e Andes--if the preservation and prolongation of human life is the test
of medical skill. Among the Callavayas the period of youth is thirty
years; a man is not held to be a man until he reaches fifty, and he only
begins to be old at a hundred."

"Was it among the Callavayas that you learned the secret of long life, Mr.
Fortescue?" I asked.

"Perhaps," he answered, with one of his peculiar smiles; and then he
started me by saying that he would never be a "lean and slippered
pantaloon." When health and strength failed him he should cease to live.

"You surely don't mean that you will commit suicide?" I exclaimed, in
dismay.

"You may call it what you like. I shall do as the Fiji Islanders and some
tribes of Indians do, in similar circumstances--retire to a corner and
still the beatings of my heart by an effort of will."

"But is that possible?"

"I have seen it done, and I have done it myself--not, of course, to the
point of death, but so far as to simulate death. I once saved my life in
that way."

"Was that when you were hunted, Mr. Fortescue?"

"No, it was not. Let us go to the stables. I want to see you ride Regina
over the jumps."

Mr. Fortescue had caused to be arranged in the park a miniature
steeple-chase course about a mile round, on which newly-acquired hunters
were always tried, and the old ones regularly exercised. He generally made
a point of being present on these occasions, sometimes riding over the
course himself. If a horse, bought as a hunter, failed to justify its
character by its performance it was invariably returned.

Sometimes Ramon gave us an exhibition of his skill as a gaucho. One of the
wildest of the horses would be let loose in the park, and the old soldier,
armed with a lasso and mounted on an animal trained by himself, and
equipped with a South American saddle, would follow and try to "rope" the
runaway, Mr. Fortescue, Rawlings, and myself riding after him. It was
"good fun," but I fancy Mr. Fortescue regarded this sport, as he regarded
hunting, less as an amusement than as a means of keeping him in good
health and condition.

Regina (a recent purchase) was tried and, I think, found wanting. I recall
the instance merely because it is associated in my mind with an event
which, besides affecting a momentous change in my relations with Mr.
Fortescue and greatly influencing my own fortune, rendered possible the
writing of this book.

The trial over, Mr. Fortescue told me, somewha