length the atmosphere again cleared the two friends, who had been
crouching under the sheltering lee of a great shoulder of rock, rose to
their feet and again looked forth toward the land of promise. A vast
snowfield, corrugated by the wind as the sand of the seashore is by the
rippling advance of the tide, but otherwise smooth of surface, and
gently sloping downward, offered them an easy road for the first two
miles of their descent; and, weary though they were, they traversed it
in half an hour. Then came an almost perpendicular descent of some five
hundred feet to another snowfield, where, in a deep recess that might
almost have been termed a cave in a great spur of rock, they camped
comfortably for the night and enjoyed the sweetest rest that they had
known for many a long day.

When they arose on the following morning, rested and refreshed by their
long night's sheltered sleep, but weak and famished with hunger which
even their coca leaves could now but partially relieve, nature was again
kind to them, for the air was still and so crystalline clear that they
were able to determine accurately their road for many miles ahead;
while, most welcome sight of all, in a little sheltered valley, some six
miles away, on a small patch of green, they perceived a flock of some
twenty vicuna grazing. Here, at last was food for them once more, if
they could but reach within bowshot without alarming the animals; and to
this task they bent all their energies, with such success that three
hours later they were gorging themselves to repletion on the raw flesh
of one of the animals, being still without the materials wherewith to
kindle a fire. But this marked the end of their troubles; for before
the night again closed down upon them they had not only passed below the
snow-line, but were also fortunate enough to encounter an Indian who was
herding a flock of llama; and upon Phil addressing the man in his own
language--of which, it will be remembered, Stukely had acquired a
knowledge in some extraordinary and quite incomprehensible manner--the
fellow received them with open arms, conducted them to his hut, fed them
as they had not been fed since they had fallen into the hands of the
Spaniards, and not only lodged them for the night, but gave them minute
instructions how they were to proceed during the following day. Four
days later they arrived at the northern extremity of the Sacred Lake.

They reached its margin at the precise