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CHAPTER XII.
The Wood and the River. The Ruined Hut. The Strange Bird. The Spanish Girl. Maria's Story. Scenes in a Guacho Hut. The Indian Attack. Maria's Escape and Rescue from Death.

ARMED with bolas, lances, and rifles, the gentlemen set out to explore the wood. Attracted by the murmuring of water, they penetrated through a grove of thick trees, following the sound, and at some distance from the encampment reached the margin of a clear narrow river, pleasantly shaded by willows, and flowing from the mountains. They walked up the banks of the stream, which they considered would be a guide to lead them back from their wanderings in the trackless wood. The road was easy, pleasant, and scattered with bright flowers; the air was fresh and pure, and the chattering of the parrots, and murmuring song of the humming-bird, enlivened the solitude. They found the wild potato, and several other plants, which were collected to be examined at leisure in hopes that some might be useful. At length they emerged into an open glade of some extent, and a joyful exclamation from Jack directed their attention to the branches of the tree beneath which they were passing, and which were weighed down with ripe peaches.

"The hand of man has planted this tree," said Alnsagro. "Let us proceed with caution, my friends. We must be near the habitations of men, but we know not whether they contain friends or enemies."

They went on in silence and anxiety, passing under several peach trees, all laden with fruit; then they reached a plot of ripe maize. They stopped, and looked round, with much agitation. Here were traces of the industry of man; but still all continued silent and still where were the hands that had sowed the maize and planted the fruit-trees?

Beyond the high stalks of the maize lay some scattered poles and sticks: Almagro bent over them and carefully examined them. "On this spot," said he, "has been the corral; it has been plundered and laid waste. But let us go on, the work of destruction would not end here."

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Passing through another grove of peach-trees, they suddenly came on the charred and desolate ruins of a hut. The roof was entirely gone, and in the back wall there was a large aperture; the remainder, built firmly of bongos plastered with mud, remained entire. The door lay torn off, and half. burnt, and they entered, with dejected hearts. It was a melancholy spectacle: nothing remained to mark that it had been the dwelling of man, except some rude seats, formed of the skeleton of the horse's head.

"Here have plunder and murder done their work," said Almagro, at length, in deep emotion. "See! the everlasting stain of blood remains on the mud floor, the record of a savage massacre. Let us leave this spot my good friends, which recalls painfully to my mind the never-to-be-forgotten horrors of my early days."

"But are we safe now?" asked Tom; "is there not some danger of the return of these barbarians?"

"We need have no fear now," replied Almagro; "these crafty destroyers return no more to the spot they have made desolate. They roam in search of new plunder, and of more Christian blood."

They left the melancholy scene, and continued, keeping the river in view, to ascend the woody steep beyond the hut, to search for more pinones; but they did not succeed in finding another pine-tree. They captured a hare and some parrots, and then began to consult on the expediency of cutting a portion of the ripe maize, which must waste in the desert if not appropriated. They had decided that their necessity gave them a right to the food, when Jack, who had been rambling, for he could not bear discussions, returned to petition for the loan of a rifle.

"For what purpose?" Dr. Lewis inquired; for he considered himself responsible for the safety of his young friends, and he had some fears of the rash intrepidity of Jack.

"I have got a glimpse of a glorious bird," said he, "but it flits away at the motion of a leaf, and I shall have no chance of securing it with the bolas. From its brilliant scarlet plumage, I conceive it must be a lory; we saw some of these splendid-looking birds in the Zoological Gardens, Tom."

"We did," said Tom; "and I am able to tell you that the lory is an inhabitant of India, one of the most beautiful of the | | 135 Psittacidæ, and an extremely delicate creature; nothing can be more absurd than to fancy the lory living in the forests of the Andes."

"Your eye has deceived you, Jack," said Dr. Lewis, good-naturedly. "Besides, my good fellow, we have already killed more parrots than is consistent with humanity; therefore we ought to spare this unknown bird, for we have no means of preserving it as a specimen. There is another consideration--if the report of the rifle is heard at the encampment, it will greatly alarm our friends there. We will steal up to the place, to endeavor to see this strange creature alive, but we will not wantonly destroy it."

