' ■-■ :'"'■■.. >■>*.-■ Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924012539643 OtttO F 3H-23 f\2Q Cornell University Library F 3423.A26 In the footsteps of Pizarro; or, A Yanke' 3 1924 012 539 643 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO ; OR A YANKE'S FIVE YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN THE KLONDIKE OP SOUTH AMERICA —By— WM. G. AGLE (Member of the Society of Yukon Pioneers, contributor to the Engineering and Mining Journal, and Author of "East- ern Peru and Bolivia." "A man that has prospected and worked gold mines all the way from Alaska to Bolivia." — Engineering and Mining Journal editorial, Jan. 29,. 1898. Published by THE HOMER M. HILL CO. Seattle, Wash. Price $1.50. COPYRIGHT, 1903, by WM. C. AGLE. To those three distinguished sons of Peru, and mining engineers, Juan Pardo, brother to the President ; Jose Balta, Minister of Interior, and Antonio Loredo, Director of the same, Through whose indefatigable efforts and enlight- ened policy their country is inevitably destined to occupy the place she once held, — first among gold- producing nations, — this work is most respectfully dedicated. By the Author. Pizarro, Cortez, and their fellow buccaneers only robbed these regions. They garnered the reserves of the rich ores and gutted the mines ivhich the Indians had laboriously opened up. It is the destiny, we believe, of the Anglo-Celtic engineer to build up again a mining industry on the ruins of that Spanish desolation; and explore with success a mineral belt which is probably the greatest that transverses the crest of the earth. — Engineering and Mining Journal, Editorial, Jan. 7, 1904. There is a good deal of mining activity in Peru at the present time, chiefly by reason of the stimulus im- parted by the large operations of the Cerro de Pasco mines, which are controlled by Mr. J. B. JIaggin. U is said that the capital invested amounts already io $8,000,000, and this sum. when distributed in large part among the population of only 2,500,000, is apt to be en- couraging to local interests. Other enterprises are also do- ing well in the Yauli region, the Alpannina mine, be- longing to the Gildemeister family of Bremen, is mak- ing a large output, and good reports come from the San Miguel property in the Morococha district. Peru has a notable history from the miner's stand- point and is a region much of which has not yet under- gone modern exploitation. — Engineering and Mining Journal, Editorial, May 26, 1904. A STORY OF GOLD. A strange fascination clings to the word gold. More than once that magic term has conjured up a motley army from the uttermost parts of the earth; adventur- ers, young men trying to get their start in life, staid and sober business men, and the scum and rifraff of the nations, each one eager to cast his little all into the bal- ance in hope that chance would turn his footsteps to- ward a mine of gold. We on the Pacific coast compre- hend it well. There is the recollection of California in 1849, of JJassiar, of the Fraser, of the gold-studded gravel of the Cariboo, of the Klondike rich in nuggets, and of the ruby sands of Nome; and we have felt and understood the pulsations of excitement in those far- off lands, Australia and South Africa, because of for- tunes beyond the wildest dreams of lucky prospectors. We know, too, something of the toil and the danger that nearly always beset the pathway of the gold-seeker. Of the great gold fields of the world, the one undoubt- edly most productive in its day, and the one about which least is known at present, is the wonderful coun- try that furnished tons of the most precious of metals for the Incas of Peru. From the stories one has read of that vast wealth, it would seem that somewhere in that country were the golden sands of the river Pactolus multiplied a thousand times; that those old rulers of that abandoned land had in reality located the much- sought "mother lode" of the earth itself. The inroad of Pizarrp was marked with blood, and such a story of gold as makes the world wonder to this day. It has remained for William C. Agle, an American, a citizen of Seattle, to penetrate the fastnesses of Peru and Eastern Bolivia. He has examined the old Spanish mines which, since the days of Pizarro, have produced gold that runs into billions of dollars; he has braved the boa constrictor and the wild South American In- dian, and has explored the Tambopata and its tributa- ries, from one of which the Spanish toolc out "seventy mule loads of gold," their greatest nugget weighing "three arrobas, or seventy-five pounds." 1 Mr. Agle relates that in the bed of the San Bias river is an immense deposit of coarse gold, and in other places he traxed the sources from which the Incas undoubt- edly drew their incalculable treasure a few centuries ago. This explorer knows whereof he speaks. He is a pio- neer of the Klondike, a member of the Society of Yukon Pioneers, and his investigations among gold fields have carried him along the Pacific coast from the Arctic cir- cle to the torrid zone. Fortunately, Air. Agle has kept notes of his explora- tions, and those relating to Peru and Bolivia have been expanded into a book, which he has entitled "In the Footsteps of Pizarro." In this book he tells what he knows about those marvelous gold fields, and what the prospects are for Americans to develop the country and secure some of the millions of money still hidden in the gravel banks and ledges of the interior. The story is told in the plain, straightforward manner of the man who has been in the field, and his narrative will be read with surpassing interest by everyone who is interested in gold. And who is not? — Seattle Post-Intelligencer, editorial. In the Footsteps of Pizarro CHAPTER I. It was with a feeling of delight, mixed with sad- ness, that from the Annie Larson's decks on the balmy morning of March 28, 1891, I first caught sight of Peru, that strangely fascinating land of the Inca, filled as it is with decaying monuments to his once industrial glory-tottering temples, built with mathematical precision, macadamized roads solidly constructed, farms fenced with every stone contain- ed thereon, gold fields ditched and tunneled to the highest perfection — through which I was for the next five years to travel and explore ; and of which I was destined to obtain a knowledge more accurate and concise than is to this day possessed by any other English-speaking man. The Annie Larson was a three-masted schooner and was owned with others of her class by Capt. James Tuft, of San* Francisco. She had been char- tered by the firm of Grace & Co. in November of the preceding year to take a load of lumber to the port of Talara, Peru, for the London and Pacific Oil Company, and I at that time being in San Fran- cisco, after a five-years' ramble for gold on the bars of the Yukon and other rivers of Alaska and the Northwest territory, with a thirst for the yellow NOTE — The Spanish phrases that occur throughout this work are not the pure Castilian language, but its adulterated substitute, as spoken by the Indians in the interior of Peru. 14 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. metal and adventure still within me, and with the authenticated statements of William Cullen Bryant, Thomas Babbington Macaulay and William Pres- cott, as to its existence in Peru and Bolivia before me, determined to take passage on her and spend five more years of my life in the search for gold in those countries. Now, however, when I realized that my even, uneventful, happy voyage was about to end and that in a few days more I would have to part with Capt. White and his splendid crew for- ever, and take up my abode in a strange land among a foreign people whose language and habits I would not understand, the long-expected happy feeling which was to be mine when first the land of South America was sighted, was overclouded by a feeling of despondency and gloom. We were now nearing the approximate latitude of 5 S., and longitude of 81 W., in which the port of Talara is situated, and were sailing along before a smooth breeze that continued until night, when a tremendous gale struck us and we were compelled to change our course and put to sea. The next morning, the rain and storm having abated, we again attempted to reach the port of Talara, but with the same result. A third attempt was more successful, and on the evening of March 30 we found ourselves opposite the seven derricks and near the lighthouse indicated on the captain's map. Here we dropped anchor and awaited the coming of daylight. On the following morning, the sea being calm, the captain lowered a boat and taking with him two Gf the crew started for the lighthouse, near which according to the chart, lay the entrance to Talara. He returned about 10 o'clock, bringing with him a powerfully built man of a seaman-like appearance, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 15 whom, according to the two oarsmen, they had met near the lighthouse, adrift in a steam launch, the shaft of which had broken. They said that the stranger was the captain of a vessel which was lying in port to take on a cargo of oil for China. Our approach having been discover- ed, he had attempted to reach us in a steam launch the evening before and pilot us into port. Before getting within hailing distance of us the shaft of the launch broke, and as they had no sail, the occu- pants of the launch, the captain and an engineer, were left no alternative but to drift helplessly on the waters of the bay until morning. Our captain on coming up to them, had given the engineer the sail of his boat with which to reach port and had brought the captain back to our ship to pilot us into port. Noon came; dinner was eaten; a delightful breeze sprung up from the sea and we were again on our way to Talara bay, under the guidance of our new- found friend. At the first opportunity I stepped up to him and made known to him the object of my coming to Peru, and asked him if there was any chance of getting work at Talara. "Yes," said he, "Now I shall post you a little bit. A moment or two after we dropped anchor there will be a boat rowed alongside of us, and out of it will step an old, gray-whiskered man, with a cork hat on his head, with an umbrella in one hand and a fly bush in the other, but don't you take him for a fool. If you do, you will find out that you are terribly mis- taken. He is without doubt one of the greatest combinations of courage, brains and energy that has ever left the United States. His name is Mr. Twed- dle, and he is in full charge here. When you speak 16 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. to him about work tell him that you came down as a passenger." One hour's sail from our anchorage and we were abreast of the lighthouse, and in a few minutes more we had dropped anchor in Talara bay, Peru, just sixty-eight days out from Grays harbor, Wash- ington. Shortly after we dropped anchor a boat was seen to leave an unfinished wharf and to head in our direction. It contained a large, white-headed man, who held an umbrella in one hand and a fly bush in the other. While awaiting the arrival of this interesting personage I espied a steam launch anchored near the shore and from the finish and beauty of her model I concluded that she was one of the famous Herreshoff boats, and stepping up to our captain I told him so. "A Herreshoff launch," said he; "what's a Herre- shoff launch?" "They are the finest steam launches in the world, captain," I replied, "and were brought to perfection and are being built by John B. Herre- shoff, a man who has been blind since he was n years of age." "Where did you ever see one before?" he asked, looking at me earnestly. "This is the first one that I have ever seen," I replied, "but I am sure that it is one. I intend to find out when we get ashore whether I am right or not." "I would like to know what there is that you don't take an interest in," said the captain. "Here I have been going to sea for over fifteen years, and I have never heard of such a thing as a Herreschoff launch." By this time the boat containing Mr. Tweddle had touched the ship's ladder, and he was soon on deck saluting the captain with a hearty "How do IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 17 you do, captain!" as he took his hand. "We kept a watch for you night and day up in the light- house, and if the shaft of our launch hadn't broken last night you would not have needed to drop anchor at all." Then, the captain still grasping his hand, led him into the cabin, while I remained on deck patiently awaiting his return. When he came from the cabin he was alone, and I approached him and made known to him my wants. He looked at me pleasantly while I was speaking, and when the last words fell from my lips his eyes brightened up, and stepping up to me and laying his hand on one of my shoulders, he said in one of the kindest of voices : "Well, we will put you to work day after tomorrow — there now, will that do?" As the captain had now come on deck and was waiting to- go ashore, Mr. Tweddle, on seeing him, asked me in the same kindly tones if I would not go with them. I gladly consented, and we three went down the ladder and stepping into the boat pushed off and were rowed to the shore by her native crew. The distance from where the ship lay to the un- finished wharf on shore was not over three hundred yards ; consequently we had little time for conver- sation on the way, but what time we had was taken advantage of by Mr. Tweddle. Hardly had we seated ourselves when, pointing to me with his hand and turning to the captain, he began the con- versation by saying : "This young man tells me that he came down with you as a passenger.'' "Yes," replied the captain, "he is a good man, and I want you to do all you can for him. He is a box- maker and carpenter." "Well, I have already told him that I will put 18 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. him to work day after tomorrow. We have been having some labor troubles with our native help, and haven't been running for several days, but we expect that everything will be settled by tomorrow night, so that we can resume work the next morn- ing." Continuing, Mr. Tweadle said: "When we came here, two years ago, there was not a stick of wood nor a drop of water at the place, and we had to use wood that was brought here, and to condense the water which we used," and then, throwing his head high in the air, his eyes lit with a glow of fatherly pride as he added: "My son is general manager here. He is in Lima just now, but he will be home in a few days more." Our boat now touched the dock and we stepped ashore. The captain and Mr. Tweddle started for Mr. Tweddle's office, and I went for a tour of inspec- tion of the place, reluctantly concluding my ramble upon the approach of darkness. If our pilot friend had not posted me concern- ing Mr. Tweddle's saneness, and if I had taken him at first for a fool or a crank, I would have changed my mind after my first day's inspection of Talara, even though he did constantly carry in his hand a fly bush which he was perpetually swinging in front of his face, and this in a country in which flies and mosquitoes, if they exist at all, are indeed scarce. Talara bay is the finest harbor in Peru, it lays forty miles south of the Equadorean line, nearly land-locked, but small. The surrounding country is barren of timber and unsuited for agriculture, ex- cept for the cultivation of cotton, which can be grown for the first three years following the short rainy season which occurs every seven years. We landed there during this rainy season, which had begun with the storm of the night when we first IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 19 attempted to make the harbor, and ended about a week after our arrival. Here at Talara was built, within the two years that preceded our arrival, under the heat of a tropi- cal sun, by a man nearly 70 years of age, a plant comprising in its magnificent equipment every conceivable appliance for the production and refinement of petroleum oil. At the wells, some seven miles to the westward, were der- ricks, drills and engines to bore for oil, powerful pumps with which to force it to the refinery at Ta- lara, and seven miles of pipe laid, through which it flowed. At Talara was a refinery of the most modern type, with machinery of the most approved pattern, machine shops, canmaking and boxmaking and filling departments all complete. Nor was it in the details of these departments of revenue alone that Mr. Tweddle's painstaking care could be seen. Every man in his employ, from the highest official to the humblest cholo, was given a comfertable house or room in which to live with a nice spring mattress upon which to sleep. His own private residence, situated upon the highest hill to seaward, was being built upon palatial plans, and although still uncompleted, was being occupied by his family, which consisted of himself, his wife and his son. Each of his officials was provided with a separate house for himself and family. The English and American mechanics who had come out under contract were kept separate, each in their own house, messed by themselves and were given their own cook and house servants. In addition to all these there were long buildings at some distance from the works, in which that class always regarded, and most justly so, with suspicion in South Ameri- 20 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. can countries — strangers, beachcombers and cholos — were living. Having touched upon Mr. Tweddle's great in- dustrial feat at Talara, we will review briefly the personal history of that remarkable man. He was six feet in height, with a powerful frame. His movements were so graceful and his step so elastic that in appearance he might have been called majestic. His hair and beard were so whitened and his cheeks so furrowed with care that he might have been called venerable. He was born in Edinburgh, and entere'd the Uni- versity of that city at an early age. After graduat- ing in a course of medicine, he came to America, going to California in the days of '49. He remain- ed there until his daring and inventive nature was attracted to the East by the discovery of oil. Here, while this great industry was yet in its most primi- tive stage, he, with others, founded the Standard Oil Company, which has since become the most powerful monopoly in the world. With them he continued to act in harmony until they were power- ful enough for him to consider them foemen worthy of his steel, when he severed with them, and backed by English capital, gave them battle. He actually built eighteen refineries, one after the other, in spite of them, and compelled them to buy him out each time at an enormous expense to themselves and a corresponding profit to himself and his asso- ciates. Disheartened at last at their unsuccessful attempts to baffle this chieftain of industry, there was but one thing left for the Standard company to do. This was to effect some compromise which was done by an agreement on their part to pay Mr. Tweddle $25,000 per year as long as he lived. On his part he agreed to remain entirely unconnected IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 21 with the oil business in the United States for life. The Standard company, contrary to its reputa- tion for double dealing-, showed in Mr. Tweddle's case a remarkable respect for an obligation, for although it had been many years since he ceased operating in oil in the United States, and in two of his Philadelphia refineries, which they had reluct- antly purchased, not a quart of oil had been refined for years, yet year after year, as regularly as they came and went, a check for $25,000 reached Mr. Tweddle- — a pleasing reminder of his former power. But this became monotonous. Some time after the _signing of the agreement with the Standard Company, the "old man" (as Mr. Tweddle was. called by his employes at Talara) began to look around for new worlds to conquer. Learning of the existence of petroleum beds in Russia, he re- paired thither, acquired titles to them and obtained concessions for their exploitation. Then he went to England for the purpose of raising capital which his judicious use of money for many years rendered an easy thing for him to do. With this capital he purchased machinery, employed such skilled labor as he deemed essential for the intelligent direction of the work, and returned to Russia. His oper- ations in Russia were a decided success, and after developing and placing on a paying basis the indus- try, Mr. Tweddle and his associates sold their in- terests to a London syndicate headed by Messrs. Rothschild & Sons. Mr. Tweddle next turned his eyes toward Egypt, where petroleum was said to exist. In this enter- prise he was given financial support by the Egyp- tian government. But although in the fields of his operations in Egypt oil stood on the surface of the earth in pools, and the geological formation was 22 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. such as to indicate its existence beneath the surface, after erecting a great refining plant and boring several wells to an enormous depth no oil could be found excepting that which lay on top of the ground in pools and could be seen with the naked eye. His Egyptian oil venture being a deplorable fail- ure, Mr. Tweddle next went to Peru to investigate the reports that were in circulation regarding the existence of oil in that country. When he arrived there he learned that petroleum did really exist near Talara bay; that full title to the property had at one time been held by a firm, Thorne & Dean by name ; that this firm had done some development work on the property; that they had failed to pay the semi-annual dues thereon ; that therefore they had allowed their titles to it to lapse, and that it was now the property of the government and open to re- location. Such a decided .canon as he^ was in the art of manipulation, knew that in order to acquire title unincumbered to this property from a government would require the assistance of agents thoroughly versed in its workings. For this purpose he em- ployed the house of Grace & Co. How well their work was done may be told by saying that when Mr. Tweddle returned to London he carried with him concessions from the Peruvian government granting him a clear right and title to> all the pe- troleum oil contained in a tract of land thirty-five miles square surrounding Talara bay. With these concessions he organized the London and Pacific Petroleum Company on these condi- tions : That the stockholders subscribe the sum of two hundred thousand pounds sterling to the enter- prise, said sum to be used in the development of the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 23 property; also that his son, Herbert Tweddle, jr., should be appointed superintendent for life. The required sum was quickly raised, and Mr. Tweddle, after purchasing the necessary machinery, including a tank steamer, returned to Talara bay. He brought with him not only mechanics from England and tank builders from the oil regions of North America, but several men who had served him in higher capacities in Russia and Egypt. Of these men Mr. Freeman, a chemist and refiner, occupied the highest place and received the highest pay. He had been with Mr. Tweddle for over twenty-five years, and it was largely due to his in- defatigable experiments in chemical laboratories that Mr. Tweddle's former success is to be ascribed His salary at this time was said to be twenty dol- lars per day. All the machinery was in charge of James Coates, a Scotchman by birth and a mechanical engineer by profession. John Benenger superintended the wells, and Mr. Tieman the filling and canning de- partments. On the second morning after my arrival at the works I was given a job of running a circular saw. I was soon to learn that I was right in my surmise that the beautiful launch which I had no- ticed was a Herreshoff, and I was also soon to meet with a man who considered, or claimed to consider, them useless. About 10 o'clock a long, lantern- jawed, open-mouthed, English-looking fellow, whose name I afterward learned was Campbell, with the shaft of a launch in his hand, came into the box- making room. Stepping up to him, I asked, "Are you the man that is running that launch?" "Yes," he growled. 24 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Well, tell me," I asked, "is that a Herreshoff launch or not?" "I don't know what it is," he growled again, "but it is not worth much, any way. The Yankees never could make a launch. It is made in Bristol, Rhode Island." "Well, then," I said, "it is a Herreshoff, and the English government evidently doesn't share your views in regard to them, since they have bought the right to build them for the English navy." "No," he contested, "I'll be if you can make me believe that England ever went to the United States for launches for the British navy." "All you have to do," I replied, "is to look through the issues of the Scientific American for the sum- mer of 1873 and you will see not only the copy of the contract between the Herreshoff company and the English government, but also the official re- port of the English officers appointed by the govern- ment to test it. As you are evidently a machinist yourself, it will explain to you in detail the super- iority of the Herreshoff launch over the one at that time in use in the British navy, both in point of boiler, engines and hull." He had nothing more to say, and after giving me another unpleasant look he walked away. Another glance at Mr. Tweddle's achievement, and then we will leave Talara for the gold fields of the interior. The great works at Talara were now on a paying basis, the equipment for producing and refining oil was complete. A great tank for storage purposes had been built the winter before Oroya railway with the fuel which Mr. Tweddle at Callao, in order to supply the locomotives of the had demonstrated was more economical than coal brought from Australia or England. The furnaces IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 25 of their locomotives had been altered so as to use oil, and a powerful steamer plied between Callao and Talara to carry it. The Mollendo, Arequipa, Puno & Cuzco railway had decided to adopt the use of oil on their line for fuel. The greater part of the mechanics whom Mr. Tweddle had brought out with him under contract had returned to their homes, now that the work was completed, and a full-rigged bark lay at anchor in the bay loaded with thirty thousand cases of the finished product for China. The only work remaining to be done was the construction of a tank at Mollendo. After a series of inquiries I learned that the great gold fields of Peru, from which Spain repleted her treasury in the sixteenth century, as well as during the two succeeding ones, were situated in the two provinces of Carabaya and Sandia, and that the nearest railway to them was the Mollendo, Arequi- pa, Puno & Cuzco road, which touched at a point near Juliaca. Knowing that the London and Pa- cific Petroleum Company had a tank to build at Mollendo, I asked permission to accompany the builders to assist in its construction, during which time I expected to become somewhat acquainted along the line of the road, and to receive my pay in full at Mollendo when the work was finished. All of these favors were readily granted me by Herbert Tweddle, jr., he Raving returned from Lima. He also promised to give orders to the fore- man of the tank builders to raise my pay, to take me with him and his crew to board at whatever hotel they might stop at, and to do me any favors which lay in their power, concluding with : "We have orders from London to cut down expenses, but we will always find something for you to do 26 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. should you be unsuccessful in your search for gold and desire to return to our employ." I shall take space here to tell just one little inci- dent which happened at Talara which will show the prejudice existing among European mechanics against American machinery of recognized super- iority. This will also serve to show why American machinery has not been introduced into South America to a far greater extent than it is at pres- ent being used in that country. The beautiful Her- reshoff launch had been hauled up on the ways, her shaft taken out, welded and re-turned in a lathe and then replaced by the lantern-jawed ma- chinist of whom I have spoken. Fire was started in her boiler, steam was gotten up, and a number of workingmen, laborers and mechanics, perhaps thirty in all, were summoned to push her off the ways into the water under the direction of Mr. Coates. While part of us were standing around her awaiting the arrival of the rest, Campbell climbed up over the railing into her hull, and taking the. throttle in his hand, pulled her wide open, as much as to say: "If I can't break this blamed Yankee contraption by fair means I'll try foul." As may be imagined, the screw buzzed round with frightful velocity and meeting no force to restrain itself would in all prob- ability have shortly broken. Campbell heard the whirring screw with a henious grin of satisfaction on his ill-shaped face until Mr. Coates, looking at him intently for a moment, shook his head deter- minedly. Then he shut off steam, evidently dis- appointed at his failure to spoil the Yankee boat, and having the satisfaction of laying it to the fault of Yankee machinery. But to get back to my original object in Peru — the quest of the great gold fields. About the middle IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 27 of June the company's steamer Ewo entered the harbor and dropped anchor. It was announced that all who were going to Mollendo to work on the construction of the tank should be on board the steamer the next day by noon. We were also told to go to the office of the company and draw what- ever money was due us or whatever part we cared to draw then. The next morning when I entered the office I was paid by Air. Kroosick, one of the largest stockholders in the company, an English- man by birth, who was residing temporarily in Ta- lara. The man, a hercules in stature, was over six feet in height, and it was said of him that in his younger days he had been one of the strongest men in England. His family were all dead, so that he was alone in the world, with only his business to interest him. At noon, with the exception of the captain, we were all aboard the tank steamer ready to start. One o'clock came, but no captain. Two o'clock came, but still no captain. At three o'clock he ar- rived, having been detained by a drunken customs officer, a man of sickly and dwarfish frame, who had positively refused to give him any clearance papers, and who wanted to whip Mr. Kroosick. His en- counter with Mr. Kroosick ended, as the captain told it, by his rushing at Mr. Kroosick and by the latter picking him up by the nape of the neck with one hand, holding him out at arm's length, laughing at him, and then letting him down on his feet again. The question about the clearance papers was settled by Mr. Kroosick telling the captain to go ahead without clearance papers and to tell the col- lector of the port at Callao the reason, and that he, Mr. Kroosick, would answer to the house of Grace & Co. and would write to them by the first mail. 28 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. In less than an hour after the captain arrived we had weighed anchor and were steaming south- ward. We reached the port of Callao at 7 o'clock on the evening of the third day after our departure from Talara, not only without clearance papers from our port of departure, but too late in the even- ing to use them even if we had them with us. The question naturally arose among us as to how we were going to get ashore to have a little time there over night. The captain and Mr. Coates promised that if the customs officer came aboard they would speak for us, and the chief engineer promised us that if they failed he would lower a boat after dark and set us ashore. It was therefore with great suspense that, after the anchor was dropped, the officer had come aboard and had descended the com- panion way into the cabin with the captain and Mr. Coates, that we awaited the result of their conversation, which we could readily hear from where we stood at the skylight above. "I have no clearance papers, as I had to come away without them, the customs officer at Talara was drunk when we left and refused to give them to me. So my boss told me to go without them and to tell you the reason. He said also to tell you that he would write to Grace & Co. about it in a few clays," said the captain in his most confident, com- manding tones. "Well, that is all right," we heard the official answer in his broken English. "I have a favor to ask of you," continued our captain. "Well, what is it?" "I have with me on board a lot of young fellows who want to go ashore for a little time. They are working for the company, and they are all sober IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 29 boys. They are going down to Mollendo to put up a tank. If you will give them permission to go ashore tonight, I will be responsible for their re- turn on board tomorrow." "They are just a lot of jolly boys," interrupted Mr. Coates, imploringly; "no harm in them, but just full of life. They have been penned up in Talara for a long time, where there is no way of enjoying themselves, and you know it would not be right to keep them on board. You were a boy once your- self." These last words of Mr. Coates seemed to have a telling effect on the official, because at their con- clusion he said : "Very well, tell them that they can go ashore, but to be sure and come back tomor- row." In five minutes more we were rowing ashore toward the nearest pier, with orders to be back at 5 o'clock sharp the next evening, and told that the steamer would be tied up at the dock. Space will not permit me to give in full my im- pressions of Callao, the first really Spanish-speaking town I had entered, but we did have our little time through the night, and when morning came and the business houses opened I went to the house of Grace & Co. to purchase several pounds of quick- silver, a thing indispensable in saving fine gold. They had it on hand, but in ioo-pound tanks which they did not care to break. They said I might by inquiry find a small amount in one of the retail stores. "Do you know the name of it in Spanish?" "No," I replied, "I don't." "Azorgue," said he ; "just go into any store and say: 'Tiene usted azorgue, senor?" and if they have it, they will get it for you." I left the house, saying to myself, "azorgue" over and over again, but before I reached another store 30 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. that looked as though they might have it for sale, my attention was attracted to something in the street, and I had forgotten its Spanish name. There were two things for me to do — one was to return to the house of Grace & Co. and learn it over again ; the other was to walk around the city until I met some one to whom I could make known my wants. As I was desirous of seeing the city, I concluded to do the latter. From 9 o'clock in the morning until half-past 4 in the afternoon, with the exception of half an hour when I was at lunch, I paraded the streets of Callao, during which time I stepped up to per- haps forty persons, every one of whom looked like an English-speaking man, and asked: "Do you speak English, sir?" and each time the answer came, "No entiendo, senor." This happened so many times that I finally concluded to return to Grace & Co. and get the name once more, and write it down. On my way thither through one of the narrow streets I heard a voice saying in good clear English, "Now, take that up and deliver it as soon as possible, as we've some more we want to send out today." On looking in the direction from whence the sound came, I found it to be a merchant speaking to his drayman. I crossed the street, and, stepping up to him, said : "Well, you certainly can't deny that you un- derstand English. I heard you speaking it." "Well, yes," he said, with a twinkle in his eye; "I ought to be able to speak English. I was born and raised in the United States." "So was I," I replied. "In what state?" he then inquired. "Pennsylvania." "In what part of Pennsylvania?" IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 31 "The southern part." "Near what place?" "Oh, you don't know where it is," I said, becom- ing impatient to get back to the steamer, as the hour for her departure was now nearly arrived. "Well, I would like to know, anyhow," he said. "I always like to meet a man from that country." "I was born and raised in a little town called Greencastle, in the Cumberland valley, just twenty- two miles from Gettysburg." He smiled a little as he said he ought to know where it was, as he was there three days at one time. "That was the first, second and third days of July, 1863, wasn't it?" I asked. To this he nodded and said I had guessed that right the first time. I then asked him if he had any quicksilver for sale. "I have a few pounds here in a bottle," said he, going to a shelf and bringing back a half-pint bot- tle about two-thirds full of it. "It is some that I bought from a fellow who came back from the mountains after a prospecting trip." "Can't you let me have part of it?" I asked. "Can't you take it all?" "No ; because I have not money enough with me to pay for it. I left most of my money on board the steamer on which I am a passenger, and it is to leave the dock at 5 o'clock." "Well, I'll tell you what you can do," he said ; "you just take the quicksilver and never mind about the pay." At this I threw what money I had with me on the counter, took the quicksilver and started for the steamer, telling him that if I found that she was not ready to go when I reached the dock I would 32 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. bring him the rest of the money. "Don't you both- er your head about that," were the last words I heard him say as I passed hurriedly out of his store : When I arrived at the dock I met Mr. Summer- ville, the first officer, who told me that the captain was still ashore, and that it would be at least fif- teen minutes after he came aboard before they could let her loose and get away. With this assur- ance I hastily repaired to my stateroom, got my money and returned to my friend to pay him the balance on the quicksilver, and then hurried back to the ship. In another half-hour we were ready to start. The captain had told the customs officer the truth when he said that the boys .were all sober, for he was the only drunken man on board. The first mate for- ward and the second mate aft paid no attention to his orders, but the engineer in the engine room had no way of knowing whether the signals he re- ceived from the bridge by telegraph were right or wrong, and it would have been criminal in the quar- termaster — an unlicensed man — to have disobeyed them. Consequently we soon found the steamer moving at half-speed astern toward a concrete pier, . with the captain looking on in a drunken stupor. As may be imagined, we looked at the pier, too, becoming more and more apprehensive as we neared it, until we were within perhaps ioo feet of it. Then the spell was broken by Mr. Coates, who ran to the skylight above the engine room, and yelled at the top of his voice, "Full speed ahead!" The engineer, evidently not recognizing the voice, and thinking that the words came from some one in authority, immediately reversed the engines and pulled the throttle wide open. Her speed soon slackened to such an extent that when IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 33 we were within ten feet of the pier Mr. Coates, perhaps fearing for the blades of the propeller, yelled once more to the engineer, using the same commanding tone, "Stop her!" The order was obeyed and we touched the pier with just enough force to carry away one of her rudder chains. A tug then took us under tow, and we cleared^ the long line of docks and reached the outer edge without further accident, but when she cut loose from us, the captain, by his order to the quarter- master at the wheel, turned her bow on toward a large hull that was anchored some distance out in the bay. Then saying ''Steady," he telegraphed to the engineer, "Full speed ahead." Soon we were moving toward it at the rate of ten miles an hour. Suddenly the second mate was seen to rush for- ward, enter the pilot house, grab the wheel from the quartermaster, throw it hard a-port, and hold it there until we had sheered clear of the hull, when he handed her over to the quartermaster and walked aft again. The captain, after looking at the unusual proceeding on the part of the second mate, stood a few moments in his drunken stupor on the bridge, then, no doubt seeing nothing more ahead of us to strike, and feeling that we needed no more of his fostering care until morning, re- tired to his cabin for the night. In three days we were in Mollendo. This town is the Pacifi are covered. The country through which we passed was also rolling, except- ing one large pampa, and was entirely destitute of vegetation, save for the existence here and there of sage brush and cacti. This pampa, we were told by the engineer, had been irrigated at one time by the Incas, but the point from which they had brought the water with which to irrigate it was IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 39 unknown to the present residents of Peru. Schemes for the reirrigation and reclamation of the pampa for purposes of agriculture by a system of artesian wells had been discussed by the foreign residents in Arequipa for years, and, as he remarked, enough money had been spent at champagne suppers while discussing the feasibility of the schemes to sink a dozen wells, but the pampa remained the same. He also told us that the soil of the pampa would yield abundantly by irrigation, as had been proven by the fine little gardens at each of the water tanks along the line of the road. These tanks were sup- plied with water by a line of pipe from Arequipa, of which I have already spoken. The small amount of water which invariably wastes in supplying a locomotive from the tank was here economically supplied to the gardens with highly satisfactory re- sults. We had left Mollendo at half-past ten o'clock in the morning, and as we did not reach Arequipa until 6 in the evening it was dark when we stepped from the train and were met at the depot by Pat- rick Hawley, a man who for years had been con- nected with the road. He escorted us to his house, where his wife had prepared a sumptuous meal for us, as they were expecting our arrival. Hawley, whom we had previously met in Mol- lendo, was an Irish-American by birth, and had come to Peru some sixteen years before, under contract with Meigs. He had come out in the ca- pacity of locomotive engineer, at which he worked for many years, until he became roadmaster. This position he had now resigned and in company with one McQueston, had taken the contract from Grace & Co. for the laying of the track on the thirty miles of road which they proposed to build within the 40 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. coming year on the Cuzco branch, from Santa Rosa east toward Cuzco. As both Hawley and his wife were from Pennsylvania, and as we were all, with the exception of one, recently from the state, we all enjoyed the meeting. We had just seated ourselves at the table when an elderly German stepped into the dining room. He was a man far past the middle age, of great height and large frame. He wore a black broad- cloth suit, and had a large cork hat on his head. His face, which was clean-shaven, was upon this occasion very cheerful as he smilingly informed us that the happiest moments of his life were when he met American boys. "I lofe dose 'merican poys," he went on, speaking in his broken English. "I dinks dot dey are chust der vinest poys on der vace of der earth." After a few more complimentary remarks upon the noble qualities of the American boys, the old gentleman passed on through to the parlor, where he remained until we had finished sup- per. Then, as Hawley was busy making preparations for his departure to the field of his operations, the German took us in charge, a job which seemed to give him great pleasure. He first took us for a walk through the principal streets of the city, point- ing out to us the different cathedrals, and told us briefly the date of their construction and history. He showed us landmarks of the terrible earthquake of 1866, and when he took us to our rooms bade us good night, and said that he would return in the morning. When we came down to breakfast the next mor- ning, we found the old gentleman sitting on a chair near the dining room door waiting for us. He did not leave us all through the day, and the n^xt mor- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 41 ning he escorte'd us to the train, on which all but myself left for Mollendo with the intention of re- turning to Talara. When the train bearing the tank-builders pulled away from the depot, I was alone in a foreign city, and one in which a language was spoken of which I knew scarcely a word. All the customs of the people seemed to me to be exceedingly strange — unmarried women appearing on the streets only when accompanied by a cholo girl, or peering from behind the barred windows of their homes. Men were everywhere carrying cargoes on their backs, and oxen, when they were worked, were yoked to- gether by the horns. In this city neither gas nor electric light was to be seen at night ; the streets were narrow and the buildings were mostly cathed- rals and convents, and the people were mainly, judging from their appearance, bishops, priests, friars or nuns. However, I determined to remain in this country until I found what I had come so many thousands of miles to see — the gold fields of the in- terior. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 43 CHAPTER II. It's give a dog a bad name and then hang him. I had learned before leaving Mollendo of a certain young man, Alexander Gibson, of the firm of Gibson Bros. He had each year, for several years, entered the province of Carabaya ; had made several mining locations there and this year was preparing to open one of them. I went to the office of his brother, Patrick Gibson, and on inquiring for him, was directed to a slim, sickly-looking young man who, as I could easily see after I had approached and made myself known, had little use for a Yankee. "Oh, yes," he began, with a snarling tone, "you Americans have been coming down here from time to time, and we have taken you at your word and have sent you out in the interior at big expense. Generally we don't get much out of it. What do you think the last two who went out with my brother did when they were out there?" "I don't know, I am sure; what did they do?" I asked, expecting to hear him relate some tale of hor- ror. "Why, they actually staked clams for themselves when they were working for us and under pay from us," said he, in a shocked tone and with a horrified expression on his face. "They did!" I exclaimed in a loud voice, pretend- ing to be both surprised and mortified at what he 44 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. considered the dishonorable conduct of my country- men. "Really, it's a fact, and I can prove it to you," he said in a convincing manner. "Well," said I, "do you own the whole of Peru? If you do, I would like to see your deed to it." "Of course I don't," he returned, in a different tone of voice from what he had been using. "Did you claim or own the ground on which the Yankees staked their claims?" "No," he replied slowly, evidently just realizing that he was not speakirig to one in sympathy with his views, and that he was about to be caught in a trap. "Then the whole transaction, from start to finish, was none of your business," said I. "It was simply between the Yankees on one hand and the Peruvian government on the other, and one in which you were in no way interested. You have worried your- self into a flutter over a thing that did not concern you at all." After a few more words with him on different minor topics, I left his office. But upon the afternoon of that day, I was de- stined to meet with a far different man — one with whom I was to become associated in a great scheme, the failure of which can be attributed to neither of us, and a man for whom I still have the strongest regard. After dinner I was met on the street by a half- white Jamaica boy, whom I had met in Mollendo, who told me that he had a letter of introduction to a merchant in the city, and asked me to walk to his office with him while he delivered it. This I consented to do. After walking some dist- ance up the street he stopped in front of a large house on which was a sign bearing the words, "Jose IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 45 M. Pena," and said: "This is the house." We en- tered the yard, and approaching an open door we saw, seated inside a room at a desk, a handsome young man of middle height, of light complexion and with kindly gray eyes. He invited us to come in. We entered the house and when we were seated the Jamaica boy handed him the letter which he took, opened and read with great care. Then laying it down, he said kindly, looking at the boy : "I can- not give you anything to do unless you understand gold mining. Do you know anything about that business?" "No," replied the boy. "I don't know anything about it. I never saw a gold field in my life." "Well, then," said the gentleman, "I am sorry to say that I cannot give you any employment." "That is a business that I sometimes tell people I know a little about," I remarked, seeing that there was no longer any use for the boy to expect employ- ment here. The merchant did not stop to turn his head to look at me when I made this remark. He actually turned his whole body around toward me and after eyeing me steadily for perhaps a minute, asked : "You are an American, aren't you?" "Yes," I replied. "In what part of the United States did you ever do any mining or prospecting?" "In none of the United States proper," I replied. "I have prospected and mined in the Big Bend country of British Columbia, in the Northwest Ter- ritory of Canada, on the southeast and northwest coast of Alaska, and on the Yukon and other rivers of the interior of Alaska and the Northwset terri- tory." 46 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. "Do you speak the Spanish language?" he next inquired. "No, I do not," I replied dolefully, explaining to him that I had been in Peru only three months. "I am looking for a man," said he, "one who has had some experience in gold mining and who has the energy and courage to go into the valley of the Tambopata and prospect for me while there. There are three men, Hipolito Sanches, of Cojata, and Ricardo Villava, of Huancane, both prominent mer- chants in those places, and Ignacio Suarauz, who lives in the valley of the Tambopata, with whom we deal and for whom we got the agricultural right to a large tract of land in that valley last winter and charged them nothing except what it cost us. They doubtless feel under obligations to us and have been telling us for some time that the valley is rich in gold and that without a doubt out of one creek that empties into the Tambopata, the Spanish took seventy mule loads of gold, in which there was the largest nugget that has ever been found in Peru, and that this nugget weighed three arrobas, or seventy- five pounds. It was sent to the. then reigning king of Spain. They also say that there is a canyon of about eight miles in length in the actual thirty miles of the Tambopata river, that is, from its headwaters to its junctions with the Pablo Bamba river ; above this canyon the Spanish not only worked on the side hills, but in the bed and on the bars of the river, but that below the canyon no traces of their work is to be found. I will show you why the Spanish left this place," he concluded, as he arose and walked to a small bookcase and took down a book with this title : "Gold ; Its Occurrences and Its Extraction." Opening the book to a marked page, he read a full account of the massacre of the Spanish inhabitants IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 47 of the town of Villapata, San Juan Del Oran, by the wild Chuncha tribe of Indians in the early part of the nineteenth century. "What is your name?" I asked, having become deeply interested in the man. "My name is Pool," he replied. "Why I thought that was a Spanish name which 1 saw over the door as I came in," I said, being un- able to see any similarity between his name and the Spanish sign. "The name you saw above the door was that of the house. This is the house of Pena, but Mr. Pena is at Lima. He is the present head of the house, and han- dles the business there, while I have the manage- ment of this end of it. We buy and sell all the pro- ducts of the country, but our principal business is in buying and exporting wool. We have woolen mills of our own in Lima, where we manufacture some woolen goods for home trade. We have also a large trade in alcohol, some of which we import from Germany, and some of which we buy from the haciendas* which are situated on the small streams that empty into the Pacific between here and Paita." "What is alcohol used for here and to whom do you sell it?" I inquired. "The Indians of the interior," he replied, "buy it, and when you get among them you will find them to be the lowest type of drunkards, as also the most cowardly, most stupid and the laziest lot of Indians whom you have ever seen, and I don't know why it is, but it's a fact, that the more you club them the more they seem to think of you, and the better you will get along with them." (*The haciendas are small farms, this being- the Spanish name for them.) 48 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. While speaking with me Mr. Pool had kept his eyes on mine until , at this point, when he dropped them to avoid my gaze, as he continued : "Perhaps it may not be a very honorable business to sell alco- hol to the Indians, but I look at it in this way. If we don't do it, somebody else will."§ After the momentary embarrassment, Mr. Pool went on in his natural manner : "We have, in addition to our reg- ular business, a large hydraulic gold mine at Poto,f which we have had possession of for over forty years, and which we worked by the old Spanish method until the elder Mr. Pena died, three years ago, when we sent to San Francisco for a mining engineer, and under his direction put piping and giants on it." "Is it paying you?" I asked. "Oh, yes," he replied, with a smile of satisfaction. "You see, if it paid us to work it every year by the old primitive methods, it must certainly pay us to work it with modern scientific appliances. But," he added, "it's not for sale." After a short pause in the conversation, Mr. Pool asked me if I had ever heard of the Gibbs. I told him that if he meant the house of Anthony Gibbs, of London, I had heard of the name and knew that they were a great mercantile firm, but that was all I knew of them. "Well, said Mr. Pool, "they are our London house. They have been asking us for some time to hunt up something in Peru big enough for them to (§1 have given in full Mr. Pool's opinion of the Indians of Peru, because their natural characteristics made their con- quest by the Spanish possible and explains their long years of slavery. While the Indians are not wanting in courage in their personal encounters with each others, they are cowardly against the Caucasians, and after centuries of servility have come to look on the white man as a superior being.) (tThe Poto mine, to which Mr. Pool referred, is doubtless with the exception of the Suches and Aporoma, the greatest IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 49 handle, and as you see, it's here," as he pointed to the Tambopata river on the famous map of Rai- modi, "if we can only get hold of it." At the con- clusion of this sentence he rested his head on his hand and closed his eyes as if in deep thought for a few moments and then said : "I will tell you what I will do with you. I will furnish you with everything you want for the trip ; pay all the expenses and give you a half interest in anything which we succeed in acquiring title to. providing you will go out there this summer, make a preliminary examination of that country and see if there is anything in the way of a good proposition which will impress you. I assure you that we will have no difficulty in getting our deeds to the prop- erty and the necessary concessions for working the mine." I replied by telling him that I had rather go in on wages with a lesser interest. He then asked me what salary and what interest I would want. I told him that I wanted fifty solas (Peruvian dollars, at that time worth about 65 cents in the United States money), and a two-fifths interest in the mine. He at once agreed to these terms and asked me to come to his office the following morning ready to sign the contract with him. The next day was the Fourth of July and at 8 o'clock in the morning I was at the office again, and within an hour the contract between us was signed the mules to carry me and my packs to the interior hydraulic mine in the world. It has been in the possession of the house of Pena ever since the house was founded, and has been many times the chief support of the house since the Peruvian bark industry declined. I was shown all the photographs taken of it and all the drawings made from actual surveys of it. It is a great mountain of gold-bearing gravel containing stratas of dirt which yield five dollars per cubic yard, although Mr. Pena told me that the average yield was 33 cents per yard. Indeed, so vast and extensive is this deposit of alluvial dirt that with the present supply of water it will take centuries to exhaust it.) 50 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. from Juliaca telegraphed for, and Mr. Pool and I had started on a tour of inspection to find out where we could purchase the necessary supplies for my trip. There were few things needed for the trip that the stores did not have but Mr. Pool was able to furnish many articles from his own stock-; when evening came everything was all packed up and I was ready to start. My outfit weighed about eight hundred pounds and comprised everything necessary in the way of provisions, with the exception of meat, which I was to get at Cojata — carpenter tools, prospecting tools, and clothing were all there. In addition I had eight ietters of credit and introduction to different promi- nent men in the small towns through which I was to pass, I also had all the silver money I could carry on my person, about one hundred and twenty solas. Life long friends often meet by accident. The next morning I was at the depot some time prior to the departure of the train, and noticing the engineer oiling his engine, and believing him to be an American I walked up to him and asked, "Do you speak English?" "Yes," he replied. "Where are you going?" he inquired, when I told him that I was going up with him that morning. "Oh, out in the mountains," I replied, "Come around and ride in the engine after we pass the first water tank and I will show you the country and we will have a little talk," said he, as he finished his work on the engine; I thankedhim and walked away. When I got back to the passenger coaches, I found Mr! Pool looking for me. "Come along," he f.aid, T want to make you acquainted with the engineer." I told him that I was already acquainted with the engineer, but he insisted that I go with him, and see who the engineer was to be on trip, as IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 51 he wanted to know. When we came in sight of the engineer, Mr. Pool stopped and exclaimed : "Why, that is Pike, a great friend of mine." We then went forward to the engine, where Mr. Pool presented me to Pike, saying : "This is Mr. Agle, whom I am sending up to the mountains today, and I want you to see him through." "All right," Pike replied ; I will take care of him. Then we returned to the passenger coach, where I bade Mr. Pool good-bye and entered the car. The train soon left the station, and when we stopped at the first water tank I went forward to the engine and was soon seated in the cab, talking with Pike. I found him to be a shrewd practical American, whose mind was filled with schemes of ambition, some of which he laid before me, with a power of observation aptly developed, a good judge of human nature and with a keen sense of humor. In statute he was small, his complexion rather dark, his eyes blue and bright, his countenance bright and cheerful, and as may be supposed, his conversation interesting and always to the point, and I learned later by his conversation that he had at different times, since he first stepped on a locomotive, been engaged in various enterprises, such as stock raising, prospecting and merchandis- ing, but without success. After each of these un- successful ventures he was compelled to return to his locomotive again. Our conversation that day was about almost everything and lasted from the moment I stepped into the cab of the engine at 9 o'clock in the morn- ing until I stepped out of it at Juliaca, at 6 o'clock in the evening. It seemed to me that it had hardly begun when we pulled into the station at which we ate our dinner. Here we left the engine and en- 52 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. tered a hotel with the rest of the passengers and train crew, taking our seats at a table where we began eating. Its an awkward thing to be unable to talk the language of a country. Among the passengers there was a lady whom I noticed in Mr. Pool's office the evening before, and who upon entering the dining room of the' hotel, immediately took off her wraps, hung them up, and began waiting on the table. When all were served and she had a moment of leisure she walked to where I was sitting and began talking. Suddenly I saw Pike staring at me, and then he hurriedly asked : "Why don't you answer that woman, when she is speaking to you?" "For two reasons," I replied. "The first is that I did not know that she was speaking to me, and the second is that I don't understand a word she said." "Good heavens and earth, can't you speak a word of Spanish?" "No, of course not," I replied em- phatically. "Why, how in the world do you expect to get through this country all alone if you can't speak Spanish?" "Just as well as you fellows who think in it and dream in it," I replied. "But what did the woman say?" She was still standing, apparently waiting my answer. "Why, she told you that she saw you yesterday evening tracing a map in Mr. Pool's office in Are- quipa." "Well," said I, "you explain to her why I did not answer her and apologize to her for me. Tell her that if the women of this country will just have a little patience with me until I learn their language I will give them all the talk they want." This Pike proceeded to translate to the woman in IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 53 an energetic manner. She listened intently and then walked away laughing. After dinner we returned to the cab of the loco- motive and continued our journey and our conver- sation. Thus far our way had, from Arequipa, been over barren hills, up which the railroad climbed with tremendous grades and curves. We were now to pass through a more rolling country, suitable for the raising of sheep, and containing many silver ledges of the richest ore, and adapted, in a limited way, to the raising of such agricultural products as barley, etc. When we reached Juliaca, I bade good-bye to Pike, left the cab of the locomotive, and had walked some distance toward the door of the depot when I was confronted by a young brakeman who kept saying: "El billete de Usted, Senor/' in an imploring man- ner. Unable to comprehend the meaning of his strange conduct, and supposing him to be mentally deranged, I took him by the arm and led him around the locomotive, to where Pike was busily engaged in oiling his engine, and said : "Say, Pike, what does this lunatic want?" Upon hearing my voice, Pike turned around with his bunch of waste in one hand and the oil can in the other, while the boy looked at him imploringly and said: "El billete del Senor." Then looking at me Pike said: "Why he wants your ticket, that's all." This I quickly handed to him and, taking it with a muchis gracies, Senor," he started for the rear of the train. Friends in need are friends indeed. The next time I started for the door of the depot I was again surprised by a handsome well-dressed man stepping up to me and asking in the best of English : "Are you Mr. Agle?" "Yes," I exclaimed, delight- 54 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. ed to find some one who could speak my language and who evidently knew me, although I was at a loss as to who he could be. "My name is Romania," he said by way of explanation, "and I am the cashier of the house of Pena at Arequipa. I am up here on a tour of collection. I had a telegram today from Mr. Pool, telling me you were coming and to watch for you and see you through when you reached here. Where is your baggage?" I told him that it had all been sent by express and could re- main in the depot until morning. We then walked over to a hotel together in which there was stopping an old Peruvian merchant, to whom he introduced me. The merchant was on his way to the interior in the direction that I was going. Mr. Romania had arranged that I should accompany him as fai as he went on my road. Mr. Romania then informed me that as he would have to leave Juliaca very early the following morning, and that as I could not possibly get away on my journey until after breakfast, which would be at ten o'clock (the usual hour in South American countries), there would be no need of my rising in time to see him start. In the morning when I awoke, Mr. Romania had gone, so I took coffee with my new acquaintance, after which I gave him the express receipt for my baggage and went with him to the depot, watched him get it out and send it to the hotel on the backs of some cholos, whom he paid with silver I gave him for the purpose. He then packed up his own personal effects and left the hotel. When he re- turned he spoke to me in an agitated manner, but all I could do in reply was to shake my head and re- ply : "No entiendo." (I do not understand.) Then he endeavored to convey his meaning to me with IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 55 signs, but with the same success. Finally, conclud- ing that the old man had something of more than ordinary importance to tell me, and remembering that I had seen two little girls of what I had sup- posed to be English parentage playing in front of the hotel, I motioned to him to remain where he was and started out to find them. I soon found the girls and asked them if they could speak English. "Yes," replied the elder, looking up inquiringly into my eyes. "Well," said I, "there is an old man in the hotel who is trying to tell me something and I don't know what he is talking about. Will you come along in and tell me what he is saying?" "Cer- tainly," exclaimed the child. Both the children followed me into the hotel, and walking up to the old man, the elder of the two spoke a few words in Spanish, evidently asking him what he had been saying to me. He replied in the same language. The child then turned to me and said : "He says your mules are ready but that his are not. So you will have to wait until tomorrow." "Very well," I answered, "tell him that is all right." I then thanked the children for their assistance and they started to leave the room, but at the door, the eldest turned around and with an inquisitive glance at me, asked : "Where in the world have you been all your life, Mister, that you can't speak Spanish?" "Why," said I, pleased at the little girl's curio- sity, "in North America, to be sure. You don't ex- pect me to speak Spanish the first day I am in this country, do you ?" The next morning after breakfast the old mer- chant and I were in the saddle and on our way to Taraca, the first small adobe town between Juliaca and the province of Sandia. My train consisted of 56 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. eight mules, which were in charge of two packers. Of these eight four were loaded, three of them were under the saddle, and one was brought along with- out a load with the intention of being loaded with meat at Cojata. The merchant had as many more all loaded with merchandise with the exception of the two that he and his assistants rode. As the road was nearly level, the weather pleasant and our animals fresh and lightly loaded, we reach- ed Taraca at four o'clock ; and found it swarming with drunken Indians, through whom we wedged cur animals until we reached the house of a mer- chant to whom I had a letter of credit, and with whom my traveling companion was acquainted. At this house we stopped for the night. The next day we arrived at Huancane and stop- ped at the house of Richardo Villava for a short rest. On the morning of the third day we resumed cur journey, which was being made so pleasant for me by my aged friend that I was now beginning to enjoy it. Imagine my disappointment when, after an hour's ride, we came to a fork in the road and the train halted. The old gentleman rode up to me and, after patting himself on the breast and then point- ing to one of the two roads ahead of us, shook hands with me — a proceeding which I knew only too well meant that our roads now divided. But the best of friends must part, and after help- ing him to separate his animals from ours, I and my packers proceeded on our way. That night we stoped at a small adobe farmhouse, where we purchased unthreshed barley for our mules. The next day we reached Cojata. Here we were cordially welcomed by Hippolito Sanches, to whose wife I delivered by letter of credit. The reading aloud of this letter to the small IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 57 crowd which quickly gathered around her created a great stir. At the conclusion of the letter I noticed an Indian hurriedly leave the crowd, as if intent on some mission of importance. He soon returned, bringing with him a Peruvian boy of perhaps 20 years. The boy at once stepped up to me, and, after shaking my hand very cordially, told me in ter- ribly broken English that he had been with Mr. Meyers, the mining engineer who had superintend- ed the construction of the modern plant at Poto. He also said, without pausing, that he was anxious to learn the English language and gold mining; that he had been in the Tambopata valley before ; that he was no coward ; would go with me anywhere I went in the wild Indian country, and that he wanted to work for me during the summer. "What wages do you want per month?" I asked, determined to get him, if I could do so at a reason- able price. "Thirty solas," he answered, 'and I will need some money in advance to leave for my mother." "How much do you want in advance?" I then asked. "Thirty solas," he replied. I gave it to him as soon as I could count it out, as I was fully anxious to get some one with me who could speak to me and to whom I could speak a few words of English, as the boy was to learn the language or the gold mining. In the morning the boy, who had now become my business manager, as well as my interpreter, pur- chased a cargo of dried sheep meat, which we load- ed on to the mule reserved for that purpose. After bidding his mother good-by, he mounted the pony with which he had been supplied by Mrs. Hippolito Sanches, and rode along by my side in the rear of the train. Although my "boy" was 20 years of age, 58 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. yet he was in every sense of the word a boy, as 1 soon learned from the following questions which he put to me: "Mister, did you bring a rifle with you?" was the way he began. "Yes," I replied, "there is a Winchester carbine in that mule's pack there," as I pointed to one of the animals. "It is all taken apart now, but we can soon put it together again." "How many cartridges have you for it?" was the next query. I told him that I had two boxes with fifty in each. This answer seemed to suggest more questions to him, for he next asked if I had ever seen a Smith & Wesson revolver. I told him that I had one at that moment in my pocket, and, check- ing up my mule, I took out the revolver and handed it to him. As he reached out his hand to take the revolver his eyes glistened, and I saw by the way that he handled it that he was no stranger to fire- arms, and needed no warning to look out that it was loaded. We now relaxed the tight hold we had on the reins and again allowed our animals to walk briskly after the pack train, which was by this time some distance ahead. The boy still held the revolver in his hand, and continued looking at it admiringly until a thought seemed to strike him. Turning his head quickly toward me, he asked: "Say mister, will you give me the revolver for part of my sum- mer's wages?" This I consented to do, believing that by so doing he would be less likely to leave me before the sum- mer was over. Telling him that he could keep the revolver for the trip and that I would carry the rifle, the bargain was soon made. He quickly shoved the revolver in his pocket, threw his head IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 59 proudly in the air and rode on for some time in silence. Our road from Juliaca to Huancane had been over a stretch of thirty-six miles of a gradually ris- ing pampa, upon which were here and there built small adobe farmhouses. From Huancane to Co- jata, a distance of thirty-six miles more, the way had been over a macadamized road, on each side of which in places there were steep, rocky, deserted hills, where could be seen the small stone-fenced fields of the Incas, but from Cojata the road now took us through a gradually rising but barren pampa until we reached the summit of the Andes mountains that night. We slept in a small stone house of an Indian who lived there and who was engaged in the raising of sheep. On the following morning we began our descent into the valley of the Sina, the town of which we reached at 3 o'clock of the afternoon of that day. Unlike Juliaca, Taraca, Huancane and Cojata, which are situated in a dry and arid climate, where the only rain comes in the months of December, January and February, and where the houses are built of adobe and roofed with tiles — Sina has a damp and humid climate is situated in a narrow ravine, and its houses are built and its streets paved with stone. It is surrounded by hills upon which all the vegetables of the temperate zone, such as potatoes, etc., can be grown and some of which were being cultivated in a limited way for home or local consumption. The people whom I met were not all friends. We stopped at the house of the governadore, to whom I had letters of credit and of whom Mr. Pool, in one of the letters, asked the favor that he supply me with animals with which to reach the Tambo- 60 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. pata river, as he knew that those with which I was to travel from Juliaca to Sina were to return when I reached the latter place. After the governadore had read my letters, I asked him through the agency of my boy, when he could get the animals for me. He replied with what ap- peared to me a contemptuous smile on his face, "manana" (tomorrow). Although he received us with the most hospitality and treated us with the greatest civility, there was something in his man- ner which I disliked and which gave rise in my mind to suspicions as to his sincerity in his efforts to get the animals for me. It was, therefore, with feelings of regret that I saw the packers who had accompanied me from Juliaca after they had unloaded my cargo, immedi- ately remount their saddle mules and drive the other mules from the governadore's yard in which they had been unloaded, and start them into a brisk trot in the direction of Juliaca. But I recalled the ad- vice of Mr. Pool to have patience in dealing with these people and determined that come what would it would be attended by no outburst of passion on my part. When the sun rose in the morning of the next day the town was full of Indians, whose presence was explained to me by the boy, saying that they had come to celebrate a great feast. It was about 10 o'clock in the morning of this day that I saw the first of the cruelties to which afterwards I became so accustomed and which are so inseparably asso- ciated with the dominion of race over race. I was sitting in a chair in a room of the govern- ador's house and he was walking up and down the floor, holding in his hand a large heavy cane, when an Indian entered and began to speak to him in a IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 61 supplicating manner with outstretched arms. He was dressed in white homespun woolen pants, shirt of the same material, but colored red, and on his head he wore a heavy cap of the same homespun material which rolled up at the bottom. Although I did not understand a word that the poor fellow said, I soon became deeply interested as I supposed he was laying some grievance, real or imaginary, before the governadore, and that he was imploring him to see justice done. Imagine how my blood boiled when, after stopping and listening at- tentively to the Indian, until he had finished speak- ing, I saw the governadore raise his cane and with it strike him with all his might across the temple. The Indian quickly turned and ran from the room. The only reason why the blow did not knock the Indian down was that the cane struck him on the folds of his cap, breaking the force of the blows in a measure. The official turned to me with a con- temptuous smile on his face which was met by me with a look of scorn as I rose and slowly walked out of the room. The feast lasted seven days, on each of which I asked the governadore for animals (as I knew they could not be procured from the Indians without his consent) and the answer I got was always the same, "manana." But on the afternoon of the eighth day, ponies with sheep skins held on their backs with wide woolen cinches were driven into the yard by Indians and I was told by my boy that our animals had arrived and that we could pack up and go. This we quickly did, and in an hour we were in the saddle, climbing the mountain which separates the waters of the Sina from those of the Quiaca. AVe camped in a "tambo"* for the night, and arrived *A tambo is a small shelter. 