report is true or false."

He took my hand again, and pressed it within his own. It was night
before I was tolerably composed; and as I threw myself on my couch
within the hut, I wept bitterly as a child, till sleep came to relieve
my misery. I must not dwell on the anguish I felt on waking--the utter
wretchedness of the next day. I was too ill to move, though I prayed
for strength to enable me to prosecute my search. Strength and health
came again at last; and in four days after I had heard the account given
by Manco, I insisted that I was able to undergo the fatigue to which I
must be exposed. Nothing that Manco or his wife could say had power to
deter me.

"You will be taken by the cruel Spaniards, and executed as a spy," said
Nita, the tears dropping from her eyes as she spoke.

"No Indian on whom you can rely will be able to accompany you, and you
cannot find your way alone," observed Manco. "Besides, in these unhappy
times robbers and desperadoes of every sort are ranging through the
country; and if you escape other dangers, they will murder you."

"My kind friends," I answered, taking both their hands, "I feel your
regard for me; but I fear neither Spaniards nor Indians, nor robbers nor
wild beasts, nor deserts nor storms, nor heat nor cold, nor hunger nor
thirst. I have a holy duty to perform, and I should be unworthy of the
name I bear if I shrunk from encountering the danger which may be before
me."

"If go you must, and I see that there is no use in attempting to
dissuade you, I will give you every assistance in my power," said Manco.

And thus it was arranged that I was to set out on my perilous
undertaking the next day but one, by which time he would be able to
accompany me to the foot of the mountains, though he would not be absent
long from his important duty in the patriots' army.

CHAPTER TEN.

MY WANDERINGS WITH MANCO--HOW A PADRE TOLD HIS BEADS, BUT HIS BEADS TOLD
HIM NOTHING.

The morning I was to set out arrived at last, and I bid farewell to Nita
and her little infant, which I kissed over and over again for its
mother's sake; for my heart was full of gratitude for her kindness and
compassion. Manco had procured a mule for me--a small but strong
animal, with great sagacity. It was very sure-footed, and could climb
up the most rugged rocks, and slip down mountain precipices like a goat.
It was of the greatest value to me; for, weak as I was, I could not
possibly have walked a