south of this, so we
shall have little to fear from the Spaniards; and as you say the Indians
are your friends, if we fall in with them, it is to be hoped they will
treat us well. We can't expect, you know, to get through the world
without running through a little danger now and then."

I told the sailor I agreed with him.

"And now, my friend," I said, "I have some more questions to ask you. I
do not know your name, and I cannot guess how you came to find us out."

"What does that matter, mate? I do not know yours; and to say the
truth, I never heard of you till a few days ago, when I heard the people
talking--for I know something of their lingo--of a young Englishman who
was to be shot for siding with the Indians. Now, thinks I to myself,
that is a very bad thing for the lad, and if I can lend him a hand,
we'll disappoint the Dons. It's my belief, a seaman--as far as that
matters, anybody--ought always to help a countryman in distress, or he's
not worth his salt."

"Then I ought first to tell you who I am," I replied; and I gave him a
short account of myself, and my late adventures, and how I came to meet
with Pedro.

"That's very strange," he muttered; "very strange. I'm more than ever
glad to be of use to you. Now for my name. It's not a long one. I'm
called Ned Gale. I was born at sea and bred at sea; and it isn't often
I set foot on shore, so that what good there is in me I picked up
afloat."

"Then how comes it, Ned Gale, that you got so far inland as this?" I
asked.

"Why, you see the ship I sailed in was seized by the Spanish
authorities, in the port of Callao, where we had been driven by stress
of weather. It was alleged that we had been smuggling on the coast,
which was neither here nor there, as there was no one to prove it. At
last the master was advised to appeal to the viceroy, and so he set off
to Lima to see him, taking me in his company. When we got to Lima, we
found that the viceroy had gone up the country; so away we went after
him. We travelled over mountains, and across sandy plains, and rivers
and torrents, day after day, but he always kept ahead of us. You see
that he had gone out to fight the Indians; and when at last we came up
with him, we found him in a very bad humour, for his troops had been
beaten in every direction. So he would not listen to a word my captain
had to say. The fact was, the bribe Captain Hindson had been advised to
offer him was not large enough.