62 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. at Chimbata the following afternoon, where I was happy in the realization that I had at last entered the old Spanish gold fields. About noon we passed .over a great ledge of what appeared to me to be free milling gold-bearing quartz, into which the Spanish had driven six tunnels. In front of the ledge was setting a large stone mortar, evidently for the pur- pose of testing the value of the ore. and above the edge, on the mountain side, they had built a viaduct, doubtless with the object of storing enough water therein during the rainy season to supply the opera- tors until the next rainy season began. As this ledge was thousands of feet above the timber line, I could distinctly see the zig-zag trail running down the mountain side into the valley of the Quiaca river, where it is reasonable to suppose, the ore was taken, either on the backs of Indians or animals, to be crushed with an arastra. The Quiaca river it- self showed evidence of having had immense work done upon it and on a mountain opposite, where we spent the night, another zig-zag trail led up thou- sands of feet to where the Indians said there lay another vein of gold-bearing quartz. The next day I saw nothing more of the Spaniards' past enter- prise, owing to the fact that the trail over which I passed ran through a wooded country, but when evening came again we were camped in a tambo on a hill overlooking the valley of the Tambopata, from which could be distinctly seen the crumbled walls of the houses of Villapata San Juan del Oral. At 8 o'clock of the following morning we were riding on the level, macadamized trail which leads through the thick foliage down its left-hand bank toward the small farm of Senor Suarauz. Before we reached the farm we crossed not only the Inahuaya creek (out of which the Spanish took the seventy mule loads of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 63 gold, including the great nugget), but also the stone-paved flumes of the two hydraulic mines, which according to tradition, they were operating with great success at the time of the massacre, the exact date of which I am not prepared to give, but I believe it to have been between 1820 and 1830, or simultaneously with the general uprising against the Spaniards in Peru. Frontier countries are famous for producing re- markable men. At noon my long journey came to an end as we rode up to the house of Ignacio Suarauz and dismounted from our ponies. My first impression of Senor Suarauz, as I looked into his keen black eyes while shaking his hand was that he was in every way a superior man not only in point of physique, but also as to his integrity and intelli- gence. I recall those impressions of him as being a man in whose nature, after a life spent on a lonely frontier, personal courage and a high sense of honor occupied the place that ingenuity and sagacity gen- erally displace in men brought up amidthe surround- ings and luxuries of civilized society. His six feet of magnificent height were proportioned like an Apollo; his forehead was ample and majestic; his eyes, though black as coal, were honest and kind ; his nose and mouth were perfect, and his jaws were firm set and determined. I soon learned that he was a Bolivian by birth and had been engaged from the days of his boyhood in the gathering of Peruvian bark, until that in- dustry became unprofitable. He then turned his at- tention to the cultivation of coffee and corn. In this pursuit, owing to his lack of knowledge of land clearing and agricultural implements, he had met with little success, even though he was industrious, intelligent, honest and brave. He had at this time 64 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. lived ten years in the valley of the Tambopata and had in all these years managed to get perhaps two acres under cultivation, part of which was in coffee and the rest in corn. The former of the two pro- ducts he sent on his mules to Cojata in exchange for meat, clothing and other supplies for himself and family, while the latter furnished them with bread. His house, like all others in this altitude and climate, was built of a frame of poles lashed together with wild vines and roofed with the leaf of the palm tree. His machine for hulling coffee was of the most primitive type. His family consisted of a wife, a grown daughter (who was at this time in La Paz attending school), a boy of 14, and two smaller children, a boy and a girl. He had in his employ a deaf and dumb boy (a Bolivian by birth and per- haps 20 years old) of remarkable intelligence, a Peruvian carpenter from the coast, and some half- dozen cholos sent him by his associates. Neither himself, his son nor his assistants ever left the house for a moment without taking with them their rifles, for fear of an attack by the wild Indians, among whom they had lived so long and of whom they had seen so little. Even though the In- dians had three years before ascended the Tambo- pata river to within two miles of his plantation and killed three cholos and had also killed two more on the 22d of July of that year, near the same spot ; yet, during all the time Senor Suarauz had lived in the valley he had never seen but one of them. That one was a woman who had entered his house alone and who could speak a few words of Spanish. She had somewhere and in some manner come in contact with a priest, and had embraced the Catholic reli- gion. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 65 In the valley of the Taihbopata the climate and al- titude are such that all the products of the semi- tropical zone can be raised, such as corn, cocoa, oranges, pineapples, bananas, lemons, etc. ; yet with the exception of the small patches of land cleared by the Senor and several Indian families, the dense forests were at that time still virgin and in them the undergrowth of vines, so dense that it was im- possible to pass through them without the use of the machete or the cuchillo* But I am getting ahead of my story. When Suarauz concluded reading his letter from Mr. Pool, he led the way into his house, and after we had entered, he offered me a seat and brought me his box of tobacco, in which there were also cigarette wrappers of corn husks cut the proper length. Then, walking to the wall, where a large Colt's revolver was hanging by its belt, he took it from its scabbard and went out of the door. Pres- ently I heard the report of a shot, and soon he came into the room, holding a chicken with its head off in one hand and the smoking revolver in the other. He handed it to his wife with, as I supposed, the re- quest to cook it for dinner, although I could not tell just what he was saying. She cooked the chicken in a most satisfactory manner and I ate most heartily. That afternoon we spent in conversation, through my boy. He was opposed to my going down the Tambopata into the wild Indian country to look for gold, when, as he said, there were plenty of mines here which only needed opening up again. He said it was suicidal to attempt it, and asked me if I was "desgraciado." (A Spanish word, meaning in this *A large knife. —3 66 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. case one who is tired of life and unhappy.) He said that even if we had repeating firearms, the wild Indians were also armed with a formidable weapon and one the discharge of which made no noise. Also that even if we did possess cuchillos with which we could cut our way through the underbrush, the wild Indians, naked as they were, needed none. "But," he said, after he had given me this advice, "you are a Yankee, and whatever you undertake to do must be done." I told him that in all probability there were rich surface bearing bars on the river below the canyon, and that I was determined to find out whether I was right or wrong in this supposition. That if he would get some Indians to go with me I would be responsible for them, and if he did not get them, my boy and I would go down without them. He finally agreed to get the Indians, but said that he would be unable to do it until about September I, because they were now all busiliy engaged in culti- vating their cocoa. The next morning, after coffee, he buckled on his revolver and picking up a batea ( a native gold pan made of wood) and a cuchillo, turned to me and said, in Spanish, what I supposed to be "Come on, my friend." I picked up my carbine, which I bad screwed together the evening before, and fol- lowed him. He led the way down to the river over a well-beaten trail, and upon reaching the river walked down the stream on a bar perhaps one hun- dred yards, until we came to an abrupt bank about twenty feet high, the side of which was entirely covered with vines. He stopped, and after facing it a moment, spoke the first Spanish words I had ever heard that I clearly understood, "A la derecha" (to the right). Then turning a little to the right and IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 67 walking up to the vines, he began striking them to the right and left with his cuchillo. The great web of vegetation fell to the ground, and I realized that I stood before a bank of gravel, into which the Spanish had driven low tunnels. He then stepped up to the bank and holding his batea against it, picked the gravel above it loose with his cuchillio, letting it fall into the batea until it was filled. Then he handed the batea to me. I took it eagerly, walked to the water's edge, and panned it out. Imagine my surprise to find that it yielded two and one-half cents; or if this pan of dirt were an average yield of the whole bank, properly worked by sluicing, this gravel would pay twenty-five dol- lars per day to the man. After this agreeable surprise, I panned out several pans more with about the same result. The reader may ask how I know that the pan contained about that small amount. My answer is that by ex- perience in panning and weighing a prospect, the eye of the prospector is developed to such an extent that he can judge very closely the amount of gold a pan contains after panning it out. I then returned to the house, well pleased with the results of my first investigation. After break- fast I took my cuchillo, rifle, pick and the batea, and calling my boy, started on a prospecting tour of all the bars and benches on the river from the old town of Villapata San Juan Del Oral, above, down to the village known as Santa Rosa, below. This took us many days, as at the conclusion of each day's labor, we returned for the night to the house of Senor Suarauz to sleep. The water in the stream was at its lowest stage, thus facilitating my work, as the river could be waded in most places where I desired to wade it. The bars and benches 68 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAERO. like those of every other gold-bearing stream, yielded different returns. On some of the bars, the gravel contained a few fine colors; on others as much as five cents to the pan. In the benches, while many of them yielded nothing; others, and always those into which the Spanish had worked, gave returns equal to those shown me the first day by Suarauz. Evidently whatever work had been done upon them, had been done with an abundance of labor, and with primitive appliances. There were no traces of any ditch near them and no evidence that sluice boxes had been set. On the contrary, all creeks emptying into the river between Villapata and Santa Rosa, five in number, enter the left hand side, looking down the stream, and have all been tapped by paved ditches. The water taken from them had been used in the working of the hydraulic mines between Inahuaya and Senor Suarauz' planta- tion, and for the other two situated between the latter place and Santa Rosa. As Senor Suarauz was looked upon by the few Indians living in the valley in the same light as that in which a child regards its father, and as they knew by tradition where and how the Spaniards had worked the mines in the valley, there is every rea- son to believe that they had told him exactly where each of the Spanish mines lay, and as he was friendly to the interests of Mr. Pool, there also is every reason to believe that he told my boy the location of the different mines exactly as the Indians had told him, and that he instructed the boy to show them to me. At different times the boy, be- fore reaching a spot, told me what he was going to show me, and on several occasions he said as we ap- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 69 proached a certain spot : "Senor Suarauz told me to show you this today." One day when we had ascended the river to Villa- pata, he looked at me and pointing to a small rise in the ground across the low piece of bottom land that lay next the river, said : "There is an arrastra ever there, in which the Spaniards crushed some rich gold quartz which they brought from the head of that creek." He changed the direction as he spoke the word creek, and pointed to the Inahuaya. "Come along and I will show it to you." We then crossed the low stretch of bottom land until we were within about one hundred feet of the rise in it, when the boy stopped and pointed to a circular mound of rock with a hollow in the center, which I could see had at one time been an arrastra. By what power other than by horses or men, it had been worked, I was unable to determine, and the boy unable to explain. No traces of a ditch were discernible. After we had looked at the crumbled rocker for some time, he turned toward the mound and said the Spanish had done great work in it. This I found to be true, after making an examina- tion. It was in reality a bank of gravel, the face of which had been cut partly away, and into it, at the bottom, tunnels had been driven. Out of a pan of the gravel I obtained most satisfactory results. Another day Suarauz was starting for Santa Rosa with all his help to cultivate some cocoa which he had planted there in a small clearing, and asked me to go with him. When we reached the plantation one of the Indians picked up a cuchillo and a batea and leaving the party, started to go further down the river and Suarauz motioned for me to follow him. I stepped into the trail and walked behind him, supposing him to be leading me to some Spanish 70 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. mine which I had not yet seen. When we reached the lower end of the bottom at a spot where the side hill approaches the river, he stopped and looked toward it for a moment, handed me the batea to carry, while he began cutting a way toward it through dense underbrush. ' Presently I found my- self facing a tunnel of at least six feet in height driven into a gravel bank. This I entered and tak- ing a pan of the dirt which I loosened with the In- dian's cuchillo, gave it back to him, walked to the water's edge and panned it out, expecting him to follow me. Instead of doing this I noticed that as soon as I left him he started cutting another trail around the base of the hill. The pan of dirt which I washed out contained about one cent. I returned to the mouth of the tunnel where I had left the Indian and followed up his new trail for about one hundred feet and found him at the mouth of another tunnel, waiting for me. Some of the dirt from this tunnel I panned out with about the same result. We then returned to where Suarauz was cultivating his cocoa, when the Indian went to work and I lay down under the shade of a tree and had a good nap.- A few days afterward, in company with my boy, I passed this spot and had not gone over one hun- dred yards from it along the side hill until we step- ped across a paved flume laid at the proper grade in the gravel hill into which the two tunnels were driven. On questioning Suarauz on our return to his house, as to where the Spanish had brought the water from with which they had operated the mine, I was informed that it had come from a small creek named Challnma. Border life is lonely as well as dangerous. On August 13, after having prospected all the benches IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 71 and bars of the Tambopata river, and still being unable to get Indians to go with us down into the wild Indian country, I determined to put a pack on my boy and myself and try to get down together and without them. We started after breakfast and traveled to Santa Rosa without a halt. Then, after a short rest, during which time we examined the graves of the two Indians who had been killed shortly before, we continued on our journey. Being now below where the trail was opened, we were compelled to travel on the bars from their head to their foot, and then cross the stream in order to reach the head of the next one below. We had scarcely gone a mile below Santa Rosa when the sky became cloudy, and suddenly a great storm, accompanied by heavy rain, came upon us. Im- mediately the river began to rise, until, fearing it would become impassable, and realizing that the boy and I were both unskilled in the use of the cuchillo, I decided to return to a small plantation at Santa Rosa, at which an old Indian lived, and stay there for the night. Turning around, we retraced our steps, and it was with great difficulty that we succeeded in crossing the river at the different places where we had crossed it on our downward march, so that it was dark when we reached the lonely Indian's house. His fire was still burning on which he had cooked his supper, but he evidently had gone into the woods to sleep. We heard his dog bark, and called to him repeatedly, but if he heard us at all he must have supposed us to be the wild Chuncha Indians come to kill him, and he made no sound. All night long the rain fell in tor- rents. When morning came and the Indian did not put in an appearance, I asked the boy if he knew the Indian's name, and he told me that it was Jose. 72 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Then let's call him by name," said I, and we both yelled "Jose! Jose!" at the top of our voices, but the only reply that we heard after the echo of our voices had died away came as on the evening before from the throat of his faithful dog. Supposing the sounds of our voices to be inarticulate to him, I fired several shots from my -Winchester carbine, in quick succession, knowing as I did that the only firearms in the possession of the Chunchas were the single-barreled shotguns with which the men they had murdered had been armed at the time of their deaths. The last signal of friendship, in his fright, he must have imagined a volley of so many shots fired from the stolen weapons by the wild Indians, because the only response to them came as before from his dog. Having now exhausted my resources in an effort to let him know that we were his friends, the rain being over and the river impassable, we re- turned to the plantation of Suarauz, where, after thinking my situation carefully over, I concluded to remain and content myself, prospecting along the river until the Indians had finished gathering their cocoa. * The boy and I were soon engaged in prospecting again, with the same results as before until August 31, when four Indians appeared at the door of Senor Suarauz' house. When he saw them he turned to me and told me that they would go with me into the wild Indian country and would be ready to start the next day. He said also that he would settle with them now for the work they were to do, and going to his trunk he got my sack of silver, took it out into the yard where the Indians were standing, appar- ently patiently awaiting it, and gave each of them eight solas, or, as he supposed, 80 cents per day for IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 73 ten days' work. Upon receipt of the money they left their homes for the purpose, as he said, of mak- ing the necessary preparations for the trip. The boy and I speedily began to do the same, and had completed when the hour arrived for breakfast. How a burnt child dreads fire. The afternoon of that day the boy and I paid a visit to the small plantation of an Indian a little further up the river, in order to show him that we appreciated the hospi- tality he had always shown us when we had stopped at his house in our different prospecting trips up the river, and to bid him good-bye before we left. When we were returning we were met on the trail by an old Indian woman of perhaps 90 years of age, who was crying and wringing her hands. She was apparently in the greatest agony and as we ap- proached she began talking to the boy, who stopped and listened to her attentively. When she had finished speaking, he turned to me and interpreted her words by saying: "The old woman says that if we go down into the wild In- dian country we will all get killed. When she was a little girl about 5 years of age one Sunday after- noon when they were all in church over in that town, the wild Indians made a dash into town, sur- rounded the church, shot arrows into it through the windows, and killed everybodoy but her, either in the church or as they were running out of it. She thinks the reason they did not kill her was that she was so small they did not notice her when she was running away into the brush." "Oh, well, tell her," I replied, "that we will not be at church in our march, that we will have guns and clogs with us, and that the dogs will see to it that they do not surprise us. And as long as they do not surprise us, they are welcome to attack us as soon 74 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. as they like. Tell her not to cry about us — that we can take care of ourselves." From the time that the boy begun interpreting her words to me until he had finished explaining my words to her, the old woman had ceased crying and stood looking at me, listening attentively. When the last sound of his voice died away, I noticed a more contented look come over her face, as she walked past us. We then walked home. In one respect Pool's estimate of the Indians was correct. The next day we started, and as this was my first experience with those Indians, I was not long in discovering the other side of their nature. Although it was definitely understood that they were to provide themselves with food, in the even- ing of the first day and on the morning of the second I cooked enough for us all, expecting they would appreciate kindness and work the more willingly. Imagine my disappointment in finding that when the next evening arrived my generosity had had upon them just the opposite effect. All that day they had displayed a dilatoriness that amounted to about everything but stopping work entirely. It had been one rest after another, and when I had ap- pealed to them to proceed with their work, my ap- peals were met with a contemptuous smile. I de- termined that I would continue to share my provi- sions with them, but that when morning came they would either work or fight. After breakfast in the morning the youngest of them, "Cho," appeared to me to be trying to see how much of the day he could spend in tying up his pack. I walked over to where he was engaged in this occupation and told him to hurry. He paid no attention, whereupon I hit him a kick which had the desired effect. Then I turned to another a IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 75 middle-aged, powerful man, who, I had noticed, was eyeing me with a look of defiance, as much as to say: "I would like to see you kick me that way." At this I made up my mind to hit him the very first chance I got. Walking up to him I told him to go ahead, intending to walk close behind him. He be- gan cutting in a lazy fashion, but in a few minutes he stopped and turned around with an indifferent air when I told him to go on. He merely smiled and paid no attention. I struck him a blow in the face with my fist which staggered him a moment, during which I raised my carbine by the muzzle and threatened to kill him if he did not. work. When I hit him he had his cuchillo in one hand and a breech-loading Remington rifle in the other, but he never made a move as though he intended using either, but put both in one hand, wiped off the blood which was by this time streaming down his face with the other, and then turned around and began working with a will. After this I had no more trouble in this respect. About an hour after this affair we crossed a creek called "R. Yanamayo," in which the Indians told me there was gold. The creek contained in its bed enough water to supply two giants, and seemed to have a tremendous fall. Where we crossed it cut through a gravel bank which I estimated to be fifteen feet high. Of this gravel I panned three pans, the first yielding about 2 cents and the second and third about y 2 cent each. When we passed the Yanamayo, we evidently reached the limit of the gold-bearing belt, because in all my pannings in every creek which we crossed and on many of the bars of the rivers in the next six days, which it took us to reach the junction of the Tambopata and Pablo Bamba rivers, I found nothing in my pan 76 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. that could be called a prospect. Our march was an even, uneventful one ; we saw no wild Indians, but frequently came upon signs of them, such as beds of boughs, where they had slept both on their up- ward and downward march, distinguished from each other by the boughs on their upstream march being broken and on the downward march being cut with two cuchillos with which they were now sup- plied. We also detected signs of them in their foot- prints on the sands of the river bars, by a shelter they had built at the junction of the two rivers, and by the finding of a bow fully six feet in length, which. they had evidently lost. Each mile of the country through which we passed became flatter and the formation more sedi- mentary. Although we killed nothing except three large monkeys, which the Indians greedily ate, signs of the existence of game daily became more plentiful as we descended along the river. Our homeward march was easy, as the packs were light- ened by the consumption of more of our provisions, and the trail was cut and beaten. In two days from the morning when we left the junction of the Tam- bopata and Pablo Bamba, or the head of the Madidi, we stopped again in the yard of Ignacio Suarauz. The Indians and their families were overjoyed at our return. The boy was tired and footsore, and I was disappointed at not finding surface-bearing bars on the lower Tambopata, but proud and con- scious of the fact that I had lived in Peru but five short months and in that time had been in the depths of its forests eight days' march beyond where the English language had ever before sounded. The next morning my boy began to complain of a soreness in one of his legs. In a few days the limb IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. became so swollen that he was unable to walk it, and he was confined to his bed. Suarauz did all we could for him with our meagre sup] medicines and our limited knowledge of their I, when not at his bedside, engaged my time prospecting the gravel banks between Vill and Santa Rosa, hoping that he would soon 1 covered and able to accompany me to several < creeks which were near by, and which Suarau: contained gold. The 24th of September came, and the boy was still swollen, and fearing that it migli main so for some time, I told Suarauz that I \ have to make an examination of those creeks cut him. The next day Suarauz saddled his mules, told me to mount one, while his son mo the other, gave the boy some of my silver and instructions, and bade me good-by. Th< spurred up his mule and beckoned me to follow We rode up the river, on the right bank (lo up-stream), to a point above Villapata, then cr and proceeded up the left bank, crossing an hydraulic flume and the Charubamba, until we to the junction of the Rio San Bias and Tambc Then we continued up the left bank of the f( stream until we reached the small farm of a dian, to whom the boy gave the silver, and, supposed, the instructions of his father. motioned me to remain with the Indian, and st home with the mules. The next day was a feast day. Indians from several of the neighboring farms, brii with them not only their wives, but a good s of alcohol. Soon the influence of the alcoho seen. The music supplied by two of them was a fife and drum, and they began marching to ar 78 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. in front of the house where I was stopping. The merriment increased as the alcohol began to get in its work, and soon a high old time was in progress. The music and dancing was kept up until night, being interspersed with feasting and more drinking. The festivities ended in a fight between my host and another Indian, whom I supposed to be his wife's brother from which my host came out second best. When morning came the feast was over and after breakfast my host packed up some "ucas" (a vege- table that serves, when boiled, as a substitute for bread) and meat, which he lashed on his back. Then turning his battered face toward me, he invited me, by a motion, to come with him, an invitation I was glad to accept. He led the way down the hill to the San Bias river, which we entered and waded up about a mile and a half. Then stepping out of it on the right- hand bank, we walked along a faintly beaten foot- track, which took us over a hill down into another creek, in which I saw that considerable mining had been done that year. In one place a wing dam of boulders and moss was built from the left-hand side to the center of the stream, from which point it ex- tended down stream for a distance of about 150 feet. Great boulders of many tons' weight lay thickly on the inside of the dam ; from the top of these the smaller ones with which the head and center dams were built had been taken. As no water wheel or China pump had been constructed to pump the water out of the side intended to be worked, the water in it, in spite of the dam, was up to the level of that in the other side. It had, however, no cur- rent. On a bench opposite this dam a tambo stood, in which were several woolen blankets, some earth'ern IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. jars for cooking, an old short-handled shovel, a of octagon-shaped two-inch steel (this steel v\ all probability used in the valley by the Spa about three feet long. These with a batea, pleted the furnishings of the shelter. Unde roof of this tambo we cooked our dinner. Afte ing, the Indian picked up the shovel and bate led the way down into the creek. We reached the dam and walked across to the center of the work, stepping from one be to another. The Indian stopped, and after ha me the batea, pushed the point of the shovel in a space between two of the boulders unt elbows touched the water and the top of the h was below the water's edge. The shovel s something solid, perhaps the bottom of the Then, scraping it around as best he could for minutes, he drew it up, with perhaps one-quar a pan of dirt on it. This he emptied into the 1 and then put the shovel down again and scrapi more. I took the dirt to a suitable place and p; it out. I could hardly believe my own senses wl looked at the result of that pan of dirt, and re; that I was, without a doubt, standing over a deposit of coarse gold. To get it into my p< sion would need only a breast dam built froi foot of the center dam to the left bank, a wheel twelve feet in diameter set in the chanr small piers, one of which could be built on the and the other on the center dam ; a China pun in the lower end of the works and geared t wheel with which to lift the seepage water c the works ; a string of sluices set from the lov the upper breast dam and the boulders burst : dynamite and removed from the works which \ 80 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. be no great task, and then the bedrock could easily be taken up and scraped. The pan actually contained one 40-cent and several very small nuggets. After looking at the prospect for a few minutes, during which time the Indian was standing at my side holding another shovel partly filled with dirt which he had collected in the same place, I laid it down on a rock and washed out the second pan. While this pan con- tained no nuggets as large as the largest one in the first pan, yet it had several equal in size to the smaller ones panned out at first. Supposing by the amount of provisions he brought with him that the Indian when he left home did not intend to remain away long, and being anxious to see all of the creek possible before we re- traced our steps, I motioned for him to come with me and started up the creek to see what its beds and its banks looked like. The water being at its very lowest stage, this was easy to do. After going a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile, we came to a narrow canyon, through which judging from its appearance, it was impossible to pass. When I saw this I decided to go no further, but to turn around and pan out some of the dirt over the bars which we had passed. These bars were small and had been worked by the Indians, who had, in all probability, washed the dirt taken from them in their bateas. The gravel banks, however, I found had been tunneled into and they contained gold in paying quantities. Believing that I had seen all of the creek that was demonstrated to be gold-bearing, I prospected the banks opposite the wing dam until evening, when we returned to the tambo, where we remained for the night. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. The next morning while the Indian was co breakfast I fired a shot from my carbine, ejecte empty shell from it, whittled a plug to fit the and went down to the rock on which my nu were laying and put them into the shell. Wh( had finished breakfast the Indian picked uj batea, motioned for me to leave the shovel wh was, and signaled for me to follow him. He st down to the creek again, while I reluctantly fc ed, supposing him to be starting home, agreeably surprised when, upon reaching the ( instead of turning down its right-hand ban waded across the creek, entered the brush and his cuchillo began cutting a trail up the hill. After we had gone a distance of perhaps hundred feet, probably five hundred feet abo\ level of the bed of the creek, we found ourselv the upper edge of great bank of gravel in whi a depth of say fifteen feet, a small stream of ■ had cut its way through. After walking dowi the bed of this stream, the Indian turned t righthand side of it and with his cuchillo pc out to me the mouths of several small, low tu which were not over six feet apart. One of tunnels we entered, crawling on our handj knees a distance of one hundred feet to its and brought out a pan of dirt. This I washed < a small pool which we made by damming u creek with vegetation and sediment. Th yielded the magnificent return of 20 cents. We then entered several more of the tunn the same way, and took from each a pan of The returns were about the same in each ca: then washed out some pans of dirt taken from the top of the bank with a lesser result. The I now expressed a desire by signs to descend tli 82 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and after the faithful manner in which he had car- ried out Suarauz's instructions I gratified this de- sire by signifying my willingness to go with him. So we returned to the tambo, ate our dinner, and then started for the Indian's farm where I stayed for two nights and walked home the following day. Upon reaching the house of Suarauz the first thing I did was to ask him through the boy the name of that creek and after being answered that it was called "Charu Machy," I wrote it down. My boy's leg was now beginning to improve but as he was still unable to walk any considerable dis- tance without experiencing great pain and as my silver was not yet all gone, I made a trip to the head waters of the Pablo Bambo river where I found another great gravel deposit, into which tun- nels had also been driven. The dirt from some of these tunnels I washed out and found fair though not large returns. When I came back from this trip, I found the boy nearly well, and my silver nearly gone. I still had enough left, however, to pay an Indian to go with me to the famous Inahuaya which we entered where the trail crosses its mouth and up which we waded until evening, prospecting as we went. About six o'clock as the prospects of the last hour had all been at least six cents to the pan, I came to the conclusion that I had ascended the creek to a point above where the Spanish had worked its bed. Imagine my surprise, when, after passing several bends, we came to a great boulder,, at least six feet high, burst asunder in the center and half of a two- inch drill hole in each of its two parts. Where we met with this surprise the Indian and I climbed the hill on the right hand bank to a small farm of an Indian along the edge of which the paved IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. ditch that had tapped the creek ran. Here we ped for the night, and returned home the next In a few days more the boy was able to t Suarauz gave us a mule on which we could our effects as far as Sina beyond which altitu said the mule could not go owing to a weakn his lungs. He said that the governadore a1 place would get us animals to carry us to C At Cojata I could get what money I wanted Hippolito Sanchez. We reached Sina in three and found no person in the town except one se in the house of the governadore and nothing in this house except chuinos (tasteless vegetal sembling in shape and size small potatoes). As we were entirely out of provisions and re; that we would have to walk to Cojata, a two march over a trail on which, until we were wi1 few miles of Cojata, there was but one house that not until we had climbed many thousani up a mountain trail, our feelings were anj but pleasant. But we ate supper and breakfast tasteless food which the house servant cooke us, left the mule and saddle in his charge, ar out on our tramp. The boy, because of his accustomed to the lightness of the air on tha' tude, carrying the pack, which consisted nc only one blanket and my oilskin coat. Before we had gone far we were met by son dians with llamas. We stopped them and th purchased from them several biscuits of t bread, of which we ate a hearty meal and ther tinued our up-hill march, reaching the house c summit shortly before dark. The men of the ', were absent, there being only two Indian w •and several children at home. As they both the boy, they welcomed us heartily. After he 84 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. a short conversation with them in the Indian language, the boy came to the stove where I sat shivering with the cold and suffering from the "sur- rocha," a sickness which overtakes one in these high altitudes. He laid his hand on my shoulder and said: "Will you sit over there?" pointing to the floor opposite the open door. (There was neither chair, table nor bed in the house.) "The women want to get supper for us." I rose up slowly, walked to the spot he had point- ed out and' sat down with my back to the wall. "Make my bed," I said to him. "I don't want anything to eat — I want to go to bed and sleep." "How can I make your bed?" he asked, "when you only have one blanket." This was rather a difficult question to answer, but the boy set to work to solve the problem himself. As there was an abundance of sheepskins in one of the corners; the boy laid down several layers of them, wool side up ; on top of these he laid a double blanket and several more layers, wool side down. Then he turned to me, saying : "Your bed is ready." I at once took off my boots, threw them in a cor- ner and laid my coat, which I had folded, at the head of the bed for a pillow. I then crawled into bed. and was soon sound asleep. The primitive methods of these shepherds and farmers is a seven days' wonder and surprise to a Yankee. While many of the sheperds handle their herds of sheep by throwing a stone in front of them with a sling when they wish to turn their course, and a Scotch collie dog at their side, they have no conception of the dog's uses in their work, and never send him to head off the sheep or turn their course. The farmers between Huancane and Taraca IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. plow their ground with a crooked stick drawn yoke of oxen, sow their barley by hand, cut it v sickle, thresh it with a flail, grind it with a m and pestle and separate the chaff from it by pit it up into the air when the wind is blowing. The next day the boy and I were on the ro Cojata at an early hour. I had recovered froi illness of the previous night, had eaten a h breakfast of boiled sheep meat and was in gooc dition for the day's march. Our road was nc down grade, instead of up, as it had been th before. The day was cool, owing to a brisk b that was blowing,, although the sun was sti brightly, and we walked until about 9 o'clock, we came to where a large rock lay at the side < road, at one side of which, in the sun and out i wind, we lay down on the ground to rest, and •both soon fast asleep. But the truest friend of all is a mother. We awakened by the sound of horses' hoofs, ar raising ourselves up we saw that two Peruvia horseback were sitting on their horses not te: away. One of them was reaching into his s pouches for what I supposed to be a bot whisky. When he withdrew his hand it contai package which he handed to the boy, saying the boy's mother had sent it by him to us in a should meet us, and she feared we might be in of provisions. The package contained some biscuits, cold 1 meat and hard boiled eggs. We ate a hearty lunch and then thankin Peruvians for their kindness and, bidding good-bye, we resumed our western march, sto within a few miles of Cojata, at the house of < dian, for the night. We entered Cojata the 86 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. morning, where we separated, the boy going directly home to see his mother while I went to the house of Hippolito Sanchez to borrow money to pay him for his summer's work. It seems there is always a way out of difficulty. I learned when I reached the house that neither Hippolito Sanchez nor his wife were at home, but that Senora Sanchez would be home that evening. I spent the day walking around the streets of the town watching the Indians in the plaza (the name given to a public square in a Spanish town), and in the evening returned to the house of Sanchez and found his wife had come. As I was now able to speak enough Spanish to make myself understood, I thought it unnecessary to send for the boy, and after shaking hands with her, asked her for money. She replied that she had none. Just at that moment there walked into the house an Italian merchant who had recently come from Arequipa and who, upon seeing me advanced to me, reached in his pocket, pulled out a book, turned over leaf after leaf of it until he found the page he was looking for, and then handed the book to me, pointed to my name written there in Mr. Pool's handwriting. He said that when he left Arequipa Mr. Pool had told him to look out for me, and if he met me to do whatever he could for me. "Now," he asked, "is there anything you need?" "Yes," I replied, 'I have had a boy working for me all summer, and I owe him sixty solas and have no raonev left. Can you help me to pay him?" "Yes," he said, in a manner that indicated to me that he was glad the opportunity was presented to him of doing Mr. Pool a favor. "I will go and pay the boy and then come back and lend you thirty solas and make arrangements with the governadore IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. for a horse and Indian to take you to Huancai morrow." With this he hurriedly left for the house c boy's mother, with whom he had evidently versed before concerning her son's being with the Tambopata. In less than ten minutes 1 turned with a receipt in full for the amount I the boy. Then giving me thirty solas he si away again and came back a few minutes late said my horse and Indian would be ready breakfast on the morrow. At noon the next day an Indian leading a sa pony appeared in the yard and pointing to my host told me they were mine. I motions the Indian to wait, went and bade good-bye t boy, came back, mounted the horse and follow* macadamized road which led to Huancane. As the Indian never slackened his gait until we reached within a few miles of Huancane day, stopped at a farm house for night, and er that town about 8 o'clock the next morning. I had alighted from the pony's back at the hoi Richardo Villava, the Indian mounted the pon started on his return journey to Cojata. After breakfast, the secretary of Villava ceeded in getting from the governadore anothi dian and pony to take me to Juliaca. That found me in Taraca. The noon of the followin I rode into Juliaca, and the evening of the nex into Arequipa. To be sure my report was favorable, I tol< Pool, when I entered his office the next mornir the incidents of my journey and my impressic the gold mines of the Tambopata valley. I toll that from a technical point of view, it was d« strated by the hydraulic mines almost everyi 88 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAERO. that it was possible to get water with which to hydraulic, that the mountain sides on both sides of the Tambopata contained millions of dollars in gold and that in ages past billions of cubic yards of this gold-bearing gravel had been ground-sluiced down through its bed and that whether or not the gold contained in it had stopped in the river, depended entirely on its bedrock being of a suitable nature to hold it. I told him that at Santa Rosa, at which point the channel of the Tambopata was divided into two parts by an island, one of the parts had been worked by the Spanish, but with what result I did not know, but that there was one spot in the Charu Machy, the size of which I had not deter- mined, that I knew to be rich ; that judging not so much from the tests I made from them as from the work previously done upon them, the five developed hydraulic mines, namely, the one at the Chara- bamba, the two above, and the two below the plantation of Ignacio Suarauz, would pay hand- somely to work. They were, however, too small a proposition in which to interest the Gibbs Com- pany. They were better suited to a party of several miners, as nothing needed to be done to put them into operation again except to clean the decayed vegetation out of their paved ditches and flumes, re- build the dams at the head of the ditches, and ar- range hose with nozzles at their foot. Of the two undeveloped mines, the one on the left side of the Charu Machy and the other at the Yanamayo — the former would necessitate for its operation the construction of a ditch some distance around the mountain to tap a stream which entered it at right angles, and a pack trail to it from the farm of the Indian who was my guide at the time I saw it. The other mine, although necessitating for IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. its operation a small ditch, would also requir construction of a pack trail from Santa Rosa t Yanamayo creek. "A scheme large enough for the Gibbs Comp I said "would be the working of the river be we once demonstrate that it is rich enough to ji the undertaking. This could be done by acquiring title to it and then sinking caissons ii the bed rock, taking some of it up and runn: through a rocker. "The caissons should be shaped like a tria of a length of twelve feet on each of their s double-boarded and open on top and bottom, should be built on shore ; set on skids leading the water, and a snatch block at one of their corners attached to a rope stretched acros stream. "Then they should be skidded into the water hand spikes to where they were intended sunk; a hand windlass set on top with whi raise the dirt; a china pump lowered into thi raise the seepage water. They should then be to bed-rock the easiest and best way to do it. "But if we undertake any such work as th concluded, "there are two conditions upon wl would enter on the understanding." "What are they?" he interrupted. "The first is that I shall have my own pack of mules and my own men to run it. The sea that you give me North American woodsmen the work. The best men for that work so fa: know," said I by way of explanation, "are the ' ty boys' of the lumber regions of Wisconsii Michigan. I worked with them ten years ag know that they would be in their glory at such as whipsawing lumber, framing and sinking cai 90 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. in streams, with plenty to eat, and in such a climate as that of the Tambopata valley." "It is refreshing" said he, after a long silence, "to meet a man down here who orders something else to work with beside a case of champagne, and who does something else when he starts for the interior beside stopping at the railroad station from which he is to leave for the interior, and lay drunk until his champagne is all gone ; then come back again without accomplishing anything." He then asked me, "Where are you stopping?" "At the Hotel Americano," I answered. "Well, I'll tell you. Mr.Pena went through here on his way to La Paz, Bolivia, about a week ago and will be back here in about six weeks. The two best hotels in the city are the Italiano and the Cen- tral. You go to either one of them and board until he returns and I will pay you wages and your board. Qet yourself an Ollendorf (an exercise book for learning Spanish) and study the Spanish language to keep from getting lonesome. Come here to the office whenever you feel like it in the morning be- fore business is pressing, and we will talk this scheme over together. When you want money come and draw it." These instructions were carried out by me to the letter. It was now November I, and in the six weeks intervening until the middle of December when Mr. Pena arrived from La Paz, I spent many pleasant hours with Mr. Pool in which we discussed our scheme in all its lights and shades. One morn- ing he suddenly looked up at me and asked : "Agle what are you going to keep these men employed at during the rainy season when the water in the Tam- bopata is high?" IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Well," said I, "that's the only thing tt bothering me." "Hippolito Sanchez and Ricardo Villava are in Arequipa now," said he, "and are going to r< here until Mr. Pena returns. They say that th not understand clearing land, and that they learned that even if the land in the Tambopat; ley will raise the finest of coffee, it can n< cleared by the native labor of this countr) planted in coffee trees at a profit, although being once planted with the trees, their pr might be gathered, hulled and brought to the road at a cost that would leave a handsome on the balance sheet. "Now if we were to bring a dozen or more 'si boys' down here and you were to take ther there to sink caissons with them in the dry se when the river is low, why would not it be a c idea to keep them employed in clearing the during the six months of the year when yo that it is impossible to work sinking caissons i river bed, thus adding something sure to the ing scheme, which is always more or less unci and something of a speculation?" "It would, without doubt, and in interesting with us we would perhaps derive advantag other ways, such as in hastening the forwardi supplies and other things, as we would then their good will." "Very well. Then we will talk it over wit] Pena when he comes, and see how he like plans," replied Mr. Pool, as he resumed his Peoples opinions sometimes change. Whi siding at the Italiano hotel that fall of 1891, one incident occurred to me that is worth relat that was that I enjoyed the distinction of ea1 92 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. dinner with the great friend of "de American poys." At this time the Balmaceda revolution was in pro- gress in Chile; the crew of the Baltimore had been mobbed in the streets of a Chilean city; some of them had been killed ; the only reason for the as- sault was that they wore the uniform of the United States. President Harrison had not yet handed in his ultimatum, and the Chilean steamer Itata had entered the port of Santiago, Cal., loaded with arms ; she had been seized by the United States author- ities, and with them on board had left the port in which she had been seized and had landed the United States officials on an island. She was at that time supposed to be on the high seas, on her way to Chile, with the United States cruiser Charleston in hot pursuit. Upon the occasion of my meeting again with the old gentleman I was seated at a table when he entered the dining room in company with an English-speaking man, a Peruvian by birth, who had been educated in England, and to whom he was talking loudly and gesticulating wildly about the Yankees as they sat down opposite me. The old man was saying: "Dey are noddings but a lot of mean, dirty, contemptible velps — de whole na- tions of dem. I chust hate dem and ve dont vant dem here. Dey kills all der poor Indians — den ve haf no servants. Undt dey vas all sooch tumble cowards. Chust see — dey vas all even afraid of Chile und vont fight her after vat she has done to drive dem to fight. Now, here was der case of der Tata — I vas vonce von naval officer mineselv ven I vas a young man, undt knows somedings apont dot peesness. I know dis mooch dot der Charleston cood haf caught her long ago if she vasn't afraids of her." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. "Well, perhaps we are afraid of Chile, but ] notice by the way William Walter Phelps mad marck and Dr. Knapp step around in that Sa affair, that we are not afraid of Germany," s interrupting him sharply. "And I notice an thing — that is that your opinion of the 'Ami poys,' as you call them, has undergone a con change since I and the rest of the tank builders Talara met you that first evening we came to quipa and stopped at Patrick Hawley's house.' "Vas you dere?" he gasped in surprise, " dose men all vent pack to Talara." "I know you did," said I. "but the only diffe between one of the fellows you met there an fellow who is talking to you now is that he wore a black suit of clothes and now wears a b Another thing let me tell you — that is, if yo Dutchmen will give us a little time with whi deal with Chile, we will bring the Chileanos tc as completely as we did the Germans." My last words seemed to have a quieting on the old man's nervous system, for after they spoken he said no more, but began eating his t fast. Mr. Pena approved of our plans. He arrived ir quipa about the middle of December and I w troduced to him at his house by Mr. Pool, wh already spoken to him about them. He rather short, well built and dark complexioned beautiful black eyes and curly hair of the color. Having been educated in England, he the English language fluently, and having be< terested since his earliest days in one of the .j est gold-bearing gravel deposits of the worl had some practical knowledge of mining. 94 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. discussing the proposition with him for over three hours, he asked me what terms I wanted. "Well," I replied, "the contract between Mr. Pool and I gives me a two-fifths interest in what- ever we may get and wages of 50 solas per month. But I am willing to take half that interest and double those wages. We will have to make room for the other men somewhere, and if you are going to put up every cent of the money that is needed in the enterprise, it is right that you should have control of it." "All right," he said, as he bade me good-by, "and now I will see Sanchez and Villava, and see what I can do with them. If I can come to terms with them, you can all deal with Mr. Pool, as I am going away in a few days and shall leave everything- with him." A few days later I was standing on the platform of the depot, just as the train on which Mr. Pena was leaving for Mollendo, was pulling out. As he caught sight of me from the car window he beckon- ed to me and I stepped up to the car. He reached out his hand and, shaking mine, said : "Well, I have come to terms all around with you people, and now you can transact the rest of your business with Mr. Pool." But the best laid plans sometime fail. As I had been instructed by Mr. Pool that evening, I went on the following morning to his office, and found him with Sanchez and Villava, apparently waiting for me. After offering me a chair, he walked to the door, closed and locked it. He then returned to his desk, sat down, and picking up a piece of paper that lay upon it, turned to me and asked: "Now, what do you want?" "Well," said I, "I told Mr. Pena that I was willing IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. to take a lesser interest than two-fifths and wages per month." "What interest and what wages do you w he asked. "I will take a one-fifth interest and ioo soh month." "Are you satisfied with that?" he inquired -v smile of satisfaction. "Well," said I, laughing, "I ought to be, as my own proposition." "So are we," he said, turning in his revc chair and facing Sanchez and Villava. He ; this position a moment, looking at the paper ■> he still held in his hand. Then lifting his eye looking at them, he asked them in Spanish (i I understood when spoken slowly) the same tion he had asked me in English. "We want," said Villava, "all the money i we have spent on our agricultural concession i Tambopata valley, and for the three of us, th Sanchez, Suarauz and myself, to be given a fifth interest in the whole enterprise." "How much money did you spend?" askec Pool. "Fourteen thousand dollars," replied Villavz At this I saw Mr. Pool look intently at the ] for a few moments. After this a long, animate) cussion took place among them, which was cj on with such rapidity in the Spanish language I was unable to understand a single word of : cept when one or another said "solas." During discussion all three men appeared to lose their pers, and it ended in Mr. Pool rising from his walking over to where I sat and asking me w thought of it. 96 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. "I don't know what you are all talking about," said I, looking up into his eyes. "Why," said he, "I asked them the same as I did you, what they wanted." "Yes, I understood that much," I answered. "They told me," he continued, "that they wanted the money they had spent on their Tambopata con- cession refunded by Mr. Pena, and that the three of them interested in it be given a one-fifth inter- est in the enterprise." "But what was all the argument about?" I inter- rupted. "Well," he continued, in the same excited man- ner, "I then asked them what amount of money they had spent upon it, and they told me 'fourteen thous- and solas.' Now, Mr. Pena has not only told me, but has written down here, that they told him they had spent 4,000" solas, and before I take any further steps I will write to him about it. With this I left the office, as I knew nothing more could be done for at least three weeks. At the end of this time I expected a reply from Mr. Pena which would tell Mr. Pool to proceed with our mining scheme and let the merchants and their agriculture alone. Imagine my disappointment when, upon entering the office one morning about two weeks later, to learn from Mr. Pool that he had a reply from Mr. Pena that he would have nothing more to do with it. Mr. Pool also said that there was no use to try to do anything more with Mr. Pena for the present. Mr. Pena was evidently, by the tone of his letter, discouraged by the way Sanchez and Villava had acted. Mr. Pool said that he was as sorry about this as I was, but that there was nothing left for us to do except to settle up. This we did by his p me what money there was due me, by going me to the Italiano hotel and paying the man what was due them for my board, and by our ing up the contract between us. — 4 98 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. CHAPTER III. Disheartened and discouraged at what had hap- pened, the first thing I did on leaving Mr. Pool was to change my boarding place to the Hotel Eng- lish, which was situated near the depot. It was kept by the master mechanic of the railroad company's shops, and here boarded all the unmarried me- chanics and locomotive engineers in their employ. What a difference in men. Here I not only found men with whom I could converse, but men whose thoughts and habits were, after what opportunities I had seen in the interior, most interesting. Most of the men had lived in Peru for many years — some of them since the construction of the road, and with the exception of Pike, not one of them had ever attempted to enter the interior and hunt for any of the old Spanish mines. He had attempted it three times, but had failed. Every time he reached the higher altitude he was obliged to turn back on account of physical weakness. The same difference between Pike and the others in point of enterprise was noticeable also in their habits of life and modes of thinking. When their day's work was done both married and single con- gregated in the barroom of the hotel and discussed such questions as the "Great conflict between cap- ital and labor," over a bottle or two of beer. Pike, instead of joining them, went home, ate his supper with his family and then entered his library, where he spent the rest of the evening with his books. Some of the men, after sixteen years of constant working for high wages, during which time they [N THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 99 had been engaged in no speculation, had not a dollar laid by for a rainy day. Others had several thous- and dollars at interest, and Pike, although he had at different times left the employ of the company and gone into enterprises that had always proven failures, had as large a bank account as any of them, besides a fine home near the heart of the city. Pike and I became fast friends. We spent three evenings of each week at his house, usually discussing some mining scheme. And now begins my experience with two brothers, one of whom I learned to respect the other to de- spise. During the previous July, Patrick Gibson had failed in business, had entered the employ of Braillard & Co., one of the large commercial firms of the city, and was being sent by them occasionally to the old Inca capital of Cuzoo, where they had a branch house. His brother, Alexander, had returned from the interior ; organized a company among the local merchants for the purpose of developing one of his creek claims the following year, and had al- ready raised enough money for that purpose. As I had seen so many unworked mines of undoubted value in the Tambopata valley, I determined to become acquainted with Alexander Gibson and assist him in every way possible, believing that in this way I would not only get the good will and con- fidence of both himself and those interested in him, but that if he made a success of the enterprise, an interest would be awakened in the gold mining in- dustry of Peru. I met him first at the Hotel Central and told him what experience I had in gold mining and why I was interested in his work. He was a slender, ener- getic young man with singularly earnest gray eyes ; an ex-officer of the English army. 100 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. He seemed delighted that he had met with some- one who could give him some instruction about things of which he admitted that he knew little. