A Trip to Tucuman. 269 



think, but they evidently are not ladies, and their 

 conduct since they came on board has been simply 

 shocking. I tried to explain to the conductor that he 

 must provide me a place away from this dreadful 

 company in which I find myself, but he does not under- 

 stand English or French. Will you not help me?' 

 I at once sent for the conductor and told him that he 

 must promptly make arrangements to give the young 

 woman a place in a compartment where she would not 

 be annoyed. I explained to him the circumstances, and 

 told him that unless something was done immediately 

 I would report the matter to the railway authorities. 

 He presently came back to the dining-car and informed 

 me that the wife of one of the inspectors of the railway, 

 who occupied a compartment by herself, a senora muy 

 respetable, was willing to give shelter to my acquain- 

 tance, and allow her to occupy the upper berth. I 

 went back to the car in which she was, in order to act 

 as interpreter in case of necessity, and being confronted 

 by her three companions, who were holding a levee in 

 the compartment with half a dozen male acquaintances, 

 I realized that she had only too good reason for appeal- 

 ing to me. I said a few stern words to the disorderly 

 crowd, which caused the men to slink away for the 

 moment. The moral of the incident is simply this: 

 that it is inadvisable and may be inexpressibly uncom- 

 fortable for a woman to travel in these lands without 

 escort, and particularly when unacquainted -with the 

 language. I did not see the young Englishwoman until 

 about noon the next day, when, as I was alighting from 

 the train, she came up to me on the platform of the 

 railway station at Tucuman, and thanked me for having 

 intervened on her behalf. 



When the dawn came on the following morning a 



