The first trait of aboriginal character (after this parenthetical
alacrity at drunkenness) was shown after some hours of marching and the
passage of a dozen streams. The porters, weakened by their drink and the
extreme heat, squatted down on the side of a hill by their own consent
and with a single impulse. With that lamb-like placidity and that
mule-like obstinacy which characterize the antique race of Quechuas,
they observed to the chief interpreter that they were weary of falling
on their backs or their stomachs at every other step, and that they were
resolved to go no farther. Pepe Garcia caused the remark to be repeated
once more, as if he had not understood it: then, convinced that an
incipient rebellion was brewing, he sprang upon the fellow who happened
to be nearest, haled him up from the ground by the ears, and, shaking
him vigorously, proceeded to do as much for the rest of the band. In the
flash of an eye, much to their astonishment, they found themselves on
their feet.

A judicious if not very discriminating award of blows from the sabre
then followed, causing the Indians to change their resolve of remaining
in that particular spot, and to show a lively determination to get away
from it as quickly as possible. Each porter, forgetting his fatigue, and
seeming never to have felt any, began to trot along, no longer languidly
as before, but with a precision of step and a firmness in his round
calves which surprised and charmed the travelers. Pepe Garcia, much
refreshed by this exercise of discipline, and perspiring away his
intoxication as he marched, began to give grounds for confidence from
his steady and authoritative manner. By nightfall the whole troop was in
harmony, and the strangers retired with hopeful hearts to the privacy of
the hammocks which Juan of Aragon slung amongst the trees on the side of
Mount Morayaca.

No effect could seem finer, to wanderers from another latitude, than
this first night-bivouac in the absolute wilderness. The moon, seeming
to race through the clouds, and the camp-fire flashing in the wind,
appeared to give movement and animation to the landscape. The Indians,
grouped around the flame, seemed like swarthy imps tending the furnace
of some fantastic pandemonium. Meanwhile, amidst the constant murmurs of
the trees, the nephew of Aragon was heard drawing the notes of some kind
of amorous despair from the hollow of his melodious calabash. The
examinador and Colonel Perez lull