy profited by their stricter
connection to converse with him about the cultivation of the farm at
Sausipata, making use of a venial deception to let him think that the
plan of operations had been communicated by the governor himself.
Aragon modestly replied that the plantation in question was only the
first of a series of similar clearings contemplated by his uncle at
various points in the valley. Arrangements made for this purpose with
the governors of Ocongata and Asaroma, who were pledged with their
support in return for heavy presents, would enable him soon to cultivate
coffee and sugar and cocoa at once in a number of haciendas. The
enterprise was a splendid one; and if God--Aragon pronounced the name
without a particle of diffidence--deigned to bless it, the day was
coming when the fortune of his uncle, solidly established, would make
him the pride and the joy of the region.

It ma