96 Idle Days in Patagonia. 



in position ; then the commander had a happy in- 

 spiration, and all the strong women were made to 

 display themselves on the walls in male attire. 

 Dummy soldiers, hastily improvised from blocks of 

 wood, bolsters, and other materials, were also placed 

 at intervals ; so that when the Brazilians arrived in 

 sight they were surprised to see four or five hundred 

 men, as they thought, on the ramparts before them. 

 From the high ground behind the town where they 

 had halted they commanded a view of the river for 

 several miles, but the expected ships were not yet 

 in sight. The day had been oppressively hot, with- 

 out a cloud, and that march of about thirty miles 

 over the waterless desert had exhausted the men. 

 Probably they had been suffering from sea-sickness 

 during the voyage ; at any rate, they were now mad 

 with thirst, worn out, and not in a fit state to 

 attack a position seemingly so strongly defended. 

 They determined to retire, and wait for a day or 

 two, and then attack the place in concert with the 

 ships. To the joy and amazement of the Pata- 

 gonians, their formidable enemy left without firing 

 a shot. Another happy inspiration came to the aid 

 of the commander, and as soon as the Brazilians 

 had disappeared behind the rising ground, his 

 seventy men were hastily dispatched to collect and 

 bring in all the horses pasturing in the valley. 

 When the invaders had been about three or four 

 hours on their spiritless return march, the thunder 

 of innumerable hoofs was heard behind them, and 

 looking back, they beheld a great army, as they 



