ACROSS THE ANDES 137 



that I was in the palace, and had refused to go 

 down to dinner until he had had a play with 

 me; and he was patiently and expectantly 

 waiting outside the door for me to appear. I 

 seized him, tossed him up, while he shouted 

 gleefully, caught him, and rolled him on the 

 floor, quite forgetting that any one was look 

 ing on; and then, in the midst of the romp, 

 happening to look up, I saw the lady on whom 

 I had been calling, watching the play with 

 much interest, with her equally interested two 

 brothers, both of them sovereigns, and her 

 lords-in-waiting; she had come out to see what 

 the little boy s laughter meant. I straightened 

 up, whereupon the little boy s face fell, and he 

 anxiously inquired: &quot;But you re not going to 

 stop the play, are you?&quot; Of all this my new 

 found friend reminded me. If was a far cry 

 in space and in surroundings, from where he 

 and I had first met to the Andes that border 

 Patagonia. He was a man of knowledge and 

 experience, and the half-hour I spent with him 

 was most pleasant. 



At Nahuel Huapi we were met by a little 

 lake steamer, on which we spent the next four 

 hours. The lake js of bold and irregular out 

 line, with many deep bays, and with mountain 

 walls standing as promontories between the 



