f upon a sloping,
grassy plateau on the western slope of the Andes, with the limitless
Pacific stretching away into the infinite distance, and the perils and
hardships of the journey were at an end; for thenceforward the road
wound its serpentine way downward through a series of ravines that, wild
and savage enough at first, gradually widened out into gentle, grassy,
tree-clad slopes that led down to the sandy plains which lie between the
lower spurs of the Andes and the ocean. It took the train two days to
cross these plains, which, under the neglect of the Spaniards, were fast
returning to the desert state from which, under the wise rule of the
Incas, they had been reclaimed; and finally, on the seventeenth day of
the journey the entire train arrived safely at the little Peruvian
village on the site of which the important port of Arica now stands.
And thanks to the precautions adopted by the guide of the party, not a
Spaniard had been encountered on any part of the journey.

But the good luck of the party did not end here; for on the very night
of their arrival a small Spanish coasting craft of about seventy tons
was sighted by the light of the full moon, becalmed in the offing; and
manning four fishing canoes with the forty Peruvian volunteers, Dick and
Phil paddled off and took her without the slightest difficulty, towing
her safely into the bay before sunrise, where they brought her to an
anchor. Her crew of fifteen Spaniards were easily disposed of by the
return train, who took them far enough up into the mountains to render
it impossible for them to do any harm, and then turned them adrift. The
craft herself--named _El Ciudad de Lima_--proved, upon examination, to
be a very fine, stanch little vessel, nearly new, in ballast; she
therefore required nothing to be done to her to prepare her for her long
voyage, save the storage of a sufficient quantity of water and
provisions; and this, with the assistance of the Peruvians, was soon
obtained. Before sailing, however, Phil, at Dick's suggestion, had her
completely emptied of all her ballast and stores of every description,
and then hauled close in to the beach, in a sheltered position, and
careened, so that her bottom might be carefully examined, and all weed
removed from it. Then, when this was done, the gold bricks were stowed
right down alongside her keelson, upon plenty of dunnage, and on top of
them was stowed the gems, packed in strong wooden boxes, the joi