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pamphlet and, handing it to me, said : "Here is a circular of a pump which I intend buying in Lima. What do you think of it?" Upon opening the folder, I found it contained il- lustrations and descriptions of an ordinary suction pump which convinced me at once that he spoke the truth when he said that he knew little about placer mining. "What will that pump cost you in Lima?" I asked as I handed back the circular. "About six hundred solas for the pump and about three hundred more for the transportation from Lima." "What is your object in paying nine hundred solas for a pump when you can make a better one out of a couple of boards in a few days, with about 10 yards of heavy canvas and a few carpenter tools." At this he opened his eyes in astonishment and asked: "What pump is that?" "There is the only one," I answered, adaptable for placer mining in places which are approached by mountain trails, over which it is difficult to trans- port material or supplies — and that one is the China." "Why," said he, "I never heard of that pump, and I don't know how to make one." "I can show you in less than fifteen minutes," said I, taking my pencil and rule from my pocket and asking him for a piece of paper. He brought me the paper and sat down by my side, watching me intently while I drew a side view of the famous placer mining appliance. I drew it on the scale of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. three-quarters of an inch to the foot, and the plained to him how it could be set up in the 1 a river at any incline, geared to a water wh any angle,- and told him that if he would la whole plan of his work before me I would carefully to it and then if I could make any gestions to improve it I would gladly do so. He seemed well pleased at this, and proceec unfold the plan. The mine which he proposed ing was, according to his description of it, a in a stream of about fifty feet in width an hundred yards in length. The stream entered head and went out at the foot with a grea This stream he intended turning from its coui means of a ditch which, when constructed, ^ tap the stream a short distance above the pool, the water around it and discharge it into ar smaller stream at a great fall some little di; below the pool. In this stream he intended to a water wheel. The indications that he had as to the fact th pool contained a large amount of gold wen seven years before, when he was shown the by some Indians, the water at that season be: its lowest stage, the Indians had taken up so the bedrack in his presence and washed it, the containing several nuggets. His ideas for working the property were cer good, but I found that he had a very poor ic to how they should be carried out. On leaving I told him that as it was fully three months 1 either one of us went back in the mountains we could meet quite often before that tim< discuss the matter enough so that I thought h time he was ready to start he would be al do the work. 102 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. I carried out my promise to him, in good faith. As his claim was in a. wooded country, I made for him models of the iron and steel parts of cant hooks, went with him to a machine shop, there directed the making of them, and explained to him their use in rolling logs onto a saw pit. I also ground, set, jointed and filed one of his whip saws, went with him to the hardware store, when he bought his tools and saw that he purchased nothing that was unne- cessary and that he omitted purchasing nothing that was needed, and aided him in his work in every way possible. He appeared to deeply ap- preciate what I was doing for him and introduced me to all the members of his company, describing me as a man whom he had found at last who could tell him something about mining. He offered me the use of his horse whenever I cared to ride about the city, and in various ways showed what I con- sidered to be unmistakable signs of a feeling of obligation to me. In the three months during which I resided in Arequipa in the early part of 1902, only several incidents occurred to me which are worth relating. One was the meeting with a German merchant whom I supposed to be strictly honest because he implored me so supplicatingly to become the same. One morning as I was walking in one of the streets in the central part of the city, I met the Italian merchant who had done me such a kindly turn in Cojata some four months before. Grasping me by the hand, apparently delighted to see me, he led me into a large commercial house and, in Spanish, introduced me to a German, whom I supposed to be the head of the firm, and whom he also told who I was and where he had met me. The German listened to him intently and then turning to me, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. with a look of delight, said in an animated "Now, I vant to tell you somedings dot vas dot all you haf to do in dees co is to be honest. Ve vant men like you to down here from der United States pecause ve dot dis country vas rich mitout some doubt, dells you chust be honest." "Oh," said I, "don't worry yourself abot honesty. I never did rob anybody and I ai going to begin doing it now." Perhaps the t( which I said this had something to do wit abrupt close of our conversation, for after lo at me in surprise for a moment, he merely "Veil, dot's all ve ask of you." He then turf the Italian and began a conversation in Sp while I walked down along one of the long cot in the room, upon which lay bolts of cotton Imagine my agreeable surprise when I foui all of them, printed in blue, a large picture o greatest piece of mechanism which has evei ceeded from the brain and hand of man — the i ican locomotive. Supposing that the goods of American make, I turned in the directi which the two merchants were still standinj said: "Come here a moment, I want to asl something." The German, on hearing me English, and knowing that the Italian did nc derstand it, evidently supposed it to be hims whom I was speaking, and came over to wl stood, and pointing to the picture of the locom "Why," said I, "do you sell American m here?" "Oh, no," he replied, "dey vas too 1 "Then, what's the picture of the American loi tive doing onthat piece of goods?" I asked. " he answered, "I had dot picture put on in Eng "Undt ven dese natif beoples come in here unc 104 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. • if ve haf American goots, vy, I chust boint to dot picture und say: 'Vy, of course, dere vas blenty of it.' Undt den dey see dot picture and feel sure dot I haf told dern de truth, undt dey pUy it undt takes it avay satisfied." "Well," said I, becoming indignant, "you're a fine specimen of honesty, aren't you? I would like to have you for a Sunday school teacher." He did not seem to appreciate my way of talking any more than I appreciated his style of honesty, and after looking at me for a moment, during which time he never spoke a word, suddenly turned on his heel and walked back to the Italian. I kept on searching for more positive evidence of his honesty until they had finished talking, when we left the house. An old fighter is liable to get a man into trouble. Of all the ceremonies in Catholic countries that of administering the last sacrament to the dying is considered among their native population the most entitled to respect from the foreign residents as well as from themselves. When a procession is passing through one of the streets of a South American city, from a church to the bedside of the dying to administer this rite, all persons, irrespec- tive of age, color or sect whom they meet, are ex- pected to uncover their heads and remain still until the procession has passed. Old Matt Horner had lately come from Lima. He was one of that old line of Western gun fighters who have almost disappeared from our society. He. was a prospector by occupation and an American by birth, of Scotch parentage, and for a man brought up in America possessed to a remarkable degree many of the prejudices of the Scotch Pres- byterian. Among these was an intense hatred both IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. for the Roman Catholic church and its ritual, the occasion referred to above, I was walking street with him when, on turning the corne were met by one of these impressive pagean at once took off my hat and stopped, whi walked slowly on. The women living in the '. in this part of the street had heard the small which are always carried in these processions had come to their windows and were standin hind the bars with which every house in these tries is provided. When they saw Horner we slowly down the street with his hat on, and a ently indifferent to what they considere solemnity of the occasion, they screamed at h stop and take off his hat. But he paid no atte to them whatever. Thinking that perhaps h< unacquainted with the custom on these occasii hurriedly overtook him and told him to obsen usual custom. He paid no more attention t than he did to the women. Suddenly the men : street began coming toward us from all part knowing that it meant violence, I became ; with him, and jerked his hat off his head wit hand, put it in the other in which I held my and grabbed him by the shoulder, thus sto him, and said : "Here, you have a right to get self killed, because you are nothing but a Scotchman anyway, but you have no right t a yankee killed with you. There has been nc but the women who have told you to stop anc your hat off, and a man that won't do that mn please a woman has not very much accommoc about him. I would stop and take off the last I had on if a woman asked me to, and befor had done much screaming about it either." My argument had the desired effect upon 106 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and he stopped trying to pull away from me. The mob that had now gathered around us with blood in their eyes, upon seeing us both standing with un- covered heads, stood still and did not molest us. When the procession had passed us we put on our hats and walked on. But now comes the worst of all. A few days later I saw a sight in one of the cemeteries which it is impossible for me to recall to this day without being thrilled with horror, and one in which the Catholic priests of Peru are shown in striking contrast with that august and highly respected body of them in the United States. A little child, the daughter of Horace Lewis, a locomotive engineer, had died, and Horner and I had attended its funeral. As the ar- rangements for a vault for the body of the child had already been made when we reached a small chapel at the edge of the cemetery, in which it was to be interred, there was nothing to do except to set it down in front of the altar, listen to the mass said . over it by a priest in waiting, then follow him and his train with it as they walked chanting to the vault, place it therein and await until the opening had been cemented by some workmen who were evidently kept there for that purpose. This done, the funeral services were over, and we in a body started on a tour of inspection of the cemetery out of a curiosity to examine the inscrip- tions on the headstones. In our ramble we noticed a tract of ground near the center of the cemetery in which the head and foot stones of the graves were conspicuous by their absence, and walking to them we found the cause to be that the bodies and the coffins in them (excepting in a few newly made ones) had been taken up and burned, as the ground was literally strewn with charred bones of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. human beings and charred remains of coffins. 1 dead people, as it was afterward explained tc had no relatives able or willing to pay fo ground in which they had been buried. Disg at the shocking sight, we walked to the edge newly dug grave, to which the same priest wh so courteously conducted the funeral for us wz vancing with the same train and chanting sounded to me to be the same dirge. When he and his train approached near er to the grave, I noticed that in the rear of the pi sion was a bier, carried on cross pieces by tv tendants. On this bier was the body of a bea girl not encased in any coffin and covered wi shroud except a short white dress which read her knees. Behind the bier walked an old wi the only mourner, whose head and shoulders wrapped in a faded black manteau, and who, 1 sounds of her wailing, seemed to be in great n anguish. After reaching the grave the cortege stoppe chanting ceased, and the two grave diggers had evidently dug her grave, and who wen waiting to cover the occupant when once sh been interred), walked over to the bier. One at the head and one at the foot. Then, one 1 the body by the shoulders and the other b ankles, they brought her to the grave, and atl ed to lower her into it, when they found th grave had been made too short for the body, had been on their knees, and were in the act ing to their feet with the intention of takir body to the bier again, as I supposed, until the lengthened the grave. But the priest roared thing at them, whereupon they pushed towan other, until the knees of the body were bent 108 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. ciently to allow it to enter the grave, when to our horror they both let go their hold upon it and drop- ped to the bottom of the grave, where we saw it lay partly on its side, until it became covered with the dirt which the diggers, after dropping it, quickly shoveled upon it. The horrible spell in which we had been held, while watching the brutal scene, was broken by Bob Bishop exclaiming in a grasp of breath: "Thank God, we were born and raised in a protestant country." We all then turned from the grave and walked away. At the time, I did not understand what the priest said to the grave dig- gers, but was told afterward that it was : "Double her up and throw her in !" IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. CHAPTER IV. It was now in the month of March, Patrick ley had finished his track-laying contract, in a short time before he had interested a locon engineer by the name of Dalles McQuestion himself. He had made but little money out i scheme, owing to the fact that he had been d< by lack of material and unfinished grades, a which in his- contract with the company h( taken no precautions to guard against, and up- return to Arequipa had been appointed superir ent of the eastern division of the road, with quarters at Juliaca. As I believed the time had not yet come fo cessful mining ventures in Peru, excepting large scale, owing to conditions which the i already understands, and as I had now learnei the rubber industrty of Eastern Peru and Boli 1 the Beni countries and Madre de Dios countri they are called, was in a most flourishing stat< country thinly populated and little known t inhabitants of Western Peru, I made the pn tion to Hawley that he pay my expenses ; would go through and examine into it. He a1 accepted the proposition, saying that he sup the industrty was being conducted by natives : most primitive way. "If you find, on reaching the rubber coui said he, "that there is any chance for men c experience to make money by using the imp appliances of the North American woodsmen send my wife and children to the United S 110 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. throw up my position and go over there myself." He desired that his children should have the ad- vantages of the school facilities of the United States and wanted his wife to go north with them to see that they acquired a practical education. He said that he would have no difficulty in get- ting money, as Andreas Ratti a merchant in Juliaca, had 100,000 solas which he did not know what to do With, and which he had offered to back him with should he desire to engage in any enter- prise. "It's too early to go over into that country yet, isn't it?" he asked, as we were discussing the proposition. "Yes," said I ; "June will be plenty of time to start for the Beni country, because the streams will be high until then and difficult to cross." "But what are you going to do in the meantime?" "I don't know." "Have you ever had any experience at making brick?" "Yes," I answered. "When I was a boy I worked some in a brick yard, but you know what interest a boy takes in work." "That's all the experience I ever had," said he, "but that's more than anybody else here knows about it. It has been for years an ambition of mine to make brick for the construction of such buildings as depots, storehouses, etc., for the road. I ordered a brick-making plant from England some two years ago at the company's expense, and when it came I set it up here in Arequipa, but I could not find any suitable clay in this locality to make brick from. So I am going to take it with me to Juliaca and experi- ment with it there. If you will come up and help IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. me with it until June I will give you good w and then send you into the Beni country." To this proposition I agreed, and went to J the next day, where I stopped until the plant up from Arequipa. Then I went with him to a about twenty-five miles east of the former plai the Cuzco branch of the road, where there i water tank, a bank of fine-looking clay and a sidetrack. Here we set up the plant and began our e: ments, with the result that the mud-mill d work most excellently, but the brick-making chine, while making an excellent brick, w very slowly. As Hawley had under his conti the section men in his division, we were wel plied with help, but, direct it as we would, th chine could not be made to do any such work . had both seen done by hand. "Thirty-five hu brick a day is what the molders stilT turn by in Philadelphia," said Hawley one day, as he t away from it in disgust." "Why, are they still molding brick by ha the cities of the United States?" I asked ii prise, supposing until then that brick-makii hand was a thing of the past, especially in the centers of population. 'Yes," said he, "they ar "Well then," said I, "I can tell you that thej no machine in England that will make brick e mically." "Do you think that you can learn to m brick?" he asked. "I don't think there is anything to learn molding a brick," said I. "The only thing brick-making is to stand the work." "I have a treatise on brick-making in my hoi Juliaca, and I will send these section men bz 112 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. their section, and we will take the hand car today and go< back to Juliaca," said he, "and we will get the exact dimensions out of it of the American brick; then you can make molds, and we will try it again." We had a novel ride. The hand car on which we went to Juliaca that day was a push car, and was pushed up grade over the road by the cholos of one section (they jumping on and riding down grade), until we met the section men of the next, to whom the car would be turned over, while the gang who had brought us thus far returned to their work on foot. This railroading in the twentieth century, as I called it, surprised me so much that I asked Hawley why he did not send to the United States and get a velocipede so that when he wanted to go over the road, in the absence of a train, he could do so quick- ly and without taking every gang of section men along the line of travel away from their work. "I have ordered two already," said he. "I never heard of them until a short time ago. Did you ever see one?" he asked. "Yes," I answered ; "dozens of them." "Tell me all about them," said he. At this I de- scribed to him the velocipede minutely. He list- ened attentively, and then said : "I have another hobby that I never spoke to any- body about, but now I am going to lay it before you in detail, for I believe that you can help me out on it. - It is to build two boats of the same, size, plaee them some distance apart in the water, and hold them there with two crosspieces." "What do you mean — a catamaran?" "What's that?" he asked. "Why, it's two boats built of the same size and IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAKRO. 113 placed in the water some distance apart, and held there with deck beams." "Did you ever hear of one?" "Yes," I replied. "How long have they been building them?" he asked in great surprise. "Since the flood, that I know of," I answered. "The ark must have been a catamaran, because there is no other type of boat with her length, ex- cepting the catamaran, that would not have tum- bled over in less than forty days and forty nights with a cargo of two of every kind of animals on the earth on board, when we take into consideration all the scrapping they must have done." "Did youever read of one in our time?" "Yes ; of the Mary Powell, on the Hudson river, at the time she was built, the fastest boat of her class in the world.' "Where did you see an account of her?" "In the Scientific American." "Did you ever see one yourself?" Hawley per- sisted. "Yes, and rode on one that was used as a ferryboat on the Willamette river at Portland, Or., in the summer of 1885." "Well, I want you to build me one, anyway," said he, "when you come back from the Beni coun- try next fall. I have a small boiler and engine which I want to put on it and experiment with." It was now 5 o'clock and we had reached Juliaca. In a few days the molds were ready, and we went back to the brickyard again. Here I not only molded brick myself, but soon taught several of the native section bosses to do it. Owing to the fact that the natives themselves had been making and burning tiles perhaps since the days of the Spanish, their drying and burning was understood, and Haw- 114 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. ley's experiment in brick-making was a decided success, excepting that, on account of the expense of the freight on fuel brought from the coast, they could not be made within reasonable cost. Having now completed my task here, I started for the Beni country. My outfit was quite different from what it had been the year before. It was what I wanted. Instead of eight animals hired, I had one horse that Hawley had bought for me, upon which I rode and carried what I took with me in the saddle pouches. Instead of Indians for companions, on whom I could not rely, I had purchased a com- panion in the shape of a mastiff pup, on which I could depend, and because of the animal's readiness to fight, eat or scuffle, I had christened "Brick." My trail was over the route I had traveled the summer before until I reached Cojata, from whence, instead of going west of north, I was to keep east of it and cross the summit of the Andes mountains in the pass that led to Pelechuco, in Bolivia, in which there lived a German merchant of considerable prominence, who was said to be somewhat acquaint- ed with the Beni country and to whom I had a letter of introduction. The trip was full of interest. As I had a splendid pony and was my own boss, I could start as early in the morning and go as fast as I pleased, so that the evening of the second day found me at Huan- cane, and not caring to> show any ill will against Richardo Villava, I stopped at his house. He ap- peared to be glad to meet me, and described in a graphic way an encounter which Ignacio Suarauz and his men had had a few days before with the wild Indians while cultivating cocoa at Santa Rosa. "The first intimation that they had of an attack," said He, "was when they heard a yell, and upon IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 115 looking in the direction from whence it came saw about a dozen arrows coming toward them from a number of wild Indians, who were standing abreast of each other on the edge of the clearing. These they tried to dodge, and all succeeded in doing so with the exception of Suarauz, who unfortunately was hit by one of them in the stomach and fell to the ground. The deaf and dumb boy and a cholo by the name of Coronel grabbed their rifles from the ground, and before the wild Indians had time to dis- charge another volley of arrows shot two of them, one through the head and the other through the heart. Becoming terrified at this unexpected turn of events, the wild Indians quickly turned and entered the wood, where they were followed by Elephant- ine Suarauz' dog, who in a short time returned to the party (now busily engaged in attending to Suar- auz' wound), whining most pitifully, with an arrow stuck partly through the flesh of his jaw. "As Suarauz had been struck sideways and the arrow that hit him had only penetrated the skin, it was easily extracted, and then the wants of the dog were quickly attended to. Then the party ran into the bush to search for the wild Indians. After following them for some distance without overtaking them they concluded that they were in full retreat and came back to where they had left Suarauz lying bleeding with no companion but his revolver and his wounded dog, finding on the way fourteen vests made of vegetation, which the wild Indians had evidently worn and thrown off before the attack." I was indeed sorry to hear that both my man and dog friends had been wounded in the fight with the wild Indians, but became somewhat consoled when Villava told me that from the last accounts brought by the Indians from the Tambopata, neither of them 116 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. was badly hurt and both were getting along well. Two short days of riding landed me in Cojata, where I put up over night at the house of Hippolito Sanchez whom I did not see, because of his being away from home. Shortly after my arrival there I went to see Penualoza, the boy who had been with me the sum- mer before. When I entered the yard of his mother's house, she was standing in an open door. Upon seeing me she came rushing toward me fairly screaming with joy. She said that her boy was down in the Tarrtbopata and that he would be only too glad to work for me again this summer. "But," said I, "I am on my way to the Beni river country." "Then you must wait here until I send an Indian with a note to him," she said. "I know when he gets it that he will come home at once." "That will take at least a week," said I, "and I have not the time to spare, but I may be back this way again next year, and if I am I shall try to make some arrangements beforehand with him." She seemed much disappointed at first, but as she saw that I was determined in the matter^ soon be- came more cheerful and prepared supper for me. After supper I returned to the house of Sanchez and went to bed. As the distance from Cojata to Pelechuco is thir- ty-six miles, and as I was told there was no house between the two places at which I could stop, day- light the next morning found me in the saddle, gal- loping across the pampa toward the summit of the Andes, my dog following at my horse's heels. There was no difficulty in keeping the trail be- cause there was only the one, and it seemed to me that day to be lined with Indians coming from Pele- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 117 chuco, some with llamas and some with mules, all loaded with coffee. These I at" times stopped and asked the distance to Pelechuco, and each time was evidently answered truthfully. About 12 o'clock .1 reached the edge of a large basin just west of trie summit, where in answer to my question as to how far it was to Pelechuco, an Indian said : "Seis leguas, senor." (Six leagues, or eighteen miles.) Here I dismounted, unsaddled my horse, and after picketing h'im to the saddle, allowed him to graze while I sat down on the saddle and ate my lunch, after dividing it with my dog. Dinner over, and my horse refreshed, I saddled up and again set out for Pelechuco. In an hour from the time I started, I had crossed the summit and was leading my horse down the thousand of feet or more of great stone stairway that lay on my trail. After reaching the bottom of the stairway, I re- mounted and traveled until dark, when I realized that I was entering a village. Stopping at the door of a house, I called in Spanish : "Is this Pele- chuco?" "Yes," answered a voice which I knew to be that of a boy. "Where does Carlos Franck live?" I next asked. "In the public square," came the answer. "Well, I am a stranger here, and if you will go with me and show me his house, I will pay you for it." "Go with him," I heard a woman say. "Wait until I get my hat," said the boy. In a moment more a boy came out and stepping in front of my horse, started to walk down the street, say- ing: "Venga." ("Come.") I followed him until we were in front of a large building facing the public square, when he turned and said: "Queda." ("Stop.") I stopped and 118 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. waited while he entered the great open door that led to its yard. He returned shortly with a man, whose features I could not see, but who addressed me in German. "I can not speak German," said I. "I am an American and have a letter of introduction to you." "Glad to meet you," he said in the purest of English. "Get off your horse and come in."- I dismounted and after handing the boy a twenty- cent piece of silver, led the horse into the yard, where we had just begun a conversation when our voices were drowned by the noise of a battle of dogs. "Have you a dog with you?" he yelled at the top of his voice. "Yes." "Is he a fighter?" "Yes, from away back." "Well, wait a moment," he exclaimed in terror. "I will go into the house and get a light and then we can part them. "Mine will kill him, I know," he added. "Mine is a St. Bernard." "Oh, don't get frightened," said I "for mine is a mastiff." But even this assurance of mine that the, life of my dog was safe did not satisfy him. He quickly entered the house and returned with a lighted lamp which he sat on the edge of a circular elevated fountain, and we parted the dogs, tied them up, un- saddled my horse, turned him into a stone corral, picked up the lamp and went into the house where the first thing he did was to offer me a chair and the next to order supper for me. As, after over five years' experience among his countrymen in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, this man is the only German merchant whom I met and can IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 119 conscientiously call broadgauged and unprejudiced against a Yankee; as he was at that time the only European or American in touch with the Pacific coast that knew anything of the mysterious Beni country, and as I have since found every word that he told me during the three days that I was with him to be absolutely true, perhaps a detailed ac- count of the conversation that then occurred be- tween us would not be out of place here. It will serve to illustrate not only how affairs are managed in the great rubber industry, but also how little our own great industries at home are understood, even among the best informed foreigners abroad. In appearance Mr. Franck, this was his name, was rather a slight built man, with auburn hair and keen gray eyes. He began our conversation by ask- ing as he tore open the letter I handed to him: "Where did you come from?" "Juliaca," I answered. "When did you leave there?" was his next ques- tion. "Five days ago; on the 23d." "Where are you going?" "To the Beni country to examine into the condi- tion of the rubber industry for Patrick Hawley," He had up to this time been reading the letter I gave him and asking me these questions mechani- cally. But now that he had finished the letter he laid it on the table and, turning to me, said : "Mr. Agle, there is something I want to ask you about." "What's that?" I asked. "Well, you see this lumber in this floor and in the ceiling. This lumber had been cut on the Pacific coast in the United States; has been brought to Mollendo on sailing vessels ; brought ashore at that 120 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. expensive port on lighters; hauled up over a rail- road along the side of which it is almost as cheap to bring supplies with a pack train, to Juliaca, and from there here ; over that high summit it is brought on mules; and yet it costs me less laid down here than it would to go three miles below here, where there is plenty of timber and have it sawed out by hand by cholos that I can hire for 60 cents in silver per day. Now, how in the world is that done? I have asked this question of every American and have never yet met one who could answer it." "How is what done?" I asked, not knowing what he was driving at. "Why, that lumber can be manufactured so cheaply there?" "Well, I guess that you have met the right man at last 4o enlighten you on the subject," I answered. "Did you ever work in the woods?" he asked in surprise. "A little bit," I answered. "You don't look big and strong enough for that work," be interrupted. "I have done lots of it, just the same." "Where?" he asked. "In the lumber woods on the east fork of the Chippewa in Wisconsin ; in the Kicking Horse Pass in British Columbia; at the Treadweil mine in Alaska, and in the redwoods of Humboldt county, California. Now, I will tell you how it is done, if you will not get tired listening to me." "I will listen to you until morning if you will, and do anything I can for you beside," he replied eagerly. I then described to him minutely how lumber was handled in the different parts of the United States and British Columbia, from the time men went into IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 121 the woods after it until it came from the sawmill a finished product, and concluded by saying: "Now I have a little job of work for you to do for me, and that is to tell me all you know about the rubber industry and the country in general, and tell me the absolute truth." "I will do so with pleasure," he replied, and after pausing a moment to collect his thoughts, he began by saying: "I came here sixteen years ago as the head of the house of Braillard & Co., and established their business for them, which was at that time solely the purchasing and exporting of Peruvian bark; after which I resigned my position and went into business for myself, not the buying and ex- porting of it exactly, but the cultivating of it along the banks of the upper Mapari river. Here a num- ber of others began the same thing at that time, but as we had all spent most of our lives in the count- ing rooms of Europe, and had no idea of clearing land, and as it takes eight years for a tree to grow to a size at which it is of any commercial value, be- fore we realized a cent out of the enterprise, Cle- ment C. Markham, the then head of the London Geographical Society, who had some years before traveled to some extent through this country, had found a suitable soil and climate for its cultivation in Indiaj had introduced the industry there, where there is an abundance of cheap labor and cheap transportation to a seaport, and the price had so fallen in the market of the world, that it could not be shipped from here at a profit. "Oh," said he, becoming more animated. "You Americans are certainly wonderful people. You will go to work and invent labor-saving machines and do work with them which surprises the world, but I tell you if you put an Englishman in a country 122 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. where there is cheap labor and plenty of it, he will make a fortune where one of you will starve to death. Don't you know that?" Here he paused a moment, as if waiting for an answer. "Well," said I, "it seems to me that if a man can get all the men to work for him he needs, and don't have to pay them anything, nor feed them, nor buy them any tools to work with, nor clothes to wear, that he ought to get rich. But how about the rub- ber industry?" "Oh, that would be in a most flourishing state were it not for the losses which the rubber men are always having on the rapids of the Madeira river. You see there are seven rapids, and while the men do take their boats and cargoes out of the water and drag them around the worst places, yet there are so many bad places in them that in order to get through them in any reasonable length of time, they are obliged to run some of them. There are poor men there today who would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were it not for these losses. "I will now explain to j r ou how the rubber in- dustry is carried on. You see it is all done with slave labor." "How is that?" I asked. "Are not Peru, Bolivia and Brazil republics in which the people are free?" "Yes," he answered, "but you must remember that when you get into the rubber forests, you get so far away from the seats of government that you might as well be in Africa. There is no communication whatever between La Paz and the Beni in an offi- cial way. It is true that these slaves are slaves to debt, but they are just as much the property of their masters as though they had been bought and paid for by them, with this exception. Should T own one of them and he desired to go with you, all you IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 123 would have to do would be to come and demand of me the amount of his debt, pay it and take him with you. Then he would owe you just that much and be your slave. That is the chief trouble when there is any between rubber men. They take the slaves from each other in this way. They never have any question as to who owns the trees, because the first man to find a tree, puts his "bark mark" on it, and that mark is always respected by the other men en- gaged in the business." "How do the rubber men get the Indians into their debt, and why don't the debtors get free again ?" "Well, you see, they are chiefly Indians from Reyes, Santa Cruz and other towns over on that pampa on the other side of the Beni, and some on this side of it. They are, I suppose, the cleanliest and proudest Indians in the world, so far as dress is concerned. They are quite different from these Indians here in every respect. The men are kind, peaceable and industrious, and the women are won- ders. They are tall and as straight as an arrow ; their hair generally comes down ro their knees, and they have the most graceful carriage of any women in the world. You will see hundreds of them when you get to Reyes, and some in San Jose before you get there, and you want to be careful that you don't fall in love with one of them and never come back." At this I laughed and said : "Oh, I have seen good-looking women before." "Yes, I know that," he replied seriously, "but none like these. The moment you step into their house they will not tell you to sit down and take off your hat, but will step up to you, take you by the arm and lead you to a hammock which you will always find swinging in the center of their rooms. 124 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. They will take your hat off, help you to lay down in the hammock, put a pillow under your head, straighten out your legs, and then go on a run to their fireplace and make the best cup of coffee for you that ever you drank in all your life." "Gewhiminy ! Stop," I interrupted. "Don't tell me any more — that must be a sort of promised land down there. Who does this — the old women or the girls?" "Both, and they will even sweeten your coffee for you, roll your cigarettes and watch when you have one smoked and then bring you another. I have known them when they had husbands who were en- gaged in commercial business and did their writing at night to sit up until morning and watch the man and care for him in this way. "They are nearly all widows, or grass widows, now, as the men have been taken down into the rubber forests and have died there, or will, perhaps, never come back. "And the cause of all this slavery and separation of families is the peacock in the nature of these In- dians that get them into debt. They are all crasy for fine clothes and also for a sewing machine with which to make them, and when a Peruvian or Boli- vian who wishes to get them in his debt comes along with a lot of English imitations of American sewing machines and a few bolts of bright calico these Indians will buy them. The men will agree to go with the agent down into the rubber country and work for a few dollars a month to pay for them, and the women are perfectly willing that they should. Once there, they never get back, because they never get out of debt." "Why not?" I asked. "Because their wants are so great that they are IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 125 constantly getting, in deeper by buying things to which they take a fancy. The only trouble their owner has with them is to not give them everything they want and still keep them contented. - That is one of the ways in which they get to be slaves, but there is another. "The junction of the Beni and the Madre de Dios rivers is the center of the industry. Above the rapids of the Madre de Dios there are large, power- ful tribes of old Indians whose natures seem to be inoffensive and harmless. "Against these Indians expeditions are sent by the rubber men, and when they are encountered the grown Indians are killed and the young ones are captured. It would not do to capture the grown persons, because they would make their escape and go back to where they had been brought from. But there are some tribes of wild Indians into whose country the rubber men would not dare enter. There is a tribe on the head waters of the Madidi in the Tambopata valley, and I would just like to see the man who would undertake to lead an expedition against them." "You are looking at one right now," said I. "What?" he exclaimed, in surprise. I then told him of where I had been and what I had done the year before, at the same time telling him of the fight between Suarauz and the wild Indians, of which he had heard. I then asked how they gathered the rubber after they had the slaves to work with. "After a man gets his slaves his credit is good with the commercial houses in proportion to the number of slaves he has, and he can get what guns, ammunition, cuchillos, small axes, cups, cans, cloth- ing and salt, he wants, and what rice, dried meat, 126 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. etc., he will need for provisions. Then he takes a certain number of estradas of rubber trees to work on shares for the man who owns them." "What's an es.trada?" I asked. "An estrada is any number of rubber trees that can be attended to by one Indian. It may contain all the way from ioo to 200 trees. When they reach the place where the trees are growing each Indian is given his estrada, a gun, ammunition, cuchillo, cups and can, and small axe. These are his equip- ments for working his estrada. "Every morning in the gathering season the In- dian leaves camp jvist as quick as it is light enough to see, taking with him all his tools with the excep- tion of the can, and also taking some finely tem- pered clay. When he reaches a rubber tree he will run around it as quickly as possible, striking it several glancing blows and inserting the cups. Then he runs quickly to each of the other trees and does the same ; then he runs back to camp, gets his can, and going back over his route, he stops at each of the trees, pulls the cups out and empties the con- tents into the can. He then places the cups one in- side the other, and all of them into a sack which he always carries at his side by a strap around his neck, and comes back to camp. He sets his can of milk, as the juice just gathered is called, down, throws down his gun, knife and sack, builds a fire in a fireplace having a low, cone-shaped chimney and throws a certain large nut on the fire. "He next takes a large boat paddle in one hand and his can of milk in the other. He pours some of the milk on the blade of the paddle (which he keeps constantly turning in his hand to prevent the milk from dropping off), until it is covered, after which he swings it around over the smoke, where he keeps IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 127 it rolling in the same manner until the milk con- geals. This operation he repeats until the can of milk has all been congealed, when his day's work is done." "What do they live on down there?" I asked. "Monkeys principally. There are wild hogs, antlers and a great many other kinds of game in the woods, but monkeys are the only game they can de- pend on getting. When they can't get game, they eat the little bit of rice and dried meat which they can buy." "Before I would eat a monkey I would starve to death," I said determinedly. At this he burst out laughing, between the fits of which he said : "I will give you just two weeks in that country to get over your prejudices, and be eating monkeys as though you had been raised on them." "All right," said I, "we'll see about that." "The food question is the greatest trouble with the business," he continued. "Game is a thing which can not be depended on, especially by men who are tied to one spot as an Indian is when he is working an estrada of rubber trees. For although there is a great pampa beginning a few miles the other side of Reyes and extending for a thousand miles east, which is covered with the finest of cattle, yet it does not extend north or down the river but a few hundred miles. As its northern edge is six hundred miles from the center of the rubber indus- try, and that distance covered with a forest through which no trail has ever been cut, and in which grass is scarce, and as the men engaged in gathering rub- ber are scattered over hundreds of miles of a coun- try in which fresh meat will not keep long, the only use that can be made of the vast herds of cattle is to drive them to the river at the port of Reyes, kill 128 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. them there, dry the meat and send it dowri the river. The reason there is such a scarcity of it always in the rubber country is because it takes a crew of In- dians so long to paddle a boat up after it, and they can't use oars or sail, although there is a strong breeze generally blowing upstream at night. With a modern boat, manned by men who understand the use of oars and sail, this difficulty could be over- come. "Rice is the adaptable food in that country, if they could only get it, but it is so scarce and in such demand at times that it is often exchanged for fine rubber, pound for pound. "If I were a man of your experience in agricul- tural and lumbering— business, I would go to the United States and bring some of those men you have just been talking about and some American farming machinery with me, bringing it by way of Sorata and Mapari, and open up a rice plantation on some low spot on that pampa. I am sure that in a few years a man could have all the money he wanted and could retire from business. You better think that proposition over carefully while you are there, and if you take the same view of it that I do, go up the Mapari river with the Indians on one of those rafts and make an examination of it and see if a boat can't be taken up it.". "Did I understand you to say that the Indians of the Mapari river were going up the river on rafts?" "Yes sir ; they are." "Well, that beats anything I ever heard of. Why don't they use boats?" "Because the only type of boat that they under- stand building draws too much water." "But they certainly don't drag a raft upstream do they?" IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 129 "Yes; they do for a hundred miles. You will see them do it when you get there. It may seem im- possible to you, but they do it, just the same. When you get up to the head of the Mapari and have seen the river, you had better come back down it to Guanay, where the Tipuani comes into it, and ex- amine the mines that are being worked there, about ten miles up from its mouth. Some of them are very rich and more of them are being opened up this year." "Who are opening them?" I asked. "Foreigners," he answered. "It is there that you will meet an old California miner by the name of John Simpson, who will be very glad to see you. I will give you letters to Mr. Belmont, my agent in Apollo, and to an old Italian priest, a friend of mine, and a perfect old gentleman, who lives in San Jose. Also to the Corregidor of the port of Ruena- barque, which is the town you will strike on the Beni river when you get there. I will give you an- other letter to the agent of the house of Braillard at Reyes, so that you will have no trouble in getting Indians to go with you, although you may have to wait a good many days in some of the places to get them." After a moment's pause he continued : "And now I must tell you about my mining venture. "About two leagues from where the trail crosses the summit are some great gravel banks partly cut away, they are the gold fields of Suches. I passed them twice a year for fourteen years on my yearly visits to the coasts, and paid no attention to them. But when Mr. Pena's Poto property began to yield such large returns with modern appliances upon it, I became interested in mining, and located two hun- dred and fifty claims around the town of Suches, 130 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and then wrote to Bieber & Co., of London, with whom I deal, and asked them if they would pay half of the expense for a one-half interest in the prop- erty ; as I wanted to get them interested with me in order to get their influence among men of capital in London. This they readily agreed to do, so after the transfer was made, I sent them the title deeds and they laid the matter before Baring Bros., merely telling them, of course, that we had the property and did not know whether it was good, bad or in- different. After examining the deeds and finding them perfect, they said their expert, Charles Parker, was then in Venezuela, and when he returned, they would send him here to make an examination of Suches, which they finally did. "When he came, he brought with him from the coast an American prospector by the name of Rob- ert Skiffington, and spent fourteen weeks on the property, constantly testing it in spots here and there, during which time he never would express any opinion to me as to what he thought of it. At the end of that time he came to me and said : 'Have you a good, smart Indian whom I can trust to take a telegram to Juliaca?' 'Yes,' said I, 'I have,' and called one of my men up to us. He then wrote on a slip of paper this message : 'Baring Bros., London : Go_ ahead and form your company. The mine is good. Parker,' and I gave it to the Indian, who took it to Juliaca. "Eight days after that telegram reached London that collapse occurred in the Argentine Confedera- tion ; the Barings became insolvent, and have ever since been engaged in liquidating their accounts, and have done nothing more in the matter. "What became of Parker?" I asked. "He went back to London and made out his re- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 131 port, which was printed in pamphlet form. I have a copy of it here and will show it to you tomorrow, but I think you are tired and sleepy after your long ride today, so I will show you your rooms. Your dog has already been fed by the servants." He now arose and led the way to a room in which I was to sleep, where he bade me good-night. In the morning I arose early, and after taking my coffee, untied my dog and took him with me for a stroll around the town. I found the town to be in about the same altitude and surrounded by the same topographical conditions as the town of Sina, and built of the same material — stone. It contained about 500 people and had a fine church. It had sev- eral business houses, whose chief trade lay in ex- porting coffee, which was grown further in the in- terior around Apollo and which at that time sold for 30 cents per pound in the European markets. At breakfast the conversation with Mr. Franck drifted to the subject of American machinery, a sub- ject which apparently he loved to discuss. "The American machinery," he said, "is so far ahead of anything they make in Europe for this country that it is only throwing money away to buy European machinery for one's use. Of course, if you are buy- ing it to sell to natives, it's a different thing. "I have_here an American typewriter, an Ameri- can sewing machine, a Colt's revolver and a Win- chester rifle; also an American coffee huller, but there is one machine that they ought to make in America and don't." "What's that?" I asked. "A corn sheller," he replied. I laughed at this. "Why," said I, "I have worked with them." "You have?" he said, surprised. "I wrote to my 132 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. house in New York asking them to send me one, and they wrote back that there was no such ma- chine made." "They must have certainly misunderstood you," I said, "for I have seen hundreds of them and have worked them myself." After breakfast Mr. Franck gave me the report of Parker. I took the pamphlet to my room, and had only read a little in it when I began to be deeply interested. According to Parker, there is in the property actually 446,000,000 cubic yards of 33 cent dirt (or dirt that yielded 33 cents to the cubic yard) in sight, exposed by the working of the Incas and Spanish. There is an immense paved ditch twenty miles in length, leading from an elevation higher than any of it to an immense reservoir of great strength and solidity, and of sufficient size to hold all the water that poured down the pass in which it is situated throughout the year. The supply of water thus furnished is sufficient for three giants the year around, which would give them a cutting capacity of 2,500 cubic yards per day, and with which the amount of pay dirt actually in sight could not be exhausted in less than 400 years. His estimate of placing the property on a pay- ing basis (which is so minute as to include the cost of horseshoe nails needed while packing sup- plies to the property) is $200,000, which includes the running expenses for the first six months. After this period it would pay a return of, over and above expenses, based upon present prices, $200,000 per year, until it became exhausted. In concluding his report, Mr. Parker advises the use of railroad rails instead of rock for riffles ; also the extensive use of dynamite for loosening the dirt ; and the construc- tion of two flumes instead of one, so that the opera- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 133 tions would not be impeded during a clean-up, and concludes by saying that the location of the prop- erty is singularly suitable for hydraulic mining, as it is carried on in California and elsewhere, and that it seems incredible that it has lain unnoticed and unknown for so long a period of time. After reading and re-reading the report until I thoroughly understood it, I took it to Mr. Franck's office, and handing it to him, said : "I don't know whether you know it or not, but that is one of the greatest gold propositions on the surface of the earth." "Perhaps it is," he said, "but if the Barings don't do something with it before long I shall stop pay- ing the semi-annual dues on it and let it go back to the government." "Don't you ever think of such a thing," said I. "The Barings are plain-dealing men, but if they won't take hold of it, lay it before some other par- ties. If you ever throw it up, you will lose the op- portunity of your life." "Well, if they don't begin work on it in another year, will you take the power of attorney to handle it from Bieber and I, and go to San Francisco and see if you can't interest capitalists there? English capital is all directed to South Africa now, and South America has a black eye in London." "I won't promise you," I answered, "but we will see about it when another year comes." I then left the office. I stopped in Pelechuco with Mr. Franck three days before I could get an Indian to carry a pack of provisions to Apollo, as it was necessary that I should take one with me, owing to the distance and the lack of habitations on the way. But on the morning of the fourth day I got started and 134 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. rode all day without any mishap, camping at night at a tambo .where there was an abundance of grass, in which I picketed by horse. It is not often that the commerce of a country is stopped by a dog. The next niorning I was in the saddle early and was riding some distance ahead of my Indian, when my horse stepped on a stone at the edge of the narrow trail. The stone rolled and threw him off his balance, causing him to stumble and fall down the hill. I jerked my feet out of the stirrups and tried to hold him by the bridle reins until the Indian could come to my aid. This I soon realized was impossible, and let go of the bridle. The horse then started to roll down the hill, break- ing down the small trees and brush with which it was covered. In a moment from the time he fell all I could see of horse, saddle or saddle pouches were the latter, which had become loosened from the saddle, and in slipping down the mountain, had caught on the trunk of a tree. But for minutes I could distinctly hear the noise made by the rolling horse, until it ended with a last crash. Believing that the horse must be dead, but de- sirous of seeing for myself that he was so, I helped the Indian to take off his pack when he came up to me, and, setting it down on the trail,undid part of its lashings, with which I tied my pup to it, so that he could not follow me. Then, motioning to the Indian to come along, we started after the horse. When we reached a height of perhaps ioo feet above the bottom of the ravine I found that we were at the edge of a perpendicular cliff, over which he had fallen. We got to the bottom finally by going some distance along the edge of the cliff. There we found the horse, as I supposed we would, stone dead. The crash had been caused by his alighting IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 135 in a large tree, which he had broken some distance from its root. Taking off his saddle and bridle, we started with them up the hill for the trail, which we reached in about an hour from the time we had left it to go down. We found, when we got there, a string of Indians and loaded mules on each side of the dog, the nearest of them some distance from him. "Look here, mister," said one of them in a com- plaining tone, "your dog understands killing people." ("Sabe muerto.") "He won't let us go past him," added another, "and every time we try it he wants to kill us. We want you to speak to him about it." Amused, not only by the ridiculous aspect of the scene, but at the tone in which the Indians spoke and the words they used, and thinking it was a good way to hold them there, I told the Indians what had happened. I then said : "Now, if you will wait until I write a letter and promise to take it to Pelechuco for me, I will use my influence with the dog to get you through." They gladly consented to wait and take the letter. Seating myself on the pack, I wrote Mr. Hawley a short letter, which I gave to an Indian going west. I paid another who was going east to carry my sad- dle to Apollo. I then patted the dog on the head and spoke a few words to him, and told the Indians it was all right and that he had consented to let them go. They then passed each other. My Indian put on his pack and I started for Apollo again, this time on foot. Days came and went, each bringing us into a more level country than we had passed over the day 136 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. before until the evening of the seventh day, when we reached Apollo, with its gardens of pineapple, cane, coffee and cotton. Here I remained seven days, meeting with but one English-speaking per- son, William Lapsley by name, who had, like Mr. Franck, expended part of his money and time in cul- tivating the Peruvian bark. Through Mr. Laps- ley's influence I was enabled to get Indians to ac- company me to the Beni river. It seems to be a world of surprises. On July 11 I left Apollo with two Indians, both loaded with forty-pound packs, for the mysterious river in the east. After travelling up hill and down through a continual forest, over a foot trail, for seven days, with nothing to eat except dried sheep- meat and rice, I reached the little village of San Jose with out any incident worth mentioning having occurred on the trip and went directly to its one Catholic church, which stood in the plaza, and asked an In- dian whom I met at its door for the priest. Saying, "Venga" ("Come"), he took me through the church into a yard in its rear, and then turning to the door of a room on the rightof the main cham- ber of the church, walked in. When I reached the door I could see his holiness sitting at a table, sur- rounded by sacred paintings, images of the Virgin and Babe, altars and vestments— and as drunk as a fool. Startled for the moment at seeing an old friend of Mr. Franck's "a priest and a perfect old gentleman," in this condition, I hesitated about en- tering. On noticing me he told "me to come in, but as I made a step toward him he said : "Stay out." Then, in an apologizing tone, he told me not to get scared, and that he wasn't going to hurt me. "I don't believe you are either, father," said I, as I walked in and handed him the letter Mr. Franck IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 137 had given me to him. "At least," I added, "not very badly until you sober up." He took the letter and was about to open it when he noticed my dog. His eyes lit up with a bright light, and he arose from his seat and staggered out to a kitchen in the rear of the church yard. Then he entered a kitchen, and I heard him tell the servants to get me something to eat. From there he came staggering out in a few moments, holding in his hands a large bowl of boiled meat, which he gave to the dog, and then staggered back into his room again, where seating himself at the table he threw his arms on it, and, lowering his head on his arms, he soon went to sleep. As I felt unclean when in the presence of this "Man of God" and the images of Christ with which he was surrounded, I remained in the yard until dinner was served, when I went into the dining room and ate it. Then I started for a stroll around the village, where I hoped to enjoy some of the hos- pitality of those Indian women of whom Mr. Franck had spoken. I found them to be in every respect as he had re- presented them — handsome, amiable and cleanly. Their dress was a low neck gown of bright-colored calico, so clean and well starched that when they stooped to the floor it scarcely bent. The ground floors of their thatched-roof houses was so cleanly swept that they looked as though they had been lately scrubbed, and the earthen jars with which they did their cooking were scoured to a polish. I entered house after house that day and the next, and was always treated the same. The first ques- tion after they had taken off my hat and seated me 138 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. in their hammock would be : "Will you drink a cup of coffee?" The next was invariably, "What na- tionality are yon?" and then, "Are you married or single?" I often felt like asking them if, among the travel- ers that had ever entered their country, they had met one who was a. married man : The next question would be, "Tell me honestly, sir, is this sewing machine of mine a genuine North American one or a German imitation of one?" Now, I knew very well that they were German imitations, but did not want to discourage the poor creatures by telling them so, and I evaded their questions by saying that fine machinery was a thing I knew nothing about. As I was in an exceptionally social frame of mind that day I did not return to the church until 10 o'clock, and after entering its yard was shown my bed by one of the servants. Before retiring I noticed a light at the door of the room where I had left the priest, and supposing him to be by this time awake and sober, I walked over to it to bid him good night before going to bed. When I reached the door I found him sitting in the same position as when I left him, still sound asleep, with a candle burning on the table. Fearing that he would not get awake before the candle had burned down and set the table on fire, I walked in among the sacred paintings and images and blew it out. I then went back and went to bed. The next morning, at an early hour, I was awakened by the sounds of most beautiful strains of music coming from the interior of the church, and upon getting up and dressing and entering it I found that mass was being conducted by the priest. I suppose the entire population of the village was present, composed chiefly of women and children. I IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO'. 139 saw that the music was being made by six Indian boys, three of whom had violins and the other three instruments made of pieces of wild cane of different diameters and lengths, lashed together side by side, one end open and the open ends even. This peculiar instrument they held to their mouths in such a manner that the canes were perpendicular and into which they blew as they moved them to and fro past their lips. They were playing a solemn dirge in the key of G by note. They used both sharps and flats, playing their music perfectly as the priest perform- ed the ceremony, and the congregation was kneeling on the floor, the whole scene contrasting strangely with what I had seen the night before. I spent one happy day with the old priest, whom I found to be a hale old fellow, well met, whatever else his habits in private life might be. He was a man of more than ordinary sense of honor in his dealings with his fellow men. He also possessed a keen sense of wit and humor. He was a large man, slightly stooped, with gray eyes and firm-set jaws. His hands and feet were small and handsome, and he walked with a cane — when sober. On the night of the second day my Indians told me that they were rested, and we again packed up •for the Beni. Just before we started the priest stepped up to me and looking me squarely in the eye, asked me in a determined manner if I had pro- mised those Indians five Bolivian dollars more when they reached the Beni with me. "I did," said I. "Are you going to give it to them ?" he next asked. "Certainly," I replied sharply. "If you will guar- antee that they will go with me I will give it to them now." 140 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Oh, no," he said ; "that's all right. Good-bye," and we parted. In three days more we arrived at the little village of Tumpasa, near where, according to Mr. Franck and Mr. Lapsley, petroleum oil exists in what ap- peared to them commercial quantities. Here we stopped for the night with the governadore, to whom I had a letter from Mr. Franck. We then con- tinued on our way, reaching the Beni at 10 o'clock on July 24, just one month from the time I left Ju- liaca. The type of river ciaft in use here was certainly crude. The Beni river where I first saw it is a stream of about 200 yards in width, in which the water flows as gently and peacefully as in a miner's ditch. _ On both sides of it were a few thatched-roof houses, in which lived those persons who did busi- ness with the rubber men below. In the water at this time along its banks lay several boats of about thirty feet in length, about twenty feet beam, with square bow and stern, which were about eight feet in width and about two feet in depth. The. hull was about five feet deep in the center, which rounded up to the bottom of the square stern and bow as well as to the beams, and from which a keel ran aft to which was attached a rudder. There were also scattered along the river a few rafts of about thirty feet in length, made of seven small logs, the center one being turned up at one end, the one on each side of it also turned up and tapered toward it at the same end, but somewhat shorter, and the two outside ones still shorter and tapering from their outside toward the center, which made the raft pointed, with a raised center at one end. The other end was square. This place was called Ruenabarque, or Port of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 141 Reyes. It is here that the Beni is formed by the junction of the Mapari and Tuichi rivers. From here it flows to the Brazilian boundary line, a dis- tance of 1,000 miles, where it unites with the Ma- more, and forms the Madeira, which empties into the Amazon. Upon inquiring for the governadore, I learned that his house was on the opposite side of the river, and as a boat was about to cross, I paid the two Indians the money I had promised and stepped with my dog into the boat. Although her crew were eight In- dians with paddles and a steersman, and the current not more than three miles an hour, I noticed that she neither made any headway nor steered steadily, and that instead of a straight crossing we landed a considerable distance down the stream. I conclud- ed that if their rubber and goods were transported over any rapids in such a tub as that, the loss of property and life could be easily avoided by the in- troduction on the waters of the Beni of the bateau (the famous North American boat used for running rapids). After landing I went to the house of the governadore, whom I found to be away from home ; but his wife received me kindly and gave both my- self and dog a good dinner. Dinner being over, my social nature was again aroused, and I started making calls. The first was in the nearest house, where a monkey gave my pup a second dinner, which to him must have seemed a most fashionable one — but not, however, until after he had fought for it. When I entered the door I noticed a big mon- key tied with a stout cord to a bed-post, eating the meat off from a rib of beef. My dog was walking some distance behind me, and the woman had just taken my hat and seated me in the hammock when 142 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. Brick appeared at the door and saw the monkey, who at the same time stopped eating and looked at the dog. "That rib of beef looks pretty good ; guess I'll just eat that myself," seemed to be Brick's com- ment on the situation, and he made a rush at the monkey. The monkey appeared to think differently, and seemingly replied: "If you do, you'll fight for it. Getting up on his hind feet, the monkey raised the rib high in the air and brought it down kersmash on the dog's head, an operation which he quickly re- peated, excepting that instead of the blow alighting on the head of the dog the second time, as it had the first, it hit him in the mouth, whereupon the dog gave it a powerful twist, which threw the monkey the whole length of the cord, hind feet first in the air. He came down plump on his head, and lay there for perhaps a moment all doubled up in a heap, while the dog unconcernedly dropped on his haunches and began gnawing on the bone. The monkey then straightened himself up and sat for a while on his hind legs, as though he felt dizzy. He then put his forepaws up to the sides of his head, moved it from side to side and twisted it around, evidently to see whether or not his neck was broken. Finding it all right, he took down his paws and looked at the dog with a nodding of his head, as much as to say: "Well, old pard, I guess, you've got the bone all right." Then he went near him and put one of his paws on his ears, a proceeding which the dog took no notice of, but kept on eating the bone. Then he began to scratch the dog, and as Brick made no effort to stop him, continued to do so until I had drank a cup of cheche with the woman and ran their gamut of questions, when IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 143 I rose and left the house, with the dog following me, with the bone still in his mouth. But it is sometimes pleasant to be among primi- tive people. I remained at the port of Ruenabarque until the 27th, when I started on the cart road lead- ing from there to Reyes, a distance of twenty-five miles, the first sixteen of which were through a dense forest, which, unlike anything I had until then seen, was filled with game. There was scarcely a moment from the time I left the banks of the Beni until I reached the pampa on which Reyes is built that I was out of either sight or hearing of monkeys or birds, as I and my dog passed along. It was therefore with a feeling of loneliness that I walked out of the forest at noon on to the great pampa, which with but little interruption, extends east to near the Atlantic, and on which thousands of cattle roam. But the feeling of loneliness soon left me after I reached the village of Reyes. My first impression of this place was that I had found the long-lost paradise. It was a great collec- tion, so to speak, of magnificent gardens, in which grew all the products of the semi-tropical zone. They had small thatch-covered houses in their cen- ter, surrounded by fences of dried cane, and were cultivated by beautiful but lonely women, in whose eyes nothing appeared so fascinating as a man and to whom nothing was as delightful as to extend him hospitality. How many men have ever traveled up stream on a raft? After spending a week in the town of Reyes, 1 started back to Ruenabarque with the intention of going by the way of Tipuani home as quickly as possible, and explaining to Mr. Hawley the great opportunity I had seen for making money on that pampa by engaging in agriculture, with American 144 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. men and American .machinery, and reached that port the evening of August 5. The rafts which were taken up the Mapari river were called balsas, and the three Indians with which they were manned were called balseros ; and as one of these balsas was leaving for Guanay the next day, the wife of the governador took my money from me, saying that she could deal with the bal- seros better than I could, and paid them twelve bolivianos for taking myself and dog to Guanay. Then she presented me with a gunnysack full of dried meat, which she told me to divide with the dog. Also she gave me some coffee and rice, for which she would accept no pay, only the promise that I would surely call and see her again in the future. For twelve long days I watched three men work as I have never seen men work before or since, ex- cepting on the Skagway trail in the rush to the Klondike, and I was struck with the contrast be- tween these men and the dilatoriness of the Indians with whom until then I had traveled. I could not realize that I was among slaves, whose master's bidding they were bound to obey or else submit to the lash. Each crew of balseros had a long narrow frame of hard wood lashed together with small dried vines, on legs of perhaps two feet in height ; their uprights when traveling being driven into the logs of the raft, thus making an elevated structure on it, on which the cargo was placed to keep it dry. On this elevated structure, myself and dog also sat, when the balsa was either going through a canyon or crossing the river from the head of one bar to the foot of another, when we would step off into the water, wade ashore and walk to the head of it. They IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 145 used a setting pole made of wild cane, a paddle and a tow line of vine, according to the water, using whichever was best suited for the purpose, and they were thoroughly scienced in the use of all these appliances. But their balsa with nothing but a few pounds of dried meat on it was as hard to move as a properly built bateau with one ton of weight in it, and a cor- responding lightening of labor by its use. These Indians were self-supporting subsisting en- tirely on monkeys, which upon hearing in the woods they would stop and kill with their shot guns, and then stopping again on the first bar they reached, would dress and singe them inside and out to pre- vent them spoiling. The river was like all mountain streams, swift and rapid in some places, calm and placid in others, and with two falls in it between Ruenabarque and Guanay, around which the balsa was drawn on skids. I became so disgusted at seeing the poor un- fortunate creatures doing so much unnecessary labor, that it was a happy moment for me when we reached Guanay and I stepped ashore and bade them good-bye. After stopping at Guanay three days I started with a pack train which was going to Sorata, for Tipuani, and reached the gold fields on the evening of the 22nd, where I slept the first night in a small thatched roof house with old John Simpson. What a field for capital and enterprise is Tipuani. According to history and tradition, it was first dis- covered by the Incas, by whom it was afterward worked, and the gold taken from it was used to adorn their temples at Cuzco, their capital. It was again entered by some Portuguese from the east, and Spaniards from the west, who worked it until the 146 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO Indians rose against them and put them to death, since which time it has a third time been worked by a Senor Villamil, who owing to his having been sub-prefect of the province in which it is situated, was able to secure much Indian labor. He, accord- ing to his son, took from the bedrock of its bars, with his "bucket brigade" of Indians, the sum of $140,000 in the last four years of his operations in it, and who, upon the authority of Clement C. Mark- ham, when already an old man, was taken to Eng- land and shown the powerful pumps employed in the mines of Cornwall. He declared in an ecstasy of delight: "With twenty years more to live and that machinery in Tipuani, I could buy out France from Napoleon." The stream itself was on an average of 100 feet in width and at low water could be waded in many places. It is about forty miles in length, of which the lower ten are rich in gold. In the old town of Tipuani, which is situated about seven miles from its mouth only one of the original Spanish buildings was left standing, the town having been destroyed in 1802. Above this building for -one-half a mile along the river lay stretched a great gravel bank, which contained gol3 from top to bottom and which was literally honey- combed with tunnels at the river's edge. In these tunnels Indians were working with Villamil's old picks and shovels, loosening the gravel, while their wives were engaged in bringing out the dirt to the water's edge-in bateas and washing it, after which they emptied the gold contained therein into sar- dine cans, which they all had sitting near the mouth of the tunnel in which they were working. They were so indifferent to the safety of the gold that they took no notice even when a stranger picked up IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 147 the cans and examined their contents. While I was passing the mouth of these tunnels on the path that led to Ancota (the name of a claim above this gravel bank, on the opposite side of the river), I may have examined fifty or more of their sardine cans, and the only words they ever spoke to me was when they wanted to empty some gold out of their bateas into their cans, and then they would walk to where I was sitting and say : "Permit me, senor" ("Permit me, sir"). At this I would hold up the can while they would place the edge of their batea on it, hold it there with one hand while they swept the gold out of it with the other. Some natives were working in the center of the river at each of the different riffles, where they would roll over large boulders and then stoop as low as posssible in the water, scrape what sediment they could into their bateas, bring them ashore and wash out the dirt. Of the four different parties of foreigners oper- ating in the Tipuani valley at the time, the McKen- zie brothers, Robert and Edward, were the most successful. Their claim was located at Ancota. It was a pay streak of gravel which extended into a hill, on top of which lay a bank of sediment thirty- six feet in height. The pay streak yielded on an average $40 to the yard and the sediment nothing which brought its average down to $3 per cubic yard. On to the top of this bank of sediment they had brought about fifty inches of water, with which the sediment and pay dirt were washed down through their flume, which, when I was with them, they had cleaned up for the second time that year. Both times the result had been about the same, nearly twenty-five pounds of gold. Fryerhysen, a German and a graduate of the Uni- 148 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. versity of Freiburg, was operating just below the old town of Tipuani and on the same side of the river. When I looked at his claim and saw how he was trying to open it, I came to the conclusion that old Matt Horner had spoken some truth when he de- clared with an oath that he never saw a Freiburger yet that did not need frying over again after he came into the mines. He had one of Villamil's old bars, on the inside of which there was a dry slough at low water, but through which a considerable stream flowed in time of freshet, thus making the outer edge of it an island. Instead of building a dam of matted bundles of brush and rock across this slough at its head on the Eads system, and building a China pump and water wheel, onto which he could have easily brought water by a ditch from a stream which emptied into the Tipuani, opposite Ancota, he had built an ordinary stone fence across the head of the slough, brought a small donkey en- gine boiler and pulsometer pump, at enormous ex- pense, from New York, and was endeavoring to reach bedrock by a shaft. He had lagged the shaft as he went along but his machinery not being adapt- ed to the work, his enterprise — as I predicted that it would do and as I afterward learned that it did — ended in failure. Wegman, a German pipe-fitter by trade, was just opening up a hydraulic claim, two and one-half miles below the old town on the same side of the river. He was just starting his work when I visited him, and the old Spanish cuttings with their paved ditches and flumes, on the claim, were not yet cleared of their overgrown vegetation, so I could make no examination of his property. Three miles further down stream, on the opposite side of the river, were the works of Skiffington and IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. 