he
wool of the creature that there was not the slightest fear of the bags
slipping.

This transport train was so very much stronger than the Englishmen had
dared to hope for that they instantly recognised the possibility of
carrying away nearly twice the quantity of gold which they had
originally arranged for; and the day following the arrival of the train
was accordingly devoted to the transport of further gold bricks from the
island to the mainland, until a full load was provided for every animal,
including those which were harnessed to the hammocks, Phil and Dick
preferring to make the journey on foot.

On the following morning, however, the imposing caravan started, with
the first light of day, upon its journey toward the coast, winding its
way along the eastern margin of the Sacred Lake until it reached its
southern extremity, when it swerved away to the south-westward across
the valley in which the lake lay embosomed, toward the towering
snow-peaks of the western cordillera of the Andes. The first three days
of the journey were quite pleasant and uneventful, for during that time
the caravan was winding its slow way across the mountain valley; but on
the fourth day the train entered a mountain pass which the Peruvians
asserted was known only to themselves--and which they had chosen in
order to avoid the possibility of collision with the armed forces of the
Spaniards; and thenceforward, for four full days, the train wound its
perilous way along narrow pathways bounded on the one hand by towering,
inaccessible, rocky cliffs, and on the other by ghastly precipices, of
such awful depth that their bases were frequently hidden by the wreaths
of mountain mist floating far below; across frail swing bridges
stretched from side to side of those awful, fathomless rifts called
_barrancas_ which seem to be peculiar to the Andes; or up and down
steep, rugged, almost precipitous slopes where a single false step or a
loose stone would send man or beast whirling away down to death a
thousand feet below. But the llamas seemed to be more sure-footed than
mountain goats, and despite their loads they scrambled up and down
apparently inaccessible places, or plodded sedately along the narrowest
and most dizzy ledges without accident, while the Peruvians seemed to be
absolutely at home among the peaks and precipices.

But at length, after four full days of incessant peril, the train
emerged from the last mountain pass and found itsel