178 



PASSAGE ACROSS 



it, he began to look about him, and I have seldom 

 felt more provoked, than I was to see him walk 

 away from it, and in preference begin to eat some 

 hot, dry, dirty straw, which v/as lying on a dung- 

 heap. 



We then went to the shop, and I asked the old 

 woman what in the world we were to do ? — that we 

 had come out of the Andes, were going next morn- 

 ing to Santiago, or, as they term it, to Chili, and 

 that we wanted food and lodging for the night. 

 She told me that the only thing to be done, was to 

 hire a room, and then get a person to cook what- 

 ever we wanted. 



This sounded hopeless, but I soon found that we 

 had no alternative; so leaving my companion to 

 drink a glass of lemonade, and to take a siesta in 

 the old woman's bed, I went out on foot, following 

 a little boy without shoes, and was at last led ta 

 the door of one of the largest houses in the p*lace» 

 The boy went inside, and in a short time he re- 

 turned with a large key in his hand, followed by a 

 well-drest, elderly lady, who asked me to walk in. 

 I declined, and went with the boy some distance 

 down the street ; at last he stopped at a door, un-. 



