104 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



blooded Indian soldier, on duty at the entrance, ordered the rioters 

 to stop and when they paid no heed he shot the leader and scat- 

 tered the crowd. The captain thereupon ordered the soldier to 

 Arequipa because his life was no longer safe outside the barracks. 

 A few months later he was assigned to Professor Bingham's 

 Coropuna expedition. Professor Bingham reached the Cotahuasi 

 Valley as I was about to leave it for the coast, and the soldier was 

 turned over to me so that he might leave Cotahuasi at the earliest 

 possible moment, for his enemies were plotting to kill him. 



He did not sleep at all the last night of his stay and had us 

 called at three in the morning. He told his friends that he was 

 going to leave with us, but that they were to announce his leav- 

 ing a day later. In addition, the Subprefect was to accompany 

 us until daybreak so that no harm might befall me while under 

 the protection of a soldier who expected to be shot from ambush. 



At four o'clock our whispered arrangements were made, we 

 opened the gates noiselessly, and our small cavalcade hurried 

 through the pitch-black streets of the town. The soldier rode 

 ahead, his rifle across his saddle, and directly behind him rode 

 the Subprefect and myself. The pack mules were in the rear. We 

 had almost reached the end of the street when a door opened sud- 

 denly and a shower of sparks flew out ahead of us. Instantly the 

 soldier struck spurs into his mule and turned into a side street. 

 The Subprefect drew his horse back savagely and when the next 

 shower of sparks flew out pushed me against the wall and 

 whispered: "Por Dios, quien es?" Then suddenly he shouted: 

 "Sopla no mas, sopla no mas" (stop blowing). 



Thereupon a shabby penitent man came to the door holding in 

 his hand a large tailor's flatiron. The base of it was filled with 

 glowing charcoal and he was about to start his day's work. The 

 sparks were made in the process of blowing through the iron to 

 start the smoldering coals. We greeted him with more than 

 ordinary friendliness and passed on. 



At daybreak we had reached the steep western wall of the 

 canyon where the real ascent begins, and here the Subprefect 

 turned back with many felicidades for the journey and threats 