Jack looked disappointed, but yielded to the counsel of Lewis, and they proceeded cautiously through the forest towards the spot where Jack had observed the scarlet wonder. They looked round for some time in vain, and were about to return, when Charles made a signal for silence, and raising his rifle, pointed it towards a low tree, through the thick dark foliage of which they now saw the fluttering of some scarlet object.

"Stay!" cried Almagro, loudly, dashing down the rifle, and springing towards the tree. They gazed after him with great astonishment; he plunged into the wood, and after an absence of a few minutes returned, carrying in his arms the insensible form of a young girl, clothed in scarlet poncho.

"See, young man," said he to Charles, "you might, in carelessness, have slain this child. Even the sight of me has almost killed her. What a scene of misery is this! Bring some water, my friends, to pour over her."

The boys brought water in their hands and poured it over her. At length, she opened her dark eyes, and looking round in a distracted manner, burst into tears.

"This girl is, like myself, a Guacho, of Spanish origin," said Almagro, looking attentively at her beautiful features, darkened by the sun and exposure to the air. Then addressing her, he said, "Do not fear us, unfortunate child, we will protect you; we are not Indians, we are friends and Christians."

"I, too, am a Christian," said the girl, in the Spanish tongue. "Oh, spare me! do not give me up to the wicked Indians!"

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"Surely you have some friends, my poor child," said Lewis, addressing her in her own language. "Where is your home?"

"Here, in the forest," replied she; "I live with my murdered father and brother--they are lying behind the bush which I call my home."

Very much distressed by her words, Almagro and Jack went to the spot she indicated, and there, beneath the tree, piled over with brushwood, they found the decaying bodies of two men, who had apparently been murdered by Indian lances. Inexpressibly shocked at the sight, they returned; and Almagro asked the girl how the bodies were removed from the scene of slaughter, which he concluded was the ruined but they had seen below.

"I brought them here," replied the girl. "I took the bough of a tree which had been torn down by the Indians, on this I placed the dead body of my father, and drew it with toil and pain to this place; I then returned and brought in the same way the body of my brother. I chose a spot bereath the thick tree, where I could hide my treasures, and watch them night and day. Then I collected branches to cover and protect them from the attacks of the frightful condors, which were continually hovering over us. I have spent many days here; but two days ago, I fell from the tree into which I had climbed for safety, for I had heard a rustling in the wood. I hurt my foot very much, and could no longer go to the cave for food, nor to the stream for water, and I lay down beside those I loved, that I might die near them."

"But you shall not die, poor girl," cried Jack, in his imperfect Spanish "you shall come and live with mamma and my sisters. My father shall supply the place of him you have lost. I will be your brother; and Dr. Lewis will cure your foot."

The girl gazed wildly on Jack, scarcely comprehending his meaning, and looked back uneasily, as if she wished to return to her hiding-place.

"You must remain no longer near the decaying bodies of the dead," said Dr. Lewis. "God has recalled their souls, and we will remove the bodies and bury them near the spot which they inhabited when living. If you will come with us, | | 137 you will learn to be good, and God will then permit you to join your friends again in a better world.

The child wept; but, faint with pain and hunger, she did not reply. They carried her to the hut, and plucked some ripe peaches for her, which she ate eagerly, and then asked for some maize. Jack ran immediately for some stalks of the maize which was growing near; she took them from him with pleasure, but, said, smiling, "There is still much maize in the cave." They did not understand her meaning; but, after eating some grains moistened with water, she revived a little, and begged them to carry her, through the opening at the back of the hut, into the wood. They bore her, as she directed them, some yards, ascending among the trees, which here grew closely together, until they reached a clump of thick shrubs, which grew against the face of a steep rock.

"Put me down on the ground here," said she. "I can show the young boy the entrance to the cave, though I cannot now creep to it as I used to do."