149 Cerest. They, like Fryerhysen, had one of Villa- mil's old bars, but unlike him in another respect, understood how to work it. The bar was about three hundred feet in length, and say, one hundred in width. In the center was a hole of perhaps fifty feet in diameter, filled with water up to the level of the river. On to this bar they had brought a large head of water (which they had carried to the top of an overshot water wheel, some distance across the bottom, back of the bar), with a board flume on trestle work; and to which was geared a China pump. The No. 2 cotton canvas which they had ordered from their backer, a German merchant in La Paz, proved to be, when it reached them, nothing but heavy muslin and broke at the com- mencement of the work. This caused a delay until a new three-quarter-inch rope which they next ordered, came, and upon being unpacked was found to be an old one, three-eighths of an inchin diameter and so rotten that it wouldn't stand a long, square splice. This made Skiffington leave the bar in dis- gust, and Cerest remained on it in disgust, with the expectation of resuming work again on the claim in another year. Simpson was doing nothing, and had neither money nor backing to do anything with, although he was a highly educated man and understood placer mining thoroughly. His failure in life was undoubtedly due to his combativeness — to his in- ability to see any way out of a difficulty except to fight his way out of it. Some years before he had been in charge of the opening up of a hydraulic claim on the summit of the Andes for Braillard & Co., when he was paid a visit by a local official, who demanded of him something which he was unwill- ing to grant. Instead of locking arms with the offi- 150 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. cial, as, for instance, Herbert Tweddle, sr., would have done, and walking him into the tent and talk- ing the matter over, Simpson raised his fist and struck him a blow which knocked him out stiff and cold. Then of course, Simpson had to leave the country, the works were closed and men of money never trusted him with the spending of it. But there are times when the courage and fidelity of a dog may be a disadvantage to his master. I had brought with me from Juliaca two large 44- caliber revolvers, one of which was a genuine old- fashioned rim-fire Smith & Wesson which Mr. Haw- ley had brought with him from the United States over seventeen years before, and the other was, as I had learned from shooting it, a nickelplated imi- tation of the Smith & Wesson center fire. Hawley had purchased the latter in Arequipa just before my leaving. I had two boxes of cartridges for each re- volver. Fryerhysen had in his employ a large, power- fully built young German, an engineer and me- chanic, who wanted to buy the center-fire revolver, and as nothing could give me greater pleasure than to sell a piece of shoddy German machinery to a German machinist, I sold it and the cartridges to him for what they had cost in Arequipa — thirty solas. The transaction occurred at the works one after- noon about 4 o'clock. After delivering the revolver over to him he beckoned me to follow him and we went to where Fryerhysen was standing. Then telling Fryerhysen to give me thirty solas and charge it to his account, the young German walked away. "I am short of ready cash," said Fryerhysen," "won't you take an order on the house of Gunther IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 151 in Sorata? You are going home that way and will stop with him while in Sorata." "Certainly," I replied. "I am very busy just now, keeping all these men at work, and as it is some distance to camp, won't you come over with us this evening, take supper and spend the night; and I will write the order out for you in the morning?" "With pleasure," I replied. "I will be around at closing time." I then started toward the town, where I met Simpson, and had several drinks of chacasa. I spent the afternoon in his company until within a few minute of 6, when I left him and went back to the works perfectly sober, the chacasa hav- ing no effect on me. I walked home with Fryer- hysen to his camp, where we found the table al- ready set, and we at once entered the house and sat down to supper. We began by drinking a large whisky glass of chacasa, which was placed at each plate. I only recall one thing that happened after- ward, and that was a few moments later I was staggering out of the door with the thought that I must have been struck with some John L. Sullivan whisky. The next I knew was when I awoke from a deep sleep about 4 o'clock in the morning and found that I was lying on the broad of my back with a gold pan right side up under the small of my back, with my arms outstretched and my dog lying stretched out at full length with his nose on one of my arms. I arose and, like the monkey on the Beni began to feel whether or not I was broken. As I saw by the light shining through the cracks of the house that I was immediately in front of it and not more than forty feet away I became rather indignant to think that I should have been left in that position so long 152 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and went into the house to find Fryerhysen. As I entered the door he raised himself from the bed where he was lying, reading a book, and, looking at me asked : "Is your back hurt?" "No," I said, indignantly, "it isn't." "Are you sure?" "Why certainly, I'm sure." "Say," he next. asked, having ascertained that I was all right, "what kind of a dog is that one out there?" "He is a brick — just what I call him; but what about him?" "Well, he certainly beats everything I have met. We made charge after charge at you last evening trying to get hold of you and drag you off from that gold pan and we could not do it. Then we sent down to the other claim for the men down there and formed a line on each side of you, and charged at in- tervals, but were met every time by the dog. The last time we charged the clog came within an inch of taking the whole throat out of that big machinist that you sold the revolver to yesterday. After that we held a consultation and came to the conclusion that there was only one way to get you and that would be by shooting the dog, and we knew that you would never forgive us for that. "What made us feel so anxious about you was that we feared you would ruin yourself for life, lying there with that gold pan under your back, but I am very glad to see that you are not hurt. I have that order all ready for you. Here it is," he added handing me the order on the Sorata house, after tak- ing it from under his pillow. "You will find some cold lunch for bo*h you and the dog there on the table, and when you have eaten there is a bed over there IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 153 where you better lie down and try to sleep until morning." After a hearty laugh over their attempts to rescue me and Brick's successful defense, I ate my lunch and gave him his, and then lay down on the bed and slept till next morning. I stayed six days in the lower Tipuani, when I started with an Indian, packed with my provisions and blanket, for a march up the trail that leads to its head and then over a summit sixteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, and then down into the town of Sorata, thousands of feet below. I traveled only a few hours when I met my first difficulty. We came to a swift mountain stream, over which a cantilever bridge crossed. Immedi- ately below the bridge the stream fell over a per- pendicular precipice many feet in height, while above the bridge was a fording for horses, but the water was too deep for a dog to wade. The frame of the bridge was made of long poles, lashed to- gether with vines, and its only decking, poles laid about every three feet across it, secured in the same manner. A sure footed man could walk across it, and one who was not sure footed could crawl across it, but how to get a dog across was the problem, Finally I thought of the tow lines of vines which I had seen on the Mapari, and told the Indian to put his pack down and cut me a vine that was good and strong, knowing that the Indian can judge the strength of the vines growing in this country, as they use them so often for ropes. After cutting the vine, the Indian brought it to me, and I tied one end of it into the ring on the dog's collar, coiled the rest of it up in my hand, and told the Indian to hold Brick until I had crossed the bridge. "Save muerto" ("He understands killing"), yelled the Indian as he edged quickly away. 154 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. I then threw my hat on the ground and told the dog to lie down and watch it. After seeing that he was going to mind me, I crossed the bridge, string- ing out the vine on it as I went along. When I reached the other side, I gave the vine a jerk off the bridge and pulled hand over hand on it, calling to the dog, who immediately rose, grabbed the hat in his mouth and waded into the stream until it be- came too deep when he started swimming. By pulling swiftly on the rope I got him safely across without further trouble excepting to get him to hold his head still while I untied the vine from his collar. The Indian, who had all the while been watching theperformancein open-mouthed astonishment, now crossed safely and we resumed our march. For four long days we marched up, up, up, until we reached the summit where we camped in a vacant stone house, with but one blanket apiece in which to sleep, and with such a scarcity of wood or brush that it was with difficulty we could find enough to do our cooking. It takes a Yankee to sleep warm on the summit of the Andes without a bed. My blanket was six feet square, and when supper was over I tied the dog to a stake, spread the blanket on the ground floor of the house, lay down on one side of it, pulled the other over me and told the Indian to do the same and to lie as close to me as he could. He seemed very glad to do so, and for a short time I felt com- fortable, but when night had fully set in, my back, which was against that of the Indian, was comfort- able, the rest of my body seemed to be part of an icicle. Finally I called to the Indian, and told him to untie the clog and bring him in to me. "Save muerto," he shivered from under his IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 155 blanket ; "save mas en la noche que en el dia." ("He knows how to kill, and knows it better by night than by day.") Marshaling all my energy for the effort, I threw off the top part of my blanket, ran quickly to where the dog was tied, led him back with me and made him lie down on the outer edge of the blanket. I then lay down between the Indian and the dog, turned the dog toward me, pushed one of his fore paws under my neck, laid the other over it, got his lower hind leg between my knees before he had time to coil up, then pulled the upper half of the blanket over us both, and in a few moments I began to feel as though a nice, warm fire had been built in the house and I was feeling the effects of it. This was the last I knew until I was awakened from the soundest sleep of my life by the Indian yelling at the top of his voice, "Mister, get up; I have had break- fast cooked for over an hour and been calling and calling you." I arose and found that breakfast was already pre- pared, and after eating we started down the ma- cadamized trail that leads into the beautiful valley below and reached the Sorata at noon. After three days' rest here I secured a mule, on which I rode to Chillaya, on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable water in the world, which I crossed on a steamer the same night that I reached it. The next morning I took a train for Juliaca, and arrived home at 9 o'clock that day. I related my trip in detail to Haw- ley and advised him to throw up his position, take the backing offered him by Andreas Ratte, go to the United States, get American laborers and machin- ery, take them with him, go into the Beni country and engage in the cultivation of rice on some of the lower grounds of the great pampa on which Reyes is 156 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. situated. To this he replied that he believed he had something nearer home which was fully as good, and that he wanted to discuss it with me in a few days. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 157 CHAPTER IV. "Now, Agle," said Hawley to me a few days after' my return from the Beni, as we were sitting in his office : "there are three Peruvians who have a good gold mine in Aporoma (the name of a tract of country in the province of Sandia). Manuel Silas here is one of them ; a doctor in Arequipa is another, and the third is a merchant living in Crucero. They don't know how to work it and as they know that McQuestion and I have a few thousand solars which we made laying track last year, which we haven't invested yet, and as they know that you are with me, they want us to take hold of it. I will give you their description of it, and furnish you with every- thing you need, and I want you to go out and make an examination of it." "I won't have anything to do with any gold pro- position," said I, "the time for gold mining in this country lias not come." "Very well," he replied sharply. "Go out and ex- amine it on my account, and turn in your bill and I will pay it." "All right; I'll do that," I answered. We then continued the conversation about the mine. Haw- ley began by saying: "The partner who lives in Crucero is named Alvina, and it is his father who discovered the mine, or rather was shown it by the Indians. His father is dead, and as he is an ener- getic fellow, he has worked it the best he knew how from the time of his father's death until about two years ago. He then traded a two-thirds interest in it to Manuel Silas and the doctor in Arequipa, 158 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. who are partners in the commercial business, for a one-third interest in their business. "They are now equal partners in both the com- mercial business and mine. From what they say, it is a tunnel which starts at a river and runs a long 'distance into a hill of gravel and carries gold, but not enough to pay to work by any. method they understand. They say that back some distance from the mouth of the tunnel, and some distance below the level of it, the gravel is so rich that when Alvina worked it with Indians he cut a drain from this spot to the river, and then sunk shafts near the head of it in different parts of the tunnel, keeping the water lowered in them by, a string of Indians with buckets, and in this way made considerable money. Now, I think that if he could make money in that way, that you ought to see a way of working it by which a fortune could be made. You had better take about a dozen buckets with you and money enough to hire say ten Indians for about ten days, and try if. you can keep the shafts dry long enough to find out what is at the bottom of them. I will send to Arequipa for the buckets, and you can go into the room in the depot where McQuestion and I have track-laying tools stored and take what you want." "Have you any agreement with the owners by which you can get possession of the property in case it proves valuable?" I asked. "When an In- dian sees a man finding gold he knows that it is gold as well as the man who is finding it, and when he sees him taking measurements of the different places in and around a mine he knows that the man is impressed with it, otherwise he would not go to all that trouble. Then the Indian will tell these things to the owners when they meet and thus make them difficult to deal with." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 159 "Oh, leave that to me," he said, curtly; "I know how to do business with them." "Yes," I thought to myself, "and if you are as up- to-date in dealing with them as you are in the latest improvements in boats and appliances for op- erating railroads, you will make a nice mess of it," but I mused this is your own business and so said nothing more. Although it was only August n when the above conversation took place, and I had what tools I needed sorted and packed by the night of the same day, yet, for reasons peculiar to that country, it was October 2 when I started for the mines. In the meantime I made a trip up to Puno in a passenger locomotive with Pike; stopped with him over one night, and came back with him the next day. I told him what I had seen on my trip to the Beni country and where I was going for Hawley next. "Look out," he exclaimed, "for that Alvina. I know him of old, and there is nothing in the world that does him so much good as to humbug a man, and if you are not mighty careful, he will humbug you completely. I'll bet when he gets you out there, he'll hold you there half the winter and then not show you the mine either." "If he does that he will merely humbug Hawley, McQuestion and himself. He won't be hurting me any, as I am going on a salary, and the longer I am gone the more there will be in it for me, that's all." "Then again," said Pike, with a twinkle in his eye, as he let go the throttle and hit me a punch in the ribs, "it isn't going to make any difference whether the mine is good, bad or indifferent. You are going to examine it, and then come back and talk Hawley into putting his money into something 160 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. over in the Beni country, among those handsome Indian women. I am on to you, all right." "I'll bet you $50," I replied, "that when I come back from that mine I will tell Hawley the simple, unadulterated truth about it. If I want to go back to the Beni country, I know the road, and don't have to take Hawley with me." "Well, you have me so excited, talking about those handsome women that if I didn't have a wife and child I'd run this pile of old iron into the round house when we get to Puno,"and start for the Beni tonight. But, laying all nonsense aside, you better watch Alvina." Travel has its ups and downs. On the morning of October 2, as I was told the evening before by Manuel Silas that he would go with me as far as Pucara, I took my appliances to the depot and, set- ting them down on the platform, told my dog to watch them. Then I went away after some little item I had forgotten and was stepping upon the end of the platform on my return, when I saw Haw- ley with a handkerchief filled with something, in one of his hands, coming out of the door, walk up to where my stuff and dog were, look at them for a moment and stop. When I approached them, he said : "I knew this was your outfit, because I saw your business manager here in charge of it. Here (handing me the handkerchief) are 100 solas, all the money you have said that you could carry, and here (reaching into his pocket and handing me a letter) is a letter from Silas to Alvina, telling him to give you anything you want at Crucero. Silas is going with you to Pucara on the train, and will see that you get horses there to carry you to Cru- cero." When the train pulled into the depot, I saw that IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 161 my stuff and "business manager" were put aboard and then entered the car, and sitting down with Si- las, I soon began to feel a sickness coming over me, a sort of dizziness of the head, which kept get- ting worse until we reached Pucara, when it had become quite acute. Llamas were going to Crucero as soon as we reach- ed there, and my stuff was soon packed on them. I was supplied with a horse by the governadore of Crucero, who had been to Arequipa and was re- turning home. But nowhere could an extra saddle be found, so, rolling up my blanket from one cor- ner to the opposite corner and tying the two other corners together, I threw it on my horse, with the thickest part toward his head and asked Silas for a cinch. He borrowed one from the Indians and quickly brought it to me. With this I cinched the blanket tightly on the horse, and then, making stir- rups of a short rope, started for Crucero with the governadore and a companion. With this companion I soon became involved in a quarrel. He was a large, powerful young man, dressed in black broadcloth with a stiff hat on his head. He rode a beautiful spirited young horse, the bridle and saddle of which were both silver- mounted, thus giving him the appearance of the real cavalier. He was, however, intoxicated just enough to fight if there was any fight in him, and, noticing that I was a man of light weight and plainly dressed, sitting on a saddle made of a blan- ket, cinch and rope and all bent over with dizziness, he evidently thought I was a safe person with whom to have some fun. He rode his horse in front of mine, turned him lengthwise across the road and then stopped. Seeing that he was drunk, I laughed at him and rode around him. This performance he —6 162 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. repeated several times, when finally we stopped at the house of an Indian where, after we had tied our horses, he staggered toward me with an uplifted hand, but when he was within reach of me, he was stopped by a blow which I gave him with my open hand. I hit him on the top of his head and drove his stiff hat half way down over his face. Imme- diately I heard a growl and on looking around saw my dog walking stealthily toward him, looking him steadily in the eye and showing his teeth. The gal- lant cavalier now stood speechless. Grabbing the dog by the collar with one hand to prevent him from biting the big cur, I put the fist of the other up in his face and gave him such a cursing as must have surprised him. He then staggered to the edge of the house and sat down, repeatedly gasping "El Americano y su perro tambiefl estan bravos" (the American and his dog are both brave). In a few minutes we remounted our horses, but he bothered me no more, and that night we reaqhed Asangre. The next morning my sickness was worse. My friend of the day before left us and the governadore and I set out together in the direc- tion of Crucero. After galloping hard all day, we stopped at the farmhouse of an Indian over night, and the next evening, after a ride of ten hours, en- tered Crucero, where I expected my suffering to end, thinking I could go to bed and send for a doctor. It's hard to be sick and without medicine. Im- agine my disappointment when told by the kind old mother of Alvina, when I was seated in her house, that there was neither doctor nor medicine in the place; that she had not even a pill in her house, but that she would send her daughter to IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 163 every house in town occupied by Peruvians, to see, so as to make sure of it. The girl, a child of twelve, immediately on hearing these words of her mother, started out of the door and came back in about an hour, saying that she had been everywhere and could not find medicine of any kind. When I heard this doleful news I went to bed with the hope that my tools and stuff would reach me on the morrow, because among them in a case for kerosene I had packed a bottle of fruit salts, which I had found among Hawley's things at the depot. The next morning, Alvina, who had been away the evening before, when I arrived at his mother's house, called at my bedside to see me and intro- duce himself. "By Jove,'' I said to myself, as I held him by the hand and looked him in the eye, "old Pike used the higher mathematics when he figured you out. You must have taken after your father, because there are none of the earnest, noble features of your mother in your face." He was tall and well proportioned, but his forehead was of a low, cunning cast ; his eyes suspicious ; his mouth large and homely, and out of it, when he spoke, he seemed to blow his words. He told me that a great feast would begin the next day in the town, at which all the Indians in the surrounding coun- try would be present, and that as it would last a week, even if I had been able to travel, I could not go until the feast was over. He said that I should leave the door of my room, which led into the yard, open, and that whenever I wanted anything I should shout and an Indian would come and see what I wanted. He then left the room. Soon after I became seized with a terrible chill ; mother and daughter piled blanket after blanket 164 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. on me, and still I shivered and shook. That I might have some company, they tied my dog to the bed- post and made him a bed of gunny sacks on the floor, and also brought him his meals there. They occasionally untied him and let him sun himself in the yard, where he amused himself by chasing the cats. Then, after a while they would bring him back and tie him up again. Day after day came and went and still no llamas with my baggage, until the fourth day after my arrival, when I heard the tip-tip of the animals' feet on the hard stone pavement of the back yard. Mother and daughter soon after entered my room and told me that my goods and chattels had come. "Have the Indians bring that box in here, will you please? There is a bottle of medicine in it." They both left the room and returned in a few minutes, the mother in front of an Indian, who was carrying a box, and the daughter with a hatchet in her hands. "Shall we open it?" the girl asked, after the In- dians had set the box down. "If you please," I answered. In a moment more it was open, and they were both on their knees lifting out the tools, but no bottle came in sight. After watching them with a hope which can be more easily imagined than de- scribed, fancy my disappointment when they turned the top of the box toward me and I saw that it was entirely empty, with the exception of a few pieces of broken bottle, and a white stain caused by the fruit salts, scattered around in it. "Bring that lid here, please," I said, "and let me examine it." I had remembered that kerosene was said to be good for the throat. The girl brought it to the bedside, while her IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 165 mother stood watching me, and rolling over to the edge of the bed, and looking at it carefully, I found it to be thoroughly saturated with kerosene. "Will you kindly take that out in the kitchen," I asked, "and chop it up and boil it. Then bring me the water to drink. That will cut the soreness out of my throat." My throat had by this time be- come so stopped up that I could hardly breathe and I felt that if this could be relieved, that the chill and dizziness might cure themselves. The girl left the room at once with the lid and hatchet, and in less than an hour they both returned, the mother carrying a jar of something that looked like steam- ing water, but smelled like steaming kerosene, and the daughter with a cup, which they sat down on a chair by the side of the bed. I took a cup of the water and gargled my throat, after which it felt better. Then I rolled over as they left the room, and went to sleep. The next day my throat was well, the dizziness had left my head and my chill had turned into a fever, and by the time the feast was over I was able to travel. Alvina and his mother gave me a bright stout Peruvian boy to take with me, saying that he knew the mine, and that the ten Indians who would go with me from Phara would take their own provisions, and that I need take nothing in the way of provisions, excepting what was neces- sary for myself and boy. After getting what flour, sugar, coffee, dried sheep meat, which I thought necessary, from his store, and, packing it up carefully, with the assurance that it would be sent after me the next day, I mounted a horse on the morning of the 17th, in company with the governadore of Phara, and started for that place. We arrived in Phara the evening of the next 166 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. day. This perfect old gentleman, as I supposed him to be, asked me the morning after we reached there what I wanted. "Ten Indians for ten days," I replied. "All right, give me your money and I will call them up and pay them and tell them to start down to the mine and cut the brush good out of the trail." "How much money do you want?" I asked. "Seventy solas," he answered. I counted him out his money. The Indians to whom I suppose he had sent word to come soon appeared at the door of his house, where I saw him give each and every one of them some silver. They then went away. For sixteen long days I waited for the tools and supplies which Alvina had prom- ised to send me : "Manana." On the evening of that day two Indians with four ponies, packed, reached Phara, bringing also a letter from the mother of Alvina, sent to me, dated two days before, in which she told me that her son had left for Are- quipa that previous day and that as quickly as she could after his departure she had sent the two In- dians and four animals. She also said that the In- dians would go with me as far as they could with the ponies toward the mine. But the historical gold fields of Aporoma I was destined to see. The next morning I started. Aft- er traveling until 4 o'clock of the third day over an old trail of the Spanish and Incas, part of which was paved with great stone steps, I came to large hills, hundreds of feet in height, partly cut away by the ancients. At the foot of these were many paved ditches leading into a great flume, near which was a small tambo. Here my boy said our animals could go no further, and we would have to unload them, and he and the Indians would carry down to IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 167 the mine that night what part of the things they could. Then they would come back after the rest on the next morning. Accordingly we unpacked the ponies, turned them out to graze, stowed what things could not be car- ried that night away in the tambo, and were soon going down a hill toward a ravine which lay thou- sands of feet below. It was nearly dark when we reached the bottom, where we crossed a small creek, and after recrossing it below, where a tributary entered it, we walked a few hundred feet and came to a stone house with a thatched roof. We entered it and I found my In- dians seated on the ground floor with an old Bo- livian Indian who said that he was in charge of the mine. The ten Indians were preparing to return home the next day. "Why," said I, "You haven't done any work for me yet, and I paid you seventy solas." "We were told by the governadore," said the spokesman, "to work for you the next ten days and that we should start down the next day after he gave us the money, open the trail and that you would be along immediately. It is now eighteen days since we have left Phara, and we have waited for you until our provisions are all gone." Pike was no false prophet. Alvina had humbugged mc properly. I knew Jhe Indians were decidedly in the right ; that they could not work without something to eat; and that even if they had provisions, by the time they could reach Phara their contract would be doubly fulfilled. So when breakfast was over the next morning I told them to go home and in- structed the boy to take the two packers up to the tambo on the hill and bring down the rest of the 168 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. cargo, while I took the old Bolivian, with a batea and a bitch*, and started to make an inspection of the mine, which was in- every way as it had been represented to be by Silas to Hawley. It was apparently a dead river, with a canyon and a pool at its mouth, which in some period of the past had clogged with alluvial washings from a higher level of the mountain of which it was a part. Into the mouth of "this canyon, which was some forty feet or more from the stream which now flows past it, three tunnels had been driven toward each other, connecting together a short distance from their mouths, and making one long lead tunnel, which went into the mountain 140 steps. It then cut about the same distance across it in different directions. At the mouths of these tunnels the walls of the canyon could be distinctly seen about forty feet apart, and between them and the river the for- mation was solid bedrock, which lay at a height of perhaps five feet above the river's edge, at the stage of water in it then. After entering the main tunnel no bedrock was seen, either on its sides or on the floor, but on the contrary, the mouths of the shafts at its side began to appear and continued at intervals here and there all through the work. As these shafts were full of water, which could be utilized for washing the dirt taken from the sides of the tunnel, and as at the beginning of the rainy season of the year, a water power of at least fifty inches of water came pouring down over the hill, which could be carried to the mouth of the can- yon and thrown against the alluvial dirt in it at a fifty-foot pressure, and as a flume could be laid from the foot of it to the river, I concluded to pro- *A bitch in this sense 'means a small can of grease with a wick in it. one end 'of which rests on the top end of the can and is lighted. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 169 spect the mine with a view of ascertaining its value as a hydraulic proposition. That day at noon the rest of my supplies reached me. The two Indians packers started back for Crucero, and I, with the boy and old Bolivian In- dian began making a rocker, which we finished the next day, and went to work in the tunnel, I running the rocker and they bringing me the dirt in buckets, even full. All three of us counted the number of buckets brought with great care. That evening at camp I filled a bucket even full of fine gravel, emptied it into a small box, leveled it up even by measuring with my rule from the top, then com- puted the number of cubic inches it contained, which I divided into the number of cubic inches in a cubic yard, and found that thirteen bucketfuls made one cubic yard. I was at the mine fourteen days, two of which I occupied my time principally with making the rocker ; two being Sunday, I rested ; two other days I was rocking dirt brought me by my men from different elevations on the hill, on which the nozzle if hydraulics were used would be turned first. Everywhere throughout the tunnel the yield was nearly the same, being $5 to the cubic yard. The roof of the tunnel was a stratum of sediment, which in one place, where it had broken through, was about four feet thick. From above this spot some gravel had broken loose and fallen to the floor, where it lay on top of the sediment which had fallen from beneath it. This I also washed with the hope of getting a return of at least 16 cents per yard from it. It contained exactly three cubic yards, and yielded the same magnificent returns as the rest, $5 per cubic yard. "That gravel has been salted on me, sure," I 170 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. thought to myself, and, turning to Indian and boy, as it was nearly night, I said : "You fellows go to camp and get supper. I will be there in a few minutes." They both picked up their bitches and started out of the mine. When they were gone I picked up several small boulders and threw them with all my strength, one after the other, up against the exposed gravel above the broken space in the sedimental roof. Each time one of them struck, several bateas erf dirt dropped to the floor, which I carefully panned in one of Alvina's shafts. All con- tained gold on the average of about 4 cents to the pan, which yield convinced me that no salting had been done. The two days during which I worked on the out- side of the mine I set my rocker at the edge of the river. The hill yielded different amounts, from 16 cents per cubic yard at the highest point from which my men brought the dirt, perhaps 100 feet above the water's edge, up to $5 below the stratum of sedi- ment, which stratum contained nothing. What perplexed me was why the Spaniards had not brought the water on to the top of it from two waterfalls which I had noticed as I came down to it. They were on the same mountain in which it lay. And this mystery I determined to solve on my way home. The gold I cleaned up from each setting of the rocker and carefully wrapped in a fine cloth, which I tore from the lining of my coat, lashed it with thread, wrote on a piece of paper the locality in the mine from which it came, folded it around the gold and put it in a pocket. The different distances I cared to know I ascertained by stepping and count- ing my steps to myself. The approximate depths of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 171 the different shafts I learned by apparently uncon- cernedly throwing pebbles into them and noticing the time required for the bubbles caused thereby to rise to the surface. Indeed, so carefully had I con- cealed my excitement and appeared unconcerned that the old Indian, a man of undoubted cunning, and who watched me closely, could come to no con- clusion in his own mind as to what I thought about it when I had finished. Turning to me in an im- patient manner the day I left, he asked me (in Spanish) : "What do you say; does it please you or not?" I told him that there was gold in it, but, shaking my head as though I were discouraged with it, said: "But it needs too much money to get it out." When he heard this he said no more. On the evening of the fourteenth day of my stay at the mine, when we went to camp we found there two Indians sent by the mother of Alvina to pack our supplies to Phara, and as we were almost out of provisions we started at noon the next day for Crucero, with the intention of camping that night in the tambo in which we had left our provisions on our way to the mine, leaving the tools behind. On the trail up the hill that afternoon I was some dist- ance ahead of the boy and the Indians, when I sat down on a rock, placed my elbows on my knees, rested my face on my hands, and looked through my fingers at the mountain in which the mine lay, with the object of tracing, as near as possible, the probable grade line of a ditch from a point above the mine to the two water falls, which I could now plainly see. Imagine my surprise when I distinctly saw through the scattering trees the grade line of a ditch which the Spanish had already built from a point above the mine to within a quarter of a mile of the first one, where it met with an almost per- 172 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. pendicular wall of bedrock which extended to the falls. "Es muy facil" (It is easy to operate), said a voice at my elbow, and, looking around, I saw that my boy had caught up with me and was standing panting with the exertion of his hurry. I then got up and we started again. We camped that night in the tambo in the great hydraulic claim, and reached Phara in two days. Here the boy and I were supplied with horses by a lady, and we started for Crucero, reaching there in two days more. The mother of Alvina gave me a horse and an Indian, with which I reached Pucara the third day from Crucero. I then took the train the next afternoon for Juliaca, where I and my dog arrived at night. It would be hard to give a bad report on this property. The next day I met Hawley in his of- fice, gave him the pocketbook full of gold, de- scribed the mine and the best way of working it, and then told him that it could be put on a paying basis in the rainy season by merely stringing out a hose to the nearest water power which came into the creek passing the mouths of the tunnels just 200 feet above them. In the dry season the lower levels, which were evidently rich, could be worked by set- ting a wheel in the creek at the mouths of the tun- nels and gearing the power derived from it by a system of grooved pulleys and rope belting to a China pump, which could be set in any of the shafts which it might be desirable to drain. I told him how with the money taken out of the mine in this way, the old Spanish ditch might be re- opened as far as it was built and a flume laid on iron braces held to the mountain side by bolts driven in drill holes, filled with either brimstone or IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 173 cement, to the nearest water fall, its projected ter- minus. The water acquired in this way could be utilized, first for hydraulicking off the dirt above the level of the tunnel, after which the piping through which it was brought could be coupled to a hydraulic elevator with which the levels below the tunnels could be worked high and dry. For my services I told him that I would charge two hun- dred solas. He immediately arose from his seat, went to" his open safe, got two packages of silver, brought them back, laid them down on the table in front of me and said: "Well, there is your money." We soon came to terms. "Now what arrange- ments can McQuestion and I make with you?" he asked. "We've got to have you to take charge there. I'll tell you what we thought of giving you. We thought of giving you the same interest in it as we held ourselves — that is, we will put up all the money needed to put the mine on a paying basis, give each of the owners a one-sixth interest and each of us then take a one-sixth interest, or, in other words, that we have a one-sixth interest in it all around. How does that suit you ?" "All right, but I'll take charge of the work on these conditions and on no other. First, that I have my own pack animals." "You shall have them," he interrupted. "And second, that I have a man with me who can speak the English language, even if I have to divide my interest with him to get him to go with me. Then I think I can put that mine on a paying basis with a few thousand solas." "Who do you want?" he asked. "There's only one I can get, and that's Disboe.* Pike can't cross and recross that summit on account •An American, a married man then living in Puno. 174 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. of a complaint of the liver. Disboe isn't much of a man, I admit. He is crazy after that woman of his, but he isn't crazy enough after her to make a living for her, and he is a man of very little intelligence, but I'll draw up a contract with him by which he will either do his work on the property or lose his share in it." But we did not agree long. "All right," said Hawley. "I'll send him word today to come down here and bring his wife with him, and he can help you building those boats while I deal with Silas." "In dealing with Silas," said I, "don't give him any idea of how the mine can be worked, nor of the amount of money needed to put it on a paying basis. Simply agree to put it in operation within six months after the signing of the contract. Otherwise you will find him hard to deal with." "Oh," said Hawley, in a tone of contempt, as he threw his head in the air, "when a man's sharp it's easy enough to deal with these people." "Yes," said I, to myself, "I've done enough busi- ness with you, to know you are one of the men that's sharp," but I said nothing to him. After writing out a contract which we considered fair for us all, and getting it ready to sign, I left his office. That afternoon I was walking leisurely across the Plaza, when I heard my name called in Hawley's voice, and, looking toward his office, saw him stand- ing in the door. He was beckoning me to ap- proach. After noticing that I saw him, he turned and went into the office, and I walked over and en- tered the office, where I sat down beside him. "I called Carlosf in," he began the conversation, "and told him everything you said about that mine, fCarlos was an Italian merchant, a member of the firm of Andreas Rattl & Co. IN the; FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 175 and told him you would not act until you saw 16,000 solas in front of you on a table." "Carlos?" said I; "you mean Silas, don't you?" "No, I mean Carlos, and he says I am making Silas a fair offer and he has got to take it." "Why, what's Carlos got to do with Silas," I asked, "or with the mine, either?" "Silas has to do as Carlos says. He is under ob- ligations to him." "And how about the merchant in Arequipa and Alvina?" "Well, now, look here," said Hawley, flushing up, "you remember that I am different from you. I have a family and have to stay here, and you are foot-loose and free and can go any time you want to go. I am not going to tell these people a lot of lies." "You don't need to talk honor to me," said I, in- terrupting him. "That's just what has kept me poor. What have you done already but told a lie? You know that it won't take any 16,000 solas to open up that property. You have made a proper mess, of it now." As I concluded these sentences, I walked out of the office. From this moment our attitude toward each other changed. We kept away from each other as much as possible. Shortly afterward Hawley went to Arequipa, and while there got drunk and told every- body about the rich property he was going to get, in what shape it lay, how he was going to work it and all about it. In the meantime Alec Gibson had returned from the Carabaya country. He had adopted my plans throughout, had completed his work, which was a success, and had just begun sluicing when a great 176 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. rain fell and the stream in which he was working rose to an unusual height. His dam was swept away, thus delaying his work until another year, but he gave me all the credit for the success of the operation (notwithstanding the accident of the flood) which in addition to what Hawley had said about me when he was drunk, made my name among the business men of Arequipa a household word. Carlos also scattered the information Hawley had given him far and wide. "Un buen hombre — un in- geniero grande. Hombre muy inteligente,"^ were the phrases I heard alike from cholos and caballeros when they stopped to look at me as I passed them on the street. Disboe came from Puno, bringing his wife with him, and after weeks of waiting, during which time Hawley was trying to deal with Silas, the lumber came for the boats and we began their construc- tion. Hawley came around us seldom and stayed but a short time. "He is going to beat us out of it yet," Disboe said one da^'. "Out of what?" I asked in surprise. "Why, out of our interest in the mine. You see if he don't." "Well, where were you raised, anyway? That mine belongs to three Peruvians, and neither you nor I have any interest in it." "If you knew Hawley as well as I do, you would know that he is a man who would do anything." "Well, I will have to be very well acquainted with him before I would consider him capable of swind- ling me out of property which I never owned." We finished the boats, for which Hawley paid me JA fine man. A great engineer. A man of fine intelligence. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 177 my price. I paid Disboe" for his work and was pre- paring to go to Arequipa with a view of interesting Pool in the Charumchy again, when McQuestion came to my room, saying that Silas had now got full power of attorney from his partners in the mine that day, and we would all go to Puno the next day on the hand car and sign the contract before a notary public. On the following morning I could not get near Hawley. Every time I started toward him, he walked hastily away from me, until 9 o'clock, when I got him cornered. "Mr. Hawley, will we get started before break- fast?" I asked him. "I don't know whether we will or not," he snap- pishly replied. "Well, I don't care whether we go at all or not," was my curt answer, as I wheeled on my heel and walked away. But when breakfast was ready I walked into the hotel, ate, and when I had finished walked out into the plaza, where I met McQuestion, who told me that they were all over in Hawley's office waiting for me, and the hand car was on the track. I went over to the office with McQuestion, and we entered together, where we found Hawley, Disboe and Silas standing, apparently waiting for us. Hawley held in his hand the unsigned contract which he and I had written nearly three months be- fore. "I want you men (meaning Disboe and I) to sign a contract to the effect that you will manage this property in such a manner that it will be profitable to the company." "That wouldn't be a hard contract to fulfill, Mr. Hawley," said I, "on such a mine as that ; but I will 178 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. sign the contract which you have in your hand, which reads that I agree to manage the property to the best of my ability. That is the contract which I shall sign and not any other. To tell you the truth, I am not very particular whether I sign a contract with you or not." "Well, I must insist on it," he now roared, loud enough to be heard a block away. "Well, I most positively refuse to do it," I yelled at the top of my voice. With this he tore the contract into a hundred pieces, while Manuel Silas, not understanding a word we said, looked on in astonishment. I im- mediately left the office in disgust. In less than twenty minutes after Hawley had torn up the contract I heard him talking and laugh- ing in the billiard room of the hotel, and in a few minutes more, he came to the door of my room and asked me to come and have a game of billiards, say- ing that Disboe was in there and they wanted a four-handed game, but his invitation I declined. "Didn't I tell you so," said Disboe that evening. "Hawley intended all the time to beat you. The moment you left the office today, he turned to Silas, laughingly, and said : 'Don't pay any attention to this. McQuestion and I will go up with you to- morrow and sign the contract.' In the billiard room this afternoon, h~e said : 'I just thought I would show him how easily I could beat him, if I only took a notion to do it.' I tell you, Agle, when you have swindled as many men out of jobs as Hawley has, right on this road in the last sixteen years, you will know more than you do now." "When I beat a poor working man out of his job," said I slowly, "and deprive him and his family of a IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 179 livelihood, I will go home where I live, get down on my knees, repent of my sins and die." "You have killed yourself in this country now. He won't let you do anything more in it. He said this afternoon : 'Yes, and if he starts to go back to the Beni country, I'll stop him there.' " "He did?" said I, jumping to my feet. •'Yes." "Well, tomorrow morning, the first thing I do, after breakfast, will be to take my new Colt's re- volver over to a vise in the engine shed, take a file and cut it off so that I can carry it, and if that man ever says the word 'stop' to me, there's no two to one but I don't stop him from beating any more poor men out of their jobs." The next day Hawley, McQuestion and Silas started for Puno on a hand car. I fixed my revolver so I could carry it between my stomach and pants and took my dog to the native family who had raised him and made arrangements with them to keep him. The next morning when the train pulled into the station I was standing on the platform, talking with Disboe, with a ticket for Arequipa in my pocket. McQuestion, Hawley and Silas stepped off, and upon McQuestion seeing us, walked up to us and said: "Good morning." "Good morning," said Disboe. I made no reply. He looked at me as if surprised for a moment, then walking closer, asked quietly "Are you going to Arequipa today?" I wheeled half way around, turn- ing my back toward him. He then went to where Hawley was standing talking to Silas, and after speaking a few words with him, they both boarded the train, which was now pulling out, while I did the same, but took a seat in another car, the one directly ahead of the one in which they were seated X80 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. At the first place where the train stopped for water, I stepped off the rear platform of the car and was walking up the steps going aboard again, when Hawley opened the door of his car and said "Good morning," in a loud, pleasant voice, to which I paid no attention. He then said : "Agle, do you know whether Norris* came up last night?" At this I stopped, turned toward him and said in words, taking a second for each to be spoken : "I don't care to speak to you at all, Mr. Hawley." "No-o-o !" said he, as if surprised. "No," said I, raising my voice to its fullest height " — you, no !" "Oh, well, all right, then," he answered as he drew his head back into the car and closed the door. At the station where we ate breakfast he came into the dining room after I was seated and took a seat directly opposite me at the table, with what I at first supposed to be an intention of picking a row with me. I therefore unbuttoned the lower buttons of my vest, so as to make a sure grab for my re- volver in case I wanted it. I soon saw, however, that he had no> notion of starting any trouble. He had not been seated very long when I concluded that he had other troubles. His face, which was cheer- ful when he stepped from the train at Juliaca, now wore a look of despondency. He never ate a bit of breakfast, merely supping a little of his coffee, and it soon became evident to me that he had begun to realize that he had played one of his dirty tricks once too often. Now that he had the mine, it would be useless to him without a miner. Whatever were his feelings, he soon got up, walked out on the plat- form, where he was joined by McQuestion, and when the train started I saw them no more. *Norris was the head contractor on the road. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 181 CHAPTER VIII. "Good morning, Mr. Pool," said I, as I entered his office the next morning. "Have you heard of the latest fad in fraud?" "No; what's that?" he asked, as he looked at me curiously. "Why, to swindle a man out of property which he never owned." "To swindle a man out of property he never owned?" he repeated, as though he must have mis- understood me. "Did you say that ?" "Yes ; that's what I said." "What," he exclaimed. "That's impossible." "It's been done just the same." "Where and when?" "In Juliaca, the other day." "Who owned the property?" "Three Peruvian gentlemen." "And who was beaten out of it?" "I was, by Hawley, and he did it so slick he almost made me believe that I really owned it." I then told him the whole transaction between Hawley and myself, beginning with our conversa- tion about the mine after my return from the Beni and ending with the tearing up of the unsigned con- tract. The great merchant listened with breathless in- terest until the sounds of the last words died away. Then, throwing back his head with a drawing breath, said : "Hawley's famous for that." "Infamous for that, you mean, don't you?" "Well, yes; that would be a more proper name 182 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. for it," he said. "Oh, I tell you," he continued, "there is the hardest class of men among the for- eigners here in this country to do any business with that I ever met in my life. I am an Englishman, but I must admit that I am ashamed of most of my countrymen here in South America. And you are an American and you see yourself already what some of your countrymen here are. Take Hawley, for one. That man has played such little tricks as that with every man with whom he has had any dealings ever since I have known of him, but I always thought if he started any of his nonsense with you that you would not stand it." "Why don't you get possession of the Charu- machy?" I asked. "You paid out over one thous- and solas of your own hard-earned money, and I did a lot of hard work to discover, or rather, to be shown that property. There is one spot in it which I know to be immensely rich. It has been pros- pected, but not worked, by the Spanish, because there is not even a decent foot trail to it. The probabilities are that there are other spots in it just as rich as the one at which the Indian and I brought up the gold on the shovel from between the bould- ers, and what's the sense of leaving it lying there. If you don't want to work it let it lay there for a few years until the excitement starts over the gold in this country. Then the mining in it can be done in a practical way. For my part, I don't care whether you work it or not, so long as 3^011 get possession of it, because I would like to go over into the Beni country for a year or two. I want to introduce the bateaux on the rapids of the Madeira, and stop the loss of life and property that occurs there on account of the -washtubs of boats they are using there and steering them with a rudder." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 183 "All right, I will go into it," said he. "Very well," said I, "there is one thing I will have to have with me, in order to go to Sandia and get possession of that property according to law. That is a man who understands Spanish well enough to do business in it, so that we will have to take a third party in with us. Now, who will it be?" 'Pike," said he. "He is the only man whom I know that I would have, and that we can get, and I know that you will be satisfied with him." "What terms shall we give him?" "Make him a full partner; let him and me pay all the expense of getting possession of the mine and the semi-annual dues thereon ; and let each of us have an equal interest all around." "All right," said I. "I will go and see him and lay the plan before him. We don't want to go out there before the rainy season is over and that will be one month yet. So that we will have plenty of time to talk it over." Here begins a strange experience. I took din- ner with Pool that day, at which he told me that a German merchant, Frederick Clawsen by name, who had established the house of Braillard & Co., in the rubber industry on the Beni, and had been in charge of it there for sixteen years, had, the previous spring, left there, gone to New York, married a German-American lady, brought his wife to Are- quipa to live, and was now the head of that house in the city. He also said that Patrick Gibson had been sent by that house to the Beni to take charge of all their interests there for a term of three years. The next day I called on Mr. Clawsen at his of- fice. He was a handsome, wellbuilt man, with a genial, open countenance, but had a large lump on the side of his forehead, which looked like a boil 184 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. nearly ready to open. When I told him who I was and where I had been the summer before, he offered me a chair and asked me to sit down. "Did you meet my agent there in Reyes?" he asked pleasantly. "I stopped with him," I said, "when I wasn't en- gaged in calling " "On the ladies?" he interrupted. "Well, of course, you know," I said, dryly, "the ladies have to have some attention." "And so I suppose you gave them all you could?" "Yes, I came away from Reyes with a clear con- science in that respect." After a few more jokes we settled ourselves down to a more serious conversation, in which I asked him why he hadn't some years ago, gone to Eastern Canada, or our northern lumber regions of the states and taken down some "shanty boys" and in- troduced the bateaux on the rapids of the Madeira and on the waters of the Beni, thus saving all that loss of life and property that had occurred there for the last sixteen years. I concluded by saying, "As near as I can learn that old wash-tub that you have been using there has kept you all working for your board and clothes, in addition to the thousands of widows and orphans that have been made." "Bateaux? What's that?" he exclaimed. "Can it be possible" said I, "that after being en- gaged for sixteen years in boating in such waters as the bateaux alone is adapted to, that you don't even know what it is." "Never heard of it before in my life," said he, still surprised. "Well, then, I will tell you what it is," said I, "It's a long, flat-bottom, light built, double-ended limber boat, with a long raking bow and stern-post, and it IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 185 is steered with a paddle, if small and with a sweep oar, if large, say, of over two tons burden. "Well, if it's limber I should think it would not be safe," he interrupted. "That's just what makes it safe," said I. "I saw several of the boats you are using when I was at the Port of Reyes, and the}' are too heavy to have any life or energy on water, and will bury them- selves in a swell which a bateaux wouldn't know was there. Macaulay illustrated this nicely in the clos- ing words of his famous pen picture of Charles II, of England, when he said : 'Levity and apathy were his security. He resembled one of those light In- dian boats, which are safe because they are pliant, which yield to the impact of every wave, and which therefore bound with safety through a surf, in which a vessel ribbed with heart of oak would in- evitably perish.' " "I see that you have read as well as traveled," said he. "But if it's light, won't it break when it strikes a rock quicker than as if it were heavy?" "Yes, if you hit the rock broadside ; but its light- ness and pliancy united give it such energy that, with its powerful steering gear, there is no occasion for striking a rock broadside, because a rock which comes near enough to the surface in rapids to be struck by a bateaux is always surrounded by foam and can be seen. The bateaux handles like a fish. If you are approaching a rock with it and find that you are bound to strike it, strike it bow on, and your boat will either slide up over it or slide up on it, in which case a few powerful sweeps with the stern oar will throw her stern around enough for the cur- rent to catch her and throw her stern end down the stream. It will then loosen and float off down 186 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. stream, stern first, but in a second or two can be turned. "That boat of yours over there on the Beni isn't safe anywhere, except on a canal where the current doesn't run more than, say, two miles an hour." "And where did you ever see the bateaux used?" "I first saw it used/' said I, "on the waters of the Chippewa river in Wisconsin ; then on the waters of the upper Yellowstone and Missouri rivers in Montana, and afterwards very extensively on the upper Columbia river in British Columbia the sum- mer we built the Canadian Pacific railroad down Kicking Horse pass, along the Columbia to the Beaver, and up that creek to the Selkirk mountains. It rained so hard in that locality that year that the contractors could get their supplies down the rivers in no other way except by taking them down in bateaux. I learned to build and use the bateaux in the Yukon country when we explored its rivers for surface-bearing bars from 1886 to 1890." "Then you can build the boat yourself," he said, looking at me in astonishment. "I have built dozens of them, some for myself and some for other miners who were not handy with carpenter tools." "Can't I make some kind of a contract with you to go over there and introduce them into the coun- try?" "Just what I came here to see you about," said I, "but I can't go for a while yet, and in the meantime, if you want to know anything more about the bateaux, go and talk to Victor H. McCord (the superintendent of the Arequipa, M. & C. railroad) or Dr. Buckliu, a dentist. Those men have both been lumbermen, and both have worked in the bateaux when young." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 187 'I have met both the gentlemen," he interrupted. "There are no other Americans in this city who have had any experience in the United States before they came here other than in railway operation, ex- cepting Pike, and he hasn't been in the Northern lumbering countries, where bateaux are required and used. "Another word about the boat you are using on the Beni. As I said before, it steers with a rudder, Now when a boat is being steered with a rudder, it can be turned when moving in the water by throw- ing the rudder to either side, only in proportion to the speed, not that she is moving, but to the speed past the current that she is moving. As the water in rapids generally runs at a current of about fifteen miles per hour, in order to give a boat steered with a rudder sufficient speed past the current to make her answer the rudder it would be necessary to give her at least a speed of twenty miles when running the rapids, or such a speed as would render it im- possible to manage her. With a boat steered with a stern oar the case is different. Here speed enough to merely pass the current is all that is necessary. That is the reason why the sweep oar and not the rudder is always used by men in boats when en- gaged in such dangerous work as running rapids, harpooning whales or in the life-saving service." With these words I rose from my seat, bade him good day and was walking out of the office when I heard him call : "Now don't go back on me." "Certainly not," said I, turning toward him again. Pike, as may be imagined, took up the proposi- tion which Pool and I made him, at once, but kept on his locomotive until the time came to begin making preparations for the trip. On one of his 188 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. trips to Puno he had met Hawley, and had engaged with him in a conversation about me, of which he gave me the fufl text on his return. "Hawley came around to the locomotive yester- day in Juliaca," said he, "and handed me a letter, asking me at the same time if I would give it to the station-master at Puno. I knew very well when he handed it to me that it was only an excuse to get into a conversation about you. The first thing he said, after I told him I would deliver the letter, was : 'How's poor, old Agle getting along down there?' 