HOW TO MAKE A FIRE. 



153 



rankness of vegetation, we felt that we had been im- 

 prudent; but it was too late to draw back, even if we 

 had wished to do so. We agreed that we were bet- 

 ter on this high terrace than at the hacienda, which 

 stood low, and had around it great tanks of water, 

 mantled with green, and wearing a very fever-and- 

 aguish aspect. We therefore set to work immedi- 

 ately to make the best of our condition. 



The mayoral left us to take the horses back to 

 the hacienda, and give directions about the luggage, 

 and we had only a little Indian boy to help us. 

 Him we employed to clear with his machete a 

 space before the principal doorway, and in order to 

 change as quickly as possible the damp, unwhole- 

 some atmosphere within, we undertook to kindle a 

 £re ourselves. For this purpose we made a large 

 collection of leaves and brush, which we placed in 

 one corner of the back corridor, and, laying stones 

 at the bottom, built up a pile several feet high, and 

 set fire to it. The blaze crept through the pile, 

 burning the light combustible stuff, and went out. 

 We kindled it again, and the result was the same. 

 Several times we thought we had succeeded, but 

 the dampness of the place and of the materials baf- 

 fled our efforts, and extinguished the flame. We 

 exhausted all our odd scraps of paper and other 

 availables, and were left with barely a spark of fire 

 to begin anew. The only combustible we had left 

 was gunpowder, of which we made what the boys 

 call a squib, by wetting a quantity of it, and this, 



Vol. I.— U 