They seated her before the thicket, and she lifted the trailing branches, and pointed out to Jack, beneath them, a narrow tracked path, telling him he must crawl along this track, close to the earth, till he reached a dark stone, lying against the rock, which he must remove, when he would see a small opening, the entrance of the cave. Jack, delighted with the adventure, followed her directions, and entered a wide cave, in which he saw, by the dim light through loopholes half darkened by bushes, several bags of guanaco-skin; one, which was open, contained maize, and this he concluded had been the food of the young Spaniard during her residence in the wood. He brought away a handful of the grain, to prove that he had fulfilled his task, and left the cave; replacing the stone, and making his way out with some curiosity to have the mystery of the subternean storehouse solved.

But the poor girl seemed now so exhausted, that Dr. Lewis determined they would return immediately to the tent, that proper restoratives might be administered to her, and her injured foot attended to. Almagro and he undertook to carry the stranger, Charles was charged with the guns and lances, and Tom and Jack, loaded with as many peaches as | | 138 they could carry, went forward to relate the adventures of the morning.

"Here, mamma," said Tom, throwing some peaches into her lap, "I think you will now agree this will be an excellent place for us to settle at; besides this fruit, we have found abundance of maize."

"And something better than either peaches or maize," cried Jack; "we have brought you a pretty little daughter: I know you will take her to live with us, mamma; for she has lost her own mother, and her poor father has been murdered."

"What strange story is this?" said Mrs. Merton, in great alarm. "Who has been murdered and who is the child you are speaking of?"

"You need have no alarm, mamma," answered he, "for Almagro assures us the Indians never return a second time to a place they have left waste; so we are quite safe here, and the little girl will tell you how she escaped when she comes, and as soon as she learns to speak English to you, mamma."

Mrs. Merton had obtained but a vague and unsatisfactory notion of the adventure, when the rest of the party returned. Her sympathies were immediately awakened at the sight of the suffering little stranger, who was laid on a mattress, and had her swollen and dislocated ankle carefully attended to by Dr. Lewis. She endured all the pain attendant on the operation with patience and resignation; Lewis then administered a composing medicine, and they had soon the pleasure of seeing their new guest in a profound sleep.

"Your practice seems to prosper, even in this wilderness, Dr. Lewis," said Matilda. "I wonder how many more patients we shall discover for you. And now pray what are we to do with this lame girl, when we resume our wanderings; for papa and mamma must certainly have the horse and mule?"

"I propose," said Jack, "that we should build a sort of carriage or sledge, for the feeble or weary; I have no doubt the llamas migbt be trained to draw such a vehicle; though certainly not over such roads as we have lately passed."

"When we actually descend to the level Pampas," said Tom, "such a carriage might be convenient; but I could not | | 139 possibly make one, Jack may have some knowledge of coach-building; but I decline the undertaking."

"Well," replied Jack, rather mortified, "I meant only a sort of sledge, made of interwoven reeds, upon which we could place the mattress and cloaks to form seats for mamma and the girls, and harness the llamas to it by twisted ropes of hide."

"The scheme is by no means to be despised," said Lewis; "we must not laugh at Jack, for it frequently happens that valuable hints may be obtained from rash speculations. When we have leisure, we will certainly try to attempt some useful invention of this sort. But the adventure of this morning induces me to propose that we should at once select this locality for our winter residence. The unroofed hut might soon be repaired and rendered habitable; nay, with a little ingenuity and labor, even comfortable. It is pleasantly situated, and desirably secluded. We should have pure water, and a plentiful supply of maize and fruit; and in all probability the fish in the river would be as abundant as the game in the woods. What do you say to this plan, dear Mr. Merton ?"

"I understand little about these matters, my kind and good friend," replied Mr. Merton, "You have led us safely, through exceeding perils, and, under Heaven, I leave the disposal of myself and my family in your bands; secure that you will arrange all with a prudence and sagacity that I do not possess. My sole desire now is for a little repose, and leisure to study. I long to unpack my books, and am truly glad that in our wanderings, I have been able to preserve the dear old friends it would have been so painful to me to lose."

"And to which we shall now probably add more," said Tom, "for I have a charming book in my bead, to be called, 'Our Travels.'"

