e may be months before he gets round the Horn, and if we
could manage to be there when he arrives, we should be rescued. If
not, and I own that I have not much hope of it, we could at least
go down to Lima some time or other. I can talk Spanish now very
fairly, and we shall have such a lot of adventures to tell that,
even if they do not take us for Spanish sailors, as we can try to
feign, they will not be likely to put us to death. They would do so
if we were taken in arms as buccaneers; but, coming in peaceably,
we might be kindly treated. At any rate, if we get on well with the
Indians we shall have the choice of making, some day or other, for
the Spanish settlements on the west coast; but that is all in the
distance. The first thing will be to get our living, somehow; the
second to get further inland; the third to make friends with the
first band of natives we meet. And now, the best thing to do is to
go off to sleep. I shall not be many minutes, I can tell you."

Strange as was the situation, and many the perils that threatened
them, both were in a few minutes fast asleep. The sun was rising
above the hills when, with a start, they awoke and at once sprang
to their feet, and instinctively looked round in search of
approaching danger. All was, however, quiet. Some herds of deer
grazed in the distance, but no other living creature was visible.

Then they turned their eyes upon each other, and burst into a
simultaneous shout of laughter. Their clothes were torn literally
into rags, by the bushes through which they had forced their way;
while their faces were scratched, and stained with blood, from the
same cause.

"The first thing to be done," Ned said, when the laugh was over,
"is to look for a couple of long springy saplings, and to make bows
and arrows. Of course they will not carry far, but we might knock
down any small game we come across."

Both lads were good shots with a bow, for in those days, although
firearms were coming in, all Englishmen were still trained in the
use of the bow.

"But what about strings?" Tom asked.

"I will cut four thin strips from my belt," Ned said. "Each pair,
tied together, will make a string for a five-foot bow, and will be
fully strong enough for any weapon we shall be able to make."

After an hour's walk, they came to a small grove of trees growing
in a hollow. These were of several species and, trying the
branches, they found one kind which was at once strong and
flexib