little "Sooz'ns." They are not, of course, all named so, but
Quashy says if he had "fifty little bustin' gurls he'd regard 'em all as
little Sooz'ns," and Susan retorts that if she had "five hundred little
bad boys she'd call 'em all Quashys." They dwell in a small hut in rear
of the cottage of Massa Lawrence, for Quashy is his gardener and
"_Sooz'n_" his washerwoman, and the little Quashys and "Sooz'ns" are
playmates of the little Incas, (by the mother's side).

Antonio, the ex-bandit, is assistant gardener to the Armstrongs, and it
is said that that once ferocious man has become so changed under the
influence of Christian treatment, that he not only serves his master
faithfully, but has even made more than one attempt to rescue an old
enemy named Cruz from his evil ways. He has not yet been successful,
but he is strong in faith and hope. Colonel Marchbanks, who has finally
retired from the army, dwells with the Armstrongs, and has organised the
miners and settlers into a local force of which he is the chief.

For the place has grown much of late in importance as well as in
numbers, and in such a wild region there is need for defensive
arrangements. It has other arrangements, also, of a much more important
kind in which the Word of God plays the chief part, and Conrad of the
Mountains lends a helping hand. That earnest rover has built a church
and a schoolhouse, and, when at home, does what in him lies to advance
the cause of true religion and education. But he has not ceased to
wander in the mountains. True to his instincts as a reformer and lover
of mankind, he visits with ceaseless activity the great and widely
separated centres of population in South America, never losing sight of
the great object he has set before him in the amelioration of the
condition of the people.

Most people think him a mysterious madman. Some, who know him well,
think him an over-sanguine enthusiast, but all agree in regarding him as
a calm, gentle, amiable man, with a determination of purpose that
nothing can turn aside, and with an intense desire for the welfare and
advancement of the country which Mariquita the elder called her native
land. Indeed it is thought by some that Pedro must have made to his
wife some pledge or promise with reference to that subject, but no one
can ascertain the truth of that now.

There is ground for this belief, however, for, as we sit on our perch,
overlooking the valley, we see this Pedro, th