denly said:

"Then I may take it, _Senor el Teniente_, that you are pretty well
acquainted with the country about Sorata? Did you, by any chance, see
or hear anything of a village called Coroico during your captivity, or
while you were escaping?"

"Coroico?" mused Jim; "let me see--yes, sir; I seem to remember hearing
the place spoken of by a warder with whom I contrived to become
friendly--the man whose uniform I took the small liberty of
appropriating, you will remember. He said that a Bolivian force was
collecting near there, for the purpose, I believe, of making raids into
the newly acquired Chilian territory."

"Exactly! Just so," replied Riveros; "that is the matter in a nutshell.
Now listen to me for a few moments, please. As you are aware, we have
practically destroyed the naval power of Peru; and we have also made
short work of her armies wherever we have come into contact with them.
In a word, Peru is almost at the end of her resources; and the
Government is ready to come to terms, allowing us to keep the territory
we have newly acquired along the sea-coast, namely, that strip of land
reaching, roughly, from Papos to Arica. So far, so good. A small
portion of that territory, however, belonged to Bolivia, which is, as
you know, the ally of Peru. Now, the Bolivian Government is also ready
to surrender that land; but a large portion of the population will not
hear of it being given up, since their only port, Antofagasta, is
situated upon it. These--rebels, I suppose I may call them, are trying
to displace the president of Bolivia in order to put in power a man who
will not accede to the Chilian demands; but Dr Ladislao Cabrera is too
strong for the rebels, and still retains his office.

"Having therefore been foiled in that direction, a force of Bolivians
has been collected by a noted guerilla leader named Bajos; and this
force, amounting to about a couple of thousand men, has entrenched
itself in a strong position near Coroico, whence frequent destructive
raids are being made into our newly won territory. They burn and slay
wherever they go; in fact they leave a trail of blood and ashes behind
them plain enough for anybody to follow. Mercy seems a thing absolutely
unknown among these desperadoes; and instead of carrying on their
warfare in a civilised manner, they are committing the most dreadful
atrocities on all Chilians, both civil and military, who fall into their
hands. Now, these men are a m