LIFE IN PATAGONIA 101 



In the middle of the river Marcos lifted up his 

 face and laughed hoarsely to hear this eloquent 

 address ; though they expected to see poor Damian 

 thrust through with spears the very next moment, 

 he could not help laughing. They watched him ar- 

 rive, still loudly crying out for mercy, astonishing 

 them very much with his oratorical powers, for 

 Damian had not hitherto made any display of this 

 kind of talent. The Indians took him by the hands 

 and drew him out of the water, then, surrounding 

 him, walked him away to the corral, and from 

 that moment Damian disappeared from the val- 

 ley; for on a search being made afterwards, not 

 even his bones, picked clean by vultures and foxes, 

 could be found. 



After seeing the last of their comrade, and 

 keeping themselves afloat with the least possible 

 exertion, Marcos and Ventura were carried down 

 the stream by the swift current till they gained a 

 small island in the middle of the river. With the 

 drift-wood found on it they constructed a raft, 

 binding the sticks together with long grass and 

 rushes, and on it they floated down stream to the 

 inhabited portion of the valley, and so eventually 

 made their escape. 



The reason why my host told me this story in- 

 stead of one of his usual love intrigues or gam- 

 bling adventures was because that very day he 

 had seen Damian once more, just returned to the 

 settlement where he had so long been forgotten by 

 every one. Thirty years of exposure to the sun 



