heir paleface friends, which was wound up
with some of the most weird and extraordinary singing and dancing that
the Englishmen had ever heard or seen.

On the following morning the Indians escorted Phil, Dick, and
Vilcamapata to the spot where, beyond the cataract and the upper rapids,
their boat, with all its contents intact, rode safely in the placid
waters of a little bay where the river widened out and navigation was
once more possible. Here at last the kind-hearted natives bade a
reluctant and sorrowful farewell to Dick and Stukely; the bitterness of
parting being mitigated by a promise on the part of the white men that,
in the event of their returning by way of the river, they would not fail
to make a stay of at least a week in their friends' village.

Now, with a long stretch of unobstructed navigation before them, they
had time to improve their acquaintance with Vilcamapata, who was never
tired of expressing his gratitude to Dick and Stukely for having saved
him from a terrible death. But it soon became apparent that, for some
inexplicable reason, he regarded Stukely as much the more important
personage of the two, his devotion to Phil being of such a pronounced
character that it almost amounted to worship. This, of course, might
have been accounted for to some extent by the fact that Stukely was able
to converse with him in his own tongue, and the rapidity with which Phil
attained to proficiency in the Peruvian language was a never-ending
source of wonderment to Dick. But there was evidently something more
than this in it, something which he did not offer to explain, and upon
which Stukely did not care to question him, fearing that, if he did so,
such an exposure of ignorance on his part might result in a weakening of
his influence over the Peruvian, while from this influence he hoped to
obtain certain very important advantages. A rather remarkable
circumstance, which gradually revealed itself in the course of Phil's
conversations with the ex-priest, was that the latter did not seem to be
in the least surprised that Stukely should be desirous of penetrating
Peru; on the contrary, he appeared to regard it as quite a matter of
course; nay, more, it almost appeared as though Stukely's visit had been
long expected, and was a thing to be rejoiced over. At least this was
the impression which Stukely gathered from remarks and expressions
dropped by Vilcamapata from time to time; and he would greatly have
liked