'All right,' said I. 'He is a man who will get along all right most anywhere. What was the trouble between you and him?' " 'Why,' said he, 'McQuestion and I said to our- selves, "now we will just have a little fun with the boys. We will beat them out of their interest in the mine, and then in a few days put them in pos- session of their shares," but Agle got mad and won't speak to us at all now.' " 'Why, Agle tells me that he never had any in- terest in the mine,' said I. 'He says that he went out and examined it on a salary, and that he told you before he went that he wouldn't have an interest in it — that he would go only on salary and that you agreed to pay him a salary. When he came back and turned in his bill you paid it in full without a grumble.' " "What did he say to that?" I interrupted. "Why he opened his eyes and stared at me for a few moments and then turned and walked away as though he were shot out of a gun." Once when I met Pike after a run to Puno he had a different story to tell me. It was that my bosom friend was dead. "You are just the man in Are- quipa above all others whom I hate to meet today." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 189 "Why?" I asked in surprise. "Because I have bad news for you. There has been a death in your family." "I have no family. What are you talking about?" "Your dog is dead." "Dead?" I gasped. "Who killed him?" "The soldiers poisoned him. You know that's the way they collect dog tax in this country," explained Pike. "They leave poisoned meat around on the streets of a town or city every once in so often, and any dog that happens to eat a piece of it dies. That's the reason why I never tried to keep a dog. It's im- possible unless you keep them tied up all the time, and a man hates to do that, you know." At first I thought my heart would break at the loss of my fearless friend, to whom I had become so deeply attached and for whom I had found so many uses — body guard, night watchman, keeper of my supplies, -and substitute for blankets when short of them, but I gradually got over it and before long when I thought of him at all I remembered him only as the central figure in the comical incidents that took place on my trip to the Beni and Aporoma countries. Hawley and McQuestion forged ahead. They had got possession of the mine from Silas — that is, a one-half interest in it — on condition that they put it on a paying basis within a period of six months after the contract between them was signed, and by the payment of the sum of 2,000 solas in cash. After making every effort to adjust their difficulty with me, and finding it useless, they signed a one-third of their interest in the property over to Disboe, on condition that he take charge of the operation of it. a transaction with which I was highly pleased, be- cause now, since I had become thoroughly acquaint- 190 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZaRRO. ed with Disboe, I knew that if there was in the world one man more unfitted for the work than another he was the man. We did the same. The first day in April came, and Pool, Pike and I began making preparations. We made a thorough examination of the law and found that a placer claim could be taken up to the size of 40,000 square metres(39. 37 American inches). It could be taken any length or any breadth so long as the four corners were square; that the discoverer was allowed to locate three claims; that any per- son not a discoverer was allowed to locate two, and that locations could be made by any one person for another by a power of attorney. We learned that the first step necessary to be taken in the acquirement of title to mining property in Peru was to go to the capital of the province in which the property is situated, make an application for it before an attorney, in which application should be set forth the location of the mine, etc. This should be taken at once to the office of the judge, whose duty it was to note in his books the locality of the mine, the name of the applicant, a pd the day, hour and moment when the application reached his office. Then he should write out two notices of each claim in which should be set forth the name of the locator, the date of location, the location of the property denounced with an order calling on any person to whom such denouncement might be deemed to trespass, to come forward with- in a certain time and make known his or her objec- tions. One of these notices should be posted on the door of the church in the capital of the province, and the other on the door of the church in the capital of the district in which the property lav. They should remain there for three success)' ve Sun- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARKO. 191 days, when if no reasonable objection to the trans- action had been taken by any person, and before the end of forty days from the date of the denounce- ment, the judge of the province and an engineer ap- pointed by him must be taken by the locators to the claims, which should be measured by the engineer, and the locators put in possession of them by the judge (which involves a short ceremony, in which a shovel of dirt must be dug up by the locator) in the presence of two witnesses. Then, according to the law, the engineer is bound to make a map of the property, sign it and deliver it to the locator, and the judge to write for him his deeds, sign them and deliver them to the locator on the spot. In addition to this, both engineer and judge are bound to furnish the locator duplicates of the papers and maps on his return to the capital of the pro- vince. Then the locator should send a copy of both deeds and maps to the department of mines in Lima, with an entry fee and the- semi- annual dues thereon for six months, where they should be entered in "The Pardon de Minas," a book issued by the department of mines every six months, in which is set forth with great accuracy, all the different mines owned in the republic and by whom. After this, the locator should be sent a receipt for the money, which secures the title to his property for the ensuing six months, and, by the renewal of the payment of the semi-annual dues, secures his title to it as long as the dues are paid. No assessment work is neces- sary. Pike began to have apprehensions, as the hour ap- proached for our departure, that he wouldn't be able to cross the summit. "1 have tried to get over into those gold fields so often, and have had to be 192 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. brought back every time," he said, "that I have lost all confidence in myself." "I will get you across," I replied, "if you will only do as I tell you. Three days before we start, you throw away that rhubarb you have been taking for your liver, and go to a good doctor and tell him to give you a dose of calomel. I will send down to Mollendo for a cap, coat and pants of water-proof clothing for each of us, and I'll bet we will make the riffle." Of course we could not have our own horses. This was the only one point upon which we disagreed. I wanted to buy in Arequipa what ponies we need- ed, pack our supplies on them, send them with cholos, who could also be our witnesses, to Pucara, while we went to that place by rail, where we could meet them and go on. To this proposition, Pike wouldn't listen a moment, saying that he had a friend living near Pucara, from whom he could get all the horses he wanted, take them where he wished and keep them as long as he liked. "Well," said I, "that might work in some places, but I know, and you ought to, that it can't be done in this country." "I am not going to decide this question between you," said Pool, when we had both agreed to lay the question before him, "but I am going to wait until you come back and then see which one was right." "I'll tell you what I will do about it," said Pike. "I'll telegraph to my friend and find out about it." So seating himself at Pool's desk, he wrote a message, which was as follows : "Arequipa, April 3, 1893. "Don Juan Ramus, Pucara: Can I get what IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 193 horses I need from you for the summer to take into the province of Sandia? "FRANCISCO VICTOR PIKE." After reading it, I handed it to Mr. Pool, who im- mediately rang for a servant and dispatched the message. The next day when we three met at Pool's office, I saw Pike's eyes twinkle as he reached in his pocket, drew out of it a folded tele- gram, which he handed to me, at the same time patting me on the shoulder and saying : "What have you got to say now? Read that." After reading the message, which was this : "Francisco Victor Pike, Arequipa; Por Su puesto (Signed) Juan Ramus. ("Of course,") I handed it back to him, saying : "Now you have a telegram from him. The next thing is to :jet the horses." April 5, found us on the train bound for Pucara, with every appliance that was supposed we might need in locating the property. Pike was the legal talent of the party with power of attorney from Pool to locate for him. We took with us such pro- visions as we feared we would be unable to get in the town of Sandia. We reached Juliaca that evening, where Pike telegraphed to his friend to have two pack and two saddle horses for us at Pucara station the following day. Here we remained for the night, taking the train on the Cuzco branch, the next morning, and arriving at Pucara at noon. We found no horses in waiting for us. "It's beginning early," said I to Pike, as I walked away from him to conceal my disgust. After waiting at the station for' perhaps an hour, we walked across the pampa to the town, a distance of nearly a mile, and entered the house of the Gov- ernadore, by whom we were entertained until about — 7 194 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 4 o'clock, when two cholos entered the room in which we were sitting and told us that they had been sent by Ramus with four horses for us. "Told you it would be all right, didn't I?" said Pike, jumping to his feet. I got up also and we went out with the cholos to where they had hitched the two saddle horses (having left the two pack animals at the station. )We mounted the horses and rode over to the station, while the cholos followed on foot. At the depot the two pack horses were loaded with our stuff, and after an hour's riding on the Sandia road, we found ourselves dismounting in the door yard of Pike's friend. The man was at the time we entered the yard engaged in weigh- ing wool. He greeted us most cordially, invited us into his house, treated us to wine, and then we three sat down to do business. "What are you going to charge me, Senor Don Juan, a month for four horses?" asked Pike. "Oh, I can't let them go for more than a week," was his dear friend's reply, as he shook his head. "Why, I telegraphed you and asked you if I could get them for the summer, and you answered me, 'Of course.' " "I didn't understand the telegram that way at all," Ramus replied. At this I became completely overcome with dis- gust and left Pike to remonstrate with him, which he continued to do until supper. It was no use. He would let his horses go to the town of Sandia, a journey o'f two and a half clays, but no further, and the cheapest we could get four of them was for forty solas. After supper we were shown to our room, where our stuff had already been taken, and we had scarcely bade our host good night, and closed the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 195 door behind us when I turned to Pike and said in a quiet manner: "Say, tell me honestly, where do you fellows — I mean you who have lived down in this country for a while — where do your brains lie. There's none in your head. Surely they must lie somewhere lower down, if you have any at all." "Agle, I guess you're right," he replied, in a dis- gusted tone, as he shook his head. "Here I've lived long enough among these people to speak both the Spanish and Indian languages perfectly, and I find out this evening that you have forgotten more about them than I ever knew. Here we are utterly at the mercy of this man for transportation, and when we reach Sandia we shall be utterly at the mercy of the Governadore for animals and witnesses to go with us down to the claim, after we have denounced it ; and if I had let you have your own way we could have snapped our fingers at them all, because then we should have had nobody to deal with, excepting trie judge, lawyer and engineer, and they want our money." "Well, it's done now," said I. "Don't get dis- couraged ; we shall pull through some way." We said no more on that subject, but went to bed, and when morning came Pike paid his friend the forty solas. We had finished our coffee, tied our oilskin clothing behind our saddles, which were already on our horses, and were standing watching our cholos pack up our pack horses, when an Indian rode up to the gate on a small bay pony, which weighed about 800 pounds, and stopped. I walked up to Pike and asked : "Do you feel disposed to take orders from me this morning?" "Yesr" he answered. "I will go and drown my- self if you tell me to." 196 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Then go and buy that pony from the Indian who has just come up there." He walked to where the Indian was sitting on the pony, and after talking to him a moment or two the Indian jumped off the pony and handed the bridle reins to Pike, who led the pony up to me and handed me the reins, saying: "Hold this pony a minute until I pay the Indian for him. I have bought him for sixteen solas." After Pike paid the Indian we started on the road for Sandia with one cholo, who had been sent with us to bring back the horses and whom we told to ride our pony. But this trouble soon passed away. As our horses were lightly loaded we went on a trot all day, and reached a shepherd's ranch near the sum- mit at night. The next morning we were in the saddle bright and early with our oilskin clothing on, and crossed the summit in a terrific snowstorm about 10 o'clock, but feeling warm and comfortable. "Say, what will you take to adopt and raise me?" asked Pike, when he realized that we had passed the summit and that he was all right. "Well, I am not running a nursery just at present, and .besides, it's rather late in the day to discuss that question," I answered, laughingly. "I have found out within the last few days," Pike answered, "that I need a guardian, and I will try and make arrangements to get one when I get back to Arequipa." We botli laughed heartily at this and then rode on. That night we reached Cuyo-Cuyo, and the next day at 4 o'clock rode into the public square of Sandia, where to my delight I met my old friend, the former governadore of Phara, now governadore of Sandia. I introduced Pike to him. His first ques- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 197 tion after our first salutations were over was in re- gard to Brick. I told him about Brick's death and how he had died, and he seemed quite sorry to hear it. After exchanging a few remarks with him, in which he invited us to come to his home and see him, we went to the house of a merchant whom Pike knew, and with whom we stopped while in Sandia Here other trouble began. We had hardly got our cargo in the room in which we were to stop and seated ourselves, when Pike turned to me, saying: "So that's your dear old friend ?" "Yes ; 'don't you think him a nice old gentleman ?" "Yes, he knows how to soft-soap you all right enough. What does he care for you or your dog? We better look out or that old devil will humbug us completely before we get out of this yet. I have seen too many like him in this country." These words of Pike aroused my suspicions, and I made up my mind that I would not only watch the governadore, but watch him closely. That evening we called on Leonidas Licaris, the only lawyer in the place, and to whom we had a letter of introduction from Mr. Pool. We made a contract in writing with him to do all our legal work for us for ioo solas part of which we paid in advance. We left him with instructions from him to call at his office the next day at II o'clock. At the appointed hour we stepped into his office and found him there waiting for us. Pike laid the loca- tion of the property before him as he wrote it down on paper. I noticed a row of men, among whom was my "old friend," standing in front of an open door of the office, and, suspecting that they were there tor no good purpose, walked out and began talking to them in tones loud enough to drown the sounds of 198 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. Pike's and Licaris' voice. In a few moments my "dear old friend" raised his hand, beckoning me to follow him, and led the way to the center of the plaza, when he turned to me and said in a low voice : "Are you denouncing some mining property today?" "Yes," said I, "but what's that to you ?" "Do you want any money ?" he next inquired. "What are you asking me that for?" said I. "You have none. I am denouncing property today which I discovered two years ago, when I was sent into the Sandia country by Mr. Pool, and it's none of your business one way or the other." With this I turned and left him standing in the plaza and went back to the office, where I shouted at the top of my voice : "Say, Pike, there's a whole mob of these fellows out here only waiting to catch the name of that creek, so that they can fill it into applications they have already made out. Now, if you can't tell them plain enough in Spanish to get out of this I'll do it in English 'cuss words' so that they will plainly understand it." Pike told the lawyer what I said. Licaris rose from his seat and went to the door and told them gently that this was a private place and that there was private business being transacted today. They then walked away and Licaris shut the door and re- turned to the work. When the applications were made out I looked them over, and, as little as I at that time understood Spanish writing, I soon saw that there were no two of them alike in form, and that they were all three wrong. After calling Pike's attention to it, he pointed it out to Licaris, saying : "Doctor, we are paying you . for doing this work, and we expect you to do' it right." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 199 Licaris corrected all the mistakes, and then we three went to the office of the judge together, where that official made the proper note of them and our applications were filed. But the next thing was to patch up my quarrel with the governadore and get his good will. For this purpose Pike and I visited his home. He was a venerable looking man, about 70 years of age, fully six feet in height, with gray hair and eyes of the same color. His wife, to whom he introduced us, was a large, cheerful looking old lady, of about his own age. There were also a young woman of per- haps 30 and two quite young children, both girls, to whom he pointed as his children. He was quite courteous to us, but we could clearly see that his civilities were feigned, and we left his house deeply impressed with the idea that he would do all in his power to keep us from getting the property, a thing which, coming as we did without witnesses and transportation, it would be easy for him to do. "I'll tell you how we can work the old man," said Pike, as his face brightened up, as if a new thought had struck him, after we had gone some distance from the house. "You fall in love with his daughter and pretend you are going to marry her. I can't play the game, as they know that I have a wife and child in Arequipa." "That's one thing I won't do," I said "to trifle with the affections of a pure girl." "Pure girl !" interrupted Pike. "She has two children, just the same. Those two are her's and not the old woman's. I heard some fellows talking and laughing about her last night." "Well," said I, "if that's the case, the probabilities are that her affections are scattered too far to be trifled with. All right, I'll make love to the girl 200 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and you handle the old man and woman. We will begin tomorrow." - The next morning we called at the house of the governadore and found his daughter at work, carry- ing large trays of cocoa out of a small building at the side of the yard, into the sun to dry. "There is your chance," said Pike. "Now handle yourself while I go inside and take charge," and he went into the house. I pitched in and helped the girl, every now and then breathing some word of love into her ear. Breakfast time came and we were both cheerfully invited to leave our work and come in. At this meal I noticed that a decided change had come over the o!3 man. Breakfast over we left with a most cordial invitation to come again. "You must have done fine work in there this morning," said I to Pike, as we walked away from the house. "I did," he replied. "I told them you woke me up three times last night to talk about that girl, and the old man knows you and knows that you are no slouch of a man, and that makes it all the easier sail- ing for us." I remained in Sandia four days, until the judge had written and signed all the notices. During this time I was an almost constant visitor at the gov- ernadore's house, and paid constant attention to his daughter, with such success that before I left Sandia it was generally believed that we were en- gaged to be married. But when the notices were issued it became my sad duty to leave with those which were intended for the church door in the capital of the district, and start "for Quiaca. Pike remained in Sandia to bring down the judge, engineer and witnesses. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 201 We had now three ponies of our own, for two of which I had traded my watch, besides the one Pike had. bought near Pucara. These were sufficient transportation for me and my charge to the Charu- machy, where I intended going as quickly as pos- sible to take its topography and make a correct map of the creek. There is always trouble in love. The fifth day after we reached Sandia, I saddled and packed my ponies, went and bade my "sweetheart" goodbye and had mounted my saddle pony to start for Quiaca, when a beautiful boy of about sixteen years of age rode up to me and said he had business in Quiaca, and asked me if he might go with me to the place. "Certainly," I replied, glad to have his company. Pike heard the conversation between us and walked up to me and asked in English : "Do you know who that boy is and what he is going with you for?" "No, I don't know." "Well, I will tell you so as to put you on your guard. You know that pretty little girl who works over there in that grocery store," said he, pointing across the plaza. "Yes," I replied, "I do." "Well, he is her brother, and he has no business in Quiaca. His mother has learned that your name in on the matrimonial docket, and she is sending him with you to speak a good word for his sister. Now, look here," he continued, "one woman is enough for a man to want to marry at a time." "I should think it ought to be," I interrupted, laughingly. "So," Pike continued; "whatever he says to you, don't let your foot slip until we are free from any danger from this old humbug, and then you can 202 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. tell both the old man and the girl good-bye as soon as you please." "All right, I'll remember that," I rejoined as I bade him good-bye, and motioning the boy to take the lead, was soon moving with my ponies up the macadamized trail which led to Quiaca. That night the boy and I camped at the house of an Indian. We had unloaded and unsaddled the ponies, eaten our supper and were sitting side by side on the Indian's bed. I was smoking my pipe and he a cigarette, when he turned to me and in a whisper, said "Say, Mister?" "What?" I asked. "Is it true that you are engaged to be married to the governadore's daughter?" At this my face lit up with a proud smile as I faintly nodded my head. "Well, say, Mister," the boy continued in the same whisper, "I want to tell you something about the governadore's daughter. She is not a good girl Do you know that pretty little girl who works in the grocery store near the plaza?" "Yes ; I've noticed her," I answered gravely, "but what of her?" "She's my sister and she would make a good wife for you. I want to tell you something about the governadore's daughter. She has been a mother twice and has never been married once." "Good gracious ! How lucky !" I exclaimed, as if surprised with joy. "I'll get two children without being troubled with babies. Don't you know," I concluded, drawing closer to him, and looking at him, as he supposed, earnestly, "that babies are a terrible trouble and a great nuisance? A man never gets a good night of rest in the same house with one of them." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 203 The little fellow looked at me steadily for some time, during which time I never winked. Finally, apparently believing me in earnest, he lowered his head with a look of discouragement, arose, walked over to the mud stove where the Indian was sitting, with whom he began a conversation which lasted until bed-time. The next morning, the boy's busi- ness in Quica being done, he mounted his horse and started in the direction from which we had come, while I went toward Quiaca alone. I reached that little stone village at 4 o'clock and was greeted on riding into it's plaza by my old friend, Ignacio Suarauz, but not the Ignacio Suarauz of nearly two years before. His wound was still un- healed where the arrow had gone through the pit of his stomach ; his figure was bent ; his face was emaciated and careworn ; his voice trembled when he spoke, and he walked with great difficulty with the aid of a cane. Things were different now. . After spending the evening with him, during which I told him of Mr. Penas question with Sanchez and Villava when I returned to Arequipa eighteen months before, we went to bed. The next day we took the notices to the justice of the peace for his indorsement before posting them on the door of the church, and found on presenting them to him that he could neither read nor write. Then Suarauz sat down at his table, took his pen and ink, wrote the necessary wording upon them, signed the magistrate's name below it, 1o which that official scratched his rubicon, T paid the magistrate his fee and we walked over to the church with the notices and tacked them on the door. I stayed with Suarauz two days, leaving on the third with two Indians for the trip to the Charu- machy. 204 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. The old home looked the same. We reached the month of the Inahuaya in two days, where my In- dians remained while I rode down to the plantation of Suarauz to take a look at my old friends. I was greeted when I entered the yard by the deaf and dumb boy, who came running to me, threw his arms around my neck as jsoon as I dismounted, and be- gan to shriek and gesticulate in such a manner that I knew he was trying to tell me of the fight with the wild Indians and the heroic part he had played in it. When he let me go, he described with great gleeful eyes and motions of his arms, the great size and stature of the wild Indian he had killed, and then with a look of disdain lowered his hands and explained that the peon, Coronel, had killed noth- ing but a boy. Although the deaf and dumb boy could scream, or rather screech, he was unable to speak, and did not understand the deaf and dumb language. As I had been with him so much when there before, I readily understood what he was try- ing to explain. He was all alone on the plantation that day, and after having dinner with him and tak- ing a stroll around the plantation, I ate supper, spent the evening with him and went to bed. And every thing else was the same. The next day I went back, crossed the Tambopata, and reached the house of my Indian friend who had showed me the Charmachy, eighteen months before ; here I camped for the night. "What's us poor Indians go- ing to do now for a little gold when there's a feast day coming?" he asked. "Go and take it out," I answered, "just as you did before. You fellows ain't going to' hurt the Charumachy by taking a little gold out now and then." This seemed to lift a great weight from his mind IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 205 and he and his wife both pitched in and got supper for us. We slept in his house that night, and as the animals could be taken no further, began packing our supplies to the Charumachy the next day. Two days' hard work and we had our supplies all at the Indian's old tambo on the Charumachy. The old breast dam had entirely swept away in the creek ; the center dam alone remained, and the re- cent freshet had filled in the old works with small boulders to such an extent that only the tops of a few of the larger ones were in sight. The tambo was rotten and partly tumbled down, and it soon be- came apparent that in order to live comfortably while doing my surveying, another one needed to be built. The first thing we did was to build one. Then I ran a compass line about one-half mile above and two miles below it, as I had determined to locate each of the seven claims which we intended taking, 500 meters in lengths, up and down the river, and eighty meters in width, or forty meters from the center of the stream on each side of the river, thus acquiring a tract of ground 3,500 meters in length by eighty in width. As it was impossible to do chaining in the bed of the river at its then high stage of water, excepting in a few places, I cut a compass line most of the distance through the brush, and owing to the dense foliage and many small canyons on the side of the creek, found it most convenient to use a chain of not more than five meters in length. One Indian did the cutting, the other was front picket and front chainman, while I was hind chainman and handled the instrument. So careful and exact was I in level- ing up my instrument and in taking its true readings that it took me two weeks to take the course of the 206 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. stream and make a map of it. Every fifty meters I stuck a stake on which I marked its number with keel, which aided me greatly afterward, when with the engineer I set the corner stakes. Then I sent my Indian to Suarauz for provisions, prospected the benches all along the creek more thoroughly for three days. When they returned with the provisions (mostly vegetables, ucas, corn, etc.), they brought in their train Pike, the judge, Licaris, whom the judge had appointed engineer, and two cholos for witnesses. Unfortunately the grafter is in Peru as well as in America. The next day we started at the head claim and were put in possession of them all with- out any difficulty. The deeds were made out prop- erly by Licaris on a bench which I had fixed up for him to write on, and were signed by the judge. Pike had paid the judge 500 solas and Licaris 350 solas to do their work complete, but Licaris had told us the evening before that he would not sign the maps until our return to Sandia. I now laid the three maps, one of each claim, with the course of the stream through it, before him to sign, and he picked them up and handed them toward me, say- ing: "I won't. I have no place to write on." "What have you been doing for the last hour?" I now demanded, beginning to feel that he was try- ing to humbug us. "I have no ink," he now said beginning to trem- ble. "What's that in front of you?" I yelled. "Oh, Agle, don't start a quarrel with him," in- terrupted Pike. "Well," I answered, "he has nearly four hundred solas for merely signing those maps. Now, he will either sign them or he or I will get hurt. Sign IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 207 those maps," I fairly shrieked, as I jerked off my coat and stepped toward where he was sitting. "I have no pen," he answered shiveringly. "What's that in your hand, you " These last words had the right effect, for he immediately dipped the pen into the ink and with trembling hand wrote his name on each of the maps. "It would be a nice mess to let him go back to Sandia without writing his name a couple of times, after paying him a small fortune to do it," I said to Pike, after puting the maps away in a small valise. The next thing was to show Pike his property. The judge, engineer and witnesses started for Sandia the next morning and Pike, my Indians and I remained to examine the creek. We crawled up the hill to the different tunnels, prospecting them thoroughly, panned out the dirt in the same little stream in which I had panned nearly two years before, and in which my tailings still lay. We prospected the gravel banks along the edge of the creek and then put shots of dynamite into the bedrock of the creek where it cropped out in places here and there, out of which we obtained on an average, a yield of one dollar to the pan. After four happy days spent in this way, Pike turned to me and said in a low voice, "Well, I'm satisfied she's rich. I am ready to go home, but (raising his voice again) if it wasn't that I have a wife and family in Arequipa, you'd cross that sum- mit with the deeds alone." The next day we started for Sandia, getting our ponies on the way at the Indian's plantation, and reaching there after four days' travel, found that a great feast was in progress. The town was full of Indians and everybody in it, including the judge and Licaris, were drunk. As there was still work for 208 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. them to do, Licaris to write out duplicates of the deeds and the judge to sign them, we were obliged to wait until the feast was over. When we found them sober at last, and called upon Licaris, he re- fused to do the work until he was paid more money. So we copied the deeds ourselves and presented them to the judge, who refused to sign them until he was paid more money. I walked out of his office disgusted, went to my room, and threw myself on my bed, and had laid there perhaps an hour, when Pike came in with some documents in his hand, saying: "Well, we are done with the at last, but I had to pay him 50 solas more." The next day we started out and rode to> Cuyo- Cuyo, and on the next we reached the summit and recrossed it, and Simpson's magnificent ditch, which he had built for the house of Braillard and which we had not seen in the blinding snow when we crossed the summit before. In three days more we were at the station on the road at which Haw- ley and I had started the brick yard over a year before. Here we left our animals at a farm. In two days more we reached Arequipa with our titles to the Charumachy perfect, at a cost of about 1,600 solas. The next morning we met Mr. Pool in his office, gave him the deeds and gold, and related to him every incident of our trip. When breakfast time came I turned to Pike, saying: "Now, you have been a pretty good boy for the last two months ; you can go back on your locomotive tomorrow. I have the mountains to mark yet on these maps and make a tracing of them — then I'm done." Turning to Mr. Pool, I said : "I'll come back and finish my work tomorrow." The next morning I was alone in his office at work IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 209 when I met another class of humbug peculiar to South America. A large, coarse, red-headed man, with a large red mustache, coarsely dressed, with pants on four inches too short for him, and coat, vest and hat to match, came to the door and, pulling one side of his mustache for a few seconds, turned to me and asked "Where is Mr. Pool?" "I don't know, but he will be here soon. If you want to see him I think you better sit down and wait for him." He took a seat and waited in silence. I was im- pressed with the big Me and the little you in the man's manner, and naturally wondered who he was and from whence he came, until Mr. Pool came into the office and introduced him to me as George G. Roberts, the mining engineer, just from their hydraulic claim at Poto, where he had been with Mr. Pena, making an examination of the property. "What's wrong out there?" I asked him. "There isn't anything right — that's all," he re- plied sarcastically. Then, shaking his head as if ut- terly disgusted, he concluded with : "Myers did work out there at Poto that he wouldn't do in Cal- ifornia." "Yes," said I, "and he did work out there with men whom he wouldn't have to work with in California. "In the first place," he interrupted, " the flume is not laid at the proper grade and I told Mr. Pena so the moment I saw it." "Did you, indeed?" I rejoined. "You bet I did," he answered. "Well, I did better than that. I told Mr. Pena that the first time I ever saw him ,and I haven't seen the flume yet, and there is no one knows bet- ter than Mvers himself that it isn't laid at the 210 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. proper grade. The reason Mr. Pena gave me for their not lowering the foot of it is that it is now already on the ground, and the reason he gave me for not raising the head of it is because his best pay is only a few feet above it." "Well, you bet," said Roberts, "every time I get a chance I am going to hammer these fellows who have been doing mining in this country." "What does that word 'hammering' mean in this case? Finding fault with their work?" "Yes," he answered. "Yes," I said, "but I bet fifty dollars against ten cents that you can't take the same men and appli- ances and do the same work as good as one of them. About the easiest thing I know of is to see where the work that is done in this country is done wrong, and about the hardest thing I know of is to do work in this country right. Let me ask you a question. Did you ever do any work in this country?" "No," he answered, "I haven't." "Well, then, you don't know what you are talking about. A man is certainly a wonder who can do what Myers did at Poto — open up a great hydraulic claim with cholos who have little or nothing to eat, don't know how to do any kind of work ; can't use any kind of tools; don't want the work, and will only work when a governadore tells them to work. We have a very rich spot in our creek and it lies in every way favorable to work, but I won't try to work it with this man's (pointing to Mr. Pool) pocketbook and the influence of the house behind me. But if 1 had the two miners with me who helped me build a wheel and put in a raft On the Mulchatna river in Alaska three years ago I will tell IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAJtRO. 211 you what I would do. If we had a thousand dollars between us I would leave Arequipa now and bring the gold in that spot back here in a year from now. I am going over on the Beni river in a few days to build boats for a couple of years and I hope by that time that there will be some men here with whom I can work." "That was a great work Simpson did for Brail- lard," said Roberts, sarcastically. "What is the matter with that work ?" I demanded indignantly. "I have seen that work myself within the last week." "The work is all right," he answered, "but there is no gold there." "How do you know?" I asked. "Did you prospect it thoroughly?" "No ; I don't need to prospect ground to tell whether there is gold in it or not." "Jerusalem!" I exclaimed. "Is that so? I didn't know there was a man in the world who could tell that." "I am a geologist," he returned. "I don't care if you are all the geologists in the world put together. You can't do that, and please don't tell any one in my presence again that you can, because I'll only laugh at you if you do. There is one of the most elaborate treatises on gold mining ever written (as I pointed to "Locke's Gold ; Its Occurrences and Extractions'), and what are the first words in it? It says that it is not only a ques- tion that gold exists, but that it exists in paying quantities in almost every conceivable geological strata of which the earth's surface is composed." As this was making things too hot for him, he got up from his seat and left the office, saying as he went that he considered Locke the poorest authority 212 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. upon gold mining of any one who had ever written about it. "That fellow has it in for me now/' I said, as I turned to Pool. "If he ever gets a chance he will do me ; and I have it in for him, because I con- sider that it is that class of men who have been one of the chief curses to this country." "Well," said Pool "he certainly knows some- thing about gold mining." "Given that he does," said I. "He don't know those things about it that are not for men to learn, and when a man comes into a non-mining element and pretends to know what he does, he is a fraud, and if he had talked with me a few minutes longer I would have told him so. That's the reason he left so suddenly." Having finished my maps, I handed them over to, Mr. Pool, and my work in acquiring title to the property was done. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 213 CHAPTER X. The next morning, feeling confident that Mr. Pool, with the great house of Pena at his back would have no difficulty in getting the title deeds to our property in Lima, and proud of the fact that it had been chiefly due to my ability that they had been brought to Arequipa unincumbered by any liti- gation, I started from my hotel at an early business hour, to make, if I could, a contract with Clawsen, by which I might revolutionize the rubber industry on the Beni river without hindrance. I was in- terested not only because I could make some money for myself, but also because I could save the great loss of life and property on its waters and on the rapids of the Madeira. When I entered the yard, at the back of which was his office, I met him coming out, saying as he came : "I was afraid that you would go back on me, but was assured by every one whom I asked about you that you were a man of your word." "I had no intention of going back on you," I said. "I have only just finished my work for Mr. Pool, getting through with it yesterday." We went into his office and he began a conversa- tion by saying : "I had a talk with Mr. McCord and Mr. Buckliu about this matter." "Did you tell them what type of boat you are using over there and how it is being steered?" "Yes," he replied. "What did they say?" "McCord said that it's a wonder we are not all 214 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. drowned, and Buckliu said there was no boat about it . Now, what do you want?" he asked. "I want you to pay all my expenses, furnish me with everything, to give me five of your Indians when I get there, to take such of the boats as I may build (that you may need for yourself) and pay me half their value. I also want you to sell those you do not need and pay me half of what you get for them. "I want a contract binding on us both for one year, with the privilege on my part, at the end of the time, of renewing it for one year more, and a clause in it to the effect that in any and all questions which may arise between us, they shall be settled by three arbitrators, one to be chosen by each of us, and they two to choose the third. This will give me a chance if I go over there and get. humbugged by Patrick Gibson, of coming back and trying it on you." "Why," said he, with a look of surprise, "Gibson's a good man." "Is he, indeed?" said I. "I'm glad to hear it, but anyhow, whether he is good, bad or indifferent, I want a contract between us by which Patrick Gib- son has nothing to do or say in the matter, excepting to give me what I want and to take the boats and sell or use them." "All right, you shall have it. Write it out in English and we will translate it into Spanish. I will have the boys in the office make several copies of it and you ca ncome back in the afternoon and we will sign it." About 3 o'clock I went back and signed the four different copies which the boys had written out — I for myself, and he for Braillard & Co. Then I took my copy and started out to the different hard- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZZARO. 215 ware stores to get what tools I needed, just as happy as a king, with little idea that I, in the next four months, would see men shot, would see men lashed, would get licked myself, and would be completely humbugged by Patrick Gibson in my efforts to save the loss of life and property on the Beni. That I would see men drowned and would return to Are- quipa with but one desire, and that to know in which of the insurance companies of the world Braillard & Co. were insured. It took me several days to make all my prepara- tions for the journey, the evening of the first of which I spent with Pike at his home. "I am going over into the Beni country to revo- lutionize the whole rubber industry and make it a profitable business," I said, as I settled myself back into an arm-chair in the parlor. "I bet you $50 that when you get over there and get started to work, Patrick Gibson will stop you. He will find all kinds of fault with the boat and won't use it. Everything you say will be a lie, and things will not be as they were a year ago, when you were running around with his brother teaching him how to open up his mining claim. Everything you said then was the truth. Now, it's just any- thing to keep a Yankee from going ahead in this country, and that is what has kept it back where it is today." "All right," I said, "we'll see about that," and then the conversation turned on other subjects. The next evening I spent with Frank Goodair, a young Englishman of broad, progressive views, and a salesman in the house of Stafford, whom I also told of my plans. "Patrick Gibson !" he said, springing to his feet and walking toward me until he came quite close, 216 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. "has neither brains, heart, lights, liver, lungs, in- telligence, honor or sense. Let me tell you some- thing I think you do not know. In the days of the prosperous bark trade," the house of Gibson, of which Patrick Gibson's father was the head, was a pros- perous Scotch house here, and the house of Brail- lard, of which the elder Braillard was the head, was a prosperous French house here. The Gibsons and the Braillards became intimately acquainted, so much so that in Europe the Gibsons spent part of their time in Paris, living with the Braillards, and the Braillards part of their time in Scotland, living with the Gibsons. Their children grew up together and contracted an affection for each other which amounts to the love of brothers and sisters. "Finally the old folks died. The bark industry became unprofitable and the house of Gibson, of which Patrick, after his father's death, was the head, lost money, and he became insolvent. After which, as is clearly proven now, he borrowed all the money he could, at a high rate of interest, and failed. When Louis Braillard came from Paris, he gave him a position in the house of Braillard, and there was a report circulated among his creditors, that the house of Braillard had taken over his prop- erty and were going to pay his debts. He was sent several times to Cuzco to transact business for them, and the first thing his creditors knew, he had gone to the Beni, where he is expected to remain for at least three years, by which time, it is supposed his creditors will all be dead or scattered. Now, he hates me; he hates you; he hates himself; he hates everybody, and especially he hates a Yankee, and if you go over there he will humbug you." "If he does, I will come back and humbug Brail- lard & Co." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 217 "Well, you may do that according to your con- tract, but that isn't what you care to do, nor what you have signed the contract with the intention of doing," replied Goodair, and thus we dropped the subject. The morning of the 24th of June found me at the depot, ready to take the train to Chillalaya, with a ticket in my pocket to that place, with letters of in- troduction to all of Braillard & Co.'s agents between Arequipa and Riveralta (as the headquarters of the rubber industry was called, at the junction of the Madre de Dios and Beni rivers). That night I reached Puno, and the next day crossed Lake Ti- ticaca to Chillalaya, where mules were in waiting for me and where a national delegation composed of civil and military officers and soldiers, were on their way from La Paz to the Beni to put down the frightful atrocities that were said to be perpetrated there. Among these officers were some of the most dis- tinguished personages in the republic of Bolivia. First in order came the newly appointed military governor of the Beni, Senor Guerra, an immensely wealthy man, whose wealth I believe to have been mostly inherited, but who, despite the luxuries by which he had all his life been surrounded, seemed ambitious for political honors. Senor Guerra, of whom I saw a great deal in the ensuing nine months, always impressed me as a quiet, methodical man who seldom spoke, and when he did, spoke his words in such a low, mumbling voice that they were scarcely audible excepting to those very near him. He was a man of large, well-built frame, strong features and light complexion, with light blue eyes, and wore a full beard. He always seemed to me to be a firm, determined honorable man, of a grim, 218 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. stoical nature, but at the same time possessing a keen sense of humor. He had a great respect for the Yankees as a nation and also for the institutions of their country. Next to Guerra came the newly appointed lieu- tenant governor of the Beni, Manuel Ballivian, an eminent scholar and historian, whose two brothers had at different times been in the presidential chair of Bolivia, both of whom had served their country with great distinction. Ballivian was a smooth- faced man of splendid height and proportions, slight- ly passed middle age. He had been educated in Europe and spoke and wrote the English language as well as his own native tongue, and was possessed of a remarkable degree of intelligence and energy. All the rest of the civil officers were either promi- nent lawyers or confidential secretaries, among whom were Gov. Guerra's son, a handsome young man of 24, who spoke English fluently, and, unlike his father, talked incessantly. As may be imagined, he and I soon became great friends. Col. Munyose, a handsome, middle-aged man, said to be the most scientific soldier in the Bolivian army, was at the head of the military department, which consisted of, beside himself, a lieutenant colonel, two majors, four captains and about a hundred soldiers. As I had no delay in getting animals in Chillalaya, it took me only two days more to reach the German merchant's house with whom I had stopped nearly a year before in Sorata. A woman is a woman the whole world around. For his wife, a beautiful Spanish lady, I had brought a large package of valuable silks and satins, from Braillard & Co., in Arequipa, goods which had been ordered by her some time before. Dismounting from my mule, I went to the pack animal which had IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 219 her package on it, undid the package, took it to the door of the parlor and rapped. She came to the door and I handed her the pack- age, and before she had time to recognize me, turned and went back to help unload the mules, while she closed the door, and, as I supposed, went back and undid the package. Presently I heard a scream. In a moment more the door opened, and she come running toward me, apparently overwhelmed with joy, asking: "Did you bring that package for me from Arequipa?" "Yes," I answered, "and I will tell you what I want you to do for me." . "What is it?" she exclaimed. "Say what I can do to repay you for that kindness." "There is a whole delegation of civil officers and soldiers on their way from La Paz to the Beni, and they will reach here in a few days. I want you to see that I get mules to take me to the Mapari, before they reach here, because the delegation will need all the mules in the country to take them there and they have the power to press the animals into their service." "You shall have the mules," she promised, and she rushed back into the parlor and closed the door again. I got the mules, and in five days more was in Mapari, where I learned that all the balsas were being held in waiting to take the expected delega- tion down the river to the Port of Reyes, so there was no alternative for me but to build a boat and go down the Mapari alone. Where there is a will there is a way. Immedi- ately on my arrival in Mapari I went to a plantation near the village, owned by a man by the name of Benedicti Guoyta, and made arrangements for two 220 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. peons for that purpose, agreeing to pay him for them at the rate of 80 cents per day. The next day I hired a peon to> carry my tools to Guoyta's place, and he walked with me to a spot in his clearing and showed me a cedar log which had been cut three years before. I told him that it contained enough lumber to make two boats. "I have thirty peons," said he, "mostly balsaros, and there are several of them who can use carpen- ters' tools. They are waiting now for the delega- tion. You take the whole of them any time you want the men and build two boats and give me one of them." "All right," said I. I took what peons I needed, squared the log.; then called for them all to carry it into the yard of his house, a task they accomplished in about an hour. Here I put up a saw pit, filed my two whip saws, taught four of the men to pull them and in two weeks from the day I started the work had both boats in the river, and told Guoyta to take his choice of them, which he did. That day the delegation reached Mapari, and we all started down the. river together, they on four- teen calyapas, which meant three balsas together and manned each with nine balsaros, and I in a twenty-foot bottom bateaux. There are twenty-one rapids between Mapari and the Port of Reyes, on the Mapari river, seven of which (those between Mapari and Guanay) I had never seen before, and none of them had ever before been passed by a boat. The fourteen calyapas, most of which were load- ed with soldiers in bright new uniforms, made a splendid and imposing spectacle, as they floated IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 221 along, one behind the other, while the magnificent band which they had brought with them enlivened the scene at intervals with fine music. I kept in the rear of them all and handled my boat with a pair of oars on which I pushed by stand- ing up and looking forward, thus giving myself an opportunity to look ahead and see what there was in front of me, always backing on the oars and fall- ing a considerable distance behind the rear calyapa before entering the rapids, so as to give myself headway when in it, without running into the rear calya.-a. I had no difficulty except when the stream made such a tremendous bend that it threw the calyapas against its outside bank, when they would turn around in the water and thus clear themselves from it. These rapids I crossed the inside point of and the moment my boat entered the eddy below them set myself down on a seat, pushed on the outside and pulled on the inside oar until the stern was down stream ; after which a few strong pulling strokes took me entirely clear of the riffle, when I turned the bow down stream and went on again after the calyapas. After passing each of the rapids I would hear a great cheer and a beautiful selection played by the band, but I had no idea that this was because these rapids were being run in a boat by a Yankee. We reached a point within a few miles of Guanay the first day and landed in an eddy. I landed some little distance up-stream above the calyapas. I had just taken my provisions ashore, and was start- ing to gather some driftwood to build a fire, when I saw young Guerra running toward me and heard him call out: "What are you going to do?" "'Get supper," I yelled back. 222 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. "Father says that you must come and eat with us on the way down, although we haven't much to offer you. All we have is rice, dried meat and a few bananas, but that's all you've got — that's all one can get to eat in this country — let the soldiers do the cooking ; they don't have to work as you do." "All right, I'll go you," said I, dropping my wood and walking toward where he was waiting for me. We walked on down to where the civil officers were camped, conversing as we went. "If you had heard those balsaros talking about you today," he said, "you wouldn't sleep tonight. Whenever we passed a rapids they would say when you were going into them, that you would never come through them alive, and then when you came through all right they would say : "Oh, well, it's a North American and not a European that's hand- ling that boat." Then they would give that yell, which I suppose you heard, and my father would order the band to play." "Quite a compliment," said I, "but you tell those balsaros that if I had a man in the bow of that boat who understood this work as well as I do, I would only laugh at any such water as this." By this time we were in camp with the officials and in the conversation which followed, the gov- ernor jocosely muttered in his peculiar way: "If the revenues of the custom house down there play out, we've got a Yankee we can sell," looking around grimly with a twinkle in his eye. "What's the lowest figure you'll take for him?" I r.sked. "Two hundred and fifty bolivianos," he muttered grimly. "Why, they say a Chinaman sells for five hundred IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 223 bolivanos down here. Surely, you don't estimate a Yankee at less value than a Chinaman ?" "Well, he has got to go if we get short of money," he replied, his eyes still twinkling. A moment later I heard his whisper to Ballivian : "Isn't that a wonderful nation of people for per- severance and energy?" I caught Ballivian's whispered answer of "Indeed they are." The boy and I sat down on the ground and talked until supper was ready and we had eaten it. Then I went back to my boat, took my blankets ashore and went to bed. We reached Guanay the next day where we re- mained a week; then we started for the Port of Reyes, at which we landed after three days of travel our journey being made slowly because of the mill ponds between the eddies, the current in places jmoving at a rate of not over a mile an hour. I revisited Reyes, called again on my lady friends ; and then came back to port and started in com- pany with a young Bolivian, Louis Phillip Pinado, for Riveralta, a distance of about nine hundred miles. The trip was any thing but pleasant. The first four hundred and fifty miles were through a country which even though it was covered with a dense tropical forest, contained no rubber, and was there- fore uninhabited. After days and days of rowing under a semi-tropical sun while my companion steered the boat, during which time we stopped through sociability at every rubber camp we passed, we reached Riveralta on September 19. The place consisted of about a dozen thatched roof houses, two of which were very large, built on a 224 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. high bank which lay opposite the mouth of the river. Under this bank lay, at that time, a few of their so- called "boats;" also a small steel stern-wheel steamer of about ten tons burden, on which as we approached her I could see painted the word "Brail- lard." Only one man was in sight, who, when he saw us land, came down to the water's edge to meet us, and who, when we were near enough to deter- mine, I saw was of foreign birth. My two friends in Arequipa knew their man. As I stepped ashore and tied my boat, I asked : "Is Mr. Gibson here?" "Yes," he answered, "he's up at the store." "I have some letters for him." "Come along and I will show you the way," said he, starting up the hill. I followed him tip to one of the large houses, which he entered, and said : "Mr. Gibson, here is a man who has some letters for you." "Tell him to come in," I heard a familiar voice say. I walked in and found Patrick Gibson sitting at his desk, writing. When he recognized me, he never got up to shake hands with me, and I said to myself: "Pike and Goodair are right. He is going to humbug me if he can after all I tried to do for his brother. "Are you here?" he asked. "Yes," I answered, walking over to the desk and handing him the letters. "Here are some letters for you." "Clawsen wrote me that you were coming, but I did not expect you so soon," said he, I watched him carefully as he opened the letter which contained a copy of a contract between Braillard & Co. and my- self and noticed his upper lip curl up in a snarl IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 225 as he turned to me and said; "I don't know any- thing about that, I'm sure." "About what?" I asked.' "Why, you see, we only have thirty boys (the name which peons are usually called on the Beni), and there are ten of them who have to go up the river next month and six,of them are working with our carpenter, and — " "Oh, you need not explain those things to me, Mr. Gibson," I interrupted. "You hold in your hand a copy of a contract between Braillard & Co. and my- self, duly signed by their authorized agent and my- self to the effect that I am to have five boys and everything else I need for a period of a year. Are you going to give them to me or not? If not, say so, and I will go back to Arequipa and settle with Braillard & Co. there." "You shall have the boys," said Gibson ; I am going to help you all I can." He then arose from his desk went out and called. "Roque!" at which the man whom I had met on landing put in his appearance. Gibson told him to get some boys and take my stuff into a room, then coming back into the room engaged me in conver- sation, principally about Arequipa, until supper, when we went to the dining room, where he intro- duced me to the employes of the house. Mr. Voucher, an Irishman, employed as salesman ; Mr. Wiggins, a German, as bookkeeper; Mr. Roque, an Englisman, as engineer of the steamer, and Mr. Corneau, a Frenchman, as carpenter, constituted the force employed that evening, the captain of the steamer being absent. Here is the curse of the Beni. During supper our conversation was mainly about my trip, in which I told the incidents which had taken place in it, and 226 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. after supper we all walked out to a bench which was placed in front of the house, where we sat down. We began discussing the different phases of the rubber industry, during which Gibson at one time got up and went into his private office, bringing back a piece of twisted rawhide, about three feet long, split in three pieces about half its length, each piece being twisted. He handed it to me, saying: "Here is something which looks hard, but it has to be done — we can't manage these boys without it. If it wasn't for this, the rubber industry would stop, and when you see it used the first time it will make your blood boil, but you will soon see that it's an absolute necessity and think no more about it." "Who does the whipping?" I asked. "The myradomas.* We have no myradoma now, so the captain of our steamer does it." "I don't see what the Indian is doing while he is getting whipped," I said. "Well," he explained; "they are accustomed to it and expect it. All a myradoma need do when he wants to whip one of them is to tell five others to hold him. There is never any trouble about that." "It's a wonder they don't run away," I remarked. "If they try it, all you have to do is to send the others after them and they will bring the runaways back and then you give it to them good and they never run away again." It was certainly no place for delicate people. Gib- son then changed the conversation by asking me what I thought about eating monkeys. "That is just one too many for me," I said, "I will starve before I will eat monkey meat." At this they all burst out laughing, at the con- *The boss of the slaves IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 227 elusion of which he said, "Well, you have certainly- made a good meal on it tonight." "What !" said I ; "was that monkey meat on the table tonight?" "Yes, and you have been eating monkeys all the way down the river, if you stopped at the rubber camps." "Well," said I, "if I am a cannibal, and have eaten up my poor old Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, I guess I will have to let it go at that." We now ceased conversation and went to our rooms. I felt sore over eating monkeys for a few days, but the repugnance against it soon died away and I never thought of it afterwards. My surroundings were strangely interesting. In a short time I learned more of the Beni country. This great and practically unknown tract which produces by far the finest rubber that enters the markets of the world, covers all the terri- tory drained by the lower half of the Beni and its tributaries, as well as of the Madidi, Madre de Dios and other rivers. It is perhaps 500 miles square. In its tropical forests almost all the woods of the semi-tropical world abound, only a few of which, however, are used by the natives. There are Ve Etuva, Pala Mari and red cedar in abundance. Its climate is healthful ; hot in the day-time in the sun and cool in the shade ; the sand flies in the day, and mosquitoes at night alone making life uncom- fortable. Indeed, so remarkably healthful is the climate that after sixteen years of operation of the rubber industry, during which time perhaps 4,000 men and women had been engaged in it, not one grave had been dug at Riveralta, the headquarters when I reached that spot on September 19, 1893. Of the men engaged in the business Nicolas 228 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. Suarauz had been the most successful, having made most of his money in lending sums at an exorbitant interest. His headquarters were at Esperanza, the upper of the seven rapids of the Madeira (as they were called, although Esperanza is really on the Beni, a short distance above its junction with the Mamore). Next to Suarauz in point of success, came Dr. Vicar Diaz, who claimed all the available* rubber trees on the Orton, and who had over 600 slaves. His headquarters were at the mouth of the Orton, Then came Augusta Roca, who claimed the lower Madre de Dios, and Nicolas Salvatera, who claimed its upper. These men, despite their enormous losses, all made money by either lending money at usury or working the rubber themselves, but of the different firms engaged in importing and exporting, only half a dozen all told, Braillard & Co., alone had been successful. "There is a cause for all this," I said to myself, "and what can this cause be?" At Riveralta, beside the house of Braillard & Co., there were two other houses, that of Velasco & Heinke, and that of Pedro Suarauz, the latter being managed by Pedro Suarauz in person, a Bolivian by birth, who had been educated in England and who had estimated his losses on the rapids up to that time at over $100,000. None of these houses had at any time while I was in Riveralta over five tons of supplies in them to sell. Indeed so difficult was it to get anything up the rapids that such supplies as did reach them were generally carried away by the rubber men in waiting the moment the boxes containing them had been opened and before they could be taken into the stores. There were only two small steamers on "Trees within three days' journey from the river. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 229 the river, one owned by Augusta Roca, beside the one owned by Braillard & Co. I soon took the measure of the different employes of the house with which I was connected. Voucher was an honest fellow, who had through dissipation grown old before his time ; Roque, a chuckle-headed English mechanic, in whose eyes no man was so great as his boss, Mr. Gibson. He would say in speaking of Pat Gibson : "Mr. Gibson is the finest man on the river. He has the best name of any man on it." "That speaks bad for the rest of them," I said to myself. Of the other men Wiggins was a thick-headed German and Cornou, an intelligent Frenchman, who spoke Spanish fluently, but did not understand a word of English, in which language we conversed when at the table. As Voucher seldom spoke and the Frenchman couldn't speak, and Gibson, Wiggins and Roque didn't know anything to talk about, the table was, as may be imagined, a most uninviting place to me, and I usually got up from it after hearing their quib- bling talk, in disguest, hoping that the delegation would soon arrive and bring with it the governor's son, with whom I could carry on a conversation, either in sense or nonsense. In a few days I was given the "boys" and went to work. The given names of the five Indians in my charge were Jose, Miguel, Pedro, Rosandro and Vincento. The surnames of Jose and Miguel was Chepe, they being brothers; the surnames of the other three I have forgotten. The two brothers were both large, powerful men, each weighing over 200 pounds. Vicento was a bright, amiable, strong boy ; Pedro an intelligent In- 230 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. dian of middle age, and Rosandro a small, stout little fellow, very strong for his size. We worked for weeks at felling trees and sawing lumber on the opposite side of the river, without any difficulty, going over in the morning and returning at night. I was surprised one evening when I was told by a little Bolivian boy to "look out for those Chepes," and that they were both dangerous men and liable to kill me at any time. "Oh, yes," I thought. "So that's the game Mr. Gibson is putting up on me. I will just keep an eye on my ax constantly, and if ever they start to do it I'll brain them both before they know it," but I kept my own counsel, however, and said nothing to Gibson about it. Our only news during this time was news of the losses which were constantly taking place, either of life, rubber or merchandise on the rapids, and losses of rubber or merchandise on the waters of the Beni and its tributaries. These streams, like all other tropical rivers, were full of what are known as "sweepers," that is, trees which had fallen into them by cutting away of the banks in times of freshets and lodged in their channel with 'the roots down and branches up. On to these "sweepers" their boats would frequently run, then turn around and capsize, losing their contents, but seldom the lives of those on board, who, being great swimmers, gen- erally swam ashore, where they would remain until picked up by a passing boat. One evening I was sitting on a bench in front of the store, talking with Gibson, when an Indian walked up, and stopping in front of us, said : "Mr. Gibson, one of Suarauz's boats, loaded with your goods capsized a few days ago and lost everything in it." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. 