VI 
THRO WING THE TOLAS 
ii 7 
came at full gallop after him, shouting to him to stop, and 
saying that he only wanted to speak to him. Just as the 
Spaniard was on the point of reaching the boat, Luciano threw 
the balls : they struck him on the legs with such a jerk, as to 
throw him down and to render him for some time insensible. 
The man, after Luciano had had his talk, was allowed to 
escape. He told us that his legs were marked by great weals, 
where the thong had wound round, as if he had been flogged 
with a whip. In the middle of the day two men arrived, who 
brought a parcel from the next posta to be forwarded to the 
general : so that besides these two, our party consisted this 
evening of my guide and self, the lieutenant, and his four 
soldiers. The latter were strange beings ; the first a fine 
young negro ; the second half Indian and negro ; and the two 
others nondescripts ; namely, an old Chilian miner, the colour 
of mahogany, and another partly a mulatto ; but two such 
mongrels, with such detestable expressions, I never saw before. 
At night, when they were sitting round the fire, and playing at 
cards, I retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They 
were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look down upon 
them ; around the party were lying dogs, arms, remnants of 
deer and ostriches ; and their long spears were stuck in the 
turf. Farther in the dark background their horses were tied 
up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness of the 
desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking, 
a soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head close to 
the ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even if the 
noisy teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause 
in the conversation, and every head, for a moment, a little 
inclined. 
What a life of misery these men appear to us to lead ! 
They were at least ten leagues from the Sauce posta, and since 
the murder committed by the Indians, twenty from another. 
The Indians are supposed to have made their attack in the 
middle of the night ; for very early in the morning after the 
murder, they were luckily seen approaching this posta. The 
whole party here, however, escaped, together with the troop of 
horses ; each one taking a line for himself, and driving with 
him as many animals as he was able to manage. 
The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept, 
