the people that surround her--I mean those that come to her from

her sainted mother--and are ready to do her bidding in
everything, she could make it more safe for us in this place.

For example, there is Runi and his people; why should they remain
living so near us as to be a constant danger when a pestilence of

small-pox or some other fever might easily be sent to kill them
off?"

"And have you ever suggested such a thing to your grandchild?"
He looked surprised and grieved at the question. "Yes, many

times, senor," he said. "I should have been a poor Christian had
I not mentioned it. But when I speak of it she gives me a look

and is gone, and I see no more of her all day, and when I see her
she refuses even to answer me--so perverse, so foolish is she in

her ignorance; for, as you can see for yourself, she has no more
sense or concern about what is most important than some little

painted fly that flits about all day long without any object."
CHAPTER XV

The next day we were early at work. Nuflo had already gathered,
dried, and conveyed to a place of concealment" target="_blank" title="n.隐藏，隐瞒">concealment the greater portion

of his garden produce. He was determined to leave nothing to be
taken by any wandering party of savages that might call at the

house during our absence. He had no fear of a visit from his
neighbours; they would not know, he said, that he and Rima were

out of the wood. A few large earthen pots, filled with shelled
maize, beans, and sun-dried strips of pumpkin, still remained to

be disposed of. Taking up one of these vessels and asking me to
follow with another, he started off through the wood. We went a

distance of five or six hundred yards, then made our way down a
very steep incline, close to the border of the forest on the

western side. Arrived at the bottom, we followed the bank a
little further, and I then found myself once more at the foot of

the precipice over which I had desperately" target="_blank" title="ad.绝望地；拼命地">desperately thrown myself on the
stormy evening after the snake had bitten me. Nuflo, stealing

silently and softly before me through the bushes, had observed a
caution and secrecy in approaching this spot resembling that of a

wise old hen when she visits her hidden nest to lay an egg. And
here was his nest, his most secret treasure-house,.which he had

probably not revealed even to me without a sharp inward conflict,
notwithstanding that our fates were now linked together. The

lower portion of the bank was of rock; and in it, about ten or
twelve feet above the ground, but easily reached from below,

there was a natural cavity large enough to contain all his
portable property. Here, besides the food-stuff, he had already

stored a quantity of dried tobacco leaf, his rude weapons,
cooking utensils, ropes, mats, and other objects. Two or three

more journeys were made for the remaining pots, after which we
adjusted a slab of sandstone to the opening, which was

fortunately narrow, plastered up the crevices with clay, and
covered them over with moss to hide all traces of our work.

Towards evening, after we had refreshed ourselves with a long
siesta, Nuflo brought out from some other hiding-place two sacks;

one weighing about twenty pounds and containing smoke-dried meat,
also grease and gum for lighting-purposes, and a few other small

objects. This was his load; the other sack, which was smaller
and contained parched corn and raw beans, was for me to carry.

The old man, cautious in all his movements, always acting as if
surrounded by invisible spies, delayed setting out until an hour

after dark. Then, skirting the forest on its west side, we left
Ytaioa on our right hand, and after travelling over rough,

difficult ground, with only the stars to light us, we saw the
waning moon rise not long before dawn. Our course had been a

north-easterly one at first; now it was due east, with broad, dry
savannahs and patches of open forest as far as we could see

before us. It was weary walking on that first night, and weary
waiting on the first day when we sat in the shade during the

long, hot hours, persecuted by small stinging flies; but the days
and nights that succeeded were far worse, when the weather became

bad with intense heat and frequent heavy falls of rain. The one
compensation I had looked for, which would have outweighed all

the extreme discomforts we suffered, was denied me. Rima was no
more to me or with me now than she had been during those wild

days in her native woods, when every bush and bole and tangled
creeper or fern frond had joined in a conspiracy to keep her out

of my sight. It is true that at intervals in the daytime she was
visible, sometimes within speaking distance, so that I could

address a few words to her, but there was no companionship, and
we were fellow travellers only like birds flying independently in

the same direction, not so widely separated but that they can
occasionally hear and see each other. The pilgrim in the desert

is sometimes attended by a bird, and the bird, with its freer
motions, will often leave him a league behind and seem lost to

him, but only to return and show its form again; for it has never
lost sight nor recollection of the traveller toiling slowly over

the surface. Rima kept us company in some such wild erratic way
as that. A word, a sign from Nuflo was enough for her to know

the direction to take--the distant forest or still more distant
mountain near which we should have to pass. She would hasten on

and be lost to our sight, and when there was a forest in the way
she would explore it, resting in the shade and finding her own

food; but invariably she was before us at each resting- or
camping-place.

Indian villages were seen during the journey, but only to be
avoided; and in like manner, if we caught sight of Indians

travelling or camping at a distance, we would alter our course,
or conceal ourselves to escape observation. Only on one

occasion, two days after setting out, were we compelled to speak
with strangers. We were going round a hill, and all at once came

face to face with three persons travelling in an opposite
direction--two men and a woman, and, by a strange fatality, Rima

at that moment happened to be with us. We stood for some time
talking to these people, who were evidently surprised at our

appearance, and wished to learn who we were; but Nuflo, who spoke
their language like one of themselves, was too cunning to give

any true answer. They, on their side, told us that they had been
to visit a relative at Chani, the name of a river three days

ahead of us, and were now returning to their own village at
Baila-baila, two days beyond Parahuari. After parting from them

Nuflo was much troubled in his mind for the rest of that day.
These people, he said, would probably rest at some Parahuari

village, where they would be sure to give a description of us,
and so it might eventually come to the knowledge of our

unneighbourly neighbour Runi that we had left Ytaioa.
Other incidents of our long and wearisome journey need not be

related. Sitting under some shady tree during the sultry hours,
with Rima only too far out of earshot, or by the nightly fire,

the old man told me little by little and with much digression,
chiefly on sacred subjects, the strange story of the girl's

origin.
About seventeen years back--Nuflo had no sure method to compute

time by--when he was already verging on old age, he was one of a
company of nine men, living a kind of roving life in the very

part of Guayana through which we were now travelling; the others,
much younger than himself, were all equally offenders against the

laws of Venezuela, and fugitives from justice. Nuflo was the
leader of this gang, for it happened that he had passed a great

portion of his life outside the pale of civilization, and could
talk the Indian language, and knew this part of Guayana

intimately. But according to his own account he was not in
harmony with them. They were bold, desperate men, whose evil