e in my place he would lag behind?"

Of course I knew he would not, but then Miller was Miller, who had not,
to my thinking, his equal in South America. And Plaza wished to
imitate his chief, forgetting he did not possess that marvellous
personal influence over men which accounted so much for the English
colonel's success.

So we pushed on, till, at the end of the third mile or thereabout, a
horse sank through sheer weariness to the ground, and had not
sufficient strength to rise again.

"Run on with the rest," said the captain to the rider; "we will ride
and tie by turns."

The man saluted and came on, but the last I saw of him he was
staggering from side to side of the track, as if he had completely lost
control of his limbs. After a time another horse fell, giving us
another infantry-man, who in a short time was, I daresay, also left
behind on the road.

"'Twill be a plain trail for the main body," remarked the guide; for we
ourselves were continually passing broken weapons, mules that could not
drag their limbs a step further, dead horses, and now and then a
Royalist soldier curled up on the track fast asleep.

"Where will Santalla make for?" I asked.

"Arequipa. But I don't think he can reach it. The Indians bar the
direct route, and his only way out, as far as I can see, is by taking
to the mountains at Copari."

"My horse won't face a hill just now."

Castro smiled, saying, "The pass near Copari is too rugged for horses
at any time; the climbing must all be done on foot," and he smiled
again at my gesture of despair.

At ten o'clock Plaza was compelled to halt, three-fourths of the men
being tired as dogs, while several horses had foundered on the road.
He was very excited, having heard from the last Spaniard picked up that
Santalla, thoroughly worn out, was barely two hours' march in front.

He glanced wrathfully at his tired troopers. There they lay, five
minutes after the order to halt, sleeping like dead men, and for the
time being certainly of no greater use.

"Caramba!" cried he, "it makes me wild! Two hours, Crawford! Do you
hear? And look at them! The prize will slip through our fingers after
all!"

"Hardly that, captain," I murmured sleepily, "as it has never been in
our hands."

"Santalla will have to rest as well," remarked the guide, "so the
scales will balance."

"But I don't want them to balance!" cried Plaza testily.

To give the captain his due, he was greatly in ear