A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



feeling for the sick. Roberti, though he was by 

 way of being Maso's great friend, and hailed from 

 the same village, objected strongly to return, and 

 only went under protest. 



To our great surprise Maso and Roberti turned 

 up during the afternoon. The former, having been 

 unable to overtake us the previous evening, had 

 passed the night in the forest in drenching rain 

 without food or fire. The man's vitality must have 

 been extraordinary; for, notwithstanding this ex- 

 perience, Roberti met him struggling gamely along 

 the path, hoping still to overtake us. He had a 

 good deal of fever, so we gave him Warburg's 

 tincture; and as he was quite unfit to walk, a 

 machilla was improvised with grass rope slung on a 

 pole, and two spare men were told off to carry him 

 till he was better. Later Maso was able to get out 

 and walk a little, and in a few days no longer 

 required the machilla. The men carried him 

 grudgingly, and only after various pains and 

 penalties had been threatened in the event of dis- 

 obedience to our orders. One day, just as I was 

 about to start in my machilla, John came to me to 



say that the porters refused to carry Maso. A 



and most of the carriers with their loads had already 

 gone on, so it was a bit awkward. I asked which 

 men had refused. One delinquent was brought 

 forward and harangued, John being interpreter. I 

 asked how he would like to be ill in a strange country 

 and unable to walk, etc. He was still obstinate. 

 Fortunately at that moment I caught sight of one 

 of the porters just starting with his load. He was 



224 