231 "We will get damages," muttered Gibson. "Are you insured?" I asked him in an unconcern- ed manner, as the Indian walked away. He turned around, looked at me suspiciously, and nodded his head slightly. "This, then, is the mysterious reason why Brail- liard & Co. have made money," flashed through my mind, but I said no more to him. A few days after in conversation with Voucher, • I asked carelessly: "How do you manage to get your damages from an insurance company after you have had a loss?" "We have what is called 'a standing policy,' said he. "We send in our losses and they pay them on the reputation of the house." "What company are you insured in?" I asked, trying to appear as unconcerned as possible. "In a Paris company," he answered. "Are there any of the other merchants on the river beside yourself insured?" "No one only Nicolas Suarauz." No commercial house on the Beni had such a reputation for liberal dealing as Braillard & Co. It was said of them that they paid the price of trans- portation of goods and rubber over the rapids, even when such goods and rubber had been lost and had never reached their destination, but no one hauled their goods only Suarauz. This I could hardly be- lieve until assured of the fact by Gibson himself. "But," said Gibson, "we are going to stop it. We are the only house on the river that does it." "You can humbug me as quick as you like," I thought. "Then I will go down over the rapids home and see what I can do for you." It was now the 20th of November, and part of the delegation had arrived under Ballivian over a month before, the rest having gone overland under the 232 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. direction of Gov. Guerra to Santa Cruz, on the Mamore, to arrange some matters, after which they were expected to return to the Port of Reyes and follow the others down to Riveralta. The part of the delegation already at Riveralta were housed in a large comfortable building built for them by Pedro Suarauz. Truly war is hell. Three murderers, one Indian who had killed his wife ; another who had killed a fellow Indian some time before, and a lieutenant who had killed a brother officer, had been tried, found guilty of murder in the first degree, sentenced to be shot ; but as their death sentence still remained unsigned, wooden hobbles were put on them, guards night and day were put over them, and they were kept with the soldiers in the barracks, at one end of which were Mr. Ballivian's offices and sleeping rooms. His rooms were separated from the soldiers only by a partition of thin cloth. The soldiers themselves had been allowed to do as they pleased since their arrival, to get drunk, to keep such hours as they chose, for which they were never even reprimanded by their officers, and, worst of all, the ammunition which they brought, was kept in their own quarters. Col. Munyose was down at the customs house. Brailliard's steamer with her captain and engineer were up the Beni, and Wiggins, with a crew of "boys'' was on the Orton. What few civil officers Mr. Ballivian had brought with him were living in two small houses belonging to commercial houses. There was no one at the house of Braillard & Co. excepting Gibson, Voucher, Corneau and myself, and in our conversation just before going to bed, we predicted if such a state of things were permitted by those in authority, the debauchery and lack of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 233 discipline would lead to serious trouble ; but we had little idea that before morning our quiet camp would be turned into a battlefield and everything changed. I had hardly gone to bed when I heard from the direction of the barracks a tremendous roar of musketry and the shout of "revolution," and the voice of Gibson yelling to me to get up and get my gun. Jumping to my feet, 1 quickly dressed myself, and buckling on my revolver, ran around to the front of .the store, where the other three men had al- ready gathered, and we all "started for the houses of the "boys" and reached them to find them empty. We next went to the house of Pedro Suarauz, but only to find it vacant. Then we took to the woods and followed a trail which led around near the bar- racks. When we neared the barracks we stopped and listened. During all the time and for two hours afterwards the firing continued without abating. Then it died away into a few rambling shots and then ceased entirely and we heard talking instead of shooting. They were going to take Villasca & Heinke's "boys" and boats, go to the custom house on the bourrdary line between Bolivia and Brazil, shoot Monyose and pass the rapids, after which they would disband and each look out for himself. During this time voices were heard at different in- tervals in different parts of the clearings, yelling : "Via la ordens, cabellerous."* We next heard them enter the house of Villasca and Heinke, where they remained for perhaps half an hour, then leave it again, and in a short time all was quiet and we walked across the clearing to the house of Braillard & Co. We had just reached it when the lieutenant governor came running up to us, without shoes on *"Let us have order, gentlemen." 234 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. his feet, coat on his back, or hat on his head, with gesticulations and in an excited voice, called on us as men of honor to help him "wipe out this foul stain on Bolivia." "We are all at your disposal, sir," said Corneau quietly. We then went over to the barracks and found upon entering, the lieutenant colonel and a captain lying on the floor, dead, both shot through the body. Another captain was mortally wounded and every- thing belonging to the equipment of a soldier, ex- cepting guns and ammunition, scattered every- where on the floor, on the bunks and on the tables, all in confusion. Presently we heard a groan on the outside, some distance from the building, and going in that direc- tion, found a wounded lieutenant lying on the ground. After caring the best we could for the two wounded officers and lifting the bodies of the two dead ones off the floor and placing them on the tables, we went back to the house of Braillard & Co., where the lieutenant governor (w,ho had now secured the rest of his necessary clothing from the barracks) sat down at Gibson's desk, wrote a letter to Augusta Roca, in which he told him all about the affair and asked him to send an Indian across the trail which led through the forest from his camp ("which was some twelve miles up the Madre de Dios) to the mouth of the Orton, advising Dr. Vica Diaz of what had taken place, so that the latter gentleman would not be surprised by the mutineers when they reached his place. All the "boys" belonging to Braillard & Co had come back from the woods and after calling five of them into the room, telling them to take my boat and hasten with it up to the camp of Roca, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 235 handed them a letter and they left the room with it. Overcome with fatigue, we laid down, Gibson in his bed, the lieutenant governor in Gibson's ham- mock, the rest of us on the floor, and slept until morning. When morning came the lieutenant governor and I went back to the barracks together, where we metperhapsa dozen officers and soldiers, who, when the shooting began, had left the barracks and gone into the woods, where they had been all night. In answer to our questions as to the cause of the sud- den uprising, they said that they all knew that it was going to take place — that they were all home- sick and wanted to get back to LaPaz. They had concocted a scheme by which they thought they might get there, if it were promptly carried out. The scheme was that at a signal they should all begin shooting in the air, whereupon they expected their officers to come and demand the cause of such strange conduct on the part of soldiers. They then intended telling them that there was no use for them in this country; that there was nothing here for them to eat; that they were unlike the Indians, helpless in every way ; they coudn't use the cuchillo, paddle a boat or kill anything for them selves to eat, having been brought up on a pampa. They were to demand that they should be immediately sent back to La Paz and pardoned for any offense against the laws of war which they might have committed by their actions. They had no intention of hurting anybody, but unfortunately, the officer who had been sentenced to death, secured a rifle and cart- ridge box at the very start of the shooting, and when the first officer entered the door, he put a bullet through his body. He did the same with the next and likewise with the third. The fourth, seeing 236 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. three of his brother officers lying bleeding on the floor of the barracks, as soon as he stepped to his door, quickly turned and ran away, followed by a Remington bullet from the rifle of the murdro- maniac, as he now could justly be called. This un- expected turn in events gave the whole affair such a serious aspect that they ran to the woods, where they had been all night. The lieutenant governor and I then walked into his private apartments, where we discovered that the muslin partition which separated his apartment from the ones in which the soldiers slept had been pierced by three bullets just above the bed. At this he became seized with a weakness from which while I was with him, he never afterwards re- covered "Tell me all about this," I asked him. "Had you no idea that this was going to take place?" "I never had any apprehension of anything like this," he replied emphatically, "until I went to bed last night, when after lying down, it occurred to me that there was something wrong. Suddenly I heard the soldiers begin to imitate the cackling of a chicken, and the shooting began. I jumped up at once, drew on my pants and ran toward your house, but when I had reached the house of Heinke, finding the door of it open, I ran into it, got behind the counter and seeing there a large empty store box, crawled into it by doubling myself up and was there all the time till I heard them start down the river. Then I crawled out, ran over to your store and met your party. I heard the mutineers when they came in, talking about what they wanted to take and what they did not need, and even looked up out of the box in which I was lying all doubled IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 237 up and saw them take things down from the shelves." After he had finished we walked over to the house of Vilasca & Heinke and found it looted of almost everything in the shape of provisions and in- toxicants. The news of this strange affair soon spread far and wide and before noon the rubber men began coming in from all quarters. That afternoon a boat reached us from down the river, saying that fighting had taken place near the mouth of the Orton about 8 o'clock in the morning, the particulars of which they did not know. In the evening a party of about thirty men, including the soldiers, went in pursuit of the mutineers. All business and work was stopped for the time. The pursuing party returned in a few days, bring- ing with them Col. Munyose and two soldiers, brothers, one a captain and the other a lieutenant who had left with the mutineers, from whom we got full particulars of the mutineers' movements since they had left. Augusta Roca, immediately upon the receipt of the lieutenant governor's letter, had dispatched a swift-footed Indian to Dr. Vica Diaz, which reached him before the slow-moving boats of the mutineers were in sight. He at once collected all his avail- able men and ordered them to carry a log which was lying in his door yard to the edge of the high bank on which his house was built and lay it in such a position as to overlook the river. Behind this log he ordered his men to lie down with their guns. After seeing this order obeyed, he walked up and down in front of his house (his usual pastime) when not engaged at his desk until the mutineers hove in sight and attempted to land, when he dropped be- 238 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. hind the log himself and opened fire. The muti- neers replied briskly, and the Indian "boys" in the boats turned their bows around and started down stream again. The result of this skirmish was that one of the "boys" was killed and a captain wounded. Dr. Vica Diaz and his men were unhurt. The whisky the mutineers had stolen from Vil- lasca & Heinke now became exhausted and when they reached a camp, called Blanca Flora, some distance further down the river, they became sober and began to realize not only the enormity of the crime they had committed, but also their helpless- ness as men. Here they landed and held a council, when it was decided to cut their way back to River- alta, surprise the camp and demand at the point of the bayonet an unconditional pardon for their high offense against the laws of war and free transpor- tation to La Paz. The two brothers refused to go with them, pre- ferring to remain where they were until an oppor- tunity presented for them to surrender. The soldiers started, using the two condemned Indian murderers for cutting the trail, as Vilasca & Heink's "boys" had refused to go with them any further. The first man to put in an appearance at Blanca Flora after the departure of the mutineers was Munyose on his way up from the customs house. To him the two brothers surrendered. Shortly after this the party from Riveralta reached the spot. Munyose put a guard over his prisoners, took command of the party and went in pursuit of the fugitives, who, owing to the slow progress they must necessarily make, they soon hoped to over- take. It was noon when the pursuing party left Blanca Flora on the trail of the fugitives. About 3 o'clock IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 239 they came upon the wounded captain, gave him a drum-head court-martial and shot him on the spot, after his making a declaration that the four soldiers standing there ready to shoot him were as deeply implicated in the matter as himself. Then the party marched on until near evening, when they came within hearing distance of the mutineers. Here an accident occurred. One of the party accidentally discharged his rifle while attempt- ing to load it, and the mutineers now being warned of their presence, it was impossible to surprise them, and the party concluded to return to Riveralta and there wait the arrival of the mutineers. Our little commercial center was turned into a military camp, headed by Munyose. We disarmed the soldiers ; the two brothers were tried by court- martial; condemned to death and sentenced to be shot at 8 o'clock on a certain morning. When the morning came the condemned men were marched out of the barracks and took their seats on the two boxes in waiting for them. Four soldiers were marched up in front of them and were given rifles and ammunition, while we citizens at the request of the lieutenant governor, formed ourselves into two rows, one on each side of the soldiers, for the purpose, as they were given to understand, of firing on them in case they refused to do their duty. All the preparations were complete, excepting that the death sentences were unsigned by the lieutenant governor, but were expected to be brought with his signature on them every moment by a lawyer of the delegation, who had taken them to the executive for that purpose. i f / n: ; ir y, BQ An hour came and went before the lawyer put in his appearance, and when he did so, he held in his 240 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAR.RO. hand not the signed death sentence of the two mutineers, but their unconditional pardon. We were all overpowered with disappointment when we heard it read, because it was clearly- proven at the court-martial that one of the brothers was, upon the night of the mutiny, chosen the leader of the party and the other a lieutenant in it. Besides, they were both men of intelligence and commissioned officers. As may well be imagined the reading of the instrument had a far different effect upon them. After sitting spell-bound for a moment, as if unable to realize that they had really been pardoned, they jumped up and embraced each other, while we citizens, headed by Munyose, start- ed to call on the lieutenant governor to demand from him an explanation as to his sudden change of mind. We found him at a desk writing and in answer to our inquiries, he replied, sympathetically : "Don't you know, gentlemen, that it's a hard thing to do to sign a document by which the life of a man will be taken from him ?" "If you had let me have the handling of them," said Munyose, "I would have shot them in a moment. That elder brother is a young officer. I always liked him until this affair took place. He is highly educated, a fine engineer and draughtsman, I had intended taking him with me on my explora- tions, which I purposed making of these rivers, and after all that confidence in him, here he gets up in the middle of the night with a mob which kills his brother officers and tries to kill you. Then he runs away and only gives himself up when he finds he can't get any further. He was given a fair and im- partial trial and condemned and then you turn around and pardon him." "Well," replied the old man indignantly, "the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO'. 241 next ones we catch I'll turn over to you." "If you do, I will shoot every last one of them," said the colonel, as we left the room in which the conversation had taken place. We then built rifle pits, put our boys on picket all around the edge of the clearing, changing them at night and day, and ourselves did the duties of cor- poral of the guard, two of us constantly going from guard to guard to see that they were not asleep, or what we feared still more, hadn't joined the enemy. Thus things went on for two or more weeks, when one night at about n o'clock we were surprised by one of our pickets, who came running in, saying that two strange men had passed within ten feet of him only a few minutes before, and were talking at the time. He waited till they were well past him, and then ran in a roundabout way to us who made our headquarters at the store. This news was sent to the barracks, which were now being occupied by some men sent by Nicolas Salvatera. Presently they saw three forms crawling along the outer edge of the building, and rushing out on them, captured them all. They brought them into the building, where they made a full confession. They said the murdro-maniac's feet were played out; that he had stopped for the night at an old deserted rubber camp, about three miles below on the river, and that the rest of the party were out on the edge of the clearing waiting for them to come back. When daylight came the next morning a party started down the river in a boat to capture the mur- dro-maniac, while another party, which I joined, started out to fight the rest of the mutineers. After rambling through the bush for about three hours, we captured three without firing a shot and brought them into camp. The murdro-maniac had also been 242 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. captured without a shot and was already lying in the wooden stocks in the barracks, where the three prisoners captured the night before had been kept and where we put our prisoners. A court-martial was soon held at which Munyose presided. The lieutenant governor in the mean- time had gone up the Madre de Dios and was stop- ping with Augusta Roca. All of the seven prison- ers were tried, and three of them, including the mur- dro-maniac, condemned to death. Then they were marched out as the brothers had been before. They took their seats on boxes. Four soldiers were given their rifles and ammunition, while we citizens watched them, drawn up in two lines with rifles in our hands. They waited the orders from Mun- yose to fire. I now had a chance for a moment to study the murdro-maniac. He was a short, plump-built young fellow, not more than 5 feet 4 inches in height, and not more than 23 years of age. His features resem- bled more those of a bulldog than of a man — low forehead, pug nose and projecting chin. He was utterly without fear, and he had taken his seat on one of the boxes as indifferently as though he were seating himself at the table to eat a meal, after which he said : 'Allow me to speak one word." "Silence, sir !" commanded Munyose. He also objected to having his eyes bound with a handkerchief, and when it was being tied around them, he raised both his hands toward it, but quickly lowered them again. Of the other two con- demned men who sat at his side, one was the In- dian who had murdered his wife and the other a soldier who had played a conspicuous part in the re- volution. All was ready and the order to fire was given. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 243 Four shots rang out. Blood was seen flowing from the shoulders of the murdro-maniac, while the other two condemned men fell to the ground dead. "Why don't you kill me?" the murdro-manaic yelled. The soldiers reloaded their rifles, took second aim at him and fired, and he fell backward to the ground, pierced with five bullets. We then went home, got our dinners and lay down to sleep. When we awoke that evening we began to realize that most of the mutineers were still at large. It was evident, that, they had started up the river and it was supposed that they would camp for the night a few miles above, where there was a stream entering the Beni which they could not cross with- out difficulty. Accordingly a small band of men, headed by one Francisco Lugones, started in a boat in pursuit, expecting to find them there asleep and capture them by surprise. When they reached the stream they quietly left their boat, crawled up on the bank with rifle in hand, and reaching the top they found themselves to be within a few yards of the muqueteros (the mosquito bars) of the muti- neers, inside of which they heard the click, clicking of their powerful Remington rifles. At this they became frightened and immediately took to their heels and ran back to the boat, which they shoved off into the stream, and returned to Riveralta. The mutineers were still uncaptured, and as the wife of Pedro Suarauz, a beautiful and accomplished English lady (the only English-speaking woman on the Beni), was supposed to be on her way down the river and her husband feared that violence might be done her by the outlaws, he headed another party and started in pursuit with the steamer of Augusta Roca. The mutineers were overtaken and a skirm- 244 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. ish was fought with them, in which one of them was taken prisoner. The rest got away and the party gave up the chase and returned home. A week or more rolled around and the mutiny and mutineers were forgotten. The lieutenant governor returned to Riveralta and resumed his official duties, and everything was moving as tran- quilly as before 1 the outbreak, when unexpectedly a boat arrived loaded at the water's edge, bringing in it all the mutineers hobbled together with wooden hobles, two and two. They had all been captured without bloodshed by a Frenchman, by the name of Jenson, with some Indian "boys" who brought them down the river. We helped them out of the boat, after which they hobbled up on the bank, where they were met by the lieutenant governor, who gave them such a reprimand for the high offense they had committed against the laws of war as I never heard men get before or since. They were then taken to the barracks, and re- mained there until after their trial, when one of them was shot and the rest sentenced to> work in the rubber forests under a commissioned officer for a term of three years, and were taken down the river. Having traced this extraordinary occurrence from its start to finish, I will now return to my work. From the moment the first shot was fired in the mutiny down to the time the mutineers were known to have given up all idea of surprising us, I stopped my work, put my "boys" on picket, and had myself done a soldier's duty, as one of the corporals of the guard. All this time of danger, Patrick Gibson, a coward at heart, treated me with great courtesy, but now that this danger was over, I could see that he was Patrick Gibson again, as he began his quibbling talk agaiust IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAHRO. the bateaux and seemed to be very uneasy because I was getting on with Jose and Miguel so well. They had played a most contemptible part in the revolution, and it was generally known that they were the only two "boys" who were dangerous or treacherous, of all the slaves owned by the different houses in Riveralta. "I knew you would straighten them out," he said one day when we were talking about them. "Oh, yes," I answered. "I'll try to." But I did not tell him that I kept my eyes almost constantly on my ax to do it with. Another time he said, when we were talking about the bateaux, "I don't think they will work here on these waters, and I will tell you why. Some years ago a man was sent over here from Mollendo by our house to build sail boats for the house, and after he came and built a few and they were tried they were condemned. There is one lying around back of that small house now," pointing to a small house which stood some distance away. "Go and look at it." I went over and found lying there, bottom side- up, a ship's yawl. Then I turned around, went back to him and said : "Why, that isn't a river boat at all. That is a short, wide yawl boat, built so as to turn easily in a wind. That boat won't ride the short swells in the river rapids — it's too short." "Well, how is it," he asked, "that it will ride the swells in the ocean?" "Because they are long," I replied. "Anything in the shape of a boat will ride them until white caps begin to roll. Then there is nothing except a lifeboat will do it, and a life boat is more of a raft than a boat." But I cared little how quick he humbugged me 246 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. now, as long as I went home after he did it, by the mouth of the river. So I pitched into my work. When the 14th of January came I had lumber enough for about half a dozen large boats, all sawed and carried to the river's edge, where I had built a house about fifty feet long, in which we worked. I had already built the second large boat and was starting on the third. Up to this time all had gone well. I and my "boys," who all had wives, ex- cepting Vicento, crossed the river on Monda3 morning to our work, remained there during the week, recrossing Saturday evening to spend Sun- day in Riveralta. As the rest of the delegation had come down the river, I spent every Sunday afternoon in company with the governor's son, in the apartment which the civil officers occupied in the barracks. It was here that I again saw that the boy was his father's pride and glory, for although he couldn't speak a word of the language in which we conversed, and seldom spoke in his own native tongue, nothing seemed to interest him more than to sit, surrounded by the other civil officers, and watch us talk. In- deed, so strange a talker was Gov. Guerra, it might almost be said of him that he did his talking, when he did speak, with his eyes, instead of with his mouth. Every once in a while during these conversations I would hear him ask the lieutenant governor what we were talking about, or hear him saying some- thing in praise of the people of the United States or its political institutions. "What's the Yankee telling my boy now?" I heard him ask in his peculiar whisper. "He is telling him about the different railroad IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 247 systems in North America," the lieutenant governor replied. On another occasion I head him say : "The Amer- icans are the most energetic people in the world, by far." "They have hewn out of a forest in a little more than a century the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of the world," said a promi- nent attorney, one of his staff and his legal adviser. "No wonder they are so terribly hated and feared in this country by the Europeans," and many other remarks of this nature were overheard by me when talking with the boy. Once I turned to the governor abruptly and said : "I thought you were going to sell me when you got me down here." At this his eyes twinkled as he muttered : "There is money in the customs house yet and we have got to fatten you up first — you wouldn't bring much now." "Well," said I laughing, "don't sell me for any- thing less than a Chinaman brings whatever you do." And thus things were until the morning of the 14th of January, when an event occurred which proved that the Bolivian boy's warning to me re- garding the two' brothers was timely. We, that is, the "boys," their wives and I, had all entered my boat and started to cross the river, when I noticed that Jose was drunk. Vicento and Rosando were at the oars, while I was sitting in the stern holding in my hands a large cedar paddle, with which I was steering the boat. My revolver, belt and scabbard were lying under my seat on the bottom of the boat. Presently Jose reached toward the oars, as if trying to confuse 248 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the oarsmen. I told him to stop, but he paid no attention. Then I got up from my seat, raised the paddle in the air, told him if he didn't stop trying to bother the "boys" I'd break it over his head. This seemed to have the right effect upon him, as he stopped his performance at once. I sat down to my steering again and the matter passed out of my mind. When we reached our boat building estab- lishment on the opposite side of the river, after landing our boat, we rose from our seats, stepped out on the bank and started up, I in the rear of the party, carrying in my left hand my revolver, scab- bard and belt, and in my right hand the steering paddle, which I was using as a cane. I noticed Jose when he reached the top of the bank step out to one side and stop, a proceeding to which I attached no importance until I was walking past him, when I was startled by hearing him say : "Now, I want you to break that paddle over my head." I noticed that his eys were glittering, his jaws compressed, his upper lip -raised showing his grat- ing teeth, and becoming enraged after looking at him a moment, I said : "You do ; do you !" "Yes, I do," said he. "Well, you, here it is," said I, as I threw the pistol out of my left hand, raised the paddle with both hands and brought it down on his head with a force that broke it in two pieces, one part of which flew into the river, while I still held on to the other, with which I kept striking him. He apparently not disturbed by the blows, began striking at me with his fists. Accidentally a moment later he got hold of the broken paddle, wrenched it from my hand, and the the order of things were reversed. Sudden- ly he slipped and fell to the ground on his knees and I began kicking him in the face, and had him IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 249 nearly senseless when I found Miguel with clenched fists and glittering eyes at my side. Then I wheel- ed on my feet and ran for a short heavy piece of board which lay near, picked it up and turned toward them again. As they were close to me I raised it and brought it down on the head of Miguel hard enough, I thought, to knock his brains out, and certainly hard enough to jar it out of my hands. He apparently never felt the blow. Then I ran for my ax, which the Saturday evening before I had seen lying under a certain trestle, but when I got to the spot no axe could I see. I next picked up a large club, which was too heavy for me to handle, and turning on my feet, found them both in front of me again, standing side by side. Raising the club as best I could I brought it down on the head of Jose, then backing up and raising it again I tripped and fell over a small pile of boards to the ground. In an instant more Miguel was on top of me and Jose, standing at my head, bent over me. Then I felt for a time what appeared to me to be eggshells breaking on my head and saw what appeared to me to be stars falling by thousands. This was the last I recollect until the stars began falling again, and shortly I realized that I was being held standing on my feet by Rosando on one side and Vicento on the other, with Pedro behind me. Presently the falling stars grew less and I saw Jose and Miguel walking up and down near me, and heard them de- claring that they were going across the river. "I must get hold of that pistol the first thing I do," I thought to myself, as I staggered away from the three boys toward the spot where the fight began. When I reached the spot, to my delight, I saw the pistol lying on a pile of brush. Hastily picking it up and buckling the belt around me, I drew it from 250 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. its scabbard, saying to myself: "It won't do to shoot now the fight is over. I won't be justified in doing it. I'll take them across the river and get them lashed for it." Then walking back to them, I said : "Yes, now you will go across the river. Into that boat again." Trembling with fear at the sight of the revolver they both walked down in front of me and took seats where I ordered them in the bow of the boat. I told Vicento and Rosando to take the oars, and they stepped in and took their usual seats. "Stay there," I said to my late antagonists, as I turned and walked back to the trestle to look for my ax which I had kept so carefully for months for this occasion. Imagine my chagrin to find it in the exact spot where I had left it the Saturday night before. Then going back to the boat, I stepped into it after my oarsmen, put my pistol in its scabbard, picked up a short board with which to steer; one of the oarsmen pushed the boat off and we started across the river. When we reached the opposite shore, the two Chepes stepped out and walked a few steps away; then Miguel turned around and yelled : "I'm going to tell the governor you struck my brother." "If you wait a minute, I'll go with you to keep you company," I answered. But they evidently did not care for my company, as he turned away and started for the barracks. I quickly got out of the boat and followed them, and when I overtook them, I noticed that they, like myself, were covered with blood. We three had just reached the open door of the civil officers' apartment of the barracks, in which they were all sitting busily engaged at their desks, when we were joined by Gibson, who evident- ly had seen us recross the river and start for the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 251 barracks. He probably thought something was wrong and came to see what it was. "The North American struck my brother," yelled Miguel, at which the lieutenant governor fairly sprang to his feet, and turning to Gov. Guerra, screamed : "Oh, there are those treacherous Chepes. They have tried to kill our great friend, the Yan- kee." The governor slowly rose from his desk, walked a few steps toward us, pen in hand, while we waited in breathless silence. He looked at us a few seconds, when his eyes began to glitter, his jaws set firm, and turning to a captain who was standing guard, he said : "Give those two Chepes three hundred and fifty lashes each." "Will you let us take them over and lick them?" asked Gibson, knowing that no man could stand three hundred lashes and live. "We will send for Pedro Suarauz's 'boys' to do it; they like to give it to our 'boys' — there is an enmity between them." To this the governor, doubtless believing his ord- ers would be carried out in good faith, nodded assent, when we three combatants and Gibson turned from the door and walked over to the house of Braillard, where Gibson, after calling Corneau to one side and giving him some instructions in a low voice, went into the store. Corneau started for the house of Pedro Suarauz. Jose and Miguel sat down on the ground and leaned their backs against the building, and I walked to and fro in front of them. Presently Corneau returned, bringing with him six big,, strong Indians, all of whom I recognized as belonging to Suarauz. One carried on his back an untanned bull-hide, and another, in his hand, what looked to me like a four-horse lash. When they 252 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. came up to us the one who had brought the bull- hide threw it on the ground and the one with the lash in his hand turned and looked at Jose and Migul and said : "Qual?" (Which?) Corneau pointed to Jose. Two of Suarauz's In- dians walked to him, and as he rose slowly to his feet when they were close enough to him, took him by the hands and placing their other hands under his arms, led him slowly to where the bull-hide lay, some fifty feet away. Here they stopped and un- buttoned his pants, lowering them to the knees. Then they rolled up his shirt as he stood shaking with fear, the rest of the Indians looking on. Then they helped him to lie face down on the hide and stretched out his arms and legs, when one of the six Indians sat down on the back of his neck facing his feet. Another sat on each arm and leg, and the sixth, lash in hand, took his place at his side, a few feet away, just a convenient distance to reach him with the point of the lash. Then turning to Corneau the one with the lash asked : "How many?" "Sixty," said Corneau. The Indian ran his hand through the loop at one end of the lash, and after swinging it around his head let the other end of it down on Jose's hip so skillfully that it was plain to be seen he had used it before. This operation he. repeated again and again, each time cutting a small bit of flesh from the hips. About the fourth lash Jose began to yell : "Oh mi padron ! Oh, mi padron !" (Oh my owner.) This he kept up until about the fiftieth lash fell upon him, when he fainted and became unconscious, in which condition he was picked up after the sixtieth lash was given, and his shirt was lowered and his pants IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 253 rebuttoned. He then recovered consciousness and was led to the bench, where he was assisted to sit down. Then Miguel was given forty lashes in the same way. I stood watching this shocking affair, wishing that it was Gibson himself who was being lashed instead of the two Indians, but I consoled myself with the thought that he might have cause to remember me longer than they. When it was over, I began to realize that I was not only covered with blood, but badly hurt. My face was cut and swollen. The top of my head and my neck were sore; the second bone in my right hand was broken and out of place, where it remains to this day, and the delegation had no surgeon with them. In company with the Bolivian boy who had first warned me to look out for those two Indians, I went to my room and was washing myself and listening to the boy, who said : "Now, mister ; they will kill you sure, if you don't watch them close. They have just been whipped enough to make them mean," as a lieutenant came to the door and told me that the governor wanted to see me. "Arrested," I thought to myself. "Guess the old man is going to do some- thing to me for hitting the Indian with the paddle in the first place." I turned to the officer and said : "Won't you come in and wait a minute until I get this blood off myself?" "Certainly," said he, as he walked in and took a seat. After cleaning myself up the best I could, I walked over with him to the governor's quarters and found him sitting in a hammock which was swing- ing in the center of the room, with all his staff around him sitting in chairs. When I entered 254 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the room, he, upon seeing me, immediately rose up, went to a chair and sat down, pointing to the hammock, as he looked at me. "Rather a courteous way of treating a prisoner," I thought as I sat down in the hammock. "What in the world does this mean?" "Why didn't you kill those two treacherous In- dians today?" he asked, looking at me steadily. "Because I did not have my revolver," said I. "I threw it away when the fight started and never got hold of it again until the row was over." "Why didn't you do it then?" "Oh, yes," said I, becoming indignant. "It's all right for you to talk that way now; but if I had brought them both over here in the boat dead, you would have sung a different song. You wouldn't have shot me, no — nor you wouldn't have let me go. You would simply have given me a fair, impartial trial, found me guilty of murder in the first degree, condemned me to be shot and locked a wooden hobble on one of my legs and kept me a prisoner for the next ten years — that's all." When I had finished speaking, the governor an- swered: "Is that what you were afraid of?" "Yes," said I. The same familiar expression appeared on the governor's face as he muttered in his peculiar way : "Well, any time you think you are going to have trouble with them, you kill them both and I will never bring you to trial for it." He had evidently heard how his orders to give them three hundred and fifty lashes each were carried out by Gibson as he concluded his remarks by muttering: "If I had known that was the way they were going to be whipped, they wouldn't have got away from here." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 255 Then he asked me : "Why do they give you those two dangerous men in the first place?" "I don't know," I replied. "I do," he interrupted. "It's because you're a Yankee and they want to get you into trouble." I thanked him and then turned to his boy, who was sitting near me, presumably patiently waiting to hear my account of the fight, and told him all about it. During our conversation, I heard his father mutter to his legal adviser, who was quite near him, saying: "Well, now, isn't it strange the courage a Yankee has. Only think of a man throw- ing away his revolver when he starts to fight two men, either of whom is twice the size of himself!" "Oh," the lawyers whispered, "they have proven their courage in a hundred battles — both on land and sea — yet they are more of an industrial than a militant people." When I had finished telling the boy all about the fight I got up, bade them all good day and started back to the house of Braillard & Co. I didn't want to kill the two poor, benighted In- dians now, because they were not the ones who needed it. The first boat which I had finished had been taken in tow by the steamer some time before and was expected back in a few weeks, and I knew that when she came, she would be condemned, either because she was too short or too long ; too high or too low; too wide or too narrow, or too "some- thing." Then I intended throwing up my contract, going home by way of the mouth of the Amazon and making things interesting for Braillard & Co. So before I reached the house I concocted a scheme to get rid of them. Walking into Gibson's office, where I found him at his desk, I stepped in front of him and danced a 256 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. short clog step, at which he looked up in surprise, saying: "Why, you feel good about something — what's the matter?" "Why," said I, "Gov. Guerra sent for me and told me any time I apprehended any more trouble with those two treacherous devils, to put a bullet through each of them and have no fears whatever as to the consequences. So you can send them along now just as quick as you please." "He did !" said he, with a look of surprise. "That's what he did," I answered. "Well, if that's the case, I had better keep them over here and give you two other Indians in their places." "That's what I think about it myself; but you can suit yourself in the matter." "Well, I don't want to see you have any more trouble," Gibson explained. "No, I don't suppose you do," I replied. "There are Alphonso and Alexandro, both nice amiable little fellows. Take them over and leave Jose and Miguel here." We went across the river the next morning and resumed our work, which progressed as before, without any trouble, until we had completed the third large boat, when the steamer arrived in port with boat number one. After talking with the captain a little while, Gibson came swinging his hand and exclaiming: "I won't let any of my boys go down the river in that thing. They will be drowned. The captain says it is limber; that when a boy steps on the side of it you can see it bend all along." "Well, I tell you," I interrupted, "I didn't come over here to quibble about boats with you. You make out my account ; advance me sixty pounds IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 257 sterling and write what you have to say to Mr. Clawsen. I will go home and settle this little bus- iness with him." This proposition apparently suited him only too well, and he gladly accepted it, for different reasons, I suppose. The first was that he would get out or the Beni country the only Yankee there was in it; sec- ond, he evidently thought he could write an account of the limber boat to Clawson which would coun- teract anything I said before a committee of three arbitrators. The third reason was that he knew if he refused to advance me the money to return to Arequipa I would go and state my case to the governor, and that the governor had as much ad- miration for a Yankee as he had hatred for one, and that the governor would see justice done in the case. I stopped work at once, brought all my tools across the river, and stowed them away in a room in the house. I then got my account and the sixty pounds sterling from Gibson, and on the morning of February n was seated on one of Pedro Suar- auz's three boats with all of the official corres- pondence of the delegation to_ their government in my trunk, ready to start on a journey of over eight thousand miles, while Patrick Gibson, after bidding me an apparently hearty good-bye, was standing near the boat waiting for us to leave. In each of the three boats were about four tons of rubber belonging to the house of Braillard & Co. Each was manned by seven of Suarauz's boys, three on each side, with powerful paddles, and one at the rudder. One of the boats contained Suarauz him- self and his accomplished wife. Besides we three persons, there were about eight or ten Indian wo- men, wives of some of the "boys," distributed in — 9 258 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the three boats, who were taken along to do the cooking. When all was ready the signal was given by Suarauz, and the "boys" in the bows took their poles and pushed the boats out into the river, where they turned around. I saw that the boats were water-logged and dead on the water, and I turned to Gibson and gave him a parting shot by shouting: "So you have been collecting money for years for goods and rubber lost in a wash-tub like this on rapids, have you?" When I spoke, he was walking slowly down the river at its edge, but when he heard me he stopped and looked at me, apparently saying to himself : "I thought the Yankee was going, but now I believe he is only coming." But whatever he thought, he never moved until the boats were well out in the river and then I saw him walk slowly up the bank. The twenty-one "boys" of Pedro Suarauz struck their paddles into the water with apparently little apprehension that before the morrow had been passed more than half of their number would go to their death. In a few hours we passed the mouth of the Orton. At noon we reached Blanca Flora, and when darkness overtook us we began to hear the roar of the rapids and I realized we were near- ing those of Esperanza. Until now the river from Riveralta had flowed gently along at a four-mile current, but here it became quite swift. Presently we heard loud yells and the boat started to land. Imagine my surprise, when, instead of throwing her bow up-stream and letting her sheer quietly into the shore, which they could have done in a minute, with a sweep oar at the stern, they ran her into the bank, bow down-stream, threw a line ashore, which was caught by a crowd of Indians, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 259 while her stern swung around down stream, nearly- keeling her over, as she grated on the bottom. Here she was held by the Indians, who made the line fast on shore, and we went ashore and camped for the night. The next morning at daylight I was up looking at the rapids, and saw that the river was here about one-half mile in width ; that the rapids were not unusually dangerous for a bateaux to run. The swells were not overly large, and there were no rock to strike. A great tree, perhaps six feet through at the butt, lay out in the stream about one hundred yards from the shore, but what I couldn't understand was how they could possibly keep their boats from turning, or could turn them when they wanted to, in such water when they were being steered by a rudder. About I o'clock my curiosity was satisfied. Some of the rubber was taken out of each of the three boats to lighten them. Ten boys, each with a pad- dle in his hand, crawled on each side of one of them ; another took hold of the tiller ; her bow was pushed out into the stream, and the Indians began to pad- dle for their lives, as her bow swung around down stream. Everybody on shore, including Nicholas Suarauz, his nephew Pedro, his wife and myself, were watching her. Imagine our horror to see, in spite of all her steersman's efforts to turn her, she moved on and on toward the great tree trunk which lay some distance below. I shall never forget the wail that went up from those Indian women when she struck the trunk, bow on, with such force that the bowplate was knocked from its place, high in the air. Then her stern sank in the water and for a moment we saw nothing above its edge save two rows of heads. Then these kept dropping down 260 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the river one by one. Then the trunk itself moved slowly down stream, and presently we saw three of the boys standing on it. An eddy, in which were several boats, lay a short distance below, to which Nicholas Suarauz and some of his boys ran, and jumping into a boat, paddled out into the river be- low the rapids, and returned in about an hour with seven out of the twenty-one boys who had been in the boat. Then the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the woman who had lost their husbands began in earn- est and kept up until late that night, when after crying themselves tired and sleepy they went to bed. I had now seen the boat run the rapids with some of Braillard & Co.'s rubber on board, and all- 1 cared to know was in what company they were insured. The next day the rubber that had been unloaded was all carried round the rapids, the two remaining boats dragged around them, and Nicholas Suarauz supplied his nephew with enough "boys" to make up two full crews, and we started down stream again, reaching Villa Villa, on the Brazilian boun- dary line, that afternoon. Here we stopped until the next morning. Then we moved down to the next rapids, where the rubber and boats were again taken around the rapids by land. Pedro Suarauz took his enormous loss hard, and I made up my mind the first opportunity I had I would find out about this insurance business. That evening he was lying in a hammock that was swung between two trees, his wife sitting near him reading, and I was sitting in a camp chair reading some distance away, when suddenly he raised him- self up and looking at me despondently said : "I IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 261 don't know how it is. I have always been so un- fortunate in everything I have ever undertaken in my life." At this I got up, book in hand, and walked to the side of his hammock, and trying to look as earnest as possible, said : "Mr. Suarauz, why don't you insure? But then, of course, you couldn't very well insure the lives of your boys?" "Well, I will tell you, Mr. Agle," he said in a hoarse whisper, at the same time looking me ear- nestly in the eye : "My uncle when in Europe did go to insure, and they wouldn't have anything to do with us. 'Why,' said my uncle, 'you insure Brail- Hard, don't you?" " 'Oh, yes,' they said, 'but that's a different thing, altogether. Their rubber and goods don't go over the rapids. It's all carried around them, and then is moved up and down the Beni in sail boats.' Of course, my uncle didn't tell them that all the losses Braillard ever had were on the rapids in our boats. He just walked out of the office without saying a word, and when he came home he told Braillard he had insured in the same company with them- selves. They think to this day that my uncle is in- sured." "Just what I am going eight thousand miles to learn," I said to myself, as I went back to my chair and sat down. As Suarauz had had enough loss for one man on one trip we passed the whole seven rapids of the Madeira in this way and reached San Antonio on February 23. This place is the head of navigation of the Ma- deira, being just fifteen hundred miles from Para. Up to this point steamers of thirteen feet draft can ascend the river the year around. From here to the rapids of Esparanza, a distance of one hundred and 262 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. twenty miles, two attempts to build a railroad have been made, one in the early seventies by an En- glish company, under a Mr. Church ; and another in the latter seventies by an American company, under a Mr. Collins. Both failed, but no one at the place seemed to know the reason why. The town itself was merely a great yard of railroad material, marked on all of which were the letters "P. & R. R." There were two small business houses here and several smaller ones for dwelling purposes. From this place I took passage on one of the two steamers in port bound for Para, which city I reached after an uneventful trip on March 16, leav- ing Para for Barbadoes on the 20th, landing at that place on the 30th, and leaving the next day for Colon by way of the island of Trinidad, Port of La Guayra, Port of Cabello and Carthagena, reaching Colon on April 12. Nothing occurred on this trip worth noting, ex- cept that when our steamer touched the wharf at Port of Cabello there stepped on her decks an old man dressed in white linen with a black hat. His figure was erect, his whiskers long and gray and his eyes black and flashing. After giving us pas- sengers a look for a moment he went up the steps leading to the captain's cabin, with the agility of a boy and soon disappeared from view. "I wonder what nationality that man is," I said to an Englishman standing near me, a fellow pas- senger. "Why, it's easy to tell that man's a Yank by his energy," he replied. Presently he came down again, and I stepped up to him and asked him how long he had lived in South America. "I first came down here," he said, with Church IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 263 when he undertook to build the railroad around the rapids of the Madeira, but I did not stay with him long — didn't like his crowd. Then I came back again with Collins and had full charge of the ma- terial until the English company humbugged us." "What was the trouble about?" I asked him. "Oh," he answered, "nothing but jealousy. They couldn't build the road themselves and they were not going to let us do it. They didn't do anything when they were there but drink whisky, until all the money which had been raised had been spent. Then they went back home and declared that it was impossible for white men to exert themselves in that climate. When they saw we Americans, six years later, land at San Antonio on the first day of May and celebrated our Fourth of July with six miles of track laid, they raised a question with us and seized all the money we had on deposit in Eng- land. The question went before the house of com- mons twice, and was both times decided in our fa- vor. Then they appealed to the house of lords, where it was quickly decided against us, and Col- lins was a ruined man, and today lives with his wife in Philadelphia at the Bingham house." "What's your name?" I asked him. "Capt. Simms," was the courteous reply. "I am glad to have met you, Capt. Simms." I said, as we shook hands, after which we parted and he left the boat. "I crossed the isthmus and stopped in Panama six days before I could get a steamer going south. Then I started for Mollendo on the steamer Puno, which in six days later dropped anchor off Paita, where a passenger came on board. Stepping up to him I asked: "Do you know anything of the Talara oil wells and how they are getting along there?" 264 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "I should say I do," said he. "Old man Tweddle died last winter in Liverpool, and he was hardly- cold before the company made war on his boy. They sent an agent to Lima with plenty of money and he managed to get troops and took them to Talara and drove the boy off the place. Every En- glishman the boy had working for him went right back on him, and turned around and went to work for the new manager. Then the boy watched his chance and in a few months he got troops and drove the Englishmen all away and hired no one but Americans, after which the captain of the Ewo got up steam in the night, weighed anchor and steamed her down into the port of Callao and turned her over to the company's agent. Now the boy has the oil fields and the company has the tank steamer, and they are going to have a big lawsuit over it." After giving me a few details of the trouble we dropped the subject. The next day we dropped an- chor off Pacasmayo and another stranger came aboard, whom 1 supposed from his appearance to be an American railroad operative. I asked him at the first opportunity : "Are you a locomotive engi- neer?" "Yes," said he, "but I am foreman of the round- house now in Pacasmayo." "Do you know any of the boys on the Arequipa road?" "I know them all," he replied. "Mr. Morgan is now in charge of the shops of the Oroya road in Callao. Hawley and some of those fellows up there worked him out of a job at last, and the poor old fellow brought his family to Callao and went to work at his trade, until a few weeks ago, when he was put in charge of the shops." As this gentleman had come aboard to transact IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 265 some business and had no time to spare, he then excused himself and started to find the purser. It was about 5 o'clock on the evening of April 28 when the steamer stopped in the harbor of Callao. I at once took a row boat and went ashore. Then I started for the Oroya Company's depot, where I found a passenger train ready to start for the East. Walking up to an engineer, who was oiling his engine, I asked him if he knew Mr. Morgan. "Yes," he answered, "he is my boss and was here a moment ago. He ought to be around here yet." "Hello, old man," I heard a familiar voice ex- claim, as I felt some one grip me by the shoulder, and turning around, found myself face to face with the great mechanic. "Well, how did you make it over on the Beni?" "Oh, Pat Gibson humbugged me completely, just as Pike said he would." "Don't it beat all?" said he, interrupting me, "that nothing can go ahead in this country? I am going to ask you a question," he continued, "and I want you to answer it. Do you suppose God knows how foreigners act toward each other in this country?" "If He does, He is more merciful than just," said I, "but, say, how is Pike getting along?" "Well he took Roberts and Trampi* out to that property he has with you, and Roberts condemned it, and Pike is terribly put out about it, and says that Roberts never made any examination of it at all, and that in his report, he even says, that lum- ber to flume it would have to be taken from Juliaca, when the place there is all covered with a forest of large, fine timber. Pike says Roberts didn't act in good faith." *A civil engineer. 266 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "What next!" I exclaimed. "How is Hawley getting along with that mine I examined for him ?" "They gave Disboe's wife one thousand solas and he sent her to Arequipa to live. Then they loaded down forty mules with supplies, tools ' and alcohol, and McQuestion and Disboe took them out to the mine. When they got there McQuestion turned the property over to Disboe and came back to Juliaca for more supplies, and was going back to the mine with them again, when he met Disboe, who said he wanted to borrow three hundred solas from him and take his dear little wife down to Mol- lendo and give her a bath. It was anything now to get along with him, so McQuestion gave him the money and went on. Disboe came to Juliaca, tele- graphed to his wife to have all their trunks at the depot, then took the first train for Mollendo, was joined by his wife in Arequipa, and when they got to Mollendo, they took a boat and were rowed out to a steamer bound for Chile, and that's the lastthathas ever been heard from him. When McQuestion reached the mines, he found the Indians, whom they had taken there to work for them, all gloriously drunk, and the alcohol all gone, and knowing as he did that when they sobered up they would leave him, too, he left the rest of the stuff there and went away first in disgust." "Well," said I, laughing, "that is the best news I have heard since I came to South America. It'll be some time before Hawley plays any more of his round-house tricks on a Yankee, won't it?" "Pity we hadn't a few more men like you here," said the old man, with a smile of delight in his eyes, as we bade each other good-bye, and I returned to the ship. In three days more I was in Mollendo, where, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 267 upon going ashore, I found Clawsen stopping at Old Peter's hotel. I immediately went to his room and found him just taking his coffee. I told him the whole story, briefly, of my dispute with Gib- son, concluding with: "Now, there is just this about it: The first question to settle between us is who is right, Gibson or I, in regard to the ba- teaux itself." "Yes," said he, "that's the first question." "Well, I am going to lay the whole thing before the insurance company and let them decide that question between us. They are as deeply interested in placing a suitable boat on the rapids of the Ma- deira as either you or I. They have been paying you and Nicolas Suarauz hundreds of thousands of dollars for losses which have occurred on those rap- ids, and there is no good reason why they shouldn't have a word to say in the matter." When I mentioned the word "Insurance" he be- gan to tremble, and when I finished speaking he tremblingly raised a cup of coffee to his lips, say- ing as he did so: "W-e-e-1, that is just what we all want." "Yes, and that is just exactly what you are go- ing to get," said I, as I left the room. That evening I reached Arequipa, and went di- rectly to the house of Pike, where I found him at home. He appeared overjoyed at seeing me, and after offering me a chair, he began conversation by saying : "Well, I suppose Pat Gibson humbugged you completely. I told you he would and I'll bet he done it." 268 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Yes," said I, "he did; but you didn't tell me that I was going to humbug them." Then I told him everything that had taken place and every word that had been said about insurance, even to describing the scene in Clawsen's room that morning in Mollendo. "I'll bet he wished you had never left the States," said Pike, after hearing me through. "Well, if he don't wish it now, he will before I get through with him," I concluded. Then, changing the subject, I asked: "By the way, haven't you been humbugged a little yourself this summer?" "Yes," he replied. "Roberts and Trampi worked the whole Pacific coast that way. Joseph Earle, the rubber king of New York came from La Paz, on his way home, and stopped here a few days, and while he was here Roberts gave him a big dinner, to which Pool was invited, and in the course of which Roberts made Earle believe he could see clear through boulders into the bedrock of rivers and clear through gravel banks, and that he was the only man in the world who could do it. Pool told Earle of our property. " 'I will tell you what I will do with you,' said Earle to Pool. 'You send this man out there to look at it, and if he reports favorably on it I will put up all the money you want to work it.' "We supposed, of course, that Roberts would re- port favorably on it, and paid him 1,000 solas to go and examine it. We hired mules in Arequipa for the trip, and I started out with him and Trampi." "What did Trampi go for?" I asked. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 269 "Why, Roberts paid him 200 solas to come along and make a correct map of that creek." "I thought I did that," said I. "So you did, and so I told them; but, you see, they are partners and work in together. Well, anyhow " continued Pike, "I thought Roberts all right until we reached the summit and the whisky was gone. Then I found him to be a different man entirely from what I had taken him to be. He ac- tually cursed and swore for hours at a time, and I soon saw that he was everything else but a rational man." "What did he curse about?" I interrupted again. "About everything. He cursed Trampi worse than I ever heard one man curse another, and Trampi took it all. What surprised me most was that Roberts knew you and had no love for you." "I can explain that to you when you get thrtiugh with the story of your trip," I said. "How did he act when you reached the property?" "Well, when we reached the tambo on the Char- unachy, he said: 'Now, come along and I will tell you in fifteen minutes whether this thing is any good or not,' and he started wading right up the center of the creek, as the water was very low, while I waded behind him, and Trampi took his transit and started down toward San Bias over your line. "When we reached the canyon at the head of my location Roberts turned around to me suddenly and said: 'How long have you known Agle?" 'About two years,' I answered. 'Well, I'll tell you,' said he, 'don't you spend another cent on it.' 270 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. " 'Well, I will tell you, said I, 'you don't know anything about this property. You haven't exam- ined the ground, and the bottom of the creek you can't see.' " 'I have spoken,' he said, and so we went back to the camp together, and in less than an hour Trampi came back and began making a map. " 'Why,' said I, 'you have not even made a sur- vey yet,' 'Oh, yes,' said he, 'I have — over Agle's stakes.' So I saw that they had only come out to humbug me, and I said no more. After cooking and eating a meal, I started home and left them there, and they came home in a few days." "Now I will tell you why he had it in for me," I said, as Pike finished, and I related to him all abo"ut my meeting Roberts in Pool's office before 1 went to the Beni, and what I told Pool about him, and his pretensions, after he had left. "Is that so?" Pike exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Certainly," said I. "Good heavens!" Pike ejaculated. "Pool never even mentioned that to me. If he had Roberts would have never gone near that property. I knew there was something between you and Roberts, be- cause, in his report, he says that lumber to flume it would have to be taken from Juliaca." "Well," said I, "it seems to me that the time hasn't come yet for the gold mines in this country to be put into operation. I will see Pool tomorrow and have a talk with him, and then leave this part of the country, for some time at least." Pike then told me of Alec Gibson ; he had finished IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 271 his work arid had taken from his pool 57 ounces of gold. In his absence the wild Indians had twice attacked his camp, seven of his men had been killed and he was now in Cuba. I bade Pike good night and left his house. The next day I called on Pool, with whom I discussed the matter in the same strain as I had done with Pike. After telling him all about my trip to the Beni I bade him bood-bye and left his office. 