"Enriched with the scientific discoveries of Mr. Thomas Merton, and the wonderful and perilous adventures of Mr. John Merton," added Jack.

"But, do you really intend, Dr. Lewis," inquired Mrs. Merton, "that we should remain on a spot infested by those barbarous savages? I should never sleep in peace from the dread of being aroused by the frightful cries described by Almagro."

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Lewis repeated to her tne assurance of the great improbability of the Indians revisiting a scene of murder, robbery, and ruin, when wide and unexplored tracts of the Pampas were open to them. He declared his belief that no spot they could select would be so safe from molestation. Mrs. Merton trembled as she thought on the dangers that surrounded her; and it required many persuasions to compose her troubled mind, and to induce her to yield a reluetant assent to the plan of location for the winter.

In the mean time dinner had been made ready, and the young stranger awoke from her sleep. She ate some roast parrot, and then, as she looked round on the party with pleased astonishment, Dr. Lewis told her, that henceforward she was to become one of the happy family that surrounded her.

The remainder of the day was spent in discussing and arranging their future plans; and next morning the little Maria, as she told them she was called, related her short tale of sorrow:--

"It is now two years since I lost my beloved mother. It was she who spoke to me of God, and made me repeat prayers to him. She taught me to weave the wool of the llama and the long hair of the guanaco; to dye the cloth with berries and roots, and to form it into summer and winter garments. She was gentle and loving, but she was not strong as I was; she could not roam in the woods, but would sit under the shade of the peach-trees, and sing sweet songs of the far-off country of her people, while my father played on the guitar. Bright and pleasant were the days of my childhood. I knew not the meaning of sorrow. My two manly brothers hunted the puma and the wild cattle, and sometimes they killed an ostrich, and brought the plumes to me to deck my hair. Our garden produced vegetables in the summer, and we reaped the maize to store for our winter food. On a very few occasions, my father and one of my brothers went to some far-distant station, carrying skins and the plumes of the ostrich. After many days, they wouid return with their lading changed for powder and shot, knives and spades, with some gay-colored handkerchiefs for my mother and me; but we never saw a stranger.

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"A day came when my father and my brother Fernando returned from the hunt without Gonzalo. They had encountered some travellers on the Pampas, and my eldest brother, a bold and athletic youth, had undertaken to guide these strangers across the Cordilleras. It was not the temptation of the handsome reward they offered, but the love of adventure, ard the desire of seeing more of mankind, that induced my brother to forsake his home. My mother was ill-satisfied with this event; she wished that her children should ever remain around her; moreover, the autumn was advanced, and she dreaded the dangers of the mountain journey. My father and brother laughed at her fears; but they were just. We never saw Gonzalo more.

"When weeks and months passed, and he returned not, my father and Fernando set out to the Pass; the fallen snow obstructed their progress, but at length, lying over the brink of the precipice, they found the skeleton of the mule; they recognised the saddle-cloth, which was the skin of the puma, fringed by my mother's hand; and they concluded that the mule had fallen on the frozen path, and precipitated my unfortunate brother into the frightful abyss, now half-filled with snow: from the position of the mule, this must have happened when he was returning alone, and could hope for no aid. They returned home sorrowfully to communicate the melancholy news.

"My mother's grief was deep and fatal. She spoke not of her bereavement; she wept not; but, day after day, pale and broken-hearted, she sat gazing on the snow-crested mountains in silent despair. My father assured her, that when the warm suns of spring should have melted the snows, my brother and he would return to search the deep valleys for the body. She shook her head, for she well knew that spring would not return for her. Before the stream was swollen by the snows of the mountain, she had gone to join the lost one, in that bright heaven of which she loved to speak to me, and to teach me to seek.

