alings; maybe the hill chieftain had misunderstood
him: a second mission should be sent with suitable presents.
Accordingly, two of the gentlemen of the company, attended by half a
dozen soldiers and as many natives, left the camp on the river-bank and
threaded the steeply-pitched woods to the native village. An Indian
scout was thrown out in front, on the flanks, and in the rear, and the
white men kept solidly together in the centre.

They met with no opposition by the way, and in due time came out of the
trees and found themselves on a plateau about a mile square. On the
farther edge of this stood a cluster of stone-built huts, evidently
surrounded by a rude but effective wall. Before them stretched fields
of Indian corn, tall and green after the heavy rains. The evidences of
native civilization were greater than any the adventurers had hitherto
met. They halted for a brief consultation, then went forward again,
resolved to do their errand discreetly and warily. Not one inhabitant
was in sight, but, as the wall was neared, slim, brown figures were
espied slipping through the waving grain towards the gate.

A close view of the wall showed that the village was a fortress as well
as a place of habitation. The stones were rough from the hillside, and
quite untrimmed, but patience in selection and arrangement had produced
a compact rampart that could not easily be shattered or stormed. The
gate was of wood, and towered some feet above the top of the wall. It
was shut.

Sir John Trelawny was in command of the embassy, and he directed one of
the soldiers to go forward and sound a summons on his bugle. The man
did so. The musical notes rang back in double echoes from the hills,
and brought a hundred dark heads above the ramparts. Again the soldier
sent the sweet echoes flying. The strange notes had their effect on
the villagers, for a man came from the gate to the strangers and asked
their business. The Indian interpreter, who had been carefully
schooled on his way up, and who, moreover, was proud of the trust
reposed in him by the formidable white men, gave a dignified and
courteous answer. The white men were, he explained, creatures of
another world, a world that lay beneath the rising sun; the sun was
their father, and his glory was in his children's faces. They held the
thunder and lightning in the hollow of their hands, and could slay men
almost at a nod. Yet by nature they were kindly and generous, wi