rom
the Indians, as she would invariably see them at a distance and avoid
them, and that wild beasts, serpents, and other evil creatures would do
her no harm. The small amount of food she required to sustain life could
be found anywhere; furthermore, her journey would not be interrupted
by bad weather, since rain and heat had no effect on her. In the end he
seemed pleased that she had left us, saying that with Rima in the wood
the house and cultivated patch and hidden provisions and implements
would be safe, for no Indian would venture to come where she was. His
confidence reassured me, and casting myself down on the sandy floor of
the cave, I fell into a deep slumber, which lasted until evening; then
I only woke to share a meal with the old man, and sleep again until the
following day.

Nuflo was not ready to start yet; he was enamoured of the unaccustomed
comforts of a dry sleeping-place and a fire blown about by no wind and
into which fell no hissing raindrops. Not for two days more would he
consent to set out on the return journey, and if he could have persuaded
me our stay at Riolama would have lasted a week.

We had fine weather at starting; but before long it clouded, and then
for upwards of a fortnight we had it wet and stormy, which so hindered
us that it took us twenty-three days to accomplish the return journey,
whereas the journey out had only taken eighteen. The adventures we
met with and the pains we suffered during this long march need not be
related. The rain made us miserable, but we suffered more from hunger
than from any other cause, and on more than one occasion were reduced to
the verge of starvation. Twice we were driven to beg for food at Indian
villages, and as we had nothing to give in exchange for it, we got
very little. It is possible to buy hospitality from the savage without
fish-hooks, nails, and calico; but on this occasion I found myself
without that impalpable medium of exchange which had been so great
a help to me on my first journey to Parahuari. Now I was weak and
miserable and without cunning. It is true that we could have exchanged
the two dogs for cassava bread and corn, but we should then have been
worse off than ever. And in the end the dogs saved us by an occasional
capture--an armadillo surprised in the open and seized before it could
bury itself in the soil, or an iguana, opossum, or labba, traced by
means of their keen sense of smell to its hiding-place. Then Nuflo would
re