272 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAJRRO. CHAPTER XI. I was now more determined than ever to start the gold-mining industry in Peru and Bolivia, and undertook to do it in such a way that I couldn't be humbugged. I had met an American prospector in Para, who had been to the headwaters of the Maranon river. He said that he had found at the mouth of one of its tributaries, the Santiago De Borga, fine gold in paying quantities on one of its bars. Near its mouth were great rapids which were almost impassible, but an American prospector had gone up over them jeveral years before with sev- eral Indians and had found greater pay on the bars above. He had worked on some of them, from which he had taken about five pounds of gold. He had then attempted to come down the river and had been drowned in the rapids. The gold was lost, and the Indians swam ashore. This was the pros- pector's story, and as it came from a man whose whole life had been spent on the lonely frontier, 1 believed it. My old companions on the Yukon were patiently awaiting the news from me that I had found sur- face bar diggings in my rambles in the South, and had repeatedly sent me word by letter that they would hasten to me in case I did. My plans now were to reach the Santiago De Borga at all hazards, examine its bars, notify my friends, and when they had reached me, snap my IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 273 fingers in the faces of the great community of hum- bugs, as I now called the foreign residents of Peru and Bolivia. As I still had £10 of Braillard's money left, in a few days I started from Arequipa for Mol- lendo, where I took a steamer for Pacasmayo. Af- ter reaching that place, I went by rail as far as the railway extended toward Cajamarca, from whence I journeyed to that place on the back of a mule. It was a two days' ride, and I made the trip in the company of some soldiers. Here, without an hour's delay a German merchant succeeded in getting me a horse on which to ride to Celendine, which I reached in three days more, and from here, after a delay of seven days, I went by muleback to Mo- linapampa in three days. Leaving here without delay, in three days more I was in Cachapoyas, and in six days more had reached Moyabamba, from where, as animals could go no further towards the tributaries of the Amazon, I was compelled to walk to Urimaguas, a town at the head of naviga- tion on the Huallaga river, where I took a steamer for Iquitos, at which place I landed in a few days more. Iquitos had been built by the Peruvian govern- ment on the site of an old Indian village in 1863, and had been supported entirely by the caoutchouc industry, a coarse species of rubber. The govern- ment buildings in it consisted of one large building and an obsolete saw mill in which were piled Araer- pine boards, cut in Maine, and brought up the river on steamers from Para. There were several flourishing business houses in Iquitos, the German one of Wesche & Co., being 274 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the largest. The French house of Morreales was next in size, besides which there were several smaller ones. Her'e I met a young man by the name of George Mills, an old friend of Pike. He was a Canadian by birth and a carpenter and mill- wright by trade. He had crossed the mountains by way of Quito, Equador, the summer before, and had been working at such jobs as he could get to do at his trade since he came to Iquitos. He was a handsome, easy-going fellow, and as may be imag- ined, lonesome for a companion who was something beside "a lager beer Dutchman," as he called the Germans. So he at once proposed that we work to- gether, a proposition which I at once accepted. As he had both a shop and tools to work with, the preparations for our enterprise were already made. Immediately upon becoming settled in Iquitos I wrote London Lloyds, telling them what I knew of the insurance business of the Beni. "I'll bet," said Mills, when I told him what I was doing, "that you will find when you come to fish the whole thing out there is an agent of the insurance com- pany in which Braillard & Co. are insured who is located in Para, and that the same man is Braillard & Co.'s agent there also. Now you see if it don't turn out that way." Mills gladly agreed to go with me to the Santiago De Borga, but as neither of us had any money with which to buy an outfit and pay our passage to the Upper Maranon, we concluded to work to- gether for a year, save the money and then make the effort. This was perhaps the hardest struggle for an ex- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 2T5 istence in my life. The French and native houses had little work for us to do, and the German house would not give us a job ; we supposed because of our nationality. Spring came, and a man named Carlos Hoffman came to Iquitos from his plantation on the Hual- laga. "Carlos Hoffman — Carlos Hoffman," I re- peated to myself. "Who can this man be that his name is so familiar? Oh, now I know who he is — he's another of Pike's great friends." "I wish you could meet him, Agle," I remember- ed Pike saying on one occasion. "He is a Dutch- man, but he has lived in the United States and is thoroughly Americanized, and he is a mighty fine fellow. You and he would make a great team. He lives over in that Maranon country somewhere, and when you get over there try and hunt him up." I thought now was a good time to do this, so started around the town looking for him. After a short search I found him standing in front of the house of Wesche & Co., and we had a long talk, in the course of which I told him of my des- titute circumstances, owing to my inability to get work. "Veil," said he "vy don'd you go to vork in der house of Vesche ?" "They won't give me a job," said I. "Veil, I vill talk mit Don Julio and meet you again tonight and vill get you all der vork you vant." We then parted and met again in the evening, and he began by saying: "Veil, I had a talk about you mit Don Julio today." "What did you make out with him?" 276 IN THE. FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Vy, he hates you," exclaimed Hoffman. "What!" I exclaimed in surprise. "What right has that man to either hate or like me?" I asked, supposing it to be something person- al. "He don't know me, nor does any one else in this part of the country." "Is dot so?" said Hoffman. "He first told me he had no vork, und I vollored him aroundt der tird time und said : 'Here, Don Julio, I vond't dake no for answer. You must put dot man to vork right avay. Dot's von of dose bright American shaps, und he is a particular friend of der pest friend I haf in der vorld.' " "And what did he say to that?" I interrupted. "Vy, he trew up both his hands und exclaimed: 'Dot's vat he is. I hate dot man und dond vant dot man to stop in dis coundtry, vat show vill dere be for us? Ve must vork togedder und get dem oudt as fast, as dey come.' " "In what part of the United States did you live?" I next asked Hoffman. "In Boston," said he. "Well," said I, "you go back to Boston and go into a school of elocution when you get there, and don't come out of it until you have dropped every particle of that Dutch brogue. Then people won't know you are a Dutchman and they will take you for a Yankee." "I vill," he said, shaking his head in disgust, "for I as so ashamed of mine coundtrymen dot really I hates to shpeak of dem." "I don't blame you," I said. "When one little Yank who don't weigh over 150 pounds can scare IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 277 a whole community of them, what would they do if they met us by the thousands?" "Vaint, I guess," he answered, after which we dropped the subject. The Fourth of July came, and the house of Wesche was adorned by the Stars and Stripes wav- ing from it, and a week afterwards a beautiful edi- torial in the small weekly Iquitos newspaper ap- peared, commenting on the great love the Germans bore toward America and the Americans. But a change took place. One evening I was startled by Mr. Mills rushing into our room, where I was reading, and saying: "Well, Bill, we are strictly in it. There is a man here from the Upper Maranon, whom I have just met, by the name of Juan Rineris, and he is rich. He has made his money in the caoutchouc business. He has a plan- tation within a hundred miles of the Santiago De Borga. He says there is water power on it, and he will give us six solas per day and board if we will go up with him and build a water wheel, bring wa- ter on it and gear it to a trapeche (a machine for grinding .cane), and that he will give us all the peons we want after we get through, to go with us up on the Santiago De Borga and work those bars, as he has sixty peons. He sent an American there some years ago, and the Yankee took five pounds of gold out of them. The Indians who were with his said so, and that he was drowned on his way back and the gold was lost. The Indians swam ashore. So that the tale the prospector told you two years ago in Para is true. He has a small steamer chartered to take him and his sup- 278 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. plies up to his plantation, and will be ready to start in a few days. He wants me to bring you around tomorrow, and both of us to sign a contract so far as the waterwheel and the utilization of the water power is concerned." We could hardly wait until morning, but it came at last, and we went and signed the contract with the Peruvian. As he dealt with the house of Wesche & Co., he told us to go there and get what things we needed and have them charged to his account, which we did. "Don Julio" made a pre- tense of being overjoyed at the prospect of having the gold bearing bars of Santiago De Borga again worked by Yankees. "It vill bring your coundtrymeji down here," said he, "und den dis coundtry vill go ahead. It is the richest coundtry under der sun, mitout some doubt, but it vill never be anydings more dan it is now until der beoples of der United States come here und open it oop." "Yes," said I, "and there are millions of them who, if they had seen as much of it as I have, would not be working for their board, and fighting for the work, in the United States very long, either." In a few days all preparations were made, and in six days more we stepped from the chartered steam- er onto the plantation of Rineris. Through this plantation a small stream flowed into the Maranon river, coming out of the rolling hills which lay im- mediately back of it. I found his plantation to be like all other plan- tations which I had visited either in eastern Peru or Bolivia. There were several acres cleared on it, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 279 which were being cultivated by peons, and who thereby raised enough to feed themselves and no more. In addition to his agricultural business, Rineris traded with the wild Indians who came down to his place yearly for that purpose. They brought with them hens' eggs, rock salt, and a most peculiar article of commerce, namely, the embalmed heads of their dead, reduced to perhaps one-third their original size by a process known only to them- selves, whereby the features were left perfect. When I was with him he had on hand seven of these heads, which he intended shipping to the firm of Shipton, Green & Co., with whom he had a standing con- tract for their sale. Rineris himself was a fine looking young man, and he could be most justly called a hail fellow, well met. His family consisted of a beautiful young wife and two small children. The steamer was unloaded and left the place in a few days. We then made a survey of the work to be done. We found his trapeche set in a most suitable spot on the side of a small ravine through which the creek flowed, and we decided that a water wheel twelve feet in diameter could easily be built there and that water could be brought by a small ditch of less than one-half mile in length. "What do you think this work is going to cost you?" I asked, after we had finished making our survey and estimates. "Well, there was one put up in this country by an Englishman," said he, "for 8,000 solas, and I 280 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. think two Yankees can do it as cheap as one En- glishman." "If your boys work well," I replied, "it isn't going to cost you over 500 solas." The "old man," as we familiarly called him, thought sure when he heard this that I was joshing him, and he laughed and walked away. We had brought a dozen shovels at the old man's expense, with us, besides Mills' carpenter tools, and began the work on July 28. I took a dozen peons and dug the ditch and built a dam at its head in thirty-seven days. Mills took a dozen more peons, several of whom could use carpenter tools, with whom he built the wheel in about the same time. This set the old man wild. For sixteen long years he had feared to send to England and have a mechanic come out to do the work because of its probable cost, and now, here, right in the coun- try where he lived, he found a couple of Yankees who did it at comparatively no cost at all. He then told us to help ourselves to the peons and make preparations for the trip up the river. We quickly sawed lumber, built a bateaux and two rockers, and in a few days were slowly moving up the Maranon in company with four peones. Be- fore we reached the mouth of the Santiago De Broga we found surface-bearing bars on which the dirt yielded 5 cents to the pan. On one we set both rockers and rocked for a day, with result that we cleaned up one ounce of gold at night. The next day we pushed on, but a heavy rain IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 281 began to fall, the river began to rise, and we re- turned to the "old man's plantation. Here in a short time we both were taken ill with the same complaint — a soreness in the pit of the stomach, caused, so Rineris said, by our being unaccustomed to drinking the water of the Upper Maranon. In this condition we both lay in our hammocks until the middle of November, when I, having somewhat recovered from my sickness, and the water in the river being still low, started with four peons for the Santiago De Borga again. On the 17th I met with one of the adventures of my life. About 8 o'clock in the morning we were paddling along quietly under a bank of about ten feet in height, when one of my boys said slowly and in a tone of surprise, "Y-ac-k-a-m-a-y-ma" which sent a thrill through me from head to foot ; and upon looking in the direction in which they were looking (as they had now stopped paddling and were holding their paddles in their hands) I saw coiled in the water a great anaconda snake, which lay below the stern of our boat. We had passed within a few feet of it without noticing it. Jumping to my feet, I stepped ashore onto a small bunch of gravel which projected from the bank at the water edge, drew my revolver and studied him a moment. The coil as he lay there was perhaps three feet in diameter. Near the center- of it was his head, lying horizontally across his body, with his nose toward the bank. His head was at least six inches in length. His eye toward me was wide open but never moved and his nose was square. 282 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. His color in the center of his back was dark brown, but for some distance on each side of the. middle a great yellow, flabby, belly-looking part projected from the center of the coil. Between its center and outside each coil became larger and about midway, and from thence to the outside of the coil smaller again. In his largest part the black in the center of his body was fully five inches across, with fully three inches of the yellow, flabby, colored part pro- jecting still further, thus giving him the appearance of having recently eaten something and being gorged. Taking aim at him, I fired. The coil, without uncoiling itself,, rolled over, belly side up, then righted itself again. I fired the second time, after which the whole coil sank slowly in the water and disappeared from sight. In a second more the head came to the water's edge, moved slowly for a dis- tance of about eighteen inches toward the bank, then disappeared from sight entirely and I saw no more of the reptile. From the moment that the monster was first seen until he sank, the four Indians never moved. Then one of them sprang up, picked up my Winchester, brought it ashore and handed it to me. I at the same time handed him my revolver. We both stood thus, watching for the reappearance of the serpent for perhaps ten minutes, when, concluding that he had gone for good, we got into the boat and paddled on. "I hit that snake, didn't I, boys?" was my first question after we were under way again. "Without doubt, sir," several of them said. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 283 "You fellows didn't see either of those bullets strike the water, did you?" "No, sir," they all answered together. "Do you suppose I killed him?" My answer was that they did not know, but that those snakes died very hard. We might, however, find him lying on one of the bars on our way back. In a few days my sickness came on me again worse than ever, and we went back to the "old man's" plantation. Here I lay sick again until January i, when a new scheme entered my head for developing the resources of Peru and Bolivia. It was to go down the river to Para, recover my health, and then tell the story of my travels through the American press to my countrymen. Mills was now getting better and contented to remain with Rineris. I told the "old man" that I would die if I did not get to where there was a doctor. He gave me two Indian boys and a canoe to take me to the mouth of the Huallaga, where after lying one week I took a steamer for Iquitos, reaching there in two days more. I was slowly walking up the bank of the river, more nearly dead than alive, when I was met by Don Julio, who, when he saw my emaciated features and bent form, acted as though his heart would break. » "Choost like tings go in dis vorld," he fairly sob- bed as he grabbed me by the hand. "I thought sure ve vas going to get your coundtrymen down here at last." "Don't be alarmed," I interrupted, "about their not coming, because I am going home to tell them 284 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. what I have seen. I shall tell it to them through the columns of the American press, and I shall also speak of you — -of the respect in which you hold the American people by waving the Stars and Stripes from your housetop; and that isn't all I am going to say about you, either," and I looked him straight in the eye. My words seemed to bind up his broken heart at once, for his countenance under- went a complete change. He looked me in the face for some time anxiously, as much as to say, "I wonder if it can be possible that Hoffman told him what I said about him and his countrymen that day?" Then he walked away slowly and I went up the hill. I reached Para the 17th of March, so much im- proved in health that I at once began work in the Amazon Steamship Company's shops, and spent my evenings writing my story. I also made inquiries as to the different insurance agents in the city, and learned that the German firm of Lud Zeltz, of which a German of that name was at the head, were agents for many different European firms, and I determined not only to go to the house of Lud Zeitz, but to meet Mr. Zeitz myself. On a certain feast day, when the shops of the Amazon company were closed, I presented myself at his private office, to which I was admitted, where I found him writing. He was certainly one of Mr. Mills' beau ideal "lager beer Dutchmen," about as long one way as the other, with a head on him shaped like a pumpkin, and spoke, when he opened his mouth, loud enough to be heard a block away. "'Vot do you vant to know dot for?" he roared IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 285 when I asked him if Braillard & Co., of the Beni country, were insured in any of the companies of which he was the agent. "Oh, just to satisfy a little curiosity of mine," said I. "Yes, dot's all right," he roared again. "I know all about deir losses because I paid dem minself; but den," he explained, "der is nodding wrong mit Braillard & Company. Dey are very nice beoples." "I know they are," I said, "because they told me so themselves. But I came here to find out what company they are insured in." "You're American, vasn't you?" he asked as he eyed me suspiciously. "Yes," said I. "Veil, dot's all right about Braillard & Company. Don't you fret about dem." I came to the conclusion that I could get nothing out of him and that it was useless to try any longer, so I left his office. A few days later I was walking along one of the streets, when I heard a familiar voice exclaim : "How do you do, Mr. Agle?" and turning in the direction from which it came, found myself face to face with Pedro Suarauz. After talking with him awhile, I said : "Mr. Suarauz, I want to know in which of the European companies Braillard & Company are insured !" "I don't know, really, Mr. Agle. If I did I would tell you; but I do know this, that it is a Hamburg company. My uncle knows, for when he went to Europe four years ago he went to them and asked them what company they were insured in, and told 286 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. them he was going to get insured in it also. When he came back, the first question they asked him was if he had insured, and he told them yes. Now, they always told everybody in the Beni country that they were insured in a Paris company, but they were not. It's a Hamburg company, but which one I don't know." "Well, I have found the agent of the company in which they are insured, here, but he won't tell me which company it is.'' "Who is he?" inquired Suarauz. "Lud Zeitz," I answered. "Yes," said he, " and he is also the agent here for Braillard & Company. So you have just asked the very man who won't tell you." Mills was right when he said : "I'll bet that when you fish the whole thing out you will find that there is an agent of the insurance company in Para, and that he is also the agent for Braillard & Co." After a few more words with Suarauz on general topics, we parted. The middle of June, my story being written, I took passage on the steamer Origin for New York, where I landed on July 2, 1896. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO'. 287 CHAPTER XII. But Peru and Bolivia have at last awakened from their long sleep of a century. In February, 1897 a letter reached me from Pike imploring me to re- turn to Peru. "Come back ; do come back," he said ; "the biggest thing in the world has been struck here ; it is called the Santo DomingO' mine ; was bought by a company known as the Inca Mining Company with home offices in Bradford, Pa. The amount paid was $200,000 and the company is capitalized at $2,000,000. They are putting up a five-stamp mill and I am proud to say that I am their master of transportation." It must be the biggest thing in the world, I mused to myself if it needs a five-stamp mill to handle it when the Treadwell was started with one hundred and twenty stamps and afterwards increased to one thousand. "If Pike knew Bradford as well as I do he would not talk that way," said a Wall street capitalist to whom I showed his letter. "I don't believe there is $2,000,000 in the whole place," But whether Pike was right or wrong I had a scheme of my own for interesting American capital in the mines of Peru and Bolivia and decided not to go. But just as this conjuncture things suddenly turned . The Portland landed in Seattle and the Excelsior in San Francisco with a cargo of gold from the North. The interest of the world was at 288 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. once turned in that direction and instead of return- ing to the Klondike south of the equator I started for the one that is pierced by the Arctic circle. In 1901 I took part in the stampede of Nome and in 1903 was sent in a party of twelve to prospect in Siberia for the Guggenheim Exploration Co., by order of its manager, Mr. John Hays Hammond. Here we found deposits of graphite but returned, without finding gold in paying quantities. Nothing seems to happen but the unexpected. On my return from Siberia the following winter I met a man in San Francisco, a Mr. Johnson by name, who had recently come from Peru and while there spent an evening with Pike in discussing the operations of the Inca Mining Co. with him. He said, "Pike told me that in along the hang- ing wall there are places that they find the ore so rich that they don't run it through the mill at all; they just take it out on the dump, let it slack and hammer the quartz out of it and when they get through it looks like a big mat of beaten gold." I at once wrote to Pike telling him of my ex- periences in the North, of my meeting with John- son and asked him if his story was true or only a tale. On March 1 of the past year I received the following reply: "Wm. C. Agle, "New Western Hotel, "San Francisco, Cal. "My Dear Friend: — As you say, the unexpected almost invariably happens. I was quite taken by surprise by your long silence and also by your long letter from California. I supposed you would IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 289 be somewhere in that great northwest and you have been there just the same. "We are older by some years now, I myself begin to notice a change. After you left Peru I kept on running my engine until the Inca company began development work in Carabaya, when I took em- ployment with them to run their stamp mill, but I was thrown into other positions one after another until I was made master of transportation in every way except in getting the official appointment. I was with the company nearly three years, during which time I saw very hard service and the most terrible difficulties to get food over the summit and down into the Santo Domingo country — never could have enough of any two things at a time. No ques- tion about when anything would arrive. Finally after an outlay of $625,000 the mill was up and some development work done and rich rock to be- gin on. They turned out gold bars to the value of $150,000 monthly — a small mill, only five stamps. In the meantime I struck a small surface prospect which promised to be a fortune for all interested and there were several of us. I dropped all my sav- ings and all I could borrow. When I got com- pletely broke the company still offered me a good situation and good wages, but at that time my daughter Rosita had grown up to be a woman and her mother not being in good health, I was obliged to drop everything and come home, and I am glad I did for under my care Rosita developed into a splendid woman, both physically and mentally. I have a grandson thirteen months old ; I enclose you a picture of him. Rosita is here on a visit to —10 290 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. me. Her husband holds the best position on the little road running from a new port called Guaqui to La Paz, with the exception of the superintendent. The girl is well married. I started them with about 8,000 solas worth of property. My wife, I am very sorry to say, died the 7th of last February at 10:40 a. m. I was not with her at the last. I'll tell you Agle, with all her bad health at times as you knew her, I miss her. I prefer to work to maintain her, sick as she was, if it were possible to do so. I am all alone. When a man gets old no one cares for him unless it is someone near. Rosita is the only person in all this wide world that cares much about me. I forgot to tell you, I sold my prospect out to the Inca company ; I got 4,000 solas for my part. They spent 180,000 solas but it was a big failure and a bigger mistake their putting so much capital in. I paid off my debts, gave my wife 1,000 solas and commenced again. At present am agent for the Poto Placer Mining Co., as you will see by my card. So far it has not met with sufficient suc- cess to commence work. Their head office is in Philadelphia. The promoter, Mr. R. R. Elder, has . been in the states since last September, 1902. He has written me on the 30th of November that the titles have been transferred to a New York company but has given me no details on account of short time. If that is all true no doubt Poto will soon develop into a great mining district. The gold is there, you know that just as well as I do. What is needed is the capital. My company owns 338 claims, all good ground. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 291 "I think the best thing for you to do is to get back to Peru just as quick as a steamboat can bring you. The Inca company's mines proper lay 145 miles from Tirapata on the Mollendo Are- quipa Puno and Cuzco railroad. They built a pack trail in down the Quiton Quiton river that cost them 300,000 solas. They have a mule trail opened up to the Guogamaya river, 84 kilometers and are going to work rubber on a grand scale, also are putting on small steamers for trading purposes. "Come back, old man, to Peru. You know you won't freeze here like you do at the North Pole. Inside from Lima a strong company has taken over all the big copper mines of Cerro de Pasco, about $5,000,000 was the price paid. They have built a standard gauge road from Oroya to Cerro, are putting up a 10,000 ton smelter for reducing copper, also are surveying a new railroad from Cerro to Chimbota, also one to the head of naviga- tion on the Maranon river as well as a line pro- jected from Cerro to Pisco and one from Cerro to Cuzco. "An option is about closed on all the Corro Corro group of copper mines. You will remember this is in Bolivia. Amount to be invested £1,000,000, all Yankee capital. With the Panama opened up in the near future Peru will probably return once more to her balmy days. "I must not forget to tell you that the estate of Jose M. Pena is in litigation and George Pool is looking for a situation. Mr. Pena has transferred all his interests in Poto, his sheep ranches and lum- ber yards of Mollendo, to his brother-in-law. I 292 IN THE. FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. believe if you would come back to this country again you and I could make a quick raise. Ameri- can mining experts are travelling from north to south looking for suitable properties for invest- ment. I have long been thinking of the Tambopata river as a dredging proposition. What do you say, are you in on it? I will say here that the Inambar-i river is all taken up for a number of years as a dredging concesssion by a Peruvian miningmanwho is now in England organizing a company to start work on the main channel close to where it is crossed by the Inca company's trail. You had bet- ter take the matter up at once and see what you can do there. In the meantime I will be on the lookout here for something. "Your interesting articles* on the Tambopata have given me some idea of the place below Sua- rauz's ranch that I did not have before, as you re- member I was not with you when you went down the river. I understand by your very welcome let- ter that you will return to Siberia in the spring. That your personal interest requires it no doubt, but just as soon as you can clean up do so and shake the snow off and get South. "In the near future great changes must occur here and capital is coming sure but slow, as you know capital cannot be obtained any more on a thing that is not pretty sure to pay. I firmly be- lieve that in the future the great mining interest in Peru will be in dredging in the rivers. They are almost all known to be rich and many easy to get at. •Some copies of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in which paper the preceding chapters of this work were published as a serial. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 293 "I have read with increasing interest several times, your story and wish you could send me the rest, but as you say you cannot get them I will have to be content as it is. Just as soon as you can realize on the graphite get back to Peru. I will close for this time, hoping you will give at- tention to the dredging proposition down the Tam- bopata and let me hear from you before you go back to Cape Nome. "With my best wishes, I remain your sincere friend, "FRANK V. PIKE. "Arequipa, Peru, S. A., Jan. 28, 1904." After receiving this remarkable letter I reluc- tantly went north to Seattle where I remained until June when I learned to my entire satisfaction that the Guggenheim Exploration Co. had decided that they did not intend to exploit the graphite and the twenty-seventh of that month found me on board the steamer San Jose bound for Panama. It is an unusual thing to hear the virtues of my forefathers extolled. The passenger list of the San Jose contained the names of three extraordinary men, all Hebrews, all American citizens by naturali- zation and each one a multimillionaire and the lead- ing financier in a central American republic, one in Honduras, the other in Guatemala and the third in San Salvador. When the glorious fourth arrived these three Jewish gentlemen very patriotically paid the ex- pense to the ship of a champagne supper to which all on board were cordially invited. A program was arranged, speeches were delivered, songs sung 294 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. and poems recited, until every one present but the gentleman from Honduras had contributed towards the entertainment of the evening when the master of ceremonies called out, "We are honored here tonight with the presence of the most influential citizen of Honduras who will now respond to a toast on that country." "I leant make von speech," said the gentleman referred to (a big, corpulent, pleasant old man) in his broken English, "but I vant you to strictly un- derstand dat I was chust as goot in 'Merican as any of you." "Oh, do make a little speech," pleaded the master of ceremonies, "anything, no matter what." "I kan del you a leedle story," replied the old financier. "Well, then tell us a little story." De Pennsyvania duchman," he said slowly, as if collecting his thoughts, "vas always prout of his horses. In Iova ver I kept a store, ven I vas a young man, der vas one lived named Schnider. Schnider vas a good natured, hard vorken man dot never lost his damper no madder vat happened, so vun evening de boys gaddered in my store early and said dey vere haf sum fun mit Schnider, dat ven he cum in dey vere going to make him mat. "Purty zoon Schnider kums in and de boze starts talken bout him. Schnider stood dare, never paid any tention to dem and vinaly one of de boze said 'Stotter had a terrible misfortune week before last." Schnider never movet. 'Dat's nodding,' said vun of de udder boze, ' 'Smare balkt mit de emdy vagon yesterday.' 'Dats nuf,' Schneider yelled, as he IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 295 jumpt out indo de middel of de room and pult off his coat. 'Now, by Gotz, I fite.' " The San Jose reached Panama after a voyage of twenty-two days and on July 25 I was on the steamer Guatemala, bound for the south and on August 2 saw from her decks a forrest of derricks at Talara — a monument to Mr. Tweddle's enterprise and energy. Forcible intervention is sometimes beneficial in the quarrels of individuals as well as in those of nations. Among the passengers of the Guatemala there was one who attracted the attention of and furnished amusement for all the others — a boy of ten years of age, in charge of his uncle, an Ameri- can, who was on his way to Chile. The little rake was as quick as lightning, as active as a cat and as mischievous as a monkey, constantly in some devil- ment — skinning cats on rods, climbing up the hal- yards until he was ordered down, in the kitchen, bothering the cooks until he was chased out. But, what appeared to scrape down his heart the deepest was to punch his punching bag. This he made from a bladder which he got from the butcher (the Guatemala killed her beef and poultry on board), blowed up with a quill and hung with a string to a deck beam, and the manner in which he hit it and dodged it when it came back at him, showed plainly that he was what in the language of the street is called a hard little nut. At Pacasmayo a Peruvian fruit dealer came on board bringing with him in addition to a large stock of fruit consigned to Callao, an Indian boy of about the same age. A comical looking little feU 296 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. low indeed. His black slouch hat came down over his head until he could scarcely see out of his eyes beneath which the face seemed to be one great grin which reached from ear to ear. His shirt was ripped and torn, his breeches, which were much too large for him, were held up by one suspender, one leg was rolled up above the knee the other reached down over the toe and the seat of them were like those of Huckelberry Finn's — bagged low but con- tained nothing. Presently I saw the little Indian running and the little Yank after him. At intervals the little Indian would stop, fire a potato at the little Yank, then wheel on his feet and run on. "Here, you two little devils," I yelled, first in English and then in Spanish, "what is the matter with you? Come here, both of you." Both the guilty looking little culprits walked up in front of me and stopped. "Now, what's the trouble," I asked the little. Yank in English. "When he came on board," he began in a com- plaining tone, as he pointed to the little Injun, "the first thing he done was to walk up to me and grab me by the leg where my pants are torn and call me some name, and I went at him and was just getting my work in when he run into the kitchen and came out with a pocket full of potatoes, and gee wiz, if he ever hits me in the block with one of them big potatoes he'll knock it off. What I'd like to know is, why, if he wants to scrap, he don't scrap fair?" This I interpreted to the little Injun, who had been all this time listening attentively. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAHRO. 297 : "I don't want to fight with him at all," said the poor little fellow, "I want to play with him. When I came on board I walked up to him and put my hand on his bare leg- and asked him if it wasn't cold and he began peliar, peliar, peliar, the boy called it as he struck right and left. I did throw up my arms and try to dodge his blows but they always get up too late. Now, I don't want to fight him at all because I don't know how to fight and I am not used to it, but I want him to understand that I am no coward. I can jump off this ship and swim ashore through that surf and he would drown in it and I can ride a wild horse that would throw him off and break his neck, because I am used to it and know how." This I translated into English for the edification of the little Yank, who had all this time been listen- ing with breathless interest. "Oh, well," said he, magnanimously, "if he is that nice I don't want to fight with him either. I didn't know he was so nice." "Very well," said I, "now that you understand one another you want to be friends and play with each other." They both walked away and my ad- vice must have been taken because later in the day they were standing side by side punching at the bag together. The Guatemala dropped anchor in the bay of Callao on Sept. 3 and I went ashore and walked around the city. The next day I went to Lima and called on Mr. Sherman, the head of the house of Grace for all the west coast of South America. He seemed very sanguine of the outlook in Peru at 298 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. present. These gigantic operations of the Haggin people" said he, "has opened the eyes of the Ameri- can capitalist as to the possibilities of this country and I would not be surprised if we would see some great changes here before long." "Tell me, Mr. Sherman," I asked, "how was that question ever settled between the London and Pa- cific Petroleum Co. and Mr. Twedle's boy?" "The company bought the boy out." "And what ever became of the boy?" "He lives here in Lima and is engaged with the Dibois Hermanos (brothers) in the manufacture of soap. Their office is just around on the next street." "And Mr. Pool of Arequipa?" "He is at present in charge of the house of Golden & Co. in Mollyendo." "I now left Mr. Sherman with the intention of finding Mr. Tweddle and walked around on the next street until I came to a door on the side of which were the words Dibos Hermanos, when I walked in and enquired for Mr. Tweddle. "He is at the factory," said the gentleman I ap- proached, "but if you care to speak to him I will call him up on the phone for you." "I wish you would," said I. He picked up the receiver, called for a number, spoke the words, "yes, there is somebody here wants to speak to you," then handed it to me. I held it to my ear and asked, "Is this you, Mr. Tweddle?" "Yes," said he, "who is this?" IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. 299 "My name is Agle ; I was with you in Talara in 1891." "O — h! Mr. Agle just wait a moment, I will come up on the car right away." I took a seat and in less than five minutes from the time the sound of his voice died away he ap- peared in the door, looking somewhat older and stouter than when I saw him thirteen years before. "The last letter I got from you, Mr. Agle, was when you were going into the wild Indian country and you told me you would try and get some bows and send them to me," were the first words he said. "I found one bow, but it was fully six feet long and I had to walk back myself but did you never hear from me afterwards? Didn't you get a nugget from me the following February and a letter by Graham, telling you that I had taken it up from between boulders in at least three feet of water?" "I did not." "Well, I am sorry, because Graham promised me so faithfully that he would deliver both the letter and nugget and I told him at the time that a man would steal the first nugget of gold that he ever saw if he had never stolen anything before in his life. Said I, now you give this to Mr. Tweddle and sooner or later I will give you one five times as large. He was at that -time engineer on the Ewo and I met him in Callio." "And where in the world have you been ever since?" I told him briefly all I had gone through since I had left Talara, concluding with "and I wrote an account of my travels in this country which has 300 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAKRO. been published as a serial and has proved so popular that I intend writing another chapter which will bring it up to date and then put it in book form. I have a copy of it here and would like to read to you what I have said about your father and see how near I have his history correct." "Well, go ahead," said he, "I would like to hear it." At this I unrolled the manuscript and read to him the matter referred to. "Oh, cut that out," he pleaded. "No, I wont. The matter is too fascinating. Did your father down John Rockefeller or not?" "Well, of course you got that from Coates and Coates got it from Freeman and Freeman, although he was with us a long while, got some of it second hand, but that's nearly correct, yet taking every- thing all around I think the "old gent' would have been just as well off if he had let Rockefeller alone." "I must tell you of my experience in the Sandia gold fields," Mr. Tweddle continued. "When I set- tled up with the London people I started on a tour of exploration in which I spent nearly a whole summer. I examined Poto, Aporoma and San Juan del Oral and in the district of Aporoma found a place where two rivers that united nearly touched each other some distance above their junction so I raised a company here. We altogether put into it $100,000 cash, acquired title to the property and I drove a tunnel on the level through the mountain that divided the rivers from one to the other as I know they are both full of gold. My plan was to throw all the water first into one, work it out and IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 301 then into the other. I did the work in two dry seasons and expected to begin taking out gold on the third, but the water remained high all sum- mer. Our money was all spent and there the prop- erty lays to this day. But it is only a matter of time when we will get our money out of it. "Do you ever meet Mr. Pena," I asked. "Yes, but not often lately. He has had a leg broken some months ago and is hardly able to get around yet." After an hour more of conversation with Mr. Tweddle on various subjects I returned to Callio and as the steamer sailed the next day reached the port of Mollendo on the evening of the 9th and went direct to the Cuatro de Julio hotel, expecting to have some sport with Old Peter, but learned that poor Old Peter was dead, but its present pro- prietor, Senor Martinetti, received me so courteously that I concluded the loss of Old Peter had been in a measure replaced. I next called on Mr. Pool with whom I spent some hours. He seemed somewhat dejected be- cause of the misfortune of the house with which he had so long and so honorably been connected and spoke with great vehemence and clearness of the cause. "Our whole collapse was brought about," said he, as he struck his fist on a table, "by our putting too much money into the Marverallas cop- per fields.* When Mr. Grundy had a half interest and was general manager of the property, we kept putting up money, putting up money, until we got *A copper field on the railroad in which there has been a small smelter plant for years operated by a gentleman named Grundy. 302 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. into it to the amount of £80,000. Experts from the Venture Co. of London finally came and looked at it and after they went home and had about time to make their report we got a telegram from them offering us £80,000 cash for the property and Grundy refused to sell unless we got £100,000. So I telegraphed telling them so and we never even got a letter from them, let alone a telegram." I told Mr. Pool that the probabilities were that Pike and I would make some denouncements in the Tambopata and that if we did he was in on the deal. The next morning I took the train and in the evening was in Arequipa in the Hotel Engles, kept by its old proprietor, Mr. Morgan, who is also operating a machine shop in the adjacent grounds. "I suppose," said he at supper, "you couldn't sleep tonight if you didn't meet Pike." "No," said I, "where does he live?" "I don't know, but Mr. Canon does and he lives in the same house he always did." I ate my supper as quickly as possible then hunt- ed up Canon and told him what I wanted. "I don't know the number of the house," he said, "and it's a hard place to find, but I'll go up with you." We started and walked several blocks when Canon said, "Now, there is a grocery store here on the corner and Pike and the owner are great friends. We may possibly find him here. When we reached its door we looked in and there stood Pike. "Agle," he gasped, "I've had a hunch here lately that you would soon turn right side up with care." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 303 "I'll bid you fellows good night," said Canon, whirling on his feet and walking away. It was some time before either one of us con- versed freely, but we started for his room and on the way fully recovered ourselves and as I remain- ed with him over night, before morning had the changes which had taken place in the last ten years fairly well understood. "How was the Santo Domingo mine discovered in the first place and by whom?" I asked. "Well, Alec Gibson deserves the credit of it. He found some of its quartz at the mouth of the ravine in which it lays, some years ago, and just at that time an American named Kempler that he had with him got drunk and killed two Indians with a cuchillo and Alec told one of his Indians to go and look for that ledge and he stuck to Kempler and got him out of the country. The Indian found it and staked it, but he left Alec out in the cold, then he traded it to Mr. Velasco for some cows and Velasco put a little bit of a coffee mill on it, took out about £12,000 and Walter Hardison, who was here at that time looking for oil, heard of it and went out and looked at it, got an option on it for £50,000 for several months, rushed up to Bradford, Pa., got the money, came back and paid it." "Where is Alec Gibson now?" "He has developed into a great engineer. He came back here over seven years ago and has had charge of both Poto and Suches ever since on a working interest and has made enough money out of it to purchase a one-half interest in the commer- cial house here of Wm. Clurg & Co." 304 IN THE, FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "Alec is a man I always did like, but his brother is a man I have no use for," said I. "I guess," replied Pike, "you don't hate his bro- ther any worse than he does himself. He told me his brother swindled him out of £15,000 — all the money he got from home and left him a poor man." "What has become of his brother?" "He came around the coast some time ago and telegraphed to his wife and she went down to Mol- lendo and went out and met him on board the ship and they went to Paris. He wouldn't dare come here, you know; if he did he would be thrown in jail." "And Mr. Hawley?" "He is all gone to pieces with whiskey and has lost his situation. I am sorry for poor old Pat, really I am." "Yes," I replied, "it breaks my heart to think that he isn't working that rich El Infiernillo mine and sitting up laughing at me. What are they doing now in Tipuani?" "Nothing. A Denver company tried to take a dredger in there and scattered it from Lake Titicaca to the Tipuani river, then left disgusted." "Did you ever see a foreigner build a house in this country?" I next enquired. "Ye-e-s," said Pike, surprised as though he couldn't make out what I was driving at. "How did he do it? Build the roof and then set the foundation on top of it? Now the time to take dredgers on the backs of horses into the Tipuani will be after there has been a trail built good enough so that a horse can get through himself." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 305 Pike said he had found a vein of gold bearing quartz near the Inca company's trail when he was in their employ; that Mr. Elder, the promoter of whom he wrote me, had failed to raise the capital for their scheme, that he had written Mr. Chester Brown in Tirapata about his prospect and had asked him to give him a position in their mill and make an examination of the property; that Mr. Brown had replied to him and told him he would shortly be in Arequipa, when they could make final arrangements. He also said that Mr. Carlos Franck of Pele- chuco had two large hydraulic propositions to which he had taken a large amount of piping and several monitors, that operations had been begun on them but that they were soon closed down ; that everybody that had seen them said there was gold in the ground but nobody seemed to know what the trouble was. Why, don't he own a one-half interest in Suches," I asked. "No," he replied, "he sold it, or rather gave it away to Mr. Pena seven years ago." "Then," said I, "the best thing for us to do is for you to go out with Mr. Brown and make an examination of your quartz and I will start for Pelechuco, because if Mr. Franck has two great hydraulic mines with gold in them and something wrong with them I will know when I look at the work what that something wrong is and get power xA attorney to sell them and make a commission out of them." Pike approved of the plan, but suggested that I 306 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. wait until Mr. Brown arrived so as to be sure that he got in with the Inca company again ; besides, he said that Mr. Brown would be glad to meet me. This I agreed to do. It was several weeks before Mr. Brown arrived and the day after his arrival I called on him at his residence in the suburbs of the city, introduced myself, told him of my travels and showed him what I had written. He was a strong young man with a somewhat boyish, rugged-looking face that indicated an ex- perience in outdoor life and with him was another young man whose features led me to believe that he had roughed it some with Mr. Brown in his ex- plorations in the interior and I was surprised when he was introduced to me as Mr. Harry Heasley, one of the stockholders of the company just from home. "I'll tell you what you do," he said, "today is Friday and I am fixing up the house for Mrs. Brown as she will be here tomorrow; leave these papers with me until next Thursday and then come out and spend an evening with us and by that time I'll have them read and I will tell you what changes have taken place in the Beni and Madre de Dios countries. I am right in touch with that country because our trail extends to the navigable waters of the Tambopata and Armstrong, the pres- ent head of the house of Braillard goes through by our route. There is one geographical error we have corrected. You people used to believe that the Tambopata emptied into the Maddidi but my ex- plorers have traced it up and find it flows into the Madre de Dios." On Thursday evening I called again and found IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 307 his wife, a California girl, rocking her baby. Mr. Heasley just about finishing, as he said, reading my story, Mr. Brown looking over some maps and a cholo servant girl engaged in household work. "Well, you certainly have had quite an experience in this country. I don't know much of it like you do, but what little I do know, I know well," was the way he began. "There are a great many more people over in that country now and Nicolas Suarauz is still the leading man. He has thirteen launches on the river and when you were there he had none. And Braillards are still insured. Arm- strong tells me they pay a premium of 30 per cent, and that their losses were so heavy that for two years they had to close down business entirely. He says they have drowned every last Indian of one whole tribe.* The Brazilians tried to get that country from Bolivia and President Pando turned the affairs of state over to the vice-president, raised an army, went down and compelled them to come to terms. The agreement they finally came to was that Bolivia cede to Brazil all the territory below the mouth of the Madre de Dios, that Brazil build the Madeira Falls railroad within four years and pay to Bolivia the sum of £2,000,000, which sum Bolivia agrees to spend in public improvements." *As a verification of this statement I give here an extract of a paper read before the London Geographical Society in 1904 by Geo. Earle Church, its vice president: "During the past twenty years, the abundant output of indiarubber from the extensive region at the headwaters of the Purus and Maderia affluents of the river Amazon has made it imperative that Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru should not only define their boundary lines without further delay, but open some comparatively easy avenue for the development of an area of South America which probably has no superior in fer- tility and varied natural resources. Thus far, no trade in the world has been carried on under equal difficulties; and it has taxed the courage and endurance of those engaged in it to an 308 , IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. Mr. Brown showed me perhaps one hundred pic- tures of his warehouses in Tirapata, of different views of his wagon road to Crucero which he said would soon be extended to the summit of different views, of the magnificent pack trail he built from the summit to navigable waters of the Madre de Dios, of the Inca company's mill, now ten stamps, two huntingtons and four crushers and also of one shipment of-gold bars to the value of $50,000. "Is it a fact," I asked, "that some of your rock is so rich that you don't crush it at all?" "We have rock of all values from—" Here our attention was attracted by his wife who had approached us so quietly that we had not heard her. "Chester," she said, softly, "won't you go out and run that cholo off? He is just standing out there at the window, Maria, Maria, Maria. He thinks it is Maria that's rocking the baby and I am trying so hard to get him to sleep." "It would be cheaper to turn her out to him, wouldn't it," said he, then turning to me again he resumed our conversation by saying "Our rock runs all the way from thousands of dollars to the ton down to four or five." Gracious, I reasoned to myself, if you can handle money as economically as you can handle love af- almost incredible extent. It represents a continuous struggle, under conditions which every year impose greater loss of health, life, and material than an aactive military campaign, and the human suffering is appalling. It has had a choice of three principal routes. The main one is via the 270 miles of cataracts and rapids of the river Maderia, the last of which, San Antonio, 1533 miles from the Atlantic, is accessible to sea-going vessels. The loss of canoe-freights among the rocky obstructions and reefs of the Maderia has been great. Never- theless, the larger part of northern Bolivia. has sought this dangerous avenue. At times, goods have been stored at San Antonio for many months, awaiting transportation up-stream; for canoe-men are limited in number, and almost unobtainable. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 309 fairs it is no wonder that you built a road to the navigable tributaries of the Amazon. Mrs. Brown stood watching him a moment, a look of indignation stole over her face as though she was thinking to herself how mean men can be when they try and she turned on her tip toes and walked quietly back to the cradle. Another thing," said he, "there is no more such nonsense on the part of the officials as you and Pike experienced in Sandia. We have men at the head of this country today that wont stand it. There is Juan Pardo, a brother of the president; Mr. Balta, minister of the interior, and Mr. Loredo, director of the interior, all mining engineers, and they are de- termined to push the mining industry to the front. A man can go into any capitol of any province here now and get what he wants the same as he can in the United States. "I have read everything I have ever found in the United States about Peru, but I have learned some- thing about it at last," said Mr. Heasley, as he threw the last of my story down and turned his chair toward Mr. Brown and me. "So, you are one of the stockholders of the Inca company?" I asked. "One of its original incorporators," he replied. A second route, only available for about five months yearly, leads overland through the hills, forests, and swamps, which for 70 to 90 miles, according to the road taken, separate the river Mayutata from the Aquiry (or Acre) branch of the Purus. By about 400 miles of canoe navigation on the Aquiry, and 1100 by steam on the extremely serpentine Purus, the Amazon is reached approximately 1000 miles above Para. By a third track, Indian carriers, with loads of 50 pounds each, scale the Andes to a height of 15,000 feet.reach the table- lands, and transfer their burdens to mules which descend to the Pacific Coast port of Mollendo. The Indian then returns with supplies for the rubber-collectors. The mule has by far the easier task imposed upon him." 310 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "How large a place is Bradford, Pa.?" "About eighteen thousand," he replied. "Then," said I, "it was the representative men of a little mountain town in my native state that struck the first decisive blow that means the development of all this mineral wealth by American capital and energy." "No, not exactly," said he, "you see our presi- dent, Mr. Collins, lives in Bradford; that is the reason our home offices are there, although we are mostly Pittsburg men. I myself am a Pittsburg man, my office is in the Tradesmens building. Our business really is the production of oil, but we have several gold propositions, working one in Arizona, Gold hill and Chechaco hill in the Klondike and this one here." "You know John D. Rockefeller personally, don't you?" "Yes," he replied. Mr. Heasley then told us of the evenings he had spent in the home of the billionaire after which the conversation was taken up with American politics. Pike got the job from Mr. Brown that he wanted, that of superintendent of the Inca company's mill and on the 23rd I started for Pelechuco to see Mr. Franck. On the train there was a large man of perhaps two hundred and fifty pounds weight whom I had met in company with and to whom I had been introduced by Alec Gibson in Arequipa, whose name I had forgotten but who now gave m< his card which read R. Alvin Weiss, mining engi- neer, Room 1503—30 Broad Street, New York, and who told me that he was going to stop at Maravillas IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 311 until Alec came up and then go with him to Poto. That he had been there last summer, had gotten his eyes on a piece of property on which this year he hoped to secure an option and do something with in New York. With this man I spent most of the trip to Maravillas station where he left me. At Juliaca I was told by Mr. Franck's agent that there had been two dry seasons in succession in that part of the country, that barley was so scarce that all the horses and mules had been driven towards the summit, that Mr. Franck had a large rubber concession on the Tambopata which he was working most successfully, that every day burro trains loaded with his rubber, were coming from Pelechuco but that the animals were always burros; that it was impossible for him to get me a mule from any one in the neighborhood, but that he had in his corral two fine saddle mules belonging to Mr. Franck and that his son was in La Paz and would be back on Saturday's train and I could go with him on one of them. I waited until Saturday but no Mr. Franck's son came, so I determined to go to Pelechuco on foot. It's a hard trip from Juliaca to Pelechuco on foot. The next morning I got a pick handle from the sta- tion master, an old friend of mine, took it into an unfinished church where a carpenter was working and planed it down into a good stout cane ; then wrapping my papers and a change of underclothes in an oil skin cloth I strapped it on my shoulders and set out for Taraca. I walked slowly but stead- ily all day, crossed the rivers on the backs of In- dians, by whom the road seemed lined and to whom 312 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. I always paid twenty cents for their service, passed several trains loaded with rubber, all of which was marked C. Franck, Pelechuco, and reached Taraca at four o'clock, so tired that I could hardly move one foot ahead of the other. 'Tis the old, old story. There a great feast was in progress, the public square was filled with drunk- en Indians, each tribe with its own band and each band with its own tune. I noticed a priest stand- ing in front of a church and walking up to him told him who I was and where I was going. "I have just come from Spain," said he, "and have been sent here to minister to these Indians during this feast. I have only been here in Taraca two days. I have plenty of everything to eat but no blankets for you. I have a lot of barley straw on which you can sleep if you can only find some blankets." "I am so tired father, that I can sleep any where if I only had some place to lay down," I answered. "You are welcome to the best I have," he replied, as he turned and led the way into a building ad- joining the church. "Here," said he, pointing to a table on which was spread cold boiled meat, cakes of cheese, bread, cold boiled eggs, green onions, salt and canned tomatoes, "help yourself and there in the corner is the straw. I would go out among the Indians and try and get you some blankets but none of them have any excepting their ponchos. I don't sleep here ; I sleep at the house of the gover- nadore, so I will bid you good evening." I ate my supper, then burrowed into the straw and soon was asleep, but about eleven o'clock awoke IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 313 chilled through and through. Then I got up and walked out into the plaza where I continued to walk to and fro until a Peruvian woman approached me and asked me why I was walking up and down there at that hour of the night. I explained everything to her. "Come over in my tent," she said, "and sleep in it. Me and my boy," she explained, "are from Juliaca and are here with goods and alcohol, trading with the Indians." We walked across to where several tents were standing and entered one in which a boy was sleep- ing on the ground and a candle setting on the top of some cases of alcohol was burning. Here the woman hastily made me a bed of sheep skins and blankets and soon again I was asleep. And soon again I was awakened this time by a drunken curs- ing Indian, who by the sounds of his voice I could tell was coming nearer and nearer, until he grabbed the tent and tried to pull it down. I yelled at him. The woman screamed for the soldiers, there was the sounds of bustle and confusion on the outside and I realized that he was being taken away by his more sober companions. "What does he want, Senora?" I asked. "More whiskey," said she. The third time I fell asleep and the third time I was soon awakened. This time by another com- mercial woman who came charging into the tent and began a dispute with my hostess that it appeared from their conversation they had had the day before. "I guess I'll go back to the church, Senora," said 314 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. I, as soon as there was a lull in the battle of word?. "No,"said she, go to sleep, don't pay any at- tention to us." "No, there is too much trouble here," I replied, and raised up and was starting when she gathered up the blankets I had been sleeping under and handing them to me told me to take them with me that she would send her boy for them in the morn- ing. I went back to the parsonage where I was soon sound asleep, and was soon awakened again, this time by the boy, as day light had come. The next day I reached Huancane and went to the House of Ricardo Villava, but Mr. Villava was dead; his widow had no recollection of me, and the house was in charge of her nephew. I was however, cordially welcomed. As a great feast was in progress here also, and would be for several days more, both Senora Villava and her nephew begged me to stay until it was over and promised me they would then get me a horse. I told them I could be in Pelechuco when the feast was over and started for Cojata the next morning. I slept in the house of an Indian shep- herd that night and entered Cojata at four o'clock the next day. Noticing an open door in one of the houses, I walked up to it and looked in. It was a small store ; there were two men in it, and one was the boy who was with me in the Tam- bopata in 1891 — A Barcilio Penuloza, now a man. He recognized me at once ; told me his mother was dead : of the different business ventures he had engaged in ; that he was married and had a fam- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 315 ily of five children and lived in Quiaca, and was at present Judge of that district; that he had his mule all saddled up to start for there tonight; that he was not on good terms with the Sanches peo- ple or he would go with me to the house. As he was in a hurry to start and as I was tired, I bade him good-bye and started for the house alone. When I entered it I learned that Hipolito Sanches, like Ricardo Villava, was dead, and that Senora Sanches, like Senora Villava, had no rec- ollection of me, but that her eldest son, now a man, was the present head of the house. He remem- bered me distinctly, and like the people of Huan- cane treated me with the greatest courtesy, and wanted me to remain until the feast, which was just beginning in Cojata, was ended so they could get me a horse. This I positively refused to do. Perhaps an hour after my arrival three men, one a young Peruvian, and the other two English speaking, with several pack ponies, rode into the yard and began to unpack and unsaddle their ponies. These men, with whom I spent the eve- ning, were the Peruvian, a Mr. Fuchs, brother of Fernando C. Fuchs, the distinguished professor of the School of Mines in Lima, and proprietor of the dredging concession of which Pike had written, and the two English speaking men were Mr. Ben- net and Mr. Speed, mining engineers from Lon- don. They had been, they told me, for some time past making an examination of the streams ad- jacent to Sina to ascertain their value as a dredg- ing proposition and while they had no right to tell me their opinions, they gave me a broad hint that 316 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. there was abundance of gold in the streams, but that they contained boulders too large for a dredger to handle. As Mr. Franck's Indian mail carrier was starting for Pelechuco the next morning, Mr. Sanches sent all the help in his office out among the Indians to get me a pony and by their united .efforts succeeded in bringing back a little mare not over six fifty in weight, and as wild as a deer, with one blanket held on her by a woolen lariat for a sursingle and another one around her neck for a lead rope. I gave the Indian money with which he bought a lunch, packed it with the mail and we started. One should never be too sure. I had taken a half-hitch around the mare's nose with the lead rope and made stirrups of some of the surplus sur- single and was riding along with my overcoat laying across her withers in front of me for perhaps an hour, when I began to get tired and was beginning to wish I had started afoot. I finally consoled myself by saying to the mare (in a mood in which men do sometimes speak to animals) after all is said and done there is one thing about you, you won't throw a man off and break his neck, because you ain't strong enough. My meditations were soon brought to a close. A sudden gust of wind blew the tail of the coat straight up and the mare became fright- ened. She made several leaps forward then threw her head down between her fore legs and her hind feet in the air and I went off and lit on the ground head first. Happily when I was going both feet slipped out of the patent stirrups and the mare whirled quickly around and started back for IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 317 Cojata, but the Indian caught her. We will try- that again, said I to her as I got up. I loosened the hitch around her nose and took one around her jaw and remounted. She did try it several times afterwards, but never succeeded in getting her head down, because of the hitch around her jaw. After an hour more of this kind of riding I con- cluded it was easier to walk, and dismounting, told the Indian to tie his pack on her and lead her and in this way we proceeded until we reached the summit where we let the mare graze while we ate our lunch. We then started down the pass towards Pelechuco. It was now getting dark and we were soon en- veloped in a terrible snow storm. The Indian wanted to camp for the night under an overhanging rock, but I objected and we marched on down, down until the snow turned to rain and the rain ceased and the night became so dark that I could no longer see the mare. The Indian and I locked arms and still we marched. When we came to a creek the Indian would stoop while I jumped on his back and grabbed him around the neck. He would then straighten up, wade across, and I would slide off, then we would lock arms again and march on. In this way it seemed hours came and went and that we were never going to reach the village. At last he gave me a jerk and said the welcome word, "Pelechuco." I lit a match and looked at my watch. It was just eleven o'clock and then told the Indian that it was too late to go to Mr. Francks' house and asked 318 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. him if there was no place we could stay until morn- ing. "Yes, right here," said he as he turned to the right. After walking a few steps he stopped and yelled in Spanish: "Jose I have with me a friend of Mr. Francks, and we want to stop with you for the night." "Who is he," answered a voice from the inside of a house, the door of which I now realized we were standing within a few feet of. "I don't know his name, but he is a North Amer- ican." Presently I heard the sounds of some one moving, then saw light through the cracks in the door. A moment later it was opened and I stepped into the house of an Indian. My host went out and helped the mail carrier to unpack the pony, then they both came in and we all rolled into the Indian's bed together and slept until the sun was high in the heavens. The next morning the mail carrier and I started for Mr. Francks' house where we met him in the yard. He knew me at once. "You are just the man I was wishing would come along," said he, after the usual courtesies were exchanged. "I have two hydraulic mines that I have put piping and monitors on and they don't pay. There is gold everywhere in the ground and there is any amount of and plenty of fall, so there must be something wrong with the work." "Who was in charge of it," I asked. "A German engineer," he replied, "a graduate of Heidelberg and a man that has been a coal mining engineer, but I learned after he got through with IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 319 my work that he had never had any experience in gold mining in his life except what he got in Poto. I want you to go to look at them and then come back and tell me what you think of them." "Just what I came to see you for," I interrupted. "You see," he continued, "books are all very well in their way and I don't doubt that a man can learn a great deal out of them about mining, but theory is one thing and practice is another and the reason the Americans are generally more suc- cessful than any other people in gold mining is because they get more practice than any other peo- ple. I let the Suches property go out of my hands for a song after you advised me to hold on to it, and it's turning out just as Parker, in his report, said it would. Alec Gibson has had one monitor playing on it for seven years and as near as he can calculate, he gets on the average just 30 cents a yard and he considers he loses at least one-tenth as much gold as he saves." "Well, you are making all kinds of money out of your rubber concession now ain't you? There hasn't been a day since I left Juliaca that I have not passed several trains loaded with your product." "That's one thing we know how to work in this country," he replied. "My concession is on the right bank of the Tambopata, looking down stream and comprises a tract 70 miles long, beginning at the Villa river, which is just below the Pablo Bamba." "I now have over two hundred people at work in it," he continued, "and in another year I expect to have eight hundred more. But it has cost me 320 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. lots of work. I had to cut a trail in to it from Apollo and send in supplies, build camps, and make all kinds of preparations before I could begin, but I got started at last and now I pack my rubber, out by way of Apollo and make about ten pounds sterling on every one hundred weight." One thing that has helped me along in the undertaking is the man I have in charge, Ignaco Suarauz.' "Did he ever get well of the wound received at the hands of the wild Indians?" "Yes, he suffered for about three years and then seemed to get well all at once. We never have any more trouble with the wild Indians ; they see that we are too many and have such superior arms to theirs that they prefer to trade rather than to fight with us." Mr. Franck ordered my pony fed and taken back to Cojata and also two mules and a horse brought from his ranch, which is some distance down the valley. As a terrible storm lasting three days came up, the animals did not arrive until evening of Sep- tember 6, so that I was with him five days. I found him to be the same interesting, progressive man I had met twelve years before. The future of this country, he one day said, "depends alto- NOTB. — Mr. Franck told me he was about to close a deal whereby he would sell a one-half interest in his rubber con- cession to an English syndicate headed by a gentleman named Wickersham who had been over the concession and was favor- ably impressed with it and was now in London organizing his company. But Mr. Franck expressed great uneasiness over the matter which appeared to grow on him more and more every day I was with him. "If I had known you would be here," he once said, "I never would have offered it to an English company for two reasons; first because an Englishman never gets in touch with these people like an American. They don't seem to have the same sympathy for them and damn and curse IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 321 gether upon the devolopment of its mineral re- sources. I have a boy who is now going to school in Germany and as soon as he graduates I intend to send him to some school of mines in California, and see to it that he spends his vacations out in the mining camps so that he will get a little prac- tice mixed with his theories." Another day I read to him what I had written of my visit to his house in 1892, and asked him if he remembered that conversation. "No, I don't, but I have said those same words so often to different men that I know it's tny lan- guage." "Well do you remember my dog?" "No.". "Do you remember the big mule you were riding the next year when I met you in Juliaca, that you said could carry you to Pelechuco in three short days?" "I have owned so many big mules that could do that that I can't tell anything by that description." "This one's head stuck right up in the air like a giraffe's. "All those blooded mules carry their heads up in the air like a giraffe." "You said this one came from the Argentine." them around when there is no need of it. I am a naturalized Bolivian, am sub-prefect of this province and can get thous- ands of Indians to work 'on my concession, but there is only one way to keep them there and that is by treating them kindly. Another thing is an Englishman don't understand forest work like an American because he hasn't been brought up to it. As I was shown all the corespondence between Mr. Franck and Mr. Wickersham according to which I considered the bargain almost closed. I gave the matter no attention. On December 4 I wote Mr. Franck a letter from Callao in which I told him I would start for home on the following day and was surprised today, January 7, just as these pages go to —11 322 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "All that class of mules that have ever been in this country came from the Argentine." "This one was just about the color of tar." "Nine-tenths of the mules in this country are about the color of tar. No I have no recollection of the mule but I remember distinctly every word you told me about the way in which the lumbering industry is conducted in different parts of the United States, and your description of the different implements used in farming, especially what you said of the corn sheller. The morning of the 7th he called a stout chubby Indian boy named Fidel to where we were stand- ing and said : "This is your companion ; he worked at both mines and knows them thoroughly and will show you everything there is to see. He has the animals all saddled up and will pack one of the mules with provisions while we go into the office and I will show you the plans of those two mines, and give you what information I can." We walked into his office where he opened a safe, drew out two rolls of drawing paper, opened one, and said "now this is Laje. This property comprises 23 claims, title all good ; about 300 yards of piping; from 22 inches down to eight inches in diameter ; one monitor and one reservoir ; water gate ; and you will get to it tomorrow night. That's press, to receive a letter from him dated Pelechuco, Dec. 29, in which he says, speaking- of his rubber concession: "The negotiations are nearly at an end. There arose some difficul- ties simply because the interested people did not get a tel- graphic answer quick enough to one that was wrongly ad- dressed. Thus Englishmen consider Bolivia outside the world and at the same time they mistrust too much without any reason. Nevertheless as the term has not expired yet in England, I can only give you power to put the business on the market in case it falls through altogether which will very IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 323 my small mine," and now as he laid that one down and picked up and opened the other; "the big one named Sorapata. It has 200 claims and six square leagues of fine grazing land; 100 yards of piping, from 22 down to 8 inch ; 4 monitors and a plant for 6 monitors; all kinds of nozzles. You will get to Laje tomorrow night and can stay there a couple of days, then it will take you one day to go to Sorapata. You can stay there a couple of days — long enough to satisfy yourself — and then come home and give me your impressions of the property. You need take no tools with you, because there is every- thing in the shape of tools at both mines, that you will need." "Well, there is one thing wrong with your mines that I can see here by looking at the drawings," said I. "What's that," he asked. "The gold is fine, ain't it?" "Yes, in both Laje and Sorapata." "Well according to these plans the flumes have been laid at a grade of six inches to the twelve feet, when they should have had eighteen. A grade of six inches to the twelve feet won't save fine gold." "I have read that in a San Francisco mining paper," said he, "but it didn't seem reasonable to me, but any how, your mules are all ready and likely be the case. \ raised the price on account of my develop- ing the work myself and lately we had occasion to explore the whole ground and acquire to a certainty a knowledge of its immense richness in rubber. My concession is as you very well know, a huge one and the real value of it is indeed enor- mous. If properly developed a full profit of £20,000 net can be made every year for the next fifteen or twenty years and per- haps more, as long as rubber keeps its value. The ground really never can be exhausted. 