express train. The country
was utterly wild, and it was not an unusual thing to paddle from morning
until night without seeing a human being. As I knew nothing of the
river except that I was bound for Lisbon, it may be imagined that I was
not perfectly easy in my mind, I did not know but that the next angle in
a canyon might land me in a whirlpool or over a fall.

"A great majority of the peasants do not read and were therefore
ignorant of my undertaking. They are somewhat superstitious and my
first adventure was with two of them. It was some hours after I left
Toledo that I spied these men. They were great, hulking fellows,
engaged in rolling a large stump up the steep hill, rising from the
bank of the river. Slipping quietly along the surface, I got close
behind them without their seeing me. When I hailed them, they gave me
one startled look, released their hold on the stump which crashed down
to the river, while they ran up and disappeared in the recesses of
the hill. They never stopped to look the second time.

"I thought I would reach Peubla the first night; but owing to the
extraordinary bends of the river, nightfall found me in a terribly
rough portion of the country. I kept dashing from waterfall to
waterfall, from rapid to rapid, until two o'clock in the morning, when
the barking of a dog caused me to haul in. It was intensely cold and I
was very tired. I blew a blast on my bugle and some very rough looking
men came down to the bank. They proved to be shepherds and very kindly
took me to their hut, which was not far from the water. They had the
queerest way of keeping fire I ever saw. It was made of straw, the
embers banked in such a way that there appeared to be only a black mass;
but when they blew on the mass, a red glow would blush from it,
throwing out considerable heat. Over this fire, they cooked a little
soup for me. I remained in the hut until morning, stretching out on
the floor for a little rest, while they stood about, speaking their
mountain patois which I could not understand. I left them early in the
morning, passing through wild mountain scenery and seeing no signs of
habitation. No railroad or telegraph lines cross the river until near
Lisbon and there was no way for me to get word to my friends. I arrived
at Peubla at twelve o'clock and owing to the fact that I ran on to an
old, broken bridge which cut my dress, I was compelled to haul up. The
Alcalde was out in h