not boast of it. With his wife and six children he occupied
one of the best huts. A fire in one corner frequently filled it with
acrid smoke. It was very small and had no windows. At one end was a
loft where family treasures could be kept dry and reasonably safe from
molestation. Piles of sheep skins were arranged for visitors to sit
upon. Three or four rude niches in the walls served in lieu of shelves
and tables. The floor of well-trodden clay was damp. Three mongrel
dogs and a flea-bitten cat were welcome to share the narrow space
with the family and their visitors. A dozen hogs entered stealthily
and tried to avoid attention by putting a muffler on involuntary
grunts. They did not succeed and were violently ejected by a boy with
a whip; only to return again and again, each time to be driven out
as before, squealing loudly. Notwithstanding these interruptions,
we carried on a most interesting conversation with Guzman. He had
been to Conservidayoc and had himself actually seen ruins at Espiritu
Pampa. At last the mythical "Pampa of Ghosts" began to take on in
our minds an aspect of reality, even though we were careful to remind
ourselves that another very trustworthy man had said he had seen ruins
"finer than Ollantaytambo" near Huadquina. Guzman did not seem to dread
Conservidayoc as much as the other Indians, only one of whom had ever
been there. To cheer them up we purchased a fat sheep, for which we
paid fifty cents. Guzman immediately butchered it in preparation for
the journey. Although it was August and the middle of the dry season,
rain began to fall early in the afternoon. Sergeant Carrasco arrived
after dark with our pack animals, but, missing the trail as he neared
Guzman's place, one of the mules stepped into a bog and was extracted
only with considerable difficulty.

We decided to pitch our small pyramidal tent on a fairly well-drained
bit of turf not far from Guzman's little hut. In the evening, after
we had had a long talk with the Indians, we came back through the
rain to our comfortable little tent, only to hear various and sundry
grunts emerging therefrom. We found that during our absence a large
sow and six fat young pigs, unable to settle down comfortably at the
Guzman hearth, had decided that our tent was much the driest available
place on the mountain side and that our blankets made a particularly
attractive bed. They had considerable difficulty in getting out of
the small door as fast as they w