'Tis an enterprise I can assure everybody merits the attention of any capitalist and you can recommend it without fear of ever getting blamed." 324 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. when you get back you will know exactly what you are talking about." We walked out of the office into the yard where the animals and boy were standing. I jumped on the one he told me was mine and we started. Fidel led the way on the pony. Man and dog are friends the whole world around but it is seldom they play against each other in a national game. We started down the pass on the road leading to Apollo, but soon met one coming in from the right into which we turned and had gone perhaps a mile when we noticed Tommy, Mr. Franck's big Great Dane pup was following us. We stopped, dismounted and yelled at him, but Tommy merely stopped, set down and looked at us, then we threw stones at him ; these he skill- fully dodged until we had almost concluded to un- pack the cargo mule and Fidel take him home, while I remained with the animals, when we found a way out of the difficulty. An Indian came along, we called Tommy up to us, unstranded a strand of the lead rope of the pack mule, tied one end of it _to the ring of the pup's collar, handed the other to the Indian and told him to take him home. Then the struggle began. Tommy refused to go and the Indian hadn't strength enough to drag him. It was nip and tuck; the Indian would jerk Tommy and Tommy would jerk the Indianr As the Indian knew Tommy was only a pup and would not bite him he had no fear of him and as I supposed Tom- my would yield and go back as soon as we were out of sight, we remounted our animals and travell- ed on, but as far as we could see them the Indian IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 325 and pup were playing at the game of a tug of war. Our trail led us up up until we were above the clouds when Fidel suggested that we re-arrange our saddles and the pack before starting down, so we dismounted. Here this story repeats itself. We had hardly loosened the lash rope of the pack when Fidel be- gan the conversation by saying: "Mister did you ever see a Smith and Wesson revolver?" "Yes," said I, "Fidel, I have one in my pocket." "Will you let me look at it?" he pleaded. I reached into my pocket and handed him the weapon. His eyes brightened up as only a boy's will when he looks at the object of his love. "How much do they cost?" he asked as he handed it back. "Twelve dollars in the United States but they can be bought in pawn shops just as good as new for as low as five dollars and a half." "Won't you sell this one to me," said he. "No, but if you show me everything there is to see in the mines I will send you one when I get home, providing Mr. Franck has no objections." "If I could only get the revolver," he argued, "I can get cartridges here." "What color do you like, Fidel, nickel or blued?" "Nickel," he replied." "Short barrel or long." "Long barrel," he answered quickly. I fully intended to send the boy a revolver if Mr. Franck was willing but as I had heard him say, "You never want to fix an Indian's gun for him be- cause if you do he is liable to take the first shot 326 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. at you," I thought that Fidel would get his pistol like the Irishman got his whisky, in a dream. He fell asleep and in a dream went to confession. After he was through the priest said: "Pat, do you ever drink anything?" "Thot I do Father once in a while fur sushebilite." "What do you drink, Pat?" "Whiskey, me Father." "With water or without Pat?" "With water, me Father.." "Hot or cold, Pat?" "Hot, me Father." "Well, you will have to wait," said the priest, "till I go and get it out of the teakettle." The priest went out in the kitchen and before he got back the Irishman woke up and then was mad because he hadn't taken it cold. We adjusted the pack, tightened the cinches of our saddles and started down the mountain and traveled until we were below the clouds again, and still on down until we were in a fertile valley, through which flowed a small winding river. This we followed until night overtook us when we camped at the house of an Indian. A man will sometimes tell a lie unintentionally. The next morning we started down the river again. About nine o'clock we crossed a stone bridge, and entered a small settlement, which contained one large house in front of which the boy stopped and said, "Don Juan lives here. Didn't Mr. Franck give you a letter to him." This was the first I had thought of a letter which he had handed me IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 327 while I was looking at the drawings, and told me "that is the man you will stop with tonight." We dismounted and walked up to an open door where we were met by a jolly looking young fel- low to whom I gave the letter and who ordered Fidel to unpack and unsaddle the animals at once. "No, we can't stop," said I. "You have got to," said he, "and stay here until tomorrow. If you don't I will be offended." "I am very anxious to see those two hydraulic mines of Mr. Franck's," I explained "and if you will let me go on I will give you my word that I will stop two nights and a day with you when I come back." "On your honor as a man," he demanded. "Yes, on my honor as a man." "All right, just as quick as we can get you a cup of coffee you can go." We conversed together until coffee was ready, drank it and Fidel and I started and had traveled perhaps an hour when after turning in his saddle he asked, "Didn't you promise Don Juan you would stop with him when we came back?" "Yes," I replied. "Well," said he, "we don't come back this way; we keep going around in a circle until we get to Pelechuco." Our trail now led us above the clouds and below them again, then over three lower summits, covered with grass, and down to a creek, the right side (looking down stream) of which we followed un- til evening when a dense fog lowered around us and I realized that we were in the center of four 328 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. stone houses. Here the boy stopped his pony and said, "Lacja." "But where is the mine, Fidel," I asked. "On the other side of the creek," said he, as he pointed in the direction in which I could distinctly hear the water roar. We dismounted, unpacked, unsaddled the ani- mals, opened the door of one of the houses and found that it contained a small sheet-iron cooking stove, a table, several chairs, a writing desk, bed- stead, in a word about everything needed to make one comfortable. It was, according to Fidel, the engineer's office. The next thing was to get supper. Fidel found a box and started to break it up while I took a survey of things in general. One house I entered was full of sections of a flume ; the lumber being all Oregon fir; another had been used as a kitchen and the third contained picks, shovels, drills and drilling hammers, grindstones, blacksmith tools, machinery for riveting piping, deflecting nozzles, tanks of quicksilver, everything it appeared ex- cepting the one thing we needed — an axe. There was an abundance of small poles lying around, but they were too tough to break and we had nothing with which to cut them. The next thing to do' Was to invent something. After rum- aging through the house, which contained the iron appliances for a few minutes, my eyes lit on a sledge, and a single handed drilling hammer and picking them up I took them out, set the drilling hammer on the ground face down and used it to IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 329 cut stove wood with it in the same manner in which a blacksmith uses his hardee for cutting iron. I now had all the comforts of a home; a good warm house to live in; a good servant to wait on me, two good mules, a good pony and plenty of fine tall grass for them to feed on and still I was uneasy and anxious for morning to come. How it could be possible that a hydraulic mine in which there was gold all through the gravel, with plenty of water, plenty of fall and scientific appliances in- stalled upon it could not be made to pay at least more than working expenses, even if the flume had been laid at an improper grade, was a mystery that ponder over as I would, I was unable to solve and would be until morning came. It came at last and while Fidel prepared break- fast I walked down the hill to a point where my view was unobstructed by the brush, which sur- rounded the houses, and looked at the opposite side of the creek. There lay extending from the water's edge to at least one thousand feet up the mountain side and for a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile up and down the creek, an enor- mous deposit of gravel, which evidently had in the past slid down from the higher levels and thrown the creek, which drained the water shed in which it had lain to its down stream side of the creek which flowed past its foot. This creek the Spanish had scientifically turned at its top to its center, cut with it a ravine sloping down the pass, laid a flume at its foot, rolled the boulders back and permitted the water to cut towards the part of the deposit that lay on the upper-side of the pass. 330 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. Their method was not only practical, but simple. Yet there was one thing that I was unable to under- stand. The whole of their cutting which was per- haps one hundred yards from where they started, was interspersed here and there with large boulders of say ten tons weight, which necessarily had to be rolled back in order to permit the water to cut and how was this rolling done. It seemed impos- sible that enough Indians could be placed around one of them to move it either with or without levers, and although the Spanish were seamen, and doubtless knew the use of the luff and luff tackle, I had never amongst any of their old ap- pliances seen either a single or a double block. Yet the boulders had been rolled. The German engineer was less scientific than his Spanish predecessors. Instead of imitating the example of these great masters in the gold mining industry and either beginning where they left off or going further down the pass in the deposit and starting his cutting as they had started theirs, and installing a ten ton derrick on a track running the whole length of his work and run by electric power he ordered piping and monitor ; appliances he could have done without, laid the piping in the trench where the Spanish had begun, a flume at an improper grade towards the river and started to cut up the hill without any appliances with which to move great ten ton boulders. The result was that his work was soon filled with boulders, which covered a large percentage of the gold which never reached the head of the flume and of the small per- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 331 centage that did reach it only a small percentage was saved. This much I could see clearly from the opposite side of the creek. After breakfast Fidel and I went over and I made a still further examination. The work, as such, was well done. The piping had been riveted four lengths together, and one length fitted into another neatly. The monitor, with a three and a half inch nozzle attached, was standing where it had been last used and all were weighted down solidly with boulders. Such were the condition of things at the foot of the works. Fidel and I now went to its head. Here the same perfection prevailed. The ditch which Fidel said had been built by the Spanish was short, but the grade was perfect. The water looked sufficient for one monitor. A reservoir had been dug some distance below, in which water could be stored when not being used. There were only two things more needed to make this great alluvial deposit a paying mine if properly worked. One was a power- ful derrick and the other gold in the ground. The derrick could be bought and installed as the piping and monitors had been. The ground I determined to give the fairest test possible in the' day and a half yet at my disposal. It was now noon and we returned to camp for dinner and in the afternoon took a pick and bar and cut down dirt at twelve different places, not only where the engineer had finished cutting, but at different elevations along the face where the Spanish had begun and from a small bench left standing in the center of their works through which 332 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAKRO. was driven a small low tunnel. Each of these spots I numbered from one to twelve; at each we cut down at least one ton of dirt and I told the boy that tomorrow he should bring me at least two batteas of dirt from each ; that he should take out from the top and remember distinctly from where it came. Then as it was evening we started for camp. The next morning after breakfast I took a bat- tea and went to the creek and the boy took a gun- ny sack and started for the cuttings. As it took him the whole day to make the twelve trips necessary, it was evening before the twenty-fourth pan was washed. But the result was so satisfactory that I had no cause to complain. The figures here given show not only the number of the pan but the amount of colors if any each pan contained 15200 40005223252222222210. The first two pans were taken from the small bench in the Span- ish works. The next twelve from the face of the engineer's cuttings and the last ten from five dif- ferent places in the face where the Spanish had be- gun. Highly pleased with Laje and having solved the mystery of its failure, I now Vgan to wonder what could be the trouble with Sorapata. The next morn- ing the boy and I were in the saddle at day light ; before noon we crossed several low summits, then passed through the clouds twice again and entered a fertile valley, which was here and there dotted with Indian farms. On on we kept going, until five o'clock, when we came to a magnificent road that followed a creek up and down as far as the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 333 eye could carry. This road we followed up stream for several miles when we reached another group of houses, near which were lying disjointed lengths of twenty-two inch piping. Here we stopped and Fidel said "Sorapata," and I again asked the question where is the mine. "There is one," said he "about one mile above and another about three miles below. All the hills," he continued as he pointed to the rolling hills from one side of the creek' to those on the other, "are full of gold just the same as Laje and for miles above and miles below here." "Who built this road?" "Mr. Franck. It's all just this way from here to Pelechuco; of course it's up hill and down. We have two more high summits to cross before we get home, but the road is just as good as this all the way." "How many Indians did he have working on it?" was my next question, as my curiosity was now directed from the mine to the road. "Six hundred," replied the boy. "How much did he pay them per day?" I now asked as I was determined to probe the matter to the bottom. "Sixty cents in Bolivian money," he answered, "and the Indians fed themselves." How pleasant it is to travel among an hospitable people. We had hardly dismounted, when Indians, both men and women came from all directions and each one bringing something in their arms, some brush for fuel (because there was neither trees nor shrubbery at hand) some eggs and one a nice fresh 334 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. fat piece of mutton, and another an axe. I sup- posed these things had been brought for sale and offered them pay which they refused. Then I asked Fidel if there was anything we had that they wanted. "They are very fond of tea with sugar in it," he replied. "Well boil them all the tea they can drink," said I, "we have tea and sugar to burn." One building was an office; another a kitchen and two more were dwelling houses, but as none contained hydraulic mining appliances I asked the boy where they were stored and was told they were in some buildings about four miles further down the creek. Soon a great feast was prepared for us of which we partook and went to bed. The next morning I made an examination of the upper works and found them to be a long line of piping running from the foot of a ditch above, down to within a short distance of the creek. Here three monitors were attached and from here a flume had been laid at very little grade as I could see by the foundation on which it had rested and some cutting had been done in the face of the hill above the monitors. But, as at Laje, the bottom of the cuttings were filled with boulders which covered the gold and no powerful derrick had been installed. We then walked up the line of piping to the foot of the dam which we followed to its head. The former had entirely too much grade, so much indeed, that the water which was then running through it and pouring over a waste gate was run- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 335 ning at current more commonly seen in mill races than in miners' ditches, and was cutting and filling the ditch from the down hill side but the dam was perfect. In the afternoon I tested the ground. As there was a pool of water standing in the cut in a spot which was not covered with boulders and the dirt close to it, I panned 24 pans from the face of this work in less than one-half the time I had panned the same amount of dirt at Laje and give here the result in the same manner : 045260101101 000030101113. After getting these results Fidel led the way to a tunnel some distance up the pass from which I panned two pans ; in the first I got one color and in the second nothing. He then showed me a prospect hole still further up from which I tested the same amount of dirt. The first pan yielded four colors, the second nothing. At the lower works which I examined the next day the same conditions obtained and the same mis- takes had been made. Here I also panned twenty four pans with the following results: 1 6 5 1 5 o 0005131841580951590. As night was upon us again we returned to camp and the next day started for home, which we reached after a trip through the clouds; a night in the house of an In- dian and another trip through the clouds. Here we were welcomed by Mr. Franck, by Alec Gibson, by a Mr. Zimmerman, whom Alec introduced to me as the Arequipa agent of Mr. Pena and by Tommy. It was easy to deal with Mr. Franck. Calling me to one side after we four had conversed for a 336 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAKRO. few moments, he asked, "Well, what do you think of the mines?" I told him I thought they would both be paying properties if a derrick was installed on them and they were opened up properly and explained to him the mistakes that had been made in both. A placer miner would first jerk those big boulders out of the creek at Sorapata with his derrick," said I, "work it out and start hydraulicking into the hills afterwards. At Laje this would hardly be advisa- ble as the alluvial deposits through which the creek cuts is short and the work of turning it expensive." "And what can you do with them." "Sell them in the United States like hot cakes. Since my story appeared as a serial, dozens of men of money have told me that if they thought there were any such chances in Peru or Bolivia as I met with ten years ago they would leave for those countries on the first steamer." Mr. Franck then asked me what I considered a fair price to ask for them. I told him three hundred thousand dollars for Sorapata for $200,000 and Laje for $40,000 and I "And what commission do you want," he in- quired. "Ten per cent.," I replied. "Well, I'll tell you what I will do. I will sell Sorata for $200,000. and Laje for $40,000 and I will give you power of attorney to do it for 18 months and a commission of 20. per cent. We will draw the document tomorrow. I will send it to La Paz where it will have to be signed at the For- eign Office and that signature certified to by the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 337 United States minister; then I will send it to Se- attle and it will get there before you do, and the mule and saddle you can take on to Juliaca and turn over to my agent. Now see if you can't get some men into this country with a little bit of brains in their head. I then spoke to Mr. Franck of the promise I had made Fidel about the revolver. "I have no objections," said he, "certainly not, but how are you going to get it to him," he asked. "Send it to you by mail." "It's against the law to send firearms through the mail in this country," he explained. This information I afterwards gave the boy, whose eyes dropped towards the ground when he heard it, but they brightened up suddenly when I told him he would get his pistol just the same, al- though he should not be disappointed if it did not reach him before the month of March. 338 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF P1ZARRO. CHAPTER XIII.- I have said before that I had met Alec Gibson in Arequipa. I had then promised him that I would pay him a visit to both Suches and Poto. I knew that he was in every respect a different man from his brother, and was neither responsible for nor in sympathy with his brother's conduct; therefore, I told him as briefly as possible my experience with his brother on the Beni and concluded with : "I hold him responsible for every dollar's worth of property and every life lost in those waters since I left." He sat for a few moments as though dumbfound- ed. Then recovering his self control, he told me his experience in Poto and Suches. "When I came back from Cuba," he said, "Pool sent me out to Poto to take charge of Mr. Pena's works, but as the ditches were all dug, the flumes and piping laid, there was little or nothing to do, so I wrote to Mr. Pena in Lima and Bieber & Co., in London and asked their permission to open up Suches. Finally after a terrible pile of correspondence I got per- mission to open up the old Spanish ditch about four miles to a ravine where there is water enough for about one monitor, but they wanted it worked for the present by the old Spanish methods. I did as I was told and when I got through I took my men across the pampa eighteen miles to Poto, packed up about three hundred feet of old piping and an old monitor there was there, put it on the backs of Indians packed it over to Suches, set it IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 339 up and then wrote to them about it and told them it was working well." "What do you estimate those properties yield on the average per cubic yard," I asked. "As near as I can calculate, thirty-three cents. I save thirty cents and suppose that there is fully one tenth of the gold lost." He told me he had a question with some Indians who owed him some money ; that he had come to Pelechuco to get Mr. Franck, who was sub-prefect of the province, to settle it ; that he was going to Suches on the day after the morrow where he would remain one day and then go to Poto, and insisted that I go with him, saying, "you will meet Weiss at Poto and you and he can go to the railroad together. He wants to go by way of Crucero. He has reasons for it and he hardly speaks enough Spanish yet to get along and you can help him through. I will send several Indians along to bring the animals back and when your mule gets to Poto I will send him back here to Mr. Franck. The next day I transacted my business with Mr. Franck and on the following morning at nine o'clock Mr. Zimmerman, Alec and I on mules and several Indians, with pack animals, were slowly moving up the trail towards Cojata. We camped on the summit, ate a sumptuous lunch of canned meats, bread, brandy and beer, which Alec had brought with him and then travel- ed on for several miles. Here we left the Cojata trail and turned to the right and soon ascended on to a great plateau which we rode across for several hours without seeing anything worthy of note 340 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. until we passed an artificial lake with a magnifi- cent dam, in which a gate was set and from the foot of which a ditch led as far as the eye could see. This ditch we followed for perhaps an hour and a half, when we found ourselves on a great eleva- tion beneath which lay a sea of boulders. A trail could be seen here and there winding its way through them, and a building rose among them built in the form of a square. Into this sea of boulders we plunged on the trail which we followed until we came to the buildings that I had seen from the top of the hill. Dis- mounting and turning the mules over to the In- dians we entered one of the rooms, which I found to be Alec's office and library. "Jack," said he, after we were seated and he began pulling off a shoe, "go and bring me my slippers." A bird dog that had welcomed us heartily, but who was now lying on the floor, rose to his feet and left the room. "Who are you talking to," I asked. "Wait a moment and you will see," he replied. Presently the dog reentered the room with a pair of shoes in his mouth. "Those are shoes, Jack," said his master, "I asked you for my slippers." The dog looked the man in the eye for a moment as though he was in a deep study as to the meaning of his words, then turned on his feet and left, returning with a pair of slippers. "Where did you get him?" I enquired. "I raised him from a pup." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 341 As Air. Zimmerman intended to start for Juliaca the next day he and Alec were busy the whole of the evening, settling up their affairs, while I busied myself rummaging through the library which con- tained in addition to some valuable books, most of the popular magazines both English and American of the day and a good warm stove to sit by and read them. I was now in by far the greatest gold field in the world, one through which I had passed and upon which I had written but one I had never ex- amined. The next morning I rose early, went into the kitchen, took a cup of coffee and started for a stroll. I first went to> the foot of the flume then followed it to its head, where perhaps a dozen In- dians were engaged with a monitor hydraulicking by throwing a stream of water against an almost perpendicular bank of perhaps one hundred feet in height. All was working well. From here I strolled to the top of the bank by following the piping, part of which owing to the steepness of the bank, was laid on trestles. Here, as below, everything, head dam, waste ditch and a reservoir, were built in miner like manner, but I could see an immense glacier about four miles away between two mountain peaks at what appeared to me to be an elevation higher than where I was standing and could see no obstacle in the way of constructing a ditch to its foot and thus doubling the supply of water. Towards this glacier I went and had gone per- haps half the distance on what I at first supposed to be an old trail, but which I now concluded by 342 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. the uniformity of its grade must be an old Spanish ditch. Returning to camp I entered the office where Alec and Mr. Zimmerman were still busily en- gaged with their business and interrupted them by asking if there was not an old Spanish ditch run- ning to the foot of the glacier which we could see from the top of the bank. "There are two of them," replied Alec. "Why in the world don't you open them up," "They won't let me," he explained, "I have been asking permission to do that for seven years." "After dinner I tested three pans of the dirt; in the first I got 17 colors ; the second 5 colors and the last nothing. Then I concluded I would see the other end of the mine, and started on a trail that led in that direction. It seemed to me I was never to come to an end of those great ancient cuttings. It was all the same — boulders, boulders, boulders — all of them small, and flume after flume, until after three hours of slow walking I came to their end and went back to camp, where I found that Mr. Zim- merman had started for Juliaca and Alec was bus- ily engaged in developing photographs for Mr. Weiss, as he said, in order to get him started for the railroad on Wednesday. But when evening came his work was done and his mind was free to converse. "What distance is it to the end of that cutting?" was one of the questions I asked. "Just four measured miles," was his answer. "There is a strip of country here on this sum- mit about forty-five miles long and about four miles wide," he continued, "and we know it to be a thou- sand feet deep in places, and we never found bed rock anywhere that gives thirty-three cents to the IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 343 cubic yard. Some of it is in Bolivia, but most of it is in Peru. It runs away across on the other side of Poto, and there is scarcely a boulder in it bigger than a man's head. "You have panned all over it, I suppose, in the last seven years, have you not?" "Yes, in thousands of different places." "Who owns it?" "Pena and Bieber have 1102 acres. Pena himself has nine claims at Poto, Samuel Cosina of Arequipa has a number of claims next to Pena's, called Cano Chico. The house of Sanches in Cojata has inter- ests over near Pena's at Poto. A man in Lima by the name of Pfluker also has seventeen claims in the same neighborhood. So has Mr. Elder. But most of this mineral belt is owned or at least the key to it, by a company of which Mr. Zizold in Arequipa is the head. Mr. Elder was now in Cara- baya. Mr. Sanches, if I returned to Juliaca by way of Crucero I could not meet but Mr. Cosina, Mr. Zizold and Mr. Pfluker, I determined to hunt up and learn from them what they knew or were wil- ling to tell about their properties. "Another thing," continued Alec, "that has entire- ly changed since you left here is labor. Ten years ago if a man wanted Indians to work for him he had to get them from the governadore, but the Inca people have distributed so< much money among them that they have lost all fear of the governadore and will willingly work for anybody that will pay them their price — thirty cents a day, without board, ex- cepting a handful of cocoa in the morning." The next morning Alec and I saddled up and started for Poto. We crossed the road from Co- jata to Sina in perhaps an hour, and at 2 o'clock came to a lake at the head of a ravine, from which 344 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. a ditch led down the ravine on its right side. From Suches our trail had been over a rolling pampa, but now it led down the ravine for, say, a distance of a mile, when we reached a pampa again, and the buildings and works of Poto, which greatly re- sembled those of Suches. The ditch led to the top of a great bank of gravel. Water was carried to its foot by a line of piping and thrown against it, as I could see from the trail., with three monitors. Oceans of small boulders were in sight as far as the eye could carry along the base of the bank, and the houses were built of stone with thatched roofs and in the form of a square. Riding through a large open door into the center of this square and dismounting, we were met by Mr. Weiss and a young man whom he introduced to be as Mr. Luis Pflucker, a graduate of the school of mines of Lima, who was engaged in making an examination of some property which was held by his cousin in Lima — just one of the men whom I want- ed to see. Alec asked us to excuse him, and started for an inspection of his work, and we three entered a room which I found to be a library and sitting room, and throwing all reserve away, seated ourselves for a talk. I broke the ice by telling my experience since I had met Mr. Weiss on the train, which was fol- lowed by his. He had bonded Maravillos for a syn- dicate of New York capitalists, then came to Poto and made a thorough examination of a number of claims belonging to the Zizold interest and known by the name of Lacca, which he hoped to get an option on when he returned to Arequipa. "I have," said he gleefully, "a bank of gravel over four hundred feet high, and every yard of it goes thirty cents, there ain't a boulder in it any big- IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 345 ger than your fist. I can bring four thousand inches of water on it and it dumps into the Amazon slope, so that the fall is unlimited. But, of course," he continued, "it wouldn't do to put anything like that in a prospectus — nobody would believe it." "I always say," said I, "what I consider to be true and let people believe whatever they choose. Other people's beliefs don't trouble my conscience." Mr. Weiss said also that he was anxious to know what the possibilities were for building a wagon road from Poto to Crucero, and for that reason wished to return by way of that town and the Inca Company's road to the railroad, that he was unable to speak enough Spanish as yet to get along, and asked me if I would not go with him home that way. This I told him I would do, as I had not only become interested in Poto, but wanted to see the great work the Inca company had done. Mr. Pflucker next gave his testimony. There were, all told, seventeen claims, controlled by his cousin, Leopold Pflucker, of Lima, seven of which had been located first, had been named Realidad, and of which he had some time previous made a thorough examination. The results had been so satisfactory to his employers that they had deemed it advisable to send him back to locate ten claims more surrounding the first seven. This he had done and had called them Aurora and was now making an examination of them the same as he had done of the others that, so far as gold was concerned, he had found both properties the same, on the av- erage of thirty cents to the cubic yard. But his property had neither the water nor the dumping facilities of that of Mr. Weiss ; that he had not con- cluded with his examination of Aurora yet, but his work on Realidad had been compiled in pamphlet 346 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. form and he felt confident his cousin would be glad to show it to me if I called upon him in Lima. Mr. Weiss here continued the conversation by saying he had two Indians, two saddle mules and four ponies engaged for his transportation to Ti- rapata; that he would like to start as soon as pos- sible, and that when he did start he wanted to go back to his mine and take several more photographs of it, and it would be only a couple of miles out of our way. It was now the nineteenth day of September, and as I had seen about all of Poto there was to see, I told him I would merely pan out a few pans of dirt and take a walk around the next day and would be ready to start with him on the twenty-first. The next morning Weiss turned to me and said: "Very well. . Now come along and I will soon prove to you there is gold here in Poto." Then walking out into the square, he picked up a pick and shovel, and I a pan, and walking down to the center of the ravine, through which I had rode the day before pointed to its right hand side and said : "That property is called Cano Chico. It contains seven claims and is owned by Samuel Cosini, of Arequipa. Now let me give you a pan of dirt." We panned four different pans, the first two from Mr. Cosini's side of the ravine, and the others on Mr. Pena's property, with the following results : The first contained 15, the second 6, the third 4, and the last 25 colors, when I told Mr. Weiss that I was satisfied there was gold in Poto. The rest of the day I spent in looking over the works, which were constructed on the same general lines as those of Suches, excepting that there were three monitors employed instead of one. As all Mr. Weiss' preparations were made for IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 347 his journey to the railroad, there was nothing- to do the next morning but give Alec good-by, mount our animals and start. He, Weiss, led the way towards a point where the trail leading to the town of San- dia crosses the summit, and on reaching it stopped and, pointing to the great bank of gravel onto which Simpson had attempted to bring water, said to me: "Well, there she is. What do you think of her?" "Just the property," said I, "that Roberts started to condemn." "And why didn't he condemn it if he started to?" he asked with a look as though he hardly under- stood my words. "Because I stopped him," I replied. I then told Mr. Weiss the whole history of the Charu May Chy from start to finish, including the strange part that Roberts had played in it, and when I had finished he asked: "And where is he now?" "Pike said he heard that he had died a drunkard in Chili." "Too bad," he said sorrowfully, "that a man like that should die a drunkard's death." "Why?" I asked. "Because," said he, with a a flash of indignation, "a man that's low enough to stab a poor prospector in the back that way had ought to be hung." We camped for a lunch. Mr. Weiss took his pho- tographs, then we rode some distance to the houses of some Indians who were yearly engaged in wash- ing gold from Lacca, from whom Mr. Weiss bought several ounces of gold and started for Crucero with the intention of studying the. country closely for the purpose of determining whether or not it would be possible to construct a wagon road from Cru- cero to Poto within reasonable cost. There was no studying to do. That night we 348 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. camped at the house of an Indian and found that in our whole day's travel we had passed only one sidling spot that needed grading for a wagon to cross it, and the next evening entered Crucero with- out meeting any obstruction to the passage of a wagon, excepting a short ravine which could easily be graded in a day by a small gang of men. At Crucero we stopped for the night with the agent of the Inca Mining Co., a Peruvian gentle- man whose office and home was in the same house, in which the mother of Alvina had lived in 1892, and was told by our host that Alvina was dead and that his mother and sister were living in Arequipa. The next morning we were on the magnificent highway constructed by the Inca company, and one that will long remain a fitting monument to their enterprise. The width was uniform, being thirty- six feet, the grade no where over two per cent, and the streams were bridged with arches of stone or spans of steel. Our spirits arose, our tongues loosened as we trotted along, and we told each other our histories. "The trouble with you," he said, when we had fin- ished, "is that you have seen nothing in this coun- try only hard work, hard knocks and gold mines. You are not acquainted in Lima and have no idea of the representative men in Peru today. Now, what you want to do before you go back to the United States is to stop a few weeks in the capi- tal, and by all means meet Juan Pardo, a brother of the President; Mr. Balta, the minister of inter- ior, and Mr. Loredo, the director of the interior. Those three men are all mining engineers by pro- fession, and they are doing everything possible to get American capital into this country, and you IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 349 could give them information that would be of the greatest possible help to them. "And there is another man in Lima that you want to meet, whatever you do," he continued after a moment's pause, "and that's Juan Garland, the pro- moter that put through the Cerro Pasco deal for Haggen. The way I happened to meet him was through McFarland, Haggen's expert, on whose re- port the property was bought and who is a personal friend of mine, he gave me a letter of introduction to Garland when I came down here last year, and that's the reason I have got through so slick. There is no use of talking, Mac told me he was, and I have found him to be the keenest, brightest and shrewdest man in this country today, and it will be a treat for you to meet him. In this way two days' travel glided away and we found ourselves in front of a great square of build- ings on the railroad, which we knew to be the Inca company's station, known as Tirapata, where we were welcomed by a small, refined looking man who told us his name was Mr. Bartlett, the bookkeeper for the company; that Mr. Magner was at Pucara, but that he was expecting him home every mo- ment. Mr. Magner — Mr. Magner — Fred Magner, I repeated to myself. Who can this man be, that his name is so familiar? Oh yes, now I remem- ber. It's the great constructing genius of the Inca Co., of whom I had heard Pike speak so often. We dismounted and followed Mr. Bartlett into a magnificently furnished office, which he told us was our home, but that supper was ready now. Then we walked on into a large room in which a long table was set in what Mr. Weiss described as first-class American style, and had hardly seated ourselves when in stepped a bold, fearless looking 350 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. man of medium size, whom Mr. Bartlett introduced to us as Mr. Magner. "Pike used to give me your letters to read," said he as he gave me his hand, "and I always forgot to return them." Both Mr. Magner and Mr. Bartlett were in the best of spirits, but as Mr. Bartlett was naturally of a quiet and reserved nature it was with the former that I became better acquainted, and from whom in the three days I was with them, I learned the most concerning the operations and intentions of the Inca Co. on their rubber concessions in the interior. "We never could have done what we did," said he when I discussed it with him, "if we hadn't had the mine to back us. We knew that we were right on the edge of the rubber belt and on the edge of the only part of it that had never been worked, and we knew, too, that a box containing treasure is of no use without a key to open it. We also made an examination of the cultivation of the rub- ber tree and found that it could not possibly be made to yield in less than fifteen years, so we asked the government for a concesssion and promised to build the road. Our concessions is equal to a tract of country sixty-four miles square and we are putting the natives to work as fast as they come from the Acre river or Iquitos. We have at pres- ent several hundred at work and expect before another year to have a thousand." Mr. Magner was also deeply interested in the projected Pan-American railway and ambitious to identify himself with its construction, a calling for which he had given such signal proof of his abilities. He had made an exhaustive study of it from every point of view, location, construction and operation,- and appeared to me to be able to tell every fill, cut, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 351 bridge and tunnel that it would require from the uncompleted Isthmian canal to Southern Patago- nia. That is providing it is built where it should be — on the western slope of the Andes, and as near the summit as possible. He also loved at times to digress his interesting conversation with a charming story. "Our president, Mr. Collins, is a bigger man than you," said he on one occasion as he looked at Mr. Weiss. "He weighs three hundred pounds, but it nearly kills him to travel. One time when he was here on a visit he and I were coming out with a train loaded with fifty thousand dollars of gold. When we got to a house on the summit he was plum worn out. I did the best I could for him — made a bed with blankets on the floor, got him into them and covered him up and was outside hanging a piece of canvas over the door, when I heard him call out : "Say, Magner, look here." "What is it Mr. Collins?" I asked him. "If anybody comes here for this gold tonight you give it to them," said he. "Don't wake me up fight- ing for it." On the twenty-seventh, our animals being rested, and on the road back to Poto, we reluctantly parted with Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Magner, and took the train for Juliaca, where Mr. Weiss was met with a long telegram from the manager of The General Electric Co. of New York: "Secure an option of Maravillas by all means," it read, "and then go to Cora Cora in Bolivia and try to do the same. We understand that some options that have been held on those mines are about to expire. There are some copper propositions offered for sale here now, but at such ridiculously high figures that we can't ap- 352 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. proach them, so don't fail to get the options and draw on us for all the money you want." "I already have Maravillas secure," Mr. Weiss replied, "and will start for Cora Cora in a few days." The next day we reached Arequipa, where he se- cured an option from Mr. Zizold on Lacca without delay, introduced me to that gentleman and left for Bolivia. Alfredo Zizold is one of the younger generation of men who are destined to regenerate Peru in the near future. The son of a German merchant, he in- herited his father's vocation in life without his pre- judice against the industry of mining, and formed among his associates a syndicate which directed their energies towards acquiring titles to mining ground and water rights in the great gold field of Poto, and have succeeded in securing ninety-five per cent, according to his engineer's statement of all the available water in the region, and four thou- sand hecteres of ground, all of which carried gold to the vahte of thirty-three cents to the cubic yard. The elaborate plans and reports of this vast tract which were shown me gave the greatest known depth of the gravel to be one thousand feet at a point where it was crossed by a ravine, and stated incidentally that the boulders it contained were all small and round. Yet, with this advantage, the deposits are so vast that with the present supply of water they could not be exhausted by hydraulic mining for ages. "Is there no earthly way all that gold can be tak- en out in our own time?" he asked me after I told him I understood the plans and report. "Yes," said I, "the upper forty-five foot level can be worked today with dredges." IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 353 "Dredges !" he exclaimed. "Why, how are you going to work a pampa with a dredge. I thought they were only used in the beds of rivers." "So they were," I explained, "until hydraulic mining was stopped by the United States govern- ment on the tributaries of navigable rivers of Cali- fornia, then the miners put dredges to work, and find that they can handle eight-cent dirt at a profit and buy their power from the electric power com- panies. The business has proved so profitable that mining men are now buying up fruit orchards at five thousand dollars an acre in that country and working them with dredges. A dredger is nothing more nor less than a great shovel set on a flat boat and run by either steam or electric power. It cuts the gravel in front of it and fills it in behind. It uses, when set on a pampa, the same water over and over, both to float itself and to wash the gravel. There is no loss to the water except by seepage and evaporation, which is small and can easily be replaced at Poto, and as for electric power there is enough down in the passes of Sina and Sandia to run a thousand dredgers." Mr. Zizold sat bewildered for some moments, but finally broke the silence by saying, "Well, if you know that these things can be done I will give you a commission if you will get American capital inter- ested in them." "If anybody doubts that they can be done, I re- plied, all they need do is to go to Oroville, Cal., and they will see seven powerful dredgers at work and each handling two thousand cubic yards of gravel per day." Mr. Zizold and I soon came to an agreement which was put in writing and my business with that gentleman was done. 354 IN TUB FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRQ. Upon Samuel Cotini I merely called and told him of the rich pans of hydraulic dirt that Mr. Weiss and I had panned from his property, as I did also upon Dr. Luciano Bedoya, the present owner of the EI Infernillo mine, the one which I examined for Hawley. Promoters in London, he said, had a bond on it and on some river claims near it which he also owned, for the sum of thirty-two thousand pounds sterling, which expired in a few months, and he would then be glad to give me power of attorney to sell them in the United States. Although Arequipa was not the same without Pike, I managed to spend three pleasant weeks in it, and then left for Mollendo, where I passed an- other week with Mr. Pool. He still held, he told me, the old titles to the Charu Machy, although he had permitted them to lapse and the property to revert back to the government. He was still en- thusiastic over the mineral resources of Peru, and as the house of Pena had been the agent for the Inca Mining Co. from the time the company began op- erations on the Santo Domingo mine until that house failed, his judgment in mining matters had become more matured. "I do wish," said he once, with a oath, "that somebody would get hold of these propositions who knows how to handle them. In the copper fields of Maravillas he still held an interest, and at their failure to dispose of it in Lon- don he still felt disappointed- "Now, Agle," he pleaded one evening, "there is a question I am going to ask you confidentially, and I believe you are true enough friend of mine to an- swer it." "What's that?" I asked. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO, 355 "Weiss has told you his honest opinion of Mara- villas, and I want to know what it is that caused our collapse, and if he exploits it I'll get on my feet again." "Well, he has the property bonded for a certain length of time, has he not?" "Yes," he replied, "he has." "Well," said I, "he told me confidentially, and I'll tell you confidentially, that it's the greatest cop- per croppings in the world." On October the eighteenth, I left Mollendo for Lima with the intention of following the advice of Mr. Weiss and becoming acquainted with as many of the representative men of the country as pos- sible and reached that city on the twenty^firgt. Naturally I called first on Mr. Pena. His left hip bone had been broken some ten months before by a fall in one of the shafts of his copper fields and he was still unable to walk without a cane. He ap^ peared somewhat crestfallen over his financial re- verse and expressed a regret that he was at last compelled to part with his interests at Potq. "Ever since eighteen hundred and sixty-one," said he, "either my father or I have received a yearly income from that property with the same regularity that we would have received interest on a govern- ment bond, but my business is in such shape today that there is no alternative ; it's got to go, both it and Suches, for what I can get for them," "What are you willing to sell them for?" I en- quired. "I have been offered one hundred thousand pounds sterling for Poto and refused it, but I will sell it now for fifty thousand and my half of Suches for twenty-five thousand," said he despondently. 356' IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. "That ain't selling them at all," I suggested," "that's giving them away." "I can't help it," he replied, "they have got to go." I told Mr. Pena that since the preceding chapters of this work had been published as a serial, I had received many inquiries from promoters and invest- ors concerning all the gold mines upon which I had written, and if he would give me a commission I would get him buyers for both Suches and Poto." At this his eyes lighted up like a boy's. The com- mission was readily agreed upon and placed in writing and I left him in better spirits than when we met. The next person whom I determined t'o meet was Mr. Garland, and hear from his own lips the story of the great Cerro Pasco deal. I found him at his home Valladolid 229. A man of perhaps thirty- seven years of age of medium height, the lines of whose mouth indicated sagacity, the projection of - whose chin indicated determination and persever- ance and whose coal black eyes, to use the elegant words of Macaulay when he painted his famous pen picture of William of Orange, rivaled in brightness and keenness those of an eagle's. "Not a particle," said he, "why should I?" was his answer after I had introduced myself and made known the object of my visit, "the deal has gone through now, the transaction is closed and the whole thing is a matter of the past. I had options on all the property in ninety-eight," he continued, "and laid the proposition before some London people, but their engineer, who examined it, report- ed that it was a first class mining property, just as I represented it, yet the difficulties were too great so the options expired. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 357 "In nineteen hundred I got the options again and took them to New York and laid them before the Vanderbilts. 'I'll tell you what you do,' they s,aid 'lay that matter before J. B. Haggin & Co. ; they are the oldest and most successful mining firm we know ,of and if they will go into it we will furnish them all the money they want.' "I did as I was told and Haggen sent McFarland down to make an examination. His report was favorable and the deal was closed. "There were, all told, ninety different interests," he went on to explain, "they varied from thirty- three full claims all the way down to one twenty- fifth of a claim and the price paid was on the average about one thousand pounds sterling per claim." "I should think," I remarked, "that you would be the proper man in this country for our American rail road promotors to put their interests in the hands of when they come down here looking for concessions from the government for rail way con- struction." At this he rose from his chair — we were sitting in his parlor — walked to a book case and brought back a bundle of papers which I noticed were clamped together. "Now, what is this?" he asked, as he stood in front of me holding the papers in his hand. "I haven't the least idea," said I. "The control of the tin of the world ! The con- trol of the tin of the world !" he repeated. "I don't quite see the point," I interrupted. "Well, I suppose you know that Bolivia has the greatest tin mines in the world ?" "I have heard so, yes, but I know nothing definite about them." SS8 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARR6. "Well, these are options that I held two years ago Oft every titl mine in the Republic of Bolivia, but my agent in New York was too slow and before We got any promoter Interested they expired. Yet I believe I Cart get them again. "Yes," continued Mr. Garland, as he laid the papers on a table and seated himself again, "I caft get anything for your promoters that they want, either here or in Bolivia, but there is one thing they had better prepare to do when they come here, and that's to act in good faith or else stay at home. From time to time they have been coming down here, and getting concessions from the government for one thing and another taking them back to Eng- land or the United States and trying to Sell them. Now the government is going to put a stop to that. When a promoter gets a concession these days for anything, he is required by the government to place a deposit with the secretary of the treasury of from fifty to seventh thousand dollars as a guarantee of good faith. On this deposit he will get interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum until his agreement is fulfilled when his deposit will be re- turned to him dollar for dollar. On the other hand the government will guarantee him an income of five per cent, annually on his investment from the hour his road is finished and every cent of the rev- enue derived from the tax on tobacco is set aside to make this guarantee good. Mr. Garland talked with me on many and varied subjects. His father,, he said, was head of the house of Antony Gibbs & Sorts when that great commercial house did business irt Peru, and he was educated for a mining engirteer. After graduating he entered his father's employ, but as a commercial career was distasteful to him and one irt which he IN THE FGOTSTEJPB OF PIZARRO. 359 had no experience he entered the field of promotion, which he found better suited to his tastes. The next person whom I had the pleasure of meeting was Robert Pfluker, a young man with a singular grammatical control of the English lan- guage, whose father had been successful in silver mining in Peru some years ago. His Poto property which he showed me the report upon, resembles in its topographical features, Poto and Suches, the average value of the gravel being thirty cents and the formation fragments of slate and quartz con- taining oxides of iron united by a cement and with water available for two monitors the greater part of the year. Mr. Pfluker treated me with the greatest cour- tesy. He had formed a local company, he said, with which to begin operations, and was now examining with great care the claims of different manufacturers of hydraulic machinery. But I exploded his plans by telling him all about the Poto gold fields I had told Mr. Zizold, and asked him why he preferred installing piping and monitors on his property when a dredge that would do double the work, could be installed upon it at about the same price. "You must remember very clearly," he replied, as he felt sure he had me cornered, "that a dredge is an expensive piece of machinery when you come to move it on pack animals." "You must remember clearly," I replied, "that there is no more use for pack animals now between the railroad and Poto than there is for the fifth wheel on a wagon. From Tirapata to Crucero the Inca Co. have built one of finest wagon roads in the world and from Crucero there is no road to build." 360 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF- PIZARRO. This destroyed his plans entirely, and after pon- dering over the proposition for some moments he said: "Well, I shall think the matter over, and when you return to the United States if you find any parties that understand dredge mining I wish you would put me in touch with them, as I would be willing to do business with them and give them liberal terms." Among the many remarkable men whom I met in Lima none interested me more than Captain Henry Guyer, a veteran of our civil war, a pioneer •of Montana, the companion of Richardson, author of "Beyond the Mississippi," in his travels through the western states, a successful silver mining man in all his ventures, which had been numerous, both in the United States and Peru, and the general agent for the Allis-Chalmers Co. for the west coast of South America. "Captain, what kind of mining machinery does Krupp make ?" I asked him in one of our many long talks. "Some of it is very good, very good, indeed," he answered, although generally the German-made ma- chinery is heavier and more cumbersome than ours. But," he explained, "the German will bring his ma- chinery over here, set it up and wait a year or more for his pay. Now, until the American is prepared to do that he needn't try to compete with the Ger- man, because he will only be disappointed." Mr. Tweddle I met frequently in his up-town office, and once I visited him in his laboratory, where I found him testing the tensile strength of asphalt briquettes. "There, what do you think of that?" said he, as one of them broke. "Here, the city of Lima is buying asphalt to pave her streets with, that was mined in IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO. 361 Venezuela, sent to New York, and from there here by way of the Straits of Magellan, and we have a better quality of it right close to the city." "What are you going to do with it?" I asked. "We are going to get up a little company and work it," he replied. Mr. Tweddle told me in detail of his mining op- erations in Sandia. "Work was begun in ninety- eight," to use his own words, "and I had great trouble with transportation at first, but after twc> years it was completed, and the dry season began, and when the river was turned into the tunnel it worked all right and several days were spent in prospecting below the dam in the river, which was practically dry. The pros- pects looked good and several ounces of gold were collected the first day and a couple of pounds of gold taken out with a little ten-inch sluice the next morning. I then made preparation to wash on a larger scale, but during the night the river rose over the mouths of the tunnel over the dam and carried the upper part of the dam away. This was rebuilt and carried away, rebuilt and carried away again. Then the company's money and credit ran out and I came back to Lima to take care of my poor old mother and see that my children got an education, and went into business where I can be with them. None of the company care to sell out, but would be glad to make any arrangement by which the work can go ahead. What is needed chiefly is an enlargement of the tunnel." To be sure I met the three eminent men to whom this work is dedicated. Mr. Pardo, easily the first citizen of Peru, is a graduate of Heidelberg. Mr. Balta and Mr. Loredo, of the school of mines of Lima. As may readily be imagined, I gave them 562 IN TUBS FOOTSTEPS OF FtZAft&O. what information concerning the interior of Peru that I .could, but there was one favor that Mr. Loredo asked of fne that I Could net grant. "I want you," he said, as he presented me with Ra- mondi's map of the Provinces of Sandia and Cara- baya, "to correct the part of this that yOU have been over." "That I cah't do," I replied. "There are no cor- rections to make. I can take that map and find the streams in the part of that country that I know just the same as I can take a map of a city and find its streets." Of the rich mines belonging to the Gildetneister family, of which I had read in the Engineering and Mining Journal, I determined to learn something definite before leaving Peru. "Get in a coach and say the word Gildetneister," I was told, "everybody knows them, they are one of the biggest houses in the city." I obeyed instructions and Was driven to a magni- ficent office building, which I entered, and stepping up to a large, powerful, handsome looking young man with twinkling black eyes and smooth black hair, asked for Mr. Gildemeister. "That's my name," said he. I then told him who I was and what I wanted to learn. He appeared to be deeply interested in me and in the United States in general, but he seemed especially interested in the city of Benecia, Cal., and as I noticed on a desk some writing paper with the words Benecia Agricultural Works for their let- ter heads I came to the conclusion he was doing business with that city. Presently another handsome young man with beautiful curly black hair and mustache, stepped iN The footsteps of pizarro. 368 iiito the office, -whom Mr. Gilderrteister introduced to me as Mr. East. "This gentleman," said he to Mr. East, "has just come from the United States and wants to know something definite about our mines. Can't you make an appointment With him and tell him what he wants to know?" "How long will you be in the city?" Mr. East asked of me. "For some time yet," I replied. "Well, I am Very busy today, and will be all day tomorrow, but if you will come here day after to- morrow at 2 o'clock I will tell you anything you want to know. At the appointed time I again met him at his desk. 'Now," said he, as he walked to a safe and re- turned with three books which he laid on his desk, "we have three mines Working in the Yauli district, Sacracartcho, Alpaniha and Churruca. "Here," he continued, as he picked up one of the books and opened it, "we will take Churruco first. It is copper, silver and gold. We have about 400,- 000 tons of ore on the dump, the railroad passes near the tunnels of the mine, there are twelve claims each 206 meters square, abundance of water power all told, one 500 meters long, another 200 and a third just started. It is a big deposit. It is impos- sible to estimate the amount of ore in it, and it lays in a very suitable place in which to construct a smelter. We have had a mill test made of the ore and it runs on the average, 12 per cent copper, 4 marks silver arid $14 in gold. "Now," said he, as he laid that book down and picked up another — Alpaflina, "this mine lays about 8 kilometers from the railroad and is one of 364 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. the biggest deposits of silver in all South America. In 1901 it produced £44,572, 3s, 2d; in 1902, £59,- 684, 1 8s, 6d, and all this with a capital of £50,000. And last year it paid a dividend of over one hun- dred per cent. We have had this production for six years. Some of the ore goes as high as 1000 marks, but we always mix it up so as to have it average about 100 marks. We have an enormous amount of smelting ore in this mine, because it can be smelted with ore found in one of the other mines — one contains iron and the other carbonates of lime. Here he paused, laid down the second book and picked up the third and began speaking again by saying: "Now we come to Sacracancho. This company pays a dividend of three per cent a month and' the capital invested is £25,000. We- have cut a tunnel of 800 meters in length and crossed four big veins, one of rich silver ore near Alpanina, and the other two of silver and lead, and we have a large stock of metal on the dump that can be re- duced by a lead plant." Here he closed the last book and laid it on his desk. "Well," said I after a moment's silence, "you certainly have a rich lot of mines." "Yes," said he, "the statistics show that in 1903 Yauli as a producer of silver and lead stood fir?t, and of copper second, and we think that when we get our long tunnel finished we will have the great- est camp in Peru. These are all the mines now be- ing operated by C. Gildemeister & Co." "Have you no placer gold interests?" I asked. "We have," said he, "and some rubber conces- sions as well, but we haven't done enough devel- opment work on them to know their value, and I am not going to talk to you about things that I IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO. 365 know nothing about myself. We are also promot- ers of mining companies here in Peru and agents in this country for manufacturing and banking inter- ests abroad." After a stay of eight weeks in Lima, during which time I had the pleasure of meeting many others of the distinguished men of Peru whom I am unable to name for lack of space, I started for home with the intention of laying before my coun- trymen in book form my simple, truthful story of my five years' experience in the Klondike of South America. The field is rich and the harvest is ready. What will the United States .and its people do, stand idly by and let other nations reap it, or gar- ner it themselves? Beware, beware ! The last time I called on Mr. Pardo I found him reading a cir- cular which he handed to me, saying as he did, "Do you know these people?" I looked at it a moment. It was from the Lon- don Exploration Co., and then said : "Yes, they are one of the most powerful and legitimate factors in the whole mining world. They are the Roths- childs, and a lot of London banks ; they have made money in mining and lost it in street railways in Paris, and recently they have reorganized and formed two companies, one for mining and the other for Paris traction. "They are coming here," said he, "at least, so they say." % Remember his words, "they are coming here, at least, so they say." The End.