356 



CHILI. 



mandant, however, had accidentally omitted to 

 tell me this circumstance, which I did not learn 

 till late in the evening, after I had gone on board. 

 He had, in vain, tried to prevail upon Peneleo, 

 the Indian in command of the auxiliaries, to re- 

 lease her ; but this savage, after putting her hus- 

 band to death before the poor woman's face, re- 

 fused to give her up for a less ransom than thirty 

 dollars — a sum which no one in the camp was 

 willing to advance. It was provoking not to have 

 heard of the circumstance during the morning, 

 since, had she been liberated, she might have 

 been employed to carry a letter to the captives I 

 was in quest of, who, I had now no doubt, were 

 removed into the interior by the Araucanians, 

 when they fled to the woods. 



2Qth of Oct, — I went on shore as soon as it 

 was day-light, but my vexation and disappoint- 

 ment were extreme, on learning that Peneleo, 

 with his troop of Indians, had set out on their 

 return to Conception two hours before, taking the 

 poor widow along with them. While we were 

 speaking on the subject, a soldier who had met 

 the Indians rode into the camp. On being in- 



10 