"When the spring came, my father's sorrows overpowered him; it was not till the end of summer that he recovered sufficiently to send Fernando to search the valley for his brother's corpse. He could not leave me alone in the hut, but he commanded by brother strictly to abide by the directions | | 142 he gave him; and cautioned him especially th avoid returning by an Indian pass, many leagues to the south, lest he should encounter any of the barbarians. My brother was young and thoughtless; after searching the abyss below the precipice, he continued the search from valley to valley, for forgetting my father's prohibition, till he reached a path far south of our abode, by which he descended to the pampas. On reaching the open plain, he saw, with some alarm, a party of mounted Indians, who were, however, at a considerable distance. Instead of withdrawing to the shelter of the woods, he trusted to the speed of his horse, and fled at full speed, along the plain. He reached the hut in safety, and told his tale to my father acknowledging also, that the Indians might have seen him.

"My father was disturbed; he made a secret entrance at the back of the hut, through which he conveyed all our valuable stores for concealment to the cave which he had sometime before discovered by accident. He then proposed that we should abandon the hut, and for the remainder of the summer live in the woods. But he was weakened by affliction, and was not sufficiently prompt in action and on the eve of our intended departure, as we lay sleepng, we were roused by a wild and ravage yell. Then we knew that our situation was hopeless, for the merciless Indians were at our door. My father gazed on me a moment, then removing the stone at the back of the hut he folded me in his poncho, and ordered me to creep beneath the bushes to the cave; telling me they would follow as soon as they had secured their guns and bolas; but I had not reached my hiding-place before I heard shrieks and groans, and saw, through the bushes above me, that the roof of the hut was blazing. I feared that murder was doing, and unable to endure the horrors of anxiety, I lost my senses. how long I lay in this state I know not; but when I revived, I still heard the discordant shouts of the destroyers, and, impelled by the horror of a fearful death, or a still more fearful slavery, I made an effort to force my way, unperceived, to my hidding place, through the low brushwood. I reached the cave and entered it, half-dead with terror, and sat listening with a throbbing heart for the approach of those I loved; but alas, they came not; I heard nothing but the lowing of the cattle, the neighing of the horses, and the ferocious yells of triumph, | | 143 which proclaimed that the spoilers had succeeded in their bloody work.

"At length the cries began to recede, and I concluded they must be moving off. An hour of intense anxiety succeeded, and then I ventured to look out, and, by the gray light of early morning, looked on the ruined and still smouldering hut. I trembled with a sensation of strange and uncertain misery; I did not dare to think that I was left alone in the world; but it was long before I could summon courage to ascertain the extent of my misfortune. Then I ventured to approach my home;--all was still; the horses and cattle had been driven off by the robbers. The door of the hut was torn down, and, with a desperate effort, I entered, and sank down in long insensibility beside the mangled bodies of my father and my brother.

"God called me once more to life; I believed that it was his will that I should still live, and I therefore submitted. But I could not remain in the hut; I therefore determined to wander about the woods during the day, and sleep in the cave, if the nights were cold, till God thought fit to summon me from my dreary life.

"But I could not leave the bodies of my beloved friends in that dismal hut; I could not dig into the ground to bury them; but I thought if I could carry them to the woods, I might sepulchre them in boughs and stones. I moved them with difficulty, as I told you, my kind friends; and it was with much labor I tore down the boughs, and collected the scattered branches to cover them. I had no want of food; there was maize in the cave, and the trees, which the Indians had not noticed in time darkness, supplied me with peaches. But when I hurt my foot, and could no longer procure food or water, I resigned myself, believing it to be God's will that I should die of famine in the wood. I am brought from pain and death to a beautiful new life. I shall be glad to live now, if God permits me; for you all look so happy, that life must surely have many joys that I have never known."

"Tell the child," said Mrs. Merton, "that I will be her mother, and I hope soon to see her look as happy as my own children."

Youth soon forgets its sorrows; and before twenty-four hours were past, Maria was smiling with her new friends, and | | 144 endeavoring to learn English. Dressed in some of Mary's clothes, with her long dark tresses fancifully arranged by the sisters, the young girl had a noble and picturesque appearance that quite charmed her friends. She was, according to her own account, about fourteen years old, but looked younger than Mary, who had not yet reached that age, and to whom the little foreigner had attached herself peculiarly, captivated by her warm and ardent manner.