88 PUMAS AND JAGUARS 



At last, most of the few who were left declared they 

 could bear this state of things no longer. It was a choice 

 of evils, and they made up their minds that they would 

 prefer to fall into the power of beasts rather than of men. 

 So, when the darkness had fallen, a little company crept 

 out from the palisade, and stole away to the woods. 



How they fared we are not told ; but one girl, called 

 Maldonada, after wandering about till dawn, fell in with 

 some Indians, who carried her off to their village in the 

 heart of the forest, and treated her with great kindness. 



Some months later, Euiz, the deputy-governor of 

 Buenos Ayres, heard where she was, and — being by this 

 time free from his enemies — sent to the friendly tribe to 

 beg of them to give Maldonada up to him. When the poor 

 girl was brought back to the city she found that it was 

 only to be accused as a traitor to her own people, and to 

 be condemned to be fastened to a tree in the forest, so that 

 savage beasts might devour her. 



So Maldonada, who had passed unhurt amidst the 

 hungry animals, whose midnight wars she had heard when 

 flying from the besieged city, was now to be delivered 

 over to a fate from which no escape was possible. How a girl 

 living quietly in an Indian village could have betrayed her 

 people, Sehor Ruiz did not say, and it is not clear why he 

 was so anxious for her destruction ; but sentence was given, 

 and the soldiers called in. They led Maldonada three miles 

 into the heart of the forest, and there tying her tight to 

 a tree, according to their orders, left her to her death. 



For two nights and a day no one troubled their heads 

 about her ; either she had no friends, or they were poor 

 people who were powerless against the governor ; but on 

 the third day, soldiers were again sent out, to collect ber 

 bones. To their immense surprise, they found Maldonada 

 quite unhurt, but very hungry, and awaiting, as bravely 

 as she could, the death that could not be far off, whether 

 it came to her by starvation, or by the jaws of wild beasts. 

 During the terrible hours she had spent there savage 



